Then Handy recalled the suspiciously large number of tradesponies and merchants bottlenecking in this town. Despite the border having been closed for months, their numbers rivalled the native population of the town. He recalled the busy marketplace, with stalls, carts, and shops brimming with innumerable goods open even at these late hours. Why would they be coming here to this relatively small town when the border was closed? Why not a larger city or seek greener pastures elsewhere? Then he thought about the massive military build-up and the proportion of local guardsponies in comparison to the relatively small number of royal guards. Those, he now knew, had to be Celestia's personal bodyguards and thus couldn't have been here for very long. That meant Celestia herself could not be funding them, even partially.