Prey and a Lamb

by Lambs Prey

59.4 Sunshine through the Jail Bars

The sun had set, but that made no difference to the train's progress as it chuffed along the tracks leading towards Vanhoover.

It was a small but fast overnight express train. On board, it carried urgent parcels which were nevertheless not urgent enough to pay the exorbitant fee for the use of a unicorn teleportation delivery. Also, in the strongly enchanted and enclosed carriage pulled behind the engine were monetary deposits to the Vanhoover banks. And as an add on, a number of sleepy passengers in the single, half-size passenger carriage at the back.

The express train would take three hours to reach Vanhoover, almost half again as fast as the normal train, but as a trade off, it was a bit less than comfortable.

On his stall stool, the tired conductor yawned yet again and vigorously rubbed at his eyes as the train ceaselessly rocked. Perhaps in an effort to keep himself awake, he looked around at the passengers again. Almost all were unsuccessfully trying to catch some shut eye, cushioning their heads with travel coats or bags against hard windows or aisle seats.

Almost all. The conductor blinked, having almost missed the pair sitting closest to the exit. His tired eyes seemed to slide right off them. 

The conductor yawned and rubbed at his face again, and promptly put the pair from his mind. They weren't important, just two more cloaked passengers. Utterly forgettable. And being cloaked was perfectly ordinary for a travelling pony after all.

If pressed, the conductor could've probably grumpily confirmed the tall one was a mare. Probably yellow? She might've been wearing a hat too. The other was... The mare's foal? Probably. A little white filly, also wearing a hat.

Just a family in a hurry to get back home to Vanhoover for one reason or another, like almost everypony else who'd been willing to board this car this late at night, it wasn't anything to comment on.

The train chuffed onward into the starry night, on its speedy way towards Vanhoover.

The Guard station of Vanhoover was actually bigger than the Guard Compound of Canterlot, but part of that was because the Royal Palace in Canterlot also held the main Guard offices. And while the Vanhoover Guard also lacked a dedicated night time Guard force like Canterlot had, they still had enough Guards to run the station throughout the dreary hours of the night.

The Guard station received an unexpected visitor that night. But not a new one. The station had unknowingly played host to this very same visitor in the past. It was just that none of the City Guard had known about it the first time. All they knew was that three months ago, the Solar Guard had requisitioned use of one of their buildings, (something they'd almost tripped over themselves to provide), and outfitted one of the rooms to hold a special prisoner.

The City Guard of Vanhoover were a lot less distinguished than their Royal guard counterparts in the capital, who had a much more grand and illustrious history dating back to before the rise of Nightmare Moon. Also, Royal Guard authority extended beyond the boundaries of the capital city and covered all of Equestria. But while less famous and admired by pretty young mares than their gold clad brethren, the City Guard were still proud of their role. They took their job seriously and always tried their best.

So when the two City Guards working the night shift on the reception desk saw the tall and rather good looking yellow mare limp through the door, with blood trickling from her lip and a swollen face, they both gasped in horror and leapt up to help.

"Oh Celestia, quick, tell us what happened!"

"Who did this ma'am? Are they following you?"

The mare wobbled, her smooth mane drooping as her head hung, "N-no, there's not...he's not..."

The mare's horn was unusually curved and sharp, a negative connotation among unicorns. However neither City Guard cared about that right now with the obvious distress she was in.

"Easy ma'am, easy. Here, just come take a seat."

"It'll all be fine. That's right, this way. Easy, it's okay-"

When the mare's legs almost gave out, it was perfectly natural for both Guards to try to catch her in their concern. What kind of Guard ponies would they be if they didn't help another pony in need?

They never suspected a thing.

Lemon Pink straightened up, sharp horn now held high and shining with silver magic. Her yellow illusionary disguise fell away. Standing on either side of her, both stallions were frozen.

"Get them back behind the desk." Prey ordered, stepping in from hiding around the corner outside, not wasting time on praising Lemon for her acting.

"Yes, Prey." Lemon acknowledged, removing her fore hooves from the two City Guards' chest plates.

But both her horseshoes stayed firmly stuck to the Guards as if magnetised. They faintly glimmered with the same silver aura Lemon Pink wielded. Basically, the shoes were extended mind links. Or puppet strings, if one wanted to look at it that way. Essentially, they were a little boost to Lemon Pink's own mind magic which worked through direct or near-direct contact.

Complicated? Yes. Rather at risk of something going wrong too, like if Lemon lost focus on the spell, or if a horseshoe got forcibly knocked off. But this was still a far subtler touch than breaking the mind and then controlling it. Mind control shouldn't be confused with memory and mind reading, they were two very different things.

The latter was something you could do after you'd gotten past a person's mental defences, (or knocked them unconscious), and leave nothing behind but a headache if you were careful. But full on mind control, and not merely implanted compulsions and suggestions, involved completely breaking the victim's mental hold over their own body. That wasn't something a victim easily, if ever, recovered from. Not just because of the shock and horror, but because the process did actual damage to the mind. Usually.

But in this instance, despite Lemon Pink now having rough control of the two Guards bodies, once Prey was done here, neither would be left any the wiser or crippled. They wouldn't even have the telltale headache so indicative of the after effects of mind magic. Or at worst only a very small one.

Also, long as the horseshoes were fed a trickle of power from Lemon Pink, the non-destructive mental control could be maintained. Again, just one of the many advantages of being born a unicorn and having magic, and then being boosted with runes.

"Which room and who am I looking for?" Prey asked out loud.

There was a five second pause as Lemon concentrated on the minds of two City Guards she had ensnared, "Staff Sargent Collins. A medium blue unicorn stallion. In the Second Lieutenant's office."

"This shouldn't take longer than ten minutes." Prey said.

"Yes, Prey." Lemon said, retrieving her hat and adjusting it on her head to hide the glowing of her horn, before taking a seat in the waiting area. Both Guards jerkily turned around and walked back to their desk, creating the facade that nothing was amiss.

Prey left Lemon Pink to it, and walked confidently into the building, knowing where he was going and the layout from his last unwanted trip here. Lemon Pink would stay at the desk, attending to the two City Guards, and acting as his lookout.

This, this plan, all of this... Lemon and Prey were being far too bold.

To any outsider who might've known about this, which was no one, this would probably have looked like overconfidence and arrogance. However it was a falsehood, a mask. All it would take was one tiny slip, one unforeseen incident. The saying, 'He who dares wins' was a lie. He who dared was often the first to die.

And while Prey was fairly confident of his success here tonight, he still hated this aggressive approach. Brute forcing his way in like this was far too daring, too risky, and nowhere near as secret and therefore safe as he would've liked. Butterflies were even now squirming and proliferating in his stomach.

But this approach was the fastest one, and he was working on a tight schedule.

Prey knocked as loudly as he could on the Second Lieutenant's door, which admittedly wasn't all that loud.

"It's open." Someone, hopefully Staff Sargent Collins, called from inside.

Prey didn't answer and just knocked confidently again.

"It's open, come in."

Prey waited a beat, then knocked a third time.

"I said come in!"

*Knock knock knock.*

"Oh for Celestia's sake," The person exclaimed, hooves clopping closer. The door was pulled open by a stocky blue unicorn in uniform; '-are they deaf or something?-'

"I said, it's open-"

A thrown silk ribbon lazily flopped over the stallion's face, and looped around his horn.

The Staff Sargent went rigid. He tried to scream, no he was screaming. It was a soundless wail as all his limbs locked up.

'-make it let go, let go! It burns it's so cold, please let go let me go let go it's going to eat me! Freeze my horn, chew my bones-'

Fear. Pain. Hunger. The unicorn was not Prey, and the ribbon did not belong to him. He didn't know how to withstand it. Sargent Collins was completely locked up, not even able to register the outside world anymore as Prey squeezed past the stocky unicorn and pulled the door shut.

Prey gave the office a quick once over to check for possible dangers and to make sure he really was alone. They were. This type of office was one he'd already seen many of before, both in various Royal and Night Guard offices. That of a shared work space used by multiple ponies, to whom paperwork did not come naturally, and was treated as something to be put off for as long as possible.

Satisfied of his immediate safety, Prey returned to the frozen Sargent Collins. The unicorn had progressed from simply locking up, to shivering violently. His teeth chattered, and his thoughts were spiralling worryingly.

'-g-get it off, g-get it away. Hungry, cold, it's hungry, no no, go away-'

Prey's eyes flicked from the stallion's face up to the clinging ribbon. It had a thin blurry edge to it, like you might see out of the corner of your eye. Prey looked closer, and the blur wasn't there.

Instinctively, Prey's hoof twitched towards his ear where the ribbon normally happily sat, but of course it wasn't there. He knew that, he could see it right in front of him binding the stallion. Prey gave his head a brisk shake, and licked dry lips. He was here because of Crimson and, Prey reminded himself, he was on a tight schedule. 

And right now, he had the unicorn Sargent right where he wanted him. As helpless as a newborn, and unable to cast magic or defend himself, whether that be physically or mentally.

Unlike those four ponies who'd come to try and arrest Crimson the first time, Collins hadn't done anything to make Prey his enemy. He was simply unfortunate enough to have been standing in Prey's path.

Collins hadn't done anything, but Prey was still hurting him.

Prey didn't offer a pointless apology that he didn't mean, he just reached out and rested his small hoof over the Staff Sargent's own.

The unicorn's mindscape appeared before Prey's consciousness in a swirl. It was not a pleasant sight to behold. Prey didn't know what form the unicorn's mindscape normally took, but he knew what he saw before him now was not it, and he also knew the cause. Him.

Collins whole mindscape was quivering alarmingly, formless grey suggestions of fear danced all over the place as the stallion's thoughts looped around and around in terror. Collins wasn't scared of anything real, it was all in his head, but then again, he was hardly in a state to be thinking rationally. It made him utterly defenceless as Prey descended upon him. He tried to keep his touch light. It was all too easy to irreparably break a mind, and the stallion's mindscape was already unstable enough at the moment even without him poking it.

But a gentle mental touch was not one of Prey's skills. Lemon Pink's mental feelers felt cold, detached and blunt, like a hoof made of ice. Prey's could charitably be described as the sensation of rusty thorns being dragged across flesh.

'I'll make this quick.'

Prey swiftly began rooting around in Collins most recent memories, ignoring the Sargent's older ones. He didn't need to go deeper, and to do so could do more damage. What Prey was looking for was a recent event, namely, Lord Vanish of House Time reporting a break in and a theft, followed by an accusation against one Crimson Trace.

'There it is.'

Prey's rummaging tendril of barbed thought hooked the relevant memory, and reeled in.

Prey quickly examined it. Much as he'd suspected, when a noble house like House Time reported a crime, all of the City Guard command structure got involved and knew the details.

Plus, after the previous string of similar break ins and mind tampering which'd occurred to many nobles in Vanhoover only three months ago, the City Guard were understandably very keen on ensuring the same didn't happen again. Thus, it'd been all hooves on deck.

Half of the City Guard were scrambled to get out to the estate of House Time to secure it and the surrounding area. Guard checks were posted at each of the city's gates, trains were delayed to be searched, and the weather teams were questioned about any suspicious flight activity they might've seen.

Prey speedily began dissecting Collins relevant memories, looking for things that might've been overlooked or if the City Guard had any leads about who really had made off with the jade necklace.

But there was nothing. Prey saw in the Staff Sargent's memories that the Time mansion had been searched, including the grounds inside the property's wall, and the family vault had been examined. 

While there was no sign of forced entry into the mansion itself, the vault had definitely been accessed. There were no traces left of whom it could've been, or how they'd been able to trick or force the magical lock, since it was still intact. The money and jewels inside hadn't been touched either, only the jade necklace had been removed.

'This was a skilled thief, and not one motivated by simple greed. They knew where they were going, what they were taking, and how to get in and out undetected.'

Prey was not ruling out House Time trying for an insurance scam just yet, although the chances were low. From his understanding of Equestrian law, rarely could unique magical items be insured.

From Collins memory, Prey learnt how the City Guard had called in some specialised unicorns with scanning and tracking spells, who would be arriving tomorrow. But otherwise they were at a complete loss. For now, they'd cordoned off the whole mansion and left a squad there overnight to patrol the grounds. The City Guard Captain was hoping that tomorrow would turn something up, because right now they were stumped. 

'Hope. What an unreliable plan. So far, they have nothing.' Prey judged. He continued searching through Collins memories of the filed reports and emergency action meetings. He was looking for two things in particular.

'How are the Solar Guard involved? And is Captain Valour part of this investigation?'

Prey quickly found the relevant memory. In it, Collins and eleven other City Guard officers were all standing at parade ground attention, heads held high and chests puffed out as the Solar Guard landed in sky chariots which looked very familiar to Prey. The pegasi snorted and folded powerful wings, and the unicorn's golden armour shone as they disembarked. 

It was as if Prey was there, seeing and feeling it all vicariously, and he could feel the awe and pride in Collins memories as the Staff Sargent saw the Solar Guards.

The Solar Guard unicorn in charge, a First Lieutenant, strode up to the City Guard Captain at their head, "City Guard, it's an honour."

"No sir, the honour is all ours."

The First Lieutenant smiled, "Don't be modest. The City Guard does sterling work."

Then the unicorn's smile faded, "It's unfortunate that we must meet again so soon. Barely three months, and the lowlife scum has already struck again, back to their old tricks. But this time by Celestia, we're going to make sure to catch every last one of them. These attacks against our historic founders cannot be allowed to continue."

"Yes sir. Of course sir." The City Guard Captain exclaimed, caught up in the First Lieutenant's fervour. Collin felt the same fervour himself, he'd been there himself three months ago and felt the helpless indignation of the City Guard being run rings around.

"The Solar Guard is here to work alongside the City Guard to solve this case, if you'll allow us."

"It'll be my honour sir!"

The brief, but informative memory came to an end. It'd been enough. Prey had his answers.

First, Captain Valour was not part of the investigation, which was good, since Prey didn't want to see the unicorn again until he was ready to kill him. Secondly, as Prey had already guessed, the Solar Guard were here because of the similar nature of this theft to the previous crimes that had rocked the rich noble Houses of Vanhoover less than half a year ago. With how the last crime spree had ended, with the brain damaged victims still in a psychiatric ward, of course the Solar Guards were going to take a proactive approach in combating this one.

'But even so, they, just like the City Guard, don't know how or why this has happened. Same as me really.' Prey thought. He continued to try to shift through Collins mind as quickly and delicately as possible.

Prey stopped looking as he found something interesting. The City Guard hadn't finished taking statements from all the servants and members of House Time. There was a tick-list, one which they intended to complete it tomorrow. Collins memory wasn't eidetic, so seeing every servant on that list wasn't something Prey could get from viewing the memory alone. But Prey could do the next best thing. Something that Collins did remember.

'Now where is this list?- Ah, in the second filing cabinet on the left, I see.'

Prey disengaged his mindscape from the slowly haemorrhaging Staff Sargent's. The stallion's mind was locked in a stupor of unnamed fear, hunger, and cold. Prey winced and blinked dry eyes as his consciousness returned to the office.

"Second filing cabinet on the left." Prey muttered. He hurriedly pushed a chair over to the correct cabinet so he could reach, and stood on it. The drawer slid out with a squeal, and Prey flicked through the folders until he came to the right place.

Snatching up the correct folder between a hoof cleft once he came to it, Prey began to skim the list. Names, genders, ages, addresses, and occupations within House Time's estate.

Prey's eyes darted down the list until he came to the bottom, where there were only three names without ticks applied against them, showing they hadn't been interviewed yet.

'Olive Branch, Earth pony, gardener. Ideal, aside from being an Earth pony. They'll need to be a unicorn for this.'

That narrowed it down to two, a middle aged unicorn mare named Warm Hearth, who worked as a housekeeper, and a young stallion who worked as a part time chef called Planetary Shift. Odd name, not that it mattered to Prey. No, all he cared about was their addresses, and which of the two was closer.

Prey found his answer, nodded to himself, and snapped the file shut.

As Prey and Lemon headed back out into the night, they left behind two City Guards none the wiser to having lost ten minutes of their lives, plus one Staff Sargent. Collins would be fine. Probably. Almost certainly. The reaction had been much stronger than Prey had expected. It really shouldn't have been that severe. It was supposed to be a simple mind blanking and magic inhibiting. But the ribbon had done a bit more to the unicorn than Prey had expected.

Collins had been left sitting slumped behind his desk, staring blankly, with a tiny trickle of blood coming out of his nose. His fur was cold to the touch. He'd awaken at the first sign of outside stimulation, and not know anything was amiss, just that he'd gotten a sudden nose bleed. But he wasn't Prey's concern anymore.

Prey'd done far worse to less deserving people before. The veropedes existences proved that, and there was very little he wouldn't do if it meant achieving his goals. It wasn't something Prey was proud of though.

The Vanhoover river gurgled distantly in the night, carrying over the open countryside and even reaching all the way out to House Time's estate.

Much like Lord Vanish had boasted to Prey and Crimson, the noble House had existed for over five centuries. And going even further back, House Time could trace its roots back to being related to a member of the first conclave of magi, who would later become unicorn nobles of New Unicornia as they gained Celestia's favour, and were granted lands and titles in return for their service and allegiance.

That had been centuries ago. While a few such noble houses had dwindled and collapsed under poor management, most had prospered and grown even more wealthy over the years proportional to the size of Celestia's first grant.

House Time was one of the second types of noble Houses, albeit one of the less well known ones, unlike some of the more famous examples, such as the loudly sociable House Blood, or the obscenely wealthy House Fell.

But nevertheless, House Time had done well for itself over the years. It may have been approaching midnight, but the darkness didn't hide the quality or the expansiveness of the Time estates.

House Time's lands were large enough to have idyllic holiday cottages to rent out, a private bakery, mill, boating lake, and a parish hall all before Lemon Pink and Prey, trotting along through the night, even came upon the Time mansion.

The mansion itself had a gate house, walls, rows of pruned and sculpted trees running alongside the private road, and well tended flowerbeds. Through the iron bar gates, you could see and hear a fountain set before the mansion's steps, with cosily lantern light illuminating the front door. Basically, even at night, the whole place screamed 'money'.

'I'd love to fill this place with fire runes strong enough to melt even stone and set the whole thing ablaze.' Prey thought as he and Lemon Pink stood outside the iron gates, hanging back in the cover of the shadows.

Collins memories had said there was a City Guard unit posted here who were patrolling inside the mansion's grounds throughout the night, along with another unit posted within the mansion itself.

That was okay though, Prey had no intention of going into the mansion or its gardens.

So if he wasn't going in, why bother coming here in the first place? If he didn't intend to enter the mansion to search for clues as to the real thief, why even risk the possibility that this was a Solar Guard ambush? Prey had no doubt that the Solar Guard had laid one or more alarm spells around the mansion just waiting to catch intruders. So why risk it?

The simple answer was; Prey wasn't going to. He wasn't here to break in, or find Vanish, or look for clues.

Prey hadn't seen anything that indicated they'd triggered some magical tripwire or been spotted, and they'd been standing here for thirty minutes. Satisfied, Prey turned and jerked his head to Lemon, 'Let's go.'

Wordlessly, the two of them turned away from the gate and began traversing alongside the property's outer wall, as silent and patient as two shadows. Even if someone with a night vision spell had been looking out of the mansion in their exact direction, they would've seen nothing. Doubling down on illusions was useful like that.

They'd almost circled the full way around behind the mansion when Prey held up his hoof. Prey studied the night sky, the placement of a tallish tree near the wall, and then a small copse of graceful willow trees growing a ways off next to a creek. The willows looked like giant, bowed heads in the night. The creek emptied into a stream, which trickled and flowed until it eventually joined the vast Vanhoover river itself, at a point somewhere before the river entered the glowing lights of the city.

Prey gave a slight nod. This spot would do. He pointed a hoof towards the distant creek, which was all the signal Lemon Pink needed.

From her saddle bag, Lemon removed a set of slip-on horseshoes and put them on. It couldn't be seen in the dark, but the horseshoes were quite destinctive; old, scuffed, and loose fitting. Prey took up a hiding place in a bush, while Lemon started sneaking off towards the creek.

The lamb settled down to wait. Lemon would be coming back, and she'd leave a faint trail behind her, no matter how careful she was. A bent blade of grass, a nudged pebble, a broken flower stem. And around the creek itself, it would be even harder to avoid leaving tracks. The soft mud of the river bank, the water reeds, all would hold signs of Lemon's passing. A trail of tracks that lead there and back.

That was fine, it was part of the plan. He just had to make sure it wasn't too obvious.

Prey kept watch on the dark sky, the mansion, and his surroundings while he waited for Lemon Pink to return.

Who had really stolen the jade necklace, and why? Had they done so purposefully to bring the Solar Guard back into Vanhoover? Prey was fairly confident by this point that this wasn't a targeted attack striking specifically at him through Crimson, but just an unlucky coincidence. However that didn't provide any answers to who and why, since they'd obviously been after the jade necklace, and not just money, which had apparently been left untouched in the safe.

'I don't know who they are, how many, how dangerous, or what resources they have at their disposal.'

But whomever they were, they were now Prey's enemy. Or that was how the old Prey back before Hard Baked would've thought. The Prey of now wasn't so sure it even mattered. They'd still stolen the necklace, and made problems for him and Crimson. They were going to pay for that.

Unfortunately, Prey greatly suspected he'd never learn who was really behind this theft. A good thief was one who never got caught, and this had all the hallmarks of a good thief. There were probably even greater thieves out there, one who'd stolen things no one even realised they'd taken.

'They don't know me, and I don't know them. I have no clue about their real motivation. They didn't even have anything against Crimson personally, it was just his bad luck and that arrogant bastard Vanish jumping to conclusions.' Prey thought sourly.

The thought that he was once again indirectly suffering because of someone else's, (almost certainly a unicorn), uncaring greed made Prey angry. It also made him feel like hypocritical filth, because it's exactly what he'd done in the past too.

If his enemies were selfish, arrogant bastards, then what did that make Prey?

Prey was still fruitlessly pondering ideas to catch the real thief, and weighing up if he should even try, when Lemon Pink returned from her little jaunt to the creek and back.

Prey stood up. 'Done?' His look asked.

Lemon nodded, removing the horseshoes again. In the darkness, her normally pale silver magic appeared far brighter than normal. Well then, it was a good thing they were under an illusionary veil. Lemon levitated one shoe up to the top of the wall and scraped it on the stone, then at Prey's direction, made a few chips into the bark of the tree near to the wall. Not much, just enough to rouse suspicions if someone looked very closely.

Prey wasn’t the tracker Snake had been, even with most of the evil zebra's memories, but Prey believed his woodcraft skills were good enough to lay a believable false trail without overdoing it.

Satisfied, Prey signalled their retreat. The false trail was set and it was time to leave. They just had one more stop to make in Vanhoover on their way back to the train station.

The first soft rays of morning light were just starting to hit the spires of Upper Canterlot when Prey closed the flat door and crawled under his blanket.

His hoof wrapped itself in his ribbon as he drifted off, and his last thoughts were of how Crimson must be waking up right now in a cell, and then about the weight all those he'd sacrificed and murdered in the desperate pursuit of his ultimate goal; To stay alive.

And then, just after he'd drifted off, a horrible thought occurred to Prey's sleeping mind.

What if this wasn't all bad luck, and really had been an attempt to frame Crimson?

'If I was trying to frame Crimson, and I knew the Guard had arrested him, and that Crimson's flat was now empty... Maybe it wasn’t incompetence that those Guards didn’t search Crimson's flat when he was arrested.'

The blanket flew off as Prey leapt up. It hadn't fully settled back onto the bare mattress by the time Prey was already out the door. A moment later he was back and grabbing his keys, which also included a key for Crimson's flat, and then he was back out the door again.

Yesterday, Sunshine, (the filthy lying unicorn hypocrite), had said they wouldn't be searching Crimson's flat because there was no way a thief smart enough to successfully steal from a noble's house would've kept what they stole in their own flat. But what if the Solar Guard decided to be sensible and cover all bases, and search the flat later anyway?

Prey rushed into Crimson's flat. It looked the exact same as when he'd locked it up yesterday. But was it really?

In a frantic whirl, Prey searched every hiding place he could think of, which despite the flat being almost completely bare, were still many.

He looked under the table, the bed, in the mattress seams, checked all the floorboards in case any had been loosened, the sink, the pipes and plumbing, the toilet, in the soil of Crimson's Blood Fern, the cupboards, behind the hinges, the skirting boards, inside the crystal glow light, and finally in the new refrigerator box Crimson had bought just the other day.

No planted jade necklace. Prey stood in front of the open cool box, or refrigerator as its proper name was, cold air playing across his face as he stared in and thought.

No planted jade necklace. But that didn't mean the Guard wouldn't still end up searching Crimson's flat. Slowly, Prey let the refrigerator's door swing shut on the nearly empty shelves, cutting off the flow of cold, sterile air.

Prey sat down on the floorboards and thought about what this meant, where it fit with what he already knew, and where it disagreed.

'The Guard can't be allowed to find anything wrong in here. I won't give them any reason to lock Crimson away, no matter who they are. Captain Valour, Shining Armour, Vanish, Sunshine, or even Luna. No one. Crimson is my friend, and friends look out for each other. I owe Crimson.'

Just yesterday, Prey had jokingly told Crimson he'd help the pegasus hide a body if he ever needed the help, but Prey had meant every word of it. Well, while this wasn't quite helping Crimson silence a witness or dispose of the murder weapon, Prey was still going to help.

'A few hours intense rune work should do it.' Prey considered, still staring at the white cool box in front of him unseeingly, '...And perhaps a few extra just to be safe.'

"We've got to do something!" Scenic exclaimed for the fifth time, "We're just, just sitting here uselessly."

Prey was rapidly running out of patience with the earth pony, although he didn't show it:

"Nighthawk has ordered us to leave him to get Crimson out. There's nothing we can do." Prey repeated for the fifth time, not looking up from the newspaper.

"But it's not right. Crimson hasn't done anything, and he's a Guard! They should be giving him a medal, he took down the scarecrow all by himself. This isn't right!"

Prey couldn't be bothered to even say anything about the world not being fair. He turned the page and smoothed it down while Scenic continued to posture. Newspapers might be filled with uninformed drivel, but they still had their uses and the odd nugget of information.

"We should make like, like, uh, a defence. Or a case! We could prove it wasn't him, yeah, didn't you and Sargent Gloom catch Wheat Plow and do that creep's trial? You should easily be able to prove it wasn't Crimson. Or, or we could go to Princess Luna, or, uh, catch the real thief ourselves." Scenic tried. If it wasn't for one of Scenic's legs still being in a cast, Prey was sure he would've been pacing restlessly.

While it was rather gratifying to see Scenic's loyalty to Crimson, the stupidity of his suggestions grated on Prey. So he continued to skim over the worthless news article about cloud house princes as he asked; "What part of the phrase, 'Nighthawk has ordered us to not get involved' do you not understand?"

"I understand, but, but, we need to do something. Isn't Crimson supposed to be your best friend Prey?" Scenic exclaimed.

Prey looked up sharply, and Scenic almost swallowed his tongue. He cringed, ears going back, "I-sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"Crimson is my friend. But what do you suggest I do exactly? Break into jail and bust him out? With me and what army? I already know Crimson is innocent, and will end up getting released before too long. At the absolute most, they can hold him for a week without a charge. The Night Guard has lawyers, they're working on this. Do you think Crimson would thank me for doing something rash in the meantime?" Prey asked coldly.

Scenic's ears went back even further at Prey's frigid tone, "I, uh, no, I guess not."

"Crimson is innocent and will be released. This Lord Vanish is just throwing a temper tantrum and accusing anyone he can think of." Prey said firmly, looking back down at his newspaper. The double broadsheets were as big as he was when folded open like this.

"But, but what if something goes wrong? What if Crimson gets falsely charged? I've read about that happening in stories. It could happen." Scenic anxiously fretted. 

'-how can he be so calm about this? If it was me trapped in Crimson's position...-'

Prey looked up again and put on a big innocent smile so sarcastic that even Scenic couldn't miss it:

"Surely you're not suggesting that there could be a miscarriage of justice, are you? This is the famous Solar Guard, the most righteous and honourable of all ponies. Everyone's equal before the law, so I'm sure it has nothing to do with just the word of one Lord. You're not thinking that somehow, ponies could possibly be wrong about something, are you Scenic? Right?"

"Alright alright, there's no need to make fun of me. I'm being silly, I get it." Scenic mumbled, looking down at the floor.

Secretly though, his worry hadn't abated in the slightest, '-Prey's just trying to scare me. None of that can even be remotely true, surely. But what if it is?-'

Prey snorted softly to himself and went back to reading the newspaper. Hopefully, Scenic would take the hint he wasn't wanted here and leave so Prey could get back to work. Gloom had been by earlier in the day, and Prey knew the thestral intended to petition Nighthawk again.

The Solar Guard were not allowing any civilian visitors in to see Crimson, something Prey was not happy about, since the ISND were not on duty, so they counted as civilians at the moment. Prey tried not to let himself get too worked up. He was angry and worried, but it would work out, and by the Guards' own rules too, not him breaking into the jail. De-escalation, not escalation was the way to go here. Probably.

After all he'd already said it. Crimson was innocent, and would be released. Prey would insure it.

Prey watched, fascinated, as his veropede, on his command, chewed through the bent bar of steel without apparent effort.

He'd seen the bent bar on a scrap heap in a back alley in Lower Canterlot on his way down here, waiting to be collected, and had decided to take it to test.

The veropede didn't eat metal, but that didn't stop its circular maw of teeth grinding down the bar like it was no more than a candy cane. Sure, Prey had known his two veropedes were capable of this, they'd ripped the reaper king to shreds and could burrow through stone after all. But still, to have the chance to see the steel bar reduced to a metal pulp up close was an experience in and of itself.

He'd already spent many hours studying his two armoured monsters, and he could happily spend many hours more. His goal was eventually to apply more runes onto the veropedes, and turn them into true weapons.

It would hurt the veropedes, but it had to be done. They were his tools. Prey felt guilty about the coming pain he was going to inflict on his two obedient monsters, non-sentience notwithstanding. The veropedes were beasts, they didn't understand concepts of the future, they'd just know it was pain. And the severity of the pain...

Prey remembered how much it'd hurt when he carved the runes into his own fore hooves. He remembered how much he had screamed, all alone in the Deeper Green. It had hurt.

Prey hated pain. He hated witnessing pain, and despite how hypocritical it sounded, Prey even hated causing pain. It seldom stopped him, but he hated it.

But Prey put it from his mind for now, as it was a problem for the future. He wasn't ready to begin working on the veropedes, he still had a lot of planning and rune combinations to test out before he started working on them. And that would only come after he was done making this underground base as impenetrable and secret as possible.

The veropedes were only tools, two leashed monsters, not some kind of twisted pet. They were creatures of nature, neither good nor evil. No conscience, no morals or false concepts of fairness. No pride or arrogance or selfishness. No anger or fear, no corruption or innocence. Just an apex predator, the perfect representation of nature, not the tamed version ponies seemed to think was natural. They just were. Prey knew that, just as surely as he knew the only thing stopping them devouring him right now were the implanted runes and blood magic from when they were tiny, (relatively speaking), eggs.

Prey also knew he was perverting that very nature he both so respected and feared, but that was what he was. A conniving, honourless, lying, walking contradiction. But he was also still alive, and meant to stay alive, so that's what counted in the end.

Prey reached up and patted the cool chitin plate to the side of the veropedes head, even though the monster wouldn't even be able to feel such a light touch through the two inch thick plate, and wouldn't have understood it even if it could.

"In the future though. Not yet. I've got a lot of work to do before then." Prey sighed to himself.

Enough standing around philosophising, it was about time he got back to work. The runic arrays weren't going to build themselves, and staying busy helped keep him from dwelling too heavily on Crimson's imprisonment.

And, as terrible as it sounded, Prey really did have bigger worries than Crimson's predicament. Crimson wasn't in any danger, and no matter how much Prey wanted to bust him out of jail as soon as possible, sitting tight and doing nothing would better solve the problem in the end. Probably. It didn't mean he had to like it, but there were other ongoing issues Prey couldn't afford to forget about.

His enemy in the shadows was ever weighing on Prey's mind, along with the mimics, the possibility of the Sun Wolf or Luna uncovering something about him, The List, Nighthawk's obvious suspicions that there was more to his story than met the eye, and Lemon Pink.

He'd already seen to the solution of Crimson's problem. Even if it went against his heart, he just had to wait. Crimson was innocent and would be released soon. Probably.

Gloom and Prey tried returning to the Palace that evening asking for visiting rights to see Crimson. Nighthawk wasn't there, he'd already left for Vanhoover to try and get this mess sorted out as swiftly as possible. Lieutenant Starry Wing had been there and had spoken with them instead.

"I'm sorry Gloom, but the Royal Guard are not allowing us any access. It's their case, well, theirs and the Solar Guard, and they've point blank refused us." Starry Wing said shaking his head.

"They can't do that," Prey protested, "They've insisted on arresting Crimson as a civilian, so we have a right to visit him as civilians. The reverse is also true if they arrested Crimson in his Night Guard capacity."

"That would be true if you were family or a legal guardian," Starry Wing sighed apologetically, "But as you well know, there's nopony in the whole of Canterlot who can claim that."

Prey could hear Gloom grinding his fangs, '-this is the Royal Guard trying to get back at us for investigating them, isn't it? Nothing personal my tail-'

Gloom was definitely right. Prey had seen how smugly the couple of Royal Guard officers looked at them on their way here. They hadn't even tried to mask it.

"So that's it? They're blocking us over a petty grudge, so we're not allowed to do anything and we just have to sit back and take it?" Gloom asked. His words should've been heated, but they just sounded more resigned and tired, like he already knew the answer.

"So that's it, yes." Starry Wing agreed with simple thestral fatalism:

'-Captain Nighthawk will sort it. For now we just have to let the Royal Guard posture until they grow tired of it, or the holding time is up-'

Gloom was just as much a thestral as the Lieutenant. He'd gotten the message. Continuing to prevail on a senior thestral to produce the impossible was both insane and very rude. Gloom formally dipped his head to Starry Wing, Prey copying him even if his own bow was fake. If Prey hadn’t learned to convincingly fake sincerity, he’d have died in the Resistance.

"Thank you for your time, sir. Sorry for being a pain and bothering you when there is nothing you can do." Gloom said.

"You're not back on duty just yet, Gloom," Starry Wing reminded him, "I'm just Starry Wing at the moment, dealing with an important civilian concern. That's hardly a waste of my time."

"Thank you, but really, we know you're very busy." Gloom shook his head.

"I am busy," Starry Wing admitted honesty, "But that's hardly new. I'm also taking this opportunity to assess how your recovery is going and how soon I think you'll be able to return to active duty."

"You think we're finally ready to come back?" Gloom asked, raising his head in surprise.

Starry Wing had no trouble looking Gloom in the eye, unaffected by the scars even as he disappointed the off-duty Sargent; "Sorry, but no Gloom. I can see that both you and Prey have made excellent progress, but until you've both been cleared by the therapist at the very least, I'm afraid it's out of the question. For everypony's good, you need to be fully recovered before you begin working again. Scenic Paint’s leg isn’t healed, and Lilly... Well, and Lilly."

Gloom could only dip his head again in acknowledgement of the Lieutenant's judgement. Prey was fine with not returning to active duty and risking his own life, thank-you-very-much. He had enough of his own concerns to be getting on with, thank-you-very-much.

"You'll get there soon though, I'm sure." Starry Wing said encouragingly, giving Gloom a wing pat on the shoulder. Somehow, it wasn't even a condescending gesture, but a sincere one. 

Then he coughed; "Now let’s talk about the delicate matter of, ah, Private Lilly Blossom needing to get well again too."

"Lilly Blossom." Gloom repeated quietly, joining Starry Wing in sparing a moment to dwell on the mare's plight.

"How does her parents' lawsuit against the Night Guard go?" Prey asked, breaking into their chain of thoughts.

"It should be going nowhere. As regrettable as it is, Lilly was injured in the line of duty. The Night Guard does not abandon its own, and Lilly Blossom will be cared for no matter what. Her parents however..." Here Starry Wing paused to find the right way to put it, "Are rich, angry, looking for somepony to blame, and a chance to get richer."

'-moon blight take them both-'

"I'm sure they're just trying to do what they believe best for their daughter." Gloom offered.

"Certainly. But they're going about it in a selfish way." Starry Wing said with another sigh, thinking:

'-if only Lilly would consent to seeing her parents, it would invalidate a lot of their lawyer's legal arguments. However it's Lilly's choice, and the Night Guard supports its own-'

Prey nodded to himself, "So it isn't going well. Have the Royal inspectors joined together with her parents lawyers yet? That's the sort of two pronged sneaky thing they'd do."

"Oh. Oh. No, not yet, thank Luna for small mercies." Starry Wing exclaimed, stunned by the horrible idea.

'Not yet, but I bet it's only a matter of time,' Prey thought. 'Strange Happenstance has been too quiet for too long. He brashly swore he would get to the bottom of this, after all. Surely he hasn't given up? What's that slippery private detective up to?'

In theory it wasn't his problem, but Prey knew it would still somehow inevitably become his.

But it wasn't his problem yet. Eventually yes, but right now, Crimson's incarceration was his current problem. Prey had done everything he reasonably could to ensure Crimson would be found innocent and speedily released. And some unreasonable things too.

There was nothing further Starry Wing could do for them however, so Gloom and Prey eventually left. The few thestrals still awake and on duty at this hour of the day nodded solemnly in respect to Gloom as they passed. And to Prey's mild surprise, at him too, although there was a certain amount of pity mixed into their yellow slitted eyes which Prey didn't like. Well he could hopefully exploit that in the future, but he still didn't like it.

Gloom breathed deeply as they emerged from the Palace's Guard entrance, and out into the sun. He squinted briefly up at the bright sky, then down the path towards the Guard Compound and the exit.

"Hang on Prey," Gloom called as Prey was about to go, "Let's not go just yet. Let's go for a walk."

Prey stopped, "A walk." He repeated flatly.

"Yes, around the public Palace Gardens."

"And if I don't want to?" 

Gloom blew out a breath, "Then you don't have to. It's not an order Prey, I'm just asking if you want to."

No, Prey did not want to waste time on something as mundane as a walk. However he was not a mind leech for nothing.

'-there's been a rift between me and Prey ever since the hospital. Does Prey secretly blame me for everything that happened but just won't say so?-', Gloom worried.

Prey turned back around, "Is there a special reason for a walk you're not telling me?"

Gloom considered dodging the question, but only briefly. "Yes actually."

"And that reason is...?"

Gloom gestured off towards the direction of the public section of the Palace Gardens, "Come find out."

"What's wrong with talking right here?" Prey responded. If Gloom wanted to talk, he'd rather get it over and done with.

Gloom sighed, "Just come Prey, please. My cutie mark is telling me I should go for a walk in the Gardens, so that's where I'm going."

Well that changed things slightly. Prey gave in, since you couldn't always get what you wanted, and sometimes you had to do the giving rather than the taking.

"Alright. Lead on."

A young pony couple, obviously freshly infatuated with each other, were leaning against one another under a rose arch, blushing smiles on their faces as they admired the spectacular flower beds but mainly just each other.

Prey gave them a once over to ensure they weren't a threat, before returning to watching where they were going as Gloom led them at a leisurely pace between rows of sculpted hedges. Neither they, nor the obnoxious pony couple, were the only visitors to the Palace Gardens. The constant bird song mixed with the just as constant low chatter of pony conversation, as small groups wandered around the gardens, enjoying the scenery during the opening hours. Two groups of twittering annoyances.

The uniformly cut grass was a rich, nearly supernatural vibrant green, and looked incredibly soft. Too bad there were signs telling all members of the general public to keep off.

There was a private section of the Palace Gardens too, but as the name implied, it was private and guarded, reserved for royalty or special events, such as the Gala which'd only recently passed. There were still laborers about fixing the last of the damage, as it happened. Prey had heard that to get an invite to attend the Royal Gardens was considered a special mark of Celestia's approval, reserved only for nobility or magi of renown.

'An invite to attend a private garden tea party with the Sun Wolf. What a horrifying prospect.' 

"You found what your special talent wants to show you yet?" Prey spoke.

"No. Maybe? It's always hard to tell. It could just be taking me to see something, or to physically find something. Or perhaps just to stop me taking a different wrong path. Or I could even be misinterpreting the whole thing." Gloom admitted, thoughts confirming he really wasn't sure.

"Well, since you've no idea, how about we use this time productively? What did you want to say to me that you've been hesitating over?" Prey asked bluntly as they took a turn towards the statue garden.

Gloom's wings hunched up slightly all by themselves, '-right. I didn't really want to talk. But now I've got to follow through. I bet this is what my talent was really leading me to-'

Gloom automatically glanced around with a slight squint, checking there was no one within earshot.

"I don't hear anyone close by." Prey assured Gloom without being prompted.

"Anypony," Gloom corrected without thought, "I, well, I did want to speak, yes."

Prey waited for Gloom to continue. The thestral was taking his time though. An iridescent purple butterfly flitted across their path. Prey's eyes followed it. He didn't recognise it from Snake's pillaged memories, so it probably wasn't one of the poisonous varieties.

Gloom grimaced, facial scars crinkling up, then squared his shoulders and got on with it; "Things aren't the same as before. You've grown close to Crimson after what happened in Mayflower, which is great of course, but, I don't think it's the same with us anymore. I don't feel there's any mutual respect, and I get that. I know I said sorry, but sometimes sorry isn't enough. Be honest with me Prey, how much do you hate me now?"

Prey looked away from tracking the butterfly's flight. He met Gloom's scarred eyes squarely, the thestral deserved that much at least, although his mouth still curled into a bright, friendly, and fake smile. Gloom couldn't help but wince when he saw that. He knew it meant Prey didn't see him as an ally right now.

"You didn't listen to me." Prey stated.

"About?" Gloom ventured to ask.

"I said don't go into the wolfing woods. You didn't listen. Then later on, you said, 'whatever it takes', remember? But when I did what it took, I just got punished for it when we got back, and now I'm on a watch list and wasting my time seeing a therapist. But more than that, you were going to abandon us. Crimson and me, I mean. You were going to quit the Night Guard and leave us to fend for ourselves."

Gloom could only lower his head, "Yes. I said sorry then, and I'll say it again. I'm sorry Prey. I did what I thought was right at the time, but at the end of the night..."

Gloom shrugged helplessly, "...Here we are."

"And here we are." Prey agreed. The pleasant smile stayed in place.

Gloom's tufted ears lowered further, "And here we are indeed. When everything's been said, they're just words. What's done is done and I can't take it back. All I can say is sorry again."

'-we're still a team who has to work together, but if Prey does not want to work with me anymore, what can I do to fix my mistakes?-'

"Crimson's already forgiven you." Prey told him.

"I know he has. We had a frank talk and he accepted my apology."

They'd spoken? Well, Prey must've missed it while off building death traps, no doubt. "But his forgiveness isn't enough? You want mine too, is that it?" Prey challenged.

"I don't want false forgiveness, no," Gloom shook his head, "And even if you don't forgive me, we will still have to work together when Crimson is released."

Gloom heavily emphasised the term 'when'.

"Then my forgiveness isn't really important, since nothing will change with or without it." Prey said.

"It's important to me." Gloom said quietly.

'-Luna's starry mane, I sound pathetic saying it like that-', Gloom thought, but he didn't try to take it back.

Prey let Gloom stew for a while as they wandered around the statue garden, some new, mostly old stone depictions of famous ponies or historic events. Gloom was a thestral though. He'd asked, and now he would wait patiently without pushing until Prey gave him the answer.

'How stoic and noble. How thestral.' Prey thought derisively. Well, let Gloom be patient and noble for a bit longer then. It served Prey's purposes to make Gloom wait. It would make what he said next all the more impactful. Even now, despite the sincerity of Gloom's apology and all they'd been through together side by side, Prey was still the manipulative selfish little lamb he'd always been.

But, didn't Gloom deserve better after all he'd done for Prey? Even though Gloom had made mistakes, bad mistakes, he'd still fought to keep all of the ISND alive. No one was perfect, and Prey had betrayed, backstabbed, and let down more people than Gloom ever could.

'Yes, Gloom does deserve better. But instead he's got me.'

They were approaching the middle of the statue garden, and Prey was surprised to see there were a few statues which weren't solely devoted to famous ponies performing heroic deeds. Still, he'd yet to spot any statues of any of the other sentient races, like griffins, minotaurs, diamond dogs, or even cows or donkeys. Just a few stone beasts and animals artistically rendered in poses, like a sleeping tiger or a majestic lion. And some large kind of chimera serpent, set on its own pedestal. Prey hadn't ever seen an animal or creature like the one depicted. He looked up at it as he finally broke the silence to answer Gloom:

"Actions speak louder than words."

It took Gloom a minute to connect the dots, "Are you saying you want me to buy your forgiveness?" Gloom asked, stunned.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." 

"Seriously? But that's just..."

"I want a promise." Prey said, twirling the free end of the ribbon in his off hoof.

"Oh, you meant a promise." Gloom straightened his shoulders as he prepared himself.

The silken end of the ribbon swung in slow circles. Gloom couldn't help but watch it, "I think a promise is the least you can do for me, considering."

"Yes." Gloom agreed, '-a promise is only fair-'

"I want a promise that you won't think about trying to abandon me or Crimson again. When or if we stand accused of breaking some silly law made by sillier people who have no idea what survival really takes, I don't want you to just sit back and let it happen. I want you to stand up for us."

Gloom couldn't help a guilty wince. He hadn't been there when Vanish had taken the jade necklace from Crimson, to say nothing of where Crimson currently was; sitting in a cell. Regardless of whether it'd been Princess Luna's decision or not, Gloom hadn't been there, and that's what mattered. Nor was he there when the ruling was delivered on Prey being deemed a danger to society, or when subsequent penalties and restrictions were placed upon him. Again, sure, Nighthawk hadn't wanted to do it, but that didn't matter because Gloom still hadn't been there again.

'-and both Prey and Crimson still wear the gold tracer bands. How much does that have to do with what Prey is asking me now?-', Gloom wondered. '-after all they've done for Canterlot, we still get treated like outcasts-'

"Yes, I can promise that Prey." Gloom said, and he wholeheartedly meant it. Every word was the truth, he would back Prey and Crimson even if it meant coming into opposition with the law. 

'-because they're my team, my ISND-'

The swinging ribbon came to a stop, "Good. Thank you." Prey said. He felt like the lowest swindler, but he'd do it again in a heartbeat. Gloom had promised, and if it came down to it, Prey now knew Gloom would follow through on his promise. No matter what.

Prey hadn't secured Gloom's promise for himself, or at least, only partly for himself. If Prey was caught, he doubted there would be any getting out of it, regardless of anything Gloom could say or do. But perhaps there would be a chance for Crimson if that ever happened.

And then Crimson got released from custody.

Prey almost smiled as he first saw Crimson standing there free, his coat and mane a bit scruffy but without the insult of hoof cuffs marring his figure. And indeed Prey would've smiled and dashed up to talk to the red pegasus if it weren't for who else was present in the office. As it was, Prey restrained himself, and settled for simply saying; "Crimson, it's good to see you."

"Thank you Prey." Crimson returned formally. He too was very aware of who else they were in the presence of, and stayed standing stiffly at attention where he'd been placed in the room.

Captain Nighthawk, Lieutenant Screech, along with Captain Shining Armour and a couple more of his Royal Guards were gathered here, plus Sunshine representing the Solar Guard.

Next to him, Prey could hear Gloom's thoughts of strong relief on seeing Crimson too; '-finally! It took long enough, but finally!-'

They were all standing in one of the spare offices within the Guard Compound which happened to be free, the room having been hastily cleared without issue when both Nighthawk and Shining Armour had marched in with their entourages. The Night Guards had ended up in a sort of face off against the Royal Guards once they'd all filed inside, split down the middle of the room. Silver armour and grey fur on one side, and gold and white on the other.

Although right now, all the officers along with Sunshine were just talking. It was a conversation bordering on an argument, but Nighthawk and Shining Armour were being professional enough to limit it to that.

"The Night Guard told you so from the beginning." Nighthawk gruffly rasped, as blunt as a brick.

Shining Armour didn't look phased, "And happily, you were right. Everypony did their duty, and as a result, we got this all sorted out quickly."

Shining Armour didn't say the; 'this time' out loud, or ‘and without any collateral damage’, but it was clearly there.

When he'd arrived in the Guard Compound, the Captain of the Royal Guard hadn't been pleased to see his opposites in the Night Guards already there and waiting for the Solar Guards' return, doubly so when he spied Gloom and Prey in attendance too.

'-why've you got to try and fight me like this Nighthawk? It wasn't anything personal. Everypony's on the same side here-', Shining Armour had thought, the flash of his steely blue eyes giving a hint to the unicorn's inner frustrations. '-and how'd he learn the release meeting was this morning anyway?-'

Prey had kept close behind Gloom as the unicorn Captain had marched passed into the Compound office building with barely so much as a second glance at them, and so Shining Armour hadn't caught the darkly considering look from Prey which trailed inside after him.

'If we're all on the same side, why are those Royal inspectors still trying to dig up any dirt they can find on the Night Guard, hmm?' Prey thought, although that wasn't why he was angry at Shining Armour, since Prey only counted himself as an unwilling part of the Night Guard, and thus didn't care about the organisation as a whole.

Prey hated Shining Armour for a much simpler reason. As the Royal Guard Captain, and a powerful unicorn to hoof, he was one of Celestia's personal favourites. Thus, by definition, he was the ponification of Evil Incarnate.

Technically, Prey and Gloom shouldn't have actually been here since they were still on medical leave, but when Prey had overheard Shining Armour asking why the ISND were present for this meeting, Nighthawk had bluntly told the other Captain; "Because I invited them, and it's their right to be here."

Well, technically it'd actually been Screech who'd sent a thestral messenger to Gloom and Prey. However, Nighthawk certainly wasn't going to second guess his trusted Lieutenant, and especially not in front of Shining Armour.

Screech caught Gloom's eye and gave him a nod. Gloom nodded back gratefully, '-got to remember to say thank you to Screech properly later-'

But then the door had opened again, and the accompanying Solar Guard, (Sunshine again. Why'd it have to be that unicorn out of all the Solar Guard?) had come in with Crimson, lanky black mane hanging messily, just like Prey remembered it being when Crimson was arrested two days ago.

And now the various Guard officers were all arguing. No, sorry, not arguing, vigorously debating.

Why couldn't it be as simple as a hoof over and release? By their own rules, Crimson had been cleared of any charges and was free to go wherever he wanted. He could've flown straight back to his flat from Vanhoover, or off into the sunset if he'd wanted and legally they wouldn't have been able to stop him. Yet Crimson had been brought back with a Guard escort.

Prey didn't know why they were doing this, or rather he did know why they were going through the motions: Guard politics. The words made Prey's lip curl.

This whole thing had been about politics and the various Guard units infringing upon the grey areas between each others' jurisdictions from the very beginning.

Just look who was present; the Captain of the Night Guard and his Lieutenant, their opposites from the Royal Guard, plus Sunshine, who was here as a representative of the Solar Guard, all who held some stake in this affair.

'What's the point of Nighthawk purposely delaying us returning to active duty if we're still getting dragged into this cesspool?' Prey thought. The Night Guard and Royal Guard could fight each other to their heart's content as far as Prey cared. So long as they left him and Crimson out of it, they could do whatever they fancied to each other and good riddance.  

Being a mind leech, Prey could've related word for word just what Nighthawk thought about having to go through these motions. And those words would've been:

'-worthless, useless, pointless. You're as bad as a noble, pandering to your sycophantic officers like this, Armour-' 

'Ouch. Now that's harsh. Accurate, but harsh.' Prey thought, slightly amused but still far more impatient. He wanted this pointless fiasco to come to an end so he, Gloom, and Crimson could get out of here. He had other things he could be doing.

But there was no leaving until Nighthawk and Shining Armour were finished. It wouldn't do for the conversation topic, meaning Crimson, to walk out the door now would it?

Prey recalled that it'd been like this, the back and forth between the Royal and Night Guards, ever since the ISND had caught the riot instigator, Wheat Plow, and it had only been escalating from there. All the big cases, like with the royal inspectors the Royal Guard had brought in, along with the Gala, and most recently Crimson's arrest on the mere word of a noble, were only the most obvious points of contention. Beneath the surface there was much more.

Every day, there were at least a dozen more minor, unnamed clashes between the rest of the Royal and Night Guards. Cruel names called in the mess hall, jostling when patrols passed each other, deliberately mislaying the other side's paperwork, looks of disdain exchanged, and much more such snide sniping. 

Most of those incidents weren't reported, or weren't the sort to have evidence, but this case here with Crimson? It was a solid, definite case both sides could clearly draw a line with. Prey just wished it hadn't ended up involving Crimson.

"It was a reasonable accusation made by a reputable Lord of a noble House. The law is clear." One of the Royal Guard officers protested. Shining Armour's tail gave a twitch, but he backed his officer up.

"The Solar Guard raised a red alert based on Lord Vanish's report and reached out to us, along with the City Guard of Vanhoover. Taking precautions was only sensible. I don't think anypony here would disagree that it's better to be safe than sorry, and ponies' lives could've been at risk. Has Sunshine told you what happened the last time?" Shining Armour asked grimly.

Sunshine took that as his cue to speak up, "Only a few months ago, there was a band of cultist thieves targeting wealthy ponies in Vanhoover with dark magic. With mind magic."

Sunshine's face was just as grim as Shining Armour's. All around the rest of the room, the ponies' reactions to the term 'mind magic', ranged from disgust to fear. And with good reason as it turned out, because Sunshine continued:

"I won't share confidential information, but over a score of ponies had their minds irreparably damaged. They're now a danger to themselves and their loved ones, liable to lash out if triggered. Even one of our own was ambushed, mind controlled, and used to attack his fellow guards." 

'Oh come on, no one died and even those afflicted nobles are fine so long as you don't mention the robbery.' Prey thought.

"Now do you understand why we had to do what we did?" Sunshine asked Nighthawk.

"Caution and concern was correct," Nighthawk gruffly replied, "Merely acting on the word of one Lord with no proof was not however."

"Private Crimson was hardly the only pony the joint City, Royal, and Solar Guard task force arrested," Shining Armour pointed out, "And I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant preventing a threat of this severity."

'Sun Wolf suck up.’ Prey thought.

Screech tapped his hoof, signalling to Nighthawk he wanted to speak. The Captain jerked his chin to indicate Screech to go ahead. "Pardon, but what do you mean by that, sir?"

'-there's more to this than they're saying, I can feel it in my wings-'

Here at Screech's enquiry, Shining Armour looked over at Sunshine. The Solar Guard unicorn spoke solemnly, "It's because the cultist leader was never actually captured. It was assumed he drowned in an escape attempt jumping off a roof into the Vanhoover river, but the stallion's body was never actually found. And the theft from House Time fits all the patterns he used to use."

'They thought Crimson could've been a mind leech?' Prey thought in surprise, 'How utterly ridiculous. The thestral clans weren't even in Equestria back then when the robberies were occurring, plus he's a pegasus, not a unicorn, so how could it have been him? Mind magic has nothing to do with the secrets he wants to keep hidden.'

Screech was sharp. Not much got by him, "Used to use? Does that mean...?"

Shining Armour nodded briskly, "The real culprit has been apprehended and arrested, yes. Obviously, we've released all the other suspects with a formal apology. The real culprit is in jail in Vanhoover under heavy guard. Their name will be withheld until they are formally prosecuted, as per the law, but I can assure you that you'll have the details a few days from now, Captain Nighthawk. The Solar Guard have thankfully confirmed the culprit is not a mind mage however, and has nothing to do with the deceased cult leader."

Captain Nighthawk's yellow gaze didn't budge as he stared at his opposite and bluntly turned the discussion, (no, definitely not an argument), back to his problem; "That's nice. But if a Night Guard is a suspect in the future, it's still up to me or the most senior Night Guard on duty to take them into custody. Not the Royal Guard."

 And on and on it went, forcing Prey, Gloom and Crimson to act as bystanders to the Guard politicking. Prey had no interest in listening to either side of the argument, both what was said and what was only thought in the not-so-private privacy of their minds. All except Sunshine, who's mind was still muffled under the mind-lock enchantment on his helmet.

It was stupid, all so stupid. It was like bickering children, but children with much more complicated chips on their shoulders and the full might of their respective Guard forces behind their actions. Typical pony nonsense, and typical of ponies not to care who they inconvenienced with their foolishness.

'This seems like just a squabble, but a couple months down the line, when they look back at this, what will they think then? Is this a sign of what is to come?' Prey wondered. He really should be more concerned, since he was essentially a prisoner of the Night Guard, but Prey had trouble dredging up concern when the lot of them were getting so worked up over an incident where no one died or was even injured.

Prey was much more worried about who had really stolen the jade necklace. Along with his constant concern about the mimics, Luna, and his shadow enemy, of course.

Prey shifted on his hooves, subtlety stretching his legs as the three of them were forced to wait. He really wanted to ask Crimson what had happened while he was being held in a cell, not just stand around woolgathering. No pun intended.

Still being forced to wait next to the hated Solar Guard, Crimson seemed to feel Prey's gaze on him, and turned his own eyes to meet the lamb's without shifting his posture. He raised one bored eyebrow under his current mess of a mane.

Prey twitched his lip, flicking his eyes up to Crimson's too long mane as it trailed into his eyes.

Crimson raised his other brow as if to say, 'I've been sitting in a jail cell, what do you expect?'

Prey tilted his head in mock thoughtfulness, then raised his hoof, 'Oh, I don't know, how about getting a mane cut?' He silently suggested, scissoring his cleft hoof together. 

'I'm a thestral warrior. I don't do mane cuts.' Crimson seemed to return with a slight raise of his chin and straightening of his wings. Prey couldn't help but notice that despite his scruffy mane, tail, and coat, Crimson's feathers were all still pristine.

Prey gave a barely perceptible shrug, then brushed briefly at his ribbon, a slightly mocking lilt to his smile, 'Well, you could always get a nice ribbon like mine. Or...'

Here Prey covertly drew in the air, indicating something small, round, and ring shaped, '...You could get a mane tie instead.'

'That's what got me into this mess in the first place.' Crimson's snort said. Then he gave Prey a flat look, 'And you're the one who got me that jade ring too.'

Prey dropped his eyes and looked away; 'Sorry.' He'd just been trying to cheer Crimson up.

'No, it's okay.' Crimson's look seemed to reassure Prey, or at least he hoped that's what Crimson meant it to mean. He'd been stupid doing that, Crimson had just gotten out of jail after all, so of course he didn't want some dumb attempt at cheering up. Besides, Crimson had already told Prey once before that he didn't want to talk about Lord Vanish stealing the necklace from him.

Prey kept his hooves to himself and his eyes lowered for the rest of the tediously long non-argument between Nighthawk and Shining Armour, being patient until Shining Armour had finally had enough and closed the meeting down so they could all leave.

Prey, Gloom, and Crimson made a beeline for the Guard Compound gate the moment they were dismissed and after they'd said their thank yous to Screech and Nighthawk for all their efforts.

"You're okay?" Gloom asked Crimson, checking him over.

"Nothing happened while they were holding you, did it?" Prey joined in as he hurried, (as always), to keep up.

"Yes. Nothing happened, and it's fine Prey." Crimson assured them, "They didn’t put me in general population, and none of the Guards tried anything. I am just glad to be out to stretch my wings again."

"Do you need to get a drink?" Gloom asked, not talking about water or liquor.

'-do you need any blood?-', Is what Gloom really meant.

"It was only two days. I mean, I'm fine for now, but thank you." Crimson answered.

"I don't suppose they let slip who the real thief was when they released you?" Gloom asked curiously.

"Most definitely not. During my stay, I got the impression these Solar Guards hold their rules very close to their shiny golden hearts." Crimson said, wing giving a distasteful flick to indicate exactly how he felt about their attachment to their blind laws rather than thinking for themselves.

"We're not that bad."

Prey jerked around to see Sunshine striding towards them. The stallion offered an apologetic, but friendly smile when the three ISND members all stopped to warily regard him.

The Solar Guard's armour was radiant in the direct morning light, and in the background, Prey saw passing Royal Guards stopping in interest to stare at the elite Guard. 

'What's he here for now? To apologise, or to give us a threatening warning on behalf of the Solar Guard?' Prey thought suspiciously, remembering the argument which'd just taken place inside. Seeing Sunshine standing blithely before him, proud and confident, without a clue about how much Prey hated him and everything he stood for. It grated on Prey's teeth, like chewing on gravel. The harder you chewed, the more you hurt yourself.

Gloom looked the Solar Guard up and down, who'd come to a stop just out of hoof's reach "Alright, what did you want to tell us that you didn't want anypony back in there to hear?"

Gloom wasn't the only wary one, Crimson had just that slightest tension in his stance that could indicate he was prepared to move, as he coldly examined his former jailer. Sunshine raised a hoof in a placating manner:

"Nothing like that, I just wanted to remind you it wasn't anything personal, Crimson Trace. You were hardly a model prisoner yourself, you know. But there's no hard feelings on my side."

"Why would there be? You are just one Solar Guard of many. We do not know each other." Crimson asked blankly.

"That's right. The Solar Guard were just doing what we had to, but I do realise we inconvenienced you, so I wanted to personally say sorry for that." Sunshine answered.

'You're apologising, but the Solar Guard isn't apologising for taking the word of one pompous Lord as damning evidence.' Prey interpreted, keeping his temper in check.

"Alright." Crimson said neutrally, not actually accepting the apology.

"Was there something further? If it's related to our job, I'm going to have to refer you back to Captain Nighthawk until we've returned to active duty." Gloom told Sunshine. It was obvious a half apology wasn't all the Solar Guard had stopped them for. 

'-this had better not be more Guard politics-', Gloom was thinking.

Sunshine's thoughts were still locked away from Prey, so he couldn't tell why the unicorn was really here, but whatever the reason was, Prey knew he didn't like it. Especially when he noticed Sunshine was actually studying him specifically. It wasn't obvious, but every now and then the unicorn's eyes would shift from whoever was talking to Prey:

"I've got to leave to get back to Vanhoover soon, but before I went, I wanted to speak to the ISND. I didn't even know the Night Guard had such a unit until the Royal Guard told us just now."

Prey was getting the distinct impression Sunshine meant him when he said that, and Prey really wasn't liking it.

"That is merely a statement. Not a question." Crimson said.

"Be polite," Gloom reminded Crimson, "Sunshine was just following orders. Even if they were bad orders."

That was rather more passive aggressive from Gloom than normal. But right now Gloom wasn't on duty and he was tired, so he didn't have to be a good representative of the Night Guard, and the Solar Guards' arrest of Crimson had really had him worried. So his barbed remark was understandable.

Sunshine tilted his head back, spiral horn tall, and Prey was reminded again how Sunshine could either quick cast, or perhaps do auraless magic. His heart began to speed up as the Solar Guard stopped merely glancing and focused directly on him.

"The Royal Guard Lieutenant Twining Ivy told me something concerning. I was told that Prey is actually a Night Guard. Is that true?"

Gloom blinked, ears going up in surprise. He was so used to Prey being, well, Prey, that despite the lamb's height, build, apparent age, and voice, he sometimes forgot Prey was supposedly still a child, and how that looked to other people. '-ah. So that's the issue-'

Crimson shifted to cover Prey a bit more, "Prey is a full member of the Night Guard, by order of Princess Luna."

"Princess Luna gave an order to that effect?" Sunshine asked in surprise. He didn't look happy about that. "Does Princess Celestia also know?"

'By all that is unholy and terrible, I pray not.' Prey thought, his heart really pounding now within its spiked cage. The very idea made him cold, despite standing in the middle of the Guard Compound under the sun.

"I wouldn't know," Gloom said calmly, "I don't know what their Majesties discuss together. Being a Solar Guard, you'd be more likely to be able to tell me."

"Hmm," Sunshine mused, narrowing his eyes down at Prey from under his golden helm, "I will not question Her Majesty. As a champion of Harmony, her will is just and true."

He kept looking at Prey though.

"Is there something further we can help you with?" Gloom eventually asked, a tad testily.

"I just can't help the feeling I've met you before." Sunshine said to Prey.

Prey's smile was as insincere as an angler fish's lure, but as real looking as a rainbow. He blinked in a display of honest confusion, "I think I would remember meeting a Solar Guard like you."

Sunshine raised his eyebrows, "And I think I would remember meeting a foal like you." But his eyes continued to study Prey. Prey's confused look did not waver.

"How did you get those scars? You've all got them, and they look quite nasty." Sunshine asked.

"A run in with a warlock." Gloom said shortly.

"Your unit fought and beat a full on warlock?" Sunshine exclaimed.

"Yes." Gloom was vaguely vindicated by the Solar Guard's surprise. '-that'll show him the ISND isn't a joke and Princess Luna knows what she's doing-'

"How did you manage to capture the warlock? I thought you didn't have any unicorns in your number?"

"Who told-? No, we do, Private Lilly Blossom, but that's not-No. We didn't capture him, but unicorns had nothing to do with it." Gloom frowned.

"The warlock is still at large?" Sunshine asked in alarm, "Why hasn't the Solar Guard been informed about this? One of our duties is specifically to apprehend and imprison warlocks."

"That is not an issue." Crimson stated.

"Because he's dead." Gloom finished.

Sunshine stepped back, but not out of any kind of surprised fear. No, it was disgust and he clearly displayed it for all to see, "Are you admitting you killed him?" He demanded.

Gloom's yellow slit eyes narrowed, "Nopony killed him, except himself. We still don't know exactly what happened, but when cornered, he took his own life." 

'-but not before murdering a whole pit full of innocents for no reason, but you don't need to know that. Arrogant Solar Guard-', Gloom added in his head.

Sunshine straightened back up, both relieved and even more disgusted at the same, "I will never understand why some ponies feel that suicide is the answer." He said, sadly shaking his head.

"He was a coward. On that we can agree, if nothing else." Gloom said, "Now I'm sorry, but we really shouldn't even have said that, so we're going to have to leave you now. Good day."

'Finally.' Prey thought, eager to put this horn head he'd so narrowly escaped the first time behind him.

"You won't stay for a minute?" Sunshine asked.

The three of them were already turning to go, but Gloom and Crimson stopped to look back at Sunshine. Prey didn't.

Crimson eyed the Solar Guard who'd arrested him flatly, "Why would we stay?"

"We're off duty, and there's a nice cafe I was thinking of taking us three to to celebrate Crimson's acquittal." Gloom said, completely in sync with Crimson in giving Sunshine the cold shoulder.

Sunshine finally seemed to get the hint. He sighed but accepted that, stepping back and waving a hoof that they could go, "Once again, no hard feelings and have a nice day. May Celestia smile upon you."

Sunshine's horn suddenly glowed, and in the exact same instant, something orange and glowing flashed into existence in front of the Solar Guard.

Prey, who had been turning away, eager to leave, let out a very undignified squeak of fear. Flight or fight slammed down onto his mind like an iron door, but Sunshine wasn't even looking at the ISND, but at the magical construct he'd just instant cast in front of him.

It was a clock. An orange clock face made out of magic, complete with Romane numerals, hovering in the air. That was what Sunshine had cast. A spell to check the time. Just a clock. Satisfied, Sunshine nodded to himself before trotting briskly away back up towards the Palace.

Prey's heart continued to pound in his throat and make breathing difficult. If not for the Jaw of Heart's, he might've had a heart attack. Sunshine had just used magic, something so incredibly powerful and complex, for something so mundane as checking the time. He was skilled enough that he had a spell just to check the time, and could cast it just like that! Like it was nothing!

It had been so fast, faster than the extra second it would've taken Sunshine to simply remove a pocket watch from his armour. Sunshine probably didn't even think about it. To him, it was just common sense to reach for his magic since it was faster. It spoke of his power, skill,and control.

'He could've cast an attack spell before I could've reacted. I can't read his thoughts with that mind lock enchantment still on his helmet. I wouldn't have had any warning.' Prey realised.

It hadn't been an attack, or anything of the sort. Sunshine had just been checking the time. But to Prey, it was just a reminder of why he feared unicorns and especially the Solar Guard.

"Prey, Prey?" Gloom repeated, "Something wrong?"

"I, no, nothing important. Just remembering why I really don't like the Solar Guard."

Prey couldn't help one last surreptitious look back out of the corner of his eye after the departing Solar Guard. And to Prey's mind, it looked like Sunshine was doing the exact same thing to him.

'I really don't like them.'

"So you're telling me nothing happened? Nothing at all?" Gloom asked, signalling for the waitress to bring their bill. Prey saw the mare gulp at the thestral's signal, and very reluctantly, drag her hooves over to the till to ring up their total.

True to his word, Gloom had taken them to a cafe he'd found as a little celebration for Crimson's successful acquittal. It was a milkshake pallor, something Prey didn't even know was a thing.

"Really, nothing." Crimson shrugged uncomfortably, "They kept me isolated. I just sat in a cell for two days. I had meals, a bed, the Solar and Royal Guard each tried to interview me twice, but of course I had nothing to tell them. They all gave up within five minutes each time. It was a waste of time. Their time, I mean."

"They didn't try and make you sign anything did they?" Gloom checked.

"Or attempt to intimidate or frame you?" Prey chimed in. The strawberry ice-cream milkshake had been delicious, but he couldn't appreciate it properly, his stomach was still twisting over Sunshine.

"No. And no. It was just boring. Very boring. Even more boring than last time I was in a cell."

"You were in a cell before?" Gloom asked in surprise.

Prey lifted his forelegs above the table top and gave them a wiggle to showcase the gold bands, "Remember where Luna pulled us both from?"

"It's Princess Luna," Gloom reminded Prey sharply, but he couldn't argue Prey's point. '-and I've made that promise to Prey. If something like that happens again, I'm going to stand with them-'

Out of the corner of his eye, Prey saw the waitress had gotten the bill, but was trying to delay coming over to Gloom by chatting with the cashier, "And they gave no indication as to who the real culprit was?" He asked next.

"None at all. I mean, why would they even tell me something like that anyways? I was a suspect." Crimson shook his head in the negative. He looked at Prey with just the faintest trace of suspicion, like he wouldn't put it past Prey to have done something.

"We tried to get visitor rights, but the Royal Guard refused us." Prey quickly said.

"That's fine. It was only two days." Crimson said with a shrug of his wings.

"Speaking of visiting, I think we need to try and visit Lilly Blossom again." Gloom said, shifting the topic, and it was a heavy shift. Lilly Blossom's state was never far from Gloom's thoughts.

'-Scenic's got his marefriend and is making progress. Soon he'll be starting his own therapy. But Lilly... Her getting bitten by that oversized cuttlefish is starting to feature in my nightmares while little rats scurry everywhere-'

"Right now?" Crimson suggested, pulling Gloom from his dark memories.

Gloom nodded, and then again more firmly and stood as the waitress finally arrived, "Yes. There's no time like the present after all."

As far as Prey was concerned, there were plenty of times like the present. “Never”, for instance.

The strong take, and the weak suffer.

For Gloom and Crimson, the question had been put aside since neither had the answer. And to be honest, the answer didn't really matter to them either, just so long as this debacle was over and Crimson was free to go. But the question still remained. Who had the Solar Guard caught? Who was the real thief of House Time's heirloom?

And were those two people the same person?

Prey knew the answer, and the answer was no. He didn't know who'd really stolen the jade necklace, but he did know who the Vanhoover City Guard had sitting in their cells. And because of his own involvement, Prey knew with one hundred percent certainty those two people were not one and the same.

'As if they could even catch a cold without my help.'

Someone had been caught. But that was all that had happened. Someone had been caught. Justice, injustice, fair, unfair, did it matter now that the Guard had their culprit? Just a pony who was now a criminal, one to be judged, sentenced, punished, and forgotten. Gloom, Crimson, Nighthawk, Shining Armour, all of the Guard forces had been satisfied. Because they'd caught their culprit, and that was that.

Truly, the strong take and the weak suffer.

The report detailing the thief who'd stolen from House Time was only shared with Nighthawk the night after next. And even then, Nighthawk had to lean quite heavily on the Royal Guard to get the report that soon. Because of some excuse about 'ongoing case proceedings' and 'suspect protection', they'd been reluctant to share.

Once again it was just more Guard politics. Strictly speaking, the Royal Guard were just following the rules in not letting a separate law force influence their work. But also strictly speaking, both Guard forces were supposed to have the same authority, and both ultimately answered to the same two ponies. The Princesses.

But arguing that grey area of rules was of no interest to any of the ISND, including Lilly Blossom, who just didn't care about anything right now full stop.

What was of interest was when Screech let the ISND read the report for themselves, since as far as he was concerned, after Crimson's false arrest, the ISND were as much involved in the case proceedings as the rest of the Night Guard. Therefore, the Lieutenant was happy to let them read a copy.

Tearing Scenic away from Carton Juice had been a struggle. The earth pony stallion had been having a relapse day, caused by him panicking last night when his night light had gone out, leaving him in darkness. It was kind of sad, and pathetic, and Scenic had been deeply ashamed when forced to confess the reason he was scared to even leave his house when they came by, but none of them had judged him, not even Prey. Anyway, Gloom had persevered in his persuasion, and gotten Scenic to come along in the end.

Thus, the four of them had gathered around and read the report.

Skipping through most of the details about confirmed dates, times, referenced evidence appendages, and cross signatures, the meat of the report could've been cut down to just the summary at the end:

"As a result of the suspicions raised by Private Iron Bar, C.W., about inconsistencies during the interview of Warm Hearth, a second interview was undertaken with Corporal Letter Heading present. Warm Hearth was not able to provide an alibi for the night of the 5th, during the time the break in to House Time occurred.

After attempting to flee, Warm Hearth was taken into custody and her home searched, revealing a large amount of bits hidden under her floor. Evidence shows the hiding place was created very recently.

Subsequently, Warm Hearth confessed to both breaking and entering, and theft of the specified magical artifact from House Time. The search of her house revealed horseshoes, (Refer back to evidence Item No. 2), in the bottom of her trash bin matching the hoof prints along Warm Hearth's confessed route of approach. Trace dirt samples on the horseshoes match mud from the stream bank where Warm Hearth confessed to arriving and leaving by a small water craft in an attempt to avoid leaving a trail.

The stolen water craft was found abandoned in some reeds adjoining Vanhoover river. (Refer back to evidence item No. 3)

Attempts to identify the pony Warm Hearth confessed to selling House Time's artifact to have been unsuccessful. Warm Hearth swears she never saw the buyer without a cloak on, who only identified themselves as Average Accountant. The individual approached Warm Hearth and threatened her into carrying out the theft, promising payment if she was successful and to, quote; "Burn down your home if you fail me."

Searches are still ongoing for this Average Accountant. No leads so far. Unknown if the individual Average Accountant is associated with the previous incidents in Vanhoover, but it is judged unlikely. Possible link to a theft of precious magic metals in Canterlot, where a calling card left as evidence at the scene was marked with the initials; "A.A."

Warm Hearth stands to be charged with, (Refer to page No. 4), breaking and entering, resisting arrest, theft, attempt to destroy evidence, lying to a City Guard, and destruction of private property, but under the provision of being under duress and pleading guilty."

Signed, Second Lt. Daisy Chain, City Guard of Vanhoover.

So there it was, Prey's interference, all laid out in the report. And no one else but the real thief, or thieves, would ever know the truth of what Prey had done.

Not even Warm Hearth would know. She herself believed she'd done the deed, sneaking in through the window, heart pounding, and used an unknown green crystal holding some kind magical enchantment which 'Average Accountant' had provided to bypass the locks on House Time's family vault. Warm Hearth knew she'd done it, she had the memories. It had to have been her.

But she was innocent. She'd done nothing wrong. Prey had framed her, all to make sure Crimson was released.

Prey didn't even regret it. Warm Hearth had been a complete stranger to him when he'd selected her from the list taken from the City Guards offices. He hadn't done it in malice, vengeance, or even spite. She was merely the most convenient replacement for Crimson. It was just her bad luck and the uncaring hoof of fate. 

The world isn't fair. The strong take and the weak suffer, and this time, it had been Prey doing the taking, because there was something he selfishly wanted; Crimson's freedom.

It takes a certain kind of person to be willing to hurt a complete stranger, someone who had never done anything to you. Prey was one of them. He had always known it, from the first moment Snake had made him create his first runes. He'd known it again when he'd thrown the veropede egg into the pit filled with drugged prisoners. 

So framing Warm Hearth? Prey hadn't enjoyed it, but he'd gladly do it again to get what he wanted.

Prey did not know it at the time, but ignoring the identity of the real thief would prove to be a hugely costly mistake.