Once again Thiemo crossed the streets of the Empire and prayed to the great wizards to give him strength. To be safe, he added every other imaginary being who wore their trunks over their trousers to the list. It had become a small ritual for him.

The Central Bank was already in sight, a rather normal-looking building compared to all the skyscrapers around it. This was, he had learned, mostly because banks in Albion generally tended to have more floors underground than over it. Banking services to the general public was conducted on the ground floor while the three floors above served to house the administrative staff. On the fourth and last floor were the offices of the board. They probably consisted of three old stallions who did nothing but brown-nose each other all day. At least Thiemo couldn’t think of anything else that rich old farts could do up there all day. But who knew, maybe they also sat on a balcony, smoked expensive cigars, and called each other flamingos.

He walked past the bank's entrance. It was still closed. Nevertheless, a few ponies were already waiting in front of the entrance. The ponies paid no attention to him, chatting and laughing amongst themselves. To his relief, there were no foals among them. Otherwise, he would have waited until they were out of the vicinity. Danielle wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Thiemo took a sharp turn and went into the alley next to the bank. Unlike in most metropolitan areas on Earth, it was clean. There were no overflowing garbage cans, no putrid odours wafting out, no drunken hobos passed out in a stew of their own vomit. It was clean as the rest of the Empire, and raised the question of where they buried their dirt.

Just because the alley was clean didn’t mean it was empty, though. Danielle was already waiting for him. She leaned against the wall, at her feet a saddle bag. "You’re late."

"You didn't have a Royal Guard so close to your back all the time that you thought your asshole was a wind tunnel. Cadance put Flash on me." His sister giggled and picked up the bag from the floor.

"I have the masks." She opened the bag and pulled them out. This time Thiemo had to laugh as she threw one over to him.

He pulled the mask over his head. "And? How do I look?"

"Like the racist ruler of a neighbouring country." Danielle did the same thing and pulled the mask over her head. "And me?"

"Like her younger sister." Thiemo opened his coat and pulled the gun out of the holster. Next he reached into a pocket, drew out a talisman that he had ground into the appropriate shape, and placed it into the chamber. Then he handed the weapon to Danielle. "A ruby ​​like this is enough for about a hundred rounds. Strikes harder than a bullet and causes burns. No stun mode or safety."

"So don’t point at anyone. Understood." She looked at the gun in her hand and finally aimed at the wall. "Recoil?"

"Practically none." Thiemo picked up the bag and threw it over his back. "Shall we?" The young woman nodded and lowered the gun. Side by side, they went back to the corner where the alley ended in the main street. Several individual ponies were visible, but there were obviously no humans around. They remained standing just before the light of the sun could reach their feet. "I'm glad you're here."

Danielle nodded. "And remember, no Russian."

They both broke out into a sprint. Ponies were startled when they suddenly came out of the dark alley with masks of the Princesses of Equestria on their heads.

The beige-coated mare, enveloped in her thick cloak, was nervous. Her eyes flitted across the other ponies waiting at the entrance of the bank, framed by the red glasses she wore on her muzzle. She straightened her hat and caught a glimpse of the note she had glued underneath. ‘Vault three, compartment 101’ was on the note, along with the necessary combination. So far, everything had simply been too easy.

The creaking of hinges announced the opening of the doors. "Finally," muttered the mare and followed the other ponies into the bank. Unlike the rest, she did not go in line to various desks to talk to one of the usual staff members. She instead veered directly toward the stallion who was about to sit at the largest desk in the room. He was an older crystal pony stallion in a fine black tuxedo, whose mane and beard had already fallen into the grey of age, something she was sadly familiar with.

The stallion looked up when he saw her coming. "Miss Yearling! What a surprise." Instead of sitting down in his chair, he came around his desk and greeted her with a brief hug. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm just here to get something from a compartment for a friend, Mister Banknote." That was not a lie. She was here to get something, only that it was not a friend who wanted to have what was in it. This was the bank compartment of one of Equestria’s most dangerous criminals, Doctor Caballeron. In order to protect his most valuable possessions, he had rented a safe in the Empire. In it was a very old human artefact. For several years, she had been on the trail of this artefact, tracing illegal transactions, questioning the handlers, and finally getting the information she needed. She was so close.

"Okay, everyone! Get down on the ground; this is a robbery!" Yearling looked over at the entrance. What were obviously two humans wore grotesque masks of the princesses over their faces. The human with the Luna mask fired a shot from a weapon in its hand, and with a bang, parts of the ceiling rained down. Ponies screamed and hurried to do as they were instructed, while the employees ducked behind their desks. The other human closed the door. "If nobody does anything stupid, nobody will be hurt."

Yearling had met enough humans to be able to detect that it was a female with the Luna mask. The voice was also a good indication. The other was obviously male and probably the champion that Princess Cadance had sent to the arena. Of course, it was possible that another human had had a similarly conspicuous coat made, though that discounted the fact that there wasn’t another human in the Empire at this time. Well, obviously there was at least one more.

This was exactly what she had feared all this time. Everything had gone too smoothly lately. Now, however, there was no time to complain about the universe. She leapt over the director's large desk and joined him. "We need to alert the Crystal Guard."

"Pumpkin," cried the one with the Celestia mask. "Would you please melt the lock?"

"Sure thing, Honey Bunny." The gun was fired and the door’s lock melted into a lump of metal and crystal. The two were apparently not very smart. This was the only non-magically secured exit from the building. More importantly, they were increasingly ruining her plans.

"Hey! Hey you!" Yearling peered over the desk. Celestia, or Honey Bunny, had jumped onto one of the tables and grabbed one of the staff from behind it. "Come on, you open the vault."

"W-What?" stammered the young stallion as he was shaken by the human. No wonder—they were all whirling from the sudden attack.

Thousands of small crystals suddenly flew out from his coat and melded together into a staff with a hook at the top in Honey Bunny’s hand. "Equish, motherfucker! You speak it?" He pressed the staff against the head of the employee. "I said to take us to the vault and open it for us." The mare sank back behind the table and hit her face with a hoof, shaking her head. The only pony in the room who could open the vault was sitting next to her.

She could practically see the employee pointing to her cover as he spoke, "Only the director can do that.”

As it seemed, everything had been allied against A.K. Yearling today. Luckily, however, Daring Do had some options open. "Sorry, old friend," she whispered to Banknote and rammed her right front hoof into his chin. The stallion's head jerked back and banged against the desk. Then he sank unconscious to the ground.

The robbers responded to the noise. "Hey! Come out from behind the table." Daring hurriedly slipped out of her disguise. She also helped Banknote out of his suit and slipped into the expensive getup. "Don’t make me repeat myself," Luna, or Pumpkin, threatened.

With a last quick pull, she tightened the tie and stood up slowly. "Just take it easy, Miss." Luna jerked her head to indicate the middle of the room, a clear sign for Daring to come out from behind the table. Daring knew that it would be smart to follow the instructions, especially as the weapon was now pointing directly at her. The employees' eyes widened briefly as they saw Daring in the suit of the original director, but nopony gave her away. She did not know what was going through their minds, but as long as they remained silent, all was well. What was unfortunate, though, was how Luna looked at her. The eyes behind the mask seemed slightly confused. Did she know the director, or worse, did Pumpkin recognize her?

"The vault is down here."

Celestia left the poor stallion and joined Luna. He nodded to the other human, and they began to move. It was a very interesting dynamic. Although Luna seemed to be more powerful, Celestia was the real leader of the two, indicative by the fact that Luna seemed to be listening to Celestia's commands. Were the two perhaps a couple living here in the north? The nicknames were a strong indication of this theory. Then again, Daring remembered having heard something about Princess Amaryllis and Cadance’s champion being together, so it was probably someone else.

The pegasus, with her wings hidden in the suit, led the two humans down the hall and suppressed a groan at their idiocy. They both followed her and had left the hostages alone. As soon as the ponies realized this, one could count the seconds on all four hooves that it would take until someone called the Crystal Guard.

Daring opened the door that led to the anteroom of the vault, a room with fine wallpapers, dignified paintings, and in the middle, a large table with two chairs in front. There were no windows, no additional desks, and no carpeting. Here, ponies waited for an employee to bring them the contents of their compartment. Only these were allowed to enter the actual vault space, and only after the director had opened it. That happened by means of a crystal, which he always carried with him on a gold chain. At least until Daring had taken his suit from him.

One of the two humans closed the door behind them. "So," Luna said, "open it up." She didn’t need to be told twice. She pulled the crystal from the inside pocket of the suit and placed it, with her mouth, in the provided base. Immediately, the crank of the vault was set in motion. It groaned and rattled. Slowly, the round opening of the vault was revealed.

In the vault, there were practically only three gigantic cabinets containing the compartments, and in the middle were some crates that were open and filled with bits. Everything was illuminated by a crystal that seemed to grow naturally from under the ceiling. Daring was used to the sight. She had even seen larger treasures. But she was certain that these humans had never seen such a sight. However, they did not whip past her, nor did they did run to the crates filled with bits and began stuffing their pockets. Daring turned to look at them. "Will that be all?"

Damn it. She wanted these two to fall over the bits. That would have been the distraction for her to gain her own treasure. "That will be everything," affirmed Celestia. "You can go back to the others."

Just how incompetent could they be?! Enough was enough. "What's wrong with you two?" she yelled at them. "Were you dropped on your head as children or something? Not only did you leave the hostages alone, you also blocked the only safe way out for yourselves. It's almost like you wanted to be caught!" They froze. Damn it, she was right—they both had a death wish. They wanted to be caught.

"You're not the director, are you?" Luna asked cautiously, lowering the gun. "I could swear... Daring? Daring Do? "

Daring’s hoof made contact with her face again.

"You know her?" Celestia asked, pointing his staff to the mare in the suit.

"Not personally, I just recognized her."

"Okay, time out!" she interrupted. "Look, if you have a crazy fetish of holding up banks and getting caught, I'm the last one to keep you from it. But I'm here for a good reason and it’s in there." She pointed with a hoof in the direction of the vault. "That's why I'm going to go there and get it without anybody shooting me in the back."

Celestia leaned back against the table. "I have no objections. I’m just curious to know what’s so important. Not that I want to have it, no matter what it is. Pure professional curiosity." Daring did not wait any further. Time was running out and she freed herself from the suit. She flapped her wings and flew to her goal. Actually, she had thought to bribe Banknotes, but this situation worked just as well. She found the right compartment and took out the cassette within. With that, she sank to the ground again and inputted the combination into the number lock. The flap opened with a click. Hurriedly, Daring Do opened the cassette and stared at the contents. It was something white with notches in it. It was also small and would fit in her hoof. Or in a hand, she realized, when one of the humans suddenly reached for it. "Hey!"

Celestia held the object in her hands and looked at it. A chuckle could be heard from under the mask. "I’m starting to believe that these things are everywhere."

Daring grabbed at the object. The human made no attempt to prevent her from doing so. "You know what this is?"

She could swear he grinned under the mask. "I've already held two of them in my hands. And I've even used one of them."

Daring stared at the duo. Perhaps they were allies? Did they have a similar goal, maybe even the same mission? She didn’t have time to dwell on the matter. Voices could be heard from the main hall. The Crystal Guard was here. She grabbed the cassette, threw it back into the vault, and pulled the key off. At once, the door closed. "Here!" She threw the key over to Celestia. Her gaze wandered around. "The suit!" She quickly picked it up and managed to throw it into the vault before the door closed with a click. I hope you don’t take it personally, but I have to take this somewhere.” With that, she flew upwards and waited over the door to the main hall that opened.

Celestia asked Luna for the gun and placed it on the table. "A pity," he murmured, taking the crystal out of the chamber. "Legion, scan it."

"Yes, Master," a monotonous female voice announced that Daring could not place. As the staff suddenly splintered into thousands of tiny crystals and began to focus on the gun, she realized that that was what had spoken. The damn weapon was alive. It seemed to have devoured the pistol, because as the individual crystals disappeared into Celestia’s cloak, there was nothing left of it.

"Good luck, Miss Do," Luna said and squatted down on the floor, holding her hands behind her head. Celestia did the same, except that he crossed his legs in a very strange fashion.

The voices from the main hall grew louder, and moments later the door was thrown open. Two guards stormed into the room, spears pointed forward. They shouted for the humans to lay flat on the ground and stretch themselves out. However, Daring was no longer with them. As quietly as she could, she flew over their heads through the door and headed for the entrance.

It was no different in the main hall. About twenty guards were active, escorting the public and the staff outside. Two had a stretcher on their backs with the unconscious director on it. Unnoticed in all the hustle and bustle, Daring landed outside, hiding the artefact, which had been in her mouth until then, under her wing. Then she began to tremble, tears running down her cheeks. She never regretted taking those acting lessons.

Cadance had had a relatively good day so far. She had gotten Skyla to leave her room and have breakfast with her. She had finished the first draft of a new law, and the tea she had just imbibed was excellent. Her heart also ached slightly less at the thought of Shining Armor.

The law was his substitute. Up until now, they had decided everything together, and without his advice, she felt lost especially when it came to military matters. She had decided upon the creation of a council, and had worked to bring it into existence. Selected representatives of the people would form the council together with the highest ranks of their military. These would be re-elected every three years. They would help to draft further laws, rework old ones and, if necessary, reign in her absence. Everything Shining had done in his time.

Her gaze wandered back to her desk where everything on the council was meticulously prescribed on a rolled parchment. A parchment would never replace Shining, but who would ever expect that?

"Your Highness!" cried an excited voice, and half a second later, the door to her study room was pushed open. "Your Highness," one of her guards repeated breathily. All the muscles in her body tightened. Another attack?

"Speak, soldier!"

"Your Highness, General Prisma sent me. Two humans have entered the Central Bank and have taken hostages."

Cadance blinked. Two humans. Exactly two? It was not an attack, but a sick feeling spread in her stomach. Her otherwise pleasant day was quickly going down the drain.

Author's Notes:

Introducing a character I'm really looking forward too. One could say she simply will be the Lyra replacement, but no one can replace her. I actually didn't plan to let Lyra leave Equestria with Thiemo and Amaryllis. But I grew very fond of her and I'm sad that this is the end of her journey with our protagonists. But she was seriously hurt and still need therapy (For learning how to walk and because of the experience she made). Also, Daring is a sign. For what, you will see.

On another topic, some mentioned that this story is going nowhere. Actually, it is, just very slow. I like to take my time.

Special thanks to JBL for translating & editing.

I feel this video is wildly appropriate ~ JBL