March 10th
I should have known it was too good to be true.
In my line of work, I've seen a lot of bad deeds done. Well, most of them weren't actually when I was being a detective, but that's beside the point. I've seen a lot in my time but the White Phoenix defies all my previous experiences. The Diamond Dogs were dir...Subterranean hoarders, Suri Polomare was an unscrupulous, pig-headed glory hog, Wind Rider framed my friend and ruined ivory scarves with reckless abandon. But all of them had a motive that was at least somewhat comprehendible. There doesn't seem to be any reason for why the Phoenix is doing what they do, what do they gain by trying to burn the Manehatten food scene? And why? Just what kind of mind would want this?
Well, with any luck my first crime scene since returning will hopefully have something new to work with.
Rarity brushed her monologue, and her mane, to one side as she entered Manehatten Central Station. Sweetie Belle had gone in just ahead of her and Babs Seed was to her side. Normally it would have taken them several minutes to get anywhere inside the central hub for Manehatten's rail connection to the rest of Equestria. Ponies were still milling about, heading to and from the platforms but it was still a lot quieter due to a mix of it being ten past midnight and a section of the station being cordoned off due to a fire at a café in the waiting plaza, the scene of the latest White Phoenix attack.
Police tape had been tied to a number of benches nearby, ending at the connecting shops to form a perimeter that a pair of officers were also manning to make sure nopony wandered in. Gleaming Truth was next to the café entrance talking to a firepony all clad in protective equipment and looking rather concerned about something. As the trio of newcomers made their way over to the crime scene and let Babs handle their clearance, Sky Eye made his way out from checking inside the café and trotted over to them.
"Huh, thought you'd be back in Canterlot already." Babs commented as he came over.
"Well, I already sent the wire and reports back to the Institute and that pretty much wrapped up my involvement with them so, I got permission to help with this investigation," Sky explained, looking back at one of the burned out windows. "Never saw anything like this in Canterlot though."
"I never saw anything like this in Ponyville either," Sweetie Belle added, leaning against a bench. "And weird things seemed to happen there every week."
"Sounds like my kind of place." He commented, getting a small chuckle out of her.
"Ah, you must be the lovely fellow that Sweetie Belle told me about." Rarity said as she took Sky in, noticing that his gaze remained on her sister but deciding not to comment.
"Hmm? Oh err, yes. My name's Sk...Oh." Sky stopped and bowed slightly as he realised just who he was talking to. "Miss Rarity. It's an honour to meet an Element of Harmony in person."
"It's a pleasure to meet somepony from Canterlot who actually recognises me for that." Rarity replied, smiling a little more.
"Really? I mean I know you're well known there for Canterlot Carousel, but the Elements of Harmony are some of the most famous ponies alive. How could anypony not recognise you?"
"You'd be surprised." She answered simply, glancing aside as Sweetie barely managed to stifle her laughter at that observation.
"Ok fillies, we can catch up later," Babs interrupted, though she was also smiling and hadn't used her more professional police tone yet. "Oka, what've we got?"
"Pretty similar to all the others I read up on," Sky started, pausing as Rarity had to be quickly taken to one side and have the whole Oka thing explained to her. "Though a bit more worryingly, the fire was reported only fifteen minutes after the café had closed. The fireponies that responded to it would have just thought a worker there had gotten careless during closing up if they hadn't found the Phoenix's symbol round the back."
"Nopony around saw it starting?" Sweetie asked, studying the burns from behind the tape, watching as Truth went inside to investigate herself.
"No, pretty much everypony working in the waiting plaza had already gone home and there weren't any trains in. In fact the fire was actually reported by passengers from a late train arriving from Whinnyapolis."
"Hmmm...That's strange." Sweetie rubbed her in thought, the others looking over at her. "There should have been at least one witness here. Even if there was nopony waiting to greet a passenger, I know for a fact that that train had a shipment of nylon on board due to be delivered to Manehatten Carousel tomorrow morning, I requested it from Rarity's store there and handled all the shipping information myself. So why wasn't there anypony here to take delivery of it?"
"A little off topic, but I agree, that's so strange," Rarity commented. "And what exactly are you using so much nylon on anyw-" Her questioning was cut off by a shocked yelp that echoed from inside the burned café.
All of them looked over, ready to move in, when they saw Gleaming Truth backing out, shaking slightly, her expression neutral but clearly masking a look of fear. She turned quickly and said something inaudible to the officer nearest her, who nodded and moved out from the barrier, escorting ponies who were still lingering around toward the exits. She quickly trotted over to the assembled group, panting slightly as she fought to get herself under control. The fact that the normally cool, analytical pony was under such distress was more unnerving than anything.
"We need to evacuate the station immediately. Extend the security cordon to the entire block and stop any further trains coming in. I need to contact Long Walk, nopony enters the building until he gets here. Move out." She said to them, sounding as shaky as she looked as she ducked under the tape and headed back toward the main entrance.
"O-okay, you heard the mare. Outside, now." Babs said after a few seconds. Her own voice was tensed and her ears were folded back against her skull. Sweetie had never seen her friend so perturbed before, the sight enough for her to make her way out without a word of argument.
By the time all of them had reached the street, the evacuation was almost completed. Police ponies were currently covering every entrance to the building until they could be sure it was empty and Sky Eye had taken to the air to ensure it remained clear up above. There was a more significant crowd around as word had begun to spread about what had happened and ponies were hanging around to try and get a glimpse, though thankfully they were keeping their distance which made it easier to extend the police barriers out. Sweetie Belle promptly made her way back toward the crowd and what she imagined was a safe distance from whatever was going on. Rarity hung back for a minute, next to the still nervous Babs who was now helping man the security at the entrance.
"Alright, How bad is it?" She asked simply, letting the officer take a few breaths to calm herself down again. Babs managed to compose herself a little more and looked the older mare dead in the eyes, giving off a sense of justified worry.
"Long Walk leads the bomb squad."
The atmosphere surrounding the entire city block was tense for several hours. There was no disguising just how serious things were from the public when a pony clad head to hoof in blast resistant armour was seen heading into the station, though it did help keep the crowds away. Most of the police manning the perimeter were keeping their distance as well. Sweetie Belle had only seen a handful of others during the last hour or so, the clock set into a nearby shop showing it was two in the morning now. She didn't even have to be out here anymore but she wanted to keep Babs company, it was cold and her leather jacket didn't seem to be cutting it right now. They had set up their post at a roadblock at the end of the street to keep carriages out. The silence hung between them awkwardly and she decided that saying something, anything, would be better than this as they stood at the hastily established barricades that closed the street off.
"So..." She finally started, shifting slightly in place. "What's been happening with Spoiled Rich? I didn't really get a chance to check."
"Oh she's still berating anypony who walks by her cell," Babs replied with a chuckle. "Doing her best to try and wrangle her way out, though bail was denied for those charges and even if she gets a good lawyer, it's either not gonna be enough against the evidence or get tied up in court. Either way, if you're worried about her causing any more trouble, forget about it."
"Well that's a relief, imagine if I still had to deal with that as well as what's going on in there." She nodded back toward the station, silently hoping that she wasn't going to get another appropriately timed occurrence due to her choice of words.
"Yeah, I'd rather not," Babs shivered slightly and glanced round, watching the traffic further down the long road. "Say, wasn't Rarity supposed to be back by now?"
"Oh, she's probably just inspecting the perimeter and coming up with new ways to improve the MPD's fashion choices." Sweetie commented. The two of them shared a laugh at the thought before looking round at the sound of approaching hoofsteps behind them.
"Well I had to find some way to pass the time," Rarity said as she joined them. She'd clearly overheard that remark as she poked a hoof at Babs' jacket as soon as she was close enough. "Speaking of which, seal brown blends with your coat awfully. I'm sure I could dye this a much more pleasing colour or-"
"Alright, I'll look into something else once this is done." Babs interrupted before she could go off on a tangent. Rarity looked rather miffed at that but before she could comment, another distraction came up in the form of Gleaming Truth coming over.
"Ok, good news," Truth said quickly as she joined them. "We've got an all clear from the bomb squad so, Seed, begin packing up at this post. Rarity, Belle, come with me."
Rarity and Babs exchanged quick glances, wondering just what was going on now. They couldn't really question it though, Truth was the lead investigator on site after all. The two unicorns followed her back into the station, seeing things were still pretty much as they'd been before. The bomb squad pony was waiting for them in the plaza, their protective headgear now removed to reveal a yellow unicorn mare with lilac eyes and a trimmed cobalt mane underneath. She tensed up slightly at the sight of the trio coming in, eying them warily.
"Take it easy, Long Walk, they're here to help." Truth said quickly, smiling slightly.
"Right, sure, if you say so." Long Walk replied, sounding remarkably unconvinced. Rarity looked a little put off but Sweetie Belle tried not to be bothered by the mare's attitude, figuring that she had been under a lot of stress with what she'd had to do.
"I do. Now, they're doing to help with tracking down the maker so, would you mind showing them the bomb?"
"Fine, not like they won't understand it. I tell you, built by a freaking amateur." Long's horn glowed, her aura the same as her eyes as she brought the bomb over. It was very simple looking, about the size of a newborn foal and coated in a thin sheet of iron with what looked like a gas valve on the top.
"Fascinating, never thought I'd see one of these things myself," Sweetie commented, getting down and observing it up close, putting a hoof out toward the valve. "Is it safe to touch?"
"Yeah, it's completely disarmed. By which I mean I just let the gas out. That's all it was, gas goes in at the top, placed at the arson site, fire heats the metal up until it ignites the gas inside. In this case the fire was put out before it reached the canister. Not saying it wouldn't have been effective, but it's so...primitive, I mean a unicorn could have bui-"
"Okay, let's not go there," Truth interrupted, gritting her teeth slightly. "Stay on topic, how hard would it be to get everything needed to make this?"
"Harder than you think. Gas valves aren't that common since everypony just uses magic, I mean most ponies aren't even aware of the kind of power natural gas provides. Only place in Manehatten I can think of that uses them is a pest control company, there's probably more though. Point is that you're not likely to just find one out on the street."
The silence hung between them for several seconds, the only sound being the gentle scrape of metal on stone as Sweetie adjusted the canister slightly. The implications both good and bad were worrying at best. On one hoof, the idea that the White Phoenix was using rare but identifiable methods now really narrowed down the places and ponies they would need to search. On the other hoof, the use of such methods meant that Manehatten was in a lot more danger than before. While they thankfully hadn't seen how much damage this makeshift bomb could do, it was easy to assume that it could be a lot more significant that anything they'd seen so far. If somepony was too close...They needed to end this before such an incident happened again and they weren't so lucky. After being silent this whole time, Rarity rubbed her chin and stepped forward, the others looking over at her.
"So, how quickly can we get a list of places that you could get your hooves on these items? The sooner we know, the sooner we bust this case."