//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten: The Heist // Story: The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Date Twilight Sparkle // by Codex Ex Equus //------------------------------// “Now announcing the arrival of Mrs. Lovey Dovey and Ms. Sunny Skies!” called out the doorpony, as the unicorn and pegasus entered the hall. The two ponies paused at the top of the stairs, taking in the room before them. It was filled with ponies, all dressed in fine clothes and chatting quietly. Thick, lavish carpets lined the floor, and scattered about were various pedestals on which were displayed pieces of art that were, presumably, rare and expensive. Around the outside of the room were arched doorways, leading to other parts of the villa. Planters over the arches let vines hang down over the openings, giving the outside walls of the room the appearance of a forest. The entire room was dominated by a pool at the center, which was fed by three enormous fountains around its edge—one shaped like a unicorn, another a pegasus and the last an earth pony. “Such a lovely pair of fillies,” said a voice as they descended the main staircase. It came from a dark brown earth pony, mane black and slicked back. He wore a black suit, cummerbund ruffled and white as snow, with a bright red rose upon his lapel. “With such charming stallions around, how can we not be?” replied Lovey Dovey with a giggle, holding out her hoof to be kissed. Sunny Skies was able to suppress her gag reflex at that sight enough to at least manage a curtsy when the stallion turned towards her. “Concrete Horseshoes, your host for the night,” he said with a bow. “Lovey Dovey,” replied the unicorn. She was a shockingly bright shade of pink, her mane a blinding mix of fiery red and light violet. Overall, she gave the impression of a Hearts and Hooves Day card that had exploded. Her dress was a thing of beauty, slinky and black, the contrast between its darkness and her highly saturated color scheme drawing every eye to her. “Sunny Skies,” said the pegasus. Her coat was simply light yellow, her mane the blue of the skies in her name. The dress she wore was a subdued pastel pink with blue highlights, all ruffles and lace. “Well now, I think this party just got a lot more interesting,” said Concrete Horseshoes, with a wink that nearly started Sunny gagging again. “I'll have to make sure to keep my eyes on you two.” The two ponies moved away into the party proper, Lovey swaying her hips in a way that actually did keep their host's eyes on her until she disappeared into the crowd. “Getting in will be easy,” said Celestia, gesturing to two tickets pinned up on the board before her. They sat in one corner, above the blueprints covered in diagrams and sheets upon sheets of hoofwritten notes. “He's been a thorn in my side for years; we despise each other. As part of his sniping, he sends Luna and me tickets for every single party he throws. And he throws a lot of parties. As retaliation, we very conspicuously never go to the parties. “As luck would have it, he's hosting a party tonight, and that means Lovey Dovey and Sunny Skies will be attending.” “Oh my, that is just the most darling dress!” exclaimed one of the mares in the small group. “I-it is?” asked Sunny Skies, a touch nervously. “It's just something I had laying around.” Specifically, laying around in one of the palace's many storerooms. It was, in fact, probably older than the combined ages of every pony currently standing around her. “Yes indeed,” confirmed Glowing Haze, nodding her head. “Why, the colors suit you just perfectly! And I simply adore how fluffy it is.” “Well, thank you.” After separating from Lovey, Sunny had eventually gotten pulled into a small group of high society mares. All of them wore dresses that looked as though they must have cost fortunes and been personally tailored—she saw at least one that was definitely a Rarity piece—but for some reason her simple dress was impressing them. “I really like your dress too,” said Sunny shyly. “That stole looks like it could even be real phoenix down!” “It is,” replied Glowing Haze, her obvious pride showing as she gave a little shrug with her shoulders, tossing the ends of the scarf upwards. The feathers weren't as brilliant as they would have been on a live phoenix, but they still rippled with dull flame under the lights. “Gosh, it must have been expensive...” mused Sunny. “Yes, it cost quite a pile of bits. Or at least it would have if I'd paid those ridiculous taxes that useless Princess puts on exotic imports... and if the feathers had been gathered in the usual way." “The usual way?” wondered Sunny out loud, tilting her head curiously, ignoring the slight to her true identity.         There were smirks and knowing looks from the other mares, and Glowing Haze gave a little chuckle. "Yes, you see, the nice thing about a phoenix is if it starts to get old or slow down on production, it can be... reset. It really helps keep the price down when you have a steady supply like that." “Oh my!” Sunny put a hoof to her mouth in shock. “T-that sounds illegal! Like, really, really illegal!” “Oh, yes, yes,” Glowing Haze waved a hoof at her. “It's all handled very mercifully, though, trust me. Each bird gets its own little cage, and when the time comes they are refreshed rather painlessly. And we are, after all, the upper class of society. We must set an example for the lesser ponies, and that means looking our best at all times. Besides, Celestia has been out of touch with what ponies really want for ages. Her laws simply don't apply to those of us who know what is truly right and needed.” “I see...” Sunny Skies shifted nervously. “Um, do you think maybe you could...” Glowing Haze gave a small chuckle and nudged Sunny gently with a wing. “Sounds like you might have some business for my supplier... come see me later, we can work something out.” “Okay!” said Sunny, smiling happily. And she was happy about this unexpected little bonus. There had been rumors of an underground market in smuggled exotic goods, but no hard facts had ever come out. Now, thanks to chance and Sunny Skies, it looked like the Royal Guard had a lead to track down. It could even lead to the source of all the goods and whatever disgusting little factory they were running. She might give amnesty to Glowing Haze for the help she had unwittingly provided. An image of Philomena came to her mind: the phoenix trapped in a tiny cage, her down harvested as the feathers naturally matured or plucked if production fell behind... and if that still wasn't enough, a quick, piercing needle of magic would produce a fresh new phoenix ready to provide some more down. On second thought, there wouldn't be amnesty for anyone involved. Lovey Dovey finished draining her wineglass, and made little noise of disappointment. Slowly, she ran her tongue around its rim, then stretched it far into the bottom of the glass, licking up every last drop. Three stallions and a mare passed out. Sighing, Lovey dropped the glass, and two stallions hit their heads trying to catch it and began wrestling. Sashaying away, she let her hips swing wide, creating a domino effect as heads turned along her path to watch her pass.   Stopping at the buffet table, she looked over the food that was laid out, then let out a little groan, pouting. Almost immediately, another fight broke out behind her as ponies queued up to get close to her. Finally, a victor emerged. “Is there a problem?” asked the stallion, panting a little, his hair disheveled and suit scuffed. “Well, I want a carrot. But these ones...” She gestured at a bowl filled with carrots that, in keeping with upper class culinary traditions, were all tiny. “They're just so small.” She fixed the stallion with bright, shining eyes, causing him to freeze. “Do you know where I could find a... big carrot?” “A bluh... guh?” The stallion struggled mightily to form a coherent sentence, or even a word, and Lovey giggled just as he almost managed it, throwing him off again. She was enjoying this far more than she should. Although, it had been too long since she'd had the opportunity for some good, old fashioned flirting with random ponies. And she'd never had an entire ballroom as her target before, nor had she ever been able to let herself put the charm on at full blast. “Once we're in, we're going to need to recon a bit,” said Celestia, pointing at the ballroom on the blueprints for Concrete's villa. “The vault—and his collection—are in the basement, but we don't know what kind of security he has. No doubt there are wards and alarm runes and such, and the vault will be protected by a lock or locks of some kind. But we don't know anything about what kind of guards he'll have posted.” Cadance nodded. “So we'll need to lay low when we get there, scope everything out.” “No, no, no,” said Celestia, shaking her head. “That's the opposite of what we want to do. This is a high class function. It's going to be filled with ponies from the top of society, all trying to be seen at a large party. The last thing we want to do is draw attention to ourselves by not drawing attention to ourselves. So we will mingle, and mingle well.” “Got it,” said Cadance, and grinned. “I've never taken Lovey out for a full test drive. This might actually be a lot of fun...” Lovey circled the room, studying the hired thugs Concrete Horseshoes used for his security. As to be expected from the guards of a crime boss known for retaliation, they were bored and inattentive, especially here on their own ground. Identifying her prey, she stalked closer and closer, moving slowly before finally pouncing. "Why, hello there," she said, giving her chosen guard a sultry look from under her eyelashes. "Yes, miss?" he replied politely, giving her a surprisingly neutral glance. "Is there something you need help with?" "Well, you see, I was looking for somewhere private I could go. Just to get away from all this for a while, to escape all these prying eyes." "You're not really supposed be walking around the villa alone, miss," the guard said, a mild tone of admonishment in his voice. "Uh..." Lovey gave her head a small shake as the guard once again remained stubbornly resistant to her charms. Equally stubbornly, she tried again. "I don't have to be there alone. There could be somepony else there with me. Just me and him, alone, in private, where no one else can see us..." She raised a hoof, placing it on the guard's chest. He looked down at it for a moment, then back up at her. "I see. Miss, just so you know, I'm gay. So... not really interested." "Oh my!" Lovey took her hoof back, moving it to her mouth in shock. "I didn't mean... I'm sorry—" "There's nothing you need to apologize for." "It's just that I can usually tell." He gave a shrug. "Well, it's usually not really the kind of thing you can notice just by looking at somepony." "You don't understand, I'm usually really good at knowing that kind of thing. It's practically my job." "Well, maybe you're just having an off day, then," he said, giving her a polite nod and returning to his stance of staring watchfully out at the room full of partygoers. Lovey Dovey stomped away, her face a red so bright it was visible even through the bright pink of her coat. Some Princess of Love! I can't even tell who's into who, she thought, humiliated. This time she didn't bother drawing things out; she just picked the first guard she saw, walked up to him, and hit him with everything she had. “Hello there, guard.” Bored from watching a room full of ponies having more fun than him, Brass Criniere turned with a hopeful look on his face. He was expecting a partygoer looking for the bathroom, or maybe wanting to know when refreshments would be served. Even that would relieve the tedium. What he saw instead was a smoking hot mare, giving him what could only be described as 'bedroom eyes', wiggling her hips playfully. “Excuse me,” Lovey Dovey said, in a breathy voice, “But I couldn't help noticing you standing here. Why aren't you out in the party with the rest of us, having fun?” Brass Criniere gulped, disoriented by a sudden rush of hormones. “W-well, you see, I provide security for the host of the party. Those stairs over there lead down to the vau- to somewhere most ponies aren't allowed to go. So I have to make sure no one goes in there.” “Oh... that's too bad. You see, I was actually looking for somewhere I could go to get away from all this for a little bit. Somewhere nice and secluded. Somewhere with a bed, maybe. And since I don't know my way around this place, well, I'd need somepony who does to show me the way...” There wasn't much deliberation to be done after an invitation like that, and both ponies were quickly in a room one floor up. Lovey wandered around the room as Criniere sat on the bed expectantly. “So many pretty things in here!” she exclaimed, taking in a painting upon one wall. “Does Concrete have any other nice things?” “Well, yes, in the, um, in the vault.” “Ooh, that sounds exciting!” She bounced over to stand in front of the security pony. “What kinds of things does he keep in there?” “The, um, really expensive things. I haven't seen much of what's in there, but what I did see was impressive.” “How do you get into the vault?” “What?” Brass Criniere blinked. “Why do you want to know that?” “Oh, you know, just curious.” Lovey leaned forward, running a gentle hoof down the side of his face. “Can't you tell me? I'm just wondering...” He gulped. “Well... there are two locks on the vault. One needs a combination, the other a passcode.” “Ooh, do you know what they are?” “Well, I know the passcode but not the combination. You see, they split them up so nopony knows both—” “Interesting.” Lovey leaned forward, her muzzle almost touching his as she whispered, “And just what is the passcode?” “What? I...” He suddenly shook his head, pushing her away. “Look, I can't tell you that. And why are you asking in the first place?” Lovey pouted at his suspicious glare. “I'm just curious. And besides...” she gave her hips a sway as she pranced in front of the security guard, flicking her tail up across his face, and finished in a low, hoarse whisper, “Knowing secrets like that makes me hot.” “I... I... IIIIII...” “How about this,” she said, still whispering, leaning forward and placing her head up next to his, “You can whisper it to me, and then I can give you a special present.” “I, uh, I...” He panted a bit, breath hot on her ear, and finally whispered, “Celestia's big fat rump.” “Mmm, haha, I like that. Thank you for telling me. Now, close your eyes and I'll give you that big, wonderful surprise we've both been drooling for.” Obediently, Brass Criniere closed his eyes. Not one to be easily told what to do, though, he couldn't resist peeking. The funny thing was, the surprise seemed to be a hoof, and it was coming at him awfully fast— “Once you've found somepony that knows about the vault and seduced them, we can—” “Wait, what?!” cried Cadance, interrupting Celestia. “I'm married! You can't actually expect me to seduce another stallion, can you?” “Or a mare, I don't know much about Concrete's security—” “That's not the point! Flirting is all well and good, but I'm not going to seduce a pony when I'm married to Shining Armor!” Celestia sighed. “Look, you don't actually have to do anything with him. Just make him think you're going to, get him somewhere private, get some information out of him, and then, I don't know, knock him out. Though obviously you're not going to do that, figure out something more realistic. Just think of it all as flirting taken to another level.” Cadance let out a groan. “Okay, if that's what it's going to take. But I'm not happy about it.”          “Fine, fine. Anyway, that's your most important job. Everything after that is up to me...” “Hello again, Lovey. Enjoying the party?” asked Sunny Skies. “Oh, it's so much fun.” Lovey gave a wink and a nod, and Sunny brightened up. That was the signal; Lovey knew something. Sunny gave her own nod in response, and there was a quick glow from Lovey's horn. Light flashed between them, a spell designed to muffle their conversation from any prying ears. They had fifteen seconds at most, though; any longer, or using it more than once, and they would seem more than just two friends sharing a juicy bit of gossip with each other. “Vault is through that door, downstairs, matches the plans from what I can tell. Two locks on the vault, one needs a passcode, the other a combination. I've got the passcode, but you'll need to break the combination yourself.” “No problem,” assured Celestia. “They aren't built to protect against alicorns; if I concentrate, there's no tumbler I can't hear moving.” “I won't ask how you know that. And the passcode is... 'Celestia's big fat rump'.” “I am not going to steal his book, I am going to murder him!” screamed Sunny in Celestia's voice, slipping through the disguise. “He is—” Lovey's hoof slapped over Sunny's mouth, and gave her a meaningful look as the spell faded from the air around them. Growling came from behind the hoof, but slowly it faded. Sunny pushed Lovey's hoof away, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Okay, I'm okay.” Lovey gave her a searching look, then nodded back and turned away, heading back into the party. She had one last part to play this night. Nopony paid much attention to Sunny Skies as she wandered around the edge of the room, admiring the artwork there. So nopony noticed when she went behind a pillar near the stairs to the vault and didn't come back out. Well, that wasn't completely true. A shimmering blur in the air, hard to even see unless you were looking for it, moved out from behind the pillar. Swiftly making her way to the empty doorway and descending the stairs, Sunny shot down the hall leading to the vault, still mostly invisible. The only thing that saw her, in fact, was a scrying crystal set to detect heat signatures in that hall. At the guard station in front of the vault, the pony looking between the scrying crystals frowned. There was activity on one crystal, but not on any of the others. He gave it a few taps with his hoof, but the moving red and pink spot remained. “Hey Frank?” he called over his shoulder. “Yeah, Ed?” came the response. “I think there's something screwy with the heat vision crystal. It's showing something that—gaack!” He cut off as a shimmering patch of air wrapped a foreleg around his throat from behind, cutting off his breath. He began flailing his own legs, trying to break the choke-hold on his neck as his partner started to draw his stun wand. But the blur moved forward, and the flailing from the pony it had its grip on quickly pummeled his partner into unconsciousness. A few seconds later, he slumped down as well. The shimmer coalesced into the shape of a pony, which, as its colors faded into view, turned out to be Sunny Skies. She looked down at the unconscious guards and gave a small smile. “I really wish I could spend more time with the espionage department,” she mused as she moved to the vault. “They get the neatest toys...” “Which is what I have this secret weapon for,” said Celestia proudly, gesturing towards one corner of the room. Cadance looked over, frowning at the dress sitting on a ponnequin. “What, behind the dress?” she asked. “No, it is the dress. One of the neat little gadgets that was cooked up long ago by the ponies in intelligence.” “Oh, you mean spies?” “No, they are officially the Royal Intelligence Gathering Department,” replied Celestia with a disapproving sniff. “RIGiD?” asked Cadance, blinking in surprise. “You mean they actually exist?” “Of course not, don't be silly. And they definitely never developed a dress that can do this.” She ran a hoof along the lining around the neck, and suddenly the dress, and the ponnequin it was on, shimmered and disappeared. “That's incredible,” Cadance murmured, eyes wide. “Unicorns have been working on invisibility spells since... since forever. Somepony actually found out how to do it?” “Not quite.” Celestia put a hoof behind the dress. When she held it still the outline of the dress was the only thing noticeable, and then only barely. But when she moved her hoof up and down, it wavered and rippled, like it was being viewed from underwater. “It's not invisibility, just a kind of chameleon effect. You see whatever is on the other side of the dress. And the spell isn't quite perfect; as you can see, there's a bit of lag time as it updates the image. It also only works in the visible spectrum; for everything else, it's no different than a normal dress. “But it can give you a few seconds of advantage, and that's all you need sometimes.” Sunny Skies glowered at the first lock. Despite the ferocity on her face, it remained stubbornly closed. Finally, through clenched teeth, she ground out, “Celestia's big fat rump.” With a clunk, the lock released, and she turned the first handle. Turning to the combination lock, she started to slow her breathing. Reaching deep down inside herself, she carefully turned her hearing up past its normal range of sensitivity. Alicorn senses, as with everything else alicorn-related, were vastly more powerful than those of normal ponies. In the case of a few senses, such as hearing and smell, that could be a very bad thing; having an enhanced sense of smell when walking into a used stall was contraindicated.          Right now though, those senses were useful. At full strength, there wasn't a combination in Equestria who's tumblers she wouldn't be able to hear fall. However, that also meant that her ears would be sensitive enough that, say, the sound of someone walking too hard on the floor above would be extremely painful, potentially even debilitating. She'd have to be careful, and fast, to find the combination before anything could— A thought struck her, and she dialed her hearing back to its usual, a bit above pony normal. Walking back to the guard station, she began going through the uniforms of the guards she'd incapacitated. Searching the first yielded nothing, but in the hat of the second, tucked carefully into the strip of cloth running around the inside of the headband, was a slip of paper with three numbers on it: 36-92-18. Never be afraid to let the foolishness and shortsightedness of others do your work for you, she thought happily, trotting back to the locks. Entering the combination, she pulled the second handle upward, and was rewarded with another satisfying clunk. Slowly, the massive vault door swung inward, letting a golden light spill out into the corridor Sunny stood in. She walked in a few steps, then stopped, staring around in awe. About her were works of art that would make any museum in the world jealous. Paintings, rich and beautiful, masterworks of realism or dreamscapes made into pigment and captured upon canvas, hung upon all the walls. In some cases, they were even held on racks due to a lack of room in which to hang them. Vases, sculptures, knick-knacks, curios, legitimate magical artifacts, ancient prototypes of important inventions... all this and more seemed to fill the room to bursting. Anger warred with her awe as she gazed around; these treasures should be shared with the world, not hidden in some criminal's basement for his private pleasure. Longingly, she looked at a statue of Luna that depicted her as the Goddess of the Night. She recognized the statue; it had been one of the few created in praise of Luna before she had been banished, and this one in particular had been her sister's favorite. The last time she had seen it had been in their old castle. She desperately wished to take it with her, but it was far too big, and she had another target. Besides, she would outlive Concrete Horseshoes. She would outlive even his family line, in all odds, and one day these treasures would be auctioned off. When they were, the auction house would find the Princess of the Sun sitting front and center, ready to bid with the entire Royal Treasury at her command. But for now… There, at the other end of the room, the entire wall was made up of bookshelves, no doubt filled with rare first editions and copies of books that now only existed in this room. In her haste to find what she had come for, Sunny Skies lifted off into the air, gliding across the vault. As she passed over a pile of unsorted crates covered in a sheet, a deafening alarm went off and lights began flashing. Sunny Skies looked about, startled, and then suddenly slammed into the side of the enchanted binding circle she was now trapped inside. “And, of course, all these plans are largely pointless,” Celestia finished, lowering her pointer. “We have no idea what kind of spells, traps, and other nastiness are actually waiting inside the vault itself. To go in there would be to guarantee they are all set off, trapping inside whichever unfortunate pony has entered.” “Well, let's see what fun we've caught in our little web today,” chuckled Concrete Horseshoes, smiling nastily as the vault opened. “I hope this one lasts longer than our last visitor.” His bodyguards spread out around him as he walked up to the binding circle at the center of the room. It parted at his approach, and he shook his head sadly at the hooded figure before him. “You know, proper planning would have been a really good idea before rushing into—” He stopped, realizing he was talking to a couple of crates stacked on top of each other and covered by a sheet. “What—” he managed to say, before Sunny Skies popped out from behind a larger crate. "Surprise!" she cried, hip-checking Concrete into the decoy she'd made and sending him crashing to the floor. She darted into the air, the first round of stunner spells shooting under her as she launched herself forward. Before a second volley could get off, she'd passed over the guards' heads, dropping a smoke bomb as she went. It exploded, filling the room with a dense gray smoke that obscured vision and made anypony unfortunate enough to breath it in start choking. To add to the confusion, the smoke started setting off the other defensive spells inside the vault as well, filling what remained of the guards’ vision with blinding flashes of light and showers of sparks. Bursting out of the smoke, Sunny took off down the corridor back to the main ballroom. She laughed with glee as she did so; the look on Concrete's face when he realized he'd been tricked would make all of this worth it even if they didn't get the book. Stunner spells sizzled in the air around her as she flew, but she ignored them. The few guards that had the presence of mind to fire after her were still coughing and half-blinded from the smoke, and their spells were poorly aimed if at all. She didn't even bother trying to fly in an evasive pattern. Which was a mistake; even poorly aimed spells can still hit a target. One struck her in the wing, causing the appendage to seize up and fold against her side. With a cry, she crashed into the floor, tumbling several feet. The wing was already recovering as she got to her hooves, alicorn biology once again coming to her aid, but that wasn't going to be any help against the guards that had been left at the top of the stairs. In desperation, she hit the cloaking spell on her dress and rushed up at them as she mostly faded from view. Crashing into the guards, she knocked them apart. But while they were simply hired help, that didn't mean they hadn't been trained, or that they were worthless. Both recovered enough to turn and send stun spells at the blur that was passing them. Since the only way for Sunny to go was out the door, that was where they aimed, and that was where she was when both spells hit her square in the back. Fortunately, the spell woven into the dress took the brunt of the hit, overloading and dropping her invisibility; what got through was barely enough to make her back tingle. Unfortunately, the overloading spell caused her dress to catch fire. Fortunately, that meant nothing to her. Unfortunately, a flaming pegasus would have a hard time escaping, especially through a crowd of flammable ponies. So she threw herself into the fountain at the center of the room. Lovey waited nervously behind the hedge next to Concrete Horseshoes's villa, peeking out every once in awhile. Her magic had made it easy enough to sneak back onto the grounds, but there were still guards patrolling the lawn, and the last thing she wanted was for one of them to spot her and cause a commotion. After all, her job here wasn't to provide a distraction, it was to be the exit strategy. What that would entail, she had no idea. Celestia hadn't exactly been forthcoming with a lot of the plan, and she had a sneaking suspicion that was because the Sun Princess didn't know herself. For somepony who'd spent centuries carefully guiding Equestria along a well-prepared path, she'd shown a worrying penchant for improvisation today. In fact, all she'd told Lovey to do at this point was to find her way outside and be ready to act when she heard the signal. She hadn't even said what she was supposed to do, or even what the signal would be— Screaming came from inside the villa, along with the sounds of crashing and the buzz of spells. Well, at least it was obvious. Taking a last look around for guards, Lovey leapt up to a nearby window ledge with a burst of magic. Panting, Sunny pushed herself further back against the statue, flinching as another round of stunner spells crashed into the stone near to her. “Come on, come on,” she muttered, beginning to get nervous. Seconds after pulling herself out of the fountain, all the security ponies who had gone into the vault came charging out onto the ballroom floor. In desperation, she had flown up to the unicorn statue, sheltering in the small crevice between its neck and upraised foreleg. It was hard for the security ponies to get a good angle to shoot at her from, but she was surrounded now, and they were closing in. She was trapped, the constant covering fire from the advancing guards keeping her in place as they moved in for the kill. Salvation came, as the windows on the far side of the room crashed open. “Your escort has arrived!” called Lovey, perched upon the wide ledge outside the window. With a mighty leap, Sunny threw herself into the air. Five separate stun spells targeted her and speared in with deadly accuracy... but were beat to the punch by a shield spell from Lovey. Sunny giggled as the spells reflected off the shield, causing Concrete to dance back as one impacted at his hooves. “Thank you for a wonderful evening!” she called, flying across the room to the open window. More spells bounced off the shield, the ricochets stunning random ponies in the crowd as she went. Lovey dropped to the lawn, trotting quickly to the wall surrounding the grounds as Sunny shot through the air behind her. One lone, overeager guard charged towards them, firing his wand.          Sunny rolled, the bolts passing just below the tips of one wing, as Lovey charged up her shield spell again. Two of the bolts that bounced off the shield hit the guard in the chest, and he crashed to the well-manicured lawn, skidding several feet on his face. Sweeping upwards, Sunny made a perfect landing on the wall, pausing for a moment to wait for Lovey. The unicorn reached the wall, teleporting up to a perch next to the pegasus, and together the two dropped into the street below. Trotting swiftly, but doing their best not to show any undue urgency, they made their way into a nearby alley. Once there, they pulled out the stashed saddlebags they'd hidden behind a pile of boxes and quickly stuffed their dresses—or ashen remains of said dresses—into the bags. Concentrating hard, they changed their disguises, removing the wings and horns respectively. Unlike changelings, alicorns could not change shape at will; they had one normal pony disguise and that was it. But with work, they could temporarily suppress parts of the disguise, just as they could bring forth wings or a horn, whichever they lacked. Casually, the two earth ponies walked out of the alley and up the street, glancing curiously at the horde of bodyguards pouring out of the nearby villa. At the end of the street, they separated, saying their goodbyes. But while one pony kept on walking down the path she'd chosen, the other went into a nearby warehouse. “What?!” cried Cadance, slamming her hooves onto the table, “Then what's the point of all these plans if whoever goes into that vault is going to get caught?!” “Because, my dear niece,” said Celestia, her smile turning positively demonic, “That is the plan.” Celestia dropped her disguise as she crossed the interior of the empty warehouse. At one end a large sheet of metal lay on the floor. With her magic, she easily shifted it aside and descended the stairs beneath. She looked around nervously as she worked her way through the dark basement, despite the glow of her horn. Even though she was expecting it, she still almost flinched as two changelings came at her out of the gloom, one with green eyes, the other blue. “Ka-klack. Sqwuark.” She nodded to each in turn. “I'm pleased to see you here.” “The Hive never dies,” replied the one with blue eyes, nodding back to her. “I... um—“ “It's a traditional changeling greeting,” explained the other changeling. “Oh. Well, thank you.” She pawed at the ground nervously, then asked, “Did you... did you get it?” The changelings looked at each other, then one pulled out a wrapped parcel and passed it to the Princess. Holding her breath, she opened the package, and let out a nearly silent gasp of awe as she pulled out the first edition of Starswirl's Treatise on Harmony. “It's... perfect,” she breathed, nearly crying as she ran a hoof down the book's spine. “Yep,” said the green-eyed changeling. “Looks like it's got a fairly high level preservation enchantment on it. I'd say it's been on there for quite a while; probably been renewed a few times. Or more than a few, going by its age.” “You know quite a bit about magic.” Celestia raised an eyebrow, impressed enough that she took her gaze off the book and slipped it back into the satchel. “Well, I was a mage for a while, a few hatchings back,” admitted Ka-klack, shuffling nervously. “I learned a lot.” “Well, thank you. Both of you.” She bent forward, pulling the two changelings into a hug. They hummed happily, absorbing the love she gave off. “I must admit, I was surprised when you agreed to help me so readily,” said Celestia when they separated, a sly, knowing smile on her face. “Especially you, Ka-klack.” “M-me?” the changeling stammered nervously. “Yes. I know you were one of the changelings that put me in that cocoon during the wedding.” “Oh. Ah, y-you see—” “It's okay, it's okay,” Celestia chuckled. “That's all in the past now. Hopefully. I am really glad for the help, though.” “You are the sister of the Queen Consort,” replied Sqwuark. “To make you happy is to make her happy. And to make her happy makes our Queen happy.” “I... see. Still, you have my personal thanks as well.” She turned an interested gaze past the changelings, and walked up between them. They moved aside nervously, exchanging glances. “Is that the tunnel?” asked Celestia, studying the hole that had been burrowed into the basement floor. Only a foot or two below was visible in the glow from her horn, the rest just a black pit. “Ah, yes,” said Ka-klack. “Very dark in here for a pony, though, don't want to get too close to it, right?” “I suppose not.” Celestia stepped back. “I was impressed with how fast you were able to tunnel over to Concrete Horseshoes's vault. That kind of operation would have taken at least two or three days for a team of ponies. You had no trouble with any alarms in the vault, I assume? I did my best to set them all off when I was in there.” “We checked to make sure, but no, no problems with any of the alarms or traps at all," said Ka-klack. "As for the tunneling, most hives have to be dug out. Finding an appropriate series of caverns can be hard. And... well, we've had to make new hives fairly often. We've gotten very good at digging tunnels over the centuries.” “I'm hoping your Queen's... marriage to my sister... will be an end to that. There's no reason we can't all live together in peace.” The changelings sagged with relief as she started to leave, then stiffened up as she suddenly turned back. “You will replace the floor of Concrete's vault, won't you?” she asked, worried. “If he were to get even a hint of what happened—” “Nothing to worry about, Princess,” replied Sqwuark, waving a holed hoof nonchalantly. “We have many fine masons in the Hive. Many fine, well, everything, as a matter of fact. If he does notice our work, it will be because his floor suddenly looks better than it did before.” Celestia smiled at the changelings. “Thank you for the reassurance. And, again, thank you for your help here today.” “Think nothing of it.” “Goodbye, Princess.” Clutching a wing over the book possessively despite it still being in the saddlebag, Celestia departed, changing back into Sunny Skies and taking to the air as she left the warehouse. “It's amazing,” Cadance said while leafing carefully through the Treatise. “Twilight is going to absolutely love this. I take back what I said before; it was definitely worth all that trouble.” Celestia nodded, the slightly dreamy smile she'd had on her face since returning to the palace still in evidence. “It's the perfect gift. And... if she rejects me, maybe it will be enough to—” “Oh, hush. That's not going to happen.” Cadance gave a wicked smile. “Besides, I'm the Princess of Love, and her old foalsitter. If I tell her to love you, she'd darn well better.” Celestia let out a little chuckle, some of the tension that had formed in her shoulders disappearing. “You're right, she doesn't stand a chance.” A contemplative frown appeared on her face. “Now I just need the right time to give it to her and tell her how I feel. I was thinking that tomorrow, we could all have a picnic, and I—” She stopped as the doors to the drawing room opened, and a bedraggled Shining Armor dragged himself in. Staggering up to an overstuffed chair, he collapsed. “Good evening, dear. Long day?” teased Cadance. He let out a groan. “What do you want to hear about, chasing Luna and Chrysalis all over town to stop them from being arrested while they tried to traumatize every pony in Canterlot, or suddenly getting called away for an emergency investigation into the burglary of a prominent citizen?” Cadance and Celestia immediately went poker-faced. “Oh dear. Was there... a burglary?” asked Celestia. “That is horrible,” Cadance deadpanned. “Yeah,” Shining Armor scoffed. “Of course, maybe I should have put quotes around 'prominent citizen'. I think you'll like this, Celestia. It was Concrete Horseshoes who got robbed.”          “Oh my,” said Celestia, millennia of experience coming to her aid to keep the smile off her face.          “While I don't approve of anypony breaking the law, I have to say it couldn't have happened to a better pony.” “That's right,” said Cadance firmly. “He deserves everything he gets.” “As an officer of the Royal Guard, I can't say I agree with you. The protection of the law is extended to all citizens,” said Shining Armor primly, then snorted. “Of course, speaking as just plain me, I agree with the both of you. It's hard to think of a better sight than Concrete Horseshoes standing there in shock, looking around an utterly empty vault.” “WHAT?!” “Is she gone?” Ka-klack came back down the stairs, pony disguise disappearing in a flash of green, and he nodded. “Flew away back to the palace. We're safe.”         Together, they walked back to the hole they'd dug in the basement floor. “Alright, back to work you lot!” called Sqwuark. “We'll pull out in another ten minutes, but I want that vault completely cleaned out by then!” Down in the tunnel, two lines of changelings resumed their march. One line, consisting of unencumbered changelings, led into Concrete Horseshoes's vault—the vault in which Celestia had oh-so-conveniently set off every single alarm and trap not ten minutes ago. The other line went into a tunnel that continued off towards Canterlot Palace, and all those changelings were weighed down with majestic paintings, delicate statues and vases, volume upon volume of rare books, and all kinds of other precious objects and works of art. “You don't think Celestia will be angry when she finds out we're building a new hive beneath her castle, do you?” asked Sqwuark, tilting his head inquiringly. Ka-klack gave a little shrug. “She might be a bit upset, but she wouldn't really expect her new sister-in-law to live somewhere else, would she?” He looked down into the tunnel, watching a statue depicting Luna as the Goddess of the Night go past. “Besides, our Queen shall now have the most magnificent dowry this world has ever seen to present to her bride. How could the Princess stay mad after her sister receives such treasures?”