The Forgemaster knocked politely on the door to Luna's bedroom, and was told to enter.

The second that Luna noticed who was at the door, she squealed with joy and jumped into his arms. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and hugged him. He staggered under the sudden weight, but stayed on his feet.

"Eeeeee! I'm so happy you're coming with me tonight!" Luna squealed into his ear.

The Forgemaster carefully set her back down on the floor after the hug.

"Celestia said that you requested an escort, can't your guards do the same?" he asked.

She grinned sheepishly up at him, "Well… yes, but sometimes I just want somepony to talk to on Night Patrol. The guards aren't exactly conversationalists"

"It's alright, I'll come along." He gestured towards the open window, "Shall we be off, my lady?"

"Yes!"

wWwWwWw

The princess and The Forgemaster were flying towards Manehatten, after departing Canterlot and taking a quick fly-by of Ponyville. The pair was having a conversation the entire time they were flying. Well, it was mostly Luna having the conversation; The Forgemaster only listened or answered questions and sometimes gave his opinion when she asked for it. After a while, however, The Forgemaster had a question to ask.

"So, Luna, what exactly do we do on Night Patrol?"

"Well, there's not really much of anything to do. I just, kind of, fly around and get re-accustomed to Equestria. But, if anypony needs help and I'm able to help, I will. It's actually just me getting out of the castle for a little while, at least." She sighed, "And then I have Night Court."

"Night Court?"

"Tia handles court during the day, but if anypony can't get an audience during the day, it's my job to hold Night Court. And it's really, really boring. Thank goodness only a few ponies ever come to Night Court."

"So, you handle issues that local ponies bring to Night Court? Like what, exactly?"

"Whatever issues anypony might have, we deal with. It leads to an incredibly diverse amount of cases, 2 are rarely similar. The differing circumstances also require different and unique solutions." She smiled at him, "It's good practice for anything major that may come up."

"So, the leaders of Equestria deal with day to day problems? That's very much different than what I am used to."

"Hmm, what are you used to, Forgemaster?"

"A cold and distant leader, that only takes action if it's absolutely necessary. They leave daily problems with lower ranking officials. The idea of it all is; if it has to go to the king than it must be important, an issue only he could resolve."

She giggled at that, "Well, it would lower our wrok-load, but it would also put us out of touch with the citizens, would it not?"

"Yes, it would."

They flew in silence for a few more minutes.

"Luna, may I come to Night Court?"

She sputtered for a second, surprised at the request, "Why ever would you want to come to Night Court?"

"It might be interesting."

She sighed, "It won't be, but you're welcome to come. I suppose… I could introduce you as my advisor for the night, the Duke of Ponyville. We'll have to introduce you properly, as befitting a Duke." She smiled and started giggling, "And when ponies ask about your appearance, you can throw them out of court!"

He barked out a laugh at the image it brought to his mind, "Of course, my lady, if it pleases you."

She giggled at him, "Come on, Forgemaster! Race you to Manehatten!"

wWwWwWw

The pair raced through the skies, towards a distant city called Manehatten. Due to his large size, The Forgemaster took more time in getting up to speed than Luna did. He felt that he was more of a distance flyer with the size of his wings. Proportionally, his wings were still larger than the average pegasi's. He barely even had to flap his wings; he flew more like a hawk, soaring on thermals high above the Earth. The ponies, however, had to constantly flap their wings to stay afloat. That led The Forgemaster to believe that they would be faster than him. He was not entirely incorrect.

He and Luna reached Manehatten's town hall, the agreed upon destination, at the exact same instant.

The pair collapsed next to each other on the town hall's roof, both exhausted. They took a few moments to regain their breath. The Forgemaster looked down at his dress uniform and sighed.

'My poor uniform! Damn.' He thought.

"So, Luna, do you see any ponies in need of assistance?"

She scowled at him, and looked over the rim of the roof, "Well, actually, I think I do."

She pointed with her hood while The Forgemaster dragged himself over.

The indicated ponies in distress happened to be a pair of drunken mares stumbling out of a night club. The 2 mares walked away from the night club, stumbling, more like, and another pony stepped out of the night club just after they had. The third pony followed the 2 mares, but not as a friend would follow a pair of drunken friends, but more like a predator. The pony stood in the shadows as much as he/she could and his behind objects in the street as he followed.

"That can't be good." He said to her.

He looked back across the roof and found a rock near his leg. He reached back and picked it up, and then stood up. He tossed it from hand to hand, getting a feel for it.

Luna looked on, confused, "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I don't think that other pony has anything good in store for the mares."

"Well, you just can't chuck a rock at him!"

"Why not?"

"Because, that pony hasn't done anything wrong!"

He chucked the rock over his shoulder and groaned.

"Fine, I'll follow them and make sure nothing happens. You coming?"

"Of course."

The 2 flew off and maintained a position above the 2 mares, keeping an eye on the third pony following them. The Forgemaster was ecstatic when he found an even larger rock. He picked it up and hovered directly above the third pony with it. Luna yelled at him to put it down, so he shrugged and dropped it in the street immediately next to the third pony, now identified as a male.

With a *BOOM* that rattled nearby windows and scared all 3 of the ponies in the street, the boulder came to Earth.

The 2 drunken mares stumbled about, looking for the source of the noise and failing spectacularly at noticing the large boulder in the middle of the street. The stallion that the rock landed next to was sitting behind a wooden barrel, holding his chest and hyperventilating while looking up at the night sky for the source of the boulder drop. Princess Luna facehoofed at the scene below her, and The Forgemaster just looked at her with a face that said, 'You told me to.'

The stallion on the ground didn't find what he was looking for in the sky, but felt it wouldn't end well if he continued to follow the mares. He carefully slinked off in the opposite direction of the mares. The mares, after a few moments, disregarded the loud noise and continued to stumble home.

The Forgemaster, however, wasn't about to let the male leave, at least not without questioning him. He swooped down, quiet as can possibly be, and grabbed the stallion around his body and lifted him up to the rooftops where Luna was waiting. Taken completely by surprise, the unicorn male flailed about, trying to escape his kidnapper. The Forgemaster's grip, however, was as hard as steel and twice as constricting. He did not let go until the stallion was on the rooftop.

The scared unicorn backed into the corner of the rooftop, being stared down by an irate… beast… and the Princess of the Night.

The beast spoke first, "What were you planning with those mares?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Don't take me for a fool, I saw you stalking them. Like a predator, like an animal. You were following them, finding their weaknesses, planning on taking them, weren't you?"

"I-I have no idea what you-"

The beast drew a blade and pointed it straight at his groin.

"-'re talking about. I-I was just going to help them home! I swear!"

"Princess Luna here was the one who stopped me from dropping that boulder on you; perhaps you would like to be honest with her?"

The stallion looked between Luna and The Forgemaster, clearly looking for a way out, he decided on begging, "Please, please don't hurt me!"

Princess Luna spoke for the first time, "I know what you were planning, foolish beast. Unfortunately, somepony scared you away before anything could happen."

The Forgemaster interjected, "But that doesn't mean I can't kill you."

Luna continued, "But, we can arrest you for attempted rape."

"B-but, you can't do that! I didn't do anything!"

"Nor can you tell the Princess what she can and can't do. I think that it's our word against yours, and the fact that few mares are comfortable testifying after such a horrible event means that we won't even have to provide a victim. You are truly screwed, my young rapist. What's the penalty? 5 to 7 years? You're getting off light, in my homeland; rapists had their genitalia removed."

The stallion soiled himself.

"Luna, perhaps you should go find the local police department?"

Luna nodded and flew off, going to find the local police. Leaving The Forgemaster with the one kind of person he truly cannot stand: a rapist. Luna shouldn't have been surprised that something happened, and yet she was.

Luna wasn't gone more than 15 minutes when she came back with a pegasus sheriff. But what she found was horrifying. The stallion had all of his legs broken and bruises all up and down his body. Lacerations wound their way up and down the stallions back and his horn had several chips in it, which would severely limit any magic he could ever do from that point onwards. The stallion was whimpering into the rooftop below him. She and the sheriff were gaping open mouthed at the horrific sight before them.

The Forgemaster spoke before she could, "He was trying to escape."

Luna truly doubted that the stallion had made any move to escape. But, from what Celestia had told her about The Forgemaster's old land; the stallion was getting off lightly. Evidently; he had held back.

Luna just nodded in response, too startled to trust her voice to make the correct words she wanted to say.

The Forgemaster picked the stallion up by one of his broken legs, causing the stallion to scream in agony, and handed him off to the sheriff, who quickly flew away. Now that the sheriff was gone, she planned to give The Forgemaster a piece of her mind.

The Forgemaster interrupted her once more, however, "Princess, if we don't get going now than we will be late to Night Court."

Her eyes widened and she flew off, quick as can be. Completely forgetting about the tortured unicorn.

'I'm gonna be s~o late!' She thought.

wWwWwWw

The Forgemaster arrived at Night Court 2 hours later. Apparently, Princess Luna had just barely made it on time to Night Court. He, on the other hand, was just happy that he had evaded a scolding from Princess Luna. It's never a good thing to have your boss mad at you. He decided to give Luna some time to think on his actions, but he needed something to do in the mean time. The Forgemaster decided to check on the 2 mares from the night club, which was a very good thing to do as it turned out, and then took his sweet time getting back to Canterlot.

As it turns out, the 2 mares were relatively well known musicians named Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ Pon-3. He was happy that the 2 were alright, Manehatten was not for the faint of heart. Apparently, the city of Manehatten can get quite dangerous at night, even for 'giants'. 4 colts can now attest to that fact. They had attempted to rob the 2 mares before quickly being shut down by The Forgemaster. The 2 had thanked him profusely before going back into their apartment.

After that, he had flown back to Canterlot, and just now entered Night Court. He opened the main doors quickly and loudly, scaring all of those in the room beyond. The guards were told that he was essentially a general to him, and to treat him with respect, so they didn't stop him. The Forgemaster boldly walked straight down the carpet, which divided the room into arguing rich ponies on the right and arguing normal ponies on the left, and towards Princess Luna, who was situated on her throne at the end of the carpet

He abruptly stopped several feet from Luna and bowed. He then walked up the few stairs that put her on an elevated platform and stood right by her side.

Luna took this rather abrupt entrance as an opportunity to introduce him, "Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present The Forgemaster, Duke of Ponyville and personal adviser of the princesses of day and night."

The previous stunned silence was replaced by grumbling from the congregation.

The Forgemaster leaned down to Luna's ear and whispered, "What, exactly, are we going to decide on tonight?"

She whispered back, "There are only a few more left. We will have to wait for them to describe their cases and then decide either what to do, or which party to agree with. You arrived between 2 of them, so good timing." She laughed at him.

Hopefully she had forgotten about what happened in Manehatten.

The guard nearest them, a bailiff, called out, "Now hearing the dispute between Sir Stone and Lady Hexagonal Circle."

'That has to be the weirdest name I've ever heard, even among ponies.' He thought.

According to the 2, Miss Circle agreed to tutor Stone's son in geometry but failed spectacularly in performing a satisfactory job, Stone wanted a refund while Hexagonal Circle was disputing the claim.

By far, the stupidest thing The Forgemaster had ever heard come before a king, or a princess.

The Forgemaster spoke, startling the 2 arguing, "How much was the bill?"

Stone said back to him, "53 bits!"

The Forgemaster was absolutely disgusted by these ponies.

The Forgemaster reached into his pockets and took out exactly 53 bits. He tossed them at Sir Stone's hooves and said, "This is not a matter fit to be brought before a princess, or a ruler of any kind. You may come back when a dragon burns down your home, and not before. Now get out of this courtroom!"

Everypony in the room was stunned at The Forgemaster's actions. Apparently, no one had ever done anything remotely like that to a high-class pony.

The Forgemaster spoke to the gathered ponies, "Bothering the princesses with such useless complaints could be misconstrued as disrespect for them! If any of you have anything worth being discussed by the princess, you may come forward now. If you don't have anything that could be considered worthwhile, then get out." Nopony moved, "NOW!" he snarled out.

Rarely is it a pleasant experience to see The Forgemaster angry and tonight was no exception. Fully half of the ponies in the room quickly left, almost 90% of that number being from the high-class ponies

.

"Now, we can actually solve something. Maybe. Let's get to work! Everyone, in a line, you will address yourself to the princess, you will detail what you have to say, we will make a decision, and then you will leave. Move out!"

Due to The Forgemaster's mastery of efficiency and intimidation, Night Court was finished quicker than it had ever been before.