//------------------------------// // A Study In Scarlet, CHAPTER ONE: Mister Sheerluck Hooves // Story: Sheerluck Hooves // by SkelePone //------------------------------// “My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people do not know.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle Breakfast in the Hooves household was generally a very peaceful and and uneventful fare. Little Dinky Hooves would eat a bowl of cereal prepared by her mother, Derpy Hooves. Doctor Time Turner, Derpy’s loving husband of but a few months, would be struggling to choose between a lime green and a forest green tie. Derpy would go over, kiss her husband, and then assure him that he would look dapper either way. Then the Doctor Hooves would go along to his laboratory and workshop while Derpy took her adopted daughter to school. Today’s breakfast, however, was not peaceful nor uneventful in any way, shape, or form. Dinky and her mother were in a panicked frenzy, struggling to cleanse the small abode or its ravenous dust and caked dirt. Time Turner would not be going off to work at all. Instead, he would still be worrying about which tie to wear and about how he should address a fellow Bridlish immigrant. He has been best friends to the Cockney, Carnegie Porter, for close to a year now, but this wasn’t some Cockney binge-drinker he could pal around with. This was an intellect and a sophisticated member of the Bridlish high society. Derpy’s Bridlish cousin was coming to visit. To stay with them for quite some time. All that Time Turner knew about Mister Sheerluck Hooves was that the other stallion was an investigator for Trotland Yard and a master of many sciences that Time Turner too excelled in. Dinky was being held aloft by Derpy as they dusted the small chandelier in the sitting room and Time Turner was wearing about seven ties of various shades of green when there was the sound of a hoof knocking on the front door. The Hooves family paused, staring in silent horror as whoever was on the other side of the door knocked once more. He was here. Time Turner yanked off his many ties, leaving a plain green one on. Derpy dropped her daughter in a panic, and Dinky’s father caught her and placed her at his side. Derpy swooped down and stood beside her husband and daughter. They each stood bolt upright and smiled broadly. “Come in!” Derpy called. The doorknob turned and the door itself creaked open. A tall, thin stallion wearing an Inverness cape and a deerstalker cap strode into the house. He had a coat similar in color to Derpy’s, which helped identify him as her cousin. But that’s where the similarities between them stopped. The stallion had a short-cut mane and tail of brown. The stallion’s eyes were not golden like Derpy’s, but they were an amber color. Another interesting thing that Time Turner noticed was that Sheerluck was not a pegasus, but a unicorn with a short, rounded horn. Upon Sheerluck’s flank, Time Turner saw, was a brown half-bent billiard pipe with a brown magnifying glass crossing it. “Good day and how are you, my dear cousin?” He mumbled in a thoughtful voice. Time Turner felt his eyebrow rise in a characteristically Porter-like fashion. “Oh, Sheerluck! I’m doing fine, you know that. But I should introduce you to the family!” Derpy squeed, almost pushing Dinky and Time Turner towards Sheerluck. The two smiled weakly at the grey stallion, whose face had not changed even slightly since entering the household. Sheerluck looked over the two. Almost like he was studying them. “An inventor. Or maybe just a tinkerer. No, inventor would make more sense. No actual degree in engineering, however. But not a mere amatuer. And she is a schoolfilly. Adopted. Names, please.” Sheerluck’s sudden announcement shocked Time Turner to the core. They had never even met before. How did the stallion already know his occupation. “How in Equestria did you know that?” Time Turner breathed. “Never mind,” Sheerluck replied, clearly disinterested based on the way he trotted about, studying the walls of the home, “the question now is about when and where your mealtimes are and whether you are prepared for me to make board with you.” “Um…” “Dinky, watch over Sheerluck for us.” Derpy ordered her daughter. Mrs. Hooves dragged her husband away from the odd stallion and their foal. As Time Turner glanced over his shoulder at Sheerluck and Dinky before rounding the corner, he saw the stallion sit on his haunches, studying the mounted prototype for the TROTIS. The Doctor wondered if Sheerluck would be able to tell what it was. When the couple had managed to get quite some distance away from Derpy’s cousin, Derpy began to explain her cousin’s odd behavior. “Listen, Doc, I should’ve told you that Sheerluck isn’t quite right in the head…” “Honey, it’s okay. He’s only here for what? A week?” “Three months.” Time Turner felt his jaw drop. Derpy scrunched her nose in the adorable fashion that the Doctor had grown to love and she smiled sheepishly. Time Turner closed his mouth, only for it to open again. It was almost as if he was trying to talk, but couldn’t quite make out the words. “I’m sorry, Timey. I should have warned you.” “Well… I mean, he doesn’t seem that bad, to be perfectly honest.” Derpy peeked around the corner of the door frame, into the sitting room. Time Turner leaned over as well. Sheerluck Hooves sat on his haunches in a chair. The stallion had taken of his Inverness cape and now only wore a white collar similar to the one that Time Turner wore, although instead of a necktie, he wore a simple black cravat. Dinky was sitting across from him. She was glancing from the mantle to her second cousin warily. “Well… then again… he is a bit of a kook.” “Doctor!” “Just look at him! He’s like a bloody robot. His face hasn’t even changed since he trotted into here. It’s unnatural.” “Well, you know what else is unnatural? Time travelling. But nopony’s judging you for it. Just… just try to be nice to him. It might be hard, be cause Sheerluck can be a bit of a jerk sometimes…” “Sometimes?” “... All the time.” They hushed up again to watch Sheerluck Hooves in silence. The stallion was still perfectly still, staring off into space with a peculiar look on his face. Time Turner gasped as Sheerluck reached into his cape that was hanging off his chair and pulled out a brown wooden pipe, quite like the one on his cutie mark. “No! Don’t let him smoke in here!” Time Turner hissed. But just as he and Derpy began to scramble to stop the stallion from lighting his pipe, Sheerluck blew into it. And instead of filthy black smoke pouring from the pipe, a stream of bubbles poured from the hole. Sheerluck’s face was still one of steely coldness. But the flood of bubbles being emitted from his pipe was so endlessly silly that Time Turner found he could no longer take him seriously. Sheerluck noticed the two staring, and the grey stallion beckoned to them. They approached Sheerluck reluctantly. “So a few questions to my hosts.” “Yes, Sheerluck?” Time Turner asked politely as a billow of bubbles caressed his face. “You don’t mind the presence of bubbles, do you?” “No, no, not at all.” Time Turner replied, trying his best to keep a straight face as Sheerluck blew more bubbles in his direction. “Excellent. I generally keep chemicals about, and I often perform various experiments. But as an inventor, that wouldn’t bother you much I would hope.” “Why, I could set you up in my laboratory across the street down that way,” Time Turner waved a hoof in the general direction of his lab. Sheerluck nodded curtly and presumed his questioning. “Let me see -- what are my other shortcomings…? I do get down in the dumps at times, and I won’t open my mouth for days on end. You mustn't think of me as sulky when I do that. Just leave me be, and I'll be fine eventually. What should I know about your family? It's good for us to know the worst of one another before we begin to live together for such a time." “Well… Dinky gets to school early enough in the morning. We always go out together to pick her up when school lets out. We don’t tend to get into arguments, the house is usually quiet most of the time. Derpy works every day at the post office, and I go to the lab daily. I do tend to get annoyed by a few things, but those are but pet peeves. Everypony had pet peeves.” “Would playing the violin happen to be one of those pet peeves of yours?” “That depends on the player. A good one is delightful. A terrible one is… well… terrible.” “That’s all good.” Sheerluck assured the Doctor, before kicking into another trot about the room. After a few awkward moments of silence, Sheerluck spoke once again to Time Turner, looking into the Doctor’s eyes with a hushed intensity. “Well, I am off. I have a few matters to attend to here in Ponyville. Thank you once again for accepting me into your home.” Before Time Turner or Derpy could reply, Sheerluck strode out of the room and to the front door. The unicorn levitated his cape back to him and stuffed the bubble pipe into his pocket. Then, with that, the stallion exited the premises. Off to do whatever errands eccentric Bridlish private investigators had in small Equestrian towns. Immediately, Time Turner rounded on his wife. He bore a shocked expression on his face. “How in Tartarus did he know I was an inventor? Did you tell him that?” Derpy shook her head. “Nope.” “Then how did he know that?!” Now she shrugged. Time Turner felt like freaking out. He wasn’t used to not knowing things. He preferred having all the information he needed when he was presented with a problem. This was a problem indeed, and he had absolutely no idea how to make Sheerluck seem less like an omniscient genius. “It’s just something he does. It’s his special talent. Lots of ponies wish they knew how he can do what he does.” “Well then…” Time Turner was now deep in thought. Maybe he could be the one to figure out Sheerluck’s secrets. “Mommy! Mister Daddy Doctor Time Turner! It’s almost time for school!” Dinky called from the other room. Derpy and the Doctor sprang into action. They’d have other responsibilities before they could learn more about their peculiar house-guest.