Twilight Sparkle and the Master Thief

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 1
Chapter 4
Chapter 19

Chapter 2

Spike watched as Twilight sighed again.

Last night had not gone well, from what he learned. Not long after midnight, a unicorn managed to break into the castle, sent the guards on a wild goose chase, and then stole three incredibly powerful artifacts.

According to the report that…

Miss Inkwell

...gave him, the current count stood at the Bewitching Bell, which had the power to absorb magic from a pony; the Animamulet, which allowed ponies to speak with animals, and/or become enchanted into a feral state; and finally, Twilight’s own focusing amulet, the one she used to help her raise the sun and moon.

Any one of them was dangerous, honestly. Grogar’s Bewitching Bell had the most obvious effect. Most ponies still remembered last year, when three of Twilight’s enemies stole the power of Discord, the local primal manifestation of Chaos, and used it to terrorize the country. Though, if used correctly, the others were equally bad.

The Animamulet, for example, had enchanted their friend Fluttershy. The enchanted gem soon brought out the deeper, baser, animal parts of her brain to the fore, leaving her attacking ponies around Ponyville. Making the right pony go feral, then could be incredibly disastrous. Especially because they had no way of knowing how to break the Enchantment, and the only thing that they found that worked was eating the gem itself.

Normally, dragons could digest a gem easily enough, but the magic preserved it, much to Spike’s misfortune.

Then, of course, there was Twilight’s Focus amulet. Yes, Twilight had enough practice these days to lift the sun and moon on her own, but without the focus, she’d be basically useless for the rest of the day. Her magic reserves as an alicorn were huge, that was the point, but moving the sun and moon without the help would drain her of all of her energy to the point where she’d have to lay in bed and sleep until someone brought her meals to eat. She would roughly recover around sunset, where’d she have to do the whole thing over again.

Those three artifacts could be devastating to the Equestria as a whole, especially if put in the hooves of the right, or wrong, pony.

Which, apparently, was the point.

“So you’re telling me,” Twilight said, staring Azure Heart straight in the eyes, “that not only was he telling me the truth that he works for me but he was hired, specifically, to steal from me.”

Azure glanced down. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Why?” she asked.

“He’s...” Azure began. “He’s what he would call an expert, Your Highness. He is frequently hired to test our defenses at random times to simulate an actual thief.”

Twilight nodded. “That part I understand,” she said. “The term is ‘White Hat’ right?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“The part I don’t understand is that you’ve confirmed for me that he is still actively stealing things in a criminal sense.”

Spike raised an eyebrow as he glanced over his report, expertly hidden by a comic book just for Miss Inkwell’s sake.

“It’s...complicated,” Azure said. “From what my predecessors tell me, Princess Celestia had a working relationship with him, and hired him because of his criminal activity.”

Twilight looked at him like he was growing a second head.

Spike simply shook his head. “Hope you came prepared, Azure,” he thought. “She’s going to want proof.”

“Do you have proof of this?” Twilight asked, and Spike mentally chalked up another point for himself.

“Unfortunately not, Your Highness,” Raven interjected. “Those records no longer exist.”

Twilight turned to her. “Why?” she asked.

Raven blushed. “B-because I...got rid of them, Your Majesty.”

“Did you now?” Spike said as he looked over to her, smiling. “That’s going to hurt your score there, Miss Inkwell.”

Raven glared up at him, anger burning in her eyes. “I did,” she said.

“I feel like a broken record here, but why?” Twilight asked.

“It was my mistake, Your Highness,” she said in a resigned tone. “I was making room in the archive and...underestimated the value of those documents.”

Twilight brought a hoof to her face and sighed. “Okay, so he was here to steal from us, but that’s because we hired him to do it. He’s a criminal, but Celestia hired him despite that, but we don’t have proof of that. Is that about right?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” both Raven and Azure answered.

Spike decided he’d finally speak up. “Well, if that’s the case, you should probably go talk to him.”

All eyes turned to him.

Spike shrugged. “Look, Twilight, if you’re going to have to make a call about whether to trust him or not, then you’re going to have at least talk to him to know what kind of person he is.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s fair.”

“I think it’s unnecessary,” Azure said. “He’s shown himself trustworthy under Celestia.”

“Competent, I can believe,” Twilight said. “Trustworthy? Well, I’m much less sure about that.”

Azure nodded.

Twilight stood. “Come on, Spike,” she said, “let’s go talk to our thief.”

Spike stood with a smile, before sending one more sideways glance at Raven, before following Twilight out of the small meeting room.

Raven glared at him. “I hate how smug he is.”

Azure sighed. “Spike the Dragon is a hero of the Crystal Empire, and one of Princess Twilight’s oldest friends. It’s natural to be jealous of the attention her Highness gives him.”

“I am not jealous of that runt,” she growled.

Azure nodded. “Of course not,” he said flatly.

Raven glanced at him. “I have served Princess Celestia for a decade; I have more experience at running this country than her Royal Highness herself. That little winged runt has nothing on me.”

Azure shook his head. He wasn’t sure how this mutual hatred between the two advisors began, but he certainly didn’t want to get caught between them. “I have some business to attend to. Best of luck, Raven.”

---$---

Spike followed Twilight down to the dungeon. She carried a light with her, down the stairs, and straight to the thief’s cell.

“And there she is!” Night Silk said as he got up from his cot. “I was wondering when we’d get a chance to talk properly.”

“Night Silk, was it? I heard you were hired to test our security.”

“That is correct!” he said, from behind his bars, smiling. “By the way, you need to seriously improve a few things.”

“Oh, do I?” Twilight asked.

Spike watched her as she spoke. She was definitely trying to keep a royal, imperious air. She worked very hard on that tone, he knew, and he also knew that it gave her an edge when dealing with ponies that she wasn’t sure to trust.

“Oh, definitely,” Night replied. “For one, your guards were a little over-zealous. They all rushed in, ready to prove that they were competent, and in doing so, were easily distracted. That’s the main reason why I don’t tell the ponies I’m testing when I’m coming.

“The second problem was one that I’m sure is easily fixed, and that one is: lock the doors to your magical item vaults. You never know when somepony can just walk on in and take whatever they want.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that.

“Third,” Night continued, “your guards need to be more conscious of what they pass when moving through hallways. I wouldn’t have been able to get to your bedroom if the guard who’d been outside your door had: first, stayed at his post, but more importantly, if he had been aware of what was going on around him when he moved. I was hiding above him as he moved through the hallway, all he had to do was look up to catch me, but well…”

“I find it hard to take that advice when you have shown that you’re an illusionist,” Twilight said. “My guards reported that you used Thornoak’s Transposement—”

“Control Image,” Night said.

Twilight paused.

Spike could see the royal facade crack for a moment as her thought was interrupted, and smiled to himself when her inner nerd began to show itself.

“Y-yes...Thornoak’s Transposement does use the Control Technique with the Image Form, but to simplify Thornoak’s work to just the Technique and Form ignores so much of the astral geometry and refinement of the spell—”

“Princess, I’m no mage. I know Control, Create, Matter, and Image. That’s average for a unicorn, at best. Yes, I do have illusions that I can use, but when I’m with clients, I use them for distractions at most. I play fair, after all.”

“And you expect me to believe that a thief plays fair?” Twilight asked, returning to her colder mask.

“I not just a thief, Princess,” Night said with a smirk. “I’m a Master Thief.”

“And the difference is?”

“Why, Princess, I’m hurt,” Night said. “I would have thought you and Celestia would have discussed this.”

“We never got around to it, between saving the world and my coronation,” she replied.

“That’s a shame, but I understand,” Night said. “The difference between the common thief and me is that I steal from ponies that deserve to be stolen from.”

“And what makes somepony deserve it?”

“A few things. The challenge is one factor. That’s why I work for the castle, stealing from a compound with well-protected treasures and a full team of guards to work against. Speaking of,” he said, before reaching back into his mane to pull the Time Twirler free. “The fourth problem: your guards need to search your prisoners better.”

Twilight’s facade broke again. “Give me that! Don’t you know this thing can explode?” She grabbed the amulet with her magic, before pulling it into a magical bubble to protect it.

“Yes,” Night said simply. “That’s why I stole it, Princess.”

She glanced up at him.

“If I, a thief, can get a hold of something like that, then you weren’t protecting it well enough. That’s why I targeted the magical artifacts that I did. Each of these pieces could devastate the country if used properly, so each of these needs to be properly protected.”

Twilight put her facade back together, but Spike was sure that the thief had seen through it by this point. “So Challenge, what else then?”

“Well, the challenge is only a part of it. You’re a decent pony, at least from what I’ve seen so far, and that means I shouldn’t take from you in any permanent sense. You’re the kind of pony I return things to. No the ponies who deserve it are typically, well, thieves themselves.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You steal from thieves?”

“Of course, who better to steal from?” he asked. “At that point, it’s hardly even stealing. Celestia used to hire me to free all kinds of things from rival thieves.”

Twilight sent Spike a glance.

He shrugged.

Honestly, it was hard to say if that was a thing Celestia would do. It certainly had the mischievous flair that Celestia was known for, but the legality of it put it somewhere in the questionable realm. Spike wasn’t sure if that was the truth or not.

“And,” he thought to himself, “without the records that Miss Inkwell got rid of, we don’t have a real way of knowing for sure.”

“I also provide all kinds of espionage services and the like. Or at least I hope to,” Night added. “The deal I worked out with Celestia was rather profitable, with something like a few million bits from the security budget, and I would enjoy seeing that deal continued.”

Spike raised an eyebrow at that, and he looked at up the Princess, who was already returning his gaze.

“Well, that’s interesting to hear,” Twilight said. “Because I was going to have to call you about that security budget.”

“You were?” Night asked.

“Yes, specifically to say that I don’t think your services will be necessary for the future.”

Night blinked at her. “You’re only saying that because you don’t understand the services that I do offer.”

“No, I think I do,” she said. “Now, yes, you have pointed out the large problems with our current security set up, and I will be making moves to fix the problems you described. Yet your additional services, the ones that Celestia supposedly asked you take care of for her, are not something I’m interested in. At all. Honestly, Equestria, the Equestria I have been building since my coronation, is not the place for this kind of activity.”

Night blinked. “I’d laugh, but that statement actually, physically hurts me with how naive it is. Princess, what you want doesn’t matter. A country, no matter how well policed, or how filled with love and tolerance as it might be, will have a criminal element. That’s why it’s a crime.”

“And I have guards to take care of that criminal element,” she replied.

Night brought a hoof to his face. “Princess, I’m not talking about your common criminal. I’m talking about organized crime. Organized crime doesn’t fall because one pony was arrested.”

“It can if I arrest the right pony.”

“The right pony isn’t going to be arrested because they’re just hiring ponies to do the job for them. That’s how organized crime works!”

Twilight shot back with an argument, but Spike could already tell that it wasn’t going to mean anything to the stallion. Admittedly, he had a point, so shutting him down wasn’t going to be easy, but Twilight had a history of trying to argue a point she thought she was correct about, as though tearing a hole in one argument was all it took. He could tell that this was going to go nowhere quick.

“Twilight, can I make a suggestion?”

Both ponies, nearly in a full argument now, stopped to turn to him.

“I think what he needs is a chance to prove that he’s as indispensable as he claims.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “And what do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said,” Spike replied. “He can argue that the ponies he steals from deserve it, but without giving you the breakdown of how, you’re not going to believe him.”

“Well, yes, but…”

“So I think what he needs to do is show us how useful he is. He does some jobs, and if we think that it’s worth it, then we keep him. If not, we make him a security consultant.”

“How’s that supposed to help?” Night asked. “I can break down my jobs all she wants, but—”

“It’s fair, at the very least,” Twilight admitted. “I’m not the biggest fan of the idea, but it is fair.”

Night blinked. “You’re going to go with this?”

“Spike brings up good points, and if I’m going to end your job—which Celestia supposedly allowed—then the last I can do is offer you a chance to plead your case. That’s the fair and just thing to do.”

Night raised an eyebrow. “Alright. You want to make this a bet, let’s make it a bet. You’re going to let me go, and then I have three months to prove that what I do is indispensable. Any job I do during that time will have no legal consequences, because I’m sure that’s going to come up eventually, and I’m not going to be held responsible for stuff I did to try and make a point to you.”

Twilight blinked, before looking at Spike.

“He…” Spike began. “He does kind of have a point. He’s literally going to be admitting to you about breaking and entering.”

She nodded. “That’s...fair. Why give yourself a time limit, though? I was going to assign one myself, but you offered one on your own.”

“I never work without a time limit,” he said. “Typically, because the security teams have a few minutes before they hit peak efficiency.”

“Alright, three months then,” she said. “If you don’t manage to convince me by then, we’ll arrest you for any thefts you make that aren’t to help us improve security. Though, if I’m honest, I don’t know if we even need you then.”

“Princess, you’re going to have to be able to catch me for anything that’s not testing your security systems, and even then, you’re going to have a hard time.”

“Do we have a deal?” Twilight asked.

“We have a deal,” Night said. “I assume the guards will come by with the key to my cell?”

Twilight nodded. “I'll send somepony.”

“Wonderful. In the meantime, I suggest a decent lock on your artifact door in the donjon.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Noted.”

Night smiled. “Until we meet again, then, Princess.”

“Until then,” she said, before turning and leaving.

They marched up the stairs for a bit, but once Spike was sure they were out of hearing range, he spoke up. “That wasn’t a bad meeting.”

Twilight sighed. “I didn’t keep my cool as much as I wanted to.”

“No, but to be fair, one of those times, he revealed that he was basically holding a bomb.”

She sighed again, before holding up the Time Twirler. “I really should just return this to Sunset,” she said. “Keeping this in Equestria is too risky at this point.”

Spike grimaced. “I-I think that was kind of his point.”

“Yes, Spike,” she sighed, exasperated. “That is his point, and it’s a great point, and he’s right about this one thing. He’s not right about robbing ponies blind, though.”

“I didn’t say he was,” Spike said.

Twilight sighed, and Spike could see her shoulders relax. “I know, he just...He gets under my skin for some reason.”

Spike shook his head.

Twilight turned to one of the other guards. “Go release the prisoner; he was here to test our security.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” he replied before he disappeared down the stairs.

“Do you think it’s because he’s a criminal?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know what it is,” Twilight said. “Not that it matters. By the end of three months, he’s not going to be a problem anymore.”

Spike smirked. “You still did a good job,” he said. “I’d bet Celestia would be proud of how you handled that.”

She nodded. “Unless, of course, she actually did hire him.”

Spike frowned before the sound of armor clanking sounded behind them. They both turned to see the guard coming up behind them. “Your Highness! Your Highness!”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“He escaped!”

“What?”

The guard held out a small piece of parchment. “He left this.”

She took it and glanced at the page.

P.S., you should also try better locks on your cell doors.

Until next time, Night Silk.

Twilight sighed.

Chapter 3

Night Silk took the first train to Manehatten, where his favorite hideout waited for him. The safehouse itself wasn’t impressive by any stretch. The small room was barely a closet by comparison to some of the nicer places he robbed but was close to his best informant, Newsie.

The parchment-colored pegasus mare stood on a street corner, next to a stand of newspapers. The Manehatten Tribune didn’t officially hire her, what with being fourteen, but she had to make cash somehow, and the Tribune needed a bit more sales, so they forgot the fact that she was so young and ignored her blank flank.

She glanced up. “Well, well, if it isn’t Night Silk. Haven’t seen you in a bit.”

“Hey, Newsie!” Night said with a smile, as he flipped her a coin and grabbed a paper off her stand. “Ya heard the news?”

“That some coin-flanked moron tried to rob Princess Twilight blind, only to be thrown in the dungeons? Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

“At least he’s a handsome, coin-flanked moron,” Night said, referencing the coin cutie mark he wore. “Can you imagine if he didn’t have the charm to talk his way back out of the dungeon?”

She glared up at him. “Look, I’m glad you’re okay, but I’ve got bills to pay, so if you need info, get to the point.”

Night nodded. “Well, let me catch you up on a few things,” he said. “Part of getting out of Canterlot’s dungeon meant that I had to make a bet with Princess Twilight.”

Newsie frowned, showing an emotion besides annoyance for the first time. “A bet?”

“Surprise, Princess Twilight doesn’t trust me for some reason. So I’m going to have to prove that what I do is worth it.”

“Ew,” Newsie said.

“Tell me about it,” he said. “So I need something to start messing up. Got any news?”

“Ponies to steal from that the Princess would approve of?” she asked. “I don’t…” she began. “I don’t know what the bit—”

“Hey, hey!” Night said. “The Princess is a good pony. An idealist and naive, maybe, but a good pony.”

“Alright, alright,” she groaned. “Okay, so something an idealist would think is great.”

Night nodded, flipping through the paper.

“Do you think messing with Blackjack’s Protection racket would work?” Newsie offered.

“Blackjack’s back up and running again?” he asked.

“She’s started on the bad side of town again, now that the guards have relaxed out there.”

“That’ll be good. Showing her that her guard isn’t quite as competent as she thinks should help show her why I’m useful.”

“Sounds like a plan then, doesn’t it?”

He nodded. “I’ll have to hit up the old warehouse then.”

“Give the guards a swift kick for me.”

“Probably not going to happen, but I’ll be thinking about it.”

Newsie shook her head and waved him off.

“Hey, Newsie,” Night called to her, getting her attention one last time. He tossed her a small bag of bits. “Keep the change.”

She nodded her thanks.

---$---

Twilight sat at a table with her advisors. “So, that is our plan. He has three months to prove that he offers the service that we need.”

“Three months seems like a long time to give him,” Raven noted.

“He suggested the time,” Twilight said, “but I’m probably going to come to my decision long before that. In the meantime, I would like to talk with all of you about Night himself, and why no one told me about him.”

Captain Azure answered first. “His work was beneath your notice, Your Highness,” he said. “His work was to test our security, you needn’t know about him at all. The only reason you learned of his existence was that he managed to get into your bed-chamber, and I take the blame for allowing such to happen.”

“And when I asked about the security budget, you didn’t think that was a good time to mention that one of the two ponies that receives a tenth of that budget was a thief?”

“I maintain that he was beneath your notice, Your Majesty,” Azure said. “I said as much in the budget meeting.”

“You did,” she replied, “though I have to wonder if your insistence that I shouldn't meet him has an ulterior motive?”

Azure didn’t reply.

Twilight sighed before turning to Raven. “As for the evidence that you managed to get rid of, we’ll hopefully have an answer sometime this week. I sent a message to Celestia this morning, just after I met with Night Silk. With luck, we’ll have a response within the week.”

“I thought Spike could send a message directly to her?” Raven asked.

“His method of sending messages means that he sends messages to the crown, and the pony wearing it,” Twilight said. “She can send a message to Spike, but I have to rely on the mail system right now. Regardless, we’ll have an answer soon.”

“Now that we’ve covered that," Twilight continued, "we need to talk about what you did know. Because, as you have frequently pointed out, you have worked with Celestia before, so how much did you know of Night before last night.”

“Honestly, Your Majesty, I never knew,” she said. “I dealt with more of the bureaucracy, and this was certainly not something that Celestia shared with me.”

“So you were the only pony that knew about this, Azure?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, Your Highness,” he replied.

“So the point stands that you didn’t tell me about him,” Twilight said. “How do you expect me to rule when you’re hiding things like this from me?”

“It would not have hindered you, your Highness,” Azure said. “I simply did not mean to distract you.”

Twilight sighed. “I think we’re done with this topic for today,” she said, before standing. “I have to hold court; in the meantime, Raven, can you bring me anything you can find on this pony?”

“The ones that—”

“Any records you can find. Where he was born, who his parents are, if he has a criminal record or not. Whatever you can find,” Twilight said, standing. “If I can’t know about the jobs he’s done, then I want to know everything else I can know about this pony.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she said with a bow.

Twilight frowned before she made her way out of the council room and toward her throne room.

---$---

Night stood in his safehouse, glancing up at his chalkboard.

No safehouse was complete without a chalkboard, as far as Night was concerned. How else were you expected to gather information on your target and organize it properly? He stuck another page to the chalkboard with a magnet and took a step back to glance at what he had.

Blackjack ran the largest gang in Equestria, though saying that didn’t give the full picture of what was going on. The truth was that Blackjack’s crew was closer to being a mafia, with herself as the don. Though honestly, Night almost wished she was more like the kind of mafia you’d see in the movies. It’d certainly make her more exciting.

Each and every gang member was a professional criminal. Some were blackmailers, thieves, and she even had a few murderers in her employ, but the guard wasn’t terribly concerned with arresting them. Not because they were lax or anything, but Blackjack’s gang had enough influence in the prison system that the only thing the guard managed to charge members with were minor crimes like petty theft or littering. If a guard did catch them for something more substantial, a member would just sit in jail, in a nice, cushy cell before somepony came to bail them out.

Most guards just didn’t bother because they didn’t stay in jail long enough.

The trick was trying to prove this to the Princess.

Proving guard attitudes was going to be tough. He could steal the arrest records, but that seemed excessive when he considered that he could probably ask the Princess to pull them up. Even still, that would only prove that there were ponies that were using the jail as a revolving door, which considering that the gang members were only getting pulled on misdemeanor charges, didn’t prove much.

What he needed to do was prove that these crooks were up to something more nefarious.

He currently had a map of Manehatten hanging on the board, with Blackjack’s warehouse marked. He knew that more professional criminals sometimes kept records, but Blackjack did her best to only to be as organized as she needed to. Finding a ledger of some kind would be ideal, but unlikely.

He had the protection racket route laid out. He could grab the collection and split it between the victims, but that didn’t give him the proof he needed.

He had a basic layout of the warehouse picked, so he could infiltrate and grab everything from the lair if he wanted to, and that probably had his best chance to find any proof they carried.

He didn’t like his chances on this one, to be honest, but it had to be the best chance. Not only that, but until somepony like Boot Legger or Moon Light started making larger moves, Blackjack was the biggest threat he had to work with.

He narrowed his eyes before sighing.

He had to hit the warehouse. By the time that the gang members got back to the warehouse, they would have processed it and started to distribute the cash amongst the gang members, making it nearly impossible to return the money. Unfortunately, that would be the best time to hit the warehouse, because the members would be spending their payday on booze.

“Well, Princess, I hope you’re happy,” he said. “I’ll get you evidence, but it’s going to cost some ponies their paychecks.”

He’d have to do some rudimentary scouting tonight, and with luck, he’d be able to hit them in a couple of days with the scheduled thunderstorm. Still, scouting was important here, mostly because these were the kinds of ponies that didn’t toss you in jail when they caught you.

He silently admonished himself for trying to hit Princess Twilight’s bedroom, but he was trying to make a point. Still, that was a dumb move for him. Sure, if she had been asleep, then he might have been able to slip past without waking her, but she was a powerful mage. Of course, she would have an alarm spell on the bell.

Anyway, he had to do some scouting.

---$---

“This is all we have, Your Highness,” Raven said, setting a folder in front of Twilight.

Twilight opened the folder and began to search through the pages. Most of the material did seem to match what she saw, a pony about 28 years old, a warm-grey coat, gold and ivory mane, gold coin cutie mark.

So far, the only thing the file did was prove that his name was, in fact, Night Silk.

“The first record of him appearing was back twenty-five years ago when he showed up at an orphanage before being moved into foster care,” Raven explained. “Once he became a teenager, he was in and out of several juvenile correction facilities, then once he turned twenty, he disappeared.”

“How exactly?”

“No financial records, no new criminal records, no higher education records, and no name for a mortgage. You would have almost thought he died if not for the lack of a death certificate.”

Twilight flipped through the file. He had a few counts of petty thievery, but nothing too serious. “No birth certificate, either?”

“No, Your Highness,” Raven replied.

Raven placed down another file. “These are reports of a pony that matches Night’s description at various crime scenes, though there’s no direct evidence linking the two.”

Twilight opened the new folder and quickly perused the contents. A pony of Night’s description was seen at a warehouse that held several illicit substances and a few illegal magical items. The items themselves weren’t incredibly dangerous, but they were illegal nonetheless.

Twilight mused for a moment, wondering if Night owned the warehouse, or if he had been useful in revealing the location to the guard.

She glanced at another one, where a pony of his description was seen at a privately owned museum. Apparently, this particular photo was the only suspect in an incident where a pony had stolen a relic.

“Oh yes,” Twilight thought, “Just stealing from those who deserve it, aren’t you?”

Raven stood beside the table, waiting for instruction.

Twilight sighed. “Alright, thank you, Raven. I appreciate it.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” she replied before stepping out of Twilight’s room, where Azure was waiting for her.

“Well, what’s she thinking about doing?” Azure asked.

“I think she’s seriously considering this bet.”

Azure sighed. “Wonderful, I suppose that means that Night will be speaking with the Princess more often now.”

“Why are you so against the Princess talking with Night?” she asked.

“She doesn't need to associate with a pony like him,” he replied. “Not so soon into her reign, at least.”

“I'd hardly call what she's doing “associating,’” Raven said.

“We know that,” he said, “but will the ponies out there know that? What if the press found out that a known thief continues to appear before and speak with the Princess? At best, you have whispers of favoritism in Justice; at worst, she becomes a tyrant that uses criminals to punish those she cannot reach within the law.”

“That’s the craziest thing I’ve heard,” a new voice said as both of them turned to see Spike make his way down the hallway toward both of them. “If she wanted to be a tyrant, she would just change the law.”

Raven sent Spike a glare, which the dragon returned.

“I agree with your sentiment, Master Spike,” Azure said. “Though ponies have a way of ignoring certain information in favor of others. Celestia had the benefit of ruling for so long and so well that if a pony said she was becoming a tyrant, they would be labeled a madpony. Princess Twilight does not have the benefit of more than a thousand years of ruling to defend her.”

Spike nodded. “That’s fair, I suppose.”

“But if the Princess wishes to humor this bet of his, so be it,” Azure said. “I would much rather the Princess be a mare of her word than to turn against him for her own gain.”

Spike sighed. “I think this got way too complicated.”

“Honestly, Master Spike,” the Captain said. “I think that’s something we can all agree on.”

---$---

Night landed softly on the rooftop as softly as he could. Climbing up to the roofs was always the most challenging part of these scouting missions, but they were almost always worth it. Very few ponies bothered looking up, so sitting on top of a roof helped hide him far better than shadows.

Still, what he wouldn’t give for a Transform Body spell to make climbing easier. Increasing the power of his muscles for a good jump would be amazing, though it would probably take him a week to recover from casting it.

He crouched against the roof, glancing down from his vantage point. Blackjack’s warehouse stood like a shadow against the reflected light of the moon on the Celestia Sea, looming on the docks like some kind of massive beast. From his lookout several stories up, Night could see lights dancing inside from the windows, betraying the seemingly abandoned facade.

Looking down, he could see that he didn’t have a good angle on getting into the warehouse covered. The building was isolated, across the street from his small apartment building, and the walled-in yard left a long stretch of open space with such little cover that he wouldn’t have a chance of hiding without using spells.

The only good news concerning the courtyard was that it had several storage containers that hugged the walls. He could see the open doors of a few, and even a pony on watch sitting in one of the empty boxes.

The warehouse itself didn’t seem too promising either. The large, sliding door at its front was no doubt guarded and would only lead to him getting caught if he tried to go through there. His best shot would be the broken windows along the sides, but he couldn’t guarantee that the other side of the windows would have a platform to land on.

His knowledge of the inside of the building was outdated. His options to get inside was limited. The chances of crossing the courtyard to get to the building were slim. He didn’t even have a promise that the inside of the building had what he was looking for.

He smiled.

This was the kind of challenge he was looking for.

Night quickly found himself musing on ways across the courtyard. He could try the “Transposement” spell he used to climb into the castle, but that just meant that the guards would see him approach from the opposite side at best. The guards would still know someone was here, and that someone was trying to break into the warehouse, which did not have the sprawling grounds to keep ponies away long enough to get his job done.

Besides, since control spells took continual energy to fuel, he would be tiring himself out before he got to the warehouse proper. No, his magic would not give him the answer here; he would have to find another way in.

Maybe approaching from the water? Or perhaps he could try using the storage boxes somehow? How could he best use the downpour? Would it be thick enough to make something of a smokescreen? Did he dare hope for some mist?

He tapped his chin as he thought, and continued to smile as he watched the warehouse.

Again, a Transform Body spell would be great. Just a Transform Image would make this easy, but he’d have to worry about that another day. Besides, he could do this.

These ponies wouldn’t get close to catching him. They weren’t even in the same league as he was.

After all, he was a Master thief.

Chapter 5

Twilight Sparkle waited in her tea room, sipping at a small cup of raspberry tea. She always preferred fruitier teas to Celestia’s classical oolong. The Princess figured that it was a holdover from her time as Celestia’s student, specifically when she was young and tried to cover the bitter taste of leaves with sugar and honey.

She checked the large standing clock against the wall, one of the hundreds that dotted the castle grounds. Night had a minute and a half to fulfill his hour deadline, and Twilight felt exceptionally punctual today.

In retrospect, the abundance of clocks seemed obvious. However, one time, many years ago, she questioned why Celestia had so many clocks. She once assumed that Celestia had a near-perfect sense of timing, or at the very least, a very reliable alarm clock. Though Twilight had to admit, that having clocks almost literally everywhere had its advantages. Especially after the one time she accidentally had an all-nighter in the Castle’s archive.

She wondered if ponies were still upset about the time the sun rose at 10:30 in the morning.

The minute hand clicked over, and just as it did, Night entered the room. “There you are, Princess.”

“You’re late,” Twilight said simply.

“I’m on time,” he argued.

“On time is late,” Twilight said. “Early is on time.”

Night raised an eyebrow. “If you say so, Princess.”

Twilight glanced at him before motioning to the spot opposite her, a cup of tea waiting. “Go ahead, and take a seat, Mr. Silk.”

“Mr. Silk?” Night asked, taking the seat indicated. “I wasn’t aware this was a formal meeting.”

“Let’s focus on the matter at hoof, please,” she said.

“Yes, let’s,” he said, sipping at his tea, before adding some cream.

“The question is simple. What kind of jobs did you do for Celestia?”

“Directly to business?” Night asked. “No preamble? No small talk?”

Twilight set down her cup of tea and summoned her best, unamused glare.

Night smiled. “As you wish,” he said. “I did what her guards could not. If Celestia needed something stopped, and couldn’t legally send her soldiers in to deal with it, she sent me.”

“So you’ve claimed,” Twilight said, “but you haven’t given me any actual examples or evidence of that.”

Night glanced up at her. “Doesn’t the ledger prove that I get things the guards cannot?”

“It proves that you can bring me a book,” Twilight said. “One that I can’t prove you spent two days writing names in, to blame it on some criminals to make a point.”

“You think I counterfeited a ledger?” Night asked. “I mean, I grant you that would be a great way to beat the bet without really trying, but that’s going a little far.”

“I don’t think it is,” Twilight said. “But let’s not get distracted. Tell me about one of these jobs you’ve done, so I can get a better grasp of what exactly Celestia hired you for.”

Night sighed. “Alright, let’s start with…” he began, trying to decide which story to tell. “Let’s start with Boot Legger.”

“And who is this Boot Legger?” Twilight asked.

“A smuggler, as his name suggests,” Night answered. “He specializes in anything and everything that needs to be moved without your guards finding out.”

“Does he?” Twilight asked.

Night nodded. “Anything from drugs to slaves.”

“Slaves?” Twilight asked.

“Weren’t you aware, Princess? There’s a full-on trafficking economy in the underworld.”

“I’ve been to the underworld,” Twilight said, “and there most certainly is not!”

Night blinked. “The criminal underworld?”

“Oh...my mistake. Continue.”

“For the most part,” Night said. “I’ve worked very hard to kill that economy, mostly at Celestia’s request. You can almost say she commissioned me for it.”

Twilight frowned. While stopping a trafficking ring was definitely something Celestia would do, she wondered why she didn’t do something about it herself.

“You don’t think she’d do that?” Night asked.

“No. I’m wondering why she just didn’t bring down the full fury of the solar guard. They would crush any kind of effort to keep the venture going and discourage anyone else from doing the same. I suppose the question is, why would she bother sending you when she could nip this in the bud.”

“That’s incredibly innocent of you to believe that ponies would stop after that,” Night said, “but you’re right, in a way. You see, I was leading the guard to them. Celestia typically hired me to find them, grab all of the keys so they couldn’t move the creatures without ripping the cages up. That typically gave the guard enough time to come in, make the arrests, and release the creatures from bondage. It was a pretty sweet gig, all things considering.”

“You’re not going to make a comment about how arresting them was pointless because they just got out?” Twilight asked.

“Oh Princess,” Night said with a sip of his tea, “Celestia didn’t give them a chance to get out. She executed them.”

Twilight blinked.

“She wiped out the slavers cell by cell,” Night said. “All she had to do was hire me to find them and slow them down to keep them from escaping.”

Twilight frowned again.

“Boot Legger,” Night continued, apparently missing her frown, “keeps sticking around somehow. Though he has, for the most part, stopped dealing in sentient creatures. He still manages to move hundreds of pounds of drugs, endangered animals, and who-knows-what other contraband to anyone with the coin. He even works with Blackjack at times, smuggling in items to prisoners for resale.”

“And how do you fit into all of that?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, pure sabotage,” Night said with a smirk. “I mess with his couriers and occasionally set some of his warehouses on fire. Or make sure the animal cages open suddenly, that kind of thing.”

“I see,” Twilight said, lifting her cup to her lips for a sip. “Anything else?”

“I do some counter thieving as well,” Night said. “There’s this noble’s son named Moon Light that goes around trying to steal from perfectly respectable individuals. He’s young and likes to play a crime boss, and he usually wouldn’t be an issue. Still, he’s managed to hire several competent thieves to go with him on these inane ‘adventures’ of his.

“They’re mostly in it for the money, which Moon Light has in droves. In fact, Moon manages to frequently bail out his little crew with the funds he collects from his father, and whatever he sells to the stallion that acts as his fence. I typically try to steal it all back before Moon gets that far, but I do what I can.”

“And you don’t bring the guard with you to catch them?” Twilight asked.

“So I can copper and silver them to death?” Night asked. “Moon’s young, but he’s not dumb. All of his targets are just under felonies. He just collects so many of them that when he’s caught, it doesn’t cut into his profits, and he is always good for the money.”

Twilight frowned further. “So what about this Blackjack you mentioned. How do you normally deal with her?”

“Typically, by making sure she loses more money than she makes,” Night replied. “I don’t have a good way of dealing with her more physical crimes, so the best I can do is sabotage her gang’s infrastructure. It’s not the most effective method, but it’s the one I’m best at.”

Twilight nodded.

So far, these explanations sounded plausible, even reasonable, at times. Though, this still didn’t explain all the jobs that Twilight had read about when she had Raven bring her the file.

“Any other jobs?”

“Some relic stealing, you know, the kind of things that don’t belong in the hooves of normal ponies.”

“Like the amulet you took from the museum eight years ago.”

Night frowned. “In my defense, my intel was bad on that one. I thought that was this little thing called the Alicorn Amulet. It’s a dangerous thing, increasing one’s magical reserves, expands their knowledge of spells, and begins to corrupt the soul all in go. I thought for sure the museum had it, but that was apparently a fake.”

Twilight blinked.

“I still don’t know what happened to the real one.”

Twilight sipped her tea.

The clock ticked quietly away, pendulum swinging softly back and forth.

“Well,” Twilight began, “I suppose that answers all my questions.”

“Then I best take my leave,” Night said with a smile. “Your guard’s still after me, and I need to be moving before they start crawling up this side of the tower.”

“Before you go,” Twilight said. “I do have a more personal question.”

“Oh, do you?” Night asked.

“I do. Why do you keep referring to spells by their Form and Technique? There are all kinds of spell names to help specify how they’re being used, and how to properly position one’s will to build the spell matrix. Why do you keep calling them by the broadest possible terms?”

“I told you that, already, Princess,” Night said, smiling. “I’m not a mage. I figured out what I know on my own, and it’s taken several years to figure it out.”

Twilight frowned. If what Night said was true, then chances are he was blundering about with his matrix building. He was probably wasting a large amount of energy every time he tried to cast something. That meant that he would be able to cast far, far more spells if given proper instruction.

“I see. Thank you, one last thing, though,” Twilight said before her horn lit up, and the doors behind her opened. Revealing a pair of guards. “I’m not letting you walk out that easy.”

Twilight smirked as Night dropped into a crouch, eyes wide. He glanced between the two, eyes darting wildly before landing on the Princess. “Well played,” he said simply before rushing out the opposite door.

“Just escort him out,” Twilight said before her guards behind her rushed forward after Night. Then, with a sigh, she sipped her tea.

---$---

“I don’t like this,” Raven said.

Azure watched the grey-coated mare as she paced in the middle of the room. He wasn’t entirely sure why she called the meeting, but nonetheless, he was here. What surprised the Captain of the Guard more was the fact that Raven had also invited Spike to join them.

“So you’ve said,” the dragon said, flipping through a comic book. “Three times now, without really bothering to explain why.”

Raven shot him a glare. “I wasn’t sure if I needed to repeat myself or not, considering that you don’t seem to be paying attention.”

“Well once you’ve got something worth paying attention to…” Spike muttered under his breath.

“Excuse me?” Raven yelled.

Azure sighed. If he wanted to get anything done today, he’d have to nip this in the bud now. He stood and used his deep, commanding voice to get the attention of both of the advisors. “Master Spike, Miss Inkwell, please. This is not the time to bicker.”

The two continued to glare for a second before Raven backed down, and Spike reluctantly put his comic aside.

“I don’t like this,” Raven repeated, “because the more research I put into this Night person, the less I trust.”

“Night Silk is perfectly trustworthy to complete the job,” Azure said. “I’ve worked with him since before I was promoted to Captain of the Guard. He will do what needs to be done, as we ask.”

“So you say, but I’ve been running the numbers,” Raven said. “This is a pony that’s been receiving millions of bits a year, but he still manages to line his pocket with bits for his own.”

“You don’t know that,” Spike said, “and from his talk with Twilight, it sounded like he doesn’t really like stealing from normal ponies.”

“But can we trust him on that?” Raven asked. “He claims that he doesn’t want to hurt normal ponies, but can we believe him when he says that? He could be taking bits and coin purses anywhere he goes.”

“Well I like him,” Spike said. “I think he’s a great guy!”

Raven glared at him. “Oh, do you?”

“Yeah.”

“And what’s so great about him, Master Spike?”

“He’s…” Spike began, before trailing off. “There’s just something about him. I like the cut of his jib.”

Raven’s eyes narrowed, and she raised an eyebrow.

Azure sighed. “Miss Inkwell, I appreciate the suspicion. However, Mr. Silk has proven himself trustworthy for many years.”

“You were the one who tried, multiple times, to make sure that the Princess never even knew of his existence,” Raven said. “If he’s so trustworthy, why haven’t you introduced him to the Princess earlier?”

“Because she did not need to know,” Azure said. “He is beneath her notice and should remain beneath her notice. If I brought every single matter of crime up to the Princess for her review, she would spend three years on Manehatten alone. As the Captain of the Guard, dealing with crime and security is my job. It’s for me to worry about. Would you like to waste her time with every single parking violation in the country, Miss Inkwell?”

The glare he sent Raven’s way actually managed to make her wilt a bit, though his face still betrayed no emotion. She backed up a bit, before nodding. “I see, sorry…”

Azure sat back down and nodded for her to continue.

“I...I…” Raven began before shaking her head. “Look, I just think trusting a pony whose entire career is based on stealing is not necessarily the smartest idea.”

“Well, if Celestia trusted him, then surely it’s not the worst idea,” Spike said.

“Yes, but...well…” Raven began. “At the same time, Princess Twilight doesn’t...well...she doesn’t inspire her subjects the same way Celestia did.”

“Oooooh! Talking bad about the Princess!” Spike said with a massive smile on his face.

“I’m not talking bad about Princess Twilight!” Raven yelled. “I’m merely stating that Celestia had a different effect on the populace than Princess Twilight did. He may have been trustworthy under Celestia, but can he still be trustworthy now? Maybe Celestia intimidated him, and with the change of ruler, he’s taken the opportunity to try and take more power?”

“Now that actually sounds like a decent criticism,” Spike said. “Of course, if we get a letter from Celestia anytime soon, it may prove to be unnecessary. After all, having her as a character witness would carry a lot of weight with Twilight.”

Raven nodded. “I know that much.”

Azure nodded as well. “If Celestia returns with a letter, the Princess may simply allow Night to continue with or without a bet.”

Spike shook his head. “I don’t know about that,” he said. “Celestia told her, many, many times to be her own person and make her own decisions. She’ll probably take the advice, and trust her that he’s mostly harmless, but she’ll make her own decision. In fact, she might turn him away just to prove to herself that she’s making her own decisions.”

“You honestly think so?” Azure asked.

“Oh, yeah.”

Raven shook her head. “I still don’t like this.”

Spike belched.

Raven paused and sighed. “Master Spike, I’ve come to expect some immaturity out of you but to dismiss an opinion with a belch is hard—”

She cut herself off as she turned.

On the table in front of Spike lay a scroll, carefully rolled and sealed with red wax, in Celestia’s old emblem.

All three advisors looked at each other before turning to the letter.

Celestia had finally answered.

---$---

Twilight stared down at the letter as it sat on her desk. She had studied it several times, now, and read it thrice. The script was definitely Celestia’s, and Spike confirmed three times that he had burped up the message himself. It was definitely a bonafide letter from Celestia.

The header of “Dear Princess Twilight,” still felt weird coming from her.

It corroborated everything that Night had claimed. She met him eleven years ago, one year before his disappearance in official records when he was trying to rob from the palace.

“He was young at the time, only a couple of years older than you. He looked so small in the room, and the way he looked up at me with shame spoke of a desperate stallion that would rather be anywhere else,” the letter said, in pure black and white. “When I asked him why he came to my home, he replied that normal ponies didn’t deserve to be stolen from. So, considering his talents for getting into buildings undetected, and the place his heart was in, I offered him a job.”

Celestia described a few of the jobs he’d done, and sure enough, they matched the descriptions that he gave that very morning.

He was telling the truth.

He did help Celestia’s guard catch slavers, he did secure dangerous magical artifacts, and he did rob almost exclusively from thieves. Twilight almost didn’t believe the words as she read them. Nearly every instinct she had screamed that Night shouldn’t be trusted. Something about the way he talked, the way he walked, the way he smiled, even.

Yet here were Celestia’s words herself, saying that he was stealing for her a year before she left for Ponyville. He was sneaking around warehouses while she was stopping Nightmare Moon. He was freeing creatures from slavery while she was saving the town from Parasprites. It was all right there in black and white.

She sighed.

Celestia just made this complicated now, and she wasn’t quite sure how to move forward.

She turned to Spike, who stood nearby. “Go send a letter back to Celestia, tell her ‘thank you,’ and ask her if she’d like to come by for her tea sometime.”

“Alright, can do,” the dragon replied, pulling out a quill and page. He began to wander out of the room, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts.

“Well, he has three months,” she said to herself, before turning to her balcony to raise the moon.

Chapter 6

Twilight sat in court, listening to the pony in front of her as he complained.

“And that, Your Majesty, is why you should allow an extra hour of darkness at the end of the day. This would allow ponies like me to walk home without being blinded by the setting sun.”

Twilight sighed. “So in review, you want me to speed up the sun as it goes through the day so that there is typically at least one more hour of night than sunlight, affecting the growth of plants, seasonal patterns, and general climate of the northern and southern hemispheres. All of that, just so that you don’t need to stare at the sun as you walk you home after a meal out?”

“Yes,” the pony said.

“Buy a hat,” Twilight said, before dismissing him.

The stallion blinked as if the idea hadn’t occurred to him, before the guards escorted him from the throne room. Twilight sighed and slumped into her throne for a bit. Requests like that left her exhausted, and she needed a rest to ready herself for the next pony to appeal to her.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Spike said, sitting next to her. “We’ll get through this.”

Twilight sighed. “I know…”

“Having fun, Princess?”

Twilight snapped to her left to face the speaker and instantly narrowed her eyes as she saw Night. “Back already?” she asked.

“It’s been two days,” he said in his defense.

“Two days is not enough time to recover from having to see you,” Twilight said.

“Glad to know I’ve had such a strong effect on you, Princess,” Night said.

“For the record, ew,” Spike said, before giving a non-committal wave. “Hello again, Night.”

“Hello, Master Spike,” Night said with a smirk before dropping a small gold statue of Celestia into Twilight’s lap. “That one’s a nice piece, made by a goldsmith that gifted to Celestia back before I got here. Solid gold, did you know?”

Twilight sighed before waving a guard over. He obeyed, and Twilight handed him the statue. “Find where this belongs and return it.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” he replied before running off.

“Also I’m upset with you,” Night said.

“Oh, really?” Twilight asked, a smile growing on her face.

“Yes, really.”

“Well, why on earth is that?”

Night pointed to the poster of his face stuck to the wall, with the words “has open invitation during normal business hours,” written beneath him. “Why do you think? You’re ruining my fun.”

“Ah,” Twilight said. “Well, I guess you’ll have to sneak in at night if you want to get the guards chasing you now. Instead of, say now, when I’m supposed to be holding court.”

Night frowned. “Well, maybe Celestia did teach you a thing or two,” he said.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the comment but turned to focus on the matter at hoof. “Why are you here, Night?”

“I came with another report,” he said.

“Well that was fast,” Twilight said.

“Well, you see, I was heading to my Canterlot hideout when I saw something last night…”

---$---

Night glanced up at the night sky, enjoying the full moon that Princess Twilight gave them that night as he walked through the streets of Canterlot. He began walking toward the poorer side of town to sleep in his Canterlot hideout when he caught sight of something.

A single figure leaped across the street, trailing a split cloak behind him as he crossed over the moon in a dark silhouette.

Night smiled.

There was only one kind of pony that would wear a cloak like that while jumping between buildings. Night might get some business tonight, after all.

He ducked down an alleyway, rushing up to the roofs after the pony with the cloak split down the middle. He only knew a handful of ponies that wore that stupid piece of uniform, and each belonged to Moon Light’s pack.

The jumping they performed was a more advanced permutation of “Control Matter,” the form and technique that every unicorn knew intrinsically. Instead of using the magic to telekinetically hold a thing, Moon’s pack managed to perfect a catapulting method or pushing themselves off the ground to cover great distances. Night still hadn’t figured that one out, but he knew he was getting close.

For now, though, he had to deal with dropping back down to the street to try and cover the same jumps or moving laterally to find smaller ones to leap across. It meant his progress was slowed slightly, but he’d still follow the thief as he made his way to the more affluent part of town.

Night rushed behind him, trying to keep up before he lost sight of the unicorn. Night, breathing heavily, cursed quietly to himself as he tried to find any sign of the stallion until his eyes landed on an open window.

Night smiled.

He prepared his old hook, and using his own telekinesis to lift it to the edge of the building’s roof, Night quickly climbed up beside the window and glanced in.

The curtains inside wafted through the air, billowing in the soft breeze. Night slipped in, his hooves not even making a sound as he touched the ground. This definitely had all the marks of a target of Moon Light’s victims. Someplace rich, with several smaller nicknacks to be stolen, all of which could be stuck into a curio shop without anypony thinking twice about it.

Night slipped down the hallway, keeping his eyes and ears open, paying careful attention to every possible sound or sight in the manor. The long hallway came to a t-intersection, and Night poked his head down the left and right wings.

A pony stood at the end of the left hall, filling a bag with small porcelain figurines. Night had a passing knowledge of the collection and knew that the thief’s bag was quickly going to start racking up cash with every one of the little pony-shaped figures he added.

The thief would take just less than a thousand bits worth of new “merchandise” to sell, but he could still get out with just bail until he hit that thousand-bit mark. That’s what Moon Light counted on, hundreds of smaller crimes to build up business with only a minimal legal risk.

Night backed away slightly, prepared to transpose his image before the thief began to move on. Just as the thief began moving past him, Night moved his appearance behind the other thief and pressed himself against the wall.

Made virtually invisible, the thief didn’t notice as he walked past Night and began heading down the right hall, where a set of stairs waited for him. Night dropped the spell and began to follow behind, keeping another spell matrix for another transposition ready to go, until he needed it.

The two made their way down the stairs, neither making a sound as they moved. They quickly moved down to the ground floor, where the thief took a few plates off the wall. Shortly after that, the pony paused and glanced down at the bag, casting a silent spell.

---$---

“And what spell was it?” Twilight asked.

“You know, for the longest time, I never knew,” Night said. “Then, one night, I snuck in and listened on one of their meetings, and found out it’s a spell to appraise the value of goods. A “Perceive Matter” spell, I think.”

“Pennypincher’s Pricetag,” Twilight muttered. “One of the few spells to come out of the commercial sector.”

“Twilight, you’re interrupting his story,” Spike said.

Twilight sighed. “Fine, continue.”

---$---

The thief nodded to himself and began to look around for something else to steal. He must have been very close to his limit for this trip. Night, meanwhile, was checking over his pockets. He didn’t bring a knife with him tonight, so he needed to come up with something to try and make his plan work.

The thief continued to prowl along the ground floor, occasionally glancing about to look out for ponies trying to go for a midnight snack.

Night followed closely behind, using his transposing spell to move his image out of eyesight whenever he needed to. By only using his magic in short bursts, he was able to keep going while only draining his magical reserves in the smallest amounts possible. He was basically invisible to the thief, as he continued to move his image’s position back and forth across the house, whenever he might get caught.

Following behind, Night watched as the pony kept glancing at every little nicknack, and presumably casting the appraisal spell whenever he needed to check on an item. A plan was already starting to form in Night’s mind, and he smiled at the thought of unleashing chaos just as the stallion thought he was going to get away.

Finally, the stallion found his target and plucked another small porcelain figurine off a shelf, and slipped it into the bag.

Night glanced around as he looked for a blade once more. He had to choose carefully, though, once he started focusing on his telekinesis, he wouldn’t be able to cast a different spell at the same time. It would take far more power than he had to do that, and he heard only a select few mages could pull that off.

He slipped into a side passage as Moon’s thief began to turn around and begin to climb back up the stairs to the window where he came in. Night crouched by the door and mentally cursed that he didn’t bring his knife with him that night, until he glanced around and realized that he stood in the kitchen, with several carving knives sitting in a block waiting for him.

Night smiled and grabbed one before following the thief as quickly and quietly as he could.

The thief had already made his way to the window, and he began carefully tying his bag to his back so that he could cast his catapulting spell without losing concentration on his haul. That’s when Night struck.

The knife shot forward, slashing at the rope which secured the bag and grabbed it in his telekinesis, splitting his focus between the two objects, a feat much more manageable than casting a second spell.

The next second passed by like an eon, as a dozen things happened at once. The bag lifted off the thief, and the thief turned to see a knife at his throat. Night carried the sack back behind him, placing a relatively great distance between the haul and the thief who had stolen it. The thief glanced up, staring at Night, who smiled at him with the smuggest look he could gather before he pulled the knife back, till it sat perfectly between them.

“You,” the thief whispered.

Night kept smiling before he pointed the knife point-down and dropped it. Switching spells in a blink, he cast another Control Image spell, targeting the sound that would soon echo off the knife. It struck the tiled floor, clattering against the stone, but ringing like a church bell and waking every pony in the house.

The muffled shouts of now-awake ponies began to sound in the room, and both thieves knew that they had seconds to get out before they were caught.

So Night moved first.

He rushed forward, throwing his shoulder into the rival thief, and slamming him against the wall. With Moon’s thief dazed, Night turned to the window, jumping out of it, and pulling his rope to his hoof. He swung out and around, hitting the building wall before quickly scaling it to the roof. The other thief leaped out of the window just behind him, and Night took a second to look back and smiled when he saw that the pony did not have the bag with him.

---$---

“After that, I sat on the roof until the guard came by, and then made my escape.”

“I see,” Twilight said. “And do you have any proof of anything you said you did?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” Night said, before pulling something from a bag at his belt. “I brought the thief’s cloak.”

Sure enough, he produced a dark grey cloak, split down the middle, almost as if to form a pair of wings. He laid it out for the Princess’s approval and revealed the massive, frayed slash from where Night had cut through it and the rope that secured the thief’s bag.

“And what am I supposed to do with a cloak?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I can say for certain that I am not a seamster, so unless you have a different explanation as to how I came about such a specific piece of clothing, I’m willing to hear it. Besides, you do have a guard report you can check which will report a break-in, but nothing missing, even though a few hundred bits worth of their belongings were sitting in the middle of their hallway in a bag.”

“Sure, but a cloak like this could come from anyp—”

“Princess,” Night said with a sigh. “I don’t need to remind you that you’re a very powerful mage. I’m positive you have a spell that could trace it back to the real owner. In fact, I know you do, because of this letter you sent to your Captain asking about the legality of such a spell for the ledger I got you.” He produced said letter with a flourish, pulling it from his bag and holding it up for the Princess to see the broken, golden wax seal.

She bristled as she grabbed the letter back. “That is highly classified information, that is not for you to read.”

“Then, with all due respect, Princess, why did you write it out? Letters are easy to steal, words less so. If you have a chance to speak with somepony, that’s probably what you should go with.”

Twilight’s face nearly turned red as she glared at him.

“You know, Twilight, he does have a point,” Spike said.

Twilight, face still red, turned to face the dragon.

He weathered the glare as only someone who had seen it so often could, and continued. “Captain Azure does live here; you didn’t need to write him a letter for a private conversation, especially one you didn’t want to leave a record of.”

Twilight continued to glare at the dragon before she took a deep breath and exhaled. “Sure, that’s fair. But that is not something you’re supposed to be reading,” she said, turning back to face Night.

“In my defense, Princess,” Night said, “‘supposed to’ had never stopped a thief before.”

Twilight sighed. “Fine. I suppose this is what you’ve called your counter-thieving?”

“Exactly,” Night said. “I keep them from stealing, while also trying to make sure that they get caught, though that is secondary to stopping them.”

“Is that enough, though? Just stopping them? If what you’ve said is true, and these ponies just pay their way out of jail, then surely making them pay would be the better result. It would drain their resources more to jail them and fine them.”

“Sure,” Night said. “But I can’t guarantee that someone gets arrested each time. The best I can do, every single time, is to make sure they don’t get away with it. Of course, corrupt nobles is just going to be one of those problems that we’ll be dealing with forever.”

Twilight shook her head, and Spike stood up before walking off. “I’ll let you deal with that, Twilight. I’m going to talk to Azure about matters of national security.”

“Fine,” Twilight said, barely acknowledging the dragon before she quickly descended into another debate with Night.

---$---

Spike made his way down to the Castle’s outer wall, to the barracks. He entered to the guards’ usual cheer, the ones he knew at least, and gave his customary smile and jokes in return. “Hey, guys! How’s it going!”

“Oh, you know, Spear’s cheating at cards again,” one of the guards said.

“I’m not cheating!” Spear insisted.

“Sure, you’re not, Spear,” Spike said.

“Hey, Spike!” another guard said. “Do you have any more room at your Thursday O&O game?”

“I already have like, seven players, man. Maybe next campaign.”

“Sure, sure,” came the disappointed reply.

“Hey, is the Captain in?” Spike asked the six guards there.

“Yeah, he’s in the office, like normal,” Spear said, before laying out a straight flush.

“You are so cheating!”

“No, I’m not! I’m telling you, if I weren’t good at polearms, my Cutie Mark would be cards!”

Spike left them to bicker with some good-natured ribbing and walked into the back office, where the large, navy-blue coated earth pony worked. “Hey, Azure.”

The Captain looked up. “Master Spike, what can I do for you?”

“Not call me Master Spike, but you’re not going to change your mind on that one now,” the dragon said before he flew up to the desk. “I do have a few things I need to talk to you about, though. Do you have the time for that?”

Azure looked down at the papers that Spike was standing on. “It doesn’t seem that you’re giving me a choice, Master Spike.”

“You’re right on that one, but you’re all business, so I’ll cut to the chase,” Spike said, leaning forward to look the massive stallion in the eye. “What’s up with you not wanting Twilight to know about Night?” he asked.

“He’s beneath her notice,” the Captain.

“Now, you say that, but he wasn’t beneath Celestia’s attention, was he?”

Azure looked up at the dragon with a raised eyebrow. “Celestia discovered him. She had to know. But even then, he was beneath her notice.”

“And breaking up trafficking rings was beneath her notice as well?” Spike asked.

Azure didn’t answer that.

“What’s really going on?”

Azure glanced up at the dragon. “Master Spike, I have a lot to take care of right now. I have guards I need to post, I have records I need to go through, and I have a country to protect. If you would be so kind as to allow me to get back to my work, I would appreciate it. And I would much rather not have to have you escorted out of my office.”

Spike stared down at him. “Alright, you don’t want to tell me right now, fine. But we’re not done with this conversation.”

As Spike flew off his desk and walked out, leaving the Captain to watch him as he went. “No, I believe we are.”

Chapter 7

Twilight Sparkle sat in her council room, making sure that everything was ready. She had seven chairs pulled up around the table, with seven memos set and ready. She had the kitchen prepare some snacks for them and drinks set out of course, and she thought about getting some board games ready.

Then she remembered that this was a meeting to discuss national security.

Well, that was the excuse. She could probably get away with it, couldn’t she?

“Are you stressing out about the Council again?” Spike asked as he walked into the circular room. “You have been doing this for a year now. You know that, right?”

“Yes, but…” Twilight began. “I haven’t seen them in a month, Spike. What if things have changed?”

“They probably have,” he replied, before taking a quick count of the chairs. “You think Starlight’s not coming?”

“It’s a school day, Spike,” Twilight replied.

“I mean, yeah, but she’s the Principal, how much work does she actually have to do?”

Twilight turned to shoot Spike a look.

“Sorry, sorry,” Spike said, taking his seat.

She nodded. “That’s right,” she muttered under her breath.

“You could break out the Colonists of Saram game. We have the expansion for five to eight players,” Spike suggested. He proved his point further by pointing to the box, where it sat on the enormous, towering shelves that lined the room’s circular wall, filled with board games, books, and other things to discuss. “It’s better than Oligopoly.”

“Almost anything is better than Oligopoly,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, so let’s play Saram,” Spike said.

Twilight sighed. “You have three games that you run weekly, Spike. Why not play Saram with them?”

“Because Rarity and the others are my friends too.”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, I know…”

“I dunno, I like Colonists!” a new voice said, and both Spike and Twilight turned to see Pinkie Pie, standing not a foot away from the dragon. “Hiya, Spike!”

“Pinkie!” the dragon cried, before hugging the earth pony mare. “You’re here early.”

“Of course, I am! If there a party to plan, then I will be there!”

“This isn’t really a party, Pinkie,” Twilight said.

“It’s party-adjacent, and that’s all that matters!” the pink mare said, before bounding to her place, where a cupcake waited for her. “Now, to taste test the snacks!”

“Wow, you’re just going to let Pinkie dive into the snacks without the rest of us?” another voice said before the Princess turned to see a rainbow-maned pegasus enter the room.

“Let’s see you get between Pinkie and party snacks,” Twilight said. “Or sharing them for that matter.”

“Eh, no thanks, I still remember the pie incident,” Rainbow Dash said, before taking her own seat. “How’s it hanging, Pinkie?”

“Super!”

“Um, hi, Twilight, it’s good to see you,” another voice said.

Twilight turned to see the butter-colored pegasus that somehow snuck up next to her. “Hey Fluttershy, how’s the animal sanctuary?”

“Oh, it’s just wonderful,” she replied, smiling wide. “I’ve managed to get a license to have some endangered species come in, so hopefully, I can make sure they’re protected.”

“That’s great!” Twilight said. “And of course, remember that if you need any help trying to get new licenses, or paperwork through, well. I am a Princess or something.”

“Now Twilight,” a thick, southern drawl cut the air. “Are you offering your friend a back-door deal?”

Twilight rolled her eyes as Applejack came in, smiling all the way. “Well, what’s the good of being a Princess if you can’t practice a little cronyism? You’re making it sound like I’d have to be responsible or something,” Twilight asked.

Applejack chuckled and shook her head. “Now see what politics has done to such an honest mare like you? I guess it’s true what they say, power corrupts.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the joke.

“Well, I hope I’m not late!” another voice said, belonging to a white-coated unicorn.

“Only fashionably,” Spike quickly answered.

“Always, Darling, always,” Rarity said, smiling and giving the Princess a hug. “Oh, it’s so good to see you, Twilight. I hope the palace life has been treating you well?”

“It’s been treating me fine,” Twilight said.

Rarity nodded before looking at Twilight again. “You know, dear, I could swear you’ve gotten taller.”

Twilight sighed. “I hope not. The first growth spurt was bad enough.”

“Oh, nonsense, dear. It gives you a noble bearing. You appear more regal with the height.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Twilight said.

“Is it working?” Rarity asked with a sparkle in her eye.

“Only slightly.”

“Then I must be losing my touch,” Rarity said with a laugh.

Twilight smiled with her as she the mare back to the table, where the others were quickly taking their seats. “I guess without further ado, I call this Council of Friendship to order!”

“Woo!” Pinkie cheered.

Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, you don’t cheer for the start of an important meeting.”

“Well I do,” she said with a smile.

Twilight smiled. “You know, that’s fair enough. So, if you check the schedule I prepared, there are some things we need to talk about today to justify the meeting to the yearly budget, so we will need to discuss that. First, though, I want to hear how you’ve ladies have been.”

“Why do you need to justify anything?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You’re the Princess.”

“Rainbow, I don’t need a good reason,” Twilight said. “I just need a reason.”

“But like, why, though?”

Twilight sighed. “Because everything gets recorded down somewhere. The Council itself technically falls under the security budget because we are heroes of Equestria who can and will do everything we can to take out some of the bigger threats to the country.”

“Well, why do you have to write it down?” Dash asked again.

“Because anypony can ask to look at the budget to track where taxpayer money goes,” Twilight said. “Look, can we move on to the fun parts of the meeting first? I don’t want to waste time talking about politics when I only have a few hours to see you.”

“Alright, alright, alright. I’ll ask later.”

“Thank you, how have you been, Rainbow?”

“Oh, it’s been great! I’ve been getting ready for the new Wonderbolts tour that we’re going to take this summer. It’s been going well, and Spitfire’s been trying to incorporate a Sonic Rainboom in with a new routine.”

“I thought you already had a Rainboom routine?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, but this one has Two Rainbooms in it,” the pegasus asked with a smile.

“Really, are you going to be able to pull off two back-to-back?”

“Of course, I am!” Rainbow said.

Twilight shook her head. “What about you, Applejack?”

“Well, the farm’s been going alright. The pegasi have scheduled a bit of a dry spring, so we’ve held off on harvesting till Midfall, hoping that the late spring showers would fatten up the crop.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, apparently, that has something to do with the reservoir collection from the fall before not meeting the deadline.”

“Ooh,” Rainbow said, grimacing.

“Yeah, somepony dropped the ball, and they had to wait for the reservoirs to melt before they could get the rain collected again,” Twilight explained. “Spring was a little dry for everypony.”

“Well, I wasn’t taking it personal,” Applejack said with a good-natured smile. “What about you, though? I bet you’ve got the most interesting report over the past month.”

“Oh, not really,” she said. “I mean, I only one thing I really want to discuss, and it’s on the docket anyway.”

“Nonsense, dear, that doesn’t mean we can’t hear what’s going on beforehand,” Rarity said.

“We’re here to help,” Fluttershy added.

“And I don’t doubt you will, girls, honestly,” Twilight said. “I just don’t want to monopolize the whole time. We’ll get to it, I promise.”

“Alright, but I’ll hold you to that, Darling,” Rarity warned.

“I know,” Twilight said. “How about you, Fluttershy? You were telling me that you were about to expand your animal shelter?”

“Oh, yes!” the yellow pegasus said before she launched into a long explanation of what she was doing.

Twilight listened and nodded, following along with every word she said. It was nice to hear from her friends again. She could feel her shoulders relax and felt her breathing ease somehow as she listened to first Fluttershy and then to Pinkie. Both of her friends explained what they had done over the past month since they last saw each other, and it made Twilight smile to see them.

Twilight was so relaxed, she almost, almost, didn’t notice the figure at the top of the room, watching them from the shadows.

If she were honest with herself, noticing Night perched on one of the bookshelves was a pure accident. While feeling herself relax, she stretched, arching her back in her seat and staring up in the room’s ceiling.

Where Night sat waiting and smiling as he watched them.

“Is something wrong, dear?” Rarity asked.

Twilight blinked and focused her stare back down at her friends. “No, everything’s fine, I just had a thought is all, keep going.”

Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all glanced up to where she’d been looking, but saw nothing. Night had no doubt used his transposing spell to hide his form somewhere else as they glanced, and sure enough, he reappeared the moment they all looked away.

“More importantly, why are you hiding him from your friends?” Twilight asked her self.

It was a great question, honestly, and she didn’t have an answer. Letting the others know about Night might force him to reveal himself. Still, he’d just say something about how such an important meeting needs proper security.

Because that why he’s here…

Of course, it was. It had to be. Night was making another point, for the purposes of making a point. She mentally sighed as she tried to figure out how to handle this situation in the best was possible.

On the one hand, he wasn’t going to hurt anyone. He was just a pain who was trying to make a point. Even if she called him out, he wouldn’t cause any trouble, but she might not need to.

She glared up at him and watched him smile from his perch.

“So what’s this problem you have, Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“What’s the meanest meany problem?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight glanced up at them before her eyes shot up at Night, who merely waved his hoof to say, “Go on.”

Oh, it. Is. On.

“As it happened, Spike brought up one of those budget issues a few days ago and showed me that somepony was being paid a few million bits to steal for the crown.”

The other mares at the table began to gasp in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” Applejack said.

“Exactly what I said,” Twilight said. “He’s a thief, who apparently had been helping Celestia deal with a few things.”

“Like what?” Pinkie said.

“Good things,” Twilight admitted and knew that Night was smiling wider on his perch. “He helped deal with some very unsavory criminals, and he apparently specializes working against thieves by stealing from them, but he’s still a thief.”

“I think that sounds pretty cool, actually,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah, but do ya need him?” Applejack asked. “Or more to the point, I suppose, do ya want him?”

“What do you mean by that, dear?” Rarity asked.

“I mean, is that the kind of ruler you want to be? Using subterfuge and the like to get yer way?”

“Well that depends on what exactly he’s done,” Rarity said. “After all, if the good he’s done is worth the underhanded nature of his work, then can you afford not to have him?”

“Why don’t you send in your guards to take care of it?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, he specifically targets ponies that either can get out of prison easily,” Twilight explained, “or deal with ponies that no one can prove has done anything, at least from what both Celestia and he himself said.”

“So he does what the guard can’t do?” Rainbow asked. “That sounds exactly like the kind of thing Daring Do would try, you know if she weren’t an archaeologist.”

“I ain’t the biggest fan,” Applejack said.

“He does a good job, though,” Spike said. “He’s managed to stop a bunch of trafficking rings for sentient creatures and manages to save normal ponies a lot of trouble by stopping robberies as they happen. He’s helping, and there’s no doubt about that.”

Twilight said nothing.

“Huh,” Applejack said. “Well, why does he need so much money?”

“You know, I was more concerned by the fact that he was a thief, but I’m sure he’ll give me an itemized list if I ask.”

She glanced up at Night, who appeared to be chuckling silently to himself.

Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“Well,” Applejack said. “I suppose that’s a call you need to make, Twilight. And I can say I don’t envy having to make that call.”

“Thank you.”

“Well,” Pinkie said, “I think we can talk about this over some games!”

“That sounds just fine, Pinkie,” Twilight said with a smile.

---$---

Azure frowned.

Apparently, nopony knew how to respect his office space.

“I just don’t like this, Azure,” Raven said, pacing across his office.

“So you’ve told me, several times, Miss Inkwell,” he replied, trying to focus on the report in front of him.

“I don’t like the idea of Princess Twilight using a thief to get what she wants.”

Azure glanced up at her. “Celestia did the same,” he said, echoing Spike’s argument that he gave before.

“Yes, but...well, if Celestia wanted something, she could get any way she wanted to. She was specifically using Night as a method to get what she needed to get done quietly.”

“And what’s the problem with Twilight using the same method?” Azure asked.

Raven didn’t answer him.

“Miss Inkwell, I think you definitely have a reason to not trust Night Silk. However, I think you’re adamant about it more to argue with Master Spike than anything.”

“What?” she asked. “Why on earth would you think that?”

“Because you hate each other, and he is currently for Night succeeding in the bet.”

“I am not against him just because Spike is for him,” Raven said. “That’s such a childish thing to do.”

“Well, you haven’t offered any new arguments for it.”

“That’s rich, coming for you.”

Azure raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t come to your office to discuss it. My opinions are my own, and my reasons are my own, and I would rather not discuss them with anyone.”

Raven sighed. “We’re Princess Twilight’s advisors. We’re supposed to talk with each other.”

“And we have all discussed our views on this with the Princess, and she has come to her decision. She’s given Night three months, and as her advisors, we need to respect her decision, and stand by it.”

Raven glared at him and sighed. “Unfortunately, you make a wonderful point, Azure.”

“I’m aware. Now I’m sure if you want to discuss this with somepony, Master Spike would argue with you ad nauseam.”

Raven snorted and walked out of the Captain’s office.

---$---

“And that’s an eight!” Pinkie said, pointing at the forest tile with the eight token on it, and then the field tile. “That’s those two!”

“So that’s a wood for me, Fluttershy, and one for Twilight!” Spike said, handing out the cards, before pulling a few wheat cards. “And these for Pinkie.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Being the youngest sucks in this game,” she said, staring at her two settlements surrounding the tile marked 12.

“It ain’t my fault that you put your other settlement on a three-to-one dock,” Applejack said.

“Honestly, It wouldn’t even be that bad if Pinkie didn’t have literally every single wheat tile,” Dash complained.

“How else am I going to bake cakes for everypony!?” Pinkie asked, placing the new wheat cards into her hand. “I can trade a few, though,” she said with a smile, almost waving them around the table.

“I have a brick I can get you,” Rarity said, holding up her hand. “I’ll even give you a two to one.”

Twilight snuck a glance up at Night, who watched from his perch. He lay there, relaxed, and watching as they played their game, quiet as ever.

She focused back on her cards. She was focusing on a development card-heavy strategy that had served her well in the past, and while she had plenty of ore and wool, she didn’t have the wheat she needed. “I can get you some wool, Pinkie. You need those for development cards.”

Pinkie gave Twilight a glance. “I do...but I need to build more roads…”

Rarity held up her brick cards.

“A deal’s a deal!” Pinkie said, before passing a single wheat card over for both bricks. Once she had them, she immediately turned the cards into a pair of roads with some earlier wood cards. She placed them carefully, continuing to expand her empire before she passed the dice. “Your turn, Twilight!”

Twilight took them with a pout, before rolling. They landed on a seven, and the entire table went quiet. All eyes went to the small, black, pony-shaped figurine on the table that Twilight picked up with a smug smile of satisfaction. “Well, well. As it happens, I need a lot of wheat.”

Pinkie’s ears flattened. “Oh, well...what a shame, huh?”

“No offense, Pinkie, but this is the only way I’m getting any wheat.”

“Oh, come on…” Pinkie said with a frown.

Twilight placed on the little black token down on the wheat tile that Pinkie had surrounded, blocking all of its production and allowing Twilight to use the “robber” to steal two cards. Twilight smiled as she picked two cards from Pinkie’s hand, both wheat cards, and instantly turned them in for the development cards she needed.

“Your turn, Spike,” Twilight said before handing over the dice.

She glanced back up at Night, who stared back at her with a raised eyebrow and a hoof under his chin, still smiling all the way.

She stared back, confused.

He motioned to the board.

She looked back down at it.

And then it clicked.

She had just used underhanded, less-than-legal tactics to get what she could not secure by legal means. In a single turn, she had made his exact argument, for him, in a game setting.

“Horseapples…”

Chapter 8

“Bye, girls. See you next month!” Twilight said, waving as her friends left.

“Goodbye, Darling! Best of luck with the thief problem!” Rarity called as she gave Twilight one last hug before leaving the room, leaving Twilight and Spike alone in the circular room.

“Are you sure you want to stay behind?” Spike asked, “I know I ask for help to pick things up, but you normally escort everypony out.”

She gave Spike a small smile before turning to face the bookshelf behind them. “If you’re done being smug up there, I assume you have something to talk about?”

Spike looked confused before following her gaze up. There he saw the figure of Night laying on top of one of the bookshelves. “Oh,” he whispered. “You know what, I think I’ll escort the others out for a change.”

Spike slipped out, leaving Twilight and Night in the room, with the latter still on top of the bookshelf.

“You know,” Night said. “That was a nice meeting you had with your friends. It was a nice time out, and you played some games, learned how to move a robber around…”

“If you mention the game again, I will have you buried alive,” Twilight said.

Night smiled before he dropped to the floor, using a rope that he anchored somewhere that Twilight couldn’t see to slow his descent. “Alright, I won’t mention it,” he said, “but I will mention that I have completed yet another job for you.”

Twilight sighed. “Fine, but you didn’t need to stalk the time I have with my friends to do it.”

“Oh, Princess, you misunderstand, I was providing security.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Were you?”

“If I’m watching it, then I can make sure nopony else can,” he said with a smirk.

“Sure…”

“Believe me or don’t that’s up to you, Princess.”

“Yes, yes it is,” she said, watching Night as he walked around and picked a seat. “So, what is this story you want to tell me?”

“Well, I took a train to Fillydelphia to check up on my hideout there. Which, by the way, is where most of the money that you pay me goes. Owning property in every single major city and making it look as trashy as possible, and then making sure that nopony tries to buy your property or condemn your building takes a lot more bits than you’d think.”

“Noted. You were saying Fillydelphia?”

---$---

Fillydelphia was soaked. The pegasi had been dropping as much water as possible, wherever they could to try and make up for the dry spring the country suffered from earlier.

Night checked the property, looking for any water damage even though it would probably keep the small building from being sold. The night was clear, though it had rained most of the day, leaving the grass beneath Night’s hooves spongy and soft.

The Fillydelphia safehouse was the most neglected of them, Night would hesitantly admit. The house was a small storage shed on the docks, which used to be the outdoor storage lot’s headquarters. The lot had been sold to a competitor, but the old shed remained behind, the three feet of grass surrounding it free-standing, much to the lot owner’s annoyance.

So far, everything looked solid, and he was about to slip in for a good night’s sleep after he took one final glance around to check for anypony watching him.

What he found instead was light in a warehouse a few docks down.

As Night watched it, a few thoughts entered his head. The first being that the warehouse had a good security guard, but unless someone bought it and began filling that building with supplies in the past week, it shouldn’t have anything worth guarding. The second thought that entered his head was that maybe it was a few teens sneaking into the abandoned warehouse to have some fun.

He pocketed his key, raised the hood on his cloak, and began to head toward the warehouse with a sigh because his third thought was that it could be something far worse than a few teens.

He moved as quickly as he dared, sticking to the streets. The roofs were too slippery to try and jump between them, so he had to stay low if he was going to make decent progress. He slipped over the warehouse’s outer wall and slid up next to it. He’d rather climb the building, but without scouting the building to know if the roof was strong enough to hold him, he couldn’t take that risk.

Slowing his breathing, he glanced down the wall, looking for any sign of a way in. There didn’t appear to be any doors on this side, so he would have to try to get to the other side and check there if he didn’t want to try to go through the main door.

He slipped around to the other side of the warehouse, always making sure he stayed on the wet ground, so he didn’t leave any hoof-prints. There he found a single side door, and sure enough, it was unblocked.

With a smile, Night checked inside, and when he found no one there, he pulled a small cloth from his bag and stepped inside.

---$---

“You just carry a cloth around?” Twilight asked.

Night pulled one out. “You never know when you might need one. It’s a rag, towel, makeshift breathing filter, and you can use it to muffle tools. They’re incredibly useful.”

“You don’t just silence things with magic?”

Night raised an eyebrow. “You think ponies like me have access to Destroy?”

Destroy was an incredibly dangerous Technique. Create, Perceive, and Control all needed energy continually supplied to them to keep the effect going. This was not true for Destroy. Destroy was permanent, always. A Destroy Mind spell could do several terrifying things, like making a target forget a memory, permanently lose the ability to feel a specific emotion, or break someone’s sanity and consciousness until they were rendered catatonic, little better than a vegetable.

Destroy Image was perhaps one of the least damaging family of spells. It could render someone invisible, but true invisibility was more of a sacrifice of one’s visible form. Creating a new, permanent, visual form required a pair of spells, which made the whole process far more complicated, but they could still be heard and felt.

Sound was, oddly, an exception to the rule. The temporal nature of sound meant that the sound made by an object was erased entirely, but if a new sound was created, it could be heard. Silence spells were good for singular sounds, a single hoofstep, or a single word of a sentence. Some silence spells could last longer, cutting all sound in an area for a time, but those took far more power in the initial casting.

No, she should have expected Night not to have the Destroy Technique. That was too strong a tool to have in the hooves of the public. “That was a dumb question. I forget that most ponies don’t have the same magic schooling as I did. Continue.”

Night nodded but didn’t comment.

---$---

Wiping his hooves dry with every step inside, Night found a place to hide, keeping the larger part of the warehouse out of sight. He climbed up onto a set of old, worm-eaten crates that groaned under his weight. He picked his way up carefully before poking his head out and finally took a chance to look around.

And the moment he looked, he knew that the third thought that went through his head was right.

Four ponies were patrolling the room, each of them walking around eight pallets of white plastic, a standard MO for Boot Legger’s merchandise. He was happy to see that it wasn’t sentient merchandise, but that didn’t make it much better.

The question that Night was more concerned with was what exactly he was moving here. He’d have to get close if he wanted to find out what he was moving, which, while not necessary, was undoubtedly useful for figuring out how to deal with the problem.

The four guards were going to make this fun, though. The question was how to do the job?

It didn’t take him long to settle on a little fun.

He moved, dropping back to the ground, and rushing to the back of the warehouse where there was less light to hide from.

He began to work, casting “Create Image” to make small, illusionary sounds. They started as small, little clicks that only one of the ponies could hear. Each one got progressively louder with every cast Night made.

“Do you guys hear that?” his target, a large, green pegasus pony, asked.

“What?” a purple pegasus guard asked.

“That clicking sound?”

The pegasus glanced at the other two ponies, one burnt orange, one yellow, both earth ponies, glanced between each other, swinging their flashlights about. “No, what are you talking about?”

“You don’t hear that clicking?” the first pony asked, his flashlight sliding across the back of the warehouse.

“Have you been digging into the stuff here, man?”

“What? No! Don’t you hear that?”

Night smiled and clicked again.

“I’m going to check that out,” the first pony said.

He walked forward, into the shadows, his flashlight scanning for any kind of sign of life. The other three glanced at each other. “Do...do you think he’s alright?”

“I don’t know, man,” the yellow one said.

The three continued to patrol for a moment or two before the first pony screamed.

All eyes and flashlights turned to the source of the cry, and they found the guard, standing confused. “That…” he said. “That wasn’t me. My flashlight just went out, and then I heard that…”

The other flashlights went out.

They clicked the buttons on the flashlights frantically as the darkness suddenly surrounded them.

“Come on. Come on!” One of the ponies said in the darkness.

One of the lights came on.

“There we go!” the purple pegasus said, as his light shone directly at the ceiling.

The other three ponies went pale.

“What?” the purple pony said before turning around.

A charred face stared back at him. It opened its mouth, its skin cracking with each movement. “You…” is said in a long, wispy breath, “should not have come here…”

The purple pony dropped his flashlight.

He was running for the door.

“Hey! Hey! Don’t leave me behind, man!”

The others were running behind him as fast as their legs could carry them, and once the door closed, Night shook his head and smiled. “Sometimes, it’s too easy,” he said, dropping the rest of his spells before picking up one of the flashlights to look over one of the crates. He held up the light as he pulled his knife to stab into the package to see what exactly was inside.

He finally pried open a package and found a fine, white powder. He took the flashlight and passed it over the powder, revealing an iridescent glow of reds and blues.

Feydust.

Night frowned in disgust. Feydust was a known performance enhancer, specifically a mental enhancer, though it pushed its users to use it for simpler and simpler tasks. Night knew more than one college dropout who had a significant chunk of their life ruined by the stuff. They typically wound up as beggars, nearly unable to nearly speak without a dose of the powder.

Night glanced around before he looked to the old crates.

---$---

“The crates went up in smoke pretty easily,” Night said. “The rest of the warehouse should have been safe given how soaked it was, but the drugs went up in smoke.”

Twilight sighed. “Why did you set them on fire?” she asked.

“Because that’s the best way to deal with drugs,” Night said. “If they burn, then the only ponies that get hurt are the ponies that were trying to sell. Besides, it fit the theme I built with my illusion.”

“Yes, but I can’t use that as evidence.”

“What’s up with you and evidence?” Night asked.

“What’s up with you and burning it?” Twilight asked back before she noticed Night’s grin. “Look, my guards can’t do the job without evidence!”

“If they did their job, it wouldn’t matter,” Night said. “Boot Legger doesn’t care what happens to his runners. His position is if you get arrested, that’s on you. If your guards came in, they would have arrested four nobodies, who would have spent the rest of their lives rotting in prison while the responsible pony would just shrug and try again.”

“So you burned it down, instead, so he still has those four ponies, can shrug and try again.”

Night shook his head. “No, Princess, he has four ponies who claim they were haunted by a ghost. He has four ponies he has to deal with now because they left his merchandise. Those four ponies, if they know what’s good for them, will get out, and try and to make a plea deal, because that’s the only way to get into a normal life after failing Boot Legger is to get into witness protection.”

Twilight blinked.

“It’s literally the best way to try and get Boot Legger locked up. Getting ponies to quit and turn him in is the best way to gather enough witnesses against him to make a case.”

“And...how long have you been working at this?” Twilight asked.

“A few years,” Night said.

“Then it’s obviously not working, is it?”

“No,” Night began. “The problem is right now that Boot Legger has enough ponies around him to work in cells. I have taken out cells this way, which hurts his lieutenants, the only ponies he actually trusts. The dream is the day when he doesn’t have any more ponies to take the fall for him.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow and sighed. “That is such a sad excuse.”

“Pardon?” Night asked.

“With the other ones so far, you’ve pointed out that my guard either has a poor position to move from or that the arrests don’t matter. Here, they may as well get arrested, because they can turn on this Boot Legger either way. You’re causing chaos and property damage for no reason at all.”

“No reason? They only have a reason to turn on Boot because they let his merchandise go. If they get arrested, they have hope of Boot Legger getting them out. He won’t, but they don’t know that.”

“You’ve obviously never written a paper before,” Twilight said.

Night blinked. “What?”

“Everyone knows that when you write an argumentative essay, you present your strongest argument last. This strengthens your position the most, and makes it seem like you are building to a more solid position.”

Night shook his head. “Wh-what does that have to do with anything?”

“All of your arguments have been becoming weaker and weaker since you’ve started. Your best statement was when you brought me the ledger, which was decent evidence of criminal activity. However, when you brought me the ledger, I could no longer use it, since you obtained it illegally and made it inadmissible in court.

“Then, you proceeded to speak of this inane counter-thieving. The idea, I suppose, has merit in the sense that you stop ponies from being robbed. However, instead of actively protecting an area, you wait for a house to be broken in. This allowed a family to be traumatized by letting their home be broken into before you finally did something. Meanwhile, you let the pony who’s guilty of theft and breaking and entering to get away without more than a slap on the fetlock.

“Finally, now that you have revealed that your method of dealing with black market sellers and movers, you’ve shown me that your greatest weapon is property damage. You’ve actively admitted to destroying evidence that my guard can use in favor of trying to make moves against the politics of criminals, which by your own admission is a slow process with no real end in sight. Therefore, I find your arguments to be simplistic, and they fail to produce any real hope in me that you are doing what is right for the country.”

Night blinked as Twilight smiled, having delivered her reasoning.

“What was that?” he asked.

“It—”

“No, no!” Night interrupted. “What was that? You just spent the last two minutes telling me that I’m awful at my job while ignoring the fact that your precious guard didn’t even tell you these things were happening!”

“My guard, if given the proper tools and time, could easily do the same thing you could,” Twilight said, “and if they did, they could bring me all the evidence I need to get these ponies behind bars. They could do better than property damage.”

“Property damage is what hurts them the most!” Night cried. “It costs them money! You know, the thing they turned to crime to get? You’re suggesting, at best, a fee to do what they want.”

“What?”

“Currently, your gardens have a fine for littering,” Night said. “350 bits per piece of litter. That’s basically nothing to a pony like me. If I sold all my properties and walked, I could wreck your entire garden and still have enough cash to walk out and eat at a five-star restaurant. It means nothing. Your system of justice is little more than a tax on crime!”

“You’re doing the same exact thing!”

“I’m hurting their income! Every time they send a pony out, and he comes back with nothing, that’s a full loss for their business.”

“They’re criminals, it’s not a business.”

“Crime is their business! Why is that so hard for you to see?”

Twilight sighed. “We’re obviously not getting anywhere with this.”

“No, obviously not,” Night agreed.

“You’re dismissed,” Twilight said, before walking out of the room.

“Gladly, You Highness,” Night said, before leaving.

Twilight ignored the thief as he climbed back up the wall like an insect, before walking straight to her royal bedroom. There, Twilight paused, taking a few deep breaths before turning to her writing desk. There she pulled out her royal, golden sealing wax, her inkpot, and quill. She wrote quickly, penning the letter that she had already tried wording in her head a few times now.

“Dear Mr. Night Silk,

After much deliberation, I have decided that your request for continued aid with this venture is inane and counter-intuitive. Your funds from the Crown are hereby to be redistributed to more deserving programs. Furthermore, any further activity which may be regarded as criminal will be treated as such to the furthest extent of the law…”

That was as far as she got before her anger began to sputter out. She was going a little far, she would admit, especially considering Night did offer her a service to her own security, which he did point out to be lacking in a few places.

Still, she finished the letter, checked it over for any obvious mistake, and wrote a second draft.

Night was not as useful as he thought he was. That was the main problem. Yes, his smug little smile made her want to punch him in the face, but he was mostly that way because he thought he was worth it.

And maybe he was. Considering how easily he duped her guards in broad daylight, he certainly could get in anywhere he wanted. However, he wasn’t doing the good he thought he was, and she was going to make sure he stopped.

She would still honor the deal, though. She had to give him the full three months.

Her mind was just already made up.

---$---

Spike wandered back up through the corridors of the castle, after having seen everypony else out. It was good to see the girls again, and while seeing Rarity was always a treat, he bemoaned the fact that Starlight couldn’t come.

Starlight...well...the nice way of putting it was that she was the newcomer to Twilight’s circle of friends, and she managed to shake up the dynamic a bit. While the girls had always made efforts to include him, he was still somewhat outside the group.

Spike personally always chalked it up to sleeping through the return of Nightmare Moon.

But when Starlight came, she brought with her the idea that Spike was just as involved as everypony else. She stuck with the group, and by proxy, dragged him up onto the same pedestal like the others.

And well, can you blame a dragon for liking that?

His thoughts were cut short as he nearly flew face-first into Night. “Woah! Sorry about that.”

Night sighed. “Don’t worry, I’m used to ponies not seeing me.”

“Well, I am not a pony, so I get to apologize anyway,” Spike said with a smile.

Night shook his head. “Thanks, I guess.”

“So how’d the meeting go?”

“Not great,” Night said. “I’m probably out of a job now.”

“I don’t know about that,” Spike said. “She may disapprove of what you’re doing, but Twilight gave you three months. She’ll stick to that deadline.”

“Really, because she seems to me to be the kind of pony that turns work in early, and then reminds the teacher there’s homework.”

Spike grimaced. “Well... you’re not wrong...but she also spent a few years as a teacher. She gave you the deadline; she’ll stick to it.”

Night shrugged. “So I have three months to find a new job then.”

“Hey, hey, don’t knock yourself out just yet,” Spike said, walking along with him as he began to head out. “You’ll figure something out, I’m sure.”

“And why are you rooting for me?” Night asked sardonically. “Not that I don’t appreciate the moral support, but you’re on her side.”

“I am,” Spike said, “but if Celestia thought you were a good pony, and you did good work, then that’s reason enough for me to believe.”

Night glanced down at the dragon. “Well, thanks, I guess,” he said, his voice softening slightly.

Spike nodded. “I’m just trying to help.”

The two walked in silence for a while, until Night found himself at the door of the Keep. “Hey, Night,” Spike said, getting the thief’s attention. “As someone who’s known Twilight for my entire life, let me tell you that if you really want to win her over, and your stories aren’t working, then you might need to show her what you do.”

“Show her?” Night asked.

“Twilight likes to get caught up on small details like ‘do this alone,’ or ‘write to me about friendship problems,’ but forgets to look at the whole picture like ‘saving the Crystal Empire is more important than the test,’ or ‘if there’s not a problem, then that’s okay.’ If she’s hung up on the details, you might need to show her the important thing.”

Night blinked. “I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure what you said there.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Did you not read the friendship book the girls published?”

Night shrugged. “Haven’t really been much of a reader.”

“Okay, but you get the big picture, right?” he asked.

“She can’t see the forest for the trees sometimes?”

“Yeah, so show her the forest.”

Night frowned and gave a grunt to acknowledge that he heard the dragon.

“Well, anyway, best of luck to you, alright?” Spike said as he waved and began to head back inside.

“Yeah, thanks. You too,” Night said, before frowning again.

“Show her the forest, huh?”

Get her to focus back on the big picture.

“Well, the big picture is that I’m trying to get ponies in jail, but she didn’t like that one. Is there...is there a bigger picture I’m missing too?”

As he moved across the courtyard and out of the castle, he racked his brain an answer. What was the big picture? The one, the Princess of all ponies, would get behind no matter what? If the law and punishing ponies weren’t enough, what was?

He thought, going back to try and remember something, anything that he could to try and convince the Princess.

And just as he thought about one of his jobs releasing slaves that he found the answer.

His eyes widened, and his smile returned before he began to head for the train station.

He needed to head for the coast.

Chapter 9

Twilight worked through her anger in drafts. Each time she re-wrote the letter, it became more reasonable, more professional, less like a rant.

"Mr. Night Silk,

"After much deliberation, We have decided that the efforts you deploy to deal with the criminal element of this country to be inefficient, though well-meaning. Your actions do not solve long-term issues but instead solve short-term problems at the cost of long-term solutions.

"That is not to say that what you do is without merit.

"Your motives are obviously built on a need for justice. However, in your need to enact justice, you're ignoring the more significant problem at hand. These solutions you offer are short-sighted and fail to attack the source of the problem. Thus with Our most generous sympathies, We decree that you cannot continue in this way.

"Your salary from the Royal treasury is to be reduced to one-tenth of its current amount. You shall continue to act in your advisory role in castle security, as your talent in this area is undeniable. However, any further criminal activity will not be tolerated and shall be prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law.

"Thus do We decree,

"High Princess Twilight Sparkle, Keeper of the Skies, The Archmage Ruler, Protector of the Tribes, Lady of Friendship."

Twilight still felt uneasy about signing her name with all of her titles at the end. Unfortunately, she was the Princess now and needed to commit to the quote-unquote majesty.

Finally, she gave the letter one more read-over before pulling her gold sealing wax and lighting the candle. She poured the wax carefully over the rolled-up scroll and brought her signet ring down. She rolled it and pulled her seal free, leaving her Royal signet, a six-pointed starburst, impressed in the seal.

With a final, careful smile, she placed the scroll up on her shelf, to be used in a few months. She would honor her deal. She would wait the full three months before handing it to Night.

She felt this was the best compromise she could offer. It meant that Night would still need to help her castle and guard better themselves, but she wouldn't let him continue to work beyond the law.

Besides, she already had plans to expand his advisory role in helping security. In fact, she was about to start outlining that plan here in her office, and she quickly began to run through another mental checklist before she began.

A knock sounded at her door.

"Come in," Twilight called.

Raven entered the room. "Your Highness."

"Hello Raven, what can I do for you?" she asked as she prepared a fresh page of parchment.

"I have a request from Azure, Your Highness, along with my opinions on this request."

Twilight glanced at her. "And Azure didn't want to bring them to me directly?"

Raven sighed. "Azure...is loyal. He also heavily believes that it is his solemn duty to wield your guards as you see fit, Your Highness. He does not wish to intrude upon your decision."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I hired him specifically because of his experience in the guard. His knowledge of the castle, morale, and strategic expertise is why I want him to advise me on these things."

"Yes, Your Highness, though I think he wanted to leave this decision completely in your hooves," she said, before handing over the folder.

Twilight took it and began to read through the pages. The packet was a proposition and layout for starting a new training regimen for stealthier guards.

"Okay," Twilight said, glancing through it. "This shouldn't be too hard to enact, and this shouldn't cause a large change in the budget. This looks great, why doesn't he want to add his opinion to that."

"I don't know," Raven said. "You'd have to ask him, and if you do, he very well may give you an answer, but he doesn't want to give me one."

"Okay...and what about you?"

"I think this is the answer to all your problems. This takes the power of this counter-thieving out of a single individual and puts it in your hooves. You would be able to do whatever you needed without any issues."

"So you're in favor of this?"

"Absolutely," Raven said. "It's all of the upsides, with none of the downsides."

Applejack's words echoed in the back of her mind. "Is that the kind of ruler you want to be? Using subterfuge and the like to get yer way?"

"I see," Twilight said.

"If I may speak freely, Your Highness, I have not been able to trust this Night character. There's something about him that I just don't like."

Twilight nodded. "I'll have to take this into consideration. Thank you for delivering this, Raven."

"Of course, Your Highness," Raven said with a bow before she stepped out of the room.

Twilight glanced back down at the proposition and frowned. It wasn't like Azure to keep his expertise on military or law enforcement matters to himself. He almost always had something to add to the discussion. This silence was unlike him.

She frowned before looking out the window of her office. Just outside in the courtyard stood Captain Azure, inspecting the palace guard.

Now that she had eye-sight of him, she cast "Midnight's Mental Message," one of the Create Mind spells, to leave an order in Azure mind. "See me in my office as soon as possible, Captain," the magic said in her voice, and the Captain blinked and looked up at the tower.

Twilight nodded, satisfied that her message was received before opening up the proposition again for a quick re-read.

She was going to get to the bottom of this.

---$---

Silver Shoals was bright, cheerful, and smelled of salt. The remote, coastal town, also named Seaward Shoals by "the tourists," had a small, but tight-knit community of ponies, who smiled and waved at each other as they moved through the streets under the houses propped up by stilts.

Night smiled as he walked through, nodding at the few ponies who gave their best smiles, hoping he would buy something or the ones who frowned at a pony they didn't recognize.

Night passed by a few stalls and a food truck or two, every one of them laden with beach paraphernalia. Shells, sand dollars, rope nets, and more hung from every facade, as ponies hawked their wares, most taken from the North Luna Ocean.

Night had to ask a few questions and had to go to a few great lengths to get directions before somepony finally pointed him in the direction of a small estate on the hill. The humble, gated manor house was surrounded by a large fence of wrought iron. Posted to the gate in a small mountain of papers and gifts, a simple plaque bore the owners' names.

Night waited for a handful of the tourists to come by, and snap a picture of the house, and leave before casually hopping the fence, and making his way up the well-mowed lawn, past the perfectly trimmed hedges, before knocking on the large door.

From inside, Night heard a sudden shuffling and banging before the door opened, with the force of a hurricane wind. "Who does so dare to intrude upon our home! We are…"

Night barely recovered from the sonic onslaught, before looking up at ex-Princess Luna. The alicorn's dark blue coat stood in stark contrast to the white house, and while her glare narrowed, her brow unfurled. "Oh, it is you. I suppose you're here for Celestia."

"Yes, Lady Luna," Night said, standing. "I shouldn't take much of your time, though."

"Take it. It doesn't matter to us," Luna said, walking into the house. "It's not like we have anything important to do."

---$---

Azure walked into Princess Twilight's office with barely a sound other than the clink of his armor. "You wished to see me, Your Highness?

Twilight looked up from her chair and pointed to the other one across her desk. "I did. Have a seat."

Azure obeyed.

Twilight finished her work by signing the document at the top of her stack. Then with a smile, she slid the whole packet into her "out" basket. Then, with a cast of a spell, she closed the door to her office and dropped the proposition that Azure wrote up onto her desk. "I wanted to talk to you about this."

Azure's face remained impassive.

"According to this plan, and the details you provided, we should be able to move nearly half of the guard into this specialized training, and no major increase in cost, within the year. Is that correct?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"With this, we wouldn't even have to drop Night from the payroll."

Azure nodded.

"So why haven't you made this proposal earlier?" Twilight asked.

"Because until you learned of Night's existence, you hadn't expressed interest in this avenue, Your Highness," Azure replied, matter-of-factly.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "But you knew about Night. You knew what he could do and the kinds of things he had done. You knew that we could get results this way. So why didn't you make the argument before?"

Azure hesitated for the first time.

"Azure?" Twilight asked.

"Your Highness…" Azure began. "With all due respect, Your Highness, you're not Celestia."

Twilight blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Your Highness, if Celestia began to mobilize a sector of the guard that could move as they wished, act as they wished, and ignored the law and due process to get results, there would be an outcry. There would be pushback, there may even be riots, but these would eventually die out because if Celestia wanted to become a tyrant and a despot, she would have done several centuries ago."

Twilight nodded. "So...you're saying that—"

"What I am saying, Your Highness, is that this would be a tricky move for a mare that has been considered above reproach for centuries. Forgive me for saying so, Your Highness, but you are new to the throne, and as such, ponies are still not sure what direction you're going to take this country. Ponies don't like change, and there's already been enough in the past few years. A move like this could be devastating to the country."

Twilight brought her hooves together and brought them to her lips. "So you believe that mobilizing the guard this way will cause problems?"

"The advantage of Night Silk is that he is one pony. If he decided to go rogue, he could be caught and prosecuted. He would not be attached to the crown in any way, which means that if he were discovered, he could be done away with."

Twilight blinked. "But if I started my guard this way, I would have to answer for them."

"Yes, Your Highness."

This...this was an angle that Twilight hadn't thought about.

Again Applejack's words echoed in her head. "Is that the kind of ruler you want to be? Using subterfuge and the like to get yer way?"

But maybe it wasn't a matter of using subterfuge or not, but rather, just whether ponies knew you did or not.

"I see," Twilight said. "And what is your personal stance on this proposal?"

Azure hesitated again. "I think enacting this would cause a great outcry for Celestia to return to the throne. And when she would not, then you would have hooves full trying to earn the trust of the populace once more. You do not have the reputation of Celestia to defend your actions, and they will beg for it. That being said, whatever you decide, Your Highness, I will do my best to enact your will."

"Thank you, Captain, I...hadn't considered this," she said. "You're dismissed."

Azure nodded and took his leave.

Twilight sat in her chair and glanced down at the folder again. She needed to consider these things more carefully, that much was evident. Here she was about to rush face-first into an incredibly dangerous decision without thinking about how it appeared from the outside. If she saw Celestia doing this, she would wonder what on earth she was thinking.

Having guards that were above the law? Sure, it could stop these criminals that could apparently get away with whatever they wanted, but it was a position so easily corruptible that Twilight was shocked she hadn't thought of this first.

She glanced up at the scroll she wrote earlier, sitting on its shelf.

She just might need to take the three months to make a decision all on her own.

---$---

Night's train rattled into the station, just as the sun was beginning to set.

Night stepped out of the car and smiled as he glanced around. The castle loomed over him, its towers piercing the sky like knives. No doubt, the Princess stood on the balcony of her royal bed-chamber, getting ready to raise the moon. The City would soon be growing silent and sleepy, and the criminal underworld would quickly be coming to life.

Best of all, though, visiting hours were over.

Night made his way to the Castle as quickly as he could without appearing suspicious, taking the alleyways to sprint closer to the walls, before slowing down to a simple trot through the streets. Then, just as the sun dipped under the horizon, and the shadows grew long, Night found himself at the base of the castle walls.

Night moved silently, moving along the wall before he quickly found the main gate into the castle. The door was still open, but Night could see the guards beginning to lower the portcullis. He needed to move quickly if he wanted to get inside, and he would have to use the transposing spell to get through unseen. He had to be sparing though, he had a big night ahead of him.

He cast Control Image, moving his visible image behind him, where without a doubt, a pony just saw him appear in their living room. It would cause some chaos over there, but that would be enough right now.

Night slipped through the gate, just squeezing under the dropping fortification, and dove into the Castle's shrubbery to hide before cutting his spell.

Already, he could hear shouts behind him of ponies calling for guards. He didn't have long now. Once his description was described and recognized, they'd know he was going for the palace.

Night took a second to breathe before he rushed for the Keep, slipping in as the guards moved out to defend the castle as the guards were called.

Night didn't make his way to the stairs. If he was going to do this the way he wanted to, Night would have move quickly, and he didn't have time to play fair. He took an immediate left and searched for the fifth brick beneath the third painting's center and pressed it.

The secret passage opened to him silently, and Night slipped in. Celestia had told him of all the secret passages years ago, and Night had always done his best not to use them. Now, though, he needed to get to the Princess and convince her of this before the night truly began.

He moved through the tight passages, climbing up to the donjon where the Princess' room sat perched above the palace. He squeezed through carefully, before finding the exit, hidden in the stairway.

He slipped out into the habitable parts of the castle, straightened out his cloak, and knocked on the Princess' door.

The door opened, and Night was surprised to see Spike open the door. "Ah, Hello Master Spike, may I come in?"

"Uh…What are you doing here, Night?" Spike asked, getting Twilight's attention as he opened the door wide.

"Looking for you, Your Highness," Night said, coming in.

Twilight sighed. "Look, I'm sure you've done another great heist, but I'm not in the mood for a bedtime story."

"I'm afraid you're incorrect, Princess." Night said. "I have not done a great heist. Yet."

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Night reached into his belt and pulled out an amulet and a cloak. "These are for you, Princess," he said, handing them over.

The Princess took them both. "What am I doing with these?"

"Let me re-phrase what I said earlier," Night said with a smile. "We have not done a great heist, yet."

"Pardon?" Twilight asked.

"I'll be honest, Princess, I'm not the best speaker in the world. So I'm not going to anymore. Instead, both of us are going to go out, and I'm going to show you exactly what I do."

Twilight blinked. "There is so much wrong with that statement, I don't even know where to begin."

"The amulet is on loan from Celestia. She apparently reached out to the King of Changelings or something to get something that will transform her into something else for a 'vacation,' but she said it should be fine for you to use it for now."

Twilight glanced at the amulet. In fact, it did look like the one that Celestia had used to physically change her body during her annual walkabouts around the kingdom. More specifically, the one she destroyed because it ran on pre-redemption Changeling magic and could corrupt those who weren't prepared to fight that influence.

"This is a terrible idea," Twilight said. "Where'd you even get this? Celestia destroyed hers."

"Yeah, she had a new one made. She wants it for when she goes on vacation, or so she said."

Twilight sighed, before casting Ivory's Identify, a Perceive Energy Spell. Sure enough, the Transform Body matrix in the amulet was clean, and Twilight couldn't see any residual Mind magic in it.

"Okay, she has a new amulet, but I'm not using this. I'm not going with you on this stupid trip to do who knows what."

"It's going to give you a perfect chance to stop me from 'messing up' a perfectly good chance for your guards to put some ponies in jail."

That caused her to pause.

"Not only that, Princess, but it lets you see exactly why I'm doing this. You'll be able to make the clearest decision."

Twilight paused, before looking over to Spike.

He nodded at her.

Twilight took a deep breath through her nose and sighed. "Fine. But one wrong move and the whole bet is off."

It was a bluff on her part, but it was the only leverage she had.

"Oh, don't worry, Princess," Night said as she slipped on the cloak. "I don't make bad moves."

Chapter 10

Twilight picked a unicorn body. The Changeling amulet had a Transform Body spell matrix for a pony-shaped polymorph, and while she could have picked anything, her magic was her most potent weapon.

“So, where are we going?” Twilight asked as she followed Night down the alleyways of Canterlot.

Night smiled. “We don’t have a lot of time, so we’re going Counter-thieving.”

“What?” Twilight asked.

Night rushed down another alley before he found one of the larger buildings. Then he pulled out his hook. “They’re going to be more active in this area, though Legger might have a shipment moving into the city in a few days.” He lifted his hook to the top of the building before he quickly began to climb.

Twilight watched him climb for a moment or two before teleporting with a Control Body spell. She appeared up at the top of the tower, where Night’s hook was secured. “And you want to climb this tower why?” she asked from the top, looking down at Night as he climbed.

Night glanced up at her. “Vantage point,” he said, “so we can see if any of Moon’s pack as they’re making their way to their marks.”

“And so we’re just going to watch for them all night?” Twilight asked. “You call me out here, and you don’t even have a proper job lined up?”

“Yes, because I have crimes scheduled,” Night said with a heaping dose of sarcasm, continuing to climb. “Chances are, though, they’ll be out tonight. Since I messed up their last hit, they’ve had to wait a few days for the heat to die down, but they need to make some cash tonight.”

He just came up over the lip of the building and began to search the skyline.

“So we’re just going to stand up here and watch for anypony who might be doing something wrong?” Twilight asked.

“For a bit, but it shouldn’t take long before somepony shows up. Moon doesn’t like it when his plans are messed with, and he tends to push ponies back out into the streets to make up for it as soon as he can,” Night said before he began staring out into the darkness.

Twilight shook her head. “This is a bad idea.”

“Nonsense. We’re going to be fine.”

“I’m going to be caught.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“The last time I tried to steal anything, I was caught.”

Night raised an eyebrow. “And when did the Princess of Equestria, she who upholds the law, try and steal something, and from who?”

“It’s a long story,” Twilight said. “Let’s just say it happened during the Storm King’s invasion and leave it at that.”

Night raised an eyebrow. “Well, now you have me curious, but alright. As for getting caught, that’s because you didn’t have me with you.”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

They stood on their vantage point, glancing across the city, as they quickly fell into silence.

Twilight’s new body felt strangely familiar, yet incredibly uncoordinated to her. She suspected that it had to do with not giving herself wings, but if this was going to be a good disguise, she had to limit herself in some way. Luckily, she could use the Transform Body matrix to make some additional changes to her body without using much of her magic. With that in mind, and considering she would dive directly into the darkness, she gave herself a little bit of night vision.

That’s why she saw a figure leaping from rooftop to rooftop before Night did, and she frowned when he proved himself right.

“Someone is moving that way,” she said, pointing.

Night followed her hoof to the shape of the pony leaping in the distance. “Alright, then we need to go, let’s climb down and—”

Night was halfway through his statement before Twilight rolled her eyes and teleported them both across the way to another roof.

“...Or that. We can do that,” Night said, before searching the sky for the thief once more. “I told you, by the way.”

“I could just drop you in the river, you know,” Twilight said.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to go swimming, Princess, we have work to do,” Night said.

Twilight continued to follow him with short flashes of teleportation before their target found the house. They stood a few yards away, watching as their mark pulled up to one of the windows of the building. The Princess watched as he began to carefully work on the third-story window, prying it open with a set of specialized tools.

“Okay, Princess,” Night said, “we have a couple of options here. You can go with me inside, and we’ll try to stop him as he works. Or, you can stay out here if you don’t think you’re up for it.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Are you implying what I think you’re implying? You know I’ve saved Equestria nearly a dozen times now, don’t you? I can take an adventure.”

“I’m talking more about sneaking,” Night said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “With just this amulet, I could shrink myself to the size of a mouse and hide in your hood, and that’s not even mentioning any of the other spells that I personally know.”

“Well, what’s your choice then, Princess?”

“Well, I thought I could go with you, but I have a better plan.”

“And what’s that?” Night asked.

“I’ll stay out here, and when that thief comes out, I’ll catch him and have him arrested since he’ll be very obviously breaking the law.”

“Then, that’s probably one you should do as the Princess,” he said. “Then, it would just be bad luck that you were flying by when he came out.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “But doesn’t that undermine your entire point?”

“No, because you can’t be everywhere either, Princess.”

Twilight frowned before using the amulet, transforming back into her lavender, alicorn self.

“Go ahead and fly up there, and come up with a reason as to why you’re here. Just have something prepared for some plausible deniability,” Night said, pointing to the roof of the building.

Twilight stared at him before she went along with Night’s plan. She flew up, carefully landing on the roof, and watched as Night slipped into the house behind the thief.

Twilight watched and waited, unsure of what to make of this move. Here, Night said that he wanted to prove that he was useful, but here he was, offering her a chance to let her guard deal with the problem.

She supposed that he would argue that her guards wouldn’t make it in time, which did have a point, but if she altered Azure’s proposition, she could at least get some of her guard to act as lookouts during the night, that could change.

Surely he knew that. So what was his point?

Twilight didn’t have a good answer on that.

Instead, she sat around and waited, wondering what on earth he was up to.

---$---

Night slipped into the house and moved as quietly as he could, this time, with a completely different job in mind. This time he wasn’t going to wait for the thief. He had to switch up his strategy.

This time, he had a guaranteed guard coming by, which meant that he had to make sure that the pony he was stopping would go away for a long time. This was a more satisfying job, and one he had done several times. Better yet, while it didn’t keep ponies from feeling violated at having their homes broken into, it did give them immediate closure.

Night slipped into the house, searching for any sign of the thief. He stuck to the walls, his transposing spell ready to go in case the thief found him. He didn’t see him on the third floor where he entered, so he quickly dropped to the second floor with careful movements to keep the steps from creaking. He moved as silently as he could, keeping his ears open in case something—

Ceramic scratching wood sounded down the hallway, and Night froze as he slowly started to peer around the corner.

The thief stood there, not ten feet away, carefully holding up a small, gold-leafed teapot. He cast a spell, probably Pennypincher’s Pricetag, before slipping it into the bag. He shouldered the bag again, and Night quickly searched for something small.

He quickly picked up a small statue and followed close behind. He would have to do this carefully if he was going to do it, and it would take a lot of luck on his part to pull this off. He followed the thief through the house, watching as he continued to stuff things into the bag.

He kept checking his bag with the pricetag spell, and with every item added to it, he knew the bag was getting closer and closer to being filled. Night watched him slip another piece in the sack, before casting the spell one last time and then pulling what he had back out to replace it.

Night moved. Dropping the statue into his hoof, he Created Image a small sound on the other side of the thief, who glanced in that direction. With a quick cast of Control Image, Night nearly silenced his movements, making them barely perceptible as he rushed the thief and slipped the statue into the thief’s bag.

The thief turned back around, and Night smiled at him as their faces were suddenly inches from each other.

For a brief second, the two thieves stared at each other, and then Night took a deep breath.

The other thief cast a spell, and Night’s voice was destroyed. It wouldn’t last long, but the minute the thief just bought was invaluable. The thief dived for Night, drawing a knife and slashing at him. Night backed up quickly before he slammed his entire body into the wall of the hallway.

Moon Light’s pony slashed again, forcing Night to leap back. He turned and bucked the opposite wall, the thick bricks rumbling with the blow.

“Stop that!” the thief hissed quietly, slashing wildly as Night could feel his voice beginning to return.

“No,” Night croaked, trying to speak before he ran up the stairs, stomping the entire way.

“Stop that!” the thief hissed again.

“Thief! Thief!” Night cried, his voice getting stronger and louder with each passing second. “Thief!”

Moon’s pony followed after, his dagger zipping through the air as he tried to catch up to the pony.

“Thief! Thief!” Night could yell now, and ponies were starting to stir in the house.

The intruder cursed before sheathing his knife. He didn’t have time for this. He turned around, heading back down the stairs before Night leaped off the landing and slammed onto the second floor again. The house nearly shook as he threw his weight around, and the thief suddenly had his exit blocked off.

“Thief!” he yelled again.

Moon Light’s pony cursed and turned, heading back up to the third floor, where the only way out was the window. It would be a big jump to the other side, but with his catapult spell, he’d be able to pull it off.

He ran, hooves thudding against the floor as ponies began to wake, and peek out into the hallway. He didn’t have the time to think about it. He just needed to get out of there. He leaped through the open window and out into the open air, free as a bird.

And then he felt magic slam down on him. He froze in mid-air, his body paralyzed by an unseen force. He stared about wildly before he was slowly picked up, and his eyes, the only part of him that he could control, locked on to the figure holding him.

Princess Twilight Sparkle herself stared back at him. “And just what do you think you’re doing?”

“He went that way!” A voice called inside before a few ponies peeked out from the window. “Wo-Woah! It’s the Princess!" Someone cried.

“Your Highness!” one of them called. “I…”

“Hello, my subjects,” Twilight said, looking down at the ponies who stared up at her. “I was taking a quick flight around town when I noticed this thing coming out of your window. Further, since he is neither pegasus nor going through your door, I assume that he is not your guest?”

“No, your Highness,” one of the ponies confirmed.

“Then we’ll take care of this,” Twilight said, before firing a flare into the sky with a quick spell. “I do apologize, but I’ll need you to stay awake for just a little bit.”

“Of course, Princess!”

Twilight nodded as she looked down at the smiling faces staring up at her.

She glanced around, and Night stood on the building, who looked down at the Princess and nodded.

---$---

The guards soon arrived and began to process the thief, who immediately told the guards of the second thief inside the house.

Of course, they found no evidence of such a thief. They even searched the building to be sure, but there was no sign of any teammate to the soon-to-be incarcerated thief. And he was going to go for quite a long time. Princess Twilight herself had cast the spell to determine how much the thief had taken and found he had stolen thirty bits over the threshold for Grand Larceny.

The guards managed to finish the process within a few minutes and carried the thief away, leaving the family to go back to sleep, a little shaken, but happy that they still had all their possessions and that everyone was safe.

Unbeknownst to them, Twilight and Night watched them go, the family returning to their beds, and the guards carrying the thief away.

“Well, what was the point?” Twilight asked. “All you really did was prove that my guard is exactly what I needed to fix the problem.”

“I never said the guard was bad, or unnecessary,” Night said. “But the real truth is that your guard wasn’t there. If we hadn’t come here tonight, that family would have been robbed blind.”

“But, my guard arrested them.”

“And I made sure that he would be arrested for a long time. He made Grand Larceny.”

“And my gua—”

“Princess,” Night interrupted. “That isn’t the point. Your guard may have tracked him down, and this was ideal, which can happen at times when I’m on my own, but rarely. But none of that is the point. The point is that a family could go back to bed after having their home broken into. They didn’t need to wait months for the guard to take statements, track him down, find the items he took, work with their insurance, none of that. They could account for everything taken from them and go to bed with only a little scare in the middle of the night.

“And honestly, that’s why I do this. I do this for these ponies. I do this for them. And, if you’ll agree to it, I hope to show that several times over. After all, this was all just spur of the moment, right?”

Twilight stared down at the house and the family that was slowly trying to sleep. “I’ll think about it, Night,” Twilight said.

“That’s all I ask, Princess,” Night said with a bow. “I’ll take my leave.”

He left her, standing on that roof, watching as the lights slowly winked out, with the faces of the family still fresh in her mind. They appeared so relieved to see her catch the thief red-handed, so grateful to know that they had everything accounted for.

So that’s his argument then? He’s just out here protecting ponies? He’s just trying to help?

Well…

Well, it was indeed a good argument. One Twilight didn’t have a good answer for.

---$---

The large earth pony hit the ground hard. He rolled, groaning as he felt one of his broken ribs give under his weight, and pushed himself back up.

The alehouse, one owned by Blackjack, had never been this messy before. Sure, fights broke out, but the bouncer typically brought order back or threw them into the fight pit to sort things out. Sure, somepony occasionally made a mess, but breaking furniture naturally came out of a pony’s hide, or at least his paycheck.

Chairs sat shattered, tankards lay scattered, and ponies groaned and rolled on the floor as the brown-coated pegasus with a long, silver mane danced in the rafters, whistling to herself. “So this is it? This is the best that Blackjack has?”

She jumped to the next rafter, wings spread and smiling, as a key on a ring spun around her hoof. “I mean, I suppose you can say I didn’t play fair, huh?”

The stallion on the ground rolled again, his head still spinning. Someone had spiked every drink in the place, and even though it hurt to think, he was pretty sure this mare did it.

“Then again, what’s a little thing like me to do against such, big, strong ponies like you?” She laughed at that, a harsh, biting laugh that echoed over the bar. “Really, though, you should be blaming that lieutenant of hers. What’s he called? Barrel Tap or something like that? He just made it too easy to get the key to your cellar.”

She leaped down from the rafters, landing on the large pony’s broken ribs, revealing her wicked grin. “The good news is that I’m not here for you. I’m here to get your boss’s attention. The big one that is.” She ground her hoof into the stallions rib, causing him to grit his teeth and growl. “So you go and tell Blackjack that I want to talk, and you better do it quick. Cause if you don’t, I’ll come back, and I’m going to going to have to take off the kiddie gloves.”

She leaped off of the pony and gave him a smile as she went for the door. “I’ll see you all soon,” she said. “Promise.”

The stallion that laid on the floor glanced up, looking at the mare as she walked away, revealing the silver coin that marked her flank.

Chapter 11

A week passed.

Twilight hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Night Silk, but that just meant that she had more to think about.

Night doubled down on his point, this time focusing on the help that it gave the individual. Twilight could argue that if her guard were more vigilant, they could have noticed and caught the thief, and done something, but this rang hollow even in her own ears. He had a point about the immediate help, and it was an immediate help that she now knew was just as vital as the long-term help.

The thief that she caught last night already had his charges handed down to him with a bail of ten thousand bits posted. If left unpaid, he had a fine of the 1,100 bits and an additional two years in jail. Twilight sat, happy with the ruling, all the way up until she heard that the bail had been paid.

Twilight nearly destroyed her teacup at the news and asked for all the details. Azure himself reported that a noble, Moon Light, offered to pay his bail because of a favor that he owed the stallion.

Twilight asked why the bail was accepted.

“Why wouldn’t it be accepted, Your Highness? This is the nature of bail.”

“Because! Because he... He’s obviously just going to turn around and steal again!”

“Then we can only hope to arrest him once he does it again,” Azure said.

“I…” Twilight began. “That’s not—”

“That’s how it’s always been, Princess,” another voice said, and both ponies turned to see Night walk into the Princess’ office. “By the way, I found this key on your bedside table, and while I haven’t checked it yet, I’m pretty sure it goes to your vault.”

Twilight sighed and took the key back. “Thank you, Night.”

“Look,” Night said, “if you learn nothing else from me, you need to make sure your bedside tables are clear. That’s where most ponies keep their important documents and such.”

“Noted,” Twilight said before she watched as Azure suddenly look away. “Why are you here, Night?”

“I have another job for us, Princess.”

Azure frowned.

“Well, what’s your plan?” Twilight asked.

“We’re going to Manehatten. We have a job there that I think will do a lot of good, but it’ll take a while to get there.”

“Alright,” Twilight said, standing. “When do we leave?”

“You wish to go with him, Princess?” Azure asked.

“I do. It is definitely his most powerful argument, and one that I feel does need proper exploring.”

Azure shifted on his hooves. “Do you think that is wise?”

“I do,” Twilight said. “Mostly because Night is terrible at arguments, and this seems to be the best way for me to understand exactly what he actually means.”

Night shrugged.

Azure frowned. “I...assume, you have a way to disguise yourself?” he asked.

“I had that taken care of last time,” Night said, “but she wound up not needing it.”

“There was a last time?” Azure asked.

Night turned to Twilight. “You didn’t tell them yet?”

“It’s how I caught the thief last week, Azure,” Twilight said. “We’ll be fine.”

Azure nodded. “Of course, Princess.”

“Have Raven and Spike hold any business until I return. I need to get ready for the trip.”

Night smiled and began to head out behind her before a heavy hoof fell across his back. “Mr. Silk,” Azure said, nearly whispering into the pony’s ear, “I just need you to understand one thing. If anything happens to her—if anything hurts her persons or reputation—I will hunt you down. Am I understood?”

Night slipped out from underneath the stallion. “I understand perfectly well, Captain. Don’t forget, my job’s already on the line. My life’s just another reason to make sure things go well.”

Azure glared at the unicorn as he slipped out of the room and followed behind the Princess. He watched them leave, and once he was sure he was alone, Azure sighed and made his way to his quarters.

He had to clear out his bedside table.

---$---

“And welcome to Casa Chez Night,” Night Silk said as he led Twilight into the small room.

“I’m not sure why you’re trying to impress me with both this ‘safehouse’ and your proficiency at butchering two separate languages,” Twilight replied.

If you could call it that, the room was situated between the crawl spaces of a few apartments in a Manehatten tenement building. Apparently, when the flats were first built, the first few rooms had been divided into tight sections. Supposedly this was so that they could fit as many ponies as possible into the building. When Celestia later ruled about the proper sizes of livable spaces, many of the dividers had to be knocked down to make larger living spaces. The room that Twilight and Night occupied now would have given the previous tenements a larger room for the same rent as everypony else, so these tight spaces remained, though unlived in.

So when Night offered to take the place, at full price, if the landlord kept quiet about it, he simply took the money and forgot about the room.

Twilight found the place a little claustrophobic, though, given the place’s history, she wasn’t terribly surprised at that. “How on earth does a pony live like this?” Twilight asked, glancing up at the dusty chalkboard, the cot to the side of the room, and the table with the single chair that dominated the center.

“Fairly well, though the neighbors are a little loud, and these walls are thin,” Night said, “but be it ever so humble…”

Twilight shook her head. “So, ignoring the fact that there’s barely enough furniture in here for just you, I imagine we’re going to be staying here until nightfall?”

“Oh, no, Princess,” Night said with a smile, before hanging up his cloak. “We’re only staying long enough to get a few things in order.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “We’re not going to wait for it to get dark out?”

“Some crimes don’t happen at night,” the thief replied before he pulled out the chair. “Take a seat.”

Twilight did.

“So, as we’ve discussed before, Blackjack works in this area and frequently runs protection rackets with her gangs. We’re going to grab their collections as they go through and return bags when we have them.”

“Okay,” Twilight said.

“Now, we do have to be careful with this one,” Night continued, “because this one has the greatest chance of backfiring on us. If the gang members found out that the ponies they just shook down got their coin back too fast, they might shake them down again. Our best bet then is to make sure that we take the cash, and then sneak it back into their homes.”

“Okay,” Twilight nodded.

Night paused for a second. “You seem rather okay with all of this.”

“I’m letting you make your argument.”

Night nodded. “I see, then I guess I should point out that your guard can’t do much for this kind of job, as Blackjack typically calls this ‘collecting donations.’ The ponies that she’s extorting are typically too afraid to tell the guard otherwise, so they get very brazen with this.”

Twilight frowned but nodded.

“Anyway, I can handle returning the coin to these ponies, but the first part has a great chance of succeeding with both of us.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Well, while I certainly can pick pockets, having someone to watch me, and if needed, distract ponies, will make this a cakewalk.”

“Distraction?” Twilight said. “Need I remind you that I literally went to the Underworld, several times.”

“I remember, Princess.”

“Then why do I get the feeling you don’t believe me?”

“No idea, Princess,” Night said, before grabbing an eraser and wiping the chalkboard clean. “Now, I do want to run a few things past y—”

Night blinked and suddenly found himself outside, facing a black, slate door with red patterns inscribed on it. “F-first…” Night trailed over, before turning around to see Twilight standing on the center head of a three-headed dog.

“Night, meet Cerberus,” Twilight said, as the massive bulldog towered over him.

“Uh...good boy?”

Twilight smiled before another flash of teleportation magic took them back to the apartment in Manehatten. “I will be fine, Night. I have been adventuring.”

Night blinked for a second before nodding. “Of course, Princess. Um...well…” he said, trying to collect himself after staring death’s guard dog in the face. “Well...there is one more thing we need to talk about.”

“And that is?”

“Well…” he said, still collecting himself. “Y-you have a disguise, but that’s not enough.”

Twilight glanced at the changeling amulet. “And why not?”

“Because,” he said, finally back in his calm, smug tone. “I’m not calling you Princess out on the street. I need something that I can call you.”

Twilight blinked and nodded. “Um...I...I guess you can call me Twilight…”

Night blinked. “Really?”

“What? Plenty of ponies have that name,” Twilight said. “It’s not like I’m asking you to call me ‘Twilight Sparkle, that mare from Ponyville’ or anything.”

Night sighed and shook his head. “Let’s... let’s just talk about what we need to do when we get down there. First and foremost, we need to talk about one thing. Getting the money back.”

“Can’t you just steal it all back at their hideout?” Twilight asked.

“I could, but that’s more work that we need to worry about.”

“Is it?” Twilight asked.

“We can’t take the bags as they go, they’ll catch on. We’ll have to grab the bag at the end, and we need to take it in a very spectacular way, so they know we stole it, and the ponies that paid up are innocent.”

Twilight smiled. “That sounds like something we can do.”

---$---

Strong Arm was a large pony, though that surprised no one. No one was then further surprised when he grew up into a thug, who was better at punching ponies than thinking. Strong Arm walked down the street of one of the more impoverished neighborhoods of Manehatten, along with his excellent buddy Black Mail.

Black Mail, the small pegasus that he was, walked in the shadow of the larger pony, smirking and growling as he spoke to his friend, though neither of the ponies watching them on the roof could hear what he said.

Twilight frowned as she watched the two move, walking from door to door in broad daylight. “This should not happen in my kingdom.”

“Well, you’re normally not here to stop them,” Night said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “He’s just added another sixty-five bits to the bag.”

Twilight was keeping a modified Pricetag spell on the bag. Night typically split up the money into even shares and spread them out best he could. “Well, that’s very admirable of you but horribly inefficient,” Twilight had said, before coming up with this plan. Perceive spells did not drain magic like the others, and Twilight’s reserve was big enough that she could run this kind of spell for hours.

Night flipped open a notebook. “Sixty-five to Mrs. Caramel, good to know.”

“How many more buildings are they going to hit?” Twilight asked.

“As many as they feel like,” Night said. “Like I said, the guard can’t do much about this one.”

Twilight sighed. “This isn’t right.”

“No argument there, Ms. Twilight.”

“Just Twilight, please,” the disguised unicorn replied.

“If you say so.”

They continued to follow the two thugs on the street, shadowing their movements. They moved as quietly as they could, leaping from building to building needed, making sure that they kept the ponies in their sight.

“I hate waiting on them.”

“Waiting is half of what I do, Twilight,” Night said. “You’d be surprised how much waiting is in sneaking around.”

They continued to watch as the two thugs kept collecting, smiling, and smirking all the way before they finally turned away and began to head the other way down the street. “And that’s our cue, Twilight,” Night said. “Do you still want to go with your plan?”

Twilight smirked. “It’s going to be too much fun not to.”

“Honestly, I have to agree with that.”

Twilight made the first move then, as she cast a Control Matter spell, “Gem’s Gravity Well.” The bag, its physical weight suddenly increasing one hundredfold, rolled off of Strong Arm’s back, where it landed hard on the cobblestones.

“Something wrong, Strong?” Black Mail asked.

“Bag’s heavy all of a sudden,” Strong Arm replied.

“Yeah, it’s because of all the coins we got in there,” Black Mail said before he went to pick up the bag. He grabbed the bag and went to lift it, only for his body to slip out from beneath him. He turned around and tried to lift the bag again, but it didn’t even come off the ground.

“Alright, I’ll see you in a few, Twilight,” Night said before he hooked his rope to the side of the building. He leaped down the side of the building, sliding down his rope at incredible speed, before hitting the sidewalk.

Both thugs glanced at him before Night moved, running past them. They moved to avoid him, standing back as Night dove for the bag. He grabbed the sack, and both thugs charged him in that exact second, not daring to let him get away with all of their hard-earned cash. Strong Arm bucked, wildly, missing Night by inches as he dived back, away from the sack. Black Mail shot forward, drawing a blade, but Night sent a kick into the pegasus’ jaw.

Black Mail’s skull was ringing, but Strong Arm had recovered and charged Night again. The Master Thief backed away from another powerful blow, as both ponies tried to stop Night from grabbing their bag.

In fact, they were so dedicated and focused on keeping Night away from the bag that they didn’t notice a sunset-colored unicorn mare pick up the sack and begin walking away.

Night waited for Twilight to move out of sight from the street, before he leaped back, smiling. “You know, Gentlecolts, you need to pay more attention to what’s going on around you,” he said, before pointing to where their collections had been.

They both turned back to the bag and found nothing.

And when they turned back around, Night, or at least his image, was gone.

---$---

“That went off without a hitch,” Night said as he returned to his apartment to rendezvous with Twilight.

The sack of coins sat on Night’s singular table, along with the small notebook that Night wrote the entries in. Twilight was already sorting through the bags when Night joined her, and she casually looked. “So you did make it, I was starting to wonder.”

“It’s good to see that the Princess has such care for her servants,” Night said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Are you going to help me sort all of this or not?”

“I will, I will, but I have a better question for you. What did you want for dinner?” Twilight glanced up at him as he held a bag of coins. “The guys we’ve been following all day offered to pay for us.”

“Now, that is just a crime. There’s no need for that,” the Princess said.

“Well, you say that, but they are also sponsoring the purchase of another chair so I can help you with that mess,” he said, pointing over at the bits that covered the table.

Twilight sighed. “Fine.”

“Again, though, what do you want?” Night asked. “There’s a decent Chineighes place nearby, but of course, this is the place to get Manehatten-style pizza.”

“Hayburger,” Twilight said.

“Hayburger?”

“They’re everywhere, they’re cheap, and they’re delicious.”

“Well...yeah...but it’s Hayburger.”

Twilight glanced up at him. “Hayburger. Number 3, extra pickles, hold the mustard.”

Night shook his head. “Alright, guess I’ll go get some Hayburger, and a chair,” he said. “I’ll be back in about half-an-hour.”

Twilight nodded before splitting another pile of gold. The door closed, and Twilight glanced up at it, before sighing.

Honestly, this was going to make things better for both of them until Twilight came to a decision, and if he didn’t need to learn new words, he should be able to pick them up pretty quickly.

She stood out of her chair and suddenly popped into the Castle back in Canterlot.

This was her third long-range teleport today, and her body was starting to feel it. As an alicorn, her reserves were massive, but even they had a limit.

She appeared in the Royal Library, one of the most familiar locations in the entire Castle for her. When she was simply Celestia’s apprentice, she had spent so many hours here, it was her home away from home. She barely had to think before she was already heading down the magical studies branch and plucked a book about Matter and one about Image from the shelves. She flipped the book open before casting a second spell, “Shillouette’s Speed read,” a Perceive Matter spell that Twilight frequently used to get the basic gist of a book.

Both books had exactly what Night needed, and she carefully slipped them into a saddlebag before teleporting back to the apartment.

She pulled the saddlebag and set them on what passed for a kitchen counter by Night’s surprisingly well-stocked fridge, before sitting back in her seat and picking up exactly where she left off.

When Night did return, he almost didn’t notice that she left. He handed her a greasy bag of fast food, unfolded a camping chair, and was about to get to work when he saw the books. “Did...did you bring those?”

“They have a few spells you might want to learn,” Twilight said without even looking up. “The Catapult spell is in there, and it should help you get around, without having to rely on that piece of rebar you have.”

“Hey, I like my hook, thank you very much.”

“It’s literally a piece of construction debris,” Twilight said.

“And Hayburger is a step up from eating garbage, but I was willing to eat it quietly.”

“I will have you hung for treason with that kind of talk,” Twilight said with a glare.

Night sighed. “Get some sleep tonight, Twilight,” he said, sardonically using her name, “I’m going to introduce you to Newsie tomorrow.”

“Who?”

“The mare who’s going to give us our next job.”

Chapter 12

Twilight was trying to sleep.

The past year she spent in the Castle, and the near-decade she spent in Ponyville, left her used to quiet, nearly soundless nights in soft beds. Right now, she had neither. Manehatten earned the name “the city that never sleeps,” and for the first time in her life, Twilight appreciated precisely what they meant by that.

The rumble of late-night carriage traffic nearly roared outside her window, and it continued to ring in her ears into the early morning. She stared up at the ceiling of the criminally small apartment and sighed. She didn’t even need to see a clock to know it was two or three in the morning.

The cot didn’t help her any, either. The simple bed felt like it was digging into her at any possible angle. She rolled onto her side and felt the ribs beneath the thin cloth stab into her. She moved back on her back and felt them crush against her wings. She rolled onto her stomach, but that lasted about a breath or two before she rolled onto her back.

What made it worse, though, was Night.

Despite buying another chair to sit in so they could count coins, Night had not bought another place to sleep. Not even so much as a sleeping bag. When Twilight pointed that out, Night shrugged and said he’d take the floor.

And he did. He lay there on the hardwood floor, sleeping like a rock. His low, quiet snores that emanated from where he lay only proved that he was getting the full night’s sleep Twilight would have killed for right now.

“This is so unfair,” she muttered, rolling again to her side before laying down again.

Wheels clattered outside, and a drunk yelled on the streets. Electric lights buzzed, and somewhere a clock ticked.

Twilight rolled again, facing Night as he lay on the floor, and glared a few daggers into his back out of jealousy.

Maybe she should try the floor? It had to be more comfortable than this if he was sleeping that well. She sighed, before getting onto the floor, and closing her eyes, trying to fall asleep.

---$---

Azure woke that morning and slowly prepared for the day. He made sure that his mane was straight before slipping on his royal purple armor. As soon as it was on, he checked his posture, turning his back into the habitual ramrod, before getting his coffee. He took it black, no sugar, drinking the beverage for the pure bitter caffeine. He downed it as quickly as possible without burning his throat before setting his mug down in his dishwasher.

He took a step out of his living quarters and stepped into his office before his routine was soundly interrupted.

“Azure! Azure!” Raven cried, nearly tearing down his office door. “Where’s the Princess?”

Azure glanced at her before sitting in his chair. “Somewhere in Manehatten last, I heard.”

“What?” she asked, shocked by his overly-calm demeanor.

“Night Silk has decided to show the Princess what he does.”

Raven went pale. “He...he what?”

“He and the Princess went off to Manehatten to deal with a job he had. That’s why the Princess had you hold all of her meetings yesterday.”

“Yes...but...I moved them to today!” She said. “What am I supposed to tell them?”

“Tell them that the Princess is unavailable,” Azure said.

“And cause a panic?” Raven asked. “Princess Twilight, for all her faults, has always kept her meetings! The tabloids are going to latch onto this like a fly to honey. Worse still, she’s not here! There are documents that need signing, court to hold, and nobles to deal with, how am I supposed to take care of all of that?”

“You don’t. You just need to stall until the Princess returns, which I imagine should happen sometime today.”

Raven sighed and growled. “I don’t like this.”

“It’s not our duty, nor our privilege to like, or even approve of the Princess’ choices,” Azure said. “We simply need to make what she wishes a reality.”

Raven sighed. “Easy for you to say, you don’t have to deal with the nobles.”

Azure’s face softened slightly, which is to say that his deadpan glare turned sympathetic in the way that a stone can erode into a different shape. “I can assign you some guards if you think it will help.”

“No, but thank you. I’d much rather put Spike out in front. He’s at least fireproof.”

Azure raised an eyebrow as Raven began to smirk darkly, but he said nothing as she walked away. His emotionless state returned to his face, and he sat down, starting to work through the papers he had to get through by the end of the day.

He really hoped Spike made it out in one piece.

---$---

Twilight woke up to her alarm, feeling stiff. She slowly rolled onto her hooves and stood, feeling her back pop as her spine realigned itself. She blinked, wearily, and only then just noticed that she was covered in a cloak that someone had draped around her like it was a makeshift blanket.

She picked up the small gem, whose Perceive Matter spell allowed her to hear her alarm clock all the way in Canterlot, and deactivated it. Someone back in the Castle would no doubt turn it off at some point, especially after she raised the sun.

Pulling her amulet from the saddlebag she packed, she focused her power and pulled the sun over the horizon, starting its movement through the day.

Her duty done, she glanced back at the cot and wondered if it would still be so uncomfortable through the fog of fatigue that hit her mind.

The door to the “apartment” opened, and Night stepped through with a small carton of milk. “Ah, good morning, Princess.”

Twilight mumbled something in response.

Night simply strode to the small refrigerator and pulled out a few eggs. “How do you like your eggs?”

Twilight muttered something again.

“What now?”

Another grumble.

Night shrugged. “Scrambled it is.”

He pulled out a pan and took it over to the camping stove he had set up on his countertop, before he began to cook away, cracking the eggs expertly as he began to make breakfast for the two.

Twilight, meanwhile, stumbled over to the table, with all the bags of the separated money laying next to it, and slumped into the folding chair that Night just bought, whose cloth body seemed more comfortable than the wooden stool.

“Didn’t you get the coffee?” Night asked, before pointing to the machine that sat right next to the fridge.

Twilight blinked as she noticed it for the first time, before bringing the whole coffee pot over to her. She opened the lid, set it aside, and sipped at the still-hot pot.

“I have a mug, you know,” Night said.

“Just one?” Twilight shot back, with her first intelligible words.

Night let it rest, as he had some eggs to focus on. “It sounds like you had a rough night, or are you always such a bright and cheery morning pony?”

“It would help if your cot were at least as comfortable as a stone slab.”

“You were on the floor when I got up.”

“Because the floor was more comfortable.”

Night nodded before he slid the eggs onto two paper plates and handed one over to the mare.

Twilight ate them, quickly but not impolitely, as Night ate across from her. After a long minute or so, he spoke. “Hopefully, we’ll get you back on the train to Canterlot before tonight. While that happens, I’ll pass out the coins, before beginning to plan the next job.”

“We’re not doing the job tonight?” Twilight asked.

Night shook his head no. “Never jump into a job without making a plan,” he said, before pointing over the chalkboard. “Knowing the when and where is important, but not as important as having a way out.”

Twilight glanced back over at the chalkboard and quickly read the details. She read the street names that they followed along yesterday, along with names of tenants that they’d meet. Night had everything planned down to the detail, each facet of the plan chosen with care. He had escape routes laid out, backup plans, and ways to get herself out of danger if things went very poorly.

It...well...it was almost impressive.

Twilight shook her head. She was being unfair. What he had here was impressive, no “almost” about it. Yes, it wasn’t work that she necessarily approved of, and she felt that this much work, if pointed in a different direction, would result in a far more respectable career path for him.

“That’s a lot of planning.”

“Not that much,” Night said. “The plan was mostly just having you run distraction while I got the loot, and you made the very brilliant move of switching the two. No, that is just background information.”

“Background information?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I mean, take Mrs. Caramel, for example,” he said, pointing to the mare’s name. “See, I know from past experience, and a little bit of espionage, that Caramel’s more concerned about her kids than some money. Instead, she’d make sure that Blackjack’s gang stays away from their door rather than use her extra cash to help buy things, including renovation to her apartment. She’s not going to say anything if the guard gets involved. Now that I know that, I know I shouldn’t count on her to help me if I say, wanted to get the guard involved and have the two thugs arrested.

“Then there’s also possible escape routes. If they have a pegasus, which they did, then trying to run along the rooftops like we did when we stalked them, wasn’t going to work. They’re too open, so they’d spot us immediately. Our best bet then would be trying to cut into the alleyways and make our way down into a more crowded street section. That way, even if the pegasus followed, they could very quickly lose us in the crowd. Now, we didn’t have that option; there weren’t many crowds out in that part of town yesterday. Instead, when you suggested that I be the distraction, I knew I had to take the subway out. The earth pony would have a hard time following me down into the tunnels, and the pegasus didn’t have a chance of tracking me out, especially if I ran down the rails instead of riding the train.

“These are all things I need to take into account if I’m going out there,” Night said. “No plan survives contact with the enemy, so knowing as much as you possibly can means you can make better split-second decisions when you need to.”

“That…” Twilight began. “That is surprisingly well thought out.”

“Dumb thieves don’t make it long, Twilight,” Night said. “Master Thieves can’t afford to be dumb.”

Twilight nodded.

“Also, are you sure you want to go with ‘Twilight’ as your alias? It’s really, really obvious.”

“Which is why no one will see through it,” Twilight replied.

“Sure,” Night said.

---$---

Twilight, in her “normal unicorn persona,” with her orange coat and teal mane, and Night walked down the street toward a newsstand. It was being watched by a young mare who sat next to the stand, looking bored. The parchment-colored pegasus gave the two of them a glance before she spoke up. “Well look who’s back. Who’s the chick?”

“Twilight, meet Newsie. Newsie, Twilight,” Night said, making a quick introduction.

“Okay, I’ve got a name, but who is she?” Newsie asked. “You don’t typically bring your marefriend to meet your informants.”

Twilight blinked. “I don’t even know him. Not really, we met like a week-and-a-half ago.”

“I’m just that charming,” Night said. “You remember what I told you last time?” he asked.

“Something about the Princess riding your flank to prove you're useful or something?”

Night sighed and didn’t even dare to look at Twilight’s expression, though he knew she was staring at him. “Not in those words.”

“Okay, and—Oh. Oh, horseapples. I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I—”

“Don’t. Don’t worry about it, please,” Twilight said. “I’m supposed to be somepony else right now anyway.”

“Right, right, a disguise, cause that makes sense. I can’t believe I just said that in front of you.”

“Well,” Night interrupted, “if you want to make it up to her, you can tell what you have on basically anything else.”

“Yeah, yeah! Sure! Um!” Newsie tried to collect herself for a moment before she spoke up. “Uh, I’ve heard that Boot Legger has some stuff he’s trying to move to in Vanhoover.”

“What kind of stuff?” Night asked.

“Something about rocks that used to be a throne or something?” Newsie said, shrugging. “I didn’t get much on what they had.”

“Chrysalis’ throne?” Twilight asked, in a shocked yell.

Night stared at her. “Well, now everypony thinks that, don’t they Twilight?”

“No, this is bad. Those shards can eat unicorn magic. They can destroy so many wards and seals almost easily. Those could open the doors of Tartarus, or, if they can be used right, maybe recreate the day magic nearly died.”

“So then we should probably take care of that, as soon as we can,” Night said, before turning back to the pegasus. “Thanks, Newsie, here’s your pay.”

He tossed her a bag of coins and nodded before the two of them walked away.

As they moved, Twilight gave another glance back at the pegasus, trying to recover from insulting the most powerful pony in the country to her face. “Is she alright?” Twilight asked.

“What do you mean?” Night asked.

“She’s pretty young to have a job at a newsstand, to begin with, but also being an informant? Not only that but she...well...she doesn’t have a cutie mark either.”

Night gave her a glance before sighing. “It’s hard to figure out what your calling in life is when you’re just trying to survive.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s…” Night said. “She’s had a rough childhood, and that’s really all I should say about it. Her history isn’t mine to share, after all.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“Bad foster homes,” she replied. “She got off mostly lucky, compared to some other I know, but it’s still messed her up a bit.”

Twilight blinked. “That’s... I’m sorry to hear that.”

Night nodded. “It happens. But don’t let her hear you. She won’t take your pity. Honestly, I think it’s because she scared of you that she apologized.”

“What do you mean?”

“She has a lot of anger in her, and it takes a lot of effort for her to get over it,” he said, before shrugging again. “Anyway, I’m not going to talk about her history anymore. That’s not my business, and it’s too late to do anything about it now. More importantly, we need to get to the train station.”

“We’re heading to Vanhoover?” Twilight asked.

“I’m heading to Vanhoover,” Night said. “You need to head to Canterlot.”

Twilight felt her heart sink when he said that.

“I’ll meet you at the station in two days,” Night continued. “That should give me enough time to find the warehouse and formulate what we need to get the materials out of there in time.”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, I probably should head back to Canterlot. I have a kingdom to run and stuff like that.”

It felt good to stretch her legs, though.

“First, though, you need to get the money back to those ponies,” Twilight said.

“Yes, but, as your Captain of the guard pointed out, your safety is my primary responsibility. I need to make sure you get to the train station safely, first.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I can take care of myself.”

“I know,” Night said. “You can just make a pony weigh more than they can carry. Kicking a butt or two’s no big deal. Still, would your Captain be alright with even a papercut?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at him before nodding. “Alright, that does actually make sense.”

“Told ya. I see you off, get those bags returned, and then head off to Vanhoover for the next job.”

“And I’ll meet you there in two days,” she said, “but next time, I want to see your process.”

Night glanced at her. “You want to see me spend three days scouring every other square foot of area around a target for escape routes?”

“As somepony who spent most of their life as a scholar, I believe you can tell a lot about a pony by how they research something.”

Night shrugged. “If you say so, Twilight.”

---$---

Princess Twilight Sparkle returned to the castle to find a long line of ponies waiting on her. The line went out the keep door and trailed into the courtyard, and the alicorn was left to wonder how as she followed the gathered ponies back up to her throne room.

Many of the ponies in the line tried to get her attention, claiming that they had been waiting for hours, and she needed to hear them immediately. Twilight gave them her best Princessly nod and assurances that she would listen to them, but she needed to see what the source of the problem was.

Following up the line, she found a very annoyed Spike, listening to a singular pony that looked vaguely familiar complain on her floor. “I must speak with the Princess! She is the only one who can deal with my problem.”

“And Princess Twilight isn’t—” Spike began before he noticed her enter. “Has just now arrived.”

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked.

“Ah, Princess,” the petitioner said. “I’m glad you’ve finally arrived. I wished to speak with you about your ruling last week.”

“My ruling?” Twilight asked, confused as she made her way to her throne, which Spike sat next to, appearing relieved.

“He’s been here for hours,” he whispered.

“As you requested, I bought a hat, but it did not solve the problem. Now I hope you will see my previous solution is indeed the sane one, and thus acquiesce to my request.”

Twilight closed her eyes, as though she were in physical pain, and took a deep breath. “Have you tried sunglasses?”

The petitioner blinked in surprise and brought a hoof to his chin in thought. “No, I don’t believe I have.”

“Buy a pair, and get out.”

Chapter 13

Night and Twilight slipped next to the Vanhoover warehouse, filled with the stone they needed to secure. Night told Twilight exactly how to get in, over the chain-link fence, and down next to the storeroom proper. Night pointed carefully toward the door, and Twilight cast a Perceive Body spell, “Ruby’s Rites of Life-Seeking,” to see that eight ponies were inside the warehouse, and three were slowly making their way around the perimeter.

“We have three coming this way. We have a few seconds,” she whispered.

“How many inside?” Night asked.

“Eight.”

Night shook his head. “Too many for the front door. We’ll have to go up.”

Twilight nodded, and they each cast their own catapult spell to launch themselves up onto the roof. Twilight landed softly, but Night, who was still new to the spell, sent himself straight into the air. The Princess caught him, though, holding him in the air and slowly bringing him back down to the roof without breaking any of his legs. “Thank you, Twilight,” he whispered.

Twilight nodded back as they both quickly made their way to the skylight. They both glanced down into the warehouse below, where the eight ponies they saw were posted around a single chest. Inside that chest, both ponies knew, lay a shard of Chrysalis’ throne.

Further research by Night and Newsie revealed that a shard of this size, just by itself, would sell for millions of bits on the black market, and Boot Legger was in line to make nearly a million on his own from moving it from seller to buyer.

Twilight glanced over to Night. “So how are we going to do this?” she asked.

“Couple ways,” he replied. “We could try scaring the ponies away with illusions, and secure the chest once everypony’s gone. We could try distracting them and grabbing the stone while they’re looking the other way, my favorite. The last idea would be for you to lift the chest up here while I transpose the Image of the chest where it’s sitting right now.”

“The last one seems like the easiest,” Twilight said. The chest would undoubtedly be large enough to use a lot of her magical energy in one go, but she could certainly do it. With Night focusing on the Image, they could probably grab the stone before either pony noticed.

“Or it would be, but the stone might actually make it impossible for me to lift the box. It’d probably eat the magic as soon as it gets close.”

“Fair enough,” Night said. “Distraction then?”

The smile on his face said that he really wanted to run a distraction.

And, for some reason, so did Twilight. “Distraction,” she agreed. She glanced back down through the skylight. “Can you put an image of yourself behind that one right there?”

“The one in the east corner?” Night asked.

“Yeah, put your image there, and try to run him into the shadows that way.”

“What if I run him outside?” Night asked. “There’s more places for a pony to hide out there. With luck, it’ll keep a few of them outside while we grab the rock.”

“That could work,” Twilight agreed, smiling wide as she began to plan over the warehouse like it was a chess match. “But, we don’t know how many would follow it. So we should have a follow-up distraction ready.” She glanced up at Night. “Can you make a pony illusion, one that isn’t your image?”

“I can,” he said. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that they’re going to find a team of ponies attacking them,” she said.

“Okay, the problem with having a team is that they’d expect someone to try and grab the case while everyone’s distracted. No matter what, they’ll leave at least two ponies behind to watch the case.”

Twilight frowned and pursed her lips.

And then she smiled. “Do you have your hook?”

Night pulled it free. “Always.”

Twilight used the amulet, and her muscles bulged. “Here’s the plan.”

---$---

Bronze Bouncer stood in the warehouse and sighed.

The large earth pony carried a baseball bat over his shoulder and a bored expression on his face. A pegasus nearby, Gale Glider, stared in another direction, equally bored. At least, Gale had some gum to chew, but the constant smacking of his jaw made Bronze tighten his grip on his bat.

Another pony, the rookie, yawned, before speaking up. “So...what’s in the box?”

Gale sighed. “You don’t get to know, Rookie,” he said. “You only get to know if you’ve been running with the crew long enough.”

“And...how long does that take?” the Rookie asked.

“As long as it takes,” Gale said.

“Both of you, shut up,” Bronze said. “Can’t hear nothing for all your talk.”

Both ponies went back to silence.

For a second or two anyway.

“But like, why don’t I get to know.”

“Because we don’t trust you yet—”

“I said, shut up!” Bronze yelled, turning to face both of them. “You want to know what’s in this box, Rookie? A life sentence. And the only thing standing between us and that is making sure the guard don’t get to us. So shut up, so I can hear them coming. Because if somepony’s going to get that life sentence, it’s not going to be me.”

A rock slammed into the back of Bronze’s head, and he turned to see a dark-grey unicorn. He blinked before the unicorn ran out to the door leading to the courtyard. “Gale, grab him!” Bronze ordered, and the pegasus, along with two other ponies, ran out.

Another rock slammed into Bronze, and he turned to see a pegasus mare flying above him with a blue coat, blowing a razzberry. The pegasus dove for the door, almost begging to be followed.

Bronze frowned. This was too obvious. They couldn’t let those ponies go if they reported to the guard, but they were also obviously leading everypony away. “Rookie, grab some ponies and go after her, Rock, stick here with me.” Another earth pony nodded as Rookie and another pair of ponies both chased after the mare.

Bronze and Rock, the other earth pony that stayed behind both, stood back-to-back with the chest in between them. They stared out into the darkness of the warehouse, daring anything from the shadows to charge them.

Bronze readied his bat, sure that another pony would make a dash for it. The good news was that the chest had something in it that made it immune to unicorn magic, so whoever had to grab the chest needed at least a large earth pony to move it. So there was no way that—

“Well Gentlecolts,” a voice said behind them, and they both turned to see a grey-coated unicorn standing on the chest with a hook attached to its handle. “It’s been a pleasure.”

The rope snapped taut, and both unicorn and chest went flying up toward the skylight. They both shot through the roof, the chest smashing through a still closed skylight, and Bronze cursed. “Get to the roof!” he yelled.

He and Rock rushed for the stairs that led to the roof access. They stormed up the stairs and burst through the door just in time to see two figures, one a unicorn launching himself into the night, and the other a pegasus flying away. The chest lay in front of them, open and empty, without a single sign of any stone left behind.

Bronze cursed again before dropping his bat and turning around.

“Bronze, Bronze, where are you going?” Rock asked.

“Anywhere but here.”

“Why?”

Bronze glanced back at Rock. “We just lost Boot millions in a deal he had lined up, and he’s going to have to pay the buyer to make it up to her. So why do you think I’m leaving?”

Rock stared back at him. “Room for one more?”

---$---

Night landed on a skyscraper rooftop, his catapult spell throwing him into the roof a little hard, but he was getting better. Twilight landed right next to him, changing back into a unicorn, the changeling magic of her amulet immune to the stone’s influence. “Good job, Twilight!” Night said, “Wonderfully done.”

Twilight smiled and bowed. “High praise from a master, I suppose.”

“I may be a master, but you, dear Twilight, you are a natural! You may have very well missed your calling as a thief.”

Twilight’s smile faded. “This is saving the world, not thieving.”

“Same difference, Twilight. Same difference.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sure.”

“More importantly, did you remember what I said about the buyer?” Night asked.

“Yes, yes,” Twilight said. “I need to wait a week before I receive the ‘anonymous tip,’ that Lady Orchidshade is moving these. That way, Boot Legger pays her back to save his reputation before we arrest her.”

Night nodded. “Do as much damage as possible. Will I be seeing you again next week?”

“All the way up until Saturday,” Twilight said. “The Gala runs Saturday, and I need to attend.”

“I’ll see if I can get anything before then,” Night said. “And who knows, maybe I’ll get the hang of this spell by then.”

Twilight nodded. “You did pretty well,” she said. “You figured out the basics in a day.”

Night shrugged. “Well, it’s not like it’s a new word or anything,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t do a good job.”

Night blinked. “Well,” he said, “I’ll hopefully see you before the end of the week then,” he said with a smile before he secured his hook on a vent. He slipped the rope into the harness beneath his cloak and slipped down to the side of the building.

His magic unhooked his rope a bit later, and he was catapulting his way across the city.

Twilight watched him go before she used the amulet to drop her disguise. She took to the sky, carrying the shard of the throne in her hooves, heading for the train station. She had a letter to write to King Thorax when she got back to the castle, and she needed to talk to him about securing the shards better if they were being sold on Equestria’s black market.

That was a problem for tomorrow, though. Tonight, she just had to worry about coming back home after a great night’s work.

---$---

Spike closed court that night and jumped off of his advisor’s seat with a smirk. Things went by so much easier when you didn’t have an idiot who literally could not understand that the Princess was unavailable.

Twilight left earlier that day, and she was supposed to return by morning with the long train ride from...Vanhoover, was it? Spike wasn’t super sure. Ah, well, he had a dinner to eat right now, and that was far better than thinking about where Twilight was coming back from.

Spike’s mood was immediately ruined when Raven Inkwell stood in the doorway between him and the kitchen. “There you are.”

“Can I help you, Miss Inkwell?” Spike asked.

“You can help us,” Raven said, revealing Azure behind her.

The Captain didn’t appear as angry as Raven did. In fact, other than a slight frown to his bearing, he seemed normal, but the fact that he was frowning at all meant enough.

Spike sighed. “Can I at least get a meal while you yell at me?” he asked.

Raven didn’t move, but Azure stepped to the side to make sure the dragon had enough room to move past.

“Was this your idea?” she asked.

“What?” Spike asked, walking past.

“This stupid idea the Princess got into her head, about rushing out into who-knows-what to steal!”

“No, it was Night’s idea,” Spike said, “and honestly, it’s a great idea.”

“How, on earth, did you think this is a good idea?” Raven asked, nearly shrieking. “She is literally going out there, working with criminals, and putting her life in danger!”

“That is not something I appreciate, either,” Azure said, calmly. “It is difficult to secure the safety of the Princess when she runs across the country, in the company of a thief.”

“And don’t tell me you actually believe she needs to be protected?” Spike asked. “It’s not like she’s called the ‘Archmage Ruler’ for nothing. Not to mention the years she spent dealing with world-ending threats. I mean, be honest, the palace guards are more here to guard her stuff than anything.”

Azure gave Spike a look that made it clear he didn’t appreciate the comment, but his lack of an answer made it clear he didn’t disagree.

“That’s not the point!” Raven said. “She’s affiliating herself with thieves and criminals! If somepony found out, it would be devastating to the country! Can you even imagine what would happen if the press found out Princess Twilight Sparkle was moonlighting as a thief! She would lose all respect! Nobles everywhere would be using it as leverage, the entire country could fall apart!”

“And that’s why Celestia gave her an amulet which physically changes her body,” Spike said. “That’s why she used them when she went out and pretended to be a normal pony on her yearly walkabouts, which, if anything, just sets this whole thing up under precedent.”

“The point is that you told the Princess that this was a great idea,” Raven said. “When obviously this just puts her in more danger than she needs.”

Spike shrugged as the three of them walked into the dining hall, where a bowl of gems was waiting for him, as usual. “And if you think that Twilight isn’t totally on board for unnecessary danger, then you don’t know the mare.”

“What are you talking about?” Raven asked. “She’s the most careful and most thorough mare I know! She’s always talking about reducing risk, and limiting danger for ponies.”

“She also spent nearly a decade as a pony who dealt with all kinds of problems, of all kinds of danger levels, doing all kinds of risk. She loves it, even if she doesn’t realize, or admit it,” Spike said. “She makes friends while being in danger. She misses it, and being Princess, where she has none of that is what’s going to drive her insane before anything else.”

“So you tell her to join a thief. One who is galavanting across the entire countryside, on a one-pony crusade to fix the justice system?” Raven asked. “Night is barely functional, and certainly not stable.”

“He’s trying to do his best,” Spike said, “and trying to help us, at that.”

Raven snorted. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“You may not want to, but it’s the truth.” Spike grabbed an enormous sapphire before popping it into his mouth. “He’s trying to deal with ponies that are doing their best to take advantage of the system. He’s trying to take care of the ones that we can’t deal with. That’s important, and that’s a service we can’t ignore. Celestia didn’t, after all.”

Raven scowled, before turning to Azure. “Are you going to back me up or not?”

Azure shook his head. “I told you that I did not like the decision that the Princess came to, but I also told you that there was not much that I think could be done about it. As Master Spike has said, there is nothing the Princess has done that does not have precedent.”

Raven ground her teeth together. “So you’re going to ignore the fact that this lizard here is abusing his relationship with the Princess to make her do stupid things?”

“And you’re abusing the fact that you’re a ‘professional’ at this to make Twilight miserable,” Spike said. “So stop being a hypocrite for a second, and realize that you’re going to drive her to an early grave.”

Azure stepped between them. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. Both of you need to calm down and remember your stations. You have the dignity of the Princess to uphold. You can’t devolve into petty arguments.”

Spike grabbed his bowl. “Then I am going to eat my dinner in my room.”

“Sounds fair enough to me,” Raven said, before walking away.

Spike walked the opposite way, leaving Azure in the dining hall alone.

He stood there for a long second, making sure that no one else was nearby before he slammed his legs into the table, teeth clenched. He gave a barely-suppressed roar before he dropped his hooves, and then made sure the table was undamaged. He set it back into place, straightened his armor, and walked away.

---$---

Night slipped into his Vanhoover safehouse and smiled as he made his way to his cot.

That last job went by perfectly! Having the Princess nearby to help him with these jobs almost made it too easy. Her knowledge of all things magical opened up so many opportunities.

The rocks she threw, she made with a Create Matter spell. She made those stones, with their velocity, all in such a way that no pony at the warehouse would know they hadn’t been thrown. Combine that with his illusions, and there was no way anyone could spot the problem.

He glanced up at the large slate board that hung on his wall, trying to think of what to do next. He needed to come up with something that the Princess could plan with him, or at least something he could arrange with her watching over her shoulder in a reasonable time.

A proper plan would take too long, and he wouldn’t make the deadline. He couldn’t risk doing anything half-way, if he wanted to keep his hide, anyway.

Maybe...maybe he could do some counter-thieving with her? Those were more crimes of convenience anyway, so he could probably get away with a little less.

Yeah, he could probably do that. He grabbed a bottle off of a shelf filled with green fire and a rolled-up parchment. He quickly wrote a message to Newsie, asking for any news on Moon Light’s movements before he rolled up the scroll and opened the bottled, magical fire. The flame consumed the parchment, turning it to a subtle, green magic smoke that flew off toward Manehatten and Newsie.

Yes, he and Twilight were going to have a great time.

Chapter 14

The next time Night met Twilight, he brought a few gifts for her.

She sat at her desk, reading over a new trade offer from Abyssinia, asking for some more magical defenses to protect them in the case of another Storm King, in exchange for some more of their exotic resources.

And that’s when Night strode in and dropped a spherical gem into her lap. “Hello, Princess!” he said. “That is one of the power gems for the castle’s emergency wards.”

Twilight sighed before she picked up the gem and passed it to one of the nearby guards. “Take this back, please.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the guard said.

“And this,” Night said, sliding a sheet of parchment her way, “is a receipt for an enchanted jar and some bottled dragon’s breath.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. “And why do you need an enchanted jar of bottled dragon’s breath?” she asked, glancing at the receipt.

“For last-minuted messages across the country,” Night said casually, taking a seat that he had not been offered. “That one specifically went to Newsie, because that’s the only way we’re getting a job done before the Gala.”

Twilight glanced up. “Alright, what’s your plan?”

“A little more counter-thieving,” Night said. “And this time, maybe you’ll get a chance to spread your figurative wings.”

Twilight slipped the receipt into the rest of her papers. “So what’s your plan?”

“Well, there are two options,” Night said. “The arrest option and the scare option.”

“And why isn’t it just the arrest option?” Twilight asked.

“Because I can’t guarantee to have guards around to do the arresting,” he said simply. “Which is fine, honestly. The scare option wastes time and energy while keeping ponies safe, just like anything else. The arrest option is just a bonus, one I prefer to have, but sometimes you have to make do, and if Celestia had the power to post a guard on every single street corner, I’m sure she would have by now.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Well, I could have a guard posted nearby.”

“You could,” Night said, “but you do need to remember that you’ll be a random unicorn that was also in somepony else’s house, and that could cause some problems. That being said, if you want to do that, we can certainly try.”

Twilight frowned before a smile began to creep onto her face. “Well, maybe we can figure something out then.”

Night leaned forward. “I know the look of someone planning something. What have you got in mind, Princess?”

---$---

Fillydelphia’s skyline did not have the towering heights of Manehatten, but it still struck an imposing figure. Twilight and Night stood on a tower just on the edge of the city’s dense urban areas. They both stared out, Night using a pair of binoculars while Twilight used the changeling amulet to physically alter her eyes to perfect magnification and night vision levels.

The tower they stood on, a small radio tower to boost the signal across the city, flashed with a red light to warn low-altitude, night-flying pegasi that it was there. Night didn’t really appreciate it at the moment, though, as it kept blinding him in the darkness, despite his best attempt to keep his night vision. The only saving grace to the blinding signal was the red filter over the bulb, which barely saved him.

“See anything yet, Twilight?” he asked.

“Not yet,” she replied.

He glanced out across the darkness again, toward a single office building in the city proper. Behind them, Twilight watched the gated community that sat on the edge of the city’s urban heart. The smaller buildings were fairly dense as far as wealth was concerned, but if Night had to put money on it—which in a way, he was—he’d say that Moon would probably try to hit an office building. Office supplies were surprisingly easy to sell, and they could very quickly rack up a price tag, which would help Moon recover from the expenses that the others had gathered. Additionally, fewer ponies lived in office buildings than houses, which meant fewer witnesses that the thieves needed to avoid.

“See anything yet?” Night asked.

“Not yet,” the Princess replied, staring down at the houses. “I have no movement in the houses. Everything seems quiet.”

Night nodded before he glanced back at the office building, searching its face for any sign of movement.

The light flashed again, incredibly bright, despite the red tint to it. He tried blinking with the flash, closing his eyes as he tried to synchronize with the blinking signal.

It wasn’t working.

He sighed and dropped himself a little lower in the darkness before continuing his vigil.

He froze. “I have movement,” Night said.

Twilight jumped through onto the other side of the tower before she followed his gaze to the building.

“Fifth floor,” Night said, letting Twilight know where he’d seen the thieves. “There are three of them.”

“Three?” Twilight asked.

“They do that occasionally,” Night said. “Typically to make sure I don’t stop them. With two ponies watching the back of the third, they can typically get away with stealing more, especially when I can’t stop them.”

“So does this change anything?” Twilight asked.

Night smiled. “Only that we don’t have to set them up for Grand Larceny. They’re going to do that themselves.”

Twilight smiled. “That is something that I like to hear.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

And with that, they both Catapulted themselves into the darkness. The pair arced toward the building, flying over the streets with carefully calculated paths. They made their way to the office, landing on a building just across the way before the trio of thieves made their way inside.

“Alright,” Night said, “With three of them, we’ll have to be a little more careful.”

Twilight nodded. “I got it,” she said. Then she cast a Transform Image spell to shrink her visible form to an inch tall. “Trust me, I’ve got this.”

Night shrugged before he Catapulted himself across the street below, landing on the office building, only five feet away from the window the trio opened to get inside. Twilight landed beside him, pressing against the wall, her miniature form mimicking her unseen actions.

“Alright, Twilight,” Night whispered. “Let’s go.”

---$---

Mystic Haze already hated this assignment.

Moon Light, the little punk with too much cash and not enough sense, was furious about the failure last week. Star Hunt had not only been caught by ‘The Eternal Rival’ that seemed to follow Light’s Pack wherever he went, but Star also was charged with Grand Larceny, and cost the Pack some money.

To make up for the loss of funds, instead of the normal breaking-even that Moon typically met with, Moon ordered that they go for a bigger target, a prospect that Mystic already didn’t enjoy. The real appeal to working in the Pack was that anything they grabbed wouldn’t have lasting effects. The sentences were minor, with minor fines, that left them with nothing but a small mark on their record.

This wasn’t the case here. This would easily be a felony, which would drain Moon Light’s coffers more if they were caught, not to mention what would happen if all three were arrested.

Of course, the only thing Moon Light said concerning the situation was, “Then don’t get caught.”

With the Wisdom of the Ages thus passed, Mystic found himself stuck with Star, the idiot who started this whole mess, and Silver Blaze, an idiot thug that could barely cast Telekinesis, much less Pennypincher’s Pricetag.

Surrounded by incompetence, Mystic moved forward, slipping into the offices of the building. The trio of them was focused on the typewriters. They were large and cumbersome, to be sure, but that meant that they were expensive. More importantly, so were the ribbons in them.

“Alright, Silver, you grab a typewriter or two, Star and I will focus on the smaller things,” Mystic ordered.

Silver raised an eyebrow before he began looking for the nicest-looking typewriter before Mystic turned to Star. “I need you to focus on the ink ribbons and anything else you can find that we can carry out of here. I need to find the office and see if I can’t find a safe or something.”

“The safe?” Star asked. “Moon doesn’t like it when we steal money.”

“And Moon is a child, who only has my quote-unquote loyalty because he has money to get me out of jail,” Mystic said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to steal enough to make my bail.”

Grumbling, Mystic left, casting Tango’s Treasure Finder as he moved, a cousin spell to Pennypincher’s, which revealed the largest currency source in the area. Sure enough, a large square was highlighted through the walls of the offices. That had to be the safe, and Mystic’s target.

He walked across the floor, occasionally glancing in at a few offices to see if they had a few knick-knacks worth stealing.

Finally, he made his way to the stairs. He climbed up to the next floor and followed his spell to a large office that had to belong to some kind of higher up. The outlined treasure was behind the bookcase, expertly hidden, but not immune to Mystic’s magic.

He glanced up and down the bookshelf, trying to figure out how to open the secret before he started clearing books. There was a lever behind them. He could only see it once they were out of the picture. He grabbed an entire shelf’s worth of books and pulled them to the ground. When he saw nothing, he pulled down the next.

He smiled. There was the latch, waiting for him. He quickly pulled it, and the bookcase seemed to pop out of the wall slightly, and sure enough, he slid it to the side with a slight push.

There was the safe, exactly as the spell revealed. He prepared his Sapphire’s Safecracker, another of the Perceive Matter spells, and glanced into the lock’s inner workings. He casually spun the knob to the safe, watching the pins fall into place. Honestly, this spell made getting into safes like this too easy. All somepony needed was Perceive and Matter, and they would make an incredibly comfortable living as a locksmith.

“Mystic!” Someone yelled, and for a second, Mystic felt his heart leap into his throat. Who was yelling? Was something happening? Were they found out?

Star ran up the stairs onto the next floor. “Mystic!” he yelled again, his voice echoing in the empty office.

“What? What?”

“Silver’s gone!”

Mystic blinked. “What do you mean, gone?”

“He just disappeared! I could still hear him, but he was gone, and...and something got him, man!” Star said. “It sounded like he was screaming.”

“Screaming?” Mystic asked, furrowing his brow. He would have heard screaming. The building wasn’t so big that he wouldn’t be able to hear Silver. Something...something let Star listen to him. “I think we have a mage on our hooves, Star,” he said.

“No, no, this is worse than that!” Star said. “Ever since I’ve run into the Princess, I’ve been cursed, man! Cursed!”

Mystic rolled his eyes. “You’re being stupid. This is probably just that Rival pony, or whatever Moon calls him.”

“The Rival’s never been able to do stuff like this, man! This is serious trouble!”

“I hear you, Star,” Mystic said, “but we can’t—”

“Leave…” a voice said, tickling Mystic’s ear.

“Did you hear that?” Star asked, jumping.

“Yes, yes, I did,” Mystic said, “and it’s very obviously a mage using illusions to rile us up.”

Star began to turn back. “Are you sur—” He cut himself off with a scream.

“Star?” Mystic said, wincing. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Mystic? Mystic, where are you?” he asked.

“What are you talking about? I’m right here!” Mystic said. Star glanced about wildly, trying to find some sign of the pony.

“What is wrong with you?” Mystic yelled, before slapping Star up the backside of his head.

Star stumbled forward, yelling as he took the blow and began to run. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Princess! Don’t kill me, I’m sorry!”

“What are you talking about?” Mystic yelled at him as he ran. “The Princess isn’t here!”

“Oh, really?” a voice said behind him, and Mystic turned to see a massive figure standing behind him. She towered over him, a living shadow whose coat was as black as night. The creature, obviously female, stared down at him with two reptilian eyes the color of freezing ice. Her wings shadowed him, eclipsing him completely, and her horn crackled with power.

Mystic glanced up at the figure. “You’re not real…” he said, staring up at her. “You’re not the Princess…”

“Well,” the figure said, smiling wide with pointed teeth and fangs. “You’re right on one account.”

The figure stepped forward, revealing not Princess Twilight, Princess Celestia, nor Luna, but Nightmare Moon herself.

Now there was a perfectly rational part of Mystic’s brain that knew—knew beyond a shadow of a doubt—that this was an illusion. It had to be. Nightmare Moon was defeated, Princess Luna returned. It wasn’t even October when Princess Luna occasionally dressed the part on Nightmare Night.

But every other cell of his body screamed that he needed to run. The part of him that listened to ghost stories as a foal knew the truth. The part that still remembered how bad fillies and colts would be swallowed by the Nightmare Moon knew. The part of him that feared what he could not know, the part that felt the mare’s breath on his face, felt the chilling stare, cowered before her physical form, that part knew. And that part took over.

Mystic ran. He ran for the open door to the stairs, galloping at full speed, only to knock himself unconscious.

Night stepped out from behind a desk and shook his head, before dropping his control image spell, revealing the door had in fact been closed, and the unicorn had just run into it face-first. “Well, that went better than I could have hoped.”

Nightmare Moon smiled before she transformed back into Twilight’s disguise with a burst of green flame. “That, I will admit, was fun.”

“Really?” Night asked sarcastically. “I couldn’t possibly believe that you were having fun with that. ‘You’re right on one account?’ That was almost trying too hard.”

Twilight shrugged. “It is what Nightmare Moon would have said.”

Night shook his head, before looking over the unicorn. "Let’s get this one tied up.”

Twilight nodded, before Creating a chain of wooden blocks around the pony, before using a Transform Matter spell to change the wood to steel.

In Celestia’s opinion, Transform was one of the most powerful techniques a pony could know, so it was no wonder that Twilight had continued to develop and practice this magic in particular throughout her career. Transform, along with physically transforming an object, allowed a Created thing to become permanent. Though she would admit, this particular skill was locked behind the ability to cast two spells at once, no easy feat, especially compared to the relatively simple task of splitting a spell between two targets.

The only limitation there was that a Transform spell could not work outside of the Form of the original material. Transform could not turn a pony to stone, for example, as Matter, which can be touched but is not living, and Body, which lives, were two separate Forms. That’s one of the reasons that artifacts like the Elements of Harmony were so powerful.

With Mystic now secured in chains, they went to go collect the other two.

Star lay at the bottom of a flight of stairs, which had been Transformed into soap. Another chain wrapped around him and it too was turned to steel before they collected Silver, who had not seen his assailant knock him out with a powerful blow to the temple. With all three thugs collected, Twilight and Night led them outside. There, they hung the criminals on the outside of the building. Within seconds, they were ready to be found by the guards, all their ill-gotten gains hanging next to them.

“Well, Twilight,” Night said, looking up in approval at the three ponies. “I have to admit, this is a much better way of dealing with these kinds of ponies.”

Twilight nodded.

“Of course, if I was going to use it, you’d have to let me learn Transform.”

Twilight didn’t immediately reply. “That is a fair point.”

Of course, Transform was also the door to several other dangerous abilities, like making coinage, shape change, and a thousand other abilities that could destabilize the country. That’s why Celestia had kept Transform so well protected, the only spellbook that taught it within the Royal Library’s restricted wing, to be handed out at her discretion.

And even that wasn’t enough, considering that an incredibly dedicated pony could learn the word from studying other mages.

Letting Night learn Transform was...well, it had far-reaching consequences that she wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with.

“I’ll have to think about it,” she said.

“As you wish,” he said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Come on before they wake up.”

Night nodded, and they both slipped away toward Night’s safehouse.

---$---

When morning came, Twilight yawned and climbed out of the air mattress that Night bought her. Of all the purchases he had made so far, this one definitely earned her seal of approval.

Night groaned at her alarm clock and rolled over on his cot, stuffing his ears with his pillow.

“I thought you were a morning pony?” Twilight asked.

“Too much magic,” Night muttered.

Twilight gave a slight nod before she fished out her amulet and raised the sun. “I get that,” she said, before turning off the alarm she brought with her and crawled back onto the mattress. “Get me up in ten minutes, I need to start heading back to Canterlot. I have a Gala to prep for.”

“Bold of you to assume I’ll be awake in ten minutes,” Night muttered.

Twilight smiled at the comment but didn’t say anything else.

After all, if Night missed her wake up call, then it wasn’t her fault that she was late.

Chapter 15

Twilight silently wished she were anywhere but here.

The Grand Galloping Gala was the event of the year. Ponies from all across Equestria gathered here at Canterlot Castle specifically for this night, and this night alone. Beyond the prestige of being invited to this event with the golden-leafed ticket, this party was where new deals were struck between nobles, and ponies rubbed elbows to meet new faces, or rather, new contacts.

Twilight spent this night, much like she had spent it last year, at the top of a set of stairs, meeting ponies, nodding in understanding, and offering her hoof for the occasional, polite kiss. Keeping her face the perfect mask of politeness, she inwardly bemoaned the fact that she was stuck here. A few years back, the infamous Smooze Gala, as it was called, was the last time that Twilight managed to move around at all during this event.

She would much rather be anywhere right now.

Even breaking into a warehouse.

“I’m sure this year has been great for business,” Twilight said to the mare in front of her, “but I’m sure that you don’t want to spend the whole night speaking with me. Go and enjoy the party.”

The mare nodded and left, and Twilight smiled at the next pony in the line.

The good news about this Gala was that the long line of ponies typically scared away the other creature delegations that had since been invited. Her current conversation was interrupted by a yell across the way of “Yak approve of hor’s d ‘oeuvres!” before she continued as though nothing happened.

Though, now that Twilight thought about, she probably should track down Thorax and Pharynx, the changeling king and his brother, for a quick discussion about the shards of Chrysalis’ throne.

“Well, enjoy the Gala,” Twilight said with a grin, before turning to the next pony in line, only for her voice to catch in her throat.

“Princess Twilight, it’s so good to see you,” an all-too-familiar voice said as a white-coated alicorn stood before her.

“P-P...Celestia,” Twilight said. “It’s good to...see you…”

Twilight blinked, trying to make sure that what she was seeing was right. The retired princess wore a dress, but that was standard procedure at the Gala, and while it looked lovely, the more frightening thing was that...well…

Celestia had shrunk.

“It’s not that big of a surprise, is it?” Celestia asked, smiling mischievously, before taking the princess in a soft embrace.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Twilight said, as though the hug shocked her brain back into motion. “I just wasn’t expecting this. Are you okay?”

“Okay? Princess, I’m wonderful!” Celestia said with a grin. “Look I’m re-wearing a Gala dress, and nopony cares.”

It was an older dress. The one from the Smooze Gala, though obviously taken in for her new height, but she still looked beautiful in the gradient of pinks that ran down her flank. “I guess you're right, surely that’s enough cause for celebration,” Twilight said, trying to regroup her manners in front of every important pony in her kingdom.

“Just enough,” Celestia said, “and how are you doing?”

“Oh, fine. The normal problems with running a country, but nothing too big, you know,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Wonderful, I’m glad to hear that you’re taking to your role.”

Twilight nodded, before glancing at Celestia one more time. “Um, Pr...Celestia, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but...is this normal?” Twilight asked, realizing with concern that she could nearly see over the top of her old mentor’s head.

“Oh, Twilight, I have no idea.”

Twilight blinked. “Sorry? I don’t—”

“Princess Twilight, how many alicorns do you know?” Celestia asked in her gentlest teaching voice.

“Including myself, five?” Twilight said, not quite sure where she was going with her point.

“And how many alicorns do you think there have been?”

It took Twilight a second. “Don’t tell me five,” she said.

“Twilight, there haven’t been enough alicorns for us to know if anything we do is normal,” she said. “You can grow three feet tomorrow, I could shrink to the size of a walnut, your mane could change color, who knows what might happen! For all I know, I could die of old age here at this party, at any moment!”

The way she said it, with a slightly excited tone to her words, didn’t put Twilight at ease. “And you’re okay with that?” she asked, some panic in her voice.

She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter if I am, Twilight. What will happen, will happen, regardless of what I do about it.”

“That…” Twilight began.

“Princess Twilight,” Celestia said with a smile. “Don’t worry about me. There’s nothing that can be done, so worrying will not help. Besides, you have a kingdom to run, my wellbeing isn’t important anymore.”

“But...Celestia…” Twilight said, trying very hard not to call her “Princess.”

“Not another word about it, Princess. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have always wanted to go to a Grand Galloping Gala and get completely drunk,” she said with a smile before she slipped away. This left Twilight to face the rest of her line, with the next well-dressed stallion staring after the retired alicorn with a look of concern on his face.

Twilight was sorely considering following her, just to chase her down and finish the conversation. Unfortunately, she had a pony line to greet, and it would be dangerous to “snub” them. So, unfortunately, she let them go.

“Drink, Your Highness?” a pony said, holding up a tray with a champagne flute.

“Thank you,” she said, before doing a double-take.

The pony holding the tray was none other than Night, smiling wide.

Twilight’s eyes went wide before she turned to the massive lines of ponies.

They couldn’t know!

She couldn’t let them know!

She panicked, a spell hanging on her horn before she cast it. Major Thorn’s Modify Memory washed over the line, and all of the ponies in it suddenly felt that they had already spoken with the Princess. In fact, they could remember that they talked to her not ten minutes ago. Why were they wasting time in this line?

The line began to dissipate, and the stallion at the top of the stairs nodded. “It’s been a pleasure to speak with you, Princess.”

Twilight nodded frantically, smiling wide the entire time.

The stallion left, and Twilight spun to face Night.

But he was gone.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Oh, he is not getting away with this,” she muttered to herself, before she followed after him, descending into the party below.

---$---

Despite what she said, Celestia was not trying to get drunk. Quickly, at least.

She waltzed her way through the party, smiling and nodding at the ponies around her before she quickly retreated the moment they started to talk about politics. So far, she had managed to avoid most of those conversions, catch up with some old friends, dance wildly on the dance floor specifically to make a scene, and empty the punch bowl at least once.

“A drink, Lady Celestia?” A voice said beside her, and she turned to see a very familiar pony masquerading as a servant.

“Night Silk, is that you?” Celestia asked, knowing full well it was. “What are you doing, dressing up as waiter?”

“Showing Princess Twilight a weakness in her security,” Night said with a smirk. “To help with the whole ‘proving my worth’ thing.”

Celestia shook her head. “I’m afraid Twilight isn’t aware of what she started, insulting your skills like that.”

Night smirked to himself.

“I hope the amulet has proved itself useful?” the alicorn asked.

“Oh, yes. It’s helped a bunch. That thing is incredibly useful, you know.”

She nodded. “I do, that’s why I had it commissioned. You know I’m going to have to burn another favor with Thorax to get a new one now, don’t you?”

Night nodded. “I suppose. Sorry, Your Ladyship.”

Celestia gave him a good-natured eye-roll before she glanced across the room. “Is that Twilight coming toward us?”

Night followed her gaze. “It appears so.”

“I thought she still had a bunch of nobles to greet.”

Twilight approached quickly, trying desperately to not appear like she was rushing. “What are you doing here?” She asked through a forced smile.

“Serving ponies, Your Highness,” Night said with a smirk.

She glared at him. “You know what I mean.”

Celestia sighed. “Princess, if I may?”

Twilight glanced up at her. “Yes?”

“I’m about to retire to one of the smaller balconies. Would you care to join me?”

Twilight blinked, obviously not catching on.

Celestia then turned to Night. “If you would be so kind as to serve the Princess and me when we’re out there?”

Night smiled and gave a slight bow. “Of course, Your Ladyship,” he said, slipping away.

Celestia gave him a nod, before slipping a wing around Twilight to lead her out toward the balcony. “You know, you shouldn’t have threatened his job,” Celestia said. “That’s only made him worse.”

“You mean he didn’t act this way with you?” Twilight asked.

“No, he simply sat in the shadows until I was mostly alone before reporting.”

They stepped into the night air on a private balcony, and Celestia closed one of the doors behind them. “But I still have to wonder why you’re trying to get rid of him. Did something happen?”

Twilight sighed. “Honestly, Princess, I didn’t even know he was in my employ until about three-and-a-half weeks ago. And when I did find out, it was when he was robbing me, in my bedroom.”

“Ah, that would do it.”

“Besides, I’m not sure he’s worth it,” Twilight said.

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, he’s only really effective at doing what he sets out to do when I go with him,” Twilight explained. “I mean, sure, he can do the job, but we’ve only been effective when we’ve been working together. Otherwise, he just kind of…”

Celestia waited.

“He does what he sets out to do, but it’s not enough,” Twilight said, finally.

“So, he’s only able to do a great job if you work with him?” Celestia asked.

“Yes.”

“Can you give me an example?” Celestia asked.

“Sure! The second job he told me about, he was doing some ‘counter-thieving’ he calls it. Well, the best he was able to do was keep the stallion from stealing things, but when I went with him a few nights back, we managed to get three arrested for grand larceny.”

“You went with him?” Celestia asked knowingly. “I’m sure that was fun.”

“Well, I mean…” Twilight said with a blush.

“So, I suppose I have to ask why weren’t you working with him, to begin with?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Did you ask for a description of the pony Night caught? Did you post wanted posters for information about him?”

Twilight grimaced. “N-no…” she admitted.

“Why not?” Celestia asked. When Twilight didn’t answer her immediately, she continued. “Princess Twilight, you are in the unique and perfect position to work from the side of the law. Night is in the perfect position to work from outside it. The point is to work from both sides.”

“I...I see, Princess.”

“I’m not Princess anymore,” Celestia gently reminded her.

“Right, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Besides, since you have been going out on these little excursions, you might be able to see things I have not. After all, getting three ponies arrested at once isn’t something I was able to do.”

Twilight nodded.

Night slipped through the door at that moment, a trio of drinks on his tray. “Your Ladyship, Your Highness, your drinks have arrived.”

Celestia took one, as did Twilight.

“Oh, my,” Celestia said. “It seems there’s an extra drink. Why don’t you take a quick break with us?”

Night smiled before taking the last glass. “If you insist. So have you been talking about me?”

Celestia shook her head. “You know, I thought I taught you better, Night.”

Both ponies glanced up at her.

“I thought I told you that you should never take a mare to work on a first date.”

Night glared up at her as Celestia smiled smugly. “Hilarious.”

“But yes, we have been talking about you. I hear that you’ve been doing some good in the eyes of our Princess,” Celestia said.

“I’ve been trying,” Night admitted, the smile returning to his face. “What do you think, Princess, have I been doing good?”

Twilight nodded. “You’ve certainly have been giving me a lot to think about.”

“A glowing recommendation,” Celestia noted.

“Thank you, Lady Celestia,” Twilight noted.

“Honestly, though, it is good to see you two working together.”

Night frowned at that. “I wouldn’t go that far, Lady Celestia. I’m just showing her the ropes.”

“That’s still more social interaction than you’ve had in five years,” Celestia said with a smile on her lips.

“Now you’re just pushing it.”

Celestia chuckled. “Well, I think you two have a conversation to have about the Gala, and since that’s a matter of national security, I best see myself out,” and with that, she left the two on the balcony.

Twilight waited a moment. “So you’re here why?” she asked.

“Proving another point,” Night said. “You need to have a better way of checking your waiters. Like your guards know who I am, and I still managed to sneak in, and all I needed was a jacket and bow tie.”

Twilight sighed. “Alright, I’ll look into that. Are you going to stick around?” she asked.

“Oh, no. This place is too…” he trailed off. “I don’t like parties.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like parties? Then I guess it’s a good thing you and Pinkie have never actually met.”

Night flashed her a quick smile. “Well, I’ll leave this ‘normal’ event to you. I just wanted to check out your security tonight; make sure your guards are doing what they need to be doing. Oh, and I think I found a job you’d enjoy.”

“Another one?” Twilight asked.

“There’s no rest for the wicked, Princess. Which means there’s no rest for the ponies who have to stop them. Of course, the good news is that you should be able to join in on the planning like you wanted.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright, it sounds like a plan.”

Night nodded. “Then I take my leave, Princess,” he said with a bow. “I’ll meet you in Baltimare in, let’s say, two days?”

Twilight nodded.

“Wonderful,” Night said before he catapulted himself off the balcony and over the castle.

Twilight watched him go before she sighed and faced the party once more. She didn’t...she didn’t want to go in there into a room full of ponies that only wanted her approval so they could buy favors later. She didn’t want to deal with ponies that smiled nicely, only to stab her in the back later.

She stood on the balcony, looking in before she stared up at the night sky. Somewhere in that darkness, Night was leaping across the city, heading for the train station on...well, on an adventure.

Sure, the Grand Galloping Gala was fun when Twilight was much younger and hadn’t actually been to it, and the Smooze Gala had its own appeal, but these ones had been slowly driving her mad. Always smiling, always grinning, and always waiting for the party to be over.

Twilight glanced back up at the darkness above her, before staring at the light of the party inside.

And then, with a flap of her wings, she flew up toward her tower.

Maybe if she invited her friends back again.

Or at least invite Discord.

---$---

Blackjack’s legs shook underneath her. “You...you little bi—”

A kick to her jaw sent her tumbling backward, leaving the small brown pegasus with the silver coin on her flank standing on the ground behind her. “Now, now,” she said, “that’s no way to talk to the mare that offered to buy your company.”

Blackjack knew what happened. She’d been poisoned somehow. Her drink had been spiked with something, and now she could barely stand much less fight.

“You know, this isn’t even your fault,” the pegasus said. “No, this stupid system of the one who can fight the best wins the gang was started by, oh, what was his name? Ramrod?”

Blackjack rushed her. She couldn’t let this mare take everything she worked for.

“I mean,” the pegasus said, sidestepping Blackjack, “sure, it’s how you took power back in the day, but you could have made it so that nopony else could, or at the very least made it so that nopony could poison you as part of the rules.”

Blackjack stumbled back to her hooves and swung again, only for the mare to casually step to the side.

“Honestly, this is almost embarrassing, Blackjack,” the brown mare said, “and that’s why the first thing I’m going to do is make sure this can’t happen again.”

Blackjack made two powerful swipes, only for the pegasus to leap above her blows and slam down on the earth pony with her entire body. Blackjack’s body buckled, and she went sprawling to the floor.

The pegasus with the coin on her flank, watched as Blackjack tried to push herself back up. But the poison she had used had done its work. The earth pony forced her body up, only to fall again. Then again, and again, and again.

“I have to admire your spirit, Blackjack,” the pegasus said as she walked on the outside of the ring that Blackjack’s crew had cleared for them. She walked past the thugs and gangers, staring them in the eyes as they all watched Blackjack desperately try to get back up. “Unfortunately, you’re just not going to be enough.”

Blackjack tried one more time, but her arms wouldn’t move.

The pegasus watched her for a second, before smiling wide. “Don’t worry, though. I am more than enough to make up for it.”

She approached the mare, lying still on the floor, before she stood on her body, causing Blackjack to grit her teeth.

“Well, boys,” the pegasus said. “It looks like you work for me now. My name is Gleaming Coin, but you can just call me ‘Boss.’”

Chapter 16

Twilight glanced over the chalkboard.

Night found another Legger warehouse, this one moving a few hundred pounds of uncertified spell crystals, a material that was typically used to make cheap, enchanted items that had a very high chance of exploding if pushed too far.

The process of turning a gem into a spell crystal was expensive and time-consuming. This meant that ponies trying to cut corners typically couldn’t sell their crystals to legitimate enchanters, who, by law, were required to work with certified and approved crystals that met the Princess’ Enchantment Safety Standard.

Twilight found the idea of selling possibly faulty crystals annoyingly dangerous and agreed that these would probably be better off being destroyed. After being used as evidence, of course.

Night nodded and then pointed out that moving a few hundred pounds of crystals wasn’t going to be easy for the two of them.

“I’ll have you know,” she said. “That I once picked over nine hundred apples from an orchard in a matter of seconds, and that was before I became an alicorn. Lifting that many crystals will be easy.”

“Yes,” Night agreed. “Because uncertified crystals are known for their stability near massive amounts of magic.”

Twilight glanced at him. “Noted.”

“More importantly, we have to scout the warehouse.” Night said. “Luckily, we have a few neighboring buildings that we can watch it from, unlike last time.”

The picture of the warehouse Night took was taken from a nearby building. It stood a dozen stories tall and gave them a near-perfect view of the warehouse yard. Both ponies could already see that the warehouse had a large door facing the street and a side door on the building’s south face.

“The side door is preferable again, obviously, but the problem is this pony,” Night said, pointing at the picture of a unicorn stallion Night had taken. “That is one of Boot’s lieutenants, Flawless Spark.”

Twilight blinked. “Th-that name sounds familiar,” she said.

“It should,” Night replied. “He’s a rogue mage and one of Equestria’s most wanted from something like seven years ago.”

“And he’s been working with Boot Legger this whole time?” Twilight asked. “And you haven’t told the guard?”

Night frowned. “I knew he was working with Boot but didn’t know where he was. Telling the guard that I’m aware that a pony works with Boot would just get him called in, and then he’d lie, at best be followed, and distract the guard from all the work Boot hires ponies to do. No, this, this is the chance we’re waiting for,” Night said.

“What are you thinking?”

“If we can get the guard here, Spark will get arrested regardless,” Night said. “It doesn’t matter what’s in the warehouse, he’ll be taken into custody. The problem is that we can’t use the usual illusion tricks. He’ll see them and dispel them with a few quick Destroy Energy Spells.”

Twilight nodded.

“At the same time, if we want to hurt Boot bad, this is the way to do it. Losing a lieutenant means he loses the whole cell attached to him.”

“So, what is your plan?”

“Well, how do we bring the guard in without scaring them away?” Night asked. “If Spark just thinks it’s me, he’ll stick around to try and deal with me. If he finds out the guard’s here, he’ll run.”

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin. “So we want to distract him, but if he thinks we’re using illusions, he’ll counterspell them.”

Night nodded. “So what’s your plan, because you have more tools than I do.”

“That’s fair,” she said. She rubbed her chin again. “How do we get the guard to come while distracting a pony who can dispel illusions?” She thought about it for a long moment. “I mean, we can use a beacon.”

“What do you mean?” Night asked.

“An emergency beacon,” Twilight explained.

“I...don’t follow.”

Twilight glanced over at Night. “An emergency beacon? The way you get in contact with the guard. The way you let them know there’s an emergency?”

“Those exist?”

Twilight stared at him like he grew a second head. “What do you mean, ‘those exist?’ They’re how you mobilize the guard for nearly everything. Didn’t they teach you how to use them in Kindergarten?”

Night stared back at her.

“Y-you did go to Kindergarten, didn’t you?”

“So these beacons…” Night began.

“You never went to Kindergarten?”

“I never went to school, Princess,” Night said. “I didn’t have the opportunity.”

“What do you mean you didn’t have the opportunity?”

“I didn’t have the opportunity.”

“Your parents didn’t put you in school?”

“Didn’t have parents,” Night said.

The safehouse immediately went quiet, and Twilight blinked. “I... Not even your foster parents?"

Night snorted. "He wouldn't bother."

Twilight went silent for a moment, before speaking again. "I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

Night shrugged. “It happened, can’t change that. In fact, I think I did pretty well, considering that I can read and write.”

Twilight nodded. “I agree. You’ve done very well.”

“Thanks, but can we focus on the job, please?” he asked.

“Right!” Twilight said. “Well, we can use the beacons to get the guard nearby. From there, we’ll have to figure out how to draw them to the warehouse. The beacon will just get the guard into the local area, but if they don’t see anypony there, they’re going to think it was a prank call.”

“So, what do we do?” Night asked. “What will get their attention from there?”

Twilight frowned. “I have an idea.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “But you’re going to have to stay behind to activate the beacon.”

Night raised an eyebrow. “Explain, please?”

“Well, it has to do with the crystals.”

---$---

Twilight worked carefully, digging through the soil. She used a quick combination of “Stone to Mud” and “Mud to Stone” with a careful application of telekinesis between the two spells.

She transformed a foot or so of stone and concrete in front of her to mud. Another spell later, and she used her telekinesis to shape the mud into a reinforced lining inside her tunnel before changing it back into stone.

The going was slow, she’d admit. It took some time and energy to cover a few yards, perhaps more effort than she needed to spend, but if things went well, she might not have to worry about it.

She moved again, covering another foot of ground beneath the warehouse. So far, she’d been covering ground well, and a quick “Perceive Matter” spell revealed the warehouse above her. She was nearly under her target now.

It was almost time.

She continued her progress forward, thinking to herself as she moved. This certainly wasn’t a job that Night could have performed on his own. He needed more spells and more hooves to get this kind of thing done. Without Transform or Energy, there was no way that Night could accomplish this plan. More proof of Celestia’s statement, she supposed.

She moved a few feet more and then stopped. She was right under her target, a crate of gems, with a few ponies walking around the warehouse above her. She sat down, taking a minute to catch her breath, before using the small pocket watch she brought to check the time. She still had twenty minutes or so, but she needed to start moving.

She gathered herself again before she cast “Morning Glory’s Mage’s Eye,” that took form just above the warehouse floor. She used the eye to carefully glance around the room. Eight ponies walked across the floor, glancing between each other as they moved. She could even see a catwalk connected to a mezzanine floor in the back of the warehouse, where Flawless Spark sat at a desk, just barely visible from her “eye’s” position.

With a little concentration, she moved the eye across the floor, floating from corner to corner to try and find the best places to begin her work. That’s when she found what she was looking for—a small collection of trash stuffed in the corner of the warehouse.

When Twilight suggested this as a distraction, Night raised an eyebrow and reminded her of what she said about property destruction. She replied that this was merely a distraction, which wasn’t meant to damage all of the evidence.

With a quick application of Create Energy, she lit the pile with a spark, letting it burn on its own after giving it the push it needed. That would be the start of the distraction, but she needed to keep the show going.

The fire began to grow in the corner, but Twilight needed to get their attention.

She cast another Create Energy spell, causing an explosion that burst across the middle of the floor. The light burned like magnesium, and the resulting roar deafened the ponies around the crates.

The trick to a long, protracted spell battle was to cast Create spells with long-lasting effects with the smallest cast time needed. Sudden explosions and quick burns made the best attacks, while defense like shields consumed far more energy, though not nearly the same kind of drain as matter. More importantly, if you stopped the spell before the one trying to dispel it could, he wasted the energy.

The ponies were trying to recover, but Flawless was already moving, his horn glowing with a counterspell ready. He cast, but it found no purchase, sending the energy into the ether.

“Search the corners!” Spark said. “There has to be someone here!”

Twilight shot her next spell, Creating a beam of Energy that shot from the corner of the room to the next. She just managed using most of the energy in her attack to change the origin point instead of increased damage.

“There!” Spark yelled. He cast another Destroy Energy, only for the spell to grab onto nothing.

He cursed, getting ready for the next attack before Twilight broke her Perceive Spell. She felt the drain of casting so many spells at once and was beginning to get a headache. She checked the pocket watch, which ticked slowly by. Night would hit the beacon in ten seconds, she would have to send the signal in a minute from then.

She sighed before popping her vision back up into the warehouse with the mage’s eye.

“Look everywhere!” Spark yelled. “Nopony’s getting away with this!”

“Well, I’ve heard the Princess happens to disagree with you,” Twilight thought before she cast another spell, throwing up another blinding, deafening flash right in front of Spark’s eyes.

Spark just barely managed to cast his new counterspell, but the explosion had already done its job, and the rogue mage stumbled.

Forty seconds to go.

She cast another spell, a beam of power that shot straight up through the roof of the warehouse, tearing the roof to pieces. Ponies were running all over the place, the entire warehouse was thrown up in pandemonium.

“Discord would be proud,” Twilight through, before pushing the thought away as fast and as far as she could manage.

She checked her watch.

Ten seconds.

The guard should be approaching the beacon now, waiting for whoever called it to direct them to the more significant problem.

She glanced directly up from her position at the crate of unstable stones above her.

It was time.

She dropped all of her spells and focused pure magic into the gems. They fed on the unfiltered, unshaped magic precisely as they were designed to, and spell matrices began to form on the inner facets of the gemstone. The magic, caught in the jewels like light, began to build, as too much filled them before they could finish writing the matrices. Like pressure valves made of glass, the building patterns held back the magic as long as they could and then inevitably failed.

The crystals in the crate above her exploded. Thunder erupted into a ball of multi-colored fire that roared like an adult dragon.

Twilight watched her tunnel shake and decided that she needed to get out of it now. She built walls behind her, not filling it entirely, but making enough walls and supports that kept the tunnel strong behind her without slowing her down as much.

She followed the tunnel all the way back to the entrance, a hole that she barely disguised as a pony-hole cover, surrounded as it was by dirt. She shoved as much soil as she could behind her, and then she transformed back into her true form and flew to the top of the building.

Night was waiting for her, staring down at the warehouse as she sat down, gasping for breath. “Well, Twilight,” he said, not even turning to her yet. “You were right, this would certainly get everyone caught.”

Twilight crawled forward and glanced over the ledge, just in time to see a swarm of guard ponies descend upon the blown-out hideout.

“Of course, I don’t want to hear anything about property damage again.”

Twilight smiled, despite herself, and then passed out.

---$---

“Alright, Twilight,” Night said, tucking the still-unconscious Princess into bed on another newly-purchased air mattress. “Go ahead and get some sleep. You have a sun to raise in the morning.”

Twilight mumbled something, still obviously asleep as Night carefully set her down.

He nodded, a job well done before he turned to his board. “You did a good job today,” he said, glancing up at Twilight’s seemingly crazy attempt to dig under the warehouse diagramed out on the board. “An excellent job, really.”

He glanced back at the unconscious form of the Princess.

“You did so well, you might be able to put me out of a job just by taking over,” he joked, before sighing.

He glanced back at the Princess, who rolled onto her side to reveal a few ruffled feathers sticking out at odd angles from her wings.

Night winced. He’d seen what happened when a pegasus slept on their feathers wrong and moved toward her.

He sat next to the Princess, and his hooves moved to begin preening her wings before he paused.

She was a Princess and a full-grown mare at that; she could do this herself. Besides, he had no right and no business messing with her wings. He could wake her up, and she could deal with it.

But his hooves began working anyway, carefully straightening and clearing her feathers, focusing on the worse ones for now. His old habits may die hard, but he didn’t need to make sure her wings were perfect. All he needed to do was make sure her wings weren’t going to be sore in the morning.

He worked quickly, his preening skills apparently hadn’t diminished with time, despite the years since he last took care of one of the younger mares from the orphanage. Though he did take a moment to realize, perhaps unconsciously, that her feathers were incredibly soft. Much softer than any other feathers he ever worked with.

“It’s probably all that royal shampoo and conditioner,” he thought with a smile.

He quickly got the mare’s wings in some order before he left her alone and walked to his cot, where he promptly fell asleep.

---$---

The buzz of Twilight’s alarm clock woke her first, and the stiffness in her wings second. She groaned as she got out of the bed the alicorn didn’t remember climbing into, and stretched, her wings slowly extending as she tried to regain some blood flow in them.

She checked her feathers, and sure enough, a few of her feathers stuck out at odd angles. None of the big ones, surprisingly, but that didn’t stop the quills that were askew from pulling at her skin and muscles in weird ways.

Her alarm buzzed again, and she heard Night groan. “Turn that thing off…” he muttered, groaning into his pillow.

Twilight gave him a slight grin, taking some small amount of vindictive pleasure that somepony else had to wake up at the crack of dawn for a change. Honestly, of all the challenges she faced, being a night owl in charge of raising the sun was her most challenging feat.

She silenced the clock and raised the sun. From their safehouse in Baltimare, she could look out over Horseshoe bay and watched as the sun slowly peeked over the sea. She sighed as she watched her handiwork, before climbing back into her mattress, only for the soreness in her wings to keep her awake.

She lay on her right side and pulled her left wing around to slowly preen the feathers that were laying strange. She worked slowly, fixing her feathers, before rolling over across her stomach to her other side. Another careful preen later, and her wings were finally in order. She gave them a final shake before she lay still.

She wasn’t going back to sleep, but right now, she was just taking her time to relax. Ponies would typically be getting her up and filling her schedule right now, getting her moving to this event or that. Here, though? This just reminded her of lazy mornings in the Golden Oak Library after an adventure with her friends.

Yes, this was nice…

Very nice.

---$---

Twilight Sparkle returned to the Castle with an air of business about her. “Schedule the delegation with Thorax for Thursday, I’ve meant to speak with him, and I’ve been putting it off.”

Spike nodded as he took the note down.

They were both smiling as they walked down the hallway. Twilight’s new energetic demeanor sparked through the two as she walked. It was like she returned from a long vacation and was finally ready to get back to work. “After that, I need to reach out with the Abyssinia ambassador. We’ve gone too long without a proper embassy, but they still haven't brought that black market under control. The only way we’re allowing open borders, much less anything else, is when I can get assurances that ponies won’t be sold the moment they step into Klugetown.”

“Yes, Princess!” Spike said with a smile and nod of approval.

“Anyone else nearby that needs a talking to?” Twilight asked.

“No, ma’am!” Spike said. “I’ll go ahead and get these orders processed before you lose all your steam here.”

Twilight shook her head. “Alright, get going,” she said before she sighed.

Spike nodded before rushing off, leaving the Princess alone in front of her office. Twilight watched him go before she adjusted her crown and opened the door.

Raven was waiting for her.

“Princess, do you have a moment?” she asked. “I need to speak with you.”

Chapter 17

“I have some time,” Twilight told her aide as they stood in her office. “Is something wrong?”

Raven inhaled deeply before she chose her next words carefully. “I’m afraid you’re distracted.”

Twilight blinked. “What do you mean?” she asked. “I’ve made sure that any business that I’ve left behind has been taken care of, and I’ve always prioritized the business that only I could deal with. Have there been duties I’m missing?”

“That’s not quite what I mean, Princess,” Raven said.

“Then what do you mean?” Twilight asked.

Raven took a moment to glance away from the Princess, almost as if regrouping, before turning back to her. “I mean that I believe you’re losing sight of what’s really important concerning your rule, and...this thief.”

Twilight blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Mr. Night Silk is...well, let’s be honest; he’s a criminal. He really is, despite whatever good he’s done for the kingdom—”

“Like saving creatures from slavery?” Twilight asked.

“—like trying and failing to secure evidence against certain ponies, going so far as destroying it.”

“We just apprehended a rogue mage that’s been one of Equestria’s most wanted for years just last night,” Twilight said.

“And that’s not something that a Princess needs to be worried about,” Raven said. “I mean no offense, Princess, but your duty is to run the country, not go galavanting off to stop a minor problem.”

“And what do you think the Council of Friendship is for?” Twilight asked. “It’s exactly for when my friends and I need to go ‘galavanting’ across Equestria to stop world-ending threats.”

“And whatever a common thief can stop is certainly not world-ending,” Raven countered. “Princess, we need a ruler, not an adventurer.”

“I am an adventurer!” Twilight said. “I spent the better part of a decade going on adventures. It’s basically a part of who I am.”

Raven stared at the Princess for a moment before she sighed. “Princess. You may be an adventurer, but you’re above what he’s doing. It’s my advice that you recognize that, and remember that you are a Princess in charge of a country.”

“Noted. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do,” Twilight said.

The edge in her voice made it very clear that Twilight was dismissing her, and Raven didn’t need to be told twice, though she did scowl as she left. “By your leave, Princess.”

Twilight watched her go and sighed. “Well, there you go. I’ve lost all the steam.” She sat down at her desk and frowned before focusing down at the pages and forms covering her desk.

Not that it mattered. Night already had the next “event” scheduled for them: a little more counter thieving, this time in Las Pegasus.

At the very least, it was something to look forward to.

---$---

“They try this every year, like clockwork,” Night explained, as he stood in front of his blackboard. “The Grand Wing Casino and Hotel holds a charity event this time of year, where they show off some treasure or relic as a showcase for the event. Winners are supposed to earn something in the thousands of bits in the jackpot, and the biggest winner of the night wins an all-expenses-paid cruise across the Celestial Sea.”

Twilight nodded, a clipboard in her telekinetic grip as she listened with rapt attention.

“This year’s centerpiece is a jewel, on loan from a dragon that has come from the Dragonlands to figure out what a casino actually is. At least,” Night added, taking a moment to glance at Twilight in the eyes, “that’s what my sources say. Regardless, he’s interested in casinos and has brought a jewel from his hoard to show off. Now, if I had to bet my budget, that’s what Moon Light will be after tonight.”

“It’s so visible, though?” Twilight pointed out. “Wouldn’t that be incredibly difficult?”

“It would, but I can say with certainty that Moon has always been more interested in spectacle and infamy than money. That’s just a bonus as far as he’s concerned, the thing he needs to keep his ponies working. He wants the prestige.”

“So the gem then, in front of all the ponies gathered there, with an obscene amount of magical defenses, is the most valuable item he can get?”

Night nodded. “Lock it away, and he can say he earned it by overcoming such and such defenses, leave it out, and Moon will say he took it while a ‘hundred eyes were on it,’ leave it in a box that says ‘free to a good home,’ and he’ll turn his nose up.”

Twilight nodded. “So this has to be the target then,” she said.

Night nodded.

“So how do we stop a pony from stealing something so protected?” Twilight asked. “This would take weeks, even months, to prepare to find the weakness they can exploit, much less the one they’re going to use.”

Night smiled. “Well, that’s the easy part, Princess.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, interested in hearing exactly what he had in mind.

“We just have to steal it before them.”

Twilight blinked. “Th-that’s a terrible idea. That’s starting a race to find a weakness in their security when we’re already who-knows-how-far behind! We’re—”

“We’re not stealing it there,” Night said. “You’re right; trying to beat them when they’ve been planning this for nearly a year is stupid. Which is why we’re going to steal it before it gets to the casino, and more importantly, before it’s under all that protection.”

Twilight blinked again. “But...surely they’ve thought of that?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, of course,” Night said. “But I know Moon Light, and he would throw the biggest fit if they tried to take it before it was out in the open. Moon’s ponies have more sense than he does.”

Twilight sighed. “Okay,” she said. “So we steal it, then what?”

“Plant a fake, let Moon take the fake, and then return the real gem by the end of the night,” he replied.

“And how do we get a fake?” Twilight asked.

“Think you can make one, Princess?” he asked.

Twilight sighed. “If I make one, then it’s going to wipe me out, and it very well could be just as valuable.”

“Okay, okay,” Night said. “I guess my paper mache idea doesn’t work either?”

Twilight glared at him.

Night just smiled. “In all seriousness, though, I know a glass-blower that can get us a fake, but I’ll have to see the gem first, which is the bigger problem.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Do you know which dragon is going?” she asked.

Night shrugged. “His name’s on the brochure,” he said, pointing to a parchment pinned to the board by a magnet. “Why?”

“Does it have a picture?” Twilight asked, reaching for it.

“Yeah, but why?” Night asked.

Twilight didn’t answer him but simply plucked the brochure down and began to read it carefully before she found precisely what she wanted. A pale green dragon with piercing yellow eyes stared back at her from the oval portrait on the second to last page. “With special guest Inferno of the Dragonlands.”

Twilight smiled, memorizing every feature she could, before closing her eyes and preparing her spell.

“Why?” Night asked before her hearing faded, add her senses were carried away by magic.

Scrying was an old spell, one of the first built when the words Perceive and Body were discovered. Her hearing and sight were whisked to her target, and she could see him sitting, staring off to his left. She could see him perfectly, as though she were standing not five feet away, but she needed to see more.

She pushed her magic, opening her sight more and more. He was on a bench, she could see, padded with red cushions as his elbow rested on a window sill. She could hear the clacking of train tracks and could feel the car’s movement beneath her hooves.

She pushed farther because she knew a vital fact about dragons. Most were ruled by greed, and most of them could not and would not trust anypony with the safety of their belongings. She pushed until a box came into view.

She “moved” closer to the box, peering down into its open face to see a large, marquis-cut diamond.

She cut her spell, and her consciousness returned to the safehouse where they were planning, a smile on her face.

“Princess, Equestria to Princess, hello?”

She raised a hoof and slipped the brochure back under its magnet. “I saw the gem we’re looking for,” she said. She quickly cast an illusion of the gem in front of her. “It looks like this.”

Night blinked before smiling. “Well, that makes that easy! Maybe I should have studied magic more.”

“Thinking magic solves all your problems is not a healthy outlook on life, trust me,” Twilight said. “I tried, too.”

“Why, what’s the worst that can happen?” Night asked.

Twilight stared at him for a long second. The images of her friend turned into a vampire, parasprites that ate buildings, and everyone in the town chasing after a doll flashed across her mind. “It’s... it’s just not pretty,” she said. “Trust me.”

Whether Night recognized that trauma in her eyes or the answer satisfied him, Twilight wasn’t sure. Instead, she watched as Night glanced down at the sizeable illusionary gem that sat on Twilight’s hoof. “This is going to make this easy,” he said.

“More importantly,” Twilight asked. “When are we going to grab it? Inferno is already on his way there, coming by train, and taking a gem from a dragon while he’s standing next to it is suicide.”

Night nodded. “Very astute, my young apprentice.”

“You’re like a year older than me,” Twilight noted.

Night ignored her. “If we can’t grab the gem while the dragon’s carrying it, and we can’t get it while it’s on display, then our best bet is to grab it between those times.”

Twilight blinked. “I think we’d have an easier time getting it from under guard,” she said.

“That, dear Twilight, is exactly why it’s the best place to steal it.”

Twilight sighed. She knew she wasn’t going to like the sound of this plan. “Okay,” she said. “Again, how?”

“That, my dear apprentice,” Night said with a smile, “is the fun part.”

---$---

The Grand Wing Casino exuded wealth from every pore. The central, hexagonal atrium reached up nearly seventeen stories and sat capped by a dome of gold and glass. Running down the balconies on each of the six sides, a large, red banner ran down the building’s length, embroidered with gold and edged with tassels.

Statues of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies surrounded the bottom floor, carved in pristine marble, as a fountain murmured in the room’s center. Opposite the entrance that Twilight just came through, a rich red carpet led inside to the casino proper, where she could already hear the ringing of slot machines and the roar of roulette tables.

Twilight felt strangely put off by it all, though. The opulence reminded her of the palace, of course, but it felt more like the ballroom during the gala. That struck her as a little odd, considering that the big charity even was another three days away. Still, she supposed this place was allowed to emulate her own home, though...much gaudier…

Of course, not that it mattered right now, because she certainly wasn’t dressed for anything like a ball.

Changed by the changeling medallion, Twilight appeared as her usual thieving persona, though she took it a step further by wearing some clothes. Tourists’ clothes.

Despite her inner-Rarity wailing and gnashing her teeth, Twilight looked every bit the wide-eyed, over-eager, obvious, and oblivious tourist. Complete with denim capris that clung a little too high on her waist and did nothing to help her figure, a loose blouse with a horrendous floral pattern, a visor strapped around her head and horn, and even a camera to hang around her neck.

Somewhere, Twilight knew, her fashionista friend was having a heart attack.

Night looked no better.

In fact, Twilight would bet money that he looked worse. The stallion almost seemed eager to get in ‘disguise’ as he broke out a pair of cargo shorts, a floral-patterned silk shirt, and bright white socks that nearly came up to his elbows, tied together with some open-toed sandals and a fanny pack.

Twilight felt ashamed to stand next to him.

“And why have we dressed like this again?” Twilight asked, knowing full well that he’d already answered it.

“Because ponies will take one look at us before doing everything in their power to try and forget we exist.”

It was a great answer, and when he first answered, it seemed plausible, if silly. Now though, she just felt like she wanted to die.

Of course, then she would literally be caught dead in this outfit, which almost made the whole thing worse.

Twilight frowned before pulling up her camera to take a picture and leaned into the tourist disguise.

“Any sign of our dragon yet?” Night asked as they moved through the opulence around them.

“Not yet,” she whispered back. “Though you still haven’t explained how we’re going to get it from the said dragon.”

“That’s not going to be as hard as you think, Twilight,” he said, before patting the fanny pack. “The real trick will be getting this into the dragon’s claws without him noticing.”

Night kept the glass fake, hidden by what most would call “the ugliest means of storage ever,” close to him since they got to Las Pegasus, though much to Twilight’s annoyance, he kept his play even closer to his chest.

“You know, I thought that since we were working on this thing, together, that you’d be a little more open to sharing the plan.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about it,” he said. “It’ll work perfectly.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” she whispered, as a pair of ponies glanced their way. Night gave them the biggest smile he could and waved before the bystanders quickly looked away and didn’t dare glance back. “I just don’t like being left out of the loop,” she said.

Night nodded. “I get that, but I wouldn’t worry if I were you, Twilight,” the thief said as they stepped into the casino, and his voice was quickly drowned out by the clattering of a thousand different machines.

He pulled her to the side, to a small, empty blackjack table. “Just keep an eye out, and let me know when you see him.”

“And, what, you’re just going to gamble?” she asked.

“Ponies not gambling in a casino is more suspicious,” he whispered back. “Just be the annoyed wife who wants to try and move on.”

Twilight rolled her eyes but acquiesced, taking the occasional photo as she waited around. The ponies roaming around the casino were all going from one place to another, trying to figure out which machine would give the biggest payout.

Twilight watched them all with a sigh. Sometimes ponies didn’t make any sense. Gambling was a tax on ponies that couldn’t do math as far as she was concerned. Anypony that thought that they could walk away from a table in the black with entirely fair odds must also believe that they’re likely to be struck by wild lightning in a forest while dressed in a rubber suit. Then, of course, the house cheats.

She took another glance around before she spotted exactly the creature she was looking for. Inferno looked every bit the dragon that Twilight saw through her spell, and the wooden box in his arms was definitely the same one with their target. Over his other shoulder hung a suit bag, probably filled with his formal wear for the event.

She snapped a picture at nothing important before nudging Night. “Hey, Night, I think—”

Her voice caught in her throat as she saw that he had already amassed a small fortune’s worth of chips. She made a quick count and found that he had already gathered more than a thousand bits in chips, with another small pile to the side.

“What, dear?” Night asked, playing it up for the dealer, no doubt.

“I...uh...I think the show’s going to start,” she said, hoping he would catch her signal.

He nodded. “Alright,” he sighed before turning to the dealer. “Happy wife, happy life, right?” he said. The dealer nodded before handing Night a tray to take his chips, while Night pushed the smaller pile over toward him. “That should make a nice bonus.”

“Absolutely, thank you, sir, and come again,” the dealer said.

Twilight glanced down at the chips in Night’s tray as he stepped away from the table. “How...how did you make that much?” she asked.

Night smirked. “The trick is to keep the dealer from reshuffling the deck,” he said with a wink. “Of course, that’s not important right now. The important thing is, you need to go speak with Inferno.”

“What?” she asked.

“Just make small talk,” he said. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Before she could say anything, Night abandoned her, leaving her alone and still feeling ridiculous in her outfit. With a sigh, though, she slowly began to approach the dragon, trying to find the best way to get close.

She put her back to Inferno and began backing up, taking pictures of a statue as she moved until, inevitably, she backed into the dragon. “Oh, I’m sorry!” she said, turning sharply. “I didn’t see you there!”

Now Twilight considered herself something of an expert on dragon expressions, having lived with one for most of her life, and she immediately read a restrained fury in the dragon’s face, before it softened. “Oh, it’s not a problem, little pony. It’s my fault.”

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight said again, trying to stall before she saw Night approaching. A bulge in the carpet appeared in front of him, and she realized a second too late exactly what he was doing.

“Look out!” she cried, trying to pull the dragon aside, just as Night tripped, showering the dragon in chips that spilled every which way before Night body-slammed Inferno. There was an explosion of chips and bodies as the three of them tumbled together before they landed on the carpeted ground. The dragon rolled, grabbing his box instantly, and his eyes went wide as he searched for his gem.

It lay just out of leg’s reach of the stallion, and the rushed for it, scooping it up and cradling the gem. “What is wrong with you?” he demanded, the fury from before no longer restrained.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Night said, picking himself up, still smiling.

The dragon grabbed Night by the throat. “Do you know what you could have cost me?” Inferno yelled.

Night’s eyes went wide, a genuine and terrible fear rushing through his eyes, and Twilight knew it went too far.

She moved quickly, casting a create mind spell to implant a thought into the dragon’s mind. “Hurting him is dangerous. Dragonlord Ember will not approve if you cause an incident.”

The dragon breathed heavily through his nostrils before he slowly set Night down. “Sorry, I forget myself sometimes.”

Night didn’t answer. He was shrinking into a ball, eyes still wide as he stared up at the dragon. The dragon picked up his bag and his box and sighed. “Again, sorry. I will take my leave.”

Twilight slipped up next to Night, and she began to lead him out. “Are you alright?” she asked.

“I...I...I am,” he said.

“Did you get the gem?”

Night shook his head. “I...I did what I needed to.”

Twilight nodded. “Let’s get you out of here,” she said, leaving a slowly frantically-growing crowd of ponies behind them, all of whom were scrambling for the discarded chips left on the carpet.

Chapter 18

They returned to the safehouse, and by the time they got there, Night’s fear turned to anger. He didn’t say anything to Twilight as they walked and didn’t speak to her as they walked inside the small warehouse he owned on the edge of Las Pegasus. He said nothing as he charged forward into the room and slammed his hooves into a table.

Twilight watched and said nothing.

Night slammed the table again, and again and again, before he finally sat down, fuming.

Twilight waited a while longer before she stepped forward and sat next to him. Night looked away and didn’t even glance in her direction. The Princess didn’t immediately push him, not did she demand his attention. She simply sat next to him and waited.

Night said nothing.

“Did you get the diamond?” Twilight asked gently after another few minutes.

Night grumbled. “I got it. I stuffed it back into the dragon’s bag with a note. He should know that there’s a fake in the box. The job’s done.”

Twilight nodded. “Are you alright?” she asked.

“Fine.”

Twilight didn’t believe it, but she also knew she couldn’t make him talk without violating his privacy at the very least. It didn’t really matter right now, though. After all, she didn’t become the “Princess of Friendship” without being patient with her friend’s secrets. “Okay,” she said, “we’ll talk about it later.”

Night shook his head. “Doubt it.”

“We’re not talking about it right now,” Twilight repeated, “but we will talk about it.”

Night shook his head. “Seriously doubt it.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow before a flash of magic removed her hideous disguise, and she drew all of her regal bearing into her sentence. “We’re not talking about it now, but we will talk about it.”

Night didn’t reply.

“I’m going to get us some dinner,” she said. “Then I’ll probably stay the night. The others aren’t going to expect me back at the castle until tomorrow anyway.”

“Fine,” Night said.

Twilight nodded and stepped away, heading back out of the safehouse long enough to run her errands.

Night sat in the safehouse alone before he shoved the table. “Great, now the Princess thinks you’re a nut. Great job, Night,” he muttered to himself. “Next, she’ll want to examine you like she’s some kind of shrink!”

He sighed before he set the table back into place. He took another breath and slowly began to peel his outfit off of him, calming down as he waited for Twilight to return.

She wanted to talk about it. Night shook his head. Why anypony would care to talk about it was beyond him. Sure, it made a great sob-story, but that stopped helping him when he turned, what, eleven? And before that, so few ponies believed it that it barely helped to begin with.

“Stupid dragon. Who does he think he is, strangling me like that?” he muttered to himself.

He got the table back to some semblance of normalcy before he turned to the rest of the room. He erased his blackboard, set a couple of places at his table, and continued to work on a few busy-body tasks before Twilight returned.

She brought a few plastic bags filled with Chineighse take out. She slipped a box of lo mein in front of him and a box of rice for herself before she sat at the table and began to eat. Night picked at his meal for a second, using a fork to spin the noodles around his plate.

Twilight waited for a moment, scooping the rice up and into her mouth before she stared at Night.

Night stared back at her over his dish. He could feel how quiet she was being, and he really didn’t like the expectation that now sat on him. He set his fork down before he sighed. “It’s nothing important,” he said.

“Friends listen to friends, no matter how important or unimportant their worries may seem,” Twilight said. “I learned that one a long time ago. I nearly enslaved a town to chase after a doll for all eternity because of that. It’s a long and funny story, really.”

Night raised an eyebrow.

“You’d be surprised how easy it is to accidentally enslave a town,” Twilight said. “All the more reason for me to listen to exactly what the problem is.”

Night sighed. “A very good turn around, Princess,” he replied before picking up his fork again to skewer his noodles and spin them around. ‘“I grew up in an orphanage and a few foster homes. And a couple of them were awful.”

Twilight listened.

“And I just had a bit of flashback, is all, when the dragon grabbed me by the neck.”

Twilight listened and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“It’s not pity,” she said. “It’s sympathy.”

“Well, I don’t want that, either,” Night said. “It’s fine.”

Twilight stared at him, and he felt himself wither under her stare. It wasn’t a harsh glare or cynical sneer; he could have handled those. He could have even shrugged off a judgemental look. No, her stare was calm and soft and understanding.

And that was somehow worse.

She ate her food quietly before she stood. “Eat up. I’ve got to blow up my mattress.”

Night didn’t say anything but stared down into his plate.

---$---

Twilight was having trouble sleeping again. This time, she couldn’t blame Night’s cot, though the mattress wasn’t incredibly comfortable either. Instead, she knew, she simply had too much on her mind.

Between stealing the gem, slipping it back into the dragon’s bag, only for him to nearly strangle Night left her with more nervous energy than she thought she had. Would the dragon believe the note Night left behind, or would he try and get the gem back out there, out of pride? She knew several dragons who would.

She rolled over and stared at the warehouse’s empty space, which she could barely see in the darkness. A large, open space, a void that she felt more than saw, stretched in front of her. Nothing stirred in the dark, though her wild, wandering thoughts kept conjuring movements and sounds that were so quiet she had to frequently ask herself if she imagined them or not.

She at least had some sense of comfort with her back to the wall, no matter how simple it may be. Still, her overworked mind played with the darkness, moving shadows in twisting patterns of worry and overthinking.

Something shifted in the dark, Night twisting in his bed with the nearly deafening sound of fabric rubbing against fur. Twilight glanced toward him, though she couldn’t see more than a dark blob in the corner. He went still again, having not said anything beyond ‘goodnight’ since their conversation at dinner.

Night twisted again.

Twilight watched the blob for a moment or two more before she re-adjust to try to go to sleep.

Night shifted again, and a whimper escaped him.

Twilight glanced up and watched as the blob rolled again. His hooves reached into the air, and he twisted, frantically. More whimpers and half-formed cries reached her ears as he flailed.

The alicorn stood, Creating a light of Energy next to her as she quickly approached the sleeping thief.

---$---

“Where is the little Shade?” the voiced boomed like thunder, and Night ran to hide. The hallways were empty, nowhere to hide. All he could do was run.

“Get the little shadow!” another voice called, urging Night to run faster.

It was too bright. Too bright everywhere. He couldn’t find any shadows to hide in. No safety, nothing to keep him hidden.

The sound of cracking stone echoed behind him, and he knew that Foster Care was behind him, a large club in his hooves. “Boy, you better get back here!”

Night kept running, looking for anything to hide him, a dark corner, or a table to duck under. He needed something!

“You need to learn to be proper, boy! Stop hiding!”

He couldn’t stop.

He found the Door. It swung open silently, revealing the basement below. “Come, child,” the Darkness said, its voice sinister and wispy. “Come, hide, be safe…”

Night ran for it, without even looking back.

The Darkness was cold but welcomed him with open, grasping arms. It embraced him tightly and dug its claws into him. He soared down into the basement on chained wings of black.

And he was safe.

The Light from the open basement door couldn’t reach him down here. Its bands of brilliance could not stand the all-consuming Darkness. It ate the Light as Night fell, and the Darkness’s massive teeth were already beginning to close around him. The icy death grip clung to his fur and chilled his bones till he shook.

But Night was safe.

And then the Light got brighter. It shot forward with blinding radiance, cutting at the arms of the Darkness around him, it screamed in pain, and Night couldn’t help but feel his heart swell as his protection was hurt.

He glanced at the Light, and he went blind. His eyes weren’t made for its majesty, and they dissolved in his head. His skin began to burn, for it could not exist alongside its beauty.

A figure he could not see with his eyes but that his mind recognized reached out for him, wings spread wide and her horn piercing his shelter. Her fur was a brilliant, golden-white, burning like the sun as the Darkness melted around and with him. “Come to me,” she said, her voice familiar, in a way that seemed wrong to him.

Night reached out, but his arm turned to ash. It would not mar the immaculate perfection of the Light.

“Come to me,” the figure ordered again, and Night so dearly wished he could, but he belonged to the Darkness, and he could not stand before her.

His other arm reached out, and it too melted away.

He was too far gone.

“Night?” the figure called.

“No,” he said, as his body began to dissipate before her.

“Night, are you okay?” she said again.

Night shook his head, and then he began to realize that he knew that voice.

“Night! Night!”

It was Twilight’s voice.

“Night!”

The thief started awake, glancing around with wide and wild eyes, taking in everything he could. Twilight stood beside his cot; a hoof held up as though pulled back from his sudden reaction.

In fact, now that his brain was moving, that’s precisely what happened.

There were no sounds outside, the warehouse was quiet, and the only light was the small light spell the Princess had by her side.

“Are you okay?” she asked, concern in her voice. “You were...well, it sounded like you were having a nightmare.”

Night breathed heavily, adrenaline pumping through his veins. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Twilight looked at him, obviously unconvinced.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, Princess,” he said.

“Well, I am worrying about it,” she said, “whether I need to or not.”

Night turned away from her, annoyance on his face.

“Night,” she said, her tone hardening.

“Don’t bother, Princess,” Night said. “I’m not worth the time or effort.”

“Night,” she said again, as though warning him.

“Just...just go to sleep, Princess. Everything will be better in the morning.”

Twilight glared at him for a long time, even as he rolled back over, leaving his back toward her. She stared as his breathing began to slow, and as he forcibly closed his eyes, until she sighed. “We’re not done talking about this,” she said. “We’ll have this conversation.”

“Sure, Princess,” Night muttered as he pulled his blankets tighter.

Twilight shook her head and climbed back into her own bed, unable to shake the feeling that she lost this time around.

---$---

“Morning, Princess,” Night said as Twilight peeled her eyes apart, crust nearly sealing them shut.

She slowly rose from her sleep and groaned at the fact that she didn’t get a good night’s sleep. “Is it really?” she asked, blearily, as the smell of breakfast wafted her nose.

Night was cooking breakfast, and the smell of it almost had Twilight forget the previous Night’s events.

Almost.

She glanced up at him, feeling sick from her fatigue before she got to her hooves. “Coffee,” she muttered.

Night slid her an extra-large mug, which she took.

“Don’t think I forgot,” she muttered.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Princess,” Night said, “but you do have to get going today.”

Twilight glared at him. “Hiding trauma doesn’t heal anypony.”

“Neither does dragging up the past for no reason,” he replied.

Twilight shook her head but didn’t have any more energy to argue. “We’ll talk more about this once I’m awake.”

Night smiled. “Sure, Princess. In the meantime, here’s your train ticket,” he said, sliding a plate of food her way with a small piece of paper.

Twilight glanced down at it. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

Night shook his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. “Besides, we’re going to have more jobs to do in the future.”

Twilight nodded. Still too tired to argue with him. Besides, she had an ace in the hole as his boss. She could just say that he could continue working for her if he went to a therapist. He wasn’t going to win this. She bit back a yawn and failed, mouth opening wide before muttering. “Alright, fine. You’re not getting away with this, though.”

“And you’re not the first pony to tell me that, either,” he replied.

Twilight shook her head and dug into her breakfast proper.

---$---

The train ride back to Canterlot was as tedious and dull as Twilight remembered it to be. That's why she started bringing a book with her when she packed her things for these trips. It actually felt good to crack open a new novel. She hadn’t been able to read for fun for the past few years now, and the train rides alone gave her a fantastic opportunity.

Yet despite that, her book lay safely packed away, and she found herself staring out the window as the desert passed behind her. She somehow found her book hard to hold her attention at the moment.

Night was hurt and hiding it. That much was obvious. There had to be a lot of deep-seated trauma that Inferno managed to re-awaken when he grabbed the thief by the neck. She had to wonder what kind of abuse he faced there.

Of course, there was also the fact that things went so wrong, so fast with this mission. Yes, they managed to succeed, and they switched out the gems without much issue, but she had to wonder if Night would still be alive if she hadn’t intervened. At the very least, he’d be in a hospital, she was sure, but if Inferno wanted to beat him to a pulp, she wasn’t sure that anyone could have stopped him.

The train rattled while her brain played through the thousands of possibilities that could have happened on the casino floor yesterday. No, Night needed someone to watch him. He needed someone to watch his back. He needed a friend, and, well, Twilight happened to be an expert on the subject.

She smirked at the thought. She needed to just needed to put in some of that classic friendship magic. It worked almost every time.

---$---

Boot Legger was an older stallion, his mane graying at the edges. He’d been in smuggling for years, back when the short-lived alcohol prohibition got started by the Celestian Temperance Union. A part of him missed those days, running moonshine between speakeasies in Manehatten.

Nowadays, though, he typically sat in his manor house on the outskirts of the city, working from his office. In fact, he was sitting at his desk right now. Opposite him was a mare nearly half his age, who just made the most ridiculous offer he ever heard. “You want to buy my business?” he asked.

The mare who introduced herself as Gleaming Coin nodded. “Exactly that,” she said.

“And why do you want to buy out a barely-functioning real estate company?” Boot Legger asked.

“Now, Mr. Legger,” Gleaming said. “There’s no need to pretend. We both know that bad real estate doesn’t make this kind of cash. I’m almost insulted that you'd think I wouldn’t notice.”

Boot might have kept pushing with denial, but Mrs. Coin was flanked by two large ponies, and he’d seen enough thugs to know what would happen when he tried her patience. “Which business, then?”

“Your ‘moving,’ business,” she replied, smiling.

Boot nodded. “And why should I sell it to you?” he asked. “It’s how I plan to retire, after all.”

Gleaming nodded. “Understandable, understandable. Let me put it to you this way then,” she said. “I plan to, not buy you out, per se, as much as buy your loyalty.”

Boot nodded.

“In exchange, I ask for a cut similar to your own. However, I am also offering you access to my other business,” Gleaming said, motioning to the ponies on either side of her.

Boot nodded. “I see,” he said. “And what does your crew have to offer me?”

“A cut in anything we sell,” she said, “which, of course, I want your help to move.”

Boot nodded again. “I see,” he reached down to one of the cabinets of his desk and pulled out a bottle of liquor. “Whisky?” He asked. “I’m of a mind that business isn’t something to be discussed without a drink.”

Gleaming glared at the bottle. “Just a small glass,” she said.

The smuggler nodded and poured her and himself a glass. “So, in short, you want me to give up my place as the head of a de-centralized smuggling organization and turn completely to thievery.”

Gleaming nodded.

“And what is the treasure that makes all of this worth it? What product are you going to sell that will make up the difference in prices and cost?” Boot asked.

Gleaming gave him a wide, terrible smile. “Artifacts. Magical artifacts.”

Chapter 20

Twilight stood over a map, staring down at the pins that marked the herb pouch’s known locations. So far, it had made its way east, toward Canterlot, but it hadn’t arrived yet.

“Your Highness,” a voice called, and Twilight looked up from her map to see Raven drop another stack of papers on her desk. “These need your attention,” she said flatly.

Twilight glanced at the now-third stack of papers before looking back at the map. “Sure, I’ll deal with it in a second.”

Raven raised an eyebrow.

“I’m trying to take care of something,” Twilight said, “now if you’ll excuse me.”

Raven turned and left, leaving Twilight alone with the stacks of paper growing on her desk. She stared down at the map and used a Perceive Matter spell to cause a small red dot to glow on the map.

It still hadn’t moved from the road just north of the Unicorn Range. They might have a safehouse out there, where they kept the pouch until it was safer to take it elsewhere. They might be waiting for another train to pass by so that they couldn’t be caught on any specific train.

She stared down at the map, trying to determine where they would go next, though she was pretty sure that they would have to move within the next few hours. They’d have to if they were going to get it to somewhere that the Leggers could secure for a seller. The only question was where they were going? Would they try selling in Canterlot? That’s where most of the buyers would be, but they’d also risk the most attention selling a recently-stolen artifact.

She glanced back at the map before she sighed and turned to the stacks of paper on her desk. She picked up the first stack and began to peruse the notes that Raven left behind. It seemed to be some propositions for a new tax bill, which she did need to actually prepare and either sign or veto as necessary.

She glanced back at the map.

She quickly looked through it and appreciated the notes written in the margins that Spike had left there so that she could read through the bill without having to spend too much time doing the same.

She read through them, including a few points where Spike admitted that he wasn’t sure about some of the details, and nodded. This one seemed to be at least well-thought-out, so she signed the bill at the bottom, slipped it into her outgoing box, and then turned to the map again. She cast the locating spell once more, and once more, the red blip that revealed the bag’s location lit up.

Again, they hadn’t moved. They still were hiding somewhere in the Unicorn Range and hadn’t moved an inch.

Or three miles, taking the scale into consideration.

She sighed. They had to be doing something nefarious. They had to be waiting for something that she couldn’t see.

And then the blip disappeared off the map.

Twilight blinked.

H-how did that happen? Did...did they know it was being tracked? It was not a commonly known fact that lead and other a handful of other metals could block perceive spells, so the fact that these thieves figured it out was disturbing enough as it was. They must have a mage that they were talking to.

She cursed under her breath. There was no way she’d be able to follow the trace now, and it was as good as lost if they didn’t have some other form of figuring out where they were going to take the artifact.

She furrowed her brow a second before she tried to remember the face of the ponies she saw the other night. Focusing on one face as hard as she could, she forced another spell to Perceive him.

The scrying spell brought the pony into focus, and with a push of energy, the area around him also appeared. “Look, I get that the box does something, but why didn’t we have it to begin with?”

“Because now is when we’ve got to worry about someone tracking us,” a voice beyond Twilight’s vision growled. “Not stop whining, and get this thing to Canterlot. The Boss wants to use this to start production so that we’ve got some money to spend before we get buyers or something.”

Twilight cut her spell before she prepared a letter to Night.

She needed to know if Night knew if there were any places that Blackjack or Boot Legger could hide things in Canterlot. If he had any clue, then they could begin to plan before the pouch even got there.

The other stacks of paper stared back at her from her desk.

It…

It’d be fine. These laws and papers could wait for her.

It was fine.

---$---

The warehouse was one of Blackjack’s. Admittedly, it took quite the effort on Night’s part to figure out where in Canterlot it was going, but he did say it was a more manageable task now that he only had one city to look through.

Both Twilight and Night stood on a building just under the shadow of the castle. When the city’s granaries were first built, Celestia had ordered them to be made as close to the palace as possible while still being close enough to the town that food could be distributed during a siege. Since then, any new storage buildings were built near the original granaries, leaving almost all of them to sit in the palace’s shadow.

That’s where Night said they had to strike.

The pair of them stared down at the warehouse and watched as several of Blackjack’s ponies patrolled the house, and Night shook his head at the sight. “I don’t like the look of this,” he said. “It’s too many ponies guarding the same thing, and Blackjack’s ponies don’t scare easy.”

“So we have to go in quietly?” Twilight asked.

“Quietly as ghosts,” Night agreed.

“Then let’s get to work,” the Princess said with a smile. She turned and cast Transform Image on herself before turning to Night. “Do you want me to try and cast this on you?” she asked. “Worst case scenario, I accidentally make you shorter for a few days.”

“And I can’t fix it myself?” he asked. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Twilight shrugged, and they dropped down to the warehouse proper.

They slipped up next to the old building, avoiding the roving patrols of Blackjack’s guard. “Head that way,” Night whispered. “I’ll head this way, we’ll meet on the other side, and we’ll talk about entrances.”

“Got it,” Twilight replied.

They split up, and Twilight began to search for any way inside. Her eyes carefully scanned the sides and walls of the warehouse, looking for any access she could manage. Her half of the building didn’t have any doors, and Night claimed the half with the main entrance. So far, the only thing that seemed genuinely viable as a way in was the windows.

They were high, Twilight can see that quickly enough, and a little thin, but it would also prove to be the best way in if Twilight had to put money on it.

She came back around to the other side and bumped into Night. “Ow, pay attention!” she hissed.

“You ran into me,” he shot back.

“Yes, but I’m the one with an Image that actually corresponds to my location. You have to keep an eye out.”

“Looking for a pony the size of a mouse isn’t easy.”

“Then you need to look harder,” she replied.

Night sighed. “Did you find any back doors?” he asked.

“No, just windows.”

Night nodded. “Then can you peek inside and see which windows would make the best entrance?”

She nodded and cast her spell, her perception shooting to the inside with Morning Glory’s Eye. She glanced around carefully, and the first thing she noticed was the number of ponies.

Thirty ponies milled about the floor of the warehouse, each one easily the size of her friend’s brother Big Mac. Each one also seemed armed with some sort of weapon. Some seemed armed with simpler weapons, whether that be a bat or club, while others had more professional tools, like actual spears marked with her guards’ small tell-tale insignia.

How those got into these ponies' hooves, she never knew, but she’d certainly have to talk to Captain Azure about it.

Taking another moment to glance around at the ceiling, Twilight gathered everything she needed to know.

“There are a lot more ponies inside,” she said as she cut the spell, and her vision returned to her body. “Most are armed in some way, and while I could probably take them, I’d like the building to still be standing when we’re done.”

“All the more reason to go in quietly,” Night said. “Do you have our way in?”

Twilight nodded and pointed to one of the open windows. “That one is close enough to one of the beams holding the roof up to grab onto it.”

“It’s supporting the roof?” Night asked. “Great, that means we’re going to have to do some climbing.”

“There is a catwalk going down the middle of the warehouse. We can land on that to look for the pouch,” Twilight explained.

“Sounds as good a plan as any,” Night replied. “Let’s go.”

Using the catapult spell, they both shot up into the air and landed as carefully as they could on the window before slipping inside. Twilight immediately turned as she did so and grabbed onto the I-beam that ran up the building’s width to the peak of the roof. Wrapping her hooves around the beam the best she could, she began to shimmy her way up until she was over the catwalk she saw earlier.

Of course, getting down to it without rocking the entire thing and letting everypony know that something just landed was definitely going to be the more difficult part of the whole thing. Twilight almost wished she had her wings again, but the magic of the amulet would be far too bright, and far too obvious, and would no doubt get the attention of almost literally everyone.

“Twilight,” a voice whispered, and she glanced behind her where Night was supposed to be. “I’m going to pass you my hook. We can use that to slide down to the catwalk.”

That was a much better idea than what she had. “Good idea,” she whispered back, reaching out. “I’m sticking my hoof out. Hand it to me when you—”

Her hoof touched metal, and she grabbed it tightly. “Alright. I’ve got it. I’ll hide the rope on the way down for you.”

“Sounds good,” he whispered back.

Twilight stuck the hook onto the I-beam and let the rope fall down to the catwalk. She quickly and quietly slipped down the rope to land softly on the metal grating below her. She immediately cast a control image spell and hid the rope, just in time for her to hear a pony slide down. She felt Night’s weight bend the grating, and then she grabbed the rope in her magic and pulled it down to safety.

“Okay, we need to move quickly. If a pony comes this way, we’ll have to leap over the rails and hold on tight and pray to Celestia that they don’t notice us.”

Twilight frowned. “I don’t like our chances on that,” she said.

“Do you have a better idea?” Night asked.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” she said.

“Care to enlighten me?” he asked.

“We’ll get there,” she replied. “Let’s go.”

She heard Night sigh behind her as they pushed forward, heading toward the back of the warehouse where an enclosed office waited for them. As they planned, the patrol hadn’t met back up with them yet, leaving them a large open catwalk to cross. So they managed to get all the way up to the office without being stopped.

Night peeked through the window and frowned at what he saw. “Well, there’s the answer as to why they wanted it,” he whispered to Twilight.

“What do you mean?” she asked as she glanced through the window after him.

Inside, ponies were feeding herbs back and forth, rolling and unrolling them as they prepared cigars and incense sticks. At the center of the operation was Meadowbrook’s pouch, which another pony was carefully watching as it produced more and more of the herbs.

“They’re making Bane,” he said.

“Bane?”

“I believe it’s called Luswite leaves in the medical field,” he said. “Inhaling the smoke makes you apathetic. It makes for a great sedative for insomniacs and such, but obviously, there’s a demand.”

Twilight mentally slapped herself. Of course, drug production would be a prime use of Meadowbrook’s Herb Pouch. Sure, it wouldn’t be useful for many processed materials, but if they worked with herbs, then…

“Okay, we need to get this out of there.”

“Question is how? It’s pretty well defended and very well watched in there. We’d have to find a way to distract those ponies inside without—”

Anything else he was going to say was cut off by the sound of hooves thumping against the metal grating of the catwalk. Both ponies turned to see one of the patrolling guards making their way toward the pair, and both of them immediately shot into their plans. Night slipped over the railing and held on tight. The only sound that could give him away was the metal creak as he bent around the side.

However, Twilight leaped into the air and pulled herself up into the air with her own telekinetic might.

The guard stopped and blinked.

The moment he did, Twilight realized her mistake. Yes, her Image was the size of a mouse, but that didn’t mean she was truly invisible. Especially if the rodent-sized pony suddenly shot into the air.

She dropped onto the office as carefully as she could before casting a Control Image to take her small Image and throw it across the room.

The guard, armed with a spear, saw it fly and followed it as it flew across the room until it disappeared.

“Was that a bat?” he asked aloud, looking to the far wall, while Twilight cut her spell and watched as her Image reappeared at her hooves.

She breathed as quietly as she could, watching as the pony continued to stare out over the warehouse in the direction of Twilight’s distraction when he turned suddenly, and the spear, which had been resting on the guard’s shoulder, slammed into Twilight.

Smacked in the face by the spearhead, Twilight’s vision went spinning. Her balance was thrown, and she stepped to try and steady herself. Her hoof found the edge of the office, and she tumbled, falling to the floor below.

She crashed into a few crates, wood splintering under her weight as she fell to the ground.

Her vision went white as wood slammed into the back of her head. A voice called out, one she didn’t recognize, and she felt pain course through her body. A hoof to her head came away bloody, which, considering that her Image sat a few inches over her stomach, meant that the blood hovered in the air.

A spear pointed at her, followed by another, and soon several other ponies surrounded her. “Hey, why is she the size of a mouse or something?” one of the ponies, armed with a club, asked.

“She must have some magic,” another one said. “Get the rock!”

Twilight sighed before she considered her options. She was probably going to have to fight her way out of here at this rate. Luckily, her Image would count to her advantage, as it made it harder for—

Her Image reverted back to its proper size, and Twilight blinked in surprise before she saw an earth pony step forward with a small crystal shard of Chrysalis’ throne.

And now this just got a lot harder.

Luckily, her form still remained in her disguise. She wondered why she hadn’t been caught for a moment before remembering the branch of magic that her amulet and the stone shared, but that was only a small mercy.

She began to move before a spear poked at her chest. “You stay right there, filly,” one of the spear ponies warned. “You’re not going anywhere unless we say so.”

Twilight glared up at her, bringing her best intimidating glare, which worked so much better when she was sitting on a throne with a crown on her head, but the pony didn’t flinch.

“We need to let the Boss know about this,” another one of the ponies growled.

“Well, what do we do with this one?” another pony asked.

“Get her in chains,” the first one said. “Keep the shard near her, so she can’t use her magic.”

“You’re going to have a tough time getting me in anything,” Twilight said, hoping that her bravado would make them think twice about it at least.

The ponies glanced at each other before one of the spear ponies stepped forward and struck her temple with the butt of his spear.

And Twilight fell unconscious.

---$---

Night watched as the ponies began to hold up the Princess and bind her in manacles, chains, and ropes. They weren’t taking any chances with her. That much was obvious. He sighed quietly to himself as he watched them take her back to one of the corners of the warehouse.

He’d have to get her out.

And it was going to be tough.

They knew she was here, they’d be more alert now, and the moment he got close to the Princess and the shard of Thronestone that these ponies had would mean his primary method of hiding in the open would disappear. He’d have to come up with a way to get close without drawing anypony else’s attention.

He sighed.

Well, it looked like his streak of luck had just run out.

Wonderful.

Chapter 21

Twilight came to consciousness.

Taking quick stock of her surroundings, an instinctual reaction brought by her years of adventuring that had saved her life at least once and saved an artifact from being stolen another time. Her hooves were locked into manacles and chains, a Thronestone sat nearby, blocking her magic, and a pair of ponies were watching her. Fantastic, things were a lot harder.

As she became more aware, she quickly realized that she was alone. Night hadn't been caught yet, which meant that there was a chance he could grab the pouch and escape. That was...good. She could deal with that. A part of her recognized that she also was still in her disguise from the amulet, and the fact that she was a Princess moonlighting as a thief still remained hidden.

She sighed and relaxed. So far, things weren't as bad as they could be. Now all she needed to do was find a way out of this.

As her mind began to turn on the different possible things she could do, a singular thought pierced her mind.

"You shouldn't even be here."

It was a dumb thought. Of course, she should be here; this was a matter of national security. This could lead to the single largest drug ring in the history of Equestria, not to mention the fact that two large criminal industries were now working together—

"Captain Azure could have handled this."

I...No...no, of course, he couldn't. He wasn't aware of the…

He wasn't aware of what was going on.

"Because you didn't tell him."

Well, he…she was using this time with Night to decide if he was useful! The fact that she didn't...tell...the Captain...

"Night is doing just fine without you," her inner critic growled. "You're the one that made this complicated. You could have sent the Captain with Night and taken care of all of this while you did your job as Princess and sign some papers."

Twilight didn't answer that.

A third part of her mind said she was being unfair. That this criticism wasn't taking other factors into account, that she ignored critical facts to make a harsher point, but Twilight didn't defend herself.

She'd already felt that she was putting a few things off, but this…

This only brought it to the forefront of her attention.

"I might have messed up on this one," she thought. This might have been all her fault.

---$---

Night clung to the I-beam over the Princess and glanced around for the best angle of approach. Coming straight down would leave him hanging in the middle of the air when he would be in the range of the Thronestone, and suddenly visible to everyone in the warehouse. Approaching from the front would be alright, up until he got close enough to stone, which might leave him suddenly appearing as he stood between the two guards.

That one seemed to be slightly worse than appearing in the middle of the sky.

The last option was coming from the "back." The problem with coming through the back was that Twilight was surrounded by metal shipping crates, and beyond that was the warehouse's main floor space, all of which was crawling with ponies, both armed and dangerous, and paranoid as could be.

Working through that would be dangerous enough, but doing so while they are now all terrified that the mare they found might have a partner still around. Which, of course, she did.

Night slid down the I-beam to the side of the building. With a quick move, he then used his rope to climb down to the warehouse floor. He stuck to the walls, keeping as many ponies in sight as possible while trying to stay out of the range of the stone that would reveal him. Right now, his Image was above him, hovering over the roof of the building, but that would only last as long as he stood outside of the Thronestone's range, which he didn't have a good grasp on.

He exhaled sharply before he crouched behind a box and prayed to Celestia he wouldn't get caught.

He dropped the Control Image spell before he used Create Matter to form a tiny ball. The ball was thin and hollow, so it wouldn't tax him as much, but hopefully, it wouldn't last long enough to matter.

He pushed the ball forward, toward the wall of shipping crates where the Thronestone and Twilight sat. It disappeared a foot before it hit the container, and Night quickly changed back to his other spell, and he once again became unseeable.

The matter spell drained him quickly, and he hoped he still had enough energy in him to work through the rest of the night. The good news was that he now had a better idea of what the range was for the Thronestone.

He began to steel himself for his move when he saw the door open on the other side of the warehouse, and a unicorn walked in.

Night took one look at him and recognized the stallion from the night in Canterlot when he went counter-thieving right after he made the bet with the Princess.

Night grit his teeth. Why on earth was Moon Light getting involved in this? He typically thought of himself as better than causing direct harm on a pony, so why get involved with the drug trade?

He observed the new pony as he slipped in before handing one of the guards a sizeable cloth-wrapped bundle. The guard took it carefully before another rushed in, a scrawny looking-pony, that Night could swear he'd seen with Legger's crew.

He took the package carefully in his own grip and tugged at the cloth to reveal a set of hoof guards that shone like volcanic glass.

Night blinked as he ran through a mental catalog of magical items that Celestia shared with him, and while he couldn't put his hoof on it, they certainly reminded him of something.

He set the thought aside. He didn't have the time to worry about it. He needed to get the Princess out of here. Once he'd done that, then he could worry about magical items, real or replica, that these ponies were securing.

He refocused and glanced around.

Most of the other ponies were being distracted by the new pony's arrival. They weren't looking in the direction of the crates and the prisoner behind them. Not one of them was watching for Twilight.

He smirked.

Now he'd get a chance to work his magic.

---$---

Twilight shook her head. Why didn't she see this coming? She should have known that she couldn't always rely on her magic. "Getting into a fight with thirty ponies wouldn't be a problem," she mentally mocked herself. "The only thing that can go wrong is if I'm totally rendered helpless by Changeling throne rocks."

The same stones that Twilight knew that Legger's ponies had run before. "You definitely had no way of knowing they could get their hooves on more."

That third part of Twilight that acted as her advocate remarked that the critic part of her mind was excessively harsh, but Twilight nonetheless took the beratement.

She was messing this one up and messing it up bad. Night could have probably gotten away by now, but she was only slowing him down at this point. She muttered darkly to herself and grumbled about how she messed this up before she heard a whisper at her ear.

"Alright, Twilight, here's the plan," Night whispered from behind her. "We're going to have to move quickly and quietly. The only real way out for both of us is forward. The range of the Thronestone is about a foot off of the crates, so we can cast spells once we get that far away, but we need to worry about getting past the guards."

"What, are we fighting our way out?" she asked back.

"No," Night said. "We don't know if they have more stones or not, and I'm not going hoof-to-hoof with a pony that's armed with a spear."

"So escape?"

"As fast as possible," he whispered back.

Twilight nodded. "Alright. Run for the wall in front of us."

The chain suddenly went lax, and both of the ponies immediately shot forward across the floor.

They rushed past the guards, who yelled in surprise before Twilight unleashed her Create Energy spell. A beam of heat and magic tore a perfect hole in the wall, and both ponies ran out into the open as cries and yells echoed out behind them.

Night and Twilight didn't stop. They both rushed into the street and ran up and out of the city's storage district to the castle walls itself.

Panting, they both took a moment to catch their breath before Twilight cursed. "I can't believe I was caught like that! I can't believe it!"

"Don't... don't beat yourself up about it, Twilight."

"I've been through enough adventures to be better than that!" she said. "I've been captured by ancient evils, invading royalty, and some of the most powerful ponies in the world, and now I have to add a bunch of drug-pushing nut-jobs."

Night smirked. "Well, new things happen to ponies every day."

"It's not funny, Night!" she growled. "We went in there and got nothing."

"Excuse you," Night said, pulling the pouch from his cloak. "We got the pouch, and we found new information."

"You found the pouch," she muttered to herself before she pushed the thought aside. "What did you find out?"

"Moon Light's ponies are also involved," he replied. "It's all three of them working together."

Twilight groaned. This night was just getting worse.

"I think it gets worse than that, Twilight," Night said. "I think they're starting to trade in magic items or replicas of them, at least."

"What?" she asked.

"I saw them moving something while you were locked up. I couldn't tell you what it was right now, but I have a suspicion."

"What do you think it was?"

"I…" Night began. "Do you remember that thing I told you about, the Alicorn Amulet?"

Twilight nodded.

"Well, there were supposedly two other artifacts to go with it, ones powerful enough to, when worn together, give the user all of the power of an alicorn at the cost of their soul. I think that might have been one of them."

Twilight sighed. "Great," she growled. "Because we need that to hit the market. And I suppose you couldn't grab it too?"

"Grabbing the pouch only worked because you were the distraction," Night said, "and you were indisposed this time around."

Twilight glared up at him but said nothing.

Night must not have seen it because he drew his cloak tighter around him. "I'm going to dig around and see what I can find. I'll get you a letter as soon as I can. Let's get you back to the Castle. We've got a lot of things to plan."

Twilight nodded and resigned herself to being led back to the Castle.

---$---

When Twilight got back to her office, still in the dead of night, she shook her head. "That's what you got, Twilight? You got rusty; that was your problem. Back before all of this, you would have been three steps ahead of Night every step of the way. Instead, you not only got caught, but you also slowed the expert down! Great job!"

She paced a circle around her office, muttering to herself when a scroll on her shelves caught her eye.

She picked it up and read it over again, quickly becoming sick with the distance, professional tone she took.

"Mr. Night Silk,

"A lot of it is preventative," she argued. "He stops problems from getting worse."

"That is not to say that what you do is without merit.

"They do attack the source of the problem! What else do you call the ponies that are stealing everything?" she asked.

"Prosecuted to the furthest extent of the blah," Twilight mocked.

"Thus do We decree,

"High Princess Twilight Sparkle, Keeper of the Skies, The Archmage Ruler, Protector of the Tribes, Lady of Friendship."

"Listen to you," Twilight mocked, "with your long list of titles. You don't know what you're talking about. You're only good for…"

She didn't finish that one. Instead, it hung in the air like a thick, heavy fog, filling her thoughts with the words she didn't want to say.

"...sitting pretty on a throne. You're not an adventurer anymore."

She threw the scroll to her desk.

"Cut that out, Twilight!" she growled. "You're not useless! You can do whatever Night can do, and can do it better! You're one of the most powerful mages in Equestria! You're not going to let a thief show you up, much less some rocks!"

She walked out of her office with a powerful stride, toward her bedroom, where she had the full intention of going to sleep. After a full night of being captured, running around, and spell-slinging like she did, she needed to rest. Not to mention the fact that, as always, she had to get up early in the morning.

Besides, she had a council of friendship to plan. She only had a few days.

And the scroll sat on her desk, open.

---$---

Gleaming Coin sat down in a large, over-stuffed chair, smiling as she enjoyed a small chocolate bar. She never had much growing up, so she frequently indulged in a candy bar or two. It's not like she didn't work off the calories whenever she had to deal with somepony trying to take her out.

A knock sounded on her door. "Come in," she said.

Blackjack entered the office, scowling. "Boss," she hissed in greeting.

"Blackjack," Gleaming greeted, smiling the entire time. "Did you need something?"

"Yes, I wanted to let you know that your foolproof plan to earn some cash blew apart," Blackjack said with a vindictive smirk.

"What?" Gleaming asked.

"Yeah, the pouch was stolen, right under your nose, just before the Moon-Lighter arrived with a new delivery of herbs."

Gleaming narrowed her eyes. "Stolen from under your nose," she corrected. "The Muscle, as your gang is now called, is still, for the most part, under your control. They just all know that I run things. When I took over, I made it very clear that I would let you live, and run the Muscle, just like Boot Legger runs the Purse, and Moon runs the Hooves. Now, I hope that you're going to prove that was a good idea, or are you going shove off responsibility until I change my mind?"

Blackjack's own eyes narrowed, as though daring her to try before she answered. "Of course, my mistake."

Gleaming nodded. "That's what I thought. Now, what happened?"

"A pair of ponies stole the pouch in the middle of our operations last night," Blackjack explained. "If I had to guess, I'd say it's the same one that Celestia used to hire. Possibly with an apprentice or something."

"Celestia used to hire a thief?" Gleaming asked.

Blackjack snorted. "Well, considering that the guard typically showed up after he did whenever he came snooping around for some of our cash or drugs, I'd say very likely. I doubt they'd work with a thief out of the kindness of their hearts."

Gleaming went silent and steepled her hooves together. "How do you know it was two ponies?" she asked.

"We caught one," Blackjack replied. "Mare, unicorn, orange coat, a little on the small side."

"Good," Gleaming said. "Start interrogating her. I'm sure the Purse can point us in the right direction of a field to bury the body in."

"She got away," Blackjack said through clenched teeth.

"What?" Gleaming demanded growling. "And how did she get away?"

"The other pony got her out," she replied.

"Oh, really, and what did he look like?" Gleaming asked.

"Unicorn, brown coat, ivory mane, and one of my gang keeps swearing up and down that he has a coin cutie mark."

Gleaming blinked. "A gold coin?" she asked.

Blackjack stared back at her. "Yes…"

Gleaming frowned before she sat up a little straighter in her chair. "I see. Thank you for letting me know, Blackjack. I'll get you new orders in the next week or so. We'll use that to recover, though we should be able to begin stealing the real prize by then."

"And what about the Royal Thief?" Blackjack asked.

"Oh, don't worry about him…" Gleaming said. "I think I know just how to handle him."

Blackjack snorted. "Not the first time I heard that," she growled.

"But it may just be the last. Now get out of here. You have enough work to do."

Blackjack frowned but left.

Gleaming turned her chair around to face the window of her office and smiled. "Well, well. It seems that Night may have survived after all. It'd be good to see him again, I suppose."

She stared out into the darkness beyond her window, where the sun was already beginning to set.

Yes, yes, it would be good to see Night again.

It had been far, far too long.

Chapter 22

The Council of Friendship came much faster than Twilight felt it should. Two days came and went, and the Princess found herself in her large chamber she sat in last month.

“So, Darling,” Rarity said. “What is the state of the kingdom, as it were?”

Her closest friends, including Starlight Glimmer this time around, sat around the table as the bookshelves loomed over them. A handful of boardgames sat out, ready to be played, but Rarity was, of course, keeping them on track until the business part of the meeting was done, and then they could properly relax.

Twilight sighed. “Well, the things that have been taking up most of my time has been the fact that there are three organized crime factions that have been merging into a massive amalgamation of an artifact-stealing crime ring.”

“Wow,” Pinkie said, before sucking on a juice box. “Sounds like you’ve been busy.”

“Is this because of the thief you found last month?” Applejack asked. “And by the way, did ya ever find out why he needs so much money from the budget?”

“He maintains several houses across the country to act as bases of operation. He’s done his best to pick inexpensive places, but that’s still a lot of property,” Twilight answered. “And yes, coincidentally, I found out because of him.”

Applejack shook her head. “Well, at the very least, he got you some decent intel.”

“Okay, so you’re going to lead the charge and taking these thieves head-on, right?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight opened her mouth to respond before Rarity spoke up.

“Don’t be ridiculous, dear,” the unicorn said. “Twilight’s a Princess, she has a responsibility to the country to keep. Besides, could you imagine the scandal if somepony found out? She’s smart enough to know better.”

Twilight shut her mouth and took a deep interest in her snack.

“You weren’t going to do that, were you Twilight?” Starlight asked.

“You know, think these brownies are overcooked. There’s not enough goo in the center.”

“You were,” Starlight said with a smile.

“Twilight,” Rarity admonished. “You have a kingdom to rule. Surely this is a job better suited to your guard?”

“Well, I’m…”

“You’ve told us that he’s worked with the guard before, right?” Fluttershy asked.

“He has,” Twilight said, “and they’ve done a lot of good together, but—”

“Do ya not trust him to get the job done?” Applejack asked.

“No, I know they’d get it done. I just—”

“Then why are you getting involved directly and risking so much?” Rarity asked.

“Because I like to!” Twilight said. “It’s fun to go out and adventure like I used to, and I know it’s a little irresponsible, but I’m just trying to make sure these kinds of problems don’t happen.”

“I mean, I think it’s cool,” Rainbow said. “But I mean, I also get what they’re saying. You are the Princess now, and if you get captured, they can do stuff like hold you hostage and stuff.”

That one bit a little deeper than Twilight thought it would. She sighed before glancing up at the top of the bookshelves to see Night staring down at her, a pleased smile on his lips. It didn’t appear to be mocking in any way, but it was that very special smug that he seemed to perfect.

Twilight glanced away.

“Okay...okay…I’ll keep my ears open, but I won’t go.”

She glanced back up at Night, who shrugged quietly.

“If it helps,” Rainbow said. “I can reach out to Daring Do and see if she can talk with Caballeron. Both of them are experts on artifacts. They’d be able to let us know what’s going on with collectors and stuff like that.”

“I could also begin to speak with some of my friends,” Rarity said. “Fancy Pants may not care himself, but he knows enough ponies that do to matter.”

“I have some research I can bring to the table,” Starlight said. “And I can secure the items at the school for some extra security.”

Twilight smiled and brought her attention back to the table. “Thank you girls, I appreciate it. Anyway, I think that’s all our business, so what game are we playing?”

---$---

They decided on playing a cooperative card game about the Power Ponies called Mythical and were fighting a card-based version of Mane-iac, and it was the last turn. “Okay,” Twilight said. “We need 30 attack power and 15 buying power. Fluttershy, what do you have?”

“I only have three Saddle Rager cards I can play. Luckily they build on each other. They do 15 attack damage.”

“Wow,” Rainbow muttered. “Already halfway down? Leave some for the rest of us!”

“Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“I have two Radiance attack cards, and two CHAMFRON agents for four attack, and two buying power,” she replied.

“Applejack?”

“I have my big Mistress Mare-velous card, which will give us five buying power, and two attack power at the same time,” the farmer replied happily. “Besides that, I’ve got two more CHAMFRON agents for a buying power each.”

“So we have 17 attack power and nine buying so far,” Twilight said, standing at the table, “Rainbow?”

“I didn’t get my big card in this hand, but I have four Zapps coming in with two attack and two buying each. So it was okay, I guess.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s all the buying power we need,” Twilight said. “Pinkie?”

“I’ve got a Fili-second with two buying power,” she said, “and then three CHAMFRONs with three attack total.”

“We’ll only need two more attack power, so I think we got this!” Twilight said with a smirk.

Spike smiled. “I have five Hum Drums, and they all do one of each!”

“And that it!” Twilight said.

Cheers went around the table as they officially defeated the big bad.

“Hang on, hang on!” Rainbow said. “We still need to know who won out of all of us.”

“Well, we all won,” Fluttershy said.

“And currently Fluttershy still is in the lead for damage,” Twilight pointed out. “I can tell you I’m not in the running, I only have one Matterhorn card I can play, and she has one single attack power because my card luck is awful. So I guess that leaves you, Starlight.”

Starlight glanced between the seven of them. “All five of my cards build off each other for seventeen attack power and ten buying power.” Both Rainbow and Applejack groaned as Starlight lay her cards on the table. “Why didn’t any of you diversify your heroes? They’re more powerful that way. That’s how the game’s designed.”

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “Alright, do we want to play again?”

“It’s like ten o’clock,” Spike said.

“Yes, I’ll need to get up early tomorrow,” Starlight said. “I’ve got a school to run tomorrow.”

“That’s a fair enough point,” Rarity said. “I need to head back to my Manehatten store and check on how things are going there.”

“Yeah, I probably need to head home too,” Rainbow said. “Got to head to the Wonderbolt training area for a new show this week, and Spitfire’s been riding us all to get it right. That, and the excuse of ‘Royal Summons’ only works so many times.”

“I’ll stay behind and get this thing packed away,” Applejack said, motioning to the card scattered on the table.

“Thanks, Applejack,” Spike said. “I’ll start collecting all of the CHAMFRON agents.”

The farmer nodded, and the two quickly began to work as they gathered the cards into the separate heroes, villains, and agents, all into the separate piles.

Twilight quickly walked everyone out of the palace and made it back to the council room just in time for Applejack and Spike to finish packing things away. “Alright, there ya go, Spike.”

“Thanks again, Applejack. Mythical is fun. It just takes forever to set up and put away,” the dragon replied.

The farmer nodded.

“Yes, thank you, Applejack,” Twilight said.

“Not a problem,” the farmer replied. “But, I do have one question.”

“What?”

“Are you ever going to introduce us to your shadow up there?”

“P-pardon?” Twilight asked.

Applejack casually pointed up the bookshelves to where Night sat. “The stallion up there, or at least I think a stallion. He’s been so quiet up there, and it’s so dark I could barely tell.”

Twilight glanced up at Night, who pressed himself against the wall. “I...don’t know…”

“Twilight, for the entirety of the game, you’ve been glancing up at him and smiling the same way Big Mac smiles at Sugar Belle. It wasn’t too hard to figure out he was there with how many times ya stared up at him.”

Twilight could feel the blush climbing her face. “I…”

“I do gotta say, though, I never would have noticed if you hadn’t given it away,” Applejack said.

Twilight glanced at the corner of the room, trying not to look at Night and give him away even further than she already had.

“So not right now, huh?” Applejack asked with a smirk. “Alright, then. See ya next time, Shadow,” she waved back up at the bookshelves before turning back to her friend. “Have a good night, Twilight.”

“Oh, yeah,” Spike said as Applejack walked out of the room. “Night is here!”

Twilight’s face soured, and she stared at the dragon. “Thanks, Spike, I hadn’t noticed.”

“I didn’t,” he said in his defense before Night dropped down to the floor.

“Your friend has a good head on her shoulders, at least,” Night muttered. “Though I don’t appreciate being called out like that.”

“Sorry,” Twilight muttered, feeling the blame fall on her.

Night shrugged it off. “I don’t know what she means by this Big Mac and Sugar Belle, though.”

“They’re a newlywed couple,” she muttered.

“Oh…”

A long silence stretched between them, and Twilight was becoming more and more uncomfortable with the silence.

Spike coughed. “So do you have news, Night?”

“Right!” he said. “I found something.”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“The item is called the Obsidian Hoof Guards, and they are what I thought they were. That being said, I’ve tracked it down to a new hideaway out by Dodge City,” Night explained.

“Okay. So what’s your plan?”

“Secure them, hopefully,” he replied. “I also hope to uncover more of their plan if they hope to find the Alicorn Amulet and the Tempest Crown, the other two. If they do, we can begin searching for them and securing the artifacts before things get crazy. Maybe you can take your Rainbow friend up on her offer, as I’m sure a fictional character knows so much.”

Twilight smiled. “You know I’ve met Daring Do, right?”

Night glanced up at her.

“I’m serious. She’s a very business-oriented pony. And that business is securing artifacts and extreme archeology.”

“Sure.”

“I think both of you would get along.”

“Uh-huh.”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Anyway, I think I’m going to sit out on this one,” Twilight said. “My friends are right...and things are getting more serious.”

“You’re giving up on me?” Night asked.

“No, no,” she said. “I’m just...I’m taking a break. Let’s be honest, I got caught last time because I was confident that I could use magic to fix the problems.”

“You were caught by pure bad luck,” he said. “That’s happened to everyone I’ve known.”

“Yes, but I was caught, and if you hadn’t been there to save me, I’d be in trouble. Besides, I do actually have a country to run.”

Night sighed and nodded. “Alright, you know that’s fair. Okay, I’ll keep you posted and let you know what I found. Go do your Princess-ing thing in the meantime.”

Twilight smiled. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you in a few days.”

Night nodded before he took his leave and left the two alone.

And the moment he was out of hearing range, Spike spoke up. “Why’d you do that?”

“What?”

“Let him go alone?”

“I just said why,” Twilight replied. “I just got caught, and I need to, you know, keep to my responsibilities as a Princess.”

“Raven and I can keep your country running,” Spike said. “We’ve already been doing that. All you really need to do is let Raven know that I can sign documents in your name because I do know what you’d approve of ninety percent of the time.”

Twilight smirked. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that was a transparent attempt at taking power for yourself.”

Spike glared back at her. “You know, that’s what Raven says, and so I’ll tell you what I tell her. If I wanted to rule a kingdom, I would have kept the Bloodstone Scepter.”

Twilight shook her head. “She’ll learn eventually, don’t hold it against her.”

“Oh, it’s too late for that,” Spike said. “Speaking of documents, did you review and sign the ones Raven brought to you a few days ago?”

“Two of them, I had some questions on the third. There’s something I need you to clarify in our notes.”

“Do you know which one off the top of your head?”

“Not really,” she admitted.

“Okay, then let’s go ahead and head up to your office.”

“Sounds good,” Twilight said. “I have some other documents I need to deal with, anyway.”

The pair made their way up to Twilight’s office, and as they stepped in, Twilight blinked. Something wasn’t right, and she immediately began to search her office.

“What’s wrong?” Spike asked.

“I...there was a scroll on my desk, a letter, did you see it?”

“No. What was in it?”

“It was about Night,” she explained. “I wrote it like a month ago when I really wasn’t on board with the whole thing.”

“Maybe the maids got it?” Spike asked.

“They know better than to throw away my documents,” she said.

“Well, if you can’t find it, then I couldn’t tell you where it is,” Spike said.

“I know, I know,” she replied. “Still, I need to find it and get rid of the thing. It’s was horribly wrong.”

“I’ll keep my eye out for it,” Spike said.

“Alright, thank you, Spike.”

He nodded, and they got to work.

---$---

Dodge City sat in the eastern-most edges of the San Palomino Desert, and Night could smell the heat. The air was dry and dusty, leaving a scent in the air that Night could only describe as the smell of a desert evening.

He stood a few miles south of the town, on one of the dunes that would slowly begin to build in frequency until they made the Macintosh Hills. Behind him, the city shone like a star on the horizon, lit by the lamps of taverns, inns, and houses of hard-working folk. In front of him sat the cave. The cave waited with an open maw, and hidden inside, Night knew, was the collected forces of the big three criminal organizations he worked against.

The problem with a natural hideout like this was that there typically could only be one entrance and exit, specifically the cave mouth. He couldn’t really approach the place from another angle, despite his best efforts. What’s worse, the varying width of the passageways didn’t guarantee him anywhere to hide if he suddenly found himself sharing the same space.

That meant that he could only hope that nopony would come up the way he was coming down.

Well, there wasn’t anything else he could do.

Taking a deep breath, Night rushed the cave mouth, casting his Transposement spell and keeping his Image high above the ground. Then, before he knew it, he went underground.

He slipped into the darkness beneath and quickly found himself squeezing through tight passageways that led deeper and deeper into the depths. And then, just as Night was beginning to feel lost, he found the main chamber.

Inside, he found a handful of ponies, some guarding the entrance, a few feet away from where Night snuck in, while others worked at a set of tables. Night observed them as they carved and smoothed their materials and blinked as they carefully touched pieces of metal and stone.

He glanced between them and quickly realized precisely what they were doing. They were making counterfeit hoof guards. The original sat on a table nearby, ready to be picked up and referenced as the ponies around it made cheap stone and metal copies of the artifact.

Night raised an eyebrow, confused. Any unicorn with Perceive Energy could tell that the fakes wouldn’t have the magical signature to match an artifact. There was no way they’d sell these to proper buyers. So why on earth were they doing this?

His ear flicked behind him, and he turned to see another pony coming down the passage. Night ran into the chamber, avoiding everypony he could as he dove between the tables. The pony coming in behind him vaguely looked like one of Legger’s pony, and the guard glared at him as he approached. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’m here to get the merchandise moved to Baltimare for the enchanting.”

“Enchanting?” Night thought. “Are they just making fake artifacts? No real buyer would take them. They’d know that they wouldn’t have the magical reserves, even if they were decently made.”

“Unless…”

“Unless they’re not selling to real, experienced buyers.”

Night frowned at the thought, but the good news was that he had everything he needed. He knew where these “Obsidian Hoof Guards” would be sold, and he knew what the game was. The problem was that he didn’t know who they were selling to, even though he had his suspicions, nor did he have the full scope of what exactly they were doing.

Still, he had a direction.

He glanced over at the Hoof Guards, the real ones, and smiled as he began to work a plan in his head.

He glanced at one of the packed crates before glancing up at the lanterns that lit the chamber. He wouldn’t have a lot of time, but it just might be enough.

He carefully began to pry open one of the crates, pulling it open slowly as the ponies in the chamber were busy on their carvings or their conversations. Then, the moment he was confident he could work with it, he made his move.

In what was one of the riskiest moves of his career, Night dropped his Transposement spell. He appeared in the middle of the room, shocking the ponies around him before reaching up and grabbing one of the lanterns. He smashed them together, and with a flash of light, they both went out. Cries echoed, and someone yelled. “Block the entrance! Get the light back on!”

The lanterns were re-lit, and the ponies found themselves in the chamber alone. “Look for that pony! He was in here a second ago!” one of the guards ordered, and they quickly began to search around.

Night was nowhere to be found.

“You,” the guard growled, pointing to another pony. “Check the passage, see if he got past me somehow.”

The pony nodded as the guard stepped aside to let him through.

And Night squeezed past and made his way out.

Chapter 23

Twilight sighed as she worked in her office before checking the clock. She had to raise the moon shortly, and the evening light was starting to die. She had nearly spent the entire day working through document after document, signing signature after signature, and stamping approval after approval.

She sighed, resting her head on her hoof as she scanned over another document, before casually signing the form and sliding it over to the side.

She glanced over to her inbox, and her eyes widened as she realized that she had only one more document left. A smile began to grow on her face as skimmed through, referencing Spike’s notations in the margins. She flipped through the pages, working through them as fast as she could before she found the last line for her signature.

With a flick of her quill and a splash of ink, she signed the last paper and felt the shackles of her responsibilities shatter.

“Ah! Good to see you’ve caught up!” Raven said, sliding a new stack of documents into her inbox within seconds of entering the office.

Twilight sighed. “What’s this?” she asked.

“There’s a proposal for renaming Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns to the Celestial Academy for Gifted unicorns, as well as a proposal to split it from the crown as the official royal school, to move into a more public domain.”

Twilight sighed again and began to work through the new packet, which was sadly un-notated.

“By the way, Your Highness,” Raven said. “I do appreciate that you’ve come to your senses and have returned to work.”

Twilight glanced up at her. “You're welcome, but you could choose your words better.”

“Uh...yes, Your Highness,” Raven said, as she suddenly realized she had basically insulted her. “Forgive me, I meant no offense.”

Twilight waved it off. “Just...just get me what I need to sign,” she ordered, sadly.

“Yes, Your Highness,” she replied before Raven took her leave to head for more papers to sign.

Twilight sighed again and wondered if she was becoming an old mare already.

“Psst! Princess!”

Twilight’s head snapped up, and her ears stood on end as she began to look around.

“Twilight, over here!”

Twilight looked around before she found Night, hanging out of her window sill. “Night?” she asked. “What are you doing hanging outside of my window?”

“Trying to get your attention,” he said.

“Well, sure, but why are you climbing up my window.”

“Because I can?” Night offered.

Twilight was about to sigh but caught herself. “What is it?”

“I found something,” he said, before sliding her the Obsidian Hoof Guards he stole only a few nights before. “Keep those safe, by the way. But this is only a part of the problem, and I think you need to come with me,” Night told her.

“What?” she asked, taking the artifact that she could swear was humming with power.

“I’ll tell you on the way to Baltimare,” he said. “I’ve got you a train ticket, and I’ll meet you at the station, alright?”

Twilight shook her head. “I mean, I’m sure you can do this—”

“I need your magic expertise, Twilight,” he said. “This isn’t something I can do at all.”

Twilight blinked. “I...I see. Okay. I’ll see you at the station.”

Night nodded. “By the way, you need to have your guards stagger their shift changes. You already change insides and outsides in steps, but you need to cover more ground.”

This time, Twilight missed the sigh as it passed and nodded. “I’ll let Azure know.”

Night smiled and slid down the rope to the courtyard.

---$---

The ride to Baltimare proved informative and worrying. If what Night said was true, then while the collective groups weren’t going after specific artifacts to achieve ultimate power, they were looking at creating counterfeits with at least some magic in them.

This had two outcomes that Twilight could see; the first, it would become nearly impossible to find the artifacts with the black market flooded with fakes, effectively obscuring the trail and hiding any sign of the operations. The second, and arguably worst-case scenario, was that they intended to make hundreds of weaker versions of the artifact to sell to suckers and wannabe collectors.

Night half-way agreed though he was sure that the Triad wanted to sell these items almost exclusively to petty criminals. Promise a desperate pony inconceivable strength, and they might take more risks than they needed to. They might try bigger targets and become bolder in the face of the guard.

Crime would skyrocket, and a thief with any kind of contact with a seller could suddenly take on ten guards before the gems—no doubt cheap and unlicensed—blew and did who-knows-what sort of damage to the ponies around them.

If a pony wanted to start sowing Chaos across Equestria, Twilight was sure only Discord himself could do better.

After dropping off her bags at the safehouse, they both quickly took to scouting out the new warehouse.

With the influx of ponies into the collective group of thieves, they had no shortage of guards, which Twilight noted nearly covered the grounds. The warehouse sat on the Horseshoe Bay, and Night pointed out that the docks were being used, though by private ships. His guess was that the counterfeits were enchanted here and then taken up the coast to be appropriately distributed.

“Either Manehatten or Fillydelphia if I had to guess. Probably Manehatten, though, more ponies would be interested in buying up there.”

Twilight glanced back over at the warehouse, her eyes enhanced by the same spell that disguised her. “There are at least thirty ponies, just standing on the outside of the building. Why are there so many?”

“Because of us, Twilight. They didn’t like that we hit them before, and they’re doubling down to make sure we don’t hit them again. Not that it’ll stop us, right?”

Twilight gave him a soft smile.

“So, how are we doing this?” Night asked.

“What do you mean?”

“How do you want to do this?” he asked again. “It’s too many things for me to steal without getting the entire warehouse chasing me, and a lot of these ponies aren’t going to be scared by illusions, so how are we going to get in, and how are we going to get what we want? Besides, you’re the Princess. What you say goes.”

Twilight glanced back at the warehouse. “Well, we got the original back, right?”

Night nodded.

She stared back at it for a long second before she cast a Perceive Energy spell. Her vision shifted into a new spectrum, that of magical activity, and she saw the warehouse sparkle as though it were filled with stars. The magical signatures were easy to find, though much weaker. Far weaker than an artifact, at least, but that was basically a given at this point. However, as she focused on them even harder, she saw exactly what she was expected. The signatures were weak, and to Twilight’s practiced eyes, ready to fracture if put under the right pressure.

More unlicensed enchanting gems.

“So all that’s left in there is a bunch of fakes with enchanting gems of questionable quality?” Twilight asked, knowing full well the answer.

He nodded again.

“Then I think the best thing we can do is destroy their products,” she replied.

Night smiled.

“I don’t want to hear it,” she said, already aware that he was about to mention her original protest against property damage.

“Duly noted, Twilight,” he said. “Let’s head back to the safehouse for some final planning. We’ll need all the time we can get, and the night’s already half over.”

Twilight nodded, and they both slipped into the darkness.

---$---

Twilight was having a hard time sleeping again. She wasn’t sure why tonight was giving her a hard time, though it might have to do with the fact that she would have to raise the sun in three hours.

She muttered darkly to herself and rolled on her back before she heard it.

Night whimpered, somewhere in the darkness.

Twilight moved, without giving it a second thought, and found him lying on his cot, asleep, but very obviously troubled.

“Shh…” Twilight whispered. “Shh, you’re not alone. You’re okay.”

She placed a gentle hoof on his shoulder and gave him the softest touch.

Night’s eyes snapped open, and a panicked gasp escaped him before the world came back into focus.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked.

He nodded. “It was just a dream.”

“Dreams may not be real, but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter,” Twilight said. “Luna would throw a fit if I said otherwise,” she added with a small smile. “What happened?”

Night didn’t say anything for a long time. He simply sat in the darkness, lying on his cot.

Twilight waited.

“I...I was being chased,” he said. “Chased by Light.”

“By light?” Twilight asked.

For a second, Night could hear the reproach in her voice, the vicious, mocking laugh. “What, are you afraid of the light?” he waited to hear.

But that never came, just the calm, careful, curious question. One that just wanted to know what was wrong.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “I’ve always been in darkness, Princess. It’s where I belong. Light just shines too bright and too harsh. It reaches all the dark places where I can hide and roots me out. I...I don’t belong in the light anymore, Princess.”

Twilight listened.

“I think that’s why I loved that Celestia gave me this job,” he said. “It was the closest I would ever be to being a normal pony. Even then, look at me, I’m living in houses that nopony else would take, sleeping on a cot, waiting for the sun to drop so I can put my life on the line to work in darkness.”

Twilight didn’t say anything.

He smirked. “Listen to me, sounding like some philosopher talking in symbols and metaphors. Don’t worry about me, Princess. I’m fine.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, you’re not, but that’s okay,” she whispered back to him. “It’s okay to be hurt.”

Night snorted. “Since when does being a Princess make you a therapist?”

Twilight smiled. “Celestia and Luna were doing it way longer than I have. It comes with the territory, I’m told.”

“Sure, whatever you say, Princess. Go get to sleep. We have work to do.”

“You too, Night,” she said. “If you need to talk, let me know.”

Night nodded. “Sure,” he said before dropping his head back on the pillow. There, he lay awake, watching the shadows play across the wall.

---$---

The next night came quickly. Both ponies had to take naps during the day to be awake and ready to go, and it paid dividends now.

They traveled to the warehouse by sea, totally undetected as they moved beneath the waves, walking on the sandy bottom of the bay in a pocket of air that Twilight held together with a Control Matter spell.

“You know,” Night said. “If anything could convince me that alicorns had ridiculous reserves, this would probably be it.”

“Try not to waste air,” Twilight answered, “but thank you.”

The silt proved challenging to maneuver through, especially with the moonlight streaming through the water casting long, shifting shadows across the ground. Despite that, they were making good time and would finish crossing the bay in another ten minutes. Occasionally, Twilight would lift the bubble, and the pair would swim over more severe obstacles, which certainly helped.

“There’s the dock,” Night said as they climbed a boulder that lay on the seafloor.

Twilight glanced back at him with a glare that said, “I just told you not to waste air,” before she stared up at the wall of cut blocks of stone that made the dock. “We’re going up,” she said, speaking up for a moment. “Get ready to swim.”

The bubble began to rise up, and the pair started to tread water as they raised up to the surface.

Twilight suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Twilight! Twilight, stop.”

“What?” she asked.

“Look,” he said, pointing to the water above them.

She glanced up and saw a large shadow cut across the moonlight above them.

“That’s a boat,” Night said. “They might be moving stuff out tonight.”

Twilight nodded. They just might need to blow that up too.

They both sat in the water for a second or two, watching the boat move past them before Twilight began to raise the bubble once again until they both breached the surface. Using Night’s hook, they managed to climb up over the wall and hide behind some crates that had been moved to the docks outside.

“My towel’s soaked,” Night said. “If we go inside, we’ll drip everywhere. So we need to either wait here and dry off, or—”

Twilight cast a spell, and he suddenly dried.

“Or that…” he replied.

“You’d be surprised how many ponies know that one,” Twilight said. “It’s great for drying out your mane.”

“Huh…”

They both went quiet as they quickly took stock of the warehouse. Far too many ponies were still watching the grounds, and they’d have to creep silently through the yard if they didn’t want to get caught before they even got inside.

“How close do we need to get to the gems?” Night asked.

“Close enough to overload them,” she replied.

“Which is?”

“About three feet,” she said. “The bigger problem is that I can’t cast another spell while feeding enchanting gems. Unless I have a place to hide, anypony looking for me can find me.”

“Even if you’re using Transform Image?” he asked.

“Well, I mean, I’ll still be an inch tall, but I’m not going to be looking out for anything. A pony could walk right into me, and I probably wouldn’t notice until I got inside.”

Night nodded before both ponies went silent as a guard walked up to the crates.

They both cast their Image spells, hiding their visible forms as they slowly began to slide around the crate as the guard patrolled around them.

They made a full rotation before the guard began to walk away, leaving them to continue their planning.

“We need to get in there,” Night whispered. “Staying outside is only going to waste time and give them a better chance of finding us.”

Twilight nodded. “The side door?” she asked, referencing the way in they found from the day before.

Night nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

They moved from cover to cover, hiding between the crates and shipping containers until the warehouse loomed above them, and the side door was within reach. Taking stock one last time around them, Night nodded. “Can you see what’s just behind the door?” he asked.

“I have a spell for that, yes,” she replied before she cast a Perceive Matter spell. The warehouse behind the door came into sharp focus and a quick look around revealed tables on tables of unicorns enchanting gems with new spell matrixes. Twilight took another moment to look around, trying to find where they piled the fresh gemstones that hadn’t been enchanted sat when she saw a guard. He stood next to the side door, waiting for it to open, and Twilight sighed when she realized their way in was being watched.

She spoke in a whisper. “A pony is watching the door,” she explained.

“Can you see another way in?” Night asked.

Twilight’s sight moved around the room, checking the walls and ceiling.

“There’s a skylight,” she said. “There are a few ponies that keep glancing at it, but I don’t think that—”

She felt Night’s hoof on her lips, and she immediately went silent, cutting her spell as she ducked low to the ground.

Still approaching them, a guard made his past the crates and boxes that made a part of their hiding spot. He glanced around occasionally, his ears flicking as he listened for any sign or sound of an intruder.

Night and Twilight didn’t make a sound.

The guard paused for a second, and Twilight watched, eyes wide, as the guard began to look around.

Then his head stopped, and Twilight couldn’t tell if he was looking at her Image or not.

His mouth opened wide, and he took a deep breath.

And then sneezed.

The guard sniffed, groaned, and then continued on his way.

Night waited until he turned the corner before speaking again. “The skylight sounds like our best bet,” he whispered. “Besides, when we get up there, it’ll give me the chance to drop this spell for a second or two.”

Twilight nodded before whispering to him. “Grab on, and I’ll catapult us up there, so you won’t have to drop your spell.”

Night must have nodded because the next thing she felt was two forelegs wrap around her chest and barrel.

Twilight tried not to think about it before she pushed them both into the air, to land as softly as she could manage onto the roof. Specifically, she aimed for one of the beams she saw from the inside, so the corrugated steel roof wouldn’t bend under their weight.

It creaked slightly, and in a panic, Twilight cast her Perceive Matter spell again to peek inside the warehouse, where only two ponies were still looking up, watching for any signs of movement.

“Don’t move,” she whispered.

Night didn’t. He didn’t even drop his spell.

Twilight watched as second by agonizing second passed by.

She didn’t move.

They continued to stare up at the ceiling.

She didn’t speak.

Someone muttered something, though she couldn’t hear them.

Silence.

And then finally, the ponies returned to their tasks. Twilight released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and sighed.

“Are we good?” Night whispered.

“Yes, we’re good, but we need to move slowly.”

Night released her and was about to drop his spell when he suddenly froze. “Horseapples,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Pegasus guard, 3 o’clock.”

Twilight turned to the right and saw a pegasus casually fly up to peek over the roof. They were still being watched, and their landing had no doubt warned someone of their arrival. Twilight whispered into the darkness toward Night was supposed to be. “Are you going to be able to keep up your spell?” she asked.

“I can keep it for an hour and a half without rest,” he said. “The bigger problem is that I’m hamstrung without being able to cast another spell.”

Which wouldn’t help anypony when he needed to watch her while she overloaded gems. Twilight cursed before she whispered back to him. “Do you trust me?”

Night was silent for a moment. “I...I do,” he said. “Why?”

“Drop your spell,” she said.

“What?”

“Just drop it. I’ll take care of the rest.”

There was silence for another second before Night complied and shimmered back into existence. Twilight was already moving by the time he appeared and reached out with Transform Image. Being careful to only touch the size of Night’s Image, she scaled him down, silently hoping to herself that she didn’t mess anything up until he was an inch tall like her.

“Getting this reversed is going to be awkward,” she said. “But we’re going to have to make this work.”

Night looked down at “himself,” faintly aware that this could be a permanent change, before nodding. “Alright. Let’s get in there.”

They climbed up the roof, walking along the beam below them until they reached the skylight. Glancing down, the pair could see all the ponies beneath them, moving and enchanting, before Night spoke up. “I see the gems,” he said.

“Where?” Twilight asked.

“See that office in the back?” Night asked. “It is in the alcove directly beneath it.”

Twilight followed his directions best she could and did, indeed, see the gems sitting there, with a bit of a line forming from it.

“So, you just need to get close to that?” Night asked.

Twilight frowned. “I never said it’d be easy.”

Night nodded. “Then we best get to work.”

He reached out, and with his magic, undid the latch to the window. Carefully, he raised it up, unleashing the noise from inside. The near-constant casting of magic permeated the room with a low hum, betraying the normal near-silence of casting a spell, but more importantly, it revealed a voice.

“And I don’t care that you lost the originals,” a mare’s voice yelled. “You’re not dragging me down with you.”

Both thieves searched for the source of the voice before their eyes fell on two ponies. A small pegasus stallion with a powder blue coat and a mare with a purple mane and a dull red coat argued beneath the window, audible over the hum of magic.

“But, Ms. Blackjack!” the pegasus cried. “If you don’t help us, then—”

“Then what?” she demanded. “You’re not one of mine. I don’t care what happens to you.”

“But, but The Boss will have my head!”

“Well, that’s between you and that silver-flanked whore. I don’t care.”

Twilight blinked at the exchange but continued to watch.

“Ms. Blackjack!” the stallion whined.

“No! I didn’t come here to bail you out. I came because ‘Ms. Gleaming needed somepony to check the merchandise.”

Twilight heard Night inhale sharply at the name, and she gave him a look.

“Now get out of my way,” Blackjack said. “I’m going to test these and let you hang yourself with the rope you were given.”

The earth pony mare stomped away with the pegasus to follow after her, leaving Night and Twilight on the roof with the skylight still open. “Are you alright, Night?” she asked.

“L-later. We need to focus on getting the gems,” Night said, his voice shaking in the wind.

Twilight slowly nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this. Do you want to start the distraction?”

Night nodded, which Twilight barely caught from his miniature Image. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”

They dropped in, landing on a catwalk that shook from their landing but didn’t creak with a careful cast of Destroy Image from Twilight to silence it.

Nopony even looked up.

“See you at the front door,” Night whispered.

Twilight smiled and nodded.

They split off from each other, both running in opposite directions down the catwalk. Night moved as quickly as he dared before he found exactly what he was looking for. Above him was one of the fire suppression sprinklers. He wasn’t even sure that this warehouse had them, but it made the perfect distraction.

He reached out with his telekinesis to shatter the bulb before quickly checking to see if there was a place he could hide for when the water came down, but then again, this wasn’t going to be the cleanest getaway anyway.

He crushed the bulb, and the sprinklers all turned on, spraying the entire area with black, discolored water that stank of burnt nose hairs. Ponies everywhere started to panic, running as the possibility of a fire spreading forced them out of the building.

Night made his way down the stairs, water running off his invisible body, and made his way to the front door. He waited, off to the side, as ponies pushed their way through, many nearly trampling their fellow criminals as they tried to escape.

Night waited, listening for the explosion that would mark that Twilight had done her job and—

Green, blue, and orange light shot up from the warehouse’s back, nearly tearing a hole in the roof.

“Okay, let’s go!” A voice said in his ear.

He turned and looked down to see Twilight’s Image. “That was fast.”

“I wasn’t sticking around there,” she said.

“Right, I don’t want to wait in a burning building.”

“Catapult into the bay,” Twilight said. “We’ll make our way back across, along the bottom.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Night said before they both shot into the air. They both catapulted themselves through the door, out over the courtyard, and into the water below.

The second they hit the surface, Twilight began to shape the water into a bubble, and they quickly sank to the bottom.

“Well,” Twilight said as her hooves sunk into the silt, and she glanced up to see the colorful explosion of the enchanting gems. “That went better than I expected,” she said.

Night nodded. “I’ll say,” he said, his Image nearly disappearing into the darkness.

“So,” Twilight began. “Who’s Gleaming?”

Night didn’t say anything as they stood beneath the bay.

“We need to save air,” he said.

Chapter 24

Both ponies sat in the Baltimare safehouse, with Night still visibly the size of a rodent. He had not said anything else since they both sank to the bottom of the bay, and Twilight hadn’t pressed for it yet.

She’d already learned that Night didn’t respond well to pushing, so she let it sit for a while. Besides, what she had to do next was going to be so awkward that he might just tell her to keep his mind off it.

“Okay,” she said, “go ahead and sit down, and I’ll try and get your Image back to its rightful place.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Night asked.

“I’m not going to lie. I’m going to have to touch you. All over the place,” the alicorn, in her true form, said.

“B-b-w-what?” Night asked.

“Well, I mean, I can approximate the size of everything, but then there’s the chance I make your head slightly too big, and then you look weird for the rest of your life. You also don’t want to be slightly to your left forever, so I need to make sure that everything lines up perfectly, which means I need to match your Image to your actual body, which means I have to physically match it up through the only means I can, which is touch.”

Night blinked.

“That’s why you shouldn’t cast Transform Image and Body spells on other ponies. Most ponies already have an intimate knowledge of themselves, so they don’t run into the issue, and I need you to stop looking at me like that because I’m trying to be as clinical as possible here, and you’re not making it any easier.”

Night looked away. “I...I see.”

Twilight nodded. “So... I’m going to start with your back, and we’ll go from there,” she said.

Night said nothing as Twilight touched his shoulders and began to fill his Image to what she felt. She worked first on the left, filling it out carefully as she worked, before moving to his right, being as gentle and careful as she could.

She let him stew in the awkwardness for a second before she spoke up. “Are you ready to tell me about this Gleaming mare?”

From how he quietly squirmed beneath her, she knew he was.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “So you know how I said I didn’t have parents?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“Well, neither did she.”

Twilight didn’t say anything as he spoke, and he took a second to compose himself before continuing. “We met, I think when I was four. She was still a baby at the time when she got into our house, and well, the ponies running the house certainly weren’t going to take care of her.

“So I did. She grew up fast, though, and before long, I was big brother Night. That’s when I started this whole thing, you know? That’s why I’m not normal these days. I was too busy stealing for the both of us. I was getting her food, toys, anything she needed or wanted. Before she was five, she wanted to start going with me, you know?”

Twilight began working on his lower back and flanks.

“We started stealing whatever, whenever, and I always made sure she never got caught, just so that she could just have a chance, you know? But...well...she wanted to be just like I was. And I was a thief.

“We were stealing everything from everypony, and they couldn’t stop us or catch us. She really loved it through. It wasn’t about survival for her. She just loved to steal, and…”

He stopped for a bit and stayed silent, but Twilight was starting to move to his legs, and the awkwardness redoubled.

“She got caught one day,” Night said. “And the guards weren’t the ones to catch her.”

Twilight switched to his head so that she can finally look him in the eyes.

“He was a poorer pony, but he had a temper,” he said.

Night could still hear it. He could hear her scream long into the night as he sat next to the wall in the rain. The thundering sounds of blows bearing down on flesh, her cries as her bones were broken just inside the building he sat behind.

“I...I thought she died that night.”

Twilight filled in his face a little more.

“I thought about changing then. To become a normal pony for a while, but it never really worked out for me. I wasn’t made for a normal world, and...well, I went back to trying to survive. But I couldn’t...I thought she was dead.”

Twilight held him by the cheek before she drew him in for a hug. “I’m sorry, Night.”

They sat there for a long time, and Night finally, finally sobbed.

---$---

When Twilight’s alarm screamed at her to wake up, she was still wrapped around Night. He had cried for a long time, and Twilight hadn’t let him go for the whole time.

She managed to get Night’s Image mostly back into place, though if she were to go any further, then both of them would have to get very cool with a lot of things very quickly. Instead, she made her best estimate and left it that.

Now, though, she had to admit, it was nice to just lay here, holding onto someone. She smiled softly as Night stirred and silenced her alarm before pulling her bag closer to her.

“Hm, Twilight?” Night asked.

“I’m here,” she said, fishing her amulet out to raise the sun without moving.

Night held her tighter for a second. “I’m sorry…” he said. “I should’ve let you go. I don’t deserve to—”

Twilight hushed him. “It’s okay. You deserve to have a chance to cry and be comforted. It’s okay.”

Night didn’t answer her.

Twilight glanced at the far window and saw the sky brighten as the sun breached the horizon before turning back to Night with a smile. “Besides...I think it’s kind of nice to sleep like this,” she said. “With somepony next to me.”

Night smiled back. “Yeah, it kind of is.”

They lay quietly for a moment before Night spoke up again. “I’m afraid of what Gleaming’s become,” he said. “She stole because she wanted to. I stole because I needed to. That has to be why she’s doing this. She wants to, and I don’t know why.”

“Are you afraid of what she’s going to do?” Twilight asked.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop her,” he replied. “I raised that mare. I preened her wings when she was young, taught her how to dress, and even taught her how to sneak and steal. I’m the only real family she ever had, and she was mine.”

Twilight nodded.

“I just…”

“We’ll do what we have to,” Twilight said, smiling as she looked up at him. “But, just so you know, I have a pretty good track record for redeeming ponies.”

“Do you now?” he asked.

“I mean, I stopped my friend Starlight from accidentally tearing a hole through space-time,” she said.

Night looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m serious!” she said, smiling a bit. “She wanted to take revenge specifically on me by throwing me into a future where I never met my friends and each time I found the world had been nearly destroyed by some terrible thing that we wouldn’t have been able to stop alone. It was a weird day.”

Night, eyebrow still raised, asked. “And which part of that was the weird part?”

Twilight smiled before she rolled a bit on the inflatable mattress. “It’s a long story,” she said. “But I think we’ve got some time this morning.”

Night nodded. “Yeah. I think I’d like to hear it.”

Twilight smiled. “Well, if I do that, then I need to tell the story from the very beginning.” She shifted beneath the covers once more and began to tell the story of how she first went to Ponyville.

---$---

Twilight stood on the train station platform, fully disguised once more. Night stood next to her, watching the train as it pulled into the station with the hiss of steam brakes. The 9 pm train to Canterlot had arrived a little late, and it was evident that the ponies getting off and getting on needed to move quickly if they had any hope of getting back on track.

“We’re going to stop her, Night,” Twilight said, “and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we can get her help.”

Night shook his head. “I don’t know if we can do anything for her,” he said. “I haven’t seen her in years, and I don’t know what kind of pony she is anymore.”

“We’re still going to try,” Twilight said.

Night nodded. “Yes, yes, we’re going to try.”

Twilight pressed her head into his neck. “I promise you we’re going to do everything we can.”

Night smiled softly. “Oh, I don’t doubt it, Twilight. I don’t doubt you will do everything you can, and it’s going to take a lot to stop you. I just don’t know what Gleaming is going to bring.”

Twilight looked over at him. “We’re going to make it work,” she said. “For now, all I want you to do is worry about finding her. Once we do that, we can worry about everything else.”

Night nodded with a smile. “I’ll have to go talk to Newsie.”

“Let me know when you do,” she said.

“All aboard!” the conductor yelled.

“I need to go,” Twilight said. “Spike and the others are going to be worried if I don’t get back before long. I spent too much of the day here.”

“It was nice, though,” he said.

“Yes, yes it was,” Twilight replied.

Twilight didn’t have any more time. She walked onto the train and gave Night one last wave goodbye as it closed behind her.

Night watched her go, and as he did, he wished he didn’t have to.

---$---

“I cannot believe you,” Raven said.

Spike, in the middle of his emerald and amethyst sandwich, glanced back up at her. “Can’t you see I’m eating?”

“You let him come in here and take the Princess away again?” she asked.

“She went on her own,” Spike said. “Honestly, by now, I’d think you’d be used to her leaving.”

“She obviously doesn’t want to spend her time in the company of a filthy criminal like him,” Raven said, carrying several documents and folders in her telekinetic grip.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Well, she obviously prefers his to yours.”

Raven frowned. “Do you always have a witty, if inane retort?”

“No, sometimes I have sensible ones,” Spike replied.

Raven glared at him.

Spike bit into his sandwich and swallowed another bite before he continued. “Ms. Inkwell, nothing is going to tell Twilight if she can or cannot go with who she wants. Trying is just going to wear you out, so don’t bother. I am not going to make her go, you’re not going to make her stay. If she wants to go, she’ll go. If she wants to stay, she’ll stay. She may, possibly, even possibly, not want to, but has decided to go anyway, and if that’s the case, she will go. She may want to go but decided that she shouldn't, and she won’t. But it doesn’t matter what I say. That’s her decision.”

“No, you’re just going to poison her decisions until she thinks your way is the best way.”

“I do fire, not poison, Ms. Inkwell,” Spike said. “I’m not a dragon of subtlety. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that dragons don’t do subtle. It’s no surprise that you’re giving me more credit than I deserve, but let’s be fair here. If you want a pony that can worm her way into the Princess’ good graces without showing her hoof. I’d look for a politician. Maybe one that has been working to help run the country for years.”

Both of the advisors glared at each other for a long second.

“But what do I know?” Spike said. “I’m just a dragon.”

Raven turned away from him and choosing to not even dignify the accusation with a response.

Spike watched her go before taking another bite into his sandwich and deciding that his appetite was ruined. He sighed before walked back to the kitchens to let someone know to keep the leftovers ready for him before he decided that he needed to speak with somepony that he was sure wasn’t out to hurt his friend with incompetence.

He knocked softly on Captain Azure’s door, and the Captain called him in.

“Master Spike,” Azure greeted. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need to vent, and you’re the only pony out of the three of us that I can trust to be reasonable.”

Azure sighed. “Master Spike, I am not the royal therapist.”

“No, for some reason, that’s still Celestia, which is weird on a whole other level.”

Azure slowly nodded at that. “I suppose it is, considering that she has retired. However, my job is not to listen to your complaints about a coworker. That would be Pony Resources.”

“Which for some reason is Luna,” Spike said. “Which is double weird because I can’t imagine her fixing any kind of interpersonal problem. Why were the Princesses acting like therapists?”

“I’m not sure,” Azure replied. “Still, I also do not have the time to listen to your complaints, however valid they may be. I have work I need to do.”

“I just hate that she assumes that I want to take advantage of my friend,” Spike said. “As though I hadn’t spent nearly my entire life with her.”

“Master Spike,” Azure said.

“If I wanted anything from her, I could have pushed her around since she was Celestia’s student. Twilight could have probably gotten me whatever I wanted just by asking Celestia then. But no, now she has to worry about what I can do.”

“Master Spike,” Azure repeated.

“Then she has the audacity of acting as though I wasn’t Twilight’s oldest friend, and possibly of her most trusted confidants. She literally cannot hold a candle to the relationship I have with her, and then acts like she’s the big mare on campus.”

“Master Spike,” Azure said, this time more firmly, getting the small dragon’s attention.

“What?” Spike asked.

“I need to do my work. I’m sure that you have the Princess’s full confidence. I’m sure that Miss Inkwell has her ear as well, however, and the sooner you accept this, the sooner I think you’re going to be able to sleep more soundly. I appreciate that you do not see eye-to-eye, and I appreciate that you do not enjoy Miss Inkwell’s company any more than you appreciate Dragonsneeze blooms, but I do not have the time to mediate between you. I have to deal with these crime reports, and I am missing vital information that the Princess has not deemed fit to share with me.”

Spike blinked. “Sorry, Azure.”

Azure nodded. “Apology accepted. Now, I must return—”

“What are you working on?” Spike asked. “I might be able to bring Twilight’s attention to it and get you what you need?”

Azure shook his head. “I appreciate it, but if the Princess has deemed it not worthy of being shared, then I must do without.”

Spike blinked. “You know she probably just forgot, right? She forgets a lot of things.”

Azure shrugged. “It is not my duty to question my Princess.”

“Sure, but you’ve got to ask some questions, man. If you are missing something, you can let her know. How else are you going to know that she actually wants you to not know something?”

“She would tell me,” Azure said.

Spike pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sure. I’ll just send her a reminder, just to be sure. Since I’m here, and Raven’s made it very clear where she stands, but I might as well know where you stand with Twilight going out with Night.”

Azure raised an eyebrow. “My opinions on the Princess are my own,” he said.

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes. “As a friend, Azure! As a friend! What do you think of this as a friend?”

The Captain was silent for a second. “I am...torn on the matter. On the one hoof, she can see and verify that Night is a valuable asset that I think we would do poorly without. Night proves to be incredibly useful, and if the Princess decided to be rid of him in his full authority, the guard and our efforts would suffer. However, because she’s doing this, it also makes it incredibly difficult for me.”

“Why?” Spike asked.

Azure stared Spike in the eye and said in the firmest voice he could manage, “Because I can’t protect her when she’s doing this.”

Spike blinked. “I...no offense, but I don’t think that Twilight needs your protection. I mean, she’s a really powerful mage and—”

“I do not necessarily mean physically,” Azure said. “While that is a concern, and her absence makes this difficult, my main priority is the defense of her image and reputation.”

Spike blinked.

“My job is damage control, and if the Princess is found out there, aiding a thief, or worse, catching her stealing something herself means that I will be unable to use the tools I have to protect the Princess’ reputation.”

Spike blinked again. “I see.”

Azure nodded. “I am torn, as I said.”

“I...uh...honestly wasn’t expecting that kind of an answer, and it’s kind of taken the wind out of my sails. So I guess I’ll leave you to it.”

Azure nodded. “Thank you, Master Spike. I appreciate the talk. I hope I have some time in the future to give you the proper attention you deserve.”

Spike nodded. “Uh, sure, thanks. I appreciate it, Azure.”

Azure returned to his work, and Spike left, wondering if maybe abandoning his sandwich was the best idea after all.

Chapter 25

Twilight glanced at the ponies gathered at her table.

Raven, Spike, and Captain Azure were sitting around the table with her, waiting for instruction. Each one of them was on their best behavior. Every one of them waited on her to tell them what to do and where to go. They didn’t even bicker between each other, focusing more on the task at hand than their quarrels.

“We have new information,” Twilight began. “While working with Night, we found that three, large, organized crime groups have merged together to steal, counterfeit, and then sell magical artifacts and their fakes.”

Azure immediately opened a notebook and began to write the information. Raven and Spike watched her.

“From what we know,” Twilight said, “the three gangs used to belong to Blackjack, leader of the largest gang in Equestria; Boot Legger, a smuggler who has had a history with slavery and drug running; and Moon Light, a young noble that has been funding a breaking-and-entering ring for a few years now. They have come together into a Triad under a mare by the name of Gleaming Coin, a pegasus who has, until recently been an unknown factor.”

“Do we have any locations for where they may be hiding?” Azure asked.

“Night and I uncovered a warehouse where they were making fakes two days ago in Baltimare,” Twilight said. “They’ve probably moved on by now, but the chances that they left something behind in the explosion is not something we can ignore.”

Azure nodded. “I will mobilize a squad in the area to begin combing for any information we can find.”

Twilight nodded. “Night is likewise keeping his ears open for any sign that they’ve found another item to steal and replicate. Once he gives us a direction, I plan to strike.”

Raven frowned.

“So, what are we officially charging them with?” Spike asked. “The counterfeiting of magical artifacts is a serious crime, but we’ll still need something that we can pin the leaders with, and something for probable cause to get in.”

Azure shook his head without even looking up from his notes. “An anonymous tip of the counterfeiting of artifacts would be enough probable cause.”

“Besides,” Twilight said, “This is worse than just counterfeiting. From what Night proposed, they might be trying to sell fakes with some power to other criminal underworld elements. There’s a good chance that they’d cause a lot more damage than just a counterfeiting ring, not to mention the chances of them exploding with those enchanting crystals.”

Raven suddenly smiled, as though she just finally figured out the answer to a riddle.

“Still, we need what we’re pinning the leaders with,” Spike said, “especially if we need to track them down from wherever we find the counterfeiting.”

“We can probably pull them in as suspects until we find something,” Raven said. “As long as we have some evidence of contact between them and the ponies we’re arresting.”

Azure nodded and scribbled something down.

“Assuming that they’re doing this in another warehouse,” Spike said, “which I doubt unless these guys are denser than diamonds, there has to be a limited number of places they could be, to begin with, right? And if they have moved out of warehouses, then we might have the advantage when we storm the place, won’t we?”

“Possibly. I’d prefer the warehouse, to be honest,” Azure said. “Multiple entrances and open space would make it easier for the guard to get in and secure everything. Talking about that is still premature, though. The best thing to do is focus on the legal repercussions we can bring to the leaders.”

Twilight watched as the three immediately began to got to work, breaking down what they needed. Raven spoke of preparing warrants and working with local guard units to try to pre-emptively determine where they might be gathering and what buildings they might be working out of.

Twilight watched them all and nodded. This, this right here, is why she hired them all in the first place. “It sounds like you’ve all gotten a handle on this. I’ll leave you to it,” she said, before turning to her office. “Besides, I’ve got...paperwork...to...do…” she said with a sigh before she slowly walked away.

---$---

Night sat at a cafe table in Manehatten, staring at Newsie as she sat across from him, two small cups of coffee sitting on the table between them. “Is this everything, Newsie?” Night asked. “I can’t stress this enough, this is the big one. Like, forget the bet I have with the Princess, if this plan falls through, then my job, and your payments, fall through.”

“That much is riding on this?” Newsie asked.

“Well, sort of,” Night admitted. “I’m sure the Princess wouldn’t actually cut me loose if we fail this, but she won’t be happy, and neither will I.”

Newsie nodded. “Okay, okay, I get it,” she said before pulling out some polaroids. The pictures depicted a large warehouse, where a few others showed close-ups of ponies that both of them could recognize as belonging to the newly-formed Triad. “This is a warehouse in Vanhoover, I heard that things were getting a little loud over there, so I managed to switch with one of my coworkers to deliver some papers there.”

Night nodded as he glanced at the pictures. “That seems odd,” he said.

“What does?” Newsie asked.

“If I were them, and I was trying to run my business, I would make sure that crime stayed low while I was working.”

Newsie shrugged. “Maybe her ponies can’t control themselves?”

Night shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know. Blackjack’s ponies have enough discipline to know when to be thugs and when to wait.”

Newsie didn’t have anything to offer.

Night shook his head. “Oh well, I’m going in with the Princess, and unless they have the entire building covered in Thronestone, we should be fine. Not to mention whatever other ponies she’s going to pull in with her.”

Newsie smirked. “You’re really pulling out the big guns, huh?” she asked. “I haven’t seen you mobilize with the guard since the last time you broke up a slavery ring.”

Night nodded. “Yeah, Princess Twilight can recognize a threat when she sees it. I will give her that.”

The younger mare smiled. “Well, it sounds like somepony’s taking a shining to her.”

Night glanced up at her. “What do you mean?”

“You never talked about Celestia that way,” she said.

“What? Sure I did.”

Newsie shook her head. “You definitely didn’t.”

Night sighed. “Look, this isn’t an important conversation to have right now.”

“And now I know you definitely have a crush,” she said. “Deflecting is exactly the kind of thing you’d do.”

Night rolled his eyes. “It’s not a crush,” he said. “I’m not some teenager.”

“Crushes don’t have an age limit,” Newsie said with a smirk.

“Look,” he said. “I don’t have a crush on her, and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. There’s no way she’d look at me like that.”

“What?” Newsie asked. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not a normal pony,” Night said. “That alone puts me below so many other ponies’ leagues, it’s not even funny. Much less the Princess’s dating pool. I mean, sure, she’s nice, she’s willing to help, but I’m not worth her time. I’d need a pedigree or something for that.”

“Night!” Newsies admonished. “Don’t talk like that. You’re a great guy!”

“Not normal, though,” Night said. “But we’re done talking about this anyway. The important thing is the warehouse.”

Newsie took a turn to roll her eyes before she focused on the work. “It’s your standard affair. Another one of Legger’s warehouses by the docks. This one’s on the outskirts of town though, next to a private railway that runs to Canterlot.”

Night nodded with a smile. “Now that makes sense,” he said. “They could take the merchandise upriver from the bay to Canterlot before running it to Vanhoover, selling it to everything along the way, while also opening up the jungle as a way of moving stuff without being caught.”

“You’d think they try to go through the jungle?” Newsie asked. “That seems dangerous.”

“All the more reason to head that way,” Night said. “If it’s dangerous enough for them, the guard certainly doesn’t want to get involved unless they have to. Most of them would probably think the smugglers wouldn’t make it anyway. Then, once they get through it, they have an entire coastline to begin moving the merchandise around. They could take it all the way to Abyssinia if they wanted to.”

Newsie blinked. “Wow...that’s... that’s super dangerous, though? Are you sure?”

“That’s the best way for them to move,” Night responded. “I’d bet on it. It gets them all of the points they need to distribute across the country and into Abyssinia’s markets, too. Boot Legger would have killed for a pipeline like that.”

Newsie nodded. “This really is the big one, then, huh?”

“Well, I only said as much,” Night replied.

Newsie glared at him.

Night chuckled a bit before he sighed with a smile on his face. “Newsie, Newsie I’m going to level with you here,” he said, his voice becoming grave and somber. “If information is solid enough to get all of them in jail, then by all accounts, you and I would be even.”

Newsie blinked at him. “Wh-what do you mean?”

Night shook his head. “You know what I mean, Newsie. You started with the whole informant thing to pay me back. I know that. You know that. If this goes through, then we’re even. You don’t need to keep doing this for me.”

Newsie stared at him. “No,” she said. “I owe you a lot more than that, and I—”

“Newsie, it’s okay. You don’t need to keep yourself tied down to me because I helped you out.”

Newsie sighed. “There you go again!” she said. “You’re always doing this! Acting like nopony actually likes you!”

“Newsie—” Night began, only to be quickly cut off.

“No! You didn’t just ‘help me out,’ Night, you saved my life, and I’m not going to let you worm out of it! I’m sticking with you, Night! That’s final!”

Night stared up at her and shook his head. “Fine. Fine. I’m sure you’ll move on eventually, though.”

Newsie shook her head. “Shut up, Night,” she growled.

Night sighed and took a sip of his coffee. At the very least, she knew she could go, and that was more important than winning a fight right now. Besides, he shouldn’t dwell on it with such a critical job on the horizon. He needed to have his mind clear for the job without even mentioning how much riding on it. He couldn’t afford to get distracted.

“Well, thank you, Newsie. It means a lot that you got all this for me,” he said.

“And don’t you forget it!” she replied, a smile playing on her lips.

Night stood. “I’ll see you around, Newsie. Stay safe.”

---$---

Azure nodded as he went over the plan one last time. Raven would handle the legal side of things. Her legal expertise would allow her to come up with the most compelling charges against the leaders of the Triad. Meanwhile, Spike would begin processing the warrants and communications to the various other ponies in the private sector that they could rely on. His dedication to filling paperwork and his ability to speak with the Princess’ authority would make the rest of the process go smoothly.

Finally, he would begin to mobilize the guard across the country, waiting for the moment that Night reported the location to them.

“Great!” Spike said. “I’ll go ahead and begin to get some missives out to a security company in Fillydelphia. With their scrying mages, we might be able to track movements before they’ve even gotten moving.”

Azure nodded. “Wonderful.”

As Spike left, Raven turned to Azure. “Captain do you have a moment?”

He thought about his workload for a moment. “I suppose.”

“I think it’s obvious that the Princess is only continuing this charade with Night because of the incredible danger that these thieves present.”

Azure didn’t think so, but he was not hired for his opinions on the Princess’s personal life. “Perhaps,” he replied.

“I would wager quite a lot on it, actually,” Raven said before she pulled a scroll from her stack of papers. “Just read this. I think it states the Princess’s feelings quite nicely.”

Azure glanced at the scroll and noted the broken, royal wax seal that once held it. “Were you going through the Princess’s decrees?”

Raven sighed. “She left it on her desk and was very obviously writing a new draft. That doesn’t matter, though, because what really matters is what she wrote on it. Just look!” She placed the letter on the table, face up where Azure could read it.

Azure glanced at her, disapproval in his eyes. This was a blatant breach of protocol and should not stand. The Princess’s personal correspondence was not his business, much less Raven’s, and she should know better at that.

But the Princess’s Will was Law. If that parchment has the Princess’s will written on it, then he had a duty to make it manifest.

No.

He could not. It was not his place.

“Mr. Night Silk,

“After much deliberation, We have decided that the efforts you deploy to deal with the criminal element of this country to be inefficient, though well-meaning. Your actions do not solve long-term issues but instead solve short-term problems at the cost of long-term solutions.”

Azure cursed himself for reading it. It wasn’t his place to do that.

“She very obviously doesn’t want him around. I think the only reason she’s staying with him this long is because of the damage that these thieves can cause. That seems right, doesn’t it?”

Azure said nothing and simply stared at the wall opposite the letter. He didn’t say anything, did not betray a thought.

Or tried not to.

“She obviously doesn’t want to join him on these escapades, and she obviously doesn’t believe in his methods.”

“But his methods work,” Azure thought. “That’s what makes them so useful. He can go where I cannot. he can secure what I cannot. The Princess surely knows this?”

He would not speak for the Princess. That was not his place.

“We both know that putting her out there, working with him, is dangerous anyway, right?” Raven said. “Her own friends pointed it out, and we both know she’d listen to them before us.”

His duty was to protect the Princess, her image, and make her will manifest.

“As the runt has pointed out,” Raven said, “the Princess agreed to three months, so she’ll give him the full three months, but she’s just wasting time and risking her life and reputation to do so. We both know what the right thing to do here, don’t you?”

Right or wrong doesn’t matter, only the Princess’s will.

...and...and if she wanted to get rid of an incredibly useful asset, then so be it.

“The Princess wants to give him three months,” he said, the closest thing he had to a protest.

“And she’ll waste time doing so,” Raven said. “She very obviously doesn’t want to work with Night. The only problem is that he keeps showing up.”

Azure glared up at her.

“If Night doesn’t show up again, then the Princess won’t break her promise and keeps her honor intact.”

“I…” Azure began, reading over the letter once more.

He had a duty to make the Princess’s will manifest, and it was not his duty to question her.

If this was what she wanted…

“He still has the information we need,” Azure said.

“Don’t worry about that,” she said with a smile of self-satisfaction. “We’ll get what the Princess needs.”

Azure nodded.

He didn’t like this. This was a terrible idea. Regardless of personal feelings, the Princess should not sacrifice such an asset.

But he had a duty to make what she wanted not only possible but to make it reality, regardless of his own personal feelings.

So he would. Night’s unofficial contract would be terminated. If any of the guards found him guilty of theft, he would be arrested and persecuted. This is what the Princess wanted, and so Azure would move mountains to make it a reality.

He hoped the Princess would change her mind.

---$---

Boot Legger frowned.

This little mare appeared to be perhaps too competent.

Gleaming had managed to get a hold of an incredibly profitable trade route, and, while she was keeping her end of the bargain, Boot still couldn’t help but feel cheated.

If she could risk this much open travel on a rail like this, it either spoke of incredible confidence or incredible stupidity with this much money riding on it.

What’s worse, Boot wasn’t sure which Gleaming had.

He stood in the Vanhoover warehouse, which was supposed to become the Triad’s new base of operations, supposedly, with a new artifact sitting at its center. The Radiant Shield of Razdon recently donated to a museum by an anonymous benefactor, sat in the middle of the warehouse.

Ponies everywhere would want a shield that can provide protection from all mortal harm, and Gleaming already had ponies working around the clock to imitate it.

The problem that Boot saw was that if ponies noticed that something was here, then this was a route that they could very quickly lose.

“Are you sure this will work out?” He asked, glancing at Gleaming, who watched over the whole warehouse like a proud mother. “Is this an acceptable risk?”

“Oh, yes,” she replied, staring down at the ponies who milled about on the warehouse floor. “Yes, everything’s going exactly as I’ve planned.”

“And what is that plan?” Boot asked. “And is your plan sure that this is a risk we can afford to take?”

Gleaming smiled at him. “Oh, yes. By the end of this, we’ll have enough money to buy a whole new railway if we need it. And if not, then we’ll have all the tools we’ll need to steal it ourselves.”

Boot frowned but said nothing.

Chapter 26

Night moved through the streets of Canterlot as quickly as he could. He already decided on the way here that there wouldn’t be any jokes, jabs, or messing around with this one. He was not going to sneak into the castle, he wasn’t going to lead the guards around on a chase. This was big enough and important enough that he felt the need to treat it with a gravitas that Night felt Twilight would appreciate.

The castle loomed above him as he approached, and sure enough, he found himself at the castle gate.

“Sir, visiting hours are over,” the guard standing watch over the gate reported.

“I have urgent news for the Princess,” Night said, in a voice slightly above a whisper. “She’s expecting me.”

The guard glanced at him for a second before checking a sign on the post out of his sight. “So she is,” the guard said before he reached for a speaking tube. “One moment, we’ll get you an escort.”

Night sighed but nodded. Having to wait wasn’t really something he wanted to put up with, but he figured there had to be a trade-off somewhere.

A few minutes later, another guard appeared.

“He’s expected,” the gateman explained and pointed at the hidden posting.

The escort nodded. “Understood. Follow me, sir.”

Night fell in step behind, and the two made their way into the keep.

They moved quickly and quietly on the way through the hallways, and for some reason, Night felt put off by the silence. “You know, I...uh...I think this is the first time I’ve gone through the front door.”

The guard looked over at him.

“It-it’s uh...kinda nice not having to wear yourself out trying to get inside. I can see why normal ponies do it all the time.”

The guard smirked. “I do hear it’s easier to get around, yes.”

Night smiled as he received some verbal response before noticing that they passed the stairs to Twilight’s office. “Um, isn’t the Princess’s office that way?” he asked.

“I was told to present you to Miss Raven’s office, so she could begin to mobilize all of the legal work.”

“Okay…” Night said, glancing back at the stairs that would lead up to the Princess’s office.

They took another few turns into the keep before Night found himself in front of lady Raven’s door. The guard knocked, and a voice called. “Come in.”

The guard pointed Night inside.

Night nodded before he stepped into the office.

Raven’s office felt nearly claustrophobic for some reason, but under normal circumstances would have probably been cozy and welcoming. A desk, surrounded by low bookshelves, filled with law textbooks and other knick-knacks.

The cream-colored unicorn looked up. “Ah, Mister Night, I’m glad you got here.”

Night nodded. “Uh...Good to meet you,” he said. “I...uh...found the warehouse where the Triad’s been hiding.”

Raven nodded. “Good!” she said. “Where are they?”

“They’re up in Vanhoover,” Night said. “They’re in a warehouse on the docks, connected to a private railroad that leads all the way here. You can move a lot of soldiers there by rail and cut off their escape in that direction in one move.”

Raven nodded. “Good to hear. You may go.”

Night blinked. “Go?” he asked.

Raven smiled. “Oh, don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming?”

Night felt something drop into his stomach. “See...what?”

“You’re being let go, Night,” Raven said.

“What?”

“The Princess is too honorable to let you know without giving you the full three months, but she’s already come to a decision. You still get to help Azure keep the castle up to date, but you’re not going to be receiving funding for anything else.”

Night blinked.

For a second, a part of him denied that this could be true. There was no way she could have lied to him like that. He couldn’t believe that the same Princess that held him for the entire night when he told her about how he failed Gleaming couldn’t just turn him down so quickly. She wouldn’t turn on a friend like that and—

“You’re not her friend, Night. Why would a princess be friends with a pony like you?”

The thought hit him like a train.

“You’re not worth it, you know that.”

“I…” Night began.

He could see her, staring up at him as they lay together in a bed the morning after his confession. The smile she wore as he listened to the story of how she moved to Ponyville and the friends she made. The look she had in her eyes as they talked that morning shone with such kindness and joy that Night wasn’t sure he’d ever forget that look.

She…

“She’s not your friend. She’s the Princess.”

But...she wouldn’t lie like that.

He might not know her so well to be her friend, but she still wouldn’t lie to his face like that. He knew that much about her. This...something was not right here.

“That can’t be right,” Night said.

“Read it yourself,” Raven said, as she rolled out a scroll.

“Mr. Night Silk,” the letter read.

“That is not to say that what you do is without merit.

“Your motives are obviously built on a need for justice. However, in your need to enact justice, you’re ignoring the more significant problem at hand. These solutions you offer are short-sighted and fail to attack the source of the problem. Thus with Our most generous sympathies, We decree that you cannot continue in this way.

“Your salary from the Royal treasury is to be reduced to one-tenth of its current amount. You shall continue to act in your advisory role in castle security, as your talent in this area is undeniable. However, any further criminal activity will not be tolerated and shall be prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law.

“Thus do We decree,

“High Princess Twilight Sparkle, Keeper of the Skies, The Archmage Ruler, Protector of the Tribes, Lady of Friendship.”

Night read every word before re-reading the letter again.

This wasn’t right. There was something wrong here. There had to something wrong with the letter, or, at least…

He glanced up pony behind the desk.

She smiled at him.

And Night ran.

“Hey!” a voice called behind him as he rushed back into the keep for the door.

“Stop him!” a voice called, but Night kept running through the castle. He dove down the alcoves and hallways that he knew almost like the back of his hoof before ducking away into a hidden passageway.

As soon as he was sure that he was hidden, Night began to think about his options. If one of the Princess’s advisors were after him, then he couldn't trust the guard anymore. He could go directly to Twilight, but the chances that the advisors were already moving up to stop any communication between them was something that Night couldn’t ignore.

He frowned. He didn’t get his bottled dragon fire restocked, so he didn’t have a way to communicate with the Princess without possibly being intercepted. He’d have to find a different way to let her know what was happening. Were they connected to Gleaming somehow? Had she infiltrated the Princess’s advisors somehow? Was there going to be an assassination attempt of some kind?

He forced himself to breathe and focused on what he knew. Someone had planted evidence that Twilight wanted to end the deal, somehow. Seemingly, the advisor believed the evidence. This had two possibilities: the first that the advisor had planted the evidence herself, or she believed it whole-heartedly for another reason.

He had evidence for neither, so he couldn’t rely on either one.

If the advisors couldn’t be relied on, then Night couldn’t count on getting to the Princess’s chambers unscathed. What’s worse, if the advisors were in on it, then the possibility of an assassination attempt wasn’t something that could be ignored.

Still, she was a powerful mage. She might be able to defend herself if she could see it coming but—

Someone was coming. Night held his breath, staying as quiet as possible as footsteps sounded, approaching him.

A purple dragon passed him by.

Night grabbed him and pulled Spike in, covering his mouth. “Spike, I think Twilight could be in danger,” he whispered.

Spike stared back at him, with his massive green eyes, confused at suddenly being pulled into the darkness, but listening.

“Something’s wrong,” Night said. “I think someone might be working for Gleaming, and I think someone might be coming after her.”

Spike’s eyes darted in front of him as though processing the information.

“I can’t stay. The guards are trying to kick me out for some reason. Make sure Twilight’s safe.”

The dragon blinked and then nodded. Just as he pulled away, Night turned and ran, rushing for the castle door.

Spike didn’t wait for another second and ran for the steps, all the way to Twilight’s office.

---$---

Raven shook her head. That Night pony was obviously up to something if he thought running was the best way to get out of being escorted off the premises. What’s worse, she now had to have Azure organize a castle-wide search to find him.

Of course, all that had to wait. She’d been called by the Princess, and what she wanted had to come first.

She entered the Princess’s office and froze under her glare. “What did you do?” the alicorn demanded.

Raven blinked before she saw Azure standing to the side, head bowed, and his eyes closed. Spike wasn’t looking at her but simply stared out the office’s window.

“I...uh...I don’t understand—”

“What did you do, Raven?” Twilight demanded again.

Raven blinked and glanced around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. “I... I’m not sure—”

“What did you do?”

“I don’t—”

“Your Highness,” Azure said suddenly. “I must once again apologize, I moved against your will upon seeing the letter, and I had—”

“You’ve already made your part in this debacle perfectly clear, Azure,” Twilight said. “I am talking to Raven.”

The letter? Which letter? What could—Oh. Oh… “Oh, no,” she muttered under her breath.

“Oh, no?” Twilight asked. “That’s what you have to say?”

“I...I saw the letter on your desk. I thought that you had written it, and I was trying to be proactive—”

“And you didn’t run that idea past anyone else?” Twilight asked. “You didn’t ask Spike, who has been working closely with me on this particular case for the past month?”

Spike didn’t look at her, and Raven was thankful for that much at least. “It was your letter,” Raven began weakly.

“I wrote it nearly a month ago!” Twilight said. “And if you asked Spike, you would have known that. Instead, you told Night, who has proven himself to be incredibly competent and trustworthy, that I was firing him. What’s worse is that he thinks now that one of you is a plant by Gleaming Coin, and one of you is trying to kill me!”

Raven blinked and hung her head.

“Of course, if Spike had anything other than sarcasm to say to you, he might have been able to stop this himself. After all, I told him that there was a note missing. He knew. He just sat on his butt and didn’t say anything to anyone about it, even though he knows he gets information that you two don’t. Instead, he seemed happy to let you blunder into this, without mentioning that ‘hey, have you seen this letter the Princess has wanted to throw away?”

Spike continued to stare out the window.

“Now, I can’t reach him because he’s hiding from you because he thinks that you’re a part of a coup!”

Twilight turned and sighed. “I suppose I should have thrown it away,” she said. “But somehow, I felt safe leaving my documents out in the open. I guess I should have known better.”

All three advisors winced.

“He was supposed to report back to me, you know, with the info for where Gleaming’s Triad was hiding, but now I don’t even know where that is,” she muttered angrily.

“He...Mr. Night Silk reported on its location, actually,” Raven said.

Twilight turned to her. “Well?”

“He said he found a warehouse in Vanhoover, connected to a private rail to Canterlot. He’s positive they’re there.”

“Glad to know,” Twilight said. “I’m going to take the prepared taskforce and deal with it myself because I obviously can’t trust any of you.”

No one said a thing as she stepped out of her office and left them alone.

A few minutes of silence passed by, no one willing to say a word as they waited.

Finally, Spike spoke up. “I think we messed this one up, guys.”

Raven nodded. “Yeah, I think so too.”

---$---

Twilight gathered the task force and stood at the rail station in Canterlot. They worked quickly and carefully to ensure that there wasn’t anything on the line that would see them approach.

It took them several hours to secure the Canterlot station, but finally, they had it to the point where it would hold anything that came their way. The larger problem was they needed to be sure that no one could stop them midway, with cargo coming the opposite way.

By the time they cleared the rail, it was already sunset, and Twilight and her taskforce wouldn’t arrive in Vanhoover until the next morning. The delay wore on Twilight’s nerves more than her advisors had earlier in the day, but she didn’t have much choice. She only hoped that Night would be able to find them when they moved in on the warehouse.

Twilight woke up in the VIP car of the guard’s operation train to the sound of her alarm and shook her head as she stood up. The rattle of the train kept her up for a few hours after she laid down, but she still managed to get some sleep.

She pulled out her amulet and used her magic to raise the sun before she turned to face the room. The royal compartment was sparsely decorated, though it did have three features of note. The first was the bed, which was comfortable despite the noise that Twilight felt grinding on her nerves. The second piece of furniture was the writing desk, though Twilight wasn’t sure why she would need one for an operation like this. Still, it was there.

The last piece was a coronation gift from Luna. A set of armor explicitly built for her. Celestia told her that it was merely ceremonial but sturdy enough to withstand a spear or crossbow bolt if she needed it to, but Twilight felt this was probably the best time to wear it.

She sighed. “Please be there, Night,”Twilight silently hoped, before she began to don the gilded, enchanted steel.

“Your Highness,” a voice over the PA said. “We’re approaching the warehouse. We’ll arrive in ten minutes.”

Twilight nodded before remembering that nopony could see her. Sighing, she finished donning her armor before leaving the VIP car to pass through the barracks car to the command car.

A handful of guards waited for her and saluted as she passed them by. “What’s the situation?” she asked in her best commanding voice.

“Your Highness,” the Lieutenant replied, saluting before approaching the table with the map of the warehouse placed on it. “Our approach from the rail gives us access to the main doors of the warehouse. This is where we will be entering from, while the local forces will surround the building and keep the garrisoned criminals from leaving the area before entering with us.”

Twilight nodded. “They’re already in position?” she asked.

“Of course, Your Highness.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

The pony nodded. “As you will, Princess.”

She nodded and prepared for the mission at hand.

The train approached quickly, and before she knew it, they were there.

The taskforce moved ahead of her, pouring out of the train on either side as they rushed the warehouse. Guards in gilded armor rushed the building from every side.

Nothing responded.

The guards didn’t hesitate. They continued the charge all the way to the building, securing every entrance as they went.

Twilight strode down from the train and approached the warehouse, surrounded by a small contingent of guards, armed with spears and crossbows.

The warehouse remained silent.

“Breach!” one of the guards cried, and they slammed the doors open, revealing the warehouse inside.

It was empty.

The guards rushed in, checking every single nook and cranny for any signs of life.

Twilight glanced around, confusion growing on her face. Was Night’s info wrong? Did they see the train coming somehow through the night? Was Raven feeding her incorrect information like Night thought? “Search everywhere!” she ordered. “We can’t let anything escape us.”

Ponies started pouring into the warehouse from every direction.

Was there something she was missing? A secret tunnel that they missed? Were they working from a basement they didn’t know about? Was there a mole that warned Gleaming they were coming?

“Princess!” the Lieutenant reported, approaching her with a salute. “Your Highness, we’ve found evidence that the warehouse was used recently, but we haven’t seen any ponies yet.”

“Keep looking,” Twilight said, “but start collecting any evidence we can. If they’ve left something behind, we need to find some way of using it against them.”

“Yes, Your Highness!” he replied before he rushed back into the warehouse proper.

Twilight glanced around and could see the tracks in the dust that marked where tables once sat, and a singular pedestal still sat in the middle of the warehouse. These seemed like things that Gleaming might have set up, but she wasn’t sure.

Twilight began to gather up her magic to cast a Perceive spell to let her see if ponies came through here when the Lieutenant approached. “Your Highness! We’ve found something.”

“What?” Twilight asked before she saw the small letter that the Lieutenant was handing her.

She took it and read the first line.

“Dear Princess Twilight…”

Chapter 27

Night slipped up next to the warehouse, where Gleaming’s Triad was hard at work. Unfortunately, Twilight wouldn’t be able to back him up on this one, but he couldn’t let Gleaming get away with having such a far-reaching smuggling route.

His options were limited. He couldn’t rush in for arrests, and without Twilight’s magical reserves and skills to back him up, he didn’t have much he could do beyond setting fire to the building.

He catapulted himself up onto the roof and moved across a concrete building, using his transposing spell to keep his Image out of sight as he approached the skylight.

He could steal the artifact, and while that would cripple the entire sting operation that Night had lined up with the Princess, he wasn’t sure the sting was happening at all by this point.

He glanced down through the frosted glass and could still see the nearly-glowing form of a golden and purple shield despite the fogged pane. Whatever that was, it had to be the artifact that Gleaming was counterfeiting. It was his target.

He mentally bemoaned that all the work Newsie did would go to waste before he checked the time. The sun was going to set any minute now, and the work in the warehouse would begin in earnest very shortly. He had until then before it would be nearly impossible for him to get the shield.

Night took a deep breath before he reached out with his magic, searching for some kind of latch or lever to begin opening the skylight. His search came up empty within a few seconds, though, and Night sighed as he was forced to pull out a glass cutter. He worked as quickly as he dared, using the diamond-tipped circular blade to cut a hole into the skylight.

With a length of tape he kept in his pouch, he pulled the small glass plug away and revealed the shield and the warehouse below him. The shield seemed oddly sharp to his eyes, as far away as he was, and he could see the exquisite detail etched into the gold, steel, and hepatizon.

That had to be the artifact, no question about it.

He glanced around at the warehouse and found that there had been no latch to the skylight, as he thought. The warehouse floor was empty as well, if only for now. He’d have to get down there as fast as he could if he wanted to get the shield before anypony noticed. Of course, he didn’t have a good way of getting in.

He’d have to drop down to the ground and try to enter from the main door.

He shook his head. One wrong move and he’d be caught in the middle of the warehouse with a small army bearing down on him.

Finally, a proper challenge for a Master Thief.

He catapulted himself down to the floor and landed as softly as he could on the stone that reached out from rail to shore. He moved quickly, pressing himself along the wall, and moving as carefully as possible to the nearest side door.

He peeked through the lock first, a large, old lock with large but intricate tumblers. He saw no one on the other side.

He used his magic to prod at the tumblers, feeling their crossed shapes and whorls that only the right key would open. Night pushed carefully with his magic, picking the lock the “hard” way according to Moon Light’s pack, but the door opened quickly, nearly without a sound.

He smirked and checked his surroundings once more before he slipped into a nearby shadow, an open crate filled with shields like the one on the pedestal. Though each of these lacked the incredible, preternatural clarity of the details engraved in them.

The one on the pedestal was definitely the real one, without a doubt.

He glanced back at the dais before he cast the Transposement spell, and he quickly made his way up to the shield, his Image hidden on the roof of the building. He glanced around carefully and saw a guard or two patrolling the warehouse.

He could grab the shield now and risk getting their attention when they noticed, but he might have an alternative here.

He waited for a second, licking his lips as he thought before he felt his magic snap back into his body.

Ponies suddenly appeared from around the warehouse, all armed with crossbows that they leveled at him. He spun, wondering how his Control Image failed him before he heard a voice that he would never be able to forget.

“Well, well, well! It is you!”

Night turned to see a pegasus approaching him, an open chest of lead held in one hoof, revealing the large shard of Thronestone inside.

“I was beginning to wonder if these ponies had any idea of what they were talking about,” the mare said with a vicious smirk.

“Gleaming…” Night said, swallowing. “It’s...it’s been a while.”

“Bygones are bygones, Night!” she said, smiling still as she set the chest with the Thronestone down. “Besides, I can’t stay mad at my Big Brother now, can I?”

Night looked at her. “It’s…” he began, his voice cracking a bit. “It’s great to see you, honestly. I...I thought you were dead for so long.”

“No, not dead,” Gleaming said. “After that pony beat me, he kept me in his basement for a few days.”

The thought hit Night like a punch to the gut. Memories of the nights after, of wondering if he should go back if only to find her body, rushed back to him.

He never returned to that house.

“But bygones are bygones like I said,” Gleaming said. “What I want to know is if what I’ve heard is true. Have you been working for the Princess these days?”

“Not long after I lost you,” Night said.

“Really? So long? The con you’re pulling has to be paying well.” She never moved away from the chest, and her smile, though it grew, was still cold.

“It’s not a con, Gleaming.”

“No? Then I can only assume that you started this because you shouldn’t do anything you do well for free, right?” she asked.

The ponies around them shuffled slightly, their crossbows still leveled.

Night didn’t know what to say. Usually, he might try to talk his way out of this, but he kept looking into Gleaming’s eyes and faltering. Her face was different, he realized, her muzzle just slightly crooked from what he remembered, and small cowlicks in her coat revealed long-healed scars.

“I...I just wanted to do the right thing.”

Gleaming blinked and raised an eyebrow, smirking the entire time. “Really? That’s what you want to go with? Forgive me if I doubt that.” She looked Night up and down. “Well, it looks like the money you’ve been earning has filled you out at least, so I imagine that the pay doesn’t hurt, right?”

Night didn’t respond.

“Truth be told, I probably can’t compete with the Royal budget, but I’m sure you won’t complain with what I have to offer you,” Gleaming said.

“What?” he asked.

“I need a real thief,” she said, glancing across the room as she listed what she had. “Not like Blackjack’s thugs. They work with intimidating ponies into giving them what they want. Boot Legger’s crew are smugglers. They haven’t stolen anything in their lives. The best ones are Moon Light’s pack, but they’ve been going too small for too long. They don’t know how to steal real treasure.”

Gleaming smiled as her eyes refocused on Night. “Not like you. They’re nothing like you. You know exactly how to sneak in and take what you want when you want, and very little can stop you. If they don’t know you’re coming, of course.” She said the last bit with a broad, vicious smirk.

“You want my help?” Night asked.

“Of course,” Gleaming said. “It’ll be just like how it used to be, the pair of us taking everything we want when we want. Of course, this time, we’ll be making millions instead. Can you imagine that? Millions of bits for a job, with ponies finally working for us? We’re going to be the greatest thieves in the world, Night. We’ll rule the real Equestria, not the one the Princess thinks she rules, the real kingdom made of darkness and criminals. We’ll make those who’ve suffered at the hooves of ‘normal’ ponies kings and queens, while the idiots who drink their lives away and beat on those weaker than them will finally have their turn at the bottom.”

Night said nothing.

“We’ll rule together, Night, and nothing will be able to stop us,” she said. “It’s everything we ever wanted.”

“And why do you want me?” Night asked. “I’m skilled, sure but—”

“Because we’re family, Night,” Gleaming said, her voice softening while her smirk remained just as cold. “You were the only real family I had, and family sticks together, right?”

Night took the less-than-subtle stab but remained silent.

“What? You’re not going to say anything? Night, this is what we’ve always wanted, the entire world at our hooves, and nopony to tell us otherwise.”

Night shook his head. “It’s what you wanted, Gleaming. I just wanted to keep you alive.”

“And you did such an excellent job at that, didn’t you?” Gleaming asked.

Night took the accusation but stood his ground.

“Well, are you going to join me or not?” she asked.

More ponies began to file in when she said that. Blackjack, Boot Legger, and Moon Light all came through the doors, followed by thugs, smugglers, and thieves. They stared at him, Blackjack with a thick, deep scowl; Boot Legger with a victorious smirk; and Moon Light, who looked at him with haunted eyes.

“Well?” Gleaming asked again.

Night glanced up at her. “Don’t make me do this,” he whispered.

If she heard him, she didn’t act like it. “What’s your choice, Night? Are you with me or against me?”

Night shook his head. “I can’t join you, Gleaming. I’m not trying to hurt ponies.”

No one spoke for a long second, and Night could hear the groaning sinew of the crossbow strings. Hooves softly clicked against the metal triggers, waiting for the word.

“I see,” Gleaming said, her voice as harsh as winter.

In a swift, singular movement, she spun, grabbed one of the crossbows from a nearby pony, and shot Night in the leg. The caught thief cried as his muscles spasmed around the bolt and tumbled to the ground.

“It doesn’t matter to me either way,” Gleaming growled, still smiling. “It just means I get to repay the beating I owe you.” She turned, leaving the chest open behind her to face the gathered horde of ponies. “Do what you want to him, but keep him alive.”

The thugs laughed and began to pile in, followed by the rougher smugglers as they started their work. Gleaming turned to leave before Boot Legger walked up next to her. “That was your plan? To recruit him? I could have told you that he wasn’t going to take the deal.”

Gleaming shrugged. “I figured that he wouldn’t,” she said. “Still, it would have been nice.”

“It would have been. Instead, now we’ve got the best smuggling route in the city, and everypony’s attention.”

Gleaming shot him a glare.

“Unless I’m missing something,” Boot Legger added.

“We have what we need,” she said. “But we need to pack up and move out. We’ll head through the jungle, as we discussed, and head for the Whitetail hideout.”

“If you say so,” Boot Legger said, before bowing. “I just hope we can recover the Crystal Empire market.”

Gleaming glared at him again, and Boot decided now would be a good time to leave the matter rest for a few minutes. He nodded and began to direct his smugglers to pack everything up to start the move. They wouldn’t have much time now that the Princess might be onto them.

Gleaming, meanwhile, retreated to the office.

She walked up, into the warehouse’s only air-conditioned room, and sat at the large wooden desk. She pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quill and began to write the letter.

If she couldn’t have the tool she needed to steal the world, then she’d get the money she’d need to do it.

“Dear Princess Twilight,

“I understand that you and I have a mutual acquaintance. I’ve reached out to him in the hopes that we can, perhaps, speak plainly. Night Silk has unfortunately suffered an injury, and I have taken it upon myself, as his gracious host, to keep him until he is well enough to leave. Unfortunately, the costs of medical treatments are expensive, and I cannot deal with the whole bill myself. So I ask you, honorable Princess of Friendship, if you’d be so kind as to help me heal our friend’s wounds? A mere three million bits would be enough to get Night back on his hooves and on his way. I’m sure you can cover that.

“Bring them to my contact on the fringes of the Whitetail woods, just on the outskirts of a no-name town called Ponyville. Once my contact has the money, we’ll make sure Night is released in…

“Reasonable condition.

“Yours Sincerely,
Gleaming Coin.”

---$---

Twilight crumpled the letter as she finished reading it before it began to burst into flame, lit by her pure, unfiltered magic as her rage began to build.

This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Night was supposed to come with her, with her guard. They were supposed to take the warehouse together and take Gleaming and her Triad unaware. How did things go so wrong?

The letter was turning to ash in her telekinetic grip, and a low growl was beginning to escape her throat.

“Lieutenant!” she cried, and the pony rushed up beside her in a salute.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Have the guard search everywhere. I want to know where the thieves went before they even knew themselves. Am I understood?”

“As you will, Your Highness,” the Lieutenant said, before he began barking orders at the ponies around him.

“Think you can outplay me, huh?” Twilight muttered. “Well, I bet you haven’t thought of all the magic I can bring to bear.”

She cast her scrying spell, throwing her vision to the far reaches of the earth to find Night. She’d see him now if only to...to…

The spell came up empty.

It didn’t connect, as though there was no target to find.

Twilight blinked, with her now-sightless eyes, before she cast again.

Still, the darkness of nothing.

She cast again. “Come on.”

Again, nothing.

Panic was starting to rise in the back of her mind. Scrying only failed for two reasons, and Twilight was sure that Gleaming couldn’t take Night to another plane of existence. Twilight cast again and still found nothing.

He...he couldn’t be dead. If Gleaming killed them, then she couldn’t get the money back and—

Reasonable condition.

He...he was dead. She killed—

No, no! There had to be another explanation. There had to be…

An idea struck Twilight, and she cast her spell again, changing the target to Night’s hook. She’d seen the old rebar grappling hook before. She could lock onto it quickly enough, then all she had to do was.

It didn’t appear before her.

Relief flooded Twilight’s mind. He wasn’t dead, probably. He might be in a pocket dimension, or hidden by Thronestone or something similar. If Night still had his hook, then it wouldn’t appear either.

Of course, now it meant that Gleaming had outplayed her again. She blocked her spellcraft, somehow, and kept her position hidden. She could not be spied on.

Twilight sighed before she cursed. Things went south far too fast.

Silently, she hoped Night would be alright long enough for her to save him.

---$---

Night groaned before he tried to open his eyes.

A brilliant, thin line of light appeared across his vision, and he tried to open his eyes wider. Then he realized that his eyes were as open as they could be with the growing pain spreading across his entire body.

His entire body felt like it was on fire. His muscles burned and wouldn’t move. His body ached, and his left leg was definitely broken.

“And there he is,” Gleaming’s voice said. “Finally awake. I was almost afraid that you weren’t going to make it.”

Night tried to talk, but he felt his lungs burn and throat ache as soon as he began to speak.

“Not much to say?” Gleaming asked. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of that. We have one healer that will get you back up and running in no time.”

Night’s eyes widened.

Everypony knew what “healing magic” really was. Create Body could knit flesh back together, but Create spells only lasted as long as the mage could keep supplying it with energy. The moment they stopped, the wound would re-open. The only way to make the spell effective was to start with some kind of living matter, like plants or wood, and then transform it into flesh.

In short, both were torture, with only the most powerful of mages, and even then only the ones with access to Transform, able to heal even the most simple of wounds.

Luckily, most of his wounds were bruises, and those could be tended to. At least, he hoped most of his injuries were bruises. If it turned out that he had more broken bones than he thought, then every single one of them would be agony.

Night tried to see Gleaming through his swollen eyes, but only her cruel laughter met his ears. “Oh, don’t you worry, Night,” Gleaming said. “It’ll be nothing like the time you left me. Just think of it as paying you back, with interest.”

Night shook his head and wished he could speak enough to tell her he was sorry.

Chapter 28

Somehow, the three advisors found themselves returning to the Princess’s office. The sun had already risen for the new day, and the three of them simply convened in the Princess’s office, as though they had to return to receive the rest of their scolding.

Raven, especially, felt ashamed of the whole thing. Yes, Azure could have asked the Princess if they were her orders, and yes, Spike could have approached them about the missing letter, but she started this whole mess. She took the message and used it to bully Azure into working for her.

This was her fault.

“I have received a report by the Guard’s wire network,” Azure reported. “The warehouse was abandoned when Princess Twilight found it, along with a ransom letter for Night. The Princess arrived too late.”

Raven shut her eyes and groaned. “I messed up…”

Spike didn’t say anything. He didn’t have much to say.

Azure looked between the both of them. “So then, what is the plan?”

Raven looked at him. “Plan? I don’t know if we should plan anything?”

Azure shook his head. “We failed the Princess. It is our duty to go above and beyond in righting the situation.”

Spike sighed. “Azure, has anyone ever told you you have the strangest sense of duty I’ve ever seen?”

“Several times, yes.”

“Look,” Raven began. “I get that you want to fix this mistake, but we’re...I got you into this mess because I was making assumptions and rushing ahead. How is making another assumption going to get us out of this?”

Azure shook his head. “We won’t act. We’ll prepare,” he said.

“What?” Raven asked, confused.

“To prepare a plan, as opposed to enacting one, is the superior method,” Azure replied. “It is my normal operating procedure. If I hear the Princess express an interest in a specific course of action, I will provide the Princess with a plan that lays out the means. I did so for the training regimen when she expressed a need to work without Night nearly a month ago. I suggest that we only do what we’re supposed to: advise.”

Spike looked up. “Advise her to do what?”

Azure glanced back down at him. “Whatever she would wish,” Azure said, “and honestly, Master Spike, I believe you are the best one to answer that question. You have known the Princess longer than any of us. What would she do?”

Spike blinked before he knew exactly what she would do. “She’s... she’s not going to leave him stranded. She’ll do anything she can to get Night out of there, even if it’s cooperating.”

Azure nodded. “Then we have a rescue to plan.”

“Do we know where the ransom’s supposed to be collected?” Spike asked.

“A place called Whitetail Wood, if my report is correct,” Azure said.

“I know that wood!” Spike said, suddenly. “During the Running of the Leaves in Ponyville, the race typically went through there. I’ve seen it from a hot air balloon so many times now!”

“Then where would be the best place to hide there?” Azure asked.

“Very, very deep into the forest,” Spike said. “The race track’s fairly open, and it gets a few miles away from the town, but that’s all fairly well explored. If they have a hideout there, it needs to be very, very deep into the forest.”

Raven spoke up. “If...if they want to use this theoretical hideout to distribute their counterfeits, then they might be close to the river?” she said uncertainly. “The Canterlot River splits into the Whitetail river at the Saddle Lake locks. They could theoretically ship merchandise upstream to Canterlot, and spread out from there.”

“Then we need to figure out if there is a building built in that vicinity,” Azure said. “If we can find it, then we can mobilize some nearby guards to try and scout out the location.”

“I...I can check that,” Raven said. “I can begin to go through the land and building records to see if we can find anything. Unless thieves are proficient builders, then they’ve probably taken over an abandoned location.”

“That’s a lot to look through,” Spike noted. “Would...would you like some help?”

Raven glanced down at the young dragon before nodding. “I’ll...I would like that, yes.”

Azure nodded. “I shall begin to check my channels and see if there’s any sign of increased criminal activity. If I can narrow your search by location, then we might be able to find them faster.”

The three advisors nodded before they split up, with Raven and Spike heading to the Royal archive. They moved as quickly as decorum would allow, and before long, they pushed through the gated door and used a small, enchanted box set next to the door.

“Building permits and bills of sale for Whitetail woods and surrounding areas,” Raven said, clearly into the small box.

A soft yellow, stand-by glow shimmered around the box, and the pair were forced to wait a moment before Spike spoke up. “Ms. Inkwell…”

Raven glanced at him.

“I’m sorry for everything. I’m not going to get too deep into things, but Twilight and I have had a few long conversations about what I’m good for. This has been one of the few times when I knew that someone would listen to me and take what I had to say seriously no matter what. And...and I just felt like you were trying to replace me.”

Raven blinked before giving him a wry smile. “What a coincidence,” she said. “That’s how I felt about you.”

Spike smiled back before he sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to work on that, won’t we?”

Raven nodded. “And for the record, I’m sorry too, I wasn’t treating you right either.”

The box suddenly flashed green. “Aisles 123-125, Sections A-D,” it said in a tonal yet emotionless voice.

“We’ll pick this up later,” Raven said. “We have a hideout to find.”

Spike nodded, and the pair rushed off to their target.

---$---

Night tried not to scream.

He ground his teeth together as he felt his bone snap back into place. The spell ended, and the bone broke again, the fused bone disappearing and shattering under the weight that the “Healer” placed on his leg.

Night screamed.

“Oh, that didn’t hold?” The pony asked giggling. “What a shame! Guess we’ll have to try again!”

Night breathed heavily through clenched teeth, trying to push his way through the pain. The Green-coated pony dressed in a plague doctor’s mask nearly pranced around the room.

“He probably thinks the mask looks cool,” Night thought bitterly, trying to distract himself. “It makes him look like an idiot.”

“Let’s see, let’s see!”

“Kneecaps,” Gleaming’s voice called from the door, “Take a break. I need to talk with your patient for a minute.”

“A break?” Kneecaps asked, scandalized. “Do you ask an artist to take a break from their passion? Do you ask a doctor in the middle of performing surgery to stop for coffee? Do you ask—”

“Take. A break,” Gleaming growled.

Kneecaps waited a moment before conceding. “I suppose I should take lunch, shouldn’t I?” he asked, before backing away from the pair and slipping out the door to the lead-lined room.

The one-inch thick metal wouldn’t stop a Scrying spell at all, but it would halt magic detection, and likewise, any spells that would let the Princess and her guard take him. That worked fine for Gleaming because she knew that Night didn’t have any spells beyond Control matter that would allow him to escape the enchanted manacles that held him to the bed. Besides, their Healer’s other duty was to sap Night of any energy he had before he could bother casting a spell.

Gleaming stood next to the exhausted and tortured Night and shook her head. “You know, you still have a chance to switch sides. You’re more valuable to me alive than otherwise.”

“Aren’t you holding me for ransom?” Night asked, voice dry and cracking. “If I join you, don’t you lose out on the money?”

Gleaming laughed. “I was going to send a ransom note regardless,” she said. “After all, if I can fleece the Princess out of Three million bits, then why shouldn’t I?”

Night shook his head. “Why are you doing this, Gleaming? Why?”

“Why? Because it’s the only way I can. Nopony else will give me what I want, so I need to take it. Didn’t you learn that when we growing up? Nopony else will take care of us, so we have to.”

Night shook his head. “You don’t need to do this, Gleaming. The Princess will pay us for this, you know that, don’t you? We can use our skills to—”

“The Princess?” Gleaming growled. “The Princess? Where was the Princess when we sat in the basement of Foster Care’s house? Where was the Princess when he beat us when he got drunk, night after night? Where was she when we were forced to steal just to eat?” She became louder with each question, nearly yelling by the end of her rant before her voice almost turned into a whisper “and you turned to her like a dog. You rolled over for her when she did nothing for us.”

“Twilight wasn’t even on the throne, Gleaming,” Night began, “and Celestia—”

“And what about Celestia?” the pegasus demanded. “What about, dear, perfect Celestia? Wasn’t the foster care system, as it stands now, her idea? Isn’t this her fault?”

“She didn’t know—”

“Didn’t know?” She shrieked. “Didn’t know? That makes it worse! This was all her fault, and she didn’t even know it was a problem! Why should I pay homage to a pony who is so clueless as to the nature of her own kingdom? Is this honestly what you’re trying to do? Convince me to join your side, where I would be elevated to the position of the Princess’s own dog? No, not even a dog. You’re more like the Princess’s pet raccoon, sent to steal whatever you want only to turn it over to her. No, Night. They had a chance to rule. I’m done with them.”

Gleaming stared down at Night for a second more before she sighed. “Well, I see trying to talk sense into you is pointless. Enjoy Kneecaps’ break. It’s not going to last long.”

She left, and Night took a moment to breathe, to try and regain his strength. He wouldn’t have much time, but if he could rest enough to cast something, then he might have a chance at getting out of here.

He sighed, his eyes fluttering closed as he fought off sleep before the door creaked open again.

“Hey, hey!” Kneecaps said through an unmistakable grin. “No falling asleep now! We still have a lot of work ahead of us!”

Night sighed before he felt his bone snap back into place, dragging on nerves and pulling on his muscles in unnatural ways.

“No, no!” Kneecaps cried. “This won’t do! It’ll never set properly this way!”

He pulled out the massive lead weight and set it on Night’s leg just above the break. And then he dropped the spell again.

Night tried not to scream.

And he failed.

---$---

Twilight’s vision returned to her. It was nearly two in the afternoon now, and her train was almost ready to pull into the private, guard-owned station. Twilight had been trying again and again to find Night on the trip back, and at last, her scrying spell found him.

He was being tortured, and Twilight wondered if Gleaming was doing that on purpose now, allowing him to be seen by her scrying spell just so that she could rub in Night’s pain. If this was, in fact, a calculated move, Twilight found it disgustingly effective. She couldn’t bear to watch as Night had his bones broken over and over again, but she had to if only to try and find out where he was. The lead-lined room didn’t betray any sign and proved as immune to finding spells as she knew it would be.

Any attempt to find Gleaming after observing her through the latest scry proved useless. She might be hiding her location with more Thronestone, and she very well might be carrying some with her, considering she was a pegasus and didn’t need magic to do what she needed to. No other ponies entered the lead-lined room, other than the “Healer,” who seemed separated from the rest of the compound, and so she couldn’t find anything else from that direction.

She sighed as the train’s steam breaks hissed, and the car came to a stop.

The Lieutenant knocked on the door to the car and waited for the signal to enter.

“Come in,” she said, already tired with only half the day passed.

He did so. “We’ve arrived, Your Highness,” he said with a salute before he stood to the side of the door, waiting for orders.

“Thank you,” she said before turning to him. “You’re dismissed. Take a few days of leave.”

“As you will, Your Highness,” he replied before he bowed and backed out of the room.

Twilight took one more second to breathe, gather her strength, and walked out, still dressed in her armor, which now felt incredibly heavy. The task force had already disembarked and was beginning to spread out across the train station, starting the process of preparing reports and other debriefs while returning non-essential equipment to their proper places.

Twilight passed by all of them and made her way to the palace. The Princess’s Stair, the passage from the lower city to the Castle was quickly being cleared, and the guards worked quickly to make sure her passage wasn’t disturbed. Unfortunately for her, her thoughts, not her path, is what left her shaken.

She saw Night’s latest talk with Gleaming, and she heard what the pair had said to each other. She heard Gleaming’s scathing critiques and made a note to ask Raven if she could write up some proposed changes to the foster care system before she remembered what Raven had done just yesterday. Her frown grew as her thoughts continued along that line of thinking, and she briefly wondered if she should even bother with Raven or fire all three of them.

She sighed, set the thought aside, and returned back to her original worry. Gleaming openly admitted to being willing to fake a kidnapping if she needed to, just to get the ransom. It spoke of a well-made plan, which revealed that Gleaming had quite the aptitude if she wanted to bring it to bear.

Unfortunately, from the conversation Twilight overheard, Gleaming made it very clear that she had no intention of turning over a new leaf.

She shook her head. What was she supposed to do with her? How was she supposed to deal with this ransom situation? How was she supposed to deal with her own advisors, one of whom was basically her little brother?

She looked up and grimaced, realizing that the Princess’s Stair was much shorter than she remembered, and the palace was looming over her before she even knew it.

“Of all the things I would have to deal with during my rule,” Twilight thought to herself, “I never imagined the ransom of a thief in my rule would be one of them. Nor did I think it would be such a central conflict.”

She sighed once more before entering the Castle proper and began to head for the keep and her office. The climb of the donjon stairs felt longer than usual, and a small, quiet part of her mind began to ask her if she was really cut out for ruling a kingdom.

She quashed the thought, remembering the ten years of lessons learned, and forced herself up the stair with redoubled efforts. Doubting if you can rule can prove to be just as devastating as not being able to lead in the hooves of the wrong pony, and Twilight already learned it hadn’t helped her.

Besides, if she—

She opened the door to her office and was met with the sight of her three advisors poring over maps, both civil and tactical.

“Assuming that they built on the river for trade purposes,” Spike said, having not yet looked up to see Twilight enter, “they’d want to stay close. That means we can definitely eliminate these four buildings.”

“Assuming they didn’t,” Azure countered, “then I can order the Wonderbolts fly over to look for any signs of life. If we equip them with life-detecting cameras, they would only need to do a quick fly over for each one.”

“Back to the assumption that they need to use the river, then we only have five options,” Raven said. “Two of them, however, are guard outposts, and considering they’re still being manned, we can rule those out. This leaves three locations, one a private house that was built on the banks of the river nearly a century ago and was abandoned when the owner died with no children.”

“I don’t think it’s likely that the thieves moved there,” Spike said. “While the location is good, there’s not enough cover between the house and the river. Any activity would be easy to spot there, and it’s not a large house, either. At best, the thieves could be using it as a lookout for the rest of their operations.”

“There is the tavern that was built,” Azure said. “Many boat ponies used to frequent there when it was running. It would be easy to begin to use it again under the guise of starting up the business again. What’s more, smugglers would be able to stop by and leave without raising suspicion.”

Spike shook his head. “That cover works, which is why it can’t be that at all. They wouldn’t pass up that opportunity if they had it, but the tavern is still abandoned. It can’t be that one.”

“Which means it has to be the illegal warehouse that the guard found twenty years ago,” Raven said, smiling wide. “Which makes sense. It’s large enough to house a proper compound. It’s close to the river, but not too close that they’d be seen from passing ships.”

Azure nodded. “Then it sounds like we found them.”

“What?” Twilight asked.

All three ponies spun to see her, and Azure saluted immediately. Raven bowed, and Spike smiled.

“Your Highness, Princess Twilight,” Spike said, as he gathered several papers together from the table and placed them into a folder which he presented to the Princess. “In light of our recent failure, we have taken it upon ourselves to offer you a solution to the problem we caused.”

Twilight blinked before she took the folder and began to peruse the contents.

She looked up and glanced between the three advisors. “You know you three just saved your jobs?”

Raven smiled sheepishly. “We hoped we could, Your Highness.”

Chapter 29

Kneecaps was taking a break, and Night had a chance to breathe and rest for the first time in hours. Or was it days? He couldn’t really tell.

He slept for as long as he could, keeping his eyes closed and trying to regain some energy. He slept fitfully, and this was also because of Gleaming’s efforts. Everything she did was set up to kept Night exhausted, and she did an excellent job at it. The “bed” he lay on had iron bars that ran across its width at uncomfortable intervals along his back. It took him hours of shifting and shuffling to find a comfortable enough position to sleep in, but finally, he could finally sleep.

“Prisoner,” a voice called, and Night opened his eyes with tired slowness.

Before the tortured pony stood a young unicorn. His blue coat and blue curls of his mane made Night immediately suspicious, though it was how young he really gave away his identity. “You must be Moon Light,” he said.

“You recognize me?” Moon asked.

“I’ve never seen you before,” Night said, “but it’s kind of hard not to figure out that you’re the record holder for ‘youngest crime boss in Equestria.’”

Moon nodded. “That makes sense, I suppose. Are...I need to talk with you.”

Night sighed. “Look, I’m not going anywhere, and I don’t have anything better to do, but if Gleaming is going to keep trying to convince me to join her, then she’s going to have a better chance than you—”

“I’m not here on her behalf,” Moon interrupted. “I need to talk with you. Nopony else.”

Night forced his open a little wider, despite the fatigue. If Moon represented a factor that he could exploit, he’d need to know what it was. “What?” he asked.

“I…” he began. “I’m being forced to join against my will,” he hissed in a whisper.

“Well, that’s obvious,” Night said. “You were a pony that just wanted to steal things. You weren’t out to do something like this.”

“Exactly!” Moon said. “I don’t want to hurt ponies! I just want to make some money and get some fame.”

“Yeah, and you got it,” Night said, not realizing that he was speaking aloud through his exhaustion. “At the cost of the security of hundreds of ponies, you became well known enough that a serious criminal decided to hire you for serious crimes. Don’t tell me you were surprised.”

Moon pursed his lips. “I am aware that I may not have made the best call,” he said. “I’m dealing with that, and it’ll certainly color my options in the future. Now, if you’re done insulting me, I need your help.”

Night glanced over at him, still fighting sleep. “I don’t know if you’re aware,” he said, “but I’m currently tied to a table. I’m not going to be able to do much.”

“You can get out of this!” Moon hissed. “You’ve escaped from worse.”

“No, I haven’t,” Night said with a smirk. “If you’re talking about the time where your ponies ‘caught’ me and had me tied up in a lead box, they caught an Image that I gave just enough solidity so they could tie it up because then I basically had free reign across the entire pawn shop. Gleaming has me, the real me, and she’s not giving me any chances.”

“But-but you’ve got to get out. You’re the Eternal Rival, the greatest thorn in my side I’ve ever had! If anypony can get out of this, it has to be you.”

Night sighed. “Well, thanks for the vote of confidence,” he went silent for a moment or two before he spoke up again. “What do you need?”

“My father,” Moon whispered. “Gleaming has my father and is holding him hostage. Once he’s free, I will leave. I have nothing else to hold me to the mare. If you can save my father, I will never come back, and I will pull my pack out, and I will even give up stealing! I won’t ever try anything like it again, not even basic tax fraud!”

Night nodded. “Tell you what, Moon. If I get out, I will save your father, but considering right now that I have two broken legs and barely enough magic to hold up a quill, I don’t know if I can do anything at all.”

“But, surely you can escape!”

Night glanced over at him. “How, Moon? How am I supposed to get out of this?”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll think of something. You have to! If my Eternal Rival could so easily be defeated, then that says more about me than anything.”

Night sighed. “Look, Moon, if I had a way to get out of here, then I can promise you I would have done it by now.”

“Then what can I do to help?” Moon asked.

Night smirked before he disguised the look as a pained expression. “I don’t know, Moon, what can you do?”

The young unicorn bit his lip and glanced about nervously. “I...I don’t know, but I’ll think of something,” he said. “I need to go, the healer’s coming back, but I’ll think of something!”

Night nodded and sighed as Moon left. The madpony would be coming back, wouldn’t he? Couldn’t get away with an actual nap. No, he had to be interrupted by a crazy pony that suddenly grew a conscience.

But at least, at the very least, he knew that Moon Light didn’t want to be here, and that was something he could exploit. He wasn’t sure how yet, he’d admit, but he knew he could, and that was all that mattered.

“And how’s my favorite patient!” Kneecaps said more than asked, walking into the room and dispelling any hope of sleep. Not long after that, the pain began again.

---$---

Rainbow Dash beat her wings as she and the Wonderbolts flew over the Whitetail woods. While Twilight might have wanted to bring the rest of her friends in on the search, but Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie would have been limited to the ground, and the fewer ponies they had searching through the trees, the fewer tracks they’d leave behind.

Honestly, that was three steps ahead of what Rainbow was thinking, so she already figured whatever Twilight was doing was way more complicated than she wanted to think about. Rainbow looked over to Spitfire, who merely nodded to give the signal to spread out.

Rainbow banked away to the left and quickly began to search the ground for “signs of populated life.”

The guard pony she’d received instructions from, who she thought was named Azure, had given her and the rest of the Wonderbolts the vaguest directions she’d heard before Spike suddenly stepped in.

“This needs to stay quiet, ponies,” Spike explained. “You’re flying high, you’re using the clouds for cover, and you’re not making a noise. This is a hostage situation, and we need to check our math to make sure we have the right location.”

“What are we looking for?” Soarin asked.

“Buildings and caves,” Spike answered. “Specifically, buildings that might look like they were abandoned, but suddenly have some new occupants. To make your jobs easier, we’re equipping you with some cameras with life-detecting lenses. When you snap a picture of the target and someone nearby, we should see any sentient life light up in red. To narrow your search, we’re starting with the buildings. You have the map, Azure?”

Azure nodded and unrolled a large section of canvas, revealing the map carefully painted on the inside. “We have thirteen buildings for you to check, but these three along the river are your priority,” the captain of the guard told them. “These are the most strategic locations that the ponies we’re tracking could use, and as a result, they’re the ones we want to either look at or rule out first. If there’s no one in the buildings, meet back here, and we’ll discuss the caves.”

Considering that Rainbow easily clocked in as one of the faster flyers, Spitfire delegated one of the river buildings to her just because she could reach it within the hour. She had the warehouse that sat the most eastward along the river, while the rest of the Wonderbolts worked from North to South.

Flying as fast as her wings could carry her, Rainbow briefly wondered what caused all of this. Did all of this somehow connect to the Triad that Twilight warned them about during the Council of Friendship? Were they actually so much of a threat that they were now just kidnapping ponies out of their homes?

Maybe they should have brought the hammer down on them faster.

Streaking over the canopy, Rainbow began to climb, heading for the cloud layer to start hiding from anypony that might catch sight of her from below. She hit the clouds and began to weave between them, jumping between cover and cover as she approached her target.

She hit a low-flying cumulus cloud and dived into the fluffy water vapor before she began to line up the camera for her shot. She took a second to breathe before she focused the camera on the warehouse. The viewfinder revealed nothing to her, no red glow as far as she could see. Though, now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure if the viewfinder would show her anything or if she’d have to wait for the pictures to develop.

She softly pushed the trigger on the camera, which snapped softly in her grasp. She waited for a second, staring down at the building before she wondered if her job was done or not. It really didn’t feel like she was done with her job. It had to be more complicated than that.

She took another picture, just to be sure, and was about to turn and leave before she saw something.

A flash of red in the corner of the viewfinder caught her attention.

She recentered, trying to pin down the flash of red, but it was already moving to the north. She followed along, keeping track, before she found her pony, walking straight north.

Rainbow watched him move for a long second before she found more red flashes. Thirty, forty, fifty red beams of light, all hidden below the ground. They have to be underground. There must be a cave that they’re hiding in nearby but are using the warehouse for storage or something similar.

She took another two pictures and tried to trace the life-forms’ path beneath the ground to the cave mouth.

It took her a minute or two, but she found it and took another quick picture of the low, nearly-hidden cave mouth.

Rainbow smiled and checked the area with the viewfinder one more time to see if anypony was watching her before she shot off into the sky, toward the forward basecamp. She found them, and she was going to make sure that Twilight knew about it.

---$---

The forward base camp sat on the north end of the forest a few miles west of Ponyville and even further northwest from the ransom exchange’s meeting point. Twilight didn’t want Gleaming running, or worse, the second she caught wind of a trap.

Twilight stared down at the map that her advisors had brought to her and watched as they worked to mark places for possible cave systems.

“The soil is too deep there,” Spike said simply as Raven hovered a pin over a new square in the grid that they laid over the map.

“How do you know that?” Raven asked.

“I’m a dragon. I have a sense for these things,” he replied.

Raven blinked before moving onto the next grid square.

A rushing wind sounded, and the tent flap burst open to reveal Rainbow Dash. “Twilight!”

All eyes turned to her. “You’re back before the rendezvous time,” Azure noted, while the Wonderbolt ignored her to hand her the camera. “I’ve got the pictures,” she said with a smile.

“Where?” Twilight asked, leading Rainbow to the map.

“It’s by the warehouse that your Captain mentioned,” she replied, pointing to the building marked by the river. “There’s a cave right next to it, that’s where they’re hiding. There’s like fifty of them down there!”

The three advisors glanced at each other, smiles growing. “They must be using the cave to hide in and limit their exposure to the outside,” Raven began.

“While still using the warehouse’s storage,” Spike finished.

Azure nodded. “This changes the strategy,” he said. “We’ll be unable to surround them, and they may have a secondary way out of the cave. If they do not, the fighting will be fierce once we get inside. They’ll be cornered with a greater knowledge of the tunnels, we’d have the disadvantage going in.”

“No chance to smoke them out with Night, either,” Spike pointed out.

Twilight nodded. “We...we might need to sneak in,” she said.

“The guard has not begun to properly train for that, Your Highness,” Azure said. “We could do so if you wish, but I doubt that you would receive the results you desired.”

Twilight shook her head. “We need to get someone in there,” she said. “Going in blind is going to result in too many casualties.”

“I could do it,” Rainbow said, volunteering. “I know how to sneak through temples. Caves can’t be that different.”

Twilight shook her head. “Thank you, but no,” she said. “If you get in there, there’s not much you can do. Ideally, we’d need a way to get in there, find Night, and get him out. Wonderbolts aren’t really trained for hoof-to-hoof combat, and you don’t even know what Night looks like.”

“I don’t even know who Night is,” Rainbow replied.

“Exactly, no, we need somepony that can get Night and then get him out, maybe with some teleportation magic.”

All eyes turned to her, but she knew what she was implying. She was the only one nearby that could teleport anyone and, honestly, the best chance at getting in. “I guess that means I have to get in there,” she said.

“Are you sure, Princess?” Azure said. “I highly suggest you do not take this course of action, as it can be incredibly dangerous to your health if they find you.”

“I’ll be fine, Azure,” she said. “They have been known to use Thronestone at times, but if I use the changeling amulet, I’ll have something that I can use to my advantage.”

“Are you sure, Princess?” Azure asked.

“Yes, I am.”

Azure nodded and went silent.

“What happens if you get caught?” Spike asked.

“They caught me once, but I’ve had some time to think about it. The amulet will work in the range of the Thronestone, so I can still use some magic, just not what I’m used to. It just means I need to be more creative with the tools I have. Besides, I’m not trying to maintain a persona. The gloves are off.”

“Wait, they caught you once?” Rainbow asked. “Didn’t I say that you could get caught? Did you listen to—”

“Rainbow,” Twilight said, in her softest Princess voice she has ever managed. “I promise you that we will have a long talk during the next council meeting about what I learned when I went out. However, if it makes you feel better, I have not gone out to sneak around with anypony since we’ve had that talk, alright?”

Rainbow blinked and nodded. “Okay…”

“More importantly,” Twilight said. “We need a way of disguising somepony else as me. Gleaming is undoubtedly expecting to see me when we trade the money over, and I doubt she’s going to bring Night with her. She’ll deliver him somewhere else, I’m sure.”

“Then I think we’re in luck,” Spike said. “Raven received a request about three weeks ago from Celestia, asking for another amulet, didn’t you?”

Raven glanced at him. “How do you know about that?” she asked.

“I’m used to being the mail guy in the house,” Spike replied. “I read it to sort it with the rest of the mail.”

“That’s a breach of privacy if I’ve ever heard of one,” Raven said indignantly.

“We’ll talk about it,” Spike replied. “More importantly, how far along is the amulet?”

Raven nodded. “I see where you’re going with this,” she said. “I think it’s been finished and packaged, but I’m not sure if it’s been sent yet.”

Twilight nodded. “So one of you can pretend to be me while I sneak in, right?” she asked.

“That could work,” Raven said. “We’d need to get the amulet, though.”

“Where is it?” Twilight asked.

“I think it’s in the mailroom?” Raven began before Twilight suddenly popped out of existence. A second later, she appeared again, with a package in her telekinetic grip.

“Is this the one?” Twilight asked.

Raven blinked. “It looks like it, yes. Is it addressed to Lady Celestia?”

“It is,” Twilight said before she tore the package apart, using a destroy matter spell, revealing the amulet beneath. “Perfect,” she said before she slipped it onto Raven’s neck. “Spike, make sure she looks the part. I need to begin to make my way down to the cave. I have until sunset when the Gleaming’s pony should come to collect the money. We have the bags, right, Azure?”

Azure nodded. “Three duffle bags with about one thousand bits each, a false bottom, and enough rocks to make up the difference in weight.”

Twilight nodded. “Good,” she said. “Let’s not waste any more time. We have a pony to save and a Triad to break.”

Raven nodded before transforming into a copy of the Princess. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Spike sighed. “Your shoulders are too wide.”

Raven, now appearing as Twilight glanced down at him. “What do you mean, they look fine?”

Spike shook his head. “You’re also the wrong shade of purple.”

“What? No, I’m not.”

Rainbow watched as they argued for a moment more, with Twilight joining in to berate them for arguing in the first place before she sighed. At least her part in this was done. Now she could go and take a nap.

Chapter 30

Raven, disguised as Twilight Sparkle, stood at the designated meeting point. Spike stood beside her, nodding quietly. “Hunch your shoulders just a touch more,” he whispered. “Twilight would be anxious with what’s happened. She hunches when she does that.”

“Really?” Raven asked, in Twilight’s voice.

“Really,” he replied. “It’s almost impossible to see, but she does.”

“Good to know,” Raven replied, as she stared out into the darkness, trying to hunch her shoulders imperceptibly forward. “You know,” she whispered. “I never thought the Royal Regalia would get so hot.”

Spike looked up at her and could see the sweat starting to gather beneath the borrowed crown. He beat one of his wings toward her in an attempt to fan her.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

Spike nodded before his eyes snapped toward something in the distance. “I think I see someone coming,” he said.

Raven tried to follow Spike’s gaze but saw nothing but trees and shadows. “I don’t see them,” she whispered.

“One o’clock,” he said, “moving this way very slowly, it looks like he’s trying to hide.”

“Well, good to know you’re going to unnerve them first.”

“Talk to him,” Spike whispered.

“What?”

“Order him over here,” Spike said. “You’ll want to establish authority, you know, like a Princess?”

“Oh, uh…You...You can stop hiding!” she called out, hoping that her tone sounded stern enough for an order. “We know you’re there.”

There was silence for a moment longer.

“He’s cutting across,” Spike whispered. “Now at twelve o’clock, now eleven. I don’t see anypony else.”

Raven tried to keep up with Spike’s instructions as he told her what the thief was doing, and she hoped that she wasn’t overshooting the pony in the darkness. “I do not let ponies waste my time, thief. Get out here, or I will drag you out,” Raven said.

“A little strong,” Spike whispered.

“She’d be strong with criminals, though, right?” Raven whispered back.

“Fair, I guess.”

The threat seemed to work, though, because the thief began to creep forward, entering the torchlight’s radius and standing in front of the pair. “I’ll be honest,” the unicorn said, smugly, “I wasn’t expecting the Princess herself to show up.”

Raven wondered if he was one of Moon’s ponies. If the report was accurate, Moon almost exclusively hired unicorns because he needed some magic spell or another to complete the jobs he commissioned. “The letter was addressed to me, so I’m here to answer it. In fact, I think it says a lot about your criminal alliance that this Gleaming pony hasn’t shown up.”

The thief smiled. “She’s a little more concerned with her safety, I’m sure you’ve guessed. Which, I should mention, if I’m not back at the hideout by a certain time, then they’ll kill the hostage.”

Raven narrowed her eyes. “So he’s still back at your hideout?”

The thief smiled. “Once we get the money, we’ll let him go. You should be able to find him along the Whitetail River, and he should be picked up by your guards within an hour or two.”

Raven snorted through her nostrils, an action she hoped appeared regal and disdainful. “Then take your money and get out,” she growled. She lifted the bags toward the thief, dropping them at his hooves, and the pony smiled.

“With pleasure, Your Majesty,” he said, casting a quick spell on the bag.

Then he frowned.

He cast the same spell on the other two bags, and his frown deepened. “Princess,” he said, beginning to back away from the bags, “are you aware that your bags aren’t full?”

Raven cursed, but Spike was already moving.

He shot into the air before unleashing a torrent of flame behind the pony that cut off his escape. The thief began to move, but Spike was already diving for him, barreling into the pony, and locking his foreleg around his arm, so it began to bend backward. With another quick, almost practiced motion, Spike swung his tail out behind him and swept the thief’s hind legs out from under him.

The thief hit the ground. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” he cried once he had breath back in his lungs. “Let me go!”

“No, that’s the point of a joint lock,” Spike said.

“If you don’t let me go, the hostage dies!” the thief cried.

Raven shook her head. “Yes, it’d be such a shame if you don’t get back to the cave next to the warehouse. I’d have no way of stopping you.”

The thief’s eyes went wide.

Several guard ponies began to make their way through the underbrush to secure the thief.

“All you did,” Raven said, “besides kicking a hornet’s nest, is let us know we have a time limit, and we’re already far ahead of schedule.”

---$---

Twilight stood beside Azure and a taskforce of fifty guard ponies, a good five hundred feet west from the cave mouth. “Remember,” she whispered, “don’t move in until I can grab Night and get out. Once that happens, they won’t have any leverage to keep us out.”

Azure nodded. “As you will, Your Highness.”

Twilight then sighed as her guards lowered themselves to the ground, and the squad mage used an illusion to disguise them as a rock. She would have to be relying almost entirely on Transform Body spells, and while that was powerful, it was also perilous.

She could re-create her regular strategy for sneaking into the cave by shrinking her actual body, but she knew it would probably cause her to overheat by nature of the square-cube law. There was a chance that she could Destroy her Image now and try to sneak through, but it might take too long to rebuild her Image if she needed to.

She could Transform her Image like usual now, but as soon as she moved into the radius of the Thronestone’s radius, her image would revert to normal, just like it did when she was caught by the Triad ponies and tied up. Sure, her disguise lasted, by that was only because Changeling magic was somehow immune to the stone’s effects.

Finally, she could try a disguise herself, but without knowing who was in there and what ponies they were looking for, she couldn’t guarantee that a mask would actually help her or not.

Taking one last breath, she made her decision. Sure, her Transform Image spell might not last long as soon as she got in there, but it would, at the very least, offer her some cover. She shrunk the sight of her body and rushed ahead, running toward the cave mouth.

The cave mouth was narrow, and Twilight had to duck to get inside before the cave floor dropped down by two feet. The sudden drop caught her by surprise, and she nearly called out as she fell to the floor, but her hooves did clatter noisily to the floor.

She held her breath, hoping that no one heard her, but she could already hear a posted guard grunt.

A large pegasus, built like Big Mac, stepped forward and glanced about carefully. Twilight knew she was out in the open, and the guard’s eyes were more used to the dark than hers at the moment. He’d find her quickly if she didn’t have something to hide behind, so Twilight quickly tried to move her way over to the side of the entrance as carefully as she could, but the moment she moved, her illusion dropped, and the pegasus’ eyes locked on her.

He opened his mouth, maybe to scream, perhaps not, but Twilight wasn’t going to risk it.

Using the Transform Body spell in the amulet, Twilight built her muscles to nearly ridiculous levels and slammed a super-powered hoof into the guard’s chin. The guard actually lifted off the ground from the blow before he dropped to the floor unconscious.

Now she had a time limit. Twilight knew that most blows that left someone unconscious only lasted a few seconds at a time unless severe damage had been done. She only had that long until the guard woke up and raised the alarm.

She needed to do something.

She silently cursed before she made a split-second decision. She rushed even deeper into the cave, squeezing through the natural, tight passageways and trying to jump over the deep natural trenches that lined the cave’s entrance.

Twilight slipped into the shadows of the cave and carefully glanced around. The tunnel forked suddenly, with one path leading down and to the left, the other staying level and moving to the right. Neither gave any indication as to which way was the right way to the main chambers. She had to figure it out, though, especially since the guard behind her was about to wake up any second now.

The Princess closed her eyes to try and focus before taking in a deep breath through her nose. She immediately regretted that she did when the smell of ammonia and refuse hit her sense of smell in the gut. It quickly became apparent that the latrines were somewhere nearby, and with a few quick sniffs, she quickly discovered that the right-hand path was the source.

She was about to turn her focus to the left when she heard the sound of hoof steps.

The guard was up? Already?

“No, no, it’s not him,” she thought to herself. “The hooves are moving too slow to be raising the alarm. Focus, Twilight!”

The hoof steps moved closer, and around the corner of the right-hand fork came a young, blue-coated unicorn. He sighed as he turned the corner and began to turn around.

Twilight blinked as she saw him. He was incredibly young, almost too young for being a pony in a criminal hideout.

She began to put it together and decided that this must be Moon Light. That was the only pony she could think of that had to be that young and—

Moon started, and Twilight suddenly realized he was staring at her.

She moved, empowered by the spell of the amulet, and shoved him against the wall. “If you scream,” she began only to be cut off by Moon, who nodded vigorously.

“Not a word, not a word!” he said, smiling. “You’re here for Night, right? You have to be unless you’re here for me?”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “I am not here for you.”

He seemed crestfallen for only a moment. “Then you’re here for Night?”

She nodded.

“I can help you!” he said.

“And why should I trust that?” she asked.

“Because if you save him, then he can save my father.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Gleaming, you know she’s running this whole thing, well Gleaming kidnapped my father. That’s how she...how she bullied me into working for her because I’m normally just an innocent pony—”

“Trust me, Moon Light,” Twilight began. “I know exactly how innocent you are.”

Moon grinned sheepishly.

“Well, are you going to help me save him or not?” Twilight asked. “Do it fast enough, and I may forget I saw you here.”

Moon nodded. “Of course! What do you need?”

“Two things,” Twilight said. “Where is he? And I need you to make sure that the guard at the front doesn’t raise the alarm.”

“Of course! Night’s being held in a lead-lined room. Head down the left passage here, and stick to the right. Once you get to the main chamber, you’ll have to cross to the back-left passage and travel down that way until you find the lead door. That’s your way in. You’ll know it’s the right one because it has a verticle shaft up to the outside. It’s been the emergency exit for the pegasus guards.”

Twilight nodded, her eyes still narrowed. She wasn’t so sure that he was telling the truth. She didn’t have any real reason to believe him, but at the same time, she didn’t have a reason not to. If Moon’s father was actually being detained somehow, then his ticket out of jail was also at risk.

“Well,” she said. “Better take care of that guard.”

“Yes, Your Highness, may your reign be just, and your wisdom unmatched!” Moon said before he ran off, back up toward the entrance of the cave.

Twilight stared after him for a second, just to make sure that Moon wouldn’t double back to get her while she wasn’t looking, before turning to face the downward passage. Stick to the right, take the back-left path from the main chamber. That was all she had to do.

Getting there unseen would be the hard part. That much was obvious.

Though, the ceiling was getting higher…

Twilight smiled.

---$---

Twilight crawled into the main chamber, clinging to the ceiling with a set of dragon-like claws that she gave herself with the power of the amulet. She had passed several Thronestones set into the wall, but now that she was in the main chamber, she could feel her magic return to her. The main room wasn’t protected, which became even more apparent when Twilight saw several unicorns magically lifting drinks to their mouths as they sat at the long banquet tables in the decently-lit room.

From the still-shadowed ceiling, Twilight could see most of the chamber, which seemed to have been transformed into a more-traditional great hall. Four long tables ran the length of the room, with natural columns and stalagmites separating them. Widely-spaced wooden boards made for a crude floor, but the room’s most striking feature had to be the throne.

A natural stone shelf, backed with more natural columns and stalagmites, sat at the back of the room, and sitting on it was none other than Gleaming Coin. The pegasus was smaller than Twilight thought she would be but wore a smug grin that betrayed her for exactly what she was. More importantly, Gleaming wore a very visible amulet of a rough-cut stone shard. The charm was very obviously Thronestone and had to be her protection against whatever magic came against her.

Twilight sighed at the sight of it before she took another quick look around for the passage that Moon Light described.

There.

It sat just behind the throne, to the left, as Moon said, but it would bring her dangerously close to the throne. The chances that Gleaming would look up to see a random mare clinging to the ceiling would only increase with every move unless she had something to distract the mare.

Looking around one more time, Twilight found a passageway on the right side of the room. A few ponies were milling about down there, and she quickly determined that was her best bet. Still able to reach her magic, Twilight reached out and cast an audible illusion down the passage.

The clatter of something falling to the ground and a scream of a now-pinned pony echoed across the chamber, and all eyes fell directly onto it.

That was all the distraction Twilight needed. She climbed for the passage, still clinging to the ceiling before she dropped and let her wings soften her landing.

Not wasting a second, she dived down into the passageway, and sure enough, found the near-vertical shaft that brought in a slight draft to the cave.

Twilight gave it a passing glance before she forced her eyes forward. She was looking for something more important, she was looking for—

A large, lead-lined door sat ahead of her, just through a tight part of the tunnel, before it opened up. Twilight nearly smiled when she saw it. She was almost there.

A scream echoed from behind the door.

Twilight’s eyes widened, and before she knew it, she moved. She burst through the door and saw the green pony in the plague doctor’s mask staring up at her, clearly shocked by her intrusion.

Twilight moved without really thinking, and slammed a still-overstrength clawed-fist into the pony’s jaw, and felt something crack beneath her blow. She winced as she realized that she might have been too hard, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

“Well,” Night said, sounding exhausted. “It’s good to see you, Princess.”

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked before immediately regretting such an obvious question.

“Oh, sure. It’s was only a little torture,” Night replied. “Seriously, though, I have two broken legs, and I haven’t had sleep in three days.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay, hang on. This is going to hurt for a second.”

She held up one of Night’s broken legs and cast a create body spell. She filled the break of the bones with muscle before she cast the Transform spell needed to turn it to bone. “How’s that?” she asked.

“Honestly, not so bad,” Night said. “You’re a much better doctor.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you,” she said before she did the same with the other.

Night shifted uncomfortably but managed regardless.

“There, and then a Wakefulness spell to help with the exhaustion,” Twilight said, as she cast a Control Mind spell to compress the exhaustion in his mind. He was still just as tired, but it wouldn’t affect his thinking.

Night blinked, as though everything suddenly became clearer. “Wow. That’s better than espresso.”

“It’s not super healthy either,” Twilight said as she leveled a Destroy Matter spell on the manacles that held him down. “So let’s not mess with it and get out of here.”

“What about Gleaming?” Night asked.

“I have some guards here. They’ll arrest her before things get too crazy, now come on.”

Twilight pulled Night up onto his hooves, and he took a moment to glance at her as he tried to work on his aching hindlegs. “Since when do you have claws?” he asked.

“This amulet has a lot of uses,” Twilight said, with a smile, before she slipped right up next to Night. “Now let’s get out of here.”

And then, with a pop of teleportation magic, they both disappeared.

---$---

Gleaming frowned.

Something wasn’t right here. The scream that echoed from one of the passages didn’t seem to have a real source. It was an obvious distraction, but from who, Gleaming couldn’t decide.

It honestly worried her that she couldn’t figure out who was trying to distract her.

She began to reach behind her for another of the artifacts that her team had managed to steal. Her hoof gently felt the edges of the one she wanted to keep for herself, the Traveler’s Waystone.

Kneecaps burst into the room. “We’re under attack!” he cried. “The Princess and the guard are—!”

A fully armored guard slammed into Kneecaps from the back, tackling him to the ground. Another four guards appeared, all appearing from the passage to the left.

“It’s the guard! Run!” a pony cried, unhelpfully, but Gleaming already made her decision. She grabbed her Thronestone amulet and tossed it aside before activating the Waystone, and Gleaming disappeared.

Chapter 31

“Using the shaft to let the guard in seemed like a great idea,” Night said, as he listened to the sounds emanating from the cave.

“Of course it was,” Azure said, standing next to him and the Princess. “The Princess has an incredibly tactically sound mind. Attacking both sides means that the enemy cannot take shelter and hold their defensive positions easily. Instead, they are caught between two forces, and if they defend from one, they’ll be vulnerable to the other.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Azure,” Twilight said. “You already began to split the teams once I said it existed.”

“I merely tried to anticipate your will, Your Highness,” Azure replied.

Night nodded. “And Moon was the first arrest?” Night asked.

“He actively surrendered when he saw the guard. Claimed that we’d have to help his father.”

“If he’s here, we’ll find him,” Twilight said. “If not, then you’ll still have to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“Does this really count as him helping me?” Night asked. “I mean, I hoped he might have started a rebellion or—”

“He distracted the cave entrance guard and gave me the directions to your cell,” Twilight said. “That is help.”

“Fine,” Night muttered. “I guess that’s fair.”

The three watched for a moment or two as another set of screams echoed out of the cave.

“Really bringing the hammer down,” Night remarked. “Reminds me of the times that we worked on taking out some slave trading rings.”

Azure smirked. “Yes. That was what, nine years ago? Under Captain Armor, right?”

Night nodded. “Yeah, he did—”

“Wait, wait!” Twilight interrupted. “Armor as in Shining Armor?”

“Yeah,” Night said.

“You worked with Shining?” Twilight asked.

“Who else would I mean? He was the captain of the guard.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” she asked. “I have the Crystal Empire on speed dial! I could have gotten a letter from him in a day!”

“Well, I wasn’t sure you’d bother tracking a pony that quit something like seven years before your ascension,” Night said.

“Captain Armor is actually the Princess’s brother,” Azure explained.

“Oh...actually, you know I can see that.”

Azure nodded. “The similarities are subtle but uncanny.”

The silence continued for a moment or two, and the three stood outside for their vigil. The warehouse stood nearby, just slightly to the side of the trio of ponies watching over the cave to make sure no one escaped.

“I hope Gleaming doesn’t put up a fight,” Night muttered to himself quietly.

“I’m still going to try to help her, Night, I promise,” Twilight said. “We can arrange a good cell for her, can’t we, Azure?”

“As you will, Your Highness,” Azure said. “I shall also prepare a therapist to begin meetings with her, as well as a full mental evaluation. If you wish her to be reformed, I will do all in my power to give you the tools.”

“You can tone it down a notch, Azure,” Twilight said.

“As you will, Your Highness,” he replied.

Twilight glanced down at the cave and cast a Perceive spell to glimpse into the tunnels. Ponies were fighting desperately with the guard, throwing their bodies into the wall of golden armor and spears in a vain attempt to escape. None of them had been caught with something so serious on their records. These were crimes that might have no chance at parole, and wildly expensive bails, that only their bosses could pay.

The same bosses that stood behind them panicking.

Twilight’s vision was missing a few spots, areas where the Thronestone hid with rock and dirt, but from what she could see, her guard was making good time and good progress into the tunnels, securing prisoners as they went. “They’re doing well,” Twilight remarked. “Holding chokepoints, forcing the enemy to move into disadvantageous positions. They’re doing an excellent job. You’ve trained your ponies well, Azure.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Azure replied. “I train them only to carry out your will, Princess.”

Twilight nodded before she cut her spell. “Well, they certainly seem like they’re going to manage just fine on their own. Do make sure though that Gleaming is secured properly so that we can work carefully.”

Azure nodded.

“Do you think it’ll take, Night?” Twilight asked.

No response came.

“Night?”

But Night was gone.

---$---

“Idiots,” Gleaming muttered to herself as she pushed a crate to the motorized riverboat she was trying to commandeer. “Not one of them could make sure they weren’t being followed. Not one of them could make sure they were staying around the Thronestone at all times. Somepony had to mess…”

She struggled as the crate hit a bump in the floor. She groaned as she lifted the wooden box over the ridge before she dropped it back down. “...mess it up.”

The crate had everything she needed. Ever since she collected them, Gleaming had nearly run Moon Light’s thieves into the ground with work. They managed to steal a dormant Siren Stone, the Sword of Lusitano, the Hooked Blade of Harpsong, the Radiant Shield of Razdon, and a small, lead chest of Thronestone sitting at the bottom of the crate. The Siren stone had the incredible promise of charming ponies if she could get it working again. The Sword of Lusitano was a golden macuahuitl whose emerald blades could light afire to bite through castle walls. The Hooked Blade of Harpsong, whose single edge could cleave through armor and whose hook-like protrusion on the back could turn a pony to stone, gleamed in the light there as well.

Everything in that crate would get her started somewhere else with a better crew. Maybe Abyssinia would be an excellent place to start, their need to go to lawsuits meant that she could probably get away with buying off a good lawyer and—

“So this is where you ran off to,” a voice said behind her, and she turned to see Night standing on the mezzanine floor in the back end of the warehouse.

Gleaming stared up at him, eyes narrowed. “How’d you know I was here.”

Night smirked. “I saw you trying to close the door. I barely noticed you if it’s any consolation.”

Gleaming scowled. “So what? You’re going to stop me now?”

“I’m going to try,” Night replied, “but not before I ask you a very important question.”

“Oh, really, and what’s that?”

“I’m going to ask you, Gleaming, one more time, join my side. Come work with me for the Princess. It’s not nearly as much glory, but the pay’s good. It’s not ruling the world, but it’s nice... it’s nice to be appreciated.”

“That’s your sell?” Gleaming asked. “It’s nice?”

“It’s... it’s more than that, Gleaming. It’s... it’s hard to explain.”

“Then maybe it’s just not worth it,” Gleaming snarked. “Look, Night. How about this, you’ve won. My whole operation here has been effectively undermined. You’ve won. I’ll leave, and we’ll call it even for old time’s sake.”

“And then what?” Night asked.

“I dunno,” she said. “I might head off to Abyssinia, try and start a business.”

“With those artifacts?” Night asked. “Try to build a new criminal empire in a different country before you try and come back here?”

“Who says I’m coming back?”

“I know you too well, Gleaming. You’re angry. You’ve made that clear back when you had me tied to a table. You don’t let things go. You never have. You’d rather die than let something go. You’ll come back, this time with more ponies, more money, and with even greater ambitions. No, I can’t let you go. We both know that.”

Gleaming snorted before she glanced up at him and reached for the crate lid. She pulled out the golden sword. The intricate emerald guard seemed to erupt from the handle, and the gemstone blades gleamed in a non-existent light. “Yes, we do both know that, don’t we?”

She spun the sword, and the emeralds sparked to life, roaring with emerald fire as she threw the blade across the building. The old, dry-rotted wood caught fire in a flash as the sword flew in a broad arc, spinning through the air like a boomerang before it returned to Gleaming’s hoof. “Then let’s not waste any more time.”

Night blinked and tried to hide the fact that he felt taken aback by the fact that Gleaming just lit the entire building on fire.

He leaped from the mezzanine and suddenly found himself facing the brutal blade. The macuahuitl bit into the floor, and Night just barely missed the attack, only for Gleaming to swing the flat of the massive golden blade slammed into him. He felt ribs crack beneath the blow, and he went flying to the wall.

Gleaming laughed. “Magical weapons are so fun, aren’t they? Incredible strength, the ability to never bleed no matter how deep the wound, fire, ice, or even a combination of them. Who knows what you’re getting when you pick one up?”

Night tried to get up, his chest burning from the attack.

“And I didn’t even hit you with the blade,” she said, smiling as the emerald blades glinted in the firelight around her.

Night got to his hooves, the fire burning higher and hotter with each second. She leaped at him, driving the blade down and rending the wall behind him apart with the jagged, razor edges of the macuahuitl. Fire flashed out of the new hole, eating new and fresh oxygen with glee that only an inferno could match.

Night jumped to the side, feeling the ache in his ribs as his muscles, still exhausted, could barely keep up. He felt his legs shaking as they ran on pure endorphins, and he felt slow compared to Gleaming’s fresh and rapid movements. A horizontal slash cut across the air, which brought the weapon’s sparkling, razor-sharp blades within a fraction of an inch of his throat.

Gleaming continued to push forward, attacking with reckless abandon as she forced Night back across the warehouse toward the sheltered dock.

Night was quickly beginning to regret this. He wasn’t a fighter, and he never had been. He couldn’t take on Gleaming like in a fight like this, which became even more apparent with each strike she made.

He dropped beneath another swing, which cleanly cleaved through the supporting pillar that stood behind him, and forced him to change his retreat. He continued to fall back against the pegasus’s assault, the heavy, golden weapon whistling through the air with each strike.

She laughed, grinning savagely while a mad glint shone in her eye. “You’ve made me do this, Night,” she cried. “You’ve made me! We could have ruled this country together like we always wanted to, but you had to run from it like the coward you are. Too afraid of your precious Princess to see the truth. You could have let me go, but you’ve turned yourself into a loyal dog that had to bark when the Princess said so.”

She kept swinging, forcing Night closer and closer to the water’s edge.

“Now look at where you are, look at what you made me do!”

Night bumped into something, and he risked a glance back to see the crate of magical artifacts. He grabbed whatever he could with his magic and raised it vainly in defense of the next blow.

The ring of steel sound and the macuahuitl stopped dead as it hit the Hooked Blade of Harpsong. The long straight blade held firm against the deadly emeralds, and the hook-like protrusion on the other side of the sword glinted evilly.

“Foster used to say that too,” Night said, saying the only thing he could that might distract her. “I didn’t believe him either.”

For a brief moment, Night watched as Gleaming’s face flew from shock, confusion, and then to rage. She roared as she pushed Night away, though the hooked blade proved harder for her to move than before. She swung wildly, her eyes wild, but focused with terrible concentration.

Night raised his own blade to block, and the macuahuitl ran down the blunted edge of Harpsong’s sword before resting softly in the hook. He raised the weapon, up and over his head, in a move that seemed to perform itself, but Gleaming came around, smashing into Night’s head with the flat.

The world spun, and Night couldn’t see for the sparks that flashed against the back of his eyes. He was vaguely aware that he dropped his sword.

“Don’t!” Gleaming yelled, binging the flat back down into the back of Night’s skull. “Ever!” Again she brought it down, and Night felt his legs go out from beneath him. “Compare me to him!”

Night’s world was spinning. He couldn’t see, he could barely hear, and the only thing that let him know he was still awake was the heat of the fire against his coat. Night looked up, trying to see what was going on, and did the only thing he could.

He cast a spell.

---$---

Night tried, to his credit, to roll out of the way. He tried to escape judgment.

But Gleaming knew better. He wasn’t going to make it out alive. She brought down the sword in a brutal chop, cutting off Night’s escape as he tried to roll off of the old, wooden dock. The flames began to burn across the port hungrily, and Night found himself cornered by fire.

“Well this is it, huh, Night?” she asked mockingly. “This is how our precious little family ends? I kill you and run off to Abyssinia? It’s a shame.”

Night moved back, stumbling across the dock, the groaned against the Gleaming’s weight.

She swung the Sword of Lusitano down on him again.

He barely managed to skitter out of the way of the attack. He glanced around wildly, trying to search for something.

“Looking for a way out, Night?” Gleaming asked. “Are you trying to run away again? Haven’t you learned anything?”

Night glanced around again before he leaped for something to the side. Gleaming brought the sword down on him, and the emerald blades but deep into Night’s leg.

And then he stood up, as though nothing happened.

Gleaming had just enough time to be surprised before the Image before her disappeared, and she felt cold steel against her neck.

For a moment, the burning warehouse meant nothing. The fire climbing higher and higher seemed to fade into the background, and everything was quiet.

“I’m sorry, Gleaming,” Night said. “I’m so, so sorry.”

He had the hook around her throat, Harpsong’s blade pressed closely against her.

Gleaming didn’t move.

“I’m so, so sorry, Gleaming. I didn’t want this for us. I just wanted us to be safe. That’s all I wanted…”

Gleaming didn’t move, didn’t even breathe.

Night glanced up at her again, only to realize that she was no longer flesh and bone. Gleaming had been turned to stone.

Night blinked before the dock groaned again.

He was then plunged into the water, surrounded by rotten wood and a large, massive statue of the mare he once called a sister. The figure was pinning him and dragged him to the bottom of the dock before something exploded. Night went spinning deeper in the water before something small, hard, and metallic slammed into the water and smashed into his head.

And then his world went dark.

---$---

It took Twilight longer than she would care to admit to notice that the warehouse was on fire. She had been searching the area for Night, trying to figure out where he was and what he was doing before she saw the flickering lights of the fire peeking through the warehouse.

The second she did, she knew that Night was in there. She ran over, blowing the doors open with a blast of magic, and called out. “Night! Night are you there!”

Night didn’t answer her. Instead, she barely caught sight of a statue, falling backward into a hole in the burning dock. “Night? Night?” she called out again before she turned to the riverboat. The gas cans loaded up on it were being licked by the flames.

Her eyes widened as she saw it, and she had just enough time to Create a wall of Energy to shield herself. The explosion rocked her through her shield, and Twilight was pushed harmlessly away. She skidded back in a bubble of her own defenses, and she quickly found herself surrounded on all sides by flame.

She reached out and cast Destroy Energy, snuffing the fire around her as the explosion began to die.

The warehouse had been nearly destroyed. The riverboat was sinking, split in half, the mezzanine leaned crazily to one side, and the crate had been nearly vaporized, the magical contents scattered across the warehouse but otherwise unharmed.

“Your Highness!” Azure called from the door, keeping them open.

“I’m alright! Find Night!”

She cast her scrying spell on Night, trying to get a sense of where he was.

The spell grasped at nothing.

Twilight’s heart leaped to her throat, and she cast the spell again, this time on Night’s old rebar hook.

It appeared in her sight, fourteen paces to her right.

Twilight cursed. “He can’t be dead,” she said.

She began to search the burning building more frantically. Night had to be here somewhere in all this rubble. He just had to be, and she had to find him.

The metal struts that held the roof in place began to groan under the strain. A chunk of the ceiling fell to the ground with a clang.

She cast Destroy Energy again, snuffing out another radius of flame. He had to be here somewhere. He just had to be. He couldn’t be dead.

“Your Highness!” Azure called again. “You need to get out of there!”

“I need to find him!” she said.

“The building is about to collapse!” Azure cried.

“I need to find Night!”

“Your Highness, with all due respect, you cannot find him buried under the rubble!”

Twilight grit her teeth.

She needed to find Night.

But...but he was right.

The warehouse groaned again, and she looked up.

Then again, she was the Archmage Ruler, and that had to mean something.

She dropped to the floor and poured all her concentration into her horn. Her eyes began to glow white with power as she began to cast Control Matter on everything around her. She grabbed the walls, the roof, and everything around her before she pushed it all away. She tossed the walls aside, some still burning as she pushed it aside.

She released them all with a heavy breath and nearly collapsed to the floor.

Azure was next to her in an instant. “Your Highness!”

“I’m... I’m fine…,” she said, “but I need you to find Night.”

“As you will, Princess,” Azure said.

Once the guard had returned from the cave, Azure organized them into a search party. They looked everywhere, sifting through the rubble and even diving in the river to search for Night. However, after hours of searching, the only thing they found that was even remotely pony-shaped was a statue in the perfect likeness of Gleaming Coin.

Not a sign was found of Night.

Chapter 32

Three weeks had passed since Triad members’ arrests and five days since Twilight had sat at court over the last few ponies. Most she had arrested as accomplices to kidnapping, counterfeiting magical artifacts with intent to sell, and accomplices to grand theft. As part of his plea deal, Moon Light offered all the information he could on any specific ponies, and Boot Legger likewise turned on everypony he could.

But now, that was all behind her, and she could focus on her usual court judgments.

“Your Highness, I beg thee, I have bought a hat and sunglasses as you requested, but still the sun shines too bright in my eyes.”

For all the stress relief that was worth.

“I beg you to please lower the sun at an earlier hour.”

Twilight sighed as she rested a hoof across her face. “You know, I expected these kinds of requests from the nobility,” she said. “I expected someone to make a stupid request like this because their great-great-great-great-grandmother did something or other for Princess Celestia to grant them some land and a title. What I was not expecting was a normal pony to ask for something so dumb.”

The pony glanced up at the Princess on her throne. “So you’re saying you’d do it if I were a noble?” he asked. “Because I have a cousin who—”

“No. I am not saying I would do it if you were a noble. What I am saying is that I would tell a noble that it was a stupid idea. I just expected that I would have to dance around the issue until they got it in their heads that it was dumb. Luckily for you, because you’re not a noble, you have an opportunity that only someone of your station can afford. If the sun is in your eyes as you walk back from the park, then move north of the park. Sell your house, and move, because then the sun will never get in your eyes.”

Twilight glared down at the pony in the throne room, who stood there, as though deep in thought. “I had not thought of that, Your Highness. Indeed, you are wise beyond your years.”

Twilight groaned as the dense pony left and sunk back into her throne. This was the fourth trivial request that she had to put up with today, and she wasn’t sure she’d make it.

Maybe she was done, though. She could be done, right? There was hope still.

Or there was until Raven spoke up. “There are two more ponies who await your ruling, Princess. Shall I send them in?”

“They’re minor issues,” Spike said. “We can take care of them.”

“And if they require a more direct ruling, we can reschedule them for tomorrow,” Raven said, picking up on Spike’s hint.

“Thank you,” Twilight said before she stood and groaned. “I’ll let you finish up for me, but I need to get some dinner.”

Raven bowed, and Spike nodded. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of ya.”

Twilight nodded before she left, slipping out of the side door toward the kitchen.

There had still been no sign of Night, even after these three weeks. Azure continued to assure her that Night would be found, even if they had to dredge the river for his corpse.

The fact that Night hadn’t been found hit her harder than she thought it would. She managed, of course, but…

She’d tried to find him on her own, of course. She’d been casting her scrying spell on him every free hour she had for the past three weeks, but her magic failed each time. Her stomach sunk each time she cast it, but she still tried.

She really hoped that Azure wouldn’t find Night’s body.

---$---

The tower was quiet.

The night came swiftly to Equestria these days, though Twilight raised the moon according to the clock. What made it worse was that the darkness offered no comfort. Twilight lay in her bed, awake, and felt strangely cold under her sheets.

She knew she wasn’t missing much. She knew that she only spent one night sleeping with Night, and it was literally just sleeping next to him. She knew it wasn’t much for a basis of a proper relationship, but ever since Night disappeared, her bed felt colder for some reason.

Cadence, her ever-loving sister-in-law and Princess of Love, once told her that there was no such thing as a “normal” relationship and to keep her mind open. Then again, one night sleeping next to a pony who works for you still probably didn’t fall under anything healthy. Not to mention that they hadn’t even kissed or anything. It was probably nothing at—

Her ear flicked.

All of her thoughts paused. She didn’t sit up but remained still on her bed. Twilight could swear she heard something in the room with her, and she didn’t want to give away that she knew. She’d have to be careful, and—

She realized her magic was blocked. She couldn’t access any of her spells and couldn’t reach for the heavy candlestick she’d been focusing on to arm herself with.

Was there an assassin here? Someone who was using some of the still-unaccounted for Thronestone? But why, though? Was it the pony that was always arguing about the sun?

She shoved the thoughts aside. She needed to focus on the problem. There was definitely a pony here, and they were definitely blocking her magic. She had to figure out how to deal with that.

She rolled on her side, pretending to be asleep, but now facing the heavy candlestick that promised to knock somepony out when it struck them. She could reach it directly fairly easily. She just needed to be ready the moment she grabbed it. She couldn’t hesitate. The second she grabbed it, she needed to spin and attack before yelling for the guard.

Speaking of the guard, how did the assassin get past? The window hadn’t been opened so—

“Focus!”

She stared at her soon-to-be improvised weapon and listened as carefully as she could to the room behind her. She couldn’t hear the pony’s hoof steps but should hear the room reacting around the intruder. The shuffle of curtains, the soft groan of the floor’s foundations, and even the furniture shifting as he moved around it all gave away his position.

Twilight focused on keeping her breath even. She couldn’t give away that she knew, she’d have to be—

The sheets of her bed shuffled softly.

Her eyes widened, and she spun candlestick in her hoof, and a hooded pony before her.

“Woah, Woah, Woah!” Night cried, stumbling backward as Twilight raised her weapon. “Twilight, it’s me!”

“Night?” she cried, before leaping at him, arms wide as she grabbed him in a hug. “Night is that you?”

“Princess?” the guard called from outside, and Night groaned in pain from the impact.

“It’s fine!” she called before she looked up at him. “What took you so long?”

“Well,” Night wheezed. “I was laying in a bed in suburban Las Pegasus for a few weeks, and any attempt at using magic wasn’t working. By the way, you’re on my ribs, and they’re still sore.”

Twilight shifted off of him. “Why wasn’t magic working?” she asked.

Night grabbed at his hood and pulled it down to reveal a shard of Thronestone sticking into his horn.

“Sweet Celestia!” Twilight yelled, jumping off of him.

“Yeah, it’s made all of the doctor’s work hard too,” Night said. “Couldn’t even lift bandages to give me splints. As a point of order, Telekinesis makes life so much easier.”

“Ooh, okay, um…” Twilight began, looking at the stone embedded into Night’s head. “Has anypony tried just pulling it out?”

“Yeah, it hurts. And it’s very stuck. One of the doctors talked about removing my horn before trying to attach it back on, but that wasn’t something they wanted to try without a unicorn surgeon that can actually work with his horn on staff around me.”

Twilight nodded but was already searching around her room. “I, uh...I might have a solution.”

“Good to know.”

“Aha! Here!” she said, pulling something free from a lockbox.

“Your amulet?”

“It works in Thronestone auras and can change your physical form. So if you change into a pony without a horn, it should just fall off.”

Night blinked and took the amulet. “Alright, I guess,” he said. He took the charm carefully and tried to use the magic within it. Green flames flashed against his body, and the next thing Night realized, he was a pegasus.

He blinked, and before he could open his eyes again, the shard of Thronestone fell to the floor, free from Night’s horn.

Twilight scooped up the shard and moved over to her door. Opening her room wide, she saw the guard who still stood staring at the door concerned, before dropping the fragment into his hooves. “Take this to the armory. There’s a lead chest that this will fit into. Thank you!”

Night had already turned back into a unicorn by the time Twilight turned around into the room, and she quickly closed the gap and hugged him again, this time doing her best to avoid his sore ribs. “I’m so happy you’re alive,” she said.

“I’m happy I’m alive too,” he said with a smirk before he returned the hug. “Thank you, Princess, for coming after me that night. It felt good to be wanted enough that the Princess herself came to rescue me.”

“Well, of course, I came, Night,” she said. “Of course, I came. I...care about you, Night. I didn’t want to see you abandoned.”

Night smiled weakly.

“In fact,” Twilight said. “I want to make sure you’re taken care of from now on. The three months are up, and I’ve come to a decision.”

Twilight pulled away and looked at Night directly in the eyes. “I have decided that the work you do is vital to the life of this country, too vital for it to sit on the shoulders of one pony. Your work, as it has been, is done. From now on, you will work with the full authority of the crown as the Royal Spymaster.”

Night looked at her. “And what does that entail?” he asked.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she said. “You look exhausted.”

“I mean, getting into the castle without magic is a lot harder than I thought it was.”

Twilight smiled. “Come on, let’s get you to sleep. We’ll worry about everything else in the morning.”

Night nodded, and Twilight began to pull him over to her bed.

“You don’t have another room for me?” he asked.

Twilight smiled. “The bed’s big enough for eight ponies. I can share a corner with you tonight.”

Night smiled and surrendered to Twilight’s lead as she pulled him on the, admittedly huge, bed. They both climbed under the covers, and Twilight smiled as she closed her eyes.

Even though they weren’t touching, even though there was still four feet of empty mattress between them, Twilight smiled. Because now, finally, her bed no longer felt so cold or empty.

---$---

“So,” Rarity began as they sat at their Council of Friendship for the month. They sat in the same room they had occupied last month, surrounded by the towering bookshelves and sitting around the table filled with games they were getting ready to open as soon as business was done. “This Triad has been dealt with?”

“Yup!” Rainbow said. “I was there for some of it. They were hiding out in Whitetail woods.”

Applejack frowned. “Well then, I sure am glad that they got taken care of cause I don’t want to deal with criminals living in my backyard.”

“It would have been awful,” Fluttershy agreed. “Just imagined what would happen if they tried to rob the animal shelter.”

Twilight nodded. “I don’t like them being in the country to begin with, much less anywhere near Ponyville. But yes, they’ve been dealt with. We found their main hideout, hit it with the guard, and managed to arrest most of the ponies involved. Most of them will be going to prison for a long time, and we even managed to confiscate the artifacts that they were stealing. Speaking of Rainbow, can you get Daring Do to contact me so that we can either get these things into their proper homes or a good museum?”

“Sure!” Rainbow said with a smirk.

Applejack checked the shadows that clung to the ceiling of the room.

“Any other business we should discuss?” Twilight asked. “Any whispers from across the country?”

“Well if you ask the Manehatten rumor mill, Celestia has turned into a shut-in, and they’re not sure why.”

Twilight smiled. “No, she’s just going on vacation. She has a changeling amulet that she’s using to disguise herself as she goes on an adventure. Last I heard, she was heading south, into the San Palmino desert, but she’s assured me she’ll be fine.”

“Well, if you can get a message to her, then you might want to ask her to look into their agriculture,” Applejack said. “I’ve had a lot of requests from Braeburn to start shipping apples his way cause he’s having a hard time keeping up with demand.”

“I’ll try,” Twilight said, “but she’s moving fast and said that she wants to try and take a ship westward.”

“I wonder what she’ll find out there?” Pinkie chirped. “New tasty treats?”

“Maybe she’ll find some cute animals,” Fluttershy cooed.

“Perhaps some new fashion trends from across the sea ready to break out in the Equestria scene?” Rarity asked with a gleam in her eye.

“Ancient tombs to plunder?” Rainbow suggested.

“Girls,” Twilight interrupted. “It’s not our place to speculate on Celestia’s vacation. We need to focus on Equestria and the problems we have to deal with. Now, speaking of that, I have somepony I need to introduce to you all.”

Applejack shifted in her chair and smiled wide.

The others also gave Twilight their full attention as Twilight looked up into the darkness of the room and smiled as she stared at a dark shape perched on one of the bookshelves. “As some of you may or may not have noticed, we’ve had a guest for the past three meetings.”

Everypony, excluding Applejack, all immediately followed Twilight’s gaze to the figure. They stared up at him with wide eyes as they suddenly realized that they were sharing the room.

“Night, why don’t you come down here?” she asked.

Night obeyed, using the catapult spell to drop to the floor. He stood before the gathered mares and shifted slightly on his hooves.

“This is Night Silk,” Twilight said with a smile. “He is the new Royal Spymaster and is in charge of keeping an ear to the ground for news of what’s going on in the criminal underworld. He’s also going to be training the new spies. Night, these are my friends.”

Night opened his mouth to speak, but his vision became a world of pink in the space doing so.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! It’s great to meet you! We should have a party!”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash called from her chair. “You’re the pony that we were trying to save a few weeks ago, right?”

“So we’re finally getting to meet the shadow, huh?” Applejack said, coming around to stand beside Night as Pinkie started to cover Night in confetti and a party hat. “Put ‘er there!” she said, shaking his hoof.

Twilight watched as her friends nearly swallowed Night whole in interest as they all tried to get a piece of the Princess’s new friend. She smiled as she watched them drag Night over to the table and began to bombard him with questions. How’d they meet, when’d they met, and anything else they could try to squeeze out of the poor stallion.

She’d let them push him a little bit, just a little bit, before coming to his rescue. She needed to let him flounder for a moment or two just to satisfy her friends’ curiosity. Otherwise, they’d hound the both of them for weeks after this.

Twilight took a breath before striding forward. “Alright, alright! Enough crowding the poor stallion. We can talk about these kinds of things, but let’s socialize over games and give him a chance to breathe. Do you know how to play Colonists of Saram, Night?”

“I...uh...I think. I’ve only seen you guys play once before.”

“Don’t worry!” Pinkie said. “I’ll teach you! We’ll be a team! Beware of power of Red Nation’s economy!”

Night blinked.

“She’s always like that,” Twilight said reassuringly. “It’ll be fun, though. I promise.”

They sat down, set up the board, and began to play.

And before the night was over, Twilight and her Master Thief were smiling.

Chapter 1

Princess Twilight Sparkle, High Ruler of Equestria, sat in her throne room, listening to her unicorn advisor as she presented the latest item on her docket. They were currently breaking down the yearly budget, and while Princess Celestia had spared her by finalizing a budget before she abdicated, Twilight couldn’t put it off any longer.

The lavender alicorn sat, wings fluttering occasionally, as Raven Inkwell, one of Princess Celestia’s old advisors, continued to list the percentages of the current budget. That alone would have been bad enough, but Twilight knew that a new list of percentages that was mostly the same except for a few proposed changes threatened her time further.

The grey-colored mare smiled as neared the end of the first list. “And finally, security, as it stands now, is at 10%.”

“That seems a little high,” Twilight noted.

“Well, with you six retiring from adventuring, they have to make the difference up somewhere,” Spike said, sitting next to her.

The young dragon sat next to Twilight’s throne, reading a comic book, to the obvious annoyance of Raven. Twilight’s old friend, and famed “Number 1 Assistant,” frequently entertained himself during meetings, mostly because he had little to add, and these kinds of politics quickly bored him. Still, Twilight was growing more and more confident that he was playing it up to annoy his fellow advisor.

“The proposal to defund them was your idea!” Raven growled.

“We’ll get to that item,” Spike said, before continuing on with the comic. “I have a particular problem.”

Raven glared at him but nonetheless continued. “Now, your Highness,” she said with a sigh, “the budget as proposed is as follows.”

She began listing the new budget, and Twilight resisted the urge to sigh. Sure, Princess Celestia—or rather, Just Celestia these days—groomed her to be the new ruler of Equestria before she and Luna retired, but no amount of grooming could prepare her for how utterly boring the bureaucracy was.

Maybe she could hire someone to deal with it for her? Perhaps one of her old friends, like Rarity, she certainly had an eye for detail. She’d just...have to give up...the boutique business she spent so much time working on…

Okay, so no luck on that. Still, it would be hilarious to watch Pinkie Pie give a report.

“And finally, Mr. The Dragon would like to cut the security budget from 10 to 7.5%,” Raven said with a slight edge in her tone.

“Why the twenty-five percent drop?” Twilight asked, turning to Spike.

Spike closed his comic book and sat straight. “Because, when I asked Captain Azure about it, he replied that ten percent of the budget went to two ponies.”

Twilight blinked. “Two ponies?” she asked, before turning to her Captain of the guard. “Is that true Captain?” she asked, suspicious of the fact that millions of bits went to two ponies.

Captain Azure Heart, a large earth pony by most standards, glanced up from his position at the side of the throne room. “This is true, your Majesty, though I will say that the ponies in question are incredibly talented. One is the Royal safemaker, and is responsible for much of the research, development, designing, and building of the various vaults around the country for your use. And…” he suddenly trailed off. “I can vouch for their usefulness of the other.”

Twilight blinked, confused. “I...see,” she said. “Well, if they're as useful as you say, then I would like to speak with them.”

The Captain shook his head. “That will not be necessary. Your Highness, I can present papers to prove his usefulness.”

Twilight sighed before checking the time. It was getting late, and Spike was probably going to get hungry here in a few minutes. “Let’s...let’s finish this discussion later, I’m getting tired, and I’m not in the mood to think about meeting anypony.”

Spike, Inkwell, and Captain Azure nodded.

Twilight stood from her throne, feeling relief flooding her hind legs as she moved them for the first time in hours. Spike stood up beside her, ready to walk beside her. She sighed as they turned away, and she whispered as they began to head to the Royal Dining Room. “I miss my friends.”

“You’ll see them again soon,” Spike offered. “The next council of friendship will be in a few weeks.”

She nodded, but that wasn’t what she really meant. She missed being with them, going on adventures with them, talking with them, about the important things, and the trivial things. She missed…

She sighed, and went to eat, hoping that dinner would at least make her feel better.

---$---

A shadow climbed the side of Canterlot Castle. The shadow of a pony, hooded and cloaked, slowly pulled himself up a rope to the top of the castle wall. The pony strangely cast no shadow of his own, but he did have a name.

His name was Night Silk, and closer inspection would reveal that he was not a shadow. Though, in fairness, his warm, dark-grey coat did disguise him against the darkness. Even that could be deceiving, however, as the horn on his head rang with magic, letting anyone who saw him know that magic was involved.

Beyond the horn, no one could tell this was an illusion, and the real Night Silk was climbing a different wall. He liked to use “Control Image” spells to move his visible form and draw attention away from where he was heading.

As the unicorn crested the wall, he saw his visual form had just finished climbing the tower, and guards were beginning to run for it, their torches little pinpricks of light in the darkness.

Night smiled before turning down the wall and whistling to himself, knowing full well his visual form was doing the same. He had to say their reaction time was getting better, even if they were going the wrong direction, but they had plenty of time to fix that mistake.

He walked along, before spotting his target, the donjon, the tallest tower of the keep, with a light shining at the highest room.

“Our new Princess should be going to sleep any minute now,” he said, aloud, as if hoping someone would hear him. In fact, any guard next to the image would hear it and being scrambling just like Night hoped they would.

He dropped the spell, giving himself a moment to breathe before he leaped down to the courtyard. He ran across the opening, unimpeded. Most of the ponies stationed there, especially the ones that should be watching for him, went off chasing his magical image, all the way to the far end of the castle.

He flattened himself against the Keep wall and glanced back up at the donjon, where the light at the very top went out. At the sight of the princess going to sleep, Night smiled to himself and slipped inside, confident that the entire place was his to ransack.

He whistled his way through the foyer and made his way to the open bridge that led to the donjon proper. Usually, a strategic chokepoint made for a great point to hold back invaders, but here, it only served as a place to watch the guards scramble as they tried to keep up.

Night shook his head and whistled across the bridge. Once in the tower proper, Night passed by a handful of tapestries, priceless pieces of pottery, and the occasional invaluable knick-knack. He trotted past these with a smile and an upturned nose, before making his way to the real treasures.

With a smirk, he approached the door that read, “Do Not Enter! Princesses Only!” before checking the lock.

The door opened without resistance, and Night rolled his eyes. Still, he slipped past and down the stairs, before finding his first target. A bell, much like the ones worn by the Goat people in the mountains north of Griffinstone, sat on a small pedestal, in a glass box. The dark blue metal looked bent, battered, and cracked, but the etching in it belied a faint glow of the power that still sat in it.

He glanced down at the bell and wondered how to take it best. He could theoretically make a copy of the bell, but it would drain his magic the longer he let it go, not to mention the teleport spell he’d need to make the switch, which was far beyond his capabilities. He could also try and lift the bell, but he couldn’t be sure what security measures were on the box.

Then again, considering that the Princess left the door open, he couldn’t put it past her to leave the bell without something to protect it.

He glanced around the case, trying to determine what was defending the bell, and wishing that he knew a perceiving spell. Finally, he decided that he didn’t have much choice, and if an alarm did go off, he’d just have to take the bell and run. If an alarm didn’t go off, then he’d get to have more fun.

He frowned before looking around the room. There was a large mirror, far too big for him to carry out with him, so pilfering that was out of the question, but he was sure he could find something else.

Another pedestal caught his eye, with several blue, crystal shards laying at its top. He smiled as he saw the little plaque underneath it reading “Key of Unfettered Entrance to be fixed with Relic Reconstruction spell.” He casually picked up one of the shards and wondered if it was worth grabbing the pieces. They didn’t have as much worth until the Key was back in one piece, but he was still here to make a point.

He set one down before checking the next pedestal. “The Animamulet,” its plaque read, which was as far as he got before Night slipped that into his bag. Along with the amulet on the next pedestal, which simply read “Time Twirler, WARNING: may explode in Equestrian atmosphere, do not use.”

He glanced around again, before figuring that there wasn’t much else that was dangerous enough to be worth stealing other than the Bewitching Bell itself.

He approached the case one more time, before glancing at the inside of the case once more. He didn’t see anything that suggested any “Perceiving” magic, but then again he hadn’t figured out how to work with alarms. He usually didn’t have to worry about it, because he’d just grab the item and go, but Night still had one more stop on this little heist of his, and with the guards slowly closing in on him, he didn’t have much chance to go up before coming back down.

There was no way he was passing this up, though.

So, without much choice, he carefully lifted the box.

There was no fireball, so Night took that as a good sign, before swiping the bell in a quick motion.

When nothing happened again, he smiled and slipped the bell into his saddlebags. “Well then,” he thought with a smile, “these ponies need a good talk about security.” Pushing that thought aside, he then looked up the stairs, where the real prize still waited.

---$---

Twilight Sparkle sat up.

“Someone’s touched the bell!” the thought crashed through her mind like a gong, waking her to attention. Her “Amethyst’s Silent Alarm” spell had woke her in an instant, and she checked the room as she got to her hooves.

The Royal Bed-chamber was silent, which offered her no comfort at the moment. She slipped out of her bed and felt her hooves faintly slap against the tile below her. The sound rang in her ears, so she spread her wings floated across the room to land next to the door, which she cracked open with a creak.

“Princess?” the guard posted at her door asked. “Is something wrong?”

“I...” she began. “Somepony’s taken Grogar’s Bell. My alarm spell went off, and I…”

“I’m on it, your Majesty,” the guard replied, before rushing off down the stairs.

“No, wait, I—” she began, though the guard didn’t hear her. She sighed and turned back to her room. “No, go ahead, it’s not like I wanted to check it out or anything,” she grumbled, before mentally berating herself.

“It is his job, Twilight. He’s supposed to go and check on those kinds of things.”

Still, it seemed unfair that she was stuck in her room while her guards were heading to stop a possibly country-threatening situation in the bowels of her castle. It’s not like she couldn’t deal with the problem herself; she had saved Equestria what, nine times now?

She quickly double-checked.

No, it was ten times, she forgot to count the time Flurry Heart needed to have her Crystalling, the Crystal Heart broke, and nearly threw the Crystal Empire into a winter that would have caused the entire city-state to starve. Though that one did have a few stipulations like the fact that it wasn’t actually “Equestria” but an allied neighbor, and that Sunburst had done the research to fix the—

Her door creaked.

She spun, turning to face the door, which sat slightly open.

“Guard?” she called, wondering if he returned.

There was no answer.

“Guard?” she called again, staring into the dark.

Still no answer.

Tink!

The sound nearly made her jump a foot into the air, as it was, she immediately turned to the left to see where the noise came from.

A small marble rolled across her floor, having obviously bounced off one of the marble columns that lined the room. She blinked, before turning back to the door, which hung wide open.

Twilight felt her heart leap into her throat before turning. A shadowed figure stood behind her, and that’s when her body jumped into action. A shove of telekinetic energy slammed the pony into the wall.

The thief moved to dodge, but his hind leg was caught in the blast, leaving him spinning across the room.

Twilight caught him in a second, using Starswirls’ Net of Entrapment, which pinned the thief down with a magical force that forced him to the ground. He groaned under the weight before Twilight bore down on him, hoof on his throat. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

He gurgled, before holding out his hoof.

Her eyes went wide as she looked down at his hoof, which held an amulet.

More specifically, her amulet. The one that she used to focus her power to raise the sun and moon.

“Are you insane?” she screeched, grabbing the amulet and retreating from the still-pinned thief.

“Yeah, no, that one was on me. I should have stuck to the lower levels,” the figure said, gasping.

“Are you insane!” Twilight asked again, before bundling him together in the magical net.

This time, now that Twilight wasn’t stepping on this throat, he could breathe and answer her properly. Which was a change that he felt thankful for. “Hey, taking the bell was so simple that I had to try. Can you imagine the fame of the thief that stole the Princess’ ability to control the sun and moon?”

“Are you insane?” she asked once more.

“Your Majesty, what’s—” a guard asked, before seeing the thief bound together in a magical net laying on the ground.

“Arrest this pony!” Twilight said. “Throw him in the dungeon.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” the thief said. “I’m doing this for you, after all.”

Twilight turned back to face him, confusion written on her face. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, Princess,” the thief said. “Don’t you know, you hired me?”

Twilight looked absolutely aghast and turned back to the guard. “Throw him in the dungeon right now, before I do something drastic.”

“Yes, Your Highness!” The guard replied before grabbing the thief.

The thief, for his part, had relaxed, almost completely. “Now throwing me in the dungeon is hardly fair. I mean, I didn’t even get to keep anything,” he said, reaching into his bag to pull the old metal bell. “I assume you want this back, too, at least.”

Twilight paled at the sight of it, before snatching it away. “Give me that! Do you even know what this thing could have done to us all?”

“Of course I did, that’s why I stole it,” he said, indignantly.

The Princess stared at him with eyes wide open, trying to decide whether she was confused, terrified, or furious.

“Take him away! Take him away right now!”

"Yes, Ma’am!” the guard said, before pulling the thief away.

“You’re going to throw me in jail before knowing my name?” the thief asked, sounding hurt.

“Yes!” Twilight said, still trying to piece the thief’s attitude to his actions. “Yes, that’s typically how being thrown in jail works! You get processed after being arrested!”

“Yes, but I snuck into your personal bed-chamber while you were still here. Surely the brazenness counts for something?”

Twilight glanced up at him. “You...you are actually insane,” she said. “You are actually an insane pony. That’s the only explanation for this.”

“Well, that’s a little rude,” the thief said, throwing back his hood to reveal his gold and ivory mane. “But that’s secondary to the point I keep trying to get at. My name is Night, Night Silk, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, your Majesty.”

Twilight didn’t say anything else. Instead, her horn lit as she began to push both Night and the guard out of her room before the door closed behind them.

Night smiled to himself as he was being led away, still with two artifacts in his bag. His next big challenge would be to sneak at least one of them into his cell.

Twilight, meanwhile, stood on the other side of the door and blinked.

“I...I’m going back to bed,” she said to no one in particular. She climbed back into her bed and took a deep, shaky sigh as she tried to relax back to sleep. She’d...she’d deal with the madpony tomorrow, right now, she was too wound up to even think about it.

She sunk beneath the covers of her bed and released a slow, shaky breath.

She could deal with this in the morning, right after raising the sun. It was going to be just fine.

Just fine.

Her door slammed open. “Twilight!” Spike’s voice called, scaring her from her bed. “Twilight, we’re being robbed!”

Twilight lay against the stone floor for a moment, then sighed.

---$---

Night was thrown into a cell and smiled to himself as he took a seat on the cot he had. Sure, prison cots weren’t the most comfortable things in the world, but he always found the cot in the castle’s prison to be the nicest.

He laid back, his bag and cloak gone, and the guards sealed his horn and magic by forcing him through the bubble-like doorway to his cell. Honestly, he wasn’t worried about that, though. The spell had been built for public events and would wear off on its own by morning.

More importantly, he was going to prove his point and get paid for it.

He reached up into his mane and carefully pulled out the small purple talisman called the Time Twirler. This was the one that he read could explode. It didn’t seem terribly dangerous, but that would only help him make his point. And he was going to make it a very loud point.

Chapter 4

Night whistled to himself as he wandered through Canterlot Castle’s hallways. According to his previous scouting, he knew that the Princess would be taking her lunch in the castle solarium. He continued to whistle, taking a left into the large, open room with the glass roof. “Hello, Princess,” he said as he took a seat opposite her.

Twilight glanced at him, looking over her Hayburger Hay meal, with enough decency to look ashamed over being caught with ketchup on her lips. “You weren’t announced,” she said, pointing out the fact that seemed more pressing for her at the moment.

“By the way, you did a better job on the door to the magical, world-ending artifacts. Of course, now you need to actually protect the normal valuables,” he said, placing a vase on the table. “2nd era piece, very nice,” he said casually.

Twilight blinked. “Excuse me?”

Night smirked, before reaching for one of Twilight’s hayfries.

That got the first real reaction out of her, as she snagged the fry back. “Do not touch my fries!” she warned. “Why are you even here?” she asked suddenly.

Night smiled and set a book in front of her. “This is the ledger of none other than Blackjack, a leader of a gang. Specifically, it deals with allocating funds taken from ponies that have been forced into a protection racket by that gang leader.”

Twilight set her burger aside before carefully picking up the ledger.

“It took quite a bit of work to get this book, you know,” Night said. “A decent job, if I do say so myself.”

Twilight began scanning the lines in the book.

“Yup, I managed to nab this thing just last night.”

---$---

Night watched from the alley next to the small apartment building, as the rain poured down around him. The warehouse stood like a wraith in the distance, hidden by the curtain of the storm. Night smirked as he glanced at it before he prepared his equipment. A small grappling hook, made of left-over rebar, hovered next to him in his magical control matter grasp. The old thing was one of his first pieces of proper thieving equipment, and while he felt that he mostly had grown beyond it, he occasionally broke it out of his old storage shed for a job or two.

This was going to be one such job.

He slipped across the street, avoiding the occasional carriage that rattled by, before pressing himself against the wall. Working carefully, he slowly lifted the hook to the top of the storage container and secured it.

Sure, he could have thrown the hook, it certainly would have drained his magical reserve less than lifting it up the entire way, but he wanted to make as little noise as possible right now. Hooking the rope on tight, he began to climb, using the knots he tied into the rope beforehand to give him a grip as he rose.

He pulled himself over the edge of the storage container, grabbed the hook, and then jumped down into the shadows, rolling into cover. He quickly coiled the rope into a small bundle, as he began to glance around the courtyard.

He could barely see either side of the courtyard from where he stood, though the building was far easier to see by now. More importantly, he could just notice the open container where a pair of ponies played cards by lantern light.

He slipped up next to it and listened carefully to the conversation.

“...heard that she’s on the warpath again. Something about the 6th Street Gang in Baltimare cutting in on their turf.”

“Match,” a female voice said with a sigh. “That’s what you get for listening to Shoeshine. That stallion’s got less brains than a parakeet.”

“Parakeets are actually considered to be some of the most intelligent birds out there, Pearl,” the first one said with a sigh.

“And I didn’t ask you, did I?” Pearl asked back. “Now, play your damn cards.”

Night frowned.

They certainly didn’t sound like they hated each other, even if they were on each other’s nerves. He could use Control Image to literally put words in one of their mouths, but it wouldn’t change the face to match. Changing their face to look angry would take a different spell, and while an incantation could exist to change both, he didn’t know how to twist his soul to get that.

Starting a fight like that was a little too risky. He’d have to try a different one.

He reached out with his magic, using Create Matter to form a small item on one of the pony’s sleeves.

“What’s that?” Pearl asked.

“What’s what?” Match asked back.

“Is that a card?”

“What?”

“There, in your sleeve!”

“What? H-how’d that—”

“You cheater!”

“I wasn’t cheating!”

Night peeked his head around the corner, where he saw the mare barking into the slightly smaller stallion’s face.

“That’s a load bullsh—”

“I wasn’t cheating!” Match yelled back, pulling the card from his sleeve. “I didn’t put this here!”

Night grit his teeth, focusing on keeping the paper together.

“Then how’d it get there? Huh?” Pearl asked.

“I don’t know!”

This was going to be the only real shot he got, he realized. So, still concentrating on his spell, he stepped across the open storage container and slipped across the courtyard. Once there, he gave himself another fifteen seconds before dropping the spell, letting the card disintegrate into pure energy.

Create Matter spells were always a little draining, but making something that large for that long was beginning to tire Night out, and he still had the warehouse to get to.

It’d be fine though; he wasn’t a Master Thief for nothing.

He got out his hook, again, before using his magic to lift it up to the roof of the warehouse proper, and quickly climbed the rope onto it. The top of the warehouse, little more than corrugated steel sheets, groaned slightly under Night’s weight. Still, the sound would go unnoticed compared to the clattering of the rain against the metal.

He glanced back for a bit as he gathered his rope, watching the open storage container for any sign that the pair in there noticed that the card disappeared.

Other than the occasional yell that cut through the storm, they didn’t make a sound.

He smirked, before glancing around to check for sentries. When he found none, he took a second to relax and try to rest and recover from his spell. He sat in the rain for a moment before he got up and pushed forward. He needed to keep moving if he didn’t want to get caught.

He moved across the roof, doing his best to move without causing the sheets of steel to bow under his weight. Finally, he found a window whose broken glass left a hole large enough for him to squeeze through and slipped inside.

As he assumed, the windows did not have a stable place to stand once he got in. However, he was pleasantly surprised to see one of the steel rafters nearby. Smiling, he slipped onto it, carefully balancing his way across the warehouse, giving him a near-perfect view of the layout.

The floor was filled with gang members. They walked across the floor, singing bad drinking songs as they drank their fill of lousy beer. The main room was divided into a bunch of smaller spaces, with the help of stacked crates and the occasional storage container. Glancing around, Night also saw a long catwalk that hugged the sides of the building. His gaze followed it’s winding paths all the way to the stairs that led up to it and the suspended office space.

More specifically, an office from which it would be incredibly easy to see him.

He quickly cast his Control Image spell to transpose his image directly above the office, where it would be safely out of sight. The spell wouldn’t last long with him still recovering from the card trick, but he would have to make do long enough to get over there. His magical reserved was running low, though. He’d begin cutting into his physical energy if he kept up his spells, so Night needed to move as quickly as he could.

Taking a moment to steady himself, he leaped over to the next rafter. His chest rammed into the rafter, knocking the air from his lungs as he focused on just trying to keep his spell up and stationary over the office. He clambered up back onto the rafter and then leaped again, onto the next.

His magical reserve was spent, and now his body was beginning to compete with his spell. His legs were starting to shake, and he silently cursed that he had to waste so much energy on making a card. He released another, long, shaky exhale, and then leaped across to the last rafter.

Finally, above the office, he released the spell and laid across the rafter. He breathed a moment, taking a rest as he tried to ready himself for the rest of the night’s thieving.

He took a few minutes before he hung his hook on the rafter and slid down the rope. He landed softly on the top of the room and began to move carefully toward the office’s edge, before pulling out a set of mirrors. Holding them in his magic, he carefully arranged them into a simple periscope and glanced into the office.

A large earth pony mare with a dull red coat and a purple mane sat at a table, apparently writing in a large book. The large brown club on her flank marked her as Blackjack herself, and she apparently had taken up log keeping.

She stood suddenly, and Night pulled the mirrors back up and out of view. The clatter of the rain meant he still couldn’t hear anything that was going on, so he had to carefully angle the mirror at the ground. That way, unless Blackjack was crawling an inch above the floor, he’d see her hooves before she would see his periscope.

Sure enough, her hooves appeared in his view. He carefully watched them as she slowly approached the window, no doubt to make sure her gang members didn’t get too rowdy as they celebrated the end of a long night of “hard work.”

Her hooves turned, and she began to walk away. Night followed her with his mirror the whole way, watching her as she slowly approached the door in the back of the office. She opened the door and walked through, leaving the book alone on the desk.

Night smiled, and he made his move, slipping across the office roof until he made it just above the door. The door did have a guard, a single pony that glanced about occasionally, and stared down the stairs that led to the ground floor.

Now, this would be the most challenging part of the entire operation. He didn’t have the strength to take out the guard himself, nor could he use sounds to distract him, because of the rain. All of his real solutions for taking care of him would very quickly devolve into a fight and get a lot of attention on him very quickly. So he had very little that he could use to deal with the guard.

Or it would if it weren’t for the noise.

He cast a “Create Image” spell, and an illusionary blindfold covered the pony’s eyes. He turned back and forth suddenly, trying to find something. He reached for his eyes, but his hooves slipped through the blindfold. Night could see the pony begin to breathe wildly, and Night smiled as he started to panic.

Honestly, he could watch him do this all night, but he didn’t have the energy to keep the spell going. Night dropped, kicking the guard in the back. The guard let loose a yell that was barely heard over the rain, and he tumbled down the stairs.

Night knew he wouldn’t have much more of a chance, so he rushed into the office and checked the book. A list of names met him, and he knew he found precisely what he needed.

---$---

“From there, it was a simple matter of getting back onto the roof and getting out before they could notice me,” Night explained, having finished recounting his night’s story. “Normally, I like to work a little quieter, but considering I couldn’t distract him with some noise, I thought it was a rather elegant solution.”

There was silence at the table for a second, before Twilight spoke up. “That’s it?”

Night blinked. “Excuse me?”

“That’s it?” Twilight repeated. “You snuck into a warehouse, exhausted yourself by casting a few spells, and then grabbed a book of names and numbers?”

Night bristled. “I snuck into a warehouse filled with at least a hundred ponies, and only one of these was even aware that I was there because I blinded him. I cast a powerful Create Matter spell, which would exhaust any number of unicorns off the street. Then I managed to grab a ledger that proves that a pony is running a protection racket in your city, and your guards can’t do anything about it!”

“A hundred drunk ponies, according to your own account,” Twilight noted before she held the book up. “But beyond that, look at this. This could be a normal business ledger. This isn’t proof that you uncovered a ring of highly-organized criminals running a protection racket. Besides, if they were, my guards could take care of that.”

“They try!” Night said. “They try, and then the criminals get out for nearly nothing! If your guards had this book, they could begin the biggest arrest of the decade!”

Twilight shook her head. “Look, before I was Princess, I used to go out on adventures with my friends. We could have done something like this. In fact, we had a time where we were competing to get past the palace’s security ourselves. We managed to get into the throne room, and we are by no means 'Masters' at thieving. If you want to impress me, you’re going to have to do better than that.”

Night felt his eye twitch. “I know you used to adventure, that’s why I thought you’d be a better judge of how difficult a job is.”

Twilight shrugged and set the book back down on the table. “Sorry, Night, I’m just not impressed.”

Night took a deep breath and stood. “I see. I’ll return then, hopefully with a better job for you, Your Highness.”

“Actually, since I have you here, I’d like to discuss something with you.”

“Would you?” Night asked.

“I would. I have unfortunately not been able to corroborate your story with Celestia as of yet,” Twilight said. “I’m expecting a letter from her within a few days, but I do want to hear what kind of jobs you’ve claimed to have done for Celestia.”

Night glared at her for a moment before he spoke. “I would love to be able to discuss this with you, Princess. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time right now. Can we discuss it in the tea room in an hour?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with now?”

“Well, for one,” Night said. “Your guard is currently looking for me.”

“What?”

“Oh, I snuck past them for this audience. That’s how I managed to grab the vase there.”

“What?” Twilight asked again, sounding scandalized.

The smile on Night’s face was beginning to return. “As I said, Princess, I’ll see you in an hour.” Then without another word, he walked out of the room.

Twilight didn’t even have the time to return to her now-cold hayburger before the guards burst in, Captain Azure at the lead. “Your Highness, we’ve had reports that Night Silk infiltrated the castle again. I hate to interrupt you during your meal, but have you seen him?”

She frowned and pointed toward the door he just left through. “You just missed him, Captain.”

The Captain’s face darkened, and he barked at his guards. “After him! He is not going to get away with this in broad daylight!”

“Yes sir!” came the guards’ chorus, as they all began to pile through the door.

Twilight hesitated a moment before calling out. “Captain?”

“Yes, Your Highness?” he replied, coming to her side instantly. “Captain, can you tell me anything about a group of ponies known as Blackjack’s gang?”

The Captain hesitated for a moment. “They’re very dangerous ponies, your Highness. Ones that have been a plague all across Equestria for too long.”

“So why haven’t you dealt with them?” she asked.

“We lack evidence, Your Highness.”

Twilight frowned, as though lost in thought for a long moment. “And if you had proof that they were running a protection racket in Manehatten?”

“It would be a start, Your Highness. One that I feel is long overdue.”

Twilight nodded. “Would this help?” she asked, sliding the ledger over to him.

He glanced at it and picked it up, flipping through the pages for a moment, before he nodded. “Did Night bring this in?”

She nodded.

“This would be enough to launch an investigation, certainly,” the Captain said. “Unfortunately, as it has been obtained by illegal means, it’s not something that I can use. Especially because I can’t prove that it came from Blackjack’s gang.”

Twilight nodded. “I see,” she stared at the door that Night had escaped through. “Thank you, Captain. Can you do me a favor?”

“Anything, Your Highness,” Azure said.

Twilight picked up the vase from where she hid it under the table. “Can you put this back where it belongs? I’m afraid I have no clue where it should be.”

The Captain looked down at the vase with a scowl that Twilight would admit was not too different from the expression he usually wore. “Of course, Your Highness. I assume Night is responsible for this as well?”

Twilight nodded.

Azure sighed before carefully taking the vase in one hoof and walking away.

Twilight watched him go for a second, before finishing her burger and fries. “There’s one more thing that’s bothering me about all of this,” she thought to herself. “Why does he keep calling spells by their Techniques and Forms?”

Chapter 19

Spike walked straight into Raven’s barely-used office and leaned against the door.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Did you really, really tell Twilight that she needs to stop being an adventurer?” he asked.

“No, I said we don’t need an adventurer,” she said. “Which we don’t. We need a Princess.”

Spike blinked. “Wow. For a second, I believed that you were just bad at your job, but apparently, you’re also denser than some diamonds I’ve eaten.”

Raven glanced up at him. “What are you babbling about?” she asked.

“We don’t need an adventurer. We need a Princess,” Spike mocked in a high-pitched tone. “She is an adventurer. They were like her two jobs before this, Librarian, and Adventurer!”

Raven rolled her eyes as though she were about to explain this to a child. “I’m not saying that Twilight is bad at ruling because she’s an adventurer. I’m saying—”

“You’re saying that she can’t adventure,” Spike finished. “How dare she fix her problems with her own two hooves. How dare she do something herself! She should just sit on her flank forever because that’s obviously the best option.”

Raven sighed. “I’m not saying that, either.”

“Then what are you saying?” Spike asked. “She is looking into a problem herself, using all of her experience to come to the right decision, and here you are saying that she’s dumb for doing so.”

Raven sighed again. “She’s distracting herself. She doesn’t need to be doing this. She could have you looking into this because, let’s be fair, you’re not doing anything important.”

“Hilarious,” Spike growled, “but she’s doing this herself because she obviously not going to trust you to do it.”

Raven bristled. “She does trust me! I’ve been helping to run the country for years. I know the ins and outs of this whole country better than almost anypony here! Celestia trusted me; why on earth would Princess Twilight not trust me? You only think she doesn’t trust me because—”

“Because you lost all the records of Night working with Celestia?” Spike asked. “Because Celestia made all the decisions, and you just nodded along? Because you’re a glorified paper pusher.”

Raven narrowed her eyes. “Get out of my office,” she growled.

“Sure,” Spike said. “I’ll leave you to your 'work.’”

Raven glared after him as the dragon left before she stared down at the sewage management plan that needed her signature before checking the clock on her wall. It was still too early in the morning to get a drink, so she growled to herself. “I’m taking a break,” she said to no one in particular.

---$---

Another few days went by before Night contacted Twilight again. The other two big players were quieting down, but Night had heard of another possible target for Moon’s Pack that he wanted to scout out and secure in case things went poorly for them.

Twilight wondered if he thought she forgot about everything.

She sent a message back, letting him know that she would be in Vanhoover within the day and that she’d be ready to listen to whatever new plan he concocted. She idly wondered if she should try and bring up whatever was bothering him about whatever he was hiding when Twilight finally got there, or if she would continue to play the long game and surprise him with a therapist.

She eventually decided against confronting him, if only so she could double down on making friends with him first. Of course, she didn’t finalize that idea until she knocked on the door of the safehouse.

This safehouse was an actual, proper house. An old, small, and abandoned one as far as everypony else in the neighborhood was concerned, but a house nonetheless. The almost too-small, single-story building would have made for a great first house for a newlywed couple, even if it was also the kind of place that looked like it would gladly welcome a mold problem in the basement.

Night opened the door and invited the Princess inside. “Come on in,” he said. “Blackboard’s in the living room.” There was a slight, uncomfortable edge to his voice, and Twilight didn’t need to be an expert to know that he was apprehensive about another possible conversation about his past.

Twilight smiled and said nothing before following Night’s directions. The moment she entered the room, she slipped her saddlebags onto the floor and glanced up at the blackboard. The Carthusian Institute just opened a new exhibit in honor of Meadowbrook, where three of her eight artifacts would be displayed. The three they secured for the presentation were her healer’s mask, Meadowbrook’s Herb Pouch, and the Caduceus of Hayseed. The mask, while a useful focus for animal magic, wasn’t incredibly powerful. The pouch which could reproduce any herb slipped into it for a near-unlimited supply, had a few uses, once given enough time to recharge, and the staff could identify poisons and helped the wielder make a cure.

As Twilight glanced up at the three artifacts, she briefly wondered if she should begin expanding her studies into earth-pony magic enchantment before asking herself which would make the best thing to steal.

While valuable as a collector’s item, the mask had an enchantment that had since been replicated, though weaker. What’s more, the magic itself would only be useful to someone who frequently worked with feral animals or insects, which admittedly, did not sound like many criminals. It was, however, the most valuable one, archeologically speaking. While Fluttershy had found it in what had to be Meadowbrook’s hut, which only survived because it was a tree, it had only been revealed as an artifact when Meadowbrook herself said as much. Only then was the mask considered important enough to be studied, once everypony was sure it wasn’t just decorative.

If Twilight remembered correctly, the conversation went something like: “Wait, that’s the mask.”

“The magic one I made? Yes. How do you think it survived for over two thousand years?”

While an incredibly powerful artifact of its time, the Caduceus had mostly become obsolete with the years of advancements in medical science. Sure, it might be useful to identify a handful of new poisons, but beyond that, it wasn’t incredibly valuable unless it went to a collector.

Which left the pouch, which, unless someone wanted to stockpile a near-infinite supply of basil, or run an alchemy shop, then there wasn’t much reason to get that either.

Night finally joined her. “I’m almost positive that this is the next place that Moon would strike.”

“What makes you say that?” Twilight asked. “These artifacts aren’t especially valuable to ponies that aren’t healers.”

“I agree, but remember, Moon steals for prestige, and stealing a newly-found magical artifact from the Carthusian is as prestigious as you could get.”

“Fair point,” she said. “In that case, I’d put my money on the mask. It’s the latest re-discovery, so that has to be one with the most press on it.”

Night nodded. “I concur, Princess. Now, let’s get to work planning this out.”

---$---

The Carthusian Institute, one of the largest museums in Equestria, went quiet. A handful of security guards began to patrol the hallways and exhibits as the unicorn, who acted as the head of security, double-checked the alarm crystals that kept the displays safe.

All of this was taken into account as Twilight and Night slipped inside. Both were hiding their Images, either shrinking it with Transform or moving it with Control, respectively. Twilight clung to the sides of the room, her two-inch tall “body” nearly perfectly hidden by the shadows of the dimmed lights.

Night had a slightly harder time. His Image had to go through several silent rolls and acrobatic leaps across the ceiling, which was quickly going to wear him out. Unfortunately, Night had worked with the museum before, so they knew of this particular trick, which is why Night had to almost literally jump through all the hoops.

Twilight watched as Night had his body slink from vent to vent in the open ceiling above the exhibit floor, which no doubt meant that his own body, though un-seeable, was frequently being left in the open so that his Image could take proper cover above.

Maybe she should teach this specific Transform Image spell. Sure, it would give him access to one of the most powerful Techniques in unicorn magic, but it would also give him a much better tool.

Finally, both of them made it to the Meadowbrook exhibit, and they sidled up next to each other, using only their sense of touch. “Alright, do you see it?” Night asked, panting slightly.

Twilight nodded before remembering that he’d have to look down at her smaller form to see that before whispering back. “Yeah, it’s just to the left of us. I also have the fake.”

The ‘fake’ was almost as legitimate as the one under the glass, considering that Meadowbrook also made it. And while she wondered why the Princess of Equestria wanted a mask that looked exactly like her old one, minus an earth pony enchantment, she still made one and accepted that Twilight just wanted a mask.

“Okay, let’s go.”

They both slipped inside, and Twilight began to cast a Create Matter spell.

Directly next to the display with the mask, another podium, made entirely of gas, appeared. A quick transform spell made a perfect copy of the one next to it, and Twilight slid the fake mask from her bag into the new case.

The moment she stopped touching the mask, it disappeared from her miniature form’s hooves and appeared in the case fully formed.

She nodded before turning to Night. “You ready?”

Night nodded. “Just give me a second to catch my breath.”

“You know I can make the illusion too,” Twilight offered. “I can take care of it.”

“No,” Night said. “I don’t want you getting any ideas that you can do this all by yourself. I don’t know if I could live with myself if a soft-hoofed Princess replaced me.”

“Excuse you,” she said.

Night focused as hard as he could before he split his spell over himself, and the pedestal with the real mask seemed to join Night on the ceiling. “Okay,” Night said, panting. “Now I just need to sit down somewhere and keep holding this until the others show up.”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll go give the perimeter a quick sweep,” Twilight said. “If someone gets in here, let me know.”

“Got it,” he replied before Twilight dropped to the floor and began to cast a modified scrying spell.

Her perception left her before the outside of the museum building snapped into focus. Looking around, she didn’t see anything that appeared like one of Moon’s ponies, but that didn’t mean much yet. The building offered no signs of life on the outside, though the Pegasopolean architecture left many dark corners and pillars to hide behind. She began to direct her spell to slip through them, searching for any movement or living thing she could search for.

Once she finished glancing around at the building proper, she turned her attention to the grounds. Perhaps the thief hadn’t gotten close yet.

She turned her attention to the hedge gardens, picking through them for any sign of life. She searched all the way to the driveway and found nothing except a carriage that was quickly approaching the museum. Twilight continued to search back at the building proper, checking the windows and the roof for any sign of the thief, when she noticed that the carriage was getting closer.

Much closer, and very fast.

It rolled over the hedges, flattening them as it bounced over the curbs, before pulling out in front of the building’s entrance. Twilight couldn’t believe what she saw as she stared down at it, and then saw eight ponies pour out of the carriage before they rushed the door.

Twilight cut the spell.

“I think we’re—” and that was as far as she got before the alarm started to blare.

“What’s going on?” Night asked.

“We have eight ponies storming the door,” Twilight said. “They’re—”

Two ponies, armed with knives, both bloodied, rushed into the Meadowbrook exhibit. “Get the pouch, and let’s get out of here!”

“The pouch?” Twilight mentally questioned for a second before she snapped out of her thoughts with the sound of the thug smashing glass and grabbing the bag.

She cast a spell, something to try and slow the stallion down. They hadn’t planned to protect the pouch because it didn’t make sense, but she wasn’t going to just let them get away with it.

A small Control Body spell tripped up his legs, and the pony went tumbling to the ground.

The other thug sighed and grabbed the bag. “If you ain’t at the carriage, we’re leaving you behind.”

“You can’t do that!” the other pony said, chasing after him.

Twilight went to move, another spell ready on her horn, but Night rested a hoof on her back before it found its way to her shoulder. “We can’t take on eight ponies at once,” he whispered.

“We actually, probably could,” she whispered back.

Night weighed the thought in his head. “Okay, sure, you could probably take them all yourself. The point is, the plan’s fallen through, and we don’t want to show our hoof yet. This is not normal behavior, so the best we can do get the pouch back, but they’re going to know it got taken.”

“So, what do we do?”

Night shook his head, trying to think. “C-can you track it?” he asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then we’re going to start tracking it. Figure out where it’s going, and why Blackjack’s gang and Boot’s smugglers were both hitting the museum together.”

Twilight turned to face him at that, though it didn’t matter since they were still both virtually invisible. “That was the gang and the smugglers?” she asked.

Night nodded. “I’ve spent years following after both of them. I can almost recognize most of the older ponies. I’m positive.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright,” she turned back to the fake exhibit. “I need to grab the mask though, Meadowbrook worked so hard on it.”

“Fair enough.”

Twilight grabbed the mask, and then Destroyed the fake pedestal, leaving nothing behind to mark their passage through the exhibit.

---$---

“Father!” a voice called out. “Father, where are you?”

Moon Light was young, and that’s typically the thing that surprised ponies the most when they first met him. After all, ponies didn’t expect a pony that ran a pack of some of the most talented pickpockets and infiltrators to be only seventeen.

“Father, where are you?” he called as he walked through the large manor.

Moon Light’s brilliant, blue coat reflected the candlelight as he glanced around the house, searching under his mane of blue curls. He searched around before he went to his father’s office. “Father, are you in here?” he called.

However, as he opened the door, he instead found a strange, brown-coated mare sitting behind his father’s desk. “And you must be Moon Light.”

Moon froze.

“I have to say,” the mare said, “I never thought I’d meet what amounts to a crime boss who was still living with his father, but I guess that’s the economy for you.”

“Wh-who are you?” he asked.

“Well, I suppose I can make this easy for you,” the mare continued. “My name is Gleaming Coin, and I’m the new leader of Equestria’s underworld. I have Blackjack’s thugs, Boot Legger’s smugglers, and now I’m going to have your ponies working for me, for the more subtle touch.”

“I...I…” Moon began. “Where’s Father?”

“Your dad is currently being held in an undisclosed location,” she said in a casual voice, the same tone that one typically used when discussing the weather. “He even just signed a new living will that leaves all of his money to me, as it so happens.”

Moon went pale.

“So, you have a choice here. Work with me, willingly, or I just...forget to feed Dear Daddy until I don’t need you anymore.”

Moon stared at her. “I...I...you can’t do this!”

“I already have,” Gleaming said. “It’s not a question of can or can’t.”

“I...why? Why are you doing this?” Moon asked.

“Because I have ponies to protect what I’m collecting, to move and sell what I’m collecting, but now I need ponies to actually collect what I need, and while I’ve gotten started, they do lack the subtle touch that makes all of this run smoothly.”

Moon started shaking. “I...don’t do this.”

“Don’t do this?” Gleaming asked, her casual tone replaced with a hard, cruel growl. “Don’t do this? I’m sorry, I thought you were a criminal. I thought you’d be prepared for a little kidnapping.”

“I...I never did anything like this,” Moon cried.

Gleaming rolled her eyes. “Oh, never,” she said. “You only traumatized ponies and stole the mementos of their precious memories. Not to mention the photos that ponies couldn’t replace or the heirlooms from their ancestors. You need to face facts here, Moon, you’re a criminal, and that means you’re hurting somepony.”

“But I…”

“So let me give you a free lesson in being a boss, Moon. If you’re going to be a good criminal, you need to decide which ponies you’re going to hurt. As a rather poignant example, I have decided to hurt your dad, and that’s given me all the access I need to your ponies. Isn’t that incredible? Only one pony hurt.”

Moon just stared at her, mouth agape.

“Shut your mouth, and answer me, Moon. Are you going to work with we me, or do I have to take everything from you? Because I will, and I will lose no sleep over it.”

Moon closed his mouth. “I...I’ll help,” he said.

“Wonderful,” Gleaming said with a smirk. “Now, why don’t you get me some tea, and we’ll discuss what you’re going to be doing.”

Moon nodded and began to leave.

“Oh, and Moon?” Gleaming called.

“Yes?”

“I’m sure we’re going to have a wonderful working relationship.”

Moon gave her a weak smile and nodded.

As he left, Gleaming smiled. She finally had all her pieces in place. She could finally begin getting to work.