Sherlock Holmes and the Elements of Discord Prologue
A man bathed in shadows approaches another, similarly lit man, while silently drawing a high tensile steel blade from his walking stick.
"Ah, Watson, you arrive at the opportune moment, our dear friend is about to enter the chamber," The second figure said.
"Holmes, you never cease to amaze!" Watson remarked, sheathing his blade. "How did you know it was me?"
"For one, you have a time table of arrival when I forget my gun at our apartment, second, your footsteps, while improved dramatically, are still audible and distinct. Third, I caught a reflection of light off of your sword," Holmes replied matter-of-factly, "Now, if you would, take a position on the other side of the doorway, Moriarty is almost here, and we need to get inside this museum without attracting alarm."
Watson handed Holmes his revolver and took his place on the other side of the door.
The pair rapidly progressed through the silent building, and, surely enough, Watson could hear his own footsteps. Noting to work on that, he put more effort into being silent as Holmes held up against a very ornate looking archway.
"Hang on, we have another guest, an assailant draws up around the corner," Holmes breathed, as Watson stood on the other side of the archway.
Watson stood on edge as Holmes used a mirror contraption around the corner and muttered under his breath "First, blind him with his own hat. Second, Chop him in the spine on his neck to disorient him. Third, Kick his knees out to bring him to the ground. Fourth, as his arms are flailing wildly, knock him out with a simple jab under the arm." Watching in amazement, Watson saw as Holmes put his instantaneous plan into action.
"And now to draw him inside so Moriarty doesn't suspect anything when he enters to retrieve the jewel," Holmes breathed, "Ah, our dear friend here has both a riding crop and a short stick on him. Which do you think I should take, Watson?"
"Just pick one, we don't have all day! Also, what is so special about this jewel the Professor wants? I understand it has occasionally disappeared and reappeared in the history of mankind, but those must be storage mishandling it, right?" Watson whispered, while Holmes carefully considered both weapons.
"You ask an excellent question, and one that, until recently, I would have replied to with: 'It isn't'. Each time it disappears, it has returned the same, except for this time, when it returned as a purple gem. Originally, it was a white sphere, with the same symbol in it, but this time, after returning as this, and all the usual suspects were ruled out, it was investigated, and revealed as exactly the same as the original, down to the chemical components, and unbreakable hardness," Holmes replied, deciding on the short stick, "This has led many to believe it contains power to travel to another dimension, and, while I myself do not believe in such things, I have been hired to keep it out of the hands of our dear friend the professor."
"Speaking of Moriarty, how did he survive the trip down the waterfall? I wrote that there was no way either of you had survived, and yet both of you are alive and well today."
"Another excellent question," Holmes stated, looking down the sights of the stick, to determine if it had impurities, "As you know, I survived by causing Moriarty to lose his footing and slip down the falls to what I presumed to be his death. Regarding what happened after I began my ascent up the "sheer" cliff face, I have not been able to determine completely, but from what I have gathered together, the answer lies in shrubbery going down the waterfall that Moriarty was able to obtain a grasp on, and while it did most likely dislocate his shoulder and break his arm, he did survive."
"And, if you don't mind me asking, why is there no security detail here? Surely a jewel that is believed to cross dimensions should get a proper protective force. At the very least, why is the Yard not in full force surrounding it?"
"Again, I commend your skills in observation, a trait you have much improved since I first met you," Holmes remarked offhandedly, taking time to puff on his pipe, "We were hired by Scotland Yard, as you know, and while they offered their help in beefing up security, I felt you and I would be enough. It makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely."
"You are rather lucky you are able to rely on me, what with Mary being gone for the next three months."
"What was it again, family passed away in the Alps, and she inherited a cottage?"
"Actually, yes. Wait, how would you know that, I never mentioned it to you, showed you letters, any tickets, I never..."
"Looked at the return addresses," Holmes interrupted.
"What have you done with Mary?"
"Absolutely nothing, I merely needed her gone, and you here. She is currently being entertained as if nothing is amiss in the Alps, and will return safely to you in three months time, after having "failed" the judging rounds to get the house."
"How were you able to afford all this Holmes?"
"Being a consulting detective, I tend to acquire favors by those who are unable to pay, and because Mary has never met my clients, she is none the wiser. Now, enough idle chitchat, we must move to opposite sides of the room, to better protect the jewel."
Almost five minutes passed, during which Holmes and Watson moved to the left and right sides from where they were respectively, and surely enough, a door opened on the other side of the room they were peering into from where they used to be. A cloaked figure entered, silently, preceded by a contingent of ten other men who spread out throughout the room, and made his way towards the middle of the room. In the center was a 3 foot fence, surrounding a pedestal with a purple gem on it, shaped as a diamond, but with four triangular spines extending from its middle section. As the figure was roughly one eighth of the way across the room, Holmes and Watson took to silently dispatching each member of his guard individually. Advancing from their positions on either side of the room, the duo took out each man in their way with a swift chop to the neck. Their good luck was at an end as the second man Watson was going to take out moved oddly, causing him to let out enough of a yelp to catch the cloaked figures attention.
"Stop them! I must get the gem!" The figure screamed. The remaining six guards broke into two groups to attack the two detectives. The group reached Watson first, who spun through a series of motions he had been practicing recently, dispatching all of them with relative ease, taking each out with a small hit on the head with his staff, intended to knock out, but not permanently injure, though he did receive a handful of jarring hits on his walking stick. Holmes held back, so the other group came to him slightly later. Smiling a wry smile, Holmes quickly spun, knocking the closest enemy on the head with his stick and stealing the man's riding crop. Slapping the next enemy on the wrist was all the distraction that it took to knock him out with a hit to the forehead. Drawing his gun, Holmes pointed it at the final assailant, when something caught his eye, causing him to rush toward the center of the room.
The cloaked figure had daintily stepped over the fence and into the pavilion. Reaching a gloved hand from inside the cloak, the figure grabbed the jewel. As soon as his hand closed around the artifact, a shot rang out, aimed for the torso of the cloaked figure. With inhuman reflexes, the cloaked man drew the treasure to protect his midsection, having no space to dodge inside the pavilion that surrounded the pedestal. The .457 bullet struck the object, and once the sparks from the ricochet ended, while it had left no discernible marks, the object began to glow. Holmes and Watson rushed at the figure, tackling him to the ground just as the jewel in the mans hands began glowing white. A small white dome covered the three men, and, when it dissipated, they were gone.
After being enveloped by the white flash, the three intellects found themselves sprawled on what felt like a lush field that had gone perhaps a bit too long without a caretaker. Despite the fact that the grass was tickling their entire bodies due to its length, none of the three felt any insects or other creatures on them, which perplexed them.
"Well, that solves one mystery. The jewel does have mystical powers. Interesting." Holmes remarked, sounding winded.
END PROLOGUE
None Chapter 1
Copyright notices:
I do not own any characters in this FAN-FICTION STORY! My Little Pony is owned by Hasbro and the Hub, and while I do not know who currently owns the rights to Sherlock Holmes, I do not claim to own them, this is all simply in good fun, as a fan fiction.
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