The Adventures of Mystery Mane, Book one: Golden Boy

Chapter 1:

Mystery Mane sat in her house, quietly dying of boredom. She had already read every mystery novel she could find, and had already solved all of the mysteries she could. In the time since she solved the mystery of the broken statue, Mystery had gained a reputation as the best detective in Equestria. Many a pony had come to her in times of need, asking her to solve more and more mysteries. Of course it had been fun at first, but now it was just…boring. It was almost as if the criminals had gotten together and exchanged ideas; there wasn’t anything new to keep her entertained.

“I wish you were here, dad,” Mystery sighed, looking at the picture of her father that sat on the bookshelf. The only thing she had left of him and her mother (both of whom had died of old age) was the pair of blue sunglasses they’d gotten for her. She smiled fondly at the memory; they had known how much she hated bright lights.

As Mystery sat reminiscing, there came a sudden knocking at the door. She looked up from the picture, hoping that it wasn’t Storm Chaser again. Ever since they met, he kept trying to come over to her house to, as he put it, ‘hang out’. Mystery may have been bored, but hanging out with another pony was not in her definition of fun.

Sure enough, when she opened the door, Storm Chaser was standing there. She decided to be straight with him.

“Listen Storm Chaser,” she sighed, “You’re a nice pony and all, but I really don’t feel like hanging out with anypony. So if you excuse me, I have to go.” She started to close the door, but he put his hoof there before she could.

“Ow,” he said.

“Storm Chaser, move your hoof, I have to go,” Mystery snorted.

“No, you have to listen to me!” he protested, his eyes flashing.

Mystery was taken aback; he was never this forceful, so it had to be important.

“So what’s so important?” she inquired, tilting her head.

“This,” he replied, pushing a newspaper to her with his hoof. She looked down at the headline.

A Theif in Canterlot!

The royal guards of Canterlot’s famous Museum of Equestrian History were surprised to find it robbed at approximately 7:00 AM this morning.

“I don’t know how it happened,” the museum owner said in response to the robbery, “The museum may not be guarded at night, but it’s protected by the best security Equestria has to offer. No Unicorn can use magic to get by, and no Pegasus can fly by it. It’s completely impossible to rob!”

The only witness, who was flying by at the time of the robbery, was knocked out by the perpetrator outside the museum. He has been questioned, and states he didn’t see any defining features of the criminal.

The item stolen was the book Equestria’s Villains, which depicts the greatest Equestrian villains in history.

“That’s it?” Mystery Mane asked, looking at the small story, “It’s just a robbery, those I can solve it a heartbeat.”

“Not this one,” Storm Chaser whimpered, “I had the misfortune of being outside the museum at the time of the robbery, or at least when the guards said it was, so I had to be questioned.”

“You were the witness?” Mystery whipped her head around to face him.

“Well yeah,” he admitted, “I was just flying through Canterlot, looking at all the sights. You know how pretty it gets, right?”

Mystery shook her head. She had never been to Canterlot; due to that being where the princesses lived, nopony had the audacity to commit crimes there. Why waste time?

“Oh, okay,” Storm Chaser continued, sounding fairly shocked, “But anyway, you know me and my bad luck. As I walked by the museum, I saw a figure in a mask…but I guess he saw me too, because he knocked me over the head and got away.” He turned to show her a bandage behind his left ear, proving him to be the witness mentioned in the paper.

“So it’s personal to you,” murmured Mystery, thinking it over. She didn’t much like other ponies, but she also didn’t want to be cruel to one that had never done anything to her. “I suppose I’ll take the case if you really want me to.”

Storm Chaser’s blue eyes lit up with happiness, “Oh, thanks so much, Mystery Mane! This means a lot to me.” He sped over to her and scooped her up in a hug, uncharacteristically excited.

“No problem,” Mystery grunted, “But can you please stop hugging me? My spine doesn’t bend that way.”

“Oh, sorry,” he said, pulling away. “So let’s fly there as quickly as we can, okay?”

“Fly?” Mystery’s heart jumped a bit. “I’m not really the best flyer, Storm Chaser. You of all ponies should know that.”

“You’ll be fine,” He said with a smile as they trotted out to the edge of the clouds, “You just need to spread your wings.”

Mystery looked at the ground below and straightened her sunglasses. When she went down to Ponyville, she usually went on the hot air balloon that took unicorns and earth ponies to Cloudsdale and back for fear of hitting the ground. However, that would be to slow of an option now. “Can I, um ride the balloon?” she questioned with a pleading smile.

“No,” Storm Chaser said, “We need to be at the crime scene like yesterday.” Without another word, he gave her a push over the clouds.

Mystery screamed, trashing her limbs as she plummeted towards the ground like a rock. Storm Chaser flew by her, flapping his wings easily.

“Just spread your wings!” he advised.

Mystery squeezed her eyes shut and started to hopefully flap her wings. To her surprise, she stopped falling and started floating slowly to the ground. “I did it!” she said triumphantly as she got a few feet from the ground.

“Yes, now you got it!” Storm Chaser laughed.

Thud.

“Well, you almost got it anyway.

XxXxX

By the time the two ponies got to the scene of the crime, Mystery was covered in bruises. Fly he says, she thought resentfully, it’ll be quicker he says.

“Ah, Miss Mane, I’m glad you made it. I’ve heard good things about you from Storm Chaser here.”

Mystery nodded at the white stallion with the blue mane that approached her. She hadn’t seen the royal wedding, but she knew that he was the captain of the royal guard, Shining Armor.

“So, what seems to be the problem?” she asked, “I heard there was a robbery, but could you show me the crime scene?”

“Of course,” Shining Armor said, “Follow me.”

Mystery Mane and Storm Chaser followed the captain of the royal guard into the museum to a display case. It was shattered, and it didn’t take a detective to know that was where the book had been.

“Very interesting,” Mystery murmured, getting close to the display, “And there were no hoofmarks?”

“None,” Shining Armor agreed.

“Perplexing indeed,” Mystery sighed.

Suddenly, Storm Chaser let out a gasp that made her think he’d been cut by the glass (it wouldn’t be that surprising considering his luck), but then she saw he was looking at something. It was a piece of paper, stuck underneath the pillow the book had rested upon.

“Well well, Storm Chaser,” Mystery said in a bemused way, “It seems you’ve found a clue. Shining Armor, will you please get that?”

The captain nodded and used his unicorn magic to pull the paper out.

“Oh no,” he whispered when he saw it.

“What’s wrong with it?” Mystery Mane asked. On the paper was what looked like a horseshoe made of gold.  It was an odd thing of course, but nothing bad, right?

“This is the mark of the great thief of long ago, Golden Hoof,” Shining armor replied.

“So he’s back?” Mystery Mane asked.

“Yes,” Shining armor confirmed, “It seems Golden Hoof is back.”

“What’s so special about him?” Mystery Mane didn’t see what the big deal was; she could easily catch a theif.

“Because the last time the Golden Hoof was active,” Storm Chaser chimed in, “Somepony was murdered!”