We Found Your Hat

-Three weeks ago-

Inside Manehattan city hall, Princess Luna carried a conversation with a city counsel member. The well-groomed and tidy non-royal politician was standing out from behind his desk. He began speaking, “Princess, thank you for stopping by.” The princess acknowledged the show of respect with a simple nod.

“What is this business you need me to handle?” she asked.

“Somepony has been sneaking into the Manehattan library at night when it's supposed to be closed. It seems like a small matter, I know, but your royal soldiers failed in finding this somepony.” The pony bowed to the floor. “If it would not be a trouble, would you please take a look?”

Abruptly the majestic Luna spread her wings out. “I shall. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Once I have resolved the problem, I shall let you know.” Without seeking any further information, the Princess of Night exited the building and glided into the air.

Night had struck the bustling city of Manehattan. Since everypony had returned home, the streets and skies were empty. The only figure that dared venture outside was the Master of Night herself. She exited the widest building in Manehattan—the city hall—and scooted into the air gracefully. The silhouettes of buildings met her eyes. Some wielded several stories in height, but the majority two stories. Between them, brick and stones streets permitted vehicular and pedestrians traffic, and these were dimly lighted by street lamps. Windows to some of the homes shed some extra luminescence, for not all the dwellers had dropped into their dreams.

Princess Luna also noted the moon and stars shimmering in the sky. Luna much enjoyed seeing the distant suns in her glistening sky, but cities blocked the view of the majority of them.  Thus, cities annoyed her. Nevertheless, if she came during the afternoon hours, she wouldn't miss anything, so she usually performed her royal duties during the day. Today was an exception.

A sign read “The First Manehattan Public Library” in front a sizable building. The structure peaked at thirty-five feet tall and stretched out with two hundred feet of length and seventy feet of width. White stone pillars and glass doors marked the front, while red bricks formed the frame and foundation. The roof—the edges of which guard rails lined—was flat. A doorway atop the roof provided entry down into the library.  At this time, all the doors were locked.

Luna landed upon the roof adjacent the door. The councilstallion had lent her the library key which she had nestled into one of her wings. Having come to the door, she pulled out the that key and inserted it into the keyhole. Click. Promptly she stepped inside. After locking the door behind her, she trotted down the staircase.

Once at the bottom, the princess stepped off the stairway. Thousands of bookcases greeted her view; her eyes could see perfectly in blackness—unlike most ponies. Her jaw dropped slightly; the last time she visited Manehattan, it was merely a village and lacked libraries all-together. The amount of books shocked her. Nevertheless, she pushed on recognizing her mission.

Luna kept the lights off, so she could sweep through the darkness and sneak up on the intruding pony. Readily and quietly she searched out the place. Her initial investigation met with utter failure; on the other hoof, taking this in strides, the determined Alicorn scoured more thoroughly a second time. On this occasion, a strange movement caught her peripheral vision. Immediately, she turned around. It was gone. “Hello?” She finally called out. “If there is somepony in here, please reveal yourself. I wish no harm.”

“Who is it?” a voice suddenly answered. Oddly, the question's tone came out as if this pony owned the place.

She briefly responded, “I am Princess Luna. I see you.” Truly, she did. A pony peeked out from behind some book cases. “May we talk?”

“Princess Luna?” The intruder chuckled, before walking out from the cover. The pony—Earth Pony specifically—possessed a brown coat, short shaggy blonde mane with blonde tail, and emerald eyes. Luna did not see a Cutie Mark, however. “Hm... Princess of the Night, am I correct?”

“Of the Moon,” Luna corrected sternly. She did not wish anypony to misunderstand her, as had been the case frequently since her the end of her 1000 year imprisonment. “Dear citizen, may I inquire concerning your presence in this library?” She walked up to him. “How did you enter?”

“I have a favor to ask, princess.”

Luna peered down at the shorter pony with squinting eyes. “I am not a fool.” Her tone sharpened. “You will not change the subject. I inquired nicely the first time; do not make me inquire again.”

“Uhm... I entered through the door? I've been here since the beginning of the week.” The pony smirked slyly and shrugged. “They've locked me in multiple times, but I didn't mind. I figured they didn't care either. How did you enter?”

“I used a-do not change the subject!” Princess Luna's patience waned thin. At the start, she planned on kindness and mercy; however, something unsettled her about this pony causing her to toss aside her original plan. If he was dangerous, she did not want him hurting her citizens. “You have intruded, thus your responsibility to explain yourself.”

“I hope this first impression doesn't forever ruin your image of me.”

“What?” Luna cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“I'm not here to mess around, my dear princess.” After turning about, he came to a book case, snagged some reading material, and began reading. While reading, he spoke, “I do not have the time to spare messing with your pointless questions. I'm on a mission to save a friend of yours. Hate me all you will. You may hate me forever, but I simply don't care.”

“Put that book down!” Luna stomped her hoof. “I am your princess, and you will obey.”

“Try again.” The brown pony flipped a page. “I respect you as a leader of this country, but my mission demands a certain amount of secrecy.” He flipped several more. The mare wished to snap back, but due to the content of his words, she held her peace. “I need to know everything. Bah, I hate reading. I could use your help, though. You're good with shadows, are you not?”

“Who are you, if you are not my subject?”

Without warning, the pony laughed. “I love it when people ask me that. Sorry... that's actually kind of prideful. If I told you, you would turn me over to the authorities.” Luna held a stonecold expression, but her insides churned. “Let's see. You need to see my real self, and I'll need to make you angry for that. Giving you heads up on that one.” What kind of statement was that? “You're making up for your mistakes, Luna.” The substance of their dialogue shifted, and Luna did not appreciate it. “You think you can make up for all the wrong that you've done as Nightmare Moon. Is that all you can do?” The Princess held her tongue. She was losing this verbal battle, though, for this mysterious pony had turned the conversation against her. “You want to live up to your sister's ideals. You've been successful so far, but everyday your heart hurts. You're trying so hard, and you're terrified that you will fail one day.”

“Hush up!” But it was true. How could this cryptic pony know her exact struggle? She wondered.

“Pardon me? Is your memory a little faulty? I said you're not my princess.” The pony placed the book on the nearest table. A frustrated growl echoed through the huge room. “Oooh, Nightmare Moon is angry at me now.”

“I'm not her anymore!” Luna stomped her hoof and snorted air.

“Stop running from who you are.”

“I give you one last warning.”

“Ooooh, I'm shaking in my pony boots!” The Earth Pony wiggled both forelegs in the air. “You should have left all your warnings behind.”

As the strange pony had desired, Luna snapped at last. She had done so well—especially in comparison to the first Nightmare Night since her release. The princess lowered her head to direct her horn at the instigator. A beam of gray light sprung forth at him. Her magic hit, but when her attack impacted, the opponent exploded into a cloud of black. Her spell was supposed to paralyze him, not cause him to poof into a smog. When the smoke disappeared, he was gone. “Where did he escape to?” Luna muttered with teeth grit.

“Boo!” He reappeared several feet behind her. “Like that magic trick?”

Luna prepared to attack again but hesitated with the mention of magic. This pony was an Earth Pony—no horn, no magic. “You can't use magic. What form of trickery did you use?”

“Magic trick.” The pony chortled softly. With unwarranted randomness, his tone softened intensely. “You had to see for yourself, and no better way than for you to attack me. If you like to continue fighting, by all means, but I am willing to go with you now.”

A surge of confusion enveloped Luna. Her brain capacity exceeded most, but she could not wrap her mind around this pony and his actions. One moment he provoked her, and the next he surrendered to her authority—an authority he claims does not apply to him. “What was the point of this endeavor?”

“Many many reasons, my dear princess.”

“Refrain from calling me dear.” She was still upset. “Start explaining, or I will strike again. I am more than annoyed by your antics.” Her glare pierced past his eyes. The intent was intimidation, but she discovered something intriguing—or more aptly nothing. “I can see through you...?” Her head shifted to the side, while eyes gazed askance. Quickly, she forgot that she had told him to disclose the point of his actions. Instead memories of her banishment came to mind. Darkness.

“What do you see?”

“Nothing.”

“Good! Now, you know what I am. You can call me Hatless, though.” The pony grinned innocently. Luna did not respond, however; she was lost in the midst of senseless information. After a brief silence, Hatless softly trotted up to her. From a foot away, he peered into her eyes, causing her to gaze back. “I'm happy with who I am, Luna. You can be too, but you still have to face it. Whether you like it or not, you're still Nightmare Moon on the inside. Now then, I need your help.” Hatless looked away.

The princess had lost all desire for confrontation. In fact, when he changed the subject from her past, she took delight in it, particularly because what he had said concerning Nightmare Moon was truth. She didn't want to face the truth. “Who is this friend that you are trying to save?”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Upon hearing that name, pleasant memories carried through Luna's mind. They put her at ease. If Hatless wanted to save Twilight, this princess would do everything in her power to help Hatless. Why she trusted Hatless, she could not say, but something of his words seemed familiar. They seemed compassionate and intelligent exactly as Twilight Sparkle spoke. It was strange. “I shall help in every way possible.” She had changed her mind concerning Hatless. He was not dangerous.

“First of all, I need you to keep me a secret.” Luna nodded in agreement, while Hatless pointed to the surroundings. “Second, I need information. That means I need to know everything you know about Twilight's crown, how it works, et cetera. Additionally, that means I need complete access to this library at all times. Third, I need your magic. There is another of my kind in Equestria, and he is the one threatening Twilight. He does not know where I am, or what I am doing at this point.” The “nothing” pony shook his head with an upset yet smug expression. “You are the Master of Darkness. I need you to use your magic to keep me hidden.” Luna would have corrected him saying that she was the Master of the Moon, but since he knew about Nightmare Moon, she refrained. “If you can see me, you can bet that he can see me. Nevertheless, am I right to assume you have the capability of making me... disappear?”

“Correct.”

“Can you do that for a week straight?”

Luna raised a hoof to her chin and frowned. “I do not know about that. Alone it would be difficult to maintain a spell at a distance. For that length of time, I am quite doubtful.”

“Hm... I have an idea, but can you cover the other two things? If you don't mind talking tonight, that is.” Hatless put a hoof to his head. “I am a little loopy, be warned.”

“Hah.” Luna snickered a bit.

“What's so funny?”

“Nothing. I will tell you whatever you'd like to know. Tonight.” Her eyes rolled.

“I saw that.” After his comment, the brown pony walked to a table and sat down. “Heheh, so before you start, you promise not to mention me to anyone? Even Celestia?”

“I give you my word.” Luna followed him to the table and sat across from him.

“Before you start...” Hatless then pulled out a green pebble and pushed it across the table. “This is something extremely valuable and useful. I only have two, and the other is in use.” He motioned to his head.

“What is it?” Inspecting closely, she picked it up.

“Energy Stone, or for the technical name, Tranium.” His gaze took a dip and bore into the table. “A lot of people have died over this stuff.” His lungs unleashed all their air in an instant.

“You make it sound as if there were war.”

“Not important right now. Do not mess around with this, but as you are using your magic, keep this with you. The stone should react with your magic and strengthen it.”

Luna raised a brow and leaned her head forward. “I have never heard of anything like that.”

“Luna, I will tell you everything later, but you should know that I don't come from this realm.” Hatless made a circle in the air with a hoof. “Your planet is not my home.” Luna tilted her head back slightly. “There will be a lot of things you've never heard of. Keep the stone, and you'll be able to keep me hidden. Keep the stone hidden too.”

“I understand.”

“Okay, we have everything else clear. How about Twilight's crown?”