• Published 15th May 2012
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Sleeping in the Light - Wheller



DS Ana Kelso discovers a certain pink party pony asleep on her car 50 years after her supposed death

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Chapter 6

Chapter 6

‘Station BRIGHTHOUSE, how can I... oh, DS Kelso, what a pleasant surprise!’

Kelso gave the holographic figure of the unicorn mare before her a small smile. ‘Hello Sparky, how’s the new job working out for you?’ she asked.

‘Oh it’s just fine, not a lot I can talk about though, FutureTec’s not ready to make the announcements yet’, Sparky said with a shrug. ‘What can I do for you Detective Sergeant?’

Kelso had only met Sparky Starlight a few times during her life, all of them, however had significant impact, the Serious and Organised Crime Group’s last major case could never have been brought to court without her. Sparky was a senior systems analyst at FutureTec and in charge of Station BRIGHTHOUSE, at the Whitetail Industrial Complex, one of their many research centres with projects that were almost all military contracts.

Kelso remembered their first meeting well, FutureTec had sacrificed the lives of the six crew members aboard the Discovery One space craft on the first manned mission to the gas giant Tartarus, in order to study a mysterious deep space artefact of unknown origin, known simply as the Tetrahedron, and not even giving them a clue what they were getting into. Worse still, they tried to cover up any wrong doing, Sparky was able to get evidence of the cover up, and Viola and Kelso had used it to bring down the masterminds of the conspiracy, several high ranking executives at FutureTec, along with the former Chief of the Republican Navy, Vice Admiral Firestar. All of whom were now serving time in various prisons, and they were going to be there for a long time.

‘I need a favour, we just got an advisory from FutureTec about an escaped psych patient from the Ghastly Gorge Industrial Complex... you know anything about that?’ Kelso asked.

Sparky’s hologram nodded in agreement. ‘Yeah, we got one too, something about a paranoid schizophrenic called Sugar Plum? I haven’t had an opportunity to look at records closely yet...’

‘Don’t bother’, Kelso interrupted. ‘They’re fake’.

‘What?’ Sparky asked, raising an eyebrow at the detective. ‘How do you know?’

‘The one that they’re calling Sugar Plum? She’s here at the PPS Headquarters’, Kelso said.

‘You have her in custody?’ Sparky asked.

‘Not exactly, she’s here as a visitor’, Kelso said. ‘I found her lying asleep on my car yesterday evening, she didn’t know how to get to where she lived, so Viola and I took her in for the night. I had Hopely run her NHS records before we got the advisory from FutureTec. “Sugar Plum’s” record didn’t show up before that. It’s fake’.

Sparky looked blankly at Kelso. The look quickly turning to a frown. ‘This is bad Ana’, she said eventually.

Kelso nodded her head in agreement. ‘We had all hoped that FutureTec’s dirty tricks ended with the Discovery Project, no such luck, unfortunately’, Kelso said with a frown.

‘So who is she really?’ Sparky asked as her hologram began to pace back and forth with nervousness.

‘A mare by the name of Pinkie Pie’, Kelso said simply.

‘What?’ Sparky cried out, ceasing her pacing and snapping to attention. ‘Kelso! That was the name of one of my grandmother’s friends! Pinkie Pie has been dead for fifty years!’ she proclaimed.

‘I know’, Kelso said with a nod. ‘Hopely pulled her NHS records and confirmed it, yet here she is. She’s in Viola’s office right now’.

Sparky nodded in understanding, biting her lip and looking down at the ground in thought. ‘I’ve got an idea, I’m going to grab Dizzy Doo, and we’ll be down there in an hour or so, find out what Pinkie Pie knows. I’ll see you when I get there’.

‘What’s the plan?’ Kelso asked.

‘I’d prefer not to say over public telecomm’, Sparky said. ‘It’s... not exactly legal though’.

‘That’s okay... whatever FutureTec is doing can’t possibly be legal either’, Kelso said with a frown. ‘Sparky, we’re the only ones who really know the full extent of FutureTec’s treachery, who knows what all sorts of nasty stuff they’ve got their hooves in?’

Sparky nodded her head in agreement. ‘Why do you think I still work here? Got to have a whistleblower somewhere, right? I’ll see you when I see you’, Sparky said. She reached out and pressed at a button on her terminal that was not visible to Kelso, and her holographic imaged faded into the æther.

Kelso frowned. She liked this situation even less and less with every passing minute. Kelso, Viola, Sparky, and the rest of their friends had made a conscious decision to keep certain details from the public, the artefact that FutureTec wanted to study, the tetrahedron, being one of them. As far as the public knew, FutureTec was still the benevolent proprietary megacorporation that was the driving force behind Equestria’s industrialisation over the last one hundred years. This was unsettling to say the least.

Kelso tapped at her PIP, opening up the short range channel to Viola’s office. ‘Guv, can you take Pinkie Pie into interview two? I need to talk to her’.

...

Pinkie Pie tried to make herself as comfortable as possible in the chair that she sat in the PPS interview room. Kelso had wanted to talk to her in private, or at least, that was what Viola Auditore had said. Pinkie Pie wasn’t really concerned; this was probably just part of a routine, after all.

She had enjoyed her chat with Viola, before coming in here; the two of them had talked about what Pinkie Pie did as a baker. Pinkie Pie had done most of the talking, but that was okay. Pinkie Pie really did love to talk after all!

Suddenly the door opened, and she watched as Kelso came inside and closed the door behind her. ‘Shouldn’t there be a mirror?’ Pinkie Pie asked, pointing towards the wall across from her.

‘Pardon?’ Kelso asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘You know! Like in movies and television and stuff! Police always have mirrors where people on the other side can watch, but the people on the inside of the room can’t see them!’ Pinkie Pie said. ‘This room doesn’t have one!’

Kelso blinked for a moment, staring at Pinkie Pie, before eventually shaking her head. ‘Yeah, we don’t actually have those, that’s just on TV’, Kelso said as she took a seat at the table, across from Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie looked incredibly disappointed for a moment at Kelso’s revelation, but quickly rebounded to her normal cheerful demeanour. ‘So! What’s up? Viola said that you wanted to ask me some questions?’ Pinkie Pie asked.

Kelso nodded her head in affirmation and she touched a small holographic panel in the table’s corner to record their conversation. ‘Correct, routine questions, shouldn’t take more than a few minutes... first, could you please state your full name, for the record?’ Kelso asked.

‘Pinkamena Diane Pie’, Pinkie Pie said.

‘What year were you born in?’ Kelso asked.

‘983 Reign of Celestia!’ Pinkie Pie said with a bright smile. ‘Oh, wait, we’re not supposed to use the old calendar anymore... Year 20 before the Republic!’ Pinkie Pie said with an embarrassed smile as she corrected herself.

‘Okay...’ Kelso said. ‘What year is it currently?’

‘Year 2 of the Republic! Because I’m twenty two!’ Pinkie Pie proclaimed.

‘Well, that’s two questions down...’ Kelso said. ‘Tell me, Pinkie Pie, who is the Prime Minister?’

‘Twilight Sparkle is the Prime Minister! Duh, everypony knows that! Er... I mean, everybody knows that!’ Pinkie Pie said as she corrected herself once more. ‘Sorry, Twilight says that we should stop using the word ‘everypony’, because not everybody is an everypony! Um... I mean... Not everypony is a body... no, not everybody is a pony!’ Pinkie Pie added as she continued to trip over her words.

Kelso could tell, that Pinkie Pie was starting to get nervous, she didn’t know if Pinkie Pie was bad at tests, but the way she was acting, it was a safe bet. ‘Pinkie Pie, this isn’t a test, just relax, these are only routine questions’, Kelso said.

‘Okay! Sorry again!’ Pinkie Pie said as she rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof in embarrassment.

‘One last question, you told me the last thing you remember was skipping through a field of flowers last night... what did you do right before that?’ Kelso asked.

Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment. ‘Oh! I remember now! I was at the new hospital building that they built in that new part of Ponyville!’ Pinkie Pie proclaimed.

‘What were you doing there?’ Kelso asked.

‘Regular physical examination, or so said the doctors, they wanted to take samples for the new NHS records, blood, spit, and hair!’ Pinkie Pie said. ‘I remember asking the doctor who was examining me if it was going to hurt, he said no, but I was going to feel a slight prick. He took the blood sample... and then the spit... and then he plucked out one of my hairs! Next thing I know, I’m bouncing around in that field!’

‘I see...’ Kelso said. ‘Well thank you Pinkie Pie, this has been... informative’.

‘Oh you’re welcome!’ Pinkie Pie said with a bright smile.

Kelso smiled at her as she rose from her seat. ‘I’ll be right back, wait for me here, please’, Kelso said politely.

Pinkie Pie nodded her head rapidly as Kelso headed out of the room closing the door behind her, hoping that her answers helped her out as much as they possibly could.

Kelso, however, was left with far more questions than answers.