Starlight Over Detrot
Act 2, Chapter 18: Next of Kin
We are all told that everypony is eventually gifted with one extraordinary talent, one skill or ability that makes them unique and special, and that everypony will find this talent in the course of their lives.
It sits among the comforting schoolroom lies told to our foals, yet remains mostly true; while the expanding pony population may put stretch marks on the word 'unique,' ponies are nonetheless all possessed of their Special Talents, something to which one may cling no matter how vast and terrifying the world may seem. But while you are guaranteed a talent, you are not guaranteed that your talent will always be useful. And in many ways, having a useless or obsolete talent is worse than having a blank flank.
In the technologically stagnant years of Celestia's solo reign, this wasn't as substantial an issue. The economy crept along at a slow enough pace to avoid completely trampling older talents underhoof. When the first weather factories started cropping up, heavily automating the otherwise painstaking process of rainbow manufacture and snow construction, those pegasi who only knew how to make weather by hoof were phased out relatively nontraumatically over generations.
But now, with change occurring at a breakneck pace, some ponies are left out in the cold before their time is up. Pity the Equestrian small farmer; with increasing automation, particularly the development of the ClusterBucker 11000X, most of the family farms were driven out of business, especially if they relied on old-fashioned tree-bucking or other manual forms of labor. Likewise, the miners of Detrot lost their place to a gem shortage and competing Diamond Dog labor.
Some of those outpaced by changing reality are able to redefine their talents or businesses to keep them relevant. Some small farmers or brewers went from providing staple crops to providing specialty products 'crafted with care and integrity' until they had created their own sustaining market. Some of the displaced miners redefined themselves and their talents as things like "Finding Gems Amidst Dirt" and became talent agents.
But not all had the drive, connections, or sheer-bloody minded madness needed to overcome their own talents, and there is little in the world to offer comfort to a pony whose talent has been utterly lost to changing tides.
--The Scholar
I lay on my back, one hoof draped across my belly, while Swift dropped a piece of peanut sauce-smeared bread on my face and tried to get me to respond for the ninth time in twenty minutes.
What else was I supposed to do? The universe was persistently screwing with me.
I turned my head to look at the letter, still laying on the carpet where I’d left it when I staggered over to Lily’s cot, unwilling to deal with the world from an upright position. The paper still stubbornly refused to conveniently cease to exist. I was tempted to get a blow-torch and force the issue.
Limerence was sitting in the corner, a look of deep consideration on his thin face while Taxi was sifting through her saddlebags for the third time. She’d already emptied two of her ‘emergency’ flasks and I was worried that, in a minute, she’d break out the little supply of Zap leaves I knew she kept for really serious situations. Precious must have gone downstairs to talk to a customer, though I didn’t hear him depart. For a showpony, he’s light on his hooves.
Lily, meanwhile, sat on the edge of the cot as far from my hooves as she could get, once more covered from head to hoof in her blankets. Her curly red tail kept tickling my fetlocks as she nervously flicked it back and forth like a frightened cat.
There we lay for long minutes, trying to make sense of a development too demented to fit comfortably into our understanding of the cosmos. I think I’d have been happy to sit there for several hours in that condition, had Limerence not risen to his hooves in a decisive manner.
“Detective,” Limerence began. “I find myself in the disconcerting position of not knowing precisely what to do next. I am coming to understand your decision making process somewhat, particularly in light of recent events. I do not believe any sane pony could live like you do, but I believe it may be the primary reason you are still alive. So I must ask you, much to my discomfort, what our next course of action is?”
“How in the flip should I know?” I grunted, turning onto my side so I could face the wall. I licked some peanut sauce off my nose and shut my eyes. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to deal with crazy future-seeing fillies and ponies with voices in their heads. There were already far too many of those in my little group of friends.
Limerence wouldn’t let it be. “If what you've told me about your exploits so far is accurate, you are dangerously competent when faced with cosmic nonsense. This is nonsense in its purest form. I will not let you turn into a lump when there are things we must do, Detective. Now get up before Miss Taxi and I...” he peered at Taxi, who was laying on her back licking the last few drops from a third flask of something that smelled strongly of petrol. “...before I get you up!”
I grumbled and pushed myself over with one hoof on the wall to lay on my back, my coat spreading out under me. “Lim, I don’t even know where to begin. That letter is just not possible.”
“I agree that it raises concerning questions, but we cannot allow those questions to paralyze us! Our objectives have not changed!” he growled, then pointed at Lily, who shrank away from the librarian, hiding as much of herself as she could under the enormous comforter. “We must get into that diary and we must still acquire Chief Jade’s daughter; to that end, you will provide this girl information in exchange for answers.”
Pushing myself up on my elbows, I looked down at Lily.
She was nosing her way out of the blanket and caught my eye. I held her gaze for several long seconds. She seemed so young. Younger even than Swift. Younger than anypony I’d met from Detrot in many, many years.
That letter was all she had of her sister.
Ruby’s corpse was still at the morgue and Stitch was likely to keep it a few more weeks to wait for a claimant. Sending the poor child down there, by herself, to get her sister’s body seemed a cruel way to go about things, particularly since Stitch had been known to throw one of his death parties to ‘celebrate the deceased’s life’ when one of his clients' families showed up in person.
She deserved to know something, but what could I tell her? So much of what’d gone on was outside of what a sane pony was likely to believe could happen, and now there was that letter sitting on the carpet like an especially irrational bit of dog poop.
Limerence was waiting for an answer, his spectacles almost falling off the end of his nose as he scowled down at me. I looked up at him, then at the rest of my friends.
"Can you give us a few minutes?" I asked.
Lim looked like he was concocting an objection, but Taxi, bless her, knew the score. She rose unsteadily to her hooves and pointed towards the door. "You want your 'objectives', then get out and let him do the job," she grunted. The librarian opened his muzzle for a second, then shut it. Fighting me was one thing. Fighting Taxi, a pony substantially more immune to logic than I even when not drunk and belligerent, was something else entirely. Swift had already wisely gotten to her hooves and made for the door.
****
I shut the door behind them and stood for several seconds, collecting my thoughts.
“Detective Boiled?” Lily whispered. “Is… my sister dead?”
The question caught me quite off guard, but anypony with half a brain should have been able to put it together, I suppose.
My shoulders sagged under a burden hanging on joints that felt older this week than they had the last. I listened to my heart and could have sworn it was trying to make some kind of little tune. Maybe Gale was trying to comfort his despondent caretaker? Who knows?
Moving over beside Lily, I shifted the blankets until I found her hoof, then took it between two of mine.
“Miss, I have been pursuing a group of very bad… beings… during the last month. I don’t know their aims yet, but it was your sister… your brave sister... who put me onto them.” I explained in as soothing a voice as I could manage.
“So my sister’s… okay?” she asked, her full, beautiful mouth quivering with barely controlled emotion.
I inhaled, but still felt out of breath as I replied. “No. No, she’s not.”
Lily’s eyes slid closed and the tears began to fall. She didn’t whimper or moan or sob. She just cried, like somepony who’d known the answer to their terrible question before it’d been asked. How could she not? An insane letter, her sister vanished, a monstrous city, and a Police Chief stuffing her away in the safest hole in the city? Only a fool wouldn’t have suspected. She only needed confirmation and I’d given that to her.
She took her hoof from mine and hid it under the blankets again as she leaned back against the wall. The covers fell across half of her face, hiding her expression.
“Dammit Ruby…” she muttered as more tears ran down her chin. “You and your ‘big plans...'”
It wasn’t the response I expected. Most grieving family go straight for denial. Anger tends to lend itself to those who’ve had some time to come to grips with what’s happened. Of course, she’d been alone with her thoughts for days if what Precious said was true. Alone with that letter. It’d been read no less than a hundred times. The paper was heavily creased.
I rose to my hooves and gently pushed the blanket back from Lily’s face. She stared up at me out of wet eyes.
“How?” she asked, breathily.
I decided there wasn't likely to be any better time to tell her. It was that or risk her refusal to help us until I did. I didn't know precisely how much of a time-frame we were on, but 'not a long one' was probably the best answer.
She deserved to know.
"She fell...from a rooftop. She was killed."
"M-murdered?"
I slowly nodded.
"Do you know wh-who..." her voice faltered and she covered her lips with her hoof.
"I've been hunting them. I will find them," I answered, with as much certainty as I could muster.
Lily lowered her head and breathed a faint sigh. I lifted myself onto the cot and she laid her head on my chest.
We shared the sad silence of the tiny hostel for a few minutes. Rain had begun to beat against the windows. Nothing new there, but no amount of water could wipe away the deeply ingrained grief of my city. A girl dies and her sister is left to the unkind mercies of the city that killed her.
I didn’t know what I could say, and to say nothing seemed unkind, but Lily wasn’t demanding anything as she lay there against me. It felt odd, holding this child I’d just met, the news of her sister’s death fresh on the air and the scent of her mane filling my nose.
I couldn’t have smelled good. When had I showered last? Maybe before the diamond dog mine? I couldn’t remember.
She didn’t seem to mind.
I held her and listened to her ragged breathing. Her tears soaked into my fur and the rain hammered on the glass outside. The room was cool, but it’d been forever ago the last time I held somepony in a calm moment. Somewhere, Juniper was sniggering his dead ass off.
After what I’m fairly sure was a period of time adequate to leave the others wondering just what we were getting up to, Lily gently tugged on my coat with a little telekinesis and I raised my foreleg so she could straighten up. Pulling her blankets away from her head, she reached over to the night table and opened the drawer. Levitating a comb out of it, she began to groom her red mane, pulling days worth of snarl out of the thick curls. It was a robotic sort of action, but one I’d seen many victims of violence perform. It signaled a sort of acceptance of what had happened and a pony needing to get back to who they really were underneath.
It was also temporary, but could be useful if one were willing to take the time it offered. Damn me for a wretch, but I needed that time.
“Lily…” I murmured.
“Yes, Detective?” She didn’t look at me, but was instead staring fixedly at the wall as she replied.
“How do I open your sister’s diary?” I asked.
That brought her head around with a sharp jerk. “You...have it? Seriously?!”
“Didn’t... the letter say I would?”
“That letter sounded like it was written by somepony out of their mind! Which, considering my sister and her crazy ideas about hitting it big in Detrot, might not have been all that far from the truth!” She dropped the comb onto the bedspread and faced me, angrily. “I came here to find my sister, and she’s dead, so I’m taking her body and I’m going home. Got me? I don’t care about this awful city! I just want out of here!”
Her voice was almost at a shriek now and I doubted there was any way Precious hadn’t heard her. Still, he was savvy in the ways of police work. He’d keep his peace, unless he thought I was hurting her.
I reached into the inner pocket of my coat and produced the book.
Her eyes went to the cover and she backed away, almost to the other edge of the bed. I held it out to her.
“Lily...your sister died for whatever is in this book. She died for it, do you understand? Someone murdered Ruby for what she knew. If it’s that big-” I swallowed a pang of conscience at what I was about to say. “-do you think they won’t come after you?”
Another kind of fear replaced the momentary panic. This one was deeper, more refined; a terror bred of inevitability and the sort of sickening realization that comes immediately after the doctor walks into the room looking professionally regretful.
Of course, I had no proof the monsters behind Ruby’s death would go after her family, but who knew who had read that letter? They might have had her family watched on principle; if I’d been the ones who lost the diary for a second time, I know I would.
Lily was shaking, her entire body rocking back and forth on the bed.
“I’m going to find these beings. I will find them and I will make sure they go into the deepest pit in Equestria. One they’ll never climb out of. You hear me?”
Her eyes twitched in the direction of my face, but were still a little blank, staring into some nightmare all her own. I rose to my hooves, deciding to leave her be, for a moment. As I crossed to the door, I felt a firm grip take hold of me. I stumbled, catching myself on the chair and peering back at my backside.
A gleam of dark blue magic was wrapped around the root of my tail. Lily was still watching the far wall. The rest of her didn’t move, but her lips did.
“Detective… do you promise, if you find out who killed my sister, that you’ll make sure they get everything they deserve?” she whispered.
I blinked at her. “I’ll do what’s right. I’ll do what’s just. It’s my talent.”
“Will you kill them?”
The question hung like a cold draft of reality in the warm air of the small room. It was the sort of question most ponies don’t think to ask. It was, assuredly, not the sort I’d ever been asked by a young girl barely out of her teen years and grieving over her dead sister.
A month ago, I’d have just said ‘no.' I wasn’t an assassin or a hitpony. I had been a cop then, and I was still a cop when that question was asked. My badge felt heavy against my breast.
Something had changed, though. Something elemental. I was no longer the red-tape-wearing lackey of the state. A cop must serve. A cop must protect. Even if I thought they would leave me and Swift and all those relying on me be, walking away from my investigations was no longer an option.
This is it, Hardy. You know if you do this, there’s no going back. Juniper murmured in a spot somewhere above my left ear.
“If that’s what it takes to end this and make sure this city is safe.”
It was done.
Lily’s furrowed brow relaxed a little and she pushed her blanket away from her ears.
“I… think, Detective, that… that it’s time you told me what’s happened to my sister.”
****
I might have edited the story for content or lied or possibly omitted some of my more significant wrongdoings. She was just a girl after all. A child, really, and not a child of Detrot. I’d done more than a few somewhat reprehensible things during the last month. Most of the time I wasn’t unconscious was, in fact, spent doing somewhat reprehensible things.
Nopony really needed a story like mine laid on them so soon after hearing confirmation of her sister’s death, but she just sat there and listened as I spilled the tale from the first moment when I set foot in Detrot Police Department and Jade had saddled me with Swift to the death of Cosmo and beyond. She’d stopped me there, long enough to take a look at my heart plug, then returned to her seat.
She asked few questions, and only those for clarification. I even got a tiny smile out of her as I described my odd encounters with Stella and Princess Luna’s spies. It vanished as quickly as it'd come.
Mostly, she just listened. Her lips would move over certain parts and her eyes narrowed when I described what we’d done to Bari, though she didn’t make any particular comment on it.
I wasn’t watching the clock, but at some point about halfway through the story, there was a knock on the door. It was Precious asking us if we’d like some refreshments. I hadn’t realized just how thirsty I was after talking for so long and soon had a nice, chilled glass of orange juice with a dash of something a little stronger in it balanced between my hooves. For the girl, he brought a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Not long after, I heard the first guitar chords of what turned into an impromptu show, no doubt to keep my companions entertained. It felt good, being back at the Burning Love.
“-that was… let me see... that was yesterday. Celestia save me, it feels like a week ago.” I shook my head and wiggled the straw on my drink around to my muzzle, taking a quick draw. “After Jade let us go, we went through the information we have on the Lunar Passage. When I say ‘we,' I guess I mean Limerence. He had slides and everything. The Church is a weird bunch, let me just say.”
Lily’s nose twitched and she nodded. “Then you came to see me, right?”
“Yeah, precisely.”
The girl was on the edge of her cot, and now slid onto her side, drawing her legs up beside her. She looked at the floor as the tune coming up through the pipes reached a crescendo. “You have some interesting friends, Detective.”
I laughed, feeling the weight of days worth of secrets finally shared. Granted, I’d shared them with a pony only two thirds my age, but it felt good to have them out.
“I promise, Swift’s smarter than she sounds and good to have in a scrum; it's just that her decision making lends itself to the noble more often than the intelligent. Lim’s a… I don’t know. I don’t have a proper handle on him yet. He seems like such a prick most of the time, but then he’ll go and do something that totally surprises you. Taxi’s been there since I was a kid. Just always there. She’s the best friend you could ask for, so long as you don’t mind a concussion now and then as part of the deal.”
Lily tilted her head and pointed at my chest. “Then there’s you, Detective. You and that… Gale… creature.”
I shook myself and patted my heart plug. “I honestly don’t know what to say about him. He’s there. That or I’m nuts and he’s an especially friendly and consistent hallucination. It doesn’t matter, I guess. He’s not the only character who has been talking to me lately from beyond the grave. If you can believe it, my dead partner’s been making appearances too.”
There was a pause as Lily processed that, then she shrugged her slim shoulders and brushed a bit of her mane that’d fallen into her face behind one ear. “I... suppose anypony who has been through what you have deserves a few quirks,” she replied, sympathetically.
“What about you? I tell you my story, I think you better tell me yours.” I leaned my head in the direction of the floor. “Sounds like they’re going to be awhile. Precious is quite the musician and his shows aren’t to be missed.”
“He comes up here some nights and sings me to sleep.” Lily ducked her face under the edge of her blanket. “If he were younger, I’d think he was sweet on me...”
“Heh, don’t underestimate the old war-horse,” I replied and the filly’s ears colored. “Still, I’d love to hear your story. I suspect that diary is going to open some doors, but I’d like to hear it from your lips if you don’t mind so much.”
“What do you want to know?” she inquired, her horn glowing softly as she raised her mug to her lips.
It was so odd to be having an actual conversation with somebody that didn’t involve the butt of a gun or my hoof on some essential part of their anatomy that I found myself a little out of practice. “I don’t know. Tell me about yourself. What’s your life like, away from here?”
Lily shrugged her thin shoulders and said, “I’m not very interesting, I’m afraid. My whole family is cherry farmers, out of Dodge Junction. At least, everypony except Ruby.”
Tugging the blankets away from her flank, she showed off a gleaming red cherry fruit on her hip. I did my best not to stare. It was a very nice flank.
Dammit, old boy, you keep your dirty mind to yourself! I growled, as my long dormant libido sputtered angrily at me.
Lily continued with a fond smile, “I… love the farm.” The smile faltered a little. “Ruby was always Miss ‘Big Ideas’. She wanted to make fruit beautiful, instead of just making it tasty.”
“I saw her cutie-mark. Three gems with cherry stems, right?” I asked.
“Yes. She...got her cutie-mark when she discovered a spell that would let her bring out the real shine in just about anything. She could make fruit shine...but her first love was gemstones.” Lily raised both hooves, twisting her toe in a small circle for emphasis, “She had a way of picking...just the right stone for whatever she wanted to do…”
“Were you and she close?”
She looked up and to the left, as though thinking precisely how to answer. “We were… different, you know? She was my big sister. You can’t not be close to your big sister, even when she makes you want to strangle her now and then. She used to get me in so much trouble...” Lily giggled a little, then her expression turned quickly sad. “So much trouble.... We got into everything trying to get our cutie-marks. She once tried to shoot me out of a cannon she’d made out of paper mache. We both just ended up covered in soot and confetti.”
I laughed, heartily. “I’ve got a few stories like that. My friend in the other room, Taxi -- the one with the ridiculous mane -- was always up to one nutty thing or another trying to find some way of getting her cutie-mark. She...mmm…” I closed my eyes for a second as an unpleasant memory flashed through my head.
“What is it?” Lily asked.
“Nothing,” I murmured.
“Ponies thinking of ‘nothing’ don’t make a face like someone just shot their puppy.”
I glanced up at her, surprised at the note of compassion in her voice. In spite of the recent death of her sister, in spite of the load I’d put on her shoulders, her face showed only a very genuine concern. Concern for me, no less. It’d been awhile since somepony I wasn’t very personally acquainted with showed that, and this brand didn’t come with bruises and crushed ribs. I found myself, for some reason, a little unsettled by the idea.
I exhaled. “I take it you saw those saddle-bags she wears everywhere?”
“Yes, I did…” She hesitated, then added, “When she sits down, they ride up a little. I thought I saw something on her thighs…”
“Scars. They’re scars.”
Her eyes widened. “Scars? Then...her cutie-marks..?”
“They’re gone. I don’t know how or why. She’s never told anypony what really happened. She used to be a cop, like me. She lost them...well, her discharge papers said ‘Injured in the line of duty’.”
Lily’s ears flattened to her skull. “You...must know something. To lose something like that. I thought cutie-marks couldn’t just be destroyed like that!”
“Yeah, me too. I don’t know much. The story goes, few years ago, she was on assignment, undercover with one of the drug lords in Detrot. Vicious son of a bitch named ‘Skinner.' You can guess why.”
“Good heavens!” Lily exclaimed. “He didn’t really-”
“He did. Took real pleasure in that particular activity, so I hear” I said, grimly, then added as I saw the look of shock in the girl’s eyes. “Trust me, characters like him are not the foulest thing this city has to offer.” I sucked in a breath, shuddering at the memory.
“Anyway, Taxi… I don’t know. It’s been years and she still won’t talk about it. Back then she was still calling herself ‘Sweet Shine’, or at least, something close enough that I don’t remember the difference. What I do know is she was deep cover in Skinner’s organization. Her partner, who was also her handler, vanished. He was this skeevy little colt named Fox Glove. How he got to be a cop, I’ll never know, but Taxi tried to take care of the poor fool despite his dumb tail stumbling over her hooves at every opportunity. She must have let half a dozen collars go just to keep that numbnuts alive. They’d been partners for...maybe two years, by then. Not long, but long enough.”
“He vanished?”
“Thin air, like a ghost.” I clapped my hooves together for the snap noise. “Taxi will only say she got made by Skinner’s organization. ‘Fox Glove’s dead.’ She told me that one night after a few drinks, then clammed up completely. She didn’t even say that to the review board. ‘Fox Glove’s dead. Skinner’s dead.’ That was it.”
Lily’s ears tilted towards me, curiously. “But... how did she... survive?
“Not a clue.” I shook my head as I continued, “One of my mates in the department found her three weeks later, hugging a bottle of scotch in a bar on the east side. Her hips were all bandaged up. Real messy job. I went down there and hauled her to hospital. She told her doctors not to talk to anypony about it and took discharge and an early pension when it was offered by the department. She vanished for a couple of years there.”
The girl’s nose wrinkled. “That sounds...like she maybe went a little crazy...”
“You’re telling me.” I chuckled. “Sweet Shine was always a bit loopy, but she comes back from going what she called ‘walkabout’ calling herself ‘Taxi’ with her mane all done up in that braid. She brought along some goofy fighting styles you do not want to be on the receiving end of, and the zebra rune core of her cab's engine stuffed in a duffle bag. Her entire pension was still sitting in a bank account, so she used it to outfit this absolutely wild ride and became a hack driver. She drives me nowadays.”
Lily’s eyes glinted with interest. “I really wish I had more time to get to know you and your friends, Detective. Ruby was like you. She always had wild stories to tell. She was good at telling stories. She once tricked half the town into thinking she’d had a cousin move in. Even had ‘him’ introduce himself around town a bit. It was just her in a hoodie with a bit of make-up and a simple voice spell, but she fooled darn near everypony.”
I bobbed my chin. “She… managed to hide herself pretty effectively here in Detrot, when it came to it. That’s not a simple thing to do in a city that has this many eyes.”
“I always said her talent would have been as an actress, if she hadn’t been such a good jeweler. That’s her and me. Sun and moon. So different. I couldn’t act my way out of a paper bag,” she mused, biting her lower lip between her teeth in a way I found very fetching for some reason. “Her cutie-mark was this magical discovery and me… I just went out one morning when the cherry trees were blossoming and stood in the branches of my favourite tree, letting the petals fall on my face. I knew then, I never… never wanted to be far from those trees. I knew it in my gut.” She peered towards the rain drenched window and sighed, sadly. “That seems so very far away right now…”
“Maybe less than you think. Once this situation is fixed-” I began, but Lily interrupted me with one hoof on my muzzle.
“Please, don’t.”
I let my reassurances die on my lips as she looked at me with eyes full of grief.
“Ruby is dead.” she said, quietly. “That...can’t be changed. I was hoping I’d come to Detrot and she’d be either happily working herself crazy for some jeweling house or at least...she’d come and apologize to Mom and Dad and they’d apologize to her and maybe she’d...be home for Hearth’s Warming Eve or something…”
“She didn’t leave under good circumstances?”
“No… no, she really didn’t.” Lily used the edge of her blanket to wipe moisture from her eyes, then slid onto her side and crossed her forelegs under her chin. “A few days before harvest season she announced ‘I’m going to Detrot!' She’d run off before on one whacky plan or another, but never… never anything that big or that far. Mom and Dad didn’t take her terribly seriously until she’d booked the tickets and was halfway through packing. Then things got...loud. There was an awful lot of shouting and… some bad stuff was said. Dad didn’t mean any of the stuff about ‘not coming back this time’, but he said it and… I never saw Ruby so mad.”
“Family is still family,” I said. “She loved you. Even at her worst, she was trying to protect you, if that letter is any indication.”
The girl’s nose wrinkled at the glanced down at the letter, which was still laying exactly where I’d dropped it. “That letter.... She wrote that a month ago. More than a month. I recieved it a couple of weeks ago because our mail mare is older than dirt and crazy to boot. How… how did she know it would be you investigating her death?”
Sliding off the bed, I moved just far enough to snatch the paper up in my teeth and return to the comfortable warm spot that’d developed where I was sitting. I scanned the contents of the letter one more time, then passed it back to Lily. “Honestly, there’s so much in that which doesn’t make any sense. I try to interpret that right now, I’m going to go nuts.”
“Do you know who ‘She’ is? Lily kept mentioning somepony who was...controlling her or maybe blackmailing her. And paths? Seeing paths? Maybe like a scrying spell?” Lily pointed to her horn with one toe.
“Magic isn’t my forte, and if I had to go down the list of ponies who fit the list of ‘evil, controlling, and female’, I’d have to include my employer, my driver, and the head of the largest religious organization in the city. That’s just my short list.” I replied, sardonically. “Limerence might know. I’ll be going over it with him, rest assured. What I really need, right now-”
“-is Ruby’s diary opened,” she finished for me. “I was wondering when you’d get to that.”
I lifted the diary off the bed where it’d lain for some minutes. “I should tell you, for the sake of disclosure, that her first letter -- the one I found this book hidden with -- said she didn’t want you to know what her life was like here. You might be better off letting me read this on my own, once it’s open. For the sake of her memory.”
Lily considered that for a bit, then shook her head. “No, I don’t think so, Detective. I’d rather remember my sister like she really was. I could lie to myself and say she was a saint, but I’d always know the truth. Ruby was always trying to keep me safe and ‘preserve my innocence.' I’m not a foal anymore.”
Something in the way she said that made me profoundly sad, but I lifted the book, holding it between my hooves. Its heft was comfortably familiar after all those weeks of carrying it, and I’d almost become inured to the perpetual enigma of those pages. If I’m honest, some part of me didn’t believe I’d ever actually see it opened. A niggling voice of self deprecation had spent the better part of my recent days declaring with cruel certainty I’d be dead long before that particular mystery was solved. It felt good to put it to bed.
Ruby’s sister reached out and rested her hoof on the jeweled cover.
“My sister and her silly gem locks…” Lily muttered, tracing the shape of an especially large sapphire with her toe.
“The most security crazy ponies in the city couldn’t get into this book in any sort of reasonable time,” I commented.
“Ruby lost a piece of her early work to one of our aunts. Glory just snatched it right out of her jewelry box. Awful mare, stealing from a filly,” Lily explained, stroking the lovely stones. “She just claimed it was hers and everypony believed her. Ruby...well, Ruby did not take kindly and the next thing I knew, she got a book on gem-locks out of the library.” A smile crept onto her face once more, and I had the funniest sensation that the entire room had become brighter. “She once even locked the cookie-jar with this funny enchantment so if anypony besides her opened it, it looked empty.”
“No kidding…” I shook myself and raised the book again. “Sorry. I’ve been carrying this thing around so long it feels odd actually opening it. Shouldn’t we go get the others?”
Lily’s green eyes shone as she peered into mine. I felt my heart trying to climb up the back of my throat for a second. She thought for a bit, then shook her head. “Do you mind if it’s just you and me, right now?” She nibbled on her lip, pensively. “I… trust you. I don’t know why. Ruby was never an especially good judge of character, but she wouldn’t send me to somepony she thought might hurt me.”
“Alright. Ready?”
She nodded.
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, clenching the book a bit tighter.
“Ruby Blue.”
I guess I expected some kind of column of light or something descending from the heavens to point out whoever had killed her. That would have been helpful, really. Even a fully interactive psychic adventure novel would have done me.
What I got was a soft hum, followed by a ‘click.'
I opened my eyes and stared down at the book. The cover was slightly ajar.
Lily pulled her hooves away and swept the blankets back around herself.
I pulled the cover open and stared down at the first page.
This is the diary of Ruby Blue : Keep Out!
ponders a bit of the latest chapter...................
wouldn't the machiens actually stagnate food production? less harvesting and more simply that it is unlikely a machine can outperform the magical connections earth ponies have to the earth, plants, and beasts?
take for example Sweet Apple Acres. technically it only has two ponies working on it at any time, yet the farm is flourishing and strong. perhaps it is because the earth ponies of the Apple lineage have considerable might themselves, but it would hint that it would be more logical and effecient to have earth ponies working. perhaps a machine can out-compete the harvesting but nothing outcompetes earth ponies working the soil and fields. a machine cannot simulate that magic. just as no machien can give a pony a proper simulation of pegsus flight or unicorn magic.
The mental image this summons is ... unique.
It would probably include at least a tenth of the entire population of Detrot?
But you told them to open it, you crazy mare!
3803169 I would say it's more likely the machines can do the jobs faster even if they can't do them better ... but most importantly, the upkeep costs for the machines are undoubtedly cheaper than paying the ponies involved. Alternately, imagine the ponies with the food related cutie marks using the machines, and get the best of both worlds, along with freeing the farmers' kids who don't want to be there to do something else.
this is getting more interesting by the chapter.......... entity with foresight, yes.............. not perfect foresight however. unless it turns out that it is unconnected to that warped law firm, they would not need informants............. could it be a struggling of forces, a hidden war between the law firm and whoever this foreseeing entity is?
do like it that you are using terms like paths. logically, there is never one singular future in predicting it. there are variables. and perhaps that random variable is the strange earth pony detective.
seems lamost like we iwll be taking a bit of the backseat from the major story and more looking into what is happening in the present.
3803307 podniers......... only if the machiens do not dampen the earth connection.
3803307
The production rate of plants might actually go down though, requiring more land use. Freeing the farmer's kids might not do any good, unless you hold with the way FoE and some stories work where cutie marks aren't guaranteed to be something. After all, there most likely weren't any raider cutie marks prior to the war.
I usually dump updates onto my Kindle or phone and read them when I get breaks in my schedule, so I'm not usually at my computer where I can leave comments when I finish a chapter.
And that's bad of me because I know how much I love getting comments on my own story.
So, just let me say that a new chapter notification for Starlight is always a bright spot in my day, and sends me off plotting to get time (ASAP) to read it. The story, for all it's length, has never lost my interest for a second. The characters are complex and fun, the settings are rich and intriguing, and pony-noir tone of the whole thing just delights me to no end!
Thanks so much for the many, many hours of enjoyment you've given me with your excellent work!
Well, almost no Swift in this chapter but that's okay. Lily is quite adorable too, in a different kind of way, you just want to hug her and make her feel better even though you know you can't. Poor Lily.
3804557
DON'T WORRY! THERE IS NO NEED FOR LOGIC HERE! *Hugs all characters*
ONWARD!
3804557 Lily is a very delicate balance between ideas. She's this fragile little flower and this farmer at the same time. It's weird writing her, but I like her.
3804148 This post made me smile as wide as a mile. I needed that. Thank you! Really, this story is going to be finished one day and when it is, I'm going to take a week in bed with a bottle of scotch.
3803307 Admitted, the mares of Detrot are a fairly violent bunch. But then, so are the stallions. This noir has equal opportunity villainy.
-Chessie
3804148 Other than the fact that I only read Detrot on my computer, this comment copies my feeling exactly. Keep up the good work you two!
I really should stop underestimating Detrot
's underbelly, how Taxi lost her mark is quite... Detrot.943173 1110460
Going through the first few pages of comments of this, (for... research purposes....) this are unsurprisingly quite accurate. It certainly shows that you had a handle on what you were going to do with this story, which is a good thing.
3805532 You guys still haven't got the whole story there...I'll just say that more is to come on Taxi's history and why she is...well, like she is.
-Chessie
Thank you for the update !
Brilliant as always! I think I told that before but it is not less actual - Starlight is one of the best stories here and in my personal top is one of the best stories ever (and I read a lot of classical science fiction, fantasy and detectives).
As to cliffhanger - you really know how to make them. It makes story better, but it is not less annoying
Well, I hope it will not be too long before we read the diary at last.
iambrony.dget.cc/mlp/gif/181634__pinkie-pie_animated_spoiler-s03e07_wonderbolts-academy.gif
Do another editing pass—there's some silly mistakes and subtler stuff like "Dialogue statement." said the character (where you don't use a period there, you use a comma: pony fandom taught me that one, and I'd been writing novels for years)
Aside from that, whee! I always look forward to new Detrot, and this was no exception. Though it raises more questions than it answers… but the answers will come. In time
3806791
Apologies for the half-assed editing this installment. Most of my otherwise copious spare time was being dumped into studying for my Medical Technologists' certification exam. (Which preliminary results say I passed, so as it turned out, I Was Prepared For It, woohoo! )
You can anticipate a return to the usual levels of coherency in the next chapter - by which I mean the majority of the incoherency will result from the appearance of the plot and not word order and syntax.
--CEO Kasen
3806791 *shameface*
Your sad little author is still in the process of learning stuff like that. Unfortunately, I rely muchly on the skills of Kasen. I worry what will happen when it comes to writing an actual BOOK.
-Chessie
I love how this story roils in swirling masses of the sinister, destructive and plain old evil, but here, two characters sit together on a bed, both there because of the foulness that plagues the city, yet its one of the most beautifully simple and heartwarming scenes ever.
Hypen's in the wrong place, it should be "sheer bloody-minded madness"
3809225 I know it's a tiny thing, but I like that our readers will correct us on stuff. It shows you guys care.
-Chessie
Wow another beautiful chapter!
I like the little info to Taxis backstory it helps feed us but still leaves us hungry for more
I really like Lily, she adorable but also sad at the same time, but I also have a bad feeling that something bad is gonna happen to her.
3810687 Yeah, me too... Although I guess I don't know what's going to happen to Lily.
You have to keep in mind, before I write it, this story is usually as much a surprise to me as it is to you guys. What comes out the other end is very rarely anything like what Kasen and I did in our planning sessions. He's my inspiration, though. He keeps me going. Best editor ever.
-Chessie
Poor Lily clearly does not have the spiritual fortitude or a sufficient lack of sanity to survive in this city. I love how Hardy and Taxi's reaction to the letter pretty much mirrored mine: "Is this real life right now?" Limerence should cut those two some slack. If he keeps playing straight man to their shenanigans then he is going to drive himself nuts (though if his interrogation of Bari was any indication then he likely already subscribes to his own brand of madness like pretty much everyone else in this story). I am a bit surprised that Hardy's libido never really came up before considering his base of operations was literally whorehouse and he never indulged once. This is obviously not that kind of story but still, points for self-control Hardy. Maybe now some pieces of this fucked up puzzle will fall into place(answer one question, finds at least two more; repeat until all shenanigans are resolved).
3811327 I was worried about bringing Hardy's sex drive into things, but he's a stallion and she's a very pretty and very kind young mare. I like to think it's that she's not absolutely wretched with the darkness of Detrot that attracts him to her.
Where or not anything will come of that? Well, just keep reading.
-Chessie
3805643 I assumed as much, but it's certainly a start.
3810917 Considering that there hasn't been a homoerotic bubblebath in SoD yet, I assume that it isn't like your planning sessions.
3812956 Yeah, no, it's weird considering how much of a freak I...well, how bad Kasen and I are...that wouldn't have happened.
-Chessie
3812930 The Darkness of Detrot....you know that would make a good name for a chapter or possible side story. Considering how many characters this story already has I have no idea who a side story could even be about. And I think Lily is the second mare that Hardy has met since this story began that has not actually damaged him in any capacity. That pregnant Arroyo mare being the only other mare I can think of that has not physically damaged Hardy as of yet. Just cannot catch a break with the ladies it seems.
3813091 Well, the list of characters...period...who haven't damaged Hardy in some way is really, really short. Equestria is a shitty place, after all, Detrot in particular.
-Chessie
3813091
Hmm. Mostly... Let me do a quick Mare Count. You're right a surprising majority of the time:
Jade: Damaged him on numerous occasions.
Swift: Tried to bite him.
Thalassemia: Not technically a mare.
Edina: Not technically a mare, also hit him with a coffee mug.
Patter: Attacked him with a mannequin.
Snicket: Razor Horseshoes.
Svelte: Telekinetic Sawhorse Assault. Is that the name of an imported Japanese shoot-'em-up?
Night Bloom: Flashbanged and tied him up. Hardy doesn't appear to be into that.
Granny Glow: ...Yeeeeahhh.
EDIT: Zeta: Didn't actually try to hurt him, so far as I recall, though... No, she hurt him, if indirectly and unintentionally!
But...
Telly: Has threatened to on numerous occasions. Hasn't within the story. May have previously, certainly has had the opportunity.
Sugar Lace: While antagonistic, has not to my knowledge physically damaged Hardy.
Astral Skylark: Nope, just a co-recipient of the World's Most Awkward Hoofshake award.
...Though two characters HAVE shown open attraction to him... These being Scarlet and Stella.
--CEO Kasen
3814784
Do not forget Taxi, she has hurt Hardy a lot too. So that is, what, six mares in total that have not injured Hardy yet? That is still a depressingly low number (well depressing for Hardy and hilarious for those of us beyond the fourth wall). You cannot expect me to remember every character interaction that has taken place considering how big this story already is and will continue to get. I will have to read it over again just to remember who some of the characters you have listed there are.
3814896
I can't believe I forgot to put Taxi in a list of mares who've punched Hardy, but... In retrospect, it's like talking about celestial bodies and forgetting the Earth. It's presence amongst them is so vast and oppressive that it feels simultaneously like a whole other category and the kind of thing that goes without saying.
--CEO Kasen
3814784
3813091
We have to go down the list of men who've injured Hardy, too.
Minox-Dunked Hardy in a bucket
Hay Maker-Severe bruising, near suffocation
Reginald Bari-Black-bagged him, set him up to be killed
Grape-shot- Killed Hardy
Slip Stitch-Is it even possible for Stitch not to have done something horrible to Hardy at some point, on purpose or not?
Scarlett- Hurts Hardy's brain.
Stella-REEEALLY hurts Hardy's brain.
Doctor Pickle-Redefined pain entirely.
I still like to think of reading this in Twilight Sparkle's voice.
Little side note about the name "Fox Glove" from wikipedia (the name of a type of flower)
You wouldn't think it's a flower being described if you didn't already know what it was beforehand eh?
And so Hardy unwittingly signed a pact with unseen forces and sold his soul.
*thunder cracks in the distance*
I suppose we'll get the "oh no i've killed a man" sequence at some point right? Unless we've already had that?
Trying to think back to who has died by the hands of Hardy and his gang but I can't think of anyone other than Swift killing her old friend-turned-monster. But that was fairly extreme circumstances and certainly not premeditated.
I guess taxi went off to recover in some far away zebra land or something to deal with the events with her undercover incident. No wonder she's so protective of her ride if she spent a fair portion of her pension on it.
Nice bit of backstory in this chapter.
http://countcarbon.deviantart.com/art/The-cutest-smartest-all-around-best-gryphon-428358897 ................. STOP PREDICTING THE FUTURE YOUR BASTARD!!!!
lol. this is pretyt strange. in the story there appears to be a being able to see potential futures, and a lot of the concepts that apepar in this story keep on popping up other places in some way or form even in the actual series.
now we have a fanart of a hot gryphon chick shown in the show eating crescent rolls........ sound familiar.
3825138 I...uh...that's weird. I mean, Edina's...yeah. Huh.
-Chessie
3825415 was it calling it sexy part? shrugs. if taxi can get turned on by a being of the biped persuasian than anything goes here............ short of diamond dogs............. and transexual dragons............ and whatever weird shit you guys come up with and put in your story in the coming chapter and final third act.
think the weirdest part is that i was expecting that this was some kind of reference to this story when i first saw it. but no. it seems to be a female gryphon, munching on crescent rolls, much like Edina in act one wehn they were discussing the game plan........ i have no idea why crescent rolls though. love them, not sure how one would relate them to a gryphon.
Great chapter as usual, and it good to see some of Taxi's back story.Go die in a hole, skinner. Although I thought Ruby blue and her sister (gee I suck at remembering names) had the same cutie marks until now. Don't know if it was specified earlier in the story or never at all.
But all in all, excellent as usual.
3835355 Ruby Blue's cutie-mark is three gems on cherry stem's, Lily's is three cherries.
-Chessie
Me thinks RU y is the descendant of rarity hooking up with that cherry farmer in dodge junction because the apple farmer said no
Also, I think I know who cloud kicker's descendant is
Finally...maybe some solid answers will arrive...
Her Serene Highness Twilight Sparkle gives her apotheosis victory speech after defeating Tirek:
Omnes: [cheering, shouting, and hoof-stomping] Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!
Twilight: Good morning!
Omnes: A blessing! A blessing!
Twilight: I have got one or two things to say.
Omnes: Tell us! Tell us both of them!
Twilight: No, no. Please. Please, please listen.
Omnes: Yes! Twilight's word is law! We will listen and obey!
Twilight: No! No! You all have got it all wrong! You do not need to follow me! You all have got to think for yourselves!
Omnes: Yes! We do not need to follow! Give us guidance and direct us on thinking for ourselves!
Twilight: You all have different cutie-marks! You are all individuals!
Omnes: Yes, we are all individuals!
Twilight: You are all different!
Omnes: Yes, we are all different!
Derpy: I'm not!
Omnes: Shhhhh!
Twilight: Hooooo boy...
It seems there can me two (main) ways to look at cutie-marks and special talents:
(Warning! Overly analytic,horse-apples ahead!)
The first is that cutie-marks are defined by the Equestrian and not vice-versa. It is an outwardly visible picture or totem of a pony's psyche that in some way unique to the individual, represents their inmost being and desires in pictorial form. Now they both can manifest in as many unique ways as there are individuals, so it would not be out of the ordinary to find a Royal Guard with a smiling ladybird or a construction worker with a fishing rod and fish on her ass.
The other, darker view is one of (insert fancy psychological term with the word "determinism" wedged in it somewhere); essentially a magical caste system. You are assigned your place in Equestrian society in your foalhood by a central agency and given a stamp on your rump. This identifies who you are, what your predetermined role in society is, and what career and life styles you are allowed to pursue. Very Brave New Worldish with your identity formed, codified, and regulated by your cutie-mark ("In Soviet Equestria, cutie-mark defines you!") .
Peanut butter makes everything better.
It is far worse than we thought! Taxi is either taping the oil street-lamps outside (maple tree style!) or is syphoning the Night Trotter. Hardy needs to make a decision before she turns her liver into a refinery or spontaneously combusts...
Let us see here:
Jade needs a new desk blotter...
Stitch needs new legs for his table...
Stitch's stash of frozen "eyescream" treats is running low after Nightmare Night...
Swift and Skyes want to do a cook-out...
Taxi needs a new sparring dummy after she broke her old one...
Dr. Pickle wants to practice "a new and exciting technique" he read about in a trade magazine...
The problem appears not so much "make sure they get everything they deserve" but rather "make sure there is enough to go around to ensure everyone else gets what they need".
So I guess we can add Detrot Cutie-mark to the list of geographical gang mutilations along with Glasgow Smile and Columbian Necktie?
Act 2, Chapter 18: "Next of Kin"- Well "Kin" is family and the rest just explains itself.
And I guess I just don't have anymore to say about this chapter.
So have this duck:
web.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/academicskillscoaching/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/baby-duck.jpg
this makes me think of pipbuck (sp) in fallout:equestra getting q cutie mark of a cutie mark
You know
Reading this chapter really doesn't sell me on taxi not being the big bad
I still don't think she is, but, this gives fuel to that theory
10386215
Heh, Taxi is most assuredly not 'the big bad'...but she is something that everyone smart should fear.
-Chessie
A rather short and sweet chapter of Hardy doing, likely one of the worst jobs a detective has to handle, telling a victims relative their loved one is dead. Lily, takes it better then she could have, but yeah, she is really not built to handle the kind of stuff that goes on in Detrot. Still Hardy handled it well, for all he's gruff and standoffish, he really does care about Ponies. This was just an all around touching scene between the two of them.
Once Hardy.exe has rebooted from the whole "Oh yeah the dead filly knew all about you and having you investigate her murder and find the clues you did was something she planned on happening because she was able to see the future" bomb of course.
I noticea lack of "Flim and Flam" on that so it might work.... though this does then raise the question of how well this type of automation would work given the heavy implications on Earth Pony magic playing a large part Equestrian agriculture being as abundant as it is.
"Sweet Apple Acres Cider, the only cider worthy of the multi-time saviors of Equestria!"
Also the requisite Swift being adorable.
Lim is not wrong. It's hard to predict crazy. Also great to see him come around and realize that for all hardy is kind of nuts and willing to do things no sane pony would even think of doing, there is an underlying method to that madness.
Yeah, when it's clear there is something that someone like a detective doesn't want to tell you about your loved one, it's never going to be anything good.
See, this would first require that whatever the forces ultimately behind all this actually CAN be killed, which given how much more story there is and the hints about how big this might be so far, I'm not sure is on the table. Best you tend to be able to hope for in these cases is thwarting their scheme and/or severing their connection to this reality.
But that doesn't mean Hardy isn't going to give a try. I do really love this, and this is the perfect wording, he's not setting out to kill them, this isn't vengeance. He is setting out to protect the citizens of Detrot from this threat, if that threat can only be stopped by a bullet to the brain? So be it, but he'll also take less lethal measures if they will work...... but no matter what he is not stopping until this city is safe (Well as safe as Detrot could ever be)
Now, hopefully time to get some answers.... and likely several more questions.
rebooting a detective with peanuts i guess
he won't wake up in the morning? glob of the stuff, low arc, right in the kisser.