Night has fallen over Canterlot, though that doesn’t mean the city is going to sleep anytime soon. Blackwatch airships are blotting the night sky and Blackwatch patrols are running all over the place. Canterlot has its fair share of night owls, but seems to me the locals are outnumbered by the blue-eyes two to one. Damn tourists.

It's not all bad. I’m taking a stroll through Citadel Park this evening, and so are a few other Canterlot citizens. All the lamp posts along the path keep us all well lit, so I can see the other ponies, and the other ponies can see me. I greet anyone who walks by me with a smile, and they return the same gesture. The ponies in the town are quite friendly, especially to a nobody unicorn like me. The Blackwatch goons less so. They've just yelled at me to keep walking. Jerks.

As I walk, I look over my notepad, thinking over the items of the list I wrote down. Most of what I wrote is crossed out. Repairing damage, for instance, has a line striking through it. I talked to a local construction company about fixing the damage to the bakery. They can do it, but since it’s the site of a Blackwatch operation, they have to wait a week or so to get an all clear. I told them to talk to my banker for payment, as I may be out of town during construction.

Next crossed off the list is insurance. I made a stop by my insurance agent after the construction guy and made my claim there. The Blackwatch organization destroyed my shop in attempt to apprehend a villain. A claim like that has to be on the same level as criminal arson or a magically induced tornado. Nope. The dirty insurance agent tried to weasel out of it by saying it was a government sanctioned military operation, that I would have to get in touch with the Royal Court to get recompense. I kindly, in my own way, reminded the agent that Blackwatch isn’t part of the Equestrian military. Blackwatch is owned by Genicorn, which is contracted by Equestria to deal with plague and viral outbreaks and are not authorized to participate in true military engagements. Blackwatch is a mercenary company, civilians with arms. Any property damage from civilians is vandalism. Ipso facto, I did my homework and don’t you dare screw me over on my insurance policy!

Insurance is crossed off with a thick, angry line.

After that is my bank. I told my banker about my situation and gave him a list of names that should be contacting him about fixing the shop. He said no problem. Done and done, crossed off.

The rest of my to-do list is unmarked, for various reasons. New furniture is going to take an entire day to shop for, and I don’t want to work on that until the shop is mostly fixed. Exterminator is the same deal. I don’t want that getting in the way of construction. New industrial mixer, I can do that sooner. Problem is I don’t know how far gone that thing is. Did mixing a monster griffon and a table completely destroy it? Is the damage repairable? Is it as fine as ever and doesn’t need any additional work? I can’t even look at the thing until Blackwatch scurries off. I hope it’s fine, in which case I’ll give it a thorough cleaning to get rid of any biohazards left behind. That’ll need its own day entirely.

That leaves two items left, which I should be able to get done tonight, or at least get them going. For both of them, I’ll need to make a very special stop at a very special place.

I put down the notepad and look up the mountain, which is dominated by the form of Canterlot Castle. Citadel Park is right at the foot of the castle. There’s only a tall wall I have to cross separating the park from the castle proper.The bastion looms overhead, looking down upon the rest of the mortal world. The castle is dark at this time of night, merely a black silhouette against the starry sky. The only lights are coming from the many windows covering the palace, lighting up tiny spots. With the castle so high and the windows so many, it gives the impression that the castle merges with the night sky. Where the sky ends and the castle begins, only the gods know the answer to that question.

That’s just a bit of poetry I heard one of my customers spout not too long ago. It’s actually really easy to tell sky from castle. The whole thing is painted white! Kind of hard to mistake it for sky. Still, the castle looks pretty big at night.

I tuck the notepad in a satchel on my back, placing it next to a think envelope. I head for the edge of the park, where the park grass meets the citadel wall. There’s a guard patrol that walks along the top of the wall, but they’ll be easy to avoid if I time it right.

When I get to the wall, I lean up against it, pretending to admire the greenery at night. I also keep tabs on what’s going on around me. A jogging couple runs past me. They’re wrapped up warm for the cold night. Little clouds of breath come out of their mouths like clockwork. Step, breathe, step, breathe. They’re in sync, that’s cute. They leave my area soon enough. Looks like no one else is coming down the path.

My ears turn to the top of the battlement. My monster hearing picks up two guards walking past me right now. I listen closely to their footsteps, waiting for them to clear. When I hear them walk far enough for my comfort, I jump, kick up the wall, and run up the side to the top. The guards are walking away from me when I get to the top. Excellent. I glance down the other side of the wall to make sure no one is watching, and jump down into the courtyard.

I’m in. Canterlot Castle, you’re mine for the taking. My Gilda senses ping for a specific pony, and I get a pull slightly to my right. I dash that direction, careful to hide from any patrolling guards. A few cross my path as I make my way through the courtyard. It’s easy enough to dive behind a bush or hide behind a statue. Huh, this is easier than I thought. I expected the most famous castle in the world to have better security. Helps to have monster speed and hearing, I suppose.

Run, hide, run, hide, the cycle continues as I cross the courtyard. I even run up some stairs at some point. Exciting! After all that, I follow my Gilda senses to the base of a tower, where they pull me straight up. Aha, my target is up this tower. Tonight is a fruitful night indeed.

I look either side of me, checking for any incoming guards. Nobody is coming, or at least nobody I can hear. The Equestrian army isn’t known for hiring ninjas to patrol the castle, so I’m going to make a safe bet and say nobody’s coming. I crouch down as low as I can go, putting all my power into my back legs. When my muscles tense up as far as they can go, I release the power, springing high into the air with an impressive monster jump.

Several windows streak past me as I ascend. When my jump slows down at the peak, I grab onto the wall, digging my talons into the brick with my talons. This gives me enough grip to kick the wall and start running up the tower face.

This is just like the Mission Possible comics, sneaking around the enemy base, hiding from guards, grappling up walls, all leading to an encounter with the big bad dude running the place. Granted, I’m running up the wall, not grappling it, so there’s a slight difference. The essence is still the same, and that’s what I’m enjoying.

When the ground is far below me, and the wind is threatening to blow me off the wall, I reach the bottom of a balcony, just as my Gilda sense pulls me to the inside the tower instead of up. Bingo, I found my boy. I grip the edge of the balcony with my claws and heave myself over the edge, getting a good look of the tower’s inside.

The balcony leads to a large door, which someone left open for air. Past the door is a large room with a large dining table in the middle. It’s covered in fruits and breads and all kinds of other foods no one from Griffonstone can afford. It’s all lit up by a bunch of candlesticks sharing the same table space. That’s a lot of food. I wonder who’s going to eat it all.

At the middle of the table, sitting in the center of my view, is the one unicorn I would like to talk to. He’s a tall guy, white coat, fine blond mane, wearing a suit that probably costs as much as my scone shop. He’s a total fruit, but he’s the fruit I’m looking for.

Prince Blueblood, I found you.

The royal unicorn has a folder hovering in front of him. He’s reading something in the folder. What he’s reading, I don’t care. My problems are more important than what’s in that folder. I’m about to step in to interrupt his folder reading when he looks up to talk to someone off to the side.

“You don’t seem pleased by the news,” he says to the stranger. My monster hearing can hear what he says from this distance. “I thought you’d be ecstatic. This is the best thing to happen in a year.”

The stranger he’s talking to, with a familiar voice, replies to the prince. “This news is hard to believe for me. Gilda isn’t one to die so easily. She’s too stubborn. The griffon survived everything you threw at her in Manehattan, but this is what does her in?”

Blueblood shrugs. “We got lucky. Zero tried fighting a single agent, and the monster tripped over his own feet. Not even the best of our tacticians could plan for stupidity.”

“Still, death by industrial mixer, such a death is not at all common.”

“The batter is a DNA match. Our agent watched Zero get, well, battered. There’s no way he’s still alive.”

“She, Blueblood,” the stranger corrects. “Gilda is a she.” Bravo, stranger. You know what’s up.

So they think I died. By the sounds of it, they must think my ride through my mixer killed me. To be fair, I did turn into a liquid. Nobody can walk away from that alive. Of course I’m the exception.

This does open up a new opportunity. They think I’m dead, so they won’t be looking for me. I could go right now, leap off this tower and escape the city within the hour. I could start a new life somewhere. Go to Las Pegasus, open up a store there, live a profitable life, the ultimate griffon dream. I could just walk away, leave this all behind, and no one would be the wiser.

Hmm… Nah, I want to scare the crap out of Blueblood.

I hear the stranger’s hoofsteps make their way towards the balcony. I tense up to pounce in the middle of their conversation, everyone loves a surprise, but the first glimpse I get of the stranger gives me second thoughts. First I see a long horn, then a dark blue figure. Then comes a mane made up of stars and the night sky. My stomach twists once I realize who is between me and Prince Blueblood.

I jump back over the ledge before Princess Luna looks my direction. My claws snatch into the brickwork, allowing me to hang off the side of the tower. Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap! Why is Princess Luna here? It’s Canterlot Castle you feather brain, of course Luna is going to be here! Where else is she going to be, Zebrica?

Luna’s hoofsteps make their way towards the balcony. “Excuse me for a moment,” I hear her say. Did she see me? She must have seen me. Why else would she be heading my way? Oh crap oh crap!

The princess’s head pops over the edge of the balcony. From here, I have the perfect view of the underside of her chin. Her ethereal hair billows out above me, blocking the night sky. She’s not looking down at me. She doesn’t know I’m here! Then why is she here? I hold my breath and clench my mouth shut as hard as I can. Please don’t look down.

Luna raises her head and closes her eyes. Her horn glows with a magnificent light. I can feel the magic radiating from her. Off on the distant horizon, the moon rises above a far away mountain range. It crawls high into the night sky, casting a soft light over all of Equestria. After a moment, Luna’s horn dims, and the moon slows to a stop.

Once the princess’s horn snuffs out, and the moon is still, Luna turns around and heads back inside. “Sorry about that. I forgot to raise the moon tonight.”

Her hoofsteps go away, and the balcony doors creak and slam to a close. I let out a huge breath. Holy crap, she was right above me! All she had to do was look down and I was toast! Luck must be on my side tonight.

I hop up to the edge of the balcony once more. The doors are shut, blocking my view to the inside. I can’t look in, but Luna can’t look out either. I should be safe for now. I run up to the door and press my ear against the crack. The conversation inside is slightly muffled, but I can still hear what’s being said. Blueblood and Luna are having a conversation about something I don’t care about. Why should I care what they’re saying? I only care about getting to Blueblood.

Hmm, either Blueblood or Luna has to leave the room. I can't barge in with the princess in there. Luna has to leave so I can have some alone time with Blueblood. Or, alternatively, Blueblood leaves so I can follow him to a different, quieter, part of the castle and talk with him there. I slump down and lean my head against the door. I didn’t think I’d be playing the waiting game tonight.

“You there, friend or foe?”

I jolt up at the sound of the voice. Standing in front of me are two Royal Guards dressed in full regalia. Where the heck did these guys come from? I didn’t see them up here with me.

“I’m… uh…” I try to think of an excuse for being here. I'm still in my unicorn disguise, right? What would a unicorn be doing outside Blueblood's balcony at this time of night? Nothing good comes to mind fast enough.

One guard steps forward. “Relax Gilda, we’re not who you think.” How did he know my name?! After saying that, his buddy’s skin bubbles. The other guard breaks up into a pile of black and green bugs. The bugs scurry all over each other for a moment before coming back together and reforming into a normal guard form.

“You’re those bug things,” I say. The guard nods in response. “How did you find me?”

“Our kind is hidden all over Canterlot,” the first guard says. His face doesn’t show any emotion, like a statue. “We wait, listen, observe, until our Queen calls upon us to retake this city once again. It just so happens you jumped behind us on that wall down in the courtyard. It was a coincidence encounter, nothing more.”

The other guard speaks in a similar statue fashion. “Our sisters told us you would be escaping the city, as that is the most logical thing to do. None of us anticipated you would be coming to the castle.”

“I have someone I need to talk to,” I say. “Now scram, your talking is going to draw the Princess out here.”

“She is currently too occupied to notice our discussion,” the first one says. “And we have something important to discuss.”

“We have nothing to discuss,” I say. “I know Heart was trying to set up a deal, but that deal died when she helped Blackwatch destroy my store.”

“While what happened to your store is unfortunate,” the first guard says, “our matter is of far greater importance.”

“You know where our Queen is,” the other guard says. “Our sisters in Manehattan saw what you did through our Queen’s eyes. You trapped her in the Nexus, and you took the Nexus with you when you escaped the city. We could not find the Nexus when we searched your house or your store, so we know you’ve hidden it somewhere.”

Ah great, they admitted to crawling around my store. I think I’ll have to get the exterminator sooner than I planned. He should at least do my house. “When you say Nexus, you mean the suitcase, right?” I ask

“Affirmative,” the first guard says. “The Nexus is in the suitcase. Our Queen saw this when you trapped her, and we saw it through our Queen.”

“We want the Nexus,” the other guard says, “so we can release our Queen.”

“Hmm, interesting.” I say. “No deal.” I’m not giving up my biggest lifeline.

“That is a regrettable choice,” the first guard says.

“How so?” I ask. “I fought a lot of Blackwatch and a lot of monsters, and none of them could do anything to me. What do you have that they don’t?”

“A presence across the world, hidden in plain sight,” the second one says. “We can always find you, and we will come for you.”

“It’s best to give us the Nexus now,” the first one says. “If we release our Queen, I’m sure she will forgive you if you give yourself to her. One day she will rule the world, and a fine specimen such as you would do well under her.”

“I’m not following any crazy bug lady,” I say. “Especially one who used my friend against me. I’m not going to forgive her for that. She’s staying in this Nexus of yours.”

“You will regret your decision,” the second says. “We will get our Queen back, one way or another.”

“Oh buzz off, bug boys.” My monster claws come out and I slash through both of their bodies at once. I tear through their disguises, slicing a good chunk of bugs. The rest of the bug piles dissolve into a huge bug puddle. They don’t attack me. Instead, they scurry off over the edges of the balcony, disappearing over the side of the tower. All that’s left on them is a small pile of bugs I cleaved in half. Good riddance.

Those bugs are nothing but a nuisance. Back to the task at hand. I lean my ear up against the door to listen to what’s going on. I don’t care what they’re saying, I’m just listening for one of the dweebs in there to leave. Fortunately, the bugs helped kill some time, and I now can hear the muffled endings to the conversation.

“I must bid you goodnight soon,” I hear Luna say. “I must get to my nightly duties.” Damn, I tuned in right at the end. That’s some good timing.

“Yes, those must be done,” Blueblood says. “I hope the nights have been easier for you. The Manehattan situation has been quiet for a while.”

“I may not have had a midnight emergency to attend to in a while, but Manehattan still has a presence in ponies’ minds. It lingers in their dreams, but I’ve learnt how to deal with them. Though the only dream I dread visiting is one of a pony who keeps dreaming of screaming carrots.”

“Screaming carrots? That does sound dreadful. The crazy things our imaginations create…”

“Indeed. But I still must attend to it. That particular pony dreaming of it has some serious issues to work through.”

“Then I won’t delay you any longer in helping that pony. Have a good night.”

“You as well.” With the last words spoken, I hear Luna’s hoofsteps as she leaves the room. When I can’t hear them anymore, I give her a ping with my Gilda senses to check where she is. Below me, descending the tower. Oh good, I have Blueblood to myself now.

I stretch, cracking my spine and neck bones. Time to get this show on the road. With a kick, the door flies open. Blueblood jumps at the noise, spilling glass of wine. I check to see if there’s anyone else in here. Nope, just me and the prince. "Know knock, Prince Dweeb!"