"Pinkie Pie! Hey! Pinkie! Where are you?"
Silence in response. Rainbow Dash flew all over Ponyville early in the morning trying to find the pink earth pony. But she couldn’t find her.
"Where the hell are you always missing?"
Rainbow Dash decided to land in the middle of the field on the road leading straight to Ponyville. It was the middle of summer. A gentle wind was blowing, stirring the tips of the grasses. The sun was just coming out of the horizon, stretching its warm rays across Equestria, and the birds were just beginning to sing, complementing the composition of the wind.
And so, to the natural symphony of the morning summer, Rainbow Dash wondered where Pinkie Pie might be and how she could be found quickly. With each passing second, she was getting deeper and deeper into her thoughts.
"Aha! I know!"
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her voice: “Fun!”. Her scream echoed across the vast area, interrupting the song of the birds, and the word itself could be heard for many kilometers. The echo became fainter and fainter, eventually silence fell. Rainbow began to look around in the hope of finding her friend.
Suddenly, Rainbow noticed a cloud of dust rising in the distance over the horizon, heading towards Pegasus. And the dust was followed by the clop of hooves, which grew louder and louder every second. Because of the dust, Rainbow couldn't figure out who or what was approaching her at such a high speed. However, she didn't worry about it, because she assumed WHO it might be.
After a couple of seconds, the object approached Rainbow and stopped a meter away from her, raising even more dust into the sky. Rainbow began to clear her throat, simultaneously waving her hoof to dispel the dust. Behind the cloud, as she had expected, was Pinkie Pie, who was staring at her with a wide smile on her face.
"Hi, Rainbow! You wanna have fun?"
"Hello, Pinkie! Of course we'll have fun. But for now I need your help. You know what's going to happen in Manehattan in two days, right?"
"Oh, are you talking about the book exhibition that will be held in the main library of the city and in which famous pony authors throughout Equestria will present their new bestsellers? Of course I know! I'm going there too, because in addition to books there will also be musical instruments to sell. I want to buy a harmonica there."
"Great, I won't have to explain everything to you. In short, in this exhibition, A. K. Yearling will present a new part of the book from the series about "Daring Do". But the problem is that the edition itself will be released first in Manehattan, and then throughout Equestria. That is, I can only purchase this book after a couple of months."
"What is your point, Rainbow?"
"What I mean is I can't wait that long. That's why I had a brilliant idea yesterday."
"You propose to go straight to Manehattan, try to find A. K. Yearling and ask her to give you right away-"
"Rob the library!"
Pinkie Pie stared at Rainbow Dash in surprise.
"I’m sorry what?"
"We'll just quickly break into the library and steal the book."
"Are you crazy?"
"What's the big deal? No one will know that we will do this. And they've probably already released a couple hundred copies of the new book, so they won't actually lose anything."
"I don't think that's how it works. And why did you ask me for help, and not someone else?"
"Well, two of us are constantly working, so they won't care about me and my help. One of them will immediately refuse, and I just don't want to drag Fluttershy into this adventure. Therefore, only you will stay. So, are you with me?"
"Well, I don't even know."
"You can also grab your harmonica from there. Besides, it's going to be fun! And you like fun, don't you?"
Pinkie Pie started thinking.
"To be honest, this is a terrible idea. But you know what they say: "Who does not take risks, does not drink apple cider." Okay, I'm in."
"Great! The only thing we need to do right now is to find some kind of disguise. I can ask Rarity to sew something for us, but I'll have to explain it to her in a normal way-"
"Oh, don’t worry about it!"
Pinkie Pie lifted her hoof and dipped it into her mane, then began to looking for something. After a few seconds, she took out two masks.
"Wait is that the masks from the last Halloween? Why do you keep them?"
"For an important day, of course. And it has just arrived. Plus, they're still intact, why would I throw them away?"
"Fair enough. In that case, we have solved the problem with the disguise. Now let's go to Manehattan right now!"
"Okie Dokie Lokie!"
Rainbow Dash headed for Ponyville on foot, and Pinkie Pie followed her.
"By the way, do you have a plan?"
"There is no complete one, but there are sketches. And besides, this plan is simple and reliable. What could possibly go wrong?"
(At that time, our heroes did not even imagine what kind of adventure they would get into).
The robbery of the century
It was early morning. The sun had not yet set over the horizon. There was a dead silence on the streets of Manehattan, only occasionally you could hear the singing of awakened birds.
One day had passed since the dialogue between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie on the road to Ponyville, and now the pegasus and the pink pony were already standing in front of the doors of the largest library in the city.
"So, Rainbow, about your plan. We'll just break in there, you'll immediately steal A. K. Yearling’s book and help me find my harmonica, and then at the same speed as we fly in there, we'll fly out of this library, right?"
"And we’ll do this in 30 seconds. Well, a minute at most."
"And you also don't know about the location of rooms, cameras, what kind of security there might be, and even more so, where your book itself is located, right?"
"Why do I need to know this? This robbery will pass quickly anyway. Besides, I will not return here in the future."
"Well, then may Celestia help us carry out this operation without any problems."
Rainbow Dash began to put on her mask.
"Okay, enough of all this talk. It's time to start. And don't forget: I am a Daredevil, and you are a Joker."
Pinkie nodded in agreement and also began to put on her mask.
Rainbow stood in a snatch stance, spread her wings, and started to mentally prepare. She took a deep breath…
"Bring it on!"
Rainbow Dash abruptly broke away from her seat and flew with all speed towards the library, intending to smash the door with her head. And after a second and a half, the sounds of a dull impact on a wooden surface were heard.
"Motherfu-"
Rainbow rolled back to the place from which she had went, clutching her head with her hooves and grunting in pain.
"What the hay?! Why couldn't I kick down the doors?! Are they made of oak or something?! I thought the library opened at 6 a.m.!"
Pinkie Pie calmly walked to the entrance and opened the doors. Rainbow Dash looked at her in surprise.
"The doors open the other way, Rainbow."
Rainbow quickly got up and went to the door, pretending that none of this had happened.
Rainbow and Pinkie found themselves in a long corridor lined with portraits of authors of various works. There were two doors in this place: one of them was to the left of the pony and led to the bathroom, and the second one at the end of the corridor and led directly to the main hall. Near the far door on the right was a table, behind which lay the stallion responsible for guarding the store. However, he was fast asleep now. Apparently, the noise coming from the street did not wake him up. The fillies quietly walked past the guard and entered the next room. They found themselves in the library.
The library itself was a large circular hall two floors high. On the ground floor, bookshelves were placed in two rows along the entire perimeter of the hall: one row along the walls, and the other two meters from the wall, thereby forming circular departments. On the second floor, the shelves were located only along the walls, and the rest of the area was fenced with railings. A huge skylight window hung above the library for natural lighting of the hall. But now the hall was illuminated by lamps that stood on tables located opposite the main entrance.
Going to the center of the hall, there were two doors on each side. One of them led to a room that used to be a reading room, but now houses a musical instrument store. And on the opposite side there is a pantry, where ponies can go at any time and have a quick snack.
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash couldn't resist and gasped in delight at what they saw. However, they were unable to observe the beauty of the library any longer, as they heard someone.
"Oh, you've finally here, lads!"
A young stallion came out of the pantry, who was the librarian, as well as the organizer of the upcoming exhibition. It was a dark blue earth pony with a short yellow tail and a mane combed back. The stallion wore a red suit and glasses, which he adjusted every second. He was in a good mood right now.
"You've come to early today. But that's okay! Of course, we don't have much work left, but if we'll start sooner we'll finish sooner. So let's not delay and-"
The stallion stopped his monologue. He expected to see workers who had to finish their job today, but definitely not two masked ponies in front of him. There was an awkward silence.
The librarian looked at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash with a far-fetched look, occasionally adjusting his glasses. After a while, he finally asked:
"Excuse me, but who are you?"
Rainbow Dash came to her senses.
"I... uh... it's… Oh, right! Nobody move, this is a robbery!!!"
The stallion continued to silently examine the two fillies.
"I'm sorry, but the library is currently closed to outsiders. If you need to walk to the circus, then it is three blocks away, in the west of the city."
"What, you think this is a joke?! I SAID DON’T MOVE!!!"
"Ok, listen, I'm not joking right now! We are preparing for tomorrow's event, so the library will only be open from the next day! So leave this place immediately!"
Suddenly, a guard came into the hall, who was sleeping peacefully at a table in the corridor, but because of all this noise, he woke up.
"Um... I'm sorry, but what's going on here"
Before the stallion could ask his question, Rainbow immediately reacted to the voice coming from behind her. She abruptly flew up to the guard and hit him in the face with her hind hoof with all her might, knocking him out. The librarian screamed in fright, then Pinkie Pie screamed right after.
"Rain- oh, I mean, Daredevil, what are you doing?!"
"Security!!! Come here quickly!!!" The stallion shouted.
Two guards ran out from the pantry and saw in front of them a frightened librarian, two masked mares and their friend, who was lying on the floor. One of them took out a transmitter.
"Attention! There is two masked ponies in the library. It's probably a robbery, so we urgently need backup-"
Rainbow Dash flew at them without slowing down, swinging her right hoof and knocked out a guard who was talking into a transmitter. The second guard tried to grab her, but Rainbow easily dodged and kicked him with all her might with her hind hoof, knocking him out as well.
Rainbow Dash was breathing heavily from stress, and Pinkie Pie was panicking.
"THAT'S WHY I TOLD YOU TO STUDY THE TERRAIN PLAN FIRST!!! WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS SITUATION THEN!!!"
"SHUT UP, I GET IT!!!"
Rainbow took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Okay, there's no more way back. Now we need to finish what we started." Rainbow looked at Pinkie. "Let's get back to our plan, Joker." she said.
Pinkie nodded back. Rainbow flew up to the stallion, who was still scared, and grabbed his tie.
"Hey you! If you don't want any problems, then quickly tell me where the book is from the best author in the action genre!"
The librarian pointed his shaking hoof in the opposite direction from the Rainbow. She looked where the librarian pointed. Then her facial expressions began to slowly change into a state of shock.
"Please don't tell me this book is there…"
"Y-y-yes, this book is right there."
"WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!"
In the place indicated by the librarian, there was a metal safe that stood behind the tables under the statue of Princess Celestia. Rainbow Dash slowly flew up to the safe, stretching her shaking hooves forward.
"You're telling me that this book is lying right here?!"
"T-that’s right."
"WHAT KIND OF IDIOT WOULD DO THAT?!?! WHERE HAS IT BEEN SEEN THAT PONIES KEEP THEIR BOOKS IN A SAFE?!?!?! WHO WOULD EVEN COME UP WITH SUCH AN STUPID IDEA?!?!?!?"
"But it’s you who suggested this idea to A. K. Yearling, since you keep books in a safe yourself." said Pinkie, who had been standing still the whole time.
Rainbow looked at Pinkie indignantly, but decided not to focus on it.
"Okay, the lock doesn't look that complicated, so I can crack it."
"Wait, you know how to crack locks?"
"Nope, but Daring Do cracked Dr. Caballeron's safe in one book to get his secret documents. And if she could do it, so can I. In the meantime, go look for your harmonica."
Rainbow Dash started hacking into the safe, and Pinkie Pie decided not to waste time and immediately went to another room.
After leaving the hall, Pinkie found herself in a small shop where she could buy musical instruments. There were: strings, brass, electronic, percussion and other types of instruments. To Pinkie's surprise, there was even a piano and a harp in this room. And on the table between the clarinet and the flute lay her precious harmonica.
Pinkie Pie did not immediately notice how a white, frightened stallion was sitting quietly at the table, looking down somewhere, but sometimes quickly glanced at the pink pony. She walked up to him.
"Good morning, sir, could you tell me, how much does this harmonica cost, please?"
"T-t-three b-b-bits," the stallion replied uncertainly. "B-but I can give it to you for free-"
"Okay." Pinkie dipped her hoof into the mane and began to dig into it and after five seconds she took out three coins and then put them on the table. She took her purchased harmonica and headed for the exit, shouting "Thank you, sir! Have a nice day!" towards the surprised stallion, who had been looking at three bits all this time.
When Pinkie Pie left the store, she did not hesitate to go to the pantry to have a delicious meal. Pinkie quickly headed in the opposite direction from the store and went into another room, stepping over the knocked out guards.
The interior of the pantry was less beautifully arranged: eight tables arranged in two rows of four columns, two chairs for each table and a showcase at the end of the room, on which lay various salads, hot dishes, sandwiches and desserts. However, there was no one behind the window.
But Pinkie Pie decided not to wait for anyone and grabbed a chocolate cake, leaving five bits at the checkout, immediately ate it and went back to the hall. As she left the pantry, she noticed that there were two mugs of coffee and a plate with a half-eaten oatmeal sandwich on one table.
Pinkie Pie returned to the main hall. But nothing was changed: Rainbow Dash was still picking the lock from the safe, and the librarian stood quietly to the side and silently looked at her. Since Pinkie had nothing else to do, she wanted to talk to the stallion. She walked up to him.
"I want to say that your library is beautifully equipped. Such a unique architecture."
"Well, this building was built a century and a half ago, which is why it looks beautiful both externally and internally." the stallion replied quietly and uncertainly, adjusting his glasses.
"And to look closely, you have a lot of old books here, and they are all in good shape. I assume that you take a good care of them, right?"
"Of course! All these scientific discoveries, spells, stories, legends and tales were inherited from our ancestors. These works are over a thousand years old and we have a great responsibility to preserve this unique heritage at all costs." the stallion answered with more confidence and pride and adjusted his glasses again.
Then he began to tell her what books there are in this library and what they are about, while Pinkie listened to him with interest and plunged deeper and deeper into his stories. At one point, she noticed a book on one of the shelves, which was very different in color from the others. Pinkie Pie took it out and looked at the cover, after which she was very surprised.
"Wowie! This is "Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons" - my favorite book!
"Wow, what a coincidence, this is also my favorite book! I loved reading it when I was a kid! I know all the stories about this universe!" the stallion replied with delight, without noticing how all the fear had disappeared from him.
And so, while Rainbow Dash was still trying to crack the combination lock of the safe, Pinkie Pie and the librarian were calmly talking about everything. A whole hour passed in this way. Everyone had already forgotten about what happened that morning and it seemed as if the ponies were just doing mundane things. And so it would have continued for a long time, until...
"Attention, robbers! This is the Manehattan police, you're surrounded! Resistance is useless, so come out immediately with your hooves up!" a policeman's voice was heard from the street, speaking through a megaphone.
Pinkie Pie was so engrossed in the conversation that she forgot about the original mission. She remembered about Rainbow, who was still hacking the safe, and decided to hurry her up.
"Hey, the cops are already there! Hurry up already! Why are you acting there like Tank?!"
Rainbow Dash slowly looked at Pinkie Pie. Sweat was dripping from all over her body, and her mask was all wet. Because of the disguise, it was impossible to see her face, however, from her eyes, one could tell that she was in turmoil.
"Is something happened?" asked Pinkie.
"I just remembered one small but very important detail from this book."
"And which one?"
"Daring Do was was cracking the wrong safe."
Pinkie Pie didn't immediately figure out what was Rainbow talking about. But when Pinkie did, she didn't react in any way.
"Are you serious?"
"She was breaking into a safe with a mechanical combination lock, and here it's an electronic one."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!?!?"
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT IN ADDITION TO THE CLASSIC SAFE, THERE ARE ALSO SAFES WITH OTHER COMBINATION LOCKS?!?!??!?!"
"BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT, RAINBOW!!!!!"
"GODDAMN IT, PINKIE, DON'T SAY OUR NAMES!!!!!"
Pinkie Pie looked at the librarian, who didn't understand what was going on right now. She silently lifted her right hoof and put it to her right eye.
"Do you promise that you won't tell anyone our names?"
The librarian silently repeated Pinkie Pie's movements, not understanding why he was doing it.
"Great! We have dealt with this problem." Pinkie Pie smiled.
Suddenly, the Pinkie's tail began to move up and down on its own. Slowly at first, and then more quickly and intensively. Pinkie noticed it right away, and she got nervous.
"Um, Dare- whatever, he won't tell anyone our names anyway. Rainbow, we have a Super-duper-mega-ultra-small-but-soon-huge-for-all-Equestria problem: TWITCHING TAIL!!!! SOMETHING IS FALLING TO THE GROUND!!!"
Rainbow, who was still panicking, heard the disturbing news from Pinkie.
"Ah, screw this!"
Rainbow Dash grabbed the safe with the book (to her surprise, the safe turned out to be too light) and rushed to the exit, taking Pinkie Pie with her. They quickly flew out into the street, but the police were already waiting for them. More than fifteen ponies in officer's clothes stood around the entrance to the library, giving no opportunity for the robbers to escape. Pinkie and Rainbow were surrounded.
All this time, Pinkie's tail continued to twitch, and she decided to raise her head to see what would fall to the ground. And the very first thing she saw was a net flying straight at them. As a result, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were captured by the Mainhattan police.
"Hey, my tail has stopped twitching!" Pinkie said happily.
"Pinkie, do you want to know what I just realized?"
"That our plan has completely failed?"
"And that too. I think we are fu-"
A few hours later
The events took place in Manehattan Police Station.
Police officer was sitting at his desk in his cabinet and talking to a mysterious pony.
"So you're saying that this pegasus with the rainbow mane is your friend, right?"
"Yes, only she could have come up with this stupid idea of a robbery."
"But there also was some pink pony with her."
"She knew that we would forbid her to do this, so she asked her for help. And if you can expect everything from Rainbow, then there is no threat from Pinkie. She can only accidentally hurt or offend someone. Please, believe me, I know them for many years and I know them very well."
"I'm not saying I don't believe you. It's just… It will be difficult for me to explain to the goverment why I released those two soon."
"Did they manage to steal anything?"
"Not really. One of them managed to take the safe, but could not escape with it, because our lads quickly worked well. And then, when we questioned the hostages, one of them said that the other robber took some kind of harmonica, but at the same time paid for it."
"Oh, thank Celestia!" pony breathed in with relief. "So they didn't actually steal anything, right?"
"Hmm, I guess so."
Police officer thought for a while.
"Alright, I'll ask someone to bring those two here. And then we'll see what we'll do next."
"Oh, thank you so much, officer!"
"Your word is law, Your Highness!"
Meanwhile, in prison cell.
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were lying on a bunk bed, and they were wearing orange prison robes. Pinkie Pie was lying quietly downstairs and happily playing the prison theme on her harmonica. And Rainbow Dash lay upstairs and stared at the ceiling and only occasionally glanced at her friend. All she could think about was how Pinkie could keep so many things in her mane.
Suddenly, a junior officer opened the camera, where Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were, and ordered them: “Get up, you ruffians, someone is waiting for you!"
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, accompanied by a junior officer, quickly arrived at the office of the police officer. The stallion knocked on the door, and all three heard: “Come in!”. The door opened, Rainbow and Pinkie went inside, and then the door closed behind them.
The chief's office was a small square, but it glowed faintly, so it was difficult to see the entire interior of the room. However, you can immediately notice a huge red oak table, on which lay all the necessary items for work. There was a carpet with beautiful patterns on the floor and cupboards on the sides. There were papers and documents on one of them, and books with stories of various genres on the other. And on the left side there was a hanger near the door, on which hung a light jacket, as well as an officer's cap.
When Pinkie and Rainbow entered the office, they found a pony they knew sitting on one of the chairs. By the lilac fur and mane of dark blue with pink and purple strands, they immediately guessed that this was their friend alicorn - Twilight Sparkle. And Spike, the purple dragon, was sitting next to her, but now he was sleeping. Twilight found out about the robbery early in the morning and immediately guessed that it could be the work of her friend Rainbow. Then she quickly picked up Spike and headed to Manehattan.
Twilight was sitting next to the desk of the police officer, and when Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash came into the office, she looked at them. She was very angry. Rainbow made a face at the sight of Twilight, trying to smile at her. She was very nervous.
"Oh, hi Twilight! How is it going?" Pinkie Pie asked her friend calmly and happily.
Twilight sighed heavily.
"And why am I not surprised?"
Twilight used her magic to lift Spike, got up from the chair, and then put him back in his place so that he could continue to sleep. After that, she went over to her friends. Rainbow Dash became even more worried, and Pinkie, as always, is on the positive side.
"Well, what were you thinking about?" Twilight asked Rainbow.
"Well... I... um... I... like... well... the book... time..." Rainbow tried to find the words, but she couldn't do it.
"ARE YOU AN IDIOT OR YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!?!? YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR BRAIN IN YOUR STUPID HEAD?!? ROB THE LIBRARY?!?!? AND YOU ALSO DRAGGED POOR PINKIE INTO IT!!! WHY DID YOU DO THIS ANYWAY?!?!? IT WOULD BE FINE IF YOU WANTED TO ROB A STORE OR A BANK!!!" police officer choked on his coffee when he heard the last phrase.
"Listen, Twilight, I just wanted to get a book from A. K. Yearling as soon as possible. But I didn't want to wait that long, so I was out of options."
Twilight thought for a moment.
"Wait, are you talking about the new story about Daring Doo? Huh, so this is why Derpy came to me this morning and brought me a package with a book."
Rainbow looked at Twilight in surprise.
"I beg you a pardon?"
"Well, I'm telling you: Derpy came to me this morning, said she needed to bring a package to you, but you weren't at home. Then she remembered that you and I are friends, and decided to leave a package with me so that I could give it to you later. But I'm sorry for that, I couldn't resist opening it right away. And there was a new book about Daring Doo, and with it a letter from A. K. Yearling, in which it was said that she would immediately give it to you in the first edition so that you would not wait for it for six months." Twilight finished her long explanation.
Rainbow Dash was very shocked. She didn't know what to say or how to react to it.
"Sh*t!"
Twilight sighed heavily again.
"I will try to negotiate with the goverment to release you on bail, but on the condition that YOU..." Twilight pointed a hoof at the pegasus, "... Rainbow Dash...!"
Rainbow Dash immediately guessed what Twilight was talking about.
"Alright, alright, i get it." Rainbow Dash sighed. "Spike!"
Spike, who was sleeping all the time, as a soldier had quickly woken up by getting up from his chair. He looked at Rainbow.
"Take a note, please." Rainbow asked Spike.
Spike quickly took a blank sheet of paper from the officer's desk and, from nowhere, took out a feather. He was ready to write a letter. Rainbow Dash cleared her throat to start dictating and took a deep breath.
“Dear Princess Celestia, It has been many years since we sent you the last letter. But today I'm going to break this long pause, because I realized WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO WAIT PATIENTLY...”
