Prologue: The Heist: Part One
Prologue: The Heist: Part One
" Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but bullets will never kill me."
The name's Midnight, Midnight Blitz, I'm known as one of the best fliers to graduate flight school, I think I was the best in the few years I was in flight school, and possibly third in the flight school history right behind Rainbow Dash, I can't really remember. I'm not like a normal pegasus though, I'm unique, or at least in the eyes of others. I'm different because I'm a bat pony. I have a charcoal coloured coat, my mane and tail are a beautiful midnight blue with a stripe of silver, and my eyes are a majestic turquoise, or that was what my dad used to always say. I also used to be the most wanted criminal in all of Equestria, even the friendship counsel were looking for me, so after my last job I disappeared, or at least until a day ago.
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" Stop!" shouted a voice, " you're under arrest!"
" Like hell I'm stopping!" I shouted back. This would have been so much easier if I hadn't injured my wing. I had been running through an alleyway until I foolishly made a turn. I was very upset to be blocked by a big stone wall. Well shit, here I am trapped between a cop, and a tall stone wall, all the while being unable to fly away.
" There's nowhere left for you to run." a red unicorn pointed out.
" Yeah no kidding captain obvious." I replied sarcastically.
" You can make this easy by turning yourself in." said the red stallion.
" Like hell I'm doing that!" I lunged towards the stallion in a last resort, but the unicorn cheated and casted a taser spell on me.
" You're under arrest, you will be charged with theft, and first degree murder!" the unicorn shouted.
" You...don't need to..talk so loud." I whined in a weakened voice before I passed out, well I had a nice run, but I guess it's the end for me.
* Pausing time *
If you want to know how I got in this situation, I guess I'm gonna have to start from the beginning. Flashback time~!
* Flashback *
Ah the smell of alcohol, and the smoke of cigarettes never gets old. Especially when you're in a bar, I would be lying if I said there wasn't a few crooks here and there, but other than that the place was great. Sadly I lost a lot of money when the stocks crashed, now I've only got a couple hundred bits left, heh, I want to laugh in the face of Filthy Rich right about now since he also had a lot of money invested in the same stock. I had promised myself that I wouldn't go back to a life of crime, but due to the situation I'm in. I just might have to.
" Hey, is your name Midnight Blitz by any chance?" a voice asked.
" Yeah, what do you want?" I asked back. I looked over to see a very skinny white unicorn, " and how do you know my name?"
" I heard your name from my *ahem* info broker, as for what I want, I was thinking that you might want a job." the unicorn was offering me a job, I thought this might be a good chance to get some money, but then again I knew exactly what he was thinking.
" If it's a low paying job you can count me out." I repiled.
" Oh, but I think you might need the money." the unicorn replied, " listen if you join me you'll be getting paid a lot." that's a decent deal, but it'll take more than that to convince me.
" 5,000,000 bits, then it'll be a deal." I suggested. I was testing him on what he'll offer me. If he changes his answer I'm not helping him. The unicorn started looking from left to right, and he was also sweating slightly.
" *cough* Well if you put it that way I'll just say that you can stuff as much bits as you want into a bag, but we're gonna split the money later." the unicorn replied.
" Um...alright, I'll help, but that's only because I really need the money." I agreed to take the job. Before the unicorn left he told me his nickname, and the location to meet at. He said that his nickname was Skinny Gun, and that I was to meet him tomorrow at the Manehattan docks at warehouse 4 at 5:25pm. Whatever he's planning it's probably some kind of heist, I knew because back in the glory days I was always the first pony to be asked to assist them, I'm gonna have to be careful around ponies like Skinny Gun, but as long as I'm getting paid then I'll take one last dirty job.
* * * *
So the next day I packed all my gear for the job, I picked up my two favourite weapons, the Twin Fangs, the Twin Fangs were claws powered by flame talismans to cut through almost anything. Then I packed my mask, body armor, and steel leg guards next. After I got everything packed up, I said goodbye to my shitty apartment.
I took a train from my home town of Fillydelphia, but the train ride took longer than I had expected, but nonetheless I made it to Manehatten. I made my way down to the docks while keeping track of the time, and luckily for me it was only 5:04pm, but by the time I made it to the warehouse it was about 5:26pm, and to my surprise there were three other ponies other than Skinny Gun.
" Oh good you're here, we thought you were gonna be a no show." Skinny Gun greeted with a sigh of relief.
" Well I'm here now, so let's just get this job done and over with." I replied in a kind of radio-like voice, it's probably due to my mask having a built in voice amplifier to slightly enhance my voice since the mask would muffle my voice.
" I agree with her, let's get this job done and over with, and then we can go our separate ways." agreed a large black earth pony, " Who is she by the way?" he had a rather deep and powerful voice, but I guess it was to be expected due to his size.
" She's going to be a very useful member of the team." answered Skinny Gun.
" Well I think we can all agree that we just want the money." a light blue pegasus stallion stated.
" Well you'll all get your money, but first we'll need some equipment, but to do that we'll need to sneak onto one of the cargo ships to steal a very important shipment." Skinny Gun explained, " So while I get some stuff ready you four should get to know each other." the skinny unicorn suggested. When Skinny Gun walked away the four of us just awkwardly stared at each other for a few minutes.
" Well enough of this awkward staring contest, my name's Lightning Winds, but my friends call me Eagle Eye." the light blue pegasus with a white-ish blue mane and tail, with a light red stripe introduced himself. Yeah no, I'm not gonna call him Eagle Eye anytime soon.
" My name is Earthquake, but you can just call me Quake." the black earth pony with a light black and dark red mane, and tail introduced.
" A-and my name is Shattered Blade, or Blade for short." a grey coated earth pony stallion with a white mane and tail finished, and he seems very timid.
" Well, my name is-" wait a minute, I can't just tell them my real name, even though Skinny Gun knows my name, " I forgot, so just call me Fang for now." well that wasn't a complete lie, since I did used to be called Fang.
" How could you forget your-" Quake paused for a minute, " I see that you're a professional, rule one: never share your name, right?"
" Y-yeah, that's right, kinda." I replied, whew, for a second there I thought he figured out my identity.
" Well I hope you've all gotten to know each other, and hopefully none of you guy have gotten attached to one another, because I can't guarantee that you'll all come back alive." Skinny Gun joked.
" So what's the plan Skinny." Quake asked.
" Well first off we'll need to sneak on board the S.S. Dusk." Skinny Gun replied.
" I'm a natural at stealth, so I guess I'll go." I offered.
" I-I'll go with her." Blade offered. Well there's no arguments from me, so now if I get into some trouble I'll send him first.
" Alright, I guess we'll be your cover fire if the plan fails." Lightning Winds assured.
* * * *
After that rather quick briefing the five of us quickly got prepared for tonight's heist. I didn't really do much during the time we had before we started the first part of our heist, but the others went to a bar to get a drink in case it was their last time alive. About five hours later the heist had begun, Skinny, Quake, Blitz, gathered at warehouse 6, but by that time both Blade and I had started to sneak on board the S.S. Dusk. While sneaking on board the ship, Blade looks as if he's regretting his decision of coming with me.
" Hey if you want to survive just don't get caught." I whispered to Blade.
" Heh, easy for you to say." Blade whispered back.
" I've been doing this for a long time, trust me I'm a professional." I assured him, but I knew full well that somepony like him would not survive in this kind of business, this business is gonna chew him up and spit him right out.
After a couple more minutes the two of us had finally snuck into the cargo hold without getting caught, but what happened next was unexpected.
" Alright then let's find ourselves some shipments." Blade said cheerfully, but I noticed something on the ground right in front of him.
" BLADE STOP!!" I shouted,*snap* but I was too late. I stood there, and I watched as Blade's head went flying off of his body with blood spurting everywhere, his head had rolled over to me, his dead eyes staring up at me with regret and fear, but I didn't falter. I knew something like this would happen, but I guess in a way he saved me, I mean it could've been me lying there lifeless.
As I looked into the room I saw traps littering the ground, and they all had green lights on them, I guess that means they were active. Well shit, this whole place was booby trapped. I looked around for a better way to get around in here, sadly walking through would be impossible. On the other hoof I could fly through it, but I'd have to be fast to avoid the death traps hanging on the ceiling.
So I have two decisions; either try and walk through without triggering any traps, or quickly fly through it....hmm, fuck it, I'll just fly through it, I looked back into the cargo hold again to find any safer paths to fly through. I could either fly to the left which was much safer, but it didn't grantee that what I was looking for would be there, to my right was a more dangerous path, but I saw a switch hidden behind some pipes. If that was an off switch for all of the traps then I guess it'll be worth the risk, right?
So I decided to take a gamble, and fly through to the right side to get to the switch. I quickly flew through the traps while trying to avoid the traps that were being set off behind me, and when it looked like I was about to get through scott free, I had let down my guard long enough for one of the traps to get me.
" Oh shit!" I quietly shouted to myself as a fucking giant axe swung at me from my right. I tried to quickly dodge it, but I was too slow as the axe swung past me and cut my right wing. I thought I was going to land on one of the traps, but when I opened my eyes I was flying towards the switch, lucky break I guess.
As I landed near the switch I crash landed with a loud thud, but my luck seems to be holding up at least considering that I had a minor cut, and a possibly sprained wing. I picked myself off the ground, and started to slowly walk to the switch while being cautious for more traps. As I pulled down the switch, the lights on all the traps started to turn off.
" Awesome, and now to find that shipment." I thought to myself.
* * * *
After about an hour I was able to finally make it out of the ship with at least 60% of the shipment, and to my surprise there was nopony here. Whatever the reason is it's very convenient for me. I was making my way to warehouse 6 to turn in the loot I got from the shipment, but what I didn't expect was to be followed by two stalkers. They've been following me for about a couple of minutes now, so I decided to make a run for it. When I started running my stalkers also started running. I thought it was a good idea to get into view of my affiliates so they can get these chasers off my tail, almost literally.
As I ran past warehouse 6 I saw a flicker of light before I heard two gunshots, I knew for a fact that they had suppressors, but since bat ponies had super great hearing I still heard the shots. I looked back to see corpses lying on the ground.
As I opened the door to the warehouse I was greeted with the barrel of a rifle.
" Wait I'm on your-!" I was quickly shushed by Quake before I could finish.
" Do you want them to find us?" Quake asked, " and where's Blade by the way?"
" A trap got him." I replied.
" Well no time to mourn for him, do you, or do you not have the shipment?" asked Skinny Gun.
" I carried as much as I could, so about 60% of the shipment."
" That'll be a sufficient amount I guess." Skinny Gun muttered.
" So when does the next part come in?" asked Quake.
" Meet me at the Golden Wing Tavern tomorrow at 1:20 pm, then we'll discuss the rest of the heist." replied Skinny Gun.
That was it, he gave us a time, and a location, nothing more. I really hate these kind of ponies, always secretive, never giving more info than what was needed.
After I left the warehouse, I quickly looked for a place to stay that was close to the tavern. The nearest place to the Golden Wing Tavern is a motel named the Summer Breeze Motel. When I entered the first thing I did was search for bedbugs, a developed habit I guess. When the beds were cleared of bugs that could bite me while I sleep I went ahead and took a shower. There's nothing better than a nice hot shower, the feeling of it running through my fur, and I can't even begin to describe the feeling of my sins crawling on my back, even though it's obvious that it's guilt. I guess if anypony worked as long as I did it'll catch up to them in the long run.
After that nice long shower I looked at the alarm clock be the bed, it read I crawled into the bed and turned on the tv, and this is what was broadcasted:
" This is Lavender Rose reporting in from the docks of Manehatten where a supposed heist took place." said a lavender unicorn mare, " Excuse me sir, but can you discribe the ponies attempting the heist?" Lavender Rose asked a security guard.
" No ma'am, but we can safely say that they are armed, and dangerous." replied the security guard, " now excuse me I have some work to do."
After about half an hour of watching the news mare trying to get information from the security guards I turned off the tv, I never really liked the news anyways, but I guess I should catch some rest for tomorrow.
* * * *
" Wake up. " said a voice.
" Mmm..." wait, is somepony in my room?
" Hey! we've got a job to do!" the voice shouted again.
" Wah! Who what where!?" I babbled.
" Don't worry it's just me." said the voice. As I focused onto the pony that said that I realized who he was.
" What the hell are you doing in here Skinny Gun!?" I asked, but there was also something else on my mind, " and how the hell did you get in?"
" I snuck in through your window." he explained in his 'getting to the point' kind of way.
" Did anypony see you do it?" I asked.
" Nope, but I came to tell you the mission is going to start in 2 hours."
" Wha-! 2 hours!?" I shouted.
* * Later at the Golden Wing Tavern* *
" Alright what's the plan, Skinny?" Quake asked.
" Nothing much, Lightning Wind, you and I will be studying the Royal Canterlot Bank before we start the heist tomorrow." Skinny Gun answered.
" So what do we do?" I asked in a radio like voice, again because of my mask.
" Do nothing, just relax for today." Skinny Gun replied.
As Skinny Gun, and Eagle Eye left to do their...research, I on the other hoof turned to Quake.
" Sooo...do you feel like a game of poker?" I asked.
" Heh, sure why not?" he replied, " there's a casino nearby, and maybe have a drink."
" That sounds like a plan to me." I agreed.
" Oh and...I recommend you not wear a mask."
" Why not?" I asked.
" I thought it would be a good idea." Quake answered.
I thought about for a second then realized what he's saying. " Alright, fine." As I took my mask off Quake's eyes widened.
" Wow, you look amazing." At that I blushed slightly, " how could somepony like you become a criminal anyways?"
" T-things h-happened, things that I-I'd rather not talk about." I stuttered.
" I understand, I won't pry for more answers." Quake replied, " so how about that drink?"
With that I smiled, the two of us made our way to the SunnySide Casino, the place was large, but it was rather old too.
The two of us ended up staying at the casino for a couple hours after I won 2,000 bits during a game of roulette, afterwards we went back to the Golden Wing Tavern, there I bought a lot of bottles of White River Whiskey. Turns out that both Quake and I have a high alcohol tolerance, so we both had a drinking contest to see who had a higher alcohol tolerance, but then we both ended up passing out. As the ground below me start to swirl into a black void I felt my past sins pulling into the black abyss.
* * To be continued in part two * *
Author's Notes: We'll find out more about Midnight's past in a later chapter.
