//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Payback // Story: The Super Sneaky Thieving Pony // by Discorded SheepcityUSA //------------------------------// After Prince Blueblood’s outburst, the Gala had been put on hold with the castle completely locked down. Guards were positioned at every locked ballroom exit, several others being dispatched into the city in hopes of finding the thief, and a few searched Blueblood’s room for possible clues. The incident had caused quite a ruckus among the guests, with many of them gossiping to each other about the burglary, and some worried if they could be hit next. Twilight’s entire night had been plagued with strange occurrences, but that did not stop her from trying to put a distressed Blueblood sitting on the stairs with his head in his hooves at ease. Even if the stallion had some unpleasant tendencies. “Prince Blueblood…are you alright?” Blueblood raised his head, an annoyed expression on his face. “Do I LOOK alright to you? My private chambers, the place I should feel most safe and secure, utterly violated! All of my treasure, stolen right out from under me! I feel…unclean!” Blueblood growled, grinding his teeth. Twilight’s ears folded in worry. “Well if it’s some comfort, they couldn’t have gotten too far, I’m sure that the guards will-“ “Oh PLEASE,” Blueblood bitterly rolled his eyes. “When is the last time any of them stopped anything? Incompetent buffoons have probably passed the thief two or three times by now without so much as realizing,” “Hey, my brother’s among them too, you know,” Twilight said with a hint of anger in her voice; more than a bit offended at the slight against Shining Armor. Of course, Blueblood had just been robbed so he was more irritable than usual. So perhaps, Twilight thought, he didn’t mean it. “Hmph. I know what I sai-YIPE!” Initially Blueblood had snobbishly turned up his nose at her but was quickly interrupted when an aura of golden magic covered his tail. He was yanked into the air and held upside down, startling both him and Twilight. Blueblood flailed about in outrage and from the pain in his tail. “AGH! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” He yelled. He stood dead still though when he saw who he was now in the magical grasp of; none other than his aunt, Princess Celestia herself was glaring at him with an intense, white-hot anger the prince had never seen of her before. The sight of his enraged aunt and the two, stoic unicorn guards accompanying her made him go somehow paler than his already white fur made him. “A-Auntie?” he stammered. “Princess Celestia?!” Twilight gasped, also not used to seeing the princess furious, at least not like this. For the time being, Celestia did not address her former student and instead kept her gaze on Blueblood. Out from behind her using her magic, she pulled a small vial filled with some sort of powdery substance inside in front of the prince’s face for him to see. The princess then spoke, not even raising her voice. “You thought the guards wouldn’t find this, didn’t you? This was inside a tear in your mattress in your room. Explain yourself,” Celestia growled. Blueblood could hardly form a cohesive sentence. “I-I…that’s…it’s not…that isn’t mine. S-Surely those thieves planted it when they broke in!” “Don’t play dumb,” one of the guards spoke up. “The only hoofprints on this were yours. And they appear to be several days old. You’ve had this for a while,” Princess Celestia yanked Blueblood’s now-shivering body higher into the air so he was face to face with her. “Now tell me…what were you doing with ricin in your possession?” Twilight’s ears perked up at the mention of the substance. Being very well read, of course she’d heard of ricin before, it was an incredibly deadly poison; nearly untraceable partially due to the symptoms being almost flu-like at first. But what did Blueblood have ricin for?” Then, when Twilight took the night’s strange events into account, it began to dawn on her. She thought back to the odd interaction with the mysterious pink mare from earlier in the evening. She seemed to purposefully bump into her right as she was about to drink the wine Blueblood gave her. Blueblood was more furious than what was reasonable. The mare clearly knew something Twilight didn’t and lied to Pinkie about her identity; she hadn’t been invited to the Gala at all. Her appearance and disappearance lined up with the robbery of Blueblood’s treasure. And now ricin was found in Blueblood’s possession, with him being confirmed to be the only one to touch it. When Twilight finally reached the truth in her mind, it shook her so much that she could not help but blurt it out. “You tried to POISON ME?!?” Twilight shouted at Blueblood, loud enough that it caught the attention of nearly everyone in the ballroom. Blueblood for several moments could not bring himself to speak, as with Twilight’s accusation, Celestia’s fiery glare that burned into his soul had only worsened. Eventually, Blueblood could take it no more and he shut his eyes, his own expression twisting into that of anger. “It…should have…” Blueblood quietly growled, too quiet for anypony to hear. “What?” Celestia asked, the barely restrained rage clear in her voice. “IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME, DAMN IT!” Blueblood yelled turning back to face Celestia again. “You intended to put this…this…pretender in rulership of the entire kingdom and deny me my birthright!” Ordinarily Twilight might have taken that slight at her princesshood personally. Considering Blueblood essentially just admitted to trying to kill her however, she did not give his word any value and simply just shook her head. “And you thought to solve this perceived problem through murder?” Celestia hissed. Blueblood huffed unapologetically. “You know very well I was next in line before you brought HER into this. If you’d just given me what I was owed from the start I wouldn’t have had to resort to thi-OOF,” Celestia was not willing to hear Blueblood out anymore and threw him a few feet behind her, letting him fall to the floor with a loud thud. “Your actions tonight have proven exactly why you should never be near the throne. Guards, take him away. I will deal with him later,” Celestia said, not even turning around to face the prince. At her command, the two guards surrounded Blueblood and hoisted him up to take him to the dungeon, along with putting a magic-restraining ring around his horn, much to his anger. “RRGH UNHAND ME YOU BRUTES! I WON’T STAND FOR THIS DISRESPECT; I AM A PRINCE DAMN YOU!” he yelled, nearly foaming at the mouth and squirming. “Be glad it’s us you’re dealing with and not Shining Armor. After what you tried to do to his sister, he wouldn’t be nearly as gentle,” one of the guards restraining him said to him as he was being dragged out. The many guests at the gala could still hear the enraged Blueblood’s furious yells echoing down the hall as he was escorted out; evidentially he had not stopped resisting. The scene before them caused all the noble ponies in attendance to quietly gossip amongst themselves, but Celestia did not seem to care. Instead, her wings and head lowered slightly as she exhaled a breath she’d been keeping in this whole time and looked down apologetically at her former student. “Twilight, I am so sorry. I knew Blueblood could be ill-behaved, but I never would have thought he was capable of this. I should have paid closer attention to how deep his bitterness ran. Can you forgive me?” Celestia asked. “It’s…it’s okay. It’s nopony’s fault but his,” Twilight responded to Celestia with a comforting pat on her shoulder, trying to smile a bit despite the situation. “Not that I’m a stranger to danger at this point but…this is going to be a regular thing when I’m in charge, isn’t it?” “I wish I could tell you it won’t be, truly, but…” Celestia trailed with sadness in her voice. Twilight sighed. “Don’t worry about me. Like I said, this is far from my first time my life was threatened. I’ll do my best to stay on my hooves more from now on…that said…” Twilight put her hoof to her chin, looking down at the floor in thought before looking back up at Celestia. “There’s still the matter of the Gala being infiltrated. I need to talk to my friends. I think that pink mare from earlier might have something to do with all this,” “The one you mentioned earlier, yes? You think she might be the one responsible?” Celestia asked. “Considering nopony under the name she gave is on the guest list and all that treasure just mysteriously vanishes while she’s here? A relatively easy guess,” Twilight replied. Inwardly, she had other thoughts on the matter though. ‘If she is the one responsible though, would a thief not just get the treasure and leave as quick as possible? Why did she concern herself with me and with Pinkie? What is that mare playing at?’ Twilight pondered to herself. “Well, I’d hate to be of no help myself Twilight. Is there anything I can do?” Celestia asked. “As a matter of fact…get the guards to get together any criminal record they might have of a pink mare with some passing resemblance to Pinkie. I’ll have Rarity come by to get them and look for anything else of value,” Twilight said with a smile. “This whole mystery thing is right up her alley after all,” Hours later, Twilight and her friends had gone to the room Celestia had prepared for them to sleep in at the castle overnight. The only one of them not present at the moment was Rarity, who when told she’d be instrumental to solving a mystery involving thieves, was more than ecstatic to once again act out her fantasy of being a criminal detective. Rainbow collapsed on the extravagant bed in the room, laying on her side and groaning as all the cider she’d consumed throughout the evening had finally caught up with her. “Guuyths…I’m feelin’ justh a little bit silly right now. I’mma gonna feel thith in the mornin’, yesssirrr,” Rainbow mumbled in her drunken daze. “Sugarcube, that’s whatcha get fer not listenin’ ta me,” Applejack sat across from her rolling her eyes. She’d warned the mare to stop at just two but of course, Rainbow ignored her advice. “Youuuu shudda-OOF,” Rainbow held her stomach in pain. “BATHROOM, NOW,” Rainbow yelled as she quickly stood up and flew into the nearby bathroom, locking the door behind her. Many vomiting sounds were heard coming from it for minutes to come. “Well, gotta feelin’ Rainbow’s gonna be pretty useless ta this whole thing till she sobers up at least,” Applejack said, shaking her head. She briefly glanced over at Pinkie who was being uncharacteristically quiet; just sitting alone in a soft chair in the corner of the room, not talking to any of them. “Ya think we oughta say somethin’ ta her? Ta tell you the truth ah’m not even sure what ta say,” Applejack whispered to Twilight and Fluttershy. “Frankly neither do I. This evening’s been a real shock for her I’m sure,” Twilight replied with her ears drooping a bit. “Still…we should at least try,” Fluttershy, said, looking sure of herself as she stood up and trotted over to Pinkie. “Pinkie? Pinkie are you okay?” she asked with concern. Pinkie didn’t respond, instead just sat there, seemingly not staring at anything, absentmindedly playing with a strand of her mane. “Pinkie, hey,” Twilight said, gently swatting at Pinkie’s mane a bit to get her to pay attention. “Hm?” Pinkie finally looked up, only just realizing they were there. “O-Oh gosh I’m sorry Twilight, I was just thinking,” “I can tell; you were being awfully quiet the past few hours. It’s not like you,” Twilight frowned in worry for her friend. “Still thinking about that pink mare?” Pinkie’s cheeks turned red as her thoughts turned back toward the dance she’d shared with her earlier in the evening, and she nodded. “I just…I’ve never caught feelings like that for another mare. But…why? Why did she lie to me?” Pinkie whimpered. Applejack frowned and patted Pinkie on the back. “There there sugarcube. We’re gonna figure out who she REALLY is, find er, and make her explain herself fer breakin’ yer heart like that,” Pinkie managed a half-smile at that. “You mean it?” “Well for that-“ Twilight began. “-And the fact she might be an actual criminal,” Applejack deadpanned a bit. “Yeah, an’ that she might be an actual criminal-where the heck’s Rarity?” she asked. “How many ponies can there really be that look like Pinkie AND have a criminal record?” As if on cue, the bedroom door burst open, and Rarity trotted inside, wearing the cloak and long brimmed hat she would usually don whenever working on a mystery like this. “Detective Rarity has returned with the necessary case files to shed some light on the-“ “BLEEEEEEGH” Rarity stopped dramatically narrating her entrance when she heard Rainbow in the bathroom vomiting again. The moment thoroughly ruined, Rarity visibly deflated, her expression deadpanned. “Am I to assume that she won’t be joining us?” “I think she’d rather have privacy,” Fluttershy said, her eyes nervously glancing over at the bathroom door, ears drooped a bit. “By the by, what took ya so long? Search couldn’ta taken that long right?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow. Keeping true to her detective persona, Rarity’s eyes narrowed and she spoke in a quiet, serious tone. “Little did Applejack realize that while there was only one other pony that matched the description given, it would lead Detective Rarity down an immense rabbit hole that she never would have expecte-“ “Rarity, this pony somehow knew Blueblood was out to kill me, this is serious,” Twilight said, looking annoyed at her theatrics. Rarity, realizing she’d been narrating her case outloud again, awkwardly coughed into her hoof. “Ah, yes. My apologies…again, I’m glad you’re alright darling,” she said, holding up the case file she’d brought with her in her magic, placing it on the bed for the five of them to see. When she placed it down, the folder opened itself and the contents of it spilled out across the comforter. Inside it were photos of various crime scenes. Empty heavy-duty safes, barren walls that once held valuable paintings, doors with various locks on them that were just wide open with no visible damage done to them, and many others. “I know this is going to shock you, but there are not many ponies that look exactly like our dear friend that also have a criminal record. I managed to find the candidate relatively early on, but I was surprised to find just how extensive their criminal history is. But a number of things surprised me about this. Chief among them being she was not working alone,” “Really? But…she looked alone to me,” Fluttershy said looking through some of the crime scene photos. “Likely her associates helped her in ways that did not require them to be present in the ballroom,” Rarity said as she sifted through the various papers to find a few specific ones on the culprits. “To be precise, she leads a group of other thieves that call themselves ‘Payback’. Seems they’ve made quite a name for themselves these past few years with similar robberies…Ah here we go!” Rarity explained as she pulled out the papers she was looking for. The first one she showed to her friends was a file on their first member which was shown through a photo attached by a paperclip to the rest of the paper; one that appeared to be taken without the subject’s knowledge and from a distance. The subject in question was a Changeling, black in color just like the rest of them used to be, with dark purple eyes and carapace and wearing a pair of rectangular glasses. The changeling seeming to nervously glance behind his back indicated he was one to scare easy. “A changeling?” Fluttershy asked, surprised. It seemed like before recently most ponies and changelings didn’t get along until Thorax took over. But if this group had been in operation for years, it seemed like they had an exception. “Yes darling, I was surprised myself. One that hasn’t gone through the same change the others have in fact,” Rarity said as she pointed to the photo and read over the file. “Seems like he operates as the brains of the team. Was likely the one that gathered intelligence on Blueblood and planned the operation,” “Says here this fella’s name’s Jade. So he’s the smarty, alright…my question’s why is the changeling of em’ not the one sneakin’ around n’ stuff? They could jus’ turn inta somepony else n’ make off with the loot no problem,” Applejack asked, scratching her head. “A valid question dear Applejack; and one I’m afraid I only have theories for at the moment,” Rarity frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the evidence on Jade on this front. “But if this photo of him is anything to go by, he doesn’t appear to be the picture of grace under fire. Maybe he couldn’t handle it,” “Makes sense,” Twilight said, scratching her chin with a hoof in thought. “Who else do we have?” “Next up is…” Rarity paused when she pulled up the next file, only able to stare at it, her face turning red. “U-Um…oh my,” “Rarity? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, confused as to Rarity’s current state. Rarity did not answer at first, too entranced as her eyes just trailing up and down the paper. “Estimated eight feet tall and five hundred pounds; woof~” Rarity’s eyes lit up a bit and her friends could have sworn they saw her drooling through that way-too-big smile. “Do ya…want us ta jus’ give ya a minute alone with that?” Applejack asked, only half joking. At that, Rarity quickly snapped back to her senses and shook her head. Taking her hat off and fanning her face with it as she now felt incredibly hot. “G-Goodness gracious I’m terribly sorry. I don’t know what came over me. N-Now then…” she said as she composed herself, putting her hat back on her head and laying the file down for the others to see. The picture attached to this one was of an enormous broad-shouldered and muscular Diamond Dog bulldog with brown eyes and wearing a blue vest, his face hardened and determined as he was walking forward in the photo. “T-This one is named Fluffy. Fairly obvious he’s the raw muscle here,” “Not sure how he was useful for this specific robbery,” Twilight said, looking over the notes on Fluffy. It was like Rarity said, estimated to weigh in the five hundreds and eight feet in height. “Seems like he stands out a bit too much to be sneaky. I’m sure I would’ve remembered seeing a Diamond Dog that big,” “We c-can come back to that point later darling,” Rarity said, quickly flipping Fluffy’s photo over so she couldn’t be distracted by it anymore. “Ahem…now lastly we have the one at the center of this entire fiasco,” Rarity then moved the papers aside to show the last file among them. The subject of the attached photo, taken from a distance just like the others, was unmistakable once Pinkie laid eyes on it. It was of a pink mare wearing a skin-tight black jumpsuit that one would normally find a cat burglar wearing. It would seem she’d been made aware she was being photographed as her head faced the camera, giving a wink and a sly smirk to the photographer as if she were mocking them. “That’s…that’s her,” Pinkie said, sounding deflated. There was no mistaking it. She had that same uncanny resemblance to Pinkie herself; and there was no way Pinkie would be able to forget those big, alluring blue eyes that matched her own. “I knew it. I knew something was suspicious about that mare,” Twilight said as she picked the file up. “Her name is not even Pink Diamond. It says here her name is ‘Slinky Sly’; the leader of Payback and the stealth specialist. Collectively she and her friends have…” Twilight paused as she wanted to make sure she was reading this right. “40 accounts of grand larceny?!” “Good gravy, she’s been busy,” Applejack said, nearly unable to believe it herself. “And ‘Slinky Sly’? Dang that girl’s gone an’ aped yer whole style Pinkie,” Pinkie didn’t seem to really care about that though, as the saddened look on her face didn’t change. “I don’t understand. If she was there to just rob Blueblood and leave, then…why’d she even bother with me? Maybe…maybe she isn’t all bad?” she asked, her ears drooped. “Hmmm…she might have just wanted to make a big scene to gloat. ‘Oh look at me, I got past all the castle security, robbed you blind, and am going to be the Gala’s center of attention. You don’t even realize you’ve been hit,’ you know?” Rarity theorized. Though when she saw Pinkie visibly deflating more, inwardly she put her hoof in her mouth and tried to correct course. “O-Of course there’s also the possibility she just wished to have some fun before she fled while she still had time, so…” “Actually Rarity, Pinkie…you two might not be far off,” Twilight started, putting Slinky’s file down. “There’s also the matter of her knowing about Blueblood trying to get rid of me and foiling his plan. If Slinky were just a lowly thief who cared for nothing but treasure, I doubt she would’ve given what could have happened to me any thought,” “So, you think she might actually be…good?” Pinkie asked sounding a bit hopeful, ears perking up. “I dunno sugarcube. Havin’ that many robberies ta her name still don’ look great, but…there might be more to her that we ain’t seein’ here. We’re gonna have ta find her and get er’ to talk,” Applejack added. “Agreed. Long shot but…if she has some other agenda by being involved in all this thieving, maybe she wouldn’t mind explaining it to us?” Twilight said, packing up all of Payback’s files and putting them back in the folder. “U-Um…I don’t want to hurt everypony’s optimism but…how are we going to find Slinky? I don’t think she’d want to stick around the scene of the crime for very long. She might be long gone by now,” Fluttershy said, looking nervous at the prospect of going up against what may or may not be hardened criminals. “Hmm…I’m not sure yet. But I’m sure I can think of some way, I just need to think…” Twilight was interrupted by the sound of Rainbow letting out another pained groan and torrent of vomit from the nearby bathroom. “And Rainbow needs to be sober,” she added with a deadpanned expression. As her friends planned their next move, Pinkie sat still in the same uncharacteristic silence she’d spent most of the night in after the Gala. When thinking about the night’s events and the mare now known to them as Slinky and what her true goals might be, Pinkie could not be anything but nervous. Bless her friend’s hearts they’ve tried to cheer her up, but they don’t fully understand how the entire ordeal has made her feel; they can’t. ‘Nnnn…even if you turn out to be as good a pony as I hope…playing with a pony’s feelings like that is not nice,’ Pinkie bitterly thought.