Chapter 6: "Quaramonte City."
I awoke in my bed in our hotel room, the terrifying imagery from my dream, still fresh in my mind. I got up, stretched and prepared myself to take on the day.
My body still ached from our fight with those ninja initiates. But it didn't stop me from managing to get dressed in my favorite white blouse and butterfly bow tie (Oh, how I missed you!)
Once I was ready, I met up with Daring at the local ferry. We had planned to travel to Quaramonte City, a local rural town that could be found on the western island of the Keyes, where all the ancient Mayan ruins were supposed to be. It was also where Cobalt Industries was having CWF ship whatever it was they were shipping.
Whatever it was, and what it was used for, we hoped to find out when we arrived. Dr. Seastone agreed to stay at the hotel, and see what she could decipher from the many files Clotter had lent us. (The police had closed down the ship yard for obvious reasons, but he wanted to help however he could. He also promised to keep a better eye on the place, once the ship yard was reopened again.)
With yesterday behind us, me and Daring boarded the morning Ferry to Quaramonte City.
Quaramonte Docks, Early Morning
As we disembarked from the ferry, we saw that Quaramonte City, was more of a small, tropical village. There were few buildings, and the ones that we saw were made of heavily beaten stone and wood. There were many locals selling fruits and vegetables from blankets they had set up on the ground as makeshift shops. Tourists and vacationers alike were clustered around stands and around vendors, eager to get souvenirs or a taste of the Keyes famous cuisine. The marketplace was deafening with chatter and conversation, many of which were spoken in other languages.
Daring was dressed in her usual green adventurers shirt and pith helmet. (Though the helmet was the same, she swore it was a different shirt.) She looked around the place and breathed in the smell of the ocean. "I'd always wanted to come to this place. Plenty of ruins, which means plenty of opportunities for them to have ancient and powerful treasures guarded by a whole army of booby traps!" she exclaimed excitedly.
I smiled at her as we made our way through the market. Daring spotted an elderly local pony selling cabbages from his cart. He was a tired looking stallion with a tacky Hawaiian shirt and a squat boat hat. He didn't appear to have much enthusiasm, selling his wares.
"Hey!" she called to him.
"Yes? You wanna buy something?" he asked quickly.
"Uh, no. Not really."
"I have cabbage! Buy a cabbage, senorita."
"Look, I don't want cabbage, I want info. Do you know anything about Cobalt Industries having stuff shipped to this island?"
"No. Buy a cabbage. I'll give you a discount on bulk purchases."
"Who the heck buys a bulk purchase of cabbage?!"
"Ponies who like cabbage, senorita. You buy cabbage now?"
Daring sighed, clearly getting annoyed. "Okay, we'll do this another way." she pulled out the strange flint statue Dr. Seastone had snatched when she was taken. "This look familiar to you?" she asked, holding it so the stallion could see it clearly. "Our friend managed to snatch it off one of those Setting Sun nutjobs. Do you know anything about it?"
Suddenly, his tired old eyes widened as he looked at the small statue with horror. "No! Tezcatlipoca! Put it away, senorita!" he yelled, drawing the attention of the rest of the village.
Daring put the statue away quickly. "Okay, Okay! Relax. What's Tezcatlipoca?"
"Tezcatlipoca is a being of pure evil. He sleeps beneath the Keyes, imprisoned for eternity by our tribal ponies. To even speak his name is to risk his return!" the poor stallion explained, clearly scared to even be speaking of it.
So scared in fact, that he left without trying to sell Daring cabbage.
Daring returned to me and handed the statue back. "Wow. I had no idea we were carrying an ancient Mayan deity of pure evil in our pocket." she said, looking surprised.
"We should see what we can find out about this Tezcatlipoca. If those ninjas had it, this might be the deity the cult worships. The more we know the better."
Daring nodded. "Right."
I spotted a local fisherman, selling an array of colorful fish at his market stall. I approached his stall and waved. "Good morning, sir. Do you mind if we ask you something?"
"Is it about fish?"
"No. We were wondering if you knew anything about this statue." I held the statue up for him to see.
Just like the cabbage vendor, the fisherman looked at the the small ugly thing with horror. "Si, senorita!- It is very, very bad luck! That is Tezcatlipoca, The Traveler that brings death, wherever he walks!"
"Would it matter if I don't believe in luck? Good or bad?"
The fisherman shook his head sadly. "You may not now, but you will." With that, he closed his stall and went inside his hut, leaving us standing there, bewildered. Another guy we managed to scare out of his wits. We were getting nowhere fast.
We needed to get some solid information on this Tezcatlipoca, without scaring half the village into hiding.
It was then that we spotted two musicians, playing a jovial tune that practically breathed the sounds of the tropics. Perhaps if we steered clear of the whole "Evil statue in our pocket" thing, we might actually find out what Cobalt Industries is doing in Quaramonte.
I approached the two musicians. "Sorry to bother you guys, but we were wondering if you could help us with something." I said politely.
The shortest of the two, a squat stallion with severe chin stubble and a wacky looking hat, smiled. "Of course, Senorita. What can we do for you?"
"My name is Morning Meir, and this is Daring Do-
"THE Daring Do." Daring added proudly.
"Right. We were wondering if you would answer a few questions for a case I'm looking into."
The two musicians nodded. "Of course. We will help however we can." the squat one replied.
Questioning (Lanky and Squats Lopez, Local Musicians, May have information on Cobalt/CWF)
If Nawlans taught me anything, it was that musicians knew way more then they seemed. I hoped that these two could testify to that. We needed information on Cobalt and what deal they had going with the CWF. More importantly, what they wanted with them and what they were shipping to the Keyes. Daring stood by while I questioned our new musician friends.
My first question was obvious. "Have you two seen anything concerning Cobalt Industries as of late?"
Lanky, the tallest one, nodded. "Oh! Si, Senorita! We saw a ship, flying a flag with their logo on it!"
"Where did you see this ship?"
"At the docks. About....three months ago, I think."
Three months ago?? Just how long had this been going on? Had Simon been involved in this for that long? Part of me still hoped he was innocent in all this. I still hadn't seen anything that made him out to be the mastermind behind all of this.
Putting that aside, I asked my next question. "Would you guys happen to know anything about the Lunar Eclipse?"
"Oh! Is it Princess Luna's birthday already?" asked Squat.
"Uh...not that I know of. It's a natural Lunar eclipse."
"What's that?"
"It's when the moon passes directly behind the earth into its umbra, without princess Luna moving the moon herself."
Lanky looked skeptical. "That's crazy."
"No! My cousin, Alfredo, swears he saw it happen once!" Squats exclaimed. "Of course it was after he stupidly downed a cocktail of peyote and antibiotics..."
Right. Next question. "Did you guys happen to see what was on the ship with the Cobalt logo?"
"No, senorita. We weren't allowed near the docks."
"Huh? Why not? I thought the docks were open to the public."
"That's right. Usually, we meet the ships when they tie up." Squats explained. "We play to the tourists."
I was beginning to see the picture now. "So what happened?" I asked.
"Well, when the Cobalt ship came in, we were told to go away!" Lanky exclaimed.
"Really? I'm sorry to hear that." I said sincerely. "Did they ever tell you why?"
"No, Senorita. We went to ask the local Policia, but the chief just told us not to worry about it. Perhaps she can tell you more about the ships. She seemed to know more then what she lead on."
So, the local police might know something about Cobalt having stuff shipped here from the CWF. I guess that would be our next lead then. I only hoped she would be as helpful as Karosta had been on my last case.
Or at least less short tempered.
Quaramonte Estación de Policía, 9:37 am
After thanking Lanky and Squats for their help, we had no trouble finding the police station (Considering it was the only building in town with the word POLICIA on it.) We took a minute to notice the welcoming sign above the entrance before entering.
The police station itself was small, with an oak desk, several filing cabinets and a pull down map. Of which, there were two ponies, who appeared to be engaged in a hushed conversation while looking at the map.
One, a beautiful snow colored mare with a blonde mane, in what looked like a pink police uniform (And wearing quite a bit of makeup) was speaking to an elderly stallion with a massive white mustache.
"I have done just as I've been instructed, professor." said the mare in the police uniform, in a rather proud eccentric tone. "With the jungle closed off, there'll be no-one around to interfere with the excavation."
The professor in question, simply nodded in response.
As the door shut behind us, the mare turned to greet us. "Oh! I have visitors..." she said this in a manner as if to dismiss the professor.
And he apparently got the hint. "Just remember what I told you, Mara Villa." he said gruffly. "There's no need to make a martyr out of a savior..." with that he left without another word.
As we watched the clearly ticked professor leave, Mara cleared her throat to get our attention. I turned to see her smiling at me, her face more like that of a supermodel then a police mare.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, miss Meir." she said in an overly polite fashion that didn't match the biting ego I heard in her voice. "My name is Mara Villa, chief of police in our little slice of paradise. Welcome To Quaramonte!" she announced.
Mara Villa did not seem like any police chief I knew of. She was more of an actress, trying out for the role of one in a movie. Also the fact she had the word POLICE bedazzled in rhinestones on the front of her police hat, didn't give me much confidence. (Nor the suspicious conversation she was just having, that she was clearly trying to distract us from asking about.)
I decided to put it aside for now, as I smiled back. "Thank you. I didn't know anyone even knew I was here, to be honest."
"Don't be silly! How could I not know that the smartest pony in the world was visiting the Keyes!" she exclaimed.
I ignored the redness in my cheeks (as usual) and got straight to it. "Um...thank you, Chief Villa, but-
"Please. Mara is fine."
"Um, okay. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions, Mara?
Mara smiled as she took a seat behind her desk. "You've come to the right place then! There's nothing that happens in Quaramonte, that I don't know about. I'll answer whatever you need me to."
She was hiding something. Her face was beautiful and friendly, but as I said before. She felt more like an actress then an actual police chief. Still though, if she was willing to help, I was all for it. We needed to find out what was really happening in the Keyes. With so many questions that needed answers, I was glad to be getting some from any source.
Questioning (Chief Mara Villa, Police Chief of Quaramonte City, Should be able to tell us about the CWF shipments.)
Mara reminded me of a fashion designer I knew back in Ponyville. But she seemed, much less....generous. She wasn't afraid to keep secrets, especially if they benefited herself. Or perhaps she was simply hiding from a much bigger threat. In any case, this mare was certainly good at acting like nothing was wrong. If luck had it, maybe I could help her.
I only hoped she could help me first.
I stuck with normal questioning first, to see if I could get her to lower her guard a little. Her "Just-Smile-And-Wave" routine was like a barrier to keep ponies like us from snooping too far into things. We had to bring it down. "Are there any ruins around the city?" I asked, trying my best to sound like another tourist.
"Of course, miss Meir! Quaramonte has everything!" Mara answered, enthusiastically.
Daring decided to step in, knowing this mare was obviously hiding something as well. "Awesome. Any chance we could get a tour of one? I was hoping to find my latest groundbreaking archeological discovery in Quaramonte." Daring said, very much trying to get at Mara.
"I would only be too happy to have somepony give you a tour, miss Do!"
"Uh, it's just Dar-
"Unfortunately, our tourism board is all booked up. What with so many coming to see the eclipse in two weeks. Perhaps some other time?"
Okay. Now I knew this mare was hiding something. Nevertheless, I kept playing my part. "I thought the eclipse could only be seen from Klugeico?"
Mara shrugged innocently. "All I know is, they had it in last weeks paper that it would also be visible on the equator. Which means we'll be able to see it perfectly! I won't lie, I'm excited. I've never seen a natural lunar eclipse before."
Hmm. That was interesting. Although I suppose it made sense, considering Klugeico was at the southern most part of Equestria, very near the equator. I wonder why they only just now informed everypony of where it would be visible from? Though the newspaper clipping I found, could've just been an old one.
Anyways, it was time to stop messing around. It was time to get to the real questions. "Who was that old pony you were talking to before we arrived?"
Mara's smile wavered for a tenth of a second before it returned. "Professor Solitaire- a visitor, miss Meir, like yourself."
"Solitaire?" Daring asked.
"That's right. Professor Solitaire. A french archaeologist. I'm sure you've heard of him."
Daring nodded, but her expression was quite serious. "Yeah, I've heard of him. Comes from a line of explorers back in France. He would spend money hiring workers to do all the digging for him, then reap the rewards for himself. He was always coming to blows with REAL archaeologists."
Didn't sound like Daring had a good opinion of the guy. He definitely looked old money, and very gruff from our first impression, at least. From the nervous smile I saw on Mara's face, she also knew the guy. But more from a business perspective. As in "None-Of-Mine" nor anypony else's.
But it was my business to find out whatever I could about what was happening in The Keyes. And I had a feeling this Solitaire guy was right in the middle of it. "What is Solitaire doing on the island?"
Mara's calm expression didn't waver but her eyes gave away she was putting on even more of an act. "Researching our rich and glorious past, miss Meir!" she said simply. "The professor is planning an excavation in the caves within the Voiceless Jungle. He came to see me to get an excavation permit."
She wasn't lying. In fact she hadn't this whole time. But she was able to act like it was basic information, in order to get us to ignore it's real significance. Clever, actually.
But then I asked my next question. "We were hoping you could tell us about the ship that was seen flying the Cobalt Industries flag a few months ago. The one that was seen at the docks. Do you know anything about that?"
Mara's friendly manner vanished. "No. I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, miss Meir."
Daring raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then why did those musicians tell us they saw a ship flying that flag, and they were told to leave the docks? And that you told them not to worry about it?" she inquired sternly.
Mara laughed. "Oh c'mon. They're always making up stories like that to try and get tourists to listen to them play their music. Honestly, what do they know, right?" she joked.
"Wrong." I said, dropping my dumb tourist act at once. "We know that Cobalt is up to something on this island. And since you're the chief of police, you know as well as I do that they recently raided a warehouse owned by Cobalt, for smuggling property of the CWF and housing the Setting Sun cult. If you know anything about what Cobalt is doing in Quaramonte, you'll tell me. Lives are at risk! Maybe the whole of the Emerald Keyes! Doesn't that bother you?!"
Mara stood up from her chair and looked at me with her pretty yet now very sinister looking eyes. "The only thing that bothers me, is ponies who don't know to mind their own business." she said sternly.
But I returned the look. "This case IS my business."
"How? You're not a detective. Your not even police. What can you do, that me and my police can't?"
Daring immediately came to my defense. She rushed forward and slammed her hooves down on the Mara's desk, making the mare fall back in her chair. "Alright, look here blondie!" she exclaimed loudly. "Cobalt is obviously working with the Setting Sun, the same guys who kidnapped us, thanks for coming to rescue us by the way, kidnapped Dr. Seastone, and nearly killed both of us without any of you stepping in to help! They may also be behind the disappearance of Morning's parents and are possibly plotting to destroy the island, if not the world!" Mara glared at Daring, but was clearly scared of her as well.
But she wasn't done yet. "If you idiots did your jobs, you wouldn't need us to do it for you! So, are you actually going to do your job to protect this island, or are we going to do it ourselves?" Daring said matching Mara's glare with her own.
For a minute, neither of them said anything. Then two police colts stepped into the room, batons at the ready.
Mara smirked. "Oh. Look at that." she sneered at Daring. "It's time for you to leave."
"Oh, you're just asking for it now!"
I grabbed Daring and told her it wasn't worth it. And it wasn't. Despite Mara being as far from a respectable police mare as I could think of...she was still the police chief. We didn't need to start a fight here. Not now, anyway.
As we left, those two colts staring us down, I turned back to Mara. "If you know me. If you know the things I have accomplished in my pursuit to see my case solved." I said calmly, "Then you know there is nothing, in this or any other world, that can be thrown at me to stop me from doing it. Remember that, the next time we meet."
Mara only smiled. "I suppose we'll see." she said simply. "Have a nice day!" she said in a mockingly cheery tone.
Back outside, we waited till we were back by the docks to start relaying to each other our opinions on Mara Villa.
"Well. She seems nice." I said bitterly. Our one lead on what Cobalt is up to, and she ends being more of a nuisance then any help.
Daring laughed. "I've met nicer." she joked. "Did you see that map though?"
"You mean the one she definitely didn't want us to see? Yep. Couldn't make out the details though."
"That mare is hiding something. Something she's not too keen on letting other ponies in on."
"True." I agreed. "We need to keep an eye on her."
Daring nodded. "Her and Solitaire. Trust me, Morning. If he's here, it means bad news for everyone."
"Have you ever met him?"
"I've heard stories. About how far he's willing to go to get what he wants. The lives he's willing to ruin." Daring warned. "And he has enough money to make sure it happens."
"Well, if he's heading to the Voiceless Jungle, there's only one thing he could be after."
"Great." Daring sighed. "More competition. Do you think Mara is working with him too?"
"Wouldn't surprise me. Though they don't seem to be friends."
Before we could continue our conversation, a high pitched voice suddenly squealed out in delight from a merchants stall.
We went to investigate and found an extremely excitable mint green earth pony, with a fluffy mane, orange satchel, and a cupcake for a cutie mark. She was hopping up and down with joy as she appeared to be purchasing a small statue of a peanut dressed as a British solider.
"Now I can complete my collection!" she cheered. "Thank you so much!"
The merchant at the stall looked appreciative, yet nervous at the same time. As if he didn't know if he was talking to a pony or a time bomb dressed as one. He took the ten bits from the mare and then ducked down behind his counter. (Either to hide or protect himself from the blast. Whichever applied, I suppose.)
I recognized the mare, instantly as Coco Pie, an extremely excitable and happy earth pony who had helped me save Nawlans from the mass voodoo conspiracy that controlled it, during my last case.
And from Daring's expression, so did she. "I take it you know her, too?" I asked smiling.
Daring gave me a surprised look. "Wait. You know Coco, too? Makes sense actually. She's always selling something to somepony."
"She actually helped me save the world from a voodoo cult ruled by a power hungry sociopath." I explained.
"Oh. Well, that's a new one. Heh"
Then I had an idea. I pulled out the statue of Tezcatlipoca and showed it to Daring. "Do you think she'll know anything about this? Everyone else here is terrified to even look at the thing, but her...."
Daring smiled broadly. "That's brilliant! Coco lives and breathes weird and crazy stuff. There's no doubt she'll know something about our Mayan friend here."
With that we approached Coco Pie, who upon seeing us, looked surprisingly calm about it. "Oh! Hey Daring! I thought I'd run into you guys, here!" she said happily.
Daring smiled back. "Hey Coco. You heard we were here in the papers I bet. Especially after that whole warehouse thing."
Coco looked off to the side and smiled curtly. "Uh, suuurre. That's how I knew you were here."
Not more then five seconds into a conversation and she was already confusing us. Classic Coco Pie.
"Um. Okay. We were hoping you could look at something for us."
Coco leaned in and smiled slyly. "Is it weird and possibly supernatural in origin?" she asked cutely.
Daring nodded. "Very."
"Yay! Let me see!"
Daring handed Coco the idol and she had barely even looked at it before she gave her analysis. "Dios Mio! Tezcatlipoca!" she exclaimed, pretending to be scared.
Daring rolled her eyes. "So can you tell us anything or-
"Oh, I can tell you everything about this guy, Daring." Coco said proudly.
Coco held the idol up for us to see. "Tezcatlipoca. The Lord Of Darkness." she began. "A supreme deity of ancient Mayan culture. His name means "smoking mirror" but here he is known by his true name: The Traveler."
"The Traveler?"
Coco pointed out a small round object that the idol was holding in it's left claw. "You see this?" Coco asked, pointing with her hoof. "It's a mirror. The Mayans believed he could look into the mirror and see into your heart. Your soul. Your very being. And there was no way of hiding from him"
Coco's eyes suddenly became very dark and ominous. "He was the wind which came howling in the night in search of victims. And victims they gave him, by the thousands! Ponies, animals- anything that bled. The steps to his temple ran red with the blood of sacrifices."
A huge chill went down my spine as I listened, becoming more and more terrified as Coco explained. "The Mayans have a legend that says he'll return one day. Hopefully, none of us will be around to see it..."
Then just like that, Coco snapped back to her smiling and cheery self. "Does that help?" she asked with a bright smile, handing Daring back the idol.
Daring and I were both horrified now. I was practically shaking in my own hooves as I tried to calm myself down. No wonder everyone on this island was terrified of this thing. That had a very, very good reason to be. And now....so did we. If the Setting Sun's plan was to summon this...thing into our world, we suddenly had a lot more to worry about. And an even greater reason to stop them.
Daring nodded as she took the idol back, and put back in her satchel. "T-thanks, Coco. That....That helped us at least know what were dealing with..." Daring said, clearly still shaken from Coco's disturbing change from happy earth pony to terrifying story teller.
"You're welcome!" Coco said cheerfully. "Is there anything else?"
Then I thought of something else: The eclipse. It had been coming up multiple times in this case, and I had a feeling it meant more then what it seemed. And if my first case taught me anything, it was that a natural eclipse, ironically, was about as unnatural as it got.
"Actually, Coco, there is something else. Do you know about the eclipse?" I asked politely.
"Of course! I can't wait to see it too! I brought my special glasses and everything!"
"Um. I don't think you'll need special glasses to watch a lunar eclipse but....does it mean anything?"
"Hmm?"
"The lunar eclipse, does it mean anything?"
Coco cocked her head to one side and thought to herself for a minute. "Wellll, for me it'll be something cool to look at in the sky. But, to the ancient Mayans it marked the end of the fifth age."
Daring smiled. "Cool. Is the island throwing a party?" she asked. "Maybe a big festival or something for the new age?"
But Coco shook her head. "Well...no. Actually, the end of the fifth age heralds destruction on a global scale." Coco explained rubbing the back of her neck nervously.
"There is no new age after that. The fifth is the final age- ending in the total destruction of the earth!" Coco exclaimed dramatically.
For a moment, we just stood there in stunned silence. Coco certainly knew how to make the end of the world, somehow sound even scarier then it already was. You had to admire that.
Putting aside Coco's ability to be terrifying at a moment's notice, I smiled as I thanked her for her help. "Thanks, Coco. You've been a big help."
The lovable earth pony smiled back. "Aw, it was nothin! I can also tell you about the CWF's offices here in Quaramonte, if you want!"
My eyes widened. "Um..." I said unsure of how she could possibly know that. But decided to just log it under It's Coco Pie. "That would be great, actually." I replied. That would definitely help, tremendously. Why try and pointlessly squeeze info from Mara Villa, when we could just go directly to the CWF, themselves! They would at least be more helpful then she was.
Coco turned and pointed to the roads that led past the police station, to a large white building that looked terribly out of place fro a rural, tropical village. It was shaped like an igloo and appeared to be made of some form of solid cloud vapor and steel. Several weather instruments were seen buzzing, humming and sparking all around it's roof. The words CWF Home Offices was displayed in large blue letters above the entrance, which appeared to be an automatic glass door.
Daring and I both looked at it dumbfounded. "Huh. Well, that was easy." said Daring, turning to talk to Coco without taking her eyes off the building. As if she looked away, it would suddenly vanish. "How did you know that was here?"
Coco simply shrugged. "I'm hip. I hear things." she joked.
"Well, thanks Coco. We'll see you around, okay?"
Coco smiled and waved as we made our way to the CWF offices. "Sure thing! Good luck saving the world!....Again!" she called back to us.
Coco was certainly an excitable one. But this would be the second time she had helped me solve a case. She certainly knew how to come through for her friends.
Seriously though: How did she know all this?? I wouldn't stop wondering that till we were through the doors of the CWF Home Offices.
CWF Home Offices, 10:37 am
Stepping through the doors of the CWF Home Offices was like taking a step into an office building from Manehatten. Polished obsidian floors, many expensive looking mahogany desks where several Pegasai were busy working at their terminals and moving papers and files to filing cabinets. Large pillars resembling that of a roman temple, bordered the room, and a mural of several cloud formations could be seen adorning the roof. a few skylights, allowed sunlight to brighten up the room.
As we walked to the help desk, looking around at the splendor of the place, we were greeted by who we assumed to be the manager of the place. A purple Pegasus in a suit and tie and fluffy pink mane, smiled at us as we approached. "Hello! Welcome to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory Home Offices! My name is Rainbowshine, manager and proprietor of this office. How can I help you, miss Meir? Miss Do?"
I just assumed, everypony on the island knew about us by now. Plus, there was no time to worry about that.
"Nice to meet you, miss shine." I greeted her with a smile. "We were actually hoping to ask you about the CWF and Cobalt Industries. Does the CWF have an arrangement with them to ship equipment or some such to the Keyes?"
Rainbowshine's blue eyes went wide as she looked taken back a bit. "Oh, um...well. I actually can't reveal company information to the public. Not without the owner's permission anyway."
Daring raised an eyebrow. "The owner? I thought you were in charge here." she asked.
"Oh! I'm the manager, yes. But The owner is the owner of the entire Cloudsdale Weather Factory and it's subsidaries. My boss's boss. I can't reveal company information without his say so." Rainbowshine said politely.
"Is there any chance you could give him a call? Trust me it's important. I'm actually here-
"Investigating the disappearance of your parents?" Rainbowshine finished for me.
I was taken back by that. How did she know? It wasn't in the news. The media had been told by the science institute to keep the public unaware so as not to provoke a panic. (My parents are very important, yes. But more so because the Keyes is supposed to be a safe vacation resort. What would ponies think if the most important geniuses in the country had gone missing or worse, were kidnapped while staying in the Keyes, which is supposed to be protected by Simon's security blockades? My hunch is, they wouldn't respond well.
I hesitated before I responded to Rainbowshine. "Um, yes. But.....How-
Rainbowshine laughed. "Miss Meir. The CWF works with the The Equestrian Institute of Science on many of our projects. We were some of the first to know when your parents went missing. Your trying to find them? The CWF is right there with you!" she said happily. "Give me one minute."
She pressed a button on the desk, and a red phone popped out of the top of the table from a hidden door. Rainbowshine picked up the receiver and pushed a series of buttons, and waited.
"Hello, sir. Sorry to bother you, but.....huh? Oh yes. Really? Um.....okay. Thank you. You have a nice day too, sir."
She hung up the phone and smiled at us. "Okay! What do you guys need to know?"
Daring looked confused. "Um....what just happened?"
Rainbowshine winked. "The owner said it's fine. Soooo....what do you want to know?"
Questioning (Rainbowshine, Manager of CWF Home Offices, Can tell us about the connection between the CWF and Cobalt)
Whoever the owner of the CWF was, they were clearly on our side. And the connection between the CWF and Cobalt was clear, and was definitely a part of whatever the Setting Sun were planning for the Keyes. Whatever that may be. But we knew it wasn't good.
And that we had to stop them.
My first question was rather simple. "What is the connection between the CWF and Cobalt Industries?"
"The Cloudsdale Weather Factory was contracted to deliver a few shipments of weather equipment to Cobalt Industries warehouses in the Keyes. Primarily, equipment meant to deal with extremely hot weather. As well as a few crates of seismic sensors. Cobalt never told us what it was for."
"Are you still working with them?" I asked.
"Nope. After our last shipment, the owner cut all ties with Cobalt. We stopped taking any contracts from them and that was it. Our last shipment was about...3 weeks ago, I believe."
"Why did the owner cut ties with Cobalt Industries?" asked Daring.
"I'm....not sure. Said they couldn't be trusted. Had us sever all connections, and cancel every contract we had with them. Whatever it was, he had a good reason."
"What makes you say that?" I asked, now even more curious about this mysterious owner of CWF. How did he know so much about what was going on? How did he know we were even here? I didn't think I'd be getting any answers to these questions.
But Rainbowshine only smiled. "He always has a good reason." she confirmed. I suppose that was my answer. "Is there anything else you needed?" she asked politely.
Actually there was. "What can you tell me about Chief Mara Villa?"
Rainbowshine stifled a laugh before she answered. "Oh, dear Celestia. You got on her bad side, I bet."
"She has a good side?" Daring scoffed.
Regardless of that (Though Daring obviously had a point) I knew what I was going to ask. "She has a map by her desk in the police station. She was showing it to an archaeologist earlier and was acting like she really didn't want anyone else to look at it. Any idea what that's about?"
Rainbowshine put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Hmm. Mara has always had her secrets. Did she say who the archaeologist was?"
"His name is Solitaire."
"Hmm. The name sounds familiar. If he was working with Mara, it's possible that they are working to find that big discovery Dr. Cobalt and his team are excavating in the Voiceless Jungle."
"What would a police chief want with something like that?"
"Well, she wasn't always a police chief. She's from Applewood. Used to be a famous actress. But one scandal later, she took up her mother's career in the police force. A few years later, she gets transferred to the Emerald Keyes, and somehow becomes chief in only a year. Mighty suspicious, if you ask me." Rainbowshine explained. "She's also very aggressive and cautious. She plays the part of a friendly, tourist friendly policemare. At least, till somepony gets too close to something she doesn't want them to."
Mara sounded like someone we had to both keep an eye on. And avoid, if we could. Whatever she was hiding, we would find out. Sooner or later.
"Thanks for all your help, miss Shine." I thanked her, grateful for all the new information we had to work with.
As we left the CWF Home Offices, it occurred to me what we had to do. We had to get a look at that map. Whatever Mara and Solitaire were hiding, it had to do with the same excavation Simon and my parents were working on. Which meant it was a lead for me finding my parents and finding out just what exactly the Setting Sun were up to. But in order to get to the map, we had to distract Mara away from her office.
Luckily, I knew just how to do it.