Thief of Memories

Chapter 1 - Privilege

The boy panted hard as he sprinted through the streets of the small rural town he had found himself in. Not five steps into the place and he had been confronted by a local gang demanding their 'fee'. He had ran not out of fear, but as he saw this as a good chance at some exercise. The shouts of the gangsters giving chase was enough to send anybody running in terror. The boy counted five of them at the very least. His brown cloak fluttered gracefully around him as he continued his flight from fight. The same graceful cloak decided it was best that it catch itself on a nail, successfully halting the fleeing boy. Not wanting to ruin his best cloak he tutted and began to unhook the fabric from the protruding metal stump. By the time he had freed himself from the trap, the gang had closed the gap. Never before had he seen an uglier gang of high school rejects, skin-heads and tattoos all around. The boy smirked, they had no idea what they were doing.

"Lookie what we got here boys." One member said. "A little runt who thinks he can escape his dues."

"Yeah." Another jeered. "Me thinks this little prick needs to be taught just who folks answer to around these parts."

"So what's it gonna be boy? You gonna get on your knees and beg for forgiveness, or do we gotta kick the apology into you?"

The cloaked boy stepped forwards, his hand sliding under his cloak. A flash of movement and he was standing behind the biggest gangster with his hand still under his cloak. The bloated pause hung in the air as the remaining four tried to understand what had just happened.

"Yo, Buggy what the hell? Mess that prick up already." Buggy was motionless. "Buggy?"

The slow dripping sound rung out through the night. Each thump of liquid on gravel exploded into the ears of the remaining gang members. Blood began to flow from Buggy's neck and the man collapsed face first into the dirt.

The boy turned to face the gang. "He is dead, slit from ear to ear. Either you leave me alone, or you end up like him."

"Get 'im! Get the fucker!" The boy shrugged his cloak off to reveal a two and a half foot blade strapped to the right side of his body, his left hand still around the hilt. A smile graced his lips as the gang ran at him with clubs and shivs. This was going to be too easy.

They ran at him with false hope, each wishing that they could land the killing blow with whatever makeshift weapon they were clutching. The boy unsheathed the blade, the steel glinting in the moonlight. The first strikes began to rain down on him, each attack was parried artfully by the boy. He struck out at a woman holding a shiv and his sword dug into her chest. Taking the opportunity to attack the boy another gang member took a swing with his bar. Still showing the grace and poise of a true swordsman, the boy ducked and kicked out, shattering the legs of his would be killer. He then followed through by slashing the falling man's throat with the shiv the woman had dropped. It hadn't even been a minute and already three were dead. The final two looked fearfully at the boy as he pulled his sword from the limp woman. The steel blade flashed hungrily as the boy wiped the blood from it, humming calmly as if killing were nothing more than a small hindrance. One of them, a dirty faced girl, turned to run. Before she had even taken a step in the opposite direction the blade soared through the air and lodged itself in her neck. The boy had thrown it like it where nothing more than a ball of cotton. There was only one now.

The boy picked his cloak up off the ground brushing away some dust that had found its way onto the fabric. His eyes locked onto the only person that posed a threat to him anymore. The last remaining gangster dropped his shiv and hit the floor.

"P-Please man don't do this to me!" He begged. "I never wanted to kill no on, you saw right? I was never trying to hit you! I was just faking so they wouldn't hurt me. So wadda you say huh? Let me go and I will never bother you again, deal?"

The boy pulled his hood over his face. "Let you go? So you can join another gang, beat and rape even more innocents? Why would I do that?"

"I promise man I wont do nothing bad ever again, just let me go!" The boy circled around to retrieve his sword from the corpse it had lodged in.He looked at the grovelling man before him, taken from high and mighty to low and weak in a matter of seconds.Why grant him pity?

"Get up and walk away wretch." The boy whispered.

"Thank you! Thank you sir!" The grovelling man took no wasted time and fled instantly. The boy smirked and reached back under his cloak, this time pulling out a loaded pistol.

He began to mutter to himself. "I have seen you for what you truly are. No amount of earthly atonement can suffice for your sins as I have seen into the very heart of your evil. You do not deserve the gift of life, I am here to revoke that privilege from you. Go with the false hope you were born from, filth of this world." Not hesitating for another moment, the boy took aim at the running mans's head, and pulled the trigger.

ONE MONTH LATER

Tabitha Sparx - Twilight Sparkle to her friends - sat in her favourite armchair with a mug of cocoa and the morning paper. Her violet hair falling softly down her front as she read the bleak title on the front page.

The Reaper of Gangs Strikes Again!

The land is still in fear as yet again a large number of people have been found dead. The murder of the Cotton gang in Holton not one month ago is still fresh in our minds and the death of the Trottingham Bandit only one week ago, it would appear that the death is not going to stop here. The Wesley Brothers, the leaders of Canterlot's biggest problem gang The Wes Front were found dead in an isolated warehouse along with every member of their forty man gang. While it would seem like this is nothing more than gang violence or a police raid, it is much further from the truth. The circumstances of their deaths are strikingly similar to the deaths of the Cotton gang. Every single member except for the Wesley Brothers were confirmed to have been killed with blade strikes to vital areas of their bodies, mainly their necks or hearts. The Wesley Brothers however were both killed by a single gunshot to the head, just like the leader of the Cotton gang and the Trottingham Bandit. The bodies were discovered when an anonymous tip was sent to the police detailing the location of the eliminated gang. The call was never traced to a location so the identity of the tipster may never be discovered. The only hint as to who could have eliminated this gang is the same clue that has been found at the discovery point of every murder so far. A note that simply states, 'I am the one who will revoke the greatest privilege of all from those who do not deserve it.'

The penmanship is identical to the the last two notes discovered so we are facing the possibility of a mass murderer. But not one that targets the innocent. We have no idea who this man or woman is, or even if they are working alone, but we can confirm that they are armed and extremely dangerous. So if you see this person, hold your thanks, because they could turn their blade on you at anytime.

Twilight sighed as she put the newspaper aside; Equestria had never been a perfect land but this kind of event was uncommon. Mass murder hadn't taken place anywhere in the world in well over two hundred years. Now Equestria was at the heart of the biggest political story of the time. Twilight was just happy that nothing was going wrong in Ponyville. The peaceful rural town had never been the target of anything that had ended in tragedy. Nightmare Moon had been defeated with little damage and Discord's attack on the world was halted before anything major happened. It had all been through the co-operation of Tabitha Sparx and her five friends, Catherine Dash, Elisabeth Rare, Fiona Shy, Diane Pinkamena and Jackie Apple. The six of them each represented an ancient magic power known as an Element of Harmony, when the original five (Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity) were brought into contact with the sixth (Magic) they became powerful tools of magic. They had only been used twice before. Twilight was hoping they would never have to be used again, but with a possible mass murderer on the loose she couldn't tell what was going to happen anymore. The world as she knew it was starting to move on, and Twilight wasn't sure she could keep up.

She sipped at the mug of chocolaty goodness while her negative thoughts threatened to overflow into the world around her. The door to her house - a library built into an old tree - opened with a small jingle as the bell above the frame was knocked around. A boy with dark green hair and equally dark green eyes strode into the library with a lavender hoddie thrown over one shoulder. Twilight smiled and greeted him with a hug, the boy returned the affection. His name was Patrick Sikes - Spike to his friends - a young Draco that had pledged himself as Twilight's assistant. A Draco is a human that was born not as an Earth-Dweller, a Unicorn or a Pegasi but instead as a strange mix of human and Dragon DNA. Draco children are only ever born once every fifty years under the Dragon star, a star said to be infused with Dragon magic. As a Draco Spike could breathe fire, had a second pair of transparent eyelids, was highly resistant to all kinds of fire and had developed very tough teeth and nails. As well as a strange addiction to the consumption of gemstones. He had become Twilight's assistant many years ago when he was taken in by the Sparx family after his parents had died. The two had been the best of friends ever since.

Spike pushed Twilight away with a faded smile. "Twi' are you alright? You seem like something is bothering you."

"Its nothing Spike." Twilight lied.

Spike saw the newspaper Twilight had put aside. "Its the guy who's killing those people ain't it?" Twilight's jaw tightened. "Don't worry Twi', that guy wont ever come to Ponyville. What's he gonna kill, the horses?" Twilight giggled at her assistant's offhand comment. Patrick always knew just what to say to her.

Twilight ruffled Spike's hair and the Draco gave her one last squeeze before retreating to his bedroom. Twilight left a note on the table, she was going shopping for his fifteenth birthday gift. Not that she wrote that on the note. She stepped out of the door of the library with her head hung. She wasn't really in the mood for looking jolly today. Twilight took two steps forward and smacked her head into something that felt like a warm brick wall. She stumbled backwards nursing her head from the impact.

"You okay there girl?" somebody said. Twilight looked up at her obstacle. It was a boy, about eighteen years of age, with jet black hair and ruby red eyes. His soft complexion was tainted by a single long scar that ran underneath his right eye. He was wearing a long brown cloak that was swept back over his left shoulder the reveal a sword strapped to his waist with a single pistol holstered just above it. Twilight felt unnerved by his appearance, he looked like trouble. "I said, are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?"

Twilight regained her composure. "No No, I'm fine Mister...?"

"Riley." He said. "Riley Alexander. A pleasure to meet you Tabitha."

Twilight's breathing halted. "How do you know my name?"

"This flier at the train-station said that a spare room was being offered by a Miss Tabitha Sparx. The directions said that Tabitha Sparx was the local librarian and I should talk to her, you look far too young to be a librarian, but if its what you love I'm not here to stop you."

"How do you know I'm the librarian?" Twilight challenged, trying to catch the boy out.

"Simple really." Riley said with a smirk. "That key-chain around your belt has a key marked 'Ponyville library' and only the librarian would have that."

Twilight couldn't argue with that logic. "Well what do you want with the spare room?"

"Well I want to rent it of course! Why else would I be asking?"

Twilight felt stupid for having raised such an idiotic point. "If you say so, but can you come back in about twenty minutes? I'm going shopping."

"Why don't I come with you and help? It could be a great time for us to get to know one another." Riley still looked like trouble to Twilight. Something about him just seemed a little off. However he looked sincere enough in his intent. Even if it was a bit scary having a total stranger that was armed to the teeth accompanying her on a shopping trip.

"Okay then Riley, you can come. But please keep your weapons hidden so that you don't frighten to townsfolk."

Riley clapped his hands. "So THAT must be why I was getting all those weird looks when I was walking over her from the train-station! Sorry, its just that the last town I was in had a bit of a gang problem. So keeping a weapon exposed was a way of warding off trouble."

"Well in this little town we don't have any trouble, so don't start any." Twilight said sharply. "Now come on we need to get to the market before they close for the day."

"As you say Tabitha, lead the way!" Riley said enthusiastically. Twilight started to walk swiftly in the direction of the market, Riley bounding along behind her. He may seem trustworthy, but Twilight was keeping her eye on the new boy for now.