Kevin blanched at the sight of the pegasus stallion in the doorway. He could hear Doc Zed standing up from his seat at the table behind him.

"Are you someone who should have been listening, or are we going to have trouble now?"

"No trouble, I hope," Gloss said. His voice was different now; instead of that warm, common tone that made him sound like any other city pony, his voice now was more formal. More intimidating. "It just wouldn't do you ponies well to try and keep secrets from me."

Kevin wanted to reply but he couldn't; the words stuck in his throat, unable to come out. Luckily, Doc Zed was right alongside to ask what he would have.

"How come?"

Gloss smirked. "As you ponies know, my name is Gloss and I am from Underlight. However, I haven't exactly been... forthcoming about my identity. You see," he said, procuring a small object from his saddlebag, "I am an officer with the Southern Kindred Territory Police as authorised by the System Bureau of Cosmonautics."

Doc Zed took a threatening step towards Gloss, shielding Kevin. "You've no right to come in here and arrest the colt, he's done nothing wrong—"

"You're right, Doctor, and I do not intend to arrest this colt, or you for that matter. Although it sounds like Kevin has done some things that go against the spirit if not the letter of the law, that's not what I'm here for."

"Then why?" Kevin finally asked, his voice cracking. "What's the point of bringing me here and revealing yourself?"

"Today at 0600 hours, a mysterious ship appeared on BAC radar, moving in the direction of Dienna. Attempts to contact the ship were unsuccessful, and then it disappeared off our radar soon afterwards. We assume that it crashed, but we hadn't been able to track down the location, exactly. I was going out there to investigate, and I ran into you."

"How'd you know I had anything to do with it?" Kevin asked. "I didn't say anything."

"Kid, no offense, but you're not that great a liar. I had a funny feeling about you from the start, and now you've just confirmed it. And, if you truly didn't have anything to do with it, then I could go back there myself once we got here, with only a few hours wasted."

"All of that's great and all, but you still haven't told us what you want," Doc Zed cut in.

"I was getting to that. As I was saying... I was sent to investigate where this ship landed. And, since you're already going to it, I want to go with you. My superiors have asked me to write a report so we can decide what further steps to take."

"'Further steps to take'?" Doc Zed murmured. "Whatever you're doing... it doesn't sound good."

"I can see why you would be worried, but I assure you there's no reason to be. I swear, in the name of Argent, that I will do everything in my power to prevent the Bureau from seizing the ship."

"How can we trust you?" Doc Zed asked. "I think it would be much better for us if we just went alone, don't you think, Kevin?" The colt in question jumped a little at the mention of his name but quickly nodded.

Again, Gloss smirked. "That may be true, but I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. Either you willingly allow me to go along with you, or I will follow you of my own accord. If you have nothing to hide, there's no reason to say no."

Doc Zed turned to Kevin, brow furrowed. "What do you think, Kevin?"

Kevin sucked in a deep breath of air, feeling his chest swell up before exhaling. "I think that it's okay if he comes along. As he said, there isn't really much we can do about it anyway."

"You're making the right decision, kid," Gloss said. "Don't worry, you'll hardly know I'm there. I just want to have a look around."

"Let's just go, already," Doc Zed said, starting for the door. "I've already heard way too much for one night and the evening's barely just begun... Aeneus, what I wouldn't give to go to bed right now..."

Gloss follow Doc Zed through the door, leaving Kevin alone in the room. After a moment, he too stood up from his seat at the table and began walking towards the door to the living room. However, he heard a squeak somewhere to the right, as well as a bit of motion in his peripheral vision. He turned his head in that direction to see a mouse skittering across the floorboards, running in the direction of a roundish hole in the wall. Without thinking, he took a step in its direction; as soon as he did this, the mouse stopped and turned to look at him. Kevin blinked, hardly able to believe his eyes.

On the mouse's forehead, straight in the middle, was a small golden star sticker. If he didn't know better... he'd say the creature was almost winking.

"Hey, Kevin, you coming?" Doc Zed's voice reverberated from the living room. Kevin looked over in the direction of the door but quickly swivelled his head back to look at where the mouse stood just seconds prior.

But there was no sign anywhere of the mouse or even its mousehole, which had been in a very obvious place on the moulding.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Kevin called. He looked at that blank space on the wall for just a few more moments before running out of the room to join the others.