Moments in Time

by Shingo

Auction

Just outside of Ponyville stood a relatively empty hangar bay. A stage was set up and a podium was standing atop it. In front of the stage were a large number of ponies, a select few zebras, a few griffins, and a dragon nearing adulthood. Quiet murmurs could be heard all around the hangar bay. A faceless blank flanked purple unicorn walked onto the stage. Following close behind her was a faceless baby dragon carrying a black box and wearing an emerald green coat. The unicorn stopped in front of the podium and cleared her throat.

“Good evening, ladies and gents,” she said. “Thank you all for coming. Now, you’re all hard working criminals. You probably have families to feed and bills to pay. It’s hard to do what you do without the authorities chasing you down. So what are you to do? You fight back. But the authorities usually have both magical technology and technological magic designed to stop you. Fortunately for you all, I can provide that as well.” The unicorn gestured to the baby dragon. He reached into the box and pulled out what looked like a gauntlet with wires embedded into it. It was covered in a purple glow and brought to the unicorn.

“This,” she said placing it on a foreleg. “Is something I call the Cold Compress. With it, all of your enemies will freeze in their place. The bidding for it starts at ten thousand bits.” The room was silent.

“Perhaps a demonstration is in order,” the unicorn flicked a switch on the gauntlet and humming came from it. Mist flowed from open spaces on it. “The Cold Compress has two settings on it. You can give the authorities the cold shoulder.” She put her weight on the floor. Ice quickly formed on where she was pressing the gauntlet.

“Or you could bring them winter's chill,” she pointed the gauntlet at a nearby wall. A high pitched hum came from the gauntlet as a bright blue light came from the end of it. After a few moments, a concentrated stream of mist flew from the end. When it touched the wall, a layer of ice that was the size of a pony formed. “So, who wants it?”

“Ten thousand bits!” a pegasus mare screamed.

“Twelve thousand!” a male griffin yelled.

“Seventeen thousand!” the dragon shouted.

“You’re all under arrest!” four voices exclaimed. Everyone in the room turned to four of the ponies. They all had weapons out and were pointing them at the crowd. “Don’t move. We have the building surrounded. Come quietly and no one gets hurt.”

“Well then,” the unicorn said. A small prism with a purple X at the top of it was held out in front of her. “We seem to have reached an impasse. I don’t want to go to prison, and you want to send me there. What seems to be the only logical way for us both to be happy?”

“There isn’t one,” a unicorn stallion said.

Unknown to the police officers and the others, the purple unicorn smiled. “Exactly,” a button at the top of the prism was pressed and thick white smoke filled the room. “Book it!” The unicorn threw the baby dragon on her back and ran to where she assumed was the exit. The sound of panic was echoed in her ears as every other creature struggled. Her horn lit up and in a flash, the two disappeared. The two of them reappeared in a dark foyer. The unicorn sighed as she lit up the room.

“So much for making a profit,” she said removing her mask. “We didn’t get to sell a single thing.”

“Don’t be so sure about not making a profit,” the dragon said after removing his mask. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small sack. “Guess what this is.”

“No way, you didn’t,” the dragon grinned. “Good job, Spike! How much do you think you got?” Spike tossed the sack a few times.

“If I had to guess, I’d say around two hundred thousand,” he said. “Not only that, but we still have the merchandise in case you want to try this again.”

“Very good,” the unicorn walked to a nearby bookshelf. She pulled out a deep red book. “Let’s see, we can’t do this in the Ponyville location anymore, the authorities know about it. Oh, we should probably destroy any evidence that we were there.”

“Already taken care of, Twilight,” Spike pulled a black cylinder with a bright red button on it from his coat. He pressed down on the button and the two of them heard an explosion in the distance. Twilight smiled at Spike.

“Atta boy.”