Featherweight hung his head in shame, before looking up to the loud applause being generated by a particularly excited orange filly.
“Great job Apple Bloom! How did you know it was Featherweight?” Sweetie Belle asked, already procuring a notepad and pen from who knows where.
“Well, I looked over all the suspects we had seen, and made a list of why they could or couldn’t have done it. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were too busy climbing onto the rooftops to frighten us, so they couldn’t have really been at the orchard!” Apple Bloom finished, before making a bow.
“But... what about all the other suspects?” The aforementioned excited orange filly inquired. “What about Twilight and Applejack, or Spike? Why couldn’t they have done it?”
Apple Bloom sighed in exhaustion or frustration. It was hard to tell which. “I talked to Granny Smith earlier, and found out that the last Spike had seen of Twilight and AJ, they were down near the clubhouse! Spike didn’t want us to see them, so he was trying to stop us going down there!” Apple Bloom paused to take a breath at this point, and the other two cutie mark crusaders let out their held back breaths.
“So that’s why Spike couldn’t have done it. He didn’t want to go near mah sister and Twilight while they were drunk, so he wouldn’t have even gone near the clubhouse. Not to mention the lack of scorch marks around the remains of the ladder.”
Sweetie Belle applauded. The case was solved. It took her 4.847 seconds before she realised who Apple Bloom had forgotten. “But Apple Bloom, if Twilight and AJ were down at the clubhouse, maybe they knocked over the ladder by accident!”
“Ahhh... that’s what I thought to Sweetie, until I found Big Macintosh wandering around the orchard, looking kinda traumatised. I asked him what was wrong, and he trembled for a while, before muttering something about Carousel Boutique, and ran off. But... I did manage to find out that he was with Twilight and AJ in the library, with the rope!”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances with one another. This whole event seemed like the half-baked idea of a tired author, who wanted to write something before he went to bed. The last line Apple Bloom said didn’t even make sense, unless it did in which case- EWWWWW!!! Scootaloo shook her head in disgust. “Cluedo... I hate that game...”
Sweetie Belle turned to look at Featherweight, who had been edging closer and closer to the safety of the trees as they talked. “So, Featherweight, why did you break down our ladder?” She asked, cocking her head in a curious manner, while slowly walking towards him in a vaguely threatening way. Her two compatriots flanked her, which only made her appearance look all the more threatening.
“Well, you see...” Featherweight began, and gazed at a point far beyond their heads, before Scootaloo slapped her in the cheek. “This is a storyreal life, damnit! You can’t have fade-out-into-a-flashback scenes in a story real life!” Scootaloo shook her head, after a brief lapse in continuity reality.
“Alright. Well, we were talking about cutie marks and such, and you know how I mentioned that I didn’t like mine, right before I got blown away?” The trio nodded their heads in agreement. “Well, I got blown away into the orchard, just near your clubhouse!” Sweetie Belle interrupted.
“That was sure convenient... you sure you didn’t plan for that wind?” Featherweight sighed. “I’m too light to be on the weather patrol. I got blown off course during my test.” The three cutie mark crusaders shared a moment of sympathy, before resuming their earlier glares.
“Anyway, I landed over near here, and wandered around for a while, before I realised I was lost. That’s when I found your clubhouse, and, thinking back to our earlier conversation, destroyed your ladder. I was just so jealous of you all, getting to have so much fun and do so much stuff, that I wanted to stop you! I’m so SICK AND TIRED OF BUCKING PHOTOGRAPHY!” Featherweight’s nostrils flared in anger, before reverting back to their normal state.
“Wow... that was complex... even for a mystery such as this!” Scootaloo pondered, and the other fillies all nodded their heads in agreement. Sweetie Belle subtly sidled closer to her, before Apple Bloom stepped in between them. Sweetie Belle was quite furious at this point.
“So Featherweight, I think ya’ll should probably start fixing up this ladder!” Apple Bloom said excitedly. “I went ahead a drew up some blueprints for ya, so ya’ll can get started right now!” Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked off, after throwing some sheets of paper behind them. Featherweight sighed, before heading off to grab some wood.
Sighing sadly, Featherweight took an innocent shortcut, before being yanked off his feet, and dragged into a dark alleyway. He could just make out two figures, but who they were, it was too dark to tell. He frowned.
“Do they know?” One of the figures asked. “Do they know who knocked over their ladder?”
Featherweight recognised the voice as distinctly feminine, but was once again unable to put a finger on just who it was. “Umm... no. I told them it was uhh... me.” Featherweight lied.
“You told them?!” One of the figures held up a hoof, before the other lowered it for her.
“Well, Apple Bloom figured out that it was me, but I told them I did it out of jealousy, not money.” Featherweight backed away, before the second figure appeared behind him.
“Good... that will have to do. We’ll come and find you when we need you again Featherweight.” The first figure said, to which a defiant Featherweight responded with no.
“I am done with you people. Just leave me alone, and we’ll all forget this happened yes?” Featherweight’s nervous words seemed to stir something up in the second figure. “I think you misheard me, young Featherweight. We’ll come and find you when we need you again Featherweight.”
Featherweight lowered his head, ears pointed towards the ground. “Yes Miss.”
As Featherweight left the alleyway, a feminine voice laughed. Nopony heard it.
THE END... OR IS IT THE BEGINNING?