Version: 1

The hole was strange. Strange and absolutely HUGE. It must have been the size of a football stadium. It would require special equipment just to measure the diameter. It was difficult to even see the far side it was so large.

Shake hummed thoughtfully. The white stallion was standing on the edge of the cliff brushing some of the dirt with a hoof. He lifted a clump to his face and inspected it for a moment. He carefully tilted his hoof and let the sandy earth slide off and be blown aside gently by the wind. Shake's beady black eyes narrowed in concentration. Then he grunted, stood tall, and turned to face his audience confidently.

"Meteors did it," he stated with absolute certainty. "That'll be 20 dollars."

Carl was a pudgy human currently wearing a yellow safety jacket and a hard hat. The man raised a doubtful brow. "Meteors? Are you sure about that Mr. Detective?"

"Just Shake is fine," the stallion grinned arrogantly. "And I've never been more sure of anything in my life. The case is solved."

"I'm not so sure," the second pony in the group spoke up. He was a crimson colored unicorn with a dark trimmed goatee. "This hole isn't shaped like any crater I've ever seen."

Shake immediately glared at his partner. "A crater is a big hole in the ground made by a falling rock, Fry," he explained aggressively. "I know what a crater looks like."

"But where's the meteor then?" Fry challenged, pointing down toward the center of the pit with his horn. "This crater isn't the right shape either. The bottom is flat. If a meteor had done this the floor would be--"

"It's a sinkhole then!" Shake barked. "Case closed!" He then faced Carl the work foreman. "I'll take my 20 dollars now. Cash will be fine."

Carl ignored the angry stallion. "I thought it might be a sinkhole too, but it's too perfect. The walls are straight and smooth all the way down, you see? Sinkholes form caves and tunnels."

Fry nodded thoughtfully. "And it's far too big to have been dug overnight. No equipment in the world could move this much earth in only a few hours. And where would they put all that dirt?"

"It's a rare bat-pony pit trap!" Shake announced suddenly. "Subterranean ponies burrowed up from the core of the planet and are getting ready to invade the surface. The case is now solved. Can we go now?" he asked with a frustrated grumble.

Carl only gave the white pony a glance before turning back to Fry. "There was also the huge earthquake that hit in the middle of the night. But that don't make no sense either."

Fry rubbed his chin, eyes still staring into the hole. "The nearest fault line is 300 kilometers (200 miles) west at least."

"These mountains do have their rare tremors. Rock slides and stuff. But nothing above a 4.0 on the scale, you know?"

"How big was the one last night?"

"It lasted only a few seconds and it was so strong none of the equipment could measure it right. Unless it was the largest quake ever recorded. All the lines went off the scale." Carl quickly removed his hard hat to scratch his bald head.

"Earthquakes have been migrating for years," Shake hissed. "Obviously building a dam here has angered the Earth gods and this is their holy punishment."

"You know, you might be right Shake," Fry said with a glint of an idea in his eye.

Shake seemed confused for a moment. Then quickly puffed out his chest and smirked. "Of course I'm right. I'm a detective. I deal with this kind of stuff all the time."

Fry turned back to Carl. "Has there been a lot of protests? I understand there are some groups who don't approve of the dam."

"We've had a couple of yocals breaking into the camp to steal keys or deflate our tires. Nothing serious though. And I don't see how some dumb kids could do... that," Carl huffed as he vaguely gestured to the enormous hole in the ground.

Fry groaned. The foreman was right. And, despite his wild suggestions, Shake had a point. There was no normal explanation. Only something supernatural could have done this. And a powerful one at that. This was most likely the greatest display of supernatural strength ever.

Something had created an enormous hole in the middle of the desert in just one night. No one had seen it and, thankfully, no one had been hurt. But what could do something like this?

Author's Note

Two references in one silly tale!

The characters are obviously a reference to "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", possibly the most bizarre animated adult comedy show ever. I think I did a fairly good job capturing the nonsensical laziness of Master Shake, though I just couldn't find room for a Meatwad character. The story was already getting towards the flash fic limit of 1,000 words. The second reference is to a story by Arilin on Furaffinity called "Smoke". In that story an identical mystery is afoot. An earthquake and an unexplained crater/depression in the middle of the desert. Strange, what could have done this? Though Arilin obviously did a far better job with the mystery and story than I did.