Riff-raff, Street-Rat, I Don't Buy That...(Open for ONE)

Her heart was beating fast, her hooves beating on the ground even faster. Was it really worth it? It was just some bread, just some cheese. Was it worth it? It was to her. She needed to eat. Apparently the merchant didn't understand that. If only that customer had spoke to him for a few more seconds, she would have been gone. He wouldn't have even noticed the small amount of food she took to not be where it was. But the merchant did see her. And call the guards. And now she was being chased.

Again.

Ponies all watched her, though she pulled her patched hat down to cover most of her face, her scarf hiding her neck, chest, and chin. She felt something bubbling up, something she couldn't contain. This happened to a lot of ponies. It hadn't happened to her for a long while. Then again, she hadn't been caught this bad in a long while too. From somewhere, music started playing, following her. "Gotta keep..." She breathed. Then she jumped, bouncing onto one of the store's overhanging canopy. "One JUMP ahead of the breadline!" A guard tried to swing at the cloth roof with his blade, trying to cut it so she would fall through. "One SWING ahead of the sword!" She turned to the crowd of ponies, who furrowed their brows. "I steal only what I can't afford!" She tried to explain, but they only responded back. "That's everything!"

"One JUMP ahead of the lawman!" She shouted as pounced to the top of a stone roof. There were ponies there, enjoying a nice lunch with a bard playing a particularly bawdy tune. "That's all, and that's no joke!" Great. Pegasi guards. She called, "These guys don't appreciate I'm broke!" She stopped at the edge of the roof, looking over as the guards neared. The ponies on the ground yelled up in chorus. "Riff-raff! Street-rat! Scoundrel, take that!" She grinned sheepishly. Did they not know she felt terrible for stealing? "Just a little snack guys..." The guards were almost on her. "Catch that filly, take it back, guys!"

Snapdragon looked at them as one guard was barely a foot away. She smiled before jumping off the roof, sliding down the metal pole right next to it that held up a commercial flag. As she hit the ground, the crowd just got worse, shouting and cursing, most of them nobles. "I can take a hint, gotta face the facts, I'm a pony just like you!" "WHO?"
A young mare began singing. "Oh it's sad Misfit's hit the bottom! She's become a one foal rise in crime!" Another mare, who looked older and to be the first mare's mother, joined in. "I'd blame parents except she hasn't got em'!" She winced at the nasty poke, but kept running. "Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, tell you all about it when I've got the time!" Geez, did they ever give up? They followed her, guards and mares and stallions alike, yelling and shouting. "One JUMP ahead of the slowpokes!" She called back, making them angrier. She had already dug herself in a deep hole. Might as well do something with it, right? "One TRIP ahead of my doom!" She passed a bookstore. "Next time, gonna use a nom de plume!" She announced. Well, she would, if she could read.

Suddenly, the filly crashed into somepony while she was tearing through the crowd. Who was this...?

(OOC: I've always wanted to do something like this. By the way, it's a parody of Aladdin's 'One Jump Ahead'. I'd like it if somepony could use an OC that... ahem, doesn't exactly agree with theft. It would be awesome if you were a guard in disguise, or a merchant or something, but almost anypony will do! The song will go on in my next post, but for whoever replies, just be yourself. If that's okay. I hope this won't inconvienance anyone. And no, my next posts definitely won't be as long XD)

Erika looked with her usual bored expression at the young mare who had jusst crashed into her... after running from her colleagues.

She was doing an undercover scouting, and her half-armor was hidden under the black merchant's cloak she had pulled over her body. Most theives panicked and ran when they saw the flash of a special force's purple armor, which is why she preferred it this way.

She shoved the filly off of her.

"Ma'am, you've been caught running from the guard," she said calmly. "Please explain yourself before I call them again."

It was a ruse, of course. She had no need to call her fellow "guards" (nincompoops) when she had more skill and intuition than the rest of them combined. Petty theives were nothing, but they were fun to turn in, none the less.

Oh Faust, she didn't have time for this. What was she to do? By the way this mare spoke, she seemed pretty darn serious. That's the last thing she needed. After a moment of thinking, the filly spoke. "I'll explain myself if you follow me! Besides, you're gonna have to catch me first!" She tried to say it in a way to key for the mare to follow her. "I don't fancy being ripped apart. If looks could kill..." She gestured to the angry crowd and confused guards nearing. Snapdragon then took a hold of the stranger's hoof, trying to lead her a few steps before letting go. "Come on! One JUMP ahead of the hitmare!" She called, showing that she HAD in fact caught a glimpse at the stranger's armor. She more or less knew what she was. A top-rank. Didn't matter with what, didn't where, just that she was.

And it was back on. After trying to drag the mare with her, she continued on her way, both wanting and terrified that the cold pony was following her. But the song wasn't over. She could feel herself swell with speed. One good advantage for times like these. A Pegasi guard tried to home in on her, but missed, crashing into the ground. "One SKIP ahead of the flock! I think I'll take a stroll around the block!" She made a corner, glimpsing behind her to see if the mare was coming. She didn't know, everything was happening too fast. "Stop thief! Vandal! Outrage! Scandal!" Oh crud. A dead end. The crowd near closer, grunting and yelling. "Hey, let's not be too brute..." She said, flinching. "Still I think she's rather cute..." A pick-pocket and noble colt said in unison, which caused them to glare at each other. With a duck and a small smile, she wall-jumped the corners, giving off a quick salute as she got back on a roof. "Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, otherwise we'd get along!" "WRONG!" She ran across the rooftops, hoping for some strange reason that the mare was still following. It felt nice to know you weren't the only one running, though she was the only one for a real reason.

"One JUMP ahead of the hoofbeats!" "VANDAL!" "One HOP ahead of the hump!" "STREET-RAT!"

Ladders. Why did there have to be ladders. The guards that weren't Pegasi began climbing them, the chase once again close. "One trip ahead of disaster!" "SCOUNDREL!" "They're quick, but I'm much faster!" "TAKE THAT!" Now she really was cornered. She was between Manehattan's official guard, or a wild river beyond the edge of this last roof. Which would she choose. Which was scarier? She chose to go down by river in a heartbeat, and she'd make the same decision a thousand times over. She turned to the officials. "Here it goes, better throw my hoof in, hope I don't cave the roof in, all i gotta do is-" She grasped the nearest hoof, which had to be of the stranger mare's. That is, if she had followed her.

"JUMP!"

Cold. Wet. Sputter.

Erika didn't mind being wet. She didn't mind being anything. She did, however, mind that the filly had dragged her in. It was disrespectful. Uncalled for.

She leaped through the water, grabbing the filly and tumbling with her as the current threw them back and forth.

She had indeed chased after the filly, only being the slower because her cloak snagged on a stand. She ripped the thing off and charged the thief.

Nopony gets the upper hand on Erika Darknight. Nopony.

"Stop!" she commanded in a voice filled with command and authority. "I command you to stop, or I will be forced to extreme measures!"

She thought about what she could do to the young mare. Drowning her would be the obvious answer, but there were so many other ways to stop her.

The voice chilled her to the bone. It was full of force and pressure. Still a filly, it was hard to defy the instincts of listening to that female's voice. Even if it wasn't on instinct, anypony else would probably be terrified. "Fine. But we have to get to safety first..." There were gutters here, especially one they were nearing. It was less stinky and cleaner then most, packed with a couple cans of various foods, as well as a single moth-eaten chair. Since one side of the river was paved with stone since it was still the outskirts of the city, Snapdragon had made this one of her many hideouts.

The mare finished her sentence. Even though it was nothing at all what her own mother would say, it was somehow the tone, the voice, the pitch, she wasn't sure, but it got to her. Memories flashed in her mind, and she could imagine it all. The heat, even though she was shivering due to the cold river. The fire, even though she was in water. She acted without thinking, pushing and swatting the mare away, her mind comprehending that getting away from the pony would get her away from remembering.

The problem was with getting to that gutter, she had always gotten to it by land. You could get to it by the water. Anypony could. Well, anypony that knew how to swim and wasn't terrified of deep water. That seemed to be an important factor...

She couldn't swim.

She flailed, trying to claw her way to stay on the surface, but it just splashed the water into her mouth. She tried to cough it out, but she was sinking. She didn't like using law to get her way around, in fact, hated it incredibly so. But life mattered more right now, as long as what she said wasn't serious or hurt anypony. She only had a few moments before... "...Help... It's... your duty... He-" And she was under.

Unfortunately for the filly, Erika had no qualms whatsoever about letting her drown. Fortunately for the filly, Erika preferred turning in her cons alive and kicking than dead as a doornail.

She dove gracefully, snatching the filly and tossing her to the opposite shore with surprising streangth befor leaping out of the water. She tumbled to a stop on the same shore, suffering a few scratches and scrapes on her stomach and her forelegs, but the pain never registered with her. She yanked her dagger out of it's loop on her left foreleg and held it to the filly's throat.

"Fight and you die."

For a few seconds, she was unconscious due to her taking in water instead of air. Those seconds were enough for her to dream. She dreamed that instead of water entering her lungs, it was smoke, and every drop of the river that touched her burned her skin like a flame, licking at her fur. She tried to swim, tried to move. She could hear her mother screaming, her father yelling, glimpses of them through the haze and heat. Then one caught afire. Tears, so many tears. For a second believed that she if she cried enough, it would smother the flames, let her parents be okay again. But then somepony grabbed onto her, pulled away. No. No. NO. Her parents... no, not her parents... she had to help...

Snapdragon coughed, sputtering out water that was ingested through her air-pipe. She was only half awake. All she could see was the mare's face, the one who had taken her away. She didn't know what she was saying, only what she was thinking. The water made her mind fuzzy and spin. "No... No, please..." She begged. But not for the reason the mare was most likely thinking. "I've got to save my parents... They'll burn, they'll die... Please! My parents! They'll die! I... Mommy... Daddy... I can't... I can't let them... they... they need...Please! Please..." Tears streamed down her face. She must have drunk in more water than she had thought, because suddenly, she once again was unconscious.

Erika nodded to herself. Most ponies would roll their eyes or sigh at a loony pony, but she didn't feel annoyance. She wasn't capable of it.

"Get up," she commanded harshly. The tone had come from years of manipulating her normal monotonous voice, adding false emotion to it as needed. She was rather talented at faking emotion, merely because she was good at observing. She had neve felt such emotions, but she knew what they looked like, creating the impression that she was mad, or happy, or angry, or fearful Very useful in manipulating ponies. "And stop mumbling to yourself. It's-"

Great. She fainted again. Erika occupied herself by slowly drying out her mane and fur with her magic, pulling out each droplet and throwing them back in the river.

This time, her sleep was dreamless.

Snapdragon's eyes shot open, fluttering her eyelids and squinting. She tried to turn over to her stomach which she did successfully, but she still had to get all that water out of her stomach. She knew there was only one way to do, and the mare hopefully did too. It wasn't like she had a choice. After trying to quietly vomit out the water, already thinking of the stranger's well-being of her own stomach(though for some reason she doubted this kind of pony would care), she smiled sheepishly, softly. "Th...Thanks... You saved my life... I know you probably don't care though. N-not that I'm saying you're bad, just that you're used to it, and, uh, have more important things to think about." She stuttered her sentence. Boy, was she cold. She got cold so easily... Her hat was still snug on her head, since she kept it there with her magic, but her scarf was only loosely wrapped around her neck. Both were water-logged. She wiped her mouth with hoof. While she did so, she felt the water on her cheeks. Sure, it could be river water, but the droplets were warm, and with a quick taste-check, salty. She had been crying... she wondered what for? After she fell unconscious in the river, nothing really happened until this present time. While she thought about that, she realized she had a blade much too near her throat than she was comfortable with. "So... about that dagger... can I ask why it's next to my neck? I'm not dangerous... I mean, you probably don't trust me, and that's understandable! But..." She gestured to her arms. "You really think I could pack a hit harder than a beat of a fruit bat's wings? Besides, I hate hurting ponies. Hurting is bad..." Oh, she was rambling now! She just wanted to get her point across.

Erika looked sternly at the filly. She wasn't feeling stern or anything; it was just a way of getting her point across.

"Ma'am, I do want you to tell me exactly what you've stolen in the last year, and we can work out proper repayment. Robbery isn't lawful, nor is it the right thing to do. I want you to understand that, yes, you may not be able to pay for it with money, but there are other ways to exchange for goods. You could exchange labor, for example, or aid. I want to expalin to you: the merchants work extremely hard to harvest and create their goods, and to get no payment for them is extremely unfair."

What she's stolen? In the last year? How was she to remember all of that! Oh... and now she was lectured. This is becoming an absolutely terrible day. If only she could explain to her... "I can't really remember all of them... Mostly bread... I know, I know, I shouldn't be stealing. I'm sorry, I wouldn't if I could afford it... I don't like doing it, but..."

Then the mare talked about the merchants, the labor, the aid, the unfairness. Which made the filly kinda annoyed. But not. There simply wasn't a right word for it. "Excuse me?" She asked, but it was a genuine question. "I know it isn't fair to them, but please, I ask, give me some credit! I-I don't mean to be rude, I really don't, and I'm sorry, if I offend you, but some of those merchants... they're.. they're cruel! I mean, I'm sure they are good down inside, but they don't treat me fair either! Even when I have the bits they won't let me buy things from their stands, saying that 'if somepony saw them selling to a street-rat, their reputation would plunge and they would be run out of business'!" She stopped for only a moment, trying to explain, but not trying to put another pony down while doing so.

"I've tried to sell my potions, which work perfectly, but since I don't have a certificate or ever had a master, they think it's just a scam... I would kindly do labor, but I can't carry or push or scrub hard or heavy for a few hours before I collapse...I kinda have a, well, a condition, a disease... So, I don't really... well, I don't really have a choice, though I don't want to make excuses."

She turned her head. "And... to be in full honesty, though I doubt you want to hear it... it's kinda... fun to steal. Haven't you ever had one of those strange things that make you happy, even though it's kinda... immoral? In fact, I stole a vase from a museum without a dent or scratch just to see if I could..."

"And returned it an hour later, of course!" The filly added quickly.

Erika thought about what her superiors would say. It really was none of her business, but she would be chastised for not doing anything to a thief.

"Well, first off, you may or may not be living in the wrong city," she started. "There are plenty of towns that are fully accepting of anypony, as long as they're good ponies. Good ponies are always welcome in Ponyville and Trottingham. If you want, I'm sure I can get you there. There's always somepony there who can take in a pony and help her find her path.

Secondly, thievery may be entertaining, but if you continue, you may just find yourself behind bars. Bread escalates to cake, then to clothes, then to bits. Find another way to find happiness in a similar way."

She had no idea why she was helping the young mare. There was no drive to it. she was really just experimenting.

Snapdragon sighed. She didn't of course tell that she had already been fined for stealing cake and bit. Well, she DID pay for the cake. It had been her birthday, when she turned 9. The last birthday she remembered, since she lost track of the years. Left the bits on the counter as she took one cake piece when the baker was out on break, since he wouldn't usually even allow her in much less buy something.

But she did pick-pocket sometimes. The thing is, if you saw her running(though it would be unlikely, for she's both small and quick and easily gets lost in a crowd) and called out to her of how you need those bits to buy something or were saving up or don't really have a lot of money yourself, or even just asking nicely, she would just give them back and apologize. A lot. But nobles didn't really care that one or two bits were gone from their void-of-a-wallet. They just didn't like being tricked.

But leave the city? She... "I can't leave! What about Mom and Dad? I can't just leave them here outside the forest! Besides, this is my home! And if I'm ever going to find a job in Alchemy and hit big, it'll be here, the big city!" She tried to explain. But she reckoned this guard-mare probably didn't care.