ch2: The Chase Begins
Lunging back to his feet, Shining raced down the hall, skidding to a stop next to the servant. She tried to gasp something, but the words were lost as blood frothed out between her lips. Oh crap, Shining thought. As gently as possible, he lifted her leg out of the way with his telekinesis, blinking for a moment at the blood-stained shard of crockery driven into her chest.
“Lie still, don’t talk, I’m getting help,” Shining ordered her, one hoof keeping her leg away from the wound. His horn glowed for a moment before the spell popped. Along the walls, just below the ceiling, a line of blue and red gems suddenly lit up, the red one continuing around the corner where the assailant had fled. “Relax, we’re going to get you through this.”
The servant didn’t answer, her rear legs kicking weakly from the pain. A moment later, both Cadence and Bullseye came racing around the corner. “Sir, we saw the alarm, what’s happening?” Bullseye shouted as he ran up.
“That way, dark green tail, crystal pony,” Shining said, keeping his focus on the servant. “Love, hold her still?”
Cadence’s telekinesis took hold of the servant’s limbs, and she smiled soothingly. “Shining? You’re not going to,” she started. The shard of crockery came free with a sucking sound, shedding bright crimson droplets as it cracked to the floor. A tiny square of brilliant magic sprang up to cover the wound as soon as the point was free, only a small trickle of blood escaping.
“It didn’t hit an artery, but this should keep the lung from collapsing,” Shining said, sweat drops already forming on his forehead. “Have to keep letting the air out.” He glanced up at his wife. “What would possess a pony to go racing through the royal corridors like Nightmare Moon was on their tail?”
“I don’t know, but I will have a good answer by morning, or Celestia will be the only pony to save them,” Cadence growled. “White Glove, are you alright?”
The servant nodded, barely more than a twitch of her head, but the Princess leaned over to nuzzle her gently. “Don’t worry, the medical ponies should be here any minute.”
“What is with those annoying – is that pony dead?” Baron Ruth stood at the corner the assailant had vanished, staring down at White Glove and the puddle of blood. Stormfeather peeked around the corner, nodding apologetically to Shining.
“Not if we can help it,” Cadence said. “Please, Baron, return to your room, and wait until one of the guardsponies tells you it’s safe.”
“Safe? Are we under attack?” Those iridescent wings flexed, rising just far enough to catch the light.
Shining growled and pointed a hoof back down the hallway. “We don’t know yet, but just in case, stay out of the way!”
Stormfeather put a gentle claw on an upraised wing. “Sir, let’s do as he says. You know I worked with him; he’ll tell us what’s happening when he’s not busy saving lives.” The darker griffon hesitated a moment longer before nodding and backing away.
After another interminable minute of pained bubbling gasps, the medical pony trotted up and nudged Shining out of the way. “Goodness, what have we here,” she mumbled to herself, horn already glowing. “Fractured rib, punctured lung, that’s not very good. No other major injuries, thankfully. Stretcher!”
Four crystal ponies trotted over, setting down a litter, and very slowly the injured White Glove floated onto the thick fabric. “Captain, I’ve got her from here, if you’d release your spell?” Shining met the doctor’s eyes for a moment before releasing the shield. A tiny trickle of blood brightened the edge of the hole, but her breathing continued. “Good. To the infirmary, steady is more important than fast! Highness, I’ll let you know when we get her stabilized.”
“I’d appreciate that, Clot,” Cadence said. She leaned against her husband as they watched the medical team vanish around the corner. Glancing up, she canceled the glowing blue symbols, leaving only the red ones. “What happened?”
Shining shook his head. “I have no idea. Right as I opened the door, somepony comes racing down the hall at a gallop. Bowls me down, and you saw what happened to, um, what was her name?”
“White Glove.” Cadence smiled as she booped his nose with a hoof. “She’s only been the servant cleaning our chamber the whole time we’ve lived here.”
He smiled a little. “Sorry. She was carrying that tray of dishes, and I guess she landed on one. All I saw was a crystal dark green tail whipping around the corner.” Sighing, he straightened up. “Maybe it’s a good thing I haven’t taken my armor off.”
Her face fell as he moved away. “Now? Really? Can’t you let the Crystal Guard handle it?”
Leaning back over, he nuzzled her cheek. “I’m just going to find Lieutenant Bullseye and see if they caught this pony or not. I’m not going to go start canvassing the streets myself, but I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t know what’s being done.”
Cadence sighed and started walking back towards their room, head and tail. “Oh, alright. I’ll just be back in our room. By myself. Waiting for you, all alone in that empty bed.”
It was almost, almost enough to make him turn around. He’d known when they started dating that Cadence gave as good as she got. But did she really have to use his own words against him?
---===---
Shining followed the red gems along the ceiling. The alert system had been one of his designs, based on the one from Canterlot. Only here, since there was a shortage of unicorns, there were many more stations to trigger the spell. They glowed along the wall where Bullseye had gone, following the intruder.
Truthfully, he didn’t have to go very far before he found the Lieutenant, talking urgently with Fleetwing. “Captain, I’m sorry to say, we lost them,” Bullseye said. “I’ve got guardponies doing a sweep of the castle and the grounds, just to see why they were running.”
Sighing, Shining nodded. “White Glove should be alright, but she’ll be in the hospital for days. That pony nearly killed her. Even if it was an accident, that’s not acceptable behavior.” He glanced at Fleetwing. “This wasn’t quite the training I had in mind.”
The sergeant shrugged. “Not the first time we’ve had to track down somepony who decided it was fine to ‘acquire’ a souvenir from the castle, but it’s the first time we had so little to go on.”
“I’ll keep you and the Princess posted if we learn anything else, sir,” Bullseye said.
Trading salutes, Shining walked back to his quarters, not wanting to keep his wife waiting a minute longer than necessary. Still, it bothered him – what had that pony been doing, and just how bad was it? Normal, law-abiding ponies (which was virtually all of them) wouldn’t have knocked down two ponies without stopping to make sure they were unharmed unless something critically important was happening.
Opening the door, he sauntered in. Cadence sat up in bed, staring at him through her eyelashes. “Honey, I’m home,” he said. The door swung closed and locked behind him, the pieces of his armor floating free as both of them stripped him out of his uniform. “Did you miss me?” he asked, one forehoof on the bed.
Right as their lips touched was when the frantic knock came at the door. Both of them groaned loudly. “What is it?” Shining shouted, turning his head towards the door, and moaning again as Cadence nipped at his neck.
“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but we know why the pony was fleeing,” Bullseye said. “The armory vault was broken into, the guards on duty were found injured.”
Cadence stopped her foreplay as Shining stepped off the bed. “What was missing?” she asked.
There was a moment of silence filling the room from the crack under the door. “Sombra’s black crystals,” came the answer.
The couple exchanged a worried glance, and without another word they were both approaching the door. “Was anything else taken?” Cadence asked, meeting Bullseye’s worried gaze.
“They’re still doing an inventory, but it doesn’t look like it, Highness,” he said.
“I should get down there and look around,” Shining said, giving his wife a quick peck on the cheek. “I have enough recent experience at doing investigations.”
“Sir, I don’t suppose you could bring the rest of your team up?” Bullseye asked.
Shining sighed as he stepped out the door. “I don’t know. It’s a full day’s flight each way from here to Canterlot, longer than that by train, and some of them already have new assignments.” He paused as an idea struck him, and he turned the other direction. Bullseye fell behind as Cadence started asking other questions about the castle’s safety.
Shining rapped a hoof on the door, and after a moment it opened a crack. “Oh, it’s you. Everything safe now?” Stormfeather slid his knife away as the door opened further.
“The fleeing pony broke into the armory and stole something important. If you can leave your Baron here, I’d appreciate your help examining the crime scene and figuring out how he got inside,” Shining said.
The griffon looked over his shoulder briefly, before stepping out into the hall and easing the door shut. “What’s happening? His lordship decided to turn in for the night, but suddenly he’s second-guessing his visit here. Is this bad?”
They started walking, keeping their voices low. “I assume that before you came here you at least heard of Sombra?” The griffin nodded slowly. “When Cadence defeated him, there were a number of tainted black crystals left behind by his magic. We had them rounded up and sealed away in the armory. The thief bowled down the servant you saw.”
“Trying to hide his identity?” Stormfeather mused. “Or just careless trying to get out of the castle before the theft was discovered?”
“I don’t know. Nor do I know why they came running through the royal wing – the Armory is three floors down, they passed all the main exits on their way up!” Shining shook his head and scowled. “There’s something I’m missing here.”
“What about the guards? Did they survive?”
“Yes, though they’re on their way to the hospital along with the servant. Someone needs to question them, someone needs to investigate the armory, and thanks to all my time abroad I don’t know the guards in the castle nearly as well as I should.” He fought the urge to kick at the wall in frustration. “Damnit, I hardly know where to start! The guards, the armory, seal it all off and try to wait for my squad from Canterlot?”
Stormfeather stopped, lifting one hand and resting it gently on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Lad, you sailed into Port Talon with a single clue, and you managed to break an entire pirate ring. You went to Zebrica with barely more than that! You can do this.” His beak quirked. “I know what’s really bothering you.”
“What’s that?” Shining asked as they started down the stairs.
“Last time, your hen did the hard part. Er, mare, not hen. Stupid Equestrian tongue.” Stormfeather kept grinning as he nudged the stallion with one wing.
“I’m going to tell Cadence you said that,” he teased back. “We do have a dungeon around here somewhere.”
Pausing on the main floor, he glanced around. The question still hung in his mind, start with the witnesses, or the crime scene? Or set them both aside until he could find ponies to rely on for the investigation?
---===---
Meanwhile, several blocks away
The house was much like its neighbors, a sturdy and colorful building, built from local crystal and wood, well insulated against the cruel northern winters. Unlike its neighbors, this one had a cloaked pony rapping rapidly on the door until it opened. Slipping inside with no more than a dark green tail visible, the pony almost stumbled across the dark room.
With a tiny flare, the other pony struck a match, lighting one small candle and setting it on the low table. “Well?” she asked.
“It worked,” the green-tailed mare replied, slowly removing a large saddlebag from under the cloak and dropping it on the table with a thud. “My payment?”
“Right there, in that chest. I think you’ll find your reward more than you bargained for,” the first replied, tugging on the drawstring with one hoof. As the bag opened, the candle flame flickered and leaned towards the impenetrable darkness within. The chest opened with a click.
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While I'm interested in the Armory itself, I think checking on the injured guards would be better, and Stormfeather would be a good outer perspective in question asking, not to mention the perfect I've to ask the guards their names, so Shining doesn't look like a complete fool. Have the Amory cordoned off for now, and not tampered with. Also have somepony talk with the servant, she might have seen the cloaked pony's face, and have a fast pegasus go to Canterlot to request a few of the investigation specialists.
That would be my suggestion, in order of importance. My only question is why the crystals weren't moved to Canterlot, stored in the deepest part of the dungeon, or destroyed.
Also, that ceramic would have had to be flying pretty damn fast and made out of diamond to pierce Crystal flesh and go into the lung. I've fallen on large and jagged pieces of ceramic before, and I've never gotten anything more than a scratch.
Also also, why are we getting an insight on the enemy at all? Will we be getting more? It kinda ruins the fun of a mystery if the audience knows exactly where the bad guy is, and the good guy is completely clueless, even when the bad guy is standing right next to him, twirling his mustache and saying "mwahaha" the whole time. Just my opinion.
4006467 She fell on the ceramic, rather than the other way around. Putting your whole body weight behind something can make one hell of a difference when it comes to an injury.
... and I don't intend to have more than the occasional glance at the villains behind the act, mainly to see if the audience can figure it out before the characters do.
4006522 As I said:
Ceramic would usually break into smaller pieces before effectively stabbing through skin and sinew. Which is why it's not used to make swords.
While the above is true for kitchenware, I doubt that any of the bowls or other dishes were made out of this, otherwise it wouldn't have broken as easily as regular ceramic. Yes, I'm nitpicking.
Hmm. Shining doesn't know the guards any better than Stormfeather, but having the prince show up would certainly help their cooperation better than some griffon. At the same time, Shining probably knows a lot more about the crystals than Stormfeather.
So, Shining is better qualified for both tasks. Personally, I'd put him on the hospital first. Stormfeather might as well poke around the castle and see what he can learn in the meantime.
...or ask Cadance to take the hospital. She knows the castle ponies, right?
While we can't wait on someone to come from Canterlot to start the investigation, I think sending for help is a good idea. Some later is better than nothing.
Part of solving the mystery is not knowing who the bad guy is. While you didn't give us much from the ending scene, I'm not sure if it has a place in the story.
Sorry I'm late to the party guys, had NO idea this existed.
As for what to do, I suggest investigating the scene first, with both Shining and Stormfeather. The ambushed guards and injured maid would need time to recover anyway, so rushing off to interrogate them probably wouldn't help much. On the flip side, having two search the area and having someone to bounce ideas off of could very well be better than having only one and miss something or skip a possibility.
Later we can interrogate the guards/maid, if they're in any state fit for such.