A midnight breeze glided between my ears and filled the openings of my clothing commanding my nerves to shudder. Adorning my body was a jet black garb, an equally dark hood that hid my forehead and a cloth atop my muzzle, showing only my alabaster eyes. The garb covers the majority of my body, leaving only my forearms bare above the fetlock to the bottom of my shoulder. My horn jutted from a hole in the top of my hood; a dim shallow glow wrapped around it, careful not to emit any light. I trotted calmly forward and my focus was mostly set on trying not to look backward, or rather; in this case down seeing as at the time I was several thousand feet in the air above Canterlot.
I stood high above the streets of the city, climbing along the side of the tower as if I were on the ground rather than a stupidly tall castle standing on an city that hung an equally superfluous height from the mountain. At this point I was nearing small windowsill that poked out the side of the wall and I reared into a forward leap, releasing the spell I had been focusing on. My fetlock locked firmly across the the ledge as I felt the spell wore off and the crushing influence of gravity take hold; shifting my entire weight onto my already aching hooves. In my time as a thief I have had to dangle from more ledges than the amount of days I since I first stole from someone and yet I still get a slight urge in my stomach to throw up every time I do it.
Resisting the urge to look down; I pushed myself atop the windowsill and gently pushed the window up, letting the winds current spread across the hallway. My hooves silently landed on the carpeted floor as the wind brushed across me. The wind purred softly into my ear sending shivers down my spine; I could feel the wind around me and the wind inside the hall that quickly spread across the intersection of hallways ahead of me. I could feel every candle that stood in every sconce in every hall that held every door when every lace of wind brushed upon its surface. I could feel everything.
My silent hooves fell down several halls unbeknownst to any and all, my body shifted when the wind did; if the wind blew right then I went right and if the wind blew left I go left. Most thief's learn the layout of the area that they plan to steal from by past experience in the place or intensive studying if it is particularly large.
I do not. Every time I steal from someplace the only thing I know for certain is that there is something of value inside and that i want it. This something just happens to be extremely valuable and risky; two things that I just happen to look for in a theft and this theft would be against royalty. Most would call me a fool for even thinking of stealing from royalty, but to steal from The Royal Sisters themselves? All would call that possibly the most inexpedient way to get banished.
I call it a two & a half million bits worth of shiny overly decorated objects just asking to get taken.
Now it should be known that although I am stealing from these sisters that should not mean I hold malice toward them, no no, far from it. There have been many a theft I have committed against pony's I hold no grudges against and more often that not I take mementos from particularly memorable hauls, for personal sentiment only. This also does not mean I feel no guilt for taking something.
Several minutes shot by as did several hallways and my once limp saddle bags were now stuffed with a small amount of loot; among the loot were various things that happened to stand out to me like vases, fancy candle holders and paintings I had rolled into my bag, but I still needed more, a lot more.
As I skulked down the halls, looking for more fancy paintings I suddenly felt my ear twitch ahead of me, I hear somepony's hoofsteps from a hallway on the left. I froze and focused my attention entirely on the vibrations of this potential witness. My horn glowed vibrantly again; in a single silent leap my hoofs rested atop the ceiling as I went into a crouch and dimmed my glowing protrusion.
Sure enough a guard rounded the corner; looking extraordinarily bored while whistling an off key tune that was far more annoying than anything ever should be. Ever. I peered at him from the shadows, a blank expression plastered the guards face while his bright golden armor reflected the candlelight as he grew near; making him look like a walking flame, albeit a very bored and annoying flame that happened to be amazingly bad at whistling. The moment he walked right under me was the moment for me to strike; faster than lighting, both my hooves shot toward the guard in an instant.
When they pulled back I now had bag filled with bits and a very decorative helmet in my hooves, while the guard simply trotted along, still violating the air with his awful whistling, seemed to not notice that he now had a frilly pink vase on his head.
I stuffed the helmet and pouch in an empty saddle bag before releasing the spell and gently falling back down to the floor. Then, with my hoof's now hushed; I trotted off round the corridor the guard had come from.
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The moons great glow gazed through all the windows in the castle, as if she were a giant eye watching her otherworldly residents sleep soundly and without fear of those who would wish them harm. Her shadow shrouded me in my endeavor to steal from the very princesses who had created her. Enrapture flooded my mind with thoughts of the stars, as I gazed foreword unto the constellations. My hooves felt the familiar cobblestone exterior of the grand castle wall as my now brimmed bags weighed against my back. My bags were filled with loot aplenty, scrolls from the grand library, paintings, necklaces, sword hilts, teacups, teapots, silverware, several dozen bags of bits, and to top it all off a decorated chalice of gold, used by Celestia herself. The scrolls had been rather painful acquiring, for some reason the books were none too keen on my intrusion, somehow gaining sentience as well a tiny urge to brutally strangle me. Several dozen times. The rest of the loot was from various guards, waiters, and a handful of just simply unlucky folk that happened to have far too many decorations on them than some would deem healthy, while the chalice was just sitting next to a half eaten pound of cheesecake in the main dining hall. Yet even with such a fine amount of loot there was still room, still room for the greatest prize worth the greatest risk. A pair of very magical and very valuable set of jewelry, a set of jewelry that would soon become mine. Now I wanted these not for the magical properties or even the money, no i wanted them for a very different reason. The only reason.
Because I can. Because I will.
Sure I have bits and sure I have fame, I could have any object that I could ever want; but the ultimate prize is no object, it is something I cannot touch, it is something I cannot see, it is knowing that I could.
Knowing that I could steal from the sun herself and knowing that the moon would help me do it.
The moon will shroud the sun thief, and I will get what I want. I always do.
The wind flowed her touch against my forelegs, and her song sung to the stone and told of every crack, every window, and every indent to my ears. Directly above me, a balcony grew close and I quickly found myself standing on the underside of the balcony; although unfortunately my stomach had turned against me and I was very quickly becoming struck with vertigo. My hooves locked against the railing as i, once again, released my spell. Silent hooves descended on the once thief-less room; the moons glowing ribbons divulged a large double sided door across from the balcony. A large bright red and gold rug decorated the floor of the large circular room from the balcony to the door across it, while beanbag chairs, cushions, small tables and countless books and scrolls littered the quaint personal lounge. Two moderately sized doors stood across each other; to the left was a large blue and black door and to the right was an equally large door but instead of the colors of the night, it adorned the colors white and gold of the sun.
I rummaged in every drawer and checked every bookshelf and every scroll, when my rummaging ended and my loot having some new friends to keep them company in my saddle bags, I closed my eyes...and waited. I waited for an answer to a choice, as I do every choice. Slowly, a cool breeze blew and held my bones in ice. The wind nibbled softly on my right ear while it twitched in excitement.
So right it is then.
My horn glowed its shallow light around my horn as I walked forward toward the door; walking through it completely rather than opening it for I can now depend not to awaken any who otherwise would hear the door sing its disruptive song. The room was of a moderate size in the shape of a very odd bean. To the left was a small circular room, bookshelf's stood as a council for the ornate desk in the middle. To the right was an equally circular room; bookshelf's of lesser amount strewn with knickknacks and small amounts of books as well as another balcony, beckoning the moons soft gleam across each bookshelf.
In front of me was a small double sided wooden door that opened to a small circular bedroom, a regal vanity was to the left of the room, and to the right was an open closet with clothes, dresses and shoe boxes; yet in the middle against the wall lied a queen sized regal bed, complete with a sleeping princess inside.
The breeze led me to the vanity, where I found my prize resting upon it in a pile. The golden jewelry's elegant shine leaped out at me as the wind whispered for me to take it and, naturally, I complied. After pocketing the jewelry I found my attention drawn to the sleeping princess, or more appropriately, drawn to her mane; as her mane was one of the most breathtakingly beautiful things that I had the enjoyment of seeing. It danced around as if it were alive, moving with another winds unseen requests. The thought of having even a hair of it was a rather dominate thought in my mind at the moment; although most would find it odd to break into a mares room and steal a lock of her hair, the thought never seemed to cross my mind as I was far more focused on making sure she did not wake up in front of an idiot trying to steal some of her hair.
Ever so carefully I weaved my magic on the end of her mane, Celestia shifting slightly as I snagged a small piece of her mane; my attempts yielded successful as i strung a rubber band around the lock of hair before resting it in a small pocket on my back leg. My hooves found their way into several drawers, dresses and shoe boxes; trying to find something Celestia wanted hidden; eventually I found my hooves resting on a thin, quaintly sized book; a quick shuffle of the pages revealed that this was probably a photo album. Eight pictures were tucked in indents on each page; although this album would fetch a high price to most, I had no desire to show off all of the princesses personal memories to random pony's who cared little of them and wanted it simply for gossip and bragging purpose's.
The price of an individuals belongings only goes as far as another's desire for them, but personal belongings go no farther than I let them. Sometimes they can be priceless. I glided the book into a fold in my garb and assured that it would not fall from my grasp.
My bags were beginning to weigh me down and I only had room for a touch more; my horn glowed again as I passed through the door into the main lounge. Suddenly my ear twitched furiously.
My hooves spread out into a defensive stance; the air curved around my body and rippled across the opening in my face as i smelt of the wind for an instigator. I had missed something, something important, something fundamental.
I forgot to check the other door.
Of course; dead in front of me, was Luna's door, and sure enough; it was very clearly open.
Yet there was no vibrations, no sound, no smell, nothing. But I could feel something, something I had not felt before.
I felt someone see me.