The Harmony Thief

by DamagedQ

Chapter 2

“What do you think you’re doing?”

So bucking close…

Your blood ran ice cold and your mane stood on end. You could feel the blood rushing out of your face as you turned pale. Every muscle in your body tensed up; you couldn’t move.

No! This was the worst possible outcome! She’s gonna put me in the dungeon for sure! You’ve heard stories about the dungeon. You’ve had friends that got put in the dungeon. You didn’t like the dungeon.

You slowly turned around, fearing what you might see, although, you weren’t surprised in the least when you saw Princess Celestia glaring at you. You’re heart sank and you dropped the tiara that you were holding in your teeth and it made a sharp ‘clang’ as it hit the floor. She spoke once again.

“Well?” You simply stared at her, speechless. For once in a long time, you felt that writhing, uncomfortable feeling of fear.

“I-I… I, umm…” you stutter before becoming silent again. You felt pitiful. You weren’t used to stealing items of such high-importance, and you definitely weren’t used to getting caught, not to mention red-handed.

“Guards!” she yells, making you jump a little. Almost instantly, two guards rush the through the door with the obvious intent to apprehend you. They succeed. They tie your hooves behind your back and Celestia steps to the side to allow the guards to escort you out. You could hardly walk with your two front hooves bound behind you, but you leaned on the guards for support, which only allowed them to lead you more easily. You exit the room with the guards and they lead you back down to the ground level of the castle.

“Where are we-?”

“Shut up,” one of them responds tersely before you finish.

“Absolutely, your highness,” you spit back sarcastically. The guards ignore you and continue to lead you down yet another staircase and into a large, dank room. It was dimmer and colder than the rest of the castle, and you knew exactly where you were.

… the dungeon.

“Wait here,” one of the guards orders emotionlessly as they both practically toss you into what appears to be a holding cell. You sit down on a bench sticking out of the wall. It seemed rather clean for a dungeon, but you weren’t complaining. The only light source available was the dim, morning sun filtering through the barred window at the end of the cell opposite to the door. You start to doze off, leaning your head against the back wall.

“Wake up!” yells a commanding voice. You’re still half asleep, but you wake up in an instant as a hoof meets your face, creating a ‘smack’ that echoes through the empty cell. You try to put a hoof to your face, but you’re stopped by the rope that still binds them behind your back.

“What the hay!?” you complain, opening your eyes. Your anger quickly turns to shock as you see the princess of the night directly in front of you. Two guards stood just outside the doorway, apparently ready to intervene of something went out of the princess’s control. You couldn’t tell if they were the same guards that brought you here or not. To you, they were visibly indistinguishable.

“Wh-what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be off doing princess stuff or whatever?”

“First of all, don’t talk unless I give you permission,” she replies succinctly. “Second, this is one of my duties in the castle: deciding what to do with filth like you.”

“Filth? I would hardly say that-”

“I said don’t talk,” she interrupts you. Her horn begins to glow. You’re suddenly gagged with some sort of magic and can no longer talk. You squirm in your seat, trying to get your hooves free in a futile attempt to remove the uncomfortable feeling in your mouth preventing you from speaking. “That’s better,” she decides. The calm, uninterested tone in her voice continues to irritate you, but you can’t do anything about it.

“So you tried to steal the elements of harmony?” she continues. “That sounds like something worthy of capital punishment, does it not?” A worried look forms on your face and you try to protest, but to no avail.

Why did I even try this!? I was completely unprepared!, you think to yourself in a panic.

“I am going to let you speak, and then I want you to tell me your story.” You give her a confused look and she elaborates. “Tell me where you’re from, who you are, and why you did what you did.” She ungags you and you cough for a moment before looking up at her. You hope that she can relate to your life and have some mercy, but you doubt she’ll understand at all. Hopelessly, you begin.

“I live in the outskirts of Ponyville,” you start cautiously. “I’ve, umm… stolen all my life. It’s kinda like a profession, I guess.” You look at her and expect her to be mildly repulsed, but her unchanging expression yields no answers. “My parents died when I was younger, and when you have to take care of yourself as a colt, the easiest thing to do is take from others,” you continue shakily. “I’ve done this all my life, so this is the only thing that I can make a living off of. I was hoping that if I pulled off something like this, I could make a massive amount of bits and be set for life. Then I would never have to steal again.”

“Who were you planning on selling it to?” she asks, making you think.

“I don’t really know,” you admit. “But I’m sure it wouldn’t be much of a problem finding someone.”

“Exactly. Don’t you think anyone that would want to buy them from you would want to use them to do something evil? Like stealing the throne or destroying Equestria?” the last part she added catches you by surprise. Honestly, you hadn’t thought of that, but you realize that she’s probably right. “Well?”

“Y-yes, I suppose,” you reply sheepishly.

“Well, despite how ill thought out this was, your intentions don’t seem to be absolutely horrific, so I think I might cut you somewhat of a deal. My sister and I have requested a new personal servant, but no pony has come yet. You could work as our servant until we have decided that you have learned your lesson.” She stares at you, still expressionless. You consider it. It’s in an interesting prospect at the worst.

“What’s the… alternative?” you ask, more out of curiosity than considering declining her offer.

"I suppose you could live down here for the next few decades,” she says thoughtfully, seemingly pondering the prospect.

“N-no! I mean… I’ll take the first option please.” A sly grin touches the corners of the princess’s mouth as you are frightened. It creeps you out a little and you remain silent.

“That’s what I thought,” she responds before ordering the guards to untie the ropes behind your back. You sigh in relief as you stand on your own hooves for the first time in a while. Suddenly, the drowsiness from lack of sleep hits you. You must’ve gotten about one or two hours, but you figure that now isn’t a good time to complain about that. Princess Luna leads you out of the dungeon with the guards close at either side of you.

You reach the top of the stairs just behind the princess and proceed down the same hallway you have four times now. At this point it almost seems familiar; although, with the lights turned on, you can see more clearly the murals and elaborate décor on the walls. Eventually, you reach the end of the hallway.

The guards at your sides abandon you and race in front of the princess. They swing the large doors outward and allow admittance into what you think might be the throne room. Your suspicions are confirmed as you advance forward, just behind the princess, and see two thrones at the other end of a large, rectangular room, one being occupied by the Princess of the Sun. One throne was white and gold, and the other purple and black, both about equal in grandeur. The rest of the room was decorated much like the hallway on a much larger scale, except for the large stained glass windows that lined it from front to back. Luna gives a slight bow before sitting atop her own large throne, leaving you alone on the floor.

You hesitate before bowing grudgingly. The last thing you wanted to do was show your capturers something that could be considered respect, but you figure you wouldn’t benefit from directly disobeying them. You look up and stare at the princesses blankly, waiting for one of them to say something.

“I see you’ve offered him the position,” Celestia speculates.

“Indeed, and we don’t even have to pay him,” she jests, probably attempting to irk you.

“We might as well make use of him. What is your name?” she asks, turning her attention towards you once again. You vacillate for a moment before revealing your name. She raises an eyebrow at you. “Well, that’s an interesting name,” she comments. “So, -. Go fetch me a glass of water,” she orders, calling you by your name.

‘Go fetch’? Am I a dog now?

“Go down the hallway and take the third right," she continues. "That’s the kitchen. I assume you already know how to fix a glass of water,” she says distastefully to you.

“A refresher always helps,” you reply patronizingly. “Could you be so kind as to remind me?” She pauses before responding.

“I find your lack of respect disturbing. We can always put you back in the dungeon,” she says in a matter of fact tone. At those last two words, you straighten up and try to find the words to reply.

“My apologies, your majesty,” you say with a slight bow before hastily making your way out of the room. You think freely once you enter the familiar hallway. You assume it’s used as a kind of center point with several other rooms connected to it. Guards and other castle inhabitants passed and stared at you at you walked down the hallway towards the kitchen.

Eventually, you reach the kitchen following the princess’s instructions. You enter into a busy room with white tiles on the floors and walls and ponies bustling around every which way to get where they need to go. No pony seems to notice you except for one. A light brown earth pony with a short, blonde mane quickly shimmies his way through the crowd and approaches you. Your instinct as a thief tells you to run, but you merely shuffle your hooves indecisively before he reaches you.

“Who are you?” he demands.

“Oh, umm… I’m -,” you reply, stating your name. You quickly recount your time at the castle, summing it up in about twenty seconds, and hoping that he doesn’t hear many of the details.

“Wait, so you tried to steal something and got caught, and now you’re working off your punishment as the princesses’ personal servant, and Princess Celestia wants a glass of water?” he asks rather loudly, calling the attention of most of the other ponies in the room. They seemed to become interested as they realized there was a stranger in the room and for the most part the room was silent. “What exactly did you try to steal?” he asks accusingly as everypony else listens in.

I thought the interrogation was over...

“The elements…” you mumble, barely audible.

“What?”

“Uhh… a vase,” you lie, feeling the gaze of everypony in the room burning through you. You can't believe you were about to reveal something like that to these ponies.

“Oh. Well, here’s a glass of water,” he says slowly as he finds a glass, fills it with water, and hands it to you. You proceed to awkwardly walk out of the kitchen, not hearing anymore movement from within until you’re a good distance away from the room.

You walk back to the throne room more quickly than last time, avoiding the gaze of many of the passersby. The guards once again open the large doors to the throne room and let you pass.

“That took a while, but you’ll get faster as you get more familiar with the castle,” Celestia comments as you approach the thrones. Celestia uses her magic to lift the glass of water out of your hoof and place it next to her, on a pedestal next to the throne.

“Anything else, your majesties?” you ask mockingly, getting no reaction from the princesses; however, Luna perks up as if she had just remembered something.

“Oh, yes! I would like some water as well,” she states firmly.

“I was just in the kitchen! Why didn’t you ask before?” you ask irritably.

“I didn’t want water then. Now I want water. Is that a problem?”

“No, your majesty,” you reply through gritted teeth. The words tasted foul in your mouth, but you had no other choice. You grudgingly turn around and head back to the kitchen.

Comments

[DamagedQ]

Some parts might seem a little weird... I listened to this while I wrote this chapter.

[crazypony26]

great chapter can't w8 for the next one

[DamagedQ]

990369 I never got a PM... are you gonna send one soon or should I post (almost completed)chapter three first? If you do send one I'll look through the third chapter with the advice from your PM and edit it before publishing it.

[DamagedQ]

1111138 K, thanks. comment when it's sent plz so I can verify that it werked
EDIT: Screw that... how about I just let you read chapter three before I publish it?

[furryman]

"I find your lack of respect disturbing."
Darth Celestia? Is that you?