On a quiet night in Canterlot, several mysterious, hooded ponies dispersed throughout one of the many districts in the city. All of them descended to random houses and proceeded to pick the locks using their magic or specifically-made lockpicks for non-unicorns. The group's fears of being caught red-handed because most of the city's occupants were attending an important event up at the palace. To preserve their identities, the group wore leather armour that was the norm of group's endeavours. Three non-conventional thieves wore raven hooded cloaks to express their mastery of the hidden arts.
"Remember," One of the ponies wearing a cloak said in a hushed manner to his cohorts as he unlocked the door to a large manor. "If it looks expensive, then it probably is."
The others gave a utter of agreement in unison and entered the houses, intending to loot the snooty, stuck-up citizens of expensive items. The adept thieves took no time at all to loot the marks' houses of valuables and quickly retreated back to their hideout.
Several hours later, the victims of the consecutive robberies returned and found several valuables and pouches of bits missing from their homes. The Royal Guard was alerted of the back-to-back robberies of the night; another account of robbery was to be added to the group of enigmatic thieves. Since the group's sudden arrival in Canterlot a few months back in the year, the Guard had been working on an undercover operation to infiltrate it and arrest all of the thieves. They hadn't had much luck in doing so, for the guild of thieves didn't easily accept total strangers claiming to be experts in what they did.
-[]-
A Royal Guard lieutenant by the name of Cloudskipper, who was off-duty at the moment, sat at an unoccupied table in a coffee shop with a styrofoam cup of coffee in his hoof. Cloudskipper was a pegasus with a white coat, light blue eyes and a blonde mane tied into a ponytail with an aqua scrunchie.
His companion, a grey unicorn with a light purple mane and differently coloured eyes - one emerald green and one deep brown - sat down on the opposite seat in the booth with a cup of coffee and a pink, frosted doughnut in his hooves.
After taking a bite out of his doughnut, the unicorn briefly moaned contently to signal the immersive flavour in the doughnut. The unicorn swallowed, addressing Cloudskipper. "By Celestia, this is one of the best doughnuts I've ever tasted. Good choice for brunch today, bro."
Cloudskipper smiled at his brother's own smile, who was named Eclipse, and took a sip of his coffee. "Yeah, not all of the establishments in Canterlot are run by, pardon my language, toffee-nosed ponies. Some of the other guys in the guard come here to take a break and I decided to see what the fuss was about."
"Best doughnut shop ever. How's the promotion going, Mr. Hotshot Lieutenant?" Eclipse asked, gently jabbing Cloudskipper with a hoof along with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Pretty good. I wasn't sure at first, but I'm ready to take responsibility of my eighty troops. What about you? You got a steady job yet?"
Eclipse's smile felt slightly, but it wasn't noticed by Cloudskipper, who continued to sip at his warm coffee. "No, not exactly. I'm fine with working freelance though. Keeps my options open, you know?"
Cloudskipper took a moment to contemplate his younger brother's situation. Seconds passed before he came up with an idea. "Why don't you join the Guard? I can put in a good word for you."
Eclipse looked uncertain for a moment, baffled by the notion. "I don't know... No offence, but I really don't like the idea of standing around all day with my face contorted in such a way that I don't betray any emotion, marching around in seemingly heavy armour I'm not suited to wear and staring at walls twenty-four/seven."
"Well, if you change your mind, all you need to do is ask."
"Duly noted."
"So how's your magic going? Learn any new spells?" Cloudskipper asked with sudden vigour, not wanting to let the brotherly conversation slip into awkward silence.
"I'm not really the academic sort, Cloud. I'm no Starswirl the Bearded, but I've managed to become fairly adept at levitation, teleportation and even some basic defensive magic."
"Heh. You should see the Magisters up at the Palace. You manage to piss one of them off and they can conjure a lightning storm and fry your flank before you can blink."
"Don't those guys manage to teleport the Magi Tower halfway across the continent on a weekly basis?" Eclipse was smirking now, stifling a giggle.
"Magic," Cloudskipper shrugged, as if that answered everything.
"Hey, I'm the unicorn here," Eclipse gestured to his horn that was poking up from his purple mane. "You're the pegasus. You can't just use that excuse, only I can." He looked to his cup to see that it was without coffee. "Sorry to break up this brotherly reunion, but I gotta jet soon."
"Alright, take it easy, bro."
Eclipse nodded and got up from the booth, walking out of the coffee shop and broke into a gallop to get to the Hall of the Dead erected in lower Canterlot. Several high-class Canterlot residents sneered and silently judged Eclipse as he dashed through the streets. After several minutes of navigating through Canterlot, he arrived at the Hall of the Dead's entrance and was greeted with iron gates, despite the city's extravagant uses of precious, reflective metals.
Slightly panting from the short marathon, the grey unicorn trotted into the graveyard on the stone pathway leading to a small alcove that housed an ebony-coloured wooden coffin engraved with eldritch markings. Eclipse stopped in front of the coffin and peered down at a small, copper sun on the side of the coffin facing him. He extended his hoof and placed it against the copper sun, putting pressure on it. The button gave a resounding click in response.
Eclipse stepped back cautiously as the floor supporting the coffin hissed and slid back to reveal a dingy hidden entrance underneath it. A staircase led down into the secret room, a pothole cover prominently shown at the opposite side of the room. Eclipse briefly turned away from the hidden entrance and made sure nopony was witnessing this event, seeing nothing but the gravestones and iron gates that bordered the graveyard. Satisfied with the lack of ponies around, the smell of decay and rot filling Eclipse's nostrils as he descended down the stairs.
He trotted to the pothole, lifting it with his magic and setting it aside. Peering down the pothole, a rope ladder hung from the top of the hole down to an even smaller room below. Eclipse shook his head furiously, suddenly reminiscing about the last time he tried to use the rope ladder. He opted the less painful way of descending the vertical gap, momentarily screwing his eyes shut as he teleported down to the bottom of the ladder. A clang rung out above Eclipse, which was the pothole cover sealing the secret entrance.
Torchlight from within the chamber in front of Eclipse spilled into the unlit passage, replacing the now dim-in-comparison glow emitting from his horn.
“Freakin’ imbecile,” He said to himself, thoughts of his obliviously misinformed brother floating through his mind as he entered the repurposed catacombs.
Author's Note
First chapter of the story. Feel free to leave constructive criticism and all-around comments down below. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I did writing it. Also, the chapters won't be updated reguarly -- as I'm going through some family and school issues -- but I WILL get content out when I have free time to write.
