Pocket Change

Segment Music

Change

After a long day of bustling traffic, busy workers, and countless transactions, Canterlot City had finally settled down for the night. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as I allowed the cool air of the night to wash over me during my late-night stroll. It's been a long day for me as well. It was the school weekend, Friday, meaning once I finished my homework, I would have an entire day of thievery to myself. Unfortunately, the day hadn't gone how I would have liked. I was only able to pull a couple of wallets, their combined value no more than a few dozen dollars. For a pickpocket like myself, this definitely wasn't a good haul by any stretch of the imagination.

Rent was this Sunday and my mother couldn't always pull through on time, so I would have to chip in or handle the bills entirely when needed. If I didn't come up with more money soon, I would have to chip into my savings. It sucks that we have to scrape by for a crappy apartment in a rough neighborhood, but I suppose a roof is a roof.

"Come on, Adagio, we have to celebrate at least a little!" a voice whined through my headphones.

I feigned adjusting my right earbud when really, I was just removing it so I could eavesdrop. About fifteen meters away were three girls walking toward me on the same sidewalk. I kept my head down slightly, but not too low. It's important to not come off as a creep when being a creep. Taking another glance at the girls in front of me, I began taking in every detail I could, an essential skill of thievery. I was almost taken aback by the fact that I knew these girls: Sonata Dusk, Adagio Dazzle, and Aria Blaze. I know they pulled some kind of hypnosis trick on all of CHS a while back which I assumed didn't work on me because I had my earphones in at the time.

Anyway, I took careful note of Adagio in particular. She had a purse, a purse that had its main zipper open, a wad of cash ever so slightly visible. Rookie mistake.

Aria pumped her fist toward the air before relaxing her hands behind her head. "We made a lot of money from our last gig, why don't we reward ourselves a bit?"

"As much as I would like that, it's going toward our next gig. You know how expensive it is to book concerts."

Drowning out their conversation, I entered a state of hyper-focus as the distance between us closed. It just so happened that lady luck was on my side. Just as I was about to pass them, Sonata strayed away from the group ever so slightly, allowing me to slip right through, dextrously snatching the wad of cash and pocketing it. I accelerated ever so slightly on the last step to further conceal my actions as I continued past them.

I continued walking, adrenaline pumping through my veins and thinking I had gotten away with the crime.

Aria sighed from behind me. "Fine, how much did we make anyway?"

Uh oh. I picked up the pace, still walking as to not look overly suspicious. I needed to find an alleyway ASAP.

Adagio clicked her tongue, searching for an answer. "Hmm, I'm not exactly sure. Give me a sec, let me check...What the? It's gone! Aria, did you take it?"

"Me? No! What about Sonata?" Aria stated defensively.

"Nope, all I have are these flowers from our fans," she said cheerfully, holding out a bouquet of roses toward Aria's face.

Aria swatted the flowers away. Adagio began humming to herself in thought. "Well, if it wasn't either of you, and I don't have it, then...did we live it at the concert hall?"

"No way, we had it like thirty minutes ago," Aria interjected.

"I think that hooded guy took it," Sonata chimed in.

The two older siblings looked at their youngest in abstract horror. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?!" They both yelled at her.

Sonata's levity was still present in her demeanor despite the seriousness of the situation. "Well, I didn't want to assume anything," she said as she shrugged.

The two girls grunted in frustration before they took off in the direction of the figure. Sonata, not wanting to be left alone, took off after them.

Segment Music

Aria

In due time, Aria was upon her thief. He was fast sure, but she was faster. All she had to do was close the distance.

"Give us back our money, punk!" Aria screamed at the figure, quickly gaining on him.

Aria's athletism and martial arts prowess allowed her to easily keep up with the hooded figure, but it was clear that this wouldn't be easy.

Turning down a nearby alleyway, Aria noticed the figure had stopped in his tracks, realizing he had run straight into a dead end.

"There's nowhere to run now, give us our money back, dirtbag," Aria huffed from the entrance of the alleyway.

The figure stood with his back turned to Aria for a while before reaching into his hoodie, pulling out an object Aria couldn't see. Aria had silently hoped that it wasn't a gun, but to her almost relief, it wasn't. The figure turned around slowly, his face now concealed by a mask with an indefinite smiley face engraved in it. This ever so slightly put Aria on edge. An opponent that concealed their identity was always a dangerous foe in some capacity.

Aria took a fighting stance. "Last chance, dude," Aria warned.

He didn't move or say anything, causing Aria to rush him, unleashing a flurry of attacks. To her surprise, none of her attacks were landing. Even with the centuries of martial arts experience she had, she couldn't make contact with her opponent even once. Strangely enough, he never once tried to attack her or counter, even though Aria knew he had plenty of opportunities to.

Mentally, Aria cursed herself for not consistently keeping up with her training for so many decades.

"Is he a master? Why would a master resort to petty thievery?" Aria thought to herself.

For a few minutes, Aria kept attacking, growing more tired as time dragged on. To her dismay, she couldn't tell if her opponent was even wearing out due to the mask; he just kept dodging without any signs of fatigue.

"Aria, what are you doing?! Kick his butt!" Adagio yelled from the entrance of the alleyway, almost out of breath.

"What does it look like I'm trying to do?!" Aria screamed back.

"Aren't you like the best at fighting or something? Hurry up and get our money back!"

This only served to agitate Aria more, her attacks now missing by a wider margin than before. Eventually, the figure broke away from her stream of attacks, climbing up a nearby fire escape with grace and precision Aria had never seen before.

"Is he an animal?!" Aria wondered to herself attempting to make a mad dash toward the fire escape as well before tripping. Her shoes had been tied together by the laces, filling Aria with a great amount of confusion. Swiftly unbinding her shoes, Aria continued her pursuit of the thief, now more desperate than before.

Adagio began running for the fire escape as well, only to be told off by Aria before she could begin climbing. "Stay there! I'll be back soon," Aria commanded with a seriousness Adagio had seldom heard from her. Adagio listened.

Upon reaching the top, Aria had seen that the figure had already jumped several rooftops, gaining an absurd amount of distance in such a short amount of time. Booking it after him, Aria tied her hair off into a ponytail so that it wouldn't get caught on anything and began jumping rooftops as well. She was tiring out, slowly losing her speed, while her target seemed to be keeping the same pace as before. Eventually, the figure disappeared out of sight. Aria could have sworn that the figure saluted her before vanishing, Aria falling to her knees as a result. Upon catching her breath, she reared her head back toward the night sky and screamed in overwhelming frustration.

"DAMNIT!"

Segment Music

Change

It's been about an hour since I last saw that girl, Aria. I honestly had no idea she would pursue me so actively; I'm a bit surprised I got away unscathed. If it wasn't for a life of taking hits, I'm not so sure I could have escaped her. I'm nimble, that's for sure, but I certainly can't fight worth a damn, hand to hand at least. Good thing I know the city like the back of my hand. I've been surveying the area for the last twenty minutes using a miniature drone and a remote viewing and controller app on my phone.

Deducing that it was now safe, I called my drone back, hurrying over to my apartment complex. Luckily,﹣or unluckily depending on the outlook﹣the apartment windows opened up to an alleyway, meaning I didn't have to enter through the front door.

Climbing up the fire escape, I removed a small latch I placed in my window, allowing me to open it and slip through. I collapse on my bedroom floor, a loud creaking beneath me that I knew would piss off the downstairs neighbors.

Sorry, but I'm too tired to care right now, I muttered to myself, taking off my mask and laying on the floor for a while.

After a bit, I pushed myself off the ground, standing up and throwing today's spoils across my desk. Counting up the money, I found that I had more than enough to afford this week's rent. Rent was only $230, I had well over $2,000 here. Although the temptation to take all of the money for myself was palpable, I fought it off. I was just a petty thief after all. If I stooped any lower, I would run the risk of venturing into territory I might not be able to return from. Most of this money belonged to the Dazzlings, I knew that for a fact.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair and falling onto my mat that was in place of a bed. "Crap, that means I'll have to find some way to return the rest. I don't even know where they live."

Deciding that I had had enough for the night, I allowed myself to drift off to sleep...almost. I felt my nose itch slightly as one of my many roommates crawled onto my face. Roaches... can't live without em'.

I hate this place.

Dazzlings

The dazzlings filed into their tour van, laying across the mattress they had placed in the back seat. The dazzlings were understandably distraught, they had just lost big time after all. But the one that was suffering the most turmoil was Aria. She had been robbed and completely humiliated by this mysterious smiley face figure. To make matters worse, he had the audacity to not even attack her while she couldn't land a single blow.

"So, what do we do now?" Sonata asked, breaking the silence.

Adagio turned her back to Sonata, not wanting her anguish to be seen. "I don't know, but we probably won't be able to afford our next concert."

Sonata gasped. "Does that mean we'll...starve?"

"We won't starve, dummy. We don't need that much to feed ourselves, just go to sleep," Aria interjected.

"Think we should file a police report?" Adagio added.

Aria scoffed. "And say what? We got robbed by some punk in a smiley face mask that was as nimble as a weasel?"

Adagio shrugged. "Well, yes."

Unable to stand the frustration of their situation, Aria threw herself on her pillow, turning away from her sisters to face the side of the van. "Go ahead, I'm goin' to sleep."

After a few hours, gentle snoring filled the tour van. Adagio and Sonata had fallen asleep, but Aria was still deep in thought about what had happened.

Still thinking about the ordeal, Aria drifted off to sleep, that stupid smiley face occupying her fleeting thoughts.