//------------------------------// // Chapter 32 // Story: Twilight Sparkle and the Master Thief // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// 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.