Starscribbles

by Starscribe

Heart of Gold

Midnight Lilly stalked back and forth down the vault, her hoofsteps growing increasingly agitated. She'd passed this way at least a half-dozen times by now, and with each time her anxiety grew.

The ponies of Celestia’s Imperial Monastery were some of the densest, most naïve creatures she'd encountered in her brief, troubled life. But even they had some sense of security, or else there would be no treasures left to steal.

After today, there would be far fewer.

She caught her stray reflection in a bit of polished glass, with six symbols arranged around the outside. She recognized the carvings in the brass from childhood religious instruction—those were the Elements of Harmony, the creatures whose ancient virtue had saved the land from many dangers, and who had ascended as saints when their time in Equestria was up. Obvious horseapples, but at least the mirror was clear, and the rim looked like real gold. She stared back at herself in the gloom for a second, at the mismatched silver and pink.

She wasn’t much of a sight, her body lean from missing too many meals. An earth pony could survive on grass if she had to, and Midnight Lilly had. But doing that for too long made you look half-starved.

After today, Midnight wouldn’t have to taste grass ever again. "Star Lilly, please tell me you're almost done," she hissed. "We're out of time."

At the other end of the vault, her sister crouched over a velvet pouch, her pink eye obscured by a jeweler’s glass. She squinted down at a pile of gemstones, which she'd separated into two piles. "Almost! Most of these gems are glass. Either they've dealt with thieves before, or they don't have much worth stealing."

"They're the church, of course they do." Midnight took the gold mirror under one leg, joining her sister by her gemstones. "Just shove them all in and let's go. Sort the glass later."

Star Lilly sighed, then shoved the entire contents into a padded black bag. Midnight stopped beside her, flicking her satchel open. "Go on. In here. Tuck this mirror in too, in case they're all glass."

Star did so, looking indignant. "Several of them aren't, I already checked! Are you saying you don't trust me?"

Midnight patted her on the shoulder, placating. "Of course not, Star. You know what you're looking at. I'm not sure these monks do when they accept—"

Through the cracks in an old wooden door, Midnight saw somepony approaching—white robes trimmed with gold. One of the monks then, not a guard. She twisted to the side, smacking the satchel closed, and rotating it around. "Time's up."

The door opened slowly, clattering against the far wall. The pony standing there wasn't quite her height—a male unicorn, but one greatly shriveled with age, his face a mess of wrinkles through the hood.

He adjusted a pair of slim spectacles in his magic, staring weakly down at the open vault.

Midnight reached him in a flash, drawing her dagger from where she kept it hidden behind a foreleg. She pointed it directly at his throat, where even his old eyes couldn't mistake it. "Don't say a word, friend. I don't want to hurt anypony today, understand?"

He eyed the dagger, then her, his whole body shaking with sudden fear. He nodded.

"Walk inside," she ordered, gesturing past her sister. "Stand by the window. Don't make a sound. Got it?"

The old unicorn hurried to obey, backing as far away from her as he could. "You shouldn’t be here..." he whispered, as soon as she was out of easy reach. Of course Midnight could've still stabbed him, but she didn't. She had no intention of turning into a murderer. Maybe creatures like Cogset and his gang. But not helpless old monks. "Whatever you need, Celestia provides. You don't have to steal from us."

"We didn't want to," Star whispered, hooves on the ground. "But you had the worst security. We're sorry—"

"Sshh," Midnight whispered, backing through the vault's exit. "Just stay quiet until we're gone, and you don't get hurt. We just want the gemstones, not your life."

They backed through the door, and Midnight shut it quietly. Of course it didn't lock from the outside, so there was no way to trap him in there. We have about a minute before he decides to turn into a hero.

"Now we get out, quickly," she whispered, pointing down the hall. This was the easy part of the plan, just make it out of the monastery and vanish into the night.

Granted, nothing had gone to plan so far. The sun was already up outside, meaning the grounds were full of monks performing their sun-salutation. We can't just run out of the building with a suspicious bag and expect nopony to care.

The hall took them past several other storage rooms, each less important than the vault they had just left. Star glanced over her shoulder, staring at the locked door. "Are you sure about this, Midnight? We're stealing from Celestia's own church."

The alarm-bell started blaring. Midnight didn't know why—maybe the unicorn had teleported himself downstairs. Maybe somepony had noticed the two guards still asleep at their post, knocked out with the drugs she slipped into their wine. Whatever the reason, Midnight didn't even stop to think. Her eyes searched desperately for somewhere to hide—and she found it, an open linen-closet, with so many robes hanging inside that she couldn't even see to the window.

She had to shove her sister in, who was frozen motionless by the sound. She caught the handle in her mouth, pulling it closed behind them. Outside, many shouting voices joined together. They sounded angry, enough that she could dismiss any hope this was some routine drill.

"How's it look?" Midnight asked. Her sister had found her way to the window, and peeked through the shutters out at the world outside.

She whimpered. "Busy. Lots of ponies out there. Hoplites, guardsponies... they seem really upset."

Midnight swore under her breath, stomping one hoof against the wooden floor. Where had they gone wrong? Maybe sparing the monk's life was too generous. She should've just stuck him with the dagger and hurried out. Someone always has to die.

"I think they're coming inside," Star went on. "All the apprentices too, like they're gonna search the building. What do we do?"

Her sister turned back, nearly-identical eyes meeting hers. The other earth pony was already completely in over her head with a robbery this big. The pressure was all on Midnight to get her out of it.

Her eyes settled on one of the many sets of robes hanging around them. She posed in front of it, checking the sleeves against her own legs. That one wasn't a good match, but a little further down the rack...

"Here." She yanked it down with her mouth, tossing it to her sister, then grabbed the one next to it. "Put this on, quickly." There were ponies on the stairs now, stomping through the building. She didn't hear the metal armor of hoplites yet, but it was only a matter of time. Celestia's own monastery could call on powerful warriors to defend it, if the need arose.

Midnight didn't remove the satchel, but shrugged the robe on over her head. It was stiff from the laundry, and smelled like several other ponies had worn it before her over the years. Even so, the cloth was finer than anything she'd ever owned. The church had so many bits. And none of the ponies who dress like this have to live with debts they can't pay back, with loan sharks ready to break them if they miss a payment.

The robe fit better than she expected, settling smoothly onto her shoulders. She'd seen enough monks in her life to know how to fasten the golden clasps on her neck, and how to wear the headdress over her mane. A few more seconds, and that was in place.

Her sister was having a little more trouble. Midnight turned, helping her get her forelegs into the sleeves. "I don't know if this is gonna work, Midnight. Nopony will think we belong here."

"Dunno why you'd say that," she shot back. "We're monks of Celestia’s order. Hallowed is the sun and sacred are her sunrises... praise to the Elements of Harmony and their... harmonizing."

Star giggled—cut short by the sound of doors banging open from the far end of the hall. Of course the guards came up the other stairs, those near the monastery’s entrance. The whole plan was to use the back stairs to get out. But how could they do that now?

Another set of doors banged open, this one much closer. If they were gonna pull this off, they had to move quickly.

Midnight took a laundry-bag off the ground, one overflowing with foul-smelling robes. She tossed it onto the floor in front of her sister, then dragged over another for herself. "Hood up," she whispered. "When they open the door, act terrified. We're apprentices who almost got killed by the dangerous thieves, so we hid. Got it?"

She nodded hastily, pulling the hood over her face. "You th-think that will work?"

Depends on who opens that door. The monastery was huge, with hundreds of different monks scattered across its many buildings. Some of them had to know their own ponies well enough to recognize a fraud. "It'll be fine."

Another second later, the doors banged open. A pair of hoplites stood in the doorway, heavy metal armor covering them from head to hoof. Steam hissed from the large tank in back when they moved, and gears spun rapidly from the seams moving them. Both pointed spears through the doorway—then lowered them.

"Evacuation order," said one, his voice distorted by the helmet. "Intruders in the monastery. Get out."

Maybe it was the obscuring bag of laundry—maybe the robes. Whatever the reason, she nodded hastily, then followed where the soldier pointed, to the back stairs.

Her sister cantered after her, hurrying along. There was no need to act like a pair of terrified young mares, when they were under the watchful eyes of a pair of armored hoplites. They scampered away down the stairs, while the guards continued their fruitless search.

Midnight already had this part memorized from the map. She pulled her sister to one side, away from the normal hallway out and into the memorial.

Every monastery had them, six shrines to each of the elements, for those who didn't want to worship the sun herself. Huge mirrors ran along the room, reflecting light from a single skylight above until it filled the whole space. Almost the full light of day, now.

"This way." She urged her sister towards the back, to a heavy wooden door in a corner. "Tunnel should take us all the way out."

Her sister wasn't listening. Somehow, Star had frozen in front of a mirror, beside a modest statue to the Element of Honesty.

"We don't have time for this." She stomped over, wrapped one hoof around her sister's shoulder—then stopped.

There was nothing magic about the mirror, it was just glass. But through it, she didn't see a pair of half-starving thieves, street foals with no future and no hope. Instead she saw the fresh robes of Celestia's order—the same robes her monks wore when they came to the lower quarter, dispensing food to ponies in need.

The same robes her paladins wore, when they fought the forces of darkness back from Canterlot's city walls. "Oh."

"Yeah," Star whispered. "Feels wrong, what we're doing. Like there was a better way all along."

Heavy metal boots stomped down the stairs overhead, rattling the ceiling. Midnight yanked, pulling her sister to the door. It swung open with some difficulty, letting them out into a dark tunnel beyond. A single light shone in the far distance, illuminating the exit onto Canterlot's cramped, smoky streets.

"I know we have to pay back Cogset's gang," Star said. "But do you think... once we've done that, we could stop stealing? I kinda like this robe. I think we could do better things with it than steal."

Midnight didn't answer for a long time, long enough that they reached the tunnel's exit. "We'll talk about it," she eventually said. "We have to pay back our debts first. After that... we'll see."