//------------------------------// // 7. A Picture Worth a Thousand Bits // Story: Clue: Who Killed Home Body? // by DagaYemar //------------------------------// The door to Home Body’s room creaked open and an eye peered through the crack. Body lay peacefully in his bed, snoring up a storm. Ever so slowly, the mare shut the door and backed away from the room. Good, he’s fast asleep. I’d better get this done quickly! The pony crept downstairs and paused, glancing around. Seeing that she was indeed alone, she stepped quickly through the hall and into the study. She shut the door behind her and hurried quickly over to Body’s desk. Setting her weapon down on the desk, she pulled out a pair of lock picks from a pouch on her saddlebag. It took her nearly five minutes to break through the complicated lock on the bottom drawer, but finally it popped open. Eagerly, the pony pulled out the sheaf of papers inside and spread them out on the desk. A quick glance show them to be exactly what she was searching for, the formula of a fantastic new kind of chocolate candy Home Body had been bragging about the other day. A local named Mulia Mild wanted Body to invest in her new company that would ‘Revolutionize the whole chocolate industry!”. But fortunately for me, she thought, pulling out a camera from her saddlebag, somepony caught wind of it and is offering quite the pretty penny for the recipe. Once I get this to the Cakes, I’ll be able to afford… Her mental dialogue was cut short as she noticed a light shining under the study door. She hastily stuffed the papers back into the drawer and ran for the only hiding place she could think of, the secret passageway to the kitchen. She was only just closing the swinging portrait behind her when the door opened. A stallion poked his head in and scrutinized the room in the light of his candlestick. Seeing an empty room, he hurried over to the desk and set down the candlestick. He pulled a set of lock picks from behind his ear, but noticed with a start that the drawer was already open. “What luck!” he said, pulling out the papers and setting them down on the desk. “This will be a lot easier than I thought it would be. Now I just have to take pictures of these and get the film to Agent Sweetie Drops. I’m not sure what chocolate has to do with Equestrian national security, but she’s not paying me to ask questions!” He quickly took several pictures and popped the film out of the camera, setting it down in a special canister. He then carefully lit the papers with the candle and dropped them safely into the waste bin to burn. He was so busy making sure the fire burned out that he didn’t notice when the first pony snuck out of the secret passage. She grabbed his weapon from the desk and thwacked him over the head with it, knocking him senseless, and then grabbed the roll of film from the desk. She ran for the door, but stopped short as she heard a female voice on the other side. “Can’t sleep,” the voice muttered, “Somepony’s snoring too loudly. Bet it’s Scarlet Letter or the Colonel. A walk on the lawns will tire me out…” Cursing her luck, the thief went back into the secret passage and down into the kitchen. She was about to open the door back into the hall when it opened on its own, and she found herself staring face to face with another guest. “Oh! I didn’t think anypony else was up!” he said, peering behind her into the kitchen. “Are you sneaking a late night snack too?” “Er… yes! Just wanted a drink before bed,” she said, thinking quickly and hiding her weapon and film behind her back. “Well, I saw White Wash hiding one of her sweet cherry and almond pies in the top shelf. Let’s have a slice behind her back!” he said, pulling her over to the cabinets. Not wanting to appear suspicious, she followed. Meanwhile, the second thief groaned and sat up. He quickly realized that somepony had stolen his film and snatched up the weapon left behind on the desk, making for the door. Once in the hall, he heard voices coming from the kitchen and dining room. He slipped over to the dining room first and peered inside. A pony was on the floor at the far end of the room, scrubbing at something on the rug beneath the table. “Gotta get this juice stain out quickly or White Wash is going to kill me when she finds it. I’m just glad nopony noticed when the Colonel bumped it out of my hoof at dinner.” Confident that this pony had been there for a while, he snuck back to the door to the kitchen and laid his trap. He heard hoofsteps on the stairs and ducked into the ballroom to hide. A stallion stumbled down the stairs into the hall. “Bathroom…” he muttered, wiping at his eyes, “Shouldn’t have drunk so much cider with Green Mail after dinner…” No sooner had he entered the bathroom than a mare backed out of the kitchen. “No thanks, I shouldn’t eat any more this late anyway. Have a good night…” She closed the door and spun for the stairs, but her hooves immediately got caught on the rope which had been inexplicable stretched taunt across the floor. She tripped and hit her head hard against the wall, falling unconscious. The stallion in the ballroom leapt out at the sound and started ruffling through her saddlebags. “Turnabout is fair play, my dear. You shouldn’t have… wait, where is it?” “Do you mean this?” said the pony coming out of the kitchen, holding the roll of film. He swung the lead pipe and clonked the stallion in the head, dropping him down on top of the mare. “I saw her trying to hide this from me and swiped it when she wasn’t looking. I bet it’s valuable to somepony…” “It sure is,” a voice whispered in his ear, as the knife pressed into his back, “And you are going to pass it to me nice and slow.” The stallion blinked as he turned over the film. “You! But I thought you went outside for a walk!” The knife pressed harder into his back and cut off any more protests. “I hid in the library instead. Now hand it over!” Seeing no way out, he passed over the film and escaped up the stairs to his room. The pony tucked the film safely into their nightshirt. “There we go, safe and sound. Donut Joe’s been looking forward to this recipe…” “And he will just have to wait,” a mare said, just moments before a blunt weapon came crashing down. A third pony joined the pile, and the mare fished amongst them before coming up with the film. “Aha! Now to get this to Gustave le Grand and collect my reward!” Wasting no time, she ran to the front door and dashed off into the night with their prize. All was quiet for a few minutes in the mansion, and then the pony who had gone to the bathroom stumbled back out into the hall. They yawned, scratched their eyes, and suddenly noticed the mess. “What’s all this?” they shouted, rushing over. “There’s like three ponies lying here! Are any of you hurt?” They pulled Plum Pudding out of the pile first, but he was completely senseless. The pony floundered, unsure of what to do for him, and then ran into the kitchen to get a glass of water to throw on his face, like in the movies. While they were gone, one of the other two ponies stopped playing dead and sat up. “Was that Mustard or Peacock just now? Well, either way I’d better get going,” they said, picking up a new weapon from the floor, which was also their third weapon of the night. They went to the front door and opened it, seeing a pony lying on the doorstep unconscious. “Good thing I prepared a little trap just in case,” they said, kicking a large rock they’d balanced over the door into the bushes alongside the mansion. The unconscious pony followed the rock, after being divested of the roll of film. The pony whistled to themselves as they set off into the night to find their employer. Who filched the film? And for Whom? And here's a map if you need it.