One week after Twilight left Myrynion
Sholmes and some of the City Watch were outside a house near the outskirts of Wipers in the evening.
"You sure this is the place, Sholmes?" asked Kodran Isleifson, an officer.
"Positive. Hotsam and I have been searching for him, following leads, and bribing the right people, for ten days, and I am confident that this is the right house." replied the detective.
"If you say so."
"Not to mention the fact that Fell Hire Corner have also been looking for him, and their evidence points to the very same pony."
"Fell Hire Corner are in on this? How long for?"
"Yes, they are, since Giovanni Depiro wanted them to conduct their own investigation about ten days ago."
"I wouldn't put it past Fell Hire Corner to try and assassinate the princess. It's something that they would do."
"Note the fact that if their evidence remotely suggested one of their own, thy wouldn't let us get this close to catching the one responsible. On top of that, they have a code of honour, so would have communicated with her prior to an attempted assassination."
At this point, Kodran motioned to his men, and they stormed the house. The front door fell down with a tremendous crash, and the watch surged in. After a thorough search of the property, the would-be assassin wasn't found. However, he did have an entire wall in his bedroom detailing the potential ways of breaking into Jack Linford's house, how he would removing Twilight from the sergeant's residence, and how he would kill the princess. Kodran started to read this, but was stopped by Sholmes.
"It isn't pleasant. The detail he went into is gruesome, and does not bide well with your stomach." stated Sholmes.
"Why, detective?" replied Kodran.
"He intended to set her on fire. This would be absolutely horrendous way of murdering the princess, considering the amount of fur and hair on her, And after that, he was intending to mutilate the body is such a way that would leave her identifiable, and yet grossly disfiguring her. It would be worse than that Sweet Apple Massacre story."
"But why do it in Myrynion?"
Sholmes pointed to the centre-left of the wall, where the motive was written.
Should I succeed in my 'community service', I shall attempt to frame that accursed Jack Linford. This will get him removed from the Tsar's private army, and cause Orpheus to lose trust in him, furthering the paranoia that appears to be manifesting in him. But this is just a portion of the wonders that I shall bring forth. The name of Orpheus will be thrown into disrepute – how can a world leader hand over a foreign dignitary to the creature who killed her in a such terrible fashion? But not just the name of Orpheus, the name of Myrynion will be degraded. I expect a violent outburst from Equestria. Oh, how wonderful this shall be.
Kodran shook his head.
"This is true, Sholmes?"
"Every word of it. And I have little doubt that it was the would be killer. No signs of visible entry, apart from ours, and a message like this would be reported very quickly to the watch. Judging by the looks of it, this hasn't been disturbed for at least two weeks." replied the detective.
Downstairs, Sholmes and the watch officer heard the sound of a scuffle downstairs, and followed the sound of it. When they arrived, they found that the city watch had arrested a very irate male unicorn, clapped him in chains, and were beginning to ask questions. At the sight of Sholmes, the unicorn visibly paled.
"This is your house, isn't it?" asked Sholmes.
"It is." replied the unicorn.
"If you have anything to confess to, do so now. It would be an awful lot quicker and pleasant for you than attempting to drag this entire situation out."
At this, the unicorn broke down and confessed that he had indeed, wanted Twilight dead.
"How did you know she would be coming here?" asked Kodran.
"He has a wide range of contacts, some of which were bribed." replied Sholmes.
So much for the loyalty promised by those traitorous informants. They must be burnt thought the unicorn.
"What's your name?" asked Kodran to the unicorn.
"William De Michael," answered the unicorn.
"Get Mr De Michael to the Tsar's house, pronto, boys."
"So you're the one who wanted Princess Twilight Sparkle dead?" asked Orpheus.
"We have a confession in full." Sholmes answered for William.
"Right. As this is the attempted murder of an Equestrian princess, I will defer my judgement to her."
Orpheus moved towards a desk, and wrote a quick note, sending it in a quick flash of magic. A response arrived quickly, Orpheus reading it.
"It appears that Princess Twilight has deferred her judgement back to me. What method were you intending to kill Princess Twilight with?" asked the Herculean.
"Fire." replied William.
"Oz, fetch me my box of matches. William, you and I are going outside."
Oz fetched the matches, and the kangaroo and his master went outside, along with William. After a brief period of time, William's screams of pain reached the ears of Sholmes and Kodran., both of whom had remained inside, and they cringed. In the streets outside, they could see a unicorn bonfire rushing down the street, collapsing partway towards the end, blazing merrily to a rather horrible and grossly unpleasant death. Orpheus, face grim, watched the would-be assassin burn to death, while other residents of the street came and watched. When one of them tried to put out the fire, Orpheus stopped him, saying nothing. After the fire died down, Orpheus commanded the watch to take the ashen remains to the nearest undertaker, and have them buried.
Seeing Jack, Oz went over to him.
"Ghastly, isn't it?" Oz asked, rhetorically.
Jack nodded.
"Did you read the latest copy of The Ypres Times?" questioned Oz.
"Nope. Why?" replied Jack.
Oz handed Jack an extract from the front page, ripped from the newspaper.
THE YPRES TIMES JUNE 1987
LINEN HALL, WIPERS
THIS WEEK'S MAIN ATTRACTION
STARRING THE EQUESTRIAN PRINCESS, TWILIGHT SPARKLE - "HOW I RAN ALL THE WAY HOME"
ALSO FEATURING OZZY OZ, SERGEANT LINFORD, SHERLOCK HOLMES, AND THE JOKERS OF HELL FIRE CORNER
PRICES AS USUAL
"Yes! I finally have a mention!" exclaimed Jack.
"I was showing it because it is a major intelligence leak." replied Oz.
"So what? Nopony believes the advertisements for the Linen Hall."
"Agreed."
Later that week, Oz handed Orpheus his mail at breakfast time, to which Orpheus thanked him. Orpheus opened the first letter, and his eyebrows shot up.
"So she agreed?" Orpheus said to himself.
"To what, may I ask, sir?" asked Oz, looking over Orpheus' shoulder. However, he wasn't able to read past the first line, which said "Dear Polybius.".
"Lady Josephine will be coming to Myrynion next week. Make sure she is catered for."
"Certainly sir. And may I ask, sir, why she referred to you as Polybius?"
"Didn't I explain that to you?"
"Not that I can remember, sir."
"The Herculeans have a name, public as everypony else's, like mine, Orpheus Underworld. However, Herculeans also have another, private name, shared within a core group of acquaintances. Mine is Polybius."
"May that be related to the infamous arcade game?"
"Possibly." replied Orpheus, handing Oz a key. "In the basement, big cupboard behind the door."
Oz went down into the basement, and his muffled exclamation told Orpheus that the kangaroo had found one of the machines in working order, along with a pile of paperwork. Oz returned to his master, with a look that was able to convey an immense amount of curiosity in nothing more than a raised eyebrow.
"Why, sir, do you have one?" asked Oz.
"I was one of the ponies behind it. Polybius was part of a governmental initiative, press-ganging those who did well in the game, which involved puzzle solving and shooting, into the armed services, traced through an identity card inserted before the game was played. Of course, one fat foal had to go and ruin it all – he got nausea, migraines, memory loss, nightmares, and even "an inability to become sad" after he played it. Although it was later revealed that he was using psycho-active drugs, we had to remove the game from amusement arcades."
"I remember that, sir: I was seventeen at the time. And why all the secrecy and mystery surrounding the game about what it was really about, and where it went?"
"Got to keep all the conspiracy nutters happy, haven't I?"
Oz nodded.
"Although I was quite amused that my private army had no idea why the game I gave to them didn't work. Ten months later, the communications officer got involved, and simply plugged it into the wall. He wasn't particularly happy about that one."
Five months later
Twilight had been invited back to Myrynion, at the request of Orpheus, who promised that, this time, nopony would be out to kill her. She had accepted, but was able to take her friends along with her, as she had little desire to be separated from her friends over the distance involved. This invitation was due to business reasons, Twilight having become the ruler of the Ostror Islands, the islands Orpheus used to be regent over, a week earlier.
One evening, after some intense business, Oz suggested to Orpheus that he took the group of friends to a festival happening in Wipers. Orpheus agreed to this, and sends them off, preferring to stay at his house. After being let in by the ponies at the entrance, Oz, Twilight, and her friends roamed around the festival. Pinkie was over the moon, and the amount of energy she had concerned Oz, who considered taking her to a doctor. Shortly after arriving, the group encountered Jack and his squad, who had sneaked out of their barracks to be there. After brief introductions, made more so by the fact that, with the exception of Jack, Sheila, and the corporal, Johnny Foreigner, they were all called Bruce.
Seeing a large group gathering, Sholmes and Hotsam went to investigate, because, if a fight broke out, as part of the Wipers City Watch, they would be required to break it up. After confirming who was in the group, Sholmes and Hotsam left.
"So, Twilight, how are you finding ruling your islands?" asked Sheila.
"Better than I expected it to be, actually. Being a protectorate of Myrynion, from what I've seen of your armed services, does take a lot off my mind. And, of course, both Princess Celestia and Tsar Orpheus are more than willing to help." replied Twilight.
"Yeah, I can imagine." muttered Johnny.
Jack glared at Johnny, sending him a message not to say that again.
"How are things going between you and Jack?"
"Well." replied Sheila.
Orpheus teleported nearby, a white circle around him on the ground, and white orbs swirling around him, stemming from the circle on the ground. His horn briefly pulsed with magic, before stopping.
"What was that?" asked Pinkie.
"Magical flare, detectable only by Herculeans." replied the Tsar.
At this point, Lady Josephine appeared, teleporting in a manner similar to Orpheus. She had an emerald coat, with a ruby and citrine coloured mane and tail. However, a searing pain, felt by all, announced the death of the third Herculean, Destry.
"What did you want, Orpheus?" asked Josephine.
"New Herculean being created nearby." replied the slightly larger Tsar.
After a lengthy search, by all in the group, the new Herculean is found in the tent of Baileys (of Wipers) by Rainbow Dash. He had an obsidian coloured coat, and an amber and chrysoberyl coloured mane and called out to the rest, and they arrive. Most present, apart from Orpheus and Josephine, were surprised at the size, as the new Herculean was the same size as Twilight, and are also surprised at the fact he already had one of the two cutie marks typical of Herculeans, in this case, a spanner. Orpheus and Josephine introduced themselves to him, who then surprised the group further by actually asking to be called Bailey, before continuing.
"Orpheus and Josephine, I have two things to say to you. The first is that I am not the only new Herculean who will appear tonight. Another will appear nearby." stated Bailey.
Now Orpheus and Josephine looked surprised.
"That hasn't happened before." stated Orpheus, going into Captain Obvious mode.
"No way, Herlock." muttered Josephine.
"Somebody call?" asked Herlock, walking into the conversation with Hotsam.
"Not for you." replied Josephine.
"But as you're here, we may have a young Herculean wandering around the festival, and I would like the city watch to retrieve it." added Orpheus.
"Yes sir." answered Herlock and Hotsam in unison, before getting the rest of the watch to search for the new Herculean.
"What poor animals died to make the hats for the City Watch?" asked Fluttershy, quiet as usual.
"They're the City Watch Regulation Bearskin Caps. I think those particular ones came from the batch made from a marauding group of bears from a few years ago." replied Johnny.
"But you didn't have to kill them."
"They killed a bunch of civilians, caused some minor property damage, and disrupted a game of cricket. The last one alone is a death penalty."
Rarity moved the conversation elsewhere.
"But why the blood-red tunics? They look garish, and they stand out a mile."
"The uniform the tunics replaced stood out more. Although it did become the ceremonial version, it had far too many frills, and was really poofy. They looked like musketeers. Possibly because, a long time ago, were musketeers. But anyway, the new tunics do tend to hide the blood."
"I thought Jack was more of the military kangaroo." claimed Twilight.
"He's a gun nut. I'm a uniform nut." dismissed Johnny.
Bailey took the ensuring silence as an opportunity to continue what he was saying to Orpheus and Josephine.
"Secondly, Orpheus and Josephine, this is more of an observation, but you, Josephine, have an aura of hope and light around you, while you, Orpheus, have an aura of darkness and despair." stated Bailey.
"How can you talk and reason?" asked Twilight, now able to put her question into words.
Orpheus replied for him.
"Each new Herculean has the mind of a six-year-old foal. Bailey's mind will develop slower than that of other foals, but he does have a head start."
At this point, Kodran, Herlock, and Hotsam entered the conversation, a young female Herculean following him. She had a coat of Kashmir sapphire, with a mane and tail of rhodolite garnet and morganite. Her cutie mark was a planet forming.
"I found this one near the exit, sir." said Kodran.
"Ah, good. What's your name, dear?" questioned Orpheus.
"Hester." replied the young Herculean, timidly.
Josephine pulled Orpheus aside, and started talking to him, as quietly as possible. This was punctuated by a series of fugitive glances, mainly on the part of Orpheus, as well as several nods. This went on for about a minute, they stop their whispered conversation, they called Herlock over to them.
"Upon the recommendation of Orpheus, and my approval to his proposal, you, Herlock Sholmes, have been chosen to become one of us." stated Josephine.
A/N Sorry for the long update delay; real life got in the way. But please review (I'm looking at you, plutomoon2 and Syphon Aura. I know you're there).