//------------------------------// // 8 - The Griffon's Goblet Heist // Story: Chasing Thieves // by Yukito //------------------------------// Trixie scanned around the museum through her binoculars, switching from night-vision to infrared. “I don’t see anyone.” “Neither do I,” Fuchsia reported through the phone at Trixie’s feet. “This is strange. You did send the notice, right?” “Maybe they just don’t feel it’s worth it,” Lavender suggested. “Or maybe it’s a trap,” Fuchsia retorted. “Hang on. I’m gonna hack into the security feed and see what-” “Don’t bother,” Trixie said, putting away her binoculars and picking up her phone as she rose to her feet. “If they can’t even be bothered to show up, then I will simply take the goblet and show the entire world what cowards they are!” “Trixie!” Trixie hung up the phone and placed it into her pocket. “It’s most certainly a trap, but the problem with that… is that you can’t capture an illusion.” Sombra, Sunset Shimmer, Shining Armor, Chrysalis and Gilda were all waiting patiently for Kaitou Moon to make her grand entrance. Waiting inside the stuffy old van that Shining Armor had rented earlier that morning, which could barely contain the five of them and the large radar that showed a signal coming from their north. “Next time, we rent two vans,” Chrysalis groaned, trying to adjust her seated positon and kicking Sunset’s hip in the process. “Hey, watch it!” Sunset shouted. “Couldn’t we have just left these two behind?” she asked, pointing to Sombra and Gilda. “Sombra is among the few people who know how to properly work this thing,” Shining Armor said. “And Gilda insisted on coming along, so…” “If anyone should have been left behind, it should be you,” Gilda spat with a glare pointed at Sunset Shimmer. Sunset returned the glare and argued, “This was my target long before yours!” “You have no authority! Technically, we could have you arrested for interfering with our business!” “Shows what you know! The FBI wouldn’t waste a potential asset like me!” “No, but y’see what they do with their ‘assets’ that they can’t let walk free.” Gilda nodded her head towards the bound Sombra. “They don’t mind lockin’ you up ta keep you out of trouble.” “Sunset’s proven herself to be resourceful,” Shining Armor said. “That’s why I’m letting her help us out. That and I feel we owe her, for saving our lives.” “Well by that logic, you should thank me, too,” Chrysalis chuckled, before wincing and rubbing her back. “Darn it! I’m going to stretch my legs!” “Wait! The heist is about to start!” “I just need to get out of this stuffy van for a bit. Besides, we’re giving them a head start anyway, right?” Chrysalis opened the back of the van and jumped out, with Gilda following after her. “I need a smoke. Call if anythin’ comes up.” “I think I would like a walk, too,” Sombra said. “Forget it,” Shining Armor replied. “But my throat is feeling parched.” “Chrysalis, go pick up some coffee while you’re out.” Chrysalis waved back in acknowledgement as she and Gilda walked off down the street. Sombra simply laughed and sat back. “Sending the women to do the menial labour? How ungentlemanly of you, Agent Armor.” “I’m not leaving you alone with her, so don’t even bother.” “I can handle him,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Without magic, he’s nothing.” “Don’t underestimate a well-trained agent. There’s a reason Sombra and I were often assigned to missions in place of entire groups of agents.” “But what can he do when he’s bound like this?” “Who knows?” Sombra asked. “Put me in the right situation though, and I may just surprise you.” “You’re not earning points towards your freedom here,” Shining Armor cautioned. The sounds of explosions rang outside, startling the three inside of the van. “It seems it’s starting,” Sombra said. Sunset Shimmer flicked on the radio and tuned it to the right station. “Kaitou Moon has just shown up atop the museum! Her fans are waving banners and cheering for the phantom thief! Police are having trouble keeping the crowd at bay and-” “People are stupid,” Sunset Shimmer deadpanned. “Who in their right mind would cheer for that thief?” “The you in this world does,” Shining Armor replied with a grin. “Don’t remind me.” “It’s not the thefts that they adore, but the artistic way in which she does them,” Sombra stated. “She has an air around her that demands respect and adoration, and the confidence to back it up. Well, I’m sure many of her ‘fans’ just want to cause mayhem.” “Kaitou Moon has just jumped! Fans are in shock as their hero plummets towards the- Wait, what’s this?! Kaitou Moon has vanished into thin air!” “Not to mention that she can perform magic.” “That’s not magic,” Sunset Shimmer scolded. “Real magic isn’t so easy to make sense of. If one were to look closely at one of Kaitou Moon’s tricks, the secrets to how they’re preformed would become obvious in a matter of seconds.” “Police are scrambling! It seems that they have lost sight of the suspect! Wait, wait, what’s this? … Ladies and gentlemen, we have just received a card from Kaitou Moon, stating that the Griffon’s Goblet has been stolen! AH! And there she is, soaring southwards across the sky! Police are now pursuing in helicopters!” “Interesting,” Sombra said. “Considering that the signal hasn’t moved.” “Meaning it’s a fake out,” Sunset surmised. “She’s still in there. She’s tricked the police into moving the majority of their forces away.” “She must have concealed the goblet somehow,” Shining Armor reasoned. “Ah, the signal…” “It’s moving.” Sombra sat up straight and focussed on the radar. “It’s moving north. At the speed it’s going… she must be on foot.” “But the route that it’s taking in through buildings,” Shining Armor said. “Look. She hasn’t turned at all!” Suddenly, the blip of the radar moved to the right. “Should we pursue her now?” “…” “I say we go for it, but what about Chrysalis and Gilda?” Sunset Shimmer asked. “…” “It’s speeding up! She may be in a vehicle! We have to go now, before it gets out of range!” Shining Armor reached forwards and closed the van’s doors, before knocking on the other side. A panel slid open. “Follow her!” “Yes, sir!” Chrysalis approached the parked van, carrying a paper tray of coffee whilst Gilda walked besides her. “Stupid clerk. How long does it take to count change?” “Looks like the police are movin’ away. Guess the heist’s already happened.” Suddenly, the van sped off away from the two agents, leaving them standing in the middle of the street. Chrysalis grinded her teeth together and threw the coffee to the road. “Damnit, Shining Armor!” “Take the next right!” Shining Armor shouted, struggling to keep his map of the city straight whilst the van bumped and swerved. “She keeps slowing down and picking up speed, so she’s likely not being followed! If we can catch up, we can follow her without being detected!” “But it’s strange,” Sunset said. “She’s not even stopping for traffic lights or crossings!” “Maybe she’s just getting lucky.” “I don’t think so,” Sombra said, his attention focussed entirely on the radar’s signal. “This pattern feels familiar… and the random bursts of speed…” Sombra gasped and scooted closer to Shining Amor, looking down at the map of the city. “What is it?” “… I remember now. I once had a case that led me through much of this city’s sewer system.” Sombra grinned as he looked back up at the radar. “The sewers run directly below the museum. She must have rigged the display to drop the goblet into sewers and allow it to float through the system, meaning that she can collect it at an opening down the line.” “The sewers?” Sunset Shimmer asked. “That’s disgusting!” “But clever,” Sombra stated. “She must have anticipated FBI interference yet again and prepared an elaborate way to clear the vicinity should there be random searches.” “She’s creating herself yet another alibi,” Sunset Shimmer said through gritted teeth. “Where’s the next opening?! We’ll beat her to it!” Shining Armor studied the map and followed the sewer system to where it would next open up. “Take the next right and then straight on past three side roads!” “You mean two,” Sombra corrected. “No. We are going to wait here,” Shining Armor said. “We can risk her seeing our van getting close and abandoning the goblet. Sunset will try to apprehend her and if she fails, we’ll continue to pursue in the van.” Sunset Shimmer grabbed a stun gun from the side of the van and nodded her head. “I’ve got this.” The night sky felt cool against Trixie’s skin as she soared downwards, descending slowly towards an opening to the city’s sewage system and touching down neatly. “No FBI this time. I guess they gave up quite easily… Oh well, at least the police gave it their all.” Trixie spotted the Griffon’s Goblet waiting for her on the ground and smiled as she leaned down to pick it up. “So this was your plan.” Trixie sighed. Standing up and turning around, Trixie found Sunset Shimmer standing behind her, pointing a stun gun towards her chest. “You again? If you want my autograph-” “I want the goblet… and you.” “A date? Sorry, but I steal hearts, not give my own.” “There’s no way out of this, you realise. You can’t take-off from the ground, and you can’t run fast that I can pull this trigger.” “Then pull it. See what happens.” Sunset Shimmer furrowed her brow and pulled the trigger. As the electrical cables hit Trixie’s chest and nothing happened, she gasped and ran forwards to tackle the thief. “I prepared for electricity a long time ago!” Trixie dropped three smoke bombs, hiding herself as she fled the scene. “Try a real gun next time if you want to pierce my heart!” “DAMN YOU, TRIXIE!” “NO IDEA WHO THAT IS!” “She got away!” Sunset Shimmer’s voice shouted through the transceiver. “She left the goblet behind! She must have suspected we rigged it somehow.” “Yeah, I see the signal standing still,” Shining Armor reported. “But she’s on foot! If you chase after her now you can probably catch her!” “Got it!” Shining Armor turned to the drivers in the front. “Keep an eye on him.” “You’re not driving after her?” Sombra asked. “If she’s smart, she’ll go through alleys and take to the rooftops.” Shining Armor clenched his fist and punched Sombra in the face, knocking him out. “You’re too dangerous awake, so I’ll let you sleep for now.” Shining Armor jumped out of the van and ran as fast as he could down through the streets of Canterlot. “Where did she go?!” he asked Sunset through the transceiver. “Just keep going straight and down the alley by the pharmacy! It forks left and right but I don’t know which path she took!” “You go left! I’ll take right!” Shining Armor picked up the pace, seeing the pharmacy entering his line of sight. “By the way, the stun gun didn’t work on her! I think her suit must be insulated!” “That’s fine! I just have to see her…” A shadow entered Shining Armor’s sights on the rooftop of a building ahead of him. “… And I won’t lose track of her.” Trixie huffed and panted as she stopped to catch her breath. “Damnit… That Sunset Shimmer… I don’t know how she did it. I was certain the goblet was clean.” “That’s what you get for being overconfident.” Trixie rolled her eyes and turned around. Standing before her was Agent Armor, pointing a gun towards her head. “Isn’t that a little excessive?” “I heard that you can create miracles. Are you telling me one little bullet is too much for you?” “How did you track me here?” “I’m a pro. Which is why I suggest you turn yourself in quietly.” Shining Armor stepped forward, prompting Trixie to take a step back. He lowered his gun to aim for the thief's leg. “Run and I’ll shoot.” A bang sounded through the air, and Trixie looked on in horror as Shining Armor fell forwards onto the hard rooftop, blood pouring from his waist. “W-Wha-” “Hey.” Trixie span around quickly to find Aria Blaze standing before her, a gun in her hand with smoke rising from the barrel. “What do you think you’re doing? Who gave you permission to plan a heist on your own?” Trixie gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. “You never said that we couldn’t.” Aria huffed. “A mistake I won’t be repeating. You could’ve been caught, and then we’d have had to find somebody else to carry out this next heist for us.” Trixie glanced over her shoulder at Shining Armor, who was starting to push himself up. She gasped and stepped to her right, hiding his body from Aria’s sight. “You didn’t have to kill him!” “I didn’t have much choice! He’s too dangerous, and besides, I just made your life so much easier!” “Easier?! The FBI’s going to see Kaitou Moon as a murderer now, and that will just make them come at me harder!” “Then we’ll make it clear it wasn’t you,” Aria stated simply. “Money can buy a lot of things, including witnesses and false evidence. It’s this world’s version of magic, and we sirens know how to use it.” “So that’s why you’ve been having us steal valuable jewels for you?” Aria laughed. “Well, that’s one reason. And that’s all you need to know. Now get going!” Trixie huffed and approached Aria Blaze, who raised her gun in alarm. She stopped short of the barrel and said, “You shouldn’t underestimate humans.” “And you shouldn’t overestimate them.” Trixie walked past Aria and descended down the ladder at the edge of the building. “You got an escape route out of here?” “There’s a car at the bottom. Get in and shut up.” Aria put her gun away and followed after Trixie, leaving Shining Armor on the roof. “… Who… was that?” Shining Armor asked himself as he watched the purple blur vanish from his sight. The air around him grew cold and he fell back onto his face, his vision turning to black as all sounds around him died out.