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Chapter 5

Dr. John Trotson looked about the ballroom. To say it was packed would be a gross understatement. Trotson was quite certain he had never seen so many ponies in one place! He felt a bit of uneasiness knowing that one of them may be a killer.

Trotson glanced at the pony he was told to watch over. Fancypants was his name.
Trotson had spoken briefly with him, and he could tell Fancypants was different from the rest of the Canterlot elite. Not pretentious or condescending, but truly polite. And Fancypants’ wife, Fleur De Lis, also seemed quite pleasant.

Dr. John Trotson’s thoughts were interrupted by a very apprehensive cry of, “How dare you!”

He looked about until he found the source of the outburst. It was Rarity, who seemed to be in quite the heated argument with a white unicorn with a blond mane. The stallion had a haughty air about him, and it seemed Rarity was on the verge of losing it.

Trotson realized he must act quickly or there might be a scene. He grabbed a glass of punch and trotted over to the two unicorns.

“I swear you are the most uncouth pony in Equestria!” the blonde pony exclaimed.

“Uncouth? You of all ponies dare to call me uncouth?” Rarity practically shrieked. “Even though you are a prince, I ought to…”

Rarity was cut off by Dr. Trotson spilling his punch all over the white stallion.

The now dripping stallion looked at the doctor with anger in his eyes. “Do you realize what you have done, you oaf?” he said furiously. “This is a two thousand bit suit!”

“Oh, sorry,” Trotson said, struggling to hide a smirk. “How very, ahem, clumsy of me.”

The stallion stormed off, muttering obscenities. Rarity glanced at the doctor.

"Who was that?" Dr. Trotson asked.

“That was just Prince Blueblood, Princess Celestia's nephew,” Rarity said, rubbing her temple as if she had a headache. Smiling at Trotson, she continued, "Thank you for doing that, you are such a gentlecolt."

“Oh, it was nothing,” Trotson said, lightly blushing. “The stress of this case is getting to us all.”

Dr. Trotson glanced around.

“Speaking of which, where is your target, Rarity?” he asked.

Rarity pointed her hoof over to Upper Crust, who was currently talking with Fancypants and Fleur De Lis.

“He is over there,” she said. Frowning, she continued, “I do hope that Sherclop can solve this whole ordeal, it is simply dreadful.”

Dr. Trotson smiled calmly. “Don’t worry, he has solved a lot tougher cases than this,” he said. “I am sure Holmes can solve this one too.”

_ _ _ _ _

Sherclop Holmes was sitting near one of the stairwells, thinking. He stared out at the crowd, as though he were trying to decipher their thoughts.

“One of you is a killer, but why?” Holmes muttered.

He had a feeling that once the who was revealed, the why would also be revealed.
But first, he had to find this killer and stop them. He had to think.

Sherclop closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them, he began analyzing everything that he could.
Even the smallest of details could reveal this killer. He then noted the light green unicorn mare trotting up the stairwell, carrying an umbrella, which some would think is unimportant.

‘But there hasn’t been any rain in the past few days, and no rain is scheduled for tomorrow either!’ Sherclop thought to himself.

He began following this pony, keeping just out of sight. He noted her gray mane and tail, the limp, and her cutie mark, a ball of yarn.

To the untrained eye, she would just look like somepony’s grandmother. But Sherclop was not untrained. The gray looked too rich to be from age, and the mark shone in the light too much, as though it were painted on.

‘A disguise!’ Sherclop thought. ‘Clever mare.'

The pony stopped at an interior balcony that overlooked the guests of the Gala.
She glanced about, and Sherclop had to duck behind one of the castle’s columns to stay out of sight. When the unicorn mare was certain that there was no one watching, she pulled the cloth off the umbrella revealing it to be a rifle of sorts.The stock had a rounded wooden grip, so as to appear as a regular umbrella when covered.

‘Rifles are quite rare in Equestria,’ Sherclop thought to himself. ‘It is probably a griffin make.’

As the pony began to screw on a suppressor and make some adjustments to the rifle, Sherclop realized he had to act fast before she took the shot. Quietly, he slipped out of his hiding place and began to creep up on the unicorn mare.

_ _ _ _ _

The mare glanced about the ballroom, confirming the locations of all the targets.
'From up here, I can see all of them!' She thought to herself. 'I'll need to shoot quickly, before the guards realize what is happening. Fortunately, with this suppressor, combined with the noise of the crowd, I should be able to do this!

She held the grip in her magical aura, making the final adjustments to her rifle.
'Ugh, griffin rifles are so unreliable,' she thought. 'But, it will get the job done.'

She noted that two of the targets were close to each other.
A grin formed over her face.
'Must be my lucky day'

She took steady aim, breathed deeply, and was about to take the shot when, suddenly, another pony tackled her to the ground!
The impact caused her to drop the rifle and the stallion swatted it out of her reach.
She began to grapple with him, trying to get the upper hoof.
She decided to use a spell that caused a blinding flash of light.
It temporarily blinded the purple stallion and she managed to throw him off.
She picked up her rifle with her aura and took off running.

_ _ _ _ _

When Sherclop's vision returned, he caught a glimpse of the mare's tail as she ran around the corner.

Sherclop yelled down to Trotson on the first floor, "Trotson, I have found the killer!" and immediately took off after her.

The chase was on!

Author's Note:

Alright, sorry that took so long.
Truly, I meant to update it sooner.
Also, sorry if it isn't up to standard. I was really busy and I wasn't able to put as much time into this as before.
This story is almost over.
As always, constructive criticism is welcome!