Today’s story has a clever plan to steal your heart.

Little Deceptions
[Slice of Life] • 5,527 words

Blank Slate is the greatest thief of his generation. He has robbed countless nigh-impossible marks, and his talents as a master of disguise are beyond par — truly, nopony knows who he is. 

And now he’s preparing the greatest heist in mortal memory: the treasure vaults of the Princesses themselves.

But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one past the pony who defines when ‘early in the morning’ is…

FROM THE CURATORS: Like all its characters, this story of a daring theft gone wrong has a little secret — in this case, that there are two chapters.  “It’s bizarre to say, as JohnPerry did, that the best thing about this story is how it sticks the landing,” Horizon initially wrote after be failed to notice Chapter 2, but quickly amended his statement: “It stuck the landing.”  All of us agreed.  In Chris’ words: “The ending is great, no argument.”

But there’s more to this story than a great twist, and it was that richness throughout which propelled it to its feature.  Present Perfect cited the writing’s redemption of an often-poorly-used technique: “This makes good use of talking heads, something that’s hard to do.”  And Chris appreciated the heist’s construction despite his ambivalence toward the genre: “Too often, the number one rule of good mystery writing is ignored — the reason it worked ought to be, if not solvable, at least conceivable pre-reveal.  This story does a nice job on that front.”

Little Deceptions’ richness extended to its ideas and its setting.  “What really struck me about it was the world-building,” Present Perfect said.  “We get an explanation for why a pony would turn to crime. All those magical gems … make sense, and the methods of disguise are entirely believable.”  Horizon seconded that: “The heist is a joy to read, and plays with Equestrian worldbuilding in marvelous ways.  I was debating whether to nominate it simply on the strength of Chapter 1.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Taranth discusses fertility, flowers, fandom justifications, and Shining Armor’s criminal history.
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