The Thief (Open)

Equestria. The bright shining utopia. A place were its citizens live in harmony and peace for over a thousand years. It was a place where the amount of pure innocence was almost unbelievable. But, whether or not one believed it, it was there all the same. There had been no war and very little crime which was normally a young pony taking an apple without paying.

Yet, in the span of a year that all changed. Numerous enemies appeared out their hiding. It threw the peaceful and carefree ponies into a state of panic. They had never seen foes like this before. While, these foes were later defeated the fear was still there. Crime seemed to sky rocket over night as ponies took advantage of their neighbors fears and robbing them blind.

The thefts were small at first and something thought to be easily handled by the Guard. Most of the crimials were caught and eventually learned their lesson. But, there are still ponies that still escape the law. There is one most active is the pony known only as the Lightning Thief and normally steals between groceries to the newest Shadowbolt stealth suits, a feat that put him on the Most Wanted List. No one has been able to see his face or anything about him outside him being a grey pegasus.

He used to wear a trench coat and a mask to hide his features and when anyone would corn him he would simply vanish in a flash of light. Most of concluded that it was down by runes or something similar due to looking like teleportation. He has also been seen wielding a metal staff, two pistols, and a knife for weaponary. Finally, it seems as if he also knows advanced weather magic.

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The sun has setted over a few hours ago and everything is peaceful and silent. It was as if the things that had happened this year had never happened. There were a few clouds that seemed to enhance the beauty of Luna's night. Her moon was full and bright with the stars twinkling in the distance. Sadly, the rumor of the Lightning Thief was there made peaceful night into a ominous.

At 11 sharp the alarms of a nearby museum  went off and the a black figure could be seen flying through the night sky. The object that he held his arms was a small trinket that most that visited the town knew about, The Alicorn Amulet. The thing had been put on display for a few months now and like everything inside of the building had a been heavily guarded.

The Thief did not stop until he reached a roof top a good five miles between him and the museum. He panted a little to himself and looked at the trinket. "Who would want this?" He questioned, not knowing why his employer would want something that could possibly turn him into a ramapaging idiot. The stallion reminded himself that it was not his place to ask.

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Things to Know:
1.) Things like guns can be used
2.) Runes and magical barriers are considered sercuity systems
3.) No auto-hitting!
4.) No Godmodding!
5.) While this is open if it gets too much attention I will limit the number of people that can play
6.) Guard armor is magically enchanted to defend against bullet fire though is equivalent to a bullet proof vest though it covers your entire body though this protection weakens from use

(ignore this post.)

"What is it?" a soft voice asked from behind the thief. The speaker was hovering near him on translucent wings that just barely held a remnant of the purple color they used to be. The rest of the young mare's body was solid though, and purple in color with long loose hanging red hair under her hood and red tail poking out behind her. Her hands were clasped in front of her chest and there was a somewhat nervous expression on her face at drawing the thief's attention, but her eyes shone with a bright and wondrous desire of curiosity at figuring out what the other had.

Her clothes were rather simple, even plain in several aspects, almost creating the feeling that she didn't want to be noticed a lot of the time. She was also sporting a long cloak that obscured her features even more, though her wings seemed to go right through the fabric, there were no holes or openings that normal wings would require.

When the alarms sounded through the museum, panic had been afoot. Many that were in the building at that point had panicked and rushed around, as was perhaps to be expected in the wake of having one of their most valuable artifacts stolen.

Predictably, the Royal Guard had been contacted. But the alarm bells weren't exactly subtle, and the night shift of the Guard was already on their way.

At least, one of them was.

Eclipse, Lieutenant of the elite Lunar Guard division Nightwatch, was decked out in his full suit of blue armour. The bulletproof kind, thankfully, since he'd had the wisdom to enchant it as soon as he could. He hadn't actually had to use it yet, but he had a sinking feeling that he soon would.

His bat-like wings beat softly as he hovered over the city. His slit-like irises, dotted with pinpricks of light that resembled the night stars, darted from side to side in an attempt to find anything of note. He eventually came to a stop at the museum and winced slightly as the loud bells assaulted his ears. Only when he became slightly more used to it did he descend and enter the through the large double-doors of the entrance.

A quick round of questioning and searching confirmed his suspicions and raised a few more. There weren't that many thieves capable of stealing an artifact so well-guarded as the Alicorn Amulet just like that. In fact, he could only think of one.

He asked around a little more, and it transpired that a black figure had been seen flying through the night sky just as the alarms broke out. It wasn't a very good lead, but at least it was one. He asked for directions.

Shortly after, Eclipse took to the skies again, now flying along the thief's last known trajectory and keeping his eyes peeled. He had no idea how far he might have gone, and he highly suspected that he wouldn't be able to find him, even with his own respectable ability to see in the dark, but he had to try.

A gray figure zipped through the air, towards the museum. The figure was clad in a light blue and dark purplish armor, equipped with a sword that was strapped to the figures waist. It's leathery bat-like wings beat at a fast pace and the figure itself was panting from exhaustion, but the wings stopped beating suddenly and closed against the figure's side as the figure it self started falling down to the ground below. And just at the last minute the figure swooped up a little bit to land properly.

Standing now on the ground, stood a gray male thestral that looked to be panting a bit. He looked around at the scene just as he saw another thestral take off into the skies. "Damn it. Just missed the lieutenant..." He stretched a little bit before taking to the skies after the other thestral. "But then again...What would a lieutenant do to a rookie like me...?" He muttered to himself as he looked to where the other lunar guard went.


A dark brown earth pony sat on the ledge of a building just across from a pony holding something that looked powerful. He had been napping on the ledge, waiting for his crew to come back from their little adventure when he head the faintest noise of an alarm going off. He had sat up and looked in the direction it had come from and saw that a pegasus had landed on the building across from the one he was sitting on. His eyes had fell on the mare that was behind the thief though.

The earth pony, himself, had a dark green mane and was equipped with two pistols that had strange markings on the sides of them. The guns themselves was holstered to two straps that crossed over his chest in an X fashion. He didn't look to have much on other than his cutie mark being a sword over a pirate flag. His ear also had a bit of the tip torn off. He was kicking his legs a little bit, waiting for something to happen. An alarm was going off and the guards were sure to come by anytime soon. He, however, chose not to say anything.

No noise, for such a large body, he made absolutely no noise. His body only covered by a huge closed lab coat, sleeves visablly ripped off. His weapon two knuckle braces with three hoof sized cylinders on each of them. His sheer hieght completely trumped that of any citizen in the country, his arms were large wide columns of muscle and his eyes gave blank stares. Shifting right up next to the Lieutenant and waiting for orders. As a hired bodyguard to the royals around the city, Knuckle, was known throughout the town as the silent shield, in situations treated as a royal guard for the princesses. Glancing at the pony next to him he simply waited for what information he wanted to be given.

The thief jumped back as he heard the voice. He had thought that no one was on the roof top except him. He thought for a moment that he was dealing with a ghost pony which made him shudder. He looked down at the amulet for a brief moment and back at the mare. "It's a really expensive necklace." The thief vanished from sight as soon as he said those words. What he said was true especially since his employeer had offered over 2,000,000 bits upfront and later get paid ten times that much once he gave it to them.

He had luckily vanished shortly as Eclipse came into view. The stallion probably would have easily seen the mare and come to question her. So, the pegasus simply walked away from her and put a good amount of distance between him and her before he took off to the sky again, his wings and steps were silent due to his suit being actived.

The invisible pony had missed the other pony that had been watching them and while he had a feeling he was being watched he didnt think about it much. No one could be able to see him when his suit was actived.

Wisp was startled when the thief had moved so suddenly, backpedaling some herself, but when he started explaining, she landed on the surface, her ethereal see-through wings folding into place on her solid back. Wisp was about to ask another question when he suddenly vanished leaving the mare even more confused. She tried to look around and spot the mysterious pony again, but was completely unable to find any trace of him. Frowning, she began to walk towards the edge of the building and continue her search of other interesting things in the night.

Eclipse flew for a little while along his chosen heading, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. He was grateful when Knuckle came up to him and waited patiently for orders. He'd been buried under administration for so long that he'd almost forgotten how to do field work. It was good to have someone to give orders to.

"Spread out and search the surrounding area. Watch out for anything out of place," he whispered, drawing higher up into the sky. And then he saw it: a purple mare with translucent wings, walking over to the edge of the building. She didn't seem like the Thief, but she could be a suspect, or at least a witness. He decided to talk to her.

"Change of plans." He called down to Knuckle. "Come up with me to the roof. But still keep an eye out for suspicious happenings." With that, he landed heavily on the roof, his armour clinking conspicuously.

He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, ma'am. I am Eclipse, from the Night Guard. May I ask you a few questions?"

Knuckle made no responce as that sort of ability wasn't in his system. Going inside the building he shot up the stares as fast as was possible for him, he kept absolutely silent as his paded feet did their jobs, so he could do his. Coming not even breathing heavily as he made his way up, coming through the door in time to help out although he had taken at least a minute to reach his appointed destination. But that was not his focus, like all diamond dogs would have, he smelt the gem. Not any gem, but one that no one could replicate with out Starswirl The Bearded level magic. Decoys were not a possible choose for such a item, the thief probably knew that by now, however. Looking over at lightning, he glanced and pointed over in the direction of which he smelt the amulet's gem.

(I case no one understands that first part Knuckle was born mute, or with out vocal cords if you will.)

The pegasi turned back and looked wide eyed at Eclipse. She'd been about to respond when Knuckle appeared on the roof, distracting her completely. The mare seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she was starring. Eventually though she broke the look and turned back to Eclipse with uncertain eyes.

"I- I guess I can," she said with some stammering. "Wha- what did you want to talk about?" She asked rather oblivious to the actual situation and just thinking it was a slightly 'off' way to begin a conversation.

The gray thestral landed on the roof top, panting a little. He quickly stood up straight and saluted to Eclipse. "Lieutenant, sir! What's the situation? ....And you know you don't make it easy for someone to follow when you take off and they just land." He stretched a bit before looking around their immediate area. His eyes fell on the shot Knuckle pointed to...But he didn't see anything. He gave the diamond dog a shrug and turned around to see the brown earth pony on the other building. "You there! You mind telling me what you are doing sitting on the ledges of the top of a building?"

The earth pony shrugged. "I be napping. But it appears something happened me crew as they should be here right now." He said to the thestral with a bit of a pirate accent, shrugging. "Ye'd be surprised what can happen in the span of just a few minutes." His eyes fell on the purple mare who was being asked question. "She seems a tad bit stuttery, don't ye thinks?" He gave a little yawn and laid back down on the roof of the building he was on.

"You...You wait right there and don't think about moving." The thestral said, turning and walking back towards Eclipse. "Lieutenant, there's another pony on the roof of the other building and the diamond dog seems to be pointing at nothingness. I...would say this is an odd situation we are in, concidering we have a pirate and a diamond dog pointing to nothing, if I hadn't been in odder situations...." He scratched the back on his neck a little.

An eagle landed down near Eclipse shortly after, but that eagle was unlike others. It had what seemed like an emerald and diamond rings around its talons and a necklace made out of teeth of beasts with a bullet of a large caliber in the center of them hanging around his neck. This eagle, however, disappeared in a big puff of smoke, and after the smoke disappeared, there was an unicorn with a silenced bolt-action rifle and a sword strapped on his side. He was wearing a dark-green cloak, covering most of his body. His hair was spiky and snow-white with dark-green tips and his eyes were dark-red. He chuckled at Eclipse and his group, leaning on the nearby wall and put a cigarette in his mouth, lighting it.

"So... what's going on here... Such commotion so late in the night... " he said and grinned, blowing a small cloud of smoke towards the group. "It's almost as you're chasing after certain someone.. did I guess correctly?"

Eclipse sighed, taking in the sight of all the new arrivals around him. "Tonight's a busy night, it seems." Ignoring the transforming unicorn for a moment, he addressed Wisp with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, ma'am, I'd just like to ask you a few..." He trailed off. He'd originally been dismissive of Knuckle's pointing, but it occurred to him now that the diamond dog wouldn't point at just anything, not in the middle of a mission like this. Whatever it was, it had to be relevant.

"On second thoughts, Star, please help me question this potential witness." He glanced at the shapeshifter unicorn, then the pirate. "My mistake. Witnesses. I'll see to what Knuckle is pointing at."

He moved over to the diamond dog. "Yes? What is it? What are you pointing at?" He tried to align his face with his finger, glancing up into the sky. "I don't understand. There's nothing there."

Knuckle let out a silent sigh, Geting down on his knees he slammed one of his knuckle brace cylinders into the solid rock as if it were play dough, and ingraved 'The amulet's scent trails that way'. The diamond dog stood again and glanced over at Eclipse, the diamond dog didn't need to do anything else what he had been doing was clear, whether the amulet could be taken back or not was the task at hand for him, and he had no problem smelling that gem's trail. Knuckle took off without a order in the direction he had pointed.

Eclipse stared down at the inscription and blinked. At once, all the pieces fell into place.

He's hidden himself somehow. He realised. This whole time, he's been- I should've- gah!

He glared in the general area that Knuckle had been pointing at and sprinted forward. When he reached the edge of the building he sprung up into the air, letting his momentum carry him forward and flapping his wings to stay in the air. His eyes crackled with intense electricity. As quick as is to be expected for such electricity, it arced out of his eyes, down his face, up his arms and into his hands. His fingertips glowed with barely restrained power.

All of half a second later, Eclipse raised his hands and fired a wide-ranging web of white lightning at the general area. It was low-voltage, as it stood, but maybe he could short out whatever device was enabling this thief to stay hidden.

Star backpedaled a little when an eagle turned into a unicorn. He turned his attention back towards Eclipse. "Uhh...Yes sir." He looked over at Knuckle and scratched the back on his head. "Looks can be deceiving I guess....Anyway," He turned towards the unicorn. "Do you mind telling me what you are doing here and did you see anyone here?" He asked, his ears flopping against his head as he heard something like the sound of electricity. He gave a little glance at the earth pony to make sure he was still where he was and sighed a breath of relief upon seeing him, turning back towards the unicorn. His eyes glanced over at the purple mare, wondering what he was suppose to do with her. He guessed he had to question her too.

The earth pony sat up and looked at Star who was questioning the unicorn who just appeared. When the thestral turned to look at him, he paused and waited until the stallion turned back. When he did, the earth pony stood up and stretched a little. He looked in the direction Eclipse and Knuckle ran off to and guessed they figured out where that pegasus was. "Might as well follow while me crew is off an away." He stepped back a few steps and ran towards the the next building, jumping when he ran out of roof to run on. He landed on the roof of the next building and stood back up, shaking a little. "Gotta go faster if I want to catch up with that thestral and diamond dog." He sprinted towards the next building and jumped again, doing a little roll so he could get on his feet faster and ran to the next.

Lightning watched as the group of people arrived on top of the rooftop while he flew backwards. He didnt really care at the moment since they couldnt see him and would simply wander off to the wrong direction.

Or at least that was what he thought.

Instead the mute diamond dog pointed over at him. He felt some magic coming from Eclipse and saw the electricity that crackled out of his eyes. While Lightning was sure that his storm magic could help with the sting he didnt want to risk damaging such a fragile thing. So, he lowered himself as the pony charged and fired his attack.

Lightning flew low as he saw the dog come towards him. He knew that it was following the scent of the amulet and that with it the others would be lost. The stallion knew the easiest way to do so was by killing it, but there a few moral problems and job problems with that. So, instead he simply went towards a place where his scent could be better hidden. A perfume store.

It was a few blocks away and would be a good couple a lanes for the the dog to job over if it would want to follow him which would also led to a rather big drop. The only real problem with that idea being the thestral with lightning fever.

The thought of Lightning's alternate options could also work, but he wanted to see if these ponies could catch him.

Griff puffed another cloud of smoke towards the group. "Me? You could say I'm just on a hunt.." He answered Star's question and chuckled. "On a hunt for.. a specific person. I suppose you're looking for the same guy. He stole something very valuable and powerful, but that's all the details that I have. And no, I haven't seen anyone else." He said and finished his cigarette, throwing it on the ground and crushing it with his boot. "How about you? What are you doing here?" he said as he took out another cigarette, but not yet lightning it. He turned towards Eclipse just as he took off and used his lightning shock. "Fancy.." Griff said and turned back into his eagle form and flew after him. "Perhaps he can bring me to him..."

With nopony really paying attention to her, Wisp took the opportunity to make herself scarce and jumped off the edge of the building. Spreading her ethereal wings, the mare glided for quite some time before continuing to fly away from the scene. Even when she had a 'body', Wisp was still usually able to slip away without being noticed. Maybe she'd run into the strange pony that it seemed like all the others were hunting for, but she had no ideas where to look or how to track so into the night she simply flew without destination or goal.

"Well I, wait...YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE ASKING ME QUESTIONS!!!" Star shouted at the unicorn just as he turned into an eagle and flew away. "Wait! You're not-...." He glanced over at where the mare had been and didn't see her. He looked towards where the pirate had once been and didn't see him either. "OH HELL!" He yelled turning around and seeing the ponies run after the....What ever that diamond dog was pointing at. "GET BACK HERE!!" He unfurled his wings and flew after the three....no wait, two ponies he was suppose to be questioning. He didn't know where the mare was and he could have sworn he heard music playing....Must just be in his mind.

Knuckle followed that scent dry, it had lead him to the town's finest perfume shop. It was quite the trick the thief had pulled, but the jig was up long before it had started, there was however a problem, the guard had no trust in him besides the LT. and even then that only went so far. Unable to make a noise and without time to say anything he simply smirked and bowed apologetically to everyone who was already inside, he bowed as he had been taught since he couldn't speak. It was a manner of bowing that could only be portrayed as 'I'm sorry.' Standing again from the bow he smashed the stores front window and set off the security measures, bars dropped down from the windows, and the doors clicked locked, as dumb as he may have seemed, Knuckle Who Cracks Stone, the diamond dog that had been raised by zebra tribes ponies, he had been taught to act without order if what he was doing couldn't be figured by thought, but drawing his fist back Knuckle knew he had cornered the rat, or at least had tried, explaining this would take to long to write and was not something he could do on public streets so carelessly. Looking up as to where he knew Eclipse was, and how this looked. However this wasn't there first collaboration case, and he had always acted out his own line of action. At this point the back was the only exit and Knuckle knew he wouldn't reach it in time, by the time he had thought his action through completely he realized this, there was no way that they would catch him, he had just done something to draw in attention and hadn't thought it would draw attention to himself rather than the back.

Looking down the diamond dog stared at the bag he knew the amulet was in, he knew who he was dealing with now, but that was pointless if no one else could be told by his voice. Mouthing a single word he glared at where the trail ended at. Looking dead at where Lightning stood, "Check."

Eclipse had been following Knuckle, his wings beating furiously to keep up with the diamond dog. He was a little out of practise, but it pleased him to see that his electrical magic was still working. He descended towards the perfume shop and landed outside the door, just in time for him to see a familiar fist smash through the front window of the store.

Eclipse grimaced and facepalmed loudly. When he drew his hand away, he could still feel the sting on his face where the smack had connected. "Knuckle... I hate you right now."

At least the thief is cornered. The logical side of his brain pointed out.

"If he's even still in there." Eclipse muttered to himself. Security measures were being triggered all throughout the shop, it seemed, so he took to the air again and scouted around. He probably wouldn't be able to find anything, but he could at least try.

His fingers sparked with unreleased energy. If he found anything, he'd be as ready as he could be.

Griff landed down right next to Eclipse just in time to see the same sight, to which he chuckled, completely forgetting that Star wanted to .. question him? He didn't remember being arrested and then questioned... he shrugged it off and pulled out his rifle, getting ready to shoot Lightning in the wing and then take the amulet back to the museum for his reward... but he decided to let Eclipse and the rest do the most of the work.

Lightning easily slide his into the doorway as it opened to let a few ponies out, none of them aware of his presence. He flew a good distance off the ground to make sure he didnt bump into anyone. Soon, he found an alley that was didnt have any customer in it and was the perfect place to stash the amulet for a brief time. Lightning already saw a flaw in his plan and while he wasnt sure he was correct on the subject, it was best not to take the risk.

If the diamond dog simply shifted its scent to the smell of the new perfume leaving the area, the hound would follow. It might have been rather unlikely for that to happen, but before he could think more on the matter he heard the alarms go off. He peeked over the edge of the shelf he was behind to see Knuckle punch the window and later the lightning thestral fly off somewhere else as the dog pointed towards him.

The pegasus knew that Knuckle was only following the amulet's scent and not his own so once he left it met it would no longer know where he was. That was what he thought anyways. The stallion didnt try to hide the artifact and simply left the bag on the floor for anypony to grab and see. He was also lucky that most of the ponies had stood there in shock and watched the dog point at the Lighning while others slowly moved towards him.

As this happened Lightning pondered what he should do to the dog that had made things a little diffcult for himself. The last thing he wanted to do was use his gun since it would reveal him and he had a small issue for killing people unnecessryly. It would be an easy task to sneak up behind the dog and put a bullet in its head. Instead Lightning decided to use its noise against it.

The stallion picked up a bottle of perfume, hiding it in his arms so a bottle of perfume wasnt floating in the air. He walked straight up to the dog and stood only a few aisles in front of it. The invisible pony kept his hands at the ready to take off the top of the perfume and toss its contents onto the dogs nose. If the plan worked, then he would quickly rush and take the bag before waiting kicking open the back door to mislead the dog since it would most likely follow due to the lack of scent. If it failed Lightning would simply bounce backwards and into the air in an attempt to get of an attack the dog might give.

Once, the ponies finally found it they picked up the bag and showed it to the dog, but never moved towards him. "This what your looking for?" A mare in simple black dress with another that held up the bag.

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As the thestral flew across the sky he could see a figure fly towards the building. She wore a simple brown leather jacket and a pair of black sweat pants. The grey eyed mare had an orange coat and a light brown mane that had a streak or two of grey go through it. She seemed curious about the thestral flying about. "What's going on?" She looked confused about the energy that was coming off the stallion and kept her distance away from him. She glanced over at Griff and noticed the gun and a few others before she looked back at Eclipse.