Night paced back and forth in a contemplative muse inside his personal quarters. At any rate, one would anticipate the degradation of the cobble floor's integrity, resulting in a hole being burnt through if he were to pick up the pace some.
Behind his desk stood a two-sided evidence board, wheels locked to prevent unwanted movement. Strings of reds, yellows, and blues connected an aimless web with no current coherence. Photographs taken at or near the scenes of each crime comprised of the majority of what was pinned up, and it was all Night had to work with on his own.
Along the bottom of the board, not yet positioned anywhere, sat a collection of mugshots of widely-known criminals in or around Canterlot that could suit as potential candidates. In the assortment of seven individual pictures, only two of which were griffons whose paws might match up to the prints left in the wake of the robberies. However, it was ultimately up to their known records to determine if their pawprints were of similar or equivalent size.
Having spent a few hours at the site of the most recent theft on both an official and personal investigation, it was to Night's stupefaction to discover just how small they were compared to the average griffon. The few hippogriffs that populated the capital did not possess the feature on their hind legs, sharing only the talons, the wings usually, and their own unique tails, so they were almost immediately ruled out as possible suspects.
Granted, it wasn't his job to do a detective's work, though he felt it gave him something to do in his free time on top of the fact that this particular case irked him more than any other; after all, this was someone or something that slipped into the most secured complex in the country. To anypony else, it should not be disregarded as anything less than a threat to national security.
For the last couple of days, what should have been an hour to two of putting together the pieces of the puzzle quickly turned into seven, eight, even nine hours of nonstop contemplations and predictions. This time spent collecting his thoughts steadily crept into his duty period and left unfiled reports piling up at his desk and quickly leading to a mindset of telling himself that he will get to it later.
While not exactly the same instance, it did give Night similar vibes to prior incidents involving unwarranted figures entering restricted sections of the palace and surrounding grounds, and even somewhat reminded him of his brief and mind-boggling encounter with a projection of a powerful magic in Baltimare some time ago. Reminiscing of that period sent a chill up the hybrid's spine, and proceeded to shove those memories to the farthest corner of his conscience.
After a solid twenty minutes of trotting back and forth, something new came to mind. The pegasus' golden cores turned over to the board on his right, swiveling himself to face it as his gaze carried over the photograph copies made for the purpose of his own investigation, as well as articles torn from local papers pinned up, interconnected with strings of red, blue, and yellow for better organization.
He narrowed his sights onto the pictures of pawprints in the various robbed locations, then to scribbled sticky notes of items stolen from every establishment. The thought of his trail leading nowhere pursed his lips downward. Sure, he had his hooves on the exact evidence as any other law enforcement agency in the region, but a spark in the Lunar captain told him he was closer than anyone else to some answers.
Then, the most obnoxious, aggravating, teeth-grinding of interruptions drew his attention away; that being the heavy banging of a hoof on the door leading into his personal quarters. Night winced some at the start of the racket, grumbling to himself incoherently as he sauntered over to find out who required his presence.
Upon opening the thick wooden door, Night's golden gaze met with the uniform enchantment blues of a snow-white pegasus belonging to palace security under the Canterlot City Guard. Stood just past his left flank was his similarly-colored companion, albeit an earth pony.
In that instance, Night waved off any annoyance to show formality. "How can I help you, Corporal?" he greeted.
Both guards threw up immediate, brief salutes, before the former answered. "Captain, we have located and neutralized an intruder within palace grounds near the entrance wing."
The hybrid's heart utterly stopped beating for a solid three seconds, a strange feeling in his chest indeed and one he hoped never to experience again. His eyes went noticeably wide in front of the two sentries, but for a good reason; this is finally over, he thought.
"Take me to them," Night ordered sternly, taking a couple of steps through the doorway, only to have a hoof gently pressed to his chest by the corporal to halt him.
"Actually, we've brought her to you, on her demands. She claims to know you," the guard added neutrally.
"Oh, bug off, will you?! And let me see my brother!" screeched an awfully familiar voice from behind the two, before its owner made an unsuccessful attempt to shove past the statue of an earth pony blocking her.
Laying sights upon the small mare, complete with tufted ears, delicate bluish-grey wings of a bat pony, and bright orange slit-pupiled cores, Night's breath caught. His ears pinned back flat to his skull, head recoiling at the sight. "...Dawn?!"
The mare, dwarfed in comparison to the pair of guards to have captured her, flicked a snarling glare at the earth pony as she squeezed past and pulled up short of her older sibling.
Night's eye twitched. "I—Dawn, you can't just waltz in to the Canterlot Palace and not expect any security!" He brought a hoof up to his face, smacking and shaking his head into it with a soft exhale. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, well, you see, I am in town for a little bit and thought I would drop by to see my favorite brother!" grinned Dawn, nudging his chest with her elbow.
His ear flicked at her remark. "I'm your only brother."
"For now! You never know, Mom and Dad could... you know, have another foal! Then I wouldn't be the youngest anymore!" Dawn stared at Night pensively, only to burst into laughs moments after. "As if! They are both far too old to be having foals by now."
Night blinked in silence, only acknowledging the two sentries' continued presence right then. "You two are dismissed, for now. Stay close, I might need you to remove this trespasser from my quarters at any time," he said, adding sarcasm to his tone that he hoped would catch on.
Dawn looked just a little bit offended, socking Night playfully in the chest. Either guard exchanged puzzled looks, then returned acknowledging salutes and spun around to leave them be.
It was then that Night grinned at her for the first time since arrival. "Please, you really think I would have you forcibly removed?"
"Maybe!" she squeaked. "You could have had a thousand personality changes over the months!"
Night blinked again, cocking his head. "What could possibly inaugurate such, Dawn?"
"I don't know!" Dawn threw her hoof up. "Heck, something is different about you right this second!"
Perplexed further, Night's head remained tilted to the side. "Different? How?"
"Beats me. All I know is—" That's when she paused in her speech, fixating her bright orange cores into Night's room. "Whoa, whatcha got going on in here?" queried the young bat pony mare all of a sudden.
Gently bumping past her brother without giving him a chance to answer, she trotted over to his investigation board to see for herself. "What the heck is this?" Then she gasped, snapping her gaze to him with wide eyes. "Night! Are you solving a murder mystery?!"
Night turned around, closing the door behind them with a thump of the wood against the outer jam, and the click of the lock sliding into its slot securely. "Not even close, but a good effort. I am looking into a string of robberies over the past couple of weeks, trying to decipher a culprit and perhaps his or her motive along the way."
Dawn's attention returned to the board, scanning over it thoroughly to take in the information presented. Some of it she could understand, but ultimately was above her figmental pay grade.
He strolled up beside her, continuing, "Worse yet, our suspect has breached the palace at least once. Nothing to our knowledge, however, seemed to have been taken. Not that there is a whole lot they could have gotten their hooves on in the area they snuck into."
"Paws," Dawn rejoined, staring at the photograph taken of the pawprints at one of the crime scenes. "Not a whole lot they could have gotten their paws on, big brother."
Night grumbled incoherently. "All that we know right now is that they are among a minority in Equestria. Griffons are ruled out as there are no talon marks anywhere. Hippogriffs... unlikely. My only other guess would be an evolved feline from Abyssinia."
He resumed through a deep exhale. "That leads to another problem; trade sanctions and embargoes have led to a travel ban to Equestria on behalf of the Abyssinian government, so that is highly unlikely, too. Unless someone slipped past and started a new life here—a life of crime."
Dawn flicked her attention between both the board and her older sibling. "Well, judging by all of the effort put into connecting the dots, I would say you've been on this case long enough. You look tired, big brother. Maybe you should take a break... perhaps the entire evening... and you should spend it with me!"
Night broke his focus from the evidence, glancing down at Dawn as she stared back up with begging eyes, gently and obnoxiously tugging at his hoof with hers. There was a short silence, and once did he questionably shift back to the board as he actually contemplated turning down her request. She was right, he knew that; this had been the center of his concentration for days now. It was time to cool off.
⚔
The evening rush was anything but abnormal. Past the setting sun with only colorful echoes of oranges and pinks still illuminating the distant horizon, most ponies out at this time were a part of Canterlot's early nightlife, notable by the numerous packs of marefriends hitting the town for dinner, or a late shopping spree.
Restaurants in and around the central sector of the capital packed in as many as they could seat, leaving few options for the brother and sister duo searching for a place to grab a bite to eat outside of fancy, formal-dressing, expensive establishments that haughtily turned their noses up at the clamorous bar and grilles that occupied some corners.
After searching far and wide—a half-hour fast-stroll around downtown Canterlot, more realistically—the two stumbled across Over the Barrel, an open-air restaurant baring the noble title of serving some of the most delicious homestyle cooking north of Appleloosa. Having not made a trip to the little southern town, neither could truly offer their opinion at the end of the experience.
The air surrounding Over the Barrel scented of freshly baked, butter-glazed rolls, sweet tea right out of the kettle, mashed potatoes, and barbecue sauce most predominantly, all of which seemingly the leading ingredients for the average gathering. Even the employees, from the waiters and waitresses that hopped tables to the bartender, as well as the manager that strolled about the floor to check on the satisfaction of patrons donned large rancher hats that matched their uniforms.
Music whose lyrics were incoherent to the brother and sister alike due to the loud chatter of ponies around them blasted through ceiling speakers, further adding to the apparent common atmosphere that was this particular establishment. Picture frames displaying older photographed scenes and other decorative items of western origin lined nearly every free space along the walls, quite nearly covering the worn smoky wood interior designed to also give a kind of saloon impression to the establishment.
Finding themselves quickly seated at a table set to occupy four at a time, a couple of minutes were spent thoroughly examining every flashy item on the menu, from appetizers to entrees made to feed a whole country, sparking the notion in Night's mind that the emergence of such cooking were from large settling families in the sparsely populated regions of Equestria, which was not entirely inaccurate. "So, little sister, what's new?"
The query brought a widened grin to the young mare's snout, ear to ear practically. She leaned forward on the table, pressing one hoof down while the other curled under her chin. "You always have been the curious type, huh?"
Night gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "Just want to make sure all is well in my only sibling's neck of the woods," he answered, returning his own little smirk.
Dawn nickered at that softly. "As well as the protective big brother-type. I appreciate your worry, but no fear anymore, I can hold my own nowadays. I mean, let's face it, I'm of age now, free to move about the cabin if ya catch my gist!" she said, poking her elbow at him.
A pair of gold pupils stared back, blinking once in silent bewilderment. The quiet between the two was only broken a moment later by Night's response. "Only to the first half."
The younger of the siblings rolled her eyes, dipping her head to rest on both hooves propped up on her elbows. She grinned smugly. "Never been on a flying soda can, have you, Night?"
His ear twitched, and he cocked his head. Neither have you, apparently,he commented mentally. "You mean an airplane?"
Dawn pumped her hoof forward as she remembered. "That's the word I was looking for! Yes! An airplane! How else do you think I got here, big brother?"
"By train?" Night's eyebrow lifted. He knew that, other than by airship, rail was the only mode of long-distance transportation in and out of Canterlot, and for much cheaper.
Dawn's lips curled into a frown. "Fine, you got me. But someday... someday, big brother, you shall see me soaring through the skies to far-away lands!" she exclaimed, motioning her hoof in a steady ascent.
Night rested his chin on a hoof, grinning in amusement. "You know that costs money, don't you?"
"Of course I do! Which brings me to my next announcement... drumroll, please!" Dawn squeaked, tapping her hooves along the table's edge like a drummer's sticks. "Once I am home, I begin packing for the beautiful city of Seaddle to start a new life, on my own, in one of Equestria's finest and most modern cities!"
The news hit Night somewhat hard, though not enough for her to detect. It concerned him knowing that she too was now an adult and ready to make her own decisions, and countless signals crossed in the wrong ways upon the realization of just how old he was becoming to know his little sister, a whole seven years younger, was leaving the nest.
Still, he maintained curiosity to avoid killing her excitement. "Seaddle, huh? Why there?"
"Wide variety of jobs in the area, as well as secondary school! Or... I believe, as you cultured, civilized Equestrians call it, college!" she mocked with a hilariously inaccurate posh accent.
Celestia forbid his sister and marefriend ever formally meet, which is all but certain to happen at some point in time. They were much too alike in terms of personality, barring the flirtatious behavior that came out of the latter. If he didn't know any better and wasn't the sibling of Dawn, he would guess that they might be twins or half-blooded at the least.
"What happened to you absolutely despising school?" smirked Night, wavering off a harder-hitting portion of the worry deep inside.
Dawn's eyes widened a little, and her cheeks heated to a soft shade of pink. "Well, you see... it turns out, when you have a father that is working to pull an entire city out of the stone ages and getting up to speed on life of the average Equestrian, you also... have the curious parent who seeks new opportunities for his foal. So, what you get out of that is, well... yeah. Dad and Mom really, really want the best for me."
She only paused for a moment to take a quick swig of ice water with a touch of lime squeezed in, her absolute favorite over any other fruit a bat pony could choose. "And you see, I'm jealous of you especially because you took a leap of faith into a petrifying new world without understanding a single thing about it. You did what was best for yourself, not follow a predetermined destiny. At least, that's how it felt like according to Mom, before the reunification."
Night listened in for every word his sister had to say. He understood precisely where she came from. From a young age he acknowledged the tough life his kin and ancestors dating back a millennia were forced to endure; something somepony, he believed, should not know such horrors so early in life.
Alas, it brought strength to him knowing future generations of the colonies will only know of that relentless period from history books, and he would die a figure of revolution among his races.
"Then I can only see this move as a positive leap, not only for you but for our family," Night smiled warmly. "Any ideas on a major yet?"
Dawn leaned back into her chair, lifting the front legs off the floor and hanging one hoof over the back as she rocked gently with a hind against the center table leg. "Nah. I start with basic classes in a few weeks, curriculum policy. We get to choose the classes we want for our majors near winter break so we can begin starting second semester."
"That's understandable," Night nodded. "You'll know toward the middle of the first semester, if not sooner. Most ponies I know that have taken college courses let their first year determine their path, and you know what? Those ponies winded up successful in their own ways. You will, too."
Dawn rolled her eyes, blushing in embarrassment, letting her chair correct itself back forward with a thump. "Aw, Night, why you gotta be mushy like that? I mean, I am grateful for your support, and Caramel's, but I really am not all that."
Night's ears perked at the new name's mention, smile faltering into a look of curiosity. "Caramel? Who is that?"
The younger gasped. "Oh, right! I haven't told you about Caramel Drizzle!" A wide, toothy grin spanned ear to ear. "He's my coltfriend for two months! Really nice guy, works for his father's landscaping company in Seaddle that just so happens to service my campus."
At that, Night's physique grew discernibly tense all over, yet he regained a half-genuine smile across his muzzle. "Your coltfriend, huh? Why?" However, his response made it no further than his conscience.
Furrowing a brow at the change of posture, Dawn questioned with moderate concern in her tone, "Nighty? Are you okay?"
He jolted some, smile fading, followed by a clearing of his throat. "That-that's great!"
Dawn's eyebrow lifted higher at her big brother's curt reply. Her maw parted to speak, but was abruptly cut off by his continuation.
"I'm proud of you, Dawn. You probably hear this a ton already from our parents, but... you really are growing up so fast, it's overwhelming. Out on your own, starting a new chapter in your life. I don't know what to think of all of it." He smiled, hiding behind a curtain the sense of helplessness knowing it is no longer up to him for her protection in the real world.
Left speechless out of bewilderment, it came to Dawn's relief when their food was brought out on a wide plate across the waiter's back, ultimately breaking the ice that had become of their conversation. Upon first taste, it quickly became apparent that no more discussion would be made as soon as the mare began to figuratively inhale her dinner. It brought some amusement to Night, who actually took time to chew his food before swallowing whilst keeping vigilant for an instance where a bit of mashed potatoes may fall down the wrong tube in the chaos that was his sister's current table discipline.
After their rather filling meal, the bill came. It was handed to Dawn initially, where she opened the wine-colored booklet to find out their expenses. Her jaw dropped some upon laying eyes on the total, and slowly her slit-pupil cores raised over the top to meet her brother's stare.
At the suspicious rising of his eyebrow, Dawn grew a sly grin across her muzzle. "Heeeeey... sooooo... I'm not exactly liquid at the moment from all of the traveling, so would you mind—"
Rolling his eyes, Night reached for his wallet to pay for their dinner, saying with a groan, "I'll get it."
⚔
Following a long, relaxing stroll through Canterlot to burn off the calories ingested at dinner, Night had dropped his sister off at her hotel. Being on the near opposite end of town, it wasn't precisely an exquisite resort as non-locals would expect to dot the capital from east to west, but also was not uncomfortable for the exploring mare.
The two exchanged their temporary goodbyes before parting ways for the night, with Dawn vowing to return the next day to bug her older brother some more. While strictly unopposed to her plans, Night acknowledged the strong possibility of his work standing between them for the remainder of his sister's stay.
Much of the Lunar Guard was stretched thin more recently, feeding the notion into Night's thoughts that he should provide some assistance to alleviate stress among his subordinates and other fellow guardponies.
In the limited time Night spent at his quarters preparing for a two-hour long patrol, he had taken a thin cloth polishing rag and wiped down his newest set of uniform armor until his face flawlessly reflected off every inch of its fine purple surface. The action mattered none in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes it took the perfectionist side of the captain an extra few minutes out of his day to fully and unnecessarily ensure his appearance was one not to trifle with.
Common procedure throughout the Royal Guard had most high ranking officers excluding their helmets in all but formal and tactical affairs, and every chance he had Night took advantage of this. Headpiece or not, any pony from the recruits to the sergeants would recognize him one way or another; few within the Guard bore the tufted ears, and fewer also presented partially discernible fangs to compliment his pegasus physique.
Leaving his quarters at ten past nine, Night strolled his way to the lower levels of the palace, passing Skye Racer on his own looping sweep first, followed by two other somewhat familiar sentries in their much more common Lunar Guard uniforms.
All three reported similarly; no abnormalities on any of their ends, just what Night liked to hear. At the same time, a part of him was left tenser than the rest, knowing the culprit behind the break-ins had slipped under the radar at the castle especially. It was this in particular that prompted Night to perform his own check of the palace underground, near the areas where the incident occurred.
His path took him past the entry point, the floor where the mud spots had collected having long been cleaned after detectives ruled out any identifying evidence on the scene, much to their and frankly everypony else's dismay. Night took a moment out of his walk to examine the small window and the three steel bars connecting vertically through the opening.
It continued to boggle his mind just how somepony could have just slipped through without shrinking themselves first. Granted, his past experience with avid magic users made him believe such was possible, leading him to believe it was a unicorn of some sort. That still didn't give any explanation to the paw prints on every crime scene's floor, though.
As he rounded a corner that would take him through a corridor that cuts into the Canterlot Archives, something peculiar brought pause to his patrol, and his heart for that matter—the door on his right, leading into one of the archives, was wide open when it very well should be closed at all times.
Night's mind shifted into alert mode, ready for anything that might get thrown at him. His first instinct was to proceed with caution, minding every step he took down to the amount of sound produced so as to avoid spooking anyone inside.
A small corner of his conscience warned him to be wary for it potentially being a false alarm, and that perhaps the guard often posted down here carelessly forgot to shut the door behind them, to which they would earn a much needed lesson dealt through endless shouting and reconditioning, as well as possible punishment under current circumstances.
The opened room, while somewhat lit by old wrought iron lamps surrounding the door and encompassing the outer walls, was rightfully dark at this time of the evening. Rarely did one or two of the Royal Scribes venture down here past dusk, warranting lack of lighting all hours of the day.
At first, all seemed normal upon initial inspection of the opening walkway, looking out into a city of shelves filled neatly with a wide assortment of Equestria's most prized books and scrolls written at and even before the founding of the nation.
Then, something caught in the corner of his eye: a hooded figure, partially shadowed by the dark of the dimly-lit aisle, rustled an arm into wooden bins and sorted through its once-tidy contents.
The first thing he noticed was their obtrusively noticeable coat color—solid yellow. The wings folded to their sides determined immediately that he or she was a pegasus. Something about this pony in particular, however, struck Night as odd. They lacked hooves, and though all four limbs resembled the structure of a normal pony's, the bases were... paws?
Night blinked, doing so as assurance that he was not insane. His next move was to approach slowly, making use of the soft noises made by this creature shuffling through items in that bin to mask the faint clicks of his hooves along the old cobble floor.
He continued to observe the intruder in silence, coming up on their left at the foot of the aisle. It struck him in his mind as peculiar, knowing any burglar with such experience as displayed throughout the capital over the past weeks would at least be aware of their surroundings, especially the faint shadow Night cast over the figure as the lamp on the wall on his six o'clock silhouetted him. Perhaps they did acknowledge his presence, but simply did not care.
Just as Night reached for his side to produce a pair of cuffs in preparation to take the intruder down, the hooded head turned his way. "What are you going to do with those?"
The soft voice caught the hybrid somewhat by surprise, eyes widening and gaze lifting to meet the tip of the yellow muzzle sticking out from under the hood, the only facial feature visible at this point.
"What do you think? Surely if you had any authorization to be down here doing what you are currently doing, I would not be about to cuff and take you in for questioning," replied Night.
One paw reached up, drawing back the hood to uncover the face, a move Night most definitely did not expect from what he could assume is a professional criminal. The figure sported the head of a stallion, feline ears, and a black mane with azure eyes. To Night, this was either a fine work of magic, or he was some sort of hybrid, too.
"So, you're the pony behind the recent store break-ins," Night uttered, unsure how to properly address the male.
"That would be me!" he said with glee to his tone, flicking his ear with a smile. His enthusiasm was moderately puzzling to Night, and it left him on an edge.
His brow then raised out of genuine curiosity. "How for the love of all things good did you even get in here? I know you entered through a window, but each one in this level of the palace is reinforced with steel bars two inches thick! So... how?"
"Oh, that? I just squeezed right through, no biggie!" the cat... pony... thing... responded, giving a toothy grin. When he saw the dumbfounded expression on Night's countenance grow with even more bewilderment. "Was it not part of your culture to determine that us felines are equivalent to liquid when it comes to... anything?"
If that was meant to be any popular media reference, it flew right over Night's head. No, it missed him by miles. His continued confusion made the cat-pony roll his eyes.
Then, the intruder did something else he did not expect. "The name's Gear, nice to meet you!" he introduced, taking Night's hoof to shake it with his paw before returning to his work. That was most certainly a first in his career, not that he often faced criminals in the act personally.
Night's next instinct was to check his hoof, though protected by the shoes of his armor, for any potentially lethal substances laced onto the paw used. It seemed out of this character's nature to harm others based on first impression and past acts, but that could easily change.
"I presume this is the second instance you have been down here?" said Night, sticking to small talk for right now in hopes of making him slip once or twice.
Gear shook his head without removing his focus from where his paws were searching. "Oh, heavens, no! First time was a scouting run to learn my way around so I could find what I am looking for this evening, and perhaps another night if need be."
That brought a chuckle out of Night. "Another night? No, no. That isn't going to happen."
"Of course it will! What, do you think I'm only walking out of here a jailbird? Hell no! I am a free feline," cooed Gear.
Then his demeanor took a sudden shift. The cat-pony suddenly extended a paw over to the shelf beside him, taking a clawful of older archive scrolls. He only took a glance at their outer labels added for sorting through, tossing each one aside carelessly until one was left in his hold. "Aha, here it is! The answers we were both looking for!" he mewled.
Night blinked, puzzled by Gear's remark. "What are you on about? Among us two, you are the only one who seems to be raiding Canterlot's treasured history vault."
"You are here, too!" Gear nickered to himself. "That would make you a raider, as well!"
"The difference is I actually withhold some level of security clearance down here," scowled Night. "What about you?"
"Then you can tell your guard buddies that you showed me down here, no biggie!" Gear said, flicking his tail, tucking the scroll away into his saddlebags. What was it with him saying that twice now?
"Well, it's been real, and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun... yet. Ta-ta!" he waved, zipping away in a yellow blur out through the only possible exit, and that was the door where they both entered.
In that moment, Night shifted into overdrive, immediately engaging in pursuit. Out of the archives and around two corners, Gear took a strong lead heading for the upper levels of the palace to make an escape.
At first, the yellow cat-pony did not acknowledge the night guard's proximity. When he did some fifteen seconds after dashing away, his first move of defense was a small vial removed from his saddlebags and tossed with a strong arm at the wall, shattering upon impact and spilling a spreading, sparkling cloud into the captain's direct path.
Night hacked and coughed as he blew through the sapphire dust, closing his eyes to shield them as it burned away at his cores and left them watering heavily at every blink. His pace, however, slowed none as he kept up chase.
He moved as quick as a feline, too, much to Night's immediate chagrin. Many bat ponies were naturally faster on their hooves than most Equestrians, but the thief outpaced him decently enough to pull away effortlessly, even as he was chased out of familiar corridors. Perhaps it was the effects of Gear's apparent collection of potions clinking about in his bags, concocted by the ingredients stolen over time.
It was at this time that Night wished he could swap bodies with Thunder. Some aspect of him made him fast as lightning in certain instances; perchance it was the bolt he was struck by merely a year following his initiation into the Guard that had magically restored his flight capabilities previously hampered by injury.
Gear only took a split second to halt when a pair of sentries patrolling the main wing of the palace pulled out just ahead of him, having not yet realized what was happening until he leaped up and crashed through one of the castle's many stained glass windows.
He landed hard, stumbling down to the ground but immediately rolling himself back up onto all fours, leading himself out into the dew-dampened gardens.
Without hesitation, Night flapped his wings once to propel him through the hole made by the former, landing hooves first in the grass with a thump. A light film of sweat slicked the bat-pegasus' forehead as his pursuit carried on, weaving between ponds and shrubs, flower patches and benches.
Then, at long last, their chase came to an abrupt halt, and for good reason. Gear's paws skidded twenty feet, claws digging into the dirt to swiftly bring himself to a stop just short of the cliff that marked the edge of Canterlot, and the beginning of a drop many thousands of feet into a cloudy abyss.
Night managed to be much quicker in his braking, pulling up some six feet behind the cat-pony catching his breath in soft heaves. "It's over, Gear! You have no place to go, unless your plan all along was to steal from the castle for final satisfaction of yourself!"
The hooded head turned over his shoulder, smirking back at the Zodiac captain smugly. "Oh, goodness, no! I would not ever dream of killing myself, although you are right about my plan! All I needed was to distract you from your duties long enough for my partner to slip inside and finish the job!"
At his claims, Night felt his heart sink as part of his mind urged him to hurry back, but it was the leader in him that wanted answers first. "Finish the job? What did you do?!"
Gear mewled with soft laughter. "Why, pay the princess a little visit, of course! One not so easily established via traditional means. But hey, I had fun on this little game of cat and mouse we played. Shall we do it again some other time?"
The razor-sharp fangs in Night's maw bared threateningly, and the fur on his back stood up under the inner cushioning of his armor, solidifying his anger for this thief. "You bastard, if you or anypony else dare imperil the princess, my princess, you best hope it isn't me who catches you!"
Without giving Gear a chance to respond, the captain lunged forward swiftly with a strong pump of his wings to propel him. The yellow cat-pony, taken aback by his imminent arrest, shifted his demeanor into panic mode. To avoid capture, he whipped a paw in and out of his bags, once more catching Night by surprise with yet another smoke bomb that engulfed the two instantly.
This time, a couple of seconds into coughing up a storm, Night made use of his wings to disperse the cloud encompassing him and perform a long overdue takedown.
However, that would not come to pass. What took the thief's place in the smog's clearing was a small square leather bag with a single long strap made to loop around one's shoulder, more than likely dropped to shed not only excess weight but to prevent Gear's wings from being obscured and hampering his flight, should he have dropped off the mountain and immediately flew into hiding below the clouds.
It worked some in Night's favor, though. Upon picking up the small sack, it was already evident by weight of the contents within that tracking him down just got much simpler for the Guard.
"Captain!" called a deep voice from behind. Mindset remaining in a highly alert mode, he whipped around and took up a defensive stance, easing his posture only upon discovery that the voice belonged to a fast-approaching Duskbloom, descending to land himself before his superior.
"Lance Corporal," addressed Night through a breath. "You were following me?"
"Only when I noticed you race out of a fire escape," the light grey bat stallion responded, clicking the shaft of his issued spear onto the cobblestone as he put himself into a partial attentive attitude.
The captain went no further to question his subordinate for his answer was within reason. "The good news is, we know who our alchemy burglar is."
"And he got away?" Dusk's head cocked slightly.
Night grunted softly, nodding. "That is no longer our primary concern. The princesses are; and they are in potential danger as we speak. You and I are to return to the palace at once for a thorough sweep, that goes for all Zodiacs."