Elusive: A Detective Story

The windows of the office trembled as the thunder roared outside. The Royal Weather Patrol had really outdone themselves.

Rainbow Blitz was drifting again, his mind going back to Zebrica, to the savannah, to the cloudless regions where the zebras lurked. He remembered being with the patrol team gathering the cloud in order to create a thunderstorm, he remembered the faces of all his friends; the names were a bit blurry, lost in the whirlwind of claws and feathers caused by a surprise griffin attack. He remember falling, falling down and there was no ground below, only darkness.

“Rainbow Blitz…” the doctor once again had to bring him back to reality. “Our session is almost over. Would you like to continue next week?”

“No. Let me wrap up the story…”

***

Berriswainer DaVinci Bubble was found guilty of treason and conspiracy against the crown. Technically, he had done nothing but mock the entire Royal Guard, sneaking inside the private chambers of the Princess; but that was enough.

He was condemned to the highest form of punishment, one so horrible that only being inflected in the God of Chaos itself, being turn into stone.

We were witness to the trail or should I say execution. Berriswainer gave no explanation for his actions, he just smiled, that cold, heartless smile of his. I felt disgusted. Elusive, he just stared back with no expression whatsoever, he just watched as Berry was slowly petrified by the royal alicorn magic.

After the trail, things actually improved. Without Berry to spark chaos and anarchy, the crime rate in Equestria diminished. My old zebra contact was able to gather a cure for Poison Joke and several victims were saved.

In a personal level, my life was improving. I got a job as a supervisor in the Weather Factory and my life seemed to be getting back on track. In our little house in Baker Street, life was cheerful. The twins were growing up, Spines was happier and discovered a passion for baking, turning into a temporary assistant for our landlords.

Everypony was happy, except for Elusive. The absence of Berry made him lose all motivation for crime investigation. He even abandoned his passion for suit tailoring. He just locked himself on his room, coming out only for having dinner. Eventually, he stopped coming at all.

One day I had enough and kicked down his door. Then I realized he had already lost it.

This was not his usual “organized chaos”, it was merely chaos. His room was filled with newspaper clips, all tied together with strings; an intricate web of conspiracies theories.

“He´s alive, Blitz! I know he is still alive.”

“Elusive, we both saw him that day. He is gone.”

“No no no, he´s still out there!”

“Yes, in the park. As a statue! I just saw hgim this morning, he´s still standing there with that awful smile, being covered by pigeons crap!”

“No Blitz. He can move. He is free. He is planning something, his biggest prank yet. Even bigger than the one he pulled at the wedding.”

At this I lost control and slammed him against a wall. “Listen to yourself! Look at the mess you are! You are ruining your life chasing a shadow!”

“But….but his prank…he must have prepared some kind of prank. Some kind of trick for me…”

“If Berry´s planned prank was turning you into a wreck, well then he succeed!”

“Wreck…a wreck. Yes, that must be. A…a kind of garbage…spare parts! What was the name of that smuggler, Yankee Doddle something…he must know something, he must…”

I left him there, among his papers and his delusions.

I went to the park. I didn´t believed that Berry could be back but I still felt the need to visit the park. To make sure he was still there. He was, still frozen, still smiling.

I spent about an hour looking at that hideous grin until a mailmare (curiously, the same mailmare from back then) appeared and gave me an invitation. It was from Sweepie Bell, Elusive´s brother; he wanted me to meet him at the Cutie Mark Crusaders Saloon.

****

“I´m sorry. The Cutie Mark what now?” the doctor interrupted him.

“The Cutie Mark Crusader, a secret order founded by Prince Artemis back in the days when he was a little colt. Only blank flank colts and fillies were allowed in that order.” Rainbow Blitz explained.

“…I´m sorry but that sounds incredibly stupid.”

“Anyways…”

****

I went inside the old building. Inside it seemed like if a boarding school had been overthrown by the students. Dozens of fillies and colts jumping around, doing whatever they pleased. A polite colt named Apple Buck and a tomboyish filly named Scootaloo guided me to a room where Sweepie Bell was waiting for me.

“Good to see you again, Blitz. How´s my brother doing?”

“Don´t play dumb with me, Sweepie. You know very well that he´s losing his mind.”

“Yes well, Elusive always had a knack for melodrama…” he said while calmly drinking his tea.

“Don’t talk like that. You have no idea what he is going through. You never knew Berry.”

“Actually… I did.”

My jaw almost dropped at this. “What? When?”

“Remember when he tried to pull that scheme at the Royal Wedding?” he asked.

“Yeah, he ended up falling through those Crystal Caves. We thought he had hit rock bottom but he obviously managed to escape. “

“Not quite. He actually did hit the bottom and almost died in there. When we found him he was a bloody mess.”

“What did you did to him?”

“We keep him locked. We tried to understand his “Berry Sense”, a strange special ability of his that allowed him to predict event before they happened.”

“You tortured him?” I asked, disgusted.

“If you count forcing him to watch paint drying…yes.”

I turned him over, trying to suppress the need to punch him right in the face.

“We eventually let him go. We couldn´t get any answers out of him and having him in a cell was actually a bad idea. Berry´s presence helped control the criminal elements of Equestria, most criminal were too scared to work with him around. Now that he´s gone, they will slowly come back. There are already reports of Diamond Dogs attacking carriages near Ghastly Gorge…”

“You had it with you all this time, and never told Elusive?”

“What was the point? What my brother seeks it’s a challenge, a dare. He was never interested in stopping Berry, if anything he needs him. He needs the excitement of the game.”

I laughed.

“What´s so funny, Blitz?”

“That you, his own brother, know nothing about Elusive. I am actually a better brother for him.”

I ignore if this comment made him mad, I didn’t turn around.

“As far as the Crown is concerned, Berriswainer DaVinci Bubble is gone for, so you better please tell my brother to stop wasting his time chasing after a ghost and start worrying about some real problems, like those Flim Flam smugglers. Apple Buck said they are taking over the cider business south of Appleloosa.”

I didn´t say anything. I just turned around and leave. When I returned home, Elusive wasn’t there. He had finally gone outside. Spines told me there was a package for me. It was a book and the only signature in the card was a star shaped Cutie Mark, the same one as that of Twilight Sparkle.

****

“I´m sorry, who was she again?” the doctor.

“The one from the Royal Scandal Case.”

“Oh yeah, the mare who…seduced the Crystal Princess.”

“And who turned out to be Captain Armor´s sister.”

“You know Blitz, you never told me the full details of that case.”

“You know I can´t share that information doctor.”

“Yes, yes of course. Please continue…”

****

I ran straight to the park. I knew that Elusive was there, he needed to see it too. It didn´t surprised me when I found him fighting against Bubble Berry. I jumped ad grabbed Berry, who was only barking and howling like a mad pony. Just when my strength was fading and seemed like he would smash my head with a rock that a blast of magic hit him and Berry inflated and exploded in a rain of streamers.

Elusive was in shock, his horns till glowing.

“I…I…”

“Its okay, Elusive. You didn´t kill him. He wasn´t real.”

I showed him the book. It explained about a Magic Mirror Pond that could create a perfect duplicate of any pony who watched his reflection on it.

“That´s how he did it! He switched places with the copy, that´s what is smiling like an idiot in the park!” once we went back home Elusive started to rambled.

I must confess I was quite happy to see him back like this.

“Now that we know that, the next question is where is Berry hiding?” I asked.

“No, that’s not the question. The real question is why did he do this? Why did he create that copy? Why fake his imprisonment?”

“That’s easy, to lure into a false of security!”

“Yes…yes Blitz, maybe you´re right.”

I got up and patted his back. “Come on Elusive, cheer up! We´re back in the game! The big leagues! Let’s chase after the true criminal mastermind and leave those stinky Diamond Dogs to your brother!”

Amazingly, he smiled. “That sounds like fun. Wait, did you say Diamond Dogs?”

“Uh? Oh yes, you brother said there were sightings of Diamond Dogs near Ghastly Gorge. He wanted you to take care of that but I´m sure Butterscotch can handle it.” I explained.

“Yes, Scotch…Scotch is a very competent officer.”

That was weird, Elusive never said anything positive about Scotch before.

“If you excuse my friend, I need to go outside. All this inside had ruined my coiffeur, I need to visit the spa.”

And he left. I decided to clean off his office. He´ll surely get mad for “disorganizing” his work but I felt like doing it, to bring some order back to the order. I was picking up some clips of our older cases when it suddenly hit me.

Its on times like those when I realized how stupid I am. How could I miss that important detail? The Diamond Dogs were Berry´s old henchbeast, the ones who attacked us n a regular basis. If the Diamond Dogs were back there was only one pony responsible for that…

I ran to the door but was intercepted by Mrs. Cake. Spines was suffering a terrible case of spam-belches, spouting letter after letter. I had to take her to Zecora, who manage to create a potion to make her stop. I didn´t even needed to read the signature of the letter to know who was holding me back.

I flew to Ghastly Gorge, pressuring my injured wings more than I could handle it, but I needed to be there, to be there before…

“ELUSIVEEEEEEE!!”

I arrived too late.

Elusive and Bubble Berry feel, embraced in deadly combat, and were devoured by the giant eels.

****

Rainbow Blitz cleaned his tears while the doctor put down his notebook.

“So…are you sure he didn´t…”

“Have you ever seen giant eels eating, doctor?!”

“Yes, of course. Sorry.”

They remained in silent for a few minutes while the rain poured outside.

“Our session is over.”

Rainbow Blitz got up, took his hat from the coffee table and moved to the door.

“Blitz…”

He stopped.

“I know how unprofessional it sounds but…I´m truly sorry for your lost. I have no words, no advices. I can only hope you can continue with your life.”

“You don´t have to worry about me doing something stupid doctor. I never lost the will to live. Otherwise, I would have stayed in that pool back in Zebrica. I pretend to keep on living. So at least one pony can remember my good friend Elusive and all the good things he did.”

The doctor watched Rainbow Blitz leave the building and walked under the heavy rain. Behind him, a shadowy figure came out from behind a curtain.

“I believe he suspect something but he´s trying to convince himself to ignore those suspicions.” The doctor said.

“Blitz is smarter than he believes himself to be.” The shadowy figure commented.

“I´m still quite confused. When did you have the time to go visit the Magic Pool before confronting Berry, Elusive?”

“That´s why I sent those letters. Poor Spines, he must had a terrible time. Berry did a lousy job covering the pool, a simple rock covering the hole. It was a piece of cake to lift it.” And he pointed at his horn.

“Was that the only reason?” the doctor asked.

“No. I was also trying to save Blitz. Berry´s plan was flawless, either Blitz arrived in time and I had to watch my best friend die or…either way, Berry had the final laugh.”

“Perhaps. But you are still alive Elusive. You could eventually laugh again, in a new life, in a new world.”

“Its true what you told me? About other worlds?”

The doctor nodded. He went back a few steps and dispelled the illusion spell that made him look as an earth stallion, going back to the form of Dusk Shine.

“Plenty of them. Want to see them, Elusive?”

“…yes.”

Dusk Shine smiled and began to gather the magic orbs around them. Elusive had never seen magic so bright.

“I must say that learning this universe has a female version of myself was quite a shock, Tell me elusive, how was this Twilight Sparkle?”

Elusive smiled.

“She was quite unique.”

And they both disappeared in a blink, leaving behind small fireflies that circled the office before disappearing.