While Arcania was a mostly peaceful nation, with numerous villages untouched by corruption, there something about the dark that tapped into the primal fear of all people. And for one of nobility, night was hardly the ideal time to travel, even in the city of King’s Reach. He was a scrawny centaur, not rare by any means. He kept himself bundled in his robes, as he silently crept along the dim roads, keeping close to his guard. A deal that would make him a bundle was going well, but negotiations had lasted longer than he had wanted.
“Are you unable to hurry up?” The centaur said in low whisper. “I wish to get home while I still have something of value.”
The guard let out a soft sigh as his own thoughts were slowly drowned out by the whines and whimpers of his employer. In his opinion, it was pointless to be terrified in King’s Reach. Efforts from the king and the town guard had deterred crime to a near standstill, with only small petty crimes being committed. Anything more serious than pick pocketing was met with a flail or the axe if it was called for. This fact did little to ease him employer, who would jump at the sight of his own shadow if given the chance.
Perhaps it was his attire. He had on him the most flamboyant violet robes, several rings, a large sack of coins that was secured to his belt, and a ruby medallion that had been in his family for generations. Had this been any other city, he would have been begging someone to rob him. Never the less, this was King’s Reach, and any Arcanian would be a fool to rub them. The back roads of the city must have instilled a shadowy dread in the back of his employer’s mind. There had been rumors going around about a band of thieves, and then a gang of bandits, and finally a small army of murderers were traversing the city at night and attacking individuals. Utter rubbish in his opinion. They would have been caught by now.
The centaur motioned for his guard to hurry along, as he kept looking out the corner of his eye. For the past week, he couldn’t help but shake the feeling that something, other than his guard of course, was watching him. Images of monsters flashed in his mind. Shadowy things that slithered out from the darkness pouncing and driving venomous fangs into his neck before fleeing to parts unknown with all of his valuables. As he dwelled on these foreboding thoughts, something slammed into his chest knocking him to his haunches while feathered arms seemed to claw at his chest. He let out a shriek of fright as his arms flailed about, striking the monster a few times before scrambling towards his guard. “Kill it, kill it!” He demanded, screaming to the high heavens as if a wolf was attempting to rip his throat out. “Whatever it is, kill it!”
The guard rolled his eyes, embarrassed at his employer’s shameful display. If he had kept his wits like he had, his employer would have noticed a very little pony. In fact, that was all there was, a little pony that looked almost as frightened as the centaur. She, and he was assuming it was a she as ponies of both genders looked alike to gargoyles, was a cowering mare that hid behind her wings, likely trying not to be struck again.
“Don’t-don’t hurt me!” She wept, unable to even peek out behind her blue wings or her shaggy rainbow hair. Her little body shook as soft sobs could be heard. It was almost heart breaking for the gargoyle to listen to someone so adorable and innocent grovel and beg for her life, as if he and his employer were monsters ready to rip her apart.
The guard drove his spear into the ground and knelt down before the equine. With a slight hesitation, he reached out and began petting her head in an attempt to calm her a bit. If this had been done in Equestria, the guard would have received a swift smack across the face. However, it seemed the Pony, whoever she was, welcomed the attention. Her wings dragged across the ground before snapping to her side. She looked up at him, with tears still fresh in her eyes.
“It’s okay little one,” He said as softly as he could, “we’re not going to hurt you.”
Looking into her wide eyes, the gargyole noticed that her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit, melting his heart. While this may seem like an amazing feat, it was actually very easy. Most anything could melt a gargoyles’ heart, especially adorable things like ponies.
The mare cautiously pulled her head away from his hand. “I-I’m sorry,” she said with a sniffle. “I’m a bit I got separated from my friends and I-” She paused for a moment, noticing the cowering centaur behind the gargoyle, and took a step back.
The Gargoyle himself shot a glare at his employer. There was great shame to be had in Arcania for striking a woman, even if that woman was a mare. “Sir, it’s okay, it’s just an Equestrian.”
“You don’t know that!” The centaur said. “She could be a changeling! And that could be a pick pocket, a thief, a bandit wishing to lead us into a trap before her cohorts descend on us like spiders!”
“And do what, snuggle us to death? Stop cowering like a woman.”
The mare shot a glare at the guard, even though his back was turned to her. Woman was such a derogatory term to ponies. The term was mostly used in Arcania but originated from the extinct human tribes. She imagined some fat scholar sitting around with other fat scholars and saying, “It’s too difficult to learn what ponies wished to be called. Let’s just call them men and women. Why, of course we should do it for all races! Why bother learning theirs when ours is good enough? They all mean the same thing anyway.”
The mare quickly put on a frightened expression, suppressing any growing annoyance, just as the gargoyle turned back to her.
“You said that you lost your friends. Do you have any idea where they might be?”
“D-do you know where the Slumbering Dragon is?” She asked. “We said we’d meet their if we got separated.” She placed a hoof on his arm, sending a chill up his spine from contact alone. The mare of course did this on purpose, as it was quite easy to fluster something as stupid as a gargoyle and doing so boosted her ego.
The gargoyle, now with flushed cheeks, had to give her a bit of credit for making it this far. She was not that off from the Slumbering Dragon, though she had increased her journey by taking the back roads. It was likely a lapse in judgment caused by being in an unfamiliar land with unfamiliar creatures. His heart went out to the poor thing. “Well,” he said, in a deep voice, trying to make himself sound more powerful and alluring as he could. “It’s not too far from here actually, my master and I could show you the way if-”
“Absolutely not!” His employer called out. “Just give her some directions and send her off on her way! I’m onto you, you lecherous swine!”
“Ignore him,” The gargoyle said. Before He could say anything else, a yellow aura pulled him away from the mare and towards his employer.
“We’re not wasting our time on her!” There was something about the mare, a glint in her eyes, that filled him with unease.
“Fine.” The guard began walking backwards. “Just follow the main roads and flag down some guards, they’ll help!” With that last note, he turned and followed his employer.
The centaur hurried along the road, starting to feel safer with every step he took. Yet, there was also a sinking feeling in the pits of his stomach. Was he forgetting something? If so, what could it be? He was just about to start patting himself down only for the soft voice to earn his attention.
“Wait!” The mare called. They looked back to see the mare carrying a wallet on her back. More accurately, it was his wallet.
When the mare was in reach, the Centuar quickly snatched the purse away from her. He gave a look before turning to leave tugging at his guard’s sleeve.
“We were lucky that she saw that,” the guard said.
“No, she was lucky we don’t report her for stealing it.”
“She’s a Pegasus, she could have flown into the sky the moment we started leaving.”
“She couldn’t do that because she was dumb enough to tell us where she was staying. Once I noticed my wallet was missing, I would have half the guard looking for her.”
As the bickering faded into the distance, the mare smiled to herself, relieved that she managed to return the wallet before they were too far away. It made certain that they wouldn’t notice that the medallion the noble was once wearing was missing until later that night, or the next day. It was the very medallion that she had tucked between her side and her wing. All that remained was reuniting with her friends.
There were several maps and blueprints strewn across the table as two ponies strained themselves trying to get a sense of them.
“This is impossible, Spitfire,” a stallion said with a whimper. “We go in through the air, we get shot. We go in through the front, we get stabbed and shot. We go in through the swearers, we get covered in crap, stabbed, and then shot.”
His companion said nothing, choosing instead to look at a picture and the maps they were provided with before coming to King’s Reach. It was a detailed sketch of a ruby medallion. The gem was half a foot in diameter, carved from a fire ruby, something obtainable only in the Dragon Kingdom, and worth a king's ransom to the right buyer.
The ponies had been hired to steal it from a cowering centaur who threw money at whatever interest him in the moment. If stolen in a timely manner, they would be given a small bonus, but they only had until April’s end. This gave them a little over two weeks to steal it, which was proving to be difficult, especially since their third member was constantly leaving them in the middle of the day, only to return late at night.
There came a gentle knock at the door. “You guys in there?” a voice called, raspy and yet still sounding surprisingly giddy.
“Soarin, let her in,” Spitfire said, tracing her hoof along the floorplans of the mansion.
Soarin undid the locks and allowed the friend entry. “Hello, Rainbow Dash,” Soarin greeted as she casually walked passed him. “Nice of you to drop by earlier than usual.”
“No problem! How are you guys doing, make a plan yet?” she said taking a seat across from Spitfire.
“No, because you decided to go off, again.” The mare peered up to shoot her a glare. “I’m docking your cut, if we can even steal the damn thing. When we get back, I’m telling Wind Rider how you went off on your own every day for the last three weeks.”
“Oh, he’ll be mad I wasn’t a team player,” Rainbow said, tilting her seat back and balancing on only its hindlegs. “Anything I can do to change your mind and keep quiet?”
Spitfire slammed her hoof on the table. “How about you help!? Soarin and I have been combing over the mansion, his security, everything, and we haven’t come any closer to finding any weak point!”
“Sounds hard, and I hate all that planning stuff. I have to read and study, and that’s so boring! I’m a doer, not a planner. How about I just steal the ruby myself?”
“Cause you’re just that good!” Spitfire said, rolling her eyes. There was one thing that Spitfire never liked about Rainbow Dash, it was her ego and her lackadaisical approach to thievery. Not to say her pride wasn't earned, however it was likely to lead her to a unfortunate situation one of these days, and end with her at the gallows or the ax. “Tell you what, if you can steal the medallion by tomorrow morning, you can have my cut!”
“Really?! You got yourself a deal!” There was a sudden bang as Rainbow Dash threw the medallion down on the table. The silence was music to her ears. She wanted to have a painter capture it in a lovely portrait, using his finest equipment. She would have it hung in her home, across from the foot of her bed, so she could look at it every night before she fell asleep and right when she woke up the next morning. She leered from side to side, drinking in the looks of shock.
“You’re kidding me.” Spitfire finally spoke, as a chill ran up her spine. Rainbow was going to hold her to the promise she just made.
“You little minx!” Soarin cried, grabbing the medallion. “How did you get this?”
“By stealing his wallet at the same time and giving the wallet back,” she said with a smile. The trick was easy if you were Rainbow Dash. She had the softest touch of anyone in her guild, and it had only served her when she wanted it to. She frowned and began to whimper. “B-but don’t think me a thief! I was just confused. After all, I-I'm just a poor wost, widdle pony that was frightened of the d-d-dark! Ha! The Gargoyle with him ate the act up! One look and he was head over heels!”
“Really, you pulled the cute, helpless pony trick?” Spitfire asked.
“Hey, as the world’s greatest thief, I’m open to any tactic that gets me what I want. So what if it was a little degrading for a minute or two? Sue me! Beside's it's not like you two were making any progress.”
“Who cares about the time we wasted? Mission accomplished! Let’s get drunk!” Soarin shouted.
It was near midnight by the time the group entered a tavern that was across the city. Being a group of thieves, it was important to spread themselves across any area, it tended to confuse the guards once claims that ponies stole from mighty and hulking gargoyles and powerful centaurs. A fortunate stereotype in Arcania was that ponies were the purest of all creatures in the world, which was true for the most part, but not for them. They seemed to revel in the muck of sin and hedonism. Spitfire especially loved buying a stallion once a job was completed, preferably an Earth Pony if one was available. Soarin was less wasteful, and only bought two small souvenirs to commemorate his exploits. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash adored luxuries. Not in a vain way, but in a comfortable and lazy one. Anything that improved her sleep she would purchase, and she was a avid fan of a fine cider found in Apple Grove, a very rich town in Equestria.
Rainbow felt a great deal of pride in her work. In fact, she liked to believe that stealing was the reason she was put on this earth. Sometimes thievery was all she thought about. She’d saw several wallets on drunken bastards just asking to be taken. She remained in control of such impulses though, there was no need take any unnecessary risks. The mare smiled to herself as Soarin brought over several pints of ale and a pie. There was nothing quite like enjoying some booze after stealing from someone rich.
As soon as he placed the platter on the table, he stole a large slice of pie and plopped it onto a small plate. Soarin had loved pies ever since the three of them were foals, though, his favorite kind was apple, especially when served with a large dollop of whipped cream and cinnamon. The stallion took one bite, only to immediately spit it out. “What kind of crap are they selling here!?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. While he loved pies, Soarin was a bit of a spoiled brat when it came to food. In fact, he was owed to a tavern in Apple Grove. Then again, perhaps the tavern wasn’t what interested Soarin. The owners had a very attractive daughter that waited tables from time to time, and being a stallion, Soarin found it difficult to ignore her.
Soarin glared at the peach pie and let out a snort. “I miss Apple Jewel’s cooking,” He muttered, putting his head on the table. “There’s no way she would’ve served something like this. The ale probably sucks to.”
Rainbow snickered into her mug. There wasn’t a chance that the ale could be that bad. She began to gulp down her drink, which soon tapered out into a long sip. It was drinkable, but perhaps Soarin had a point. The cider at the Sweet Apple was much better than whatever swill that the gargoyles had given them. There was a bitter aftertaste that ruined the drink for her. And, while it certainly looked like it was cooked well, the pie smelled too much of cinnamon. Perhaps she was a bit spoiled as well.
“So, how’d you steal it?” Spitfire asked in a quiet voice voice. “Doesn’t he usually have a dozen guards on him when he goes out?”
Rainbow Dash wanted to regale them with a tale of suspense and action, but that would be lying and she was above lying to people she wasn’t going to steal from. “Honestly I got lucky. Every time I went out, I found him, tailed him, and looked for some opening, but there were so many guys with him one of them was bound to notice something. But I think tonight there was something he wanted kept quiet, so he only kept one guard. I took a chance, pretended to be a cute, helpless little pony, and with these,” she wiggled her wingtips as if they were fingers, “I got his wallet and his necklace.”
“But you gave the wallet back?”
“He noticed something missing, so I gave him it to ease his mind.” Rainbow Dash tilted her cup back. “I just have to lay low for a day. The guys think I’m staying at the Slumbering Dragon, and I’m pretty sure the gargoyle was wrapped around my hoof. If anything, they’ll think they dropped it.”
“Not bad, Dash. Wind Rider’s going to be over the moon when hears about this.”
Rainbow Dash puffed her chest out and grinned. She never minded hearing praise from her guild and would relish in any praise that Wind Rider gave her. She had something of a special relationship with the guild master, but that was a story for another time.
“If we leave by tomorrow night, we might be able to make it back to Equestria by the end of the month,” Spitfire said into her mug in an attempt to keep quiet. She took a slice of pie and bit into it. She immediately spit it out like Soarin. “Ugh! What’d they use to make this? Freaking Arcanians, if it’s not meat, it’s not edible!”
Rainbow Dash’s face fell at the idea of leaving so soon. “Yeah, about that, I think I might stay a little while. You guys should just go on ahead.”
“Any reasons as to why?”
Rainbow Dash leered to each side of her before leaning in towards her friends. There were no secrets between the burglars in her guild, it was the one rule to keep them honest with the only ponies that mattered, each other. “A few days ago, I saw this gargoyle chick in walking around with a mare in fancy clothes. I tailed them home, find that they live in a mansion! I asked around, and it turns out that they live alone! No guards, no other maids, just a gargoyle and some prissy looking unicorn. I didn’t think I’d have any time to hit the place, but since we have the necklace, I thought that maybe in a day or two, I’d sneak in, grab everything that I can, and get out! They probably have all kinds of junk lying around waiting to be stolen!”
There was a slight groan from the other two thieves, but ultimately, they relaxed themselves back into their seats. “If you want to stay, then stay. More pie for me when we can really celebrate,” Soarin said with a growing smile.
“Sometimes I think the pies are the only reason you like that barmaid,” Spitfire said.
“That’s not true! I like everything she cooks! Plus, she has a great flank.”
“You’re a pig.” She turned back to Dash. “I can’t say that we can join you, as tempting as stealing from a rich old maid would be. Someone needs to get the rock back to the client. You know how those Unicorns get, you’re an hour late and they get cheap.” Spitfire shook her head as she gulped down her drink. “Four-eyed, upper crust jackass. Whatever you do, don’t get caught. We don’t have the sway here like in Equestria. You’re caught, you’re done.”
“Please, like I’d get caught.” Rainbow said, as she managed to stomach the rest of her drink. What Rainbow Dash couldn’t know at the time was that her new mark was nothing like the other mansions and aristocrats she’d stolen from. Unlike those, this Mansion would soon house a dragon, centaur, and a second gargoyle. “Soarin, there is something I might need from you though.”
“What do you need?”
She smiled a devious little smile and said, “I just need a letter.”