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.