//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: The Parliament of Dreams // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 16 Sparky looked at the mare in front of her nervously, she offered a small, apologetic smile, and a nervous chuckle. Sparky looked to the gryphon, and then back to Señora. 'What seems to be the problem here?' asked a voice from behind them. The glare on the Señora's face began to dim, and she let out a small sigh. 'There is no problem. It is the company's fault, not yours’; she said turning around to face the person who spoke to her. Sparky glanced around her to see that it was Grandma V, standing in the hallway behind them. Grandma V trotted close, looking at the Señora very intensely, almost as if she recognised her. 'Hm... Nah, you're not her', Grandma V said eventually. The Señora raised an eyebrow at the elderly unicorn. 'What?' 'You're not her', Grandma V repeated as she trotted past and headed towards her cabin, she pressed on the entry button and went inside. The Señora turned around to look at Sparky for an answer as to what exactly she was going on about. Sparky had no answers; she merely shrugged at the hispaña noble. Grandma V was Grandma V, she did things that didn't always make sense, and did them surprisingly often. The Señora sighed again; she looked at Sparky for a moment and then shook her head. 'Do yourself a favour, let us stay clear of each other, it will be much better for everyone', she said as she turning around, waving to Juan Carlos to follow. Juan Carlos watched Sparky for a moment, before turning around and heading off after his mistress. Sparky frowned, she could only wonder as to why the Señora had said that. She must be a lonely person, and Sparky couldn't help but feel bad. She turned around and headed off in the opposite direction. She had other things that needed handling. … Sparky found DC Hopely near the back of the ship, staring out of a window. 'How can you stand to look out?' she asked. 'I find it relaxing', DC Hopely said, turning back to face towards Sparky. 'I guess that I can't avoid you any longer, you've wanted to know my plan for a while. So go ahead, ask what you want to know'. Sparky nodded, and gestured for her to follow. The two mares trotted over to the ship's aft lounge. The lounge was completely deserted; most of the passengers were up in the dining area waiting for dinner. The lounge was filled with a couple dozen comfortable chairs. Sparky and DC Hopely picked two of them off in the far corner. 'Go ahead then, ask your questions', DC Hopely repeated as she took her hoof, brushing her mane out of her eyes. 'When you were making those calls at the Twilight Sparkle Aerodrome, were you talking to your “guy?”?’ Sparky asked. 'Yes I was, he's going to be meeting us at our destination', DC Hopely said. 'Who is he?' Sparky asked. 'His name is Yuri... He's a Præsidium National', DC Hopely said, Sparky could tell that she was hesitant to divulge further. 'I met him a while ago, before I even became a detective'. 'How did you meet him?' Sparky asked, raising an eyebrow. 'I arrested him...' DC Hopely said with a nervous swallow. 'For jaywalking at the corner of Scootaloo Street and Excelsior Avenue in down town Ponyville'. Sparky's jaw dropped. 'What's a Præsidium National doing getting arrested for jaywalking in down town Ponyville?' she asked. 'Spying for the NKVD...' DC Hopely said. Sparky's jaw dropped even lower. The NKVD was part of the Præsidium's intelligence service. Honestly, it was naive to think that the Præsidium didn't spy on the Republic. They certainly did, and the Republic certainly spied on the Præsidium, but the idea that DC Hopely had come across one... it was unsettling and made things very real. 'Yeah, you want to know the worst part? My superiors knew about it, and they weren't happy when I brought him in', DC Hopely said. 'They had one of the Serious and Organised Crime detectives feeding him bad intelligence to take back... guess who?' 'No... not...' Sparky said. DC Hopely nodded. 'Yes, then Detective Inspector Viola Auditore was his contact in the PPS, she was posing as a corrupt copper feeding information to the Præsidium through Yuri, she was really good at the corrupt copper act, because she IS a corrupt copper. Then I came along and ruined all of it'. 'What happened?' Sparky asked. 'Well, when I cited Yuri for jaywalking, he refused to sign the citation, so I brought him in. When Serious and Organised Crime came down and ordered us to release him... I resisted, of course, said that there was no way in hell I was going to let him off easy on this ticket. Viola Auditore liked that, said that I had everything to be a good copper, but to shut up and sit down, and let her do her job', DC Hopely said. 'I did it, I sat down, I let her do it, but I grumbled about it for weeks, and then few weeks later? A then promoted to DCI, Viola Auditore requested for me to become a detective in her department'. ‘You agreed?’ Sparky asked raising an eyebrow, considering the kind of person DCI Auditore was, it didn’t seem like the best career choice to make. ‘Yes. Nobody knew that Serious and Organised Crime is corrupt, they all have a pact of silence. They don’t report one of their own, the only people who know about the corruption are they people they shake down, and they don’t dare talk’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘So yes, I agreed, my first day of training, DCI Auditore herself took me out to show me how they did things, her first lesson involved her slamming my face against the hood of her car. Said that Serious and Organised Crime was just that, serious and organised, the bad guys were ruthless, and that we needed to be just as ruthless. That was supposed to be my first lesson... I got it loud and clear...’ ‘What did you do?’ Sparky asked. DC Hopely grinned at her friend. ‘After DCI Auditore let me up, I promptly slammed her face down against the hood of her car. “Is this ruthless enough, Guv?” I’d asked. Oh she wasn’t happy about that, she said that she’d give me that one for free, but there was still a chain of command to follow and not to do it again, apparently, beating your superior isn’t okay, but bribing and blackmailing them to get promoted is okay in the Serious and Organised Crime Group’. DC Hopely frowned; she slouched in her seat, and looked up at the ceiling. ‘I did a lot of things I’m not proud of when I was in Serious and Organised Crime... and at the time I rationalised away all wrong doing. Nobody starts as a corrupt copper, Sparky... everyone, even DCI Auditore, stood for something once... you have to be taught to become a corrupt copper, your superior has to tell you repeatedly that what you’re doing is okay and for the greater good... then you start to believe it’. Sparky frowned, she rose from her seat and took to the one that DC Hopely was sitting in, and she wrapped one of her forelegs around her friend, trying to comfort her. ‘Hey, it’s alright, you made your stand and you came over to the right side! You should be proud of yourself!’ ‘It’s not that simple Sparky’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘Serious and Organised Crime? They’ll forget about you eventually, they’ll stop caring. Me on the other hoof... I was one of them, they will never forget me. I’ll never be able to go home, never be able to sleep at night without a gun under my pillow, and I will never be able to let anyone love me, because Serious and Organised Crime will use them to get to me. It’s not a matter of if they’ll get me, it’s when. They won’t stop until I’m dead, by my own hoof or otherwise’. Sparky snapped to attention, she looked down at her friend in horror. ‘Hopely... you can’t honestly be considering killing yourself!?’ she cried out. ‘No... no, I would need to make sure you all were safe first’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘I don’t want to have your deaths being used as part of my eternal torment when I’m in hell’. ‘Hopely...’ Sparky said, she felt a tear begin to form in her eye. She instinctively rubbed at it, letting out a small sniffle. ‘Hey come on, don’t cry for me, I’m not worth it, and I’m not going anywhere just yet... Anyway, we’ll be meeting Yuri when we stop, DCI Auditore pissed him off a while back, and when he heard that she hates my guts too now, and he was more than willing to help. We’ll be meeting him in the back alley behind a café in Manzanares’. ‘Can we trust him?’ Sparky asked, wiping another tear from her eyes. ‘Absolutely not, he’s a scoundrel and a communist, but unfortunately we don’t have any other choices’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘You make such great plans Hopely’, Sparky said with a chuckle. DC Hopely merely chuckled in return. ‘Heh... I know right?’