//------------------------------// // Paper Trail // Story: The Ties That Bind // by Scyphi //------------------------------// Gallus slept peacefully the rest of the night and on into part of the next morning. Unlike the previous two mornings where he awoke to find it bright, sunny, and overall pleasantly warm, this particular morning was a bit dimmer, somewhat cloudier, and cooler. In the back of his head, Gallus dimly recalled seeing the Canterlot weather schedule indicating the weather teams would be increasing the local cloud cover so to ensure temperatures didn’t get too high in the area. In any case, this weather, while not really gloomy per se, wasn’t very upbeat either. So since he knew he didn’t really have anywhere he needed to be today, Gallus’s first instinct was to try and sleep in a little—he would daresay he was overdue for that honor. And he did for a little bit, getting perhaps not quite another hour’s worth of sleep before he was woken up by Spike crawling out of bed and heading for the bathroom. Apparently it was now the dragon’s turn to be rudely awoken by nature calling. While Gallus was under no obligation to get up too, he felt awake enough to decide he might as well anyway and, stretching, crawled out of bed. As he did, he eyed the room’s brass speaking tube for a moment. He considered calling down to the kitchens and requesting something for breakfast before remembering he probably wouldn’t get it until Twilight had checked it over first and opted to wait. By that point Spike had exited the bathroom, so Gallus popped inside next so to freshen up real quick before rejoining him in the room. “So,” he said as he sat down on the bed, “what do you want to do today?” Spike sighed and shrugged. “I suppose it depends on whether or not they’ve had any luck finding our culprits,” he reasoned and glanced at Gallus. “Have you heard anything new on that?” “Not yet,” Gallus admitted before wincing. “But then I haven’t exactly asked either.” “Well, let’s ask the guards outside,” Spike reasoned, getting up. “They should be up to date on everything.” “And if they’ve got nothing new to tell us anyway?” Gallus asked, thinking that if there was anything of note to tell, they either would’ve already come to tell them or asked to meet up. Again, Spike shrugged. “Then worst case we’ll have to come up with something to entertain ourselves in the meantime,” he reasoned simply as he stopped by the door. He rubbed at his belly. “Or at least get breakfast—I am feeling a little hungry.” “Yeah, how do you want to handle that this time?” Gallus asked, getting up so to join him at the door. “Go through Princess Twilight magically molesting whatever breakfasts the kitchens cook up for us or go and make something ourselves?” Spike sighed. “Admittedly, I don’t really want to put up with either. Is it really too much to just ask for a plate of…I don’t know…” “Prench toast?” Gallus suggested, the first breakfast food that sprang to mind, but now that he thought about it, Prench toast did sound pretty good. Apparently Spike felt similarly. “…I could go for some Prench toast, actually,” he admitted, “with just the right amount of cinnamon, moderately buttered, heavy on the maple syrup…” “…maybe some powdered sugar and whipped topping to go on top?” Gallus suggested, feeling his own stomach rumble eagerly at the thought. Spike hummed in approval, licking his lips. “Ooh yeah, with a cold glass of creamy milk on the side…” Gallus had to wipe a speck of drool from his beak quickly. “We’d better stop before we make our empty stomachs implode from hunger,” he quipped with a smirk. Spike shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Good idea,” he agreed and got back to what he was saying before. “But would it really be too much to ask for a plate of Prench toast be delivered without all that fuss?” “Apparently, so long as we have active killers on the loose looking for us,” Gallus said with a sigh. “I don’t know, I’m getting real tired of this nonsense too. Let’s just catch these guys and be done with it already.” “No arguments from me on that,” Spike said before letting out a dejected sigh, sitting down in front of the door and leaning his head against it. “Particularly as that’d mean we can stop anybody else from being hurt.” Gallus felt his own lungs deflate bleakly and joined him. “Yeah,” he agreed before running his talons down his face, thinking about Gruff in his coma—since nobody had alerted him about any changes, he can only assume the old griffon was still in the same state as last night. “You know, these jerks really stink. They’re willing to put anybody in danger just because they can’t handle some quirky genetics.” Spike made an amused scoff. “That’s one way of putting it,” he agreed. He wrapped one arm over his eyes wearily. “They’re also spoiling our fun—we should be out celebrating that we’re family now, not staying cooped up in a palace afraid every little thing could be a trap to kill us.” Gallus let his gaze become unfocused, mulling over the family angle for a moment. “What are we going to do about that once this is all over anyway?” he asked, “This whole…being family thing?” Spike let his arm fall onto his belly with a plop, brow furrowing as he considered the question. “You know, I still haven’t really thought about it,” he admitted. “I’ve been so distracted by everything else that I haven’t considered the future like that.” He went quiet as he gave it another moment of thought. “I suppose in the short term we’d still have to go back to life as normal, because I still have duties here as assistant advisor and you still have classes to finish back at the school.” “Point taken,” Gallus agreed though the thought disappointed him. Still, Spike was right—none of this changed the respective commitments they would need to get back to and didn’t exactly run parallel with each other anymore. Gallus suddenly found himself wishing they’d learned all of this a year or two sooner, when Spike was still working at the school and where Gallus could’ve seen him more regularly. “But we can still meet up and hang out whenever we can…right?” “Oh, absolutely,” Spike agreed without hesitation. He grinned happily at that suggestion. “We’ve still got a lot to get caught up on as brothers, after all.” “True that,” Gallus said and started planning ahead what sort of activities they could do. He smirked as one immediately sprang to mind. “Maybe I can take you on a hunt.” He couldn’t help but snicker upon noticing Spike’s face pale at the thought. “Hey, as your brother, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least teach you the basics at some point.” He gave him a playful nudge. “We can ease your way into though—Professor Fluttershy lets some of us predators practice on the nearly recovered animals at her shelter in a sort of play hunt, so both the hunters and the hunted can refresh our skills without anything actually being…you know…” Spike sighed, still not looking particularly eager to do it, but also having no good reasons to avoid it. Knowing Gallus had a point about him learning anyway, he gave the griffon a grin. “All right, I guess we can start with that,” he said, before sitting up a little. “But if we’re doing that, then sometime I gotta take you to Dragon Town, get you better acquainted with your dragon side.” Gallus raised an eyebrow. “Dragon Town?” he repeated, not familiar with it. “It’s in Fillydelphia, a district of the city populated almost exclusively by dragons.” Gallus perked up, surprised. “Seriously? I’ve never heard of it before. And I know a dragon.” “I don’t think Smolder’s ever been there herself, but I guess that’s not too surprising, since the dragons that live there don’t really associate with the dragons back in the Dragon Lands. Apparently there was this ancient schism between the western dragons and the eastern dragons, and, long story short, the eastern dragons eventually left and settled down in a then-unpopulated area of Fillydelphia in exchange for helping dig up resources the pony population used for building. They don’t really associate with ponies or any creature else beyond that and the odd special occasion…but I think they’d be a little more welcoming of a couple hybrids like us than those in the Dragon Lands. At the very least I know one or two dragons there that should be open to the idea.” “Cool,” Gallus said. And he found himself more intrigued by the idea than he thought. Experiencing some dragon culture for himself did sound kinda awesome. And he supposed it would only be fair, considering Spike had already seen his own stomping grounds in Griffonstone, for better or worse. “Yeah, I guess we can do that at some point in the near future…maybe during a long weekend or the next summer break or something.” “I guess we have made some plans for the future then,” Spike concluded happily. “Something we can do together, just us bros.” Gallus chuckled and gave him a wink. “I’m looking forward to it then.” He was about to suggest if they had any other ideas for things to do together when he heard the latch above his head click and, before either of them could react, the doors they were leaning against suddenly swung away, causing them to topple over onto the floor in time to see Raven Inkwell, about to enter, jump back in surprise. For a moment they all looked at each other in confusion while the guards stationed beside the door leaned over so to see too. Finally Gallus smirked and clapped his talons together. “So,” he said as he gazed up at Raven from the floor, “what’s up?” Spike let out an amused snort from beside him. Raven grinned a little too as she looked down at them. “I was actually coming to get you,” she explained. “The princess has requested we all meet up and report in.” Flanked by the usual escort of guards, Raven led them down to the same private dining room they’d all met in the previous morning. There waiting for them was Twilight, Kibitz, and a recovered Ditzy, the latter of whom was heartening to see on her hooves and back in uniform like the previous day’s events hadn’t happened. But Gallus couldn’t help but notice Gruff’s conspicuous absence this time around and was depressed about him not being here too. Nevertheless he kept that to himself, particularly as Spike reacted with delight to see Ditzy. “Ditzy!” he declared happily as they sat in roughly the same seats they had when they all met yesterday. “How are you doing? Feeling better?” Ditzy cleared her throat before answering, showing her voice still had a small rasp to it. “Well, I’m probably not running any marathons for a couple of days,” she admitted with a small grin, “but other than that I’m back to normal, so thanks for asking.” “We’re all glad you’re okay, Ditzy,” Twilight took that moment to interject, taking control of the conversation, “but we still have a bigger situation to resolve.” “No doubt as evidenced by the weaponry at the table,” Kibitz remarked aloud in a disapproving tone, nodding at the crossbow and enchanted arrows Ditzy also had on the table. Raven, who’d sat down beside him, elbowed him in the ribs. Ditzy put a protective hoof over her crossbow. “I don’t like it either, Kibitz, but we’re pretty much at the point where we can’t be too careful,” she explained, a thought that sent chills down everybody’s spines due to the implications. “Yes, but enchanted arrows?” Kibitz questioned. “Isn’t that a bit overkill for self-defense?” “Not if the attacker has a magic barrier up, which these arrows can pierce no problem,” Ditzy countered pointedly. “Yes, well, let’s not dwell on the negatives here,” Twilight again intervened, trying to keep the conversation from veering too far into dark subjects. She looked to Gallus and Spike. “First off, though, have you two had breakfast yet? Because if not, you might as well request some now.” Since they hadn’t, Gallus and Spike jointly requested for a plate of Prench toast apiece. They didn’t have to wait very long before the kitchen staff brought out the dishes looking almost exactly as tasty as Gallus had envisioned them. Of course, Twilight stopped them from digging in long enough to give them a thorough magical scanning, but she again found no signs of tampering. Gallus honestly thought at this point that whoever their culprits were, they clearly weren’t on the kitchen staff. Or, he supposed, they were just smarter than to try something as obvious as poisoning food. “So have there been any new developments since last night?” Spike asked as he dug into his breakfast. “Nothing major,” Raven admitted. “We had more than one team going through the evidence locker wreckage in hopes of reconstructing something, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get anything useful.” “In short, all that evidence was destroyed before anyone had the chance to go through it,” Kibitz summarized sternly. “As such, we don’t know what it may or may not have contained or if any new leads were hidden within.” “On the upside, though,” Ditzy then jumped in, presenting what few positives she could, “I was up early this morning so to interrogate Diorite. He’s…being less than cooperative as expected, but using some tricks similar to what Dragon Lord Ember used to get him to incriminate himself, I got him to basically confirm his role in all of this.” Gallus perked up at that. “…and?” he prompted, pausing mid-bite. “Unfortunately, it still doesn’t tell us anything that we hadn’t already figured out for ourselves,” Ditzy said. “But it does confirm that we’re definitely on the right track.” “What about the mastermind of this whole scheme?” Twilight prompted. “The one Diorite is presumably working for? Did you get anything useful from him on that?” “I’d assume, given the trend, he was unwilling to say anything on that subject,” Kibitz pointedly guessed. “Yeah, he’s refusing to give up anything about this guy,” Ditzy said. “Though from the context, I’m getting the impression that our mastermind really is just one guy. Still no good ideas on who though, and honestly I’m not sure how much Diorite could’ve told us anyway because he claims he’s never met this mastermind in person.” Raven harrumphed at that. “He’s smart enough to keep a low profile, it seems.” “When you’ve been playing this game for as long as he probably has, you’d have to be careful letting your involvement be too known by anyone, ally or otherwise,” Gallus reasoned while using a chunk of Prench toast to mop up some of the syrup on his plate. “I’ve seen crooks back in Griffonstone do the same sort of thing and they’re probably not even half as good as this mastermind seems to be.” “As inadvertently flattering for said mastermind as that is,” Kibitz remarked aloud, “it’s a valid point. Plausible deniability, after all, is at its most convincing when the one denying it genuinely knows nothing of it. With that in mind, it was probably never going to be as simple as drawing a mere testimony from a cohort anyway.” “One can still hope though,” Twilight said with a sigh. She glanced back at Ditzy. “Did Diorite reveal anything about any other operatives besides the ones we already know about?” “Not exactly,” Ditzy replied, “Though from the way he phrased some things, I’m thinking there weren’t that especially many to begin with.” “So considering that we’ve already offed at least two and caught one…” Gallus summarized. Ditzy nodded. “…there probably aren’t too many left that’s still unaccounted for, or so I’m choosing to hope currently.” Glancing around at the others, she continued. “It’d fit with what we know anyway. The conspirators couldn’t ever have been that numerous if they’ve avoided detection for this long, and I’ve already speculated they’re attempting damage control because we’ve struck them a few good blows. Honestly, it sounds like they’re in prime position for the finishing blow.” “Then we’d just need to know where to strike,” Raven concluded. “Easier said than done, Miss Inkwell,” Kibitz retorted, sounding skeptical. “We may have struck them a few lucky blows, but for every strike we’ve dealt them, they’ve struck back with equally damaging blows. And should they ever strike at the very things they want…” he motioned to Gallus and Spike and left the rest of the sentence unspoken. “And we obviously know they’re willing to kill anyone in their way so to get what they want,” Twilight added gravely. “As demonstrated with Dream Chaser, Static Lift, and now Streamline. “And quite probably the civilian piloting the airship that attacked Spark,” Ditzy added, matching Twilight’s tone. “I’ve heard back from one of my leads that a civilian employed as a pilot at the Canterlot airship yards around that timeframe was found murdered in his apartment less than a week after Spark was killed. The authorities never figured out who was responsible or why and the case swiftly went cold, so I can’t exactly confirm he was the same pony but…I do think it likely.” “Not that it really matters now if they’re dead,” Gallus said with a sigh, mopping up the last of the syrup on his plate with one final bite of Prench toast. “It matters in the sense that it’s one more crime these guys have probably committed,” Spike argued glumly as he finished up his breakfast too. “So where does all this leave us, then?” Twilight concluded. “What should be our next move?” “Determining and then apprehending whoever the mastermind of this scheme is, I would think,” Raven said but motioning to Kibitz, added, “however as already stated, that’s easier said than done.” “Let’s look at it logically then,” Twilight suggested. “What do we know about this mastermind?” “We know they’re intelligent enough to stay mostly one step ahead of us,” Gallus offered. “We also know they’re informed, enough to be aware of our plans and actions almost as we make them,” Spike added. “That would suggest either they have an informant that’s working somewhere they can learn of these plans, or the mastermind themselves works somewhere they can be part of the loop,” Ditzy reasoned. “Either way, it still means a traitor is operating within this very palace.” “Though I would hope it’s no one sitting at this table,” Kibitz said with some ominousness. A moment of exchanging wary glances with each other followed, but afterwards it was silently concluded everyone here still had each other’s trust. “I’d assume they’ve been involved with this conspiracy from the start,” Raven then added. “Which means, considering it’s been ongoing since at least roughly fifteen years previous, they’ve been at this for a good while. They probably want to bring this matter to a swift conclusion just as much as we do.” “So they can get on with their lives, I think,” Kibitz added with a thoughtful nod. “We can also safely assume they don’t like leaving loose ends,” Spike said, “Given how every operative working for them seems to meet an unfortunate end the moment they no longer need them.” “But perhaps not all of them,” Twilight said, “given we likely have at least one operative working from here in Canterlot to try and cover their tracks, the one that presumably had a role in setting fire to Gene Type’s apartment and destroying our evidence locker, possibly even the one who used the Choker’s Gas to silence Streamline.” “I can’t rule out there potentially being more either,” Ditzy added somewhat reluctantly. “I have wondered to myself if the griffons who killed Gwen could still be out there, awaiting orders.” “Perhaps,” Kibitz agreed, steepling his hooves in thought. “But considering their last known job in this scheme was more than a decade ago, we also can’t rule out those griffons no longer being in the mastermind’s employ,” Twilight said with a sigh. “It’d be nice to have definite confirmation either way though.” “I did ask Diorite about that in my interrogation of him,” Ditzy began, “but he feigned ignorance. Whether or not he’s telling the truth though remains to be seen.” “Those griffons would probably still be in Griffonstone anyway,” Raven pointed out, “unless the mastermind found a way to smuggle them into Equestria without anyone noticing.” “Raven’s got a point,” Gallus agreed. “Those griffon attackers may not matter because for now we’re focused on things happening here, where they probably can’t do anything anyway.” “And Lord Gestal is already on the lookout for any shady characters that could be potential operatives,” Twilight said. “Assuming his lordship is indeed as trustworthy as he’s been having me believe, then I have to trust he will be in position to stop any troublemaking those hypothetical griffons could cause.” “It still doesn’t bring us much closer to finding this mastermind though,” Kibitz said, “assuming they are even still here to begin with. For all we know, they have already fled the country.” “Maybe, but I’d doubt it, Kibitz,” Ditzy reasoned. “They seem too tightly involved and acting too quickly to be coordinating things from abroad. No, I’d bet muffins that they’re still here and somewhere close.” “I agree with Ditzy,” Twilight said but it came with a renewed sigh, “Though that still leaves us with the prospect of a likely traitor somewhere in our midst.” “I don’t suppose any of you know who could be a potential suspect then?” Gallus asked, already believing he knew the answer. “None I could bring any charges on with any degree of confidence,” Ditzy said, “and if we can’t pin any actual charges on them then we can’t detain let alone arrest them, leaving them free to walk and keep going with their plans.” “And be on the alert that we’re on their tails and act accordingly,” Spike added darkly. He thumped his fork down on the table now that he was finished with it. “What we need is what we’ve needed from the start—more information.” “Unfortunately, Spike, we have no more to use at the moment,” Raven said sympathetically. “There’s gotta be something we’re missing though,” Gallus said, rubbing the tip of his beak in thought, “Something sitting right there in front of us.” “Well, if you’ve got any suggestions, now’s the time to say so,” Ditzy pointed out. Gallus searched his brain for anything that he knew wouldn’t already be destroyed. “Gruff said Spark left Griffonstone to meet with Princess Celestia and ask for asylum here in Equestria,” he reasoned aloud after a moment. “He never arrived for that meeting though,” Kibitz pointedly reminded. “I know,” Gallus said, giving the stallion a brief glare for the unnecessary reminder. “But he still set up a time for that meeting, right? Wouldn’t that mean there’d be some record of that lying around somewhere in like a schedule or something?” “I see what you’re trying to get at here, Gallus,” Raven said. “But I already thought of that and looked through the royal records for relevant paperwork and found nothing. Either the conspirators already destroyed it or, since the meeting never actually took place, some clerk didn’t see the need to hold onto it and threw it away sometime between then and now.” “And as I already told you that Celestia has no recollection of it due to her scant involvement, and since this took place before Luna’s return, she sadly cannot assist either,” Twilight added. “Since it’s likely Spark’s meeting was arranged through palace staff and not herself, it’s very possible Celestia never saw any notifications except a note on her schedule the day of, which was no doubt dismissed when Spark never showed. She probably thought he was unexpectedly detained and unable to make it after all—it honestly happens all the time.” “In short, Gallus, it doesn’t look like we have any records like that after all,” Spike concluded with a frown. Gallus sighed. “That’s a pity, because I was thinking that, since the conspirators obviously knew Spark was coming, maybe one of the creatures who filed it was in on it. It’d at least give us something to look into.” “Actually,” Kibitz remarked suddenly, his brow furrowed thoughtfully, “there might still be a copy of this record,” he said. He looked to the others. “For security reasons, the Royal Guard often receives copies of asylum requests in the event any additional investigations or background checks are felt necessary for the asylum seekers. Spark’s request should have applied for that, and if so, then it’s possible the Royal Guard may still have a copy of this paperwork somewhere in their archives.” He made a small shrug. “It’d at least be worth checking.” Ditzy hummed in approval at this suggestion. “That’s actually not a half-bad idea, Kibitz,” she admitted. Kibitz smirked slightly. “I do have those from time to time, lieutenant commander.” Gallus all but threw down the fork he’d been idly toying with. “Well, what are we waiting for then?” he asked as he promptly rose to his feet. “Let’s go see!” Initially Twilight didn’t want Gallus or Spike accompanying them, asking they leave it to the others to investigate, but since it was partly his idea, Gallus wanted to see it through and Spike wasn’t about to be left out either. Both argued that the matter still involved them so they might as well come with, and anyway, the best way to ensure they stayed safe would be by keeping them in sight. So Twilight relented and as a group they left the dining room down into the basement levels of the royal palace. However, Gallus later concluded that the real reason Twilight recommended against them coming wasn’t because she feared for their safety but rather because she knew they’d be bored out of their minds digging through the archives. For the archives were pretty much as they sounded—just a large basement-like room filled with rows upon rows of filing cabinets stuffed full of documents dating back decades at least. That they knew a general time period to be looking in helped, but that still only narrowed it down to about three filing cabinets, leaving them a whole heap of files to sit down and sift through trying to find the right one. This, of course, wasn’t especially interesting to witness, with the only real memorable moment being when Raven accidentally gave herself a papercut. Finally, it was Kibitz who found the relevant file, but the victory was gone again as soon as he opened it and found it empty. “Curious,” he remarked while examining the folder as if the papers it was supposed to contain were somehow hiding. “A copy of that asylum request would have to have existed or else there would be no point even having this folder in the first place.” “But then where’s the paperwork?” Gallus asked. “Did these culprits already beat us to the punch, again?” “They must’ve,” Twilight concluded, already up on her hooves and considering the dilemma. “But it must’ve been a rush job if they left traces of it existing, validating there was something to hide.” “They can’t just take files out of these archives willy-nilly though, the archivists wouldn’t let them without first getting their authorization,” Ditzy said, also on her hooves and starting to turn back for the front desk they checked in with when they’d entered. “That means there’d have to be a paper trail left behind just to get at that file.” So, taking the folder with them, they went back to the front desk and asked the clerk working there if anyone else had come looking for it. “Well, let’s see here,” the clerk, a bespectacled short and thin mare of middle-age that Gallus suspected had probably been working this job for a bit too long, remarked as she pulled out her record book of everyone who’d signed in and out anything from the archive. The way she then squinted at it also told him the thick lenses she wore probably weren’t thick enough. “We’ve had a lot of ponies come in here looking for archived information the past few days, so I suppose it could’ve been any one of them. But maybe I can still narrow it down for you. What was that file registry number again?” “Nine seven eight dash zero dash six seven one dash eight seven seven eight three dash five,” Raven patiently read off of the empty folder’s corresponding label. “More numbers in a row than you’d find in a math class,” Gallus quipped under his breath, though not quietly enough to avoid Twilight overhearing and jabbing him in the side for it. The clerk took her time scanning through her large book, mouthing out the numbers to herself as she did so. She had to all but put her snout against the pages in order to easily read the entries, given her clearly lackluster eyesight. Finally, she tapped a particular entry near the bottom of the page. “Ah yes, right here. The paperwork was signed out for personal reference yesterday just past noon. You can see the entry for yourself.” She turned the book around and they all crowded in closer to do so. “As you can see, it was all in order, so we had no real reason to question them over it.” But everyone else’s attention was focused on the signature of the pony signing out the paperwork. Kibitz remained stone-faced as usual, but Spike, Twilight, Raven, and Ditzy’s faces all turned unhappy as they recognized the name the fancy signature listed. Gallus also recognized the name, but his reaction to it was more one of shock. “…no way.” “I promise you, princess!” Prince Blueblood doggedly insisted to them while Ditzy and a party of other guards searched his office at the royal palace. “I know nothing about these documents you speak of!” “And I’d like to believe that, Blueblood, I really would,” Twilight said again, sounding genuinely apologetic. She held up a copy she had gotten of the archive’s records. “But that is very clearly your signature saying you signed them out, is it not?” Blueblood glanced at the document and as he did so Gallus, standing nearby and watching the confrontation take place, noticed the noble stallion looking increasingly alarmed. “Well…yes, it does appear to be my signature, but as I already tried to explain, it simply cannot have been me who put it there! I haven’t even been in the archives in weeks, let alone yesterday! I haven’t even sent any of my servants down on my behalf in at least as long!” “Can anyone verify that, though?” Kibitz asked pointedly from beside the princess. Blueblood opened and closed his jaw for a few moments, then tellingly fell silent and averted his gaze. “Then you understand why we need to take this precaution,” Twilight finalized, still apologetic. “With how crafty this conspiracy has been at countering us and actual lives potentially at stake…” “Yes, yes, I know, I understand that,” Blueblood relented. “And I cannot fault you for ensuring the safety of your subjects, princess, but I fear you’re wasting your time investigating me of all ponies! What would I even stand to gain from all this?” “Well, the apparent motive of the whole plot is the elimination of hybrid creatures,” Raven replied somewhat coldly. Blueblood flung a hoof at Gallus. “But I barely know that creature and scarcely ever interacted with Advisor Spike before now.” “Which doesn’t exactly help your argument, you realize,” Kibitz coolly pointed out. Unlike the others, he didn’t seem the least bit apologetic and acted like it was a foregone conclusion that Blueblood was their guy. “By not knowing your targets, you have no emotional attachment standing in your way of harming them.” “That does not mean I still wish them harm!” Blueblood declared, getting increasingly flustered. “I may be many things, Advisor Kibitz, but a murderer is not one of them, I promise you that! Just as I promise you that I’ve had no involvement of any of this! How could I?” “Well, you have been here locked in the palace with the rest of us since we got here,” Spike remarked suddenly from Gallus’s side, the dragon no doubt remembering Raven commenting about it the previous day. “And the creature behind this clearly has been getting inside knowledge of our attempts to fight them all throughout, something that would be much easier if they were here in the palace as you’ve been,” Raven pointed out. “I am far from the only one who had the misfortune of being here when the lockdown took effect though,” Blueblood reasoned. He pointed his hoof at a random guard sorting through things in the office’s filing cabinet. “By that same logic, your culprit could just as easily be that pony right there!” “Hey!” the guard complained, frowning at the accusation. “And that’s why we’re searching your office, Blueblood, and will be searching your place of residence too,” Twilight insisted, looping them back to her original point. “We need to be absolutely sure of this.” Blueblood threw his hooves into the air. “Well, search as much as you like then!” he declared in frustration. “You will not find your missing documents here!” His timing for saying that couldn’t have been worse. “Princess Twilight,” Ditzy suddenly announced, calling from over where she stood by the office’s fireplace. Her tone was dark and all business. Giving Blueblood a disconcerting glance, Twilight moved to the fireplace, looking at a spot within that Ditzy pointed at. Some brief words were softly exchanged before Twilight, using her magic, pulled out a piece of something that had been burned within. When she turned and started back towards them, Ditzy following, the alicorn’s face had darkened notably. She silently held up the corner of blackened and burned paper that hadn’t been consumed completely, the seal of the Royal Guard and the first quarter of a file registry number still just barely visible upon it. Kibitz at that point also held up the empty folder from the archives so they could see its label, revealing its file registry number perfectly matching that which survived on the burnt paper. Blueblood’s face visibly paled at the sight of the dooming evidence. “Princess, you have to believe me,” he insisted urgently as Ditzy and a pair of the Royal Guards started to surround him. “I have no idea how that document got here, but it most certainly was not by my hoof.” “I can’t take that risk, Blueblood, I’m sorry,” Twilight said before nodding at Ditzy to proceed. “So for your own sake, I ask that you cooperate.” “No, no,” Blueblood whimpered as he was quietly arrested and led out of the office. “I am innocent! I swear it! I am innocent!” And yet as Gallus watched the unicorn be taken away, he remained uncertain on whether or not he believed his claims.