Twilight finds herself in need of money. I'm sure nothing could go wrong. (CYOA)
In the land of Equestria, lives one Twilight Sparkle. She is a bit short on money at the moment. Together you, yes you the readers, will forge her path through robbery, escapes, heists and who knows what else.
A choose-your-own-adventure crossover with The Henry Stickmin Collection.
First it was very dark, then it was suddenly too bright. “Ah. Hello, Twilight.” A pale grey Unicorn with greased back hair and wearing a cloak walked out of the shadows. “Welcome… to The Wall.”
“Some of the most cunning and notorious criminals, of all races, are kept here,” He walked over to a wall she couldn’t see, as if admiring his work, “and now we have the infamous Twilight Sparkle. You’re going to be here for a long time.” The smile on this stallion’s face was creeping her out.
“Thunderlane, take her.” Before she had a chance to react, a muscular dark Pegasus came up behind her, put the sack back over her head, and began moving her to another part of the complex.
But you might be asking yourselves, how did this mare end up in a situation like this? Well my friends, that is a very long story, but something tells me you already have some idea of how it is going to go.
Okay ponies, let’s take it from the top.
My name is Twilight Sparkle. I was born in Canterlot, capitol city of Equestria, about twenty years ago. When I was 8 years old, my parents took me to Phili City for the Summer Sun Celebration. There, I saw Princess Celestia raise the sun for the first time. I became fascinated by the idea of magic and what it could do. I began reading as many books on the subject as I could, and I quickly became skilled at basic spells like levitation, light, and telekinesis. Then my parents enrolled me in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. This would have been the turning point of my life, the place where Twilight Sparkle became one of the greatest magicians in Equestria. It would have been, if not for the entrance exam.
The teachers made all potential students pass a test of magic before being allowed to enter. This year, the teachers asked me to hatch open a dragon egg. A task I most definitely wasn’t prepared for. Fun fact, I looked into it after the exam, and not only is it impossible for a unicorn filly to hatch a dragon egg, but it is impossible for any pony, foal, adult, Unicorn, Pegasus, or Earth Pony to hatch a dragon egg. So either the teachers were really mean to kids, morons who didn’t know how magic worked, or just were totally drunk when they thought up that test.
To make a long and sad story short, I did not pass the test and was denied entry into the school. Well, me and every other foal who enrolled that year. Between the outraged parents, the complete absence of students, and lack of communication between the test administrators, the teachers, and Princess Celestia herself, the whole school fell apart a few weeks later. Literally, the buildings actually fell apart because of somepony’s experiment gone wrong. It was quiet cathartic to hear about it.
But back to me. Failing an impossible test didn’t stop me from learning. I went back to my books, practiced with my big brother (did I forget to mention I have a big brother?), and became a better magician than I ever could studying in a classroom. And I wasn’t the only one. A lot of the other foals who failed the test formed their own study groups. Some studied communication magic and created the first telephones. Some focused on more combat-oriented spells like laser beams and force fields. Some of us discovered how to use and make magical artifacts. Teleportation plates, miniature cannons, airships, and all other sorts of equipment that could only be seen in comic books, was suddenly the stuff of reality.
The spells I’m most proud of are my skills with pocket dimensions. At any moment or in any situation I can summon from a vast collection of equipment, tools, and artifacts without needing to carry them with me. There are a few limitations to this magic. Firstly, I can only access a few items at any one time. There is also a slight cooldown of a few seconds after I select an item. Despite these limitations, I’ve been able to use the spell quite efficiently.
Of course, being a practicing magician of true magic isn’t the best paying job, probably because it’s not a job at all. As such, I’ve run into a bit of a money problem. And while I would much rather find a job at a nice library or book café, nopony in Canterlot is hiring right now. And those big businesses with the office spaces and the telephones won’t let somepony like me with no work experience even enter the building, much less give me a job. So, I’m left with no choice but to steal the money. I mean I guess I could go to some other town and see if they have any jobs open, but then I’d have to move houses, and talk to strange ponies and… No it just seems easier to rob someone.
Wish me luck.
$= Breaking the Bank =$
It was located in the middle of the Fillypino Desert. Probably the worst place to put a bank, but it was here, it was lightly guarded, and she needed money. The purple Unicorn walked over to the bank, making sure that she wasn’t seen by the guards, and made her way over to the side of the building. If this was like most banks, then the vault would be right behind the wall.
She pushed aside her dark purple mane, and looked to her left, nothing. She looked to her right, nothing. She checked above her, still nothing. No fence, no cameras, and no motion detector. A single brick wall. That was all that stood between her, and paying this month’s rent. There was no turning back now. Twilight breathed in deep, focused her resolve, and breathed out. Now, how to get inside?
Twilight took a good look at the wall. Then at the equipment she had brought. She then disregarded all of it and walked a quarter mile away from the bank along the road.
Coming down the road was an armored car. Cars were like train cars crossed with carriages. They could move on their own and weren’t limited to railways like trains. This one was delivering money to the bank.
Twilight pulled out a sack she had painted a money symbol onto. She then quickly crawled inside the sack, tied the bag shut with her magic, and rolled herself to the side of the road.
The car drove past the sack, stopped, and returned. Two ponies stepped out. The driver was a white Unicorn mare with electric blue hair and purple sunglasses. The other was a mint green unicorn mare. Both were wearing blue hats with gold badges.
“Huh? How did we lose one?” The driver said.
“I think we should throw it in the back. Just to be safe?” Replied the other.
And just like that, she was picked up and thrown onto a pile of bags filled with golden Bits. It was far more painful than she expected.
The car pulled up in front of the bank and two guards came to help them unload the bags of Bits into the vault. One was a young, brown stallion with bronze sunglasses and the other an older Pegasus with indigo fur and a rainbow mane.
“Do you ever… wonder why there’s a bank out here?”
“Mwell, I think it’s supposed to be like more of a vault, you know?”
“Oh! That makes sense.”
Twilight was then thrown onto her second pile of Bits that day, still painful. She poked her head out of the bag to see if the coast was clear. Sure enough, she was alone inside the dark vault. She stood up, shacking off the rough sack.
Unknowingly, she stood up right in the path of a motion detector. This set off the alarm, and before she could say ‘This is all a misunderstanding,’ she was arrested by the police.
~ Escaping thePrison ~
Twilight really wasn’t fond of her prison cell. The whole thing was the same shade of grey, with no carpet, and no decorations save for a cluster of tally marks some previous occupant had made. The only furniture she was given was the stone slab she supposed was the prison’s idea of a bed, and an old spittoon for a toilet. Her window had bars, and her door had bars.
Further inconveniencing her comfort, and her chances at escape, her horn was locked down. Horn locks were another new invention like the car. Far sturdier than the old magic inhibiter rings, horn locks were magically sealed to a Unicorn’s horn and could only be removed with a key.
“Oi, you!” Shouted someone with a very rough voice.
Standing outside her cell were two mares in police uniforms. The one who had spoken was a dark grey Earth Pony whose face seemed to be in a permanent scowl. The other was a young Pegasus with blue grey fur and a silky, ice blue mane.
“You’re free to go.”
Twilight couldn’t believe it. Was she really being released?
“GEHA! Hahahehe!” Of course not. “Not really. I can’t believe you fell for that. But you do have a package.”
The letterbox on her cell door was opened and a brown package was tossed into her cell.
“Now don’t go getting your hopes up, crook. We’ve already checked it for anything useful. Haven’t we Flitter?”
“What? Yeah, yeah! Of course I checked it.” The younger mare said, loudly and nervously. “I mean if I didn’t check it, I’d lose my job, and I don’t wanna lose my job!”
Fortunately for Flitter, the other guard didn’t notice her nervousness and left Twilight to her package. “See you around. ‘Free to go,’ did you see the look on her face? My little sister’s right, pranks are hilarious.”
Twilight took to the difficult task of opening a paper package with only her hooves (hey give her a break, she’s a Unicorn), uncovering a cake covered in pink frosting. She was just about to sit down and eat it when the cake suddenly opened. Inside was a collection of equipment, all of which seemed to be pointing her towards breaking out of prison.
Twilight checked to see who the package was from, but the return address was marked to somewhere in Ponyville. Could it have come from her study mates? She knew a lot of them lived or moved to Ponyville, but she didn’t really know any of them well enough that they would break her out of jail. Her brother? No way, he was way too much of a good guy to do anything like this. Her parents? That seemed to be the most likely. She could absolutely see her mother pulling something like this.
She looked back at the tools she was given. Well, as the saying went: When life gives you lemons you make lemonade.
It wasn’t easy for her to admit, but Twilight actually couldn’t perform a teleportation spell. She tried, and she got the closest out of anypony else, but she never was able to perform it successfully. Thus, she would have to use the teleporter spell slab.
She pulled the green square of stone out of the cake. Concentrating, she envisioned herself outside of her prison, standing on the sands of the desert a free mare. She put her magic into the stone and let the inscribed spell move her body.
“Ready?” she heard a voice say. Looking around she saw she was standing in front of a pony shaped silhouette. Behind her was two police officers pointing a crossbow at her.
“FIRE!” Captain Fancy Pants had been proctoring Officer Trailblazer’s marksmareship test, when a Pony teleported right onto the firing range, that wasn’t going to look good on any of the records.
FAIL I guess some things just weren’t meant to be.
Twilight sparked back into existence hyperventilating. She thanked her lucky stars she was able to reverse the spell before she got shot. But, she was now back in her cell. With the phony cake still on the floor.
Use the Cellphone (50%)
Cellular telephones. Telephones themselves actually weren’t that recent an invention. Equestria had had working phone lines for nearly 70 years. These lines connected the major cities together and were primarily used by governmental offices and police stations. Cellphones were a recent upgrade, and were very expensive.
Fortunately, Twilight knew how to operate one and knew exactly who to call…
September 9th 12:53 PM District Court House Courtroom No. 4
The gavel crashed down drawing all eyes to the judge. He was an old horse with a long grey beard. The epidemy of a court judge.
“Witness, please continue your testimony.”
“Okay.”
Witness Testimony
The witness in question was one Lyra Heartstrings, one of the Unicorns who had unknowingly smuggled Twilight into the Bank.
“I was riding alongside my partner in the armored van, when suddenly… We spotted a bag on the side of the road. We got out and eventually decided to throw the bag in with the others. We didn’t know there was somepony hiding in there!”
“Objection!” Twilight’s attorney was a Unicorn mare about the same age as her, named Minuette. Her light blue fur contrasted with her cobalt and blue grey mane. Said mane had been pulled back into an elaborate and rather impossible hairdo. “So, the defendant crawled into that bag in order to break into the bank. Is that correct?”
“Is it not obvious?” jest the prosecutor, another old stallion, though one more unkempt and wild looking.
“Is it really that obvious?” Minuette retorted. “I have proof that the defendant didn’t hide herself inside that bag.”
“Well then,” said the judge. “What are you waiting for? Present this evidence at once!”
Present which piece of evidence?
Attorney’s Badge: It is my all-important badge. It shows that I am a defense attorney.
Disguising Bag: The bag the defendant used to sneak into the bank. The knot is tied on the outside of the bag.
Floor Plans of Bank: A diagram of the bank and its surroundings.
Mysterious Device (teleporter): A device whose use is unknown.
Security Footage: Security footage of the night of the intrusion. Shows the defendant leaving her disguise and setting off the alarm.
Doctor’s Analysis: Doctor’s examination of the defendant done after arrest. Defendant suffered many bruises.
“Take That!” Minuette shouted as she slammed the burlap sack down on the table.
“Is… Is that the bag the defendant hid in?” Asked the judge.
“Yes, but there’s one thing that’s been bothering me. If the defendant really was hiding in this bag, then…” She slammed her hooves down on the table. “How did she tie the knot from the outside of the bag?!”
“What?” Exclaimed the prosecutioner.
“If she was inside the bag, it’d be impossible for her to tie that knot on the outside.”
She almost ruined it. Twilight almost brought up that she used her magic to tie the knot. But she kept her mouth shut and simply let the court forget that she was a Unicorn.
“But then, how did she do it?”
“It’s simple… She didn’t.”
“Hwah?! What are you saying?”
“I’m saying my client wasn’t hiding in that bag at all. She was stuffed in there! By this very witness!”
Lyra was, understandably, shocked at the accusation. “Whaaa?”
Minuette continued, “As you can see by this doctor’s analysis the defendant had taken quiet the beating.” Twilight remembered that beating, it was from being jostled around in a truck full of gold Bits. “While she was in the bag, she was unconscious!”
“Th-This is absurd!” Twilight was inclined to agree with the prosecution on this one.
“The witness was attempting to dispose of the body. She left the defendant in the bag, knowing she’d drive by it on the way back to the bank. When the witness and her partner passed the bag, she convinced her partner to throw the bag in with the rest of them.”
“But, but why would she do that?” asked the judge.
“Why, to dispose of the body of course. There are millions of bags in that bank and the witness knew it would take a long time before the victim was found. But unfortunately for the witness, her victim woke up and tried to escape from her tomb. She was arrested on the spot and the witness thought everything was over.” Minuette turned accusingly towards the witness. “But it’s come back to haunt her now!”
Miss Heartstrings was shocked. “Y-You guys c-can-c-c-can’t- This can’t be happening to meeeeee!” She was carried out of the courtroom by a pair of police officers.
“Well, that certainly was an interesting trial.” Understated the judge. “However I am now ready to deliver my verdict. I find the defendant, Twilight Sparkle:”
NOT GUILTY
Outside the courthouse, Twilight used what little pocket money she had left to buy a sandwich off a street vendor. Was she glad to be free, absolutely. Was she happy with the amount of unprofessionalism displayed in that courtroom, absolutely not. She grew up listening to Pony Mason on the radio, she had a great deal of respect for the judiciary branch of Equestria’s government. To see it twisted, and by one of her friends no less, gave her an uneasy feeling in her stomach.
Or maybe that was just the prison food she had eaten earlier today. She took a bite out of her sandwich and pondered on how she could get that money now.
Rank: Lawyered Up
~~Stealing the Diamond<>
“As Mayor of this fine city,” Said an older Earth Pony mare in formal décor wearing glasses. “I am proud to announce the Equesstorial Archeological Exhibit, open to the public!” Behind the Mayor were glass cases filled with artifacts and other items apparently recovered from dig sites in the Equesstorial regions. Most prominent of which was a massive pale blue gemstone.
“Mayor Mare.” A reporter said, “Could you please tell our audience something about the exhibit?”
“Well, I’m not an expert, nor do I wish to take away from the museums tour guilds. But the exhibit will be featuring artifacts and other treasures dug up by local Ponyville archeologists and explorers. And certainly the shining star of the exhibit is the Equesstorial Diamond, one of the largest diamonds in the world and estimated at over 112 million Bits.”
All this was published in the Ponyville Press. But Twilight still didn’t have money on hoof so instead she could only afford the Foal Free Press, which was free. Thankfully, they too wrote an article about the new exhibit and how it was a wonderful opportunity for the foals to learn about ancient pony civilization.
This was something of a moral dilemma for Twilight. She loved learning, she loved history, and archeology. But she also really needed some Bits. Her ‘landlord,’ a carrot farmer who had a spare tool shed, was getting impatient.
“That diamond would more than pay off my debts, and my rent. If I can get it without disturbing the rest of the exhibit, I should be safe, right?”
The rake she was addressing didn’t answer.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She grabbed a metal key in her magic. “Time to saddle up.”
She waited until nightfall. By the light of the mare in the moon, she scouted out the museum. For such a small town, it was a large building.
Twilight began making her way down the hill to the museum’s wall. From the hilltop, she had seen a maintenance door on the roof. But the museum was at least two stories high. Alternatively, she could break through the building’s wall. They were made out of solid stone, but she knew a few tricks to get around that.
Twilight pulled out her teleportation tablet, with some caution as she remembered what happened the last time she used it. She concentrated on her desired location, on top of the museum roof, and poured her magic into the tablet.
With a sharp snap of magic, she found herself floating in midair, before falling. She fell about a meter before landing on the rooftop. Of all the things that could have gone wrong, this was definitely one of the more preferable outcomes.
Now she just had to enter the building. The maintenance door she had seen had a single Unicorn guard posted outside of it. They should be easy enough to deal with.
Twilight pulled out one of her last Bits and tossed it. The clattering drew the guard’s attention. “Oh! Lucky Bit.”
She dashed past him as quickly and as quietly as she could.
After moving across the ceiling walkways for about a minute, she found her way to the Equesstorial Archeology Exhibit. Directly below her was the diamond. Now she just needed a way down there.
There was a shattering of glass, followed by the alarm going off. When the guards arrived on the scene, they found an unconscious Unicorn lying in a pile of shattered glass that used to be the holding case for the Equesstorial Diamond.
FAIL Did you really think that was going to work?
Wormhole Rifle (30%)
Twilight wasn’t proud of how she acquired this particular tool, but it would get the job done. The large mechanism had several moving parts and required a doctorate to understand how it worked. Thankfully, the device’s function was easy to understand. The wielder opened a portal doorway at one point, then opened a second doorway at a different point.
She opened the first doorway directly underneath the diamond. Then she opened the second one above the platform she was standing on. This would deposit the diamond directly in front of her.
Or it would have, if the platform hadn’t broken under the force of the falling gemstone. Now both the diamond and her were falling straight down into the portal, and out the other. And now back in the first and out the other.
FAIL Well, this is an interesting predicament you’ve gotten us into. What you wanted me to transcribe the entire failure message? My name's not nearly long enough for that.
Wire (30%)
Twilight grabbed a wire cable hanging near her, wrapped it around her barrel, then slow lowered herself down to the floor of the museum.
Twilight removed her laser cutter and placed it against the glass case. The laser would make a precision cut through the glass with no mess or noise. She activated the gyro and was met with a harsh beeping, before the arm with the laser swung down tracing across her torso. She put a shield up over herself without thinking, so there was no damage to her, but the glass case was also still intact.
FAIL “That’s the last time I trust anything Trixie buys.”
Hammer (42.86%)
She removed the faulty tool and disposed of it in the nearest trash can. She then pulled out her second tool, an ordinary hammer.
She checked the box. It was made from a single piece of sandglass, very loud and stronger than it looked. She measured its dimensions, its thickness, the consistency of the glass. “Right about here.” She tapped the protective case with the hammer at about a C Sharp. The glass dissolved into dust with nary a puff. Twight picked up her prize and put it on her back, she wasn’t out of the woods yet and couldn’t afford to spend all her magic carrying a giant rock.
She slipped into the storage room adjacent to the exhibit. Inside were a few paintings and a lot of wooden crates. Near the exit were two guards caught up in conversation, a white Unicorn mare with electric blue hair and a cream Earth Pony mare with red hair.
Oh, that’s where she left her lunch. She tossed the small wedge of cheese into her mouth and got to work.
Plank (12.5%)
Careful not to alert the guards, she set up one of the larger planks to act like a catapult and launched both herself and the diamond passed the two watch ponies.
“And then after that they just up and arrested her.” The Unicorn said.
“Woah, really?” The Earth pony replied, enraptured.
Twilight didn’t stick around to hear the rest of their conversation. Instead she quietly exited the building.
One last guard stood between her and success. A Pegasus stallion chewing some gum at the bottom of a short flight of steps. And he was armed.
Twilight stabilized the diamond on her back. She pushed off and made it off the landing, before the weight of the diamond violently forced her to the ground.
FAIL Would a pair of wings have helped here? My gut tells me no.
Snap Neck (33.33%)
She kneeled down, ready to take this guard out quietly with hopefully little pain. But then her stolen prize slipped off her back and pushed her down the stairs. She tumbled head over hooves down the stone steps.
FAIL How ya feeling Twilight? “Pinkie Keen.”
Diamond (22.22%)
She kneeled down, carefully sliding the diamond off her back as she moved to distract the guard. Except that the diamond slipped off her landing. Twilight barely managed to grab it in her magic before it hit the ground. Looking over the edge, she saw that the diamond had accidentally hit the guard on the head, knocking them unconscious.
Twilight very quickly got out of there.
Rank: Unseen Burglar
Infiltrating the Airship
Twilight’s head hurt. Either somepony knocked her unconscious or she drank too much chardonnay last night. A violent shake roused her from her slumber. To her shock she found that she was not in fact in Golden Harvest’s barn, nor was she at the club she had gone to celebrate her successful ‘excursion’ to the museum. Instead she appeared to be in the hold of a large whirligig ship.
“Well, well, look who finally decided to wake up?” Twilight stared at the pony who had spoken to her. She was a hot, yellow Pegasus in military uniform. Flanking her was an uncomfortably familiar looking grey mare with a scowl on her face. “My name is Captain Spitfire, and you are Twilight Sparkle, I presume. You’ve been quite elusive, but your skills make you worth the catch. You’ll be perfect for the job. We’ve been having some issues with a group of thieves called The Toppat Clan. We know they’re guilty, we just can’t pin them to any crimes. You’ll be going into their airship to bring them down.” Capt. Spitfire pulled out a few plain looking folders. “Now I don’t need to remind you that we’ve got you on several charges; attemped robbery, breaking yourself out of prison, and stealing the Equesstorial Diamond.” Twilight’s eyes widened. She figured Minuet’s case would fall apart sooner or later, but the diamond? That was only two days ago.
Spitfire led Twilight to the side of the whirligig, opening the door she could see a truly massive airship. Covered in red metal, the craft was held aloft by four sets of propellers. “If you do this job right, we’ll drop all charges against you.” She pointed towards the cockpit of the whirligig, a young orange Pegasus filly with purple hair wearing a headset sat in the pilot’s seat. “Scootaloo here will be bringing you close to the airship. The rest is up to you. Find a way to bring them down, and you’ll be a free mare.”
Twilight jumped out of the Whirligig onto the top of the airship. The miniature radio headset she was given buzzed in her ear.
“Alright, this is Scootaloo, can you hear me?”
“Yep, coming through loud and clear.”
“Great. Careful, looks like there’s a bad guy behind that hatch.”
The hatch Scootaloo was referring to was also the only way into the airship from here. So she’d need to deal with the guard somehow. Fortunately, Spitfire was nice enough to provide her with some extra equipment she could call on.
Twilight affixed the head of the vacuum over the hatch, then stepped back to trigger it remotely. The vacuum sucked the hatch off its hinges and sucked the guard up into it as well.
Turning off the vacuum, Twilight snuck her way into the airship.
“Oh, you made it. Huh, nice. Now look around for something, ah what’s the word?”
“Incriminating?”
“No that’s not it. Evil, that’s it! Look around for something evil looking, so we can prove they’re evil.” Twilight rolled her eyes, but got on with the mission.
In the next room were several ponies in top hats having a meeting. “Alright ponies,” said a stallion with a cut running across his cheek, “We’ve been tasked with developing new weapons for the clan. Any ideas?”
While a conversation certainly worth listening to, it wasn’t concrete evidence of illegal activities, or ‘evilness’ as Scootaloo wanted. She’d have to sneak past them somehow.
Twilight put the top hat on her head and walked right past the meeting, easy as falling off a log.
“Right, so if we go up to three caliber… Hey! You there!” Twilight froze as she was addressed by whoever was running the meeting. “What do you think you’re doing?”
She turned around, slowly. Panicking slightly as she recognized Lyra Heartstrings, the guard she framed, as one of the ponies seated at the table.
“It’s Starlight, right?” Twilight just nodded. “What are you doing here, mate?! Your wife’s just gone into labor!” Her what? “Take that escape pod behind you. It’ll take you right to the hospital.” The scarred pony smiled at Twilight’s hesitation. “Go ahead. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the chief.”
Twilight hopped into the escape pod and fired herself out of the airship.
FAIL Well congratulations! Happy… Mother’s Day?
Transdimensionalizer (12.5%)
Twilight teleported out of the pod and back into the airship quickly. She hoped that the pod would land itself instead of crashing, but that was out of her hooves now. She pulled out her Plan B.
TRANSDIMENSIONALIZER Visit alternate dimensions with the flick of a switch! “It’s super easy to use and gives awesome results!”
-Gadget Gabe
Twilight looked at the single sliding dial skeptically. She turned on the device and…
Twilight quickly flipped the switch back, thankfully returning to her home dimension. She turned to her last resort. She removed the cap from the bottle of glue then covered her hooves with it. Casting a quick light-weight spell on herself, she very carefully and quietly walked across the ceiling.
“Naw, we can’t do that.”
“Why not, man?”
“You do realize how much a solid gold cannon would weigh, don’t ya?”
“Dude, we totally got enough power. What do you think, man?”
“Well, I’m still kinda new here. I’m not sure what to say.”
And she had done it. She had snuck across without anypony noticing- Oops, guard! Better hind in this garbage chute.
“Guh! Door’s jammed again!” Oh, well better to be safe then sorry. As Twilight fell through the chute, she suddenly broke through a weaker section of piping, falling out on top of a platform over some exposed machinery.
“Okay, that was pretty cool. You know, for a Unicorn.” What was that supposed to mean, Scootaloo? “Oh, hey, you see that ‘records’ sign? That’s probably a good place to look, right?" Yeah, she saw the sign, on the other side of the gap filled with gears and pistons and other dangerous moving parts. "Hey, I think I’ve got some stuff that could help you get across. You know, since you can’t fly.”
“You want my help? Heh, alright. Here, use this.” Twilight watched as a small wooden scooter with the number 4 painted on it was teleported into the airship in front of her. “Take one of my backup scooters. You’ll be able to jump that gap without any trouble.”
Twilight was too big for the scooter, but still she kicked off, and it did carry her across the floor. But she was too heavy for any meaningful momentum or lift. So into the gap she rode.
FAIL Silly Twilight. Tricks are for kids!
Secret option revealed! Charles (33.33%)
Twilight teleported back up to the platform, only a little sore from the I-beam she landed on. She was about to call in a different plan of attack when she heard another voice come over the radio.
“Hey kid! Thanks for flying for me. That chili we had for lunch was not agreeing with me.”
“Um, who is this?”
“Oh hey! You’re that Twilight pony they were talking about, right? I’m Charles, Helicopter pilot for the Royal Guard. You already know Scootaloo, my copilot.”
“Pilot in training!”
So that’s why they let a filly fly this mission. Twilight gave the pilot a quick rundown of their situation.
“Oh yeah, that is a pickle. Hey! I know a great way to help you get across.” Twilight then heard a strange fanfare come through her earpiece, only for it to be overpowered by the sounds of a helicopter’s blades coming from the helicopter flying right at her!
FAIL Hey look! Charles is here! In this story! About ponies! Weird
Gravity Bubble (6.67%)
The helicopter pulled away at the last moment.
“I don’t care how cool you think that trick is! We are not flying into the airship!”
“Fine, we’ll try something else. Okay, we’ve got this thing that can manipulate gravity. Should be able to get you to float across.” Charles explained. “Hit it Scoots!”
“You got it!” The sound of a button being pressed entered Twilight’s earpiece, milliseconds before her body felt like it weighed ten times what it should. Her legs gave out under her, and her face was ground into the metal floor by sheer force of gravity alone.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!” She yelled, not caring if anyone heard her except for the two children in the helicopter.
FAIL So wait… does ‘Up’ increase gravity or does it lift you up into the air?
Robo Helper (6.67%)
To her relief the bubble of heightened gravity around her vanished as quickly as it came.
“Alright, here it comes.” The glass of the window was shattered as a metal cube was thrown through it. The cube unfolded into a robot fox with a helicopter tail. Twilight grabbed onto the metal bar between its ‘paws’ and let the robot carry her across the gap.
With that finally done she came to a raised door with a Toppat mook trying to open it with their keycard.
“I don’t think that guy knows how to open the door. Why don’t you let us handle this.” Charles said confidently.
Twilight really didn’t think that was a good idea.
Twilight charged up her horn, then launched the magic into the pony’s spinal cord. The Toppat dropped to the ground as his nervous system was temporarily paralyzed.
“Hey! Nice work Twilight. How long will he be unconscious?”
“About an hour.” She said, grabbing the guard’s keycard from where it had fallen. She slid it through the reader, receiving a harsh buzzing from the machine. When she tried to open the door, she was surprised to find it was still locked. She slid the card through the reader again, same result. On the third time she slid the card through a little slower, this time being rewarded with a small chime as the door was unlocked.
The records room was a round chamber filled with filling cabinets and ledgers. A sole Toppat was seated at the central table.
“Oh man, I remember this. Good thing nopony knows about this or we’d be in a lot of trouble.”
Twilight grinned, finally a good excuse to try out some fire magic. “Falcon KII-OWOWOW! It burns! It Burns!”
Fail A reminder, Twilight didn’t attend magic school. She forgot the safety part of the spell.
Spook (44.44%)
One of the few tools in her arsenal that her mother had provided was a rubber spider on the end of a fishing pole. ‘To deal with persistent coats’ as she put it. Twilight dangled the spider just on the brim of the Toppat’s hat before letting it fall into his line of sight.
“Oh, hello mister spider.”
Twilight frowned then brought the pole down on his head with a very satisfying ‘Thwack.’ Twilight felt that her mother would approve of this use of her gift.
She scooped up the files he was looking at and trotted off to the exit.
“Alright, you got some evidence! Woah wait, wait.” Charles said, “There’s no way you’re getting through there.”
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say there’s lots of goons and lots of big booms and leave it at that.” Scootaloo clarified.
“Iiit looks like you could get around if you go through that air duct.”
Sneaking through the air ducts did sound like a safer option so she crawled in. Twilight soon regreted those words as she discovered the electrical currents arcing across the duct before her.
“Alright We’ve hacked into their power gird. What do you want us to do?”
“Baa!” came through the radio. Scoots and Charles looked at each other, both silently asking if the other heard the sound.
“Okay…? I-I don’t understand what that means.”
It’s Your Choice (28.57%)
“You two seem to know more than I do. Why don’t you make the choice?”
“Really?” Scoots asked. “Cool. Let’s shut this thing down.” She tapped away at the security system’s computer code, shutting it down.
“Uh Oh.” = = = “What ‘Uh-oh?’ What’s happened?” Twilight asked as the arcs of electricity blocking her way disappeared.
“Do you want the good new or the bad news?”
“Bad news.” Twilight’s heartrate was starting to pick up.
“Security is definitely now aware that something is up.”
“And the good news?”
“Every security system is now offline. Every emergency bulkhead, security camera, and trap are no longer working.”
“Guess you’d better get out of there quick.” Charles added in. Twilight agreed with both of them.
Running through the no longer energized vent, she eventually found an exit leading into what looked like a loading bay.
“Alright Twilight, you’re almost there. We’re right outside so just open the bay doors and I’ll uh, get you on the chopper.”
The bay was filled with different crates and boxes. Fortunately, the only Toppats present were two bored looking pegasi. Twilight pulled herself out of the vent and hit the button that would open the doors.
“Hey! What are you doin’!?” the older one yelled as the doors began to open.
“Yeah, uh, we got a situation, down in the cargo bay.” The younger one said into his radio as Charles and Scootaloo’s helicopter moved into position.
As Twilight called forth some items to assist her, an alarm began sounding through the airship.
The Toppats began flanking her, gesturing that she give the file over to them; when a banana, of all fruits, was tossed into the hanger. The ponies were given just enough time to question what was going on when the banana exploded, bringing the entire airship with it.
Fail Dun dun dun dun OOoohhhhh BANANA! Dun dun dun dun
Flashbang (30%)
“Fire in the hole!” and a metal canister were the last things Twilight heard and saw. Then there was only white and a high ringing that disoriented her. By the time it had cleared, she had run herself out of the hanger and was falling to the earth.
Fail Wow, that was bright.
Force Gun (30%)
“Psst, Hey. There’s a button on your earpiece. You should press it.” Charles whispered over the private com line. Twilight did feel a button on the device and, running out of options, clicked it.
The earpiece ejected itself from her ear, before expanding into a pump-like weapon. She gave it a pump, which shot a wave of force at the two pegasi, pushing them out of the airship.
Twilight didn’t have time to bask in the glory, as just moments after more Toppats came through the door into the hanger.
“What’s going-“ Their leader, a sky-blue mare with her multicolored mane hidden beneath a plain black top hat, started to say as she and her goons watched Twilight jump out of the airship and use the force gun to launch herself into the helicopter.
“Hmm… This could be a problem.”
Rank: Government SupportedPrivate Investigator
It was less than a week later when Twilight saw the news. ‘THE INFAMOUS TOPPAT CLAN HAS BEEN APPREHENDED!’ ‘HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS MADE! MANY STILL AT LARGE!’ ‘AUTHORITIES TIPPED OFF BY ANONYMOUS SOURCE!’ All this was framed around the mug shots of two Toppat clan members; an orange mare with an apple cutie mark, and the blue mare with a weather cutie mark that Twilight saw just as she was escaping. She guessed they must have been important to be getting the spotlight treatment like this.
As for the papers not mentioning her role in the arrests, well she didn’t mind it. Less chance of anypony seeking revenge on her or something.
<~~ Fleeing the Complex ~~>
First it was very dark, then it was suddenly too bright. “Ah. Hello, Twilight.” A pale grey Unicorn with greased back hair and wearing a cloak walked out of the shadows. “Welcome… to The Wall.”
“Some of the most cunning and notorious criminals, of all races, are kept here,” He walked over to a wall she couldn’t see, as if admiring his work, “and now we have the infamous Twilight Sparkle. You’re going to be here for a long time.” The smile on this stallion’s face was creeping her out.
“Thunderlane, take her.” Before she had a chance to react, a muscular dark Pegasus came up behind her, put the sack back over her head, and began moving her to another part of the complex.
Shrugging off the feeling of déjà vu simply as her remembering how Spitfire had kidnapped her, Twilight chose not to struggle as her forehooves were shackled and a magic dampening circlet was placed on her skull. The stallion named Thunderlane then took her to a mostly empty room, save for another mare who must have also been a prisoner.
“You wait here until a fresh cell is found.” He said, gruffly, before leaving.
Boost Up Charge Tackle Wait for Transfer Play Dead
Twilight began scanning the waiting room for any way of escaping. She found a likely way in the form of a hatch on the room's ceiling, just big enough for a mare to crawl inside.
She turned to the other prisoner, a white furred unicorn mare with short red hair. She nudged her a couple of times to get her attention. When the mare did notice, Twilight gestured with her eyes towards the hatch. The mare followed her gaze and nodded in understanding before helping her up.
Twilight somehow was able to grab onto an old pipe with her forelegs and used her hindlegs to open the hatch. Swinging herself inside, Twilight found a piece of old cement that she used to break the bindings on her hooves.
Twilight wrapped her hindlegs onto a ladder inside the vent then swung herself down and helped the other mare into the passage.
The mare had removed her own bindings by the time Twilight had untangled herself. “Ah, thank you darling.”
“No trouble.”
Twilight led them through the passage, always checking for any lost equipment or alternative exits. "You certainly seem like you've done this before."
"Break out of jail? Heh, actually no, this is my first time. But I have made a career out of breaking into high security locations."
"You're a bank robber?"
"And a museum robber. Twilight Sparkle."
"Rarity." The red-haired unicorn returned the introduction.
The two found the end of the passage opened out into an open storeroom filled with cardboard boxes. Two guards stood at the doorway discussing “…and I’m like, ‘Look at how much I care. Heh, I don’t care.’ I ended up buffing up my guys and doing like, 70 damage.” …something.
Twilight rolled behind a box with Rarity sneaking behind her. They needed to find some way of getting past these two.
Distract Synchronized Take Down Bounce Bros Tall Guy