Hiding in the Background

by Seffy

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Slice of Life, Romance
Length: 3968

When investigating a crime that occured in Ponyville, Twilight and Pinkie discover that the evidence is pointing towards one of their friends being guilty. Twilight is determined to prove her friend innocent and find the real criminal.

After being told about a crime that recently occurred in Ponyville, Twilight decides to look into it with the help of her friend, Pinkie Pie. However, after investigating the crime scene, it seems that the evidence is pointing towards one of their friends as being guilty. Will their suspicions prove correct? Will they find a different suspect? Or will the crime remain unsolved? Regardless, Twilight is determined to prove her friend innocent, and to catch the real criminal.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-02-10 22:28:52 UTC

Prologue

It was a comfortable day in Ponyville, highlighted by crisp autumn leaves and the warm glow of the afternoon sun. Two ponies traveled along a worn dirt path surrounded by rugged apple trees. The deciduous trees contained hordes of radiating, refreshing apples; apples waiting to be plucked off of their branches. One of the ponies, analogous with the color pink, stopped and looked at one of the trees. After a moment’s hesitation, she reached out her hoof to snatch a savory, thirst-quenching Red Delicious off its branch. Her hoof enclosed the apple and she popped it into her mouth, core and all.

A wide grin formed on the pink mare’s lips as she resonated with energy. Her bright, poofy mane was synonymous to her glistening blue eyes, conveying a message of pure, undiluted joy.

“Come on, Pinkie.” The lavender alicorn beside her released a light, hearty laugh, chuckling at her friend’s jubilance. “I wanna test out the spell you’ve been bothering me about for the past few weeks.”

“Okie dokie, Twilight!” Pinkie replied, grin still intact. The two resumed their trot down the path.

A minute passed, then two, and then three. The only noise heard by the two mares was the clip-clop of their hooves as the traveled towards their friend’s barn.

Breaking the silence, Pinkie remarked, “You know, I kind of like it when it’s quiet out.”

Twilight glanced at her, both of her eyebrows raised. “You do?”

“Yeah,” she replied, “It always helps me relax after a difficult day of prepping for parties or baking sweets. And it also gives me time to think.”

“Oh, okay.” Twilight pondered at the new information, a question forming on the tip of her tongue. “And what,” she asked, “does a mare like you think about?”

“You know,” Pinkie responded, “just stuff. Don’t you think about stuff?” She asked Twilight.

“Well, yeah, but I mean is there anything in specific that you like to think about?”

Pinkie stopped mid-way through her gait and peered at Twilight. “Are you trying to study my Pinkie Sense again?” She frowned, her face turning downward.

“What? No no no, I just—“

Pinkie jammed her hoof in Twilight’s mouth, muffling the rest of her sentence.

“Its fine, Twilight,” Pinkie sighed, removing her hoof and sitting down on the path. “I know you’re interested in it and all, I just sometimes wish that I could hold a conversation with a friend without being studied like I’m some sort of crazy pony.” She glanced up, staring into Twilight’s eyes. “Am I crazy, Twilight? Should I just check myself into a mental hospital?”

Twilight gaped at her friend. “Of course not, Pinkie! You’re not crazy at all!” Pinkie wore a blank expression. “While you may act a bit, err, different sometimes,” Twilight continued, “We don’t think that you’re insane.” She brushed a few rocks aside before sitting beside Pinkie.

“But you just said it right there, Twilight! I act different than other ponies!”

“And that’s perfectly fine,” Twilight assured her, wrapping her hoof around Pinkie. “Not everyone acts the same, and it’s OK. Anyone who thinks otherwise should be the one put in a mental hospital.”

Pinkie sniffled, blinking a tear out of her eye before letting out a small smile. “Thanks Twi, I guess I let my emotions get the better of me for a minute there.” Twilight patted her on the back.

An idea formed in Twilight’s head. “Hey, let’s skip this whole ‘new spell’ thing and head back to my place.” She jumped back to her hooves, all four landing in perfect unison. “I’ll even make some lemonade for us! Anything to get you out of this mood!” She held her hoof out towards Pinkie, grinning. “Well? What do you say?”

Pinkie grabbed Twilight’s hoof without a moment’s hesitation. “I’d like that, Twi!” Her smile grew much larger, almost back to its original vivacity.

…

“Umm, Pinkie?”

“Ya, Twi?”

“You can let go of my hoof now.”

Pinkie immediately yanked her hoof back, a blush appearing on her face. She let out a nervous giggle before saying, “Whoops, my bad.”

Twilight stared at her for a moment before looking down the path. “I guess we should probably tell Applejack that we won’t need the large clearing after all.”

“Yeah, heh heh.”

The two mares continued trotting down the path, saying a few more words before seeing the metal gates of Sweet Apple Acres come into view.

0-0-0-0-0

“Twilight, look!” Pinkie shouted, pointing through the gates. “I can see Applejack from here!”

Leaning against the barn stood Applejack, her worn, leather Stetson sat on her head, turned towards the ground. A small piece of hay laid in her mouth, with both of her hooves crossed over her body. One of her hind legs was propped against the old chipped paint of the barn.

“Hey Applejack!” Pinkie called out, grabbing her friend’s attention. Applejack tipped her hat up and, seeing her friends walking towards her, brushed herself off and dropped to all fours.

“Howdy Pinkie!” She replied. “Howdy Twi! Are y’all here to try out yer new spell?”

Twilight smiled. “Actually, Pinkie and I have decided to skip out on testing the lie detector spell, and instead we’re just gonna head back to my place and have some snacks and lemonade.”

“Really?” Applejack asked, looking at Twilight.

“Really,” she responded. After a few seconds, Twilight glanced at Pinkie, giving her a questioning look. She responded with a nod and a smile. “Hey Applejack, would you like to head over with us? There’s plenty of room up at the Golden Oak Library!”

Applejack sighed. “Ah’d like ta go, really, it’s just that Apple Bloom’s been actin’ a bit off lately, like when she an’ her crusader friends were doin’ the whole ‘Gabby Gums’ thing, and Big Mac’s outta town for the weekend, so ah’m the only pony around ta deal with it!” She shook her head. “Ah’m sorry, ah just won’t be able ta make it this time.”

Twilight smiled. “Its fine, Applejack. Maybe next time?”

“Ah sure hope so.”

After a few more minutes of small talk, Twilight and Pinkie said their goodbyes and left the Acres, heading back into town and towards the Library. They passed by the school without interruption and crossed over the river.

0-0-0-0-0

As they entered the town, the two mares strode through a small crowd of murmuring ponies, nearby the fountain with the stone earth pony in it. The ponies scampered out of the way when Twilight came nearby, almost as if in fear. One stallion accidentally bumped into her and began profusely apologizing. Twilight had to reassure him for a solid minute that she wasn’t mad. They eventually made it to the Library with little incident.

As Twilight shut the doors, she let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Finally!” she breathed in relief, plopping down onto a nearby couch, one of the many new renovations added to the library.

She didn’t have much of a use for the bits that were sent to her through the mail, and the ponies who sent them refused to take them back, so Twilight decided that the funds sent to her would be put into a separate account for the Library. She hoped the new furnishings would help attract more ponies there.

“Oh, hey, Twi!” A pegasus mare with a rainbow mane stood at the side of the library, holding a book in her hoof.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Twilight replied.

“Hiya, Dashie!” Pinkie chirped, plopping down on the couch with Twilight.

“Hey, Pinkie!” Rainbow replied. She looked back at Twilight. “Can I borrow this book for a bit?”

“Umm, probably, hold on just a second.” Twilight’s horn lit up as she levitated a list over to her. On the list were various names of ponies and titles of books. Some books had multiple ponies listed beneath them, while others had only one or two.

“It’s a catalog of the books on hold here,” Twilight explained.

“Oh, ok,” Rainbow said, holding the book out so Twilight could see the cover. “It’s called ‘Practical Uses of a Pegasus Feather’. It has stuff ranging all the way from making quills to healing burns! It’s actually pretty interesting!”

Twilight scanned the list in front of her and, seeing no instances of the books name, nodded her head.

“You’re clear to go, Dash! The book isn’t on the list of—“ A cyan blur blew past Twilight and out the door, seeming to say ‘Thanks, Twi!’.

“Holds…” Twilight stared at the double doors for a moment before turning and heading back to the couch. Pinkie scooted over, allowing Twilight a place to sit.

“Thanks,” Twilight said, easing herself into the cushion.

“No problem!” Pinkie replied.

A sneeze sounded from upstairs, followed by a loud thumping noise tumbling down the stairs, ending with a thud as the noise hit the ground. Twilight and Pinkie glanced at the stairs and found a dazed baby dragon lying at the bottom of them. A loud groan sounded from him as he sat up.

“Remind me to never run down the stairs again…” he mumbled. Twilight giggled at him as he shook his head.

“Oh, Spike,” she chided, “You should watch where your stepping!”

He groaned again as he got to his feet. “Thanks for the help, Twilight.”

Twilight glared at him. “Spike, what did I tell you about sarcasm?”

“That I should watch where I’m stepping?” he retorted.

Twilight continued to glare at him for a few more seconds before letting off and chuckling to herself. Pinkie joined her in giggling, and a moment later, Spike did too.

After their laughter dissipated, Twilight looked at Spike with a smile on her face. Spike knew that smile.

“Hey, Spike—“

Spike interrupted her with a groan. “What do you want me to do?”

She smiled again. “Would you be so kind as to make us some snacks and pour us some lemonade?”

“Fine.” He walked off towards the kitchen mumbling something about allergies.

Twilight turned towards Pinkie and smiled once more.

“So, what do you wanna talk about?”

"Well," she replied, "I would really like to—"

She was interrupted by the sound of a pony pounding on the Library's doors.

"Now who could that be?"

Chapter 1: Arriving at the Scene

Twilight and Pinkie Pie stood by the Library’s open doorway, peering down at the town’s mayor, a pony with a tan coat and a silvery mane. She wore a pair of small, flat-rimmed glasses and a white collar with a green cravat wrapped through it. She was lying collapsed in front of the two mares, gasping for air.

“Princess Twilight!” she panted, a relieved smile appearing on her face. “Thank goodness you’re here!” She got to her hooves and brushed her coat off.

Twilight stared at her, frowning. “Why, is there something wrong?” she asked.

“Yes!” the mayor immediately responded. “Somepony has gone and destroyed the statue of Ornate Portrait!”

Twilight's jaw dropped. "Why would anypony—"

“Who’s Ornate Portrait?” Pinkie asked. The mayor stared at her, aghast.

“How can you not know? Did they teach you anything as a filly? I… I don't even…” she sputtered out, glaring at Pinkie. “Ornate Portrait is only Ponyville’s greatest mayor of all time! This town wouldn’t be what it is without her!”

Twilight glanced away, muttering. “She wasn’t that great…”

“She might even be the single greatest mayor that Equestria’s ever seen! She made so many great reforms! Made the right decision on so many tough choices! — did I tell you she was my mentor?”

Pinkie shook her head.

“Oh, well she was! Anyways, one of the—“

“Ahem,” Twilight said, with the patience of a foal on Hearth’s Warming Eve. “I believe we should get going to the crime scene.”

The mayor stared at her blankly.

“I assume that’s why you came here, right?”

“Oh, yes yes, excuse me.” The mayor coughed, as if to regain her composure. “Mmm, follow me this way?” She began walking towards a small crowd of ponies in the distance.

Twilight looked at Pinkie and, seeing her shrug, stepped through the doorway and followed the mayor.

0-0-0-0-0

“Pinkie! Twilight! I’ve got your snacks!” Spike shouted, stepping out of the kitchen. He peered around the room. It was completely vacant. Spike groaned and walked over to the couch. Tossing the food on the table in front of him, he laid down on the couch and muttered to himself.

“This day just gets better and better.”

0-0-0-0-0

“I can't go any further!” the mayor proclaimed, having dramatically fallen to the ground.

“Oh, come on!” Twilight shouted, glaring at the mayor. “We’ve taken at most 10 steps from the library, and you’re already exhausted?” She forcefully pointed her hoof at the library, less than 10 yards away.

“I think I’ll have to be carried there!” she said, pushing herself to a sitting position. “If only someone out there would be able to carry me all the long, long way there!”

“It’s not that far away,” Twilight spoke through her now-clenched teeth.

“Oh, it is so! If only somepony could—“

“Why, hello Mayor Mare!” A gray stallion with a wavy blue mane walked past the three.

The mayor scrambled to her hooves, clearing her throat. “Hello, Star Bright!” she said cheerily, waving to him. He smiled and continued walking past. She kept on waving until the stallion turned the corner and walked out of sight.

“That was a close one!” the mayor exclaimed. “My reputation could’ve been ruined!”

Twilight’s eye twitched. She opened her mouth, preparing to let out a frustrated scream. Instead, though, she just sighed. “Let’s just go already.”

“Indeed!” the mayor agreed, leading the way. Twilight looked at Pinkie, giving an exasperated look. Pinkie just shrugged, and the two mares followed her towards a growing crowd of ponies.

Pinkie leaned towards Twilight and whispered, “She’s almost as bad as Rarity.” Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof, failing to stifle a giggle.

Pinkie smiled at her, looking into her eyes. She loved when Twilight laughed. Well, she loved it when anypony laughed, but she loved it especially when Twilight did. There was something about that sweet, silvery sound, something that made her want to keep on making Twilight laugh…

“Pinkie?” Twilight looked at her friend nervously. She gently poked Pinkie’s side, causing her to jump. Pinkie shook her head, clearing her thoughts.

“Yeah, Twi? What’s up?”

Twilight sighed. “I was trying to ask you a question when you started dozing off.” A light red tinge found its way onto Pinkie’s cheeks.

“Sorry about that,” Pinkie said, grinning nervously. She swallowed the spit forming in her mouth. “So what were you going to ask?”

“I was going to ask if you wanted to go to a picnic on Tuesday?” She smiled at Pinkie hopefully.

“Really?” Pinkie’s eyes opened wide. “Are you sure?”

“Of course! I asked all the other girls and they said they could!” Twilight smiled. Pinkie’s ears fell flat against her head.

“Oh, okay.” She gave Twilight a half-hearted smile.

“Great!” exclaimed Twilight. “I’ll tell the others! Well, once we’re done with this business.”

As if on cue, the mayor hollered back at them. “We’re here!”

0-0-0-0-0

The crowd parted as the three mares made their way through to the crime. Once they reached the yellow tape, they were stopped by a stallion in a guard uniform. The mayor showed the stallion a small piece of paper, and they were shown through.

“The team’s over there,” the stallion stated, curtly. He pointed his hoof towards a group of stallions and mares talking to each other in hushed voices.

“Thanks,” Twilight answered. She started walking towards the small group.

“I’m going to speak with the public and tell them what we know,” stated the mayor, before walking to the edge of the crime scene and hopping the yellow tape. She was immediately bombarded with questions from all directions as she waded through the depths of the crowd.

The only ponies left were Pinkie Pie and the stallion.

“Hi!” Pinkie chirped, regaining her smile. The stallion simply grunted in response. She took that as an invitation to keep talking.

“Have you ever been to Sugarcube Corner?” She smiled gleefully at the stallion. He didn't respond this time.

“No?” she asked. Again, the stallion didn't respond.

“Well if you haven’t, then you should definitely go!”

The stallion frowned at her. “Why don’t you just go and follow your friend? Huh?” he said, his frown deepened into a glare.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie exclaimed. She started to turn to follow Twilight, but only took a couple of steps before spinning around and zipping back to the stallion.

“Actually, could you point me to the crime itself? I wanna see if my detective skills have gotten any better since last time!”

A crease formed on the stallion’s forehead. “It’s right over there.” He pointed his hoof in a direction. “But I’m not sure you should be investigating the—“

Pinkie interrupted him, saying “Thanks!” before trotting off.

The stallion stood staring at the mare as she made her way to the broken statue.

“This can’t end well…”

Chapter 2: Meeting the Team

Twilight strode forward, walking towards the group of ponies ahead. A few of them wore the stereotypical detective getup, Twilight noted,  but the majority just seemed like they were your average run-of-the-mill ponies. One similarity that they all shared, though, were their cutie marks. One mare had a hoof-print cutie mark, while another had that of a magnifying glass.

As she reached the group, one of the mares standing to the side called her over, motioning towards herself with a hoof. The mare had a long, light brown mane and a light grey, almost silvery coat. Her cutie mark was five dark-blue dots surrounding a lone, electric green dot, the same color as her eyes. She stood tall with a look of authority.

Twilight came over to the mare and proffered her hoof. The mare readily accepted it with a polite shake, much more professional than when Twilight had first met Applejack.

“Hello,” the mare spoke with a civil manner. “Twilight Sparkle, I presume?” Twilight nodded her head. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Lieutenant Clue Stone, but you may call me Clue.” Clue pointed to the ponies beside her. “These are my colleagues.”

Her colleagues didn’t respond, continuing to review the crime.

“Ahem.” Clue cleared her throat.

The ponies in question muttered some half-thought out greetings to Twilight before returning to their discussion. Clue sighed.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to introduce them myself. This right here is Magnifying Glass,” she said, pointing at an older, cream-colored unicorn mare with a light-blue mane and a cutie mark of her name. She looked at Twilight with bright, green eyes.

“You can call me Mags!” she said, smiling. Twilight couldn’t help but smile back.

“She’s sergeant under me, and she directs many of our investigations--  not that we have too many investigations these days.” Twilight couldn’t help but hear the disappointment in her voice.

“Continuing on, this here is Analog.” She pointed a hoof at a stallion with a light gray coat and a messy brown mane. He had dark brown eyes and a cutie mark of an upright microscope slide casting a small shadow. “He’s mainly our blood splatter analyst, but from time to time he finds himself at smaller crimes such as this.” She paused, scratching her head. “I’m not sure why.”

Clue motioned towards a couple of other stallions in the group. “These are our lead detectives, Search and Seizure.” The two stallions were unicorns with light brown coats and blue-green manes. They even shared the same cutie mark, a trail of hoofprints. The only difference was that one had light blue eyes, while the other had gray eyes. “They were born twins, as you can probably tell.”

Twilight nodded in response.

“Oh, and Search is the one with blue eyes,” Clue hastily added. “Seizure has gray eyes.” She looked around for a moment, as if searching for somepony. Eventually, her eyes settled on a pony walking up to her. As the mare came up to them, Clue wrapped her forearm around the pegasus.

“And lastly, this is Derpy Hooves,” she said, holding a cross-eyed mare with a blond mane and a gray coat. “She’s our foreign-substance analyst.”

A look of confusion passed over Twilight’s face. “So her cutie mark means…”

“She specializes with substances in gaseous form.” Clue quickly filled in. Twilight’s eyes widened as her mouth formed an ‘o’ shape.

“Most people assume they’re just bubbles for the sake of being bubbles,” Derpy added, “but they don’t realize that this is my job outside of being a mailmare.”

Clue murmured to Derpy for a moment before pointing with her hoof.

“Yes, Mam!” Derpy shouted, her tongue stuck out in determination as she saluted Clue. She turned away from the two and began making her way in the direction that Clue pointed.

Twilight looked at Clue, confused. “What did you tell her?”

“I told her to do some tests on the broken statue,” Clue said, watching the gray pegasus trot away. “She’s probably the best in her field.”  She tore her gaze away and faced back towards Twilight.

“So now that you’ve met my team,” she started with a smile, “Would you like to learn some details about the case?”

“Please, I’m dying to know what happened!” Twilight eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Clue let out a short chuckle. “Well, we haven’t gathered too much evidence yet, we’ve only been here for about 30 minutes, but from what we’ve gathered so far is that the statue was broken by a large detonation, its origins currently unknown.” She paused to take a breath in. “We haven’t cataloged any evidence as of yet, but Detective Search found out that the perpetrator is likely a pegasus.”

“How’d he figure that out?” Twilight asked eagerly.

“Well, the evidence is merely circumstantial, but Search was questioning ponies that were nearby at the time of the explosion, and he was told multiple times from various ponies that they had seen a pegasus darting away from the location of the crime.” Clue cleared her throat. “Although, as I said, this evidence is purely circumstantial. Until we find hard evidence that the crime was done by a pegasus pony, we can’t rule out all possibilities.”

“Well, I guess it would make sense if a pegasus committed this crime,” Twilight noted.

“Why would you say that?”

Twilight deeply inhaled, preparing to lecture Clue.

“Well, you see, along with it being much easier for a pegasus to flee a crime scene than it would be for any other type of pony, except for a unicorn, perhaps, Mayor Ornate Portrait was well known to have an extreme prejudice against pegasus ponies, for whatever reason. She went as far as trying to sneak in laws banning pegassi from land establishments throughout Equestria. So that’s another reason why a pegasus could’ve done this crime. Maybe they didn’t think that Ornate Portrait should live forever in stone.” Twilight concluded her speech.

“Well, I guess that does make sense,” Clue replied, looking towards the sky. “But still, destroying a national monument? That’s quite a drastic measure.”

“I guess so.”

Twilight joined her in looking up.

The two mares stared at the clouds in thought.

A loud cry startled the two, causing them to leap high into the air. After landing on their hooves, Twilight and Clue glanced around, concerned.

“That didn’t sound good,” Twilight said, looking in the direction the sound had come from.”Hey, did that just come from—”

“Twilight?” Clue interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“Where’s your pink friend?”

“I’m not sure, probably at the statu—”

Twilight froze. Her heart stopped beating.

“Oh dear…”