Case Four, Chapter Eleven: Afterglow
“Scarlet Letter,” Phillip said, repeating the name that Daring had told him.
“She’s the one, Phil,” Daring said, looking down at her front hooves. The two of them were sitting side by side on the couch. “She’s the one who took in Sparks. She...she got her to do what she did.”
“What did she want with you?” Phillip asked.
“She…” Daring shifted, looking away from him and turning to look out the window instead. The day was sunny and clear, with a wind that made the branches on the faded cherry tree in the backyard shiver. A jazz record was in the player, projecting the sound of saxophone and piano music into the room. Daring swallowed and spoke. “She wanted to give me an offer to work with them. I do them a couple favors from time to time, she gives us intelligence, money, weapons. All so we can help her take down Monopoly and Silvertongue and the rest of them.”
“And no doubt help her take over,” Phillip commented.
“Exactly.”
“So what’d you tell her?” Phillip asked.
“I told her to go fuck herself and stay away from us,” Daring answered. “But she…” Her voice slowed. She swallowed again, licking her dry lips.
“Daring?” Phillip asked. She felt his hoof sliding across the cushions towards hers.
Daring sighed. “She said that she and I...we weren’t so different,” she admitted, feeling as though a heavy weight was pressing against her chest as she spoke. “We both steal, we both kill, and we both tell ourselves that...that we do it for the right reasons.” She paused. “And today, when Monopoly just walked away after all of that, after all those ponies died because of him…” Her chest tightened as a fire burned against the inside of her sternum, and she let out a noise that was a part growl, part frustrated sigh. “Sometimes following the law just sucks. Sometimes I see that Sparks had a point when they said that if you want to fight the status quo, you can’t follow the rules.”
“Given the chance, would you kill Monopoly or Silvertongue or any of them? Just gun them down after what they did?” Phillip asked quietly.
Daring felt her stomach turn at the image. “No, never,” she answered. “That’s...that’s not the right way to do it.”
There was another pregnant pause, then Phillip asked, “Daring, why do you do what you do?”
Daring paused in thought for several seconds, still staring out the window at the cherry tree shivering in the wind.
“I guess…” she finally said. “I guess it’s because...I just don’t like seeing ponies get hurt. And I...I want to try to help if I can, ‘cause, well...it’s the right thing to do.”
“Then that’s all you need,” Phillip replied. His hoof laid itself atop her hoof with the branded mark, squeezing gently. She turned to look up at him.
“Daring, I know you,” he said, his expression calm. “I know you’re more than your past, more than that mark. I know that you have a good heart. And I trust you to do the right thing. Always.”
Daring smiled back at him, squeezing his hoof back. “Thanks,” she said, pulling herself in close to him so that she could feel the warmth emanating from his body. She tucked her head against his shoulder and he gently placed his chin atop her head.
“Glad I know you,” Phillip whispered.
“I’m glad I know you,” Daring replied. A smirk spread its way across her face. “You and your sexy butt,” she added, raising a wing and bringing it down on Phillip’s hindquarters with a loud smack. He started violently, letting out a surprised whinny, then glared down at her. She sniggered unrepentantly, and he sighed and shook his head.
“You’re never going to change, are you?” he asked.
“Nope,” Daring answered, draping a wing around his torso. “But you like me this way.”
Phillip didn’t reply for a moment; Daring felt his torso rise and fall as he breathed. “Yeah,” he admitted with a quiet laugh. “Yeah, I do.”
Silence fell upon them both again as they sat, nestled up against each other, listening to the record playing. After a moment, Daring looked down at their intertwined hooves, as if just now noticing that they were still touching each other. Phillip looked down as well, then, as one, they both turned to look at each other. As they locked eyes, some unseen message passed between them, like a spark of static electricity.
“Um,” Phillip stammered, his gray eyes widening slightly, the pupils dilated to the size of gold bits.
“Heh,” Daring let out a quivering laugh, glancing away from his gaze like his eyes were two bright lights. A smile danced around her lips, and she suddenly realized that the record was playing a very familiar song: a saxophone rendition of Can't Smile Without You.
Phillip leaned forward slowly, hesitantly, as if afraid that he’d move too fast and scare her away. Daring was still, her heart thudding against her ribs, half-closing her eyes in preparation. She could smell his breath—apples, coffee, and mint toothpaste—and briefly wondered what her own breath smelled like. But he paused a few inches away from her as though he’d just pushed against an invisible wall. She felt no wind from his breath upon her face and realized that she was holding her breath as well. The sound of a car passing on the street outside and the continuing saxophone melody underlined the awkwardness of the sudden pause, and Phillip began to pull away.
Daring growled. “Oh, fuck this,” she said, looping her free hoof around Phillip’s head and pulling him in, closing her eyes as she did so. She pressed her lips against his, tasting the remnants of his coffee and breakfast. Both ponies froze as soon as their lips touched, neither certain of what they were supposed to do after this, before relaxing and letting instinct guide them. What followed was a series of inexperienced, sometimes clumsy movements as the pair kissed, the passion of it all not reduced one iota by the fumbling, instead seeming all the more so for it.
After a minute, they finally parted for air. Phillip stared at Daring, his eyes wide, mouth hanging open, and his ears burning red. “Hooley dooley,” he breathed.
Daring sniggered, feeling her own blush spreading across her face. “You can say that again, mate,” she said in her horrendous imitation of his accent.
Phillip rolled his eyes with a smile. "So...what do we do now?" he asked.
Her body seeming to move on its own, Daring grabbed him with both hooves and pulled his face around, kissing him again, forcefully this time. He grunted in surprise as she pushed him down onto his back, her tongue invading his mouth and running across his teeth and gumlines. He closed his eyes, his forelegs instinctively looping around her waist, and began to kiss her back, his own tongue wrestling with hers like two snakes dancing together.
Daring pulled away, a wide smile across her face and her lidded eyes sparkling in a way that sent electric tingles across Phillip’s spine. “What do we do?” she smirked, a playful growl around the edges of her voice. “First, you do me.”
Phillip looked away for a moment, his ears turning bright red. “I...I’ve never…” he stammered through a nervous laugh.
Daring cocked her head to the side. "Really? Never?"
"Well...never with another pony," Phillip shrugged.
“Me neither, so don’t worry about it,” Daring admitted with a smile. She bent down and kissed him again, a softer, gentler kiss this time. “Come on, you. Your sexy butt is mine for the next few hours.”
The Apple Pie in Your Eye was in its usual full swing that evening. A zebra band was up on the stage, doing a blues set, with a female griffon singing a soulful rendition of Superstition. The balloons on the table were in shades of dark blue, black, and orange, there were Nightmare Moon masks and pictures on the walls, and posters advertised the Nightmare Night party in three days. Phillip and Daring sat side by side at the bar, dining on tonight’s special: hay steak and creamy pasta, with fruit salad on the side.
Phillip had borrowed the phone from Applejack and was speaking into it. “Yes, we got them all, Lily,” he was saying. “Nopony else is dying so that wanker Monopoly can line his pockets with insurance money.” There was a pause, then, “No, you’re right. He weaselled his way out of it...but we’ll get him eventually.”
Another pause. “Ma’am, I thought you should know,” Phillip said. “If it hadn’t been for your husband, we might not have found out what was going on until it was too late. He died doing the right thing. I want you to remember that.” He was silent for several long seconds; Daring thought she heard a noise like a sob from the phone.
“Yes, ma’am,” Phillip nodded. “Mother bless you, too, ma’am.” He slowly handed the phone back to Applejack behind the bar, who took it and placed it back on the receiver.
Phil glanced down at a paper spread out across the bar. Beneath the headlines of Monopoly's continued fight against growing scandal, two smaller pieces declared that the housing project would continue with funds from the crown, and the oil pipeline would be diverted to go around Ponyville.
“AJ. Bottle of Kanga-Rum, please,” Phillip said, sinking onto his stool. “Need to celebrate this.”
“Needs to get ready for round two, more like,” Daring sniggered, flicking her tail against his hindquarters. "Well, round seven, actually." He gave her a sideways look and half-smile, his ears turning slightly red.
“I’m just gonna pretend that I didn’t hear that,” Applejack said with a small smile as she retrieved the requested bottle from the rack behind her and brought it over. Bringing a glass up from beneath the bar, she poured Phillip a shot. “Gotta say, it’s about time,” she added.
“That’s what I said earlier!” Daring laughed.
“Shut up,” Phillip said, unable to hide his smile.
“Make me,” Daring cooed, giving him the lidded eyes with the sparkle that made Phillip’s spine (and other parts of his anatomy) tingle.
“Not in public, you two,” Applejack scolded, refilling Daring’s glass of cider.
“That’s the best damn cider I’ve ever had,” Daring said, watching the foamy liquid fill her glass to the brim.
“Aw, shucks, thanks,” Applejack said, trying to conceal a proud glow. “Say, you two alone again tonight?”
“Nah,” Phillip said. “Waiting on some friends.”
The bell over the door jingled and five ponies entered. Prowl walked in first, her eyes glowing faintly in the semi-darkness as she looked around. She was followed by Bumblebee, then Flash, and finally Maple Leaf with Skysong in a carrier. As Daring, Phil, and Applejack watched, Pinkie Pie bounced right up to them and greeted them with her usual cheer. Prowl looked slightly taken aback for a moment, but relaxed quickly after Pinkie Pie made some funny faces at Skysong and made her laugh. Maple Leaf shook hooves with Pinkie as Flash looked around and spotted Phillip. He waved at them.
“Best get you a table,” Applejack said, looking around the tavern. “Oh, hey, think you could share with my friends?” She pointed over at a larger circular table with a collection of multicolored balloons on it. The table only had five ponies around it: Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rara, and the rainbow-haired mare whose name Phillip and Daring didn’t know.
“You willing to join us?” Daring asked.
Applejack thought for a moment, then looked down towards the other end of the bar. A large red earth pony stallion was currently tugging on some oven mitts. “Hey, Big Mac!” Applejack called. “Think you can handle this for a while?”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac said, opening the wood oven, pulling out three covered plates, and sliding them down the bar towards their waiting customers.
“Thanks!” Applejack stepped out from behind the bar and followed Phillip and Daring over to the table. Phillip waved Flash and the others over and they joined them.
Flash paused some distance from the table, his face turning faintly red as his eyes locked on Twilight. "Flash!" Twilight cried, gesturing to the chair next to him.
“H-hi,” Flash said, sliding into the chair. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Oh, I come here with my friends a lot of the time,” Twilight said. “You’ve met Pinkie Pie. This is Rarity, Fluttershy, Rara, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.”
“Hello!” Bumblebee said, waving cheerfully. The mares all waved back.
"Flash, are you all right?" Twilight asked, leaning in close to him, her eyes filled with concern. "I heard that Tinderspark kidnapped you, and you were in the hospital."
"I'm fine," Flash reassured her. "She beat me up a little, but didn't do anything really bad." He paused, his eyes suddenly distant. "Once or twice...she tried burning me with a lighter. I...I think she wanted me to show fear. But I didn't." He swallowed. "I think that might be why I'm still alive."
Twilight let out a soft gasp. "That sounds terrible."
"Really, I'm okay," Flash said. "But thank you for being concerned."
“You were the one who helped with the thundercloud,” Prowl said, looking at Fluttershy, who was sitting next to her.
Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably on her chair and lowered her head, seemingly trying to hide behind her mane. “Um, I was just doing what Daring told me to…”
“Don’t be so modest, Shy!” Rainbow Dash said. “Gathering up a stormcloud that big and keeping it under control in and of itself is awesome! Plus, you got to help Daring Do herself! The biggest bad guy asskicker ever! How is that not awesome?!”
Daring stared at Rainbow Dash, her expression one of befuddlement at her praise. Rainbow seemed to catch herself, then rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, nervously grinning at Daring. “I’m...kind of a huge fan,” she admitted sheepishly.
“A...fan?” Daring asked, trying and failing to hide her puzzlement. “Um, thanks, I guess.”
“It was brave of you to help,” Prowl commented to Fluttershy, nodding approvingly. “I also saw you trying to intervene with the crowd earlier. I wish more ponies were like you.”
“Yeah,” Bumblebee agreed. “I mean, I get why they’re mad at us, but there are better ways to deal with it than screaming at us.”
Fluttershy seemed to think about it for a moment, then looked up. “Maybe we can find a better way right here,” she said with a smile.
Prowl smiled back. She, Bumblebee, and Fluttershy soon became enveloped in deep conversation.
“Hey, Daring...uh, Miss Do?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Daring’s fine,” Daring replied. “Miss Do makes me feel like an old lady.”
“You are old,” Phillip commented quietly, smirking. Daring playfully smacked him across the face with a wing.
“Can I have your autograph?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Daring stared at her for a few seconds, her face growing even hotter. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Phillip smiling approvingly at her. “Sure,” she finally said, taking the notebook that Rainbow Dash handed to her and signing it. Rainbow Dash took it back, smiling broadly.
“You ever think about joining the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow asked Daring.
“I did see one of their shows once, when I was a filly,” Daring said. “Snuck out of my parent’s house to go see it.”
"They're awesome, aren't they?" Rainbow Dash asked enthusiastically.
"Yeah, they are," Daring agreed.
“I’m glad to see that my ward worked,” Twilight commented to Phillip.
“Saved our lives,” Phillip said. “Saved a lot of lives, in fact.”
“Including mine,” Flash added. “I guess I owe you my life, Twilight.”
“Oh, you don’t owe me anything,” Twilight said quickly. “I was just doing my part to help.”
“Well, I’m glad that we have an amazing mare like you on our side,” Flash smiled.
Twilight blushed and flattened her ears against her head at the praise. Flash covered his mouth with a hoof. “Oh, I, I didn’t mean to…” he started to say.
Rarity giggled. “Twilight, you didn’t tell me you had a coltfriend,” she teased.
“Wh-what?!” Twilight cried, her entire face turning as red as a tomato. “He’s not my coltfriend!”
“She’s not my marefriend!” Flash said simultaneously, blushing just as hard as Twilight.
Rarity just smirked knowingly and stirred her martini.
Flash cleared his throat. “So, how’s, uh, you-know-who?” he asked.
“Huh?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, you must mean Spike,” Rarity said. “He is such a little darling, isn’t he?”
“They know?” Phillip asked.
Twilight nodded, still fighting back her blush. “My closest friends here have all been to my house at some point or another, so…” She shrugged. “It means a lot to me that Spike has other ponies he can turn to. Anyway, he’s doing well,” she said to Flash. “He’s really looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow for card trading.” She smiled and rolled her eyes. “Keeps going on about how he’s going to finally get rid of some of his Joe Montaneigh cards.”
“I still can’t believe he has five of them,” Flash said. “I’ve been collecting for years, and I’ve never gotten even one!”
Twilight and Rarity both shot each other a weary smile that clearly said, Stallions.
“Okay, everypony, smile!” Pinkie called. Everypony looked up just in time to get blinded by a bright flash of light from Pinkie’s camera.
Pinkie pulled the picture out of the instant camera’s slot and held it up, grinning. “That’s a keeper!” she declared. She smiled broadly at them all and slid into the final remaining chair. “Isn’t it great to just spend time together, you guys?”
Skysong gurgled happily and clapped her hooves.
“I second that notion,” Bumblebee said with a grin.
Twilight raised her glass of vodka cranberry. “To friends, and to hope of better days!”
“Cheers,” everypony else said, raising their glasses as well and taking a long drink.
“This is not acceptable,” Silvertongue said, pacing up and down the length of the black and red room.
“Damn right it isn’t,’ Monopoly replied, glaring at his superior as he watched him pause at the large clock at the end of the room, looking up at the face as if he could divine some answers from there. “If it hadn’t been for Finder and Do’s meddling, I could’ve gotten a good million out of Phoenix. Instead, the city’s cutting me off completely, I only got a few hundred thousand bits, and to top it off, ponies are getting suspicious.” Monopoly pulled out a newspaper and tossed it onto the great table. Splashed across the front page was Monopoly himself, staring stoically ahead as he exited the police precinct, Detective Night Waltz at his side. The secondary headline read, “Business Mogul Under Investigation.”
“There was a time when no one in this city would have dared to touch us,” Monopoly growled. “And now this, all because of them!” He placed his hooves on the table and leaned forward to glare at Monopoly. “I want them gone,” he growled. “I want them dead.”
Silvertongue sat down at the table and placed his chin on his hooves. His coat of arms, the great hoof crushing the snake, framed his face as he pondered their dilemma.
“It won’t be easy,” he muttered, turning the newspaper over to reveal the real headline: “Private Eye and Ex-Thief Stop Terrorist!” Beneath the headline was a picture, taken from several feet away, of Finder being loaded into an ambulance, with Daring Do in her familiar pith helmet looking on, her back to the photographer.
“They are both too high-profile now; their deaths would be noticed and would trigger waves we could not turn back,” Silvertongue mused. “Also, we still have to deal with the rising threat of our new rivals.” He tapped his hooves together, then turned to look at the unicorn standing next to the door, casually smoking as though the conversation had nothing to do with him.
“Zugzwang, ideas,” he demanded.
Zugzwang slowly extracted the cigarette from his mouth and blew out a ring of smoke. “We cannot hope to fight a war on two fronts,” he stated calmly. “Phillip Finder and Daring Do have both made their moves and are gaining momentum, but they can be easily stalled. The apathy of the general populace is, after all, a strong force when used correctly.”
“So do nothing?” Monopoly snorted. “That’s what you suggest?”
“Why waste the energy killing a weed that will die by itself?” Zugzwang replied idly. “Besides, we have more important targets.” He leaned forward and faced Silvertongue over the table. “I have a name,” he whispered.
Silvertongue’s eyebrows raised in a silent command to continue.
“Scarlet Letter,” Zugzwang said. “She is the one who wishes to dispose of you.”
Silvertongue grunted. “Then let us give her a firm reminder of who is in charge in this city.” He turned to Monopoly. “Get every boss over here: Whitestone, Coin Toss, King Row, all of them. We are going to find this Scarlet Letter and end her little rebellion once and for all.”
Monopoly nodded, grinning, and retreated from the room. Silvertongue turned to Zugzwang, using his magic to open a closet and pulling out two bottles and two glasses. He filled one with Amontillado and the other with sparkling purple beerenauslese.
“Now, Zugzwang,” Silvertongue said, offering the glass of Gerwhin beer to his associate. “Tell me everything you know about Scarlet Letter.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.036 seconds
Total duration
658 users online
929,413 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yeah, I'm shouting finally. Just so you know that.
It's about bloody time! And oooh boy, seems we got a Gang war coming up!
YESS!!!! AH! It's about time! *happy sigh*
The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald?
Woopsie! You forgot to finish the italics brackets
The German guy doesn't want a war on two fronts? Hmmm...
8745851
Never heard of that band, but it might very well be.
Thanks for the correction!
Zugzwang is smart enough to learn from history (and may or may not have his own plans...)
8745912
The Ink Spots was an all black band from the 1930s and 40s
Or coarse!
Oh my...does Twilight not know what Flash has been through? That was...cold. Well, relatively speaking, I mean.
8909366
I updated the chapter to address this issue. I hope that's better!
I loved the scene at the Apple pie and it's about time! Good job.
As all shippers said: "Finally!"
Huh. I could've sworn I heard Pinkie setting up a fireworks display in commemoration.
Just a final thought was Tinder and the Scorchers in this case by any chance a reference from FoE: PH?because I seem to recall a similar group in that story.
10478966
No, I've never read any of the FOE stories. Tinderspark was kinda inspired by the Batman villain Firefly: in fact, I imagine her voice being basically a female Crispin Freeman.
The whole conversation about why to not just kill Silvertongue and Monopoly is about as satisfying as when Batman tries justifying not killing the Joker. I'll just read it as two ponies who haven't really formulated any deeper rationalizations for conforming to standard social mores and morals. That they're afraid of doing something that is generally considered evil. Characters can have flaws.
Really? Old enough to be Rarity's mother and still virgin? Had she only been a unicorn she'd be an arch-mage. You just know that's how Celestia gets her power: She actually likes older mares, but that was illegal back when there still were mares older than her.
Yeah, actually, ceasing to do crime usually would work out for the bad guys at this point in these stories.
Purple beer named after late harvest wine?