Stealing Equestria

The group sit around the table in their individual seats apart from Spitfire. In the centre of the table is a countdown clock till the heist showing ten minutes. Frozen Quill takes a drag on his cigarette along with Vinyl.

"You know your roles, how much we need and how this will go down." Frozen Quill crushes his cigarette into the ashtray and cracks his neck.

"Hmm I've not been this excited since we last paired up." Vinyl states joyfully as she also crushes her cigarette into the ashtray.

Frozen Quill stands up and casually makes his way to the front of the table as he gets a quill out of his bag and starts spinning it around his fingers.

"Allow me to explain, we are a unified collective, a group. Right now at this very moment the city is teeming with cops of various motives and status. If that scares you then good, but for me? I find that exciting. Thousands of cops all in one city, in such a close proximity to us. We are about to preform a heist in broad daylight under the eyes of countless ponies. This is no longer just about us. This is about what we represent as a united symbol. I know cops who would die to bring this room down, who would lock us up and get a fat bonus. We are some of the best the criminal world has to offer and I plan to make that known. This is a message against the system, against everything the whole of Equestria knows. This is our time to truly let loose and feel alive, no shackles, no chains, this is our time right now. I don't know about you, but my blood is burning and I intend to live every heist to its full potential. When this countdown is done, me and Vinyl have a little musical surprise for you all." Frozen Quill enthusiastically explains as he throws his quill up into the air.

The quill lands on the table sticking into it as the counter reaches zero and begins to play a jazz based composition which fills the whole base.

"Ladies and gentlecolts we're on the clock, let's get this done." Frozen Quill states as he leaves the room for the armoury, wearing a massive smile.

"Oh hell yeah!" Vinyl sings as she jumps up and slides across the table following Frozen Quill.

"I'm starting to love this guy~" Rainbow happily states as she jumps out of her seat and follows.

The others look at each other and sigh before following the trio into the armoury. Each one of them go to their lockers and put on a normal suit which they straighten and adjust to fit them. Frozen Quill slings his messenger bag on. He then slides an interceptor .45 pistol into the holster under his suit jacket and an AK47 rifle into his bag alongside his ink wells, in a separate messenger bag he puts two large medical kits. Vinyl dances around to the music as she gets dressed and slides her crosskill pistol into her jacket holster while the AMCAR rifle goes in her bag along with her two trip mines. Applejack sways a little to the beat as she adjusts her suit and puts her own messenger bag on, she stuffs two bags filled with ammo clips into it along with an eagle heavy rifle. In her jacket holster she slides the handheld mark 10 sub machine gun. Derpy happily gets changed to the music and puts her own bags on which contain her ECM jammer and commando 553 rifle. She slips a chimano 88 pistol into her jacket holster. They all put on latex gloves and apply a black collar around their neck.

"These collars hold our magically compact masks, they were a huge hit this year on the black market and have remained ever so popular." Vinyl explains as they finish getting ready.

Rainbow slips an interceptor .45 pistol into the back hemline of her trousers as she rushes out of the armoury to the garage of the base. Everypony follows her and climbs into the back of the van as Rainbow starts it up and shifts her into gear.

"Hold on everypony, it's showtime!" Rainbow states with enthusiasm as she pushes the button to open the garage doors.

Once open she slams onto the accelerator which makes them speed off out of the nightclub back ally and off towards their shopping destination.

The group is dropped off in the parking lot beside the electronics store before it speeds off to begin its laps of the block.

"Everypony remembers the plan? No civilian casualties, understood?" Frozen Quill prompts the group who nod.

"What about cops?" Applejack asks, folding her arms.

"Kill as necessary... I'd rather not have any killed, but if it can't be helped then don't hesitate. Where possible take downs are appreciated." Frozen Quill answers.

"Let's see how this goes then." Vinyl states before the group disperse.

The gang split up and casually make their way to the four separate significant stores on the street they scoped out yesterday. Vinyl walks into the electronic store seemingly playing a game on her phone, little did anyone know she was actually hacking and disabling the store's security cameras. Once finished she puts away her phone and starts to inspect a  pair of bass boosted XL lime green headphones. Across the street Frozen Quill casually walks inside the antique store and begins looking around at the many vases and old pots that are on display. He can see a break room just opposite the front door and another door in the back to the left of the cash registers. In the coffee shop next door Derpy walks in and takes a seat at a table before ordering a cappuccino from a waitress. Looking across the street next door to the electronic store she can see Applejack walk into the convenience and begin looking around the very extensive potato crisp section scoping out the lone security camera in the corner which Vinyl should have hacked.

"Let's do this..." Frozen Quill whispers, seemingly to himself.

Frozen Quill taps the side of his neck just under his chin to make a mask magically appear over his face before pulling out his interceptor .45 pistol and shooting once into the ceiling, gaining the attention of everyone in the store.

"If you'd all like to assume the needed position, you're being robbed!" Frozen Quill states as a guard pulls out his own pistol.

Frozen Quill sprints for the guard and knocks the pistol up out of his hand before slamming his knee into the guards chest and pistol whipping him round the face to subdue him. Frozen Quill then uses whatever cable ties he can and rounds up the stores occupants including the subdued guard. He then rushes to the till and shoots it open before grabbing all the money.

"How is it going, Mrs. Blue?" Frozen Quill asks, checking his hostages.

Meanwhile across the street Vinyl has already put on her mask, subdued her own single guard and cleared out the register.

"I'm just peachy, now drilling a safe which will take a minute or so. How about you Mrs. Orange and Mrs. Grey?"

Applejack has subdued who she could and cleaned out the register in the grocery store along with the ATM in the front corner of the store.

"I have about all this store can manage, how about y'all?" Applejack states, checking her own eagle heavy rifle.

Derpy suddenly bursts through the window beside Frozen Quill and giggles slightly.

"I'm already done, how long will the van be?" Derpy asks, checking the hostages.

"I'm going to be a minute, just hang on." Rainbow Dash states over their magical earpieces.

Outside Frozen can see police units storming the streets bearing their M.P.D insignia on the back of their uniforms.

"Cops are here, make some noise and remember what I said." Frozen Quill moves with Derpy to the store entrance.

Across the street Vinyl is occasionally leaning out the doorway of the electronics store to take a few shots at the cops. Some of her shots actually hit and kill several police members causing others to pull back leaving Applejack to pick 'em off.

"Thirty seconds, almost there" Rainbow Dash updates the team as another wave of cops hit the street.

This time a unit of S.W.A.T. storm the street making Vinyl and Applejack expend more ammo before taking them down. Frozen Quill aims for a few head shots with Derpy understanding the situation is dire.

"I thought y'all said this here would be a simple gig?" Applejack asks, dodging some bullet fire to get into the alley beside the store.

"I guess they take criminal activity much more seriously than when I ran around with Vinyl!" Frozen Quill yells as he and Derpy move out into the street behind a car for cover.

"I'm in the alley behind the grocery store, move it!" Rainbow Dash informs the group.

Vinyl moves out of the store after Applejack lays down some cover fire and they both provide cover for Frozen Quill and Derpy who just barely make it into the alley. Vinyl pops and throws a live grenade under one of the cop cars which explodes taking several S.W.A.T. units with it. After the explosion, the group retreat further into the alley coming to a door.

"I got this!" Derpy states, kneeling down to begin pick locking the door.

The rest of the group watch both alleyway entrances while Derpy works and once the door is open rush through to see the van. Sunset Shimmer opens the door and the group quickly dive into the back, only having to pick off a few S.W.A.T units who gave pursuit.

"That was awesome!" Vinyl exclaims as she taps her neck again to take down her mask.

"Yeah... Just like old times." Frozen Quill states with a weak smile as he takes down his mask.

"You alright there?" Applejack asks.

Derpy gets out a first aid kit and moves to Frozen Quill making him move the hand which is covering a bullet wound to his leg.

"Well... Almost awesome." Vinyl loses her enthusiasm.

"I'm fine... It can easily be removed and patched up. How are we with the money we stole?" Frozen Quill asks, looking at Vinyl.

"Well, looking at it all and the manifest Pandora submitted to us this morning... I'd safely say we have over fifty thousand bit notes worth of cash here. It should meet our client's criteria for the heist nicely." Vinyl states with a smile.

"That's good. How do you feel, driver?" Frozen Quill asks, looking to the front of the van through the small grated section.

"When we get home I'm pushing for a cool nickname, ya hear?" Rainbow Dash looks in the back with a wide grin.

The group enter the meeting room with Vinyl helping Frozen Quill to his seat as everyone places their messenger bags on the table. Applejack throws the gym bag containing the money from the heist on the centre of the table before sitting down. As they settle, the TV screen turns on and show the normal image of Pandora.

"Judging from the police reports I'm hearing about, you decided to up your timetable and do the heist now. Given you're all here and nobody is dead, I can't complain about results. I take it all the money is accounted for. Silverwing will be pleased with this outcome and might have more work for you later on. As we progress through this you will gain a list of contacts who will have jobs for you. Silverwing is from the frozen north and has connections to a Hooviet gang that used to run a certain district in Manehatten. Now Silverwing wants to start things up again and you have helped towards this. You'll find my first heist celebration gift in the armoury after you put away your gear. I'll contact you soon with another heist, good job." Pandora finishes before the screen turns off and is put away.

"This time went well at least... I only ended up with a shot to the leg." Frozen Quill complains.

"Oh please, you have had far worse. Now, let us put away our gear and celebrate our first win as part of the crew." Vinyl states, grabbing some of the bags and heading to the armoury.

"I'll help ya put away the stuff." Applejack states, before following Vinyl.

"If none of you mind, I'm going to lay down for a bit." Frozen Quill exclaims before standing up and, with Derpy's help, makes it to his room.

The pair enter the room and Frozen Quill removes his suit jacket and shirt. Laying on his bed, he sighs deeply.

"Derpy... Before you go I have a question..." Frozen Quill looks at Derpy.

"Sure, what is it?" Derpy looks puzzled as she changes Frozen Quill's bandages.

"What do you think about all this? The heists and stuff." Frozen Quill asks, flinching in pain as she disinfects and redresses his bandages.

"I like it here. True we might be causing the government trouble, but I don't care much about that. My muffin store was closed down because of a false report an inspector filed... Needless to say I'm in it to get what I lost back. So, I have no problems causing hurt to those who let the system get this corrupt." Derpy stands up and goes to leave. "Why do you ask?"

Frozen Quill sighs deeply. "I'm not sure... Guess I'm still figuring out why I'm here to begin with."

"Well, I hope you figure it out and get some rest. Goodnight." Derpy states, leaving as she shuts the door.

Frozen Quill rolls over and closes his eyes as images of his writing days and normal time spent with Vinyl cross his thoughts before slipping off into sleep.