//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: To Find a Element // Story: The Royal Thief // by LTBroski //------------------------------// Chapter 2 – To Find an Element Fluttershy paced back and forth in her room, her blue eyes glittering if on the verge of tears, which would no doubt stain her pink mane. She was surrounded by four other ponies, a cyan pegasus with a striking rainbow mane and tail, an orange cowpony with straw-colored mane and tail and a Stetson adorning her head, a pink earth pony with a main and tail reminiscent of cotton candy, and a white unicorn with a perfectly groomed purple main and tail. Each displayed concern at seeing their friend like this, and they took up varying positions around the room. “I’m sure everything is going to be fine, darling”, the white unicorn, Rarity, cooed soothingly. “Twilight will be able to think of something. It’s not like the Elements are common household goods, there’s bound to be some kind of magical trail…” Fluttershy looked even closer to tears than she had before. “I-I know, but how could I let one of the most important artifacts in the history of, um, ever get stolen?” Tears began to well up at the corners of her eyes. The cyan pegasus, Rainbow Dash, got up from her position on the bed and rushed over to comfort her childhood friend by draping a wing over her back. “There’s nothing you could have done Fluttershy. Whoever did this was obviously a professional. It could have happened to any of us.” She grinned, and continued “plus, you could use the stare on whoever did it as payback, and then we’ll proceed to kick their flank into next year.” Fluttershy gave a weak smile in response, and looked further from crying than she had. The sound of hooves took everypony’s attention to the door, where a lavender alicorn with a purple mane and tail had just galloped in. “I got here as soon as I could” she panted, “Stupid nobles and their stupid complaining. Fluttershy, are you all right? What happened? How can I help?” Twilight Sparkle, took a deep breath, and looked around the room at the varying levels of surprise and bemusement from her friends’ faces. “What?” “Still getting’ used the wings, sugarcube” the orange cowpony, Applejack, commented. The others nodded. “Oh.” She looked back at her newer appendages, and ruffled them uneasily. “Well Twi, can you help out?” Rainbow Dash asked, taking her wing off of Fluttershy. “I kind of need the whole rundown. Fluttershy, can you tell me what happened?” Twilight asked quietly. She approached Fluttershy, the clacking of her hoof-covers suddenly muffled by the Saddle Arabian carpet. Fluttershy seemed unwilling to meet her gaze. “Hey, hey, you can tell me. I Pinkie Pie promise.” There was a gasp across the room from the pink earth pony, who seemed to have found a deerstalker hat and bubble pipe. Pinkie Pie trotted across the room to Twilight and whispered “NOPONY breaks a Pinkie Pie promise” before seemingly slamming her nose back onto the ground and snuffling around the room like a bloodhound. Fluttershy looked up at Twilight, took a deep breath and let loose a string of explanation nopony thought her capable of. “WellafterIleftyougirlsatDoughnutJoesIcamebackhereandfellasleepandwhenIwokeuptheElementwasgoneandpleasedontbemadatmeTwilight.” She gave a small squeak and hid her face in her mane. Twilight gave her head a couple shakes to get rid of the surprised look on her face. “OK, well the easy thing about this is that I can track the Elements as long as I have mine.” Her horn glowed and a tiara with a purple six-pointed star appeared on her head. “So where was it when you saw it last?” Fluttershy pointed to the top of her dresser with a shaking hoof. “Thanks Fluttershy, and please know that this isn’t your fault. The castle is the safest place in Equestria, none of us could have seen this coming.” She walked over to the dresser and her horn began to glow softly. In response, a purple trail started at the top of the dresser and led out of the room. “Well girls, let’s go find us an element” Twilight said, drawing grins and nods from the rest of her friends. --------- “I’m telling you, Mr. Gemsworth, this sapphire has to be at least twenty karats.” Az informed his potential customer. “The gold band itself has to weigh a solid five pounds. You would be a fool to pass up an opportunity like this.” His last comment earned him a quick glare. Mr. Gemsworth was a brown earth pony with a grey mane and tail. Today he was wearing a jacket with a tie, a top hat, and a monocle. His cutie mark displayed a shining gemstone, as his name suggested. “Mr. Wind,” Az grimaced, “while I believe you wholeheartedly, this item will likely be reported to the palace guard, and given my interests, I will become a suspect. I cannot accept this item yet, but rest assured I am interested. Just not now.” His gaze softened at seeing Az’s slightly rejected countenance. “Azure, you have brought me the majority of my best pieces, as you are well aware. Believe me I am interested, just let me know after the Palace Guard has given up and I am your stallion.” With that he turned and walked away down the business district of Canterlot. Az sighed. Almost had him. And he’s my best buyer. Looks like I’ll be sitting on this one for a while. He turned and began walking the opposite direction along the street. No matter how many times he walked along this road, he always felt vulnerable without his armor. There were guards everywhere, but it was a different kind of unease. The stonework streets were too pristine, the businesses whitewashed too well. It seemed false, and more importantly, dangerous if one wanted to keep their soul intact. These business types could never be trusted. He began walking back to his apartment with a growing sense of unease. What is wrong with me? There’s no way that necklace is going to be found. I have enough wards around my place to keep Celestia from being nosy. He chuckled as he remembered stealing the tiara from her bedside the previous month. I’m going to need to wait at least ten years before selling that one, and in a different country at that. Maybe the dragon king would be interested. His disquiet allayed, he continued up the street musing over possible buyers for his beloved leader’s tiara. -------- “This is where the trail ends girls.” Twilight had stopped in front of an apartment door in downtown Canterlot. She was wearing a cloak so as to not draw attention to her new royal self as they traversed Canterlot. She had called upon and dismissed her Element as she needed it. “Good, that was easy enough, good thing whoever this is was a pegasus. Easy to follow” Rainbow Dash remarked. “Though that stop in the alleyway about a quarter mile from here was weird. Pinkie, what are you…” she fell silent as the pink pony had just successfully picked the lock to the door. “How did you…? You know what? I don’t want to know.” They walked in slowly, and began to take stock of their surroundings. Floor to ceiling on any wall space was covered with deep colored bookshelves. A loft section of the apartment exhibited a sleeping area, the bed meticulously made with its deep blue comforter stretched so tightly across the bed one could have bounced a bit off it easily. A small kitchenette rested in the corner of the apartment, with what appeared to be a fully stocked pantry directly next to it. Three plush red sofas sat in the middle of the room around a coffee table topped with glass panes. Upon further inspection, the glass covered different forms of currency from what seemed to Twilight to be every nation on the globe. “Well our thief is well traveled, but more importantly…” her eyes began to sparkle, “look at all these books! It puts my library in Ponyville to shame!” She walked up to one of the shelves and gasped. “This is an ancient draconic writing! I had thought these were all gone, burned up in the constant revolutions they’re always having.” “Um, Twi, Fluttershy’s Element?” Applejack interjected. “Can we just find it and be done? Whoever lives here probably won’t be gone for much longer.” “Oh, right, sorry girls.” Twilight closed her eyes for a moment, and suddenly snapped them open. She screwed her face up in concentration, and looked around, scared. “Twilight, whatever is the matter, dear?” Rarity asked. “I can’t do magic! I don’t know what’s going on!” Her friends issued varied gasps and looks of shock. Rarity tried, only to fail as well. “Whoever lives here knows some incredibly powerful wards” Twilight mused. “Looks like we have to do this the hard way, everypony start looking around, it’s bound to be here somewhere.” They split up around the room with Rarity checking the loft for any clues, Pinkie checking the pantry area, and Twilight and Applejack checking the remainder of the ground floor. At Twilight’s suggestion, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy began pulling random books from the upper shelves to see if there was a secret compartment somewhere in the room, opened only through an elaborate system of levers and pulleys. -------- Az walked down the hall toward his apartment, key in mouth and humming one of the more popular tunes they were playing down in the club district. He turned the last corner before his apartment and stopped dead in his tracks. The door was open. He sprinted the remainder of the way to his flat and burst in through the door frame. Six surprised faces turned towards him, including…Shit! How’d she find my place? He kicked down on a floorboard directly next to the door. The curtains on each of the three windows drew themselves, and what gas lights there were in the apartment were extinguished. He tumbled right, out of the door frame, and reached behind one of the books to find a secret latch that opened into his safe room. Immediately light began to pour into the room. Aaaand I forgot to disconnect the safe room from the emergency cutoff switch. He turned around just in time to see a rainbow colored elephant tackle him. His head hit the ground hard, and he lost consciousness.