Chapter 1 - The Attempt
Twilight closed the doors to her home behind her with her magic. She was told to meet Mayor Mare at the Ponyville Town Hall for a meeting with the residents of Ponyville in half an hour. Twilight wasn't exactly told what the meeting was about, but nonetheless, she decided to go.
Twilight took in a deep breath, smelling the cold, winter air, and headed on her way.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, Twilight's mind began to wonder. "I wonder what Mayor Mare wants to tell Ponyville about. It must be important if she needs me up there too, though if it was important wouldn't she tell me what the meeting was for? It's not like her to not tell anypony what a meeting is about. She usually posts that sort of stuff on public boards and in the newspaper. She also hasn't been doing too much lately. Maybe it's because her term is ending and she's worried she won't be re-elected. Maybe she's sick? Or maybe she's-" Twilight couldn't complete the thought as she bumped into somepony.
"Ah, Princess Twilight. You're early, as always," the pony said.
Twilight looked up. "Sorry for bumping into you, Mayor Mare. Also, I told everypony to stop calling me Princess Twilight. Twilight is just fine."
"Apologies, Pri- I mean, I apologize, Twilight," Mayor Mare responded. "Now, it's a good thing you're early. I need you to help with two things. One, I need you to help me give a speech on the increasing crime rates in Ponyville and Equestria. Two, I need you to help me with my campaign on the fourteenth."
"Mayor Mare, I know you are a good mayor, and you've been mayor for three terms in a row, but don't you think you should stop running at some point? After all, the crime rate has been increasing since you were voted in for your third term. Don't you think that some of the crime is because ponies want a new mayor?"
"Twilight, if they wanted a new mayor, they would've voted me out."
"And don't you think that ponies will blame you for the increase in crime in Ponyville?"
"Honestly, I think they would blame Celestia, since it's been happening all over Equestria. Or maybe even you. Increasing crime rates happened closer to the date you ascended. Now, let's get to the podium; ponies are finally arriving."
"What do you mean they would blame it on me?!" Twilight exclaimed as Mayor Mare pushed Twilight over to the podium.
-~-~-~-
All the ponies of Ponyville had finally arrived, and the Mayor was about to give her speech when she was interrupted by a whispering Twilight.
"Are you sure you think that your plan is going to decrease crime?"
Mayor Mare didn't reply, and began her speech.
"Citizens of Ponyville, our beloved town is being plagued by crime, and I cannot let this continue.
"There is too much crime for the Ponyville Police Department to handle, and because of that more criminals are getting away.
To fix this problem, I have done several things. The first thing I did was send some law suggestions to Ponyville's lawmakers.
The second thing is that I have hired fifteen more policeponies to add to our current twenty policeponies. Please welcome all thirty-five policeponies of the PPD."
There was a stomping of hooves as thirty-five ponies in blue uniforms with either a copper, silver, or gold medal on.
Once all the ponies got behind Mayor Mare and Twilight, the hoof stomping ceased.
"And third, I have called in a pony. A private eye to take residence here. Please welcome Ponyville's first private eye, Detective Sleuth!"
Some hooves stomped as a light-grey pony with a dark-blue mane and a dark-brown trench coat walked up to the podium.
"Ponyvillians, do not be alarmed by my presence. I am here to help those of you in need of a detective. Whether your issue be theft or death, I will take the case if I know you are innocent," Sleuth said in a deep voice.
A couple hooves stomped as he walked away from the podium to get in line with the ponies from the PPD. After he left the podium, Twilight walked up.
"Everypony, I hear of great things to come of these new changes. But, I-"
BANG! Twilight was cut off by the sound of a gunshot, followed by a bullet hitting her extended left wing.
BANG! Another gunshot rang out as another bullet came towards the podium and hit Mayor Mare's front right hoof.
The screams of pain from Twilight and Mayor Mare were quickly overpowered by the sound of another gunshot. This time the bullet dove straight into the chest of a policepony.
And finally a quick round of several gunshots could be heard as ponies in the crowd screamed, trying to escape the gunfire, some being hit by bullets as other bullets hit around Twilight and the mayor.
Detective Sleuth runs towards a three-story building where he saw the machine gun fire from. He kicked down the doors and ran up the stairs to the third floor.
Walking down the hallway, he found an open door. He used his magic to levitate a revolver from his coat pocket, and slowly opened the door.
"Halt! This is Detective Sleuth! Put your hooves up in the air!" Sleuth yelled into the room, and was surprised to see nopony.
He looked around the room, and heard hoofsteps come up behind him.
He swung around and fired, narrowly missing an orange pony's head. "Woah nelly!"
"Sorry, you scared me," Sleuth said.
"S'alright, Detective," the orange pony reassured.
"Who are you and why are you here?"
"Ah'm Applejack. Ah'm a friend of Twilight's, an' Ah saw ya run into this here buildin' an' so Ah thought Ah should help. After all, Twi is one of my friends."
"Well then, Applejack, I usually don't allow partners, but I guess you could help me out a bit with investigating this room."
Applejack walked into the room and went straight to the gun. "This here is a Browning, an old one, too. 'Bout seventy years, Ah'm guessing'. This here is-or was, Ah should say-a model 1917. S'a water-cooled machine gun."
Sleuth looked at the gun. "Why is the barrel melted?"
"Machine guns are s'posed to be cooled somehow so's they don't melt from the heat made by the rapid fire. S'melted 'cause it hasn't been cooled, probably to make it harder to tell what kinda gun it is."
"It appears to be hooked up to some kind of timer, which means that it'll be harder to find the culprit."
Some police ponies came in through the door.
"Detective, the Princess and the Mayor have been sent to the hospital. You may go do your investigations or whatever, just leave us to this; you wouldn't know what to do," a tall, white stallion with a light-blue mane said.
"C'mon, Applejack. We're going to check the other buildings for other guns," Sleuth said. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Snowldier-"
"My name is Chief Snow, not Snowldier. Please leave so we can do some real investigating. After all, you hardly got any cases back in Manehatten. Everypony probably knew you were bad at your job." Chief Snow stepped closer.
"At least I got good money for good cases. The Manehattenites were probably waiting for a major thing to happen. To save the best for the best!" Sleuth took a step closer.
Snow took another step closer. "Shut up you fag."
"Woah, woah, woah!" Applejack interjected, pushing Sleuth and Snow away from each other. "No need for insults or calling each other fags! That's homophobia, and Ah don' like homophobes! So, Snow, Ah advise ya don' test me."
"Fine. Just leave. Now. Or we will press charges for interfering with a crime scene," Snow snarled.
"Can he do that?" Applejack whispered.
"Yes, he can," Sleuth whispered.
And with that, they left.
-~-~-~-
"Hey, Sleuth?" Applejack asked as they left the last building where the known gunshots came from.
"Yes?" Sleuth said.
"How come ya moved here to Ponyville?"
"I was offered a job opportunity."
"Cmon, we's both know that that ain't the only reason."
"Okay, fine. I also moved here because... Because I, uhm, wanted a change of scenery?"
"Stop lying, Sleuth."
"Okay fine, I moved here because I wasn't doing too well over in Manehatten. I failed a case and got an innocent arrested, and then the real criminal played a double-jeopardy, and after that I was getting less cases. I couldn't afford my apartment so I moved into my office. I couldn't afford cleaning supplies so there was dust everywhere. I couldn't afford my bills so there was a pile of letters up at the door. I could hardly afford food. After a while I was evicted. I was wandering the streets of Manehatten when Mayor Mare saw me, and we talked. Eventually she hired me and offered to pay for some of my necessities until I get back on my hooves."
"So Chief was right when he said ya hardly got any cases?"
"Yeah. The two of us have had a rivalry since I left the police force. When I was offered a job here, I quickly accepted, but when I got to the train station, Mayor Mare was with Snow and a couple more policeponies of the MPD. Longest train ride of my life."
"Ah'm sorry you lost your job in Manehatten."
"Eh, it's okay. I mean, I did survive. And now I'm here. And now I'm helping your friend, Princess Twilight."
"Tha's good. Ah jus' don' know who would want to kill 'er, yaknow?"
"Yes, that is quite strange. It's a shame that the only thing left behind at the other two crime scenes were bullet cartridges at the first one, and a gun at the second one."
"Wait, Detective. Weren't there three gunshots before the machine gun went off?"
Sleuth stopped dead in his tracks. "You're right, Applejack! There was a third, and it killed a police officer that was right next to me!"
Applejack stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Wait, ya don' think somepony was tryin' to kill ya too, right?"
"I don't know. Maybe... C'mon we have to head back to the town hall!" Sleuth turned around and galloped to the crime scene.
"But what 'bout Twilight?"
"She got hit in the wing, she'll live," Sleuth shouted over his shoulder.
Applejack thought for a minute, and then followed Sleuth.
-~-~-~-
Policeponies were everywhere, accompanied by a couple forensics. Bullet holes peppered the street and the balcony of the building from the machine gun fire, blood was near some of the bullet holes, body bags were lined up near a carriage, ready to be transported, probably to a forensics lab or a cemetery, or possibly the victim's family members, but two bullet holes stood out the most: the one in the door behind the podium, and one on the floor next to the podium.
Sleuth walked over to where he stood in line earlier. "Alright, Applejack. I want you to stand on my right; I'm going to figure out where the third bullet came from."
Applejack stood next to Sleuth, and then Sleuth poked her in the chest. "Heh, that tickles."
Sleuth looked to their right, and followed a line of trajectory. "No that can't be right; that's where we found the gun."
"But, Sleuth, ya hav'tah remember two guns shot from the right, and one shot from the left. Two shot from the left if ya count the machine gun," Applejack reminded.
"Did you happen to see the gun that shot the officer?"
"Yup, but when ya ran to where the Browning was some policeponies went to where this gun was; they probably 'ave it as evidence."
"So that means we have to find the spot where the gun that hit the mayor was fired from," Sleuth said. "Applejack, what information do you know about the gun that shot the officer next to me?"
"It looked like a Mark One Lee-Enfield."
"Another old gun... Do you think it was the same pony? As in who organized this, not who shot the guns."
"It's possible." Applejack walked over to the bullet hole in the door. "This here looks like another rifle's bullet hole, but it can't be the same gun 'cause t'was fired from the other direction."
Sleuth pushed open the door to the town hall. "There's where the bullet hit the ground, in that hole over there," Sleuth pointed towards the bullet hole in the ground, "But I don't see a bullet. I know it's possible it was smashed into a small piece of metal, but it should still be around the hole."
"Detective, bullets bounce," Applejack said. "Which means the bullet should be over there." She pointed with her hoof.
Sleuth walked to where she pointed. "Good work, Applejack. How do you know so much about guns, anyways?"
"Pa used to collect 'em an' stuff. Then he started teachin' me 'bout 'em."
"How were you able to tell what kind of gun the machine gun was, even when it was melted?"
"Simple: when Ah was a young'un Ah accidentally melted one, but Pa said t'was okay 'cause he had like two more o' 'em."
"How did he have so many?" Sleuth queried.
"Mah family doesn't jus' farm, yaknow. A bit of mah family are soldiers."
"Okay. Well, the bullet is useless to us, so we should just leave it."
"Ah s'pose so. Ah can't tell what kind o' bullet it is all smashed up like that."
"Let's head to the hospital and check on the Princess."
-~-~-~-
"Twilight, are you sure you didn't see anything suspicious before you were shot in the wing?" Sleuth asked.
"Yes, Detective. I saw nothing. I was too busy thinking about what I was going to say I didn't notice anything outside of the crowd," Twilight said.
"What did you notice that was strange with the crowd?"
"There was this one grey pony with a black mane and a blue top-hat. He was smiling through the whole address, and didn't stop until the third shot, when he looked to where it came from. Once he looked back to where the machine gun went off, and through the chaos he was shot in the head."
"So our one suspect was killed by 'is own machine gun. Great," Applejack said sarcastically.
"He was obviously surprised when the third gun went off, so maybe the third gun and the machine gun were not his," Sleuth deduced.
"He wasn't shot by the machine gun; the gun that killed him came from the northeast."
Sleuth scribbled something in his notebook. “Thank you for your time, Twilight.”
And with that, Sleuth and Applejack left the room, silently closing the door behind them.
“Let’s go have a chat with the mayor to find out if she knows anything.”
-~-~-~-
“So, Mayor Mare, do you know of anypony who would want to kill you or Twilight?” Sleuth asked, holding a notebook and pen in his magic.
“Well, there was a pony named Trixie who was trouble a couple of times, but from what I hear she has changed. There was a Changeling invasion in Canterlot, and as far as anypony knows there could still be some Changelings in Equestria. There was also a pony dropping letters by at my office with threats inside them; I don’t know what he looks like he would just slip them under the door and when I opened the door and looked down the hallway he was gone. Other than those things the only other pony I know who would have it out for me is the pony I beat in the election three times in a row, and they are running for a fourth time so he could be trying to make me look bad,” Mayor Mare said.
Sleuth closed his notebook. “Thank you for your time, Mayor Mare. Are you sure you didn’t notice anypony strange at the speech-address-meeting thing?”
“Yes, I am sure, and I saw nopony suspicious during the shooting, though it was hard to tell with everypony running around. The worst part is that I’m supposed to be in charge of this town, and that there are shootings going on. That isn’t going to look good for me during the election, but the best part is now I don’t have to worry about receiving those threats until I’m out of the hospital. Here, I need you to deliver this letter to-” Mayor Mare was cut short by the sound of voices heard outside the room.
Author's Note
So, after my complete fail at writing a romance story (which is not on here, in case you were wondering) I decided to write a mystery, and so this is my first attempt (not counting the romance story) at writing a fanfic.
Chapter 2 - Accusations
“Dusk I told you to be quiet! They probably heard us now! You probably also interfered with the recording,” The first voice said.
“It’s not my fault, and we can just cut it out later.” Said the second voice-Dusk, probably.
Sleuth pulled out his revolver and walked slowly to the door. Once he arrived, he quickly pushed the door open to find two ponies in black skin-tight suits. “This is Detective Sleuth! Name yourselves and put your hooves in the air!”
The two ponies quickly got up and ran for the window as Sleuth fired after them, putting two bullet holes in the ground and one in the window.
Applejack ran over to Sleuth. “What’s going on out here?”
Sleuth fired another bullet at the two spies, missing one and hitting the other in the leg, followed by a scream of pain from the pony.
“These two ponies are trying to record our voices.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know,” Sleuth said, and fired again, shooting the second pony in his leg. “But judging by the bulge on the pony on the right’s sides, he’s a Pegasus, which explains his name.”
Applejack ran down the hallway to the two ponies just as they got the window open, and jumped out. Sleuth ran over to the window and shot down his last bullet, barely missing Dusk.
“Dammit!” Sleuth shouted.
“At least we know one of the names,” Applejack said.
Sleuth turned around and started walking back to the Mayor's room. "Let's ask Mayor Mare if she knows who 'Dusk' is."
As they were about to enter the room, a nurse stopped them. "Mayor Mare needs her rest, so I'm going to have to advise you two to leave."
"Can't we ask her one question?" Sleuth asked.
"No, you cannot. She needs her rest if you want her to get better."
"Fine. I'll go ask somepony else, then," Sleuth said as he walked away.
-~-~-~-
As Sleuth and Applejack left the hospital, Sleuth turned to Applejack. "Do you know anypony that would know who Dusk is?"
"Well," Applejack said, "I have a friend who knows everypony in Ponyville. Her name is Pinkie Pie."
"Did somepony call me?" A voice asked as soon as a pink pony appeared out of nowhere.
"Holy crap!" Sleuth yelled as he grabbed his revolver and fired, disappointed that it was empty and he couldn't defend himself from the attacker.
"My name's Pinkie Pie, and I know everypony, and I mean everypony. For example, I know Applejack, Fluttershy, Dashie, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie-oh wait, I'm Pinkie Pie, so of course I would know her. I also know Mayor Mare, Cranky, Spike, Sweetie Belle, Big Mac, Berry Punch, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and their two babies, Pound and Pumpkin, Lyra, Bon-Bon, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Ms. Cheerilee, Octavi-" Pinkie Pie was cut short as Applejack put a hoof in her mouth.
"Ah think he gets it, Pinkie," Applejack said.
"Yes, quite," Sleuth concurred. "Do you know anypony named 'Dusk'?"
"Of course I do. He's reeeaaally nice."
"Can you tell me where he lives, by any chance?" Sleuth asked.
-~-~-~-
"You better be right about this, Sleuth; not that you ever are," Snow said.
"I am almost one hundred percent sure this is one of our guys," Sleuth said, and then turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, what does Dusk do?"
"He works with electronics and stuff, mostly cameras and recording systems; kind of weird why his name is 'Dusk', though."
Sleuth turned to the door and knocked. "This is the police! Come out with your hooves up!"
The door opened and a dark blue Pegasus came out. "Hello, sir. What appears to be the prob-" Dusk stopped talking as he noticed all the police with guns outside his house, and slammed his door shut, followed by the click of a lock.
"Bust down the door!" Snow commanded.
Applejack turned around and bucked down the door, then moved to the side to allow the police to get in.
After a few minutes, Dusk was being pushed out of his house in hoofcuffs.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you," Sleuth said.
"But I'm innocent! I don't even own guns, and I voted for Mayor Mare every year! I'm not even smart enough to set up that timer used on the machine gun! Why would I try to kill somepony? That would risk me getting in jail, and that would be bad for business!"
"Tell it to the judge," said a large stallion in a gruff voice.
"What's going on?" Pinkie asked.
"Dusk here has been arrested for attempting murder, and, until further notice, killing an officer," Snow said.
"So I helped solve a crime?" Pinkie asked with growing excitement.
"Pinkie, wouldn't ya be upset if your friend was arrested?" Applejack asked.
"Not if he was secretly a meanypants behind my back!"
A police pony walked up to Pinkie. "You will be expected to appear in court in two weeks," he said while handing her a paper.
"Wowee! My first court appearance!" Pinkie exclaimed as she put the paper in her mane, and then bounced away.
As Applejack and Sleuth left the crime scene, Applejack turned to Sleuth. "Hey, Sleuth. There's this new ice cream place nearby, do you wanna go with me to check it out?"
Sleuth smiled, probably for the first time since Applejack saw him. "Sure, why not."
-~-~-~-
"Ah would like an apple sherbet with apple pie flavored ice cream on top, please. With rainbow sprinkles too, along with some apple-flavored ones if you have 'em," Applejack said.
"Do you only eat apples?" Sleuth asked.
"No. I also eat chocolate, amongst other things," Applejack replied.
Sleuth turned to the cashier. "I would like an orange-flavored ice cream, please, on a waffle cone with hot fudge."
"How can you stand oranges?" Applejack asked. "I think they taste awful."
Sleuth grabbed the two ice creams in his magic, and gave Applejack hers. "How can you not like them?"
Applejack and Sleuth took a seat at a table and ate their ice creams. After a little while, Applejack spoke up. "So what was it like in Manehatten?"
"It was kind of..." Sleuth started to think of a word.
"Crappy?" Applejack suggested.
"I was thinking shitty, but that works too."
Applejack chuckled. "Mah first experience there wasn't that great either. I can't believe the higher class ponies there can survive on such little portions!"
"I know, right?" Sleuth said. "It's crazy! I usually eat like a horse!"
"We are horses," Applejack said, confused by Sleuth's statement.
"I know. That's how I eat like one. But seriously, I do eat a lot. Well, at least I used to, back when I could afford food."
"Yaknow, Sleuth. You're not that bad for somepony who likes oranges."
"You're not too bad for somepony who never had an orange."
"I've had oranges!"
"How many?"
"Like.... One. Maybe two. Ah don't quite remember...."
Sleuth chuckled.
"That's the first time Ah've heard ya laugh," Applejack said. "Why are you so serious?"
"I don't know. I guess living through the hard times made me lose my emotions or something. I don't know, I'm not a psychologist. I sometimes got so dirty that my coat would turn as black as night from all the garbage, dust, and pollution."
"Interestin'." Applejack said. "Not even I could get that dirty, and I work on a farm. Is the city really that dirty?"
"Sometimes. Especially near the industrial areas. It gets filled with so much smoke that Snowldier turns a darker shade of black than me if he's there for more than an hour."
"Why do you call him Snowldier?"
"Eh, long story. I'll tell you later," Sleuth said. "Hey, I don't have anywhere to stay yet, so can I just stay at your place until I get off my hooves?"
"Sure, we got us an extra room upstairs," Applejack said.
Sleuth looked out the window as he and Applejack finished their ice creams. "It's pretty late, we should have dinner soon."
"Ya can eat with me and mah family, they won't mind, 'specially if it's somepony helping us figure out who's trying to kill Twi."
Sleuth froze. "We can leave now, if you like. We just gotta stop by the town hall to pick up my luggage and we can head to your place," Sleuth said in a monotonous voice.
Applejack was surprised at Sleuth's sudden change in emotion, but decided not to dwell on it; after all, he is fairly new to her, so she doesn't know if he has mood swings or something. "Alright, we can leave now, just let me throw our trash away."
Author's Note
Sorry for this chapter being about half as short as the other and lack of importance (except maybe the arrest of Dusk), but I assure you that the ice cream part is necessary for a later part of the story and I was kind of busy (despite being on this site a lot, I still couldn't find much time to write) and I couldn't exactly think of much, so I decided to make a short chapter with something of importance, and something that will have no importance until later, as kind of a filler-chapter.
