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The Streets of Canterlot 1,475 words
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The Streets of Canterlot

The rain fell in solid waves, crashing over the roofs of Canterlot in a dull roar. Gutters were transformed into rivers in minutes, and the few ponies still outside before the scheduled storm quickly vacated the winding streets.

Night had fallen.

In the lower streets of the city, the shops and apartments were packed in wall to wall, with only a few narrow alleyways cutting through the maze of streets. Here, the rainwater from the higher levels poured through in torrents, incidentally saving public works costs by blasting every last speck of grime off the road.

Only crazy ponies or ponies with something to hide would be out in the night's weather.

In a particularly seedy-looking alley, a cloaked figure hurried past abandoned carts and crates. The clop of hooves on cobblestone was drowned out by the roar of the storm. He glanced to and fro at the windows speeding by, never pausing in his gallop.

A shop caught his eye, and he carefully paused at the edge of the doorway, gazing intently through the keyhole. The interior was dark, save for the flickering glow of a dying candle. It took him a few moments, but the figure eventually recognized the limp form of the shop owner, sleeping in a chair behind the counter.

He smiled softly, and pulled a small vial of grease out from under his cloak. Deftly, he bit off the plug and dumped the contents of the vial over the hinges of the shop door. He paused to throw the spent vial into the street, and watched as it was carried away by the rushing water; the waters were declining, but still forceful enough to suit his purposes.

With barely a squeak, he slowly pushed the door in. When the shop owner remained in slumber, blissfully unaware of the sudden roaring of the storm through the doorway, the figure smirked and slipped on muffling boots. The roar was cut off abruptly as the cloaked pony quickly entered and closed the door behind him.

Taking a moment to let the rainwater slide off of his enchanted cloak, he glanced around with a growing smile on his face. The shelves were practically bursting with piles of artifacts and trinkets, and he was sure at least some of them were valuable.

He crept up to a table covered in jewel necklaces, eagerly scooping a hoof-full up for closer inspection. A grunt of dismay escaped his lips when he realized they were all clearly fake.

Undaunted, he turned to a gaudy pearl-studded dress. Holding up one of the folds to his mouth, he rubbed the precious spheres across his teeth. He frowned at feeling the smooth texture of a synthetic pearl, and set the dress down in disgust.

Thoroughly disgruntled by now, he trotted up to the counter. Surely, he thought, the owner must keep his good stuff here. That wasn't necessarily true, however, as he could see a tag peeking out from behind the shimmering red silk advertised as coming from vaguely-described "giant spiders". A large tooth attested to the validity of that claim; the intruder promptly squashed the poorly-made clay fake with a sigh.

Scanning the shelves, his wandering eye abruptly stopped on a glass display case. More specifically, on the bejeweled amulet resting inside it.

He carefully made his way past the snoozing shop owner, and scarcely breathing, he reached under the folds of his cloak and withdrew a faintly-glowing crystal. He held it up over the counter, and to his visible delight, the glow brightened considerably, bathing the whole room in a ghostly ambiance.

His grin faded when he realized few shop owners would be stupid enough to put a magical artifact in a glass display case, in plain view. Shops that sold fake curios to gullible tourists tended to come hand-in-hand with cunning owners, and practically being thieves themselves, they also were wary of more obvious thieves like himself.

Still, something was setting the detection crystal off. He poked around the counter for a while, finding nothing more interesting than painted clay and dyed cloth in the guise of rare finds. Finally allowing a modicum of frustration seep into his mind, the thief was about to cut his losses and try somewhere else when a loose floorboard caught his eye.

He bent down and carefully pried the board out of the floor, revealing a small door hidden in the exposed hole. Holding the detection crystal over the safe, it continued to glow.

Whistling softly to himself, he got out a lock-pick and began fidgeting around with the simple key-lock. The raspy scrapes of metal on metal rung in his ears, as he hurriedly picked the lock with practiced ease. It wasn't long before the door swung open to reveal a ruby amulet.

Waving his crystal in front of the artifact one last time, the reassuring glow settled all doubts, and he looked over his prize contentedly. He noticed the fact that the genuine amulet lacked the stylized wings of the display one, only featuring a stern caricature of a unicorn arching over the crystal. Typical, the fake looked better than the real thing.

Still, whatever it was, it was sure to have value. He stuck a hoof into the hole and scooped up the amulet, placing it around his neck for safe-keeping.

"Don't move!" a voice yelped, causing the thief to jerk up in surprise and spin to face the noise. The shop owner stood in front of his chair, his horn glowing dangerously.

The thief started to duck under the counter, but then the thought popped into his mind unbidden: I can take this old fool.

Disregarding sixteen successful attempts worth of experience, he stood his ground and didn't run like the thief he was. At a momentary loss as to what to do, exactly, another idea came to him. While the shop owner closed his eyes and readied a spell, the thief grasped the counter with both hooves and flipped it over into the unicorn. The owner was bowled over by the impact, smashing into the ground with a dull thud.

The thief smirked, a feeling of sheer confidence coming over him. "Glad something here wasn't a disgusting fake." he said cockily.

"You idiot, that's the Alico-" the shop owner paused, catching sight of a particular detail on the amulet. Instead, he settled for a less incriminating, "The Guard will hear of this."

"Heh, I'd like to see those strutting peacocks try." the thief said airily, dismissing the threat with the wave of his hoof. Before he beat his retreat, he slipped the amulet off his neck and into his saddlebag, distantly realizing flaunting stolen property on one's neck was a stupid idea, even in this weather. Still, he promised himself, I'll put it back on later. He liked that amulet.

He shook his mind clear, and stared at the struggling unicorn, trapped under the counter. He felt the aura of confidence leave him, and a distinct feeling of guilt taking its place. "Sorry about that." he said genuinely, not a hint of his earlier cockiness remaining.

And with that, he turned and galloped out the door. He didn't stop until he was in the forests bordering the city, where one sprained ankle from a root later, he sunk into a ditch tiredly. Before he let sleep claim him, however, he absent-mindedly dug the amulet out of his saddlebag, and placed it around his neck.

He fell into deep sleep in moments.

Back at the shop, the owner had finished putting all his wares (and his counter, too) back into order. With a happy sigh, he placed his horn-concealing hat back over his head and settled into his chair, resigned to the fact he'd probably stay up all night from the recent events.

He breathed a sigh of relief, glad for once that his sloppy nature had payed off for once. He'd forgotten all about the Alicorn Amulet, leaving it dangerously exposed up on a shelf. An artifact of that dark power deserved to be sold for an exorbitant price, not stolen. Luckily, that thief had taken the Alicorn Amulet's inferior brother - or sister? - from his hiding spot. A very lucky mix-up on his part.

Good luck with the Unicorn Amulet, he thought. Too bad one of Sombra's creations had to have had the wings broken off at some point in the past. What was it going to do, anyways? Give an earth pony unicorn magic?

He could live with that sort of stolen power out on the streets.

And then, a cloaked Trixie trotted into the shop, and the owner forgot all about the Unicorn Amulet.

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