Chapter 7
Twilight Sparkle sat in her council room, making sure that everything was ready. She had seven chairs pulled up around the table, with seven memos set and ready. She had the kitchen prepare some snacks for them and drinks set out of course, and she thought about getting some board games ready.
Then she remembered that this was a meeting to discuss national security.
Well, that was the excuse. She could probably get away with it, couldn’t she?
“Are you stressing out about the Council again?” Spike asked as he walked into the circular room. “You have been doing this for a year now. You know that, right?”
“Yes, but…” Twilight began. “I haven’t seen them in a month, Spike. What if things have changed?”
“They probably have,” he replied, before taking a quick count of the chairs. “You think Starlight’s not coming?”
“It’s a school day, Spike,” Twilight replied.
“I mean, yeah, but she’s the Principal, how much work does she actually have to do?”
Twilight turned to shoot Spike a look.
“Sorry, sorry,” Spike said, taking his seat.
She nodded. “That’s right,” she muttered under her breath.
“You could break out the Colonists of Saram game. We have the expansion for five to eight players,” Spike suggested. He proved his point further by pointing to the box, where it sat on the enormous, towering shelves that lined the room’s circular wall, filled with board games, books, and other things to discuss. “It’s better than Oligopoly.”
“Almost anything is better than Oligopoly,” Twilight said.
“Yeah, so let’s play Saram,” Spike said.
Twilight sighed. “You have three games that you run weekly, Spike. Why not play Saram with them?”
“Because Rarity and the others are my friends too.”
Twilight sighed. “Yes, I know…”
“I dunno, I like Colonists!” a new voice said, and both Spike and Twilight turned to see Pinkie Pie, standing not a foot away from the dragon. “Hiya, Spike!”
“Pinkie!” the dragon cried, before hugging the earth pony mare. “You’re here early.”
“Of course, I am! If there a party to plan, then I will be there!”
“This isn’t really a party, Pinkie,” Twilight said.
“It’s party-adjacent, and that’s all that matters!” the pink mare said, before bounding to her place, where a cupcake waited for her. “Now, to taste test the snacks!”
“Wow, you’re just going to let Pinkie dive into the snacks without the rest of us?” another voice said before the Princess turned to see a rainbow-maned pegasus enter the room.
“Let’s see you get between Pinkie and party snacks,” Twilight said. “Or sharing them for that matter.”
“Eh, no thanks, I still remember the pie incident,” Rainbow Dash said, before taking her own seat. “How’s it hanging, Pinkie?”
“Super!”
“Um, hi, Twilight, it’s good to see you,” another voice said.
Twilight turned to see the butter-colored pegasus that somehow snuck up next to her. “Hey Fluttershy, how’s the animal sanctuary?”
“Oh, it’s just wonderful,” she replied, smiling wide. “I’ve managed to get a license to have some endangered species come in, so hopefully, I can make sure they’re protected.”
“That’s great!” Twilight said. “And of course, remember that if you need any help trying to get new licenses, or paperwork through, well. I am a Princess or something.”
“Now Twilight,” a thick, southern drawl cut the air. “Are you offering your friend a back-door deal?”
Twilight rolled her eyes as Applejack came in, smiling all the way. “Well, what’s the good of being a Princess if you can’t practice a little cronyism? You’re making it sound like I’d have to be responsible or something,” Twilight asked.
Applejack chuckled and shook her head. “Now see what politics has done to such an honest mare like you? I guess it’s true what they say, power corrupts.”
Twilight rolled her eyes at the joke.
“Well, I hope I’m not late!” another voice said, belonging to a white-coated unicorn.
“Only fashionably,” Spike quickly answered.
“Always, Darling, always,” Rarity said, smiling and giving the Princess a hug. “Oh, it’s so good to see you, Twilight. I hope the palace life has been treating you well?”
“It’s been treating me fine,” Twilight said.
Rarity nodded before looking at Twilight again. “You know, dear, I could swear you’ve gotten taller.”
Twilight sighed. “I hope not. The first growth spurt was bad enough.”
“Oh, nonsense, dear. It gives you a noble bearing. You appear more regal with the height.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Twilight said.
“Is it working?” Rarity asked with a sparkle in her eye.
“Only slightly.”
“Then I must be losing my touch,” Rarity said with a laugh.
Twilight smiled with her as she the mare back to the table, where the others were quickly taking their seats. “I guess without further ado, I call this Council of Friendship to order!”
“Woo!” Pinkie cheered.
Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, you don’t cheer for the start of an important meeting.”
“Well I do,” she said with a smile.
Twilight smiled. “You know, that’s fair enough. So, if you check the schedule I prepared, there are some things we need to talk about today to justify the meeting to the yearly budget, so we will need to discuss that. First, though, I want to hear how you’ve ladies have been.”
“Why do you need to justify anything?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You’re the Princess.”
“Rainbow, I don’t need a good reason,” Twilight said. “I just need a reason.”
“But like, why, though?”
Twilight sighed. “Because everything gets recorded down somewhere. The Council itself technically falls under the security budget because we are heroes of Equestria who can and will do everything we can to take out some of the bigger threats to the country.”
“Well, why do you have to write it down?” Dash asked again.
“Because anypony can ask to look at the budget to track where taxpayer money goes,” Twilight said. “Look, can we move on to the fun parts of the meeting first? I don’t want to waste time talking about politics when I only have a few hours to see you.”
“Alright, alright, alright. I’ll ask later.”
“Thank you, how have you been, Rainbow?”
“Oh, it’s been great! I’ve been getting ready for the new Wonderbolts tour that we’re going to take this summer. It’s been going well, and Spitfire’s been trying to incorporate a Sonic Rainboom in with a new routine.”
“I thought you already had a Rainboom routine?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, but this one has Two Rainbooms in it,” the pegasus asked with a smile.
“Really, are you going to be able to pull off two back-to-back?”
“Of course, I am!” Rainbow said.
Twilight shook her head. “What about you, Applejack?”
“Well, the farm’s been going alright. The pegasi have scheduled a bit of a dry spring, so we’ve held off on harvesting till Midfall, hoping that the late spring showers would fatten up the crop.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, apparently, that has something to do with the reservoir collection from the fall before not meeting the deadline.”
“Ooh,” Rainbow said, grimacing.
“Yeah, somepony dropped the ball, and they had to wait for the reservoirs to melt before they could get the rain collected again,” Twilight explained. “Spring was a little dry for everypony.”
“Well, I wasn’t taking it personal,” Applejack said with a good-natured smile. “What about you, though? I bet you’ve got the most interesting report over the past month.”
“Oh, not really,” she said. “I mean, I only one thing I really want to discuss, and it’s on the docket anyway.”
“Nonsense, dear, that doesn’t mean we can’t hear what’s going on beforehand,” Rarity said.
“We’re here to help,” Fluttershy added.
“And I don’t doubt you will, girls, honestly,” Twilight said. “I just don’t want to monopolize the whole time. We’ll get to it, I promise.”
“Alright, but I’ll hold you to that, Darling,” Rarity warned.
“I know,” Twilight said. “How about you, Fluttershy? You were telling me that you were about to expand your animal shelter?”
“Oh, yes!” the yellow pegasus said before she launched into a long explanation of what she was doing.
Twilight listened and nodded, following along with every word she said. It was nice to hear from her friends again. She could feel her shoulders relax and felt her breathing ease somehow as she listened to first Fluttershy and then to Pinkie. Both of her friends explained what they had done over the past month since they last saw each other, and it made Twilight smile to see them.
Twilight was so relaxed, she almost, almost, didn’t notice the figure at the top of the room, watching them from the shadows.
If she were honest with herself, noticing Night perched on one of the bookshelves was a pure accident. While feeling herself relax, she stretched, arching her back in her seat and staring up in the room’s ceiling.
Where Night sat waiting and smiling as he watched them.
“Is something wrong, dear?” Rarity asked.
Twilight blinked and focused her stare back down at her friends. “No, everything’s fine, I just had a thought is all, keep going.”
Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all glanced up to where she’d been looking, but saw nothing. Night had no doubt used his transposing spell to hide his form somewhere else as they glanced, and sure enough, he reappeared the moment they all looked away.
“More importantly, why are you hiding him from your friends?” Twilight asked her self.
It was a great question, honestly, and she didn’t have an answer. Letting the others know about Night might force him to reveal himself. Still, he’d just say something about how such an important meeting needs proper security.
Because that why he’s here…
Of course, it was. It had to be. Night was making another point, for the purposes of making a point. She mentally sighed as she tried to figure out how to handle this situation in the best was possible.
On the one hand, he wasn’t going to hurt anyone. He was just a pain who was trying to make a point. Even if she called him out, he wouldn’t cause any trouble, but she might not need to.
She glared up at him and watched him smile from his perch.
“So what’s this problem you have, Twilight?” Applejack asked.
“What’s the meanest meany problem?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight glanced up at them before her eyes shot up at Night, who merely waved his hoof to say, “Go on.”
Oh, it. Is. On.
“As it happened, Spike brought up one of those budget issues a few days ago and showed me that somepony was being paid a few million bits to steal for the crown.”
The other mares at the table began to gasp in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” Applejack said.
“Exactly what I said,” Twilight said. “He’s a thief, who apparently had been helping Celestia deal with a few things.”
“Like what?” Pinkie said.
“Good things,” Twilight admitted and knew that Night was smiling wider on his perch. “He helped deal with some very unsavory criminals, and he apparently specializes working against thieves by stealing from them, but he’s still a thief.”
“I think that sounds pretty cool, actually,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Yeah, but do ya need him?” Applejack asked. “Or more to the point, I suppose, do ya want him?”
“What do you mean by that, dear?” Rarity asked.
“I mean, is that the kind of ruler you want to be? Using subterfuge and the like to get yer way?”
“Well that depends on what exactly he’s done,” Rarity said. “After all, if the good he’s done is worth the underhanded nature of his work, then can you afford not to have him?”
“Why don’t you send in your guards to take care of it?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, he specifically targets ponies that either can get out of prison easily,” Twilight explained, “or deal with ponies that no one can prove has done anything, at least from what both Celestia and he himself said.”
“So he does what the guard can’t do?” Rainbow asked. “That sounds exactly like the kind of thing Daring Do would try, you know if she weren’t an archaeologist.”
“I ain’t the biggest fan,” Applejack said.
“He does a good job, though,” Spike said. “He’s managed to stop a bunch of trafficking rings for sentient creatures and manages to save normal ponies a lot of trouble by stopping robberies as they happen. He’s helping, and there’s no doubt about that.”
Twilight said nothing.
“Huh,” Applejack said. “Well, why does he need so much money?”
“You know, I was more concerned by the fact that he was a thief, but I’m sure he’ll give me an itemized list if I ask.”
She glanced up at Night, who appeared to be chuckling silently to himself.
Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“Well,” Applejack said. “I suppose that’s a call you need to make, Twilight. And I can say I don’t envy having to make that call.”
“Thank you.”
“Well,” Pinkie said, “I think we can talk about this over some games!”
“That sounds just fine, Pinkie,” Twilight said with a smile.
---$---
Azure frowned.
Apparently, nopony knew how to respect his office space.
“I just don’t like this, Azure,” Raven said, pacing across his office.
“So you’ve told me, several times, Miss Inkwell,” he replied, trying to focus on the report in front of him.
“I don’t like the idea of Princess Twilight using a thief to get what she wants.”
Azure glanced up at her. “Celestia did the same,” he said, echoing Spike’s argument that he gave before.
“Yes, but...well, if Celestia wanted something, she could get any way she wanted to. She was specifically using Night as a method to get what she needed to get done quietly.”
“And what’s the problem with Twilight using the same method?” Azure asked.
Raven didn’t answer him.
“Miss Inkwell, I think you definitely have a reason to not trust Night Silk. However, I think you’re adamant about it more to argue with Master Spike than anything.”
“What?” she asked. “Why on earth would you think that?”
“Because you hate each other, and he is currently for Night succeeding in the bet.”
“I am not against him just because Spike is for him,” Raven said. “That’s such a childish thing to do.”
“Well, you haven’t offered any new arguments for it.”
“That’s rich, coming for you.”
Azure raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t come to your office to discuss it. My opinions are my own, and my reasons are my own, and I would rather not discuss them with anyone.”
Raven sighed. “We’re Princess Twilight’s advisors. We’re supposed to talk with each other.”
“And we have all discussed our views on this with the Princess, and she has come to her decision. She’s given Night three months, and as her advisors, we need to respect her decision, and stand by it.”
Raven glared at him and sighed. “Unfortunately, you make a wonderful point, Azure.”
“I’m aware. Now I’m sure if you want to discuss this with somepony, Master Spike would argue with you ad nauseam.”
Raven snorted and walked out of the Captain’s office.
---$---
“And that’s an eight!” Pinkie said, pointing at the forest tile with the eight token on it, and then the field tile. “That’s those two!”
“So that’s a wood for me, Fluttershy, and one for Twilight!” Spike said, handing out the cards, before pulling a few wheat cards. “And these for Pinkie.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Being the youngest sucks in this game,” she said, staring at her two settlements surrounding the tile marked 12.
“It ain’t my fault that you put your other settlement on a three-to-one dock,” Applejack said.
“Honestly, It wouldn’t even be that bad if Pinkie didn’t have literally every single wheat tile,” Dash complained.
“How else am I going to bake cakes for everypony!?” Pinkie asked, placing the new wheat cards into her hand. “I can trade a few, though,” she said with a smile, almost waving them around the table.
“I have a brick I can get you,” Rarity said, holding up her hand. “I’ll even give you a two to one.”
Twilight snuck a glance up at Night, who watched from his perch. He lay there, relaxed, and watching as they played their game, quiet as ever.
She focused back on her cards. She was focusing on a development card-heavy strategy that had served her well in the past, and while she had plenty of ore and wool, she didn’t have the wheat she needed. “I can get you some wool, Pinkie. You need those for development cards.”
Pinkie gave Twilight a glance. “I do...but I need to build more roads…”
Rarity held up her brick cards.
“A deal’s a deal!” Pinkie said, before passing a single wheat card over for both bricks. Once she had them, she immediately turned the cards into a pair of roads with some earlier wood cards. She placed them carefully, continuing to expand her empire before she passed the dice. “Your turn, Twilight!”
Twilight took them with a pout, before rolling. They landed on a seven, and the entire table went quiet. All eyes went to the small, black, pony-shaped figurine on the table that Twilight picked up with a smug smile of satisfaction. “Well, well. As it happens, I need a lot of wheat.”
Pinkie’s ears flattened. “Oh, well...what a shame, huh?”
“No offense, Pinkie, but this is the only way I’m getting any wheat.”
“Oh, come on…” Pinkie said with a frown.
Twilight placed on the little black token down on the wheat tile that Pinkie had surrounded, blocking all of its production and allowing Twilight to use the “robber” to steal two cards. Twilight smiled as she picked two cards from Pinkie’s hand, both wheat cards, and instantly turned them in for the development cards she needed.
“Your turn, Spike,” Twilight said before handing over the dice.
She glanced back up at Night, who stared back at her with a raised eyebrow and a hoof under his chin, still smiling all the way.
She stared back, confused.
He motioned to the board.
She looked back down at it.
And then it clicked.
She had just used underhanded, less-than-legal tactics to get what she could not secure by legal means. In a single turn, she had made his exact argument, for him, in a game setting.
“Horseapples…”
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Hmmmm, using 'Settlers' as part of an argument on having/using thieves ... interesting ...
10442452
The so-called robber was there before any of the settlers, and has a prior and superior right to the land and its resources. Its name is part of a settler black legend meant to justify conquest and genocide
10442470
Technically right, but he has to let them settle down before he can get started ...
10442502
Obviously, he was only driven to thievery by the seizure of what had formerly been his.
Corner pone, corner pone, does whatever a corner pone wants!
That realization. hahahahah.
Night Silk she never gonna let Twilight live this one down.
That does seem to sum up Night nicely.
That, right there--that's what this all ultimately boils down to is that question right there. And sooner or later, Twilight's going to have to settle on an answer...
...Hint-hint.
Azure, you're only digging yourself in deeper saying that. The fact you refuse to discuss those reasons only makes you appear more suspicious, and do you really want that?
I dunno, though...does the argument really carry all that much weight when it's done in a just for-fun game that doesn't have any lasting ramifications beyond the context of the game, and would blur over many of the finer details of those consequences anyway? I mean, consider many of the things most games (video or board) would have you, the player, do, and think just how likely would you to be to do those same things in real life?
I mean, yeah, there's still an argument and a point made in Night's favor through this little incident...but it's still no gamechanger (pun intended
) for the matter between Twi and Night.
'Tis of a brave young highwayman This story I will tell
His name was Willie Brennan And in Ireland he did dwell
It was on the Kilwood Mountain He commenced his wild career
And many a wealthy nobleman Before him shook with fear
It was Brennan on the moor
Brennan on the moor
Bold, brave and undaunted
Was young Brennan on the moor
Hah!
10456032
My thoughts exactly. Although I cackled out loud admittedly.
Heh
brilliant