Equestria Broken

by gutterratt

Equestria Broken - Four: The Stage

Four : The Stage

“Please, leave all overcoats, canes and top hats with the doorman and from that moment, you’ll be out of place and underdressed. I’m wrecking this evening already and loving every minute of it, ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring and?” Panic! at the Disco - There’s a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought of It Yet

Clout quickened his pace and veered down a dark alleyway, away from a master whipping her slave. The stallion could hear the chained pony’s muffled shrieks of pain around the corner behind him as he pulled out his compound bow. He shot an arrow upwards where it made a soft thunk on the wooden paneling on the underside of a roof. He climbed the rope and hoisted himself onto the top of the building. The thick leather pads on his shoes softened the noise he made on the tiles as he walked along the thieve’s highway. Another, taller roof with rotten wooden beams blocked his path. This one not being too tall for him, he jumped, grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up with a grunt, the softened wood bowing with his weight. Padding to the top most point of the roof, he looked out and saw the city he lurked in.

Baltimare. One of the many cities that news reporters loved. This city was plagued almost daily by occurrences of aristocratic society plans being sabotaged, theft of precious cargo from poor merchants and security alike, freedom of slaves and destruction of private property. With so much trouble to document, there was no need to put rumors and gossip in the paper. However, it was rather difficult to determine who was at fault in most incidents. The rebels blamed the Kings, the King’s guard blamed the ticks and the ticks blamed the rebels. With so much strife between everypony in the city, it was a bit difficult to determine who exactly ran the town.

Shade Nights troops patrolled the city streets here and there in small groups but they weren’t numerous enough to enforce the King’s rule. The aristocratic ponies hired muscle to keep their property protected but had no love for the lower class, or ticks as they called them. Everypony else blamed the ticks for feeding off of the King’s generosity and not contributing to the land as much as they could so it wasn’t unheard of that they would interfere with the higher class’ functions. Many groups of rebels were seen out in the open in Baltimare and everypony knew they had control of part of the town with their sentries posted on certain streets to keep the Shade Nights away.

With the city in such disarray, nopony really cared who was in charge because crime was easy to get away with. It also left those ill with the blight to fend for themselves. On almost every street there were sick ponies dying and crying to every passerby for help. It was a small help that somepony funded the dead carts to haul the bodies to the soot mill but it wasn’t enough to keep the plague at bay. Luckily for the crystal thief, the disease didn’t reach the rooftops.

He could see much of the city from where he stood: the harbor that encircled more than half of the city, the damaged or repaired rooftops from many past bombings and the infamous broken clock tower. The tower’s clock only worked when the supposed ghost haunted the place. Clout loved to go there when he was in the neighborhood if he needed to stay the night. It was lonely and quite peaceful not to mention the ticking of the giant clock helped him fall asleep.

To the West, the only direction that wasn’t dominated by the ocean, the buildings rose up higher than the rest of the city, rolling higher with the land’s hills and dipping low to sea level as it reached its grasp out east. The buildings West of the metropolis were smaller mansions and townhouses with much fancier architecture then most of the other buildings. A sure sign of aristoponies, their wealth and his main target for the night.
Lady Chrysanthemum Blue had been a younger noble but quickly acquired quite the name for herself in the past few years by flaunting her money and status since she inherited it from her deceased father. Most ponies of Baltimare thought she would be the one to take control over this small piece of Equestria only because her father was Lord before her but it seemed that someone didn’t approve of her status and decided she was a threat to be taken out. That left her fillies to the workhouse, a sort of prison for the orphans and homeless. This wouldn’t normally be the case if their father wasn’t an unknown stallion who was most likely a servant or lower class pony. Bloodlines were everything for nobles and this fact made her children be seen as unworthy of their noble status for their mother having dipped her hoof in the pools of the inferior breeding stock. With that, no pony came forward as her consort.

Her younger brother, Lord Cuckoo Blue, would most likely leave the children to their fate without the will and with his newly acquired position of power, would take control of her massive wealth. Lord Blue was not the most generous of ponies and based on his diplomatic standings would plunge the town into high taxes and low rations to further increase the numbers in his bank account. Depending on what Lady Blue wrote in her will, her dying wishes would be the deciding factor in where her wealth and her fillies would go, regardless of her little brother taking power.

Clout made his way along the rooftops, jumping small gaps, using his rope arrows as needed or making bridges with pieces of already damaged structures. The thieves' highway was always his favored route. Atop the roofs he could see all the guards, their assigned routes, any ponies roaming the streets and any open windows for opportune stealing moments. Thankfully, this city didn’t have much in the way of guards, just many, many slavers. He occasionally slipped into available skylights to obtain valuable items, diary notes lying about or precious keepsakes that weren’t bolted down. Though things such as silver encased pens, brass candle holders, mercury cut picture frames and gem encrusted hoof-mirrors weren’t worth much on the market, Clout had to take all he could carry because he felt he had to. It was there for the taking so why not? Finders keepers after all.

It wasn’t long before he arrived at an estate surrounded by a fancy looking steel fence that had sharp arrow points at the top to keep out intruders. The fence was kept stable by three horizontal beams, one at the top, one at the middle and the last towards the bottom. At the corners of the property, and parallel to the gate, were solid stone pillars with a potted vining plant atop each, the vines had grown down the pillars and crept along the metal fencing. The thick old moss that had grown between the cobblestones below it was climbing up the pillars to meet the vines. Along the ground on the inside of the property were bushes with sleeping blue flowers that were speckling the green plants with their color. To the left side of the gate was a small building with a window to the outside where a pony who was hired to play the role of a guard stood. He was taking tickets from aristoponies who came dressed in gentlestallion garments, ball dresses and masquerade masks. They were all obviously going to the party that was advertised on the radio. Unfortunately for the thief, Smile Cat was right when he said none of his listeners were invited. Luckily, the bucksking had his own way of inviting himself.

Two ponies walked up to the guard booth. The stallion was in a cashmere jacket and wearing a crude mask of what could be either a bear or a mouse, Clout couldn’t tell. The mare had on an elegant white dress with a matching white cat mask. The thief could see their tickets in the stallion’s pocket. Staying in the shadows whenever possible, he snuck up behind the pair. He slowly and carefully reached out a hoof while keeping pace with the two. They were just inches away from the guard. He was just inches away from the tickets.

The sound of a shattered glass bottle and a slump drew all four pony’s attention.
“I gots it, I gots it.” a heavily drunk green stallion slurred as he tried to get back on his hooves. He wore a grungy looking higher class tan garments and had a disturbing fox mask set sideways on the top of his head. He grunted as he lifted himself up before looking down at the broken remains of his alcohol. “Aww, what, what hap- *hic* happened? Where’d the drink go? Why is the rum always gone?” he slurred.

As the stallion slowly staggered towards the guard booth, the two aristoponies hurriedly handed the guard their tickets and made their way inside the gate. Missing his chance, Clout slunk back next to the booth.

“Ah, well. There’ll be more drin- *hic* -ink inside.” The green stallion said to himself as he wobbled over to the guard. The guard watched in amusement as the drunk pony fell twice while walking the short distance from his broken alcohol bottle to the booth. Clout wasn't amused at all. “'Ello my gooood sir, can I come in for a fizz?”

The guard pony stared at the mess of a noble in front of him and smirked, relishing in the other stallion's state. He loved seeing aristoponies fall so far down the ladder of society. He knew he wasn't allowed to let in ponies that were so inebriated so he decided to have a little fun. After a short moment, he regained his composure, “Uh, ticket please.”

Confused, the drunkard narrowed his eyes and looked at the guard and leaned in toward him. “Oooohhhhh! Right, right. Gimme a jiff.” he said as he looked towards his pockets. He then checked his left pockets before attempting to check his right ones. He spun in a circle several times, failing to reach it before falling on his face and vomiting on himself.

The guard pony smiled and rolled his eyes. “Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I cannot allow you to enter this establishment being so drunk and filthy.” he said, having had his short fun with the drunkard, he had to get back to his job.

The green pony looked up at the guard, “Wha- n-no wait, wait, I gots it here some *hic* place.” He frantically searched his pockets again, this time while stationary. Just as he found it, the guard magically took out his rifle and aimed it at the sick-covered stallion.

“Please leave the property sir. I am authorized to shoot if you do not comply.” The guard said as if he had rehearsed the line several times to make sure he got it right when he finally had the chance to say it.

The drunkard looked at the buck with the gun pointed at his face and blinked a few times, trying to get his blurry eyes into focus. “Wha’ve ya got there? ‘S it a zucchini? I love zucchini!” he said before biting the end of the barrel.

The guard yanked the gun away and bashed the butt of the gun to the green stallion’s head, cracking the right side of the fox mask. He pointed the gun at the drunkard once more. “I said get ya drunken idiot!” he yelled.

The messy stallion looked up at the guard, finally realizing he had a gun pointed at him. His eyes went wide with terror as he made another mess on himself, this time with a different bodily fluid, before scrambling to his hooves and falling flat on his face. He got back to his hooves as fast as he could and stumbled away from the threat of death.

Clout followed the fox masked stallion as he wandered down the street. As he spotted a bar, the green stallion quickened his pace, tripped and fell on his face once more. This time he didn’t get up. Clout looked around. A couple of stallions outside of the bar smoking, a mare and her sickly filly walking down the street and a stray cat knocking over a trash can down the next alleyway. He casually trotted up to the passed out noble and slipped the mask off his face as he went past, stuffing it into his saddle bags. He then made his way back to the mansion, this time heading for the back wall. Finding another pillar covered in vines, he easily climbed the foliage and dropped down into the garden. Hiding behind a rose bush, he took in his surroundings.

The garden was full of fruit trees and berry bushes that decorated the vast space forming elaborate designs. A small stream ran through the yard, splitting it in half, veering around a gazebo in the center of the yard. A small but beautiful bridge allowed passage over the pony-made river and to the entrance of the gazebo. The structure itself was surrounded by more flowering plants and grass. The vast majority of the flowers were blue or white with a few mis-colors dotting the landscape here and there.

In the back corner where Clout had landed there was a path leading from the house to a small bench on-looking a miniature waterfall pond with koi fish swimming about it. The large yard was well kept, most of the bushes were trimmed proper and some were even trimmed into shapes of animals or ponies for decoration. The wall that surrounded the yard had several faded murals painted on it, all by the same artist and all depicting the grace, beauty and power of the unicorns. Most of the paintings were overrun with the same wall climbing moss and vines.

Clout took the mask out of his saddlebag, cleaned the splashes of spew off in the pond before putting it on. The mask was surprisingly heavy for such a small thing. It fit well enough over his face and muzzle but was a little larger than he’d have liked on the sides of his head. The small slits where the eyes of the mask were thin and provided only limited visibility but he had no way of widening them. He hid his bow and quiver in the bushes next to the pond and pulled the hood of his new cloak over his head.

Trotting over to the mansion’s glass back door, he was noticing the aristopony’s attire. Most of the mares wore ball dresses or shimmering gowns. The bucks were wearing suits, some had jackets or cloaks to hide their family crests on their chest and their cutie marks. Everypony wore a mask of some kind. This information made Clout feel a little more at ease knowing his outfit would fit in nicely with no questions.

Looking at the mansion from the outside, the crystal buck knew it would take a while for him to search the entire place. The building was three stories tall and who knew how many below. It spanned quite a ways on either side of the large doors, enough that he thought the place might have been close to seventeen thousand square feet if not more. With so much ground to cover and so many other ponies here tonight, he knew it was best to start with the mare's room and go from there. Unfortunately he had no idea where it was but knowing this was a birthday for one of her fillies, he knew he could ask the children and not be found as a suspicious person. He did find it odd a child’s birthday party was held so late at night but he never questioned the ways of the aristocracy.

He strolled through the door as if he were meant to be there and immediately spotted the buffet. There were rows and rows of tables all lined up with a large assortment of food. The colorful vegetables were delicately placed on each tray to create a masterpiece of food art so amazing that it would have been difficult for anypony who appreciated art to even touch it. Unfortunately, all these ponies were of aristocracy and had seen this kind of display almost daily so they had no trouble destroying the hard work. As Clout walked he could see two long tables with nothing but mounds of fruit on them, many of which he had never seen before.

Thief smelled the delicious banquet and poked her head out, her whiskers twitching with anticipation of more fresh food. As she tried to climb down the front of his cloak, the stallion gently pushed her back up with a hoof.

“Not yet little one, there’s too many ponies here. I don’t want you to get stepped on or cause a panic.” he quietly told her.

Then he spotted a large basket hidden in between a crate which held weird green scaley apples and another that had fruit that looked like large round black grapes not on the vine. The hidden basket held several dozen oranges. Clout stopped and picked one up, eyes gleaming and mouth watering. He tilted his mask up just enough and bit into the delicious fruit and savored its sweet and sour citric flavor as he gave a small sigh of bliss. The crystal pony hadn't eaten his favorite fruit in years and he was not going to pass this opportunity up. He had thought no pony grew orange trees in Equestria any more since he hadn't seen anyone with the fruit in ages.

As he bit it a third time, he looked around to notice quite a lot of ponies staring at him. He blinked, not knowing what they were staring at. Was his shiny coat exposed from a hole in the cloak he didn’t notice earlier? Had somepony said something about his attire or was the mask too odd? Had Thief poked her head out of his cloak and ponies could see her? He blinked again, looked down to the fruit in his hooves and then realized what was wrong. He was eating the orange, peel and all. He never saw what the problem was with eating the peel, it wasn't that bad and it was part of the fruit but it often drew attention because no one else ate it the way he did. Clout stopped eating, swallowed his latest bite, pulled his mask back down and trotted off, orange still in his hoof. He wasn't about to let good fruit go to waste. He kept a mental note to steal the rest of the oranges when no pony was staring at him.

On a few other tables, away from the fruits and vegetables, were an assortment of cooked meats. The cloaked stallion never cared for the smell of it so he was never inclined to try it whenever he had the chance. There were several lumps of meat on trays where other ponies with chef hats were cutting off slices for anypony who wanted a piece and a separate table full of sauces to smother the meat in. In between two of the meat tables was a door which many servants trotted in and out of with more trays of food. As the door swung open and closed, Clout could see glimpses of the kitchen. Going to the opposite side of the vast room filled with food there was another door. This one was locked. He decided it was best to try it a bit later when there weren't as many ponies stuffing their faces.

After he rounded the last tables of food, he passed a couple closets on either side of the wall before he came upon a giant set of rounded stairs that went up to the next floor. After he passed a couple hallways, he entered the massive entry way. By the door was a podium with a stallion standing in front of it, taking the names of incoming ponies and announcing their arrival. With mostly everypony already present, he looked rather bored standing around with nothing to do. On either side of the grand entrance were another set of closets where guests were putting their jackets.

The room was filled with unicorn ponies of all colors in fancy dress mingling with one another, passing on rumors and trying to get on each other's good sides to make good business deals or just chatting about family affairs. The only earth ponies it seemed were serving food and drink but there were a couple pegasi guests here and there as guests. A few conversations caught Clout's attention and he was inclined to stand close enough to eavesdrop on them. Since he was here, he might as well collect as much as he could to sell when he got back to the Everfree Forest. Not only were stolen objects a commodity but so were secrets and he was happy to steal them too.

A gray unicorn stallion with a sandy yellow mane and tail who wore a black bear mask was talking to two others. One of them was a silver stallion in a blue bird mask with lavender mane and tail, the other was a blue mare with fire red mane and tail in a panda mask. Each of them had on elegant clothing and had a glass of champagne in their hooves.

"--And no pony knows who was to blame." Black Bear said.

"Somepony has to know, doesn't the King rule Manehattan?" Blue Bird asked, shocked at the news he just heard.

"I thought that city was overtaken by those filthy rebels." Panda commented, a bit of concern in her voice.

"Why would the rebels bomb the city if they were in control of it?" Black Bear retorted, "The Kings really need to send more troops there. Losing Manehattan would be quite the loss. They have some of the best factories there. I've had my eye on some of their paper presses. To expand my news articles over on the western coast would be a wonderful addition to my company." He swirled his champaign in the glass a couple of times before taking a sip.

"Don't you have your little paper route spread far enough?" asked Panda in a mocking tone of voice. "It's not like you need that press to stay in business. Besides, soon enough, those factories will be mine so don't even worry about them."

"Please," said Black Bear, "don't talk to me like your company needs it so desperately either. You've got your hooves on twice as many manufacturing plants as I do. You have no need for another. Besides, the presses there only print articles. They can't do the overdramatic advertisement pictures you're so fond of shoving in everypony's faces."

Panda harrumphed and set her glass down on a table before jabbing a hoof at Bear's chest. "I'll have you know, my advertisements attract more revenue than your meager articles on random nonsense that only the poor lower class care about. Even if you purchase that factory before I do you'll never even come close to my stock so go ahead, try for it. It won't matter to me anyways. Soon enough I'll ruin you and all of your stockholders." She tilted her head to the side and put a hoof on her own chest in ladylike fashion. "Soon, I'll own every press in Equestria. I'm sure you already knew that I am planning on monopolizing it all. Then King Sombra will have to take notice. Then I can be his queen!"

Black Bear's ears went flat back. Just before he was able to get to say anything in response, Blue Bird interrupted.

"Not that I wouldn't love to see real entertainment at this snooze of a party but I don't think you two should be fighting here." Blue Bird said, trying to reason with the two and stop their argument from escalating. "Besides, neither one of you can get those factories until that city's government is settled. And, oh, look! The chefs finally brought out the octopops, isn't that your favorite?" he asked, not specifying which he was asking as he shoved them both towards the table where the octopus rounds on a stick were displayed.

Clout's attention was given to another nearby conversation.

"I can't wait to go! There's going to be so much to discover there." A light purple mare with a short pink and white mane said in an excited tone of voice. The short dove colored frilly dress she wore matched her gray shrew mask. She tilted it slightly upwards so she could snack on a spiky red fruit she held in her magical grasp.

"How are you even going to find anything if it's all frozen over there? You're probably going to have to dig through about three feet of ice to get to anything. Probably more." A gray and white painted pegasus with a pink mane and tail said. She wore a white rabbit mask over the top of her glasses which poked out the sides.

A blood red stallion with dark maroon mane and tail knickered. "I'm sure the treasure in that arctic city has to be worth quite the fortune if it's been frozen for centuries. No pony's been able to even touch it. If you can guarantee me that you and your team will be the ones to retrieve it, I would be more than happy to fund your expedition. We'll discuss the conditions of the contract in private of course." he said as he shifted the red coyote mask on his face.

"Oh I've got the ice part covered, don't you worry about that." Gray Shrew said confidently, "My sister is quite talented with her fire magic. She showed me that she can thaw a piece of paper from a block of ice without even leaving the slightest hint of a scorch mark. She has perfected her art and can assure you that none of the artifacts will be harmed by her magic in any way. She does have her own terms for any contract we sign of course."

Red Coyote put a hoof around Gray Shrew's shoulder. "That won't be a problem. Let's go somewhere a bit more private though." He then turned to White Rabbit, "Would you oversee our contract? You would charge your regular fee, correct?"

"Of course." was all White Rabbit said before following them further into the mansion and to a private room.

With that conversation over, Clout didn't want to look too suspicious so he looked for a new direction to wander in. On either side of the room, there was a door. The left one was open and ponies freely walked in and out of it. The right one was closed but noises could be heard on the other side. Curious, he walked towards the closed door. As he passed more aristoponies, he heard some of them complain.

"I can understand the need to throw a ball, it is quite the opportunity for profit, but why would she throw a party like this for her filly is beyond me. She could have thrown a soiree without declaring it a birthday party for that little annoyance. There would have been a lot more ponies here to do business with if it had been just a regular party." A dark blue mare wearing a tapir mask said. She brushed a hoof through her yellow mane and swished her tail before continuing with her complaint to the two other ponies standing with her. Her mask was tilted up so the other two could see her face but at his angle, Clout couldn't make out who it was. "If I were in charge of Equestria, I would have it mandatory for all children to be sent to the rock farms until they're old enough to not be whiny."

"How can you say such a thing?" A grey stallion wearing an eagle mask said, "She's your niece."

"Well, there are quite a few aristoponies who refuse to come to birthday parties but at least they are keeping the children in a separate room." A light turquoise mare said. She shifted the frog mask on her face and hoofed her red mane away from the mask before asking, "By the way, has anypony seen our hostess tonight? I haven't been able to find her anywhere."

Tapir swished her tail again as she thought before speaking, "No, I haven't. I'm surprised about that. Lady Chrysanthemum's always one to gossip at parties and I haven't seen her at all tonight. You think she's bedded an unaware stallion again?" The mare laughed at her own words.

"She might have. I'll go check her room later if I don't see her around soon." Eagle said.

Clout continued towards the closed doors, hoping he could find where the children were being kept, then he could ask Lady Chrysanthemum's children where their mom's room was. Though foals weren't Clout's favorite thing in the world, they were so much easier to manipulate then adult ponies were. And once he was out of sight of the aristocracy, he could sneak around as he pleased. Lost in his thoughts, Clout was startled when someone called out to him.

"Um, sir?"

"Y-yes?" The crystal stallion answered stiffly, worried he wasn't supposed to be opening the door his hoof was now on.

A pink earth pony with light yellow mane and tail wearing a tail coat and holding a tray of horderves stood next to the thief. His shackles clinked together when he moved. "Would you like a g-glass of champagne?"

Clout let out a breath of relief that he wasn't in trouble. Remembering he had to keep up his noble apparence, he straightened up, stepped towards the servant and spoke, "No, thank you. But you can tell me where the children are being kept. I have a present for the birthday girl and nopony seems to want to tell me where she is."

"Y-yes sir. But... um..." The servant shakily answered.

"Well?" Clout said impatiently, making the servant flinch.

"Sir, you're just about to open the room where all the foals are." the servant replied.

Clout snorted and rolled his eyes. 'Of Course' he thought. "Thank you. Be on your way." he shooed the servant away with a wave of his hoof.

The pony bowed his head before walking away.

The thief turned back to the door he was in front of and opened it. This room was slightly smaller than the grand entrance. The left wall of the room was a giant window overlooking the front garden. The plush carpet under his hooves was the cleanest he'd ever seen. The right side of the room was split into three parts. In the center was another large, decorated doorway. On either side was a partial wall of books. On the far side of the room was a large family portrait featuring Lady Chrysanthemum Blue, her twins and her young filly, all standing together in formal wear which hung above a grand fireplace.

In the middle of the room was some kind of odd structure made of what looked to be a sofa and several arm chairs that were probably supposed to be in front of the fireplace, expensive rugs and bed sheets. The stallion watched as several colts and fillies ran about, holding eating utensils and throwing apple cores, shouting "Pew, pew" at each other. All of them wore some kind of formal dress wear which was somewhat dirty with food and colorful party hats. A small group on one side of the fort had a chest they looked to be defending while all the other foals were trying to get it from them. Clout blinked as he watched in confusion.

"Pew, pew, pew!" one unicorn filly shouted, pointing her fork at her enemies. "I got you Rubber!"

"Nuh-uh!" Rubber replied, "I gotsa bubble shield!" The pudgy colt held out one of his hooves where a string was tied to it. at the end of the string, a balloon floated.

"You don't know that magic." another filly said.

"He does too!" one of the fillies on Rubber's side exclaimed, "I'm our magic pony and I teached him so!" She held a hoof to her chest in pride of her apparent magic prowess.

"Magic ponies can't teach other ponies spells, that's why we have magic ponies." one of the colts said, "They're the only ones with all the spells!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

Suddenly Clout was poked in the ankle by a silver spoon. Looking down at its source, he saw a white filly in an elegant blue ball gown holding the object with her magic. Her light pink and blue mane and tail were tied up in a neat but very complicated looking braid. Her grey eyes appeared to focus straight on clout as she spoke.

"You're not supposed to be here." she said simply.

Clout looked at the foal, tempted to back slowly out of the room at her cryptic tone of voice but instead stood his ground. "I'm just looking for the birthday filly." he said as he looked around at everything but the filly in front of him.

"Blue and yellow are the colors of your betrayal." she said, "Beware the weight you carry, for it will destroy you."

“What?" the stallion asked in utter confusion.

Another filly ran up to the two and bowed to Clout. "My apologies for my sister sir, she lacks the ability to see properly. She... probably mistook you for somepony else." she said as she hugged her sister to herself. This foal looked almost identical to the other but her mane was purple and blue.

Seeing both fillies together, Clout recognized them. He looked back to the painting above the fireplace. Anne and Mone Blue. The elder twin daughters of Lady Blue. This was perfect. He could get what he needed from these two and be on his way.

"You were looking for our baby sister?" Anne asked, her teal eyes gazing up at the fox mask.

"Uh, yeah. I have a present for the birthday girl," Clout said, "But I can give it to you to give to her if you can tell me where your mom's room is. No pony can seem to find her and I want to make sure she's okay."

"Are you one of mother's Concubinus'?" Mone asked.

"E-excuse me??" Clout asked in shock.

"Ah! Never mind her sir!" Anne said as she placed a hoof over her sister's mouth, "What my sister meant to say was that a noble buck shouldn't barge in on a lady's private quarters lest he find himself slapped for being so rude."

Clout's ears twitched in annoyance. "I am just concerned for her well being because nopony has seen our hostess at all tonight. I’m only looking to find her and make sure she’s okay."

The twins looked at each other before speaking at the same time, "Find our baby sister first."

"What?"

"She's with the zebra. Or is it the monster?" Mone asked herself, "Yes, the monster. The monster of mud and mucus."

"She's probably playing in the cellar again. Go get her and bring her here. Only after will we tell you where our mother's quarters are." Anne stated firmly.

Clout rubbed the side of his head with a hoof and let out an exasperated sigh. “Can’t you just tell me where it is and go find your sister yourself?” he asked.

“No.” Mone said simply.

“You have to work for it.” Anne said, “We don’t just hoof out information to rebel pegasus spies.”

“I’m not a pegasus and I’m not a spy. If you’re not going to tell me I’ll just find it on my own.” Clout said.

“Oh, well then good luck with that. There are eighty seven rooms in this house and that is not including the many outbuildings on the property. Are you sure you can find it before we tell a guard and have him arrest you for snooping?” Anne asked with a mischievous grin, “We know you’re not a guest. You admitted you’re not a pegasus and there is obviously no horn under that mask. Mother doesn’t invite guests of such low class to soirees and she certainly wouldn’t remove her chastity belt for one. So what will it be Mr. Uninvited-Guest? We can get the guards now if you’d like or we can give you a ten second head start.”

The stallion twitched an ear. He would much rather find his own way around than be bossed around by children. Then again it might take too much time to try and find it on his own in this massive mansion. Not knowing how much longer the party had left, he didn’t know how much time he had before the staff resumed their normal duties of wandering the mansion and getting in his way. He decided to play along with the children and hope that they would actually give him the information he needed.

“You’re too smart for your own good.” the stallion grumbled.

“That’s what you get with high class breeding, not many of us turn out to be dimwits like you ticks.” Anne said with a grin.

“This one’s not a tick.” Mone told her sister who looked to the blind filly and opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the buck.

“Fine, I’ll do it, just keep your trap shut.” Clout told them, “Where’s this cellar?”

The filly smiled, “Oh, and it's past the double staircase towards the back garden. To your right is a door all the servants are going in and out of, that's the kitchen. I'm sure you can find your way to the cellar from there." Anne waved a hoof towards the door the stallion came through, "Off you go, good sir."

The crystal pony rolled his eyes before turning around and walking out of the room. When he returned to the entrance, the crowd had mostly dispersed and distant music was playing. It was most likely time for the ball dance.

Clout made his way back through the hallway, past the stairs and into the dining area. He casually trotted past the many tables of food, including the now empty tray of oranges. With his saddle bags a bit heavier, he made his way to the door to the kitchen. He pushed the swinging door open and entered.

Inside was mostly a flurry of activity. There were ponies cooking things, preparing dishes, washing fruit and vegetables and at least three ponies washing stacks of dirty dishes. There were others bringing in empty trays and taking out full ones. A few were pouring glasses of fine liquor and stacking them neatly on a cart. And then there were those who were just standing in small groups looking like they were peeling vegetables but were actually just gossiping with each other. Though some great rumors could be learned from wealthy pony's staff members, Clout wasn't able to hear even the smallest breath of their conversations over the noise of the kitchen. Not to mention the moment he entered, all of the staff paused for just a moment to look at the guest who just barged in on them. After a couple of seconds, everypony got back to their tasks, keeping their mouths closed and eyes on their work. None of them wanted to be snitched on for their chatter for fear of the consequences.

The thief trotted in and looked around for the cellar. As he passed the small group of ponies peeling apples, a light blue and white coated mare glanced at the passing buck. She kept her head low and her clipped wings folded tight to her sides. She swallowed before speaking, "Um... my lord, I'm afraid you're n-not supposed to be in here. The guests are supposed to stay in the ballroom and the main entrance."

"I was told to fetch something from the cellar by Lady Blue."

The apple peeler bowed her head low, "My apologies sir! I-I had not known. If I had, I would have shown you there immediately. Please have mercy on me. Lady Blue normally has one of her servants fetch things for her, not her guests."

Clout waved a hoof, dismissing her worries, "Whatever, I just need to get to the cellar."

"Yes sir, it's just down those stairs." the mare informed as she pointed across the room just in between the dish washing station and a pair of trash bins.

He trotted over to the stairs. The way down had decent wooden steps and it was lit up by a set of string lights above. When he reached the bottom, he found himself in a wide room with a low ceiling. It was dimly lit and the damp draft about the place. There were barrels and boxes stacked in two piles. Clout figured one was for empty containers and the other probably still had goods in them. On several of the walls were wine racks filled with many different vintages of the beverage. Here and there were burlap sacks which looked to have vegetables in them. On the walls that didn't have wine racks, wooden planks were haphazardly placed, probably to try and prevent any more cave-ins like the one in the far right corner.

Over by the stacks of empty crates Clout could hear laughter. Thief poked her head out of the cloak once more at the sweet smell in the air as the stallion made his way towards the sound. He rounded the barrels and wooden boxes to see a large canine licking a tiny unicorn filly. A blue and yellow cake was splattered everywhere covering both of them in the sticky sugary treat. The foal was happily painting her previously white dress in the now green frosting and humming a tune to herself.

The stallion folded his ears back as he watched the dog. His companion jumped off of her ride and scampered off to join in the fun of destroying the massive cake. “Thief, wait!” he called out to her.

“Hello!” the filly said as she waived her frosting covered hoof at him.

Clout readied himself for a fight as the gray and white dog looked to him. She happily wagged her tail as she licked her chops.

“Say hi Fuzzy.” the filly told the dog who barked at the stallion in greeting.

The buckskin took a half a step backwards as the dog tilted her head at him. “Why’s there always gotta be a damn dog.” he mumbled to himself, “Hey, kid, come here.” Figuring this was the missing birthday filly, he had to get her back upstairs somehow.

“But we’re playing paint. My dress is pretty!” she told him as she stretched out the hem of her gown, green frosting oozing down the folds.

“U-uh, sure,” he said to her. An idea then struck him, “Why don’t you go back upstairs and show off your dress. I’m sure everypony would like to see it.”

The foal giggled as the dog licked her mane clean. “Okay but Fuzzy come too!” she said with a big smile.

Clout grimaced, “Well, I don’t think, uh, Fuzzy is done playing yet so we’ll just leave it here.”

The filly looked to the dog then back to the stranger. “Oh, okay. Fuzzy come upstairs when you're done playing okay?” she told the dog before standing up and trotting over to him.

“Thief, come on, it’s time to go.” the stallion told his rat but she ignored him as she continued to dig her way into a large piece of spongy mass. He rolled his eyes, “Fine, don’t get eaten by the dog then. Don’t forget we’re leaving once I get what I came for.”

As the two ponies walked away, Fuzzy sat down in the pasty mess and gave a whine, watching them leave.

Clout ignored the mutt’s whining and proceeded back up the stairs. There were quite a bit less ponies in the kitchen when he reached it and the ones who were left ignored the two. He trotted back through the servant door, past the buffet and made his way back to the other children. When he got to the room, most of the children had begun to pass out from being awake so late. Most of them had taken refuge under their fort but a couple slept on pillows in front of the fireplace.

Clout looked to the two fillies who gave him his latest commission. "Where's your mom's room." he demanded.

"Pompon, look at you, you're a mess!" Anne said as she started to wipe her baby sister's face with a cloth.

"Smells like sugar." Mone stated.

"Hey, where is the room?" Clout said, irritated he was being ignored.

"And look at your dress Pompon! You're the birthday girl, you're supposed to be dressed proper for the occasion, not sticky." Anne continued to ignore the stallion and fuss over Pompon.

Pompon looked up at her sister, "Isn’t it pretty! Fuzzy played paint with me!" The filly had a big smile on her face.

"The dog is in the house." Mone said.

"The dog, the dog is here? Pompon! You know mother is allergic to dogs, she said you couldn't play with it any more and it has to stay outside, away from us. You're going to make mother sick again!" Anne scolded her little sister as Clout tried to speak up again.

"Uh, hello? The room?"

Pompon looked at her sisters, eyes round as saucers with tears welling up in them. Anne sighed. She couldn't keep up her strict older sister act for long when it came to Pompon. "Alright." she said, "I won't tell mom but we have to get the dog outside without anyone seeing okay?"

Pompon gave a big smile, "Okay!"

The second Clout opened his mouth to butt into their conversation once again, there were screams heard from the other room. All the children groggily woke and gathered around the door as the stallion opened it slightly to peek out. Dishes were dropped on the floor and guests were running for the door. The manor guards rushed in, looking for something.

'It can't be me so then what..?' Clout thought. And then he saw the dog. Its grey-blue and white patchy coat was covered in cake, the blue and yellow frosting making green smears all over the animal. Of course the first aristopony who saw it probably thought it had the Blight because not too many of them were smart enough to take a second glance at the monster. The guards spotted it and pointed their weapons towards it.

"No! Fuzzy Paste is a good puppy!" Pompon yelled. She had slipped through the door everypony was looking through and ran towards the guards.

The guards turned to see the filly. "She has it too!" a unicorn mare exclaimed as she turned her weapon to the child, "S-stop! Please, I don't want to hurt you!"

Another unicorn mare guard turned to the others, "Somepony get the children out of here! We need to call the sanitization department and keep this under control before it spreads. Keep track of the guests, they'll want to test everypony for the Blight before they're released so don't let anypony go home yet."

One of the guards saluted her before he ran to the room the foals were in. Wide eyed, Clout ran to the blanket fort and hid in it. The guard burst into the room and shooed the fillies and colts out of the mansion, none of them mentioning the pegasus spy hiding in their blanket fort.

After the last of the foals were out, Clout snorted and face-hoofed. Of course he wouldn't get what he was promised. They were foals after all, why should they keep their end of a black mail. He pulled his hoof away from his face and grimaced. Cake. Of course he just had to have stepped in some earlier. Using the fort to clean the mask and his hoof off, he sighed. This mission wasn't going as perfectly as he hoped it would but at least now the house was empty. Or, empty-ish. He could still hear the guards outside yelling about the dog, not wanting to damage the furniture with their bullets but not wanting to touch the dog to capture it either. If only they had a few more brain cells, they would have realized something with the Blight shouldn't be that hyperactive.

The crystal pony trotted over to the large set of doors to the right side of the room. He crouched down a bit, pulled up the mask he wore and peeked through the keyhole. No pony there. He opened the door slowly, peeking through to make certain no pony was there that was out of the sight range of the key hole. The hallway he entered was lined with framed photographs of all sorts of fancy looking ponies, mostly shaking hooves with each other. There was a small door in front of him, a set of double doors to his left at the end of the hall and another smaller door a little ways away from the one in front of him. He turned to his right, the open hallway leading back to the room with the massive staircase. With his ears carefully scanning for sounds of others, he slowly walked to the entryway. Peeking around the corner, he could still see the ponies struggling with the dog. It ran back and forth as if it were playing tag with the guards. That is, until it stopped and saw Clout. The two made eye contact for a moment before the dog ran off, leading the guards away from the thief.

"Well, I guess not all dogs are so bad." Clout whispered to himself before trotting out to the stairs. 'The master suit has to be on the top floor.' he thought as he made his way up. He peeked over the second floor and saw a few staff ponies walking along, carrying linens into a room. They left the door open as they worked on replacing the bed sheets to a room that had toys all over the floor. The rest of the floor was wide but short. On either side was a balcony overlooking the first floor of the mansion. To his right and left were more hallways and doors. He continued up the stairs to the third floor.

The final floor of the mansion entered into a much smaller rounded room with a hallway to the right and one to the left. And again, it had doors. Lots of doors. This time there weren't any other ponies around so the stallion searched them one by one. To make sure there wasn't anypony in the area he was about to enter, he would look through the keyhole and listen through the door. When he felt he had surveyed well enough, he entered the rooms. In each new chamber, he stole anything he deemed of value that would fit into his many pockets and saddlebags. Any diaries or documents he stuffed away for later reading. He knew he had to be quick. It wouldn't be long before the city's sanitation team would arrive and detox the entire house, bubble it in a giant tent and fill it with some form of magic gas that killed any so-called plague virus. All the ticks knew it didn't actually work but it did make the rich ponies feel like they could just sweep it off their door mat so they were safe from the disease.

A laundry room, an office, a bedroom (But not Lady Blue's room unfortunately), a rec room, servant's quarters, more servant's quarters, a wine closet, an exercise room that looked like it hadn't ever been used, a sauna and a swimming pool. Why anypony would ever put a swimming pool on the top floor of a building, Clout would never know but he still wondered who's bright idea that was. He also wondered why the servant's quarters were on the top floor but not Chrysanthemum's.

There was another room but it seemed to be just a guest room. Attached to the large rec room was another, much smaller room with no door. Inside consisted of several couches, a small side table and a couple of book shelves. It wasn't an office but probably just a room to read in. Why a reading room didn't have a door to keep the noise from the rec room out Clout also didn't understand. Aristocratic ponies were weird, he decided.

His confusion at the design of the mansion was interrupted by a safe. It was a wall safe on the left side of the room, just adjacent to the far wall. Also adjacent to the safe was a large window that was slightly open letting the cool night breeze in. Rearing up in excitement, he bolted to the safe. Just as quickly, and with a big grin on his face, he ripped the mask off, stuffed it in his saddlebag, pulled out his lock picking tools and got to work. His ears strained to hear the soft scrapes and clicks the pins made as he slid each of the tumblers into place. With all of the stallion’s attention on the safe's lock, he failed to notice the mare at the room's entrance. And the three guards behind her.

The mare cleared her throat softly and Clout stopped mid opening of the safe. "I must apologize sir but the guests were not allowed to go upstairs." she said, "So, you'd best have quite a decent excuse for the guards here to not shoot you for snooping around."

Clout turned his head to look at them and cursed his luck that the foals lied to him and told somepony even though he held up his end of their bargain. She was a tall charcoal mare with yellow legs. Her long bright blue mane and tail was tied in a fancy looking braid and she had quite a lot of jewelry hanging from her neck, ears and horn. The guards behind her pushed passed and turned on the room's light.

The mare gasped as she saw him, "Oh my goodness, you're a--"

"Get him before he gets away!" one of the guards shouted.

Clout went wide eyed before backing up only to have his path blocked by the window.

The pegasus guard made the first move, tackling the crystal pony and trying to restrain him. "You are trespassing on private property and you will be punished! No pony gets away with theft in Blue manor!" she said growled.

The unicorn guard levitated out her weapon and aimed it at the two, trying to get a clear shot.

"No! Wait!" The charcoal mare said as she tried to stop the third guard from joining the fray.

The mare was shoved to the ground as the unicorn guard found her clear shot and pulled the trigger. In the chaos of the fight, the window had been pushed all the way open and Clout fell out of it just after he was hit with the tranquilizer dart. The pegasus dashed out of the window to try and catch him but the rushing river below caught him first and whisked him away in its icy grasp.

---

The wind blew through the grass of the small meadow, making the air warm and dry. Cinders floated on the breeze while two foals ran through the field, fear on their faces. In front was a long legged filly, her light silver coat singed from the lick of flames, her gray and lavender mane flowing behind her as she ran with all her might. She looked back with her big blue eyes to the smaller colt who limped as fast as he could behind her.

"Don't look back!" he said, "Keep running! Daddy said to run!" The buck skinned colt's foreleg was bleeding and he winced with every step but he kept pushing forward. They had to out run the blaze behind them. They couldn't look back, they couldn't see the fate of the ponies who screamed behind them because they knew there was nothing they could do to help. They just had to keep running. Daddy told them to run.

A giant winged beast flew past them and circled around.

"Watch out!" the filly yelled back to the colt as she skidded to a stop. The filly looked back to the colt one last time as the claws of the beast grabbed her and flew away.

"No!" the colt screamed, "You give her back! You can't take her too!!" He tried to run faster, tears streaming down his soot covered face but his leg just hurt too much for him to force himself. Focusing on her and the giant monster, he didn't see the ditch hidden in the grass and fell into it. He moaned in pain and lifted his dizzy head to watch his friend struggle and fall from the creature's claws. She fell and fell into the dark abyss while he lay there, helpless.

"Charm!"

---

The fog faded from Clout's mind as he slowly opened his eyes. His throat was scratchy and his chest ached but his body forced himself to cough a few times to try and expel whatever remnants of water still lingered in his lungs. This bodily function caused him even more pain. He groaned and lifted his head. He could see large metal beams surrounding him and several other ponies. They all had matching collars and they looked skinny and beaten. On the other side of the metal bars were ponies and griffons walking around, talking with each other about paperwork. A couple were yelling at each other, arguing over... something. He couldn't quite make it out.

He lifted one of his hooves and rubbed the top of his aching head. Only, he couldn't. He was completely bound to the floor. The chains clanged together as he moved and he finally realized what was going on. Somepony had found him in the river and they were going to sell him. His gear was completely gone. There were weapons on every guard that included no less than a whip, a pistol and a dart gun. He looked around but he didn't see where they put his belongings and Thief was nowhere to be seen. Clout's ears folded back at the thought of his missing companion. He would have to look for her as soon as he got out of his chains.

Standing up, the former thief punctuated his situation with a loud curse word when his head hit the very low ceiling of his cage. With the guards laughing at him, he decided it was best to stay lying down while giving them a stern glare in response. Being inside of the cage, it didn't have the effect he was hoping for. With another look around the room, he saw some ponies lifting large, and apparently heavy from their expressions, crates onto their backs. They walked out a nearby door where a voice on a loudspeaker boomed. For the brief moment the door was open, he could make out what the previously muffled background noise was saying.

"And do I have 600 bits? 600 bits, anyone? Anyone? Oh! I have 650 bits! Anyone going for 700? 700? Anypony? No? Going once, going twice, sold! For 650 bits! Next on our list is a very beautiful set of--"

The doors closed and the voice turned back to is muffled static. The two griffons were still arguing over their paperwork off in the corner and one of them was pointing a claw in Clout's general direction. The other griffon threw the papers in the other's face, spatted a couple more words before stomping away. The griffon shot a glare at Clout who glared back, before picking the papers up off the floor. The crystal pony snorted, whatever they were mad at him for wasn't his fault. He didn't choose to be here so they had nothing to be mad at him for.

He glanced at the other cages around him. A couple donkeys and earth ponies. Several pegasi with clipped wings no doubt. At least five unicorns and a bigger cell with a large group of foals all huddled together. Behind the slave cages were four much larger cages that contained creatures of a different taste. One had a minotaur sitting with his arms crossed and a pouty look on his face. Two of the cages had manticores in them. Large lion-like creatures with leathery wings and a scorpion tail. One of them was lying lazily in it's binds. The other was swiping a claw through the bars and roaring at the two mares who were trying to force it to calm down by stabbing at it with electric pulsing spears. In the last large metal box was a curled form covered in scales. It was barely twice the size of a pony and it had leathery wings. Soft snoring could be heard from the form in between each of the manticore's outbursts. Most of the cages had a clipboard hanging from a hook that was on the top middle of each cage. From the closest one to him, he could read that it had a line for the price sold for and the name of who the future buyer would be.

He memorized where each of the exits were: one to his left where the auctioneer was, one to the back of the room where ponies and griffons walked in and out of with paperwork (probably an office of some sort) and a large roll up metal wall that was probably a loading dock. This was not a place Clout had been before but he knew it had to be a black market. No pony or griffon would dare sell a dragon let alone a crystal pony. Once he finally finished surveying his surroundings, he decided it was time to make his grand escape. He lowered his head and sifted through his mane. He continued to search and furrowed his brow. One of the colts in the cage behind him decided to make a comment.

"Got fleas mister?"

Clout decided to ignore the commentary, lifted his head and looked towards his tail. It was too short for him to reach but he scanned it nonetheless, still frowning.

"You're awful shiny, are you a mutant? Do you have super powers or somethin'?" the colt said.

Still ignoring the foal, the stallion looked to his hooves, scanning the underside of them.

"What'cha lookin' for, the fleas? There's too many around here to kill 'em all."

"Shut it kid. I ain't got fleas." Clout said to the youngster.

The thin mare in the cage next to the stallion spoke up. "Don't bother lookin', you aren't going to find whatever it is you hid on your person. They're very thorough and are used to searching ponies. They even do..." she shuttered, "cavity searches. It's very unpleasant but they find everything. They don't want their money escaping."

Clout's ears folded back. He wasn't sure how he was going to escape but he had to. He had to keep running. A griffon walked up to his cage, the one who was arguing earlier, and glared at the buck.

"I'd much rather kill you. Would be less trouble." he said. "The boss wants to keep you though. Said you'd go damn high but I don't think you'll sell. The moment you don't, I'm going to put a bullet in your brain and wipe my claws of you. Damned crystal pony." As he walked away, he muttered to himself that he had to increase the guards to make sure nopony sold them out to the king's guards over the situation. He called over a passing mare. She was white with her mane being various shades of gray. They spoke for a moment, she nodded and barked orders to a few others. Noting the way they immediately got to their work, she had to be the one in charge. As she trotted past Clout's cage and to the door he figured was an office, she called out.

"And some pony find me Paper Cut! I know he's sleeping on the job again! Stupid stallion, I have to do everything around here." she said before slamming the door shut behind her.

Another pony came in through the door to the auctioneer. She was tan with dark grey spots on her. Her horn glowed as she floated a clipboard full of paperwork in front of her. Her blue eyes focused on the text. "Are they really sure this is right?" She asked the text in front of her. She sighed and walked up to Clout before staring at him. For a few awkward moments, the mare examined him through the bars. She turned her head this way and that, squinting her eyes and looking at him from different angles. "You really are a crystal pony, aren't you?" she asked.

Clout glared at her. "That information is confidential." he retorted with a growl.

She gave a slight chuckle. "I'm sorry sweetie but it's not hard to tell what you really are, there's no use hiding it." she said, "What's your name?"

"None of your business."

"Now come on, you're almost up. We would really like to put a name to your sale paperwork if we could." She gave Clout a smile.

He glared at her for a bit before giving into her sweet nature "Whisky Trot." he said as he looked away.

The mare laughed at the name. "Seriously? That can't be your real name! Come on, pretty please?"

Gritting his teeth, he decided on another fake name. "Arrow Point."

"Well, that's a bit better." she said with a smile, "My name is Honey Dew and it's lovely to meet you. Too bad our meeting here will be a short one, you're kind of cute. Good luck Arrow." Honey Dew turned away and walked back out the door, her tail swishing behind her.

Clout rolled his eyes and let a breath out through clenched teeth.

When she had left, the children decided that quiet time was finally over and began to speak again. "So you're really a crystal pony?" the colt asked, "I heard they were just a myth!" His eyes were wide in wonder, staring at the buckskin. Just the same as all of the rest of the foals in the cage. Clout flinched away at the dozen prying eyes and gulped. He was very glad there were bars between him and the foals, he had no intention of letting any of those brats touch him, no matter how curious they were. Some of them were 'wow'-ing, others just stared at his coat in amazement. Just in the nick of time, a stallion whacked at the foal's cage with a nightstick before yelling for them to quiet down. To Clout's relief, they all shied away in the back of their cage and stayed silent.

The crystal pony continued to look around, he had already observed everything in the room but he still tried to find any little detail he might have missed that would help him out of his situation. Unfortunately, his thoughts were cut short when the white and grey mare who he thought was in charge trotted over to his cage.

"Let's get this over with before something bad happens." she said with a scowl on her face. Two ponies flanked her, each of them holding a long pole with a rope attached at the end that was most likely supposed to be around Clout's neck. As she unlocked the cage, he tried to scooch back, his ears folded as his fate became more real.

The two ponies put the end of the catch poles around his neck and tightened the rope so it wouldn't slip off.

He was to be sold.

The mare used another key on the keyring to unlock the lock that bound his chains to the bottom of the cage.

He couldn't think fast enough, he should have looked harder for a way out, he couldn't see an escape.

They yanked him out of the cage, his chains clinking as he fell to the ground. Another guard, a griffon, came up behind him and zapped him with his cattle prod, yelling for him to get on his hooves and move. He couldn't hear them, his panic grew as he was dragged towards the door, a look of sheer terror on his face. His breathing quickened and he started to feel sick.

'This can't be happening, just can't. Not again, no, no, not again!' Clout thought in panic as he grit his teeth, trying with all his might to stop being shoved through the doorway and into the bright stage lights. They blinded him for a moment and he was hit again with electricity, causing his body to jerk forward and his hooves to finally move the way they wanted him to. When he opened his eyes, he saw a large crowd before him of gaping ponies. He could make out muzzles that were gasping but the pounding in his ears still wouldn't let him hear their murmurs to each other.

He closed his eyes tight again and focused on the beat. It had been a long time since he last had anything close to a panic attack. He knew he just had to calm himself and think rationally. There had to be a way out of this. If not now, then after he had been sold. He had done it before, he could do it again. The stage didn't matter, the crowd didn't matter, but Thief did, he had to get out of this and make sure she was okay. With one shaky, long breath after another, he calmed himself enough to dull the thud of his heart beat in his ears so he could hear the auctioneer.

"Does nopony really want the opportunity to show off their power with one of the rarest slaves?" a voice asked in shock, "Surely there is some pony out there who wants to show off their status with a genuine crystal pony!" It was a female voice. "He is a strong one, not a single mark on him and--" she continued before she cut herself off. "Oh! We have a bidder!"

Clout swallowed before opening his eyes. He stared at the floor for a moment, watching his shaky legs.

"Going for one hundred thousand bits! Anyone for one hundred twenty?" the auctioneer said with a smile in her voice.

Focusing on his breathing, the crystal pony had managed to calm himself enough to look at the crowd. He took another deep breath.

"We have two hundred thousand from number twenty three! Do we have-- Oh! And another back from number seventy one, two hundred fifty thousand!"

He could make out shapes, the stage lights blurred his vision. A pony in the middle row to the right raised a hoof with a sign and the auctioneer started again. One in the front raised their sign, he could make out the number twenty three on it. The two were in a bidding war. Occasionally another would put in their bid but theirs was soon well overtaken by one of the other two.

Breaking the fury of the bidding war, the auctioneer paused.
"Oh!" she said, "Number one hundred has made a bid of twenty million!"

More mummers through the crowd, some of which Clout could make out.

"Number one hundred? Isn't that number always reserved?"

"Twenty million bits, it's never gone that high!"

"Is the Hatter joking?"

The crystal pony glanced up at the auctioneer. A white smile was painted on the mare’s gray face, bright red blush on her cheeks. The dark purple hat atop her head and short crop black mane shaded the pony’s eyes. In her right wing was a microphone. The black and purple suit she wore matched the hat and was topped off with a large blue bow tie. The Hatter looked to Clout and met his eyes for a moment before continuing to entice the crowd for more bits.

"Well mares and gentle colts, what a bid!" they said, "Twenty million bits! But you must remember, that much money isn't even half of what it costs to purchase a crystal pony legitimately, not to mention buy the permit to own one and move to Canterlot or the Crystal Empire."

The audience once again began to whisper amongst themselves and Clout could see a few of the ponies began to lift their numbers but a door slamming open interrupted them.

"Every creature in this building is under arrest by the authority of King Sombra! Resist arrest and there will be consequences!" somepony by the doors shouted.

At least two dozen ponies dressed in black uniforms with red trim stood in front of the two main doors to the theatre. The black market patrons began to panic and run towards the stage. The monochrome mare leader charged towards the guards with a group behind her, all of them armed with weapons. The two groups immediately began a bloody battle in the old building, distracting the King's authority and giving the crowd a chance to escape. Two ponies and a griffon directed the crowd to exit through the back door and out the loading bay.

Finally, the thief found his chance. With the rush of the panicked ponies, he was pushed by the crowd away from the Hatter and the slavers who held the catch poles. Unable to reach the ends to loosen and remove them, he ran with them clattering behind him and his chains limiting his movements. Clout knew from surveying the stock room earlier that his gear wasn't in there so his best bet was the office. He burst through the door and looked around. A pin board covered in paper, a desk and chair, more paperwork and binders atop it, and a key ring holder by the door, complete with three sets of keys. He grabbed all three sets and began trying each on his bindings. None of the seven keys on the first ring worked nor did any of the twelve on the second. He thought he had it when the first key on the third ring fit but unfortunately it didn't turn. Then he noticed somepony was pulling one of the now loosened catch poles off of him. He looked behind himself to see a mare looking at him bashfully as she removed the second.

"I'm sorry" she began, "The key you were looking for was on one of the griffons." She pulled the keys out of her saddlebags and Clout snatched them away, quickly getting to work on the locks. "Um, you are--" she began again but was interrupted by a pegasus stallion who galloped into the room.

"There you are!" He said, slightly out of breath, "We've got to go!" He looked to the mare. "Who the hell are you? Nevermind, we don't have time, the guards are here for you, let's go before they find you." The stallion grabbed Clout's hoof the second the last shackle was off and pulled him out of the office.

"Hey! You can't just--" the mare exclaimed before running after the two.

The three ponies ran through the stockroom, out the loading bay and down the city street. The entire way, Clout complained and tried to struggle out of the grip of the pegasus but could not get away. The mare followed the two stallions, barely keeping up as she too complained to the pegasus.

As they galloped, the dark shadow of the Hatter followed. The three tried to out run it but it flew ahead of them. They quickly turned down an alleyway, hoping to lose the pegasus but the Hatter was already there, at the end waiting for them. The small group turned around and continued to run. Yet again the Hatter's shadow was following.

"What do you want?" Clout yelled to the dappled mare.

The suited pony landed abruptly in front of them, halting their gallop. They took a step forward as the three stepped back. "Oh don't worry, I'm not here to capture you, crystal pony." The painted grin on their face grew into a confident smile as they spoke, "I only want to deliver a message before you leave. Since you are actually leaving on your own accord of course." Her black tail swished and she took a couple more steps forward before starting to speak in rhyme, "There was a crystal pony, short and stout. That no pony else knew about. Fearless he was, brave and bold." They chuckled a bit, "Captured by slavers, bound and sold. Bought by the Head to stop the act." The Hatter's smile turned to a frown, glaring at the three, "But tattled on, they were attacked. Escape he did with the help of two friends. Soon, their days will be at ends." Her smile returned, "So tread lightly and watch your backs. For the main will take their tax."

Author's Note:

I actually did try to stay true to an actual mansion layout. I tried counting the rooms so I may be off when Anne says 87. If anyone has a more accurate number feel free to let me know and I'll correct it. Rooms include bathrooms and closets and every other space behind a door. The irl mansion layout is here: https://homesoftherich.net/2013/06/a-hotr-readers-revised-floor-plans-to-a-17000-square-foot-mansion/

All characters found in this chapter belong to me, GutterRatt (Also RadioactiveRatt, trying to change my screen name cause I think it sounds cooler). They can all be found on my toyhou.se account over here:

https://toyhou.se/GutterRatt1213/characters/folder:1192030

Chapter 5 coming soon! :)