Chapters The cold of the night, the tension filling the darkness around him, the knowledge he very well may die tonight. All these were less than foreign to the young red unicorn colt as he lay on his stomach on top of a building. Here in Manehatten, he was in his element. Despite being bright red and even part zebra as evidenced by the black streaks through his mane and on right above his knees, he easily blended into the crowd. Perhaps that’s why he was always the member of the gang he was in to do the bold things, the things that needed to be done in plain view, the things anypony else would consider suicide.
Stripes looked to the filly. “Yeah, Alleycat, I’m ready.” He said. The gang called her Alleycat, not only because her cutie mark was a cat, but because her name was Catherine. It seemed to be an easy link. Stripes looked to his cutie mark, a pair of headphones. He sometimes wondered why they didn’t call him ‘Phones’ but, he decided Stripes was good too. “Don’t wanna disappoint Snow. That’s for sure.” Snow Luck, or Snow, was the leader of the group. She was a pegasus pony, who seemed to either be really smart or really lucky. In either case, she could either be really sweet or really scary. Nopony in the gang wanted to be on her bad side. Using his magic, he pulled open an envelope and took out a picture of an earth pony mare. “So, who’s the target anyway? Did Snow tell you?” Stripes asked.
Alleycat just shook her head. “No. She did say that the target was someone important from out-of-town, though.” She looked at the picture. “Hopefully, those glasses help distinguish her from everypony else. After all, I can’t see her--” Stripes pulling out a second picture caused Alleycat to stop in mid sentence. It was a picture of her cutie mark. A scroll with a blue ribbon tied around it. “Oh. Okay then. That’s a strange cutie mark. This should be no problem. Hop down, take her bags, and then deliver it to Snow. But… Did Snow tell you any special instructions?”
“Only to make sure that there was a map in the bag.” Stripes said. “No idea what that has to do with anything but… eh. I suppose she knows what she’s doing.” Stripes’s attention was suddenly drawn to a noise in the alley below. A pony was slowly trotting out of a side door and into the alley. Stripes held up his right hoof, indicating Alleycat to be quiet and stay still. Stripes quietly observed the pony that strolled though the alley. He mumbled to himself. “Mare… Tan fur… Silver mane… and either a scroll cutie mark, or an arrow through a log.” He lowered his hoof, pointing in front of the mare and Alleycat hopped off the side of the building, landing in front of the mare.
“Well, Hello there.” Alleycat said. “Such interesting glasses you have…”
“I think you know.” Alleycat said, looking to the bags on the tan mare.
With a quick flash of magic, the knot of a rope found it’s way into the mare’s mouth and the rope knotted itself behind her head. Another flash of magic and the mare’s hooves were tied, bound with more rope, causing her to fall to the ground. Stripes came up behind her, and said “Anything, huh…?He used his magic to keep the mare’s head looking forward, preventing her from seeing him, assuming this would make him sound even more intimidating.
Unable to look back and unable to make any noise, the mare just nodded her head. Her glasses fell off, and her second nod pushed them to the side.
“All right then. How about this…?” Stripes paused, taking the mare’s bag from her. Alleycat took it and placed it in front of the mare. “Do you have a map in here? A map you would most likely hide from other ponies?” He asked. When the mare shook her head, Stripes made a jerking motion with his own head.
Alleycat opened the bag and dug through it. “No map. At all.” She said.
“Stripes… Stripes wake up.”
“Stripes. Wake up.”
Stripes woke up. He wasn’t in Manehatten at night. No, That was last night. He looked around. He was on a train. The train was still moving, so they couldn’t have already arrived at their destination. He looked to the direction that he heard the voice from.
“You looked like you were having a nightmare.” The white pegasus told him. She brushed her brown and red mane out from in front of her eyes with one hoof. Her cutie mark, a four-leaf clover, befitted her name.
“Ah, Snow Luck…” Stripes said. “I guess you could say that.” He didn’t tell her that he dreamt of his job last night. It wasn’t like him to dwell on the past. He just kept moving. That’s all that mattered to him.
“Stay awake. We’re almost to Ponyville.” Snow Luck said. “Who would have thought that the mayor of a small town like that would be mixed up with gangs like the Diamond Dogs?” She said it with such surprise that, even though he knew better, he almost believed she was really astonished. “But, remember what we’re after, everypony. Our employer needs to get the gems instead of whoever the mayor was supplying.”
“Ever going to tell us who our employer is?” Alleycat said.
Stripes looked over to Snow Luck. Although he was one of the newest members of the gang, he was the only one able to read her mood. “What’s bothering you?” He asked.
Snow Luck laughed and said “I’m that easy to read?” There was a long pause, as if she wasn’t going to answer his question. At last, she finally said “Just… Stay out of sight of the locals, okay?” She looked to the other members of the gang too. Pearlshine, a cunning earth pony filly with a flowing orange mane, Alleycat, Libby, a blue earth pony filly with a black mane like smoke, Zephyr, a strong, golden unicorn filly with an tornado eclipsing an ouroboros for her cutie mark, Ryder, an earth pony colt who could be quite intimidating, and Archer, an example of the ghostliest earth pony colt you’d ever see. He was chalk white with a purple mane. His yellow eyes were quite unnerving, and his cutie mark of a crossbow hinted at his lethality.
Stripes looked at Snow Luck, a little bit concerned, but decided not to press the issue further. He knew he wouldn’t get anything else out of her.
The train slowed to a stop at Ponyville Station and the gang got off. “Come on, Let’s go. Quicker we get this done, the quicker we get paid.” Zephyr said. She trotted off, leading most of the gang with her. The only pony who lagged behind was Stripes.
He stood there for a moment, thinking. Thinking about last night with the mayor. After Alleycat had run off with her bag, Stripes had stayed behind. He made a deal with the mayor. A deal that, if it went according to plan, would help get him out of Manehatten, unharmed. He just wondered… Could he pull this jewel heist off?
Tension filled the air. The room was dark, even though it was day time; the blinds had been drawn over all the windows. Snow Luck peeked out between the blinds, letting a small stream of light in as she peeked out. The door opened and everypony in the room, those being Snow Luck, Zephyr, Archer and Pearlshine, looked to the door.
“You’re welcome.” Zephyr said. She was the one who cast the spell that set him on fire. “Without me, you may not have seen him before he saw you.”
“So, the Flame Bloods really are here… I had my suspicions, but I wasn’t really sure.” Snow Luck said. “Stripes, go get the others. They’re just outside of town. We’re not going under until night.” Stripes nodded, then headed back out once more. “The rest of you, we’re going to have to prepare for tonight. We’re going out under cover of fog. I’ll provide the cover with clouds from the Everfree Forest.” Snow continued. She paused, looked at the three other ponies. “Any questions?” She asked. The others looked to each other, then back at Snow Luck. Nopony said anything. “All right then.” She said. “In that case, Zephyr, come with me” She turned and trotted off into an adjacent room.
“Oh boy, this can’t be good.” Zephyr said before following her. She entered the room slowly. She was intimidated by what might follow. Intimidated, but not scared. “Yes, Snow Luck?” She asked.
Snow turned around and looked at Zephyr. “Zephyr, I need you to teleport back to Manehatten. Our client is expecting a status report. Tell him…” She paused then paced back and forth infront of Zephyr for a while. Eventually, she said “Tell him that we’ve arrived in Ponyville, that we’ve found the hideout for the Diamond Dogs, and that the Flame Bloods have spread to Ponyville. Tell him we don’t know why just yet. Also, right before you leave, be sure to tell him ‘Rook to G7’. If he asks what it means, just tell him to keep it in mind.”
“All right then.” Zephyr said, nodding. “I’ll be back in a flash.” Zephyr turned, facing the direction Manehatten was. She closed her eyes and focused. There was a flash of light and, poof, she was gone.
Zephyr arrived in Manehatten, on the ground floor of a skyscraper, an apartment complex, which the Snow Crypts, Snow Luck’s gang, had great influence over. They used one of the upper penthouses, this time number 13, to hold meetings with their clients and, if need be, house them. She walked up to the front desk, and said “I’m here to meet with a client.”
He turned to look at Zephyr, looking impatient “And I expected a progress report, but it seems all you have to offer is a waste of my time. Get to it before I decide somepony else is more suited for the job.” He said flatly.
Zephyr rolled her eyes. This was typical of many clients, but the tone of voice the colt was using made Zephyr realize, this was the infamous Disello. A notorious hassle as an Employer. “Yeah, Yeah. I understand. Well, First off, we're busting into the Mayor's supplier's base tonight. Some gang called the Diamond Dogs.” She explained. “Second, the Flame Blood presence around Ponyville has sky rocketed. One of our members, Stripes, even said he saw Flare himself which may explain why there's so many of them.” She looked at Disello, questioningly. “Have you made any... Enemies that might know about this? You do know how we feel about the Flames, right?”
Disello trotted along the outside wall, out of it again. “I'm sure I have many ponies who would love to see me broken in the gutter, but none of them are stupid enough to do anything seeing as I'm often signing their paychecks.” He stopped, pausing. He looked at Zephyr’s reflection in the window. “Are these Flames going to be a problem, or are you capable of handling them?” He asked harshly.
“Most of the Flames are ants compared to us.” Zephyr defended. “The thing is, there's alot of them. Useless alone, but, thing is, they're never alone.” She paused this for a second. She hated to admit it but, not being new to giving progress reports, knew she had to. “However, there's Flare himself. He's a toughcolt. A hardmule. One rugged marebu—” Zephyr stopped herself, shaking her head. “You get the idea. He's going to be trouble.
“Snow seems sure that we'll come out of this alive.” She lied. “Well, at least it seems that way. She's not very good at showing fear, or any other emotion for that matter.” Zephyr added
Disello stared back at Zephyr for a moment before going back to looking out the window. “It seems that I need to take care of the Flames myself. Any other problems I need to know about?”
Zephyr looked around before speaking. “Well... One on my team... Stripes... He seems a bit shifty lately.” She said. “If you see him around after this, push him for info... I know he's got something in store that you probably won't like. I can feel it. Just... You didn't hear it from me.”
“As long as I get my gems then you get paid. Your internal gang problems are none of my concern. Just keep in mind that any missing gems will be coming out of the fee.” Disello replied, turning to give Zephyr a hard stare. “And I'm not paying for any of the cheap trash gems.”
“That's understandable.” Zephyr said. “Now, would you like me to be on the look out for any specific type of gem? Diamond? Ruby? Anything?”
“Not really, but I've been known to pay extra for important gems.” Was Disello’s response.Rook to G7”
Disello simply stares with a half interested look. “Figures... Oh, and while you guys are in the area, see if you can find out what exactly the mayor has on those dogs... would be nice to have them in my hooves instead of hers.” He turned away. “Now if you would excuse me, I have to contact our Flame friend, I have just thought of a job that will keep him busy while you complete yours”
Zephyr nodded, and left. Once she was safely out of earshot, she groaned. “I hate going over jobs with clients… It takes everything I have to stop myself from burning them, freezing them and pretty much seriously hurting them.” She took the elevator down this time. As she trotted into the lobby, the receptionist said “I trust everything went well?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Zephyr just said, flinging the key card back into the desk before walking through the front door and disappearing once more.
Zephyr reappeared back in the house at Ponyville. Everypony was back. Everypony except Stripes and Snow Luck. “Where’s Snow and Stripes?” She asked.
Alleycat looked to Zephyr and said “Snow left just after we got back. No explanation. She just left.” Alleycat paused briefly, hesitant. “Stripes never came back, said Snow needed him for tonight. Said he felt there was some sort of aura about the caves. He said he couldn’t teleport inside of it and that he was going to try to find a way to teleport out of it.”
“Great. We can’t escape once we go in.” Zephyr groaned. “This smells like a trap.”
Zephyr groaned again. “Wake me up when it’s time to move out. I’m tired from all that teleporting.” She sighed, walking into the other room. “You all should rest up too. We’ve got a big night ahead of us.”
The sun had begun to sink in the sky, but it was not yet night as Stripes walked the streets of Ponyville. He had a meeting with the mayor he had to attend, and he did not intend to miss it. He stuck to crowded areas where he could blend in with the crowd, but still tried to avoid the Flames. As he approached City Hall, the crowds started to die down. He kept an eye out for anypony who wore a red bandanna on their forelegs, the sign of a Flame Blood. Seeing nopony like that, he slipped in, right through the front door.
City Hall was empty. Brightly lit, but empty. Stripes looked around and, still seeing nopony, he called out “Hello? I’m, uh, here to see the mayor…?” He spoke in a questioning tone, though he spoke with no uncertainty. He strode forward, looking for anypony who might be able to tell him where to find the mayor. He did not hesitate at all; he cantered right on into a room in the back. He had finally found the mayor.
“Oh, you’re here already?” The mayor asked. She looked almost exactly the same as when Stripes saw her last, only this time she wasn’t gagged. “You caught me at an awkward time. I had a meeting in Canterlot earlier today, and I was just changing back into my usual clothes for our meeting.” She noticed the odd look that Stripes was giving her. She understood why, though. She was tangled up in a skirt; her hooves were very nearly tied together, and in addition, she was lying on her back, legs up in the air. She had already gotten her vest off, as evidenced by the fact that there was a second article of clothing tangled in her skirt as well, further binding her front hooves.
“Why didn’t you have somepony help you?” Stripes asked, stepping forward, but not assisting just yet.
“My trip back from Canterlot took longer than expected, and I didn’t want anypony to know I would be meeting with you after all my business had been taken care of,” Said the mayor. “After all, what I do on my time is none of their business.” She wiggled about, but her bindings only tightened. “Well, now that you’re here, help me out of these clothes and then we can begin.”
Stripes stared at the mayor briefly before sighing and saying “You convincing me to take your clothes off better not become a habit with you.” His horn began to glow a soft green glow and the mayor’s clothes, in response, glowed as well. Stripes slowly pulled off the mayor’s clothes. He was not used to the amount of mental exertion needed to simultaneously untangle and remove the mayor’s clothes caused him to start breathing heavily.
Once the mayor was finally disrobed, she stood up. “Why do you look so tired already? A few nights ago you seemed like you could do this three times in a row.” She asked, looking towards Stripes.
Stripes took a moment to catch his breath before saying “I’m not all that good at magic. I just find ways to make it easier on myself. Undressing other ponies isn’t something I usually do, but I do tie ponies up often.”
The mayor looked to Stripes and said “Well, if you’d like some practice, you’re always welcome with me.” She went over to the desk she had laid her collar and ascot on and pulled the collar over the edge, laying it on the back of her neck. “I can always use another assistant.”
“Before you start offering me a position with you, perhaps we should discuss what I came here to discuss.” Stripes said, helping the mayor with her collar and ascot. “However, I would like to know you name. All I know is that you are the mayor of Ponyville.”
“Hmm?” The mayor asked, straightening her glasses. “I thought I told you already. My name is Mayor. Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville.” She spoke with a slightly surprised tone, though it was obvious more ponies than just Stripes had been confused before.
“Oh. So you did tell me.” Stripes said. “Well, you already know me, so let’s just get to exactly what you want me to do”
Mayor Mare smiled. “That’s what I like about you. Straightforward.” She said. “So, you already know I want some of the Diamond Dogs gems, but it’s a special set I want. They’re holding out on me, I just know it. They’ll probably have their special gems somewhere safe. Somewhere hidden, perhaps heavily guarded. You won’t be able to get there alone, but I don’t want anypony else to know about this.”
“Just how am I supposed to get there, then? Snow doesn’t even have a map of the tunnels themselves.” Stripes asked. “It’ll be impossible. I can’t even teleport around the tunnels.”
“You jumped the gun there, Stripes.” Mayor Mare said. “You didn’t let me finish. How rude.” She teased. “I’ll be accompanying you. Of course, I can’t be seen by the rest of your gang, but seeing as how I have a map of the tunnels, evading them should be simple. There are tons of hidden side-tunnels, just for escaping detection.”
“All right then.” Stripes said. “So, what’s in it for me? Few nights ago, you said it’d have a big payoff. You better not have been lying.”
“Oh, It’s going to be a very large payoff indeed.” Mayor Mare said. “Think of it as a get out of jail free card. It’s open to you if you ever get caught by law enforcement. Ponyville, Manehatten, even Canterlot. I’ve got quite a few favors owed to me.” She paused, seeing how Stripes still wasn’t impressed. “In addition, you shall always have a safe haven here in Ponyville. A house of your own and, as long as your crimes don’t interfere with my city, a blind eye to anything you wish to do.” She drew closer to Stripes, walking around him and, whispering into his ear the way he whispered into hers the night they met. “Anything you want, whenever you want.” She rested her hooves on his shoulders, moving her head around to whisper in his other ear. “No expiration date. No legal consequences.”
Stripes smiled at this idea. Mayor Mare was pretty much giving him what he wanted most: the freedom to do whatever he wanted. “I’m in.” He said. “But, if this is what you gave to the Diamond Dogs, then I will have you know, that my home had better be an actual house, not some hole in the ground.”
“I thought you might want to know what house you would be getting, so I took the liberty of… Acquiring the properties around City Hall. You may choose any one of them. You will have the opportunity to see them from the inside… After the job is complete.” Mayor Mare said. “Now, do you know when your gang is going to be delving into the depths of the Diamond Dog’s lair?”
“Actually, We’re going in tonight.” Stripes said. “It was decided by Snow this morning.”
“Tonight? Good. I’m free tonight.” Mayor Mare said. She opened up the drawer of the desk her collar was on and pulled out a map. “This is the map of the tunnels. I’ll be keeping it, but I’m showing it to you so you know to meet me right here.” She pointed to a chamber on the map, near the southern edge of the complex. “It’s a secret room, led to by secret passages. The doors are marked by a cross pattern of purple gems. Press the middle one and the door will open.”
“Won’t the Diamond Dogs be watching secret entrances somehow?” Stripes asked.
Stripes shrugged a little bit. “Well, all right then.” He said. “I guess all that’s left is to actually get this done.” He seemed to still be a little uneasy about what had to be done. After all, he had to get split from the gang without drawing attention to himself, sneak past Diamond Dogs in their own tunnels, and sneak around with the mayor. Not a simple task.
“Then I shall see you tonight.” Mayor Mare said. As Stripes began to trot out, she called after him. “Remember, nopony must know about us.” Mayor Mare then let Stripes trot out of City Hall. “All right, then. Now, what to do about those dogs… I can’t get rid of them, but I can tell they’re starting to turn against me…” She opened the drawer of the desk once more and looked at what was inside. She smiled slightly as she glanced upon a small, dark, shimmering object.
Stripes began his trot back to the house. The sun had dipped low enough that some stars were already visible in the afternoon sky. It was still some time until sunset, but Stripes wasn’t worried. They wouldn’t be going out until most ponies were asleep. That’s how their gang always worked when they needed to keep a low profile.
He began to think about everything that had to be done. He thought of what he could lose should he not pull this off correctly. But mostly, he thought of all he could gain should everything go according to his plan. His plan and not the mayor’s. “This just keeps getting tougher and tougher…” Stripes mumbled
“…I like it.”
