Prologue Part 1: Discovery and Inheritance
Author's Note
There have been rumors about thieves in Equestria, about somepony who fights with three canes, which nopony saw the details of, known as the Azure Raccoon, who steals from criminals and other thieves, and the Heartless Five, strange beings who do dastardly crimes.
Prologue Part 1: Discovery and Inheritance
One year before Multiverse Hearts: MLP World; S1 E1...
There was somepony going to Carousel Boutique, a gray-coated, cobalt blue-maned pegasus mare, who has a face of a raccoon with wings behind it for a cutie mark, and a raccoon-like tail. She was known as Sapphira Cooper, an aunt of Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Water Wing, but had a secret only she knows, she is the Azure Raccoon. With her husband, Chivalry Bouffant, passed away for over a year, she spends her non-work time with her two nieces and nephew. She still remembers when she came into this world from a portal.
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Flashback
Paris, France
6:00 PM
At a house, a female walking raccoon, known as Sapphira Cooper, came over to visit her brother, Conner Cooper, and his family, to celebrate the night of her nephew, Sly Cooper, inheriting the family book, The Thievius Raccoonus. After a while, five visitors came in unannounced, attacking the Coopers. Conner's son, Sly Cooper, hid in their closet while Sapphira managed to flee with her copy of the Thievius Raccoonus, and her three Cooper canes. But she regretted leaving her nephew, Sly behind, and hoped that he would survive. As she fled, a portal appeared and sucked her in, transporting her to Equestria. She was turned into a Pegasus, still having her skills, having to fly with wings and walk on all fours. She decided to keep stealing from criminals, building up a reputation and making the news, leaving behind a calling card and a new name, The Azure Raccoon. A year later, she met Chivalry Bouffant, brother of Betty Bouffant, who is known better as Cookie Crumbles, an orange stallion with purple mane, who hated criminals and the wrong kind of thieves as much as she did, and loved being generous, giving and helpful, to others, which Sapphira admired about that. They started to date each other, and eventually got married, loving each other with all their hearts. As years passed, Sapphira told Chivalry about her identity, who was perfectly okay with and agreed to keep it a secret. But then one day, he was captured, interrogated by a master criminal to tell him who the Azure Raccoon was, but refused, getting himself killed. When Sapphira found a letter made by Chivalry and read it, telling her the information of the wanted criminal and that he would sacrifice himself to keep her safe, she decided to steal all of the criminal's riches and delivered him to the royal guards, leaving behind a calling card. Sapphira would never forget him, or the things he did for her, not letting his sacrifice be in vain.
End Flashback
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As Sapphira finished recalling those memories, she went into Carousel Boutique, having fun with her nieces and nephew. At night, when she was about to leave, she sensed five visitors coming to cause trouble, telling her to get Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Water Wing away from them.
"Sweetie Belle, Water Wing, go with Rarity and stay in her bedroom. Troublemakers will be here soon." Sapphira told them.
"Come-come you two, let's go, darlings." Rarity told her younger siblings.
"Okay, Rarity." Water Wing said.
"Please, be careful Aunt Sapphira." Sweetie Belle said to her aunt with concern as she and her siblings went to hide in Rarity's room.
After they went to the Rarity's room, Sapphira went to a wall mirror, tapped on it like there was a secret door, which there was. After she entered the code, the mirror moved aside, revealing her Azure Raccoon thief outfit and her Cooper Clan customized Canes, which she equipped. Then she turned to the picture of herself with her husband, her brother-and-sister-in-law, her nieces and nephew for Sweetie Belle and Water Wing's fifth birthday. Sapphira moved it aside, revealing a safe, entering the combination, opening it and putting her copy of the Thievius Raccoonus in it. She closed that safe, getting it back to normal and putting the picture back on. As she finished readying herself for battle, five visitors came in, unannounced. It was unbelievable, it was the same five criminals who killed her brother and his wife, the only difference was, they had this symbol on each of them.
"We have come for you and your book." The metallic bird said.
"Well, you'll have to beat me to get it!" The Azure Raccoon taunted as she charged against them.
But as they fought, Sweetie Belle and Water Wing wanted to see what was going on, but Rarity refused. Her younger siblings pleaded to her, giving Rarity the puppy-dog eyes and making her guilty. Rarity let her curiosity and guilt get the best of her, and let her siblings check as long as she went with them. And so they agreed with that, going to the stairs, only to be shocked to seeing their aunt, wearing something that was burned up, fighting five creatures. They were beating her, all getting to hit her multiple times, defeating the thief, then started to look for something, tearing the place apart. The siblings could only hide in fear as they rampaged through the building level, until they moved a certain picture aside, opening the safe and found a familiar book that Rarity saw her aunt reading at times. The Thievius Raccoonus! The Cooper Clan's manual of thieving greatness fell into their filthy hands. They tore the book into five pieces and split it up, each villain disappearing to the farthest corners around Ponyville to commit dastardly crimes. After obtaining the pages, the criminals left, leaving a dying thief behind with her canes, scaring the siblings half to death and trotting to the gravely injured mare.
"Auntie, darling, are you alright?" Rarity asked the thief.
"Rarity... Sweetie Belle... Water Wing..." Sapphira roughly said.
"Please, don't move Aunt Sapphira, you're gonna be alright." Sweetie said to her aunt with care.
"It's... too late for me..." The Cooper said, only scaring them more.
"C'mon! Don't die on us!" Water Wing told the pegasus.
"No... it's okay... I knew this day would come eventually... Please... When you hear my voice in the wind... Look under... Rarity's bed... Remember this… I love all of you… and all of my family… so much… with all my heart… I’m glad to have met all of you… *final exhale*…” Sapphira finished with her last breath, falling down to the floor, heartbreaking the three siblings. They called out for help and let Princess Celestia know about their aunt's death.
One day later, Sapphira Cooper's funeral was held, everypony was sad about that, for she was such a kind, giving and generous mare. Applejack held her stetson hat to her chest, giving the dead pony her respects, Fluttershy was crying deeply, while Rainbow Dash and Raptor saluted the pegasus mare in the coffin and tried to comfort their timid and kind friend, and Pinkie Pie, who tried to keep herself from crying, but couldn't, had tear waterfalls coming out of her eyes as she sobbed for the poor soul. After Princess Celestia lowered the coffin to the bottom of the hole, she went over to Rarity, her siblings and her parents, helping them feel better as Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Water Wing's eyes shined blue, pink and purple.
One month after the funeral, after Rainbow Dash, Raptor, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie went missing, Rarity and her siblings were still in Carousel Boutique, still mourning the loss of their aunt. Then they heard their aunt's voice in the wind, calling out their names and requesting them to look under Rarity's bed. And so they did go to Rarity's room and looked under her bed, finding a piece of paper, reading it.
Dear Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Water Wing,
If you are reading this, I was killed by this group of criminals called the Heartless Five who have taken the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus and foalnapped your friends. There is a truth about me you need to know, remember the news about the Azure Raccoon? I am the Azure Raccoon, and I know this may be a bit of a shock, but it's the truth. In fact, I'm a member of the Cooper Clan, a long line of master thieves, with one golden rule we all follow; only steal from other thieves. Besides, there's no honor, no challenge, no fun, stealing from ordinary ponies. I saw potential in the three of you, being able of becoming worthy of the Cooper Name. There was a reason I enlisted you three to self-defense classes and gave Water Wing temporary training at Junior Speedster Flight Camp, it was to help prepare all of you to defend yourselves and steal from other criminals and thieves. And I made suits and communicators for all three of you, so that you will be there for each other. I have been tracking down information of the Heartless Five for years, and gave them to Mayor Mare of Ponyville. I know the lock combination for the safe, it's 9-3-7, it holds a secret government file that will tell you guys where the members of the gang are hiding out. If you see blue sparkling auras, don't worry, it only shows you great thieving opportunities. The best time to get that information will be at night. You three will need to work together through the night if you want to succeed in this mission. So this will be my final request, retrieve the file, defeat the Heartless Five, recover the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, rescue your friends, and if you want to put it in your way of thinking, avenge me. Don't worry about me, I'll be in a better place, returning to your uncle, my husband, Chivalry Bouffant, along with other family members.
Love,
Your Aunt Sapphira Cooper
The letter left the three siblings in complete and utter shock and surprise. They couldn't believe that their aunt was the Azure Raccoon and a member of a bloodline of master thieves, and that they would have to become thieves too. They were gonna have a lot to think about.
