Prologue
The Void, an uncommon phenomenon known for being either a dark, endless area of space, or a swirling, unending vortex that nopony knows where the end is, or where it would take them. Surely, something could never withhold the unnatural powers of the Void, but what if it was possible? What if it could be withheld? And what would it be used for; mass destruction, or world peace?
Nopony knows…?
A cloudless sky looms over Canterlot with the bright full moon and stars dimly lighting the streets on this very cold winter night. Anypony would say this would the most romantic setting in Canterlot, but for a certain stallion, he says this is the perfect night for robbery. There was a notorious thief in Canterlot and his infamous reputation was well known in the city; the townsfolk called him, ‘the Midnight Blur.’
Looking around before trotting into Canterlot Square, the Blur had already clothed himself with his black thievery attire; very original, but useful in his ‘line of work.’ Though he has no job, he makes this his career, and it became his ambition. As two Royal Guards trotted by, equipped with sheathed swords, the Midnight Blur silently jumped behind them, across the Square, to the fountain, and behind a loose barrel. This was not a difficult endeavor for the Square may be large, but the fountain at the center takes up much space, more like a few paces to get to it from a building somewhere around it.
The Blur looked around the barrel and he watched as the Guards trotted away, continuing their patrol, and then he looked up toward the Castle. This was to be it, but he had to be as careful as he always was. As silent as the night air around him, the Stallion crept toward the gate, and hid behind a barrel, right before a Guard noticed, and waited for the opportune moment get inside. A carriage was being pulled at the other side of the Square, other than where the Midnight Blur was, and it stopped at the gate, where two Royal Guards waited. “Who goes there?” A Guard ordered to know.
“The Princes of Equestria, Sir.” The Driver answered. “They accidently missed the last train for Canterlot, and my family was generous enough to lend them a carriage for the long journey.” The Driver continued the story. “Big Macintosh and I, Apple Slice, have been accompanying them during the journey.”
“Eeyep.” Big Mac agreed with his relative. The Guard looked at Apple Slice skeptically; soon he decided to check inside the carriage. He trotted over to the door, but then Apple Slice tried to stop them. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Apple Slice tried to reason with him, “One of the passengers is really tired and she doesn’t want to be bothered right now, since His Highness said, ‘it’s past her bedtime.’” The Guard personally did not care who was cranky at the time, he had to know what was in the carriage before they would let them inside at this time at night.
Being a Unicorn, he used his magic to open the door, but then was surprised to be greeted with a slap on his face. He exclaimed in pain as the Midnight Blur lightly laughed at his misfortune. “Doesn’t any pony know that it’s the wrong time in the day to be pokin’ through someplace they shouldn’t?” A small baby dragon shouted at the Guard with an obviously irritated expression as he rubbed his check; she had a yellow comb and eyes.
“Sunny!” A Light Tan Pegasus shouted after her, embarrassed as he pulled her back into the carriage to face the Royal Guard. The Midnight Blur could barely see him at the distance he was at, but he could see that the Tan Pegasus had a blond mane with a black thunderbolt through it, and his wings were Falcon-like with black tips at the ends of the Primary Feathers. “I’m so sorry, Sir. I’ve told Apple Slice that it was terribly past her bedtime, and she gets awfully cranky when she’s tired.” The Pegasus apoligized.
“Helpful, I’ve told you before,” Sunny shouted again with rising anger, grabbing Helpful’s attention, “I’m not cranky, just upset that it took this long to get here!”
“Alright, alright, Sunny.” Helpful replied as he turned his gaze back to the Guard and whispered. “You might want to let us in before she goes into a Frenzy.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” The Guard agreed as Helpful closed the door. Both the Guards opened the gate to allow the carriage to enter. This was the Blur’s chance to infiltrate the castle without notice, and fortune continued to smile upon him as one of the Royal Guards at the gate sneezed, and in that second the Midnight Blur ran toward the gate. Anypony would think that this course of action would be just too foolish, and he would most certainly be arrested before he could even set foot inside the Castle Grounds, but the Midnight Blur is not any regular pony.
Since as far as he could remember, he had always had the ability to gallop at incredible speeds so fast that he would not be seen; the only thing that would be left behind him would be a soft gentle wind. He dashed in such a blur and speed that nopony noticed him as he ran past the carriage into the Canterlot Garden. He hid behind some dense bushes and watched the carriage stop at the Castle Doors, and Apple Slice trotted over to open it. Once opened, two stallions, one a dark blue Alicorn, the other a Light Tan Pegasus named: Helpful, exited the carriage with Sunny on Helpful’s back as they were greeted by many joyful servants that were waiting for their arrival. The Blur then set aside this matter, it was not his mission, and he was going for something more ‘shiny.’ As the servants and the two Princes entered the castle, and the carriage was pulled to the stables, the Midnight Blur sneaked into the Servants’ Entrance. Once inside, the Blur noticed that one of the servants left their sack of gold on the table, and to the Midnight Blur it was just too easy.
He carefully examined the table and the room around him, there were nopony else inside of this chamber, and the door inside was left open; it just had to be a poorly set trap. He usually called this a ‘Rat Trap’ for it was mostly centered around a bait that would be like alluring a rat; like himself, so to speak. The Blur then took some flour from one of the barrels in the chamber and lightly threw it onto the wallet. The flour soon made the outline of a long piece of invisible rope that was tied to the wallet and lead straight up to the ceiling, and the Blur saw that it was tied to a large net that would cover the entire chamber around him. Definitely a Rat Trap, but a little more creative than the other Rat Traps he has encountered before, and how could a small wallet be heavy enough to keep this whole net up? Unicorn magic can do strange, unpredictable, but useful things; he should know because he is a Unicorn himself. Taking a small bag of flour, the Blur slowly sneaked to the exit into the Castle, and sprinkled the flour onto the knob, just to be sure that it was not booby trapped. Luckily for him, it was not, but he still did not trust it. Usually, he called a booby trapped door a ‘Knock Knock’ for there would be a rope attached to the knob on either side of the door, most likely the back, and once he opened it, he would be trapped by an unforeseen net, or an unlikely cage. He turned the knob slowly and once it clicked, he swung the door open toward him, and he waited patiently for whatever was set to trip, but nothing happened.
Though it seemed to be totally safe, the Midnight Blur remembers that you should never let your guard down, especially in this facility. He slowly took one step forward and another, but then he felt a small string during half his next step and he immediately stopped in mid-step; he sighed of relief as nothing happened, but he almost triggered a trap he usually called ‘the Tripper’ for it was a trip wire, and if he triggered it by walking straight into it, he could set off a certain trap that would stop him in his tracks. Not wanting to face whatever could be set for him; the Blur walked over the string carefully, and continued down the hallway toward the South Wing of the Castle. The South Wing was where he desperately wanted to break into for it had all the gold inside the entire complex.
He shimmied across the wall and peeked gently past the corner to the hall where the entrance of the South Wing stood; he noticed that it was guarded by two Royal Guards, both equipped with a spear. He had to seriously get them distracted from their post. He scanned around him and he spotted a vase settled on a small table at the side of the hallway, and he silently held it up with his magic and threw it across the hallway into another room behind him. The Guards heard this and they quickly responded to check the area quickly. As they left their post and checked where the vase broke into pieces, the Midnight Blur had himself hidden as he was dangling from the ceiling. Of course, he only had hooves that cannot grip onto surfaces such as walls, so in order to tackle this problem, he created small claws that he equips onto his hooves and they do acceptingly well in these situations. As the Guards were distracted, the Blur dropped from the ceiling, put away his claws, and he sneaked into the South Wing, undetected.
As he closed the door, he concentrated his magic to create a small light from his horn for him to see in the dark room, even though it was poorly lit by the bright moonlight coming from outside, through a window; and he could see hundreds of chests inside filled with, most likely, gold and jewels. Enough to allow him to retrieve what he so desperately needs, but he cannot collect everything in one night. So he collected all that he could into a large saddlebag, and used his claws to climb up to the window, and as he hoisted himself up onto the sill, the two Royal Guards he tricked galloped inside and found him escaping with the gold. “Hey, you!” One Guard shouted. “Halt in the name of the Princess!” The Midnight Blur just laughed at them.
“Don’t you ponies ever learn?” He taunted as one of the Guards threw a spear into the wall beside him, missing its target. “That doesn’t fly with me.” He grabbed onto the spear and pulled it out of the wall and he then turned around to look down toward the long drop below into the Castle Grounds, but he had his escape already planned and he felt no fear as he leaned forward and fell straight down. During his fall, he took the spear and pierced it into the stone wall of the castle, allowing him to slow down his fall, but then it stopped only half-way. “Oh, great.” He whispered to himself as he heard the bell rang and the commotion of guards running through the castle. “When you plan for six weeks…” He then used his body weight and swung himself back and forth, looking as if he was trying to pass the time, but then his momentum allowed him the swing around the spear in circles, like an acrobat, and he released his grip on the spear after a good enough speed, and somersaulted till his hooves met the floor of the Castle Wall. He had been practicing acrobatic skills ever since he started this ‘career’ and he had become very professional at it. “Get the Wonderbolts!” A Guard shouted from below.
Soon, the Midnight Blur could see streaks of clouds conducting lightning in the night sky; even though it was dark, the Blur had become very skilled to see things that any normal pony would not be able to see in the pitch black. “Oh, joy, not these slow-pokes again.” He thought as they came closer. Before one could even grab him, the Blur back flipped right when his assailant was at his face, and he landed on the streets below. He looked up to see them turning around to try another capture, and he smirked. “You wanna play? All you had to do was ask.” He whispered just before he dashed toward through the streets with extreme speed. The Wonderbolts each separated to capture the Midnight Blur, and one was coming straight toward him.
Having experience in this situation, the Blur slid under the Wonderbolt and he left the Flyer crashing into a pile of barrels filled with root beer. The Blur looked back and laughed at him, but then had to continue his escape. Another couple of Wonderbolts were coming straight toward the Blur ahead, aiming to capture him from the sides, but he was too fast and they ended up crashing into one another. The Midnight Blur was enjoying every bit of each Wonderbolt’s misfortunes, and soon he left Canterlot with only one Wonderbolt on his tail.
Luckily for the Midnight Blur, the outside of Canterlot was actually his territory, it may be a steep incline, but the roads around the mountain were so etched into his memory that he could run through here in his sleep. As the Wonderbolt gained on him till he could almost grab him, the Blur turned to his right, up into the brush, and he was gone. The Wonderbolt tried to search for the Blur above the trees, but there was no sign, and it was too dark for him to see easily without light. He decided to quit his search and aid his fellow friends, but he unknowingly left the Midnight Blur injured in the brush. His speed had forced a branch into his chest and he crashed into more trees, forcing the branch to break off and stick out of him. The Blur breathed deeply and heavily as he gripped the branch with his hooves.
Thanks to his claws, he pulled out the branch and he exclaimed in agony as he did so, and he nearly passed out. At this time, he would surely die, but the Blur is no ordinary pony; his chest quickly healed back into place before he crashed, but it was not totally healed. “Bones are so hard to fix in time.” He grunted as he hauled the bag of gold with his good arm, and limped down the road. The Midnight Blur could also use accelerated healing, but he has no apparent memory on how he was able to do such a feat. His past was riddled with darkness shrouded with streaks of mystery that make up the life story of this notorious thief, but why does he live like this? How come he can do such extreme feats and yet become so infamous in Canterlot? He only does this to survive, and he works hard to survive. But accelerated healing, incredible speed? These are not the traits of a normal, everyday pony; he would have to be given such abilities, but he does not remember how.