Post by Horizon Flare on Oct 9, 2011 16:05:04 GMT -5
"Now, Flare; are you certain you remember what we've agreed on? The escape route, where we'll meet, and other details, hm?" Asked Wild Card, standing in front of a mirror, going through his person one last time - he checked his suit was spotless, combed his mane straight, checked the hidden pockets for his powders and other things he would need while on stage. The con-pony saw everything was perfectly in order, and then turned to face his young protégé, a grin on his features.
Flare sat on a cupboard at the corner of the room, repeatedly flicking a bit into the air and catching it, leaning on his other hoof with a bored expression. "Aye, Cards. I gotcha first time already, get it?" He responded irritatedly. This was their most important heist yet, and to be their last, and Wild Card was even more careful with the preparations than before. The grey stallion sighed at the foal's words and shook is head, walking to him and helping the slender, long-limbed little colt down. "Where did I go wrong raising you to have your tongue become mangled so, Horizon? Be mindful, unless you want to be stuck speaking that mismatched gutterspeak of yours. Someday your speech will become so incomprehensible that you might as well be speaking gibberish!" He scolded him. Flare merely grinned and shrugged, resulting in a sigh from his mentor.
"Very well. It's show time", Wild Card said, opened the door of their small backstage quarters and followed after Horizon. They walked the length of a narrow corridor and opened a wooden door into a majestic ball room where dozens of high-born Manehattans and other ponies of statute enjoyed their private soiree, each one carrying more extravagant jewellery than the last, each young mare wearing a wondrous dress of varying colours and fabrics. Wild Card was approached by the host; they exchanged a few quick words about when Card's show could start. This was a common pattern of theirs; the older Earth pony would make a distraction, be it a show of some sort or something else entirely, and Horizon would hit their assigned targets meanwhile.
Flare waited for Wild Card and the overweight, disgustingly rich esquire who was hosting this gathering to finish talking, and then looked at Card for a signal. He raised his hoof and beat the floor softly four times; that meant four minutes for Horizon to get ready. The foal darted off amidst the crowd, aiming to get upstairs where would await the vault; full of gold and diamonds and who knew what other riches! After this job, they wouldn't need to work ever again. Wild Card had often spoken to Horizon of this day.
The small Pegasus remembered well all of Card's promises. They'd retire together, somewhere quiet and nice, and buy a manor and servants, and live happily ever after. No need to think where they'd get their next meal; no need to hang at shady bars and always move from place to place, avoiding capture by those whose belongings they had taken. Nopony would never again bully Horizon for his over-sized wings and legs, he'd get all the toys and sweets he had never owned but had always dreamed of, and he'd have friends to play with! And Wild Card would be there. He'd teach him to read, and write, and even play the piano like he had once promised! It'd bea paradise for the small foal; everything he had always wanted.
Locked in his imagination, Horizon bumped into a young mare wearing a purple dress, and stumbled. The foal looked up and saw the mare turn, and he bowed his head. "I'm very sorry, my lady", he said, feigning an excellent Manehattan high society accent, "I wasn't looking where I was going. Please excuse my clumsiness." The mare smiled at the well-mannered young foal. "Oh, it's quite all right, young sir", she responded, Horizon bowed again, and moved past her. He reached the stairs leading up when he suddenly heard a booming voice behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, even though he well knew what the sound was.
Wild Card had stepped on the stage, and many-coloured smoke surrounded him. Over his suit, he wore a cloak and a domino mask to add to his mystique, creating an aura of enchantment in the hall. "Greetings to all! I, Gray Enigma, bring you a night of magic and unreality! See how I bend the laws of very nature to conjure forces beyond imagination to give you an evening you will never forget.." And with those words, Wild Card let out a booming laughter and spun his cloak, secretly dropping a concoction that would explode into a purple, thick smoke, Horizon knew. The smoke quickly faded, and Wild Card was gone; all that remained was his suit, cloak, and mask. He'd change his attire and appear from a trap door behind the audience as they pondered where he had gone, and then begin his musical number.
Flare dashed up the stairs and searched for the right room, passing by doors. He had memorized the blueprints of the estate, and didn't take long to find the study where the host, Truegold Sharpglitter, a wealthy gentlecolt in mining business, would keep his most valuable possessions. Horizon tried the door, only to find it locked. He glanced around and conjured a ring of lockpicks from the confines of his feathers. Not long after he had learned how to walk, the orphan had learned that his wings ere an excellent hiding place for items that he didn't want others to find. They were larger than other ponies; the feathers much bigger and softer, and things like lock-picks or say, a lady's necklace, would be easily hidden there.
Horizon took one of the lock-picks in his mouth, tried it to the lock, pulled it out and chose another. He kept his eyes on the corridor in case anypony appeared, but the foal was in luck, and quickly the door was open. He entered, closed it behind him and observed the study. A very nice oak table decorated the room, as did many bookshelves and beautiful paintings, and there was even a door to a second-floor balcony. The young foal burst into action; silently searching the room. He'd use his small, still not fully grown wings to hover in air just long enough to check behind paintings; then he'd see if there was anything behind the bookcases. Finally he made his way to the table, and the most obvious place for a vault, trying the drawers; locked.
Again, his - proved mightier than the ward between him and his goal, and Horizon opened the larger closet door under the two drawers, and was greeted by cold steel of a safe; Horizon grinned. He knew this model well, and would have no problem getting it open. The Pegasus pressed himself against the safe's door and grabbed the code lock's handle. He turned the handle, and listened to the quiet ticks and tocks, until he found the right combination. Excited, he swung the safe open and gasped at the valuables inside.
Diamonds, gold and whatever else! But the one true thing they were he for was the Aurora Eye, a huge, prismatic gemstone worth a fortune. It had just a few weeks back been dug out of one of Sharpglitter's mines, and had been in the news, too. It had a colouring unlike any other precious stone; it's radiance was undeniable. Horizon looked around for something to carry his ill-gotten gains with, and decided that a suitcase by the desk would be the best option. He opened it, and switched the insides of the safe with the papers from the suitcase. He closed the safe, then made sure everything was like he had never been there, and made his escape through the balcony, just as planned. Everything worked excellently.
Right on time, as he always was, Wild Card waited near the gates of the estate, looking at his pocket watch intently. His charcoal mane was perfectly combed and his expensive suit had absolutely zero wrinkles, even despite him having performed only a few moments ago. "Ah, Flare!" He greeted him cheerfully, "I see everything went as planned. Here, let me take that", the Earth Pony took the suitcase from Flare, for which the foal was thankful. The thing was heavy for him, he was still a foal, after all, and gliding down from the balcony with the thing had been a nightmare.
Flare grinned. "No vault's gonna be holdin' me back, Cards!" He murmured and glanced around. Guests were slowly starting to drain out; the night was turning into early dawn. "Okay, let's split up and get back to Bertrand's, Flare. I'll meet you there, with our transport ready to get us out of this city. See you there", Card said and started towards the gates, while Horizon would go into a different direction. The older stallion stopped, looked at Flare over his shoulder and smirked. "You did well, Flare."
Horizon entered Bertrand's, a shady, very shady, bar in the cellar of an old building at a very inhospitable part of Manehattan. This was a factory area; thick smog covered the streets day and night, and the ponies here were gruff and hardy, and criminals held their council here. Flare had learned to navigate places like this, having spent his earliest years as an orphan in these very same streets, and later learned with Wild Card what the underbelly of big cities truly looked like.
Bertrand was one of the nicer ponies Horizon knew; he and Wild Card would often stay heref, and Bertrand himself was a retired thief who had plenty of good stories to tell. His patrons, however, weren't as mellow; grim, rough and scarred stallions, all of them street scum who earned their living through violence or petty thievery. Horizon saw what he could have become in those unlucky ponies; most of them were orphans, too, who had no other future but to linger in the same streets for their entire lives, as restless ghosts.
Horizon walked up to the bar where Bertrand was cleaning glasses. The stallion, noticing Flare, welcomed him heartily through his heavy moustache. “Flare! Howdy, kid. Card left you a letter, said he was going to handle some business and you should read this”, he said and reached under the desk for a sealed letter, which he handed to the small foal, who had now used his pennons to get himself on a tall bar stool.
The black foal ripped the letter open eagerly, even though he was an incredibly slow reader. Wild Card had taught him the basics, but he still had trouble. Nevertheless, he pulled the letter out and began to read:
“Dear Horizon,
The years we travelled together were a plentiful and good time, and I will remember you with warmth. I taught you much during our time together, and you learned swiftly. You have a dexterous mind, and an incredible ability to absorb knowledge and learn. Thus, I leave you with one last advice, one that is the most important of all; there are but two things a pony can trust: himself, and gold. All else is ashes and dust. Friends will turn on you; lovers will betray you; those you hold dear will some day, somewhere, stab you in the back. The world is a web of lies and deceit. Harden your heart and learn this lesson well; never trust anypony.
Do not try to find me. I am now on a way to an undisclosed location and you well know I cannot be found if I do not wish so.
Trust only gold, or yourself, Horizon.
Regards,
Wild Card, your mentor.”
Flare sat on a cupboard at the corner of the room, repeatedly flicking a bit into the air and catching it, leaning on his other hoof with a bored expression. "Aye, Cards. I gotcha first time already, get it?" He responded irritatedly. This was their most important heist yet, and to be their last, and Wild Card was even more careful with the preparations than before. The grey stallion sighed at the foal's words and shook is head, walking to him and helping the slender, long-limbed little colt down. "Where did I go wrong raising you to have your tongue become mangled so, Horizon? Be mindful, unless you want to be stuck speaking that mismatched gutterspeak of yours. Someday your speech will become so incomprehensible that you might as well be speaking gibberish!" He scolded him. Flare merely grinned and shrugged, resulting in a sigh from his mentor.
"Very well. It's show time", Wild Card said, opened the door of their small backstage quarters and followed after Horizon. They walked the length of a narrow corridor and opened a wooden door into a majestic ball room where dozens of high-born Manehattans and other ponies of statute enjoyed their private soiree, each one carrying more extravagant jewellery than the last, each young mare wearing a wondrous dress of varying colours and fabrics. Wild Card was approached by the host; they exchanged a few quick words about when Card's show could start. This was a common pattern of theirs; the older Earth pony would make a distraction, be it a show of some sort or something else entirely, and Horizon would hit their assigned targets meanwhile.
Flare waited for Wild Card and the overweight, disgustingly rich esquire who was hosting this gathering to finish talking, and then looked at Card for a signal. He raised his hoof and beat the floor softly four times; that meant four minutes for Horizon to get ready. The foal darted off amidst the crowd, aiming to get upstairs where would await the vault; full of gold and diamonds and who knew what other riches! After this job, they wouldn't need to work ever again. Wild Card had often spoken to Horizon of this day.
The small Pegasus remembered well all of Card's promises. They'd retire together, somewhere quiet and nice, and buy a manor and servants, and live happily ever after. No need to think where they'd get their next meal; no need to hang at shady bars and always move from place to place, avoiding capture by those whose belongings they had taken. Nopony would never again bully Horizon for his over-sized wings and legs, he'd get all the toys and sweets he had never owned but had always dreamed of, and he'd have friends to play with! And Wild Card would be there. He'd teach him to read, and write, and even play the piano like he had once promised! It'd bea paradise for the small foal; everything he had always wanted.
Locked in his imagination, Horizon bumped into a young mare wearing a purple dress, and stumbled. The foal looked up and saw the mare turn, and he bowed his head. "I'm very sorry, my lady", he said, feigning an excellent Manehattan high society accent, "I wasn't looking where I was going. Please excuse my clumsiness." The mare smiled at the well-mannered young foal. "Oh, it's quite all right, young sir", she responded, Horizon bowed again, and moved past her. He reached the stairs leading up when he suddenly heard a booming voice behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, even though he well knew what the sound was.
Wild Card had stepped on the stage, and many-coloured smoke surrounded him. Over his suit, he wore a cloak and a domino mask to add to his mystique, creating an aura of enchantment in the hall. "Greetings to all! I, Gray Enigma, bring you a night of magic and unreality! See how I bend the laws of very nature to conjure forces beyond imagination to give you an evening you will never forget.." And with those words, Wild Card let out a booming laughter and spun his cloak, secretly dropping a concoction that would explode into a purple, thick smoke, Horizon knew. The smoke quickly faded, and Wild Card was gone; all that remained was his suit, cloak, and mask. He'd change his attire and appear from a trap door behind the audience as they pondered where he had gone, and then begin his musical number.
Flare dashed up the stairs and searched for the right room, passing by doors. He had memorized the blueprints of the estate, and didn't take long to find the study where the host, Truegold Sharpglitter, a wealthy gentlecolt in mining business, would keep his most valuable possessions. Horizon tried the door, only to find it locked. He glanced around and conjured a ring of lockpicks from the confines of his feathers. Not long after he had learned how to walk, the orphan had learned that his wings ere an excellent hiding place for items that he didn't want others to find. They were larger than other ponies; the feathers much bigger and softer, and things like lock-picks or say, a lady's necklace, would be easily hidden there.
Horizon took one of the lock-picks in his mouth, tried it to the lock, pulled it out and chose another. He kept his eyes on the corridor in case anypony appeared, but the foal was in luck, and quickly the door was open. He entered, closed it behind him and observed the study. A very nice oak table decorated the room, as did many bookshelves and beautiful paintings, and there was even a door to a second-floor balcony. The young foal burst into action; silently searching the room. He'd use his small, still not fully grown wings to hover in air just long enough to check behind paintings; then he'd see if there was anything behind the bookcases. Finally he made his way to the table, and the most obvious place for a vault, trying the drawers; locked.
Again, his - proved mightier than the ward between him and his goal, and Horizon opened the larger closet door under the two drawers, and was greeted by cold steel of a safe; Horizon grinned. He knew this model well, and would have no problem getting it open. The Pegasus pressed himself against the safe's door and grabbed the code lock's handle. He turned the handle, and listened to the quiet ticks and tocks, until he found the right combination. Excited, he swung the safe open and gasped at the valuables inside.
Diamonds, gold and whatever else! But the one true thing they were he for was the Aurora Eye, a huge, prismatic gemstone worth a fortune. It had just a few weeks back been dug out of one of Sharpglitter's mines, and had been in the news, too. It had a colouring unlike any other precious stone; it's radiance was undeniable. Horizon looked around for something to carry his ill-gotten gains with, and decided that a suitcase by the desk would be the best option. He opened it, and switched the insides of the safe with the papers from the suitcase. He closed the safe, then made sure everything was like he had never been there, and made his escape through the balcony, just as planned. Everything worked excellently.
Right on time, as he always was, Wild Card waited near the gates of the estate, looking at his pocket watch intently. His charcoal mane was perfectly combed and his expensive suit had absolutely zero wrinkles, even despite him having performed only a few moments ago. "Ah, Flare!" He greeted him cheerfully, "I see everything went as planned. Here, let me take that", the Earth Pony took the suitcase from Flare, for which the foal was thankful. The thing was heavy for him, he was still a foal, after all, and gliding down from the balcony with the thing had been a nightmare.
Flare grinned. "No vault's gonna be holdin' me back, Cards!" He murmured and glanced around. Guests were slowly starting to drain out; the night was turning into early dawn. "Okay, let's split up and get back to Bertrand's, Flare. I'll meet you there, with our transport ready to get us out of this city. See you there", Card said and started towards the gates, while Horizon would go into a different direction. The older stallion stopped, looked at Flare over his shoulder and smirked. "You did well, Flare."
***
Horizon entered Bertrand's, a shady, very shady, bar in the cellar of an old building at a very inhospitable part of Manehattan. This was a factory area; thick smog covered the streets day and night, and the ponies here were gruff and hardy, and criminals held their council here. Flare had learned to navigate places like this, having spent his earliest years as an orphan in these very same streets, and later learned with Wild Card what the underbelly of big cities truly looked like.
Bertrand was one of the nicer ponies Horizon knew; he and Wild Card would often stay heref, and Bertrand himself was a retired thief who had plenty of good stories to tell. His patrons, however, weren't as mellow; grim, rough and scarred stallions, all of them street scum who earned their living through violence or petty thievery. Horizon saw what he could have become in those unlucky ponies; most of them were orphans, too, who had no other future but to linger in the same streets for their entire lives, as restless ghosts.
Horizon walked up to the bar where Bertrand was cleaning glasses. The stallion, noticing Flare, welcomed him heartily through his heavy moustache. “Flare! Howdy, kid. Card left you a letter, said he was going to handle some business and you should read this”, he said and reached under the desk for a sealed letter, which he handed to the small foal, who had now used his pennons to get himself on a tall bar stool.
The black foal ripped the letter open eagerly, even though he was an incredibly slow reader. Wild Card had taught him the basics, but he still had trouble. Nevertheless, he pulled the letter out and began to read:
“Dear Horizon,
The years we travelled together were a plentiful and good time, and I will remember you with warmth. I taught you much during our time together, and you learned swiftly. You have a dexterous mind, and an incredible ability to absorb knowledge and learn. Thus, I leave you with one last advice, one that is the most important of all; there are but two things a pony can trust: himself, and gold. All else is ashes and dust. Friends will turn on you; lovers will betray you; those you hold dear will some day, somewhere, stab you in the back. The world is a web of lies and deceit. Harden your heart and learn this lesson well; never trust anypony.
Do not try to find me. I am now on a way to an undisclosed location and you well know I cannot be found if I do not wish so.
Trust only gold, or yourself, Horizon.
Regards,
Wild Card, your mentor.”