Starlight Over Detrot Epilogue Part 3 : The Sun Rises
‘Hard Boiled? Talk.’
‘I don’t want to talk to you, Nightmare.’
‘Gale is going to give me control of your body if you try to do that, again.’
‘Good. It’s yours now. Enjoy. Stick me in a corner.’
‘As much as that might entertain me, you will speak to me or I will speak at you. Gale has slowed your perception of time and I have entire phone books worth of inanity to read in your direction. Do you understand?’
‘So, what? You’re going to try to make me crazier than I already am?’
‘You are not insane, Hard Boiled. Damaged, emotionally distraught, and processing more than a pony should be required to in several lifetimes, but you are not insane.’
‘I don’t know. Trying to throw myself out of a building seemed pretty crazy to me.’
‘Considering what has happened to you, it was a reasonably expected reaction. The Princess had several pegasi on guard to catch you below the balcony. Gale is not going to let you die and nor am I. So, you will speak.’
‘And if I refuse, you’ll irritate me.’
‘Exactly.’
----
It was an odd form of therapy. I much preferred Sweet Shine’s propensity to kick the stuffing out of me when the crazy crept in. It wasn’t as good as crying on Celestia’s shoulder, but there was more of it.
Untold hours passed as I lay there in my box, howling at Nightmare. She’d—for reasons unknown—affected a waistcoat and pince-nez. Her mane of shimmering blue energy formed itself into a reclining couch which I found myself curled up on within something like a dream-space, though I was still aware of my physical body bumping along in the travel trunk in the back of some form of vehicle.
For all her numerous faults, Nightmare was a listener. Maybe it was some side effect of being stuck in the back of my head for most of her short life, but she’d developed a talent for paying attention.
I screamed about the unfairness of it all and shivered as I recounted what cruelties the star laid upon me. There was even more crying, but after a few days of lying there with rests during which I was entirely unconscious, the crying started to abate. After a very long time, I was a pony, again.
----
The trunk opened onto a dimly lit room and I was gently lifted out by someone’s horn and laid on a soft bed. I didn’t fight the magic, instead sagging there limply like a ragdoll with no stuffing. Above my head there was a Wonderbolts poster and the blankets were warm, as though recently vacated. I was too dazed and exhausted to do much looking around.
“My talent says he’s not going to try to kill himself again, but he needs more time,” Sweet Shine murmured from somewhere off to one side. “A lot more time.”
After Glow’s voice broke in. “Idjit earned ‘imself a pass, Ah guess. Now you, missy! Ah wanna full tellin’ of what happened up ‘ere!”
“Gran, I’ve got things to do with the city power grid,” Swift added, from around my rear hooves. “I’ve been away for too long and Tourniquet needs help. I’ll tell you when I tell Miss Stella, okay?”
“Hrmph! If ya’ll think Ah’m gonna—”
“Gran...please? It’s been a long day. The teleport from Canterlot was rough.”
There was a bit of soft growling, then several sets of retreating hoofsteps. I felt someone slide into the bed beside me and put their forelegs around my neck. Their proportions seemed all wrong: too short, too small for how long their front legs were. A sweet scent filtered into my battered senses.
“H-Hardy?”
Scarlet. That was Scarlet. I peered down at the place his legs used to be, only to see the stumps capped with some kind of bejeweled metal studs and bandages around his middle.
I found strength in my leg to wrap it around his shoulders as another body slid in beside me, leaving the bed rather cramped, but not so much as I’d mind. A head of red curls was laid on my chest and gentle hooves went about stroking my mane. Lily smelled a bit like disinfectant, but considered she’d likely come from the medical unit that wasn’t surprising.
“We heard you could use some help,” Lily whispered.
“Shouldn’t you be taking ca-care of the wounded?” I stuttered.
“That’s what we’re doing,” Scarlet replied.
----
There are worse places than the Vivarium to recover. Certainly the company was pleasant and the guards were pretty good at keeping away gawkers. Not to say my stay was entirely uneventful, mind you.
I spent the next three days lying in Scarlet’s bed, waited on hoof and tail by Stilettos with orders not to let me out except to bathe, piss, and eat. Scarlet and Lily barely left my side in that time, though Scarlet must have been sleeping somewhere else. His new prosthetics were little more than complicated peg-legs, but Apple Bloom promised him something better in short order and I believed her.
I should have hated convalescing, but considering the condition of my mental landscape it was a pleasant change.
The first day, Sweets and Swift cycled through to keep me up to date on the goings on in the city. After about twelve hours of that, I asked them to let me lose track. It was a good decision.
Mags popped by a few times a day to make pissy noises at me for being so boring while I rested, but she was spending most of her spare time with Granny Glow. The two of them had taken a kindly shine to one another. They certainly shared more than a few personality traits. I knew that would eventually lead to horrors untold, but there were long lists of people I could think of who I’d have preferred she spend time with less than Stella’s elderly head of security.
On the fourth day, I had my first unexpected visitor.
----
I was propped up in bed with a book in one hoof, not really reading it but enjoying its presence when there was a knock on the door.
I raised my voice and called, “Come in!”
The doorknob glowed, turned, then was pushed open by the front wheels of a wheelchair. A hunched figure with a shawl around its shoulders rolled in followed by a pony I recognized with her hooves on the handles: Cerise. It took a few seconds to realize who the skeletally thin figure in the wheelchair was, but when I did I scooted a bit higher in the bed and swung my legs over the side.
“Iris?”
Iris Jade looked like she’d been through the wringer five or six times. A heavy bandage was wrapped around her head, holding her mane back. Her green pelt looked brushed, but nowhere near the glossy, sleek shine she usually kept it and - for the first time in my memory - she was wearing a pair of sweatpants rather than a suit.
Her daughter was, if anything, a little perkier looking than last I’d seen her. She had a small red moon tattooed below her jawline and the beginnings of a few tribal works on her side.
“Hard Boiled,” Iris acknowledged, tapping her forehoof to her head. “Pardon if I’m a tad slow getting up to beat the cheese out of you. Lack of a horn is making daily activities more interesting.”
I set my book aside. “Of all the ponies I thought would come see me, you were about last on the list. What’s the prognosis?”
“The doctors say she’s lost her magic entirely—” Cerise started, but her mother cut her off with a glare.
“Cerise, could you give us a minute?” she asked, and her daughter looked back and forth between us, then quietly withdrew, shutting the door behind her. Once Iris was sure she was gone, she turned back to me. “She was right. For now, I’m buttering my toast by hoof. What about you?”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Sorry?”
“I asked how you are doing, Hard Boiled,” she said, a little more softly.
“I’m...” I’d been about to say I was fine. It was reflexive. A pony is asked how they’re doing and they reply that they’re fine. That’s how the world works, isn’t it?
Jade must have read the look on my face because she tossed her shawl off her shoulders and rolled the chair closer to the bed.
“I see,” she said, frowning up at me. “I wondered why you didn’t smell scared the second you saw me. Something put a fear in you that’s ruined you for all other bullies in your life.”
“You never liked being a bully, Iris. The job was to keep this city from disintegrating, with magical bastards making damn sure it eventually did. For a long time, you were the one the city needed.”
An expression crossed her lips, and I didn’t recognize it for a minute. It lacked the wicked deviousness she usually tended to inject into every twitch of her lips. Still, when I finally did see the smile on her face, it was almost lovely.
“Hardy, do you know I went to sit in my old garden yesterday? My house was burned, but I barely lived there. I hadn’t been there in a long time. Even the weeds were dying after two months without enough sun. Still, the grass was coming back.”
“I guess I knew you had a house. Funny, the things you let pass by. Same as the idea that you were married, I suppose.”
Iris let her gaze float around the room, stopping briefly on the plush toy of Swift that sat on Scarlet’s end table. “Much as I never thought you would find another stallion besides Juniper Shores, and yet here we are. This ‘Scarlet’ colt must be something special. And I hear somehow Lily Blue also hangs her cap here, too.”
“People keep sounding surprised. Am I that bad a catch?”
“You’re a hero. I mostly feel sorry for them, but I’ve been wrong before,” she replied with a derisive chuckle. “But that’s irrelevant to why I’m here. As I was saying, I sat under the old oak tree, my hooves in the grass, listening to the branches swaying above me. I loved that garden, before I became the Chief of Police. I don’t know how long I was there. I haven’t checked a clock in weeks.”
“Me either. What would we do with a clock?”
Iris conceded the point with a slight dip of her head. “Agreed. Regardless, sitting there in my garden, I wasn’t really thinking of why I’d gone back there. It occurred to me a couple days later that I was waiting to die.”
I slid down off the bed and took a step closer, sinking down so we were at head height to one another. “What happened?” I asked.
She held up her foreleg, demonstratively. “A bird—a tiny robin—flew down and sat on my knee. It had a twig stuck in its feathers and was struggling along. Without really thinking, I leaned down with my teeth and tugged the stick out.”
“Your talent?”
“Yes. When I was Chief of Police, I would have traded all the magic in the world for another bird to sit on my knee. I couldn’t walk away, then. I wish I had.” Iris pulled her shawl up around her shoulders and her eyes turned deadly serious. “You are going to have plenty of people offering you the chance to walk away.”
I propped myself against Scarlet’s bed, considering her words. “You think I should?”
She shook her head. “I think you need a break to get your strength back, but I think if you walk away, you’ll just be waiting to die.” Wheeling backwards, she clopped her hoof on the door twice, then waited until Cerise opened it. She stopped halfway out the doorway and leaned back inside. “Take care of yourself, Hard Boiled. Hating you was a full time job, and I’m glad it’s over.”
Then she was gone, leaving me with my thoughts.
It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized exactly what her last sentence meant.
----
Once I couldn’t stand to look at the same four walls anymore, I ventured out into the halls with a blanket wrapped around me as an impromptu cloak. I shouldn’t have bothered; Stilettos and others of the Vivarium were the only people in the halls on my floor and I suspected they were under strict orders not to talk to me or do more than acknowledge my presence with little nods.
I wandered for a while, just taking in the busy energy of the place. Ponies came and went, going through the motions of what could almost be called normal days. The brothel was still largely closed, but I’d heard bass thumping upstairs during a few of my excursions to the toilet.
The closest I got to disturbed was when a group of ten school-aged children of three or four different species charged down a hallway in front of me, headed to points unknown. A small filly at the back of the pack stopped for a moment and looked up at me where I stood at a cross-segment of the hallway. She tilted her head to one side, then the other, before taking a step closer.
I tugged my cloak back on one side and tapped the zippered pouch on my chest. Her eyes almost popped out of her head as a huge grin spread on her cheeks. She quickly muffled it as I put a hoof to my lips, before giving me a serious-faced nod. A second later, she shot off to rejoin her friends.
It’s always the observant ones.
Five minutes later, I realized I was being followed, though not by who. Every time I tried to get a look at my pursuer, they weren’t there. Most cops become fairly adept at realizing when they’re being watched, but I simply couldn’t catch sight of my stalker until I rounded a corner and came face to face with a grinning skeleton.
I should have been frightened, or startled, or something. It should have been a moment when I jumped out of my skin, seeing the fleshless corpse standing there, bright blue lights glowing out of empty sockets. I just felt mildly irritated.
“Bones? Do you really need to sneak around like that?” I asked, grumpily.
“No, but I find it keeps me sharp,” he thought, then trotted in beside me, adjusting his sports jacket with one hoof. It was a new coat, though it looked to be fitted. Where he’d found a tailor to work on him is anyone’s guess.
Shaking off the annoyance, I started off down the hall again, the skeleton strolling along beside me. “I haven’t seen you in almost three weeks. What’ve you been doing with yourself?”
“Oh, I go here and there. The crown has reactivated the Crusaders in a limited capacity. Several of the others who were on the ‘dead’ list have crept out of the woodwork. Turns out we’re a hard bunch to kill.”
“Huh. What’ve the Princesses got you doing?” I asked, unable to fully contain my curiosity after several days with nothing much happening.
“Well, being as the dragons voided the treaty keeping us from acting with their little invasion, we decided to go kill Carnath and deliver his head to the Dragon King. I’m sure he’d have preferred I didn’t stick it in his bed, mind you. Whatever magic was keeping Lady Ember asleep is faltering, so we had to get her body out of their lands, too. I bet on a civil war to start over there the instant she wakes, but...that’s not your problem, now is it?”
“I’m glad it’s not, honestly,” I replied, flicking my tail under the makeshift cloak. “And...what brings you back to see your grandson?”
His teeth clicked together a couple times in a skeletal chuckle. “Nothing that will surprise you, I don’t think. I went to the cemetery a few days ago.”
It took me a moment to put together just which cemetery he was referring to. “Where Mom and Dad are buried?”
“The same. Nice little spot they picked out. Right next to your gran.” Bones let out a low, slightly sad whistle and held out a hoof to stop me. “You’ve got enough people looking after your life without me guilting you about what happened a few days ago. Heavens know, I’ve earned the right to go dig myself a hole beside your grandmother and lie down. You know why I’m not?”
I looked him over, from his polished skull down to his shined hooves and slowly shook my head. “I honestly don’t. I appreciate you sticking around, but don’t do it on my account. Is there anyone who hasn’t heard about my breakdown?”
“Most haven’t. The few who needed to know have heard. You are mostly getting the ‘Princess’ treatment. People are trying not to bother you. I’m afraid you’re first in line for mayor, though, if the scuttlebutt is to be believed.”
“No, I’m damn well not!” I snarled, rounding on him.
He waved his boney forelegs and shook himself in a fashion I think was meant to placate me.
“Hey, kiddo. You know that and I know that. Thankfully, when it comes time for elections, cooler heads will prevail. That’s going to be a while, considering the state of the city.”
“The Royal Guard is running things?”
“Hah! As if! Stella, whatever his faults, is beastly good at coming up with committees. The ones that actually accomplish things are pretty neatly sectioned off from the ones where the climbers, graspers, and morons are debating roadside parking rules. The Guard are walking patrols in safe parts of the Heights and cleaning garbage out of the Skids. The people doing the actual work? They’re well away from that bunch.”
I opened my blanket and lifted my badge on one hoof, staring at the carefully etched letters that spelled out ‘Chief of Police’ with a sort of sad detachment. I hadn’t taken it off in days. It’d proven more of a security blanket than my coat, in some ways.
“So, the city lives by the law of the streets. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.”
“No such luck. I love me a good riot,” he answered, running a hooftip up his ribs, producing a slightly musical sound that somehow conveyed irony laden irritation. “Stella and the Ancestors laid down some basic rules and they’re enforcing them. No killing, no raping, no stealing, no looting. Food is available for the asking, but you follow those guidelines and you can do what you like. Those who don’t listen go to Supermax to get a red moon stamped on their ass. After that, they don’t break the rules anymore.”
“Seems a tad...eh...”
“Authoritarian? Scary as Tartarus? To you and me both, kiddo. But for right now, it’s working. Children are fed, most streets are quiet, and ending up with a mark is a kinder fate than what we’d have done to them during the war. If it stops working, well...your partner, your driver, and your librarian are the ones with their butts in the driver’s seat. Pretty sure they’d back off if you asked.”
I stopped in the empty hall and rested my flank against the wall. “Mmm...It’s not over, is it?”
“It never is. But we bought ourselves breathing room, and when the good people stop trying to make it better, the nasty ones are waiting. I’m not picking that hole to die in just yet because I believe we can make this city beautiful, if we’re willing to fight for it.”
Hanging my head, I slid down on my knees, then onto my belly right there on the carpet, for once not really caring who saw me. “I’m so tired...”
“Nobody said it had to be you out there fixing things,” Bones murmured, ruffling my mane, which was badly in need of a trim and so fell in my face.
“But if it’s not me—”
“Then it’s somebody else. I know that logic. If you run yourself to death, you’ll be no good to anyone.” Turning to the hallway where voices were approaching, he slid back into the shadows of one of the doorways lining the corridor. “You might not see me for a while, but I’ll be out there and Apple Bloom will know how to get in touch. If I’m honest, I just wanted to come by to say ‘ciao’. No idea how long I’ll be around, but I intend to make myself useful while I am.”
Getting to my hooves, I put a leg around his shoulders and pulled him in against me. He stiffened, then relaxed just as quickly, putting a hoof on the back of my neck.
“It’s been too damn long since I had a hug, kiddo. Way too long.”
“Come back when you need another, Grandpa. I’ll do my best to be here.”
----
A day passed.
I had dinner with Scarlet and Lily and we talked about what they were up to over our rations. Lily had been in contact with her parents via a pegasus who’d also had family out that way and was planning a trip home. Scarlet was back to working as Stella’s full time secretary, not able to move as quickly as he used to with his pair of temporary prosthetic legs, but fast enough so the work got done.
Afterwards, the three of us fell asleep together. Somehow, we’d all gotten used to the tight fit of Scarlet’s bed. I was getting to a point where I couldn’t manage to get my restless hooves to quiet until they were there with me.
Just being near them both was pleasant. I found, fairly quickly, that other than whatever book I had to read I hadn’t much to talk about. I just enjoyed listening to the two of them go back and forth with one another. Two beautiful ponies, good hearts in black times, propping each other and myself up against deathly days.
Once they were gone for their shifts the next morning, I took a long walk, once heading up to the dance floor, then to sit at the bar with my blanket around my shoulders. I wasn’t drinking, but it was better than the loneliness of Scarlet’s bedroom, feeling like a dog waiting for his owners to return to come alive again. I’m fairly sure most of the ponies out there knew who I was, but no-one approached me, even though I was getting on to wishing they would. Eventually, after some hours of stumbling around comfortably lost, I somehow made my way in the general direction of the elevator down to Stella’s cave.
I don’t know why I wanted to see the old serpent. If you asked me at the time, I’d have said it was pure coincidence right up to the moment I hit the ‘down’ button and the cage rattled its way into the caverns below. In a few seconds, I popped out over the enormous underground lake to a tumult of voices and stomping hooves echoing in all directions.
Artificial lights were set up all across the chamber and freshly welded catwalks had been built criss-crossing the lake itself. Too many ponies to quickly count were rushing back and forth into caves on all sides, none of them paying attention to the old service elevator. It made me wonder just how many other entrances Stella built in recent weeks.
I quickly fell in amongst the crowd, following along in the direction of most of the activity. I was swept along by the push of bodies, enjoying just how little anypony seemed to care that I was there so long as I kept my cloak over my head. It was a nice change.
Most of the people peeled off in various directions, heading to the barracks or distant corners of the underground. I stayed with the main push until we came to a few vaguely familiar stone corridors, lit with newly installed neon lights. An authoritative voice was calling over the soft murmuring of the crowd from time to time, followed by shouts of ‘next’ every few seconds. I couldn’t quite make out what was being instructed the first time, but after a few minutes it repeated:
“This is the line for assignment or assistance! Left side if you need an assignment, right side if you need assistance! When somepony calls ‘next’, head to the nearest open table!”
Ahead of me, a small family—mother and two rambunctious colts—were talking in hushed tones. The colts were excitedly regaling her with some story of their adventures topside, while she tried to keep track of exactly what sort of trouble they’d gotten into while they were out of her sight. She looked tired, but she was smiling at their antics in a way a pony only does when they know where their next meal is coming from.
A little ways ahead, the line broke in two, with ponies queueing up to the right or left side of the cave. I stepped in on the left side, not entirely sure what I was doing, but it couldn’t be worse than lying in bed all day. The line moved reasonably fast and eventually there was only a worn-looking old stallion with rock dust in his hair ahead of me. ‘Next’ was called, and he trotted forward into the cavern beyond.
I finally got my first good look at Stella’s innermost lair since my last visit.
The place had been turned, rather convincingly, into an office block of sorts. The old catwalks were reinforced and covered in layers of cheap flooring, and cubicles lined the rails, each with a single person or group of people in it talking to another person of some species sitting behind a short desk with a file cabinet. When a pony was done with whatever they were doing, they trotted off towards the opposite end of the catwalk and down further tunnels which had been dug into the walls on either side.
Behind the activity, sitting on his throne with a giant lapboard across the arms of his chair and a pair of fine golden-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, sat Stella. He was scratching away at a ledger I could have run laps around, humming a faint tune to himself which carried across all the talking and muttering of the various seekers. The scratch on his face was healing well and he hadn’t bothered to cover it with make-up, though the damage to his chest plate was covered with a white sash in much the same style as his footsoldiers’.
When a Stiletto stallion who stood just inside the door called out, “Next!” I found myself ushered forward. I marched on up the steps onto the catwalk and, rather than heading for the nearest open cubicle where a bright-eyed teenager with a red crescent on her forehead sat waiting expectantly, I moved toward the head of the platform. Two Stiletto guards stood up there and both of them tensed when I approached the railing, but relaxed as they saw my face.
The older of the pair gently tapped the catwalk a couple times until Stella looked up. His eyes widened with delight and he set aside his lapboard, slithering down off the throne into the water. Behind me, I heard voices raised in consternation, but they were quickly followed by others shushing or otherwise reassuring them.
Stella floated down to the edge of the platform, reaching out and putting one of his claws flat on the edge just behind the rails. It took a second to get what he intended, but I quickly ducked through the railing, hopping across onto his palm. He closed his other hand over top of me and I sat there taking slow breaths as the sounds of the lair faded into the distance, replaced by the rushing of water and a sense of powerful acceleration.
I was there for a few minutes in the tiny, watertight chamber formed by the sea serpent’s closed claws before there was a splash outside and his top palm lifted away to reveal a little cave with a short ledge on one side just wide enough for a small group of ponies to stand comfortably. A pile of books lay there, alongside another pair of Stella’s glasses and a small electrified chandelier on a candle-stick which provided enough light to see by.
Setting his palm beside the ledge, he let me hop off and I turned to sit, waiting as the giant purple serpent regarded me with a curious expression.
“You know, you could have sent word you wanted to see me,” he began, with only a hint of reproach. “I’d have made the time.”
“If I had, you’d have made a show of it,” I replied, snugging my blanket against myself. The tiny cave was a little cold, though not unpleasant.
“Eh, true. Old stage habits die harder than most.” Pressing himself to one side of the cave, he settled on some unseen outcropping below the water. “So, tell me, my delicious Detective: what changed? My reports say you were catatonic when you arrived back from Canterlot.”
I patted the side of my head. “I’ve got...uh, it would take too long to explain. Short version is that I have someone with an extremely personally vested interest in keeping me from going nuts. She spent what felt like a few weeks talking me off the edge. Don’t get me wrong. Nominal condition is a long way off, but I’m not considering death the best option right now.”
“Mmmph. Much as I might wish otherwise, then, you didn’t come to me for comfort?” Stella asked.
I started to agree, then felt certain it wouldn’t be entirely true for some reason. “I...I don’t know. I assume Swift gave you the unabridged version of what happened in Uptown?”
“Yes.” A grin crinkled one side of his long, toothy muzzle. “My vaults would be nigh empty were it not for an unattended puddle of melted gold that somehow ended up with no interested guardians right around where the Central Bank of Detrot used to be.”
“I’ll keep that to myself the next time I speak to a Princess,” I replied, with a weak laugh. “Anyway. She told you what I told her, I guess. I...mmm. There was a moment there, when I...I had the power of that wish right in my hooves. The star gave it to me like a child handing you a knife.”
Stella swished his tail a little, sending a splash of water up onto the ledge next to my hooves. “Do I detect a hint of regret, Detective?”
I threw my hooves up and groaned. “Yes, dammit! I could have done a lot of things! I could have restored the dead to life. Cleaned up the city. Changed ponykind into a species without criminality. Fixed all the remaining Biters. Something. I had the power...and it was immaculate. There was a heap of extra energy left in the system once I brought Canterlot back and split the star. Not enough to remake the whole world, but enough to...to change some things...”
“Yet you chose to destroy Uptown with it,” Stella finished, nodding to himself.
“I had to burn it off somewhere. If I’d used too much, it would have started killing people, but, I looked at...at all the things I could do and they frightened the stuffing out of me.” I felt my eyes starting to tear up and quickly swiped at them with my blanket, determined to have this out. “Stella, do you know how easy it is to become an alicorn?”
“I fear I don’t.”
I slid onto my side and exhaled. “It’s a wish away. I think that’s why there are so few. Wishing takes knowing you deserve to wish. I knew I wanted justice for the dead and the living, but beyond that? I’m not that pony.”
Stella’s forked tongue slithered out to taste the air before slipping back into his mouth. “You have never been the ‘power mad’ sort, no. Neither have your friends, perhaps excepting Sweet Shine, and even she knows that power is a double edged sword. That’s why she stays at your side.”
Pushing back from the edge of the water, I tossed off the cloak and stomped around in a tiny circle. “Still, there was so much good I could have done!” I kicked at the stone in frustration. “But who am I to yank the dead out of their afterlives? What would setting the city back the way it was do? How much of the evil in Detrot was the Family, and how much was negative civic planning?”
Reaching down, Stella stopped my nervous pacing by placing his palm in front of me like a wall. I stopped and turned, sitting and waiting for the dragon to tell me I’d been an idiot, or to point out one of the hundred things I could have done that I didn’t. I knew, intellectually, that he was kinder than that, but I wasn’t feeling especially intellectual just then.
Drawing in a breath, he slid back onto his underwater chair. “If it helps, Detective, I believe you did the wisest thing you could have in letting the power slip through your hooves. However much you might hate that those with power can exploit those without or any of the numerous other evils in this world, they are evils of choice. You could have stolen choice from all of us, forever...and you didn’t. Even the Marked, if you have witnessed them when they’re not working, still have much autonomy.”
“You think so? I feel like they act like ants. Plus there’s that thing of taking criminals out to Supermax to get the mark...”
“Right now, the alternatives for rapists, thieves, and killers are sticking them in a box, enslaving them, or putting a bullet in their heads and feeding them to Slip Stitch’s pet Biters. Which would you choose?”
I scrubbed my face with both hooves. “I like the Warden of Tartarus’s solution.”
“How different are those rings she puts around her prisoner’s necks from Miss Tourniquet’s mark? Of course the Warden of Tartarus focuses on rehabilitation, too. I have not experienced it, but I have spoken to the Marked at length. With the mark they are surrounded by people who will patch holes in their broken psyches. Their pain is shared and, thus, lessened. They are no longer alone. You might think of taking it yourself.”
I let out a short, sharp laugh. “Not my speed, thanks.”
Stella winked one of his false-lashed eyes at me. “I didn’t figure. What I am saying is that...in allowing us to retain the chance to heal, rather than healing everyone with a broad brush stroke in whatever way you saw fit, we are not at the whim of your morality. No matter how perfect anyone believes their morals are—and I think you might question yourself more than most—they will not apply to everyone. I think what you did saved us a great many headaches in the long run, Detective.”
“You think?”
“I do. Now, much as I am enjoying your company, the paperwork is eternal. I am finding I rather like watching the changes it produces in the quality of Equestrian lives, but it does tend to pile up.”
He laid his palm on the ledge beside me. I started to jump up onto it again, then stopped myself and glanced around the cozy little cavern.
“Do you mind leaving me here for a few hours? I’m not gonna run out of air, am I?”
Easing further down in the water, Stella gave me a quizzical look. “Are you certain? The only way out is a swim longer than you are likely to survive. This space is fed by ducts that reach the surface, but you will not be able to leave until I come get you...”
“I’m fine. I just need to think. This might be the closest to actually alone I can get while still inside Detrot city limits. Feel free to let anyone who asks know where I am.”
----
In retrospect, I should have clarified what I meant by ‘anyone’.
Nightmare was off somewhere in the back of my head, poking through memories of gorging myself on cheese when I was younger, and Gale was taking some time to enjoy my childhood radio-mysteries. Strange how little having three separate sets of thoughts bothered me anymore. They were like soft music playing in another room.
I’d found a battered copy of an adventure novel from my teen years with a missing cover which was still as gloriously trashy as it’d been when I was at the height of hormones. The silence in the cave was only punctuated by occasional drips from condensation on the ceiling, but otherwise it was as peaceful a place as a pony could ask for. I could understand why Stella liked it.
I was halfway through a description of the muscle-bound hero bravely carrying the helpless maiden to safety while swinging on a convenient rope when there was a faint hum in the air. It only lasted a second; just long enough to wonder if it’d been my imagination. I set my book aside and heaved myself up, ears flicking back and forth.
As I was about to dismiss the sound, there was an eardrum-wrecking ‘crack’, a blast of air, brilliant purple light, and a squeal of fear. All of that was followed by a splash that sent droplets of water all over me and my book. I huffed and shook the book off, then used the edge of my blanket to dry my head. Irritation welled up inside me as I got to my hooves and peered down into the pool to find a frantically treading alicorn.
“A little help?” Princess Sparkle yelped, dragging herself over to the ledge.
Reaching down, I grabbed her hoof in mine and braced my rear hooves, hauling the sodden Princess up onto my little retreat.
“You could have levitated yourself out of there,” I grunted as she flopped on her stomach.
“Tired. Been t-teleporting all day,” she stammered, a shiver building up and down her back. “That spell I used to scan through all this stone was really complicated, too. Skies above, that water is cold.”
Figuring I wasn’t likely to get much further use out of it for my own comfort, I grabbed the blanket and threw it across her shaking shoulders. “Here. Get dry, then tell me why the idea that a pony was sequestering himself in a cave would make you think he wanted to be bothered.”
Twilight tugged the blanket tightly around herself, scootching back from the waters until her back hit the wall of the cave. She quickly glanced around, then coughed softly. “I’m sorry. I...I know things have been hard, lately.”
I clapped my hooves together a few times. “Thank you, Her Ladyship, Mistress of Royal Understatement. Do you have another one for us?”
“How about ‘Hard Boiled, you sound like you could use a rest.’?” she said wryly.
“Good, good, more of those, thanks,” I muttered, making sure the other books in the pile were dry before setting the one I’d been reading on top. “What brings you down here? I’m assuming you were visiting Stella for some reason?”
Twilight started to answer, but her attention was drawn to the stack of books in the corner and she let out a strangled noise. Darting over to the pile, she started sifting through them with slightly wild eyes. Suddenly she rounded on me, the book without its cover dangling beside her head in a field of magic. She jabbed it at me in an accusatory manner. “W-who left these here!?”
“That would be our resident dragon queen.”
“H...he just put these poor books in this damp grotto?!” she gasped, voice rising with indignation.
“Take it up with him, your highness,” I huffed, grabbing the edge of my blanket and yanking it off her back. Her wings poofed out from her sides and she stood there looking like an angry bird who’d taken a trip in a tumble drier. Moving to the edge of the pool, I started to wring the damp cloth out.
“You save the world and somehow still make me mad! Ugh!” She turned back to the books and quickly started sorting them, levitating some and casting some kind of spell that cleared their pages of mildew and dirt. “At least he hasn’t put anything down here that’s valuable or rare. It’s all pulp garbage, in fact. Goodness, does he really read these?” Her cheeks flushed as she picked up a copy of the Pony-Sutra with a heavily frayed spine. “O-okay, this I can see him reading for sure...”
Folding my blanket again, I set it back on the floor and flopped with my head on it. “So, you going to tell me why you’re down here bugging Equestria’s least sociable life form, Princess?”
Twilight bit her lip, then with great reluctance set the books down. “I...I honestly didn’t think this far ahead. You were on my ‘list’ for today.”
“Your list included ‘Go see the grumpy detective’?” I asked.
She winced and her horn flashed; a clipboard appeared in midair with a stack of papers clamped to it. Rotating it so I could see it, she pointed to the tenth line from the time. It said in her neatly written script: Go see the grumpy detective.
“Right. Perfect,” I growled, pushing the clipboard away. “Princess, what really brought you back to Detrot? You saved my life. I’m grateful. Celestia can keep her medal and Luna...I’ve honestly got no idea what Luna is doing, but I wish her the best.”
“Princess Luna is back in therapy,” Twilight whispered, biting her lip. “Being trapped on the moon for any period of time seems to have triggered a relapse. She’s working through it.”
“Like I said, all the best. Are you going to answer my question, or should I go back to reading ‘Raiders Of The Harem Of Ro Sham Bo’?”
“I...ah...I’m having...trouble.” She plunked herself down, gathering her wings in tight against her sides.
“Trouble?!” I snapped, taking three steps closer until we were muzzle to muzzle. “There’s a line of ponies upstairs who are having trouble. They’re not sure where their next meal is coming from. The ones who do know are mucking blood out of the streets, burying bodies, emptying rot-filled refrigerators, and trying to figure out what life looks like now. Tell me how your trouble amounts to a hill of beans next to what they’re going through?”
Twilight gulped, then said all in a rush, “P-Princess Celestia wants me to rule again!”
I gave her a dubious look. “And?”
Her eyes were slightly wild as she added, “The last time I ruled the Cutie-Mark Crusades almost destroyed Equestria!”
“Again I say, and?”
The Princess sat there sputtering for a few seconds, then her brain seemed to find a fresh gear.
“What do you mean ‘and’? Shouldn’t you have some feelings on this or something? You just saved the whole planet!”
I let out a long-suffering sigh which was only slightly exaggerated. “I get what the Crusaders say about you, now.”
“W-what do they say about me?” she stammered, her ears lying flat against her head.
“They say you’re the dumbest smart person in the world.”
Her eyes flared with anger and she stood up straight, bonking her head on the sloping curve of the cave’s ceiling. She quickly rubbed the spot with a hoof, then dropped her leg and tried to regain her bluster, but it was already gone. Instead, she slumped onto her stomach and covered her face with her wings. After a few seconds, she rolled a foreleg at me.
“Fine. I think you’re probably right, but...tell me why. Please. I’m at a loss as to what to do and there are a lot of ponies suddenly relying on me to piece this country back together.”
“Twilight Sparkle, the Cutie-Mark Crusades started because the Family started them,” I explained, very slowly enunciating each word. “A star, cleverer than you could ever hope to be and more wily and cunning than Celestia and Luna put together decided to upend the global order. It started planning for this before your great, great, great grandparents were born. You just had the bad luck of being in charge at the time.”
“B-b-but what if it—” she tried, but I cut her off.
“—happens again? What happens if a cosmic god being decides to unmake the whole of existence again, Princess? If it does, I’m damn well letting the beasts from beyond have the planet, because they earned it!” I picked up my book from the heap and flicked it open to the page I’d been reading. “Get some friends, stop drinking, and don’t start any wars with the friggin’ dragons. There aren’t hardly enough of them left to have another war, anyway. You can do administrative crap just fine and that’s what the world needs today. When you want to go on vacation, give me a call. Until then, shoo. If you need additional advice, go ask Stella, Sweet Shine, Celestia, Swift, or Limerence. Heck, ask Mags. I’m officially clocked out.”
The purple alicorn sat there for several seconds, her jaw sagging in an unladylike fashion.
She started to say something else, but I reached over and poked the end of her nose like it was a button.
“You heard me, Sparkles. Clocked out.”
Her left eye twitched dangerously a couple of times, then her horn began to crackle. With an explosion of light, she disappeared, leaving only a wisp of smoke in her wake. A part of me felt a little bad for leaving her like that; the rest was getting hungry and glad of the hard-won solitude.
I nestled into my blanket to wait for dinner.
----
Sun-up.
The rebuilt roof of the Vivarium.
I stood just under the flashing neon sign, a mare’s shaking backside, looking out at the city.
Detrot. The city that’d seen fire and death, dreams and powers not meant to be seen by mortal eyes. It’d weathered them better than I, even with throbbing hearts laid bare and too many cuts to count. It was still home, even after all we’d suffered together.
Out in the Bay of Unity, the statue of Celestia and Luna rearing against all comers was freshly lit by a set of repaired spotlights. The cool wind coming in off the water was a nice change; it’d been a warm night when I first stepped out into the dark. I had to imagine Celestia was making up for her two-month absence by giving the world a bit of extra sunshine.
Overhead, the stars were fading with the night, going about whatever business stars must when they’re not enmeshed in saving all existence from rogue elements.
Lifting my glass, I took a slow sip; grapefruit juice isn’t much substitute for liquor, but Scarlet didn’t like it when I was sloppy drunk and after the week I’d just had, if it had been bourbon I’d have gotten downright slovenly.
There was the sound of beating wings and a soft clash of hooves on gravel. A pair of glistening pink jewels appeared and Swift stepped out of the shadows cast by the brightly lit sign. I raised my glass in her direction and she turned to follow my gaze out toward the bay.
“Sir.”
“Kid.”
“I thought I might find you up here.” She paused, then shut her shining eyes. “I don’t know why I say ‘thought’. I knew. I keep wondering when I’m gonna miss not just ‘knowing’ where most of the ponies in the city are at any given time.”
“You can always head out to the Wilds for a weekend if you need a reminder,” I said, and took another sip.
A set of hoofsteps, followed by another, made their way across the roof behind me. I didn’t turn. I knew there were only two ponies they could be.
Limerence approached the parapet around the edge of the roof and put his hooves up on it, staring out at the rooftops on the far side of the bay. “Mmm...How did my father do it? He managed to build the Archive and still find time for Zefu and I. I can hardly find time these days to appreciate a sunrise.”
“Same way he did most things,” Sweet Shine replied, edging in beside him. “He made the time because it mattered. Same as a sunrise matters. Right, Hardy?”
“S’right. Are you still going to be the Archivists?”
“Ah...no,” Limerence mused. “I don’t believe so. My brother was right about one thing. We’d become too passive with the items we stored. Many of the objects we secreted away could have changed the course of history. We must intensify our study of these artifacts. Catalogue our experiences. Take a more active role in preserving life, rather than simply sitting back becoming wealthy. I believe we shall be called ‘Scholars’ from here on.”
I let out a breathy chuckle. “Heh. I like it. What’ll be your first ‘active’ role, oh Scholar?”
“Ahem. Well...there are nasty stirrings out in the zebra lands. Something about ‘devils’ from the mountains, snatching the weak,” Limerence murmured, scratching lightly at the severed stump where his ear used to be. “Bad tidings come from the deer tribes as well; they say there’s a new warlord making trouble in the east. That is in addition to rumors of creeping things driving Diamond Dogs out of their holes out in the far desert. Not to mention the dragons.”
“We’ll handle all that when we need to,” Sweets affirmed, flicking her eyes back at her newly reappeared cutie-mark.
Swift’s wings drooped a little and she sidled closer to my side. “When...when do we get to quit, Sir?”
I tipped my glass back, polished off my juice, and set it down. “Anytime you like, kid. Do you want to stop being the Warden of Detrot?”
A slightly cocky smirk perked up on her lips. “Not a chance.”
“Then we don’t quit. We rest for a while longer. We help the city get stable. Then? Then...we need to take Don Tome back home for a funeral in the zebra lands. While we’re there, we might as well have a look around.”
Sweets brushed her hooves together. “I’ve got a date with a sweet minotaur in a few days. Won’t be available till then. After that, a nice, long drive sounds like it might be just the thing.”
Pushing my hat back on my head, I closed my eyes and let the breeze ruffle my mane.
The city.
My city.
“You know? This might sound funny, but I think I’m looking forward to today.”
There is an oft repeated phrase in tomes of wisdom, but I find it apt enough to include it in mine as well :
“The world will die the day good people stand back and allow history to take its course.”
What we as thinking peoples choose to do with our lives is dictated by circumstance as much as it is by our choices, but deciding to act upon the world is the most important single piece of agency which we will exercise throughout. It has been said before, but the brave, the empathetic, the wise, and the just need only sit by to ensure extinction. Rest, yes, but do not rest in peace until there are no other options.
In closing my account and compendium of the events, personalities, and surrounding histories of Detrot in the years after the Cutie-Mark Crusades, I remind you all that though Princesses watch us by day and persons like the Detective by night, our world tilts on a fulcrum with life on one end and death on the other. It was not only heroes that saved Equestria. Those paragons could not have stood without their armies; their parents raising them with kindness, their friends stalwartly beside them, their allies giving them strength. It is the duty of those of us who protect this world to give weight to life.
Furthermore, if what accounts I’ve been able to collate are to be believed then in the vastness of space, we are not alone in our struggles. Be they gods or something more, when we find ourselves in the bleakest of times we can look up and call out. We must not forget, in all our future travails that we are children of grand potential destiny.
We are the ones who will become starlight.
- The Scholar
Fin
Well, ladies, gentlecolts, and all points between.
That was my story. I started Starlight Over Detrot to learn to write and I think I've done that fairly well. I'm not a great writer, but I believe I'm ready to try a book, now.
When CEO_Kasen and I set out to write this story all those years ago, we had no idea it would stretch to a beast of this length. The 'Cosmic Horror' aspect came in later than not. The original story was a simple little murder mystery about a pony detective and a murdered mare. Length was not the goal.
I could not have done this without the help of my magnificent editors. If I'm honest, the only reason this is remotely legible is because they put time, thought, and their considerable skills into making it something you'd want to read rather than wipe with. One day, I'll figure out how commas work.
To :
Reese - The person who keeps the words in order. They're a process driven mind if ever there was one and when my prose got a little too purple they've always been the one who grounded me. They are master of grammatical structure and sensical statements. The chapters would not fly without them.
Sigawesome - An ingenious writer in their own right, Sigawesome started off putting some of the most hilarious segments of comedic writing I'd ever seen in the comments section, riffing on different aspects of Starlight. They've since become a real friend, keeping me positive and letting me bounce pieces of the story off them. Their suggestions always proved fruitful and their help is eternally appreciated.
Coandco - A clever, capable editor who helped rough out a lot of the more difficult sections of the story and has been faithfully present for years, catching things I missed at every turn.
CEO_Kasen - My co-writer through the early parts, he's responsible for the tone of Starlight Over Detrot and some of its best jokes. Slip Stitch was mostly his creation and the entire concept for the story came out of a protracted play-session of L.A. Noir where he binge-watched My Little Pony at the same time. A sweet, nerdy, adorable guy who I treasure whenever I'm around him.
Silent Whisper - Smart little love-bug who managed to actually *guess* the ending with only the lightest touch. They've been helpful insofar as propping me up when I was terrified a chapter was just plain awful. They've pre-read and given advice that's kept my spirit together through the horrors of 2020 and 2021. I am grateful to them for their kindness.
CG - A cute, sometimes demented meme-machine whose suggestions and ideas actually propelled a fair bit of the later acts.
The Starlight Over Detrot Discord channel - You people keep me going. Bless the lot of you.
There are too many more to name. My mother, who I bounced ideas off of. My father, who told me I could. My old theater teacher who told me to write, write, write. The commenters, who made me believe this was doable and gave such amazing feedback.
Thank you.
All of you.
Since I have been asked many times and if you read this far, you might actually read this bit -
Starlight Over Detrot, all of its characters, all of its ideas, all of the concepts herein are public domain. Use, abuse, amuse. You can do what you like with them. No need to ask. It's all out there. If you wanna turn this into a book series and get rich, knock yourself out. I didn't write this to make money, even if the donations I got sometimes helped immensely.
For my part, I am taking a short break, then I will be back at it. I may or may not write one more chapter with a 'flash forward' a few years in the future for additional closure. I've been told that would be 'gilding the lily' by some people. I have ideas for a few more events, but none of it will really alter the shape of things.
What I do want to say is that I am not done. I am going to keep writing. I am going to keep churning out words. I've got an idea for a supernatural romance novel, a sci-fi epic, a couple adventure stories, and a comedic play set in the Victorian era.
Tips are welcome, particularly this year with Covid making everything difficult.
My Paypal is : tailstalker@hotmail.com
Our long-lived and very active Discord channel is at : https://discord.gg/bSpmdS3FVs
Come join the conversation.
Yours and ever-grateful,
- Chessie
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Here we are at last at the conclusion after all this time, truly a bittersweet moment. Good to see everyone's in a good(ish(relatively)) place, and we finally find out that Lim was The Scholar. Looking forward to your future works!
(applauds furiously) Bravissimo.
It's.... its over.
While I was hoping hardy was going to recover on the farm, I honestly think this is better. Hardy needs to be in his city to recover.
This made me smile
Just surprised you got caught
Part of me feels like there's something deeper here that I'm missing because I was to out of it when I read her chapters. So I'll save the speculation for my second read through.
That's because when you run yourself to death you either literally die or you become useless for an extended period of time.
Hardy dies or gets sick its only going to last an hour or so.
HA! 🤣 omg. I can't wait for blue to read that! His head cannon is that hardy would become the alicorn of justice and alcohol I think? I'm sure he'll say it
Ahh did I really not grab the choice with how perfect you think your morals might be they don't fit everybody?
That mixes with this is BRILLIANT.
I really do mean that. As fucked up as it sounds, I would happily live there because choice is honestly accepted.
For me it's like sitting in a quiet coffee house. Truly comforting
It's takes a community to thrive. Something else I believe in.
Uh huh. And I'll learn how to use caps and random symbols that everybody else uses.
Lol, why, how, did that get down here.
I love how she blew up at the books in the cave. And that she did indeed include grumpy detective
I love you chessie, so much (platonically)
You are an amazing writer and it has been fun watching this story come to life and getting to comment and speculate.
Thank you for inviting me to your discord channel and letting me hang out with a bunch of other, wonderful people.
I look forward to your next story :)
Thank you.
Thank you for so much content in the last years.
Thank you for keeping the lights on.
I want to say I've been reading this from the start but thatd be a lie. I cant recall exactly when I started but I can say it was somewhere in the beginning. This was the fifth story I added to my favorites list. I have looked forward to reading each chapter that has been released with an almost ravenous eagerness. Thank Chessie for a awesome story and a thankyou to all who helped you.
All at once? Sounds like another epic worth reading. You have certainly reached your goal with learning to write and I'm certainly going to miss this story.
10743979
Well, I have been told a re-read from the beginning apparently reveals many 'hidden layers'. I hid clues as to the eventual outcomes in almost every chapter.
-Chessie
Time to play out to Flank Sinatra.
I did it my way,
Fly me to the moon,
Singing in the rain.
I never was much good at getting orders right.
Wish you well in all your endeavours, its been a Beast of a Ride.
CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CLEAN UP CREW, YAAAY
(standing ovation) Seems hideously inadequate, but there you are. One helluva ride, but, like Hardy, you've more than earned a break. Looking forward to whatever you come up with next.
I am in that weird place where I feel I came to a fic too late, and yet also came to it at just the right time. I believe I started just as Act III began, though to be honest, my memory is a bit murky in that regard. Not that it matters; the experience was all the same.
Now here we are, at the end of things, another epic - I mean that in the literal literary sense - out of the way. Fitting, I suppose, considering what's to follow the show, the fandom, things in general, life in general.
I do remember starting, though, tentatively - the length then was closer to 1.3 million, so while 1.5 million is not much of a jump, it still was a lengthy endeavor. Having now read all those words and finished today, I believe it's safe to say that the story sold itself and outdid its own expectations. By that, I mean that it's been a good story, through and through, and honestly, you should feel proud of what you've accomplished.
And yet, it still ended. It's sad, of course. One doesn't like to close the book on the things one enjoys, and perhaps ideally the story could keep going, keep exploring its own implications. But then, as you said, that might be gilding the lily, and at any rate, the story told what it needed to tell. So it ends.
I've been reading a lot of poetry (if you'll permit the sudden change in topic), because it's good to keep your palette fresh and exciting. The ending two verses from one poem has always stuck with me, and when it comes to reading and finishing a particularly good story - always with that twinge of bitterness that comes with it ending despite your best efforts not to let it - I believe it's a rather fitting take.
That's the nice thing about stories. They don't leave us. Rather, they lead us on, and tell us it's okay to come back to them, if only to talk to old friends.
Thank you for this.
This was one hell of a ride. I will very much miss the updates, but I’m glad to have experienced it. Thank you.
I’d very much like a flash-forward chapter – I think, given the sheer length of the fic (and not just in word count), another brief look at how the world exists after the main events would is perfectly appropriate. No rush, though, of course.
Woohoo! Finally done!
And what a 'done' it is. This goes beyond epic, and I think you reached your goal of learning to write. This was one of the very, very few stories I favourited before completion. I thoroughly look forward to seeing some non pony books out of you.
All the best! (and a well deserved break)
"it in mine as well :"
"it in mine as well:"?
"I remind you all that though Princesses watch us by day and persons like the Detective by night"
...Kind of wonder what Luna made of that phrasing. :D
"stood without their armies; their parents raising"
"stood without their armies: their parents raising"?
"friends stalwartly beside him, their allies"
"friends stalwartly beside them, their allies"?
"to be believed then in the vastness"
"to be believed, then in the vastness"?
"our future travails that we are"
"our future travails, that we are"?
"We are the ones who will become starlight."
Interesting; I wonder what the definite article meant there?
Good luck with that book! :D
Oh, now I'm curious: what was the original-in-metatime solution to the murder mystery?
"One day, I'll figure out how commas work."
:D
Hm. Aye, I'm not sure about the flash-forward chapter. The story does have to end at some point, after all, and unless I'm forgetting something, I think the level of closure we have now is pretty good. Not everything is touched on and wrapped up, sure, but "everything" there is pretty big, and Hardy went and spoilt a nice trivial solution of "Yeah, everybody's dead" by saving the world. :D
Might not necessarily be gilding the lily, depending on just what the content is, but I think it certainly could be.
Well, up to you; I expect the worst it could reasonably be expected to be would still be pretty good. :)
And I mentioned the book above, but good luck with your writing in general. :)
Also, even if I'm still not in there, I hope things in the Discord channel continue to go well!
And did you mean to have a blank author's note at the end, there? I'm guessing either that text that was the author's note was supposed to be in there instead of part of the chapter proper, or the blank author's note box wasn't supposed to be there at all?
And thank you for writing. :)
Hardy took the neutral option, I see. I find myself still curious about Zefu and NMM, considering their prior negotiations for corporeal bodies. I guess that just leaves room for headcanons though, and that 'sequel hook ' with Swift and Limerence's statements sure jogs the imagination on that.
The way this ended is one of the better ways to take things, I'd say. Everyone will have their headcanon on how it all goes: What do Swift and Limerence do now? What role do the gangs have in the city going forward? Will Scarlet's new legs have a vibrate function?
Everyone just...taking a break, is more of the status quo, but it's more of what everyone likes, without going too far. A real shame we don't have a beach episode now, though. Outside of the mystery, everyone just being friends with the other is what I figure a lot of us truly enjoy about this story. Then again, the cast is huge so the better plot might be "everyone goes to the lake outside the city to spend a day" - some characters are just intrinsically tied to the city to go too far.
But you made Bones into Sans from undertale. With your multiverse hintings they may very well be the "same character" archetype connected across space and time. Certainly would take a lesser wild theory to connect the dots, at least. You've opened this door.
And now that it's all officially over, I believe Date Night needs rewriting. I'll just put it on top of that little hill of other prior projects I need to get done, oof.
Wow. This fic ending makes me feel do many emotions. It is my opinion that there is no more lovingly crafted story on this site and that there are maybe few fanfictions from any genre that could do what this one has done.
As a detective story I would put this work up there with Rober Crais, David Baldacci, and Tom Connolly.
Thank you for writing this.
So I actually teared up and had to take a moment here, thank you... your friendship means the world to me, Chessie, and I'm excited to read what else you write. Thanks for the amazing ride that is Starlight Over Detrot. Now, time to reread for what is the... hm. Am I on the 7th time or 8th?
I really don’t have much to say except:
Thank you for this story. It has been a wonderfully strange and emotional ride.
This is it. Thank you for this story. As I finish this I feel grief. I grieve the fact that I can no longer look forward to another chapter of this story. No matter if you continue this in another story it will never be the same. Starlight over Detrot is over. I have been on this site for 7 years now, and your story has been one of the prime reasons I stuck around. Thank you.
Thank you for this increadible story. Seeing such a tale end is a bittersweet moment but well worth it.
I stepped in later than most I feel. But reading through, each chapter left me wanting so much more.
I had not reservations it wasn't a superb ride, even as it finished. I sit here writing, a bit of tears, a smile, and a happy note for things.
I loved this story. It's a monster in all the good ways.
And I so very thank you for its writing. The time, the energy, and the passion spent here. I thank you for all work you shared with so many.
Pantheons bless ya, and have a wonderful however long it is.
Here we are at the end.
I said I’d write something, and I meant it, but I’m just sort of speechless now. A quote comes to mind, though, so I’ll let another speak for what I struggle to say.
Cast aside the illusion there is a beginning and end to a story. The story has no beginning. And it has no end. All there is, is a performance of people connecting, living, influencing each other, and departing.
It’s a bittersweet feeling when a story ends, but it’s only bitter because you aren’t a part of it anymore. It only ends for you. The sweet part is knowing it’s still going on, somewhere.
Thank you for this story. I won’t forget it.
That's an awful big window you left open, Chessie.
Be careful, more stories might fly in and land on your desk until you feed them a few chapters. Hard Boiled is an Archetype, they go places, end up with Names, change the world by being themselves.
Just make sure he gets plenty of bagels wherever you take him and the gang.
There is not exactly a lot of stories that are of high quality on any fan fiction type site, and when you dig through the piles of mental vomit people spew out to fufill silly, horny wish fullfillment type crap and stumble on an actual diamond it feels amazing. This is one of those. You brought to life a load of interesting characters, gave them depth, made me care about them and then sent them off on an adventure that kept me guessing.
Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to get this out to us. The many nights I got home, tired and depressed from work and life really was made better by the excitement and eagerness to read a new chapter.
Now that you've finished this, I have to revise my Top 5 list again.
I wish you the best with your book, and I'd happily be the first to pay for the privilege to read it when its out.
10744085
well she does say that one day she will learn how to use a comma.
surprised the editors missed it though
10744723
Oh, the Scholar's Notes generally went in separately, bypassing us, that one included, hence why for those I continued to post error-spotting in the comments even after joining the team.
Congratulations on completing this epic. This was a complex beast, yet you landed it beautifully. Best wishes for your break and future writings!
I wish to say, Thank you, your work was one of the reasons i got into this fandom and to see it completed is a great achievement. I sit back in wonder at the journey of this fic, the riots, the forest fires, turmoil, and general crappiness of life. this story helped me in so many ways so thank you and your team. May this be only the beginning of a great and wonderous journey for you and those you love Godspeed
And it is done. Great fic that I've managed to catch on during the final home stretch of its writing. That was one hell of a journey to read and await every next chapter that came. Thank you for writing this story lad.
Been reading this story sense chapter..i think 35 came out. I have to say this has been one of the best stories of any caliber i have read. Im happy to have read the whole thing! Beautiful work! cant wait to see what you do next!
This story is an absolute gem; thank you so much for taking on the time to write it. It’s definitely one of the best books I have ever read, and exceeds most works from professional novelists. Keep doing what you’re doing!
I bloodly well called it! Lim be the scholar. With the closing of one door a ton more are waiting to be opened. I know me and my sister have been bouncing ideas for a story taking place during the start of the Cutie mark Crusades, we might get it started to be written soon with this finished. Looking forward to the side stories to come.
Bravo! You all have our deepest heartfelt applause and thanks for spinning such a fascinating Epic. Make no mistake, for what you have penned is an Epic indeed.
Thank you, for taking us on this venture as the tale was spun. I do not know many who would go to such lengths to tell a story such as this at such lengths. So, from all whom have read this tale as it was unfolding, for those who will read it yet, and those whom may never have had the chance to see it end, thank you.
I joined this site in October of 2014. One of the first fics I found was Starlight and I was immediately hooked. The characters, the setting, the conflicts they encountered, everything sucked me in and made me feel like these were living breathing people that I could reach out and touch. I've laughed, I've cried, I've been on the edge of my seat rooting for our heroes and now that it's over....... I feel like I'm losing a piece of myself. Seeing a new chapter release was always the highlight of my day and never failed to put a smile on my face seeing what they would do next. From 2014 to now there hasn't been a day I haven't thought about this world or these characters. This is a story that truly touched me beyond words and I will never forget it. I cant thank Chessie, the editors, the community, and the characters for being there for me when I needed them most. It hurts to see the story end knowing I might not see these characters again.....but I love the journey we took together and know they got the ending they deserved. What more can I ask for?
Whew. *applauds*
Congrats on finishing this story. It's been a pretty crazy ride, but always an interesting one, and while I haven't been a really active reader on this site in quite a while, I have come back time and again just to see how this story would end.
I wish you all the best in your future writing endeavors and hope to be able to check them out someday.
I really enjoyed Starlight Over Detrot, and can't believe it's almost 1.5 million words! I do hope that Hard Boiled gets the rest he deserves before picking himself back up and continuing to dispense Justice across the length and breadth of Equestria.
I'm not gonna cry. Not gonna cry. Not gonna cry!
Dammit!
Absolute quality, through and through. Absolutely legendary. Thank you, Chessie for all your hard work and dedication in writing out this monster of a tale.
Here's looking at you, kid.
Y'know, I'm honestly a little broken up over this. I've put nine years of my life into reading this story, and now it's done. I'm not sure what to do now.
Thank you so much for writing this story, and completing it. Definitely an accomplishment to be proud of.
I also want to regonize all of the additional prereaders and editors... This story clearly reflects the effort put in to make it readable and it is so very much appreciated. Just one question... When can I get a signed hardback copy?
This was a wonder read from start to finish. After catching up, it was a "tad" annoying having to wait for the next chapter, but the waiting was well worth it because each chapter was greater than the last. Many congratulations on finishing, hopefully you're proud of this in the end. Like Hard Boiled, make sure to take a good rest and enjoy this success.
Not going to lie, I'm a bit sad this is finished yet there are only two things left to do now.
Look forward to your next work and...
begin reading this again from the start.
10746724
I do hear the re-read is somehow an even better experience. Dunno.
-Chessie
10746214
I'm working on a new story right now. Join the Discord and I promise there will be more, soon.
-Chessie
A beautiful, gentle ending
I'm sad to see it end, but it's been a wonderful story from start to finish and I've enjoyed every bit of it, even down to the horror that you manage to evoke. I'm so glad I stumbled across this a couple years ago, and always waited eagerly for each update. You're a great writer and I look forward to seeing what other stories you'll write!
Wow, what the heck can I say about this story? I've been reading it since before I even had an account on this site, when the first chapter dropped all the way back in 2012. And goddamn what a story. My only regret is that I didn't comment more back then. I must say, I'm glad to see it was actually finished, and yet I am deeply saddened to see go. I loved the first two arcs of this story. It lost me just a bit around the griffon apartment building, but not enough that I stopped reading or didn't thoroughly enjoy the rest.
I honestly don't know what else to say, I love this setting. these characters, and this adventure they went on so thoroughly I can hardly put it into words. They've been a stalwart companion throughout a major part of my life, and it's likely impacted me in ways I can't even fathom.
This is to me, a paradigm of what fanfiction can and should be. Something truly visionary and transformative of the original IP. You've done a real good thing here Chessie, well done.
this was an excellent story, I only found out about this story a week ir so ago and listened to it basically all my waking hours until it was finished. my only criticisms are that the ending felt a little like a shot for shot remake of the final arc of project horizons and that scarlet petals and hard boiled romantic relationship kinda came out of nowhere
Man...it's crazy, thinking about it, just how long this story's been going on. I wasn't even here for the beginning of it, either. I stumbled into this early part of Act 2, a little over seven years ago, while working my dead-end job in a projection booth, trying to get my life on track and reading ponyfic just to pass the time. Now here we are and, world being on fire aside, I'm happy to be in a better place since then. Sucks having one less constant in my life now that this story's over, though, but that's how things work sometimes. I'll need to set aside some time someday to give this a new readthrough and spot the clues now that I know how everything is.
Great story, Chessie. You and Kasen wove an epic tale. I'm looking forward to what you come up with next.
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You can only do so 'grand' an adventure before it starts to feel like a 'shot for shot' of something. I did avoid a Kaiju fight.
-Chessie
10748574
What was the fight between taxi and miss queen dragon then?
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Kaiju fights happen between Kaiju. It's a rule. You can fight a kaiju, but so long as you don't have two of them fighting it doesn't count.
-Chessie