The Black Mask Brothers

by Alex Rite

First Night on the Job

Alex

---

I woke up the next day slightly confused as to why I was sleeping on the living room couch, until I looked over to Shift and Amethyst sleeping in an armchair and remembered I had promised to sleep with them until we set up their rooms. Carefully and quietly, I snuck into the kitchen to make some breakfast. Upon entry, I found Baws and Spark Plug already awake.

"How are the kids?" Sparks asked.

"Sleeping like angels. What's up?"

"Some bad news, bro." replied Baws.

"I did some calculations," Sparks said, "and if I did my math right- and I always do my math right- I'd say we've only got about a week and a half until Scarlet Rose is able to control enough of the Amulet's power to make it impossible to stop her."

"A week and a half!?" I exclaimed, horrified. "B-but we're not even close to ready yet! Amy and Shift haven't even begun to learn how to do their parts in the heist!"

"That's what I said to him!" Baws exclaimed.

"I know, I know!" snapped Sparks, a thing very uncommon for him. "Look, I know Amethyst and Shift still have a lot to learn, but time is not on our side! I've thought about it, though, and I believe that if you two start teaching them and practicing with them now, they should be heist ready by the end of the week. Leaving us plenty of time to plan and execute the heist."

"Got it. So what's the plan?"

"Well, to start, you'll be taking Amy out to the backyard and helping her learn to use her advanced senses to sense enemies and security systems she can't see And dig a tunnel into the mansion's basement, which I also think could be useful to us should the need arise. Baws, you'll be taking Shift and helping him perfect his transformation into the pony who we decided to have him impersonate. Meanwhile, I'll be working on setting up their tech. Everypony understand?"

Baws

---

"How in the fuck am I suppose to teach someone how to shape shift? I never shape shift before! Not only that, who does he have to impersonate anyway? A grown stallion, that's who. He's only a child, don't you guys think that we should wait a bit longer before infiltrating their HQ?" I asked.

Spark shook his head. "She has the Alicorn Amulet, not only that, they know that you guys are still around. Who knows what they can do with the Alicorn Amulet." He says.

"He's right, Winter. We have to do this now, we don't have a lot of time." He says. This time, I shook my head. "What are they going to do? Training takes time, and we need more than one week if they are really going to infiltrate that place." I said.

"They could take over Equestria. Do you really believe that they'll just stay thieves?" Spark asked. I gave him a nod. "Bataille des Voleurs, Battle of the Thieves. Your born as one, you die as one. Equestria is worthless when you can steal priceless artifacts like the book they stole from us." I explain.

"Come to think of it, we haven't done a raid in a while." Alex said, scratching his chin.

"A couple of thieves stripped the Boutique of jewels; the one here in Ponyville." Spark said.

"Child's play." Alex said, and I give another nod. "Exactly. Let the kids steal the gems back. If anything goes awry, we'll come in and fix it. This is their first day of training." I say.

Let's begin.

Alex

---

Amethyst and Shift entered the hideout of the jewel crooks through a tunnel Amethyst had dug. They looked a little nervous when we had first told them about their solo mission, but a few encouraging words from me and a promise of hay burgers from Baws was enough to get them some enthusiasm. Now that they were in the field, the two were working as a well oiled machine, with Amethyst taking charge, and Shift remaining watchful and alert.

...How did I know this?

...

...Well I wasn't gonna send them on their first solo mission without a little backup just in case! I was in there too- watching them in my shadow form. Baws was here somewhere too, but honestly, he was more likely raiding the fridge than keeping track of my babies.

...wait ...did I just call them...

...

Whatever, I'll deal with this new emotional stuff later, right now I gotta keep track of my babies.

Dammit! I did it again!

"Okay Shift. You ready to rock and roll?" said Amethyst.

"Yeah! Time to kick flank and take names!" Shift replied.

Aww, so cute! Their first attempt at saying cool lines like me! I feel so proud! If only I had a camera!

...

What is wrong with me?! I'm starting to sound like a mom!

Baws

---

I came back with food in my mouth, and saying it right now, it tastes delicious! When I saw the look on my bro's face, I swear it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. "Uh, heh, dude. You alright?" I asked.

I swear, he turned a me with a donkey face. "I s-sound like a Mom...!" He said.

I waved a hoof at him. "Dude, chill. That feeling comes around when you deeply care for a younger fella. Why do you think I'm so stubborn-protective over Pastel?" I say.

He looked ahead at the kids; the two with Pastel breaking and entering into the building. "Want some food? I brought some while we wait for them to come back." I say.

He kept staring ahead. "Hmm...okay then. Tell me when you want food." I say, before turning around and looks at the night sky.

Alex

---

As my brother stood buisily stuffing his face, I got out the little techno gadget Spark had hooked up for us. He had already hacked into the security cams so that they'd show the guards a loop of empty halways and set up this thing to show us what was really going on so we could keep track of the kids. That Spark Plug- always thinking.

Baws

---

"So...what now?" I asked. Spark took a bite of his food, and layed back.

"We wait until they get back." He said.

It wasn't long before the three of us sat around. I pull out some cards. "You guys wanna play some UNO?" I asked.

Alex

---

I smacked Baws in the back of the head. "UNO."

"You don't play fair." he replied, rubbing his injury.

"Deal with it."

Baws

---

Feeling the pain by the dirt bag, I hear a small alarm come from Spark's techno thing. "Oh no!" He said, me trying so hard not to roll my eyes. He always say that for the most ridiculous things. "Shift! Amythest! What are you doing?!" He asked.

"I told Shift not to mess with the files! Now papers are all over the ground!" Pastel frustratedly yelled.

"Evidence left behind the scene. Not bad though. We made a couple messes on our first try." I said.

"And who's idea was to raid the fridge?" Alex said smugly.
I turned back at him. "Who's idea was to hang around with your GF until the guards came along? Very smart indeed." I say sarcastically.

"Look, just, clean it up as quietly as possible. Grab the gems and go." Spark said.

"I-Is it bad if I said that the guards are on their way?" Amythest asked.

"Fuck, we gotta go save them." I say.

Alex

---

"Well, looks like it's time to kick some flank." I said.

"My favorite time of the day!" exclaimed Baws.

Baws

---

We head out to the enemy building, side by side the door. "So, what? Were going to barge in, or sneak out way in?" I asked.

Alex rubbed his chin in thought. Either way, somebody is sleeping on the ground tonight.

Alex

---

"Eh. The alarm's already going off, so why bother being quiet?" I said.

"Bust in and smash everything it is, then!" exclaimed Baws.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yes- yes I am."

Baws

---

We quickly opened the door to find nothing but a sofa, some tools, and a bag of greasy food. "...Oh yeah, their hunting down the children!" I said, quickly remembering why we came here. I'm not lying when I say that I comepletely forgot why we are here. But it's okay! I remember it!

"Really? Like, seriously?" Alex asked. I shrugged. "Can't go wrong with a little forgetter, can ya?" I asked.

He sighed, but brought his staff out. "C'mon, let's go save them." He said. I brought my shovel out, my wings firmly holding onto it.

"I'm sure their fine." I said.

Alex

---

We run off to find the kids, my only focus on their protection. I glance to see Baws with a focus look on his face, and can only assume he's thinking the same thing.

Baws

---

We bust in through a door, to find an empty room. "Not it." I said. We just in through another door. "...C'mon..." my voice getting a bit irritated.

The third door was the charm because we see at least three guards crowing the three kids. "Oi! You want to go, mate?" I quickly grab their attention.

They turn to see me smiling like a mad stallion holding a shovel. "I deck ya, mate!" By this point, I'm just taunting them! The three stallions growled at us, but I kept my smile. "Let's go!" I yell.

Alex

---

As fun as it would be to fight them, I knew we didn't have time for that. We needed to save the kids, grab the loot, and get out of here before anypony else showed up. Too bad for Baws- he loves fighting.

"Baws- shadow striker maneuver!" I said.

Baws nodded to me as we rushed the guards. The guards were caught by surprise, but quickly prepared themselves for our frontal assault.

Just as planned.

I quickly changed into my shadow form and Shadow Glided underneath them. Then, once I was behind them, sprung up from the ground and used a good swing from my Hook Staff to knock them headfirst into each other. Once they were dazed, Baws finished them off with a full force body slam, knocking all three guards unconscious.

"Man I love doing that," Baws said as he got up.

"Are you three okay?" I asked the kids.

"We're good." assured Pastel.

"And check what we got!" exclaimed Amethyst, holding up a bag for us to see.

"The loot! Nice!" I exclaimed.

"Got the loot, got the kids- I'd say we're good to go." stated Baws. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Baws

---

We took off faster than someone stealing cookies from a cookie jar. Yeah, we took off that fast. Clumsy, yeah, but we ran. Once we made it to Spark, we gave him a nice, subtle greeting.

"Spark, we got it! Let's get the hell out of here!!" I yelled. Spark gave a nod, quickly packed his stuff, and we head out. We reached the Carosoul Boutique, the kids in front of us.

"Alright kids," I said, pointing a hoof at clothing store.. "Your going to drop the gems inside the Boutique. Then your going to make it out with no problems, deal?"

"Deal!" Pastel replied, and the other two nodding. I gave them a nod as well. "Good. Now, move out!" I said.

They ran to the Boutique, us hiding in the bushes a couple meters away. "You think they got this?" Spark asked.

"First mission? Probably not." I replied.

And once again, we play the waitin game.

"Wait, why are they putting the gems in there again?" Alex asked.

Spark looked back at Alex with a bored expression. "Some dudes stole a couple of gems from Rarity's boutique. Of course, she was a bit late due to her sudden faint, but we were able to get information about it. We're just returning them. Hopefully we get a reward in the end." He said.

"More and more waiting, I guess." I said, scratching the bottom of my chin.

Alex

---

"Wait, so what you're thinking is-"

"We return the gems and use that plus some convincing from Rainbow Dash to show Rarity we're some of the good guys."

"And what exactly does this acomplish for us?" I questioned.

"Well for starters," said Sparks, "We'll have a third of the Elements of Harmony on our side, so that should give us an edge. For another thing, her gem finding ability far surpasses any other that I have studied. If that's not a useful talent for a gang of thieves, then I don't know what is."

"True dat. You made sure she knows we're the ones who returned them, right?"

"Totally." said Baws. "I gave the kids a calling card and told them to put it by the gems. Even wrote 'You're welcome' on it for good measure."

Baws

---

"Your welcome?" Alex asked, a smile that clearly said seriously? I gave him a nod.

"What else did you expect?" I asked him. He gave a shrug. "I don't know, first time that we're suppose to steal something, and we aren't the ones stealing." He said.

I gave him a nod, but I sat down on the soft grass. "Makes sense. Nothing better to do at the moment." I replied. I gave a look to Spark, me raising a brow. "You know what to do after we put in the gems?"

"We get the buck outta here and leave the rest to Rainbow Dash?" said Sparks.

"Rainbow would have no idea. Unless we scare and inform her in the middle of the night, I highly doubt she'll figure out it was us. She'll think the guards returned it." I said. Knowing Rainbow, I know she wouldn't care even if she tried, but she, at the very least, l would care if Rarity is feeling a lot better than before.

"Leave a note in her room." Spark said.

I shake my head. "It's flipping 3:00 in the morning, I gotta work tomorrow. You, on the other hand, are going to pass the heck out if we continue to go through with this. One day and we did so many things. Take a long break. Two days max." I said.

Spark continued to stare ahead. "...We're fine." He replied. Finally, this kids came back, smile on their faces. Amythest was the first to speak. "We did it!" she whispered.

"Can we sleep now?" Shift asked. I nodded. "Yeah. C'mon kids, let's go!" I said.

We took off, the stars still glistening in the night.