The Travelling Argument

"I'm a th... museum curator who likes to collect artifacts!" said Sky.

"Collect artifacts? Really?" asked Maboo. "I'm not sure she is a pony to be lied to, Sky. I've dealt with her kind before."

"Ridiculous! I never lie! Lying is bad behavior, and that'd be wrong!" replied Sky.

"You aren't fooling anypony, missy. You have absolutely no problem lying, you were raised into it. To lie and cheat your way out of things. It comes as naturally as fl- okay, well maybe not as naturally as that for you, but you get my point," Maboo looked down inside her saddlebag. "Now I think it's time for some smores, who said you could never eat smores for breakfast? I know I haven't."

"Hey, wait a second! I don't lie and cheat my way out of anything! I feel really insulted that you'd even suggest a thing like that! What do you take me for?" asked Sky.

"A thief? Burglar? Rogue? Outlaw? Escapist? It's no biggie, most of us here have some sort of crime to our name. I for instance once 'accidentally' broke into the Crystal Castle over in the Crystal Empire," Maboo chuckled to herself. "Oh boy that day was such a doozy."

Sky's eyes glimmered. "Really? Did they have anything goo- I mean, anything of value for an academic such as myself to study?"

"Well, everything was definitely shiny and sparkling. Lots of crystals and jewels, some strange looking heart thing, and then of course a lot of angry servants. They did have a really big library though if you were looking to study, I was never a book pony myself."

"Hang on, let's hear more about that big heart thing! I'd love to hear more!"

"Don't get any bright ideas, Sky. I'll tell you right now that the Crystal Heart is off limits," said Willow.

"Aw, come on. You know that when somepony says "off-limits" it's just a suggestion, a guideline!" argued Sky.

Willow glared at her. "Not this time. That artifact is important to the whole of Equestria. I will not have the world plunge into darkness again just because you saw something shiny."

Sky got down on her hoofs and looked upward with big eyes. "Pleeeeeeease?"

"No, I'm putting my hoof down on this. There are plenty of other artifacts with less apocalyptic consequences you can "peruse"."

Sky frowned. "Name one!"

"The golden horseshoes of Queen Faust? The "true" horn of Sombra? I'm sure you have your own list."

"Those are all on the list, sure! I mean, they're nice, but how much would Equestria pay to get that thing back?"

"You would throw the world into darkness... for money?!" Willow paused for a short moment. "Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not surprised."

"What a horrible thing to say! I'd never do something so irresponsible!" argued Sky.

"And yet, you attempted to steal from me. That makes you more irresponsible than every other thief combined," said Swift.

"Coming from you, that's a compliment!" said Sky as she slowly inched towards the pile of saddlebags laying on the grass.

"You're doing it again!" scolded Willow. Sky quickly backed off.

"Does that mean you think she's better than you?" asked Maboo. "Trust me Sky, it's the other way around."

"Awww, you're sweet Maboo. I'm nothing special really. Besides, this here earth pony's more likely to take off than I am any time soon!"

"Yes, why exactly are you here, Swift? There has to be some reason, or I believe you would have moved on to whatever contracts you might have," said Valhalla.

"Contrary to popular belief, assassins do not flit from one job to the next. There are often breaks of weeks. As for here... to put it simply, I'm bored," answered Swift.

"Ahh, an assassin who gets bored. So you come, complete your assignment, and see what the nearest odd group of ponies is up to and see if they are worth your time," Valhalla nodded in understanding. "If I might ask, what do you do in your off time? Surely you must not make a lot of money if contract numbers are in the low. Unless of course your pay is so very high."

Swift rolled her eyes. "Paid murder doesn't exactly come cheap. As for off time, I always spend at least five minutes of my day laughing at the hypocrisy of clerics."

Willow grunted.