//------------------------------//
// Chapter 35 
// Story: The Parliament of Dreams 
// by Wheller 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 35


Dizzy sat alone in the corner, hovering several centimetres above the deck plating in one of the service corridors on the Discovery One, she braced herself against the wall, and buried her eyes into the sleeve of her space suit.

She had long discarded her helmet, and it had floated off down the hallway, to be perfectly honest, though? She didn't care if Hannibal should suddenly vent all of the oxygen on the ship out into space. It would make things so much simpler.

'God... grant me strength', she whispered into the open air. The worst part though, she wasn't sure if there was anyone or anything listening. Her beliefs, the very core of her being were based on a lie. She didn't want to believe it; she wanted to think that Hannibal was lying. She wanted to think it was insane... but, then Grandma V went and confirmed what he said to be true. Why would she confirm what Hannibal was saying if it wasn't true? Grandma V clearly wasn't prejudiced against nephites. She had long been acquainted with Dizzy's own grandmother and great-grandmother. She'd even been close to them. It didn't make sense!

'Dizzy?' a voice asked from behind her.

Dizzy looked up and over her shoulder; Sparky was floating down the corridor towards her, carrying her discarded helmet. 'Go away...' Dizzy sobbed as she turned her head back and buried it into her sleeve.

'No', Sparky said as she reached out with a foreleg and stopped herself against the bulkhead. 

'Please leave me alone...' Dizzy said. 'Sparky, you don't understand, my faith is my life, and I just learned that it was a lie, we were used, and we were abandoned! God never cared about us... he doesn't think we're special'.

'Oh come on', Sparky said with a frown. 'You can't honestly believe that, certainly this isn't the first time someone has told you your faith is wrong?'

'Well... no, of course it's not, but those people told me I was wrong out of blind hate... Hannibal knows about our origins, and Grandma V confirmed him! Why would she confirm him if it wasn't true?' Dizzy asked.

Sparky had to admit there, Grandma V was old, and she had been there to back up everything that Hannibal said. Her trying to cheer Dizzy up wasn't working. 'Okay... let's say Hannibal is right, and the angel that made Silversmith take the Silver Plates from the princesses was fake. So what? That wasn’t the only event that shaped your people, was it?'

'Well... no, there was the flight from Equestria', Dizzy said. 'There’s the founding of Ashville... the destruction of Ashville, the founding of New Maneaan, the Battle of Ponyville... and plenty of others'.

Sparky smiled and nodded her head. Her poor knowledge of history meant that she had no idea what any of those events even were, but she wasn't going to stop and ask. That would ruin the moment. 'Exactly! Answer me this Dizzy, does God exist?'

'Yes', Dizzy said immediately.

'Then who cares if the angel was an angel?' Sparky asked.

Dizzy looked at Sparky with uncertainty. 'I... I don't...'

Sparky placed a hoof on Dizzy's shoulder and smiled at her; she lowered her head and began to speak. 'Um... dear God, uh, hi. My name is Sparky... and I don't really know if I’m doing this right, or if you can even hear me... but if you can... well I have this friend, her name is Dizzy, and I think you know her pretty well, she's having a really hard time and she could really use your help. So... if you could please help her through this hard time, I would certainly appreciate it... um, amen', Sparky said, finishing her impromptu prayer.

Dizzy looked up at Sparky and began to smile at her. She wiped her eyes one last time against the sleeve of her space suit and gave Sparky a hug. 'Thank you', she said softly.

'You're welcome', Sparky said. 'How did I do?'

'Well, my bishop might have had a few things to say about it...' Dizzy said with a smirk. 'But I thought you were wonderful'.

As their hug broke Sparky leaned forwards and planted a small kiss on Dizzy's cheek, and held out her foreleg. Dizzy smiled and took it, and the two of them headed back to the crew deck of the Discovery One.

…

Kelso frowned. It was getting late; she'd been sitting on this bench for hours. Some great plan this was turning out to be. Kelso was getting anxious, and she struggled to get comfortable in her seat. It was not because the bench was uncomfortable, per say, even though it was. Kelso couldn't sit still because she was wearing a storm harness under her overcoat. The harness had been designed for soldiers of the Schäferhund Wehrmacht for comfort during extended wear... however; Kelso did not think that long periods of sitting still were taken into account. The more she sat, the more she began to regret her decision.

Kelso looked down at the pistol that she had clipped into the harness, it had been the same one she'd used during her time as a detective, a Nationale Fabriek GV 9mm pistol. This gun had served her well in the past. Despite the rough and abrasive demeanour that she had put on her public face since leaving the Ponyville Police Service, she was afraid to leave her home without it. Kelso's public face was a brave one; on the inside though? She was scared. Sometimes, her line of work took her to dangerous places where creepy ponies would lurk in the shadows, watching her like they were schäferhund looking at their next meal.

Kelso shook her head; she wasn't sure what was worse. The idea that there was a civilised race on this world that ate meat or that there were freaks that viewed the female persons of their race as their playthings, both thoughts made her extremely uncomfortable, and she shuddered with disgust.

'Kelso?' a voice asked from the darkness. Kelso snapped to attention, turning around and snapping the pistol up. 'Hey! What gives? You're the one who asked me here!' the voice continued.

Kelso frowned and put her gun away. 'Sorry, you startled me', she said apologetically.

DCI Viola Auditore trotted around towards the front of the bench, climbing up and taking a seat on it next to Kelso. 'I'm surprised that you asked me here at all, I'm even more surprised you're not trying to beat me to a pulp', she said with a smirk.

'I need help', Kelso said simply.

'I've been offering my help for some time now. I could have helped you a long time ago Kelso...' DCI Auditore said.

'And if I had a bat, I could hang you from the tree and play piñata', Kelso interrupted. 'I still don't like you, but I need your help and I don't have any other options, you want to prove to me you've changed, I'm giving you a chance to'.

'A piñata, huh? So, you think of me as something bright and cheerful, full of toys and candy for young foals? Thank you! That makes me feel much better about our relationship', DCI Auditore said with a grin.

'Don't get cute', Kelso said. 'I need a search warrant; a client hired me to get some information for her'.

'Ah, the purple unicorn?' DCI Auditore asked. 'Sounds simple enough; who do you need it on?'

'FutureTec', Kelso said simply, scratching her nose with a hoof.

DCI Auditore's eyes widened and she looked at Kelso in shock. 'Are you stupid?!' she asked, crying out in complete surprise.

'What?' Kelso asked. 'What's wrong with that?'

'Kelso. You want to get a warrant to search a FutureTec complex? No Judge, no matter how bent is going to issue that. FutureTec has got far too much influence on this city, more than you could ever imagine. The stuff I used to do? That’s small time compared to them’, DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘I'm assuming you don't have enough evidence to get one legally, otherwise, you wouldn't have come to me'.

'I know where to get the evidence... the problem is that it's stored in a secure server housing at the Whitetail Industrial Complex', Kelso said with a frown.

'Well then', DCI Auditore said as she leaned back on the bench, deep in thought about the matter presented to her. 'Well then, that is a problem isn't it?'

'So... there's nothing you can do to help me?' Kelso asked, frowning in disappointment. This was her last resort, if DCI Auditore's connections weren’t going to be able to get her what she needed, then that was it. She would have to report to her client that she had failed, and that she would not be able to complete the case. Worse still, she would have to pay back the money that her client had been paying her... every penny from the last three months. Her client had been paying her very well for this case, even if Kelso sold everything she owned, and emptied her bank accounts, she still wouldn't come anywhere close to paying it back.

'Oh, I didn't say that...' DCI Auditore said with a coy smile.

Kelso deadpanned her. She had done that on purpose, making Kelso think that she was about to fail. Kelso gently drove a hoof into her shoulder. 'Bitch', Kelso said quietly.

DCI Auditore smiled. 'Oh ye of little faith, come on, you should know by now, I always have a plan', she said as she hopped up from her seat on the bench. 'Come on, follow me. Like I said, I have a plan, and I think you're going to like it!'