Chapter 5: "New Friends and Old Friends."

Emerald Town was thought by many to be the jewel of the Keyes. The first place you saw when you docked, the last place you saw when you left. It was a busy seaside town with many friendly shops, restaurants and countless tourists enjoying their vacation to the Keyes.

I wished I could be one of them, but there was no time to sight see right now. Me and Daring didn't have to go far till we arrived at the Island Brew Coffeehouse. It was a small friendly place, with comfy looking tables and a busy line within the actual store. We decided to order a coffee and wait for the mysterious caller to show themselves.

I looked inside and saw a long line with a single, handsome looking barista stallion working the counter. He looked strangely calm as he kept his head down, preventing me from getting a good look at him, that and all the customers he had weren't exactly orderly.

A pretty young waitress came to serve us. We ordered two coffees, and she smiled as she went inside to prepare them. While we waited, me and Daring decided to discuss more on what had happened and what we needed to do.

"Well....that was interesting. I wasn't expecting to get kidnapped. At least not today." Daring joked.

"What I want to know is, who were those red ninjas? Where did they come from?"

"Beats me. Ninjas don't just do something for nothing though. And they certainly don't show up without reason. So, why us?" Daring asked.

"My guess, is that whoever sent them, doesn't want us to investigate the dig site."

"Heh. And will that stop you?"

"Not a chance."

"That's the spirit." Daring affirmed with a smile.

The waitress returned with our coffees and looked at me. Suddenly, I remembered. That look in her eye. There was no mistaking it. A wild, cheerful glint of a mare who didn't know the definition of a bad day, yet at the drop of a hat could easily look absolutely terrifying.

She began to walk away, when I stopped her. "Wait!"

She turned around, a wide smile on her face. "Yeessss?" she sang.

I looked at her for a moment. Then smiled.

"Hello again, Ralah."

At once Ralah's eyes lit up like a fireworks as she ran over and nearly tackled me out of my chair with a hug, that squeezed our faces together. The mare laughed happily as she let go of me and took my hooves in hers. "I knew it! I knew you would recognize me, Morning! I just knew it! Oh!" she hugged me again. "It's sooooo good to see you again, I missed you so much!"

I hugged her back and laughed. "I missed you too Ralah." She let go of me again and smiled warmly at me, as she took off her disguise. The waitress's thick blonde mane was replaced with Ralah's elegant black, pretty side wave that hung gracefully from the left side of her head. Her white coat darkened until it was a dark shade of silver, and her waitress uniform was abandoned for a beautiful sundress that was decorated in artsy designs of oranges. She completed the look with a wide rimmed orange sun hat, that hid her hoof shaped scar under her right eye.

Now out of her disguise, Ralah wasted no time in sitting down with us. She perched her head atop her hooves as she looked at us with wide sparkling eyes. I smiled at my old friend. Still a master of disguise, like her brother. (Speaking of which..)

"Where's your brother, Ralah? Is he here with you?" I asked.

Ralah giggled to herself. "Of course he is, silly! He's right behind you!"

We turned to see that the stallion from the counter was now standing behind us. He raised his head so I could get a good look at his face. Salah still wore the same aggressive and steely eyed expression he always did. His jet black mane was slicked back, and the hoof shaped scar under his left eye was clear to see. He gave the very slightest of smiles at me. "Well, well, this is a surprise, Morning..."

He took a seat next to his twin sister, who gave him a quick hug. Salah's smile grew a bit as he patted his sisters hoof, to which she let go. Salah then gave us a serious look. "I'm happy to you see you guys made it out okay."

He reached down and took off his own disguise. Gone was the barista outfit, only to be replaced with a freshly pressed white panama suit, complete with a white fedora. He tipped the brim forward as he looked at us. "We need to talk."

Island Brew Coffeehouse, 3:00 pm

We all sat at the table, eager to hear what Salah had to say. I sat up in my chair. "Do you know who those guys were that kidnapped us?" I asked, being sure not to raise my voice.

Salah nodded. "They've been threatening the people of the Keyes for weeks now. They're some strange cult, from what we know. Call themselves, The Setting Sun."

"The Setting Sun? What do they want with us?"

"No idea. But you must've stumbled into something they didn't want you to. Something they wanted to keep a secret. Now, they'll be coming after you, and I think we've already established that they are not too friendly."

Ralah spoke up at this. "But don't worry, Morning! You have us to help you now!"

I smiled at her. "Thanks, Ralah."

Salah's eyes fell on Daring. "Huh. The legendary Daring Do. Never thought I would meet you in person." He tipped his hat slightly. "It's a pleasure."

Daring smiled back. "Uh...thanks, I guess. But what's this about a cult of ninjas being after us?"

Ralah thought for a moment. "From what our sources tell us, they are looking for The Heart Of Oceana, too. They want to use it in some ritual that will awaken the island."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what does that mean?"

Salah shrugged. "No idea. But if The Setting Sun want it to happen, you can bet it's not good." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small slab like black stone, with intricate Mayan carvings etched like art into it's surface. He placed it on the table and slid it over to me.

"One of our informants managed to snag this from one of them. Unfortunately, he was caught before he could get away. We knew it must be important, and that you could probably work out what it was. That might give us a clue as to who were dealing with."

I picked up the stone and looked at it carefully. It was very detailed and clearly centuries old. The lettering itself was also ancient, as the Mayan dialect I could see on the stone was far more aligned then that of the modern Moche language. But what did the red ninjas want with it?

"Did you at least find out where it came from? Did the ninjas just happen to have it?"

"Nope. We were told it was smuggled into the island. But, we might know someone who can tell you more about it. He owns a gallery over in Cannon Bay, just down by the docks. An old friend of ours. Just mention our name and he'll help you."

I nodded. "Thanks, Salah." I pocketed the stone. "So, what are you guys doing in The Emerald Keyes, anyways? And how did you know where we were?"

Ralah and Salah smiled at me. "Well, like you, we aren't on vacation. Were here for business, naturally. We've had our eye on a very particular object of value for a while now. After Mareiposa, we went to work to find out what our next big score would be."

"And that would be?"

Salah leaned back in his chair. "Whatever it is Clover The Clever and Starswirl hid on this island. Something like that? Heh. Gotta be worth a fortune, even if its just a bag of dirty laundry."

Ralah scrunched her face in disgust. "But, we really hope it isn't that!"

Daring looked confused. "So, you guys are looking for the Heart Of Oceana, too?"

Salah shook his head. "Nope. Whatever they hid here, we know it ain't just some ancient sapphire. It's way more valuable then that."

I looked over at him. "Wait. So, the sapphire isn't what's hidden on the island? Then what is it?"

Salah smiled. "I look forward to finding out." He looked back over at Daring. "So what brings you here, Daring Do? To what does the Keyes owe the honor of receiving a visit from the world's greatest treasure hunter?"

Daring smiled at that. "Very true. But I'm here to find this sapphire. It's my next lead to finding my dad....I hope."

Salah nodded. "Well aren't you in luck then. That mare next to you is the best detective alive. If your father is out there, She'll find him."

Daring looked over at me hopefully. I could only smiled as I silently wished Salah hadn't put me on the spot like that. But it didn't change the fact that I wanted to help Daring in any way I could to find her father. I just hoped she didn't mind helping me with my case first. (Something told me she was enjoying herself immensely, actually.)

Before we left, there was one more thing I had to know. Something that had me worried since we were kidnapped. "Salah? Do you know if anything happened to Dr. Seastone? Is she still back at the mansion?"

Salah looked at me solemnly. "I'm afraid she was kidnapped shortly before you were. We haven't been able to find her. We only managed to find you because we had someone track your kidnappers. But she's a ghost. No trace of her anywhere."

My breath caught in my throat. I tried to stay calm, but the thought of Dr. Seastone in danger worried me immensely. Still I had to think rationally. If these red ninjas wanted her dead, they wouldn't have kidnapped her. They needed her for something. I only hoped we could find her before it was too late.

We decided to go meet Ralah and Salah's friend in the gallery across town. If he could place what this strange Mayan stone was, we might be able to find out what The Setting Sun wanted with us.

As I got up, Salah stopped me. "Oh. Here Meir. You should take a look at this." He withdrew a piece of folded paper from his coat, and handed it to me. I unfolded it and saw it was a bank statement.

From Simon's account?

"I don't understand. Why do you have this?" I asked Salah, trying my best to stay calm.

"Read what it says."

I did with slight hesitation. Simon had made five large cash withdrawls in the space of three days. And all from an automatic teller in The western Keye islands. Suspicious, to say the least.

But this was Simon we were talking about! I had known him since I was a filly. He and my father were colleagues, friends! Surely, he had nothing to hide.

Still, I couldn't just ignore this. I thanked Salah and left with Daring to the gallery, with the promise we would meet up again at the cafe. It was too dangerous to travel around in a big group. We didn't know who was working with the cult just yet. And it was better to play it safe for now.

Still though....Simon. Did he actually have something to do with this? I suddenly had a strange feeling that he had been hiding something this whole time.

I hoped I was wrong.

Glee's Gallery 3:45 pm

The Glee's Gallery had style and class (but very few customers), which became apparent as me and Daring walked through its doors. The halls were decorated with several displays of ancient pots, stone works and many paintings depicting Mayan civilization.

I went over to a what looked like a normal clay pot, and was amazed to see it priced at five thousand bits! (I was fairly sure I could have bought the same exact thing at my local gift shop for only ten bits. Though I had no interest in doing either.)

We looked around, but saw no sign of anypony who looked like they actually owned the gallery. To the corner, I saw an overly dressed unicorn gentleman in a fancy suit and tie. If we couldn't find the owner, maybe his customers could tell us where he was. Daring apparently had the same thought as she went up to him.

"Hey there." He turned to her. "By any chance, are you Glee, the owner of this...uh, establishment?" she asked.

"Dear Celestia, No!" he had a borish, know it all tone.

Daring looked slightly disgruntled at the stallions tone. "Okay, then I guess he's probably somewhere else?"

The stallion laughed snobbishly. "Oh, your powers of deductive reasoning astound me." he mocked.

I caught Daring's arm just as she was about to sock this guy in the muzzle. (Though he no doubt deserved it.) "I'll handle it from here, okay?" I pleaded with her. Daring put her arm down and moved aside for me to step in.

"Excuse me, sir? We were wondering if you could point us to where exactly Glee is in the gallery."

"Hmmf!" the stallion grumbled.

"The sooner you do, the sooner we'll leave you alone."

"He's just over there. Next to the Mayan calendar."

"Thank you."

We left the pompous fool to grumble incoherently about prestige or some such and went to go see Glee. A respectable looking English colt with an intelligent face and impeccable dress style of a pressed suit and tie, with silver cuff links.

"Excuse me, sir, are you Glee, the owner?"

Glee smiled and gave a small bow. "I certainly am, miss. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions? My name is Morning Meir and-

Glee put a hoof up to stop me. "You need not say anymore, Miss Meir. Our mutual friends already told me you'd be stopping by. Please, if there is anything you need, I'd be happy to oblige."

Questioning (Glee Gleestau, Owner Of Glee's Gallery, Friend of Ralah and Salah, May be able to identify where the stone came from)

I decided to ask about the gallery itself, first. The manor back home had quite a few art displays as well, and I was curious to see why these were so overpriced. Well...overpriced in my opinion.

Question 1: "Can you tell me where you obtained these art works? Mayan artifacts are not easily come across, after all."

"Naturally. I bought them in Klugeico, of course. I think you'll find the price extremely reasonable."

I didn't, but that was beside the point. I reached into my pocket and withdrew the Mayan stone, Salah had given me. "What I really wanted to ask you about was this black stone."

Glee looked confused. "A....black stone?"

I handed it to him and he began to examine it in his hooves. "Fascinating! The craftsmanship is simply perfect. Pray tell, where did you get such a work of art?"

"That's what we'd like you to tell us, actually. Where could something like this originate from?"

"Hmm. Well, I would say that an authentic piece such as this could only have come from an actual Mayan temple. There are many of them scattered across the Keyes you see. Whoever got it, must have been skulking around in one of them. Not very smart."

"Are you saying...it's cursed?"

"I'm saying that the Mayan ponies hold a grudge. Especially to those who intrude on their sacred grounds."

He handed it back to me. "Take caution with that, Miss Meir. If the owners don't come for it, then something else will."

Great. Another supernatural threat, pursuing me. This case got more and more fun by the second.

I decided to quell a suspicion I had. "Do you know Dr. Cobalt, Mr. Gleestau?"

"Certainly. His name is synonymous with Mayan art. A number of these artifacts were actually donated by Mr. Cobalt himself."

My eyes widened. "Really? I had no idea he was so big into Mayan culture. I didn't see anything like that in his mansion."

"I'm sure Mr. Cobalt would rather keep his artistic tastes and his business life separate." Glee stated nonchalantly.

Why hadn't Simon told me about his fascination with Mayan Art? Could that be what he was hiding? I tried not to think about it...for now.

I asked Glee my next question. "Could you tell me what docks, Mr. Cobalt had these artifacts shipped here to? Assuming they are from outside the Keyes, I mean."

"For a friend of Salah A'Dinn? Of course. They came from a shipping warehouse owned by Cobalt Industries. Its to the very east of the island. Dock 41. Can't miss it."

"Thank you, Mr. Glee. You've been a big help."

"My pleasure Miss Meir. I would wish you luck, but from what I've been told of your escapades, you have no need for it." he said with a smile, before returning to his work.

I watched him return to the hall as I went over things in my head. Dock 41. A shipping warehouse that was owned by Cobalt Industries (Who basically owned everything in the Keyes.) It wouldn't hurt to investigate, but I hoped we wouldn't find anything connecting Simon to the case. I couldn't stop myself from thinking he was hiding something there.

And whatever it was, I had to find out.

Cobalt Industries Shipping Yard, Front Gate, 5:34 pm

The skies had turned from a warm pink to a dark purple as night was beginning to settle across the island. The trip from Emerald Town had taken about an hour by taxi, but Daring had arrived in only thirty minutes to get a good look around the place. When I arrived, she was waiting for me by the front gate.

"Hey, Morning. How was the ride?"

"As much as I appreciated your offer to give me a ride, I was actually comfortable taking a taxi." I joked.

"If you say so. So how does this investigating thing work, anyways?"

"We look around for clues, and try not to get caught."

"Simple enough."

We began to look for a way inside. A chain link fence barred the entrance to the docks. Daring looked up at it with confidence. "Pfft. Piece of cake."

But as she took off of the ground, I spotted a mean looking guard dog, and quickly grabbed her ankle, to pull her back down. As she looked at me in protest I pointed to the snarling beast on the other side of the fence. He growled at both of us.

A portly dock worker came to see what his companion was growling at. He eyed us suspiciously. "Hey! What's the big idea? This is private property!"

Daring put her hooves up in defense. "Whoa, easy there ahab. Were friends of Simon Cobalt. Were just here to look around for something we lost."

The dock worker wasn't buying it. "If you done lost sometin, it would be in lost and found in the offices, not the docks. Beat it!" he exclaimed in a thick Manehatten accent.

I could see the gates were fastened with a heavy duty padlock. And that dog was looking at me like he'd found dinner. We were not getting through here this way. But I had another idea.

"Sorry, sir. We'll be going now." I said politely, pulling Daring aside.

"Yeah, alright then." the worker said, before returning to his post. As soon as he was out of sight I began to look around for another way in. Daring apparently knew what I was doing as she looked around too. She looked at me. "Well? Any brilliant infiltration strategies popping up, yet?" she asked.

I spotted a window on the side of the small hut, the dock worker was residing in. "Stay here, and make sure that dog doesn't see me." I instructed.

Daring nodded and went to guard the fence, getting the attention of the dog who snarled angrily at her. To which she snarled back.

As Daring and the dog had a snarl-off, I went to the window and peeked inside.

Inside, I saw the dock worker had set up a home away from home in the hut. A large dusty armchair sat next to a rusty furnace, and the worker himself was busy cooking a pot of macaroni on the stove. I could smell the boiling water in the air. Now that I was this close, I managed to get a good look at the worker.

He was a big and bulgy stallion, like a sack of potatoes. His flushed and bloated face wore a sleepy, amiable expression. His dock worker uniform was plain and dirty, covered in thick splotches of mud and grease. His beady eyes paid no mind to me as I looked around the hut. As a doctor, I could see his diet probably consisted of macaroni and pork-rinds. Not the healthiest, stallion I'd seen, but as long as he at least balanced out the sugar and fat with actual food, he should be fine. But this was no time for a medical exam. I had an investigation to get to.

I spotted a desk spike on the table beneath me. It held a stack of papers which appeared to be shipping documents. Although, none of them referred to Cobalt Industries, a few of them referred to a company back in Equestria called CWF. That could only have been the Cloudsdale Weather Factory! It was no secret they were the largest corporation in Equestria, and had a great deal of money the throw around, but what could they have been shipping to the Keyes? They didn't sell anything other then those tacky souvenirs and t-shirts they gave away in the gift shops after factory tours.

The worker turned to see me, but I managed to swipe one of the shipping documents from the spike and pocket it before he could see me do so. (A little slight of hoof, I picked up from Ralah. Though I had no intention of keeping it, obviously. I was a doctor not a thief.)

"Hey! I thought I told you two to beat it!" he yelled, waving his spoon angrily at me. "The docks close at 5. No entry granted to the public, past that."

"I won't be any trouble, sir. My name is Morning Meir and I'm trying to solve a missing pony case."

The worker beady eyes opened more. "Missin Pony case?"

"Yes. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? It would really help to find this pony before it's too late. Please?"

The worker's angry expression softened. "A'right, a'right. If it'll help find a missin pony, fine. Ask away."

Questioning (Clotter Crabapples, Dock Worker, Night Watchman for Dock 41, May be able to tell me what CWF is shipping to the island)

Clotter was a big and gruff sort. But hopefully I could get him to at least tell me something about what the CWF were shipping to the Keyes. And why it happened to be to a warehouse owned by Cobalt Industries. I decided to start with basic questions, then move in to more specifics as we talked.

"What time does the docks open?" I asked.

"Seven." said Clotter. "If you want inside, you'll have to wait till tomorrow mornin."

There was no way I was going to wait that long. Dr. Seastone was still nowhere to be found, and we had no time to spare in finding her. (Plus, I would get awfully bored just waiting around a dock for 12 hours.)

I asked him my next question. "Is that your dog, out there?"

"Nah- he comes with the job. I just feed him every now and then."

"What's his name?"

"Twenty."

"That's an...interesting name, for a dog." I said, trying to sound polite.

Clotter shook his head. "It's his registration number. Security dog number twenty."

"Ah."

I hoped that Daring and Twenty were getting along, while I asked Clotter my next question. "Is he always this mean?"

"Nah-it's just his job. He's a trained attack dog, and doesn't like trespassers." He eyeballed me. "Remember dat." he warned.

"Right. No worries there. Does Simon er, Dr. Cobalt come down here by any chance?"

"Nope. Mr. Cobalt is the island's brainchild and most respected philanthropist (I was amazed at his sudden increase in vocabulary) He doesn't have time to check in on all his business affairs." Clotter quoted, as if he was reading it right out of the employee handbook.

Interesting. Simon owned the place yet he was never seen here. How did he know things were running smoothly? It didn't make sense. He at least had to have someone keeping an eye on things for him.

"If Mr. Cobalt never comes down here, then who's in charge? Does he have someone keeping an eye on things?"

"A'yep. My boss, Miss Quill-Feather. She keeps an eye on things from her office up in the warehouse. She reports anything that happens back to Mr. Cobalt."

"Is she here now?"

"Nah. She gets off at around 3. Probably at home right now."

"Is there any chance I can meet her?"

"Heh. I wouldn't if I was you."

"Why not?"

"She's the toughest Pegasus I ever seen. Don't take nothing from nopony. I saw her catch a bolt that flew off one of the machines with one hoof. She weren't even looking at it!"

My eyes widened. If that didn't sound like a ninja, I don't know what did. I put it aside for now and asked my next question. "Do you know what the CWF are shipping to this warehouse?"

"I'm paid to keep an eye on things at night. Their business is none of mine."

I could tell from the blank look in his eyes that he knew nothing anyways. Certainly nothing that would help me find Dr. Seastone. I decided to move my investigation elsewhere. "That's all I have for now. Sorry to bother you." I said politely.

"No trouble. Come back if you need anything else, just steer clear of the gate." Clotter said, as I moved away from the window. Before I left, I saw a brightly colored box of dog biscuits in the corner. These must've been what he used to keep Twenty docile. I would need to get them if we wanted to get past him. But I couldn't do that with Clotter in the hut. I had to get him to leave somehow.

I looked back to Daring who had decided to try and out stare the dog, to get past him. (By the strain I could see in her eyes, though, she was clearly losing.) I went behind the hut to a set of stairs that led down to the lower docks. I saw the water pushing up against the sides as I made my way down.

As I did, I saw a short stick of wood, floating near the edge of the landing stage. If I had to, it might make a decent distraction for that dog. As I pulled it out of the water though I saw it was actually a boat hook. I figured it may still be useful, so I set it aside for later, and continued to explore the under docks.

Bobbing up and down in the oily water, was a discarded hard cider bottle. I figured it had been drunk by Clotter then thrown into the sea. (Some ponies have no respect for the environment.) I could hear Twenty up above, still growling and snarling at Daring through the gate. I had confidence in her, but I couldn't spend too long down here.

I spotted what appeared to be a trap door underneath the hut, by which Clotter had disposed of his bottle. Hmm. That could come in handy, maybe.

I returned to the top deck and saw Daring was seemingly having fun taunting Twenty. The dog paid no mind to me as I looked to the side of the hut, and saw a metal chimney, from which the furnace inside let out steam and smoke. It gave me an idea. I moved closer to examine it.

The chimney was a metal pipe, with a conical hat to keep the rain from getting in. The top was steaming with heat, making it clear that I couldn't touch it with my bare hooves. Then I remembered the bottle in the ocean.

I went back down and fetched the hook and used it to retrieve the bottle from the sea. It was half filled with seawater. (Even if this didn't work, at least I had cleaned up the ocean a bit.)

I returned to the chimney up top and poured the seawater from the bottle on top of the chimney. A small cloud of steam rushed off it's surface as it cooled down, allowing me to pull the top of it.

It was a long shot, but I had to get Clotter to leave his hut, so I could get a hold of those dog biscuits. With the top off, I used the bottle to plug up the chimney. In no time at all, I saw steam billowing around the window inside. I waved to Daring to join me beside the hut. She flew over to me, just as the door opened and a coughing Clotter came out, trying to escape the smoke.

"Awesome! Did you do that?" she asked, sounding impressed.

"No time now. We have a way into the hut, down here."

"Why do we need into the hut?"

"You'll see."

We went back down and used the trap door beneath the hut to enter. Daring gave me a lift up into the trap door, allowing me to pull myself up and look around. The room was full of so much steam, it was impossible to see me in here. At least for now.

I looked around and spotted the large box of dog biscuits in the corner. They would come in handy for dealing with Twenty. I snatched them and handed them down to Daring, who set them aside on the docks. I then dropped back down through the trap door, closing it before leaving.

Back down below, me and Daring looked up to see Twenty staring down at us with hunger in his eyes. (I hoped it was the dog biscuits he was looking at.) Then I spotted it. Twenty was standing on top of a fall away door, with a metal hinged bracket. It was probably part of a structure which no longer was part of the docks. But we could use it to get rid of Twenty (Safely and humanely, of course!)

Me and Daring exchanged looks, and a smile spread across our face. Reading my mind, Daring took out a biscuit and whistled for Twenty. "C'mere Twenty! Here boy!" she threw the biscuit up onto the dock where the hungry dog quickly gobbled it up.

While he was distracted, Daring flew over and pulled the hinge out from underneath the fall away door, and Twenty fell through into the sea. He looked at us from the ocean, growling and looking like he wanted to kill us. I didn't blame him.

"Sorry boy. We'll make it up to you later." I said sincerely. Twenty snarled at me in reply. With Twenty taken care of, we had no problem getting over the gate and into the actual shipyard.

Cobalt Industries Shipyard, Dock 41 Warehouse, 6:08 pm

The warehouse looked quiet as we approached. The Cobalt Industries split atom could be seen displayed proudly on the side of the warehouse and the front door which was barred shut with a thick wooden bar. It seemed to be the only way into the warehouse.

Daring went up to the door and gave a sturdy knock. But there was no answer. (I was somewhat relieved, as we weren't exactly supposed to be here.)

I moved closer to get a look at the sturdy wooden door and saw a little grill set into it. From its position, I saw that it opened from the inside and was used to see whose at the door by those inside the warehouse. It was useless to us for getting into the warehouse, though.

Moving to the side I saw a ladder that led to a window above the door, on a little walkway. I climbed it to reach the window, while Daring flew up to it. We scrunched together as we peeked in.

Inside was a large room, filled with crates baring the Cobalt Industries logo. As we looked in, we saw the reason Daring's knocking wasn't heard: An industrial fan was running full blast next to the window. We could barely hear anything over its loud roar. Which also meant that the two scary looking colts we saw inside, couldn't hear us either.

I couldn't see them clearly, but I could tell they didn't work at the docks. They were too athletically built and slender for heavy labor, and were dressed in full black suits. I saw one, partially hidden behind a stack of crates. The other worked at a desk taking notes down in a notebook. From what we could see, neither one of them were paying nay mind to their surroundings. Including the window we were currently looking in through.

We back away from the window. "Those guys work for Simon?" Daring asked me.

"Not that I know of. We need to get in there."

"Front door's a no go. We could go in through the window, but it would spoil our element of surprise."

I had a better idea. "We need to take out the fan."

Daring's eyes lit up. "Nice! A distraction to get them away from their post. But...how?"

"Hmm. Let me try something."

I opened the window and looked in. The fan was right beside me, roaring loudly as it ran. I peeked back out and spotted a broken piece of pipe on the walkway. I grabbed it, and with great timing, managed to wedge it into the blades of the fan. The fan clunked and shorted out as it's blades were mashed by the pipe, stopping it entirely.

The noise resounded throughout the warehouse, alerting the colt at the desk. However rather then looking up, he looked over at the other colt, annoyed. "Hey! Did you do something?" he asked.

"What? No! I've been over here the whole time!"

The other colt was not buying it. "You try anything, Initiate and I'll kill you where you stand. The Setting Sun can't afford any mishaps. Especially, when we are so close to our awakening."

My ears twinged at the word. The Setting Sun!? What were ninjas doing hiding out in a Cobalt Industries warehouse? This didn't look good for Simon. Nothing did, at the moment.

I backed out from the window and looked at Daring. She was just as shocked as I was, but we didn't have time to talk about it now. We had to get in there. But we had to get rid of these guys first.

It was then that I saw the strange smile cross Daring's face. "Hang on. I got an idea."

Before I could protest, Daring flew down and knocked on the front door again. The little grill opened up, and the colt's angry face appeared. "What do you want?" he growled.

Daring smiled at him. "Evening gents. I'm Daring Do, world famous treasure hunter and adventurer extraordinaire!" she boasted. "I believe you guys are looking for this?" She withdrew the black Mayan stone from her shirt pocket.

I did a double take. That sneak! How in the world did she manage to pickpocket that off me without me even realizing it? She really was as good as they say...

The colt's eyes swelled as he saw the stone in Daring's hooves. "Where did you get that? Give it to me, now!" he yelled.

Daring tossed it around in her hoof. "Make me." she said with a menacing grin.

The colt returned the gesture. "Fine. Then you will die."

With that he opened the door and lunged at Daring with near imperceptible speed. But Daring was faster, as she jumped back and tossed the stone up to me, where I caught it in my hooves, and put it back in my pocket.

I scrambled down the ladder to help Daring, but by the time I got down there, I saw she was already fighting the ridiculously fast colt.

He matched Daring blow for blow, and even managed to deliver a few solid hits. But Daring had apparently planned on this, as she ducked under the colt's side kick, only for him to hit the button on the crane. The crane whirred to life, and swung a wide arc from it's position, smashing the barrel it held in its claws right into the side of the colt's head. However, this only managed to stun him, as he stumbled around, his vision clearly blurred. What was this guy made of!?

With no other moves, we simply tackled the colt together, sending him off the docks into the water below. We then rushed into the warehouse, only for me to nearly lose my head as the other colt swung a very sharp curved sword at me. I backed up and watched as the colt spun the hilt across his hoof, only to catch it in his other hoof. He took a low stance as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Hal 'ant mustaeidun lilamawt?" (Are you prepared to die?)

Arabic. Interesting for a ninja. But I had also studied Arabic while I was in Saddle Arabia, for my International Medical Conference.

I narrowed my eyes at him as both me and Daring replied. "Ahdarha." (Bring it.)

Daring managed to get us both a sword from the nearby rack as the colt attacked, his blow striking hard as we barely managed to block it. I had never fought with swords, but the fact that I wasn't dead yet was a good sign.

The colt backed off as we stared him down, swords at the ready. "You alright?" Daring asked, without taking her eyes off the colt.

"Still alive so...yeah!"

"I can take this guy. You go and see what you can find in this place!"

"I'm not leaving you alone!"

Daring looked over at me. "Heh. Trust me. I'll be fine. It's him that should be worried."

But I didn't move. "Then with both of us, he should be terrified." I said menacingly.

Daring smiled as we both charged at the colt. Between me and Daring, we managed to counter every blow the colt swung, and deliver a few clean strikes, that should have taken him down. But he kept swinging. This guy was trained unlike any I'd ever seen. It was like pain merely made him angrier, rather than slow him down. It took me sweeping his leg and delivering an injury to his thigh, plus Daring flying up and landing a powerful elbow drop to finally fell the colt. He fell to the floor, out cold, dropping his sword as he hit the ground.

When it was over, me and Daring both had sweat beading on our faces as we stood there panting from what it really took to bring down this single guy!

Daring dropped the sword in a huff. "Jeez! That guy was straight out of a kung fu movie! I've fought ninjas before, but he was something else."

I dropped my sword as well. "And remember: these guys were only initiates. We need to steer clear of these Setting Sun guys. We won't stand a chance, unprepared."

"Good plan" Daring agreed.

With the ninjas taken care of, we had full access to the warehouse, and we began our investigation.

Investigation (Cobalt Industries Warehouse, 6:23 pm)

While Daring moved the unconscious colts to the lower docks, I began looking around the warehouse. There was a noticeboard beside the desk, with an assortment of paperwork on it. I went to take a closer look.

Among the paperwork, which adorned the noticeboard, was something that caught my eye. It was a delivery note from Cobalt Industries, and the address was Quaramonte City. I had never heard of the place, but stored the information in my mind for later.

Examining the rest of the area, I saw a small drawer on the desk the bigger colt had been sitting at. I opened it, and found a small brass key. Looking to the filing cabinet next to the desk, I quickly found the key fit the small lock easily.

Inside was a letter, written in very beautiful cursive that was addressed to Quill-Feather, the manager of the shipyards. It had been sent to her personally from an individual calling themselves Al-sy'd.

More Arabic. It translated to "The Master." How typical.

I read the letter quickly, hoping it would give some clue as to what was going on in this place. But it was just a notice about another shipment coming from the CWF on Wednesday. But a shipment of what? I still hadn't found out.

Daring returned and we decided to take the elevator to the higher levels of the warehouse. But upon stepping out of the elevator, I spotted the motion sensor on the wall and stopped Daring before she set it off.

We froze like that for a second. Before we both looked down and saw that she had stepped through the second motion sensor beneath it.

We expected alarms. Armed guards. The police. The works.

But instead, a small light next to the elevator came on. I was confused. What kind of security was this? There were no modems nor outside wiring, that would be apart of a silent alarm system, such as a wireless transmitter. So, what was this?

Then it hit me. I took a step forward. Daring was hesitant at first, but after seeing how I was still alive, and that there were no alarms going off, she took a step forward out of the elevator. And yiped as it closed behind her suddenly. She stepped back in front of the sensor, and the elevator opened back up. I was right.

The sensors were a photoelectric lock that prevented the elevator doors from closing when they were obstructed. This prevented anypony from using the elevator to reach the top floor of the warehouse, that they didn't want up there. And trapped anyone up here who didn't belong.

Daring holding her hoof in front of the sensor, would stop the doors from closing. But she couldn't stay there forever. "Hang on. I'll figure out a way to keep those doors open." I told her as I looked around.

"No rush." she joked.

I spotted a crate baring the Cobalt Industries logo. Perfect. Daring moved aside, just as I moved the crate in front of the sensors.

We waited, and when the doors didn't close, we took a minute to catch our breath, before exploring the rest of the top floor.

Daring looked behind a large stack of crates, and spotted an unmarked switch. "Tempting" I heard her say slyly.

After pressing it, a light came on in the back of the top floor, illuminating a new area. We went to inspect it only to see that it appeared to simply be a wooden wall. "Well....that was a let down. What now?" Daring asked, turning to me.

I put a hoof to my chin in thought. There was more to this, then what we saw. I could tell something was certainly special about this wall. I moved closer and felt around the wall. Looking down, I noticed faint scratch marks on the floor.

As if a door had been opened on the wall. I felt around on the wall, and my hooves and found a small round stud which was set flush to the surrounding wooden paneling. A pulled on it and just like I'd thought, a secret door opened in the wall, letting us into the hidden room.

Hidden Room, 6:45 pm

The room was small, cramped and held only one occupant. My eyes widened as I smiled at the mare staring back at me from the chair she was bound to. "Dr. Seastone!" I cried, running over to untie her. She was trussed up like a chicken, but otherwise unharmed. I untied her quickly, letting the ropes fall to the floor.

Dr. Seastone stood up, then immediately turned around and hugged me. "Whew. Thanks, Meir. I owe you one. A BIG one." she laughed.

Daring ran up to us, equally relieved to see Dr. Seastone safe. "Glad to see you're alright, Doc." she said with a smile.

"Are you alright? What the hell happened to you?" I asked, concerned.

"I have no clue! I was just sitting there waiting for you and Simon to get back, when all of a sudden, Tropical Breeze passed out! I got up to help her, and then I passed out. They did something to the tea, is my guess."

"The Setting Sun Cult?"

"Is that whose after us, this time? Great. Another insane cult, hell-bent on destroying the world or whatever. And here I was thinking this vacation would be boring. Ha!" Dr. Seastone joked.

It was great to see she was safe. And even more that she was unharmed. But what had they kidnapped her for? And why bring her here, of all places? I needed some answers. Luckily, Dr. Seastone was more then ready to provide.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, Seastone?"

She laughed. "Screw questions, Meir! How bout I just tell you what I know."

"Oh. Yeah, okay then."

Dr. Seastone took a minute to relax as we returned to Clotter, and let him know what happened. As angry as he was for us trespassing and dunking Twenty in the ocean, he was more relieved to see that Dr. Seastone had been found and was alright, and unharmed, especially on his watch. He let us take a seat in his hut, while he phoned the police to let them know about The Setting Sun Cult and their presence in the warehouse.

Clotter waited outside the hut for the police to arrive, as we all sat by the fire of the furnace. Once Dr. Seastone had taken a minute to relax, she explained everything she had found out while in captivity of the cult.

"These Setting Sun freaks are not messing around. I overheard those two guys talking downstairs. Apparently, their master was real pissed that they had lost The Sacred Stone. Something about it being needed to get the tribes to cooperate with them."

I had heard about the tribes of indigenous ponies that lived far up in the The Voiceless Jungle. They were never seen or heard from, but the stories about them and their mystical magic go back untold centuries. What did the Setting Sun want with them, though?

Dr. Seastone continued to explain. "The only other thing I picked up, was a prayer they kept saying over and over to this thing." Dr. Seastone withdrew something from her lab coat and handed it to me.

I examined it closely. It was a flint carving of a grotesque figure, with large evil eyes. "What was this prayer?"

"The Sapphire will bring him. The Island will awaken. The Traveler will walk and the world will be reborn." Dr. Seastone repeated. "Bunch of crazy jumbo, if you ask me."

The Traveler? Interesting. I would have to look more into this later on.

As the police arrived and began to search the place, we all got a lift back to the hotel in the squad carriage. Much to all of our relief, our room was still ready for us, luggage and all. It was now past 9:00 when we finally reached our rooms.

Daring said good night before returning to her own room, which was just down the hall from us.

As for us, Me and Dr. Seastone, were more then ready to leave this day at the foot of our beds. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. But as I slept, I dreamed a strange dream of a terrible curse befalling the world. Ponies running away from a horrible monster that blocked out the skies in height, and a stallion watching all the carnage from a safe place.

A Nero who watched, as the world burned.