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.