//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - The Crystal Bank // Story: The Lunar Chalice // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Chapter 13 "Those ponies are running me out of good options fast," muttered Rosseth to himself as he slunk between the alleyways of the Crystal Empire's buildings, avoiding sight as best as he could. Now that every citizen of the town within range of that fight had been witness to the destruction his plans had caused, they were likely all out to get him in addition to the guard. Running out of time and ways to succeed, the sorcerer decided to cash in on his one favor before rumor of the fight spread to his only "friend". He found the cafe he had eaten breakfast at, now much calmer now that the lunch rush had ended. "Lighthearted!" called out the zebra, a bit short on breath. The yellow mare turned around, and a broad smile came across her face, "Hey Rosseth! I'm almost done here, just have to wipe off the tables." Unable to wait for that, Rosseth's amulet shot out light blue beams of energy, snatching the washcloth she was using and several others nearby. Rapidly the beams moved around, dragging the cloths and washing all of the tables at once. A shocked Lighthearted watched with surprise as the sudden burst of magic finished her job for her in seconds, and just as soon as it had started, the beams vanished and the cloths dropped to the floor with every tabletop clean. "Oh..." she said, "I guess I'm done then." "I probably should have told you about this amulet when we met," he said nervously, the realization of what he had done starting to hit him, "it was a gift from my dad. Helps with the daily chores." "I can see that," giggled Lighthearted, "so, what is it you wanted to see first? The crystal bank, right?" "Yes, with you by my side," answered the hybrid smoothly. She rolled her eyes, "Hey now, I said this wasn't a date!" "But what else would it be?" teased the zebra. "A tour!" exclaimed the waitress, throwing off her apron and grabbing his front right leg, "Now come on, I'll show you the biggest bank we've got!" He found himself being dragged halfway across the Crystal Empire, Lighthearted being as eager as she was. Many of the crystal ponies stopped what they were doing to stare, until she quit pulling him around by his leg to show him something on the way to the bank. Of course, Rosseth intended to ditch her as soon as she showed him the bank... or so he thought. But there was something charming about the way she cutely swished her tail like an excited puppy when she pointed out her favorite ice cream shop or bookstore in each of the town squares. "...and that over there is the town coin fountain! Ponies come from outside the empire to make wishes here during their anniversaries, it's an ancient tradition!" she said, sighing as she halted her zebra companion in front of the sculpted fountain. It was a very large public piece, carved from stone found deep in the mountains nearby, and studded with magic crystals around the perimeter of the rounded basin. They served a fancy purpose of turning the jets of water different colors of the rainbow in sequence, and the center carving, a perfectly smooth marble sculpture of the crystal heart, slowly rotated in the center just like the real thing. Sure enough, a pegasus couple approached the fountain, and tossed a single bit into the cold water before embracing "This is... very nice," he said bluntly, sounding a bit bored. "Well, what's wrong?" asked Lighthearted sarcastically, turning her head to make eye contact, "don't you think it's romantic?" "It's not that I don't think it's romantic, it's just..." Rosseth's eyes tracked a pair of crystal guards who were asking questions of some nearby shopkeepers. They seemed to be eyeballing him and pointing in his direction from across the street, directing the guards to him. A pair of angry, strong soldiers meant trouble if they managed to catch him, and they were approaching slowly in hopes of not causing a panic. "Say," said the quick-thinking zebra, "how would you like to see another trick from this amulet?" "That'd be fun," answered Lighthearted, true to her name, "what else can that stone do?" "See those two guards? Let's pull a prank on them, shall we?" he said, the amulet beginning to vibrate with energy. First, Rosseth opened up the bag on his belt, and dropped a small potion filled with dark liquid onto the road below. It exploded in a foggy haze, concealing the two of them and making a few nearby ponies cough as they backed off from the blast. This made the guards pick up their pace in hopes of not losing the zebra, knowing he would try to get away using the cover of fog. Lighthearted was choking on the fumes a bit, only able to see Rosseth and herself. "Sorry," chuckled her friend, "mind if I smoke?" "Very funny," she wheezed, "that definitely got their attention. Now what? I hope this prank doesn't end in us getting arrested." "Relax, Lighthearted, let's move on to part two of the plan," he assured. A fan of light shone out from the amulet around his neck, scanning over Lighthearted before creating an exact copy of her and Rosseth in a fast motion. Then, the zebra directed her away, swishing his cape and guiding her to the side of the road, where they hid in an alley and watched. When the smoke cleared away, the guards had caught up to Rosseth and Lighthearted apparently looking at the fountain from its very edge. Both of the guards, the more senior officer clearly a purple unicorn stallion, marched up to the images and demanded their attention. "You're under arrest for creating a disturbance," shouted the first guard to Rosseth's illusion, "and for conspiring against the Crystal Empire if our sources are right!" "What are they talking about?" asked the real Lighthearted. Rosseth explained without missing a step, "Those bad rumors about me must have spread to the guards. We'd better leave while they're busy talking to those illusions I've created of us. Shame we'll miss the punchline of the joke." "That's ok, I'm more worried about you getting arrested unfairly!" she said, "Let's get out of here." They left, leaving the guards to talk to the motionless illusions programmed only to blink their eyes and fidget in place. "Hey, I said you're under arrest!" shouted the guard again, attracting a lot of attention to himself. The other soldier looked around at the staring ponies and whispered, "Sir... something's wrong here." "Silence, corporal, I know what I'm doing," he growled as he shoved him out of the way. The unicorn guard then forcibly grabbed them with his hooves and turned them around, the clones responding to touch as if truly flesh and blood. Now they were facing him, but clearly still not speaking or doing anything else for that matter. Wanting to make an example out of his enemies, he made sure the townsponies were all looking before smirking at the culprits, "All right you two, final warning. Come with me, or I'm going to have to take both of you down in front of all these nice ponies!" Still nothing but blinking and a soft, patient smile from Rosseth and Lighthearted. "Now I get to have some fun," chuckled the guard, before leaping at them with a mighty shout. No sooner did he touch them did the illusions dispel themselves, turning into bright sparkles of light blue before disappearing into thin air. The officer's eyes widened, there was now nothing in front of him but the fountain, and his momentum was keeping him going. SPLASH Far behind them, the real Rosseth and Lighthearted had heard the guard hit the water and burst out laughing, soon accompanied by the more distant laughs of the townsponies mocking their officer for his folly. With a good feeling he'd ditched those two for good, Rosseth slung a hoof around Lighthearted. "What a great joke," he said, his sides hurting, "shame we didn't get to see it." "We heard it! That's all we needed!" she giggled, dancing around on her hooves and nearly knocking over Rosseth. "Now then my friend, can we please see this crystal bank? I've been really dying to see it," he requested, giving her a smile. "Sure! It's just a few blocks ahead," answered Lighthearted. They headed up a road lined with more shops, while Rosseth's smile slowly faded away. He was having such a good time with Lighthearted despite the fact he was supposed to hate her merely on the grounds of being a Crystal Pony. These were supposed to be Cadance's followers, his enemies! A mixture of guilt and indecision temporarily plagued his mind, before he dismissed it. "The Crystal Ponies are just fools to be manipulated. It is just a shame they are the key to bringing down Cadance!" he thought, insecurity in the statement making his heart beat faster. As promised, Lighthearted brought him to the Imperial Central Bank, the largest storage of the nation's energy crystals. It was a tall, imposing building built like a fortress sitting in an otherwise mundane section of the town. Heavy metal and stone walls built tall in a box, large windows made of clear glass shaped liked hearts on the outside, and a bright blue roof carved from illuminated crystal roof that reflected the sunlight off with a spray of rainbow light as if it was one huge prism. A set of stairs covered in silver led up to the doors of the storage facility, which was being watched by two guards. "And here we are," Lighthearted said, pointing with a hoof, "the main crystal bank! This is where we all keep our energy crystals on this side of the town, where I live." "I didn't realize every Crystal Pony got a share," replied Rosseth, "I would have figured she keeps them all for herself." "She?" Rosseth shook his head, "I mean, I thought perhaps the miners kept them all for themselves. Sorry." "Oh, no, we all usually get some of the crystals that come out of the mines," explained the mare, "they're a good investment to buy. They make great jewelery, home lighting, and building supplies for magic stuff!" "That last one is quite different from the others, don't you think?" joked the zebra, smiling. She rolled her eyes, "Well yeah, not that I know much about magic since I'm an earth pony. But I've got a couple of crystals in there just in case something comes up. Some of the unicorns in Canterlot will pay a good amount for them, and I'm going to need that cash if I'm going to stop waiting tables and achieve my dream!" Rosseth became curious, tilting his head slightly, "...and what is your dream?" The mare pointed to an empty lot down the street, "I wanna buy that patch of dirt right between those two shops, and open up a daycare. Ever since we came back, we've started having foals again, and there's going to be a huge need for those little ponies to be watched." "I never thought of you as somepony good with the young ones!" he said, a bit impressed. "Yup! I've kind of wanted to be a mom, but I figured I wanted to be a successful business owner first," answered his companion happily with a raised hoof and a batting of her eyelashes, "and with my new daycare, those foals will have a wonderful head start on their lives!" The zebra stared off into space, "Yeah... yeah they will." "Well come on, let's go inside!" she said, grabbing him again and dragging him down the path towards the bank. Even the path was spectacular, a wide blue cobblestone road with carved crystal statues lining it. Many of them were of ponies or animals, and they sparkled when the sun shone on them. Multiple ponies with small bags at their sides, likely filled with purchased or dug-up crystals, were heading for the bank as well, and Rosseth hoped he could blend in to get past the guards at the entrance. They had no such luck, and the two stallions lowered their spears to block the entryway, frustrating not only Rosseth, but the other crystal ponies looking to get into the bank as well. "Halt!" shouted the first guard, "You're not permitted entry." "Why not?" asked Lighthearted, a scowl on her face. "Your friend here is untrustworthy," growled the other soldier, glaring at Rosseth. "It's because I'm a zebra, isn't it?" he answered with a mocking smirk. "We've been told to look for a zebra plotting on stealing the crystal supplies," confirmed the armored stallion, "and you happen to match the profile." Lighthearted couldn't believe that Shining Armor would have placed a watch on her nice friend. Even if there was a zebra out to steal the crystals, it certainly wasn't the one who supported her dream, helped her out, and tipped her fifty percent! "And what if you have the wrong zebra?" she asked, challenging the guards. "You honestly expect us to believe there's more than one zebra walking around the Crystal Empire?" chuckled the first defender, refusing to move his spear. Tired of the nonsense the brutes were spouting, Lighthearted decided to strike out with her best excuse. "Oh? Well, so much for the Crystal Empire being a nation of love," huffed the yellow mare sarcastically as she embraced Rosseth, "I'll just tell Princess Cadance you were rude to my coltfriend!" "Coltfriend?" gasped Rosseth. "Play along..." she whispered. "Coltfriend? Why... you've been my fiancé now for a week, darling!" he said, holding her back and staring deep into her eyes, "Maybe it's time you started calling me that." He spun her around with the tip of his right hoof, as if they were dancing, and leaned her over on her hind hooves in his front legs, touching his forehead to hers. "Awww!" came a few heartfelt sighs from the crowd behind them, forgetting their need to enter the bank. "But... but..." stuttered one of the guards, "there's no way!" "Hey!" angrily shouted one of the citizens, "Are you gonna let us in? These guys are clearly not trouble." "Yeah, leave the couple alone!" answered another, "You've got the wrong zebra!" The guards seemed unphased by the threats, "We're not moving, go ahead and tell the Princess if she'll even see you! I bet you're lying about all of this." "Is that really a risk you're willing to take?" asked Lighthearted, leaving Rosseth's warm embrace to raise an eyebrow at them, "The Princess of Love would be awfully angry if she learned her guards blocked a loving couple from seeing the bank." With the tension in the crowd rising, the guards gave one last look of frustration at each other before standing down and returning their spears to their proper places, at their sides facing the sky. The first guard went back to his stance and stared down at Lighthearted, "Very well, proceed. But do not stall in there, we're watching you." "Thank you for letting us in for the five minutes we're gonna be here," she snarked as she pulled Rosseth past them into the building. Each of the ponies stuck waiting made sure they gave the guards a dirty look or a frown before entering the bank behind the "couple". To Rosseth, the interior of the bank was even more beautiful than the outside. A large, open lobby constructed of marble floor with red carpets leading the way to teller booths carved out of light-colored stone, and a set of beautiful staircases at the back leading up to a fountain display, a wall of polished granite with a waterfall that pulsated rainbow colors as the crystals behind it changed color. "It's like a castle in here," he marveled. "I can see why you wanted to come here," Lighthearted giggled, seeing his mouth falling open, "now remember, we gotta pretend to be together while we're here." "Remember, you're here to case this bank," thought the zebra, glancing over at the tellers, "now where's the main vault?" "Out of my way!" said a frantic pony pulling a large cart of crystals of various colors behind him. Given how well-dressed he was, a white coated stallion with a yellow mane wearing a nice business suit and purple silk tie, Rosseth imagined he must have been one of the investors in the mines. The stallion shoved his way past the crowd, breaking the queue several times before getting to the front. "Ah, hello Mr. Lamplight," said the teller he had rudely pushed in front of. She leaned over the desk and looked at the cart tied to him, "Well, I can see you're here to make quite the deposit? What's the rush?" "It's important these go in the vault immediately, and under my family's name of course," he answered with a panicked tone and a pleading look on his mustachioed face, "There's been a battle downtown, a griffon soldier destroyed several shops and there's panic! This needs to be secured, there might be looting, riots... higher taxes to fix it all!" "A fight? Well, I'm sure that since there's no rioting, and no scary taxes like you always complain about, everything's probably ok Mr. Lamplight," snickered the teller, apparently having experience with his panicking before, "but we'll put those right in your deposit box." "Oh thank you, thank you Miss Ledger!" he said, grabbing her hoof and kissing it. The teller rolled her eyes and stepped out from behind her counter, leading the eccentric millionaire to the fountain, where she entered in a combination on a set of nine small crystal buttons at the front. Immediately the flow of water ceased, and the granite backing split apart, moving to the side with a slow grating noise, revealing the massive rounded steel door that marked the vault. "There we go," said Rosseth with a confident smile, "I knew this bank had to have a vault somewhere." "Yeah, extra safe!" agreed Lighthearted, "There's nopony that can break into that vault. It's behind a wall of stone, two combinations, and a steel door." "We'll see about that!" thought the zebra, smirking. Walking closer to the stairs with Lighthearted close behind, Rosseth watched intently as Ledger opened up the massive vault, barely able to move the hardened steel door which slowly swung open. Inside could be seen rows upon rows of deposit boxes, each likely filled to the brim with energy crystals. "Ironic that there's no actual money here given the amount of security," he said to Lighthearted. "This bank's too good for plain old bits," whispered the mare, winking at him. Lamplight's cart of crystals was quickly emptied into his family's safe deposit box, the bright green, pink, and blue gems being dumped unceremoniously into the metal bin before Ledger locked them up again. Rosseth paid attention to the size and shape of the keys, he'd need them later if he wanted to unlock the boxes quietly. His eyes wandered from the teller over to a couple of flat stones a few inches across with strange symbols carved into them mounted on the walls and ceiling of the bank. The stones carved with magical conduits were definitely being used as wards tied to an alarm of some kind. "Hmm, security runes, this place must have cost a fortune to build," he said to himself. "It's worth it!" answered his companion, "never had a robbery here!" "Anyways," interrupted Rosseth, trying to avoid the inevitable thoughts of guilt, "I appreciate you bringing me here. Is there any place else you'd like to go?" "Oh. Hadn't planned anything, this place is what you wanted to tour," she answered honestly, fidgeting a bit, "you want to keep going, Rosseth?" Truthfully he was enjoying her company, and nodded, "I would love that." The two left the bank, Rosseth having successfully cased it just by being friendly and working together with the waitress. It was really starting to tug on his heart, how he planned on betraying her and everyone else to take what he needed. He tried to ignore it and focus on his plans as they exited the bank to go see the next big attraction Lighthearted had in mind for him. On the roof of the bank, sitting quietly and observantly, was Limpwing. She had seen the two enter the bank after fooling the guards, and had watched them the whole time from the bank windows, using a rope she had packed since her bad wing made hovering for too long problematic, and staring into the windows while flying would raise suspicion. The resourceful spy took off her flight goggles from her red eyes and returned them to her forehead. After taking some quick notes in her trusty pad of paper she was never without, the mare stashed all her gear away back into her saddlebags and kept watching the zebra and the mare walk away slowly. "Gotcha," she said softly with a smirk, "looks like we've got our zebra, and the place he's gonna hit tonight. Can't wait to see the look on the boys' faces when the hear a mare with a bad wing beat them to the punch!" Spreading her wings, she glided away from the bank and landed on the pavement a block away, hitting the ground in a gallop back for the palace.