Somewhere in Maretropolis
12:35 am
Ebony Shiv was running through the streets of Maretropolis, running even faster than when Fili-Second was chasing him. He kept running until he reached a medium sized apartment complex on the edge of the city. He ran into the lobby area, where thankfully nopony was at the desk. He ran to a hallway with an unmarked door at the end of it and opened it to find flight of stairs. Ebony sprinted down the long flights of stairs in his building, only stopping at the last door before the boiler room level. Ebony fumbled with his bag, until he pulled out a key and unlocked the door, to which he immediately ran in and latched it tightly. Ebony put his back to the door as he slid down to a sitting position, trying to catch his breath after the marathon run he had to make in order to get away from the Power Ponies. After some time of catching his breath, he looked in his satchel to take out his prize; Celestia's Sun, one of the most well known, and most valuable gems in all of the known world. Ebony let out a soft chuckle as he turned the gem around to see it in his full luster. Ebony quickly stood up to survey his apartment. It was a decent sized place of living, It had a living room, a kitchen room, two bedrooms, (one was occupied by Ebony, other room used as his workshop for his capsules and thieving equipment, a decent sized bathroom, and a walk in pantry, which was very empty. Ebony walked into his workshop first, there was a workbench with many different materials and tools used to make the equipment and keep a steady supply of capsules at the ready. He walked to the opposite end of the room to a desk with an i-Pwnie brand laptop sitting on it. Ebony sat in the swivel chair and began typing his password into the device. After some time of going through his e-mails, and sorting through the junk, a small boxed popped up on the screen.
You know who wants to chat said the message on the computer. Ebony quickly gasped as he clicked on the accept call button. The small box disappeared, and in its place, was a video camera image of what looked like a pony sitting in a luxurious chair, sipping from a glass of wine, which was being held by magic, Ebony couldn't see much of the stallion on the other end, because most of his body was obscured by shadows as he began to speak.
"Why, good evening, Mr. Shiv." said the stallion in a very dignified voice. "How has this night been treating you?"
"Oh, hello Mr. Benefactor! It was a bit rough, hit a little road block on the way home, but other than that I'm fine." said Ebony as he rubbed the back of his head as he remembered what happened just one hour ago.
"Well that's good to hear, I believe." said the stallion as he slightly chuckled."Now, on to business" said the stallion as he put his glass down on the table next to him, and leaned forward, but not enough so that Ebony could see his muzzle. "I believe you know have something in your possession that I very much want. You were successful in obtaining the object in question, weren't you?"
"Yes sir!" said Ebony as he picked up the gem next to him and held it in front of the screen. "The one and only Celestia's Sun as per your request!"
The stallion let out a quiet aahh as he observed the gem from the computer screen. "Well Well Well, very nicely done Mr.Shiv! I assume that It wasn't easy to obtain that item, was it?"
"You bet sir, this thing was guarded like it was all of the members of the royal family combined! Sneaking into the museum and knocking out the security and guards was the easy part though."
"What was the hard part if I may be so bold?"
"Apparently the gem had a bit of 'extra protection' in the form of the Power Ponies themselves."
The stallion let out a slight gasp, "THE- Power Ponies!? The defenders of Maretropolis, the ones who fight crime on a regular basis, the reason the jails have been packed like cans of caviar, THOSE Power Ponies!?"
"Yes sir, one and the same." said Ebony as he laid back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"But, how did they know!? Was there an info leak?" asked the stallion with a great deal of fright in his voice.
"I don't think so sir, I think the Power Ponies are catching on to your little 'shopping spree' as of late"
"Maybe it's because you leave your business card at the scene of the crime!" said the stallion who's voice now had a hint of anger within it.
"Sorry sir, I gotta leave my card, I need to let the public know that I'm the best thief in all of Equestria." said Ebony.
Who knew a thief could be such a glamor hog? thought the stallion as he laid back in his chair.
"Do you want to stop using my services Mr. Benefactor? Until things calm down at least?" asked Ebony.
The stallion looked as if he was giving this serious thought, as he took a while before speaking. "No, I've come too far to wait for another chance to complete my collection."
"Well what do you want to do now sir?" asked Ebony
"Send Celestia's Sun to the same location as the previous deliveries.Your payment for this assignment will be given to you there in one lump sum, just as we agreed. Lay low for a few days until I give you your next job. That is all."
"Very well sir, have a good night." said Ebony as he gave a slight yawn.
"And a very good night to you as well Mr.Shiv" said the stallion just before the window on the computer screen blacked out.
--------Hours later
Radiance Manor
7:14 am
Rainbow Dash slowly woke up as light from a nearby window struck her face. She rised out of the bed to see that she wasn't in her own bed. She was in a lavishly furbushed room with mahogany wood walls, a red velvet carpet, and a large cabinet. RD climbed out of the king sized bed she was lying in to see that she was still wearing her Zapp costume. She used her lightning bolt pendant to make the suit disappear in an instant, and put on a velvet red robe that was lying on a chair next to the bed. She stepped out of the room into a long hallway, at which point she smelled the familiar scent of chocolate melting. RD walked down to the end of the hall to walk into a large kitchen where the other Power Ponies, save for Pinkamena and Spike were already there, drinking coffee and talking about events prior. Fluttershy looked behind her to see Rainbow Dash had just entered the room, she was making chocolate chip pancakes.
"Oh! Good morning Rainbow, did you sleep well?" asked Fluttershy in a happy tone.
"Gah, I slept like a rock, what happened last night? Last thing I can remember is getting my hooves on that smug-ass thief before going to sleep." said RD in a grumpy tone.
Twilight, who was sitting at a table by the actual kitchen spoke up. "What happened was that that thief Ebony Shiv got away with Celestia's Sun." said Twilight in disappointment as she stared at her mug of coffee.
"Who?"
"Ebony Shiv is the name of the thief we were chasing last night, he told me his name before I passed out from the sleeping gas."
"Wait, we got knocked out?"
"Yes, you, me, Fluttershy, and Spike all got hit with the gas."
"You were all fast asleep in an alleyway when me, Applejack, and Pinkamena found you." said Rarity as she walked into the room, wearing a pink sweater. "What makes you think you can sleep on the job darlings?"
"It's not our faults, that thief was tricky!" said RD. "He had all those weird capsule thingies with him that did all that weird stuff! Not to mention he was really fast! He was able to keep up the pace with me! And that's saying something!"
"Um, he was really fast." said Fluttershy. "If he's able to outrun Zapp, who knows what he's capable of?"
"He's capable of stealing more stuff! Which is exactly why we need to stop him!" exclaimed RD as she slammed her hoof on the kitchen table.
"I couldn't agree with you more darlings, but as things are now, we're basically in the same spot as we were before." said Rarity.
"What are you talking about!?" asked RD.
"He has Celestia's Sun, and as of now, there are no more valuable gems like those of the Noir Diamond and Celestia's Sun here in Maretropolis!"
"So what do we do?" asked RD.
"I propose we wait. Ebony Shiv, as far as we can tell, only steals things in Maretropolis. I'll look out for any other valuables that may come into the city. If there are objects of that caliber that come into the city, the Power Ponies will need to be vigilante as ever if we're going to catch that thief."said Rarity.
"Good thinking Rarity, usually I'm the one who comes up with a plan." said Twilight. At that moment, Spike walked into the kitchen with a worried look on his face.
"Um girls, I think we have a bigger problem than the thief."
"What do you mean Spike?" asked Twilight. Spike motioned for the others to follow him into Rarity's large den. It had windows that reached up to the ceiling, velvet red carpeting. and some designer black couches sitting in front of a large flat screen TV above her fireplace. Pinkamena was already in the room wearing a bathrobe, and she had the TV paused.
"Ladies, there's something you really need to see." said Pinkamena as she unpaused the television.
Breaking News! Earlier this morning, an armored police truck carrying Maretropolis's most vile menace the Mane-iac, was found broken down on the outskirts of Martropolis! Further investigation showed that the Mane-iac has escaped from the truck carrying her to Equestria Asylum for containment. The driver of the vehicle was found unconscious at the scene, and we are still waiting for him to wake up so that we may learn more. Authorities have yet to find the Mane-iac, and advise any who see her to avoid confronting her and call the police. we'll keep you informed as more of this late breaking story comes to light!
There was a collective groan from all of the Power Ponies including Spike. "Oh come on! We have to deal with that nutcase again!? I nearly got squeezed to death last time!" said Rainbow Dash angrily.
"I almost got stepped on!" added Spike.
"Why couldn't she have just stayed in jail?" asked Fluttershy.
"This is trouble." said Rarity as she put her hoof to her chin. "We now have two gigantic problems on our hooves, we have a pony who's absolutely mad and a danger to society, and we have a thief who's stealing from society!"
"What should we do?" asked Pinkamena.
"I agree with Rarity's plan that we need to wait, Mane-iac usually lays low after she escapes from prison, and like Rarity said, there's no more gems for Ebony Shiv to steal for now. We wait until opportunity strikes, then we catch it like a cobra catching it's prey." said Twilight. "Until then, It's just business as usual."
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The Power Ponies now have another threat to deal with in the form of the Mane-iac. Will our heroes find out when the thief and madmare strike next? Or will they slip through the cracks? Find out next time, on Power Ponies the Ebony Chronicles!