Crimson caught the strike on his wing blade, expertly angled his wing at the exact moment of impact, and sent the blade skittering wide. Too wide. His thestral opponent had put too much force behind the blow, and just for a moment, he was wide open.
Crimson stepped neatly forwards with one perfectly measured pace, and snapped his other wing into the opening so fast it was just a blur.
Dull practice steel met padded neck armour hard.
"Hagk-!" Crimson's opponent spluttered.
Crimson, true to his father's training, was not satisfied to leave it there at one lethal strike, practice or not.
*Thwok*, *Thack*, *Thwak*
Crimson's training partner was not fast enough to block any of his strikes and was driven against the metal bars. He sagged there for a moment, catching his breath, "By the moon, that was fast." He panted.
Crimson simply blinked and returned to his starting position. He and his opponent were each fitted in padded and weighted training armour and armed with practice blades. They were sparring in the cage, a metal box shaped set of bars which forced the two combatants to fight in a space no more than six yards across. With permission granted to use his weapons once again, Crimson was getting his belated welcome tradition into the Night Guard. It was a bit different from the Royal Guards simpler, and certainly less painful tradition than with the confetti bucket.
Outside the metal cage, the rest of the Night Guard grunted and sweated away, training in the dimly lit hall. Running or flying laps, lifting weights, sparring with blunted weapons, bucking wooden training dummies, and performing other varied forms of exercise.
Sufficiently recovered, Crimson's opponent pushed himself off the cage bars and grimly threw himself back into his fight.
At that point, Prey stopped watching Crimson beating up his persistent but ultimately out-skilled opponent. The lamb had other things he needed to focus on. Like breathing.
Gloom, once again, wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to get Prey up to Night Guard standards, something that everyone knew was impossible, but the Sargent was determined to die trying. Or rather, have Prey die trying.
Since Prey couldn't physically wield any weapon larger than a knife, or wear any armour, Gloom was forcing him to try and improve his fitness level instead. A pointless endeavour. It didn't matter how strong he got, Prey would still be weaker than everyone else out there. He was a runt, and always would be.
"Well then just train to increase your stamina. Aren't you tired of not being able to keep up with me and Crimson?" Gloom had told him.
Gloom's point was redundant, since he and Crimson both had wings and were only earth bound because of Prey. As long as Prey was in the ISND, they'd always be slower responders than the rest of the Night Guard. Prey didn't point that out in case Gloom got any ideas which involved 'flying' and 'Prey'.
So here Prey was, like a fool, sweating away with the rest of the Night Guard, doing sit ups and squats, jogging laps and trying, (and failing), to lift weights.
"Another set of twenty." Gloom breathlessly ordered Prey, doing his own wing press ups next to the lamb. Prey was too out of breath to say something sarcastic as he completed another sit up, forelegs behind his head. Thank goodness he had his ribbon. He'd had to tie back both of his ears in what looked like a ridiculous pig tail to stop his ears slapping him in the face every time he completed a sit up.
Prey looked stupid and he knew it. He was also sixty years past caring.
'Just another hour,' He told himself as he strained up once again, 'One more hour and T-Day will end and I can get a shower and go to sleep.'
He didn't even care if they didn't go to get something to eat from the mess hall first. He was just so sick of this. 'I can think of fifty better things I could be doing right now. No, fifty and one. I can literally list them off.'
'One, preparing the runes for the two Veropede eggs. Two, continued study of these tracer bands. Three, figuring out how to make a runic array to reflect light around an object. Four,...' And on the list went. It was a way to distract himself from discomfort, something he'd gotten down to a fine art.
------
The next day, they arose at twelve in the afternoon and started their shift by limping down to the mess hall on complaining legs. Following that, they limped all the way over to Taffy Hopes office.
Although to be accurate, Prey was the only one limping. Gloom and Crimson seemed only mildly strained from the after effects of the intense training day. 'Bastards.'
Gloom visibly did not want to be here outside Taffy's office. His thoughts were making no secret of the fact either, but there was no getting out of the mountain of paperwork awaiting them. So with a hope and a prayer, Gloom reluctantly knocked.
Taffy's magic pulled the door open. Inside, the short, frizzy unicorn in question was sitting at her cluttered desk, scribbling away with a levitated quill, a mug of coffee, and a steely-eyed focus.
"Do please come in." She called without looking up.
"Good afternoon Taffy ma'am." Gloom said, trying not to sound resigned.
Taffy's quill froze and looked up as she recognised; '-that paperwork dodging swindler's voice-'
An enormous grin lit up her features, "Sargent Gloom, so good to see you. Or isn't it Sargent First Class now? And you didn't come and tell me, hmm?"
"We've been a little busy, ma'am." Gloom defended himself.
"Too busy to come sign your own promotion papers?"
"Yes. Very busy, as I said."
"No, you said 'a little' busy. A 'little' is not 'very'. And busy doing what anyways? Setting fire to lumber yards?"
"What-? No, we did not set fire to anything, no matter what the newspapers say. That was a salt worker who knocked over a burner." Gloom responded. "Hang on, why do you think that was us? We might not have even been there that night for all you know."
"Because Corporal Sapphire came in to get her leave form and she told me she was on duty and she said she saw you guys leaving past her post, silly." Taffy answered in a cheerful tongue twister.
"That could have been any Night Guard." Gloom said. The ISND had been ordered not to give out any details of their participation to any but Night Guard officers.
"No it was definitely you guys. How many other squads in the Night Guard have a pegasus-"
"Ma'am, there are definitely others too-"
"-and a sheep in them?" Taffy finished, arching one eyebrow mischievously.
Gloom kept his face blank, hoping that, '-Crimson and Prey have the sense to do the same-'
"I can neither confirm nor deny that. If you want to ask anything, I'll have to direct you to Captain Nighthawk."
"Ha! So it was the ISND. Knew it." Taffy exclaimed, thumping the table top. Then she frowned as a stack of papers overbalanced and cascaded to the floor, "Phooey."
Her horn lit up orange and she began to reassemble the fallen pile. Prey backed away from the display of magic. Gloom however leapt upon the opportunity while Taffy was distracted, "Lieutenant Starry Wing said there was a file we needed to pick up. Might I please have it, ma'am?"
"Not so fast Sargent First Class Gloom! You've still got a huge bundle of paperwork and forms to sign. I'll trade you once you're done and not before."
'-was worth a try-', Gloom sighed.
"Alright ma'am, you win. Where is it?" Gloom asked morosely. Prey, who could hear his thoughts, knew that the thestral was not as put out as he let on. In fact, he was almost relieved.
'-still the same old Taffy. Murderous griffins, salt, and bodies, but this hasn't changed-'
"And Crimson, you too got promoted to private first class a while back didn't you? Well done! Your paperwork came across my desk. Hang on, I'll just get it and you can sign that too." Taffy smiled at the pegasus, "So tell me, what have you guys been doing? Being in a special division, you must see lots of interesting stuff."
Crimson blinked slowly at the enthusiastic mare, perhaps thinking over all the stress and near death experiences of the last week.
"We have been doing Princess Luna's work." He finally decided to answer.
"What, is that it? Come on, there must be lots more juicy details. Not all of them can be secret."
---
When Taffy's attempts at extracting more information from Crimson failed, the unicorn turned her questions on Prey, much to the lamb's distress.
Of course, Prey valiantly tried, (and liked to think he succeeded), in hiding his fear of the unicorn and the magic she possessed. 'Never show weakness.'
His masterful act of normality did have the undesired consequence of meaning everyone thought it was perfectly alright to leave Taffy questioning Prey while they got on with their paperwork. Prey had to fight down the continuing rise of an irrational need to flee.
Taffy blithely ask him one question after another, while her aura continued to float papers and quill around, and Prey increasingly felt like he was getting backed into a corner. Prey tried giving her short, closed ended answers in the hopes of dissuading her, but she just kept talking.
'Won't stop. She won't stop talking. Why won't she just leave me alone?'
'Okay, calm down. You've been this close to a unicorn before, and recently too. Taffy isn't hostile, there's no need to panic.' Prey told himself. It wasn't helping.
Just then, someone knocked on the door and pushed it open without waiting for a response, "Taffy, I've got the Day 2 files here. Sandy want's to know how soon you can-oh, pardon me."
The unicorn stallion dressed in the pale khaki uniform of the Office staff stopped on seeing the ISND. He hid it well, but inside he thought some very unflattering things. Prey, unnoticed on the side, backed further away.
"Oh it's no trouble New Star, just leave them here and I'll have them by the end of the day." Taffy chirped.
"I'll come back later then." The stallion said, levitating the papers across while already heading back out.
Prey seized the opportunity.
"I find myself suddenly needing the toilet. Excuse me." Prey announced jumping to his hooves and rushing out the closing door before Gloom or Crimson could say anything.
Taffy had no choice pause mid flow in her ceaseless barrage of questions as her target escaped. She pouted at the wooden door closed, separating her from the; '-cute little distraction from the drudgery of my day job-'
Gloom blinked at the sudden cease of chatter, looking up as his ears caught up with what Prey had said as he realised the lamb had made an escape. Which meant him and Crimson were the only ones left in Taffy's sights.
'-Moon blight-'
---
On the other side of the door, Prey breathed a silent sigh of relief and calmed himself.
Gloom probably wouldn't be happy about Prey just leaving without asking permission, but Prey didn't care, since it got him away from Taffy before the unicorn went too far and used magic on him. 'I left Crimson behind with Taffy though.' Prey thought guiltily.
Prey pushed himself away from the closed door, he'd said he needed the toilet, so he should probably head that way in case Gloom came looking for him in the next ten minutes. He'd judged the stack of paperwork Gloom had left to complete, and estimated it should take the Sargent that long at least.
Prey glanced both ways up and down the corridor, and hurried off before some other unicorn came looking for the liaisons officer.
The logistics section of the Palace existed more or less as two long corridors, running from one end of the Lower Palace to the other, like a divide. The Guard section was on one side, and the normal Palace on the other. The logistics section existed as the stretch of beach between the land and sea.
This placement was no doubt to accommodate effective communication between this logistics staff and the political aspects which went on inside the gold and finery of the Upper Palace.
It was quite easy to notice when you crossed this metaphorical strip of sandy beach from one side to the other. The uniform white marble and plank floors of the Guard section changed to the wide red carpeted corridors, with golden patterned columns, and tall satin curtained windows everywhere.
Obviously, in a Palace of this size, with this many people coming and going, a wide scattering of bathrooms and toilets were required as a necessity of nature.
And the closest toilet was just outside of the logistics section, and barely inside what would be the 'Royal Palace'. Prey headed there, since he didn't have to worry about running into any pony nobles, because they wouldn't deign to leave the center of the Palace where the opulence was at its height. Plus, at this time in the afternoon, there wouldn't be any servants or maids passing through on their rounds either.
Come six in the evening however, and the Palace corridors would be swarming with servants like a kicked termite mound. The amount of work needed to keep Canterlot Palace in its pristine condition was simply mind boggling. Family generations had grown up, worked, aged, and passed on their professions to their children all within the Palace.
But that was neither here nor there. The point was, Prey should've been able to make the half-minute trot to the bathroom without having to cross paths with any infuriating ponies. Should've.
Prey slowed, frowning. There was a large floor to ceiling bay window coming up on his right, the sunlight flooding in making the marble of the corridor sparkle. That wasn't what had caught Prey's attention. This set of bay windows had a glass door set in their middle. Which was open.
The door led out onto a small stone balcony. Prey silently moved up to the edge of the bay window to check who was outside.
The balcony looked like it had been created almost as an after thought, tacked onto the side of the Palace to fill some 'balcony' requirement quota.
The balcony was rather plain, and looked like no one ever used it, slivers of wet green moss showing between the paving slabs. There was no view to speak of, every direction blocked off by the soaring walls of the surrounding Palace, although Prey supposed that also meant no one could look in on you either. The balcony must only ever get a few hours sunlight a day, when the sun was high in the sky like now.
Prey peaked out. There was a single grey stone bench occupying almost all of the small balcony. On it sat a lone white mare, her head bowed as she quietly sat. She wore a stylish red silk dress of some regard, and her mane and tail were done up in enormous golden ringlets.
She shifted, raising her head to look up at the blue sky, and Prey saw the straight spiral of her horn rise into view. Disgust and trepidation immediately suffused Prey as he pulled back. A unicorn. Never mind, he'd go back and wait for Gloom to finish. The possibility of running into some other unicorn was better than the certainty of having to pass by this one.
Prey turned to leave, but then stopped, his hoof faltering. He cocked his head, not at anything physical, but to something only audible to him as a mind reader.
He listened for about fifteen seconds, and then all at once a vicious smile of pleasure twisted lips, 'Oh but this is wonderful to hear. What are the chances?'
What had made Prey happy was not anything wholesome, but rather the suffering of another. It was cruel, it was spiteful, it didn't give him any true happiness, but it was close enough. The world wasn't fair. It took and took and kept taking and hurt you.
So when the world finally served up even a sliver of what you'd endured to someone more deserving, it helped soothe the jealously and made the bitterness sweet.
The unicorn mare in front of him was wallowing in self pity and sorrow. She didn't look like it on the outside, but inside her thoughts were despairing. She hated herself. She felt weak, powerless, and pathetic.
How did Prey know? Because she was calling herself those very same names in her head.
One of the reasons why? This unicorn mare was a magical cripple who couldn't even open a door with her magic. Her own self depreciating words, not his.
What was Prey going to do with this knowledge?
He was going to enjoy this unicorn's suffering. He had some time to kill until Gloom came looking for him.
---
The mare was gazing up into the clear blue sky with unseeing eyes, the pleasant coolness from the stone balcony permeating the area despite the sun. She started when Prey appeared and plopped himself down on the other end of the stone bench.
Large, rose pink eyes perfectly matched to her silk dress blinked at Prey in surprise. They were wet, but they weren't red or crying, and her face was expertly made up.
"Hi." Prey smiled.
"Hi," The mare returned softly, unsure. "Who are you, little filly?"
Her words were kind and polite, but her thoughts despaired at even seeing Prey, '-pure and innocent. Oh if only I were young and could start my mistake of a life again-'
"I'm Prey. It's wonderful to meet a unicorn like you, Miss...?"
'-worthless-'. "My name is Saffron Swirl. I suppose you're a bit young to know me though." She said, in a perfect Upper class Canterlot accent.
'-that means I don't have to lie and pretend to be what I'm not in front of a child-'
"That's a nice name." Prey chimed.
"How did you get here in the Palace? Are you lost? Perhaps you need help trying to find your parents?" Saffron Swirl suggested to Prey kindly, thinking:
'-I can do this one thing right before the end. Some small act of worth-'
Prey smiled right back at her, "No, I'm perfectly fine Miss Swirl. How about you? Are you perfectly fine?"
"Yes I'm fine, darling." She said, smile not faltering in the least.
'-I'm not fine. I'm a pathetic, useless, scaredy-cat. I'm just stalling-'
"Are you sure your parents aren't going to be worried about you, ah, Prey did you say your name was?" Saffron asked.
'-Prey. What a horrible name, oh it makes my heart hurt to think about-'
"It's okay. I'm positive my parents aren't looking for me." Prey shook his head, peering up at her with eyes full of curiosity.
"What about you miss Swirl? Aren't your parents worried and looking for you?" He asked, not a single flicker of malicious intent in his eyes as he asked the innocent seeming question.
The question was cruel, so cruel it almost broke Saffron's desperate mask. Prey knew how much it hurt the unicorn.
'-I'm a disappointment, a disowned mistake. They wanted a better daughter than me-', Saffron held it together though, nothing showed on her heart shaped face, "Oh, I'm a grown pony. Your mama and dada don't need to chase after you all the time when you're all grown up."
Prey's teeth showed in his smile, "I'd love to grow up. Are both your parents unicorns just like you?"
"Why yes they are. Pureblooded for centuries." Saffron said with a wan smile.
'-and I'm a disgrace to them all. Pureblooded failure more like, one who can't use magic-'
"You're a noble? And a unicorn? And you've been in Canterlot so long? Wow, you must be amazing at magic then." Prey said in wonderment, enjoying the misery he was causing the mare.
"Well, sometimes I suppose..." She trailed off, looking back up at the sky so she didn't have to look at Prey.
'-and now I'm lying to a little filly. I'm despicable on top of being worthless-'
"Wow," Prey repeated again, stars in his eyes, "I've always wondered what would've happened if I'd been born a unicorn. I could live in Canterlot, where all the rich ponies live. And I'd have magic just like you!"
'-oh no, here it comes-', Saffron thought in dread.
"Show me some magic Miss Saffron Swirl. Please?"
"Ah, I'm sorry but I can't right now, perhaps another time?" '-I'm a worthless, worthless liar-'
"Pretty please? Just for me?"
"Another time, good things come to those who wait. I need some time to prepare. It'll be worth the wait, I promise." Saffron said, smiling down at Prey.
'-liar. But it won't matter by then, it'll all be over. What's one more little lie at this point?-'
"Awwww. Alright then. But you promise another time?" Prey insisted, twisting the knife.
Saffron hid the swallow she had to choke down before she could speak, "Yes, I promise. I'll come and find you and your family when the time comes, alright?" She said softly.
"I'll wait for you then Miss Saffron. Please don't take too long though. Please?"
"I won't." Saffron lied.
'-I'm such a bad mare. Disappointing a filly on my last day. Oooh, why am I so useless?-'. Her long eyelashes quivered briefly, but not in any breeze. Her mask was starting to slip, just the slightest bit.
Prey kept digging, enjoying tearing her down. She was a unicorn, she deserved it. "You're very pretty. Are you an actor? I bet you must be very famous if you are."
"Close. I'm a model actually. That means I wear clothes ponies design on stage." Saffron answered, trying to keep her smile up.
'-I'm a fake. They all look at me up there but I'm not the pony they want me to be. I'm worthless, weak, a liar-'
"So you are famous then?" Prey asked, leaning forwards.
"I suppose I am." Saffron said, smiling indulgently. '-fake, fake, fake, fake-'
"Loads of ponies must look up to you."
"That's very flattering, but I'm hardly the only model on stage. There are lots of others as well." Saffron waved it off.
'-deceiver, liar, fake-'
"But you're so great. There must loads that look up to just you." Prey pressed.
"Maybe. I can only hope."
'-hope that they can hate me less when I'm gone-'
"They must love you." Prey enthused.
"Oh I don't rightly know." She shrugged off hoofedly. '-they've never seen the real me. They wouldn't love me then-'
"So what are you doing out here by yourself, Miss Saffron?" Prey asked brightly.
"It's a beautiful day. I'm enjoying the warmth of the sun with some peace and quiet."
'-getting up the courage to finally decide how to end it all-', Saffron answered in her head.
"Oh? Why's that?" Prey asked.
"Sometimes grown ups just want to be alone I suppose." She shrugged, golden curls rising and falling.
'-because I'm a failure. I should've been born an Earth pony. Because it's easier to die than to keep living this lie-'
Prey leaned back on the bench. This mare was utterly pathetic. Seeing how far she sank every time he asked even a simple question disgusted him. 'The world isn't fair, so you've decided that's enough of an excuse to leave? You live in a land of privilege and wealth, protected by the Sun Goddess. You've never known a day of hunger or fear in your life. And you're just going to give up?'
Prey had wished for death more times than he wanted to remember, but he'd never followed through. He was still here. After everything, he still came out the other side alive. Broken and twisted, yes, but still breathing.
Suddenly this wasn't amusing any longer. Prey's smile dimmed and his bitter joy turned sour.
'You really are worthless Saffron Swirl, just like you think.' Prey decided. Why had he wasted his time here? Enough of this.
"You know, I do believe I'm quite done here." Prey declared, hopping down off the stone of the bench.
"Oh?" Saffron asked, perfect voice mildly thrown as she raised one gentle eyebrow.
"Yes, I have other things I could be wasting time on." Prey said, trotting back through the glass door.
Saffron put on a smile, even though Prey wasn't looking back to see it, "Foals do have such a way of phrasing things." She mused, but even the musing was an act, a lie to herself.
"Have fun making your decision." Prey called back as he left.
"My decision?" Prey heard Saffron's voice float after him.
Prey didn't waste any more breath on the mare as he headed back to Taffy's office. 'Make the decision of how you're going to end your sorry existence, some way which doesn't waste any more of my own life.'
Saffron Swirl, a failure of a unicorn, here one minute and quite literally gone forever the next. 'What a disappointment. As a magically crippled unicorn, I can't even take any satisfaction in knowing that soon another one of Celestia's chosen will be no more, since she doesn't count.'
His mouth tasted bitter.
-------
Arriving back at the ISND office, Gloom passed the file Taffy had been holding hostage over to Prey.
"What's it say?" Prey asked, putting the file down on the floor so he could open it.
"Paperwork."
Prey looked at his Sargent, "Yes, but what is it about?"
"I told you, paperwork. For you to do." Gloom said.
'-teach you to abandon me to have to deal with Taffy by my lonesome. I need a break from paperwork-'
Prey gave an exaggerated, long suffering sigh, and began to read the file. Crimson came over to see what it said as well. Prey shuffled out of reach but didn't protest the pegasus reading over his shoulder.
"It's just a follow up incident report." Crimson announced.
"Well, there's a bit more in it than just that, but essentially yes." Prey said, speaking out loud for Gloom's benefit.
"A follow up on what specifically? We've got a lot of old incidents on file." Gloom said, looking at the stacked ISND shelves.
"That one about those disappearances in the village over the mountain." Prey said.
"Not ringing any bells. What's the village name?"
"Mayflower." Crimson read off, answering for Prey.
"Mayflower..." Gloom mused, "No, I must've forgotten. Remind me."
"Three months ago, fifteen ponies vanished from Mayflower without a trace. The Royal Guard went out and searched, but couldn't find anything. No tracks, motive, or bodies."
"This was a murder investigation?" Gloom asked looking up sharply. '-fifteen ponies?-'
"No, it's a disappearance report. But for fifteen people. In the end, the Guard had no choice but to return empty hoofed. It says here that House Fell even funded a small search expedition when someone petitioned them, but no luck."
"Somepony. Why though?"
"Why did they fund a search? Doesn't say. Charity? Flight of fancy? A vested interest? What's a few thousands bits to a noble house?" Prey shrugged.
"Well, since the villagers weren't found, I don't suppose it really matters." Gloom sighed.
Crimson glanced at the map they had on their wall, looking for the named village. However, this map only included the lands inside the borders of Equestria and thus, he couldn't find it. Crimson flicked his wing and turned to Gloom.
"Sir, fifteen ponies is a lot. Surely they could've found them with scrying. I mean, I have heard that magic can be used to find anything or anypony. I understand a small village may not have skilled unicorns, but surely Canterlot would've used some of their own sir."
Gloom stared, bowled over, "That's...That's right. Why by Luna's starry mane haven't they done that already?"
'-how has nopony thought of this already?!-', Gloom thought in outrage.
Prey raised his hoof before the Sargent could grow too incredulous. He waited until he had both of their attention, "Why? Well that's simple. It's for the very same reason we didn't use divination to find Rocky Bed. Or scry who was starting the riots. Or who the salt dealers were. Or who Garrow was."
"Because none of us are unicorns?" Crimson suggested.
"True, but no. For that matter, it's the same reason why the Guard doesn't solve every single crime immediately."
'And also why they couldn't use it to track the Resistance's camp down during the war.' Prey privately added in his head.
"So it's because they can't." Gloom realised, calming back down.
'-oh, that makes sense. Damned if that wouldn't be convenient though-'
"Why can't it be done?" Crimson asked. "If you know, I mean."
Prey took a moment to clear his throat. Alright, better not appear too knowledgeable here, just provide a concise answer instead.
"I'm no expert," He started by covering himself, "But divination doesn't work like that. From my understanding, it's very imprecise, inaccurate, and often just plain wrong. And the biggest limiting factor is you can't scry what you don't already know, much like how a unicorn can't unassisted teleport to an area they haven't been before or can't see."
"Can't scry what you don't already know?" Gloom repeated.
Prey nodded, "Take Rocky Bed for example. No one-"
"-No pony."
"-No one had met him. Familiarity begets clarity. They had a photo, but that would only be enough for a tenuous link at best. Even if there'd been a unicorn skilled enough in divination to try, and even if the spell had worked, probably all they would've seen would be the same photo they'd tried to scry him from. Or if they were very lucky, they would've actually seen Rocky Bed. And that's it."
Prey made a 'poof'ing motion in the air, "Rocky Bed. That's all. They wouldn't have seen his surroundings, if anyone else was with him, if he was tied up, if he was awake, what condition he was in, or if he was even still alive."
Prey shrugged, "Simply put, it's very limited. A skilled diviner might be able to scry their own house, and maybe see their family if they were inside. But if there was an intruder? They wouldn't see anything. Or perhaps they would. A blank space maybe? Or not. Who knows? It's apparently different for everyone."
"Everypony." Gloom corrected.
"Whatever." Prey dismissed.
"That was quite the detailed explanation. Did you look into divination before?" Gloom enquired.
'Oops. Too knowledgeable.' Prey thought.
"Sort of. For about ten minutes worth of reading. That's how little there was on the topic."
"Well, good job looking into it anyway. I didn't think about it, but it would've really been great if we could solve all our cases like that." Gloom sighed.
'Suuuure. That's why I was looking into it. To help solve crimes.'
"Well, good try Crimson, but it seem's that idea is a dead end." Gloom said, turning back to Prey, "So that report...?" He prompted, nodding to the file still in the lamb's hooves.
"Right, anyway, this follow up report is from the couple of Royal Guard scouts sent to Mayflower to see if anything had changed, or if any of the missing ponies had returned." Prey said.
"The Guard went all the way out there? Fifteen ponies is a lot, but surely the villagers would have reported if anything had changed." Crimson said.
"No. Remember, it's on the other side of the Ridgeback mountain range. There's no fast or reliable form of communication. Something could quite easily have changed but no one took the time to report it to a Guard force who weren't able to do anything about it the last time." Prey explained, flicking through the report again.
"Things are different over the mountains." He added in a mutter.
Gloom frowned at Prey's disparaging tone about the Royal Guard, but didn't chastise him, "So, did anything change?" He questioned.
Prey closed the file, "No. They're still missing, no new developments."
Gloom grimaced, "That's most unfortunate. File it on the shelf with the first one. Wherever that is." He said.
'-what could've caused a whole fifteen ponies to disappear? Luna watch over them wherever they are-'
"Didn't you say your home village is over the mountains too Prey?" Crimson abruptly asked.
"Yes, but 'over-the-mountains' is a big place and there's more than one range. I don't come from anywhere near Mayflower if that's what you're asking. If the Guard haven't found anything, and nothing's changed, then there's little more we can do." Prey said, deflecting their attention as he closed and went to file the folder. 'Anywhere near' was subjective to what you counted as 'near'.
"Unfortunate." Crimson echoed. "That the fifteen ponies have not yet returned, I mean. Not that we cannot do anything." He paused, "Although that is unfortunate too."
"There are too many of these types of files on the shelf," Gloom muttered quietly, "Because those are the ponies who need the Night Guard's help the most."
Unfortunately, wishful thinking never changed the facts. There was nothing further the three of them could do. So they returned to working on other, more solvable and mundane cases.
------
At lunch, or everybody else's dinner, they had a fight.
------
'They', in this case, being the Royal Guard and the Night Guard.
The ISND weren't there to see what started the fight in the mess hall. They only missed the beginning by about thirty seconds, but by then things had already escalated.
"What's happening?" Gloom asked as they stepped through the mess hall doors. His voice was lost under the rising shouts.
"Get 'im, get 'im!"
"Stop it, you're gonna' get us all in trouble!"
"Watch out Berry, from the left!"
The cheers and shouts were coming from the Royal Guards, their opposites in the Night Guard were barely making a sound as they squared off against each other across a cleared impromptu circle.
In the middle of the circle, four ponies were duking it out on top of a long table, trays, and plates discarded.
Two thestrals, obviously Night Guards, against a unicorn and a pegasus. Prey's heart jumped and he immediately started looking around for cover in case magic started getting thrown around indiscriminately.
It was more a brawl than a real fight. All the combatants were armoured, but none were armed, although in the unicorn's case that hardly mattered. However none of them were really trying to kill each other. Just hurt lots.
"Get im, get 'im!"
One of the thestral's was locked in a wing grapple with the pegasus, each straining to overbalance the other.
"Teach you to stick your tail where it's not wanted!"
The unicorn was using his blue aura to easily keep his opponent out of reach, throwing the thestral all over the table. The Night Guard was putting up a fight, twisting and bucking ferociously to break out of the unicorn's grip over and over, but never long enough to get clear before the unicorn caught him again.
Prey's eyes darted about the crowd. Wasn't someone going to stop this? Had an officer been called? There were two trained military groups facing off against one another, shouldn't that be a cause for reasonable concern? The Royal Guards heavily outnumbered the Night Guard, and had unicorns to boot.
Prey looked at Gloom, scared that the Sargent would want to do something responsible, like try to fly into the middle of it and stop the fight.
Unfortunately, from the set of Gloom's jaw, it looked like that's exactly what he was planning.
"Don't-" Prey began, but Crimson was already preemptively moving past them towards the fighters. Prey's eyes widened. 'No, Crimson can't get involved! I've got to keep him out of danger, I owe him.'
But before Crimson could, a pony pushed his way out of the crowd and leapt onto the table between the four Guards, "Stop it! Stop fighting!" He shouted, rearing up and shoving out a hoof in each direction to separate them. The Earth pony seemed familiar to Prey.
The Royal Guards were momentarily stunned that one of their own would intervene, so much so that the unicorn dropped his telekinesis. The freed thestral was back on his hooves in a heartbeat, poised to resume fighting. The crowd shouted their discontent.
"What are you doing? Get out of the way of the fight!"
"You're siding with them? They're trying to get us all fired!"
"Out of the way greenie!"
Now Prey placed the Earth pony in his head. It was that same one who they'd taken with them when they found the cellar. Scenic Paint was his name, or Paint Spot as he preferred to be called. 'I thought he'd run away or quit.'
"Stop fighting please. This is silly, why are we fighting? We all serve the Princesses don't we?" Scenic Paint called. He did not look at all comfortable about the judicatory role he'd thrust himself into.
The unicorn Royal Guard angrily shoved Scenic aside, "You're embarrassing yourself greenie, get out of the way."
Scenic Paint swallowed visibly, but he stepped back into the unicorn's path, "We shouldn't be fighting."
"We didn't start any fight." The pegasus interjected hotly. His nose was bleeding.
"Yeah!" The crowd joined in, "They started it."
"They started a Celestia damned witch hunt for no reason!"
"But now they're afraid to finish it."
"Those bats have been trying to pin the fire on us."
"They haven't got any backbone to fight a stallion face to face!"
"But those Guards were traitors!" Scenic loudly exclaimed, "It's not anypony's fault those guys decided to betray their oath to the Royal Guard."
"I don't care about any of that, those ponies made their choice." The angry pegasus retorted," I'm fighting these buckers because they think they can get away with it. You hear that? Yes I'm talking about you!" He shouted, glaring at the Night Guards.
"You haven't fooled anypony! We all know what you're trying to do, worm your way in and try to take over just like your Nightmare did."
The Night Guard, both the surrounding thestrals and the two who'd been fighting didn't make any move to lower themselves by arguing back. A smart choice. There were almost four times as many Royal Guards as them, they'd be shouted down. Don't start a contest you can't win.
Many murmurs of agreement arose from the crowd for the pegasus' words, but no one agreed too loudly for fear of getting recognised and called out later.
However others looked around uneasily. They were just interested in the fight. They weren't looking to risk their job or spread dissent by badmouthing a Princess. They might privately agree, but they were smart enough to keep such opinions quiet.
"Attention!" A magically enhanced voice boomed from the doors, full of authority.
It was like a whip crack. Instinctively, the Guards all came to attention. Prey looked where everyone was looking and saw a very displeased Shining Armour standing in the entrance, with Lieutenant Swift Arrow at his right, and some Sargent on the left. The Captain's blue eyes were burning.
He glared for a long moment, letting everyone work out just how much trouble they were in.
"What is this, bickering like foals? Is this my Guard?" Shining Armour barked, sweeping his gaze around. Shining Armour was unquestionably a born leader. He obviously both expected and demanded the Guards respect, and he radiated an intimidating aura of displeasure.
No one dared answer him.
Shining Armour snorted, "Enough is enough. No more of this nonsense. It's disgraceful. Didn't you learn as foals, it you can't say anything nice and get along, keep your traps shut?"
The Royal Guards looked embarrassed, and their hastily adopted masks of stoicism did a poor job of hiding it. In their turn, the thestrals coolly regarded Shining Armour. They also stood at attention, and although they offered no hint of a challenge, it was obvious they were not cowed. Shining Armour was not their captain. They served Nighthawk and Luna, and no one else.
"Clean this up," Shining ordered into the deafening silence, indicating the table, "And you five. You're now suspended. Follow me."
"Me?" Squeaked Scenic Paint, who'd only been trying to stop the fight.
"Did somepony say something?" Shining Armour roared.
Scenic's ears went straight back and he froze.
"That's what I thought. Now follow me, your disciplinary hearings will be held immediately. Sargent," Shining Armour turned to the unidentified unicorn on his right, "Go and get Captain Nighthawk. Tell him to meet me in my office. These trouble makers will be waiting for him to join us."
No one said a word as the five unfortunates stiffly got down off the table and filled out after the furious Captain.
Lieutenant Swift Arrow, who had remained behind to clean up, was fuming.
"Disgraceful, all of you. I was lead to believe you were the the finest Her Majesty had to offer. I hear some ponies here have ambitions of getting into the Solar Guard? Well you can just forget it after this shameful display. Disqualified and kicked from the program on the spot! Foals throwing your toys out the pram." He ranted at them.
That was just the start. He went on for a full fifteen solid minutes, seemingly without needing to breathe as he slated all of them, regardless of rank and position for this foolery.
Finally he seemed to run out of steam, or perhaps just patience, because he left. Silently, the two Guard sections returned to eating, not looking at one another.
The only one who seemed to have enjoyed the Guards dressing down was Cookie. She stood with her ladle and smirked out at them all from the kitchen hatch, looking for all the world like some overlord surveying her minions.
The animosity between the Royal and Night Guard was coming to a head. What was going to happen now? What would the ISND do if the Royal Guard specifically turned their anger on their unit, the ones who had conducted the investigation? Possibly nothing, possibly something.
Prey had always known pony racism wasn't something which could so easily be overcome with something as simple as an order to integrate from Luna. There would be violence yet before this thestral integration was over.
The only questions was: Would it be now, or would it successfully be delayed again?
Prey anxiously glanced at Crimson. A pegasus throwback who grew up as a thestral and was rejected. Prey didn't care about the rest of the clanners, only about what might happen to this one.
Crimson was just the type to stand up for what he believed in. That worried Prey. He couldn't see Crimson backing down from doing what was right, even if faced with a unicorn. The Royal Guard wasn't filled with magical failures like Saffron Swirl. Like she was.
'Don't do anything suicidal Crimson, please.' Prey thought.
The oppressive silence over the mess hall continued.
------
Prey put the finished paper he held down, "Another what?"
Prey glanced sideways to Crimson, who's blank look proved he'd heard their Sargent right after all. Crimson had his helmet off. He didn't have the green stone mane band Prey had given him. In fact, Crimson hadn't worn it at all yet.
"Why, sir? I mean, why does Captain Nighthawk feel this is necessary?" Crimson asked.
"Short answer?" Gloom sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Because of the fight in the mess hall. The Night Guard has got to prove we aren't showing any favouritism. So now we've all got to get investigated too."
"That won't go down well with either side. The Night Guard has only recently been reconstituted, so how could they've been part of the salt trade? And the Royal Guards won't like it because when we don't find anyone in the Night Guard guilty, they'll just accuse us of favouritism." Prey said bluntly.
"It's anypony Prey. And when I said we, I meant we're the ones going to be getting investigated. As in, the entire Night Guard. By the Royal Guard." Gloom said.
"That's going to go down even less well." Prey summed up.
"No," Gloom agreed, lip curling in distaste, "It's not. In fact, I think you're significantly underselling how 'less well' it's going to go down."
"I'm assuming that any Royal Guard investigators are supposed to be impartial, right sir?" Crimson asked.
"Yes, just like we were." Gloom answered.
"That's not going to happen, is it sir?" Crimson asked flatly.
"Nnnnope."
"And guess who's going to be first on their target list?" Prey piped up with sarcastic cheer, "I'm betting it's the ISND."
"Oh really? I would never have guessed." Gloom returned just as sarcastically, slumping in his chair. None of his frustration was aimed at them, but rather at all the inter Guard political conflicts he could see coming in the near future.
'-and we're inevitably going to end up getting involved in something way beyond our experience again. Luna damn it-'
------
The news came that Sea Shores had died.
The critically injured mare had awoken unexpectedly from her coma in the night. It was assumed she'd panicked, disoriented in the dark and high on drugs, and she had pulled out her wires and tried to run. In her delirium, Sea Shores never noticed her hoof was cuffed to the bed.
Sea Shores was found dead in the morning by the nurse, twisted face down and dangling by one leg.
Gloom hadn't known what to say to Prey. Neither had Screech who'd delivered the news. Could her death really be attributed to Prey? Could he reasonably be blamed?
Prey hadn't forced her out of her bed, but he'd been the reason she was in the hospital in the first place. Did that make a portion of the blame his? If so, how much? Fifty percent? More? Less?
'-I don't know-', Gloom thought, '-I don't know what the right answer is. I don't think there is one-'
Prey didn't say anything either way, either to assert his innocence, or express his regret. He would've, if asked, but no one did. So the skeleton was pushed into the closet, and by silent agreement, left there to accumulate dust.
---I---
[[[Bonus Picture - Saffron Swirl]]]