Adopting / Adapting

by ThePizzaDeliveryPony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad, Romance, Original Character, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6291

After a run in with the law, a young filly moves to Ponyville. Who does she move in with though?

Updated Description: I have re-written the story, so if you have trouble understanding... well that makes sense. Same plot, but pushed back in time a bit. The old description still stands, however there is going to be less romance in the new version than originally planned. The new version is also a bit slower, but you can read the chapters faster than I can write them, so there should be no problem.

Major point i need to make before hand... I really like Twi x Dash, and is therefore in the story. I have another story that goes into their relationship, however I have not written it yet. telling you so that a few chapters in, you are not confused by the sudden development of their relationship.

So, i don't know if the rewrite is better, however my editor seems to believe so. It may be better than the original first chapter, or worse... I don't know, but this is all a learning experience for me, so if you get some enjoyment out of it, let me know, and if you have criticism I will take it as well.

Original Description: A young filly has a run in with the law, but ends up getting treated pretty nicely. Whats in store for this filly? A new family, a new home, friends, danger, romance, an old family, pain, a past that catches up?
Follow Summer as she goes through one of many ordeals in her life, and find out how ups and downs can bring out the good and bad.

Okay, so I sat down to write one thing, and something else was created... so now i have another idea to add to the pile. This one moves a bit slower than my others I think. Not sure where this is going so all this may change as I go on. Comments and criticism are welcome. At the very least i will be having fun.

Published 2012-07-14 02:14:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-07-31 02:33:44 UTC

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Updated 7/30/2012

Waking up in a poorly lit, dusty living room, in an abandoned house; this was normal, everyday life, for Summer Rain.

Abandoned in this house around the age of five, she grew up on her own; struggling to find food, and to stay warm during the winter. When she was younger, life was not great, but she had parents who took care of her needs. Then they left the house without a word one night, and then never returned.

This was her home now; the only thing that separated her from the animals in the ally. Her parents had gone and she had it all to herself. She had the whole street to herself; everypony left the area for one reason or another, and now it was empty.

She sat up from her sleeping position on the dirty couch and looked around. Everything was as she remembered when she fell asleep, but what would change… it’s not like anypony else lived here.

Getting up, the dark grey Pegasus, with deep blue mane and tail, looked out the window next to the couch. On really good days, a pony could almost see the highest tower of the palace over the roof tops through this window… but this wasn’t a good day; it was a grey cloudy day, giving the impression rain was approaching.

When she turned ten, the young filly had been alone for five years. She had braved the storms, and it was shocking, even to her, that she had made it five years without assistance from anypony. Learning how to fly was something she mastered on her own. It had been a long process, but a few bruises later she was flying like a weather pony.

It was her dream to be a weather pony. They looked so cool, and seemed to be having fun while doing their work.

Work was something she needed. She had never been able to work because of her age, but she wanted to. Work would make her life easier; she had to steal to eat because she couldn’t work. The guilt, the worry over getting caught; they never won over the intense pain she would get from not eating.

That intense pain was on its way now, unless she was able to find something to eat.

Turning from the window, she trotted over to the doorway into the kitchen. Stopping mid way, she remembered that she had already eaten what she had stolen last time. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and steeled herself for what was to come.

Moving back through the living room, she grabbed her saddle bags and opened the front door. She trots through and notices again how depressing the weather looks today.

Closing it behind her, and not bothering to lock it, she took off flapping her wings as hard and as fast as she could. Gaining and losing altitude, in a constant battle with gravity, the filly flew in the direction of the market.

She had never flown in anything other than clear skies, so she was pleasantly surprised when she actually enjoyed flying through skies as dark grey as this.

For the first time in her life, she touched a cloud. The clouds shifted around her when she pressed on them. She was able to sense the payload of water that they held inside, yet she was unable to touch the water. She thought it would be cold in these clouds, and it might have been for somepony else, but she felt comfortable. She liked it here.

The sound of thunder rolled in the distance… Suddenly, she decided the clouds were not safe to be very close to.

Floating back down toward the ground below, she shortly picked out the market and began her flight towards it. Along her rout she saw several ponies heading for shelter, and began to wonder if she should be doing the same.

Moving toward the market, it began to pour, and most ponies were running out of the market place as she arrived. A few ponies ran past as she landed, and she took a few apples out of their bags as they did so.

Placing the pilfered goods into her own bag, she turned to one of the vendors, and trotted over to him. He was already packing all his goods up, as most the other clerks were, and stealing something now would be near impossible.

With a sigh, she turned and trotted away from the vendor. Wandering the streets, she took some more apples from a few of the crazed ponies.

After a few minutes, she decided she had gathered enough. Flapping her wings, she once again took off, heading for home. She did not make it far, however. With the wind picking up, and the extra weight of apples, she wasn’t able to move very well in the air.

Finding herself on the ground…hard… she decided that flight was not the best option at the moment.

So, the rain pouring down on her head, she decided that she should move down one of the alleys and find some shelter until the storm passed.

_-_-_

Finding shelter had been easy. Finding shelter alone… was a bit more difficult.

Summer had arrived to an abandoned store in one of Canterlot’s back alleys. She went in, and finding it empty, went about trying to find useful items to help herself along in her life of abandonment.

While in the back room, she heard some commotion and talking in the front of the store. Peaking around a corner, she saw two earth pony stallions. One stallion, the angry one, was light grey with a dull black mane and tail. His cutie mark was a bag of bits with sword stuck through it. He looked like an average pony. The other stallion, who was getting yelled at, was dark green with fiery red hair. His cutie mark was a question mark, which was a little strange.

“What did I tell you!? You have to keep the job a secret!” yelled the angry stallion.

In a deep, unintelligent sounding voice, the cowering green pony tries to respond, “But boss, I thought you said –”

“I don’t give a damn about what you thought I said! I told you never to talk to any pony about the vault!” The angry pony was now screaming, as the other pony seemed to shrink to half his normal size. “Luckily I took care of the problem before it became more of an issue. But, if you screw up again like that and I’ll have your head!”

Still shrinking from the other pony’s yelling, the green pony could not respond to the threat. Summer almost felt bad for the scared pony, but she was too busy being entertained to want to help the poor stallion.

Changing from one subject to another, the grey pony forgets about the dispute and begins talking to himself. “This plan is going to make me rich. If I can get somepony fool enough to steal from the Princesses I will be golden… literally.” No longer being yelled at, the green pony stands back up, as if he had forgotten the ordeal he had just gone through.

“But boss, that’s what I was tryin’ ta do. Howz we gona get a pony who would wana risk dare life.” His way of talking thoroughly entertained the filly, however the other pony was quick to respond to the green ones stupidity.

“Well, we don’t put up signs, you idiot! You could have gotten us arrested if I hadn’t caught that colt you paid before he started hanging them.” Beginning to remember why he was angry in the first place, the grey pony resumes yelling at the other. “Honestly I would love to send you in there, but you would never remember your way back out! I still wonder why I even listened to your father and hired you; you’re USELESS!”

“Whut signs?” Both the filly in the back room, and the grey stallion outside, facehoofed.

Believing it is time to leave these two to discuss their business in private, and not really wanting to see the outcome of the argument, the filly turns where she stands and heads into the back room once more. Attempting to find a door that doesn’t involve passing the two stallions in the front, she moves to the rear of the room and began searching. Finally spotting a door, she discovers she would have to move a metal shelf filled with goods for the shop that used to exist in this building, out of the way to get through the door.

Gently shifting things around, moving random items off the shelf and placing them around the room, she began the process of escaping the building.

While in the process of moving a strange lamp from one shelf to another, one of her bags gets caught on the shelf. When she tries to move next she finds the resistance posed by the shelf quite easy to overpower, which in turn sends the shelf toppling to the ground in a fashion not as gentle as she would have preferred.

Not wanting to stick around and wait for the two stallions in the front of the store to find the source of the crash, she moves for the door. Turning the knob and pushing, she finds that the door is blocked on the other side like it was on the side she was occupying.

Pushing as hard as she could, she began making progress, and with the addition of her wings, the door slid open a few inches; however, it was still not enough space for her to fit through.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE,” screamed a familiar voice from behind her.

Her heart sank. She was panicking. Pushing on the door harder, it seemed to have gotten stuck and would not budge an inch from where it rested now. Turning around to face the stallions behind her, she found the two already halfway across the room.

She tried to move her legs… her wings… she was scared stiff. She couldn’t move, so within a few seconds she was face to face with the stallions she was watching earlier.

“Who are you!?” She couldn’t speak, even if she wanted to

It had been entertaining to watch the stallion yell at the other, but when she was the one getting yelled at, she wasn’t as entertained. Terrified she stood stiff, heart in her throat, and unable to breath as the fear overwhelmed her.

What will they do to me? Will they hurt me? No one will notice if I’m gone! They would never be caught! Wh– why can’t I move?!

All she manages to do is shiver in terror while standing in front of the other ponies, and when the grey stallion tells the other to “GRAB HER!” she panics.

Involuntarily, her wings spread with the bottoms facing forward. Suddenly the feathers began to glow a light blue, as the green stallion was enveloped in a magical aura the same color as the bottom of her wings.

He floated up into the air, and suddenly he fell asleep.

As abruptly as the light and aura both appeared, they vanished. The stallion dropped to the floor, and did not get back up, though snoring could be heard coming from the body, signaling that he remained alive.

The grey stallion, not knowing what had just occurred could only look between the two ponies in wonder, similar to how summer kept looking at the bottom of her wings, then back to the green pony. Before Summer could take the chance to escape however, the grey pony had regained his senses and knocked summer over the head with that strange lamp that got her caught in the first place.

_-_-_

Summer woke up; she was on a floor, and it was clean. She new already she was not in her house, and she was already aware that somepony was near her.

She didn’t open her eyes, but could hear the breathing of another pony, slow and steady, as if they were asleep. Waiting a few minutes she came to the realization that the other pony was indeed, asleep.

Cracking her eyes, she can see she is in a bedroom, but not on the bed. Her first thought is for her body. Her head hurt, but everything else was fine.

She sat up and looked at the pony on the bed. It was the stallion from before; the one she had put to sleep with… ‘What was that?’ she thought, once again looking at her wings. She still noticed no change.

Looking around the room, there was a window at one end of the room. She could see it was night out with Luna’s moon in the sky from where she sat. Getting up and moving closer, she then noticed the chains that held the window locked from the inside; looking out she didn’t recognize the part of town she was in either.

With the possibility of escape out of the question, she sighed and turned to find a door on the opposite side of the room. Moving towards it, and putting her head against it, she could hear murmurs from the other side. Deciding to try the knob, she reached up and turned. She was surprised to find that the door was unlocked, and she pulled it back just a bit to try and peak through.

Suddenly, the sounds of hooves moving across the floor could be heard, and the door was pushed open. Being pushed down onto the floor, she landed on her flank a few feet back from the door.

It was too late to try and imitate the pony on the bed, but she attempted anyway. Closing her eyes and laying down on the floor, she tried to regulate her breathing. ‘Playing dead’ probably wouldn’t work, but she was willing to try anything.

She was roughly grabbed and pulled through the door. She heard it shut behind her, but continued to pretend she was asleep.

Eventually, somepony began to speak. “I think we knocked her out when we opened the door,” said a gruff voice with a country accent, fairly rare in Canterlot.

“Nah, she’s just playin’,” said another voice, this one was deep, and gave the impression that this pony was fairly large.

“STOP pretending to BE ASLEEP,” screamed a familiar voice. Opening her eyes, she looked around. One of the ponies looked familiar, while the other two she had never seen before.

One was a large white earth pony with a purple mane, and a plow as a cutie mark. He was most likely the source of the voice with the accent. He was fairly large, but paled in comparison to the canary yellow earth pony with orange mane and tail, that was the size of both the stallions in the room put together. He was probably the source of the deep voice, and his voice suits him well. His cutie mark was of a hard hat.

Together, the three ponies were terrifying, and it’s no wonder the filly crawled backwards into the door.

The angry pony looked to the others for a moment before turning back to the filly. “We are in need of a small pony to help us in our endeavor, and we believe that you fit the criteria for the job.” When he was calm, you could tell that he was from Canterlot.

Summer just sat there however, still too afraid to speak. It seemed as if she didn’t even hear what he had just said. Trying to not scream was the only thing on her mind at the moment, until the grey pony yelled, “LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK!”

Facing him and nodding her head, he continued. “I’m Tricky Ricky, these here are my associates, Billy,” the country stallion nodded, “and Caner.” The large yellow pony gave a wicked smile to the filly, making her cringe.

Turning back to Ricky, she looks him in the face. With a squint at the filly he says, “After one introduces their self to you, it is customary to return the gesture.”

The filly gulps and opens her mouth to speak, however she finds her throat dry, making it hard to speak. After swallowing again, she tries to force herself into speaking. “Su- su-… Summer Rain…”

The large yellow pony smiles again at her when she looks to him; however, her attention is brought back to Ricky when he asks, “How did you do that magic before?”

The young filly thinks for a moment. Magic? Did I do magic? But I’m a Pegasus… She looks back to her wings again, but still sees nothing strange.

“I…I don’t know. That was the first time…” looking back up toward Ricky, she is scared by the look on his face.

“You don’t know?! Well I guess we will have to experiment a little!” With that, he looked to his ‘associates’ and they moved forward. Summer was scared again, but this time when she raised her wings, nothing happened. Wondering what could have gone wrong, she looks back to her wings, to see a faint glow, but nothing near what it had been in the abandoned shop.

“Hold on,” says Ricky.

Both the other ponies stop their advance, and turn to him. “She seems to be running low on power,” he says to himself. Then turning to the filly, he commands, “Try flying.”

Summer spread her wings and as commanded tried to fly; however, it was a failed attempt because she quickly sank back down to the ground, confusion blatantly obvious on her face.

“See, it’s just like I thought. Magic is present in every type of pony, and pegasi use it to fly, however this filly can use her’s like a unicorn’s.” with a smile on his face he walks up to the filly, “When you get your flight back, we can send you to the Vault to get the loot for us. You’re small enough to make it there, and you even have magic in case you run into a tight spot!”

“But boss, what if she goes to the Princesses? She knows all our names and it wouldn’t be hard for her to give us up. She doesn’t have a reason to keep us protected,” said Billy in a worried tone.

It takes Ricky a minute before responding. “We can put a lock on her wings that way she can’t fly off until she does the job. We can have ’em enchanted or something to keep her from talking while the lock is on, too.” As all the ponies nodded accepting the plan as the best way to fix the situation, Summer finally realized how bad a situation she was really in.

There was no way out. She was stuck. She had no one on the outside, and no one in this room was her friend. She was stuck doing whatever it is they wanted her to do… something about stealing from the Princesses if she understood correctly. It was going to be a long time until she was free…if she was ever free again.

These depressing thoughts were interrupted by Ricky however with a promise that scared her more than the idea of stealing from the Princesses, “If you do anything we don’t like, we will kill you. You’re disposable, and that’s why we are using you… we could care less about you…”

With that promise, the world caved in. She had not had the most pleasant life, but now it was hell. She was a prisoner, and was going to be used, possibly killed. For a little while, she wasn’t going to leave this building, let alone return home.

The world came crashing…

She cried, as the uncaring, abusive, adult ponies around her gave her disapproving looks…

Life is hell…

Chapter 2

PLEASE reread the first chapter if you have already read it. I have rewritten the story, and therefore, you will not understand what is going on unless you read from the beginning. i have provided dates of the updates to the first two chapters, if you had read it before today, you must now reread the first chapter.... I apologize for my stupidity.

Chapter 2: Updated 7/30/2012

A week…

Life was still hell after a week…

Life had actually gotten worse since the first night. The abuse had become more frequent. She was fed only enough to keep her alive. She cried herself to sleep every night, on the cold, hard, floor.

Then yesterday, she was told to fly, and she did. Now she had to go fulfill her purpose.

They were trying to steal from the Princesses’ gold vault, where they kept government funding. Her purpose was to do all the work.

_-_-_

Waking up this morning, sunlight was pouring in the room, but she still felt cold. The Sun had always helped her through rough times, giving her hope. Now it signified freedom for her, something she may never have again.

Sitting up off the hard floor, she stretches her wings along with the rest of her body. After a few pops, all her joints are back in place, and with a statisfied expression, she gets up off the floor and begins to walk across the room towards the door.

Midway to the door, she passes the bed with the still sleeping stallion laying on it. She stops and looks to him; he had yet to wake up, and was not looking healthy with no sustenance for his body. Sleep was good; however, this pony was getting far more than his need. If he didn’t wake up, he would die soon from starvation and dehydration. Summer didn’t think anypony else was concerned about the issue though, and she was not going to bring it up, for the fear of making them angry was larger than the fear of this stallion’s death.

Turning back towards the door, she began to trot again, continuing to think about that stallion. Would it be her fault that he died? Could she honestly say that the stallion’s death had nothing to do with her? She was the cause after all. She wasn’t a murderer, but she would be the root cause of his death, so what does that mean for her?

Suddenly finding herself at the door, her thoughts on the stallion in the bed were stopped. She had the same internal struggle every day she was here. Open the door, or don’t open the door? She knew that if she did not get out there, they would beat her like they had before… but they might just beat her anyway, and that’s why she always hesitated.

Finally accepting that going through the door did not guarantee a beating, but waiting would, she opens the door and goes through to find all three stallions looking at her. She cringed and looked down to the floor, trying to avoid their gaze.

After crossing the threshold, she closed the door, and sat down in front of it. Then, they began their day like usual.

“So nice of you to join us on this glorious morning your highness.” yelled Ricky sarcastically. Ricky stood up from the table, and walked across the room to the filly.

“M-…mmMorning Mr. Ricky, Mr. Caner, and Mr. Billy.” She had gotten beaten for not saying good morning to one or all of them. Doing it this way however, seemed to satisfy all parties.

Shuffling under the gaze of all three ponies, and in particular, Ricky’s, she was suddenly slapped across the face. She tumbled to the floor, and closed her eyes, she trying to brace for the blow she knew was coming next, however the next never came. Instead, she had one wing roughly pulled from her side and felt something cold grab onto the base of it.

Remaining still, she felt her wing drop to the ground as Ricky was finished with whatever he had to do.

“Open your eyes, and look at your present! You should appreciate all the trouble we went through to get it for you.” He said this in a way that seemed almost happy.

Sitting back up, and not looking at the ‘present’, she opened her mouth to say ‘thank you’ however, nothing came out. Her eyes went wide, and she looked back to her right wing. What she saw, she didn’t know how to react to... she didn’t know what it was.

It was a large metal bracelet, but it had engravings all over it, giving the impression it was jewelry instead of what it really was.

Looking back to Ricky, he had a wide grin on his face. “That’s a wing lock, it sets ya off balance when you try to fly. We had it enchanted to keep you from talkin’ as well. It’ll keep ya on the ground and from talking to other ponies. And you’ll have to come back, because I got the only key!”

Ricky turned and went back to the table. Sitting down, he picked up a piece of paper and crumpled it up. He threw it at the filly, and told her, “memorize that for tonight!”

Nodding, she folded her wing, as best she could, and walked around the room to her corner where she stayed when she was awake. Her walk was a little rough with the new weight, but she could get used to it.

Sitting down and un-crumpling the paper, she found that it had a message written on it.

If anything happens that isn’t part of the plan tonight, I will…

She read the rest, tears filling her eyes as she did so. It was violent, it was cruel, and it was the truth from what she could tell. It scared her; she knew ponies were capable of terrible things, but what this letter said was simply too explicit.

She knew there was going to be an end to all of this, and she did not want it to be what was on this paper, so she would do the job, and hopefully never have to see what was written there come to fruition.

…She memorized the paper like she was told…

_-_-_

The first time in a week that Summer was able to go outside, and it was with an escort of three ponies who would kill her if she so much as stepped in a puddle.

It was not the most comfortable walk, nor was it the shortest. The group made its way across Canterlot to the tallest tower of the palace. Outside of the tower, there was a garden, and within that garden were a few trees.

They were looking for a tree, but this tree was special. It was not alive, but it looked that way. It was kept alive by magic, and only appeared to function like a normal tree. The tree had a hole in it the size of a small pony, or in this case, a filly. And of course it was hidden among the other, rather large population, of trees in the garden.

If you want to hide a tree, hide it in a forest…or something…

Walking through the small forest, they each looked at the trees, looking for a specific one, and when somepony found it they were supposed to say so.

There were many trees, and each one was hard to get around. Because the garden was outside of the palace, it was not as well maintained as the gardens inside the palace walls. Much of the underbrush was over grown , and the trees themselves had many branches sticking out that could impale a small pony such as Summer.

Walking in all different directions, the group was eventually called back to one tree by Caner, who noticed the hole in the side of a tree after everypony else had already passed it by.

Gathering around the tree, the group all stared into the hole in the tree. Everypony wanted to see that filly come back out, even if it was in the hopes of monetary gain.

While they stood staring at the hole, the filly suddenly got nervous. There were so many things that could go wrong, and the punishment for that was… not pleasant…

That paper, promising it’s many threats was the only thing that really worried her. If she didn’t come back… Or if she came back empty hoofed…

“You memorized that paper?” asked Ricky as she was thinking about just that.

The filly nodded her head, still concerned about the description on the paper.

Ricky grinned, however there was no happiness, only evil in his eyes. “Good, then you know what’s coming to you if you buck up. Now run along and get our loot, you little shit.”

There was a moment of stillness where everypony waited for her to climb in the hole, and go herself. Eventually it became clear that she was not going to move, at which point Ricky nodded to Caner.

With that, against her will, Caner picked her up and threw her into the hole in the tree.

_-_-_

If she could have screamed, she would have. The drop was straight down, and only got darker the longer she fell. Eventually, it began to slope from vertical to horizontal, and she slowed to a stop. It was dark, and she could not see anything in front of her.

She didn’t need the light, though; she knew where she was going without looking. She knew the way better than her own name; a week of memorizing this path and she doubted she would ever forget it.

Moving forward, she eventually hit a wall. Rubbing her nose from the impact, she turned left and began her trek once more. After hitting several more walls, and forgetting about the evil ponies at the top of the hole she was in, she reached the gentle slope signaling the end of the tunnel was approaching.

Reaching the bottom of the slope, she found a dusty grate, and looking through it. Below her, she could see a well lit room, with…

…the largest door in existence…or at least the largest she had ever seen. It was as big as her house, and it was two stories high.

The door had a small dial on the front close to the floor. The door itself was ornately carved out of a single piece of wood, and depicted the two Princesses circling a globe. It had been stained a deep brown, which only made the door seem more imposing.

Looking away from the door and around the room outside, which wasn’t small either, there were no guards, or anypony else for that matter. It was just her and that door, though she knew that a patrol or somepony would show up eventually.

Removing the grate with her mouth, she sputtered for a second to get all the dust out of it. She looked around as if she was checking to see if anypony else saw what had happened. She rolled her eyes, and stuck her head through the hole, and looked around the room once again.

Realizing that she was midway up the wall, she begins to have problems with the plan that Ricky though up. ‘…How in Celestia’s name am I gonna get down from the bucking ceiling! Or up to it again!’ Thinking about how her wings were tied, she thought maybe it had been Ricky’s plan all along to have her fail… but that didn’t make any sense.

Suddenly remembering the threat from Ricky, she decided it would be better to try and get down, than to sit here and think for too long; or worse, return empty hoofed.

After thinking about her options for just seconds, she spread her wings, and jumped…deciding her best chance was glide down and land softly.

The instant, she had left the hole in the ceiling, the wing lock took control and forced her into a spiral. Most ponies probably would have tried to think of a different strategy bore jumping headlong into a death spiral they knew was inevitable, however she didn’t stop to actually think her plan through.

Her ‘glide and land softly’ plan did not work well at all. Fortunately, she got lucky… she landed on her back mid spiral. Her fall knocked the wind out of her, but she could have landed on one of her wings and broken it. Laying on the ground for a few seconds was better than breaking a wing, and spending the rest of this nightmare in pain.

Slowly, she regained her breathing and awareness and managed to get back onto her hooves. Searching the room for anypony who could possibly be here, even after her laying on the ground for a few minutes.

Eventually, she decided the coast is clear. She turned and looked towards the door. The door, from where she had been in the wall looked big, but now from the floor, it looked bigger.

After a minute, she decided to not spend any more time admiring the door, lest she get captured by the guard. Moving toward the door, or more specifically the dial on it, she begins thinking of the combination that is needed for opening it.

Finally reaching the door, she begins putting in the combination. For a pony with magic, they may have been able to enter the code in a less than a minute, however for one without the ability to use magic, it took a little longer. About three minutes in fact.

The combination had been a set of around thirty numbers that ranged from one to five hundred, and the process of putting them in on the dial was different from any other safe as well; three clockwise, one counter. With all the money inside, it is no surprise that the combination be hard to put in.

Finally, with the combination in, she turned the wheel on the door, and pulled. To her surprise, it was extremely easy to open the door, without any stress on her muscles she could move it freely. As she pulled, she found the door to be significantly deep. The wood on the outside did not go deep before metal was attached.

Eventually, after several layers of metal, there was a space wide enough for the filly to move through, and therefore, she stopped the door’s momentum.

Light was pouring out of the opening, spilling onto the floor of the room outside. When she moved to look inside, she found gold piled higher than three houses in Canterlot.

Three of the BIG houses… the pile was huge, and she doubted if she took enough to fill a wagon, that it would be missed.

She didn’t have a wagon though, she had saddlebags. Pulling them off, she laid them on the floor, and began filling each side with gold. Filling the bags to the brim, she covered and put them back on, buckling them back into place. They were heavy, and she wondered how much this pile weighed.

Looking back at the pile, she stared in awe for another moment. She would probably never see this much money, or possibly any money at all, in her life ever again.

She turned and trotted out of the Vault. Moving around the giant door, she pushed and it slid back into place. Turning the wheel, and flipping the dial, she locked it back, and hoped no pony would ever find any trace of her being there.

She trotted across the room to just under the hole in the wall. Looking up, she wondered ‘How do I get back up?’ Looking down the wall, she knew she couldn’t climb it. Looking back up at the hole, she put out her wings and tried flapping, but knew her lock and the weight of the gold would be too much to fly.

That left one option…magic.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and concentrated. She thought about what she wanted to do, however nothing happened.

Focusing harder, she felt a tingle, and the sensation of flight. Opening her eyes she could see the blue that signified her magic was there; however, nothing was happening. Moving a hoof and touching one of her outspread wings, the light inside it died instantly.

With a frown, she looked away from her wing, and looked around the room. Nothing appeared to be out of place, and there was still noting to use in the way of climbing up to the hole. The room outside the vault was barren of anything, even decoration.

With a sigh, she once more closed her eyes and focused on using magic, and what she wanted to use it for. She felt it… she felt the sensation, but stronger, and then she felt it doing what she wanted it to do.

She was slowly levitating herself from the floor, up the wall, in an attempt to get to the hole. She didn’t dare open her eyes, lest she lose concentration and magic; so she could only hope that she was directly under the hole and would be able to feel when she was next to it.

“HELP! GAURDS!! HELP! INTRUDER!” yelled a male pony’s voice that filled the chamber.

Losing her focus and opening her eyes, she looked around the chamber, trying to find the source of the yelling.

Instead of finding the pony who yelled however, she found the floor.

Her landing this time was not as lucky… and landed on her head. For her, the world went dark as she lost awareness.

Life is hell…