Chapter 27
Chapter 27
DC Kelso trotted alongside the nurse as they entered the Hospital’s intensive care unit, they passed through the hallways, until the nurse stopped outside of DCI Auditore’s room.
‘Take a walk’, DC Kelso said, gesturing to him.
The nurse grumbled in annoyance, but did as he was asked, and headed off down the hallway and rounded the corner. DC Kelso headed inside the room, shutting the door behind her. DCI Auditore lay in the room’s single bed, hooked up to several life support machines and monitors to keep track of her condition. DC Kelso trotted up to her and pulled up a chair, sitting down and looking over her superior. ‘Guv? Can you hear me?’ she asked.
DCI Auditore’s eyes slowly opened as she turned and looked over towards her. ‘Kelso?’ she asked weakly
DC Kelso smiled at her. ‘Hey Guv! How are you doing?’ she asked.
‘Well, I’ve been better, that’s for sure’, DCI Auditore said with a smirk. ‘Oh... that hurts!’ she said, cringing in pain. ‘New heart’s not finished yet, I’m going to be out for a while...’
‘Anything I can do?’ DC Kelso asked.
‘The way I hear? You’ve already done more for me then I can ask’, DCI Auditore said with a smirk. ‘The doctors said that you saved my life’.
DC Kelso waved her hoof as if it was no big deal. ‘Guv, we’re partners, I did what anybody would have done’.
‘Kelso... you’re a good copper... and a good friend’, DCI Auditore said with a smile, and then her smile faded. ‘Kelso... I have something that I need to talk to you about’.
‘Guv, you should rest, you’re going to need all your strength, I’m sure that whatever it is, that it can wait until you’re better’, DC Kelso said offering her superior... no, her friend, a smile.
‘No, Kelso, no it can’t’, DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘It’s about what we did today... we didn’t do it for the reasons that you thought’.
‘I... what?’ DC Kelso said, raising an eyebrow at the mare before her.
‘Kid... when we went in to take down Zazz? There was only one way that showdown was ever going to end... with him going out in a body bag’, DCI Auditore said weakly.
‘What? Guv, I don’t understand... you went in there expecting to have to kill him?’ DC Kelso asked.
‘No, kid, I was planning on killing that miserable bastard’ DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘Kelso... I’m on the take; I went in there to kill Zazz to save my own arse’.
DC Kelso’s mouth fell open in shock. Here it was. The words were coming straight from her mouth; Detective Chief Inspector Viola Auditore was a corrupt copper. ‘Guv... no, not you, you... you must not be thinking clearly!’ DC Kelso said. She didn’t want to believe it, she couldn't!
DCI Auditore looked at her partner sadly, and merely nodded her head in affirmation.
‘Guv... no!’ DC Kelso cried out. ‘Why!?’
DCI Auditore frowned. ‘I was like you once Kelso, I was young and idealistic when I joined the Serious and Organised Crime Group, it was the happiest day of my life... but when I started the job, I noticed that things were different here. I went out with our DCI... that was DCI Earle back then; he taught me everything I knew. Ponyville is too big a city, and we don’t have enough coppers to police it. DCI Earle said that the only way to do it was to get our hooves dirty, cut deals, keep the low level scum in line... I resisted the way things were done at first... but then, I took my first bribe, this sort of power that you get from this job? It ruins you, turns you into a monster’. The heart monitors measuring DCI Auditore’s heart rate started to show an increase in activity. ‘I see so much of myself in you Kelso. The old me from before... you made me question what I was doing, before, I just rationalised away all wrong doing’.
DC Kelso’s eyes began to water. She couldn’t believe this, she looked up to DCI Auditore, and here she was, a crooked copper, of the worse kind. ‘You... your old partner, DC Hopely? She wasn’t killed in a raid gone wrong... was she? You know what I think? I think she stood up to you, and you killed her!’
‘No!’ DCI Auditore cried out. ‘No, Hopely is still alive! I don’t know where she is now, but she’s still alive! I know it’.
‘I trusted you...’ DC Kelso said with anger in her voice. ‘I TRUSTED YOU!’ she cried out, slamming a hoof against the bedside table. ‘I looked up to you! I thought you were one of the greatest detectives in the history of the service! No, you’re just a fake!’
‘I know...’ DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘You showed me what I should have been like Kelso... I’ve done wrong, I’m not asking for your forgiveness... I don’t deserve it... I just... I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was wrong’.
‘You’re damn right you don’t deserve my forgiveness!’ DC Kelso said angrily. ‘I’m ashamed to have ever been your partner! This... this requires correction!’ DC Kelso glanced around the room and discovered exactly what she needed, she rose from her seat and picked it up in her teeth, it was a small pillow that had been left on the window sill. DC Kelso took the pillow and held it in her hooves. Reaching up and holding it over DCI Auditore’s head.
‘Kelso! Please no!’ DCI Auditore cried out. ‘Don’t do this! This isn’t you! You will regret this for the rest of your life!’
‘Maybe...’ Kelso said. ‘But at least, you will regret your choices for the rest of your life, which won’t be lasting too much longer’, Kelso added. She lowered the pillow towards DCI Auditore’s face, watching as her pathetic excuse for a partner’s face contorted in terror.
‘Kelso! No! Please! No!’ DCI Auditore cried out.
Kelso did not respond, she took the pillow and held it down against DCI Auditore’s face. She watched as the corrupt copper struggled to breath, thrashing around trying her hardest to get the pillow away from her face. Just as her movements began to slow, Kelso took the pillow away from her face.
DCI Auditore let out a gasp for air, and let out a gurgled cough. 'Kelso...' she said with a cough.
'How does it feel Guv? HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE HELPLESS?' Kelso screamed at her as she pressed the pillow against her face again.
DCI Auditore struggled for breath, but this time, Kelso took the pillow away quickly. 'Kelso!' she cried out with a cough. 'Please stop... this isn't you. You're not bad... you’re not like me...'
'You're right', Kelso said firmly. 'I'm not like you, if I'm going to kill you? Guv? You'll be on your hooves with your pistol drawn... and so will I. So will I'.
Kelso turned her back on DCI Auditore and trotted out of the room.
'Kelso!' DCI Auditore called after her. 'Kelso! I want to change... I can change!'
'No. Guv, you don't. You just want to save your own skin', Kelso said as she opened the door, turning her back on her former friend, and leaving her behind.
…
Dula Heartstrings pondered over her interrogation of the ship's VI as she sat in a bar in Cloudsdale, sipping a glass of Sweet Apple Acres' finest cider. She had been to the wonderful city in the clouds only three times in her life. Otherwise, she'd been out on patrol somewhere, on some ship with names as different from Twilight Sparkle a dreadnought, to Manehattan, one of their heavy cruisers, but Cloudsdale... Cloudsdale was something else, the magnificent city in the clouds.
Dula smirked, in the past that statement had been a bit more literal. In the days before the Republic, Cloudsdale was reported to have literally been made out of clouds. In those times, pegasi had actually been able to walk upon them as if they were solid ground.
Most people dismissed this as having been legend, but Dula was a scholar and a historian, on top of her position as a naval officer. They were true, almost everyone had forgotten though.
It was such an odd thing, because the Fall of Cloudsdale happened not too long after the fall of Canterlot. After the Princesses were killed, Cloudsdale's support columns completely collapsed less than a month afterwards.
Fortunately, the pegasi that lived there all had wings, and were able to fly to safety. Like the Fall of Canterlot, there were no fatalities, some minor injuries, but otherwise, every one survived.
Equestrians were a hardy people, Couldsdale would go on to be rebuilt into the modern technological marvel that it was today. Cloudsdale was a floating city built on a flying platform, powered by three separate nuclear fusion reactors, with multiple large noise cancelling turbofan engines creating lift. Care was taken to regulate the population of Cloudsdale, the turbofans could only support so much mass. Too many people and the city wouldn't be able to hold itself up, and as a result, Cloudsdale only had a permanent population of four thousand, almost all of them were military personnel, or civilians working in the shipyards.
'Rear admiral Heartstrings?' a voice asked from behind her. Dula looked up at the new comer, and smiled.
'Vice admiral Firestar', Dula said, offering the vice admiral a salute.
Vice admiral Firestar was a pegasus pony, a native of Cloudsdale, his mane was a burning orange, and his coat was a dark red. His name fit him very well, and he certainly jumped out at you in his blue line officer’s uniform. 'How goes the investigation?'
'I've filed my report, vice admiral, I'm surprised that you haven't read it', Dula said simply.
'I have, actually', vice admiral Firestar said. 'Hannibal-class VIs gaining sapience? You'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe... considering you deleted the VI afterwards, are you aware of how much those cost?'
'Ten thousand pounds for each', Dula Heartstrings said simply. 'I didn't think that FLEETCOM Headquarters was so worried about balancing the budget'.
'Watch your tone, that second star on your sleeve doesn't get you anything with me', Firestar said in annoyance, pointing to rank insignia on Dula's sleeves. 'FutureTec has assured us that there is nothing wrong with the Hannibal-class VIs, and I'm rather inclined to believe them since you've destroyed your VI, we can't double check the facts for ourselves'.
‘I did what was necessary, it was a danger to the republic and I eliminated it, as is my duty’, Dula said confidently. 'What exactly are you getting at sir?'
'I'm asking you to back off from these wild allegations that can't possibly be proved', Firestar said sternly. 'Even with the so called evidence of from your interrogation, you can’t actually prove that the VI had developed the capacity for genuine emotions and free thought. Am I making myself clear?'
'As crystal, sir', Dula said with a nod, giving the vice admiral a salute.
Firestar returned it and trotted off, heading out of the bar and back to his post at FLEETCOM Headquarters.
Dula knew now, there was far more to this than she had originally thought. If this conversation said anything, it was that Firestar knew more than he was letting on. FutureTec and FLEETCOM knew that there were problems with the Hannibal-class VIs, and they were burying it. She knew, but her legs were tied. Vice admiral Firestar had ordered her to drop her investigation, and one did not ignore an order from the Chief of Navy himself. Now all she had to do was figure out how to expose the truth without violating that order.
She knew that she was going to need outside help.
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
808 users online
821,327 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
We're starting to progress in this story again... it's looking pretty good. Keep it up man :)
Can't wait for next chapter, keep it coming!
finally caught up.
and i have to say, this is just like old times*thinks back 1 month ago*
....good times....good times
Okay, I'm through the backlog, caught up to present. Now I have some questions.
Why did you name the admiral Dula? Were her parents fond of the medical profession? Or is it a coincidence that it sounds like "doula"?
Does Sparky's cutie mark mean anything any more? We've all but forgotten about it, and nopony else has noticed it. How will they find their answers in Space?
Why haven't the unicorns used any spells? Has their magic all faded except for telekinesis?
How many ponies that we know took their turns as Prime Minister? I've counted three so far. Disproportionate number is disproportionate. Both Fluttershy and Big Mac seem most improbable and unelectable. And why would Twilight have participated so actively and prominently in the government that overthrew her beloved royal mentor?
And the big one: The identity of Señora Manzana.
We can surmise from comparing the statements of Amarilla and Vinyl that she is either Twilight or Rarity. And the other clues, especially the backstory with Juan Carlos, point strongly to her being Rarity. And she purchased the company so generously that she could only be paying tribute to Applejack.
Here it is, I'm calling it. Applejack, as has been surmised, drank from both lakes just like the stallion in the legend. The legend happened 800 years ago, 700 years before the events of the show, so it couldn't have been her. Then somehow she contrived to ensure Rarity drinks also. Rarity disguises herself using magic that seems like it has been forgotten (no spells have been used at all except for telekinesis), perhaps combined with plastic surgery. She moved to Hispaña, and changed her name as a tribute to her friend, likely the last friend she had. She became embittered because of her longevity, but her generosity is still aroused from time to time. Cases in point: Juan Carlos and Sweet Apple Acres. This is who Vinyl was trying to compare her to. But even besides the dye job, she has changed so much that she's unrecognizable to one of her former friends. And she has retained her sense of elegance and style.
OR:
She's Applebloom, but the color of her hair has changed over time. As above, she drinks from the lakes, though there's no sign of Applejack having done so before her. However, this does not solve the discrepancy that instead of counting the Crusaders as her friends, she rattles off the fates of five of the Mane Six. Therefore, I still think she's Rarity. I looked, but there's no sign of what kind of pony she is, so she could be either a unicorn or an earth pony, at this point.
490044
It's called a hook, it's done that way on purpose.
490263
She's hispaña, they are an earth pony like race.
490490 Thanks for the clarification. My theory still stands.
IS TOO LATE FOR YE TO REPENT, YE WENCH
... No more chapters at the moment?
MOAAAAAAAAA-----
*>>ALERT<< No-More-Chapters Syndrome Symptoms inbound! >>ALERT<<*
[This VI unit has been purged.]
[May this Reading Machine's spirit rest in peace]
--Operating Engineer notes:
How come i haven't read this earlier? This is really funny, really deep, really surprising work that really makes you an addict.
Keep up the good work gentlecolt!
Need more Rear Admiral Heartstrings. Finally a pony with some interest in history, I like her more every chapter.
490474 Hey Wheller just wanted to say that you sure know how to write some very tense chapters without making them too long because i always hate fanfics with chapters that seem like they'll never end and your story is having alot of great references and is really well written with alot of great drama and good characters.
im assuming the 3 stories soon combine.
The bit with the detectives reminded me of something, but it wasn't till after I finished the chapter I realized what. The interplay between Simba and Scar in their final battle in The Lion King!