Prey and a Lamb

by Lambs Prey

15.1 A Bed made for Rocky

The door to Tulip Bed's house wasn't locked, which was foolish. Although, it had already been robbed once, and there were Royal Guard's present just next door, so perhaps they assumed it was safe?

Or maybe someone had gotten here first and laid an ambush.

That meant either carefully scouting out the house first to certify if anyone was inside, (always slower) or sending someone in to trigger any possible traps, (fast but risky). Prey never took risks if he could avoid it. He got others to take them for him.

So it was that Prey didn't protest when Gloom pulled the door open and marched boldly in.

No explosions or hail of arrows. Still, it never hurt to be paranoid.

"Come on Prey, keep up." Gloom called back. Prey scowled and cautiously followed Crimson and Gloom in, still listening hard for any signs of trickery.

'Can't hear any unknown ponies thoughts, so probably not an ambush. That just leaves the possibility of traps.' Prey thought as he tiptoed down the familiar looking corridor. The house's layout was an exact copy from Holly Leaf's home next door. The only difference were the pictures and decorations Tulip Bed had chosen to liven up her home.

Prey joined the other two in the center of the living room as they surveyed the place.

A small bookshelf, a table, a sink, cupboards with a foal's hoof paintings tacked on. More tulips in flower pots on the window sills, some children's toys in an open chest, and a couple of brightly patterned floor cushions.

Prey didn't have much experience of what an 'average modern household' looked like, as the only home he'd ever lived in before prison was the log cabin. But everything about Tulip's house shouted 'ordinary'.

Gloom and Crimson were having much the same thoughts, "I don't see anything out of place sir." Crimson observed.

"No signs of a struggle. This doesn't look promising." Gloom sighed.

"We haven't even checked the other rooms yet, don't you think it's a bit too soon to be giving up?" Prey enquired lightly.

"Not giving up." Crimson grunted.

"We haven't even begun yet. Alright, split up and search the house. We'll rotate and cover every room once each, to double check everypony else's work. Don't touch or move anything if you can help it. See if you can find anything that seems off, no matter how insignificant. Okay?" Gloom asked.

"Yes sir." Crimson answered to Prey's single, "Yes."

"In a house this small, a search won't take long. Call me if you think you've found anything." Gloom said, heading for the first bedroom.

Prey and Crimson shared a glance,"I will search in here. I can more easily reach the top shelves." Crimson said, turning away to begin.

"That leaves me the foal's room," Prey muttered, scowling at the back of Crimson's head, "I see what you did there. Hilarious."

"We will all take turns searching every room. You just happen to be searching in there first. Not everything is always a purposeful mockery of your size." Crimson responded calmly.

"You sound like Sargent Gloom. And don't try and pretend." Prey said, turning and trotting towards the bedroom, "That was one of the times where it was purposeful." He called back.

Prey heard something that might have been a grunt from behind him. "Perhaps..." Crimson allowed, "But you should be focusing on what is really important in grim circumstances like these." He finished.

"Grim? We're searching an ordinary house. How is that grim?"

"A foal has been foalnapped. That is grim."

"Please. He isn't currently dripping from the ceiling and were not hoof deep in flies, so it's hardly grim." Prey returned.

Crimson stopped, and looked at Prey for a long moment. Then he shook his head and returned to searching.

Prey rolled his eyes and pushed the door open.

Rocky Bed's bedroom was... More or less what Prey had expected.

A cosy looking cot with blue blankets and fluffy pillows, children's toys scattered on the floor, a child's mobile of pony drawn carts hanging above the bed, happy smiling button eyed stuffed animals dotted about the place to complete the picture of childish innocence.

If Prey'd been sixty years younger, he might have been jealous.

Tulip Bed was by no means the richest pony. In fact, unless he was very much mistaken, she was what Canterlot would call 'lower working class', and an earth pony to boot.

Yet even she as a single mother could still provide more for her foal in this one room than all the children from Gossamer's village had, (excluding the land owner Green Field's own foals) put together. Prey looked down at a wooden toy cart by his hoof and had the irrational urge to kick it. Not because he was jealous, at least not of this. Prey didn't care in the slightest about what Rocky Bed had compared to what he'd had as a lamb.

No, what Prey was envious of was Tulip Bed, who had so much she could give to her ungrateful brat.

Gossamer and Fleece's mother had tried so hard to provide for them, to make them feel like normal children. Yet he'd still caught glimpses of the longing in her eyes as they'd passed tinkers selling toys. The longing to provide for them. That had made Gossamer sad. It made Prey angry.

Prey shook his head, 'Enough of that.' He had a room to search.

Prey started poking around the room, starting from the door and sweeping the floor back and forth in an increasingly wide arc, making sure he didn't miss anything.

He took note of the toy's position. Did any of them seem like they'd been thrown or knocked aside in a scuffle? No.

How about the faint traces of dust on the window sill? Prey rested his fore legs against the wall and reared up to check. No signs of recent disturbance. While he was there, he also had a look at the window. Still latched.

He sniffed at the bed, closing his eyes to try and find any scent that stood out. Soap, hay, cotton, feathers, a stronger trace of the scent of 'foal' that permeated this bedroom. No, nothing out of the ordinary.

Prey checked under the bed and the pillow. In the toy chest. Across the tops of the skirting board. The window panes. Behind the door. The handle for scratches. The door frame for scuff marks. Anything and everything he could think of that might be helpful.

Nothing stood out, nothing roused his suspicion. Chances were then that Rocky Bed had not been in his room when he'd been taken. Assuming he didn't go with his captor willingly.

He moved back to the center and looked around once more.

Prey frowned, something was off in this room, his gut was telling him so. Whatever it was, it wasn't obvious, or else he would have picked it up straight away. Prey scanned the room again. What was it? What was wrong?

Nothing, everything was as it should be.

"You done in here yet, kid?"

So focused was he that Prey hadn't heard Gloom come to the door. He blamed his bad ear, 'All Luna's fault.' He didn't even call Gloom out on the thestral calling him 'kid' again.

"No, nothing." Prey said, tearing his eyes away from the room, "I take it that you haven't found anything of use yet either or else you wouldn't be in here asking me." Prey said to Gloom.

'-we've got to work on those manners more-', Gloom thought, "Unfortunately, no. But things like this take time and patience, that's why we're taking turnings doing this. Crimson is double checking my area, and I'll be doing yours, so you can go and do his. Then we'll rotate again in a bit. Okay?"

Prey almost rolled his eyes. Gloom had explained the procedure the first time, did he really think Prey would've forgotten? It was perfectly self explanatory in any case. Had Gloom already forgotten he wasn't a lamb?

No, he was being silly. He was just getting riled up because he couldn't put his hoof on what was bugging him.

"Yes I've 'got it' okay. See you in a bit. Or if I find anything." Prey responded without looking back, heading out the door and into the living room, leaving Gloom to begin his own sweep of the foals bedroom.

Prey moved slowly though the living room, carefully checking it in much the same way that he had the bedroom. The end result? He didn't find anything. Honestly, if the kidnapper had left any obvious clues, they would've been picked up by the Royal Guard already.

And neither were his instincts telling him something was off in here like in Rocky's bedroom. Prey made a note to go back and have another look in there before they left.

Prey was just climbing under the table to check under there, (not something difficult for someone of his stature), when Crimson called, "Sir, I may have found something."

Prey emerged from under the table and followed Gloom hurrying towards the other bedroom, "What do you think you've found?" Gloom asked.

"I do not know if it means anything, but this drawer is empty." Crimson said, waving to a half pulled out drawer in the dresser. Prey couldn't see inside, as the drawer was higher up than his head, but he took the pegasus word for it that it was indeed empty.

Gloom looked in, "Yes, it is. What of it? What is it about this that makes you suspicious?" He asked, sticking his nose into the drawer.

"Because it's empty, sir. Completely. I mean, it looks like somepony emptied it all into a sack and took it away. All the other drawers have something in, even if it's just clutter." Crimson said, leaning over and pulling open the other dresser drawers to show them.

Prey peered into the couple that were low enough down for him to look into, idly shuffling through the contents, "Old cards and invites dating back years, aged letters, scraps of ribbons and bows, two spare bits, a horse shoe nail, the handle from a broken mug, some pressed flowers. Yes, definitely clutter." Prey mused.

"Leave that stuff alone, it's not yours." Gloom instructed absentmindedly, then back to Crimson, "What do you think this could mean?"

Crimson shrugged with his wings, although his face stayed expressionless, "Not sure sir. Maybe there was something important in that drawer. Could be a reason for the foalnapping." He suggested.

"Yes, but unfortunately it's gone, so we have no way of telling." Prey noted sounding bored. He was still thinking about what it might have been in Rocky's room that had thrown him off.

"We could just ask Tulip Bed." Crimson responded.

"Oh yes? Think she'll remember? If it is important, the kidnapper would have removed it from her memory." Prey said.

Gloom and Crimson paused to consider that. "I'm getting increasingly angry at whoever this guy is. It's filthy, the way they've abused Tulip and her foal, then tried to hide their crime. What's worse is that they're succeeding." Gloom muttered, fangs showing as he glared at the empty drawer as if it were the source of his problems.

"Perhaps the drawer contained details about Rocky Bed, and they removed them to keep from reminding Tulip about her foal, sir." Crimson said.

"Hmm, no. Good idea but it doesn't fit. I mean, Holly Leaf said the foalnapper left pictures of Rocky in the house somewhere, so they're probably not concerned with that. Actually, we haven't found that picture yet, so keep an eye open for it you two." Gloom ordered.

"It's in Rocky's bedroom, framed on the second shelf, a picture of him and his mother pushing him on a swing. Can't miss it," Prey spoke up. It had been unusual to see how realistic one of these photos looked.

"It would be strange after going to such careful lengths removing Tulip's memory to still leave that picture here, unless it was unimportant in the long run. So I think Gloom is probably right that the contents of that drawer weren't linked to Rocky at all. Oh well, nothing that we can do further with an empty drawer." Prey said, shrugging and turning to go back out into the living room.

"It's Sargent Gloom or sir while on duty." Gloom reminded him patiently, "And please try and be a bit more focused, this is serious. A foal is at risk here Prey. A lost, scared little foal." He added quietly.

"Why was he taken? I mean, that's the key to this whole thing isn't it sir?" Crimson abruptly asked.

Gloom nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, you're right Crimson. We haven't actually stopped to consider that properly yet, but it's both the crime and the reason. We just don't know what that reason is. Alright, let's think about this. What do we know? Somepony foalnapped Rocky Bed and removed Tulips memories. Why?"

"They wanted to delay the Guard from coming after them." Crimson suggested.

"Why remove Tulip's memories though? Why not just foalnap her too? It would have been easier. Hmm, unless it actually wouldn't have been easier." Gloom mused.

"Could just be one pony sir. I mean, it would be much harder to keep both a foal and a full grown mare tied up and under control." Crimson said.

"Yes...Yes that would make sense. So it's probably only one pony we're dealing with, or two at most. Still, ponies who can use mind magic are very rare, and even fewer from what lieutenant Swift Arrow said could have pulled off something like this." Gloom said, scratching at his chest thoughtfully.

"You've forgotten to ask why a highly skilled unicorn, who has so far gone undetected, would come out of hiding to do something as mundane as kidnap a foal. In Canterlot of all places. Tulip Bed isn't anyone important. She doesn't have any connections or money, so why her foal?" Prey spoke up.

They all went quiet as they thought on that.

"Something about Rocky Bed then. Something special that only his mother knows about. That's why they removed her memories. So she couldn't tell anypony about what made him special." Crimson said, sounding very sure of himself, obviously believing that he had hit on something.

"Or there's nothing special about Rocky, and that's precisely why he was chosen. This could all have been random chance. The kidnapper just wanted a foal for their purposes, and because Rocky and his mother are nobody's, they were targeted." Prey argued.

Crimson's wing did that little flicking motion, as if flicking water off his feathers. Although Prey was no expert on pegasi gestures, it quite accurately conveyed the sense of dismissive disagreement, even if the pegasus didn't vocalise his private thoughts on the matter.

"Alright, let's think Prey's suggestion through. Why might the foalnapper want just any foal rather than Rocky in particular?" Gloom asked, gesturing for Prey to share his thought process.

Prey shrugged, "There's plenty of possible reasons."

Gloom hid a sigh, '-like trying to get blood out of a stone-', "Okay, and those reasons are?" He prodded.

Prey sat back and stroked his uninjured ear absentmindedly as he listed them off; "For a slave market, or someone wanting a hostage for leverage against the Guard, body parts for black magic rituals either for personal use or to auction off, perhaps even for an underground carnivore or cannibal ring, to torture and maim for psychotic amusement, or to sell as a child prostitute-"

"Stop! Just, just stop." Gloom ordered. The thestral closed his eyes and took a steadying breath, "I think we get the idea. It's bad." He said.

"Why were such things the first reasons you could think of?" Crimson enquired, wings looking slightly ruffled at what he'd just listened to.

"Well there's plenty more possible-"

"Thank you that's quite enough Prey." Gloom interrupted hurriedly, '-just glad he didn't start listing off all his horrible suggestions in front of Tulip-'

Prey let out a long suffering sigh, "Alright, I can see when I'm not wanted. What's next then, Sargent? I think we've established that unless we find something else, this empty drawer doesn't tell us much on its own."

Gloom gave the drawer one last inspection before pushing it shut, "Unfortunately, you're right. We need to find something else. Crimson? Any other thoughts?" He asked.

"No, sorry sir."

"In that case, everypony back to their assigned room and keep looking. There's got to be something else in here that we can use to catch this bastard before it's too late."

None of them found anything further in their second rooms, and so Gloom reluctantly rotated them onto their third and final room. (The kitchen and the living room had both counted as one)

Prey could see that Gloom was starting to feel the pressure. If there wasn't anything in here to clue them in, there wasn't much else that could be done. Crimson looked like he wasn't too happy about their lack of progress either, although he showed it in the stiff way he held his wings.

Prey wasn't sure what they'd expected to find. A convenient map with a big red 'X'? This unicorn kidnapper was obviously very skilled in what they did, and would not make such a mundane mistake as to leave some trace.

Prey was no expert on this sort of thing either, as he had no experience with towns or cities. Urban tracking was an unknown to him, no tracks in the mud or disturbed moss to give away a hint. Instead there were hard floorboards and white washed walls. Gloom and Crimson weren't the only ones out of their depth here.

The difference was, Prey didn't care about the foal Rocky's fate. The world was cruel, another drop in the ocean of injustice made no difference.

The only reason he was making an effort right now was that it would reflect badly on him if he didn't. He was essentially a bond slave in the ISND, and his continued freedom hinged directly on its success, and quite possibly even his continued existence. If the ISND sunk, it was taking all hooves down with it.

"Nothing?" Gloom asked without much hope.

"Nothing sir." Crimson answered, and Prey just shook his head. They had all congregated back in the living room.

Gloom grimaced in frustration, '-now what do I do?-' His thoughts were saying.

They all glanced sideways at each other as they stood silently for a minute in the now abandoned house. It had only been empty for a day, and although there was no destruction or damage to the place, it had been changed for the worse. This place would never act as a sanctuary to Tulip Bed again. This was no longer a home, from now on, this place would be a crime scene.

"Well, if we aren't doing anything else, it's back to the ISND office to write up the reports on our search here, sort out the rest of the paperwork, and start on the other cases we've been given." Gloom announced, trying to hide his frustration.

"Other cases sir?" Crimson asked.

"Yes. There are already a number of stagnant cases lined up for the ISND. We were only assigned to try and help with Rocky and Tulip because Captain Nighthawk requested it, in the hopes that we might find something. The Royal Guard will do their own interview and continue their search until Rocky is found." '-hopefully-'

"So we weren't needed in the first place." Prey stated.

"That's not true. We tried our best to help speed this along, as time is of the essence. It's a serious case, a foal has been taken and a mare abused, and the longer it takes, the greater the risk to Rocky Bed." Gloom let out another frustrated sigh and kicked halfheartedly at the sofa.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything. We failed. So the Royal Guard will continue to search until he is found, and I hope for his sake it's soon. Now come on, we've got to report back to Lieutenant Swift Arrow and then write up a report." Gloom said.

"I want to have another look in the foal's room before we leave." Prey announced.

Crimson looked at him sideways, "You want to check the foal's room again?"

"Yes I do. Will that be a problem?" Prey asked sweetly.

"Why?" Gloom asked.

"Thought I might have felt something off in there. So I just want to double check." Prey answered.

Gloom considered for half a second before shrugging, "Can't do any harm."

Rocky Bed's room was exactly the same as it had been when Prey had searched it forty minutes ago. That included the gnawing sensation that something was off in the room.

"Find anything?" Gloom asked. He and Crimson stood in the doorway while Prey sat in the middle of the room, eyes narrowed as he scanned the room once again. 'What is it?' He thought.

Prey looked at the chest of toys again, was it anything to do with that? No, he didn't think so.

How about the window? No, checked that already.

The floor? The rug? The door? The photo? The stuffed animals? No, it was none of those.

Wait. The stuffed animals. Why was there a stuffed sheep half tucked under the covers? Something about it sitting just there seemed...off...

It certainly didn't seem any different, they were all just as colourful and fluffy as each other. The smiling toy dog was the largest, that pegasus doll over there with the lopsided wings was the smallest, and the other assortment of animals and ponies were all somewhere in between.

So why did the sheep doll seem off?

It was hardly the only mock country denizen among the stuffed animals, there was also a goat and a donkey.

Was it because of it's placement in the bed? It wasn't the only toy up there, the goat lay at foot of the bed. So why did his eyes keep coming back to the sheep doll? Yes, Prey was now certain this is what had set his instincts humming, he just didn't know the reason why. Yet.

"What are you doing?" Gloom asked cautiously as Prey walked over to the bed.

Prey ignored him and stood up against the bed frame so he could examine the doll closer. It looked like real wool, cream in colour, with stubby limbs and button eyes, neat little stitches running up the seams.

The doll sat there, half tucked under the covers, inconspicuous and inanimate. Nothing but a toy.

And then Prey knew what it was that seemed off about the stuffed toy, and he didn't like it.

'Zoma'Gricka,' Prey thought with a zebraican curse, 'I've got the shadow of one noose hanging over my head already. I don't need another.'

He could be wrong of course, perhaps just pure coincidence, but there was no way to tell.

Prey hoped it was just healthy paranoia. He had enough on his plate already, what with trying to survive in a military organisation, under an alicorn, while hoping that she didn't notice his runic and mind leech craft.

"Never mind, it was just my imagination." Prey said dropping down from the bed and trotting back over to the door, plastering on a sheepish smile to hide the churning in his gut.

Gloom raised his eyebrow, '-wanted to look at a stuffed toy? Well he is still a kid, although not like any other kid. Never mind, got lots of work left to do-'

"If you're quite finished, let's be off then. We've plenty left to do before the night's, err, the day's out. Hopefully, some of those tasks are ones we can actually achieve." Gloom sighed.

The two Royal Guards standing guard next door watched them as they exited Tulip Bed's home, Gloom squinting in the sun, and looked smug.

It was obvious that the three of them hadn't found anything in their search of the property, same as the Royal Guard, who'd also come up empty. Prey bet they would have hotly denied it if questioned, but it was obvious that the Royal Guard didn't like it that the Night Guard were sticking their noses into this case.

They were no doubt secretly pleased to see that their previous assumptions about the capabilities of said Night Guard had been proven correct.

'Petty competitiveness in all things military. Even when, as Gloom keeps reminding everyone, a child's life is on the line. Well don't worry,' He thought looking back as they began the return trip, 'I don't think much of you two either.'

His gaze however wasn't for the two Guards. It was for the empty house they were leaving behind and what he'd found.

"Nothing else?" Swift Arrow asked.

"No sir. Just that we believe it is most likely a single unicorn acting alone, that they were very thorough and careful to cover their tracks, and that it is quite likely that Rocky Bed was selected as a foalnapping victim at random." Gloom answered, standing at attention.

Lieutenant Swift Arrow did not look impressed. Some of that was no doubt in part due to the presence of Prey, who picked up from Swift Arrow's thoughts that the lieutenant still thought of him as the '-Nightmare princess's little joke and insult to the Guard-'

Prey stood at something resembling attention, trying not to make eye contact. His still weak hooves were sore and his legs ached from the long trot back to the palace. But he didn't make any movements to relieve the pressure on his tired hooves, which might have drawn attention to himself from Swift Arrow, who already seemed to hate him.

The captain didn't sound too fond of Crimson either, although that was just because the red pegasus didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Alright. If that's all, then you're dismissed. Write up the report and submit it to me before the end of the shift. We'll be taking over active supervision of this case. Report that to Captain Nighthawk. Kindly shut the door on your way out, Sargent." Swift Arrow ordered.

"Yes sir." Gloom saluted, '-mister high and mighty-' He didn't add aloud.

Prey didn't have to be told twice, and was already half way out the door before Gloom had even finished saluting, wasting no time in putting some distance between himself and the Royal Guard unicorn.

Crimson exited and Gloom closed the door quietly behind them with a click.

They stood there for a moment in the corridor considering what to do next. It was obvious that Gloom was disappointed.

This was the ISND's first job, given to them by Captain Nighthawk himself, and already they had all but admitted they weren't up to the task. The fact that there was nothing more they could reasonably accomplish was beside the point. Gloom, and likely Crimson too, felt like they should been able to do better. The ISND was Princess Luna's creation, and they were failing her.

Gloom took a deep breath, but whatever he was going to say was cut short by a call coming from up the corridor.

"Yoohoo! Sargent Gloom. You still owe me one stack of paper work."

Taffy Hopes came trotting down the corridor with a large grin that managed to look slightly manic on her face, completely ignoring the looks from the two Royal Guards.

"Taffy Hopes ma'am." Gloom acknowledged. '-Moon curse it, I forgot about signing all that paperwork-'

"Hello Gloom, and hello to you too Crimson. You haven't flown off screaming like Driven Snow within your first twenty four hours, so you aren't doing too badly yet." Taffy told Crimson cheerily, coming to a stop in front of them and readjusting the peaked cap on her head.

Crimson blinked slowly, "I don't know what you're talking about, ma'am."

"Oh, you haven't heard that story yet? It's great for a laugh. See, Driven Snow was a new recruit just out from Cloudsdale on his first day, very proud of his natural white plumage, and his Corporal took him down to the castle latrines-"

Gloom cleared his throat.

"-But I guess that story'll have to wait till your Sargent's less busy. Don't think I've forgotten about all that paperwork you promised me Sargent Gloom." Taffy said without missing a beat.

"Thank you for reminding me about that ma'am," Gloom said, sounding very unconvincing in his thanks, "Is there anything else we can help you with till then? No offence Taffy, but I'm kind of running late as it is."

"Just to let you know that your pile of required paperwork has grown since yesterday, and there's a couple of forms that quite urgently need your signature. Not because they're important, just because the records department is getting angsty." Taffy shrugged.

"You came here to tell me that?" Gloom asked dubiously.

"Don't be silly, I'm here to get Lieutenant Swift Arrow to sign these." Taffy said levitating out a sheaf of papers from her standard issue saddle bag, "But as you're already here I just thought I'd say hello to my favourite bat pony Sargent and remind you that stack isn't going to get any smaller without you doing something about it." She said with a slightly too gleeful grin.

"I'll keep that in mind ma'am. Good nigh-, err, day to you." Gloom said with a forlorn smile of his own.

"Bye, see you then Crimson. I'd better see you soon too Sargent Gloom." Taffy said waving as they continued on and she made for the lieutenants door.

She was just about to knock when she seemed to remember something and jerked her head around just in time to catch a glimpse of Prey as he dodged round the far corner, "Sheep again-?" was as far as she got before they were turning the corner and out of view.

Once again Prey had kept out of sight and mind of the unicorn mare, keeping Gloom or Crimson between them at all times during their conversation. He didn't want to be noticed, no matter how easy going Taffy seemed. She was a unicorn. That was all there was to it. Thankfully neither Gloom or Crimson had noticed his avoidance.

Taffy, by dint of her upbeat presence, did seem to have banished the previous onset of melancholy that had been quietly settling over Gloom and Crimson. They'd already moved on thoughts of their failure and were resolute to go again. Not that they'd been about to give up, only taking a bit of time to rethink and start again. By Prey's evaluation, Taffy had merely sped the process up.

Prey fell into step behind Gloom as he lead them towards the Night Guard section of the palace, no doubt to report as Swift Arrow had ordered him too, despite the fact that Gloom didn't in fact have to answer to the Royal Guard lieutenant.

"Why did you hide from Taffy Hopes?" Crimson asked Prey quietly without looking over.

Prey almost missed a step, but hid it masterfully, "What do you mean?" He said, feigning ignorance quite convincingly.

Crimson swivelled one yellow eye to looked down at Prey as he smiled uncertainly back up, and snorted, not convinced in the least. But that was all Crimson said on the subject. The red pegasus saw more than he let on. From behind a bemused expression Prey cursed Crimson's mental walls and silently vowed to be more careful in the future.

Gloom stopped in front of the Night Guard lieutenants open door, Prey saw from Gloom's thoughts it was a thestral by the name of Starry Wing, and peered in.

It wasn't Starry Wing in the office though. It was a different thestral going by the title '-Sargent Major Sharp Tang-'. Again, this information was picked out of Gloom's thoughts as he recognised the pony inside. Sharp Tang was busy signing a heap of papers, and only looked up once Gloom cleared his throat.

"Sir, is Lieutenant Starry Wing here?" Gloom asked.

"No, I am covering until he gets back Sargent." Sharp Tang answered.

A Sargent major was only one rank lower than a Lieutenant. Sharp Tang was a large thestral and his eyes held an intimidating quality as he put down the quill he was using and regarded Gloom. "Is there something I can help you with instead?"

"Do you know if Captain Nighthawk is in his office, sir?"

"No. His duties have taken him off the palace grounds. What did you want to see him about Sargent? Is it about the foalnapping?" Sharp Tang asked, his question showing that he was in the loop about the investigation. The Sargent major's hard gaze flicked over to Crimson and Prey where they stood behind Gloom, and Prey was able to catch, '-does Gloom perhaps want to raise a concern about these two scum suckers? It better not be trivial-'

"Sir, we've just returned from the city after conducting an interview and search of Tulip Bed's house. I'm sorry sir, but we couldn't find anything further of note. I came to report to Captain Nighthawk that lieutenant Swift Arrow and the Royal Guard have taken over active supervision of the investigation." Gloom answered, standing stiffly at attention and reciting his message to the empty space just a couple of inches above Sharp Tang's head.

The Sargent major merely nodded once, "Understood Sargent Gloom. I will inform the Lieutenant and Captain when they return. I have been ordered that we will continue to offer our assistance and expertise on this case to the Royal Guard. Was there anything else?"

"Nothing pressing sir. I'll address them to Captain Nighthawk when next I give him my report sir." Gloom answered. Prey wasn't an idiot, what Gloom would be 'addressing' was him and Crimson to the Captain.

"Very good. Do you have your further orders Sargent?" Sharp Tang asked.

"For the ISND? Yes sir, Captain Nighthawk gave them to us."

"Carry on then. And keep an eye on that one, Sargent." Sharp Tang ordered, looking directly at Crimson. The Night Guard Sargent major had dismissed Prey as a threat, and didn't even seem to think Prey was worthy of his distrust. Crimson didn't seem outwardly phased by Sharp Tang's hostility, but his mental walls tensed at the officers words.

"Yes sir." Was the only answer Gloom could give. Regardless of his personal opinions, Sharp Tang was his superior.

Those orders that the Sargent major had referenced were pretty much the same ones Gloom had spoken of back in Tulip's house. Namely; finish cleaning out the ISND office they'd been allotted, and deal with the paper work.

Gloom dropped a form in front of each of them and pushed a quill across the table top. Except it wasn't a table, because they didn't have a table, and was instead the floor boards.

"Sir?" Crimson asked, looking down at his paper.

"I'm not sure if you've picked up on it or not yet, but the Royal Guard basically runs on paper work. The records department thrives on this stuff, and I'm afraid you're gonna' have to get used to filling out these things after every mission, however small and mundane. Captain Nighthawk doesn't think much of this way of doing things, and from what little I've heard, Princess Luna doesn't approve either. But for now, that's just the way things are." Gloom said apologetically.

Crimson grunted and picked up the quill in his teeth, and began filling out the form with a surprisingly smooth and flowing script. Evidently, his father hadn't neglected Crimson's academic advancement in favour of warrior training.

Prey leaned across the table top with the tip of his hoof and managed to snag the corner of his paper. It was titled 'Form B-39A'. Prey could only speculate at what leap of the imagination the clerk who'd designed this form had been blessed with to come up with such an uninspired name.

Once Gloom had found another quill for Prey, the contents of the form proved to be just as boring as its name. That was just the beginning.

"Sir..." Crimson trailed off, frowning down at the piles of folders in front of him, seemingly struggling to find words, "...I don't understand what I'm doing." He finished, some real frustration working its way into his normally flat tone.

Once 'Form B-39A' had been filled in, Gloom had taken them back with a muttered curse about how'd he'd have to "take them back to Taffy," and "get ambushed". Then he'd retrieved one of the boxes filled with files labelled 'A.C.P.', and given each of them a pile.

Apparently these were 'Active Cases in Progress', or cases that were open but with no one currently working on them.

Which really meant that the Royal Guard or whomever had filed the report had hit a dead end, either due to lack of information or evidence, and couldn't do anything further. Or had just been too lazy to see it through.

"Right. The first thing to do is sort through these and see which are important cases, and which are not." Gloom instructed.

"Are not all these crimes serious?" Crimson asked.

Gloom waggled his hoof in the air back and forth as if to say 'sort-of-maybe'.

"Yes and no. See, not all of these reports here are necessarily crimes. Some might be too old or lack enough evidence to work on, or just even anomaly reports. And of the actual crimes or suspected crimes, only a few of these are important enough to concern the ISND."

Crimson's wing did that little flick, "Sir, I think every crime somepony commits is important. I mean, at least to the victims. I thought it was our duty within the Night Guard and as Princess Luna's Watcher's to bring justice."

Gloom nodded, "Yes, you're right. I don't mean to trivialise crime, far from it. What I meant was that..." He paused to try and find the word.

"To put it simply, the ISND is small. It's just us three. But Princess Luna knows what we're capable of, and she knows that we will do our best. I wish we could stop all these crimes," Gloom said waving a leathery wing down at the files, "But we can't. We must best utilise our time. We are the Intelligence and Secrecy department. Pertinent things are what we must focus on, and trust in the rest of the Guard to do the rest. Our duty is to do everything we can, and once we have, leave the rest in the hooves of the Princess's."

Crimson seemed suitably impressed by Gloom's little impromptu speech. Prey might've given the Sargent some credit for his quick thinking, if he couldn't see from Gloom's thoughts that the Sargent had been on the receiving end of almost the exact same speech from the Night Guard captain just recently.

"Alright, let's get to it." Gloom said, picking up his first file out of the box.

Prey doubted that any of these files would contain anything serious enough to be worth getting worked up about, except by soft pony standards, but he wasn't about to tell that to Gloom. Besides, this might help distract him from the leaden weight of worry sitting in his gut.

There was the threat of what would happen if Luna had found out about his runic capabilities. Although with every passing minute, that danger slowly decreased.

The Night Princess didn't strike Prey as the sort to sit back and dilly dally. If Luna was going to do something, she would've done it by now. Whatever the alicorn decided was best, she would see through without flinching or second guessing herself, no matter how bloody.

So either Luna hadn't caught on, or she already knew but wasn't concerned.

The second thing eating away at Prey was what he'd seen in Tulip Bed's house. That stuffed sheep in the bed and the possible message that it bore.

'But who could have sent me a message? Everyone I've ever known is long dead. Who else?' It couldn't it be one of the Solar Guard's who'd dragged him from Dreverton, for a whole host of obvious reasons.

First, why would they, a devoted Guard, commit a crime just to leave him a cryptic message? Second, they didn't have mind magic and detested its use in any form, and third, none of them should be able to remember him anyway.

But who else could it be? Unless it wasn't anyone he knew, but was a new player in the shadows. But how would they know what he really was? There was something he was missing here, Prey was sure if it.

That or he was being paranoid and had imagined the whole sheep doll message thing.

Either way, the most he could do was remain alert and vigilant.

Prey had been right about his previous assessment. He didn't find any case file he thought was serious enough to even consider investigating. Not that he had a choice. The golden slave bands robbed his right to just get up and walk away from this stupidity.

So Prey picked a couple of files that didn't seem very dangerous, and dropped them infront of Gloom, "There. These two."

He saw that Crimson had his own pile of cases he considered to be important at his hooves. Which basically meant his entire pile.

Gloom, rather interestingly, had two separate piles.

Prey pointed at the first pile, which was made up of three thick files, bursting at the seams with loose pages "What are those ones, and why are they singled out as important?" He asked bluntly.

"I'm glad you asked," Gloom said, splaying out the three files infront of them, "These three are active, large scale, ongoing cases. They involve multiple ponies and span multiple years. Captain Nighthawk wants us to work on these three no matter what, and my talent agreed with him." Gloom paused to answer the unasked question in Crimson's eyes.

"Yes, these three are the most important cases, but because they've been ongoing for so long, it just shows nopony has made any real progress either. I expect it'll be equally slow going in trying to solve them. We'll probably spend half our time working on other stuff between these three big ones. That's why we're picking out other folders that you thought were important." Gloom explained.

Crimson nodded slowly, "I see sir. Thank you for explaining."

"No problem," Gloom smiled, "Now, let's have a look at these three fat bookends."

Gloom opened the first of the three large folders and barely managed to stop papers from going everywhere, "Oops. Here, give me a hoof."

Between them, or between Crimson and Gloom with Prey acting like he was helping, they spread out some of the sheets into a more legible format across the floor.

Prey picked up a page, eyes darting across it as he sped read it, "...Unknown dealer source... no indication if supply is increasing or decreasing... stop and search revealed nothing..." Prey lowered the paper, "A drug den?" He asked flatly. This was what constituted one of the three most serious unsolvable problems in Canterlot?

"Yes, although unfortunately it's a bit bigger than just one den." Gloom said, sliding another page across the floor towards him.

Prey didn't more than glance at it, reading what it said out of Gloom's thoughts, "A network spread throughout the lower city, but nothing the Guard does against them seems to do more than superficial damage. You stop one salt ring or dealer, and another pops up on the other side of the city." Prey stated, not asked.

"Er, yeah that's correct." Gloom answered, slightly thrown.

"Salt? I know it's not good for you and can be addictive if you eat too much, but ponies cook with it. Is it that serious, sir?" Crimson asked.

"It's not the kind you cook with. It's unrefined, more potent." Gloom answered, pulling out a couple of sheets and showing them around, "See? It's been going under the radar for almost two years. We can't even be sure it's only one gang supplying it, but for now the circumstantial evidence seems to support that theory."

Prey held back a laugh at how pathetic this was. If he'd been so inclined, or wanted to help, (or if he'd cared), he could have cracked this problem like a rotten egg.

It would be so simple to solve. Merely capture one salt user, break into his mind and trace back who'd sold it to him. Then go and do the same to that pony, and so on and so on back up the chain of command until he encountered the ring leader. But obviously he wasn't going to do that. It would reveal him as a mind leech.

Sure, in the end, he was probably going to be the one who had to solve this case for these incompetent Guards, just like with the Solar Guards. But he was going to take his sweet time with the situation and bleed it dry for everything that he could first.

From what little he'd heard, he was already certain that someone in the Guard was in on this salt trade, so he could-

"Any ideas how we're going to go about solving this? Crimson? Prey?" Gloom asked, interrupting the lambs plotting.

Prey shrugged, "Doesn't seem like too much you can do. You say it's been going on for years, so they must have some idea what they're doing and how to avoid detection. They're obviously well established, so you've got to be cautious. Can't be reckless or rush into things."

Prey pretended to consider, brushing his ear back as he looked up thoughtfully at the ceiling, "You might want to start by trying to find out where they're getting their salt from. Someone's got to be bringing it in from outside Canterlot, but how? Trains, crates, imports, courier, pegasi, or dead drops? How about trying to get a pony in on the streets? Infiltrate them as a common thug and see what they can learn." He suggested.

Prey could see from Gloom's face that the idea of infiltrating this gang by pretending to be one of them hadn't occurred.

Which was likely also why he hadn't caught on that someone, or rather somepony, in the Guard was in on this deal. The Guards? Give into temptation? Traitors? Never.

"That is..." Crimson started.

"An excellent idea. Lots of ideas. Hmm, some of that is quite interesting. Did you just come up with all that off the top of your head?" Gloom asked.

"Yes."

There was a bit of a pause as the two ponies considered Prey and the open case file before them.

"Hmm..." Gloom murmured distractedly, mulling over Prey's suggestions. Then he seemed to remember that they were supposed to be working.

*"Alright, that's the first case file. But as Prey said, it's going to take time. We'll see about trying to get help implementing some measures like Prey suggested, but that's for later. We still have these other two ongoing cases that're going to be playing a big part in our lives for the next however long." Gloom said, and pushed forwards the other two thick files.

"Right, the second case is, well, it's herd control. Sort of." Gloom opened the file in question and spreading out some of its contents.

"Out in some of the more rural towns, mainly around and along the railroad, large scale disputes keep cropping up and fights breaking out. It usually involves more than one crowd, and so it can get quite violent with lots of ponies involved. The local magistrates lock up the offenders for a week or so, but that's about all they can do, and then a month down the line there's another fight. Now here's the thing, these disturbances all seem to be connected."

"Sir?" Crimson questioned.

Gloom cleared his throat and returned to lecture mode, "Despite these fights and disturbances happening in different towns, the underlying theme is the same; distrust. The how and why varies, but it always seems to be enough to ignite into all out brawls. There have been multiple hospitalisations, many serious and some even life threatening, but thank Luna no deaths so far."

"And this is a problem for the ISND specifically rather than other Night Guards because...?" Prey asked.

"Because of how strange these are. Here's the thing, none of these problems seem like they should be big enough to spark into conflict. Look;" Gloom said, pulling out a couple of sheets and beginning to read from them.

"Dispute over crop exchange rates between two farmers somehow over the course of a week evolved into a brawl between more than thirty ponies."

Gloom flipped the page over, "Here's another. A couple of ponies came into town looking for work. A short while later half the town hated them and the other half hated the first half, which ended in another massive punch up. Nopony even knows what they were fighting over, everypony interviewed gave a different answer."

"Another example, dissatisfaction with the magistrate over how well the streets were lit at night. One week after, the unicorns and earth ponies had banded together and burned out the pegasi weather team's homes."

"What?" Crimson asked.

"Yeah I know, not really sure why that's connected, but that's apparently how it all started. But that's just what makes Captain Nighthawk certain that somepony is spreading malcontent and sedition through the outer settlements. How else would this disharmony keep cropping up? We know it's all connected, just not how." Gloom sighed.

"So that is where we come in I'm guessing?" Prey asked, although it wasn't really a question if everyone already knew the answer.

"Got it in one kid, oops, sorry, I mean Prey. But yeah, we've got to investigate and find out who's doing this, and then bring them to justice. Whoever is doing this seems to just be doing it for their own sick amusement. They must be stopped." Gloom announced.

"This is more serious than the salt gang sir. Or it demands a more immediate solution at least." Crimson said.

"I agree," Prey spoke up, "But I disagree that we should do anything about it."

"What?!"

"Ourselves." Prey emphasised, "This problem is too wide spread. You will definitely need to call in the Night Guard or Royal Guard to assist you, I mean us, with this one. Otherwise we've no hope of halting this problem as it continues to spread."

"What do you mean exactly, Prey?" Gloom asked, much calmer this time.

Prey picked up a sheet and showed it to them, "It's simple, see this?"

"Yes, you're waving it right under my nose."

"What does it say? Right there at the top, under the heading."

"It's the date." Gloom deadpanned.

"Well done sir, you can read as well as me, the nine year old runt lamb. But look here at this one, and this one and this one," Prey said pulling out respective sheets that he had noted while Gloom was flicking through, "What do you see about the dates?" He asked.

"They're about two to three weeks apart. Whomever is doing this is travelling from one town to the next. We already know this. How does it help us Prey?" Gloom answered, ignoring Prey's jab.

"If you look at the areas, it does. One area is hit after the other, but unless I miss my guess, each town or village affected seems to be the next stop up from the previous one, if you follow the rail road. Roughly. Before they rotate back to this first town and set up another disturbance." Prey told them, laying out the papers in date order to clearly illustrate his point as he continued.

"There are a few exceptions like Farm Gate here, but it's just a small village so they could reasonably have skipped it. Point being, they're town hopping, and being systematic about it. So if you know where they were last, you can probably work out where they are going next." Prey explained patiently. Really, he didn't get enough credit for being as patient as he was.

"Really?" Gloom asked, surprised as he lent over to check for himself. '-something really that simple?-'

"That's great. Well done Prey. While there's still loads of ponies in each town and travellers passing through every day, that still helps narrow it down." Gloom congratulated Prey while still considering the open file. The he frowned and glanced up, "How do you know that all of those towns were in a line travelling along the rail road? I don't think it mentions it in here."

"I have seen a map before you know. Sir." Prey answered. In fact it was one of the maps he'd taken the opportunity to memorise while being held prisoner by Captain Valour and the Solar Guard. And the fools hadn't thought to stop him either.

"Is your memory always so sharp? Can you recall anything on demand?" Crimson asked.

Prey smiled wryly, "I wish, but unfortunately no," He lied, "I do have a good memory, but I can't recall everything. Things like dates, numbers, times and places yes, but on other stuff I think I'm just a bit better than average."

Never let your enemies know what you can do.

"That is still a most impressive memory." Crimson told him.

"Thank you." Prey responded, making sure to sound polite.

He noted that Crimson had been giving him a fair number of compliments and conversation starters over the course of the day, albeit in a stilted, monotone and forced manner. That meant he wanted something, something Prey couldn't read from his walled off thoughts. Good, Prey could understand people when they were working for their own benefit.

Prey made a note to more carefully evaluate all of Crimson's actions in the near future to figure it out. If he survived long enough that is. The 'doll-leaver' and Princess Luna might yet see him dead before the end of the day.

"Yes, I can see you're going to do well in the ISND." Gloom said, returning them to the topic of the three files. '-just wish a foal weren't needed-' He thought.

"So," Gloom added, "What do you all think we should do about this? We can roughly work out which area is going to be hit next, but that doesn't help us much if we still can't stop them, whoever they are."

Crimson shuffled his wings and spoke carefully, "Sir, I think we might have success if we can go to the town we think will be affected next, to investigate any newcomers. From hiding, I mean." He gave a tiny frown, "But there would be too many ponies for just us to follow. We would need help." Crimson didn't sound thrilled by the prospect of asking for help.

"Or you could just make a list of the new arrivals, wait for the town to have its little riot, then on at the next town make a second list. See who matches up on both lists." Prey suggested.

He was getting tired of this, having to listen to all these details he didn't care about, for a problem which should've been simple for these idiots to have stopped long ago. It wasn't like he was here by choice after all. Yet still he remained patient, getting frustrated would only negatively affect his decision making.

"Prey, you are suggesting we just let the first town descend into chaos as a sacrifice to catch them in the second. We've already had this conversation. Doing things like that isn't acceptable. Don't make me keep repeating myself." Gloom sighed.

Prey sniffed and looked away, unphased. It wasn't his fault they refused to think about this logically, "Well then Crimson is right. You're going to need additional bodies to help shadow these suspects."

"We're going to need additional help." Gloom reminded him.

"Yes, sorry, my bad sir." Prey said humbly, ducking his head and not meaning a word of it.

"That's okay, but anyway. We have a rough plan. When Captain Nighthawk returns, I'll present it to him and we'll see about getting some help with this one. I'm kind of surprised nopony has tried this yet. Or maybe they have and it didn't work. I'll have to ask about that too, but for now, let's quickly review the last file before we go." Gloom said.

Prey felt like groaning, but hid it under a polite mask of interest. This was idiotic. What a waste of his time. Every minute spent here bound to this ISND just made him hate ponies all the more. Perhaps Gloom was also growing tired of this, as he thankfully kept the explanation of the third file brief.

"This one is a fair bit more general. We've been assigned with fixing the leaks in the Guard-"

"Leaks?" Crimson asked.

"Security or information leaks." Gloom explained, "Over the years, mistakes have been made which led to the leaking of classified information to the public. These breaches have been noted and corrected where they can. However, some must still be occurring. Maybe they're intentional, maybe they're not. Doesn't matter, our overarching task as the ISND is to monitor and put a stop to all these breaches over the course of our career." Gloom paused and looked at both of them in turn.

"I don't imagine we'll be very popular. Ponies in the Guard, especially the Royal Guard, will see us as inspectors spying on them.", '-and because we're Night Guards-'

"And we're going to be doing this every day. I seriously doubt we'll uncover any plot to overthrow the Princesses, as nopony would want to do that. But Canterlot is the seat of power, and with that comes politics." He grimaced, like he'd bitten into something sour, "Nobles and underlings bicker and back bite all the time, and it's their actions were going to have to keep a sharp eye on."

Prey could tell that Gloom was, for his part, quite intelligent. As far as ponies went anyways. Yet from Gloom's thoughts, he could also tell that the Sargent felt out of his depth. He'd explained quite clearly what they were going to be doing, and showed no uncertainty in his outward bearing, but on the inside he didn't really have a clue how they were going to be doing most of this stuff.

It came as some satisfaction to Prey to see that his jailer was also having a hard time with what was being asked, no, demanded, of them.

Crimson just looked his usual unflappable, brooding self. Perhaps with the slightest expression of determination. No doubt determination to not disappoint Princess Luna.

"So," Prey started with a big, beaming smile that made his blue eyes sparkle with false enthusiasm, "How do we start Sargent Gloom?"

'-ahh Tartarus-'

What they, or rather Gloom decided upon, was that it would be best to start by pinning all of the files up to the wall and start adding their own notes and bits of coloured string to link anything they could find together.

This encountered a problem when they didn't have any coloured string. Or pins. Or cork boards to use those pins on. Or nails to put the boards up with. Or a hammer.

Frankly, Prey thought creating a visual brainstorm map was a waste of time. For him at least. He did however concede it might be useful for people with less disciplined minds than his own. Prey could recall anything and everything. But he'd told Gloom and Crimson that his memory wasn't perfect, only excellent. So it would be best to maintain that lie by using said pointless cork boards, which they finally obtained from a much put upon supply clerk.

However, once they'd obtained their supplies, they (or rather Crimson and Gloom because Prey was too short to reach) didn't have time to do more than nail the boards up before they were informed by a thestral Night Guard that; "Captain Nighthawk is back in his office and would like you to report in, Sargent Gloom."

"Thank you Cleft Fang, we'll be there shortly."

The head of Cleft Fang nodded once, gave Prey a look, '-lamb? Thought they were joking-', and withdrew from the half open door.

With a small sigh Prey pushed himself onto his tired hooves, while Crimson dropped the hammer and Gloom grabbed their report. Then they all trooped out the door.

Captain Nighthawk's office wasn't what one would typically expect when the words 'Captain' and 'Office' were used together.

It was dim, small, almost to the point of being cramped, and was loaded with bits of dented armour that had seen better days, and, surprise surprise, more paper work.

All in all, it gave the feel of a spartan or minimum requirement office. There was nothing in the office that made it feel personal, as even the armour looked like it was just getting stored here until further notice, and Prey supposed that the dimness didn't affect the thestral Captain.

"Sargent Gloom, thank you for coming so swiftly. What is your report on the case of Tulip Bed and the foalnap of her son?" Nighthawk asked in his gruff tone. He'd been furiously scribbling away at some papers when they'd filed in.

Gloom stood at attention and began his recital, "Sir, we went to the scene and investigated it, and interviewed Tulip herself, who is staying next door with friends until she recovers, and is under Guard. We didn't find much, whomever did this was thorough, and left no evidence in the house-"
"No traces of blood?" Nighthawk asked.

"No sir. I'm almost positive that there wasn't a struggle." Gloom quickly answered, before hurrying on with his explanation.

"All we found in the house was an emptied drawer, which may or may not have been relevant, but because of Tulip's memories being removed, we can't ask her what was in it. I've written it all up in full here, sir." Gloom said moving to hoof over their reports he'd brought.

Captain Nighthawk waved it away, "I'll read the copy Taffy sends me later. For now, I want to hear it in your own words." He said.

"Yes sir. We interviewed Tulip to see what we could learn from her, but I'm afraid that whomever did this was very good at their vile magic. They left nothing in her memories of relevance, everything she ever knew about her own son is gone, sir."

Nighthawk nodded slowly, looking grim, "I feared as much. It almost sounds like the incident the Solar Guards dealt with two months ago, but they assure me that the unicorn responsible died attempting to avoid pursuit, so it can't be him."

'Her.' Prey silently corrected.

"Any theories on motives or possible suspects?" Nighthawk asked.

"Yes and no sir. It was actually Prey who put the pieces together enough to get a picture." Gloom said.

Prey wanted to kick him, hadn't he told Gloom already that he didn't want any recognition? He wanted to fade into the background where no one would think he was a threat.

"Oh? Please explain." Nighthawk said, looking over the desk and down to Prey.

"Prey here, after talking with Tulip, he brought up some excellent concerns, and also the possible fact that this was a crime of opportunity rather than targeted at the Bed family in particular. It is most likely Rocky Bed was stolen because he was a nopony, and the foalnapper wanted to avoid notice as much as possible."

"That rules out ransom or hostage situations." The Captain noted, working his jaw thoughtfully, and Prey got a nice view of the four long incisors in his mouth. "That does not bode well. If there is no clear motive, it's going to be much harder to track this foalnapper down."

"Yes sir." Gloom agreed.

"So how will you proceed?" Nighthawk asked.

Gloom coughed, "Lieutenant Swift Arrow has taken over active investigation of this case. The Royal Guard are still conducting their sweeps and searches-"

"Swift Arrow took over?" Nighthawk interrupted.

"Yes sir." Gloom answered.

Captain Nighthawk's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and his yellow orbs began to smoulder, giving him the look of a pony contemplating explosive violence. "I see." Was all he said.

Because Prey could hear Nighthawk's thoughts, he knew that the Captain wasn't actually contemplating violence against the Royal Guard lieutenant. Partly for the reason that it would break the trust Princess Luna had placed in him, and partly because it was too extreme of a reaction. In that order. So instead, he limited himself to just thinking about it.

"Sir? Should we continue anyway or should we break it off...?" Gloom inquired, a tad hesitantly.

"No, leave any further investigation with the Royal Guard. Just continue on as normal Sargent." Nighthawk answered, pushing aside his thoughts of violence. Abruptly, his interest turned to the other two people in the room, '-was her majesty right offering them a second chance? Time will tell-'

"Crimson," Captain Nighthawk said, for the first time addressing the pegasus, "Answer me a question, what was your interpretation of this foalnapping?"

Crimson didn't hesitate, like he'd been expecting the question or perhaps had been already asking it himself.

"Sir, I think that Tulip Bed is going to need help in the future. Prey noticed it, but she doesn't realise what's been stolen from her, only that she's been stolen from. She will have problems. Everything else Sargent Gloom has already covered sir." Crimson answered, with a small, deferential dip of his head.

Nighthawk returned his nod, "Your concern is duly noted. Keep up the good work and stay alert. Ever watching." He said, repeating part of the Night Guard creed.

From matching Gloom and Nighthawk's thoughts that automatically moved to fill in the rest of it, the full motto went: '-Ever watching. Always there. Strike swift and true. Guardians of the night-'. A bit pretentious in Prey's opinion, but it probably got the point across.

"And your interpretation, Prey?" Nighthawk asked, turning his heavy gaze on the lamb.

"Much like Crimson sir. I think that Sargent Gloom has already said everything I could've wished to say." Prey replied readily, keeping it polite.

The Night Guard Captain wasn't satisfied with just that. "I am sure you have more you want to say. You were far more vocal about your opinions when you appeared before Her Majesty the other night. Not so talkative now?"

Prey didn't respond, just kept up the polite smile.

"I asked you a question, private." Nighthawk rumbled.

Prey knew that the Night Guard Captain was trying to more fully get his measure, seeing if Prey was daring enough to test his limits after only a few days imprisoned here. It wasn't hard to deduce, and being able to read the Captain's motivations directly from the thestrals own brain removed any guessing from the equation.

"Sorry sir, that I was. I hope you'll forgive me for that. Imprisonment and injury tend to bring out the worst in me I'm afraid sir." He answered, still keeping up that infuriatingly polite smile, lifting a hoof to indicate his bandaged ear.

Nighthawk regarded him levelly for a few moments more before he snorted and returned his attention to Gloom, "Thank you for your time, Sargent. Please return to your duties. Oh, and your time schedule will shortly be returning to normal. Dismissed." He said, picking up his quill again. His thoughts added, '-ask Gloom later what the sheep meant by injury-' As they filed back out the door.

"Come on, I may as well give these others to Taffy and the lieutenant before we head back." Gloom said, holding up the reports.

Dropping off Swift Arrow's copy of the report as he'd demanded was the simple part. They simply retraced their steps from earlier into the Royal Guard section of the palace, got the weird looks that went along with it, and left the report on his desk. He wasn't in at the time.

'-probably out polishing his armour-' Gloom's derisive thoughts read, before the thestral chided himself for thinking something so foalish.

Giving the report to Taffy Hopes proved to be a far more arduous task.

"Sargent Gloom, do come in. The pile is just waiting for you to make a start on it. I've got a fresh quill and ink pot from the supply cupboard just for you because there's so much of it." Taffy announced with glee the moment Gloom walked through the door.

Gloom cast a longing look back over his shoulder at the door that Crimson had followed him through, as if contemplating making a run for it, but apparently he knew there was no getting out of this. Prey snuck in unobserved.

"I, er, have another report here Taffy-" Gloom started.

"I'll stamp it and take it down to the records department with the rest before I go home," Taffy said waving it aside. "But you, sit yourself down over there and start signing these." She finished, pointing at a free chair amid the clutter and levitating up one of the enormous stacks of paper.

Gloom sighed and shuffled over, "Are you sure you aren't just pulling my wing Taffy? There's hundreds here."

"Yep, I'm sure. So the sooner you start the sooner you finish. Until then, I'm just going to amuse myself by talking to your NCO over here." She said cheerfully, indicating Crimson.

"Not an NCO, ma'am." Crimson answered.

"He and Prey are technically both just special division privates." Gloom told her around the quill in his mouth, as he dipped it and made a half hearted start on the stack of papers.

"Oh? Now that is interesting, special division. You must tell me Crimson, how did you get into the princess's new Night Guard division and become a special division private- Wait, who's Prey?" Taffy asked, screeching to a halt midway through her slew of questions.

'Zoma'Gricka.' Prey cursed at Gloom for mentioning him.

Up until now, he'd been succeeding in avoiding the attention of the frazzled unicorn mare. But as Crimson answered Taffy's question by gesturing with a wing towards his hiding place, it seemed that the manticore was out of the net.

Prey slunk out from behind the paper pile, trying not to look like easy prey and offered Taffy a bright a smile as he could manage, "Hi."

Taffy Hope's eyes slowly widened with something approaching glee. She opened her mouth to launch into something no doubt sweet and gushing, but then, against Prey's expectations, she apparently remembered herself. "Ehrem, I'm sorry, did you say your name was Prey little guy?" She asked, working hard to keep her enthusiasm in check.

"Yes." Prey answered cautiously.

Crimson and Gloom were both watching with interest to see what unfolded. Taffy's tail seemed to almost be vibrating with the amount of suppressed excitement she was obviously keeping contained. Prey anxiously eyed her as she cleared her throat again.

"Ehem* Well, it's lovely to finally meet you Prey. So you're with Sargent Gloomy over here, eh?"

"Sargent Gloom." Gloom muttered to no avail.

"I've been catching glimpses of you, you know, like when you first came here? And then later in the corridor? Oh it all makes sense now! You know you could have said something right? There's no need to be shy, I just love meeting new faces. Tell me darling, what's your favourite type of fudge? Caramel? Toffee? Chocolate? Strawberry? Banana? Cherry? Sunburst? Rose?"

It seemed that restraining herself had been too much, for by the end, Taffy was on the edge of her seat, with a huge grin plastered across her face.

Prey shuffled back a bit, cautiously watching the mares horn, "I do not have one. I don't think I've ever had fudge. It was never a luxury that was available where I come from." He answered.

"What? How come-Wait! You're just copying what Red said." Taffy protested.

"Crimson, ma'am." Crimson interjected.

"That's not a proper answer, wait wait, you were in here then as well too?" Taffy asked, staring at Prey.

Prey just shrugged, "Probably. You weren't looking very hard if you didn't see me."

"He was hiding from you." Gloom said, not looking up from the paper he was signing.

"What? Why? Don't be scared, I promise I don't bite." Taffy said, rising and taking a step towards Prey with a big fake look of hurt on her face, obviously angling for a hug.

'Because you biting me was the first time I was worried about. Not, say, your magic.' Prey thought, backing up further.

"My name is Prey-"
"-He's not a kid." Gloom added, still not looking up.
"-and don't touch me." Prey finished.

Taffy didn't seem to hear that last part and kept coming, "Aww, don't be like that. You'll wish you were still a foal when you're grown up. Enjoy it while it lasts."

Prey dodged behind Crimson, using the pegasus as some sort of meat shield, "Ma'am, as Sargent Gloom told you, I am a special division private of the ISND. I am just a runt, not a lamb, please don't treat me like one, and don't touch me." He hurriedly recited.

That finally seemed to get through to her, and she came to a stop, "Wait, you're actually a private?!" Taffy asked in disbelief.

"Yes ma'am. He was recruited the same time as me, and has so far been very efficient as we have performed our new duties." Crimson said, answering on Prey's behalf.

"But-but he's still just a foal!" She turned to Gloom, "He's just a foal, tell him right?" She demanded.

"Technically he's a lamb ma'am," Gloom said, taking a moment to carefully blow on a piece of paper to make the ink dry, "And yes ma'am, he's a private in the ISND."

Taffy gaped at them for a moment, "But Sargent...". '-just a foal, just a foal, just a foal, can't be in the Guard-!'

"Ma'am, Prey is not a lamb. Not really. I mean, he just looks like one." Crimson put in in his usual flat way. His eyes slid over to Prey, and Prey could see him wondering about something.

Taffy still seemed to be having trouble accepting what she'd just been told, "But, I mean, that's not allowed- but why would Princess Luna-?" She stuttered.

Prey wondered why she was taking the supposed conscription of a child so badly, when the other Royal Guards they met at breakfast had completely ignored it.

After a quick examination of the facts, he determined that the source of Taffy's upset was that, unlike the Royal Guards, she was not a military officer and so wasn't opposed to the Night Guard. Nor was she bothered by people like Gloom, unlike most other ponies. It seemed that Taffy had an open mind and she actually cared.

Simply put, she was upset because a child had been conscripted into a military organisation. From her perspective of course. Prey wasn't actually a child, only technically. Taffy just hadn't listened when he'd told her that.

"Taffy ma'am," Gloom said, finally looking up from his work and catching Taffy's attention, "This isn't what it appears like on the surface. I can assure you in full confidence that Princess Luna selected both Prey and Crimson personally for the ISND for good reasons. I can also assure you that Prey isn't actually a kid. Trust me on this one. Talk to him for any length of time and you'll figure that out for yourself. Now, is this where I'm supposed to sign?" He finished, holding up a five page document.

Apparently the call of paperwork snapped Taffy from whatever disbelief had held her bound, for she immediately jumped across and started rifling through the document, "No, here here and here, not there, that's for Captain Nighthawk, fill in the date here and your Corp number here and here."

Prey read Gloom's thoughts. The thestral Sargent apparently held a soft spot for Taffy, as she was one of the few ponies who treated the Night Guard as normal.

It was also fairly obvious to all that Taffy, while good at her work, was prone to getting worked up about things. And so for that reason Gloom, even though he didn't need to because Taffy held no rank over him, had moved to divert her attention back to something she understood and could control. Paperwork.

Unfortunately for Prey, that distraction only lasted for a couple of pages before Taffy was back on his case, although mercifully at least a bit calmer.

"So, you're, uh, you're in the Night Guard?" She asked him somewhat cautiously.

"This fact has indeed already been brought up and discussed multiple times over the course of the last few minutes, yes." Prey replied, still keeping a wary eye on her horn. He was sounding a lot more confident than he actually was. Inside, he wanted to run away. Taffy wasn't the most threatening unicorn he'd ever met, but she was still and always would be a unicorn.

That stumped Taffy, '-what? Lots'a big words-', "Huh?" She got out.

"Ma'am, respectfully, I told you so ma'am." Gloom said, back on working his way through his stack of paper.

Taffy stared at Prey for a couple of seconds, "Not a lamb?" She was finally able to articulate oh-so elegantly.

"Technically yes, but in reality no ma'am." Prey answered. He was being polite and using her title because she was a unicorn and could blow his head off.

Taffy blinked at him with her jaw slightly open, then turned to Crimson, "Did you know him from back before you joined the Night Guard, his flock or something, or...?"

"No ma'am. I mean, I only met Prey and Sargent Gloom two days ago." Crimson paused and gave one of his slow blinks, "It has definitely been a learning experience."

Prey wondered how recently it was that Crimson's father had died. Considering that Crimson's father was the only real family the red pegasus used to have, or at least the only one who hadn't treated him like an outcast, Crimson seemed to be holding together remarkably well after his father's passing.

Either his fathers death hadn't been too recent, and Crimson had come to terms with it. Or, more likely from the hints Prey'd been picking up, Crimson still secretly sought revenge on his old clan, despite Luna's order, and was merely suppressing everything. The mental fortitude Crimson exhibited in controlling such strong mental walls no doubt proved immensely helpful in controlling his grief too.

Prey thought it was a commendable achievement. It also made him trust the pegasus even less. Survivors are dangerous.

"So, where are you from then and, err, why are you in the Night Guard little guy?" Taffy asked Prey after a minute spent with the three of them regarding each other in awkward silence.

Prey ignored her insulting him at the end there, because she was a unicorn, "I am in the ISND to serve the role of, as far as I can tell, an intelligence specialist or strategic planner. No one's been quite clear on what the job title is yet, ma'am." He replied politely.

Once again, his understanding of 'big' and 'complicated' words stumped Taffy for a moment, "What, you didn't find that out before you signed up?" She enquired.

"It was more a commitment that I was required to make as a course. I didn't exactly have much time to read the fine print. In fact, the Night Guard was in such a rush that I still haven't seen the contract. I'm sure though that it's for a good cause, so I'm not worried about it, ma'am." Prey replied as airily as he could to deflect any suspicion about his criminal history, like Gloom had ordered.

He saw the Sargent's wings relax slightly. Prey didn't know why the Sargent bothered. His and Crimson's records were going to come out eventually. There were too many ponies who could and would talk. It was inevitable. Then any good will they might have built up would be null and void, so it was pointless accumulating it in the first place. But for now, he'd be a good little lamb and do what he was told.

"Well, that's a positive view that you've got there. Always keep a bright outlook on life, that way you'll always be expecting the best. Except when it involves cats. Cats are just plain nasty." Taffy told them seriously.

Neither Crimson or Prey really had anything to say to that, so they were back to standing there silently waiting for Gloom to finish his mountain of signing. Or they would have been if Taffy knew how to be quiet for more than thirty seconds.

While Taffy chatted away at them, going off on some tangent while also managing to simultaneously work on her paper stacks, the joys of magic leaving your mouth free, Prey sidled over to Gloom's own stack. Picking up the top sheet of the 'done' pile, he started scanning through it.

Gloom gave him a strange look but didn't break in his signing rhythm. '-is he actually interested in paperwork?-'

The answer was yes, he was. Or rather Prey was interested in what these papers represented. 'As I thought, these are the legal waivers for the institution of the ISND. Seems the Records Department gets anxious if they don't have some way to cover their back.' He thought with derision. He'd heard that was what bureaucracy was like, but he hadn't quite expected the sentiment to be so accurate.

Prey started flicking through the pages, scanning for anything of interest or that might be of use to use as a loop hole later.

"-and my cousin, because he lives near by, is part of the clearing units for the Everfree, he's an excellent lumber jack-" Taffy whittled on, apparently completely heedless of whether anyone was listening to her or not.

'Interesting, the other Night Guard units should effectively be units commissioned under martial law if what I'm reading here is to be believed. As they're not, it most likely means this isn't to be believed.' Prey thought, flipping over another page.

"-the Hay Fief cafe, and I ordered the oat flat Jack and Gusty ordered the triple chocolate fudge cream layer cake-"

Crimson at least looked like he was trying to keep up with Taffy's ramblings. Too bad for him. Gloom seemed like this amused him, although his amusement was lessened somewhat by the veritable mountain of paperwork he still had to get through.

Prey stopped his scanning midway down a form as a paragraph caught his eye.

"Wait, we get paid?"

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