Chapters The Adventures of Mystery Mane, Book one: Golden Boy
Prologue:
A house sat on a cloud in Cloudsdale, not far from where a filly named Rainbow Dash started the race that earned her a cutie mark. It was a simple enough house, just painted a shade of pink darker than the dawn sky outside. Even the interior was not complex; it was only dark brown wood with a bit of furniture here and there. One would take a look at it and think that the residents of this house were not out of the ordinary, and they weren’t… except for Mystery Mane.
The pale gray filly sat in her room as she always did, reading another Sherlock Hooves book. She had been obsessed with them ever since her father introduced them to her when she was old enough to read. It was fascinating how Hooves looked at everything around him and determined what had happened before anypony got there.
“Mystery Mane, have you been up all night reading that?”
The young pony jumped and whirled around to see her mother, Rain Cloud, standing in the doorway. Like Mystery Mane, she had a pale gray coat, but she had a white mane. Mystery Mane’s was blue like her fathers. Mystery Mane knew her mother was never up this early, so Rain Cloud looked a bit grumpy.
“Reading what, mother?”
Mystery Mane quickly hid the book behind her back, but her mother flew up into the air. When she saw the book, the Pegasus mare sighed, took the book, and put it on the bookshelf.
“Mystery,” she said, pushing her daughter’s mane out of her face, “You really shouldn’t stay up reading those all night. You look exhausted, dear.”
The filly didn’t try to argue; she was perfectly aware that she looked tired. She hadn’t gotten any sleep for three nights; this was partly because of Sherlock Hooves, and partly because there was just too much to do.
“Get some sleep, or you’ll worry Miss Cheerilee when the weekend ends,” her mother ordered.
“But mother, I can’t sleep now! Not when there’s so much to do,” Mystery Mane protested, “Besides, it’s daytime, I’ll never get to sleep when the sun in out.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Rain Cloud said thoughtfully, “But you’ve been cooped up in your room for far too long. I want you to go outside and make some friends.”
“But-,”
“No buts, young Filly. You are going outside, or I will fly over to Sky Speed and get him to back me up.” Rain Cloud gave her a stern look, and Mystery Mane wasn’t about to argue. Her father was usually a kind stallion, but if he was mad, Celestia have mercy on your soul.
Mystery Mane trotted angrily to the door and then outside, slamming the door behind her. The sunlight was almost blinding, as she had anticipated. What was the point of not sleeping if she was being forced to be outside? Anger boiled within her and it left only when she heard a high pitched scream. Her eyes widened with terror as she realized somepony was in serious trouble.
“Hang on, I’m coming!” she called.
Mystery Mane knew that the quickest way to get there would be flying, although she didn’t do much of that. She glanced with dismay at her stubby wings, which had yet to grow out because she was only a filly. Still, she knew that she had to try. Screwing up her courage, she leapt into the air and spread her wings.
The source of the trouble was clear once she was in the air. Down on the clouds below were three shapes which Mystery Mane recognized as some Pegasi that went to her school. She wobbled in the air, suddenly realizing she was going to fall.
“Look out below!” she shouted, and then dropped like a rock. Two of the young ponies moved out of the way, but one colt with a brown coat and a white mane wasn’t so lucky. She landed on top of him, and he let out a gasp of breath.
“Ow,” he grunted, and Mystery Mane scrambled off of him.
“Sorry,” she apologized, and then turned to the other two ponies.
“Come on, Storm Chaser,” A pure white colt said, giving him a nudge, “Don’t be a wimp; this puny filly couldn’t crush a leaf let alone a pony.”
Storm Chaser got to his hooves and shook himself off, the golden colored filly beside him glaring at the other colt.
“Snow Storm, now is not the time to insult other ponies! We have a crisis on our hooves!” She looked panicked, her nostrils flaring and her wings stiff.
“Since when did this count as a crisis, Golden Dawn?” Snow Storm snorted.
“Guys, don’t fight,” Storm Chaser whimpered, but the glaring ponies didn’t seem to hear him.
“What happened? Maybe I could help.” When Mystery Mane spoke, Snow Storm and Golden Dawn looked at her as if they had forgotten she was there.
“This is what’s wrong!” Golden Sun exclaimed, pushing forward a pink box. Inside was a few shards of brightly colored glass. “I left my Wonderbolts statue here for a second to go help Storm Chaser up when he fell, and when I came back it was broken! My prized possession is broken.” She looked mad, but tears were welling up in her eyes.
“I say it’s not a problem,” Snow Storm snorted. “Even if it was a problem, how would we be able to tell who did this if they’re already gone?”
“Elementary, my dear Snowy,” Mystery Mane chuckled, “I will find the breaker of Dawn’s statue with the science of deduction!”
“Yeah, like that’ll work,” Snow Storm scoffed.
“Miss Dawn, if you could please let me examine the box.” The golden filly nodded and pushed the box to Mystery Mane.
At a glance, there appeared to be nothing wrong with the scene of the crime. The statue of the Wonderbolts was broken alright, but it wasn’t until Mystery Mane got a closer look that she saw something strange. There was some white hair in the box next to the shards.
“If you look here, you will see a bit of white hair.” Mystery Mane looked at Snow Storm, “Can you explain that?”
“Not really,” the colt said, “But I suppose this means that the pony responsible has white hair, so wha… wait, are you blaming me?” His eyes widened with indignation, “How do we know the culprit didn’t break it earlier?”
“Because earlier, Golden Dawn said she had turned her back for only a second. Now, I came as soon as I heard the scream, and it can be assumed that she screamed as soon as she found her beloved statue broken. The culprit wouldn’t have had time to escape.” Mystery Mane paced, and then turned to stare at Snow Storm. “So where were you during the second she had her back turned?”
“Yeah,” Golden Sun gasped, “Where were you Snow Storm?”
The white colt looked nervous for a second, but then regained his composure. “Well where was Storm Chaser?” he questioned, “In case you haven’t noticed, his mane is white. That hair could easily belong to him!”
“Hey!” Storm Chaser’s blue eyes filled with sadness, “I didn’t do anything!”
“How can we be sure?” Snow Storm asked, “Maybe you’re covering up your guilt with that innocent pony façade.”
“Don’t get too cocky, Snow Storm,” Mystery Mane snorted, “This hair isn’t from a mane, it’s from a coat. You are the only pony here with a white coat. Besides, Golden Dawn said the reason she turned her back was to help up Storm Chaser, who had fallen. This leaves you as the only one unaccounted for. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
All of the young ponies fell silent, and then there was a cry.
“Okay, I did it!” Snow Storm wailed, “I admit it, but I didn’t mean to break your statue, Golden Dawn, really. All I wanted to do was play with it; I didn’t know it was glass. See, I even cut my leg because it broke.” He held out his front leg; the white fur was stained pink by a small cut, the source of the hair. “I’m sorry Golden Dawn!”
Golden Dawn stared at him, and then nuzzled him. “I forgive you, Snow Storm. I probably should have told you that it was made of glass.”
Mystery Mane stood there, watching. Never before had she felt so great about something; perhaps solving mysteries was her forte. Suddenly, she felt a hoof tap her shoulder; it was Storm Chaser.
“Th-that was amazing,” he stammered, “I wish I could be cool like you; look, you even got your cutie mark!”
“What?” Mystery Mane turned to look at her flank, and saw Storm Chaser was right. In the place of her usually blank flank were three black question marks. Solving mysteries really was her forte! Sherlock Hooves would we proud of her.
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!”
The Adventures of Mystery Mane, Book one: Golden Boy
Chapter 2:
Long before a certain pony detective was born, a young stallion’s hooves were set on the path to become a great theif.
Rain Cloud was a normal enough pony before he met Flash Fire. With his brown coat and gray mane, he was about as plain a pony as one could be. So of course he assumed that no mare in the world would be interested in him. This changed on a simple trip to Sugarcube Corner, when Rain Cloud had a craving for something sweet.
“Hey there!” a cheerful pink pony exclaimed, popping up from behind the counter and nearly giving Rain Cloud a heart attack, “What can I get for you, Rain Cloud?”
Rain Cloud smiled at the pink pony then looked at the display of tasty treats. “I’ll have a box of my usual, Pinkie.”
“Oki doki loki!” With that, the pink pony took several chocolate cupcakes out of the display and put them in a box. “Here you go, Rainy! Enjoy!”
“I always do,” Rain Cloud replied, and then walked out the door while still looking at his friend. As he did this, he suddenly crashed into something furry.
“Oh, your cupcakes,” gasped a voice.
In one heartbeat, Rain Cloud saw his cupcakes falling, whipped out one wing, and let them land on it. His wing was now covered in chocolate, but at least he had saved the cupcakes from a dust covered doom.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” the voice said again as he put the cupcakes in the box again, “Nice catch.”
“Thanks, and I caught them anyw…w…,” He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the most beautiful mare he had ever seen.
Her mane was white, and her coat was as well but it also had little ginger swirls in it. What really captivated him were her eyes; they were a normal color of the blue persuasion, but they were filled with such life.
“Uh, are you okay buddy?”
Her voice brought Rain Cloud back to reality, and he nodded. “Oh, yeah, I’m perfectly alright. Actually, I’m great!”
The mare chuckled, and wiped chocolate off of his wing. “I can see that,” she snorted as he shuddered at her touch. “By the way, I’m Flash Fire.”
“I’m in love,” Rain Cloud replied without thinking.
“Huh?”
“Rain Cloud,” he gasped, “I’m Rain Cloud!” Why did I have to say that out loud!?
Flash Fire laughed, “Well Mr. Head-over-hooves, how would you like to accompany me somewhere tonight?” Her voice was laced with a playful teasing.
Rain Cloud stared at her, his mind temporarily blank. “D-do you mean a date?”
Flash Fire rolled her eyes, “No, on a robbery,” she said sarcastically, “Of course on a date!”
Rain Cloud inwardly chastised himself for being an idiot. “I-isn’t this a bit too fast?”
Flash Fire blinked, “Well, if you don’t want to…”
“I want to!” Rain Cloud protested, “We could go anywhere, the theater, a café, a-,”
Flash Fire put a hoof on his mouth to silence him. She leaned in close, her eyes sparkling. “I have a better place in mind.”
XxXxX
“Wow, its… well, beautiful is too small of a word.”
The place Flash Fire had taken him was breath taking. It was a sheer cliff with very sharp rocks at the bottom. As scary as that was, there was also a large expanse of water that stretched so far Rain Cloud couldn’t imagine where it ended. The sun was setting, making the water filled with swirls of orange, pink, and even hints of purple.
“I come here to clear my head,” Flash Fire told him, looking at the water.
“Aren’t you scared of the rocks?” Rain Cloud asked, “An earth pony like you couldn’t fly to safety if you fell.”
Flash Fire looked at him and smiled, “Life is boring if you don’t take risks, Rainy.”
She looked back at the water, and Rain Cloud pondered her words. He has spent a lifetime avoiding risks; was this pony crazy or something? Suddenly, without warning, Flash Fire was leaning against him. He stiffened and looked at her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m tired,” she yawned, looking up at him through clouded eyes.
“Oh,” he replied, “Well, I guess I’ll walk you home then.”
Her tired eyes flashed. “I can take care of myself, Rainy.”
Rain Cloud smirked. “Well, if you don’t want me to…”
“No, I do,” Flash Fire interrupted with a laugh. “Please, lead the way!”
As the two walked away from the cliff, Rain Cloud thought nothing could go wrong with this relationship.
He had no clue how terribly wrong he was.
