//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Power Ponies: The Ebony Chronicles // by Azure_Shadow //------------------------------// After a night of searching the city, the Power Ponies and Humdrum all gave up with the search, they weren't gonna find the thief without any sleep, that's for sure. They thought a fresh start in the morning would help them greatly, as they all planned to meet at Radiance's mansion the next morning. ---------- Radiance's Mansion, Just outside Maretropolis The next day The next day, everypony went to Radiance's mansion at the agreed time of eight in the morning. Everypony was waiting outside of the large iron gates, and were able to see the large scaled gothic architecture that was Radiance's home. A voice suddenly emanated from the speaker next to the gate. "Oh!, um, hello everypony, nice to see you all again." said the familiar voice. "Saddle Ranger, is that you?" asked a cyan pony who was wearing an aqua blue track suit. "Um, yes, won't you come in?" Saddle Ranger asked as the large iron gates slowly opened in front of the four ponies and dragon as they walked in. They walked on the pavement as they looked around to see a beautiful garden around them. There were multiple hedges and bushes, many styled to look like animals like bunnies, birds, and other small animals. They also saw an impressive arrange of flowers of all different sizes, colors, and shapes lining the mansion. As they walked up to the opening door, it opened to show a yellow pegasus with overalls, wearing a straw hat. "Welcome to Radiant Manor, won't you come in?" the pegasus asked as she motioned for the group to come in. "Lady Rarity will be down shortly, she just stepped out of the bath." said the pegasus who hung her hat up. "It's nice to see you out of the costume again Saddle Ranger." said a pegasus with her hair in a bun, and wearing a dark red business suit. "Oh no, that's my crime fighting name," said the yellow pegasus. "Please, call me Fluttershy " "Alright Fluttershy." said the purple pegasus, "I'm Professor Twilight Sparkle of the Maretropolis Institute of Science." "Why are we going through introductions? I thought we all knew each other already?" said the pegasus wearing the track suit. "Well actually, I believe this is the first time we've ever met one another without our costumes." said Prof. Sparkle. "So how about we just go through some quick introductions?" "Sounds good to me." said the orange pony standing next to Prof. Sparkle wearing a simple plaid button down shirt and a cowboy hat. "I'll start, mah name's Applejack, Mah family runs a bunch of ranches all over Equestria, and I'm here In Maretropolis to study finance o help with the management trouble my family's been havin'." All eyes turned to a pony who was most different from her hero counterpart, she was a pink pony, wearing a grey business suit and black tie, her hair was not all fluffed up as the others thought is was under her costume, instead her mane and tail were very flat, her mane even blocking one of her eyes, she looked up to show dark bags under her eyes and sighed "Well, I guess It's my turn" she said in a depressing tone, "My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, I'm the executive of the sales division of Sugarcube Confections Inc." "Can we call you Pinkie?" asked Applejack. "No, please call me Pinkamena, I hate being called Pinkie!" said Pinkamena in a very harsh tone. Applejack then whispered into Fluttershy's ear "If ah didn't know better, I wouldn't believe she was Fili-Second." to which Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement. The cyan pony with rainbow hair and a lightning necklace then spoke up. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the awesomest flier in all of Equestria!, I'm....currently working on getting a job, so I'm basically mooching off of my room mate." said Rainbow nonchalantly. "Well, I'm Fluttershy as you already know., I'm the groundskeeper here at Radiant Manor, I um, take care of the flowers and some of the animals that live here." It was now the small dragon next to Prof. Sparkle's turn to speak. "I'm Spike, I'm Prof. Sparkle's assistant andadoptive son." As they were getting acquainted, a white mare walked down from the long foyer stairs, to the main area where the others all were. "Why hello darlings, I'm so happy you could come!" said the mare who was wearing a red velvet bathrobe. "Hello Rarity, always a pleasure" said Pinkamena in a slightly less annoyed tone than before. "Greetings Pinkamena darling, it's been a while hasn't it?" Rainbow Dash immediately said "I hate to interrupt all the small talk, but don't we have a thief to find?" "Rainbow's right, why'd ya call us here Rarity?" asked Applejack. "Oh, that's right, follow me!" exclaimed Rarity as she motioned the others to follow her into a different room of the house, this was a small room filled with fabrics, mannequins, designs for dresses and a few sewing machines. "So you wanted to show us your sewing room?" asked a confused Spike. "Yes darling, just watch." Rarity motioned for the others to follow her to the opposite end of the room, to a small sewing machine. Rarity punched in a combination of buttons on the machine , after which an approving click emanated from the machine, just then the floor around the team dropped down into a long, brightly lit shaft. After the initial shock to everypony except Rarity and Fluttershy, the elevator stopped in the middle of a large open area. An area that was lavishly fabricated with beautiful dark lavender walls, and it was filled with computers, and more mannequins, all with different variations of Radiance's costume. "Welcome darlings, to my Fortress of Fabulosity!" proudly squealed Rarity. "Wow, It's really... something Rarity." said Prof.Sparkle as she was picking her jaw up from the floor of Rarity's lair. "Its awesome!" said Rainbow Dash and Spike in unison, after which they looked at each other and laughed.. "Well anyways darlings, please direct your attention to this big monitor here." Rarity said as she started typing something into the system, which showed a picture of the card they found last night. "The card we found last night is our only lead to who stole the Noir Diamond, but the pony who left it covered up his tracks well, there were no hoof prints, no skin particles, and no fur anywhere around the crime scene, whoever this thief was, they knew what they were doing." "So we don't know anything? " asked a puzzled Rainbow Dash. "No, quite the opposite darling, I believe now, we know far more now than last night." Rarity said as she brought up some more images of different colored gems on the monitor. "In addition to the Noir Diamond, several other gemstones have been stolen and this card has been left at the scene of every crime." "So how does this bring us closer to catching the thief?" asked Applejack. "Well, I have a hunch," said Rarity as she pulled up a picture of the Maretropolis Museum of Natural History. "There will be a new exhibit opening up in this museum, and its star piece-" she said as she brought up a picture of a crystal in the shape of the sun with a bright golden yellow color with the rays shining. "Is this! Celestia's Sun!" Everypony gasped as they saw the beautiful gemstone appear on the monitor. "THE CELESTIA'S SUN!?" said Rainbow Dash in a shocked tone. "That's one of the most priceless artifacts in all of Equestria!" shouted Prof. Sparkle "You could buy fifty percent of Equestria with that money!" said Pinkamena "I know darling, but what's important is that the exhibit opens tomorrow, so I believe that the thief will try and swipe it tonight!" said Rarity. "So what should we do?" asked Appejack. "I can't say what WE'RE going to do, but I can safely assume the Power Ponies will be on the job to give the gem a little extra security." said Rarity with a growing grin on her face. And so it was decided, the Power Ponies would have a stakeout by the museum on that night, to protect the gem, and catch the thief who was stealing all of the other gems. Will crime rear it's ugly head a second day in a row? and will they catch this mysterious criminal? find out in the next chapter of Power Ponies: The Ebony Chronicles! -End of Chapter 2