The trip down to Elusive’s store and home were fairly uneventful. Tempest still couldn’t help but feel a little giddy about how well things had gone; a feeling she wasn’t particularly used to. Things were looking up for her at last, and she couldn’t bring herself to head back to the hotel without at least stopping by to see if her friend was still up and about.
Heading down the hill, away from the castle, the little dog cart soon left the wide open boulevards and began to turn onto narrower side streets. Tempest was grateful that Elusive’s store, while being pretty tucked away, still let out onto a modest sized square that made it easy for carriages and the like to get to.
She saw nopony else on her journey down, apart from the odd sentry standing on a street corner or walking his beat. Most of these were from the Royal Guard. The Lunar Guard, Tempest’s prospective new employer, confined itself to the protection of the castle and Princess Luna herself, being a much smaller unit, and so it was rare to catch sight of one out in the city. Beyond them, the only evidence of life at this late hour, was the odd light in a window in some house or building she passed by. Other than that, the only other light source, apart from the full moon that still hung high in the sky, casting beautiful lunar shadows all around, were the street lamps, that projected circles of yellow light at regular intervals. Tempest could hardly see a need for them on a night like this though. It was almost bright enough to pass for early dawn, which was still several hours off.
The dog cart soon began to make its way into the Old Quarter. The wide, orderly streets of the more modern sections of the city gave way to the rabbit warren that was the old castle town. She was certainly grateful for the cabbie pulling the cart. While she had a working knowledge of the city’s streets, it would have taken her twice as long to navigate tonight. Even with the moonlight illuminating everything, it all looked so different at night.
Eventually though, she began to recognise the more familiar streets. Places where Elusive had taken her, such as the dance hall they’d both sneaked into. And before too long, they were pulling into the square that held Elusive’s shop. The cart came to a stop. The cabbie had slowed down considerably on account of the cobblestones. They weren’t impassable, but driving over them at any kind of speed would at best test the cart’s suspension, and at worst throw unfortunate passengers out. Still, it didn’t take too long for him to pull up to the right place.
Carefully taking hold of her dress, Tempest stepped down from the dog cart. Her horseshoes echoed on the cobbles. The quietness of the square was unusual, even for a city. Such places are never truly quiet, and yet here, all that could be heard was the slight breeze. Tempest turned back to the cabbie.
“Thanks,” she said kindly. “Do you mind waiting here for a couple minutes? I just want to drop in on a friend.”
“Sure,” the cabbie answered. “Just don’t forget the meter’s runnin’, miss.”
Walking away from the cart, she headed down the small little alleyway that set Elusive’s store apart from its neighbours in the square. While the alley itself wasn’t particularly well lit, she could see that the lights were on in the store, so she hoped that Elusive was still up and about.
As she came closer though, she began to notice a couple of things that were out of place. Elusive was a very careful, exacting pony. He certainly didn’t do things like leave the front door to his shop ajar. While it wasn’t particularly cold tonight, it was a little chilly; too cold for a pony to leave their front doors open, even in a place like Ponyville.
That was enough to pique Tempest’s curiosity, and she quickened her pace to a trot at the sight of it. This brought on a much more blatant sign of trouble; a sound. Elusive’s store was typically fairly quiet, with perhaps a phonograph playing some parlour music at times. But she didn’t hear that now. At first, she heard what sounded like voices, Elusive’s, and somepony she didn’t recognise. And as she got closer, she heard the sound of clothes racks getting knocked over, amongst other things. That was enough to get her to break into a gallop.
She quickly covered the short distance to the shop’s door, but stopped short of bursting straight through as instinct demanded. If Elusive was in trouble, and she was going to help, she needed to know what she was up against. Charging in blindly was a fine way to get yourself killed before you even knew what was happening. This close, she could definitely hear a fight going on. The sounds of the scuffle had been enough to mask her approach. Leaning forward carefully, she put her good eye to the open door.
The shop looked a mess, with everything strewn about. That didn’t really concern Tempest though. What concerned her was the ponies inside. Well, not ponies actually. There were three large griffons, along with Elusive. They seemed to be the cause of the disturbance. Elusive was still up and about, but it was clearly not a fair fight. The three griffons were constantly lunging and trying to grab at him, while Elusive for his part deftly dodged and used a combination of his magic and his hooves. Tempest had to admit, it was pretty impressive. But that didn’t matter now. She needed to help him.
The best way to fight an enemy, particularly when they outnumber you, is to use surprise to your advantage. They didn’t know Tempest was here; it was time to change that. Powering up her horn sent a sharp pain through her skull. She’d not needed this spell for some time now, but it would stand her in good stead at the moment. Channelling all her magic into her horn, she let fly with an impressive blast that no doubt caught the attention of the Guard. The blast blew the door back on its hinges and set several objects flying. The shock stunned all parties inside, and Tempest used this to her advantage.
Firing off another blast, she aimed for the trio of griffons and sent them scattering. They didn’t scare so easily though, and far from fleeing, tried to surround Tempest, leaving Elusive alone for a moment. She didn’t know his condition, but she had to consider him out of the fight. That made it three on one. She smiled; a fair fight. The two on the sides were going to try and outflank her; attacking her from both sides to pull her down. So instead of waiting for that, Tempest charged forward at the third griffon. He instantly went on the defensive. He lunged at Tempest, and revealed his ace; he was armed with a knife. That complicated things. Pivoting to the side, Tempest forced the griffon to overextend himself as he stabbed, before grabbing his outstretched foreleg and yanking it hard. At the same time, she braced herself with one of her hind legs, giving her enough leverage to produce a satisfying crack, followed by a howl of pain from the griffon as she dislocated his shoulder. Before he could react to that, she followed up with a hard strike to the head as she turned to kick with her other hind leg. That sent him careering into one of his compatriots, knocking him off balance as he fell to the floor. He wasn’t dead, possibly not even out cold, but he was definitely out of the fight. Now it was two on one.
She didn’t have much time to celebrate though as the third griffon tried to get the drop on her while his partner got up. He tried to attack from behind, using Tempest’s size against her in the small shop. She reared and then bucked hard, throwing him over her head, causing him to land on her back, knocking the wind out of him.
By now though, the other griffon was up and about. She turned to focus on him, but this time he was quicker. Using his talons of one claw, he swiped at Tempest, catching her on her already scarred eye. Tempest cried out in pain. Her old injury had always been tender and her main weakness in a fight. Activating her horn again, she hit him with a blast, knocking him back and giving her some breathing room. That gave her enough time to grab a weapon. The first griffon might have known how to use a knife, but she definitely did. Grabbing the blade, she looked to slash back at her opponent. Before she could though, the situation changed.
Outside, in the night air, Tempest’s ears picked up the sound of whistles, a shrill high pitched, sour note only used by the sentries to call for aid. The Royal Guard was bound to show at any moment. It certainly seemed enough to convince the two griffons. The one attacking her had managed to manoeuvre himself to be in line with the door, and at the sound of the whistles, turned tail and ran. The other, only winded from his fall, soon got up, shoving his way past Tempest before she could react. She considered giving chase, but there was little point. That was the Guard’s job. She meanwhile, after ensuring the third griffon was still out of it, turned her attention to Elusive.
Despite his efforts, the three griffons had clearly gotten the upper hand, most likely by virtue of surprise. He’d been pretty badly beaten, even after he’d gone down, but that wasn’t what worried Tempest. He was sitting on his rump, in a daze, barely conscious, and as she bent down to check him over, it became clear why. It seemed that the knife wielding griffon had gotten a chance to use his weapon at some point. Elusive had been stabbed in the stomach, just below the ribcage, and crimson blood was now staining his otherwise pristine white coat, as well as his waistcoat. They’d evidently knocked him down into this position and then stabbed him. Robbers wouldn’t do that; there was no point. And while the place was ransacked, the cash register, while knocked off the counter top, was unopened.
Motive didn’t matter now though. This much bleeding was serious, serious enough to be fatal. Tempest grabbed part of her dress. Sadly, while it had given her excellent manoeuvrability in the fight, it hadn’t stood up to combat too well. Tearing a few strips of fabric, she did her best to fashion makeshift bandages to try and stem the bleeding.
“Elusive!” she called out, tapping him lightly on the cheek. “Elusive! Can you hear me?!” He didn’t respond, so she redoubled her efforts to stop the blood pouring out of his open wound.
Curiously though, it didn’t seem to be just blood. There was a strange, greenish substance all around the wound itself. It was a light green, and sticky to the touch. Tempest didn’t know what it was, but a quick glance at the knife she’d confiscated provided an answer. It too was coated from base to tip in the same goo, along with Elusive’s blood. It certainly explained why the griffon had reacted with such alarm when Tempest tried to slash him with it. As Tempest kept applying pressure to the wound, Elusive finally managed to speak, though his eyes were still closed, he managed to mumble something.
“Elusive?!” Tempest called out, perking up as he regained consciousness. “Elusive, what is it?” She leaned closer to hear what he was trying to say.
“I was...I was winning,” he managed to get out. Even now, the idiot made jokes.
“It doesn’t look that way to me,” Tempest replied worriedly. “You’ve got a serious stab wound, facial lacerations, and Celestia knows what internal injuries.” Now Elusive seemed to recover his voice a little.
“But before they knocked me down, I got off several cutting remarks, which no doubt did serious damage to their egos,” he said with a smile.
“This is no time to be making jokes, Elusive,” Tempest said as she heard the guards come cantering up the alley.
“Oh I’m perfectly serious, my dear Tempest. Thanks to you, I’m sure I’ll be on my feet again in no time, but the damage I did to them will last a lifetime.” He let out a soft chuckle before breaking into a coughing fit.
A few moments later, the guards burst in, and after some initial misunderstandings, Tempest managed to explain herself by way of the badly injured griffon and avoided being taken into custody. The guards quickly summoned a pair of their own medics and ten minutes later, an unconscious Elusive was rushed to Canterlot’s hospital.
Tempest, of course, followed. While there was no room for her to ride in the back of the large wagon that served as an ambulance, she was able to more or less keep pace with it as it wound its way through the still quiet city streets, it’s one flashing blue, plant pot light lighting up the buildings as it passed, and it’s shrill bell shattering the calm of the night. Arriving at the hospital, the medics unloaded him, and he was promptly turned over to the doctors, who wheeled him on the stretcher through into theatre, where Tempest was not permitted.
She was left with little to do, apart from do what every other pony did at such a time; sit down in the lobby and wait for news. Although on that front, she wasn’t waiting long. The guards were involved in this too now, and two of them soon approached Tempest to take her statement.
“Tempest Shadow?” one of them said questioningly. Tempest felt the urge to laugh. Was she really that unrecognisable?
“Yes,” she said, swallowing. “Is there any news yet?” The guard shook his head.
“I just spoke with the doc. He’s still in theatre.” He let that statement hang for a moment. “Right now we're trying to find out what happened and why. If you’re feeling up to it, my partner and I would like to take your statement.” Tempest looked up, incredulous.
“Don’t you already have a suspect in custody, if not three of them?” she demanded.
“The one griffon we found at the scene was in pretty bad shape. Pretty severe head trauma, so he isn’t likely to tell us anything any time soon. The other two made tracks as soon as the first officers arrived on scene.”
“Well they can’t have gone far,” Tempest insisted. “I assume you’re conducting a search.”
“We are,” the guard said with a nod.
“Well, there’s no sense me sitting around here doing nothing,” Tempest said, getting to her hooves. “I’m probably a better tracker than any of your ponies.”
“Whoa, not so fast,” the other guard said, blocking her way with a hoof. “There’s a few questions we need to ask you first. Like what you were doing there at such a late hour.”
Tempest wanted to scream. They had a suspect, they’d chased and somehow managed to lose two more, and yet they were still looking at her?! She repressed a growl and sat back down, knowing that trying to force anything would only complicate matters.
“Fine,” she snarled. “I was there to visit Elusive.”
“The victim?” the guard prodded. Again, Tempest found herself burying a very quiet rage.
“Yes,” she said, through gritted teeth. “He designed this dress for me so that I could attend Princess Luna’s birthday celebration. I’d left the party and stopped by his shop to thank him. I found the lights on and the door open. I went inside, came across those three griffons. They turned on me, I defended myself; knocked one down and would’ve taken out the other when you idiots burst in.”
It hadn’t dawned on Tempest until now that she was still wearing that same dress. It was all but ruined now of course. Somehow, that made the night’s events all the more worse.
“You went to visit your friend at one o’clock in the morning?” the guard asked.
“I knew he sometimes worked late,” Tempest explained. “So I stopped by on the off chance he was still up.” The guard jotted all this down on a notepad, the quill hovering in his magic.
“Do you have any idea who might want to hurt the victim at all?” he asked.
“No,” Tempest replied. “And I’d never seen those griffons before either.” The guard now took a seat next to Tempest.
“Now, Miss Shadow, I’m sure you’re aware that Elusive had something of a reputation, as do you. So you can understand why I’m going to say I don’t believe you.”
“Of course you don’t,” Tempest said with a snort.
“Look, why don’t we continue all this back at the guard post?” he suggested. Tempest was about to reply when the doctor joined them. The guard stood up and walked over to him.
“How is he, doc?”
The doctor, a bay earth pony clad in a light blue surgical gown, pulled his face mask and cap off to speak.
“We’ve managed to stop the bleeding and get him more or less stabilised,” he explained. “But this was no ordinary stab wound. The whole area around where the knife cut into him is coated with some kind of green oil like substance. I’ve never seen anything like it, nor has anypony down in our labs. All I can tell you is that it’s causing the surrounding flesh to necrotise. The stabbing acted like an injection, so whatever it is, is in the bloodstream. Best guess is he has about three days before his organs start to fail. We’ll make him as comfortable as we can, but you boys have a homicide on your hooves.”
Tempest, having heard all this, stood up and pushed her way past the two guards.
“Has he regained consciousness?” she asked. The doctor nodded.
“Yes, and he’s asking for you. There’s no danger to anypony else now that the wound’s dressed, but I would still advise caution.” Tempest nodded and was about to follow the doctor when the guards stopped her again.
“Now just hold on a minute…” he began, trying to block the way with his body..
Tempest stopped and briefly smiled down at him. She had a good few inches on the both of them. She considered grabbing his foreleg, yanking him down into an armbar and threatening to twist his foreleg off at the shoulder. But given that was trying to avoid arrest, she restrained herself.
“My friend is badly injured,” she said firmly. “I’m going to go and see him. I suggest you don’t get in my way.”
The guard held her gaze for a moment, but it was clear who was going to win out. Anypony could tell that Tempest could wipe the floor with him if she needed to. So after a few tense moments, he stepped aside, still glaring at her.
Tempest ignored him, and instead followed the now somewhat unnerved doctor to Elusive’s room.
Heading down the hallway, Tempest soon found herself outside Elusive’s room. A nurse was just stepping out and handed the doctor his chart, which he examined for a few moments before turning to Tempest.
“I’ve already explained the situation to him,” he told her. “He’s awake, but he’s lost a lot of blood, and quite weak as a result. Just keep that in mind.” Tempest nodded and pushed the door open.
The hospital room that Elusive was in was just as cold and austere as the rest of the building, the walls were a mucus green, with greenish grey linoleum underhoof. The bed, which was partly folded upwards to let Elusive sit up, was covered with green and white sheets. Even Elusive himself, having had his waistcoat cut off of him, was now wearing a green and white chequered hospital gown. Tempest’s nose wrinkled at the stench of antiseptic, and the incessant beeping of the EKG machine irritated her.
Considering that he’d not two hours ago been stabbed and brutally beaten, Elusive wasn’t looking too bad. He had a couple bruises on him here and there, and of course, the lower half of his body was covered by the bedsheets. But Tempest, had the doctor not told her, would never have guessed her friend was dying.
“You look like Tartarus,” she commented. Elusive smiled.
“Yes, this gown is rather vulgar isn’t it,” he agreed. Tempest closed the door behind her and walked over to his bedside.
“The doctor explained what’s happened. I’m sorry,” she said, a little quietly. Elusive however, despite his weakness, seemed unperturbed by his impending death.
“Well, it isn’t an entirely unexpected way for a shopkeeper like myself to meet their end. Even in Canterlot, you’d be surprised how many robberies gone wrong end up like this.” Tempest snorted.
“You don’t seriously expect me to believe that, do you?” she said, getting closer to him. “The register was untouched. There’s no way anypony can convince me this was some bungled robbery. Three griffons just turn up in Canterlot, go to a tiny, out of the way tailor, stab the owner and beat him half to death before fleeing without a single bit in their claws. Come off it, Elusive!”
“I can thank you actually for protecting my investment,” he countered. “Your timely arrival turned their attention away from such things.”
“Who were they? Robbers don’t tend to use exotic poison, or know the fighting style of Griffon Commandos. And why did they try to kill you?” she asked again.
“How could I possibly know?” he answered, a small smile on his face. The idiot was enjoying toying with her.
At any other time, Tempest would be willing to entertain Elusive’s half-truths, misdirections and bare faced lies, but not now. He was dying, he didn’t seem to care, and if she was going to lose one of her friends, she wanted to know why.
“Dammit, Elusive!” she all but shouted. “This isn’t one of your little mind games and the two of us aren’t sparring over lunch. Now I know you know who those griffons were and why they came after you. So tell me!”
If Elusive was surprised by her outburst, he didn’t show it. He took a moment before he answered.
“I suppose they may have some dislike for some of my designs,” he suggested. Tempest groaned and turned away in exasperation.
“I’m quite serious,” Elusive went on. “You’d be surprised just how detrimental a poor taste in fashion can be.”
Tempest put a hoof to the bridge of her nose. She couldn’t force information out of Elusive. So she’d just have to play his game.
“You’re a gifted tailor,” she replied. “I’d expect you to have an excellent taste.” Elusive smiled at her, almost proudly.
“Oh I do,” he assured her. “But fashion is a fickle thing, and everypony has their own opinions. Take your lovely dress for instance. Some people find it, and many of my other designs, too conservative, trapped in the past as it were.”
“Everypony has different tastes,” Tempest answered with a shrug.
“True,” Elusive replied, nodding. “But not everypony is so accommodating as you are, Tempest. And fashion is an ever changing beast. Take your lovely dress for instance. I personally adore it, and I know it caught the eye of many ponies tonight. But in time it can become tiresome. Some ponies may come to see my designs as being in poor taste, an affront to the eye. Some ponies might even find them objectionable. And then…” He gestured to Tempest’s damaged gown. “Naught but rags.”
“I see,” Tempest said, beginning to vaguely understand.
“Tempest. Let me give you some advice,” Elusive went on. “I’ve been in this business for a long time, and as you can see, there’s nothing worse in this world than following the wrong trend. You are a wonderful mare, with a style all your own. And I would hate to see you fall victim to fashion.”
“What do you mean?” Tempest asked, a note of worry in her voice.
“While I appreciate your style and you adore my designs, there are some ponies who have a most severe dislike for it. Perhaps you ought to consider following a new trend, something a little less radical. I would hate for you to be in the way, when my work goes out of fashion.”
Tempest had not been fully able to read between the lines here, but that last part was abundantly clear. And despite his best efforts, Tempest could see the concern on Elusive’s face. His mask had slipped ever so slightly. Whatever all this was about, it was enough to worry him, something Tempest had never seen before.
It was clear though that that was all he was going to give her, and trying to pry anything else from him would just be futile. But if he thought he could convince her to abandon him with that little spiel, he was dead wrong.
Before, Tempest’s curiosity about Elusive had been just that. She’d stopped digging because it just wasn’t worth the hassle. Now though, she needed to find out the truth about Elusive if she was going to have any hope of saving his life.
Heading out the door, she pushed her way past the two guards that were standing in the hall and set out once again for Elusive’s shop.