I've recruited you, the reader, to try and solve this mystery. The hope of the Apple Family relies on you.
The first thing that you need to know about what is going to be said in this document, the events unfold as told here, while days or weeks may have past in between these ponies daily lives, it will seem as a turn of a page in this casefile. I've recruited you, the reader, to try and solve this mystery, the hope of the Apple family relies on you. The first document will be put up and the second won’t be put up for few days, this pattern will continue until I've given you everything that we have.
Applejack was taking her lunch break between chores, eating a strawberry jam and peanut butter sandwich with Winona by her side. She was going over her chores list, after she had finished eating, when she heard a sharp crack behind her. Looking behind her, she saw that a large branch had been pulled off of a tree; she went inside to see if the rest of the apples were inside. Granny Smith was in the kitchen making pie, with the most recent of the fallen apples, Big Mac was taking out the trash towards the front gate of Sweet Apple Acres, and Applebloom was in her room with her friends. She went back out without telling anyone about the noise, but she went over to the tree to see if whoever did this was still there. Finding nothing she decided to get back to her chores.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1347
Applejack and Big Mac had just finished bucking the south field when they heard it again, a snapping of a tree branch. Both of them rushed over to the sight and found that nothing was there, just another broken branch, but this one had a note tied to it.
Hello there Apples, I just want you to know that every half hour, somewhere in the orchards, I will break off a branch of a healthy tree. Unless you give me what I want, I will do this until every tree has a branch off, if I still don’t have what I want then I shall target a family member, and you can imagine what I’ll do then. I LOVE me some cracking and there are so many bones to choose from. Now, what I want, I wish that you leave this town, and never, ever, come back.
Have fun!
Sincerly,
The Lurker
They kept it to themselves and decided that this lurker was just blowing hot air. They told their family but didn’t want to trouble the guard station if this was just some kind of prank. While they were concerned, they didn’t bring it to us. We know about this because they brought the note to us later in the day, which you will see later in the log.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1422
Applejack and Applebloom were cleaning off their pigs and filling their feeding troughs and cleaning the pig pens when they heard 3 simultaneous cracks, all behind them. The whirled around and saw nothing but a young sapling tree broken in half, and 2 trees with broken branches. They came here and reported it to me, I have no idea if this is just one pony or a group that is sabotaging the Apple Family. I can only hope that the presence of guards will make the pony/ponies stop them in their tracks.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1503
After consulting the ethics code and talking with the Canterlot commander I have personally dispatched 3 guards to each orchard that the Apples own, while I think that it is better than what they had before, I don’t think that it is enough. I have to comply with the ethics code though, I can’t send more than 15 guards to a property. I have sent in a note for the ability to send in more guards for the protection of the family to Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, I can only hope that they will comply.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1525
The afternoon guards made it to their posts, I saw to it myself. When I got to the Acres I confronted the family members about what they knew. Granny Smith said that she just heard cracks every once in a while, everyone else would be watching the time to prepare for the snaps of branches. Applebloom was the one that I was really concerned with. She told me that once there a snapped tree so close to her that she heard the branch hit the ground. She was scared, I don’t blame her. Applejack said that she was frightened at first but was never really, truly, afraid of the pony that was messing with her family.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1700
Guard change, night shift.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1704
Afternoon guards came back and I sat with them in the mess hall as they ate; they all reported snapping sounds and I charted them on a map of sweet apple acres. They are all randomized, having no order at all. This pony just wants to destroy property and thats it.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1858
I received a visitor tonight. The pony dropped by and left me a note. It was in a coded format before but I was able to decipher it just now. It was a single, solitary word.
Soon.
The Lurker
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 1900
Officially put the Apple Family under the protection of the guard protection service (GPS). They have guards by their house night and day, making sure that nobody outside of the Apple Family or whomever they chose to let in can get in. The guards will be sent in the morning.
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 2300
Guard change, Night Owl, I saw them off
Thursday, July 13th, Time: 2304
Night guards just got back and I talked with one of them before we both went to bed. He said that he almost was able to catch a glimpse of the pony, but she seemed to vanish before his eyes. I’m not one to believe old pony tales, but this is sounding a lot like the pony of shadows. I briefed the GPS guards and made that they knew their assignment, the first thing that they do is learn the faces and names of those that they are protecting. Then, when they get to the location, they ask who is allowed into the property and learn the names and faces of those who are allowed in. After this they start their patrol and begin to protect the ponies in need. I’m done for the night, signing off, Captain Midnight Law, head officer at the Ponyville Guard Station.
Friday, July 14th, Time: 0508
Guard shifting occurred 8 minutes ago and the night guards just got back. I managed to grab one before he went to sleep and he mentioned that there were branch crackings throughout the night, but he never found anything at the scenes, no hoofprints or anything that could possibly point the guard force towards who did what. I let him go to sleep after he told me this.
Friday, July 14th, Time: 0709
A note was received by the Apples again, they brought it to us so that we could know right away.
I have noticed that you brought in the guard force, that won’t stop me, I have never been caught before and I won’t start now. I’ve already made an upgrade from my last letter you got, Apples, now it’s snap every 15 minutes.
Sincerly,
The Lurker
We have doubled the guard count at Sweet Apple Acres, as permitted by Shining Armor, and I hope that it is going to be enough, but based on this response to the first guards, I don’t if it will.
Friday, July 14th, Time: 0800
The first real lead finally appeared for us, this criminal is a mare, not a stallion as I first presumed. In her most recent letter, seen above there are only 12 ponies to every not get caught for a crime that they have done, all of which are mares. Why it is this way, I have no idea, but that is just the facts; 3 of these ponies are too old now to be doing what this one is doing so they are off the list. The nine are Gloomy Drop, Shadow Anvil, Fanged Doom, Ruby Show, Sterling Strut, Trixie Lulamoon, Lucky Jackpot, Toni Lance and Fiery Heart. They have all done something that was against the law and made it out without being caught, whether they were let go freely or fought their way out. But they meet the criteria that was said in the letter. I hope that this is helpful to our search.
Friday, July 14th, Time: 1234
The guards have just changed, and we have some frightening information to give, the pony in question has seen and interacted with Applejack before. The discovered a letter on a branch that fell.
This isn't your fight, I just want Applejack to feel the pain that I felt, no pony in Ponyville knows it.
The Lurker
While this is good news, this might be a personal matter for the one that is destroying their property. Using this information, there are 4 ponies on the list last sent that follow this and the mare without a catch. Sterling Strut, saw her in manehattan and was competing against her friend Rarity, Toni Lance, was attending the Gala last year and ended up in the same room as Applejack when she dropped the cake on her, which made her start to target bakeries, Trixie Lulamoon, trapped Ponyville in a glass dome and left after she was reformed by the magic of friendship, and finally Ruby Show, she was competing against Applejack at the Equestrian Rodeo and was beaten out by her for a few times. I have given the messages over to our cryptographer and he is unable to crack this code, if you have any ideas please let me know. You are the last hope that we have to making sure that the Apple family is safe; we need to know before one of the family members get hurt, I don’t think that this villain makes empty promises.
Tick Tock Apples! One orchard has already met my wrath, only 3 more to go.
Ta!
The Lurker
We don’t know which orchard she will strike next, we only have this to work with. I have the guards reporting immediately after they have returned from Sweet Apple Acres and recording what they say so that I can find similarities. I don’t know if that will be enough though.
Sunday, July 16th, Time: 1200
During the lunch break, I started to hear rumors about the whole Sweet Apple Acres incidents, I don’t know who started them but they are ranging from the culprit being the Pony of Shadows to the Culprit being a distant relative of the Apples. I can’t confirm or deny anything though, mostly because I don’t even know myself. One rumor peaked my interest though, it could possibly be the Flim Flam brothers, because they know the property from the competition that they held to try and take Sweet Apple Acres. I’m not saying that I believe it, but it is something that could be possible; at this point, though, anything is possible.
Sunday, July 16th, Time: 1346
My wife called me and said that she heard somepony on the roof of our house, and started to break our windows. The criminal must’ve been using a hammer or something because no blood was found. I do believe that this is what was meant in the note that I received personally from The Lurker. Soon.
Sunday, July 16th, Time: 1524
Something happened while the guard shifting occurred, The Lurker was able to go into the Apples house and managed to break a few of the support beams of their house. Next to a pile of broken glass was a piece of cloth. I sent this to Canterlot, where the Alchemist is running tests on it to see what material it is, where that cloth can be found, and when it was brought in and from where. I can only hope that it isn’t something common that can be bought anywhere.
Sunday, July 16th, Time: 1647
Guards received notes of their own, a few of them requested that they not be posted there anymore, one of the notes read
Dear Stupid Guard,
This isn’t for you! I can’t believe that you would try and stop me! Let us just hope that you don’t, otherwise that new foal of yours might not be the star that you are hoping he will be.
That would be a shame,
The Lurker
Whoever this pony is, she is deadly accurate with her information, I am afraid that it could possibly be someone who has a friend in the police force, but after running cross checks, none of the current suspects fall into that category. None of them live in Ponyville either, this information just doesn’t add up!
Sunday, July 16th, Time: 1900
Guard change, night shift. Nothing went wrong but I know a few of the guards are on edge.
Sunday, July 16th, Time: 2003
I received a letter from Mayor Mare, she was informing me that she would like this case solved, closed and the criminal responsible behind bars as soon as possible. I can honestly say that we were trying to do this beforehoof.
Sunday, July 16th, Time: 2300
Guard shift, hoot owl, I am going to listen to the recordings tomorrow so that I can try and find a pattern in the description of the criminal. Will report tomorrow; I’m heading home so I can protect my family if the criminal decides to strike again.
Monday, July 16th: Time: 0530
Nothing different happened at the house, but that is a different story for the guard station; the GPS files were rummaged through and put back. I wouldn’t have known this if I hadn’t noticed that 2 files were out of order in the cabinet, upon further inspection the files had all been gone through. Only 3 files were missing, 2 of which were from the last year and the other was from a long time ago, almost a decade. Nothing of importance were in these files, just briefings on what had happened during this time; the biggest of which was the Ursa Minor incident, don’t even get me started on that.
Monday, July 16th, Time: 0734
The cloth sample came back, nothing helpful about it. It is just a cotton and wool based fabric that is often used in clothes. There is nothing that is extraordinary about this fabric, just a plain old red color and a very, very simple weaving style. It was made in a factory near Manehatten. This doesn’t add up to anything.
Monday, July 16th, Time: 0959
After my mid-morning coffee I went back to my desk, frustrated, but I remembered the recordings and switched them on, one by one I heard what the guards had to say about their watch. One by one I realized that this pony was alone; any time that there was a snapping, it was noticeable after the one before it. This was consistent throughout the recordings until the last guards recording, where three went off in rapid succession around him.
Monday, July 16th, Time:1030
I got to talk with the guard whose recording was the last one that I heard, and he took me to where it happened.
Monday, July 16th, Time: 1034
The guard said that the branches were exactly where he saw them. There was something that was rather obvious to my eyes about this, they were all within 30 feet of the other. Not almost 30 feet, exactly 30 feet; at this point, I know that it is a unicorn that we are dealing with, no earth pony could’ve done this, it was too far, unless they had a rope that they were using. Unless they were using a rope.
Monday, July 16th, Time: 1122
After looking at the broken branches, I noticed that there weren’t any branches, but I did find something that downed the list, a note that the guard missed.
Better hope that cider season is able to keep your farm afloat during the winter, Applejack, I’d hate for your family to go down the drain!
The Lurker.
The criminal has to have been able to see or hear about the cider competition that was held during autumn of this last year! While this took off 2 of the suspects, it added one more if you take the letter saying that they have gotten away with crime before, loosely. Sterling Strut is out, so is Ruby Show. The one suspect that is on my list of suspects is the Flim Flam brothers. They broke the fence post every time that they came to Sweet Apple Acres, while this was never really put on record, people know about it.
Monday, July 16th, 1541
A note appeared on my desk.
It’s the same every time, someone naysays and then the whole guard force goes nuts. Nothing will be able to stop me.
After I had sent the guards into their posts to keep watch over the Apples, I went over the recordings of the guards again. I then pulled out a map and pinned everywhere a snap was recorded; as this went on, I began to notice a pattern. The culprit would go into an orchard and take out 5 branches, always 5, and then move to the orchard left of it, then break 6. Then move and break 7, so on and so forth.
Tuesday, July 17th, Time: 1153
I informed the guards that they should be on their toes at all times, and whenever there a snapping to try and follow the sound to the culprit.
Tuesday, July 17th, Time: 1200
I saw the guards off, nothing happened that was out of the ordinary.
Tuesday, July 17th, Time: 1432
I got a brilliant idea that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of before, I sent up a team of pegasi over each orchard, about five pegasi per orchard. If they see anything suspicious then they are to check it out and arrest anyone who wasn’t a part of the guardponys. I can only hope that this will prove to be a good decision.
Tuesday, July 17th, Time: 1506
I am going to my house to check on my family, going to make sure that they are safe.
Tuesday, July 17th, Time: 1633
When I got home, somepony had broken into my house and stolen a few valuable items. I do not think that it is linked with the Apples criminal, but I can’t be certain. I am just glad that my family didn’t get hurt. My wife described the intruder to have multi colored hair and was a unicorn, that was all that she could see before the pony jumped out of a window.
Tuesday, July 17th, Time: 1900
Guard shift, I was short one pony today so I went out myself for the night shift.
Tuesday, July 17th, Time: 1904
I made it to my section of the South Field, it was all very quiet until I heard the first snaps inside my section. I heard one about a hundred feet behind me and I rushed to it as fast as I could. When I got there a branch was waiting for me.
Tuesday, July 17th, 1910
Made it back to where I started the shift, and saw a piece of cloth again, but this had a design on it, a swirling star. I put it in my pocket.
Tuesday, July 17th, 1924
Another snapping, this one was right behind me when it happened, nearly scared the daylights out of me. When I turned I saw a shadow moving but before I could get a clean look at it, it disappeared. This branch had a note on it.
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the captain of the guard! This is just so exciting, I can only hope that you don’t fall to the tragic incident of getting a branch to the back of your head. I could’ve killed you just now, but consider it a warning, if you aren’t out by tomorrow night at 7 then head will roll.
The Lurker
Tuesday, July 17th, 2304
Hoot owl shift change, I was honestly glad to be out of that place, it can play tricks on your mind at night.
Tuesday, July 17th, 2308
Almost done for the night, just found out that others got notes as well. Here are a few of them.
Tick tock, on the clock. I can not believe that it is nearly midnight! Rest easy, it may be last night of your lives!
The Lurker
Oh, don’t you just love stars? I hope that you are able to see them again after tonight! Just don’t come back and you can remember the light of stars for maybe another night.
The Lurker
Please don’t make me snap a branch and watch it make jelly of what is in that nearly empty head of your! I don’t want to but if need be then just be prepared.
The Lurker
This needs to end soon. Signing off, Midnight Law.
Wednesday, July 18th, Time: 0530
Got to the station, nothing particularly different about the morning, just a little tired. Nothing that coffee can’t handle though.
Wednesday, July 18th, 1000
Sending out the guards early, hoping that they can catch something.
Wednesday, July 18th, 1344
Sending out a new group of pegasi, Rainbow Dash is accompanying them. She might just be the one that can find what we have all been searching for this entire time.
Wednesday, July 18th, Time: 1500
I was sitting in my office and a letter was teleported to the center of it.
Make the deadline 3pm.
The Lurker
Wednesday, July 18th, Time: 1507
A pegasi came into my office, busted down the door with excitement, claimed that Rainbow Dash had caught the criminal redhanded.
Wednesday, July 18th, Time: 1511
Rainbow Dash was waiting for me in the living room of the Apples home. They welcomed me in and I noticed right away that something was missing, the criminal. “Where is the pony?” I asked Rainbow. She looked up at me and simply said one word, “Gone.” She showed me all that was left of the pony in question, but I am pretty sure I know who did it. The one object that was left was a cape with an amulet on it. The cape had yellow and light blue stars on it, and the amulet I knew all too well. It was the Alicorn Amulet. “I think we can wrap this case up.” I told Applejack and Granny Smith. “It was Trixie Lulamoon, she has been vandalizing your property and had become mad with intended revenge because of the Alicorn Amulet that she was wearing around her neck. She took off her clock and teleported away, most likely; with the amulet gone though, she is going to be back to normal. The one thing that I don’t know is how she found the amulet, it was hidden away by Zecora and she promised us to put it away for nopony to find.” It hit me then, “We may just have to open up a new case.”
Wednesday, July 18th, Time: 2300
This case has grown into something more than I ever expected it to be; while I won't be opening a new case, I will keep adding to this one. Trixie ended up turning herself in and we have her now, but the real worry now is Zecora, I don't know much about her, nopony really does, but how far will we have to go to find out who put Trixie up to this? That is up to the hearts and mind of every pony. For now, this is Midnight Law signing off and preparing for another case.
