//------------------------------// // Birth of an Enemy // Story: Deduction is Magic // by Raot //------------------------------// “Stolen?” Fluttershy softly asked in surprise. “That’s awful!” “Yes, and I’m sorry to have disturbed you at such a late hour but we are hot on the trail of the culprit.” He said. “I’ll do what I can to help.” She said with a nod. “Thank you, now, did you ever check out…” Clopson started, “Do you eat eggs?” Sherlock interrupted, looking out the window at the chicken coop. “Um… yes?” Fluttershy responded. “When?” Sherlock asked. “What meals?” “Breakfast.” Fluttershy said in confusion. “What do you drink with it?” “Er, milk?” Fluttershy said. “Did you steal the Elements of Harmony?” “No.” She said in surprise. “Good, I believe you.” Sherlock said. “But you should probably stop eating eggs, bad for pony digestion, too much protein. Your not very active anyways.” He turned to face Fluttershy, “Have you seen any suspicious activities near the Everfree forest?” he asked. “No, nothing.” Fluttershy said shaking her head. “But, I wasn’t really looking.” “That will be all.” Sherlock moved to the exit. “Come along Clopson, we have one more pony to see…” He departed into the darkness. Sometimes Clopson wished he knew what was going on in that ponies mind… --------------------------------- “No, a size bigger, she’s big boned, and she has always talked about having a gown that fit her for the longest time… Who are you?” Rarity asked with annoyance the newcomers as she gave orders to her sister Sweetie Belle. “I’m Clopson, and this is Sherlock Hooves, we are investigating…” “What are you doing?” Hooves asked. “Were making a dress for Rarities BIG friend.” Sweetie Belle started giggling. “You said you wanted to help, but you should not be so rude. It’s not lady like…” Rarity patronized. “Now, what can I help you two gentlecolts with?” she said, turning to the detectives. “The Elements of Harmony were stolen.” Clopson said. “And we’re looking for the culprit.” “That’s terrible!” Rarity exclaimed. “What can I do to help?” “Well, if you have seen anything strange lately, we would appreciate…” “Now that you mention it,” Rarity said quickly, “I have been seeing some pony I didn’t recognize outside my shop, and she is always out at night…” “Really?” Sherlock asked. “Yes, she usually walks by now at around midnight…” she said. “…Sweetie Belle said it was scaring her.” “Did not! You were the one who…” “Hush darling!” Rarity silenced her. “What does the pony do?” Sherlock asked. “She just looks up at the windows, and moves on…” Rarity said. “Well, then, there is something you can do for us.” Sherlock said. “And what’s that?” Rarity said. Sherlock smiled “I would like a dress for my friend and I.” ----------------------------- "Oh Clopy, isn’t it fun walking around in the moonlight!” “This is wrong Sherlock.” Clopson said in his pink dress. “And it won’t fool anybody.” “You need to lift your voice up a little higher darling!” Sherlock said through his purple corset and hat that covered his colt like face and body. “And my name is Shirley!” Clopson sighed. “She’s followed two colt detectives before.” Sherlock whispered under his breath once more. “Just act like a silly filly and we will blend right in.” “This is ridiculous…” “Oh hush Clopy.” Sherlock took up his high-pitched voice once more. “Oh look there! Another pony enjoying the stars! Hello there pony!” Sherlock spoke as if intoxicated to a dark figure moving down the road in a huge raggedy cloak. The figure turned to them for a moment, and then paid them no mind, walking up to Rarity’s shop. “My word it worked.” Clopson said under his breath. “That’s a good one Clopy! Yes it is!” Sherlock laughed as if he told a joke. “Is she here yet!?” yelled Rarity from the top window. The figure stopped, looked to Rarity, and then two the two ponies she yelled at. Sherlock threw off his hat and ran at the figure as it bolted away. “She’s not getting away this time Clopson!” he yelled. Clopson followed quickly. “…I guess that’s a yes.” Rarity said as the road became empty. “Hey! Don’t throw those on the ground! They’ll stain!” They gave chase, but the figure was much taller and bigger, and Clopson found it hard to sprint in the corset. “We’re gaining Clopson!” Sherlock yelled as they turned corner after corner. Soon they found themselves running to a kind of forest in the dark… a forest of apple trees. They had run all the way to Sweet Apple Acres. “Bloody hay.” Clopson exclaimed. Ripping off his bodice with his teeth for air. ------------------------------ The Apple family’s barn was in sight now, and he saw the figure quickly open the door to the apple cellar and dive in. “Into the breach!” Sherlock said with excitement, following the huge figure into the pitch-black darkness of the cellar. “Close the door! We have her trapped!” Clopson dived in and closed the hatch as he was told… there was now no light at all. “She’s over here!” Sherlock’s voice echoed all around Clopson. There were sounds of struggle, and then nothing. “Where is she?” Clopson asked, ready to buck whatever came at him next. Then, a door opened… “Bandits in the cellar!” he heard Applejack scream. Clopson felt the cold hard sting of a hoof under his jaw and flew back against a wall in pain. “No! No! Wait, it’s us, it’s…” Clopson felt another hoof hit his cheek and bring him to the ground. He tried bucking wildly, and hit something… he hoped it was the fiend they searched for. “What’s going on?” Everypony stopped as a light suddenly came down from the heavens… well, down the stairs. Big Macintosh held a candle in a brass plate in his teeth and carried it down the steps, illuminating the room. Applejack was on her hooves, looking around, battle ready, and Sherlock… Well, Sherlock had taken Clopson’s hoof to the face and was rolling around on the ground. “I almost had her…” Sherlock said, trying to get up. “You almost had me! Mess with the bull, you get the horns!” Applejack said in anger. “Who kicked me?” Sherlock shook his head. “That’s not important right now.” Clopson said, changing the subject. “Where is she?” but there was no one else. The figure was gone. “What in tarnation is going on here? An why are you two wearing dresses?” she asked. “An why are you in my cellar?!” she added. “Suspect ran in here.” Clopson said, massaging his jaw. “Uh… wait… wait…” Sherlock shook his head. “What did you say Applejack?” “Uh… what in tarnation…” No, before that.” “Bandits in the…” “No after…” And then, suddenly, Sherlock’s eyes widened… “Clopson, follow me.” He said, leading him out of the cellar. “Sorry for the confusion.” Clopson added before leaving. Applejack and Big Macintosh simply stood there for a moment. “Did two colts in dresses just walk out of our apple cellar?” Applejack asked in astonishment. “Eeyup.” -------------------------------- In the old ruins in the Everfree forest, a single figure stood in front of the Elements of Harmony. She smiled underneath her cloak as the sun began to rise… But before she could begin the rite, she heard something… A slow clap from the other side of the hall. She turned to see Sherlock and Clopson. “Very good.” Sherlock said. “You took everything you needed from the ponies around you.” He said. “You took Applejacks Apples,” he said, advancing, "To frame her. And you took the liquid nitrogen from Pinkie Pie.” He continued. “Many bakeries use them for their freezers, that’s why hers was not working.” He added. “But most importantly of all, you were someone they trusted. Someone no pony would suspect.” Sherlock explained. “And you were something that could fool the protective spell on the Elements of Harmony… because you’re not a pony.” He squinted his eyes and raised an eyebrow, impressed. “Your not even equine… You're bovine.” Clopson himself gasped, and the figure smiled and lowered her hood. The cow was none other then Mooriela. “No one suspected you, even when you and your herd were grazing right next to the scene of the crime. Applejack didn’t see anything wrong with you grazing around the farm, and wouldn’t mind if you took a few apples. You passed right under Fluttershy’s radar every night, because you weren’t anything out of the ordinary… you gave her milk every day on your way to these ruins.” Sherlock grinned. “That was a nice touch. But then came your downfall… your vanity proved to aggravate the attention of Rarity when you only wanted to check on the dress you ordered…” Mooriela grimaced, “We’ve been mistreated! We are farmed for our milk and have no representation!” She said. “We have no history, no culture, no magic, no wings… but with the Elements of Harmony, we can change all that. I just want to make things equal.” She said. “We deserve magic just as much as any pony!” “A being that starts stampedes at the sight of a snake doesn’t deserve the earthshattering power of magic.” Sherlock said as two Royal guards entered the room. Mooriela looked around in panic. “I’m sorry, but the princess wants her property back.” She was restrained, and was being led out of the room when Sherlock stopped the guards for a moment. Others went to retrieve the necklaces. “But there is one thing I don’t get.” Sherlock said. “Your not smart enough to think of this. You must have had help.” He said. “Who was it?” Mooreila looked away for a moment, then back at Sherlock. She said, in an eerie, souls sucking voice, “I only have a name.” Mooreia looked away in anger as the sun began to rise. “He said it would work now… we set it up, it was supposed to give me magic when the sun rose.” “These are fake.” Sherlock looked up, and Mooriela’s eyes widened in surprise as the guard looked over the gems. “He stole them from me!” Mooriela said. “He tricked me!” “Who? Who was it?” Sherlock asked with great curiosity. The Bovine hissed the name in anger, and Sherlock was sure to commit the word to memory, “Mooriarty.”