Taking Starlight's advice, Pinkie Pie traveled to Town Hall. Though she was in such a rush as to use her spider costume, she didn't dare keep it on to go inside and talk to Mayor Mare. Despite Martin Lee's apparent hostility, Spider Mare still had a public image that was positive. Pinkie didn't want to do anything that would risk damaging said image, especially since she had no way of knowing what she would turn up on Martin Lee (or if she'd even turn up anything at all).
Because of her work at Town Hall, particularly in the archives room where all manner of important documents were kept, Pinkie Pie had almost unrestricted access. Almost. Mayor Mare still needed to approve.
And so it was that Pinkie's destination within Town Hall was Mayor Mare's office rather than the archives room itself. Mayor Mare was her usual, cheerful self as Pinkie approached her desk. "Pinkie Pie. Such a wonderful surprise to see you here today," She adjusted her yellow trimmed glasses. "Is there something I can help you with? Or have you just come to sort out all the archives again? I didn't know it had gotten to be that time already."
Pinkie shook her head. "No, Mayor Mare, that's not for another two weeks at least," Clearing her throat, the pink party pony proposed her planned intent. "I was hoping you could grant me access to the archives anyway, though. I need to do some more research on Martin Lee."
Mayor Mare just smiled as she rose from her desk. "Hoping to plan a party for him, aren't we? I don't blame you for coming to me, Martin Lee seems to prefer to keep to himself quite often. Most ponies tend to forget he even exists," She trotted alongside Pinkie. "Follow me, please," As the two made their way to the archives Mayor Mare asked. "So, what exactly is it you'd like to know about him? And what brought this sudden interest up exactly?"
"I didn't really think about it at first, but my Aunt Suzanne's been working for him for quite a while now," Pinkie innocently answered. At least that was true. "He's practically her boss. But I'd really like to know more about him. Where he came from, what brought him to Ponyville, where he got the idea for his homeless shelter, those kinds of things. From what little I have, it seems like he just showed up out of the blue one day."
Turning a corner toward the archives room, the elderly mayor just chuckled as she threw back her head. "Nopony just shows up without an explanation. Especially not on my watch. Only Spider Mare and Black Cat remain a mystery to me, and that's because I've never actually met them face to face," Entering the room a second later, she trotted over to the carefully organized drawers. "Now then, let's see what there is on record about Martin Lee."
Pinkie rushed over to the drawer with the "M" folders in it, scrolling back and forth over them until she pulled out the one that read "Martin Lee". She opened up the folder, her blue eyes scanning everything in it carefully. But to her surprise, despite scanning and re-scanning the only things she could turn up was a photo of Martin Lee at the official opening ceremonies of his homeless shelter, and a copy of the Ponyville Express that reported on said opening ceremonies. That was it.
But that couldn't be right. There had to be more to Martin Lee than just that. "This is it?! You've gotta be kidding!"
Mayor Mare trotted over. "That's odd. I could've sworn there were a ton more things in this file when I submitted it to the archives here. And I'm pretty sure they were there last time I checked."
"Of course!" Pinkie realized but didn't say out loud (as not to give away her cover)! "Those criminals Cheese and I busted a few nights back! They must've been a distraction, meant to lure us away! I'll bet The Shocker was a distraction too, so that Mr. Negative could steal Martin Lee's file! But why? What could possibly be in Mr. Lee's past that Mr. Negative or anyone else would want to exploit?!"
"Wait, hold on!" Mayor Mare suddenly called out as her eyes noticed something upon the floor that had fallen out when Pinkie had snatched up the folder. Picking it up with her hooves, she examined what appeared to be a newspaper clipping. After reading over it for a moment, it almost slipped from said hooves as she let out a gasp of shock!
Said gasp drew Pinkie to the clipping. It contained only the headline of a report from the Baltimare Times but the headline contained within was quite shocking! The last sort of thing one would expect to find in any sort of public record. It read in large, unmistakeable letters "Prison Ship Sinks In Killer Storm: Crew And Inmates Assumed Lost at Sea as Recovery Turns Up More Bodies"
"I remember hearing about this. That was one of the saddest days in Equestria's history," Mayor Mare glumly commented. "The ship captain was one of the best in all of Equestria. Heck, I knew him well. He once worked for me when I was just starting out as a clerk," An unhappy sigh left her lips. "They never did find all the bodies. But why would Martin Lee keep such a thing? Why would anypony want a reminder of such a tragic and horrific event? It makes no sense."
Just then, Pinkie Pie felt her 'Pinkie Sense' unexpectedly flare up! She recognized the warning sign, a twitchy tail! That meant something was gonna fall! A second later there came a loud rumble and the whole building began to shake!
Ponies inside began to scream, fearing that it was an earthquake! Pinkie knew better, this was no earthquake! "Mayor Mare, watch out!" She shouted, quickly leaping at the elderly mare and tackling her to the ground mere seconds before there came a deafening kaboom! A massive hole opened up right where Mayor Mare had been standing, and a strange, red mist began to fill the room!
Even as the red mist blocked all else from view, it was possible for Pinkie to see a mysterious stallion enter. He appeared to have the colors and features of a photo negative, complete with a ghostly white coat and a face as black as the night when all stars were blocked out by clouds. His cutie mark was impossible to make out, however.
The stallion spoke not a word, he just grinned as he scooped up the newspaper clipping and left through the opening he had created.
"Could he be Mr. Negative?!" Pinkie thought to herself. Before a sickening cough drew her attention to more pressing concerns. Mayor Mare had been shielded from the blast, but now the mist seemed to be slowly affecting her! "Hold on, Mayor Mare! I'll get you out of here!" Pinkie quickly scooped up the mare, opting to rush out through the opening the blast had created.
Once outside it became clear that someone or something had managed to blow a huge hole in the side of Town Hall! The gazebo like structure now started to sag to the right, and it looked like it was in danger of collapsing!
"Stay there, Mayor Mare! I'll go get help!" Pinkie instructed to the mayor! Now she'd have a cover story for slipping away in order to slip into her spider costume. And as she did so she was silently hoping. "Cheese, you'd better have felt what I felt! This is a doozy, and I have a feeling it's gonna take the two of us just to get everypony out safely!"