Honor of Thieves

The Way of the Family

///

Rose was walking around town a few days later, Crimson sent the three on their way two days after they finished the letters. Pyre helped them by delivering the letters to the Twilight and the others, as well as nearby family.

She thought to herself, 'We'll need to decorate and have some pony cater, but knowing Crimson he asked some ponies to do that, already.' She sighs and looks at her surroundings and saw the Carousel Boutique, 'I should see Rarity for a new dress.'

She goes to the Boutique and walks in, hearing the bell ring as the door opens.

Rarity was working on a dress when Rose arrived. When the bell rang she looked to the door and smiled, "Oh Rose, darling, thank you for letting me decorate the ballroom for the masquerade." She hugged her.

"Please don't thank me I didn't know about the until Crimson sent Pyre's caretakers to deliver the letters to the family." Rose replied, "I'm a little surprised that he chose you to decorate."

Rarity gave her an evil look, "Why? Did he say he hated my work?"

Rose shook her head, "No it's just that, well, he has a difficult time trusting other ponies that he doesn't know well."

"But you said he was happy to have you at his home." Rarity said confused at what Rose said

"That was before the training. After we learned what we knew he got paranoid." Rose sighed, "He still made friends, but it was hard for him to trust them."
///

Crimson looked through the window at the library, where Twilight was asking about the masquerade ball he was throwing.

"Crimson I you were done with that life!"

He looked at her after that last remark, "Twilight, you think I would break a promise if it would take me away from Rose. This ball is basically a family reunion, which is long overdue."

"Crimson it's called the Thief's Masquerade, what is it about besides being a thief?" She looks at him angrily

"Twilight when I was 15, I took on responsibilities as head of the family." He says looking at her, "I thought of a way to bring the family together, so I made a party to celebrate the creation of our thieving ways."

Twilight chuckles, "Tell me how your family works."

Crimson sighs again, "Fine give a pencil and paper and I'll show you how my family is set up."

She hands him a piece of paper and a pencil, and grabs a notebook and quill, "Ready when you are."

"My family is large, so there are four clans." He starts drawing on the paper. "Each clan has a name, but you'll learn those later." He shows her a diagram with four circles on the below one on the top of the page.

Twilight wrote everything down in her notepad, "I'm taking a guess that the families are under the command of the head."

Crimson sighs,"Yes and no, I told you it's complicated. Certain clans hates the others, so some defy the leader."

Crimson tells Twilight about when he was a child he planned to change that when he was head of the family and his gang, except Rose, were all from those families, Halo's mother married into a different family.

"Sounds like you tried to do something good." Twilight said looking at him.

"We were hated." Crimson sighed and looked at the ground, "There were conspirators to try to get rid of me, but they didn't last."

Twilight looked at him and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean they are no longer part of the family. If a certain amount of rules are broken, we'd take their memories." He scratches his head, "Then we dump them in some part of Equestria."

"That's awful!" Twilight said with a disgusted look on her face

"That's what should happen!" Crimson stood up, "They were killers and traitors, we did what we had to do."

"But they were your family." Twilight argued

"I made it so they knew who they were when they died, isn't that good enough." He walked to the door, "It was never easy to do that Twilight, but I did what I had to do." He looked back at her with a sad expression, then left the library.
///

Crimson walked the streets of Ponyville, "She'll never know what it was like, stripping the memories of my family members." He blows a sharp whistle and Pyre flew to him, "You have always been a good friend, now have you sent all the letters to the members that haven't been exiled?"

Pyre caws, and ruffled his feathers.

"Good, now we'll be heading home in a while." He pets the bird's head, "Has family already started to flock there?"

The Phoenix caws again and he jumps on Crimson's back.

"Alright we'll meet you at the house, the family house." He says looking at the Phoenix as the bird nods then flies off. Crimson kept walking towards home so he could pack his suit.

Rose arrived several hours later. She looked around the house and found Crimson in the study, "So how'd it go with Twi?"

Crimson shrugs, "She wanted to know how it's built, then I told her how we dealt with the rule breakers. Then we argued about that and I left soon after."

"Well I'm not a big fan of it myself." Rose said walking to him.

"No pony is, but it keeps everypony safe from them." He sighs and pulls her in with his wing, "But they are never truly forgotten."

Rose leans against him and adds, "We always remember them."

"I have to go to help with getting the family settled, so I'll see you when in a few days." He says before kissing her head, "Send Rarity when she finishes your dress."

She nods and kisses him, "I'll see you then."

Crimson grabs his bag and leaves heading toward the train station. When he gets there the Phoenix caretakers were waiting for him.

The mare looks at him and says, “Are you ready sir?”

Crimson nods, “Yes I've been wondering how much the family has improved.”