Hello everypony. Guess what, it's September 25th again, and do you all remember what that means? It's my Birthday again :D

If you want, you can write a Happy Birthday message on your reviews. I'd like it if you did.

To the guest who keeps telling me to do something similar to the fan-art "Life for a life", I get it! I already told you this, I am going to do something similar in the future. So can you please stop sending me the same review over and over again? Thanks.

Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 49: Crime of the Century

It's been a full week since myself, Twilight, and the others returned to Equestria and everything's been going great so far.

The day after we got back, we all returned to our usual day-to-day lives. Applejack went back to working on the farm, Rarity went back to her boutique, Rainbow Dash went back to weather patrol, etc.

None of us spoke about where we truly went. Whenever someone asked, we'd just say we were on a business trip for the Princess. If anyone knew the truth, who knows what might happen.

During the week, Shining Armor came back to the library and welcomed us home. He was more than happy to see us back, and Twilight was even more than happy to see him again.

Unfortunately, he couldn't stay long. He had to go back to Canterlot to resume his duties as Captain. So with heavy-hearts, we said our goodbyes and Shining Armor took the train back up to the great city.

After one or two days, everything went back to normal. Ponyville was as peaceful as ever, and no disasters of any kind have happened. At this point, it seems like nothing could go wrong.

Canterlot Castle

With Luna's night sky shrouding over the lands, everyone in Canterlot was fast asleep in their beds. Everyone except the Royal Guards patrolling the castle grounds.

Most of them were Unicorns and they were all using luminous magic like torches.

Blaze Horn and Sunray, however, were patrolling inside the castle. They soon started a conversation to relieve the boredom. "So is it true that Flash Beam has a thing for Illume?" Blaze asked with a large smirk.

Sunray chuckled. "Haha, yep. You should see them when they're alone…at least, when they think they're alone. Haha." He snickered.

Blaze let out a small laugh. "haha, well I know something that can top that. Did you know the Captain has a little sweet-heart of his own?" he asked.

Sunray gave him a surprised look. "No way! The Captain?"

Blaze nodded. "Yeah, he's been seeing her for a few years now. And from what he's told me, their relationship is growing pretty big. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them asked the big question soon." He said.

Sunray was almost speechless over this news. "Whow, seriously? Who is it?" he asked.

"Oh no, I shouldn't say." Blaze said before he explained. "You see, to avoid unwanted attention, Shiny doesn't tell anyone who he's dating. His girlfriend understands this, so she doesn't say anything either. It's one of those 'secret relationship' things, very hush-hush stuff."

"Oh c'mooon" Sunray whined. "I won't tell anyone, I know how to keep a secret. Trust me, I've got plenty of my own." He stated.

Blaze raised his eye-brow and a small smirk grew on his face. "Hmm…ok." He said before he leaned his head closer to Sunray. "Now listen…Captain Shining Armor is currently dating Pri-…" he then stopped in his sentence.

Sunray waited for him to finish. "Pri?...Who's Pri?" he asked in confusion.

Blaze stopped talking because he spotted something.

There was a hooded figure staring at them from the end of the hallway. "Who's that?" he asked in a whisper.

Sunray then looked in the same direction as Blaze and saw the hooded figure. "No idea…but what's with the hood?" he asked.

"Doesn't want anyone to see his face no doubt." Blaze said before he turned off his luminous magic like a switch. "Which means he's probably up to no-good." he finished.

"Hay you!" Sunray called.

At that moment, the hooded figure turned around and sprang of around the corner.

Sunray's eyes widened. "He's making a runner! We need to go after him." He said to Blaze.

Blaze then gave him a friendly smirk. "I like that sense of courage, solider. Let's do it." he said bravely.

With that, they both rushed after the mysterious pony to see where he was going.

-A few minutes later-

Thinking he had slipped past the two guards, the hooded figure started sneaking his way through the castle; unaware that Blaze and Sunray were following a short distance behind him.

Eventually, the hooded figure stopped in front of the large double-doors that led to the vault room.

The hooded figure then looked left and right to see if anyone was watching him. Once he knew it was safe, he used his magic to pull a lock-pick out of his cloak before he stuck it into the door's keyhole and juggled it around.

After a few seconds, the door made a 'click' sound; telling the hooded figure that he succeeded in unlocking the doors.

Once that was done, he opened the doors with his magic before he slid into the room and closed the doors behind him.

But not without leaving the lock-pick in the keyhole by accident.

Blaze and Sunray saw what he did from around a corner. "He went inside Canterlot Tower, we have to go after him." Blaze said seriously.

Sunray gave him a confused look. "Shouldn't we alert the Captain first?" he asked.

Blaze turned his head to face him. "No need, it's only one guy. Besides, that'll take too long, we need to stop him now before he reaches the vault." He stated.

"The vault? As in, the same vault that holds the-" Sunray then realised what was a stake. "Oh no."

"Exactly, which is why we need to get in there right away. There's no time to inform Shiny, not if we want to stop him in time." Blaze said.

Sunray knew he was right, so he nodded in agreement. "Ok, let's go." he said.

With that, they both rushed around the corner and quietly made their way towards the vault room doors.

Meanwhile, the hooded figure was walking across the room as he looked at pictures on the stained-glass windows.

He saw Celestia and Luna surrounding Discord, Celestia and Luna surrounding a stoned Discord, the main 6 unleashing their magic upon Nightmare Moon, the main 6 unleashing their magic upon Discord, and Discord hovering puppet-handles over 3 scared ponies.

But none of this mattered to him, all he cared about was getting what he came for.

The hooded figure kept walking until he stopped right in front of the vault. He looked up to admire its size before he focused his attention on the small hole in the centre of the door.

Then with his horn in position, he stuck it into the hole and closed his eyes. At first, his horn glowed a dim light-blue, but then it got brighter and brighter until it could be seen from outside the windows.

As his horn continued to glow, small bolts of electricity shot violently around the vault's door until it finally worked.

Somehow, his spell unlocked the vault.

After the hooded figure pulled his smoking horn out of the hole, he took a few steps back to watch the large doors open in front of him. Once they were fully open, he saw the Element case inside.

Very carefully, he used his magic to lift the case out of the vault before placing it down in front of him. With his goal only moments away from completion, he wasted no time in opening the case with his magic.

However, it wouldn't open. It was either locked, or something was keeping the lid down.

After a quick analysis, the hooded figure came to the conclusion that Celestia had used a spell to keep the case locked tight; meaning he'd have to do this the hard way.

He glared down at the case before he tried to force the lid open with his magic. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't get it open.

Celestia's spell was really putting up a fight, so he decided to kick it up a notch by focusing all of his power into his magic until the case's lid finally started to open.

The hooded figure grunted as he tried to open the case all the way, but the best he could do was open it enough for him to see Elements of Harmony inside.

He saw them twinkling beautify in the light, they were so close that he could reach in a grab them, but he was afraid of the possibility of his hoof being chopped off by the amount of force pushing down on the lid. However, it was a risk he was willing to take.

Once the case was open wide enough, the hooded figure reached his left-hoof into it and grabbed one of the Elements. As soon as he pulled it out, his horn stopped glowing and the case slammed shut.

The hooded figure panted with exhaustion before he looked down at his prize. It was Pinkie Pie's necklace, the Element of Laugher. It wasn't much of a score to him, but any of the Elements was better than nothing.

If he could, he would try and get the rest of the Elements. But all that effort he used to open the case wore him out, so he decided to stick with what he had and get out of there.

The thief used his magic to slip the necklace under his cloak before he turned around and made his way towards the main doors.

But as he reached half-way down the room, Blaze and Sunray suddenly burst through the doors and blocked his path. "Going somewhere, bub?" Blaze asked while standing in a fighting position.

The thief was silent as he took a step back.

"You know, if you want a pretty necklace, there's a Jewellery store in town. Why don't you go ruin their night?" Sunray said while standing in the same position as Blaze.

The thief remained silent, the only thing they could hear from him was his heavy breathing.

Blaze and Sunray then looked at each other with confusion before they returned their attention to the thief. "As a royal guard of her majesty, Princess Celestia, I'm ordering you to return the artefact you've stolen and surrender yourself." Blaze ordered.

The thief didn't respond with words, but instead with violence. His horn glowed a bright blue before a powerful beam shot out towards the two guards.

Blaze and Sunray quickly dropped to the ground before the beam shot over their heads and struck one of the walls outside the room.

Blaze and Sunray then stood back up before they turned their heads around to see what damage the beam had made. That's when they saw a large soot-covered hole in the opposite wall beyond the doorway.

They then returned their attention to the thief. "Right then." Blaze growled before he and Sunray charged towards him.

As they both charged towards him, the thief stayed exactly where he was without even flinching. At this rate, it looked as though he was going to let them catch him.

But just before Blaze and Sunray could reach him, the thief's horn glowed before he disappeared and reappeared behind them in a bright flash.

Surprised, Blaze and Sunray skidded to a stop before they spun around to see the thief galloping towards the doorway.

Sunray knew they had to act fast, so he used his magic to close the doors before the thief could escape. "Nice one, kid." Blaze complimented.

After the thief skidded to a stop, he spun around to face Blaze and Sunray. "This is your last warning, surrender now and things won't get ugly." Sunray said firmly.

The thief continued to stay silent as his horn glowed, he then disappeared in another bright flash.

Blaze and Sunray looked around for him. "Wh-Where'd he go?" Sunray asked.

"No idea…but I have a funny feeling he's still in the room." Blaze said as he looked around the room with a glare in his eyes.

After hearing what he said, Sunray grew a slightly frightened look on his face. Each step he took was careful and silent.

Blaze kept his guard up at all times. His eyes shifted from one part of the room to another. He stood perfectly still to listen for anything.

Suddenly, the thief leaped out of the shadows and pinned Blaze against the wall; startling Sunray and making him yelp.

The thief and Blaze fought roughly against each other. Blaze would punch his face, and the thief would punch back. At some point, Blaze managed to swing his leg up and kicked the thief in the stomach.

The thief then released him and held his stomach in pain.

Blaze took this opportunity to catch the thief in a head-lock before ramming his head into the wall; making a small mark on it.

Blaze attempted to do it again, but a small bolt of electricity shot out of the thief's horn and stuck the side of Blaze's face; forcing him to release him.

While Blaze was holding his cheek in pain, the thief stood up on his hind-legs and bashed Blaze's head against the wall with his front-hooves; instantly knocking him out.

Sunray watched in fight as Blaze's unconscious body fell to the floor. He didn't know what to be scared of most, having to fight this guy, or having to fight this guy alone.

And seeing the thief turn around to him didn't help.

Sunray took a few steps back before he quickly pointed his horn at the thief. "Stay back! I'll do it, d-don't think I won't!" he threated while trying to act brave.

But the thief didn't show any signs of fear and started walking towards him. "I'm warning you!" Sunray said as his horn glowed slightly.

The thief then stopped where he was before his eyes flashed red in the shadow under his hood.

"What the?...wh-who are you?" Sunray asked in a stutter.

The thief didn't respond, instead he pointed his horn at Sunray and it glowed violently.

Before Sunray could even react, a dark bolt of lightning shot out of the thief's horn and headed straight towards him.

"AAAHHH!" Sunray yelled in horror before the bolt struck him and he fell to the floor. The last thing he saw was the thief looking down at him before his whole world went black.

The next morning

After learning what happened in the vault room, Celestia wasted no time in calling me and Twilight to the castle. Once we arrived there, she told us everything she knew about the break-in before she took us to the vault room.

We then saw that a few experienced ponies had already started investigating the scene. Some were searching for clues, others were attending to the injured guards.

It was horrible. There were scratch marks on the walls, small drops of blood on the floor, and thick soot on the vault's door.

Twilight and I were horrified by this sight. "What the hell happened here?" I asked as we walked across the room.

"Like I told you, a thief broke in last night and attacked two of my guards. They not gravely hurt, but their injuries are bad." Celestia said while walking with us.

Twilight looked up at her with concern. "Who were they?...Is Shining Armor alright?" she asked with worry.

Celestia looked down at her. "He's fine, Twilight…But he feels horrible about this. He believes this was his fault, that he should've been here when it happened." She stated.

Twilight and I were shocked to hear this. "How could he think that? He can't blame himself like that, nopony could've seen this coming." Twilight stated.

"I know…I tried to tell him that, but he disagrees…he believes he's failed me." Celestia said.

Twilight's ears dropped as her worries grew.

After noticing the troubled look on her face, I placed my hoof on her shoulder and she turned to face me. "It'll be ok, Twi. We'll talk to him later, but right now we need to know what we're dealing with." I said softly.

Twilight then gave me a small nod. "I know." She said.

I then removed my hoof from Twilight's shoulder before I looked up at Celestia. "So, who were the two guards the thief attacked?" I asked.

"See for yourself." Celestia said as she pointed her hoof at something up-ahead.

I then looked to where she was pointing to see Blaze lying on a hospital-stretcher with a doctor tending to him "Blaze." I said under my breath before I rushed over to him.

Once I reached him, I saw that he was covered in bruises and his nose was bleeding. "Blaze! Are you ok, buddy?" I asked as I sat down on the floor next to him.

Blaze then opened his eyes before he looked at me. "I've been better, Matt. I'm glad you're here, now this investigation can actually get somewhere." He said with a weak smile.

I chuckled slightly before I looked at the doctor. "Is he gonna be ok?" I asked with concern.

The doctor nodded. "His injuries aren't as bad as they look, so I think he's gonna be fine." He said before he looked at something behind me. "Too bad I can't say the same about his friend over there though."

I then turned my head around to see another stretcher, but I couldn't see who was lying on it due to the amount of doctors surrounding it. Whoever they were attending to must've been in a worse shape than Blaze. "Who is it?" I asked without looking away.

"One of the guards that were attacked, only that one won't stop crying." The doctor answered before he went back to fixing up Blaze.

I was confused by what he told me, so I decided to see it for myself. I stood back up before I walked over to the second stretcher and saw the victim.

His eyes were as round as plates and his pupils were as small as dots, his light-red mane was standing on end and he was quivering like hell. But despite this, he looked a little familiar.

"What is it, Matt?" Twilight asked as she and Celestia came over to me.

I turned my head to face at her. "It's just…I feel like I know this guy. Do you recognize him?" I asked before I returned my attention to the quivering pony.

Twilight looked down at him and thought about it. "There is something familiar about him, but I can't put my hoof on it." she said.

"It's Sunray, a member of Flash Beam's group. You both met them when they first started as guards, remember?" Celestia asked.

After thinking about what she said, we both soon remembered. "You mean he's one of the new recruits? How did he get mixed up in this?" Twilight asked Celestia.

"I asked Flash Beam the same question, he told me that he assigned Sunray to patrol on the nightshift with Blaze. Blaze said they were patrolling the castle when they encountered the thief." Celestia answered.

I looked up at her with confusion. "But…that means the thief was already inside castle. How did he get past the guards patrolling the grounds?" I asked.

"No-one knows." Celestia answered.

"This is getting weirder by the minute." I thought as I rubbed my chin with my hoof.

Just then, we heard Sunray muttering something. We all looked down at him to see his head shifting left and right. "Sunray, can you hear me?" Celestia asked as she lowered her head down to him.

Sunray looked at her and yelped in fright. "St-stay back!...Get away from me, y-you beast!" he said loudly.

We were all shocked at what he said. "Sunray, please calm down. It's Princess Celestia, you know her." Twilight said, trying to calm him.

Sunray then looked at Twilight, but was still frightened. "I said get away! D-Don't make me hurt you!" he said before he fell back off the stretcher and dragged himself towards the wall.

This was really starting to freak me out. "What's wrong with him? It's as if he doesn't recognize us." I said.

"I think I might know." A male voice said behind us.

We all then turned our heads around to see Shining Armor. "Let me see him." He said before he walked past us and approached Sunray.

Once he reached him, Shining Armor lowered himself down to Sunray and looked closely at his face. Sunray pushed himself against the wall as Shining looked deep into his eyes.

After a few minutes, Shining Armor sighed with sorrow. "Just what I thought." He said out-loud.

"What is it, Shining Armor?" Twilight asked.

Shining Armor then stood back up before he turned around to face us. "He's been cursed…with a Fear Hex." He said.

Twilight and Celestia gasped. "A Fear Hex?...But that's impossible, the Fear Hex was long forgotten. Who would be cruel enough to use it again after so long?" Twilight said loudly.

"I take it a Fear Hex is a spell that makes you feel fear, right?" I asked with my eye-lids half closed.

Twilight then shot me a firm look. "Matt, it's no laughing matter. The Fear Hex is one of the most barbaric spells anyone could ever use, especially on another pony!" She said firmly.

After hearing the tone in her voice, my ears lowered slightly. "Ok, ok, sorry." I said before my ears perked up again. "But what is a Fear Hex? I've never heard of it." I said.

"The Fear Hex is an ancient spell created by a dark-hearted Unicorn. He used it to turn his emeries' fears against them. But not only did the victims see their worst fears flash before their eyes, they also saw their companions as monsters." Celestia explained.

"Is that why Sunray's so scared of us? Because he sees us as monsters?" I asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes." She said before she continued her story. "When Luna and I defeated the Unicorn, we believed the Hex was banished with him…but I guess we were wrong." She finished.

Twilight and I then looked down at Sunray with sorrow. "…Is there a way to cure him?" I asked.

"Luna knows more about the Hex than I do. If there is a cure, she'll probably be able to find it." Celestia said before she looked down at Sunray. "I still can't believe someone would do something like this." She said.

Twilight then looked up at her. "The thief sure went through an awful lot of trouble to get what he came for. What did he steal anyway?" she asked.

At that moment, Celestia gave Twilight a troubled look. "…Follow me." she said before she made her way towards the vault, Twilight and I followed behind.

After reaching the vault, Celestia's horn glowed before the Element case floated out and hovered in front of us. "As you know, the vault has always been protected by a spell that only I can break. But after last night, I fear that might've changed." Celestia said before she used her magic to open the case.

Twilight and I then looked inside the case and saw the Elements.

There was mine, Twilight's, Rarity's, Applejack's, Rainbow Dash's, Fluttershy's, but Pinkie Pie's was gone. "There's only six, where's Pinkie's Element?" I asked with a raised eye-brow.

"That's what the thief stole last night. Somehow, he broke into the vault and escaped with one of the Elements of Harmony. And if he was trying to take them all, then there's no doubt he'll return to complete what he failed to do." Celestia stated before she closed the case and returned it to the vault.

Twilight and I looked at her with worry. "You mean he'll come back to try and get the rest? Would he really take that risk after all of this?" Twilight said as she looked back at all the damage the thief had done.

"This thief isn't like any other. Somehow he has the power and knowledge to not only cast a Fear Hex, but to open the vault when no-one else can. We may be dealing with someone more powerful than we think." Celestia said in a serious tone.

Twilight turned her head back around to face her. "Then what should we do?" she asked.

"We need to know more about what we're dealing with, so I'm closing this room off for investigation. But before we leave, I want to have a quick word with the both of you." Celestia said.

Twilight and I looked at each other before we looked back up at Celestia. "Sure, Princess. What is it?" I asked.

Celestia then lowered her head down to us. "I'm not sure if I can trust anyone to guard this vault tonight." She whispered.

Twilight and I were confused. "What? Why's that?" I asked.

Celestia looked at me. "Remember when you asked how the thief got past the guards patrolling the grounds? Well I have a strange feeling he didn't, I think he was already in the castle from the beginning." She whispered.

"So what you're saying is…you think it was an inside job?" Twilight asked.

Celestia looked at her. "I can't guaranty that, but it's the only thing that makes any sense right now. We've already lost one Element, we can't afford to lose the rest." She said before she sighed. "Twilight…I know this is asking much of you, but I need you and Matthew to stay here and investigate this crime." She said.

Twilight and I were surprised by her sudden request. "Us?...why?" I asked.

"Because I need ponies I can trust. Shining Armor's under enough pressure as it is and I don't want to make the mistake of assigning the wrong pony for the job." Celestia stated as she raised her head back up.

"But what if the thief comes back?" Twilight asked.

"Don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure with your brains and Matthew's brawns, you'll be able to subdue this thief and bring him to justice." Celestia said with confidence.

Twilight and I then looked at each other as we thought about what she said. After a moment, we looked at her again. "Princess, you can count on us. We won't let you down." Twilight said with a confident smile.

Celestia smiled at this. "I'm glad to hear that, Twilight. Report anything you find to me or Shining Armor." She said before she walked past us and made her way towards the room's exit. "Now if you'll both excuse me, I must write a letter to my sister. I need to know if there's a cure for the Fear Hex." She said.

We both then watched as Celestia left the room with everyone else following behind. The doctors took Blaze and Sunray out of the room on their stretchers.

Pretty soon, only myself, Twilight, and Shining Armor were left in the room.

After a few seconds of silence, Twilight walked up to Shining Armor. "Hey…are you ok?" she asked in concern.

Shining Armor turned around to her and sighed. "I still can't believe this has happened…I feel like…I feel like I'm responsible. I…I should've been there, I should've done something…it's my fault Blaze and Sunray got hurt." He said with shame.

Twilight placed her hoof on his shoulder. "You shouldn't think like that, Shining Armor. You're a great Captain, one of the best, but no-one could've seen this coming. What happened last night wasn't your fault and you have nothing to be sorry for." She said, trying to help him.

Shining Armor then gave her a warm smile. "Thanks Twily." He said before they shared a small hug.

After a few seconds, they separated. "Well I better go make sure Blaze and Sunray make it to the hospital. I'll check up on you two later, ok?" Shining Armor said.

Twilight nodded. "Ok, I'll see you later."

With their goodbyes now said, Shining Armor turned around and walked over to the room's exit. He then stopped in the doorway and turned his head around to look at us. "Good luck on your investigation." He said.

"Thanks." I said as I walked up beside Twilight.

Shining Armor gave use one final wave before he left the room; leaving me and Twilight alone.

Knowing our investigation had already begun, I turned my head to face Twilight. "So what should we do first?" I asked with no idea on what to do.

Twilight looked at me and rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Well…the first thing we should do is learn everything we can about detective work. And what better place to learn about it than…*pause for effect*…the library?!" she stated with a large smile.

I then raised my eye-brow. "Urr…are you sure? I mean, do we even have that kind of time to-"

"We can probably find a book about it in the library Spike and I used to live in before we moved to Ponyville. I'll go there right away and get started." Twilight said before she rushed out of the room and slammed the doors behind her with her magic.

I stood where I was in the silence as I stared at the doors. "…Well…now I'm lonely." I said to myself.

I then started thinking about what to do now.

"Huh…Twilight's probably gonna be gone for a while. I would wait for her, but there's no time, this investigation needs to start now. I can't do it alone though, I'm gonna have to bring someone in to help me. Someone smart, helpful, and full of attitude." I said to myself as I rubbed my chin with my hoof.

After a moment or so, I thought of someone who fit the deal perfectly.

Later that evening

After asking her to do so, Celestia sent a letter back to Ponyville telling Jeff to come up to the castle with my saddlebags.

When he arrived, I filled him in on what was happening and he agreed to help me.

I was now back in the vault room with Jeff on my back. "So what're we looking for exactly?" he asked.

I turned my head around to face him. "Clues, Jeff. Anything that looks out of the ordinary." I answered.

Jeff raised his eye-brow. "You mean like these hats we're wearin'?" he asked as he pointed at the small black bowler-hat on his head.

I was wearing a brown detective hat. "What do you mean? You can't do investigations without the proper head-wear, and this happens to be a classic detective hat….Plus, I make it work." I stated.

"Uh-huh, and where did you get these things exactly?" Jeff asked with his wings crossed.

"Not important." I said before I turned my head back around to face the room. "What is important is that we find some clues, maybe the thief left something behind while he was working." I said.

Jeff sighed. "Fine, let's just make sure no-one sees us in these things. I still have a rep to protect." He stated.

With that, we started the investigation.

Jeff and I worked together to try and find clues. He was my second pair of eyes. If there was something I missed, he would spot it.

But as the minutes went by, we still hadn't found anything. "Ok…this is getting nowhere." Jeff stated with a bored look on his face.

"Don't give up yet, Jeff. There's bound to be something here. We're just looking in the wrong places, that's all" I said as I continued to search around the room.

Just then, I gained an idea. "Maybe we should try retracing the thief's steps" I said.

Jeff looked me with confusion. "Retrace the thief's steps?"

I nodded. "Yeah, if we go wherever he went, we might find something." I said before I looked over to the vault. "He obviously went to the vault, so we'll start there." I said.

"Then what're we waitin' for?" Jeff said.

I then walked over to the vault before I stopped in front of it.

Jeff and I examined the entire door before I looked at the small hole where Celestia would stick her horn in. It was covered in black soot.

"Soot?" I said before I took a closer look at how dark it was. "really thick soot for that matter." I said.

Jeff then climbed up onto my head and looked closely at the soot-covered hole. "How can you tell how thick the soot is?" he asked curiously.

"By how dark the colour is. If it wasn't thick, it would be a dimmer black. But it's a dark-black, so it's thick." I stated, sounding a lot like Twilight during one of her lectures.

Jeff then looked down at my face with his eye-lids half closed. "Ok, the lesson wasn't needed. Jeez, you spend too much time with Twilight." he said before he returned his attention to the vault door.

I rolled my eyes before I did the same. "Well it looks like the thief was definitely desperate to open the vault. With this much soot, he must've used a large amount of power." I said.

I then started thinking about what the thief must've done to achieve his goal. "This seems a bit weird. All that power the thief used the open the vault must've hurt him in some way. Most normal thieves would give up and steal something else…but this one didn't, this thief didn't let anything stop him, not even Blaze and Sunray." I said out-loud.

Jeff heard me and looked down at my face. "So what you're sayin' is…."

"I'm saying maybe this wasn't an average robbery. Maybe the thief came her with a purpose…a purpose to steal the Elements or nothing at all." I said.

Jeff then patted my head with his wing. "Dude, calm down. You've only been on this job for an hour or so, we don't need you saying crazy stuff yet." He said.

I shook off my thought before looked up at him. "Yeah, you're right…It's just a weird feeling I have." I said.

"Give it a few minutes and it'll probably pass." Jeff said before he jumped back down onto my back. "So where do you think the thief went next?" he asked.

"Well after the thief took Pinkie's Element, he would've headed towards the exit to make his escape." I said before I turned around and made my way towards the main doors.

After walking half-way across the room, I stopped and looked down at the blood drops on the floor. "Judging by the drops of blood here, I'd say this is where Blaze and Sunray came in. The thief didn't go any further, he fought them right here." I said as I looked around the spot for any clues.

Just then, I saw a small piece of black metal on the floor. "Hello, what do we have here?" I said as I lowered myself down to it.

Jeff looked down over my shoulder and saw the piece of metal. "What is it?" he asked curiously.

"No idea." I said before I turned my head around to face him. "I'll need the magnifying-glass. Could you get it for me?" I asked.

Jeff nodded before he reached his wings into my right-saddlebag and pulled out the magnifying-glass.

I returned my attention to the piece of metal before Jeff walked up onto my head and held the magnifying-glass in front of my left-eye.

"Keep it steady, buddy." I said while trying to look through the magnifying-glass properly.

Jeff did as I said and held the magnifying-glass as still as he could.

With the help of the magnifying-glass, I was able to examine the metal piece better. It was dark-blue and curled like a part of something round. "Hmm…it's definitely something." I said.

"Got any idea what it is." Jeff asked while struggling to hold the magnifying-glass in place.

"Not really, but we should brand it as a clue anyway." I said before I raise myself back up. "We'll need one of the plastic-bags." I said to Jeff.

Jeff nodded before he returned to my back and dropped the magnifying-glass into to my right-saddlebag.

He then brought out a small plastic-bag before he flew down to piece of metal and gently grabbed it with his talons.

Once he had it in his grasp, Jeff dropped the metal piece into the plastic-bag and sealed the opening. That way, it wouldn't fall out.

With that done, Jeff flew back up onto my back and dropped the plastic-bag into my left-saddlebag. "Awesome, we found our first clue. Do ya think there's any more?" he asked.

I turned my head around to face him. "Only one way to find out." I said before we both started examining the area for more clues.

Just then, Jeff spotted something on the left-wall. "Hey, what's that on the wall?" he asked as he pointed his wing at it.

I then looked at Jeff to see where he was pointing before I looked in the same direction, that's when I saw a strange mark on the wall. "I don't know. Good eye, Jeff. Are you sure you're not part eagle?" I asked as I walked over to the wall.

Jeff smirked. "Well I should be, I do have the looks for it." he said.

I then stopped in front of the wall before I took a closer look at the mark.

It was a group of small scratches with traces of gold in them. "It looks like something scratched against the wall, something gold." I said out-loud.

"Well that's not much of a mystery, every guard in the castle has golden armour. Maybe the thief pushed Blaze or Sunray against the wall and it made that mark." Jeff said, trying to explain it.

I then turned my head around to face him. "That may be a possibility, Jeff. But a good detective doesn't rule anything out. We'll need the camera." I said.

Jeff rolled his eyes before he reached into my right-saddlebag and pulled out a camera.

He then flew onto my muzzle and held the camera in front of the mark. "Look at the birdy." He said before he took a picture of it.

When a blank photograph slid out of the camera, Jeff took it out and waved it around in the air.

After doing that for a few seconds, he held the photo in front of his face and saw the picture come into focus.

Jeff then looked down at my face. "Got it." he said as he showed me the photo.

"Nice work, buddy. Now let's add it into the clue bag." I said.

With a nod, Jeff flew back onto my back before he dropped the photo into my left-saddlebag and returned the camera to my right-saddlebag.

"There we go, two clues found." I said in a pleased way.

Jeff looked at me with a raised eye-brow. "Yeah, and one of them isn't very useful." He said with an unimpressed tone.

I then looked at him with my eye-lids half closed. "Oh c'mon, Jeff, this gold mark is helpful. Just think about it. If we find the armour piece with the same mark on it, we find-"

"Let me guess, our thief?" Jeff asked as he crossed his wings.

"Whow! We're not going that far. We can't just rush to conclusions like that, we have to take our time and figure this out." I stated.

"I know, I just said what I thought you were gonna say." Jeff said.

"Well I wasn't gonna say that." I stated before I made my way towards the room's exit. "Now let's go to the Guard Quarters and see if we can find our scratched armour." I said as I approached the doors.

I then opened them before I left the room.

Once I was out of the room, I turned around to the doorway. "I should probably close these doors." I thought before I grabbed one of the doors with my hoof and closed it.

I then went to the other door and did the same. But when it closed against the other door, I heard a small 'clang' sound.

Jeff and I looked down at the floor to see a strange looking key in front of my hooves. "What the hell?" I said under my breath.

"What is that? Some kind of key?" Jeff asked in confusion.

"I don't think so." I said before I lowered myself down to get a better look.

After examining the shape of the strange object, I released what it was. "It's a lock-pick." I said.

"A lock-pick? You mean one of those things thieves use to unlock doors?" Jeff asked.

I turned my head around to face him and nodded. "Yeah, and our thief probably used this one to unlock these doors." I said before I returned my attention to the lock-pick.

I then noticed some strange markings carved into the side of the lock-pick. Curious to find out what they were, I flipped the lock-pick over with my hoof and saw that they were actually letters. They read B.S.

"B.S.?...Wonder what that stands for." I said without taking my eyes of the lock-pick.

"No idea, but do you want to add it to the clue bag?" Jeff asked.

I turned my head around to face him again. "Yes please." I answered politely.

And while Jeff was getting another plastic bag out of my saddlebag, I looked at the lock-pick again and I wondered what the letters stood for.

If we're lucky, they could be initials for someone's name. And if we could find what the name is, it might reveal the thief's identity.

Later: main hallway

After adding the lock-pick to our collection of clues, I made my way through the castle to try and find the Guard Quarters. Unfortunately, no-one ever told me where it was.

Jeff and I felt as though we'd been going in circles since we left the vault room, which was almost half-an-hour ago. "Matt, I think we're lost." Jeff said in boredom.

"Thanks for the update, buddy." I said sarcastically before I sighed. "Maybe we should ask the next pony we see for directions." I said.

"Are you sure? Don't you think it's best to keep all of this to ourselves?" Jeff asked curiously.

I turned my head around to face him. "Why? It's not like we're undercover or anything. Besides, the hats kind of give it awa-UFF!" I said before I accidently bumped into someone in front of me; causing me to stumble backwards.

Jeff quickly flew off my back as I fell backwards onto the floor.

As I groaned in a daze, something suddenly landed beside my head. At first, I thought it was my detective hat, but then I saw it was a book.

Once my daze wore off, I leaned up and looked down at the book beside me. "Where did this come from?" I asked myself before I picked the book up in my hooves and read the title. "Once love is found, by Gilderoy Long-mane." I read.

"Oooh." A female's voice groaned.

I then looked to where the groan came from and saw a tall pink mare lying on her back in front of me.

I instantly let out a small gasp. "Oh, I'm so sorry. That was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was-" I stopped when the mare leaned up and revealed her face.

She was an Alicorn with a light-pink coat, her mane & tail were dark-velvet with moderate-rose and pale-gold streaks, she had a beautiful pair of dark-purple eyes, and her Cutie Mark was a blue crystal heart between 2 golden branch-like things.

(I don't know what they're called)

Also, judging by the golden shoes on her hooves and a small golden tiara on her head, I'd say I was in the presences of a Princess.

"Oooh…that's gonna bruise." She said while rubbed her head with her hoof.

I continued to stare at her as I dropped the book. "Urr…s-sorry…this was my fault." I said before I stood back up onto my hooves.

The Princess did the same and smiled kindly at me. "No, it was my fault. That's probably what I get for reading and walking at the same time." She said before her horn glowed light-blue.

The book then rose up off the floor before it hovered over to her. "I guess I got too caught up in my book. But then again, who wouldn't? It was written by Gilderoy Long-mane after all. Have you ever read any of his books?" the beautiful mare asked me.

"Urr…n-no, I've never really heard of him. Which is funny seeing is how I live in a library, haha…But I bet my wife's heard of him." I said with nervousness.

Just then, the mare started rubbing her chin with her hoof. "Hmm…you seem familiar, have we met before?" she asked.

"I doubt it, otherwise we'd have more bruises on our heads." I joked, referring to our accident a minute ago.

The mare understood my joke and laughed. "Haha, yeah, we probably would." She said before she took a step closer and looked straight at my face. "I'm sure I know your face from somewhere." She claimed.

Seeing her this close to me made me blush for some reason and I gulped. "Well…y-you may have seen me in the papers. My name's Matthew and I saved Canterlot a while ba-"

"Matthew? As in, the hero of Canterlot? I knew I recognised you! You're the pony who stopped that Thorn guy from taking over the city and saved my aunts in process." The mare said with excitement.

I smiled humbly. "It was nothing really." I said before I realised what she said. "Wait, what? Celestia and Luna are your aunts?" I asked in confusion.

"I guess you don't know me, let me introduce myself. I'm Princess Cadence, niece of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Cadence said in a polite manner.

I quickly lowered my head in a bow. "I'm so sorry, your highness. I didn't know you were a Princess…well, the shoes and crown made it kind of obvious, but I wasn't sure until now. I hope I wasn't rude to you or anything." I said as I looked up at her.

"Of course you weren't, I like ponies with a sense of humor." Cadence stated with a small smile. "So if you're Matthew, then I guess your wife is Twilight Sparkle, right?" she asked.

I then raised my head back up. "Yeah, you know her?" I asked curiously.

Cadence nodded. "More than you know. I used to foal-sit her when she was a filly. I loved the days we spent together, she was always such a sweet-heart." She said with a nice smile.

I smiled at this. "That's my Twilight, always the kind-hearted one." I said before something crossed my mind. "Hold on, how did you know Twilight was my wife? I didn't see you at our wedding." I said.

"I can explain that. You see, I had some royal business to attend to in one of the far cities of Equestria and I had to stay there for a while. I only got back the last week." Cadence stated.

"So that's the reason why you missed out on everything?" I asked with a raised eye-brow.

Cadence nodded again. "Yeah, but Princess Celestia has already filled me in on everything, she even told me about last night's break-in. Is it true you're the one investigating the scene?" she asked curiously.

I then rubbed the back of my head with my hoof. "Well…kind of." I said with a small smile.

Cadence smiled back before he horn glowed and my detective hat floated up off the floor. "Well then, you're gonna need your hat back." she said as she placed my hat back onto my head.

I used my hoof to adjust it a little before I gave Cadence a thankful smile. "Thanks, Princess." I said.

Cadence smiled kindly at me. "You're welcome, but please, call me Cadence." She said.

I nodded. "Ok, Cadence." I said.

Suddenly, Cadence gasped about something. "I my gosh, what time is it? Listen Matt, I have to go, it's been a pleasure meeting you though." She said before she grabbed her book with her mouth and rushed past me.

I turned myself around as I watched her gallop down the hallway. "It's been a pleasure meeting you too, Cadence!" I called.

I continued to watch Cadence until she disappeared around a corner.

Jeff then landed back down onto my back and looked at me. "Well, she's somethin' new." He said.

"Yeah, she is." I said before I turned my head around to face him. "But there's no time to talk about that, we have to get to the Guard Quarters while no-one's there." I said.

"Then what're we doin' standin' around here for? Giddy-up, Silver!" Jeff said as he patted his foot on my back.

With that, I turned my head back around and continued with our task.

A few minutes later: Guard Quarters

After finally finding the Guard Quarters, Jeff and I started searching through the armour. But seeing how many guards shared this room, there was a lot of armour to go through.

Luckily for us, the armour wasn't scattered around like dirty clothes on a bedroom floor. Instead, each set was displayed on a pony-shaped mannequin standing in a row along the back-wall.

While we were searching through the armour on the first mannequin, I discovered each mannequin had a name-tag sown to their foreheads. Each name-tag had a different name on it, most likely the name of the armour's owners.

I then realised something that could make our search easier. If we find the armour piece with the mark on it, we can read the mannequin's name-tag and discover who the armour belongs to.

So Jeff and I kept examining from set to set. But no matter how hard we searched, we couldn't find anything.

By now, we were examining the armour on the twelfth mannequin.

Jeff was standing on its shoulder as he examined its helmet. "So…what do you think of this Cadence gal?" he asked.

I was looking around the mannequin's body-armour as I answered his question. "Well I don't really know her, but she seems nice." I said.

Jeff then looked down at me and smirked. "Yeah, I bet you'd think so." he said.

I looked up at him and raised my eye-brow. "Meaning?" I asked.

"C'mon dude, you're attracted. I'm not even the same species and I'm attracted." Jeff stated with his smirk growing wider.

I gave him a firm look crossed with seriousness. "Well I hate to disappoint you, but I am not attracted to her. I'm a married pony, I love Twilight more than anyone, and this conversation is over." I said before I imminently went back to what I was doing.

Jeff was wide-eyed over my aggression. "…Ok, sheesh, I try to make a joke and I get Mr grumpy-hooves." He stated.

I sighed before I looked back up at him. "Sorry, it's just…I don't like jokes like that." I said.

Jeff then motioned his wings in a way that told me to 'calm down'. "Ok, ok, let just forget about it and get back to what we're doin' here." he said before we both did exactly that.

Once we finished examining every inch of the armour, I looked up at Jeff. "Nothing on the body-armour. Find anything, Jeff?" I asked.

Jeff looked down at me and shook his head. "No, it's another dud." He answered.

"On to the next one then." I said before we moved along to the next mannequin and started examining its armour.

Just then, Jeff spotted something on the mannequin's helmet. It looked like some of the metal had been scratched off.

Jeff looked at it with confusion before he looked down at me. "Hey Matt, I think I found somethin'." He said.

I then looked at Jeff to see him pointing at the mark on the helmet. I looked closer to see it matched the mark on the vault room wall. "I think it's a match." I said.

"Well what are ya waitin' for? Take the helmet off and see who it belongs to." Jeff said with impassions.

I nodded before I grabbed the helmet with my front-hooves and pulled it off the mannequin's head.

Jeff and I then looked at the mannequin's name-tag and saw the owner's name, but it confused us. "Flash Beam?...But that doesn't make any sense." I said in confusion.

Jeff looked at me. "Isn't Flash Beam the leader of those new recruits that arrived a while back?" he asked.

I looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, but he wasn't with Blaze and Sunray during the break-in, he wasn't even on the same floor as them." I stated as I became more confused.

"Well there's probably an explanation. Maybe that isn't even Flash's helmet, maybe they got it mixed up with Sunray's or somethin'." Jeff said.

"But Twilight and I saw Blaze and Sunray this morning, they were still in their armour even when the doctors where taking them to the hospital." I stated.

"Well maybe someone brought their armour back." Jeff said.

I raised my eye-brow. "Oh really? Is that what think? Well answer me this, smart guy. Why are Blaze and Sunray's mannequins the only ones without armour?" I asked.

Jeff then quickly turned his head around to see I was right, Blaze and Sunray's mannequins didn't have any armour displayed on them. "…Oh." He said.

"Damn right oh." I said before I sat down on the floor and held Flash's helmet up in front of my face.

I stared at the mark with slight despair. "I'll admit, I haven't known Flash long, but he seemed like a nice guy. Would he really be the-…" I stopped when I suddenly noticed something.

Through the reflection in the helmet's shiny gold metal, I could see someone standing in the doorway behind me. I quickly turned around to see a dark hooded figure.

It didn't take me long to realised that I was now face-to-face with the thief himself.

Jeff soon noticed the strange look on my face. "Dude, what's up?" he asked before he looked in the same direction as me and saw the thief. "Oh…this is bad." He said.

We just stayed where we were in silence, waiting to see who would make the first move.

Without taking my eyes off him, I slowly placed the helmet down on the floor and stood back up. "Ok…I don't know who you are, but you have something of ours. We'd like it back." I said with a small glare.

"Yeah, so hand over the necklace, chump!" Jeff demanded.

Remaining silent, the thief took a few steps back away from the doorway.

I was confused at first, but then I knew what he was planning. "Don't you dare, don't you bloody dare!" I growled.

At that moment, the thief sprung off and galloped away from the Quarters.

"He dared." I groaned before I galloped out of the room and chased after him.

Jeff took off into the air and followed behind. "You go, Matt! I'll catch up!" he called while flying as fast as he could to keep up.

As I galloped through the hallways, I could see the thief up ahead. He was really fast and I actually had to push myself to keep up.

At some points, the thief would purposely knock something over to try and block my way or trip me up. But I would just leap over it and continue the chase.

After a few minutes of chasing him, I got tired of this and decided to put a stop to it. I spread my wings out as far as they'd go and flapped them strongly to gain more speed.

And to my surprise, it was working. I was starting to close in on the thief.

I was now so close that I could grab his cloak with my teeth. But before I could, the thief made a sudden turn and I ended up running into a wall; putting me in a daze.

The moment I shook the daze off, I saw the thief run behind a corner before I took off after him with pure determination to catch him.

But as I shot around the same corner, I suddenly crashed into someone.

We both fell backwards onto the floor and groaned in dizziness.

A few seconds later, I leaned up off the floor to find out who I had crashed into. That's when I saw Twilight rubbing her head with her hoof.

My eyes widened with shock and I quickly stood up. "Twilight! Oh my god, I'm so sorry. It was an accident." I said as I helped her back up onto her hooves.

Twilight continued to rub her head as she looked at me. "Matt? What were you doin flying around the castle like that? It's dangerous." She said before she stopped rubbing her head and placed her hoof back down on the floor.

"I know, I wasn't thinking properly. I guess I got too caught up in catching the thief and now I've lost him." I said as I hung my head with my ears low.

At that moment, Twilight gave me her full attention. "What? You mean you saw the thief?" she asked in surprise.

I lifted my head back up and nodded. "Yeah, I was chasing him when I-…" I stopped talking once I noticed the thief standing a few feet behind Twilight.

But before I could make a single move, the thief quickly turned around and galloped away again. "There he is!" I said loudly as I pointed my hoof at him.

Twilight immediately turned her head around and saw the thief galloping away from us. "*Gasp* Quick, after him!" she said before we chased after him.

As we stayed tight on the thief's tail, Twilight's horn glowed and she suddenly disappeared in a bright flash.

Then with another flash, Twilight reappeared ahead of the thief and blocked his path. "Stop right there!" she demanded firmly.

However, once he was close enough, the thief leaped high over Twilight and landed behind her.

By the time Twilight turned around, the thief was already half-way down the hallway. "This guy's good." she said under her breath.

I then caught up with her. "How did he do that?" I asked as I looked at her with a slightly surprised face.

"I don't know, but we're losing him." Twilight said before she turned her head to face me. "You go on ahead and catch him, I'll be right behind you." she said in a serious tone.

I nodded to her before I did as she said and rushed on ahead. I then started to flap my wings before I took off into the air and flew after the thief.

Once I had the thief back in my sights, I flew as fast I could after him. It looked as though he was slowing down, all this running must be tiring him out.

With a grin on my face, I started to slowly close in on the thief "I've got you now, you slippery little-"

The thief then came to a stop and I flew past him, only for him to grab me by the tail with his mouth and slam me down hard on the floor.

While I was in another daze, he took this opportunity to make another get-away.

Once I shook it off, I saw the thief run through a wooden door on the left-side of the hallway. It was right next to the large pair of double-doors that led to the Great Hall.

"Why did her go through there? That door leads high up into the tower, why didn't he go into the Great Hall and escape through there?" I said out-loud before I stood back up and flew over to the door he ran through.

After I landed in front of the door, I pushed it open with my hoof before I followed the thief's trail up a bunch of stairs that took me high up into the tower.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, I saw the thief up ahead standing outside on a large balcony. However, he wasn't on the balcony itself, he was standing on of its stone barrier.

I gave him a small glare and I slowly approached him. "Between you and me, I think this whole chase has been going on long enough. So how about you give me the Element before anything else goes wrong." I said, trying to negotiate.

But as I got closer, the thief took a step back.

I instantly froze in place once I knew what he was planning. "Whow…calm down, fella. I just want the Element, nothing more." I said with a concerned look on my face.

The thief said nothing as his eyes suddenly flashed red.

I then gave him a puzzled look. "…What the hell are you?" I asked with a faint voice.

The thief remained silent as he sat down on the barrier and willingly fell backwards off the balcony.

With a horrified look on my face, I rushed up to the barrier before I looked over it to see if I could see him.

Then without warning, something shot up and punched me in the jaw; making me fall backwards onto my back.

When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see the thief flying in the air with a pair of wings. He glared down at me with his red eyes before he turned around and flew off into the sky.

I quickly got back up before I watched him fly away.

The last thing I saw of the thief was him landing somewhere in Canterlot. There was no point in chasing him any further, he'd be long-gone by the time I get there.

I breathed heavily as I tried to make sense of what just happened. "How the hell is that possible? How can the thief be a Pegasus? He was a Unicorn the last time I checked." I said to myself.

I then started hearing wings flapping before Jeff appeared out-of-nowhere and landed on the stone barrier. "There you are, Matt. I've been flyin' all over for ya." Jeff said.

"Sorry…I was trying to catch the thief." I stated.

"I know, Twilight said you were chasing him in this direction. So where is he?" Jeff asked curiously.

"He…he got away." I confessed as I hung my head in shame.

Jeff gave me a confused look. "How could he have escaped from way up here? A fall from this height would've killed him." He stated.

I lifted my head back up to look at him. "Except he didn't fall…he flew away using a pair of wings." I said.

Jeff's confused look was replaced with surprise. "What?! You mean like a Pegasus? But that's impossible! The thief's a Unicorn. You told me he used some sort of Hex on Sunray, how could he have done that if he's a Pegasus?" she said.

As I was about to answer him, a troubling thought came to my mind. "I don't know, but I think we have a bigger problem. The vault room's been left unprotected all day. If the thief's been in the castle this entire time, who knows what he could've been up-to while we were gone." I said as I started to panic.

Jeff soon understood what I was saying and his eyes widened. "…You don't think…"

I nodded. "Yeah…We have to find Twilight and get back to the vault room! Stat!" I said before I turned around and rushed back towards the stairs with Jeff flying behind.

Later: Vault Room

After reuniting with Twilight, I told her what I suspected and we all returned to the vault room as quickly as we could.

Once we got there, we found Celestia had taken it upon herself to protect the vault while we were investigating.

To our relief, none of the other Elements have been taken.

After calming down, I presented all the clues Jeff and I found before I told Twilight and Celestia what happened between me and the thief.

Once I did, they were as shocked and confused as I was, neither of them had an explanation for the thief's sudden change in races.

With a frustrated look on my face, I was now pacing left and right as I tried to figure out what was going on.

Twilight, Jeff, and Celestia were watching me with concern. "Dude, maybe you should take a break. Sit down at relax for a minute." Jeff said.

I stopped pacing and looked over to him. "How can you expect me to relax at a time like this? Not only did I lose the thief, but he's probably miles away with Pinkie's Element by now." I said before I resumed pacing.

"Take it easy, bro. So one Element gets stolen, big whoop, we'll just stick with the others until we can get it back." Jeff said with a small smile of confidence on his face.

Celestia then looked down at him with a troubled face. "If only it was that simple, Jeff. But I'm afraid until the missing Element is returned to its place, the others will be powerless to be of any help to us." She said.

Jeff looked up at her. "Wait…you mean the Elements won't work unless they're all together?" he asked in confusion.

Celestia nodded. "Exactly. The thief may have taken only one Element, but he's left us without our greatest defence." She stated.

"…Oh, well then…I guess this is kind of a big deal, isn't it?" Jeff said as he rubbed the back of his neck with his left-wing.

Celestia said nothing as she nodded to say 'yes'.

Twilight then walked over to me before she placed her hoof on my shoulder; stopping me from pacing. "Don't worry, Matt. You and Jeff found so many clues that could be helpful, especially the lock-pick. If we can find out what the letters B.S. stand for, we may be able to find the thief." She said with a small smile.

Celestia came over to us with Jeff on her back. "Not to mention you found these other interesting clues." She said before her horn glowed.

The plastic-bag with the photo inside it then floated up to her. "Like this photo of the gold mark on the wall for example. You said it matched the one on Flash Beam's helmet, correct?" Celestia asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, but Flash Beam wasn't with Blaze and Sunray last night, how could his helmet have made that mark if he wasn't there?" I asked.

Jeff then flew onto my back. "Here's a thought, what if Flash was the thief? He might've been wearing his armour under that cloak." He said as he tried to make sense of this.

I turned my head around to face him. "I've already told you, Jeff. We're not pointing our hooves at any of the guards. Besides, Flash is a Unicorn, the thief I chased was a Pegasus. I saw him fly away with my own eyes." I stated.

"But the thief last night had to be a Unicorn, how else could he have opened the vault or used the Fear Hex on Sunray?" Twilight asked.

I turned my head back around and looked at her. "I don't know, Twi." I said before I felt a small pain in my head. "Ah, all this confusion is starting to give me a headache." I whined as I held my hoof against my head.

Celestia then rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Obviously the thief is trying to confuse us. He's leading us down multiple paths to cover his tracks." She said before her horn glowed again.

The plastic-bag with the small piece of black metal then floated up to her. "For instance, I happen to recognize this metal. This is Ebony, a metal used to forge black armour…*sigh*…The trouble is, I only know one place that has it." she said.

Twilight stepped forward. "Princess Luna's castle. They use it to make the armour for her guards…do you think the thief came from there?" she asked, hoping it wasn't true.

Celestia lowered both bags before she looked down at Twilight. "I can't be certain, but it's our only next step." She said.

I then gave her a confused look. "Wait, you're saying that piece of metal is part of some armour? But that's impossible, the mark on the wall is gold. If the thief was wearing a helmet under his hood, it would've been made of golden metal." I stated.

Celestia turned her attention to me. "That's what I meant when I said 'he was leading us down multiple paths'. We're dealing with someone who has a cunning mind, and he's not afraid to use it." she said.

"Well what should we do, Princess? Head over to Luna's castle and investigate some more?" Twilight asked.

Celestia then thought about it before she gave us her answer. "No, that can wait until tomorrow. Right now, I have a more important task for you to do." she stated before she turned around and walked over to the vault.

The three of us watched as Celestia opened the vault and brought out the Element case with her magic. "With the thief still at-large, I fear the Elements may no longer be safe here. He may return to steal the rest." She said.

"So what do you want us to do?" I asked curiously.

"I need you to take the Elements back to Ponyville and give one to each of your friends for protection. If you explain the situation to them, I'm sure they'll understand." Celestia said as she hovered the case over to us and place it down in front of us.

Twilight and I weren't sure if this was such a good idea. "Are you sure, Princess? I don't think our homes are as secure as the vault." Twilight said.

"Maybe not, but it's something the thief probably won't expect." Celestia said before she lowered her head down to us. "Please, I need you to trust me. I know it's risky, but the Elements can't stay here and you are the only ponies I can trust right now to take care of them. Please." She said.

Twilight and I then looked at each other before we looked at the Princess again. "Ok, we'll take them. As soon as we get back to Ponyville, we'll meet us with our friends and tell them everything." I said.

Celestia smiled. "Thank you, both of you." she said before she raised her head back up. "Now I suggest you take the Elements out of the case and put them in your saddlebags, you don't want to risk being seen with them when you leave." She said.

"Good point, Princess." Twilight said before she used her magic to open the case and lifted all the Elements out of it.

She then placed them in my left-saddlebag.

It was easy to fit the necklaces, Twilight's tiara, and my horned-helmet inside the bag. But my Elemental body-armour had to go in my right-saddlebag.

Once that was done, Twilight used her magic to shut and fasten both saddlebags' lids.

With all the Elements now stored in my saddlebag, we looked back up at Celestia. "Ok Princess, I guess we're ready to go home now." I said.

"Very well, I'll escort you outside to the chariot that will take you back to Ponyville. But first, I need to put the case back and close the vault." Celestia said before her horn glowed again.

The Element case then closed itself before it floated off the ground and hover into the vault. Once it was back inside, Celestia used her magic to close the vault and locked it.

With that done, Celestia looked down at us again. "Shall we?" she said before she walked past us and made her way towards the room's exit. Twilight and I followed with Jeff on my back.

"I hope the Princess knows what she's doing." I thought as we left the vault room with the doors closing behind us.

That night: Ponyville library

After we returned to Ponyville, we kept our promise to the Princess and met up with our friends at the café. We told them everything that happened and they happily agreed to take one of the Elements each.

Applejack took the Element of Honesty, Rarity took the Element of Generosity, Rainbow Dash took the Element of Loyalty, etcetera.

Pinkie Pie, however, didn't have anything to take and she was a little upset about it.

Feeling bad for her, I decided to give her my horned-helmet to protect. This cheered Pinkie Pie up and she was very thankful.

As day turned to night, Twilight and I said our goodnights before we left the café with our Elements; leaving everyone else to go home with their own.

Once we got settled back in the library, Jeff and I placed out detective hats in the wardrobe before we went to our beds to call it a day.

I was now lying in the bed beside Twilight who was reading a book while leaning against the bed's backboard. The only sound that could be heard was Spike's snoring as he slept in his basket with Jeff and Peewee.

While looking up at the ceiling, I couldn't help but think back to what happened in the castle. "How could I have let the thief escape like that? Why couldn't I stop him?…did I choke?" I thought before I sighed.

Twilight heard my sigh and turned her head to face me. "Something wrong, sweetie?" she asked.

I then looked at her with my ears low. "I was thinking about that thief…I just can't believe I couldn't catch him. The Princess was counting on us and I let her down…am I…am I losing my edge?" I asked.

Twilight gave me a confused look before she placed her book down on the bedside table. "What do you mean?" she asked.

I then leaned up on the bed before I rested myself against the backboard. "I once took down a monstrous Alicorn who had Luna's power over the night and could turn into a Hydra. But yet, I couldn't take down a simple thief?...*sigh*…I think I'm slowing down, Twi. I'm no good anymore." I said in depression.

Twilight understood what I was saying and she placed her hoof on my shoulder. "Matt, you're not slowing down, you've just not done anything like this for a while. That Thorn fiasco happened months ago and you've probably lost your touch since then, but I'm sure you'll get it back if you try hard enough." She said with a small confident smile.

"How do I do that, Twi? I tried my best today and that didn't seem to work." I said with the depressed look still on my face.

"Maybe you should start training with your Element again. We can set you up with a small training-area behind the library, I can even make some dummies for you to practise on. What do you say?" Twilight asked as she smiled sweetly at me.

After seeing her smile, I returned it before I nudged over to her and wrapped my arms around her body. "You always have an answer for everything, don't you?" I asked while still smiling.

Twilight giggled as she wrapped her arms around the back of my neck. "Hehe, pretty much…And don't worry about the thief, sooner-or-later we'll catch him and get Pinkie's Element back." she said.

My smile then went away. "But we have to find out where he is first." I said.

Twilight nodded. "True, but we'll focus on that some other time. Let's just get some rest for tonight, ok?" she asked.

"Ok." I answered with a small smile.

Twilight & I then shared a small kiss before we released each other and lied down in the bed.

Once we were comfy under the covers, Twilight used her magic to turn off the table-lamp; making the room dark.

With our heads resting on the soft pillows, Twilight and I closed our eyes before we drifted off into a deep sleep.

But even in my sleep, I still wondered where the thief was and what he was doing with Pinkie's Element.

Meanwhile: Mount Forbidden/throne room

The still-hooded thief stood in the centre of the room with the 3 dark Alicorns staring down at him from their thrones, each breath he took was careful and silent as he kneeled down to their presence.

"Master, I have retrieved what you requested." The thief said with a males voice.

"Present it to me." The leader said darkly as glared down at him.

Unwilling to test his master's patience, the thief reached his hoof into his cloak before he pulled out Pinkie's Element and bowed his head bowed as he held it out to him.

The leader's horn then glowed green before the Element lifted out of the thief's hooves and hovered over to him.

Once the Element was in front of him, the leader examined it until he saw the balloon-shaped crystal attached to the front.

"The Element of Laughter?" The leader said out-loud before he shot a look down at the thief. "Is this the only one you got? Where are the rest?" he asked with aggression as he placed the Element down on his throne's armrest.

Hearing the tone in the leader's voice made the thief hesitated to answer, but he knew he had to. "I was…unable to collect them, master." He admitted as he looked down at the floor.

The leader then gave him an unpleased look. "…How disappointing…and why, pray-tell, were they unreachable?" he asked in slight growl.

"I was able to open the vault, but the case that held the Elements was locked with some sort of special enchantment. I couldn't open it enough to get them all, so I grabbed what I could and-" The thief stopped in his sentence as he looked up at a frightening sight.

The leader had left his throne and was now standing right in front of him, looking down at him with a vicious stare. "And you ran away instead of retrieving the other Elements!" he said; finishing the thief's sentence for him.

The thief's ears dropped under his hood. "There was nothing I could do, master. I didn't have enough strength to reopen the case." He stated.

"Did it ever occur to you that you could've brought the entire case to me instead of this pitiful excuse for a victory?!" The leader shouted in frustration as he stomped his left-hoof down on the floor; causing small cracks to form around it.

The thief gulped once he realized his mistake. "P-Please forgive me, master. I wasn't thinking…I won't make a mistake like that again, you have my word." He said in a begging way.

"You already gave your word when we assigned you to this task. Years of training and studying, only to be bested by a small enchanted box. You have failed me, my student." The leader growled as green electricity started forming around his sharp horn.

The thief quivered as he closed his eyes and prepared for his punishment.

But before the leader could cast any spells, he suddenly felt someone's wing wrapped around his back and he turned his head to see Zelga with a smirk on her face. "Now brother, you know there's better ways to sort this out. I mean, what use would our scout be if he was dead?"

The leader's horn stopped glowing as he raised his eye-brow at her. "Are you suggesting I let him live to continue his task?" he asked.

Zelga removed her wing from her brother's back before she answered. "I'm just saying if he was dead, who else would collect the rest of the Elements? Especially since they're not in Canterlot anymore." She said as he smirk turned into a grin.

The leader gave her a slightly shocked look. "Explain your words, sister?" he demanded.

"When was the last time you look in the Vision Pool? Matthew and Twilight Sparkle have been investigating their little missing Element problem. Celestia knew our student would return, so she assigned them to take the Elements back to Ponyville. I don't know where they hid them though." Zelga explained.

The leader then thought about the situation before he made his decision. "Very well, Zelga, you get your wish." He said before he returned his attention to the thief. "Rise, my student." He said.

The thief did as he was told and stood up.

"Like Zelga has just explained, the Elements are now somewhere in Ponyville. Your new task is to find out where they are and bring them to me, one-by-one if you have to. Am I clear?" The leader asked with a serious look in his eyes.

The thief nodded. "Yes, master. And I won't let anything or anyone stand in my way…especially Matt!" he growled.

"Good, then go forth and start your mission, my student. Continue to play your part, hide in plain sight, and don't let anyone suspect you. We'd hate for the Princess to discover where your loyalty truly lies." The leader said with a devious grin.

The thief returned his grin. "Yeah, we would." He said darkly before his horn glowed and he disappeared in a small flash.

Once the thief was gone, Zelga turned her head to face the leader again. "You know, his attempt the steal the Elements wasn't a total failure. He did bring us at least one of them after all, and you of all ponies should know what that means." She said.

The leader looked at her and nodded. "Yes…without this one Element, the rest will be powerless. But that doesn't mean Equestria is unprotected." He stated.

At that moment, Rage came over to them. "He's right. As long as Matthew lives, our plans for domination are in jeopardy. Brother, I beg of you, let me go and finish him myself." He said in determination.

The leader shot him a firm look. "No! I will not have you exposing us! If Matthew starts poking his nose in places it doesn't belong, our scout will take care of him." He said.

"You make it sound as though we can actually trust him to do this. How do we know he won't mess up again like he did last night?" Rage asked with an irritated look on his face.

"If he does, it'll be the last mess up he'll ever make." The leader answered before he turned around and made his way back to his throne.

Zelga and Rage watched as their brother walked away from them.

Just then, the leader stopped half-way across the room and looked back at them. "You shouldn't be so distrustful of him, Rage. I, for one, have full confidence in him…hahahaha." The leader chuckled darkly with a devious smile.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Ooooh, something's definitely going down here. Who is the thief? Only time will tell.

Note: To those who have Twitter, I've got some good news for you. I'm on Twitter too, so if you want to follow me, just PM me and I'll tell you my Twitter user name.

Also, do you know when I sometimes take too long on my chapters and you start wondering when it's coming? Well I feel bad when I keep you all waiting, so I'll start posting my latest chapter news on my Twitter page for you all to read. That way, I can tell you why it's taking so long.

Of course, this is an option. You don't have to follow me on Twitter if you don't want to. I'm just saying it would be nice.

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Next chapter will be up as soon as possible.