//------------------------------// // Chapter seven: Twilight's Story // Story: Sherlock Hooves. Adventure one: Greg the griffon. // by 30bars //------------------------------// “You wanted to see me, Sherlock?” Twilight said, sticking her head inside the interrogation room. There she is. The murderer who caused all this mess. Sherlock spoke sternly, “Yes, I do.” Twilight walked to the table and pushed the chair out with her magic. “She’s good at magic.” Sherlock mentally noted. “This will be interesting if she fights back.” “Such a shame, isn't it,” Twilight said. Sherlock mentally laughed. Was she trying to make it seem like she didn't do it? Sherlock agreed, “Yes, it is.” Sherlock spoke seriously, “Tell me Twilight, what do you study?” “Magic and friendship.” She answered calmly. “I see. And what does Greg study?” Twilight's face froze. “I don't know. I only knew he was a scientist.” Sherlock knew she was lying. Twilight wanted whatever Greg was working on and she would have done anything to get it. “Funny.” Sherlock said sounding annoyed. Twilight was just digging herself a grave of lies. “Twilight,” Sherlock was thinking of a good question to ask her, “Tell me how your day was.” “It was crazy. I almost died.” “Yes, I know that.” Sherlock grew tired of explaining how he was doing things to each pony of interest. “Start from when you woke up to when you saw Officer Dirk climb the fountain and ask if you'd talk to Greg.” Twilight gulped, “Alright.” This was it. Sherlock could finally prove this unicorn was a murderer. Twilight took in a breath thinking of how she should start. “When I woke up I saw that Spike was gone. I wondered where he was, but I figured he probably had something better to do.” ****************** So Twilight decided to use her morning to study. After about thirty minutes into her day, Pinkie Pie and Spike opened the front door. That was strange to Twilight because she could've sworn she locked her front door. “Spike, where have you been?” Twilight asked. Spike went upstairs and started looking through books. “Oh, me and Pinkie went on an adventure.” That was something you don’t hear you brother do every day. Especially in this early hour. Twilight asked, “What?” Pinkie, who was standing in the doorway yelled out, “Guess who we saw!” Twilight looked away from Spike and over at Pinkie Pie. She asked, “Who?” “I did say guess, but you're probably never going to guess so I'll just tell you. We saw GILDAAAA!” Pinkie smiled. Twilight’s face instantly showed depression. Not Gilda. Anything, but Gilda. “What kind of adventure was that?” “A fan-freaking-tastic one, that's what!” “We’re talking about Gilda the gryphon, right?” Twilight desperately hoped that it wasn’t her. “The one who called you a dweeb and such.” Pinkie thought for a second. “Yes and no.” Pinkie said confidently. “Yes, it’s Gilda the gryphon, no it’s not the Gilda who called me a dweeb. She’s actually changed. She's an entirely new gryphon, her brother even notices the difference.” “Brother?” Twilight questioned. Please not another gryphon. “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you! Gilda’s brother is moving in too. He's a scientist!” Twilight was still upset Gilda was moving in to care. “Gilda thinks you and he should meet up and talk about science stuff!” “What's he study?” Twilight asked, giving the other gryphon a chance. Pinkie rose her elbows to show that she didn't know. “I doubt he’s studying magic. He's a gryphon. We’ll have nothing in common.” “Aw come on Twi. You really should meet them. Gilda is totally different. She didn’t call me a dweeb once.” Twilight was still hesitant. Then Pinkie went on her knees and started to beg, “PleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasePLEASE!!” If Gilda was the meanest to Pinkie, then she must’ve made some major changes in her attitude for Pinkie to like her again. Twilight finally gave in, “Alright. I’ll bring over a basket of something and maybe start up a conversation.” “Wow that was easy.” Pinkie got up from the floor. “You know, I should go tell Applejack about Gilda. And I should also show her,” Pinkie grabbed something and continued, “this.” Twilight learned to never ask Pinkie what ‘that’ was. It never ended well if you did. NEVER. Unfortunately Twilight completely forgot about that rule. “What is that?” “I’m so glad you asked! I wrote a song about it!” Pinkie drew in a breath and almost started to sing. Thankfully, Twilight had enough time to react and she shut Pinkie’s mouth with her magic. Pinkie managed to slip out, “Matermelon mupmake.” Twilight loosened her magical grip. “See, that wasn’t so hard. You just had to tell me what that was and then we can continue our day.” Pinkie blinked a few times, looked at her hooves and then said, “AlrightI’mgoingtotellApplejackbye!” and she darted out the door. Twilight decided that she would give Gilda and her brother a welcoming present. She walked into her kitchen and started looking for ideas. When her eyes landed on a plate of rolls, she decided it was the perfect gift. She took all of her rolls and placed them all in her dark purple basket. She then put a matching dark purple cloth over it and started to walk towards Gilda’s house. Which was actually the only house that was empty and somegryphon could move into. The walk wasn’t too long. Some company would be nice, but Twilight didn’t get any so she had to be alone with her thoughts. When she finally made it to the house, Twilight went straight to knocking on the door. She could be civil about this. And hopefully, if Gilda has changed, she could be to. Gilda answered the door. She was surprised. “Oh, it’s you. Pinkie told me she was going to talk to you.” “Yep, she did.” Twilight answered, “She also said that you changed.” Gilda blushed, “Well, I have been working harder to get along with others.” Then the other gryphon came to Twilight’s side. It looked like he had white paint in his fur. He spoke up, “Gilda, is this one of your pony friends?” Twilight answered, “Yep. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” The other gryphon stuck out a claw and said, “Greg, nice to meet you.” Greg and Twilight shook. Twilight smiled. This was going along just swimmingly. “I baked you some rolls, welcoming your family to town.” Twilight handed Greg her dark purple basket. He removed the cloth and said, “Thank you, Twilight. This is a really nice basket.” “You can keep it,” Twilight offered. “Hey Twilight,” Gilda spoke, “Do you know any places where I can volunteer? I want to show Ponyville the new me.” Twilight thought for a bit. “I know the hospital’s a good place. I sometimes volunteer there.” *************************** “You volunteer at hospitals?” Sherlock asked. “Yeah, I have gone a few times on the weekends.” “So that means you have access to hospital equipment, like stethoscopes or x-rays or maybe even syringe needles?” Twilight seemed surprised at what Sherlock asked. Her reaction was perfect when he said syringe needle. “Um, yeah I know how to work those things, but I can’t just walk out of the hospital with them,” Twilight defended. “I see.” Sherlock had Twilight exactly where he wanted. She knew he was on to her. All Sherlock needed now was wait for her to lie about something. Then Sherlock could say she was lying and juice out the truth. “Continue.” “Well, while I was walking home, I talked to Big Mac-” “Big Mac?” Sherlock thought Twilight could be lying but then he remembered, “Big Mac must have not been at Applejack’s house.” Sherlock’s eyes lit up. “No one was there to watch the cutie mark crusaders so they just left and stole the screw out of Fluttershy’s birdhouse.” “What?” “You just added another piece to the puzzle, Twilight. Thank you. Now you can continue.” “Um, okay. So I talked to Big Mac about apples. Then I went back to my house and Fluttershy knocked on my door.” ************************** “Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy said from behind the door. “Can I borrow some books? If that’s alright with you.” Twilight opened her door and answered, “Sure. What do you need?” Fluttershy looked, well, shy. “I was hoping that I could read about gryphons. Do you have a book about that?” “Of course! Is it because Gilda is moving in?” Fluttershy silently nodded. “I have tons of books about gryphons.” Twilight became excited. Books always excited Twilight. She went upstairs and started looking through her books. “Here’s the gryphon books.” Twilight said looking at a shelf. Fluttershy went upstairs next to Twilight. Twilight started reading the book’s title from the shelf going left to right. “Pegasus and gryphon similarities. You probably don't want that.” Twilight smiled and read again, “Pie recipes for gryphons. Pinkie Pie might want this.” Twilight set the book aside so she could give it to her friend later. “Planning a gryphon family. Okay definitely not that one.” “How about this one?” Fluttershy pointed at a green book titled ‘gryphons.’ “It's perfect Fluttershy, but don't you think it's kind of big?” “I'm a very fast reader. I’ll return it when I'm done. That should be in a couple of hours. I can return all of your other books I borrowed, if you like.” “That would be great.” Twilight said. “Alright, I'm going to begin reading. Bye Twilight.” Fluttershy started to fly out the door. Twilight happily waved goodbye to her friend leaving the house. Twilight decided to throw in a few extra minutes of studying before she began Derpy’s speech therapy. Every Saturday Derpy would come over to Twilight's house and the two would work on improving Derpy’s speech. Twilight noted that Derpy was making incredible progress. Twilight heard a knock on the door and a voice say, “Are you…home, Twilight?” “Try not to have so much pausing when you talk Derpy. Remember when we talked about pacing ourselves?” Twilight heard Derpy clear her throat from behind the door and say again, “Are you home, Twilight?” The pacing was good, yes. But something was still off. “Actually Derpy, go back to your old voice, please.” Derpy finally just opened the door. Twilight smiled when she saw the grey pegasus and her unforgettable cross eyes. Derpy said in her normal, un-paced voice, “Hi, Twilight. Twilight why…can't I sound…normal?” “Actually, Derpy, it has been scientifically proven that everypony’s voice is different, so there's no such thing as a ‘normal’ voice.” That explanation didn't seem to cheer Derpy up at all. Twilight put a hoof on her friend and said, “Derpy, your voice is normal. Your voice is adorable and cute and makes you, you. You don't have to change.” “But I want to…change. I want to sound like… everypony else.” “But your old voice is better than your new voice, trust me!” Derpy sighed the most lovable-I-just-want-to-hug-you sounding sigh ever. Twilight knew she wasn't helping. “Alright Derpy, let's pretend we're having tea and we’ll just talk.” “Does it have to be pretend tea?” Derpy looked up at Twilight, “Can it be real?” Twilight giggled, “Sure. I'll go brew some up.” Twilight got up and made tea. She eventually returned with it back to the main room. Derpy took a cup and the two mares just talked. “So what are you studying, Twilight?” Derpy said in her new voice. “Try not to go so high pitched. And flow your words better.” Derpy talked in a very low voice, “What are you studying, Twilight?” Twilight laughed, “Not that low.” Derpy spoke slowly, but with perfect pitch, “What. Are. You. Studying. Twilight.” Twilight put her cup of tea down, “Your pronunciation is fine. It's your pacing. You sound like a robot.” Derpy closed her eyes and focused. “What are you studying, Twilight?” It sounded exactly like her old voice. “That was perfect Derpy. Um, Right now I'm studying potions. Like what makes them work or how to tell what it does. How has your job been going?” Just after Twilight asked, Spike came into the house. He had a bandage around his chest stained with his green blood. Twilight asked, “What happened to you?” “Twilight, I need to talk.” said the baby dragon. “I’m kind of busy. Can we talk when I’m all done?” “It’s important!” Spike whined. “It can wait.” Twilight said. Spike groaned, “Fine, you won’t listen to me. I’ll just tell somepony else.” and Spike trudged himself upstairs. “Now where were we?” Twilight asked, “Oh, yeah, how are things going being a mailmare?” “It’s nice.” Derpy said normally. “I get to travel a lot.” Spike yelled from the second story, “Twilight where is the green ‘gryphon’ book?” Twilight gave an annoyed sigh, “I lent it to Fluttershy.” “But I need it!” exclaimed Spike. “You can ask Fluttershy your question about gryphons. She probably has already read the entire book.” Spike grunted and came downstairs. He never made eye contact with his sister as he walked outside. Derpy didn’t miss a beat, “Did you know that Greg has sent a letter to the gryphon king? I get to meet him soon when I'm delivering his letter!” Derpy said excitingly. “Since the letter is so important, I put it in the most secure mail room. All you need is a special key to get inside.” “Aren’t all the mailrooms supposed to have locks?” Twilight asked. “Yeap, they do. But the door to our secure mail room is huge!” Twilight rolled her eyes. She didn’t think bigger doors meant more secure. “And,” Derpy said, “The key is made of gold. I have it on me at all times.” Twilight decided to change the subject. She smiled at Derpy and said, “Derpy your speech is great. Keep practicing on the flow of your words.” Derpy didn’t want to talk about her speech though. She said, “You wanna see it? Greg’s letter?” “I don’t think Greg would like it if we go through his stuff.” Twilight said. “We won't read it! We’ll just look at it.” Twilight wasn’t too keen on the idea. “It’s just an envelope, Derpy.” “With the King's address on it. Did you know that he lives on horseshoe street?” Twilight choked on her tea. “No he doesn't. That’s really close to Ponyville. He lives somewhere in the gryphons land, not in Equestria.” “Well that’s what the address says.” “Strange.” Twilight agreed. The two mares talked for a bit more. Derpy was very good at asking Twilight questions and keeping a conversation. After a few minutes an awkward silence slipped into the mares conversation. Derpy said again, “Are you sure you don't want to see it?” Twilight sighed, “Alright Derpy, if you seem so excited about showing me an envelope, then I’ll see it.” Derpy clapped her hooves and set her empty teacup down. “I can get in the mail room with this key!” Derpy reached in the place where she always carried her keys. (How ponies manage to carry things without saddlebags is beyond me.) She became worried when she didn't feel anything. She checked her other spot, but nothing was there. She then got out a blue bag and zipped it open. Inside were dozens of keys. Derpy was breathing heavily now. The bag held a bunch of bronze keys and even a few silver keys. Twilight even saw a black key, but none of them were gold. “Where is it? I couldn’t of lost it! It was strapped to me!” Derpy held out a string. “The key is supposed to be on here!” Derpy was getting teary voiced. Twilight gave out a calming, “Ssshhhhh… It's okay Derpy. You probably had lost it at the mail house. You don’t carry that key EVERYWHERE, do you?” Derpy sniffed. “N-no I re-return it every night before I go ho-home.” Twilight decided now wasn't the best time to critic Derpy’s speech. “See? You probably forgot to take it when you started the day. It's probably back at the mail room. When we find it there you can show me Greg’s letter, alright?” Derpy calmed down. “Okay, Twilight. Follow me.” Derpy got up from her chair and went outside. Twilight followed. When the two mares finally got to the mailroom Derpy went straight to her cubby. Each mailmare got there own cubby to put their materials they needed in. Derpy became frantic again when she saw that her key wasn't in her cubby. Derpy curled up in a ball and covered her eyes. “What am I going to do? Greg is going to kill me.” “Greg's too nice to kill anypony. Can't you just get a spare key?” Derpy sniffed. “Yeah, but I've already replaced three keys this week and if I replace another everypony will make fun of me.” Derpy covered her eyes with her hooves to hide the fact that she was crying. “No they won't Derpy. They are all adults and should take part in teasing another mare.” Derpy curled up into an even tighter ball. Twilight had enough of this. Maybe if Derpy could explain what the key looked like, then Twilight could make her own replacement. Heck, why even need a key? If Twilight saw the lock then she could pick it with her magic. Twilight left Derpy alone on the floor and headed to the mailroom with the biggest door. “Is this the most secure mail room?” Twilight asked while standing next to the biggest mail room door she could find. Derpy lifted up her head to see where Twilight was. When she saw Twilight next to the most secure mail room she nodded and asked, “Why?” “Well it’s not really secure if it isn't locked.” Twilight swung the unlocked door open. Derpy saw the most secure mail room open. “How did you?” “It was unlocked Derpy.” Twilight stepped inside the mail room and Derpy got up off the floor. Inside, a humungous mail cupboard covered one of the walls. On the cupboard there were hundreds of small individual cubbies. Inside each cubby there were envelopes. Some were empty and some were overflowing. Derpy smiled when she stepped in the room. “I can send Greg's letter! Phew!” Derpy flew up to an empty mail slot. “Except Greg's letter ISN'T HERE!!” Twilight didn't have time to respond. Derpy dropped to the ground with a loud thump and started to cry. “I lost Greg's letter. He's going to kill meeeEeeeEee…” “No he's not Derpy. Whatever gave you an idea like that?” “Because he told me he would if I lost it!” Twilight was socked. “W-what? That doesn't sound like Greg.” “He said it was super important and to make sure I got it on time.” Twilight was at a loss of words. She went with, “It's going to be okay.” That's when Derpy snapped. “IT'S NOT GOING TO BE OKAY!” Derpy got off the ground and flew in the air. “EVEPYPONY WILL BE MAD I LOST THE KEY!” Derpy started hitting the ground. Twilight backed up into the mail cupboard. “I HAVE TO TELL GREG I LOST HIS LETTER!” Now Derpy started to hit the walls. “WHY DO I KEEP MESSING UP!?”Derpy then flew head first into the mail cupboard. It shook a little. Derpy was lying on the ground looking at the floor. Twilight was looking at the cupboard which unfortunately, started to fall. Twilight used the first spell that came to her mind. She grabbed Derpy with her telekinesis and threw her to the other side of the room. Just in time for Derpy to see the cupboard fall on Twilight. Twilight was immediately pinned to the ground. Pain engulfed her entire body. She could feel the cupboard on top of her move a little. Derpy was trying to push it off. After Derpy saw it was no use, Twilight heard Derpy scream, “Help!” But Twilight's hearing was fading. She could barely hear Derpy’s screams. Twilight's vision was beginning to go from blurred to dark. It hurt to breath so she stopped doing it. Everything was going black, then Twilight thought she heard her friend Rarity say, “Twilight are you okay?” and she was out. When she woke up, Twilight still felt tremendous pain in her chest. Her vision was coming back and she could breathe again. Well, breathing still hurt, but it didn't hurt as bad when she was under the cupboard. She was lying on the floor and it seemed she was still in the mail room. She saw Derpy, Spike, and Rarity all sitting over her. Derpy was obviously crying really hard. Twilight managed to ask, “Wh-what happened.” Spike spoke up, “A big accident that's what!” Derpy spoke up, looking very sad, “It was my fault Twilight. I got angry and worried and I started bucking things around and the mail cupboard tipped over on you. I'm sorry.” Derpy looked down from shame. “But she’s very sorry!” Spike defended. “I even have proof!” Spike held up an empty bottle with a little bit of blue liquid in it. “Is that my regret potion?” Twilight asked still on the floor and still mumbling. “Yep!” “What's a regret potion?” Rarity asked. “Oh they're the most dandy little things. When one pony hurts another pony and the pony who hurt the other pony feels bad about it then the hurt pony could drink the regret potion and whatever hurt him goes away! In our case Derpy hurt Twilight and Derpy felt bad about it so Twilight drank the potion and she got better.” Spike looked at his sister still lying on the floor and was now creating a pool of drool. “Or I should say, is getting better.” Rarity chuckled. “The potions really strong too!” Spike added. “If one pony feels bad enough then it can actually bring some ponies back from the dead!” From where Twilight was laying, Rarity looked surprised. But what did Twilight know? She could hardly sit up straight. The two healthy mares and one dragon stayed by Twilight's side until she felt better. “If you don't mind me asking, but what were you angry about anyway Derpy?” Rarity asked. Derpy sighed thinking back to the horrible memory, “I was just upset because I lost Greg's letter to the gryphon king and I also lost the mail room key.” Spike's green eyes lit up. “Oh that's what this is about? I think I saw them over here.” Spike went on the other side of the cupboard and picked up something off the ground. “Yeah, here's the key and Greg's letter. They're right here.” Spike held up a key and an envelope. Derpy started to cry again. She almost killed another pony because she wasn’t looking hard enough for what she lost. Rarity wrapped her hooves around depressed pegasus. Spike was sad that he made Derpy cry. A few moments later Twilight managed to sit up. Derpy, with watery eyes, quickly hugged the unicorn and almost knocked her over from the force. Derpy whispered, “I'm so, so sorry.” Twilight patted Derpy on the back. Twilight yawned and that made everypony else in the room yawn too. “How are you feeling dear?” Rarity asked. Twilight thought of a clever thing to say. She came up with, “Well, when I first woke up it felt like a train ran over me. Now it only feels like a bus has ran over me.” “See, you're getting better!” Spike said cheerfully. Twilight Smiled and Derpy added, “I'm sorry.” “I know you are and I forgive you, but I think I've had enough for today's lesson.” Twilight's smile widened. “Alright then,” Rarity said. “I'd really love to stay and make sure you make a full recovery Twilight, but I promised Applejack that I'd watch over her cart and I haven't really been doing that. I also have to return Greg’s book back,” Rarity held up the green book and showed it to everypony inside, “So I’m going to be-” Spike cut in when he saw the book. “YOU FOUND IT!” Rarity stopped walking and Spike ran up to the unicorn. “I’ve been looking everywhere for this. Where did you find it?” “In the bushes,” Rarity answered. “Why do you want Greg’s book?” She asked. “It’s not Greg’s. It’s Twilight’s. Fluttershy borrowed it before I could get a hold it.” Spike took the book out from the air and Rarity just stared. Spike opened the book’s cover and said, “See? It’s Twilight's.” Spike held up the book and showed Rarity the front flap that had a signature on it. “Twilight always labels everything that’s hers.” “Oh I see.” Rarity said when she saw the T.W.S signed on the book. “Well I guess it’s fine if I leave it with you.” “I’ll set it back in the library,” Spike said. “You can check on the apple cart now.” “That’s a great idea,” Rarity said and she looked over at the recovering Twilight. “Are you feeling better dear?” Twilight let out a weak, scratchy, “Yes. Thanks for saving me, Rarity. I’ll see you at Pinkie’s party tonight, right?” Rarity opened the door and answered, “Definitely.” Once Rarity was gone Twilight tried to stand up on her hooves. Derpy steadied Twilight when she started to wobble. “I got it,” said Twilight. Derpy backed away slowly. Twilight took some deep breaths and said, “See Derpy? I’m alright now. Everything is ok.” Twilight smiled and Derpy hugged her. ***************************** “Okay, so then I went home, ate a late lunch, then I took a shower-” “You took a shower?” Sherlock asked. The water still should have been down. It would've been impossible for Twilight to take one. “Yeah.” Twilight didn't know why she had to clarify that she was taking a shower. “Shower, meaning from your bathroom. Not like from a lake or a waterfall?” “Yeah. I took a shower in my bathroom. I wouldn't bathe in a lake.” Sherlock lightly smiled. The perpetrator was now caught. All Sherlock had to do now was watch Twilight dig a bigger hole for herself. “So after my shower I studied some more. Then Rainbow Dash came over and asked if I had any muffins. I told her no, but she really wanted muffins. She said, “I NEED MUFFINS!!” and I said, “Alright I'll make you some muffins.” “Why are you lying Twilight?” Sherlock broke in. “I'm not lying, I'm telling you the truth,” Twilight said honestly. “That's funny because I know four ponies that will say Rainbow Dash never asked you for muffins.” Twilight looked at Sherlock like he didn't know what he was talking about. “I know how to solve this. Let's ask Rainbow.” Sherlock was having fun proving Twilight wrong. Sherlock didn't want to send Twilight to go get Rainbow because she could try to make a run for it. So Sherlock went out of the room and locked the door behind him. He went down the hallway and into interrogation room C. He saw all the other five mares he just recently talkedto still in the room. He asked, “Rainbow can I borrow you for a quick second?” Rainbow said, “sure,” got up and headed out the door and into the hallway with Sherlock. “Do you know who it is?” Rainbow asked. “Unfortunately, yes. But you'll probably not like who it is though.” Rainbow Dash gulped and headed into the next room. Sherlock and Rainbow stood near the doorway and Twilight turned to face them. “You don't think it was Twilight, do you?” Rainbow asked. “You tell me.” Sherlock turned to Twilight. Both mares were scared. “Twilight, tell Rainbow what you think she did.” “You came to my house and demanded that I make you muffins.” Rainbows mouth dropped and she shook her head. “No, Twilight. I was at dinner with Greg.” She turned to Sherlock, “I swear.” “I believe you Ms. Dash. However, I'm having trouble believing Twilight.” Twilight was breathing heavily. “I wouldn't murder Greg! I never even talked to him except for this morning!” “Actually, Twilight,” Rainbow spoke up, “When I was in town getting corn, I saw you and Greg arguing.” Twilight started sweating and breathing heavier, “What…I don't remember doing that.” “I saw you.” Rainbow said. “You were yelling at Greg and you wanted him to tell you something, but he said it was his secret discovery.” Twilight didn't know what to say. Sherlock didn't lightly smile. He had a theory to why Twilight was doing what she was doing. “Thank you Ms. Dash. You can go back now, that was all I needed.” “Sorry for not telling you I saw Twilight, Sherlock,” Said Rainbow. “It's alright. At least you're telling me now.” Rainbow turned to Twilight, “I'm sorry Twilight.” and without saying anything else she walked out. Sherlock shut the door behind her. It was an awkward walk back to his chair. Twilight was looking down, breathing heavily from shock. “Twilight, I think the reason you're not telling me that you yelled at Greg is because you don't remember talking to him.” Sherlock explained, “The potion Spike and Rarity used on you wasn't strong enough at first. They knew water had to be added. The bathroom sinks weren't working so they substituted Derpy’s tears in for water.” He paused. “I think when you drank some of the potion you adopted some of Derpy’s aggressive behavior and it also led you to go, well, insane. You, Twilight, are insane.” Twilight stomped a hoof on the table and yelled, “NO!” “See, you are turning into Derpy. A more psychotic, murderer Derpy.” Twilight started crying, knowing Sherlock was right. She yelled out, “I DIDN'T MURDER GREG!” Sherlock wasn't expecting the next thing to happen. Twilight pushed Sherlock with her magic out of his chair and pinned him on the wall. She yelled again, “I DIDN'T MURDER GREG!” Sherlock could move all his hooves. He decided to try to talk Twilight out of it. He yelled out, “What happened to Greg is a tragedy, but it wasn't your fault!” Twilight pushed harder in Sherlock. He groaned a bit from the pressure. “We can get you help! We’ll take you to a hospital; we can fix your brain. I'm sure the policeponies will understand!” It wasn't helping. Twilight pushed harder on Sherlock and yelled louder than she ever had, “I DIDN’T MURDER GREG!” It was time for action. “First, throw nearby lamp at opponent.” Sherlock was thinking of how he was going to attack. “Opponent blocks, freeing me.” Sherlock saw Twilight using her magic on the lamp and not Sherlock. He started running to Twilight and she noticed too. “Block second attempt to pin me with table.” Sherlock turned the table sideways and it covered him. When Twilight would get a hold of the table and not Sherlock she would push it forward to try to hit Sherlock. “Jump over moving table.” Sherlock was right next to Twilight at this point. “Opponent tries a Third attempt to pin,” Sherlock hit Twilight's horn so it wasn't pointed at him, “Redirect. Follow with a chest punch. A kick in the knee,” now she couldn't walk, “and finally, bring hooves down at opponents head. Conclusion, Broken leg, pain in chest and head and I'll be free.” Sherlock started following his plan. He threw the lamp that was next to him and Twilight barely caught it. Sherlock wasn't pinned anymore. He ran to the table and, just like he planned, tipped it sideways. Twilight missed Sherlock and got a hold of the table instead. She pushed the table to try to hit Sherlock, but he jumped right over it. Then when Sherlock was right next to Twilight, she tried to grab him again, but he hit her horn in a different direction. Then something unexpected happened. Something that wasn't in Sherlock’s plan. Just before Sherlock could punch Twilight’s chest and finish his job, an eruption of white light came from Twilight's horn and filled the room. The brightness blinded Sherlock. He covered his eyes and screamed a little. (A very manly scream, of course.) The brightness didn't last long, but it was enough for Twilight to get a lot of distance between Sherlock. When the pony’s vision was coming back Sherlock was thrown across the room and pinned against the wall again. This time Sherlock couldn't move a single hoof. The pressure was building and all he could do was yell. “You're just proving that you are crazy, Twilight! Stop this nonsense now!” Twilight was breathing heavily and she screamed, “I DIDN'T MURDER GREG!!!” When Twilight screamed she pushed harder than she ever had on Sherlock. Cracks were beginning to form in the wall around him. Hopefully he’d break through the wall before Twilight broke all of his ribs. This was not looking good. Not good at all. There was nothing Sherlock could do. He just had to sit there and accept his fate. But fortunately, the door swung open. Sherlock saw Watson jump in the room. Watson didn't examine the situation for a second. He immediately ran towards Twilight. Watson hit Twilights horn down and Sherlock dropped to the ground. Twilight's head was facing down. Then Watson kneed Twilight’s head and it shot up. Watson followed by bringing his two front hooves down on Twilight's back. Twilight managed to face Watson. She had a bloody nose and was about to use her magic on him. But before she could Watson jumped in air spinning around and did a roundhouse kick right between Twilight’s eyes. When Watson made contact the unicorn flew backwards and hit the wall behind her. Twilight didn't get up. Watson walked next to her and checked her pulse. Watson was breathing heavily from his attack and the fact that he ran all the way back. “She’s fine. A broken nose maybe, but she'll live.” Watson saw that Sherlock was still on the ground not responding. He went over to his partner’s side and said, “Sherlock? Are you alright?” Sherlock coughed and clenched his stomach. “You-” he coughed more and was breathing hard. “You couldn't have saved sooner, boy?” “Wow.” Watson took in a few breaths. “You're really moody when you're on the brink of death.” Watson helped up his partner to his hooves. “I take it that you didn't even need my help, did you?” Sherlock just breathed a lot. “So, do you know why Twilight confessed even though she was the murderer?” Watson asked. Sherlock managed to say between coughs, “El-elementary, dear Watson.” “Ok, it was cute the first time you said that, but now, after solving every case, it just gets annoying.” Sherlock laughed, which made him start to cough again. He started, “Twilight drank a potion that she thought would make her better, but it made her crazy.” “So, she was drunk.” Sherlock laughed. He was happy that this case was finally over. “No. Twilight was passed out and her friends wanted to give her a potion. Her friends substituted in their own ingredient and that lead Twilight to go insane.” “So it was her friend's fault?” “No. I'll explain later. Let's get-” Just then, Twilight got up. Both Watson and Sherlock saw her and barely had time to react before both of them were pinned against the wall. The pain came back to Sherlock. Watson was screaming. The magic was making so much noise. Sherlock screamed to his partner next to him, “I thought you said she was out!” “She was!” Watson screamed back, “Have you ever walked away when I roundhouse kicked you?!” “I DIDN'T MURDER GREG!!!” screamed Twilight. Both stallions did nothing. There wasn't anything they could do, except feel their bodies being squished to a pulp. Sherlock caught a glimpse of Twilight. A glowing white light was in place of her eyes. That was strange. Twilight was focusing all her energy on killing Watson and Sherlock. Sherlock could feel pain all through his body. Twilight was putting more and more pressure on the two until… The door swung open again. This time it was Officer Dirk. He sprinted towards the purple unicorn and tackled her. Sherlock and Watson fell to the ground. They were both alive. Officer Dirk was on top of Twilight. She tried to push him off, but something was covering her horn. They were horncuffs. Very similar to hoofcuffs (Or handcuffs for any non-ponies reading this.) but they were made directly for unicorns so they couldn't use magic with it on. Officer Dirk must have managed to slip that on when he tackled Twilight. Officer Dirk said in a very serious policepony voice, “And stay down!!” Twilight just lied on the floor crying for a little. She had given up. Officer Dirk put hoofcuffs on Twilight’s front hooves and rose her up so she could stand. Twilight didn't fight back. Officer Dirk called out to Sherlock and Watson, “Is everypony okay?” Watson made it to his hooves first. “Got the air knocked out of us, but I think we’ll be alright. Thank you so, so much.” Officer Dirk said, “You're welcome.” He turned to Twilight and said, “Let's go,” and they walked out the door and into the hallway. Watson helped Sherlock up and the two followed Officer Dirk out the door. Twilight’s friends came out of the next room and saw a cuffed up Twilight. Applejack asked, “What-what happened?” Twilight answered, “I-I'm so sorry girls, but I-I murdered Greg.” All the mares gasped. Sherlock answered, “It wasn't her fault. Rarity, the potion you gave to Twilight made her go insane.” Rarity said, “Wh-what? I didn't know-” “I know it was an accident. Everything that has happened was a big accident. We can take Twilight to the hospital and make her sane again.” Twilight looked down in shame. Officer Dirk led her into the main room and everypony followed. Fluttershy flew over Officer Dirk and landed in front of Twilight. Sherlock didn't know if Fluttershy was angry at Twilight for killing her crush or not. Strangely, Fluttershy hugged Twilight. Twilight dug her face into Fluttershy's shoulder and she whispered, “I'm so, so sorry.” Officer Dirk loosened his grip on Twilight back, leaving her and Fluttershy hugging. Rarity ran up next to the two. She was fighting to hold back tears. “I'm sorry too, dear! I never should have given you that potion.” Soon all of Twilight’s friends walked up next to her and surrounded her in a big group hug. Officer Dirk, Watson, Sherlock and Alex just watched. Sherlock turned to Alex and asked, “Did you ever find what Greg was making?” Alex said, “If he had bamboo then he might have been construction a dragon scaled flute. I don't know what he could have used the frosting for. And I couldn't find anything in here that uses laughing powder.” “So that's a no?” Sherlock asked and Alex shook her head in agreement. “I bet if we searched Twilight’s house we would find whatever Greg was hiding in his closet.” Officer Dirk said, “Wait. Did you say laughing powder?” Officer Dirk started looking blankly into space, thinking. “Hold on.” Officer Dirk reached through his uniform pockets and found the Periodic Table of the Elements. “When you left, Watson, I found something.” He turned the paper over. On the other side there was writing. It was a list titled ‘ingredients’ and Sherlock started to read out loud. “Frosting, Laughing Powder, West Bolio Pine Leaves and Poison Joke. That's what Greg was collecting! It was Poison Joke. A type of flower only found in the Everfree forest.” “Wait a minute,” Watson said. “Sherlock, dragon scales isn't an ingredient.” Alex moaned, “AW! That's why I can't find anything! The book only covers things that use dragon scales!” Alex slammed the book shut and threw it on her desk. “But then…” said Sherlock, “What did I smell…” Sherlock thought for a bit. Then his eyes lit up when he came to a conclusion. “It wasn’t Twilight.” he said. “So she's not crazy?” asked Pinkie Pie. “No, she still is.” Sherlock didn't look at Pinkie. “It wasn't her!” All the ponies looked at Sherlock and waited for him to talk again. “It was Spike.” Sherlock whispered. All the ponies gasped and waited for him to explain. Sherlock went up to Alex’s desk and said, “Twilight, you own a library, right? Do you have this book?” Sherlock held up a copy of ‘Pine Trees from the Gryphon’s Land.’ Twilight sniffed. “Yeah, I remember that book. I have it.” “Alex, turn to the part about West-Bolio pine leaves.” Sherlock tossed the book to her receptionist. Alex caught it and started flipping through the pages. The book was only about thirty pages big. It was a kid’s book. When Alex got to page fourteen she started skimming for information. She gasped and started reading out loud. She was a terrible reader, by the way. Absolutely no voice inflection. “Hey kids! Did you know that West-Bolio pine leaves have high levels of a dangerous chemical called uranium? Scientists say if they can manipulate the chemicals just right then they could make a catastrophic nuclear bomb. Celestia says that she knows how to make the leaves explosive, but she also says she’s gotten rid of all the things that do that. Making the leaves useless.” “Laughing powder.” Sherlock whispered. “Celestia banished that plant, remember? Greg’s found a way to make the bomb! And now Spike has it.” Sherlock paused, taking in the new discovery, “Does anypony know where Spike is?” “Um,” Fluttershy stepped out of her group hug. “He actually asked me where a Horseshoe street was. He might be there.” Sherlock and Watson gasped. The both said, “The King!” then they turned to each other and they both simultaneously said, “How do you know?” Sherlock said, “Spike is going to try to blow up the King!” Watson said, “Greg had a meeting with the King there! It was going to happen at eleven. What time is it now?” Officer Dirk answered, “Ten-forty.” Watson and Sherlock looked at each other. Sherlock said, “We have to hurry.” Watson nodded in agreement and they both darted out the front door.