//------------------------------// // The Beginning of the End [Adventure] // Story: Half-Hour Horses // by HoofAndQuill //------------------------------// (The Prompt: Run, you clever girl.) As she turned around the door frame and pressed back against the side wall with perfect timing to avoid the watchful eyes of the approaching guard, Trixie wondered, not for the first time, if this was going to end up being a huge mistake. Not that she wasn't already a wanted criminal, but the scale was a littlee different this time. As the guard's hooffalls grew quieter and more distant, she ventured to move forward into the storage room. She carefully set aside crate after crate, looking for that familiar acacia-wood box that she knew had to be in here somewhere. Her movements grew more rapid and less careful as time passed, she only had a bit over a minute before the guard would be walking by the door again. No... no... where- there! Trixie's horn flashed as she deftly picked the lock with a well-practiced spell, and the box opened on a spring-loaded hinge. There it was. The Alicorn Amulet. Trixie opened her saddlebag and pulled out the magic-dampening cloth, wrapping the amulet several times to make certain none of its corrupting effects would leak through to her. While she needed this thing, she certainly didn't WANT it. She slid the item down into her saddlebag, and took a deep breath. The easy part was over. Trixie took off running, completely ignoring the guard patrol schedule as she tore her way through the halls of Canterlot keep. Within seconds her galloping hooves had drawn the attention of a half-dozen royal guards, their heavier hoofsteps joining hers echoing inside the midnight solitude of the castle. Trixie smiled, she wasn't the first pony to steal something from the Princesses' secret magical vault, but she was going to be the most spectacular one. A moment later, the guards' ears rang and eyes saw nothing but sparks as Trixie's magical fireworks show exploded into the narrow corridor. Trixie knew to close her eyes, but she still wouldn't be hearing too well for a while. That, and loud explosions and flashes of light had the tendency to attract more guards than they stunned. The cold air of midwinter Canterlot seemed to bite into her skin as soon as she burst through the doors into the immaculately maintained courtyard. A dozen guards were already rushing toward her, and found themselves face to face with another dazzling explosion of light and color. Trixie ran hard, she ran harder and more desperately than she could remember ever having done before. No matter where she turned, the seemingly limitless personal guard of the Princesses were there first. Turning down a dark alleyway, Trixie finally saw her chance. A brief illusion glamor later, her specialty if it absolutely must be said, and the guards that paused to look down the alley as they proceeded to chase the mare down the street saw only a few extra trash bins. After leaving the spell active a few more seconds, Trixie finally dispelled it and took a few long, deep, desperate breaths. It wasn't over yet. Trixie's horn glowed once more, and she focused. This was the difficult part, not showing off for herself, but showing off regardless. She concentrated, focused her magic, and the sky over Canterlot was split with a violent, nearly city-wide fireworks display. The flashing lights and explosive sounds have to have awoken nearly every pony in the capitol city. More importantly, the apparent center was several blocks away from where Trixie was. Besides, in a few moments, there would be bigger fish to catch. --- The sky exploded outside of the Canterlot Archives, and Sunset Shimmer allowed herself a brief, smug grin. She pressed against the wall, hidden behind a tapestry, and listened to the sounds of all the guards galloping away in a frenzy. Finally. She pulled the dark cape over her head and galloped in turn, making her way along the once-familiar hallway. One left, two left, one right, three left, second right door. Sunset's horn sparked violently, and the door was wrenched from its hinges. Clover the Clever had been a peaceful mage and assistant. But she had lived in a time of war, and war was what Sunset Shimmer knew. War left no time for purely pacifist writing. The small side room devoted to Clover's work bore the full brunt of Sunset Shimmer's fury and haste, as she tore books from the shelves and tossed each aside in turn. Finally, the title she sought shone in gold lettering before her. Into her saddlebag the book went, and Sunset Shimmer turned and fled. The hallway was no longer empty. Two night guard stallions spotted her and immediately lay chase. Sunset Shimmer's previous smug grin turned into a downright excited sneer. The doors passed by both pursuer and pursued as they tore down the hallway in a dead gallop. She counted the doors as she ran, and then turned sharply left. The stallions, nearly on her tail already, weren’t as agile. Sunset Shimmer's horn glowed as she ran down the outdoor stairway, and a moment later the stones behind her cracked and then exploded violently, sending masonry and finely-crafted gold decoration flying into the midnight air. Sometimes, Sunset Shimmer had to pause to admire her own handiwork. Of course, setting off explosions just outside of Princess Celestia's bedroom was hardly a subtle way of making a point, and also hardly left her any real time. She could only hope that her accomplices were doing their part. --- Damned ponies. This was not her... thing. Magic and ghosts and books and stupid, idiot unicorns with their grudges and revenge fantasies. All she really wanted was a nice warm fire, some furs to lay on, and maybe a roasting deer or something. That, and to make Dash apologize. No, Gilda's revenge fantasies were not the same thing as those unicorns. Hers was justified. Plus, frankly, she needed the bits. Gilda's claws rent armor and a bit of fur as she tossed the rookie guard pegasus aside. He'd be fine, she was sure of it, but few ponies would stand before an enraged griffon. He lived up to his race's reputation as he fled in search of friends to help him out. Good. Gilda padded forward quickly, not wasting any further time. The door was unlocked, of course. Only pegasus ponies could get up to the tallest tower of Canterlot Castle, after all, and with near-constant guarding, well, nopony would ever dare to break in here. Besdies, who would even want half of this useless crap? Gilda glanced side to side as she rummaged through the assorted gear and trinkets stored in this place. She was starting to consider entirely quitting when she heard the fireworks outside. She had a few seconds, then. Her talons tore through bags and ripped open boxes as she searched, and then finally, there. A bag of... seeds, exactly as described by... Sunset Shimmer? That was probably the name. Exactly as Sunset Shimmer had described. The bag was old, and falling apart. Gilda put the bag and seeds both inside her backpack, and then secured it tightly to her body. She couldn't have the pack jostling around with what she needed. She flapped her wings once, and then again, soaring quickly out of the tower room, and perching on the slate roof above. Her eyes narrowed as she searched for the bright-orange coat of the organizer of this complete mess of a theft. She didn't have to search hard, a few seconds of looking and the castle was rocked by a series of violent explosions. There in the center of the fiery mess, predictably, was Sunset Shimmer. Gilda took flight. --- Sunset Shimmer laughed as another group of guardsponies were halted by a fiery blast of magic. This was what she wanted! This is the power of Sunset Shimmer! "Stay back! Anypony comes a step closer, and we'll be seeing how well the unicorn guards can fly!" Sunset reared up and her horn flashed again, flames tracing along the ancient stonework bridge before igniting in another deafening blast. As proud as she was of her pyrotechnics, time was running low. The Princess slept heavily, but not this heavily. Guards she could fight. Alicorns she surely could not. Finally, the sign she'd been waiting for arrived. A piercing eagle's cry sounded out over the towers, and Sunset's horn sparked again as the remaining portions of the stone bridge she was standing on lit with the pre-explosion flames. She bit back her triumphant shout, and jumped off of the bridge just as the explosion ripped through it, losing both herself and the griffon that caught her in the blaze. The guards, blinded by the explosion and not expecting a winged escape, found only rubble and burning stone in the place of the unicorn thief. By the time they could see well enough to look to the sky, the griffon and her passenger were gone into the darkness of the night. Sunset Shimmer kept her forelegs tight around Gilda's neck as they descended to the ground, some three miles outside of Canterlot, and two miles below it. The small caravan cart sitting in the middle of a disused field would hardly draw any attention, and that was the point. A cornflower blue mare looked up as they landed, and smiled. Success. Sunset Shimmer laid out the items they had procured. Finally. By the time Princess Twilight knew what they were doing, it would be far too late to stop them. Gilda would have her bits, of course, and Trixie could take her revenge on Twilight Sparkle. They were just hired help anyway. As Sunset Shimmer read the spell, and the magic leaped from the amulet and ancient seeds and into her horn, her lips twisted into a malicious smile. Celestia's reckoning had come.