Twilight glanced at the ponies gathered at her table.
Raven, Spike, and Captain Azure were sitting around the table with her, waiting for instruction. Each one of them was on their best behavior. Every one of them waited on her to tell them what to do and where to go. They didn’t even bicker between each other, focusing more on the task at hand than their quarrels.
“We have new information,” Twilight began. “While working with Night, we found that three, large, organized crime groups have merged together to steal, counterfeit, and then sell magical artifacts and their fakes.”
Azure immediately opened a notebook and began to write the information. Raven and Spike watched her.
“From what we know,” Twilight said, “the three gangs used to belong to Blackjack, leader of the largest gang in Equestria; Boot Legger, a smuggler who has had a history with slavery and drug running; and Moon Light, a young noble that has been funding a breaking-and-entering ring for a few years now. They have come together into a Triad under a mare by the name of Gleaming Coin, a pegasus who has, until recently been an unknown factor.”
“Do we have any locations for where they may be hiding?” Azure asked.
“Night and I uncovered a warehouse where they were making fakes two days ago in Baltimare,” Twilight said. “They’ve probably moved on by now, but the chances that they left something behind in the explosion is not something we can ignore.”
Azure nodded. “I will mobilize a squad in the area to begin combing for any information we can find.”
Twilight nodded. “Night is likewise keeping his ears open for any sign that they’ve found another item to steal and replicate. Once he gives us a direction, I plan to strike.”
Raven frowned.
“So, what are we officially charging them with?” Spike asked. “The counterfeiting of magical artifacts is a serious crime, but we’ll still need something that we can pin the leaders with, and something for probable cause to get in.”
Azure shook his head without even looking up from his notes. “An anonymous tip of the counterfeiting of artifacts would be enough probable cause.”
“Besides,” Twilight said, “This is worse than just counterfeiting. From what Night proposed, they might be trying to sell fakes with some power to other criminal underworld elements. There’s a good chance that they’d cause a lot more damage than just a counterfeiting ring, not to mention the chances of them exploding with those enchanting crystals.”
Raven suddenly smiled, as though she just finally figured out the answer to a riddle.
“Still, we need what we’re pinning the leaders with,” Spike said, “especially if we need to track them down from wherever we find the counterfeiting.”
“We can probably pull them in as suspects until we find something,” Raven said. “As long as we have some evidence of contact between them and the ponies we’re arresting.”
Azure nodded and scribbled something down.
“Assuming that they’re doing this in another warehouse,” Spike said, “which I doubt unless these guys are denser than diamonds, there has to be a limited number of places they could be, to begin with, right? And if they have moved out of warehouses, then we might have the advantage when we storm the place, won’t we?”
“Possibly. I’d prefer the warehouse, to be honest,” Azure said. “Multiple entrances and open space would make it easier for the guard to get in and secure everything. Talking about that is still premature, though. The best thing to do is focus on the legal repercussions we can bring to the leaders.”
Twilight watched as the three immediately began to got to work, breaking down what they needed. Raven spoke of preparing warrants and working with local guard units to try to pre-emptively determine where they might be gathering and what buildings they might be working out of.
Twilight watched them all and nodded. This, this right here, is why she hired them all in the first place. “It sounds like you’ve all gotten a handle on this. I’ll leave you to it,” she said, before turning to her office. “Besides, I’ve got...paperwork...to...do…” she said with a sigh before she slowly walked away.
---$---
Night sat at a cafe table in Manehatten, staring at Newsie as she sat across from him, two small cups of coffee sitting on the table between them. “Is this everything, Newsie?” Night asked. “I can’t stress this enough, this is the big one. Like, forget the bet I have with the Princess, if this plan falls through, then my job, and your payments, fall through.”
“That much is riding on this?” Newsie asked.
“Well, sort of,” Night admitted. “I’m sure the Princess wouldn’t actually cut me loose if we fail this, but she won’t be happy, and neither will I.”
Newsie nodded. “Okay, okay, I get it,” she said before pulling out some polaroids. The pictures depicted a large warehouse, where a few others showed close-ups of ponies that both of them could recognize as belonging to the newly-formed Triad. “This is a warehouse in Vanhoover, I heard that things were getting a little loud over there, so I managed to switch with one of my coworkers to deliver some papers there.”
Night nodded as he glanced at the pictures. “That seems odd,” he said.
“What does?” Newsie asked.
“If I were them, and I was trying to run my business, I would make sure that crime stayed low while I was working.”
Newsie shrugged. “Maybe her ponies can’t control themselves?”
Night shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know. Blackjack’s ponies have enough discipline to know when to be thugs and when to wait.”
Newsie didn’t have anything to offer.
Night shook his head. “Oh well, I’m going in with the Princess, and unless they have the entire building covered in Thronestone, we should be fine. Not to mention whatever other ponies she’s going to pull in with her.”
Newsie smirked. “You’re really pulling out the big guns, huh?” she asked. “I haven’t seen you mobilize with the guard since the last time you broke up a slavery ring.”
Night nodded. “Yeah, Princess Twilight can recognize a threat when she sees it. I will give her that.”
The younger mare smiled. “Well, it sounds like somepony’s taking a shining to her.”
Night glanced up at her. “What do you mean?”
“You never talked about Celestia that way,” she said.
“What? Sure I did.”
Newsie shook her head. “You definitely didn’t.”
Night sighed. “Look, this isn’t an important conversation to have right now.”
“And now I know you definitely have a crush,” she said. “Deflecting is exactly the kind of thing you’d do.”
Night rolled his eyes. “It’s not a crush,” he said. “I’m not some teenager.”
“Crushes don’t have an age limit,” Newsie said with a smirk.
“Look,” he said. “I don’t have a crush on her, and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. There’s no way she’d look at me like that.”
“What?” Newsie asked. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not a normal pony,” Night said. “That alone puts me below so many other ponies’ leagues, it’s not even funny. Much less the Princess’s dating pool. I mean, sure, she’s nice, she’s willing to help, but I’m not worth her time. I’d need a pedigree or something for that.”
“Night!” Newsies admonished. “Don’t talk like that. You’re a great guy!”
“Not normal, though,” Night said. “But we’re done talking about this anyway. The important thing is the warehouse.”
Newsie took a turn to roll her eyes before she focused on the work. “It’s your standard affair. Another one of Legger’s warehouses by the docks. This one’s on the outskirts of town though, next to a private railway that runs to Canterlot.”
Night nodded with a smile. “Now that makes sense,” he said. “They could take the merchandise upriver from the bay to Canterlot before running it to Vanhoover, selling it to everything along the way, while also opening up the jungle as a way of moving stuff without being caught.”
“You’d think they try to go through the jungle?” Newsie asked. “That seems dangerous.”
“All the more reason to head that way,” Night said. “If it’s dangerous enough for them, the guard certainly doesn’t want to get involved unless they have to. Most of them would probably think the smugglers wouldn’t make it anyway. Then, once they get through it, they have an entire coastline to begin moving the merchandise around. They could take it all the way to Abyssinia if they wanted to.”
Newsie blinked. “Wow...that’s... that’s super dangerous, though? Are you sure?”
“That’s the best way for them to move,” Night responded. “I’d bet on it. It gets them all of the points they need to distribute across the country and into Abyssinia’s markets, too. Boot Legger would have killed for a pipeline like that.”
Newsie nodded. “This really is the big one, then, huh?”
“Well, I only said as much,” Night replied.
Newsie glared at him.
Night chuckled a bit before he sighed with a smile on his face. “Newsie, Newsie I’m going to level with you here,” he said, his voice becoming grave and somber. “If information is solid enough to get all of them in jail, then by all accounts, you and I would be even.”
Newsie blinked at him. “Wh-what do you mean?”
Night shook his head. “You know what I mean, Newsie. You started with the whole informant thing to pay me back. I know that. You know that. If this goes through, then we’re even. You don’t need to keep doing this for me.”
Newsie stared at him. “No,” she said. “I owe you a lot more than that, and I—”
“Newsie, it’s okay. You don’t need to keep yourself tied down to me because I helped you out.”
Newsie sighed. “There you go again!” she said. “You’re always doing this! Acting like nopony actually likes you!”
“Newsie—” Night began, only to be quickly cut off.
“No! You didn’t just ‘help me out,’ Night, you saved my life, and I’m not going to let you worm out of it! I’m sticking with you, Night! That’s final!”
Night stared up at her and shook his head. “Fine. Fine. I’m sure you’ll move on eventually, though.”
Newsie shook her head. “Shut up, Night,” she growled.
Night sighed and took a sip of his coffee. At the very least, she knew she could go, and that was more important than winning a fight right now. Besides, he shouldn’t dwell on it with such a critical job on the horizon. He needed to have his mind clear for the job without even mentioning how much riding on it. He couldn’t afford to get distracted.
“Well, thank you, Newsie. It means a lot that you got all this for me,” he said.
“And don’t you forget it!” she replied, a smile playing on her lips.
Night stood. “I’ll see you around, Newsie. Stay safe.”
---$---
Azure nodded as he went over the plan one last time. Raven would handle the legal side of things. Her legal expertise would allow her to come up with the most compelling charges against the leaders of the Triad. Meanwhile, Spike would begin processing the warrants and communications to the various other ponies in the private sector that they could rely on. His dedication to filling paperwork and his ability to speak with the Princess’ authority would make the rest of the process go smoothly.
Finally, he would begin to mobilize the guard across the country, waiting for the moment that Night reported the location to them.
“Great!” Spike said. “I’ll go ahead and begin to get some missives out to a security company in Fillydelphia. With their scrying mages, we might be able to track movements before they’ve even gotten moving.”
Azure nodded. “Wonderful.”
As Spike left, Raven turned to Azure. “Captain do you have a moment?”
He thought about his workload for a moment. “I suppose.”
“I think it’s obvious that the Princess is only continuing this charade with Night because of the incredible danger that these thieves present.”
Azure didn’t think so, but he was not hired for his opinions on the Princess’s personal life. “Perhaps,” he replied.
“I would wager quite a lot on it, actually,” Raven said before she pulled a scroll from her stack of papers. “Just read this. I think it states the Princess’s feelings quite nicely.”
Azure glanced at the scroll and noted the broken, royal wax seal that once held it. “Were you going through the Princess’s decrees?”
Raven sighed. “She left it on her desk and was very obviously writing a new draft. That doesn’t matter, though, because what really matters is what she wrote on it. Just look!” She placed the letter on the table, face up where Azure could read it.
Azure glanced at her, disapproval in his eyes. This was a blatant breach of protocol and should not stand. The Princess’s personal correspondence was not his business, much less Raven’s, and she should know better at that.
But the Princess’s Will was Law. If that parchment has the Princess’s will written on it, then he had a duty to make it manifest.
No.
He could not. It was not his place.
“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.”
Azure cursed himself for reading it. It wasn’t his place to do that.
“She very obviously doesn’t want him around. I think the only reason she’s staying with him this long is because of the damage that these thieves can cause. That seems right, doesn’t it?”
Azure said nothing and simply stared at the wall opposite the letter. He didn’t say anything, did not betray a thought.
Or tried not to.
“She obviously doesn’t want to join him on these escapades, and she obviously doesn’t believe in his methods.”
“But his methods work,” Azure thought. “That’s what makes them so useful. He can go where I cannot. he can secure what I cannot. The Princess surely knows this?”
He would not speak for the Princess. That was not his place.
“We both know that putting her out there, working with him, is dangerous anyway, right?” Raven said. “Her own friends pointed it out, and we both know she’d listen to them before us.”
His duty was to protect the Princess, her image, and make her will manifest.
“As the runt has pointed out,” Raven said, “the Princess agreed to three months, so she’ll give him the full three months, but she’s just wasting time and risking her life and reputation to do so. We both know what the right thing to do here, don’t you?”
Right or wrong doesn’t matter, only the Princess’s will.
...and...and if she wanted to get rid of an incredibly useful asset, then so be it.
“The Princess wants to give him three months,” he said, the closest thing he had to a protest.
“And she’ll waste time doing so,” Raven said. “She very obviously doesn’t want to work with Night. The only problem is that he keeps showing up.”
Azure glared up at her.
“If Night doesn’t show up again, then the Princess won’t break her promise and keeps her honor intact.”
“I…” Azure began, reading over the letter once more.
He had a duty to make the Princess’s will manifest, and it was not his duty to question her.
If this was what she wanted…
“He still has the information we need,” Azure said.
“Don’t worry about that,” she said with a smile of self-satisfaction. “We’ll get what the Princess needs.”
Azure nodded.
He didn’t like this. This was a terrible idea. Regardless of personal feelings, the Princess should not sacrifice such an asset.
But he had a duty to make what she wanted not only possible but to make it reality, regardless of his own personal feelings.
So he would. Night’s unofficial contract would be terminated. If any of the guards found him guilty of theft, he would be arrested and persecuted. This is what the Princess wanted, and so Azure would move mountains to make it a reality.
He hoped the Princess would change her mind.
---$---
Boot Legger frowned.
This little mare appeared to be perhaps too competent.
Gleaming had managed to get a hold of an incredibly profitable trade route, and, while she was keeping her end of the bargain, Boot still couldn’t help but feel cheated.
If she could risk this much open travel on a rail like this, it either spoke of incredible confidence or incredible stupidity with this much money riding on it.
What’s worse, Boot wasn’t sure which Gleaming had.
He stood in the Vanhoover warehouse, which was supposed to become the Triad’s new base of operations, supposedly, with a new artifact sitting at its center. The Radiant Shield of Razdon recently donated to a museum by an anonymous benefactor, sat in the middle of the warehouse.
Ponies everywhere would want a shield that can provide protection from all mortal harm, and Gleaming already had ponies working around the clock to imitate it.
The problem that Boot saw was that if ponies noticed that something was here, then this was a route that they could very quickly lose.
“Are you sure this will work out?” He asked, glancing at Gleaming, who watched over the whole warehouse like a proud mother. “Is this an acceptable risk?”
“Oh, yes,” she replied, staring down at the ponies who milled about on the warehouse floor. “Yes, everything’s going exactly as I’ve planned.”
“And what is that plan?” Boot asked. “And is your plan sure that this is a risk we can afford to take?”
Gleaming smiled at him. “Oh, yes. By the end of this, we’ll have enough money to buy a whole new railway if we need it. And if not, then we’ll have all the tools we’ll need to steal it ourselves.”
Boot frowned but said nothing.
Well, that's at least a demotion for Azure, if not outright resignation, for failure to verify orders when Raven even confirmed they were non final. Raven's headed for jail. I guess by the time this is over Night might be offered Azure's job, though he probably won't want it.
Thank you, Mister Chekhov, for allowing the loaded gun to be stolen before it's fired. This will be much more interesting than having Night find the note and letting the miscommunication needlessly elevate the drama. This is actual Dramatic Irony. Now here's what I'm anticipating:
Thank you, Herr DungeonMiner, for doing things this way to ratchet up the tension leading into the final act. I'm super looking forward to it.
That's a court marshalin' Azure
Look at Spike, asking all the right questions.
Well, that worries me, given her stance on things up to now.
Well, I dunno...they didn't seem to learn enough to adapt their tactics to really seriously stop Night despite him being a consistent thorn in their sides for all this time, after all.
Now that you mention it, it does sort of sound like a trap.
But then I thought much the same thing with the previous warehouse they successfully blew up, so...
And Gleaming seems just reckless enough to make it happen, too.
Poor Azure, everybody constantly bothering him with their workplace grievances and all that. At this point, I guess I can't blame him for his "please no" attitude towards it as of late.
He's still doing that, though. Azure, it's okay to voice your opinion. Your superiors might still have the final say, but that doesn't mean they always know best, and they keep ponies like you around precisely with the hope you'll speak up and remind them as such when needed.
Just don't let those opinions go to your head and cloud your judgement like Raven's been at risk of doing lately.
Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven...you know, I was actually secretly hoping it wasn't going to be you, and that you knew better?
Oh well, let's see how much this will blow up in your face now...
For once, Azure's in the right with his "it's not my business" assumption. As Raven herself said, this was obviously a draft and not final--that would in turn suggest everything within it could be subject to change.
Also, Raven seems completely ignorant of when this draft was first written, and while that's somewhat understandable considering the circumstances she found it, she's also absolutely not interested in figuring it out or even stopping to consider it could be an important factor in all of this.
...aaaaand back to Azure's norm again. Whew, I was feeling a little weirded out for a second there, actually agreeing with Azure for a change.
In all seriousness though, that assumption doesn't mean every scrap of paper Twilight writes on is meant to be interpreted as Law either, and again loops back to my previous comments about this daft of a letter.
Only if you squint your eyes, plug your ears, and start going "LA LA LA LA LA" at the top of your lungs, so you don't have to acknowledge the mountain of evidence that clearly says otherwise at this point.
Again, I can kinda see why Raven's making assumptions like this with the evidence before her, but at the same time, she's being too eager to twist that evidence to support her argument on the matter and only her argument. What she wants is validation that she's right and everybody else (and most importantly Spike, because let's not forget their rivalry) is wrong.
Sadly, she's not going to get it, and again, I worry how much trouble it'll get her in along the way (as well as potentially Azure if he continues to let himself be drawn in like this).
Raven, Azure...I hope you know that, if you do this...your jobs, careers, and overall futures are going to be on the line, right?
Though I suppose Azure's going to have to leave at some point anyway...I mean, we all know a certain griffon will eventually get his job, so...
Gaaaaaah, see this is why I keep ragging Azure about this sort of thinking. It's only going to be his own undoing at this point. If he'd just stand up for himself for a change, he'd save not just himself but Raven as well from the whole lot of trouble that looks to be coming their way.
Also, if they're really so confident that they know what they think is the princess's long-term intentions are, then they really ought to confront her about it and get her side of the story first before doing anything. Not working behind her back in secret, operating only on assumptions.
Related thought: I haven't forgotten how Raven had "mistakenly" thrown out a lot of the official records concerning Night back at the start of this story...only now I'm more convinced there was really nothing "mistaken" about it, was there? Just how long has Raven been sporting this grudge against the likes of Night?
Hopefully before you do anything to get yourself fired too. Or hand a victory to the very crooks you're trying to take down. Or worse still (my mind can get pretty inventive on this )
Again, a little of both, I'm thinking.
Of course, part of me thinks the only reason Gleaming is even doing all of this is so to try and draw out a specific target that she wants comeuppance on. For all we know, the "Triad," as we're apparently calling it now, is simply a means to an end for her and will be left to burn the second she has whatever it is she wants.
Oh, you're just telling him what he wants to hear...
I'm thinking that when raven tries to use that scroll Night Silk will run and hide, the twilight talks to him, they make up then twilight will just reinstate him with all of the previous benefits that he had then add more.
10528428
You know that scene in "The Last Samurai" where the samurai warns the young emperor that all of these advisors are just after power, and when the emperor asks the samurai for guidance, he imediately bows low and says he wouldn't dare? Yeah, that's Azure.
Well well, quite a character for Twilight to deal with. And with all her advisers at cross purposes too...
Well, it’s official, I hate Raven.
I hate to do this since I am such a big fan of Raven Inkwell...
But when Twilight finds out she will be like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9znm34xAm44
I starting to enjoy Glimming more and more~