It was a clear spring morning. Twilight Sparkle was currently sitting on her throne in the map room, looking bored with her head propped up with a hoof. Despite the constant lists of things to do, for once Twilight was ahead of schedule and as such she had nothing else to do, which for her was quite rare.
“Spike, are you sure we didn’t miss something? Anything?” she asked in an almost desperate tone.
Spike grumbled as he came into the room. “Twilight, I checked the lists four times. I know cause you asked me to. Everything’s checked off.”
Twilight sighed loudly. “Well I guess now I know I should do a better job of spacing things out… Hmm…is Starlight here?”
“She went to go visit Sunburst at the Crystal Empire remember?”
“Oh…right…well, I guess I could go pay a visit to the spa…I think I got a kink in my wings somewhere…”
“Well I desperately need a back massage,” Spike stretched slightly.
Twilight smirked. “Alright, alright, I get your point. I guess we might as well-” She suddenly stopped as her cutie mark began glowing and a holographic version of it moved to the Cutie Map, accompanied by another.
“Let me guess…map duty?” Spike asked.
“It would seem so…and judging by this other cutie mark…”
The doors suddenly opened as a pink pony hopped her way inside. “Oh boy, I got a booty call!” she said happily.
“Pinkie…please don’t call it that,” Spike groaned.
“Ooh sorry, should I call it a flank call? Cutie call?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Ooh, is it me and Twilight this time!?”
“It looks that way but…” Twilight stared at the map. “I’m not sure exactly where it’s pointing to.” The cutie marks were pinpointing a location just northeast of Vanhoover. “Well, at least we can there via train. I can only imagine what’s going on?”
“Silly Twilight, it’s obviously a friendship problem…or maybe it’s something bigger!” Pinkie gasped. “I’m so excited and I haven’t even started packing yet!”
“What makes you think you’ll be there more than a day?” Spike asked.
“Just a gut feeling.”
“Well, Pinkie does bring up a good point, since the map never tells us exactly what the issue is,” Twilight stated. “Alright Pinkie, I’ll meet you at the train station in an hour.” Pinkie was gone before she even finished. “Spike, you think you can watch the castle for us?”
Spike groaned. “And I was so looking forward to that massage…”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Fine, after your massage you can watch the castle.”
Twilight didn’t have to worry about Pinkie being late since she got to the train station before she did. Pinkie didn’t pack very much but she apparently brought a lot of bits with her. “Better safe than sorry,” she said.
“You know I could’ve taken care of all this,” Twilight stated. Being a princess now led to a much larger income. Of course, she certainly wasn’t the type to splurge but at the same time she was just fine paying for her friends.
“Oh its fine, most of this is probably going to the food trolley anyway.” Somehow Twilight wasn’t surprised.
The train took off minutes later, its main destination Vanhoover. “There must be a village nearby,” Twilight said. “Kind of like how we discovered Starlight’s village before.”
“Uh oh, you don’t think we’re dealing with another Starlight are we?” Pinkie wondered.
“If that were the case, I think the map would’ve said all of us were coming,” Twilight assured her. “Whatever it is, its something the two of us can handle…I hope.”
The train ride only took about half an hour and it wasn’t long before they reached the city of Vanhoover. Despite the short trip, Pinkie spent half of her bits on the food trolley and was all set for the rest of the trip. “Now we just need to find someone who can take us to our final destination.”
Luckily, there was a station where carriages went around inside and outside the city. Twilight quickly found a pony in one of the ticket booths. “Excuse me, we’re trying to get somewhere but unfortunately it doesn’t show up on the map we have.” Twilight rolled out the map and pointed her hoof northeast. “Are there any villages or towns northeast of here?”
“Hmm…” The ticket master looked at the map. “The only place I know is the village of Mystare…but are you really sure you want to go there?”
“Well, it is important but…why do you ask?” Twilight asked.
“Well, let’s just say the ponies in that village…like to live secluded,” the pony replied. “At least as far as I know. They don’t get many visitors and quite frankly I don’t think they take too kindly to outsiders…it’s an odd place to say the least.”
“Odd or not, we have to get there, its um…important princess stuff,” Twilight grinned slightly.
“Well I certainly can’t say no to a princess,” the ticket pony smiled. “Alright, I’ll have one of the boys here take you out. I can’t promise they’ll be very hospitable, princess or not.”
Twilight paid the pony and it wasn’t long before they made their way north via one of the carriages. “Everything about this now smells fishy,” Twilight said. “I can understand some ponies like to live the quiet life but…now I’m starting to wonder why the map is sending us here in the first place.”
“It can’t be any worse than Starlight’s village,” Pinkie said. “Although…that was too weird, even for me…”
“We’ll just do what we always do: we ask around and if we find our problem, we offer to help.”
The carriage ride ended up taking longer than the train ride but in about an hour they reached their destination. The village of Mystare was actually larger than either of them had predicted and it was actually an island surrounded what appeared to be a small lake, which was odd considering no lakes appeared on the map.
“Well, I guess this is exactly what they wanted,” Twilight said. She saw a bridge that was currently lifted up. She saw a pony on the other side who appeared to be sleeping. “Um…excuse me!” The pony didn’t appear to hear her. “Hello!” Still no answer. “Pinkie, you might want to cover your ears…” Twilight’s eyes suddenly went white as she used the Royal Canterlot Voice. “EXCUSE ME!”
The sound waves seemed to rock the entire island slightly and the pony finally woke up. “What in the-” He looked over and saw the two ponies. “Huh…? Who are you!?”
“I guess he doesn’t recognize you,” Pinkie said, rolling her eyes slightly.
“I’m terribly sorry. My name is Twilight Sparkle and my friend and I wish to cross the bridge,” Twilight said politely.
“On what business?”
The question caught Twilight off guard. “Well, as the Princess of Friendship I was sent here to settle an issue, though I’m not exactly sure what.”
There was a slight pause before the pony grunted. “Fine, I’ll lower it.” He went over to a crank and started turning it, causing the bridge to slowly come down.
Once it was fully horizontal, the two ponies crossed. “Thank you very much Mister…”
The pony didn’t feel like giving her his name. “So…Princess huh? We don’t see them very much these days. There something going on?”
“Well…we’re not sure,” Twilight said. “Perhaps you could tell us. Has anything…significant happened recently?”
“Not that I know of…the only thing I’ve heard is the old baron here passed away yesterday.”
“Oh…I see,” Twilight said. “Can you tell us anymore about him?”
“Baron Reingold was his name and he pretty much was the one who owned this land. He was a very wealthy pony and he and his family live in a large mansion up north. Apparently there’s a bit of a ruckus going on now since the baron didn’t exactly state in his will who was getting what. He was a bit of an odd fellow…”
“I think I’m starting to see the problem here,” Twilight thought out loud.
“You mean we’re gonna solve an inheritance problem?” Pinkie asked.
“Maybe. You said the mansion was north of here?”
“Yeah, but I’d tread carefully,” the pony warned her. “You may be a princess and all but ponies here don’t like you sticking your noses into their business, good reasons or not.”
“I’m starting to get the idea,” Twilight said. “Thank you again.” The two of them walked off into the village as the bridge pony went back to his nap.
“On second thought, I’ll take friendly brainwashed ponies over these guys if that’s how they treat visitors,” Pinkie grumbled.
“Oh don’t worry Pinkie, I’m sure not everypony is that way,” Twilight said. “Let’s see…north…well there’s definitely a large house up that way so that’s the best place to look first.” Along the way, they passed an inn, and a few restaurants and cafes. It certainly looked like a normal village with the amount of ponies out and about.
Soon they came across a large gate with the large mansion in the background. Unfortunately, the guard at the gate didn’t look so willing to grant them access. He was also pretty large. “This is private property,” the guard stated, which apparently was supposed to be enough for anyone to turn right around.
“Sorry to bother you, but we actually have business here,” Twilight stated.
“Oh yeah? I don’t recall Lady Regalia expecting any visitors,” the large pony said, looking at Twilight’s wings. “Certainly not any princesses.”
“That’s enough Chauncy.” A regal-looking unicorn mare was making her way towards the gate. “Can’t you see who you’re speaking to!?” Using her magic, the gate opened. “My apologies Princess Twilight, Chauncy here can be a bit of a brute sometimes.” She glared at the pony but he didn’t seem to flinch.
“Oh it’s no problem…are you Lady Regalia?” Twilight asked.
“Indeed, please come in, come in,” Regalia said as she escorted the two ponies inside. “I must apologize, it’s been rather chaotic here but I didn’t think you’d be sent here for such a thing.”
“It’s um…kind of hard to explain actually,” Twilight said sheepishly. “But we were told the baron here recently passed away?”
“Yes, my dear husband,” Regalia sighed. “He was dealing with illness for quite some time…needless to say once it became news that he passed it was only then did his relatives come.” Her face soured at the thought. “However, they were most displeased to find out no one was mentioned in the will…well, no one direct that is.”
“So he gave away nothing?” Pinkie asked.
“You misunderstand. My husband was…a bit of an oddball, though in a good way of course. There’s a Reingold heirloom, said to be worth millions, hidden somewhere, though I’m not sure whether it’s in the mansion or somewhere in the village. It’s known as the Golden Apple and he said whoever finds it will earn both the heirloom and his fortune.”
“That’s…that is strange,” Twilight said.
Regalia chuckled. “But not surprising, at least to me.” Soon they were at the front doors to the mansion and using her magic again opened the doors. “Anyway, please make yourselves at home. I know the other residents here can be quite…cold but any visitor is welcome here.” She then showed the two of them to the study room and went off, offering to get them refreshments.
“Well, we certainly found out why we’re here,” Twilight said.
“Are you sure this is right?” Pinkie asked. “I mean I love scavenger hunts and all but this seems more of a family thing.”
“Hmm, you’re right. We shouldn’t get involved in this search, but the map sent us here for some reason.”
Regalia soon came back with tea and biscuits. “It would seem our dear butler is quite busy with my brother and son,” she said somewhat testily. “They’re probably out playing croquet as usual. My husband’s aunts and uncles are staying here as well so it’s certainly been livelier here than usual. I wouldn’t make you of course, but if you wished to see them…”
“We’d be honored,” Twilight said.
“Actually, it should be the other way around, but enough about my family, let’s talk about other things.” Regalia then poured all of them a cup. “Now Princess how does Eques-”
Suddenly there was a yell from outside. “What was that?” Pinkie asked.
Regalia sighed. “That was Hans, our butler. He probably found another rattler in the backyard-”
Suddenly the door burst open and there stood an earth pony dressed in a nice black suit. He was currently out of breath and looked quite pale. “L-Lady Regalia, it’s terrible!”
“Calm down Hans, what happened?” Regalia asked.
“It’s your brother…he…he’s been murdered!”
Everything went silent as a cold chill filled the room. “M-Murdered!?” Regalia said, suddenly short of breath.
“I’ve called the authorities immediately,” Hans said. “I tried to help him but it was already too late.”
“I…I…” Regalia suddenly stood and looked to her guests. “Excuse me but…I’m afraid we’ll have to save this talk for later…” The two ponies then rushed out of the room.
“Okay…this isn’t what I had in mind…” Pinkie said.
Twilight, however, was slightly pacing back and forth, the gears in her head already racing. “An inheritance problem…and now a murder…there’s no way these two incidents aren’t related.”
“Um…I don’t think we’re qualified for this kind of work,” Pinkie said uncertainly.
“Actually I think we might just be,” Twilight said. “This may be a matter for the authorities, but as princess I have authority over cases like this as well. If it were Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, they wouldn’t stand by either.”
“So…what are you saying exactly?” Pinkie asked.
There was a slight gleam in Twilight’s eye as she smiled. “I know why the map brought us here. Pinkie Pie, we have another mystery to solve.”
Twilight Sparkle and the Odd Village