The Thief, The Wizard, and The Element of Kindness

by TheGradualGhost

Of Contracts and Suits

Rarity heard a knock at the door. This perplexed her as it was far too early for the boutique to be open. The sun had only just risen after all.

“Now who could that be,” she said to herself as she approached the door. She opened the door with her magic and frowned as she recognized the leather-clad pony in her sight.

“Good morning Rarity,” John greeted her. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“John,” she began, “it is far too early to begin any sort of formal business. Celestia has only just raised the sun after all. What are you even doing awake?”

“Right,” John seemed embarrassed, “sorry I just wanted to make sure that there were no hard feelings and if I could confirm if your offer yesterday still stands. I can- um- come back later if you’d like.” The way he said it reminded Rarity of Fluttershy but it wasn’t enough to disarm the unicorn.

“After last night you are incredibly lucky that I’m even talking to you,” Rarity fumed. “I should tell you to get your drab clothing out of Ponyville for the crime against fashion!” She locked eyes with him for a moment and her scowl softened. “But I think that there is more to you than you let on. Come inside I would like to have a chat with you about last night.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I think this has gone on for long enough,” Discord called from across the room. “I wanted to see what chaos you’d cause but you’ve crossed the line John.” He raise his claw menacingly and inwardly gathered his magic.

“Do anything to me and your friends die,” John replied his gaze never leaving Twilight’s eyes.

“Says you,” Discord responded. In spite of his confidence he hesitated.

“I’m not from this world,” John began. “You’ve never seen this poison before and a single mistake could be disastrous.” He broke eye contact with Twilight. “Do you think this is a job for chaos?”

Silence fell on the bakery. All eyes were on Discord now. He lowered his claw but kept his magic ready to release it at a moment’s notice.

“Now then Twilight,” John eyed the alicorn and reached a hoof into his bag, “let’s make a deal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I must say it was a very dramatic moment,” Rarity recounted. She was levitating measuring tape, fabric and scissors while expertly taking John’s measurements.

“Thank you,” John responded.

“Too bad you hadn’t perfected working with hooves yet,” Rarity stated matter-of-factly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A clatter sounded out as John’s hoof came into view. Embarrassment showed on his face as his bag’s contents spilled onto the floor. He then wore excitement when he realized that he was still holding the parchment he was trying to retrieve.

The parchment then fell to the floor.

“Damn,” John simply stated as he reached down to pick up his belongings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“But how did you ever come up with such a plan?” Rarity asked. The beginnings of a blue suit were taking shape on a mannequin.

“My line of work often forces me to make offers that cannot be refused,” John replied then he noticed Rarity’s confusion. “Take my deal or die. Interestingly enough no one ever chooses the latter.”

“But why don’t you just ask for assistance?” Rarity posed the question and her confusion spread to John.

“Because,” John paused in thought, “it’s rare to find anyone willing to help me. So it has become a better option for me to not ask but instead coerce others into helping me. It’s just business.” Noticing the look on her face reminded him of something. “By the way, any side effects from the antidote? I can’t honestly say I’ve used it on a pony before.”

“No,” now it was Rarity’s turn to be lost in thought, “but I daresay that I’m more concerned with the deal you made with Twilight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The poison will kill you all within a day unless the antidote is administered,” John explain while laying the parchment on a table. “For obvious reasons we can’t wait that long so here’s a contract.”

“What are the terms?” Twilight asked with eyes locked on the parchment.

“Feel free to read it,” John began, “but I’ll summarize it for you. Party A, that’s you, agrees to work on the project agreed upon, the portals, with a priority level below required duties and emergencies but above other nontrivial duties. In return Party B, that’s me, administers the cure for your current ailment to all infected persons- er ponies.”

Twilight was reading the contract thoroughly. As she took the parchment within her aura she noticed a magic of its own emanating from the seemingly ordinary parchment. She scanned each line for errors and anything sinister. Finally she stopped.

“Well this doesn’t seem right,” she pointed a hoof at a line. “Breaking the terms of this contract will result in the demise of the party at fault. How can the contract determine if somepony breaks it?”

“I had this parchment enchanted by a wizard. When the contract is written the terms are enforced by a magical bond and if the terms are broken the magic stops the heart of the one at fault. Death by sudden magical heart attack.”

“But how is the contract going to know?” Twilight asked.

“It’ll be linked to both of us,” John responded. “I’ll be the one determining if you’re giving this the proper level of attention and I’ll be reasonable but I will be checking up on you daily.” He saw the doubt on her face. “And if you die of the poison it will send the message to my bond and kill me as well but only if you sign this contract.”

“I can’t sign this,” Twilight said.

“Why not?” John asked.

“Because it isn’t an equal deal,” Twilight responded. This caused a stir among her friends but she went on. “You get to watch over me on my research but all you get to do is undo the poisoning you did tonight? No way, I want you to do something that requires you to answer to me.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash interjected, “make him go fetch your library supplies from Canterlot; or you could make him catalogue the wildlife in the Everfree Forest.”

“I have a better idea Rainbow,” Twilight responded with a grin. “John I want you to make friends here in Ponyville.”

Twilight expected a lot of things from her statement; what she didn’t expect was silence.

“That seems,” John thought it over, “easy. What’s the catch?”

“You are talking to the Princess of Friendship,” Twilight’s grin grew wild. “The catch is that I expect a full report on your attempts at friendship whenever you drop by to check up on me.”

“A report?” John asked. “That doesn’t seem too difficult.”

“A thousand word minimum,” Twilight added. Silence fell on the room for a moment.

“Well,” John began, “maybe I’ll check in weekly.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This seems,” John paused trying to find the best word to describe his clothing, “extravagant.” Indeed the blue suit was covered in so many frills and gemstones that even a second glance wouldn’t confirm that an actual pony was wearing it.

“Well I wanted something that would turn heads from across the ballroom,” Rarity replied.

“You do realize that I make a living on being invisible, right?” John wasn’t sure he was going to like her response.

“You’ll never make friends if you’re invisible,” Rarity replied with a smile. Her pause brought her back to the details of the party. “I have to say, how is it that you were able to write a contract if you couldn’t even hold onto a piece of parchment?”

“Magic,” John said with a hoof wave. Another confused look from Rarity confirmed that he needed to elaborate. “The parchment was enchanted in such a way that its owner could think whatever he or she wanted and it would transcribe it. Then the legal enchantments would kick in if it was determined that it was writing a contract.”

“So what happens if you decided that the contract becomes detrimental?” Rarity asked.

“That’s why I added the exit clause,” John answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The terms of this contract are null and void if both parties agree to that end,” John read aloud. “Any questions?” A pink hoof shot in the air. “Yes, Pinkie.”

“How many parties are we planning?” Pinkie asked. John just stared at her.

“Not that kind of party.”

“But you mentioned at least two parties and I-” Pinkie began.

“Twilight, any questions?” John interrupted. Twilight shook her head. “Ok then, let’s sign this.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That seemed like a lot of effort for next-to-nothing gained,” Rarity said between sips from her teacup. “Why go to all the trouble?”

“I already told you,” John replied, his teacup sitting on the table, “I don’t survive by trusting others.”

“You aren’t going to make any friends that way,” Rarity responded.

“I’m off to an excellent start,” John said with a sigh. “Fluttershy is mad at me.”

“I should expect that she’ll forgive you,” Rarity reasoned but John looked unconvinced.

“She stared at me,” John was shaken. “Her words were full of nothing but the truth but I felt like crawling into a hole just to get away. I couldn’t go back to her cottage so I wandered the town.”

“All night?” Rarity asked. John gave a single nod. “So that’s why you gave such an early house call.” She thought for a moment. “You’re going to have to talk to her. Once you do you will see that she will forgive you.”

“But,” John began, “what if I don’t deserve forgiveness?”

“You’ll never know until you try,” Rarity reasoned. “Besides the most important thing is to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes. Things usually are not as bad as they seem.”

“Thanks Rarity,” John seemed to truly take it to heart. “I mean it. Thank you for the suit and the talk. I think I’ll go and have a talk with Fluttershy right now.”

“Don’t mention it,” Rarity thought it over. “Would you like a bag for the suit?”

“Can I leave it here until I need it?” John asked. “Honestly I think it’ll look better in the window than on me.”

“That sounds fair,” Rarity responded. She appeared to be admiring her own work.

John bid her goodbye and left the boutique. He made for the cottage outside of town. He was beginning to think that everything could work out when he found an invisible wall on the bridge leading to the cottage.

“John,” a familiar voice came from behind him, “we need to talk.” John turned around and caught Discord’s eyes.

“Indeed,” John began, “we do.”

Author's Note:

So, this was fun.

I'll be the first to admit that I am not the best at what I do, but at least I try. So I had this idea of telling part of a story in a flashback while characters are having a conversation and I just ran with it. Overall I'm happy with the format but it definitely means that anyone who tries it will practically have to take notes in order to write a cohesive narrative with it.

But enough complaining. Again I am self-editing so if there's any errors I missed I will appreciate having them pointed out to me. Also, if something doesn't make sense point it out and I'll try to make my thoughts clear.

Thanks and stay tuned for the next installment.

I do wonder what Discord wants to talk about though...

Comments

[Moongaze14]

Nice chapter.

[TheGradualGhost]

5263149

Thank you.