//------------------------------// // VI - Late Night Confessions and Tea Time // Story: My Little Sly Cooper: Thievery is Magic // by Deyeaz //------------------------------// Shadow: Knock-knock, mothereffers! Guess who's back? *cue the applause* Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh. Now I FINALLY have the courage to multitask between this fic and Horns, Hooves, and Fur (for those who haven't seen it, go ahead and check it out... I mean, if that's ok with you. *Flutterwhimper*) *Sees the 2 dislikes* Meh. Don't care. Their loss. Now, WHO'S READY FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!? My Little Sly Cooper: Thievery is Magic VI - Late Night Confessions and Tea Time With night having fallen, the inhabitants of Ponyville had been whisked away by the pining calls of their beds, ready to wrap their owners up and soothe them to sleep. At this point of night, everypony had already gone to sleep. Well... almost everypony. Sly couldn't sleep, and no matter how hard the coon-pony tried to ease himself into slumber and succumb to its greedy tendrils, the attempts would be in vain. Agitated that he couldn't get to sleep, Sly threw off of the covers and got out of his guest bed, taking caution not to awaken either Spike or Twilight. But he need not worry about that, for the latter had already vacated her bed. Where could she have gone...? Sly raised an eyebrow at the peculiar sight. Maybe she's at the balcony, stargazing? Besides, her Cutie Mark... thing... is a bunch of stars. So that MUST mean she likes stargazing, right? Seeing as that might be the most reasonable thing to assume, Sly made his way to the balcony of the library. Sure enough, he saw Twilight peering into a telescope that was pointed at the night sky while she wrote down each one of the stars' locations and what constellations they erected. Sly stared up at the atmosphere above him, captivated by its hypnotizing beauty. The stars dotted the indigo sky shined like diamonds, while the moon, riddled with lunar craters of varying sizes, emulated a gorgeous glow upon the town, which was already festered with vacant streets. Any painting crafted by an artist's skillful eye and, well, hoof, would pale in comparison to the magnificent sight above them all. Despite the slow, meek chirps of crickets and the occasional murmur from Twilight as she jotted down each celestial object's position, the environment was peacefully quiet. One could practically hear a pin drop from a yard away. While the sight was breathtaking, Sly wanted to say differently. Even if the Equestrian sky looked strikingly similar to the one back home on Earth, it wasn't. It will never be the same sky where he usually performs his pilfering escapades, the moonlight acting as his torch in the darkness that flanked him on all sides. He knew that he couldn't go back to France, to Murray and Bentley... to Carmelita. Sly sighed sadly. Of all the people he would miss, his old friends and Carmelita would be at the top of the list, despite the latter being the reason as to why he was in a different world as a different species. "Couldn't sleep, huh?" Sly gave a small start until he realized that Twilight had been the one who had spoken. "Not a wink," he said. "I take it you couldn't sleep either?" "Nope." Twilight removed herself from her telescope. "So... what were you thinking about?" she asked. Sly sighed again as he looked at Twilight. The light from the moon and stars reflected off her large amethyst eyes as she gave him a small, sad smile. "Home." Twilight blinked a few times in confusion before finally getting his meaning. "What are you talking about, Sly? This is your home," she told him. After all, even feigned ignorance was bliss. "You know what I'm talking about, Twi." Sly rested his head in his forelegs on the railing of the balcony, staring off into the moonlight. Twilight sat next to him and followed his example. "Back home, I was considered a legend, and not the good kind. While it should have made my life a living... Tartarus, it didn't. There was a... a thrill of having to steal, having to run from the law, having to get away with whatever loot I had. It's been like this since I was eight years old, when the Fiendish Five killed my father and stole my family book. I loved my job, but at the same time, the people I tried to protect hated me because of what I did. The one and only woman I loved... is the reason why I'm here in Ponyville. My friend Bentley lost the ability to walk, all because I didn't stop my old enemy, Clockwerk, the first time we met in Russia. If I had only done the job right the first time... none of this would've happened. And if it weren't for my friends, Bentley and Murray, I would have never gotten to where I had. I'm glad that I'm here, but at the same time... I can't do what I love best: being a thief. Last I checked, this land... er, Equestria, right?" Twilight nodded. "Yeah. Equestria has almost no crime. So what's a man.. er, stallion, to do when his talent is stealing from criminals and there are almost no criminals?" Twilight patted Sly on the shoulder. "I don't know, Sly," she said honestly, trying to convey as much empathy as possible into her words. "But don't worry, we'll figure out something." She swallowed, hard, like something had been clogging her throat from some time. Sly turned to get back inside the library. "Who was she?" Sly turned around to face Twilight. "What do you mean?" "You know what I mean." Sly felt a pang of guilt when she saw tears manifesting in the corners of her eyes. Twilight was emotionally ripped to shreds at the thought of somepony else loving Sly. "The woman you loved." Sly sighed again. "Miss Carmelita Montoya Fox." The corners of his lips turned up to form a small smile of sad reminiscence. "One of the most beautiful women I had ever met. Long, curly brunette hair, orange fur, amber eyes, cunning smile, amazing body." He sighed once more. "Did... did she love you back?" That question sent Sly's mind reeling. Did Carmelita love him back? Probably not, even after his many chivalrous attempts at winning her heart. "No, not really. Chasing me around and trying to arrest me was all she did. But I didn't think she'd go so far as to kill me." Twilight gasped at his words. "Sh... she killed you?!" She said a little too loudly. Sly looked taken aback by the outburst. "Twilight, shh!" "No, I won't shh! How in Equestria can you love somepony who not only doesn't love you back and wants you behind bars, but also KILLED you?!" Sly put a hoof to Twilight's lip to quiet her. "I can't explain it, OK?!" Sly whisper-shouted. "It's probably lust, maybe the thrill of being chased, or something! I can't be sure!" He lowered his hoof. "But whatever it is... it's done. Over. Enough." Twilight wiped away whatever tears she had from her face before tackling him in a large hug. Sly was caught off-guard at first, but soon returned the embrace again. "Now let's go inside and get to sleep, eh? Besides, I don't think waking up any of our neighbors would do us good." "Too right," Twilight giggled a bit sheepishly. She removed herself from Sly and made her way inside the library, with Sly following suit. She's a very nice girl... but something seems to be holding her back... and I can't quite put my hoof on it. The Next Morning "Get up, Sly. Breakfast is almost ready," Twilight coaxed to her friend, giving him a small shake. Sly arose, wiping the sleep from his eyes and getting slowly out of his comfortable bed. He stretched his joints and popped his neck. The sounds made Twilight and Spike cringe and wince. Looks like I found one of their pet peeves, he mentally chuckled. "Good morning, mon amie," he said to her as they exchanged brief nuzzles. "Mon... amie?" she reiterated curiously, liking the way the words rolled off of her tongue like that. "It's French: it means 'my friend'," he answered, pulling an embarrassed grin and scratching the back of his head. His answer was rewarded with a sweet smile from the librarian. "Hmm... I like it," she finally said as she made his bed for him. Sly then turned to the dragon in the room, who was just getting up. "What's up, Spike?" he hollered to him. "Not much, Sly," Spike answered groggily, throwing the blanket off of his scaly form. "Cool, man. Say, do you have a bathroom around here? I need to go and take a shower... or a bath. Whatever form of cleansing you all do." Twilight pointed to a door that was next to the archway that led down to the main room of the library. "Nice. I'll be right back." He ignored the stairs and jumped down to the floor, landing neatly upon the ground. He walked over to the bathroom and found the clothes Rarity made him sitting atop the counter. He removed his clothes and tossed them into a laundry hamper before closing the door. He hopped into the shower, placed his mask and turned on the warm water, letting it soak him thoroughly. While he wasn't used to water in swimming pools and lakes, things like rain and such weren't too bad for him. He glanced down and saw a bottle of colts' shampoo. Hmm... maybe Twilight bought this for me? Sly wondered as he picked up the bottle with his hoof and brought it to his nose for a sniff: it smelled of apples and cinnamon. After a few seconds, his eyes went wide as he shook the hoof like it was bewitched, the shampoo bottle flying out and onto the shower floor. "How the heck did that happen?!" asked the coon-pony, thoroughly examining his hoof. He did it again, and again, and again to the bottle. It was like his hoof acted as a tentacle's suction cup at will, the way the bottle just stuck to him like that when he wanted it too and dropped when he didn't want it to. "Cooool. But no more screwing around. I just remembered I have tea at Lyra and Bon-Bon's place today, then I gotta see Applebloom and her friends about their Cutie Marks. Whelp, better get scrubbing... wait a minute, why am I talking to myself?!" "Whoa, you reek of apples!" said Spike, fanning away the scent of the shampoo with a claw. Sly had stepped out of the bathroom, donned in the black shirt and cap with red trim, mask replaced onto his face. "You're just mad 'cause I'm stuntin' on you," he replied, making his way upstairs to grab his cane. He tucked it into his saddlebags strap and went back the flight of stairs to the main room. Twilight was curled up with a book in her sparkling pink magical aura. Her eyes were almost blurred with how fast she was reading. She looked up and saw Sly, her jaw dropping just a little bit at his appearance. "Wow... You look nice, Sly," she complemented, giving the air a whiff. Her eyes fluttered slightly as she exhaled. "Lemme guess, apples and cinnamon?" she added rhetorically. "My complements to the librarian," he said slickly. Twilight chuckled. They walked down to the kitchen for breakfast. A Caesar salad with a glass of orange juice accompanying it was waiting for him on the table, the scent of the ranch and croutons driving his mouth to water a bit. He ate it slowly, trying to preserve the flavor of it all. After the last crouton made its way down to his gullet, he drained half the glass of orange juice, the sharp citrus taste of the beverage soothing the dryness of his throat. "Er, Sly? You've gotta go visit Lyra and Bon-Bon for tea, remember?" Spike reminded. "Huh? Oh, right. I nearly forgot again." He got up and gave his legs a good shake before setting out to the library door. "Bye, Spike! Bye, Twilight! I'll see you all later!" "Bye!" the librarian and the assistant cried. Twilight gave a little sigh and levitated a book. "My, my, that racco-, Erm, pony - sure is a good guy. But I wonder what his friends Murray and Bentley were like, maybe I'll even give that Carmelita girl a piece of my mind...." A look of anger soon plagued her complexion. "Twilight." Spike snapped the librarian out of her stupor. "I don't think that's such a good idea." "Hmm... Thank you." "No problem, Twi." "But with that out of the way, I wanna ask your opinion on something." "Shoot." "... I think my friends are trying too hard to rush me into a relationship with Sly, one that I do want, but can't have until later on. You agree with me on this one, right?" "You're preachin' to the choir, sister." Spike raised his claws defensively, for he had no idea how relationships work: he was still trying to win Rarity over to no avail. "But I think I do agree. Give it some time." "Welcome, Sly! C-come on in!" the seafoam green unicorn named Lyra said, opening the door to her little apartment. Sly was blown away by the breathtaking sight that stood before him. The silver legs of the glass coffee table gleamed in the light of the candles. The walls were painting taupe, while the two couches were a black matte, and the flourishing plants that surrounded the room gave the area a very calming feeling to the occupants. "We didn't really expect you to come until two o'clock!" Sly checked his rPod and saw that the time read one fifty-three. "I was that early, huh? Ah, well, at least I'm here," he said. "Where's, erm... Bon-Bon?" "I'm over here!" a voice replied from the kitchen. A cream-color coated mare, adorned with a curled indigo and pink mane and tail and a trio of wrapped sweets for a Cutie Mark, exited the kitchen. In her mouth was a tray bearing three empty teacups and an elegant teapot, the spout of it emitting steam. She set down the tray on the coffee table and took a seat, Lyra and Sly soon following suit. "So, Sly, can you tell us all about yourself?" Oh, God, this is gonna be a long one.