On Her Majesty's Service

by Frutti di Mare

Chapter 2: Vocation

The breeze in my mane was an amazing feeling after the years spent in imprisonment. My dark coat was almost invisible against Luna's beautiful night sky, so I didn't have to worry about being spotted by avid stargazers. The magnificent city below me was a work of art, a combination of the unicorn's magic and the Earth pony's might. My freedom was returned to me by Princess Celestia and her sister just moments ago. The guards gave me some odd looks, but they did not dare to say a word as I walked to the gate with the two alicorns. But the most joyful moment came when Celestia removed the binds on my wings. Ordinary chains would have been easy for me to break, so they had taken this into consideration and had used special magical binds on my wings, making it impossible to fly away.

As my hooves touched the roof of the office building below me, I looked down at the starlit city. The sturdy yet elegant architecture seemed to glimmer as the moon light touched it. I was sent to Hoofington by the princesses to find a former student of Celestia's called Emerald Shine. According to Celestia, she had the astonishing ability to bend the whole spectrum of light into her whims, utilizing it as illusions and mirages, and also in her acting career to get some special touch to her roles. Without her in the team, the future of Equestria would look rather dark.

I started making my way towards the town square, gliding down from the roof. After landing at the Town Square, I heard a crunching noise under my hooves. I quickly rolled out of harm's way, ready to face the deadly, frightening...box of muffins?

"Run Richie, Muffin the Bonecrusher is after you!" I mumbled to myself as I carried the box to the nearest trash bin. Can't these ponies clean up after themselves? Yeah, you're the one to talk. Maybe I should go pull a garbage van? I didn't seem to have the nerves a dragon slayer would surely need to avoid getting burned to crisp...or worse.
I opened my saddlebag with my wing and reached for the note Luna had given me:
"Winter Street 1711". That must be the address of the unicorn.

After arriving at Emerald Shine's house, I observed the building. It was a blue two-story house, simple yet elegant, and had a large window on the second floor. The first floor had four smaller windows, and a door with an ornate knocker on it.
Behind the second floor window was what looked like the bedroom. Emerald Shine was not there, so she was most likely awake. I flew up to the window, and perceived it carefully for alarm systems. There were none. The mare was little too confident. I first placed the tension wrench into the lower portion of the keyhole, and applied it clockwise. It moved about a fraction of an inch. I then inserted the pick inside the lock, and started to slowly push the pins out of the way. Finally, with a click, the lock opened. I hopped in to the room.

The walls of the bedroom were decorated with lots of paintings. Most of them were different scenery from around the world. But what caught my attention was the largest painting on my right. It covered almost half of the wall, and portrayed Celestia fighting a chimera like creature above a volcano. It looked pretty expensive, but no thief could possibly carry a painting of that size out of the house. On the opposite wall was a similar painting, but this time with Princess Luna and a more shadowy alicorn, with eyes like those of a dragon. I reached my hoof towards the painting, followed by a jab to my face. I wasn't here to steal anything, or I would go back to my little white box. And that wouldn't be fun at all, would it? Neither of the two creatures paired with the royal sisters looked familiar to me, but I didn't let that distract me as I opened the door which I presumed would lead to a hallway. I checked both ways, not a soul in sight.

Making my way downstairs, I found what I was looking for: Emerald Shine. But she was lying on the floor and looked hurt. I reached into my bag again, and grabbed the healing potion. After pouring some of it down her throat, she coughed a little and with a gasp, she quickly hopped up, and her horn lit in an emerald green light.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?"

I was little concerned about what had happened to her, but the mare looked crazy enough to have knocked herself out.
Maybe it was time to explain myself, even if just to avoid getting killed by the utensils she was aiming at me.

"My name is Ricochet, and I was sent here by Princess Celestia."

The mare was caught in a flashback for a moment, before turning her attention back to my person.

"Celestia sent you? Likely story! You look more like ruffian thief to me."

What gave me away? The fact that I am sneaking in somepony's house at night?

"While I am a thief, or at least used to be, I was sent by her, and I can prove it."

I took the scroll Celestia had given me in case this would happen, and tossed it to the mare, who caught it in an aura of green magic, and started examining it, determined that it was a sham.

"You are telling the truth." she said, almost surprised.

Now that I wasn't about to get impaled by magical silverware, I tried to talk to her about her condition.

"Do you have a reason for lying around unconscious, or is that just some unicorn thing?

"I heard some noise from downstairs, but when I came to investigate, somepony knocked me out!"

Somepony knocked her out? Was there someone else in the house? I figured I should find this person before they would knock me out, too. And buck them in the face.

"Hold it!" she then yelled from behind me as I was trotting to the hallway.

"What is it?"

"I'm coming with you. This is my house after all, and I want to find the idiot who goes around knocking ponies out."

While her idea was something to consider, I preferred working alone.

"I suggest that you go back to sleep, and maybe lock the doors and windows next time you do."

I barely managed to dodge a fork flying at me. What the hay was she thinking?

"I am coming with you."

As Emerald Shine left me no choice, I decided that we should find the culprit as fast as possible. She then covered the house in a bubble of magic.The attacker wouldn't be able to leave the house now.As I had not seen anyone come out of the house, he was still inside. Sucks to be him.

"So you didn't see who or what knocked you out?" I asked her again.

"No! If I did, I would've told you, wouldn't I?"

I guess that makes sense. Well, if this person is a thief, I should know where exactly they would go. We dashed to the bedroom, and caught a shade reaching for the painting of Celestia and the chimera. Was he really thinking he could carry that thing out of here? Even I, with considerable expertise, decided that it was not worth the trouble.
The cloaked pony had not noticed us yet, so I tried to sneak in and get him surprise.
Before he could realize what happened, I bucked him out cold.

"Ok, let's see what we have here..." I whispered, and moved the hood from the colt's face.

It was a dark brown colt with pale yellow mane. I didn't recognize him from my time in Thieves Guild. Probably some newbie crook thinking he could make some bits by stealing from a wealthy actress. Well, he picked the wrong house to rob. Emerald Shine then turned to me.

"Thank you for your help, Ricochet. That painting is very precious to me."

I gave her a nod, and walked to the window to make my leave.

"Wait!"

I turned back to the leafy green mare. She then wrote something on a scroll, and levitated it to me. I dropped the scroll into the saddlebag, and closed the boomerang shaped pin.

"Take it to Celestia."

As I was about to leave, I thought of something that had been bothering me.

"Did that thief really think he could carry that painting out of here?"

Emerald Shine gave me a chuckle.

"You're a silly pony, Richie."

She then walked to the painting, and pressed the sun symbol on Celestia's flank. The painting moved out of the way to reveal a safe with complicated looking number locks on it.

"If you had taken a closer look at this painting, you would've noticed."

I was dumbfounded. How in Equestria did I not think of that? The so called "master thief".

"But you didn't come here to rob me, did you? No wonder you didn't pay attention to it."

The mare giggled and walked back to her bed.

"Close the window after you leave, darling."

I looked at her for a moment, and then left. After closing the window, of course.

Comments

[RedAllex]

I'm seeing a lot of potential in this story. With a few adjustments, you're sure to improve! Can't wait to see what you'll produce next.