//------------------------------//
// 74.5 It was long Fore-Sewn 
// Story: Prey and a Lamb 
// by Lambs Prey 
//------------------------------//

The floating dream avatar of Nighthawk answered Luna gruffly, "There's been a development since last night. It's bad news I'm afraid."





A surreal night sky of impossibly vivid stars which made up Luna's shared dreamscape. 

In every direction stars were strewn against vast distance and black velvet, with only the ten small suspended presences gathered under Luna's gaze. The ten dream presences floating here in the starry expanse were; the eight Night Guards who'd been sent to Griffon Stone after the traitor ambassador, Screech who had stayed behind to head the Guard in their absence, and Prey.

Prey did not want to be here. Prey did not want to be doing this. Prey did not want anything to do with Luna's magic. 

What Prey had wanted was to be left alone on the train ride back after a long horrible day to get some sleep. But rarely does life give you what you want. So because Luna hadn't bothered to keep her promise to stay out of his dreams, (or she'd just forgotten), he'd been ripped from the safety of his own dream to this shared dreamscape against his will. 

But then, the weak have always suffered at the whims of the strong, and there are none stronger than an alicorn. 

'Just forget about me, I'm not important. Forget me, forget me, forget me.' Prey tried to make his featureless presence in the dream even smaller so as not to draw the celestial construct of Luna's avatar's attention.

"Speak, Captain Nighthawk. What is this foul news that thou speaks of?" The star constellation construct above them boomed, without booming. In the dream, the voice was loud but also not, since it wasn't actually sound, just how they as the dreamers 'heard'.

"Vivid Edge and Bramble Weft have uncovered circumstantial evidence that Hafflow may have been sent with orders to infiltrate the gemstone trade while he was in Canterlot." The dark, slightly blurry presence of Nighthawk swiftly answered his princess.

"Thou art saying the traitorous knave mightest have been acting on the orders of the Low Kingdom while within our borders?" Luna's avatar checked, seemingly angered as the glittering nebula cloud which made up her mane twisted and roiled.

"Precisely, your majesty."

"How know ye this?"

"That PO box address that Lika Soil and Shamrock where posting their reports to, it's  inside the Griffonstone embassy. It took a day to verify, but it's definitely in the embassy."

"And this Hafflow is yet still now within the employ of his country, is he not?" Luna asked, vast star speckled mane writhing more.

"Yes, Gloom and Crimson were on stakeout and saw him entering the very same embassy."

"Hmm, we see. Sargent Gloom, show us all this scene if thou would."

The mostly equine forms of Gloom and Crimson, who seemed to have been 'drifting' closer towards Prey, emanated surprise, "Princess Luna? I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."

"We wish to view the scene from thy memory. T'will make everything much simpler for all."

"As you say Princess, of course. But, uh, how do I...?"

"T'is simple, worry not. We shalt be doing all the required work, for we art Lady of Dreams and this is our domain. Merely think back on what thou saw, picture it as clearly as thou canst. Yes, that is correct. Hold it fixed and resolute in thy mind-"

Suddenly the dreamscape wasn't a starry expanse of velvety night. Instead they were on a building, looking out from behind the perspective of someone's eyes, Gloom's eyes. The edges were fuzzy, details lost in the memory, but it was like looking at one of those colour photos. 

Gloom was crouched low to a slanted roof. The roof seemed to be slate tiles, but Gloom's perspective wasn't focused on that. There were other squat, solidly built houses and bigger buildings all around him though, a city, Griffon Stone. 

The mass of buildings and houses wound up the side of the mountain, vapour drifting from chimneys in what must've been chilly air hung frozen in the snapshot of memory. All the roof's seemed to be angled into the mountain, which must've been titled just so as to shed snow in a certain way although there wasn't any yet in Gloom's memory. A formless mass of grey cloud blanketed the sky, and it was either dusk or dawn, but the lower light didn't affect the scene taken from Gloom's eyesight.

Gloom had been looking at the large, official looking structure across and further down the street. It was still squat and solidly built like the rest of the city so as to be able to endure the winters, but was still large and tall, for all it was compact. 

Prey saw in the displayed memory that all the windows on this building's upper floor either looked too small for a flying griffin to fit through, or were neatly barred. There were also flags flying outside of what was obviously the embassy building, and a tall watch tower stood inside the grounds to watch the skies. There were no stairs or ladder up the watchtower, meaning you had to be a flier and a griffin to use it.

The whole embassy was surrounded by a circular outer wall topped with spikes, and a single gate staffed by a griffin guard in what was... probably a warm cloak? Again, Gloom hadn't been looking specifically at that, so they only got a periphery sort of view of the guard. 

What Gloom was focusing on was the small group of griffins entering at the gate, two of them, one brown one black, still in the attitude of landing outside to get checked in. Gloom's view was centered and focused on the glossy black feathered one, his head feathers a swept back streak of russet, the matching colour of the tuft at the end of the griffin's tail and hind quarters splayed as he came into land. 

The griffon also had on an official looking overcoat which with matched the other griffins in the group, the Low Kingdom's crest on all of their backs and shoulders. 

Obviously, the black feathered griffin was supposed to be Hafflow, and this was the embassy.

Prey well knew this perspective. Not this actual scene of course, but rather the perspective. He'd experienced it so many times before after all, the feeling of viewing something as if from behind your own eyes. 

'This is mind magic. Luna's casually abusing mind magic to pull out and display Gloom's memories. And no one's protesting, because she's a Princess.' 

It was a bitter but unsurprising realisation. Although, this image wasn't quite as clear as the memories he got when delving into a victims mind. 

Luna's magic was only sharing with them the memory from one of Gloom's senses; sight. When Prey took a memory, he got the persons memory of touch, sound, taste, and smell to go along with whatever they were thinking at the time. For example, when he was viewing a memory, rather than seeing the signs of wind blowing the Low Kingdom's flags outside the embassy, he'd instead feel the sharp wind, smell the scent of baking bread it carried, and taste the brisk cold in the air.

As long as the person had a memory of it, Prey could experience it second hoof.

There were sounds of impressed surprise from everyone else in the shared dreamscape at the scope of Luna's magic.

"Your majesty this is amazing. Can anything be shared like this?"

"With our assistance, and if the pony recalls the event clearly enough, then it is well within our power. We must congratulate you though Sargent Gloom. This is an unusually clear retelling." Luna said, sounding proud.

'This is what you consider an accurate memory?' Prey thought, noting all the missing details. He really didn't care though, he just wanted out of here.

The smudgy avatar of who was almost certainly Starry Wing spoke, "I don't want to presume on you Princess Luna, but could this be used to have multiple ponies study a scene or evidence from different angles? What might've been missed by one in the heat of the moment could well be spotted by many later."

"Nay, we fear not. This is a depiction from Gloom's memory only. Not only are most views not as detailed as the good Sargent's, but tis' still only a memory. What he hast not taken note of at the time, you will not see either."

There was a puzzled sensation which went around the group. Not in words or sounds, but the feeling was somehow transmitted by all of them.

Luna, the mistress of dreams, could hardly miss it. She elaborated, "Take for instance the griffin's surrounding the traitor Hafflow. What does thou notice about them? No not thee Gloom, thou needs must remain focused or the scene will be lost. But everypony else, look. What does't thou see?"

The others finally took note of what Prey had already spotted as they tried studying the other griffins who'd just landed with Hafflow outside the embassy. When you tried to look, they were... they were... Well there were there, and they had colour, but they lacked real life details. 

While you could see they were griffins, with similar uniforms to Hafflow's, the fine details, such as a head crest, or shorter wing span, or what might've been a saddlebag, all of those details just didn't exist. However it wasn't until you realised this and tried to really look that you noticed the lack. Before, it had just seemed normal and you didn't notice.

'Dream logic.' Prey deduced. Dream logic mixed with the natural blurring of memory most people experienced when looking back through their own memories. If they'd walked into a room, and hadn't specifically noted a penny lying under a chair and had instead glossed over it, then in their memory there wouldn't be a penny at all.

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry for wasting your time, Princess." Starry Wing's floating avatar apologised.

"Nay, t'was a good idea and you are not the first to suggest it. Unfortunately, this is all that can be managed." The vast astral figure of Luna in the sky waved aside his apology.

"So that's Hafflow then." Screech said, glaring at the black feathered griffin but without his avatar visibly actually having eyes.

"Beyond a doubt yes," Starry Wing said, seeming to have taken Screech's statement as a question, "We got it confirmed from two different locals. One which my team approached covertly, and one which Captain Nighthawk's talked to openly. So yes, that's Hafflow. We're not taking any chances of grabbing the wrong griffin when we pull out."

"When does't thou think that you can? We do not wish to tarry any longer than expedient in the griffin lands." Luna demanded, although she herself was still physically in Canterlot.

"That's the bad news. If it pleases you Your Majesty, could Vivid Edge explain? She was the pony in the air at the time." Nighthawk requested.

"Of course! Lieutenant Vivid, what hast thou to tell us?" Luna's vast avatar boomed down at them.

Vivid Edge's silvery and ink black mix of a body bowed, even though this was a dream, "Princess Luna. I was the one to track him back to his abode, but he doesn't have a flat or a house. He and the other embassy workers all live in a compound below the castle. It's watched by guards at all hours, and all civilian traffic is banned within the compound. I couldn't even fly close at night without getting spotted."

"We do not like the thought of taking a pony in his own home, but this Hafflow is a traitor and not a pony. But thou sayest it is not possible regardless?"

"No Princess, there's next to no chance of us pulling it off without the guards being alerted. The guard barracks is in the castle, and the castle is right above the compound on the mountainside. It literally looks down on the compound. I'm not even sure which room is Hafflow's, since I couldn't get close."

"We feel it would be better to all see for ourselves, Vivid Edge. Please, hold the image in thy head as firmly as possible, and we shall do the rest."

"Of course Princess. I'm ready."

Abruptly, just like before, a new image was suddenly taking up all of Prey's vision. He nearly felt a moment of vertigo, Vivid had been in the air, but since it was an unmoving image there was no sensation, and the feeling passed. The image was also somehow narrower, with less of it than seemed normal. The cause was easy to guess, since Vivid only had one eye in the waking world, this was the view she'd seen.

Regardless, Prey still immediately saw what Vivid meant about the compound being directly below the castle. The compound was rather like a curving long house, shaped like a huge U, with the main entrance in the basin of the U. The building was also enclosed by a high wall to keep out intruders, but that's not what was posing an issue to the Night Guards. 

This compound was quite literally the next building down the rugged highland mountainside from the grey stone castle. Prey could see flowing streaks of smudgy orange and yellow were the castle flew the Low Kingdom's flag every ten hooves or so along the heavy stone ramparts. From where armoured griffin Guards stood atop these walls, they had a perfect view straight down onto the long house at all times, both night and day. The rest of the immediate city surroundings too, but especially the compound.

There was no possible chance that a guard wouldn't either A, see their approach, or B, be alerted by them kidnapping Hafflow even if they did manage to somehow sneak in, or C, immediately be in hot pursuit when they fled.

Prey didn't want to be here, wherever here was in the dream realm, but that didn't mean he was incapable of working out two plus two. 'So no grabbing him at the embassy, and no grabbing him from the compound, which leaves...'

"We're still trying to find out any other places in Griffonstone he may go. That's when we'll get our chance to strike. Also the most risky, but it's the best chance right now. He must have at least one day off a week if nothing else, so everypony is working in shifts to have eyes on Hafflow's location at all times." Nighthawk said.

"We see thy dilemma. What else is there?"

"Time will be getting tight, I'm afraid. Our presence in the city won't go ignored forever. We're obviously not tourists, and claiming to be looking for work will only last so long. We're not part of the local pony population, and the copper coats seem to keep a close eye on foreign and suspicious ponies in Griffonstone." Nighthawk added with displeasure, dream avatar flicking one shadowy maybe-wing.

Prey was caught between feeling zero sympathy whatsoever, and worry since Crimson was one of those stuck in Griffonstone. And Gloom too, to a lesser extent Prey supposed.

The memory being projected by Vivid Edge flickered and was suddenly replaced by that of two griffin guards in light armour. Vivid's avatar jerked, "I apologise, I thought of the copper coats and lost focus for a moment-"

"Nay, stay focused on this new memory, we wish to see. Thou refers to 'copper coats', this being the griffin Guards?" Luna asked.

"Yes your Majesty. The Guards are called copper coats by everypony in Griffonstone. Overall, the copper coats seem to be trusted and liked. They're very active within Griffonstone, and patrol the skies frequently too." Vivid answered, inky outline shining silver for a moment. Probably embarrassment at her perceived failure to hold one image fixed in her thoughts. 

Not that it was important, but even here in a dream where your subconscious helped shape your appearance, Vivid only had the impression of one eye star. It must've truly happened a long time ago for the change to be so deeply self internalised.

Distractedly, Prey studied the image of the two griffin guards which was being forced upon him, he'd been trying to unobtrusively draw closer to Gloom and Crimson's presences.

The griffins looked like most griffins. Yellow hooked beaks, fierce piercing eyes, sharp fore talons, and on the male griffin an impressive spiked feathered ruff, a small mane really, while she had a smoother lay to her plumage. Their armour was just light chainmail over a gambeson, an open helmet, and leg guards, but it was the short coppery coloured cloaks which hung over one shoulder which obviously gave the Guard their nickname. 

These two Copper Coats hadn't been armed when Vivid had seen them, but you probably didn't have as much need for a weapon when you were born one, with talons, claws, and a tearing beak.

As nice as it was to have more information about what the local Guard looked like, looking at these two random 'copper coats' wasn't actually useful. They were trying to work out a plan to snatch Hafflow, a plan which didn't feature griffin Guards in it at all, unless you counted avoiding them. Because by the sound of it, the copper coats were a decently effective Guard force, thus it was foolish to make any plan which involved coming up against them. It was time to move on.

"Thou canst not simply find part time employment to use as cover until the opportunity to take the traitor presents itself?" Luna inquired.

"Not easily, sorry Princess. Our dusk pony amulet disguises, they don't work well when in flight. Most jobs willing to even consider employing foreign pegasi definitely expect you to fly on the job. All griffins can, after all. And night time work when nopony can see the discrepancies is even harder to find." Nighthawk's gruff growl sounded unhappy over their joint failure to even be able to find a local job. He probably felt it shouldn't be so hard for undercover Night Guards to achieve something which sounded so simple in theory.

Prey continued subtly drawing closer to Gloom and Crimson's floating dream presences, and hoping Luna wouldn't care. If he got a chance to speak with Crimson, then at least this whole terrifyingly awful dream invasion experience would have had one point of merit.

"Aside from Crimson," Nighthawk added, making Prey freeze as the attention all shifted towards Crimson. "He doesn't have to wear a dusk pony amulet, so he's the only one of us who could get a job undercover."

Crimson's dream avatar was much like the rest of the thestrals, a smoky, starry equine shape that alternated between sharp and smudgy. The only real difference was, a bit ironically, that Crimson's had just a bit of a red tint to it. That, and where one of his feathers would be on his right wing, there was a particularly bright star. But as everyone turned to him, Crimson floated a bit straighter:

"If that is what the mission requires to maintain our cover, I will do so."

"That is well, but what have thee and thy Sargent been doing throughout this undertaking? Thy work has always been exemplary, as it is unexpected. What surprises have thee for us this time?" Luna's vast dream body asked from the heavens.

Gloom was the one who stepped up, or floated up, to answer his Princess's question, "Our squad has been looking into the Griffin's own gemstone trade and mines, since that's what Hafflow and his superiors seem to be interested in. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten much. And frankly it's worrying, Princess."

"Tis' so? Please elaborate."

"Of course Princess. I'm worried because there is so little to find. Sure, some of it can be contributed to us being foreigners and perhaps not knowing where to look, but where we have, we've gotten next to no information. Because there is next to nothing to find. The griffin's don't have an industrial gem trade, and what there is, is all private, small businesses. The griffins just don't seem to have a large enough gem trade to be worried enough to try to meddle in ours. It doesn't make sense. They only have two mines, total, and those aren't focused on gems but rather ores if I understand right. We're missing something, Princess." Gloom finished in frustration.

"To say nothing of how the griffins simply lack the same magical capabilities to use or even properly identify ignius gemstones anyway." Starry Wing quietly added. 

It was a good point. Outside of weather magic, which pegasi naturally got to be more gifted in for some reason, griffins didn't have any natural magic. The only way Prey knew of that griffins had access to magic was through either ritual magic or witchcraft, which was certainly not a common thing. That, or dark magic, but such magic was illegal and feared for a reason, and was even rarer to encounter outside of Equestria too. Despite the bigoted view most ponies held of griffins, the winged lions weren't actually barbarous savages who loved violence.

"What you have brought to our attention is concerning. For if the griffins lack the means wherewith to contest our precious stone market, then why have they so cravenly gone behind our backs to spy on our gem mines?" Luna asked, loudly voicing the main issue.

Gloom and Crimson could only shake their smoky, undefined heads, "We don't know yet Princess, but that just means its something that isn't publicly available. The Low Kingdom is being careful to keep whatever it is a secret."  Gloom said.

Crimson shifted, hinted at wing feathers melding and reforming, "Forgive me, but, to go with what Sargent Gloom said, there was one thing. We heard a single mention of a minister in the Low King's court hiring a private mining team for two weeks some months ago. I haven't been able to ask more than a few locals, and so can't confirm it for definite, but it sounded like the miners didn't say what they were hired for either. I mean, that sounds suspicious, but I don't know anymore than that, Your Majesty."

"We're trying to get a solid confirmation on that one way or another still. It shouldn't in theory be linked, but I can't see anyway it wouldn't end up being linked somehow since it's the Low Kingdom officials." Starry Wing's floating avatar was quick to add.

The figure of Luna interposed against the night sky was silent for a long moment in contemplation while all of them below stopped to wait. A small part of Prey wondered why she chose to appear like that. Was it an ingrained as an alicorn to constantly have to remind everyone else how small they were with these gestures of superiority? He hated that it worked, too. 

Presently, the mix of stars and night making up Luna's avatar came to her decision:

"Thou hast told us that, for the present, the rogue Hafflow is beyond the reach of our justice, and that we must be patient. Tis' frustrating to hear that justice must be delayed, but the rulers of the griffin Kingdoms have ever been cunning as they were greedy in centuries past. Now we see that time hast not changed their feathered race. So be it. Thou hast thy mission, thou knows the stakes, and we feel no need to belabour the point when thou art all well aware. In this we shall be patient, and trust to Captain Nighthawk's best judgement on the ground."

So in other words, Luna was just announcing that she was frustrated by the night guards lack of progress, but was willing to be patient and wait for now. Prey quietly wondered what she'd do to the black feathered griffin when they actually kidnapped Hafflow, but not too loudly. This was a dream in Luna's domain, if he wasn't careful, she might 'overhear' him.

The other nine Night Guard presences were all nodding or giving signs of understanding of Luna's summation, so Prey hurriedly added his own feeling of 'yes'. He'd been brought to this shared dream as a tag along, an after thought really. Perhaps Gloom or Crimson had asked for him, as the only absent member of the remaining ISND, but in the end, no one had asked him for any contributions or ideas. He'd been snatched from his own mind and forcibly brought here to do exactly nothing.

"Prey? Prey where are you?"

Prey jumped, Crimson was calling him, smoky head turning to cast about the dreamscape. So he hadn't been forgotten after all.

"Yes I'm still here." Prey sent back, trying to focus on making the message private, so that only Crimson could hear it. He didn't know if it was working or not. He hurriedly turned his attention to the Night Guards and Luna. They didn't seem to be interested in him, but he shifted to draw closer to Crimson.

"Why don't you have a body Prey?" Crimson asked, sounding puzzled.

"I'm not certain. Maybe just because I'm me?" Prey answered in what he hoped was a private communication. 'Or maybe because I don't want to be here and was trying to hide my presence from Luna.'

"Can you make one? An avatar like Princess Luna said, I mean." Crimson asked.

"I don't know how. Look, I don't know how much time we have before she cuts off this shared dream. Quickly, are you and Gloom alright?"

"I've caught a cold, but otherwise we're fine, although I won't deny that this mission isn't without danger. We can't afford to get caught." Crimson answered, smoky red dream wings rising in what was probably a fatalistic shrug.

Prey would've bitten his lip if he had them in this dream. He couldn't do anything physically to help Gloom and Crimson, they were many miles apart, all he could do was worry, and he was finding out how much he disliked the feeling.

"I guess... Just try to stay out of the griffin Guards sight. They can't catch you if they don't know you're there." Prey said, the advice feeling very inadequate. But what could more he offer?

Crimson's face sharpened for a moment and Prey could see pseudo-features, "We'll be fine. I'll be fine. We're not going to make any sudden rash-"

"Prey?" Gloom's avatar interrupted them, floating or perhaps flapping closer, "I can't see you but I think I can feel you. Is that you?"

"Yes it's me, I just don't have a dream avatar." Prey answered distractedly.

"It's... unsettling to talk to you without a body, but then this whole dream is surreal. I had no clue Her Majesty could do this, but it's amazing. Listen, Lieutenant Screech just told me you've gone to see your family." Gloom paused, obviously waiting to first see how he took that.

Just being a disembodied presence, Prey didn't have to worry about masking his expression, "That's right."

"You did? I'm sorry I could not go with you like I promised I would." Crimson said.

That's right, Crimson had promised that. Prey was silent for a dream moment, "... Sorry. You weren't here. Next time."

"Next time for certain." Crimson's smoky head gave a firm nod, "If we are going to be going to visit Gloom's clan caves, then it's only fair we meet your family too."

"I'll second that," Gloom echoed, "I would... very much like to meet your mother, Prey."

Prey really missed being able to hear peoples thoughts right now, because he couldn't tell what Gloom wasn't saying, and what the thestral really meant by that.

"Did you... I mean, what did they say? Did everything go okay when you met? Prey, are you alright?" Crimson asked cautiously.

Prey coiled in defensively on himself. Why did Crimson have to go and ask? Why was he forcing Prey to invent a fictitious story of how he'd met his family again when he wished for nothing more than if it were the truth? After the terrible, emotionally exhausting day Prey had just survived, the last thing he wanted was to be answering these questions all over again, while inside a dream controlled by Luna, who might or might not be listening in.

"I, we didn't, I mean it was..."

Gloom and Crimson waited.

Prey forced himself to try again, throwing together a believable story, "So I went back, and I, when I got there-"

Luna cut across everything. Literally, the words Prey was trying to say stopped as Luna exerted her power over the shared dreamscape to silence everyone but herself:

"We shall now take our leave. Thou shalt all be returned to the dreams from whence you came. Dream, sleep safe under the stars, for Night most surely does watch over you all."

Luna's vast form was swirling in like a giant nebula whirlpool, drawing everything night sky of the dreamscape to them into it. It happened so fast, again the feeling of vast distance rushing up to meet you instead of you moving.

"Wait! Gloom, Crimson, watch out for-"

A displacement of stars, the cool feeling of night air, Gloom and Crimson's presences vanishing, and then Prey was roughly dumped back into his own ashen grey dreamscape. Or outer mindscape. Both were more or less one and the same for Prey.

Prey seethed in the near featureless burnt grey forest of his mindscape, 'Snatched from my own mind, and then thrown out again just as suddenly, neither with any thought or care!' 

But he was away from Luna now. He was safe. He'd gotten out of the shared dreamscape unscathed, and without doing anything further to draw her attention. Or ire. But Prey always remembered, and he wouldn't forget how casually Luna had violated this sanctuary yet again. How the others didn't seem to have been bothered in the slightest by being snatched up when they were supposed to be safely sleeping in another country entirely, Prey didn't know.

'Oh wait, I do know, it's because she's an alicorn Princess. She can never do any wrong in their books.' Dream magic was only one step away from mind magic, and yet they viewed the first as a blessed opportunity when Luna used it on them, but if they ever knew Prey used the latter they'd lock him up and throw away the key.

It was just another scary reminder in a long chain of evidence that he was next to powerless before the dark alicorn. He was getting used to the constant reminders, but his heart still squeezed in fear each and every time it happened. Because one day, eventaully, it was going to be a reminder he didn't walk away from. 

Like that first night Prey had been brought before Luna, she'd shouted so loud she'd burst his ear drum by accident. What if she accidently electrocuted or crushed him in her magic next time?

Something just then occurred to Prey. Why didn't Luna just go into Hafflow's dreams for herself? Although there would've been no point if she were just trying to determine if the griffin was guilty, since they already knew he was. And while it wasn't like capturing Hafflow in a dream would have any impact on the physical world, Prey was certain beyond a doubt Luna could've still interrogated the griffin. 

If she just kept Hafflow in a confused dream state, like she obviously could, she could still find out the griffin's schedule, plant suggestions in his subconsciousness, and maybe even view memories like she'd gotten Gloom and Vivid Edge to do.

So why didn't she just do that? Prey focused, this could be vitally important. Why didn't she just do that?

Did it not work on griffins for some reason? If so, why could she visit his own dreams just fine then, he wasn't a pony, so that didn't seem to be it. Could she not find Hafflow's dreams, then? It didn't seem to be distance, since she could reach Nighthawk and the others in Griffonia just fine. 

Or maybe there actually was a distance factor, and Luna could only touch the dreams of people she already knew. Did she need some way to pick through all the sleeping consciousnesses to identify the right one? Perhaps that far out, she needed to have met them in real life?

Or was it nothing like that, and Luna just didn't deign to lower herself to infiltrate the dreams of a lying traitor. In other words, could the reason just be pride? Did she think Nighthawk and the rest would be successful beyond a doubt, so there was no point in wasting her time?

Prey didn't know the answer to any of his questions, he didn't have enough information, he never had enough information. But that was a dead end he was tired of going down, because he already well knew it led nowhere. He didn't know, and he had no way of finding out. Before, he'd held the vague hope that distance could limit Luna's reach, but after tonight, that hope was gone.

Who knows? Perhaps his guess about Luna having needed to have met the person in real life to be able to touch their dreams beyond a certain distance was even right. Unfortunately, that didn't help him one bit.

'So I'm out of ideas again, aside from building a dream blocking runic array, which I won't have any way of stress testing until the next time Luna decides she wants to trample into my mind. And even if it does work, that'll just alert Luna, so I can't even try the array until I've already figured out a way to get these vile tracer bands off and have already escaped. And if the dream blocking array doesn't work correctly the very first time, then I'm still dead.' Prey thought, bitterly resigned.

And all of this was assuming he ever found a way to slip under the vast power of alicorn magic, a magic which he'd only glimpsed that once, but which was so much more vast than normal unicorn spell casting.

Cold grey ash drifted though Prey's mindscape, kicking up in eddies at his frustration across the burnt purple sky. The blunt charcoal stubs of old trees poked through the heavy ash layer, just like his past failures, and there they squatted. Dead, unresponsive, and to never grow anew.

'Round and round in the burning maze I go, but where the rat will end up, no one knows~'

'No.' Prey stopped himself before he could simply spiral. Prey was a new person, even if only one thing had changed after yesterday, he was still a new person. He wanted to be better, he was going to be better.

'Look for the silver lining. At least I know more than I did before this.' He had more information now, even if it was only to expand upon what he didn't know, at least he now knew what he didn't know. That was worth something. 

Prey mentally sighed, floating in the grey ash of his outer mindscape. Today had been a horrible day, but it had also been a necessary day. As a result, he'd finally crossed one of the big things of his list. That was also worth something. 

'One day, I'll be free. Not today, not tomorrow, not even the next. But one day. Someday.'


------


Freedom. The wish to one day be free. Prey had crossed one of the things off his list, leaving him that tiny bit closer to his goal.

Everything has a price, though. Freedom to choose your path in life also means the freedom to suffer the consequences of those choices. If you make bad decisions, you'll get bad results. 

Many people, especially ponies, preach about the wonders of harmony and freedom, but what they mean when they say 'free' also means 'free from consequences for my actions'. That's like wanting to poke the hydra and not get eaten for it.

While you are free to make your own choices, you are also free to suffer the consequences. An equal and opposite reaction. 

Nevertheless, ponies always seem so surprised when their choices catch up with them. Perhaps because at the time they honestly thought there wouldn't be a consequence, or they thought the consequences had already happened, or that they'd be small, or maybe they genuinely believed they were doing something good so nothing bad could possibly come of it. 

And yes, sometimes, it was because they thought they could get away with it.

Sometimes the consequences takes years to come around. Sometimes it's much more immediate.

Prey had finally crossed out number three on his list. One task closer to freedom, much like in that story of the twelve labours of Hayculues. However it wasn't just tasks on The List. There were also names waiting to be crossed off.


------


It was over twenty hours riding aboard various trains to get back to the mountainside city of Canterlot, and that wasn't even counting the time you needed to spend waiting around at the stations, which steadily increased in size as you travelled away from the border and back into the heart of pony tamed lands. 

But who said you had to spend all twenty hours travelling straight back? 

While Screech at his post back in the Night Guard may have been waiting for their wayward lamb's return, there was nothing physically stopping Prey and Lemon from taking a little detour after exiting at one station. It was just a quick break, since they were almost back to Canterlot anyway. Indeed, if you continued straight on from here, you only needed another hour on a train to reach the golden capital.

Correspondingly, the busy train station was bustling this close to the capital. More trains were pulling in and leaving in chuffs of steam and deafening whistles all the time, newspaper stands crying their next issues for all to hear, the scent of hay, and of course everywhere, the pastel rainbow mix of ponies. 

Lemon casting simple illusionary disguises over them both, just changing some basic details, much easier than a veil of invisibility for example. And if you didn't stick out, no one would remember you in a crowd. Certainly, no one would be remembering the sunflower yellow mare in the floppy sunhat, and her young white foal, who disembarked onto the busy platform.

It was afternoon, verging on evening, and shortly the chill of dusk would start to approach in earnest. For now, it was merely presently cool in the busy train station. Prey was going to be sticking around long enough to experience the change in temperature himself today.

For a long moment, Prey considered just getting back on the train and continuing on back to Canterlot. He couldn't run from his alicorn enforced responsibilities, and he'd already done so much over the course of these three days off, and what with Luna's sudden night time visit, he was still a little spooked.

Get back on the train, continue on, put this off for another time...

In the end it wasn't Prey who actually made the decision. It was the train conductor, going along the carriages and shutting the doors as the train whistle shrieked. The cheery conductor with his funny hat and ticket puncher would forever be none the wiser as to the decision he'd enabled that day. 

The white filly and yellow mare turned and trotted off into the crowd.





The stallion slept in a rather plain bed, in a rather plain room. There really wasn't anything eye catching in the room. There were just two framed pictures on the wall, but everything else was almost militarily bare. The sparseness didn't fit the sleeper, even in the dark.

The stallion woke without moving. He went from sleep to near perfect awareness in a moment.

'-something's wrong-'

He hurled himself upright, the bed covers ripped off. His horn sparked, reaching out to bend prodigious magical force to his will.

'-flare and blind!-'

It didn't work. Blinding white light failed to fill the room. His magic flailed about, venting formlessly as it was unable to shape into a spell matrix. The feeling of wrongness gripped the stallion's chest and his horn throbbed in pain.

'-inhibitor ring?-'

He dived off the bed in a roll, seeking for any cover even as his hooves flashed up to his horn to try and drag the ring off, to see if it was one of the types which could be non-magically removed. But his hooves encountered no foreign loop of metal in the dark. 

'-What? But then, how?!-'

He rolled upright in a single bound, braced to attack. He heard a scuffle, somepony jerking backwards from his sudden leap.

"Zoma'Grika he scared me!" Somepony cursed, a filly, or just high pitched.

'-in the corner! Hit her first, get in close, eliminate the disadvantage of having no magic-'

He ducked and charged forwards across the distance, it was only five yards. The red flash of magic, some type of spell-

A wall hit him in the chest, right in the center mass out of nowhere. 

*Thump* He was on the floor, ears ringing. He'd been caught mid breath, and now he was struggling to refill his lungs. His chest and face hurt, and he thought that was the dark ceiling above him, but for that second, he honestly couldn't tell. Trained instinct took over. He reached for his magic again, forgetting for an instant in his disorientation.

'-shield first, then go on the atta-!'

His horn throbbed in a flash of pain again as all his magic went awry, refusing to be shaped and remaining as inert mana.

Red flash-*Whack* He was blasted again. He brought up his forelegs to guard his head, the pain from the hit still yet to register.

"Quick, again!"

Red light flashed viciously across his room. The stallion lost his air again to the force of the blow. He gasped, lungs empty. The wall was pressing into his back, he'd been driven all the way back across the floorboards. He kept his legs raised to protect his head. 

He was hurting now, his chest and barrel were filling up with a numbing fire. 

The beaten stallion tried to spring upright, tried to barrel through the pain and attack again, but instead his body betrayed him and just wheezed loudly. His lungs still hadn't recovered from spasming, and he didn't have enough air.

'-the Nightmare take it, not now!-', But in that second, struggling for air, he couldn't get up.

The enchanted crystal light set into the ceiling abruptly flicked on. It was blinding for those few seconds, until his eyes adjusted.

There, in the corner of his plain room. His attacker was a unicorn mare, pink, wearing a travel cloak, heretically curved and sharp horn glowing with that red light and ready to cast whatever that attack spell had been again. The stallion furiously met her eyes, glaring right back into those focused orbs of narrowed indigo without backing down an inch. 

Then he noticed she had somepony else with her, no, not a pony, a foal, no, not even a foal, a young sheep. A white woolled lamb, big blue eyes staring at him, and, was that a ribbon held ready in her hoof?

What?

The little lamb kept staring fixedly at him even as she lowered her ribbon wielding hoof, "Well, I wasn't quite ready to wake you up yet, but no plan ever works perfectly I guess." 

She mumbled, but the unblinking stare of her soft blue eyes at a second look really didn't match that softness at all:

"Hello. It's been a while. You probably don't remember me, Captain Valour."


---{O}---


Captain Valour. Of course Prey hadn't forgotten about him. 

Prey never forgave, and he never forgot. 

So here they were, in the second of Valour's two private residents. One house here, and one in Canterlot. Both had been a pain to track down, but Captain Nighthawk had some really interesting things in that oh-so-very-secure magical safe in his office, that was only supposed to open to someone wearing a magically attuned Captain rank badge. 

One such interesting thing inside the Night Captain's safe? A high-ranking officers and officials directory.

This house really didn't look like it belonged to a Captain of the Solar Guard, Celestria's elite force, when viewed from the outside. That was probably the point. It was just one plain house on a street of other houses. Although there had been two powerful magical defence enchantments laid on the entrances into the house, which weren't the sort an average pony citizen was supposed to have access to.

The problem with magical defences, was that if you knew they were there, and also knew what you were doing, it was possible to subvert their power and drain them into nothing, or sometimes bypass them outright. 

Prey very much did know what he was doing. Pony magic was powerful and instant. Runes were slow, but inevitable.

And now here he was, standing in Valour's own pristine bedroom which smelled faintly of wild mint, and staring at the hated unicorn where he lay crumpled against the wall. 

Valour wasn't defeated though, the fire was burning strong in his eyes, he was merely getting his breath back. The stallion was an example of peak fitness, as proved by Lemon needing three blasts to put him down even temporarily. His legs were nearly as thickly corded with muscle as a strong earth pony's were, and Valour's stature was just as large as one's too. 

'Didn't do you much good, did it? It's not so funny when you're the one facing a unicorn without magic of your own.' Prey internally sneered. He, Prey, the runt, was the one still standing while Valour lay wheezing on the freshly polished floorboards. It pleased Prey.

"No questions? No, 'how did you get in here'? Or, 'who are you'?" Prey cheerily asked into the silence.

Valour just kept glaring darkly, face all but stone. Prey knew the stallion was just waiting for Lemon's attention to falter so he could attack again. Too bad. He'd had his chance when he'd woken up unexpected just now, before Lemon and Prey could take their positions. Lemon was now ready, Valour wouldn't be getting a second one.

Prey slowly began retying the silk ribbon behind his ear, now that it wouldn't be needed, "No? You are wondering who we are though, I can tell."

Valour's face remained carved from stone as he took deep, even breathes. 

'-who cares? Criminals and scum are the same everywhere in Equestria-'

"Well I'm going to tell you who we are anyways. And no, not because I'm stupid enough to monologue," Prey said, still tying his ribbon back on, "No, I'm going to tell you because I need to confirm something. See, I could've just cut your throat without ever waking you up, but I need to test something. I need to see, when confronted with me face to face for an extended period of time, whether you start to remember anything. I encountered Sunshine a while ago, you know, one of your precious Solar Guard, and he made me nervous. So here I am. Do you remember me yet, Valour? Even a little bit?"

'-what in Celestria's name is this crazy filly on about? Why's the mare letting her do all the talking? She's the real threat here, if I can just take her out-'

"I'm not a filly, or a ewe, I'm a ram." Prey interrupted Valour's thoughts.

Again, Valour didn't even blink, not letting anything past his façade of stone.

"Yes, I can hear your thoughts. Yes, I'm a filthy mind leech, I'm repulsive and disgusting and, huh, actually I haven't been called a heretic in that context before. And yes, I definitely have something to do with that spate of thefts and mind wipes in Vanhoover. Know why? Because I was there. Know why I was there? Because you brought me there. Know where I was before you fetched me? Rotting in a cell in Dreverton."

Ah, there. That was finally enough to get the Solar Guard Captain's stone mask to slip. Even the name of the high security prison was supposed to be a state secret.

His eyes widened, and his ears twitched for a second, '-no, stay focused. Is still possible this is all an elaborate bluff. Remember the training, give them nothing-'

"It's not a bluff, and what I want you're already giving to me, by not giving it to me. All this is proving is that, so far, you can't remember anything. So let's add some more stimuli." Prey finished retying on his ribbon and let his ear drop back. He leaned slightly forwards:

"Does any of this ring any bells? Prisoner 452. Having me interrogate the noble Cedar Fields inside his mansion when he lost control and attacked me. A specially prepared cell in the Vanhoover City Guard station. Hitting me in the stomach straight after meeting me just so I'd know my place. Gold Bit and Sunshine guarding a certain prisoner. Gold Bit later getting his mind shredded later that night on top of a building beside the river."

Red hot anger blazed up in Valour's mind, '-how dare they try and degrade the name of my Solar Guards?! Gold Bit gave more than these cravens will ever know!-'

Valour's roaring spike of burning anger was so strong it was frightening. Beaten, magicless, and on the floor, Valour's anger was still legendary. It certainly frightened Prey for that split moment before he caught himself and then he got angry in turn: 

'No! He doesn't get to frighten me any more. This is why I'm here, to cross him off The List so I don't have to be afraid of him any longer.'

"Gold Bit was a racist, bigoted, filthy liar, the epitome of everything that's despicable about ponies!" Prey spat back at Valour, "He didn't deserve to be born a unicorn, he didn't deserve to have magic! He abused his power over me just because I was weaker. Well he got what he deserved and so will you!"

Valour couldn't just let that past, throwing aside his vow of silence because; '-he really is one of them mind leeches, so there's no point in holding out-'

"Enough!" Valour bellowed in the deafening voice of a Guard Captain, all but rattling the glass in the two lone picture frames.

"Enough! I will not stand for this. Gold Bit gave his sanity to stop evils exactly like you! He gave it willingly serving the land you stain with your bloody hooves. There is not one Solar Guard who would not gladly do the same to uphold their oath! We have sworn to Celestia, and that is why you will be stopped. You will be caught and be returned to rot in Dreverton. A criminal cannot escape, cannot change, cannot stop justice, You! Will! Go! Down!" Valour roared.

Prey's ears rang in the enclosed space of the bedroom. If not for the silence bubble encapsulating the room, Prey would've been worried about a neighbour overhearing. As it was, it just made his ears and superior hearing hurt. His face twisted into something ugly as he glared back at Valour: 

"And there's the temper I remember. You're one of those who always thinks if they're getting angry then they must be in the right-"

"I already said enough! I will not waste my time being subjected to this hateful rhetoric!"

Again, Prey's ears were left ringing. "Don't do that again-"

"Do you think I care what a mind leech criminal wants?!" Prey flinched from the noise, not able to help himself, "Criminals don't get to want, they gave away their agency when they chose to commit crime. Enough is enough! I am not afraid of you, criminal, and I never will be. There is no higher calling for a Solar Guard than to give his life for his Princess. So be done with this and stop wasting my time."

This was not going how Prey had wanted. He didn't rightly know what he had wanted, but it wasn't this. 

He barely noticed the audible grinding of Lemon Pink's teeth next to him, her own cold hate of the Solar Guard Captain for his role in her own downfall all but lost on Prey. They were both here this night for revenge, but Prey could only feel the bitter burning of his own hate, not Lemon's, just like she only felt hers. Staring into the face of the unicorn who'd been at the start of all this, Prey couldn't. He just couldn't.

Valour was glaring back with that infuriating self righteous pride, and as Prey saw the stallion's complete certainness in his own righteousness, the lamb just... couldn't. 

Valour didn't regret a single thing, even now when the tables had been turned, and he was the one overpowered just like he'd overpowered Prey, he wasn't afraid like Prey had been. All Valour felt was contempt from him, contempt for him, Prey. Even now, Valour didn't believe himself to be defeated. 

Valour had been taken off-guard and beaten, but there was no defeat in his posture or handsome face. Even as he mocked them and demanded they kill him, Valour believed good would triumph over evil, and that they were the evil. Valour saw himself as a martyr. 

Prey hated that. He hated Valour's arrogance. The unicorn was a Sun Wolf worshipping zealot, and Prey hated it.

"You blind, deluded-! Of all the arrogance!" Prey broke off as his voice went into a high pitched warble without him meaning too. 'Damn this stupid runt voice!'

His voice break was so at odds with the situation that even Valour was too nonplussed for a single moment to try to interrupt again. '-not supposed to... what?-'

Prey made himself breathe and get the words out, "People like you think everything's black and white, if its not good, then it must be evil. Well it's not-!"

"Oh Get Over Yourself and Stop LYING!" Valour bellowed over Prey again, "Harmony is made of honesty, not lying mind raping traitors who-"

Valour launched himself forwards mid sentence, trying to catch them off guard, springing off the floorboards in a dead gallop.

'-now!-'

The Captain had been trying to not think about his moment to prevent them catching on, attacking on the spur of the moment. Except, he only thought he'd decided in that split second. Prey and Lemon's whole beings were focused in this moment, and there had still been that half a moment between deciding to attack and attacking. If it was an instinctive reaction, like lashing out in defence, it would've worked. But deciding to attack was still a conscious decision on Valour's part, so it was still something Prey could hear.

Prey's hoof jerked in a slash. Lemon cast, magic empowered by the electrite choker. And she could cast faster than Valour could close the distance. The stallion's legs went out from under him as the spell hit him below his center of gravity.

"Again!" Prey ordered as Valour went to rise up. Lemon fired another red blast of stunning magic into Valour. *Cr-Whack*

"Again!" *Cr-Whack*

"Again." *Cr-Whack*

"Again." Prey ordered for the last time as Valour finally stopped attempting to rise up. Prey heard from the pained buzz of the Captain's thoughts that he'd given up on a straight, frontal attack. There was blood coming out of Valour's nostrils, one of the blasts having caught him right in the face.

Prey and Lemon coldly watched Valour as he turned his head, contemptuously licking the blood off his upper lip and spat. Still there was no defeat in Valour's eyes, just angry defiance. 

'-how like the criminal scum they are, falling back on force to subdue anypony who stands up to them-'

Prey gritted his teeth and continued from where he'd been interrupted; "Well it's not black and white. That's all you believe in, because that's all your precious Celestia-"

"-Princess Celestia."

Prey could scarcely believe the unicorn had interrupted to correct him even now.

"Again." Prey growled.

"Gladly." *Cr-Whack*

Valour jerked, but he didn't make a sound. It was like beating on a stubborn fence post. Either you beat it until it broke and was left useless, or you gave up and it won. 

"The Sun Wolf is not my ruler," Prey stressed, matching Valour's contempt with his own, "She's never done anything for me. Ever. Her precious Harmony is reserved only for her 'little ponies'. Everyone else is a second class nobody. Everything about your foul country is all about you ponies! Your magic, your cutie marks, your farms, your cities. You hate and fear anything which doesn't obey all your rules! It's always your way, or no way. It's all, 'Obey-our-version-of-Harmony-or-be-destroyed'. You all think its good versus bad, and that it's impossible for anyone but ponies to know what 'good' is."

Valour's lips curled, handsome face distorted by utter disgust and his bleeding nose. '-pathetic. I've heard this a hundred times from a hundred criminals. They all try to justify the evil crimes-'

Prey jabbed a trembling hoof at the glowering Valour. His chest felt hot and filled with cold fire, "There you go again! You don't even consider that you might be wrong because you've been so, so, so brainwashed into believing you're the embodiment of righteousness, and that everyone who doesn't agree is evil. All you stupidly believe in are the extremes of good and evil! As if there's no one good who can't do horrible things, and that there's no one bad who can't regret and want to do good."

'-as if. False regret does not make up for your evil and you will be caught and stopped. A criminal does not change, and good will always win in the end-'

"No you're not even listening! Do you even listen to yourself, for that matter? Can you hear your own hypocrisy?! And you're still not even listening- Rrrrgnn."

Prey broke off in helpless aggravation. He glared long and hard at Valour, while next to him, Lemon did the same, her stance leaning her forwards, sharp horn lowered for a better casting angle, just waiting for the other unicorn to try again. 

Because Valour would try again. And again, and again, and again. Because good would always win, good must always win, and because he, Valour, was good, he would never give up.

Prey fell quiet, working his jaw and breathing hard. Across the small divide of empty floorboards, both sides glared at their opposites.

"That's it then, isn't it?" Prey said simply, "No matter what I say, you'll never ever even listen, because I'm the one saying it."

Prey's hoof twitched up towards to his ribbon, but he caught himself, "Your ideological dogma is opposed to everything that doesn't completely agree with it. It's your key belief, upon which everything else is founded with circular reasoning. You're one of them."

Prey's hoof reached up again for his ribbon, a nervous twitch, and he had to divert it to stroking down the back of his ear as he spoke; "Everyone holds a deepest belief, that one thing they believe before all others, and that shapes how they view the world. It's the same everywhere. In every village, every town, every city. Everyone has that one belief. And you know, most of them believe the exact same damned thing."

Prey got his voice to return to calm. The repetitive, familiar motion helping. He wasn't angry about this bit, because it was the truth:

"Everyone believes in what they think is the truth. When you get down to it, when you reeeeally get down to it, most people like you, no, not like you Valour, people far better than you! People believe in the old fight of good and evil. Except it's even simpler than even that. They believe it's actually light versus dark. Ha. That's why ponies hated Luna, their own goddess, so much. They hated her because Celestia existed. Because they decided two sisters must be opposites. Because one symbolised the light, and the other the dark. Day and night."

The side of Prey's mouth twitched up in a single moment of amusement, but it was fleeting and already passed; "Everyone believes in the oldest battle of all, light against the dark. Fire against the night. Some people believe that the dark is winning, some believe it's the light.

Unbidden, Lemon contemptuously made as if she was carelessly balancing something across the flat of her hoof, adding her silent agreement to Prey's words:

"Some believe that they're two sides of the same coin, that darkness only exists because there is an absence of light, and that light is only the brief absence of darkness. Some despair that the dark is always pressing at the edge of the light, others know that even the tiniest light drives back the dark. So yes, it's back to the oldest fight of all. Dark and light. Light and dark."

Prey shook his head, tsk'ing, "Well that's their belief. Their deep, subconscious, ideological belief. Their one fundamental truth. And perhaps it is the truth... But their truth is still wrong. I reject their truth, because it's not my truth, and I know what I believe."

"I believe that beneath everything, it's much simpler than that. Before the old fight, before light and dark, there is one thing which everyone forgets. Beyond the deepest, darkest, emptiest ocean depths, there was first hunger. Good versus evil? Or rather, light versus the dark? All of that? No. Just hunger."

"You're mad." Valour stated firmly in disdain, but there was a certain watchfulness in his eyes now as he looked at Prey, and no longer just at Lemon Pink.

"How insightful of you Captain!" Prey choked on a spluttering laugh, "You correctly said madness, and not crazy or insane. Madness is the dangerous one."

Prey abruptly sobered, "Madness is catching, did anyone ever warn you? And I could do it, you know. One touch, just one touch and you'd be gone. That's all it would take. I can break people's minds just like that, one touch, but I never do because it'll never work out. There's always something in the way or I'll get caught or I still need them sane. But I could do it. I could."

Prey held up his hoof, twisting it about to examine it. The golden tracer bands dully reflected the light. "But still, I could." He muttered to himself.

Valour warily watched the lamb's hoof as he held it up. Surreptitiously the Captain was tensing his muscles up, getting ready to attack again even though it was going to end the same way, because even if it was a hopeless effort Valour wasn't about to just lay there and let it happen. He might break, but he'd never bend.

Prey shook his head, "But no, you're the Solar Guard Captain. Your death with be a cause of frantic investigation. There are going to be unicorns scanning the house, the area, following up on every single person you've met in the last month, everything. Your death will be of completely natural causes."

Valour couldn't help it, he had to ask, "What're you blathering about, mind leech?"

"You got drunk and left a candle burning beside your bed." Prey explained simply, "Who knew Captain Valour of the Solar Guard had a secret drinking habit? All those bottles in the pantry will clearly show a long time habit, as will the empty bottles in the trash. Of course, they'll be picking this all out from the charred embers of the house, but I'm sure they'll out two and two together. In fact, those defence and alarm enchantments you have on this house will make it even better, since that'll help prove it really wasn't an attack from the outside but a mistake from the inside." 

Prey paused, "...Unless, that is, you can convince me not to follow through. And it'll have to be a good argument. A really, really good one."

Prey couldn't help how churlish his next words came out, despised them for making himself sound like a childish victim, but the words also wanted to get out, to be said, to accuse the Solar Captain who didn't care: 

"You hurt me. You took my freedom. I want to kill you. I do, I really do. I so do. But the point of this whole trip was to change myself to become... But that's none of your damned business. So talk fast, Valour. I'll give you a chance. Convince me why I shouldn't kill you."

"You think I fear death?! I will never betray my oath to a filthy criminal! My faith is in Celestia and none other, and if you kill me then I go to my death a martyr. I made the choice to forever choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong. I will not compromise for something as low and filthy as you!" Valour shouted back at him without a moments hesitation.

"My name is Prey. Not criminal, not mind leech, and not prisoner 452. It's Prey. Say it. Say my name."

Valour looked down at Prey, despite him being the one prone on the floor. He spoke with clipped disdain dripping from every word as he drew it out; "Your name is criminal. Your life is criminal. Your existence is criminal. You are a criminal."

"I'm not asking much. Say my name. You're Valour, I'm Prey. Easy, see? Say it."

"Criminal." Valour repeated.

"This is your chance. I hate you, but I'm going to be a better person. I promised. So just do it. It isn't hard. I'm giving you a chance. Why is that so damn hard to understand?"

"Criminal."

'Even for a chance to save his own life when it's offered to him, he spits in my eye.' Prey seethed, but it was a cold, empty sort of anger now. 

It was hard to so hotly hate someone who was already dead. Anger turns to resentful disappointment, revenge leaves you unfulfilled, and you're left forever unsatisfied with the outcome, always imagining what justice you might've rendered if done differently.

"You didn't have much of a chance of convincing me anyway," Prey admitted, "I was already almost sure, but... After Rushweed, and remembering Fire Strike, so similar to you... And yet for some reason I still offered you a chance. I don't know why I wasted my time."

Prey walked backwards without looking away from Valour until he was beside the bedside table. It was just another pointless pony luxury, but in this case, the neat little table held one item of significance on it. Only the one. There was a box of tissues, a clock, and a small statue of Celestia. There had also been the Captain's polished helmet set there, so it would be the first thing Valour could reach when he awoke, but Lemon had levitated it away while Valour was asleep. Prey was going to be having a close look at the mindlock enchantment on the golden helmet, but that wasn't the important item, and neither were the other two.

No, it was the little metal plated figurine of the Sun alicorn placed there. 

"Just for your information, Captain Valour, no one is coming. No one outside of this room has heard any of your shouting. And it isn't my companion who's casting the silence bubble on this room. I thought of that ahead of time, and I didn't want you possibly hearing us when breaking in. So it was all set up beforehoof."

Prey reached up and lifted off the figurine of the hated Sun Wolf, turning it in his grip so it faced Valour: 

"I don't suppose you remember when you put this here do you-? No, you don't I see. You don't remember me even after I've done everything to jog your memory, so you wouldn't have realised this was odd either. Perfect, that means it works perfectly if you, as a filthy unicorn trained against dark magic, couldn't even notice your own fixation."

Valour's eyes fixed on the little statue that Prey was holding, and then his face went still as he worked out what Prey meant, '-I don't remember where that came from!-'

"Of course you don't remember, and of course you'd never think to suspect a replica of your beloved Goddess would you?" Prey mocked, trying to reclaim some of the vicious pleasure he'd been able to feel only moments ago before it all faded in the knowledge of Valour's impending death: 

"The allure of the light is so bright and wonderful that the fish never suspects there might be an angler's jaws in the dark. You've had this sat in your house every hour of every day for half a month, and never noticed a thing wrong. And guess what? Every time you used your unfair magic to solve every little problem in your life, it was slowly attuning itself to your magic. You exposed yourself for so long that when tonight came, all that magic, all your control, all that power you were born with, it meant nothing."

Valour surged forwards to attack again for the fourth time, just like Prey knew he would. 

The stallion would never go quietly, especially not when Prey and Lemon meant to kill him. He could've tried to run, make a break for the open door, but that was not in the mindset of a Solar Guard. 

'-evil stands before me! Never compromise!-'

But Valour failed again, just like Prey had known he would. It hadn't been in doubt. 

To go from a prone position to standing, to accelerating from standing to running, and then to run across the distance, even for a stallion in his prime and pushed to the limit by adrenaline and desperation, all of that took longer than magic. It wasn't usually power, but actually distance and space which was magic's biggest advantage in a fight. It was both close range and long range, both defensive and offensive. It was like a loaded crossbow. 

As long as you had the time to aim and fire, a crossbow would beat a sword every time. That was simply the unfair nature of magic all unicorns got to wield.

Valour had only just gotten his barrel off the floorboards, yet again rising in a lunge he meant to turn into a flying charge, when Lemon let loose with another red blast from her horn. A crossbow versus a sword. If it was loaded, and you could aim and fire in time, you'd would always win. And with the electrite choker and Lemon's own focused discipline, she was definitely loaded and ready.

The concussive spell hit Valour bodily back into the wall with a meaty smack. The stallion barely caught himself on his knees before his face hit the floor, where he stayed, wheezing nosily for air. 

Everyone needs to breathe, and Lemon was not holding back. Against a lesser pony, excepting an earth pony, such repeated magical strikes would've rendered them unconscious with cracked or broken ribs. Lemon wasn't holding back, but she also couldn't hit much harder than she already was, not with only non-lethal concussive strike based spells. 

The runed choker was helping her out, but Lemon's skill had always lain in more precise and focused spells. A needle thin force lance to go through flesh, deceiving illusion spells, and mind altering magic. And simplest of all was her telekinesis. A levitated dagger, no matter how crude, was a deadly force multiplier, and only a fool would overlook the simplicity telekenisis reliably offered.

But Valour needed to be alive to die in the coming fire. Prey didn't know how quickly the fire brigade and weather teams would get here when the time came, and if there was enough of Valour's body left to be examined, it needed to be absolutely clear what he'd died from and when. Already this had moved from revenge to the drudgery of a chore in Prey's heart. He was so disappointed and angry that it had gone like this, but now it was too late and all that was left was cleaning up and covering his tracks.

He looked down at the golden Celestia figurine in his hooves, turning it back over so it faced him again. It wasn't actual gold of course, it just looked like it. He scowled at it. 

"Lemon." He addressed her without looking up.

"Yes, Prey?"

Prey took a long breath, 'I do not torture for the sake of torture. If Valour hadn't tried to keep attacking us, then we wouldn't have kept having to hit him. But by any and all dead gods, I still hate pain.'

"I'm not going to draw this out any longer. I shouldn't have drawn it out this long to begin with. I got what I needed, even under duress he doesn't remember me. Let's just get this done."

"Yes, Prey."

Valour looked up, jerkily rising on shaking legs, '-the Sun will always rise. Never give in-!'

And the stunning spell sank into his chest. Valour's battered body seized up for a moment, and then slumped onto the floorboards. But even then, he wasn't unconscious yet, mind though foggy and hazy still refusing to yield.

So Lemon stunned him again.

Prey stood back and watched as Lemon levitated Valour's unconscious form and put him back into his bed on his side, tucking his muscled legs up to his body one by one, like most ponies did when they slept. Next she lifted the crumpled blanket off the floor, giving it a good shake out to let it drift down atop Valour's broad frame. 

She even took the time to tuck it in the blanket's bottom edge. There could be nothing left to create doubt that Valour had died due to smoke inhalation in his sleep. Even the mightiest of unicorns had to sleep and breathe in the end.

'All it takes is one or two breaths.'

"Go get the beer bottles and put them in the cool box Lemon, then fetch me a candle and get the rest of Valour's house set up," Prey said quietly, "I'll set up the room in here with the fire runic array."

"Yes, Prey. I will be back in ten minutes." Prey nodded vaguely as Lemon trotted out of the bedroom, the trailing end of her travel cloak the last thing to vanish. 

He'd put the candle on the bedside table, where the runic lure used to sit. It would be easy to believe that it had simply fallen over in the night and Valour simply never woke up. He'd be setting up the array right here beside Valour's bed, where it would be most lethal. Prey paused just before he reached out to begin, looking at the blanket covered form of Captain Valour of the Solar Guard on the bed.

'Murder, murder, always the same. So much to lose, so much to gain. But first...'

Prey stood on his hind legs, leaning up against the bed frame so he could reach, and lightly poked Valour on the cheek and-

A breaking stone, a splintering nothing, an endless mouth.

'There. Now even if a miracle happens and he survives, no one will ever know of my involvement.'

Just like that. 

A single touch, a light poke, and Valour's mind was shattered. Just like that. So simple. So easy. Just a single touch and a person was mind dead. Prey had always been able to shatter a mind with just a touch, to shatter and rend a person irrevocably. It shouldn't only take a touch to kill someone, but yet that was all it took Prey to 'kill' Valour. Just. Like. That.

Mind magic was unexplored and feared for a reason. Prey had been bound in heavy suppression chains in Dreverton for a reason. When someone could kill you with a brush of the hoof, bump into you in a crowd, or simply walk up and pat you on the shoulder, what could you do about that?

Prey deeply hated being touched. And he also hated touching anyone else, and not a small part of it was for this reason: Prey could kill a mind with a touch. 

It didn't come up often, and when you were in a life or death situation, sometimes there wasn't even an opportunity to get into hoof range. It was the crossbow and the sword all over again. Prey was a runt lamb, and even excluding unicorns, everyone was bigger, stronger, faster, and with longer reach than him. And against a burning building, a falling boulder, an undead scarecrow, what use was it anyway? But Prey could still kill with a touch. 

Just like that.

He hadn't done it in over fifty-seven years, not since before Dreverton's cell. But that didn't mean he couldn't.

Prey idly twisted the dull golden band on his foreleg as he dropped back onto all fours. 'And just like that indeed.'

There was nothing further to do here, just ensuring that the death of Valour went through how it was supposed to. The simple runic array would go off sometime early in the morning at about four o'clock, which was at least three hours after the train would deliver Prey back to Canterlot. He'd keep the train ticket to prove it, just in case.

'Actually I'd better leave Valour's helmet behind too. They'll almost certainly notice it's missing if I bring it along to study that mind lock enchantment. Oh well, another time.' Prey thought, getting to work laying down the runes.

Killing someone really was this simple, and this hard.

Prey spared a glance for the three framed pictures on the wall. They were the only decoration Valour used to have in this room, everything else was a severe military, uniform grey. The three photos were hung in a triangle formation. 

The largest picture at the top, exactly where it belonged, was one of Celestia on her golden throne. It was the first and last thing Valour would have seen everyday, and Prey bet the Captain's second house held a duplicate of the same picture again. The other two pictures were of normal, mortal ponies. 

The one was of a group line up of a whole unit of Solar Guards, dressed in their famous armour, saluting the photographer, but the last photo was a bit more nebulous.

It showed a smaller, more normal looking group of ponies, dressed up in suits and dresses for the camera but not otherwise in a uniform. There were eight figures total in this photo. Two married couples side by side, one pair with two teenage children and the other pair with one, and in the middle of the two families was an older stallion who very much had the position of an obvious uncle.

Prey recognised three of the faces. The single child standing straight and proud was Valour, and obviously the mare and stallion behind him were his parents. 

The second face Prey only knew because of how often it was shown in the Financial Times and other Canterlot newspapers. The tall unicorn uncle with iron grey coat and eyes was Triton Fell, scion of the noble House widely acknowledged as the wealthiest in Equestria. 

So Valour's uncle was Triton Fell, huh? No wonder Valour got the position of Captain of the Solar Guard then. It took talent yes, but to have the opportunity to develop that talent, there was nothing like money, power, and connections.

And then the last face Prey recognised when he looked closer was actually one of the two children of the second family. If a stranger had seen this photo, they'd probably look twice too. The second family, although obviously rich by their clothing, only one of them was a unicorn, a similar iron grey fur colour to Triton Fell's own. But the rest of the family, the wife and the two children, were Earth ponies.

And despite the photo being over a decade old, probably closer to two, Prey recognised the green earth pony colt. Because he'd been looking into the stallion recently.

That was Big Fields, the leader of the Crop Holder's, and the election winner. That was what nearly everyone knew him for.

He was also the son of May Fields, the daughter of Green Fields, who had been the earth pony land lord who'd owned all the farms of the villagers of Rushweed sixty years ago. And Green Fields was the one who'd bled the villagers dry in rent, and then abandoned the village and fled into the pony lands of Equestria when the Border Guard ordered the villagers to leave their lands so they didn't have to keep protecting them against the Resistance.

Traitors, both the Border Guard and Green Fields. The Guards had ordered the villagers to leave, without supplies or escort, with just the vague promise of; "If you get over the Longridge and into Equestria, then you'll be fine".

Leave? On the orders of a pony Guard force who they hated every bit as much as the Resistance? With no guarantees or supplies, and before the harvest? Some choice that was. 

Leave and most likely starve to death, or stay on their farms and keep going as they had. It hadn't really been a choice at all. At least if they stayed, then they wouldn't starve. 

So they'd stayed, and the Border Guard had abandoned their village, and when the Resistance came and burnt it to the ground as a taunt to the Border Guard, to test if their new Captain Fire Strike really meant what he'd said, they'd sat back and done nothing.

But before that, before the burning, Green Fields had taken his family, packed up his property, and fled. If it weren't for his tariffs and rent, if it weren't for that, then maybe the village would've had enough money and food to have considered making the trip instead. It would've been giving in, surrendering to be ground yet again under the hooves of ponies, and although Prey knew it likely wouldn't have changed the stubborn and hardened villagers minds, at least they would've had the choice!

But could a son be guilty for the crimes of his father? How about his grandfather? 

Prey didn't know the answer, he didn't know if he was going to follow through on this revenge, but he was going to find out.

"Big Fields, son of May Fields, daughter of Green Fields. Maybe I'll do it. Maybe I won't. Either way, I know where I'm posting the lure totem to next."


------


When it was done, and the helmet returned to the bedside table and the candle lit, Prey and Lemon retraced their steps through the house and left under the cover of an illusionary veil, exactly like they'd arrived. Prey relocked the door, and then they returned to the station to catch the late night train back to Canterlot. The few runes he'd left behind were only on wooden floorboards, and would burn up, and a unicorn's magical signature, like Lemon's, only lingered for a little while. No fuss, no bother, no evidence.

And there it should have ended. 

Captain Valour Fallstar had been crossed off of The List, so that should've been that. But it wasn't.

The station platform still had a decent few ponies on it for this time of night, also waiting to catch the late night train to Canterlot. It was scheduled to pull into the station in five minutes. Lemon had her illusionary disguise of a sunflower yellow mare on, along with the sunhat, and was currently looking in the saddlebag's to get out her ticket. Prey was staring blankly out across the dark train tracks, mechanically smoothing out the fur down his ears.

The sound of Lemon breathing in suddenly snapped Prey sharply back to reality. It was the sort of sudden, instant focus you gave whether you wanted to or not when you heard the ice underhoof crack.

He didn't turn in case the sudden problem was that they were being watched, "What?" Prey muttered without moving his lips.

"Prey, I found-it was just like this already." Lemon said, shifting the saddlebag.

Prey turned to look, now that he knew it wasn't an external threat Lemon had spotted. He squinted in the lantern light.

Selenia's pin cushion. The roughly stitched rag ball sat at the top of the saddlebags contents. Outwardly, it looked drab or even ugly. It hadn't been there in the bag before. Prey stared at it, a nasty sinking feeling in his stomach. The rag ball had three pins stuck into it, pushed in up to their heads, and the fourth sticking out. 

'Four pins? There were only three last time! Where did that one come from-wait, that's mine.'

That fourth pin was actually a sewing needle, that old dulled one Prey had found in the remains of Gossamer's once and only home. That belonged to Prey! It wasn't part of the raggedly pin cushion, it didn't fit! It didn't even match up with the other three! It was a sewing needle, not a damn clothes pin! 

But somehow, the pincushion was sitting here in front of him, and it had assimilated the needle as if it were a fourth pin.

"Give that back!" Prey exclaimed, heedless that he was talking to an inanimate object. That sewing needle was his, a memento, a reminder, a token, not part of the cloth artifact.

Of course, nothing happened. Prey grabbed at the needle, aiming to yank it out. He clenched his cleft hoof around the sliver of old metal and pulled-He wasn't pulling. Prey tried to pull, but his leg wasn't pulling. His muscles weren't obeying him. He tried to use his other hoof to push the pin cushion off the needle instead. It... It didn't work! Why weren't his legs obeying him?

'How?! There's nothing affecting my mind, I'd know! So how?'

"Pull it out with your aura." Prey ordered Lemon.

Lemon focused on the needle, her horn sparking silver.

"...Are you trying?" Prey asked. There was no corresponding silvery glow around the needle.

"I can't. I can't grab it. I know I can, but I also can't." Lemon said in frustration.

"Don't try and pull it out. Just try taking hold of it instead." Prey told her, staring intently at the pin cushion.

Lemon's silver aura appeared around the needle just fine. "Now try pulling-"

Prey broke off as the telekinetic aura immediately winked out. "Let me guess, you can't. The moment before you start, you can't." Prey stated, not surprised in the slightest.

"No, Prey." Lemon answered. The both warily looked at the pin cushion, both remembering what it had once done.

Prey licked his lips, "Those three pins were used to make a magical wish of sorts. But they were all used up and the thieves didn't seem to know how to charge it back up. But now it's gone and assimilated a sewing needle. Does it matter if it's not a pin? Is this another wish? Or something else?"

"I think it happened in Valour's house. I didn't see it in my saddlebags before." Lemon said, continuing to add to their observation.

"But we don't know exactly when, or how, or why, or what it means. Does it require a life? Or is it specifically destroying someone's mind? Was it getting revenge? Did the needle only work because I prized it so highly?" Prey scowled, not liking the possible implications but equally disliking how little they knew.

'This thing almost got me killed once, and the way it worked it's magic... A ripped hole in the world...' Prey shivered like icy slime was being trailed down his neck, he couldn't help it. He shut away the memories and locked them away, now was not the time, especially not at night.

The pin cushion sat there, ugly made and inoffensive, just a thing. And what a terrifying thing it could represent. 

Prey didn't know what he'd been going to do with the old sewing needle, a reminder of the farm. Find somewhere safe to hide it down in the crystal cavern probably, but now it wasn't his choice any longer. 

'That was mine.' Prey silently told the pincushion. But the hard truth was, people could still steal from him.

The train tracks started to hum. Five minutes were up. 

Prey could only shake his head in helpless frustration, "There's nothing to be done for now. There's nothing we can do. Put it back in the bag and we'll return it to the crystal lair first thing. I don't like it, and I certainly don't trust it." He grated, standing as the train pulled into the station.

He'd murdered yet another person this night, but it wasn't that which Prey sat and worried over on the return train trip back.


---I---