//------------------------------// // 1- The Sociopath in the Castle // Story: A Study in Cinders // by mocandragon5 //------------------------------// Bang! Twilight awoke with a start. What was that? An explosion? Bang! Twilight leaped out of bed, quickly throwing on a dressing gown and ran out of her bedroom. Bang! It was coming from inside her castle, somewhere. Opening every door, the noise kept growing louder. Bang! A sound of something shattering soon followed, one of the countless expensive vases, no doubt. Bang! The final door opened. Standing in the centre of the room was a dark blue earth pony stallion, a head of curled hair. He was wearing a black coat, down to just above his ankles, a plain black t shirt underneath. A light blue scarf was wrapped around his face. A strange device was held in his right hand, outstretched at arm's length. "Who are you and what are you doing?" Twilight demanded the mysterious figure. "I'm Bored!" The stallion moaned quite loudly. "Wait, you're not Mrs. Hudson. Definitely not John." The stallion removed his scarf and glanced over at the door. "Wait, you're covered in fur. And you're purple. Definitely a librarian, just got out of bed by the look of your hair. Seem to stay around fire a lot, slightly singed fur. Rather rich, judging by the fabric of your dressing gown. Where am I, who are you and what, exactly?" Twilight could only stand, open mouthed. After a few moments,she managed to ask, "How did you know all that about me?" "I thought I made my observations quite clear." The stallion stated, looking over Twilight with a curious expression. "I suppose I should introduce myself. Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective." "Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship." Twilight replied. She looked over at the wall. "You never did answer what you were doing." "Princess of friendship. Are you serious?" Sherlock asked, a small grin forming on his face. He then cleared his throat, "Seems I got a few bullets in your wall. I could swear I was in Baker Street a moment ago. Would you mind telling me where I wound up now?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at how casually he brought up damaging her wall, but decided to answer his questions anyway. "You are in Equestria, more specifically, Ponyville." "Equestria? Ponyville? Am I in the land of terrible horse-related puns?" Sherlock asked, placing the contraption in his hand into his coat pocket before raising his hands to tie his scarf around his neck, noticing his hands. "Why are my hands blue and covered in fur?" Twilight cast an inquisitive glare at the stallion. "You mean you weren't originally a pony?" "A pony? This is not a pony, this is some strange combination of human and horse. If only John were here. He is more savvy in terms of things circulating the internet." "You're a psychopath, you know that right? Damaging the property of others, claiming to be some other species I've never heard of," Twilight began, but she was cut off by the stallion who moved toward her. "I'll have you no I am no psychopath. I am a high-functioning sociopath." Sherlock stated, looking towards the door as what appeared to be a young boy rushed in through the door. "Twilight! Are you okay? I heard a lot of baning and a vase shattering." Spike questioned, almost breathlessly. "I thought something- wait, who's this?" "This, Spike, is Sherlock Holmes. He seems to be as surprised as we are at his sudden appearance." Twilight replied, looking back over at the self-proclaimed detective was looking over spike. "Let's see. Young, quite young. Probably only a child though maybe a young teenager. His clothes give off the same impression of being near fire quite a bit, and being rather careless. That letter in your hand seems to be quite important, sealed and everything." Sherlock thought out loud, speaking directly to Spike and raising his voice slightly when referencing the letter. "Spike, what is that letter?" Twilight asked, only now seeing the envelope clutched in Spike's hand. Spike looked at the letter, for seemingly no particular reason as the name was on the other side of the envelope. "It's from Ember. I says it's urgent but addressed specifically to you, Twilight." "Who is this 'Ember'? I gather she is probably another with significant wealth due to the fact the letter is sealed with melted wax. Say, that wax is rather fresh. If they live close enough to deliver the letter with freshly melted wax, why on Earth would you send a letter?" Sherlock questioned. "You see, Mr. Holmes, we in Equestria and a few other nations have sources of magic. Dragons are, strangely, capable of sending letters rather quickly between each other." Twilight explained. "Hold on for a moment, did you just say 'dragons'? This is getting more absurd by the minute! This must just be some strange part of my mind palace, or a really strange dream, this surely cannot be real!" Sherlock exclaimed, the other two in the room staring at him, almost worriedly, before Spike passed Twilight the letter and opened it up, reading its content. A few moments passed in silence, Twilight reading, Sherlock examining different mundane aspects of the room, mundane except for the walls, that is, and Spike watching with curiosity what the detective did. "Um, Sherlock, if I may call you that, you are a detective right?" Twilight asked after placing down the letter. "Yes, I'm quite sure both of us have confirmed that already." Sherlock replied, matter-of-factly. "Well, if you wouldn't mind, we may need your help, there has just been a robbery." Twilight said, her voice having a rather large amount of hope. "Not my job, I handle proper cases." Sherlock retorted. "Well, you see, it was the theft of a powerful artefact, a very powerful artefact which gives the user control over dragons." Sherlock stood still for a moment, staring out of a window at the sky beyond. "Let's go. Fill me in on the details on the way there."