Crossing the Rubicon

by Blade Star

Chapter 5

Tempest didn't run; she knew there was no point. Running would just make her look more guilty than she already did. Standing here, with a dead griffon splayed out in front of her, she wouldn’t blame the guards for jumping to conclusions. Of course, once you took more than a cursory glance at the scene, it would become obvious that she had nothing to do with it. But for now, she was a pony in the wrong place, at the wrong time, playing right into the killer’s hooves.

As the guards burst through the door, she did little but raise her forelegs. She quickly found herself hoofcuffed by a couple of them. Still, she might as well get the ball rolling on her eventual release.

“Royal Special Agent!” she declared, identifying herself as being in the employ of Princess Luna. To her surprise, this actually had an effect on her captors.

“Hey, hold up!” a commanding voice called out. A moment later, the hoofcuffs were removed, and she was helped back onto her hooves, though she remained restrained.

Tempest found herself face to face with a pegasus guard, a sergeant going by his uniform. He obviously recognised her, and in days gone by, that alone would been enough to book her. Now though, it seemed she’d earned a bit of clout in the world of law enforcement.

“My, my, so you are,” the sergeant said with a little surprise. “And what brings an agent of Princess Luna to the scene of a murder?”

“Tail job,” Tempest replied. “Check the table lamp. You’ll find a mic just under the switch. I was listening in on our mutual friend. I had a lead he may have had something to do with the bombing a few days ago. I heard him come in, meet with somepony, then sounds of a struggle, so I came up here to intervene.”

“Too late for that,” the sergeant reflected, glancing down at the dead griffon. “You get eyes on the suspect?” Tempest shook her head.

“Was gone by the time I got here,” she replied. “Nopony passed me in the stairwell.” The sergeant now turned to one of his subordinates.

“Check the hotel elevators. See if the operators took anypony down in the last few minutes. Get descriptions as best you can of anypony leaving in a hurry.”

“Yes sir,” a younger private answered with a nod, before leaving the room.

“I doubt we’ll get much,” the sergeant admitted. “But a shot in the dark is better than no shot at all.”

“I’d check the street too,” Tempest suggested. “The balcony windows are open. Victim’s a Griffon mercenary, wouldn’t be that out there to suggest it was one of his own kind. They could have just took off from here. I wouldn’t have seen them, and it would make for a quick exit.”

The sergeant nodded in agreement.

“Alright, you know what comes next,” he said, after getting things moving with his fellow guards. “I gotta take you in. If this thing is connected to the attempt on Princess Cadence, Captain Armor will want to hear all of this.”

“I bet he will,” Tempest said with a smile. Somehow she doubted meeting up with Shining Armor was going to be any fun.

---

Once again, Tempest found herself in Canterlot Castle. She wasn’t under arrest, something that had been made clear to her when she was frog marched in. She was only here as a witness. It certainly didn’t feel like that though, as she sat in Shining Armor’s office. To say that the stallion was unhappy was a gross understatement.

“So,” he said icily. “Let’s just go over things as they stand now. I have no idea whether the bomb was meant for my wife or your weird friend, I don’t know who planted the bomb, how they did it, or why, and the only lead either of us had who might have been able to lead us to whoever is behind this, is now dead. How am I doing so far?”

Tempest, for her part, just glared back. He was pissed off, she understood that. But nothing that had happened at the hotel was her fault.

“He would have been dead either way,” she countered coldly. “First rule of assassination; kill the assassin. Whoever did it probably didn’t realise I was there, until just before. Then they probably sounded the alarm that caused your pet gorillas to come bursting in. You should be talking to your boys, not me. One of them more than likely came face to face with your killer.”

Shining now got up from behind his desk and began to stalk around toward Tempest. While she stood a good head taller than most ponies, she and Shining were about the same size, so he actually had a chance of intimidating her.

“That’s a nice story, Tempest,” he said as he stood next to her. “But I’m a firm believer in Ockham's Razor. My guards find an ex-soldier, and former enemy of Equestria, at the scene of a murder. The victim may well be responsible for the attempted murder of my wife, who I believe you yourself tried to kill at one point. I wouldn’t say it’s too far fetched to consider that you might have killed him.”

Tempest rolled her eyes in disgust.

“Without getting a drop of blood on me,” she replied. “Concealing the murder weapon so well that you still haven’t found it. And all without leaving so much as a stray mane hair in the entire room. I’m flattered, Captain. I may be good, but I’m not that good.”

Shining just sneered at her. Tempest continued.

“What possible motive would I have?” she exclaimed. “I work for Princess Luna. I spent that last eight months dealing with threats to Equestria. Do you really think if I was so disloyal I’d try something so erratic?”

“All I know,” Shining said, rounding on her. “Is that you’ve been interfering in this investigation from the start. Whether that’s to help, or just muddy the waters is up for debate.”

“I can assure you, Captain,” a new voice called out, surprising both stallion and mare. “The only pony managing to muddy the waters is you.”

Standing at the doorway, a sentry just behind him, was Elusive. On this occasion though, he didn’t seem to be in the mood for games. He soon continued.

“And from what I can see, you appear to be questioning somepony, without offering them their right to speak with counsel, or even informing them of the charge against them.”

“What do you want, Elusive,” Shining snarled.

“Firstly,” Elusive replied. “I wish to exonerate my good friend. Whatever vendetta you might have against me. I shan’t stand for such accusations being levied against a mare who has done nothing but fight for Equestria for well over a year now. And second, I wish to volunteer some information.”

That quickly got Shining’s attention. At once, his focus shifted from Tempest over to her changeling companion.

“You know something about what happened to Gerhard?” he asked, his tone now more sincere.

“I’m surprised somepony with such a rabid hatred of my species didn’t come to the conclusion sooner.”

“What conclusion?” Shining demanded.

“Your killer was a changeling, Captain,” Elusive revealed. Shining snorted.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Your Ockham’s Razor, dear boy,” the changeling said with a smile. “The killer did not flee down the stairs, nor did he take the elevators, and no bystanders saw anycreature with wings fly out of any room in the hotel. He was still there when Tempest arrived, and was still there when your lackeys left.”

“What?!” Shining and Tempest exclaimed.

“It’s an old trick,” Elusive said with a chuckle. “Changelings can take any form after all, not just living beings. An assassin could sneak into a room, disguise himself as something as innocuous as say, a desk lamp, and wait for his victim. When they arrive, and the moment is right, they ambush their target, then simply return to their concealment. All that remains is to wait a while until the heat dies down, and then they may withdraw without anypony batting an eye. A good infiltrator can hold their disguise, motionless, for up to seventy two hours. I’d imagine by now he’s just crossed back into his homeland.”

Shining and Tempest listened to the explanation in amazement. For her part, Tempest was mentally beating herself up for not realising it all sooner. Shining however, while in agreement with the tailor, still had questions.

“If that’s all true,” he said. “Why would the changelings want to kill a random griffon mercenary?”

At this, Elusive’s cunning smile returned.

“I never said I had all the answers,” he replied coyly.

“Don’t get cute, Elusive!” Shining snarled. “You walk in here and tell me your people are involved in an extrajudicial killing on foreign soil, and you expect me to believe you don’t have the slightest clue why they did it?”

“I’m not an infiltrator any more, Captain,” Elusive replied serenely. “I have no more an idea of what is going on inside their government than you do. If you want to find out the why, I suggest you ask them. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take my friend and be on our way.”

Tempest turned to Shining, but he made no effort to hold her, so she calmly followed Elusive back out into the corridor.

“Thanks for bailing me out,” she said quietly. Elusive smiled.

“And have you miss our usual lunch? Never!”

---

Shining snorted. As much as he hated to admit it, Elusive was right. There was pretty much no way that Tempest was responsible for Gerhard’s death. He mentally kicked himself for lashing out; a soldier kept control of his emotions, no matter the situation.

He was frustrated. The one possible lead he had was now a very dead end, and Elusive, if he was to even be believed, had now just left him with a whole new rabbit hole to go tumbling down. Changelings assassinating a griffon on Equestrian soil? It was insane! It was a well documented fact that, following the attack on Canterlot the Griffon Kingdom has adhered to their treaty with Equestria, and had several skirmishes with changelings as a result. Unlike Equestria though, they didn’t represent a near bottomless source of food for the insectoid race. So why do something so rash to kill one measly griffon, who wasn’t even that high up in their military?

There was only one way to find that out, and that was to confront the Changeling government directly. Following the peace with Equestria, the new government had begun diplomatic overtures, something previously totally foreign to them. While no counterpart existed within their borders, there was now an embassy in Canterlot, established as a place to conduct negotiations when the official treaties were all worked out. It remained in operation as Thorax worked to reorganise his people into a civilised nation.

Leaving the castle, though staying within the government district, Shining soon made his way down there. Unlike more official embassies, it wasn’t a case of making an appointment to see the ambassador; strictly speaking there wasn’t yet such a position. Instead, a small group of changelings, answering to Thorax, carried messages back and forth via a dedicated magical network, something that the changelings had perfected over the years, allowing for long distance, and above all, confidential communication. Not to say that ponies had nothing similar, their own embassies made use of telegraph networks, employing complex ciphers to keep messages secret.

Shining briefly mused how long it would be before the changelings had a government to speak of, beyond Thorax himself and a few advisors. Then again, until a few months ago, everything that happened in their lands was simply the will of the queen, the rest were just obedient drones. Their society was so different to ponies, more like dragons, or diamond dogs. They had never had need for a government as such, just a tyrannical ruler and those who enforced their whims.

Making his was past other, far grander establishments, the unicorn soon found himself outside the fairly humble building that represented the Changeling Kingdom’s official mission. It was little more than a large house, with no national flag flying from the room, since, again, changelings had never needed such things.

Ringing the bell, it wasn’t too long before the door was opened and Shining found himself face to face with one of the multicoloured creatures that called the place home.

“Prince Shining Armor!” the changeling, a female, said in surprise.

“I need to speak with the ambassador,” Shining said in a firm, but not unpleasant tone. The changeling nodded and stepped aside.

“Of course, sir. Please, come in.”

Stepping inside, Shining found himself standing inside a modest hallway. The décor was all pony as far as he could see. With no experience themselves, changelings tended to simply mimic ponies when it came to a lot of things. They’d even apparently adopted their own bizarre version of Heath’s Warming.

The changeling led him across into the modest office that was set aside for the ambassador. If Shining remembered correctly, he was a former soldier, reasonably high in rank, and thus having more understanding of ponies than the typical drone. He stood when Shining walked in, his green and orange carapace looking somewhat out of place in the austere office.

“Welcome, Captain Armor,” he greeted, addressing him as a fellow soldier than royalty. “Please, sit down. I had a feeling somepony might be visiting us today.”

His jocular manner and friendly greeting made Shining uneasy. Changelings had two modes as far as he knew; meek and fearful, when they were vulnerable or at a disadvantage, and gleeful and twisted when they knew they had the upper hoof. Shining liked neither, though he preferred the former over the latter.

“What makes you say that?” Shining asked as he took a seat, and politely declined the revolting grubs the changeling who’d let him in offered. The ambassador though, remained relaxed.

“You’re here about that murdered griffon, are you not?” he went on. That put Shining on edge.

“I was hoping you could answer some questions about it, yes,” he admitted carefully.

“Well, allow me to answer the obvious,” the ambassador continued. “Yes, he was assassinated by one of our infiltrators.”

It took all of Shining’s self control not to balk at that. Changelings might be new to diplomacy, but no creature could be so stupid as to admit that so openly. Doing his best to keep his face unreadable, Shining continued his questions.

“May I know your reason?” he asked, masking his surprise.

“My people didn’t just face you as our enemies,” the ambassador explained. “During our conflict with Equestria, we also found ourselves threatened by your griffon allies. Closer to our homeland, they were a much greater threat. They made several raids into our homeland. But as they were unable to get close to our hive, they instead used hit and run attacks to pick off drones where they could, and quite indiscriminately. Her Majesty declared these brigands sky pirates as a result, not soldiers, and posted rewards for their capture or death. Gerhard was responsible for the murder of over a dozen of our people.”

Murder? Shining thought in disgust. What nonsense was this? They were at war, murder isn’t murder in war. Still, if that was the horseapples he wanted to peddle…

“Whether he was a criminal or not,” Shining said sternly. “You don’t have the right to send one our your soldiers into our capital to enact revenge. We are at peace. Had you come to my government, we would have been willing to discuss extradition or reparations. But this military operation on foreign soil is simply unacceptable!”

“A fact I raised with our commanders,” the ambassador agreed, the smile now fading. “But there are certain people you don’t say no to, captain. I’m sure you know that as well as I do.”

“Possibly,” Shining said, giving him a sideways glance. “And who was it that authorised this assassination? The Princesses will want to know who is responsible for all this.”

Now the ambassador’s tone shifted dramatically. The smile was replaced with a cold, hard, state. The easygoing, relaxed attitude became guarded and closed off. And if Shining didn’t know better, he almost seemed...fearful.

“I’m afraid that information is classified,” he said quickly, making it clear that he wasn’t going to give anything more. Shining nodded in understanding.

“I see,” he said simply. “In that case, I’ll report this to the princesses. You can expect a visit from somepony in the diplomatic service within the hour to...discuss this.”

With that, he got up, and left. He might not know a whole lot about changelings, but you didn’t have to be Elusive to see what was going on here. This was a nice little conspiracy. And it was looking more and more like Elusive was at the centre of it. He was most likely the target, not Cadence. Still, he had no idea why.

His whole investigation was at a standstill. He didn’t know why they killed Gerhard. He didn’t know that Gerhard planted the bomb. Heck, he didn’t know for certain whether it was Cadence or Elusive who was the target. All he knew was that a bomb had gone off in his store.

Changelings had tried to kill Elusive before. They’d also saved his life. So why come after him now? It was clear he wasn’t going to get anything through the official channels, and investigating here in Canterlot was just sending him going in circles that led nowhere. Perhaps then he should try unofficial channels? While Shining didn’t exactly care for changelings, for understandable reasons, there were a few he got along with. Thorax was alright, if a bit of a wimp. But there was another who was perhaps the only changeling alive he could have a conversation with. A fellow soldier, who might just be able to shed some light on this whole mess.

It was time to take a trip to the Changeling Kingdom.

---

A few hours later, and Shining found himself in perhaps the last place he wanted to be beside Tartarus. After all, on his previous visit, he had been suspended upside down in a cocoon filled with revolting slime, while he was slowly drained of love, with nothing to do but watch the same thing happen to his wife, his daughter, his little sister, her friends, and their two rulers.

To say he hated it was a gross understatement. Even though now the corrupting dark magic was gone, and with the changelings no longer sucking all the ambient love, plants were growing and wildlife had returned, the place still left him feeling disgusted. For one thing, he couldn’t stand navigating this infernal hive. While the roof had been blown off the place, deeper inside, it was still a maze of dark passageways, with openings that seemingly moved around. To a changeling, with a connection to their hive, it was simple enough, even intuitive, to get around. To a unicorn though, it was a demented maze that was constantly changing.

It didn’t help that he was in a part of the hive most changelings no longer went to. Then again, he could hardly meet his contact when there were others around. After all, he was taking an awful risk getting this information to him. Were it not for certain events, Shining would have little leverage to convince him. Even as it was, it had not been an easy task.

Rounding a corner, passing through a large, seemingly pulsating portal, Shining grimaced as he felt something slimy drip onto his shoulder. Emerging out into a large chamber, he found himself at his destination. Now where was…

“I was wondering when you’d get here,” a voice called out.

Shining started and looked around, his eyes scanning for the source. In this large, open room, the echo made it difficult to tell where it was coming from.

“Where are you?” he demanded crossly. The voice chuckled.

“Close by,” they replied. “I’m using a new disguise for our little meeting, and I don’t want you to see it.”

Shining wheeled around, trying find the source of the voice, and took on a slightly saddened expression.

“You don’t trust me? I’m hurt,” he said sarcastically

“And you trust me completely, of course. Just being seen together could cause us both problems. So you’ll have to make do.”

“I need some information, about one of your infiltrators,” Shining said, still glancing around warily.

“Is this about that tailor’s shop in Canterlot?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t do.” Now it was Shining’s turn to chuckle.

“I never said you did. I figured somepony hired a griffon to do their dirty work for them.”

“Very good, Shining. I see you ascension to royalty hasn’t dulled your instincts.”

“Nor yours,” Shining growled. He then continued. “I have an idea of the who. What I don’t know is why.”

“You’d have to ask the griffon on that one.” Shining smiled.

“Unless you know how to run a séance, I can’t. One of your infiltrators assassinated him in his hotel room a day after the bombing.”

“It doesn’t really matter, your highness,” the voice continued carefully. “You’re investigating a very small, and very insignificant piece of a much larger puzzle.”

Now Shining was interested. This sounded more like progress. He’d have to tread carefully though. One slip up and his nearby friend wouldn’t give him anything.

“What do you mean?” he asked, still glancing around, looking for the slightest hint of movement, straining his ears to pick up the smallest increase in pitch and volume that might suggest a direction.

“There’s been an awful lot of activity along the border between my country and the Griffon Kingdom these past few weeks. Small bands of kommandos using the clouds to hide their movements along the frontier. Troop movements inside the country have nearly doubled. And the telegraph wires in Moscrow have been practically buzzing with military traffic.”

There was only one explanation Shining could think of to explain all that.

“Sounds like they’re preparing for an attack,” he commented.

“I thought the very same thing,” the voice answered. “And we are ready for it, if they should try it. But it makes no sense!”

“When has war ever made sense?” Shining asked, a sad note in his voice.

“A curious view for a soldier. Or are you more of a pampered prince now? Or perhaps fatherhood has made you soft?” Shining snarled.

“Come on down here and find out. I’ll break your nose same as I did last time you tried to get the drop on me.”

“No thanks. Although I must admit, you were very impressive, taking on all four of us at once like that.” The voice now turned from playful to a harsher tone.

“Elusive isn’t the only former infiltrator who almost met their end that day. He is the luckiest though.” Shining’s ears instantly perked at that. His contact continued.

“The other five didn’t survive,” he said, a note of almost fear present.

“Five infiltrators?” Shining all but exclaimed in amazement. “Someone killed five infiltrators the same day Elusive’s shop blew up?”

“Killed?” the voice asked in a coy tone. “No. Three died of natural causes. The other two perished in unfortunate accidents.”

“Quite a coincidence, if you believe any of it,” Shining mused. “You think the griffons were behind it?”

“There are certain little hints that would suggest it.”

“Still doesn’t explain why the griffons are gearing up for war,” Shining said.

“Here!” the voice called out. At last Shining got a bead on him.

Turning around, he spotted his silhouette standing in a passageway one level above him in the vast, cave like maze. With a brief blast of magic, a scroll came sailing through the air. Powering up his horn, Shining caught it in his own field. Opening it, he found Ponish writing. He smiled at his contact’s thoughtfulness. He looked up, waiting for an explanation.

“Those are the names of the five infiltrators. I suggest you show it to Elusive. Now, I take it this makes us even?”

Shining closed up the scroll.

“Agreed.” he called up.

“Good. Now don’t come back here, Captain. You know it’s easy to get lost in these tunnels.”

Shining scowled and glared up at the figure as he retreated back into the shadows.

“Say hello to your brother for me,” he called up. “Spike says he’s welcome to visit Ponyville any time. And Cadence would be glad to have him visit us again too.”

With an angry snarl, Pharynx disappeared into the network of tunnels, leaving Shining to make his own exit.

At last, he had answers.

Author's Note:

And so, at long last, I update.

Sorry it's taken so long, but my new job has kept me very busy and for a time robbed me of my muse.

I can't guarantee regular updates, but the story is planned out to the end, and I intend to finish it.

Comments

[harts fire]

Shining Armor would not be able to find sand on a beach.

this is a awesome chapter.