Sherclop Pones and the Adventure of Pinkie's Cupcakes

by A Sherlockian Brony

Chapter 19: The Solution

“Excellent!” said I. “What did you do next?”

“My next step,” said Pones. “Was to ascertain what is that political crisis in which this Changelings desires for me to not interfere. To do so, I must extract a full confession out of him. But in order to do that, I must catch him so off-guard in a situation in which he least expects that it shall force him give me a confession. But what is that situation? The situation in which I would be in if I were ever to believe for a second the authenticity of the case. In other words, I must deceive him that he deceived me.

“How, then, would matters turn out if I did believe it—if I had never found the peculiarity of the lack of fuss and I had stuck with my original deduction—that Pinkie Pie had murdered Rainbow Dash. I would set off to Ponyville in order to prove my theory…to which Ms. Hooves had thought my reason of doing so was. Once we had arrived there, she had, under pretense that she had appointment set with Pinkie to bake muffins, suddenly left us. We then followed her to Sugarcube Corner. Upon arriving there, expecting find our client, we instead find Pinkie Pie seemingly blend into the floorboards, and then immediately “unblend.” She then swiftly unfolds the carpet and stood upon its centre. This raises some questions. Questions such as what happened to Derpy Hooves? Why are Pinkie Pie’s actions so eerily similar as to that she made when Ms. Hooves had encountered her yesterday as so you have noted? Actions that she did in order to commit a theorized murder. This could mean one thing—Pinkie Pie had applied the same method in which she had previously used upon Ms. Dash’s murder upon Ms. Hooves! The setting of the appointment, drugging the victim, placing the victim below the basement, then eventually murdering him or her. This would explain the appointment in which Ms. Hooves spoke of, her absence from the scene and Pinkie Pie’s queer actions. And that we had intruded at the exact moment during this process of murder. But why did Pinkie plan on murdering Ms. Hooves? Well, by studying the psychology of a homicidal psychopath such as herself, in committing a risky murder, he or she must get rid of all witnesses. They could do this with ease for their blatant disregard of pony life. Is it too much to say that the same applies on this occasion for in Pinkie’s eyes, Ms. Hooves is a witness? It is a most natural course to take!

“What, then, would I do about this? Pinkie Pie is now under the suspicion of being responsible of not just one but TWO murders of completely innocent individuals! And the fact that she could do this in such as ease further supports the far shot speculation of her being a serial kill—the entire case is entirely black upon her. The only thing in which I could confirm it all is by testing a number of theories.

“First, I would first ascertain the existence of a hidden basement below the green circular carpet in a similar fashion as to how I did so in real life—beating upon it and listening for a sound resonating hollowness. To which, as it has been made in reality, it must.

“Now, how would I confirm my surmises of foul play? I would take advantage of the feminine psychology—I would threaten destruction of the very thing in which they hold most dear. Let us say, as an example, when a fire alarm had been raised—what would be the natural feminine reaction? She would look for her most precious valuable in order to secure its protection posed by the fires. The mother to her infant child; the Duchess to her jewelries; an instrumentalist to her instrument. Now, in the case of Pinkie Pie—what is her most valued possession? Her innocence. So, how would I endanger it in order to prove her guilt? In order to answer that, I would ask myself—where does her innocence rely upon for its continuous existence? The further concealment of where she committed her murders—the basement below the green circular carpet. Having done this, how do I endanger her innocence and prove that she is actually guilty for both charges of willful murder? By inquiring for the whereabouts of her theorized victims, for, upon doing so, she would, if she was innocent, she would stare cluelessly at me. But if she was guilty, she would glance at the location where her victims are now, for she knows exactly where they are. That place being what lies below the green circular carpet. Thus, proving her guilt. To which, as you may remember, she did—well, at least, the Changeling who posed as her.

“Now, having done this, my next step would to stage her arrest, but that would prove quite difficult mainly of these reasons—

“If I were to go straight to the police and tell them to arrest Pinkie Pie, they would merely laugh at me and demand solid evidence. And even if I present the evidence of the carpet and convince them that she did the murders, they would not only place her guilt upon her, but also too her innocent employers, whom, as far as I would make out have no say in the matter, for they would be charged for being the murderess’ accomplices. So, what would I do to stage Pinkie Pie’s arrest without dragging the innocent Cakes into the matter?

“I must remember that this is a case in which the criminal could only be arrested—and only the criminal and no one else—by either solid evidence that she did it with no accomplices, or a full confession in which is needed to be heard by the police’s ears at that precise moment. How do I execute this? I would have purposely fallen victim in a similar fashion as to how Pinkie Pie did away with Ms. Dash and Ms. Hooves—agree to an appointment, get drugged in it, wake up below the basement, and get murdered. But right before I would get murdered, she shall be caught red-handed in the act by the police whose perfectly timed appearance I would have carefully orchestrated. Thus, convincing them that she is indeed the criminal and no one else for they saw with their own eyes the process of the murder without any outside assistance.

“But how would I employ this? I must first agree to an appointment; but that was easily arranged for Pinkie Pie would have already set one (as to what happened in reality) at 8 in the following morning.”

“But why did she do that?” said I.

“In understanding the criminal psychology once more, Watcolt, a criminal such as herself would do whatever it takes to eliminate all that may pose a threat to her innocence…such as myself. Therefore, what does she do? She plots out my demise in the exact same fashion as to she plotted others’—by setting an appointment. But only in my case did she alter the object of that appointment knowing that baking won’t attract me—”

“Therefore, she had set it on the pretense that she would offer you advice on the possible whereabouts of Rainbow Dash!” said I.

Pones concurred.

“Precisely; but that was just the first step—8 o’clock. Therefore, the time of her arrest must take place around that time period. The second step was to ascertain how long does a non-lethal dosage of Sleepy Drops—the soporific drug in which is used in the crimes—last—what is its duration? Since it is a sedative used only upon the insomniac, it may have a drastic and possibly lethal effect upon those who aren’t. And yet it used upon the victims to knock them out. Therefore, Pinkie Pie must’ve used a non-lethal dosage of it. Typically, a minimum of 2 drops would put a non-insomniac to a hospital bed, but half a drop would do no harm—therefore a single drop would do just the trick. To ascertain how long its duration, as you may perhaps vaguely remember, I drugged you—”

I stared at him in surprise. “I don’t recall such an act—”

“Very likely not, you were quite tired and needed a rest, so I offered a glass of water.”

I then recalled the afternoon at the inn. I had felt a mysterious drowsiness upon consuming that glass. I then retorted at Pones, saying that my life had been risked for this outrageous experiment. But Pones reasoned that he knew this attempt was safe and could not possibly result to death, and deeply apologized for this.

“I sincerely apologize, my dear Watcolt,” said he. “but it was quite necessary.”

I waved at him. “Furthermore,” said I. “why had you wished me to go upon those exhausting expeditions of running across town?”

“You bring me, then, to my next point—once I had gathered that the duration of the drug is thirty minutes, this gives me a new time limit in the given time period. The arrest, then, must take place in under precisely half an hour. We then come to next problem—the police’s timed appearance.

“I would need in some way predict the timing within the given time limit. The police must be informed of the matter (in which takes time), then rush to Sugarcube Corner (which too takes time.) How do I, then, ascertain those alluded? In answer to this, I must answer how will the police be informed—which is you. But where would you come from? The inn. Why? Since the appointment is scheduled at 8 in the following morning, we would have to remain in Ponyville till then. Therefore, a temporary place of residence is needed—i.e. an inn, I need to measure how long does it take for you to arrive at the station from the inn, then from the former to Sugarcube Corner. You need to ascertain accurately as possible—therefore you run at the top of your speed for it would be quite similar as to what you would have the following day—for who wouldn’t run at one’s top speed when told to prevent a murder? And results are thus:”

Pones then handed me his pocketbook in which he had been writing just the previous day at the inn. The entries upon it were written in the familiar precise and methodical writing of my friend.

Drug duration: 30 minutes

Inn to station: 8 minutes and thirty-seven seconds

Station to Sugarcube Corner: 9 minutes and fifty-seven seconds.

Difference: 11 minutes and 34 seconds

“Sweet Celestia!” said I, handing it back to him. “That was its purpose?

Pones nodded. He then continued—

"Having written this, I dressed up, as you may remember, disguised as an ill-kempt stallion and went on a little expedition to spy on our future base of operations without creating much of a fuss about.

“I then return to the point of the police’s timing,” said he. “if the police were to informed by you to arrest a certain someone, at precisely 8, only 18 minutes and 34 seconds had passed, and would not witness no attempted murder for I hadn’t awoken by then, which is also at the time when Pinkie Pie hasn’t raised a strike yet. Thus, leading to no arrest. As a solution, in order for the police to witness it precisely at that moment for one to be made. In order for it to work, upon arriving at the appointment, I need a certain amount of time to elapse before you would be informed to inform the police…i.e. to complete 30 minutes from the 18 minutes and 34 seconds, 11 minutes and 26 seconds.

“Therefore, I would need to instruct the inn’s porter to rouse you from your slumber precisely 11 minutes and 26 seconds passed 8 o’clock. And prior to this, I get drugged precisely at 8. You then receive an urgent letter; you run to the police station at the top of your speed; you arrive there, 8 minutes and 37 seconds elapsing.

“You then inform the police; you, accompanied by them, at Sugarcube Corner, 9 minutes and 57 seconds elapsing.

“They then uncover the secret of the green circular carpet and what lies beneath it; they enter the basement; then catch Pinkie Pie perhaps raising a knife to my heard while I, at that precise moment, regain my conscious. They then lay her arrest.

“But in order to get the police’s involvement, I must get a warrant signed under the charges of two willful murders to legalize the arrest. But I ordered the warrant to be only used when called upon.”

“But why did you ask for Stanley Trotkins to remain behind well after his shift ended?”

“For I needed to take advantage of his youthful naivety.”

“In what?”

“He is, compared to Gregcolt or Jones, dare I say, gullible and inexperienced in the field of detection. If I were to present either Gregcolt or Jones to a warrant of some sort of serial killer, they would not believe me, for they are experienced and could identify if there is indeed such a criminal running about. But in Trotkins’ case, he could believe me, and I would use it as my advantage to detain him long enough, until I need him to catch a non-existent criminal.”

"That's rather manipulative on your part, I daresay, Pones,"

"It is my trade..." said Sherclop Pones.

I nodded my comprehension. Then something hit—these were the same procedures in which he had taken!