A New Recruit

[Fleet Hoof]

Eastern Residential District, December 28, Late night

Going through the back alleyways of the Eastern Residential district as quickly and quietly as possible, Fleet Hoof stopped to catch his breath.  He was lucky to get away from his latest heist... many ponies as well as Griffons have been on higher-than-usual alert ever since the riots happened.  Luckily, the Harmony foundation wasn't destroyed.  Unluckily however, it didn't escape the carnage unscathed.  Because the foundation was part of Serene's way to solve the conflict happening in Manehatten in a peaceful manner, he wanted to gather bits to help with the restoration of the foundation.  He wished that he could be back at the foundation sleeping or having a drink but couldn't, at least for the time being.

Checking that he had the pouch of bits on him, he held it in his hoof feeling the weight of it.  A decent weight. though not as much as I would have been able to get usually.  Continuing to hold the bag, Fleet Hoof wondered if it would have been a good idea to steal when the riots were happening.  He knew that probably many others would have done so without a second thought, and wondered if he should have done the same.  No matter how he tried to rationalize why he should have stolen as the riots were going on, it just felt wrong to do so.  He stopped thinking about it, as he would go around in circles reaching the same conclusion repeatedly.

Putting the pouch of bits on his side, Fleet Hoof sat down and leaned against a wall, closing his eyes for a moment.  He would gather himself, then return to the foundation.  For now, he just wanted to relax.

[Kioni]

This had been one of Kioni's best ideas in a while. Just like he had thought the riots were the best way for him to lay low considering all the guards were way to busy to try and end it to worry about him. Recently he had almost gotten caught in the act and had to make a hasty get away in order to avoid capture, seeing that all the guards were on high alert he decided to travel to Manehatten and lay low for a while and so far this plan has succeeded without a hitch. In his time here things like bits and jewelry were easy pickings but he made sure to stay away from the bigger stuff to ensure he kept a low profile.

However one night something had caught his attention, but really this something was somepony who he was now trailing into an alley way. Honestly stealing during these times shouldn't be a surprise seeing as just about everyone would do it. No what had made this pony stick out was the fact that he knew what he was actually doing and seemed good at it maybe even better than himself now that he thought about it. But this pony had a moment of weakness when he had closed his eyes which gave Kioni the perfect time to strike.

He moved carefully and quietly towards the pony with his eyes closed making sure to not make any sound. Instead of just grabbing the pouch Kioni walked past the pony and started to move his tail towards the pouch, wrapping it around it he carefully began to pick it up. 'This is way to easy, and here I thought that you might've been better than me.' He thought to himself grinning as he started to move away again now having the pouch of bits with him.

[Fleet Hoof]

Fleet Hoof felt something brush against him, which caused him to slightly crack open one of his eyes.  Seeing a griffon pass by him with his bag of bits, Fleet Hoof was pretty angry; did they know who they were stealing from?  Besides, that money wasn't even for himself!  Luckily, he knew this area like the back of his hoof and he did not, so he could stalk him mercilessly if he needed to, as he knew all of the Eastern districts' secret alleyways and paths.

Keeping up the facade of having his eyes closed, he waited for the griffon to turn its back toward him, not focusing on him.  When the griffon focused their attention off of him, Fleet Hoof quietly got up and ducked into a nearby branching alleyway that ran alongside the alleyway he was currently in.  Fleet Hoof was also fortunate that he had lots of practice in the art of stealth; he was able to move as fast as someone walking normally while still being extremely quiet.  He stealthily followed the griffon, and was preparing to get his bits back from him when the moment presented itself.

[Kioni]

'Hmm...how do I get out of here...' Kioni let out a small sigh and continued to pick an alleyway and go down it. Although, this had been repeating itself for sometime now, being only here for a few days doesn't really give one the time to scope out places like this especially when you have to stay hidden. He started to open his wings but quickly snapped them back shut and shook his head. 'Flying in the middle of the night is not a good idea which sucks because I would've been long gone after taking those bits.' Shaking his head and letting out another sigh he stopped in his tracks and began to think of which way alleyway he should go down now.

[Fleet Hoof]

Continuing to move very quietly down the alleyway he was in, Fleet Hoof made sure to keep his distance slightly behind the griffon so that he wouldn't be in the griffon's line of sight when he walked pass an alleyway connecting both of the alleyways they were walking down.

Fleet hoof saw that the griffon's hind legs stopped.  Seizing the chance, Fleet Hoof quietly walked down the connecting alleyway, and stood right behind the griffon, taking care to avoid his tail.  He got into a position to launch himself forward, and launched himself into the griffon's backside.  He hoped that he would hit the griffon with enough force to make him stagger and drop the bag of bits.

[Kioni]

Kioni was just about to resume walking until a new weight made itself known, getting knocked to the ground the coin pouch went flying off into the alleyway. Acting on instincts Kioni flared his wings open and tried to get whoever the hell it was off of him. He began to flap violently while squirming around to try regain his footing so he could fight off whoever this was.

[Fleet Hoof]

Keeping focus on the bag of bits, Fleet Hoof noticed too late that the griffon flared his wings open and started to flail.  Fleet Hoof was thrown off of him because he wasn't prepared to brace himself properly.  He managed to roll into the fall, and end up on his hooves, which was a good thing.

He spotted the bag of bits on the ground, near the griffon's tail.  He ran to pick it up, and quickly moved away from him.  Continuing to back away, he addressed the griffon: "It's pretty odd for a griffon to be stealing anything, wouldn't you say so?"

[Kioni]

Kioni felt the weight of whoever it was that jumped him get flung off but his tail didn't have the added weight from the pouch of bits he had recently taken. Spinning around Kioni began to look for whoever assaulted him and was surprised to see the pony who he had taken them from in the first place. Seeing this was definitely a surprise to him which made him freeze for a moment. He could've sworn that he was sleeping and even then he made sure to be quiet.

Noticing the pony taking a few steps back with the pouch of bits, shooting the pony a glare he kept his wings flared open and took a step forward. "I would say that its none of your business to what I do."

[Fleet Hoof]

Fleet Hoof's face held a slight smirk as he took a step back every time the griffon took a step forward.  "Well, I would say that it is completely my business what your doing.  You stole from me, so that makes it my business.  Besides... why would you need to steal in the first place?  Don't you have everything you need already?  I think that it's fair that you answer at least one of my questions for making me work more than I had to."

[Kioni]

Kioni continued to advance slowly on the pony and kept the muscles in his body tensed in order to pounce at the stallion if he tried to run away. Still keeping his glare at the Stallion he began to respond to him. "Stealing from you isn't something you can claim considering that's how you got that in the first place and I have no reason to steal other than the fact that I want to, joining up with the Griffins wasn't something that fancied me our my family for that matter."

[Fleet Hoof]

Fleet Hoof quickly glanced back to make sure that he had room to continue to move back before continuing to move back as he looked back at the griffon, getting his body ready if he were to lunge at him.  "Does it really matter how I got these bits?  The fact is that I had them in my possession before you stole it from me, so that makes it mine."  Hearing the reason why he steals, Fleet Hoof scoffed "So you steal for kicks?  That's a very sad reason for doing so.  At least I have a very good reason to steal, if I were to steal.  It's also a pretty fast way to make lots of enemies that might want you dead later on."

[Kioni]

"No it really doesn't, considering the fact that I could care less also makes me less interested, and the fact of the matter is that no one really has possession or ownership of anything, including a thief like you." Taking another step forward Kioni continued to stare down the Earth Pony for any sudden movements. "As for your reason, I could care less about it. Like I said my parents probably have a reason for not being with the Griffons and taking this profession. But who are you to judge why people should have reasons to steal other then the fact of doing it for fun and enemies, please, so long as I stay off the radar then who would try messing with a Griffon? That would cause more problems then someone would want to deal with just one thief. I can't say the same to you however."

[Fleet Hoof]

Walking backwards, Fleet Hoof spotted out of the corner of his eye a connecting alleyway.  In mock surprise, he looked back to the griffon.  "Whoa kid, no need for all the details, i just have my morals ya know?  It's a good thing to have."  Fleet Hoof smirked "Also, with the amount that you don't care, I'm guessing that you won't care that I leave"  Fleet Hoof gave a yawn "Way past my bedtime anyway.  Besides, you don't look too tough... I'm actually kinda surprised you weren't caught yet.  Well, goodnight" Fleet Hoof said as he reached the connecting alleyway, turning to go down it.

[Kioni]

With a growl Kioni took off after him but folded his wings back down, now wasn't the time to fly, but he did have one fallback plan. He was expecting something like this to happen but was really hoping it wouldn't come to this. Being out this late would mean more eyes for anything suspicious and although he was a Griffon, nothing would be able to save him if the guards ended up catching him, especially if they had some way of identifying him.

Making sure to not lose sight of his target Kioni continued to chase after the fleeing Earth Pony who had his bits that he rightfully stole. He wasn't going to let someone like him get away.

[Fleet Hoof]

Fleet Hoof was surprised that the griffon was following him, though not really surprised at the same time.  After all, someone claiming to be a thief but having no skill would be hasty and do something like chasing someone in a place they aren't familiar with...  Well, if this griffon wanted the bag of bits so badly, he could try to take it from him.

Fleet Hoof decided that since he wouldn't be going back to where he was going anytime soon, he might as well play with the griffon for awhile.  Fleet Hoof started to weave in and out of alleyways, using his knowledge of the area to try and lose him.  He also wanted to see for just how long he could keep track of him, as well as a few other things.

[Kioni]

For the most part he had managed to keep track of the fleeing Pony who he knew for certain was a resident or at least knew the place well enough from how he was moving through the alleyways. Although he was starting tire out just a bit due to lack of sleep he's had for the past few days.

[Fleet Hoof]

Fleet shot a quick glance behind him and saw that the griffon managed to keep up with him.  Persistent... why do you have to not make this easy for me? I just want to go back already... Fleet thought to himself.  Though, he also happened to notice that the griffon was starting to tire.  He continued to zig-zag through the alleyways, then he ducked into a building, hoping that the griffon didn't see him enter.

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