The next half an hour is chaos, to say the least. Everypony wants to say hello and talk to me about various things that are completely irrelevant to the King Sombra problem, when all I want to do is have some breakfast and enjoy my day playing cards or something.

Eventually the bedlam comes to an abrupt and highly overdue end when bats from the kitchen bring out fresh mangoes for everypony. Fresh mangoes! Is there no end to the funding for the Royal Guard? Mangoes cannot grow in Equestria because the climate is not warm enough, but surely it costs an extortionate amount to have them sent by airship. Then again, mangoes are my absolute favourite fruit and I am not going to complain.

I grab one and sink my fangs into it. The sour sweet juice is just what I need to survive a few days in my new home/prison while the Princesses decide whether I am in danger of being corrupted by dark magic from a villain who's been gone for a thousand years, is probably out of touch and said himself that he wants to change but needs help to do so.

Three delicious mangoes later, a few of the guards who aren't on duty this evening start laying out packs of playing cards. It isn't known which bat started the tradition, but bat ponies have been playing for millennia. Ponies in the Everfree even make their own cards out of tree bark. Sometimes we will play poker and bet our savings on who will win, other times we might enjoy a simple round of solitaire. I try not to get involved with the betting, but if a bat puts the best odds on me winning a round, I am more than happy to prove them right. If they put terrible odds on me, well, I am even happier to watch them part with however many bits they spent on trying to make me look rubbish.

That is exactly what happens. A stallion walks up and says, "I bet ten bits to one I could beat you in a round of cards." He screams arrogance, and I feel the urge to prove him wrong.

"I'll double that," I answer cheekily, and the cards are laid out into piles.

We spend a good while playing. He is quite an opponent, I'll give him that, but his poker face could use some work. He howls and nearly pulls his fur out whenever I make a good move, whereas I just keep a cocky smirk on my face the whole time. Other bat ponies watch, and make bets among themselves as to who might win. Wishbone knows that the stallion has no chance, but she leaves him to it and goes off to play solitaire on her own.

I win on the strike of midnight. Half of the group, including myself, cheer and celebrate the win. The other half of the group count their bits and hand them over. The stallion swears to himself a few times.

I approach him and comment, "Good game. You're a lot better than some ponies I know." I glance at Wishbone, who is slowly but surely completing the solitaire game.

"Thanks," he replies. "You're impossible to beat. How do you do it?"

"Thousand years on the moon gave me some time to practise. Don't ask the Princess about chess."

He stares at me. "Say what?!"

"I was accidentally banished with Nightmare Moon. I was begging her and Celestia not to fight, and then the power of the Elements of Harmony throws us into the air faster than a Sonic Rainboom. Next thing I know, I'm sat on the moon next to the old Queen Nightmare."

"You're the Daughter of the Night," he breathes. "Bat legend says that you were Nightmare Moon's daughter, and you followed her when she was banished to help her escape."

I snigger. "The whole story is a lot less pretty than that. I am not the daughter of an alicorn, she just looked after me when we were stuck on the moon. Some stallion's messing around in my dreams now, so I'm here for a few days while Princess Luna sorts it all out."

"Some stallion?" he asks dubiously. "I've heard that is was King Sombra himself."

"You aren't supposed to know that!" I cry out.

"Everypony knows. News travels fast among the guards. Sorry."

"It's fine, I am just a little surprised. I guess I forgot that all of the guards are gossips." The time that I mistook an orange bowling ball for a mango comes to mind. I was a laughing stock for weeks.

"Moonlight," Wishbone calls.

"Ugh, what is it?" I ask as I walk over to her table. "I'm chatting to a cute stallion who I beat at poker, and he is reminding me of my old days here, when I used to have real fun. What is the problem?"

"The fact that he knows is the problem. Somepony found out and told the rest of the guards, and if the guards know, who's to say that Sombra doesn't know? Maybe he could pop into their dreams. Maybe he learned of it in your dreams last night. There might even be a spy in the castle who's telling Sombra everything that happens."

"That's a whole lot of maybes. Let me chat to cute stallions."

"You are WAY too old for him-"

"And I look way younger than him so shut it." I ruffle her mane, and go off to talk to the stallion again.

I have a good night, all in all. Most would have to pay good money to stay in the castle for a few days, but because this is an emergency and I know Princess Luna well, it is all free. I get to play cards with the guards, and eat decent meals.

The best part of it all is fleetingly seeing a pair of sad blue eyes looking at me from behind an old oak tree in my dreams that day.