//------------------------------//
// Detective Dinky 
// Story: My Little Investigations: The Gemstone Godfather 
// by Metool Bard 
//------------------------------//


July 11, 10:44 AM
Ponyville
Golden Harvest's House
***


When I got home, Dinky was right there waiting for me at the front door.  She still had that ridiculous hat on as well as the bubble pipe.  And yes, she still looked adorable.

"Hi, Amethyst," she said. "So, how did your investigation go?"

I gulped.  I still wasn't ready to tell her about the note, so my best course of action was to stall for time.

"Um, are you sure we should talk about that right now?" I asked. "I mean, what if Carrot Top hears us?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about Ms. Harvest," said Dinky. "She's tending to her garden right now."

"Oh," I said. "W-well, let's start with you then.  How did your investigation go?"

Dinky furrowed her brow and blew a few bubbles out of her bubble pipe. "It's most curious, my dear Amethyst," she said, walking inside and pacing around. "I talked to several ponies about what happened, but they all told me the same thing."

"Which is?"

"They didn't notice anything wrong last night."

I, wasn't sure if I heard that right.  And judging by Dinky's tone, it didn't sound like she believed it, either.

"How is that possible?" I inquired. "The jewelry store was practically destroyed.  At least somepony had to notice something was up before Mr. Karat discovered it this morning."

"Well, I don't get it, either," said Dinky with a shrug. "But that's what everypony's been telling me."

"Who did you ask, out of curiosity?"

Dinky's horn glowed, and she lifted her hat off of her head.  Underneath, there was a notepad and quill (honestly, are you surprised at this point?).  She then took out the notepad and began reading it over.

"Well, first I went to Mayor Mare," she said. "I figured that she had a right to know about this.  Then I started interviewing ponies that live nearby the jewelry store.  That includes Mrs. Crumbles, Mr. Davenport, Ms. Heartstrings and Ms. Bon-Bon, Ms. Shoeshine, Mrs. Tap, and Ms. Raindrops."

"And all of them said that they didn't hear anything last night."

"More or less."

"Who else did you ask?"

Dinky brushed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, after talking to Mr. Davenport, Mama kinda found out and told Ms. Raindrops to take me home."

"Yeah, I know about that part," I said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Dink.  I didn't think that through."

"It's alright, Amethyst.  I still managed to get a lot of sleuthing done," said Dinky. "Actually, I found something else that might be interesting."

"What might that be?"

"It happened while I was talking to Mrs. Crumbles," said Dinky, taking a seat in the living room. "In the middle of my interview, Sweetie Belle made her way into the conversation.  She seemed rather, distressed."

"Distressed?" I parroted. "How is that interesting, Dink?"

"Well, to be polite, I asked her about it," said Dinky. "She said that Ms. Rarity was supposed to take her gem hunting today, but because of something that happened yesterday, she had to cancel."

My initial gut reaction was indifference.  On the surface, that could mean anything.  But after thinking about it for a moment, I began to see why Dinky found this interesting.

"You think that Rarity knows about how Mom was attacked yesterday?" I asked.

"It's a theory," said Dinky. "However, I couldn't confirm it with Ms. Rarity before Mama found out about my investigating and sent me home."

Maybe it was just a theory, but it was a darn good one.  If Rarity had some idea about what was going on, then it's possible that her testimony would be a good lead.  Of course, I would probably have to be the one to talk to her.  Dinky was probably going to stay home as a precaution.  She, uh, doesn't like to make Derpy mad, and believe me, I know exactly where she's coming from.

"So, what about you, Amethyst?" asked Dinky. "Did that clue you found help?"

Oh Celestia, was I ever dreading this.  No matter how many times that damn Pinkie Promise kept nagging at me, I just couldn't bring myself to frighten her.  Thinking quickly, I decided to tell her about most of what I found.  It would be enough for her to help me, and it wouldn't scare or hurt her in any way.  I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

"Well, the clue did kinda help me, I suppose," I said. "See, it's like this..."

I then recapped my investigation to her, conveniently omitting the ransom note and Sykes Silvervest.  B-but I told her everything else, honest.  Luckily for me, that seemed to be enough for her.

"So, you thought it was the fault of the Diamond Dogs, but it turns out it wasn't," mused Dinky, blowing some more bubbles out of her bubble pipe. "I understand why you didn't want to bring me along.  You were protecting me."

"Yeah, well.  That precaution might not be needed next time," I said with an awkward laugh. "Turns out the Diamond Dogs around here are more afraid of us than we are of them."

Dinky giggled, and then gave me a warm smile. "I'm glad that you're looking out for me, Amethyst.  But next time, try not to lie, okay?  Liars are often punished by starting to believe their own lies."

Well, I wasn't gonna do that anytime soon, despite what the Zen of Dinky stated.  However, the irony of that statement did still hit me like a grand piano being dropped on my head.  I tried my best not to show it, but Dinky seemed to catch on.  I say "seemed" because thankfully, she didn't call me out on it.  Instead, she decided to look into something else.

"You said that Mama gave you some details about what happened yesterday," she said, scribbling some notes down in her notepad. "For the record, do you remember what she said?"

"Well, she was delivering a package, but got lost in the Everfree Forest and ended up at the northern timberline.  That's where she was attacked," I said. "She also mentioned something about being hot.  I'm not sure what to make of..."

I trailed off as something struck me.  Yesterday, there was something about Derpy's condition that connected to that statement.  I'm not sure why I didn't notice this before; I guess I just got caught up in so many things that I didn't take time to look at the smaller details.  Kinda ironic, considering that my special talent involves paying close attention to detail, but it was a stressful morning, alright?  Cut me some slack.

"Dink, do you remember what Mom looked like when she came home yesterday?" I asked.

Dinky shuddered. "How could I forget?  It was, terrible," she said, shaking herself. "She was covered in bruises and what appeared to be, burns.  And if we were to connect that with her statement about being hot, that means that she was attacked with fire!  Amethyst, you're a genius!"

"I, uh, wouldn't go that far, Dink," I said sheepishly. "Because that doesn't really tell us anything about the culprit.  Mom was attacked by someone using fire.  So what?  That could mean a dragon, or a flaming arrow, or fire-based magic; anything really."

Dinky sighed. "It's better to guess wrong than to say nothing, Amethyst," she quipped. "If you're gonna be a detective, you have to understand that."

She had a point, but I still didn't want to waste time.  Chasing after false leads would mean precious seconds down the drain, and with this time limit hanging over my head, I couldn't really afford that.  However, I suppose it was better than sitting on my hooves and doing nothing.

"Well, let's go over what we know," I said. "Mom was attacked yesterday by a fire-based attack, and then the jewelry store was demolished."

Dinky nodded and blew some bubbles out of her bubble pipe. "If we could somehow connect the two, then we might have a better idea of what happened," she said.

She looked over her notes again and again, stroking her chin and blowing bubbles.  I struck a thinking attitude myself, but nothing was coming to mind.  If you took the ransom note out of the equation, there wasn't a whole lot that connected the attack on Derpy to the attack on the jewelry store.  Or, so I thought.

"Wait.  I think I might've found that connection," said Dinky, her eyes glistening.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The jewelry store was attacked, and Mama was hurt by fire," said Dinky. "What would use fire in that way and attack a jewelry store?"

There was only one thing that came to mind. "Um, a dragon?"

"Exactly," said Dinky. "I'll admit that there are some holes in this theory, but it makes the most sense."

That didn't bode well for our investigation if our clue was this flimsy.  Actually, it was even flimsier than Dinky probably thought it was.  Besides the fact that no gems were taken (or eaten, as the case may be) and the fact that somehow nopony noticed a large dragon trashing a jewelry store, why would a dragon write a ransom note to me?  Do dragons do that?  I confess that my experience with dragons is very limited, but from what I understand, they just take what they want.  And it's not like they don't have the power to do that.  So, why even bother with the note at all?

"I dunno, Dink.  It still seems like a bit of a stretch," I said.

"How so?  Mr. Spike told me that dragons live in the Everfree Forest," said Dinky. "It would definitely explain how Mama got those burns."

"But it doesn't explain anything else," I mused. "I mean, is it typical for a dragon to just destroy a jewelry store and not take anything?"

"I honestly don't know," said Dinky with a shrug. "Then again, Princess Twilight Sparkle says that ponies don't know a whole lot about dragons.  She says they're too rare or too scary to study."

So even if the culprit was a dragon, I'd still know nothing about him.  This just kept getting better and better.

"What about Spike?  Do you think he would know anything?" I asked.

Dinky stroked her chin for a moment. "Princess Twilight Sparkle says that Mr. Spike isn't a typical dragon," she said. "Still, it couldn't hurt to try."

"Right," I said. "I think I'm gonna do some more sleuthing.  Thanks for your help, Dink."

"Of course," said Dinky with a smile. "I'll be sure to keep on helping you as long as Mama doesn't ground me."

I chuckled. "Well, I really don't think that's gonna happen, Dink.  But even if it does, I'll put in a good word for you."

"Thanks, Amethyst.  You're a great sister," said Dinky.

Yeah, I'm a great sister.  A great sister who lies to her younger sister in order to protect her.  I mean, I didn't feel like I was wrong in doing that, but it didn't feel right, either.  Plus, like I said, nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise if they know what's good for them.  I had to tell her eventually.

Putting those thoughts on the back burner, I headed out.  Now that I had discussed some things with Dinky, I figured that there were two people in town worth talking to: Rarity and Spike.  Deciding to go for the easy one first, I made my way over to Carousel Boutique.