Knock knock knock!

"Noooo, go away...zzzzzz" Pinkie rolled over and covered her face, blocking the dim sunlight flooding the room from her eyes.

"Pinkie?! Is that you in there? I need to talk to you guys."

The flustered pink mare rolled out of bed with only a few hours of sleep on her shoulders, she bit Fluttershy's wing, pulling her off the bed onto her hooves.

"Whossa wha?" Fluttershy opened her eyes, suddenly forced into reality again.  

"Someone's at the door, I think it's Twilight." The two trotted off to greet their guest, sure enough when they opened the door, there stood Twilight Sparkle. She stood there levitating a notepad and quill, wearing a dark brown deerstalker on her head, a hat made famous by the legendary detective Sherlock Hooves.

Twilight tightly grabbed onto Pinkie, hugging the air out of her lungs. "I've been looking everywhere for you, I'm so glad you're okay. But why haven't you been home? The Cakes are worried, we all were after what happened."

"Um, what happened?" Pinkie nervously glanced at Fluttershy, then met Twilight's gaze.

"You didn't hear? There was evidence of some kind of scuffle breaking out in front of Sugarcube Corner a couple nights ago. They tracked it to Fluttershy's door then into the forest. They found a dead body in the lake and everyone was worried when we couldn't find you."

"Ohhh, that? Yeah I have no idea." Pinkie went inside and sat down, leaving the door open for Twilight.

"They found another body this morning on the north side of town, they're saying that the two murders are unrelated but I think otherwise. I just want to ask you some questions about two nights ago, did you see or hear anything strange after your party?"

"Uh..." Pinkie scratched her head with a hoof for a minute as if she were trying to recall some strange activity. "Well I did have half a tray of cupcakes left over, that's strange, usually you guys eat those up right away."

"No Pinkie, I meant did you notice anything weird outside that night."

"Fluttershy walks a possum through the forest at night, that's weird." Pinkie smiled.

Fluttershy nodded, "It's true, that IS weird."

"Okay? That's not really what I was after but... Have you been here the whole time Pinkie?" Twilight jotted down a few notes and waited for her friend's reply.

"Yup I came over here right after the party and haven't left the house since." Pinkie smiled and Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

"Okay then, I've learned not to question the weird things you do, but I have to know, why?"

"Uh, I um, just..." Pinkie quickly kissed Fluttershy on the lips and put her arm around her neck. Fluttershy's eyes widened beyond that which was thought ponily possible and blushed til her bright yellow face was a deep red. She looked at Twilight and quickly put on a sheepish smile, wrapping her arm around Pinkie as well.

"You see? We're dating!" Pinkie excitedly proclaimed. "It feels good to finally tell somepony, now we have date stuff to do, so you should probably be leaving now Twi." Pinkie pushed the hesitant unicorn out the door, sliding her hooves across the floor.

"Well that certainly explains it but..." Pinkie slammed the door, cutting off Twilight.

She peeked out the window to see her friend trotting down the road.

"Sorry about that Shy, I had to think of something quick."

"Oh that's okay... It needed to be done." Fluttershy blushed again, speaking softly.

"The only problem now is we have to act like that all the time in front of our friends." Pinkie began fixing her messy mane back to its normal poofy form.

"Let's just stay inside..." Fluttershy walked into her room and collapsed on the bed, still exhausted from a long night.

Pinkie followed and plopped down on her stomach, causing Fluttershy to bounce slightly. The pegasus giggled and jumped up on the bed, bouncing Pinkie off over the edge.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry Pinkie, I didn't mean to..."

"Hey! You're asking for it Shy." Pinkie narrowed her eyes and leaped into the air landing on the now terrified pegasus. Fluttershy screamed in fear for her life as Pinkie began bouncing on the bed, causing Fluttershy to tumble from side to side, unable to gain her balance. The tumbling and flailing pegasus accidentally tripped her bouncy friend, causing her to fall over, landing directly on top of her.

Little did they know, Twilight was peeking in the window, observing their actions.

Well, it looks like Pinkie was telling the truth, they seem happy. The investigating unicorn thought as she quickly took a note, then quietly trotted away.

She soon met up with some crime scene investigators at Neighana's home. They began going over details with Twilight Sparkle. They noted that all the evidence of a murder was left blatantly in the open, as if they didn't even attempt to hide it at all. However there was absolutely no evidence what-so-ever that anyone else had been in the house at all.

No pony would have guessed that Pinkie was a master at cleaning up one mess around another. In her younger years when she first moved in with the Cakes, she'd often throw parties when they were away. If she cleaned up the entire house they'd immediately know why. So she learned to clean up every small trace of the party, while leaving the normal clutter and bakery messes exactly the way they were. She learned to differentiate between a sprinkle that was left on the floor by the bakers during their business, and one that was right next to it left by a party guest. She enjoyed that part of the party, and felt accomplished when even she couldn't tell that anyone had been there other than herself. This played an important roll in throwing the investigators for a loop. Baffled at the lack of evidence combined with the intentionally left evidence, they turned to the smartest pony in Ponyville.

"It would seem we have a criminal mastermind at hoof. I'll need some time to review all the notes I've taken and will get back to you as soon as I make a breakthrough. In the mean time, please continue searching for even a single clue as to who could have done this." Twilight ordered the investigators around as if she were actually in charge of them.

"Ms. Sparkle, they say a ghost killed her kid, what if it really was a ghost, and it got her too?" Investigator #3 asked, feeling his question deserved a legitimate answer.

"Number Three, that's nonsense, there are no such things as ghosts. I'll catch the pony responsible soon enough." Twilight trotted away, heading back to her library to go over the notes.

"I agree with you Number Three, you can never be sure, especially with a case as weird as this. That would explain why there's no evidence of anyone else being in here." Random Investigator #1 encouraged his paranoid friend.

Twilight entered her home and met Spike who was busy dusting the already dusted bookshelves.

"Ah Spike, take a note please, I need you to take notes of the notes I'm about to read off to you." Twilight flipped through her notebook and waited for Spike to prepare.

"Wait, you mean you're going to let me help with the investigation?! Yes, you can count on me Twilight, I promise I won't get in the way." Spike readily pulled out a notepad of his own and waited for Twilight to begin reading.

"Well you can't expect me to do this without my number one assistant can you? Oh and you'll need this." Twilight levitated a smaller version of her deerhunter cap onto Spike's head.

"Ah sweet, this is awesome. Oh, one more thing... Um, can I please have the mustache again?"

"Ha, well I suppose it would suit the situation." With a flash Spike had his long black mustache back, giving him a sharp boost of confidence. He began fiddling with the tip of it with his claws.

"So the notes then?" Spike began to write the key points of everything Twilight read off to him.

"Interesting, interesting. It seems like we're dealing with some kind of criminal mastermind doesn't it?" Spike hastily came to the same conclusion that Twilight had earlier; that the two murders were connected.

"Nice Spike, that's exactly what I said. I think with the two of us working together we'll get to the bottom of this in no time. Even if they may have deserved it, murder is murder, and justice will prevail."

Pinkie and Fluttershy went to Sweet Apple Acres later that evening to request a bushel of apples. Fluttershy had run out, she left her own basket of them unattended after hastily feeding some pets before bed last night and her animals invited themselves to the meal later that day. Half of her pets loved apples so they were a necessity in Fluttershy's eyes.

"Hey there you two, what can I do ya for?" Applejack happily greeted her friends.

"You can't do us for anything, we just want apples." Pinkie gave her friend a confused look.

"Um, I just want the usual, Applejack... There was an accident with the last batch and my pets helped themselves. I hope it's not too inconvenient, I can come back later if you want." Fluttershy looked down at the grass and batted at a small flower with a hoof.

"Ain't no trouble at all, we've always got extra apples 'round here." Applejack grabbed a conveniently placed basket that was already full and gave it to Pinkie with her mouth. "That'll be six bits please."

"Six? I thought it was five bits for a basket..." Fluttershy looked back down and reached into her saddle bag, pulling the bits out.

"What can I say, rough economy and all." Applejack continued her work.

Pinkie spotted Caramel peeking at her from inside the applebarn, he then quickly ducked back inside.

"Hey, what's Caramel doing here, and why's he acting all shady?" Pinkie gave the basket to Fluttershy and asked.

"Oh Caramel? He ran into some trouble back in Appaloosa, he's bunkin up here til it blows over."

"What kind of trouble?" Pinkie tilted her head and looked into Applejack's eyes, knowing she couldn't lie.

"Well... I reckon that ain't any of your business."

Fluttershy sat the basket down. "You can tell us Applejack, we're your friends." She smiled and closed her eyes, making the hesitant earth pony feel more comfortable.

"Well alright if ya'll really wanna know, keep it hush hush though. They're sayin' he kidnapped a young filly and did some really bad things to 'er. They're also sayin' he killed her. I know it sounds bad but I made him promise he was tellin the truth about not doin anything."

Pinkie's heart dropped into her stomach, her intuition told her Caramel was a hundred percent guilty. Fluttershy gulped, knowing exactly what was on Pinkie's mind.

"Well at least he promised right? No one would ever lie about something like that so I'm sure he's innocent." Pinkie's face reflected her swallowed anger with a nauseous looking frown.

"Uh yeah, right then. I really gotta be gettin back to work now, I'll see you two later. And remember, hush hush. I trust you guys."

"See ya later AJ, and don't worry, you can trust us." Pinkie smiled and waved her off. Fluttershy picked the basket and nodded politely.

The two headed back towards the meadow, quickening their pace as the sun went down. Fluttershy hated the thought of being caught in the dark again.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Shy? We need to look into this." Pinkie glanced over with mistrusting eyes.

Fluttershy nodded again, not wanting to speak with her mouth full. Pinkie took an apple from the basket and sunk her teeth into it. Fluttershy lowered her eyebrows and glared at her forward friend.

"What, I'm hungry!" Pinkie spoke with her mouth full, spitting small chunks of apple onto the road.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes and smiled. The two made it back home just before sunset, and began to go through old Equestria Daily papers looking for any news articles talking about the crime in Appaloosa. They found a paper dating about a week ago, talking about the discovered body. It was a third grade filly, her name was undisclosed and the only information they had about who may have committed the crime was a vague description by a witness who claimed they saw him take her from a school playground. A medium sized stallion with a light orangish brown coat. His mane is medium length and dark brown. His cutie mark seemed to be three bluish silver horseshoes.

Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other for a moment, then nodded in unison.

Pinkie's eyebrows lowered and her grin grew as she ran through several scenarios in her mind. "This one's gonna be tricky Shy, we have to make sure Applejack doesn't suspect us at all. And I have the perfect idea."

Next Chapter: No I'm Not, I'm a Chicken! Estimated time remaining: 26 Minutes