Starlit Skies - The thieves masque

(_/'Canterlot castle, Friday, sun fall, three weeks later'\_)

The sound of beating wings alerted most of the servants of the wayward son. Though he looked almost unrecognisable from the rugged thief the night before. His hair was trimmed to acceptable serving standards, his glossy white glass eye was replaced with one that looked more like an actual eye rather than an ice block, and his face was clean shaven. The sound of clapping could be heard from the back of the room, soon spreading into a quiet applause. Starlit merely bowed humbly

"You're all too kind." he said, face blank for a few moments before breaking into a grin "She got humiliated. Platter! How many times this month?" sat by the door was a pale lad with silvery hair, this was Silver platter, who had a rather fitting name considering his profession, he was also the smartest among Starlit Skies' friends. Silver looked up from the cleaning of his shoes and dusted himself off

"I'd say fifth time this month, if you count that one time...."

"Don't go on about that! It was the wrong bag!" Starlit interjected, much to the chuckling of the other servants waiting to be laboured with platters of various foodstuffs. He rested a hand on his brow "Besides..it was a Monday....I was drunk...Don't you dare laugh at that!" at this point the doors to the kitchen burst open, revealing a solitary figure clad in the usual white chef garments. This was Fine Dining, who was indeed named after the food term

"Grab a plate!" he called "Grab a plate! We're not going to be late now!" the echoing chorus of twenty pairs of fine shoes, standard issue to the castle servantry, hitting the floor in unison as twenty servants rose from their seats and wandered into the kitchen, grabbing a white cloth and draping it over the right fore arm, and a plate of the finest quality.

The ornamental plates was only used on special occasions. This wasn't one of those occasions

(_/'Ponyville library, sun fall'\_)

"Again, you have my thanks miss sparkle." Tapper, the half brother of Starlit Skies, managed to say, his voice weary beyond imaginable levels, and his face showing signs of massive lack of sleep

"It's not a problem, Tapper." the librarian said kindly "Now, you said something about a book?"

"Book? Oh, The Raven King!" he said quietly, the title of the book almost a whisper "Aye...that's the one. Now, I take it you read the book?" Twilight shrugged

"I finished reading it yesterday." she said, he'd told her about the book a week back, when Applejack had been refusing all help in getting apples until she nearly collapsed from exhaustion "Biggest pile of garbage I have read."

"And if I told you it was true? The shadow council? The Masquerades held at midnight? The Raven King itself?"

"....Then I'd call you insane. As in Pinkie Pie."

"Then you'd be a bigger fool than I could ever be." the dancer stated "The Stalliongrad theatre is known to begin fine tunes in the middle of the night, once every full moon. Thirty individuals are avoided every time they meet in The Iron Horse once a week. A single thief is terrorising the land, leaving a single black feather at the scene of each burglary."

"The theatre is also well known to show The Phantom of The Opera every full moon. Repetitive, yes, but also incredibly well enjoyed. Those thirty individuals are the Forgemasters Union holding their weekly stock take. That 'one thief' is probably an entire group of thieves." Tapper merely sat back and folded his arms, a tired grin upon his face

"Touché, madame Sparkle." he said "Despite the fact that no-one is seen entering or exiting the theatre. The Forgemasters Union leadership is made up of only thirteen individuals, and no-one has silver tipped raven feathers."

"The theatre is known to cater only for high class nobles on midnight showings, they arrive through a private top floor entrance. The extra seventeen are the heads of the union's sub-directory, and those feathers are false."

"Then how come, madame Sparkle, I am in possession of this?" the dancer held up a single steel coloured kerchief, bearing the hammer and anvil symbol of the union in black. He flipped it, revealing a black mask, set at forty five degrees beside a masque mask "This was the property of Steam Gearheart, the third member of the council of thirteen. Every one of the union leaders has the exact same handkerchief."

"A counterfeit." the librarian said dismissively, Tapper put away the kerchief, stashing it into the pocket of his trousers

"Stalliongrad is a workers city. It can't stand nobility of any calibre." he said, leaning forwards "The theatre was infamous for chucking nobles out of the door. Nobles cannot bear the sight of the city anyway."

"Then why would they accept this Raven King if they cannot stand nobles?"

"Because the King is anything but a noble. Every bit from his pilfering go to the city, handing it out to the poor and working class. The same applies to the union."

(_/'Canterlot Castle, dinner'\_)

By the time the princesses entered the dining room alongside the nights assorted guests of varying noble status, the table, the usual noble table, an incredibly long deal, had already been set with cutlery and the night's dinner.

Salad.

In the wings, prepared to hurry out and do as ordered, be it refilling glasses or taking and fetching dishes, were the waiters. Each servant was assigned to a noble, with the highest ranking servantry dealing with the princesses. The 'royalty' roster consisting of:

Beck, who was the head of the day-shift servants, and last of them at work Call, who was the night-time counterpart to Beck, and also his sister. Two Prench servants who were assigned to Blueblood and the visiting Cadance, who was soon returning northwards to finish a course on foreign babysitting techniques.

Silver Platter and Starlit were assigned to two ambassadors, one was the ambassador to the further northern reaches where the people were more...uncivilised, named Stellan. The other, Pelagia, was from Gryphonia, affectionately referred to by nobles as their 'barbarian' neighbours, where the culture was stricter. This, of course, meant they were more violent and had to be tempted off of the path of violence as much as possible.

Platter had gotten Stellan, who, contrary to popular belief, was more favourable and level headed to the servants than the majority of Canterlots noble population. Starlit had, with a good amount of displeasure, been left to serve Pelagia, who was the more Spartan in terms of mannerisms. She seemed to not enjoy his displeasure either, and possibly shared the feeling. When his eyes darted about the room, he saw that the gloom was entirely mutual across the room., and quietly turned to Call, whom he was stood alongside in the shadow of the torchlit walls (any other forms of lighting having been removed for renovation in the event of the upcoming Gala)

"Have you noticed the gloom, miss?" he asked quietly, barely audible enough for her to hear him, even then all he got was a look that would probably melt the ice caps

"Obviously," she replied, returning to wait patiently for the night goddess "Now, return to your post."

"Of course." a few seconds later saw him emerging from the shadow of the wall and heading towards his assigned ambassador "How may I be of assistance?"

"Water." was all she said "I hold no desire for the prissy drinks of nobles." he quickly bowed out, skirting along the edge of the table, followed by several other attending servants before disappearing through the (relatively) small side doorway to the kitchen and headed to one of several taps, filled it with water, and sighed as he returned to the dining hall.

It was going to be one of those boring nights.

(_/'Ponyville, Long Shanks House, the previous morning'\_)

"And you're certain this'll work?" Long Shanks inquired, holding a blueprint against a wall with his free hand as he passed a paint pot up to his employer "After all, remember last time we tried to get away from the baker girl?"

"Aye, I remember that, she found us, all twitchy..." Hammer Smith (It was indeed the names of Ponyville's resident handymen) muttered, before shuddering violently "Why'd ya' have to bring that up? I'd put that behind me!" they never cared to take notice of the gentle wingbeats behind them, nor the extra three sets landing about them

"Gentlemen." the first of the four Pegasi greeted, his voice hard, and yet gentle. Hammer Smith looked up briefly, twisting his head in order to look about him

"Oh by the creator...." he murmured, looking up into the face of the man stood above him, the two sharing for the briefest of moments before sliding back down to the ground, the three pegasi following him "Wha...what does the Raven King require?" he found himself nursing the right side of his face

"Silence, you fool." Acksel (his own, preferred way of spelling acceleration, which he referred to himself as) stated bluntly, retracting his outstretched arm to his side. Of the four pegasi surrounding them, it would have to be the group (or 'Talon', according to any Gryphonians within the elaborate masquerade) leader, a silent figure whose only defining features were the silvery eyes behind long black hair "None say his name aloud!"

"Then perhaps you should keep your insolent mouth closed." A fifth set of wingbeats announced the presence of Starlit, who walked between them and stared the group leader in the eyes, having to lower his point of view a tad on account of his being a head taller "Is there a reason you are harassing a citizen?"

"Who are you to tell me to keep my mouth shut?!" Acksel demanded, only to be sent backwards by a combined glare from Starlit and the leader

"Well?"

"He had not paid a tithe to our men..." a back hand sent him to the dirt

"Stand up...and repeat that." Starlit said

"Of course,.. He had not paid a tithe-"

Whack, the man was on the floor once again, his nose bleeding profusely from the blows

"Why was he paying a tithe? They do not pay us. Who gave you the orders for tithes?"

"The Princeps in charge of this area." Starlit blinked in a moment of clearness. It was a title bestowed among only the best thieves, short for Princeps Fur, prince among thieves. The leader merely stared at him "We were only carrying out orders, Magistratus." Magistratus was the rank bestowed upon thieves who answered only to the Raven King, who himself was Princeps of Canterlot. In turn, the Magistratus resided mostly in the capital. Seceral were in various positions of servantry in the castle, Beck and Call both among them

"Who is the Princeps of this area?"

"Gearheart, magister."

"Cease the tithe gathering....idiots, in broad daylight." he turned to Acksel "And for you, you can consider this a dismissal, until the king revokes it."

"Y-you can't do this to me!"

"I can, and just did, on account of your blatant incompetence." he turned to the two painters "Continue with your work, you witnessed nothing."

"O-of course! Sir..."

"In daylight it remains my given name, Hammer."

[Author's Notes]

This was mostly just a filler chapter to allow people to see a bit deeper into this version of an alternate universe. Before people ask, I employ Latin and musicals and the like (Particularly Phantom of The Opera) into a lot of my writings.

I decided to make the organisation Starlit would have mentioned in his introduction (In the kitchen of the restaurant, the line was taken out for some reason.) and expand upon the idea. The result was a 'mirror Equestria', and the process of writing it was rather fun.

Characters you can expect next chapter

Steam Gearheart, Starlit Skies, Beck, call, and Discordant Notes.

Yes, the one Starlit believed to be sleeping in an empty cupboard. I'd found myself in need of a chuckle and just created a character on the spot, stuck him with Tapper, who had a longer creative thought time, and left him in. I now feel bad and spent a week contemplating how to improve the character.