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// The plan 
// Story: My name is Fake Mark 
// by Skarsnik 
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My name is Fake Mark, and I am in a room where servants are helping me get dressed for the most important day of my life. Well, it was all part of the initial plan.

Let’s do this again: I am Fake Mark. It’s not my real name, but since I don’t remember my birth name, let’s say it’s the closest to my real name you’ll get, and it’s the name I go by in my trade.

I won’t bother you with a cute story on how I got my cutie mark since it’s pretty boring, but let’s say my special talent is quite unique. I can change the way my cutie mark looks like, yes it’s supposed to not be possible but I can, and I’m not even a unicorn, which adds to the irony of this.

I’m what you can call a con artist, but I don’t do small gigs selling fake artifacts or stuff like that. I’m in identity theft; I create personas or pretend to be something or somepony I am not. That can vary from scamming rich ponies with stupid investments by pretending to be some noble, or entering some secure area by pretending to be a royal guard. But, let me tell you this: just by being very confident in every circumstance, you can already do a lot of things adding a cutie mark that looks legit, or close to what my role is supposed to be, is just a great bonus. You have a fruit cutie mark? A pony will trust you when you are selling stupid shit in a farmer’s market, even if you aren’t an earth pony. A sword? You must be a great warrior, therefore a successful guard.

My story started when, one day, a big client asked me something. I won’t say “unusual”; stealing things is a job in which I often take part. I often play the role of the pony that will gather information or enter in the trusted circle of the target pony.

But it’s not an easy target. Luckily for me, the client isn’t stupid and paid me just for what you can call a quote. I need to steal the Element of Magic. I gave myself six months to get an estimate. Even if the client is paying big, if can’t devise something in this time, I will not insist.

It took only two weeks to learn where the Elements of Harmony were. A month before I could try an attempt. I waited for a guard officer to go on vacation. Well, the truth is, he “won” a free vacation for him and his family. No, he didn’t get killed, we really paid him a vacation. Dead ponies, especially officers, raise suspicion. I dyed my coat and mane and entered the castle vault as this officer and excused a last-minute duty showing a new recruit around. But it was a dead end, my “new recruit” (a.k.a. my expert in forcing every kind of vault/seal open) said it’s too complex. And to get a real chance to try something, he’ll need something there’s no way for him to get: time.

It wasn’t not a serious drawback; it was expected by a vault only Princess Celestia can open.

The second plan was a bit trickier. I took the place of an assistant in a museum specialized in exposing artifact and convinced the curator to ask the Princess if they could showcase the Elements. It took a bit of time for the request to come to the Princess, but she isn’t stupid. The Elements are to remain locked away from the public, but she offered some pictures for making copies.

It wasn’t a big loss for the museum, apparently, but it was a loss for me. Well, I gathered some information on the bearers of the Elements. Did I mention that, when I say I, it can be anypony from my team?

Now I have another angle: convince one of the bearers to ask for the removal of the Elements. But I have another issue: with the museum already asking a similar demand, it’s a bit risky, but time is running out. So I sent a friend of mine, a mare, to play with the Element of Greed, a.k.a. Miss Rarity .Yeah, I know she’s supposed to be “Generosity”, but give her some high “Lady” and she will do everything to earn your favour.

Bad news, however: she apparently tried to convince the Princess to give her Element to wear in a formal event, but that didn’t work either. On a relative note, I can appreciate jewelry, but I have to admit, the Elements are the kind I don’t like: very gaudy. I prefer some fine silver lining with tiny diamonds.

It wasn’t really a waste of time; we learned more about the bearers this way. The Element of Magic being a tiara, a plan formed in my mind.

I contacted my client and warned him -or her; I don’t really care about the identity of my client- it’s a two-year plan. That visibly amused my client, and he gave me his agreement to proceed.

My plan is simple: marrying the Element of Magic’s bearer, Twilight Sparkle.