//------------------------------//
// Night Prowlers 
// Story: Innocence Lost 
// by Granite 
//------------------------------//

Mayor Mare stared grudgingly at the clock on her desk. Eleven at night. Another late night at the office. Town Hall closed at eight. She knew she was locked in, and she didn't care. She had the key. Before late nights made her edgy, but since Princess Twilight's coronation, Ponyville had added security. The mayor didn't have guards, but she did have security stallions who patrolled about, which made her fell a bit safer.

She had a pile of paperwork on her desk. A very large, very time consuming pile of paperwork. That she wasn't even halfway done with. This was defiantly the worst part of her job. She liked the publicity and making others happy, but the damn paperwork was just overwhelming sometimes. She often wanted something different, but she played with cards she was dealt They weren't bad cards either. They were good to her. She had bits and friends and enough mane dye to last a lifetime. But she sometimes got sick of it. Just like everypony else. Do one thing your whole life, who couldn't get fed up?

Suddenly her ears pricked up. Somepony shattered glass. Security rushed past the door to her office and down the corridor ahead. One stopped. "Ma'am we have a situation. I'm going to ask to to lock your office."

She didn't say anything. She got up cautiously and closed the door, locking the double bolt. She kept her mouth shut for fear of what foolish gibberish would spill out. But she was shuddering. She went back and hid in the square space under her desk. There was muffled grunts and a scream as she saw blood splatter on her office door window. She covered her mouth and stayed where she was and closed here eyes. This wasn't the kind of difference she was hoping for. Somepony was picking the locks. The door creaked open, and hoof steps echoed in the silent room. She could vaguely make out four navy blue hooves from under the desk. They stood in one place for a moment then turned to the left, away from her and toward the giant safe on the wall. The safe where all of Ponyville's funds were kept. 

The thief tried the tumblers for nearly ten minutes. The mayor was silently loosing it. She had the combination memorized, and she was the only one who knew it. She was praying that he'd break it so he didn't come looking for her. She was relived with the loud clunk of the safe's systems opening. Then she tensed up again at the pony's voice. It was hauntingly calm considering that he just killed a few armed stallions.  

"There we are. This is good. Very good. Probably 'bout 10,000 bits in here. Enough to get me the hell outta here."

Then she heard another voice, deeper and rougher with a peculiar accent like a sailor. She couldn't even say if it was a pony or not. "Not enough to fix my ship. That's still on you little rat."

"All in good time my fine feathered friend. This won't be our last score. We need to clean this place up first. Load up the loot and get our flanks out of here."

"What about the mayor?"

She froze up at that, but the stallion snapped at his companion. "She's not here, and if she was, she'd keep her mouth shut, because we'll be back for her."

"And the Commander's boy?"

The stallions voice drips with menace now. "That little pest isn't a problem. He's not anything like Cobalt. The boy's soft and innocent. He don't know what he's got himself into. Now help me load this up. We ain't getting anywhere without it."

She sat there for thirty minutes, helplessly listening to the endless clinking of bits being loaded into bags. Then squelching of bodies being stuffed into body bags. Then they left, leaving not a trace of their coming, except a very scared, traumatized mare that wouldn't speak of this for fear of her life.