They never got their long promised rest.
Instead of being allowed to sleep in until the evening, like their new schedule was supposed to allow, the ISND were rudely woken up by someone banging on the bunk room door.
---
Cracking open an eye, Prey briefly entertained the notion of triggering the explosive runes he'd placed on the door.
"...That's not fair." The figure of Gloom mumbled from his bunk. The curtains were drawn across the lone window, but enough light still filtered in to add definition to the shadowy shape of the Sargent fumbling for the alarm clock.
"That was... only six hours." Gloom protested to nobody in particular. Prey didn't blame him, even he was having trouble waking up as the loud knocking came again. Six hours would usually be plenty, but they'd been getting six hours and under for the last week. All that sleep deprivation caught up to you.
Prey sat up and tried to rub sleep from his eyes, the hated gold bands bumping uncomfortably across his face. He gave the door and whomever was on the other side of it a dark glower.
'There's going to be no day of promised rest is there? The Night Guard have managed to mess up something else and now want us to fix it.' He thought in resignation.
Even Crimson was reluctant to get up, putting a wing over his head in what was probably a vain hope the person outside would just get bored and go away.
The knocking came a third time, even louder. Gloom raised his voice and struggled from under his blanket, "Alright alright, I'm coming. Keep your wings on."
The insistent banging was just starting up for the fourth time when Gloom pulled the door open. He didn't quite shout "What?!" But his dishevelled mane, squinted slit eyes, rumpled fur and unarmoured appearance probably said it all.
Too bad it was a Night Guard at the door so Gloom couldn't tell them to get lost.
"Yes private?" Gloom asked thickly.
The thestral saluted, "Lieutenant Starry Wing says sorry, but Captain Nighthawk wants to speak with the ISND."
Gloom blinked, having to take a full second to catch up, "Oh. Alright, we'll be in his office in five minutes." He yawned.
"Actually, you're to report to Lieutenant Starry Wing. He and the Night Guard are all assembling in the Guard Hall."
'Something a bit bigger than just messing up is happening.' Prey thought, waking up quickly. If Nighthawk was summoning all the Night Guard, despite them not supposed to be on duty, whatever was happening wasn't likely to be a surprise training day. Prey was already pulling his ribbon out from under the pillow in preparation to go.
"Okay, we'll be in the Guard Hall in five minutes then." Gloom told the Guard at the door. The Night Guard saluted Gloom again and hurried away up the corridor.
Crimson had also gotten the hint, and had glided down from his bunk and started to swiftly unpack his armour, trying to juggle that while attempting to bind his mane back into a tight warriors braid with the makeshift metal 'mane ring'.
Prey heard Gloom sigh loudly as he went over to his locker, his thoughts coming back into perception range. '-if it's not one thing it's another. I hope it's not more riots or something-'
"Do you know what this could be sir?" Crimson asked, pulling his chest plate over his head.
"No idea. Prey, you up yet?" Gloom grumbled.
"Yes, sir." 'Unfortunately.' He thought, with a wistful look back at the bunk.
It also seemed unlikely that they were going to get anything to eat this morning. Nothing really had changed.
'-horseapples, if Prey get's sick again because of this I'm gonna'...gonna'...something or other...-', Gloom took ten precious seconds out to massage his head, '-I'm not awake enough to deal with this yet-'
------
They hadn't even reached the Guard Hall and it was already obvious something serious going on. The Night Guard weren't the only ones en route either, Royal Guard's were hurrying in the same direction as them. Prey combed their thoughts as they passed each other, listening for the cause of concern. But none of them knew anything outside of the reason that the, '-sky is filling up with smoke outside-'.
'A fire in the city? No, they have unicorn magic and pegasi weather control to smother any fire.'
Unless it was a firestorm. However, there was no where near enough blind panic for it to be a firestorm.
Plus, if there was a blaze of that size, they wouldn't be wasting time assembling the Guard. 'No, it cannot be a fire.' Prey thought to himself, pulse calming down a bit. But that left the question; what was it then?
---
In the Guard Hall, the Guards of both night and day were swiftly gathering.
Sargents and corporals were organizing them into their respective formations with much hullabaloo. As always, the Royal Guards dominated the hall, taking up most of the available space, with the Night Guard having been sort of shoved to the side to form up over there in the corner.
Prey hurried to keep up as Gloom made a B-line for Lieutenant Starry Wing, standing at the head of the Night Guard ranks. "Sir." Gloom said, snapping a salute. Time was pressing,so he didn't give a full address.
Starry Wing was a bit busy, but he quickly turned around, "Sargent Gloom, good, you came quickly."
"Yes sir. What can we do?" Gloom asked. No complaint about all three of them being dog tired. If they'd been summoned, it was because they were needed for something.
"The Guard Captains will be here any minute, they've had an emergency meeting with Princess Celestia. They'll know what's going on. Captain Nighthawk will want to speak with you specifically I think." Starry Wing told them. Obviously, he was as much in the dark, or blinding light in the thestral's case, as them as to the reason for this sudden Guard muster.
"Yes sir, we'll wait for him then." Gloom answered, stepping back into line with the rest of the silent Night Guard. There was nothing else that could be done until the Captain arrived, so the ISND fell in.
Prey shot a look at the thestral on his right in the line, shying away as she got too close to his personal space. He didn't like this, having rows of Night Guards all around him. His height made the gap in the line where he stood exceptionally obvious to anyone who might've casually glanced along the line. Not that his pale white wool didn't already stand out against the uniform dark grey of the Night Guards like, well, like white on black.
Just then, Captain Nighthawk and Shining Armour marched into the hall at double time, Lieutenants Screech and Swift Arrow hot on their tails. Everyone came swiftly to attention.
Shining Armour took the initiative and spoke first for the both of them, "You have all been assembled this morning because of the smog blanketing the sky above Canterlot. There has been a situation. As we speak, a dragon elder has taken up residence in an old cave in the mountains close by. The beasts intention is to hibernate, something we cannot allow."
Nighthawk had broken off to join his Night Guards, leaving Shining Armour to continue his address. The Royal Guard Captain surveyed the assembled Guards, quite a few only days into their new job, all of their attention riveted on him. If anyone hadn't been paying attention, the word 'dragon' had definitely fixed that.
"Dragons can hibernate from anywhere to a few months to a few decades. This is an adult dragon, the smoke he or she is producing as they sleep is what is darkening our sky outside of Canterlot. And it's not just Canterlot. All the towns and villages unlucky enough to be near by are also suffering the same effects. If this continues, it won't be long before crops start to die. Small birds are already dying in this smoke." Shining Armour informed them seriously, like they should care about small animal life.
"If the wind only came down off the mountains the in the other direction, or the elevation was a little different..." He broke off and shook his head, "But that's neither here nor there."
"All of the Guard has been called out. We have to stop this dragon before it enters deep hibernation. Princess Celestia has decided we will try a diplomatic approach first, and is sending an envoy." Prey saw something flash in Shining Armour's eyes, but he was too far away to see what it was.
Shining Armour continued, his voice carrying; "The Guard is to make sure that if this dragon elder does not leave our mountain by choice, we are to force it. Princess Celestia is confident it will not come to that, but four companies of both Royal Guards and Night Guards will be deployed just in case."
Four companies was four hundred Guards. That was four hundred ponies to deal with one dragon. It was slowly starting to dawn on the Guards just what this meant.
"This is just like training," Shining Armour encouraged them, "Stick together, trust in each other, and stand strong."
His encouragement worked too, that was the worst bit. The fools in the Royal Guard actually believed the nonsense their Captain was spouting. They chose to listen to comforting words rather than to see reality, deluded enough to believe their Royal Guard training would somehow help them against a dragon.
What could shiny armour, training how to march in sync, and the correct procedure to arrest a pony do against a dragon?
Prey had never seen a dragon before. He doubted whether anyone here had seen a dragon before, (Whatever that story was about an adopted baby dragon hanging around the Palace didn't count). However unlike them, Prey had more knowledge than merely stories about the giant winged reptiles.
One of those few precious books Prey had managed to steal back before Dreverton had been on dragons. And not one which only talked about them for a few pages as abstract, fire breathers from the far away and unexplored dragon lands.
Dragon's were few and far between, mysterious beasts that lived for centuries. They didn't come near civilisation, and if they were ever spotted, it was almost exclusively as distant silhouettes so high up in the sky they were mere dots. And for most normal people, that was the extent of what they'd ever see of a dragon.
But what Prey knew was already enough for him to treat dragons as a threat only slightly below that of a natural disaster.
The Royal Guard knew that dragons were dangerous, hell, they were actually apprehensive instead of arrogantly overconfident for once. Who wouldn't be cautious about facing a giant, flying, fire breathing monster?
But they weren't scared enough. Not even close.
The stolen book had not minced any words. The author, one of the few ever to travel to the borders of the dragon lands, plainly and bluntly referring to them as 'The Sky Terrors'. A lot of what the book contained was only theory and conjecture, because no one had ever been in a position to perform tests to obtain accurate results, but what it said was more than enough to instill fear in Prey.
Prey tried to catch Gloom's eye, trying to signal to him how dangerous this dragon was, but Gloom's eyes were forwards along with everyone else's. Prey closed his own eyes and took a slow breath to calm himself. It allowed him to check the thoughts of the surrounding Night Guards, and he was deeply relieved to see they were not taking this as well as the Royal Guards were.
'-if we get close, we will be roasted-', '-a dragon elder? One of the largest? Luna help us-', '-my spear won't even go through that monster's scales-', '-we only have numbers going for us-', '-I can't fight a dragon, it can also fly-', '-Moon preserve us, this diplomat better succeed-'
The Night Guard were still suicidally prepared to carry out their duty to try and drive the dragon off, but they at least had some idea of what they were being ordered to do.
But they still didn't even know the half of it.
As dragons got older, they got stronger. The older, the larger and more dangerous. Their scales could take crash landings into jagged mountains without leaving a mark. Their teeth could sheer through diamond like an apple, making all armour of any kind completely useless.
Worse, dragons were highly magical beasts. Their bodies were filled with natural magic, making them almost impervious to any magical assault. And their main weapon, their fire, was not simple flames. If it were hot enough to melt rock that would be enough, but it was a kind of raw, primordial spell fire. It burned straight through shield spells like paper, any enchantments or magic subjected to their flames would crumble in mere moments.
The book speculated there was nothing in nature, and likely nothing Equestrian-made, that dragon fire could not destroy.
But worst of all, what scared Prey more than any of that? Dragons were sentient.
In Prey's mind, that was what truly set dragons above every other monster.
The only reason Prey was not panicking right now was because he was sure Captain Nighthawk had a different mission for the ISND. He'd specified to Starry Wing that he wanted to speak with them separately. The only way the dragon would pose an active threat to Prey was if the Royal Guards completely failed, and the dragon was angry enough to chase the survivors all the way back to Canterlot. No one else jumped straight to assuming this worst case scenario like Prey, but to him, it was second nature.
However, if that happened, the the Sun Wolf would finally stir herself and defend her den. Prey had no doubt who would win between a dragon and an alicorn. As long as Prey was inside the city when that happened, Prey would be safe in Canterlot.
Prey's mind screeched to a halt. 'Safe in Canterlot?'
Celestia's presence was defending him. Her might was protecting him in Canterlot.
'Is this how ponies feel? Knowing that whatever they get themselves into, Celestia will dig them out of it?' He thought angrily.
Prey's jaw tightened, disgust welling in his chest. 'I hate her, I hate her I Hate her.'
After all these years, after the complete annihilation of the Resistance, his village, and all those lives, he finally got to see what it was like enjoying protection from the other side. Like how the Border Guards were supposed to defend the villagers from the start.
Shining Armour was still talking, Prey missing the first half of whatever he'd said, so deafened was he by the suicidal stupidity he was hearing. You couldn't fight a dragon. You could only run or hide.
"-The weather pegasi will be removing the smoke from the skies in shifts, short term for now. At least until we can rid ourselves of this dragon. To the Guards who are staying, you will be out on the streets. Your duty is to keep everypony calm, Lieutenant Swift Arrow will be overseeing that. Assure them that we are fixing everything, and above all, keep them from panicking."
'How many of them are going to die in this insane venture?' Prey wondered, feeling blank. And all because Celestia couldn't be bothered to go and destroy the dragon herself.
"Prey."
Prey twitched, hearing his name whispered. It was Gloom, turning his head back to give Prey an encouraging look, "Don't worry. You aren't going to fight any dragon." He whispered. Prey resisted snorting, he'd figured that out already, however Gloom's deduction was different from Prey's.
Prey knew Nighthawk obviously had a different task for the ISND, while Gloom just had no intention of letting Prey go anywhere near the dragon.
'-foals do not fight monsters. That is the duty of adults-'
The Royal Guard Captain continued to give out more instructions, explaining their time frame and route they would take to the mountain. He kept it as short as possible, before dismissing them all to their posts, finishing with; " And may Celestia watch over us."
The Royal Guards got to it with vigour. Somehow, over the course of Shining Armour's address, all their lingering doubts had been eliminated. Prey saw it in their eyes. Those weren't the eyes of people afraid for their lives. Their eyes held confidence, bravado, and the optimistic self belief so inherent to pony Guards he'd come across.
These ponies knew this was dangerous, yes, it was a dragon after all. But they all emphatically knew they'd be returning home at the end of it. There was no possibility for any other outcome in their heads, and, '-won't this be a story to tell everypony?-'
The Night Guard hadn't broken formation yet, still waiting for the order to move from their officers. There was a lot more dread in their collective thoughts.
"Sargent Gloom." Nighthawk barked up front, grabbing the ISND's attention.
"Yes sir." Gloom saluted.
Nighthawk jerked his head, indicating he wanted to speak off to the side of the hall, "Come." He ordered curtly.
An order to Gloom was an order to Crimson and Prey as well, and all three of them left their line to do as Nighthawk ordered.
Nighthawk got straight to the point, "There has been a report of a disturbance last night in lower Canterlot. The pony who reported it said he thought he heard sounds of violence, but was too afraid to leave his flat to report it until early this morning. Right as this dragon incident was happening." Nighthawk's eyes smouldered with frustration, "But that's just an unhappy coincidence. You will be going to investigate the reported disturbance."
"Yes sir." It wasn't like Gloom could have refused.
"Lieutenant Screech is staying behind and in charge. He has the reported disturbance location, get it from him. Any questions?" Nighthawk summed up, ready to leave and get back to the larger, dragon shaped issue now that he'd passed on this smaller one to them.
Gloom couldn't help but glance behind Nighthawk to where the Night Guards were filing out under Starry Wing's lead. They could be off to possibly fight and die against a dragon.
'-what if I won't ever see some of them again?-', Gloom couldn't help but wonder.
"Sir, why us?" Gloom asked.
"The ISND cannot help against a dragon," Nighthawk said bluntly, pointing a wing claw at Prey to clearly illustrate why.
"The ISND is available. Everypony else is busy."
Nighthawk's logic was irrefutable.
"Any other questions?"
Prey could see Gloom knew there wasn't time for him to say anything further, despite how much he really wanted to. "No sir. We'll go find Lieutenant Screech straight away." He acknowledged with a salute.
Nighthawk didn't waste any time on goodbyes. Evidently, he had things to be doing. Like getting ready to face a dragon.
The Guard Hall was emptying at a steady flow now, the individual Guard units being divided up and told where they were assigned. The three of them exchanged glances, and headed towards Screech to ask for the location.
The second Lieutenant was just as busy as the other officers, even if he was going to be staying behind to manage the skeleton crew of Night Guards. That just meant he had more areas to cover while Nighthawk and the rest were gone, and less Night Guards to do it with.
The ISND had to wait until they were almost the last ones left in the hall before Screech finally had a spare minute to tell them about the incident they were supposed to be investigating.
"Sargent Gloom, good." Screech acknowledged, already looking harried, '-and today was supposed to be easy after all the excitement of the trial-'
"Captain Nighthawk filled you in?" He asked.
"Just that there was a report of a disturbance in Lower Canterlot from last night sir." Gloom said.
"If it were just that, it wouldn't be a problem. But the place noises were reported to come from is a shady area. I doubt you would've heard, but there was a pony found beaten up in that neighbourhood two nights ago. The stallion says he doesn't remember his attacker's faces, but the Night Guard who spoke to him is sure he's not telling us something."
"How badly was he beaten?" Gloom asked.
"Badly bruised. Nothing broken, and he can walk." Screech answered.
"Will we find him at the hospital sir?"
"You won't. He's been discharged, although that's not relevant to your investigation. But it does prove the area is unsafe. I need you to investigate this disturbance. It's unlikely you'll find anything now, but we have to look anyway. The report happened during the night, so it's our jurisdiction." Screech said.
"Yes sir."
"And you're going to be going with some of the Royal Guards too." Screech added.
Gloom blinked, "Pardon sir?"
"You know we get at least five reports like this every week, but this one could be more serious. The pony said he thought he heard a scream in his report. That's why you're working with the Royal Guard on this one." Screech informed them seriously.
'Five reports? That's it? Your streets are that safe but you think this could be more serious? How about the dragon for instance?' Prey thought in derision.
Perhaps the Lieutenant realised how silly all this sounded in the light, or rather shadow, a the far more serious issue, because he went on. "This dragon and smog might be a bigger problem, but we can't let law and order dissolve just because of one threat. Even if he heard nothing more than alley cats fighting, back up never hurt. It'll be a lot faster and easier to interview all the residents with more of you too."
Screech looked towards the hall's doors, where the Royal Guards had exited from. His frown deepened, '-young fools marching into the manticore's den-'. He thought, letting out a small sigh.
"I doubt you're going to find anything Sargent, but we can't have anymore panic going on right now. Take the assignment of Royal Guards with you, go look, make sure all of the residents are safe, then report back."
'-and if this helps keep a couple young Royal Guard idiots from getting themselves killed, then all the better-', Screech also thought.
Gloom seemed to understand Screech's real motivation here, because he gave the Lieutenant a small nod, "I understand sir, we'll do our best."
"Of course you will," Screech dug around the inside of his armour, finally finding the square of paper he was after. "Here's the street address. Report back if you do find anything."
"Yes sir." Gloom quickly checked the address.
'-don't know it. I'll have to check a map, but that'll waste time. Or...-', Gloom held the paper out to Prey.
Prey read it at a glance, '2nd Poppy Street, Western Quarter, Left Avenue'. It didn't take more than a moment for Prey to place it on the mental map of Canterlot he'd memorised.
Prey nodded, "I know where it is."
"Good. We'll leave straight away sir." Gloom told Screech.
"Don't forget you need to pick up the Royal Guards first." Screech reminded them, "Lieutenant Swift Arrow said the volunteers would be sent to wait at the Guard Compound gate."
"Yes sir. Luna watch over you."
"It's not us who needs Luna's protection right now Sargent Gloom." Screech sighed softly.
------
Gloom had to take a moment to adjust himself once they stepped out of the Palace and into the sunlight. Being so tired didn't lend Prey well to the bright light either, nor Crimson by the look of his squinted eyes.
Except there wasn't any blinding morning sunlight...
The three of them looked up to find the blanket of smoke that had Shining Armour so worked up.
Clouds of thick, grey-black smoke sat in the sky, hiding the sun's face, that's how much of it there was. On the horizon, the sky was as bright and blue as ever, but over here, the only sunlight came from occasional beams which broke through as the smoke constantly drifted. With Canterlot being so high up on the side of a mountain, the thick smog was quite a lot closer than one would've wished to see.
That didn't delay for the three of them for long, as they had a job, or in Crimson and Gloom's case, a 'duty' to do.
When they got down to the Guard Compound, they found it busy. It was made so by all the Royal Guards marching through and preparing for their journey to the dragon's chosen mountain.
Off to the side and out of the way of all of the busy Guards, the ISND found who they were supposed to be picking up and taking with them.
Scenic Paint, (or Paint Spot as he'd asked to be called), was waiting for them, head craned back. Beside him was another fresh faced Royal Guard, also staring up at the thick smoke blotting out most of the sky. Neither of them even noticed the ISND coming towards them.
'Slack and unobservant. Wouldn't last ten minutes in the Deeper Green.' Prey thought judgingly.
He wasn't the only one unimpressed.
'-just perfect-', Gloom thought, '-green recruits-'
Gloom coughed to get the two's attention, then when they didn't notice over the rest of the hustle and bustle, coughed louder.
Scenic and his companion, unfortunately a unicorn, jumped and snapped to attention, "Sir!" They both shouted automatically.
"There's no need to shout in my face." Gloom said blandly, behind him Prey removed his hooves from his ears.
"Sorry sir." The unicorn said sheepishly.
"You two are the ones assigned to assist the Night Guard unit going to check the disturbance report, yes?" Gloom double checked.
"Yep, that's us. We volunteered sir." Scenic answered with a proud smile.
Gloom looked at him for a long moment, making Scenic's ears start to dip, "Why did you volunteer for this specific task?" Gloom asked.
"Oh, that's easy. Our Sargent asked for a couple of volunteers from those staying to partner with the Night Guard, and he said if anypony did, they should meet Sargent Gloom here. So I thought, since I've already met you guys it would be best if I volunteered." Scenic said, sounding confident.
Inside, the Earth stallion was a lot less sure of himself, '-they don't hate me, right? I mean, I was a bit stupid, but then that thestral came and said hi at breakfast, soooo-'
Gloom made a non-committal noise, "Alright, well you're here now. I know Scenic Paint's name, what about you?" He asked the unicorn.
"My name is Quick Draw sir." The unicorn mentally braced himself, '-here comes the arbitrary joke-' He thought.
After a moment where Gloom just continued looking him up and down, that changed to wishing that the, '-creepy thestral would just, make the darn joke, make any joke like a normal pony-'
"Quick Draw and I know each other from boot camp, we were in the same training squad sir." Scenic Paint chimed in just as the moment was starting to drag into awkward.
Gloom blinked, giving himself a small shake, "I have not worked with a unicorn before. If you can think of something with your magic that might be helpful, please suggest it. I'm Sargent Gloom, this is Crimson, and this is Prey."
Quick Draw only stared a little bit at Prey, (who was pretending not to notice the unicorn's attention), meaning Scenic had no doubt already mentioned the strange lamb to his unicorn friend.
"Let's go. The address is is in Lower Canterlot, to get there should take...Prey? How long?" Gloom asked, already turning to lead them away.
"Half an hour?" Prey shrugged. He didn't give a more accurate estimate, because Scenic Paint and Quick Draw were here.
"That's if there are no crowds in the way. Caused by the dragon smoke, I mean." Crimson added.
"Right, Quick Draw, Paint Spot, if we need to split up, the meeting point is Canterlot Main Square. Now let's go."
"Sir, what if we pass ponies who need help on our way there?" Scenic asked.
"If they need help, we'll help, simple as that. Now let's go." Gloom repeated firmly.
---
They squeezed out of the Guard Compound entrance, all the Royal Guard traffic in and out at the moment making it difficult. Prey had estimated it at about a fifty-fifty chance whether the spoilt rich ponies of Canterlot would've either been out panicking in force on the streets, or holed up in their houses.
It was the latter.
Outside of the gate, the pristine streets were almost deserted under the smoke filled sky. Perhaps these nobles had a better sense of self preservation than Prey had first credited them with.
"It all looks so different without the sun. Darker." Prey heard Quick Draw mumble to Scenic as they set off, eye's flicking to the sky every few seconds.
"To produce all this smoke, in just one day..." Scenic mumbled back, '-the dragon must be ginormous-'
Gloom looked to Prey as they approached the first junction on the main street, "Which way?"
"Straight on until Narrow Avenue. Then right, third left, straight to the end, take Sparking Office Row. Two more rights, fourth left, second left, straight on, then right onto Poppy Street." Prey answered, just quiet enough so the two Royal Guards at the back wouldn't hear but not so quiet Gloom would realise he was doing so on purpose.
"You can remember all that just fine, right?" Gloom questioned.
Nod.
"Good, because I can't. Just tell me when we need to take a turn."
"Yes, sir." Prey said, already slightly out of breath from keeping up with their longer strides. They were very lucky the smoke was only on the sky line, not filling the streets or they wouldn't be able to breathe at all right now.
'One or two breaths is all it takes.' Prey thought grimly.
---
The capital city of Equestria looked a very different place with the streets almost deserted. Prey deeply despised Canterlot and all its inhabitants, but with smoke blotting out the sky except in shifting patches, it brought up unpleasant memories of a familiar scene.
The village deserted and smoldering, the firestorm rolling down the hill onto the Resistance, the sky filled with ash over the desolate forest.
'But that's not going to happen to Canterlot.' Prey thought, gesturing to Gloom that they needed to take this right turn. Deep down, he wished it would. Not while he was in Canterlot obviously, but he would love to watch it burn from the base of the mountain. At least, he thought he would.
Not that would ever happen. Celestia ruled here, and the unicorns capital city was certainly heavily warded with magic against the possibility of an inferno.
The world was unfair like that.
---
"This is Lower Canterlot sir?" Quick Draw asked, looking around as the district changed from large and spacious, to small and compact.
Gloom glanced back, "Yes. Did you notice something?"
"Um, no, it was nothing sir." Quick said, shaking his head.
Prey could of course hear what his thoughts were saying, '-this place looks dodgy. Since I'm a Royal Guard now, I'll be coming here a lot in the future. Better get used to it-'
Prey looked where Quick Draw was looking. Neat, red tile roofs, narrow but well maintained cobble streets, white curtains drawn behind clean windows. The only thing that made this area possibly seem shady was the literal shade being cast over everything by the dragon smoke. 'Yes, definitely dodgy according to the privileged unicorn.'
Gloom stopped. They'd come to the street sign, Poppy Street.
"This is the place." Gloom said. On this street, the houses had given way to what looked like old office buildings, and further past that, large warehouses loomed up.
"So, uh, where do we start sir?" Scenic asked, looking around judgingly just like Quick Draw had.
"Haven't you done any guard training for this?" Gloom replied.
Scenic and Quick looked around them, "Not like this sir." They admitted.
Gloom suppressed a sigh, '-I think I know why Swift Arrow was happy to let his new Guards volunteer-'
"We'll be knocking on every door to see if anypony heard or saw anything suspicious last night. You two take that side of the street, we'll take this side." Gloom instructed.
"Yes sir." The two Royal Guards chorused, relieved to have clear orders to follow.
"Crimson, fly around and have a look from above. Check for fresh damages, disturbances, anything out of place. You know what to do."
"Yes sir." Crimson said, already backing up to get a small running start. Prey instinctively covered his eyes and turned away against any dust kick-up.
"Prey, I guess you just come with me-Hey, are you listening-? Oh right, just dust. Come on." Gloom said, leading them for the closest building, leaving Scenic and Quick to finish rubbing blindly at their eyes.
---
Twenty minutes later, after having to explain multiple times who they where and what they were doing, they finally reached the last office building on their side of the street.
"Yes sir, I am a Guard. No, the Night Guard. Yes, for Princess Luna. Yes, I'm sure. No, I can't do anything about the smoke. No, not personally, but it is being taken care of as we speak, so please don't worry. No, that's not it. Sir, please just answer the question. Nothing? How about around this building, or would anyone else in here know? You all only work here during the day? Please think hard. Nothing at all? Alright, thank you for your time."
The last door was hurriedly closed, the pony on the other side all too keen to put a slab of wood between himself and the sharp toothed thestral trailing a lamb around with him like a weirdo.
Scenic Paint and Quick Draw hadn't been as quick as them, and were still only half way down their side of the street. The ponies whose houses they were knocking on, or who worked there, were all a lot more willing to talk with members of the Royal Guard on the door step. In fact they were eager to talk, or rather seek reassurance that the 'smoke problem' was going to be dealt with.
Gloom peered up at the dragon smoke above them while the two of them waited.
"Stay here Prey, I'm going to go ask Crimson if he's found anything before we move onto the next street." He said, stretching out his bat wings and giving them a few warm up flaps. Prey hopped off the step to give Gloom some space for take off, and five seconds later Gloom was winging his way up above the buildings.
Prey watched him set a course for the circling figure of Crimson, slowly making low passes over the roof tops. 'Wings are so convenient.'
Prey scuffed the cement under his hoof, checking to see if any fine ash had yet filtered down from the sky. The reason he checked was that the faint smell of smoke had finally started to drift into the streets, but his hoof came away clean. Well, clean of ash anyway. He imagined by the end of the day the whole of Canterlot would stink of smoke.
'Whatever is in this dragon's smoke is strange. Lighter than air, since it hasn't drifted down yet. No ash, so the dragon isn't even burning anything to make this smoke. Magical fire smoke?' Prey wondered.
He heard the sound of leathery wings flapping closer, and closed his eyes as Gloom landed, cloud steel shoes clacking loudly on paving slabs. "Crimson can't find anything. We'll move onto the next street. If there is anything, it's got to be within this area." Gloom said.
Gloom turned and called across the street to the two Royal Guards, "We're going on to the next street up. When you're done on that side do the same."
Scenic and Quick both stopped to give a full salute and, "Yes sir!" to show they'd heard, rather than just a simple wave of acknowledgement.
'-unnecessary, but oh well. It's just for today-', Gloom thought grouchily. None of the ISND had gotten enough sleep or any breakfast, which was just the icing on the cake to this dragon smog incident really.
Stepping onto the next street over and closer to the warehouses, Prey got the impression that something about it looked familiar.
He peered more closely at the lone scaffolding on one of the roofs, the way that paving slab sat an inch askew in front of the green door. 'I have not been here before. I would remember straight away. So why-Ah, Lemon Pink.'
He hadn't been here before, but Lemon Pink had.
This was the area Lemon had come to the secret meeting with those four salt drug dealers. Prey only had a vague impression of the route she had gone, which was why he hadn't immediately recognised it, since it wasn't an important memory to share.
Prey looked towards the end of the street. The secret house was that one there on the end, by the smallest warehouse. 'And this is the area that the disturbance report came in from...' Prey thought. It probably wasn't a coincidence, even if the report had come from the next street over.
Prey of course didn't mention a word of this to Gloom, just followed along as the Sargent started up his door routine down this street. However this still yielded nothing as they, or more accurately Gloom, moved down the row knocking doors.
Eventually, they got to the final house on the end, the one in which Lemon Pink had met those four drug dealers.
The building looked completely abandoned, and the notice nailed to the door said, 'Warning: Condemned. Do Not Enter' indicated to that fact.
The windows were completely boarded up and it didn't look like the frames had seen a lick of paint this decade. The salt dealers had chosen this hideout well, it didn't look like anyone had been here in years. There was even dust on the door knocker.
Gloom tried knocking anyway, but it was obvious there was no one inside. Prey watched him as he shrugged and stepped back into the street, looking over the fence to the next door warehouse. The dividing fence ran all all the way around the warehouse's perimeter, with the locked gate on the far side. He seemed content to wait until Crimson and the others finished their tasks.
Prey tilted his head back towards the sky, watching the smoke.
Prey was debating with himself.
Should he 'suggest' to Gloom that there was something off about this house or not, thereby exposing this salt den? There were pro's and con's to each choice.
'I could gain more trust, and improve my standing in the ISND. That'll make it easier to manipulate Gloom in the future. It could also help create an opportunity for Lemon Pink to capitalize on.'
The downsides were a little more extreme. These drug dealers would certainly not appreciate the ISND sticking their noses where they didn't belong. Curiosity killed the cat after all that. Plus, now was also definitely a bad time with what Lemon Pink had found out. The salt boss, whomever they were, was coming to town.
'No, I won't say anything. The possible rewards are too small and uncertain to take the risk' Prey decided.
"Sir, something feels off about this area. Maybe this house." Crimson said, swooping down to hover in front of them.
Prey hid a sigh, 'Or that.'
Gloom looked at the abandoned house, "This one? Why?"
Crimson slowly alighted, taking a moment to carefully fold his wings and re-aline his feathers. "Well, no sir. I mean, maybe not this particular one, but this is the last house on the street, so it's probably this one."
That wasn't exactly foolproof logic, but Gloom stepped up to the door and knocked again. Then tried the door handle. Locked. "Quick and Scenic have yet to finish checking their side of the street. Let's see if that turns up anything first." Gloom decided. The two new and much slower Royal Guards were just starting at the far end of the street.
Crimson nodded, "Yes sir." But he was still looking at the door, eyeing it from different angles.
"We could go help them." Prey suggested, motioning to Quick and Scenic. He was trying to draw attention away from this house. It was a valid suggestion so he couldn't be accused of anything.
"Alright, let's do that. Hopefully somepony here might remember something this time." Gloom agreed.
---
Five minutes later and the five of them were back to square one. Scenic and Quick's enthusiasm had diminished somewhat as they stood, considering their next move.
'-I don't want to have to assure any more old grandmare that her cats will be fine in this smoke-', Quick Draw was thinking.
"We couldn't find anything sir." Scenic Paint reported unnecessarily.
Gloom nodded, now almost convinced that this disturbance report really was a dud. They should return to help out at the Palace instead of wasting anymore time here. However, because of what Crimson had said, he was still considering giving, '-that condemned house one more look over-'.
"How about trying that big warehouse?" Prey suggested. Again, valid, and again, a distraction.
"The other warehouses are bigger actually." Quick Draw corrected him. Prey smiled sweetly back.
'-the warehouse is actually a good idea. That would be a perfect place to hide something after all-', Gloom thought, attention turning to the warehouse. He took a single step in the locked gates direction and stopped.
He looked between the warehouse and the secret drug dealers house, '-hang on...my cutie mark's telling me something here-'
'Oh come on,' Prey thought, 'That's just cheating.'
"Let's split up. You two go and check around the warehouse, I want to have another look around here. If we still find nothing we'll, knock one more street and then return to the Palace." Gloom said to Quick and Scenic.
"But sir, the fence, and the gate's locked too." Quick Draw said.
"Then just see if there's any sign of anypony trying to climb over or break through." Gloom ordered.
'-really, these two-', Gloom thought, exasperated.
"Okay sir. Don't worry, you can count on us sir." Scenic Paint saluted.
All three of the ISND looked at him, like there was some joke they were missing. Luckily, Scenic had learnt from last time and moved to beat a hasty retreat, "We'll just get right on that then sir." He said, dragging Quick Draw with him as they left.
With the two greenies gone, Prey, Crimson, and Gloom went back to the condemned house for the third time and stood before it.
"It certainly looks abandoned. But it doesn't feel correct somehow." Gloom mused.
"How about trying to see if any of the boarded up windows have a crack to peek in through?" Prey suggested. Crimson and Gloom had already figured out there was something off about this house. Further attempts at distraction would be suspicious now that Gloom had clearly stated his doubts.
Since the decision had been taken out of Prey's hooves, it would be better to fully commit himself and go along with it.
Gloom and Crimson didn't appear enamored with his suggestion, as it was a bit beneath them as representatives of the Night Guard to be seen 'peeking' in through windows.
"Crimson, go see if there's anything on the roof. I'll go around this side, Prey you take that side. See if anything catches your attention." Gloom said, brushing his annoyance away. '-I'm tired, Prey was just making a helpful suggestion-'
Crimson took off and Gloom went to the left. Prey shrugged to himself and started off around the right hoof side. He wasn't tall enough to take his own suggestion about peering through any cracks in the boarded up windows, but it didn't seem likely he could have managed it even if he wasn't a runt. The windows were so tightly boarded up as a noble's family vault.
The faint, drifting whiffs of smoke where catching Prey's nose more frequently now as the smog settled in. The taint of sulphur was not a pleasant one.
One minute later, the three of them met up at the back of the building. Gloom pointed with a hoof, "There's a back door." He said, stating the obvious.
"You couldn't see the door from the air sir. Do you think it's hidden like this on purpose?" Crimson asked.
Prey cautiously approached the old door from the side, checking to see if he could spot anything off about it. He didn't feel any magic tingle in his hooves to indicate any enchantment, but that didn't mean it couldn't still be magically trapped. Or ordinarily trapped for that matter.
"What are you doing Prey?" Gloom asked, a bit thrown by Prey's obvious over-caution.
Instead of answering, Prey brushed his ear back and grabbed the trailing end of his ribbon, gripped between the hoof cleft. He slipped the silk's end between the gap in the door frame and ran it up and down as high as he was able to reach.
He retracted the ribbon and held it up for both Gloom and Crimson to see, "No cobwebs or dust on it."
Gloom caught on immediately, "This door's been opened, and recently too."
"The owners?" Crimson asked, then shook his head answering his own question, "No, Prey is right. This house is condemned. Who would be going in and out?"
Gloom considered the door afresh, "Alright, give me your opinions. Do you think this is relevant to the disturbance report or not?"
Prey shrugged, "Logically speaking, no it shouldn't be related."
Prey was certain it was, but he wasn't going to admit anything.
"No sir, not to this. But it's related to something suspicious." Crimson said.
Gloom tried the door handle, not noticing Prey flinch away from the door as he did so. Also locked.
"Alright, let me put it another way," Gloom nodded up at the smoked shrouded sky, "Do you think it's worth our time right now with everything else that's going on?"
"Lieutenant Screech will probably want help back at the palace." Prey answered, again seeing an opportunity to get them out of here without making it seem like he was trying to avoid this house.
"Sir..." Crimson said slowly, "I think, no, I'm almost certain we should go in." He'd brought his face very close to the door, like he was trying to stare a hole through it.
Gloom looked at him sharply, "Can you...?" He asked in concern.
"No, not quite. It may be nothing sir." Crimson's yellow eye's flicked to the sky, "There's a lot of smoke."
"We're going in then." Gloom decided. He gave the door handle a solid shake, then a shove, "Step back."
Prey and Crimson did so as Gloom turned around and lined up the door.
"This is the Night Guard! Any ponies on this property are commanded to open this door. Failure to comply will lead to forced entry." Gloom shouted.
He didn't wait more than five seconds for the response which they all knew wasn't coming, before he crouched and let loose and double back hoof buck to the door. It was a powerful strike, despite it's deceptive quickness, and hit just below the door handle. There was a very solid sounding *'Thonk'* as horseshoes met wood.
The door vibrated, but didn't otherwise budge.
Gloom adjusted his position and let loose another buck, *'Thonk'*
Same result again.
*'Thonk'*
*'Thonk'*
*'Thonk'*
Gloom stopped and turned to examine the door. The wood beneath the door handle was bruised and imprinted multiple times with the shape of cloud steel horse shoes, but the lock had held firm.
"Huh. Well that proves it, something is definitely suspicious about this house. It's supposed to be old. Any lock should've broken under that." Gloom said, scrutinising the door even more closely.
"Either we need an axe, or the key to get in through this entrance." Prey observed.
"How about we try the windows instead sir?" Crimson suggested, pointing to the closest boarded up square.
Gloom considered the window, '-there's nopony waiting inside to take us off guard, so it won't matter if we have to crawl through-', He thought.
"Alright, good idea. Come give me a hoof Crimson."
The window's had been boarded up from the inside. While that meant the planks couldn't be pried off, it did mean they were weak to blows from the outside which would force the nails back out. The window's were too high up for anyone to connect with a kick, at least with any power because of the angle. However, that only held true if the pony in question was kicking from a standing position on the ground.
Gloom and Crimson could fly.
Both of them took to the air, hovering maybe half a pace off the ground. Gloom gave a powerful flap of his wings and shot forwards, and just before he would've struck the window muzzle first, arched sharply up and whipped his back legs forwards.
*'Crack'*
The boards juddered and bent. No normal random pegasus could've pulled off such a tight turn without either mistiming it or loosing all momentum.
Crimson came in next, somehow going faster and putting even more power into his kick. *'Crack!'*
Gloom was up again, then Crimson, *'Crack'*, *'Crack!'*
The tough wood was beginning to splinter, but it really should've caved already under such powerful kicks.
"It is not breaking like it should sir."
Gloom agreed with a snort of frustration, "It's too solid. There should be more give in the planks."
Prey was peering closely up at the window they'd been striking. A sliver of wood at the edge of a board had splintered off. Prey squinted, blue eyes trying to see what lay behind through the crack.
"Well, it's no wonder you can't kick it in." Prey announced with false cheer, "The window's been bricked up from the inside behind those boards."
Gloom's ears laid back in annoyance, "Tarturus. We're going to need to get somepony with proper tools."
"Or Crimson could fly up and break in through the roof, fly down, and unlock the door from the inside." Prey pointed out. "Sir." He added.
'-oh. That could work too-'. Gloom thought. He looked at Crimson, "Do you think that's doable?"
"Yes sir." Crimson was already backing up to get some room for another take off. A flash of feathers later and then Crimson was on top of the roof and out of sight. There came the sound of terracotta tiles being being shifted, then *'clicking'* as they were neatly stacked to the side.
Prey and Gloom patiently waited by the door. There wasn't much else they could do. Well, Gloom could fly up and help, but there wasn't much Prey could do.
'-what's hidden inside? This place is built like a mini fortress-'
"I'm in sir." Came crimson's muffled voice from up on the roof, followed by scuffling as the pegasus pushed his way in between the slats and rafters.
With his sharp hearing, Prey heard the sound of breaking wood inside, even if Gloom couldn't. There must've been a thin ceiling to get through also.
But even Gloom could hear the sound of the lock being worked on the other side of the door, then one, two, three, four different dead bolts being drawn back.
Crimson's reserved expression greeted them as he pulled the door open, "I'm in sir."
"Yes I can see that, thank you." Gloom commented, stepping in. Seeing as no traps had been triggered by either Gloom or Crimson, Prey followed, leaving the smell of smoke outside.
It was just one large room, which was almost completely unilluminated. Only the open door and brand new hole in the ceiling let any of the dim light from outside in.
Prey looked around. The buildings contents almost exactly matched Lemon Pink's memory. A wooden table in the middle, some chairs, and crates stacked in the background. The difference was, those crates were now empty. Prey could see that much, even in the near darkness.
"How about now? Can you sense anything?" Gloom asked Crimson, already starting to search the place.
Crimson started to push the door shut, "I'm...not sure sir. Maybe. Perhaps... something muted?" He answered cautiously.
"Hey, don't close the door." Prey protested.
Crimson blinked yellow eyes at him, "It will keep the smell of smoke out." He said, features obscured in the gloom.
"Yes, but I can't see in the dark like you two, can I?"
Both Gloom and Crimson seemed to have forgotten that little point. Gloom looked around, "Good point. Whichever ponies used this place probably couldn't either. That means there's got to be a lamp in here somewhere."
---
And there was, a crystal glow lantern, set neatly on a shelf.
Gloom hooked it down with a wing claw, and the enchantment flickered to life, casting an even white glow over the room. Why did they use oil lamps and candles in the Palace instead of these?
"I don't see anything, and all these crates seem to be empty. But they've only been emptied recently, because there's almost no dust in the bottoms." Gloom said, checking the crates one by one.
The three of them began to comb through the room, starting at the door and moving outwards.
It didn't take long for Prey to spot something off, "The crates, tables, chairs, they've all been pushed about and rearranged, then put back. Possibly to make space to empty whatever was in these crates. There's little scrape marks on the floor varnish, under those crates with the roughest corners." He said, pointing it out so they could see.
"Good. What does that tell us though?" Gloom wondered, checking the underside of the table to be thorough.
"This place looks like it has been abandoned sir. Recently and in a hurry, I mean." Crimson said, casting around the room, obviously searching for whatever it was that was throwing him off. However that was occurring.
"There's nothing left in these crates at all, not even scraps." Gloom said, leaning in to sniff the wood. "Paper maybe? Or fabric? I can't tell. There's got to be a trace left in at least one of these, there's stacks of them. Help me look." Gloom ordered.
Prey jumped atop a low stack and looked around, searching for anything that drew his attention in the lamp light. 'Walls, floor, ceiling, table, crates.' His eyes went to the densest stack of crates, set against a wall. It was nothing obvious, but...
'Their placement is forced.' Prey realised.
"There's something under those crates." Prey declared. The other two immediately stopped their own searches to look.
"You sure?" Gloom asked, but he'd already put the lantern down to start unstacking the indicated crates.
"Almost ninety percent." Prey said. He didn't go over to help, Crimson and Gloom could work a lot faster without a runt getting in their way.
But when the crates had all been moved, there was nothing there, just blank floorboards. Prey frowned.
Gloom struck the floor with a hoof, but it produced exactly the same solid sound as everywhere else in the room. "It doesn't seem to be hollow." He said dubiously.
Prey had hopped down and came over. He closed his eyes and ran his hoof across the bare floorboards, trying to feel any changes or inequalities.
"Perhaps we might come back with a unicorn to scan this place. Quick Draw maybe could." Prey heard Crimson suggest from off to the side.
"Scanning spells are quite advanced, I think. Quick Draw probably doesn't know any." Gloom told him, but he sounded a bit uncertain about whether that was actually the case. Not being a unicorn or having lived with any in his clan, he wouldn't know.
"Should I go and get him anyway sir?" Crimson offered.
'You won't find anything even if you do.' Prey thought. Whatever was hidden here wasn't hidden with any magic, as Prey could detect any such in his hooves. That didn't mean there wasn't any magic, but if Prey couldn't find anything, then a unicorn at Quick Draw's tier certainly couldn't. This required fineness, not the brute magical force all unicorns were born wielding.
Prey stopped and moved his hoof back along the same sweep, slower this time. Was that a tiny ridge?
"Got it. It's a trap door." Prey declared, opening his eyes.
He traced the tiny ridge all the way along to the wall, then across and found the parallel line on the other side.
"The hinges must be set under the edge of the wall. Very clever. But how to open it?" He mused, ignoring the other two as they leaned in close to try and find the outline for themselves. Both of them still kept out of hoof's reach, so Prey was fine with it.
"There," Prey pointed at a knot in the wood where the front edge of the trapdoor must lie, "That. We need a lever or stick of some kind to lever it up with."
"I can see it now." Gloom said, stepping back and tilting his head, "Yes, there is indeed a door."
Whomever had made this door had done an expert job, and without enchantments too. It was practically invisible and flush with the rest of the floor.
"Find a stick of some kind," Gloom ordered, "See if they keep the lever around here somewhere for easy use."
A search of the room didn't reveal any pole of lever like stick, "They must've taken it with them when they left, same as the key for the door." Gloom said, frustrated.
"Hold on sir, I have an idea." Crimson said. He flapped back up to the hole in the roof and with some effort managed to extract one of the slats he had kicked in earlier to enter. It hadn't been broken off evenly so it came to a point, "Do you think this will do?"
"Only one way to find out." Gloom jabbed the pointed end into the knot on the floor, wedging it tight. Then he started to push.
Whatever lever was originally used, it must have been longer than this one for better leverage. The slat started to bend and splinter alarmingly, but the trap door which had so far been nearly invisible jerked up an inch, now clearly revealing it's shape, "It's going to break." Gloom warned.
"Higher, we just need to wedge this in." Prey told him quickly, holding out a sliver of broken crate. Gloom grunted and pushed the slat harder, the thick trap door levering up. A crack of darkness came into view and quick as a snake Prey shoved the piece under.
"I've got it sir." Crimson lowered himself and somehow managing to find enough purchase to help push the trap door up higher.
"Good," Gloom grunted, "Okay. Switching in three, two, one."
Gloom let go of the slat, darting in to get his hooves under the edge along with Crimson. Prey thought for a moment the heavy trap door would thump shut and half crush their hooves, but the two Night Guards actually managed to lift the door up, and once it cleared a hoof's width of darkness into the space below, it was almost too easy.
The door swung silently up on greased hinges, and locked into place by some unseen mechanism. There was a moment as they all looked in. Nothing could be seen down there apart from the first step down, but Prey could heard something in the uninviting blackness.
A tiny scratching sound.
Prey took a breath. 'Oh,' He thought as the smell welled up, 'Oh so that's how it is.'
---I---
[[[Bonus Sketch - Concept art idea only]]]