//-------------------------------------------------------// Moving Through The Darkness -by Magenta Gleam- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 I look up, Luna's night shining above me in all it's dark majesty and breath a sigh of relief noting that the moon was barely shining. Weak moonlight projecting itself upon the ground masking my activity this night. As I creep along the streets of Ponyville eager yet careful, trying my hardest to remain as silent as the night I find myself in. My eyes barely focus enough to see the ground only feet before me. But this mare has an objective this night, I must reach my goal or else ill go another day without that which I seek. It does not take long before I leave the residential district of Ponyville and find myself near the edge of this quiet towns marketplace, a normally busy hub of small town commerce. Empty carts the only sign of what is a popular location for the denizens of this town. I mistep and crash softly against the side of a rather dark oak wood cart, cursing under my breath I remain completely still hoping that my clumsiness hasnt woken or drawn the attention of anyone nearby. With luck it would seem not another pony has been alerted to my presence and I slowly extricate myself from the carts dark surface. Continuing on I begin to reach the edge of the marketplace, the moonlight is such a fickle being this night, hiding my movements but making it difficult to find my way to my objective. Though I know that my target is not far now i must remain cautious even as my heart beats faster knowing what is to come next. I walk through the darkness, memory being my only guide now as all I can see if the ground below my hooves until I see my destination before me, Golden Oaks Library. I begin to approach and my breathing shortens. "Remain calm, remain calm, you can do this," I whisper to myself. I've come this far before but this time I cannot fail, my prize is so close yet so far but I am resolute to succeed. Creeping forward, careful to move as silently as I can so that I do not wake the Princess who dwells within I reach up to the first floor window and try to open it. I freeze as a rusty hinge on the side of the window screeches out into the night and yet the window doesnt budge. I try to calm myself as my heart beats out loud in my ears but no other sounds can be heard, my attempted intrusion unnoticed by those that sleep within. And so I search out where else I can use to get inside. Moving slowly around the base of the great tree I spy a window on the left side of the library with a small balcony. Too high to jump up but not to fly, I look back at my wings with a sense of trepidation. I have never been the most skilled flier, infact i tend to crash more often than I would like to admit, not good for a Cloudsdale pegasus. Unfurling my wings I decide that the risk is worth it and lightly flap my wings, almost noiselessly bringing myself several feet into the air and in line with the window and balcony. Concetrating harder than I have in my entire life I drift forward and bring myself down softly, landing with barely a sound to telegraph my success I have to stifle a happy shout. Reaching forward with my hooves I find this window much nicer to handle as it opens easily with a light pull. As I enter the window I see that I have entered through the kitchen and panic, this is not good. All these dishes laying around and if my constant cluminess comes into play it will wake everypony around. I take a slow, careful step forward and reach the edge of the kitchen bench now all I must do is drop down to the floor. Taking a step forward I stretch out my wings to slow my fall but as I do so I knock the side of a pan and with horror I watch it fall. Rolling my body I land on the floor with a solid thump and the base of my wings are pushed hard against the floor underneath me. Pain shoots through my body until I notice, there was no loud clang, the pan definitely fell so why am I not in trouble right now? Looking to the side I breath a sign of relief as I see the pan landed on my outstretched wing. Moving it to the floor I roll myself over and climb back onto my hooves, attempting to ignore the pain running through my back and wings. Crawling forward I step into the library proper, the moonlight barely lighting outside before is even weaker and all I can see is a sight of black on black, bookshelves, bookshelves and more bookshelves surrounding me in the darkness but no matter the worth of those tomes they mean nothing to me because my objective is even closer than before. Moving the the closest bookshelf I start to feel around on the second tier. Pushing my hooves all the way to the back I feel it, a small hole just large enough to hit my hoof through and so I do. My hoof reaches all the way to the back and I hear a small click telling me that I had successed. Soundlessly the bookshelf moves back into the wall revealing a hole just large enough to fit through and so, taking as much care as I can I lower my body down even further into the darkness. The ladder i climb suddenly ends and my back hooves reach the hard wood floors below me. When i reach around i feel a cord swinging around my head and give it a pull, soft light fills the area around me and I blink hard as the sudden change sends pain through my skull. Blinking slowly my eyes adjust to the light and I see my objective before me. Stacked up high in three piles is my quarry and I quickly start stuffing them into my saddlebags. I never come this close to success and I'll be damned if I wont pull this off now. Lifting the last of the precious quarry into my saddlebags I turn around and come face to face with the one I had wished least to see. Princess Twilight Sparkle glared deep into my eyes as her horn started to glow, suddenly all i could see was bright light and the feeling of being squeezed through a tunnel way too thin to hold me before i was dumped unceremoniously onto the cold ground outside. She rushes out the front door and growls at me before screaming at me in what I'm told is the Royal Cantrelot Voice. "DERPY STAY OUT OF MY EROCTICA!!!!"