The next day came and went, everything back to normal and the casino running smoothly. As most of the employees left, Dove, King Dice and The Devil sat at a table with Dove back to her regular, pony-like self.
“Alright you two, do you want the good news or the bad news first?” The Devil asked, a lit cigar in hand.
“Bad news, best to get it out the way Boss.” King Dice replied and Dove nodded in agreement.
“Well, I got a letter from princess Luna and she’s arriving tomorrow to negotiate terms to release the contracts of those element bearers,” The Devil explained. “No doubt it’ll be under tale but we’d best be prepared for a declaration of war, just to be safe.”
“Imagine if word got out that the princesses could save a pony from their soul contract, the treaty would be called into question, we’d have every stallion mare and foal bangin’ on our door.” King Dice stated.
“Boss if we get roped into a war, I’m taking over Canterlot,” Dove said flatly. “I refuse to stand by while a bunch of idiots tear apart the peace I worked so hard to build!”
“I’d be a fool to stop you,” The Devil replied with a shrug and pulled out two pieces of parchment, one more tattered than the other. “Now onto the good news, Dove, these are yours.”
Dove looked over the contracts she’d been given, confused at the casual way her boss had just handed them over. She read the more ancient of the two and frowned.
“Who the hell did you give me?” she muttered and looked over the second contract.
Her complaints and objections died as she read it over a second time and she looked up The Devil only to met with a smug grin.
“Did I do good?” he jeered.
Wordlessly, she passed the two contracts over to a very confused King Dice. He skimmed over them.
“You ain’t pulling our legs, are you boss?” the casino manager asked.
“No, you both still work for me but after hours? I don’t care what you two do.” The Devil said dryly.
“I guess you’re stuck with us then,” Dove said and smiled. “Dice and I will have to work out the finer details but, I think we can make this work.”
“Darlin’ we made it work before the boss even hired me.” King Dice replied with a sly grin.
“Just don’t let this affect your work.” The Devil stated.
“We’ve been doing this dance for centuries boss, we know what we’re doing.” Dove replied.
“Only difference is we don’t have to keep hiding it anymore, now that we got your permission.” King Dice added.
“Speaking of permission, Dove I want you to teach Dice combat magic. I want yesterday’s incident to be a thing of the past.” said The Devil as he got up to leave.
“I’ll get started right away boss!” Dove happily replied.
It was a starry, clear summer night in Canterlot and while a few took advantage of the pleasant weather, most simply retired to their homes after another productive day. Yet despite the blanket of peace and silence the night granted the capital of Equestria, the same could be said for Canterlot Castle. Night guards patrolled the halls and a few servants and maids, those who had to clean the public areas before the next round of tours the following morning worked long into the night even as Princes Celestia finally crawled into bed after getting that one last bit of paperwork done for the day.
Dove admired their dedication as she ghosted through the halls, invisible to all as she hovered above the ground, her trademark book was open in her hooves and displayed not only a map of the castle, but the fastest route to her objective. She ducked into a side room and exited out another door to find yet another empty hallway at its end she saw a door bearing the symbol of the crescent moon and the silver nameplate beneath it read Royal Chambers of The Moon.
She cracked a smile at the name and with a quick application of magic, teleported inside. She was surprised to find a small table with a tea set already laid out waiting for her as a dark blue alicorn, the princess of the night calmly looked at her from her seat at the table.
Dove dispelled her illusions and took a seat opposite the princes. “Been a while hasn’t it Nightmare?” she asked casually and poured herself a cup.
“We are not.” the princess began but stopped as Dove chuckled.
“Still hiding behind that mask, I see.” The angel mocked and Princess Luna huffed in annoyance.
“We could say the same for you, serpent.” The princess replied. “Yet our mask is one of necessity if we are to perform our duties.”
“Same as mine, most folks don’t exactly find giant, fire breathing reptiles approachable now do they?” Dove said. “So, what’s this about a negotiation between you and the boss?”
“You are here on his behalf?” Luna asked and Dove nodded.
“The boss figured it would be best to get this settled quietly,” She explained. “I take it you want Miss Dash’s nod Miss Shy’s soul contracts?”
Luna nodded. “We are prepared to offer our own soul contract in exchange.”
“Is that all? We were gonna come for it eventually princess, you know that,” Dove said. ‘Unless your willing to add in anything else to sweeten the pot then I’m afraid I have no business with you.”
“What else would you require, you would have our soul surely that is worth the price of two mortal ponies?” Luna asked.
“Well I do have permission to take what I can for myself for this one, so how about some land here in Equestria?” Dove asked with a grin. “There are some soul contracts we’ll need to collect sooner or later and a base of operations would make the job easier…”
“That is all you would ask of us?” Luna replied sceptically.
“As long as we can keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll take what we can get. The boss ain’t keen on having to sit through another war and frankly neither do I for that matter,” Dove explained. “What do you say princess, we got ourselves a deal?”
“Our soul and some land in exchange for Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s freedom? You are clearly up to something but unlike our sister we know The Devil does not wish to see this world spun into turmoil and ruin as so many others have tried to do,” Princess Luna replied. “Very well, we accept your terms, O agent of The Devil.”
Dove pulled out a blank scroll and wrote up the agreement. “You’re getting better with modern Equestrian princess.”
“We have taken your advice to heart ever since our return and we are… Glad to see it is paying off.” Luna admitted as she watched the angel pony write with her golden quill held in one wing.
“Just sign here and The Boss will nullify those contracts once the deal goes through, I’ll grab your soul contract on the way out.” Dove stated and passed the contract over the lunar diarch.