Honor of Thieves

The Ruins Illusions

"Why could we at least stay here for a month or two?" Rose said as her and her friends boarded the train

"I agree with her Crimson, why are we going on this trip?" Rarity asked

Crimson put his bag on his seat and said, "You girls are coming because you agreed, Rainbow Dash, A.J., and Pinkie are in for the excitement, Twilight thought it would be for learning, and Fluttershy was dragged here by Rainbow Dash. I'm going because I'm working for Luna, need I explain more?"

"So you're a treasure hunter now?" Applejack asked

"Or a grave robber if the job demands it." He answered

"How do ya even sleep at night?" Applejack asked with a look of disgust

"I have a cup of lemon balm tea. I don't see the interest of my life." He answered, "Speaking of which I'm taking a nap."

"That pony is so unbelievable." Applejack said under breath

"Deal with it," He replied lying against his head on bag with his eyes closed, "because you're stuck with me."

"Its better just to ignore him A.J." Twilight said

"I don't get emotional on a job," he said, "if we did we could've been killed or caught, so please ignore my heartlessness."

"He's right," Rose said yawning, "we keep emotions and jobs separate, that's what got him caught and imprisoned. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be joining him." Then Rose laid her head on Crimson's back and started to sleep.
///

The ruins Luna told them to go to was at least a day from the train station and was in a thick jungle-like forest.

"Is anyone else getting déjà vu or is it only me?" Crimson asked, "I swear I've been here before."

"How could've you been here? we didn't know this place existed until yesterday." Rose said

"I must be imagining it." He whispered to himself

"It seems like there nothing inside." Twilight said entering in temple, "And what is this?" She pointed at a giant block in the wall with a carving of a mask like object.

"What does it say there?" Rainbow Dash asked pointing at faded out writing under the image, then she looked around, "Wait, where's Crimson?" Everyone looked around to see no sign of the former thief.

"Nice, this thing is amazing!" Crimson said in excitement, "Hey, you aren't to believe this." Then he appeared out the wall to their right, wearing an old mask that looked like he had another eye in his forehead

"How did you do that?" Twilight said in astonishment, "And what is that?"

"This place is larger than it appears." He replied, pointed and said , "And what I'm wearing is that thing it gets rid of the illusions here."

"How did you find that anyway?" Pinkie asked

"There are breezes that come from the walls." He said putting the mask on her, "Look around and you'll see what I mean."

"Ooh, look at all the hallways." She said before Crimson took the mask back

"This will make this job go faster." He said putting it back on, "If this place needs false walls then the loot must be pretty important."

"It must be." Rose said chuckling

"Follow me." He said as he went to a pillar and pushed it. Then, the ground started shaking and a staircase appeared behind the wall of the masks image.

"Well lets shove off." He said putting the mask in his bag.

"Why should we follow you?" Applejack asked with annoyance

"Because Rose and I are the most experienced at things like this." He said, "Besides there are most likely traps, and we won't the Elements to get hurt now."

"Thanks?" She replied

"There's the bottom." Rarity said, "The smell here is awful."

"Well my gut is telling there's something here." He said looking at the basins at the entrance of the stairs, "Rose, could you light these please? It will shed some light on our present situation."

"Sure." Then she took some matches from her bag, lit them, and threw them in the basins. They immediately caught fire and so did others. The lights revealed the entire room which had many doors that led to other rooms or halls.

"We should split up." He said, "Two per door with the exception of a group of one and three."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"I'm going alone." He replied looking around, "I have had this weird feeling since we got here, we'll met up back here." Then they went their separate ways with Crimson walking through a false wall.

"I know I've been here." He said looking at the floor.

When they met back together, the only one who wasn't there was Crimson, but the mask he had was in room and it faced the wall where he disappeared.

"That idiot." Rose said, "Why didn't he just wait here?"

"Well it probably fell out of his bag." Twilight said, "Let's go find him."
///

"Crimson, where are you?" Rose yelled only to be answered by an echo, "I'm really starting to get worried. We should have seen a door or something by now."

"I'm sure he's fine there's only way to go." Fluttershy said trying to reassure her.

"It seems like this hall has no end." Twilight said, "it just keeps going on and on."

"Give me the mask." Rose demanded, "We'll at least know if there are any secret passages."

"There's a light up ahead." Applejack said, "Maybe he's over there."

"Is it a way out of this bleak hall." Rarity said before going towards the light. When everyone was in the room there was a stone wall with writings on it, with Crimson standing in front of it.

"What took you so long?" He said looking at the wall, "I need a match or something I can't see what's on the wall."

"What do you need lit?" Twilight asked

"Just this." He answered holding out a long stick with a string at the end.

"A candle? That's it?"

"Yes I need it lit and no its not a candle." He answered, "And when its lit I suggest you run a ways away." Twilight then lit the wick and the others ran into the hallway while Crimson placed it on a certain area of the wall. When he placed it he ran to where his friends took cover then nodded at Rose who did the same. Then an explosion shook the hall and Crimson walked back to wall where the 'candle' was.

"Are you trying to kill us?!" Rainbow Dash yelled

"What was that anyway?" Twilight asked him looking at a new hole inside the wall before becoming furious, "And why did you destroy all that historical writing?!"

"That was dynamite and it would've if Rose didn't put a shield around it." he said pointing at Rose, "That was perfect dear." This caused her to blush and avoid eye contact with him.

"If you want what the said I wrote it down." He answered

"You wrote it in a matter of hours?" She asked suspiciously

"This written down can't be done in mere hours,reading it is a different matter." He said tapping his hoof on his head, "Anyway let's go on, its so close I can taste it."

"How far do you think we have?" Fluttershy asked, "I really don't like it in here."

"Don't know," was his answer, "I don't like it here either so that's why I'm trying to get this over with."

"Well let's get this over with." Rarity said, "Some of us have jobs to do."

"Aye, that's why I wanted to get this over with." He replied walking through the hole.
///

"What time is it?" Pinkie asked after walking for what seemed like hours

"Well it was almost noon when we arrived, so its probably around 11 at night." Twilight answered

"It's seems like this is an old ruin." Crimson responded, "Look, there are windows on each side of the ruin. And that must be our prize!" Then he started running past piles of gold toward the center where a white sword was placed in stone.

"Hey Crimson, you don't think this is It?" Rose asked when she stood next to him

"It most likely is, now let's get it." He answered then grabbed the sword and wrapped it in a cloth from his bag, "Alright girls, we got what we came here for so grab as much as you want and let's get out of here."

"I simply can't wait to get home." Rarity said, "I could use this to buy some new fabrics."

"Aye, you could get anything you need, fabrics, party supplies, animal food, farm repairs, and books." Crimson said as he walked toward the exit, "Besides I'm going to enroll back into the guard."

"Why are you going to enroll again?" Rainbow Dash asked, "You tried to steal from Princess Celestia."

"Well I'm doing this job because of Luna's orders." Crimson said, "If I'm going to work for 'em might as well make it official, aye?"