> Power Ponies: The Ebony Chronicles > by Azure_Shadow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was nighttime in the city of Maretropolis, the streets were bustling with hundreds of ponies, going around and acting as if it was the middle of the day. On this night at the top of the Star Space Production company building, there was a party being held for the Maretropolis elite. It was on the top floor of the 25 floor building. It was a lavish party, many investors, actors, businessponies, politicians, and even the mayor were in attendance. Everypony who was anypony were at this gathering. There was beautiful orchestra music playing in the backround, complimenting the sounds of clinking glasses, laughter, and pleasant conversation. This event came to an abrupt end, when everypony heard a loud malicious laugh coming from the outside of the room they were in. Just then, there was a loud 'CRASH' as everypony looked at the shattered window, to see an all to familiar pony jump into the room. This pony had a greyish blue coat, and was wearing a purple jumpsuit with lining the joints of the suit. Her most defining feature was her green mane, which she was using to walk on the floor. "Good evening, fellow Maretropolis elite" said the odd pony. "I'm so glad you could all make it to my little, party" "What are you doing here Mane-iac!?" said the mayor of the city. "This is an invitation only party!" "Oh silly mayor, why would I need an invitation to my own party?" the Mane-iac said as she picked up the mayor with her mane. "Wha-What!" said the mayor as he slowly had the air squeezed out of him until he passed out. Suddenly, many different ponies all with flamboyant hairstyles rushed into the room, and the waiters who were serving the event aided them in corralling the party goer into a corner of the room. "What are you going to do with us?" asked an old earth pony wearing a tuxedo. The Mane-iac chuckled to herself. "Well my dear, after my last attempt of taking over the city was foiled by those accursed Power Ponies, My wallet has been a bit on the empty side. So, I've decided, what better way to gain money, than by taking the Maretropolis elite hostage, and have the city pay a hefty ransom!" she exclaimed, right before letting out another evil laugh. "That's what you think" muttered a white unicorn under her breath as she reached for a beautiful watch that was on her hoof. She pressed a button on it and started to speak into it. "Power Ponies, Code Green! the Mane-iac has crashed her own party! We're on the top floor of the StarSpace Production company building, I need backup!" "What do ya got there lady?" said one of the goons who was still wearing a waiter's outfit "Oh, it's nothing, just a watch." said the young mare. Well give it here, unless you want trouble." said the non-waiter. The young mare was forced to comply, she gave the watch to the goon, as she looked around the room. 'Too many ponies here' she thought. 'my secret identity can't be exposed.' The goons continued to take the hostage's valuables, their watches, phones, ear-rings, bracelets, necklaces, and especially wallets. The Mane-iac continued to look at her handiwork as she proudly exclaimed "There's nopony who can stop me!" "That's what you think Mane-iac !" shouted a voice. The Mane-iac suddenly jumped up to dodge a thunderbolt that was about to hit her. She looked up to see five ponies and a small dragon standing behind the window she originally broke. "Ah, why if it isn't the power ponies?, oh, and you even brought little Humdrum with you, couldn't find a dragon-sitter?" "HEY!" shouted Humdrum with great annoyance, "I stopped you last time, and I can do it again!" "Oh, I'm sooooo scared." replied the Mane-iac. "You should be, because we're putting you back behind bars!" said the Masked Matter-Horn, who was at the front of the group. "Go ahead and try." replied the Mane-iac as the heroes and villains started to do battle. The Masked Matter-Horn and Zap both immediately flew at the Mane-iac and started to fight her. The MMH started to fire beams of ice at the parts of the Mane-iac's hair that was trying to grab her out of the air. Zap was busy flying at lightning fast speed, trying to punch and kick the Mane-iac, as she kept expertly dodging Zap's blows. Meanwhile, Humdrum, Mistress Mare-velous, and Fili-Second were taking on the goons. Many of the goons chased Humdrum around the room trying to catch him, but they didn't notice that they were slowly being brought together, as Fili-Second started to run super fast around all of the goons, making them form a tight circle. "Mistress Mare-velous now!" Humdrum shouted. Mare-velous quickly replied with a "Yee-haw!" as she took out her lasso and strung it around the group of thugs. The three immediately turn their attention to the Mane-iac, who was currently chocking Zap and the MMH with her hair, much like how she did with the mayor, only with a lot more force. The three tried to run up and stop her, but she quickly grabbed the three with her hair and started chocking them as well. "You'll... never...get..away..with-hack!" chocked out Zap as she was struggling to get out of the Mane-iac's strong grip. "Oh, I think you're in no condition to talk you worm." replied the Mane-iac with a chuckle. "Who's going to stop me? Saddle Ranger? I believe she's a bit preoccupied hiding under that table over there." She then proceeded to turn the team to see Saddle Ranger cowering behind a large buffet table. "Any last words Power Ponies?, before you take your last breaths?" asked the villainous mare with a teasing tone. Mistress Mare-velous chocked out a few words as best she could, "Aren't you forgetting somepony?" "Huh?, what are you blabbering about?" asked the Mane-iac as a sudden realization hit her like an avalanche. "Wait, there's only the five of you and Humdrum, where's Radiance!?" she shouted with a great deal of worry in her voice as she looked madly around the room only to see her goons tied up, and the lack of hostages in the room. "I'm right here darling!" shouted a triumphant voice. Just then, a large etheral pair of scissors came out of one of the doorways leading out of the room, and cut the arms of hair holding the other ponies and Humdrum. The team members who were being held by the Mane-iac dropped to the floor, trying to catch their breath. Out of the same doorway from which the scissors came, came a mare with a dark blue suit with aqua blue diamonds , a stunning gold necklace with a large pink sapphire in the middle, and matching pink bracelets on her hooves. "You insignificant whelp! , you've ruined everything!" shouted the Mane-iac, who was practically foaming at the mouth as she suddenly made a mad dash towards Radiance. Her brief rampage was cut short when Fili-Second used her super speed to run in front of the Mane-iac and trip her. The other members quickly sprung into action, as Zap quickly tied the Mane-iac's hair into a series of knots. Then, Mistress Mare-velous used her horse shoes to keep the Mane-iac on the ground, to have the Masked Matter-Horn to create a blast of ice to freeze her. The entire team let out a cheer as Saddle Ranger poked her head out from behind the flipped over table. "Um, is it over?" -- 30 minutes later. Everypony who was at the party was now in the lobby, regaining their stolen objects from the police, and some were giving eyewitness accounts of what happened to the police. The goons were led into a couple of police trucks outside of the building the Power Ponies were talking amongst themselves, about what the Mane-iac could've been planning, and in Zap's case, saying how awesome she was during the fight, when an old stallion ran down from the stairs to the upstairs of the building. It's gone! It's gone!" yelled the old stallion who was gasping for air. "Mr. Star calm down, what's wrong?" said Humdrum in a concerned voice. "The Noir Diamond, it's been stolen!" he practically screamed in Humdrum's face. "What's the Noir Diamond?" asked Mistress Mare-velous Radiance piqued in an answer. "The Noir Diamond, darling, Is an incredibly beautiful, and incredibly rare diamond, of a jet black color, there are very few in the world, and they're incredibly valuable." The Power Ponies, Mr. Banks, and Humdrum all ran up to the vault where the diamond was being held. The vault door was open, and the only thing inside of it was a pedestal in the middle of the room, with a glass case, inside of which was a card. On the card, was a large, artistic purple capital E, with a black knife through it. "Who could've broken in and left this card?" asked Humdrum. "Who knows, but we need to find that diamond." said Radiance. -End of Chapter 1 -------------- - Who stole the Noir Diamond? Who left the mysterious card in its place? Will our heroes be able to find out where the Diamond went? Find out, next time on Power Ponies: The Ebony Chronicles! > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a night of searching the city, the Power Ponies and Humdrum all gave up with the search, they weren't gonna find the thief without any sleep, that's for sure. They thought a fresh start in the morning would help them greatly, as they all planned to meet at Radiance's mansion the next morning. ---------- Radiance's Mansion, Just outside Maretropolis The next day The next day, everypony went to Radiance's mansion at the agreed time of eight in the morning. Everypony was waiting outside of the large iron gates, and were able to see the large scaled gothic architecture that was Radiance's home. A voice suddenly emanated from the speaker next to the gate. "Oh!, um, hello everypony, nice to see you all again." said the familiar voice. "Saddle Ranger, is that you?" asked a cyan pony who was wearing an aqua blue track suit. "Um, yes, won't you come in?" Saddle Ranger asked as the large iron gates slowly opened in front of the four ponies and dragon as they walked in. They walked on the pavement as they looked around to see a beautiful garden around them. There were multiple hedges and bushes, many styled to look like animals like bunnies, birds, and other small animals. They also saw an impressive arrange of flowers of all different sizes, colors, and shapes lining the mansion. As they walked up to the opening door, it opened to show a yellow pegasus with overalls, wearing a straw hat. "Welcome to Radiant Manor, won't you come in?" the pegasus asked as she motioned for the group to come in. "Lady Rarity will be down shortly, she just stepped out of the bath." said the pegasus who hung her hat up. "It's nice to see you out of the costume again Saddle Ranger." said a pegasus with her hair in a bun, and wearing a dark red business suit. "Oh no, that's my crime fighting name," said the yellow pegasus. "Please, call me Fluttershy " "Alright Fluttershy." said the purple pegasus, "I'm Professor Twilight Sparkle of the Maretropolis Institute of Science." "Why are we going through introductions? I thought we all knew each other already?" said the pegasus wearing the track suit. "Well actually, I believe this is the first time we've ever met one another without our costumes." said Prof. Sparkle. "So how about we just go through some quick introductions?" "Sounds good to me." said the orange pony standing next to Prof. Sparkle wearing a simple plaid button down shirt and a cowboy hat. "I'll start, mah name's Applejack, Mah family runs a bunch of ranches all over Equestria, and I'm here In Maretropolis to study finance o help with the management trouble my family's been havin'." All eyes turned to a pony who was most different from her hero counterpart, she was a pink pony, wearing a grey business suit and black tie, her hair was not all fluffed up as the others thought is was under her costume, instead her mane and tail were very flat, her mane even blocking one of her eyes, she looked up to show dark bags under her eyes and sighed "Well, I guess It's my turn" she said in a depressing tone, "My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, I'm the executive of the sales division of Sugarcube Confections Inc." "Can we call you Pinkie?" asked Applejack. "No, please call me Pinkamena, I hate being called Pinkie!" said Pinkamena in a very harsh tone. Applejack then whispered into Fluttershy's ear "If ah didn't know better, I wouldn't believe she was Fili-Second." to which Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement. The cyan pony with rainbow hair and a lightning necklace then spoke up. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the awesomest flier in all of Equestria!, I'm....currently working on getting a job, so I'm basically mooching off of my room mate." said Rainbow nonchalantly. "Well, I'm Fluttershy as you already know., I'm the groundskeeper here at Radiant Manor, I um, take care of the flowers and some of the animals that live here." It was now the small dragon next to Prof. Sparkle's turn to speak. "I'm Spike, I'm Prof. Sparkle's assistant andadoptive son." As they were getting acquainted, a white mare walked down from the long foyer stairs, to the main area where the others all were. "Why hello darlings, I'm so happy you could come!" said the mare who was wearing a red velvet bathrobe. "Hello Rarity, always a pleasure" said Pinkamena in a slightly less annoyed tone than before. "Greetings Pinkamena darling, it's been a while hasn't it?" Rainbow Dash immediately said "I hate to interrupt all the small talk, but don't we have a thief to find?" "Rainbow's right, why'd ya call us here Rarity?" asked Applejack. "Oh, that's right, follow me!" exclaimed Rarity as she motioned the others to follow her into a different room of the house, this was a small room filled with fabrics, mannequins, designs for dresses and a few sewing machines. "So you wanted to show us your sewing room?" asked a confused Spike. "Yes darling, just watch." Rarity motioned for the others to follow her to the opposite end of the room, to a small sewing machine. Rarity punched in a combination of buttons on the machine , after which an approving click emanated from the machine, just then the floor around the team dropped down into a long, brightly lit shaft. After the initial shock to everypony except Rarity and Fluttershy, the elevator stopped in the middle of a large open area. An area that was lavishly fabricated with beautiful dark lavender walls, and it was filled with computers, and more mannequins, all with different variations of Radiance's costume. "Welcome darlings, to my Fortress of Fabulosity!" proudly squealed Rarity. "Wow, It's really... something Rarity." said Prof.Sparkle as she was picking her jaw up from the floor of Rarity's lair. "Its awesome!" said Rainbow Dash and Spike in unison, after which they looked at each other and laughed.. "Well anyways darlings, please direct your attention to this big monitor here." Rarity said as she started typing something into the system, which showed a picture of the card they found last night. "The card we found last night is our only lead to who stole the Noir Diamond, but the pony who left it covered up his tracks well, there were no hoof prints, no skin particles, and no fur anywhere around the crime scene, whoever this thief was, they knew what they were doing." "So we don't know anything? " asked a puzzled Rainbow Dash. "No, quite the opposite darling, I believe now, we know far more now than last night." Rarity said as she brought up some more images of different colored gems on the monitor. "In addition to the Noir Diamond, several other gemstones have been stolen and this card has been left at the scene of every crime." "So how does this bring us closer to catching the thief?" asked Applejack. "Well, I have a hunch," said Rarity as she pulled up a picture of the Maretropolis Museum of Natural History. "There will be a new exhibit opening up in this museum, and its star piece-" she said as she brought up a picture of a crystal in the shape of the sun with a bright golden yellow color with the rays shining. "Is this! Celestia's Sun!" Everypony gasped as they saw the beautiful gemstone appear on the monitor. "THE CELESTIA'S SUN!?" said Rainbow Dash in a shocked tone. "That's one of the most priceless artifacts in all of Equestria!" shouted Prof. Sparkle "You could buy fifty percent of Equestria with that money!" said Pinkamena "I know darling, but what's important is that the exhibit opens tomorrow, so I believe that the thief will try and swipe it tonight!" said Rarity. "So what should we do?" asked Appejack. "I can't say what WE'RE going to do, but I can safely assume the Power Ponies will be on the job to give the gem a little extra security." said Rarity with a growing grin on her face. And so it was decided, the Power Ponies would have a stakeout by the museum on that night, to protect the gem, and catch the thief who was stealing all of the other gems. Will crime rear it's ugly head a second day in a row? and will they catch this mysterious criminal? find out in the next chapter of Power Ponies: The Ebony Chronicles! -End of Chapter 2 > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was now the middle of night in Maretropolis. The Power Ponies and Humdrum were now all on top of a building looking over the Maretropolis Museum of Natural History. "Jeez, will something happen already!? We've been standing here for like, five hours, staring at a building!" said Zap in a great deal of annoyance. "Calm down sugarcube, I know how ya feel." said Mistress Mare-velous. "I had to miss the finale of Equestrian Idol today! DJ Pon-3 was gonna announce who won this season." "I think Lyra Heartstrings is gonna win." said Saddle Ranger "I'm sorry to disappoint you darling, but Lyra doesn't hold a candle to Cloudchaser, her melodies are simply magnificent."said Radiance. "Will you all shut up about your stupid singing show! We're supposed to be having a stakeout here, and we're supposed to be quiet!" harshly uttered the Masked Matter-Horn as she turned to Humdrum who was currently looking out a pair of binoculars. "See anything Humdrum?" "Everything's been the same for the past five hours Matter-Horn, Nothing has come in or out of the museum since we've been here." replied Humdrum. "This is stupid!" said a greatly annoyed Fili-Second, who was wearing her costume, but her tail and the one bang of hair coming out of her costume were both strait as before. "We've been here for five hours! This is Celestia's Sun we're talking about, one of the most valuable and treasured natural gems in the whole world! It's gotta be under the most high-tech surveilllance and security money can buy! What thief would be brave enough, or rather stupid enough to try and steal it!" "Fili-Second has a point." Zap agreed . "It's like she said, it's the most important artifact in all of Equestria! Nopony would be dumb enough to try and steal it." "Wait, what's that over there?" asked Saddle Ranger as she pointed to a vent on the side of the museum. Humdrum used his binoculars to focus on the vent. It was slightly shacking, as the grate to it opened up slightly, enough for a black mass to slip out, and land on the ground below. "Holy Hotcakes Power Ponies! It's the thief!" shouted Humdrum. The thief heard that, as he looked up at the building that the ponies and Humdrum were standing on. He then started a mad dash away from the museum. "He's getting away!" shouted Humdrum. "Not If we can help it!" shouted Matter-Horn. "Alright girls, after that thief!" In that moment, all of Power Ponies jumped down to the sidewalk (except for Zap, Saddle Ranger and Matter-Horn who all flew down) and started chasing the thief. "I guess it's time to power pony up." said Fili-Second as she took out a small pouch that was tied to her waist. From the pouch, she took out a small piece of candy wrapped in a bright pink wrapper. "Fili-Second! This is no time for sweets! the bad guy is getting away!" yelled Zap. "I know what I'm doing!" replied Fili-Second as she unwrapped the small piece of candy and quickly popped it into her mouth. After chewing it for a bit, her eyes shot wide open, as she started moving her hooves very rapidly. "Omygoshomygoshomygoshohmygoshohmygosh! SUGAR RUSH!!!!!" she yelled as she she ran in rapid circles. When she was done, she looked like the Fili-Second they all were familiar with, extremely peppy, always moving her hooves, and here tail and mane being wild and fluffy. "Let's catch some bad guys!" she yelled cheerfully as she instantly ran forward of the rest of the team towards the thief. "So that's how it works." said Humdrum in amazement. Fili-Second ran up to the thief in a short while, catching up to him and trying to run at his pace, a pace which would make even an Equestria Games athlete jealous. She was able to catch a good look of the thief while she was running. He was wearing what looked like a dusty black hoodie that was being constrained with two belts making an X shape on his chest, each with strange objects attached to the front. She couldn't see his face, as he was wearing a bandanna on his muzzle, purple goggles over his eyes, and the hood of his hoodie over his mane. "Hey , stop running! And give back whatever you took from that museum you big meanie!" shouted Fili-Second. "Bite me!" shouted the the thief as he took a hard left turn down an alleyway. "Oki Doki Loki!" shouted Fili-Second as she used a burst of her super speed to run up to the thief and bite his hood. She immediatly stopped running, and used her momentum to pull the thief down to the ground.The other Power Ponies were able to catch up at this moment. "Good job Flili-Second!" said Zap, giving her friend an approving punch to her leg. "Aw, It was nothing." The Power Ponies immediately turned thier attention to the pony who was on the ground "Who are you, and why did you steal from the museum?" asked the Masked Matter Horn as she stepped towards the thief. "I have no idea what you're talking about." said the thief who was doing his best to not grin. "Alright pardner, you better tell us where the gems you've stolen are, 'cause you're in a whole heap of trouble." said Mare-velous as she grabbed the thief by his hoodie and pushed him up against a wall. "Woah, easy, easy, no need to be uncivilized." said the thief. "It's in my bag, just take it." said the thief as he motioned to a black satchel by where he was dropped. Saddle Ranger took the bag, and began searching the contents of it, to pull out a gleaming, golden crystal out of it. "Here it is!, and it really is beautiful." said Saddle Ranger as she looked at her reflection in the gem. "Now tell us where the other gems you've stolen are!" said Matter Horn. "Alright, fair enough." said the thief, "Let me just get my phone, and show you." he said as a phone protruded from his hoodie's pocket. he quickly hit a button on his phone, as immediately a frequent beeping could suddenly be heard in the alley. "What's that noise?" asked Zap as she looked around the alley. "Um, I think it's coming from the gem." said Saddle Ranger, as she turned the gem around to see a small black oval object taped to the back of it.The small object suddenly exploded in a huge cloud of black smoke, causing everypony to cover their mouths and begin coughing. This allowed for the thief to take a swing at Mistress Mare-velous, and run to an alley on the opposite side of the area they were in. Once Zap and the Matter-Horn blew the smoke away with their wings. "Is everypony ok?" asked Zap. "Aside from that coward sucker punching me, i'm fine." said Mare-velous as she was rubbing her cheek. "For a thug, he packed a punch. "Where did the thief go?" asked Zap. "And where did the gem go?" asked Saddle Ranger as she looked at her empty hooves. "He went that way!" shouted Humdrum as he pointed down a long alleyway connected to the area they were in. The Power Ponies were immediately in hot pursuit, with Fili-Second running ahead of the rest of the group. The thief turned his head to see Fili-Second quickly close in on him. He quickly reached for a small capsule on his belt, and threw it in front of Fili-Second. The small capsule immediately blew up, to release a large amount of pink goop. Once Fili-Second stepped in this goop, she was stuck to the floor, and as she struggled to get free, she only seemed to get even more stuck. "What the hay!? I'm stuck!" said Fili-Second as the other members of her team quickly caught up with her. "Fili! are you ok darling?" asked Radiance. "We'll get you out of this...sticky.....situation." chuckled Zap as she started to reach for Fili-Second's head. "No! I'm too stuck!" said Fili-Second, unable to move. "The thief if getting away! go after him I'll be fine!" The other ponies and Humdrum all nodded as they resumed their chase for the thief. They managed to catch up with him once again. The thief took notice to this, as he saw that he was running by two young earth ponies who were sitting on a bench under a large billboard. He quickly threw another capsule at the billboard, which produced a violent explosion, which caused the billboard to start falling. Noticing that the two ponies were about to be crushed, Mistress Mare-velous and Radiance both took immediate action. Radiance used her bracelet to create a large table to catch the billboard while Mistress Mare-velous used her lasso to grab the two ponies and pull them out from under the billboard just before Radiance's table gave out, and the billboard fell on top of the bench the two were sitting at. Now it was only Humdrum, Zap, Saddle Ranger, and the Masked Matter Horn who were chasing the thief. "I've had enough of this! I'm gonna summon a tornado to catch this guy!" said Zap as she reached for her necklace. "Zap no! There are too many other ponies here! you might suck them into the tornado too!" shouted Matter-Horn. "Gah, fine." muttered Zap as she let go of her necklace. They immediately run down another alley, only for it to be a dead end, as the thief came to it's end. He turned around to see the three ponies and Humdrum at the entrance to the ally. "End of the line you crook!" said Zap "That's what you think, Powerless Ponies." said the thief in a mocking tone. This only served to make Zap angry. "I'm so gonna pound your face in when I get my hooves on you." said Zap as she gritted her teeth. "Well, you're more than welcome to try." replied the thief , who turned his rear to face the team, and made a "come here" motion with his tail. This was more than enough for Zap, as she flew at full speed towards the thief. She attempted to give him a hard right-hook , but this pony was able to side step it. She then attempted to perform a sweeping kick, but the thief quickly jumped over her leg. The fight continued like this for a while, until Zap used her powers to summon a lightning bolt to hit the thief. This had no effect, as the thief was never in the same place for more than two seconds, as he kept dodging bolt after bolt. "Stop moving and let me hit you!" shouted Zap in a fit of rage. "Now where's the fun in that?" asked the thief as he kept dodging lightning bolts. Eventually, the Masked Matter Horn decided it was time to step in. She flew in and added her own stream of lasers and ice beams to mix with Zap's constant stream of lightning bolts. This made it significantly harder for the thief to dodge the growing barrage of attacks, until he slipped on some ice that was on the ground from one of the Matter Horn's ice beams, and hit his head on the ground. Zap quickly picked him up, and held him close to her face. "Any last words before I pound the living daylights out of you?" asked Zap, with no effort to hide her smugness. The thief gave a small smirk, as he answered "Yeah, look out below." "What's that supposed to mean?" asked a confused Zap, as she looked under her, to see a small black cylinder under her. This cylinder produced a translucent purple gas that immediately filled the alleyway they were in. "What....did.....you.." was all Zap could get out before she shut her eyes and landed on the ground. This gas also reached Humdrum and Saddle Ranger, who were on the sidelines of the fight. "Knockout gas.. everypony.....cover..your" is what Humdrum said right before he passed out, Saddle Ranger followed closely behind, giving only a brief gasp before she too, went to sleep. The Masked Matter Horn was hit by the gas's effect last as she slowly descended from the air, trying desperately to stay awake. She stayed awake long enough to watch the thief get up, and walk out of the alleyway they were in, but once he reached the end of the alleyway, he turned around. "Nice try Power Ponies." said the thief. "Thanks for being such good sports by the way, I'll admit, not everypony can keep up with me. Just take comfort in knowing that you ALMOST captured Ebony Shiv, the greatest thief in all of Equestria!" This was the last thing the Matter Horn heard, before she too passed out. ---End of Chapter 3 > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somewhere in Maretropolis 12:35 am Ebony Shiv was running through the streets of Maretropolis, running even faster than when Fili-Second was chasing him. He kept running until he reached a medium sized apartment complex on the edge of the city. He ran into the lobby area, where thankfully nopony was at the desk. He ran to a hallway with an unmarked door at the end of it and opened it to find flight of stairs. Ebony sprinted down the long flights of stairs in his building, only stopping at the last door before the boiler room level. Ebony fumbled with his bag, until he pulled out a key and unlocked the door, to which he immediately ran in and latched it tightly. Ebony put his back to the door as he slid down to a sitting position, trying to catch his breath after the marathon run he had to make in order to get away from the Power Ponies. After some time of catching his breath, he looked in his satchel to take out his prize; Celestia's Sun, one of the most well known, and most valuable gems in all of the known world. Ebony let out a soft chuckle as he turned the gem around to see it in his full luster. Ebony quickly stood up to survey his apartment. It was a decent sized place of living, It had a living room, a kitchen room, two bedrooms, (one was occupied by Ebony, other room used as his workshop for his capsules and thieving equipment, a decent sized bathroom, and a walk in pantry, which was very empty. Ebony walked into his workshop first, there was a workbench with many different materials and tools used to make the equipment and keep a steady supply of capsules at the ready. He walked to the opposite end of the room to a desk with an i-Pwnie brand laptop sitting on it. Ebony sat in the swivel chair and began typing his password into the device. After some time of going through his e-mails, and sorting through the junk, a small boxed popped up on the screen. You know who wants to chat said the message on the computer. Ebony quickly gasped as he clicked on the accept call button. The small box disappeared, and in its place, was a video camera image of what looked like a pony sitting in a luxurious chair, sipping from a glass of wine, which was being held by magic, Ebony couldn't see much of the stallion on the other end, because most of his body was obscured by shadows as he began to speak. "Why, good evening, Mr. Shiv." said the stallion in a very dignified voice. "How has this night been treating you?" "Oh, hello Mr. Benefactor! It was a bit rough, hit a little road block on the way home, but other than that I'm fine." said Ebony as he rubbed the back of his head as he remembered what happened just one hour ago. "Well that's good to hear, I believe." said the stallion as he slightly chuckled."Now, on to business" said the stallion as he put his glass down on the table next to him, and leaned forward, but not enough so that Ebony could see his muzzle. "I believe you know have something in your possession that I very much want. You were successful in obtaining the object in question, weren't you?" "Yes sir!" said Ebony as he picked up the gem next to him and held it in front of the screen. "The one and only Celestia's Sun as per your request!" The stallion let out a quiet aahh as he observed the gem from the computer screen. "Well Well Well, very nicely done Mr.Shiv! I assume that It wasn't easy to obtain that item, was it?" "You bet sir, this thing was guarded like it was all of the members of the royal family combined! Sneaking into the museum and knocking out the security and guards was the easy part though." "What was the hard part if I may be so bold?" "Apparently the gem had a bit of 'extra protection' in the form of the Power Ponies themselves." The stallion let out a slight gasp, "THE- Power Ponies!? The defenders of Maretropolis, the ones who fight crime on a regular basis, the reason the jails have been packed like cans of caviar, THOSE Power Ponies!?" "Yes sir, one and the same." said Ebony as he laid back in his chair and crossed his arms. "But, how did they know!? Was there an info leak?" asked the stallion with a great deal of fright in his voice. "I don't think so sir, I think the Power Ponies are catching on to your little 'shopping spree' as of late" "Maybe it's because you leave your business card at the scene of the crime!" said the stallion who's voice now had a hint of anger within it. "Sorry sir, I gotta leave my card, I need to let the public know that I'm the best thief in all of Equestria." said Ebony. Who knew a thief could be such a glamor hog? thought the stallion as he laid back in his chair. "Do you want to stop using my services Mr. Benefactor? Until things calm down at least?" asked Ebony. The stallion looked as if he was giving this serious thought, as he took a while before speaking. "No, I've come too far to wait for another chance to complete my collection." "Well what do you want to do now sir?" asked Ebony "Send Celestia's Sun to the same location as the previous deliveries.Your payment for this assignment will be given to you there in one lump sum, just as we agreed. Lay low for a few days until I give you your next job. That is all." "Very well sir, have a good night." said Ebony as he gave a slight yawn. "And a very good night to you as well Mr.Shiv" said the stallion just before the window on the computer screen blacked out. --------Hours later Radiance Manor 7:14 am Rainbow Dash slowly woke up as light from a nearby window struck her face. She rised out of the bed to see that she wasn't in her own bed. She was in a lavishly furbushed room with mahogany wood walls, a red velvet carpet, and a large cabinet. RD climbed out of the king sized bed she was lying in to see that she was still wearing her Zapp costume. She used her lightning bolt pendant to make the suit disappear in an instant, and put on a velvet red robe that was lying on a chair next to the bed. She stepped out of the room into a long hallway, at which point she smelled the familiar scent of chocolate melting. RD walked down to the end of the hall to walk into a large kitchen where the other Power Ponies, save for Pinkamena and Spike were already there, drinking coffee and talking about events prior. Fluttershy looked behind her to see Rainbow Dash had just entered the room, she was making chocolate chip pancakes. "Oh! Good morning Rainbow, did you sleep well?" asked Fluttershy in a happy tone. "Gah, I slept like a rock, what happened last night? Last thing I can remember is getting my hooves on that smug-ass thief before going to sleep." said RD in a grumpy tone. Twilight, who was sitting at a table by the actual kitchen spoke up. "What happened was that that thief Ebony Shiv got away with Celestia's Sun." said Twilight in disappointment as she stared at her mug of coffee. "Who?" "Ebony Shiv is the name of the thief we were chasing last night, he told me his name before I passed out from the sleeping gas." "Wait, we got knocked out?" "Yes, you, me, Fluttershy, and Spike all got hit with the gas." "You were all fast asleep in an alleyway when me, Applejack, and Pinkamena found you." said Rarity as she walked into the room, wearing a pink sweater. "What makes you think you can sleep on the job darlings?" "It's not our faults, that thief was tricky!" said RD. "He had all those weird capsule thingies with him that did all that weird stuff! Not to mention he was really fast! He was able to keep up the pace with me! And that's saying something!" "Um, he was really fast." said Fluttershy. "If he's able to outrun Zapp, who knows what he's capable of?" "He's capable of stealing more stuff! Which is exactly why we need to stop him!" exclaimed RD as she slammed her hoof on the kitchen table. "I couldn't agree with you more darlings, but as things are now, we're basically in the same spot as we were before." said Rarity. "What are you talking about!?" asked RD. "He has Celestia's Sun, and as of now, there are no more valuable gems like those of the Noir Diamond and Celestia's Sun here in Maretropolis!" "So what do we do?" asked RD. "I propose we wait. Ebony Shiv, as far as we can tell, only steals things in Maretropolis. I'll look out for any other valuables that may come into the city. If there are objects of that caliber that come into the city, the Power Ponies will need to be vigilante as ever if we're going to catch that thief."said Rarity. "Good thinking Rarity, usually I'm the one who comes up with a plan." said Twilight. At that moment, Spike walked into the kitchen with a worried look on his face. "Um girls, I think we have a bigger problem than the thief." "What do you mean Spike?" asked Twilight. Spike motioned for the others to follow him into Rarity's large den. It had windows that reached up to the ceiling, velvet red carpeting. and some designer black couches sitting in front of a large flat screen TV above her fireplace. Pinkamena was already in the room wearing a bathrobe, and she had the TV paused. "Ladies, there's something you really need to see." said Pinkamena as she unpaused the television. Breaking News! Earlier this morning, an armored police truck carrying Maretropolis's most vile menace the Mane-iac, was found broken down on the outskirts of Martropolis! Further investigation showed that the Mane-iac has escaped from the truck carrying her to Equestria Asylum for containment. The driver of the vehicle was found unconscious at the scene, and we are still waiting for him to wake up so that we may learn more. Authorities have yet to find the Mane-iac, and advise any who see her to avoid confronting her and call the police. we'll keep you informed as more of this late breaking story comes to light! There was a collective groan from all of the Power Ponies including Spike. "Oh come on! We have to deal with that nutcase again!? I nearly got squeezed to death last time!" said Rainbow Dash angrily. "I almost got stepped on!" added Spike. "Why couldn't she have just stayed in jail?" asked Fluttershy. "This is trouble." said Rarity as she put her hoof to her chin. "We now have two gigantic problems on our hooves, we have a pony who's absolutely mad and a danger to society, and we have a thief who's stealing from society!" "What should we do?" asked Pinkamena. "I agree with Rarity's plan that we need to wait, Mane-iac usually lays low after she escapes from prison, and like Rarity said, there's no more gems for Ebony Shiv to steal for now. We wait until opportunity strikes, then we catch it like a cobra catching it's prey." said Twilight. "Until then, It's just business as usual." -------- The Power Ponies now have another threat to deal with in the form of the Mane-iac. Will our heroes find out when the thief and madmare strike next? Or will they slip through the cracks? Find out next time, on Power Ponies the Ebony Chronicles!