It's Great to be "The Boss"

Boss sighed to himself as he watched his "Master Group of Elite Thieves" (MGET for short) chattered to each other like school fillies as they stole the money of their compatriots, Boss counted that one bag of Bits had been in all six of their paws/hooves no less then four times each. Boss grew bored of their chattering and the loud report of his pointer slapping against the sheet covered cork board behind him silenced them as quickly as any order would.

"Boys, we have a chance to make history, to have our names etched up by the great Star Swirl the Bearded, or Nightmare Moon..." He trailed off for effect, "Or maybe even Celestia herself..." He pointed at his assembled thieves of highest regard, best of ability, and, most importantly, greatest loyalty. "Because, Boys..." he whispered as he leaned over in a less-then-conspicuous manner, his thieves leaned closer as well, "We are going to make the greatest heist in Equestrian history." He leaned back and grabbed the sheet, "Because, Boys, we are going to-" He pulled off the sheet and shouted to the heavens themselves, "STEAL THE ELEMENTS THEMSELVES!" The Ponies hooted and hollered, the Changling clapped like a kid watching a magic show, and the diamond dog... just kindof sat there, but that was Quick Swipe's lot in life, so Boss didn't care all too much.

"Encore!" The Changling happily hollered as his clapping came to an end.

"No." Boss stated in a no-nonsense tone.

The Changeling hung his head with a disappointed, "Oh..."

"Boys... and girl," He pointed the the lone pegasus, "Sorry about earlier, Dis, but it would have ruined the speech of I kept adding that, nothing personal." She just shrugged her dark green shoulders. "We have a chance to cement our names high in the sky..." He grinned, "And to make enough money to build mansions!" They gave him a look, mansions were expensive sure but not quite what they were hoping for, "Made of smaller mansions..." He finished lamely, That got their attention again.

His pointer tapped the top left most picture of his planning board, it was a picture of the Elements of Harmony in action against Discord, oh so long ago, "This is our target, The Elements of Harmony, The national treasures of Equestria, the key to our salvation, and yadda, yadda, yadda, so on and so forth..." The tapped the picture directly beside it, which showed the Manehatten Museum of Magical History, "They will be here, which will be child's play since I have sent each of you so many times before." They chuckled and ribbed eachother, Quick Swipe gave one of the earth ponies a raised eyebrow and the ribbing quickly stopped.

"The floor plans are the same as always and security will be tighter then ever," He smiled, "But what fun is it without a challenge, eh?" He tapped the next picture, "They will be stored in wooden crates that bear the Royal Mark," The pointer flicked up and waved as he said in a joyous tone, "Which, by the way, will be on other miscellaneous items that are free for the taking..." Then he added in a far less friendly tone, "As long as you don't leave a single Element behind..." He gestured at the floor beneath his prized Thieves feet, "You know what will happen if that happens..." He removed the scowl that had plastered all but the Diamond Dog to their seats then the let out a sigh of relief. "Any questions?"

The Changlings hoof shot up like a rocket, "I got one!"

Boss raised an eyebrow and pointed at him with the pointer, "What's your name again, I always forget it."

"Carapace!" He chirped happily, his eyes gleaming equally as joyfully, "Why don't we just knock everyone out, you know with like a gas of som-"

Boss' eye twitch was enough to silence him... and send the rest of the MGET scurrying away like rats, including Quick Swipe, Boss' tone was overly sweet as he said soothingly, "Why don't we knock them out?" Boss slowly walked towards Carapace, "Well, you see, we don't just knock anypony, dog, or changeling out to take their things, Because..." Boss reached his destination and shouted at the top of his lungs, "WE ARE NOT COMMON THUGS!"

There was silence, then the loud "Clack" of two chair legs smacking against the floor. "We do not Kill-" Boss' face shot closer to Carapace's face, "We do not trade in flesh-" his face shot even closer, "And we do NOT Just knock everyone out." he finished in a mocking tone, less then an inch from Carapace's face. Then he let out a sigh, stepped back, and ran his hoof through his mane. Carapace was actually white.

"I apologize for that... outburst." He calmly stated as he made his way back to the board, "I know you and your kind are fairly new to our little family, I had a hard time stamping out the previously mentioned "Do Not"'s and it's still a sore subject since everypony keeps asking about it." A little color returned to the Changeling's whole body, "Don't think I'm going soft on you." He added in a tone more loaded then a road-apple land mine as he settled his eyes on the Changling, "You tell anyone who asks you what I just told you, and you never ask that again." Carapace nodded slowly.

Boss scanned the room with a sober expression, then a grin cracked his face, "Okay, so, here's the plan..."

$$

The music filled his body, mind, and soul as he sat in the VIP lounge of the fine music establishment, "The Sassy Mare", He bobbed his head to the beat when it was catchy, he hummed when it was happy, and he wiped completely fake tears (And you'll never prove otherwise) from his eye when it was sad. Up next was "Lady Nipony and her Koto wielding companions" and Boss was rather excited to see it, he really loved oriental style music.

"You seem rather happy today, sir." Strike out asked the curt and to-the-point tone she always uses as she passed him one of the many papers that floated around her head.

Boss looked over at her with a dreamy look on his face; her silver hair caught the dim light as it always did, Beautifully, her white coat seemed to brighten the room, and the red ink inkwell with the white quill on her flank grabbed his eyes as it always seemed to do... though that might be because of where it was more then what it was. "Hmm?"

"Your mood seems to be rather light today, sir." She states as he grabs the sheet from the air.

"Ah, next week's music acts, this will entertaining..." Boss thought to himself as he wet his stamp. "I'm just feeling rather good about tonight." He told her as he scanned the paper in front of his face. "Blue mane group? We do music, not... What ever it is they do." He stamped it "Rejected" and passed it off to Strike Out as she passed him one the competing acts.

"Why is that, sir?" Strike asked as she flicked her mane out of her face, Boss loved it when she did that.

"That is for me to know-" He scanned the sheet, "D-Dog Digs Drums..." he mumbled as he raised an eyebrow and brought the "Rejected" stamp down. "-And for you to find out..." he finished.

"The heist, sir?" Strike asked with a single eyebrow raised, Boss loved when she did that too.

Boss smiled sly as he looked at the one mare in the world that could read his mind, despite his clothes being tailored to stop just that... Why else would he wear something so stuffy? "You would be correct." Lady Nipony and her band finished setting up and the first strums of their instruments filled the air.

Strike Out's eye brow dropped as she took the sheet in his hooves... or at least tried to, but he grabbed it as the smile stayed on his face. "Sir, I need that, sir."

He leaned over and whispered, "Come and get it then." Strike Out's face didn't change from it's normal slight scowl.

"I'll just wait till you get bored with it, sir." She stated flatly, the smile on his face was replaced by a look of minor annoyance, complete with sigh and everything.

"Your no fun..." He said as he handed her the sheet of paper. Lady Nipony's voice decided at that moment to fill the air with it's silken beauty and Boss' face returned to it's dreamy state. "Listen to that, Strike..." He closed his eyes, "Just listen..."

He sat there for a time, just listening to the music, the mournful melody, the slow and heart-wrenching tune... When he opened his eyes again as the song came to a close, and everything was blurry. "Absolutely beautiful..." He mumbled with a wipe of his eye.

"If you say so, sir." Strike Out stated flatly as she handed him a sheet, he spared her a sidelong glance and noticed that her eyes seemed to shimmer more so then usual, his dreamy smile grew three sizes that day as he looked at his sheet.

"Lady Nipony-" He instantly hit it with the "Approved" stamp. Strike Out's magic surrounded the sheet and took it from his hooves as he looked up at the Performer that the sheet was about.

"Good choice, sir." Boss smirked as he studied the Geisha that sang so beautifully on the stage that was bowing to take her leave.

"Encore!" He shouted over the din of the other music lovers, there was an immediate silence. Lady Nipony looked up at him with a confused look on her face, He smiled at her and she smiled back. Then she sang once more, a tune of joy and love, It melted Boss' heart... Despite the fact he couldn't understand a word of it.

She sang from the heart and at the end of her song looked right at Boss, smiled, and blinked like any normal mare would. "There." He thought subconsciously at the tell tale flash brighten her eyes. "A Changling." Boss smiled back at her happily, "But what does it matter? Boss thought as she bowed and finally took her leave, "They are always welcome in my little family."

"It's getting late, sir." Strike's voice crashed through his thoughts and left him blinking at the currently empty stage.

"I suppose it is." He agreed as he stood up and shook his head, "I already seem to be dreaming." he let out a small chuckle. "Say... Would you like to go out for dinner some time?"

"No, sir."

Boss hung his head theatrically, "As always, shot down." Then they gathered his hulking body guards and left the building.