The three mares stared at the guard in silent shock at the what they just heard. Though Luna recovered quickly giving the stallion a harsh look before getting the other two mares out of their shock by giving them both a little pinch with her magic. Taking a breath Luna let the guard in.

"Now you said you wanted him for questioning?" Luna asked as the guard settled in a spot.

"Yes, and before you ask anything else due to your relationship with Brandon Princess, I am not able to go into too much detail." The guard replied.

"I understand, but before we answer your question at least tell us what you can," Luna said making the others sit down on the couch giving them a look that told them to let her do the talking for right now.

"Right, we found one Sparkly Fountain near the market severely beaten. She was sent to the hospital, though according to witnesses Brandon may be the last one to have seen her before she was attacked." The guard said.

"May I ask when do you think that the attack occurred?" Luna asked.

"We suspect around three this morning, and now Princess that's all I can say for now. If you wouldn't mind answering my questions now?" The guard asked.

"No, he is not here nor do we have any idea where he is since he did not come home last night. But that does not mean he did this after all this is not the first time he spent the night over somewhere without telling us." Luna said giving the guard a hard look making the guard slightly nervous.

"I understand Princess, but either way this is going to make him a creature who might have information to be a suspect. Before you say anything it's not up to me, I just have to report the information I gather. Now I have a few more questions for all of you." At that, the guard started his questioning.

The questions were basic ones about when he left, what was he going to do, how long did you expect him to be gone. There were a few questions about what they did but now that Luna had told him about Brandon the questioning was more focused on him. Soon the guards questioning stopped and the stallion left.

"This is not good! Why did you tell him about Brandon?" Lyra asked in a panic though Luna ignored her as the alicorn's eyes were set on the hallway.

"Derpy, do you..." Before Luna could speak Derpy nodded her head.

"I'll take care of it, but you two should go and inform Twilight and the others," Derpy said as she walked towards Grace's room.

"B-but Luna why did you...." Luna cut the unicorn off.

"If we were dishonest at all and they found out then we would be watched far more carefully than what we currently are and charged with obstruction," Luna said making the unicorn give a look of confusion. "They probably set up an undercover somewhere to keep an eye on us Lyra, just in case we know something. I suspect that whole just wanting him for questioning wasn't true, the guards already had him listed as a suspect."

"Wait, then why did he say that then?" Lyra couldn't help it, her mind already frayed by the panic.

"It's to get ponies to let their guard down, a simple tactic to get them to reveal more, now let's go," Luna said walking out the door.

The two mares went to the bearers of the Elements Of Harmony one by one to call them to an emergency meeting. Soon the eight ponies were at Twilight's house to see why Luna and Lyra had called for them. As the two mares began to speak a mixture of shock and confusion spread across the room.

"This just leaves a few questions, most important is where did Brandon disappear to?" Twilight asked.

"I have an idea, but first what do you all think about this?" Luna asked Lyra was quiet during most of the explaining.

"I think we all agree that Brandon could have not done this and that we need to find him." Applejack said without hesitation making the rest nod their heads. "Good, now what this idea of yours Princess?"

"Not yet, first I would like us to look around for clues that the guards either choose to ignore by themselves or they don't know where to look," Luna suggested making them look at her in slight confusion.

"Okay, first if we're going to be watched then how are we going to look for anything? Second, why not just tell us what your idea is now?" Twilight asked.

"For the first question, they will not interfere if you are looking around unless specified in their orders it is not their jobs. Then for the second, I want to see if we can't find any clues to support my idea. Though the first part of my idea should be obvious, Brandon did not up and leave on his own free will." Luna answered.

"Let's just do this then already!" Rainbow said.

"Let's divide into teams first Rainbow," Twilight said grabbing the pegasus before she left.

"I'll go talk with Sparks... I mean Sparkly Fountain if they let me in to see her and to see if I can't get something out of her that may help." Applejack said.

"Wait, I thought she was going to pick up her things from her house before moving here. So, why is she still here in the first place?" Fluttershy asked.

"I can answer that one! I overheard somepony who knew somepony..." Pinkie started.

"Just get it out with please Pinkie?" Lyra asked making the pink pony stop and take a breath.

"Sorry, but let's see Lemon Grabs went to Las Pegasus for something and asked Sparkly Fountain to house sit!" Pinkie finally said.

"Don't care how you know that but don't care cause if that's true at least it's a place to start." Applejack said nodding her head.

"Right, Lyra and I will go to the market and try to recreate establish a route that he took yesterday, and remember we have a jump on the guards because we know Brandon. So, as Rainbow said let's go and do this!" Luna said teleporting her and Lyra to the market.

Luna didn't exactly know what the others were going to do other than Applejack but the sooner they can recreate even some of Brandon's path the sooner the better. It really wouldn't be long before the guards would list him as a suspect and spread it around their ranks. They would then be on the same line of thinking she was so they needed to move fast.

"Lyra I need you to calm down, I know you're worried we all are. But Brandon is a grown man who has proven that he can handle himself. We do need to work fast though because there is only so much he can do himself especially if my theory is right." Luna said placing a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder. "Are you ready to help find him?"

"Y-yeah, I-I'm good to good for him. I really hope that your theory isn't what I think because of what..." Luna put a hoof to the unicorn's mouth.

"All the more reason we need to find out what happened and pray that if true they don't do anything more before we can find him, understand?" Luna asked making Lyra nod.

Luna did have a good memory of what she had put on the list she had given him, though she didn't exactly know what he wanted to get the list was a good enough start. She told Lyra which stalls to go to and the two split up though as she started asking around she made sure to keep an eye out for Lyra. After all, they had no way of knowing if they were safe.

"Thank you for your help and here I'll take this bag of Oranges," Luna said finishing talking with the last merchant on her list.

"Are you done?" Lyra asked after coming over.

"Yes, now let's get our information straight before meeting back at Twilights," Luna answered going to an empty bench.

As the two mares talked Luna pulled out a map of Ponyville that had all areas marked including the open market. Luna marked the stalls in order of where he went, as some of the merchants saw which other stalls he went to. Though she knew that was the easy part since Brandon was hard to miss.

"Hmm, according to this he had started to head back to the house using his normal route. Makes sense but we'll have to dig a bit that way since the merchants eventually lost eyesight of him. As far as the exchange he and Sparks goes, it appears it looked more friendly towards each other from what I gathered. Other than one pony saw Brandon's wings ruffle as if he was agitated." Luna said giving a sigh.

"That could be anything though, right? Wind picking up? Or isn't Sparks a unicorn?" Lyra asked making Luna nod.

"Yes, it could be possible that in an attempt to flirt with him she used her magic to brush against one of his wings. At the right angle of not being able to see the magic all the pony could go on was his wings reacting to something. Unless Applejack was successful on her part we may not know. But let's start looking down his normal route before we head back." Luna said getting up and not failing to see the undercover guard who was just out of earshot.

"Is it..." Luna only nodded making the unicorn a tad paranoid.

"Lucky for us they can't come close without being too suspicious about it. The only reason why I know how to identify them is that I've spent time studying their methods not to mention their training grounds is near the castle." Luna said casually getting up and nodded for Lyra to follow. "But let's head home for a bit before we go back to talk about that book."

"R-right, or else Twilight will make us bring all the snacks next time," Lyra said getting up to follow the alicorn.

As they walked down what they knew was Brandon's normal route both mares couldn't help but see why he liked going this way. It wasn't as crowded like some of the other streets, and it had great scenery as ponies had gardens going. They stopped a few times to ask around and to see if they couldn't find anything.

"Thank you again, and thanks for the Tomatoes!" Luna said putting the tomatoes into her bag.

"Find anything out?" Lyra asked.

"Yes, the mare did see him coming this way last night. Though according to her he looked worried about something, he was walking at a fast pace almost like he was about to run. But she only figured he was running late for something and closed her curtains, but this doesn't look good at all!" Luna groaned feeling a sense of panic rise. "Whoever orchestrated this knew what they were doing."

"It's good to know that you're still on our side. But let's keep looking for another hour okay?" Lyra suggested.

"Lyra, I have not and will not think of him as anything less than innocent. But you are right, another hour should do." Luna said before continuing walking.

The two of them walked and talked to anypony who walked by or seemed to live on the street. Most either didn't care or just didn't see anything, and those who did all seemed to say the same thing. Only with a few differences in between what each of them witnessed like one saw him running down the street, another saw him trying to fly, and one said they thought they saw somepony following him.

"Wait, isn't that one of his bags?" Lyra asked going down an alleyway picking up a bag that was mostly full of groceries while some of its contents were spilled out on the ground.

"Yes, look it has his name embroidered onto the side and these are definitely some of the things on the list. Now, how and why did Brandon come to leave it here?" Luna said though she knew if he was being followed then he probably dropped it in a panic trying to escape.

"What should we do with this?" Lyra asked still holding the bag.

"As much as I hate it we're going to have to leave it, the guard following us will probably be making a note and soon they'll come to collect it as evidence. Just set it back down, we got as much information that we need. But still, wish we knew who was following Brandon." Luna said giving a sigh.

"I can answer that Princess," A stallion came from the other side of the alley and when the two mares looked at him he had been beaten up.

"Are you okay?" Lyra asked making the stallion give a sarcastic snort. "Sorry, a habit I guess."

"What is your name and what do you know?" Luna spoke up.

"Not going to give my name, sorry but after last night I rather not get any more tangled up in what happened. But last night I was walking home when I heard something coming from this alley. When I looked I saw Brandon running down dropping his bag being followed by a unicorn and what looked like a Minotaur." The stallion answered.

"How do you know this was Brandon being chased?" Luna asked.

"You serious? I think I can tell the difference, and if I hadn't stepped in and tripped the Minotaur then I wouldn't have gotten beaten up like this!" The stallion said his tone full of annoyance. "Oh, before I go l don't know which way that Brandon and the unicorn went."

Just like that, the stallion left making them fill up with worry given everything and they didn't question how the stallion knew who Brandon was. First, his name was on the bag, and it wasn't a pony name and since Brandon was a unique creature it only made sense that he figured it out. Though the two mares looked at each other for a moment before heading back to the library.

They digested all the information that they had gathered so far and neither one of them wanted to say anything. Both of them knew what it added up to especially with the appearance of a Minotaur so shortly after Brandon's attacker had been killed by the same creature. But they wanted to wait until they got back and listen to what the other's found.

"Is anypony here?" Luna called as she knocked on the door.

"Come on in Luna we're all in here!" They heard Twilight answer and they went in.

"Doesn't look like good news on your end either," Rainbow said as they sat down and shaking their heads.

"No, but we would like you all to tell us what you found out," Luna said.

"Right, I'll go first. I contacted my brother and he said he'll do what he can to slow down Brandon being marked as a suspect for now. Which means we'll only have until tomorrow afternoon at the latest." Twilight was the first one to answer.

"We couldn't really find anything on our end except for one of the bags Rarity made for him," Fluttershy said bringing up the bag, this one is a bit different than the one they found in the alley.

"We also found one of his bags that had some groceries still in it. Left it so the guards could hopefully pick it up for evidence. Applejack, did you get any information from Sparks?" Luna asked looking at the orange mare.

"Not much, and let me tell you she wasn't in no shape to really talk. So I don't think she'll be giving her statement anytime soon, which will hopefully give us time." Applejack said shivering at the memory of how the unicorn looked making them all nod.

"What did she tell you though?" Lyra asked.

"Like I said not much, but she did confirm that Lemon Grabs did go to Las Pegasus and asked her to house sit. Getting that much was tough, but when I told her about Brandon she reacted a bit weird." Applejack said making them all give her a questioning look. "When I mentioned that Brandon was missing she didn't seem surprised."

"If she believes it was him that attacked her then why would it surprise her that he would run?" Twilight asked.

"That's the thing, that's not the part that bothered me. What did bother me was that if she truly thought he had attacked her then she should have been scared to know he was still on the loose. But she didn't seem scared by it at all, but when I asked about Lemon that's when she started to get scared and I left before she could call the guards." Applejack answered.

"Hmm, it seems all the pieces fit and I would like to thank you Twilight for getting us a little more time," Luna said.

"I don't follow though, what pieces?" Pinkie was the one who asked.

Luna then began to explain, starting by reminding them of the stallion that they found dead who attacked Brandon. She then went on to talk about what she and Lyra pieced together, starting with the route he took. Once all that was out of the way she could see that they had come to the same conclusion.

"So, we have a group of ponies who came out of nowhere recruiting ponies who want to get rid of Brandon simply because he's a human. Then they tried to attack and kill him with one of their members who failed and they killed him, not to frame Brandon exactly but to send a message. Now all this with him being chased, to him disappearing, and now Sparks is in the hospital due to somepony assaulting her making it look like Brandon did it, does that sound right?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, and chances are this group who took him will probably hold him until the rumors spread turning even more ponies against him," Luna said, though there was one thing none of them wanted to say she swallowed her nervousness and worry. "Chances are when the rumors do spread to that point when he is let out he might not be alive."

Author's Notes:

Hope you all enjoyed and remember to smile, smile, smile! Also, anyone else get a weird vibe from that strange stallion in the alley? Maybe he knows more than what he's saying, or I might just be messing with you!