It had been a few days since my last case. Mr. Lucem and I had brought my cat Nancy a collar and we had went to my old partners to say goodbye. I told them, I would write few days so that they knew how I was or they could call me. I sit in my office with my saddlebags by my desk, I haven't had time to put them away since I had been making new arrangements for some furniture. Today was the day for it to come and I heard a knock at the door, I walked over and answered it. I was some stallions brining in the new furniture. I prop the door open and headed back to my office as the stallions carried in a new couch for my living room. It was a dark red which I liked. As I wait for them to finish a light blue unicorn with a sandy colored mustache and a grey hat entered. I look at him. “Why hello, good sir. How may I help you?”
He sits down in the chair in front of my desk. “I have a case for you. My name is Karot, I’m a jeweler and I was delivering a gift to the princesses in my old wagon. It is a jade in the shape of a dragon.”
I take out my typewriter and start typing what he was saying, i nodded. “Go on, Mr. Karot.”
He nods. “So I was passing through town when I got hungry. So I stopped at Sugarcube Corner to get something to eat and when I get back, my wagon is gone.”
I finish typing. “I see Sir, I’ll be bringing one of my assistants so we can speak more about this at Sugarcube Corner. Order a hot chocolate on me.” He nods and leaves my office. I walk over to my assistant files and start searching for one to use. I decide to go with a bluish color pegasus, with a red, white, and blue mane. Her name was BluegrassTune. I have her come down to my office and she comes down minutes later. I hand her the file that I just finished typing up and she starts reading it.
“Hmm. Only one question. Do we know when this happened?” She asks me.
“It was around Noon today, The client came straight here after it happened. " I said to her as I pet Nancy. She purred.
“Strange. I wonder why somepony would steal something that valuable in broad daylight.” Miss BluegrassTune says as she was reading.
“That is our job to find out. We are going to meet the client in Sugarcube corner Lets go." I said as I stopped petting my cat as she ran off to another roo and was on my way out the door with my dark red saddlebags on my back.
“Ok then. Let's go” She said and together we headed out to Sugarcube Corner. As we walked over there she looks at me and asks. “So, the wagon was parked in front of Sugarcube Corner?”
I nodded looking around at the other ponies that passed as they gone off to do their normal tasks. "Yes it was,then when he came back out it wasn’t there."
“Is there a trail where it may have gone?”
I shrugged at her question. “I am not sure. I haven’t been out searching for it until now.”
Miss BluegrassTune nods as she was thinking. “Hmm. There has to be one unless it was covered up.”
"I suppose we'll find one when we start looking." I said. As we got closer to sugarcube corner we saw several wagon tracks.
My new assistant pointed them out to me even though I already had seen them. “Here are some right here.”
"You are indeed right Miss BluegrassTune." I open up my saddlebag and pulls out a magnify glass and looks at the tracks. "Judging by the size I would say that these tracks have come from more than one wagon. "
“There was more than one wagon you think?” She asks me.
"It could be but from what I know this area can be really busy at times so perhaps our client wasn't the only one hauling a wagon. " I stated and slipped my magnify glass back in my bag. We walk into the colorful bakery and I see our client sitting at a table. We both walk over to him and take a seat. I look to my assistant and make introductions. "Miss BluegrassTune, this is our client Mr. Karot. Mr.Karot, this is my assistant Miss BluegrassTune."
“Hello Karot. Um, can you describe what the wagon looked like?” Miss BlugrassTune said as she looked at him.
"It is a brown wooden wagon with an old paint job." He answered.
I nod. "And when was the last time you say it?"
"It was around lunch time so I figured I would stop here to eat. I leave my wagon for like 5 minutes and both it and the jade dragon is gone." He says.
Miss BluegrassTune nods. “Hmm. That narrows down things a lot.”
"Indeed it does." I said and thought for a moment. "Did you notice any strange ponies before you came in here?"
He nods. "Yes, a pink pony who acted like she was full of sugar. She kept asking me questions."
“Pinkie. I know her. She never stops bouncing around.” My assistant said. I nodded. I met Miss Pie before and she did seem as if she was full of sugar and bouncing around. I always wondered why she was that way. I think to myself if she could be the thief.
"What questions was she asking?" I ask as I grab my notebook and put a pencil in my mouth so I can write everything down.
"She was asking who I was, what I was carrying stuff like that." Mr.Karot said.
I continue writing things down, occasionally stopping to speak. "How big is the jade dragon?"
"Its not that big. About 6 inches long or so. It was in a box in the wagon." He answered.
I nod writing it down. "Alright, hmm.. that is all I got at the moment good sir. Me and my assistant will be sure to find it."
“Thank you Karot.” My assistant said as we both raised from our seats.
"You're welcome Miss. I hope you both find my wagon and gift for the princesses." He said. I put my notebook and pencil in my bag and started walking away from the table, my assistant followed.
As we walk down the street I turn to her. “I suggest we go look for Miss Pie."
She nods. “Yeah. Maybe she saw something.”
I nod. "Yes perhaps."
“I wonder where she's at right now”
"Hmm..I suppose we will have to find out. We could try asking her friends." I suggest looking around seeing several ponies playing. I smiled slightly.
“I see her down the road.” She said and points to where Pinkie is. Miss Pie was bouncing around singing a silly song. She was making everypony smile which is something she does often.
"Nice eye Miss BluegrassTune. Lets go question her." I said and we headed over to Miss Pie.
Pinkie pie smiles. "Hiya."
I get out my notebook and pencil. "Good day Miss Pie. We are here to ask you some questions."
Before I could ask any my assistant had already started. “Hi Pinkie. At lunch today, did you see a wagon with an old paint job?”
"Oh yeah I did, I accidentally took it thinking it was the cake's wagon. I had to make a delivery to Rarity." She said cheerfully.
I wrote it down. "Did you notice a box in it?"
"Oh yeah I did” She nodded.
“Then it's at the boutique. Thanks Pinkie.” Miss BluegrassTune said with a smile
"Welcome. I hope you find the dragon thing it was really shiny." She said as she bounced off.
I look at Miss BluegrassTune. "We didn't mention anything about a dragon."
.
“That's true. That would mean she looked inside.” She replied.
"Or the box could have broken. Lets go chat with Miss Rarity." I said as I headed to the boutique. I never really been inside there since I never really had an eye for fashion. As we get there I take notice how nice it looked on the outside and we knocked on the door. Miss Rarity answers right away.
"Why hello darlings." She says with a smile on her face.
"Hello Miss Rarity did Pinkie pie bring a wagon over?" I ask.
"Why yes. She delivered some cakes for a party." She says.
My assistant asks a question. “Did it have an old paint job?”
"Yes it did. its in the backyard. I remember looking at it thinking it needed to be a new color like maybe orange or grey." She answered.
“You don't mind if we could see what's inside the wagon?” Miss Bluegrass added.
“Why of course." Rarity answered. I nodded and headed to the backyard with them. There we saw the old wagon that belonged to Mr. Karot but when we looked inside there was no sign of the box.
“Where's the box?” My assistant said to no one in particular.
"Yes where is the box Miss Rarity?" I ask looking at the unicorn mare.
"Let me think. Pinkie pie dropped off the cake boxes with the wagon and then as Spike helped walk them in, he dropped a box that held a beautiful gem in the shape of a dragon. It would have looked perfect in my boutique." She says
“Where is it now?” I asked.
"I suppose it could be inside. I sort of got busy with a large order of dresses so I had to get to work and plan for a tea party at the same time. " Rarity said.
"Then lets check there." I replied.
We head inside the boutique and looked around. On the racks there were several finished dresses and on the mannequin there was some in progress. We all split up and start searching. After several minutes of me looking under stacks of papers that were covered with design ideas my assistant showed me a box she found my the cake boxes, It was a wooden box. “I think I found it.” She said bringing it over to me.
"Good job." I said, I take the box and opens it. Nothing was inside. "It seems like its empty."
“Miss Rarity, did you happen to take the gem out of the box?” Miss BluegrassTune asked.
"I did no such the. The box fell open earlier when me, Spike and Pinkie were unpacking the cakes. I picked it up and set it where you found the box and got back to work." She says.
"And where was Mr. Spike while you were working?" I ask.
"I thought he went back to Twilight's house." Miss Rarity added.
“Could Spike may have have grabbed it before he left?” Miss Bluegrass asks as she looks at the mare.
"I dont know. He could have." The unicorn said.
I nodded. "Then we head to the library, Thank you Miss Rarity for your time, I wish you luck on your tea party and your dress order.”
Miss Rarity smiled as we both went on our way, heading for the library that was home to Princess Twilight and Spike the dragon. I turn to my assistant as we were walking. “Do you think this spike has the gem?"
“Possibly. He loves eating gems and stuff like that” She answered.
"Then I suppose there is a chance he has it." I said as we approached the library door. I let my assistant knock and the princess answered.
“Hello.” She said.
I let my assistant speak first as I waited a minute before speaking. “Hello Twilight. Is Spike here?”
"Uh yeah He's inside. Why do you need him?" She asks.
"We just need to ask him a few things." I said.
“Were looking for a missing gem, and we think Spike may have it.” Miss BluegrassTune added.
"Well come on in to ask him." Miss Twilight said as she moved aside to let us in. We thank her as we enter and see Spike in the kitchen doing some cooking.
I looked over at Spike. I take note that he wore an apron and a chef hat as he was stiring a bowl full of dough. "Mr. Spike, we need to speak with you."
Spike looked over. "What is it?"
Miss BluegrassTune looks over to him as she spoke “We are looking for a jade dragon. When we found the box at the boutique, it was empty. Rarity said you were there helping her. So, we think you may have picked it up on the way out”
"Um...jade dragon...yeah I have it...I was going to make it into a cake..." Spike said.
I look at him. "May we please have it back. "
Spike sighs. "Sure."
“Thank you Spike.” My assistant said with a smile.
Spike brings out the jade dragon and hands it to me. I can understand why he would want to get this since it was a gem. His stomach probably overpowered his brain. "Thank you spike."
He nods as he stomach growls. "Your welcome."
We both smiled at him as we headed out. I thanked Miss Bluegrass for being my assistant and asked her how much she wanted me to pay her but she declined and said she was glad to help. I smiled and we both hoped that one day we would work a case together again soon. I headed back to Sugarcube Corner where I set down the box with the Jade dragon now in it in front of him. His eyes filled with joys seeing it. “Thank you Miss Mare. Please tell your assistant thank you as well. Did you find the wagon as well? ”
I nodded. “I’ll be sure to pass along the message. We did find the wagon, it was mistaken for another pony’s wagon and the pony who took it didn’t mean to. She just used it for a delivery. The wagon is behind the boutique here in Ponyville.”
He smiled and placed a small bag of bits and a small emerald. “This is for your troubles, thank you so much.”
I placed the small bag in my saddlebags, holding onto the emerald and smiled. “Your welcome, No mystery is too big for this mare, I’ll tell you that.” He nods and heads out the door. I smile and took a seat at the table. I tighten my bow as I relax for a moment. I notice a piece of paper on the ground and pick it up. It was just a scrap piece of paper with red ink. It reminded me of a piece I found in Manehatten on my last case, I placed it in my bag as I got up wondering if the two pieces could fit together. I started to head back to the office but I stopped in my tracks and make my way back to the library. I looked at the emerald thinking of spike and how he was going to use the jade dragon to make a cake, maybe he could use this instead and with I smile I approached the door and knocked.