Sea

The colt ran down the street into a crowded plaza. Gas lights illuminated the crowd as he pushed his way through, parting a sea of ponies. He took a quick peek behind him; the police were only getting closer. He ducked down to make himself as small as possible and took a sharp turn to the left, squeezing in between a pair of startled ponies. He kept moving until he came to the side of a sturdy brick building.

He looked quickly to the left and to the right, and behind himself. He saw the constables looking out over the crowd, trying to find him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he silently sunk into the crowd. With a small smile, he slowly trotted through the crowd of ponies, looking for the big targets; those whose pockets would be stuffed with coin. More often than not, they were the ones wearing well-pressed suits and walking with their noses turned up through the sea of rags.

One such pony walked right past the colt. With a complete poker face, he quietly reached his hoof into the upper-class mare's coat pocket and pulled out a silver watch on a long chain. He put it into his pocket with a smile, certain that she hadn't noticed it. Indeed, she continued to walk blissfully unaware. The stallion pulled out his new trophy and inspected it for a moment before putting it back.

It continued like this for over an hour. The colt would find somepony wealthy-looking, and they'd be rid of what money they had on them. It wasn't an honest job - thievery was anything but - but it allowed him to eat and pay his dues. He brushed past another pony, pulling out a fancy pocketbook and a bulging coinpurse, both of which went straight into his now much heavier pockets. Another wealthy-looking pony passed by shortly afterwards, who relinquished a small solid bar of gold to the poor colt. He simply tipped his hat and started back towards his hovel.

When he arrived, he quickly emptied everything out onto a small table. His house was nothing more than a small room at the end of a long hallway carved into the rock. The only lighting was provided by a candle that barely even made the opposite side of the room visible, and the only furniture was a table, a bed, and a single wooden chair. He sat down in the chair and started counting, his smile growing with every coin he captured.

Just as he was about to put them all into a bag to take them to the local pawn shop, he hard hoofsteps running in the hall. "He's in one of these filth-boxes!" he heard a high-pitched feminine voice screech. "I saw the little bastard with my own eyes! He stole my watch!"

The colt's eyes widened. He quickly put out the candle and hid the bag under the table, before hiding himself underneath the bed. His heartbeat slowed to a crawl and his breathing went silent as he waited for the police to come, lying on his side underneath a tiny bed in his small room.