//------------------------------// // Act 2, Chapter 18: Next of Kin // Story: Starlight Over Detrot: A Noir Tale // by Chessie //------------------------------// Starlight Over Detrot Act 2, Chapter 18: Next of Kin We are all told that everypony is eventually gifted with one extraordinary talent, one skill or ability that makes them unique and special, and that everypony will find this talent in the course of their lives. It sits among the comforting schoolroom lies told to our foals, yet remains mostly true; while the expanding pony population may put stretch marks on the word 'unique,' ponies are nonetheless all possessed of their Special Talents, something to which one may cling no matter how vast and terrifying the world may seem. But while you are guaranteed a talent, you are not guaranteed that your talent will always be useful. And in many ways, having a useless or obsolete talent is worse than having a blank flank. In the technologically stagnant years of Celestia's solo reign, this wasn't as substantial an issue. The economy crept along at a slow enough pace to avoid completely trampling older talents underhoof. When the first weather factories started cropping up, heavily automating the otherwise painstaking process of rainbow manufacture and snow construction, those pegasi who only knew how to make weather by hoof were phased out relatively nontraumatically over generations. But now, with change occurring at a breakneck pace, some ponies are left out in the cold before their time is up. Pity the Equestrian small farmer; with increasing automation, particularly the development of the ClusterBucker 11000X, most of the family farms were driven out of business, especially if they relied on old-fashioned tree-bucking or other manual forms of labor. Likewise, the miners of Detrot lost their place to a gem shortage and competing Diamond Dog labor. Some of those outpaced by changing reality are able to redefine their talents or businesses to keep them relevant. Some small farmers or brewers went from providing staple crops to providing specialty products 'crafted with care and integrity' until they had created their own sustaining market. Some of the displaced miners redefined themselves and their talents as things like "Finding Gems Amidst Dirt" and became talent agents. But not all had the drive, connections, or sheer-bloody minded madness needed to overcome their own talents, and there is little in the world to offer comfort to a pony whose talent has been utterly lost to changing tides. --The Scholar          I lay on my back, one hoof draped across my belly, while Swift dropped a piece of peanut sauce-smeared bread on my face and tried to get me to respond for the ninth time in twenty minutes.          What else was I supposed to do? The universe was persistently screwing with me.          I turned my head to look at the letter, still laying on the carpet where I’d left it when I staggered over to Lily’s cot, unwilling to deal with the world from an upright position. The paper still stubbornly refused to conveniently cease to exist. I was tempted to get a blow-torch and force the issue.          Limerence was sitting in the corner, a look of deep consideration on his thin face while Taxi was sifting through her saddlebags for the third time. She’d already emptied two of her ‘emergency’ flasks and I was worried that, in a minute, she’d break out the little supply of Zap leaves I knew she kept for really serious situations. Precious must have gone downstairs to talk to a customer, though I didn’t hear him depart. For a showpony, he’s light on his hooves.          Lily, meanwhile, sat on the edge of the cot as far from my hooves as she could get, once more covered from head to hoof in her blankets. Her curly red tail kept tickling my fetlocks as she nervously flicked it back and forth like a frightened cat.          There we lay for long minutes, trying to make sense of a development too demented to fit comfortably into our understanding of the cosmos. I think I’d have been happy to sit there for several hours in that condition, had Limerence not risen to his hooves in a decisive manner.          “Detective,” Limerence began. “I find myself in the disconcerting position of not knowing precisely what to do next. I am coming to understand your decision making process somewhat, particularly in light of recent events. I do not believe any sane pony could live like you do, but I believe it may be the primary reason you are still alive. So I must ask you, much to my discomfort, what our next course of action is?”          “How in the flip should I know?” I grunted, turning onto my side so I could face the wall. I licked some peanut sauce off my nose and shut my eyes. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to deal with crazy future-seeing fillies and ponies with voices in their heads. There were already far too many of those in my little group of friends. Limerence wouldn’t let it be. “If what you've told me about your exploits so far is accurate, you are dangerously competent when faced with cosmic nonsense. This is nonsense in its purest form. I will not let you turn into a lump when there are things we must do, Detective. Now get up before Miss Taxi and I...” he peered at Taxi, who was laying on her back licking the last few drops from a third flask of something that smelled strongly of petrol. “...before I get you up!”          I grumbled and pushed myself over with one hoof on the wall to lay on my back, my coat spreading out under me. “Lim, I don’t even know where to begin. That letter is just not possible.”          “I agree that it raises concerning questions, but we cannot allow those questions to paralyze us! Our objectives have not changed!” he growled, then pointed at Lily, who shrank away from the librarian, hiding as much of herself as she could under the enormous comforter. “We must get into that diary and we must still acquire Chief Jade’s daughter; to that end, you will provide this girl information in exchange for answers.”          Pushing myself up on my elbows, I looked down at Lily.          She was nosing her way out of the blanket and caught my eye. I held her gaze for several long seconds. She seemed so young. Younger even than Swift. Younger than anypony I’d met from Detrot in many, many years.          That letter was all she had of her sister. Ruby’s corpse was still at the morgue and Stitch was likely to keep it a few more weeks to wait for a claimant. Sending the poor child down there, by herself, to get her sister’s body seemed a cruel way to go about things, particularly since Stitch had been known to throw one of his death parties to ‘celebrate the deceased’s life’ when one of his clients' families showed up in person. She deserved to know something, but what could I tell her? So much of what’d gone on was outside of what a sane pony was likely to believe could happen, and now there was that letter sitting on the carpet like an especially irrational bit of dog poop. Limerence was waiting for an answer, his spectacles almost falling off the end of his nose as he scowled down at me. I looked up at him, then at the rest of my friends. "Can you give us a few minutes?" I asked. Lim looked like he was concocting an objection, but Taxi, bless her, knew the score. She rose unsteadily to her hooves and pointed towards the door. "You want your 'objectives', then get out and let him do the job," she grunted. The librarian opened his muzzle for a second, then shut it. Fighting me was one thing. Fighting Taxi, a pony substantially more immune to logic than I even when not drunk and belligerent, was something else entirely. Swift had already wisely gotten to her hooves and made for the door. **** I shut the door behind them and stood for several seconds, collecting my thoughts. “Detective Boiled?” Lily whispered. “Is… my sister dead?” The question caught me quite off guard, but anypony with half a brain should have been able to put it together, I suppose.          My shoulders sagged under a burden hanging on joints that felt older this week than they had the last. I listened to my heart and could have sworn it was trying to make some kind of little tune. Maybe Gale was trying to comfort his despondent caretaker? Who knows? Moving over beside Lily, I shifted the blankets until I found her hoof, then took it between two of mine. “Miss, I have been pursuing a group of very bad… beings… during the last month. I don’t know their aims yet, but it was your sister… your brave sister... who put me onto them.” I explained in as soothing a voice as I could manage. “So my sister’s… okay?” she asked, her full, beautiful mouth quivering with barely controlled emotion. I inhaled, but still felt out of breath as I replied. “No. No, she’s not.” Lily’s eyes slid closed and the tears began to fall. She didn’t whimper or moan or sob. She just cried, like somepony who’d known the answer to their terrible question before it’d been asked. How could she not? An insane letter, her sister vanished, a monstrous city, and a Police Chief stuffing her away in the safest hole in the city? Only a fool wouldn’t have suspected. She only needed confirmation and I’d given that to her. She took her hoof from mine and hid it under the blankets again as she leaned back against the wall. The covers fell across half of her face, hiding her expression. “Dammit Ruby…” she muttered as more tears ran down her chin. “You and your ‘big plans...'” It wasn’t the response I expected. Most grieving family go straight for denial. Anger tends to lend itself to those who’ve had some time to come to grips with what’s happened. Of course, she’d been alone with her thoughts for days if what Precious said was true. Alone with that letter. It’d been read no less than a hundred times. The paper was heavily creased. I rose to my hooves and gently pushed the blanket back from Lily’s face. She stared up at me out of wet eyes. “How?” she asked, breathily. I decided there wasn't likely to be any better time to tell her. It was that or risk her refusal to help us until I did. I didn't know precisely how much of a time-frame we were on, but 'not a long one' was probably the best answer. She deserved to know. "She fell...from a rooftop. She was killed." "M-murdered?" I slowly nodded. "Do you know wh-who..." her voice faltered and she covered her lips with her hoof. "I've been hunting them. I will find them," I answered, with as much certainty as I could muster. Lily lowered her head and breathed a faint sigh. I lifted myself onto the cot and she laid her head on my chest. We shared the sad silence of the tiny hostel for a few minutes. Rain had begun to beat against the windows. Nothing new there, but no amount of water could wipe away the deeply ingrained grief of my city. A girl dies and her sister is left to the unkind mercies of the city that killed her. I didn’t know what I could say, and to say nothing seemed unkind, but Lily wasn’t demanding anything as she lay there against me. It felt odd, holding this child I’d just met, the news of her sister’s death fresh on the air and the scent of her mane filling my nose. I couldn’t have smelled good. When had I showered last? Maybe before the diamond dog mine? I couldn’t remember. She didn’t seem to mind. I held her and listened to her ragged breathing. Her tears soaked into my fur and the rain hammered on the glass outside. The room was cool, but it’d been forever ago the last time I held somepony in a calm moment. Somewhere, Juniper was sniggering his dead ass off. After what I’m fairly sure was a period of time adequate to leave the others wondering just what we were getting up to, Lily gently tugged on my coat with a little telekinesis and I raised my foreleg so she could straighten up. Pulling her blankets away from her head, she reached over to the night table and opened the drawer. Levitating a comb out of it, she began to groom her red mane, pulling days worth of snarl out of the thick curls. It was a robotic sort of action, but one I’d seen many victims of violence perform. It signaled a sort of acceptance of what had happened and a pony needing to get back to who they really were underneath. It was also temporary, but could be useful if one were willing to take the time it offered. Damn me for a wretch, but I needed that time. “Lily…” I murmured. “Yes, Detective?” She didn’t look at me, but was instead staring fixedly at the wall as she replied. “How do I open your sister’s diary?” I asked. That brought her head around with a sharp jerk. “You...have it? Seriously?!” “Didn’t... the letter say I would?” “That letter sounded like it was written by somepony out of their mind! Which, considering my sister and her crazy ideas about hitting it big in Detrot, might not have been all that far from the truth!” She dropped the comb onto the bedspread and faced me, angrily. “I came here to find my sister, and she’s dead, so I’m taking her body and I’m going home. Got me? I don’t care about this awful city! I just want out of here!” Her voice was almost at a shriek now and I doubted there was any way Precious hadn’t heard her. Still, he was savvy in the ways of police work. He’d keep his peace, unless he thought I was hurting her. I reached into the inner pocket of my coat and produced the book. Her eyes went to the cover and she backed away, almost to the other edge of the bed. I held it out to her.          “Lily...your sister died for whatever is in this book. She died for it, do you understand? Someone murdered Ruby for what she knew. If it’s that big-” I swallowed a pang of conscience at what I was about to say. “-do you think they won’t come after you?” Another kind of fear replaced the momentary panic. This one was deeper, more refined; a terror bred of inevitability and the sort of sickening realization that comes immediately after the doctor walks into the room looking professionally regretful. Of course, I had no proof the monsters behind Ruby’s death would go after her family, but who knew who had read that letter? They might have had her family watched on principle; if I’d been the ones who lost the diary for a second time, I know I would. Lily was shaking, her entire body rocking back and forth on the bed. “I’m going to find these beings. I will find them and I will make sure they go into the deepest pit in Equestria. One they’ll never climb out of. You hear me?” Her eyes twitched in the direction of my face, but were still a little blank, staring into some nightmare all her own. I rose to my hooves, deciding to leave her be, for a moment. As I crossed to the door, I felt a firm grip take hold of me. I stumbled, catching myself on the chair and peering back at my backside. A gleam of dark blue magic was wrapped around the root of my tail. Lily was still watching the far wall. The rest of her didn’t move, but her lips did. “Detective… do you promise, if you find out who killed my sister, that you’ll make sure they get everything they deserve?” she whispered. I blinked at her. “I’ll do what’s right. I’ll do what’s just. It’s my talent.” “Will you kill them?”          The question hung like a cold draft of reality in the warm air of the small room. It was the sort of question most ponies don’t think to ask. It was, assuredly, not the sort I’d ever been asked by a young girl barely out of her teen years and grieving over her dead sister.          A month ago, I’d have just said ‘no.' I wasn’t an assassin or a hitpony. I had been a cop then, and I was still a cop when that question was asked. My badge felt heavy against my breast. Something had changed, though. Something elemental. I was no longer the red-tape-wearing lackey of the state. A cop must serve. A cop must protect. Even if I thought they would leave me and Swift and all those relying on me be, walking away from my investigations was no longer an option.          This is it, Hardy. You know if you do this, there’s no going back. Juniper murmured in a spot somewhere above my left ear.          “If that’s what it takes to end this and make sure this city is safe.” It was done. Lily’s furrowed brow relaxed a little and she pushed her blanket away from her ears. “I… think, Detective, that… that it’s time you told me what’s happened to my sister.” **** I might have edited the story for content or lied or possibly omitted some of my more significant wrongdoings. She was just a girl after all. A child, really, and not a child of Detrot. I’d done more than a few somewhat reprehensible things during the last month. Most of the time I wasn’t unconscious was, in fact, spent doing somewhat reprehensible things. Nopony really needed a story like mine laid on them so soon after hearing confirmation of her sister’s death, but she just sat there and listened as I spilled the tale from the first moment when I set foot in Detrot Police Department and Jade had saddled me with Swift to the death of Cosmo and beyond. She’d stopped me there, long enough to take a look at my heart plug, then returned to her seat. She asked few questions, and only those for clarification. I even got a tiny smile out of her as I described my odd encounters with Stella and Princess Luna’s spies. It vanished as quickly as it'd come. Mostly, she just listened. Her lips would move over certain parts and her eyes narrowed when I described what we’d done to Bari, though she didn’t make any particular comment on it. I wasn’t watching the clock, but at some point about halfway through the story, there was a knock on the door. It was Precious asking us if we’d like some refreshments. I hadn’t realized just how thirsty I was after talking for so long and soon had a nice, chilled glass of orange juice with a dash of something a little stronger in it balanced between my hooves. For the girl, he brought a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Not long after, I heard the first guitar chords of what turned into an impromptu show, no doubt to keep my companions entertained. It felt good, being back at the Burning Love.          “-that was… let me see... that was yesterday. Celestia save me, it feels like a week ago.” I shook my head and wiggled the straw on my drink around to my muzzle, taking a quick draw. “After Jade let us go, we went through the information we have on the Lunar Passage. When I say ‘we,' I guess I mean Limerence. He had slides and everything. The Church is a weird bunch, let me just say.”          Lily’s nose twitched and she nodded. “Then you came to see me, right?”          “Yeah, precisely.”          The girl was on the edge of her cot, and now slid onto her side, drawing her legs up beside her. She looked at the floor as the tune coming up through the pipes reached a crescendo. “You have some interesting friends, Detective.”          I laughed, feeling the weight of days worth of secrets finally shared. Granted, I’d shared them with a pony only two thirds my age, but it felt good to have them out. “I promise, Swift’s smarter than she sounds and good to have in a scrum; it's just that her decision making lends itself to the noble more often than the intelligent. Lim’s a… I don’t know. I don’t have a proper handle on him yet. He seems like such a prick most of the time, but then he’ll go and do something that totally surprises you. Taxi’s been there since I was a kid. Just always there. She’s the best friend you could ask for, so long as you don’t mind a concussion now and then as part of the deal.” Lily tilted her head and pointed at my chest. “Then there’s you, Detective. You and that… Gale… creature.” I shook myself and patted my heart plug. “I honestly don’t know what to say about him. He’s there. That or I’m nuts and he’s an especially friendly and consistent hallucination. It doesn’t matter, I guess. He’s not the only character who has been talking to me lately from beyond the grave. If you can believe it, my dead partner’s been making appearances too.” There was a pause as Lily processed that, then she shrugged her slim shoulders and brushed a bit of her mane that’d fallen into her face behind one ear. “I... suppose anypony who has been through what you have deserves a few quirks,” she replied, sympathetically.          “What about you? I tell you my story, I think you better tell me yours.” I leaned my head in the direction of the floor. “Sounds like they’re going to be awhile. Precious is quite the musician and his shows aren’t to be missed.”          “He comes up here some nights and sings me to sleep.” Lily ducked her face under the edge of her blanket. “If he were younger, I’d think he was sweet on me...”          “Heh, don’t underestimate the old war-horse,” I replied and the filly’s ears colored. “Still, I’d love to hear your story. I suspect that diary is going to open some doors, but I’d like to hear it from your lips if you don’t mind so much.”          “What do you want to know?” she inquired, her horn glowing softly as she raised her mug to her lips.          It was so odd to be having an actual conversation with somebody that didn’t involve the butt of a gun or my hoof on some essential part of their anatomy that I found myself a little out of practice. “I don’t know. Tell me about yourself. What’s your life like, away from here?” Lily shrugged her thin shoulders and said, “I’m not very interesting, I’m afraid. My whole family is cherry farmers, out of Dodge Junction. At least, everypony except Ruby.” Tugging the blankets away from her flank, she showed off a gleaming red cherry fruit on her hip. I did my best not to stare. It was a very nice flank. Dammit, old boy, you keep your dirty mind to yourself! I growled, as my long dormant libido sputtered angrily at me. Lily continued with a fond smile, “I… love the farm.” The smile faltered a little. “Ruby was always Miss ‘Big Ideas’. She wanted to make fruit beautiful, instead of just making it tasty.” “I saw her cutie-mark. Three gems with cherry stems, right?” I asked. “Yes. She...got her cutie-mark when she discovered a spell that would let her bring out the real shine in just about anything. She could make fruit shine...but her first love was gemstones.” Lily raised both hooves, twisting her toe in a small circle for emphasis, “She had a way of picking...just the right stone for whatever she wanted to do…” “Were you and she close?” She looked up and to the left, as though thinking precisely how to answer. “We were… different, you know? She was my big sister. You can’t not be close to your big sister, even when she makes you want to strangle her now and then. She used to get me in so much trouble...” Lily giggled a little, then her expression turned quickly sad. “So much trouble.... We got into everything trying to get our cutie-marks. She once tried to shoot me out of a cannon she’d made out of paper mache. We both just ended up covered in soot and confetti.” I laughed, heartily. “I’ve got a few stories like that. My friend in the other room, Taxi -- the one with the ridiculous mane -- was always up to one nutty thing or another trying to find some way of getting her cutie-mark. She...mmm…” I closed my eyes for a second as an unpleasant memory flashed through my head. “What is it?” Lily asked. “Nothing,” I murmured. “Ponies thinking of ‘nothing’ don’t make a face like someone just shot their puppy.” I glanced up at her, surprised at the note of compassion in her voice. In spite of the recent death of her sister, in spite of the load I’d put on her shoulders, her face showed only a very genuine concern. Concern for me, no less. It’d been awhile since somepony I wasn’t very personally acquainted with showed that, and this brand didn’t come with bruises and crushed ribs. I found myself, for some reason, a little unsettled by the idea. I exhaled. “I take it you saw those saddle-bags she wears everywhere?” “Yes, I did…” She hesitated, then added, “When she sits down, they ride up a little. I thought I saw something on her thighs…” “Scars. They’re scars.” Her eyes widened. “Scars? Then...her cutie-marks..?” “They’re gone. I don’t know how or why. She’s never told anypony what really happened. She used to be a cop, like me. She lost them...well, her discharge papers said ‘Injured in the line of duty’.” Lily’s ears flattened to her skull. “You...must know something. To lose something like that. I thought cutie-marks couldn’t just be destroyed like that!” “Yeah, me too. I don’t know much. The story goes, few years ago, she was on assignment, undercover with one of the drug lords in Detrot. Vicious son of a bitch named ‘Skinner.' You can guess why.” “Good heavens!” Lily exclaimed. “He didn’t really-” “He did. Took real pleasure in that particular activity, so I hear” I said, grimly, then added as I saw the look of shock in the girl’s eyes. “Trust me, characters like him are not the foulest thing this city has to offer.” I sucked in a breath, shuddering at the memory. “Anyway, Taxi… I don’t know. It’s been years and she still won’t talk about it. Back then she was still calling herself ‘Sweet Shine’, or at least, something close enough that I don’t remember the difference. What I do know is she was deep cover in Skinner’s organization. Her partner, who was also her handler, vanished. He was this skeevy little colt named Fox Glove. How he got to be a cop, I’ll never know, but Taxi tried to take care of the poor fool despite his dumb tail stumbling over her hooves at every opportunity. She must have let half a dozen collars go just to keep that numbnuts alive. They’d been partners for...maybe two years, by then. Not long, but long enough.” “He vanished?” “Thin air, like a ghost.” I clapped my hooves together for the snap noise. “Taxi will only say she got made by Skinner’s organization. ‘Fox Glove’s dead.’ She told me that one night after a few drinks, then clammed up completely. She didn’t even say that to the review board. ‘Fox Glove’s dead. Skinner’s dead.’ That was it.” Lily’s ears tilted towards me, curiously. “But... how did she... survive? “Not a clue.” I shook my head as I continued, “One of my mates in the department found her three weeks later, hugging a bottle of scotch in a bar on the east side. Her hips were all bandaged up. Real messy job. I went down there and hauled her to hospital. She told her doctors not to talk to anypony about it and took discharge and an early pension when it was offered by the department. She vanished for a couple of years there.” The girl’s nose wrinkled. “That sounds...like she maybe went a little crazy...” “You’re telling me.” I chuckled. “Sweet Shine was always a bit loopy, but she comes back from going what she called ‘walkabout’ calling herself ‘Taxi’ with her mane all done up in that braid. She brought along some goofy fighting styles you do not want to be on the receiving end of, and the zebra rune core of her cab's engine stuffed in a duffle bag. Her entire pension was still sitting in a bank account, so she used it to outfit this absolutely wild ride and became a hack driver. She drives me nowadays.” Lily’s eyes glinted with interest. “I really wish I had more time to get to know you and your friends, Detective. Ruby was like you. She always had wild stories to tell. She was good at telling stories. She once tricked half the town into thinking she’d had a cousin move in. Even had ‘him’ introduce himself around town a bit. It was just her in a hoodie with a bit of make-up and a simple voice spell, but she fooled darn near everypony.” I bobbed my chin. “She… managed to hide herself pretty effectively here in Detrot, when it came to it. That’s not a simple thing to do in a city that has this many eyes.” “I always said her talent would have been as an actress, if she hadn’t been such a good jeweler. That’s her and me. Sun and moon. So different. I couldn’t act my way out of a paper bag,” she mused, biting her lower lip between her teeth in a way I found very fetching for some reason. “Her cutie-mark was this magical discovery and me… I just went out one morning when the cherry trees were blossoming and stood in the branches of my favourite tree, letting the petals fall on my face. I knew then, I never… never wanted to be far from those trees. I knew it in my gut.” She peered towards the rain drenched window and sighed, sadly. “That seems so very far away right now…” “Maybe less than you think. Once this situation is fixed-” I began, but Lily interrupted me with one hoof on my muzzle.  “Please, don’t.” I let my reassurances die on my lips as she looked at me with eyes full of grief.  “Ruby is dead.” she said, quietly. “That...can’t be changed. I was hoping I’d come to Detrot and she’d be either happily working herself crazy for some jeweling house or at least...she’d come and apologize to Mom and Dad and they’d apologize to her and maybe she’d...be home for Hearth’s Warming Eve or something…”          “She didn’t leave under good circumstances?”          “No… no, she really didn’t.” Lily used the edge of her blanket to wipe moisture from her eyes, then slid onto her side and crossed her forelegs under her chin. “A few days before harvest season she announced ‘I’m going to Detrot!' She’d run off before on one whacky plan or another, but never… never anything that big or that far. Mom and Dad didn’t take her terribly seriously until she’d booked the tickets and was halfway through packing. Then things got...loud. There was an awful lot of shouting and… some bad stuff was said. Dad didn’t mean any of the stuff about ‘not coming back this time’, but he said it and… I never saw Ruby so mad.”          “Family is still family,” I said. “She loved you. Even at her worst, she was trying to protect you, if that letter is any indication.” The girl’s nose wrinkled at the glanced down at the letter, which was still laying exactly where I’d dropped it. “That letter.... She wrote that a month ago. More than a month. I recieved it a couple of weeks ago because our mail mare is older than dirt and crazy to boot. How… how did she know it would be you investigating her death?” Sliding off the bed, I moved just far enough to snatch the paper up in my teeth and return to the comfortable warm spot that’d developed where I was sitting. I scanned the contents of the letter one more time, then passed it back to Lily. “Honestly, there’s so much in that which doesn’t make any sense. I try to interpret that right now, I’m going to go nuts.” “Do you know who ‘She’ is? Lily kept mentioning somepony who was...controlling her or maybe blackmailing her. And paths? Seeing paths? Maybe like a scrying spell?” Lily pointed to her horn with one toe. “Magic isn’t my forte, and if I had to go down the list of ponies who fit the list of ‘evil, controlling, and female’, I’d have to include my employer, my driver, and the head of the largest religious organization in the city. That’s just my short list.” I replied, sardonically. “Limerence might know. I’ll be going over it with him, rest assured. What I really need, right now-” “-is Ruby’s diary opened,” she finished for me. “I was wondering when you’d get to that.” I lifted the diary off the bed where it’d lain for some minutes. “I should tell you, for the sake of disclosure, that her first letter -- the one I found this book hidden with -- said she didn’t want you to know what her life was like here. You might be better off letting me read this on my own, once it’s open. For the sake of her memory.” Lily considered that for a bit, then shook her head. “No, I don’t think so, Detective. I’d rather remember my sister like she really was. I could lie to myself and say she was a saint, but I’d always know the truth. Ruby was always trying to keep me safe and ‘preserve my innocence.' I’m not a foal anymore.” Something in the way she said that made me profoundly sad, but I lifted the book, holding it between my hooves. Its heft was comfortably familiar after all those weeks of carrying it, and I’d almost become inured to the perpetual enigma of those pages. If I’m honest, some part of me didn’t believe I’d ever actually see it opened. A niggling voice of self deprecation had spent the better part of my recent days declaring with cruel certainty I’d be dead long before that particular mystery was solved. It felt good to put it to bed. Ruby’s sister reached out and rested her hoof on the jeweled cover. “My sister and her silly gem locks…” Lily muttered, tracing the shape of an especially large sapphire with her toe. “The most security crazy ponies in the city couldn’t get into this book in any sort of reasonable time,” I commented. “Ruby lost a piece of her early work to one of our aunts. Glory just snatched it right out of her jewelry box. Awful mare, stealing from a filly,” Lily explained, stroking the lovely stones. “She just claimed it was hers and everypony believed her. Ruby...well, Ruby did not take kindly and the next thing I knew, she got a book on gem-locks out of the library.” A smile crept onto her face once more, and I had the funniest sensation that the entire room had become brighter. “She once even locked the cookie-jar with this funny enchantment so if anypony besides her opened it, it looked empty.” “No kidding…” I shook myself and raised the book again. “Sorry. I’ve been carrying this thing around so long it feels odd actually opening it. Shouldn’t we go get the others?” Lily’s green eyes shone as she peered into mine. I felt my heart trying to climb up the back of my throat for a second. She thought for a bit, then shook her head. “Do you mind if it’s just you and me, right now?” She nibbled on her lip, pensively. “I… trust you. I don’t know why. Ruby was never an especially good judge of character, but she wouldn’t send me to somepony she thought might hurt me.” “Alright. Ready?” She nodded.  I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, clenching the book a bit tighter. “Ruby Blue.” I guess I expected some kind of column of light or something descending from the heavens to point out whoever had killed her. That would have been helpful, really. Even a fully interactive psychic adventure novel would have done me. What I got was a soft hum, followed by a ‘click.' I opened my eyes and stared down at the book. The cover was slightly ajar. Lily pulled her hooves away and swept the blankets back around herself. I pulled the cover open and stared down at the first page. This is the diary of Ruby Blue : Keep Out!