//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16 - Smashing the Party 
// Story: Iron Eyes 
// by Dramaro 
//------------------------------//

The sound of a loud bang had startled everyone. Whatever impacted the table had quickly thrown its contents everywhere. Both Rarity and I were luckily untouched by food or anything, though for me, I didn't really care. The next thing I heard quickly pulled me out of my stupor.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The loud high pitched scream of Rarity's deafened my ears. Slowly look up, I saw what Rarity was screaming at.

The table had been crushed but the body of Duke Edgewind, was still intact. His eyes were half lidded, which meant he had been killed recently. I quickly got up and looked up to see something duck back into the tower window. 

"Shining!" I shouted. Quickly, he noticed me and ran up to the scene. "Watch the crowd! I'm going to intercept the suspect!"

"Got it!"

"Sorry for this, Rarity." Without hesitating, I quickly took a knife that had fallen on the ground and ripped my pencil skirt in a way that would allow me to move better. I don't know why, but Rarity, upon seeing what I did, fainted. Taking my pistol out, I quickly got through the crowd and ran into the castle.

The whole castle had been emptied of anyone. Pretty much any staff or guards were at the gardens, dealing with the Gala. It was worse when I found myself in portions of the castle that were unlit. It was a good thing I had an under barrel flashlight.

I quickly found the hallway to the hallway to the tower that sat over the gardens. Just my luck, the killer had just arrived at the bottom and he was standing there. I couldn't tell if it was a griffon or a pony as they wore a thick and heavy looking cloak.

"Freeze!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Raising my gun, I noticed that even with a flashlight shining into their face, it was just a black void with a pair of yellow eyes staring back. Slowly, the killer raised their cloak. "I said freeze!"

I suddenly saw something rush towards me and quickly I pushed my weight onto my right leg. It was just in time for an arrow had just grazed my face, creating a deep gash across my cheek. I fell onto my side and quickly looked to see that the killer had begun trying to flee. Without hesitation, I had already brought my sites on just before firing a few shots. I cursed at myself to see that they all missed.

"Damn it!" I quickly got up and ran around the corner. When I turned, I noticed a door nearby closing. Right away, I ran up to it before bringing my pistol, ready to enter the room. Opening the door, I slowly walked in, making sure I didn't have any blind spots. "I know you're in here. Just give up and no one will get hurt!" The room was empty, save only bookshelves, a desk, and a lit fireplace, bathing the room in an orange glow.

An invisible force suddenly pushed my arm away. I tried to resist and was able to knock my attacker  into the wall with a loud thud. I quickly tried to bring my gun to bear, but it was swatted out of my hand. Now unarmed, the cloaked assailant tried to pounce onto me. I quickly rolled out of the way before getting back up.

"You really are hard headed, aren't you?" I taunted.

He or she didn't talk back and just ran forward on its hind legs. Still, I couldn't identify who it was, the cloak was too obstructive. The cloaked attacker threw a cloaked punch that I dodged skillfully. Ducking down, I gave them my own uppercut, which made them stagger for a moment.

I dodged their own uppercut before being scratched by something. The wound it created wasn't deep enough to put me down thankfully, only enough to make a cut across my shoulder.

I kept my stance going and closed some distance before attacking with my own punches. Suddenly, I heard the sound of metal against leather and ducked down once saw the glint of a one sided dagger. The attacker tried to swipe at me but as they did, I rolled onto by mack before using my momentum and my feet to launch them over me and behind.

The fight wasn't over still. The attacker quickly recovered and lunged at me. I didn't react fast enough and I was knocked into the desk, throwing wood and papers everywhere but I at least wasn't stabbed. They didn't stay for a second and quickly ran off.

I quickly got up and grabbed my gun before giving chase. "Another one?" I asked myself. Running out of the room and into the hallway leading towards the rest of the castle, I found that the cloaked assailant was gone. I had lost him.

Anger filled my veins and I couldn't help myself but punch the wall nearby, bruising and almost breaking my hand in doing so. I searched a bit more until I ran into Shining and a small squadron of guards.

"What happened?" Shining asked, surprised to see the wounds I have received.

I sighed for a moment before speaking. "We need to lock down the castle. Check everyone and don't let anything out."

Shining gave me a silent nod before turning to his guards. "Do as she says. Lock the castle down!"

"Yes, sir!"

I sighed and re-holstered my weapon for the time being. "What did they look like?" Shining asked.

"Tall, cloaked. I wasn't able to really get anything but considering they scratched me like this, they're armed. Would there be an obvious reason someone would want Edgewind dead?"

Shining shrugged for a moment. "Well....He was a major proponent of peaces and treaties, some of which are controversial in Griffony, such as giving some islands that have been disputed between them and other countries."

"So maybe someone or even a griffon who doesn't agree with his opinions. We'll need to make a profile of every guest and personal, especially those who would be against Edgewind's policies."

"That might take awhile... Have your guards secured the tower Edgewind fell from?"

"We are doing that as we speak."

"Best to see them as soon as possible."

Following Shining Armor, we arrived at the top of the tower Archduke Edgewind was staying in. The room seemed to be in a bit of a mess, suggesting Edgewind didn't go without a fight. Papers and documents were strewn across his desk while feathers littered the floor. I stared at the whole scene for a moment until i began walking towards the desk. Right then, a commotion occurred and I turned around to see griffon guards and Javelin pushing there way through.

"Why are you here, Javelin? Are you here to help in our investigation?" I asked.

Javelin shook her head and scowled. "No. We're here to secure all important documents belonging to Edgewind."

"I'm sorry bur I'll have to ask you to leave. Those documents could be evidence in this investi..."

"Evidences-shmevidence! Those documents are part of the Griffony government! I won't allow them to be seen by Equestrians... or a human."

"Javelin! Do you not care how Edgewind died? What if those documents reveal who killed him?"

"Those documents are sadly more important then Edgewind! It would be a disgrace to Griffony if I were to give them away!"

Without hesitating, Javelin began walking towards me. Standing in front of me, she easily dwarfed me be a good meter or so. I held my ground.

"Move out of my way!" She demanded.

"No."

"You dare say no to a griffon? What are you going to do? I see no weapon on you and I'm wearing armor! Now out of my way!" Her first mistake was putting her claw on my shoulder.

Easily, I grabbed her foreleg and twisted it while swiping her other foreleg from under her. Caught off guard, she fell to the ground and I quickly pinned her there. "Keep this up and I'll arrest you for interfering with a criminal investigation!" I shouted.

"I hate you humans...."

"I don't care! Shining, take Javelin away until she can calm down! We got work to do!"

The other griffon guards were smart enough to not interfere and simply watched their officer leave, being escorted by a few of Shining's guards. After that small altercation, Shining and I collected the papers before looking around a bit more. The wooden furniture features numerous slash marks, evidence that a small fight had occurred, probably with swords. Most of the furniture had been thrown out of the way, allowing the center of the room to be open for movement. Small splotches of blood were thrown around, but none seemed to be in large amounts, meaning Edgewind wasn't thrown out of the window. Shining quickly took note of the open window nearby, the one that Edgewind had fallen through.

"Get photos of this place. Let's move on to where the body landed," I said.

With a serious nod and a small smirk, Shining brought me back downstairs. Most of the guests had been properly escorted off castle grounds, leaving only the ones that were supposed to be staying at the castle. None of them were in the gardens where the body had fallen and guards stood guard, no doubt to keep any sensational reporters from seeing the scene.

I stared at Edgewind's body for a moment. He was a large griffon and was wearing an elaborate suit, no doubt ready for the gala. That made me wonder, why wasn't here there at the beginning? A large stab wound was visible with a large pool of blood around it.

"What do you think, Shining?" I asked.

"From the looks of the wound, I guess he was stabbed while he was standing in front of the window. The weapon must have slowly slid out while he staggered backwards, surprised that he lost the short fight... or maybe who attacked him."

"So he slid off the weapon before falling out of the window?"

Shining nodded. "That's right. Griffons use short swords within towns and walls, easier to use in confined areas. It also meant that it didn't pierce through so there was no blood trail at the edge of the window, not to mention Edgewind's sheer size."

"This reminds me of some old plays. Anyway, we'll have to question our guests. Get photos of his Edgewind's body and a more qualified medical examiner."

"That, we'll do. Did cases come up this often in your world?"

I sighed for nodding lightly. "Usually I'm overseeing multiple cases... though I've only dealt with the death of a politician only a few times."

"Why don't you look over the body more? I'll get everything else set up."

With a nod, I watched Shining walk away before turning to the body. Slowly, I opened Edgewind's suit to find a small notebook stained a bit by his blood. Inside were numerous schedules. Meetings, day to day activities, this was a scheduler of some kind. I continued to browse through the lists until I noticed my own name written in a spot. Surprised by this fact, I looked at the time of our cancelled meeting. "An hour after his death, huh?" 

Something tapped my shoulder and I turned to see a night guard standing before me. Not having enough time to look for other dates within the scheduler, I slapped it shut. With a simple nod, I asked what they needed. Apparently Luna wanted my audience for something. Looking at the scheduler in my hands, I gave it to the night guard and asked her something. "Could you please bring this to the command center? This is evidence for the investigation."

She nodded and placed it in a small compartment in her armor before escorting me into Canterlot Castle.