"Watson?"
"Uh..."
"Watson, are you quite alright?"
"Uh..."
Watson's jaw hung open as this pony, no, Sherlock, struggled to stand under the weight of the massive black coat. Watson found himself quite at a loss for words. Not only was he in a strange world inhabited by magical horses, not only was he a horse himself, but his best friend had somehow managed to follow him here.
He wasn't sure if he should be relived or even more frightened.
Sherlock's bright blue eyes regarded Watson quizzically as he tugged at the coat with little success. When Watson remained silent, he looked Watson directly in the eyes and spoke again, his voice louder and very firm.
"Watson."
Watson's initial shock quickly shattered. "Hm, what?" he blurted suddenly. He shook his head to clear it."Oh... Sherlock... Hello there."
Sherlock had won his battle against the huge coat, kicking and shoving it off of him with both his hind legs and snout working in tandem. He pushed himself slowly into a standing position, wincing, possibly at the unfamiliar sensation of standing on hooves. He then took a breath, looked directly at Watson and raised an eyebrow.
"Hello there? Is that really all you have to say?"
That single, condescending remark was like a slap to the face. Watson's face screwed up in indignation as he sputtered a moment, then found his voice. "I...you...n-no! What the hell are you doing here, anyways?!"
"Ah, yes. A much better question. Though, I can't say I know the answer." Sherlock trailed off a bit as he spoke, raising a hoof up to his face and examining it. His eyebrows were knitted in thought as he slowly moved it about, as if testing its movement.
"Fascinating..."
"Fascinating?!" Watson whispered with disbelief.
"What, you don't find this interesting? I knew you were a bit dull, Watson, but I would think even you would be fascinated by something like this."
Watson frowned and furrowed his brow, looking Sherlock up and down. Was this the same Sherlock who had been trembling at the prospect of a massive, supernatural hound? The Sherlock who had fallen to pieces when something utterly impossible appeared to had happened? The Sherlock who hated not being able to explain things?
During the Baskerville case, Sherlock had been subjected to a hallucinogenic drug without realizing. Here, there was no possible way they could have been drugged, as much as Watson didn't want to believe it. This wasn't just mistaking a shadow for a dog, this was gaining new bodies and being dropped in an entirely new world.
And after all of that, all Sherlock could say was that this situation was fascinating?
Sherlock cleared his throat."Watson, are you just going to sit there and keep gawking at me?"
Watson scowled, pushing his thoughts aside, and slowly climbed to his feet. Or rather, to his hooves. His weak muscles and joints wobbled a bit, seeing as they had never been used before, but in a few moments they steadied under the new, unfamiliar weight. He let out a small sigh.
Nothing really makes much sense right now, Watson thought, I suppose the best thing to do is take it all in stride and figure it all out as I go. Like Twilight said, there's really no point in just sitting around.
Oh, speaking of Twilight...
Watson turned to look a the lavender pony, who had simply been watching them quietly with a curious look on her face. He had to admit, though her existence still baffled him, she seemed like a trustworthy and gentle soul. Which was saying a lot, seeing as Watson was almost always both critical and cautious when he approached other people. Or ponies, in this case.
"Um, I hate to ask, Miss Sparkle," started Watson, "But would you mind te-"
"Twilight!" a young, boyish voice interjected shrilly. The same boyish voice that had spoken on the plane, in fact. A solid gold chariot land softly on the grass behind Twilight, pulled by two large, stocky male pegasi wearing golden armor.
Watson wished he could say he was shocked, or something, but at that point he was barely even surprised. This sort of thing was downright normal compared to the discoveries he made upon first waking up.
Out of the back jumped purple dragon with green spines. He was about as tall as the chariot wheel and for some reason, he looked like he had suffered about six heart attacks all at once. He was gasping, wheezing and shaking like a leaf as he stumbled over to Twilight like a drunk and grabbed hold of her leg to steady himself.
"Spike, what took you so long? Are... are you alright?" She asked nervously. The dragon merely looked up at her with a pair of large green eyes, still wheezing as he said,
"Never..(gasp). EVER... do that..(pant). again."
Twilight sat them all down and explained best she could their situation. She explained they were in a country called Equestria and that nearly every inhabitant of Equestria was a pony of some kind. Other inhabitants were zebras, mules, griffons, and the occasional dragon. When Watson asked about humans, she claimed she had never heard of such a creature before.
Watson sat quietly throughout her explanation, only speaking up to ask a few questions. Sherlock, surprisingly, remained utterly silent. John half expected him to interrupt with some remark about how boring Twilight was being or start using his deduction methods to accidentally insult her. But, he remained still and silent, his eyes fixed intently on the purple mare. After she finished, it was silent. No one spoke. Hell, how could they? No one quite knew what to say.
"So..." Watson piped up after a long pause, "You really don't know how to get us home?"
Twilight shook her head, "I'm afraid not. I'll try my best to find a way, but right now there are other pressing issues I've been told to deal with," She sighed, "I'll send a letter to the Princess when we reach Manehatten, maybe she'll know what to do..."
Watson snorted, "I'm s-sorry... did you just say Manehatten?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
"No," Sherlock murmured suddenly. Every head turned towards the grey stallion in surprise. His head was bowed as if he were tired, but his eyes were wide open and darting wildly back and forth, as they often did when he was thinking.
"Nononono, it's not nothing. There's more to this," he muttered restlessly, "How can you all be so thick? How can you not see it?"
"Excuse me?" Twilight said, somewhat offended by his last remark.
"Sherlock, what is it?" Watson asked softly, knowing what would come next. The grey unicorn sat bolt upright, his eyes burning with an intensity that Watson knew all too well. He was onto something.
"You. You said you were going to Manehatten, yes?" he asked, speaking at a million miles a minute. "No, shut up, of course you did, don't answer. Manehatten is clearly a pun, like the Manhattan of this alternate world. We were going to Manhatten to solve a crime, a murder, and you were going to Manehatten at the same time to solve a murder as well. This proves there must be a connection."
Twilight gasped, "B-but, that's classified! How could you know that I...?" Sherlock's lips twitched into a small smile.
"When you brought up those 'pressing matters' you have to deal with, you started kicking the dirt with your hoof and your ear started twitching slightly. Normally, this could be written off as a nervous tick, but you seem to be someone who can handle an extraordinary amount of stress. You handled us without batting an eye, meaning that whatever is happening in Manehatten is strange and very far out of your comfort zone. Now, let take a look at the guards, shall we? These guards are wearing armor made of gold, which is a metal not used in conventional armor. Steel or iron would be a much better choice, unless there is no need to protect yourself often. This means that Equestria is clearly not prone to violence or war. Now, if a murder were to occur in country were violence is not common, that would make even some of the most level-headed people stressed, incredibly stressed. Hence, the ear twitching. So, connecting these two points, its obvious you are going to solve a crime of some kind. Most likely, a murder. Not to mention it makes sense they would be sending you to crack the case. You clearly hold some sort of prestigious position, judging from the way your holding yourself, the tiara sticking out of your saddlebag and the armed escorts. Only someone very important would be put in charge of a murder case if crime was almost unheard of."
Sherlock stopped to breathe. The whole group was staring at him with a sort of breathless, frightened respect. That is, except for Watson, who shot Sherlock an annoyed look. The detective was too busy drinking in all the admiration to notice.
Attention whore, Watson thought crossly.
After a few moments, Twilight spoke up.
"Well," she said hesitantly, "If what Sherlock says is true-"
"It is." Sherlock interjected bluntly. She shot him an indignant look, which he ignored.
"-then we ought to continue on to Manehatten together. It's our best shot. Any objections?"
No one spoke up. No one argued. Twilight smiled slightly, as if relived.
"Then it's settled. Guards, prepare the chariot. We're off to Manehatten."