The Guardian Shadow

by KnightBrony

Chapter 17: Bridleburg

Chapter 17

Bridleburg

After getting some food, we headed back to the train station. As we walked back, I noticed that the people had stopped whispering about us. In fact, they looked more scared of me than anything else. Not hard to see why. I did send a lamp post flying who knows how far. Looking back on it, it was very immature. But do I regret it? Hell no.

When we got to the station, Iron Spear was already there waiting for us. He had swapped out his armor for a fedora and vest, making him look like he was from the 1930s. He didn't have much else on him, just some saddle bags and a small dagger. When he saw us, he frowned.

“You're late,” he said. I looked at the clock, and it was still a half hour before five.

“What do you mean we're late? We're thirty minutes early?” I asked.

“I've been here since three o' clock. Punctuality is something we stress heavily in the guard,” he said with a smug grin.

“Listen you pompous..” Nova started before I stopped him.

“Now now Nova, no need to get all riled up. He's probably just mad about me mopping the castle floor with him earlier,” I said with a grin. He looked at me with pure malice.

“You caught me off guard zebra. That's all!” he said.

“Whatever. Oh, and I'd prefer it if you called me Shadow,” I said.

“I'll call you whatever I please,” he said getting up in my face.

“Remind me again who Celestia put in charge of this little mission. Oh right, me! Which means I'm your boss right now spear boy,” I said poking him in the chest. He turned red with anger.

“If you want to keep that hoof you better take it off my chest,” he said.

I poked him again “What'cha gonna do about it?” I said. We probably would've killed each other right there if Scarlet hadn't hit us both over the head.

“Enough! Geez, you're acting like a bunch of foals,” she said.

I rubbed the back of my head “Ow! I'm not the one starting trouble. He's the one being a prick,” I said.

“I don't care who started it. Keep it up and I'll finish it,” she said brandishing her bow.

“Fine, whatever. Can we just get this over with already,” I said.

Iron Spear chuckled. Scarlet looked at him “What's so funny?” she asked.

“Nothing. Just seeing him being pushed around by a mare is pretty damn hilarious,” he said. Scarlet turned as red as her hair and fired an arrow over his head, pinning his hat against a wall.

“This mare will shoot you dead in a second. Clear?” she said brandishing a second arrow. Iron Spear gulped. I made Scarlet put her bow down.

“Now who's being foalish” I said. She blushed and put her bow up.

“Well, if we're all done can we board the train. There's some things I'd like to look over before we get to Bridleburg,” I said. Scarlet and Iron Spear muttered under their breath and we got on the train.

Once we were on the train, I decided to take a closer look at the list of the missing. Using what little knowledge I had of detective work, I tried to find something that linked the victims together. I ruled out gender and hair color almost immediately since the victims ranged so far apart. Age was also eliminated. I thought maybe there occupations would yield something, but no luck there either. I set the folder down and rubbed my temples. Scarlet saw this and walked over to me.

“No luck?” she asked.

“Nope. I've gone through every possible route I could think of. Age, hair color, gender, species, occupation. I've looked at this every way I could think of and I still see nothing,” I said slumping in my seat. Scarlet frowned and put a hoof on my shoulder.

“Come on, you'll figure it out. There has got to be some connection,” she said sitting down next to me.

“I guess. I just keep thinking that if Celestia's guards couldn't figure anything out, what hope do I have?”

“Well, maybe they missed something,” she said.

“Like what?”

“Well, maybe they just didn't ask the right questions,” she said. I thought about this for a moment. That makes some sense. The questions you ask can play a big role in solving a case.

“You might be on to something Scarlet. Iron Spear, come here for a second,” I said. He scowled at me.

“I'm not moving. Just ask your question,” he said.

“Ok. What kind of questions would the guards ask if they were working on this case?” I asked.

“The usual I guess. The victim's name, last known location, relatives, where they lived,” said. That's when it clicked.

“Wait, say that last part again,” I said.

“Where they lived?” he said. I clapped my hooves together.

“Yes that's it!” I said and spread the documents on the floor.

“What are you doing Shadow?” Scarlet asked.

“Where they lived. I don't know how I didn't see it before. Take a look at this,” I said showing everyone the list of the missing.

“Nova, read where the first victim was from,” I said.

“Trottingham,” he said.

“Good, Nebula, the second victim.”

“Um, Cloudsdale,” she said.

“Exactly!” I yelled.

“You're not making a lick of sense Shadow,” Scarlet said.

“What do you mean, it makes perfect sense. Look, out of all these victims, not a single one is from Bridleburg. Why is that?” I asked. Everyone looked at me puzzled.

“Here's why. The kidnapper has only been kidnapping people who aren't from Bridleburg. In other words, travelers. It's easy to notice when a citizen disappears, but travelers come and go. They're harder to notice when they go missing,” I said. I could almost hear the wheels in everyone's head turning as they came to the same conclusion I had.

“So you see. That's this guy's MO. He kidnaps travelers. For what reason I don't know, but at least now we know his pattern. This'll make it easier to catch him,” I said triumphantly.

“How?” Nova asked. I smiled a devious grin.

“You just leave the planning to me Nova,” I said.

After another few hours, we were in Bridleburg. Despite what was happening, the place looked pretty calm. Ponies were going about their business like normal. Shop owners were trying to sell their wares. A mother was scolding her child for something. A couple were leaning on each other happily. Everything looked normal.

But something felt off about this place. I can't quite place what, but something felt off. It felt like the whole town was a sleeping beast that could awake at any moment. I didn't want to be there when it did.

“Okay guys, here's the plan, we'll.....where's Iron Spear?” I asked. We all looked around and sure enough, he was nowhere to be seen.

“That arrogant bastard! He ran off,” I yelled in frustration.

“Why should we care? That guy's a prick. I say we should just let him take care of this and enjoy the sights,” Nova said. Thankfully Nebula smacked him so I didn't have to.

“We're not here for sight seeing Nova, we're here to catch a kidnapper. Though I guess we're one short now,” I said sighing. “Whatever, we'll deal with him later. For right now, here's the plan. We split up and ask around, see if anyone has seen anything. Nova, you and Nebula go together. Scarlet, you go with Jade,” I said.

“What about you?” Nebula asked.

I pointed to Silver Thorn “I've got him,” I said.

“Hey, come to think of it, you said that sword of yours could talk right?” Nova asked.

“Not exactly talk, but something like that. Why?”

“Nothing, except we haven't heard a peep out of it since you told us. I don't think it's true,” Nova said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Finally, one of you asks. I was getting tired of keeping silent,” Silver Thorn said. Everyone jumped in surprise and looked around.

“Who said that?” Nova asked.

“This one's not too bright is he,” he said. I and everyone else chuckled a this.

“Wait, that sword really can talk?” Nova said.

“Quite well I might add. Also, it's not exactly speaking. I'm merely projecting my thoughts into your mind. It used to be only Shadow who could hear me, but Princess Luna has helped remedy that situation,” he explained.

“If that's true then why have you been silent this whole time?” Scarlet asked.

“None of you bothered to ask,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh,” they all said.

“Well, now that that's over with, let's get this show on the road. I'd like to get this done as quickly as possible. Let's meet up in the town square in two hours. Clear?” I said. Everyone nodded and we split up. When we were a fair distance away, I finally asked Silver Thorn.

“Were you seriously waiting this whole time for someone to ask you if you could speak?”

“Yes. I didn't want to be rude and scare them by suddenly talking,” he said.

“Ok, that makes sense. But is that seriously the only reason?”

“Ok, so I was also waiting to make my big reveal. I've got to have some fun.”

I let that sink in for a moment. Then I burst out laughing so loud people began to stare at me.

“And that my disembodied friend is why you are awesome,” I said.

“Well thank you. But enough of that, we have a task to complete,” he said. I cleared my throat.

“You're right, let's go,” I said.

So we began asking around for any information we could get. But every time I tried getting info about the kidnappings, the pony I was talking to would change the subject or say they didn't know anything. One shop keeper even threatened to report me to the local police.

“This is weird, no one is giving me a straight answer,” I thought to Silver Thorn.

“Agreed. They know something, but are too afraid to give us an answer.”

“The real question is what they're afraid of.” I heard a clock chime and saw that it was almost time to meet up with my friends.

I decided to take a short cut through an alley way. It was surprisingly dirty compared to the rest of the city. Broken bottles and various garbage littered the alley. I ignored this and kept walking.

As I was walking, I began to feel a presence. I looked over my shoulder and saw no one. The presence began to grow, but each time I looked over my shoulder, I saw nothing but the alley.

“Silver Thorn, can you sense that?” I asked.

“Yes. Someone or something is here. Be ready Shadow,” he said. I kept walking, waiting for my moment. Finally, when the presence grew large enough, I gripped my sword and swung.

“No more hiding!” I yelled as I made contact with nothing. I looked around and saw only the dirty alley.

“What's going on, I could've sworn there was someone there.”

“Shadow, behind you!” Silver Thorn yelled in my mind. I turned just quick enough to slice a club in half, clearly aimed at my head. Holding the now destroyed club was a large earth pony, a stallion by the look of it. He wore a mask so I couldn’t see his face. The rest of his body was obscured by a long black trench coat.

“Hm, so we've got a fighter. Interesting. You'll be fine a fine catch,” the stallion said as he picked up a broken bottle.

“So I take it your the one responsible for the string of kidnappings here lately?” I said placing myself in a fighting stance.

“So you've heard of me?” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, I've heard of you, and I'm here to stop you”.

“Sorry, can't let you do that. I won't have my fun be spoiled by some zebra”.

“Sorry, but spoiling your fun's kinda my job,” I said and lunged at him. He back peddled and quickly jumped over me with surprising grace considering his size.

“Perhaps another time. Ta-ta for now little zebra,” he said and pulled something out of his jacket and threw it on the ground. A second later the whole alley was filled with smoke. I quickly used my alchemy to clear it away, but it was too late. He was already gone.

“Argh, he got away!” I yelled kicking a crate into splinters.

“Calm down Shadow! At least now we have an idea of who we're dealing with,” Silver Thorn said trying to calm me down.

“Yeah, I suppose. Let's go find the others. We've gotta tell them about this,” I said running as fast as I could to the town square.

Sure enough, my friends were waiting there, all looking annoyed and dejected. When they saw me, their looks turned to one's of concern.

“Shadow, I know you're late, but you didn't need to run here,” Scarlet said.

“That's not it. I was attacked,” I said trying to catch my breath.

“What! By who!?” Scarlet asked looking me over for any injuries.

“We believe it was the person committing the kidnappings,” Silver Thorn said.

“Okay, that's gonna have to take some getting used to,” Nova said shaking his head.

“That doesn't matter right now Nova. What did he look like?” Scarlet said.

“I didn't get a good look. He was wearing a mask and trench coat,” I said.

“Well that doesn't help much,” Scarlet said putting a hoof to her chin in thought.

“Well, it's more info than I managed to gather by asking around. What about you guys, any luck?” Everyone hung their heads.

“Nope”.

“No”.

“Not a damn thing”.

“Nothing. It was weird, it was like they were scared of even mentioning it,” Scarlet said.

“Same here. It's bizarre. Usually when stuff like this happens, people are quick to gossip. But not now. Now they seem terrified to even think about it,” I said pacing.

“What could it be?” Jade asked.

“I don't know. How about the police, did you try there?”

“Not yet, I was about to go there but then I saw it was time to meet up,” Scarlet said. Jade nodded her agreement.

“Same here,” Nebula said. Nova nodded.

“Well, looks like we've got our next stop. By the way, has anyone seen Iron Spear?” I asked.

“Nope, and I don't want to. That stallion rubs me the wrong way,” Scarlet said with a scowl.

“Me too. He's scary,” Nebula said.

“Jade also not like Iron Spear,” Jade said.

“Well let's forget about him for right now,” I said. I looked up at the sky and saw that it was almost dark.

“Let's leave the police till tomorrow. For now, let's get to a hotel and get some sleep,” I said. Everyone yawned their agreement.

Thankfully, the Princess had given us some bits to use for lodging and other amenities. Otherwise we'd have been bunking on the street. I could've made us some tents, but given that we were on an official mission, I figured it'd be okay to splurge a bit.

Unfortunately, when we finally picked out a hotel, who should be there but Sir Asshat himself, Iron Spear. We all proceeded to face-hoof/paw. He saw us and did the same.

“Oh great,” me and Iron Spear said. I walked up to Iron Spear.

“What are you doing here zebra?” he asked.

“I would think that would be obvious. The real question here is this: What the hell is your deal?” I said.

“My deal?” he asked.

“Yeah. I can understand you not liking me, but this is serious business here. We're supposed to be working together on this.”

“Like I told you, I don't need your help. I can handle this on my own zebra. If my fellow guards we're here, the case would already be solved,” he said with a smug grin.

“Oh really? If that's so, then why hasn't this problem already been solved?” I asked.

“What?”

“Yeah. Celestia already sent guards here to investigate and their efforts turned up nothing. What makes you think you could do any better?” I said with a smug grin of my own.

“Mind your tongue zebra. I will not stand to have my fellow guards insulted in such a way,” he said getting into a fighting stance.

“I'm not trying to insult them. All I'm saying is that the guards have already investigated and found nothing. It's obvious that you need help on this. That is unless you want more ponies to disappear to Celestia knows where. You don't want that now do you?” I asked. Iron Spear wavered for a moment, letting my words sink in.

After a few moments, he sighed and said “Fine! You can help. But only until we find whoever's doing this. After that, you stay out of my way! Got it?”

“Got it. Just so long as you understand that this means I'm in charge, and if we want to find this guy we're gonna have to work together. That means listening to what I have to say and not running off on your own. Got it?” I said.

“Yes,” he grumbled out.

I smiled “Good. Now once me and my friends get checked in, we can discuss what we've all learned so far. Sound good?” I said.

“Yeah,” he said deflated. I walked back to my friends, who had mixed looks of anger and annoyance.

“Don't give me those looks. He could be useful in helping us find the guy whose doing this,” I said in my defense.

“We get that Shadow, but I don't trust him. There's something off about that stallion, I just can't put my hoof on what,” Scarlet said.

“You think I trust this guy? I don't trust him one bit, but if we're gonna solve this we're gonna need his help. He may be a major jerk, but he's a jerk with experience in the Royal Guard. He might have some techniques that could help us find this guy. So can we all just play nice at least till we catch this guy. After that, we won't have to see his face ever again. We clear?” I asked.

“Crystal,” Scarlet said sarcastically.

“Ok, sarcasm aside, let's get settled in The Princess is buying,” I said. This elicited lots of cheers from my team as we went off to get some much deserved rest.

Comments

[Classy Toad]

... Chrono is a griffon. Yeah it's that obvious. ... Well for me it was. Probably not most people though...

[Phobos]

In time they will find chrono.

[Chrome Masquerade]

But as it stands, the kidnappings continue and I will stand for it any longer,” she said.

That would be stand for it no longer or won't stand for it any longer