//------------------------------//
// Prologue: A New Mayor 
// Story: The Manehatten Project 
// by Ddraigtanto 
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"I know, Janine, it's truly awful what happened to Mayor Goldstreets." An off-white unicorn stallion spoke on a cell phone, while sitting the back of a Manehatten taxi carriage. "People loved her so much, and why not? She did such good things for this fine city, truly she was a kind and generous mayor." He sighed. "She did always love dancing and parties though, who would've thought she'd be so taken over by it she'd ended up dancing herself off the top of her boat and drowning? Oh, I know! It was horrible. One minute she was trotting about, admiring and showing off those lovely new shoes someone gave her for her birthday, and then splash!" He winced, his voice choking as he wiped tears from his eyes with a hankie he levitated from his coat pocket. "...I heard she sank like a stone. I would've gone in after her like her bodyguards, but I can't swim. All I could do was watch, she was too heavy for three earth ponies to rescue?! I couldn't bare it, I had to get home. I, I just didn't feel safe out at sea like that... I promise you, I'm never going on a boat again!"
"Mister Cratic, sir, there was nothing you could do. Please don't cry." He slumped against the side of the cabin, listening to his PA on the other side try to sooth him.

Janine was such a nice little pony, a pretty, red-maned unicorn who always had such a nice smile whenever they were together. She'd served him loyally for years; it was nice to have someone to trust in the world of Manehatten politics. It was a scary time to anyone who looked closely enough: Four times, four times in the space of barely a few years had the Princesses, two supposed goddesses (figures, Otto remembered, his brother Theo had dedicated his life to), had been laid low by forces who would see Equestria conquered or destroyed, leaving the fate of a nation in the hands of six random ponies from a scenic little village in the middle of nowhere. It was true that one of them had been Celestia's student for years, and had recently ascended to princesshood, but that only went to further frustrate the white unicorn: Some had everything handed to them on a platter, while he had to work for every advantage he ever got for years: To him, it was an injustice!

"Janine, my dear, I told you a thousand times, you don't need to call me sir, or mister, or any of that sort of thing. My name is Otto." He dried his eyes, chuckling nervously. "But, we are now lacking a mayor, and it's been so long, thank the princesses, since a mayor has died on the job. We're going to have to hold an election for a new one certainly... Perhaps I could even be Mayor Otto soon enough?"
"Well, you'd have my vote, sir... Erm, I mean Otto."
He sighed. "You know, you always know how to cheer me up, don't you?" He paused. "Well, it's a horrible situation, of course, but Manehatten needs a mayor. Get in contact with Princess Celestia for me, we need to arrange an election, and perhaps remind her of my loyal service to her for these many years, and my dedication to her glorious reign, and while we're on the subject... I think it's time, yes, I shall stand for election, I think. Do whatever you can to get my name on the ballot papers."
"Yes sir." Came Janine's voice on the other end.
"Oh, and one more thing, clear my calender for today, and get perhaps get in contact with Mustang, I need him to fly East for me for a while, tell him it's about... astrology. He'll know what it means."

With that, he gave his PA a last goodbye, and hung up, just in time for the taxi to drop him off at his house. Tossing a few bits the way of the driver, he climbed upstairs, quickly trotting into his home, locking the door behind him. He walked over to a pile of spellbooks strewn messily over a table, next to an empty shoebox and a receipt. Using his magic, he quietly picked up the books and sorted them away on their shelves. Next was the box and the receipt, picking up the thin sheet of paper, he glared at it, his magic darkening around the paper until it burst into flames, fluttering down into an ashtray, where he'd left a number of extinguished cigarettes. 
The box was trickier, it was bigger for a start. He felt a twang of regret in his heart as he looked at the empty box, and the picture of glittering, ruby red horseshoes printed on the front. Those shoes would've looked so pretty on Janine, the little filly she was would've been such a sight dancing and skipping about in them. But no, those shoes were made for dancing, and Janine? They were a little too heavy for her. Otto chuckled: Everyone bought it, even Goldstreets, the vain little idiot, until it was too late. Of course she'd be overcome with excitement at finding a box of beautiful red dancing horseshoes sitting on her bed, a birthday present from an anonymous admirer. Oh how comfy they were on her hooves, and so enchantingly beautiful she'd never take them off again. How proud she was when everyone admired her cantering about the deck of her yacht one fine night during her birthday party; how happy she was when she started dancing, far more gracefully than she'd ever done in her life...

...And how frightened she must have been once she discovered her hooves no longer listened to her as they twirled and pranced, faster and faster, against her will; how nobody took her seriously when she cried that she couldn't stop, and how horrified she must have been when all the magic in her horn couldn't get them off. She was dead the second she slipped those shoes on her hooves, and not a single person had so much as suspected Otto, a pony who'd smiled and backed the mayor in every decision she'd ever made for nearly 5 years now, in any of it! Now, the only evidence of his involvement were fused to the corpse of a drowned mare, at the bottom of the ocean.

Otto smiled: Politics was a dirty game, and nobody played it better than him, but he'd played the waiting game for long enough! Now was the time for him to set his plans in motion...