"Maybe this is how you've always done it," Lunar Trail replies, bristling at Midnight's verbal barrage, "but I'm not a vampony and I'm not going to let you use mind magic on me!"

Midnight leans back, her eyes widening at his retort and her ears drooping ever so slightly, though only for a moment – cold detachment taking over her expression just as quickly.

She moves a step away, her sharp teeth and fangs clearly visible while she speaks, "You're right. You're not. Sorry for the mistake."

"Sir!"

A sudden yank on his tail pulls Lunar out of his reverie and into the real world, revealing an ominously dark grey cloud floating only a few feet in front of him. The night guard behind Lunar releases the tail held in his mouth, retaking his position on Lunar's right while the third member of their squad hovers uncertainly on Lunar's left.

"Is everything alright, sir?" the left guard asks, glancing between Lunar and the lone thundercloud marring the otherwise nearly clear sky. "You've been pretty distracted since last night."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Lunar replies, a small spark of electricity arcing randomly along the cloud's puffy exterior. A breeze picks up in the ensuing silence, his eyes tracking the cloud as it moves out of their path.

Lunar sighs, "If a mare you liked wanted to use mind magic on you, would you let her?"

Silence reigns once more, the guard on the left glancing over Lunar's back to the guard on his right, though all he receives in response is a bewildered shrug.

The left guard clears his throat, "Were you asking us, sir?"

Lunar looks at the guard, "Is there anypony else up here?"

"N-No, sir," the guard stammers. "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a rhetorical question before I started, you know, answering. Um. I guess, as for the question, I'd have to say 'definitely no'. My mind is for me, and I don't want anypony else messing with it, mare or otherwise."

Lunar turns his attention to the guard hovering on his right.

"Well… " the other night guard replies, tapping his chin, "I guess it would depend a little. If it was just telepathy, or something like that, then it would be kinda neat to be able to talk with thoughts. Anything more than that seems like it would be pretty dangerous though."

"Hmm… " Lunar murmurs.

The left guard raises a hoof to shield his eyes from the light of the nearly full moon, squinting down at Ponyville, "Huh."

"Is something wrong?" Lunar asks.

"I don't know," the guard replies, pointing at the oddity. "Maybe?"

Lunar follows the outstretched hoof, his gaze landing on another thestral guard perched on the roof of a house a ways in front of them. Noticing their attention, the guard on the roof waves frantically back at the trio, hopping up and down between each wave.

Lunar stares at the roof-bound guard, "Huh."

"So… should we… go see why he's jumping on somepony's roof?" the right guard asks eventually.

"I'll go check what the problem is," Lunar replies. "You two keep patrolling, and I'll catch up with you in a bit."

Both night guards simultaneously salute, "Yes, sir."

Lunar watches them continue on their patrol route, after several seconds adjusting the angle of his wings and giving a few hard flaps as if to follow them – instead keeping his wings spread wide to glide towards the still waving guard.

"Is there a problem?" Lunar asks, landing on the roof next to the guard. "Why aren't you on patrol?"

"My squad and I ran into the Royal Guard lieutenant, sir," the night guard answers. "He ordered me to watch the changeling living in the house opposite this one."

Lunar frowns, glancing across the street at the indicated house, "You mean he ordered you to stop patrolling the town we've been tasked with protecting, to instead keep tabs on one of the changelings who stood with Princess Luna and Princess Twilight not two nights ago? A changeling which Princess Twilight specifically used as an example of why changelings aren't evil?"

"And the stallion who's with her, but yes, sir," the guard confirms. "Also, when I got here, I took over for a pegasus who said my job was to 'make sure those soulless parasites keep hiding in their houses'."

A heavy silence follows the guard's words, Lunar's frown deepening, "He said what?"

"The pegasus was a mare, sir, and those were entirely her words, not mine," the other thestral on the roof replies. "I don't think that was the exact order their lieutenant would have given either, even to another royal guard, but you know as well as I do that the royals are still pissy about getting their flanks handed to them by the changelings a couple years ago. I haven't had much to do with Celestia's guards since I got to Ponyville, thank Luna, but I'd be lying if I said it surprises me that they're taking it out a bit on the changelings here."

"And I assume the other two members of your squad were ordered to watch the other two changelings?" Lunar asks.

"Yes, sir," the night guard answers. "However, I would much prefer to be in the air and on patrol, if that's what you'd rather have me be doing."

"I would," Lunar states. "Go find the rest of your squad, get back on patrol, and let everypony else know that they are not to stop patrolling to sit around watching changelings that the Princesses believe are trustworthy. If the Royal Guard gives anypony any trouble when they wake up, tell them to take it up with me."

The guard salutes, "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"

Lunar watches the grinning guard fly away, after a moment spreading his wings as well, though he does not flap them after jumping off the roof – the drag from his wings keeping his fall to a manageable speed despite the weight of his armor. Approaching the formerly surveilled house, he gives its door four hard knocks. For a time, nothing happens. However, just as he raises a hoof to knock again, the door opens.

A large, red stallion fills the doorway, glaring menacingly down at Lunar, "What?"

"Hello," Lunar replies, eyes flicking from a large bruise on Big Mac's left foreleg near his shoulder to a gauze bandage wrapped around his right ear before settling on the taller stallion's face. "You're Macintosh Apple, right?"

"That's me," Big Mac rumbles. "What do ya want this time? Cause Ah ain't lettin' you in either."

A floorboard creaks behind Big Mac, an entirely black pony save for her dull yellow shell and pupil-less eyes freezing in Lunar's peripheral vision.

"I'm not sure I understand," Lunar states, only barely resisting the urge to glance at the changeling attempting to sneak through the home's darkened interior. "Who wanted you to let them in?"

Big Mac smirks, "A coupla' other guards tried to force their way in earlier today. They didn't get too far." He glances at the empty street behind Lunar, "Though Ah gotta admit, Ah was expectin' more a' you the next time y'all showed up, not less."

"Oh," Lunar says with difficulty, his jaw muscles flexing stiffly beneath his cheeks. "Well. I cannot speak for the Royal Guard's actions, and I will not apologize for them, but I will say that the Night Guard and Lunar Guard had no part in their intimidation. In fact, the reason I am here is to let you know that we have no intention of keeping anypony stationed outside your house any longer. As far as I'm concerned, Princess Luna and Princess Twilight vouched for you, and that's good enough for us. I'd also imagine they'd be quite disappointed to know what the Royal Guard has been up to during the day."

"Mac… " Cheerilee murmurs, nudging him to the side just enough to fit in the doorway without looking over his shoulder, "He's telling the truth."

Big Mac glances at Cheerilee, "He is?"

Cheerilee nods, licking her lips, "Y-Yeah. He's angry, but it doesn't feel like it's directed at us or… or me, or anything like that."

Big Mac relaxes at her words, giving Lunar a once over and moving to allow Cheerilee more room in the doorway.

"You can read my emotions that specifically?" Lunar asks.

Cheerilee takes a tiny step sideways, filling the space left by Big Mac, "I'm not sure I'd say 'specifically', but… emotions do have a sort of direction to them, so they're strongest towards the thing the emotion is being felt about. Or where the pony feeling the emotion thinks the thing they're thinking about is. Your anger wasn't directed at us, it was focused more… " she waves a hoof behind Lunar and vaguely to his right, "over there. Somewhere."

"Huh," Lunar replies, glancing over his shoulder. "That's interesting."

"As interestin' as that is," Big Mac interjects, "would ya mind bringing this up with Princess Twilight and Princess Luna? Seein' as how they apparently don't know what all's been goin' on."

"Not at all," Lunar states, giving a single, sharp nod. "Everything I've heard, and seen, in the last five minutes about the Royal Guard's behavior is completely unacceptable, and the very next thing I intend to do once we're done talking is tell the princesses what they've been up to."

Cheerilee smiles, ducking her head slightly, "Thank you, Lunar Trail."

Lunar smiles as well, looking away after a moment and rubbing the back of his neck, "And… letting you know where we thestrals stand was all that I originally came over here to do, but… Cheerilee, given that you're a changeling and all, would you mind if I asked you a few questions about mind magic?"

Big Mac frowns, stepping forward into the doorway to place himself between Lunar and Cheerilee.

"I'm not investigating her," Lunar adds quickly, "or trying to dig up something to use against her, or anything like that. There's just some things I'd really like to know, more for myself than for any 'official' reason."

Cheerilee pushes against Big Mac's shoulder, the stallion begrudgingly giving in to let her stand fully in the doorway, "What do you want to know?"

"What do you know-" Lunar hesitates, glancing at the ground. "Well, do you know anything about Domination magic?"

Cheerilee tilts her head, her pupil-less eyes revealing nothing until she smiles widely, "This is about Midnight, isn't it?"

Lunar blushes, "H-How did – oh, right, never mind."

"Ah feel like Ah missed somethin' just now," Big Mac states plainly, sitting down and leaning over Cheerilee's shoulder as he looks between them.

"He likes one of the vamponies," Cheerilee explains.

"Oh," Big Mac says, both his eyebrows rising. "Well alright then."

"Does that mean you know about Domination magic?" Lunar asks hopefully.

"Sort of," Cheerilee answers.

Lunar's ears droop, "Sort of?"

Cheerilee sits, taking a few seconds to compose herself, "I know about it, but I can't actually use it myself. Most changelings can't. Changeling mind magic generally falls under what's known as 'seduction' type magic – which just means that I can't walk up to somepony, stare into their eyes, and suddenly they're brainwashed. It's sort of like hypnosis, if that helps. It's very delicate and can take a long time to make any progress – i-if that was something I wanted to do, which it's not! And I haven't. Ever, uh, done that. To anypony."

Big Mac lays a comforting hoof across Cheerilee's shoulders, said changeling taking a deep breath and leaning into him, "Brainwashed emotions wouldn't taste this good anyway… "

She blushes a split second later, "A-Anyway, the point is, domination magic is completely the opposite of that. If changeling mind magic is like threading a needle, then vampony mind magic is like a sledgehammer. They can walk up to a pony, stare at them, and almost immediately start influencing their behavior, but it's not at all subtle. Anypony who has domination magic used on them will know it was used on them, and will probably even be able to tell when their actions are being influenced by it, assuming they know what Domination magic is and what signs to to look for. Though whether they can stop themselves is a different question."

"And… how important is Domination magic to them?" Lunar asks, "I don't know if 'culturally' is the right word, but you know what I'm asking, right?"

Cheerilee shrugs the shoulder not pressed to Big Mac's chest, "I don't know. It's not something I ever really cared to ask. That said, I do think it's very much a part of who and what they are. There was a time a couple years ago when they had me teach Midnight's little sister the basics of reading, writing, et cetera, and whoever was with her, usually Midnight, would often use a little Domination magic to make her pay attention and stop trying to sneak off whenever she got bored. It gave me the impression that it's something they use so commonly, and consider so ordinary, that they don't think twice about it."

"Hmm… " Lunar murmurs, resting his chin on his hoof and staring at the ground, "I'm not sure how I feel about using mind magic like that on a filly, but… I suppose it doesn't sound too dangerous, all things considered."

Cheerilee gives another one-shouldered shrug, "For vamponies, maybe not. But for everypony else? I have no idea what side effects it could have. For changelings though, it's very dangerous. We have a sort of passive mental link to every other changeling in our hive, and losing to a vampony's Domination magic can completely sever that changeling's link, to the point that they would have to travel back to the hive to be rejoined by the queen herself. If a queen were to somehow lose… I don't know what would happen, but it would be devastating to the entire hive."

"Mmmmm… " Lunar grumbles, his brow knitting.

"I'm sorry I can't give a more definite answer," Cheerilee apologizes.

"Don't be," Lunar says, shaking his head, "this has been really helpful. Thanks."

Cheerilee's eyes flit to the street, returning to Lunar an instant later, "Would you mind if I asked you a question?"

"Not at all," Lunar replies.

"Are any of – I mean, would you happen to know if any Royal Guards are still awake?" Cheerilee asks.

"I don't," Lunar answers, wincing, "but I doubt it. Most of them usually don't stay out long after the moon rises if we thestrals are around to guard the night."

Cheerilee gently pulls away from the stallion next to her, looking up at him hopefully, "Mac, maybe we could… ?"

"It would be nice to get out a' the house," Big Mac agrees. "No offense to yer house, of course."

"None taken," Cheerilee replies with a giggle, returning her attention to Lunar Trail. "And, thank you."

Lunar smiles, "Don't mention it. You might want to avoid the north part of town for now though, just in case. The Royal Guards are all staying in a couple vacant houses up there."

The couple's levity falters at his words, determination taking its place.

"Thanks fer the warning," Big Mac says. "We'll keep that in mind."

Lunar Trail pushes open the doors to the town hall, shadows and darkness covering nearly the entirety of the now empty first floor save for a weak, yet warm, flickering glow emanating from his left.

Quiet voices murmur incomprehensibly above him from the same direction, and he takes a few steps towards their apparent source, "Princess Luna? Princess Twilight?"

A point of light appears over the railing of one of the circular platforms making up the second floor, for a brief moment illuminating him in and eerie, light blue glow – a pulse of magic tingling over his body an instant later. Lunar blinks, glancing from side to side to find himself standing at a table between Luna and Twilight, Luna sitting back down as the glow fades from her horn. Documents, many only partially completed or with large sections scribbled out, cover the entire table and flow to the floor in a waterfall of parchment, the only exceptions to papery dominance being the space taken up by a teacup near Twilight, a coffee mug near Luna, and several inkpots. A large shaft of moonlight falls across the two beverages as well as most of the cascade of parchment and ink, though its position in the sky and the size of the nearby open window prevents it from covering the entire table – four firefly lanterns placed behind him at even intervals atop the railing overlooking the first floor providing the remaining light needed for reading. Hidden Glow meanwhile keeps watch over the pair of princesses from her position between the other side of their table and the window, her ears perked and on alert as her eyes flick from Lunar to the room around him.

"Princess Luna, Princess Twilight," Lunar says, dipping his head respectfully, "I'm sorry for interrupting your work; however, I have become aware of something which I believe you should know about sooner rather than later."

Luna raises an eyebrow, "Though given your calmness, we assume it is not anything which would pose an immediate danger to Ponyville?"

Lunar shakes his head, "Not immediately and not to Ponyville as a whole, but I am somewhat worried about what might happen after the sun rises tomorrow. While I was on patrol tonight, myself and the two others I was flying with ran into a single Night Guard from another patrol sitting on a roof watching the home of the changeling Cheerilee. He reported that the Royal Guard's lieutenant had ordered his squad to stop patrolling and instead keep watch on the houses of the three changelings currently in Ponyville."

"I see," Luna replies, her eyes narrowing. "I was unaware that the Royal Guard had taken such an endeavor upon themselves. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

Lunar nods, his eyes flitting to Hidden Glow and then to the window behind her before returning to Luna, "Also, and this is why I decided I needed to bring this to your attention immediately rather than later, the Night Guard who was watching Cheerilee reported the Royal Guard he had replaced as saying their job was to 'make sure those soulless parasites keep hiding in their houses'."

"What?!" Twilight exclaims, her forehooves hitting the table hard enough to rattle her teacup as she stands, glaring at Lunar.

"Indeed," Luna agrees, the shadows surrounding the table no longer moving despite the lazy motions of the fireflies in their lanterns. "That is quite a provocative statement to make after how clear Twilight and I were that they are trustworthy, especially in the case of the Bearer of Kindness."

Lunar suppresses a shiver as he holds Luna's gaze, her eyes piercing through his own to deliver a chill to his core, "I am… simply reporting what I was told, Princess; and while I know that the Lunar and Night Guard frequently do not get along with the Royal Guard, I have no reason to doubt this report. Very much the opposite, in fact."

Luna meets his eyes for a moment longer, then nods, "Continue."

Lunar dips his head in a quick bow, "After ordering the Night Guard to find the other members of his squad and continue with their patrol, I went to speak with Cheerilee to inform her that no thestrals would be watching her or her house anymore. However, Macintosh Apple answered the door instead, and he claimed that a couple of Royal Guards had attempted to force their way into Cheerilee's home during the day. Normally I would not believe such a story, even about the Royal Guard, but he did have a bandage on one of his ears as well as what looked like a fairly recent bruise near one of his shoulders."

Lunar shudders despite his best efforts, a fine mist appearing in front of his face as he exhales.

"L-Luna?" Twilight asks through chattering teeth, "I-Is that y-you?"

Luna closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, the ambient temperature instantly rising, "Yes, our apologies."

Twilight steps down from the table and looks back at Lunar, "And y-you said the other two c-changelings in Ponyville were being watched like this as well?"

"They w-were also certainly being watched," Lunar confirms, "but beyond that, I don't know."

"I hope Fluttershy's ok… " Twilight murmurs, glancing in the direction of the Everfree. "I can't believe the Guard would do something like this."

"Perhaps, if this is how the Royal Guard is going to behave, they should be sent back to Canterlot," Hidden Glow suggests.

"Then I take it that you are volunteering to patrol during the day?" Luna asks pointedly.

Hidden flinches, lowering her head, "No, Princess."

Luna returns her attention to Lunar, "Is there anything else we should know about?"

Lunar shakes his head, "No, that was all I had to say on that."

"'On that'?" Luna asks, raising an eyebrow. "Has there been some other incident?"

"I am not aware of there having been any other incidents, Princess," Lunar answers.

"Then what were you referring to?" Luna presses.

Lunar looks at the floor, shuffling his hooves, "I originally had a more… I guess… personal question, unrelated to all this, which I was going to ask once you and Princess Twilight had finished your work for the night. But-"

"Well, you are already here," Luna interrupts. "What is the question?"

"Oh," Lunar says. "Okay, I mean, in that case, I was just wondering, given that mind magic is mostly illegal, what does that mean for vamponies' domination magic and… and it's use on non-vamponies?"

Luna turns to her other guard, "Hidden Glow."

"Yes, Princess?" Hidden queries.

"Please wait outside the front doors," Luna states. "When Lunar leaves, wait a few more minutes, then return here."

Hidden Glow bows and immediately jumps out the nearest window, spreading her wings before gravity takes over.

"The official, long-term stance has yet to be decided," Luna says, focusing on Lunar after watching the empty window for an extra moment, "and likely will not be completely settled for some time. However, I assume that this is related to Midnight in some way?"

Lunar shifts from side to side, "It is."

Luna nods, "In that case, you need not worry about the legal technicalities. We are also able and willing to remove any lasting effects, should you ever be on the receiving end of her magic."

Lunar blinks, taking an extra pair of seconds to process Luna's response, "You can?"

"Correct," Luna replies. "Were there any other questions you wished to ask?"

"Oh, uh, no, Princess," Lunar replies, bowing. "Thank you for answering the one question I did have. Also, was there anything you wished for me to do regarding the first issue?"

"No," Luna states. "We will handle it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention."

"In that case, I will continue with my patrol," Lunar says, bowing again before trotting behind Twilight and following Hidden Glow out the window.

Luna watches Lunar leave, turning back to Twilight to find the purple alicorn staring at her through narrowed eyes.

"Is something the matter, Twilight?" Luna asks, her lips quirking in a smile.

Twilight stares at Luna a moment more before replying, "You just gave one of your personal guards permission to be subjected to normally illegal mind magic, and even offered to remove its effects. Why?"

Luna levitates her coffee mug over her head, tilting it not quite completely upside down to drip the last of its brown liquid into her mouth.

"Simple," Luna says after she swallows. "Politics."

Twilight groans and slumps to the table, her horn spearing one of the many pieces of paper scattered in front of her, "I knew it."

Luna grins, "But do you know why?"

Twilight raises her head only enough to rest her chin on the table, the pierced parchment remaining stuck to her horn and obscuring most of her face, "Because having them like each other is somehow beneficial to Equestria?"

Luna chuckles, levitating the paper from Twilight's horn, "Indeed it is, however I did not 'have them like each other'. Though we may not be our niece, it is clear to us that their feelings are genuine and entirely their own – I am simply removing certain otherwise troublesome obstacles from their path when the opportunity presents itself."

"And, not that I have anything against them," Twilight says, sighing, "but how does them liking each other benefit Equestria?"

"Lunar Trail answers to me, and Midnight's parents are the closest thing the vamponies around Ponyville have to leaders," Luna replies. "Their relationship therefore provides a means of communication between us and them which does not involve me personally having to go speak with them every time something needs to be said, it also provides a more concrete and longer lasting example of vamponies not being monsters lurking in the Everfree, and it provides an excellent way for us to learn about each other – something it would seem Lunar Trail is already in the midst of doing and which we are sure will make for some very interesting questions to ask him once he returns to Canterlot."

"That's only if your plan works though," Twilight points out. "Otherwise all those things could become even more difficult."

Luna rolls her eyes, "Such could be said of all plans. If one only did things that had no chance of failure, one would do very little at all."

"I suppose I can understand the motivation, and it's hard to argue against helping their relationship in and of itself, but still… " Twilight grumbles, glancing again towards the Everfree. "Anyway, would you mind it if we stop here for tonight? I'd like to check up on Fluttershy and make sure she's alright."

Luna shakes her head, "Not at all. This is as good a time as any for me to give the Royal Guard something of a 'wake up call' as well. We are sure Hidden Glow will enjoy the spectacle, at least."

Twilight nods, disappearing an instant later in a flash of lavender light. Luna meanwhile flips over one of the many pieces of parchment cluttering the table, adding a short note to the parchment's back before walking to the window her two thestrals had left from. Taking to the air with a flutter of her wings, she follows Hidden Glow's flight path towards the town hall's front doors.

Lunar Trail stares out at the Everfree Forest, the air displaced by his wings swirling over the numerous bandages and small cuts scattered across his now unarmored body left over from his previous trek into the Everfree. Light from the moon directly overhead equally illuminates both the untamed forest in front and the civilized landscape behind him – the orderly peace of the orchard offering him one last chance to turn around. Leaning forward, he instead propels himself over the forest's border, allowing a couple miles to pass beneath him before he opens his mouth, releasing the first call of many to disturb the quiet rustling of the trees below, "Midni~ight!"