//------------------------------// // A Soothing Melody // Story: Detective Pie - Episodes from Manehattan // by Random Gamer //------------------------------// On the following day, at the mayor's office. "Whoa, I can't believe they found a replacement so fast," said Twilight. "You think he or she will be better than the previous one?" Pinkie came to a sudden halt as they walked along the hallway. Afterwards, Twilight stopped as well. "I don't know Twilight," replied Pinkie worringly. "All I hope is that this one won't have a tappygun hiding under the table." With that said, both of them continued on and opened the doors to the mayor's office. As they went inside, a tall, dark grey pegasus was sitting behind a table, wearing a similiarly colored suit with a red tie. "Ah, miss Sparkle and Pie," he greeted them. "I've been informed that you were coming, yet I didn't expect either of you to arrive so soon." "We arrived as soon as we heard there's a new mayor in town," said Twilight. "Ehm... Nice to meet you, I guess." Twilight showed some respect by putting her hat down and bowing slightly. Pinkie, on the hand, held her breath, which caused her had to look like an oversized pink baloon. Needless to say, the mayor wasn't very happy about her showing off like that. "I'll skip the formalities and send you to invetigate a case right away," he ordered them, reading from a thin file. "Officials at Canterlot want cases solved as quickly as possible due to the now-stained name of Manehattan. I see no way your expertise won't be of use to me." "Stained?" asked Pinkie. "Damn stains! Don't they know how to wash their own darn clothes?" While the original mayor would laugh or at least giggle, this one was unimpressed and kept a stone face. He also didn't flash them with a tappygun. "Miss Pie, as your superior," he said. "I recommend you to either cut your attempts at humor down to a minimum or stop saying them completely. I'd like you to have some degree of professionalism." Pinkie wanted try another attempt at humor, but didn't. From this, it looked like the mayor was no fun at all. "Now, where was I?" he asked, "Oh, right. The case I want you to investigate. There's a certain-" He was interrupted by his secretary, who sprinted right into his office. "Mr. Gray!" she said. "Mr. Gray!" The mayor looked quite annoyed. "What?" he asked, an annoyed tone in his voice. "What is it? Did you accidentally set something on fire?" "No. Your cargo arrived," she said and gave him something to sign. "Where should the-" "I'll deal with it later." he said. "Make sure no one gets their hooves on it." The secretary nodded and left the room as quickly as she entered it. "Mr. Gray?" asked Pinkie. "As in 'Hoofian Gray?'" The mayor once again looked very unimpressed and annoyed. "Miss Pie," he said. "I also suggest and require that you keep all those witty remarks to yourself." "But, sir," Twilight defended her,"she just wanted to know if there was any kind of connection between you and Hoofian Gray." "Me, connected with a character from a book? Certainly not. " he replied, "What do you think this is? A fairytale?" Pinkie leaned over to Twilight, sneaking a few whispers. "Technically, this is one. Our story's rated T." Whispered Pinkie into Twilight's ear, causing her to give Pinkie a very confused look. "Now, with that out of the way, I'll move straight to that I want you to investigate. What do you know about religions in Equestria?" "Luna equals moon, Celestia equals sun," said Pinkie. "No religion based on that." "Well, then you have no idea how wrong you are." he said, "Have your heard of their respective cults?" "The Lunar and Solar order?" asked Twilight. "Old tales based on rumors. There isn't a single scientific fact proving their existence." "Then tell me," he said and put two insignias on the table. "What's this?" One of the insignias was a sun, while the other one was that of a moon. Both of them were metallic and appeared to aged, with a considerable layer of rust on various places, here and there. "Where... where did you get them?" asked Twilight. "My father found them in an old house he inherited." said the mayor. "Some of my ancestors were rumored to be members, while a fewer number of them were even confirmed to be honorary members, who, despite having a membership, were not officially recognised as such." "Does that make you a Lunarian or Solarian?" asked Pinkie. "In stories my granny used to tell me, they were called like that." "That would take more than a single team of detectives to investigate, but that's not what I'm trying to tell you," he said. "You see, I believe these so-called "orders" have not vanished but simply changed names, robes, traditions and whatever else they were associated with." "I think I'm a liiiiitle lost in this," let out Twilight, thinking. "Somehow, it's not clear to either of us what's our... ehm... mission." "I have gathered some evidence of a lone branch of the Solar order being present here, in Manehattan, but to confirm most of it," he said. "I need someone to infiltrate them and gain their trust." "Another cross-dressing?" said Pinkie, her eyes shining. "Twilight's gonna be a stallion again!" "Disguises?" asked the mayor. "Oh no, I was talking about you joining themn for reals. This means you'll have to pass any rites of passages they present to you and do as you're asked." "You mean... as full members?" asked Twilight, with a bit of worry in her voice. "Yes," he replied. "That's exactly what I had in mind." Pinkie started jumping around in happiness as she imaginated herself in unrealistically huge robes scaring other members of the order for giggles. "What is the branch called and where can we find it?" asked Twilight. "Jorwood Street 48, Church of Light," he said and Twilight wrote the name and street bown. "White building, you can't miss it. They worship Celestia and regularly sing angelic choirs either as a form of praying or for their own enjoyment. Either way, you can walk in as if you were on fire from all the anger and you'll walk out completely calm, as if nothing happened." "Alright, matey!" let out Pinkie, now sporting a stereotypical pirate pony costume and turned to Twilight. "Whaddaya say cap?" Both the mayor and Twilight giggled a bit, as Pinkie managed to be funny, even though he told her not to. How she got her hooves on a pirate costume and put it on almost in an instant will probably remain a mystery. A mystery for another day or another case. Afterwards, the two of them left the room, hopefully having all the information they need to suceed. On their way out, they saw a bunch of buff ponies carrying large craes of unknown content to the mayor's office. Since it was none of their business and even Pinkie's didn't have the curiosity to look what's inside, they left the city hall and went for Jorwood Avenue, the avenue which had nearby streets named after. With a bit luck, they'll find the right street quicker than Pinkie can sing silly pirate songs.