Manehattan Project

Special Agent Sparks strode into his cubicle in the Manehattan division of the Northern Equestria Investigative Service. He sipped his coffee as he sat in his swivel chair. Unlike most agents, his desk was kept relatively clean of developing paperwork piles. He accomplished this by having his orderly do it. Afterall, that was his job. He was thinking about the intelligence briefing he received in the Operations Room, commonly referred to as Ops by agents, when in walked Special Agent Pearl Night. Agent Night was a liaison officer from the Baltimare Police Department. She'd served there for five years, purposefully volunteering for the high risk grave yard and night shifts. She liked an adrenaline rush. Brash, and a little haughty, she didn't get along well with most ponies, most ponies, except Agent Sparks. The two had only been together for six months, but already it felt as if they'd spent several years together. She was methodical and out of the box, whereas he was logical, tenacious, and aggressive. They complimented each other well, but they hadn't yet served on a case together. Agent Night was so good at her job that she was promoted to Captain of the Baltimare P.D., but she quit when she realized how bureaucratic it became. That was the first thing that she and Sparks had in common, that, and a love for premium coffee.

"Anything new today?" Agent Night asked Sparks as she too sat down in her chair. Sparks looked at her "Nothing new at least for the moment. Had a briefing this morning on a possible case, but nothing's come our way in a long time." Night returned his gaze "I guess that means that we should enjoy getting paid for nothing?" "On the contrary," Sparks said "it means that we need to get more active in searching for a case." At that moment, an orderly walked in and handed Sparks a sealed envelope "This is for you Agent Sparks," he said hurriedly and rushed out of the room after he delivered his package. Sparks, still looking after the pony, tore open the envelope with is teeth and pulled out the papers. Inside, there were ten photographs, and a detailed report on several doctor's patients.

"What's that?" Night asked walking over. Sparks handed the file to her "Sickness reports from a garrison of Celestia's Guards who were taking a little bit of R&R here in Manehattan. They've all come down with the same symptoms in the past twenty four hours." "Poisoned?" Night asked raising an eyebrow.

"Possibly," Sparks said grabbing his saddle bags and holstering a pistol on his hip "we won't know until we get there." Following his lead, Agent Night met him at the door, they got in a car, and sped down the motorway.

====================================================================================================

Whinny Fred's Bar and Grill

216 New Donkey Avenue

"What do we got here Doc?" Agent Sparks said leaning over the shoulder of Doctor Gage Luft. He looked up at Agent Sparks through his thick Coke bottle bifocals "Ah," he said with a warm air of greeting "Sparks, I seem to recall giving you that report several minutes ago now if I'm not mistaken."

"Well," Night said "we didn't get a lot of time to go over it so, how about you refresh our memory?"

"I see," Doctor Luft said "comes with being a member of Spark's team doesn't it?"

Sparks gave a nonchalant look at Luft and grinned "Well," Luft continued "the basis for the sicknesses were all the same. It was merely a food poisoning outbreak in the local garrison."

"Was anyone else infected?" Sparks asked curiously.

"No," Luft replied "no one that was in the restaurant even remotely touched?"

"Why would only the garrison be infected and do you think that the poison was administered through the food?" Night asked quizzically.

"It seems," Luft said going back to his notes "that presumption is correct, Agent Night. Um, the food that they got was all different, but that the symptoms were the same. The conclusion which I came to was that who ever gave the food to the garrison members was purposefully trying to do so."

"Thanks Doc," Sparks said as he turned to head into the restaurant.

"Oh one more thing," Luft said raising his leg and waving it slightly "there is something that you should know!"

"What is it Doc?" Sparks said turning around but still walking backward.

"None of the ponies in the garrison who were poisoned had any allergies whatsoever," Luft called back "in fact, they were frequent customers whenever they came to Manehattan on leave time."

"Thanks again Doc," Sparks said turning around and walking into the restaurant. "You think that it could have been a deliberate attempted poisoning case?" Night asked Sparks "Could be," Sparks replied as he opened the door for her and followed in afterward "or it could be merely a coincidence." She looked at him sarcastically and quoted him "Nothing is coincidental."

A chef stood there, still in his stained apron and wearing his lopsided chef's hat, waving his hoofs in the air he exasperatedly asked "Are you cops gonna get done already? I got a mortgage to pay off by the end of the year, and now the reputation of my place has gone down the tubes, because I got ten sick service ponies as a result of my cooking."

"Hold on a minute sir," Agent Night said flashing her badge "besides, we're not cops. Northern Equestria Investigative Service, N.E.I.S."

"Oh, the big G's," the chef said "I got it. What do you suits want with me anyhow?"

"We just want to get a rerun of the general information," Sparks said.

"I told you guys already," the chef said "it's all in the report which those Manehattan boys filled out earlier."

"Just give us a run down," Night said "maybe we can learn something new."

"Okay," the chef said reluctantly "what do you wanna know?"

"Firstly," Night said "how long have you been working here? It seems like quite the place you got here."

"It should," the chef said "I'm Whinny Fred, owner of the place. It's been here ever since I came to Manehattan and I built it from scratch. I used to work as a sous chef in a casino in Los Pegasus, but I got tired of that because I didn't like the atmosphere, it was simply too hot. Also, if you ponies ever think that Manehattan is bad with regards to the crime waves? Forget it, this place is a paradise compared to down there. Here, you got good ponies in a big city. I like it here."

"So this place means a lot to you?" Night asked.

"You bet it does," Whinny Fred exclaimed "this is my life's work, and I liked those ponies who got sick."

"What do you know about'em?" Sparks asked

"Oh," Whinny Fred replied "not a whole lot actually. They always ordered the usual stuff, said that they could only get it here in my grill in Manehattan and nowhere else in Equestria. Actually made me kinda proud if you ask me."

"What they order?" Night asked.

"A carrot and mushroom burger drizzled in a light brown sauteed onion sauce," Whinny Fred began "an apple marmalade pie with fresh hazelnut cream, four rounds of salt, a our signature Egg Sandwich with parsley, oregano, cheese, butter, and a baked potato with sour cream and some more parsley as a garnish, oat cakes with a fresh honey butter spread, a delicious fruit salad made with imported fruits from Maretonia, including oranges, peaches, and grapes, chilled with ice from the Crystal Mountains, and..."

"Alright, alright, already," Agent Night said "we get the picture. And you said that they ordered the same thing every time they came in?"

"That's right," the chef said grinning "I'd always ask, 'the usual colts?' and they'd give me a curt nod and smile."

"Would it be possible for us to interrogate the sous chef and the rest of the staff?"

"Why sure," Whinny Fred said gesturing "but you gotta be quick, regardless of the circumstances, I got customers coming in, we're pretty hot stuff around here."

Sparks and Night walked to the back room and talked with the Sous Chef. He didn't have anything new to add to their current information. Whinny Fred was a good boss who'd long had a passion for cooking. His story checked out and that the service ponies did indeed order everything that was stated by the head chef "Anything unusual happen during that day?" Agent Night asked the  Sous Chef.

"Well," the Sous Chef, who's name was Silver Chardonnay "I don't think so. Everything was the hustle and bustle of what usually goes on back here." Pausing, she snapped at one of her co-workers "Hey you," she shouted over the loud din "watch yourself, and be careful with that mousse!" As she spoke, the server slipped on some water and crashed to the ground spilling it everywhere and breaking the mousse glasses.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Silver Chardonnay exclaimed looking around "how many times do I have to tell you Ruby Rose, keep the floors dry or stuff like this happens!"

"Sorry Ms, Chardonnay," Ruby Rose apologized.

"Rookie?" Sparks asked watching Ruby as she hurriedly took a towel and dried off the floor.

"Yeah," Silver Chardonnay replied "had to hire her after my old guy quit last week."

"Why did he quit?" Agent Night asked "He said that he was too bored and wanted something better to do with his time," Chardonnay snorted "he was a good worker but always talked big. Too political if you ask me. He tried recruiting his co-workers to his cause before we threatened to fire him if he didn't shut up. Politics doesn't belong in the work place."

"I see," Sparks said "did he mention any groups that he associated with?"

"Not to me," Silver Chardonnay said "but you can swing by his place and maybe he could tell you himself."

====================================================================================================

Swift Vision's Apartment

101C Flare Street

Agent Sparks knocked on the door of Swift Vision's apartment "Hello," he said as he knocked "this is N.E.I.S. open up."

The door remained shut. Sparks looked at Night and Night nodded, she pulled out a lock pick set and in ten seconds the door was wide. She was about to step forward when Sparks placed a hoof across her chest "What?" she began and then she looked down following his gaze. A metal laser went across the floor from the wall on the right hand side and passed right underneath the gap in the door.

"What is it?" Night asked.

"Laser trip wire," Sparks said "pretty high tech stuff for a supposed average pony."

He took out a sack of flour and tossed it into the room. Instantly, the entire room lit up in a sea of red lasers "Infrared ones too," Sparks said, thankfully, I've got the perfect tool for this."

He pulled out, what looked to be a handheld phone with a large copper wire ring fastened to the end with tape "All I've gotta do is find the primary power source."

"I think I found it," Night said gesturing carefully towards the left wall. There was a wall plug with a cord coming from it and leading to a power strip. "I think we'll have to call in backup sir," said Night.

"Or," said a voice "you could simply ask me to press the off button on my remote."

They both turned drawing their pistols and aiming them squarely at the unicorn who had just walked up the stairs wearing his saddle bags.

"Who are you?" he said looking at them curiously.

"Special Agents Sparks and Night from N.E.I.S.," Agent Night responded as they both flashed their badges "The Northern Equestria Investigative Service."

The pony said "I'm honored. Shall I let you into my humble abode?"

"You would," Sparks said "unless you want us to arrest you right now."

"Under what charges?" the pony said setting his saddle bags to the ground.

"For the attempted murder by poisoning ten members of the garrison of Princess Celestia's personal guard," Agent Night declared readying her hoofcuffs.

"Ah," the pony said "I see." Then, he bolted.

"I hate a runner," Sparks said and charged after him. Night went the opposite direction, she was lighter and faster but Sparks was smarter than she was. She may be able to get to him first before Sparks, if Sparks didn't beat the snot out of him. Sparks tore after the suspect, in his ear piece, he tapped and spoke "White Rabbit, White Rabbit! On 101C Flare Street. Suspect is getting away, attempting pursuit!" With that, he added an extra burst of speed. They burst out the door and onto the sidewalk, Swift Vision, the suspect, chanced a glance back at his pursuer and when he looked forward again, received a swift kick to the face, which broke his nose. When Sparks came up to Agent Night she was already cuffing him, looking up from her task she asked "What took you so long?"

Sparks, a little winded said in short breaths "Had to...call it...in." Twenty seconds later, five police cars showed up.