Shade of A Crystal Empire

by igotastewgoing

A Thief In The Night?

CHAPTER ONE
A Thief In The Night?

"Spike, are you absolutely sure you haven't seen it?"

Twilight Sparkle's words were muffled through the dusty chest of scarves and cloaks that hadn't been opened in over a year. In fact, Twilight wasn't even sure that she had ever opened it since coming to Ponyville. The contents were reasonably nice as far as cloaks and scarves went, but many of them were of the "Grandma Sparkle made it for my birthday" variety, and Twilight didn't much fancy wearing a scarf with little green ducks on it, as admittedly cute as the ducks were.

There wasn't really much reason to look in that chest for the Alicorn Amulet. But desperate times occasionally call for illogical measures. Right now Twilight was buried halfway up her flank in it.

"I'm serious, Spike! It's important!"

"I know it's important, Twilight," her young dragon friend replied with an eyeroll she couldn't see. "You've been telling me that for the last forty minutes."

"Well, Spike," her stifled retort came from the chest as her tail swished back and forth, "If I've been nagging you about it, it's only because it's an object of incredible power!"

"Yeah," said the little dragon, rubbing his stomach. "The incredible power to delay meals."

Twilight popped her head out of the trunk. The duck scarf had wrapped itself around the unicorn's horn. She whipped her head around and gave Spike a look that could curdle milk.

"What?" he asked. "I'm just saying that my food clock went off half an hour ago."

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"You have a food clock?"

He shrugged. "Well, it's really more internal." he said. "But yes, I do have an actual food clock in my bed. Just in case."

She reached up and grabbed the scarf off of her horn. Taking a deep breath and ignoring her friend's bizarre method of telling time, she started climbing out of the chest. Kicking off the random bits of cloth that had wrapped themselves around her legs, she headed straight to the kitchen to see if the amulet was hiding in that five pound bag of oats in the cupboard. It would be the third time she'd checked.

"Um, Twilight?" Spike said as she doubled-timed it past him, "I really think you should take it easy. I know the amulet is important and all, but I don't think you'll find it in there. That's not a magical amulet. That's breakfast. And anyways, it's closer to lunchtime."

The oats poured out of the bag. She had lost too much patience to be either tidy or subtle in her search. As she shoveled through the grain, throwing it over her shoulders and coating the floor behind her, the reality of her situation got more and more serious. And she was headed closer and closer to panic.

It had been a few months since the showboat who labeled herself The Great and Powerful Trixie had sauntered into Ponyville for the second time, sporting both the mysterious Alicorn Amulet around her neck and a serious grudge against Twilight. The amulet had given Trixie impossibly enhanced magic, and by using it along with some deceitful trickery she had been able to both take control of Ponyville and exile Twilight Sparkle from the town. It was only with the help of her friends and Trixie's own greed that Twilight had been able to separate the amulet from her, and she didn't want to imagine the damage Trixie could have done if she still possessed it.

What really worried Twilight was the effect it had had on Trixie. The Alicorn Amulet had changed her from being prideful and a little selfish to a pony who was wicked and crazy with power. There was still much that was unknown about the ancient and mysterious relic, but according to the only book she had that contained information on it, this seemed to be an inescapable side effect of wearing it.

It was true that Trixie was a show-off and a jerk, but she wasn't really evil at heart. All she had wanted was to be better than Twilight Sparkle and get some measure of pride back after Twilight had exposed her as a fraud that first time she had come to Ponyville. And true, as obnoxious as her brief reign as ruler of Ponyville had been, there wasn't any real danger besides having to do a lot of work - the worst of it being having to pull that absurd, wheel-less chariot of hers. And she had always chosen Snips and Snails for that duty, which suited most everypony just fine, since the common consensus was that they probably deserved it.

But what if somepony who was evil and wasn't stupid got a hold of it?

Twilight knew that the Alicorn Amulet had to be kept safe and out of hooves' reach. So she had put it in a magically locked box inside another magically locked box and had stuck it in a hidden compartment Spike had found behind some books in her library. Spike was the only other soul who knew where it was, but even he didn't know how to open it. She had been particularly proud of the magic locks she had enchanted the boxes with, as the spells had been several classes above what she should have been able to cast, and she was even able to give it a little personal touch by adding an extra step: Unless they knew the password, anypony who opened it would have their mane turned a bright green. It was only a little devious and wouldn't be much of a deterrent, but the concept had made her chuckle.

But when she went to get it after receiving the letter from Princess Celestia informing her that some high-ranking unicorns from the Magic Society of Equestria wanted very much to see and study it, the box that she had put the Alicorn Amulet in was gone. And there was no sign of it anywhere. At first she thought she had forgotten that she had taken it out, but the secret door hadn't been budged. And neither Spike or Owlowiscious had done anything with it. Of that she was positive. But that was about the only thing she was positive of.

That and the fact that it still wasn't in the oats.

Twilight felt the tears forming in her eyes. She blinked hard to clear them away, but that only served to make them bigger. One fell down her cheek and onto the oats. Hanging her head down low so Spike couldn't see her cry, she stood there in the middle of her kitchen, the contents of the bag piled up around her hooves. She didn't know what to do. And she was afraid.

"Twilight?" Spike said. Her sudden shift from manic to sullen troubled him.

She didn't say anything.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. "I was mostly joking about lunchtime."

She just stood in her oats, trying to collect her thoughts. Nothing was coming.

"I'm fine," she finally said, her voice low and unnaturally steady.

He slowly padded over to her to stand at her shoulder. Her purple hair hung over her face, the streak of pink and lavender in her bangs lay on her nose, swaying gently back and forth to brush across it. From his low vantage point, Spike could see the streaks of wet that had collected in her hair.

"Are you crying?"

She had forgotten Spike was much shorter than she was. Lowering her head wouldn't be of any use in hiding the tears. Through her haze of despair she actually managed a small chuckle as she lifted her head slightly to look around.

"I think I made a mess of breakfast," she said.

"Oh. Well, don't worry about that, Twilight. I'll clean it up."

She turned to look at him. A smile had found her way to her face, though there was little joy behind it.

"Thanks, Spike," she said. "I'm sorry that I made this mess. I'm just really worried about the amulet. I need to find it."

Spike reached up to put a small, scaly hand on her shoulder.

"I know," he said. "But don't worry. You're Twilight Sparkle! I've seen you find typos in a dictionary. If anyone can find it, it's you."

This time she did genuinely smile.

"It was crazy how they misspelled Y'Xonsfyr, wasn't it?" she said. "I mean, she was only the sixth most powerful camel in Saddle Arabia during the reign of Narn the Never-Parched."

Spike patted her shoulder. His eyes had glazed over slightly.

"Yeah," he said. "They really dropped the ball on that one."

Stepping out of the pile of oats, Twilight used a levitation spell to float a broom and dustbin over to herself and began sweeping. Spike grabbed them out of the air and started poking her in the rear with the bristles of the boom while giving her his orders.

"Oh no you don't. I've got this mess. You, on the other hoof, need to lay down or something. Take a nap."

Twilight hesitated as she considered the mess. It wasn't like her to leave the place in such disarray. But Spike was defiant, and like a little purple and green knight he thumped the bottom of the broom on the ground with a firm thud. With planted feet and pursed lips, he raised his eyebrows and jutted-out his chin to give his ultimatum.

"You. Are taking. A nap."

The broom pointed up the stairs. Spike didn't break the stare.

Twilight sighed.

"It looks like I don't have a choice," she said as she turned to go out of the kitchen.

"That's right you don't," came the reply from behind. "You'll feel better. I'll keep looking while you rest up. Maybe then we can write Princess Celestia and ask for advice or something."

"Please, Spike," she said after a groan. "Leave the Princess out of this until after my nap. I'm not in the mood to think about admitting to her that I lost something as important as the Alicorn Amulet. One freak out is all I need right now."

As she climbed her way up the stairs to the balcony that served as her bedroom, she looked around the small library that served as her house. Books were strewn about all over the place. Nearly every shelf was bare, their contents on the floor. Drawers yawned open, as did all the cupboards, closets, chests, boxes, and anything else that could be opened. The contents of those were mostly on the floor, too.

It's not here, she admitted to herself. I've looked everywhere. Someone took it. Someone took it right from under my nose.

Her stomach heaved at the thought.

She plopped down on the bed. Falling over on her side, she buried her head in the blankets with a soft thump and gave a deep sigh. She was done crying, but the tears on her face that hadn't dried began to seep into the sheets. After a short battle with her mind, trying in vain to untangle it enough to fall asleep, the blankets around her face were damp enough to be uncomfortable. She had to move.

Rolling to the other side of the bed, her hoof hit something under the covers. It was hard.

Sitting up, Twilight looked down at the foot of her bed. There was a small bump there.

It couldn't be.

Ripping off the covers, Twilight saw the same light brown oak. The same unicorn crest. The same little dent in the corner.

She removed the first lock.

She removed the second lock.

"Star Swirl" she whispered so as not to get green hair.

She opened it.

How is that possible?

* * *

"So lemme get this straight, sugar. You want us to just…what? Stand here all night?"

Applejack had no problem in keeping watch for her friend, but she would have preferred something closer to a plan.

"That's right, Applejack," Twilight said. "I need somepony to keep an eye out. Whatever is happening only happens when I sleep."

Every morning it was the same.

Every morning for the past six days, Twilight Sparkle had awoken to the box containing the Alicorn Amulet resting somewhere by her bed. Sometimes it was under the sheets, sometimes it was under the bed, sometimes it was on the nightstand next to it. Once it was balanced on the headboard. And there was never any trace of who had done it.

At first she simply tried staying up all night to catch the intruder, but that proved to be a waste of time. Nopony had shown up, and the box remained in its hiding spot. That is until the next night when, after Twilight had finally succumbed to sleep while sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed, she awoke to find the box laying on her pillow.

To say it was frustrating would be an understatement.

"Don't worry!" said Rainbow Dash. "Applejack and I have got this. Whoever's messing with you is gonna regret it!"

Twilight smiled as Dash spread her wings and flapped them in a display of moxie. The pegasus hovered slightly off the ground, barely able to contain herself from the excitement of catching the intruder.

"I'm glad to hear it," Twilight said. "But remember to be careful. I don't know who's doing this, but it possible that they possess some powerful magic."

Applejack shot her a smirk.

"Aw, horse feathers! Don't you go worryin' about that none," she said. "Ya'll picked the two toughest ponies in Ponyville! I'd like to see some rickety spell stand up to a good applebuckin'."

Applejack gave a kick with her rear legs to illustrate her point. Spike flinched as her hooves whipped past his face.

"Yeah," he said under his breath. "Just keep me out of range of either one."

Applejack's dog Winona gave a wag of her tail and a sharp bark in response to Spike's objection. They had brought her along as well, being renown as exceptionally watchful, even for a farm dog.

"That's right, little lady," her owner said. "Ain't nothing getting' past your nose, is it?"

Winona gave another bark.

"And when they realize they're hopelessly outclassed and make a break for it," Rainbow Dash added with another flourish of her wings, "There's no way anypony is gonna outrun these babies!"

"I'm sure they won't," Twilight said. "But please don't do anything rash."

Dash crinkled her nose a bit.

"Ah, fine." she grumbled. "But they're still getting a whoopin'!"

The sun was going down. The last rays of light slowly traced their way down the wall, casting orange beams across Applejack and Rainbow Dash's faces. Little motes of dust caught in the light danced wildly around them, still reeling from Dash's wings buffeting the air. The shadows around the house had taken on a deep purple hue, and the night was slowly creeping in. Twilight could feel a yawn coming. She'd hadn't slept well lately for obvious reasons, but now that her friends were here she felt a modicum of relief. As stressed as she had been lately, that little bit went a long way, and she felt her weariness catching up to her.

"Well," she said "I guess I'll leave you to it, then. I'm going to bed. It's been a rough week."

Applejack stepped forward and put a hoof around Twilight's shoulders.

"Get along then, girl," she said. "You look more tired than a sheep on a haystack!"

"I don't even know what that means," said Twilight. "But I'm going to bed. Feel free to make use of the house. And thank you both again."

She was out like a light in minutes.

"Huh," said Applejack as she scratched her head. "Is it…the sky?"

"No," said Rainbow Dash, "I said it's BIG."

"Well what in tarnation is bigger than the sky?"

"That's not a valid question! You're bad at this game."

The two of them had been sitting at the kitchen table for hours. Neither one of them knew what time it was, but it was late into the night, and attention spans were low and tempers were starting to run high. Applejack had been trying to guess Rainbow Dash's object in "Twenty Questions" for the past fifteen minutes, and the closest she had gotten had been elephant, which, according to the information she was getting, was bigger than both a breadbox and the moon.

"I'M bad at this?" the flustered pony spat out. "YOU'RE the one talkin' all kinds of nonsense!"

"What nonsense?" said Rainbow Dash. "I'll have you know I'm the reigning Twenty Questions Champion of Cloudsdale! Nopony's better at this game than I am!"

"Who were ya competin' against?" Applejack asked, eyebrows lowered. "Your pet turtle, Tank?"

Dash's wings shot up, their feathers ruffled.

"Turtles don't talk, dummy!"

Applejack sat back in her chair with arms crossed and expression sour.

"Wish you'd take after him."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something that would probably have been in bad taste, but was silenced by a soft growl from under the table. Both ponies stopped their bickering and forgot about the game as Winona stared intensely at the door.

"What is it girl?" Applejack whispered. "Something outside?"

Winona slowly crept to the door. The hair on the back of her neck was bristling. She gave another low growl.

The two ponies sat in silence in the middle of the darkened tree-house. Outside the branches softly tapped against the windows, and inside the soft breathing of Twilight Sparkle and the louder light snoring of Spike could be heard. Besides that the house was dead quiet. The shadows suddenly seemed a bit deeper, the single candle on the kitchen table seemed a bit dimmer, and the high pitched ringing of the silence seemed a bit more ominous now. They would never admit it to each other, but at that moment both Applejack and Rainbow Dash felt a slight chill go up their spine.

Winona growled again. She was at the door now, and started scratching at it with her paw.

Applejack gave a small swallow.

"There's something out there," she said.

They looked at each other. Neither one of them volunteered to get up, and both had beads of sweat forming on their brow, but it wouldn't do for either one of them to admit that they were scared to the other.

Rainbow Dash gave an unconvincing smirk to her friend.

"Well," she said, "Let's go find out what it is."

Applejack gave a crisp nod.

"Yup," she said, voice slightly shaky. "Let's do it."

Neither one moved.

The seconds ticked by as Winona gave another growl and clawed at the door again. The dog looked back at her owner and whined softly.

Applejack's eyes shot back and forth between the dog and her friend sitting across the table. The inside of her hat was starting to become soaked.

Rainbow Dash kept staring at the door. As brave as she believed herself to be, and as tough as she wanted everyone to know she was, her flank remained firmly set in the chair.

"You know," she whispered, "It's probably just a squirrel or something."

Applejack raised her eyebrow.

"I mean, dogs go after squirrels all the time, right?" Her voice was raspier than usual. "She probably just smelled a squirrel. I'm pretty sure a saw a squirrel outside when we came here. It's probably the same squirrel. He looked like a squatter."

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack hissed, "We can't just sit here doing nothin'! Now, Twilight asked us to help. Let's help her, and find out who it is that's lurkin' outside her house in the middle of the night!"

Dash kept staring at the door, her eyes wide and mouth small.

"You first."

Applejack glared at her.

"It's your dog," Dash said while pointing at Winona. "You deal with her squirrel problem."

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash for a little bit longer, then with a grumble got up from the table and cautiously walked over to her dog. She tried to make as little noise as possible, but the wooden floor was being extra creaky that night.

Rainbow Dash gave a groan as she realized that she'd never live this one down.

"Hold on," she said. "You're too loud. I'll get the door."

Hovering slightly above the ground, she glided over to the front door. As she got there Winona looked up at her and panted, raring to go. Carefully Rainbow Dash put her ear to the wooden door. Nothing. Taking the doorknob in her hoof, she turned to look back at Applejack, who nodded and crouched down ready to charge. With a deep breath, Rainbow Dash prepared to open the door.

"NOW!"

The door flew inwards with a gust of cold night air as the pegasus pulled it open. Winona was the first outside, followed closely by Applejack as she hurled herself through the door. Dash soon followed, leaving a rainbow streak as she darted through the air. They followed the dog into the blackness.

Winona was barking fiercely at something. Zigzagging all over the place, she led the ponies on a wild chase through Twilight's front yard, around bushes and trees, doubling back on the trail three times over. Whatever the dog was chasing, neither Applejack or Rainbow Dash could see it.

"Winona!" Applejack yelled, "Where in the hay are you goin', dog?!"

The dog finally stopped at looked back at the two ponies following her. Giving a wag of her tail and another bark, it was clear that she had the scent of something.

"What is it, girl?" Applejack asked. "If you got something, go get 'em!"

Taking off again like a shot, Winona finally led the duo to a tree behind Twilight's house. Winona tried to climb it. Quickly failing, she proceeded to claw the trunk and jump up and down underneath it. Her focus was on something in the branches above.

Applejack prepared to buck the heck out of the trunk of the tree. Getting into position and preparing to use her best commanding tone, she spoke to whoever was hiding there.

"All right now," she called out. "Whoever's in there, show yerself before me 'n Winona mess you up but good!"

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash added as the adrenaline pumped through her veins. "Stop being a wuss and come on out! What're you doing snooping around our buddy Twilight's house?!"

There was no answer.

"I'ma give you till the count of three," Applejack said. "Then I'm buckin' you out!"

Winona barked again.

"One!"

Applejack drew her hind legs back to kick.

"Two!"

Rainbow Dash hunched up in the air, wings flapping, ready to spring.

"And three!"

Suddenly, right before Applejack could kick, a small squeak came from the branches of the tree. They all froze as a small furry creature hoped out from the leaves onto a low hanging branch, its little arms held up in the air in a sign of surrender.

Winona barked and once again tried to scramble up the tree without success.

"It's a squirrel!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

The look she saw on Applejack's face almost made the whole ordeal worth it.

Winona gave a big smile and another bark.

They came back inside much quieter than they had left, although Rainbow Dash seemed notably smug, Applejack seemed notably irritated, and Winona seemed a little ashamed after the stern lecture she had gotten from her owner. But judging by the way she kept looking back, she was still thinking about the squirrel.

"Yeah, yeah" Applejack was muttering. "I'll deal with you later, ya lousy mutt."

Rainbow Dash went back to the kitchen. Although she would never say so, she had been so nervous during that whole ordeal that her mouth had gone bone-dry, and her throat was parched. So she hunched over the sink getting herself a drink of water. Applejack stood in the open doorway taking one last look outside.

Because of that, neither one of them saw exactly what happened. But they both heard it.

From behind them came a sharp crack in the air, a sound like a whip charged with electricity. It was gone so quick that it was almost over before it even started, as if time had reversed itself when it went off. Following it was a flash of green light that, like the sound, was gone far before they could turn around to see its source.

Behind them the house looked normal, although a magical green residue of light was slowly dimming as the darkness returned.

They ran up the stairs to check on Twilight.

They found her still asleep in bed. Spike was still snoring in his little basket next to her. Her sheets were disheveled, and she was sprawled out on the mattress in a position that didn't look comfortable. It looked like she was having quite the restless sleep.

Applejack went to gently shake Twilight awake.

"Twilight!" she softly called. "Twilight, wake up!"

She groggily opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and rubbed her face.

"Mmm, what is it?" she asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, sugarcube," Applejack said. "But we heard a weird sound and saw a strange light, and we needed to know you were okay. Looked like magic-type-shenanigans."

"Magic?" she repeated, still not fully awake. "What magic?"

Applejack gave an apologetic shrug.

"Couldn't tell ya, I'm afraid," she said. "Don't know much 'bout those kinda things."

Twilight started to wake up a bit more, and sat up with a start as the big question came to her.

"The amulet!" she gasped. "Is the amulet safe?"

"We haven't had a chance to check yet," Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash had been quiet up to this point, but it was then she spoke up.

"Um, about that amulet, Twilight?" she asked. "What does that box you hid it in look like again?"

Twilight looked at her friend in slight puzzlement.

"Box? The amulet box? Um, it's…it's wood. And it has a -"

"A unicorn on it?" Rainbow Dash finished her sentence.

Now Twilight was legitimately confused.

"Yes," she said. "But I don't think I've shown that to anypony. How did you know?"

Rainbow Dash gave her friend a look halfway between pity and embarrassment.

"Because," she meekly admitted as she pointed over Twilight's shoulder. "It's on your nightstand."

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. After a moment she turned to look.

You've got to be kidding me.

* * *

"You should have called me from the start!" Pinkie Pie said with her usual bubbliness. "I love mysteries! And this time we get to have a party to solve one!"

The curly-haired pink pony was hopping around so much that she was nearly levitating off of the ground. Her enthusiasm was undeniable, but Twilight worried that Pinkie wasn't taking this as seriously as she should be. Then again, it WAS Pinkie Pie.

"I know it's exciting, Pinkie," Twilight said, "But we need to really focus here! This isn't a party, it's a trap to stop whoever's doing this."

Pinkie stopped bouncing long enough to give her a suddenly serious look.

"Uh, Twilight? Hello? There's going to be six of us in a house where we will be staying up all night—which is technically a sleepover!—and despite the fact that it won't be filled with its typical load-out, the Party Cannon IS present. Strictly speaking, this qualifies for Party Status at a rating of seventy-eight percent."

"Seventy-eight percent?" asked Twilight, tilting her head.

"I didn't bring punch," said Pinkie, her face a wall of seriousness.

Twilight had never claimed to understand the logistics of Pinkie Pie's Party Science.

At that moment another cloud of white powder poofed up near their hooves as Applejack emptied the last of the bag of flour on the floor. Walking backwards between the other two ponies, she opened her mouth to drop the empty bag on the ground.

"Well, you can call it what you want, Pinkie" she said, face, hat and hooves spotted with white, "Just as long as this plan works."

Pinkie practically beamed.

"Oh, it'll work, Applejack," she said. "This plan is foolproof!"

Applejack looked dubious.

"I hope yer right," she said. "Seems a might shaky, if'en ya ask me. 'Specially with that cannon part of it."

"Well, I certainly hope you're not referencing my stitching," came the indignant reply from the corner where Rarity was finishing the net at her sewing machine.

"This net is of the highest quality," she continued. "And apart from this quite fetching diamond pattern I was able to integrate into it, I'll have you know that you could put an angry bear in this net and he wouldn't be able to get out. A hungry angry bear."

As she helped to stretch the net out, Fluttershy took a close look.

"Um, it is a very nice net," she quietly said. "But I'm not sure it could hold a bear. Maybe it could hold a bear cub, though."

Rarity lowered her head and looked at Fluttershy over the rim of her sewing glasses.

"I was simply illustrating a point, dear," she said. "We don't need it to catch a bear now, do we? Unless you think a bear actually did it."

"Oh no!" Fluttershy gasped. "Bears don't steal like that! And the bears around here are very polite. If there was a strange one around here who was a thief, they would have told me!"

Rarity could only smile.

"Yes, of course," she said. "That's…very reassuring."

At that moment Rainbow Dash crawled out from the bookshelf where the hidden compartment was. Where Applejack was covered in flour, she was covered in dust. She gave a good shake of her wings, sending up a cloud of cobwebs and whatever it is that coats books after sitting on a shelf.

"Okay!" she announced. "The cannon is all set. I've got it good and hidden."

Twilight managed to suppress a cough as the dust cloud hit her in the face.

"Great," she said while bating the air around her. "Rarity, as soon as that net is done, give it to Pinkie so she can load it up."

"Yes, yes, naturally," the other unicorn replied.

As Spike walked past Twilight, spreading out the flour with a broom, he grumbled partly to himself, but mostly to anyone who would listen.

"I don't really get this whole thing," he said. "How is flour going to stop the thief?"

"It's not supposed to stop him, Spike" Twilight explained. "It's there as a backup plan."

"Oh good," he said. "I'm getting covered in flour 'Just in case.' That's nice."

Twilight sighed.

"The flour is important, Spike. If the cannon doesn't work, we might be able to find out something about our intruder by their hoof prints. Who knows? If they get away, maybe we'll be able to spot who it is because they've got flour all over themselves."

"That seems like a stretch," he said.

"It's all we have."

Twilight walked over to the bookshelf to inspect the job Rainbow Dash had done. It would be hard for most anypony to notice that the shelf had been moved forward, since the rest of the shelves along the wall had also been jutted out in a gradually increasing distance from the curved wall. To close up the gap by the time the last bookshelf came about, Dash had simply stuck another one from the basement into the space. Most would probably just assume that she reorganized. In the dark it would be hard to even notice anything amiss. She had to admit it was actually pretty convincing.

And behind the bookshelf with the hidden compartment where the amulet box was usually kept, there would be a little surprise waiting for the thief. That would be Pinkie's Party Cannon, which would be locked and loaded to fire Rarity's net once that secret door was opened. Meanwhile the amulet box was temporarily stored in a barrel down in the basement, where the bags of flour which were currently on the floor would normally have been. It may not have been the last place anypony would look, but it certainly wouldn’t be among the first.

"Done!" Rarity announced as she and Fluttershy removed the net from the sewing machine and gave it a good flourish.

"Once again I manage to impress even myself," she said. "It really is wonderfully understated, yet still possesses an air of sophistication."

Twilight was taken aback by the various sizes of diamonds that the material of the net created, which made it look more like a quilt made of hundreds of triangles and squares than a normal net. It was horribly over-designed, but it did look difficult to get out of.

"You didn't have to go so…detailed with it, Rarity."

Rarity gave her a look of horror.

"Well, you didn't expect me to just make a plain old NET, did you?" she asked. "Nothing that bares my name will be anything less than stunning."

Fluttershy held up a tag in one of the corners.

"She put her name on it."

"It is un original de Rarity!" Rarity said. "And you're going to shoot it out of a cannon! It's enough to make one ill."

Pinkie Pie took that moment to hop over to the net and jump in the middle of it, ripping it from the hooves of Fluttershy and Rarity. She then rolled it around herself until she was a bouncing ball of net, headed towards the cannon.

"It ain't getting shot out of the cannon if it's still out here!" she said from inside the tangle of rope.

The ball bounced over to the bookshelf, and through the open door to the secret chamber, where the Party Cannon was waiting. With a "fwoomp" the pony and the net went down the barrel together. After a little rustling and grunting from inside, Pinkie's tail, then legs, then whole self popped out of the cannon, completely free of the net, and landed on the ground, striking a pose. Pinkie stood in front of it with a big smile.

"Loaded!" she announced.

"How did you—" Rainbow Dash began.

"Trade secret!" Pinkie finished.

Sometimes Twilight thought she could take magic lessons from Pinkie Pie.

"Okay then," Twilight said, changing the subject to something that could be more easily understood. "We're all set. Applejack and Spike, you finish spreading the flour on the floor. Then you, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, find a good hiding place for tonight. Rainbow Dash, you find a spot on the top of the house to observe from. If they run, you'll need to chase them down. I'm going to cast a spell on the secret door to fire the party cannon when it's opened."

Outside the sun was beginning to set.

"Come on, everypony," she said. "Let's catch this thief."

It turned out to be not nearly as exciting as they had imagined it would be.

And it was decidedly more uncomfortable.

They had been sitting there in silence for hours. Rarity and Twilight were hiding upstairs under the sheets of Twilight's bed, heads barely poking through the sides as they stared over the rail-less balcony to observe the main floor below. Spike was hiding in his bed, the pile of apples he had to snack on to power him through the night next to him, although to hear his occasional snoring it was clear they hadn't worked. Pinkie was somewhere in the fireplace, although how she had managed to squeeze in there, none of them could say. Applejack and Fluttershy were camped out on the steps leading down into the basement, just high enough so that they had a clear view of the front door, but low enough as not to be easily spotted.

They had both realized pretty early on into their stake-out that Twilight's basement stairs did not make for comfortable seating, and they were regretting not grabbing some pillows to sit on. But there was little to be done now, seeing as the flour on the floor had cornered them into staying put until it was over.

Applejack couldn't take much more of it.

"Sheesh," the orange pony whispered. "My hind quarters are killin' me."

She had tried about a dozen different ways to sit, stretch, and lean on those stairs - none of which could stop the cramps from forming in her legs. Even laying flat on her stomach, which was nice for spreading out as opposed to being hunched up on herself, proved to be the worst overall since she then was getting stairs digging into her body all over herself instead of just her rear end.

Finally, she had had enough.

"Come on, Fluttershy," Applejack pleaded. "Just fly up there quick like and get some pillows. This is silly to have us sittin' here all night in this fashion."

The bright yellow pegasus blushed.

"But, but Twilight said," Fluttershy said, "She said we shouldn't move. Or talk. And we're talking right now."

At that moment she realized that she had just spoken aloud the fact that they were prohibited from speaking. Her eyes went wide in a brief moment of panic, and with a tiny squeak she covered her mouth.

"Keep it down you two!" a hiss from the floor above shot at them.

"Fwrary!" Fluttershy said through her hooves.

That was the other problem—Twilight had been a little on edge all evening. At least, that was the polite way of putting it. A more accurate way of putting it was that she had gone slightly bonkers.

All night long they had had to deal with Twilight's obsessive investigation of every tiny noise that they heard coming from anywhere inside or outside of the house. She constantly got out the bed to pace. She had called in Rainbow Dash from her watch duties outside on numerous occasions to check out various noises that could have come from anywhere, always resulting in the discovery of nothing. Once she stood by the window for twenty minutes investing a branch tapping on the glass, trying to determine whether or not the branch had been enchanted to deliver coded messages. She had insisted that Applejack and Fluttershy do a complete investigation of the basement after Applejack coughed while sitting on the stairs. Applejack had explained as much Twilight, but Twilight insisted that it sounded too far away to be on the steps, having convinced herself that the basement would have been the perfect place for the thief to hide, and was not satisfied until the investigation confirmed that the thief was not there.

All this meant that she was doing a lot of ranting, pacing, and worrying. This obviously made a bit of noise. And she did it while telling anypony else who so much as breathed heavily to be quiet. It was getting to be more than her friends could take, and while they had been polite so far it was quickly approaching the point where something had to be done.

Finally, the last straw arrived.

Spike, doing his best to keep his pillow and blanket warm by dozing on them, was having a wonderful dream. While the exact details were soon lost on him after waking, given what the thing that woke him up was, he did recall a recurring theme of cupcakes and swimming pools. Whether or not it was a swimming pool full of cupcakes or a cupcake the size of a swimming pool, he couldn't remember. But either way it was very pleasant.

So, as he practiced his side-stroke in his sleep, inch by inch his hands and feet came closer and closer to that pile of apples that were still there, right between him and the ledge. And it doesn't take much imagination to guess what happened next. But the ponies did find out just how loud and startling a half dozen apples hitting the ground from the second floor can be.

Applejack and Fluttershy were the first to see them, although to them all they saw were some hoof-seized objects hit the ground with loud rapid-fire thuds and start bouncing a bit, kicking up small clouds of flour. Before they could piece together the full story, the next thing they saw flew into view. That next thing happened to be a unicorn-sized object flinging itself off the balcony with a mighty wail of "NOW!!!"

The thud produced was notably louder than the apples hitting the ground. And the cloud of flour was notably bigger.

Everypony stood in stunned silence for a moment, unsure of what just happened. The cloud not only reached Applejack and Fluttershy at the stairs, obscuring their vision, but also all the way up to the balcony, where Rarity stood looking down in shock after having flung herself out of the bed. Pinkie's head popped out of the flue of the fireplace. Spike sat up with a start, dreams of cupcakes quickly empting from his mind.

"Huh wah?" he grunted, not fully awake. "Wuz goin' on?"

Rarity was frozen at the ledge, mouth agape. Finally she found a voice and called out to her friend through the still settling white cloud.

"Twilight?!" she yelled. "Are you alright?!"

At first there was no reply, but just before the cloud fully dissipated, she heard a groan, halfway between pain and annoyance.

"Ooooooow," was all she heard.

Twilight lay face down on the ground, legs splayed out in all four directions, coated head to hoof in flour. As she rolled over onto her back, Rarity could see that she was also covered in crushed apples, which she had smashed when she had landed on them. Rarity raced down the stairs to help her up.

As her friends came to Twilight's aide, before they could reach her, she attempted to get up on her own power. She was obviously still going one hundred miles an hour despite taking a hard landing on her face.

"Don't, it's okay," she said through gritted teeth, trying to get two legs up underneath her. "I'm fine. Just…stay where you wer-"

At that point she fell down on her back as her legs gave out on her. She couldn't catch her breath, her chest was aching, and both of her back legs were throbbing. She could barely put any weight on them at all without tearing up.

Applejack was the first to put a hoof on her shoulders and stop her right where she was.

"Just fine, nothin'!" she said. "What're ya thinkin', ya silly filly? Takin' a header like that…I ain't never seen nothin' quite so ridiculous!"

Twilight could only stare up at the ceiling, the faces of her friends filling her peripheral vision.

"I just thought…" she started before having to stop to catch her breath again, "I was going to catch…the thief. Ow."

"Well, you're obviously not catching him tonight," said Rarity. "You're far too hurt, too messy, and—might I add—unreasonably difficult to work with this evening."

"Yeah," Twilight admitted. "Maybe I should have…gotten...more sleep."

"Why?" asked Pinkie Pie. "How much did you get? Eight hours? Five hours?"

"More like no hours," Twilight admitted.

The other ponies all glanced at one another. It was all starting to make sense.

"Yeah," said Applejack, "You're going to bed, missy. Somewhere else."

"But," Twilight started to object, "The amulet…we need to…watch it."

"And WE can do that too, sugar" Applejack said. "But right now you're lookin' less like a lookout and more like an apple fritter what fell off the plate!"

"Yeah," Pinkie Pie added. "A chatty, sleep deprived, freak-outy apple fritter."

Twilight looked down at the mess of smashed apples and flour covering her. Her friends were right. As much as she hated to admit it, she was no good to them right now. She would just be in the way.

"Alright," she sighed. "I'll go somewhere else. Just promise me you'll catch the thief, okay?"

"Don't you worry none," said Applejack. "They'll be sorry if'n they stick their nose in here tonight."

Pinkie Pie and Rarity gave Twilight a hoof as she shakily stood up and hobbled along to the door. Spike had been standing on the stairs the whole time, wringing his little claws in apprehension.

"Twilight, I'm so sorry," he began to say, "I didn't mean to knock those apples off! I didn't mean to fall asleep! I didn't-"

She cut him off before he could gush further.

"Don't worry about it, Spike. I'm fine, and my freaking out wasn't your fault. Just do me a favor, okay?"

"Anything!"

"Just don't fall asleep again."

"I'll…do my best" was the best he could promise.

Applejack shot him a look.

"What?" he said. "That's a tall order. You can't fit in it, but let me tell you that bed is comfy!"

As they opened the front door, Rainbow Dash was circling above, waiting for them.

"What in the name of hailstones is going on in there?" she asked as they walked outside. Then she saw Twilight limping and covered in flour and apples and was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Okay. Clearly I've missed a lot."

"They're taking me somewhere else Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "I'm too stressed out to be of much use here."

"I'll take her to my house," said Fluttershy. "I'd be better at that than catching a thief, anyway. As long as that's okay with you, Twilight."

"That sounds great, Fluttershy" Twilight said. "Thank you. Come on, it's time for me to get out of everypony's manes. And into a bath."

The warm water felt fantastic.

In an effort to not make too big of a mess of the bathtub, Twilight's initial dosing had occurred outside, utilizing buckets of water which were ice cold. The flour had proven to be obnoxiously difficult to get out of her coat once the water mixed with it to create a thick paste, which meant that more than a few buckets had been involved. Fluttershy had nearly wept with guilt and had offered a dozen apologies for each load of water that was dumped over Twilight's head.

Fortunately Fluttershy had instructed her critters to prepare a warm bath while the unpleasantries outside were occurring, and though the animals were not very pleased with being woken in the middle of the night, Twilight was extremely grateful for their assistance.

She had been stressed, sore, tired, embarrassed, still covered in goopy paste and freezing to the point of her teeth chattering when she entered the bathtub. It had been hard for her to imagine ever feeling better, but the moment she slid a hoof into that steaming water, she felt the tension uncoil itself from her body. That initial immersion was so nice that for a moment she just stood there with one leg in the tub, eyes closed, swaying back and forth ever so slightly as her weariness started to take hold.

Eventually she dragged the rest of herself into the water, and with a body-deflating sigh she leaned back and rested her head on the edge of the tub. Holding her breath, she let herself slide down until her head was under water, and let the warmth soak in to the last bit of her that was still freezing. Her mane had been stiff with the cold and flour, but as she immersed herself she felt it loosening up, and it began to swim around her face as the gunk started to work its way out.

Wiping the water out of her eyes as she came back up, Twilight saw Fluttershy's bunny Angel standing on a small table at the other end of the bathtub. He was looking annoyed and tired, but then again Angel was notoriously fussy, so it was difficult to tell when he was genuinely upset or just being overly dramatic. But he obviously wasn't upset enough to refuse to be of assistance, as was made clear as he held up a bottle of shampoo, gestured to it, pointed to his head, then to Twilight, and then finally pointed straight down to his feet at the other end of the tub.

"Yes, thank you, Angel. That would be great."

As she laid back and enjoyed the pampering she was getting, Twilight had to admit that Angel was pretty good at shampooing a mane. As his little rabbit paws worked the last of the flour out, the massage-like effect it had was putting her on a fast track to falling asleep. The lack of rest was pounding down her door, and she knew she couldn't hold out for too much longer. But since falling asleep in a tub didn't seem to be such a good idea, she decided to stay awake until she was done with her bath.

Twilight was awoken from her sleep in the tub by a loud splash.

She had been dreaming. She didn't remember everything about the dream, but she remembered crystals. Towering crystals glowing with an oddly dark light. She felt coldness coming from them. Coldness and an overwhelming sense of despair. Then came a feeling in the pit of her stomach of great loss and something being torn from her. She felt hollow. Then that void in the pit of her stomach turned into something else: A feeling of great gravity pulling her downwards. The last thing she remembered was falling. As she looked downward and saw a great pool of black liquid, ripples rapidly moving inwards to collect in a splash which rushed up to meet her. The waves smacked her face. It was then she woke up.

She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep in the tub, but judging by the temperature of the water, it hadn't been too long. Remnants of the shampoo suds still lingered in her mane, but most of it had been washed away by the splash of water which had awoken her. She noticed Angel was no longer rubbing her hair. She turned around to see a very upset and very wet rabbit staring at her, arms crossed and foot tapping in irritation. With a toss of his head he hopped off the table and started to walk out of the room. His progress was made more difficult due to the sudsy water all over the floor. With as much dignity as he could muster, the soaking wet rabbit slipped and slid out of the room.

Twilight started working on getting the rest of the shampoo out. She was troubled by the dream, what little of it she could remember. That feeling of loss in the pit of her stomach still lingered, though she didn't know what it was that was gone. Besides still being sore and tired, she felt normal.

But the crystals were concerning, too. She had seen those before. In fact, those dark ones had looked exactly like—

Her thoughts were interrupted by Fluttershy poking her head in the doorway. She had a look of mild matronly concern on her face.

"Twilight?" she asked. "Um…do you happen to know why Angel is all wet? And getting a mop?"

She saw the state of the room, and the water on the floor, walls, and even ceiling.

"Oh my," she said, "I guess that's the reason. But what happened?"

Twilight's eyes went wide as she admitted "I…don't know!"

It hadn't even occurred to her to wonder what it was that had caused the splash that had made the mess. Mentally kicking herself, she parted the dirty, soapy water. It was too opaque to see. She blindly swept the floor of the tub and almost immediately hit something solid under the water. She tapped it again, and felt a hollow thud.

She groaned as she realized what it was.

Twilight bent over, reached into the water, and pulled out the Alicorn Amulet box.

She had fallen asleep. That was it.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide. She gave a little squeak.

"Oh no! Twilight, I swear I didn't see anypony come in here! I'm so sorry! I should have seen them! I should have posted a lookout! Angel is no good at paying attention! He's such an unobservant bunny! I didn't—"

"Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault."

It all makes sense now.

Fluttershy stopped her gushing, but still stood in the doorway, hooves up to her mouth.

"It…wasn't?"

Twilight didn't know how it was happening, but she finally understood what was going on.

"No. Go tell the others they can go home and sleep. I'll clean up the house tomorrow."

Fluttershy lowered her hooves and tilted her head to the side.

"But what about the thief?"

"There was no thief."

It was me the whole time.