//------------------------------// // Sweet Cop, Sour Cop // Story: Sour's on the case! // by AppleJTZ //------------------------------// The laboratory of Twilight Sparkle had always been a dark, gloomy room with sparse light – which was no surprise, considering it had no windows and used to be a storeroom for cleaning utensils. All of the high-tech equipment the former star student of Crystal Prep had used for her studies had been removed when she had left for Canterlot High, leaving only a chair, a couple of desks and a single table lamp as furniture. Currently the lamp was standing on a desk that in the center of the room. Two chairs were standing on its long sides, opposing each other. On one of the chairs a very frightened looking boy was sitting. His pink skin looked even paler than usual as he looked nervously around the room. With the lamp being the only source of light most of the room was cast in darkness. Outside its sheen he could only vaguely see the shades of the other desks standing at the walls – and, occasionally, the silhouette of another person with him in the room, slowly walking in circles around him. From the shape of the shade he guessed it was a girl around his age, probably another student. He couldn’t see her eyes, but was sure she was not taking them off him for a single second. “Um, who are you?” he eventually dared to ask, his voice shaking. “And w-why has this crazy girl grabbed me when I left class and brought me here?” He had of course tried to ask the girl herself, but she didn’t hear him over the music she heard. He had barely heard himself over her music. On the other side of the table the silhouette stopped. Through his glasses the boy watched as she approached the desk. When she entered the light of the lamp he saw it was indeed a girl, looking at him with a soft, if a little too big smile on her face. “Relax! Everything is fine” she assured him. Putting her hands on the desk she leaned towards him, her eyes half-closed a little as she met his gaze. “I’m just a curious girl who needs a bit of help finding a bunch of meanies” Raising a hand she took a strand of her hair, playfully twirling it between her fingers while looking at him with big pleading eyes. “Will you help me?” The boy relaxed slightly. “Um, okay” he said. Smiling even brighter the girl clapped into her hands. “Good. Oh, and by the way - I’M ASKING THE QUESTIONS HERE!” she suddenly shouted, slamming her hands on the desk. Startled the boy winced in his chair, pressing himself against the backrest as the girl leaned in so close he could feel her breath on his lips. “What did you do this morning at seven o’clock?!” Sour asked him loudly. Sweating all over again the boy gulped. “Um, I was sleeping?” Sour gave him an odd look. “How come you were still in bed? Didn’t you have to get up for school?” “Um, I-I live close by school” he quickly replied. “I can sleep every day up to seven.” Her face softening again Sour gave the boy some more space. “Oh, you get to sleep longer every day! Isn’t that nice for you?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked sternly at him. “I have to get up every morning before six to catch my bus! Think about this next time you lie cozily in your bed in the morning!” With Sour’s face right in front of his own the boy looked left and right, before staring back into her eyes. “Um, okay?” Pulling her head back Sour smiled at him in appreciation. “That’s really kind of you! Boys usually try so hard to be tough and manly, it’s nice to see one who actually concerns for the worries of a girl.” She sat down on the second chair, interlacing her fingers on the table as she gently looked across the table at the boy. “So, you were in the cafeteria this morning?” The boy stared at her in surprise. “Um, how do you-” “JUST ANSWER MY QUESTION!” Again the boy winced as Sour was at his face again, leaning so far over the desk she was standing on her toes. “And quit it with the ‘um’ – you’re a man, aren’t cha? Toughen up a little!” “Um… I-I mean of course!” he stuttered. She was so close he could only see her eyes, the look in them giving him goosebumps. “And y-yes, I was there! I-I got a tomato-bacon-cheese sandwich and-” “I don’t care about your breakfast!” Climbing on the table Sour knelt in front of the boy, glaring intently from above into his eyes. “Did you see anything suspicious? A group of students acting strange or someone standing behind the counter who shouldn’t be there?” “N-no!” he told her. A wide smile on her face Sour patted the boy on his well-groomed, if from the stress a little messy blue hair. “Good! Thank you for your cooperation.” Grabbing the chair he turned him towards the door, and gave it a powerful thrust. “Indy! Kick this guy out and bring in the next!” Rapidly approaching the closed door the boy screamed, tightly clenching the armrests. Just before he collided with it the door suddenly swung open, a blue-haired girl appearing inside it. The moment he would have crashed into her she stopped the chair with her foot, the sudden stop causing him to fly out of his seat. Casually she caught him with one arm and pushed him out into the corridor. With her second arm she simultaneously tossed another boy into the chair, having blue skin and white hair with blue strands. Unable to say or do something the boy could only stare blankly as she turned the chair around and kicked it back into to the room, where it stopped just in front of the desk at the exact place it had been before. Next to the dizzy student Sour was sitting on the edge of the desk, happily kicking her legs through the air. “So, having a good day so far?” she asked, smiling at him. “Aside from the whole pudding thing, I mean.” The boy carefully looked at Sour. “Yes” he eventually replied. “That’s nice. Heard your physical education class is cancelled because the sports field needs to be renovated?” “Yes.” “Well sports is one of my favorites, but it’s always great to get early out of school. Already got plans for the afternoon?” “Yes.” “Sweet! Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about who stole the pudding this morning from the cafeteria, would you?” The boy pondered for a moment. “No.” Sour frowned. “You’re useless – get out!” In the same manner as his predecessor she kicked the puzzled student out of the room. Casually looking at her fingernails she waited for Indigo to pull him out of the chair and put the next student into it. When the chair rolled back to its former position a very slender and tall girl was sitting in it. Her skin was pure white, while long pink hair wailed down her shoulders. Instead of looking scared or startled her purple eyes were glaring at Sour, a deep frown turning up her otherwise pretty face. “I demand to speak a teacher!” she immediately told her. Sour returned the angry glare with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I just want to talk a little with you.” She looked from the face of the girl down to her vest. “That’s a really nice outfit there, you know.” The girl arched an eyebrow. “That’s the standard school uniform.” “Yes, but you wear it so nicely!” Sour sweet-talked. She pulled her legs up the desk, sitting sideways on it. “But I guess anything would look nice on you.” The frown of the girl turned into a smug grin. “Well thank you! I really take care of my figure.” Still smiling Sour spread out her legs behind her, raising her feet to the air as she lay down on the desk. “Though I couldn’t help but notice, there seems to be a button missing” she remarked, pointing at a small hole at the bottom of her vest. “Oh… y-yeah” the girl murmured, seeming nervous all of a sudden. “I’ve gotta get a new one.” Sour put her elbows on the table, resting her head on her hands with her eyes set on the girl in front of her. “I bet there is an interesting story related to that missing button. Care to share it with me? The girl forced a smile on her face. “It’s really nothing exciting, just a small accident. I-it got stuck in a door and it popped off.” “Really?” Dropping her smile Sour furrowed her eyebrows. “If you don’t tell me the truth right away your face is gonna be a small accident!” Little beads of sweat rolled down the girl’s face. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Cut the act!” Sitting up Sour grabbed the head of the desk lamp, holding it directly into the girl’s face. “We both know about the ugly secret you are hiding behind your pretty face. So, you’re gonna tell me yourself or do I have to squeeze the answers out of your wasp waist?” Shielding her eyes from the light of the lamp the girl was shaking in her chair. She glanced at Sour, her face a dark shadow looming above her. “I CONFESS!” she suddenly screamed, throwing her hands into the air. “I CHEATED ON MY DIET!!” Putting the lamp back Sour stared at her suspect in surprise. “Um, what?” “There were so many tests and extra lessons lately, I spent almost every day doing nothing but study, in- AND outside of school” she whined. “I tried to withstand the temptation, but whenever it became too much I snuck to the freezer in the kitchen and grabbed a box of chocolate ice cream. And this morning, when I tried to put on my uniform, one of the buttons just popped off!” She grabbed Sour by her vest, violently shaking her. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!” Eyes spinning Sour dizzily shook her head. “Errr…” “It means my size is not extra slim anymore, but only… slim! SLIM!!” she screamed into Sour’s face. “If anyone finds out my social status at this school is RUINED!!!” Still clinging to Sour’s vest she slid out of her chair, crying hysterically as she dropped on her knees. After staring into the air for a moment with a stunned look on her face Sour gently removed the hands from her vest. Sour got off from the table and helped the girl on her feet, who had buried her face in her hands. Without looking at her Sour guided the sobbing student to the door, opened it for her, and then softly pushed her out of the room. Closing the door behind her Sour walked back to the desk and sat down on her chair, using the moment to think over her life. Shortly afterwards the door opened again, with Sugarcoat standing in it. Looking as passive-aggressive as ever she pointed at the empty chair, and an orange girl with long purple hair entered. As she walked over to the chair she glared in Sugarcoat’s direction, even after she had left and closed the door again, until she sat down on the other side of Sour. Still looking very furious she opened her mouth, but before she had the chance to say something the detective raised a hand. “Okay, let me make one thing clear” Sour said in a rather dour tone. “I’m not in a good mood, and so far all of you guys have given me nothing but a headache.” She then flashed a smile at her newest interrogation subject. “So, it’s in the interest of both of us if you just cooperate and calmly tell me what you know. Just remember that if you don’t, I have methods to make you talk! Of course, since we are both civilized girls going to an elite high school, we should be able to solve this peacefully by talking - considering you aren’t actually a rotten little criminal who only infiltrated this school to cause havoc. Not that I accuse you of anything, you’re considered innocent until proven guilty, but better remember I’ve got my eyes on you, so don’t try anything funny! We can do this the nice, easy way where no one gets hurt – or NOT!” The girl looked incredulously at Sour. “You’re creepy.” “Oh, I’m sorry if I scared you!” With one hand Sour grabbed into the darkness surrounding the desk, pulling a glass of lemonade seemingly out from nowhere. “Here, you want some lemonade?” With a big smile she placed the glass in front of the girl. After giving Sour a curious look the girl slowly reached for it. Suddenly Sour’s hand snapped forward, tossing the glass over. The lemonade spilled over the table on the girl’s skirt, drenching it. As the girl looked down on herself with wide eyes Sour made a shocked face. “Oops! Too bad, that was the last glass - now spill the beans!” she sternly told her. Disgusted the girl tried to rub off some of the lemonade from her lap. “I don’t even know what you want from me, you lunatic!” Standing up Sour put her hands on the desk. “I want you to tell me if you saw someone behaving suspicious this morning in the cafeteria!” The girl glanced hardly at Sour. “The only suspicious people I saw today were you and your friends.” Her remark was countered with a fake laugh by Sour. “Oh, looks like we have a little joker here!” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you know what I do with jokers?” “You let them go so they can’t bug you any longer?” “Exactly! So better go now before I’ll show you the way!” With as a sigh the girl got up, she and Sour staring at each other while she walked out of the door. Just as she had left the door swung open again. Lemon and Indigo dragged a heavily struggling guy with purple skin and a grey bob-haircut into the former lab. As they forced him towards the chair he was wrapping his arms around his backpack, shielding it from them. With some effort the two girls eventually pushed him on the chair. Reluctantly he sat down, still hugging his backpack. “Jeez, this guy was a mouthful” Indigo moaned, wiping her forehead. “Couldn’t he just hold still?” “Well I don’t want to know how you’d struggle if we did that with you” Lemon said with a wink. Indigo smirked. “Nah, you’d never catch me in the first place.” Once Lemon and Indigo had left the boy turned to Sour sitting across him, looking not very happy. “Hey, what’s the problem with you girls?!” he yelled at her. “I just minded my own business and suddenly, I’m getting dragged here like I’m some sort of criminal! I’m so gonna tell you on Cinch!” Sour placed an elbow on the table, and rested her head on her hand. “You seem nervous.” The boy winced. “What? I-I’m not nervous.” “Really?” With her index finger Sour traced circles over the surface of the desk. “Isn’t there something on your heart you may like to share with me?” He shook his head. “No secrets of any kind? Nothing you want to confess to ease your conscience?” “C-course not!” “Good!” Raising her finger she pointed at the backpack in his arms. “Then you surely don’t mind me taking a teeny-tiny peek into your backpack.” Gulping the boy smiled uncomfortably at her. “Weeeell, like I said, I’m totally not hiding anything in my backpack – especially nothing that could be used as evidence against me – but a backpack is a pretty personal item, so I’m sure you understand-” “GIMME YOUR BACKPACK!” Sour’s chair turned over as she jumped to her feet, grabbing the backpack over the desk. Startled the boy didn’t react before she had pulled it halfway over the desk, but then began to resist. “N-NO!” he shouted, desperately pulling his backpack. “YES!” Sour yelled, trying to drag it towards her. “NO!” “YES!” “NO!” “YES!” “NO!” Outside Sour’s friends exchanged some glances as they heard the two teenagers scream inside. “YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!” With a mighty tug Sour wrested the backpack from his grip. Once she held it into her hands she immediately pulled up the zipper, taking a look inside . As her head hung above the open backpack however a powerful stench hit her nostrils. Immediately she pulled back, turning up her mouth in disgust. “Eww! What’s this?” she asked, dropping the backpack on the desk. “Do you store your sports socks in there?!” Despite her urge to throw up Sour carefully grabbed into the backpack. After fumbling around for a bit her hand touched something that didn’t feel like a notebook. Slowly she pulled out a small plastic bottle from the backpack. It smelled so intensely she held it as far away from her as possible, tears in her eyes as she examined it. While bearing a lemonade brand the green liquid it contained looked unusually unnatural even for a synthetic drink. Though the bottle was closed some vapor was streaming out from under the top, spreading out into the air of the room. “What’s in this bottle?” The boy pinched his nose. “Just something I mixed together in the chemistry lab” he said with a twang. “You know, for a stink bomb.” One hand on her nose Sour held the bottle with two fingers, causing it to shake slightly. “Careful there!” he warned her, pointing at a missing button on his uniform. “It melted one of my buttons when I accidentally spilled a drop earlier.” Slowly Sour put the bottle on the table. As the smell still seeped out into the air she put both hands over her nose. “Gross!” she moaned, turning her head away. “Take your stink bomb and get out of here!” Shrugging the boy grabbed the bottle and put it into his backpack. After closing the zipper he put it on his shoulders, then headed for the exit. Even after he left it took a moment before the smell had completely disappeared. Once Sour dared to breathe again she noticed she was still alone. “Where is the next one?” she called out towards the door. It opened by a notch, Sunny’s head poking into the room. “Sour, are you sure about this one?” she asked a little concerned. Sour nodded “Yes, I am. Please bring her in.” “She doesn’t even fit the description of the lunch lady, and her uniform isn’t missing any bu-” “GET HER IN HERE!!” Sighing Sunny pulled her head back. A moment later the door opened, and a girl walked into the room. It was one of the younger students, being a head smaller than Sour. Her skin was pink and her eyes dark golden, a hairband sitting in her purple hair. Holding her head high she walked over to the chair, huffing snobbishly as she sat down. Legs and arms crossed she looked with a bored expression at Sour. Still standing Sour stared back at her, frowning deeply. “So, we finally meet again!” she snorted at the girl. “What are you talking about?” Suri asked, staring at Sour as if she was dumb. “We constantly see each other in the hallway!” “I try to forget those encounters.” Suri rolled her eyes. “Oh please, don’t tell me you are still upset because of that little incident in the chemistry lab…” “That’s not important right now.” Slamming her hands on the table Sour lowered her face towards Suri’s. “All that matters now is the pudding!” Unfazed Suri looked up into Sour’s eyes. “Seriously? You think I stole the pudding? If I wanted to steal pudding, I’d wait until they served something really delicious such as chocolate instead of a cheap flavor like cream-cherry!” The face of Sour moved forward by an inch. “I never mentioned it was cream-cherry-pudding. How do you know if you haven’t stolen it?” Suri held up her smartphone. “It’s on the school homepage.” “And why did you check it?” Sour continued to lean closer to her. “Because you wanted to know if it’s rentable to steal it!” “But I just said it isn’t!” “Of course you’d say that to divert the suspicion from you – but I’m not falling for your little psychological tricks!” Sour approached Suri even further, until their faces were barely away from each other. “Deep down, I know your soul is a black and rotten lump of mud and dirt that takes great delight in the sensation of stealing from others what they love the most and then watch them cry – I bet you have a collection of jars with the tears of everyone you hurt in your life, including your mother! ” Pressing her back against the chair Suri, for the first time since she entered the room, looked nervous. “Isn’t it about time you said something nice and sweet?” Sour squinted her eyes. “I have no nice words for the likes of you.” Rubbing her forehead Suri took in a deep breath. “Look, I had an appointment at the doctor this morning, okay? I arrived at school only after the pudding was stolen.” From her pocket she pulled out a small piece of paper, showing it to Sour. “Here is the attestation. Can you let me go now?” Harshly Sour snatched the paper from her. It had the date and time of the appointment on it, which matched the rough time when the pudding must have been stolen, alongside the signature of the doctor and the crest of his office. “It could be a fake” she muttered. Suddenly the door swung open. “SOUR, LET HER GO!” all of her friends screamed into the room. Sour stared dumfounded at them for a moment. “Hey, don’t eavesdrop on my interrogations!” she yelled. As they closed the door again she turned back to Suri. Grumbling she handed her back the note. “Alright, you can leave.” As Suri victoriously took the piece of paper from her Sour immediately leaned in to her again. “But I still hate you” she whispered with intent, causing Suri to shiver slightly. Quickly she stood up and rushed out of the room. A moment later another girl with teal skin and gray hair entered the room, nervously sitting down. Sour put her foot on the desk, looking neutrally at her. “You saw anything weird in the cafeteria this morning?” “No.” And Sour threw her out. A boy entered the room, also having gray hair and teal skin. What separated him from everyone else so far were the sunglasses he was hearing, a pair of round black shades nested on his nose. Sitting across Sour he folded his arms, looking defiantly at her. “Yo, don’t know what’cha pulling off here, but ya ain’t gonna scare me, lollipop!” he told her, stern and resolute. Sour smiled at the boy. “Lollipop? That’s a really cute nickname! Are you calling me a sucker?!” she suddenly shouted, showing him her teeth. Much less resolute the boy backed away slightly. “Er, n-no…” “You think you’re tough, don’t cha?” she asked while grabbing under the table. Pulling up her backpack she placed it on the desk, slowly opening the zipper. The boy watched nervously as she grabbed into her bag. “Well let’s see how tough you are after I show you this…” Standing in front of the door Sugarcoat, Lemon, Sunny and Indigo pressed their ears against the door. They all jumped back when the door suddenly swung open and the boy came crying out of the room. They looked after him as he dashed down the hallway, before turning with raised eyebrows towards Sour as she appeared in the door, holding her backpack in her arms. “What did you show him?” Sunny asked, she and the others giving her stern and curious looks. “Oh, nothing!” Sour assured them while quickly closing the zipper of her backpack. “Just a little secret weapon of mine.” “I guess your little interrogation had no results?” Sugarcoat asked. Sour shook her head. “Not really, no” she replied as she shouldered her backpack. “Nobody in the cafeteria seemed to have seen anything, and the ones who missed a button had pretty convincing stories how they lost them.” “So we won’t be getting any pudding today?” Lemon asked, looking rather sad. “And we’re not gonna beat up any bad guys?” Indigo added, also seeming disappointed. “I’m afraid so” Sour sighed, lowering her head. “It’s hard to admit, but this case seems too hard even for my giant brain to solve.” After a moment of staring frustrated at the floor she raised her head again, looking like she slowly was coming to a realization. “Unless…” The others looked eagerly at Sour. “Unless what?” Sunny asked. Sour scowled at the four girls. “Unless I had the answer right in front of my nose the entire time!” she exclaimed, glaring at each of her friends. “Um, what’s the creepy look for?” Indigo asked, taking a step back. Sour pointed with her finger right at Indigo. “You four stole the pudding!” she shouted, letting her finger wander over all of them. “And then you sabotaged my investigations so I wouldn’t find out!” The four girls quietly stared at Sour, before moaning in unison. “If anyone sabotaged your investigations, it was yourself” Sugarcoat deadpanned, lifting her glasses to rub the sides of her eyes. “Sour, we were together all morning” Sunny reminded her. “How could any of us have stolen the pudding?” Sour pondered for a moment. With an embarrassed smile she stroke the back of her head, looking apologetically at her friends. “Oh, right. Sorry.” A thought then crossed her mind, making her frown at Lemon. “Wait, you weren’t with us until before the second lesson. What did YOU do during the first lesson?” Lemon blinked at her. “I slept through math.” Her fingers on her chin Sour glanced at the green-haired punk with narrow eyes. “…your alibi sounds plausible.” Groaning loudly Sunny massaged her temples. “Great” she grunted. “We’ve been bearing with Little Miss Holmes overblown ego for the whole day so far, and what did we get from it? Nothing!” “What’s with the bad mood?” Indigo asked, looking a little surprised at Sunny. With a sound sigh Sunny slumped her arms. “Sorry. I guess I’m just frustrated we couldn’t catch those pudding thieves and wasted our free lesson.” Rubbing the seat of her skirt she added: “Also, my butt is aching!” A wide smile formed on Lemon’s face. “Miss Fancy fell on her butt? Man, I wish I could have seen that!” “It wasn’t my fault!” Sunny yelled, blushing in a mixture of embarrassment and anger. “Seriously, just because it’s a cold store doesn’t mean the floor needs to be frozen!” “At least you didn’t need to crawl on a dirty and oily street” Sugarcoat remarked, brushing her hands off on her uniform as her fingers still felt a little greasy. Contently Indigo stuck out her chest. “Well I got to climb on the walls of the school AND won a race to the chemistry lab against Lemon. So I guess the day wasn’t a total bust to me!” Pouting Lemon folded her arms. “At least I didn’t knock a bottle out of the window” she said, causing Indigo to glare at her. Again Sunny let out a sigh. “Break’s almost over” she said with a crestfallen ring in her voice. “Let’s get to our next class. We’ve got a double period of biology before lunch.” Lemon moaned. “I’m so not looking forward to it.” Lemon, Indigo and Sunny got on their way. Sugarcoat was about to follow, when she noticed Sour wasn’t moving. “You coming Sour? Sour?” Everybody turned to Sour, who was staring absent-minded into the air. Her mouth was slightly open, and by the look on her face it wouldn’t have been a surprise if she suddenly started drooling. “Sour?” Indigo said, waving a hand in front of her face. When there was no reaction she frowned in annoyance, and snapped her fingers right in front of Sour’s eyes. Ripped out of her trance Sour blinked frantically for a moment, before shaking her head. “Everything alright?” Lemon asked. “You seemed a little spaced out.” With a blank expression Sour looked back at her, then at each of her other friends. “I… think I just solved the case.”