//------------------------------// // Life as a known thief // Story: Ballad of The Shadow // by Crackshot //------------------------------// A/N: Holy shit, it's been a while for this one. One thing I have to say is that there might be a point in this chapter where the writing seems to change up a little bit. As you all know, it's been a long time since the last chapter, for which I'm sorry, but the good news in that is that over time I have hopefully improved, but have definatley changed a bit. Anyway, enough of that, new chapter, hope you guys enjoy it. I collected my cloak and dagger, which the nurse gave to me with a worried look on her face, and began the walk home. I looked around me, looking for a potential mark. There were none to be found. ‘Sweet Luna, this place is every thieves worst nightmare.’ I thought to myself. My thoughts were interrupted by the local mailmare, Derpy Hooves if I remember right. I couldn’t help but notice that her eyes were…… off, but I pretended that I couldn’t. I may be a thief, but I’m not an asshole…. At least not until I have a damn good reason to be. I try to avoid being as much of an asshole to mares as I usually am with other stallions, but sometimes, like that time with Rainbow, I just kinda lose myself. “Mister Pick? I’ve got a letter for you, said they were a friend of yours.” she said, digging through her saddle bags for my letter. Now, two things were going through my mind at that specific moment. One, who would be sending me a letter? Two, how the hay did her eyes get like that? Now, before I tell you what happened next, I have to explain something to you really quick. When I get really deep in thought, I tend to kinda drift off, and usually get this weird expression on my face. I’ve been told that I kinda look like I’m judging somepony when I get to deep in thought. You see where I’m going with this? Yeah….. Well, when she got the letter back out, I was really deep in thought, like you could hit me in the face and I wouldn’t notice deep in thought. I must’ve had that face going to, because when she looked back at me, she dropped the letter, and flew off crying…. When I realized what happened, I admit, I felt bad about it, but I figured I should give it a while before I tried talking to her about it. That and, as I’m sure you can already tell, dealing with mares isn’t exactly my specialty. Everypony else was giving me death glares, but I ignored them. I picked up the letter in my mouth, and continued my walk home. As I walked, I heard quite a few ponies talking about me behind my back, which I was used to. What I’m not used to, however, is ponies actually stopping me in the street. More specifically a large red stallion with an accent. “So, ah hear yer a thief. Ah also saw ya make Miss Hooves cry earlier.” he said, cracking his neck a bit. It’s amazing how fast news travels in a small town like this. I sighed. I didn’t really feel like getting into a fight, especially with somepony bigger than me. “Alright, look, the former is close, but not quite true. The latter was an accident, I didn’t say anything to her, I didn’t mean to make her cry, I’m not the big of an ass, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home.” I said, trying to step around him, only to have him step back in front of me. What is with ponies in this town, seriously? “Ah jus’ wanna let ya know, Ah’ll be keepin’ an eye on ya. Ya’ll come anywhere near the farm, ah won’t be responsible fer what happens to ya.” He said, which I took to heart. I never went to a farm without invitation after that, ‘cause I never figured out who he was. Better safe than sorry and all that jazz. I couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief when the big guy stepped out of my way, but I was still uncomfortable. The streets were lined with ponies, all of which would stare at me as I passed by, most checking their pockets to make sure they still had their coin. Word travels fast in a small town, so it was safe to assume everypony knew about my profession. “Hey mister!” I hated my life around that point. I hated it a lot. I sighed as I turned to find three all too familiar faces staring at me, one of which was smiling. The other two were stuck somewhere between ‘you lied to us’ and ‘you ARE going to help us now’. “Hey kids, what’s up?” I asked, smiling nervously. “We heard about what ya REALLY do, mister.” Applebloom, if I remember her name right, said before the others could open their mouths. “An’ we don’t like bein’ lied to, do we girls?” I could tell the conversation was going in a direction I could only describe as dangerous. “No we don’t.” the little unicorn filly said. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember her name. Of course, the Pegasus, I think her name was Scootalo, she was all smiles. “You gotta teach me how to do that! It sounds so cool!” she exclaimed, and the other two, as well as me, sighed. “Look kids, I lied because I knew one of you was gonna say what she just said,” I stated, pointing at the Pegasus filly. “and because I doubt your parents would appreciate me teaching you all hot to be master thieves.” I said, before grinning evilly. “Besides, the guild isn’t exactly fond of that kinda thing. If you’re gonna be a child thief, you have to learn on your own, and it’s not worth it. Trust me.” I said. There wasn’t really a guild as far as I knew, but most veterans of the trade did frown on teaching a kid to be one of us. It was just wrong. The three fillies all whined for a second, sulking away with heads hung low, but I felt a little warm and fuzzy inside. I’d done my good deed for the day, and could proceed to enjoy all my daily sins. “Ya liein’ varmint!” Or not.