It was 7pm in Equestria, and the group of mares (plus one dragon) from Ponyville were gathered at a nice-looking restaurant in Canterlot, along with many other residents of the grand city. Just around the corner was Grand Canterlot Museum, and in two hours time, Kaito Stallion would make his appearance.
The nearby restaurants couldn’t be any happier. Because of Kaito Stallion’s upcoming heist, ponies from all over the city were gathering to have their dinners at the restaurants, so that they could secure good spots to see the legendary phantom thief in action, and the Royal Guard – led tonight by Princess Celestia herself – attempt to catch him.
After making their orders, the group of friends from Ponyville sat and waited for their meals to come. “Man, this food better be good, considering how much it costs.” Rainbow Dash said, looking through the menu one last time, still shocked over how expensive this stuff was.
“Sorry.” Twilight said. “I know some cheaper places nearby, but they’re all full up. Guess there’re a lot of ponies from outside Canterlot here to see this attempted heist.”
“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. This is the biggest theft of the century we’re talking about.” Rarity pointed out, sipping her drink carefully, to make sure that she didn’t spill any of it on her dress. “But still, I wonder how he’ll go about entering the museum in the first place? I mean the ground is completely covered by the Royal Guard, and the Princess herself is monitoring the air.”
“He’ll probably do what he always does.” Trixie said, gaining the group’s attention. “Most likely, they’re going to let him enter, so that they can spring their trap inside, and prevent him from slipping into the crowd. As for how he’ll get past the guards, a simple illusion to disguise himself as one of them is all he needs. If they were serious about catching him before he entered, they would have positioned at least one Captain outside. But they haven’t. They just need to make sure that he doesn’t enter through the air.”
The group stared at Trixie with equal looks of confusion and surprise. She realised why, and began explaining. “I looked through a few articles about him after you brought him up, and quickly became a fan.” She said, revealing a sign that she had brought along, reading: “Kaito Stallion, Steal My Heart!”. “Though I get the impression I was his fan before losing my memories. Anyway, I’ll be cheering for him tonight, so would you mind amplifying my voice with your magic, Twilight?”
Twilight facehoofed and sighed heavily, and then stared at Trixie with a frown. “Why would you be his fan? He’s nothing but a thief.”
“True, but what can I say? I like the way he works. His magic is awesome! And he’s so cool!”
“And he makes good, hard-working guards like my brother look foolish!”
“Then maybe he should try harder.” The rest of the group gasped and backed up on their chairs, looking at Twilight, who was now glaring at Trixie with an angry look on her face. “Um…I mean…I’m sure he’ll get him tonight?” Trixie said, noticing Twilight’s anger.
“You’re bet he’ll catch him!” Twilight shouted, slamming a hoof on the table, causing the entire restaurant to shush her angrily. She ignored them, and continued. “And if you’re going to be cheering for him, you can watch from somewhere else! I don’t wanna be standing any Katio Stallion supporters!”
“N-Now now, Twi.” Applejack tried to calm Twilight down, but Trixie interrupted.
“Fine! I won’t stand out in such a crowd anyway!” She said, looking at Rainbow Dash’s multi-coloured mane. “I’ll find somewhere where Kaito Stallion will notice me, then I’ll get his autograph! But I won’t get any for you.” She said, sticking her tongue out at Twilight. This only spurred on her anger more.
“Why would I want his autograph in the first place!? Except maybe for target practice!”
“You just obviously don’t recognise talent when you see it!”
“Oh, I recognise talent, and that Katio guy has absolutely none at all!”
Trixie and Twilight continued glaring at each other, until their food was brought to them by a nervous looking waiter. “E-Excuse me, miss?” The waiter was a green Pegasus, whose face was covered with bandages. He placed the food on the table, and backed away slowly. “P-Please enjoy your meals.”
The group simply ate their meals in complete silence, with Trixie and Twilight occasionally shooting angry glares at each other, leaving the rest of the group feeling uncomfortable.
The waiter from their table walked around a corner, slipping into a crowd of ponies. Once he was out of sight, he approached a certain white Unicorn stallion who was walking through the crowds, stopping just in front of him. “It’s been a while, Sawdust.” He removed the bandages from his face, and his entire body lit up with a dark blue glow for a single second. Once the glow was gone, he was no longer a green Pegasus.
“Black Cat…” Sawdust stared at the Unicorn in horror, and began backing away, but was stopped by Black Cat’s magic, which froze him in place. “Well well, first I run into Trixie, and then you. My, it’s as if our destinies are intertwined.”
Black Cat moved his head close enough to whisper into Sawdust’s ear. “I’ve already warned you plenty of times, so I don’t think I have to repeat myself.”
Sawdust grinned at the blue Unicorn, and turned around once the magic holding him was lifted. “Understood. Don’t worry, I hear ya loud and clear…” He began walking away, laughing menacingly to himself, which drew the attention of many ponies in the restaurant. ‘Don’t worry, Black Cat. I’ll take good care of your daughter. And I’ll save you a good seat at our wedding.’
Once the group finished their meals, Trixie did exactly as she said she would. She went off on her own to find her own spot to cheer Kaito Stallion. Pinkie Pie and Rarity offered to go with her, so that she wouldn’t be lonely, but she insisted that she would be fine on her own. That, and Twilight didn’t look so happy at the sound of more of her friends going to the supporting side.
And so, with that, Trixie travelled through the crowds of ponies all by herself, looking for a good vantage point to watch the heist. She was beginning to regret going on her own, because she was having trouble navigating through all of the ponies filling the streets.
She finally managed to find an open area at the edge of the crowd. She took a long, deep breath, desperate for some air. She felt like she was suffocation being surrounded by so many ponies. “Argh…How am I supposed to get Katio Stallion’s attention with all of these ponies around me?” She heard some rustling behind her, and turned to see a bush shaking. A white Pegasus clad in the armour of the Royal Guard emerged from the bush, and started slowly walking towards the museum. Trixie looked with her mouth wide open, and started to follow. “It couldn’t be…Could it?”
She saw the guard looking around for a few seconds, and then pull out a lock pick, and unlock a side door into the museum. “It is! Oh, this is going to be so awesome!” She said excitedly as she chased after the guard, and entered through the door just before it closed.
Twilight held her binoculars to her face, mumbling angrily to herself as she watched the museum from atop a nearby hill. Her friends were setting up a blanket and some chairs on the ground, so that they could watch the scene in comfort.
Applejack noticed Twilight grinding her teeth, and tried to calm her down. “Now now, Twi, you can’t expect everypony to agree with you on everything. It’s not like Trixie’s the only Kaito Stallion fan out there.”
Twilight turned to Applejack, showing the full level of anger on her face. “You think that’s what I’m angry I’m about? ‘Cause it’s not!” Twilight insisted, although it was obvious that it was. “I’m just furious that somepony would even think about stealing such historical artefacts. Who does that guy think he is?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself? He’s here!” Pinkie shouted, pointing up to the sky where Katio Stallion began to glide in towards the museum.
“Is he crazy!?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she and the rest of the group, along with the majority of the ponies around, looked up at the phantom thief as he began flying towards Princess Celestia. “No way he’s gonna get past the Princess! He’s as good as captured!”
“It’s just an illusion, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said, munching on some popcorn that nopony remembered her even having.
“You sure?” Twilight asked with a sceptical look on her face. “I’m no master of illusionary magic, but I’m still skilled enough to see through most illusions that ponies cast.”
“Well obviously this is one of the illusions that you can’t see through. Look!” Everyone watched as Celestia shot a beam of golden magical energy towards the incoming thief, only for him to shatter into light. “See? Told ya so.”
“Huh, guess you were right…” Applejack said, staring at the light show in the air. “But…How did you of all ponies see through that?”
“I dunno.” Pinkie Pie admitted as she shrugged. “I just could. Illusions never fool me.”
Twilight looked amazed at Pinkie Pie. No matter how many times the pink pony did something completely unexpected, Twilight could just never wrap her head around it. For now, though, she had more important things on her mind. She shifted her gaze towards the main entrance of the museum. She saw some movement to the side, and looked through her binoculars to see Trixie entering through a side door. “What the!?”
The rest of the group jumped at this. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked.
“Huh?” Twilight turned to her friend, and tried to shake it off. “Oh, no, it’s nothing…Um, I have to go to the little filly’s room…” She said as she got up and started walking away. “I’ll be right back!” She shouted back as she changed her walking into galloping. ‘Trixie may be a fan, but there’s no way she’d actually assist in a theft…Right?’
Trixie walked through the halls of the museum carefully and slowly, keeping her eyes and ears open at all times. She was following as closely behind Kaito Stallion as she could without him noticing, so she wasn’t too worried about the guards noticing her. But she still had to be careful.
“There he is!” The sudden shout of a stallion’s voice made her jump. She peeked around the corner and saw a group of guards racing down the hallway. “It’s Kaito Stallion! Don’t let him get away!”
“That’s odd…” Trixie said to herself quietly. “Kaito Stallion went down the other direction, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, he used an illusion.”
Trixie nodded as she realised why the guards were chasing after nothing, and then turned around when she noticed that someone was behind her. “Wha-” Her voice was stopped by a hoof to her mouth.
“Ssh!” She looked wide-eyed at the stallion before her. It was Kaito Stallion, who was looking down at her with a big grin. He pulled his hoof away when he realised that she had calmed down. “Hey there. This is a restricted area, you know?”
Trixie stared in shock for a few seconds, but then shook it off, and let out a small squeak. “K-K-K-K-K-”
Kaito Stallion looked down at his wristwatch and sighed. “Great, a fan-girl…You wanna just cut to the part where I give you my autograph? I’m kinda in a hurry.”
Trixie let out another small squeak, and pulled out her sheet of paper that she had brought along. “Can you make it out to Trixie, your biggest fan, please?”
Kaito Stallion laughed and levitated a pen up to the sheet of paper. “Sure. Here you go.” He signed the paper quickly, and even included a quick doodle of Trixie at the bottom. It was a quick picture of her face wearing the same stupid grin that she was wearing at that time, but slightly exaggerated. “There. Now you should move along, miss. If the guards catch you, it won’t be a joke.”
Trixie stared at the paper with a huge smile on her face, unable to form the words to express her gratitude. She noticed the picture, but didn’t care that it made her look silly. She was even more happy because Kaito Stallion had taken the time to draw a picture of her. She swore she would have this sheet of paper framed and hung onto the wall of her basement. ‘…I should probably think about moving out the library soon. It kinda sounds sad that I live in somepony’s basement.’
She finally found her voice again and was about to blast Kaito Stallion with “thank you”s, but she noticed that he had suddenly disappeared. She heard hoof steps moving closer, and decided that she should probably leave now. There was just one problem…“Where is the way out?” She asked herself, realising that she was quite a ways inside the museum.
Twilight waited until the guards had moved away, and looked around to make sure that nopony was looking at her. She moved closer to the side door that she saw Trixie entering, and used her magic to teleport inside. Once inside, she slowly started to move down the hallway, being careful so as to not alert any of the guards.
She used her magic to scan ahead through the hallways to determine where the amethysts were located. She finally found the shortest possible route to them, but her spell didn’t allow her to detect life-forms, so she had no idea if it was the safest way.
In any case, she began moving as quickly, but as quietly, as she could. After a few twists and turns, Twilight had to stop when she heard hoof steps nearing her. She noticing a wax sculpture of a pony nearby, and quickly stood next to it, posing in a similar fashion. Hopefully, the guards would be fooled by it.
“Man, I gotta tell ya, I’m getting nervous ‘bout the wedding tomorrow.” One of the guards said to the other as they moved down the hallway. “I don’t think I can do this. I’m getting’ cold hooves…”
“C’mon, don’t worry. Just think of the honeymoon that’ll come after.” The companion said, nudging his side with a hoof. “Still, to think you actually managed to bag such a hottie. Admit it, you used some kinda mind control on her, didn’t you?”
“Um, I’m a Pegasus?” The first guard said, flapping his wings a little bit. They both stopped when they saw a purple Unicorn posing next to a wax figure. Not on a pedestal. Shaking. And sweating. And breathing. “Ummm…Twilight?”
Twilight flinched, but still remained perfectly still. Or what she thought was perfectly still. The guards looked at each other with equal looks of confusion, and the Earth Pont guard tried to talk to her. “What’re you doing here? You helping us with the case?”
Twilight mentally facehooved when she realised that she could have just entered that way. She stopped posing and looked at the two guards, laughing nervously. “Hehehe…Um, yes, I am. And I was, um…Trying to catch Kaito Stallion off guard?”
The two guards seemed to buy it, and let her get on with her undercover work. They walked off further down the hallway, filling the silence with more idle chit-chat. Twilight on the other hoof began dashing towards where the amethysts were being held, along with the trap that she had helped Celestia to set up. She prayed that Trixie hadn’t been caught, and that she wasn’t doing anything illegal, besides entering a restricted area without permission.
Trixie hid herself in a nearby broom closet when she realised that guards were quickly approaching from both sides. She held her breath and tried not to make any sounds. She sat in the small, cramped room, waiting for the guards to pass by. Just her luck. They stopped outside to chat. ‘Oh come ON! You have GOT to be kidding me! Stop chatting and get back to work, you stupid guards! I can’t hold my breath forever, you know? What are they even talking about, anyway? Cake? Stop talking about food! I’m getting hungry here!’
“Stallions!” A loud voice was heard from outside, ceasing the idle conversation taking place between the guards. “Get back to your posts! Kaito Stallion could strike any second!”
“Yes, Captain Armour!” The guards shouted in unison. After hearing the sounds of hoof steps moving away from the closet, Trixie waited a few seconds before taking a peek outside. All seemed clear, so she opened the door, and continued sneaking down the hallway, only to be stopped by a voice from behind her.
“Bravo! Bravo!” She turned around, and saw a familiar white Unicorn stallion standing in front of her, with a messy green mane and tail. His Cutie Mark was a picture of a log being sawed, with sawdust falling from one end of it, and into a pile. He was wearing a pair of shades, so Trixie couldn’t see his eyes. “Truly, the Great and Powerful Trixie lives up to her reputation! Any other pony would’ve been caught by the Royal Guard by now! But then, I have to wonder, why don’t you just use your magic to escape?”
Trixie stared at this pony, wondering just who he was. He felt so very familiar to her, but she wasn’t sure. A pony from her past? “Um…Who are you?”
The stallion’s grin turned into a confused look, and then into a frown. “What? How cruel! I know it’s been a while, but you should be able to remember…” He lowered his shades, revealing a pair of menacing red eyes that caused Trixie to flinch. There was something about them…It was like…He wasn’t looking at another living pony, but at an inanimate object…A new toy that he was excited to play with. That was the feeling that Trixie got. And the familiarity rose even higher. She defiantly knew this pony. “Your fiancé.”
“My…Fiancé?” She asked, causing the stallion to nod. “What’s a fiancé?” She brought a hoof to her chin, trying to remember what that word meant, if she even knew it in the first place.
Sawdust realised that she wasn’t joking, but was confused by her sudden stupidity. “It means we’re going to get married, you and I.” He said, bringing a gasp and a look of shock out of Trixie. “Now, let’s go. It’d be bad if those guards caught us here. I’ll get you out of here. I am your knight in shining armour, after all.”
Trixie looked at the stallion as he put his shades back in front of his eyes, and extended a hoof towards her. There was a feeling in the back of her mind. Something nagging her to run away. She still couldn’t remember this stallion, but something was telling her that he was dangerous. She slowly started to back away, and Sawdust sighed.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to be afraid. I won’t let Black Cat hurt you.” He said, and then grinned at the still retreating mare as he moved slowly closer. “And besides, you belong with me. Since I know the truth behind your uncle’s death.”
Trixie stopped moving, as did Sawdust. She stared at the stallion with a look of horror on her face, thinking back to the dreams that she had. “My uncle’s…Death?” She asked, remembering that her uncle was still alive in her dreams. “But…My uncle…He didn’t die…In fact, he tried to kill me.”
“Huh? What’re you talking about? Did you hit your head or something?” He asked rhetorically, not expecting Trixie to actually respond, let alone by nodding her head and stating that she had lost her memories. “You…Lost your memories? You can’t be serious.” He started laughing quietly to himself, and soon, his laughter grew louder, and more menacing, to the point that it sent chills down Trixie’s spine. ‘Oh, this is PERFECT! Now it’ll be even EASIER to make her mine!’ Sawdust looked at Trixie with an – obviously fake – look of concern, and began to move closer yet again. Trixie couldn’t move. She was frozen in place from the fear running through her body.
Sawdust pinned Trixie against a nearby wall, and moved his face closer to Trixie. “I’ll help you remember. Remember everything. About how I’m the only pony who ever loved you…And how you tried to kill your uncle in cold blood.” Trixie’s breathing suddenly stopped as she stared wide-eyed at the stallion in front of her, her mind in chaos over what he was saying. Sawdust’s grin grew bigger, and he watched as the mare he had pinned down started to break down before his very eyes. ‘Gotcha.’
