Rise from the Ashes: Book 1 - Canterlot

by Sparklecat

Mark of a Thief

In the pieces of the fallen Canterlot in the middle of the night, two large stallion guards in armor were dragging a pony through the halls. One guard was a normal pony and the other was a unicorn. The pony had red hair like a fire with orange fur, he also wore a green jacket two really big pockets on both sides. He opened one eye weakly as one of them spoke to him, “You just had to keep stealing didn’t you kid?” he said a rough tone. The orange pony let off a weak grin, and only chuckled in response to the brute.

“Oh come on now, all of this over a loaf of bread?” he spoke weakly. The guard was unimpressed with him or how he was taking this arrest as a joke.

“You think this all about stealing food? Remember that cutlery set, the antiques, and all those other things you stole? You’ve had your chances, but you kept screwing up. We’ve warned you, but you’re out of luck now.” he said with a cold stare into his opened eye. The prisoner only let off a soft laugh as he was dragged further into the prison.

“Like you’re actually going to keep me in one spot. It’s like the time before that and the time before that, I’m sure you’ll keep me in a cell someday.” he said being cocky. This time the guard smirked and let off a chuckle, leaving the prisoner slightly confused.

“Funny, because won’t make it out of this one alive.” he said with a rasping voice. The orange pony raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but feel unnerved at this.

“Execution? All over stealing? I thought Luna wouldn’t have it in her.” he thought out loud. Undoubtedly a bit afraid of the thought of dying, however he was only biding his time until his friend would help him out.

“She’s gotten tired of you and your careless stealing. She wants you to get a feel of being in way over your head.” the other guard said, finally speaking up. “Open the gate!” the large stallions shouted as a huge black stone wall lifted up in front of them. The guards continued to keep dragging half of his body against the floor with no concern for him.

“Well gee, what do they expect from somepony who is poor and has nothing to lose?” he said with a firm glare. A female pegasi guard equipped with a spear, walked up to the three.

“You were born into a rich family and yet you ran away. If you didn’t want to resort to stealing, you shouldn’t have ran away.” she said in a stern voice. Her helmet had hidden her eyes and the armor hiding most of her body. The orange pony just let out a huff and faced away from her.

“You mean the abusive as hell father and stone cold cousin? My mother was rumored to have any politeness in her, and she died giving birth to me. I don’t think I could survive in there.” he said with a harsh glare. However he was starting to get worried about his partner that was supposed to show up, “Scorchhop, hurry up….” he thought quietly. Suddenly the female guard sheathed her spear and whacked one guard with the blunt end of it; knocking him out instantly. The other guard jumped back in surprise and drew out his sword.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” he shouted as he swung at her. The female ducked quickly and bashed the guard’s head on the wall swiftly, and his unconscious body hit the floor. The orange pony looked up at the female guard in complete utter confusion.

“What the hell was that about?” he said with a confused look. The female pegasi yanked him up and pulled him by the ear out of the gate and threw him in a nearby alley by the trash deposit. “Ow! Take it easy there…” the orange pony said, still surprised. The female cut his bindings with her spear and took off her helmet. “Oh...cousin Lightning...hehe...what a surprise.” he said with a sweat on his forehead, hoping she didn’t take the stone cold remark too personally. Lightning glared at her cousin unimpressed and helped him up.

“You know I’m getting really tired of saving you all time.” Lightning said with a huff and cut her cousin free of his bindings on his wrists. Firebelt just rolled his eyes as he rubbed his wrists.

“Yeah, haha, I have a sliver of a chance of getting caught usually.” he said dusting himself off.

“Just head out from here.” Lightning huffed and handed him his blade. It seemed like a small dagger but yet had the blade of a sword.

“Your ability to scale the wall should help you here. Scorchhop is getting chased by guards at the moment so I came in instead by the way.” she added on. The orange pony grabbed it with his teeth. “Thaamnk yomu.” he said muffling. Then examined the wall and stabbed his dagger into it, then jumped to a hole in the wall with the blade revealing a chain linked between the blade and handle with it quickly retracting back to him. He continued it all the way to the top of the building.

“Oh and Firebelt!” Lightning stopped him and revealed his name, “Don’t be a dumbass this time…” she said with her eyes giving a stern look. Firebelt nodded, before running off on the rooftops. Lightning just shook her head and darted off quickly. Firebelt jumped between alleys in buildings and landed on the other side.

“Now the bridge shouldn’t be too far from here.” he thought to himself and then looked down on the other side of the building. He noticed the bridge made from stone that went over a stream with a wooden overhang, this was the place he was supposed to meet up with Scorchhop. He slid down the side of the wall and landed with a roll, then proceeded to race across the street and sat beside it. “Okay she should be right-” he thought to himself out loud before a voice rang in his ear.

“Here.” a female voice spoke up right beside him.

“Wah!” Firebelt jumped like a cat with his mane and tail fluffed up. He looked behind him and then let off a sigh, “God dammit Scorchhop don’t do that!” he whispered with an irritated growl. Scorchhop looked very similar to Firebelt, only with Quartz eyes and two pins in her hair in a chinese fashion. She had a darker shade of red in her hair and her eyes a quartz green. She also was just a regular pony, and not anything special.

“There she is! Get her!” a loud voice shouted up from not too far; it was the guards that were chasing Scorchhop. She let off a very irritated sigh as her eyes lowered.

“Oh for the love of- could you please?” she growled and ran across the bridge with Firebelt not too far behind. Firebelt nodded and whipped out his blade, then swung it around which cut down the wooden overhang above. The large pieces of wood fell down and blocked the guard’s path.

“Clear the bridge! Quickly! They’re getting away!” the male stallion guard shouted to the others. However the two had already raced far away, and quickly scaled an old building then leaped over an alley. Then they went down the next and hid inside the alley’s shadows, as more guards went by.

“Okay...lost’em.” Firebelt calmly spoke now, sitting on the ground briefly and stared up at the night sky as Scorchhop leaned over him.

“Why do you never think these things through?” Scorchhop said sternly and shaking her head. Suddenly a cold night wind picked up, which left the two shivering. Firebelt looked around the streets from the alley to confirm no pony was in sight. He then looked across the street and saw an old rickety cabin across the street. Firebelt and Scorchhop raced across the street and opened up the door to the cabin and went right in. When Scorchhop flicked the lights on, the cabin on the inside did not look abandoned at all. Weird contraptions and artifacts were scattered across a large desk with a big bag on top, it appear somepony was using this place. Firebelt curiously examined the desk and opened the bag, only to find three gems inside it.

“What are these beauties…?” Firebelt mumbled with a snarky grin.

“The elements of loyalty, honesty and generosity!? Why of all the places here?” Scorchhop shouted quietly, completely caught off guard that these where the elements of legend. However both ponies heard hoofsteps approaching the door; the owner of this cabin had returned. Both of them leaped up to the ceiling and hid on boards on the ceiling as a hooded pony entered the cabin. Judging by the pony's size she was a mare and a dark blue horn poked out through the hood. The mare shook off her hood, she had a dark blue color, long braided ice blue hair and purple eyes.

“Strange...I didn’t unlock this door.” she thought out loud and closed it. Scorchhop instantly recognized the mare; this was Flicker Blitz, Princess Luna’s apprentice.

“But why of all the ponies is Flicker Blitz out here, and with three of the Elements of Harmony?” Firebelt calmly thought to himself. The unicorn in disguise used her magic to take the bag and hide it underneath her cloak. Obvious Firebelt and Scorchhop couldn’t stay here or else they would get caught, they needed to find an alternative way out. Firebelt looked up to Scorchhop for advice on escaping, but the female had already found a small crack that lead to the outside. The hole Scorchhop had used was across on the other side of the room, across some rickety boards. The thief looked across the boards to the hole and slowly made his way across the boards. The unicorn scrambled around with her belongings below. Unfortunately, the one board that was right in front of the hole snapped loudly and one of the pieces fell down. Flicker Blitz jolted in shock from the board landed right in front of her and looked up to see Firebelt jumping through the hole.

“Hey!!” she shouted in anger and used levitation magic to fly after him through the hole. “Get back here!! Who are you?!” she scowled as she pursued Firebelt. The second she busted through after Firebelt, Scorchhop leaped on her back from behind with rope in hand. Flicker Blitz in a panicked fired a lightning bolt from her horn in the air as she was tackled to the ground, Scorchhop quickly tied up her four hooves.

“Okay run!” she shouted as she ran off. Flicker Blitz growled angrily and struggled in her bindings, then used her magic to burn through the ropes with ease. She stood up and whipped her head around to look for the thieves, only to find out they were long gone. However she did notice guards running to her as she stood up firmly.

“Ms Flicker Blitz! We saw the lightning bolt in the sky! What happened?” one of them asked in worry.

“Had a break in with thieves, I’m not sure they were after the Elements of Harmony. However I’m going to make sure they didn’t steal anything.” she huffed and started to make her way back to the cabin.

“Also Ms Flicker,” one of the guards said stopping her, “Princess Luna wanted to speak to you and her guard.” he said. Flicker Blitz raised an eyebrow but didn’t complain, and after a quick check in her cabin she went on her way.

Author's Note:

Note: I'm not the greatest in grammar, if you pick out any errors in this chapter please point them out to me! Thank you. :)

Comments

[PaulAsaran]

Adverbs are not your friend either. Nor is repetition. This is rather tricky to read.

Even so, I'm at least curious to see what your intentions are.