This story is a sequel to Under A Luminous Sky
Manehatten: The City of A Thousand Lights. A place where beings from all corners of the globe live and work together.
But even the brightest light casts shadow.
Bodies have started to turn up: broken, beaten, savaged. When the local police turn to Canterlot's Royal Investigative Service for aid, they set off a chain of events that could rock the metropolis to its core.
A mysterious investigator; a disgraced magician; a desperate detective; an idealistic journalist. Together, they must stop the bloodshed, but at what cost?
Evil, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.
Sequel to Under A Luminous Sky, but can be read as a standalone story.
Chapters (3)
My prayers have been answered!
Wait, they really accepted it on the first submission? This quickly? Or did you wait to post this until they accepted it?
I've got my hopes up for this. I've yet to follow any story of yours but the synopsis has me intrigued.
The setting is already grime and gritty. Nice use of atmosphere to set the tone. Looking forward to more!
Great. A copy-cat.......
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The jerk doing this is another axe-crazy idiot with a stupid and disgusting agenda killing innocents to further same....just like last time. Difference: wider selection of victims.
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Are we talking about the author or one of the characters?
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The shnook Bentgrass and Trixie have to take down......
3469394 You really should clarify when you say something like that. I thought you were calling the story a copy-cat.
Now that's what I'm talking about!
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Point taken.
That's how you start a mystery right there. This is already good can't wait for more.
excellent piece
3469226>>3469278
Fellow Espurrians?
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The chapter reads like a CSI opening scene. It takes like a couple of sentences to deduce that these random characters are going to discover a dead body or some other evidence of a horrific crime. All that's missing is Bentgrass putting on shades and making a bad pun. Well, as a murder mystery this isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a pretty standard thing. Of a small interest to note is that, while you opened Under a Luminous Sky with the crime itself before the discovery, this one goes straight to the discovery part.
Since the discovery part was to be expected, I was more interested in how you depicted the seedy underbelly of an Equestrian city: the way you craft your profanities, the quick look at how Equestria interacts with neighboring nations and races, the myths and rumors they attribute to Discord, the day-to-day of those who don't get to spend their days having picnics and throwing parties. These are some good tidbits of world-building as interesting as finding out what kind of depraved killer is out there.
Again, I can only hope that you can handle putting out two stories one after the other. Good luck.
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Yeah, I'm flirtin' with cliche at this point. I am aware of this, and yeah, it may start off that way, just due to the nature of the story. Stick around, though, I got some aces up my sleeve.
As for if I can keep both at a high level, I guess the quality will be...
*dons sunglasses*
...in the Eye of The Beholder.
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Shaddup, you!
2 stories on EQD. f**k, man.
Damn it! Two stories posted when I am away! Darn you!
Anyway, body found in the garbage. Hmm... Anyone else expect this to show up at the end?
YES! Never been this happy over someone innocent dieing a (probably) horrific death!
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I was going to go for Bones instead. I mean you have innocent bystanders finding a dead body and freaking out. Kind of funny in a morbid sort of way.
Hmm, this looks pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I notice that it's a sequel. Hold on a moment, I'll stick this in my read later list and be back in... *checks size of Luminous Sky... and side story* ...a week or so?
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Yes, finally! The along awaited sequel to "Under a Luminous Sky"!
Can't wait to see how Bentgrass and Trixie get along and stuff. 
I really like the opening. It's very Law and Order: SVU; I used to watch that show a lot. Cool way to set everything up. I wonder if this scam artist they're talking about will be relevant to the plot. I eagerly await more. Keep up the good work.
3474699 Took you this long to discover "Under A Luminous Sky".
I read it almost a year ago or so. It's on Equestria Daily and the Pony Vault. Then again, I only read "Finding Your Place" like a month or so ago.
3471273 You started it.
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Well, I think I saw the side-story updating on EqD every so often, but I never really got around to checking it out. I presume from your reaction you'd consider it to be one of the fandom 'classics', as it were?
3479644 Yes. Yes, I do.
Damn good beginning. Damn good.
tweak, get your ass to this horse! You've got me hooked. again
Oops... So apperently this murderer collects eye balls...Wait a minute... It would be a real bother for a pony to do that. Unless it's a unicorn, maybe then. Oh well I'll wait and see.
Maybe it's just because I have an embarrassingly vast mental library of daytime procedural crime-dramas filed away where my last few years of graduate education should be, but you seemed to fabricate and develop the feel of this so well that any potential clichés of the genre you happened to hit were not only expected but eagerly anticipated on my part— almost to the point where I spent a good few minutes afterward having an internal debate over what theme intro would best suited for it, I was that immersed. (I can already see the beginnings of a consensus being formed here in that regard. I might not even go with the classic acronyms on this one; my gut says something like 'NCIS', but my heart says 'The Mentalist'...)
I'm a little late to the party but I love this opening. Eagerly awaiting how this all plays out. Oh, and one more thing:
Best.Line.Ever.
I must admit that I was expecting Bentgrass and Trixie to show up by this chapter. Nice little surprise that they haven't.
Your choice of words is...interesting. I like "cloudcrete", maybe I haven't been reading enough fanfics, but I haven't encountered it before and it is pretty clever. The way you continue to expand on your magic system is also a treat.
Gestapo. Geheime Staatspolizei. There are (or were) Nazi Secret Police in Equestria. I do understand that people sometimes split hairs about how language is used in Equestria. There are plenty of culture-specific words in the English language. Maybe it's just a throwaway line, but my mind just latched onto it. I don't know if it's awesome, disturbing or just bizarre.
Hmmm. I wonder what sort of odd little twist has to be dealt with. Whatever it might be, uncanny things are probably to be expected in a universe where magic is commonplace.
I'm sure your fellow FOB member appreciates being turned into what appears to be a rookie patrolman with a weak stomach.
Excellent start, Jake. Looking forward to more when it comes out.
Barb Seed, you say? Most intriguing...
Babs? Interesting.
Also, second to last paragraph is missing an indent.
"Division Six."
"There is no Division Six. This is bullshit."
Nice to see this updated!
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No, it's Babs herself. Babs is usually a shortened version of Barbara, so I inferred a bit.
Hmm... First Silvermane is a weak-stomached cop, and now Saunter is the first victim of these murders... I can only wonder how you're going to put Firebrand, Navron, and the rest of FOB Equestria into this.
3818291 I thought it might have been, but I wasn't sure.
Heh. Now that's actually getting really interesting. Since when did Babs manage to become a fat lady?
.
Also, a funny scene with Italian stereotypes
Speaking of stereotypes, a quick note.
"Vlad" is not short for "Vladimir", but actually for "Vladislav". The correct short form of "Vladimir" is "Vova". Still, 'Vlad" might be used as a nickname, so whatever. I even have a friend, who always introduces himself as "Vlad", despite actually being "Vladimir".
Also, if "Illyavich"? If it's a reference to Lenin (with all the "impala -> goat -> goatee -> Lenin" logical string), then maybe it would've been "Ilyich"? Then again, it might just be a funny Russian-like nickname, and it's your story and all that.
Just a quick "Ask a Russian guy anything" session :D.
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No, thanks for the corrections! I know next to nothing of Russian culture, so that helps! Changes made!
Also, Babs isn't fat, just... big. I'll go back and edit it a bit, but she's not some fat slob. Think of someone who would be a bouncer. She's just a big mare.
3819411 Awww.. It's just, for any Russian-speaking reader (or anyone who knows Russian history) the name "Vladimir Illyich" would have been much funnier. Because of the obvious reference to a Russian communist revolutionary.
Still, whatever you want. I think if everyone will start demanding you change something...
Also, will gladly consult on anything Russian-related, if necessary.
Yay!
Here's Bentgrass! And Trixie too. 
That's interesting. An impala who speaks Russian.
Wait, is Bentgrass criticizing one of your OCs for being cliched?
Oh look it's Babs Seed!
Looks like this show is now on the road. I'm going to be looking forward to future installments. Keep up the very good work.