//------------------------------// // Chapter 28 // Story: Twilight Sparkle and the Master Thief // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// 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.”