//------------------------------// // Doctor, who? // Story: The Mystery of the Old Ponyville Time Capsule // by GrangeDisplay //------------------------------// Telescopes, clocks, pressure gauges, tesla coils, and more riddled every inch and corner of Dr. Hooves' laboratory. Starlight wasn’t sure which marvelous invention to focus on as she studied the gadgets, machines, and widgets around her. Soft blinking lights, electrical sparks, and the mechanical whirring added to the ambience of the secluded building. Dr. Hooves had let the unicorns in with no hesitation or resistance, even when informed that he was under, “royal investigation.”  He led the mares inside and wordlessly resumed his work on some sort of device, using a screwdriver to fasten a colorful filter onto a semi-spherical apparatus. The flat end of the semi-sphere had several metal tendrils attached to it. Trixie pointed at the device with an eyebrow raised.  “Is that an octopus?” she asked incredulously.  Hooves spit out his screwdriver and smiled, brimming with pride. “I guess you could call it an octopus! It’s meant to function as an underwater transportation mechanism.”  The mares looked at him skeptically. He looked at his apparatus again. “Of course, this is a simple model, a miniature of the real deal. I use mini models to run tests before constructing a full-sized version. It’s hard to find cost and time effective ways of testing devices, especially ones that function underwater. If only there were some sort of underwater laboratory that I could use.” Hooves explained as he pressed a thoughtful hoof to his chin.  Trixie rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry; this conversation wasn’t half as interesting as she hoped it would be. She lazily looked to Starlight for a signal to get down to business. The purple unicorn offered Hooves a kind smile before gesturing for Trixie to get started.  The magician cracked her neck and cleared her throat in anticipation. “‘Dr. Hooves’ as you are called by many. What does the name Cloudy Whistles mean to you?”  Dr. Hooves leaned his front hooves on the table and thought it over. “I’m not aware of a ‘Cloudy Whistles’ unless…” Dr. Hooves sprang out of his seat and ran to the other end of the room, he returned with black board on wheels, “unless, you are describing some sort of invention capable of summoning…no…conjuring clouds.” The doctor picked up a piece of white chalk and began frantically scribbling a slide whistle with smoke rising out of it.  Trixie rolled her eyes. “No Dr. Hooves, we are describing a pony. A potentially dangerous and brilliant pony.”  Dr. Hooves wrote down a few notes on the board before placing his chalk down. He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and looked perplexed. “A pony? I don’t know of a pony named Cloudy Whistles.”  “Is that right? Okay then doctor, how about the name… Al Capony?” Trixie made a point to draw out the final name as she glared at Dr. Hooves.  “Al Capony! Now that is a name that I recognize!” he chatted with exuberance as he ran over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a series of blueprints. “Y-you do?” Trixie was taken aback by his eager admittance.  “Oh, of course, of course! That pony was a genius and an inspiration. Their fireworks were a marvel. I used to purchase them just to dissect and study them.” He unfurled his blueprints, revealing in depth analysis and sketches of fireworks.  Starlight couldn’t help but chime in. “You actually bought fireworks directly from Al Capony?”  “I did, although the pony that I spoke to used a different name. They called themselves Pony Accardo, but I always assumed that Al and Pony were one in the same.”  Trixie had recovered from her initial shock and looked to Hooves suspiciously. “Did you ever work with Capony?”  Dr. Hooves suddenly looked crestfallen as he studied the floor. “I…did not. But I wanted to, and I tried to. I had many conversations with Pony Accardo during their run and I considered them a bit of an acquaintance. But they always stood firm and rejected my entreaties to join.”  “What was Capony like?” Trixie asked fervently.  “Dark and shadowy. An ominous whisper in the alleyway. Their voice was…odd. Deep and raspy, I always assumed that it was a young colt or a mare doing an impression of a stallion. I considered Pony Accardo amicable, if not a little brash. Others claimed that they were harsh and straight forward.”  “Is it possible that they were two separate ponies?” Starlight questioned, jotting down notes in her notepad.  “It is possible that that was the case. They were prolific sellers, so it could have been an entire network of ponies working together.” Dr. Hooves conceded before overlooking one of his blueprints.  Everypony was silent as they came to terms with what they had discussed. Trixie added the information to her notebook before continuing, “Hooves, we are under good authority to believe that you are Al Capony or this ‘Pony Accardo.’ Do you have any evidence to prove otherwise?”  “As much as I wish that I was involved, I was left out of that particular loop. Would you mind providing the evidence against me?”  “Well, we have received two suggestions of your possible involvement from separate trusted sources. You have shown a past interest in unconventional fireworks by developing flameless fireworks. You were too young to receive a buyers or sellers permit, hence why you took to the black market to sell. You allegedly completed an apprenticeship in a toy shop, giving you easy contact with foals. Foals were the primary purchasers of fireworks in Ponyville. Finally, you are a brilliant inventor and scientist based in Ponyville.” Trixie stated definitively.  Dr. Hooves smiled to himself as he pawed at the ground. “I see why all of this might lead you to this conclusion, and I am deeply flattered. However, I must reaffirm my innocence. I lacked the resources and technical know-how to run an operation of this scale. Explosives were never really my wheelhouse, not until recently. I didn’t start experimenting with fireworks until I had ample experience and permission.”  “So, you waited years to actually act on your interest, despite knowing about the bad history of fireworks in this town?” Starlight asked, now growing more invested in the questioning with each second. The doctor pulled at his bowtie. “I was aware of the politics surrounding fireworks in Ponyville. Roseluck even warned me about my experimentation. Perhaps I should have listened…” He looked around as he considered his options. “I was here when things truly got out of hoof some years ago. Al or Pony had enemies that attacked the town.”  Surprised by the admission, Trixie looked to Starlight and whispered, “They already attacked the town?”  “Already?” Dr. Hooves repeated with concern. “T-they did come here. They blew up a portion of Sweet Apple Acres.” Thoughts were forming much quicker than Trixie could process. “They attacked the apple farmer’s home? Why would they do that?”  “Nopony really knows. The primary theory is that they wanted to hit something valuable but needed an isolated area to carry out their attack. The Apple family are the foundation of Ponyville, they founded this town. Attacking them is akin to attacking our heart.” Dr. Hooves stated breathlessly as he held a hoof to his chest. “And do you believe this ‘theory’, Dr. Hooves?”  “I-I’m…unsure. I think…that they were going after somepony, but I don’t know why. There were at least three ponies inside, and none of them noticed anypony planting explosives? It doesn’t make sense.”  “Who? The apple farmer?”  “Yes…and Rarity and Pinkie. I didn’t even know that they still hung out like that, but they got caught up in the blast. Rarity actually worked with me at the toy shop, but she quit after the incident. I assume that she was recovering. Pinkie was the best off of the bunch. Mayor Mare and Captain Firefly said she was the one that got everypony out of harm's way.”  Trixie walked closer to Hooves, nearly pressing her face against his. “And if you had to guess which pony was being hunted…who would it be?”  Sweat beaded on his forehead as Dr. Hooves bit his lip and fiddled with his bowtie. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie could hear the commotion that Mr. Cake described as she approached her bedroom door. She recognized the familiar sound of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity arguing with each other, but their tones were much harsher than usual. She cringed at the idea of her friends being unhappy and tried not to cry at the thought of how badly she failed them. She removed her old glasses with one hoof and wiped her eyes with the other as she gathered her courage.  Nopony noticed when she finally entered, but this was a common occurrence for the party pony. Ponies often acknowledged her inclination for loud and boisterous behavior, while her ability to sneak into places undetected went unappreciated. In truth, Pinkie was only seen by others when she wanted to be seen. She unceremoniously strolled into her bedroom, making her way past Rarity to her gramophone. She placed her favorite Coloratura record on the turntable and lowered the needle. All attention turned to her as a quiet melody resonated from the machine.  Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief as Applejack focused on the pink mare, descending the staircase at top speed to confront her friend. Pinkie didn’t flinch or quiver. She wasn’t even smiling or laughing. Applejack stopped dead in her tracks, mere inches away from Pinkie, as she looked into a pair of tired cyan eyes. A pink hoof rose to her mouth in a quieting gesture. “Please stop shouting girls. The Cake twins are napping. We can discuss without waking the little ones.” she stated softly.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Never in this lifetime has the Great and Powerful Trixie been faced with such a conundrum of a case! To think, Twilight’s royal investigation could lead to the indictment of one of her platoon members!” Trixie shouted cheerfully as she and Starlight walked through Twilight's castle. Starlight didn’t share in her friend's enthusiasm as she reconsidered her activities throughout the week. How did they even get here? It had begun with finding the time capsule where they found their quest, some simple good and clean fun. Then they journeyed to the swamp and almost had a shootout with a chimera. They ventured to the bog and found their treasure; it should have ended there. Things got less mystical when they found the firework and mob ponies came to town. A discussion with the Pie sisters improved her mood, but consulting the nurse and doctors made everything worse. She felt ill as she thought about it. She wasn’t sure who to trust anymore or who knew more than they were letting on. Perhaps this latest development was for the best. She knew this pony and this pony knew her, they could talk it out and come to a civil understanding. Starlight shivered as her hoofsteps echoed throughout the hall, she took some solace in knowing that she could at least sleep on it before making any big choices.  The purple unicorn was so caught up in her thoughts that she idly followed Trixie back to her wagon. She was pulled out of her reverie when she saw that one of the windows hung ajar. Trixie sprinted to her home and screamed as she looked inside. The interior of the wagon was abnormally bedraggled, but that wasn’t what disturbed Trixie. At the top of her pile of stuff was the suitcase holding the firecracker, however, the firecracker was nowhere to be seen.  The magician screamed again. “Help! Help! There’s been a robbery! I’ve been robbed!”  The pair didn’t waste any time as they ran throughout the castle in search of Twilight. The alicorn’s room was empty and her usual place in the library was vacant. They circled back to Twilight’s office and could hear a muffled voice emitting from the room. Trixie made it to the door first and yanked it open.  “Twilight it’s gone! The firecracker is gone! Somepony stole it out of Trixie’s wagon!” Trixie loudly wailed.  Twilight looked at Trixie with disbelief as Mayor Mare turned around in her seat. The mayor turned back to Twilight while Twilight’s mouth rapidly opened and closed.  “The Friendship Castle has been robbed? And did they mention a firework?” Mayor Mare asked as she looked around in bewilderment. Nopony responded as she pulled at her collar. “You didn’t find the firework in the Old Ponyville Time Capsule did you?”  Starlight and Trixie looked at eachother. Starlight shrugged awkwardly as she opted to speak up. “You know about the time capsule?”  “Yes, it was my mistake. I was too quick to okay Twilight’s construction plan. Had I been paying closer attention; I would have seen that the coordinates matched the site of the Old Ponyville Time Capsule. I came here to inform Twilight of my mistake, and she was telling me about accidentally puncturing the vessel.”  The mayor lowered her glasses onto the bridge of her muzzle. “But back to my initial question. Did you find that firework in the Old Ponyville Time Capsule?” she reiterated.  Starlight looked to Trixie and then Twilight. The purple unicorn smiled sheepishly and tried to stay as casual as possible. “Well…we didn’t exactly find the firework in the capsule. We found a riddle inside of the capsule that led us to the firework in Froggy Bottom Bogg.”  Much like everypony else, the mayor grew more and more nervous with each second. “Girls listen, it is important that we find that firework and turn it into the proper authorities immediately. I fear that the firework might be the product of an unsavory sort.”  “Oh, we know exactly who this ‘unsavory sort’ is, mayor. The Great and Powerful Trixie and her assistant, Starlight Glimmer, have been carrying out a royal investigation on behalf of Princess Sparkle to find one Al Capony!” Trixie chimed in quite unhelpfully.  The reverberating sound of Starlight’s hoof slapping her own face could be heard as Mayor Mare turned to stare at Twilight. It didn’t take a genius to deduce that Mayor Mare was unhappy, the alicorn chuckled as she fiddled with her hooves. Mayor Mare sighed as she leaned back in her chair. “I wanted to keep this whole crisis as gnomic and ambiguous as possible, in order to avoid any seedy news reaching the townsfolk. But I was wrong to assume that Twilight Sparkle and her comrades could be kept in any form of darkness.”  Mayor Mare made sure to look at each mare in the room before continuing, “Al Capony was a no-good criminal that brought bad company upon this town. When I was running for re-election at the time, I promised my little ponies that I would keep them safe from that fiend. If somepony already stole the firecracker, then word must have gotten out. This is a disaster that must be contained before it wreaks havoc on Ponyville.”  Trixie nodded solemnly. “The mayor is correct. Somepony has broken into Trixie’s home with the intention of stealing Al Capony’s final work. We must find the perpetrator. Princess Sparkle! You’ve been here all day, what have you done!” Trixie accused, pointing a hoof at Twilight.  Twilight sputtered as she rose out of her seat. “I’ve done nothing! And I didn’t see anything! After you two left, Pinkie came over and baked a pound cake. She, Spike, and I spent a little over an hour eating and talking. Then she showed me a new party cannon, until she had to leave. Mayor Mare came over shortly after and here we are.” The sick feeling came back as Starlight and Trixie eyed each other. “Pinkie was here?” Trixie mumbled as she stepped forward.  The tan earth pony clapped her front hooves together. “Well, it seems like Pinkie was with Twilight most of the day. I know that she can be very…distracting, I don’t blame you for not noticing that something was up in this massive castle. You do have dozens of students staying on campus grounds after all.”  “You’re right mayor, but I could have done better. I hate to think of any of my students doing this, but they were the only creatures that knew about the time capsule. Starlight, Trixie, and I will go around asking questions tomorrow and get to the bottom of this. There is no need for you to burden yourself with my mistake, Mayor Mare.” Twilight pleaded.  Mayor Mare pondered Twilight’s proposition in silence for what felt like an eternity. “Very well Princess Twilight, go ahead and search. But, if the firework is not brought to me in two days, I will have my own ponies look into the situation.”  Both authority figures exchanged a nod and shook hooves. Mayor Mare straightened out her collar again before standing up. She regarded each pony in the room as she prepared to leave. “Now, I will leave you girls to your work. I have another urgent matter to attend to.”  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was incredible how much one could learn during a late-night conversation with their closest friends. Despite their time spent tethered together, Rarity always found that learning new things about her friends was always a pleasant surprise. Today, Rarity had learned that Pinkie’s insatiable desire for apple cider had inspired her to store barrels in her party cave, a truly pleasant surprise. Four mugs of Applejack’s special blend of cider were distributed among the friends, and a fresh plate of chocolate chip cookies was retrieved from downstairs.  It was an impressive turnaround as the tension in the room dissipated with each refill. The mares lounged around as they argued, commiserated, and talked. Under other circumstances, Rarity might I have considered it a pleasurable evening, but the topic at hoof soured even the most joyous moments. Rarity laid next to Applejack on top of Pinkie’s bed, while Pinkie and Rainbow occupied the floor below them.  “Soooo yeah, that’s what happened, aaaand it was a huge mess. But! I got Honeybee back! Beautiful, beautiful Honeybee!” Rainbow Dash mumbled as she pressed her head into Pinkie’s comforter. It was clear that the pegasus was reaching her limit, despite her insistence that she keep her mug, it didn't receive another refill.  Applejack chuckled and ruffled Rainbow’s mane. “That sure sounds like one of y’all’s plans. Sweet Celestia’s red hot flank! Trixie probably gone be madder than a wet hen.”  The collective snorted and giggled at the idea. Pinkie took a leisurely sip as she returned to her thousand-yard stare. The party pony tended to get introspective and spacey when she broke into her batch. “Yep, Trixie is probably going craaaaaaazy. It wasn’t our bestest best work, but we had to get old Honeybee out. I guess we just weren’t fast enough.”  Rarity used a lazy hoof to flick around Pinkie’s forelock, she smirked at the soft boing sound that emitted with each gentle tug. “It’s fine darling. It’s hard for even you to predict Trixie’s eccentricities.” She yawned as she pushed Pinkie’s forelock back, “I’m not too worried by their search. If we give them nothing, they have nothing. The most pressing matter at the moment is this whole Bugs character. He and his goons have been spreading their bad fashion around town. What. A. Nightmare.”  Pinkie sighed. “They keep asking me questions…I can’t run from this anymore. We should focus on Bugs since he wants to make the town go all kablooey; I’ll take care of Starlight and Trixie on my own time.”  “Now, now sugarcube. There’s no need to run this thing like a mobster. We got each other now, we trust each other, and we help each other. Y’all’re my family. Even if y’all drive me crazy, I’d still wrastle a bugbear for each of ya.” Rarity cooed as she wrapped a hoof around Applejack’s neck in an awkward semi-hug. Rainbow Dash groaned at the sudden influx of fluff. “You say we got each other Jack, but Shy’s not here. We should bring her over and…and…give her some…uh cider and be a big happy mobster family.”  Applejack shook her head as she scooched closer to Rarity and leaned into the hug. “Of course Fluttershy is family too, sugarcube. But that poor gal doesn’t deserve to be brought back into this foolishness. We keep all of this between us, there’s no need to go bringin’ in nopony else. Big M would have a conniption if she found out about this.”  Everypony scratched their befuddled brains for something to reply, but the calm silence won over. The noise of breathing and Coloratura were the only sounds in the room for a few peaceful minutes. Then the door burst open. Mayor Mare bustled into Pinkie’s bedroom in a huff. Her face was rigid and serious, but her eyes were exceptionally angry. A series of curses were mumbled as all four mares turned to witness the mayor’s unannounced entrance. She came within inches of them before doubling back to slam the door.  “It’s good to see that you hooligans are here colluding together. This makes my job easier.” She straightened out her collar and studied them with irritation. “I just had the most interesting conversation with Princess Twilight Sparkle, the time traveling cult leader, and the evil magician.”  “Trixie and Starlight are actually reformed, Mayor Mare. Treating them as their misdeeds could trigger poor behavior or worsened self-esteem. And I wouldn’t describe Trixie as evil, she was more annoying than anything.” Rarity added unhelpfully.  “Have you all been drinking? At a time like this!” Mayor Mare fumed. Rainbow tried, unsuccessfully, to tuck her mug under Pinkie’s bed. “No, no drinking. We have not…have not…been drinking… okay.” She turned to her friends with a confident smile and winked.  Applejack rolled her eyes as she placed her mug on Pinkie’s nightstand. “We have been partakin’ in a few libations. But it’s only to calm our nerves. We’ve actually been workin’ on a plan.”  “A plan you say? And how is that going? Princess Twilight, protegee of Princess Celestia, has been robbed! Robbed in a small town with few ponies, this offense won’t get buried in a backlog of crime like it would in Manehattan or Fillydelphia.”  Pinkie cleaned her glasses with her blanket and tried to add some cheer into her voice. “We understand Miss Mayor Mare, but we had to get the firecracker back. We didn’t want it in the wrong hooves.”  “Wrong hooves? Wrong hooves! Implying that you are the right hooves? Those explosives never were in the right hooves and still aren’t in the right hooves. Pinkamena, you especially need to take this seriously, Starlight and Trixie are on to you. A long time ago, I was convinced that sparing you five would greatly outweigh the positives of turning you in. Never in a million years could I have imagined that sparing you would inadvertently save the world multiple times over. But still, I was promised that these childish antics were over and done.” Mayor Mare chided. Rarity placed her forehooves on Pinkie’s shoulder and gave them a light squeeze. “We understand that mayor, and we apologize. We had no idea that this would come back to bite us like this. We never wanted to involve you, but your concern is appreciated.”  “I fear that my concerns aren’t completely altruistic, but I do worry about all of your well-being.” She looked to Applejack. “All five of you need to report to my office first thing in the morning.”  Applejack scratched her head. “Uh…you really need all five?” she asked. “Yes. I did notice Fluttershy was absent from your scheming, but I need her to be in attendance. She was partially responsible for this back then, so she is still partially responsible right now. Catch her up before bringing her to town hall. There, you will tell me everything.”