A Thieve's Redemption

by Gsbrill


Chapter 5 - Locked in a Grey Box

“Wake up! Lunch time!” A cold bucket of water forced me out of sleep and I tried to get up, only to find myself on the ground again after tripping on the pair of shackles placed on my ankles. One of the royal guards dropped a plate with a strange substance that was apparently supposed to be food in front of me and walked out of the cell, locking it behind him and joining another guard by the door.

I wasn’t in the mood to eat, but for some reason I also felt like I hadn’t eaten in five days (trust me, I know how that feels) and was completely exhausted so I ate anyway. It was probably due to all the spells I had cast earlier, but since I had never used magic before, I couldn’t be sure.

After finishing I decided to take note of my surroundings, since there wasn’t much to do. The place looked like a large basement, with sacks and bottles scattered around and the cell I was in the middle. The cell was made of poorly welded bars and was probably made in a rush. Apparently, there was never a need for one in Ponyville, if I was still there. The shackles on my legs were attached to the ground, leaving very little room for movement, and one of them had a glowing blue stone on it. I could feel all the energy in my body flowing towards the stone, so I guessed it was there to stop me from performing any kind of magic. My wings were also tied to my back with a rope. At least somepony bandaged my wounded leg, which was now held in place by a piece of wood. It wasn’t broken, but the ice stake had pierced through the muscle, making it impossible for me to walk properly.

Now. Now of all times I had been caught. I had no idea how, but just when I had finally found a place in which I could settle. Just when I had finally found somepony…

“It seems you’re awake at last”

“Quill, I’m not in the mood for this”

“Quill? Oh, the one that left a while ago. A very literate pony indeed, despite all his paranoid theories about humans. We had a very entertaining conversation while you were unconscious, but now you’re the one I want to talk to”

I looked behind me and the one there was definitively not Quill. While he still had the same ethereal appearance, I could feel his presence in the room, like the breathing of a large animal, and unlike Quill he changed from form to form by the second, from unicorn to earth pony, to pegasus, alicorn or even other creatures like diamond dogs and manticores.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, sorry for that; you see, after you’ve been deceased for so many centuries you end up forgetting how to retain your own form. Maybe this form will ring some bells, so to speak”

His body wavered and he changed slowly into an ancient looking unicorn, with a light brown coat and a long white beard. He wore a cloak and a hat, both decorated by stars and constellations, and bells that were attached around them.

“Starswirl the Bearded. That’s it. I’ve finally gone crazy. What’s next? You’re going to call my other imaginary friends and throw me a bucking party?”

I thought about Pinkie and the memory brought a tear to my eye. She was probably never going to speak to me again. The guards were staring at me with curiosity by now but I couldn’t care less.

“Silver Quill already told me about your opinions on him and that you would probably behave the same way towards me, but I can assure you that I am certainly not a fruit of your imagination. Before anything else, let’s get some privacy shall we?”

A faint glow formed under his hat and the two guards fell to the ground. He looked at me and his horn glowed again, shattering my restraints.

“And apparently, this is happening. So does this means I’m not going crazy?”

“That’s not for me to decide, I’m a wizard, not a psychologist”

“Let me change my question. You’re a ghost then?”

“Yes, I believe you could call me that, but I prefer the term wandering spirit”

“But how?”

“Well, in my case it was due to my ignorance in trying to play god. A failed spell that was supposed to grant me immortality, but ended up killing me and imprisoning my soul in this world, and now I wander without a body, working for the princesses. That’s only my case though, others like your friend are souls that have died while holding onto a very powerful feeling , so strong that it does not allow their soul to rest, so they try to deal with it in the afterlife. Most of the times it is guilt or regret”

“Then why am I the only one who can see him? And you?”

“You’re not the only one. Ghosts, as you like to call us, only show themselves to the ones we want to, so he could show himself to anypony else. Although interacting with living creatures or physical objects exhausts a ghost, making it impossible for us to try to live a normal life amongst you and limiting our contact.”

“But what about you? You just cast a spell on me and one the guards, and correct me if I’m wrong, you broke a device made to absorb and resist magic, using pure magic, and that doesn’t sound very easy”

“I’m a special case. Not only I was one of the most powerful magic beings in existence while I was alive, my spell transformed my body into a spirit. In theory I never died, I only changed forms”

“But why are you here?”

“Yes yes, I was getting there and you kept distracting me with all those questions. I’m here to correct a few of my old mistakes. You see, during my life I created many things, books, artifacts and such, and as you can probably deduce, most ponies shouldn’t be allowed to gain access to them. So for the last years I have been helping the Princesses recover them. I ended up here following a mare that had gained access to one of my writings, a spell that allows you to trap the essence of a living being and use it as a battery for magic, but it seems you already took care of the problem. And that takes me to the next artifact”

“I think I already know what you’re talking about”

“Yes you do. I’m here for the ruby you stole at Canterlot, but just by looking at you I can safely say that those wings and horn aren’t supposed to be there. Do you have any idea of what could have happened?” I shook my head negatively “You don’t?” He looked confused “Are you going to tell me you swallowed a gem accidentally?” I nodded “Oh for Solaris’s sake, what’s wrong with the kids these days?”

“Then tell me what the stone does already! You’re driving me crazy here!”

“I placed a… “defense mechanism” on the stone so nopony would use it by accident. The only way to enable the stone’s abilities is swallowing it. I’m going to pretend you did it by accident and explain the rest. I created it by request from an earth pony in his last breaths. He was afflicted by a disease that even I was unable to heal, so I created an artifact imbued with an enormous amount of raw magical energy. The energy in it was far too strong for most unicorns to channel, and impossible for an earth pony, so I created a mechanism that allowed it to be directed. The stone would tap into the mind of the pony, and direct the energy in order to realize its strongest desires, whichever they were. Unfortunately he died before I could complete it, so I hid it in his tomb and left it there. You can see how much power it has since it was able to change your body like that, but by now it is probably nearly depleted. The next time you use it will certainly be the last, and it might not even work right”

I thought about it. Ever since I was a child the thing that I wanted the most was a pair of wings, and that was the first thing I got. Then, a way to protect Pinkie, so I got the horn, and then a spell to save her. It made perfect sense.

“That’s… great. But still, it doesn’t matter anymore. Pinkie won’t want to see me ever again and now I’m going to rot in jail for the rest of my life”

“You still have your horn. And the last charge on the stone”

“I’m too exhausted to cast any spells”

“What about the stone?”

I didn’t answer, but I knew exactly what was going on. If the stone could read my mind then it knew. I didn’t want to see Pinkie. I knew she would surely hate me for what I did, especially for lying to her”

He looked at me with a mix of pity and compassion, like he could see right through me.

“Look kid, I was planning on killing you right now to stop you from using the stone again, but I’ve taken a liking to you for some reason. You remind me a bit of myself when I was younger. And I don’t want you to have the same fate as I did”

“What happened to you?”

“That’s… a story for some other time. All I can say is that I died alone. To be honest, I knew the spell I performed was going to kill me, but did it anyway, all because I was foolish, just like you are being.”

“You’re going to help me out?”

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that, I made an oath to the princesses so I can’t disobey any of their orders, I already did too much. But all is not lost. You still have a great friend on your side”

“Quill? But what is he going to do? Break me free?”

“Just wait and have faith, he seemed quite determined”

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I flew through the skies of Ponyville. Most of the ponies were crowding the area around the basement where Ember was being kept, probably wanting an explanation why the savior of the town was locked in a cell, while Princess Twilight was in the main building of the apple farm, and seemed to be having an internal monologue. But the mare I wanted was nowhere to be seen. I headed to the colorful bakery and went through the walls looking for her, and found her at the second story of the building, a pink stain on the corner, sobbing uncontrollably.

Crap. How do you even approach somepony in that state? So I said the smartest thing I could think of then.

“Erm… hi?”

She looked back and for a moment I wondered if I had the wrong pony. Her usual smile was far gone, her hair had fallen straight down, her face was stained by tears and her eyes were red.

“Who are you?”

I steeled myself and took a deep breath. I had something important to do.

“Sorry to intrude like that. I’m Silver Quill. You’re Pinkie Pie right?”

Her expression lightened a bit, and she didn’t seem to notice my ghostly appearance.

“I’m Ember’s friend. I need to talk to you”

She burst out crying once again, even more than before. She walked towards me and my heart sank when she tried to hug me, looking for comfort, but passed right through me and fell to the ground.

“Sorry for that. My body is probably dust by now, so don’t expect to be able to touch me”

“Are you a ghost?” The shock seemed to help make her focus.

“Yes. Yes I am”

“But what happened to you?”

“I have to say, that’s the first time anypony asks me that. They usually just run in terror. But that’s not important now, I might tell you some other time. I’m here to ask you to help Ember”

“I can’t!”

“Why? Aren’t you worried about him? I though you liked him?”

“But he hates me!”

“And where the hay did you get that idea?”

“He lied to me, and he left me! I don’t even know where he is right now!”

“He saved you! He risked his life to save you from that unicorn. I bet the entire town would have been dead before the princess could get here if it weren’t for him. He hurt himself to save you, he even healed you! Do you still think he hates you?”

“But… why?”

“Answer me this: what are your feelings for Ember?”

“I… I don’t know. I never felt like this before. Whenever I’m with him it just feels…”

“I… I don’t know. I never felt like this before. Whenever I’m with him it just feels…” She stopped and looked around as if she would find the right words floating in the air.

“Right. It feels right doesn’t it? And it feels like you lose a part of your heart whenever you’re apart. Am I right?” She nodded without much enthusiasm. “I don’t even need to hear your answer. Let me tell you something Pinkie: Ember is in love with you. I never thought that I would see him feel that for anypony again but he truly is. And as far as I can tell you feel the same”

“But if I’m in love with him then why do I feel so sad right now? I still want to help him but I also feel so angry at him! And he left me alone here!”

“Love is complicated Pinkie. It takes time to get used to, and even then you still won’t understand it. But it’s worth fighting for, that I can say. And no, Ember didn’t abandon you, stop saying that. He was arrested by the princess herself, and now he can’t get away. That’s why I need your help”

“He’s in jail? But we don’t even have one here in Ponyville!”

“Not exactly in jail, more like in a basement at Sweet Apple Acres. They also improvised a cell for him, but there are royal guards watching over him. As far as I know, you are a friend of the princess right? You could convince her to…”

“That’s it!”

In just the blink of an eye the color of her hair came back and the grim expression disappeared, making way for the bright smile that I was accustomed to. The only remnants of her breakdown were the reddened eyes and the trails left on her face by the tears.

“That’s what?”

“I’m going to break him free?”

“WHAT?! You and who else? As far as I know there are at least two guards with him and the princess is in the farm too. You’re supposed to convince the princess to let him go, not become a criminal too!”

“So you’re not coming?”

I sighed. There’s no reasoning with this one, just like somepony I know.

“I’ll help you then”

“Great! I’ll get the explosives!”

“Right, I’ll be waiting right he…EXPLOSIVES!? ARE YOU BUCKING INSANE?!”

“I really don't get it, why does everypony keep on saying that?”