Mages of Virtue: The Phantom Thief

by Nova Arc

Alliance

Sunset’s mind was not at rest. She could just barely keep her focus during class. Her mind wandered back and forth between the holographic 3D image of the first rune-infused items in history and the shadowing figure that she saw the night before.

“Am I boring you, Miss Shimmer?” Inkwell asked.

Sunset bolted upright, snapping out of her daze. “Um, no, of course not, Professor Inkwell,” she said.

“Then what reason do you have to be dozing off during my class? Did you not sleep well last night?”

Sunset thought the question through. It wasn’t easy going back to sleep after what she saw. Her mind was still spinning with questions-

“Miss Shimmer!” Sunset’s fluttering eyes shot open again as a low laugh echoed through the room. Inkwell shook her head and continued.

After class, however, Twilight approached Sunset. “Hey, you don’t look so good. Something happen?”

“No… well, yeah, kinda,” Sunset said. “But I don’t know what, exactly.”

“Well, it must’ve been something if it didn’t let you sleep,” said Twilight. But they decided to wait until after Math.

Finally, it was lunch and Sunset sat down with Team Harmony to talk.

“So what’s this all about, Sugarcube?” asked Applejack.

“Well, last night, I saw this weird… thing in our room. It was looking through Trixie’s bag,” Sunset explained.

“Wow. Must either be desperate or has really bad taste,” said Rainbow. “What was it looking for?”

“No idea. But it was all black. I couldn’t even see any eyes.”

“It was a she.” Everyone turned to look at Pinkie.

“That’s a bold accusation, Pinkie. Especially considering you didn’t even see the person.”

“True,” Pinkie replied. “But the Internet’s been on fire about it for a while now! She’s the local school mystery!”

“Not this again,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.

“Wait, not what now?” Sunset asked confused.

“Well, last year, students were sending in complaints about missing items: books, clothes, runes, tomes; among other things,” Twilight explained.

“They never found the missing things?”

“No,” Twilight replied. “No one knows who took them. No one even saw anyone take them. Everyone started blaming each other until quite a few people started reporting seeing something at night carrying their stuff away.”

“Everyone calls her The Phantom Thief,” stated Pinkie, “But no one knows who she really is.”

“Again, Pinkie, how is it a she?” Rarity asked. “You never reported anything stolen.”

“Nope,” Pinkie replied. “But I have a hunch. She’s also got a really flat chest.”

“Uh…” No one knew how to respond to that.

“Well, I didn’t get a chance to “check out” her curves, so I wouldn’t know,” said Sunset.

“That sounded so wrong,” said Rainbow.

“I know,” Sunset said, hiding behind her hair.

“Have you told Princess Celestia?” asked Fluttershy.

“No,” Sunset said. “Not yet.”

“You probably should, dear,” said Rarity.

“Agreed,” said Applejack. “Maybe she could have some guards look into it.”

“I guess so,” Sunset said.

“I’m sure everything will turn out fine,” said Fluttershy.

---

“I’m sure everything’ll be fine,” Loli said as she and Dawn made their way to Gym class.

“Look, Loli, I don’t think it’s such a good idea,” Dawn replied.

“Since when is having friends not a bad idea?”

“Well, I got you.”

“Awww! That’s sweet! But you can’t isolate yourself from everyone else.”

Dawn groaned. During class, Iron Will came through the gym door carrying what looked like a pyramidal structure almost as big as a footstool in one arm and an orb just as big in the other. He set the pyramid down, after which some runes began to glow on the sides, then balance the orb on the tip, after which it began to float.

“All right,” he said. Although he didn’t shout, his voice was still naturally pretty loud. “Today, I’m going to be gauging your physical capabilities.” He tapped the orb. “This is called a Hit Register. It gauges the energy in your attack and produces a value according to the strength. Now this test is only for your physical strength, seeing as not all of you have offensive magic abilities. Now, I suggest you put everything you’ve got into your hit to get the best possible score you can because you only get one shot and your score will also determine what missions you can and can’t go on… and if you get to go on any at all.” Echoes of students saying, “Wait, what?” rippled through the room.

“Well, of course,” said Iron Will with a smirk. “If you can’t at least land a decent blow against a foe like a Timberwolf, do you expect to take a mission that may or may not involve an Ursa? Now, we’ll start from the people farthest behind.”

The first one up was Thunderlane, who was standing at the far back of the class. He walked forward towards the device and took a deep breath. Then, a pair of ethereal gray wings shot out of his back and propelled him forward at tremendous speed, adding enough power to his kick that there was a slightly visible ripple upon impact. The red runes glowed brightly as they calculated the power in Thunderlane’s kick. On the orb, a counter began rolling and when it stopped, it registered a value which Iron Will read out loud.

“354,” said the coach. Everyone gasped, but then they all realized something: without anything to compare it to, they had no idea how high that was. Seeing this, Iron Will said, “That’s the equivalent force of a tackle from a griffin at top speed.” Students flocked around to congratulate Thunderlane on hearing this. “NEXT!”

As each student went, Iron Will recorded their score on a tablet. Every student got above a 200, although some of them were given a second chance due to an unavoidable derp of straight-up missing the device altogether!

As Applejack stepped up to the device, the rest of the class stepped back. She grinned as she turned so her back was to the Register. She crouched and planted her hands on the ground. Everyone else braced themselves, holding onto something or someone else. Finally, she raised her legs and kicked back. The blow was strong enough to produce a shockwave that knocked most of the students back and knock a few others down.

Applejack beamed proudly yet humbly, as Iron Will announced her score, “847.”

“Ain’t nothin’,” she said as she walked back to her team, high-fiving Rainbow Dash, who had gotten a 343, and that was without much of a running start.

“NEXT!”

Up next was a somewhat dark-skinned girl with long, curly blond hair with a purple streak tied back into a fluffy bun wearing a purple sports bra and black track bottoms. Sunset remembered her: Rox Candy. She stepped up to the Register and smirked. Wasting no time, she leaned back to gather momentum and nailed the Register with an overhead swing. The force rattled the ground, although not as much as Applejacks, but still enough to topple a good number of students. Sunset was shocked at the outcome: “821,” said Iron Will.

She’s almost as strong as AJ?! Sunset was impressed. Rox walked back to her spot, where a group of student council members were waiting to congratulate her.

“NEXT!” Up next was Loli, who got a 462 with her shadow-infused punch. Then, Dawn. Sunset was eager to see exactly what kind of power he had. Judging by his fight with Blueblood, who was nowhere to be seen during this class, she estimated him at over 400. She was a little bit off. Dawn’s punch registered a surprising 683; that’s almost 150 points higher than her! Even she didn’t expect a value that high!

Once everyone had gone, Iron Will put down the final values. “Okay, looks like you all made the cut,” he said. “But I’m gonna need to give a few of you a promotional test just to be sure you’re ready.”

---

At the end of the day, Sunset was heading back to her dorm room when she saw Roxy walking towards the school gate. As if she could feel Sunset looking at her, Roxy turned around to look at Sunset, who waved to her. Sunset’s heart sank a little when Roxy responded by sticking her nose up, turning back around, and walking away; not so much as a smile.

Sunset was confused, wondering if she may have done something to unknowingly upset her. Maybe something from her… past mistakes that Roxy just came to realize? She pondered this all the way back to her room, where Loli was still installing the system.

“Hey, Sunset, I might need some help,” Loli said, trying to untangle the lengths of wire tangled in her hair. But Sunset didn’t respond. “Hello? Gaia to Sunset, do you read?” Loli could see she was very distracted. She looked around for something to get Sunset’s attention and found the TV remote… and threw it at her.

“Ow!” Sunset rubbed the side of her head where the remote hit and glared at Loli. “What was that for?”

“I was trying to get your attention, but you didn’t notice,” Lolli replied. “Sorry.”

Sunset sighed. “No, it’s fine. I was just a bit distracted.”

“Ya don’t say. What’s up?”

“I… It’s nothing. What did you need help with again?”

Loli wanted to insist, but rethought. Instead, she held up the streams of wire caught in her hair.

“Wha- How?”

Loli gave a sheepish smile. “I’m as surprised as you. I’m usually way better at this stuff.”

---

Meanwhile, Blueblood seethed in his room, but not his room in the school. As a member of the royal house, he had an exclusive suite in Chantalot Castle; not like Celestia was doing anything with them.

His mind was a mess; Dawn had humiliated him. Worst of all, he dare to touch his royal blade, a blade the other student would kill just to see him unsheathe. He intended to satisfy his vengeance, and unlike most students, he didn’t simply try to prank them or mess with their stuff; he went deeper, more personal.

As he paced his room, a shadow appeared on his window.

“What’s got your bloomers in a bunch?” she asked.

Blueblood jumped in surprise at the voice, turning swiftly, ready to draw his sword. The shadow remained unfazed. “How many times have I told you to never sneak up on me?!”

“Well, you didn’t exactly call me because of my lack of restraint, did you?” she replied.

Blueblood growled and let go of his sword. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“How much?”

“Kid, I doubt you could afford my services per minute,” she said, sitting on the windowsill.

“Do you know who I am?” Blueblood said, insulted. “I am Prin-”

“Don’t…” said the figure, putting what looked like a long needle, as along as a rapier, to Blueblood’s neck to silence him. The silver weapon shimmered in the moonlight. “If there’s one thing I hate more than anything, it’s people flashing their fancy titles at me, or anyone else at that. It’s not like the whole Planet doesn’t already know you. Also, it doesn’t quite care, so why should I give a damn?”

“Just… making a point,” Blueblood said, mustering as much courage as he could. “Besides, I doubt our ages are that far apart.”

The figure stared at him for a moment. “Physically, maybe,” she said, hiding the weapon behind her again in one swift movement. “But mentally, you’re just a runt.”

“Tch!” If he didn’t need her services at this moment, he’d decapitate her where she stood… or at least try to. “How… Much?” Blueblood said through gritted teeth.

The shadow looked up in thought. “Hmmm… well, considering what you’re having me do, I’d say… 3000 per night should be fairly generous.”

“”Three thou-” Blueblood calmed himself before he could scream in outrage. “F-Fine. Be here by 10:37PM sharp. Any later and you don’t get paid.”

“Oooh, acting tough now, are we?” she said mockingly. “Just remember who’s actually doing all the heavy lifting here.” With that, she shifted back and dropped off the windowsill.

Blueblood didn’t quite care what her move was after falling. He had other things to attend to; figuring out how to humiliate Dawn, to get as far under his skin as possible until he begs Blueblood to make it go away. And a cold grin crept across the boy’s face as an idea crept into his mind.

---

Sunset sat on her bed, staring at the bedroom door as she had all night. Her eyes were practically bloodshot and the only reason she wasn’t on the verge of crashing was the cup of thick, black coffee in her hands. She looked at the clock and saw it was time to get up. As usual, she pulled Loli’s headphones over her ears and played a song on the highest volume until Loli practically danced herself awake!

“Morning, Sunset,” she said with a yawn. “How did you sle-” The moment she saw Sunset’s eyes, she knew to changed her question. “Better question: did you sleep?”

Sunset groaned. “Nope,” she said, sipping her coffee, cringing at the bitter taste.

Loli was very confused as to why anyone wanted to stay up all night. She knew she did sometimes, but that was for an entirely different reason. “You’re gonna need a lot of sugar to get that taste to go away,” said Loli.

But the words didn’t register. Sunset’s brain could barely register that she was even awake.

At school, it wasn’t any better. Sunset had stayed at the very back of the class just to escape the eyes of their teacher, Professor Creed.

By lunch time, her friends were worried. She was practically ready to fall asleep in her food; only her arms kept her from face-planting
into the plates of mashed potatoes.

“Should we do something?” asked Fluttershy.

“Not sure if anything we do is gonna have any effect,” Applejack said, poking Sunset.

Twilight looked around the cafeteria and caught sight of someone who she thought could help.

“Hey, Loli?” she called out as the girl passed by them.

“Whaddup?” Loli replied, walking over to their table.

“Did Sunset sleep last night?” Twilight asked.

“Nope,” Loli replied. “No idea why, though. Said she was waiting for something, but she wouldn't give any details other than that.”

Twilight was worried. If this had something to do with the shadow Sunset saw the night before, she knew Sunset’s stubbornness would get the better of her.

“You guys are her best friends,” Loli said. “She must’ve told you something.”

“Well, she said something about seeing a shadow rummaging through stuff in your room,” Rainbow said. “Well, when she was awake, anyway.”

“Huh? I probably wasn't awake for that part, but Trixie was going on about her blowing off a chunk of the door and disturbing her sleep. Any idea what’s going on?”

“The Phantom Thief is making a comeback!” Pinkie said, matter-of-factly.

“Whoa, really?” Loli said, her eyes lighting up.

“Don’t tell me you’re buying into that boarding school ghost story,” Twilight said in disbelief.

“Hey, deny it all you want. Whoever they are stole my favorite ribbon last year!”

“Why would they want to steal a ribbon?” asked Rainbow. “Unless it was made from imported silk, I doubt there’s any value aside from sentimental ones.”

“I don’t know,” Loli replied. “Why’d they steal bags? And socks? And lamps? I think it was just a big practical joke, and a prank master myself, I can appreciate it.”

“Well except only a few people got back their items,” said Twilight. “Considering nothing’s gone missing, I think someone is just trying to play a huge prank on the school.”

At that moment, Sunset yawned as she woke up.

“Welcome back to the physical realm,” Loli joked.

“Wha… how long was I out?” Sunset asked.

“All through lunch,” Applejack replied.

“Oh…”

“You really don’t seem like the all-nighter type,” said Loli.

“Well, I’m usually much better at it,” she joked, making Loli roll her eyes and smile.

---

By the end of the day, Sunset was ready to crash for the next week! But she couldn’t, knowing that Professor Inkwell hadn’t given their assignment a deadline, meaning she could ask for it tomorrow. So the moment she got back, she went into the study and got to work on her laptop. As she browsed the internet for information on her topic, a news article in her feed caught her attention. She looked through it and saw it was a repost of an old blog about the Phantom Thief.

No one knows who it is or why they do it. Most people believe it isn’t even human. But the one thing they know for sure is that they tend to target items of some kind of personal value, no matter how little the value. It has been recorded that almost 100 students reported some item of theirs going missing, random things like their clothing items, school books, and some even reported diaries going missing. The rumor is that they are looking for something. The question remains: what?

Sunset closed the article. They had zero information on whoever this was and she didn’t like that. She wondered if the Princesses even knew about it.

“Don’t even think about it.” Sunset turned around to see Loli standing at the door.

“Do you even know what I’m thinking?” Sunset asked, closing the tab.

“Something along the lines of, “Maybe I can catch this creep.” The only thing I can’t figure out is your reason. Are you trying to prove something?”

“No,” Sunset replied.

“Don’t lie to me, Sunset,” Loli said.

“What makes you think I’m lying?”

“Your heart rate went up.”

“Wait, what?”

“I have exceptionally good ears. I can pick up on stuff like that. So, what’s your reason?”

Sunset remained quiet. She wasn’t sure how to answer. Was her reason even worth it? Loli shut the door and locked it. Using her finger, she carved a symbol into the door using her magic: a silencing rune.

“Talk to me,” Loli said, sitting on the table next to Sunset.

Sunset bit her lip. It wasn’t the kind of thing she could tell just anyone, especially not someone she just met a week ago. But then, she took a deep breath.

“I just… I just want to do something to help,” she said. “I hate sitting on the sidelines when I know there’s something I can do, especially if it means I can help my friends.”

There was a long, awkward silence. Sunset didn’t look up. She didn’t even want to know what expressing Lolli had on her face at that moment.

“That… was so cheesy.” Sunset looked up to see Loli smiling. “Seriously? That’s what you're worried about? Jeez, Sunny. For a moment I thought you had some kind of personal vendetta with… whoever this person is.”

“Wait, what?” Sunset said, confused.

“Look,” Loli said with a grin, “whether you like it or not, I’m helping. Partly because I like helping, partly because I really want my ribbon back.”

Sunset chuckled. “You really aren’t taking no for an answer, are you?”

“They have my ribbon,” Loli repeated.

“Guess there’s no way out,” Sunset thought. “Alright, but let’s keep it between us,” she said, holding out her hand.

“Deal,” Loli agreed, shaking her hand.

At night, Loli left their room to meet Dawn, who was waiting outside the dorm building.

Dawn saw her in the distance and before she reached him, he said, “Don’t you think you should cover up a bit more?” noticing her skimpy pajama set.

“What? Getting any bad ideas?” she teased.

“Don’t hold your breath,” he said with a grin. “So, what’s up?”

“Well…” Loli shifted uncomfortably. “This is supposed to be between Sunset and me, but… you’ve heard the rumors about the Phantom Thief, right?”

Dawn raised an eyebrow. “Yeah… why?”

“Well… we’re going after him… her… whatever they are.” Dawn didn’t move. “Look, I promised Sunset I’d keep it between us, but-”

“I'm not getting involved,” Dawn said.

Loli stared blankly at him. “Huh?” she said, tilting her head to one side.

“I’m not getting involved,” Dawn repeated.

“Wait, but…” Loli thought about this for a moment. “So you’d love to run into the Everfree Forest to investigate a deviant Nox Ursa sighting, but you don’t want to get involved with chasing someone who’s going about the school taking people’s stuff?”

“Ding ding ding!” He noticed Loli still looking at him. “Look, it’s none of our business. I’m pretty sure the Princesses have heard rumors and are already working on it themselves in silence. If you or anyone else wants to join in on a private investigation, I'm not stopping you, but I’m gonna be on the sidelines for it.”

Loli knew there was no changing his mind. After a few experiences, she knew he had a hard time getting involved in anything outside official school stuff. It still annoyed her; obvious when pink electricity arced around her.

“Oh… you can be so… so…” She struggled I frustration to find the right word.

“Dense?” Dawn completed. “Stubborn?”

Loli growled. She was pretty much ready to drag him back to her dorm room and force him to cooperate. But she knew better than anyone that his denseness and stubbornness were beyond anyone’s. So she calmed down. “Fine,” she said, walking away. “Fine. But you’d better keep your stuff under your pillow and sleep with both eyes open.”

Dawn shrugged and walked back to his dorm. He felt sort of bad for turning Loli down like that, but he also knew his boundaries.

---

“What’s got you all wound up?” Sunset asked, noticing a frustrated Loli walk into the bedroom.

“Nothing… It’s nothing,” Loli assured her as she hopped into her bed. But Sunset was not convinced.

“No. Buying it,” she said. “I don’t need to be Applejack to tell you're hiding something.

Loli took a deep breath. “Well… I may have kinda tried to let Dawn in on it.” She winced, waiting for Sunset scold her or yell something along the lines of, “WHAT?!”

But Sunset had already guessed she’d tell her closest friend about what she was doing. “I take it he didn’t want to join?” she asked.

“He can be so nice and so helpful,” Loli said. “But at the moment you least expected, he decides to not want to be part of history.”

“History?” Sunset asked with a faint smile.

Loli’s head appeared upside down just above Sunset. “We’re about to be the first ones to catch the Phantom Thief,” Loli said. “How would anyone possibly say, “No,” to the chance to catch the uncatchable?”

“I’m pretty sure he has his reasons,” Sunset reassured her. “Besides, we don’t even have a plan aside from “look out for mysterious figures and chase down anyone we see”.

“Sometimes, his reasons are stupid,” Loli said bluntly, lying back down. “Plus, I’m pretty confident we can catch just one thief… unless it’s secretly multiple people working together to pull it off…” Her mind wandered to the possibility. “Like when Team Harmony did the whole Mage-do-Well thing…”

Sunset chuckled. It was weird and funny how Loli shifted from frustrated back to her perky self. Maybe she was right; maybe they could catch the Phantom Thief.

---

A shadow hung over the school, staring at the watch on its wrist. As it struck 11:00PM, it pulled up a cell phone and tapped the screen. A detailed holographic map appeared over it and the figure touched one of the blocks, turning it red in contrast to the remaining blue.

“Still a lot of ground to cover,” she said, looking over the schematics with over 70% of it still blue. “Then again, time is on my side.” She looked from her perch at the school. She looked back at her phone and turned off the map. Now on the screen was a picture of a certain girl with hair that reminded her of ketchup and mustard on a Magehattan hot dog. She heard her stomach grumble. “Jeez. I knew looking at this was a bad idea,” she groaned as she put her phone away. “But I guess one night off wouldn’t hurt. Besides, after last night, I think I’ve earned a treat.”

Author's Note:

So, we're finally gettng into the main arc. Hope you guys are enjoying this, because I intend to keep it rolling!

Comments

[thefroggyninja]

almost than

"more than" or "almost"
Also while Mare-do-well was already a pretty bad pun at least it made sense. Mage-do-well just sounds weird,

[Nova Arc]

7227397 Thanks. I'll fix that. I couldn't come up with a better mage pun for that to go with "do-well". Still working on it.