Act 2, Chapter 23: Flowers that Bloom in Dark Places
Starlight Over Detrot
Act 2, Chapter 23: Flowers That Bloom In Dark Places
Despite the protests of out-of-work miners and ice-haulers to the contrary, there is something worse than having an obsolete special talent: Having a dangerous special talent.
Cases do exist of ponies whose special talents have literally been things like 'madness' or 'alcoholism' - and how do you cure a special talent? A special talent is not something a pony can wish away - it is an integral part of who they are, no matter how self-destructive, and only top tier magic has ever been able to rearrange cutie marks; a process that, in the one documented instance, had disastrous results even when the talents were all relatively benign.
Such cases are fortunately rare; Nearly all special talents are positive or useful... at least, on paper. They don't always work out that way. Far more common than flat-out negative special talents are special talents that turn out double-edged; for example, somepony with a talent for ostentatious displays and working a crowd can easily become a showoff, a braggart, and a liar. Anypony whose talent becomes an obsession can easily leave problems in their wake...
...And somepony with a talent that serves others can wind up serving the wrong pony.
--The Scholar
The elevator was glass-fronted and, like everything else in Tartarus, felt like it belonged in a hospital rather than a prison. We dropped past hallway after hallway stretching out from the carriage, each lined on either side with sliding glass doors set into the wall. On the first few levels, some ponies wandered the halls, but the hour was growing late and most had retired to their rooms. Those that were moving from place to place all wore the same kind of collar Swift, Taxi, and I did.
“Sir, I thought this was a prison? Why is everypony allowed to just...go wherever?” Swift asked.
“They aren’t,” I replied, gesturing to a mare who was talking to another behind one of the closed glass doors. “Those are the ‘low security’ cell blocks. If they’re non-dangerous or have a proven record of good behavior, they might get one of these rings. They can put them on and the door to their cells will open. The ring locks and if somepony wearing one decides to get violent for some reason, they get to have a little nap instead. When they get back to their cell, the door locks and the ring unlocks. Some semblance of freedom apparently keeps violence down. We’re heading to where this place got its reputation, though, so watch your flank.”
Warden was watching the hallways go by, one after another, completely impassive. Well, I say completely impassive. She might have been making funny faces for all I know. I’d often pictured her goofing off when nopony else could tell.
Stepping up beside her, I asked, “How many levels down are we going?”
She cocked her almost skinless face look at me. “To the bottom, Hard Boiled. Saussurea has the floor to herself. She designed the building, after all.”
Taxi raised one ear. “You let a prisoner design the prison?”
“Believe me, I had obvious reservations, but there are few ponies whose talent is imprisoning others.” The Warden sighed, which was a sound like writhing maggots played through an excellent speaker system. “The alternatives were letting her walk out... or snapping her horn and legs off. A little known side-effect of being one of the finest incarceration development specialists in the world; she is very difficult to lock up.”
I leaned on the wall of the elevator, watching as the floors dropped away. “That’s a thing I meant to ask. Why imprison her at all? Sounds like she should have been given a medal after how she handled the dragons.”
“She was. It was her handling of her pony inmates that earned her a permanent place in Tartarus,” Warden replied.
We crossed from one floor to the next and suddenly, the sliding glass doors were gone, replaced instead by simple metal with sliding peek doors set in them.
“Ahhh… here we are,” Warden said. “High Security. I do wish I could spend more time here.”
“Whyever for?” Taxi asked, peering out the glass fronting of the elevator at the rows of dimly lit hallways.
“I have several friends on this floor. One beast to another, the creatures who inhabit this place are a more… interesting… breed. Once you get by their murderous tendencies, or at least, can ignore them, you can find quite the intriguing conversationalists down here.”
One floor flashed by for several seconds and we were dropping through a shaft in front of a gigantic space many dozens of bodylengths long. I caught a glimpse of an enormous something moving out there in the darkness. It had a tail covered in pale red scales.
A rattling voice called out from the depths, “Morning, Warden!”
The Warden smiled and gestured for the three of us to cover our ears. Once we had, she called back in that thundering voice which rattled every bone in my body, “Good Morning, Califax! Keeping your snout clean?”
“Yes Ma’am!” the… whatever it was… called back.
Then we were beyond that level, still descending.
“Prisoner exchange with the dragons,” the Warden explained, though nopony had asked. “They had a real difficult time convincing Califax to stop eating ponies, so he’s being required to spend a couple of centuries getting to know us, lest he spark a war leading to the annihilation of his race.”
Swift raised one wing, like a student in class. “Um...I know we don’t, but I remember studying about the dragons in school and they have a death penalty, right? Wouldn’t that kind of thing mean they usually kill him?”
“Good question, with a slightly depressing answer, I’m afraid. The Far Reaches dragon species don’t have nearly enough males of breeding age remaining after the Crusades to afford to kill him. They were hit particularly hard.”
“Oh…”
A magma chamber blew by, bathing the inside of the carriage in a red glow, and the elevator began to slow.
We dropped from the ceiling of another enormous room and the elevator rails changed from a smooth glide to a slightly unsettling rattle. All outside was dark, though there were spots of light in the distance which seemed to demarcate a dome of some kind. The elevator slowed further until, with a light thump, it came to rest and the cage slid open.
“After you, ladies and gentlecolt,” the Warden said, holding out one fried leg.
I stepped out of the elevator and onto what felt distinctly like soft soil. I shuffled my hoof and inhaled deeply. The space or cave or whatever it was smelled of growing things; life and greenery. My night vision was adapting quickly to the dim light, but it still took some time to pick out the distant details.
I looked up… and felt my jaw drop.
If the elevator weren’t still sitting there, hanging from a set of taut chains, I might have thought we were outside. Overhead, far and away, the night sky stretched from horizon to horizon. It was, perhaps, a little smaller than the real deal if you really focused, but the illusion was good enough to trick the eye so long as one didn’t look too closely.
We stood on a path or track of some sort, which wound away between a stand of what looked like trees. The dirt was cool, but the air felt warm as a mid-summer’s evening. Somewhere nearby, water lapped against a shore and a faint wind came from someplace to tickle my fetlocks.
“This is... not what I was expecting,” I murmured.
Warden’s eye cast a red glow on the road, providing a little bit of light to see by. “Saussurea may be the most simultaneously damned and rewarded pony in history, with the exception of Princess Luna,” she mused, contemplatively. “She was allowed to build her own prison, to her specifications, on sole condition that she never leave it. Come along, then. She will be having a late snack, I’m sure.”
The Warden trotted along the path, her eye providing a beacon to follow. I looked at Swift, who was shuffling her feathers like she wished she could take off, and then started after our host.
It was a pleasant midnight walk for the bottom of a maximum security prison. Soon, I caught sight of the source of the water noises; a pond, big enough for a decent swim if a pony were so inclined, surrounded on all sides by a stand of trees. As we passed one, I stopped and gently scored the bark on the trunk of the nearest one. My hoof was immediately covered in sap.
“Living trees down here. That’s a nice trick,” I said, softly to myself.
“Not as good as that sky,” Taxi added. “I might commit a few war crimes if this is the punishment...”
“You're in luck. I think some of the things you and Minox get up to might count.” I snickered. She poked me in the hip, sending little tingles of pain right down to the tip of my hoof. Still totally worth it.
We moved on, trotting along the path amidst the indoor forest with our hooves sinking into the dirt in a way that some essentially equine part of me hadn’t known it was missing. At length, I saw a light amongst the trees.
It resolved as we got closer into the shape of a window; four panes of glass, with a candle sitting behind it and the shadow of a rocking chair. As we got closer, I saw a tiny cottage. The path seemed to be taking us there.
Abruptly, the Warden stopped in the road ahead of us and turned to face me. “Detective, may I make... a request?”
I pointed at the ring around my neck. “It’s not as though I’m going to disobey, is it?”
“Mmm… this is a more personal request. Your collars will let you do the interrogation as you see fit, unless you mean to get violent. I just wanted to ask if you wouldn’t mind… being gentle with Saussurea. I can’t guarantee she’ll be gentle with you, sadly.”
My brows pinched together. “That’s not like you, Warden.”
“Miss Saussurea is not like my other inmates.” The Warden paused, considering her words, carefully. “She is… a friend. One of very few I still have, I’m afraid.”
“A friend?”
“Yes. A friend, strange as that may sound. I would appreciate it if you kept your questions succinct. She is quite old and will not live more than a decade or so at most. I would like that decade to be as easy as possible.”
“I… see. I somehow never thought of you as having ‘friends’ in that sense,” I replied.
“Just as I think you never considered basic tact or courtesy. Friend or not, make no mistake when you see Saussurea; she is a monster. Irascible, demented, and with a vicious temper. An old manticore, if you will. If you’re incautious with her, she is still dangerous. My friend or not, she does not suffer fools, even for me.” The Warden’s eye flared brightly, making the trees seem to glisten with red magma flows where the light played off the variations in the grain of the wood. “Oh… and be polite. She likes polite ponies.”
“Well, we’re screwed then.” Taxi giggled. “We should muzzle Hardy if that’s our winning condition.”
“I think I can restrain myself for a few minutes, Sweets,” I grunted, kicking some dirt off of my horseshoes and straightening my shoulders.
“Best be, because if you want the Architect of Supermax to help you, she has to feel she’s doing it for a good reason. The Hole is her greatest achievement and even after decades, she’s remained convinced it will re-open.”
”Mmm... so, she’s a whole truck full of crazy, then.”
“Keep such thoughts to yourself, Hard Boiled, or this visit will end quickly. Now, shall we proceed?”
I nodded and the Warden moved ahead once more.
The cottage was about as quaint as quaint could be. I’m sure if Taxi had an ideal fantasy of rustic living, that would have been it. It was a simple wood cabin with a flat-topped roof and what seemed to be a small garden off to one side. Warden directed her eye over the little planting and I saw what I thought were tomato plants, if substantially underripe ones.
Beside the door, a rake with a jacket draped off the end rested alongside a set of four galoshes and a fishing pole. There was even a ‘Welcome’ mat.
“I realize the answer is going to be ‘lots of magic’, but how was this even possible? I’ve heard of some spectacular underground constructions, but this…” I inquired.
“Saussurea found an empty magma chamber when performing city survey for Supermax,” Warden answered, tapping soil off her toes on the doorstep. “She made note of it and when it came time to construct her own prison, she chose this. The sky is a projected illusion and there’s a big grow-lamp up there which acts as the ‘sun’ for twelve hours a day. The rest was mostly labor and time.”
“I still don’t understand… why she gets all of this,” Swift muttered.
“Miss Cuddles, her sins were impossible to ignore, yes... but during the war, Saussurea was a hero,” the Warden explained. “She managed to contain dragons during a time when we thought the only viable method of dealing with a dragon was to kill them outright. It was thanks to her direct efforts that we were able to have returned to us many thousands of ponies in exchange for their prisoners. She saved more equine lives than you will ever know.”
My partner’s shoulders slumped a little like a scolded kitten and she stepped back behind me.
The Warden reached up and knocked three times on the cabin door, then stood back to wait.
For a long minute, there was no motion inside, then I heard a soft scraping sound. The doorknob on our side turned a lucent color somewhere between a shiny red apple and fresh blood, then gradually swung open.
Light from the fireplace showed a thin frame standing in the doorway, clutching a shawl with one hoof while the other rested on a walker. My night vision readjusted enough for me to see a pleasant, if wrinkled, smile underneath a long, prominent muzzle.
“Warden! How good of you to come!” Saussurea's voice was warm, but with a crackle like dry leaves underfoot in autumn.
“Saucy! It’s good to see you. How have you been?” the Warden said in the most friendly way I’d ever heard from her, her teeth clattering against one another.
“Fine, fine, of course. Underground tomato plants are proving a challenge, but I’ll have it cracked one day soon,” the old mare replied, then poked her head around the Warden’s side. “And who are these three fine ponies you’ve got with you? New recruits for the guard?”
“Ah, no, I am afraid not. Saucy, I realize it is very late, but do you mind if we come in?”
“Oh, of course not, Warden. Please.” Saussurea stepped back, leaning heavily on her walker as she pulled it along with her and retreated into the warm house. “Do mind that you wipe your hooves!”
I shut my eyes and tried to conjure up one of Taxi’s old meditations, but was forced to settle for three calming breaths before I stepped over the threshold.
Inside, the cabin was homely and small, with a roof that suited its occupant well even if I was required to duck slightly to keep my ears from brushing the rafters. Swift, half pint she is, grinned as she reached up and touched the top of the doorframe with one wingtip.
There was a huge fireplace, big enough for a house five times the size, though the fire in it was small and peaceful, merrily sputtering away. In front of the fire, a rocking chair still swayed gently back and forth.
A workbench with attendant table owned one entire wall, covered in tools of every imaginable shape and size. Each wrench and hammer looked neat, well oiled, and sharp. Arrayed across it, shackles of every variety and description spilled in great profusion, in all sizes; from one I’m fairly certain was meant for hydras to some which might have been for foals. If you focused, you could make out some semblance of organization, though what method she was using I couldn’t discern.
The room was lit, aside from the fire, by a couple of old fashioned lightning bug lamps.
Saussurea waddled over to the tiny kitchenette and pulled a plate down from the cabinet, yanking a package of digestives out and spreading them artfully around in a fan with her magic. Swift, Taxi, and I stood in the doorway, admiring the comfortable little space as the Warden trotted over to the fire . warming her hooves over it... No. She put her hooves in the fire.
Polite. Be polite, Hardy.
“Miss Saussurea? My name is Detective Hard Boiled. May I introduce my companions, Officer Swift and my driver, Taxi." I bowed slightly to one side to indicate the mares beside me.
“I know who you are, Detective." Saussurea moved to her seat by the fire and heaving herself up into the rocker.
That put me immediately on the back hoof. “Have we met?”
The old pony shook her thinning, burnished red mane, pulling her shawl tighter across her breast. She ignored my question, but said instead, “Come here, deary. Sit by the fire with me. It is a cold cave and I prefer to see my guests.”
I moved around in front of Saussurea and settled on the soft rug laid out there. She levitated one of the biscuits from her plate over and I raised my hoof so she could lay it there.
“That does apply to the rest of you, you know,” Saussurea said, with a faint laugh.
I realized my partner and driver hadn’t moved. Swift was staring at all of the shackles on the wall, while Taxi was staring at Saussurea, her spine arched like a cat. My cutie-mark was tingling with a certain intensity, though it was barely more than the perpetual buzz I’d always felt in Tartarus.
“You two, come sit,” I ordered. Swift, reluctantly, moved over and dropped onto her stomach beside me. Taxi stayed where she was.
“I think I may stay here, if you don’t mind…” Taxi said, with a touch of distemper.
“Sweets… polite, remember?” I pointed at the rug.
Dragging her hooves, my driver pulled herself over and eased down in front of Saussurea, who just levitated one of her cookies over and laid it on her hoof. Taxi made no move to pick it up.
“Now then, my three visitors…” the mare began, sounding for all the world like my grandmother, insistence on feeding even unexpected guests included, “What brings you young ones to my door at this hour? Somehow I don’t think it’s for my friendly conversation or my cookies. My friend, the Warden, comes to visit me a few times a week, but it’s rare even the other inmates come down this deep.”
Warden was still warming her forelegs in the flames, seeming entranced by the dancing fire.
“Miss Saussurea, I… don’t know where to begin. We are in a bit of a bind.” I tried to smile ingratiatingly. I think, on my best days, I could pull off ‘abandoned puppy’ pretty well.
“Oh yes, you’re bound up tight, aren’t you!” she cackled, one hoof stroking the side of her rocker. I realized a chain of some kind was attached to the rocker itself, holding it to the floor. “Bound up and nowhere to go! Tell me, boy! What sort of bind would bring you down past old Califax, to the bottom of Tartarus, when Iris Jade herself is baying for your blood? Perhaps a lovely little thief, tiptoeing around in blue robes?”
My muzzle dropped open and my thoughts scattered. I looked at Saussurea, as though seeing her for the first time, and realized, at that moment, that my initial impressions of her had been incorrect; somepony’s sweet, doddering grandmare she was definitely not. She looked at me out of her rheumy eyes with the sort of piercing intelligence that I’d seen only a few times in my life… though admittedly, quite a lot over the last month and a half; in Stella, in Cosmo, in Diamante, in Skylark, in the Don, and in Iris Jade.
Saussurea was a player.
Deposed.
Trapped.
Chained.
Banished to a hole at the bottom of the world.
Still playing.
I turned to look over at the Warden. “What exactly is going on here?”
The Warden didn’t move, lowering her hooves until they rested on the hot coals with a faint sizzle.
“Ah, Mister Hard Boiled!” Saussurea said, leaning way back in her rocker and steepling her toes, studying the ceiling. “You are not an unclever soul, then. I was worried you might be stupid. That would have been very dull. After your interaction with Skylark on the television, I deduced you would be coming.”
“You… deduced?” Swift sputtered, half rising off the carpet.
Saussurea’s lips peeled back, revealing two rows of perfectly white teeth. It was only a smile by some very loose definitions. The Warden smiled with more honesty behind the emotion, and she did so without the benefit of a face.
“Yes. He is, of course, seeking for Skylark’s safe-house for some reason I haven’t determined.” the ancient jailer continued, in a conversational tone. “He believes it is in my great work. It is entirely likely he is correct.”
“Saucy, you promised you wouldn’t do this…” the Warden growled.
“I promised no such thing!” Saussurea snorted, sliding off her rocker and trotting over in front of me. She lowered her long snout until it was inches from mine. “I merely said I would consider giving them the information they needed, if you let them see me. I didn’t say I would do it kindly.”
My cutie-mark flared and I must have winced, because her smile grew.
“Alright, I’m going to ask it again. What’s going on here? Warden?”
“Hard Boiled, you want answers, you’re talking to the wrong pony. She said you’d be coming, and I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, but she said if I did, you could bugger off back to Detrot with nothing. She also said whatever she knows is very important to the city. I’m afraid Saucy does as she will, more often than not. Her contract of incarceration is with the Princesses, not with the Warden of Tartarus.”
“And she bloody hates it, don’t you, Warden?” Saussurea nickered, stepping back from me and and giving the burned mare a light push with one hoof so she stumbled sideways out of the fire, shaking hot coals off her hooves. “Excuse me, Hard Boiled. I don’t mean to distress you. I’m pleased you did come to see me, expected or not. Your partner, Juniper, was a wiser pony than most, even if his methods were soft. I have always believed in a more strong-hoofed approach to dealing with criminality, but the Princesses and my friend, the Warden, disagreed. It turns out that, though you can bend dragons, you cannot bend the sun and moon.”
Feeling a touch more sure of myself, I inhaled and rubbed my chest with one toe. The socket was itchy sometimes.
“I guess, after the list of ponies I’ve dealt with lately, I shouldn’t be surprised when one of them manages to get one over on me. You obviously want me to ask, so how’d you know?”
“That you were coming? Oh come on, my boy! Put it together and impress me.” Saussurea dropped her backside into her rocker and munched noisily on her late night snack. A log in the fire snapped, sending a wave of sparks swirling up the chimney.
I watched for some time, thinking.
“You knew Skylark, didn’t you?”
Saussurea nodded. “Oh yes, good friends, we two. Not that a pony like her has ‘friends.'”
“Or like you…” Taxi muttered, eyes firmly on the carpet.
“What was that, Miss Taxi? I’m afraid my hearing isn’t what it used to be,” the mare asked, though she couldn’t have missed what my driver had said.
My driver raised her head and I could tell, from the glint in her eye, that she was about to say something untoward. I did one of those rare, stupid-and-intelligent things; I put my hoof over her muzzle.
Taxi’s eyes lit up with anger. They confirmed my suspicions, as they spelled out: You just logged several minutes gasping for breath and rolling around on the floor trying to restart some of your organs by force of will.
My own ocular reply came: Yes, but that may be the least of my problems.
I turned back to Saussurea, “You must excuse my driver. She forgets herself sometimes. As I was saying? You and Skylark. She served her sentence here. You told her about Supermax, yes?”
The old mare’s eyes didn’t leave Taxi, but she replied, “Yes, yes I did. Very good, Detective! I told her about Supermax, and you learned, by some means, that she or somepony who holds her chains has… a design upon the city. Up to her old tricks again, is she? I assume she has taken something of… significance? She was truly an excellent thief.”
Click.
One more piece, sliding neatly into place.
“She has taken something of extreme significance, yes, and I’m fairly certain it’s in Supermax. Do you think you can get us in?”
Saussurea exhaled through her nose, studying the three of us.
“Detective… do you know anything about my sweet child?” she asked, at last.
“The… prison?”
“Yes." She swept her shawl up against her chest. I peered through the slats of the rocker at her flank and her cutie-mark needed no explanation. It was a closed shackle. She continued, “A mother must protect what she loves, after all. Why should I help you?”
“You told Warden you would?” I shrugged and nodded towards the Warden who crouched beside the fire.
“Warden? You think a promise to her means more to me than my child?” Saussurea laughed, heartily. “I may value her friendship, yes, but not that much. She is, after all, my captor.”
“Captor?” Swift asked, looking around the comfortable cabin. “Miss, I would kill for a place like this!”
Saussurea regarded my partner, as though seeing her for the first time. “Girl… I did kill for a place like this. Would you really?”
“What? I mean… N-no, it was just a figure of-…”
“Then no, be assured, you wouldn’t,” the old jailer sneered, kicking the chain attached to her rocking chair so it clanked against the floor. “There was a time, well before you were born, when I was one of the most powerful ponies in this country. The Princesses themselves hung accolades around my neck for my work.” She made a gesture with her hoof, encompassing her tiny cabin and the cavern. “Now, all I have is a pit with a chair that my own regulations mandate must be attached to the floor and a horn which can barely levitate a package of snacks for guests because every inch of magic above and beyond is siphoned off by my only friend,” she jabbed her toe at the Warden.
Warden turned to Saussurea, and I got the impression that, if she could, she’d look distinctly sad. Saussurea took a deep breath and pulled her shawl from around her shoulders, laying it across her lap as she met the other pony’s eyes. At first, she looked defiant, then her expression softened a little.
“Excuse me, Ward. Resentments aside, I am comfortable here,” she assured her.
The Warden nodded and patted the arm of the rocker. “No offense taken, Saucy. You know, if I could, I’d let you walk out. The war changed ponies.”
Saussurea rolled her eyes. “Oh, do be honest, Ward. I am lusus naturae. The war didn’t change that and we both know it. My talents simply found an outlet in conflict.” She returned her interest to the three of us, Swift in particular and she asked, with a bit of a dirty grin, “You know what it’s like to have a dragon kiss your toe, kiddo?”
Swift’s lips quirked into a very small smile as she stared off into the distance. “Um... well... Yes…”
“What?” Saussurea sat forward, surprised. “Say that again?”
“Oh… I’m sorry. I guess you didn’t mean it like that.” My partner’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of orange. “My god-father’s a dragon. He’s very sweet and he’s really affectionate and before prom I asked him for advice on my dress and when he saw me he said I was the loveliest filly in the world and kissed my hoof and-”
“Sweet mercy, what is this world coming to?” Saussurea interrupted her rambling with an angry sniff. “Those beasts used to bow when I passed their cages, and they knew respect. Now they’re being given stewardship of our foals-”
“Those poor dragons bowed because you… you put things in their brains!” Taxi burst out, suddenly leaping to her hooves. The black ring around her neck beeped, then flashed, and her forelegs collapsed, sending her sprawling face-first onto the rug.
There was a moment of complete silence as everypony registered what’d happened.
Taxi was still awake, her eyes wide, but her body was entirely stiff. Only her ears twitched to show some sign of life.
Saussurea slid off her chair and I took a step forward, but she just moved in a little circle around my prone driver. “Now then, what violent thought were you just having in my direction? And how did you know of my methods? I have told precisely two ponies in the last thirty years of how I achieved my success. One of them is in this room and sworn to secrecy.”
My driver couldn’t answer. Swift was just staring at her, shocked.
I put a hoof to my forehead and groaned. “Warden, do you mind letting her up? She’s... going to have some murderous thoughts. It’s sort of how she relates to the world. You have my word, however, that she won’t act on any violent thoughts today. Isn’t that right, Sweets? Flap one ear for ‘yes.'”
Both ears flapped against the carpet and she glared at me.
“Sweets, I can always have Warden leave that thing on until we get home. And if I have to do that, I’m going to call Scarlet Petals to the Nest and let him play ‘dress up’.”
One ear flapped.
Warden reached down and poked the lock on the front of Taxi’s control ring. It hummed, softly, and all of her muscles went lax. Slowly, she got to her hooves, dusting herself off.
“Now, answer the question. You want my help, I want to know just who has been acting the stool pigeon,” Saussurea demanded.
“I saw you, you… you… you demon! I saw what you did to those dragons!” Taxi replied, sharply. “How could you?”
The elderly jailer’s brow furrowed, causing lines of wrinkles to spring up around her eyes. She regarded my driver with a curious expression, trotting around her like she was some specimen under a microscope. A very aware but possibly suicidal part of my brain was screaming that I should be getting between them, because Taxi was radiating every ‘going-to-kill-somepony’ signal I’d ever seen from her. That I knew she couldn’t physically attack Saussurea was the only thing stopping me.
“Mmm... that’s... interesting. Are you, perhaps, mildly psychic or some other such thing? I have heard of some earth ponies-"
“It’s my talent!” My driver snarled, and the ring around her neck beeped, but she drew in a breath and the glow faded from the black metal.
My rear knees jerked, and Swift sat forward, very attentively, suddenly much more interested in the exchange.
“Your… talent…” the jailer’s lips drew together at the edges and she edged sideways so she could see my driver’s flanks more closely. In the poor light from the fire, the scars on her sides were simply dark blotches. “Very… very… interesting. The finest arcane minds and interrogators our civilization has produced have tried, via every magical means known to ponykind, to yank that information out of my mind. You, here… scarred pony...”
“My name is Taxi!” she snapped.
“No, no it isn’t,” Saussurea said, with a disconcerting smile. “Scarred Pony. We’ll call you that. I smell submission on you. You’ve been jailed before, haven’t you?”
I started to step between them, but the Warden was already there.
“Saucy!” she barked, a thick spurt of green flame gushing out of one side of her neck where the skin didn’t quite meet up on both sides. “We are not doing this with guests! Do you hear me?”
Saussurea dismissed the scowling Warden’s objection with a flick of her hoof, “Oh? Will you turn off my nervous system, Ward? They came to me, remember? Skylark can make her play for the city for all I care. I didn’t ask these three to come into my home and-” she poked the air in Taxi’s direction. “-Miss Scars over there to pry into my mind with whatever means she uses.”
“You’ve had your fun. Now, answer these good ponies’ questions.”
The former warden’s eyes narrowed as she examined Taxi, whose shoulders were high and tight. “Mmm… no. No, I don’t think I have. Warden, you can leave. Take the little one with you.”
There was another silence, this one thick with menace.
“No.” Warden growled, her muzzle starting to smoke. The room was quickly becoming uncomfortably steamy.
“Warden,” Saussurea continued, ignoring us. “I will say it only once, and this is my promise, above and beyond my friendship to you. On my continued tenancy here; I will assist them. But only… if you leave me. I want to be alone with the Scarred Pony and her… friend. Otherwise, I bid all four of you good night.”
She leaned back in her rocking chair and closed her eyes.
The Warden’s sides were heaving and she made a noise like a blast furnace with each breath. The air in front of her face was distorted by the heat. Slowly, she turned to me. Her horn lit a little brighter and I heard a voice very close to my ear at just a whisper. I doubted anypony else in the room could hear it, though Taxi cocked one ear like she was also listening to something.
Hard Boiled, Sweet Shine… I must apologize. I had thought to have your information simply, but Saussurea is her own pony. You can leave, now, or stay and get what you came for. She’ll keep a promise about this cell, if nothing else. I should warn you, however, that two orderlies have attempted suicide after protracted contact with her in unassessed conditions. It is your decision. Better ponies than you and I have tried to force information from Saussurea and failed.
I thought for a few seconds, then shook my head and started for the door. Screw the old bitch. Limerence might have turned something up. Letting her dig into my driver’s brain to get her kicks was one line I would not cross, city-wide conspiracy or not.
It was only with one hoof on the door that I realized Taxi wasn’t with me.
She was looking at Saussurea, her expression unreadable. Generally, ‘unreadable’ on Taxi should be understood to mean ‘homicidal’ on just about anypony else, but she wasn’t moving and the control ring remained dormant.
“Sweets? We’ll talk to Limerence. He might have something for us. I think this was a dead end.”
My driver didn’t move for some seconds, then her haunches slid to the floor.
I walked over and put one hoof on Taxi’s foreleg. “Come on. We don’t need to do this. She’s just going to screw with your mind and she wants me to watch.”
“I know,” Taxi replied, very quietly, then smiled up at me with one of her sad, soft little smiles.
“Aaand that’s not necessary, right?” I murmured.
“No… no, I think it is. I think I want her to,” she said, and winked. Saussurea, still seemingly dozing, let out a disturbing chuckle.
Swift, who’d been quiet so far, pushed her mouth discretely under my ear. “Sir? This is a bad idea. We should just go.”
I replied, in a whisper, “Do you have a good way of making Taxi do something she doesn’t want to?”
My partner bit her lip, then stepped back and sat.
I examined my driver, trying to get some notion of what she might be thinking, but her face gave away absolutely nothing; perfectly neutral, but for a tiny sloping of the lips on one side. In any other circumstances, it might have been a smirk, but her eyes were blankly unemotional.
The information we needed was hanging by a thread and I couldn’t tell if she had something in mind or was experiencing one of her bouts of staggeringly self-destructive behavior. Those had become less common the more years that stood between her leaving home and the present day, but now and then they would crop up at inconvenient times.
It left me in an awkward position.
Limerence was a genius at getting intel, but I suspected his limits had been reached. There also remained that unfortunate time limit dangling over our heads. Who knew how long our opponents and their lackeys would wait to teach Jade a lesson in obedience?
“Up to you, Sweets,” I said and pulled open the door, ushering Swift out into the gloom. “Kid, go on. Ask the Warden to tell you a story.”
“Sir-” she started to object again, but I cut her off.
“No, kid. This is Taxi’s call.”
She gave me a heartbreaking look of confusion, then nodded and stepped off the stoop, spreading her wings out to either side. “If you need me, Sir…”
“I’ll call.”
The Warden, without another visible word, trotted out. I gently shut the door behind her, then heard her voice speaking next to my ear, “A condition of Saussurea’s continued incarceration is that nopony should ever monitor the interior of that cottage, Detective. There are no cameras nor any listening devices. This is ill advised and I am going off protocol in even allowing it. I do this only for the sake of Cerise.”
I rested there, my hoof on the door and my heart feeling like it was charging back and forth in my chest like a hoofball player on a rampage.
“I thought she’d never leave,” Saussurea said, clapping her hooves together, eagerly. “Now, information, yes?”
“That’s the idea,” I replied.
“Good! I do love teaching!”
I wish, to high heaven and beyond, I’d had my gun. I’d have left the world one vicious bitch fewer. The way she said that set off every alarm bell in my brain and I was moving backwards towards the door, intent on putting some wood between myself and those five words, before I really considered what the consequences of running might be.
Regardless, Saussurea didn’t give either of us the chance.
Her horn sparked and I felt something heavy and cold clamp itself around my ankle. I jerked my head down to find a thick iron cuff clamped around my knee. A second one crawled across the floor and I tried to leap back out of range, but the first one seemed to come alive, yanking me sideways like a dog with a toy in its mouth. I stumbled and fell, my vision going fuzzy, as the other chain clamped around my neck, followed by a third that wormed its way around my muzzle.
The chain around my ankle drew tight and I tried to find Taxi, but all I could see was a yellow blur as tears of pain filled my eyes.
Somewhere, in the background, I could hear Saussurea’s mocking laughter.
“Now, then, my friends! In a bind, are we? You’ve no concept of what a bind is. Do not worry. I will happily educate you!” the ancient jailer giggled as more heavy-duty chain swung down, wrapping around my belly and hauling me off my side until I dangled in the air like a marionette as high off my toes as the low ceiling would allow. Blinking my vision clear, I finally saw what’d been done to my driver.
Nothing.
She was still sitting there on the rug, eyes shut, taking slow, deep breaths. She hadn’t moved.
I tried to speak, to tell my driver to run or kick Saussurea or something, but the chain around my mouth tightened until my teeth ground together, painfully.
Saussurea, for her part, was standing beside the fire with one hoof on the mantle, grinning at me like a jungle cat.
“Ahhh, Detective… this is how you should be. You make an attractive chandelier,” she nickered.
My brain felt like it’d been frozen solid. I’ve never done well with helpless situations and I didn’t like the fact that Taxi was doing her best ‘stone’ impression. I knew she wouldn’t let me get hurt, beyond a certain point, but up to that point all bets were off. I squirmed, trying to draw in a full breath and ended up just shifting one of the chain links into a less comfortable position on my nose.
“Now, then… Scarred Pony.” Saussurea was addressing my driver, who dropped onto her belly. “We have things to discuss, yes?”
Taxi finally opened her eyes. “Yes. Yes, we do. Can I ask how you managed to make the chains work?”
A smug smile crossed the jailer’s face. “I will allow you this question, I suppose. After this, you will only answer mine until I am finished with you. Do we have an accord?”
Taxi dipped her chin.
I fought against the chains, rattling them with all my entirely impotent might. I knew where this was going, or thought I did. Both of them looked over at me and my driver gave her head the barest of shakes.
“He is a brave sort, isn’t he? Plenty of those died during the war,” Saussurea commented, crossing to stand in front of me. “Mmm...your question, then, Scarred Pony? My talent is to lock away the world. I have imprisoned dragons, killers, and creatures you would not even wish to imagine. Warden steals the lion’s share of my magic, yes, but she is...kind hearted. She leaves me enough that I can still call myself a unicorn.”
Moving to her work table, she picked up one of the larger shackles, turning it in her hooves for a moment. “I keep myself busy. I sequester a little of my magic in each of my shackles. Imprison it. Just a smidgen. A flavor of enchantment, woven into the metal. Over a long enough time… well, a mouse can move a mountain.”
Raising the iron, she tapped it with her toe and it rang like a bell, then flew off the table, catching my driver around the throat. She overbalanced, toppling onto her back with the collar clamped tightly around her neck. I expected a considerable amount of flailing and shrieking at this point, but she just laid there on her back, like she’d expected it.
‘Sweets, what are you doing?’ I begged, with my eyes.
I felt like I was an alien watching a strange tableau I wasn’t fit to understand. There, my driver, collared and chained, laying on her back in the most vulnerable position a pony can. There, Saussurea, a pleased expression on her face.
Saussurea watched Taxi for a time, then moved over until her leathery face filled my vision. I got to study the canyon sized wrinkles around her thin mouth. “Detective… do you know why I ask the little one to leave?”
More wiggling, more pinching from the chains, more glaring before I finally succumbed to my confusion and shook my head.
“She doesn’t need to see this.” The mare growled. “She’s a child. If you had any sense, or any kindness in you at all, you’d leave her on her mother’s doorstep. You? You deserve what comes now, for dragging her into your world. Now you will see what that selfishness will one day create.”
Lady, you have no idea... I thought.
Swinging back to my driver, Saussurea’s horn glittered and the chain around Taxi’s neck yanked her upright. She gagged, staggered, and put one hoof to her throat.
“Now, Scarred Pony. I want to know a thing. Answer my questions and you will have your answers. Lie to me and I will know. You will leave emptyhoofed and your friend will leave with torn ligaments in all of his limbs,” Saussurea snapped. “First question. What, exactly, is your talent?”
Taxi took several seconds to recover her voice, but when she did, it was a deeply subdued one that I hadn’t heard in many, many years. “I… become… what other ponies need,” she whispered.
It was a strange thing to hear my driver admit. She’d been reticent to even mention her talent before she lost her cutie-marks, but once they were gone, it was a non-topic and few ponies were willing to ask. All it usually took was one look at the mass of flayed flesh on her hips to discourage curiosity.
Saussurea chewed at her lip, examining Taxi closely. She studied the checkered braid, the curve of her neck, and her unshod hooves, taking in every detail like an inspector at a crime scene.
“You have my sympathy, Scarred Pony.” she said, finally. “No compassion, I’m afraid, but… sympathy. Who removed your cutie-marks?”
My ears perked right up at that. I wondered what Taxi would do. She was still wearing her control collar and the chain leash would keep her from going anywhere, but that single question might have doomed our hopes of getting answers.
She didn’t hesitate at all.
“I did.”
My eyes widened and I struggled against my bonds again, for whatever reason feeling like this might improve that revelation in some way.
Taxi removed her marks. I knew she and her talent didn’t have a good relationship, but to think she’d do something like that. I wanted, desperately, to ask what she meant. I wanted to hear her say she’d lied, but I doubted such a thing would trick Saussurea. It was ‘Truth’, with a capital T.
Saussurea nodded, rubbing at a bit of thin, fire-engine red mane hanging beside her ear. “Very interesting. Do you miss the one who broke you, Scarred Pony?”
No emotion. No hint that she was feeling anything. I hadn’t seen Taxi this way since we were kids. She seemed so empty as she replied, “Yes. Very much.”
“Mmmhmmm… I see.” Saussurea’s voice took on a sing-song note. “Your talent might have made you a brilliant teacher. You could have been the greatest doctor in Equestria. Mayhap even a psychologist the like of which this world has never seen. You could have been so many fantastic things and now… you are a broken thing, cast out from the loving embrace of your proper owner. Is that why you spend your days with that fool?” she asked, pointing at me with her horn.
Taxi bit her lip and nodded, very slightly.
“Excellent! The one who broke you still owns you, you know. I can feel his collar around your mind.” Saussurea gave a slight tug on the chain attached to my driver’s throat, forcing her to look up into her eyes. “You still want to submit. To crawl. You knew I needed a slave, same as you knew the fool over there needed to know what I’d done to the lizards all those years ago.”
My driver’s eyes were still blank. “Yes.”
“Most… interesting. Few talents are so double edged. If I hadn’t promised Warden I’d give you the information you need, I might spend several long days exploring your sweet, sweet mind.”
Twisting my muzzle sideways, I managed to push off one of the links of chain with my jaw, then work my mouth free of the rest so I could speak.
“Warden! Get us out of here!” I shouted.
Saussurea looked annoyed as she trotted over and picked up the end of her chain, laying it gently across the top of my muzzle. I tried to shake it off, but it clamped back in place, though not tightly enough this time to keep me from speaking. “Detective, do you think I am stupid? One of the first spells I wove was one to soundproof these walls.”
Through clenched teeth, I growled, “You want to let me down, we’ll talk about just what I think of your spells…”
“Oh dear, was my initial impression of you wrong, Detective? Are you a rude boy?” she purred and the chains around my ankles pulled more firmly until I felt tingling pain in my joints.
I had another word of defiance on my lips, but I saw my driver over Saussurea’s shoulders, violently shaking her head. I snapped my mouth shut.
“There we are. Good boys get what they came for. Bad boys get their legs pulled out of the sockets.”
Saussurea returned to my driver, gathering the chain around her foreleg like a leash, bringing Taxi up on her toes. “Now then, Scarred Pony. You saw what I did to those dragons, yes?”
“Y-yes…”
“Let us see just how specific this little talent of yours is, shall we?”
She grabbed Taxi’s chin, forcing her head up.
Their eyes met.
My driver’s jaw fell open, and the muscles in her rear legs tensed, but she didn’t move.
“What do you see, Scarred Pony?” Saussurea demanded.
Taxi shuddered, her tail slapping against her flank as muscles in her thighs seemed to struggle in different directions, some keeping her still while others spurred her to flee.
“A… a little dragon.”
“Goood, yes. Very good. What else?”
“I can’t,” she whimpered.
“I’ll cripple him, Scarred Pony.” Saussurea jerked her head in my direction. “Oh, he might be alive, he might recover, but I doubt it would be fast enough for whatever you lot have in mind…”
Taxi stared at me for a half second, then dropped her chin to her chest.
It was rare I saw a genuine demonstration of Taxi’s talent. Sure, her skills in interrogation were all but unmatched, but she’d always kept it hidden, even when we were kids. Her ‘Shine’ as she called it. It never worked conveniently, but then, in the place she was, her talent was no comfort. A talent is only a boon if you make it work for you, and Sweet Shine’s never had.
Sadly, that didn’t seem to mean it’d failed to develop.
“I… I saw you… with a little white dragon on a leash. She was crying and you told her to stop and she stopped. Then you told her to smile and she smiled. Then you told her to… to chew off... her...her own...her own wings...”
Taxi, who had one of the strongest stomachs of anypony I’ve ever met, leaned over the fire and vomited.
“Excellent. Excellent, Scarred Pony.” Saussurea’s smile was borderline orgasmic. “Her name was ‘Pet,' if you are curious. One of the dragons we captured just so happened to be pregnant. Oh, she might have let the soldiers know… and she might have been returned to her people. Like all dragons, bloody stubborn. When she laid her egg, I took it. I told the Princesses I returned it to the draconic ambassador, but truly? She was my little toy. Fair payment, for what the dragons almost took from me.”
“Sh-she was innocent…” Taxi said, her eyes glistening with tears as she wiped her muzzle with one hoof.
The old bitch stepped back, trotting over to her rocking chair. My driver was dragged along, stumbling at her heels.
“There are no innocent dragons, Scarred Pony. Dragons are not like ponies. Their souls are rife with greed. It is in their very blood,” Saussurea said, with a little shrug. “Though, for your curiosity when you have not yet earned your question, I will simply say she is most likely alive. I left her on the doorstep of the dragon ambassador the day the Princesses signed that wretched peace accord. I believe he raised her as his own. I doubt he found her replacement wings, however.”
I quietly thanked Celestia I’d passed up a snack earlier, or I might have lost it just then.
“How… could you do all of that? Even-” Taxi started to ask, but Saussurea interrupted her with a sharp yank on the chain.
“Considering what the blasted dragons did to my child?! I could have done much, much more! Her mother could just as easily have eaten one extra filling final meal before she left my care!” the mare snarled, angrily. “Mmm… but then, you don’t really need to know about that, do you? You may find out quite soon, after all. I am sending you into my child’s belly. Skylark and her brood may feed her, but… I suspect a thing is being done of which I do not approve.”
With that cryptic statement, Saussurea held Taxi’s chain to her breast, eyes closed, savoring the moment.
At last, the mare had enough reveling in her sense of control, leaving me squirming in anticipation, and asked, “Tell me. Skylark. She still performs her little song and dance for criminals, yes?”
“She… she still has a prison ministry, I think,” Taxi replied, softly.
“No, no… I mean at Supermax. The conditions under which I gave her my child were very particular. Particularly that she should keep her fed. This city produces a uniquely vile brand of criminality and I wished to see her cells always full.” Saussurea grumbled, picking up her shawl with a spurt of magic and slinging it half-hazardly back around herself. “Damn this cold old body. What I wouldn’t give to stride her halls again and feel the fear of all those evil ponies at my passing!”
I decided it was time to interject.
“Skylark’s not keeping criminals in Supermax,” I said.
Saussurea frowned and nodded, “Confirmation, then. I realized that soon after she ceased appearing on the Warden’s doorstep, asking to speak to the inmates here. She has been using my magics as well, I imagine. I will not allow this continue. I would only see the beastly, the evil… the unrighteous… bow,” she said, putting one hoof on Taxi’s forehead. I thought my driver might bite her or something, but instead she let the old jailer push her to the floor. “My little creature here understands. She’s a hateful little thing. She hates herself most of all, don’t you, Scarred Pony?”
Taxi didn’t answer, but I could see her quivering. I was worried she might have broken. I couldn’t tell.
“So help us!” I snapped, “We’ve got limited time and some innocent ponies are going to die if you don’t!”
“Oh, you will have your help,” Saussurea assured me. “Skylark does not get to feed my child the easy pickings! I gave her the instructions to re-activate my construct such that she might do my will… but she is not. The criminals of this city sit in the councils and institutions! Until such time as I can return to my proper place, I am afraid -- and it saddens me to do this -- I am afraid I must put her back to sleep. To that end...”
Her horn glowed and a roll of blue paper slid from behind one of the desks, dropping across Taxi’s back. “This should be adequate to get you through the traps in the sewers, though once inside, you will have to navigate with what little intelligence you have. I was very thorough in my obfuscations of the building’s true dimensions and I am very old. Even I will have to relearn her halls, when the time comes.”
I shifted in the chains wrapped around my torso. “What about the construct? What’re we meant to do with that?”
Saussurea’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “That… was not part of the deal. I said I would give you the information you needed. Once those inside the cells are dead or removed, my child will rest again, until such time as the necessary spells are cast. Skylark’s hold on the city will break. That is all you need to know.”
I kicked my rear legs a little. “Could you let us out of this-” I caught the words ‘shit hole’ before they left my mouth. “-lovely little cottage? We’ve got places to be.”
She gave me one of those evaluating looks that said she already had an answer in mind, but wanted to give me some hope.
“I think perhaps… I will have one last thing from my Scarred Pony.”
Gently tugging Taxi’s leash, she guided my driver onto her knees in front of her, then raised her hoof. Taxi looked up at it, ears low against the sides of her head. Her silence was unnerving enough. I didn’t know what to make of the fact that she hadn’t already attempted to cripple the mare. Certainly Saussurea deserved it.
“Kiss my toe, Scarred Pony,” the jailer murmured.
I opened my mouth to tell her she didn’t have to, but one of the chains snapped up and lodged itself between my teeth, leaving me gnawing at the metal angrily.
Taxi lowered her muzzle, and very tenderly pressed her lips against the end of Saussurea’s hoof. She rested there for a long time, then pulled back and stood.
The collar unsnapped from her neck and my bindings came undone, sending me plummeting to the floor in a pile of bruised ribs and fury. I felt the control ring around my neck start to buzz and forced my breathing to calm down until it subsided. A self-induced concussion wouldn’t make the situation better and I needed my wits for the conversation I was damn well going to have with Sweets the moment we could get someplace private.
My driver stepped back from Saussurea and adjusted her braid over one shoulder, then turned to me. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Sweets. Are you?”
She didn’t answer. Her gaze found the jailer’s and she leaned close, resting one leg on the ancient monster’s shoulder. Saussurea didn’t move away or draw back. She tilted one ear.
“Amateur…” Taxi whispered.
The elderly pony’s eyes almost popped out of her head.
“H-how…”
“You never made me love you, Saussurea,” my driver, my friend, said with a cool vindictiveness that sent shivers up my back. “You might hold my leash, but you are nothing compared to the stallion who broke me first. You are a rank, stupid child, clutching for control in a world that’s lost to her. Now you’ll die, down here in this pit you’ve built. You’ll die with only your captors for company and your fake sun to warm your grave.”
Saussurea’s face went slack.
The chains spread all around the room began to rise into the air, sliding over every surface like vipers readying themselves to pounce.
Taxi turned to me and tilted her head towards the door. “Shall we?”
I glanced at the animated chains. “If she’ll let us.”
“Oh… she’ll let us. Won’t you, Saucy?” Taxi murmured, all the animation and life returned to her face like a light switch flicked on. “You need to know, don’t you? If you kill us, you won’t ever know.”
The Jailer of Supermax snarled and the metal snakes leapt forward, stopping a bare inch from my driver’s face. She blinked at them, then reached up and pushed the chains away. As one, they collapsed all around the room, falling in tangled piles, leaving the impression the tiny cottage had been gift wrapped by an especially psychotic and security-conscious pony.
My driver pulled the blueprint off of her back, checked it, then folded it back up and tucked it under one leg.
She trotted to the door and gestured for me to come along. I moved over beside her, pushing open the door and stepping out onto the stoop. Inside, the chains slithered over one another, still moving in a malevolent mass lit by the infernal light of the fireplace. Saussurea sat in her rocking chair, her shawl hanging to one side, her biscuits scattered on the rug.
Outside, crickets chirped and sang their little songs amongst the pre-dawn in the artificial forest. I saw a red light bobbing along out there between the trees and a flash of bright orange feathers nearby.
When Saussurea spoke again, it sounded like a different pony. There was something in her voice that was almost pleading. “Tell me his name…”
Taxi grinned and put her hoof on the doorknob. “You sad little pony. Couldn’t you guess?”
“Tell me!”
“His name… was Daddy.”
****
Outside, on the little path leading away from the house, I stopped my driver with one hoof on her shoulder. She put her forelegs around my neck. We held the hug for about ten seconds, then stepped back from one another.
“Sweets…” I began.
“I needed a warm up, Hardy,” she said, cutting short what I’m sure would have turned into a bit of a sympathetic outpouring. “That’s all that was. I’m fine. Seriously, if one nutty quack with a bondage fetish could get under my pelt, I think it’s time to turn in my freak card.”
“Did you have to take it that far?” I asked.
She pulled the sewer blueprints from under her leg and laid them at my hooves. “She gave us what we came for, didn’t she? Besides… like I said, warm up.”
“A warm up for what?”
“Before you and Swift came down, I gave my identification to one of the nurses. She recognized me. My father’s in the prison hospital. He’s dying.”
“So? You haven’t spoken to him in years, right? Don’t tell me-”
“We’re going to see him.” she said, firmly. “If nothing else, to find out what Saussurea won’t tell us about what the Supermax construct does. He was a prisoner there before Tartarus was finished. Besides...” she exhaled a soft sigh. “-she was right. He’s still got a hold on my mind. Supermax makes the school look like a pleasant side trip. I need those shackles off, before I go into something like that.”
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Dat cover image thou!
Okay, not gonna lie, I'm pretty spooked after that ordeal. At least we're finally getting to the truth. Never expected that Taxi was the one to remove them, but considering the hold that Daddy has on her, I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind it. On that note, it's unnerving that she considers him to be a level above Ms. Super-powerful Spooky Chains. Of course, that's probably on the highly subjective Taxi scale.
And that important piece of information about special talents, and Taxi's in particular...
...I am having some really dark thoughts right now about what transpired between her and Daddy...
Please, PLEASE tell me that we actually get to meet the bastard in the next chapter and finally get some answers...
Oh My...
So, the Pinkie sense allows Pinkie to detect anything that might harm her friends physical or emotional states (falling objects, slamming doors, obsession with her talent,etc), the Cheesy Sense detects when and where a party occurs, and the Shine detects what a pony most requires at the present time? This is interesting, isn't it? Though when your identity is the ability to proficiently serve others, an existential crisis seems imminent. My current thoughts on Gypsy is that she might be an earth pony with an ESP talent as well. A pony named Gypsy (perhaps full name Gypsy Bard?), with an ESP talent and a spunky attitude? Perhaps an analogy to Pinkie like how Snow Coy was an analogy to Fluttershy with the Stare? I am just glad somebody is covering the earth pony ESP aspect. Fantastic job. I love how complex this story is. Also the "Physics of Magic" you have created are superb and add so much to the story. I may just have to borrow some of your magical theories for the story I am currently in the middle of drafting. Is that Ok?
...well, you were right. This is a sufficiently F***ED UP chapter.
4115319
Your patience will be rewarded.
4115323
Thanks for the praise! And as for Earth Pony ESP: Pinkie can't be the only one. And yeah, go ahead and borrow theories! It's Fanfiction.
4115328
We're not at the bottom yet.
--CEO Kasen
4115338 Fair enough. Although just reading this has got me excited to write more for my sidefic.
......oh lord there are a million and nine disturbing contexes in this thing. i like it but stil......... shutters.
especialyl with taxi's......... father. oh lord i do not like this. not one bit. i don't like it in a GOOD way, but still gotta bad feelin.
am i presuming that it is the chapter you mentioned writing in third person, the one coming next?
i do like how sweets played with saucy, as warden calls her. that is a pretyt significant power, empathy. though dangerous for poor taxi.
though about the cutie mark thigns. it should be noted that the only time that switch thing ever happened the victims were connected to the fruit of a God Tree........ in other words a power beyond anything else in equestria we know of .
.........kay was it the collar that was keeping hardy from getting free i guess? if recent episodes shwoed anything, earht ponies having great strength is all but canon now. though likely some are stronger than others.
........thinking it would be wise to think earth pony strength is in part magical as well. basically a extra strong earth ponies like Maud and the Apple Siblings have considerable magical energy to direct into it. maybe its something like earth pones who have sensory abilities, while strong, send more energy to their sensory abilities than their bodies. ponies like maud send theri energies towards their body and, while have senses, ahve cosndierable strength.
>>CEOKasen and Chessie
It may have been answered before, but how strong are Earth Ponies in your fic? In MLP, we have seen Big Mac pull a house and Maud punch through rock. Then we have Pinkie and Cheese with supernaturally uncanny intuition. If those are the "Twilight Sparkles" of earth pony magic, how does the average one compare? Hardy seems pretty strong and he has pretty powerful intuition when his talent is involved. We have yet to see him really pushed to the maximum of his strength or wits yet, though. In fact, being a cop, could we even use him as a baseline for average? I would love a simple primer on what "Average" ability for each pony tribe is in your fic.
::takes a deep breath, lets part of it out::
Wow.
4115414 Cheerilee is what i would say. she can smash down a door, likely wreck a house, if pushed. and she has no rigorous physical activity.
WTF SAUSSUREA
This fic has reached the level of terror classic Doctor Who was renowned for. I am deeply afraid of what I might find in the next chapter, but I cannot bring myself to stop waiting eagerly for it to be released.
The world you have built is terrifying, but those few moments of pure innocence make it all worthwhile.
Do go on.
>>lordofmyth
Oh yeah, I completely forgot about Cheerilee busting down that door...
As the series goes on the "normal" earth ponies are starting to seem more and more terrifying.
Super Strength
ESP
Dubious Mental Stability...
I can't wait for more worldbuilding with Taxi's talent, though. "Become what others need" is rather vague. I want to know some more specifics on how it works. But then again, asking for the specifics of an Earth Pony's ESP seems to be a bad idea...
I love noir fan fic
4115414 I wish I could give you precise numbers, but honestly, that's always been the problem with this fic. The My Little Pony TV Show is inconsistent about what magic can and can't do, as well as how strong characters are and aren't. Big Mac can cart a house, but is weighed down by a cake.
It does mean keeping a sort of 'sliding' power-scale. In general, Hardy is stronger than Swift and Limerence, except Swift's wings which can hurt him badly and Limerence's magic which could sling him around quite handily.
-Chessie
4115854
Dubious mental stability happens with all three races, though!
--CEO Kasen
Poor poor Taxi!
Saucy was right, Taxi could have done some billiant things. Instead she gets used by a monster, I know he's already dying but I hope Taxi kills him.
This story just gets better and weirder all the time!
4116014
Well to be fair you could argue physical vs magical strength vs dexterity. I mean there is a reason for that stat names and uses in video games. It's more truthful anyway. I mean Twilight is a pushover physically, she really doesn't exercise. On the other hand with all her time studying and experimenting w/magic, much less her recent Alicorn transformation, Twilight could just end the world with magic. Or, to be more reasonable, if she knew more ways to use it she'd be an unstoppable war machine. Oh, you thought gravity was your friend? So sorry, it's really not the truth at all.. Try being a pegasus pony and having up suddenly be down. They'd probably repeatedly slam into the ground due to trying to take advantage of their opponent by using their ability to fly.
These two pieces seem contradictory, "what I thought were tomato plants" implies a certain amount of ambiguity about whether or not they actually are, which is ruined by them being "covered in ripe and healthy tomatoes'. With that in mind, those same ripe and healthy tomatoes would imply that she has cracked the challenge.
4116177
Gaaaah. Fixing.
--CEO Kasen
4116166 I've often been tempted to come up with stats for the characters, but what system would I use? D&D is awfully deterministic in some ways, although I suppose you can always roll a 1 now and then. I do like the White Wolf system. It's a better story-telling system. I dunno. Thoughts?
-Chessie
Well...that was genuinely terrifying. While other characters we have met up until now have had their various little quirks about them Saucy is just plain sadistic. She did have a point about Swift though, that kid is in way over her head and the more she follows Hardy the further she will fall into darkness. Speaking of darkness, holy fuck Taxi. What kind of shit did her father put her through to where a display like that would not even phase her? Even more, she was playing Saucy the whole time like...damn. I am trembling slightly as I type this, trembling with excitement!
images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130404174518/bleachfanfiction/images/2/28/ImageSasukeEMS.jpg
Can't wait for the friend who led me to this fic to read this chapter, so I can gloat that I totally called it about Taxi's father...
Still horrible, but this is Noir, after all; therefore it is awesome.
4116306
Can't say I would know. I've only played real tabletop D&D once or twice and even though I've played a number of video games based on it they don't necessarily give you a good sense for how those stats really affect anything except when they break the fourth and tell you flat out that you aren't strong enough to pull that lever.
Not sure exactly what you mean by deterministic and since you aren't doing roleplay or anything I think the sliding scale you described is more than adequate. I also don't know what you mean by better story-telling system. In my mind D&D is mostly not about story, it's largely about handling mechanics so that the story can move forward. I.e. what should happen if someone slips while climbing other than falling/not falling depending on how the DM feels. If I slash my enemy with a sword, how much injury did I actually cause and what do I have to do to kill him.
If I had to pick here I'd say maybe a three stat system for ponies where each race has a bonus to one of the stats and maybe spec the rest out as skills/training. My point was that D&D generally covers the bases of physical attributes. Luck really isn't physical and the Detective has an awful lot of it seems. Cutie marks are also such a large part of things that they'd practically have to hold feat+ status in a game system.
4116589 I worry myself a little when I write shit like this, honestly. I wish it were the worst thing we had planned.
It's kinda...not.
-Chessie
4116578
Actually... There was My Little Pony: Roleplaying is Magic, which may be relevant to this discussion.
--CEO Kasen
This chapter was so emotional, I just had to rush thiss
http://piecee01.deviantart.com/art/Starlight-Over-Detrot-Warm-Up-441979443?ga_submit_new=10%253A1395472964
Honestly, Piecee01, you were the other artist I had in mind for the redux cover, but Mech had already offered. I'm just glad you're still there. Sweet mercy, you do expressions so beautifully... You really captured Taxi there.
-Chessie
4117034
Heh glad you like it!
And Oh I don't blame you at all! He was the PERFECT artist for the job!
4115319 Do keep in mind that 'Daddy' has been in jail for a very, very long time and she hasn't had any contact with him, so he wasn't the one to remove her cutie-marks or make her do it, at least, not directly.
-Chessie
Wow.
I'm really impressed. The way you balance all their respective purposes… Taxi's secrets are perhaps typically noir/grimdark, but to have her turn them in a judo twist was extraordinarily satisfying, and then revealing another strand of the web? Spectacular.
I can't imagine reading all this at once. It's compelling enough bit by bit with parts of the story fading to memory. When it is truly finished, I swear I'll grab an ebook of it even if I have to help you make one, and I'll read it front to back without interruption
My heart wont stop pumping.... god Ive never felt this freaked out and worried about a fan fic before..... That actually creeped me the fuck out. I already know some bad, crazy, emotional drama is comin up so
i guess....
but still....
I'm happy we're finally learning more about Taxi
I...
I...I think Im going to go lay down for a while
4117440 Good, good! You go rest so we can get to the really creepy stuff.
-Chessie
4117301
That's more or less what I meant when I said, "he was the one behind it".
Didn't know he was gone for that long before it happened, though.
4117301
Do correct me if I'm wrong, if not now then later, but I would be inclined to think she did it to herself on purpose to try and get away from all that and it didn't really help all that much. Except perhaps as a way to end certain conversations quickly.
You should totally quit making us feel bad for the villains/weirdos of this piece. It's hard to imagine what a cutie mark like Saussurea's does to a pony's mind. Of course, Chief Jade is just strange. You'd think she'd be a bit more appreciate of one of her more successful employees and a little less concerned about PR and random crap. I guess taking too many drugs has addled her brain.
You, Sir (and/or Ma´am) earned my full respect. Maybe even more.
I´m finally done with all the chapters so far, and now this. There are few stories here, that let me feel that varations of different emotions. I have wept, cried and laughed with the characters of this story. And now I finally learnt to hate...
No, seriously. I can only imagine what that ....... thing.....of a "father" did to Taxi and it gives me horrors. I haven´t even met him and I already despise him. No, not "despise", but the other word I have in mind is not suited to be used here, so I will go with that instead....
Why, Taxi? Why didn´t you go, when you had the chance? It was her chance to escape that hell of madness! Goddamnit! *sob*
Still, I´m intrigued. Can´t wait for the next chapter.
Greetings from germany!
I haven't even read this yet and I'm already confused
Good job
4119391 Yeah, last chapter was...rough. Next chapter will be worse.
-Chessie
That. Was. Delicious. I really just have no others words for it.
I mean sure, the whole "I was really acting the whole time" bit has been done many times, but this scene just nails it! The reveal at the end probably surprised me just as much as it did most characters in the scene. Masterfully done.
4120730 I'm glad you enjoyed it! We work hard on the characterizations. Next chapter will be...strange and may skirt our 'teen' rating somewhat. I'll try to keep it roundabouts teen, but that might be tough.
-Chessie
4121413 Given my assumptions about what happened between Taxi and her father, I'm not too surprised. I'm confident you can pull it off, though.
Now that I've had my rest ( and read the latest chapter of Jericho) I can now say I'm quite excited for the next chapter to come out.... much drama will ensue.
1. Get into this particular universe
2. Sneak into Tartarus
3. Get down to the lowest level
4. Put the fear of God into Saussurea with, special, methods.
5. After convincing her I was merely putting a scar into her, punch her in the face, twice.
6. Break off her horn.
7. Strut out in the light of day and flabbergast the Warden.
4124582 I am impressed by just how much people seem to hate Saucy. She was just a one-off, amusing little side-villain. What're you guys gonna do when we get to the REAL baddies?
-Chessie
As a note: I greenlighted Saucy only because Chessie promised she could make the real villains worse.
I've heard some of her ideas.
I'm convinced she can do it.
--CEO Kasen
That was . . . deliciously disturbing. I think this story just jumped up several places on my "best fics ever" list.
After 45 chapters and 454,000 (this is going to be like Fallout: Equestria length isn't it) words we finally learn Taxi's special talent. And it is . . . disturbing.
Taxi insulting Sassurea was funny and awesome.
The new cover art is really good!
Eh I did a thing...
http://ver0nightmare242.deviantart.com/art/I-ll-come-out-when-the-world-makes-sense-442598646
4116306
I hope if you implement some stats system in the future - you will not publish them in the end of chapter like many badly written fics do. That "perk gained: you can lick you elbow now" really ruin the mood and immersion in the story in my opinion.
4125804
My own version why do readers react so much to Saucy - is "because of Taxi".
We readers grow to the characters. Ruby's story was hard to read (her poor helper fate was especially terrifying in it's disgusting realism, worst case of nightmare - completely logical and organic to the story - it is something you can expect from the mobsters in the city like that). But nevertheless she still was only background character.
Unlike Ruby - main trio (I do not include Limerence - he is still too recently introduced) is special. Taxi is special. In this chapter you hinted at something so ... I do not even know how to describe it.
Especially bad it is together with that little backstory you provided in "nightmare night".
I only hope that it will have some closure in the near future of this story. Or rather Taxi will have some closure. She is still mentally scarred much more than her flanks are as I understand.
Best chapter yet.
4125804 Good. Like Taxi said: I need a warm-up.