Crossing the Rubicon

by Blade Star

Chapter 3

A few days later, and Shining was seated in his office. While he no longer held a permanent position at Canterlot Castle, his old office had, for the time being at any rate, remained unused, so he was able to temporarily use it for his investigations.

He’d spent most of the morning pouring over reports. Naturally, after the dust had settled, the Royal Guard had begun canvassing for witnesses in the period of time leading up to the explosion. While Elusive’s shop might have been tucked away down a narrow side alley, it was still close to a large square and thoroughfare through the city. There was a chance somepony may have seen something suspicious.

In addition, after the fire brigade had extinguished the blaze, and the utility company had made the gas main safe, they had begun investigating the ruined interior of the store to search for any clues that may have survived.

But neither of those avenues concerned Shining at the moment. He, despite his wife’s urgings, remained almost fixated on the subject of Elusive. He was determined to find some sort of link between the changeling and what had happened. And to that end, he was pouring over the files the Royal Guard had on him. After all, when an enemy spy crosses the lines, you could never be too careful. He had been fully debriefed by the intelligence services in the aftermath of the incursion, and plenty had been gleaned about him.

Nirx, to use his real name, was once a high ranking and well respected infiltrator in Chrysalis’ regime. Highly experienced, with over a dozen successful operations under his belt. He specialised not only in infiltration and intelligence gathering, but was also a gifted counter spy, able to root out interlopers with frightening efficiency. It seemed his true talent though, lay in the art of interrogation, as he was more than able to outwit the ponies involved in his debriefing, frequently switching their roles.

All in all, as far as Shining was concerned, he was dangerous and not to be trusted. Even if he wasn’t acting against Equestrian interests, his true motivations were still largely a mystery, including why he chose to defect at such a critical moment.

Despite that though, the unicorn could find nothing to suggest he was behind the bombing. He had no motive, and as far as Shining knew, lacked the means to carry out such a strike.

With an irritated sigh, Shining closed the file on his desk. This was getting him nowhere. For Celestia’s sake, he still wasn’t sure if whoever did this was trying to kill his wife or that damn tailor! How could something as dramatic as a terrorist bombing be so intractable? Usually somepony claimed responsibility for such a thing. If it had been somepony trying to kill Cadence, surely they would. Even if the attack failed to kill her, it had come terrifyingly close, more than enough for a propaganda coup. And if Elusive was the target, there had been plenty of other opportunities since to finish him off.

Shaking his head again, Shining prepared to head out. Staring at paperwork wouldn’t solve this. He needed to pound the pavement and get hooves on the ground. First stop, the scene of the crime.

---

Elusive’s shop was still sealed off, as was the narrow alleyway that led to it. Two guardsponies stood on sentry duty, stopping curious passers by from doing anything more than glance at the still smoking mess beyond the crime scene tape that hung from lampposts on either side of the street. Of course, Shining was quickly waved through. As the OIC or officer in case, he was in charge of this whole operation. Heading down the alley, he passed a couple of ponies from the gas company working to properly repair the damaged gas main, so that neighbouring shops and houses could once again have hot water and heating. Beyond them, he soon came to the shop itself.

Structurally, the store had survived fairly well. The explosion, while powerful, had not been enough to seriously compromise the structure. And while it would be an expensive job to make it safe and habitable again, the building would not need to be torn down. The windows and front door had all been blown out, and occasional shards of glass still littered the street. Around each aperture, thick black soot had laid down a coat, showing where the flames had reached their zenith. It had certainly been a huge fireball, Shining surmised. Had Cadence or Elusive still been inside, both would have been virtually vaporised. Regardless, the explosion had generated enough force to hurl plenty of shrapnel out after them.

The only part of the lower floor that seemed unscathed was the small wooden sign that hung above the door. A small, deep red thing with gold embossed lettering that read ‘Elusive’s of Canterlot Est. 517CR Fitting and Alternations’.

In contrast, the upper floor, which housed Elusive’s modest apartment, was all but unscathed. And were the integrity of the floor not in question, it might even have been safe for him to return. Were it not a crime scene, of course.

Shining stepped carefully through the open doorway. The shop door, or at least what was left of it, was resting nearby, leaning against the brick wall, now little more than a collection of splinters.

The interior had not fared so well. In fact it was difficult to tell what this place had been. Everything was blackened, with only the sturdy shop counter at the far end of the room still standing. All the clothing racks, displays and such had all been burned up. Moving amongst this mess were several ponies from both the Royal Guard and Canterlot’s fire brigade. All took note of Shining’s arrival, and a young corporal was quick to report to him.

“Good morning, Captain,” he said, giving a quick salute, which Shining returned.

“What have we got?” he asked, feeling like a Hocklyn homicide detective in one of those cheap detective novels Rarity, along with Cadence, were so fond of.

“Fire investigators have found the point of origin,” the corporal explained, gesturing to the far wall, which was now scorched with a distinctive soot pattern.

“It looks like there were two charges. One to blow the main open, and a much larger one to make sure the damage was catastrophic. Full of ball bearings too; a home-made claymore. Real nasty.”

“Lucky nopony was in here when it went off.” Shining said, surveying the damage. “It did enough damage to ponies at range. I’d hate to see what happens at point blank. Any idea of what kind of device was used?”

A funny paradox with bombs like this. In the explosion, a bomb destroys everything but itself. Scattered amidst the debris was Equestria’s most challenging jigsaw puzzle. If they could find all, or at least most of the components, they could reconstruct the device.

“Techs are combing through now. Everything that might be of note is being collected and sent back to the castle for reconstruction,” the corporal explained

“Good,” Shining said with a nod. “Recreate the bomb, and we’re one step closer to finding its maker.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” a new voice said, catching both stallions off guard. Shining’s hackles rose as he recognised the somewhat high Canterlot falsetto. Turning to the doorway, he saw Elusive, calmly surveying the scene.

He was dressed in a modest waistcoat which was deep crimson at the front, and black silk at the back. Underneath, Shining could make out the outline of bandages. He was surprised that the doctors at Canterlot General had let him out so quick, considering how he’d almost been shredded a few days ago.

“Hey, this is a crime scene!” the young corporal barked.

“So it is,” Elusive said easily with a smile. “But it is also my business and place of residence.”

“You can’t be here, Elusive,” Shining reiterated firmly. “The place isn’t safe for equine habitation. You’ll need to find a hotel or something for the time being.”

“Oh, I already have, thank you,” the unicorn went on, continuing to trot around, examining the debris here and there. “Your dear wife helpfully put in a good word for me with the princess. She was kind enough to give me a room in the castle, as thanks for saving the young mare’s life.”

Shining glared at the tailor, furious at both his words, and the fact that he’d succeeded in making him angry.

“But I was curious,” Elusive went on, thoroughly enjoying being the object of Shining’s anger. “How the investigation was coming.”

The young corporal made to answer Elusive, but stopped short when Shining shot him a look. Gesturing with a foreleg, Shining led Elusive back out into the alley. At least this way he was away from the crime scene, as well as prying eyes and listening ears. He was grateful when the tailor followed without issue. If he’d learnt anything from their brief interactions, it was that Elusive enjoyed toying with him.

“Why are you here, Elusive?” he asked in a low voice when they were back outside.

“Well, I just said, didn’t I?” Elusive replied innocently. “Idle curiosity.”

“I meant why are you here, and not still in hospital.”

At this, Elusive barked out a short laugh.

“Oh, out of the question!” he exclaimed with a grin. “I couldn’t stand another moment being cooped up in there. It was bad enough the last time I found myself in need of their services. Given what happened then, I’d call this little more than a flesh wound.” He gestured to the bandages that covered the still fresh injury.

Shining sighed. This was the trouble with Elusive. Every question you asked either got an outright lie for an answer, or a subtle misdirection. The former infiltrator seemed to do very little without a definitive purpose, so Shining doubted he was just checking in. Perhaps…

“Was there something you wanted to tell me?” Shining ventured carefully. “Something you neglected to mention before, perhaps?” Elusive shook his head with a smile, letting out a disapproving tut.

“Really, Captain. You still believe I’m, what is it they say, ‘holding out’ on you? I assure you, this whole affair came as just as much a surprise to me as it did to you.” Shining frowned.

“So there’s no one out there who might hold a grudge against you? No enemies? No dissatisfied customers? No angry government agencies wanting you dead?” That last one was just an idle jab, but actually opened the wily changeling up a little. Elusive let out a chuckle.

“Well,” He said, pausing to dab his eye with a handkerchief. “It’s true that I did have to leave home and hearth. But in my experience, the Changeling Kingdom’s revenue service isn’t in the habit of killing off debtors who don’t er...pony up.”

Shining was half bewildered, half amused. The lie was so outrageous and idiotic that nopony would fall for it. And yet he had no way to call Elusive out on it either. He was about to go back inside, when a group of passing ponies stoked his thoughts.

A small family was trotting past the entrance to the alleyway. Two young colts excitedly hurried over to the crime scene tape to peer down at the burnt out store, only for their mother to quickly scoop them up and usher them away. Shining turned back to Elusive.

“You know,” he said in an earnest tone. “You and Cadence were really lucky. Not just at escaping, but lucky that there was nopony else down this way when it happened. This might be a quiet part of the city, but you still get plenty of families come down here, little colts and fillies.” He turned to go back in. “We have to be grateful for small mercies, I suppose.”

With that, he headed back for the doorway, not looking back. He resisted the instinctive response to perk his ears when Elusive spoke up.

“Yes, I suppose we were quite lucky,” he observed, his voice now minus its earlier, jovial tone.

Smiling to himself, Shining headed back inside.

Author's Note:

And so the investigation begins. It looks like Shining finally managed to rattle Elusive a little. Though perhaps he should consider him a cautionary tale when it comes to making mistakes on your tax return.

Comments

[harts fire]

Hey, this is a crime scene!” the young corporal barked

then why the hell is fat ass armor there?
in the north he may have power but not there, throw his ass out.

yes he is a prince in name only he has no real power ship him back north were he can play tin solder and not get a boo boo.

i am really liking this story as it is going to have so many tasty clues.