Case: The Invisible Thief, Part I
Twilight Sparkle: Consulting Detective
Case: The Invisible Thief
Part I
“Is there anything else you can tell us, ma’am?”
“I don’t think so. They broke in, took my bits, and vanished!”
“Alright. Well, if you remember anything else, please let us know.”
Close Patrol was not having a very good day. He’d woken up with a headache, for starters. He’d then decided to make a cup of tea to soothe his throbbing cranium, only for the phone to ring, startling him and making him drop his favourite cup on the floor. He’d briefly considered just letting it ring, but decided that, because of the nature of his job as a policepony, it might be important.
Unfortunately, it was. The police station had called to inform him that there had been a theft in a small town called “Ponyville”. What a ridiculous name, he thought to himself. Who comes up with this stuff?
Anyway, the intriguing thing was that the burglar hadn’t broken in through any windows or doors, and when Ms. Milten, the victim of the robbery, woke up to a loud noise upstairs, the culprit was nowhere to be found, and the alarm on the windows hadn’t gone off. It was as if they had just teleported away—which was completely impossible, of course. Only the princess herself and a few select ponies she chose to share the knowledge with knew the spell and had the ability to teleport.
Things got even stranger when taking the curfew spell into account. A month ago, another burglary had taken place in Ponyville, very similar to this one. Bits were stolen, and the thief seemed to vanish into thin air. The town’s Mayor decided to place a curfew in effect, and the spell for it was cast by none other than Princess Celestia’s student herself. If anypony went out past 11 o’clock at night, she and the Mayor would know about it. However, no ponies were recorded being outside last night, and none of the neighbours had heard so much as a peep coming from Ms. Milten’s house.
Close Patrol rubbed his temples as he walked away, wondering how he had managed to get himself a Cutie Mark in investigation. He wasn’t even good at it! Of the thirty cases he’d received in the past year, he’d only managed to solve ten—and those were mostly committed by teenagers out doing whatever it is teenagers do.
He approached his best friend, Steel Sleuth, who was waiting for him to finish talking to Ms. Milten. The two had met five years ago at the Cadet Training Centre for Aspiring Policeponies, and they’d hit it off immediately. They made good friends because they balanced each other out. Close Patrol was usually the pessimistic one, but he also asked the harder questions that would have never occurred to most ponies. Steel Sleuth was more of an idealist, and he was always the one who got Close Patrol through the times when he’d lost all hope for a case.
“Did she remember anything else?” Steel Sleuth asked him, optimism evident in his eyes.
“Nada. Look’s like we’ve got a professional on our hands here.” Close Patrol replied.
“Drat. I was hoping we could be done before nightfall.”
“Looks like things are never that simple for us. We get all the hard cases. Why can’t they send ponies who are actually competent in investigation to do this sort of thing?”
“Hey, you were the one who signed up for the job,” Steel Sleuth pointed out.
“And I regret it every day.” He sighed loudly, wishing he could just go home and make another cup of tea.
They walked in silence for the next few minutes, contemplating their current predicament.
“Hey, maybe we could visit Twilight Sparkle. See if she could help us.”
“We already know that nopony broke curfew last night.”
“No, I mean work with us on the investigation.”
Close Patrol raised his eyebrows. “How could she help? I mean, she’s the princess’s student and all, but this is an official police investigation.”
“Oh, well… she used to read quite a few mystery novels back at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She even went around solving little conundrums that happened around the palace, like where one of the kitchen chefs was when she didn’t report for work one day. Turns out she was making out with her coltfriend in the supplies room. Boy, that was awkward.”
Close Patrol ignored that last part in an attempt to avoid yet another story that Steel Sleuth would drag on about for ten minutes before finally getting to the point. “So she played detective every now and then. Big deal. I still don’t see how she could help more than us professionals.”
“Are we professionals actually getting anywhere with this case?” Steel Sleuth asked, raising his eyebrows.
Close Patol furrowed his brow in thought. “Well… I suppose we could pop over and let her know what we’ve found. See what she makes of it.”
Twilight Sparkle was, as per usual on a Friday, reorganizing the library. She wasn’t quite sure how half of her books kept ending up in random places when hardly any ponies visited the library—though she supposed it might have something to do with Rainbow Dash’s frequent crashes into the tree.
“Spike!” she called out, hoping the dragon wasn’t taking another one of his 8-hour bubble baths upstairs.
“Yeesh, Twilight! I’m right here!” Spike said, standing just to the left of the ladder she was balanced on.
“Oh. Heh, sorry,” Twilight said sheepishly. “Did we get any of those new archaeology textbooks in this morning?”
“Yeah, they’re right here.” Spike gestured to the massive stack of books to the right of him. “Remind me again why we need so many of them?”
“Cheerilee sometimes picks up books for her classes here. The school board is running a bit low on budget at the moment,” Twilight explained.
“They wouldn’t be if they hadn’t just invested in that massive cafeteria,” Spike grumbled.
“Spike, some ponies don’t have time to make lunches for their foals in the morning. This new cafeteria is a great way to make their lives easier and make back the money they invested at the same time.”
“Whatever. I still think it’s a waste of money.”
“Says the dragon who makes all of his own food.”
Spike just stuck his tongue out.
There was a knock at the door, nearly causing Twilight to fall off of her ladder.
“Spike, could you get that?”
“Sure thing, boss!” Spike saluted and ran to the door.
The first thing he noticed when he opened the door was a police badge on a slightly scary-looking grey pony, who was talking to a reddish-brown pony behind him. Spike started to sweat a little bit, imagining all of the possible reasons policeponies could have for visiting his home.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yes, in fact. Is Twilight Sparkle around? We need to talk to her about some police business.”
“Sure. I’ll go get her.” Spike dashed over to where Twilight was standing precariously on her ladder.
“Twilight… you haven’t been doing any, uh, potentially dangerous experiments lately, have you?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Phew!” Spike wiped the sweat off his brow. “It’s just that there are some ponies from the police here to see you, and I suppose my imagination got the better of me...”
Twilight ruffled his spikes, chuckling at his antics. “Don’t worry; I’ll let you know in advance if I ever decide to start dissecting ponies or anything like that,” she said as she trotted over to the door.
“Great! Uh, but you won’t do that, right?” Spike called as Twilight started walking away. “Right…?”
Still giggling a little bit, Twilight approached the officer and asked, “How can I help you?”
“You were the filly who went around solving mysteries in the castle a while ago, correct?”
Twilight raised a hoof to her jaw in thought. “Oh, that’s right! I remember I used to do that.” She laughed at the fond memory.
“Well, we were hoping you could lend us a hoof with a case we’re investigating right now. Can we come in so we can tell you all the details?”
“Well, I’m not sure if I would be much help, but okay. I’ll make some tea.”
“Yes!” the grey pony exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
Twilight frowned at this unusual remark.
“Er…don’t mind him. He hasn’t had his morning cup yet,” the other officer explained.
“Ah, okay. I understand; I need mine in the morning as well. I’m always cranky without it.” She stepped aside and let them them in.
A few minutes later, they were all gathered in the sitting room.
“So, here’s what we know...”
Twilight sat and pondered what she was told for a while. She’d played detective as a filly, true, but in addition to the fact that it had been years since she had so much as picked up a magnifying glass, the only cases she’d investigated were ones that nopony really else cared enough to look into. She felt somewhat lost.
There must have been something else—some little piece of evidence that would cause everything to slide into place. Burglar breaks in unnoticed, burglar steals bits, burglar makes a noise, victim investigates but finds nopony there, burglar somehow exits the scene without triggering the curfew.
Unless the burglar didn’t leave Ms. Milten’s house.
“How long after the crime took place did you arrive at the scene?” she asked.
“The boys at the station are a nightmare at organization,” Steel Sleuth explained. “It must have been at least fifteen minutes before the first officer arrived at the scene. We got there about an hour later.”
“And when you got there, you searched the entire house, top to bottom?”
“Yes,” Close Patrol interjected. “Every single inch. There’s absolutely no way the thief was still there when we arrived.”
So, that made fifteen minutes where the thief’s whereabouts were completely unknown. He clearly left after he made the noise and before the police arrived. But how could he have gotten out without setting off the curfew spell? He must have known about it, given the fact that he either knew enough to avoid going outside, or enough to somehow circumvent the spell.
No, Twilight thought, I spent a week perfecting that spell, and the princess herself tested it. There’s no way he managed to go outside with the spell in effect without setting it off.
“I need to examine the scene,” she announced. This case wasn’t going to go anywhere without more facts.
By the time they arrived at Ms. Milton’s house, a small crowd had gathered outside of the area the police had closed off. Evidently, news of the break-in had spread.
“Do they know who did it?”
“Why would somepony do this?”
“I heard it was an expert thief.”
“Expert thief? This is Ponyville. They wouldn’t waste their time here.”
“Are our homes safe?”
“What if we have cloud homes? Do they know if it’s a pegasus?”
“Don’t be stupid. This was clearly a unicorn.”
Twilight rolled her eyes at the sort of idle gossip that tended to be so common in small towns. They had rumours of this sort in Canterlot, too, but it was more of a topic that you might bring up when you had nothing else to talk about. Ponies in the big city were usually all about business.
They stopped walking outside the entrance to the house. The other policeponies were chatting idly, mostly complaining about how they wished the crowd would clear and the investigators would finish their investigating so they could go home and proceed to do nothing for the rest of the day.
“I’d like to speak to Ms. Milton first,” Twilight said.
“She’s probably still inside. Let’s go,” Close Patrol said.
They walked inside. The walls were a striking burgundy, and were completely covered in pictures. There were three doors, each of them on their own individual wall, and a staircase leading towards the basement. That wasn’t what caught Twilight’s eye, however—instead, she immediately looked to the abundance of furniture everywhere in the main hallway. There were chairs, desks, a cabinet, and even a bed just sitting right outside the leftmost door.
Jotting this down in her mental notepad, she followed Close Patrol and Steel Sleuth down to the basement.
Ms. Milton, a fairly old mare with a grey coat and silver mane, was sitting on the couch situated at the end of the room. She appeared to be counting a small pile of bits on the table in front of the couch.
“Ms. Milton?” Steel Sleuth announced. “This mare”—he gestured to Twilight—”is here to help us with the investigation. Her name is Twilight Sparkle, but you might know her as Celestia’s student.”
“Oh, yes,” Ms. Milton said, looking up from her remaining bits. “I heard about you moving in a few months ago. Are you going to find the pony whole stole from me?”
“I’ll certainly do my best,” Twilight said with a smile. “Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?”
“Absolutely.” Ms. Milton leaned back into a more comfortable position, evidently expecting another long conversation like the one she had with the police a few hours ago.
“Where were you on the night of February twenty-third?” Pinkie Pie asked with narrowed eyes, popping out from behind a small potted plant in the corner.
Everypony in the room but Twilight looked startled, their jaws hanging open slightly.
“How did she—” Close Patrol started.
Twilight cut him off. “Don’t ask. Pinkie, what are you doing here? And why are you wearing a deerstalker?”
“Oh, well that’s simple! I heard about the break-in from a friend of mine—because I have lots of friends—and I thought, ‘Hey, I’m pretty good at solving mysteries! I even have my own hat and everything!’ The hat is half the job, you know. I can feel it increasing my powers of deduction just by wearing it! Anyway, I think I’ve figured it out.”
“Really?” Twilight asked, unconvinced.
“Yeah! Ms. Milton here—or should I call you Ms. Stealsalot?—stole her own bits and made it look someone else did it!”
Twilight resisted the urge to slap her hoof to her face. “Pinkie, that doesn’t even make sense. Why would she steal from herself?”
“Why do horses fall asleep while standing?”
“What does that even—”
“Because they’re bored, obviously! Haven’t you ever gotten bored and stolen from yourself? I do it all the time! Well, Pinkamena does, anyway. She hides things from me so I don’t know where they are!”
“That’s called forgetfulness, Pinkie.”
“Exactly! And who’s more forgetful than an old mare? No offence,” Pinkie added, looking at Ms. Milton.
“None taken,” Ms. Milton said.
Sometimes Twilight wondered if Pinkie Pie’s “special powers” included being able to manipulate gravity. Her hoof seemed to be gravitating towards her face an awful lot lately.
Close Patrol seemed to have regained the use of his mouth. “Pinkie Pie, was it?” he asked.
The pink mare nodded in affirmative.
“I don’t even know how you got in here, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This area is closed off to the public until we have all the information we need.”
“Aw! And I was just getting into it, too! Oh well.” Pinkie skipped over towards the door. “Oh, I almost forgot!” She took the deerstalker off her head and placed it on Twilight’s.
“There! Now you look like a real detective!” Pinkie beamed.
“Uh, thanks?”
“See ya!” Pinkie continued her skipping out of the house.
Everypony in the room stayed silent for a few seconds after that.
“Do I even want to know?” Steel Sleuth finally said.
“Nope,” Twilight replied. “Anyway, Ms. Milton, let’s proceed with the questions. First of all, why is there furniture scattered around in your main hall?”
“For the past few days, the ceiling in my bedroom has been leaking. I’ve had to move everything out to keep it from getting wet. I’ve been sleeping down here since last night.”
“I see,” Twilight said, once again jotting this down in her mental notepad. “Where do you keep your bits?”
“In a locked drawer in my cabinet, which is normally in my bedroom, but because of the leaking roof, it’s currently in the main hall.”
“And where do you keep the key to that drawer?”
“Since last night, in this room. I’d prefer not to say exactly where, but I checked for it this morning, and it was still there.”
“Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to steal from you?”
Ms. Milton paused for a moment. “I don’t think so. I got divorced from my husband, but that was five years ago.”
“Have you seen him recently?”
“Not since he moved to Manehattan about two years ago.”
“Well, I think that’s everything.” Twilight turned to the officers behind her. “Let’s go back upstairs.”
After they walked up the stairs to the main hall, Twilight examined the cabinet with renewed interest. Of the four drawers, the lowest one was the only one with a keyhole. There were a few thin scratch marks around it, but other than that, it appeared to be in perfect condition.
Twilight opened the drawer. There was nothing left inside, as expected. Judging by the dust on the sides (and lack of it on the bottom), it looked like it was normally half-full, which would have been about four hundred bits. Quite a substantial amount to keep in a house, but for an old mare like Ms. Milton, she supposed it must have been more convenient than going to the bank every few weeks.
They walked into the bedroom last. There was nothing inside but a window just barely large enough for a pony to fit through. But that would be impossible, Twilight reminded herself. The curfew spell would have gone off. How does a pony leave a house without really leaving it?
That stumped her. Just as she was about to begin one of her long thinking sessions, however, she noticed something outside the window.
“Let’s take a closer look at that,” Twilight said, pointing to the object outside.
Her companions nodded and escorted her outside.
“Hey Close, are you getting that lucky feeling of yours with this case?” an orange policepony asked.
“Nah. Dead end so far,” he answered.
“Shoot. Those ones are always the quick ones.”
“I’ll let you know if we make any progress,” he assured the other pony as he, Steel Sleuth, and Twilight began to walk to the side of the house.
“Lucky feeling?” Twilight asked.
“It’s a long story,” Steel Sleuth laughed. “Let’s just say it involves a gopher, two pints of ale, and an umbrella. I’m still not completely convinced of the result.”
“Hey, you have to trust the feeling.” Close Patrol grinned.
“Fair enough,” Steel Sleuth agreed. “Whenever Close gets one of his feelings, you can guarantee the case will be solved within an hour,” he explained to Twilight.
They made their way to just outside the bedroom window. There they found a large cardboard box with four opening flaps exposed upwards.
“Probably got dropped by that clumsy mare on the mail team,” Steel Sleuth guessed.
“Maybe.” Twilight got a closer look and opened the box. Inside there was a jumble of hoofprints, though only on the bottom. There was also a small mirror placed diagonally against the side of the box, angled towards the sky. The flap nearest the window had a small tear in the edge, and the side opposite that flap had a small dent in it. Raising the flap up to look on its underside, she noticed tape residue near the middle of its edge. Repeating this process for the other flaps, she confirmed that there was residue of the same sort on them as well.
“Well, while you two are busy looking at boxes,” Close Patrol said, “I’m going to go get a cup of coffee.”
“I’ll go with you,” Twilight said. “Coffee helps me think.”
“Maybe we can finally figure out a new lead on this case,” Steel Sleuth offered.
The three headed off to Sugarcube Corner to get their coffee.
Case: The Invisible Thief, Part II
Twilight Sparkle: Consulting Detective
Case: The Invisible Thief
Part II
Note: If you read chapter one before December 4th, it is advised that you re-read it. A few changes have been made that will become relevant later on.
The trio of detectives sat at a small table in Sugarcube Corner, drinking their coffee. They had been there for about ten minutes, and none of them had said a word so far, save for complimenting Mrs. Cake for making such wonderful coffee. Though one might think that coffee from a sweet shop would be overly sugary, it was actually quite well-balanced.
The case was going quite slowly. Close Patrol seemed close to giving up, his patience being far more thin these days after so many unresolved cases, Steel Sleuth was simply sipping his coffee, and Twilight Sparkle was deep in thought.
“Any ideas yet?” Steel Sleuth asked.
Twilight didn’t respond. He waved a hoof in front of her face, but her concentration remained unbroken. He then remembered a small trick that the guards at the castle used to use when they closed the library for the day and Twilight was still inside reading.
“Uh… somepony over there is folding the corner of a page in their book?”
Twilight’s reaction was immediate. “What?!” she exclaimed, nearly spilling the coffee in front of her. “They’ll ruin the pristine condition!” She looked around for the book-offender.
“Er… just kidding,” Steel Sleuth chuckled.
Twilight deadpanned. “Not funny. Dog-ears are one of the worst things a pony can do to a book.”
“Right.” Steel Sleuth resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “So, have you come up with any theories yet?”
Twilight smiled. “Seven, actually. I did have nine, but then I remembered that the new moon was a week ago.”
Close Patrol snapped out of his brooding mood. “What?! Why didn’t you tell us immediately?”
Twilight shrugged. “Well, most of them can’t be proven easily, and none of them seem very likely. I was going to bring it up when I settled on a more plausible solution.”
“Miss Sparkle, you do realize that you’re not solving puzzles in the castle any more, right? This is serious business,” Close Patrol warned her.
Twilight seemed somewhat taken aback. “I… just didn’t think any of them were worth bringing up.”
“Don’t mind him,” Steel Sleuth said. “I bet he’s just jealous that you have seven theories already—probably seven more than he has,” he joked.
“I don’t get jealous,” Close Patrol said defensively.
“Sure you don’t.” Steel Sleuth grinned and then turned his attention to Twilight. “Anyway, just let us know when you have a theory that’s even the slightest bit possible. You’re not on your own any more, you know. We can help you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Twilight relaxed back into her chair. A few seconds later, she perked up again. “Actually, I might have an idea.”
“Really?” Steel Sleuth asked.
“Yes. Did Ms. Milten have anypony in to work on fixing her roof?”
Close Patrol raised a hoof to his chin in thought. “I believe she said she had a fellow in a couple of days ago. Is it important?”
“Everything is important when solving a mystery.” Twilight looked over at him curiously. ”No offence, detective, but don’t they teach you this?”
“School was never really my forte,” he said. “I prefer to reply on my instincts.”
“And by that he means he barely passed his exams and resorted to a basic gut feeling.” Steel Sleuth glared over at him.
“Hey, it’s not my fault the teachers were so boring. Their voices were so monotone that they sounded like an idling engine!” Close Patrol defended. Steel Sleuth just rolled his eyes.
“Anyway,” Twilight interjected, “who was this maintenance pony?”
“His name is Iron Wrench,” Close Patrol said, looking back to Twilight. “He’s a very well-respected repairpony who used to live in Manehattan, but he moved here to stay with his mother because of her declining health.”
“Well, that sounds like as good of place to start as any,” Twilight said. “Let’s pay him a visit.”
They arrived at Iron Wrench’s door whilst in the middle of a debate about the merits of various types of coffee. Twilight argued that the latte’s flavour enhanced its appeal to its drinker, thereby making them more awake, and Close Patrol argued that pure espresso would jolt anypony to attention, regardless of its taste.
“I prefer decaf,” Steel Sleuth chimed in.
Both Twilight and Close Patrol looked at him like he was mad.
“But enough about my tastes!” He smiled unconvincingly. “Let’s go talk to this guy.”
“Right,” Twilight said, switching back to the topic of the case. “He might know who passed by the house, assuming he didn’t commit the crime himself.”
“Why would a successful repairpony who probably makes a ton of bits steal from an old mare?” Close Patrol asked.
“Well, I guess we’re about to find out, aren’t we?” Twilight smiled as she approached the doorstep. She rang the bell. A small commotion was heard coming from somewhere inside the house. A moment later, a light-grey unicorn with a dark mane stepped out after opening the door. His cutie mark was, unsurprisingly, two crossed wrenches.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“We’re here to ask you a few questions involving a recent robbery. I believe you know the victim, Ms. Milten?” Close Patrol said.
“Yeah,” Iron Wrench replied, a concerned look crossing his face. “She’s the one with the leaking roof, right? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, though her financial situation could be better. Can we talk inside?” Steel Sleuth said.
“Oh, of course. Come on in.” Iron Wrench gestured to a door on the right of the hallway. “We can sit in the living room.” He magicked the door open and stepped inside. The trio of detectives followed him.
Twilight glanced at the walls in the living room, surprised by the number of plaques on the wall. “They give out awards for repairs?” she asked.
“Not usually, but I’ve repaired a lot of buildings that were close to collapsing. Nopony else wanted to. It’s more of a thank-you than an actual sign of skill,” he explained. “Please, sit down, detectives.” He gestured to the sofa across from the chair he had sat down in.
“Actually, I’d like a quick look around, if you don’t mind,” Twilight said.
“Go right ahead,” Iron Wrench said.
“You two carry on without me,” Twilight said to Close Patrol and Steel Sleuth. “I’ll just be a minute.” She walked back out into the main hall.
There were three more doors on the opposite site of the one to the living room. A quick peek revealed that the first two went to the kitchen and the bathroom, respectively. She walked into the third room, noting a small open box. Iron Wrench must have tripped over it when he came to answer the door.
There was a small bed pushed against the middle of the right wall—probably twin-sized, if she had to guess. Three small indentations in the carpet caught her eye. If there were a fourth indentation, they would have formed a rectangle. The two indentations that would have formed opposite sides of the rectangle were lined up perfectly with the bed’s legs. A larger bed had sat here at one point. There were also a number of small- to medium-sized boxes in the corner opposite the door. Clearly, Iron Wrench hadn’t quite finished unpacking yet.
Now, what am I looking for? she asked herself. If Iron Wrench did steal from Ms. Milten, he must have broken into her cabinet with some kind of lock pick—but he probably would have disposed of any evidence afterwards.
Just in case, Twilight decided to look around for any kind of toolbox. A quick check inside the boxes that didn’t have tape on them revealed them to contain various household items: a lamp, a speaker, and a small collection of bathroom products. She looked closely at the boxes that were sealed with tape. The tape was clear and very new, so it showed the cardboard underneath it perfectly. None of the boxes had old tape marks underneath the new tape, so they couldn’t have been opened and re-sealed.
She noticed a small, messy stack of letters sitting on one of the sealed boxes. They seemed to be ordered bottom-to-top from oldest to newest. Glancing at the topmost letter, she realized it was written in Prench. What a shame that she’d never learned the language at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Just as she was about to turn away from the letters, however, she noticed something odd. None of the letters were signed. In addition, the writing on the bottom letters seemed very loose and casual, with thin strokes and upwards-curving word endings. As one moved up in the stack, the writing steadily became more pressured and sloppy, and there was more underlining on the words. The top letter had several splotches of ink all over the parchment.
Twilight stepped away from the stack and was momentarily blinded by the sun coming down just past the top of the window on the wall. She turned around and started closing the drapes with magic, but something stopped her. She opened the drapes wide again.
The wall opposite the window was very faded—clearly, the house’s previous owner had left the window open a lot at sundown, hence the discolouration—except for one tall rectangle right in the middle. It was roughly the size of a pony. Maybe the previous owner had a taste for life-size paintings?
Slightly dejected at not finding any evidence, Twilight headed back to the living room, where Iron Wrench seemed to be explaining where he was last night for the second time in a row.
“Yes, I was out for a walk. I know that leaves me with no alibi, but that’s where I was—honest. I walked past Ms. Milten’s house at about ten before I returned home for the night.”
“And that’s where you saw Mr. Greenhoof, correct?” Close Patrol asked.
“Yes.”
Twilight knocked on the doorframe, drawing their attention to her. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said as she walked in.
“Not at all. In fact, although Iron Wrench here doesn’t have an alibi, he’s given us a likely suspect,” Steel Sleuth said with a grin.
Twilight perked up. “Is that so?”
Close Patrol stepped in. “Greenhoof is a local gardener who got in a spot of trouble with the law a few months ago. He was accused of stealing from his wife after their divorce, but nopony could prove anything. Everypony knew it was him, though. Like Iron Wrench, he just moved here, though for a slightly different reason.”
“All of his neighbours hated him after the robbery,” Steel Sleuth interjected.
“Great! So now we have a real suspect, huh?” Twilight said.
“Looks that way,” Close Patrol said. He turned to Iron Wrench. “Thank you for your help. We’ll be sure to let you know if your advice was useful.”
“It was no trouble, detective,” Iron Wrench said with a smile.
“Let’s get going, shall we?” Steel Sleuth said, standing back up.
“Yes, let’s,” Close Patrol replied, already moving towards the door.
“Just one more question,” Twilight said.
“And what’s that?” Iron Wrench asked.
“Do you like art?”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant, but… yes, I do. I was just about to unpack a few paintings to put up around this room, actually.”
“Alright, then.” Twilight smiled. “Thank you for your time.”
The trio exited the building and closed the door behind them.
“‘Do you like art?’” Steel Sleuth quoted curiously.
“It’s probably nothing,” Twilight said, “but I’ll let you know if it’s important.” She smiled at him. “After all, I’m not working alone any more.”
Close Patrol rapped on a small black door.
“Who’s there?” yelled a deep voice from within.
“This is the police. Open up, please,” Close Patrol yelled back.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a long series of sliding noises were heard.
“Sure doesn’t want anypony getting inside his house, does he?” Steel Sleuth noted.
A final click preceded the opening of the door. A dark-green unicorn peeked through the crack.
“Those potatoes are mine, you hear? I didn’t steal them!” he announced.
“We… don’t care about any potatoes,” Close Patrol said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh!” The pony threw the door open all the way. “By all means, come in.”
They stepped inside. “You’re Greenhoof, correct?” Steel Sleuth asked.
“That’s me,” Greenhoof confirmed.
“We’re investigating the robbery of Ms. Milten’s bits. Can you account for your whereabouts between ten o’clock last night and seven o’clock this morning?”
“I was sleeping.”
“Is that so? That’s odd, because we were told that you were out for a walk at the beginning of that time period. Apparently you stopped outside of Ms. Milten’s house for quite a while, just looking at it.”
“W-who told you that?” Greenhoof asked, starting to sweat a little.
“That’s not important. What is important is whether or not it’s true,” Close Patrol said.
“Was it Iron Wrench? I bet it was him! That lying little...” Greenhoof took a deep breath and calmed himself down. “No, I wasn’t there. I was gardening.”
“I thought you said you were sleeping?” Steel Sleuth said. “And how else would you know Iron Wrench?”
Greenhoof seemed to be at a loss for words. “Look, I didn’t do it!” he finally managed to get out.
“You’ll have to forgive me if that doesn’t sound convincing to my ears.” Close Patrol said. He turned to his companions. “Steel Sleuth, Twilight, look around the place. See what you can find.”
“On it,” Steel Sleuth said. “Come on,” he said to Twilight. They started walking down the hallway together.
“You can’t just rummage around my house!” Greenhoof exclaimed.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to be preventing us from doing so. It might look quite bad in court. A suspect stopping police officers from searching his house?” Close Patrol said. Greenhoof looked torn.
Meanwhile, Steel Sleuth and Twilight opened the door to the first room on their left, the handle to which was quite dusty. A large mirror with a rectangular-shaped hole in the corner was propped up against the wall, and a small toolbox was in the corner.
“That mirror we found in the box beside Ms. Milten’s house must have come from this,” Twilight noted. She opened up the toolbox. “Lock picks.”
“And take a look at this,” Steel Sleuth said, gesturing to a small pouch on the floor. Twilight levitated it in the air, causing it to make a jingling noise. The two shared a look of understanding before peering inside the pouch.
Sure enough, there were several hundred bits inside.
“Looks like we’ve got our burglar,” Steel Sleuth said with a grin.
“Yeah...”
“Come on; let’s go back.” They walked out into the hallway.
“Lookie what we found,” Steel Sleuth said to Greenhoof and Close Patrol, gesturing towards the bag of bits that Twilight was still levitating.
“Well, I guess that takes care of that,” Close Patrol said, bringing out a pair of hoofcuffs. “You’re coming with us,” he said to Greenhoof.
“But I didn’t do it!” he said.
“You’re really going to try that? The evidence is right in front of you.”
“I was framed!” he said as Close Patrol put the hoofcuffs on him. “Framed, I tell you!”
“Tell it to the judge.”
“Thank you for your help with this case, Twilight,” Steel Sleuth said. She didn’t appear to hear him.
“Twilight?” he repeated.
“Oh, what?” Twilight said, returning to reality. “Er… it was nothing.”
Steel Sleuth noticed her distress. “Okay, something’s bugging you. What is it? We arrested the burglar! We saved the day!”
“I suppose so,” was all Twilight said.
“You suppose so? We caught him red-hoofed. He had the mirror and everything.”
“They only counted three hundred,” Twilight finally said, not looking at him.
“What?” Steel Sleuth asked, confused.
“There were only three hundred bits in that bag.”
“And…?”
“I estimated four hundred bits were stolen from that cabinet.”
“So you estimated wrong. Or he spent one hundred. Either way, he still must have done it. I mean, he couldn’t even get his story straight for where he was last night.”
“That’s one explanation,” Twilight admitted.
“Well, technically it’s two, but what other explanation is there?”
Twilight sighed. “You know what? Never mind.” She smiled. “It’s probably nothing. I guess I just expected there to be a more elaborate solution.”
Steel Sleuth smiled back. “With that coming from Princess Celestia’s personal student, I’m not surprised. You should probably get some sleep. It’s been a long day. Thanks again for your help.”
“It was no big deal. And you’re probably right. I guess I’ll head home now.” She waved farewell and started walking down the street towards the library. “Oh, and say goodbye to Close Patrol for me!” she yelled behind her.
“Sure thing!” Steel Sleuth yelled back.
Twilight was frowning again by the time she walked inside her home.
“Hey, Twilight!” Spike said from the top of the stairs, holding a tub of ice-cream and a spoon. “How did that investigation go?”
“It was… intriguing, to put it simply.”
Spike frowned as he reached the bottom of the staircase—and not just because of the awful brain-freeze he was currently on the receiving end of. “What’s wrong? Did you not catch the pony who was responsible?”
“That does seem to be the question, doesn’t it?” Twilight said, once again gazing off into space.
“So… is that a yes or a no?” Spike asked, clearly confused.
“Both.”
Spike frowned. “Okay, now you’re not making any sense.”
Twilight sighed. “I was so sure it was more complicated than that. It had to have been.”
“I’ll take that as a check in the robber-catching column, then. You’re upset because it was so easy?”
“Not easy, Spike. Unsophisticated.”
“Not everything is a big puzzle, Twilight,” Spike chided. “Some things are just simple.”
“Not this time.” Twilight sighed. “Maybe I’m just rusty. It has been… what, five years since I was solving mysteries in the castle?”
“Six,” Spike corrected. “But you were always right. You trusted your gut”—Twilight shot him a look—”I mean, your brain, and it always led you in the right direction. What was it you used to say? ‘The clues lead the way—”
“—through the maze,’” Twilight finished. “I remember that.” She smiled fondly.
Spike smiled back. “So you really think you’re right about this?” Twilight nodded. “Then go get ‘em.”
“You know what? You’re right, Spike. I know I’m right about this—I just need to find a way to prove it.” With that, she ran back out the door.
Spike chuckled. “What would you do without me, Twilight?”
“I’d be more worried about you!” Twilight yelled through the door. “You would probably be in an ice-cream-induced coma by now without me!”
Spike frowned and looked down at the tub of ice-cream he was still holding. “Yeah… that’s probably enough for tonight. Wouldn’t want future-Spike to end up being frozen-Spike.”
