The Anthology of Detective Pipe Glass

by The Stainmore Phoenix

Disguise for Comedy part 3

The stalls had all sorts of carnival events and snacks. Changeling and pony foals ran around while young gryphons and hippogryphs ran around. The adults casually walked around, some sampling the candy or the snacks and others playing the games.

“Reminds me of me at their age,” A gryphon said to a thestral.

“It does,” The thestral said. “However, I enjoy my slower sauntering age, my dear Mystic Tornado.”

The gryphon, Mystic Tornado, chuckled. The thestral, Blue Moon Eclipse smiled up at him and placed a hoof over her necklace, which had a locket on the end, showing their happy family.

“Same, Blue Moon Eclipse,” he said, “Also, I wish you'd stop wearing that on nights like tonight.”

“Don't be silly dear,” she said. “It'll be fi.....”

She stopped as they noticed Pipe wandering around.

“Is that....?”

“It is. The Colt himself. The new legend of Clue.”

The two stood up and walked over to a tent. Some time later, Pipe stopped by the tent.

“Hello there,” Blue Moon said over to Pipe.

“Hello. Blue Moon Eclipse, Mystic Tornado, I heard about you two,” Pipe said.

“Really?” they asked.

“Yes,” Pipe said. “You two are local on call doctors. An achievement in and of itself.”

They smiled and talked over cotton candy. A few minutes later, a Changeling guard came and asked Pipe to come to a costume contest. As he stood up, a glint of silver caught his eye and the guard turned to see a hooded figure swing in, catching Pipe unawares and sent him flying into a tree, crashing into a treehouse that was built for the local colt scouts.

“What the ta...stop!” The guard shouted, as the figure swiped at Blue Moon Eclipse, aiming for her necklace.

Mystic Tornado swiped at the figure and saw it was a hippogryph. The lights didn't help identify the attacker and the attacker was able to get fast away. Orion, running up, tried to throw some goo to stop the fleeing attacker, but every glob missed.

“Damn!” he hissed and charged after the fleeing figure.

The figure dove down an alley and disappeared into the shadows. Orion hurried back and helped Pipe up and into the Hive Castle's medical ward, where Mystic Tornado tended to his injuries while Orion talked to Blue Moon Eclipse.

“So why would the attacker go for the necklace?” he asked her.

“I don't know,” she replied.

“Mystic, do you know why that attacker would go for the necklace?”

“I don't know,” he replied, wrapping a bandage around a splint on one of Pipe's legs.

“Any....distinguishing....features?” Pipe asked between grunts.

“All I know is that the attacker is a Hippogryph,” Mystic said.

Orion scratched that into his notebook. Mystic sat down and looked up at the ceiling.

“Who would want to steal from her?” Pipe asked.

“Well, there's still prejudice from all quarters against thestrals,” Mystic said.

“That shouldn't be possible here,” Orion said. “Queen Marshland passed a law in this Hive City that any form of prejudicial attack is illegal.”

“It's a case of “I've got the system beat”,” Pipe said. “However, I think we need to start an elimination.”

They stared.

“Execute them all?” Orion asked.

“Not at all,” Pipe said. “Get me a list of all the hippogryphs and gryphons in this town. From there, we question them each and from there, eliminate the ones from the list who lack the motive.”

“Sounds hard,” Mystic said.

“It's not really that hard,” Orion said. “To make it simple, imagine a shopping list and your crossing off each item on the list as you put it in your cart.”

“Makes sense,” Mystic said.

Orion turned to Pipe.

“I'll see what I can do. Also, since it's Nightmare Night, our mystery hippogryph maybe hiding under a mask of promises,” the Changeling detective said.

Pipe nodded and lay there, as Orion hurried off.

“If this is a disguise fest, let the laughs commence,” Pipe thought as he placed his head on the pillow.

Author's Note:

Short chapter, but honestly, I want to save the longer part for the comedy. Also, Mystic Tornado and Blue Moon Eclipse are joining the main cast as the on call doctors.