The Harmony Thief

by DamagedQ

Chapter 3

Note: your name is now represented as a ---
I doubt this will confuse anyone; however, I am mentioning it anyways.

___

You finally lay down after what felt like the longest day of your life. Both princesses had you running around the castle all day doing what you thought were the most tedious and pointless errands, all the while mocking and patronizing you. Specifically Celestia. Luna wasn’t that much of an annoyance. She didn’t ask for much at all actually. Still, you weren’t going to take this for more than a few weeks. You had to escape, but you wouldn’t dare try anything tonight. Even so, you decide that you need to try to escape at some point. You have no idea how long they plan on keeping you. You eventually concede that you need to sleep and you can start working on a plan some other time.…

“Mom? Dad?”
“Wake up already! I’m scared!”

Th-thump! Th-thump!

“Wh… wha?” you stammer for a moment before you figure out what’s happening. “Damnit! That dream again!” you complain aloud.

Th-thump! Th-thump!

The knocking was louder and more aggressive the second time. You hop out of bed and walk slowly to the door, simultaneously fixing your mane. You swing the door open and see two guards standing on the opposite side, one ready to knock for a third time. You weren’t sure what time it was, but you felt fairly well rested, so you guess about seven or eight in the morning.

Not bad… for being held prisoner…

“Follow us,” one of the guards commands, not skipping a beat. You felt the need to go back and get ready first, but then you remembered that you had no possessions or money… or freedom.

You give an ungrateful grunt as you shut the door and follow suit behind the guard. The other guard dropped back behind you to form a line, where you could be monitored from every direction.

You make your way to the hallway that leads directly to the throne room at a frustratingly slow pace. Every time you sped up a little, the guards would get even slower, forcing you back for a moment. You were somewhat surprised that the princesses felt the need to watch you this closely.

“Don’t trust me enough to walk by myself? It’s not very far away, and it’s not like I could run away. You guys are everywhere,” you reason with a little bite in your voice.

“No,” the guard behind you tersely responds. There’s a short pause before you continue.

“Yeah… I wouldn’t trust me either,” you concede, letting out a sigh and remembering how you were attempting to steal the elements of harmony only two nights ago. Finally, you reach the doors that serve as the entrance to the throne room. The doors are opened by two white pegasus guards (…what a surprise…) and the guards accompanying you toss you inside the room before the doors slam behind you. You’re shocked by the sudden force and lose your footing, falling onto your stomach as your hooves slide out from under you in four different directions.

This elicits a giggle from Princess Luna, while her sister remains unmoved. You let out a sigh before standing up and approaching the princesses, hesitating slightly before bowing to them.

“I take it you slept well?” Princess Celestia asks first.

“Uh, sure,” you lie, knowing that she probably doesn’t care.

“Good,” she responds. “I have an important meeting to get to that’s concerning the gala coming up, so you’ll just be catering to Luna today,” she explains. There’s a moment silence as she rises from her throne and walks towards the large doors, accompanied by two guards. “Oh yes, before I forget,” she remembers as she stops in her tracks. “You may have your saddlebags back. We have no use for them, and you might find them useful when helping around the castle.”
One of the guards standing next to her takes the cue and places your saddlebags to you before returning to the princess’s side. You watch her as she is escorted out of the room and you can’t help but smile at her unexpected disappearance; however, your smile fades to slight grin in fear of upsetting Princess Luna as you turn back to her.

“So… You need anything?”

“No thanks,” she replies. “Not yet.” There’s a short silence while the guards leave with Princess Celestia before Princess Luna continues.

“Do you have any hobbies, ---?” You’re caught off guard by her sudden change of mood and somewhat personal question. She seemed almost eager to get to know you, but didn’t say anything until you two were alone. Speaking of which, you found it very odd that the guards would leave with the other princess and leave you two alone.

“Oh. I, uhh…” you stammer as you try to think of what you usually do in your free time. “I guess I like to read. I have a lot of books in my house,” you explain.

...and stealing.

“Oh. I guess I didn’t take you for the ‘reading’ type,” she mused, pondering the subject for a moment. You consider asking what the hay that’s supposed to mean, but you control yourself.

“Well, what do you like to do?” you counter while turning and marveling up at one of the stained glass windows. It depicted Celestia and Luna, watching over a land you could only assume was Equestria.

“Well.” Luna sighed, obviously not completely satisfied with something. “I don’t have too much free time, but recently I’ve been practicing my magic,” she finishes more enthusiastically.

“Magic?” you ask as you turn around to face Luna again. “Like what?” She smiles devilishly at your question and you can’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Like this,” she responds giddily as you are surrounded by a blue aura of light and energy, tinting your vision and momentarily disorienting you.

“GAH!” You yelp in panic as you’re lifted into the air. The feeling of your hooves lifting off the ground suddenly is unnerving at first, but you regain control of your senses look towards Luna, paddling through the air. She chuckles at your futile attempt to swim through the air.

“Is it hard? I mean, making me float like this?” you ask, turning back to her while you’re still suspended in midair, now spinning around and kicking your legs as if you were backstroking.

“Well, I’m getting better at it, but it takes some focus,” she replies. That would explain why she drops you right as the doors on the opposite end of the room fly open. You fall about five feet onto your back and sprawl out in a less than graceful manner onto the white marble below.

“ACK!”

“Oh! I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something?” came a voice from… some direction. Your head was spinning at the moment, but you started to stand up as Luna replied to the unknown, feminine voice.

“Oh! Twilight!” she exclaimed, trying to hide her surprise. “Not at all,” she eventually responds. “But Princess Celestia isn’t here right now. She’ll be back in a couple of hours,” she explained as you regained your sense of direction and looked towards the unknown mare: A young, purple unicorn with dark blue hair and pink streak running down on side.

“That’s alright. I just need to know where the new library is. Princess Celestia said that it has been moved, is that correct?” she continued as she approached the throne and gave a bow to the princess.

This will be interesting, you think to yourself as you become aware of the situation. How’s the princess gonna explain who I am to this unicorn?

“Oh yeah, that’s right…” she replied thoughtfully, probably thinking of what to do with you. “I’ll show you where it is,” she offered as she gracefully descended from her throne. “It’d be nice to take a walk anyways. There’s not much going on today and I’m tired of talking with the guards. They’re not very exciting.”

What about me!?

As she descends to the floor, you notice something that you hadn’t before. Princess Luna was actually very attractive. You hadn’t thought about her in this way before, but you find yourself staring at her tall, slender body that both of the princesses seemed to possess. You quickly push the thought out of your mind as you realize you’re staring.

“Don’t worry princess, I’ll stay here and protect the throne room. I’ll make sure nothing gets stolen,” you offer with faux determination. Luna smiles and sighs before replying with a neutral tone.

“I’m not leaving you in the throne room by yourself. You can come with us.” The purple unicorn gives you a confused stare.

“Is this the new servant you hired?” she asks. “Why wouldn’t you trust him to watch the throne room in your absence?” Luna is about to reply… but you beat her to it.

“I wasn’t exactly ‘hired.’” You mimic quotes in the air with your hooves… somehow. “I don’t get paid, so I’m more like a slave, ya’ know?” Luna shoots you a glare, but you can’t help but snicker at the fact that you’ve successfully irritated Princess Luna and possibly offended the confused purple unicorn standing in between you.

“Let me explain,” Luna quickly interjects. And with that, you head off to the new castle library.

The first half of the walk to the library included Luna telling Twilight everything that she knew about you. You walked in silence in between them as they talked about you. Luna had already told Twilight your name, how you were caught stealing, and then about how you were given a break by being allowed to serve her and Princess Celestia instead of rotting in the dungeon. Twilight looked utterly shocked when Luna mentioned the elements of harmony, and you were equally shocked that she would disclose such information to this unicorn. You figure she must be pretty close to the princesses.

“And you trust him to be your servant?” Twilight asks incredulously.

“Hey!” you interrupt, but to no avail. You are ignored.

“Well, I don’t think he’d try anything, but we’re still gonna watch him for a few more days before we’re sure,” replies Luna.

“Hey!”… Ignored again.

“That’s probably a good thing. I hope he doesn’t try to steal anything else. You might want to keep a close eye on him when we’re in the library.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here! And I’m trustworthy!” you add defensively.

“…Did you just say you were trustworthy?” Luna asks with both of her eyebrows raised in shock and stifling a laugh. You’re quite shocked yourself that she would react so strongly and quickly suggesting that you’re not, but you can’t blame her entirely.

“You do remember trying to steal the elements of harmony, correct?” Twilight adds, making you remember why you must partially blame yourself for everypony’s weariness of you.

“That was different!” you argue defensively; although, you know this argument is out of your reach. You didn’t even believe yourself, but you weren’t used to someone referring to you as ‘the thief,’ or ‘untrustworthy.’ Despite the truth that these titles held, it made you uncomfortable to say the least. You didn’t think of yourself as a criminal. You simply called it that so other ponies would understand what you were talking about. You thought about explaining that art of thievery, but you figured now is not the time for that.

“How is that different?” Twilight asks, maintaining her doubtful attitude; however, Luna smiles just like she had before she tossed you around in the air back in the throne room, and honestly, it creeps you out a little.

“Wait, Twilight. I want to hear this.” You grimace at Luna’s apparent doubtfulness, but she retains her playful attitude. “Explain to me how you are trustworthy,” she orders patronizingly, turning back to you.

“W-well…” You think for a moment. What was I thinking? I’m not trustworthy. You turn back to Luna, whose smile is growing every second you struggle to come up with an answer. The princess stops at a large wooden door and you and Twilight follow suit. “Hey, this is the library, correct?”

“Uh, yeah. We should get going, but don’t think I’ll forget about this. We’ll continue later,” Luna replies knowingly.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

She pushes on the door in front of you, revealing one of the most spectacular rooms you’d ever seen. You kindly let Twilight and the princess enter first before going in yourself and marveling in the massive, spectacular room. You figure this could easily be one of the largest libraries in Equestria, if not the largest. Massive pillars of white marble adorned the edges of the colossal room, contrasting well with the gold-trimmed, purple carpet. And manikins similar to the ones in the throne room were placed in between bookshelves occasionally. The mares didn’t seem surprised at all.

“There are a lot of books in here,” you state in wonder as you look around. Twilight headed off on her own after Luna explained to her how everything was organized. That information could have been helpful to you as well, but you were too busy marveling over the grandeur room you just walked into.

“Yes, I suppose there are,” Luna replies as she looks around for herself. She’s probably gotten used to it by now and didn’t notice until you mentioned it. “Anyways, Twilight’s going to get what she needs. She’ll be back soon.”

“Yeah… Twilight… Who is she anyways?”

“Oh, right. You probably wouldn’t know. Twilight Sparkle is my sister’s protégé. She’s very gifted in magic and is incredibly smart.”

“That’s impressive. I always wanted a protégé,” you admit. She raises in eyebrow, and you smile before explaining. “It’d be like having a younger sibling, only he or she would steal things with me.”

“You’re horrible!” Luna laughs. You consider your joke seriously for a moment.

Maybe if I had a protégé to help out every once in a while, I would’ve had a better chance getting the elements of harmony. Or at least not getting caught, like a fool... You clear your throat before continuing.

“So, umm… princess?”

“Call me Luna. I hate formality. What’s up?” You’re surprised at how quick Luna is to trust ponies she met only recently, not to mention a criminal, and how different she was from her sister. Or maybe you just hadn’t gotten the chance to meet the… ‘real’ Princess Celestia? The one that was nice and caring, like everypony said she was.

“Okay, Prince- er… Luna,” you begin awkwardly. “How long do you think, uhh… I’ll be staying… here?” You flash a painfully obvious, nervous smile.

“Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought; although, it’s probably more my sister’s decision than my own.”

Wonderful…

“Oh, that’ll go over well,” you deadpan with obvious sarcasm and concern.

“Don’t worry, Celestia is very nice once you get on her good side.” Your ears perk up and Luna smiles at your obvious interest, waiting patiently for a response.

“So,” you start, drawing out the ‘o.’ “How does one go about getting on her ‘good side?’”

“I thought you might ask, but I’m going to let you figure that out on your own. It shouldn’t be hard,” she replies, still grinning knowingly.

“Aren’t you helpful,” you compliment with faux sincerity.

“Luna!” Twilight calls from an unknown room deep in the library. “Where’s the Star Swirl the Bearded wing?” Luna sighs before calling back.

“I’ll be right there, Twilight!” You wince at the sudden change in volume, and she turns her attention back to you. “Don’t move,” she says. You could’ve sworn she winked at you and let out a rather sensual giggle before turning around and trotting off in the direction of Twilight’s voice.

“Did she just… ” you mumble to yourself almost inaudibly as you stare at the spot where Luna had disappeared around the corner a few moments ago. “Nah, I’m definitely seeing things… I need to get more sleep.”

You sit down and let out a sigh, thinking for a minute or so while Luna helps Twilight navigate through the library. You conclude that you must get on Celestia’s ‘good side,’ as Luna put it, as quickly as possible. You began wondering how you should go about doing that, but you were quickly distracted by a glimmer out of the corner of your eye.

You turn your head to the right and see one of the manikins you had noticed earlier. It was adorned with a festive armor, as well has having several pieces of jewelry strewn about it. You walk up to take a closer look, and upon further inspection, you see that there is a lot more jewelry than you saw at first glance.

All that jewelry on one manikin… unguarded too, you think to yourself. They wouldn’t notice one or two missing pieces… it’s just too good to pass up.

Hesitantly you step up to it, picking out your targets. You spot a gold sapphire necklace around its neck, along with at least three other necklaces. It would be so hard to spot that one missing piece, and it’s probably very valuable. You look quickly side to side before expertly yanking the necklace over the manikins head with your teeth and slinging it into one of your empty saddlebags, not making a sound.

A small feeling of that adrenaline rush that came to you with danger manifests itself once again; a small taste of that sense of danger and adventure that you longed so deeply for. Maybe you'd have to do this more often around the castle.

You quickly turned around, and seeing that the mares haven’t returned, walked back to your previous location and sat down again. You figure that one necklace was no big deal, but the taste of metal in your mouth from when you had handled the necklace with your teeth still lingers, constantly reminding you of what you did. Right now though, you couldn't care less. It just didn't seem wrong, despite what ponies have told you.

Eventually, you hear hoofsteps and the two mares appear around the corner and make their way towards you with several books floating behind them in tow.

“That’s a lot of books. Are you gonna read all those, Twilight?” you ask as they get into speaking range.

“Yup. Rainbow Dash calls me an egghead all the time for it,” she chuckles.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“She’s a friend of mine, don’t worry about it. Maybe you’ll meet her sometime.” You nod slowly in agreement as Luna leads you out of the library and back into the hallway.

“We should get back soon,” Luna suggests. “If Celestia finds out that I let the thief walk around the castle, she’ll probably be furious.”

Why would you refer to me as ‘the thief’ right in front of me? It wasn’t so much the name ‘thief’ that annoyed you. What aggravated you was the way ponies talk about thieves, as if they were evil or something. When ponies think of thieves, they think of the idiots who try to rob general stores and have no idea what they are doing, or the ponies who break into a house clumsily and unprepared, almost as if they want to get caught. And worst of all, they think of the ponies that hurt other ponies, doing whatever it takes to get what they want. You weren’t like that at all. You hated those type of ponies just as much as anypony else. They give the real thieves like you a bad name. You figure you should explain all this in detail to the princesses later on, but for now it could do nothing but bother you.

“You’re trying to prevent me from getting on her good side, aren’t you?” you playfully accuse.

“Just making it a little harder, but it should be no problem for a trustworthy gentlecolt like you, right?” she counters.

Clever girl…

“Hehe… yeah definitely,” you speak softly and shakily. Twilight and Luna chuckle inwardly a little.

You’re lost in thought as you walk back to the throne room. The mares are talking about some event. You think they called it the Grand Galloping Gala, but the only thing you can think about right now is how to develop a good rapport with Celestia. That was your ticket out of here; gaining her trust. You decided that sooner or later she was going to make you tell her more about you, and you had to be prepared to answer those in the best possible way.

Suddenly you realize that stealing things around the castle, like the necklace, probably wasn’t going to help gain her trust. But it’s all fine if she doesn’t find out, and that’ll be easy… right? You don’t think she’ll search your saddlebags after she just gave them back to you, and you’ll just need to hide the piece jewelry in your room at the end of the day. You’re an expert at concealing objects; it shouldn’t be a problem. And once you get out of this luxurious prison, you can sell everything. Gaining ponies trust and stealing from them at the same time; it appears you have a lot of deceiving ahead of you.

You’re almost to the throne room now, and as you pass the doors to the kitchen, you hear the bustling of several cooks from within. You wonder for a moment why there are so many cooks, anyways. Who do they need to cook for besides the princesses? It can’t possibly take that many cooks for those two, even if they are royalty. A sweet aroma touches your nostrils and you realize that they must be cooking a lot of sweets, since there is so much movement inside. You’ve never noticed this before; perhaps it has something to do with this gala everypony’s been mentioning.

Nevertheless, you pass the kitchen and approach the throne room. As usual, the guards, standing at their post, open the doors for the princess and those accompanying her, but not without glaring at you the whole time. Luna either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.

“Oh. Hello sister. I was not expecting you back so soon,” Luna says with a courteous nod. You look up, fully snapping back to reality, and notice Celestia on her throne. She had returned with the guards sometime while you were in the library.

“Good afternoon princess,” Twilight adds before bowing. You bow as well but say nothing.

“Good afternoon Twilight,” Celestia replies with a smile. “I see you’ve got a lot of books. Luna must have shown you the new library?” she continues. This is not the Celestia you were used to. Something definitely has her in a good mood, seeing as how she hasn’t bitten your head off for not being where she expected you to be. The question concerning the real, kind Celestia floats back to the top of your mind; although, no matter what it is that’s making her this way, you’re glad for it.

“Yes, and it looks marvelous,” Twilight replies. “It was nice to see you before I left, but I should really get going.” They say their farewells as Twilight trots off in the other direction. “Goodbye Princess Luna and ---,” she adds just before the massive doors close gently behind her.

Luna is seated atop her throne and you stand before her and Celestia, waiting for whatever fate has planned for you next. You turn your gaze towards Celestia and see that her expression has gone slightly dour as she stares at you, deep in thought. After a moment, her eyes seem more focused and she looks at directly at you and sighs, like a mother would before telling her child what it did wrong.

“---… we need to talk.”

Great…

Comments

[Hardcore Gamer59]

Yay new chapter

im guessing Celestia is going to make us do some more hard labor

[The Writer of Fate]

“Do you have any hobbies, (your name)?”

“(your name)… we need to talk.”

i.neoseeker.com/mgv/574321-Liege/321/46/facehoof_display.png

Do not do this.

Ever.

Yes, we get it, the character that is to represent the reader is nameless, there is no need to remind us. It is jarring and yanks the reader right out of the story.

[DamagedQ]

1195628 Fine. I had no idea what to put... I'll replace it with a bold hyphen or something. 1 sec

Edit: It is done.

[crazypony26]

great chapter can't w8 for the next one

[zmuscle]

[furryman]

"You think they called it the Grand Galloping Gala, but the only thing you can think about right now is how to develop a good report with Celestia."

Rapport

[DamagedQ]

4601597 fixed. thanks.