This is a Stick Up {open; plotty}

[Twilight Sparkle]

"What do you mean I can't get any money?" asked Twilight, just barely managing to keep her voice calm and level, "just barely managing," meaning, in this case, that her voice had twisted up half an octave and had an edge to it that generally entailed violence. The speaker of these words, a rather odd looking individual with violet hair and eyes, stood at the front of a fairly long queue in the oddly located bank. Apparently the Tenebrae staff decided that they would give the VRD's their money through the mall, probably in order to get them to turn around and spend it. Twilight had only been here once before, shortly after her arrival, and they'd gladly handed over money then.

"We mean that your account is currently frozen," explained the teller standing behind a small grate. For some reason, they wanted to protect the tellers. It might have something to do with the rather high number of people who weren't afraid of committing violent acts that had been brought here unwilling. Not to mention the sheer frustration that could come about as a result of incidents just like this. Twilight was never the most level-headed pony, and you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears now.

"But I have a job now!" she insisted, tapping the grating. "Well, I'm in training for one, and they said I'd have--"

"We're sorry ma'am, but we--"

Before the teller could finish, there was a loud sound, one that sounded uncannily like... like wood being cracked. Twilight turned, and her mouth dropped open very slightly at the sight. There were several men approaching the banking area. They all had hoods draped over their faces and what appeared to be masks of varying types. But the cracking noise came from the large wooden staffs they all wielded, pointing them at various people.

"You have got to be kidding--' mumbled Twilight. Before she finished, the lead robber slammed his staff onto the ground, the loud "crack" resounding throughout. It seemed like something shot out the end, but Twilight couldn't be sure. She was one of the few who barely flinched though, her mind already racing to try and figure things out. Though really, about now all she was doing was fervently hoping that the next words out the guy's mouth weren't...

"This is a stick up!"

[Deleted]

Jasmine waited a little farther back in the line. She heard all of Twilight's argument with the bank teller. She wasn't quite sure how an account could be "frozen." Didn't they have enough heating in here for that not to happen? Maybe she should ask someone. She was just about to address her question to the person in front of her when there was a loud noise. She was tempted to put her hands over her ears, but the noise had already stopped.

Jasmine got ready to ask again when the sound occured again. Most of the people around her flinched. She was starting to feel scared. What was going on? She spun on her heel and hurd some man say the words "This is a stick up!" She wasn't quite sure what a stick up was. It felt like she didn't know anything. She had tried to learn everything about this world she could from the staff, but it seemed that she hadn't learned nearly enough. If there weren't the scary men near the entrance, she might have run out right then to go to the library.

Instead of doing that, she ran to the front where Twilight was. "Twilight, do you have any idea what's going on?" she asked. Her voice probably betrayed how scared she was getting. Those men were extremely scary in their outfits and what appeared to be weapons. She wasn't quite sure how effective the wooden sticks would be, but they did scare most of the other people. That was enough to scare her.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight hadn't noticed Jasmine, neither in line nor when the girl came
up. Hard not to notice someone when they talked to you, however, and the
violet-haired girl turned her head slightly to the darker skinned one.
"They're attempting to rob the bank," she explained. Her eyes flicked
back, looking at the tellers. Like most of the people, they seemed more
or less afraid, though Twilight couldn't figure out why, precisely. Were
sticks somehow more dangerous in this world than they had been back
home? Considering the complete and utter lack of magic, Twilight
seriously doubted that.

The masked, armed men,  clearly robbers
of some intent, strode forward, pointing their sticks at people as they
went. One or two prodded various customers, who fell to the ground and
generally got out of the way. In fact, most of the people were more or
less getting out of the way. Twilight, however, wasn't about to move.
she folded her arms and stared the approaching men down.

"Um,
ma'am, you might want to---" the teller began, leaning forward. He
looked over at Jasmine too, have pleading with the other girl. "They
look like--"

"Empty out your vaults!" demanded the head robber,
storming forward. He drew near Twilight and Jasmine, giving the two
girls searching looks. "What are you lookin' at? You want some of this?"
he waved the stick at Twilight, before pointing it at Jasmine. he
prodded the latter with it. It was... sharp, but decidedly stick-like.

Twilight
leaned over slightly, whispering to Jasmine. "Do you see sticks?
Because all I'm seeing is sticks... and they don't exactly look, uh,
threatening..."

[Deleted]

"They're going to rob the bank with... sticks? That doesn't seem like a very smart idea," Jasmine said. She couldn't see how weilding sticks could help the robbers. Were all the people afraid of getting hit with them? It's not like they would die or anything. Unless these sticks were magic. What could the robbers do with magic sticks? The thought made her shudder. She thought about getting down, but she didn't when she saw how everyone else was acting. She would remain strong with Twilight, if there was no one else willing to do so.

"Hey!" Jasmine shouted when the man prodded her with his stick. She was really tempted to smack him or grab the stick, but she refrained from doing so. If these sticks deserved all the fear they induced, she shouldn't mess with their wielders.

"Nothing happened when he poked me, so I doubt there's anything special about them," Jasmine whispered back. She wasn't well practiced in whispering, so she really hoped that the robber in front of them hadn't overheard her.

[Twilight Sparkle]

"No, no it doesn't," muttered Twilight. She was finding this whole situation less and less amusing as things went on. What would make them even do this? It just... it just made absolutely no sense. Nobody actually attempted to rob a bank with sticks. The tellers were already grabbing for money, pulling it out as though they expected bodies to hit the floor at any moment. And even that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

At least nothing seemed to be happening. Jasmine was in one piece, if annoyed. Twilight looked to the bank, then to the robbers. "Should we be doing something?" she muttered, feeling slightly torn. She really wasn't a superhero, at least, not any more. Plus, she'd nearly thought of robbing the bank herself, since they'd been so difficult with her money. And the robbers were just so confident, with their... sticks.

"What's with the sticks?" Twilight finally blurted out, waving her hands. The robbers turned their attention to Twilight, and, by extension, to Jasmine. One approached, brandishing his weapon of choice. He prodded Jasmine with it several times.

"Look, girlies, you don't want to see what these puppies can do, got it?" he snarled. He sneered to Jasmine, clearly more than a little amused, and possibly a little leery.

[Deleted]

Jasmine noticed that the tellers were getting the money for the robbers. What, did they expect the sticks to actually do something? Maybe the sticks' full potential wasn't being shown. But what could they do? Maybe they were like staves or something. That would make sense. But then they could do a whole range of things. Maybe there was real reason to be scared.

"I don't know. We could try," Jasmine said. She wasn't entirely sure what they could do. What would happen if she took one of those sticks? Maybe everything would work out if they just took one. But how in the world would they take one of the sticks?

Jasmine didn't have to wait long to figure that one out. Another robber came up and poked her a few times. She was really willing to try then, but that wasn't what put her over the edge. Oh no, it was the comment. Jasmine grabbed the stick and kicked the man in the crotch with all her might. He let go with a little howl of pain and fell to his knees. Jasmine flipped the stick around to hold it like the others were doing and pointed it at the fallen robber. "You don't want to see what this girlie can do with one of these puppies," she replied snidely.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight nodded slowly. Try, yeah, they had to at least try and do something. Maybe if she helped thwart a robbery, the tellers would actually fork over some of the money she desperately needed to stay alive. Plus, there was just something... something weird about this, something that hinted that Twilight and Jasmine were in the middle of something. Twilight tensed herself, letting that feeling wash over her. She'd kill to have some of her abilities back about now. One little spell, one... something, and she'd do something.

Jasmine didn't need any abilities though. Twilight's eyes went wide as her companion kicked and stole. Twilight wasn't the only one wincing as the men bent over double, his hands flying to the affected area. He was soon vomiting and twitching in a manner most unpleasant. There was silence for a few moments while everyone stared, silence that Jasmine's well chosen words covered.

Twilight coughed a laugh, her hands flying to her mouth to try and stifle a noise. A handful of the robbers had come forward, and several were pointing their sticks at the two girls. Something very close to fear contorted their features, and their eyes kept falling to the sticks. There just had to be something more to the sticks. If only Twilight could get a hold of one. She looked to the weapon in the arms of the closest robber. Just a few short months ago, Twilight could have just tugged it out of his grasp with a thought. Just one little thought, and the twig would go flying toward her hand. Twilight recalled exactly how it worked, and her face contorted for a moment.

There was a brief flash of purple light, and the robber cried out, feeling the stick jerk from his hand. It soared toward Twilight, who only just barely managed to grab it. She stared open-mouthed at the weapon, not quite believing. Neither, apparently, could many of the guards.

"Now they're both armed!" one yelled.
"Put the sticks down, freaks!" yelled another, waving his stick.
"Yeah! You--you can't do this! You're girls!"

Twilight just kept gaping.

[Deleted]

Jasmine enjoyed the moments after she had taken the stick. The robber that had seemed so confident before was now twitching on the ground before her. And the rest of the robber's looked rather... she wasn't quite sure, actually. It was near fear, but more muted. Like they might be worried she would do something accidentaly, but they didn't expect her to really be able to weild it. Or maybe they were concerned that there was skill behind her words, which there wasn't.

Jasmine giggled when Twilight got her own stick. There was just something exciting about it. Like everything depended on them, but they had reason to be confident. Maybe saving the bank would be fun. Although, they didn't really have the reason to be as confident as she felt they should be. They still hadn't the slightest clue what to do with the sticks. Or, rather, Jasmine didn't have any idea as to how to use it.

"Does our being girls mean we can't do this?" Jasmine asked with a challenging glare aimed at no one in particular. She prodded the robber on the ground with her stick and he groaned loudly. "Any idea how these things work?" she whispered to Twilight.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight kept staring at her stick, only dimly aware that her companion was giggling. Had she just... just levitated it to her? There had been the purple like when she used her magic, and the stick had moved out of the guy's hand. But Jasmine hadn't seemed to notice it. Though there was an awful lot for Jasmine to be processing right now, what with their apparently fighting off a bank robbery and all.

The robbers were about as frozen as Twilight, apparently. They couldn't seem to decide who looked more threatening: the stunned girl who apparently had special powers or the much more active, athletic looking girl who had them in her sights. Their heads kept swinging comically between the two, almost as if jerked about by some puppeteer off-stage. They landed on Jasmine, who had opted to speak and challenge them. "Y-y-yeah!" one insisted, waving his stick, "everyone knows that girlies can't use sticks!"

There was a horrible pun buried somewhere in there, but we'll just leave it lay for now.

Twilight was finally jerked out of her reverie, not by the aforementioned awful pun, but by Jasmine leaning over and questioning. The violet-haired scholar jerked, flicking her stick violently. A loud "BANG" sounded and what looked very much like a hole appeared in the ceiling in the vague direction the stick had recently been pointing. Twilight stared at it for a few seconds before looking back to Jasmine. There was a smile on Twilight's face as she said:

"Looks like you just flick it!"

[Deleted]

Jasmine finally registered that Twilight had used magic to get the stick. She hadn't taken it, she had used her magic! That was a major step in the right direction. Then Jasmine realised that she probably was missing other happenings thinking about this. She'd just have to talk to Twilight about it later.

Jasmine looked around to find that the men were looking between the two of them. Was it really that hard to watch them both at the same time? They weren't that far apart. Maybe it was a boy thing that she'd never understand. Or maybe they were just being silly. She couldn't tell which.

Jasmine put on a fake expression that looked like a cross between hurt and surprised. "I didn't get the memo," she taunted. She pulled the stick upwards to point at the robber closest to her. She wasn't cruel enough to actually use it, but it really scared the robber it was pointed at. She could tell that he was just barely refraining from cowering.

A little smile started to appear on Jasmine's lips, but it dissappeared when Twilight's stick made a loud banging noise. Jasmine barely kept from jumping as it was. Her smile reappeared when Twilight told her how to use the stick. If things got out of hand, she just might just try it out.

[Twilight Sparkle]

At this point, Twilight was beginning to feel rather elated, giddy, even. She giggled, flicking the stick again. Another "BANG" echoed through the mall, causing several people to hit the deck, including most of the tellers and at least one very confused robber. The tellers were now peering over as though they couldn't quite decide which was more dangerous: the armed girls or the armed, masked robbers. Particularly since Twilight giggled yet again, waving her stick almost absently.

"This is kind of like the stuff back home," she commented. She drew a few lazy circles before leveling her stick at the closest robber, who was different than the one Jasmine pointed at. At least one robber was leveling his stick at the girls, while another still rolled about on the floor, clutching his very precious bits. It almost looked like a stalemate, except one side was smiling (nearly giggling) and the other looked like it wanted to run.

Twilight decided then and there that it certainly felt better to be on the giggling side of that equation.

"Well, Jasmine," she said, swinging her stick again, "I think that maybe our friends here should drop their weapons, right? Maybe then we can just hand them over to the authorities," she smiled at the closest one, swinging her stick absently, "or we can see what happens when you try to use one of these. What do you think, Jasmine?"

[Deleted]

The second bang didn't scare Jasmine nearly as much. That time, she was much more prepared for it. She actually started to giggle again alongside Twilight. They were quite in control here. It was actually quite strange, considering that they were still outnumbered. These weren't very good robbers, now were they?

"Well aren't you lucky? The only things we really had at my home were swords," Jasmine said. She stuck her tongue out at the robbers. "But I catch on quickly." The robbers seemed to look worried that she was confident in her ability to use the stick, despite the fact that she'd never used anything like it. Maybe they were more worried of her using it without control. Oh no, she was completely in control, silly robbers.

Jasmine smiled and flicked her stick quickly at a robber near the wall. There was a loud bang and a hole appeared in the wall right next to her. "Do as we say, or I won't be missing next time," she bluffed, "And I do believe we should get the to the authorities." They were so in control of that situation. The robber by the wall, who still had his stick, was now cowering and trying to use the stick as a shield. That really wouldn't protect him.

[Twilight Sparkle]

"Swords work too,' offered Twilight, remembering the weapons that the royal guard of Equestria often used. She'd seen Spike wield a blade from time to time as well, usually whenever he was galloping off to rescue Rarity. Rarity rarely actually needed the rescuing, which sort of reminded Twilight of the very situation they were in now: with the two girls having the upper hand. She still didn't quite understand why the robbers were cowering like that, but she was too elated at the recent rejuvenation of part of her powers, not to mention the bang-stick, to worry about it.

Jasmine's flicking had put the robbers even further on the defensive. Twilight was seriously beginning to wonder if they even really knew how to use the very items they'd selected for their crime. she was getting a very big "no" about now. Why else cower? And that one...

"Is he trying to use his stick as a shield?" asked Twilight, speaking quietly out of the side of her mouth for Jasmine to listen. She shook her head and flicked her stick again, feeling another giggle coming on. "Right, so if someone will just contact the authorities," she turned to look at the tellers, who were in the process of mostly hiding from people. Twilight giggled again, "Seriously, we're not going to rob you. They are. Well," she turned to look at the robbers, "they were. Until we got their weapons." Another flick, and another explosion, this one dangerously near a robber.

"Okay! Okay! We'll put down the sticks!" said one of them, lowering his weapon. Another gave him a sharp look, and there seemed to be a ripple among the small group. "Hey, there's more of us than them! We can totally take them!"

"Better hurry!" suggested Twilight in a sing-song voice, twirling her stick. "I think the suits are on their way!"

[Deleted]

"Yeah, but they aren't nearly as fun," Jasmine said with a happy smile. This visit to the bank was a whole lot more interesting than she had expected. At first, it was a little scary, but doesn't good fun start that way? But for everyone except the two stick-weilding girls, it didn't look like anyone was having a good time. Well, that was understandable of the robbers, but why the tellers and clientelle?

Jasmine nodded excitedly to answer Twilight's question, and her hair flew everywhere. She hadn't had this much fun in ages. She might never have had this fun. There was so much fun to be found when she was out and about, why had her father ever kept her in? Jasmine switched from nodding to shaking her head for a moment. She needn't think about that now. Or ever, really.

Jasmine suddenly flicked her stick, twice. A mark appeared near the foot of one robber, and another yelled, obviously afraid she had aimed at him. A hole appeared in the wall not far behind him. Her accuracy was much better than she had expected. It was probably just luck, but the robbers looked convinced that she was the best stick-weilder ever, based on the blatant fear on their faces. And maybe she was, but she doubted it.

[Twilight Sparkle]

The sudden flicking made the robbers jump, not to mention the accuracy. Twilight had figured out how the sticks worked far, far faster than any of the robbers had, and they'd been more or less told how this whole thing worked. Jasmine was already proving to be about as accurate as they were, and they weren't wholly convinced that she was trying. They were already exchanging fear-contorted glances. Finally one, obviously the leader, took the step forward.

"They're just girls! Get yourselves together!" he shouted. Then, with an almighty and fairly impressive gesture, he flicked his staff toward the girls.

Twilight yelped, diving out of the way and performing one of the most awkward rolls humanly possible. Her arms and legs seemed to get tangled during the motion, and when she finally stopped, she looked more dizzy and disoriented than she would have thought possible. Still, she managed to flick her stick in the general direction of the various robbers. They'd apparently held more or less still, as if shocked that one of their own would dare use the weapon they'd all brought and intended to use. Twilight's counter seemed to kick them into action, and soon there were flicks and explosions happening.

Thankfully, their panic mixed with already poor aim to make them about as accurate as ye average henchman...