Chapter three: Applejack’s Story.
It took Watson exactly thirteen minutes and forty-three seconds to get to Greg’s house. He knew this because he was counting up the seconds the entire time he ran. “Great,” Watson thought, “the first interrogation is probably over.” He thought it was stupid that he was missing interrogation just to check for boxes. As Watson walked through the front door he saw that his theory was correct. The Coroner's office had already taken Greg’s body and the bottle poison away. Although no corpse was on the floor, Watson still walked around the spot where Greg’s body was. When he got to the other end of the main room he saw a short hallway with a door at the end of it. All Watson had to do now was open the door, see boxes and leave.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if there weren't any boxes in the bedroom.” Watson thought. Watson walked down the hallway very calmly even though it was a very dim lighted and something was murdered here. When he opened the door Watson mouth dropped open.
It was empty. There wasn’t even a bed. Now that Watson thought about it, this WASN’T funny at all! Watson figured he should’ve been happy that he found a clue, but he was also very mad that he was going to miss more interrogation searching the house.
“What kind of griffin moves somewhere and doesn’t bring anything with him!?” Watson said out loud, to himself. “Maybe there are boxes elsewhere!” Watson desperately hoped. He ran out of the room and looked in the kitchen, the bathroom and even the empty closet with the frosting on the wall. The house was empty. No furniture, no dishes and no food, except for the rolls and apples he found in the cupboard. “Aren’t griffins carnivores though? Why are these here?”
Greg was definitely doing something fishy in the house and now Watson was going to have to search for what it was. Watson sighed heavily, knowing he was going to miss more interrogation.
*********************
Back at the police station, Officer Johnson and Officer Dirk we’re having terrible luck finding information about Greg. They didn’t have a lot of files about griffins and the fact that Greg didn’t have a last name made the search even harder.
“I’m not finding anything. Are you having any luck, boy?” Officer Johnson called out to his partner while putting away a file about “George the penguin.”
“Actually I think I found something.” Officer Dirk called out while looking at a single piece of paper.
“What?” Officer Johnson was a tad excited and walked up to his partner.
“It’s about the house that Greg moved into. In this report it says it’s a two bedroom house.” Officer Dirk pointed at a bullet pointed information on the flier.
“So?”
“Well, I only saw one bedroom, sir. Not two, sir.”
“That’s not something, boy! That’s just poor observation skills on your part!”
“So you saw the second bedroom, sir? Where was it?”
“Why, it was in that hallway of course.”
Officer Dirk looked up at his partner, not believing anything that he said, and stated, “I’m going to check it out. I could be wrong, but I just want to be sure.” Officer Dirk left the flier on his desk, got up from his chair and headed to the door.
Before the Officer could make it outside Officer Johnson called out from Officer Dirk's desk. “You know you’re sounding like those crazy detectives with all your theory’s you have.”
Given the fact that Sherlock has solved thousands of cases, Officer Dirk took that as a compliment. “Thank you, sir.” And with that Officer Dirk closed the door behind him and entered the cold, bitter night.
**************
“Whatever Greg was making in the closet, one of its ingredients had to have come from the Everfree forest.” Sherlock deduced out loud, “Why else would he go into the horrible place?” Sherlock thought about telling Alex this, but before he could the next mare walked in.
She had light orange fur and a blond mane. Her cutie mark was three apples places in a triangle shape. “Whoa.” was what she said when she saw the colorful painted walls in the room. She also had a heavy southern accent with one of those cowboy hats atop her head. It didn’t take an expert detective to tell that she was a farm pony.
“Judging by the apples on your flank, you must be the one called Applejack.” Applejack stopped looking at the walls and fixed her eyes at the stallion that was talking to her. “Have a seat.” Sherlock gestures to the chair across from him. “My name is Sherlock Hooves.”
Applejack sat I the chair, never loosing focus on Sherlock. “Rainbow told me that you think none of us killed him.”
“That’s right. I just need information and back story, is all. Speaking of back story, why don’t you tell me about yourself, Applejack.” Sherlock kept in mind that he had to be nice to the pony of interest.
“Um, well ah grow apples.”
“So you work on a farm? I used to work on a farm when I was a filly too.” Sherlock lied. He had never worked at a farm, let alone even been to one. “It’s really hard work for us earth ponies, am I right?”
“Yeah, I have to agree. Unicorns and peguseses,” Sherlock lightly hesitated when Applejack said “peguseses” instead of “Pegasi” like it should have been, “DEFINITELY have more job opportunities than we do, but I wouldn’t change form fer the world.
“Me neither.” Sherlock had to let his grammar Nazi side of him go if Applejack was going to like him.
“It’s even harder work when you have little sister ter look after.”
“No way, I had to look after my little brother on the farm, too!” Sherlock faked enthusiasm. “You know Applejack, you remind me so much of myself when I was your age.” There was that line again. Sherlock liked it so much that he used it twice for two ponies.
Applejack smiled and there was a silence in the room. “So, do you want me to tell you what I said to Greg?”
“Actually what we’re doing now is you’re going to tell me how your day went.”
“Um, ok” Applejack was confused. “My day has actually been a little crazy.”
“No, no. Tell me in exact detail how your day went from when you woke up to when you were asked to be interrogated.” Applejack opened her mouth to say something, but Sherlock cut her off, “No matter how crazy it was. As long as you speak the truth, everything will be fine.”
“Alright, you’re the detective.” Applejack cleared her throat, “When ah woke up this morning I was mighty excited.”
**************
The reason today was a “mighty exiting” day was because it was Saturday. And Saturday was apple cart day. You see, during the week days, Applejack would slave away picking apples, watering apple trees or growing new ones, but on Saturday Applejack would take her ripe produce, load it up in the apple cart and bring it into town for business. It was her kind of relaxing. Not doing any manual work and watching her crops turn themselves into precious bits.
The apple cart had more than just apples though. Thanks to Applebloom and Granny Smith, the cart was full of apple pies, apples on a stick, apple juice, apples on a stick with Carmel, apple cider, apple jam, apple lemonade (yes that is a thing) and even apple makeup.
As Applejack filled up the cart with the large assortment apple flavored goods, a loud, heavy knock came from the front door. Applejack got to the door quickly because whoever it was, sounded anxious. Applejack opened the door to see her pink, party pony friend still making a knocking motion with her hoof as if the door was still there.
“Guess what A.J!!” Pinkie Pie said in her usual cheery voice. Before Applejack could answer pinkie started talking again, “You'll never guess who's moving into the empty house by the hill!” Pinkie Pie jumped a little bit from pure excitement.
“Uh, is it somepony I know?” Applejack guessed.
“Not somepony you know; somegriffin you know!” Pinkie jumped even higher now.
Applejack’s heart almost stopped when Pinkie said the news. The only griffin she knew was Gilda. Although Applejack never really talked to Gilda before, she heard that, that griffin was nothing but a jerk.
“It's not Gilda, is it?” Applejack hopped that Pinkie was talking about somegriffin else.
“Yep! That’s the one!” Applejack sighed. Now this Saturday was going to be ruined. Heck, since she’s moving here then every Saturday will be ruined.
“We’re talkin ’bout Gilda, the one who was a jerk to ya?” Applejack was confused of Pinkies happiness of the news. Especially since Gilda was the most jerky to her.
“That’s what I said silly goose! But she's not a meanie pants anymore! She said that she changed and want to help out everypony she meets!”
“Sounds suspicious if you ask me.”
“Come on A.J just give them a chance!”
“Did you say: them?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you! Gilda’s brother is also moving here too! Isn’t that great!”
Applejack did not think that was great at all. Instead of one annoying griffin bothering everypony now there were going to be two annoying griffins. “That’s great Pinkie, but ah got to finish loading the apple cart. And also ah need to finish crying...”
Pinkie gasped with excitement, “That reminds me A.J! Do you think you can sell these in your apple cart?” From nowhere Pinkie pulled out a cupcake with green frosting. “It’s a watermelon cupcake! I made it myself!”
“Uh, I'd love to Pinkie, but in this here apple cart we sell apples not watermelons.”
“Suite yourself.” Pinkie seemed to have taken the news very lightly and she also put her cupcake away. “The customers probably want more choices. And this cupcake is delicious!”
“So you’ve baked them before?” Applejack asked.
“Nope! This is actually my first watermelon cupcake ever! I just know they have to be good! Hey that gives me an idea!”
Applejack was afraid to ask what it was. Hopefully, it didn’t have to do with Gilda or her brother.”
“I’m going to tell Rarity about Greg and Gilda! Bye A.J!” Pinkie darted of leaving a cloud of dust where she was only moments before.
Applejack coughed up some of the dust that was kicked in her face and said to herself, “So his name is Greg.”
**************
“So ah took the apple cart to town.” Applejack continued.
Sherlock was thinking about stopping Applejack and telling her to be more detailed, but he remembered that last time he did that, Rainbow Dash didn’t take it seriously and it only wasted both of the ponies’ time. So he decided to let this vagueness in the story slide because it probably wasn’t important anyway.
“I set my apple cart up near the edge of Golden hill.
**************
The top of Golden hill starts of in a small fifteen degree slant. And then after a couple of feet of the small incline the hill drops strait down. Applejack’s cart was at the edge of the slant and she kicked a leaver on the wheel of the cart. The leaver activated the carts brakes so it wouldn’t go sliding of the edge of the insanely steep hill. The cart hadn’t even officially opened when Applejack say her friend Fluttershy flinging near the drop-off of the cliff.
“Hey, Fluttershy. Watcha doin?” Applejack asked as she took an apple pie from one of the carts bottom shelves and placed it on top of the cart showing it was for sale.
“Oh, Hi Applejack.” Fluttershy said in the quite, shy voice. “I’m just installing a birdhouse here for all the birds to have a home.”
“Don’t you think it’s dangerous to have a bird house at the drop off? I mean, what if it falls down on somepony?”
“That will never happen. I’m using these.” Fluttershy held up a small bag of screws. “These are L-9 version four titanium screws. There the most powerful screws available.” Fluttershy lightly kicked the bird house. She was meaning to test out the sturdiness of the screws, but the kick was so light that it wasn't really a valid test of durability. “See? Sturdy as a rock. The real question should be why you have a cart with wheels near the ledge of the hill.”
“This carts not going anywhere. See this lever here;” Applejack pointed to the lever aside from one of the carts wheel, “When this baby’s pulled, the wheels won't budge.”
“Well it’s good to see that we're both cautions about other ponies’ safety. I’ll see you around Applejack; I have to feed some new birds that flew into town.” Fluttershy waved goodbye to Applejack and left her alone with her apple cart.
Applejack was happy to have a friend like Fluttershy. She was always shy around others, but when she was with her friends she had no problem speaking her mind. “When she said, new birds that flew into town, she didn't mean Gilda and Greg, did she? No that's just too weird. She probably has some other bird friends to feed.” Applejack thought to herself.
Applejack saw Rainbow Dash fly above her. “Did she just wake up?” Applejack thought to herself, again. “Ah guess someponies other than Rarity really need their beauty sleep.”
Business was going slow, like it usually did in the afternoon. The time just before dinner was when sales would go up. Applejack didn’t mind it though. At this rate she might even fit a nap into her busy day.
That's about when she saw Greg. The hill Applejack’s cart was placed gave her a full view of his house through the trees. All Applejack could think have now was when Pinkie said, “Oh, come on give them a chance!” Since the day was still young and no sales had been made Applejack put away all the products into the bottom selves of the cart and hung out a “Closed” sign.
She grabbed a few apples (apples on a stick without the stick) from the cart and decided she would give them to Greg as a courtesy gift.
The walk wasn't long, but it was very boring. When Applejack got to the front yard, she felt like turning around and hopefully never have to deal with Greg again. “No.” She thought out loud in a quite whisper. “You’re gonna give him a chance to prove he’s not like Gilda.” Applejack took a deep breath and started walking for the door. She became more and more nervous with each step she took. When she got to the door she knocked quieter than she expected. Hopefully Gilda won't answer the door. Hopefully.
Nothing happened for a while and Applejack was ready to leave, but before she could turn around the door slightly opened and a griffin head could be seen from inside. It wasn’t Gilda though; it looked male so it was probably Greg. Greg looked down at the mare in front of him and said,
“Can I help you?”
“Ok this is your chance A.J,” Applejack thought, “Now it’s time to prove yourself.” “Yes, ah mean, no. Ah don’t need any helpin.” Applejack started to get more nervous. So much for first impressions. “Uh, my names A.J, but you can call me Applejack fer short.” Celestia, she was messing this up. “Ah mean, uh, switch those around.” Applejack helplessly smiled, trying to cover up the awkwardness. “You, you must be new to Ponyville.”
“Yeah, me and my sis just moved here.”
“Oh, you’re Gilda’s brother.” Applejack said like she didn’t know that already. “I can show you around town if ya want.”
“I'm fine, thanks. Speak to you later.” Greg started to close the door but Applejack called out to him before he could.
“Wait, um, do you want these apples?” Applejack took the apples that were balancing on her back and showed them to Greg.
“I really shouldn't.”
“I insist! They're my gift to you. Welcoming ya and ya family to town.” Applejack was caring a total of four apples in her hooves.
Without arguing Greg grabbed the apples in his claws. “Man, you ponies. Thanks for the welcome gift A.J. I got to get back to work so I'll speak to you later.”
“That works for me!” Applejack said cheerfully. Greg closed the door and left Applejack alone in his front yard.
“I jist need to prove myself to him is all.” Applejack spoke to herself as she walked out of the yard. “Wait. He was supposed to be the one proving himself! Not me!” Applejack walked past Greg’s front gate and she decided to take a little detour back to the apple cart while she was thinking. Walking always helped A.J focus and since nopony was at the apple cart she figure it wouldn't do anypony any harm.
The extra walk wouldn't take too long. She would just walk around the base of the Golden Hill and be back at the cart in five minutes.
“You're going to have to talk to him some time or another and you don't want him thinking that you're the pony that can't speak right.” Applejack was in her own little world pondering the problem she currently had when she felt something get smashed under her hoof. She first noted that it was very gooy and cold. Applejack quickly looked at what she stepped on and saw her hoof covered in green goop. As A.J got a closer look at it, she saw “the green goop” was no doughtily, Pinkie's watermelon cupcake.
How and why was that thing there? Applejack panicked when she remembered Pinkie really, really wanted to eat her cupcake, but now it was just a squished mess. What could Applejack do? If she told Pinkie then she would never forgive her.
“Ah know!” Applejack said to herself, which was something she did quite often. “I'll just go back home and make her another one and give it to her before she ever misses it!” Applejack took the goop up in her hooves to get rid of any evidence that it was ever smashed and galloped back to her barn.
Applejack caught a glimpse of her apple cart that was atop the hill next to her and felt a little ashamed that she was going to leave it abandoned for such a long time. But she had to make a new cupcake for Pinkie, she just had to. Hopefully this Vacation day won’t get any worse.
When Applejack came into her house she was greeted by three young fillies.
“Hi sis! Watcha got there?” Applebloom pointed at the green goop her sister was holding.
“That’s none of your business. It’s very important. ” Applejack threw the used-to-be cupcake away and got out some pots and pans for cooking.
“If it’s so important, why did ya throw it away?”
Applejack got annoyed at her sister and changed the subject, “Don’t ya have better things to do than to stay at home?”
“Well, the girls and I wanted to try cutie mark crusaders bear hunter, but Rarity wouldn’t let us.”
“I’m glad she did! You’re not going to go NEAR that forest looking for bears, you hear?” Applejack got the apple cookbook out while she was talking.
“We weren’t going to go lookin fer bears.” The way Applebloom said ‘looking’ sounded suspicious. It sounded more suspicious when Scootalloo and Sweetie Bell exchanged smiles, like they knew something Applejack didn’t.
Applejack looked at the girls with a quizzical expression, thinking how to word her next sentence. “Oh…kay…” yep, that was perfect.
“Hey A.J,” Scootaloo called from couch she was sitting on, “random question, but do you have any screws? Preferably L-9 version four titanium screws.”
“Actually, I know Fluttershy’s bird house on top of Golden Hill has ’em. Why?” Applejack poured in two cups of dandy lions into the mixing bowl. It’s what the recipe called for; two cups of flower. Applejack thought she finally found the use for flowers. Apparently they’re good for cooking with. Maybe she’d try one...No she had to focus. Make cupcake and get back to applecart. What did Scootaloo say again? Oh, that’s right, screws.
“Oh nothing.” Scootaloo said quickly.
“You’re not planin to take her screws are ya?” Applejack took a spoon that she would use at the table, a table spoon, and poured baking powder into the mixing bowl with it.
“Uh, No. We were planning on being cutie mark crusaders pony inventors so we wanted to see what the best screw ever looked like and we would try to make it better.”
“Uh, huh.” Applejack was having a hard time believing the fillies. She threw the egg yolk down the sink and put the empty egg shell in the bowl. The recipe called for egg whites and the only white on the egg was its shell, so it went in the bowl. “I want Big Mac watchin after ya so ya don’t anything....” Applejack thought for a good word, “Stewpid. BIG MAC!” Applejack called out. It was time to add the watermelon, but she realized that she didn’t have any. Apples were probably a good substitute. Apples are good for everything.
“BIG MAC!” Applejack called out again, this time with more annoyance in her voice. There was no response.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get him.” Applebloom said and walked into Big Macs room with her friends following behind her.
Now are you supposed to cut the apples in a specific way? Aw, what the hay, an apple’s an apple no matter where you cut it, so Applejack put an entire apple in the bowl. She stirred the mix the best she could with the spoon in her mouth and once ever thing looked right (Whatever “right” was supposed to look like was beyond Applejack) she placed it in a cup cake holder. There was a lot of mix left, so Applejack decided she would leave it for Applebloom to have. She then put the mix in the oven and waited for it to cook.
**************
“Once everything was cooked, ah put my homemade green frosting on it.”
“I see.” Sherlock said. So that’s way the cupcake Rainbow Dash found tasted horrible. “Did you taste what you baked?”
“Uh, yeah I did. You see, I didn’t know if it was supposed to smell that bad or not so I took one little nibble from the icing to make sure everything was alright.”
“And it tasted....”
“Horrible. I never really liked watermelon to begin with so ah figured it must of tasted fine.” Sherlock nodded when he heard Applejack confirm the cupcake was horrible. “It looked real nice, though. And since a little tip of frosting was missin, Ah put a cherry on top to cover it up.”
“Ohhhhhhhh. THAT’S where the cherry came from.” Applejack was confused at Sherlock. “Go on,” He said.
“Well I went back ta town and put the cupcake in the exact same spot I found it. And while ah was there I saw my friend Rarity walkin down the road.”
**************
“Hello Applejack, What are you up to?” Rarity asked Applejack.
“Um, nothin much.” Applejack dropped the cupcake on the floor where she found it.
“What was that?” Rarity pointed at the pastry on the ground.
“It was a cupcake a found ‘ere. I was just lookin at it.” Applejack lied. “I wonder who it could belong too.” Applejack lied again. She knew it was Pinkies, but she wanted to sound like she had nothing to do with Pinkie or her cupcake.
“That’s rather odd because look I found in the bushes over there.” Rarity held up a book titled: Griffins. “I’m wondering if it belongs to Greg.”
“Oh, you’ve met Greg?”
“Not really! I had the most absolutely horrible introduction with him.”
Applejack chuckled, “Yeah, me too. We’ll hopefully you can talk to him when you give him his book back.”
“Yes, hopefully. Pardon me asking Applejack, but is you Applecart open today?”
“Yeah. I closed it down fer a bit to go out fer a walk. If ya wanna buy something I’ll open it fer ya.”
“That would be lovely.” The two mares walked down the trail toward the applecart. “You still have apple make-up correct? I think they’ll be perfect for my spring line.”
“Yep, Rarity we’ll always have apple make-up. Even if you’re the only one buyin um.” Rarity smiled at Applejacks remark.
“So Applejack, isn't it dangerous to have your cart so close to a slanted ledge?”
“Nope, the carts break system is top notch. When the lever is facing left the brakes are on. When they’re right then the wheels move where you push them!”
“Oh, I see.”
Applejack was glad to see that everything was still in the cart when she arrived. She took out a case of Apple Flavored Lip-stick and said, “That’ll be three bits.”
Rarity placed three golden coins on the counter of the apple cart. When she got close to Rarity she spat out, “What is that horrid smell?” Rarity moved her head away from Applejack and covered her nose.
“What? It’s not a rotten apple is it?”
“No dear, I think it's you.” Rarity got a closer whiff of Applejack. “Oh my. Yes it's definitely you. It smells like burning. We're you cooking anything?”
“Um, yeah I was. Do you think I burned it?”
“Definitely. You need to go home and take a bath right now!”
Applejack didn't want to take a bath ‘right now.’ She wanted to spend her day relaxing and so far she hadn't done a single minute of that. It was around lunch time so a couple of customers were bond to come. But Applejack didn't want to scare them away with her awful smell, did she? So what was she going to do? She couldn't just leave the apple cart again. Before Applejack could think of an answer to her problem, Rarity said,
“I'll watch the cart while you're gone, okay. Just please do something about that smell.”
Applejack thought about it for a small moment. If she could go quick enough then she'll only be gone for like fifteen minutes. “Ok Rarity. If anypony come you know what to do, right?”
“Please Applejack I'm not an idiot. Go, just go.” Applejack ran down the trail and tried to make it to her house as quickly as she could.
Maybe her Saturday wasn’t going to be the ‘day off’ she was hopping for after all. Applejack got to the edge of town and there she decided something. Who says today can’t be a ‘day off’ day? Applejack should spend it however she wanted and what SHE wanted was to relax. So she was going to take her very sweet time getting back to her house.
Well, why does it have to stop there? Why not spend the day at the spa? No, that’s a stupid idea. Applejack hates spas. Then she remembered the lake just a half mile in the Everfree forest that she and her brother would go to in their free time. The lake was a relaxing; quite place and she would be washing herself too.
Applejack made up her mind. She was going to the lake to wash up.
Not only was the walk there beautiful, it was also quite and that left Applejack with her thoughts. She realized she was pretty hungry, considering she had only eaten breakfast. She should of brought some apples, but oh well, it's too late now.
The lake was well hidden. But once you go between two boulders and under a small crevice of trees, it was unmissable. The lake was as pure and clean as she remembered it. Applejack took off her cowboy hat and hung her rope on a tree branch. Applejack always carried rope under her hat, just in case. And you wouldn't believe how handy it's been.
Applejack dipped a hoof in the lake and smiled as the water surrounded it. It wasn't warm or anything, although that would be nice. It was cold, but not cold enough for Applejack to mind. She then placed her lower body into the water and sighed, happily.
She didn’t want to get her hair wet so swimming was out of the question. Instead, she would relax. She’d listen to the wind or the sound of the waterfall a few yards away. The lake and the waterfall weren’t connected, but the waterfall was connected to a river not too far from where she was. The river was pony made and it was used for supplying Ponyville with running water.
Everything was going smoothly. Applejack was more relaxed than she ever was in her entire life. The water was perfect. The sounds were perfect. The feeling was perfect. The way Pinkie was screaming at the top of her lungs was perfe-wait, what? Pinkie?
Applejack opened her eyes when she thought she heard pinkie scream. There it was again! Applejack wasn’t imagining it, Pinkie was actually screaming. And it sounded like it was coming from the river...
The sounds became more audible. Applejack heard, “There’s kinda a waterfall coming up so you have to swim!” Applejack jumped out of the lake to see what Pinkie was screaming about.
“I’m trying; you’re the one not swimming!” That was a new voice Applejack didn’t recognize.
“Somepony HELP!” Pinkie screamed. It didn’t take Applejack long to realize Pinkie and somepony else were in trouble. Applejack darted toward the sound of the scream and picked up her rope hanging on a tree branch. She might need it.
Applejack got to the river’s edge. The river had twenty foot canyon walls on its edge making escape from the river impossible, unless you could climb a vertical canyon. Applejack spotted her pink mare friend and, was that Gilda, a couple of yards downstream. The pony and griffin were struggling to keep afloat. Pinkie hung her hooves around Gilda and was staring at the waterfall that was soon to come.
Applejack ran like her life depended on it or somepony else's life depended on it for that matter. She ran on the canyons edge and made sure not to fall down. Now that would be incredibly stupid if she did. She took the rope in her mouth and started twirling it above her head like a lasso. Pinkie and Gilda were heading dangerously close to the waterfall's edge. Why wasn’t Gilda flying? Oh well, no time to question. Should she throw the rope now? No, she was too far away, she might miss. If she wanted to be absolutely positive she could lasso them, then she had to wait for the. Last. Possible. Moment.
The lasso made it around Gilda left claw and she was inches from falling to her death. Gilda thankfully had a tight grip on Pinkie with her right claw. Pinkie was even closer to the edge, with her back legs hanging off the side of the cliff.
Applejack held the rope in her mouth as best she could and started to back up, pulling Pinkie and Gilda away from the horrible drop.
“Wh-What happened?” Pinkie sounded shaken from all the fear in the situation. Applejack didn’t say anything. One, because the rope saving her friends lives was in her mouth and two, because she too focused pulling them out.
“I think your friend saved us.” Gilda said.
“Applejack!” Pinkie screamed joyfully as she saw her orange-coated friend.
Applejack didn’t know how much further she had to pull, but she did know that it hurt, a lot. Pulling two heavy objects while rushing water is pushing the opposite way, was never easy.
“I think we got it from here. Hang on Pinkie.” Gilda said. Applejack saw the griffin starting to climb the dirt canyon walls with Pinkie hanging off her back.
Applejack did not let go of the rope though. She tried to keep as much tension as she could on the rope just in case Gilda fell while she was climbing.
Eventually Gilda and Pinkie reached the edge of the canyon and struggled to climb
up it. Applejack let go of the rope and went to Gilda and Pinkie's side to help them up.
“What were you two doin in the river?” Applejack asked.
Gilda was breathing heavily. “It’s a very long story.”
“Applejack it was crazy! We were running and Gilda tried to pick me up! And then she attacked it!” Pinkie, who was still obviously shaken from the whole ordeal, tried to explain.
“Um, what?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story.” Gilda calmly said.
************
“So everypony went back ta town. Gilda said she had to tell Greg something and Pinkie had to finish Greg's welcome party.”
“Pinkie made Greg a welcome party? Did he ever go to it?” Sherlock asked.
Applejack sighed heavily, “No, he…he kicked the bucket before he could make it.”
Sherlock closed his eyes. Such a shame somepony had to murder Greg. He would of been great.
Applejack tried to shake off the sad feeling she was having and continued the story. “When ah got back to Golden hill I saw Rarity standing where my apple cart should of been.”
************
“Rarity, where’s the apple cart?” Applejack knew she wasn't going to like the answer.
“Um…well, while you were gone I had to go check on something…”
“What! You said you would look after it!”
“Let me explain dear, Twilight could have died if I didn't go help her.”
Ya, right. Rarity always over exaggerates EVERYTHING. Applejack didn't want to argue though. She was more worried about the fate of her apple cart. “So where is it?”
Rarity looked worried and pointed down the ledge. Applejack went to Rarity's side to get a better view at what she was pointing. When Applejack saw it she almost screamed.
Right on the edge of the drop off was the apple cart. Thankfully, the post that held of Fluttershy's Birdhouse was keeping the cart from rolling off the drop off. The actual house to the birdhouse was mysteriously gone.
“I guess I took the breaks off. Sorry.” Rarity spoke quietly to show she was really sorry.
At least the apple cart wasn't stolen or fell off the drop off. “I'm gonna go get it.” Applejack told Rarity.
“No, please don't.” Rarity put a hoof on Applejack. “Why not get a pegasus to help you.”
“Ah can get it myself. If things go wrong, you can grab me with your magic right?”
“Well, yes I suppose I could. But I-”
“Great.” Applejack cut in. She started to walk slowly down the slant.
“Applejack, please-”
“I'll be fine. Just stick to the plan!” Applejack was getting irritated that she had spent almost her entire Saturday not working at the apple cart. Even the time she had to herself to relax, wasn't very relaxing.
Applejack got to her apple cart and was surprised to see how it managed to stay balanced on the small wooden board. One nudge in the wrong direction would cause the whole thing to topple down the drop off. She had to be careful. One bad move would make the cart fall to its death. Applejack also noticed that the breaks were off.
Ok, be careful. Extremely careful. Applejack grabbed the wooden pole attached to the cart that she would normally push to make it go forward, but now she was going to pull. Don't want to mess anything up-
“Look out Applejack!” was all Applejack heard when she saw a light blue aura engulf around her and took her back a few feet uncontrollably.
Some part of Applejack's body must have touched the cart because when she got carried away by Rarity's telekinesis, the apple cart fell down the drop off. Applejack has a few inches off the ground and she saw her cart fall down the cliff. She managed to yell out, “NO!” before the cart crashed on the ground and all the assortment of apple products exploded everywhere.
Applejack wanted to cry, but before she could Rarity's telekinesis pulled her away from the slanted hill. “I-I'm really sorry!”
As much as Applejack wanted to buck Rarity in the face, she decided not to because that would only make everypony mad. Rarity was only looking after her safety and she did recommend getting a pegasus's help. “It's alright, sugarcube. Ah shoulda listened when you said to get a pegasus. We're still friends.”
“But I have to make it up to you somehow! I feel awful.”
“You can start by puttin me down.” The joke did not help Applejack's mood, but she had to try it.
Rarity smiled, put Applejack down and went in to hug her. She had to stop herself when she got close to Applejack though. “You did take a shower, right.”
“Not really. I guess I have a lot of free time to do that now.”
Applejack was in a rotten mood. Her entire Saturday was now ruined. She didn't talk to anypony walking home because she didn't feel like talking. You might say Applejack looked agitated. Her angry silence was soon interrupted when she saw Rainbow Dash called out to her.
“Hey A.J!” Rainbow Dash called from behind her. She turned and saw the crayn pegasus holding the cutie mark crusaders in her hooves and let Scootaloo ride on her back. This couldn't be good. “I just think you should know that some ponies were out in the forest and almost got mauled by a bear!” This didn’t help Applejack's already rotten mood at all.
“What in tarnation? Is everypony alright?”
“Yea, everypony is fine, thanks to Greg.”
Applejack looked at her sister and her friends, “I thought I told ya girls not tah go into the Forrest!” Apple bloom looked at her older sister with ‘that’ face. Applejack had seen it before and she wasn't going to get fooled. She wanted to scream, but instead let out an aggravated sigh. “Come 'ere Applebloom!” Applejack was going to let the other girls parents talk to them, but then she remembered Scotaloo didn't have any parents to punish her. So Applejack decided Scootaloo would come along too. “And you too Scootaloo!” Scootaloo hoped of Rainbow back and went to Applejack's side.
In an instant Rainbow Dash flew away with only Sweetie Bell in her Hooves.
Applejack made it inside the house and had just about enough of this crappy day. “Applebloom, go to your room. Scootaloo, you're in my room. I don't want anypony sneaking out talking to the other, you hear.”
“Yes, sis.” Applebloom said depressingly. She didn't want to argue because she knew she wouldn't win. She and Scootaloo slowly made their way up the stairs and into their assigned rooms.
The only thing Applejack could see herself do now was to follow Rarity's request and take a shower. It wouldn't be like the lake, but it would get her clean.
Applejack went into the bathroom and turned the shower faucet on. But when she did, no water came out. Great, now another thing to make this day even worse. The water wasn't working!
“Don't worry.” She said to her reflection in the mirror. It's not the end of-” Applejack stared at her reflection and noticed something looked different about her. What was it? She stared more and face-hooved when she realized she overlooked the obvious. She wasn't wearing her signature cowboy hat. She must have left it at the lake!
“Don't get mad!” She said to her reflection. You can just go back to the lake, get your hat and take a bath there. The idea calmed her down a lot, but she decided to eat something before she left to the lake.
After her snack, Applejack made the journey to the lake and was surprised to see a familiar face already at the lake fishing. It was Fluttershy and she was just as surprised to see Applejack there.
“What are you doin?” Applejack had to question Fluttershy.
“Um, fishing.” Fluttershy did not make eye contact with Applejack because she was ashamed of what she was doing.
“But once you catch a fish, you're going to put in back right?”
“No. I'm going to snatch it up from its home and separate it from his family and I'm going to kill it like a monster.” Fluttershy said.
“That doesn't sound like you Fluttershy. Why do you all of a sudden want to eat meat?”
“It's not for me, it's for Greg. I invited him over to dinner and he said he was a carnivore. So I'm going to cook up an innocent fish.”
“You don't have to kill if you don't want to, sugar cube. Let Greg eat what he wants to eat.”
“No, you don't understand. I have to do this for Greg to show him I can respect his diet because, I…sorta like him.”
Applejack's mouth dropped. Fluttershy liked a griffin? Was that legal? “Um, well I can see why you want to cook for Greg, but I think he'll understand if there's no meat.”
As soon as Applejack finished speaking, Fluttershy's fishing line tightened. A fish was caught. Fluttershy had to choose. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “Animals die every day. What's going to be different about this one?” And she reeled in the fish out from its watery home it started flopping around, thirsting to go back. Applejack was a little surprised Fluttershy could handle watching a fish die in front of her.
Fluttershy looked on the verge of crying. Applejack decided something had to be done. Something that would cheer her up. “Hey do you think I can come to dinner and meet Greg?”
The question seemed to help Fluttershy's mood a tad bit with her mind not on the dead animal and all. “Sure, you can come. You know how to cook fish, right?”
“No, I'm terrible at cooking. I'll help diner by bringing some apple goods. VEGETARIAN apple goods.” Applejack clarified.
“Sounds like a plan. Bring the food over at my place. That's were diner is going to be.”
“Great I'll see you soon.” Applejack almost left without taking her hat. When she got to her house she checked on Applebloom and Scootaloo, making sure they didn't escape. She then took one of the many apple pies that were already backed off a shelf and took it over to Fluttershy's house.
Fluttershy had cut up the fish and was putting various seasons on it. Applejack had to help Flutershy put the fish in the oven because she was starting to feel bad for the dead creature. Applejack didn't ask any questions about Fluttershy's crush will the fish was cooking.
Moments later, Rainbow Dash arrived with Rarity and asked if she could also join dinner. “The more the merrier.” was what Fluttershy said. They all agreed Rarity would make desert and Rainbow Dash would make a side dish.
Rainbow Dash and Rarity left to make their dishes and Applejack stayed along to help Fluttershy. When the Fish was all done Fluttershy could hardly look at it. Rainbow Dash arrived at the house before Rarity with corn salad. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had to speak soothing words to Fluttershy in the bathroom because she felt like she was going to throw up.
When Rarity arrived with chocolate cake everything was ready. “Now all we need to do is tell Greg we made him dinner.” Fluttershy said.
“You didn't tell him we made him dinner!” Rainbow said, sounding concerned.
“Well I'm assuming he won't turn us down.” Fluttershy flew at of the house and towards Greg's house. Rainbow Dash followed with her in the air and Applejack and Rarity had to run at a fast trot to keep up. When the four arrived at his house Fluttershy knocked on the door.
The door opened a crack and Greg's head popped out.
“Um, Greg we made you and your sister dinner ad we were kind of hoping you would come, if, um, that's alright with you.” Fluttershy spoke like she usually would when talking to new ponies, quite and unconfident.
“Gilda's not here exactly and I told you Fluttershy I'm a carnivore.” Greg sounded tired. Whatever he was working on, he was working hard on it.
“Oh, you don't have to worry, I made you fish.” Fluttershy sounded excited that she actually prepared meat.
Greg raises an eyebrow. “Man, you ponies. I guess I can take a break from work. Is it at your house?” Greg pointed at Fluttershy.
“Yes.” Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Greg started flying and Applejack and Rarity started running.
When they all came to the house Rainbow Dash asked, “Where exactly is Gilda?”
“Oh, um, she had to deliver something to the king.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and didn't question it anymore. The five made it inside and sat at the table. Applejack noticed Fluttershy sat next to Greg.
“Tell me what you think of the fish, Greg.” Fluttershy said.
Greg reached his claw to the dish and picked up one of the fish's pieces. He put the meat on his plate and then picked it up with his fork. Fluttershy had to hold a gag back when she saw the fish again. Greg put the meat in his mouth and tasted it.
“For a pony that's never cooked meat before, it's not that bad. It's better than raw, that's for sure.” Fluttershy smiled like she didn't care about the fish anymore.
The dinner continued with small talk. “So Greg, what are you studying in science?” Rarity asked.
“Well I like studying atoms in my free time.” All the ponies at the table were confused. What was an atom? Greg knew he had to clarify. “Everything we see and touch is made of tiny microscopic things called atoms. There are different kinds of atoms like oxygen atoms and carbon atoms.” This didn't clarify a thin at all. Greg tried another approach, “Inside an atom we have neutrons and protons in the middle and electrons orbiting around them.” Still, all the table was confused. “Aw, you don't have to worry about it. It's probably not important anyway. But I think my greatest discovery was finding Celestia to be a fraud.
All the ponies mouth's dropped. Applejack spoke up first, “Now what in tarnation makes you think our princess insn't a princess?!”
“No, I didn't say she wasn't a princess. She has to have some royal blood to be an alicorn. What I'm saying is that Celestia doesn't raise and set the sun.”
“So you think the sun raises and sets on its own?” Applejack questioned.
“Exactly! Well not exactly, exactly. The sun doesn't move at all you see. Pretend this tomato is the sun.” Greg grabbed a tomato that was on his plate from Rainbows corn salad. “And this piece of corn is the earth. The earth actually spins around the sun like this.” Greg moved the corn in a circle around the tomato.
“So does Celestia actually move the earth?”
“No it does that in its own too.” All the ponies right now thought Greg was crazy. “I can't just explain science to you. It's very complicated.”
“Well whatever you believe,” Fluttershy said, “I'm glad that we can all get along as friends.”
Greg looked down. “I-I'm glad too.” He looked back up. “Listen I remembered I got to do something real quick. What's the name of the mail mare around here?”
“Derpy Hooves.” Fluttershy answered.
“Great. You guys stay here I'll be right back.”
*****************
“Thank you Applejack. I think I know the rest of the story.” Sherlock cut in for two reasons. First, because he was already five minutes over his ten minuet per mare system and second, because he didn't want to hear the sad part again.
“Alright. I'm free to go?”
“Yes. Could you send in another one of your mare friends? Pick whoever you want, I don't care which one goes next.”
“Kay.” Applejack got up from her chair and out the door.
”So Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy were all at dinner when Greg was murdered. Pinkie Pie was preparing a welcome party for him, but what was Twilight Sparkle doing?” Sherlock thought.
***************
“Greg obviously wasn't planning on staying in town.” Watson deduced. “So why did he even bother to move here?”
The whole situation of everything was indeed very sketchy. “Whoever it was, must of had access to a syringe needle. Oh! And they must have been able to use it! How could earth ponies of pegusi use a syringe needle? The murderer had to be a unicorn!”
Watson got out his note book and wrote “is a unicorn” on the clues section. Watson then looked at the rest of the clues section and saw it was blank except for what he just wrote. Watson sighed, “This is going nowhere.”