//------------------------------// // Detective Work // Story: Friendship is Forever // by fabrosi //------------------------------// Chapter 8: Detective Work "She was in your house?" Pinkie Pie was gaping at Twilight in shock as she recounted her bizarre visit from Cheerilee. The six ponies and Spike were gathered in a circle in the meadow near Fluttershy's cottage. "Why did you let her get away?" demanded Rainbow Dash. "I don't think she planned on leaving town," Twilight explained. "She just… kept saying that someone might be watching us, whatever that means." "Well, if she's still in town," said Applejack, "then let's go find her! She tried to have Princess Celestia killed, remember?" "I know, I know!" said Twilight. "This is all so confusing…but I feel like if we turn her in, we might never find out what really happened to Hogdenville." "Twilight, dear," said Rarity, looking worried, "you're not… you're not actually suggesting that Cheerilee had a good reason for trying to have Celestia killed, are you?" "No!" shouted Twilight, stomping the ground so hard her hoof hurt. Then, surprised by her own anger, she added: "Sorry… no, I'm not. It's just that, well, maybe she really does know something about the royal court that we don't, and while I don't think we should let her have free reign and run around as she pleases, turning her in is something we won't be able to take back if it turns out to be the wrong decision." "So… you're saying we should keep an eye on her, but not tell anyone what she did?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Yes, exactly." She looked around, carefully studying her friends' expressions, but none of them argue with her. "Anyway," she continued, "whatever we do, we should be covert about it. I hate to think how the little fillies in this town would react if they knew what their teacher did." "Oh!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. They all looked at her, and she shuffled her wings nervously. "Yeah, um, me too…" … Applebloom sat at her desk at school, staring at the clock. The moment it struck three o'clock, she got up and started heading for the door. "Applebloom?" asked Cheerilee. "Just where are you off to?" "It's leaving time, Ms. Cheerilee," she replied, blushing as she realized she was the only one standing. Cheerilee looked at the clock. "Oh, so it is!" she laughed. "All right, everypony, you are all free to go." Applebloom ran around the school and tracked down the other Crusaders as quickly as she could. First, she encountered Sweetie Belle, and together they tracked down Scootaloo. When they found her, however, she was acting unusual—glancing around at the ponies leaving the schoolhouse with a looking of apprehension. "What's wrong, Scootaloo?" asked Applebloom, and the pegasus filly jumped. "Oh, hey, Crusaders. Didn't see you there." "Are you waiting for someone?" asked Sweetie Belle. "Not exactly…" She beckoned that they should follow her, and led them down alongside a creek than ran just outside Ponyville. They all stepped carefully over the rocks that made up the riverbed. "Applebloom, you're in Ms. Cheerilee's class, right?" "Yup. Why d'you ask?" "Did anything about her seem… weird to you?" "No… why?" "Because I was talking to Rainbow Dash last night"—Scootaloo lowered her voice -"and she said Ms. Cheerilee was the one who sent a zebra to assassinate Princess Celestia." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle gasped. "No!" said Sweetie Belle vehemently. "That was my reaction, too," explained Scootaloo, "but apparently they found proof." "But that doesn't make sense!" exclaimed Applebloom. "Why in the world would Cheerilee want the princess assassinated? Why would anyone?" "Rainbow Dash thinks it was because some soldiers from Canterlot destroyed one of the pigs' cities." "Applejack never told me about that!" exclaimed Applebloom. They stopped, letting the edges of the creek lap at their hooves. "Well, maybe she thought you were too young," Scootaloo suggested dryly. Applebloom narrowed her eyes. "You said it yourself," Sweetie Belle said to her. "She can't tell you the truth about things, because that would be dangerous." "But not knowing something like this could be even more dangerous. What if Ponyville gets attacked by pigs? What if Miss Cheerilee tries to kill again?" The other two shrugged weakly. As they meandered back towards Ponyville, Scootaloo said "You know what all of this means, don't you?" "No," said Sweetie Belle, "I have no idea." Scootaloo gave her friends a fierce grin. "Cutie Mark Crusader crime solving detectives!" … Back outside the schoolhouse, Twilight and her friends were scanning the crowd for any sign of Cheerilee. When they spotted her heading home, they followed her from a distance until she went inside, and then knocked on the door. "Oh, hello," she said brightly when she saw them. Her demeanor was completely unlike what Twilight had seen from her the night before. "Can I help you?" "We need to talk," said Applejack. "I don't s'pose you'd mind us comin' inside?" "Not at all. Come on in." They noticed that she was clenching her teeth in order to force a grin. As soon as they were inside, she dropped the expression, looking terrified instead. "We were hoping you could tell us more about what you were saying last night," said Twilight coolly. Cheerilee sighed shakily. "I guess I'd better start from the beginning. It all started several years ago… I was researching cutie marks so that I would have all my facts straight when I eventually taught students about them. Does anyone want something to drink?" "Me," said Rainbow Dash, plopping down on Cheerilee's sofa. As Cheerilee brought her some iced tea, she continued: "To learn everything I could about cutie marks, I took a job as a babysitter and studied fillies who were close to getting them. For the most part, I only observed things that were already common knowledge: a pony with a particular special talent or interest is likely to get a cutie mark related to that talent, and the mark appears at a certain moment of realization, when the foal is completely, absolutely engaged in an activity or idea, thinking of nothing else." "However, there were also a few odd patterns I couldn't explain. For instance, ponies that weren't yet of cutie mark age occasionally showed these same 'moments of engagement', but no cutie mark would appear. Furthermore, there were many ponies whose interests weren't focused in one specific area. Roughly one month prior to the day they received their cutie marks, they would suddenly and inexplicably develop an obsessive interest in such an area—often one towards which they had never shown any predisposition. The trend was uncannily consistent." "I came to the conclusion that cutie marks not only represent a pony's special talent—they also have at least some power to dictate them. However, the process by which they appear has always been a total mystery. I began paying very close attention to cases of ponies who were of cutie mark age, but didn't share a clear special talent." "Imagine my shock when I discovered that it was impossible for anypony to get his or her cutie mark in the Everfree Forest. I would lead a filly, very close to discovering a special talent, just a few yards into the forest and offer tasks that seemed sure to activate cutie marks. In hundreds of attempts with various fillies, I found that all of them got their cutie marks only after I brought them back to Ponyville—sometimes the instant they stepped out of the forest, sometimes a few hours or days later." "I tried to share what I had learned with my friends, but somepony who had overheard me interrupted me, asking to speak to me in private. I was confused and a little frightened, since I had never met him before in my life, but I complied." "Once we were out of earshot of my friends, he asked me to repeat what I had said about cutie marks. To my astonishment, he knew exactly what I was talking about, and led me to a secret location where he introduced me to some… allies of his. And… well, I'm not sure if I can tell you what they said." "Why not?" asked Twilight. "You wouldn't believe it," Cheerilee explained. "It's better if you find out for yourself. Here, before I forget…" she walked over to a spot on the floor, lifted up a loose floorboard, and pulled out a sealed envelope. "Whatever you do, don't let anypony see this," she said, giving it to Twilight. "As I was saying, they told me some… things that seemed very strange and shocking, yet made an odd sort of sense. They asked me to"— "Applebloom?" Pinkie Pie was looking towards the window, and everyone else glanced over just in time to see three filly faces disappear from sight. Everypony immediately scrambled towards the door. Applejack opened the door, spotted her sister and her friends, and dragged them all inside before anyone could see. "What d'you think y'all are doin', spyin' on us?" Applejack asked them. "We wanna help!" insisted Applebloom. "Applebloom," said Twilight firmly, "this is not a matter for fillies your age to get involved in." "Well," said Sweetie Belle, looking irritated, "were you just planning on keeping it a secret from us forever?" "Keeping what a secret?" asked Rarity. "That Miss Cheerilee tried to have Princess Celestia murdered!" Scootaloo was now glaring furiously at Cheerilee, who backed away with a helpless expression on her face. "It isn't true, is it?" asked Sweetie Belle pleadingly. "Well—I"—Cheerilee fumbled. "Wait," interrupted Rarity, "Scootaloo, who told you that?" "Rainbow Dash did." Everypony glared at her, and she shrugged weakly. "Look," Applejack said to fillies, "will y'all just let us sort this out?" "What's to sort out?" asked Scootaloo. "Just turn her in!" By now, Cheerilee looked absolutely mortified. "That might be in order," replied Applejack, giving Cheerilee a sideways glance, "but we need her to explain a thing or two first, and that requires that y'all skedaddle." "Actually," said Cheerilee meekly, "I think I've said everything I can afford to say right now, and"—she focused her gaze on Twilight—"you have everything you need to find out the rest." "Great!" Scootaloo exclaimed sarcastically. "Then we can take her to the dungeon now!" The older ponies had no idea what to say, so they simply dragged the protesting fillies out the door. "Thank you for your time," Twilight said evenly before closing the door behind her. In stiff, determined silence, they all escorted the Crusaders home. … The following day, Cheerilee was nowhere to be found. A substitute taught her class at school, and no one answered the door at her house. Thinking she might be hiding, Applejack eventually let herself in and searched every room, but to no avail. They met in Twilight's library to discuss the situation. "By the way, Twilight," said Rarity, "did you ever open that letter?" "Yeah, but was just a bunch of weird symbols. I couldn't make heads or tails of it." "I bet it's some kind of secret code," offered Pinkie Pie. "Probably," said Twilight, "but it might take me a while to solve it, and we need some kind of lead to go on in the meantime." They thought for a moment. Then Rainbow Dash said "What about the pigs? Assuming they haven't been wiped out, they might know something about all this. After all, they lost an entire town to"—she hesitated. "…to those ponies we saw." "That sounds like a good idea," said Twilight, "but it also sounds pretty dangerous… not to mention the fact that we'd have to walk all the way back there." "No problem! I can just fly there myself now that I know the way, and the part about danger doesn't really bother me." "Alright, I guess if you're feeling up to it," said Twilight. "As for me, I was thinking of going into the Everfree Forest to do some research." "What?" asked Fluttershy. "Why there?" Twilight thought back on the dream she'd had about a terrible and mysterious creature dwelling in the forest, but shook her irrational fears away. "When we saw Hogdenville after it was destroyed, Reginald mentioned something about the fact that we ponies control the weather. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I wonder if maybe Equestria is the only place where seasons don't change on their own." "What's so weird about that?" asked Pinkie Pie. "It's always been that way. Besides, why would that have anything to do with these weird conspiracies?" "Because it's the same way with cutie marks," explained Twilight. "They've always been around, too, but nopony seems to know why. For the sake of argument, if we assume Cheerilee's story was true, then just maybe I'll dig up something unusual if I study the differences between the weather in Equestria and the weather outside it." "You're going to study the weather?" asked Rainbow Dash. "That sounds really boring." "Well, being in the Everfree Forest will probably make it a bit more exciting," said Twilight. "That's why I'd like Fluttershy to come with me: she'll be able to help out if we encounter any strange animals." "I'll do my best," Fluttershy assured her. "And Spike," Twilight continued, "I assume I can expect help from my number one assistant?" Spike saluted. "Perfect. Now, at least one of us should probably stay here to keep an eye out for Cheerilee." "I can do that," said Rarity. "After all, there's no way I could leave Sweetie Belle alone in Ponyville what with everything that's going on in this town." "Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing 'bout Applebloom," added Applejack. "I'll stay here too." "Me too," said Pinkie Pie. "The Everfree Forest sounds exciting and all, but I feel like I'd be abandoning my duties at Sugarcube Corner if I left on another trip. Besides, I can help take care of Fluttershy's animals while she's gone!" "Then it's settled," said Twilight. "Fluttershy, Spike and I will go into the Everfree Forest; Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity will stay here in Ponyville and look for Cheerilee; and Rainbow Dash will go to Sustria to find out what the pigs know. We should all meet back here in—I don't know, two weeks?" They all gave their agreement. "Alright then—no sense waiting around. I say we should arrange to leave no later than"— "Okay, see ya!" interrupted Rainbow Dash, dashing out the door and taking flight. "…Right," continued Twilight, "well, Fluttershy, you should gather your things so that we can set off tonight. With any luck, we'll finally be able to solve one or two of these mysteries that have been floating around."