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Description
The market in Canterlot's square was teeming with life. Ponies of all kinds hurried around to different stalls, all of which sold something different than the last. The sun was high and shining in the sky, and there were barely any clouds to be seen. A few guards were patrolling around, although everything seemed relatively peaceful.

But suddenly, that peace was broken by a loud crash that came from a nearby building. Soon after, an orange pegasus with a raggedy red mane came flying out the building's door. She tossed a small, jingling bag into her saddlebag.

The owner of the shop soon appeared at the door. "Guards!" he yelled. "Stop her! I've been robbed!" Two nearby guards spotted the fleeing thief, and gave chase.

"Stop, thief!" called one of the guards as he drew a bow and arrow. The mare cast a glance over her shoulder as she flew over the heads of the market’s ponies.

"No thanks," she called back. "That's not really my style!" She began to fly a little faster. The guard pulled the bowstring back with his magic, then let the arrow fly. The arrow hit the mare’s left wing, and she fell to the ground. The crowd around her backed away. She glanced back at the approaching guards as she quickly examined her wound. The guards were still a few yards away and the wound wasn't fatal, so she began to get back up.

She slowly began to gallop through the crowd, as her wound hindered her flight. She shoved ponies out of her way and ducked into a series of alleyways. More arrows whizzed past her head. She kept going until she could no longer hear the hoofsteps and arrows of the guards. She looked around the empty alleyway she entered, making sure that no pony was lurking in the shadows. When she was satisfied with her escape, she chuckled to herself. "Suckers," she said.

She adjusted the ragged gray scarf on her neck, and checked her saddlebags. Her wounded wing stung as she slid the bags off of her back, but she shrugged the pain off. She pulled out the jingling bag, counted the money inside, and grinned with satisfaction. "Swift Wing, you've done it again," she proudly said to herself. She put all of her items away, and turned to leave. Suddenly, her wounded wing regained its pain. She winced and examined it again.

Swift Wing, now able to closely examine her wound, saw that it was much worse than she originally thought. She sighed, and pulled a few bandages out of her saddlebag. She winced as she dressed the wound. "Guess I won't be flying for a while. Dang," she mumbled. Once she finished dressing her wing, she packed her things and set off down the alleyway, twisting through Canterlot's abandoned streets.

She walked until she reached a small, rundown building. The windows were cracked and boarded up. Swift Wing walked in, and glanced around. The sun was setting by then, so she lit a few lanterns. She flopped down on a ragged sofa. She stretched, and closed her eyes. It was a long day, and after the prizes she obtained, she felt like she earned a rest. She yawned as she began to drift off to sleep.

But her peace was interrupted by a crashing noise coming from another room. Swift Wing snapped her eyes open, suddenly alert. She jumped off of the couch, and silently made her way in the direction of the noise. She entered the kitchen, her hooves as quiet as a cat. She flicked on a lantern. Behind a counter was a lime-green unicorn stallion with a dark-green mane. A frying pan was on the floor in front of him. Swift Wing sighed and relaxed. "You're not much for stealth, are you, Spare Change?" she said to the stallion.

His expression became slightly embarrassed. "It's not my fault I can't see as well in the dark as you,” he said.

Swift Wing jokingly shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose not," she said. "But, seriously? Were there no other thief bases that you could crash at? Did you have to come to my place?" Spare shook his head. "I didn't come here to crash," he said.

"Well, I did," said Swift. "So can you hurry up and tell me what you want so I can get some sleep?" Spare used his magic to pull a scroll out of his saddlebag. He unrolled it and passed it to Swift. She placed it on a counter and examined it. "What's this?" she asked.

"It's the plans for a delivery to the castle tomorrow."

Swift further examined the writing on the scroll. "This says Princess Celestia is going to be supervising the whole shipment,” she said. “Must be important." She turned to her acquaintance. "It doesn't say what's being shipped," she said. "Did you find out what it was?"

Spare shook his head. "I tried to dig something up, but whatever's going on is being kept under lock and key. That scroll was all I could find."

Swift put her hoof on her chin. "Well whatever it is must be worth a fortune," she said. A grin appeared on her face as an idea formed in her head. "And I'll be there to take it."

Spare gave a look. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Swift? I mean, the princess herself is running the gig. It'll be really dangerous if you just trot in, especially with that." He pointed at her wounded wing.

Swift rolled her eyes. "I looted the royal armory once," she said boastfully. "I can handle this."

Spare's expression didn't change. Swift gave him a look of her own and eventually he gave in. "All right," he said with a sigh. "Just be careful." Swift nodded. The two soon said their goodbyes. Spare Change left the building and Swift Wing returned to her couch. A plan formed in her head before she drifted off to sleep.

------------

The next afternoon, Swift Wing arrived at a large warehouse that connected to Canterlot castle. She had managed to flutter up to a rooftop that overlooked the commotion that was occurring below. Royal guards were patrolling the entire area. Some were picking up and moving crates. Swift Wing looked around to analyze the area. She paused when her golden eyes spotted Princess Celestia. The alicorn walked through the area, supervising the operation.

A guard passed by her, and he dropped the crate he was carrying. Celestia turned her head. The guard stared nervously. Celestia smiled and picked up the box with her magic. She passed it to the guard. Her expression was reassuring, but serious. "Careful," she said. "This is extremely valuable cargo. There isn't much room for error when handling it. Understand?" The guard nodded quickly.

"Yes, your highness! It won't happen again!" he blubbered. Celestia nodded and motioned for him to leave. "Let's hope not," she said. "Now, continue on."

The guard nodded and hurried away. Celestia turned to continue on to wherever she was heading. Swift Wing made a sound of disgust. "I swear, she treats them like foals," she said to herself. "And they act like foals for her, too! It's like they're built to follow orders." She shook her head. "Whatever. I'd better sneak around and see what the princess is here for." She turned to trot along nearby rooftops, when something caught the corner of her eye: a flash of white.

Swift Wing spun around to see what it was, but there was nothing there. The rooftops were empty. Whatever it was had already disappeared. Swift Wing stared for a moment, then shook her head and turned back to her goal. She set off across the rooftops, nimble as a cat, to find her prize.

She eventually found a spot near the warehouse entrance, where the princess was instructing a large, armored guard about a small box at their hooves. Swift Wing tuned her ears to listen. "It is of utmost importance that absolutely no harm comes to this box or its contents," said Celestia. The guard saluted and levitated the box with his magic. "Yes ma'am!" he said. Celestia nodded and shooed him away. She watched him enter the warehouse, and then wandered elsewhere.

Swift Wing noticed Celestia's horn glow before she left. She looked at the sky, which was turning darker. The sun was beginning to set. Swift Wing smiled. The shadows could give her cover out in the open. She sat on the rooftop for a few more minutes, waiting for the sun to go over the horizon. Once night had officially fallen, Swift Wing stood up and surveyed the scene.

She used up all of her energy getting up on the roofs, and now her wounded wing couldn't carry her down. She looked around, and found an item of interest: a large cart of hay. She judged the distance between herself and the cart, and decided that the fall wouldn't harm her by much. Swift Wing moved to the edge of the roof, and looked down. She prepared herself to jump, but stopped when she saw something in the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see what it was, but only got a glimpse of it as it disappeared after a split second.

Swift Wing shook her head. What she thought she saw was a pony in a white cloak. She didn't believe it, though. It went by too fast to be a pony. It must've just been a bird. Swift Wing returned to her mission. She gazed down at the hay cart. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She spread her still-aching wings out. The wind blew through her mane as she hoped that her calculations were correct. If they weren't...

Swift Wing shook the thought from her head. She wasn't going to back out now. She took another breath, and she leapt. She heard an eagle cry in the distance as she began to fall. The wind crashed through her mane for what seemed like hours. After a few moments, she felt herself crash into the pile of hay. The wind was knocked straight out of her. After checking herself over, however, she saw that she was fine aside from a couple bruises. She caught her breath and smiled. She peeked out from beneath the hay, and looked for guards.

Two passed by but soon exited her line of sight. Swift Wing took her chance and emerged from the hay. She took a moment to adjust her scarf before sprinting towards the warehouse entrance. She saw a pile of crates that led up to an open window. She jumped up and climbed to the top. A scaffolding lined the wall next to the window, and Swift Wing used it to move around without detection. She soon entered a room and spotted the box that Celestia was so interested in. There were two guards standing by it. Swift Wing quickly thought of a way around them.

Something broke her thought process, though. On the other side of the room, another pony stood on the scaffolding above the guards. She was a light blue earth pony in a white cloak. Swift Wing gasped as she realized that this mare was the flash of white she saw earlier. The mysterious mare had a red sash around her waist and silver horseshoes with a bizarre engraving on them, though Swift Wing couldn't make out the pattern. She stared at the hooded figure, wondering what she was doing. "She better not be trying to steal my prize," she whispered to herself.

Suddenly, the other mare silently reared up. In a split second, a small blade sprang from each of her horseshoes. Swift Wing watched in awe as the mare leapt off of the scaffolding. Her cloak flowed behind her. The peak of her hood, the flowing cloth behind her reminded Swift Wing of an eagle diving. The blades on her hooves were like outstretched talons. Within seconds, she was on top of the guards, her blades embedded in their necks.

Swift Wing watched her pull her bloody blades out of the corpses. She flicked her hooves back and the blades retracted, becoming hidden once more. She looked around, presumably looking for more guards. When she saw that there weren't any, she turned towards Celestia's box. Swift Wing gasped. "Oh no you don't," she mumbled. She jumped off of the scaffolding and painfully but quickly fluttered towards the hooded mare.

The mare was about to open the box when Swift Wing came crashing down on her. The two rolled away from the box. They stood up and looked each other over. Swift Wing looked at the pattern on the other mare's horseshoes. It looked like a stylized tear drop. Swift Wing's golden eyes met the other mare’s lime green eyes. "Are you insane?" she said to Swift Wing, who shrugged.

"Lots of ponies have told me I am," she said.

The other mare rolled her eyes. "I don't have time to deal with ponies like you," she said. "Listen, who have no idea what you're getting into. Just walk away now, and we'll forget this ever happened."

"Yeah right! And let you take my prize? No way!"

"It's not yours to take! You don't know what you're... Oh never mind. Just move!”

Suddenly, the mare shoved past Swift Wing, who fell to the floor. "Hey!" she yelled as she got back up and galloped after her opponent. The other mare grabbed the box, but Swift Wing tackled her, causing the box to fall to the ground. The two mares brawled. The blue mare tried to release her hidden blades, but Swift Wing was positioned in a way that made it impossible. Eventually, the other mare kicked her off.

The two heard the sound of running hoofsteps, and they were getting louder. The other mare said something under her breath and dashed towards the box. Swift Wing did the same. The two collided in the middle and the box went flying. By then, the guards had begun to crash through the door. The blue mare stood to face them, but Swift Wing had other plans. She dashed at the falling box, which soon hit the floor and splintered. A small, glowing, metal ball with strange patterns on it flew out. Swift Wing reacted without thinking and grabbed the orb.

Nothing could prepare her for what came next.

The light from the orb instantly filled her vision, the intensity almost blinding. Flashing images filled her head as everything else was blocked out. She saw both familiar and unfamiliar sights.

She saw Manehatten's skyline. She saw bizarre creatures that looked like a cross between a sloth and a horse. She saw burning clouds shaped like mushrooms, bizarre ships fighting battles in space, random equations that made no sense to her. As the visions raced through her skull, she felt a tingling in her brain, just behind her eyes. She clutched her head and screamed. "Make it stop!" she yelled. Then, as if by command, the light faded away, along with the visions. All she could hear was the ringing in her ears.

Swift Wing felt dizzy and her vision blurred. She managed to look around to see that reality had returned. Her vision began began to blacken as she fell to her knees. She saw the hooded mare combating the guards, but she was losing the fight. Swift Wing fell limp on the ground. She saw the hooded mare get knocked unconscious before everything went black. The only thing remaining was the ringing in her ears.

Description
The market in Canterlot's square was teeming with life. Ponies of all kinds hurried around to different stalls, all of which sold something different than the last. The sun was high and shining in the sky, and there were barely any clouds to be seen. A few guards were patrolling around, although everything seemed relatively peaceful.

But suddenly, that peace was broken by a loud crash that came from a nearby building. Soon after, an orange pegasus with a raggedy red mane came flying out the building's door. She tossed a small, jingling bag into her saddlebag.

The owner of the shop soon appeared at the door. "Guards!" he yelled. "Stop her! I've been robbed!" Two nearby guards spotted the fleeing thief, and gave chase.

"Stop, thief!" called one of the guards as he drew a bow and arrow. The mare cast a glance over her shoulder as she flew over the heads of the market’s ponies.

"No thanks," she called back. "That's not really my style!" She began to fly a little faster. The guard pulled the bowstring back with his magic, then let the arrow fly. The arrow hit the mare’s left wing, and she fell to the ground. The crowd around her backed away. She glanced back at the approaching guards as she quickly examined her wound. The guards were still a few yards away and the wound wasn't fatal, so she began to get back up.

She slowly began to gallop through the crowd, as her wound hindered her flight. She shoved ponies out of her way and ducked into a series of alleyways. More arrows whizzed past her head. She kept going until she could no longer hear the hoofsteps and arrows of the guards. She looked around the empty alleyway she entered, making sure that no pony was lurking in the shadows. When she was satisfied with her escape, she chuckled to herself. "Suckers," she said.

She adjusted the ragged gray scarf on her neck, and checked her saddlebags. Her wounded wing stung as she slid the bags off of her back, but she shrugged the pain off. She pulled out the jingling bag, counted the money inside, and grinned with satisfaction. "Swift Wing, you've done it again," she proudly said to herself. She put all of her items away, and turned to leave. Suddenly, her wounded wing regained its pain. She winced and examined it again.

Swift Wing, now able to closely examine her wound, saw that it was much worse than she originally thought. She sighed, and pulled a few bandages out of her saddlebag. She winced as she dressed the wound. "Guess I won't be flying for a while. Dang," she mumbled. Once she finished dressing her wing, she packed her things and set off down the alleyway, twisting through Canterlot's abandoned streets.

She walked until she reached a small, rundown building. The windows were cracked and boarded up. Swift Wing walked in, and glanced around. The sun was setting by then, so she lit a few lanterns. She flopped down on a ragged sofa. She stretched, and closed her eyes. It was a long day, and after the prizes she obtained, she felt like she earned a rest. She yawned as she began to drift off to sleep.

But her peace was interrupted by a crashing noise coming from another room. Swift Wing snapped her eyes open, suddenly alert. She jumped off of the couch, and silently made her way in the direction of the noise. She entered the kitchen, her hooves as quiet as a cat. She flicked on a lantern. Behind a counter was a lime-green unicorn stallion with a dark-green mane. A frying pan was on the floor in front of him. Swift Wing sighed and relaxed. "You're not much for stealth, are you, Spare Change?" she said to the stallion.

His expression became slightly embarrassed. "It's not my fault I can't see as well in the dark as you,” he said.

Swift Wing jokingly shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose not," she said. "But, seriously? Were there no other thief bases that you could crash at? Did you have to come to my place?" Spare shook his head. "I didn't come here to crash," he said.

"Well, I did," said Swift. "So can you hurry up and tell me what you want so I can get some sleep?" Spare used his magic to pull a scroll out of his saddlebag. He unrolled it and passed it to Swift. She placed it on a counter and examined it. "What's this?" she asked.

"It's the plans for a delivery to the castle tomorrow."

Swift further examined the writing on the scroll. "This says Princess Celestia is going to be supervising the whole shipment,” she said. “Must be important." She turned to her acquaintance. "It doesn't say what's being shipped," she said. "Did you find out what it was?"

Spare shook his head. "I tried to dig something up, but whatever's going on is being kept under lock and key. That scroll was all I could find."

Swift put her hoof on her chin. "Well whatever it is must be worth a fortune," she said. A grin appeared on her face as an idea formed in her head. "And I'll be there to take it."

Spare gave a look. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Swift? I mean, the princess herself is running the gig. It'll be really dangerous if you just trot in, especially with that." He pointed at her wounded wing.

Swift rolled her eyes. "I looted the royal armory once," she said boastfully. "I can handle this."

Spare's expression didn't change. Swift gave him a look of her own and eventually he gave in. "All right," he said with a sigh. "Just be careful." Swift nodded. The two soon said their goodbyes. Spare Change left the building and Swift Wing returned to her couch. A plan formed in her head before she drifted off to sleep.

------------

The next afternoon, Swift Wing arrived at a large warehouse that connected to Canterlot castle. She had managed to flutter up to a rooftop that overlooked the commotion that was occurring below. Royal guards were patrolling the entire area. Some were picking up and moving crates. Swift Wing looked around to analyze the area. She paused when her golden eyes spotted Princess Celestia. The alicorn walked through the area, supervising the operation.

A guard passed by her, and he dropped the crate he was carrying. Celestia turned her head. The guard stared nervously. Celestia smiled and picked up the box with her magic. She passed it to the guard. Her expression was reassuring, but serious. "Careful," she said. "This is extremely valuable cargo. There isn't much room for error when handling it. Understand?" The guard nodded quickly.

"Yes, your highness! It won't happen again!" he blubbered. Celestia nodded and motioned for him to leave. "Let's hope not," she said. "Now, continue on."

The guard nodded and hurried away. Celestia turned to continue on to wherever she was heading. Swift Wing made a sound of disgust. "I swear, she treats them like foals," she said to herself. "And they act like foals for her, too! It's like they're built to follow orders." She shook her head. "Whatever. I'd better sneak around and see what the princess is here for." She turned to trot along nearby rooftops, when something caught the corner of her eye: a flash of white.

Swift Wing spun around to see what it was, but there was nothing there. The rooftops were empty. Whatever it was had already disappeared. Swift Wing stared for a moment, then shook her head and turned back to her goal. She set off across the rooftops, nimble as a cat, to find her prize.

She eventually found a spot near the warehouse entrance, where the princess was instructing a large, armored guard about a small box at their hooves. Swift Wing tuned her ears to listen. "It is of utmost importance that absolutely no harm comes to this box or its contents," said Celestia. The guard saluted and levitated the box with his magic. "Yes ma'am!" he said. Celestia nodded and shooed him away. She watched him enter the warehouse, and then wandered elsewhere.

Swift Wing noticed Celestia's horn glow before she left. She looked at the sky, which was turning darker. The sun was beginning to set. Swift Wing smiled. The shadows could give her cover out in the open. She sat on the rooftop for a few more minutes, waiting for the sun to go over the horizon. Once night had officially fallen, Swift Wing stood up and surveyed the scene.

She used up all of her energy getting up on the roofs, and now her wounded wing couldn't carry her down. She looked around, and found an item of interest: a large cart of hay. She judged the distance between herself and the cart, and decided that the fall wouldn't harm her by much. Swift Wing moved to the edge of the roof, and looked down. She prepared herself to jump, but stopped when she saw something in the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see what it was, but only got a glimpse of it as it disappeared after a split second.

Swift Wing shook her head. What she thought she saw was a pony in a white cloak. She didn't believe it, though. It went by too fast to be a pony. It must've just been a bird. Swift Wing returned to her mission. She gazed down at the hay cart. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She spread her still-aching wings out. The wind blew through her mane as she hoped that her calculations were correct. If they weren't...

Swift Wing shook the thought from her head. She wasn't going to back out now. She took another breath, and she leapt. She heard an eagle cry in the distance as she began to fall. The wind crashed through her mane for what seemed like hours. After a few moments, she felt herself crash into the pile of hay. The wind was knocked straight out of her. After checking herself over, however, she saw that she was fine aside from a couple bruises. She caught her breath and smiled. She peeked out from beneath the hay, and looked for guards.

Two passed by but soon exited her line of sight. Swift Wing took her chance and emerged from the hay. She took a moment to adjust her scarf before sprinting towards the warehouse entrance. She saw a pile of crates that led up to an open window. She jumped up and climbed to the top. A scaffolding lined the wall next to the window, and Swift Wing used it to move around without detection. She soon entered a room and spotted the box that Celestia was so interested in. There were two guards standing by it. Swift Wing quickly thought of a way around them.

Something broke her thought process, though. On the other side of the room, another pony stood on the scaffolding above the guards. She was a light blue earth pony in a white cloak. Swift Wing gasped as she realized that this mare was the flash of white she saw earlier. The mysterious mare had a red sash around her waist and silver horseshoes with a bizarre engraving on them, though Swift Wing couldn't make out the pattern. She stared at the hooded figure, wondering what she was doing. "She better not be trying to steal my prize," she whispered to herself.

Suddenly, the other mare silently reared up. In a split second, a small blade sprang from each of her horseshoes. Swift Wing watched in awe as the mare leapt off of the scaffolding. Her cloak flowed behind her. The peak of her hood, the flowing cloth behind her reminded Swift Wing of an eagle diving. The blades on her hooves were like outstretched talons. Within seconds, she was on top of the guards, her blades embedded in their necks.

Swift Wing watched her pull her bloody blades out of the corpses. She flicked her hooves back and the blades retracted, becoming hidden once more. She looked around, presumably looking for more guards. When she saw that there weren't any, she turned towards Celestia's box. Swift Wing gasped. "Oh no you don't," she mumbled. She jumped off of the scaffolding and painfully but quickly fluttered towards the hooded mare.

The mare was about to open the box when Swift Wing came crashing down on her. The two rolled away from the box. They stood up and looked each other over. Swift Wing looked at the pattern on the other mare's horseshoes. It looked like a stylized tear drop. Swift Wing's golden eyes met the other mare’s lime green eyes. "Are you insane?" she said to Swift Wing, who shrugged.

"Lots of ponies have told me I am," she said.

The other mare rolled her eyes. "I don't have time to deal with ponies like you," she said. "Listen, who have no idea what you're getting into. Just walk away now, and we'll forget this ever happened."

"Yeah right! And let you take my prize? No way!"

"It's not yours to take! You don't know what you're... Oh never mind. Just move!”

Suddenly, the mare shoved past Swift Wing, who fell to the floor. "Hey!" she yelled as she got back up and galloped after her opponent. The other mare grabbed the box, but Swift Wing tackled her, causing the box to fall to the ground. The two mares brawled. The blue mare tried to release her hidden blades, but Swift Wing was positioned in a way that made it impossible. Eventually, the other mare kicked her off.

The two heard the sound of running hoofsteps, and they were getting louder. The other mare said something under her breath and dashed towards the box. Swift Wing did the same. The two collided in the middle and the box went flying. By then, the guards had begun to crash through the door. The blue mare stood to face them, but Swift Wing had other plans. She dashed at the falling box, which soon hit the floor and splintered. A small, glowing, metal ball with strange patterns on it flew out. Swift Wing reacted without thinking and grabbed the orb.

Nothing could prepare her for what came next.

The light from the orb instantly filled her vision, the intensity almost blinding. Flashing images filled her head as everything else was blocked out. She saw both familiar and unfamiliar sights.

She saw Manehatten's skyline. She saw bizarre creatures that looked like a cross between a sloth and a horse. She saw burning clouds shaped like mushrooms, bizarre ships fighting battles in space, random equations that made no sense to her. As the visions raced through her skull, she felt a tingling in her brain, just behind her eyes. She clutched her head and screamed. "Make it stop!" she yelled. Then, as if by command, the light faded away, along with the visions. All she could hear was the ringing in her ears.

Swift Wing felt dizzy and her vision blurred. She managed to look around to see that reality had returned. Her vision began began to blacken as she fell to her knees. She saw the hooded mare combating the guards, but she was losing the fight. Swift Wing fell limp on the ground. She saw the hooded mare get knocked unconscious before everything went black. The only thing remaining was the ringing in her ears.