The Story of a Powerful Thief

Chapters

The Collapse of a Family
Attempts of Restoration
The Pit of Poverty
An Unfortunate Truth

The Collapse of a Family

My name is Blue Wind, but most ponies just call me Blue. I live in Ponyville, with my mom, dad and brother in a house on the outskirts of town. We are financially stable and have a pretty nice life. My dad works as a baker, making pastries and other delicious treats for the village, while my mother stays at home and takes care of my brother and I.

Our lives are great, except for one thing. Mom and Dad often get into heated conversations. They usually argue about stupid things, like who ate the late piece of cake. But it's been gradually getting more and more intense recently, and the strain is obvious on both of our parents. So, whenever the two fight, me and my brother, Rough Rider, venture outside and play games like tag, since we're only young colts.

Rider is a pegasus colt like me, and he's too young to fly. He has light gray fur, dark black hair, and big bright green eyes. His personality is that of a natural born leader: humble, kind, selfless and strong-willed. He's my older brother by only a couple days, and he is always good to me.

Similarly to Rider, I'm also a pegasus. That's about the only thing we have in common though. I have white fur, soft and ruffled light blue hair, along with light blue eyes. I'm completely different than him personality wise as well, because I'm a very introverted colt, with fear of social situations and other ponies. And since I'm always too frightened to play with other foals, everything I do is with him. Rider is my best and only friend.

Today, he and I went outside after another argument between our parents manifested itself in the house. We departed our home, discussing what to play. We decided that since we play tag almost every other day, we'd change it up by playing hide and seek.

Rider was nice enough to offer to count first. Once he closed his eyes, I began looking around for a good place to hide. Fortunately, it only took a few seconds before I spotted the perfect spot: a shaded area behind our large oak tree in the front yard. I ran over to the tree's rear and crouched.

I almost broke out giggling, but I was quickly halted as Rider's voice grew in volume, "4...3...2...1...Here I come." I could feel my heartbeat gradually pick up speed, as if I was hiding from some kind of monster. A few minutes passed before I could hear sounds that seemed to be getting louder and louder with each one. When they seemed to be coming from only a couple feet away, on the other side of the tree, I froze. I awaited the sound, staring right at the edge of the tree where the noises' trail lead. And then, Rider's head popped out.

"Ha, found you! It's your turn to count!" he said, with an enormous grin on his face.

"Fine" I said, breathing in a heavy cloud of air.

I put my head on the tree and closed my eyes. I began, "20...19...18..." and so on, until the sound of Rider's hoof steps began to drift off. I continued counting while I thought about where he might go. I wonder if he'd hide behind the tree like I did. No, that'd be too obvious. What if he's going behind the house? Or, what if he's going to hide in one of our bushes?

"7...6...uh, 5..." I continued. But then, a large commotion erupted from the front door of our house. I stopped counting and just watched as Dad ran out of the house with Mom following him. I've never seen them get this upset! They both were absolutely infuriated, rambling everything they were saying.

I couldn't understand anything they uttered because each one drowned out the other with their yelling. The only thing I could hear was the last thing said. Dad stopped, raised his hoof at Mom and said "We're done." Then, he flew off into the blue sky without Mom coming after him. She just stood at the front of the house, watching Dad fly off into the clouds.

I don't know what they were arguing about, but Mom looked devastated. She broke down into tears at the front of the house. I couldn't just stand there and watch, so I went over to comfort her. When she saw me, all she said was "I love you" as she held me close. A few moments passed before Rider came from his hiding spot. When he saw Mom, he rushed over and tried to be as reassuring as ever.

We stayed next to Mom, staring into the sky as she agonizingly uttered, "It's just us now".

I don't know what she meant by that. I mean, sure, Dad flew off, but he probably just had to blow off some steam. He'll be back for dinner.

Mom eventually stopped crying. And when she did, she took a deep breath, kissed both me and Rider on our foreheads, and then slowly walked inside without saying anything else.

That night was a strange one. We had dinner, as usual: hay-sandwiches with apples. It was me and Rider's favorite meal. But, nobody spoke a single word. I occasionally took breaks from my food and looked around the table. The place that my eyes kept getting stuck on was Dad's empty dining chair. It was really weird not having him here. I eventually couldn't take it, so I broke the silence of the house when I asked Mom, "When is Dad coming back?"

She put down her sandwich, took a deep breath and looked at me with a face of complete sincerity. "Dad's not coming back," she said, obviously trying to hold back tears.

"He's not coming back today, or..."

"He's NEVER coming back!" she interrupted, a mixture of pain and rage on her face. She only kept her look for a moment before she stormed off from the dinner table and into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Attempts of Restoration

It's been almost two weeks since Dad left us. Every time I think of him, I can hear Mom's voice echoing in my head, "He's NEVER coming back!"

I don't know if that's true, but I do know that Mom's been acting a lot differently ever since that day. She's always sulking around the house, and her face has produced bags under her eyes. She's even become so sedentary that she refuses to go outside. Rider and I are really worried about her.

I always think about asking what's wrong, but deep down I know why: the mare she loved and started a family with just left her. I know that talking about Dad leaving won't help, so I haven't made an effort to mention it. Rider told me that she just needs time. But how much?

A few days passed and Mom's condition was getting worse. She barely came out of her room, and if she did, her movements were even more sluggish and dispirited. "We need to get her outside" I told Rider. "I can't stand seeing her in so much pain. Maybe we could take Mom somewhere that would get her mind off the whole thing."

Rider, as always, was very supportive of my idea. So, we went into our room and laid in our beds, deciding on a place to take her.

"How about Sugar Cube Corner?" asked Rider.

"Nah. I think all the pastries would remind her of Dad" I said. Dad is, or I guess, was one of the few bakers in Ponyville. I'm just worried that if Mom sees all those baked goods, it'll bring back memories of him.

"What if we took her to the park?" I enquired.

"No" said Rider immediately.

"Why not?" I asked, with a puzzled look on my face.

"Well, that's where Dad asked Mom to marry him."

"Oh" I said. "Yeah, definitely not the park then."

We stayed quiet for a while, deep in thought. And then Rider exerted an "Ah-ha!"

"What?" I asked.

"Why don't we take her to the Ponyville Day Spa!" he said with a grin on his face.

"Eww, are you serious?"

"Not for us hay-brain! We'd just take her there. It's always been her favorite place" noted Rider.

I agreed to his proposition before we left our room. We went down the hall and made our way to the entrance of Mom's room. Rider gave several firm knocks on the nice wooden door to get Mom's attention. It was silent for a moment until movement could be heard from the opposite side of the door. The noise got louder and closer until it stopped and the silence from before reinvited itself. It didn't stay long though, as the door creaked open and Mom's face peered from behind it.

Mom's face reeked of despair and heartache. She seemed very pale and colorless as she attempted to give a subtle smile at our presence.

"Hey mom" Rider began. "We were wondering if we could take you to the spa."

When the words left my brother's mouth, Mom paused as her faced exemplified the deep thought augmenting in her head. She was obviously thinking about it, and I was starting to get worried that she would reject the offer. Once she made up her mind, she looked back at both of us.

"Okay. Just give me a moment to get ready" she said in a very soft tone.

Rider and I immediately began jumping around in joy, as Mom gave a quick chuckle before closing her door to get ready.

My brother and I waited in the living room for Mom. We kept giggling and talking about how great it was going to be for Mom.

A half hour passed before we could hear the sound of her door open. She came around the corner and we were both stunned as soon as she came into our vision. She looked like her old self! The color of her face had returned, the bags under her eyes had disappeared, and her hair wasn't matted or greasy anymore.

She looked at us, with a wide grin radiating from her face. I almost broke down into tears after seeing Mom look so happy and rejuvenated.

"Are you guys ready?" she asked.

We were both so amazed that we couldn't utter a response. We just nodded.

All three of us made our way to the front door. Rider and I kept looking at each other with smiles that took up half of our face as we walked behind Mom.

When we finally arrived at the entrance of our house, Mom reached for the door, but halted her hoof when the door bell rang.

The house fell noiseless as the same possibility of who could've just rang the door bell ran into all of our minds. Dad?! I knew that Dad would come back!

I could tell that everypony else knew it was Dad, by the shared tears that fell from our eyes. Mom slowly reached for the door, but opened it much faster. And there, stood disappointment. It wasn't Dad. It was our mailman. All three of us took a deep and distressed sigh.

"Are you all okay?" he asked when he saw us wipe our eyes.

"Yes. Thank you" Mom replied.

"That's good to hear. I've got your mail for the week!" he said, handing over a stack of envelopes and papers.

"Thank you" Mom said.

"No problem. You three have a good day!" said the mailman, tipping his hat before trotting off.

Mom took the stack of mail, and quickly sifted through it, but stopped on a single envelope that had a red stamp on it. I couldn't exactly see what it said, but I could tell Mom recognized what it meant. Her joyous face fell apart, as her hooves dropped the stack of mail and made their way to her instantly sobbing eyes.

The papers and envelopes scattered around the floor once the stack hit the ground. One sleeve of paper that landed only a few paces away from me caught my attention. It was the red-stamped envelope that Mom was looking at. I examined it and read the stamp, "Eviction".

I don't know what that means, but it definitely doesn't seem good if it made Mom cry. I turned my gaze away from the envelope and back to my mother. Rider had gone over and tried comforting her, so I decided to do the same.

When I arrived to her, she hugged Rider and I as hard as she could, but didn't say anything as the tears poured down her face. My mom doesn't deserve this! She's deserves a happy life, not this hell that she's living! But, as long as she has me, I will do everything in my power to take care of her.

The Pit of Poverty

So there we were, in an alley somewhere in town. We didn't get to keep anything. Mom told us that the people who took our house, also took our stuff as payment. I was sad and scared, but not alone. I still had my awesome brother and my lovely mom.

When we first arrived at our new "home," nopony said anything. We were, and still are overwhelmed by losing almost everything we've ever known. We'd been here for a few hours and realized that we couldn't just sit in this backstreet and sulk.

Rider and I decided that we could try to build some kind of fort or house with cardboard boxes we could find. We ventured around the town, looking for any box that could help our cause. It was actually pretty fun!

We eventually acquired a couple boxes, and even a lightly used sheet that we could sleep under. We took the materials and brought them back to our alley, where Mom still sat against one of the buildings. She looked like she was stuck in time. She didn't move or even acknowledge us when we came back. She just sat there, staring at the wall opposite of her, without blinking or anything.

I'm worried about her. She looks even worse than when Dad left. I thought about going to talk to her, but I knew that she probably needed some time to process everything.

Instead, Rider and I started to arrange the boxes we found. We had seven, each ranging in size. Most of them were about the size of our dishwasher at home, but we had two humongous ones that looked like they were used to carry pianos or something.

We took some of the medium ones and put holes in their side so that we could put them together. Eventually, we had a small, but cozy "house" for Rider and I. Then, we needed to make Mom's. I peeked over at her, but she was still just emotionlessly staring at the wall. I have no clue what she could be thinking about!

Rider and I used the remaining medium boxes and the two large ones to makeshift her a house. We both knew that Mom was struggling, so we agreed to make hers the biggest.

After we had finally done it, Rider and I stood proud, admiring our work. I could feel a drop of sweat come down my forehead as I began to turn to Mom. She still hadn't moved from her sitting position, and her eyes were still locked on the wall in front of her.

"Mom?" I asked, with obvious worry in my voice.

Mom quickly turned her head towards us and was about to say something, but she quickly stopped when her gaze found the makeshift houses. Her jaw dropped, which caused Rider and I to giggle in excitement.

"I think she likes it!" I whispered to Rider.

"She sure does!" he whispered in agreement.

Mom slowly got up with her eyes still hooked on the "houses". She made her way to the "homes" and admired each one of their sides. Then, she turned back to us.

Her eyes began to water as she exclaimed, "You are the best colts a Mom could ever ask for!"

She wrapped her hooves around us and gave us a nuzzle and hug. At that point, I knew that we would be okay.

The hug only lasted a couple seconds, as the rumbling of a stomach interrupted the warm moment.

"Sorry" said Rider with embarrassment on his face.

I couldn't really blame him though, we hadn't eaten for quite some time. Plus, I was starting to get hungry myself.

Since we didn't have any money, Rider and I decided to scavenge around our new "home" for anything that was possibly edible. There was a trash can at the far end of the alley, which we decided to check out first.

The rusty old can was too tall for us to see into on our own, so I stood as a pedestal for Rider to get on. He stepped up, took the lid off the trash can and peered inside.

"Oooh" he murmured with excitement.

He reached in and grabbed something, but I couldn't see what. He stepped off my back and showed me what he had acquired.

"A donut?" I questioned.

"A pink frosted donut" he corrected.

I took a closer look at it and was disgusted to see what covered its bottom.

I pointed at it and exclaimed, "there's mold under it!"

Rider took the donut and turned it over, revealing the disgusting green-spored fungus that grew on the delicious treat.

"I mean, it's still a donut" he said, before attempting to take a bite.

"STOP!" I screamed, halting him from putting that disgusting thing closer to his mouth. "There has to be something else" I continued.

Rider took a quick glance from me, to the donut, to his gut, and then back to me. He paused for a minute before responding. "Fine" he finally said with a deep sigh.

We decided to go searching for food. But each time, we were disappointed. There was either nothing, or something that had a disease-ridden mold on it. Eventually we gave up searching, but we didn't give up trying.

With no other plausible options, and our stomachs growing hungrier and hungrier by the hour, we realized that there was only one remaining option: begging. We sat near the edge of our alley, where most ponies walked, and asked strangers for any bits that they could spare.

I was completely ashamed and embarrassed at my own helplessness. And I felt even worse, as each pony that passed by, glanced at us from a distance, before turning away to look in the opposite direction when they got closer, as if we were some kind of pungent odor.

We sat there until sundown, bitless and hungry. Not a single pony even had the guts to look my brother or I in the eye, as if they were superior, or we were too inferior for even that level of respect. The very thought of this infuriated me more and more.

Eventually, Rider and I gave up, with the night sky hovering above us. We headed back to our new "homes." Mom was already fast asleep in her bigger cardboard fortress. Rider, exhausted from the day's work, didn't take too much time to also fall into a deep slumber.

But, I, I didn't get that luxury. I was still wide awake, thinking about the disrespectful faces of all those ponies who walked by us, ignored us, left us for dead, and didn't even show the decency to look in our general direction, because we were the stain on this perfect little village! Every moment that passed, spent thinking about each "encounter" we had, bloomed my embarrassment into frustration, then my frustration to anger, and my anger into a rage that swelled up my eyes.

I only went to bed a couple hours later, when I was emotionally drained and could no longer become any angrier, not at my situation or my family, but the ponies who I grew up around that now couldn't even give me the satisfaction of eye contact, and especially the very stallion that left us to shrivel up and die!

An Unfortunate Truth

It's been several days since we'd adapted to our new "home" in this Celestia-forsaken alley.

Mom and Rider continued to eat the scraps of what they could find in the garbage, while I refused to do so. I'd grown hungry. But I ignored it as I became more infuriated at the sight of seeing my family squander for the leftovers of this village's trash as the days passed. I thought about all the ponies that my Mom used to buy food from at the market, and the ponies she talked to and called her friends, and now, when she needed them most, they were nowhere to be found. As if we were worthless to them now! Now their garbage and unwanted goods became my Mom and brother's only source of food. It was sickening!

We can't live like this forever! There has to be a way out of this hell for Rider and Mom. If nopony else is willing to help us, what can we possibly do?!

And then, an idea hit me. A plan that was so righteous and justified, that even the princess herself would approve of it! I would take from those that have stood by and watched as my family had suffered and been humiliated, and give my Mom and brother a chance at a redeemable life.

I felt so eager to finally give my family the chance they deserved! But, as I began pondering how I would accomplish this, I realized just how difficult this would be to do on my own. So, I decided to inform Rider of my plan, and hopefully get his help.

I trotted over to Rider, whose head was searching amongst the inside of a trash can.

"Hey Rider," I said, causing him to dislodge his head from the garbage and turn his attention towards me. "Can I speak to you for a second?" I continued.

"Sure" he responded with his common cheerful grin. "Is everything okay?"

His question caught me by surprise. As if he thinks that our lives couldn't get any better.

"No, everything is not okay! Look at you," I said, pointing a hoof at his coat which was covered in what I could only imagine was mold from the inside of the garbage cans.

I continued, "How can you stand to live like this?! How can you watch as our Mom continues to live like this?!"

I was furious, more so at the world, but still a little agitated that Rider pretended that everything was fine.

Then he spoke up after exerting a heavy sigh, "Well, there's not much else we can do right now. We just have to make do with what we have here. Things will get better, I promise," he said, rustling my mane with his hoof.

"And if they don't?" I quickly retorted.

Rider was caught off guard by my response. "They will," he said.

"But if they don't?"

Rider paused a moment after I asked him this question again. "Why do you ask?" he questioned.

"Well, I think I may have an idea on how to make our lives better."

With a new intrigued look, he quickly responded, "How?"

I took a deep breath, not knowing how he would take my idea. "What if we borrowed some food from the nearby markets?"

Rider's look changed into one of disgust and disappointment. "I can't even believe that stealing would cross your mind Blue! We're not going to rob a bunch of innocent ponies."

"Innocent! Do you mean the innocent ponies who have literally left us to die in this alley! Are you really going to let Mom suffer more because it wouldn't be fair to the other ponies who won't even look us in the eye?!"

"Just because they wronged us, doesn't mean we need to stoop to their level" Rider responded.

"I don't think you understand Rider, they've put us below their level! That's why they've left us in an alley to eat out of garbage cans!" I said with anger escaping through my words.

"Just because they've put us as 'inferior' doesn't mean we get to act like it!"

"Are you really going to put your morality before the life of your own Mom?!" I asked.

Rider paused after this, unsure of how to respond. He turned to face Mom who was sleeping at a distance away, obviously in distress and cradled inside of her cardboard box. And then, Rider turned to me and said, "Let me think about it." He then turned away and headed back into the same trash can I had found him in.

I went back to my own cardboard box and laid down for a bit, waiting for Rider to come and give me a response. And then, the moment finally came. My brother walked over to me and with a determined look said, "I'll do it."

His response gave me so much satisfaction and reassurance that what we would be doing was right.

For the rest of the day, and much of the night, Rider and I thought of schemes and ideas on who to target, and how to outsmart them. We agreed that since we had never done anything like this before, we would need to target someone easier and less risky.

Rider mentioned a market pony by the name of Hay Barrel, who well, sold barrels of hay. Rider especially didn't like this pony. He said that whenever Mom used to go to the market, Hay Barrel was the most rude and obnoxious pony she'd ever come in contact with. "One time," Rider said, "Mom bought a barrel of hay from him and when she got back, he'd ripped her off and given her an empty barrel!"

The story alone gave me enough justification for having him be our first target. He seemed like the kind of pony who had this coming for a long time.

We devised a simple, but smart plan. And then, once we were fully set and prepared, we decided to head to bed, knowing we'd need the sleep for tomorrow's endeavor.

For the first time since arriving here, I went to sleep eager to wake up the next morning. I knew that Rider and I were going to make a difference for our Mom and give her back the life she deserves.

Author's Note

Please let me know if these chapters seem to be too short. I've been known to make short chapters for what ever reason (seems like a bad habit) so if it ever seems that it needs to be longer, let me know and i'll take it down for a bit and re-upload it with some more carne