Even a pony used to nights in the halls of Canterlot Castle would quickly become bored and sleepy if they were one of the poor souls to be pulling a night shift. The strained stoic facade of a guard trying to cover a loud yawn provided testament to that. However, to a pony that had never set hoof in the castle before, the nocturnal experience was almost magical. That was the case for a lone mare as she gently clicked down one of the vaulted halls on an upper floor of the castle.
Alabaster walls glittered in the light of gently crackling torches and fairy lights. Almost all the colours of the rainbow danced on the walls, a phantom presence against sun-bleached stone. Meanwhile, velvety blackness pressed against the glass overlooking the gardens, swallowing up the light against the face of the purple mountain like a hungry dragon’s maw.
During the day, she would have appeared to be nothing more than a tourist wandering the premises in a spellbound stupor. Her build was slim, face round, and her blonde mane bound in a neat and narrow ponytail, while her actual tail flowed in a gentle wave with the tip floating not more than a hoof off the tiled granite floor. Her amber eyes sparkled almost as much as the alabaster stone she witnessed, but was gently muted by her light green coat.
But, her purpose for being there that night was a little more meaningful than polishing the floors or cleaning up cobwebs. Yet that purpose did not come to mind as the visual majesty of the hall faltered when she turned a corner and trotted down another. It was the oppressive silence that now captivated her attention, only punctured by her unsteady steps that put her whole body on edge. Never before had she been in a place so expansive, so majestic... yet so sterile and so very quiet.
She was not a mare of the city and loud city streets were not the norm, but at least where she lived there was always something to listen to, be it the creaks and groans of her home settling in the night or the rustling of grass in the breeze. So distracted by the unearthly silence was she that she did not notice she had come to her destination until she bumped into the door, creating a hollow, echoing bang that seemed to go on forever. She felt her wings spring open in surprise and heat rise in her cheeks despite no pony being around. The mare wrenched open the door and slipped inside as fast as she could.
A plush carpet of royal blue greeted her hooves; warm and welcoming compared to the stone outside. Though her heart still raced a bit, she felt already more relaxed than before. It also did not hurt that she was not alone anymore as two strange-looking stallion guards stood rigid at attention, flanking the door in front of her. Leather wings sat neatly tucked at their sides as their own amber eyes gazed unwaveringly into eternity under the blue armour they wore. She had never seen one of the fabled Bat Ponies before, and they would have looked far more intimidating were it not for the little tufts of hair that stuck off the tips of their ears.
“You don’t have to wait out here, Miss Storm Wind,” said a mare behind a desk sitting off to the side that she had failed to notice until then. With her heart once again going at a faster clip than it should, she turned to face the rather bored looking brown mare. “You can go right in since the previous appointment had to cancel,” she added, looking up from behind her glasses while her head still pointed to her paperwork.
“Er... Okay, sure,” the visitor replied, nerves starting to get the best of her as she squeaked more than spoke. It was not usual for her to be so on edge. Then again, this was not a usual day, or rather, evening. Looking to the door once more, she could almost swear one of the guards gently nodded their head in encouragement, but that had to be an illusion, for they were rock-still. Regardless, she drew breath into her chest and slowly approached the threshold.
This was a mistake, she thought in slight desperation as her hoof betrayed her and started to push open the door. She’s going to see me and she’ll realize she made a mistake and when I go home they’ll all ask why I was called and I’ll tell them and they’ll laugh at me! Maybe I should just leave? But what if she brought me here for a reason and I disappoint her!? What if- oh no! It’s already open!
Although her line of sight was limited by the door, she could see a face beyond, sitting patiently behind a darkly-stained wooden desk in all her regal majesty. Princess Luna herself looked up from her desk, her expression unreadable until she realized who had intruded on her own paperwork and smiled gently at the Pegasus at the door. “Ah, you have arrived,” she said. It was surprising to Storm how warmly the lunar monarch spoke, having expected something more harsh and businesslike instead. “Please, do come in and make yourself comfortable.”
“Y-yes, your highness,” Storm squeaked, adding in a bow right before passing the door and quickly setting her posterior down on a blue velvet cushion reserved for guests of the nightly monarch.
Luna’s long, mighty horn sparkled in a sea of azure blue and white sparkles only to fade after the tell-tale click of the shutting door broke the silence. “Please, help yourself to some candies and make yourself comfortable. We are waiting for another to join us and they should be here soon,” she said before turning her head down to her desk. “Do excuse me if I just finish this report in the meantime.”
“O-of course, your highness. I don’t mind at all!” she smiled nervously. Her eyes glanced at the little bowl filled with wrapped hard candies on the table between the two cushions for a moment. Yes, the princess had said to help herself, but no amount of sugar in the world could help her. In fact, she thought that it would only make things worse if she helped herself to some.
An uneasy silence filled the room, only broken by the ticks of a wall-mounted clock somewhere to her left. Storm did not dare turn her eyes away from the princess for fear of being called upon at any moment and disappointing her by being distracted. As time dragged on, the ticks seemed to take longer and longer to happen and she found she was subconsciously swishing her tail nervously in time with it.
For an eternity, everything was still and quiet except for the quill dancing upon the princess’s page while being hugged by her dark aura. Who were they waiting for? Why were they not here already? What was this all about in the first place? These questions, being in the presence of royalty, and her own nerves were starting to drive her insane!
After what felt like only a couple of moments, the double doors leading into her majesty’s office opened with a tell-tale click. Seeing the princess turn her head up, Storm Wind allowed herself to indulge in her curiosity and glanced over her shoulder to see the source of the noise.
Standing on the threshold stood a unicorn stallion, panting in order to catch his breath. He stretched out a hoof to hold onto the doorframe for support and tilted his head towards the ground. The stallion’s charcoal-gray coat shimmered a little from sweat in the light along with his mane, which was a lighter shade of cyan. What struck her most, however, were the eyes: a shade of blue the likes she had only seen in a picture where the frozen wastes around the Crystal Empire met the sea.
“I’m sorry I’m late, majesty,” he panted as he tried to catch his breath.
“Actually, you are on time, Nocturne Whisper. Please, have a seat,” Luna said.
He nodded his head and quickly sat down beside Storm Wind; giving her a glance and a nod of acknowledgement before turning his attention back to the diarch. Storm blushed slightly as she realized that she had been staring at him the whole time, and quickly turned to the ruler of the night.
Luna’s horn sparkled with magic once more to shut the door, but at the same time, a wave of something that Storm could not recognize distorted the air for a quick second, passing over them and making the unicorn beside her shiver. “There, now we can talk freely,” she said, turning her attention fully to her audience. “I am sure you are wondering why I have asked you two here this night, correct?”
“Yes, your highness,” the mare and stallion replied in synch.
The Lunar Monarch smiled and nodded her head. “That’s good. I do not like beating around the bush. You are here because I would like to offer you both a job working for me and my sister directly.”
“A-a Job!? Working for the princesses!?” Storm Wind shouted in disbelief. Her mind became awash in the possibilities of the idea. What did they want her to do? She already had a good job working as a member of the guard in her hometown. Did they really want her to move to Canterlot to be in the Royal Guard, or even the Honour Guard!? Her jaw must have hit the floor, judging by the princess’s bemused expression, and she struggled to regain her senses.
“Yes, that is exactly the offer,” the princess confirmed.
“You… Do you really trust me that much, Princess Luna?” Nocturne asked in disbelief. “I mean… considering?”
That was a weird thing to say, or so Storm thought as she looked between the two. The princess merely nodded her head and smiled and that somehow seemed to ease the tension between the two of them, leaving her confused. Did they know each other?
“Now, onto business,” the princess continued. “Have either of you heard rumour of a secret organization known as The Mares in Black?”
Nocturne looked confused by the question, but Storm knew what she was talking about. She raised her hoof into the air and spoke timidly, “You mean that strange movie about a secret agency that polices aliens living among ponies?”
“Yes, that’s the one,” she replied. “What I am hiring you for is something similar, but only in the secrecy aspect. This agency is more like Shetland’s M16 from the Dame Dasher novel series. Actually, I think my sister made a mirror version of it with less power for Parliament a few hundred years ago. Of course, it is nothing like the original organization.”
A pungent silence hung in the air for some moments before Nocturne raised his hoof and asked, “What agency is that, highness?”
“Ah, I’m glad you asked,” she replied, smiling in a way that hinted to Storm Wind that she had been waiting for somepony to ask. “It has been our top espionage agency since before my… internment on the moon. They serve only myself and my sister and act as our hooves behind the scenes in domestic and foreign affairs. To that end, we call it Deus Ex Machina.”
“S-spying, your majesty?” Storm asked, unable to believe her ears. “What makes you think I am suited to espionage? I mean, not to question your majesty, or anything!”
“Your town’s current mayor is a former member of DEM and he has taken an interest in your abilities over the past few years. He has assured me that you are capable and I trust his judgment.”
She blushed and idly rubbed her foreleg with a hoof. How did he even know that she had what it took to be an international spy? Then again, if he really was badass enough to be in such an organization, then everything about him suddenly made a great deal of sense.
“Okay… Um… What about him?” she asked, pointing to Nocturne Whisper. Strangely, he jumped a little bit, as if being accused of something.
“He is a changeling, hence a master of disguise and stealth.”
“A… A changeling!?” Storm shouted at the top of her lungs, making the filthy stallion squeak and wince away from her. “Like… like those insect things that invaded here last spring and nearly took over the country? Those things ponies have been paranoid about from here to Los Pegasus?”
“Yes,” Luna replied calmly. “My reasons are my own and I ask you to trust me when I say he is a particularly benign changeling, Storm Wind. If you wish to join this agency, with the pay and benefits it brings, then I ask… neigh, demand that the two of you work together, if only for this test I wish to give to prove your skills. What say you?”
“A-anything to pay back the debt I owe to you for taking me in, your highness,” the disguised changeling stammered before bowing.
For Storm Wind, however, it was not so much a question of if she wanted to accept; she had wanted to be a spy since she was a filly, but it was only ever a fantasy. Real life had killed that dream, or so she had thought until now. That did not mean that she was quite ready to trust a changeling though. There’s no guarantee I’ll be stuck with him. The princess did say it was just for this test, so maybe I will get a more reasonable partner afterwards, she thought. “Okay. I suppose I can try to work with him… for now.”
“Excellent,” Luna chirped before igniting her horn once again. The room was suddenly plunged into a shallow darkness as the lights of adjacent castle buildings continued to shine in through the window. However, they were quickly snuffed out as the two blue, regal curtains flanking it covered the glass. A white, narrow panel descended from the ceiling in front of them before a projector whirred to life.
A white, draft unicorn stallion appeared in the light of the projector, his expression as smug as always to ponies who had seen him before. There was no doubt in Storm Wind’s mind that she was looking at Prince Blueblood, though the insect-like creature obviously had no idea who he was.
“This is Prince Blueblood,” the princess of the night began. “He is heir to the Duchy of Manehattan, though he calls Canterlot his home, and he is very popular among the peerage of nobility. We, meaning my sister and me, believe that he is planning something. However, if he can boast about anything other than his money, power or claimed ‘good looks’ it is that he is very capable of keeping secrets.”
“You wish for us to infiltrate his lair, majesty?” Nocturne asked with a wide-eyed expression.
“Yes, that is exactly what I wish.”
“Um… Princess?” Storm asked, having raised her hoof. “If he’s planning something dangerous, why are you sending us in as a test?”
Luna tried to keep her tone of voice as even and serious as possible, though she failed to hide her amused expression in the dark. “Prince Blueblood is no more a threat to national security than, say, a Blue Jay or perhaps my sister’s pet phoenix. I believe his ‘plan’ is about as harmless as a surprise birthday party for yours truly. Still, whatever secret he has, the nobles are in on it and finding out will be no easy task. Therefore, this shall be a good test of your skills.”
Storm nodded her head when the princess finished her explanation. “Fair enough.” The prince, while heir to a sum of power from the remains of the old Equestrian feudal system, was not particularly well-known for being devious or even much of a politically minded pony. Most of the tabloids and newspapers showed him as a rich party colt who only wanted self-enjoyment out of life. Not that she read any of those stupid papers… a lot.
“Since this is a test, you will not be receiving a lot of support from other members of the organization or me,” Luna continued. “However, we will get you off on the right hoof with further information to be provided tomorrow in addition to the following: the prince typically goes out every Friday afternoon to the Canterlot Summer Fair when it is in town. As well, we have a room booked for you two at the Hightrot Hotel. You can check in immediately, as the manager has been told to expect my guests; your booking is under ‘Cloudchaser’. All expenses shall be paid for, but do not go overboard, please.”
“Wow,” Storm whispered. The Hightrot Hotel was known as one of the most expensive and upper class hotels in all Equestria, and for good reason. She had seen pictures of it in a couple of magazines back home and they were all breathtaking, to say the least.
“Are there any further questions, or comments?” the princess asked, looking between the ponies sitting in front of her as she spoke. Silence filled the room for an awkward moment or two before she continued. “Good. I expect you to take care of this in a week starting tomorrow. Also, please get to know each other a bit better; you may be surprised what you two can bring to this mission, but only through cooperation. Dismissed.”
Storm Wind gave a deep bow to the princess before rising from her seat. As she did, the projector turned off and the room became illuminated. She turned to face the doors just as the curtains parted to once more reveal the stunning view of the castle grounds and did not stop walking, or speak a word until she had safely exited the nocturnal monarch’s office.
“Well, I think that went well,” the disguised insect behind her chirped.
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
Despite it being well past midnight, ponies continued to travel the streets of Canterlot City, though their number were far less than any time during the day. Storm Wind had never been in such a large city before, as her family was country through and through, but that was not to say she was ignorant. For instance, though she did not like it, she knew it was better to have a travel companion. She could take care of herself, naturally, but she was tired and did not feel like putting the effort into kicking a flank or two at that moment.
“So...” Storm spoke for the first time since leaving the presence of Luna.
Yet, the silence lingered on as they passed under archways and gently humming lamps. Nocturne would look left and right occasionally, but mostly kept his eyes straight forward almost as if he were ignoring her. It certainly was puzzling, to say the least. She turned her attention back to the street and decided to focus on keeping an eye out as they crossed large streets for any late-night cart pullers.
“So...” Nocturne replied after quite a long delay, keeping his sights forward. Although his voice was a smooth baritone, it did little to coax the mare’s attention now that it was elsewhere. The silence struck back with a vengeance, this time snuffing out any possibility for a conversation in the awkward atmosphere. Thankfully, in less time than they had anticipated, they arrived at the hotel the princess had directed them to.
The lobby was detailed in typical Canterlotian fashion with white as the dominant colour and gold trimmed in specific places, such as the bottom of columns, to accent the otherwise overbearing alabaster. However, what captivated Storm Wind’s attention were the thin veins of emerald weaving through the marble floor in intricate patterns going to and fro, sparkling slightly in the light. Cloudsdale-styled columns held up a two storey tall bridge which crossed the lobby, with the dark-wood staircase and elevators on the other side exposed for visitors to see from the entrance.
“Er... Could you tell your manager that we are here to check in, please?” Nocturne asked, already at the reception desk. His voice echoed through the cavernous hall as they were the only three ponies in it this late. Storm trotted quickly to catch up to him, having accidentally let him go ahead as she mused.
“I am the manager, sir,” the brown unicorn stallion at the desk spoke in a tired monotone. “I’m sorry, but check-in has long since passed. I am afraid I will have to ask you to leave and come back at the proper check-in time, which starts at nine in the morning.”
The changeling looked on dumbly with his mouth open in both shock and surprise, probably not expecting his reaction. I’ll probably have to do everything myself, she thought grumpily. Clearing her throat, Storm decided to intervene. “Not even if we said our reservation was under ‘Cloudchaser’ sir?”
“Cloudchaser!?” the manager repeated. This time, it was his turn to look wide-eyed. “You mean you two are here for- well, never mind that! My deepest apologies, sir and madam. You can never be too careful in this day and age! Please, follow me and I shall personally lead you to your suite!” He smiled a nervous-looking smile and with a yellow wave of his horn to lift a part of the desk, cantered out from behind.
Storm and Nocturne followed right behind him as he passed under the bridge that crossed the middle of the atrium, as the manager stammered apologies and nonsense about protocol. Changeling or not, Nocturne doesn’t seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. I wonder if we both have to succeed in order to get in? she wondered.
Stepping inside the elevator with the two stallions, she decided to end the manager’s rambling. “It’s okay, sir. We completely understand so there is no need to explain anymore,” she spoke neutrally, but with just enough annoyance to give him a hint.
“R-right. Sorry, miss,” he apologised before pressing the button for their floor.
Casting a glance aside, she could make out the unicorn’s eyes moving from one button on the panel to the next before looking all around the car. Does he seriously not even know what an elevator is? Most ponies she knew, even ones that lived in the country with her, at least knew what an elevator was, either from radio programs or city friends or family. Then again, he was not exactly a pony. With a gentle ding, the elevator stopped and opened its doors. The manager swept out ahead of them and led them down the hall.
The halls of the hotel were decorated in intricate, dark-wood panels made by the finest craftsponies in Prance, or so she remembered from a magazine she had once read about the hotel. A royal red carpet flowed underhoof, flanked by bare strips of mahogany floor that ran along both walls. Small statues and large planter boxes stuffed with exotic ferns that looked good enough to eat broke up the otherwise similar pattern of panels and doors.
“Now then,” the brown stallion spoke quietly as they continued walking. “You room will be number seven twenty-three. Breakfast is served in the dining room from seven to ten, lunch from noon to two and dinner from five to seven. Room service is available by dialing one on your complimentary telephone if you feel peckish any other time. Here is your key,” he added while using his magic to offer her the brass key to the room.
Storm took the key in her mouth and nodded her head in understanding. “Have a good night, madam and sir,” the manager said before excusing himself, leaving them standing alone in the carpeted hall. Storm then let themselves in.
White wood panels made up most of the walls of the room, dotted with the occasional generic landscape or plant painting. The soft carpet under their hooves only gave way to white tiles in the area for the kitchen and beyond the door to the bathroom. Sofas and couches upholstered in royal red popped against the wall along with the dark wood of the boxed cushions at the dining table.
Sadly, she could only see two other doors and one was to a small closet that was open, empty save for a single metal bar across the width, at the ready to accept any clothes its guests might have. In the other door, she found a single bedroom, making her grumble darkly under her breath. Thankfully, there were two beds and they were separated, but that still did not ease her annoyance much. She did not know this stallion! What if he tried something on her in the middle of the night? Even worse, he was a changeling! What if he tried to stuff her into a cocoon like she read in the newspaper and do the whole mission by himself, disguised as HER!?
“Wow, so this is what a hotel room looks like? I have to say that I am impressed,” Nocturne said. Stepping aside, she let him through to survey the rest of the room, which he did with an air of fascination unheard of in a grown stallion.
As he occupied himself, Storm lightly trotted over the couch to have a rest. She opened her wings and gave them a quick flap to hop onto the couch before sitting down at the end and tucking one wing in while letting the other hang over the couch’s arm. “When you’re done gawking, we are going to need to talk,” she said.
“Talk?” Nocturne Whisper asked. He did not seem particularly happy to hear the suggestion.
“Yes. Talk. About you being a changeling and why on Celestia’s green Earth I should bother to even trust you.” As he opened his mouth to speak, she quickly interrupted. “Forgetting the fact that Princess Luna said I should trust HER. I do trust her, but it’s YOU I have issue with.”
For a moment, he seemed stymied, but he quickly regained his wits. “Alright,” he replied before climbing onto the opposite couch. “What do you want to know, Miss Storm Wind?”
There were so many questions swarming around in her brain, like a swarm of flies buzzing her head, that it was hard to pick out which one was the most important to her. So, doing as most pegasi do, thinking on the fly, she picked out the first one that came to mind. “Are you dangerous? I mean… are you going to suck out all of my love and leave me as a dry husk or something?”
Nocturne tapped his chin thoughtfully for a second or two before he answered. “Well… sorry to answer a question with a question, but do ponies kill the cow they milk? I don’t think so. I won’t feed off of you without your consent, if that was your main worry.”
“Fair enough,” Storm conceded, nodding her head. “Still, why did you attack Canterlot if you had no plans on harming anypony?”
“Until I left the hive, I had no mind of my own, Storm Wind; I was part of a greater consciousness. Actually, it’s a bit lonely sometimes. You ponies are like this all the time? Sorry. Um… It was the queen’s orders. I objected, but I was compelled to obey because that’s how a hive mind works. We were all starving, too.”
She looked into his eyes, trying to see if there was a glint of deceit. There was none that she could see, but that did not ease her doubts very much. “Okay, uh… Why did you come to Equestria, the land you attacked?”
“Well…” Nocturne trailed off. He breathed a slight sigh, as if what he had to say was painful to him. “As I just told you, I objected to the Queen’s decision to kidnap Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. After we were all blasted away by her and her groom, I voiced my opinion to her after quite a few of us… died. She did not take too kindly to my individuality, so she cut me off from the Hive Mind and banished me, leaving me for dead. Princess Celestia and Luna were the first ponies I thought of… if only because I thought they could give me a painless death.”
“But they didn’t…?”
“No, strangely,” he said. “They said they saw good in me and my species and said they’d grant me amnesty as long as I told them everything I knew about Queen Chrysalis and changelings in general.”
“Okay,” Storm said, nodding her head. “I’m satisfied with that, for now, but I still don’t trust you as a pony. I’m going to go to bed in the bedroom; you can sleep on the couch.” She hopped off the couch and took a few steps to the door, not bothering to look at his face. “Although…” she continued. “I am curious about something else. What do you REALLY look like, Nocturne?”
Turning her head over her shoulder, she could see the colt look a little shocked and, perhaps, just a bit uncomfortable. “Well… If it will help you, I suppose I could.” Closing his eyes, the stallion was suddenly enveloped in vividly green flames. Storm could not help but drop her jaw at the sight of the changeling in his insectile form. His blue eyes almost glowed at her while their eyes met, little fangs gleaming slightly in the light as his wings twitched.
“Er… R-right. Thank you and goodnight,” she said before swiftly trotting into the bedroom and shutting the door as fast as she dared.
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
Sleep had not come easily to Nocturne Shadow since his exile. He groaned and tossed on the couch for what felt like hours before he must have fallen asleep. The next thing he knew, there was a loud rapping noise that echoed in his ears and roused him from his slumber.
It’s too early, he bemoaned as he sat up on the couch and rubbed some of the sleep out of his eyes. Sunlight was pouring into the room through the windows at the shallow angle of early morning. With a quiet groan he pulled his flank off the soft, warm cushion and wearily walked over to the door.
Another series of loud knocks broke the quiet of the hotel room as he paused to gather himself, for he was not exactly in the mood to talk to strangers. Fortunately, he had paused to gather his resolve as, when he looked into a mirror near the door, he found he was still undisguised from last night. Mentally kicking himself for his foolishness, he shivered as the magic flowed through his veins, turning the changeling into the unicorn stallion once more.
He opened the door just as the pony beyond was about to knock again, startling them a little bit. She was a light grey unicorn mare whose jet back, short cut mane and tail contrasted against just about every colour, making her stand out against the red carpet and dark, wooden walls. “Can I help you, miss?” Nocturne said, trying his best not to telegraph how annoyed he actually was.
The mare in front of him continued to stare at him with her deep blue eyes and swallowed a little bit after a moment had passed, which was surprising because he never did consider himself intimidating. He tapped his hoof lightly on the floor as a small vent for his annoyance and to silently tell her to hurry up and get it over with. “I… I’m Victory, sir, and I was sent by Princess Celestia to be your… um… city guide.”
“Oh, sure. Please come inside,” he said, making room for her to enter. She shut the door behind her with an ocean blue field of magic, though she still looked a little bit nervous. “Are you okay, miss?”
“Oh, yes!” she said as her eyes darted around wildly. “This is just my first time acting as a Mission Handler since I normally do desk work I’ve been up all night collecting information for Prince Blueblood’s dossier and they only reason I’m not asleep is because I’ve had SO much caffeine!”
Nocturne blinked and took a quiet moment to reflect on her rapid rambling, then nodded his head in understanding. “Oh, that’s good. We could use all the help we can get. Do you want me to wake up my partner so we can get started?”
“Yes, of course!” Victory smiled as she pulled some papers out of her saddlebag.
Without a second thought, Nocturne opened the door to the bedroom to see the left bed was occupied by a gently breathing lump. Zeroing in on his target, he walked right up to the bed and gently prodded the slumbering mass with his hoof. “Miss Storm Wind?” he asked quietly.
It groaned and shuffled a little bit under the covers before mumbling something incoherent. So, with nothing to lose, the stallion prodded her again. This time, the mass groaned and grumbled before the groggy mare responded. “I don’t wanna go to school today, ma.”
“I’m not you mother, Storm Wind,” Nocturne said. “That pony who Princess Luna said would give us more information on Blueblood is here. Please get up.”
The mass groaned and threw the covers off, into his face. “Fine,” Storm grumbled. The sound of hooves walking away overpowered the ruffling of sheets around his head as he struggled to untangle himself. When he finally managed to free himself from the sheets, he was all alone in the room. He quickly trotted over to the door to catch up to her.
“Are we ready to go?” Victory asked, sitting on the opposite couch from Storm Wind. Her smile seemed a little more strained in the face of the cranky, and possibly sleep-deprived, pegasus. When Nocturne joined her on the couch, but as far away from the grumpy mare as possible, the unicorn seemed to ease up just a little bit.
“Um…” she trailed off, shuffling her papers. “I’m sure Princess Luna told you all the major stuff, so I’ll just get right to it. As you might be aware, the Canterlot Summer Fair is in town right now. Intelligence has it that Prince Blueblood typically only goes to it when there is a stall that sells exotic pineapples. Said stall is opening today, hence this would be a good opportunity to eavesdrop or follow him back to his residence to assess the security measures.”
“Yes, of course,” Victory replied. She seemed a little unsure why she had asked the question, or where it would go.
“If you have his address,” Nocturne continued, “then why does the fair matter in the slightest when we could infiltrate his lair in the dead of the night and snoop around to find out his plans, or assess the security anyway?”
Her blank look told the changeling all her needed to know. The fact was that she had not thought of something like that before. She tapped her chin with a hoof and looked around the room, perhaps looking for answers in the furniture or the walls. “Well,” she sighed, “It’s really up to your discretion. You are the agents, but he is also the heir to a duchy. If you two were caught, captured and interrogated, it would cause a massive scandal, likely about how their majesties do not trust the noble peerage.”
“Yeah, well, I’d rather bust in during the night than work under cover,” Storm grumbled while still trying to rub some sleep out of her eyes.
“Perhaps, but regardless I think it might be a good idea,” Nocturne replied.
“What!?” The pegasus said incredulously.
“Well, waiting for night, we would have nothing to do but sit on our flanks. I don’t know about you, Miss Storm, but I’d rather be doing SOMETHING than nothing, even if it does turn out to be pointless in the end. Surely, as a pegasus you could agree with the philosophy of keeping on the move, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” she grumbled darkly.
“Well, if things are decided, I’ll just leave you this,” Victory chirped. Using her magic, the unicorn rummaged into her saddle bag and extracted a card. “If you need any information, call me here and I will get back to you ASAP. Good luck, you two.” With a quick nod of her head and a smile, she gathered up some papers and left the agents-in-training to themselves.
“So,” Nocturne said. “What do you feel like for breakfast?”
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
No more than an hour later, the pair were striding down the high street of Canterlot, away from the hotel and down towards a marketplace widely known across all of Equestria as a place for ponies to ‘see and be seen’ as the saying went. Every weekend in the summer, the main square of the city became a massive block of stalls stuffed with only the best brand-name goods from all over the country and ponies seeking to buy them. Concerts and other performances as well as a swath of various featured booths would give the congress of capitalism a different flavour each weekend.
“Oh, I wonder if they’ll have any Raritys displayed?” Storm Wind remarked, mostly to herself, as they entered the sea of Technicolor coats.
“What are Rarity’s?” Nocturne Whisper inquired. He turned to look at her, tossing his overly long greenish-blue mane from his eyes.
“You don’t know of Rarity!?” she gasped. “She’s only an Element of Harmony AND one of the biggest up-and-coming fashion designers in the country!”
“No... I hadn’t until now,” he admitted. He hoped his look of surprise did not telegraph that he also thought the name was funny. He had met ponies called Silly Summers, Glimmering Shield and even the likes of Hay Seed, but never a name like Rarity before. Shaking his head free of the thought, he picked up his pace to keep up to his partner before she disappeared into the mass of ponies.
“I’m not surprised. Most stallions don’t care much for fashion. They just put on a boring old cookie-cutter suit when they want to dress up and then leave it at that.” She shrugged and continued on deeper into a row of canvas-topped stalls and stands, leaving the conversation there. Although he appreciated the aesthetics they offered, Nocturne had a hard time understanding why clothes were an important thing in pony society when ninety percent of the time, they were all naked.
In every nook and cranny of the square, all one could see were flanks and heads of tightly packed ponies. They were not acting so much as a herd but more like a swarm. Herds, at least, had some order to their movements whereas a swarm was just a bunch of individuals wandering around chaotically while trying to accomplish a shared goal. How were they supposed to find a single pony in such a mess, or overhear something that might lead them to a clue on how to get there?
Still, he kept his eyes and ears peeled as he followed Storm Wind up and down the rows of booths and ponies trying to sell what they had to anyone to come across them. Rushing into the market and asking ponies any direct questions would bring too much attention to themselves and only hamper their operation, even if it was not exactly vital to the country and just a test to cut their fangs on.
This is hopeless, he bemoaned after taking in the massive scope of the crowd and the market. Why would a pony as fat as he is come by himself? It’d be easier to send a drone in his place and I doubt we’ll run across one of those like this. “Perhaps we should split up?” he suggested over the din.
She turned around to face him, thankfully having heard him, though the sour expression on her face said otherwise. “What do you mean?” she asked, eying him suspiciously, or so he thought.
“Doubling the number of eyes and looking in different places means we can cover more ground. If we can arrange a time and place to check with each other, maybe every hour, than we can see the whole picture a bit better. Plus, you can fly, can’t you? You could get a much better view of the whole scene.”
“All right.” She nodded. “We’ll meet every hour on the hour at the stage in the center of the square, okay?”
“Most acceptable Miss Storm. I shall meet you later then,” he said before they went their separate ways. Now I can do what I do best, he thought as he disappeared into the crowd.
If there was one thing he knew he could do well, it was tracking a pony he wanted to hunt down. All he ever needed was a picture, or a clear description and thankfully he had that, so finding the fat stallion would not be much of a challenge; just frustratingly tedious at worst. He smirked as he weaved through the chaotic mass of pastel colours swirling around him. Castle life was nice, but the ponies there did not really like him sneaking around… or impersonating them for fun.
Normally, such things would have been ignored, but he could not help but notice just how weird the concept of a market this big was. At first, he attributed the crowds to the prospect of concerts of other forms of entertainment instead of the actual venues. Yet most of them ignored the showponies set up around the square; even a tantalizing blue unicorn that performed admirable feats of stage magic went more or less ignored despite her enthusiasm.
Yet, the more he saw, the more it was confirmed that the ponies were here to gather goods for their own, or immediate hive’s gain. But that brought about another puzzle into his mind; bits. He knew that ponies used them to buy things with, but why? Could they not simply spend a few moments debating over what items to gain in turn from each other? Why did it have to be little glittering disks of gold with a sun stamped on one side? Surely, ponies were not too lazy to-
Wait a moment! Nocturne thought as an idea hit his mind like a sack of hammers. The Blueblood pony is fat and privileged. Even if he was here, he would not be walking around, he would be... in a grazing pasture or a watering hole while his minions did his bidding! He looked around, poking his head above the crowd to try and get a good look at the stalls and buildings surrounding him. “That has to be it,” he said to himself as he wandered down another line of booths.
As he walked down an isle of stalls, something rather strange caught his eye. He approached a pair of proprietors at their traveling wagon. “Excuse me,” he said to one of the ponies.
“Well, hello there, good... uh... sir!” said a yellow unicorn wearing an odd red-and-white pinstriped suit and straw hat. His handlebar moustache twitched in excitement as a smile cracked upon his face. “Are you, perchance, interested in seeing the future? Why, for the low-low price of one hundred bits, you too can experience the patented Flim and Flam mobile telephone!”
“Er, actually...” he tried to speak before being cut off.
“Why yes indeed, you’ll never be out of touch with this marvelous machine! Strap it onto your back and if anypony wants to give you a call, you can answer even if you aren’t home! Allow my brother and me to demonstrate!” A second, almost identical pony trotted out wearing the heavy and awkward-looking contraption with a smile that was closer to a grimace on his face. At first, Nocturne suspected him of being a changeling, but the lack of moustache assured him that they were merely twins.
“Uh... Actually, I just wanted to know if you knew of a good place to eat around here,” said while blushing in embarrassment. “Sorry to get your hopes up, good sirs,” he apologized.
“Oh...” replied the mustached one, almost looking crestfallen. “Well, the only decent one around is a little place called Chez de Lis. It’s very expensive though, my good gentlecolt. Your better bet would be a small cafe on the opposite side of the square. At least there they won’t make all-too rude comments about any moustaches you have.”
“Or straw hats,” the other brother interjected.
“All right,” he smiled, now almost certain he knew Blueblood’s location. “Which way is this cafe?” he asked politely.
“Why, just take the next left, my good sir,” the one without the moustache smiled as he sidled up to his brother. Nocturne had no idea if he should trust them, since he had raised their hopes of a sale only to dash them just as quickly and the smile they both wore looked very uncomfortable. “If you meet anyone looking to see any neat gadgets, gizmos or great curiosities, just send them to booth two twenty three,” he continued as if sensing his trepidation.
“All right, I will. Thank you, sirs,” he said before turning and leaving them behind. He turned the corner, just as instructed, and then turned right around at his next opportunity to double back. If there was any place Blueblood would be, it would be the most expensive restaurant around. Emerging from the thicket of the crowd, out towards the edge of the festivities, he found it.
Chez de Lis was a spotless white-painted building that looked as if somepony had literally plucked it right out of Prance and stuck it in the middle of Canterlot. Blue and gold canvas awnings hung over the windows adorning the facade of the restaurant, covering clay flower boxes that held colourful arrangements which contrasted against the bland background and square columns jutting out the sides. However, Nocturne was not interested in the architecture, for sitting in front of one of the large ground-floor windows was a big, white unicorn stallion wearing lapels and a white flower.
I have you now, my fat prince, he thought as he started crossing the gap between the island of booths and the cafe on the opposite side. Taking a seat on the cobblestone just outside a fenced-in portion of seating, he could see the prince sitting inside, in the company of other high-class ponies whom laughed in an airy sort of way that could inflate a balloon with all the hot vapors they exuded.
Sadly, despite his best efforts to listen in on their conversation while trying to remain covert, the din of the marketplace drowned out any words he might have picked out. He pulled his head away and grumbled before deciding to step away a bit, as the pony at the door was giving him a suspicious look. If one of their party would leave, even if only for a moment, he would be able to capture and replace them, taking information as if it was at a buffet table!
Still, he knew he would need to tell the pegasus about this, so he reluctantly went on his way back to the centre of organized chaos to meet with her.
