Sherlock Holmes and the Rainbow Factory
It was raining in Canterlot, and a dark grey pony merely sat in his chair and smoked his pipe. The sounds of the rain on his roof only eased his mind. He closed his blue eyes momentarily. The sound of the water falling from the sky helped him clear his mind and think.
The peace was broken when the door banged open and John Watson trotted inside, standing on the mat just inside the door.
“Watson, what in Equestria are you doing here?” the earth pony demanded, standing up and held his pipe in his hoof. “You told me you had work to do at the hospital.”
The yellow-orange unicorn wore a raincoat that was now shedding all the water it had collected all over the mat. Same as his hat. Watson gave Holmes a serious look. “That’s just it. I was working in the hospital, and then the Inspector came. He wanted me to do an autopsy.”
“Well, that’s not entirely unusual.”
“But this is the third one. Same pattern. It’s murder, Holmes.”
“Murder?” That got Holmes’s attention, his ears standing straight up, blue eyes shining. He rushed to grab his coat and hat.
“Yes. The murder of pegasus children.”
Holmes frowned at that. “Then the perpetrator must be brought to justice even more so. Come now, my dear Watson.” The dark grey earth pony pushed passed his friend and trotted out into the rain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the morgue, the atmosphere was grim as Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, and Watson gathered around a cold, metal table. A small filly lay upon the table, wings all out of whack, and no color in her being at all. Except her cutie mark, which was a bright golden peace sign with brilliant white wings. It was so bright in contrast of her dull, gray body.
Watson pulled back one of her eyelids to reveal that the irises held no color either. He looked to Holmes for answers.
Holmes shook his head, not sure of any answers quite yet. “What do you think caused this?”
Watson gently moved one of the wings to reveal incised wounds, and then he pointed out some injection wounds in the filly’s chest. “It appears she was operated on in some manner.” Then he held up a hoof. An abrasion wound was on the flesh just above the hoof, having rubbed away the fur. “She was restrained for it.”
Holmes leaned in to take a look at all the wounds present. “And the operation drained all her color.... Do we have a name yet?”
“Not yet. We are still analyzing DNA and such.”
Sherlock Holmes studied the body, taking in the wounds and damage to the body. “Her wings.... they have always been like that,” he said. “They are not broken.”
Watson looked astounded. He would never get used to his friend’s skills of deduction. He gave a nod. “Indeed. Upon examination, her messed up wings do not appear to be from injury. We suspect a birth defect.”
Holmes nodded, continuing to look over the body, memorizing everything about the victim. “And you said she is the third?”
Watson gave a nod. “Same pattern. And they aren’t random, like a serial killer. It seems all of the victims could not fly.”
Sherlock Holmes looked up as an earth pony rushed in to speak with the Inspector. The inspector’s eyes widened before he turned to Holmes and Watson. “Another body! Much closer to us than before!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Pegasus colt lay on the ground before the group of ponies. He was devoid of all color, with the same wounds as the other filly. His wings were much too small to carry him into the air. Which helped Sherlock Holmes draw one conclusion.
“I do believe we have mercy killings on our hooves, gentlemen.” Then he thought for a moment. “But why do they dump the bodies in such obvious places? Do they wish to be caught?” He tapped his chin with his hoof, blue eyes focusing on nothing in particular. Then he attention was diverted to an object half buried a good ten horse lengths from the body. He trotted over to it and gestured for Watson to give him a hand.
Soon the object was unburied. It was a body bag that Watson carefully held up with his magic so not to leave hoofprints. Holmes pulled out his handy dandy magnifying glass and examined the piece of evidence. “Inspector, I believe you should take this to your labs and conduct a thorough search for mane fibers and hoofprints. This was very sloppily disposed of. Let’s see what else our culprit was sloppy about.”
When the Inspector and his men took the bag from Watson, Holmes turned to his doctor friend. “Let us return to my humble home. I have much to think over.”
Watson nodded. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to those poor children?”
“Whoever is doing this has professional equipment. No mere syringe will draw out the pigment of your fur and eyes. It’s a special device they are using, and we are going to find it. We find it, we find our killer.”
Watson trotted ahead a bit and turned his head to look back at Holmes. “Are you sure it is a bunch of mercy killings? What if it is a hate crime? You know that many pegasi hate those who fail to fly like they are supposed to.”
Holmes took a moment to think on that. The rain from earlier had been cleared by a team of pegasi, and now Celestia smiled down on them in warm rays. “It is pretty early in the investigation to determine who. But I have the belief that our profile will be another Pegasus.”
As the two turned the corner and started trotting down Baker Street. Holmes’s home came into view and they stopped short when they saw five mares gathered outside. Mrs. Hudson had gone out on a shopping trip and wasn't present to let the mares inside. “Goodness, it is the Mane 6!” Holmes exclaimed, galloping towards them.
Watson ran after him. “Looks like five to me!” He cried.
They quickly made their way over to the mares and Holmes offered a business like smile. “Hello, Ladies. Come inside and then you can tell me what I can help you with.”
Sherlock Holmes and the Rainbow Factory
The sitting room was filled with seven equine figures, all of them trying to get comfortable. Sherlock Holmes decided he could not get comfortable. Too many ponies in this small space. This space was usually just for him and Watson, no one else.
On top of that, since surprises came very rarely to him anymore, the fact that the great Sherlock Holmes had been shocked to see the Mane 6 at his door wasn't really welcomed by him. He started to pick up his pipe to help him deal with his stress, but it was tugged out of his grip by the telekinetic power of a unicorn. He let it go, having already predicted Watson wouldn't let him smoke in the presence of all these mares.
He gave a light huff before fixing all of the ponies in his home in his gaze. "Let me guess. Something about the legendary Rainbow Dash?"
The moment he saw Pinkie Pie's ears shoot straight up and her pretty blue eyes light up, the detective was on the move. He had managed to back up about half a horse length before the pink earth pony was bouncing right up in his face. The detective had been told that he himself did not know, nor respect in response, the boundaries of personal space, sometimes standing too close and making others uncomfortable. But he never quite went as far as jumping up and down in someone's face, speaking as loudly and as fast as they possibly could.
"How did you know that?! Did you use your own kind of Pinkie Sense?! I didn't see any twitching! What can you tell us about Dashie?! I'm so worried! She didn't eve-"
"Pinkie, give the Sherlock some space. Can't you see you're making him uncomfortable?" Princess Twilight Sparkle said with a little shake of her head. She was clearly amused by her friend's behavior.
Holmes, on the other hoof, was not amused. His teeth were bared and his blue eyes had shrunk. He leaned away from Pinkie, wanting his personal space back. Once the exuberant pony backed up with a chirped "sorry", the great pony detective took a deep breath and relaxed.
Watson gently touched his shoulder to check to make sure he was actually alright. But the doctor's eyes portrayed the message of "how does it feel, hmm?"
Holmes shrugged Watson off before settling his gaze on the mares again, regaining his usual, confident frame. Of course, they'd seen the side of the detective that was often hidden from stranger's eyes. "So, when did she go missing?"
The Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted forward to give her explanation of things. "About three or four days ago. Usually, we wouldn't worry. Rainbow Dash has numerous jobs that sometimes takes her away to Cloudsdale. But she's usually back in two to three days."
"AND..." screeched Pinkie Pie, "She hasn't sent me a postcard or letter! She pinkie promised that she would! She always does! Dashie never goes back on her pinkie promises!"
"Please remain calm, Miss Pinkie," Watson stated. He looked to his dark gray earth pony friend and saw Holmes's blue eyes clouded with thought.
"Dear Watson, when did those bodies first appear?" Holmes inquired, which in turn, earned a gasp from the group of mares before him.
"Bodies?" The white unicorn gasped almost theatrically. She fainted in right in front of the detective, but he just watched her fall, his attention momentarily directed at her and distracting him from all other thoughts. Fluttershy was quickly at her friend's side to help her back to her hooves when she had regained consciousness. Rarity was unimpressed that the Sherlock hadn't even tried to catch her.
Holmes took a moment to regain his train of thought, and recall the unicorn's name, which both took about three seconds each."Yes, bodies, Miss Rarity. We started finding murder victims right around the time you said Rainbow Dash left."
Applejack pushed her way forward, one eyebrow raised at the great pony detective. "I hope ya ain't tellin' us that Rainbow is one of them victims, are ya?"
"Oh, no, no, no. There's just a possibility that they are connected."
"How so?" Twilight Sparkle spoke once more.
"They're all pegasi foals, Princess. All of them incapable of flying ever in their lifetime," Holmes replied. He turned to Watson once more. "I ask once more, my dear Watson. When did the bodies start showing up?"
The doctor did not get to answer, for Pinkie Pie was bouncing at the detective once again. "Pegasi who failed to fly?! Dashie told me a story like this!"
"Um... very good, but we haven't the time for stories," the Sherlock stated.
"But it might help! Maybe it's a true story!" Pinkie exclaimed before taking a breath. Holmes's eyebrows raised as he prepared himself for another long, rapidly spoken, rant.
However, Twilight seemed to instantly know what Pinkie was taking such a deep breath for. "Pinkie, we don't have time for-"
The bright pink pony burst into song, and a little dance, and Holmes was surprised for the second time that day. It was horrible! But Watson made him listen, holding him back from fleeing the area as Pinkie Pie sang her song, ignoring any attempts to stop her.
"Deep in the pages of history
Lies a shadow hiding in a mystery
A late night story buried far away
Until it once again sees the light of day."
Pinkie Pie hopped closer to the detective, eyes shining as she continued.
"And when the little colts and fillies turn out all lights
And tell a story of a factory as black as night
The luxury of rainbows comes at a price
Just ignore the screams, and don't think twice."
She flashed a grin, trying to appear somewhat scary, but Sherlock merely rolled his eyes. He had flattened his ears to his head to try and block out the sounds of her singing.
"You've proven to yourself and to all of us
That you're not fit to fly like a Pegasus
You don't even deserve those wings you bear
When you stand beside a legend, you don't even compare
All of the failures help to fuel success
In the bloody and visceral weather game of Chess
And just because you've disappointed you'll pay the price
Now accept your fate and die in the Pegasus Device.
"Phantom screams echo through the ruined facility
A horrible silence builds an eerie tranquility
The souls of many innocent fill the air
And the hope that they all died was scattered here and there."
Pinkie took a deep breath and Sherlock went to interject. But the exuberant pink pony started up again, a bit louder this time.
"A mighty machine built within the wake
Of a long dead dream, little demon awake
The citizens sleep, never quite knowing when
The device will reawaken, hungry again.
You've proven to yourself and to all of us
That you're not fit to-"
"Yes, Miss Pinkie, I think we get it now!" Holmes exclaimed. As much as he had disliked having a live concert right in front of him, the song put light onto the case at hoof. "And you were quite right, it is very helpful."
"It was?" All of the other ponies, except Pinkie Pie, asked with a frown. The pink earth pony brightened and declared, "I knew it would be!"
Holmes started shooing the mares gathered in his home towards the door. "I will take on your case. I have a feeling I can solve both cases at the same time."
The Mane Six left, grumbling about the rude dismissal. Twilight turned to the detective before leaving. "Sherlock, could you at least tell us what sort of lead Pinkie gave you?"
"Well, isn't simple? The factory as black as night? Luxury of rainbows come at a price?" Holmes asked with a light frown. Surely this bookworm of a princess had heard of the infamous pegasus legend. He'd never heard that song before, but he had definitely been on camping trips in his youth where the pegasi children would be telling this story around the campfire. He assumed someone had written a book as well.
Twilight Sparkle gave a confused shake of the head. "Um.... no, it's not simple, nor is it obvious. What is your lead?"
Sherlock Holmes huffed and gently pawed at his floor. "I shan't worry you with it then. You won't even know what it is. Please, Princess, I'll contact you when I have found something of the utmost importance to you. Other than that, I'm afraid I need some time to think."
It was Twilight's turn to huff, but she gave a nod and turned away. Holmes watched the mares trot off down the road. He could tell by their trajectory they were going to be paying the sun and moon a visit. Holmes backed up into his house and slammed the door. "From now on, I think I'll have clients send a letter first!"
Watson was looking out the window. He jumped when the door was slammed and looked over at Holmes with wide eyes. "Come now, there was no need to speak in such a manner. There's no need to be that way now either."
Holmes snorted with derision, but said nothing. He watched as Watson looked out the window once again. "What has your attention outside, my dear Watson?"
"Well, after a rainstorm, we usually get a beautiful rainbow-"
"Not again with rainbows. Seriously Watson, you're a grown stallion. Yes, we get rainbows after rain, but we also get them at other times. Why stare at the sky at an arc of colors in the sky when we can be solving crime? Don't be a bore."
"But there aren't any rainbows in the sky right now."
Holmes threw open his door again and stepped outside. He squinted up at the sky and saw that his dear doctor friend was correct. He looked at Watson grimly. "It seems the Rainbow Factory decided there will be no rainbows today."
Author's Note
I do not own the song Pegasus Device. That credit goes to Slyphstorm.