Case 1

The ordinary observer tendency is to invest in the sense of ear and eyes, when perceiving a world that requires six at a minimum to understand. Only smell comes in as a factor when it pertained a certain degree of foul or sweet. Speaking is just organized noise. Never did it caused to aid as much as it caused a hindrance. If one has a precise but admirably balanced mind. Use this in pair with observing and reasoning you can find the hidden truths that stalk in the shadows. The maze saw shift and bend till it makes a stight path to the simple truth.. My mind shall become a storehouse of knowledge. My heart a vessel of acceptance. My tongue a tool and weapon against they who use theirs to weave fictions that add to the ever growing maze. Fear me all who dare hide your secrets and use sloppy lies to slip them from the senses. Your fiction can’t never and shall never be fact.’

One by one he would snip a balloon from the gathering tied to his front hoof as a orb of pink expanded from his mouth.

The balloons gathered up to the in flock over his head as they laid tied to the cart behind him.

Warm Threads hummed happily to herself as she walked the streets of Trottingham, reading her book, saying some of the quotes out loud. It was a mystery, 'The Grandest Game in the World', and she was enjoying it immensely.

"There are only two professions in the whole world that give meaning to those who have died and what have been lost...They're writers and detectives. Writers are the only ones able to revive what was lost through their visions. Detectives are the only ones able to dig up the grave and bring back lost information," she said out loud, with a tone more suited to arranging flowers than pronouncing grand universal truths.

Thread's gaze was attracted by a new pony in town. Her eyes lit up, and her mouth broke into a beaming smile. Rushing over and waving, she exclaimed, "Hello there! I don't think I've seen you before! However my mind could have been erased and I could've, making me look sillier than I already am! So, I must ask you. Have I given you an Earnest? Oh! Balloons! You're a balloon seller or dealer or fan. Hi! My name is Warm Threads!" She grabbed the balloon pony's hoof and shook it vigorously. "What's yours?"

Funfact watched as the brown coated filly trotted, leaving behind compressed dirt and a soft click against the cobblestone that had been made only a week ago by money set aside by the town.
Funfact listened her words as they trailed from her mouth like flies to the trash can right outside of amusement park that were his ears. The words were arranged like picked flowers. They sat up looking pretty till they discovered they had been living on burrowed time. Where they met the Truth after taxes.

With a flash of braided red hair the filly took his hoof in her's. Shaking like a gorilla would a broadsword after discovering he couldn't solve a puzzle. His eyes were tar black as he stared up at her, retracting his hoof as he leaned against his cart, letting the pink bubble that had formed over his mouth pop. "Earnest should be given to a teacher or one who fall from a tree." He blinked once sense she had arrived, returning his blank expression that seem to just drink in other's faces like a mirror would. "We are tied to threads that move and guide us. We create these threads by trying to dodge the Truth that would bathe us in soapy water, adding a lack of color to a world of grey and black." He said as the tip of his horn lit black, snipping a balloon and tying it to her horn. It was scarlet red as it fought to meet the sky. "I sell balloons to keep the colt who comes knocking loudly and yells at me doesn't come. As for who I am."

He said as the cart moved back a little, making squeak for he had added the subtle bit of weight to it. "I am a seeker of Truth."

Threads beamed at the balloon that was tied to her horn. "Thanks, Truth Seeker, if that is your real name," she joked, punctuating it with a large wink, "But I give a stuffed toy to every new pony in town as a sort of 'Welcome to Trottingham!' gift. And you, you look like an Earnest sort of pony! Bonus! I think I actually have an Earnest in my bag..."

Rummaging through her bag she pulled out a stuffed toy cat. This was not a normal cat, for normal cats did not usually come equipped with a top hat, monocle, and cane. "Earnest! The gentlecat thief and feline fibber! Arch-nemesis to the Diamond Dog Detective!" She then put on a silly voice while moving the stuffed cat as if it were talking. "'The fake is of far greater value. In it's attempt to be real, it becomes more real than the thing it tries to imitate.' Oh, what a little scamp! Saying a thing is more of a thing if it's not really the thing but is trying to be the thing. I have a thing, Truth Seeker, I give the thing to you!" With a flourish, Threads dumped Earnest onto the balloon pony's face.

"So, why are you here, Truth Seeker? You could just be here for no reason, but you seem like a reasonable sort of pony, so I guess there is a reason for you being here. You could be seeking more truth, but I doubt Trottingham has more truth than any other place. I mean, doesn't everywhere have truth? Like those flowers over there." She pointed at a flower bed. "They look pretty truth-y to me. Unless they're made out of plastic, in which case they still are flowers except they're made out of plastic!"

"Flowers are the greatest lairs. They grow from the ground in hopes they will spread themsevle over hill and garden till they see the world pays no heed till they adorn colors to attract and enlure us into their Truths. They would ask you to sniff and press your nose to them in hopes you will carry their future to to far off lands." His horn lit up as it brushed against dandelion, letting it's children take to the wind.

"Also cannot accept this gift to show welcome to the city of Walking Hogs. For I am not Truth Seeker. I am a Seeker of Truth." He said as he rose, chewing lightly on his gum as he stared at the filly. His eyes once leaving when he lifted the cat up and tied four balloons to keep it afloat in front of you. A smug smile formed on his lips as all the facts came together in his mind.

"I am in Trottingham to find a doll. One I can trust." He said as his he lowered a gaze to the monocle eyed cat, who spoke of fake like it had something to do with Truth and Lies. He would speak to him later in private as a gentle-cat such as him would respect. "I was asked by a mare who claimed it ran away. I also am sent these letters. Gold and Light Blue." He stared at the small pile that rested on his cart. "The gold ones have money in them and the white ones are complaints. Often my mail box reflects the color of the sky with flakes of gold."

"Oh, I insist not-Truth Seeker," Threads stressed, pushing Earnest towards the mysterious pony "You are a newcomer to Trottingham, seeker of truth or not, and even though you won't tell me your name, Earnest here is now yours. In fact, Earnest never said what was his real name was either when he tried to cheat somepony of her money, so you two suit each other like peas in a pod. Biscuits in a box. A jar of jelly snakes! Do you like sweets, not-Truth Seeker?"

At the mention of a doll, Threads looked thoughtful. "You know, I've been making stuffed toys most of my life, and I've never had a case of one running away. Maybe it had good reason to? Do you think it's a really good idea, not-Truth Seeker, to pursue it? Earnest said himself that, 'Even if the truth is as one suspects, it may be still worthless'."

Threads smiled at the the seeds of dandelion as they were carried by the wind to their futures. "And I disagree with you, not-Truth Seeker. The flowers aren't liars at all. Rather, their colours and scents are a plea. A plea so they may have a future. That is their truth, no matter what a Seeker of Truth says nor thinks." She undid the balloon from her horn. "So, what manner of bit and request summon a seeker of truth here?"

"We deny what others say as we drop heavy replies to force a observation to fact. When we ourselves are unable to see the whole thing." He lifted his hoof as he tucked the bit of gum behind his teeth as he counted the hairs on it, like it's number would hold some answer. "We use cats that speak lies and half-truths in hopes that we can have what we do judged by another. Like flower we make ourselves colorful in hopes we won't see the black and white of our being."

Funfact lifted his gaze to the tree behind him with the kite caught in as he tied the balloon to her horn. "I follow the doll because I was made to do so. It's not a question if I should return her or catch her. My only mission if to find and learn why. So I cannot accept your doll. I don't trust cats." He said a the summer breeze washed over you. The soft chewing began chewing his gum once more. "I am requested by Need To Know Basis and few allies who send things my way. Also at times I pick up a case to pursuit on my own time."

A foal came up and Funfact floated him a balloon as he set bit on the cart, running off. "I learned how to make balloons from a clown I met once. He told me never to open my mouth when I turn in case of a pie and to always give free balloons if they met the requirements." He said as he popped the four balloons hold the cat doll as landed before him.

Warm Threads gave a small sad smile. "It's not my Earnest, not-Truth Seeker, though I may have sewn him together. It's yours, and if you choose to leave it there on the road gathering dust, I will be of course saddened, but that will be of course up to you."

She started walking away. "So it appears you are a detective. The ones that preserve the dead by disturbing the living, the ones that honour the living by desecrating the dead. There was something I thought I would ask detective for a favour if ever I met one, but it seems that such trivialities would be far beneath you, if you don't even bother to take Earnest with you. I find that one can know a lot about a pony simply by looking at how they treat something like a stuffed toy. Goodbye, not-Truth Seeker. I hope you find the truth you may be looking for."

She started to head off, still holding the balloon.

Funfact wore a smug smile as he set a balloon in her path as he set his head on the cat toy, making his head sag into his stomach. "We judge another whole being in thirty seconds of meeting. A flower and a doll maker understand these Truths greater then any other. So they put nice clothes and pretty pedals in the hopes it will catch the eyes of carrier to take them to a greater future then the one planted in the ground." Leaving his cart to it's fate he walks toward the filly with piercing black eyes.

"I have a question. Only one fact remains gripped in the lies that boil in this place that is anything but a square where we honor a colt who used lies and bits to fight against noble who was anything but." He tapped the head of the doll as it stood with it's proud and elegant stance of one who wishes to be seen in certain light. "Does this doll stop nightmares." He asked with a voice that could defined as on the edge of Earnest tone.

Threads blinked. "Well, that depends on the nature of the nightmare. If it's being chased by a giant cheese sandwich, Earnest probably isn't going to help there. Hey, I wonder if cheese sandwiches have dreams in which they get chased by giant versions of themeselves. If it's being chased by a giant version of yourself, you can give Earnest to giant-you, and the nightmare stops being a nightmare and just becomes a really surreal experience. Some nightmares feel scary, but just sound silly when you wake up. Like when I thought Trottingham was being invaded by sentient sofas! That's so silly, isn't it? If sofas were sentient, they would be our friends! Oh, even better if you dream of being chased by a giant cheese sandwich, whilst being a cheese sandwich yourself! Whist riding a sentient sofa into the sunset! That would be a cool dream, why can't I have that dream? You're so lucky not-Truth Seeker, you should cherish dreams that are that cool. I don't know exactly how Earnest will fit into that, though. Oh! Maybe as a narrator!"

Putting on her 'Earnest' voice, Threads said, "And so, our hero not-Truth Seeker chased the doll whilst being himself chased by a fellow cheese sandwich riding a sentient sofa into the sun, whereupon he became a toasted cheese sandwich because he neglected to wear sunscreen. So all in all, not-Truth Seeker, you should always wear sunscreen when you go to the seaside because sunburn really hurts."

Threads paused, then nodded happily. "At the very least, Earnest would help with such matters."

"Sunscreen rejects the harmful rays of Truth from the sun. I'd prefer to mange myself with the sands of times, letting each flanks that falls from my hoof to decide how long I have to stare at the ocean." He said as he glanced down at the classy cat before him. "If sofas could talke they would tell you the butt of the joke as they took a drag of thier cigars that filled the room with fancy words that coated lies like powdered sugar."

He floated up Earnest on his back as he used a few strings to bind him in place. His tar black eyes stared up at the kite in the tree. "I never had a good dream. Only nightmares have plagued me. I seek the Truth by day, where they are unable to reach me, dragging me back in the sauce pool of cheesy chaos." He wore a smug smile as the kite slipped to the branch below. "I have used many means to prevent these nightmares, but none have worked." He lifted his hoof, like example of his many endeavor could be seen on his hoof. If this revealed anything at all. Only the foal who lived in the pink house with yellow boarders and white picket fence would know.

"I have collected facts that tie together the thread of lies that are cast around you, but all I need is motive." He said as he floated the balloon that he had placed in your path back to the his cart. "In order to discover this Truth I must ask you stay the night at my Flat so when the morning I awake we can see if you are a creature of Truth, or a quilt of lies."

(Kite? Huh. Not too sure what's happening, there.)

"Sorry, but no," Threads chirped, "I'm not the type of mare who stays the night with cute yet strange stallions at the first meeting. If you really want to find out more about me, you'll have to ask me on a date. Or just come by my store every now and then if I'm not really your type, which I guess I'm not. We seem to sit on very different trains of thought, holding differing tickets of perspective...mine has a smiley face."

She poked the stallion on the nose. "Maybe you should smile and be happy more. Don't our dreams simply reflect our minds back to us? So your poor mind is looking in the mirror and screaming, 'Who's this angry and scary and strange pony?' Always look on the bright side of life, they sing, even as they get unfairly executed by a corrupt and inept government! So lighten up, not-Truth Seeker, and soon you'll be the one chasing the cheese sandwiches on your sugar coated sofa!"

Humming and dancing her way forward in her path, she asked, "And what about you, not-Truth Seeker? Are you a blanket of Truth? Or a beast of lies? Or maybeeeee..." She grinned. "You're a one eyed, one legged, flying purple pony eater of who knows! A one eyed, one legged, flying purple pony eater of who knows? A one eyed, one legged, flying purple pony eater of who knows! Sure sounds strange to me!" She followed this with uncontrollable giggles.

Funfact turned his head to the left in a slight, precision in his manner as a blew a small bubble from the gum that had laid dormant in his mouth for time as he looked off at small carriage with two couples chatting as they enjoyed a double date. "I was not after your heart when I asked. I was after your power."

He lifted the doll in the air with his hoof, holding it by the scruff of it's neck as traditional to stare back you with it's gentle-cat expression. "If this cat could somehow fight off the nightmares that keep me awake, then the creator would be more suitable as the guardian. All it's skill were forged in your hoofs. Like rain clouds we watch as they stuff themselves, growing heavier with each meal. We watch them in their self destruction because we know one words or hoof could move them till they decide for themselves to change. One day they pour their worries to the earth."

The strings he had used to tie the cat on his back had been cut when he presented forward, they hit the ground, which cause him to pause only brief as he turned his attention to them. "There is good or bad side of anything. Their is only Truth." He said as saw the kite fall to the ground below as the wind picked it up and took it in it's embrace for moment before laying down. "I cannot fly like bird. I can weave a cloak of magic lies to allow me to float, but it is a false dream. I was not created for this purpose. I must seek white and black. Purple is only a color to bring me deceit." He lifted his hoof to offer her a balloon. "I will pay you eight balloons to fight nightmares."

"...not-Truth Seeker, I can't fight dreams," Threads laughed, "I only take them and give them physical forms of fabric and cotton. In my bag, I have a Mr Sun, Little Cloud, a Red Train, and Bananas in Pajamas to give to any other new pony I might happen to meet. Earnest the gentlecat thief happened to be the one that suited you the most. It will be good to you; good and evil do exist, if only in our minds. After all, nightmares come from somewhere, don't they?"

She hummed happily. "And I thought you would be the last pony to be afraid of nightmares, not-Truth Seeker; would you prefer saccharine dreams made of artificial sweeteners? Or maybe a blank sleep, with everything swept under a featureless cover? My dolls don't give you what you want; they give you what you need."

Attempting to go on her way again, she wondered out loud, "I don't how I make dolls. I mean, I know how to fluff and stuff and sew, but I don't know I manage to weave emotion and feeling into them. In that respect, I'm a bit of a blind dollmaker, not quite knowing how it works, but that it works."

She waved. "Goodbye again, not-Truth Seeker! Take care of Earnest and your nightmares should start to cease troubling you!"

Funfact listened to the filly as she spoke. Drinking her words like you would milk till the point it would be impossible and it would pour over you in waterfalls of white as he stared at the cat. "I do not trust cats, so in reason I cannot trust you Earnest. For you would take my dreams from me or black mail me. For a thief must take. Due too your clothes you do not need food or warmth, so you take because you find entertainment in it."

His expression had a smug smile as he watched the filly walk away. "But you have revealed a deeper truth. For nothing can be made without first being able to be there. Meaning there is a little Earnest in her heart. The only question is is she the thief or does she remember his face each time she closes her eyes." He closed his own as he said this, raising up as he now had his first case in Torttingham.

(Case 1: Yarn balls and Trip wire.)