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.
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Oh great, he's back.
Wha--no! That dumb-dumb wouldn't be smart enough to even get that idea, let alone put it into action!
Betcha she hasn't worked out all the details herself yet.
You know, doing that was a huge boon, because not only did they disband the Triad and stop Gleaming, they also finally snagged many of their major criminals and threw their respective crime networks into disarray. Even if some of them got away, they're going to have to spend some time rebuilding before they can even think about getting back to the level of control they had before.
So...all in all...all's well that ends well.
...though I probably ought to admit...I was waiting for some twist reveal with Azure all the way to the end.
Oh well, can't always call it. Rather have it that way, actually. Too often I'm right about those sort of things and then it takes all the excitement out of the story, no matter how well its written. 
10565907
No, Azure's just a good boy who's married to his job. I don't know why literally everybody suspected him.
10565930
I think it's mostly because of the fact that he kept claiming he'd neglect to bring things pertaining to Night and the criminal underworld to Twilight's attention for empty or weak reasons that weren't really believable, and it inadvertently made it seem like he was hiding something, so it led readers to think he was suspicious. In retrospect, you were probably just playing up the "letter of the rule" aspect of his character a little too thick.
There was that one scene where it ended with Azure throwing something of a temper tantrum in private after speaking with Spike about something...I forget what chapter it was in specifically, but it did seem both out of the blue and oddly out of character for him, so that didn't probably help with the suspicions. Why did he have that little fit anyway? I never was totally clear on that.
But anyway, it worked out in the end, and I am a bit relieved it proved to be a red herring--Twilight didn't need a high-ranking double-crossing member of her staff on top of everything else.
10565961
The frustration that Twilight kept putting herself and her reputation at risk. I think I didn't quite make it payoff when I revealed that was his issue with the whole affair. I would probably cut it if I were to try a second draft.
Sequel?
I liked this story. Thank you for sharing it with us. I rather enjoy this new style. Bravo!
Also just occurred to me that with being added to the circle, does that mean the girls all have ministries as well? Rainbow a liaison to foreign militaries? AJ leads a dept. of agricultural?
I just now got that.
This story has kept my attention the whole way through and I definitely feel rewarded for it. The twists, the villains and even night himself were wonderfully written. Thank you so much for making this. It's been a blast.
A most satisfying conclusion!
- typo for attach?
You know, for a story with a romance tag, there isn’t much romance in this. A foundation for one, sure, but nothing concrete.
Still a great ending though! Hope this won’t be the last we see Twi and Night because I really like their dynamic.
I'm sad this is over, it's been quite the ride. Thank you for it. Interestingly on reflection, although I enjoyed the skulduggery it was the characterisation that had me excited for each new chapter.
10565961
This. Additionally he repeatedly alludes to knowing more about the situation surounding Night but refusing to elaborate on it. It makes it sound like he has a personal stake in Night's employment that he can't speak of.
A pretty good ending to this tale, thanks for sharing!
10566056
I was reading it as less that they were official heads of ministry, and more that Twilight uses them as bellwethers and sources of information external to the bureaucracy, official Royal channels, and nobles. They're plugged into the Equestrian community at the grass-roots level, and experienced enough to be able to tell when someone's trying to influence them to pass incorrect information on to Twilight. Not to mention that Ponyville is small enough to know most (and possibly in Pinkie's case, all) of the residents - having someone new turn up trying to push an agenda would be an instant red flag, and Ponyville doesn't have a history or culture of hosting (or even putting up with) nobles or lobbyists.
Admittedly, only Rarity would really be much of a line to Canterlot, Manehattan, and other large cities, and she is influenceable to a degree, but it's not about trying to cover ever aspect and area of Equestria with only five advisors; those five just provide additional coverage which is most likely at least fairly trustworthy, and can provide some feedback from the other end of policies which affect citizens directly.
Complete? No, it can’t be! Night didn’t even talk about his final confrontation with Gleaming! No one made anything awkward for Twi and Night! I want to see Night become Spymaster, teach other ponies to be annoying little sneaks!
Can we expect more? More in the series?
10566592 10566030
There is a series planned. Though, I will admit that the next story is actually about Celestia's Vacation that I hinted at toward the end here. We'll see some of Night grow, but it'll be from the outside.
10566252
I know, I know! I tried so hard to put it in there, but they didn't do anything normal enough to have something like a proper date. This is, in retrospect a bit of Night's own "outsider-ness." If I did a direct sequel, then I might add stuff like that, but I am partially to blame in that I'm not super great at romance stories. I'm trying though.
Over all, I loved your fanfic. More than I ever expected too!
), but I ended loving the story as a whole too.
I won't lie that I started reading it just because it had Raven Inkwell in it (Love that character
The only criticism I have is that I am not a fan of the very detailed descriptions of some spells and heists, but that's probably just personal taste. If you ever turn this fanfic into a hard cover book I want a copy!
Yikes. Well that explains not being able to find him, though it still feels like he could have sent a note or something.
Easy enough solution.
Much better use of his abilities than as a one man semi-vigilante force.
He's doomed.
Nice.
Loved this story would to see a sequel
Anime
Thank you for the wonderful story. Sad to see his sister fate... Hopefully someday a new leak will turn for her.
Also, I wonder what’s out West?
Read it, loved it. Great work!
You've a review
10649893
Ooh, thank you!
10668825
No, a magnetic chalkboard. A whiteboard is for markers and is magnetic, but a chalkboard, for chalk, can also be magnetic.
This was a fun read and very enjoyable! I’m glad I got to read this and I wouldn’t mind a sequel the shows the development of their relationship and perhaps get some Slice of Life in there. Other then that this was an amazing read keep up the awesome work!
Great story.
10701238
Agreed. A sequel with some slice of life would be amazing!
A nice story! Been sitting on my RiL shelf forever, and I only just got around to it.
The story didn't take itself too seriously, which I liked. It had fun while dealing with dangerous topics like organized crime. A good break from all of the rather intense stories that are out there.
A wonderful ending to an enthralling tale of thievery and love! While I would've liked to see more of the blossoming romance between Twilight and Night I can say that this story has me feeling both happy for how everything turned out for our heroes while also feeling melancholic for Gleaming. The pony needed to be stopped but to be trapped in stone is such a tragic fate. Perhaps one day she'll come back, let go of the past and hopefully make up for lost time with her brother.
The details for spell names and actions are also top notch and admittedly I've become attached to many of the characters here such as the royal advisors and Night Silk. I love seeing different takes on how people think Twilight's reign as the ruling Princess of Equestria would look like and I can say that this story has provided a great look into that aspect of Equestria.
Overall I'm happy that I've read such a great story but I'm also sad it's over. I'll defiantly give this a reread (probably several) and I'm eager to see the continuation of the sequel with Celestia's adventure out West. Here's hoping we get to see more of Twilight Sparkle and Night Silk in the future!
Thank you for such a wonderful read!
I doubt we'll ever return to this particular universe again but if we ever do I'd love to see Night match wits with another master thief, like a pony version of Lupin III and his gang.
10996432
I mean, the sequel is nearly thirty chapters in...
Fantastic story.
👀
I'll be getting to the sequel relatively soon, have some things to take care of first.
This story is such a delight. The characters, the world, the magic system, all of it is vivid and wonderful. Night and the criminals are so full of life. Night is really a highlight (which is a given, since he's one of the protagonist,) I love his story, I love his character, I really enjoy the whole deal. The magic system has got to be one of my favorites I've read on here, it's simple yet allows for so much creativity.
This was the perfect story to try and help pull myself back into fanfics. Thank you so much for writing this, and I'm excited to read the sequel (soon:tm: probably)
11618447
I see. Thank you for replying.
Like I said, I havenʼt read the full story yet, so Iʼm really excited to see where youʼre taking this.