Point Dexter was taken aback by my accusation, but only for a brief moment. When he regained his composure, he folded his arms and narrowed his eyes.
"And just why do you think it was me, Ms. Melody?" he asked.
"I think Melody has a good case here, Point," said Mike Check with a snort. "You haven't exactly been doing a good job around here."
"Not to mention that we already know about your military background," added Slick Licks. "Sorry, daddy-o, but the evidence is against you. It's time to face the music."
Point Dexter furrowed his brow and flicked his nose ring a bit. "What if I were to say that I have an alibi?"
"An alibi?" I parroted.
"Yes, an alibi," said Point Dexter, making his way to the stage. "After all, we're all civilized creatures here. I'd like a chance to defend my actions."
We all looked at each other and exchanged shrugs.
"That's, actually entirely reasonable, Mr. Dexter," I said.
"But no funny stuff," said Vinyl, giving Point Dexter an "I'm watching you" gesture.
"I wouldn't dream of it," said Point Dexter, finally joining the rest of us onstage. "You'll soon see that I have nothing to hide."
"'Nothing to hide' my flank," Mike snarled. "These Bass Cannon blueprints are most likely yours, and the match the specs of the transmitters I found. Not to mention that you've been stonewalling me about the security footage."
"I have a rational explanation for everything," said Point Dexter. "And if I don't, I'm sure Ms. Melody here will be able to prove me wrong."
Great. Put all the pressure on me, why don't you? Oh well, I guess I deserve it for accusing him.
"Alright, Mr. Dexter. Let's hear this alibi of yours," I said.
"Thank you," said Point Dexter, clearing his throat.
***
Argument: Point Dexter's Alibi
***
"Let's start with what you got right," said Point Dexter. "The blueprints for the Bass Cannon are indeed mine. They were a keepsake from my days in the military. However, that's all that I brought from my home country; nothing else. Also, I recognize that my performance as a security guard hasn't been up to par. This is due to that infuriating donkey. He has done nothing but cause me grief ever since this festival began, so I haven't been able to deal with anything else."
Something feels wrong here. Point Dexter is unbelievably calm for someone accused of sabotage and attempted murder. It's as if he has nothing to fear from me. Could that be because he, doesn't? I have to know more.
"Tell me about your military career, Mr. Dexter," I said. "You said the blueprints for the Bass Cannon were a keepsake, correct?"
"Yes," said Point Dexter, flicking his nose ring. "I worked in the military's R&D department, developing new weapons for the minotaur militia."
"Weapons such as the transmitter and the giant tuning fork we found?" asked Fiddlesticks, giving Point Dexter the evil eye.
"Correct," said Point Dexter with a nod. "However, like I said, I didn't bring them here to Equestria."
"And yet, they were found at the scene of the crime," I said. "That right there is a contradiction of the facts."
Point Dexter snorted and flicked his nose ring. "Ms. Melody, if my fellow minotaurs discovered me trying to sneak those weapons out of the country, I wouldn't be standing here right now. I'm just as baffled as you are that someone managed to smuggle them here."
Dear sweet Celestia, I may have made a terrible mistake. There's no way to disprove Point Dexter's alibi; it's practically airtight. There are some ambiguous points that he's not addressing, but I haven't found any evidence to contradict him. But, if he's not the mastermind, then who is? There is no one else it could be. It has to be him, right? Right?!
"You okay, Octy?" asked Vinyl. "You look a bit pale."
"Just, give me a minute," I said, trying to calm down. Come on, think! There has to be something I'm overlooking! Either Point Dexter is lying, or someone else is the culprit. But, which is it?! And how the hay am I supposed to prove either supposition?! I can't! There's no evidence left! Oh Celestia, what do I do?! What do I do?!
"This isn't over yet, Ms. Melody."
A familiar voice made itself known, and I wasn't the only one who heard it. Everypony looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Who's there?" growled Point Dexter. "Show yourself!"
The figure complied with Point Dexter's demand, touching down on the center of the stage. Just as I suspected, it was the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.
"Shee?! I told you that shadow exishted!" Silenus exclaimed.
Mare-Do-Well ignored Silenus and turned to me. "Ms. Melody, did you notice something odd about Mr. Dexter's alibi?"
"No, that's just the thing. It's actually really good," I said.
Mare-Do-Well shook her head. "It's good, alright. But I'm not sure if I would really call it an alibi."
Point Dexter leered at Mare-Do-Well. "What are you implying, you weirdo?"
"An alibi gives an account of what exactly you were doing when the crime occurred," said Mare-Do-Well. "You may very well be telling the truth, Mr. Dexter, but unless we know what you were doing when the attacks happened, it's not an alibi."
Point Dexter growled and crossed his arms. "I already told you: I was busy with that stupid donkey. What's more, everypony knows that's what I've been doing. I have no reason to lie about that."
Wait a tick. That's it! How could I have been so blind?! It's so bloody obvious!
"Mr. Dexter, please accept my humble apologies," I said with a bow.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Octy, what the hay are you doing?!" exclaimed Vinyl. "This guy has to be the culprit! You said so yourself!"
"Well, I was wrong," I said. "I'm allowed to be wrong, aren't I?"
"No one's sayin' you ain't, Tavia," said Fiddlesticks. "But we have the weapons, his military background, and the blueprints Silenus picked up. Plus, bein' part of security, nopony would've been suspicious of 'im movin' around durin' the performances. He has to be the dock-hole whose flank we need to kick! There's no one else it could be!"
"I thought that, too, Fiddlesticks," I said. "But then something else came up. Mr. Dexter, you said you were busy contending with Silenus, and that's why security has been so lax."
"That's correct," said Point Dexter.
"I think there's more to this story," I said, adjusting my bow-tie. "Tell me, what exactly has Mr. Silenus been doing to cause you such grief, hmm?"
"Huh wha?" said Silenus, tilting his head. "I-I dunno what that'sh gotta do with anything. I wash jusht dishtracing the officher sho that Pan could work in peache."
"I'm not interested in what you were doing per se, Mr. Silenus," I said. "I'm interested in how you were going about doing it."
"I haaave to agree with Silenus here," said Pan, raising an eyebrow. "He promised me thaaat he didn't do anything dangerous."
Point Dexter scoffed. "Is that a fact?" he said, flicking his nose ring. "I'll have you know that your little friend was more than just a nuisance."
"Sounds like you have a bit of a story to tell," said Sapphire Shores.
"I do," said Point Dexter with an angry snort. "Just, bear with me. Remembering what that drunkard did makes my blood boil."
"Noted," I said with a swallow. I really hope this leads to the truth behind this mess, because I have no backup plan right now. I can't be sure if anypony else has one, either. Well, not much I can do about that now.
***
Testimony: Silenus's Shenanigans
***
"If he was just getting himself lost by wandering off, we wouldn't have a problem," said Point Dexter. "But it goes way beyond that. He's also been running around and touching stuff he shouldn't. He even messed up the security system when I took him to the security room. I spent an entire night trying to fix those cameras, and the next day he messes them up again! I'm telling you, that donkey is a menace!"
Ahh~. Now everything is starting to make sense. Emphasis on "starting," mind you; I still have a lot to figure out.
"Let's get the obvious out of the way," I said. "Besides the security console, what else did Mr. Silenus touch?"
"I first caught him poking his hoof in some audio equipment," said Point Dexter. "That was on the first day of the festival."
"Hang on, hang on," said Vinyl. "What kind of audio equipment?"
"A large subwoofer. I managed to get him away before he broke it, thankfully."
I have a good idea where this is going. But just to make absolutely certain I wasn't jumping to conclusions again, I decided to press him a bit more.
"Yesterday, there was a bit of an incident with Mr. Silenus chasing a shadow all over the building," I said. "Why didn't you stop that?"
"I thought Pan had a handle on that," said Point Dexter with a shrug. "That's what he told me, anyway. Besides, I had more important things to do."
"Such as?"
"Fixing the security cameras," said Point Dexter. "I couldn't get them to work the night before, and I'm positive that idiot donkey had something to do with it."
"That's when you brought him into your office, correct?"
"Yes."
"Then, why did you do it again?" asked Frederick. "That doesn't sound too smart."
"Well, that's because I thought he was sober the second time," said Point Dexter. "Yesterday when he wandered off again, he wasn't doing that slurring thing. I brought him to the security room and told him not to touch anything while I went to look for Pan. But when I got back, the system was on the fritz again."
I do believe that's all I need. I adjusted my bow-tie and smirked.
"That's quite a tale, Mr. Dexter," I said. "However, you're wrong about one thing."
"And that is?"
"Mr. Silenus is not an idiot."
"Well, of courche I'm not," said Silenus. "I jusht don't think shometimesh."
"You misunderstand, Mr. Silenus. I'm saying that you're a diabolical genius," I said.
Vinyl's jaw dropped. "Tavi, did you just call an alcoholic donkey a genius?"
"He's smarter than we give him credit for, Vinyl," I said. "Let's start with the subwoofer. That happened at the first performance on the eighth of April, right?"
"That's what I said," Point Dexter stated.
"That was the night of Vinyl's performance," I said. "And if you'll recall, Mr. Check, we found the first transmitter inside a subwoofer, did we not?"
"Yeah, we did," said Mike with a nod.
"Ergo, the one who planted the device has to be none other than..."
"Hold on!" Silenus interrupted. "I know what you're gonna shay, and I'm shayin' that'sh a load of crap. I would never do that to Pan! Not no way, not no how!"
"Normally, I'd believe you," I said. "But there's something else. The security cameras. Mr. Dexter, when were they tampered with?"
"Yesterday and the day before," said Point Dexter.
"And both those days, the culprit used the tuning fork weapon; a device he had to handle manually," I mused. "Now then, what if those cameras were taken out for a reason other than drunken incompetence? What if they were used to, say, make security blind to what was happening during the performances?"
"N-now you're jusht making shtuff up!" barked Silenus. "Y-you can't prove that!"
"Perhaps not, but I have yet to play all of my cards," I said with a smirk. "Vinyl, remember the blueprints to the Bass Cannon?"
"Um, duh. Who could forget such badass awesomeness?" said Vinyl.
"Refresh my memory. Who found that evidence initially?"
"Well, it was Silenus."
"And who misplaced it by giving it to Lyra?"
"Silenus."
"Right. Now, here's a hypothetical for you. What if he did that on purpose?"
It didn't take long for Vinyl to see what I was getting at. "You're coming dangerously close to blowing my mind, Tavi. Are you sure you're not a detective?"
"If I was, I would've pieced this together long ago," I said. "But that doesn't matter. What does matter, however, is that we finally have our culprit."
I stood up on my hind legs, drawing myself to full height and pointing an accusatory hoof. "Mr. Silenus, I propose that you are the mastermind behind the attacks! You used being Pan's assistant as a cover to avoid suspicion and stole Point Dexter's blueprints for the Bass Cannon in order to throw us off the scent! In fact, I could argue that you were chasing the shadow in order to stop her from mucking up your plans, not because you thought she was guilty! Care to correct me, Mr. Silenus?!"
There was a long silence as we all waited with bated breath for Silenus's response. That silence was broken by him snickering.
"You seem intent on pinning this on me, madam," he said, a sinister gleam in his eye. "However, you're going to have to do a lot better than that."