//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Sherclop Holmes and the Killer at the Gala 
// by UndeadSketches 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6




Sherclop Holmes considered himself to be in good shape.  But even he was having a rough time keeping up with the lithe unicorn mare.  His heart was pounding as he sprinted down the vaulted marble hallways.

Suddenly, the unicorn stopped and turned around, pointing the rifle in Sherclop’s direction.  Sherclop gasped and jumped behind one of the marble columns as the gun fired, barely dodging the round that ricocheted off the wall behind him.  He peeked his head back out, and the mare shot again, this time nicking Sherclop’s ear.

'She’s a bloody good shot, that’s for sure,’ Sherclop thought ruefully, holding a hoof to his now bleeding ear.

Sherclop saw the guards galloping around the corner, and he called out, “NO!  GET BACK!”  
The mare fired off two rounds at the approaching guards, but fortunately, they heard Sherclop’s cry and managed to duck behind cover, barely dodging the two bullets that hit the wall behind the guards.

The unicorn mare then turned down a set of stairs, and Sherclop took off after her, trying to ignore the pain from his ear.  The mysterious mare turned right at the bottom of the steps and ran through a set of doors that went into the courtyard, Holmes staying as close as he could get.  The unicorn sprinted up to an older brown stallion with a worn-out hat that was tending to some of the plants and grabbed him with her foreleg.  She then raised her rifle with her aura, leveling it with the stallion’s temple. 

“Don’t you take another step!” the mare yelled at Sherclop.  “If you do, Gramps ‘ere will find lead in skull.”  The poor gardener looked terrified, shaking in the mare’s grasp.

“Alright, I'm stopping!” Holmes replied, stopping in his tracks.

The unicorn grinned evilly. “Good, good.  Now, I intend to trot away from ‘ere, with Gramps as my insurance policy,” the mare said, slowly backing her way past a fountain.

'If I lose her, we’ll never get to the bottom of this blasted affair!' Sherclop thought to himself.

“Wait!” he called out. “If I were you, I would look right behind you.”

The mare rolled her eyes. “You must take me as some kind of fool. You don’t-oof!” the mare grunted as Dr. Trotson rammed into the unicorn, knocking her into the fountain. 

The blow also caused her to let go of the gardener and drop her rifle.  Sherclop trotted over to it and quickly picked it up.  

“Excellent timing, old friend,” Sherclop said with a grin.

“Just in the nick of time, I’d say,” Dr. Trotson replied. He then limped over to check on the gardener.

The mare sat up in the fountain, sputtering. The water was turning grey from her hair dye.

Sherclop leveled the rifle at her as Royal Guards galloped up beside him.

“Now, I do believe we have some questions for you,” Sherclop said with a grim stare.