The Adventures of Sherclop Pones

by B_25

1. The Adventure of the Lion's Diamond

The Adventure of the Lion's Diamond

(Or; The tale in which Mr. Pones and Myself are Introduced)

It must have been many years back that I took my Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Canterlot. I studied under a unicorn known as Lifeglow, who had forty years’ medical experience, and lectured of his own accord. He needed not the money, for he was a very well-established practitioner, and as such had considerable time to pass on his knowledge. Such a committed student of his was I, that as I came to know him better, he started to draw me aside for private lessons, in which he taught me his own personal knowledge of physiology and medicine.

My admiration for the old stallion was so that I did not baulk at the opportunity to progress my studies further, despite the huge workload, and least of all in his presence - and so, he tutored me throughout my latter years at university. Looking back, I find that the whimsical lessons in life that he peppered his tutorials and lectures with stuck to me.

He claimed that it was best to travel far and learn while you were still young, and encouraged me endlessly to leave the city and start my own practice. Thus, when I completed my studies, I duly traveled in all directions from Canterlot, attempting to find a place where one might settle down and begin anew – a place with friendly locals and a warm atmosphere, which might promise me a fair share of business and esteem.

Certainly, the search was diverse and took me to faraway places, though my adventures were not always wholly in the spirit of my initial reason – I fear that I spent more time sightseeing and living for the moment than house hunting. In my many travels I was fortunate enough to meet many wonderful people that would have happily rented me lodgings, but I was unwilling to burden them while I sought work. Where I could, I attempted to pave my way by doing menial tasks, so as to make the experience last just a little longer, and indeed such a way of living was very beneficial to me – I learnt much, and grew a good deal stronger and wiser. But alas, eventually my funds dwindled, and I was forced to return to Canterlot to seek employment.

I obtained a job as a local doctor, just a small way away from Canterlot castle. The job was at a private clinic, not a hospital, and as such there were some hours not consumed by my work that I was free to spend on my own leisurely pursuits. Naturally, I gravitated towards the centre of Canterlot – that great cesspool into which all the idle folk of Equestria are drawn – and there I stayed at length in a hotel, spending quite a slight more money than I earned in a rather irresponsible fashion. I realised, after a lazy month, that my finances were quite unsustainable, and thus I decided that I needed to leave the hotel and seek cheaper and less pretentious lodgings elsewhere.

It was at this time that I met Sherclop Pones.

- - -

Not a full day after I had chosen to leave the hotel, I was perusing a paper on a park-bench, hunting for houses that were for rent or sale. My eyes had just fallen upon a rather dapper looking house down towards the markets, when I felt a brisk tap on my shoulder. I turned, and immediately was overcome with joy – Felicia Redheart, an old flame of mine and fellow scholar at the University.

She was a white earth pony – much like myself, in that all of my colleagues were unicorns, and she and I were not. I had regarded her as being among my closest friends, though we had once shared something much greater than that. In any case, in times such as these, a friendly and comforting face was a welcome invitation to escape one’s woes, or so it was for myself. She appeared delighted to see me, and after exchanging greetings, I bade her to sit and have lunch with me, to which she agreed.

“So what have you been up to, Trotson?” she asked me, as we strolled through the crowded streets. “You look quite fit – been working out, have we?” She giggled in a way that set my heart aflutter. I shook my head, and for the next hour, I regaled her with tales of my adventures as we picked our slow path through street and park trail. It was invigorating, talking to her – she was a breath of nostalgia and happiness into my otherwise weary mind, and her cheerful smile and scented pink-red hair seemed to cajole my woes away.

“Oh, so you didn’t get to start up your own practice like you imagined you would? That’s too bad, sweetie,” she said, and she seemed genuinely crestfallen at my tale. “But why are you here then?”

“I’m on the hunt for a house,” I replied solemnly. “Something cheap and cheerful, if such a thing exists.”

“Hah! Is that right!” she said, looking at me suspiciously. “You’re not the first person today to have told me as much.”

“Is that so?” I inquired. “Who else is searching?”

“Oh, an old friend of a friend who I just happened to pass by on the way back from the clinic.” She flashed a grin at me as I opened my mouth in surprise. “Yes, I work in a clinic too – though it’s a way away from here, about an hour by train. It’s in a town called Ponyville, and I’m just in the city for the day to pick up some medical supplies.” She paused for a moment, and we halted our stride while she turned and rummaged in her leather saddle-bag. Shortly after, she pulled her hooves out, producing a few small bags of ingredients.

“Just some medicinal herbs and antivenins,” she said casually. “But, this pony was also in the laboratory where I picked some of this stuff up, and he was moaning because he couldn’t find a roommate to share some costs in a nice house in the south part of the city.”

I nearly hugged her in joy, but I fell just short of embarrassing myself, instead doing a happy little dance on the spot.

“Amazing!” I cried, “if he’s looking for a roommate, then I’m just the stallion. I wouldn’t mind the company, of course!”

She eyed me with a degree of scepticism and bemusement.

“…You might take that back after meeting him,” she said cautiously.

“Why, what’s wrong with him?”

“Oh, nothing untoward – he’s just a little odd, do you know what I mean?” She cocked her head and rolled her silvery-blue eyes a little. “I don’t know him too well, but some say he’s a little cuckoo, if you catch my drift.”

“How do you know him? Was he at medical school with us?”

“No, not at all, though he did study some chemistry and anatomy, and that’s where I knew him from,” she replied. “Same classes.”

“Well, in any case, I’d very much like to meet him,” I said. “I’ve had enough of travelling, and even if he is a little queer, I wouldn’t mind so long as it meant a comfortable bed.”

She laughed her little tinkling laugh that shattered all the nerves in my ungainly smile.

“Oh Trotson, you’re so down to earth now. Very different to our times at university, hmm?” She smiled, fixing me with a knowing gaze.

I alluded to the fact before, but I should explain at this point that Nurse Redheart and I were once an item – and were for quite some time, at least on her part. I was always far too shy to ever show my affection, and that was what I think drove us apart. But that story is beside the point. Suffice it to say our departure was not a bitter one, and we had remained friends as she ran off to chase her own dreams, and I ran off to chase mine.

My expression faltered; and she saw it do so. She winked broadly, and I blushed right to the core of my stomach. She never seemed to stop having that very strange effect on me that no other filly ever did.

“I seem to remember quite a different young Trotson from our time together at med school – what, did your travels take all that fiery charm out of you?”

“No,” I replied after some time, smiling weakly. “And sadly, I can see that a stable job hasn’t taken it out of you, either.”

She frowned in mock disappointment and hurt, and a small grin inexplicably spread across my face.

“You’re awful,” she said, and resumed her canter forward, leaving me to follow on after. “Come on, I have to get going soon enough, and we won’t be able to have lunch and for me to introduce this gentlepony to you if you hang back staring at my flank all day!”

I blanched, but caught up to her swiftly. We walked the rest of the way to a nearby café that I had eaten at three days previous. There prevailed between us a silence that was not uncomfortable, and I felt rather pleased with myself, though I could not pin down exactly why. We took our seats, she ordered some dishes, and I resumed drilling her over my would-be roommate. However, she was less than keen to oblige me with the details of this mysterious stranger, instead diverting the topic until our food arrived. I ate quickly, continuing my harassment between bites.

“You’ll see in time,” she said, over a mouthful of her hay salad. “To be honest, I don’t know a huge amount about him, but I hear he’s nice enough…”

“Well, do you know anything about him? What kind of pony is he?” I pressed.

She swallowed before replying.

“His name is Sherclop Pones. I’ve only met him a few times at the laboratory, where I get the medical supplies I need from time to time – he is a scientific soul, very precise and definite.”

“Good! I should like for a companion of studious habits.”

Her brow furrowed and she cast an amused glance towards me.

“If that was a jab at me from when we shared the house during our graduate year, then ha ha.”

“It wasn’t, actually,” I replied with a sarcastic tone. “Surprisingly, the earth revolves around the sun, not you.” I sniffed a little and smiled wryly. “Though I daresay you believe as much.”

She scoffed in horror.

“You… you’re a wretch!” She cried, after a moment of grasping for an insult suitable for her mock indignation.

Together, we laughed for a moment, and the rest of lunch carried out in the same way – teasing one-another, until our stomachs were quite full and our plates quite empty. I paid and we left, and she led me up back the way we come, past the bench where I had been sitting and towards what I knew to be Queen’s Road, a main avenue filled with markets selling all kinds of exotic herbs and spices.

I followed Redheart through a series of stalls until she came to a small square, where the cobblestone road fanned out into a large square of brightly-coloured canvas and loud voices. Amongst them we walked, the sweet aroma of Arabian spices stinging my nostrils, until we came to a thin, red brick building. It was a shopfront – though from this angle, it appeared to be extremely tall, with a very large extension on the back that rose in front of us, towering above the stalls and markets. It was quite old, and front windows were dusty and uncleaned, but the sign that was painted onto a large placard above the doorway was recent and fresh, and it read quite clearly:

MILLER & SON APOTHECARY, EST. 1842

“This is where he is?” I inquired, peering into the dusty windows, unable to see any further.

“Just a small way beyond, most certainly—” Redheart said, opening the door before me. “He’s usually in here buying things, or in the lab testing something.”

“Testing what?”

“I’ve no idea, I’m afraid,” she said, ushering me through the doorway. “Come in, you will be able to form your own impression of him soon enough.”

She led me to a small counter, the door-chimes jangling cheerfully. The shop’s atmosphere was dustier then the windows had been, and all about the walls there lay strange vials and flasks filled with substances all categorised by their effects. Before I could fully take stock of any significant number, though, the frizzy mane of a zebra poked from behind a curtain, followed by a very surprised set of eyes.

“Oh, Miss Redheart! You are back very soon, Ponyville must be quite sick this month, yes?” He laughed, revealing a dazzling array of white teeth.

Redheart shook her head. “Oh, I’m not here because I’ve forgotten something – I’m here looking for Mr. Pones, is he in at the moment?”

“Certainly he is!” Replied the zebra cheerfully, flipping a section of the countertop over to allow her behind the register. “He’s just in the laboratory across the place, if you wanted to see him – though I believe he is busy, and I know he won’t take kindly to being disturbed.”

Redheart turned to me with a smile.

“Well, I’d better show you to him, then,” she remarked, cantering forward and behind the counter.

Gamely I followed up a small flight of wooden stairs, and into a large back area filled with various sacks of medical supplies. We did not stop there though, but continued forward, and eventually the passages lead back out into the daylight on the other side of where we had been. It was only then, as we exited into another extremely tiny and busy square, that I realised where we had traveled to.

“The Celestial Royal Hospital?” I replied incredulously, looking up at the majestic building that had formed part of my vision not five minutes ago.

“You didn’t recognise it from the back, did you?” Redheart said with a smile. “This is just the fastest way to the laboratory – if we go in by the staff entrance, it’s a lot quicker then having to sign in as a guest.”

She led me obediently through a service entry door, though I needed no guiding as we entered the polished stone doorway of the great hospital. It was here that I had been placed in my first year out of medical school as an intern, and I still knew my way around. We descended down a staircase or two, and walked along some corridors, the open doors of the patient’s rooms allowing fragments of noise to flow out.

Near the end of one of the wards, there was a low archway that sat over pair of wooden double-doors. A small sign dangling from the door-handle indicated it to be the laboratory, and Redheart pushed her way through.

This was a very large chamber - almost deceptively so from the outside - though the hospital was very large. Low tables were strewn with beakers and stands under which magical flames burned with varying degrees of intensity. There was only one other pony in the room aside from myself and Redheart, and he appeared to have not noticed our entry initially, entangled in his own work. At a slight cough from Redheart, he turned his head and, upon noticing her, clapped his hooves once together in pleasure.

“Aha! Miss Redheart, how lovely to see you again so soon – come and see, for I have created a compound that acts as a magic detector!” He proffered a hoof to her, and Redheart shook it before introducing me.

“That sounds wonderful! But first, –” and she turned to me at this point – “Mr. Sherclop Pones, meet Dr. John Trotson.”

“A pleasure to meet you!” he said cheerfully, shaking my own hoof with a degree of viciousness that I would not have expected from such a slim figure. “You’ve travelled lately, I perceive.”

“How on earth did you know that?” I exclaimed.

“Never mind, never mind,” he said, laughing to himself. “Come and observe this new discovery of mine!”

Still somewhat bemused by his actions, I followed him back over to his table, where he dived back into his work with all the vigour of a diamond dog chasing a jewel.

“What is it?” I inquired, peering curiously over his shoulder at the beaker.

“A reagent that reacts in the presence of unicorn magic – and nothing else, mark you!” He appeared excited, as if he had stumbled upon some Archimedean epiphany, though I failed to share in his exuberance.

“It sounds interesting for scientific purposes,” I replied. He scoffed, and turned back to me, beaming.

“Why, my good pony, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don’t you see – it gives us an infallible test for magic residue.”

“Under what circumstances would one want to test for the presence of magic?” I asked, puzzled. The strange pony appeared to ignore my statement, instead demonstrating his experiment.

“Now, if we just get a fresh supply of magic,” he said, looking around for something. “Ah, here it is – Luna’s Tears”.

Luna’s Tears was a deep blue-coloured flower, renowned for its ability to amplify unicorn magic. It also possessed some magical properties of its own. Pones took a small one from a sealed jar to his right, before turning back to the contents of the table. He crushed it between both hooves roughly before holding it over the beaker, which was half filled with a clear mixture that presumably he had prepared earlier.

“Observe!” He cried, and he dropped the crushed petal fragments into the beaker. Immediately, the clear liquid turned a deep red, and a precipitate floated to the bottom of the beaker.

“What do you think of that?” He exclaimed, looking delighted with himself, as if he were a small foal with a new toy.

“Impressive,” I remarked simply. I was somewhat taken aback by his abundant enthusiasm over the strange experiment, and had lost track of anything reasonable to say.

“This test is quite a good deal more efficient than its predecessor – there cannot be more then a very small concentration of magic in these small flowers, and yet we are left with a very clear reaction,” he said. “Ah, if only I had found it sooner! There might have been many a criminal who would have been jailed had I tested this theory of mine only a little while ago.”

For a moment, he looked woeful, as if the idea that the anonymous criminals walking free was somehow his own dilemma.

“Indeed, Sherclop," Redheart said comfortingly, "But come now, don’t fret – I’m sure your invention will come to use in the future. And at any rate, I didn’t drag Dr. Trotson here to look at your new inventions.”

“Oh?” replied Pones with genuine surprise, and again I was taken aback. Was he really surprised by the idea that Redheart had led a complete stranger into his midst for reasons other than to observe his science experiments?

“No," She said. "Dr. Trotson is here to inquire about the rooms you were lamenting about not earlier than this morning. He needs a place to stay, you see, and, seeing as how you could find nobody to pay half the rent, I thought I might help both of you at the same time. Oh, and he’s an old friend of mine, of course,” she added, smiling sweetly at me.

Pones seemed quite delighted at the idea, though again he could have hardly known me for more than a few minutes. He looked over at me and nodded his head once, which caused his mane – which was like a brown paper mat – to flop limply from side to side.

“I have examined a small apartment in Baker Street which would fit both of us quite comfortably,” he said. “Do you mind the smell of tobacco?”

“No, no, I’m not fussed,” I said. “I don’t smoke, though I used to.”

“I also have a habit of conducting a few experiments every now and again – would that annoy you?”

“Again, no,” I replied.

Pones scratched his chin with a hoof meditatively. “Well then, I believe that just about covers it. I tend to get a bit sulky from time to time, and I won’t speak for a while – just leave me be, and soon enough I’ll recover. But come, what about yourself? It’s just as well for us both to know the worst of one another before we share lodgings.”

“Well, I tend to rise early, and I can be extremely lazy,” I responded.

“Too right he is,” murmured Redheart to my left, and I sighed.

“Other than that,” I continued, shooting her a nasty glance, “I don’t have any particular odd habits, though I am looking for a bit of peace and quiet.”

“Would violin-playing upset you?” He inquired.

“Ah, that would depend on the musician,” I answered. “I’m not impartial to a well played violin at the best of times, but—”

“Very good then!” Pones cried merrily, cutting my sentence short. “I believe that is settled, then – I will be at the residence at around twelve tomorrow, if you wanted to settle your things.”

“All right, then, I shall see you at noon tomorrow.” I replied.

I smiled and shook him by the hoof once more, before leaving his company and returning back out into the corridor from whence we had came. As we left the hospital and made a beeline for my hotel via the back passage of the apothecary, I turned the strange image of the pony that I had just met over and over in my head, trying to pick what it was that set him apart from other eccentric fellows that I had met. As I did so, a thought shifted into my otherwise occupied mind.

“Ah! I forgot to ask him,” I blurted out, turning to Redheart. “How did he know that I’d been travelling?”

Redheart smiled enigmatically. “Oh, that’s just a little thing he does,” she said dismissively. “It’s not uncommon for him for him to make such observations, and you wouldn’t be the first to ask him how in Equestria he learns such things.”

“So he is a very strange character then!” I said with some glee. “Excellent, I shall have much time to study him!” I turned to my long-time friend and looked at her through her earnest Cerulean eyes.

“Thank you, Felicia,” I mumbled again. I had lost my tongue somewhat, presumably a result of being alone with her in the dark passage.

“Oh, it was nothing at all,” she said, shaking her head so that her mane swayed slightly. We walked back into the sunlight past the counter and the little door, and there we stood in the marketplace, facing one another.

“Well, enjoy your new room-mate, Trotson,” she said playfully. “I daresay he’ll learn a bit more about you then you learn about him, no matter how much you study him.” The statement vexed me slightly; but I pushed it to the back of my head – there were other things on my mind.

"Listen," I said, fumbling for my nerves. "I don’t suppose you were busy on the weekend?”

A surprised look came over her face, and she shook her head once again.

“No, not unless work steals my time away from me.”

“Well, I... I don’t suppose you’d... Like to have dinner with me sometime?”

I pawed at the ground with a forehoof. I felt a bit sheepish asking her, and then I felt embarrassed at my own timidness.
The comforting knowledge that we were both little older and wiser these days did not stop the blood from rushing to my cheeks, and her from teasing me about it. She laughed, and brushed a hoof through her hair in a carefree way.

“Hah! And here you were telling me you could keep me out of your head not half an hour ago,” she said, surveying my nervousness. I shrugged - it was all I was capable of doing - and she continued to speak. “Oh, but I couldn’t refuse you, Trotson.”

My heart did a little bit of a double-take; even though her answer was already well-solidified in my mind as something of a certainty.

“Excellent!” I said, regaining some of my composure. “Shall we say, Saturday at seven?”

“Your place or mine?” She inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Admittedly, I had been thinking of where she might like to eat dinner and not anything else, and I almost choked on my own tongue in her forwardness. For a while I simply stood there, thinking of what to say – and believe me, I tried earnestly not to. Felicia was (and always had been) the only filly that was capable of leaving me tongue-tied as she did. Nevertheless, after a while, I managed to string together a legible sentence, and spoke.

“I’ve not yet seen ponyville or where you live, so I’d love to, of course…” I began, but my words trailed off.

“Sure! We can go out and grab a bite to eat at a lovely little restaurant – It’s run by a friend of mine, and it makes a pumpkin pie to die for.” She was smiling as she spoke, and I believe that she was unaware of the effect she was having on me.

My reply was slightly jarred, as my mind had immediately jumped to conclusions of another nature, and it took a while for me to regain my senses.

“Oh, yes! Dinner.”

I coughed politely to mask the mistake I made, though I had no idea what doing such a thing might achieve. Mercifully, Felicia did not seem to notice, instead remaining lost in the countless list of things we could do.

“…And then afterwards,” she said, seeming to wrap what was undoubtedly a lengthy spiel, “we could go to the nearby orchard for a drink. Does that sound alright?”

I nodded swiftly, keen to cover my own foolishness. Regardless of whatever she had planned, I theorized, I would be eagerly accepting anyway. At any rate, I could simply ask again at a later stage, so there was no harm done by it.

“Then I’ll see you at seven on Saturday – here’s my address, so you don’t get lost. It’s a very small town, and the locals are friendly, so I doubt you will, but, just in case – oh, no doubt you’ll be fine – you know the right train to catch? – You do? Never mind, then.”

This sudden gush of words startled me to some degree. Perhaps it had been a figment of my imagination, but I had thought for a brief moment that she was nervous. I had no time to analyse her statement, however, and she bid me farewell. We exchanged kisses on the cheek, before she turned and walked off into the crowd, leaving me alone in big city once more.

“Good bye,” I murmured to nobody, before walking back to my hotel room. I was in equal parts intrigued and mystified by my new companion, and I felt a little ashen-faced about my brush with Felicia. But, on the whole, I was pleased at having made as much progress as I did that day.

Comments

[PrinceLexmarkThePrinted]

Okaaaaayyyy, let's do this.

First of all I wish to say that I could kiss you for transporting my favourite "old-timey" stories to Equestria. You did a really, REALLY good job in nailing the writing and "Clopson"s character. Now that the praise is out of the way, I must tell you I noticed some minor mistakes such as incomplete sentences:

"Still somewhat bemused by his actions, I followed him back over to his table, where he dived back into his work with all the vigour of a diamond dog chasing a jewel. Upon the" here, you cut off after "the" and go on with Clopsons dialogue. Other than that, I did not notice any glaring mistakes and am really, really glad you did write this new take on my favourite stories. I am truely looking forward to seeing the way you transfer the well-known stories over to Equestria and I believe I will have a great deal of fun finding out which is which while reading.

Enjoy your well-deserved 5 stars.

Now hit the keyboard, I wish to read more of this!

[The Writer of Fate]

And lo, not even the classics are safe.

Oh well, you have my attention. I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes.

[Meta Knight]

♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪

[writer]

35597
I am totally going to go over everything I write with a magnifying glass because I am horridly fucking OCD about typos.

Self-induced typo nazism! GO!

P.S. Thank you for your praise

[writer]

35603
Nothing is safe from pone

Just read everything you have uploaded so far.
I love it. It is wonderful and you are a wonderful person for writing this.

[CluelessDetective]

This is pretty good! I can't wait to read more! I have a question and a minor error I found.
1.I am a Twilight Sparkle Fan-Colt and I saw Twilight in the characters and I was wondering, what chapter does she appear in?

The minor error I found was this "“That sounds wonderful! But first, my friend –” and she turned to me at this point – “Mr. Sherclop Pones, meet Dr. Watson.”

[writer]

41942
Whoops!... Freudian slip from studying too much sherlock holmes.

To answer your question, Twilight will appear in the next couple of chapters.
thank you!

[Banksyt]

I honestly found this to be quite enjoyable and parting with you 5 stars... 5 well earned stars...

[writer]

I have had to change the name of our daring protagonist.
I hope that doesn't mess with your heads too much - admittedly I should have thought of it before, but it didn't occur to me that John Trotson is a much better name

Thank you for dealing with my OCD lol

[FuryoftheStorm]

Very good way to start it off, now let's see how well it goes from here! Also, I can't help but read Sherclop's lines in Robert Downey Jr.'s voice in my head