Innocence Lost

by Granite

Hidden Loot

Fluttershy stood by as the Basilisk sniffed around her house. She was incredibly confused, and partially traumatized about the criminal who may or may not have been in her house at some point. How was that even logical? Why would an escaped convict break into her home? Nothing had been stolen, all her clothes and valuables were right where they usually were. Jewelry in the box, dresses in the closet, and she never kept money at home. She didn't like this, but she couldn't protest. She felt like she was now under scrutiny for harboring a fugitive, although if anything the reptile sniffing around her house had more of a clue than both Fluttershy and Granite

Granite was leaning on the kitchen counter watching Rassalif intently. Meanwhile the big lizard was let loose upon Fluttershy's home. Fluttershy expected him to thrash about and break stuff, but instead Rassalif moved with grace, weaving around furniture and being very mindful of his surroundings. The other animals hid from him though, the pursuit of Sideswipe was the only thing keeping him from snapping up a bunny or two, and most of Fluttershy's resident's fled from the house. Other's were hidden in cabinets or birdhouses. Reguardless the dominant presence of an alpha predator emptied out Fluttershy's house. She couldn't remember the last time her living room was like this.

Rassalif let out a few barks, and Granite responded by following him. "Hes got something"

The lizard moved faster now, on some sort of trail, leading his handler into to a corner of the room. Rassalf stopped, then stompped the floor three times in a rhythmic pattern and pointed with his snout at an empty corner.

Fluttershy let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. He was pointing at nothing and at this point she was convinced either Rassalif was just fooling around, or he was following a false trail. But Granite walked over and examined the floor for a few minutes, scouring the area for anything out of place. She walked up behind him, and she noticed something. A nail in the floorboards, just slightly loose and just slightly askew but now very suspicious.

Soon enough Granite noticed too, and he tugged at it. It popped out with relative ease, and he pulled the board away. In the shallow space under the house, there was now a variable goldmine of bits just spread about. He looked back up at his pet. "Good job boy. See if you can map out Sideswipe's path. We'll have to work on returning his stash." Obedient to the letter, Rassalif once again began to sniff, which lead him out the front door. Granite then shot Fluttershy an accusing glance.

Fluttershy's ear's fell back and she immediately went into recoil mode, frantically stepping away from the stash and the makeshift detective who found it. She tried to speak up in defense, but no words came out.

Instead Granite spoke. "If anypony else decided to take up this task, you'd be suspect and probably in hoofcuff right now. But, lucky for you dad didn't feel like wasting money sending out somepony who's actually qualified. You're not in trouble."

She was still taken aback, but he seemed to be serious, so she eased up a little, but not much. He continued to talk. "I'm sorry about his. Sideswipe's file said he can pick almost any lock. These bit's are from the Town hall safe. It was hit hard last night. Three stallions went missing, along with all the money. Twilight's guard found body bags near my camp. Sideswipe tried to peg me with murder."

He looked back at the loose floorboard. "Guess he needed another place to leave the cash. He must have ditched it here."

Fluttershy stammered. "W..Wh..Why?"

He looked back at her with a now sympathetic gaze. "Safe storage for a later pick up. You're a victim of circumstance. He probably bolted for the closest residence to my camp. That led him here. I'm guessing Rassalif will..."

He was cut short by his pet walking back through the door, right in between the two ponies, standing a moment at the cash drop, then running across the room and leaping out the kitchen window with incredible ease for an animal his size.

Granite smiled with satisfaction. "There we have it. Sideswipe picked the lock on you door, hid the bits here and escaped through the window there."

He also ran towards the kitchen, looking out at the street. Rassalif was following the scent, but it didn't lead much farther. He stopped at the bank of the lake near her house, the he jumped in. He splashed about and paddled back to shore, where he shook the water from his scales and prodded about while making whining whistling sounds.

Granite sighed. "Damn. Trail ends there I guess."

He flew out the window towards his pet, leaving Fluttershy in the kitchen. She sat down on the floor, holding her head between her hooves. This was too much too soon. A hunt for a highly dangerous criminal coincidentally leading trough her house. Or...

Her head perks up with a new though. What if this wasn't a mere coincidence. What if this radially insane and spontaneous chain of events could help her interact with Granite on a different level? It wasn't ideal and it was certainly unwarranted but...

She quickly bolted the window shut, then rushed outside to catch up to him. "Wait!"

He didn't go far. "What?"

She tried to think of something on the spot, something to make him stick around longer. "What about the money? You're just going to leave it there?"

"No, I was gonna come back for it"

"Well so is he right? Shouldn't we return it to where it belongs...I mean...do you have any other leads besides your pet's cold scent trial?"

Rassalif snorted at her, as if he knew she was talking bad about him, but Granite looked around the area. It was still a little dark out, the sun just starting to rise up with Celestia's aid, thankfully nopony around to eavesdrop. "He's coming back for that stuff. We need it there to catch him."

She partially flinches at the idea of Sideswipe coming back to her house. Again she looks for an alternative. "Well he won't know that we moved it. We can take it back and then come back and wait for him and then...maybe we can get some guards to ambush him?"

He pauses for a minute, thinking that over. "I guess we could."

He walks back to her house, and she smiles inwardly, content with her quick thinking. She got to spend some extra time with him, even if they were loading stolen money into suitcases to be returned.