No Rest for the Wicked

[AlextheAngel]

The night was rather noisy with ponies bustling about in the streets below the hotel, just what one would expect in a city like Manehatten. Near the back of the building, a dark figure scaled the wall with relative ease and grace, using every nook and cranny he could find to advance his ascent. The day prior, one of his associates went through the liberty of disabling the cameras within the building, providing Clovis with a way to get inside without being seen. He had no trouble at all hiding from whatever curious ponies walked his way... it was the recording devices that truly became an issue. For a professional thief that worked incognito, and who no pony knew even existed aside from those in the organization he worked for, leaving as little evidence as possible that he was there was crucial.

It didn't take him long to reach one of the windows he had been aiming for. It was the same room that had been rented by some sort of adventurer... and in the human's experience, adventurers always had something valuable on them hidden away. Being as quiet as possible, he used his knife to pry the window open, slowly pushing it inwards just enough to allow him enough room for his small form to slip inside. Once in, he quickly and quietly shut the window behind him, before making his way to the middle of the hotel room, making virtually no sound. He studied the interior of the room for a moment, wondering just where the valuables would be kept...

[ToothpasteThy]

The room looked empty. Nothing on, in or even under the cabinet, chairs, floor... Everything appeared undisturbed to the point where one could guess that the room had only just been cleaned and attended to moments before. Even beyond its thin white curtains, the bed's covers were untouched despite the hour being late by most anypony's standards. 

 

And though as silent as the room was while standing still, every movement creaked the old hotel floorboards. If it wasn't for the snoring of a pony in the next room, there would only be the unmasked sound of Clovis' breath and steps disturbing the tranquility inside.

 

After a search about, it could be seen that the entire hotel room was completely empty of anything valuable. This left only the washroom unchecked behind a locked door.

[AlextheAngel]

As Clovis searched about the room, his heart sank at how empty it was. Either this pony didn't carry anything valuable while she was traveling, or she did, and they were all hidden somewhere. The second option was to be expected, and was what made Clovis's job all the more exciting. It would be quite dull if every house he stole from had all their valuables just lying around for the taking. Slowly, he unzipped his hooded jacket, and out popped the head of a female fruit bat. "Go keep watch." He silently commanded. The fruit bat didn't even give a squeak in response, knowing that the pony in the next room over could easily wake at any second. Crawling along the floor, she gently held her ear to the closed bedroom door and listened closely to the snoring inside.

Giving a nod, Clovis reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another lock pick, before approaching the wash room. It was the only room that he had left unchecked, and assumed that there just may be something of value inside. Turning the door handle, he confirmed that it was indeed locked, and began to get to work picking it. It didn't take long at all, and the gentle click that resonated from the lock signaled that it had worked. Holding his breath, he gently pushed the door open...

[ToothpasteThy]

Immediately, Clovis could feel the exchange of the cool outside air and the warm humidity inside. The washroom as well was basically untouched save for a satchel hanging from a towel hook, a tub that was filled with steaming water and the pony hanging upside-down from the curtain rod above it.

 

It was a grey and deep-green batpony wearing a brown leather coat with white fur around the open ends. She stirred and grumbled as cold outside air swept in, causing a few small things to drop from her and into the water below, clinking lightly as they tapped the bottom of the tub. A small round pendant fell loose from her coat too, but it caught around her neck and dangled there. Miraculously she remained asleep.

[AlextheAngel]

Once clovis opened the door, the first thing he immediately noticed was the deep green and grey batpony hanging upside-down from a curtain rod above the tub filled with steaming water. He froze in his tracks as she began to stir in response to the relatively cooler air drafting in from the open door, a few items falling from her coat. Holding his breath, Clovis slowly and carefully stepped inside and closed the door behind him, before his eyes caught the pendant dangling from around the mare's neck. Immediately, his thief instincts kicked in. From the looks of it, the thing had to be quite valuable... possibly a couple hundred bits at least. He silently stepped forward closer to the Arieon, keeping a keen eye out just in case she began to stir at all. Whatever had dropped into the bathtub below may be worth a pretty penny as well... but right now, that shiney pendant had the thief's full, undivided attention. biting his lip, he reached out and gently grabbed the chain, intent on slipping it from around her neck. However, if the batpony were to open her eyes now, she would immediately see his hooded and covered face.

[ToothpasteThy]

Arrow had an unhappy day; from the moment the sun decided not to ever peek past the clouds through the entire chilly day. She had only just arrived by train from Apple Loosa, and she was never a fan of the cold, especially not after being in a nice warm climate. Her goal was to meet up with somepony in the richer estates of the city, but by an unanticipated turn of events Arrow had to stay in a hotel for the night and leave Manehattan in the morning. 

 

Having had no sleep for a day-and-a-half, she entered her room eager to rest on a real bed for the first time in about a week; the price she paid got her excited about a luxurious nap. Though as if trying to make her more bitter than she already was, the sheets felt damp and ice-cold. She grumbled unkind things under her breath about the maid and went to turn on the heater, but ended up kicking it angrily when it didn't work.

 

She was steamed, and that thought ironically gave her the idea to make the washroom a nice temperature for sleeping. She half expected the water to freeze before it even came out of the nozzle, but thankfully it ran hot. 

 

After having filled the tub and picking at her teeth for a while in the mirror, she finally hung upside down for sleep, which came quickly. But seemingly moments after catching shut-eye, her eyes opened again to see a strange being in her hotel room-- the door she locked previously had been opened. In a daze she just stared right into the stranger's eyes, not quite registering what was going on.

[AlextheAngel]

Clovis worked as gently and silently as he could, keeping an observant eye on the bat pony the entire time. Working with people sleeping in the same room was a dangerous deal, and depending on how skilled the thief was, it was basically a roll of the dice on how successful he or she was. But it didn't just depend on the thief's skill, either. There was also the environment around them, the capability to sift through belongings without making any noise, and how light or heavy of a sleeper the victim was. Clovis did have experience with this, however he was fairly used to just stealing from a house while the owner was sleeping in another room. And the fact that this was currently an Areion that he was stealing from only made things all the more difficult, given their enhanced sight and hearing.

Clovis bit his lip as he continued to slowly slip the pendant from around the mare's neck when suddenly, her eyes opened without any warning, staring directly at her. The human froze, his heart pounding so loud that he wouldn't be surprised if she could hear it. He wracked through his mind to come up with an excuse, or something to do... however, the only thing he could bring himself to say is: "I think you're dreaming."

[ToothpasteThy]

Arrow had half the mind to just take Clovis' advice, but the other half protested; and for a split moment the boy could see that she was genuinely confused, eyes questioning skeptically and mouth silently spelling out a 'whaaat?'. All right up until she brought a hoof to her teeth and gave it a bite to confirm that she was not dreaming.

 

She looked again into Clovis' eyes, this time with surprise, fear, and upon realizing that the invader's filthy paws were around her pendant, defensive ferocity. Her lips curled into a fanged snarl, hoping to the moon that she would make the boy cower off without without laying a finger on her things. However, she still hung upside-down incapable of taking proper action to do much of anything as quickly as might be needed, and her pendant still hung loose with nothing keeping it from being nabbed.

[AlextheAngel]

When Clovis noticed the confused look on the Arieon's face, he was completely sure that she believed that she was still dreaming. After all, No one in Equestria had even seen him before in the seven years he had lived there, so he'd imagine that he looked like a creature straight out of a dream. However, his heart sank when the bat pony decided to bite her hoof to confirm that she was indeed awake. He waited nervously as she gave him a surprised look, that morphed into fear and eventually the ferocity of a wild animal who had been cornered by a natural predator.

Clovis flinched a little when her lip curled up into a vicious snarl, giving him a clear view of deadly-looking fangs. However, as soon as the severity of his situation was fully registered in his mind, he immediately acted. In one quick motion, he slipped the pendant off of her neck and bolted out the washroom door, quickly slamming it shut behind him. "Piper! Distraction!" He called to the bat who was still keeping watch by the door. In response, she squeaked and fluttered by the washroom door, ready to attack. Meanwhile, Clovis had left the hotel room and was now making his way towards the stairs. Even if he made it outside, he still wouldn't be in the clear, given how Arieons naturally see quite well in the dark.

[ToothpasteThy]

A loud crash could be heard from within the washroom with the sound of spilling water, followed by the door being flung open to slam into a wall. The areion mare was soaked when she stormed out after the thief with a feral hiss.

 

Unfortunately for Clovis, Piper's initial distraction failed to fully deter Arrow-- she had her complete focus on chasing the strange being to recover her pendant. She wasn't going to let any sort of nuisance stop her, though the small bat scratching at her face made it difficult to keep a visual of the boy.

 

Taking a few galloping strides away from the bat, Arrow planted herself into a strong stance; finally with a good view of Clovis in the dark. Raising a hoof she pulled back her coat's soaked sleeve, and with a ka-chink a small crossbow strapped onto her unfolded. She pulled it back to prepare a shot and took aim in a split second to fire.

 

The dart whizzed just past the thief's arm as Piper managed to sink her fangs into Arrow's hoof to throw the bullet off course, invoking a string of what sounded like batpony curses from the enraged mare.

[AlextheAngel]

Clovis flinched as the dart managed to fly right past his arm, and his heart began pounding with worry. She had a crossbow? Well... this just got a bit more interesting... Clovis picked up the pace and began sprinting as fast as he could down the dark hallway, hoping to make his way to the front entrance before the batpony caught up with him. As he made it to the end of the hall, he noticed a light switch on the left wall, and immediately remembered something his friends from the organization told him... Arieons could see clearly in the dark, but their vision was much more sensitive in light.

Without a second thought or hesitation, he dove for the light switch and turned it on, hoping to temporarily blind the mare enough to allow him time to disappear... and disappearing was something he was good at. As he turned around the corner, he noticed a janitor's closet off to his right, and immediately dove inside, quietly shutting the door behind him. The room was cramped with cleaning supplies, and had the faint scent of chemicals... but hopefully he would be able to hold off until he found another spot he could hide in..

[ToothpasteThy]

Clovis' pursuer screeched with dismay and went silent, leaving only the sound of ponies stirring out of bed from the fracas. Hiding was about to get more difficult with curious ponies beginning to poke their groggy heads out into the hallways.

 

The boy's bat soon was scratching at the closet door to try to get back to him, but the signs of the areion still following them weren't there. Even so, it was high time for departure.

[AlextheAngel]

Clovis gritted his teeth in frustration as he began to hear the groggy ponies stir about, obviously woken up by the noises out in the hallway. He flinched a little when he heard Piper scratching at the door, before quickly opening it up and scooping the fruit bat into his arms, before darting down the stairs. He's have to take the back door, as using the front would only leave him open to being seen. It was bad enough the he had already been seen once by the bat pony... which would put a serious stain on his reputation for "not existing". On the bright side, he did manage to get a nice-looking pendant that Faded Chalice would take an interest in, and hopefully fetch a fair price.

Making sure his face mask was secure around his head, he darted through the lobby, silently thanking his friends at the Guild for disabling the cameras. Piper crawled into his jacket once again, and Clovis sneaked out the back door. He sighed with relief that he was finally out of there, but there was no time to celebrate yet... especially if the mare decided to continue following him.

[ToothpasteThy]

As it seemed, the coast was clear. Nopony followed Clovis out back and the alleyways were dark and empty, save for the garbage bags and canisters propped against the buildingsides. The network of back roads and crannies made it easy to put distance between him and the hotel speedily, though it was easy for one to lose track of north, especially when most of the sky was blotted out by the buildings or clouds. 

 

It was also relatively quiet. The city was asleep for the most part; the night-life ponies all were stowed away in their pubs and getaway spots, and the fracas back at the hotel was too far removed to be heard save for a couple sirens.

 

Though just when it seemed like things were clear, the clippity-clop of galloping hooves echoed through the concrete maze. They got louder and quieter, sometimes stopping for a few moments just to pick right back up. Soon though, the hoofstep sounds grew steadily louder-- somepony was approaching Clovis.

[AlextheAngel]

Clovis sped down the alleyways as fast as he could, not letting up until the hotel seemed far enough behind him that all he could hear were the distant sounds of sirens. He slowed to a walk to catch his breath, giving his heart time to slow down its rapid pounding. This night would definitely put a stain on his record for never being caught, and he couldn't help but grimace with distaste as the thought crossed his mind. Now he had to be even more careful than before whenever he went out. He had a facemask, sure, but a mask could only work so well against the fact that his form stuck out like a proverbial sore thumb in this world.

Piper stirred about in his jacket against his chest, before poking her head out and sniffing about, giving the human's neck a soft lick. He gently reached up and rubbed the fruit bat beneath her chin and continued walking. "We barely got out of there, girl. Let's hope this amulet was worth all that trouble..." He said softly. Suddenly, Piper's ears perked up and she gave out a warning squeak, and it was then that Clovis heard the distant clippity-clop of hooves echoing down the nearly desolate alleyway, getting gradually closer. Gritting his teeth, Clovis once again began sprinting as fast as he could, while Piper crawled out of his jacket and clung to his shoulder, ready to provide another distraction if need be.