• Member Since 20th Jun, 2014
  • offline last seen 4 hours ago

PonyJosiah13


Just an adventure/mystery fanfiction-writing brony from the state of Vermont who hopes that you enjoy his work.

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Ponyville is one of the largest cities in Equestria, a center for trade and finance, a melting pot of many races, tribes, and cultures. It is also a place where corruption is a way of life. Here, the cops that aren't on the take are forever chasing their own tails, citizens live in fear, and gangs battle for control of the streets.

Daring Do has just been released from prison after a year-long sentence for thievery, and no one is about to let her forget her place. Phillip Finder is a local private detective and the bane of the Ponyville Police Department. The new partners quickly find themselves at ground zero of a city-wide gang war; surrounded by dirty cops, mobsters, assassins, and bizarre crimes, they can only rely on each other and a few honest ponies for aid.

They're hardly heroes. Which means they may be exactly what Ponyville needs.


Updates every Wednesday. Proofread by Eagle—Paladin of Shadows

The first story of the Noireverse.

Sex and Gore tags for suggestive content and graphic descriptions.

Check out the theme music by The L-Train by clicking here!

Featured on 1/29/18! Thank you all so much! <3


A bit of background...

Three years ago, I introduced Phillip Finder in my first fanfiction, "The Pony in the Gray Trilby." Over the next many months, I kept writing and eventually turned my first work into a twenty-story series. I learned much and enjoyed the stories' moderate success, but unfortunately, I became dissatisfied with them over time. I realize that it's perhaps a bit of a cliche that many artists end up hating their own work, but for both Tchaikovsky and myself, it is the truth.

I initially planned to write this story as a prequel to the series, focusing on Phillip Finder and Daring Do. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted to improve upon my work, but felt as though I was being held back by the original series. While I am proud of my first stories for what I learned and gained through them, I decided that the best course of action for me, what would make me the happiest, would be to wipe the slate clean and start again from the basic foundations.

That's where this story comes in. A semi-reboot of the original series, the adventures contained herein, set in a vastly different alternate universe and replete with a mixture of reinterpreted and original characters, are the culmination of all the experience that I gained writing the original series. This is Phillip Finder and company as I meant them to be.

I hope that you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it!

Chapters (63)
Comments ( 666 )

Those intended for kids or young adults

Lets see how it goes. I understand the guards I do not understand the Landlord.
Obviously Daring Do arranged to keep her rent paid or something to assume she'd still have a home when she was released. Blackballing her OK a bit mean but understandable and sadly what alot of people would do, regardless of the fact Daring served her time. Selling Daring's property which wasn't abandoned is could be considered theft.
The Newspaper headline which is probably sensationalism in part implies Daring wasn't just a thief but a traitor in some manner

So the world goes out of it's way to make Daring feel like crap. And people in a city like that are concerned for a thief and a killer? Jeez. Talk about a soft crowd.

As for the depiction of tobacco. Let me tell ya something, it's not a relaxant it's a stimulant. Tobacco despite the horrible health risks helps keep the mind and the senses sharp.

It's good to focus, but not very good to relax or calm nerves. It helps calm the nerves of those already addicted to the nicotine, but that is only because of the anxiety that comes with withdrawal.

My grandfather was a heavy smoker, and father told me that he was a Light Machine Gunner during WWII, according to dad Grandpa had once told he often smoked before, and while he was in a FOX HOLE, he ate cold coffee paste that he made because it was a bad Idea to start a fire to make actual coffee, and smoked to stay awake during the long hours waiting for the Japs to try an take his head.

Sorry... Point is that tobacco makes you more nervous.

Oh, and one more thing. There is a difference between a Hard-boiled Detective Tale, and a Great Detective Tale. And while both can intersect in some maters, there is a crucial difference. You want to know what it is? It's the loneliness, and the death. Hard-Boiled fiction dives into the gutters of society, giving view to the lives of those not living in the higher middle class or wealthy classes. It's often accented by a sort of melancholy, one of an environment where misery is the grim reality rather than the main driving force behind the detective actions.

Daring wasn't going to become a thief again, right out of leaving her cell. She had a clean opportunity right out of prison, a sliver of some hope. The thought wouldn't have crossed her until she was at point where she was starting to feel hungry, or she felt like vengeance was an option in a mind wallowing in despair.

In the end, let's see where this goes.

8173716 Okay, that's good to know.

Despite the shortcomings of this story, I'm glad that you've given this a chance. I hope that you enjoy it!

i love how it feels like you are supporting yourself in the author's notes in the end.

So is this Daring Do different from the canon version? She's not even an author who's gone on several crazy adventures?

8173824 Everything and everyone is vastly different from canon. That's why this is an alternate universe.

8173829 Okay. Just so you'll know, I've added this story to one of the FlashLight groups.

I'm totaliy seeing all of this story in Black & White, like old time movie kind of deal. An intresting start. I'm defenetly curious as to how Daring earned the title "Turncoat Thief". Did she rat somepony out or somthing of the like? I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Also that landlord is a great big pile of wyvern dung.

8173721 I peruse all kinds of mystery fiction. It helps give me ideas.

Daring Do has just been released from prison after a year-long sentence for thievery,

And how did Rainbow Dash feel about this?

8180074 They haven't met yet. This is a very different alternate universe.

Interesting waiting to see where this goes. Not sure how long Twilight will stay happy as a forensics scientist do love how you mixed a a zebra in there

8206318 She gets to help ponies by solving crimes and do research into magic and science. What's not to like?

Bringing in a zebra was something I waffled on a bit, but I kept it because I liked the idea of Ponyville having a larger population of minority populations, including zebras, and since Zecora is an expert in potions, that, in my mind, translated to "zebras=good at science." I hope to do more about zebras in the future.

I thought about making Zecora the head of Ponyville PD's forensic department, but she didn't really fit the role. Plus, writing her dialogue would have given me endless headaches.

8206345 Sure Twilight gets to help people but how long would that last before her interests pushes her onto other researches.. Would Ponyville have a full forensics unit for the sounds of it with Twilight's discovery we are early days of forensic sciences and yet they seem to get a little more respect than those early researchers. They certainly probably wouldn't have more than a couple of ponies and probably not a lot of respect from the majority of the officers from the tone you've set

Comment posted by Da Fennec deleted Jun 2nd, 2017
Comment posted by Da Fennec deleted Jun 2nd, 2017

Its an interesting back story, a little surprised if it wasn't for Philip stayed long enough to make Detective Sargent. That would normally imply years of service starting on the beat before becoming a detective. Of course having a degree and some luck he could've moved up ranks fairly rapidly

8223239
Yup. Phil started from the bottom as a normal beat cop and managed to work his way up to Detective Sergeant. Considering that he's in his late thirties as the story begins, and he'd been working as a PI for about a year, that'd make for a little less than 15 years of service.

Whoo! Excitement! Josi-words! Can't wait for more! :pinkiehappy:

8173615
Pretty sure that's a dumb question, considering that this has the sex and gore tags.

Okay, now I'm very curious about this version of Daring. What the Hell happened to her and what did she do to make her land in prison? Also, love the gag about Phil's hat, considering it was one of his original items first go around.

Yeesh, Detective Herring gives me shades of Sally Donavon from Sherlock. God, I hated that bitch from the moment I met her... (Probably a meaningful name though, I'm willing to bet.)

Okay, I like this version of Twilight. Idealistic, and loveably nerdy and OCD as always. Something tells me that in this city though, idealism falls to keep hold for long.

Okay, I do like the new take on Phil's backstory, but I'm still left wondering on Daring's own. I have a feeling, given the way things are going so far and how closed off she is, it'll be one of those slowly revealed things.

Heh, love the AN at the end. :rainbowlaugh: Also, I'm just wondering, Charles August Silvertongue? Sounds like a certain Sherlock Holmes character I know... That name alone makes me worry...

I truly wonder what the receptionist has been taking, seems to be strong and working pretty well too.

Do you have any personal experience on that stink-bomb mentioned, seems pretty detailed to be "just a coincidence" :duck:

8236941
You wish. None of the mischiefs of my youth involved a stinkbomb. I actually had to look up instructions on how to make a stinkbomb online. I did want it to be actually somewhat realistic!

They hired her for her bubbly personality and because she looks good.

8236592
Charlie was a minor antagonist from the original series. I always wanted to do more with him but never could weave it well. I promoted him to a primary antagonist for the reboot. (For a while anyway. You'll meet the real primary antagonist in a few chapters...)

8236952
"She looks good"
Of course, how dumb of me. Of course she'll be there in that case... :facehoof:

8236943
Okay, I admit there were better ways of putting that. For that comment, 8173615 I apologize.

Hmm, that killer has got some skills, or perhaps a little bit of luck

8263314
Skills, definitely. Luck, possibly.

The thing about luck, though: it always seems to run out sooner or later. You'll see more tomorrow!

8263911
Great so far, love me a good murder mystery.:pinkiehappy:

To quote the great Sherlock Holmes: "It’s like a great cesspool into which all kinds of criminals, agents and drifters are irresistibly drained. Sometimes it’s not a question of who, it’s a question of who knows."

i honestly thought that spider-man was going to swing by while reading that origin story. just so iconic of a scene for his character and it feels you made an impressive one for phil as well.

8266787
I'm glad you like it. Creating this new origin story took quite a bit of thought.

Okay, I have to ask, is that ending line and Silvertongue's entire demeanor based on a certain Luke Cage villain?

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