A new world for an old thief
Meanwhile, in a scientific lab, researchers were trying to develop a drone that could fly into space using high pressure without any rocket fuel. So far, there were no breakthroughs, but a man running into the lab with papers describing the amount of force needed could hold the key to the experiment’s success.
“I’ve figured it out!” he yelled, grabbing the attention of his colleagues. The other scientists ran to the aid of the man, hoping that this was just what they were searching for. “Here. The papers. They say. The math.” he said in between breaths. Finally, the man’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he passed out from exhaustion. After the man fell to the floor, the nearest scientist, who went by the name of Nick, gently took the papers from the man’s hand. After a brief moment to look over the calculations, Nick exclaimed with excitement. “He’s right! This is what we’ve been looking for!”
The other scientists cheered and yelled in celebration. They had been working on this project for years and had never been able to figure out what they were doing wrong. “This is the error we overlooked.” Nick said, causing the cheering to die down. “We weren’t using nearly enough pressure. The amount of pressurized force required to give the drone enough acceleration to escape the Earth’s atmosphere simply couldn’t be contained in such a small container.”
“So what are you saying?” another scientist asked. “That we somehow increase the size of the container?” Nick laughed at that. “No I’m saying we make a whole new container. And this time, we make it bigger. A lot bigger.
Nick wasn’t kidding when he said to make it bigger. By the time it was completed, the container for the drone to be launched from had definitely doubled in size, and possibly tripled or even quadrupled.
“Wow.” one scientist commented. “The sure is impressive, but will it fly?” she asked, turning to Nick.
Nick smiled. Nodding his head, he turned to the control panel. He put on the headset that allowed him to communicate with the other labs.
“Begin air flow,” he said, starting the launch. The other labs were helping too. A scientist flipped a switch on a massive air tank connected to the drone’s canister. A steady hiss began to fill the air. “Air flow initiated.” she said back.
“Air pressure activated. Air pressure at fifty percent.” Nick said, indicating how far away they were from the launch. “Air pressure at seventy five percent. Begin the launch sequence.”
A minute later, the only thing anyone could her was the chanting of a countdown. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six.”
“Air pressure at one hundred percent. Activate the tracing chip.”
Tracking chip activated. Signal clear; no interference.”
“Five, four, three, two, one.”
“LAUNCH!”
In a split second, all of the air pressure that had been building up in the drone’s container suddenly released, sending the drone high up into the air and out of sight.
The cheering did not continue. All of the scientists, including Nick, were only watching the sky where the drone had launched into.
“Did it work?” one of he scientists asked aloud. Without looking back, Nick answered. “If out calculations were correct, then the drone should have enough force to break through the Earth’s gravitational field.”
“And if out math was wrong?”
“Worst case, some collateral damage. Best case, the drone will give people something to talk about on social media.”
Carmen Sandiego, having stolen the Hope Diamond and escaped yet again, was soaring through the stratosphere on her way to her next destination when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, saw an incoming object heading her way.
“What in the…” was all Carmen could say before her rocket was hit by the object, which she was able to see before she was hit. It was a drone! Being hit by the drone caused Carmen’s rocket to spin out of control away from the Earth! Carmen tried to regain control of her rocket, but it was no use. The rocket was heading straight for a black hole! Now, there was no use struggling. The strength of the gravity of the black hole was too much. Carmen made sure to have a firm grip with her hands on the controls as she held on for dear life.
As she was being sucked into the black hole, Carmen swore she saw swirling images all around her. The last thing Carmen saw was a field of green trees. They looked like apple trees. Then Carmen hit her head, and the world around her went black.
Slowly opening her eyes, Carmen came to. Looking around the room she was in, she realized that someone must have captured her while she was unconscious. But seeing the flowers on the table next to her, the bright painting on the wall, and the fat that she was not in handcuffs, Carmen deducted that she was not a prisoner.
Speaking of hands, Carmen slowly realized that she did not feel like herself. She still had her signature red trench coat and hat, as they were on a coat rack near the door. Her head still hurt like she had been hit head-on, no pun intended, with a Mac Truck.
Actually, Carmen actually felt better now that sh thought about it. The strain of running had finally caught up with her, but all of that stress was miraculously gone. As if Carmen had a good night’s sleep.
Holding her hand to her face, Carmen realized in horrible terror that she did not have hands! Her arms were covered in fur, and they instead ended with hooves like a horse. Looking over her entire body, Carmen saw that her hair had become a mane, and she had also grown a tail. An image on either side of her rear depicted a wide-brimmed hat, not unlike her very own hat of the same shade of red.
‘What kind of horse have I been turned into?’ Carmen thought as she tried to stand up on her hind legs, only to find herself on all fours. ‘And why can’t I remember anything?’
“Ah, I see you’re awake.” said a female voice. Looking towards the door, Carmen saw a female horse with a red cross on her rear, white fur on her body, and a pink mane and tail. “Please excuse any interruption, but my name is RedHeart, and I’m your nurse for your time in the Ponyville Hospital.”
Never once in her entire life had Carmen heard of such names. “What happened…” Carmen tried to say, but was interrupted by blurred vision and a loss of balance. Before Carmen could fall to the ground, the nurse who went by the name of RedHeart caught her in her hooves.
“Careful. As I was told, you had some crash. According to the news, your rocket destroyed about a third of Sweet Apple Acres.” RedHeart said as she guided Carmen back to the bed. “Applejack was not happy. In fact, she said the only reason she didn’t send you to the hospital was because you already had to because of your head injury.”
“Sweet...Apple...Jack...what?” Carmen said softly, still not understanding the naming system of anything in this obviously different world than what she was used to. Carmen thought that she had gone insane when a pony started talking to her, but had decided to accept her new reality. This time, Carmen decided to focus on something else RedHeart had said.
“Head Injury?” Carmen asked, unsure of what it meant. “Yes, it appears that you hit your head in the crash. Do you remember anything that happened before the crash?” Carmen rubbed her new earth pony head with a hoof, trying to recall anything she could. “I just remember a black hole. Past that…” she stopped to shake her head, which caused her mane to fall over her eyes.
“I understand. The blunt force from the crash alone could have caused the brain damage. It is very likely that you have amnesia.” Sure enough, when Carmen scratched her head, she did not feel fur. Luckily, there was a mirror in the room.
Ignoring RedHeart’s advice, Carmen got out of bed and walked slowly to the mirror. It may have only been six or seven feet, but Carmen was not used to the way ponies walk, so she was shaky.
Looking at the mirror, Carmen stared at her now form intensely. Her new coat was the same color as her skin, a light tan. Her mane and tail were black in the same billowing style her old hair had always been. Wrapped around her head were multiple bandages. How they helped, Carmen couldn’t understand.
“What are these bandages for?” Carmen asked. Nurse RedHeart replied excitedly. “Ooh! Those are our new magical enchanted bandages! The help relieve any pain, AND they heal any kind of head trauma over time!”
Carmen was surprised that RedHeart had used the phrase, “Magical Enchanted” like it was the most common thing in the world. It went to show that Carmen still had a lot to learn about this new world.
“How long have I been out?” she asked RedHeart, who fidgeted like she didn’t want to tell Carmen the answer. Finally, she caved and told the truth.
“You have been in a coma for over four days.” she said before tensing and looking away, as if expecting a strike. ‘Four Days?’ Carmen thought. She was very confused why RedHeart hadn’t inquired further when she told her about the black hole. “Why are you so nervous?”
Once again smiling faintly, RedHeart explained why she was skittish. “It’s not you. It’s just that my boss just so happened to come to this hospital the same day you woke up.” Carmen failed to see the problem, but sympathized RedHeart for being nervous with her boss in the building.
“You see…”RadHeart started again. “My boss, well…...he has what you would call, ‘Unorthodox’ methods of curing his patients. But only very few ponies have died under his care. He’s very efficient. Some have even called him a miracle worker.”
Unorthodox? Miracle Worker? Carmen was beginning to question just who RedHeart’s boss was. What could he do that other doctors couldn’t? But before Carmen could ask RedHeart anything, another pony walked in. But he walked differently than RedHeart, and the reason was on one of his limbs.
Resting on the pony’s right hind leg was what appeared to be a cast. Something was wrong with this pony’s leg. Carmen felt sorry for him, but saw that he didn’t even show any kind of pain when he limped on his bad leg. Then, when she saw him open a bottle of pills and take a few, she realized two things.
One, was that this pony was using pain medication. Carmen thought she should’ve seen the dead giveaway when the image on this pony’s flank was a very similar bottle of pills, but with a smaller image of a single pill on the inside of the larger image. But Carmen had dismissed it as a correlation to the job he had.
Two, was the way the pony had taken the pills. He hadn’t used his hoof like RedHeart used hers. Instead, a long, pointed appendage on the top of his head had glowed, and the bottle had levitated to pour the pills into his hoof from where he had tossed them into his mouth. It was like nothing Carmen had ever seen before.
“How is the patient doing?” the new pony asked RedHeart, who had manage to collect herself by the time the pony walked through the door. “She’s awake. That’s the good news. The bad news is that she can’t remember much.” RedHeart answered before turning to Carmen. “This is who I was telling you about. This is Doctor Horse, and he is the head of the medical department at the hospital in Manehatan.”
“I’m also a certified surgeon, which means if I happen to be at a hospital that is missing one by any chance, I would be able to step in.” Horse added, nodding to RedHeart as a sign to watch and learn. “Now,” he said, redirecting his attention to Carmen. “Amnesia could either be the effect of severe head trauma, OR, the symptom of a previously diagnosed neurological disease.”
The last three words of Horse’s sentence confused Carmen because she had never really been interested in the medical field, so she didn’t completely understand all the terms associated with it.
“There’s a possibility you could have a mental illness, a brain sickness if you will.” Horse simplified. Now Carmen knew what he was talking about. The grey hair of Doctor Horse’s mane and tail told her that he was very old and/or very experienced. Also that he used long words by default. “But nothing like this has happened before. At least, not as long as I remember.” Carmen protested. She would deny any knowledge of a lasting brain disease, because she honestly couldn’t remember if she had one.
“OR.” Horse continued, catching Carmen’s center of focus. “The problem could be a brain tumor. That would explain the short term memory loss. But it’s not. Do you want to know how I can tell it’s not a brain tumor?” he asked Carmen, who nodded her head. She couldn’t believe that this doctor could diagnose anything just by knowing she had memory loss.
“I know it’s not a tumor because then you would also have lost body functions such as motor movement or sudden loss of sight. That didn’t happen within the last four days, so we can rule that out. Speaking of which, I’ve been told that you’ve been out like a light in a coma since you were found at the crash site. Since then, all repairs to AJ’s farm have been made and all the damages have been paid for out of my own wallet.”
“Wait.” Nurse RedHeart interrupted. Grabbing Horse’s attention. “You paid for damages to a pony’s farm because of a rocket crash, with your own money? You do know that the insurance alone could have paid in full right?” she said, implying that saying it made Horse sound like the nicest pony in the world.
“Yes. I do.” Horse countered. “But I felt like a generous stallion, so I personally paid for AJ’s losses myself. Out of my paycheck I might add. So the next time someone wants payment for things they need replaced, don’t look at me. I did my goof deed for the week.” The last part of what Horse said confused Carmen. Good deed for the week? Was he obligated to help someone else at least once a week? But Carmen saw it as none of her business, so she didn’t ask.
“Anyway,” Horse said, turning back to Carmen. “No.” RedHeart said,, making sure he didn’t have a chance to eyeball any diagnosis. “I’m sorry, what?” Horse asked, obviously confused. “She doesn’t have any brain sickness.” she said firmly. “Oh. Good. Mind telling me how you are so sure?” Horse inquired, eager to hear RedHeart’s response. “One, she is not your patient, Two, we already performed a brain scan.” Horse’s eyes lit up. “Oh did you now? Well what were the results?” RedHeart wasted no time telling him. “Nothing. No brain tumor, no abnormal brain waves, nothing.”
“Well.” Horse said admittedly. “I honestly didn’t expect you to be one step ahead of me, but with my bad leg, I really shouldn’t be surprised.” RedHeart blinked in surprise, as if what Horse just said was shocking. “Did...you...just make a joke?” she asked him curiously. “Well maybe I did and maybe I didn’t. Who really knows for sure?”
Where in Equestria is Carmen Sandiego?
By: Dj Bron3
“Stop right there!” Jason yelled to the person trying to escape. Carmen Sandiego. The greatest thief of all time. Able to steal just about anything she wanted, whether it be a two thousand year old statue, or the newest piece of technological wonder. If Carmen wanted it, then sooner or later, she would get it. Aided by countless henchmen and with every piece of equipment a thief would need, along with technology that would make scientists drool with envy.
Carmen looked at the Hope Diamond in her hand, not concerned in the least that she once again had a couple of ACME detectives closing in on her. She herself had once been an ACME detective before turning to a life of crime, finding more interest and excitement in running from authorities.
Standing on top of the National Museum of Natural History, looking down at the ACME detectives that had been hot on her trail since she had begun her latest crime spree. Jason, and his partner Hannah, were attaching cables to the side of the building. Carmen knew that it was pointless, as she could escape at any time in her jet. But she smiled at the struggle the two put up in a desperate attempt to catch her.
Carmen turned to the two henchmen who stood behind her. Their masks covering their entire faces save for the area around their noses and mouths. Light blue coats, Dark sunglasses, and red and dark blue striped arms and legs showed that they allied themselves with Carmen, and dedicated themselves to her cause of stealing items from around the world.
“Be sure to give our friends down there a warm welcome. By the time they get up here, I’ll be long gone. But I’ll make sure they don’t leave empty handed.” she said to the pair, who nodded in response.
Since her defection from ACME, Carmen had formed her own alliance. She had dubbed her new family of crime, “VILE”. Noting that she still cared about the detectives, but no longer believed in their cause. Instead, she now thought that if she wanted something, she would simply take it. But she was no danger to the lives of others. She had actually saved ACME’s detectives on more than one occasion. What fun was playing a game if there was no one to play with.
Jason and Hannah were now about halfway up the side of the building. The two henchmen who had been waiting patiently, beside Carmen jumped off the side of the building like they sprouted wings. Instead of falling to their demise, red rocket boosters extended on the edges of wings that folded out out from backpacks on their backs.
Circling around, the henchmen aimed straight for the detectives scaling the wall. “Look out! We’ve got company!” Jason yelled out to Hannah, who gasped at how fast the henchmen were approaching. Suddenly, Hannah had an idea. It was a crazy one, but it just might work. “Unfasten your harness!” she yelled to Jason, who responded with, “Are you Crazy?! If we make one wrong move without our harnesses, we’re goners!”
Hannah had to be crazy if she thought removing the only thing that was keeping them attached to the side of the building was a good idea. But Hannah had this plan thought out. The only problem was that the timing would have to be perfect.
“Trust me!” Hannah called back, trying to reassure her partner that she knew what she was doing. Of course Jason trusted her, as they had been solving cases for years together. But he was always unsure of when Hannah did something risky. Reluctantly, he nodded.
The two agents released the buckles connecting them to the rope. Held in place by only their hands now. The henchmen closing in.
“You two look a little stuck. Let us help you.” said one of the henchmen, hovering next to Jason,who was hanging from the cable on the left, while the other henchmen hovered next to Hannah on the right.
“Thanks.” Hannah replied, nodding to her partner, who nodded back, finally catching on to his partner’s plan. “But we’re just fine.”
Hannah and Jason swung their cables to reach their respective henchmen, grabbing onto their crimson red metal backpacks.
“Hey!” the henchmen yelled in surprise. “Get off!” they said while struggling to remain in the air.
Naturally, Hannah and Jason weren’t going to do that. As the detectives reached for the control sticks for the jetpacks, the henchmen realised it was a one sided struggle. Abandoning the jetpacks, the henchmen jumped into the air again. This time, they activated parachutes and slowly descended to the police waiting below at ground level.
Now holding onto the jetpacks and nothing else, and falling rapidly from the sky, the two agents from ACME were hastily strapping themselves into the rocket powered devices. Trying not to become nothing more than two red stains on the sidewalk.
Finally, Hannah had managed to gain control of the jetpack. She activated it, stopping her fall and suspending her a mere dozen or so feet above the ground. She looked around for her partner, and saw that Jason had activated his jetpack a couple of feet below her. A relieved smile broke across hannah’s face. “Come on, today is the day we finally see Carmen behind bars!” she said with confidence to her partner.
The two of them flew up to the top of the building, where Carmen was already escaping! A jet with the notorious thief’s signature crimson red color painted on it was powering up to take off! In fact, it was already moving upwards and away from the building.
“Oh no you don't. Not this time!” Jason said, powering his jetpack in pursuit of the jet, which was already gaining speed. Managing to grab hold of one of the wings, he held on for dear life as it accelerated.
“Give...It...Up...Carmen!” he struggled to say over the gusts of wind hitting his face and the noise of the engine.
“It seems you’re having a hard time just talking back there Jason.” Carmen countered. “How to you plan to make me accept defeat when you can’t even say the words? And besides, it’s only a matter of time before your arms give out anyway.”
Jason hated to admit it, but Carmen was right. His arms were starting to feel heavy, and his hands were sore. But he wouldn’t give up that easily. Despite his pains, he pushed on, even trying to climb across the side of the wing towards the cockpit where Carmen sat.
“Looks like this is your stop detective.” Carmen said, noticing that they were now flying over the Potomac River. “I don’t think so Carmen!” Jason shot back. But he couldn’t hold on much longer, and he knew it. Carmen saw how weak his arms were becoming, and how small and short his movements were.
Making sure the ACME agent would still be able to activate his rocket boosters again, Carmen pressed a big red button in the center of her control console. With a hiss of steam, the wings of the jet detached, and Jason along with them. Letting go of the now useless wing, Jason let his backpack activate, leaving him to watch Carmen’s newly transformed rocket shoot up into the sky and out of sight behind a blanket of clouds.
Carmen Sandiego had escaped yet again.
Several minutes later, as Hannah saw that Jason had returned without the crimson coated crook in his custody, she pieced together what had happened.
“So, let me guess, Carmen got away didn’t she?” she said with a raised eyebrow. “Not now Hannah, please.” he begged. Jason was still upset that Carmen escaped from the detectives once again, and he didn’t need his friend’s humor right now.
Hannah understood her partner’s frustration, as she was also disappointed that no matter what, it seemed like Carmen always escaped one way or another. She was just better at coping with it.
“Can you at least pay attention long enough for us to try and figure out Carmen’s latest clue?” Hannah asked impatiently. He nodded his head, not saying anything.
The clue that Carmen left on the top of the building before taking off in her jet was a two part system, to say the least.
It was a model of the solar system, but in reverse. Pluto was the closest to the sun in the center, and Mercury was the farthest away. A button on the base of the display played the same recording every time it was pressed.
“Walking the right was will lead you to the king.”
The message was definitely recorded by Carmen, as it was said in her voice and tone.
“Walking the right way…” Hannah repeated. She walked to the edge of the building, looking over at the illuminated city of Washington D.C. The lights seemingly dancing like stars against the night sky.
“What could she mean by that? And why are the planets in reverse?” Jason asked, clearly confused. “I don’t know, but…….Wait!” she suddenly exclaimed, noticing something on the model that she didn’t see before.
“Look at Mars on the model! It has carmen’s logo on it!” Jason looked closer at the miniature figure of Mars.
Sure enough, instead of Mars’s usual red surface, a red and black symbol of a woman nodding her hat in front of her face. The calling card of the notorious thief in her signature colors.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what Mars looks like. Unless the aliens there have suddenly taken a shine to Carmen.” he said with a snicker.
“Very funny wise guy. You know there’s no such thing as aliens.” Hannah replied with a roll of her eyes.
“Don’t be so sure Hannah. With the infiniteness of the universe, there’s bound to be intelligent life out there somewhere.” Jason responded with a smirk, causing Hannah to facepalm.
She sighed before continuing. “Can we just get back to trying to figure out where in the world Carmen is heading plase?”
Jason nodded, but kept his smile. “Wait a minute…” Hannah said, pondering something. “Player, infoscan Mars a sec.” she said, looking at a non-existent camera. Suddenly, a sparkling pink window of light appeared out of nowhere.
Inside the window, the cheery face of a man with blond hair and circular glasses appeared. The only difference between this and a facetime call was the fact that the man had no body. He was only a floating head.
“Alright, listen up gumshoes!” said the chief. “Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, which was named after the Roman god of war. Scientists estimate that Mars is over four point six billion years old. Wow, that’s a lot of birthday candles, am I right?” he said as a cartoon representation of Mars with arms, legs, and a face blew out.
Then the image shifted back to a real life picture of Mars. “Mars is also sometimes referred to as, ‘The Red Planet,’ because of the reddish iron on it’s surface that gives it it’s color.”
Hannah seemed to piece something together. “Wait, Jason, that’s it! Carmen didn’t mean Mars, she meant the Red Planet!” she said excitedly.
Jason wasn’t following. “But what does that have to do with walking the right way leading us to the king?”
Hannah shook her head with a smile. She was pretty sure she figures it out. “Remember how Michael Jackson would walk backwards when he did his famous ‘Moonwalk’?”
Jason was finally understanding. “And Michael Jackson is known as the ‘King’ of Pop. But what does the Red Planet have to do with this if Carmen really is after something that belonged to Michael Jackson?” he said, not screwing in all the bolts.
“Maybe Carmen doesn’t mean the planet itself, but the color red.” Jason was a few pieces short of the full puzzle. “I still don’t get it.” he said, still scratching his head in confusion.
“Don’t you see? Moonwalking is walking the right way. Michael Jason is the ‘King’ of pop, and when he was performing his Thriller video, he was wearing his famous red jacket.” Hannah explained.
Jason’s eyes widened in realization. “You mean Carmen’s going to try and steal Michael Jackson’s Thriller Jacket?”
Hannah stared straight into his eyes. “Precisely. And judging by the fact that she turned her jet into a rocket, she’s either going to space, or she’s already there.”
