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."