Gumshoe and Coco stood on the doorstep of a rather fancy house. They had been called in on a suspected murder, the phrase 'suspected' was the only reason he was there. With Acro and Rune MIA he and Coco took on their work load, and lead investigations. Gumshoe didn't mind though, he liked investigations, after all his special talent was details. Coco knocked on the door.

"Try to be nice Gumshoe," Coco pleaded, "These are our men, please remember that."

"What ever do you mean?" He said with a slight grin as the door opened. A Lunar guard stood there, gumshoe looked at him and quickly noticed a few things. Crumbs on collar, scuffed boots, bags under eyes, washed mane, no shampoo, slight lean, shoulder hurt, injury? no, sleep issue? no, crumbs? bagel, cafeteria, sleep issue, bunk, collar, wedding necklace, hidden, worn, separated? Divorced? no, dog house. "Flowers, roses, dozen."

"Sir?" the guard asked quizzically.

"For you wife, mare's love roses." The guard cast Coco a shocked look.

"How did?" The guard stammered out as Coco pushed past him.

"Whats the scene?" She tried to steer the conversation back onto the scene.

"Well, there was a break in, and what looks like a struggle, lots of blood, a bloody knife, but no body." The guard explained shaking Gumshoes statements from his mind. Gumshoe walked into the room and looked around. Chairs tossed, table broken, hoof prints, calm, not running The scene formed in front of him, the table righted and the room morphed into its previous state. Two shadow ponies stood in the room.

"well, looks like somepony came in through the window." Coco began talking, she had worked with Gumshoe enough to know that talking through helped him. The shadows moved to the window, "Appreantly grabbed whom ever was here and slammed them against this wall." The shadows mimicked her descriptions. "And then, somepony got stabbed." Gumshoe leaned down to look closer at the blood.

Straight fall, no spatter, no movement, attacker and victim were standing still, but they were in the middle of a fight at this point.

"Coco, would to stand still if you being attacked?" He asked.

"No, keep moving, at least thats what Rune always says." She replied and continued, "And then somepony was slammed don the table, breaking it." The shadows slammed into the table. He leaned down and looked closer at the debris.

"Anything stolen?" Gumshoe asked looking around the room Nothings missing, nothing valuable is broken, almost like somepony wanted to keep this stuff, unlocked window, inconsistent hoof marks, forged blood drops,

"Actually, there is a empty frame on the wall, no painting in it, so it might have been a theft gone wrong."

Empty frame, not broken, careful, no blood marks, removed before fight? no, fight staged, painting, pulled canvas, oils, old, valuable, owner? "Who's home is this?"

"A bank worker, Shill." She replied.

"Debts?"

"None im aware of."

"Thanks," Gumshoe started going through the trash bin pulling out bank papers, receipts until he found what he knew he would find. Race tickets, gambler, lost, 30,000 bits "This isnt a murder, or theft, this is debt evasion."

"What? But the blood?" She asked.

"Self inflicted."

"The painting?" She was getting more confused.

"Last valuable, took it with him." He turned to the guard, "Notify Canterlot medical and all neighboring medical facilities, look for anypony with a shallow knife wound in the abdomen, male, middle aged, and judging from the carpet, grey mane." The guard pulled out a communication crystal and called in the order. Gumshoe looked over at Coco, who still looked a bit surprised. "What?"

"What was the clue?"

"The blood, somepony stabbed in a conflict would be moving, the droplets would be elongated, but the drops there fell straight, he stood still and stabbed himself, after he took the painting from its frame, and put the frame back up, to make sure we saw the empty frame, but if somepony broke in, stabbed he owner, and then took the painting as the scene implies, there would be blood on the frame, since there is blood on the handle of the knife, further more, he owed 30,000 bits to some bookies, which as we all know is rather dangerous. So in conclusion, he staged a robbery/murder to mask his escape from his gambling debts."

"Sir, they just picked up a colt matching Shill's description at East Medical center. He had a painting wrapped up in his pack, and had tickets to Phillydelphia." The guards shock was visible, "Wow."

"Good, nick him for wasting my time." Gumshoe quickly left the scene with Coco right behind him.

Back at the Lunar barracks

Coco and Gumshoe were filling out their reports for the crime they had just solved rather quickly. Gumshoe was bored again, fraud was boring, but he had found something else in Shill's trash bin than a receipt. He pulls a note from his pack, on it were instructions on how to fake the crime they just foiled. Luckily for Gumshoe Shill was crappy at destroying evidence. What concerned him wasn't instructions on how to fake a crime, but it was the signature. A crescent moon in red ink. Normally he can find inconsistencies in the typeface, a watermark, something that could tell him where the note came from, brand of paper, ink type, right hooved or left hooved, anything. But as he stared at this paper, all he saw was the writing. Clear, crisp, no ink out of place, custom ink, hoof written, hoof pressed paper, hoof made quill, unique, untraceable. Things like this made him quite excited, the unknown, mysteries. All he wanted was to know who wrote that note, and why they helped a small time banker fake his own murder. Was it the painting? He looked over at Coco, the painting in question rolled up next to her. They never even thought to look at the painting.

"Coco, whats the painting of?" Gumeshoe's question seemed to startle Coco. She just looked at the roll and after a long pause opened it. She held in out in front of her, her expression was of shock as she turned the painting around so Gumshoe could see it. It depicted princess Luna, victorious over Celestia, Canterlot burning in the background. But what surprised Gumshoe wasn't the violent nature of the painting or Luna's demonic depiction, it was the signature in the bottom corner, a red crescent moon.  

"DAMN IT!" Agora smakced his glass arcross his study smashing it against the far wall, "BUCK!"

Calm down.

"The Order is going quite irate with this, change in events, Shill should be a train by now!" Agora sat down in his chair and began to fume.

The Order will survive with out their accountant for a few days, but this isnt about him is it?

"That painting is priceless, and supposedly has a map on the back." Agora grabs himself another drink.

Oh? I don't know this one.

"Yes, a map, supposedly, to a lost cache, left behind by the Order's predecessors, the Moon Cult. The information, or artifacts there could set me for life, and give me some more bargaining chips with Luna." He explains.

If she reemerges.

"When, Master, not if." He took another sip of his drink.