Thievery Belle

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.