//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Twilight Sparkle and the Master Thief // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// 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.