Chapter 20: "The Cake And The Diamond."

My ears twinged at the notion. "Are you serious?!" I exclaimed. "Wait, of course your serious, why are you serious about this?" I added frustratingly, as the two siblings sat with sly grins on their faces.

Salah voiced his reason rather elegantly. "Simon has eyes everywhere. I would be willing to bet my suit and tie (He then paused to tune out his sisters audible gasp of shock) that he has his agents watching that place like hawks."

"With binoculars!" Ralah added seriously.

"The only way you are getting your hooves on those stones, is by stealing them, and you know it." Salah said looking me in the eye, as if studying my mind for what he already knew was right.

And of course, he was completely right. There was no room for legal or civil practice here. Simon and his cult were going to destroy the world unless we stopped him. And we needed all the keys to do it. There really was no other option. Though, I didn't like it, I agreed with Salah. "You're right." I said simply. "Let's do it."

The whole room, seemed surprisingly excited by the fact we were now planning a heist at the museum. Especially Clover. "Cool! I've never been apart of a heist before! This is way more exciting then studying for thousands of years!" she exclaimed like a filly who just found out she was going to Joyopolis Amusement Park.

So, now going along with Salah and Ralah's insane plan, we got to work planning our heist. Or at least everyone else did, while I sat on the sidelines wracking my brain for literally any other way we could get those stones. To my dismay, the only plan I could think of was simply going in and asking nicely for them. (I know, not my brightest idea, but hey, at least it was a legal one!)

Salah laid out the blueprints of the museum on the table for all to see, and began marking key points of interest with white marker. "The museum will no doubt be guarded, by at least fifteen guards, working shifts of three hours per guard cycle." He explained to the group, clearly in his element. He pointed to several entrances on the blueprints ans marked them with an 'x' symbolizing them as being guarded. "However, the back entrance will have a mandatory shift change at around two-thirty, giving me and Ralah, ample time to sneak into the back wing of the museum and assume our disguises as the two guards that called in sick today."

Ralah then took this time to showcase how she had somehow managed to grab the entire schedule for the museum guard of not just that day, but the rest of the week, including all shift changes, read outs, call ins and even the birthdays of some of the guards.

There was no doubt. Ralah and Salah really were the best there were. "Meir! How bout you look over what we have and give us the best way to get the stones?" Salah called over to me, with a sly grin. "You're the genius here after all."

"M...me?"

"You."

"I don't see how I could possibly help." I said simply. "I'm a doctor not a thief!....Ahem, no offense."

"None taken!" Salah said happily. "We take pride in the title after all. But, my brother's right, Meir. We're good at what we do, but you're the smartest pony in the world! If we have your input on this plan, there's no way it can fail!"

Regardless of her faith in me, I was still a little reluctant to assist in any sort of robbery, even if it was for the good of the entire world. It just felt wrong to me, and my good pony upbringing.

But then Ralah looked at me with her huge painfully adorable eyes. "Plllleeeease?" she sang in a cute voice. Darn it. She had me now.

"Fine." I relented with a sigh.

I went over and began to look over the plans they had laid out. It was pretty straightforward. Me, Daring and Dr. Seastone would arrive and gain entry as guests of Simon Cobalt. While inside, Ralah and Salah would assume the identities of the two guards that took the day off and meet up with us in the museum lobby. From there, one of us would create a distraction allowing the two "guards" to sneak by, steal the stones and get out before anyone is the wiser.

Having concluded reading through the plans, Ralah looked at me, eager to hear my opinion. "Well', I started "it's a solid plan...up until you and Salah have to steal the stones."

Salah raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"Museums aren't like they are in those crime thriller movies. They have at least seven layers of security, hotcodes, anti-bypass measures, and sensors all over the place that can detect when so much as a dust particle lands on top of the case it's securing." I explained. "Plus, the guard schedules are always changing. If those guards decide to come in, you two are caught, then and there."

I asked to borrow Salah's marker. "Here's what I'm thinking, instead...."