//------------------------------//
// 45.3 The Messages We Send Out 
// Story: Prey and a Lamb 
// by Lambs Prey 
//------------------------------//




Prey could only watch helplessly as Crimson threw himself into the scarecrow's path to protect Shimmer, a Border Guard, and a unicorn.




Crimson was fast. He danced around the scarecrow's stabbing blows, flowing from one hoof to another. But all of Crimson's prodigious skill and countless hours of training in Equine combat meant little against the golem.

That was the reality of the world. 

You could strain and fight and struggle, gaining every possible physical edge you could, reaching peaks you'd never managed before, but at the end, there was only so far you could go. You'd reached the top of your ladder, but when it came to facing monsters and magic, you looked up and found another whole ladder above your head.

Such as right now. 

*Fi-Ting*

Sparks flew as Crimson's wing blades grated uselessly off the scarecrow's legs. His attacks weren't working, and they never would. The scarecrow couldn't be beaten like this. It was a golem, it couldn't die. They were the only ones who were going to die at this rate. Prey knew that. It's why he was hiding. He didn't want to die.

Foul orange flickered. Crimson whipped his head to the side just in time. The scarecrow struck a tree. 

*Crunch*

Prey cringed. Bark chips flew. Pine needles showered down.

From harsh experience, Prey knew there were only three ways to beat a larger monster such as this. Numbers, traps, or magic. 

They lacked the numbers, and they hadn't had time to prepare a trap. That left only magic.

Prey could use runic magic, but not without hours of preparation. Mind magic was equally useless against something which didn't even have a mind.

That left only Lilly and Shimmer. Lilly Blossom was out, even if she hadn't been half stunned by being run over, her spells had proven completely ineffective against the scarecrow.

Could Shimmer do anything? If not, Prey was about to see him die within the next twenty seconds.

Shimmer had achieved the objective he'd been so keen on reaching. He'd tagged the scarecrow with a tracker, despite all of their warnings, but now how was he going to survive?

'He's going to run away.' Prey realised. 

'Filthy, lying, disgusting Border Guard. All his bravado and magic, and he's going to run away and leave us. Again. Just like they always do.'

Prey himself wanted to run. They'd managed to outrun the scarecrow earlier. For a time. 

But the scarecrow did not get tired, and they did. Prey knew it would eventually catch them. Which was why he was pressed up behind this tree, hiding, and not running. Shimmer's eye's flicked straight to Prey's hiding spot, just for a moment. Was that revulsion, disgust, or even something else? Shimmer squared his shoulders and faced the scarecrow head on as it approached.

What? Wasn't he going to run away? What was he going to do, cast a shield like Lilly? Or was Prey about to see the stallion ripped to pieces in front of him? Yes. Yes. Prey wanted yes.

Magic rushed to the tip of Shimmer's horn, coalescing into a disk of sparkling magic in less than a second. Shimmer braced his hooves, then magic shot from his horn, through the shining disk, and emerged from the other side as fire.

It wasn't a destructive fireball, or a huge wave of fire, but a thin stream of orange flame. However it was continuous, it didn't dissipate midair, and it was fast.

The stream of flame struck the scarecrow and splashed almost like water over its head. Nor was Shimmer stopping there, he wrenched his horn around and sent the stream of fire playing over the rest of the monster's body.

Immediately, the rags the scarecrow was dressed in caught ablaze. Vapour and steam billowed forth from the scarecrow's pumpkin head. But for all that, the scarecrow made not a sound nor slowed. Shimmer's fire had no stopping power, it was merely burning heat and flames, which the unliving golem ploughed straight through.

"No!" Atlas yelled as the scarecrow bore down on his temporarily immobilised Corporal. Atlas threw himself at the monster and grabbed hold of one of its hind legs.

His desperate attempt to halt the burning scarecrow's advance was not in vain. His grapple served to distract the scarecrow for a few moments as it turned to deal with the annoyance clinging to its leg.

Atlas's attempt at rescue didn't come without a cost though.

The scarecrow had already proved it could whip its legs about at lethal speeds. That didn't suddenly change just because Atlas was holding onto one end.

The scarecrow jerked its grabbed leg up and then threw it backwards into Atlas. The metal strut dug into Atlas's body as he was hurled off his hooves and sent flying, his grip completely irrelevant. Pegasi are better able to handle sudden acceleration and deceleration than other ponies, and certainly better than other races, but certainly not from being slammed.

Atlas went cartwheeling in a crazily flapping mess of cloak and limp trailing limbs. Prey knew the pegasus's whole world would be spinning, all his organs must be rattling, or possibly even ruptured.

Prey however didn't watch to see how badly Atlas landed, his attention was fixed on Shimmer still burning the scarecrow, and Crimson, the only one left to oppose the monster on the ground. 

Grimly, Crimson raised his wing blades before the scarecrow.

Prey wanted to shout for Crimson to run, but he knew it would do no good. The pegasus would not step aside to let Shimmer die. 

'Why why why? Why are you trying to save his unworthy life?'

Shimmer was still pumping magic through his magical array, shooting flames out to bathe the scarecrow. The magic he was using was terrifying to Prey, but the scarecrow was more terrifying still.

"No fair, why aren't you burning?" Lilly shouted uselessly at the golem, still fighting her own legs to stand up straight, her back pack hanging half off.

For a moment, the scarecrow looked down at the lone Night Guard barring its way, its body half obscured under fire, exactly like something out of a nightmare, and Crimson looked defiantly back up.

Now Crimson was facing down not just the scarecrow, but a scarecrow on fire.

Gloom was limping towards his fallen spear, shouting at Scenic to get Lilly clear, items spilling from his torn saddle bag. Prey's eye zeroed in on the glass bottle which fell with a thunk into the pine needles.

A green glass bottle glowing with slowly flickering internal spellfire.

Prey didn't even need to think, he dashed from behind his tree and sprinted for the fallen bottle.

Prey heard the whoosh of fire behind him as Shimmer continued to flame the scarecrow with increased vigour, Gloom not five paces from him shouting at him to get clear, the whirr and click of the scarecrow.

Everyone else was occupied.

Nobody else could do this but him.

Prey dived, sliding in the dirt and leaf litter to scoop up the bottle. The smooth green glass slipped from his hooves, the bottle was too big for Prey to grasp in only one hoof. He needed both hooves. Prey almost screamed in frustration, he didn't have time for this!

'IHateBeingARunt.'

Prey squeezed his eyes shut and focused. His hoof grew hot, and first one, then two, and finally a third rune slipped from his hoof onto the glass bottle. The effort was immense, rushing like this strained his mind and a pounding headache surged into existence, but it had to be done.

The message-in-a-bottle had fallen from Gloom's saddle bag, ripped open from where the scarecrow had caught the Sargent with its glancing blow. Any glass container should've completely shattered by the force of such an impact, but this bottle hadn't.

Seeing it, Prey had immediately known the answer why; the bottle was enchanted against breaking. It should've been obvious. The message-in-a-bottle spell was worth over a thousand bits, and held stabilised spellfire. Of course it was enchanted against breakages.

But Prey needed it to break, and he needed it to break against the scarecrow right now. But he was physically incapable of throwing it. It was just too big for him to grip in one hoof to throw, he couldn't balance on two hooves, and he couldn't turn and buck it now that he'd destabilised the spellfire even if Prey'd trusted his aim. 

So how was he supposed to toss it at the scarecrow?!

Prey looked around frantically. How-?

Shimmer gave a strained cry of effort and the burning stream of fire sputtered out of existence. Gloom had finally retrieved his spear and was half hopping, half limping forwards to engage the scarecrow again, his deformed armour hobbling him.

Atlas Line lay unmoving where he'd landed, out cold, or maybe he'd snapped his neck. That only left-

"Lilly!" Prey yelled in his squeaky shout, even in the midst of panic hating himself for having anything to do with a unicorn. Lilly and Scenic's heads both snapped round, but neither had time to speak. 

"Throw this at it!" Prey yelled, waving the message bottle in his hooves.

"But-"

"Throw it!"

For once, Lilly did as she was told. Her brow creased in effort, her magic obviously still strained, and got her blue aura back to life.

Prey couldn't help but shout in revulsion and fall back as he let go of the bottle, the 'HorribleFoul DisgustingDangerous' magic taking the bottle from his hooves.

With a grunt Lilly jerked her head, and the bottle flew through the air following the arc of her horn, and straight at the scarecrow.

Three pairs of eyes were locked onto the flying bottle, breath stuck in the owners throats.

All Lilly had to do was levitate the bottle above the flaming scarecrow, and then smash it down against its back. Simple. That was all she had to do. 

But being intelligent like that was apparently asking too much. Instead of levitating it high and hitting the main body, Lilly sent the bottle flying in a straight line, and one of the scarecrow's legs got in the way.

The reinforcing enchantments on the bottle were disabled, even if only briefly. The impact with the fast moving metal leg shattered the glass.

Prey sucked in air to scream some obscenity at Lily for her utter incompetence, no matter if it was already too late, he was just so mad at the dumb mare.

There was a bright flare of white green fire, so bright it made everything else nothing but black and white shadows for a second. Prey heard Crimson and Gloom both shout. There was a muffled *thump*.

Black spots danced danced in Prey's vision. He squinted, trying to see what'd happened.

Light was the first thing to return. The bright orange of the still burning flames, but lower, on the ground. Prey blinked furiously, and as his vision returned, saw that the scarecrow was now down on the dirt, its three remaining legs scrabbling wildly, the fourth just a stump.

The remains of the leg was lying in the pine needles, but the middle section was missing, just completely vanished. It smoked. The scarecrow was lopsided, kicking pine needles everywhere as it tried to alternately stand and attack Shimmer.

"Yes yes! I got it." Lilly cheered.

"What happened?" Crimson asked blankly, still blinking and squinting, his wing blades poised.

"Stay back," Gloom called, waving Crimson back, "I don't know what that was, but it's still dangerous-"

There was another almost blinding white green flare of light. 'Not again.' Prey threw up his foreleg, but it lasted less than a moment. He half lowered his leg. A large chunk of something brown and smooth, the uneven edges blackened and smoking, had appeared in the dirt, covered in, of all things, sheets of flapping paper.

It only took a moment, but Prey recognised the brown wooden chunk as a sizeable portion of what used to be Nighthawk's desk. All those scattering papers were reports. The message-in-a-bottle on the other end had been shattered by something larger than it could contain arriving inside it.

The others weren't so quick in catching on. 

"What is that?" Scenic asked, a bit late.

No one got a chance to reply. The scarecrow raised its three remaining legs high, splaying them wide like a praying mantis, and then stabbed down into the dirt.

*Shhunk*

Slowly, like an obscene puppet on a string jerking and clicking, the scarecrow raised itself back off its belly.

There it stood. It was missing one leg and still on fire, its pumpkin head just a shrivelled, half melted mess by this point, but it still stood. 

Everyone backed away as the scarecrow awkwardly scuttled around on only three legs to face them, using its remaining back leg to act as a rough counter balance in the middle.

"Sweet Celestia, that's just not fair." Scenic whined. 

Shimmer and Lilly looked to be out of magic. Gloom and Atlas were both injured. Prey and Scenic were next to useless in a fight. In fact it was only Crimson who was still in anything resembling fighting condition.

A burning piece of something fell from the scarecrow's body and hissed out on the damp pine needles.

With a whirring of springs, the scarecrow turned about, and started scuttling off into the mist. 

They all stared, lost for words as the scarecrow retreated back the way it'd come. The stump of its missing leg continued to move and rotate in sync as it began to fade into the mist.

'It's creator called it back,' Prey realised, 'Because it's damaged, they're recalling it.'

"It's... letting us go?" Scenic croaked.

Lilly stared, then shouted angrily, "Hey! Hey we're not done with you yet!" She took a step forwards, but Gloom's voice brought her up short like the crack of a whip.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"But sir, it's getting away sir." Lilly protested, weakly pointing after the scarecrow.

"Look around you Lilly! Do any of us look in any condition to go after that thing?" Gloom demanded.

He was angry, he was hurt, they'd almost been killed, again, and he was still as taut as a bow string expecting to die at any moment. And now Lilly was focusing on the wrong thing yet again. 

"Look at us Lilly Blossom! We drew. Seven against one, and the best outcome we got was a draw. A draw! Just a draw!" He shouted at her, then staggered.

Crimson was at Gloom's side in second, "How badly are you injured, sir?"

Gloom shook him off, "Forget about me, help Atlas first. Prey, Scenic, who else is hurt?" Gloom called, raising his voice.

"Fine, fine. I'm still alive and fine," Scenic said faintly, then his pale lips started twitching:

"I can't believe it. I'm still alive. Still alive and fine. Twice in one day!" He declared, sounding disbelievingly happy.

"What just happened? What was that and how did it get here?" Shimmer asked, managing to point at the charred lump of Nighthawk's desk and paper strewn forest floor. The unicorn was having to brace himself to stay upright, breathing heavily as his camouflage cloak trailed in the dirt.

Gloom squinted at the mess, rather distracted by the pain from his hind quarters, before warily eyeing the twisted half of the scarecrow's leg where it lay  in the pine needles.

"It is, well it was part of a desk. My captain's desk. I think, the message bottle, it sent the scarecrow's leg to Captain Nighthawk. But it must've been too big and broken the bottle on the other end, and this is what came back."

"What? Sargent Gloom, please explain this. I was not aware you had any magical weapons on you." Shimmer demanded between gasps for air.

"I don't, it's not a-it wasn't supposed to be. It was just supposed to send messages back, but Lilly threw it at the scarecrow. That was you right, Lilly?" Gloom checked, but his eyes were fixed worriedly on Crimson who was checking Atlas.

"Sir, yes sir." Lilly declared proudly. 

"Quick thinking. Scenic, Prey, help Crimson. Hurry, we can't stay here." Gloom ordered, inhaling sharply as he felt at his own side.

Shimmer himself seemed to have finally gotten back enough strength to walk, because he hurried over to his downed subordinate. Prey, who'd reluctantly been going over like Gloom'd ordered, immediately halted and backed away instead of making even a token effort to help.

Everything still felt charged, like something else bad was just waiting to happen.

"Atlas is breathing. I can't find anything broken sir." Crimson declared, using his wing tips to cautiously probe the unconscious pegasus's head and neck.

"Let me see." Shimmer demanded, almost shoving Scenic and Crimson aside to get to Atlas, Prey barely contained a hiss as the unicorn barged past Crimson.

"We can't stay here," Gloom declared out loud again, looking around in worry, "That thing might come back. Or it might send the kindersnatches instead." 

"Where sir?" Scenic asked, "I mean, where should we go sir?"

Gloom winced and pressed a hoof to his side, "Anywhere but here, before whatever mad pony that's in control of the scarecrow changes their mind and sends it back to finish the job."

"Or another monster turns up," Prey joined in, looking warily around at at the trees, "We're still in the forest. There's plenty of the normal variety to go around."

Gloom was right when he'd said they needed to get out of here. The noise of their fight would've driven some monsters away, but also attracted others. Prey refused to be here when one of the latter turned up looking for a free meal. He pressed a hoof to his head. The headache was still throbbing away behind his eyes, and his legs still didn't feel completely solid. But excluding Scenic, he was probably the person in the best condition here.

"Just as Prey said," Gloom agreed, his mouth set in a grim line, "Corporal Shimmer, can Atlas be moved? We can't stay here."

Shimmer didn't look up from running his glowing horn over Atlas, "I'm still assessing him, and I've got almost no magic left. Please stop distracting me." 

Gloom bit his lip instead of telling Shimmer to make it quick. 

'-his friend might be permanently injured, and he's going as fast as he can-'

Prey knew they should either move Atlas despite any internal injuries, or just leave him. He was a Border Guard for one, and for another, staying here would likely mean death from one source or another. 

Prey wanted to just leave Atlas Line. Let Shimmer stay behind too, that would be even better.

He sidled up to Gloom. The thestral was breathing slowly in and out, gingerly testing his hind leg. "We should just go. It's dangerous here, and if Shimmer isn't willing to risk moving-"

"For Luna's sake Prey, can't you ever just-! Agkk." Gloom's breath left him in a rasping wheeze as he extended his leg too far and the deformed armour caught.

It took a moment for Gloom to get his breath back, and when he did, Prey saw sweat on his brow. He blinked at Prey. 

"What were you-? Never mind. Help me gather everything that fell out of my saddle bag. We can't afford to waste anything right now, especially with your bag gone too. And grab those papers too. Captain Nighthawk isn't going to be too happy about me destroying his desk when I get back." Gloom said with a forced chuckle.

Prey wanted to protest that they didn't have the time to waste on something so trivial, but doing so would just waste that same precious time. Prey looked around at the shrouded forest. The trees seemed to be watching them reproachfully, disapproving of the mess they'd made. For a second, Prey even wondered if the trees were calling for more monsters to come and take revenge on the intruders in their midst.

The sooner he finished grabbing everything, the sooner they could get out of this mist and menacing forest.

"Leave that alone," Gloom ordered Lilly, who was poking at the severed scarecrow's leg, "Use your magic to break down or find two long branches. It look's like we'll need to make a stretcher for Atlas Line."

"No, forget that. There's no need," Shimmer announced, relief projected in his voice, "He's waking up now."

Prey could've told them that. When someone was knocked unconscious, usually they woke up within a few minutes. And if they didn't...Well, then the chances increased that they wouldn't wake up at all.

Prey heard Atlas make a noise that was probably supposed to be words, but ended up sounding nothing like the sort. His eyes cracked open and squinted about him.

"Back up, give him some room." Shimmer snapped at Crimson and Scenic, who were bending down over the prone pegasus.

"Shimmer Corporal...You of two... Hm?" Atlas managed to slur.

"You took a bad hit from the scarecrow. I'm sorry I was not there to protect you."

"Wha...? No, that was my own fault." Atlas protested, already sounding much more lucid.

"No, I'm the Corporal. It's my responsibility. You did your best, and you were only trying to stall the monster for me. Unfortunately, we're in a bit of a bind now." Shimmer sighed, looking up and around.

"What?" Atlas asked, then suddenly sat bolt upright, "The Night Guards, they're-Arrgh!"

Atlas slumped back to the ground, his face screwed up and rapidly going white.

"What?! What's the matter?" Scenic demanded in panic, rushing forwards again, however a hoof in his path from Crimson stopped him:

"The Corporal is right. Give Atlas some room."

"Don't worry. The ISND are fine," Shimmer said, giving Crimson a nod of thanks, "Or mostly fine. But don't worry about them, worry about yourself. I don't want to rush you, but Sargent Gloom needs to get us out of here. How badly are you hurt?"

"I'll be fine, I just, I just need to get my breath back." Atlas managed to gasp out.

He wasn't fooling anyone. 

"How badly are you hurt private?" Shimmer repeated, his tone no nonsense.

"I can walk sir, that'll have to be good enough."

"His wing is sprained." Crimson spoke up, pointing at the other pegasus's left wing where the cloak had ridden up over it.

"He landed on the joint and it bent backwards. It's sprained. Or maybe dislocated. Or broken." Crimson observed.

Shimmer frowned at Crimson for his seemingly callous tone, but he was far more interested in helping Atlas. "How does it feel? Do you think you can sit up?"

"I, I don't think it's broken. I can move it, just about." Atlas said weakly, "Help me sit up please?"

Prey tried to ignore them and focused instead on listening out for approaching danger, hurriedly running between pages and dropped supplies from Gloom's saddle bag. Why couldn't they hurry up? Or help him finish if it was so damned important? They were going to get killed if they stayed here.

'If another monster comes, I'm running and abandoning you all. I'll think up a believable excuse for Luna later.' Prey thought, grabbing another fallen report from off the kicked up dirt, bringing a hoof full of pine needles along with it.

Prey darkly considered that even out here in the middle of nowhere, the bureaucracy of Canterlot paperwork had somehow managed to follow them.

A shaky Atlas Line was back on his hooves by now, wing tightly clenched to his side. A pegasus's wings were often their strongest limbs, so it took a comparative amount of force to strain one. But it wasn't just that, the side of his jaw was slowly swelling up, he was holding his side, and one of his eyes was bloodshot.

Atlas didn't look healthy, (not that Prey cared), but Gloom decided it would have to do. 

'-if we stay here, a sprained wing will be the least of our troubles-'

Prey viciously hoped Atlas would never fly again. He remembered what they'd done in the Resistance to captured pegasi Border Guards.

"Is everypony able to walk?" Gloom asked them, "We can't stay here any longer. We need to get out of this forest."

"But sir, what about the scarecrow and rescuing the ponies from the kindersnatches sir?" Lilly immediately asked.

Gloom didn't give two hoots about confronting the scarecrow, but the villagers...

Gritting his fangs, Gloom could only bitterly shake his head, "We're in no condition to help anypony. We've got to recover first. If we go in now, we're only going to get ourselves killed, and then whose going to help them?"

"Agreed," Shimmer said, half supporting Atlas on his shoulder, "We can try again later. I still have my tracker on the scarecrow, so this wasn't a total failure."

Gloom blinked; '-oh yes. I'd quite forgotten about that-'

"Did it not get burned up by your fire?" Gloom asked.

"No, it's heavy duty. It'll take more than fire to destroy that tracker, and it's stuck on with magic. I can definitely still find it when the time comes." Shimmer replied.

"It's probably a good thing you only took off its leg with that bottle then Lilly. If you'd destroyed it, then we'd never be able to track it back to its lair." Scenic encouraged Lilly.

Yes. A good thing. Renaming failure as success. Prey despised Scenic, he despised Lilly for not throwing the message bottle right, he despised Atlas for still being alive, he despised everything right now. Prey had to close his eyes and breathed.

"Can you tell where the scarecrow is right now? Is it sneaking up on us?" He heard Gloom ask.

Prey opened his eyes to see that Shimmer was slowly shaking his head, "My magic reserves aren't big to begin with, and what with checking Atlas just now and my fire spell, I'm completely out. Even if I had the strength right now..."

Shimmer didn't need to finish. They were still in the forest and in danger here.

"We're wasting time standing around. Sunlight's burning and danger's coming." Shimmer said instead, looking meaningfully at Atlas and Gloom, whose injuries were going to slow their pace.

Gloom wanted to curse at all of this, he really did. He wanted to kick whichever pony's fault this was in the teeth, or just collapse into a bed and sleep for a week. Unfortunately, neither was an option. 

'-and swearing up a storm really isn't  going to help calm anypony down-'

Gloom tested his hind leg in the deformed armour, and found he could bend it reasonably far as long as he didn't over do it, "Right, I can walk, so let's move. We can follow the old road safely out of here. At least one thing is as it appears in these infernal, Luna blighted, Moon rotted, clan cursed trees!"

"You're bleeding sir, under your armour." Crimson said.

"I know, I can feel it, but we can't stop here. It's not much, I'll be fine until we're somewhere safe."

"Are you sure-?"

"Yes. Keep going." Gloom ordered.

"Yes sir."

Crimson quickly took point to lead the way. He was the only one capable of that role right now.

Shimmer helped Atlas over some tree roots, "I'll wrap your wing when we get out. Just try and keep it still until we get out of here." He instructed.

Scenic looked between the half limping, half staggering Gloom, and then his own bulging back pack. He bit his lip, then quickly slipped his pack off and shoved it onto Prey, "I'm sorry, but here, carry this. I need to help Sargent Gloom."

Prey gasped and staggered under the sudden weight, unable to protest as he tried not to drop the overloaded back pack. It was far heavier and bulkier than his own had been, before it'd fallen over the ravine tangled around that kindersnatch.
What had Scenic packed, useless bars of gold?

Prey finally managed to get the backpack balanced on his back, and then promptly considered whether he should just dump the whole thing. Would it be worth lugging around when there might be something on their tails? Prey checked Scenic, and saw that the Earth pony was more or less half carrying Gloom over his back.

"This isn't necessary-" 

"I've got you sir. Don't worry, I'm an Earth pony, this is easy."

'An Earth pony who'd just blithely dumped his heavy bag on the weakest member because he didn't realise his own inherent strength.' Prey thought, staggering as fast as he could after them. But there was no time to protest, as long as they were in the forest, their lives were in danger. He could complain once they were out.

Prey felt a shiver go down his spine and he whipped his head round, for a moment his own ears obscuring his view as they swung and settled.

Had he just heard something?

Grey mist, pine trees, thorny undergrowth. All Prey saw was the forest, the same as it had been all day when passing through its reaches.

Or perhaps it'd always been the forest's clutches.

Prey stared deep into the shadows and mist. Then turning tail, he ran, or rather stumbled to catch up with Gloom and Scenic who was helping the Sargent move.

"Hey?" Prey whispered, "Guys? I think we're being followed."

"Moon blight," Gloom hissed, and Scenic's ears went flat, "Are you certain?"

Prey refrained from turning around to check, "No."

His answer should've come as a relief. It brought none. It only made things worse.


---


Where can the line between safety and danger be drawn? 

Prey had asked himself that question yesterday, and defined it as the moment you set hoof into the forest's shadow. But now the line had been redrawn.

Exiting out into the sudden openness, the crisp air of evening played over his sweaty face. It felt so wide without trees penning him in on all sides, and the much missed light of the sun greeted him. But even leaving the shadow of the forest and its watchful cloyingness, Prey no longer felt safer.

The air was chill. Mayflower lay in front of them, just as silent and abandoned as when last they'd seen it. 

Yet now, knowing what had caused the inhabitants to vanish, the village felt even more tainted and wrong than before.

But no matter what it felt and looked like, it was shelter and a place to rest, and they were in no position to be picky. Need makes beggars out of everyone.

When your legs are shaking from a forced march, drained from running for your life, and you're hollowed out from fighting twisted, black magic creations, you'll take even a haunted ghost town.

They weren't safe, they knew all that. But this was as far as they could go right now.

Danger would have to wait, even discounting the two Border Guard traitors in their midst.

Prey dumped Scenic's back pack in the middle of the hamlet, and made straight for the stream. The water cut right through the village, thus Prey didn't have to stray out of anyone's sight as he knelt and gulped the brackish water.

It was gritty and unpleasant, black fragments from the stream's bed mixing into it, but it was water, and Prey was thirstily gulped it down like it came from the purest glacier spring. Both of his canteens had been lost along with his pack, and besides, the villagers had no doubt used this same steam everyday, so it must be fine.

Only once his thirst had been quenched did Prey splash some of the cold water on his face, and sit back on the dirt to take in his surroundings afresh.

A few yards back, everyone else was doing the same, taking a minute to rest shaky legs and recover their wind. Their flight from the forest had been as tiring as it'd been nerve wracking.

Prey tilted his head back to look up at the closest house, for the moment ignoring the others, not wanting to have to think about the two Border Guards for now.

Dark ivy crowned the eves of the wooden home, seemingly even more advanced and wild than yesterday. Surely the weeds and mould couldn't have increased that much? Already he could see the ivy trying to force its way through even the smallest cracks in the planks.

Prey used the back of a furry ear to wipe lingering water droplets from his face, a bad habit, and sat up.

Prey saw the hated figure of Shimmer helping bind Atlas's sprained wing. Turns out it really wasn't broken, but they were still using a splint. The pegasus's jaw was clenched, and he was trying to remain still as Shimmer's aura bound the wing up with a bandage.

Prey shuddered in revulsion at the mere thought of letting anyone use magic on you like that, even more so on an injured limb.

Prey's eyes sought out the other injured member in their party, one whom he didn't hate nearly as much. Gloom was lying down on his belly at an awkward angle, examining the deformed armour covering his injured flank. The rest of the ISND were crowded uselessly around.

"Look, go away. You're not helping." Gloom snapped.

"Bur sir, we can-"

"I get that you want to help, but I hardly need all of you. Scenic, go look through these houses and try and find the best one. We might be here a while. Lilly, I want you to keep watch on the forest. If something comes out, I want to know straight away. And for Luna's sake both of you, eat and drink something first before you collapse." Gloom shooed them away.

Prey could clearly see that the Sargent was just giving them orders to keep them occupied and out of his way.

"Not you Crimson, you stay," Gloom ordered, "I'm going to need somepony to help me get this armour off."

Prey waited until Scenic and Lilly had left before standing and approaching, dragging the heavy backpack behind him. Now that he was closer, he could see how tired Gloom really looked, at odds with the face he'd been presenting to Scenic and Lilly.

"Prey." Gloom grunted, barely glanced up at Prey's approach, focused on getting the straps of his armour undone.

Prey made a noise of acknowledgement, and peered closer at the deformed armour. The scarecrow's blow had hit the plate, called the crupper, off-center, and badly dented the piece of armour in. Its new shape was such that it didn't look like it was going to come off. At least, not without applying some blunt force. It also looked like it hurt.

"Need to get this off sir." Crimson said, stating the obvious.

Gloom grimaced, "It's stuck. You're going to need to pull it off."

"Yes sir," Crimson nodded, "Shall I do it now?"

Gloom let out his breath, "The sooner you start, the sooner it'll be done."

"I'll be quick sir."

"It's too badly dented. You'll need a lever of some kind." Prey observed.

"A broom or spade handle would do. One of the houses must have one. " Gloom said, speaking very matter of factly. Truth was, Prey knew Gloom was just tying not to think too hard about his injury under the armour.

"I'll go check." Crimson said, trotting into the closest house, stepping over the dense fringe of weeds growing at the door step.

A raven cawed sharply nearby, causing everyone to freeze for a tense second.

Gloom looked at Prey, keeping his tufted ears carefully neutral, "I didn't think about it before, we were too busy trying not to die, but did you say you pushed that kindersnatch off the ravine?" He asked.

There was silence for a minute. 

"That I did."

There was another silence. Prey knew Crimson had definitely heard them from inside the house.

Gloom's jaw clenched and he looked away at the abandoned homes of Mayflower, "Again it's happened. Innocents, and my failings." Gloom muttered. Prey probably wasn't meant to overhear.

"He or she might've survived," Prey offered after a moment, "I didn't see the kindersnatch land, and there was water at the bottom."

Gloom pressed a hoof over his eyes, "I, you...that's not...The responsibility..." 

Gloom broke off and shook his head vigorously, "This, things can't keep going like this. When this is over, when we get back to Canterlot... We're going to talk."

'-I swear I'll stop putting it off and do my duty. But just this once, please let it wait-'

'If we survive to get back to Canterlot in the first place.' Prey couldn't help but think. The possibility of death seemed scarily real and likely at the moment.

Crimson emerged from the shadowed doorway, holding a well worn broom, the brush made from bundled twigs. He wordlessly held it up. Gloom nodded, "Alright, give it a try."

Crimson managed to wedge the end of the broom handle under the bent up edge of the armour, and began applying pressure to the other end. Gloom let out a rasping growl of pain, his neck muscles tensing up as Crimson levered the damaged metal free, but otherwise the Sargent didn't react.

The bent edge of the silvery armour finally unhooked from the upper piece it was deformed into with a scraping noise, and Crimson could then pull it the rest of the way off by hoof. Gloom had to take a moment to brace himself before he looked at his side, but when he did, he let out a breath of relief.

"Whew. It feels much worse than it is. Glad that's off."

The armour had no doubt saved Gloom from having his thigh broken in half, spreading the force of the blow across the whole plate of metal. However that did however mean the plate had been driven into Gloom's flesh, savagely bruising the entire area of course. A small price to pay.

Unfortunately that wasn't the extent of the damage. If it was, Prey knew Gloom wouldn't have raised such a fuss, or as much of a fuss as a clan thestral ever raised anyway.

In almost a perfect outline of the removed piece of armour, where the plate had been driven in, the flesh had been cut. That must hurt, a wound on top of a bruise. The cut was crusted over by now, but it was on Gloom's flank and subject to splitting back open every time the thestral took a step.

Prey couldn't help but immediately analyse the injury. The blood needed to be washed out of the fur and the cut cleaned to prevent possible infection, but aside from one bit where the corner of the armour had been driven particularly deep into the flesh, so that was something. 

'Wrong place to take a bandage, but a poultice to seal the wound and ease the swelling will be all that's required.' Prey thought critically.

Gloom sucked in air through his teeth in resignation, "Crimson, get the medical kit from my pack would you? It's going to need stitches."

"The unbroken one?" Crimson asked, reaching for the two saddle bags, one torn, that Gloom had dropped the moment they'd stopped and now didn't have the energy to reach for.

"Yeah. I know I packed one in there."

Prey thought of the two medical kits he himself had packed, and had been lost down the ravine. Prey frowned as Crimson searched, "Aren't you going to wash it out first?" He asked.

"Then get a cloth and water then and you can help me." Gloom said shortly.

'Physical contact with someone else?' Prey thought. No thanks. That was an unpleasantness he'd rather avoid. It was almost as bad as someone touching him, even if he was the one in control and with the ability to shred a mind with said touch. 

That ability was one of the very reasons for his reluctance.

"I'll get you that, and make you a poultice instead." Prey offered.

Gloom almost refused on principle of poultices just being a dubious folklore remedy, but it was Prey who was offering. "Does that actually work?"

"Yes. It'll disinfect the cut and help with the swelling."

Gloom was still sceptical. He looked around at the deserted village, "And you can make one right here? Nopony is leaving anypony else's line of sight until we're safely back in Alfalfa Dale, even to go to the toilet."

"Easily. The necessary plants are all around us. About the other bit though..." Now it was Prey's turn to hesitate, "I think it's a bit unlikely we'll make it back to Alfalfa Dale."

"Because you think I can't walk?"

"Yes," Prey said frankly, "And not just you. We're all worn down. We won't make it before dark."

"That's no problem, we'll walk in the night then. Moon light never hurt nopony. I'll manage, you don't have to worry about me Prey." Gloom said, as Crimson found the first aid box and brought it back.

'I wasn't.' 

Prey had a different concern. Namely, what might come out of the forest after them. Mayflower had been the only place they could run to, and thus was also the first place the scarecrow's master would expect them to flee. If he or she had a second scarecrow they could send.... 

They hadn't been able to outrun the scarecrow the first time, nor the second. Now they were exhausted, and with Gloom injured, the chances didn't look good if it came down to a third round.

Gloom misinterpreted Prey's silence, "Go get the things for this poultice of yours Prey if you think it'll help. I'm not going anywhere just yet, we all need to recover for a few minutes."

Prey rubbed at his cheek in tiredness and did as Gloom ordered, avoiding Crimson's eye as the pegasus pulled out a sterilised needle from the box.


---


Prey knew what ingredients to look for. How many times had he made a basic healing poultice from whatever plant and herb components he could find to hoof? How many times had Snake for that matter?

When boiled down to it, every plant in the world was one of two things. Helpful or harmful. Sometimes both. All that varied was how far to one side of the scale the plant weighed. You just had to know which was which and what they did.

Prey only needed a few things for a basic poultice. An anti-septic, and a numbing agent. Prey easily found a Storm Wort bush and some stubby False Happledock. He would've preferred something stronger, like Hedgemares Horn, which also possessed anti-inflammatory properties, but these would have to do.

Grabbing a bunch of leaves from the first and the stems from the second, Prey hurried back, passing Lilly who was keeping guard and giving her a wide berth. He still hated the unicorn, her success in helping ward off the scarecrow not withstanding.

But his hate for her paled in comparison to the feeling he got whenever he saw Atlas or Shimmer. The injured pegasus was resting against a wall, grey faced and sweating, recovering after having his dislocated wing bound. Shimmer was keeping an eye on the other end of the village and going over his map again.

Prey dumped his finds onto the ground next to Gloom, where Crimson was bent over Gloom's side, thread and needle in the side of his mouth, and purposefully blocking Gloom's line of sight.

'-I hate needles, I hate needles, I hate needles-', Gloom was thinking.

"Have you finished sewing it up yet?" Prey asked, sorting through his finds while still keeping half an eye on their creepy surroundings at all times.

"He hasn't even started yet." Gloom said, not turning his head back to look.

"Sorry sir. This needle is too small. I mean, I can't get it right." Crimson said, staring hard at the needle as he tried to unsuccessfully thread it.

Stitching was not something made for pegasi or Earth ponies. They had to use their mouths to do the actual sewing if there were no hoof thimble holders. There wasn't one in this medical kit, a dumb oversight by the ponies who'd made it.

"Lilly would be better suited to sewing this sir." Crimson said.

"No," Gloom shook his head quickly, "I...don't trust her to stitch it properly, and then I'm back to square one all over again."

Crimson nodded, understanding exactly what Gloom meant. He looked over at the two Border Guards, "Corporal Shimmer would probably be the best then."

"No!" Prey immediately protested. 

"They've done nothing wrong Prey!" Gloom growled, "Get over your silly prejudices-" 

Prey shook his head. He didn't want Shimmer anywhere near. "No. I'll do it."

Gloom winced, "No thanks. I'll take my chances with Shimmer-"

"I know what I'm doing. Give it here." Prey demanded, holding his hoof out to Crimson.

Crimson refrained, looking to Gloom first for permission, since it was him who was about to have a needle stabbed into his flesh. Gloom did not look happy about either suggestion. "Shimmer will have finer control with his magic than your hooves Prey, and it's my flank, thank you very much." 

"I know what I'm doing." Prey said, emphasizing his cleft hooves by giving them a wiggle, "I can grip the needle just fine without a thimble. Unlike you two."

"Do you know how to stitch up a cut though?" Gloom asked.

"I've done it before."

"Oh yeah? When."

"On myself. Now hoof me that needle please, we're wasting time."

"On yourself?"

Prey paused, "Yes, once."

"Why? And 'once' hardly counts as 'lots' of experience."

"I've stitched up other people a few times too." Prey said, choosing to only answer the second part of Gloom's question.

"That's just raising even more questions," Gloom groaned, "And why did you even have to stitch yourself up in the first place?"

"Because there was no one else around just then. I'd cut my leg on a piece of broken glass. I didn't have much choice if I wanted it to heal." Lie, lie, truth.

"Alright. Let's see the scar then." Gloom challenged.

"No! Don't touch me," Prey immediately shrunk away, "Look, do you want me to sow you up or not? We're on a deadline, in case you'd forgotten."

That was true. They didn't really have the time to be picky. Gloom silently nodded to Crimson, who just as wordlessly passed the needle and thread to Prey.

Prey all but snatched them, only refraining outright because of whom it was giving them. "Thank you Crimson." He said, then, speaking to Gloom: 

"You might not want to watch. It'll make you tense up and then it'll just hurt twice as badly."

"I'm very much aware of that fact, thank you." Gloom rasped.

Prey shrugged as he deftly threaded the needle on his first try, "Suit yourself."

Prey moved over to Gloom's side and gave the cut another once over. Crimson had brought Gloom some water and the Sargent had already washed it clean himself. Prey brought the needle close and Gloom couldn't help but flinch.

Prey jerked backwards and glowered at Gloom. Gloom forced himself to breathe out and relax, "Sorry. Alright, I'm ready now."

'You'd better be, because if you do that again I'm going to leave you with a needle and thread halfway through your flank.' Prey thought. Truth was, this was bringing back all sorts of bad memories, and he was too tired and shook up from the scarecrow to properly corral them back into the cage where they belonged.

'Six stitches at the deepest point. No more required. Easy.' Prey told himself, and made the first stab.

And it was easy. Extremely so. In fact, it went far better than Prey was expecting.

The thread was even, thin and strong, while the needle was sharp and straight, unlike the gut and bone needles he was so used to working with. Gloom had excellent skin too. It didn't break or tear, it had just the right amount of slack mixed with springiness. It was not the kind of thing a normal person would've appreciated. It was almost a pleasure to work with such tools.

Prey tugged off the last of the thread and wiped the smears of blood off his hoof tips on the dirt. Crimson watched him with a weird look in his eyes. 

"What?"

"Nothing. That was... Fast. Very neat. Nice small stitches, I mean."

"Thank you." Prey said, already beginning to mash the Happledock and Wort between two stream smoothed stones. Snake had always been good at what he did, be it cures or poisons.

"You were good," Gloom agreed, soundly slightly disturbed but also relieved, "I barely felt it."

"Well you're going to feel this." Prey said without sympathy, and slapped the greenish pulp he'd collected on top of the freshly stitched cut.

Gloom wheezed and his slit pupils shrank into black pencil lines.

"The burning sting is supposed to be there. It means it's working. Don't worry, it'll pass in a minute and go numb." Prey said, delicately using his hoof to smear the mess across the rest of the affected area.

"Glad to hear it." Gloom managed to rasp.

"Now you just need to pack it on. Crimson, would you please fetch me some of those large Rickshawl leaves?" Prey asked.

Crimson complied, and  Prey placed the multi-haired leaves face down over the poultice. The fine hairs stuck to the mixture and Gloom's fur, making a rough seal. Prey nodded at the end result, satisfied.

"Don't move or overly jostle it, and it shouldn't fall off."

"Thanks Prey. That was oddly....Professional I think the word is. Did you want to be a doctor growing up?" Gloom asked, examining Prey's work.

"No, it was not what I had envisioned for my future." Prey said, turning away to eye the deserted village around them. Just then, his stomach gurgled. Gloom and Crimson heard it.

'-that's right, none of us have eaten-', Gloom realised. They'd been a wee bit occupied with not dying to think about being peckish.

"We all need to eat. We've got to keep our strength up." Gloom declared, carefully rising to his hooves. He gave the poultice a wary look, but true to Prey's word, it wasn't going to fall off just from Gloom simply walking around.

"Get everypony else together, we've got to eat. And plan. Ask Corporal Shimmer and Atlas to join us if you would." Gloom said glancing at the sky and pretending not to notice the way Prey's face twisted at the two Border Guard names.

"And if Shimmer's recovered his magic enough to try and find his tracer, then all the better."

Prey turned away and marched towards the stream. He needed to wash the poultice juices and lingering traces of blood off his hooves. No doubt Crimson would still be able to smell the blood, but there was no reason he himself wanted to. And he wanted nothing to do with the Border Guard.

Gloom blankly watched him go, thoughts going back to a cellar full of; '-little rat eyes in the dark-'

Habit made Prey still keep careful watch out of the corner of his eye as Gloom limped over to Atlas and Shimmer, the later staring hard at the forest's edge, less than thirty paces away, and far too close for comfort.

It was quiet, very quiet, and Prey could hear what they said easily.

"Thank you for you help in the forest fighting that thing. Atlas, you put yourself in the line of danger and paid for it." Gloom said quietly.

'Help? What help? They did nothing, it was me who thought to use the message bottle and Lilly took the credit anyway. All those two did was make the situation worse.' Prey fumed, scrubbing his hooves hard in the unpleasantly cold water.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Shimmer who replied with the useless platitude Prey was expecting, but Atlas speaking for himself for once.

"It's an injury taken in the line of duty, I would do the same again. Besides, I was hardly the only one hurt, sir." Atlas added, shaking his head and looking like he was trying not to grimace as even the small movement transmitted back to his injured wing.

Shimmer himself was still staring into the forest, eyes narrowed, and hadn't turned at Gloom's approach.

"Is something the matter?" Gloom asked, suspiciously following Shimmer's gaze.

"That's the question I'm working on." Shimmer slowly replied.

When Shimmer didn't elaborate further, Gloom just went ahead, "I came over to say we all need to eat and make a plan. If your magic has recovered enough to find the tracer you placed on the scarecrow, that would also be great."

Shimmer didn't stop staring at the forest, "Well you see Gloom, that's the thing... It already has, and I already did."

"And? What did you find?" Gloom asked with a sinking feeling.

"My spell is telling me the same thing it's been telling me for the last five minutes. That the tracer is sitting less than two hundred yards inside the tree line."


---


Fear.

Why was the scarecrow just inside the tree line? How had it followed them? Why was it waiting instead of attacking? What was the warlock controlling it planning? What was going on? Were kindersnatches coming in as scarecrow backup, and they were about to get swarmed?

None of them knew.

Lilly Blossom was raging, and not very privately either, "Buck this, buck the forest, buck the scarecrow and buck that! It's right there! Why aren't we going out there to blast it?"

She ranting was more or less just to herself by this point, and was getting ignored. No one had the time to pay attention to her. They were all a little bit too busy trying to prepare for whatever was about to happen.

"It's watching us. Somehow, it knows we're here. It's waiting for us to make the first move." Prey said.

"Why would it do that? Scratch that, it doesn't have a brain. Why's this bastard warlock having it lurk just out there?"

"Be calm Atlas. This warlock is obviously being cautious. Look what we did to their scarecrow last time. We blew its leg off. Obviously they're not willing to risk their golem again, at least for now. That might change if we make a move however."

"But we don't have any more message-in-a-bottles." Scenic said nervously.

"Shhh! They don't know that, do they? What if they have someway to listen in on us?"

Gloom's eyes never left the tree line, "We've already damaged and driven off the scarecrow once before. So they're just keeping the scarecrow back and waiting for now."

"Waiting for what, do you think sir?" Crimson asked, wings tensed.

"Reinforcements?" Prey suggested.

"Or just to make sure we don't leave Mayflower. It's probably waiting to attack if we try to enter the forest again." Gloom guessed.

Shimmer was periodically recasting his spell, each time confirming that the scarecrow was still in exactly the same place. Waiting. 

"Yes, it's weakened. As long as we're in Mayflower, we have the terrain advantage and can use houses for cover. But if we try to go back to Alfalfa Dale, it'll run us down once we're out in the open."

"No, out in the open it would be us who, uh, held the advantage, wouldn't it?" Scenic disagreed nervously, chewing his lip, "Wouldn't we be able to outrun it on only three legs now? And it was only because of all the trees you couldn't fly around and beat it in the air like you did at the ravine, sir."

Shimmer made a visible effort to smooth out his scowl, "We're all under pressure right now, but you're not thinking, Private. How many of us are able to fly or run now? Atlas is too injured, your Sargent is hurt too, and we're all the worse for wear. It's a three hour trip back to Alfalfa Dale. Do you think you could successfully gallop the whole way if the scarecrow is after you?"

"Oh."

They were in a bad position. The Border Guard Corporal didn't have to spell it out. Meanwhile, back in Alfalfa Dale, it was safe, with reinforcements set to arrive on the train tomorrow morning.

However the border town may as well have been a thousand miles away for all the good it did them right now. How were they supposed to get back to Alfalfa Dale with the scarecrow and who knew what else on guard?

They wouldn't make it back, not unless they all split up and went in different directions, but that would mean sacrificing at least one, probably two of their number. Those were not odds Prey was willing to take, especially since he was the slowest of them all over open ground.

It would be foolish to pit themselves against the scarecrow's greatest strength. It was a golem. It did not tire or stop. It would chase them until it was physically unable to, or its task was completed. Fifteen miles to Alfalfa Dale was a long way.

Prey imagined the scarecrow chasing them down and skewering them on its metal legs one by one.

'What do I do? How do I, no, how do we get out of this?' He stared unseeingly at the dark pines, expecting at any moment for the scarecrow to burst forth. He mentally did not include the two hated Border Guards in that 'we.'

Even if Shimmer and Atlas hadn't been filthy lying Border Guards, he wouldn't have trusted them. He couldn't read Shimmer's thoughts, those mental walls bounced everything back, and Atlas followed Shimmer's every instruction. Shimmer was hiding something, Prey knew it. Was the stallion even telling the truth about the scarecrow waiting just out there?

Could he be lying? Could this could be a trap of some kind? Was Shimmer purposefully trying to keep them trapped here in Mayflower rather than returning to Alfalfa Dale ? Prey desperately wanted to torture the answers out of the hated unicorn.

He wanted them both dead.

Unfortunately, Prey was afraid they might all be dead soon.

Prey swallowed the dry lump in his throat, 'Don't you dare be a crybaby.' No. Even if everyone else died, Prey was going to survive this. And Crimson too. He owed Crimson. He wouldn't even be blamed if any of the others died. Luna couldn't blame him for this. Could she? Kindersnatches, scarecrow's, warlocks, golems, it was all way beyond his control. But would the dark alicorn see it that way?

Why was he wasting time panicking like this? Prey shook his head. It helped nothing. Either the scarecrow would attack, or it would not.

"We've got to make a decision, and we've got to make it right now," Gloom said, voice cutting through everyone else, "We know the scarecrow's out there, but not why. We've got to decide upon a plan, and go for it. We don't have time to second guess ourselves."

Shimmer looked sharply at Gloom, "As respectively the Sargent and Corporal, the decision falls upon both our shoulders, as does the responsibility. My job, first and foremost, is to get as many ponies out of this alive as possible."

It was clear who Shimmer was talking about, and where his priorities lay. With his wounded squad mate, Atlas. 

'-if only I'd rolled with the landing-', The pegasus tried to hide his shame for being careless enough to get himself injured, putting them all in this dilemma.

"It is our duty yes," Gloom agreed, "But I want to know what my squad has to say. If they're going to be risking their lives beside me, they have the right to add their input."

'Ha. Take that. You'll not get your own way this time.' Prey thought, glaring at Shimmer's back. When the unicorn snapped his eyes around, Prey studiously went back to watching the tree line.

"Make it quick then," Shimmer said, returning his own worried gaze to the forest, "Celestia only knows how long that thing's content to wait."

"Uh, sir? Can I ask about that?"

'-we don't have time for this dithering, just speak your mind already!-', Gloom cleared his throat, as patient as he could manage, "Yes Scenic?"

"Don't we only have two choices sir? Stay here, or try and get back to Alfalfa Dale?"

Scenic was finally showing he had a functioning brain. He was completely correct. All their options and plans boiled down to those two choices. Stay or go.

Whether barricading themselves here in Mayflower, making a break for Alfalfa Dale, splitting up, sending only one of them out, or tried to hide, all their choices were merely a variation of one of those two options. 

Gloom nodded silently, Crimson and Prey getting it too. Lilly wasn't as swift on the uptake, "What about fighting? We could definitely do that."

"That's the same option as staying. Think for once." Gloom said curtly, temper frayed to breaking, "I want everyone to think. We're gambling our lives here. So what is it going to be? Hold out here, or leave for Alfalfa Dale? What do we all think?"

Prey wanted to run. That's what his instincts were begging him to do. He didn't want to end up cornered. However running wasn't an option if they'd just get caught, and the horrible weight in his stomach agreed with his instincts that the scarecrow wouldn't let them run.

'It's just sitting out there, waiting for us to make the first move. If we run, it probably has orders to chase us. But maybe it's just a guard to keep us out of the forest, and we can actually leave.' Prey wound the ribbon over and over his hoof as he thought.

Atlas was asking if they had any message spells on them aside from the spell fire bottles. Gloom answered in the negative, to which Atlas suggested that they just send Crimson, the only one of them able to fly right now, back to Alfalfa Dale alone. There was a nagging suspicion in the back of Prey's head. This wasn't adding up. 

He surreptitiously looked looked around the abandoned village. 

"Splitting up is a bad idea. Alone we are weak, but together we are at our strongest." Shimmer said, disagreeing with his subordinate. 

"Right now we don't know why the scarecrow is waiting. Hopefully the pony controlling it is anxious not to engage us again after the damage we caused the first time. If we leave however, they might panic and decide to risk attacking us again regardless."

"Gloom." Prey whispered.

"What?" It came out hostile and angry. Gloom straightened himself and tried again, quieter, "What is it?"

"They know we're here, in Mayflower."

"Obviously. How else would the scarecrow have followed us after it ran off?"

"Exactly. How do they know our location? As in, still in Mayflower and not already on our way back to Alfalfa Dale?"

Gloom stopped. "Oh."

Gloom did not like those implications in the least. He peered into the dark trees, '-is he close by? Is he close enough to get?-' 

He shook his head, all he could admit was, "I haven't a clue. Perhaps they're close enough by to see us?" 

"I don't think that's it. I think they've got some way of tracking us. Magically. We've already agreed there are only two options, stay or leave. But we're afraid to leave in case the scarecrow attacks. But we need to test what'll happen if we try. Let's pretend as if we are leaving Mayflower, then before we actually do, have that, that..." 

Prey swallowed and forced it out, "Have Shimmer see if the scarecrow's marker moves to follow. If it doesn't, great. If it does... Then at least we know the warlock means to keep us trapped here."

"Shhh!" Gloom hissed, glancing around hastily, "You shouldn't have said that out loud. If it is magic, they might be able to hear what we're saying. Now they'll know it's only a feint." 

"No. Whomever they are, and however they're tracking us, they can't hear us."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because they haven't already attacked. We know we can't beat that scarecrow a second time, even damaged. We don't have another message bottle spell to throw at it, and what's more, you've all been discussing this outloud for the last five minutes about how little of a chance we've got. If they could hear us, they'd already know they could just send the golem in and destroy us." Prey explained dispassionately. "You really shouldn't go around showing weakness like that."

Gloom was completely stumped for a moment by realisation. "Oh..."

'-Moon blight, that was so careless of me-'

"Conduct the test. If the scarecrow won't let us leave, then we're stuck here until we come up with some other way to escape." Prey told him.

"I agree sir. Prey has a point." Crimson said.

Prey started and twisted around. He hadn't realised Crimson was listening in on their hushed conversation. Now who was the careless one? But Crimson was good, and he owed Crimson, so it was fine.

Gloom nodded as he accepted the idea, "Yes, it's a good idea. Get Corporal Shimmer, Prey can quickly explain it to everypony-"

"No!" Prey drew back,

"Will you give it a rest already? I don't care why you think you've a right to act like this to them, but they've done nothing to you Prey."

"No. I don't care." Prey turned away and left. He didn't go far, only about five paces. Leaving anyone's line of sight was a bad idea right now, but he had no other way of making his position clear to Gloom.

He was disobeying what amounted to a direct order from Gloom, but he couldn't do it. Time cannot erase the past. Prey was aware he was burning bridges and raising red flags like crazy, but right now he couldn't find it in himself to care. Shimmer and Atlas were Border Guards, and he wanted them dead dead dead.

'What would Fleece say if he could see me now? Here in the company of two Border Guards and not attacking them?' Prey thought in shame.


---


Left with no choice, Gloom explained Prey's observations to Shimmer himself and proposed Prey's plan. The thought of helping or relying on the Border Guard in any way after all they'd done made Prey's stomach twist. So instead of focusing on that, he focused on their plan instead.

"Right. Walk to the other side of Mayflower, then we'll hold and see what happens." Gloom said.

"I've got the spell ready. Let's quit wasting time." Shimmer said.

Mayflower was a tiny village. It only held sixteen simple squat houses, now all unnaturally overrun by nature. The dangerous feeling of the place was mostly gone, or rather, smothered under the ominous feeling coming from the pine forest. What was a ghost village compared to that?

Jumping over the stream and reaching the far side of Mayflower took only a single minute. There they halted, all gazing expectantly and with no small amount of trepidation at Shimmer as his horn glowed.

"What's happening? What's it doing?" Lilly asked, unable to restrain herself.

Where they trapped here in this forsaken village or not?

"It hasn't moved. It's still showing as being two hundred yards inside the tree line."

Their collective shaky sigh of relief was cut short as Shimmer frowned, "Wait, no. No it's moved. It's coming closer, one hundred and eighty yards."

"Tartarus." Scenic exclaimed.

"We don't have a plan to fight it yet. Back into the village, use the houses as cover." Gloom ordered, already hurrying back in, despite how counter intuitive it was to head towards the approaching golem.

"It's still coming, one hundred and seventy." Shimmer warned, alarmed.

"But we're not leaving. We haven't left!" Lilly exclaimed.

"One si-one fifty." Shimmer said, his voice taking on a noticeable strain.

"Prey." Gloom demanded, as if Prey would somehow be able to make the scarecrow stop.

Prey agonised, was Shimmer lying?

'Is this all just some ploy to keep us trapped here?'

Could it all some big bluff? Could Prey really believe anything the Border Guard unicorn said?

"Still getting closer, one thirty," Shimmer announced, "Sargent Gloom, we have to do something."

"Into one of the empty houses, hide, barricade it." Prey declared.

"But-"

"Do it." Gloom ordered, silencing Lilly, "Quick, into that house."

It was their only option. Either showing the warlock they were staying put would make them call the scarecrow off, or if that didn't work, at least put a wall between them and the golem. And if holding out against the scarecrow didn't work, then they were back to option one and trying to run again.

Prey had suspected they were playing right into the warlock's hooves all along. It brought him no satisfaction to now know he'd been right.

Prey ran through the hanging curtain of beard moss which half covered the door of the closest house, leaving the pale sunlight behind outside. He dodged around the plain, worn table and a cluster of heavy timber stools as he made straight for the single shuttered window. He jumped up on the hard bed, ignoring the straw mattress as it split open, and shoved the mismatched slat shutters out.

Hooves clattered over damp floorboards behind him as the others rushed in, crowding into the house. The wooden rafters were less than a hoof's height above the tips of Crimson's ear tufts.

Prey paid the rest of them no heed. He stared unblinking down the weed strewn length of Mayflower's only street and at the forest, expecting at any second the scarecrow to come bursting forth.

"Corporal." Gloom demanded.

Shimmer's horn was already aglow, "Way ahead of you." 

The unicorn focused. They all waited, staring. The spell faded Shimmer let out his breath, "It's stopped. One hundred and ten yards, and now it's just sitting there."

Gloom's lips pressed into a painfully thin line as he peered out over the top of Prey's head, towards the featureless borderline of pines. "Well...That proves it beyond a doubt. They do have some way of monitoring us, and they aren't willing to let us leave."

"Oh ponyfeathers." Scenic mumbled.

"Ponyfeathers indeed."

'-now what?-'


------


The old stone circle stood in its lone clearing. It was just as calm and unknowable as it had always been.

There was no mist here. Within the watchful circle of stone pillars, a peaceful stillness rested upon the vibrant bed of moss. Silent sentinels to the decades, to the centuries. 

Even if the sunlight was slowly waning in the sky as clouds gathered against the horizon, the stone circle still seemed illuminated by extra motes of light. Those clouds would eventually blow in this way and meet the stone wall of the Ridgeback, either dropping their burden of rain there, or possibly carry it on further up to the passes to fall as snow.

Back inside the safety of the old stones, the fifteen withered wreathes sat, resting against the largest pillar's base. Reminders of the first villagers lost. A hope and a prayer, or possibly just tokens of sadness and mourning.

If there'd been anyone there to hear, which there wasn't, the soft sound of a stave tapping against the earth would've been heard approaching. Unhurried, but rhythmic, it soon reached the standing stones.

The gnarled end of a staff hooked the largest wreath, carefully lifting it into the air. There was a soft crinkle of long dead flower petals as the wreathe was dusted off and examined.

The world stilled, waiting.

Just as faintly as the wrinkling petals, came a gurgling sound. 

Steadily, it grew louder, more sickly, getting closer. And closer.

The thrashing of approaching branches and jerking limbs was soon to join the din, increasing in volume and wrongness, driving the serenity of the stones away. From the left, from the right, from all directions, the gurgling filled the grove.


------


The ISND were trapped. Not in any tiny store room like back in the Lumber Yard, or any other type of cage. No, they could move throughout the village, but leaving it would bring down the wrath of the scarecrow.

It was a stalemate, and in this game they lost if they moved first.

It was evening, and they were still trapped in Mayflower. Daylight would soon begin fading. They were tired and sore. Two of their number were injured. The silence of the village was getting into everybody's heads. 

It manifested in Scenic as him being unable to sit still, fidgeting incessantly as he kept looking out of the window every ten seconds or so at the darkening forest.

Lilly alternated between trying to refrain from snapping at Scenic, and trying to envision how they were going to conquer the scarecrow.

Crimson had unpacked his whetstone, and was smoothly working it in near circles down the length of his wing blades in the correct sharpening method.

Gloom looked like he would give an awful lot to be up and pacing, but he couldn't, not with his injured side. He was being forced to basically half lay over a stool. Gloom gingerly gave the dried poultice a prod, and would've been more pleased when he found it only hurt about half as much as it should've if it weren't for the circumstances they found themselves in.

Prey was sitting in the corner, his back to them all, fiddling with the tarnished bread knife he'd found on the worn table. No one had even thought to question him for taking it.

They'd eaten, breaking out rations from their back packs and saddle bags. Lilly's magic had recovered enough that she was able to refill all of their water canteens, those who still had them anyways. No one aside from Prey had been able to eat much. Gloom and Crimson had been forced to covertly drink from the blood flask, right there in front of everyone, but none of them had Crimson's special talent and so realised nothing.

"Will you sit still?" Lilly finally snapped at Scenic, unable to restrain herself any longer.

"Oh, sorry." He said, stopping.

Gloom's ears flicked in annoyance at Lilly's pettiness; '-doesn't she realise we're all on edge? Just let Scenic do whatever he wants already. Moon blight, now she's even got me doing it-'

"It's getting dark." Shimmer announced, standing watch at the window and staring out.

That was right, the two Border Guards were in the house with them. Prey dearly wished it was otherwise.

"Crimson and I are able to see in the dark." Gloom said in response to Shimmer's brilliant observation. The Sargent glanced around the room and at the house's two doors. Both were barricaded. 

They'd moved into the most solid looking abandoned home they could find, dragging in wooden furniture from other houses to fortify against an attack. If it came to that. However they did have an escape route, and also a back up escape route prepared just in case. Prey had insisted. 

"That's good, but the rest of us won't be of much use without some form of illumination." Shimmer replied.

"We could start a fire. That might also scare the scarecrow away." Lilly suggested, completely overlooking how Shimmer had set the golem on fire and it'd done nothing.

"What, a fire in here?" Scenic asked, looking around the predominantly wooden house, roof included.

"No need. Me and Atlas have watch lanterns. They're standard issue." Shimmer said, halting their argument before it could develop. 

'The Border Guard are just so superior, aren't they? Better trained, better supplied, better prepared for everything, except protecting the innocent it seems.'

"Bright lanterns will destroy our night vision." Gloom pointed out, shifting his posture.

Shimmer was silent for a beat, "Pardon me, but there are two of you, and four, sorry excuse me, five of us who can't see in the dark and need light. We need the light. Besides, the brightness can be adjusted."

Atlas and Shimmer each removed a small metal lantern from their packs. Both lanterns had four faces, each with a shutter that could be adjusted to either dim the brightness, or focus the beam out in only one direction. The whole thing could be hung from a hook, and looked light, compact, and of excellent quality.

Atlas gave a nod of satisfaction as he lit his and twisted the lid closed, a pale white light spreading out, "There."


---


No one really said anything as the sun began its final descent. The thought of the coming darkness was not one which brought any of them comfort, not even those with night vision.

But the scarecrow had held off attacking this long, so maybe it would hold off altogether?

Prey didn't believe that for a second. Happy endings only existed in fairy tales. Prepare for the worst, and then expect it to be twice as bad. They were trapped in Mayflower, which boded ill for their future. They all knew that, but no one was saying it.

'-this is like a horror story-', Scenic was thinking. Then he stifled a groan and put his head in his hooves.

'-oh Celestia this is just like a horror story. Why'd I have to go and think that?-'

Slowly, the shadows in the house lengthened and the lantern light became their main source of illumination, serving to keep the stacks of pillaged bed frames and furniture blocking the two doors visible. 

Through the window that squarely faced the forest, the glaring red eye of the sun sunk into the trees. The sharp heads of the pines stretched tall and black, framed by the last of the sun's rays.

What in the world had possessed this house's owner to build a window facing the forest, allowing the trees to stare in throughout night, Prey would never know.

Prey didn't know if he was going to survive this coming night. He was scared. It would've been stupid not to have been. And Prey was anything but stupid. He knew the odds.

They were outmatched. Prey had come to realise that while Lilly was a unicorn, and therefore powerful and dangerous enough to kill him without much effort, that didn't translate into having the power to slay non-equine opponents. And aside from Shimmer, who Prey wouldn't have trusted if his life depended on it, what did they have to threaten the scarecrow and its maker with?

The only ones in an even remotely safe position right now were Gloom and Crimson, because if everything else was lost, they could take wing and fly away.

Prey shot a glare at Atlas, the pegasus resting on a stool, and was glad for the stallion's injury. 'No longer so cocky now are you? You've no idea what it's like on the ground fly boy.'

Night fell, and the temperature followed.


---


The two watch lanterns sat on the table, providing pale illumination for the house. Outside, the night was silent and still. Everyone of them was listening, ears straining, and if they spoke at all, it was in hushed voices.

They waited, periodically rising and pacing to try and dispel the tension. 

Occasionally, Prey glanced up at the table they'd set in the middle of the room. On it, they'd laid out whatever weapons and tools they could find to hoof. A couple of wood axes, a pitch fork, a mallet and a hammer, dented spades, large pruning knives, a trowel, and the like. In the corners of the room, buckets of water sat ready just in case fire was used against them. Aside from barricading the doors and windows, this was all they'd had time to prepare. 

Preparations that were proving eerily unnecessary.

No attack, no scarecrow, no nothing. 

Surely if something was going to happen, it would've by now?

All they could do was wait in tense silence, stewing in worry.

When it was coming up to an hour and still nothing, Gloom finally decided to make a decision:

"Alright, this is pointless. We can't keep this up all night, and we can't fight on no sleep. We all need rest." 

"Uh, you're saying we should go to sleep sir? Like, right here? Now?" Scenic asked in shock.

"Yes."

"Sir, but what if the scarecrow attacks? We've got to be ready sir." Lilly said.

Gloom gave her a flat look, "We'll be setting a watch of course. And why do you think we barricaded ourselves in here in the first place? It's so we can't get snuck up on."

"I agree," Shimmer said, rubbing at the beige fur of his face, "We need to get as much rest as we can. Sleep in our armour and in shifts."

"Of course." Gloom said. That's what he'd been going to order anyways. 

"Two ponies stay awake at all times. One and a half hour shifts. When it gets to the seventh pony by themselves, just start rotating through from the beginning again."

Gloom then indicated himself and Crimson, "We should be on different shifts to make the most of our night vision."

Now was no time to feel uncomfortable about the thestral's different heritage. They needed all the advantages they could get.

Shimmer agreed, shifting the sheathed sword across his flank to a more comfortable position where he sat, "That's the most sensible approach that I can think of. Do you want to flip a coin or call lots for the pairs?"

Gloom shook his head, "I'll take the first watch with somepony else, and Crimson will be on the second one. Other than that, it doesn't matter."

"I'd be honoured to take the first watch with you, Sargent." Shimmer said, standing up.

It was decided Scenic would pair with Crimson next, then Prey and Atlas, and finally Lilly would pull the last shift, and wake Gloom to pair with her again, followed by Crimson and Shimmer until dawn.

Prey, who'd opened his mouth, silently closed it. He'd been about to raise a fuss, because under no circumstances was he prepared to let the two Border Guards take a watch together while the rest of them slept. But for once, his warning was unneeded.

'I will not let them kill me in my sleep. I'll kill them first, I'll spill their blood, melt the hide from their bones, choke them on poison, I'll-'

Prey jerked his head up. Shimmer had been watching him out of the corner of his eye.

Had he known what Prey was thinking? Could Shimmer hear his hateful thoughts? 

No, impossible. Prey had his own ways of keeping his mind hidden. But then why was he imagining it? Prey's hoof touched the blunt bread knife he'd tied around his leg with some fraying twine. It wasn't important that it was a knife, just that it was metal. Metal could hold the kind of runes he required. He'd use it on Shimmer if, or rather when he needed to.

"Right. Well, everypony heard that right? It's not exactly the most relaxed sleeping environment ever...." Gloom's morbid humour fell flat, "...But everypony try and get some sleep anyways."

Sleep was the last thing on any of their minds, but even surrounded by death and danger, bodily functions could not be put on hold.

Crimson's gaze passed around the room, "I suppose it is a good thing we dragged in those bed frames to use as barricade padding then, sir."

"We dumped the beds though." Lilly pointed out.

"Well, there's still two mattresses left." Scenic said.

"I call dibs on this one." Lilly immediately said, plonking herself down on one of the prone straw mattresses.

Prey ignored Lilly's childishness. He didn't need comforts or a mattress to sleep. Far better, he'd take a couple of blankets and make a nest in the most heavily fortified and structurally sound corner he could find. Prey trusted Shimmer as far as he could throw him, which meant not at all. The unicorn was going to be taking the first watch with Gloom, but even with Gloom to keep an eye on Shimmer, Prey wasn't pacified.

Gloom and Shimmer sat themselves down with their backs to the table and lantern light as everyone else quietly found somewhere to lie down. It felt wrong to be trying to sleep here, what with the danger, and it was debatable how much rest any of them would get, but it was better than nothing.

Makeshift pillows were found or created. Prey wrapped the scratchy blankets about himself, tucking in his legs and settling down in the corner. The lanterns stayed lit and at maximum beam. No one was going to suggest they be extinguished so that they might fall asleep easier. 

Prey heard Scenic silently offering up a prayer, '-oh Celestia, let me open my eyes again and not die in my sleep tonight-'

The small one room house settled into the silence of the damned.


---


Prey's eyes drooped for the hundredth time and he snapped them back open. He couldn't afford to drift off while it was only Shimmer and Gloom awake.

What if Shimmer decided to kill them all in their sleep? If Shimmer could take Gloom by surprise and silently, then there'd be no one between the unicorn and the rest of them. Not that Prey cared about anyone but him and Crimson on that list, even after the red pegasus's dismissal of his warnings.

Prey peeked out from the cocoon of blankets he'd woven around himself, serving to hide his face in shadow and make it appear as if he was asleep.

But no, Gloom and Shimmer hadn't moved from their posts, still sitting facing the barred window and doors. The white lantern light, which had first seemed dim, was painful on the eyes by now, and it was a wonder that everyone else had managed to get to sleep at all.

Prey's own eyes were grainy with tiredness, but he couldn't afford to fall asleep just yet. Once Crimson and Scenic replaced them on watch, yes, but not until then.

He had to guard against whatever Shimmer had planned.

But nothing had happened.

Shimmer hadn't made a move yet, and they were about to reach the end of their allotted hour and a half watch. Perhaps the unicorn was just biding his time?

Prey wanted to rub his eyes, but that would give him away. He was so tired. He longed to join the others in sleep, but not yet. Not yet.

'I don't want to end up sleeping the sleep of the dead.'

Finally, Shimmer stirred, and Prey stiffened in his blanket pile. 

"Next shift." Shimmer spoke softly.

Gloom blinked, and then nodded and stretched, getting up off his stool. He winced, and then frowned at his side. Experimentally, Gloom moved his leg about, testing the range of motion. 

"Huh. That poultice stuff actually works." He muttered.

Shimmer was already moving over to the sleeping forms of Scenic and Crimson to shake them awake. Crimson awoke before the unicorn's hoof even touched him, yellow eyes snapping open. He wordlessly got up without prompting, and moved to replace Gloom.

Scenic, despite all his perfectly justified fear earlier, was so tired he had to be shaken quite vigorously before he awoke, and then it was with a panicked yelp.

"Sshh!" Shimmer hissed at him.

"It's your watch Paint Spot." Gloom whispered to him, taking Crimson's vacated spot.

"Oh, right. Yes sir." Scenic whispered back, clumsily rising and yawning.

Crimson flicked an ear back irritably as Scenic pulled up a stool. Obviously, Crimson wasn't happy with the other stallion's alertness.

'But at least I can finally sleep now.' Prey thought as Shimmer lay down and ceased moving.

Since Prey couldn't read Shimmer's thoughts, he had no way of knowing if the stallion was really asleep, but with both Crimson and Scenic on guard, it was the best opportunity to sleep Prey was going to get.

Prey decided to wait ten more minutes just to be safe, not paying Scenic's restless fidgeting any mind. 

The slow count of ten minutes passed. Still nothing from Shimmer.

Prey judged it as safe as it was going to get. He finally let his eyes slide shut, settling down into the blanket pile and feeling his own breath warm his face. However Prey found that his mind was reluctant to let him sleep. The near death experiences of today replayed themselves behind his eyelids, all mixed up with fear, hate, and nasty plans.

But even those had to pass in the face of biological need.

Just as Prey was finally starting to drift off for real this time, Scenic had to go and clear his throat.

"Erm, Crimson?" He whispered.

"What is it?" Crimson asked, immediate on alert.

"No no, it's not that, but... I, I just... Can I talk to you about something?"

"Maintain your watch. Don't become distracted." Crimson answered back shortly.

Prey thought that would be that, and after another two minutes he was nearly asleep again, drifting on the edge of welcome blackness.

"I really need to talk to somepony though. I just, I just can't not say it." Scenic blurted out, desperation in his hushed voice.

Beneath his tired eyelids, Prey's eyes rolled, 'Oh shut up and let me sleep already.'

"We're on watch. Our comrades lives depend on us." Crimson reminded Scenic.

"I won't see anything coming anyway in the dark. I'm useless." Scenic muttered bitterly.

Prey's sharp ears heard Crimson shift, but besides that, the pegasus didn't respond.

Scenic apparently took Crimson's silence or lack of disagreement as proof that his fears of inadequacy were true. 

"I'm sorry Crimson. I didn't mean for this when I asked to transfer to the ISND. I thought I'd learn how to help and get over my fear. But I'm just dragging you and everypony down."

"You are quick to give up. It has been less than a week." Crimson said.

"I can already see that I'm no use to anypony here. I haven't done a single thing to help solve anything. And all this it's just, just completely crazy. Scarecrows, kindersnatches, mist, forests, I'm scared all the time, I'm not cut out for this. I, I think I'll ask to be dismissed when I get back to Canterlot. If I survive that long..." Scenic mumbled.

Scenic said 'if' I get back to Canterlot, but inside he still really meant 'when'. He hadn't yet accepted the possibility that none of them might be making it out of this. Despite almost dying multiple times today and being trapped in an abandoned house, it still hadn't registered with the Earth pony. Inside, Scenic believed he was going to walk away from this. 

That was the difference. Scenic thought he was going to get through this, and Lilly herself was still treating this all like one big story. The rest of them, Gloom, Crimson, and Prey, they all knew differently.

Scenic wasn't prepared to put everything on the line. He still didn't understand that terrible crawling dread of not know if you were going to live through the night.

Crimson gave a quiet snort, "You misunderstand me. It has been less than a week. Did you honestly expect to find your place by now?"

"None of this is what I expected. I, well, I hoped I'd get better, face my fear and all that. Ha. Now I've just got brand new fears. And there's nothing I can do. What use am I? Even if I was a Guard for years, what could I ever do?"

"Same as the rest of us. Your duty." Crimson replied unhelpfully.

Scenic didn't seem to have an answer to that. Prey could almost see him hunching lower on his stool. 'Pathetic.' Prey thought, hoping they'd finally be quiet so he could get some sleep.

"I didn't in a week." Crimson unexpectedly said.

"What?"

"I mean, I didn't do anything to help in my first week. I was just as useless." Crimson explained.

"You don't have to try and make me feel better. I know I'm not as good as you guys are." Scenic mumbled.

"Do you think me a liar?" Crimson asked.

"No, that's not what I..."

"Do you think I would make false claims merely to spare your feelings?"

"Uh, no?"

"Then do not question me. I was of no use during our first week. It was...frustrating. I found I was merely a hindrance to Sargent Gloom and Prey."

"But, I saw you, you fought that scarecrow thing. I just froze, but you were all sorts of skilled. You've been trained to fight."

"Little use a warrior is unless your aim is to spill blood," Crimson stated in a low voice, "And that must always be a last resort. But I had few skills necessary for the ISND. Investigating, thinking, paperwork, following clues. It was unpleasant to find I was even less use than Prey, a child."

Prey was shocked to hear this. Crimson was always so composed and focused on doing his duty. He never usually spoke this much, so why now to Scenic? Scenic was an outsider, why not speak to him or at least Gloom instead?

"Well that makes me feel better, I'm even less useful than a foal." Scenic muttered, showing a sharp sarcasm he hadn't displayed before. "Even he didn't freeze up like I did. He knows all about tracking and stuff and what can I do? Nothing."

Scenic's mumblings were withdrawing as the stallion began to loose focus on speaking to Crimson, and began speaking to himself as he grew more and more melancholic. 

"I couldn't do anything. I just froze up again. Even after I promised myself from last time I wouldn't. Some Guard I am, first day on the job and I ran away from a murder scene and left you guys to solve it."

"Now you really are just being a fool," Crimson said calmly, "What training had you to deal with death? You don't. In the clans, it is different. We do."

"Yeah? Well Prey went down into that cellar just fine. I didn't even see anything, and I still get nightmares, that's how pathetic I am. Prey managed it just fine."

There was a long pause. "That is not a good thing." Crimson finally said.

Scenic seemed to realise what he'd just said, "No no, please, I didn't mean- Celestia, I'd never wish for a foal to-, that's not what I meant at all." He groaned, the sound muffled as if he was groaning into his hooves.

Crimson grunted and settled back into silence.

"What... Happened down in the cellar? No pony will tell me exactly, but it keeps getting mentioned. And the Lumber Yard?" Scenic hesitantly asked.

"What happened down there is none of your business," Crimson replied sharply, then modified his tone, "I do not think you really want to know. It was bad, and evil, and wrong. Let us leave it at that. Things were... said and seen."

"How...?" 

Scenic went quiet for a few seconds, before finishing his sentence in a hoarse whisper, "How did you move past that? I didn't see anything, but I still can't get past it. Please, tell me how."

"I don't know. For me, it was a decision I made when I was younger."

"What decision?"

"I cannot tell you. It is a secret." Crimson said simply, then added, "I'm sorry. But it's not a solution that would help you anyways."

"Oh..." Scenic mumbled, disappointment evident. 

"You should speak to Sargent Gloom. He will have the answers to help you, I am sure." Crimson suggested.

"I suppose I could ask Sargent Gloom or Prey." Scenic reluctantly admitted.

"No. Do not ask Prey what happened in the cellar." 

"Huh? No, I wasn't really going to- Why not?"

"Because Prey can be very cruel, and he might just tell you."

Prey twitched. Crimson thought he was cruel?

"So don't ask. I mean, I can't stop you, but I'd prefer it if you didn't ask Prey about the Lumber Yard either." Crimson added.

"What... Happened at the Lumber Yard?" Scenic asked hesitantly.

There was the faint whisper of Crimson's feathers rubbing together as he shifted his wings. 

"Nothing good." He said shortly, "You will... Probably learn about it regardless, but it would be better if you didn't. It is not fair to Prey if you think differently of him because of what happened. It was not his fault and he had no choice. It was self defence."

"Self defence?"

There was an awkward pause, "I have said too much already."

"Is Prey okay though?" Scenic asked guilelessly, "He's still a foal, and I have no idea how he's even in the Night Guard, but he's your friend, right?"

"Maybe. I do not know." Crimson slowly said.

"What? But he's in your squad and you guys work so well together all the time." Scenic protested, having completely forgotten they'd originally been talking about his own problems.

"That does not mean Prey is a nice po-sheep. I do not enjoy his company..."

Prey's stomach tightened, it was as he'd feared. He'd never actually asked Crimson, but he'd always suspected the pegasus didn't actually even like him. And that hurt more than he'd expected, because Crimson was different. Prey hadn't used to care, but now he did, because he owed Crimson.

"...However that does not mean I do not like him. Sometimes. It's not simple. We work well together, we're both similar, but we're also very different. But that doesn't make Prey a bad pon-person. If he is a bad person, then so am I."

Crimson wasn't a bad person, or at least, he was a better person than Prey was. Prey wouldn't have saved Crimson's life, in fact he'd twice left Crimson to die. Yet Crimson had still saved Prey's life. Nobody's innocent, but Crimson was better than Prey.

"I'm, I don't know what to say but I'm sure that's not true-"

Crimson cut Scenic off, "Before you make assumptions, remember that you know nothing about my history. Or Prey's. Or Sargent Gloom's for that matter. I do not know Prey's story, and I hope, no, I'm certain he doesn't know mine either. Probably. Maybe. You can never be sure with Prey."

"I think Prey hates me." Scenic confessed.

"No, he merely dislikes you. You would know if Prey hated you." Crimson dismissed.

"What do you mean?"

"If Prey hated you he would make no secret of the fact. Which is good. Because he hasn't. Which means he doesn't."

"Oh." Scenic muttered in the dark. "That's... Something I guess."

"Yes he probably won't do anything to you." Crimson agreed flatly

"What? That sounds, uh, like, really ominous? And that's really not a good thing right now, so could you maybe not say things like that?" Scenic said, trying for a nervous chuckle. 

It came out strained.

"It's nothing," Crimson mused so softly that Prey could only just hear him, "But he smiled as he dipped his hoof in the b-... Sometimes I wonder. Just like the kindersnatch he pushed off the ravine."

"What kindersnatch?"

"Where you not paying attention? Prey told us all about that already."

"Wait, but a kindersnatch is a villager inside, so-"

"So nothing. Prey said he saw the kindersnatch survive." Crimson cut him off. Prey had not said that. He'd only said it'd maybe survived. Why was Crimson lying?

"But even then, that means he almost killed a-"

"Do you think Prey is unawares of that? He was the one who worked out who the kindersnatches were. How do you think that makes him feel?" Crimson said coldly.

"I, I'm sorry. I didn't... I really am useless aren't I? Always jumping before I think and making problems." Scenic said miserably. 

"Don't be sorry to me. Rather, do not say anything that you would need to be sorry about to Prey. Then there is no problem. And you do yourself a disservice by judging yourself so poorly."

"How can you say that? I've done nothing to help, and if it comes to it, how do you know I won't just freeze up again?"

"Prey said it before. Survival is not pretty. But everypony wants to survive, it's instinct."

"But I froze up. I couldn't fight-"

"If it comes down to it, I am sure you will do whatever is necessary." Crimson said calmly.

"I... That does not make me feel any better." Scenic said hoarsely.

Crimson didn't grace such a stupid statement an answer. Why should he? Of course Scenic would do what was necessary if the time came. It was either that or die. And Prey knew that when push came to shove, people could and would do dreadful things to survive.

Since Crimson hadn't seen fit to respond to that, Scenic lost confidence and also finally went quiet.

Prey lay in the dark, thinking about what he'd overheard.


---


Dark in the blue, blue fading in the blackness. A tingling light was pulsing, getting louder as it turned into muffled sound. Prey felt the urgency before his sleeping mind fully understood the words he was hearing; ".....-up, everypony wake up! They're attacking!"


---I---