Mule waited for Silver Pocket to regain his composure. When the stallion had set his drink down, Mule began his questioning again, “What happens at these empty parties?”
“The lord, he pretends that it's normal. He will act like everypony has attended, sometimes talking to nopony. Sometimes he will pretend some of the staff are party goers. It’s--” Silver paused, “--quite awkward.”
“How is he after?”
“He is... refreshed. I honestly think he enjoys himself, but... It can’t be healthy.”
“Hmp. When was his last party?”
“It was... late Topaz. I remember we set up the Hearth’s Warming decorations just after.”
“He doesn’t have these parties in the spring. Am I correct?”
“In the spring... No, we’ve not had one in the spring before. Why?”
“Hmp. What makes you happy, Silver? Do you have a lot here in River Horn?”
“I suppose I have everything here in River Horn. My family, my friends, my work. And... what makes me happy?”
“Have you married a mare? or your work? Any hobbies?”
“Oh, I’m not taken, no. I suppose my work and my hobbies bleed together. I like being in charge, but not having to make the plans.”
“I think we can get into the details now if you’re ready. Where were you when you heard about the robbery? What do you remember about that day? In as much detail as you can, please.”
Mule: Where were you when you heard about the robbery? What do you remember about that day? In as much detail as you can, please.
Silver: I woke up around 2:00 AM. My first responsibility is always to make sure that the shift change from overnight to morning goes smoothly. Everypony was accounted for, except Berry and the pegasi. Berry was sick that week.
Mule: And the pegasi?
Silver: And the pegasi? That’s normal, or rather, it's been normal this year. You see, the lord has a private weather team. Hmm-- 22 pegasi. They’re split, about half are technicians and half sky-workers. Anyways, all of the sky-workers have their contracts leased out this season. It's the drought, you know? We have two technicians here still, but the rest of them are in Cloudsdale.
Mule: Who are the technicians? What's their schedule?
Silver: The technicians? Oh, Faucet and his son Jet. Faucet is our senior engineer and Jet is still in training. They’re not a part of the shifts, I don’t oversee them.
Mule: How long does turnover take? I assume some commute from River Horn.
Silver: It takes until 4:00 AM. Yes, not all of the staff are housed here. Perhaps its better to call it a shift change around 2:30 and a second around 3:30 as the staff from the town group up on the walk here.
Mule: Which are which?
Silver: Which are which? What do you mean?
Mule: Which ponies are in which group? Who lives here full time?
Silver: Oh, yes. Most of the dedicated staff are housed here. The kitchen staff, the groundskeepers, the guards, the maids, the drafter, the craftsponies, and myself--of course.
Mule: All of them are here full-time?
Silver: No, some of the groundskeepers are from River Horn as are many of the craftsponies, but the rest are all housed here.
Mule: Does your family commute?
Silver: Yes, my family is here and in River Horn. You’ll likely meet my sister, Minty Page.
Mule: The drafter?
Silver: Yes.
Mule: Are the commuters all groundskeepers?
Silver: No, not all groundskeepers. We have porters come from Little Horn as well. Most of the craftsponies are apprentices and they live in town.
Mule: Do the porters have a lot of work at the manor? You don’t seem to produce many goods here.
Silver: No, they spend most of their time carting to and from the train station. They move materials, food, and other such. Brass is heavy you know. We make instruments on commission. They’re not all the heaviest things to move, but sometimes we make organ parts.
Mule: Let's move on. What happened after the morning shift changed?
Silver: Hmm. After the morning shift change, I went over the lord’s mail with Minty. I studied law in Canterlot, you know.
Mule: And how long does this take?
Silver: At least an hour.
Mule: When did you finish?
Silver: We finished at 5:29.
Mule: That’s rather specific.
Silver: I suppose you haven’t seen my mark? I’m quite punctual.
Mule: May I?
Silver: No, that would be a hassle. It’s a pocket watch.
Mule: So what happened after 5:30?
Silver: I was rather free to oversee the morning staff until 7:15.
Mule: What happened then?
Silver: The lord called then, he had awoken.
Mule: What were you doing when he called?
Silver: I was at the pool speaking with Hoop. I believe we were talking about rail fare. I know he had been talking about his youth in Manehatten and the coast. He wanted to visit his family. Ah, I remember. He wanted to know if the lord would fund his travel to Manehatten since rail was getting more expensive.
Mule: What did the lord call you for?
Silver: He calls in every morning. It’s simply his waking call where we talk, or rather I talked that morning, about the news-- there was the dérogeance of lord Key in the paper. We talked a bit over breakfast about noble responsibilities and the princess.
Mule: Did he say anything unusual?
Silver: No, nothing unusual. He hardly said anything-- he was having a bad day.
Mule: What kind of bad day?
Silver: A mourning day. He went to the mausoleum shortly after breakfast.
Mule: Do you know how long he was there? Did he call you any other time?
Silver: Yes, I remember. He left at 8:09. And no, I did not see him again until the evening.
Mule: What time in the evening?
Silver: He returned at 5:50, or rather he retired at that time. I had some dinner brought to him then.
Mule: Was that after sunset?
Silver: Yes, the sun had just set when he returned.
Mule: Let's go over the day again. There wasn’t anypony out of place, and nothing interesting happened?
Silver: No, nothing of interest. The manor had no visitors that day.
Mule: Did the manor have any visitors in the last week?
Silver: Not the day before, but on Sunday. We did have some visitors for Sweet on Sunday.
Mule: Who?
Silver: A mare and her daughter. They stayed for an hour, then left.
Mule: What was the visit for?
Silver: No, I don’t know why. Sweet let them in, I didn’t see them until they were leaving.
Mule: How about the evening shift that night? Everypony was accounted for?
Silver: The evening shift--Yes, there was nopony missing from the evening shift that day. Of course, excluding the pegasi.
Mule: I’d like a list of the evening shift.
Silver: I can get you a list later, yes.
Mule: And nothing interesting happened that evening?
Silver: Nothing happened that evening.
Mule: How did the evening end for you?
Silver: I managed the turnover to the night shift, then I retired at 7:06.
Mule: Everypony was accounted for on the night shift?
Silver: Yes, again nopony was missing.
Mule: You mentioned guards. What are their schedules?
Silver: Rocky Road is on duty in the mornings, Fence Bender is on duty in the evenings, and Little Anchor guards the night shift.
Mule: Just the three-- Was Little Anchor at his post? Did you see him?
Silver: Yes, Little Anchor was at his post. I do remember seeing him that evening. Oh, I should mention he is a pegasus. I neglected to mention him since he isn’t on the weather team.
Mule: Is there anything else you neglected to mention?
Silver: I don’t think so.
Mule: Take your time. Slow down. Think it through.
Silver: I can't think of anything more.
Mule: Well, if you can think of anything come find me. Let's move on to the next morning. How did your day start?
Silver: I was woken by Sweet. She looked terrible and was crying. I could barely tell what she was saying-- something about her communication network. I put it together that something had happened with her magic, but I’m not a mage.
Mule: When was this?
Silver: It was-- around 2:30. I didn’t check the time.
Mule: So what happened with Sweet?
Silver: I walked with her to the kitchen and made us cocoa. That was 2:52-- I know that. When she calmed down she told me that her communication array was broken. She was only getting noise. I didn’t really know what she meant. I thought her array was supposed to collect noise. I didn’t ask.
Mule: What did she say specifically?
Silver: Um.
Mule: And take your time.
Silver: She said, “The array, its busted.” She said that when she was still crying. When-- when she calmed down, she said, “All my channels are getting noise. I don’t know what I did. They were all good this morning, you got the mail didn’t you?” I remember I told her yes.
Mule: I’ll need you to explain this communication array. I know you don’t know the magic, but you know what it does, right?
Silver: Hmm. It’s-- how did she explain it. It’s a magic gem, or a group of gems rather. They send letters to each other like that expensive teleportation postage. But, it’s much cheaper-- you just can’t send parcels-- only letters.
Mule: So it teleports letters?
Silver: Sort of? hmm. It sends pieces of letters from one gem to another and then you have to piece the letter back together again. It’s-- It’s complicated but being complicated somehow makes it less expensive. I don’t know.
Mule: So you send pieces of letters from one gem to another gem?
Silver: Yes, essentially.
Mule: And you said it was used for postage. How far apart can the gems be?
Silver: I don’t know. I know the farthest gem is in Cloudsdale right now-- at least that far.
Mule: Cloudsdale is on the other side of Canterlot right now. It can send letters through the mountain?
Silver: I don’t know how it works. I’m sorry.
Mule: No, it's fine. Let’s talk about things you know. So, and correct me if I’m wrong, you wake up around 2 am, Sweet is crying about her communication array, and she tells you it was working yesterday but not now?
Silver: Yes.
Mule: Did she say when it stopped working?
Silver: No, I don’t think so.
Mule: The communication array seems to be working now though. I saw it at the gate.
Silver: Some of it still works. I don’t know how it’s broken but Sweet says she repaired part of it.
Mule: You don’t know how its broken at all?
Silver: I’m an earth pony, not a mage.
Mule: And that's fine. Let's move on. What happened next?
Silver: I left Sweet in the kitchen and I fetched Fence. We explored the tower to see if we could find the damage to the array. I didn’t do much.
Mule: Why Fence? Little Anchor was on duty.
Silver: I wanted a unicorn.
Mule: Fair. Did Fence find anything?
Silver: She said there was a lot of energy discharged and that the aura was all wrong. I don’t know what that means, but that’s what I repeated to Sweet.
Mule: I’ll be sure to ask Fence later. What happened next?
Silver: I returned to Sweet and Fence and went to get Rocky and Anchor. I stayed with Sweet until sunrise.
Mule: What did you do together?
Silver: We moved to the library and talked about her time in school.
Mule: Her time in school?
Silver: It helped distract her. She liked her time in school very much. We talked about her school and then her favorite professors and classes.
Mule: You talked in the library until sunrise?
Silver: Yes.
Mule: What was notable about sunrise? Why did you stop?
Silver: Rocky found us, and told us about the cemetery. It was terrible, the bars were broken and--
Mule: Slow down. Let's go through this slowly. What did Rocky say?
Silver: He said-- what did he say-- he said, “You’re gonna want to see this.” And I said whats wrong with the tower. And he said, “It's not just the tower, somepony broke into the mausoleum.” Then we walked to the cemetery.
Mule: Who all walked? And did you talk on the way?
Silver: It was all three guards, myself, and Sweet. Anchor said that the spire on the tower was snapped, and he and Fence started arguing about whether it was hooves or magic that broke it.
Mule: What do you remember about the argument?
Silver: Hmm-- I’m sorry, I don't recall what they said precisely. I was in my own head a bit. I think it was something about hoofprints on the spire.
Mule: So you get to the cemetery. They’re still arguing?
Silver: No, they stopped when we got outside-- or perhaps just after.
Mule: What door did you leave?
Silver: It’s just here, in the sun room. There’s a door on the south side. I’ll show you.
Mule: You can show me later. What did you see at the cemetery?
Silver: Rocky led us to the side, away from the gate. There was a gap in the fence-- all bent out of shape.
Mule: What’d he say?
Silver: He said he went out to look for the spire. Anchor had found the top was snapped and told him. So he’s out looking. That must have been-- 6:50 or so. We were fetched from the Library at 7:02, I know that.
Mule: What’s he looking for?
Silver: For the broken tip of the spire. So he’s out looking and he’s not finding it. But when the sun rises he sees the hole in the fence and he rushes back to show everypony.
Mule: And what happens next?
Silver: We all climb through the hole to the mausoleum. The door is clearly broken-- lots of pieces everywhere. I tell them, the guards, I’m going to get the lord and I leave. Oh, and Sweet comes with me.
Mule: So you both go to the lord.
Silver: Yes. Well, I go to the lord, Sweet went to her tower.
Mule: Did she say why?
Silver: No.
Mule: And how did Gloom take the news?
Silver: I’ve never seen him angry before then. Well, I’ve seen him shout in pain and such, stub his muzzle-- but never this-- this directed anger. He pushed past me and galloped to the cemetery.
Mule: Did you follow?
Silver: Yes, quite easily. The lord is-- not in peak fitness.
Mule: What happened next?
Silver: He pushed into the mausoleum. I think there was broken glass, so Fence got in his way to tell him. Gloom pushed past her and just-- I don’t know. I’m sure its a unicorn thing, but his horn was flaring and he was crying, but he was still so angry. I didn’t get close enough to hear him, but he was talking.
Mule: Talking to himself, or did the guards enter with him?
Silver: To himself.
Mule: And the glass, where did the glass come from?
Silver: The back side of the door. On the inside of the door is a glass painting.
Mule: What was the painting of?
Silver: The painting was of a white conductors baton. Gloom-- When he-- He fixed it.
Mule: He fixed the painting?
Silver: Yes. He stopped talking after a minute or so and gathered all the glass together and just-- he just put it back together like it was nothing.
Mule: Had he calmed down?
Silver: No. I think he was angrier after he put it together.
Mule: What happened next?
Silver: He walked back to the gallery. I tried to talk to him, but he didn’t say anything. He locked himself in the gallery then and he started to play his organ. It was-- It was beautiful and sad and angry. I think they could hear it from the river.
Mule: How long did he play?
Silver: It was-- 2:05 the next morning. He performed for nearly 19 hours, then he passed out.
Mule: Did anypony get into the room before then?
Silver: No. The guards posted themselves next to the door and wouldn’t let anypony try. I don’t blame them; I think they kept ponies safe. Gloom was-- He was not in control.
Mule: What was done when the lord stopped playing?
Silver: We had a doctor fetched already from River Horn. Dr. Splint, I believe. Gloom had his hooves bandaged and was given some medicine to prevent infection. It was just bed rest then. I’m terribly sorry, but it's nearly 11:00, and I have responsibilities.
Mule: I understand. Thank you for your time Silver. I think I have most of what I need. If you would get that list to me, of the night shift, that would be appreciated.
Silver: I’m afraid I may not get to that today. Do stop by with Minty and she will copy the rosters for you.
Mule: Will do-- Oh and show me that door before you leave.
I, Silver Pocket of River Horn, certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of a recorded conversation I had with Mule of Trottsville, Private Investigator (Independent), on the morning of Aqu 11, 999.