Nothing At All

Nothing At All

~Chapter 4 - Jest~

By Chimpso

“Why me?”

“Why not?”

Aurea touched down in a mess of shaky hooves and heavy breaths. Collapsing onto the ground, her eyes clenched shut as every pain and ache suddenly became evident. Her wings burned, her nose was scrunched up in pain, and she shivered despite the sultry weather. Her body was discontent. It tried to bunch itself into a ball, to make itself smaller, to shield itself from the pain, but as her muscles tensed up, the pain flared. She felt her eyes beginning to water, her lips began to quiver, her breaths became heavier and more frequent. The emotion was ready to take her.

But as she lay there, her dismay threatening to overcome her senses, a tiny inference in her mind gave her an inkling of support; halting her, locking her in place. It calmed her down. It pushed her instinctive urge to curl up aside, and gave her the reality free from exaggeration: she was not safe before, but she was now. She needed to calm. She needed to think.

Her body responded to the calming of her mind. It slowly left it's protective position and gave itself space. The muscles still burned and the pains still ached, but they did so without further exacerbation. Her eyes were closed, and her face still tensed up in an expression of pain, but it had been assuaged, and her rapidly moving chest fell into a gentle rhythm as her breathing slowed.

She lay on her side, one cheek resting on the cold pavement. In the free time she now had, her mind finally had the time to decipher the happenings of the last few minutes. There had been a Pegasus, and a Unicorn. Both had jumped her. The co-ordination had been elaborate. Both knew when to act. It had been premeditated. It had been planned.

But why? Why did they try to get her? What had she done?

She opened her eyes again and let out a long, pained sigh. The pavement stretched out across her vision: monotonous grey leading to a cleaner beige wall; the side of a building. The wall ascended, reaching skywards towards the twinkling night stars. Staring at those little white specks in the sky, Aurea felt her sense of calm return. She was out of danger now, she had been in it, but now she was not. She had to...

Where was she?

She sat upright, and winced as the pain in her backside smarted as she put her weight on it. There wasn’t much around, she was behind some sort of large building. There were several dumpsters resting against the wall, and further down there were several small doors with a larger door nestled between them. The latter of which was probably used to deliver cargo into the building. She recognised it, she had gone through that door with Turfy Plains many times before. It was the loading bay of the Gallivant theater.

Getting to her hooves, her legs no longer jittery, she began walking towards one of the smaller doors. She didn’t know what time it was, she had left home at around 8 o’clock and it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes since she had left.

She stopped as one of the smaller doors opened. Turfy trotted out, and Ember followed close behind. Turfy was dressed in a simple yet effective floral-patterned dress, while Ember was adorned in a black tuxedo and matching black bowtie. The two of them caught sight of the Pegasus, and stopped in their tracks.

“Aurea? What are you doing out here?” Turfy asked, confused. “This is the loading bay.”

“I... um...” Aurea couldn’t really find the words to respond to the unmitigated question.

“Are you alright? You don’t look too good. Did you fall into a ditch or something on your way here?” Ember asked he eyed her dusty white fur and mane. “And what is that under your chin?”

Not knowing what he was referring to, Aurea ran a hoof over the underside her chin and was rewarded with a stinging pain as she irritated the graze there, a result of her face’s meeting with the pavement no doubt.

“Aurea, are you ok?” Turfy was more concerned now than confused, and as she walked up to her friend and noticed the dreary state of her coat and mane, both of which were stained a light brown from the pavement she had crashed onto as well as the graze under her chin, she gasped. “What happened to you?”

Aurea felt the anxiety she had almost succumbed to upon her landing creeping slowly back into her conscience. She once again tried to curtail her breathing, but all she could do was stare at the ground in front of Turfy’s hooves as her heart began to race again. Her shaky voice could not find words.

“I... well...”

“Wait, come inside.” Ember interrupted, noticing her state. He moved to her, and Aurea raised her head as he did so, showing eyes that were on the verge of tears, “Tell us about it inside.”

Wrapping a leg around the distraught pony’s neck, he lead her to one of the smaller doors. Turfy exchanged a look with Ember, one of both confusion and concern, as they both guided their friend through the Gallivant’s back door.

With the telling of the interesting events of the last half-hour of her life, Aurea remained calm. The sedition of her emotion failed to overcome the words of reason that her mind kept feeding her. The emotion was forced to sit back and observe as the mind poured out the details of the events without it’s ties. It tried to interject on occasion, but could barely make it’s presence known with a mere catch in the voice or a brief falter of the stream of words from her mouth. The intelligence shut it up. Her mind silenced it. And the turbulent emotion could only sit idly and listen as she pushed it away.

The two ponies in front of her listened to her description of the events. Turfy Plains had done her best to dust off her coat and mane and try to restore some of it’s natural purity, but she had only been partially successful. Her fur was still stained with blotches of light brown that tarnished it’s default white.

When she was done recounting the events, Aurea forced herself to raise her head. The whitewashed table of the Gallivant’s dressing room had kept her eyes occupied for the duration of her narration, but failed to hold her interest anymore. Turfy and Ember’s faces greeted her. Turfy looked aghast, her mouth had fallen open in disbelief, “I... I don’t believe it. You were what? You were just... attacked? In the middle of the street?”

Aurea nodded slowly. By now her emotion’s will to rebel against her had been calmed. And she no longer needed to actively fight against it. “Yes.”

“Well why are we sitting here then?” Turfy stood up from her seat. “We need to report this to the police right away.”

“Turfy, your show starts in less than half an hour.” Aurea replied, her tired tone making Turfy’s enthusiasm seem out of place.

“Nonsense. It was just a little technique that Ember cooked up. It actually starts twenty minutes later,” she said dismissively, “But more ponies would be willing to come at nine o’clock then at nine-thirty. We have plenty of time.”

“I’ll go with her Turfy. You can finish getting ready.” Ember said, also getting up from his seat and moving over to Aurea.

“Absolutely not. We’ll all go together.”

“But Turfy, you’re in your stage dress. If it gets dirty on the walk...”

“Ember, there are more important matters to attend to than this performance right now.” Turfy said sternly, giving Ember a disapproving look.

The orange stallion turned away, “Right. You’re right.” He muttered.

“Besides, the Police Station is only a few blocks down the street. We’ll be there in no time,” She walked to the door to the loading bay and held it open, "Come on then!"

Aurea and Ember exchanged a look at the drive of their friend. Aurea gave him a half-hearted shrug she started moving towards the door.

Sighing, Ember shifted uncomfortably in his tuxedo. “It’s too hot for this.”

The walk to the police station had been uneventful, although Aurea had to admit that watching Turfy's struggle to keep her dress from getting dirty was mildly amusing considering the events of the day. Ember ended up having to carry the back of it in his teeth to prevent it from dragging on the ground as Turfy towed him along.

Canterlot wasn't exactly a city that was notorious for it’s crime, quite the contrary was actually the case. As a result, the police stations of the city were considerably spaced out. The nearest one to the Gallivant happened to be one of the larger of the city, but it’s small waiting room betrayed the overall size. It was simple and white, with comfy chairs backed by a row of green ferns. The reception desk was staffed by a yellow unicorn mare with a blue mane in a police uniform who appeared to be doodling on a sheet of paper, her expression one of pure boredom. Looking up, the receptionist came face to face with a lavishly dressed Earth Pony, a snappy tuxedo-clad Unicorn and a dirty, scruffy looking Pegasus.

“Is there a problem?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the unexpected arrivals. Turfy opened her mouth to speak, but the door behind the reception desk clicked open and stopped her. A lanky unicorn wearing a similar uniform with an autumn coat and a brown mane approached the receptionist with a stack of papers held in his magical aura. He looked over her at the trio of ponies in the waiting room, and he stopped.

The autumn unicorn’s eyes darted back and forth between the dirty Pegasus and her dapper looking companions. He was shocked initially, and Aurea caught the flicker of apprehension that passed his face, but he regained his composure quickly. "They are here to see me Lieutenant, there is an important matter we need to discuss. Make sure all this is sorted out for me if you please." He said, putting down the stack of papers he had been carrying onto the desk in front of her.

"Okay, chief," the receptionist shrugged, ignoring the stack and returning to her doodling.

"Come on in,” he said, Motioning for the three confused ponies to follow him behind the desk and through the door he had come in through.

Entering the small office of the police pony, Aurea took in the traditional wooden theme and walls plastered with certificates, commendations and photos of the autumn pony. She was confused, he had recognised them, that was for certain. But how? Aurea had never met the officer – whose desk plaque identified him as 'District Chief Fallweather' – and she was fairly certain that Ember and Turfy had never mentioned having been acquainted with a police chief. The confused looks on their own faces confirmed that.

Sitting himself on the chair behind his desk, the Chief rummaged around as if looking for something important. Ember turned to Turfy, who simply shrugged. He was the first to break the silence. "Uhh, we're here to..."

"They're called The Trenchcoats," Fallweather interrupted, still going through his drawers, "And you, I presume, are Aurea."

Aurea was taken aback, “How do you...?"

"Long story. And if I’m going to make a long story short there’s no time for that." He continued to search around and inside his desk for whatever he was looking to find as his guests watched in silence. He soon gave up, slamming a hoof on the table and groaning in frustration.

"To make a long story short, you're not safe. You may have escaped them once, but I've been after these guys before. They're tenacious, they won't give up that easily, especially considering that they're being paid handsomely," Fallweather was still looking around the office, as if hoping to spot what he had been looking for just lying around anywhere.

"And... who are they?" Aurea asked, out of the hundreds of questions swirling around in her mind at the moment, that one was the most pressing.

"The Trenchcoats," Fallweather repeated, "Hired help. They’re contracted to perform delicate criminal activities; kidnapping, robberies, you name it. These guys do it all. We've never connected a murder to them though.”

“But why? Why are they after Aurea?” Turfy asked, exasperated by the Chief’s uneasiness.

“Are you even listening to me?” The Chief replied, furrowing his at Turfy. He resigned his search for good and sat still, “They are hired. They receive contracts and they carry them out. She was a contract.”

“Again, why?” Turfy pressed.

“I don’t know! I’ve been trying to figure it out, there are the instructions I was given somewhere around here, but I can’t find them anywhere.”

“Instructions?” Ember asked, eying Fallweather suspiciously, “What are you talking about?”

“This client was no ordinary client. Usually it’s just big time crime players who hire them to do dirty work, but this time it was someone with far more influence. The moment I’d have seen these Trenchcoats I’d have taken them in – they are a menace – but I had orders not to do so. I got a message from the Head of Security in the Castle himself, saying that I needed to co-operate with the Trenchcoat’s demands, he said it was a matter of...” the Chief swirled his hoof in front of his face, trying to find the right words, “Internal security.”

Fallweather rubbed his temples as he stared around the table, talking more to himself then the guests in his office; “But I didn’t buy it. Something didn’t seem right. I tried to go over your record, but you don’t have one and neither do either of your parents. There is nothing to connect you to any internal security threat, so I don’t understand why they are after you.”

“Wait a moment,” Aurea stepped forward, placing her hooves on the desk and standing on her hind legs to be eye-to-eye with the Chief, forcing him to finally pay attention, “What about my parents? What’s happened to them?”

“Same thing almost happened to you I presume,” Fallweather shrugged, “I wish I could tell you more, but I honestly don’t have a clue. I was told to help them. I had your family watched and all your arrangements worked out. I just told them where and when they would be able to find you. They told me nothing.”

Ember stepped forward now, glaring at the autumn pony, “So you are saying that you actually abetted a group of criminals?”

Fallweather was not fazed by his stare, “I didn’t have a choice. These orders came from the Castle itself. I can’t be sure who from, but they didn’t come from the Head of Security, he was just a messenger. They could have come from anyone higher than him though, but that could be over a dozen different ponies, it could have come from the one of the princesses themselves even. But like I said, I don’t buy it. I don’t get why you could be considered a threat. Your parents are rather well-known, but their work has been nothing but constructive and has only strengthened the academia of Canterlot. You’ve done nothing wrong as far as I can tell. I understand that you are mad that I helped them, but now I am helping you, and you need to get out of here.”

“What?” Aurea blinked, “You mean, your office?”

“No. I mean out of this city, as far away from these Trenchcoats as possible. These guys don’t give up, I’ve been after them before. They’ve snatched ponies from under the protection of our most experienced officers so even if I were able to put you under police protection it wouldn’t do you any good. All I can do is tell you to stay one step ahead. You need to leave. You need to leave as soon as possible. I don’t know what they are planning, or where they have taken your parents, and I know that this may be a lot to digest, but for all I know they could be on their way here right now to ask me if I have any information for them. You need to get out of here. Take the nearest train. Go anywhere but here, and if they follow you then keep running, but I have to be honest, they’ll probably catch you eventually. They always do.”

Aurea stared hard at the police chief. Her eyes searching his expression to try and locate any sign of a smirk, or the tiny curve of a barely conceivable grin, or anything to try and convince her that this was simply some elaborate joke. But as his green irises stared solemnly into her grey, they gave nothing away, but they looked tired. He was quite young, definitely younger than those who would normally have his job, but the empathetic yet serious stare he gave her showed no signs of a young sense of humor. There was no joke here.

Aurea looked away. She felt her rump hit the floor and her hooves followed after. She lifted her head to look up at the police chief behind the desk, who was considering her with an expression that was almost sad. She only had one more question to ask now, her voice trying to remain even as she did so: “Do you know anything about my parents? Do you know where they are?”

Fallweather shook his head slowly and sighed, “No, I don’t. And I am pretty sure that the Trenchcoats don’t either. I know what orders they were given; they were to take your parents and later you to an undisclosed location where they were to be picked up by the client. They probably have no idea where they ended up. And I’m sure that they don't care. They care about the payment, and that’s why they’re going to keep going after you.”

Aurea raised her hooves to her temples and rubbed them fiercely, trying to efface the conversation and the events of the day from her mind. Said mind wasn't disingenuous enough however, it called for a reaction, not a denial.

"I... I need to go back home," Aurea said getting to her hooves.

"Back home?" Fallweather scoffed, "That is the absolute worst place you could possibly go! If they are smart – which they most certainly are – they'll be waiting for you to do something just as stupid as that. Going back home would be like giving yourself up the them."

"He's right Aurea," Turfy said, placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Your house is not safe, you can stay with me until we get this all sorted out."

"That's not a good idea either, that would be the second place they’d look: a friends house," Fallweather said, shaking his head, "I said it before, nowhere is safe for you right now."

"I don't want to go home to be safe," Aurea replied angrily, causing Turfy to remove her hoof from her shoulder and back up apprehensively, "I just want to go home to... I don't know." She sighed, and took a deep breath, "I just need to go back. This all makes no sense. My parents are astronomers, how can they be threats to ‘Internal Security’? I just... It makes no sense."

"And how is going back home and exposing yourself to more danger going to do to help?" Ember asked.

"I need to figure out why this is happening Ember. I need to figure that out first. Knowledge is power, my parents knew this better than anyone else I've known. Maybe they knew something that they shouldn't have. And maybe that's why someone from the Castle is going after them." Aurea was talking more to herself than to the other ponies in the room, but they certainly heard what she had said. Fallweather raised an eyebrow.

"Perhaps you are right, but your parents are astronomers. I understand that they have some prestige, but what could they have possibly discovered that could make the Castle do something that I'm sure it has never done before?” He scratched his chin, trying to piece together the puzzle she had just given him, “Then again, It may have only been the Chief of Security and not the Castle themselves, he was the one that sent me my orders after all. But once again, what could your parents have done to make the Chief of Security go after you? And even if they were a threat to internal security, why hire the Trenchcoats? Why didn't they just put a warrant out for your arrest? Why would they...?"

The police chief stopped talking and reflected on his words for a moment. Realization dawned on his face as it clicked.

"Because then there is nothing to connect your parent's disappearance to them. If the police hauled your parents off, others would know that they had a part in it. But if they mysteriously disappeared..."

Ember stepped forward, completing his sentence, "Then there would be nothing to connect them to the disappearance of Aurea and her parents."

"That’s right," Fallweather nodded, "Her parents must have discovered something that the Castle really doesn't want anyone to know. But what? What could they possibly have discovered?"

Aurea has been in a state of deep thought herself, and wasn't aware that a question had been directed at her. She looked back up at the police chief and just shook her head, "I don't know, but I need to find out."

As she walked towards the door – her hoof poised to open it – Fallweather straightened up in his chair and spoke directly to her, "Aurea, once that door opens, this conversation never happened. You never came to this station. I know nothing about where you are or what you plan to do. Likewise, I never helped you. You've never met me before in your life. Do you understand?"

She turned to face the Police Chief for what she assumed would be the last time. "I understand, and thank you."

The chief still looked troubled, and he was sitting rigid in his seat now. He just nodded, and watched as the white Pegasus left his office, her two friends following closely behind.

Books of all size, books of all stature, books of all status. Books, books, books. The father’s study housed shelf upon shelf of books. There were books on every subject conceivable. The first self contained tomes of knowledge on natural science, the second held the most diverse range of fiction Trenchcoat had ever laid eyes upon, and the third was half stocked with books on Astronomy, with the other half being folder after folder of longhand writing; the father’s own work.

Lexic and Trenchcoat had pulled apart that section, meticulously screening every paper for two co-occurent keywords: “Sun” and “Earth”. Of course, skimming through the titles of the father’s papers had netted them dozens all alluding to those very bodies in space, and they had been set aside on a pile behind the two ponies. There was nothing that Trenchcoat could see that was particularly out of the ordinary however, and he briefly wondered if this waste of time was really worth the extra bits that had been thrown their way. Lexic wasn’t helping all that much either.

“…and then they found that Marble’s flask had been filled with water, not the brew! So while Break was drinking himself silly, Marble was just having a nice little bit of refreshment!” Lexic threw his head back and laughed; a laugh that threatened to escalate into him toppling over onto his back and having a hysterical fit that would rival that of a little filly. Not paying much attention to it, Trenchcoat instead pulled out another folder of work and opened the first page to begin sifting through.

Lexic’s laughing subsided as he sniffled and rubbed a hoof across his nose, noticing that his boss’s reaction to his outburst had not been as intended, he raised an eyebrow and stared at him incredulously. He hadn’t expected him to laugh along, at most he usually received a chuckle or or a small smile, but he’d gotten neither this time as Trenchcoat simply resumed his work as if his colleague wasn’t even there.

“Uhh... Boss? Is everything okay?” Lexic asked. When Trenchcoat didn’t respond, he prodded his shoulder with a hoof, “Boss? You in there?”

“Yes Lexic, I am.” Trenchcoat grumbled, turning the next page of the folder, “I believe we have a job to do.”

“Well, yeah, but... Is something wrong?” Lexic asked again, picking a random folder off the shelf and frowning when he realised it was the biggest one yet, “You look a little under the weather today, not that that’s such a stretch considering how hot it is.”

“Perhaps it’s because you are talking to me,” Trenchcoat joked, chuckling as Lexic appeared to be genuinely hurt, “I was just thinking about our client.”

“Some sort of big shot is he?” Lexic asked, beginning his own methodical screening of the folder, “Not many ponies have got the cops in their pocket.”

“Perhaps,” Trenchcoat replied, “But I don’t think so, Fallweather didn’t seem too happy to work with us. If he’d been paid off directly then I’m sure he’d have been more willing to cooperate. No, he must have been ordered to work with us.”

“What are you trying to say? That this big shot with a load of bits paid off someone in the government or something?” Lexic asked, “I don’t see why they’d need to do that.”

“I’m trying to say that this big shot with a load of bits is someone in the government, I don’t see any other possibility,” Trenchcoat ran a hoof through his mane, trying to work out the quandary he had imposed on himself.

“Even if they are, so what? We’re still getting paid, aren’t we?” Lexic shrugged, not sure what his boss’s point was. They received contracts from a whole range of ponies. If they were able to pay, The Trenchcoats would do the job.

“We might be working for the government on this one Lexic, and I don’t like that,” He shut the folder in front of him and placed it back on the shelf, “How many more of these do we have to go through?”

“Looks like it’s just the bottom shelf left. Find anything particularly noteworthy?” Lexic asked.

“Nothing. It would help if they were more specific with what they are looking for,” Trenchcoat replied, pulling out another volume, “They haven’t given us much to work with.”

“Maybe they just don’t want us to know what they’re looking for, and they’re hoping we just stumble upon it,” Lexic shrugged again.

Trenchcoat stopped flicking through his volume. Lexic wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but sometimes he was sharp enough to carve up a point, “You’re right, why else would they give us two broad keywords that every book on an astronomers shelf would allude to?”

Lexic was about to respond, but the sound of the downstairs door closing caused them both to jolt. They were alone in the house, and Bristle and Tinker were meant to deliver the daughter to their liaison immediately after they captured her. Lexic turned to his boss and Trenchcoat nodded. The two of them jumped up off the floor – scattering papers as they did so – and ran down the hallway as quickly as they could without making noise. Lexic moved into the room on the right side; the parent’s bedroom, and Trenchcoat took position in what he assumed was the daughter's room. If the intruder was to enter one of the rooms, they would catch them. If they moved down the hallway into the study, they would catch them.

“Come on Tinker, they’re only stairs,” came Bristle’s harsh voice from downstairs, “Boss, you up there?”

Lexic and Trenchcoat exchanged another look, and it clicked in Lexic’s head that there was only one reason they’d be here this early.

Stepping out first and exiting the hallway, Lexic descending the stairs that lead to a rather annoyed Bristle and puffed out Tinker. Trenchcoat followed him, but stopped on the balcony of the stairs instead of going down. Lexic approached them, Trenchcoat knew what would happen when they were asked them what had happened, and braced himself.

“She got away,” Tinker said, his head drooping down as he stared at the floor.

“Yeah, because you took way too long to ready your damn paralysis spell, she had time to think!” Bristle said to the deflated uniform, causing him to gasp in indignation.

“It was hot Bristle! It was hard to concentrate. Besides, if you had actually managed to not be beaten by that little wimp in a fight we would have her right now!”

“What? I’ll have you know...!”

Their bickering continued for a few moments, with Lexic trying to interject and bring some order back into things, which just lead to him becoming angry himself and adding to the din.

Trenchcoat watched as his three subordinates argued and sighed with a smile. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence, but it never failed to be amusing. The three bickering ponies finally noticed the absence of their boss’s censure. Trenchcoat still stood at the top of the stairs, and the three ponies ceased their arguing upon seeing him standing there silently, the small smile still present on his face.

“Uhh, boss, any input would be nice,” Lexic said, as Bristle and Tinker both nodded, ceasing their bickering, “What should we do?”

“We still have a job that needs to be done. This is unfortunate, but she still doesn’t know who she’s dealing with,” Trenchcoat began to descend the stairs to join his cohorts, “She’ll go to one of two places, the closest police station: Fallweathers, where he’ll hold her and notify us to come pick her up, or back here; where we will be waiting for her.” Trenchcoat nodded, chuckling to himself, “Yes, it won’t be a problem.”

“I don’t see why you’re so happy boss, this situation sucks,” Bristle said, spitting onto the white tiles of the downstairs dining room, “That little pansy is slippery, what makes you think she won’t escape again?”

Trenchcoat raised an eyebrow and gave her a sly grin, “Well we certainly wouldn’t want you chasing her again Bristle, it seems that ‘pansy’ can one-up you just fine.”

Bristle growled at the quip and Tinker snickered as Trenchcoat continued, “Now, I’m guessing you came straight here once she got away, so that means that she’s either at the police station or on her way back here. Since the police station is covered, all we need to do is sit tight and wait. If she’s not here by morning, then we’ll assume that Fallweather has got her and head to the station. Any questions, children?”

The three ponies stared at the smiling Earth Pony, and then at each other. Bristle shrugged.

“Good,” Trenchcoat nodded, “Make yourself at home then, but try not to make any noise.”

Bristle and Tinker moved off into the kitchen, likely to go and bicker some more. Trenchcoat made his way back up the stairs, and Lexic followed him up, “Why are you so cheerful boss?” He asked, confused.

“Because Lexic, now things are getting fun.”

Aurea had no idea what she was going to do.

They were outside the police station now, Ember and Turfy were discussing something while Aurea sat some distance away from them on the lush lawns of the police station. Greenery was uncommon in the more commercialised districts of Canterlot, but the government buildings always tried their hardest to appeal to those not from the city, even the police stations: a place where no tourist hoped to end up, was embellished with plants and lawn.

It was still too hot. The time that had passed had not cooled down the night in the slightest. It was so hot she could have mistaken the street lamps for miniature suns, shining brightly into her eyes while the weather cooked her under her coat. Against her better judgment, she found herself wanting to sleep – to shut herself down for a while and let the events of the past day wash away and be gone by morning. She wanted nothing more than to hide under some covers despite the heat; to rest on that fluffy, wooden piece of furniture back home.

Home, she remembered that place. She remembered it from the morning; it was a place of safety and serenity then, a starting point from where she plotted her adventures. Home now held a different weight in her mind.

Home now was a place of danger, the words of Fallweather echoed in her mind, she wasn’t safe. Home wasn’t safe. Nowhere was safe, but why? ‘Why’ was the question she asked, the question was not when or where, it was why. Why had a group of hired thugs attempt to capture her? Why were her parents taken away? What had caused such a reaction? Why, why, why.

The question was a grand one, and it was not one she could answer. Why would come later, action would come now.

After contemplating her choices, she tried to formulate a plan. Fallweather couldn’t help her, and if a Police Chief was not able to assist her than what chance did she stand with any other officers. Home was dangerous, and going to her friends homes would put them in danger, which was the last thing that she wanted. Despite her best efforts, a logical, coherent plan with a desirable outcome would not surface. There was nothing in the future for her but danger.

So what did she have to lose?

Home may have been a danger, but it was the only logical option in the absence of a plan. If she were to find refuge someplace else, she was likely to be found eventually. The police chief may have been somewhat peculiar, but she believed him: running would just end up with her eventual capture. But confronting the problem, that might just work. She would either end up in the hooves of the Trenchcoats, which Fallweather had convinced her was an inevitability, or she’d find an answer at the house that could lead her to a solution.

There just wasn’t any other option to take, it made sense in her mind. But a small part of it was nagging her, it was telling her that something was wrong and that this was the wrong reaction. It was arguing against her rationality, but it was dwarfed by said rationality’s current momentum. It went unheard. There wasn’t room for inaction now.

Standing up, Aurea moved to join her two friends who seemed to be deep in conversation with each other. They stopped and turned to her as she approached, their innocent expressions not betraying the nature of their discourse. Ember almost looked like he was being roasted under his Tuxedo while Turfy was shifting about uncomfortably in her performance dress. They were uneasy, but then again, so was she, and the weather was only an excuse for their discomfort.

“Have you worked out what you’re going to do, Aurea?” Turfy asked, rubbing one foreleg over the other as she tried to see if there was anything on the dress that she could lose to permit her body some more breathing space without defacing it entirely.

“Yes, I think I have,” Aurea replied, the shaky uncertainty present in her tone despite her mind’s agreement with her plans, “I will be going back home, I need to find some answers Turfy.”

“But what will you look for? What will be different about your house apart from the fact that there are bad guys who want to kidnap you in it?”

“I’m not sure, but now I know I need to actually look. I’ve never been through any of my father’s work, perhaps looking through that will give me answers,” Aurea’s voice still maintained that uncertain tone. Everything was a guess, a chance. No guarantees except trouble.

Ember sighed and shook his head, “You’re really going to go back there aren’t you?”

Aurea’s eyes narrowed, Ember’s tone made it clear that he thought it a ludicrous idea. She couldn’t blame him, she thought it was a ludicrous idea, but her pride took a hit from Ember’s reaction. Turfy likely thought the same. Although she knew her friends were trying to keep her away from harm, the dissonance wasn’t doing her unnerving situation any favors.

“Yes Ember, I am. I’m going to head back now.”

He and Turfy both looked at each other, then back at her, “Let’s get going then,” he said.

“You... you two don’t need to come along if you-”

“No Aurea,” Turf said firmly, shaking her head much like a mother would a begging child, “We are your friends, we don’t want anything to happen to you. If you must insist on doing this, we are coming with you.”

“But... it’s dangerous-”

“Well, what are friends for?” Turfy retorted. Aurea got the point, they were not going to say no.

“Well then, we’d better get going, the sooner we get there, the better,” Ember moved between them and towards the street sidewalk, “And the sooner we can get out of this heat! I don’t mind being attacked by a group of thugs, but hot weather? That I cannot stand.”

Turfy chuckled half-heartedly, “And I wouldn’t mind getting out of the street myself, come on Aurea, let’s go. We’ll try to work something out on the way there.”

Aurea nodded, there seemed to be no other option at the moment – action was all they had. Planning would come later, now the only path lead to danger. To her own home.

They stood on the sidewalk and stared at the house for a good few minutes. Nothing seemed off, the house looked to Aurea like it would look any other night that she came home when her parents were not there; windows dark, curtains drawn, the willow tree in the front garden swaying gently in the muggy wind. Everything was normal, but they knew that it was anything but.

There was nowhere in the front garden where any assailants could hide, everything was lowly shrubbery and green grass apart from one large shrub under the second floor balcony. Aurea flew quickly around the willow tree, trying to spot anything hiding inside with the aid of the pale moonlight, but could see nothing. There was no danger waiting for them in the front yard.

The three ponies made little sound as they moved down the stone path to the front door, the only noise being the faint clopping of their hooves. The front door lay in front of Aurea; the same front door she had entered and exited hundreds upon hundreds of times, but it looked different today. Today, it’s wooden facade dared her to enter, the whole edifice of the house goaded her, challenged her. It challenged her to come inside, into the same, familiar, yet different building, and embrace the danger within.

Aurea shook he imposition out of her mind. It was a house, her house. She had done this hundreds of times before, just turn the knob and walk in.

She reached apprehensively for the golden doorknob, but before she got there a magical aura wrapped itself around, silently and slowly twisting it. Looking behind her, she saw Ember nod, his horn glowing in the night as the door gently opened without a sound.

Aurea braved the first step, placing a hoof inside the doorway and allowing the others to follow suit. The open first floor was upon her, and it was dark save for the single lamp that she must have forgotten to turn off when she left earlier. Ember and Turfy briskly followed her in, and Ember immediately began darting around the first floor, checking behind the kitchen counters and living room couches for any sign of intruders. His search netted him nothing however, and the first floor looked untouched, just like she left it.

The second floor still needed to be checked. The stairs lead up to it’s hallway, which Aurea could already visualise as pitch black. Anyone could be hiding in the rooms above, ready to strike out at them as they proceeded through. Ember moved up the stairs first, Aurea and Turfy following close behind as his horn cast an eerie glow down the hallway and provided a faint illumination. There was no one in the hallway, but then again, they didn’t expect anyone to be.

Ember backed away from the entrance to the hallway, and the trio found themselves standing in the middle of the staircase. Ember turned to them, his voice so imperceptibly quiet that they had to lean their ears towards his mouth to even hear him correctly, “Aurea, is your father’s study still at the end of the hall?”

Aurea nodded, not willing to chance a vocal response.

“Then we make a break for the study, they could be in one of the other rooms and they’d catch us quick in there if we looked, if we run into the study however, that is bigger, there would be more room for error, right?” Ember asked the Pegasus.

She nodded again, the brief calm of finding the first floor safe being washed away and replaced with a nagging fear once again.

“Then we go on my mark.”

The girls both nodded. Ember peeked around the hallway again, making sure that the coast was still clear. The door to the study was still open and she could feel the hot breeze wafting through the open balcony door. Did she leave that door open when she left? She wasn’t sure.

“Now!” Ember whispered sharply as he ran down the carpeted hallway with Aurea and Turfy following close behind. They practically dove into the study, and Ember telekinetically shut the study door with a little more noise than would have been desired.

They stood in the room, tense and waiting. The other two doors did not click open however, there was no belligerent reaction to their dash to the study, it was still just as quiet, the only sound being their calming breaths from the short run.

Ember exhaled with relief and turned to the two mares who were also visibly calmed at the silence, “Guess we’re alone then.”

“Yeah, but we weren't before,” Turfy said, indicating the other side of the study with a hoof. Aurea followed her gaze and saw dozens of papers scattered around the bookshelf on the far right; the bookshelf that mostly contained her father’s work.

“Somebody clearly got here before us,” Aurea noted, stepping gently towards the bookshelf as not to crush any of the fallen papers, “This is all my father’s notes and work. He kept it on those bottom shelves there.”

“So you were right then, it does have something to do with your father’s work,” Ember moved over to join her as she poked around the shelves, moving around half-emptied folders and bound papers.

“Yes, it seems so. I’m going to go and check my room.” Aurea said, opening the door to the study.

“Be careful, anyone could still be in there.”

Nodding, Aurea left the door behind her open as she exited the study, walking down the hallway to her own room. Opening the door gently and flicking the light switch, she was relieved to see that it hadn’t been touched, her desk was still relatively neat, and there were no signs of any cupboards being opened.

She hopped onto her bed and rested her head on the sheets, sighing contentedly as she felt the soft quilt conform to her shape. A bed provided the greatest deal of comfort known to any pony, and it was that which sucked them in. She risked closing her eyes for a moment, feeling the heaviness in her eyelids as they implored her to rest, but the situation nagged at her once again, there was work to do. But what work exactly?

Sliding off of the bed, she almost slipped over a stack of papers and had to grab hold of the end of the bed to prevent herself from ending up on the floor. Steadying, she looked down disapprovingly at whatever caused her fall; she wasn’t one to leave things lying around on the floor. Picking it up, it was a bound stack of papers, much like the one's that her father kept on his now besmirched bookshelf. She flipped it over to face the front cover, and there was the title “Earth and Sun”, in her father’s neat writing.

She had forgotten to read it the night before, it must have fallen off of her bed at some point. Picking it up, she moved over to the desk and plonked herself down on the chair. Placing the papers in front of her, she turned several pages, and came face to face with a diagram that she did not recognise.

It was a fairly straightforward depiction of the solar system, but yet it was entirely wrong. It was all pencil-drawn, and rather eloquently so in fact. It could not have simply been a mistake on her father’s part. Feeling her intrigue skyrocket, her hoof moved to turn the next page.

The sound of shattering glass downstairs pierced the silence. From the study, she heard Turfy squeal with an “Eep!” and Ember’s horn flaring up.

“Let’s go!” He shouted, before rushing down hallway and back towards the stairs.

“Ember, wait!” Turfy shouted, bolting after him and down the dark hallway. Aurea quickly tucked the stack of papers under a folded wing and ran out of her room, following her friends. She was not sure why Ember was running towards possible danger. But then again, wasn't that what she had been doing all along? They ran through the hallway entrance and onto the balcony of the stairs, the dark hallway laying silent behind them.

On the first floor, there were four ponies. Four ponies in trenchcoats.

Aurea recognised two of them immediately. The pink-maned Pegasus who had almost ripped her tail off, and the unicorn who had nearly managed to hit her with what she assumed was a paralysis spell. They were standing there, emblazoned in their trenchcoats, along with two other stallions who shared their attire. The four of them stood on the bottom floor, staring up at the three ponies at the top of the stairs. A broken glass vase lay at the hooves of the smaller unicorn who was staring at it disapprovingly. A silver Unicorn with a black mane stood next to a brown Earth Pony with a mane of dim grey. The door to the backyard was open, they must have been hiding out there.

“Well, well, look who decided to come to us instead,” chuckled the Earth pony, “You truly are an elusive one Miss Aurea.”

“Who are you!?” Ember shouted down at them, his horn aglow once again, “What do you want with her?”

“I don’t want anything with her, I just want her. Now, if you would kindly step out of the way, we’ll just take her and be on our way.” The Earth pony began to ascend the stairs slowly, obviously trying to bait a reaction.

“Yeah, like we’re going to do that,” Turfy scoffed, moving to next to Ember and block the top of the stairs, “You just run along now, and you don’t come back.”

“Our business here is with the mare behind you,” the Earth Pony said, this time serious and direct, “There is no need for you to get involved. Now, step aside.”

Before he could take another step, he was halted by a splaying of flame that missed his muzzle by mere centimeters. His shock at the flare sent him reeling backwards, almost losing balance and falling off the stairs. As quickly as the flame materialized, it vanished, leaving a scorch mark on the wall, but not burning.

Aurea and Turfy both stared in shock at Ember’s arcane feat. Aurea had never seen one of Ember’s shows before, but she had heard that he had employed fire in some of his tricks. Ember took note of the silence behind him, and chanced taking his eyes off of the still shocked Earth pony to look over his shoulder, “Well, I am Ember, aren’t I?”

“That was a nice trick. A very nice trick indeed. Perhaps I could take you all in, I could get a bonus for that, considering that you three are obviously colluding together,” The Earth pony, clearly the leader, began to slowly ascend the stairs again. This time his gang followed him however, Aurea could see the eyes of the pink-maned Pegasus locked right onto her with an evil grin plastered across her face, and practically withered under her gaze. “Yes, that sounds like a great idea,” continued the Earth Pony, “And you’re even all dressed for the occasion. I say, that must have been a rather taxing piece of magic. Care to try it again?”

“Run.” Ember said flatly.

“What?” Turfy gasped.

“Run!” Ember turned and ran between the mares behind him, bolting down the hallway and back towards the study. The girls reacted quickly, turning and darting after him as the sounds of the Trenchcoat’s hooves vibrated through the floor as they gave chase. Ember once again dove through the study door. Aurea and Turfy were not a second behind, but Turfy tripped over the hem of her dress and fell into the Pegasus in front of her. With a yelp, they both fell hard onto the floor of the study, but they had made it through the door.

Ember slammed the door shut. Having noticed the lock on it previously, he quickly turned it with his magic as the door shuddered with an impact, and another. The sounds from the other side of the door could only be described as purely terrifying. The taunts and jibes coming from the ponies on the opposite end slapped Aurea in the face. And for the first time, it hit her.

She was in danger.

She’d know that. She’d known it the moment she made the plan to come back to the house. No, she’d know it the moment she landed on the concrete earlier that night, but she had never realized it. She had known, but not realized. And now she did.

There were ponies on the other side of that door who wanted to hurt her. It was not that they didn’t care for her or about her, she could live with that. Many of the shopkeepers she had met espoused that attitude. But an apathetic shopkeeper just wanted to get things over with. They wanted to move along to the next effigy of flesh and bone to come to them with their groceries, or newspaper, or toy, or whatever bundle of pointless objects they desired. They knew nothing about the ponies they served, and they didn’t care. They just wanted to move things along. But they didn’t want to hurt.

Aurea finally realized. Those ponies on the other side of the door were a danger. They were not the apathetic shopkeeper dealing with another customer, they never were. They were a threat, and a threat that she had no means to combat. No intellectual witticism would stop them in their tracks, no scathing censure would halt their belligerence, they were after her, and with all the strife she had already given them, she hardly thought they’d be too gentle.

Thawed from her state of surprise and terror, reality was once again upon her. The door was still being pounded, hooves and bodies slammed against the wooden frame and threatened to push it open at any time. That lock would not hold.

Turfy and Ember backed away from the door, but maintained a focus on it. Aurea thought that perhaps they were finally realizing the graveness of their situation as well. They were in her father's study on the second floor of her home. There was no other way out but the door they had come in through, which was currently in the midst of a heroic last stand against it’s aggressors. The only other link to the outside was the balcony.

Aurea suddenly remembered the wings at her sides. She bolted through the open doors that lead to the stone balcony. The family telescope was still there, deceptively simple looking but augmented with enough magical talismans to be far more effectual than it’s size suggested. She could have flown off that balcony and fled in an instant. But what of her friends?

Ember and Turfy hadn’t noticed her change of position, and were still exchanging looks between each other, trying to find a solution to the problem that was about to be upon them. Turfy turned to where Aurea stood previously, then looked further back to find her standing on the balcony.

“Over here!” Aurea shouted to her before jumping into the air and putting her wings to work, hovering just above the ground and groaned in frustration as “Sun and Earth” tumbled out from it’s resting place, “This is the only way out! And Ember, grab those papers I dropped!”

Ember and Turfy both ran onto the small balcony, Ember picked up “Sun and Earth” and stuffed it into his Tuxedo jacket, then stared at her incredulously, his face displaying his fear, “Aurea, we’re on the second floor! You can fly down, but we can’t jump!”

“Yes you can!” Aurea hovered over the balcony railing, and indicated the ground below, “Look!”

Turfy and Ember both ran to the railing, peeking over to look at what she was pointing at.

“Aurea, that’s a shrub! It won’t break our fall!” Ember objected, eying the pale blue plant that was easily the height of the first floor resting below the balcony.

The thumping on the door was becoming more and more methodical. One hard thump. Another. They were no longer trying haphazardly to smash the door down, they were about to do it. “It will help! It’s the only way, I can’t carry you down. Just cover your eyes and... just jump!”

The sound of splintering wood jolted them all once again. The door was barely holding up. Only a few more rams...

Turfy grabbed Ember, “She’s right! It’s the only way out, come on!”

“Turfy! That’s not...!”

“Fine then, I’ll go first!” Turfy did not sound amused, Aurea watched the squabble with growing frustration as the door once again splintered under another impact.

“Come on you two!”

Without another word, Turfy hooped over and off the railing of the balcony. Her dress flared in the wind as she fell with a yelp. The shrub rustled and shook as she landed right on top of it, the center caving in under her weight. She scrambled around, trying to get herself out of the bush, something that her dress did not make an easy task. But as the door shuddered once again, Turfy was on her hooves, unharmed on the ground below.

“Come on, Ember!” Turfy shouted up at him, “It’s fine, just jump!”

Ember groaned as one of the hinges of the door blew off under another impact. They couldn’t have needed more than another solid hit. The jeers were louder now, they were about to break through.

Ember backed up and then ran forward, leaping over the railing and throwing his forelegs over his head as he fell onto the shrub. His landing was somewhat more haphazard; landing on the edge of the shrub, he tumbled out and rolled along the ground to Turfy’s hooves.

Turfy smiled and helped him back to his hooves, “See, that wasn’t so bad wasn’t it?”

“Ugh... Don’t make me do that ever again please,” Ember mumbled as he stood on shaky legs. Aurea flew down to them as the sound sound of the door finally smashing open emanated from the balcony.

“Still got those papers?” Ember prodded his jacket with a hoof and then nodded, “Let’s go then, come on!” Aurea implored them as they started running back towards the sidewalk, “It won’t take them long to be back on our tails.”

“Wait, where are we going?” Turfy shouted back at her as she and Ember galloped along behind.

“I know a little place, it’s not too far from here.” They were making good distance from the house, but a shout pierced the silent night again, and Aurea sighed as she was once again forced to run through the hot air. She could barely imagine how Turfy and Ember were feeling in all their additional clothes. Chancing a look behind her as they ran further down the street and away from her home, Aurea could just barely make out the balcony of her house as the pink-maned Pegasus flew out and looked around, trying to gauge the direction in which her prey had fled. But with several different possible routes they could have taken, it was unlikely that they would be able to follow anytime soon.

“Oh no, Turfy!” Ember suddenly blurted out between his heavy breaths.

“What?” Turfy asked, looking over at him, confused, as they turned down the next street.

“I think we missed your show.”