The Moon Has a Harsh Mistress

by levarien

Interlude: The Thief

"Why am I doing this again?" asked Twilight. The young alicorn held her crown in her magical grasp, a look of doubt creeping across her face.

"Your highness would certainly regret it if her crown was stolen," said the unicorn guard holding the metal box open for her. "Plus, I know you wouldn't want the hotel's management to worry about the safety of your most valuable possessions." He tilted the box towards her and grinned.

"Well we wouldn't want that," mumbled Twilight as she deposited the jewel tipped tiara into the container. She turned to the hoof wringing earth pony and put on her most serene princess face. "I would never question your rules in your establishment," she said, "but is there a reason for such extreme measures?"

"But of course your highness," said a the aged mare. She ushered the princess and her escort to the wall of safes and pointed to one with an open door. "The gathering of equestrian royalty must surely be made as safe as possible," she said, "both for your highness's persons and possessions, especially with the thief on the prowl."

"Oh yeah, I read something about that," said Twilight.

"Shocking!" said the guard, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He finished depositing items from their embroidered saddle bags into the box and carefully closed the lid. He lifted the lockbox into the safe and winced as Twilight pinched his flank with her magic.

The hotel manager turned a scandalized look between the princess and her guard before closing the safe door. She pulled down the steel barred door from the ceiling and used the key hanging from her neck to lock it in place. "Ahem..." she coughed before regaining her train of thought. "Yes ma'am," she said, "the infamous Specter of Manehattan. He, or she I suppose, robbed the Hooflyn Museum of Natural History last night. Word has it they made off with the Prancy Diamond." She held out a hoof and waited as the princess and her guard walked past her.

"Well I don't see what they would want with my crown," said Twilight. She helped the mare pull one of the two massive iron banded oak doors close as they reached the end of the small hallway. "It's just a series of highly opaque shaped amethysts inset in a rather light golden Tiara. My old one was much nicer."

"Princess ownership would make anything appreciate in value," mused the stallion guard, "we could probably turn a tidy profit on your used quills. Heck, we could probably afford a new castle on crumpled up parchment." He stepped to the side of the long corridor and allowed a trio of the hotel's security ponies to slide a heavy metal bar across the imposing double doors.

"Of course we're certain you could quite easily safeguard your own belongings," said the manager, "but why tempt fate? We have employed the latest advances in magical technology to create the most impenetrable vault in all of Manehattan, and that includes those at the Royal Charter Equestrian Bank." As they reached the end of the corridor, she turned and waved to the two ponies who remained back at the large doors. Each turned to one wall of the hallway and opened a small panel. They looked at each other and nodded before flipping a switch with their hooves. Twilight's ears pricked up as the hum of unseen machinery reverberated behind the walls. Shimmering golden barriers winked into existence every few meters, all the way up to the two security officers.

"Wow!" exclaimed Twilight, "Luna had asked me for some ideas, but I never thought she'd have working units already!" She walked to the nearest barrier and gingerly touched her hoof to its glowing yellow surface. The pulsating energy, already familiar to her as a master practitioner of the magical arts, caused the hair on her ankles to stand on end. Deciding that she had to see the inner workings of the systems, the princess aimed her horn at the nearest section of wall. Her lavender magical aura created a disk of energy that quickly became transparent, revealing the ductwork behind the thick stone wall.

"You promised not to use that spell anymore," mumbled her bodyguard.

"I did nothing of the sort," protested Twilight, "I promised I wouldn't make that mistake again. It's not like there's a bathroom on the other side." She ignored the soft burn of the blush in her cheeks and studied the conduits that apparently fed raw magic into the intricate magical field generators. She followed the elegant, almost artistic lattice of wires and insulation down the hallway, tuning out the concerned voices behind her. "Fascinating," she said to herself upon further study of a device that split the flow of magical power over the ceiling and to another generator on the other side of the hallway. "Somepony must supply the power from somewhere else," she said to herself, "more than one I assume." Wherever she turned her gaze, the transparent hole in the wall followed. It wasn't until she reached the large double doors, and the two flummoxed security guards standing beside it that she was pulled out of her reverie.

"You ask her," whispered one of the guards nervously as he pushed his colleague towards the princess.

"Um, y...your majesty?" he sputtered, "is there a problem with the system?"

Twilight looked up at the look of utter confusion on both ponies faces and turned around. She cringed at the sight of a series of Twilight shaped holes in each barrier. "No, no," she said waving her hooves in front of her, "I got a bit carried away. I'm sure it's just fine, see." She concentrated on the holes she had subconsciously made for herself and gave a sigh of relief as they collapsed, leaving each barrier whole and unbroken. She asked them to shut down the system to allow her to rejoin the manager and her guard on the other end of the hallway.

"I'm so embarrassed Princess Twilight," said the older mare, "perhaps you should keep your crown on your person while you stay with us."

"I should be the one to apologize," said Twilight. "I let myself go a bit too far when it comes to magic. I'm sure your vault is safer than any other place I could provide."

"But what if somepony does what you did?" asked the worried mare as she sat on her haunches, wringing her hooves. "What if the Specter finds a way in? I don't think I would ever forgive myself if your crown was taken on my watch."

Twilight tried to find a way to explain the complexity of the barrier bypass spell she had somehow cast while completely distracted. Somehow, saying, "I'm the greatest magician in the kingdom," seemed a bit too egotistical to her: Too Trixie-esque. Well, hopefully Trixie had toned down the boasting, thought Twilight. A few years on the moon, in the company of Princess Luna would surely have introduced some modesty into her friendly rival. As she was considering what to say, her guard jumped in for her.

"I really wouldn't worry about it ma'am," said the unicorn stallion, "She might be a bit oblivious sometimes, but nopony knows magic like Twilight. He smiled back at the alternating angry and blushing face of his charge. "Unless she's planning on robbing you herself, it'd take somepony extremely talented to get that crown."

---

Felina set the flawless diamond back on the pedestal and marveled as the light from the priceless chandelier caught each facet. Beams of multicolored light, split by the natural prism, played across her dark grey coat. The crack of thunder drew the young mare's gaze away from her gallery. Rain pelted the roof of her penthouse apartment as a late summer thunderstorm blew through the city that never sleeps.

The diminutive unicorn mare stood and walked to the thick velvet curtains covering the magnificent view of the Polo Grounds. A view that usually went wasted. Felina took a deep breath before peeking between the hanging purple drapes. Thankfully the visibility had been reduced to the point where only the lights on the roof of the building below her managed to cut through the dense curtain of rain. She stood at the window for several minutes, enjoying the sense of isolation the storm provided. She rather enjoyed the rain: She imagined most ponies in her line of work would.

She sauntered back to her gallery and took one last longing look at her treasures before sliding the cleverly disguised wall panel back into place and covering it with a cheap print of the Roana Lisa. It was truly a shame that she had to turn the Prancy Diamond over to the stallion in the morning. She didn't care if he called himself an art collector: A fence was still a fence, no matter how many fancy airs he put on. Bits had to be made, however, and the bits she made would keep her in the lifestyle she was owed for years to come.

Of course, money wasn't everything. Felina picked up the wrinkled copy of the Manehattan Times and reread the headline that had captured her attention in the day since her last job:

Equestrian Royal Conclave Convenes at Grand Mareiott

The annual meeting of Equestria's Princesses is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning with the ongoing construction of Princess Luna's elevator to space topping the agenda. Though it is unclear whether or not the Princess of the Night actually intends to make an appearance at this year's gathering, Hotel staff and security are preparing as if her arrival were imminent. Several floors of Manehattan's finest hotel have been dedicated to the comfort and safety of all four of the regal Alicorns, along with a sizable security force augmenting the squadrons of Royal Guards...

Felina's stopped reading and her eyes drifted to the large picture dominating the front page. It must have been from the last conclave, as only Celestia, Cadenza, and Sparkle were present. They stood, smiling, atop a balcony, waving at their subjects below. Felina cared not for their station, only the symbols that such standing came with: The crowns. Celestia's of course was the grandest. The gold alone must put such a strain on the ancient ruler's neck: Felina thought that somepony should relieve her of such a burden. The whimsical crown atop the Crystal Empress's head, though smaller, featured a seemingly one of a kind purple pearl. Then, of course, there was most underestimated of all the crowns. Felina's aesthetic senses and appraiser's eye told her it was the lesser of the three diadems, but her heart told her that it was the one that belonged in her gallery. The crown of a princess who came from the common ponies, one who, only a few years earlier, had been a unicorn just like her. It was proof positive that one could change their stars. She wanted it; she wanted it for the day she came back. Felina would show her all of the treasures she had gathered: The Ruby Heart of Istallia, the Mareharaja's scepter, the glittering headdress of the Lipizzaner Queens. She would show them to that mare, and she would know the mistake she made.

Felina had waited long enough. The rain gave her many options, and she had better things to do than admire a mere diamond. She stepped into her spacious bedroom and swung open the large antique Prench armoire. Now that had been a fun job; the Viscount's castle had such small windows. She swept the silk and satin gowns to the far sides of the built-in clothes rack and used her magic to unlock the hidden rear compartment. With a little pressure from her forehoof, the spring loaded plank swung open revealing the tools of her trade. Ropes, lock picks, pry bars, and dozens of devices wrapped in linen rags floated out of the hidden alcove and into her waiting panniers. A quick change of clothes later and she was on a taxi-wagon heading towards Lincolt square and the Grand Mareiott.

The streets were full even as the storm continued to drench Manehattan in a cooling downpour. Wagons queued up at each intersection, waiting for the signal ponies to allow them to cross. The stallion driving the taxi miserably allowed the rain to cascade over hat, pausing only occasionally when they were stopped to lean his head to the side and allow the rain to pour off of his flat billed cap. Rivulets of water flowed from this slightly extended wings that didn't seem to fold correctly. "Wait," thought Felina, "wings?" The cabbie was clearly a pegasus. She figured he had to have a story to lead him to such an odd line of work for his kind. Felina took pity on the stallion and used her magic to hold a newspaper over his head.

"Thank ya, ma'am," said the stallion, "these dang storms just sneak up on us. The bosses won't give us time to head back to the depot for rain gear."

"You really shouldn't let them treat you like that," said Felina, "demand what you're owed or quit. Anything less demeans you and your abilities." Surrendering to ones fate didn't appeal to the mare. Shielding the stallion from the storm was the lesser kindness, encouraging him to better himself was the greater.

The stallion, familiar only with silence or disdain from fancily dressed ponies such as her, quirked an eyebrow and nodded in understanding. "A few of the boys have been thinkin' maybe we should strike," he said over his shoulder while still keeping his eyes on the road, "just to get the bosses' attention. Maybe ask for a pay hike while we're at it."

"I suppose that's one way," she said, "but then again, you know the roads; you do the work. What do you need a boss for?"

"I know, right!" guffawed the stallion, "but, seriously, these wagons aren't cheap ma'am, more than a cabbie can afford at any rate." He turned onto Broadway and started galloping at a fast pace. "Some of the old fellas try to save enough, but find out they don't got the withers for the work no more, or they figure out they can't keep the darn things in workin' order. Those potholes in The Broncos crack more wheels than you'd believe."

Felina remained silent and watched the flashy signs zoom by as they passed the theater district. "Henny of the Hills is still playing," she thought to herself, "it was terribly overrated." The rain began letting up as they entered Lincolt Square, becoming a steady drizzle. She reached into her panniers for a few scraps of paper and began jotting down a note with a small charcoal pencil she always kept handy.

"Here we are ma'am," said the stallion as he pulled under the awning of the massive building. "The Grand Mareiott Hotel. Looks like they're pretty full up!" He pointed at the row of chariots and wagons parked under a covered lot. "Would ya like me to wait for ya in case they don't have any rooms?"

"That won't be necessary," said Felina as she stepped onto the damp walkway, "How much do I owe you?" The stallion grabbed a quill from inside his fare chest and scribbled into a book he had opened. As he distracted himself with his work, Felina floated a hefty bag from her panniers into the open lockbox.

"That'll be fifteen bits ma'am," he said with a smile. Felina passed him a smaller bag of jingling bits. The stallion felt the weight of the bag and held out a hoof. "Hold on ma'am, this is way too much," he said while opening the bag and shifting its contents around, "There must be fifty bits in here at least."

Felina flashed the pegasus stallion a smile and began walking backwards towards the entryway. "Do keep the change," she called out, "consider it a step towards that wagon of your own."

---

"Busy night?" asked the wizened old unicorn.

Star Bolt lifted the box with his night's fares onto the shelf built into the door of the property room. He smiled at the wrinkled clerk's face and pushed it through the window opening. "Ain't it always Old Bean?" he asked. He grabbed the clipboard Bean Counter passed through and recorded his clock out time. "Any chance I can hook up the rain gear tonight?" he asked, "You know, so I don't have to run through a wall of water tomorrow?"

"Sorry son," said the clerk as he took the cabbie's fare book from inside the chest. "Boss sez the pegasi are holding off the showers until the same time tomorrow. He don't want yous guys to tire yousselfs with all that junk hangin' on yer rides." He levitated a quill and began pulling bits out of the chest.

"We're gettin' mighty sick of this Bean," said Star Bolt, "we're big colts, we can handle a few more pounds if it means not catchin' our death in those squalls." He kicked the bottom of the door with a forehoof, causing the bits inside the chest to rattle. "You have to talk some sense into him," he said angrily, "he can't treat us like this."

The old unicorn rolled his eyes while he continued cashing out the pegasus. "Sure looks ta me like he can," grumbled Bean Counter. He read off a trip, counted out a number of bits equal to the route's fare, and deposited them into the slot on the top of the large safe at his side. He had become so adept at the process and the magical weight of a bit, he never even had to look into the lock box. He kept his face in the fare book and soldiered on. The clerk reached Star Bolt's final fare of the night and pulled fifteen bits from the chest. "It's always the same thing with you cabbies," he muttered while scratching his initials at the bottom of the page, "the boss gives yous a ride; it ain't enough. He gives yous the best routes in Equestria; yous bitch and moan. Princesses above, be grateful for once in yer lives." He pushed the lockbox back through the window followed by the stallion's fare book. Loose bits rattled inside the chest. "See, it even sounds like yous got some decent tips." The old unicorn sat at his desk and lifted a stained porcelain teacup to his lips. "Go buy yousself a poncho," he grumbled. Star Bolt growled and yanked the box off the shelf. It weighed surprisingly more than he was used to at the end of a shift. "Well?" asked Bean Counter, "yous wanna help wash the carts or something?"

"See you tomorrow Old Bean," replied the pegasus, before slinging the box onto his back and trotting out the door. He continued a dozen blocks towards his small one room apartment in Hooflyn before ducking under the awning outside a closed Istallion restaurant. He set the chest onto the ground and lifted the lid. He knew he'd have a nice haul, what with that nice little unicorn's generous tip at the end of the night. Sure, she'd been a little more opinionated than most fares, but it beat complete silence, or outright hostility. When he saw the sack, he thought it was something a fare had somehow accidentally dropped into the chest. Knowing he'd never be able to track down one of the three dozen or so ponies he pulled around, Star Bolt opened the sack, hoping to find a name or address. The light from the street lamps reflected off of gold and gems, momentarily dazzling the stallion's eyes. He clamped the bag shut with his hooves and looked around for anypony who may have been watching him. He looked back into the sack and shook it gently. A folded piece of parchment caught his attention. He lifted it out of the bag and read:

Perhaps you could be the boss now? Or maybe you'd just rather be doing something else. Just remember: Don't let anypony tell you your worth. We make our own way in this world, and the only roadblocks in our way are of our own creation.
--F
P.S. If you're not doing anything, I could use a ride in a few hours. The alley across the street from the hotel would be a nice place to wait; the one between the jeweler and the Lunar recruiters.

Star Bolt smiled and turned back towards the taxi depot.

---

Felina pulled the zipper all the way up to her neck and made sure the sneak suit's extra padding was in place over her hooves and knees. She paused momentarily as the sounds of hoofsteps echoed through the hotel's restroom. It had only taken her about half an hour to ferret out the location of the hotel's vault, along with a fair level of confidence that the crown was locked away for the night. As per usual, a little sparkling cider, and a friendly face got most anypony talking, especially star struck maids on their breaks.

The faucet turned on and then off, followed by the sound of the door closing. Felina stood on the back of the commode and removed the vent before pulling herself into the air vent. As she quietly and carefully pulled herself through the ducts, she lamented her clichéd plan. Obtaining the Prancy Diamond had been a month long masterpiece of infiltration, seduction, and subtle misdirection. Had she not desired the headlines, she could have left a fake stone and left everypony none the wiser. She simply did not have the time for anything of that complexity. Princess Twilight would be leaving soon, and Felina doubted she'd have a similar opportunity.

That's not to say that she was heading in blind. The lonely maintenance pony's blueprints showed these extra small air ducts, though that was all they showed. Thick black boxes covered what she assumed was the vault and the corridor that led to it. She continued dragging herself, one ponylength at a time. Several turns, and a close call with a curious mouse later, and the thief peeked through a vent at the long corridor that led to the vault. She smiled at the magical barriers; they were hardly an unexpected obstacle; a true professional kept up with the latest technologies after all. The two stallions guarding the door at the end of the hallway worried her more. She followed the maze of ductwork as it ran parallel to the corridor and cursed as it narrowed further, barring even her slight frame from going any further. She inched back to one of the floor level vents and furrowed her brow at the two bored looking guards standing a few feet away, beyond the last of the magical barriers.

"Okay," said one of the stallions, "Princess Twilight or Princess Luna."

"Hmmm," said the other, "well I guess Luna has that 'bad mare' reputation right now, but Twilight has that hot librarian thing going for her..."

Felina rolled her eyes and reached into her utility belt. With a spark from her horn, the small cutting torch flared to life. She slowly cut into the side of the air duct until she had outlined a hole large enough for her to peek her head through. The space behind the stone wall was dark, save for the glowing mechanism fed by several insulated wires. She whispered to herself as she fetched a length of copper wire and a spool of magiflux. "Bypass the alarm... solder the leads... looks like the magic is fed in parallel... no need to reroute that..." She tied a loop of rope around one of the wires and crawled back to the vent. She pulled two small pellets from her belt pouch and held it with her magic as she waited for her opportunity.

"Would you stop pacing?" asked one of the guards, "we've got hours before the day shift gets here." He sat on his haunches and leaned against the door and yawned. The other stuck out his tongue and continued marching back and forth.

Felina passed the small spherical capsules through the vent with her magic and waited until the pacing pony turned his back. With her hooves, she yanked at the rope, pulled the wire that fed magic to the device. As the shimmering curtain of energy dissipated, she flicked the two pellets at the faces of the two guards. She smiled in satisfaction as each guards head was covered in a cloud of orange gas. Before the two stallions slumped unconscious to the floor, Felina had already begun squeezing herself out of the vent. She pulled the guards to the side of the hallway and kicked open the door. She flared her magic and created small floating panels to step across: There was no sense worrying about pressure plate tripped alarms.

The two barred gates didn't worry the mare in the least. The hotel seemed to place much of their faith in the magical safeguards and around the clock guard presence. Picking the locks that held them in place was mere foals play for a pony who had broken out of a dozen locked rooms before she received her hazy shadowy cutie mark. As she lifted the final gate into the ceiling, the wall of safes beckoned.

She knew she didn't have time to crack the nearly two dozen safes. She placed her ear against one of the closest iron boxes and tapped it with a hoof. Like a pony picking out a watermelon at the market, she walked across the wall giving each safe a series of knocks before moving on to the next. When she reached the other end of the wall, she sat back on her haunches and held her chin with a forehoof. Thanks to her keenly honed sense of hearing, she could tell which safes had something in them, and which were empty. She had eliminated most of the possibilities, leaving only three. She picked one and placed her ear next to the numbered dial. After half an hour of listening for the barely audible *click* of the tumblers falling into place, she pulled the door open. A silvery metallic box sat alone inside.

"It's about the right weight," she breathlessly said to herself. She set it down on the floor in front of her and rubbed her hooves together. An ecstatic grin split her face as she slowly pulled the lid open. The click of the spring and the brown blur rapidly approaching her from the box was the last thing she saw before the world went pink.

---

"Maybe you need lessons?" asked Twilight as she stood from couch, "I think I have a book on massage therapy somewhere in the library." The knocking on the large oak door of the Royal Suite intensified. She brushed the mussed hair of her coat down as her guard trotted to the door and poked his head into the hallway.

Twilight supposed that the lovely morning had to end sometime, though she thought she still had an hour before being summoned to the large conference hall for her meeting with her fellow princesses. She walked into the room's opulent bathroom and used her magic to pull a brush through her bed-head afflicted mane. After a few moments, the sound of her bodyguard's unconstrained laughter echoed through the spacious suite. Twilight poked her head into the bedroom in time to see the unicorn stallion buckling on his purple lacquered breastplate. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"There's been an 'incident' in the vault," he said between giggles, "the manager is waiting for us in the lobby."

"Oh," said Twilight, "I did something to their new security system didn't I?" She sighed and hurriedly finished combing her mane. "I think I can fix it if they have a few tools." She led the guard out of the room and into the express elevator. He couldn't keep the look of mirth off of his muzzle the entire trip down. "I bet that you're loving this," she said flatly.

"Me!?" asked the stallion in faux outrage, "why, I am ever her highness's humble servant. To think that I could find entertainment in her misfortunes is just absurd!" The elevator car came to a stop and he held his hoof out. "After you," he said gesturing towards the nervous hotel manager. The aged mare stood up straight upon seeing the annoyed glare Twilight aimed at her guard.

"Your highness," she said with an extremely low bow, "First, let me personally apologize for disturbing you so early. I begged them to leave this until after the meeting, but the detectives insisted on it."

Twilight looked around at the lobby for the first time since her arrival the previous night. Uniformed ponies bearing the emblem of the Manehattan Police Department were everywhere. Several were talking with the hotel staff and taking notes on their clipboards. "What is this all about?" asked the alicorn.

The manager winced and began walking towards the vault room. "Well we don't know when, but when the day shift arrived to take their post, they found her."

"Her who?" asked Twilight.

"Better if you see it for yourself your majesty," said the manager, too mortified to explain what had happened. She led them down the hallway, past the two drowsy looking stallions from the night before. They averted their gaze from Twilight and continued giving statements to the police officers. When she opened the thick double doors, the manager stepped to the side and allowed the princess and her guard to proceed into the crowded vault. "Now your crown is fine...ish," said the older earth pony, "but our security was breached." She pointed to the pink blob surrounded by half a dozen snickering officers.

Twilight knelt and inspected the mess. She reached out a hoof and poked the stick goop. When it moved and grunted she jerked back and looked over her shoulder at her guard. "What did you do?" she asked accusingly.

"What!?" he asked, "was I supposed to ignore the fact that a notorious master thief was skulking around Manehattan?" He lifted the crown from the floor and tried to shake off some of the pink substance. "I took some extra precautions."

"Bubble Gum?" asked Twilight after sniffing her hoof.

"Pinkie Pie's Triple Sticky Bubble Gum Pie," said the guard proudly, "guaranteed to leave anypony a sticky mess."

Twilight shook her head in exasperation and began using her magic to pull away large globs of gum off of the thief. "I would apologize for my escort," she said to the hidden pony, "but to be fair, you were trying to steal my crown. Don't fidget, you'll just mash it further into your coat." She had perfected extracting ponies from Pinky Pie's sticky concoctions. She surrounded what she assumed was the thief's head with her magic and slowly pulled away the gum from around its face. The feminine face stared back at her defiantly. "Awfully young for this aren't you?"asked Twilight.

Felina narrowed her eyes and pulled her magic into her horn. "I'll show you young," growled the mare. She had spent the night trying desperately to pull away the gum, but she had only succeeded in further trapping herself: It was like pink quicksand.

"None of that now," said Twilight. She surrounded the filly's horn with her magic and suppressed whatever she had planned. "I'm quite impressed that you managed to disable those barriers," she said while continuing to extract the suspect. "It's a testament to your skills I suppose, but why would such an talented filly need to steal?"

"I. Am. Not. A. Filly!" shouted Felina. "I am the greatest thief in all of Equestria! I didn't need a princess to be my mentor! I didn't need anypony!" She struggled against Twilight's magical embrace.

Twilight pulled the largest bulk of gum from the shouting pony's midsection and turned to the manager. "Would you and the officers please give us some privacy," she asked, "I think the 'Specter' and I have a few things to discuss."

"Of course your majesty," said the older mare. She herded the protesting officers from the vault and closed the large double doors behind them.

"So why would you want my crown?" asked Twilight, "surely Celestia's would fetch many more bits."

"Because I wanted it," growled Felina, "and who's to say I wasn't going to take Sunbutt's as well?"

Twilight forced the scandalized expression from her face and gave the gum in the young mare's mane a harder tug than was necessary. "Well you do realize that's never happening now, don't you," she asked. "We are rather lenient in our justice, but your crimes surely will keep you locked up for years to come."

Felina glared at the princess, and tried to keep her distracted while reaching her newly freed hoof to her belt. "So?" she said, "I'll escape from whatever cage they put me in. I can get out of places just as easily as I can get into them."

"Hmm," said Twilight, "I suppose that's true. I mean, I doubt I could have broken into this vault." Twilight nodded to the hobbles on the floor and her guard lifted them with his magic. "It all just seems like such a waste of ability."

Felina smiled and snorted in laughter. "Oh believe me princess," she said, "nothing is going to waste." She pulled two of her gas pellets from her belt and tossed them at the princess and her guard.

"Ah, ah, ahhh," said Twilight as she caught both projectiles with her magic. She crushed them and contained the gas inside a sphere of force. "I recognized the post exposure symptoms of the Halothane gas you used on those poor guards," said Twilight. "Now if you're quite done, I'd like to propose something that might benefit you in the long term. A way to both use your abilities for the benefit of ponykind and serve out your sentence at the same time."

"It doesn't matter where you put me," said Felina, "like I said, there's no jail, no prison, no work camp on Earth that I can't escape from."

Twilight looked at her guard and smiled deviously. "I don't think I said anything about the Earth, did I?"

---

Star Bolt watched as the little unicorn was led out of the hotel in chains. He had spent the night patiently waiting in the alley across the street, leaving only for a quick bite to eat from the diner down the street. The hours of solitude gave him plenty of time to think about what to do with his unexpected windfall. It was too late for the surgery, but there were other ways for him to get back into the skies. He surely had enough for airship piloting lessons. Maybe he could sign up with one of the airlines and spend the rest of his days ferrying ponies across the skies in style.

Of course those dreams were appearing less and less likely as the unicorn was loaded into the back of a large covered wagon. He sunk back into the alley and wondered if the police would come for the sack of bits and jewels she had left him.

"Oh, hey there," said a friendly voice. Star Bolt looked up as a bat pony mare walked down the alley towards him. "Waiting for a passenger?" she asked.

Star Bolt looked behind him at the cab and shrugged. "Yeah," he said dejectedly, "but it looks like they won't show. I'll get this out of your way."

"Don't hurry on my account," she said while opening the door leading into the small lunar recruitment office. She took a look at him and his unkempt coat. "Say, you wouldn't want a change of scenery would you?" asked the lunar recruiter, "we're desperate for pegasi up there."

"I... I can't fly," said Star Bolt weakly flexing his useless wings, "not anymore."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, "well, we'll take just about anypony you know! You could pull cargo carts just as easy as you do taxi wagons!" She held the door open and tilted her head towards the interior of the office. "You look like you could use a break at any rate."

Star Bolt unhooked himself from his harness and followed her inside. She set a pot of coffee to percolate and unlocked the front door before sitting at her desk. "Thank you ma'am," said Star Bolt, "but I really don't think the moon is for me."

"Then just enjoy a cup of coffee with me," she said, "Luna knows I could use the company. Nopony really shows up until after lunch." She picked up a few stray brochures from her desk and placed them into a revolving wire stand.

"What's that?" asked Star Lifter. He pointed at the small model on her desk. The strange vehicle was roughly cylindrical before tapering to a chisel like point on one side. Pods attached to what he assumed was the rear of the craft housed large nozzles.

"Hmm?" asked the mare, "Oh, that? It's a mock up of the Prosperity Ascension: One of the first magic powered space craft." She passed the model towards him and stood to go pour a few cups of coffee. "Or it will be once it's finished." Star Bolt held the model in his hooves and rotated it slowly. He blinked when the mare placed a cup of coffee on the table next to him.

"Could I fly this?" he asked.

Author's Note:

Felina Scassinatore, the diminutive jewel thief, goes one job too far.

The next proper chapter is in progress and should be done within a couple of weeks.

Comments

[RTStephens]

Felina seems to be a take on Felicia Hardy, am I right?

I take it these two ponies are going to be showing up soon in the main narrative. Interested to see how they play their part.

[Linksta]

Pretty disappointed that Felina didn't swipe the crown.

[MrAskAPirate]

Twilight looked at her guard and smiled deviously. "I don't think I said anything about the Earth, did I?"

Glad to see Twilight taking a page from Celly's book.
"Try to steal my swag? TO THE MOOOOOOOOON!!!"