Filthy Rich wasn’t sure that such a simple security system would suffice to protect his greatest treasure ever. He paced back-and-forth, his mind wanting to speak up but his nerves not allowing him to. He wanted to just take the jewel and run away with it, taking it somewhere that thieves could not reach.
“Ten minutes left,” Shining Armor said, checking his handgun one final time before pointing it at the glass case protecting the jewel. “Please stay close to Gilda, Mr. Rich. We can’t risk you becoming a hostage.”
“Understood.” Filthy Rich rushed to Gilda’ side, loosening his tie to prevent himself from suffocating as the moment of truth drew near. “Officer, maybe we should call in more agents after all.”
“Two’s plenty,” Gilda said, grabbing the fidgety old man’s head. “Just stay put and let us do our thing!”
“Y-Yes!”
“Gilda, please don’t give him a heart attack,” Shining Armor pleaded, his eyes not leaving the jewel in the corner of the room. “And ask Chrysalis how things are on her end.”
Gilda used her free hand to pull out her phone and pressed a button to dial Chrysalis. “Hey,” she spoke, “Everythin’ good over there?”
“So far,” the voice on the other end of the line responded, accompanied by much static. “We saw a suspicious shadow near the entrance but it was just a cat. I’m thinking of adopting it.”
Gilda’s hand trembled as she clenched the phone in her hand. “I don’t care about that! If you see Kaitou Moon you’d better let me know or else!”
“What’s that noise on the line?” Shining Armor asked.
Gilda huffed and calmed her hand down. “There’s some static comin’ from your end. What’s up?”
“… Oh. There appears to be a bug here. Huh.”
Gilda’s hand began to shake and threatened to break her phone once more. “HUH?! HUUUUUUUH?! Kaitou Moon’s been listenin’ in on us this whole time and that’s all you have to say?!”
“Oh, so she’s been tapping our phones,” Shining Armor said.
“What’s wrong with you two?! How can you treat this so casually?!”
“Because it means that Kaitou Moon has been here,” Chrysalis answered. “Now we can watch over the footage to see who- … The cameras just died.”
The lights inside of the room shut off all at once, accompanied by a womanly shriek from Gilda’s direction. “Calm down, old man!” Gilda shouted. “What happened?”
“Kaitou Moon probably cut the power,” Shining Armor guessed.
“Bad news. I don’t think we can use the surveillance footage anymore.”
Gilda hung up her phone and put it away. Only a couple of seconds later, the lights came back on. Filthy Rich gasped and ran towards the glass case with tears in his eyes. The jewel inside was gone. “NOOOO! MY GRANDMOTHER’S JEWEL!”
“Damn! We’ve been had!” Shining Armor shouted, putting his gun away.
Filthy Rich opened the case, and was shocked to see that the jewel had reappeared. “W-What? But how-”
“Thank you.” Kaitou Moon jumped down from the ceiling, her cape fluttering down and covering both herself and Filthy Rich.
Shining Armor reached for his gun, but his hands stopped as the cape moved aside, revealing Kaitou Moon holding Filthy Rich by the neck. “B-But how?!”
“Now you’ve been had,” Kaitou Moon said. She reached down with her free hand and swiped the brilliant red jewel, pocketing it carefully inside of her cape. “This is the best that the FBI has to offer? I must say, I am disappointed.”
Filthy Rich stopped squirming, and soon started to laugh. Shining Armor and Gilda joined in, confusing the thief holding him hostage. “It’s just as she said,” Filthy Rich said. In a flash, he reached down to his side, grabbed a pair of handcuffs, and freed himself, slapping one end of the cuffs onto Kaitou Moon’s wrist and the other end onto his own. “You divert our attention elsewhere to perform your real trick. Just like a hack magician.”
“… Nice moves for an old businessman.”
“Why thank you, but you’re wrong.” Filthy Rich reached up to his face and pulled his mask away, revealing himself to be Agent Chrysalis. She then removed her wig, allowing her long, green hair to fall down her back, as Shining Armor pulled out his gun behind her and pointed it at the thief. “You are under arrest, Kaitou Moon.”
Kaitou Moon scratched her chin, looking around at the situation that she was in. Two agents pointing their guns at her, and one keeping her from fleeing with handcuffs. Truly a desperate situation… for an amateur. “One… two… three…”
“What’s that?” Gilda asked, taking a threatening step forward. “Why’re you counting?”
“It’s late. It should have gone off eight seconds ago.”
“What should-” Before Gilda could finish her question, the room was overtaken by a loud noise. Loud enough to shake the walls, and bring the agents to their knees as they covered their ears. Chrysalis managed to crack one eye open wide enough to watch as Kaitou Moon picked the lock of her handcuffs.
“H-How are you able to stay standing?!” Chrysalis shouted, unable to even hear her own voice. Kaitou Moon simply pointed to her ears. “Earplugs?! But then how did you- You can read our lips?!”
Kaitou Moon nodded and said something that Chrysalis couldn’t hear. As the three agents struggled to stay upright, Kaitou Moon casually left the room, closing the door behind her. The noise stopped shortly afterwards, and the three took a moment to compose themselves before Shining Armor tried to give chase.
Shining Armor attempted to open the door, but it was no use. “She locked it!”
“She got us! This time for real!” Gilda shouted. “I told you we should’ve sweeped for bugs! We would’ve picked up those noisemakers!”
“We thought letting her keep any bugs she set up would lull her into a false sense of security,” Chrysalis reminded. “It seems that rather than assuming she had won, she gave us our due credit and prepared her escape. I must admit, she’s not the cocky, two-bit thief I thought she was.”
Shining Armor reached for his walkie-talkie and pushed the button on the side. “She’s got the jewel! Do you have visual on her?” No response came from the other side. “Hey! Can you see the thief or not?! HEY!”
“It’s me,” came a female voice from the walkie-talkie. “It’s Sunset Shimmer. I just saw Kaitou Moon get away and came to check on your friend. She knocked him out, but he’s alright.”
“She even noticed our sniper?” Chrysalis asked. “… Well, perhaps now the Bureau will give us the support we need.”
“I doubt it,” Shining Armor said back. “Not if this is a thief of her word, and returns the jewel as she claimed.”
Trixie stared down at the beautiful red jewel in her hand. It was more glorious than its reputation gave it credit for, but indeed, appearances weren’t everything. Under the scrutinous eyes of Trixie, she could tell that it would not fetch a high price. It really only held value as a family heirloom to the Rich family, but that still didn’t prevent it from being nice to look at.
“Nice job,” a voice said behind Trixie, prompting her to turn around quickly. “As expected, the great thief Kaitou Moon never fails to hit her mark.”
“And just who are you? I’m getting tired of people tracking me down after my escape.”
“Trixie Lulamoon.” A sparkle captured Trixie’s eyes, and soon afterwards, something flew by her head faster than her eyes could track it. She knew what it was – a bullet, fired from a silenced handgun. “That’s your real name, isn’t it? I wouldn’t flee, if I were you.”
Trixie gulped and pocketed her jewel quickly. “That’s a dangerous toy.”
“Only as dangerous as its owner, and trust me, you don’t want to find out just how dangerous I am.”
Trixie couldn’t help but feel that she had heard this voice before, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “And what is it that you want?”
“I just want to offer you a proposition.”
“You’re not returning the jewel?!” Fuchsia Blush shouted, deafening both Trixie and Lavender Lace as the three were gathered in Trixie’s bedroom. “What do you mean?!”
“I thought that the FBI actually put up an admirable defence,” Lavender stated, removing her hands from her ears.
“Well you’re wrong,” Trixie stated firmly. “The FBI were willing to lose the jewel simply so that they didn’t have to send in too many agents. I heard it all through the bugs you had planted, Fuchsia.”
Fucshia Blush sighed. “Then what? We just take a precious family heirloom?”
“If the FBI can prove themselves competent in the future, I’ll return the jewel upon my retirement,” Trixie said. “Until then, I am keeping it safe in a secure location.”
“… Well, as long as you return it later…”
“And you’re not gonna sell it, right?” Lavender asked.
“Of course not!” Trixie replied. “I already told you I wouldn’t sell any of our spoils! I’m a noble thief, after all.”
Fuchsia Blush rolled her eyes. “Riiiiight. So? What’s our next heist?”
Trixie bit her lip. “I’m still looking into it. Meet me in the gym tomorrow and I’ll fill you in on what I’ve got planned, okay?”
The two girls nodded and took their leave, leaving Trixie alone in her bedroom. After a few moments, Trixie slumped down onto her bed with a heavy sigh. “… What am I going to do now? How am I supposed to steal the Alicorn Amulet and keep those two from finding out the truth?!” ‘The truth… that they’re both hostages…’