And I thought we were normal. How wrong I was.

   I wake up to the sight of a room that I recognize almost immediately due to the four couches against the black walls and the dark gray pegasus, who is wearing a black hoodie and a pair of jeans, sitting down in the couch to my left. Damnit; there's just no escaping this mess. I think as I can feel portions of my body aching mildly.

"Glad to see you finally woke up." Thunderback says before walking over to me and smiling.

"Glad to see you had the courtesy to put me on a couch rather than the hard floor." I say before standing up so he isn't talking down to me. "So what happened?"

"Well; first you disabled the tracker we put on you back at the castle when you escaped, it was the white thing you found, second I had to hunt you down with spacial so we could talk to you, third we watching you fight that group of pegasi to as far as I can stretch the term 'save' that blue mare, fourth you had a down-sided victory, fifth we had Spacial some of the major injuries you had and sixth you've been sitting here unconscious for the last 6 hours due to the exhaustion you pushed on yourself. Any questions?" He says with an non-amused look on his face.

"So that little thing was a tracker?"

"Yeah; we attached it to you when you jumped out of the window at the castle."

"You do realize that thing was draining my magic; right?" I question.

"Yeah; it's meant to track escaped prisoners not friends, but it was the only thing we had on hand." He replies meekly.

"Fair enough. What happened to Rainbow Dash after the fight?" I say while taking care to dispel any concern from my voice. I'm going to try to keep this thing incognito for now.

"She ran off in fear a few moments after the fighting started. Why?" He says and a coy smile grows on his face.

"No reason; I just wanted to know if she was alright."

"Look; it's none of our business what you do with your personal life or who you fawn after, but I going to give you some advice. Keep your life is simple on the outside and try not to get involved with too any ponies. It's not smart to juggle that around with the position you're in. Mac may not say much, but he has a shitty time trying to keep his family from knowing about his 'other' crops. Trust me on this." He says seriously.

"Don't worry I'll be fine." I respond calmly. I afraid I can't do that. I'm an idiot about these things.

"Alright. Also, just something I was wondering about; shouldn't you be in a state of distress right now? You did just become a member of a small organization of criminals after becoming a fugitive."

"I thought about it, but what is whining going to do for me. Wishing for things to be different isn't going to make it so. I'll just have to put up with it until I can understand exactly what's going on. In short, I tend to be too calm about some things." I say in contradiction to what happened last night.

"You're going to snap one day and I hope I'm not around you when you do."

"You're probably right. Also; what did your group mean when you mentioned how it's a 'family'?" I ask.

"If you were to ask me it's a load of shit. I think Berry and Spacial just like to sugar coat it so it seems more inviting. To me and Mac it's just a job that requires you to not let the employer's identity or actions be known or else you're fired; or in this case killed. In short; if at any point you endanger us you will be dealt with." He says bluntly.

"Fair enough. My last question; what's my progress report?"

"Huh?" He responds in a befuddled tone.

"How would you say I did in that fight?"

"You sucked until the end."

"Huh?" I reply. I thought I did ok.

"You beat them, but most of that lacked skills essential to our line of work. You went at them head on. You could've at least punched one of them upside the head before you started fighting. You also neglected the importance of the blue pony and focused only on the two I front of you. Also, without your magic you would've lost that fight. You relied on it heavily in that fight and also used what I'm guessing your 'trump card' on a single easy to beat enemy. I will however say that you used your spells in an ok way at the end." A pink maned pony, with a plain yellow shirt and jeans on, scolds after she appears in a slight poof of golden mist which almost scares me into falling flat on my ass. I silently reprimand myself. Hello Berry. She is right though. I need to start thinking like a thief if I'm going to be one.

"Thanks for stealing my thunder Berry." Thunderback retorts before sitting back down.

"I felt it gave a good bridge for my entrance." She says with a smile before turning to me. "So how're you?"

"I'm fine for the most part; better than I could be I guess. I'm just wondering why you brought me here. It doesn't seem logical that you would go to the trouble of bringing me here for something this trivial." I say calmly and she simply chuckles in response.

"Always on business, huh?"

"Not always, but I don't know any of you well enough to get too comfortable."

"I'll have to change that at some point, but that's beside the point. You can leave now Thunderback. I'll take over from here." She says and gives him a little 'shooing' gesture with her right hand. She's having fun with this.

"Alright. I'll see you later Sonata." He says before grabbing a small gem of sorts that hangs on the end of his thin chain necklace and he immediately disappears in a small burst of dark green mist in the area he was previously in which clears in less than a couple of seconds. I'm not even going to ask.

"Don't worry; there's a story to those gems and you'll learn it in time." She says as if she was reading my mind. "That's beside the point though. It's time to get down to business; I'm going to be the one to 'mentor' you." She says before sitting down in the same seat she was in last night.

"Why did you emphasize the word mentor?"

"Well to be honest I'm not the teacher type. Spacial taught Mac and Thunderback whenever we recruited them, but I have no head for teaching."

"Then why not have Spacial teach me?" I question logically.

"She's isn't teaching you about the job because she thinks you'd be better off learning from me than her. I also think she's just angry with me for not teaching either of the other two anything." She sighs. "So now I'm stuck teaching the newbie."

"So Spacial is in charge?"

"Not at all. We haven't had a leader since the family almost fell apart entirely. We just work together to decide on what is going to happen next. This time I left the decision up to her as to which one of us is going to teach you and for some reason she thinks I'd be better at it."

"Alright then. So what is my first lesson?" I inquire with genuine interest.

"It's going to be somewhat of a sink or swim lesson. For the next week you're going to have to steal everything you need; food water, ect. You will also have to steal something from a residence that I will tell you about later. I will allow you to buy some things with bits if I feel that it's logical; such as if you were to go out for a meal with that blue mare again. I wouldn't feel right about making you worry about getting out of the check and about trying to make sure she has a good time. I'll be watching you so don't try to sneak in anything I don't approve." A test about something I haven't done very much of for my first lesson. I have a great teacher.

"You repay one debt and everypony takes it the wrong way." I complain.

"We also put an audio receiver and transmitter on you with the tracker. Check behind your left ear." She says with a smirk.

"So you've been hearing everything?" I say as I pull out another small object similar to the first and I throw it aside.

"Loud and clear."

"I really don't have any privacy."

"Not right now."

"So you also heard the stuff about the changelings?" I question.

"Yes, but we already knew about that from when you were checked on after that fall. It's really a bonus in this line of work."

"Anything else?" I say in a disgruntled tone.

"Yes." She says before getting up and walking over to me. "You'll know if I don't mind you buying something because you'll get a small shock from this." She says before pulling the glove off of my right hand and wrapping a length of clothe which seems to have some wires embedded into the fabric around my palm and stepping back

"Next time it would be appreciated if you told me about that." I say before putting my glove back on. "Is that it?"

"Yes; now let's get to work." She says before putting her right hand on my head and I feel myself pulled through what almost feels like a pool of water. It's much nicer than most of my experiences teleporting I've been a part of.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

    I open my eyes a few moments later to find that I am still face to face with Berry the only difference being that she moved her hand off of my head.

"Alright. I had Spacial teleport us to the southern road going into the town. I'll leave you alone for a while, but just remember what you have to do."

"This is all a little sudden, but I guess it's not my choice. I'll see you later." I respond before walking off.

"Wrong way." Damnit.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

   I make my way through the masses of ponies which are enjoying their nighttime festivities and their relative happiness and carelessness: both things I have time for right now. I retrace my memories of the town from the last few days to see if I can remember the locations of any general stores in town. Needless to say my efforts proved to be near fruitless. The only thing I can remember is Uefi saying something about how me thought he saw a general store on our first night, or rather morning, on the half of the town that he went around. The problem is that I don't feel like walking half way around town at 2200: 10:00 p.m.; which you prefer to think of it as. Sadly, this seems to be the only option.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

   I finally find what seems to be a grocery store after about an hour and a half of searching and by this time most of the night crowds in the area have left to enjoy the commodities of the bars and such I saw on the other half of town.

   The store is closed already so I don't have to worry about getting past any clerks or other shoppers. However, I still do not know the extent of technology here. I'm not sure whether or not I should expect cameras, a night guard, ect. While I hate working with unknown variables at least there is way to work around it. I'll just have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

   I'm not even going to waste my time trying the front door so instead I sneak around back through the alley way along the right side of the building under the dim illumination of my light spell and I find a back door and a small loading bay. I can already see that the loading bay has been closed and because of that I think it's safe to assume it's locked down for the night. I try to turn the knob on the back door, but just as every other attempt so far it proved useless. Trying to pick the lock would be an option of it wasn't for the fact that I never took the time to actually learn how to or to even read about the general concept. Time for a quick look into my little book of spells.

   I grab into my vest pocket to retrieve my book when I notice an absence of the item in question and instead a small piece of paper is in the pocket. What the hell?

'Dear Sonata,

I took your book from you after we brought you back to our room. I stored it at my home and you will be

able to retrieve it after this lesson is over. Of course you could try to steal it back if you wish, but don't

expect my home to be left unattended. If you think you're up for it just find NE567 Fallen Road in the

northwestern quarter of town. Just remember; no cheating.

Good luck from,

Aunt Berry

I wasn't expecting this. I think before walking back into the streets. I guess it's time to pull off my first heist.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

   After walking around for at least another hour I find the residence that was specified. It's a simple one story home and I guess it probably only has one bedroom, one bath room, a common room and a kitchen. Of course this is all speculation, but I think it's something akin to that. From my vantage in the bushes across the street I can see that the lights are on in the front of the home and in what I would guess is the common room. I don't think this is Berry's house though.

   While I don't know much about the mare, I do know that the persona she puts on has being a drunk at its core. This would make me more inclined to think she would live in the southeastern corner of town near the bars. Of course she could have a house there that she just uses for when she is playing her 'games', but not as a main home. Even with that aside I expected something more aristocratic. Simply put; it just doesn't feel right, but that could just be part of the test.

   I am guess that Berry either has Thunderback or Mac or maybe even both waiting in the house to catch me if I come for the book so I can't afford to cross the street under the light of the lamp posts. I have plan for that though. I wrap circles around each of the light posts along the street and form a small seal for each one. I prepare myself to dash across the street before pouring in my magical energy as fast as I can into each seal at once and taking off across the streets and I hide next to the bushes along the side of the house away from the door and drop the spells. It's getting a little easier to think like this and use these spells. I hold down a small urge to regurgitate. Not too easy though.

   I wait another five or so minutes just in case I alerted anypony before moving again. I go around the house to the back side of it under the dim illumination of my light spell and I see a window without any light coming through it. I make my way over under the window and I push up on it and thankfully it slides up with ease and without any major creaking.

   I pull myself over the window and thankfully I land on a carpeted floor rather than on a nightstand or something else like I may of in another home. I do however notice a major problem as I survey the room. A little unicorn who I guess is an 8 or 9 year old female do to her long mane and her rooms decorations, it's like something from a little girls TV show. But who am I to make guesses? I think as I run a hand through my long black mane which is probably longer than a few of the mares I've seen. I need to get a haircut, but that is beside the point. Why the hell is a kid here? Berry hardly seems like the motherly type and they even advised me to not have a large social life. Something isn't right to say the least.

   Hoping I will find an answer if I search the house a little more, I slowly sneak through the room making sure to not make too much noise and to not let my light spell get to bright. As I open the door I push up on it to minimize any creaking sounds. I don't know if it matters right now but it did at my old house. I slip through the small opening in the door and close it behind me, only turning the knob back after the door is closed so that the metal wouldn't click into place and make noise. You can never be too cautious.

   I find myself at the end of a hallway with a small shaft of light coming from the other end of the hallway from what I guess is the common room. There are two other doorways in the hallway and I decide that checking to see who is in the common room may be more beneficial than checking the other two rooms immediately.

   I make my way to the other end of the hallway and I slowly peek and lean into the room to see what is happening. Not what I expected to see. I see a colt, of undeterminable race from my view and is probably only a year older than I am, who is watching a movie of a certain genre that would be blocked of his parents had been smart enough to enable parental controls. That was a bit more than I needed to see. I think as I quickly back track a few feet before any more of my dignity is lost. Maybe it was a good thing I was a little sheltered when I was younger. Needless to say I was not ready to think of that new aspect of my life here. I'll just file that away for later.

   I decide to ignore the colt and I go back down the hallway to the door nearest the child's room and open it. I can make out that this is the master bedroom. A large bed sits in the center of the room against the far wall with one dresser on each side of the bed. I can make out two figures in the bed; sleeping thankfully and a small book shelf next to the one on the left side. It couldn't be that easy, but then again this definitely isn't Berry's house either. There's no reason I need to treat it as such.

   After making my way over to the shelf I begin to scroll through them looking for any unmarked books. I find a few but none of them are the book I'm searching for. Where is it? I think before looking on top of the shelf where book apparently it has been sitting the whole time. Well that was anticlimactic.

   I grab the book and begin to skulk back across the room. I slip through the doorway and close the door quietly behind me. Before I begin to move down the hallway my eyes notice something. The lights just turned off in the common room. I hear a foot step on the hardwood floors and I immediately cut my light spell and back up a few steps. Shit. Maybe I can wait it out?

   I see a white light in coming from the room and moving towards me and I back up until my back is completely against the wall. I can now see the silhouette of the approaching unicorn coming down the hallway and I watching the edge of the lit area approaching me. He does however turn just before the light gets to illuminate  my body.

   I quickly open the door and slip into the smaller unicorn's room and I fluidly climb through the window and dash off through the various alleyways towards the store. Now I can get to work.