2) [ACT 1 END]2,881 words

The Honorable Thief

??? POV

---

The last thing I remembered was hazy. I was sitting in the throne room at the Crystal Empire. It was still pretty early in the morning so I had a mug of coffee nearby. Behind my seat, obviously. Can’t go letting every noble know I drink coffee like everypony else. For some reason.

I was holding court that day. The requests from the Crystal Empire weren’t nearly as bad as the ones ponies had in Canterlot. Rather than complain about how they can’t build a swimming pool the size of a moat, we had ponies wanting to build these floating blue gems on their rooftops. Why did they keep calling them pylons anyway?

But as the fifth...Or twelfth? I couldn’t remember how many requests I was on. That’s actually where things started falling apart. Details start getting vague.

Eventually, even the detail that I was in the throne room starts getting hard to remember. How I envisioned the memory starts getting blurrier. As if I was staring into the sun and then...Nothing.

I would blink the blurriness away and then realize that I was still where I was when I started thinking back. I was still in this chair, still tied to it, and somehow still not a pony anymore.

So much for remembering how I got in this mess.

Whatever this form was, it was unsettling. I had met minotaurs before so I at least knew what arms and hands were. Moving and using them instead of hooves was where it got weird.

I was wearing clothes too. On my arms I noticed these sleeves from a black suit and I had black pants to go along with them. On top of that, my Cutie Mark was printed on the back of each hand. A dark blue shield with the purple star front and center.

After taking a minute to get over my form being different, I studied everything around me. It was a decent sized dining room with the kind of décor you would find at a noble pony’s house. But it was more subdued than that. As though it were a mix between noble and citizen pony.

None of it looked like it was from the Crystal Empire. The crystal finish shows up in every pony’s house no matter what they do to blend it in.

Finally, I looked at what was tying me to this dining room chair. My wrists were both secured to the arms of the chair by these maroon-colored napkins. The knot looked much more secure than normal.

I tried twisting these arms of mine back and forth but there was no way to slip out. That didn’t stop me from trying.

“Well, good afternoon Sleeping Beauty~,” a voice sang. “How’d your siesta go?”

I glanced up and standing in the doorframe ahead of me was this bipedal figure. It leaned against the doorframe with a pillowcase full of blocky-looking stuff.

This creature, resembling the same thing I did, had a dusty brown mane with hair gel keeping it swept back. Then it had a tan coat hidden underneath denim pants and a white shirt with buttons along the front.

However, the one thing I instantly disliked the most about this creature was its smile. It felt conniving in some way. Almost as though it were sizing me up to figure something out.

When it wasn’t surprised to see me stuck to this chair it didn’t take long to connect the dots.

“You’re the one who tied me up,” I stated.

“No~! Those napkins did it themselves.” he rolled his eyes but the smile remained. “Of course I tied you up. What, do you think I’m gonna let the only security guard of this place sneak up on me while I’m working?” He gestured to the pillowcase of stuff.

“Working?” After a few moments I glared at him. “You mean stealing?”

“Woah now.” He feigned shock and disgust. “I find that offensive. Stealing? This isn’t stealing. This is...Redistributing.”

“You’re taking it from them.” I gave one last tug at the napkins. “How can you even defend that?”

He snickered. “You? Talking about defense? Isn’t that a little ironic, coming from the security guard that fell asleep on the job?”

“I am not a security guard. Now untie me.”

The thing pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, that makes sense. I untie you and then what? I turn myself in? Nah, I’m good. Besides, who’s gonna make me?”

“The Royal Guard.” He had his chance. Now I’m not going easy on him.

But he gave me a different reaction than I thought. Rather than get worried or even mad like I expected, he just busted out laughing as he approached the table.

“The Royal Guard? Really, rent-a’-cop? What is this, England?” He kept laughing as he sat down in the chair opposite of mine. It was by this point I realized that the chairs were too low to the ground for us. Our legs had to lay out in front of us.

His laughter cut out. “But no, seriously, are we in England?” He half-whispered towards me. “Because almost half the buildings in this town have, like, these thatch rooftops and it’s kind of confusing. I thought the English stopped doing that a while ago. Ya know?”

I said nothing. I only tightened my glare. Chatting with a criminal wasn’t going to do me any good.

“...” With a dramatic sigh he jumped out of his chair, letting it fall to the ground behind him. “Alright, look. I’m not sure if you know this or not, but the town’s empty. Abandoned. You, me, and some little girl I found, are the only ones I’ve seen so far.”

“Abandoned?” I leaned back. “What town are we in?”

“Aha! Now we’re on the same page, amigo!” His jolly attitude peaked. “Trust me, if I knew where we were, I wouldn’t be taking everything not nailed down. Not organized. But if you know what a town’s lacking, you take that specific thing and get it to the right people.

“As for the whole abandoned part, I got nothing on that front.” He shrugged, walking over to an admittedly gaudy painting on the wall. “After I found the girl I tried knocking on a few doors. Sans thievery, I’ll point out. But no one was there. Not to mention they had no locks on their doors. I mean, seriously, what kind of house in the middle of town has no locks?!”

I let myself take in everything he was saying. Thief or not, he had no reason to lie about an entire town being abandoned. So assuming he was right, why was it?

I needed more answers. So, with a glare on my face, I looked at this creature intently.

“What are you?” I asked.

“Me? Well that’s obvious. I’m a thief,” he admitted. “An Honorable Thief, more specifically.”

“Okay, you’re not, but that’s not what I meant.” He turned to me with a frown but I continued. “I mean, what are you? I’ve never seen a creature like you before.”

He looked confused as he crossed his arms.

“The only thing I can think of is a Minotaur, but that’s not right,” I thought aloud. “Minotaurs have horns. A more pronounced muzzle. You’re definitely not a Diamond Dog either.”

“Minotaur? Diamond Dog?” That smile started twitching back onto his face. “Dude, I think that bump on your head has done a lot more damage than I thought.”

My eyes lit up. “My horn!”

“Pffft!” He started giggling like a child. “Lo siento. Yeah. You're ‘horn’,” he said with a weird gesture from his hands. “Perdón, that one caught me.”

I said nothing. Instead, I lowered my horn towards one of the bindings and began to focus. Pony or not, I still felt my magic with me. That’s probably what was helping me stay calm even with the body change.

I closed my eyes and focused on my magic. While I could bring it up to my horn, it refused to go any further than that. It was...Jammed?

Magic would normally leave a unicorn’s horn without a problem. The only time it would jam is if there was something inhibiting somepony’s magic or you tried casting something at a strength you hadn’t done before.

But now it felt like my magic was trying to go through a straw. I couldn’t do or cast anything.

Suddenly, something pat the back of my head.

“Uh, rent-a’-cop? You okay? You’re going ‘little loco’ on me.”

I flung my head at his claw, nearly striking it with my horn. “What did you do to me?”

“Do to you?” He looked at me like I was crazy. “I tied you to a chair. If you’re blaming your level of crazy on me, that’s a losing battle.”

“I want answers,” I pressed. “What are you? And what am I?”

He gave me a side-eyed glance. “You. You’re serious?”

I stared.

“...Okay,” he gave in with a shrug. “You and I? We’re these things called humans, ya see. We. Man. We. Thumbs.” He held up his hands and shook what I assumed were his ‘thumbs.’

When he saw that I wasn’t letting down my guard, his shoulders drooped.

“Fine, fine, I’ll play it straight. Happy?” He cleared his throat. “I am a human. Always have been. So are you. So is that girl. We’re all humans. My name's Morgue, by the way. I’m a person.

“I didn’t wave a human wand or anything at you, alright amigo? I found you like this; sleeping in that chair. So, I tied you up before you could sneak up on me. As for the girl, she’s upstairs in a bed I put her in. Figured it would be better than the wagon of pillows I’ve been pulling her around in for the last hour.”

Humans. We are humans? I blinked. What the hay’s even a human? I’ve never heard of that before.

I let my glare ease up. “That girl? Is she okay?”

“No clue,” he shrugged. “I woke up in some sorta plaza about two hours ago and checked out the businesses around me. I found her unconscious in some restaurant with wings stuck to her back. When I realized she wasn’t waking up, I snatched a wagon and tried finding someone that knew how to help. Or at least had a place for her to stay.”

Out of everything he’s said so far, this is the first time this ‘Morgue’ human has seemed entirely honest. No annoying smirk either.

“So then, the town really is empty?”

“As far as I can tell. And.” He closed his eyes. “I’m not sure leaving is gonna be a thing.”

“Why not?”

“Well...This is gonna sound crazy.” His head perked up a little as he turned to stare at my horn. “Actually, this might be your kinda crazy. You see, no matter where I went I saw this large purple dome in the sky.”

I felt my entire body go stiff. “Purple...Dome?”

“Yeah. You know, all Steven King style? Well, except the purple part at least.”

“Can I see it?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

I went to stand up…

I glared at him.

That same conniving smirk returned to him. “Okay, sorry. That was in bad taste. Here, I’ll drag ya to the window.”

He did exactly that, walking behind me to drag the chair from behind with my legs sliding across the marble.

When we reached the window, he twisted my chair around until I could see for myself. When I saw the sky, I instantly recognized what Morgue meant.

Spanning out the entire town, and even beyond that, was this massive barrier spell made up of a purple aura.

That’s my spell. My eyes grew wider. What is it doing here?

With as much magic as it took to make that thing, it didn’t matter if I was inside or outside. I was going to be able to sense it.

With unicorn spells that have a duration, there is always a connection between the spell and the pony who cast it. Which meant the unicorn could take it down whenever they wanted without as much as a thought.

Although, here’s the thing. I couldn’t sense the connection. I could still feel my own magic so whatever kept me from casting spells wasn’t in the way. I could put the barrier down myself if I wanted to.

However, I was not the one who cast it.

True, it was my spell. I created it to put over Canterlot during my wedding. Well, until Chrysalis weakened that very connection. Here’s the catcher though: I never taught anypony else that spell.

It might seem like a simple spell, putting a barrier up in an area, but to make one this big you need to know exactly what you are doing. If you were to make one mistake it would be amplified for however large the barrier is.

For instance, if there was a hole in a magical shield, that’s not good but at least the shield is still useful. That same hole in a barrier this size would make that hole the size of a house. That barrier would then be useless.

“Let me guess,” Morgue started. “This is a bad thing?”

“Very bad thing,” I confirmed. “If this town’s abandoned like you said it is then something is very wrong.”

An ear-piercing shriek echoed from above us.

I turned to Morgue.

“Was that the girl?!”

The human said nothing. Instead, he reached into a pocket of his clothes and pulled out a small contraption. With a flourish, the thing opened up into this long thin dagger with small hooks on the side to act as a crossguard.

Then he looked at me.

“What are you—” “No time,” he interrupted, reaching for my wrists and cutting the silk napkins tying me down.

“If you really are a guard, hurry up and help!”

Leaving it at that, Morgue turned and ran. Likely to the stairs.

I looked down at my legs and took a deep breath. I didn’t have time to think, I just had to go.

Using these hands as well as I could, I tried standing up and right away my arms slammed into the wall for support.

When I was sure about my balance, I started shuffling alongside the wall. It was slow but I didn’t have long before reaching the archway out of the dining room.

When I spotted the stairs I heard a sharp rapping on a door up there.

“Hey kid,” Morgue shouted. “I’m coming in!”

The screaming never stopped. Each time it sounded like it was getting quiet, it would start up again. I had no idea what the girl was screaming at.

The space between the archway and the staircase had nothing to hold onto. I only made it halfway to the stairs before I lurched forward and couldn’t stop.

All I could do was hold my arms out and crash into the first step of the staircase with my elbows while my knees smashed into the marble floor.

I gave out a shout but bit my tongue to silence myself. My knees were going numb already but my arms and elbows seemed good enough to move.

Bearing through the pain, I noted how far the stairs went. It was fifteen or so steps with nothing on either side to hang onto but the flat walls.

Crawling up the stairs felt similar enough to being a pony again. It was faster than walking too. My knees howled for me to stop but the girl’s screaming was a better motivator.

Upstairs, Morgue finally forced the door and the sound of shrieking got louder. Then, before it hit another octave, it went deaf.

“Kid, you alright?!” Morgue asked from upstairs. “What are you scream—”

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH~!

I was only a third of the way up the steps when I covered my ears. The girl’s scream sounded raspy but that was probably her voice giving out.

“GET BACK!”

The screaming finally stopped and was replaced with shouting. The voice was definitely a girl’s and it sounded like sandpaper now.

I crawled up the stairs faster. Each step was wide and had a plush carpet down the center. I was able to use these hands to pull my weight up faster.

“Get back?” Morgue’s voice echoed faintly. “I came up here ‘cause you’re screaming bloody murder, niña!”

“You...I’m...What’d you do to me?! What am I?! What are you?!”

A deep sigh followed. “¡Leches! Another crazy!”

When I reached the top of the stairs, I noticed a small table to my side. My fingers clutched the corner of it and I forced myself to climb onto my back legs again. Every joint ached but I could see the room Morgue’s voice came from.

“Look,” Morgue said with no enthusiasm. “Are you okay? Because if all you’re screaming about was ‘oh no, human,’ you’re not alone.”

“Where am I?” The girl went on. “I don’t know what’s going on and...W-Woah…”

“Wagh!” Morgue freaked out, backing up just enough for me to see him partway in the doorway. “What are—How are you moving those...those...?”

“They’re...My wings?”

At that moment, I reached the door and looked into the room myself.

The entire room was decorated with toys, pictures, and colors that you would expect to find in a young filly’s room. It had all this expensive or designer furniture filling it up as well. Even the bed seemed large enough to fit an entire family of ponies. It was a huge contrast to the more subtle design choice for the house below.

In the center of this pink, priceless room was a female human-like creature. She had skin that was somewhat paler than Morgue’s and messy black hair that faded into light purple tips.

The blankets that she was under now littered the floor, letting us see the clothes she wore as well. Semi-ripped denim cloth wrapped her legs and she had on an orange shirt above that.

Where the hooves on her hind legs would be were these white and purple horseshoes that probably had their own name to them. Then, set atop her hair was this gaudy-looking tiara with diamonds set in it.

But nothing stood out as much as the orange wings that sprouted from her back. She had one hand reach out to touch it and she was moving it around as though they were foreign to her.

I didn’t know who this girl was. Even if she was a pony previously, I never met any foal with orange wings.

When Morgue noticed me leaning against the wall for support, he cringed at the sight of me.

“Oh, buddy,” he said through a sharp breath. “Are your knees okay?”

“My-My knees?” I blinked.

“Your knees,” he repeated, pointing to my legs. “Your pants are ripped and…” He gasped at the sight of my arms. “You fell down, didn’t you?”

Worried, I glanced at my elbows that hit the bottom stair. I thought they were fine but looking at them now they had blood and carpet fibers smeared around thanks to crawling up the stairs.

“Yeah,” I bent my elbows a bit and the pain went down my arms. I could only imagine how bad my knees were.

That made Morgue flinch more. “Stop. Stop doing that. Okay. Um. Well, the girl seems fine. Just loco, like you. Thinks she’s...Not human—Doesn’t matter.”

Morgue shuffled past me, not wanting to touch me in the slightest. His knife was well and gone too.

“Look, you try and calm the girl down. Sounds like she’s got the same problem you do. I’ll be back.”

I frowned. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Where do you think?” He spun back to look at me as he walked backwards. “I have a cart of stuff I’ve been snagging from houses on the way here. I made sure I got a few first aid kits. Those elbows need cleaned.”

“You. You took first aid kits?”

“What was I gonna steal, jewelry? We’re stuck in a dome! Besides, I barely had enough to pay for the first aid in the first place.”

Pay? What’s he mean pay? I thought he was a thief.

“Hey, wait,” I called out. But he refused to answer. He turned around and ran down the stairs before I could stop him.

“Huh? Who are you?”

Back inside the room, the girl was done staring at her wings and was now looking at me.

“Um…” I stood there awkwardly. Then, when I realized that I still had blood on my elbows I tried my best to put my arms behind my back. “My name is Shining Armor. And what’s your name?”

“Shining Armor?” The girl leaned back a little. She didn’t seem to believe me.

Can’t say I blame her, I thought. The only part of me that seems the same is my horn.

“I’m Scootaloo,” she said slowly. “What’s going on here?”

I opened my mouth but shut it when I realized how hard her question was to answer.

...Is that why he really left? I turned back to the stairs where Morgue went. He left me here just so he wouldn’t have to deal with this. Of all the dishonest...

I closed my eyes and silently cursed that human. He better be coming back because if he doesn’t he is in for it if I find him again.

“Well,” I stiffened my shoulders. “Where do I start?”

Author's Note:

Hoo boy, that one was a bit longer than I planned for. Originally, I wanted every prologue chapter to be around 3000> words. Meanwhile, the chapters after the prologue will fluctuate between 2.5k to 5k words. So a heads up of things to come.

This is also the last of the three main story lines that the chapters ahead will follow. The final part of the prologue will be more of a side note for a while. It'll have its reasons.

QotC: I always wonder what a mansion like Filthy Rich's would look like. Well, wait. Is it technically a mansion or a manor? What's the difference exactly? Ah well, I guess it's all the same for an Honorable Thief.

I hope you liked this chapter and if you have any ideas or feedback it is always greatly appreciated!

Until next time! Cheers.

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