//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 Thief's Tale (Part 1) 
// Story: Raise You Like a Phoenix 
// by Gapeagle 
//------------------------------//

"Sunset Shimmer! Sunset Shimmer!"

Celestia entered the dungeons without any fake calmness. Upon arriving, she hastily dismissed the guards shooed them away. The thief was on her hay bed looking at the princess in bewilderment.

"Back already?," she said confusedly.

"Yeah, yeah," Celestia said and opend the cell door to enter. "Sunset, I'll get right to the point. I still know nothing about you other than your name and your companion, Wing Beat. It's time for you to tell me what is up with your life."

"What makes ya think I'll just tell you?"

"I'm not in the mood, Sunset. You must tell me now or you will regret it."

"Really? I'm so scared!" she jeered.

Celestia slammed the cell door behind her and her eyes glowed in anger. "Dayshine! Does that name mean anything to you?"

"No," Sunset shrugged. "Is it supposed to?"

"Do you have a sister?"

The thief huffed stubbornly. "No."

"Do you have a sister?" Celestia repeated harshly. I still can't believe this girl. "Do not lie to me!"

"I don't have a sister," Sunset rolled her eyes. 

"Are you so stubborn that you'll lie like this? I can't believe it! What in Tartarus is going through your skull? Sunset, you shall answer truthfully and you shall answer with the minuscule amount of dignity that is to your name. Do you have a sister?"

"Yes," Sunset growled. "So what?"

Celestia could barely contain herself. She had to take a moment and two deep breaths before continuing. She held a hoof up to keep Sunset silent and cleared her throat with restrained fury.

"What is your sister's name?" she demanded.

"Dayshine."

"Why haven't you told me about her?" Celestia demanded even louder.

"Because who cares?"

"Well, for your information, she came by before sunrise. She seemed very worried about you."

Sunset gasped. "What? She came here?"

"Yes."

"Huh, didn't think she could walk that far..." Sunset absently said. 

"Sunset Shimmer, it is time you've told me everything about your life before I caught you. Everything. I won't let you escape the truth this time. You won't be silent, you won't pout at me. You tell me, here and now! Why is your sister so frail? Why did Wing Beat teach you? Who are your parents? Why are you trying to steal the Alicorn Artifact? Why do you want to become an alicorn?"

"I...I..." Sunset gulped. "I guess..."

"Tell me!"

"Alright! Look, I didn't start out as a thief. Just a Canterlot filly with a lousy mother and a lazy father. Yeah, and Dayshine too. She's younger than me by four years. I don't really know where to start, alright? I...I'll tell you from the beginning of all this I guess. Let me tell you, what I say is the absolute truth."








From as I far as I remember, I was a smart kid. Mom had always been one to tell me to get an education, but she never helped with it. I did all my work, day and night. It was before I found out how awesome I was with fire, so I did very simple spells and you know, elementary-level stuff. I did know that I was a better magic-user than any unicorns I knew. My mom was an earth pony, so she couldn't help with my magic, but my father was a unicorn and he actually taught me my first spells.

But enough of that, my real early years were pretty relaxed. It was when Dayshine entered my life that, well, things didn't go well. My only real guess was Dad didn't want a second child, and certainly not one like her. From birth she wasn't right. It was something with her body and how it operated, straight from birth it was messed up. Dad didn't want to pay for a doctor and didn't want to keep Dayshine in the hospital. 

Then it just sorta happened. He and her argued and he left. She went with him like a week after. I remember waking up in a house alone and my little sister was in her crib. Never seen Mom or Dad since and I never searched for them. They left me. I didn't need to give them any time of my mind. So in short, I had to raise my little sister.

Dayshine got better as she grew older and we lived in out little abandoned house for some time. Apparently, ponies thought my parents still lived in it and never gave it a second look. We lived pretty poor, I did little jobs for other ponies and they gave me some bits, but very little amounts because I was so young. I really hated that. Dayshine always wanted candy too, so I had to keep telling her no. She was too weak to work herself, so she just remained at home. 

Then it was found out that we were living without parents. When adults started to come to our door trying to take us away, I was scared. This was when I got my cutie mark. I had been studying every night and learning new spells all by myself. Dayshine was a good reader, so she could actually read the magical textbooks that Dad had left. Some of my odd jobs required me to make a fire of some sort like sparks. Those were the jobs I actually liked. I liked operating stoves and such. Sometimes, I just liked watching flames dance over a bonfire. It remained me of my hair color, so I did my hair in a way to look like fire. Well, anyway, when the adults came for us, I fought them back with fire. I remember burning some guy in a uniform. He had the goofiest scream ever. His fur burned and his skin bubbled. Dayshine said it was horrible, I said it was fantastic. 

I couldn't hold the house for long and they sent more ponies after us. They always said they wanted to help us, but I knew they wanted to throw us into an orphanage. So, Dayshine and I escaped and I burned our house down. I burned our house down for two things: I wanted the ponies to think we died, and I wanted Dayshine to understand that we couldn't live there anymore. Both things worked. Some Canterlot newspaper saying about two orphans killing themselves or something. 

So after that, we lived on the streets. We had this little place near one of the streams that we called "home." This was when I started to steal things. I hated trying to get bits from ponies who didn't care, I rather just take it from them. It was much easier than I thought. Of course, I was caught sometimes, but with my age, I was mostly yelled at or smacked on the flank when a pony caught me with their wallet.

It wasn't enough though. I needed to be better. I needed to get more bits for my sister and I. By this time, Dayshine was getting worse and she coughed up blood and stuff. The cold streets and such were not doing her any good. I was losing lots of time caring for her instead of getting more money. I had to steal food, water, blankets, and basically anything that could help her. 

This lasted a long, long time. I didn't really have calendars, even though I did steal one from a shopkeeper, so I'm not sure how many years went by like this. I guess it was probably three. Every day, Dayshine grew more sick and her legs became smaller. I had no idea what to do, none of my magic could help. I needed medicine. So I spent some weeks stealing as many meds as possible. I would pick them form people's homes, I would take them out of grocery bags, anything. I guess some of these helped her, but I'm still not sure. 

One day when I was trying to snatch some candy for Dayshine, I saw him. Yeah, I saw Wing Beat in a plaza. He was on a bench by a fountain, looking like some menace. He had scars, chewed off ears, burns, scratches, you name it. I had never seen a pony like him. I mean, I had seen the ugly beggars around town, but nopony like that. He was wearing a brown cloak that covered most of his features. I just watched him as I was fascinated by this pegasus. He was just sitting there, but I knew he had some significance to my life.

Well, he was also pick pocketing ponies with his wings. He used his feathers and would simply snatch them like it was nothing. I used my magic to get wallets, he didn't even need that. I was shocked by it. If anypony was going to help me, it was this guy. So I stayed awhile and watched him from a distance. He stayed there for like an hour or so. He got up and walked down a street and I followed him the best I could.

I could get through the Canterlot crowds pretty easy and I followed him until he stopped in a little park. I think it was in the south side of town, by the entrance gates. Well, when he stopped there, he instantly turned around and stared right at me with his eye while his other eye just stared blankly in space. I remember that creeping the Tartarus out of me.

"What ya eyein' me for, lass?" he blurted.

I knew he wasn't from Canterlot. His accent and his manners were unlike any that I knew. His words froze me. He asked again in the exact way as before. I was scared and I simply stood there, shaking.

"I...I..." I remember stammering.

"C'mon, kid, ya been following me since the plaza. Ya gots a reason for that," he said when he stood over me. I was in a complete shadow from him as his head was between me and the sun.

"You're a thief," I uttered.

"My my, you have eyes. I'm real proud of ya, squirt," he said sarcastically. "Now beat it."

"But I-"

"I said beat it, lass. I'm not some pony ya chat with. Get lost before ya regret it."

He started to walk away. My heart raced and I knew not to let him just leave. I ran over to him and tugged his brown cloak, which I regretted because it was the filthiest thing I ever did put in my mouth.

"Don't be like that, kid," he sighed.

"But sir! I saw you steal so well. I want to steal like that!" I said.

"Don't waste ya life so quickly. Ya got better things to do, kid. Scramble to ya parents or something."

He pushed me away, but I held my ground. "I have a sister and she isn't well. I need the money, I need to be a better thief. Teach me to break in, loot, and all those neat tricks I hear that professional thieves do!"

"I ain't a professional," he snorted.

"Please? My sister and I don't have parents. Haven't for years. Can you help me?"

He sighed again and raised a brow. "What makes ya think ya can be a good thief?"

"I'm been doing it most my life now. Here!"

There was another pony in the park. Like most ponies in Canterlot, she wore a dress and all. It didn't take long, but I used my magic to just take her purse, remove the money, and return it without her even noticing. I then showed him the bits I had stolen.

"Seems like ya don't need me..." he chuckled.

"Well, I can do that, but I can't crack a vault or anything. I get good bits from what I do, but I need more. I want to be able to get loads in just one attempt."

"Why do ya need this?"

"Because I want to be bett...I mean, I want to for my sister. She needs stuff."

"Fine. Lass, I teach ya the good stuff, but I'll tell ya now. Whatever happens to you because of my teachings ain't my fault. If ya ever get caught and ya life ruined, don't blame me. Blame yourself. Is this clear?"

"Yes."

After that, my life changed once more. Wing Beat taught me everything he knew. He was amazed by my talent in magic. Less than a month into my training he told me that I could be the best thief there ever was. All he wanted me to do was to try and try harder. He'd smack me every time I complained. He would shut me up if I protested his orders. "Even thieves need discipline" he said to me countless times. It was his Royal Guard training that made him so strict. He often made me do guard drills to increase my stamina. Good thieves, he said, were thieves that nopony knew, because they never were caught. 

I was caught though. It wasn't on a mission to steal or anything, but I was once caught by a Royal Guard when I tried to steal from a kid my age. He was a dumb rich colt. The type of colt that everypony just wanted to smack. Well, he also was a quick one and saw that I was taking his bits from his little jacket. He fought me, but he was a squirt and I beat him down pretty quick. However, a Royal Guard arrested me when he saw us brawl on the sidewalk. I was still just a filly, but that was the first time I had been in hoofcuffs.

He made me spend the night in a cell at one of the guard stations. He found out that I was a homeless filly and tried to ship me to an orphanage like they always do. Little did they know how I was magic wise. By then, I could teleport. I teleported out of my cell and I well, roasted him. Not like a real roast, I mean, I never wanted to kill anypony, but I think I came close with him. He screamed and burned like any other pony, but my pyromancy was getting more powerful each day, so I surprised even myself. Dayshine never saw what I did to him and I'm still grateful for that.

Wing Beat and I started doing break-ins and even stole from stores. We never held anypony up or threatened their lives. Wing Beat was above that. He said he cherished life more than the average pony, as he was one of the few to see it be ended in brutal fashion. He told me about how he acquired every scar on his body. I remember Dayshine being horrified by them, but she soon got used to it and would listen to his tales as intently as me.

In the Canterlot underworld, some had noticed what I had been up to. I was shocked when a thug asked me to steal something from a rival gang. He said it was important. He offered lots of money and I did it. All I had to do was sneak into this gang's headquarters and sneak back out with some business note. They never told me what it was, but the bits said it all for me. 

This was a big part in my learning process because I had to crack a magic vault. Wing Beat spent weeks and weeks telling me about magic vaults. I had to listen long hours to his ramblings.

"Here's the thing about vaults and magic," he told me, "there's two things ya can do. Ya can reinforce the steel with magic to make it stronger or you can magically seal it. There's a difference. If ya reinforce a vault, ya are trying to be it unbreakable, not uncrackable. However, there's always, always magic that is powerful to break something. Ya can never truly make something unbreakable. When ya magically seal it, ya are trying to repel magic from it. It's much harder to open because magical forces, not steel, are keeping it shut. Any unicorn can unlock a vault by using magic to undo all the locks, but they can't if it's magically sealed. However, these things can still be opened. Everything has a key. This time, ya have to use a magic key.

"To crack a magically sealed vault is simple, ya have to be listening. Magic vaults have keys which come in the form of specific magical energies. Any magic that doesn't follow these exact energies is repelled by the magical force. So ya have to replicate those energies to get by the magical force and unlock the vault. The question is: how ya do it? Well, it's more simple than ya think. It's like picking a lock. Ponies have the ability to sense certain magics, be it shadow, pegasus, or earth pony magics. Unicorns are the best at this sensing. So, Sunny, all ya need to do is listen to the magical waves. It takes trial and error. It's hard to explain it to ya, but once ya feel it, you'll know."

What he said was completely true. He made me read some stuff on magical energies, so I got some knowledge before going straight into it all. I needed it, as that vault was hard to crack. He made me practice sensing magics before I went out there and that helped too. I had to really focus my mind to sense what magics were being repelled and which were not. It was like a really obscure puzzle. I got passed the magic repellant though and I opened it to steal a little box. Like I said, I still don't know what it was about.

That made me grow a bit famous with the thieves of Canterlot. They saw me as a prodigy. Wing Beat was the only one who kept me humble. He made me work harder and more often too. I was getting hired for jobs and getting more bits. Dayshine and I no longer needed a home as Wing Beat allowed us to stay in his apartment. I was now able to get medicines for Dayshine. Hmph, she started to get even worse in those days. Whatever we did for her just didn't seem to help. We thought of just putting her in a hospital, but Dayshine told us no. She insisted that she was fine. I mean, we all knew she couldn't really be fixed anyway. 

Well, she couldn't be fixed by normal means. Alchemy wasn't helping, simple remedies weren't either. Her body was wrong and it needed to be adjusted. When she kept getting worse, hat was when Wing Beat told me about how powerful magic could be. I, of course, didn't have enough power to perform crazy healing magic, but there was a way for me to get that power. He told me about the Alicorn Amulet. An amulet that lets a unicorn have the powers of an alicorn. If I could get that, he said, then I could probably heal Dayshine myself. 

I was ready for the task.