Starlight Over Detrot: The Detection Chronicles

by Daemon McRae

A Different Stripe Than Most

Chapter 13: A Different Stripe Than Most

I had no doubts that “security” meant “a whole metric shit-ton of Stilettos with carving fetishes.” But I went in anyway. Mainly because, if Minox was sending me to my death, he’d have either followed me in to watch, or killed me himself.

More likely than not this was just going to hurt quite a bit.

The first thing I noticed about walking into the Vivarium was that it was rather dark just inside. At least, dark enough in contrast to the artificially illuminated sidewalk outside that it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. In that time, apparently, a rather attractive red mare made her way over to us. “Oh, hello. You wouldn’t happen to be the ‘security’ Minox said we had to go through, are you?”

She gave me a curiously sweet look and said, “Oh, no, sweetheart. Our security is a bit more intense than I am. Well, maybe not more intense, but certainly a different flavor of the word.” Her voice was deeper, and a bit more throaty, than I expected. i figured either she smoked or she had just a little too much testosterone running through her. It would explain the rather chiseled handsome look of her face and muscle tone. “No, my name’s Scarlet, and I greet everypony, or thing, that walks through the door. Now, if Minox says you have to go through security, you must be here for a very important reason. Which is oh so sad, as I’d love for you to be here on a personal visit,” she crooned. Her golden hair flipped prettily, draping over one eye. She was also quite a bit closer than I remembered starting the conversation at.

“Well, yes. Somepony... of association to the Vivarium is dead, and we believe one of your employees may be in danger. We’ve come to speak with her,” I explained. Part of me wanted to take a step back, but I was enjoying the attention a little too much. A more experienced pony would probably have alarm bells going off in their head. Of course, I wasn’t exactly everypony’s first choice for this job anyway.

It was about that time I noticed Longarm step into view, looking more than a little peeved. “Something the matter, sweetie?” asked Scarlet.

Longarm just looked up with a displeased expression. “Your knife-junkies took my gun. I like my gun,” he complained.

Scarlet raised her eyebrows. “A gun? Why would you bring a-” Longarm didn’t let her finish the sentence before flashing his badge. “...oh. Well, you’re not the first cops to come wandering through here. Give me just a moment,” she said, and walked off a few paces. She poked her ear, and had a quiet conversation with somepony somewhere. After a few moments, she walked back, and said, “Well, looks like you were right. There are some security measures you’ll need to go through. Come on, boys~” she cooed, and walked away.

I watched her leave for a moment before I followed, but Longarm stopped me with a hoof to my chest before I took a couple of steps. “Wha-”

“That’s a guy,” he said.

I looked from Longarm, still sour, to Scarlet, who was now waiting several paces ahead for us to catch up. “Well, boys? What are you waiting for?” he called back.

I muttered under my breath “...for my boner to go away.”

------------------------

We ended up just sitting at one of the tables against the side wall, and although my spot in the booth didn’t give me much opportunity to observe the way we came, something told me that we weren’t free to leave should the need arise. I could, however, see the rest of the room rather well.

Thank Luna for small favors.

Before I could spend too much time admiring the rather spacious sight of the inside of the Vivarium, a generically pretty waitress trotted up to the table. I was about to pick up a menu when Scarlet interrupted, “Can we get a single of Miss Stella’s Truth Bloom Special for our guest here, a... Bovarian Chocolate latte for the officer, and I’ll have a banana cream.” The waitress nodded, exchanged a few words of familiarity with our “host”, and walked off.

As soon as she left, I felt my stomach curdle. “Bleeeeh. Really? Truth Bloom? That thing made from the leaves of the Seeds of Truth thing? Whyyyyy?” I whined, dropping my head on the table.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, and Longarm looked furious. “Poison?! You’re going to poison my partner?!” he yelled, reaching for his gun. Remembering it wasn’t there, he paused, and sulked a little. Which gave Scarlet just enough time to explain himself.

“Of course not! Only the Seeds themselves are poisonous! I would never poison a guest. No, the leaves just make you sick if you tell a lie,” he all but shouted back in alarm. Longarm was looking for other things to hurt him with. The red stallion then glanced at me. “But I’m surprised you know about it. Where in Equestria would a private detective like yourself come across something like Truth Bloom?”

I lifted my head up from the table. “Ok, first off, remind me to ask you how the hell you know I’m a private detective later. Second, well... I had a case once upon a time that required me to go undercover at a mental health facility. Against my better judgment, I decided to fake bulimia. Which is really easy to do with a stomach full of Truth Bloom and a false identity.”

Scarlet winced. “Ooh, that sounds... eeeeewwwww. No thanks. But you shouldn’t have to worry about vomiting, or getting sick, if you just tell the truth. I don’t see what you’re so worked up about.”

Longarm, having cooled a little, offered a guess. “Something akin to not being able to eat food from any place you get food poisoning from?”

“Right. Once you’ve tasted it going both down and up, you want nothin’ doin’.” The waitress returned with our drinks faster than I would have thought, and I stared with a mix of dread and spite at the little glass in front of me.

Scarlet gave a reassuring smile. “Look, it’s just a sip. That’s all it takes. Then I ask you a few questions, and you can go on your merry way talking to whoever you think you need to talk to. Or, you know, just spending time with me~” he offered, giving his effeminate frame a rather enticing wiggle.

I gave the glass once last glance and took a good solid swallow. “Ok, shoot.”

He pouted prettily. “Oh, fine. be a prude. So, three questions. One, who do you believe is in danger here?”

Longarm looked ready to answer, but I held up a hoof. “I don’t mean anything if the guy who didn’t just drug himself answers,” I told him. he nodded and went about sipping on his latte. I looked back to Scarlet. “After Glow.”

He raised an eyebrow, and, seeing as how I didn’t just chuck all over everything, began to laugh. “Pfffft.... hahahaha! Are you... ahahahaHA that’s adorable! You think After Glow needs protection?!” he asked earnestly, practically doubled over laughing.

“Yes.”

He paused for a bit after, once again, I didn’t dry heave. Or puke. “...ahahaha.... ha... hmmm. Ok, fine. What makes you think she needs protection?”

“Because Absolutia is dead,” I explained.

The color drained from his face. “Ab..Absolutia? Are you sure?” his voice quivered, as did his lip. I nodded. “That’s... well then. I’m going to miss that crazy bitch. Right. Question two: what protection do you think you can offer her?”

I thought about that for a moment. “I’m going to kill the guy trying to kill her.”

Longarm raised both his eyebrows at that. Especially after I continued to not be violently ill. “You do realize...”

“That I just admitted to conspiracy to commit murder in front of an Equicide Detective? Yeah... not my brightest moment,” I added sheepishly.

Scarlet looked at me seriously. “Well... at least you think you mean it. We can deal with the whole ‘actually killing him’ thing later. Last question: why should we trust that you can do what you say you’re going to? Even if you believe it?”

I thought about Paperweight, laying on her hospital bed. Blood in her ears. I felt my hooves curl and my teeth grind against each other. I felt a trickle of blood in my mouth as my sharpened teeth scraped my gums; a downside to having chompers not meant for a pony mouth. “Because if I ever find him I’m going to tear the meat from his bones and cook it. I’m gonna carve off chunks of the guy and flame-broil them to a crispy brown, and eat it in front of him while he’s still bleeding to death. I’m gonna devour this asshole and make him watch as his body disappears down my gullet.” I bore my teeth like a cat backed into a corner, and I could feel my spine creak as my back arched.

Scarlet looked nervously to Longarm, and back to me, and stood up from the table. Longarm just stared at me like I’d gone mad. “Well then,” Scarlet said, in a higher pitch than usual. “Let’s go see about introducing you to After Glow and associates, shall we?”

----------------------

The walk down the back hallways of the Vivarium was rather quiet, even after I’d cooled down. Scarlet seemed more than a little hesitant to start up conversation, and Longarm just looked stoic. He was thinking about something, and I wasn’t sure what. Or if I was going to like it. Eventually, we stopped at what I would swear was a broom closet. At least, until Scarlet knocked on it. “Oh, by the way,” he said, as he put his hoof on the doorknob. “Duck.”

I didn’t bother to ask what he meant. He said “Miss Glow? It’s Scarlet. I’m coming in-” and as soon as the door opened enough for a machete to fit through it, fit through it a machete did. I laid myself flat on the floor just in time to not be split down the middle. The thunk behind me sounded hard and solid: I figured it would take a small crew of normal Earth ponies all day to get the thing out. If they didn’t just say “buck it” and carve out the wall around the thing.

“Scarlet you little weasel! What’re you doin’ just bargin’ in like that?! No, don’t cower. Bring yourself and that bag o’ straw in with you! AND the cop!” After Glow’s voice was like old pissed-off newspaper being crumpled up for kindling, and was none to pleased about that turn of events.

“Miss Glow, you have guests! Rather urgent ones!” Scarlet explained, rushing us all into the room. It didn’t take me long to see what exactly everypony meant when they talked about After Glow taking care of herself: while she did look like a giant wrinkled old rug the color of bleached grass, her eyes were sharper than the knives she floated around her head.

The many, many knives. Butterflies, machetes, combat knives, basically any and every edged weapon you could hide on a pony was floating around the room, being sharpened in some fashion or other. Such a display of minute control I’d never seen before in my life. Something told me I was going to get much more worldly experience like this as the case dragged on. Assuming I didn’t get myself killed by one blade-wielding psychopath or another. After Glow caught me staring. “Yeah, it’s sharpening day. Much more fun that workin’ numbers, lemme tell ya.” I heard a distinct thunk from behind me, and ducked in time for the machete that almost spliced me to come flying backwards over my head. Mind you, I didn’t need to duck: she’d brought it in high, and set it to work on a whetstone right away. But I’d like to think my reflexes were decent.

“Don’t go lookin’ so proud a’ yerself, boy. I could carve you for dinner before you could call fer’ help,” she scolded. I looked about the room, and didn’t doubt a word. I hadn’t said anything and she could already read me like an open book. I guess once you carve up enough people and get a look at their insides you don’t need a knife to tell you what’s in a pony’s head anymore.

Scarlet looked back and forth between the two of us: the old batshit mare he knew to be afraid of, and the newcomer that he just plain didn’t like. “Well, I see you two have a lot in common, so I’ll just leave you two to slash-er-hash it out, okie dokie?” Before I could ask another question, he was already out the door.

“A few small daggers followed him into the hall, bathed in the glow of After’s magic. “An’ stop snoopin’ aroun’ my office!” She bellowed. She looked over at me. “Well, don’ just stand there, boy! You caught me in a good mood! Now ask yer damn questions so I can chase you outside like the good ol’ days!”

I straightened my hoodie, and Longarm proped closed his slightly ajar mouth. “Yes, Miss Glow,” I said, somewhat sheepishly. somehow I felt like I'd walked in on my own interrogation. “Well, you see, we’re kind of here to ask you some questions. We think your life might be in danger,” I explained.

She started rasping rhythmically, and it was a little while before I realized she was laughing. “Kiddo, what makes you think I need protecting? Even if somepony could get past all my Stilettos and past me, I’m old and cold and full ‘a mold! If somepony can kill me, they deserve to!”

Longarm raised a placating hoof. “Glow, we think someone’s targeting you for political reasons. It’s not a personal vendetta. Other ponies have turned up dead, and we’re seeing a pattern. We believe this pony is trying to cause some kind of political disturbance with his targets; that he’s trying to leave a void in power throughout all of Detrot.”

After Glow looked at him seriously. “Well, that’s some rather interestin’ theory. What makes you think that?”

“Absolutia and Barrel are dead,” I explained.

I swear I saw a few blades in the air twitch. One of them for sure pressed just a little too hard against a whetstone, and snapped. The pieces and the stone fell to the ground carelessly as After Glow lost interest in them; the rest stayed in the air. “I see. So ya think somepony’s trying to take down the Vivarium?”

Longarm raised an eyebrow. “Why would you think-”

“He was your lawyer, wasn’t he? Or, the firm was. They represented the Vivarium. And Absolutia... she handled all of your accounts. That’s how you guys could move money so freely for... some of your less than admirable activities. You had somepony on the inside,” I reasoned.

I was kind of getting sick of Longarm looking at me like I’d grown a third head. After Glow, however, gave me some kind of twisted smile. “You know, we could use somepony like you floatin’ around here. Yeah, Lock, Stock, and Barrel were ours. So was Absolutia. I’m not surprised they just went after Barrel.”

It was my turn to look a bit confused. Until Longarm spoke up. “So those rumors were true. You do have ponies on the outside.”

Something clicked in my head so hard I heard it. “Are you kidding me? You mean Barrel and Absolutia were-”

“Yup. Stilettos,” After Glow answered.

Author's Note:

Getting somewhere now.

Comments

[Reese]

"Miss Glow, you have quests! Rather urgent ones!"
"guests", I think you meant.

"I felt like a catholic schoolkid being stared down by a raspy old nun."
…
[opens mouth]
…
[closes mouth]
I can't even think of a coherent question about that. What? I really, really want an explanation for this. Really. The sheer out-of-place-ness of it has me contemplating unfavouriting the story. And I'd really rather not do that.

[Daemon McRae]

4115919 Well, the intent was to play off of the old arctype of scary-ass nuns as teachers in Catholic schools, but as more than one person has pointed out, there's no Catholicism in this world. So yeah, I'm rewriting that.

[Reese]

4116040
Ah, whew!
To be fair, I got the intent of the line, and I think that it would be good if this story was set in, say, 1949 Chicago or something.

[devas]

4116040

Reading this chapter, I noticed you doing a bunch of rather...odd errors throughout.

Do you have a prereader/editor? Also, I'll try and compile them afterward

[Daemon McRae]

4117626 I do not.

[devas]

4118568

Stilletos

Aren't they called Stilettos, with just one L, in the main story? I know that as it stands, in Italian it's misspelled.

and a bit throaty,

And a bit more throaty

There is some security measures

There are some security measures

We ended up just sitting at one of the tables against the side wall, although my spot in the booth didn’t give me much opportunity to observe the way we came, something told me that we weren’t free to leave should the need arise

I'm pretty sure there's at least a word missing here

both down and up, you want nothin’ doin’.”

????

“Because if I ever find him I’m going to tear the meat from his bones and cook it. I’m gonna carve off chunks of the guy and flame-broil them to a crispy brown, and eat it in front of him while he’s still bleeding to death. I’m gonna devour this asshole and make him watch as his body disappears down my gullet.”

This strikes me as a massive shift in tone out of left field; this however, is a subjective opinion.
And in my subjective opinion...wtf, man? I'd understand a rant about his motivations, how his secretary/coworker etc. meant the world to him, etc, but full-on intimidation for no reason? :-/

Glow we think someone’s targeting you for political reasons

missing a comma.

I saw kind of getting sick of Longarm looking at me like I’d grown a third head

Typo.

Something clicked in my head to hard I heard it.

????

Aside from all that, there's the whole joke at the start with Scarlet which, while funny, I find subjectively distasteful*. Then again, it's such a cliche and overused joke at this point in pop culture that not including it would probably be weird.

*when you realize somebody's biggest weak point-the fact that their sexuality deviates from the norm-is routinely used as a punchline, and that they have a higher chance of getting their head bashed in because of it...the joke stops being funny. Sorry :-/
On the other hand, like I said, it's extremely common and quite realistic, so...I dunno.

[Daemon McRae]

4123243 Well, the typos and stuff have been corrected. as for

This strikes me as a massive shift in tone out of left field; this however, is a subjective opinion.

And in my subjective opinion...wtf, man? I'd understand a rant about his motivations, how his secretary/coworker etc. meant the world to him, etc, but full-on intimidation for no reason? :-/

I should warn you there's going to be more of this, in different ways, from here on. But I can't tell you much more without spoilers.

[BlueNinja]

I muttered under my breath “...for my boner to go away.”

Maybe he can ruminate over proper punctuation, like his missing comma, to help him with that.

I bore my teeth like a cat backed into a corner

*bare

Much more fun that workin’ numbers

*than

[StormyVenture]

4116040
That's 'archetype' to you.

[ARTL]

M'Laird Daemon!

Y U NOT HAVE MOAR.

[doctorpie25]

Are there going to be more chapters??

[Daemon McRae]

7289577 I don't know. I stopped partly because I didn't like where it was going, and partly because I just felt like I was riding on someone else's curtails. Poorly. But if I ever do pick it up again it will involve a major rewrite.

[Rockstar_Raccoon]

7289738
I could help with that...

[Khym Chanur]

“A few small daggers followed him into the hall, bathed in the glow of After’s magic.

The initial double-quote shouldn't be there, since it isn't dialogue.