The moon loomed high as the night enshrouded my body. I looked up to the symbol of the moon princess. No doubt she would be disappointed in me if she were to see me now. My breathing was low and unsteady. Nearly my entire body was shaking from the tension. I crept along the walls of Carousel Boutique. It was a difficult decision, but one I had to make. I could still remember the argument I had with myself.

What’s the fastest way to make money?
By borrowing. But since we don’t really have anypony to lend the money, stealing is the next best option.
But stealing isn’t the right way to do things.
Hey! It’s that or I die.
But steal from who?
Rarity of course. She has plenty of bits. I mean look at all the gems she has! She has plenty of money to spare.
I barely know her.
That makes it even better! Less regret.
How am I going to do it?
Easy. Sneak into her house at night and look around until you find her stash. Then sneak out before she notices.
What if I get caught?
I’m as dark as night. She won’t be able to see me.

I didn’t know I was so convincing. Propping my head over the windowsill, I could see a clear view of the living room. Next thing I knew, I teleported myself in there. Hopping and crouching into a dark corner of the room, I waited.

For what seemed like an hour, the only thing I heard was my own breathing. Every time a pony teleports, a loud pop is heard wherever the pony is teleported to. Luckily for me, it didn’t seem as though anypony heard it. They were all sleeping soundly in their beds.

Rummaging through some of the drawers and closets of the first floor, I found nothing. Just the normal silverware, books, and candles. Occasionally I would stop and listen to hear if anypony was coming down. You could never be too sure.

Satisfied with the thoroughness off my search downstairs, it was time to head to the second floor. And it made sense to me. Why would anypony leave valuable possessions on the first floor? They would obviously have it in their own rooms. But that was my worst fear. Having to sneak through the rooms where ponies were actually sleeping.

As I lay a hoof on the first step, I quickly drew it back after it made a creak. It wasn’t that loud, but compared to the silence around it, it might as well have been an alarm clock. Slowly I went up. With every step I had to stop as the creaks appeared to get louder and louder. It must have been at least half an hour before I finally reached the top.

I let out a sigh. I quickly drew the air back as a pair of eyes glistened brightly in the darkness. The light green eyes stared into mine. For a long moment, we just stared at each other. I gulped as I tried to move, but wasn’t sure if the eyes actually saw me or who they belonged to. I nearly jumped in fright when I heard a meow. I sighed once more as I realized it was just Rarity’s cat, Opal.

“Quiet!” I whispered to the cat. A sharp hiss was its response.

“Shhh! You’re going to blow my cover,” I whispered. Opal hissed one more time before jumping onto my face.

I let out a few screams as the cat began to claw at my face with its tiny paws. The cat shrieked loudly as it reached for every part of my head. My face was burning in pain and the streaks of blood I felt flowing down my cheeks. Each scratch brought a new wince of pain.

“Get off of me!” I muttered.

“What’s going on out there? Is that you Opal?” I heard. Through the swinging claws of death, I saw light pouring out from under a door.

Heart pounding, I threw the wild beast off of my face. As I saw the knob begin to turn, I scrambled into the room next to me. Gently, I closed the door behind me. I placed my head against the door to hear what was going on out in the hall, the cold wooden surface soothing my scratched cheek.

“What are you doing out here Opal? Don’t you know a lady needs her sleep?” a voice said. With the only voice as high class at that, it had to be Rarity.

I heard yet another meow along with scratching on the door I was leaning on.

“What’s that Opal? Was it Sweetie Belle that was bothering you?”

Buck! I searched in the darkness for some place to hide. Looking around frantically, I found yet another room to escape to. I jumped inside, closing the door behind me as I saw the first door open.

Letting my heart beat at its normal pace once more, I leaned my head against this door as well.

“Hello? Sweetie Belle?”

A groan was heard before another pony began to talk. “Yes Rarity?”

“Were you out in the hall just now?” Rarity asked.

A pause. “No, I was sleeping in here before you came and woke me up.”

“Are you telling the truth Sweetie Belle? Opal here said you were outside just now.”

“Rarity, I have school tomorrow. I’m not going to roam around the house in the middle of the night, picking fights with Opal. I can do that in the daytime. Can you just go and let me sleep again?”

“Oh, alright,” said Rarity. “But first, let me use your restroom. It’ll only be a quick moment.”

Some muttering came before I realized the knob on the door I was leaning on began to turn.

Buck! Why does this keep happening!?! Feeling around the room, I tripped over and landed into what seemed to be large bowl. Feeling around some more, I realized I fell into the bathtub.

The lights flashed on into the room. I quickly drew my head into the tub, holding my breath as I saw the top of Rarity’s head pass by. I held my breath the entire time, not wanting to make any sound at all. My heart was thumping loudly in my chest, the anxiety numbing my body.

Finally, Rarity finished her business and trotted out of the room. I let out a large sigh of relief and pulled myself out of the tub. Peering my head under the space between the door and the floor, I checked to make sure all the lights were off. Luckily, they were.

I strolled back into the room and was about to head out to the hallway when a shout came from behind me.

“Rarity! Come back here! There’s somepony else in here!”

I turned my head to find the outline of Sweetie Belle sitting up on her bed. Turning forward to rush through the door, it slammed open into my face.

Brining my hooves to stop the pain, the lights flashed on around me.

“What the…? What are you doing here?”

I lifted one of my hooves just in time to see a frying pan about to slam onto my head. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to react. Darkness ensued as a hard knock came onto my head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened my eyes again to find myself tied to a chair. As I tried to teleport myself out of there, all that came out of horn was a spark.

“Oh no you don’t,” a voice said. I turned to face a very distressed Rarity and Sweetie Belle.

“Don’t think you can just simply teleport away,” said Rarity.

I struggled and writhed in my ropes as I tried to free myself, but it was to no avail. I looked forward again to face Rarity.

“Why, exactly, were you in my home, Night Rave?” she asked.

“I…I got lost.”

OUCH! I screamed in my head as she smacked a hoof across my face. Okay, so I could have made a better excuse than that, but still. The pain was doubled as the cat scratches opened once more.

“Don’t play smart with me Rave. Tell me, why did I find you sneaking around in Sweetie Belle’s room?”

“I was….” I started, trying to think of an excuse. But nothing came to my lips. The situation was just too strange to find a reasonable excuse on the spot. I bit my lip nervously. “I was trying to… to steal your money.”

Rarity shook her head in disapproval. With a shocking glare at me she stated firmly, “Sweetie Belle, run off to the police station. It looks as though they might have their first criminal.”

“Wait, Rarity! Hear me out first!” I pleaded. The last thing I needed was a criminal record.

“Why should I, Mr. Rave? I should have expected this kind of behavior from you. Breaking poor Ditzy’s heart and then breaking into Twilight’s home. Why, I should have expected this sooner from you. And to think Rainbow Dash said you weren’t like that…”

My ears perked up. “Wait, Rainbow Dash? She actually… Never mind that. Please, at least me have my say first, then you can do whatever you want with me,” said I.

Narrowing her eyes, Rarity brought up a chair. She sat down and waited for me to start my story.

I sighed. I wasn’t sure how many times I would have to say that story before the entire situation blew over. If it ever did. On I went, only this time, I had more to say. The extra bit of information with Vinyl brought things into a different perspective, along with the fact that I needed money for the hospital bill.

I expected Rarity to feel some sort of sympathy, but she just shook her head with the cold look she had always given me.

“Resorting to stealing I see. Is that how you plan to make your money now? By stealing?”

“Well I got a job from the Princess. And I got a second job from Vinyl, but I don’t know how well that will turn out.”

“So why do you need to steal money if you’re making your own?”

“Because it would take me years to pay off the entire thing! It’s only 100 bits per month from Celestia and that would only last about two weeks, if I really skimped. So I need some more money before the debt piles up,” I answered.

“Well I hope you enjoy your suffering. Maybe now you’ll understand how Ditzy feels.”

“How Ditzy feels?! She got her revenge by sending me to the hospital!”

“And she had every right to do so,” Rarity responded sharply.

“Wha…? No she didn’t! Nopony has the right to hurt somepony! No matter what!”

“Yes, but you aren’t a somepony. To put it roughly, you are a worthless pile of rotten apple cores that I cannot believe I wasted my time with.”

I bit my tongue hard to hold back the tears. It was like everypony was against me. Well they were, but I didn’t expect this kind of pure disgust from somepony, especially Rarity. I swallowed the lump in my throat and continued.

“Rarity, I know we may not be on good terms. But please, I’m in a tough fix and I really need some help.”

The white unicorn let out a loud laugh. “Help you? Don’t be so ridiculous.”

“Hold on, please. Miss Rarity, I don’t have any money on my own right now.”

“As it should be.”

“But! But I would be ever so grateful, if you just give me a chance. I admit, I am…. a worthless pile of rotten apples. And yes, I do deserve some of the things that happened to me. But if anything… I want you to believe that I was unlucky. That I’m not like that. I just need to get out of this hole in my life. I promise…”

“Unlucky? You chose every decision that brought you here. Are those the policeponies I hear, coming to get you?”

“I promise that I’ll do everything I can to help everypony. And I will forever be in your debt. If you could just let go of everything else, every single nasty thing you heard about me, can you find it in your heart to lend me some bits?” Element of Generosity, right?

“Never.” I would have facehoofed if I could. The situation was looking hopeless for me.

“Rarity, if I was somepony like Twilight or Fluttershy, would you forgive me if you heard my side of the story?” I reasoned.

That made Rarity think for a moment. She opened her mouth to retort, but seemed to have lost her words.

“I guess I would,” she finally answered.

“I know I’m not either one of them and you don’t know me as well. Don’t you see that Rainbow Dash helps me, even though no one else will?”

“Well I…”

“And surely Applejack told you of how hard I worked on her farm?”

“Yes, she did but…”

“And Twilight didn’t find me to be a problem before the Ditzy issue, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“So why do you believe that I am such a bad pony? Like I said: I’m. Just. Unlucky.”

The mare seemed to be at a loss for words. My eyes stared intensely into hers, burning with all the cruelty and unfairness I have received. Shuffling around in my chair, I straightened up into a more dignified position.

A long pause passed as Rarity thought quietly to herself. She kept looking at different locations as she pondered about what to do with me. The mare rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe I am saying this, but I suppose you are correct.” My eyes brightened as I heard those words. “And perhaps I was a bit harsh on you. Maybe there is a reason to help you.”

I nodded quickly, my voice locked away as I anxiously awaited for her to continue.

“So, surprisingly enough, I will help you Night Rave.”

“YES!!” I yelled out in glee. “This is absolutely unbelievable! Thank you so much Rarity!”

Bringing her face dangerously close to mine, a new seriousness was on her face. “But if I catch anything like this one more time. Just one more time. Then I will personally be the one to make sure you don’t see a pony ever again.”

I nodded slowly as she backed her head away. Scary Rarity is scary…

“So what now?” I asked.

“Well I suppose I had enough excitement for one night. And I need my beauty sleep. Tomorrow, I will go to the hospital to pay your bill. I expect full compensation for this. And for you?” Rarity took out some scissors and cut the rope that bound me. Finally able to move again, I stretched out my hooves.

“Go to her,” told Rarity.

“Go to her?” I responded.

“Go to her,” she said again.

“I’ll go to her,” I answered, understanding what she meant.

As I headed for the exit, I decided to thank her one more time. “Thank you Rarity. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Turning an eye towards me, she answered, “What are friends for, Night Rave?”