It All Has to End...

The world always seemed to make more sense looking through the two small panes of rose colored glass. Ebony took a moment to reposition the goggles sitting on the bridge of his snout as he cast a hungry eye over a plethora of valuable trinkets dotting about the lavishly decorated hallway. Not able to pass up so much wealth completely empty hoofed, he carefully slid a gold encrusted candlestick into the saddlebag hanging off his leather clad body. Just a small token to give him something to remember his visit, and possibly line his pockets with some coin. The hide armor he wore helped to muffle the stallion’s movements as he crept through the dark interior of the Earth Pony temple. Leather cuffs secured tightly over his hooves reduced the echo of his hoofsteps against the hard surface. At this hour it would be unlikely that there would be anyone else roaming the deserted corridors of the temple, except for maybe the guards that he had snuck by on his way in.

Creeping his way down the dimly lit passage, Ebony found himself faced with a bit of a choice to make. Three doors on the right and three doors on the left, all perfectly identical in every way. The stallion sighed in frustration, running a hoof through his red mane as he scrutinized which direction would lead him down the correct path. Almost a minute passed and his choice became no less clear, instead just moving toward one at random and placing his hoof upon the latch.

Slowly the handle turned, holding his breath as he pulled it open so he could peek through the thin crack inside. The room on the other side was utterly devoid of light, however, no lanterns or windows to help illuminate what was inside. Even his goggles did little to help pierce the blackness as he adjusted the dial on the side. Curiously, he slid the door the rest of the way open, instantly regretting his folly as a broom fell only inches from his head and the wooden handle smacked loudly against the hard stone floor. The resounding echo that reverberated down the hallway made his blood run cold.

Ebony’s ears stood erect as his body was turned to granite, the world coming to a stop around him as he listened for any sign that someone was coming to check on the disturbance. Several painfully slow seconds passed before the stallion could breathe again, letting out a quiet chuckle of relief as he placed the broom back inside what he now knew was a supply closet. Luck seemed to be on his side tonight, or at least he thought until he heard the handle of the door directly behind him some clink to life. Ebony whipped around, eyes wide with panic as he desperately scanned for a place to hide as the door began to creak open.

A moment later and a large burly guard stepped through the door, the beige stallion taking a moment to take a look around. The lantern anchored to his saddle via a long pole swayed back and forth as he moved.The flame contained within the glass panes casting out its wavering glow upon the walls of the empty corridor before him. With a tired yawn, the guard turned down the corridor to the left and lazily kicked the door behind him shut with his hoof.

Had he but turned as the door clicked shut, he would have seen the black, leather clad pony with his back mashed up against the wall on the opposite side. Ebony was doing his best to simply melt into the wall, his heart pounding in his chest as he stared into the flank of the guard pony walking in the other direction. Waiting till the guard had moved a comfortable enough distance away before he started to move again, he silently exited the hallway through the same door that the guard had come through.

The reassuring sound of the latch sliding into place allowed Ebony to finally breath, gasping as he slumped against the door and took a moment to let his heart slow down. That had been far too close for comfort. Turning to take stock of his most present location, the black stallion’s ears perked up curiously, finding himself looking down a rather short passageway leading to another door at the opposite end. Each wall had large purple and gold banners draped from one end to the other, and a long rug mirroring the decor was strung out between them. Finally finding something of interest, Ebony made his way to the opposing side and gave the door’s handle a tug. It was locked. A broad smile stretched over his face with the discovery. Locked was good. Locked meant there was something worth protecting on the other side. Reaching enthusiastically into his satchel, a long slender rod was produced from his bag with a few indecipherable markings etched onto the surface. It was made from a peculiar looking stone, polished until it gleamed in the light. Carefully sliding the thin shaft into the keyhole, Ebony quietly whispered a single word.

“Açıq.”

There was a soft glow within the lock before the internal mechanism turned with a solid click. Ebony removed the stone and gave the handle another try, grinning as the door swung inward on its hinges. The room beyond shone brightly through his goggles, forcing him to adjust the dial so that the crimson lenses darkened and blocked out the light.

Ebony stood inside of the central part of the temple, a large skylight cut from the ceiling to allow the moon to shine down into the antechamber. At its center, there was a large gold plated bowl balanced carefully on a intricate pedestal filled to the brim with perfectly shaped gems. The black stallion had at long last found what he was looking for.

With a spring in his step, Ebony trotted up to the side of the basin and scooped out one of the many gems into his hooves. Rummaging around within his bag for a moment, he pulled out a piece of stone and a metal shard. Nodding his affirmation, he plopped the gem down onto the floor and raised the dull stone up with his hoof. With the steel grasped tightly in his maw, he struck the rock a few times above the crystal, cascading down sparks upon it and almost dancing his delight when the gem was suddenly consumed within an eerie green flame. Having found what he came for, the black stallion stowed his flint and steel back into his bag, replacing them with a scrap of leather that he floated down over the fire to extinguish it. Ebony quickly wrapped up the purple gem, tossing a few more in with it before carefully sliding them into the pockets of his pack. Taking a moment to make sure they were secure he began to scan around the room for an exit.

There was a small window big enough for a pony his size to slip through cut into the stone just a few feet the floor. Trotting over and placing his forehooves onto the wall, he crouched down low and sprang up and hooked his forelegs through the hole, smiling victoriously at his triumph.

“Stop Thief!”

Ebony’s world slowed as he glanced back over his shoulder just in time to see the guard entering in through the opposite side of the room hurl something his direction. The blade glinted as it passed through the moonlight pouring in from the ceiling, barely giving the leather clad pony time to release the ledge he hung from as it sailed over his head and out into the night sky.

Once again, Ebony found himself on the cold stone floor, eyes locked on the Earth Pony only a few yards away. What held his attention most, though, were the several long, thin blades braceleted around the large stallion’s hooves, a choice weapon of the Earth Race’s military. The two stared each other down for what seemed like an eternity, each waiting for someone to make the wrong move.

The guard reacted first, hooves clinking together as he loosed another blade and that foreleg arched back to hurl it at the red-maned intruder in the temple. Ebony ran. He barreled left across the room, hooves pounding against the stone floor as he made a desperate sprint for the door. His whole body slamming into it just as he heard the sound of metal striking stone only a few inches from where he had been moments before.

The latch holding the door in place exploded, flying open on its hinges and loudly crashing against the stone wall as the black stallion came flying through. The sound drew the attention of more guards at the end of the hallway, Ebony cursing under his breath as they turned to gallop after him. Tapestries elegantly strung out along the walls all blurred together as the black stallion bound down the hall at full tilt, chest heaving and his heart pounding in his chest. He could hear the shouting of the guards after him, a flickering glint of metal whistling past him in the dark told him that they weren’t about to let him escape.

Coming to a stairwell, he angled himself to go down, only making it the first few steps before the lanternlight from below caused him to halt and reverse. He came back up into the hallway as yet again one of the guards hurled a dagger at him and he ducked underneath it just in time for it to clang loudly against the wall, mere inches above his spine. With nowhere else to go, Ebony began to make his way up, legs burning as they carried his weight up the staircase and up to the roof of the temple. Along the way, he managed to rip a low hanging tapestry off of the wall and hurl it down at the guards behind him. The sound of their armor clashing against one another and the stone floor helped to ease his mind, making the distance between him and their daggers a little more comfortable.

Smashing through another door, Ebony found himself underneath the low light of the stars, not taking time to enjoy the serene night air as he sprinted to the edge of the temple roof. His hooves skid across the stone a few inches as he ground to a halt right at the edge, casting his gaze down in desperate hope that there would be some way he could escape. No ledges, no outcroppings, not even a single misaligned brick stuck out from the considerable drop straight down into the marketplace. Ebony openly cursed the Earth Ponies’ crafting skill as he turned to try and go back the way he came. The idea went as quickly as it came as four guards stepped out of the doorway, teeth bared as they glared at him furiously. He could hear two of them unhitch their blades as they slowly began to make their way forward, boxing him in against the edge of the wall.

Ebony had nowhere to run, his options growing slimmer as the stallions spread out to either side and closed the distance between them. He took a step back, rear hooves slipping off of the ledge a bit as he cast another glance down at the ground below. One of the market stands caught his eye, the green and white striped cloth pulled taut between two tent poles almost like a beacon to the black stallion. He was quite a ways up, though, and it was doubtful the fabric would hold his weight. As he took note of how close the guards were now, Ebony started to realize he didn’t have many other options open to him at that moment. Back and forth his head swiveled between the guards and the tent, trying to figure out which he would deem a worse fate, the guards starting to notice his strange behaviour. They were almost upon him now. Should they reach out they could have easily seized him, but caution stayed their hooves a moment too long. With a deep breath, Ebony’s legs pushed off of the temple’s edge and he sailed through the night sky.

The weightless feeling was enough to make his stomach churn, legs flailing in the air around him as he careened down toward the ground. The vision of white and green rushed up at him like a missile, the stallion closing his eyes tight as he made contact with the tent. There was a fraction of a second where Ebony thought his plan had worked, inertia forcing him down as he felt his descent slow. Then the grievous sound of fabric being rent apart filled his ears. Through the tent the stallion went, slamming down on the wooden stand underneath and splintering it under his weight.

All the air was torn from his lungs as he lay there on the ground, the distant sound of the guards shouting down from the rooftops filling his ringing ears as a crowd of ponies gathered around the destroyed stand. He could hear muffled words coming from them, voices filled with concern for the stallion that had just fallen from the heavens into the market square, but the only thing that Ebony could focus on was the throbbing pain lancing through his side with every beat of his heart. The leather armor had helped to take a lot of the impact, but there was only so much it could do against gravity.

Elsewhere, the guards had made their way down from the roof as fast as they could, at least a minute passing by before they charged into the crowd filled street. Shouting out over the heads of nearby ponies and shoving them aside, they made their way toward the center, soon able to apprehend the thief that had taken from the temple jewels. Upon their arrival, however, all the guards would discover was the shattered remains of the market stand, tattered scraps of the ruined tent, and a few grumbling ponies going about cleaning up the mess..

The Captain of the guard spun about the crowd, eyes peeled for any sign of the red-maned thief among the crowd, stamping his hooves. “Find him!” he yelled, practically bucking his fellow guards off to search for the escapee as he began to violently shout at the bystanders who must have seen where he went. All of them shied away from him, however, remaining silent as the guard only grew increasingly agitated. Unfortunately for the Captain, he wouldn’t notice the lump in the back of one of the carts being pulled along the road out of the city market and toward the edge of town.

Once the hustle and bustle of the pony hunt could no longer be heard, Ebony raised up the tarp hiding him from sight and poked his head out the back of the wagon. Making sure they weren’t being followed, he let out a long sigh of relief as the temple grew smaller in the distance and he could no longer hear the Captain angrily berating his guards. Not taking any chances, however, he slipped back underneath the tarp and laid out on the bed of the wagon.

“That sucked,” he groaned quietly to himself, feeling the pain still aching through his whole right side and his hind leg. Fortunately nothing felt broken, but he was going to be battered and bruised for quite a few days afterward until all the cuts and scrapes healed. Reaching down into his bag, he removed the ball of leather he had stored there, unfolding the gems he had taken and smiling to see that they were still intact. Rewrapping them and placing them back into his sack, he pulled his goggles off his head and gave them a good inspection as well. His previous jubilance replaced with annoyance to find that the right lense had been severely cracked. The red tint broken where the two long rifts stretched across it. The glass would have to be replaced. Not able to fix the problem there, he stuffed them into his satchel and laid his head down. It was best he tried to get some sleep now. There was nothing else he could do until they reached their destination and he could pawn off the gems he had been contracted to acquire. The two ponies pulling his cart would make sure that he got there. Especially with how much he had promised to pay them.