I woke up happier than normal. as I rolled over, I peeked outside the window to see what time it was. Pitch black sky with a warming red coming over the horizon, it was 5 in the morning. RATS! My eagerness had once again gotten the better of me. In all of my excitement for my first day of school I had woken up too soon. I tried going back to bed, but how am I supposed to sleep! All sorts of adventures await me in that classroom. I can gain all sorts of knowledge, meet new people, and most importantly get my cutie mark. I stared at my flank, it was still unsurprisingly bare. However, I was not distraught, this isn't uncommon for somepony my age, though. I am, after all, only entering my first year of Foalementary School. Yes, at the ripe age of 7, I will be starting down my path to discover who I am.
My biggest worry is that I may stand out too much. As my father has informed me, I'm the only one of my age group going into Foalementary School this year. I'm not sure if this will increase the difficulty of making friends or not. On the one hand I could be welcomed for my maturity and excellence, on the other I could be seen as a threat to those who are not fond of being challenged intellectually. I am quite proud of my intellect, I've been reading ever since I was little and have yet to stop. My father, Doctor Whooves, adopted me when I was just a baby. He said he saw something special in me, and he's taught me everything I know, and yet he gave me the last name of the mailmare. I don't get it but, he said I'll understand when I'm older.
Finally, the sun began to peak out over the horizon, good thing, too, I was getting tired of talking to myself. I tend to do that a lot, especially when faced with difficult problems or stressful situations. I thanked Celestia for speeding up time, or at least that's what it seemed like. After eating my morning hay and waving goodbye to my Dad, I saddled up my bag and trotted off to school. As I walked toward the schoolhouse I noticed some of my classmates, it was hard not to as most of the ponies up this early are foals going to school or the Apples. Ponyville isn't a huge town so I already know almost everypony's name. In the morning crowd, I could pick out Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as they walked into the schoolhouse together followed by Twist, Pipsqueak and Featherweight, then Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, then, finally, Snips and Snails. That's when it dawned on me, everyone already had their own cliques! Now how am I going to fit in? It's ok, stay calm, use this as an opportunity. Instead of just making one friend, with a good first impression, you can make two or maybe three friends. Yes, that's it I just have to nail the first impression.
As I walked into class, Ms. Cheerilee introduced me, "Class, before we begin the new school year, I'd like to introduce a new student, he seems to be the only new incoming student this year, so lets give him an extra warm welcome. This is Sherlock Hooves. Say hello Sherlock."
Alright, this is it, just introduce yourself in a nice sophisticated manner and impress everyone. I opened my mouth to speak in my most thoughtful tone of voice, "Hi." Hi, are you kidding me? Am I kidding me? After all that, all I managed was a high-pitched squeak. As I looked around the room, my fears were confirmed. Everypony was holding back their laughter, some better than others. I expected nothing less from Snips and Snails, but as a teacher, I thought Cheerilee would be able to hide it better.
I rushed to an open seat, which was thankfully located in the back corner of the room so I could hide my shame reasonably well.
"Alright, class settle down. Now that that's out of our systems, let's talk about the first assignment for the new year. How did you help somepony over your break?" Cheerilee had mercifully ended my torment. Even though she had laughed in the first place, I had only myself to blame. I had underestimated how easy it would be to make friends in school, and it had cost me dearly. I would now be an outcast, a social pariah, a loser.
Lost in my own thoughts again, I almost missed the subject change from homework assignment to reading, and I would have, too, if not for Scootaloo hitting me over the head with one of the books that was being passed around.
"Hey, Squeaky," I don't approve of the nickname. "You gonna take the book or do I have to sit here and hold it all day." She extended the book towards me, and I took it immediately, not wanting to add a second bump to the one I could feel forming on my head.
"Thanks," I mumbled, glad my voice kept an even tone. I wasn't the only one who noticed.
"Well, well, looks like you have a normal voice after all," she laughed. I put my head down and returned to my corner of shame. It was short lived.
"Sherlock, would you like to read aloud from the first page?" Ms. Cheerilee had called on me. was offering me a chance for redemption? Maybe, but it could also be a trap, she could find my struggle amusing and want to toy with me a little longer.
"I think there might be something wrong with him," Diamond Tiara chimed in, "Maybe he should have his head checked." Oh, so clever, if I hadn't been taught better, I would have retaliated. Instead I took the high road and decided to show her just how right in the head I was.
"I'm fine, I can read." I responded. Cheerilee smiled warmly and nodded for me to proceed, looks like she hoping for redemption for me as well. Without a second thought I began reading from the book. The words were processed effortlessly and moved from my eyes to my brain to my mouth without a hitch. I spoke fluently and clearly as I read through the book, until I turned to page 10 and Ms. Cheerilee asked me to stop reading. I looked up and saw everything written as clear as day on their faces. Is this really the same pony whose voice just cracked when introducing himself?. Even Diamond Tiara couldn't help but show the shock she was feeling.
"Holy cow!" Apple Bloom said, breaking the silence.
"That was super-duper-awesomazing!" Sweetie Belle added.
"Not bad, Squeaky," Scootaloo said approvingly. I really hope that nickname doesn't stick. Much of the class added in more of their own complements. As I scanned the room, I looked back over in Diamond Tiara's direction, as soon as our eyes met she turned around in a huff. I glanced up at Ms. Cheerilee, she was beaming, almost grinning from ear to ear. As she returned the class back to the reading, I couldn't help but lean back in my chair confidently and laugh at myself. First impressions are so overrated.
After class had dismissed for the day, I decided to grab lunch with my new friends. Now, I just needed make some friends so I could join them for lunch. I scanned the groups of ponies as they left the schoolyard. Each was heading in a different direction. I had to make up my mind fast. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were out of the question. I had humiliated Diamond Tiara in front of the whole class, and while I'm not one to judge other ponies, she seemed like a stuck up prick and I doubt she would see me in a favorable light either. Next was a group who consisted of Twist, Featherweight, and Pipsqueak. I thought about it for moment and decided that may be my best course of action. The group seemed diverse and welcoming enough, I might just fit in. However, once I had gathered myself from my thoughts, they were gone. Disappointed in myself for blowing that opportunity, I quickly evaluated my two remaining options: Snips and Snails or Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Even though we shared the same gender, I seriously doubted the chances of having an intelligent conversation with Snips or Snails. As much as I loathed the nickname 'Squeaky', I'd just have to bear with it today.
"Hey, wait up!" I yelled in the direction of the three fillies. They paused and waited for me to catch up to them. "Would you mind if I joined you for lunch?"
Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up, "Well sure, I don't see why not."
Apple Bloom followed, "Of course ya can and we’d be happy to have ya."
Scootaloo responded in a mocking tone, "Well, look at you. Making lunch plans with somepony. Honestly, I pegged you as an eggheaded nerd kid who still played with their imaginary friends. I guess I was wrong, Squeaks." UGH! Please, I didn't need patronizing. Eggheaded nerd? Imaginary friends? The nerve! I thought about walking away right then and there, but then she added something else, "You're not half bad." I smiled. I guess I can let the previous remarks go, this time.
We trotted off to have lunch while Scootaloo rode along beside us on her scooter. We headed out to the middle of the Apple family orchard. We passed tree after tree, after tree, after tree, until I was certain we were lost. I was just about to open my mouth to speak when Sweetie Belle cut me off.
"And here we are," she sang. I was blown back at her expert singing capabilities, even nonchalantly, her singing was amazing. She blushed, "Sorry, sometimes I sing when I get excited." I couldn't believe she was apologizing. Even though it was just four words, It was easily some of the best singing I've heard, and judging by the amount of times ponies break into song here in Ponyville, that's really saying something.
Apple Bloom led us to the clubhouse while Scootaloo leaned her scooter up against a nearby tree. Apple Bloom went over what their plans for the day were, "So after lunch we've got bird watchin' at Fluttershy's, baby sittin' at the Cake's, and then we're going to observate some plants for Twilight. Any questions?"
"Isn't it 'to observe' plants, not 'to observate'?" Sweetie asked giggling.
"Now looky here, I don't care if we observe, observate, prostate, or procreate, as long as it gets us our cutie marks," Apple Bloom retorted. It took every ounce of my body to keep from exploding with laughter. I was almost certain Apple Bloom did not know the meaning of the last two words she had said. What would those cutie marks even look like? Judging by the mixed look of confusion and shock on Sweetie Belle's face, I'm guessing that she knew they meant. I began to look over at Scootaloo to see her reaction, I didn't even turn before I heard her response.
"Yeah! Whatever it takes!" She said with resolve. I instantly regretted not choosing to eat lunch with Snips and Snails, as my chances for an intelligent conversation were dwindling fast. We entered the clubhouse and sat down around a solid oak table, just big enough for four little ponies. I pulled out the dandelion sandwich my dad had prepared for me and I watched as the other pulled out their own lunches. Sweetie Belle has daisy and rose petal sandwich, fitting seeing as her sister Rarity had made it, I'd expect nothing less from Ponyville's best fashion designer. Apple Bloom pulled out some hay fries and then plucked an apple from tree branch near the window. Last was Scootaloo, who seemed to have not brought any lunch with her.
"Did Rainbow Dash forget to pack your lunch again today?" Apple Bloom questioned.
"Yeah, but she's really busy so it's no big deal." Scootaloo replied. The way these two talked it felt like they had had this conversation many times before.
"I know she's not your sister, but since she's decided to look after you, the least she could do is remember to pack you a lunch." Sweetie Belle said. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and made her way over to the tree branch and plucked another apple from the tree and handed it to Scootaloo.
"Thanks," she mumbled. I couldn't help but feel connected to Scootaloo. She was an orphan, just as I had been. However, I had been lucky enough to be adopted. Looking at her was like staring at a 'what if' version of me. I wasn't so hungry anymore.
"Do you want the other half of my sandwich?" I asked her. She looked me as if I had insulted her.
"Do I look like I need your pity!" Scootaloo yelled. Her voice rang in my ears. I had insulted her, badly. The pride of the filly sitting across from me had been severely damaged by my offering. I could have said something or apologized to her but out of fear of making it worse I decided to say nothing.
"He didn't mean anything by it Scoots. Come on, take it easy. Why don't you step outside and simmer down, a bit." Apple Bloom said.
"Whatever," Scootaloo replied. She stood up and walked outside. She was still clearly irked by what had just happened.
"Sherlock, try be more considerate around Scootaloo when that topic comes up, it’s a touchy subject for her," Sweetie Belle said, "I know you were trying to be nice and you're still just a kid, but think before you act next time." Was she serious? I knew very well what I was doing, and if Scootaloo knew me a little better I'm sure the gesture would have been seen in a different light. However, I wasn't in a position to say anything so I just sat there and took the blame. A few minutes later, Scootaloo walked back into the clubhouse.
"Alright, I've calmed down." she said.
"Good, then we can get down to getting our cutie marks," Apple Bloom said. Wait a minute, what? I took a quick moment to check out all of their flanks, purely for investigative purposes, mind you. That's when I realized something I had been completely oblivious to moments before, none of them had their cutie marks. Then I remembered Apple Bloom had mentioned it early when going over the day's plans, only I had been distracted by her awful choice in words. It seems I made the right decision for lunch after all.
"First up on our list is bird watchin'," Apple Bloom said, snapping me from my thoughts, "Let's head on over to Fluttershy's so we can our bird watchin' cutie marks."
Sweetie Belle interrupted, "How do we do that?"
Apple Bloom replied, "Ya just sit there and watch birds."
"That sounds like the most boring thing ever," Scootaloo cut in.
"Maybe it is," Apple Bloom retorted, "but it’s one of the few things we haven't tried yet." Jeez, it sounded like this group was getting desperate.
"Fine," Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo groaned simultaneously. I agreed with their sentiment; that sounded awfully boring.
"Great, and since Sherlock has yet to speak up, I'll take his silence as a yes," Apple Bloom couldn't have been more wrong, but I let it go, "Let's get moving girls!" I coughed so as to draw attention to my presence, and Apple Bloom quickly caught her mistake, "I mean, let's get moving Crusaders." That's more like it.
We saddled up the equipment Apple Bloom had prepared for us, which included: a pen and pad, a book on flight patterns, and tree branches to make into disguises. The only useful thing in the bag seemed to be the book; I reached in my bag and pulled it out to inspect what birds might be flying through in migration today. I opened the book and its uselessness was made apparent immediately, the pages I had turned to were covered pictures of the Wonderbolts' flying formations. An old saying popped into my head and I couldn't think of a more literal interpretation of it than right now.
"Hey, Apple Bloom," I spoke up, "did you even look through these books?"
She laughed, "Course not, silly, I don't have time to read books. That's why we have Sweetie Belle," Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and then joined me in looking through the book on flight patterns.
"Apple Bloom, these books are about aerial formations and tricks. It's about the Wonderbolts," Sweetie Belle laughed.
"So much for bird watching,” sighed Apple Bloom.
"We can still try, maybe Fluttershy has some bird watching stuff at her house," Sweetie Belle said trying to stifle her laughter while consoling Apple Bloom.
"Yea, we can still head over there and try," added Scootaloo. Apple Bloom had regained some of her vigor after her friends endorse plan.
"Yer right, we can still get our cutie marks, come on," she said. We followed her out of the clubhouse and had started to make our way down the road when we heard it, a scream coming from the direction of the clubhouse.
"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle cried out. She was right the orange filly had not been following us, we rushed back to see what had happened. We hadn't been walking for more than a minute, so we returned quickly. When we arrived we saw Scootaloo sitting on the ground crying, staring at the base of a tree.
"It’s gone! My scooter's gone!" she began to sob uncontrollably.
Sweetie Belle and I searched the area for clues, determined to find something. Scootaloo was still a mess after finding out her scooter had been stolen, so Apple Bloom had taken her back to the Apple family's house until she could calm down. I sympathized with Scootaloo. That scooter was her one prized possession. I can't imagine having something like that taken from me.
"Find anything yet?" Sweetie Belle asked. I didn't want to respond. After scouring the area for almost an hour, I hadn't found anything.
"No," I said dejectedly, "There's nothing here. I don't even know what to look for. Anypony could've just waltzed in here and taken it."
"So what do we do? Scootaloo's going to be so sad if we don't find out who took her scooter." Her tone showed she was just as sad as I was.
"I know. I know," I hadn't known Scootaloo before today, but still, I couldn't leave the situation as it was. I felt like I owed her this. No, it wasn’t just her, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, too. I owed them all for letting me into their group. I needed to show my usefulness. I had about 5 hours before it got dark, which would be plenty of time, if we knew where to start.
"Think, Sweetie Belle, why would somepony take her scooter?" I asked hoping to find out if anypony would have a reason for this horrible action.
"Well," she started, "Diamond Tiara hates us, so she could have done it. I don't really know anypony else who would do it. There was a really mean griffon in town a while back who liked to do mean things just because she thought they were funny, but she hasn't been seen in almost two years."
"Hmm..." I pondered what Sweetie Belle had just said. Would Diamond Tiara really go so far as to steal just to get back at us? It seemed like a stretch, but not impossible. I highly doubted the griffon thing, but without much to go on it'd have to be our backup plan. "Ok, Sweetie Belle, let's go ask Diamond Tiara what she's been up to today."
"But what about the other two?" she asked, "Shouldn't we at least check up on Scootaloo?"
"Oh, uh, right, of course." I said. Apparently, I still had some work to do on being a friend. The thought of Scootaloo's emotional state had slipped my mind the moment I got wrapped up in finding the thief.
We walked down the road leading to the Apple family's house. The silence was horrible. I looked over at Sweetie Belle. Her head hung low as we walked along, the look of disappointment shown clearly on her face. She must have been thinking the same thing I was, finding Scootaloo's scooter based on what little we had to go on was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Then it hit me like a Sonic Rainboom. That's it! I laughed at the way my mind worked sometimes. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it before, the needle in the haystack.
"Sweetie Belle, how many ponies know about the clubhouse?" I asked hurriedly.
"Umm... Well everypony does. We didn't make it a secret after we renovated it. Well, Apple Bloom did most of it." She answered.
"No, no. I mean the exact location of it. How many ponies know exactly where it is?" I was starting to get anxious. Her answer could narrow the amount of ponies who could have taken the scooter down to a handful. Sweetie Belle looked at me for a moment and then her eyes lit up. She finally understood what I was getting at.
"The only ponies who could find it besides me, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom are Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, the rest of the Apple family, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. And Babs Seed, too, I guess, but she lives in Manehatten." She had listed the ponies, more than I had hoped for, but I'd take what I could get at this point. This was a significant break for us.
"Ok, so leaving off Granny Smith, for her age and lack of mobility, and Babs Seed, for not being in town, our list has dropped from all of Ponyville down to nine ponies." Finally, we had something to go on. I let out a sigh of relief. This actually felt like something we could accomplish now. We ran off towards the Apple family's home, eager to tell Scootaloo the good news. When we arrived, Sweetie Belle was the first to the house, I was a few paces behind her. She burst through front door so hard I thought it was going to fly off of its hinges. I wish it would have. The door bounced off the wall and slammed back right into my face. Through my now splitting headache, I could hear Sweetie Belle.
"Scootaloo! Scootaloo!" she yelled excitedly, "Guess what we found? Well, really Sherlock found it, and it’s not so much as found, as it is a possibility."
"Woah, Woah you lost me." That was Scootaloo's voice. I could make it out over the ringing I was starting to hear. I need to remind myself to get a concussion test after this is over.
"Yer not the only one, sugarcube," I didn't recognize the voice but it sounded older and it definitely belonged to a mare. I had finally regained a semblance of balance as I stood up I checked to make sure I was still in one piece. Besides my head, everything seemed fine. I slowly opened the door for fear of hitting somepony in the process. I step inside and turned the corner to see where the voices had been coming from.
"There he is!" Apple Bloom cheered. I looked around the room to see who the other voice belong to and sitting in a chair across from me was an older mare with tan fur and three apples as her cutie mark. She picked up a farmers hat sitting on the table in front of her and placed it on her head, then she leaned back in her chair and smiled a big, warm country smile.
"You must be Sherlock." she said.
"Yes, that's me," I replied.
"Nice to meet ya, I'm Applejack. You and Sweetie Belle were out there playin' detective, right? Care to explain what she was yammerin' about?" Right, I needed to clean up Sweetie Belle's awful explanation.
"So contrary to what Sweetie Belle said we didn't actually manage to find any evidence that would implicate..." I began to explain the situation but I was quickly cut off by Applejack.
"Hold up there darlin', you can cut that fancy talk. I need ya to explain it in simpler words." She was not a smart pony, she made that very clear, but the fact that she was honest about it and wasn't ashamed by her lack of intelligence is very commendable.
"Oh sorry, let me try again," I restarted my explanation, "So what Sweetie Belle said was wrong. We didn't find anything that would help us find the thief. But we did figure out that only a few ponies could be the thief because only a few ponies know where the clubhouse is."
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Scootaloo asked.
"Because the clubhouse is located in the thick of the trees on the farm, ya wouldn't be able to find it, if ya didn't know yer way around," I was shocked. The response didn't come from me or Sweetie Belle. Applejack had quickly caught on to our train of thought and reached the same conclusion. I had misjudged her. She was smart, just not well-read.
"Exactly," I said, "So by this logic and Sweetie Belle's help, I've narrowed the list of ponies down to the Apple family, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon."
"Wait," it was Scootaloo who spoke up this time, "More ponies may know about it." She twiddled her hooves and stared at the ground.
"How many?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Well you know how I started the Rainbow Dash fan club? I couldn't find anywhere else to hold the meeting so I held it in the clubhouse, everypony in our class was there." Groans filled the room. Nine was already a lot of suspects, adding in the rest of our class brought the total up to fourteen. This was going to take longer than I thought.
"Hahahaha," laughter escaped from Applejack's mouth, "Well, let me see if I can help y'all out a lil' bit. Twilight's in Canterlot so she didn't do it. As for me and Big Mac, we been in town sellin' apples all day when we got back, we saw Scoots and Apple Bloom sittin' in here." That seemed like a reasonable excuse, I'd have to check with somepony in town to see if that were true, just to be safe.
"Great, so were down to eleven possible thieves. One of them's got to be it," I said trying to sound as confident as possible. I didn't want to think about what would happen if I was wrong.
"Alright, well yer off to a great start. Keep up the good work and I'm sure y'all will have this case wrapped up in no time." Applejack was a really supportive sister, it must be great to have a sibling like that, "Get movin'. yer burnin' daylight." She was right about another hour had passed. If we wanted to make any progress we needed to hurry before it got dark. We all left the Apple's home and thanked them for their hospitality.
"So where to first?" asked Apple Bloom. It was the question on all of our minds. Ponyville's a big place. We wouldn't have time to question everypony today. We needed to find the name that came up the most, somepony who had motive and knew how to find the clubhouse. There was only one name.
"Diamond Tiara's," I said.
"What about Silver Spoon?" Sweetie Belle chimed in. She had just ruined my moment, but she was right, there were two names.
"Her, too," I added. We rushed off to find our prime suspect.
The afternoon crowd was starting to thin out as we entered the town. Vendor carts lined the streets. Most were closed, a few were still trying to sell their goods, but they were having a hard time since the stores had opened up their doors for business. This was lucky for us, picking a little filly like Diamond Tiara, or Silver Spoon, out of a crowd could have proved difficult.
"Ok, here's the plan," I stopped and began explaining to the fillies that were following me, "They're likely done with lunch, so we won't search any of the restaurants. My guess is that she's shopping. We'll check out Rarity's Boutique first and then go from there."
"Sherlock you're a genius!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. Well I am smarter than the average foal, but genius may be a bit over the top. No. she was right, I have almost single-hoofedly tracked down a thief with barely anything to go on. Only a true genius could do such a thing. I understood her awe now, she was witnessing greatness with her own eyes. Just remember Sherlock, play it cool.
"Well it's all in a day’s work. I just simply used logic to deduce that little fact as well as many others along the way," I closed my eyes and sat there and waited for the fawning over my impressive intellect to begin. Surely, if the other two had been as impressed as Apple Bloom was they would be all over me any minute.
Any minute.
Any minute, now.
I sat there for what seemed like an eternity. I had become so enraptured in my own genius, I had forgotten about the others feelings. How could I be so inconsiderate?
"Oh, of course my dearest apologies, I should have known you'd be too enthralled..." I didn't finish the sentence. As I opened my eyes, I saw there was no reason to. They had left. I knew where they were, but it still hurt. After briefly soaring up to the heavens, my ego had just come crashing back to down to earth. I really need to work on my charisma. Or maybe it was something I ate. Either way, I was now left alone to wallow in my own self-pity, stupidity, and possibly foul breath.
"Why the long face?" giggled a voice behind me. Oh Celestia. Who was the clever pony? Who could come up with a joke that even foals younger than I think is groan-inducingly awful? I was not in the mood for this right now. I turned around, ready to give them my two bits, and I was met with the biggest smile I had ever seen. It literally went from the base of one ear to the other. I was absolutely terrified, for a second, I thought I was going to be eaten; such a large mouth could easily fit my small body into it and possibly swallow me whole. A sickeningly sweet aroma radiated off of this bubbly pink mare. If I had not known better I would have run away as fast as my hooves could take me, but instead I answered back.
"Oh, hey Pinkie," I grumbled.
"Well hey Sherlock you seem awfully down today. Should I sing you a song to cheer you up?" She inhaled, preparing to sing. NO. NO.NO. I had to stop her, whenever Pinkie starts to sing a song the rest of the town likes to get involved. I did not need to make a scene and draw attention to myself when I'm trying to tail Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara! UGH! I'm supposed to be tailing her looking for Scootaloo's Scooter. Staying on task in an investigation is a lot harder than I thought it would be. At least this gave me a way to avoid Pinkie's infernal singing.
"Wait! Pinkie, please, wait, please, don't sing," I pleaded, "I need to talk to you about something."
"Hmm..." She looked me over once, I wasn't sure what she was looking for, but I guess she found it. "Okey Dokey Lokey, what kind of something are we talking about?" she asked as she tossed aside a pair of ice skates, a harmonica, and a white top hat. I had no idea where she had gotten those. My father always told me to avoid Pinkie Pie because there was something 'different' about her. He never specified if it was a good or bad kind of 'different'. He only told me that if anything unexplainable were to happen while I was with her, I was never allowed to question it in front of her. Something about time, space or the fabric of reality, I wasn't really paying attention because I never had to worry about it much. I avoided Pinkie for another reason. She’s annoying.
"Well Pinkie, it’s a very important something, but if you don't mind I'd like to talk to you in private." I said quietly.
"Ooooooo, that does sound important." I couldn't tell if she was mocking me or just being stupid.
"Can we go into your shop and talk there?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"Why do you want to go there, when we can just talk in here?" She laughed as she grabbed me and jumped. It went black after that.
When I woke up it was completely dark. I couldn't tell where I was, but judging by the pounding in my head, I was upside down. I checked my body, everything seemed fine. I had free range of motion, which I thought was odd considering I had been foalnapped. I had been foalnapped. The shock of realizing this statement paralyzed me. I began to breathe heavily. Had Pinkie really foalnapped me? I thought she was annoying, but I never saw her as a criminal. But what if she was? Was it because she had stolen the scooter? Was she so afraid of us catching her that she foalnapped to me stop the investigation? I had no doubt a missing colt would draw all of the attention away from our missing scooter case. I gathered myself, Calm down and get it together, Sherlock. I have to get out of here. I can't let Pinkie win this way. I felt the walls of the room I had been locked in. They were wooden and the room was round and not very big at all. I could touch every part of the room by standing in the center. However, the room wasn't big enough for me to get on all fours, very smart. I could move comfortably enough, by leaning on two legs, but I didn't have enough room on four to try to kick the walls out.
"Whoever foalnapped me definitely knew what they were doing." I mumbled just trying stifle my own thoughts. Then I heard something I wasn't expecting: Another voice. And it was above me.
"Foalnapped? Silly you weren't foalnapped." The voice giggled a giggle that could have belonged to only one pony, Pinkie Pie. She dropped down from the ceiling of the room and landed right on top of me.
“Wooo!” She cheered gleefully, “That was quite a trip!”
"Ahh! Ow! Pinkie! What's going on!?" I yelled in a mixture of pain and anger.
"Shh!" she hushed, "If you keep making all that noise somepony's going to find us." I was dumbfounded.
"Yeah that's the point," I shot back at her.
"I thought you said you wanted to talk privately," She began to whisper obnoxiously loud.
"Yeah, at the Bakery would have been fine." I was content with using my normal speaking voice.
She laughed again, as if this was all a big joke, "But then we wouldn't be having this much fun." I couldn't believe it. This was fun for her.
"Pinkie, I don't like this. This isn't funny. Where are we? Please let me go." I pleaded with her. She just laughed again.
"Oh Sherlock, you're so funny. We're in a tree silly," I didn't know how to respond to that statement. She said it like it was obvious. I was terrified of what else I'd find out by questioning the current situation. I needed to get out of here as soon as possible, this pony was clearly unstable, and I didn't know how to handle this. The only thing she was interested in was having our private conversation. I decided to give her what she wanted.
"So, uh, Pinkie," I stammered, "W-what were you doing t-today during lunch time?"
"Hmm..." She pondered. It was still pitch black in this tree. There was no way to read her body language to see if she was lying. This is the absolute worst place to question somepony.
"Today, during lunch, I took Gummy to the spa." She said. I was amazed she had given such a clear-cut answer. I could easily clear this with the spa workers.
"Wow, thanks Pinkie this really helps a lot," I said. I started to think about it and even though she had seriously scarred me for life because of this, she was just trying to help in her own way.
"No problem, Sherlock, I'm glad to help you find Scootaloo's Scooter." she replied cheerfully. I felt her foreleg wrap around my midsection. I closed my eyes and she jumped. There was pulling sensation coming from every area on my body I didn't know what was happening, but I was too afraid to look. When the sensation stopped I opened my eyes again and we were back outside. The sun hung low in the sky. The street was just as empty as when we left it. Everything seemed normal. I looked at Pinkie and she just smiled and giggled her annoying giggle.
"Well I guess you better be leaf-ing now, Sherlock," She winked at me and gestured over my shoulder. I shuddered at the pun. Not only was the lack of quality in it terrible, but I was pretty sure I had just developed a very real fear of trees.
"Hey, Sherlock where have you been?" a voice behind me spoke up. It was Scootaloo. Oh thank goodness, they had not left me after all! Sure it took them a few hours to come looking for me, but better late than never.
"We've been waiting for you at the Boutique. It was starting to get dark, we got worried and came looking for you," Apple Bloom was clearly concerned. I turned to face them and apologize.
"I'm so sorry, you guys, I ran into Pinkie Pie and well," I struggled with how to explain what exactly had happened, so I decided to change topics. "Did you guys see Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon at the Boutique?"
"Oh yea they were there," Sweetie Belle said.
"Well did you find out anything?" I was getting anxious.
"They've been at Rarity's since school let out. Rarity's been there the whole time, too," she said dragging her hoof in the dirt. The look of exasperation must have been apparent on my face because as I sat down and looked at the others they refused to meet my eyes. All except for Scootaloo, but I couldn't even look in her general direction. We were all on the verge of tears. Our main leads had gone and nopony else was likely to have taken the scooter.
The sun was beginning to set. We all had to go home. The four of us exchanged glances one last time and departed. I looked back at Scootaloo. There was so much I wanted to say to her. I wanted to apologize for not being able to find her scooter, for not handling this investigation the right way. I wanted to properly thank her for reaching out to me and being a friend.
I watched her disappear behind the Cake's Bakery. I never even opened my mouth. I turned and started to walk home. I have never felt so useless in my life. She had depended on me and I let her down. I failed at every turn. Every lead was wrong, any clues were useless. I prayed for a miracle
"Please," I choked, "something, anything that could help, please Celestia! I'm only a colt. I don't think I can do this on my own." The sun had set and the moon took its place. I looked up as Luna painted the night with stars; it was one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen. It would have been nice to relax this time and just stare at the night sky, and lose myself in it, but I still had work to do.
I arrived at my house and was greeted by the pungent smell of burning food, my Dad, the town time turner, Doctor Whooves, was trying to cook again. I rushed into the kitchen fearing the worst may have happened and I was right. Dinner was ready.
"Well you're home late, Sherlock," he said, "Anything I should be worried about?" He brought over the charred remains of what was supposedly a meal. Upon further inspection, the food looked familiar.
"Are these the leftovers from last night’s dinner?" I asked.
"Yes, they are! Why do you ask?" He really had no idea when it came to cooking.
"Dad, I made salad last night." I couldn't believe it.
"Yes and I made crispy salad tonight, now eat up. You know leftovers don't taste as good when you reheat them a second time," He didn't even need to reheat these the first time. I groaned to remind him how much I loathed his cooking, if you can even call it that, and took a bite. The crispy salad was unsurprisingly awful. It was chalky and tasted like ash. I forced down each bite, and it took everything I had to keep it down. Dad laughed at my obvious displeasure.
"If you don't like it, get home earlier next time so you can cook," He said. I was going to groan again but my stomach beat me to it. My Dad never gave me a curfew, I never needed one, the incentive to keep him from cooking was enough to get me home at a decent hour, that and I was only 7. "So," he said picking up where had originally left off, "Why were you late coming home?" He had dropped the lighthearted tone from his voice and replaced it with a much more serious one.
"Well, I was, uh, helping out a friend," even though it was the truth, I had not prepared for a dinner time interrogation. If I was him, I probably wouldn’t have believed me either.
"Oh really?” he asked, “Who is this friend? What were you helping this friend do?" I hate it when he gets like this. He never trusts me.
"Yes, ‘this friend’ is Scootaloo and we were helping look for something." I still needed to sort out what the plan would be for tomorrow. We were back to square one with no leads and no evidence.
"We?" he asked, "Who is 'we'?" I was glad to hear the serious tone start to fade from voice.
"Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and I, that is the 'we'." My dad's eyes lit up.
"Oh ho ho, Sherlock you're a stallion stud just like your dear, old Dad. One day at school and you've already got two girls all over you," He chuckled to himself. I just stared blankly at him wondering what he was talking about. "So who's cuter out your two filly friends?" Oh, that's what he meant, but did he not realize that they were all fillies? And which one did he think wasn’t a filly? I found the second part of my dad’s ignorance quite funny, but it didn't matter, we weren't about to have this conversation. I had more important things to attend to then giggle about foalementary school gossip with my dad. I got up from the table and went to my room shutting the door behind me.
I needed to figure out my plan of action for tomorrow. First things first, I would need to question all the foals at school. After that is where things were a little more unclear. Where to begin? If things went half as smoothly as today we'd still have plenty of time to at least talk to the remaining suspects. If we start at Fluttershy's and work our way over to Rainbow Dash's after we eat at the clubhouse that should leave plenty of time to reevaluate everything up to that point and hopefully figure this out. There was a knock on my bedroom door.
"Sherlock, can we talk? You seemed a little more distracted at dinner than usual," He said in his best fatherly tone. It wasn't very believable. We both knew he wasn't good at the parenting stuff. That's why I cook.
"Oh? I'm surprised you could pick up on that with all your laughing and giggling." I wasn't really in the mood for family bonding at the moment.
"Come on, Sherlock," he said. "I know when something's bothering you. You've never been good at hiding your emotions." He was right. I can read people pretty well, I know most of the telltale sign when ponies are lying, but I have hard time hiding those same signs. I think it’s because pony eyes are so big, it makes every little thing that much easier to see.
"Fine, come in," I said. I kept my back to him hoping he'd leave quickly.
"What's up, Sherlock?" he asked "You know how we were searching for my friend’s scooter today?" “Yes, that’s about all you said at dinner before you got up and left,” he said. "Well we weren't looking for it because it was lost. We were looking for it because it was stolen." My dad reeled back and sat down in shock.
"Sherlock, that's a very heavy accusation, ponies don't often steal, especially here in Ponyville. Are you sure it was stolen?"
"I'm positive." I knew what he meant. Accusing somepony of stealing would damage their reputation even if it were untrue. When I found whoever took the scooter I had to be one hundred percent sure it was them before I accuse them of anything.
"Ok, if you say so I believe you, but be careful. Word travels fast around town. If it gets out that you're looking for a thief, it won't be long before the thief finds out," He said warily. "Keep this between yourself and your friends for now. And I’ve got some advice for you. If you're going to catch a thief you need to think like a thief! Remember that." He leaned back on his haunches and puffed out his chest a little, like he had said something deep and profound. I rolled my eyes at his 'words of wisdom'. What he had just said was actually really, really stupid, but I didn't want to ruin his moment.
"Oh, wow!" I gasped trying not to sound overly dramatic, "Thanks, Dad. I never thought of it like that." He laughed and rubbed my head with his hoof, messing up my mane and causing it to hide my face, as well as the fact that I was lying. Apparently satisfied with the knowledge he thought he had enlightened me with, he stood back up and made his way out of my room. I breathed a sigh of relief, time to get back to business.
"You know, Sherlock, if you ever need help don't be afraid to ask me I think I've got a knack for this mystery stuff." How does he not see that I'm trying to work here! I never bothered him this much when he worked. I mean I'm not allowed to see what he works on in the basement, or I'll get grounded, but that's not the point. I turned around and saw his head sticking out into the doorway. I should have known he was still there, I never heard the door to my room shut.
"Dad, this is my problem and as of right now I'd like to try and fix it on my own. Thanks anyways." It came out colder than I had intended. I looked back at my Dad, but never saw his reaction to my stinging words. He had closed the door and left me alone, just like I had asked, just like I had wanted.
I guess now would be a bad time to go ask him if he had seen Applejack and Big Mac selling apples at the market today. Now I needed to add that to the list of things for tomorrow, along with clearing up Pinkie's story of going to the spa. These two trips didn’t seem like they’d add too much time to the route, but after today, every new side trip made me worried. This case was still a long way from over. I mulled over the plans trying to see if anything could possibly delay or stop us from getting where needed to be tomorrow, I couldn't afford another Pinkie incident.
I stretched my forelegs as I woke up and looked outside. It was still dark out. I had passed out devising my plans. I removed the paper that I was taking notes on that had gotten stuck to my face as I slept. I tossed next to my bed as I crawled into my covers to go back to sleep, I needed to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to an important day; I can't afford to be sleepy. I went over today’s events in my head one last time before bed, everything from after school to now. Something felt off, but I couldn't put my hoof on it. A faint idea popped into my head, and I thought about it for moment. It seemed logical, but was my dad really right? And if he was, did that mean it was too late? A lot rode on this idea and I was too tired to think it out clearly right now. I fell asleep leaving it to marinate in my mind until morning.