Sherlock: The Magical Murders

"Just a little warning?" said John. "You call killing someone 'just a little warning'?"

Pinkie Pie was in the crowd of ponies, and she was starting to bawl her eyes out. She sobbed loudly, rivers of tears running from her eyes.

"Why?! Why did you have to go, Lemon Hearts?! WHY?!"

She continued to cry for two seconds before she stopped suddenly, and started marching up to Lemon's body. She turned to face everypony. "Alright, everypony, listen up!" she said, an unexpected seriousness in her voice. "A very good friend of ours has just been killed by an assasin! I have no idea why anypony would do this, and I'm as sad as all of you, but we have to take matters into our own hooves. We have to have Lemon Heart's body taken care of, so make sure we have a pony or two on that job! But for now, we focus on this message!"

She pointed a hoof at the burnt flesh and fur. "It says, 'Just a little warning, S&J'. Whoever did this must be warning two ponies whose names begin with S and J."

"Brilliant deduction," murmered Sherlock sarcastically, before being shushed by his pegasus partner.

"Now, let's find out who these ponies are. Maybe they're connected with the message-maker. They're probably dangerous if they are, though. So we gotta show them no mercy!" yelled Pinkie, rising a hoof in the air. "We gotta make 'em talk, no matter what it takes! Let's start our search immediately!"

The rest of the crowd, save for three, voiced their approval. John gulped nervously, trying to get rid of a lump that formed in his throat. Twilight took a few nervous steps away from the two detectives. Sherlock was too deep in thought to show much emotion.

Pinkie pulled out two long pieces of paper from her mane. "Alright, I have a list of everypony in town whose names begin with S and another for J. We'll have to have a little talk with everypony on these lists." She pointed a hoof at Sherlock. "Sherlock!"

The gray detective raised his head in surprise.

"... Can you get me my pencil? It's under that trash can nearby for emergencies."

Sherlock walked over to the trash can, lifted it up, and found a number two pencil underneath it. He grabbed it and hoofed it over to Pinkie.

"Thanks." She looked at her list. "Okay, first up... Silver Spoon and Junebug! Let's have a little chat..."

As Pinkie's vengeful eyes scanned the crowd for the two ponies she called out, Sherlock tugged on John's shirt collar.

"Come on," he whispered, "let's get to the library."

"I'm on it," Twilight whispered back. Her horn glowed and the three disappeared in a flash. Luckily, the crowd was too focused on Pinkie interrogating Silver Spoon and Junebug to notice. The party pony was surprisingly intimidating and scary as she stood over Junebug.

"So, where were you on the day of today?"

Sherlock, John, and Twilight appeared in a flash in the center of the library. The purple unicorn trotted over to Spike while John blinked his eyes in surprise.

"...That was... amazing!" he finally said, smiling, "The teleportation thing you did was amazing! It was like-"

"Spare me your amazing tales for now, John," interrupted Sherlock, "we have more important matters to discuss."

Spike and Twilight walked over to the two, the former looking very confused. "Why did you guys get here in such a hurry?"

"To pack," Sherlock stated, before heading up to the bedroom. Once he got upstairs, he grabbed a spare saddlebag. It was a light gray color, like his fur.

"...Wait, why do we need to pack?" asked Twilight.

The consulting detective looked down at them from above. "We're going to leave right now to go to Hoofington, where Flim and Flam are. It'll be night once we get there, so we'll have to spend a night in a hotel. We'll have to pack a few things, won't we?" He started to go back down the stairs, grabbing a telescope on the way down.

"Well, why now? Can't we do it tommorow?"

Sherlock held the telescope in front of Twilight's confused face. "Thought you might ask that. Look at where we were a few minutes ago. We can't stay around for long with Detective Inspector Pinkie Pie around."

She magically grabbed the telescope and looked out the window with it. She saw a serious, threatening-looking Pinkie Pie looming over a frightened Silver Spoon. The young filly was trembling as the party pony interrogated her.

Woah, as much as I hate to say it, Sherlock's right. She's gonna get to him and John soon. I wonder what she's saying to her?

Back at the Town Square...

"You heard me, school filly! I saw you play sick to skip school three months ago! Did you see anypony new? Anypony evil? Anypony who could've murdered innocent, little Lemon Hearts?!"

"... p-p-please let me g-go home..."

Back at the library...

Twilight magically placed the telescope back where it belonged and saw John exiting the bathroom, putting a toothbrush in another spare saddlebag. This one matched his fur as well, being a light orange color.

"Well, I guess there's no stopping you two. I'll start packing as well." She turned to her worried assistant. "Spike, you stay and watch the library for me. We might be gone a while. Will you be all right?"

"I should be asking you that, Twi," the dragon replied. "I'll miss you, but you go. The safety of pony lives are in your hooves."

Twilight smiled and started walking up to her room to fill up her bags. Half-way up the stairs, she looked back to see Sherlock laying on the couch in a state of deep thought. This gray pony was a complete mystery to her. He claimed that he came from another dimension, knows how to read a pony's life with one glance, and was not afraid to rush into danger, no matter how intense.

She knew that she should be worried, considering her life was on the line as well, but somehow, she couldn't help feeling a sense of excitement. She felt nervous, but thrilled to hear that they were going to investigate a murder. Was she going nuts or is this supposed to be normal?

... Yeah, I'm going nuts.

"Come on, you two! We only have to walk one more mile!"

Sherlock, Twilight, and John were on a dirt road walking to Hoofington, surrounded by grass and flat land. Moonlight and star shine lit their path because of the late hour. Originally, the trio had planned to take the train to Hoofington, but they found it had broken down. Twilight's hot air balloon was busy being repaired, and they had to leave quickly. So, she agreed to teleport them all half-way there and walk the rest of the way.

They had been walking all day, and now all of them were weary and exhaused, except, surprisingly, the gray consulting detective. The other two were lagging behind him, their saddlebags feeling heavier with every other step. John wearily lifted his head at Sherlock.

"How the hell do you have so much energy? You hardly ever sleep and we've been walking for hours!"

"Can't we stop for the night?" asked Twilight.

"If you two pick up the pace, we'll be there in about twenty minutes," Sherlock replied. "We can find a hotel then."

"Twenty minutes? Can't we stop now?" asked the annoyed purple unicorn.

"Maybe we can," answered John, pointing a hoof ahead of them. "Look over there."

He was pointing at a small log cabin around twenty feet away from them. Light shone from the windows, showing that somepony was inside.

"Maybe we can ask to spend the night."

The consulting detective groaned and rolled his eyes. "Why do normal people need rest so often? Fine, we'll ask to stay the night if you two feel like you're going to faint from exhaustion."

John and Twilight's faces lit up hearing that they had a chance of resting in a bed for a bit. The three walked over to the cabin, and saw that it was a bit unusual. Wires and metal parts were scattered on the outside walls, almost as if it was part house, part machine. John raised his hoof and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, it opened to reveal two smiling unicorn stallions. They were tall and cream-colored, with red manes, and wore blue and white striped shirts. One of them had a mustache, and spoke first, alternating with his partner.

"Hey there, what can we..."

"... do for you?"

Their eyes opened wide when they saw Twilight, and her eyes opened wide when she saw them.

"You!" they both said, simultaneously.

"You know these two?" asked John.

"Yes, she does," answered Sherlock. "John, meet Flim and Flam."