//------------------------------// // Prologue: A Peaceful Night // Story: Embrace Midnight - A Thief's Chronicle // by Alpha268 //------------------------------// Embrace Midnight A Thief's Chronicle Prologue Written by Alpha268 A fresh breeze was running through the streets of Manehattan. The rushing clouds blocked the glaring moon at the sky, only letting sudden outbursts of light dive into the sleeping metropolis. In the distance a repetitive squeal was exclaimed by a plate as it swung on rusty joints. The streets presented a vast perspective, not only because of the black and gray regularity, but they were also void of life, as the fortunate ponies of the Windrush district enjoyed their righteous sleep. Leaves shivered in the trees of the avenue, adding a silent swoosh to the otherwise quiet night. The paved street was flanked by ornated houses with four floors, therefore giving the viewer the impression of being mediocre in this peaceful world. Gardens with flourishing flowers flecking the green grass welcomed anypony, who had the luck being invited into a house of the airily highsociety. About a hundred metres away there was a crossing with a awe-inspiring statue of a lorldy stallion on top of a fountain, which dominated the small plaza around. Suddenly the sound of monotonous hoofsteps dripped through the night. The sound grew louder as they were coming closer slowly to the street. " 'at do you think then? 'ere should I spend my holidays?", one voice said slowly and murmurous, as if something was stuck in his mouth. "Well, at least not in Fillydelphia. I mean, you're spending your whole time in this city, so why use your days off from work to visit another big city? That would be pointless. You need a change in perspective, else you'll go crazy with all these paved streets and huge buildings.", an other voice exclaimed. "Oh, 'at a great help you are. Now you told me 'ere not to go, thank you very much." A cone of light appeared around the crossing. The light illuminated the statue, and the beam made light and shadow crawl around the face of the stallion, giving it a daemonic grimace. "Fine then, how about... um... Ponyville?" Two white stallions in heavy armor, making them Guardponies, entered the plaza. One of them carried a flickering lamp in his mouth, which he almost dropped in surprise. The fast reaction of his hoof stabilized the cargo in his mouth. He turned his head towards his companion and hooked the lamp onto his hoof, so he could speak without hindrance. "Ponyville? Are you...? I mean, that place is literally in the middle of nowhere! Should I spend my time glazing at the boring nature? Do you even try to help me finding a place for vacation? There is no way..." "Shut up, you don't want to wake up everypony in Manehattan!", the other pony hissed through his teeth. To emphazise these words he hit the pony holding the lamp firmly into his flank. "Sorry, but I don't really see, why I should want to go to Ponyville these days." The pony said quietly, while looking around to see if his prior outburst had done any harm to the sleep of the ponies in the houses next to them. "That's simple. Your town 'in the middle of nowhere'", the second pony said with a smudgy grin," is full of mares, who surely need protection from a strong guard like you, if you get my hint. I mean they're living next to the Everfree Forest, and they can barely defend themselves." He laughed with his dark voice. "Umm... You have a point there, I see. Well actually, that's a great idea. It has been some time since... oh...", the first guard concluded unclear, as the thought crossed his mind that his private life might not be the be the best topic while on night watch. Furthermore the other guard moved on and left the statue behind. "Hey, wait!", the guard exclaimed, while trying to catch up with his companion. The two faded away in the dark of the night. They left behind a street almost devoid of life. A bush in a garden of a towering apartment shivered and exhaled his breath into the night. A gray unicorn-stallion carefully stepped out of it, slowly lowering every hoof into the green, uncut grass and moved towards the gate, which seperated garden and street. "They changed the scedule. Why has nopony told me?" These thoughts came to his mind while he moved across the garden, charily avoiding every part of the garden with no cover to hide behind. The pony had a saddlebag tied to his back, and as he came close to the gate it silently swung open. He carefully watched the street and trotted out of the garden. The gate was closed by a silent force. The stallion moved onwards into the night, using the darkest shadows provided by houses and trees to stay undetected. Everytime he had to cross the street, he waited for a cloud to cross the moon at the sky, as it gave him a few seconds of additional cover on the streets bare of any hideouts. "This break-in was very profitable. Now let's head home.", he thought with a invidious grin on his face. He reflected his recently theft. "How peaceful they slept. The mother, the father, the two fillies. I wonder what they'll say when they wake up in a house they thought to be safe from burglars, when their jewelry is missing. They'll surely hold the guards responsible for that. He followed a street heading towards the southern part of Manehattan. He slowed his trot at times to check his surroundings and occasionally moved through narrow streets. He changed his direction a few times, until he was sure nopony was following him. After a while he reached a high wall, built with heavy, grey stones. The inner city wall devided Manehattan into different parts and separated the wealthy districts from the other ones. This wall in particular draw a line between the district Windplay, where average families live, and the district Ashfall, one of the so called Lockdown Districts. Every traffic between these two districts was heavily controlled by the Lockdown Guards to protect the normal families from thievery and violence, which emerged from the 4 Lockdown Districts Ashfall, Quarry, Downspawn, and The Edge. They were used as a basin for the unlucky ponies, who couldn't afford the life in any other district, and the violent nature paired with the law of the jungle usually drove more ponies into criminality, which fed from the surrounding, wealthier districts. The Lockdown Guards were soon called to arms to stop the spread of organised crime from those unfriendly districts, isolating them from the rest of the metropolis. This wall nevertheless didn't stop the stallion from entering and leaving the district Ashfall. He looked around for any witness, then left the street and moved towards the massive wall across the street. While approaching, a force moved a thin metal slab, which was embedded into the ground right in front of the wall and therefore opened a small entrance descending into the darkness. The pony moved onwards and a few seconds after he vanished into the catacombs, the slab slided back into its original position. "That's it." he thought, "Im finally home."