A lone figure stands before a long dark hallway, observing a door at the end of it. Slowly, with methodical steps, it approaches the door, clutching a handgun with a tight magical grip. A surge of emotions shoot through its body, as it cocks the hammer of the gun. Standing before the door, a drop of sweat runs down through its forehead and, as it hits the floor, it kicks the door open. A blinding amount of light burst through the door, but it only took a second for the pony to see that through the door was a pony sitting behind a desk. A unicorn.
The pony entered the room, raising the gun with its magic, aligning the sights on the forehead of the sitting unicorn. The unicorn simply smiled, as the pony felt the gun being pushed to the side and a brown foreleg hitting its head, making the pony lose its focus and drop the gun. As the pony fell to its side, it turned its head towards the left, while sweeping the attacker with its hind legs. Downing the attacker, the pony regained its footing and raised its forehooves towards the brown pony, but froze after it saw who it was. Before it could speak a single word, the unicorn grabbed the pony by the withers, turned it towards the table and struck its hoof hard against the pony's face, knocking down the pony a small distance away. The downed pony turned its head towards the unicorn as it slowly approached. At the corner of its eye, the pony caught a glimpse of the gun, and tried to levitate it towards the attacker. Unfortunately, the unicorn saw this, and seized the gun from the pony's magical grasp with its own magic, tossing it away. The pony tried to kick the unicorn with its hind legs, but it graciously dodged the strike, and slammed its forehooves against the pony's flank, pinning it. It tried to break free, but the unicorn was simply stronger.
"You never should have come here, Sweetie Belle." the unicorn said, as it produced a gun of its own, pointing it towards Sweetie Belle.
--
A few years ago
Sweetie Belle laid on her belly in the middle of a large meadow, doing nothing but staring at the clear blue skies, courtesy of the local weather team. Lately, she didn't feel like hanging out with her fellow crusaders, or anypony in particular. After many failed attempts at getting her cutie mark, she just wanted some time alone.
Reminiscing about her many attempts brought a sour smile upon her face. Sure, she did enjoy spending time with her friends, and she didn't mind trying new things just to discover her special talent, but after many hours of absent-minded thinking, she just couldn't find the reason she has not acquired her cutie mark yet, and the thought of not knowing frustrated her. It also hurt her head a little to think so hard, but it was alright now, she was alone, just staring into the blankness of the skies with nothing to worry about. Her gaze was unrelenting and, to any bystander, it would seem that she was lost in thought, but in reality, her mind was as white as the color of her coat. However, something caught her attention. Looming over the horizon was a dark cloud, and it seemed to be moving towards her. She got up, the strange sight being enough to arouse suspicion and curiosity, as she observed the cloud carefully, tilting her head. The cloud just went past her overhead, slowly. She turned, and watched as the cloud went on its course, disappearing behind faraway mounds.
"Weird." she said, before making her way back towards Ponyville, tired of just lazing around, thinking of unimportant matters.
--
After a few hours of silent trekking, she made it back to Ponyville, walking past many ponies without uttering a single greeting or look of acknowledgement. As of now, she just wanted to go back the her sister's home and rest. She opened the door of the Carousel Boutique and entered swiftly, letting the door fall back into place.
"Sweetie Belle? Is that you?" Rarity asked while focusing on a fancy blue dress, the type of dress that Equestrian nobility and upper class mares would be fond of.
Sweetie Belle just hummed and walked past her, making her way towards her room.
"Sweetie, wait! Your friends came by a few hours ago, and said that there's some sort of event taking place at the park! They said it might give you all an idea of how to obtain your cutie marks, you should go meet with them." Rarity said.
She didn't heed her words, and proceeded to her room nonetheless. After entering, she just jumped on her bed, laying face down, not really wanting to do anything. After a few minutes passed, she heard somepony knock on the door.
"Hello? Darling, are you alright?" she asked through the door. She tried turning the doorknob, but Sweetie Belle locked it.
She didn't even bothered replying.
"Sweetie Belle, open this door at this instant!" her sister demanded.
Nope, not happening, she thought. She didn't hear whatever her sister said next, but she did hear the door bust, as her sister stormed inside, looking slightly irritated.
"Why did you do that for?!" Sweetie Belle demanded, a frown forming upon her face.
"Because you didn't open up the door!" Rarity replied.
Sweetie just stared at her sister, frowning. A few seconds of silence passed before Rarity recovered her composure.
"So... uh... tell me, darling, what's wrong? Why are you so distant?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"It's... nothing. Just leave me alone." Sweetie said, after yet a few more moments of silence, her ears drooping, as she pressed her face against a pillow.
Rarity didn't knew what to say, but experience told her that pressing the matter could only make it worse. She settled for what she thought was the best thing to say.
"Is there anything I could do to make you feel better?"
Sweetie Belle pondered for a moment, but then shook her head. Rarity sighed.
"Darling, I don't know what happened, but if not even your friends can cheer you up, then what else will?"
Sweetie just groaned, acknowledging that her sister might be right. Still, she wasn't so sure about going out right now. Rarity just trotted towards her, and nuzzled her, hoping it would help somehow. For some reason, though, Sweetie didn't find comfort in it, she just wanted to get away. She reasoned that her sister would stay, unless she went out and met with her fellow crusaders. She got up and away from her sister, and sighed.
"Fine, I'll go meet up with Scoots and Apple Bloom." she said, reluctantly.
Rarity just smiled and nodded.
--
It was quite a busy day at the park. There was a huge amount of ponies gathered around a stage. From afar, it seemed like some sort of magic show. Fair enough, Sweetie Belle approached the stage, making her way through the many ponies. At the front, she saw none other than her friends, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, both looking amazed at the display and trotted towards them.
"Hey, girls! What's this all about?" she asked, before hearing a burst of collective laughter.
"Why don't you look for yourself!" Apple Bloom said while smiling, as her fellow crusaders exchanged greetings.
A male unicorn pony of white coat and black mane, wearing fancy clothing, a top hat and a pair of glasses, was standing right next to a blue pegasus stallion, who wore similarly fancy clothing. The unicorn pony was seemingly doing a magic trick with a bit. She didn't understood what was happening though. Suddenly, though, he managed to place the bit on the withers of the pegasus. The pegasus was dumbfounded. That was not it, though, as the unicorn pony did some fancy movements with the bit, and told the pegasus to look at his withers, and while he did it, he made a quick hoof movement, and reached behind the head of the pegasus, displaying a watch unbeknownst to the pegasus. Everypony but Sweetie Belle bursted into laughter, she was simply fascinated. She was never an attentive pony, so the way that the unicorn played with the attention of the pegasus was quite interesting to her. The unicorn pony then proceeded to return a few items to the pegasus, among them, a top hat, a pair of glasses, the watch, as well as other pieces of clothing. The unicorn then bowed, as the pegasus returned to the crowd, and people clapped and cheered at the performance. It seemed like the end of the show, though, since the ponies began dispersing and going on about their businessess.
"That... was... amazing!" Sweetie Belle proclaimed, very glad that she went to the park.
Her fellow crusaders nodded in unison. Suddenly, an idea sprung in her head.
"Do you think we could get a cutie mark of... uh... whatever it is the unicorn did?!" she asked, a feeling of excitedness, that she hasn't felt for a while, surging through her body.
The two other crusaders wore unsure smiles.
"Well..." Apple Bloom began, "...I'm not sure I could do that, being an earth pony and all..."
"...and we're not even sure what kind of cutie mark somepony that does that would have." finished Scootaloo.
"But, we got to try! Right?! Right?" Sweetie asked, watching the still uncertain expressions of her friends.
"Uh... well... if it's what you want to do, we can help you out, right Scoots?" Apple Bloom said, looking at Scootaloo. She was unsure, until Apple Bloom nudged her.
"Eh... yeah! Why not?" Scootaloo said, a sheepish smile on her face.
"Why don't you go ask him what is that he did?" Apple Bloom suggested, pointing at the unicorn that was now leaving the park.
"Good idea, see you girls later!" Sweetie said, before galloping towards the unicorn.
The remaining crusaders watched their friend go, unsure of what to make out of it.
"Do you think this is a good idea?" Scootaloo asked with a worried expression.
"I don't know, but she's our friend, and we got to support her. Isn't that something that Rainbow Dash told you?"
"Well... yes, but I don't think it's nice to take other ponies's stuff... isn't that what Applejack told you?"
They both just stared at each other awkwardly.
"Sir, wait!" Sweetie Belle yelled, as she galloped towards the unicorn that performed the unknown act.
The unicorn turned around to see a white unicorn filly speeding towards him. Sweetie Belle tried to stop, but lost traction on the ground and went sliding towards a tree, crashing. With utmost calm, the unicorn trotted towards the filly.
"Are you alright, missy?" the unicorn said, watching the white and brown mess that Sweetie Belle now was, her horn stuck in the bark of the tree.
"Yeah... I'm... fine." she said, blushing.
Whatever feeling of excitedness disappeared and was replaced instead with shame and regret. She tried pulling her horn out of the bark, to no avail. The unicorn approached her and grabbed her by the flank, pulling backwards.
"There you go." he said, freeing Sweetie's horn from the tree.
He tilted his head, amused by the unicorn filly that was now gazing down into the ground, seemingly embarassed. He reached for a pocket in his jacket, producing a white handkerchief. He placed the small cloth in her field of vision. She looked at it timidly, before grasping it with magic, and began wiping the mud off her coat.
"Thanks." said Sweetie Belle sheepishly.
The unicorn entertained himself watching the filly clumsily trying to clean herself, as if she had little control and experience with her magic. After she was done, she felt even more shame, when she handed a mostly brown handkerchief to it's owner. He grasped the cloth with his magic and did a quick flick, sending most of the mud towards the ground, where it belonged.
"So, what's your name?" he asked with warm smile, stowing away the handkerchief.
She felt compelled to answer, but no matter how hard she tried, the words would not come out. This must be how Fluttershy feels everytime, she thought.
"My name is Parting Gift." he said, awaiting eagerly for her response.
After remembering the reason why she came to him in the first place, she mustered some courage. She met his gaze, staring into his light brown eyes. His mane was black and well-kept, and his coat was as white as hers. He wore a black suit jacket with a gray stripped shirt with a similarly striped black and gray tie. He had something special, she thought, something that made you pay attention to him. He was, simply put, charming.
"Excuse me, missy, are you with me?" the unicorn said, tilting his head while waving his hoof near her face.
"What? Oh... uh... my name... is Sweetie Belle." she said, kind of embarassed for zoning out.
"Sweetie Belle..." he said, pondering for a moment. "...such a lovely name for a filly. So, what business do you have with me, miss Sweetie Belle?" he asked, smiling.
"Oh, I'd like to know what it was that you did back there at the stage! The bit thing, the watch thing... it was amazing!" Her face lit up like a Hearth Warming Eve's light.
A grin formed on his face.
"What you saw back there, missy, was the mysterious art of pickpocketing! It is the art of diverting attention, the control of equine perception, the acquisition of pony treasure!" he exclaimed, making exaggerated hoof gestures.
"Does that answer your question, missy?" he asked, wearing a smug smile.
Sweetie Belle didn't really understood well what he meant. She understood the words he spoke, after all, she was the most linguistically refined of the crusaders, but what she didn't comprehend, was the relation of those words with his craft.
"Um... yes. I've been wondering though, can you teach me how to do it?" she asked, staring at him with eyes that pierced deep into a pony's soul, appealing to the kindness and benevolence inside everypony's hearts.
His smile faltered.
"Well, I'm not sure missy. It is something that little fillies like you shouldn't do. It's an uncommon craft, and for good reason." he said, a slight tone of worry behind his voice.
She pouted, slightly disappointed by his response. Seeing this, he sought to entertain her, at the very least. He couldn't just let this filly go about disillusioned, of course.
He pulled a seemingly expensive silver pen out of his pockets, and flashed it to her. He now had her attention.
"Alright, missy, I need you to look at this pen. Do you see the cap and the pen?" he asked, while uncapping the pen, holding the pen in one hoof and the cap in the other. Sweetie Belle nodded attentively.
"If you pay attention, you'll see that as you put the cap on the pen, it disappears." he said, as he did some weird hoof moves, showing that the cap somehow disappeared. "Now, if you're following as you should, you would see that the cap was always in my hoof, but as we put the pen on the cap, it disappears." he made similar hoof movement, this time, disappearing the pen, while showing the cap on one of his hooves.
He then proceeded to show that the pen was on his left ear. Sweetie Belle was confused, yet amazed at the same time. Next, he capped the pen, and with a glow of magic, he disappeared the pen in plain view. Her perplexed expression gave him a wide smile of satisfaction. She then began clopping her hooves, quite entertained by the show.
"Did you like that?" he said, a charming smile still etched on his face.
"Yeah! How did you even do that?!" she asked bewildered. "You moved your hoof here, then there and... well, it was great!" she said, trying to mimic his moves, tangling her forehooves in the process.
"A magician... uh... pickpocket never reveals his secrets! But, you seem like a nice filly." he said yet again with exalted gestures.
"I'll tell you what, missy, when you grow up, if you still want to learn this craft, I'll teach you. Just travel to Manehattan and ask around for Parting Gift." he said with a wink.
Sweetie Belle grinned from ear to ear, before nodding enthusiastically.
"Well, see you until then, Sweetie Belle." he said, patting her head. He then trotted away, disappearing into a crowd of ponies.
She couldn't contain her excitement. In fact, as impatient as she is, she decided to begin learning now, somehow. And then it struck her. What is the best place to learn new things? A library, of course! She decided to go towards Twilight's library, hoping to pick up a book or two about the subject.
--
"You want to learn... what?" Twilight asked, confused at Sweetie Belle's request.
"I want to learn how to pickpocket!" she said eagerly.
"Sweetie Belle, do you know what you're asking? You're saying you want to learn how to steal other ponies's items!" she said matter-of-factly.
"I know! I saw this unicorn doing some show on the park, and it was amazing!" she exclaimed, raising both her forelegs. "He did some weird bit magic, and took a pony's watch without him knowing!" she made gestures trying to mimic his moves.
"Sweetie, does Rarity know about this? I'm going to go tell Rarity. This just isn't rig... wait, did you said magic?" she looked puzzled.
Sweetie Belle nodded.
"Yes! He had this bit on his hooves, and then did some weird moves, and he made it appear on a pony's wither!" she said, yet again trying to mimic his moves, failing miserably.
"Oh, don't be silly! That's not magic, it's a trick! It's nothing but a gimmick!" she said with a smug expression.
"If you want to see real magic, you should see the likes of Starswirl the Bearded and all the great magicians in Equestria's history!" she said excitedly, levitating several thick tomes towards Sweetie Belle.
Staring at the huge pile of books before her, she couldn't help but thinking how boring it all seemed.
"Twilight, I just want to learn how to pickpocket. Don't you have any book about it?" she said, slightly annoyed.
Twilight was visibly upset about her lack of interest in Equestria's top magicians. In fact, she began heading towards the exit of the library.
"Sweetie, I'm going to tell Rarity. That isn't something a filly should know about." she said, before storming off, presumably to the Carousel Boutique.
"Was it something I said?" Sweetie Belle asked.
She was alone inside the library, and Twilight refused to search for the book, so she set to find the books herself. Standing nearby the nearest shelf, she sat, and stared at the many tomes lined up neatly next to each other.
"A Tale of Two Mares... Abstinence: All You Need to Know... " she said, her gaze running left to right, and after just a few seconds of searching, she was already frustrated.
"Ugh... why can't this be any simpler?!"
Just then, she heard a sound. Hoofsteps? She turned her head towards the stairs, and after a few moments, saw Spike descending the stairway, wearing a pink apron with a heart on the center. They saw each other and kept silent for a while.
"Sup." said Spike, raising a claw.
She snickered, before descending into a heartily laugh.
"What's wrong?"
After seconds of laughter, she wiped a tear off her eyes.
"Nothing, nothing... say, you work in this library, don't you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"Well... I live here."
"Spike, darling, could you please be a dear and find me a book or two about pickpocketing?" she asked in the most persuasive way she could muster, trying to imitate her sister.
"Pickpocketing? What's that?"
"Oh, nothing. Can you please find them?" she asked, flickering her eyelashes.
"Uh, sure." he said, confused.
It only took him less than a minute, and he already got three books regarding pickpocketing.
"Uh huh... Pickpocketing for Dummies... A Foal's Guide to Pickpocketing... Pickpocketing: Get Rich or Die Trying... I think this will do!" she exclaimed, eager to learn all the tricks of the trade.
"So, will you tell me what pickpocketing is?" asked Spike.
She just looked at the books, before turning her gaze towards Spike.
"Maybe some other day, bye!" and with that, she scrammed, holding the books with her magic.
Spike just stood there, confounded.
"Mares..." he muttered under his breath.
--
A filly trotted happily through Ponyville, towards the Carousel Boutique, with books floating nearby her. It was quite an unusual sight to behold, since the filly in question was not Twilight Sparkle. Along the way, she greeted every pony she stumbled upon, and in a matter of minutes, saw her home nearby in the distance. The sky was clear once again and the sun shone brightly. It was a glorious day. As she approached, she saw the door open, and remembering what Twilight said, ran for cover as fast as she could, which turned out to be a few wooden barrels near a random house. Peeking over the top of the barrel, she saw Twilight speaking with Rarity, before parting to her library, probably, she thought. She then noticed that the books were still levitating above her head.
"Shoot!" she said, before dropping the books behind the barrels. Glancing once again she saw Twilight heading towards the library. She sat still, and watched as Twilight walked past her, seemingly not noticing her. After she was far away enough, Sweetie Belle creeped her way towards the Boutique, books levitating above her. She carefully opened the door, and after seeing the coast was clear, she made her way towards her room as fast as she could. Fortunately, she didn't run into her sister at all. She entered the room, and closed the newly placed door, locking the doorknob.
"Success!" she proclaimed triumphantly. She placed the books under her bed before drifting off to sleep, exhausted by the events of today.
--
Twilight returned to the library, seeing the big pile of books she left for Sweetie Belle. She sighed, as she used her magic to levitate the books back to their places. After quickly glancing through her collection of books, she noticed a few books were missing.
"Spike! Come down here, right now!" she yelled.
"Coming!" Spike yelled from upstairs.
Making his way downstairs, he stood at attention as he came within sight of Twilight.
"Spike, there are a few books missing. What books were borrowed?" she demanded.
"Uh... Pickpocketing for Dummies... A Foal's Guide to Pickpocketing... Pickpocketing: Get Rich or Die Trying... yep, that's about it." he said, scratching his head.
Twilight was silent for a moment that seemed like an eternity.
"SWEETIE BELL!!" she screamed with such intensity, that it resonated throughout all of Ponyville, reaching as far as Fluttershy's cottage and beyond.
It, however, did not perturb Sweetie's rest, as she was sleeping soundly, a smile of satisfaction etched on her face from her very first success in a while, her very first act of thievery.
