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// Chess, but not really again, but differently this time 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
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The crowd had grown almost silent, only coloured by low murmurs confined to small groups and never spreading further than the few ponies they originated among. The room was darker and so was the sky outside, stars twinkling bright in the deep night. All eyes were focused on the centre of the empty space in the middle of the crowd, held devoid of ponies more by the threatening presence of the guards lining its perimeter than by the thin line of red fabric held up by gilded poles along the edges of the square.
The main event. A single slightly raised podium, a single light shining down on it, a single burgundy cloth covering the reason ponies were there. The unveiling of the newest item that had come into the building's owner's possession. Brush did not honestly remember nor care about the name of the pony in question. They were an unimportant rich noble with little idea of what had come into their hooves, as far as Dust had said, and she'd lived enough in Canterlot to fully believe every bit of that.
It was a necklace, everyone knew that. An old, perhaps ancient necklace with a large smooth green stone as its pendant. Everyone had seen pictures, everyone there had heard the news, no one actually cared about seeing it in its box. They were all there for other reasons. To further the length of their social reach, to catch up with friends, to discuss business and matters, maybe to simply enjoy the party and the freely offered food and drinks. The necklace was an excuse to be there as much as it was an excuse to throw the party in the first place. Yet, etiquette demanded appearances be kept, and everypony put on their best enthralled look as they awaited the jewel's unveiling.
Brush and Dust, ironically, were perhaps the only ponies there who actually, truly were there for what was up on the podium, in its glass container hidden beneath the cloth. It was a simple thing. Steal the necklace, get out before anyone found out about them. Brush was confident they could pull it off. They had their whole escape route planned out, ponies just down the road from the building ready to help, and excuses and spells and tricks ready if any guards grew suspicious of them before they got away. They had considered everything they could think of could possibly happen from the moment they took the necklace onwards.
They had failed to consider something happening before then. Screams of confusion rang out from the crowd as shards of glass poured like a waterfall down to the podium. Guards tensed into action, weapons drawn that no one had previously even noticed were there, as a cloaked pegasus descended straight from the hole they'd broken into the ceiling, and stood next to the jewellery's cloth covered housing. Brush watched the scene like in slow motion. Armed ponies began to move forward, and a golden wing swept out from beneath the cloak to pull off the cloth, revealing the necklace beneath in its sturdy glass casing.