The Parliament of Dreams

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 7
Chapter 27

Chapter 1

The Parliament of Dreams
Chapter 1

The sound of the alarm clock going off was not a welcome one. Not today, and not ever. She tried to ignore it, but to no avail. She reached out with her hoof, hit the button to turn the alarm off and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

The alarm went off again. This was not her doing; someone had set the clock’s second alarm setting to go off two minutes after the first one. It seemed that she had no choice. ‘Arggh... fine! I’m getting up!’ she said aloud to no one in particular as she rolled out of bed and trotted sleepily over to her wash room. She flipped on the light switch, realising it to be a mistake as her eyes were not ready for the bright lights. She shut them tightly, and after a minute, she slowly began opened them, allowing them to adjust to the bright lights of the wash room. She blinked several times before opening her eyes fully, and looking into the mirror, her celadon eyes looking right back at her. Mornings, oh how she hated mornings, the deep blue and brilliant yellow sections of her mane were all bunched together in a tangled mess. She was a unicorn, though, as of this moment, you wouldn’t be able to tell, her bed head mane completely covered her horn. The more she looked at herself in the mirror the more she found that she didn’t like. It was the middle of summer, and even in the morning the humidity was enough to make both her mane and coat puff out into horrific shapes. She let out a sigh and turned from the mirror, and used her telekinesis to turn on the water for her shower and promptly stepped inside.

‘AH! COLD! COLD!’ She cried out as the shock of the cold water ran over her body. It was a few moments until the water warmed up, oh how pleasant the warm water was. She stood still, allowing the warm water to run over her for several minutes, until she finally realised that there were other purposes of a shower. She reached out for a bottle of shampoo with her telekinesis, squeezing some out onto her mane, and sat down on the shower floor. She reached up with her hooves and began to scrub her mane clean, at the same time; she reached out for another bottle of liquid soap, and a scrub brush. She applied some to the brush and began to scrub her coat until she was nice and clean.

While technically done with her actual cleanliness related activities, she stood back up and allowed the water to continue to run over her, closing her eyes and relaxing for a few moments, or, at least, until the water began to turn cold. Well, the pleasantness always has to end eventually, right? She gave herself one last rinse over, before turning the water off and stepping out of the shower, grabbing a towel with her telekinesis and rubbing her coat dry as she stepped back over towards the mirror, picking up a small electric hair dryer and a brush and styling her mane and tail into their normal straightened shape.

‘Ah, much better!’ she said as she finished grooming her mane and tail, returning the brush and hair dryer to their resting places. Her name was Sparkplug, though she hated it when anyone called her by that name. To her friends and family, and even her co-workers at FutureTec, she was Sparky. Sparky smiled as she admired herself in the mirror, turning from side to side. She looked good, and she knew it. She finished up her wash room routine by taking her tooth brush, and a tube of toothpaste in her telekinesis and squeezing a few milligrams of it onto the brush, she opened her mouth wide and scrubbed every square centimetre of her teeth until they were sparkling white. Satisfied, she went back into her bedroom to get dressed, returning her towel to its place on the drying rack and flipping the light switch off as she walked by.

Her bedroom was rather simple, containing only a small single sized bed along the eastern wall, just barely big enough to fit her, though that was okay, because she didn’t need it to fit anyone else, next to it was a small wooden bedside table, containing a globe lamp for late night reading, and the alarm clock that she hated so much. Along the southern wall was her wardrobe tall enough to nearly reach the ceiling, to match the bedside table. She opened it up and pulled out one of her dark orange utility vests that she wore for her job. Using her telekinesis, she held the utility vest to her left, and extended her left leg, threading her leg through one the left leg hole, draping it over her and doing the same with the right leg, she buttoned it up and was ready to begin her day, and she turned around and looked at the rest of her room.

Aside for the bed, the bedside table and the wardrobe, the only other furniture in the room was a matching bookshelf containing a number of books on various subjects, and a small workbench for her special projects. The walls of the room were painted an antique white, and the carpet was a dark blue. Over all, the room had a very spartan and minimalist feel to it, but Sparky was perfectly okay with that, after all, it was easy to keep track over everything, and easy to keep clean, just the way she liked it.

She went over to the work bench and picked up a small object in the shape of a hollow cylinder, she snapped it open and fastened it to her left foreleg. This was her AppleTec Mark IXX Micro information processor, though most people just called it a MIP. MIPs were highly advanced computers able to fit on their user's leg, they were a wondrous technology, used for everything from keeping the user’s schedule to making calls with its built in mobile phone. She was even able to access FutureTec’s extranet from home whenever she needed to catch up with paperwork from her home, as well as accessing the regular internet. Of course, the MIP’s most used features were its integrated word processor, and the clock. All of which was contained in a holographic interface. Sparky was about to check her day’s schedule, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. The clock on the bedside table told her that the time was 0545. That couldn’t be right!

Sparky sat down and raised her left foreleg up and tapped at the MIP to open up its holographic interface, she proceeded to slide her right hoof over the holograph until she reached the clock. 0546. Sparky growled angrily as she looked at the clock. She closed the holographic interface and walked over to her bedroom door, throwing it open rushing down the stairs. ‘GRANDMA!’ she cried out.

‘Good morning Sparky!’ called a voice from the kitchen. Sparky stormed into the kitchen.

‘Grandma V!’ Sparky cried out. ‘It’s oh-five-forty-five!’

‘Oh-five-forty-seven’, Grandma V corrected, grinning like a mad mare. ‘But semantics, what’s your point?’

Sparky growled in annoyance as she stared at her grandmother. Grandma V was old, older than anyone Sparky had known. Her hair was greying, as was coat that had once been a whitish crème colour. Like her, Grandma V was also a unicorn, but what stood out most about her was her pair of ruby red eyes which were just as much smiling at her as the grin on her face. Around her neck was a bright blue scarf, embroidered with a single quaver on it near the knot.

‘You changed my alarm!’ Sparky complained.

‘Yes I did. Problem?’ Grandma V asked, continuing to grin at her. ‘Now come on! Sit down and have a proper breakfast for once!’ Grandma V added, pouring Sparky a bowl of her favourite cereal. Sweet Apple Acres Apple-O’s. Sparky took a look at the box art, which contained a picture of an enlarged version of the cereal, with a highly stylised caricature of a red coated draught pony wearing a harness eating a spoonful of the cereal, clearly designed to appeal to children. Sparky took the jug of milk that Grandma V had set on the table and poured some onto her cereal, quickly eating the entire bowl tipping it back to drink the milk.

‘Thanks for breakfast Grandma V... I got to get going...’

‘Oh no you don’t! You don’t need to be in at work until oh-seven-thirty!’ Grandma V said with a grin. ‘It’s only oh-five-fifty-five! I took this into account when I set your alarms to oh-five-hundred and oh-five-oh-two!’

‘Grandma...’ Sparky protested.

Grandma V rolled her eyes at Sparky. ‘Oh come on now! It’s not going to kill you to talk to your grandmother for a few minutes! Reminds me of an old friend of mine that couldn’t keep still for even a moment, Pi...’

‘Grandma! Not a story! Please, for the love of god not a story!’ Sparky cried out.

Grandma V looked at Sparky with a frown. ‘You used to love my stories...’

‘Yeah, when I was like five! You’re like a hundred and twenty years old! I’ve heard all of them!’ Sparky said.

‘A hundred and twenty six’, Grandma V corrected. Sparky wasn’t kidding when she had said that Grandma V was the oldest pony that she knew. Her grandmother had been born long before the founding of the Equestrian Republic a hundred years ago. Sparky's grandmother had always loved to tell highly dramatised stories about what life was like before, when Equestria was still ruled by princesses. Sparky had been enthralled by these stories when she was younger, but the problem was that with Grandma V’s advanced age, Sparky had heard all the stories, multiple times.

Grandma V had had a problem with alcohol when she was much younger. As a result, she was one of the first ponies to ever get her liver replaced with an artificial one. Many of her other organs would soon follow, including her heart, kidneys, and lungs. Grandma V’s use of artificial organs kept the rest of her body in relatively good shape, hell; she would probably live for the next twenty years.

‘Well fine, if you want to go, go ahead... I won’t stop you’, Grandma V said with a sigh. ‘I’ll just stay here... all alone... by myself... like I’ve done for every day since my late husband died...’ she added, laying on the guilt.

Sparky sighed. ‘I hate it when you do that’.

‘I know you do’, Grandma V said with her mad mare grin.

‘I do need to finish up some work before the Republic Day holiday weekend... but I PROMISE, we’ll spend some time together over the holiday weekend, I promise!’

Grandma V smiled brightly at Sparky. ‘Aww I knew you cared! You’re such a good filly! Well go on then! I’ll clean up breakfast!’

Sparky smiled back at her. ‘I love you Grandma, even if you drive me crazy sometimes’.

‘You better believe I do! I’m your grandmother! It’s my job!’ Grandma V said with a smile.

Sparky waved goodbye to her grandmother and went outside their house, stepping onto the street. She looked up towards the east as the sun began to rise; light glistened off the skyscrapers of the Ponyville skyline. She looked up as she heard the distinct hum of a passenger zeppelin passing over head. Sparky and her grandmother technically lived in a suburb of Ponyville, and not in the actual city itself. The suburb of Freetown, one of the best residential districts of metropolitan Ponyville, Grandma V had told her a number of times that Freetown had once been occupied by a gigantic wooded area known as the Everfree Forest. Before the foundation of the Republic, everyone in Ponyville was supposedly afraid of the forest, which Sparky thought was completely ridiculous. Though, she did suppose that there was something to the fear, because she remembered a certain event from history class in school. ‘The pacification of the Everfree Forest’, which took place in Year 18 of the Republic, though history wasn’t Sparky’s best subject, and she couldn’t recall the specifics.

Sparky walked over to towards the street, where her automobile, a Cord Perfecto SUV, was parked, she walked up towards the right-leg door and waved her MIP across it to unlock it. She opened the door and climbed inside, starting it up and bringing the holographic controls.

A small red orb popped up on the dash board, Sparky looked over to it and smiled. ‘Good morning HALP!’ she said.

‘Good morning Sparky, how are you this morning?’ the red orb asked in return. HALP stood for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Pilot. The standard Virtual Intelligence installed in all automobiles, for use in remote piloting. Her particular HALP was of the 9000 series, the top of the line and the most accurate when it came to remote navigation.

‘I’m doing well thanks, go ahead and link us into SatNAV, I need to go over some things on the drive in to Ponyville’, Sparky said.

‘Certainly’, HALP 9000 said. ‘Destination?’

‘FutureTec Headquarters’, Sparky said.

‘Affirmative’, HALP said as the automobile began to move, moving into the left lane and driving into town. Sparky sat back in her seat, fastened her safety harness, and enjoyed the ride while she pulled up some music for the drive in.

Sun is shinin' in the sky There ain't a cloud in sight It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play And don't you know It's a beautiful new day hey,hey...

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

...Runnin' down the avenue. See how the sun shines brightly in the city on the streets where once was pity. Mister blue sky is living here today hey, hey...

Sparky bobbed her head along with the music as the autopilot for her car drove her onto the motorway, getting into the right leg fast lane and heading north east through downtown Ponyville. She loved this song, and when the chorus came up, she couldn’t help but sing along.

‘Mister blue sky please tell us why you had to hide away for so long?’

So long?

‘Where did we go wrong?’ Sparky sang. Fortunately for her, no one else was in the car, because she could not sing. Not in the slightest. Grandma V would always like to joke that Sparky had inherited her musical ability from her late husband’s side of the family. Grandma V and her late husband had both been musicians when they were younger. Grandma would always tease her husband that he had no talent and that she had married him out of pity.

Suddenly the music stopped as her mobile phone began to ring. Sparky looked down at her MIP, bringing up the holographic interface and holding it over her car’s dashboard, transferring the call over to the car’s onboard computer.

She answered the call, the holographic display bringing up an image of the person on the other end. Sparky smiled when she saw who it was. ‘Commodore Heartstrings! What a pleasant surprise... little early to be calling isn’t it?’ she asked.

‘Probably, but I saw that you were online, and it’s kind of important’, said the small holographic image of the pony that she was speaking to. ‘And don’t start with this ‘Commodore Heartstrings’ thing, we’ve known each other far too long for that, for you? It’s just Dula’.

Sparky couldn’t help but smirk. Sparky had grown up living next door to Dula Heartstrings, like her, Dula was a unicorn. The two of them had been friends for as long as she could remember, even though Dula was quite a bit older than she was. Dula’s family had a history of public service going back to the founding of the republic. After finishing High School, Dula joined the Equestrian Republican Navy and rose through the officer’s ranks on a fast track to her rank of Commodore.

‘What can I do for you Dula?’ Sparky asked.

‘I’m getting stonewalled for information by FutureTec on the Discovery project every time I request an update. It seems like every time someone says we're moving towards a paperless society, I have five more forms that I need to fill out to request that someone will look at my request for information on the project’, Dula said with a sigh. ‘Damn bureaucracy’.

‘The Discovery Project?’ Sparky asked as she thought about it. The Discovery Project was the culmination of the Republic’s space exploration programme. The goal of the project was simple, the first manned mission to Tartarus, one of the gas giants that orbited their sun, and what was probably a more important achievement, the furthest any pony had ever been from their home world. Several months ago when the craft launched, her department at work had been ordered to drop everything that they were doing, in order to provide tracking and support information for the crew of the Discovery One space craft. It made sense that Dula was calling her, ordinarily, Sparky would have agreed to the request, Dula was an old friend after all, but this... this was something that could get her fired. ‘When you say it’s important... is it the Praesidium?’ Sparky asked.

‘It’s always the Praesidium’, Dula said with a nod.

‘You don’t think that they’re going to try something, do you?’ Sparky asked with a grimace.

‘They’re up to something, haven’t heard anything since Discovery One passed beyond real time communications range, we’re worried that the Praesidium might have hijacked the ship... honestly? It’s not out of the realm of possibility’.

Sparky grimaced at the idea. Around the same time as the founding of the Equestrian Republic, in their world’s western hemisphere, another nation rose in the east. The Unified Praesidium of Socialist Republics arose after a popular revolt overthrew the autocratic Cossack Confederation. At first, the Equestrian Republic had not only applauded the change in government, thinking that the Cossacks would be moving to a democratic system of government just like they had, they fully supported them. It was only when they realised that the individual leading the revolts, Vasily Dzhugashvili, was not only an autocrat himself, but worse than any Czar had ever been. Under his rule more than six hundred thousand Cossack ponies had been executed by the state. This alarmed the Equestrian Republic into reconsidering their relationship with the Praesidium, and the two nations experienced cold relations and mutual distrust ever since.

In recent years, however, the relationship between the Praesidium and the Equestrian Republic had cooled significantly. Enough that both governments were willing to work with each other on the Discovery Project, as their space programmes were the most advanced on the planet. It had been something of an embarrassment to the Republic that the Praesidium had beaten them to every major milestone in space. Who launched the first artificial satellite into orbit? The Praesidium. Who put the first pony in space? The Praesidium. Who put the first pony on the moon? Once again, the Praesidium, the Equestrian Republic was never far behind, but that was just it. They were behind. Always behind, and it seemed impossible for them to catch up no matter how hard they tried.

This was to be different with the Discovery Project, the first manned mission to Tartarus, and even then, half the crew aboard the Discovery One space craft were Praesidium cosmonauts. Sparky could understand Dula’s fears that the Praesidium would try to take another major accomplishment out from under them.

‘I’ll do what I can Dula’, Sparky said.

‘I appreciate that Sparky, I really do, let me know when you’ve got something. Heartstrings out’, Dula said with a polite nod as the holographic image of her dissolved as the call ended.

Sparky looked out the window as her car piloted itself into the left lane, taking the off ramp into Whitetail, Ponyville’s industrial centre, and the location of FutureTec’s Whitetail Industrial Complex. Within a few moments, her car pulled up to FutureTec’s gates. Sparky rolled down the window and ran her MIP over a small scanner to open the gate. The gate popped open in response to her positive identification as an employee, and the car rolled inside and over to her parking space.

FutureTec’s Whitetail Industrial Complex had one time been a forest as well. Before the foundation of the Republic, the area had been known as Whitetail Wood, and had no other purpose than harvesting tree sap for making maple syrup. Sparky looked up towards the skyline. Even with all of the buildings that lined the sky, she could still see the mountains.

In the olden days before the Republic, the Equestrian capital was located in the mountains north east of her present location. The city had been built into the side of the mountain, and had been called Canterlot. When the princesses were over thrown, Canterlot’s supports were weakened to the point of breaking, causing the entire city to literally fall down upon Whitetail Wood below. The resulting fires burned Whitetail Wood to the ground. FutureTec bought up all the land, cleared out the rubble of the city, and built the Whitetail Industrial Complex on top of it.

FutureTec was founded in the early days of the republic, and quickly became one of the largest manufacturers, not only in Equestria, but in the entire world. FutureTec’s manufacturing made it possible for the Republic to spring up as it did. Before the Republic, Equestria was a preindustrial absolute monarchy, and after the Republic was founded Equestria’s rapid industrialisation took them from backward society to the cutting edge of technological prowess.

Sparky found it hard to believe that with FutureTec on their side that the Praesidium still beat them into space. Sparky shut down her car and went outside, trotting over towards the main entrance. She pushed open the glass doors and stepped inside, the blast of air conditioning chilled her entire body, causing her to shiver. It was still quite warm outside even though the sun had barely risen. The room of the main entrance was a small one, containing only a receptionist’s desk along on the eastern wall, and a few rows of chairs for visitors waiting to speak to someone in the company on the western wall. The receptionist had yet to get in, so Sparky payed the room little mind. Along the northern wall was a single personnel lift. Sparky trotted up to it and waved her MIP over the lift’s control console, unlocking the lift and opening the door for her. She stepped inside, allowing the door to shut behind her. A small holographic console popped up before her showing every stop the elevator had. She tapped on the button for her floor, and watched as the holographic display disappeared and the elevator began to move.

The feel of the elevator dropping as it sped to the bottom floor of the complex, several dozen metres underground, really got her blood moving. Soon enough the elevator door opened up and Sparky stepped outside into a large metal room filled with holographic display terminals.

On the far side of the room a large holographic sign that read in bold white letters: ‘Welcome to FutureTec Discovery Project Command Centre! We’ve gone 154 days without a workplace accident!’

Sparky watched as the holographic sign ticked over, it now said 155 days, and she smiled. Her job was like her second home, and it felt good to be home.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Sparky took a seat at one of the control consoles, bringing up the holographic displays in the control room, and logging herself into FutureTec’s intranet. The control room was deserted with the exception of her. There was usually someone here all hours of the day, but Sparky figured that whoever was supposed to be here was probably taking a coffee break.

Sparky glanced around her, making sure the room really was empty. It was.

Her console would be able to communicate with Discovery One, she could send a message to them if she liked; she could find out if they were all okay for Dula.

Sparky glanced over her shoulder again, satisfied, she began to tap at the holographic display with her hooves, sliding bits of the hologram around to key in the radio transmitter.

‘Uh... Discovery One? This is Command and Control requesting a status update... eleven-forty-five Rennich Mean Time’, Sparky said, and closed out her transmission and sent it along. Even with the transmission signal being at the speed of light, it would be quite some time before she could even think of getting a response. Using projected data from Discovery One’s plotted course, the ship was about 2 astronomical units away from the planet, approximately 300,000,000 kilometres away. Her signal would take about twenty minutes to reach the ship, and then they would have to listen to it and make a response and send it back, all in all, would take about thirty minutes. Talking to someone over such long distances was a pain, and took forever.

‘Command and Control? Discovery One’.

Sparky nearly jumped in her seat, Discovery One, was speaking, to her! No, she had just sent a message to them that wouldn’t be arriving for another twenty minutes. This message had to have been sent some time ago.

‘At approximately oh-three-fifty, on July 7th, year 100 of the Republic, onboard ship Virtual Intelligence detected a fault in our ship’s communication signal booster, it informed us that the signal booster was about to fail, due to this, Cosmonaut Anatoliy Leninov went outside to replace it. He brought the faulty one back in and... well we spent the last few hours examining it, but damned if we can’t find something wrong with it! The VI then recommended putting the ‘faulty’ unit back into operational use, and allowing it to fail, and then we can see what went wrong... if something goes wrong, that’s a big IF. I’m sure you see the implications of this C&C. The VI is a computer. Computers don’t do ‘ifs’. They aren’t supposed to make mistakes. If we put this thing back and it DOESN’T fail... we might have a serious problem up here. Mission Commander Ice Wind, eleven-twenty-three Rennich Mean Time’.

Sparky blinked, well, at least now she knew why Discovery One had gone quiet. She began looking over the data sent in by Discovery One closely and feeding it to the project’s onsite VI for analysis. She keyed in the communications array and began her reply.

‘Uh... Discovery One? C&C, disregard my last... Uh well, it’s good to hear you guys are all right up there...’ Sparky said with a pause as the data analysis from the Command and Control VI flashed across her display, she glanced over it for a moment, discovering that the C&C VI agreed with Discovery One’s VI recommendation. ‘Uh... I fed the project’s planet side VI the data you sent... and it... uh, it agrees with your VI’s recommendation, so... uh... go ahead and take the signal booster and put it back. Keep us apprised of what happens... and... good luck up there, eleven-fifty Rennich Mean Time’.

‘Sparky!’ Someone from behind her shouted, causing her to jump out of her seat in terror and fall back on the floor. Sparky was in trouble, she knew it, and she began to panic. She was only a junior systems analyst, technically speaking, she didn’t have the proper authority to respond to the message from Discovery One. Proper procedure would have been to go get a supervisor or a senior systems analyst, and then have them read off the recommendation given by the onsite VI.

Sparky’s fears, however were alleviated when the voice that had shouted at her turned to laughter, and her own fear turned to anger. ‘SHORTFUSE!’ She cried out as she rose to her hooves. ‘That is not funny!’

Sparky looked over to the door, standing in the doorway, hunched over, laughing hysterically was a cyan coated pegasus mare with a messy verdant green and purple mane, she began to wheeze and cough as she tried to get her laughing under control. ‘It’s... it’s a little funny!’ she said.

Sparky growled loudly in annoyance. She knew this mare; she had the unfortunate pleasure of calling her ‘best friend’. Shortfuse Skydancer was a FutureTec software engineer, and one of the fastest non-unicorn typists that she had ever seen at twenty three words per minute. She and Sparky had been best friends since grade school; the two of them were inseparable... for some reason, because they were almost the complete opposite of each other.

While Sparky was quiet, reserved, and something of a perfectionist, Shortfuse was loud, obnoxious, and incredibly lazy. She would prefer to lie back in her cubicle and take a nap then actually do the work assigned to her.

That was not to say that Shortfuse was not intelligent. Sparky hated to admit it, but when it came to brains, Shortfuse had one of the best ones in the entire company, and despite the fact that she left all her work for the almost literal last minute, she always did get it done on time.

What was probably the biggest difference between Sparky and Shortfuse were their lifestyles. Shortfuse was a party girl, while Sparky was more likely to spend her evenings at home reading a book, watching something educational on television, or browsing the internet.

‘Go away Shortfuse!’ Sparky snapped at her.

‘Aww... you... you’re really... mad aren’t you?’ Shortfuse asked between gasps for air. ‘I’m sorry!’

‘Go away Shortfuse!’ Sparky repeated.

‘Okay! Okay!’ Shortfuse said as she wiped a tear from her eye. ‘Okay! I’m going! I’ll see you later tonight!’

Later tonight? What was she talking about? Sparky couldn’t help but wonder. Clearly the expression on her face communicated what she was thinking, as Shortfuse gave her a look just as strange in return.

‘Oh come on, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what today is?’ Shortfuse asked.

‘Uhh... Thursday?’ Sparky asked. Well, it was Thursday... Thursday July 8th Year One hundred of the... Oh.

‘It’s my birthday you arse!’ Shortfuse said with a scowl, which promptly turned to a grin. ‘Jeeze, I must have scared half your brain cells to death’.

‘Get out Shortfuse!’ Sparky cried out giving her the dirtiest look she could possibly imagine.

Shortfuse couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘Heh, maybe my parents should have named ME Sparky, and yours should have named YOU Shortfuse, because you’ve sure as hell got a short one! Bye Sparky! See you later tonight!’ She said, adding a patronising wave as she walked away from the room.

‘I hate you so much!’ Sparky called after her.

‘I know! It’s glorious!’ Shortfuse returned from the hallway.

Sparky sighed; she picked herself back up off the floor and back to her desk. In truth, she felt guilty, how could she have forgotten about Shortfuse’s birthday? The two had only talked about what they’d be doing tonight yesterday at lunch. Her conversation with Dula must have taken up more of her mind than she thought.

On the plus side, she had something positive to report to Commodore Heartstrings. While she couldn’t give out specifics, not without getting fired, she could tell Dula that the crew of Discovery One were all right, that all of the crew members were healthy and accounted for. That took a lot off her mind, and that meant a lot. Sparky looked back down at her console and looked over everything she had to do, realising that there was far more here than she had originally anticipated. She looked up at the clock on the wall, and nearly jumped again when she discovered that it read twelve hundred. She kicked herself for being stupid. All the clocks in the command and control centre were set to Rennich Mean Time, which was five hours ahead of the local time. Rennich being a town that the prime meridian passed through, in the United Kingdom of Welara where the idea of time zones was first proposed.

Enough distractions! She had work to do, and it was time to get started on it. Sparky opened up her holographic interface and dove head first into her work.

...

Sparky looked up from her work. She was close to being done and she had to have been making great time! She looked over at the clock to discover that it was 1959 RMT. Sparky’s eyes widened. Damn! when she got focused, she got focused! The clock struck 2000, 1500 local time, and that meant that it was time to go home.

She hadn’t even taken her lunch break! Now that she was thinking about it, and looking down at her stomach, feeling it rumble in desire of food, made her glad that it was time to go home. After all, she needed to get ready to head out with Shortfuse for her birthday!

Sparky closed up everything and logged out of her terminal, watching as the holographic display evaporated into the air. She pulled up her own MIP and began scrolling through it until she found her mobile phone function; she dialled the number she wished to call, setting it for audio only.

The phone rang for a few moments as Sparky pulled an earpiece out of the pocket of her utility vest and bringing up and sticking it into her ear with telekinesis. Eventually the phone picked up. ‘Dula! I’ve got good news...’

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

‘... yeah, I’m back at my car now, hang on a tick!’ Sparky said as she waved her MIP over the driver side door to unlock it. Sparky climbed inside and started the car up. As the holographic controls light up, Sparky reached over to the dashboard, holding the MIP over it and transferring the call into her car’s onboard computer.

‘HALP? Take us home please’, Sparky asked politely.

‘Of course Sparky’, the VI said in return as the car began to move.

Sparky turned her attention back to her call; a small holographic image of Dula Heartstrings had appeared on her dashboard, waiting patiently on hold for her to pick back up. After tapping at the console, Dula’s head turned towards her.

‘That’s for holding on’, Sparky said.

‘No problem’, Dula said as she adjusted her Republican Navy peaked cap. ‘Are you sure you can’t tell me anything more specific?’

Sparky sighed and shook her head. ‘Dula, I can’t, that’ll get me fired, I’m already going to get in trouble for talking to the crew as it is’.

‘You... talked? To the crew?’ Dula asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Well, sort of talked, considering the time lag... they sent some data to be analysed, which I fed to the project VI, the VI gave recommendations, and I sent a message of the recommendation. Procedure would have been to get a senior systems analyst to come and read off the information, but instead, I read it off myself’, Sparky said.

‘You’re going to get into trouble for that? Doesn’t seem that bad if you’re just reading something off’, Dula asked raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

‘Yeah’, Sparky said, nodding her head in affirmation ‘I understand the idea of the procedure, it’s to keep anyone with a microphone from sending bad instructions... but I was just reading off the VI’s recommendations... and they kind of needed a response as soon as possible so...’ Sparky stopped herself, realising that she was about to let out more than she should. She looked back over at Dula’s hologram, the commodore was clearly waiting for her to slip up and say what she wanted to know. Sparky frowned at her friend. ‘Why do you want to know so badly?’ she asked.

Dula sighed. ‘The mission commander, Ice Wind? She’s an officer in the Republican Navy... we served together on the frigate ERS Thunderchild... and she’s a friend. I know she can handle herself, she trained for this mission, but unlike the open air, space is cold and unforgiving, especially for a pegasus. I appreciate the help, even though you couldn’t give me any specific information, knowing that they’re all fine... well, it’s not enough, but it’ll have to do until I get in through the proper channels, by that time the crew will have already returned home!’ Dula added with a chuckle. ‘Oh, and before I forget, be sure to tell Shortfuse Skydancer happy birthday, from me. Heartstrings out’, Dula finished with a polite nod as her hologram faded from view.

...

The rest of Sparky’s ride home was rather uneventful. While the number of cars on the road had skyrocketed thanks to the first shift letting out for full time employees, start and stop traffic jams were a relic of the past, onboard computer control linked to Ponyville’s traffic grid gave the automatic pilots the knowledge of how fast to go, what distance to maintain from the car in front, and when to start slowing down. SatNAV control was particularly important during peak hours. In fact, it was illegal to not use autopilots during the rush; as a result, motorways were incredibly safe and efficient means of transport.

Of course, there were occasions that some idiot would cause an accident for driving on the motorway without using the autopilot. These were rare, but when they did happen, they were devastating. The last time this had happened that Sparky knew of had been five years ago, and resulted in a hundred and fifty car pileup. The guilty party eventually received a sentence of twenty years in prison for dangerous criminal negligence, resulting in the deaths of five individuals, the worst such event in the history of the republic.

Sparky turned on her radio, finding herself in the middle of a song.

‘But the film is a saddening bore. Because I wrote it ten times or more! It's about to be writ again. As I ask you to focus on... sailors fighting in the dance hall. Oh man! Look at those cavemen go! It's the freakiest show... Take a look at the lawman! Beating up the wrong guy! Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know... He's in the best selling show...’

Sparky hummed along with the song as it played, closing her eyes and bobbing her head to the music. Suddenly her car powered down, and the music stopped playing, Sparky opened her eyes to discover that she was home. ‘You need to pay more attention’, Sparky said quietly to no one in particular as she opened up the door and hopped outside, trotting up to her front door and waving her MIP over a security panel to unlock the door. What a wonderful device, her MIP was. Whatever would she do without it?

Sparky pushed open the door and stepped inside. ‘Grandma V! I’m home!’ she called out.

‘Oh good!’ Grandma V called back from the living room. Sparky entered the room to discover her grandmother lying down on the sofa reading a book. A real, honest book printed on paper. Now those were rare. Mainstream books hadn’t been printed on paper in nearly thirty years. There were still a few hold out publishers that printed on paper for ponies that still preferred them. Nowadays, most ponies would get books by paid download via their internet to their MIP, otherwise, for the individual who preferred the feel of being able to hold something in their hooves, but couldn’t afford a book printed on paper, had the option of reading a holo book. While based on the same principles of holography used in computers and personal controls for cars, holo books, when opened, brought up a holographic display with the words printed on it. Add the perfect amount of contrast, and many people wouldn’t be able tell the difference between a paper book and a holo book by just looking at it. Holo books even had pages that could be turned. Obviously, these were marketed for nostalgia purposes, and while not as expensive as actual paper books, could certainly cost the user quite a bit of money, depending on the title of course.

‘Hi Grandma’, Sparky said as she gave her a hug.

‘Hello Sparky!’ Grandma V said, giving her one in return. ‘Shortfuse stopped by not long after you went to work and dropped something off for you for tonight’.

Sparky raised an eyebrow in confusion. ‘Um... pardon? It’s Shortfuse’s birthday and she’s giving me something? I didn’t think that’s how it worked...’

‘Oh I said the same thing, but she did say that seeing you with it would be gift enough’, Grandma V said with her mad mare grin.

Sparky looked at her grandmother nervously. ‘Grandma I’m scared now...’

‘Oh relax! It’s nothing bad!’ Grandma V said with a grin. ‘I put it upstairs on your bed; you should go up and take a look’.

Now Sparky was more worried. She reluctantly trotted over to the stairs and went up into her room. Inside she found that the item in question sitting on her bed was a small white box. She picked up the box with her telekinesis and opened it up and discovered a dress neatly folded up inside. Sparky sighed out of relief. Knowing Shortfuse, she had expected it to be some kind of practical joke, like a boxing glove on a spring that would punch her in the face when the box opened up. Jokes like that were things that Shortfuse found funny.

Sparky set the box back on her bed and started undoing the buttons of her utility vest, and allowing it to slide off onto the floor. She then pulled the dress out of the box and began to put it on, which would have been a major miracle had she been any race but unicorn, as the dress had a number of bows that she had to tie to hold it in place. She finished putting the dress on and was about to head into the washroom to take a look in the mirror to see how she looked, when something about the box itself caught her eye. She picked it up and examined it closely, discovering a brand label.

Carousel Boutique.

Sparky didn’t claim to know a lot about fashion; actually, she knew practically nothing about it. She knew what she liked, and allowed for form to follow function in choosing what she wore. She did know, however, that Carousel Boutique was a high end, international brand, this dress had been expensive. Ordinarily, Sparky would have refused to take it, citing that it cost too much, especially to be given to her. Shortfuse had probably realised this, and the image of her waiting around Sparky’s house for countless hours, staying out of plain sight, and waiting until Sparky went to work in order to drop it off, to ensure that it couldn’t be refused, popped into her head. Sparky realised that she had no choice but to wear it.

Sparky trotted into the washroom and looked at herself in the mirror, discovering the full nature of the dress. It was a skimpy, black, club dress, and it showed off quite a bit, more than she would have liked.

Ordinarily, she would have refused to wear something like this... but it was Shortfuse’s birthday... which she had forgotten about... she owed her.

She’d wear it, but she had a feeling that tonight was not going to be going how she thought it would.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sparky slowly and carefully trotted down the stairs from her room to discover the sound of voices from the living room. The first one belonging to Grandma V, of course, and the other belonged to Shortfuse. Sparky slowly trotted into the room and looked around. Grandma V looked up at her from her spot on the sofa and grinned.

‘Ha! Told you she’d wear it! Pay up!’ Grandma V jeered at Shortfuse.

Shortfuse turned around to discover that Sparky was indeed wearing the dress that she’d dropped off and let out a sigh. ‘Fine’, she hissed towards Grandma V, as opening up her bag and pulled out a five Equestrian Pound note and pushing it over towards her.

Grandma V took the note in her telekinesis and stuffed it into a small jar sitting on the table besides the sofa before getting up and walking over to her Granddaughter.

‘You two bet on me!?’ Sparky cried out.

‘Yeah, on whether or not you’d actually wear the dress. I THOUGHT I was making the safe bet by saying you wouldn’t...’ Shortfuse said, muttering several more statements of annoyance under breath.

Grandma V merely chuckled. ‘Goes to show you, nothing ventured, nothing gained’, she said with a grin as looked Sparky over. ‘Well, now, to quote an old friend of mine... “You look smashing! Darling!”’ Grandma V said with a grin, and raising the pitch of her voice a few octaves.

Sparky looked at her grandmother oddly as she continued to grin at her. ‘You still bet on me...’

‘Hey, I’m the one who had faith in you that you’d step out of your comfort zone!’ Grandma V said continuing to grin. ‘Anyway... you girls have fun tonight, I’ll be seeing you...’ she added as she trotted off into the kitchen.

Shortfuse rose from her seat, still looking somewhat annoyed at what had just happened. She too, was wearing a dress, a red one not unlike the one that Sparky was wearing. ‘Hey Sparky... ready to go?’

‘Almost’, Sparky said as she took a deep breath and jabbed Shortfuse in the flank with one of her hind legs as she passed.

‘Ow! Hey!’ Shortfuse cried out

‘That’s for being a jerk’, Sparky said calmly. A smug look appeared on her face. ‘Now, were exactly are we going?’

‘Oh... you’ll see’, Shortfuse said simply. ‘You’ll see’.

...

Sparky never liked riding in Shortfuse’s car. It was a nice, sure, but she didn’t really like it. Shortfuse drove a Volkssturm 811, a luxury sports car import. Because it was an import, it was configured for right hoof traffic, while the roads in Equestria were set up for left hoof traffic.

Ordinarily, that wouldn’t matter because even imports had VI controlled autopilots. There wasn’t anything keeping these kinds of cars from being illegal. The problem with the autopilot in Shortfuse’s car was that she never used it, even now while they were on the motorway. While it was no longer the peak hours, and she could legally operate the car herself, it did not mean that Sparky wasn’t terrified of Shortfuse’s driving.

Sparky looked over to her friend as she expertly adjusted the sliding holographic panels on her control console as she manoeuvred the car from lane to lane and took the turns in the motorway a little faster than she would have liked. Shortfuse loved this car because it was fast, and she was certainly going fast, Sparky caught a glimpse of the speedometer, it read 125 kilometres per hour. The legal limits were 110.

Sparky knew better than to say anything about it, asking Shortfuse to slow down would have her speeding up, the best Sparky could do was just sit here and hope that Shortfuse didn’t decide to go faster.

Sparky felt gravity began to press down upon her; the car had started into an upward climb and she looked out the window trying to see where they were going. The motorway had taken them out of Ponyville’s limits and now they were headed north east up a hill towards the mountains.

‘Where are we going?’ Sparky asked.

‘Canton’, Shortfuse said.

‘What’s in Canton?’ Sparky asked.

‘You’ll see’, Shortfuse said.

After the Princesses had been overthrown, and Canterlot had fallen down onto Whitetail Wood, it was decided that a new city would be built in its place. Canton was that replacement. The mountain that Canterlot had been built into was no longer there, at least, not really. Construction crews flattened it out into a plateau. Though it would never achieve the prestige or importance of its predecessor, and it couldn’t grow as large as Ponyville had, Canton was still an important financial centre. Home to the Canton stock exchange, Canton was one corner of the Equestrian Rhombus, the term for the four major financial cities of Equestria, at the top corner was Manehattan, where the high end corporations had their headquarters. The next two corners were Ponyville, the home of Equestrian manufacturing, and Canton, with the stock exchange, of course. And the corner opposite Manehattan was Fillydelphia, the second most important warm water port in the entire world, to carry Equestrian goods across the vast oceans to markets abroad.

To Sparky’s relief, Shortfuse began to slow down when they hit the Canton city limits. Canton was quite a bit smaller than Ponyville, and because of a lack of new building space on the artificial plateau, the city was a one hundred per cent planned city, horizontal space was rare, so instead of building out, Canton was forced to build up. Every so often, an entire building would be torn down and a newer, taller one would be built in its place in order to house more ponies. As a result, it was very expensive to live here, and so, not very many did. Canton’s permanent population was about fifty thousand, as opposed to Ponyville’s population of four and a half million.

Shortfuse’s car began to slow as they reached their destination. She looked over to her dashboard and spoke aloud to it. ‘Pilot? Up and at em!’

The car’s VI popped up on the holographic display, Sparky rubbed her eyes making sure that what she saw before her was actually before her. Then she remembered, this car was an import and the VI was in the form of a Schäferhund.

‘Ja fräulein Shortfuse?’ the VI asked.

‘Find a parking space and send it to my MIP, please’, Shortfuse said as she opened her door in front of their destination.

‘Ja fräulein Shortfuse!’ the VI said. Sparky too got up from her seat and stepped outside. Schäferhund were a race of dire wolf like canines native to eponymous nation Bundesrepublik Schäferhund, on the continent of Europa across the ocean. It made sense that the default auto pilot VI would appear as a Schäferhund, as the car was Schäferhund in origin, but Shortfuse was a computer programmer. Why would she keep the default?

‘I keep it because it’s funny’, Shortfuse said.

Sparky opened her mouth to ask how she knew what she was going to ask.

‘You’re so easy to read, Spark’, Shortfuse said with a grin, causing Sparky to close her mouth.

She looked up at where they were. ‘We’re at a bar?’ Sparky asked unenthusiastically.

‘No... this is a club, where there will be much drinking and dancing!’ Shortfuse said. ‘And you will be having fun, even if I have to kill you to do it’, Shortfuse added with a grin.

She led the way inside; Sparky found that she was inside a large, dimly lit room with a smoky atmosphere. Strobe lights flashed in sync with the heavy bass of the music, Sparky felt as if her brain was being rattled with each passing step as she followed Shortfuse over towards the bar.

‘Bartender! I will have two of your strongest!’ Shortfuse asked of the smoke coloured earth pony bartender, practically shouting at him over the music.

‘Our strongest is the Pan Equestrian Gargle Blaster. Would you like to reconsider?’ the bartender asked. Shortfuse’s eyes widened at the statement, Sparky was confused, she hadn’t the faintest idea what that even was.

‘Bartender! I will have two of your second strongest!’ Shortfuse shouted back.

‘Good choice!’ the Bartender shouted back as began to skilfully mix a drink with his hooves. Sparky had to admit as she watched him, that as an earth pony without telekinesis, his ability to make Shortfuse’s drink was quite impressive.

Sparky realised something, this gargle thingy was a drink that Shortfuse refused to drink. This was her chance to show her up. The bartender looked over to her. ‘And what can I get for you?’ he asked.

‘I’m going to have the gargle thingy!’ Sparky shouted.

‘... Okay’, the bartender said as she poured her a drink.

Sparky took a look at it for a moment, inspecting the glass before taking a drink. She brought it under her nose and smelled, that turned out to be a mistake, her nose burned from the strong smell of alcohol, lemon, and... gold? Yes, it was gold!

‘You have no idea what that is, do you?’ The bartender asked.

‘Uh... no...’ Sparky said honestly, giving him a small shrug.

The bartender couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. ‘Then giving that to you was definitely irresponsible... and I totally don’t care, this is going to be hilarious’.

Sparky looked at him in confusion and was about ready to drink it when Shortfuse turned back around. ‘Sparky...? What is that?’ she asked.

‘Uh... gargle thingy?’ Sparky said with a shrug.

Shortfuse’s eyes widened again. ‘Sparky! No! Don’t drink that!’ she cried out.

Sparky looked at her and flared her nostrils in annoyance. She tilted the glass back and swallowed the entire thing in one gulp, simply out of spite.

‘Uh...’ Shortfuse said. ‘You probably shouldn’t have drank that so quickly...’

In an instant, Sparky became overwhelm with a feeling of intense pain, as if her brain had just been smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick, and she promptly passed out onto the floor.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Sparky groaned in pain as she slowly blinked her eyes. Her entire body ached and the light pouring into her eyes made her feel as if she was right next to Tau Ceti. No, that was silly, if she were next to the star that their world orbited, she'd be hot too.

Sparky slowly opened her eyes and sat up. She took a look at her surroundings, but it was a few moments before she realised that she was in her bedroom, lying in bed, clad in pyjamas. She was about to crawl out of bed before stopping herself. She realised that her... everything hurt. What the hell had happened last night?

Her eyes slowly scanned the room to discover that she was not the only one here. Shortfuse was asleep, lying up against one of her walls, and Grandma V had brought a comfortable chair up from the living room and was fast asleep in it. Sparky forced herself to roll out of bed, misjudging the distance to the edge of her bed, and fell onto the floor with a hard thump.

Shortfuse's eyes popped open and she let out a shriek of confusion, common to most people who fall asleep while standing up. Causing Grandma V to snap awake and let out a cry as well, she looked over to Sparky on the floor and smiled at her. 'Oh hey Sparky! You're awake! How do you feel?'

'My everywhere hurts', Sparky said plainly.

Grandma V couldn't help but chuckle. 'Ah, your first hangover, I remember my first hangover... well, that's not true. If I remembered it, it wouldn't be a real hangover', she said with a grin.

Sparky groaned as she pulled the blanket off her bed and wrapped herself up in it. Using every milligram of her strength to bring herself to her hooves, she rose up and glanced over to Shortfuse. A pang of guilt for what happened rang through her heart. She'd ruined the entire night. 'Hey... I'm... sorry for last night Shortfuse', she said softly.

'Eh, it wasn't a complete loss, after you passed out, one of the other bartenders came over and punched the jerk who gave you that drink out, and helped me carry you out to the car. He was cute and I got his number!' Shortfuse said with a grin. 'Though... next time, if I warn you not to drink something, there's a good reason why'.

'Yeah... I didn't particularly enjoy that...' Sparky said as she trotted over and gave Shortfuse a hug. 'Why does my mane hurt?'

'You are so hung over', Shortfuse said with a chuckle as she hugged in return.

Grandma V used her telekinesis to hover a glass of water over to her granddaughter. 'Here drink this, it'll help', she said.

'This'll make the pain go away?' Sparky asked.

'Heh, nope!' Grandma V said with a grin. 'That has to go away on its own, but staying hydrated is important in the long term'.

Sparky frowned as she took the glass of water, looking at it hurt her eyes. 'You could have just said “yes”, and given me something to look forward to'.

'Hmm... yes, I suppose I could have', Grandma V said, scratching her face in thought. 'Sparky, drink that, it'll make the pain go away', she added with a grin.

'Thanks Grandma V', Sparky said sarcastically as she drank the glass of water in one gulp. Say what you will, water felt great right now. 'I'm never drinking, ever again', Sparky decided adamantly.

'Good for you! Your liver will thank you', Grandma V said with a grin, she could speak from experience, after all, she was one of the first mares who ever had their liver replaced with an artificial version. The culmination of years of alcohol abuse, if anyone knew anything about the effects of Alcohol, it was Grandma V.

'I'm going to go take a shower, maybe see if I can't get anything productive done today', Sparky said.

'Good luck with that', Grandma V said with a grin. 'I'm going to go start breakfast, come on down when you're ready for it', Grandma V added as she waved to Shortfuse. The two of them headed down stairs, shutting the door behind them, Sparky sighed, as much as she got annoyed with the two of them, she loved them dearly. She took the blanket off her and used her telekinesis to put it on the bed, spreading it out and tucking the corners in for a nice and neat appearance. Just the way she liked it. Satisfied, Sparky trotted into her wash room, stripped off her pyjamas and started the shower up, allowing it a few seconds to warm up before stepping in herself.

The warmth running over her felt wonderful. She closed her eyes and stood still for a moment, breathing deeply, and taking the humid air into her lungs. Eventually she reached out for the shampoo bottle and squeezed some out onto her mane. She sat down on the shower floor and scrubbed her mane clean. Going through her normal routine was relaxing, and while everything still hurt, the warm water almost seemed to wash it all away. She took the liquid soap and the scrub brush and began to scrub the rest of herself clean. Despite only being at that club for a few minutes before passing out, the atmosphere of the place made her feel exceptionally dirty. It was a fair statement to say that her morning shower was the best part of the day. She loved scrubbing away any foreign particle that wasn't meant to be there, and she particularly liked the soft, clean feeling that she felt when she was finished.

Soon enough, the water began to cool, and Sparky realised it was time to finish up. She gave herself another once over, she turned off the water, and pulled open the shower curtain, grabbing a towel to dry herself off. While she still felt the effects of the hangover, the shower had made her feel a lot better. She stepped over towards her mirror, picking up her blow dryer and hairbrush in telekinesis, and styled her mane and tail back into its normal straightened shape. 'Much better!' she said, returning her towel to its proper place. She turned from side to side, admiring herself in the mirror, as she always did as a part of her routine.

But this time, she noticed something. Something was off. There was a grey spot on her. That wasn't soap, was it? She took the towel back and tried to wipe the spot off, however it did not come off. Sparky realised that something was wrong. Something had appeared on her flank that was not supposed to be there. She let out a scream as the realisation came that it wasn't something that she could just wipe off.

She heard the sound of hoof steps running up the stairs as the door to her bedroom burst open, and then the wash room shortly after that. It was Shortfuse, and by the sound of it, Grandma V wasn't far behind. Shortfuse noticed immediately what Sparky was freaking out about. 'What is that?' She asked, pointing to Sparky's flank.

'I... I don't know!' Sparky said, she started to panic, this was an unknown quantity, she didn't like it when the unexpected came at her at full force, and in this instance? It certainly had.

Grandma V reached the door to the wash room, peeking her head inside, she looked towards Sparky. 'Sparky? Are you alright?' she asked. Then she noticed the spot on Sparky's flank, her mouth fell open in shock, as if she knew what was going on. 'When did you get that?' she asked.

'I... I don't know!' Sparky cried out in terror. 'What is it?'

Grandma V slowly trotted into the washroom, clearing her throat and looking at her. 'Sparky... that's a cutie mark'.

Sparky looked back to the spot on her flank. A cutie mark? No, that couldn't be right! Sparky remembered learning about cutie marks in school, in the days before the Republic, everyone had one. They were supposed to display what each pony was good at, and help them to decide what to do with their lives.

Then, when the Princesses were overthrown, and Canterlot fell, every pony in Equestria's cutie marks disappeared. That was when the ponies of Equestria learned something about cutie marks that they had never known before that day. Cutie marks were a signifier, having one meant you were subjugated by the royal family. While it showed what you were good at, it also locked you into your place in society. Someone with a rubbish picking cutie mark would be destined to be a rubbish picker for their entire life. Cutie marks meant no social mobility.

Cutie marks, were little more than a mark of slavery to the system.

Sparky began to panic, why did she of all ponies get one!? No one had gotten a cutie mark in over a hundred years. Why her? Why now?

Sparky remembered something. Cutie marks came from the rule of the princesses. They had them first. If the princesses were the originators of them... then...

Sparky's eyes widened. 'Am I turning into a princess!?' She cried out, now she was in a full on panic. 'I don't want to be a princess! Equestria is a republic! Do you know what they'd do to me if I became a Princess! The police would come and they'd take me to prison! I don't want to go to prison for becoming a princess! Why is this happening to me?! Why...'

Suddenly, Sparky felt a smack across her face.

'You need to calm down!' Grandma V cried out. 'You are not turning into a princess, and you are not going to prison!'

'How do you know?!' Sparky cried out.

'Because I used to have a cutie mark, and I didn't turn into a princess', Grandma V said. 'A barred quaver. Now... let's take a look at yours', Grandma V said as she inspected Sparky's flank. She looked back at her granddaughter, giving her a deadpan look. 'Your cutie mark is a spark plug'.

Sparky looked back down at it, and got a good look at the mark on her flank for the first time. Indeed it was. 'That's... rather ironic', Sparky said.

'Not really, I knew a lot of ponies that had names similar to their cutie marks... now that I think about that, that's an odd thing, because we got our names way before we our cutie marks...' Grandma V said, thinking out loud to herself. She turned back to her granddaughter and gave her a warm, reassuring smile. 'I know this doesn't make sense, but we'll figure this out, calmly, and rationally. No need to panic! I'm going to go down to the public library and get every book on cutie marks that I can find. Shortfuse?' Grandma V said turning towards her. 'Keep an eye on my granddaughter'.

Shortfuse nodded her head in agreement, and stepped aside to let Grandma V pass. She took a look over at Sparky. 'Figure it out or no, you need to cover that up!' she said, pointing to the mark on Sparky's flank. 'Ponies see that, and they're going to start asking questions'.

Sparky nodded her head in agreement. She trotted out of the wash room and over to her wardrobe, opening it up to take a look and see what she could use to cover up. There wasn't much, most of the clothes that she owned were utility vests for her job. She didn't really have anything to cover her flanks... except for a set of large saddlebags sitting on the shelf closest to the bottom of the wardrobe. Those would have to do. She took out a vest and slipped it on, then carefully placed the saddlebags over her new cutie mark, obscuring it completely. This was going to be the best that she was going to do.

'That's the best that you can do?' Shortfuse asked with a sigh. 'I need to take you shopping'.

'Uh, hello? I'm in the middle of a crisis here and what you're thinking about is SHOPPING?' Sparky snapped at her.

'Hey, those saddlebags might work for now, but you're going to need other things to cover your flanks. So yeah, shopping is kind of important right now', Shortfuse said. 'Come on, let’s go get you something to cover up with', she added as she waved her over to the door.

Sparky sighed, looking down at the ground in shame and confusion, why was this happening to her?

'Spark? You okay?' Shortfuse asked.

'Can I... have a minute?' Sparky asked.

'Yeah... yeah, I'll be downstairs', Shortfuse said with a nod as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Sparky sat down on the floor. This wasn't fair, why was this happening to her? Of all people, why her? The regular, everyday junior systems analyst at FutureTec.

Sparky got to her hooves and pushed open her bedroom window. This wasn't fair! Why did this have to happen to her? She just wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.

Then an idea popped into the unicorn's head, and she leapt from the second storey window, enveloping herself in a telekinetic field, and allowing herself to gently float to the ground. She took off running. She didn't know why she was running, maybe trying to escape this mark on her flank. She didn't know where she was going, but Ponyville was a big place.

She just kept running, and running, and she didn't want to stop.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Dizzy led Sparky to her home in Old Towne. Sparky discovered that it was the first floor lobby of an abandoned estate, or at least, it had been at one time. The entire room looked to be run down, and everything in it cobbled together in a mishmash of random pieces, likely by Dizzy herself.

'It's not much, but its home... for now at least', Dizzy said as she used her telekinesis to remove her riot barding, allowing it to drop off her. She froze, realising that Sparky was still in the room and snatched it back up and haphazardly threw it back on. She looked back to Sparky with a look of embarrassment appearing on her face. 'I'm sorry... I'm just so used to being here by myself...'

Sparky offered her a polite smile. 'No, that's okay! This is your home, you don't need to worry about me, if you don't want to wear it, that's fine with me'.

Dizzy finished fastening her barding, and turned around towards her guest. 'No... I don't think you understand. We have rules about this. I just met you, it would be indecent...'

Sparky frowned; clearly this event had violated a major nephite norm. 'Well, it's okay, I'm willing to forget that you did it if you are', she said with a smile.

'Thanks', Dizzy said returning the smile with one of her own. She turned back around, removing her gun from her gear. She started by removing the clip, and ejecting the round already in the chamber. She put the bullet back into her gun's magazine and placed both of them on a table at the far end of the room.

It was a curious incident; Sparky didn't know anyone who owned a gun. Well, that wasn't completely true, Dula Heartstrings had one, but of course, she had one because she was in the military. 'Uh... forgive me if I'm being impertinent, but, aren't you a little young to have that?'

Dizzy looked over to her in confusion. 'What this?' She asked, holding up the gun in her telekinesis. 'No... besides, I've been training to use one of these for the past two years! Does it make you nervous?'

Sparky thought about it for a moment, if handled safely, a gun was as harmless as any other tool. “If handled safely” was the important phrase. She nodded her head in affirmation. 'I'm sorry, I just... well, I've never really been around them...'

'I understand', Dizzy said as she opened up a black box on the table and placed her gun inside.

'Um... Dizzy? You said you've trained for the last two years to use that? How old are you exactly?' Sparky asked.

'Just turned fifteen!' Dizzy said with a smile.

'Aren't you a little young to be out here on your own?' Sparky asked.

'A little, yeah, but not by much, we usually wait until we’re sixteen before heading out to do or missionary work', Dizzy said.

Sparky began to realise that she didn't really know that much about Dizzy. Her culture was completely alien to her. They might have lived in the same country their entire lives, but from this point? Dizzy might as well have been a schäferhund. The nephites were a religious group from the western part of the Equestrian Republic. Driven there during the times of the old monarchy because they went against the state religion that worshipped the princesses as if they were gods. They played a hand in the founding of the Equestrian Republic, their rifle pony corps making up the back bone of the new Republican Army. As time went by, the nephite rifle regiments of the Republican Army slowly became less and less associated with the nephites, and the Conservative Government under Prime Minister Big McIntosh muscled them out of the power structure all together in Year 18 of the Republic. Prime Minister McIntosh could not, however, forget that the nephites made the Republic possible, and granted the territories historically controlled by them autonomous status within the larger Equestrian Republic.

Other than that, Sparky didn't really know anything about Dizzy or her people.

'Everything okay?' Dizzy asked as she sat down on one of the room’s sofas. 'You can sit if you like, they're clean, I promise! I spent three weeks sterilising all the furniture I have here'.

Sparky nodded and sat down on the sofa next to Dizzy, smiling at her host for her hospitality.

'Is there anything I can offer you? I've got some milk in my refrigerator...' Dizzy said.

'I don't suppose you have any tea, do you?' Sparky asked.

Dizzy frowned and shook her head in disappointment. 'We're not allowed to have tea, because of the caffeine'.

Very different indeed.

'Sorry', Dizzy said with an apologetic shrug. 'It's just me out here; I don't have visitors, not before you anyway, so I've only got things that are for me'.

'You apologise a lot', Sparky said.

'Sorry', Dizzy said, completely on purpose, she couldn't help but grin. ‘There are a lot of misconceptions about nephites, and I just want to make sure that you feel comfortable and safe while you're here'.

Sparky smiled back at her. 'Thank you, you've been so kind to me, I can't thank you enough'.

'Oh I only did what any one of us would have done', Dizzy said, clearly trying to downplay what she had done. Maybe this was another part of nephite culture?

'Dizzy...?' Sparky asked. 'Would it be okay if I asked you some questions about the nephites?'

'Of course! Ask away!' Dizzy said.

Sparky's curiosity was getting the better of her. There wasn't a lot that she knew about nephites, she would have to pick her questions carefully, lest she offend her host.

'I'd like to know about the history of the nephites', Sparky said, figuring that it was a safe place to start.

'Certainly', Dizzy said. 'Nephites as you know them today are members of a religion founded by a pony named Silversmith in the year 297 before the Republic, one of God’s angels, named Nephi came down from heaven before Silversmith, and asked him to recover an artefact known as the Silver Plates'.

'Sounds easy enough', Sparky said.

'Silversmith said the exact same thing, then Nephi told him that the Silver Plates were in the possession of Princess Celestia', Dizzy said. 'Nephi said that Princess Celestia had stolen the Silver Plates from God, and Nephi asked him to recover them, so he broke into the Princesses’ archive and stole them in the middle of the night, and took them back to his town and read them'.

‘What did they say?’ Sparky asked.

Dizzy shrugged. ‘We don’t know, Silversmith showed them to several others in his town, and then they swore never to speak about what they read ever again. Whatever was on those plates, it was pretty bad... but despite all the bad things that were in them, there were good things as well. Silversmith copied down those parts of the Silver Plates, and then added in a bit more from other sources, then he returned the plates to Nephi and never saw or heard from the angel ever again, his writings would eventually be bound, published, and circulated as the Book of Nephi’.

‘Wow...’ Sparky said, listening intently to what Dizzy was saying.

‘Oh, it gets better, because the Royal Guard showed up not long afterwards looking for the plates. Long story short, Silversmith and his followers turned tail and ran for their lives, changed their names and began looking for a new home. Silversmith himself would be killed by the Royal Guard, but most of his followers escaped with their lives, they travelled to the far southwest where they established the settlement of Ashville in the...’ Dizzy’s voice began to trail off as she glanced out of the estate’s windows to see a car pulling up outside. A look of panic formed on her face and she looked back over to Sparky. ‘Please forgive me for this!’ she said as she enveloped Sparky in a telekinetic field and rolled her off the sofa and behind it.

‘Hey!’ Sparky cried out.

‘Shh!’ Dizzy shushed her as her front door was kicked open, falling off its hinges and coming down crashing onto the floor. Sparky stayed completely still as she heard voices begin to speak.

‘You didn’t have to do that!’ Dizzy cried out. ‘I left the door unlocked for you...’

‘This way’s more fun’, said the voice of the intruder. It was a mare’s voice; it had a deep, grand sound to it, like the intruder could have been moonlighting as an opera singer. ‘Plus, it makes it harder for you to hide anything from us, you’re not trying to hide anything from us, are you Dizzy?’

‘Of course not Detective Chief Inspector!’ Dizzy said.

‘Uh huh’, the mare who had been identified as Detective Chief Inspector said. Sparky froze, why would the police be here? ‘DC Hopely? Search the place!’ the Detective Chief Inspector added.

‘Of course ma’am’, said another mare’s voice, this one belonging to Detective Constable Hopely, Sparky froze as she heard hoofsteps approaching the sofa.

‘DCI Auditore... please, come on, this is my home! I’ve lived up to my end of the agreement!’ Dizzy said.

‘What’s the matter Dizzy? Afraid we’re going to come by and find you making out with one of the homeless clods you pick up off the street?’ DC Hopely sneered, causing Dizzy’s voice to become very quiet.

Suddenly, DC Hopely stuck her head around the sofa; she looked directly at Sparky lying on the floor. Sparky began to shake with terror, she had no idea what was going on. DC Hopely was an earth pony. Her coat was a dark grey, and her two tone mane was a forest green and a teal. The Detective Constable’s dark orange eyes looked directly at Sparky for a few seconds and then, in a completely unexpected move, she pursed her lips and shushed her.

Sparky looked at her in confusion as the Detective Constable pulled her head back from the sofa. ‘There’s nothing here Viola’, DC Hopely said.

‘I told you...’ Dizzy said.

‘Yes I suppose you did... ’DCI Auditore said. Sparky took a risk to peak out from around the sofa, catching her first glimpse of this DCI Auditore. Her coat was a dark pale yellow, her mane a light chestnut. But what stuck out most was the sly look in her purple eyes. Sparky watch as smacked Dizzy hard across the face with a back hoof motion, Sparky wanted to cry out as she watched Dizzy’s eyes begin to water. ‘That’s for wasting our time! The Serious and Organised Crime Group is busy enough as it is. You’re lucky I don’t bang you up for obstruction... nephite whore’.

Dizzy said nothing, unable to even look back at the DCI. ‘Come on Hopely, we’re leaving!’ Viola Auditore scoffed at her.

‘Coming Guv!’ Hopely said as she began to walk away, she stopped for a moment in front of Dizzy, mouthing an ‘I’m sorry’, before rushing to catch up with her boss.

Dizzy waited until they were out the door before picking it back up and placing it back on in its frame. She locked the door in order to keep it in place, and collapsed onto the floor and began crying her eyes out.

Sparky got up from behind the sofa and ran over to her. Sparky knelt down next to her and put her hoof on the nephite’s shoulder. ‘Hey, it’s okay! They’re gone now!’ she said.

Dizzy looked up at Sparky with a sniffle, grabbing the unicorn and pulling her close for a tight hug. She buried her face into Sparky’s chest and continued to cry. Sparky let her cry, holding her fellow unicorn close until, eventually, her tears dried up. Dizzy looked up to Sparky and gave her a small smile. ‘Thank you’, she said with a sniffle.

'Oh I only did what any one of us would have done', Sparky said, giving her a smile in return. ‘You want to tell me what that was all about?’

Dizzy looked back down towards the ground. ‘That was Detective Chief Inspector Viola Auditore, of the Ponyville Police Service Serious and Organised Crime Group, and possibly one of the most vile creatures to ever walk in this world... I’m sure this looked bad to you, but... but this is nothing compared to their usual harassment’.

Sparky frowned. ‘But... Serious and Organised Crime? Why are they bothering you?’

‘There are a lot of ponies in this neighbourhood that deal drugs for Kirsk Zazz; he’s a major crime boss... Serious and Organised Crime think I’m hiding drugs for the dealers in my home. They break down my door every couple of days, hoping to catch me with it’.

‘Why would they think that?’ Sparky asked.

‘Because I’m a convenient pony, I’m a Nephite, and I’m not popular. Serious and Organised Crime is a bigger problem in this city than drugs. They’re in league with Kirsk’s crime ring, everyone knows it, and everyone’s too scared to say anything. It won’t be long before they plant drugs in my home as an excuse to arrest me’, Dizzy said as she pulled her head back up from Sparky’s chest.

‘Is it really that bad?’ Sparky asked.

Dizzy nodded her head in affirmation.

‘Then why don’t you leave?’ Sparky asked.

Dizzy merely smiled at her. ‘This is what we do, when nephite children turn 16, they’re sent out into the world for missionary service for two years. Doesn’t matter where we go, or what we do, just as long as it helps others... most of my peers choose to stay closer to home, usually stopping at Las Pegasus or New Appleoosa, only a few come out this far, even fewer go beyond Ponyville’.

‘They... they just send you out into the world?’ Sparky asked, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, Dizzy might have acted mature for her age, but she was still a kid.

Dizzy smiled at Sparky. ‘Of course not! We spend five years learning everything we need to learn about living on our own in a big city, surviving in the wilderness, how to use a gun, how to grow your own food, or how to repair broken machines... a number of different subjects. We never know where missionary work will take us, so we need to be prepared! Plus, our family members give us presents, in the form of useful tools to take with us... like this for example’, Dizzy stood back up and trotted over to a bookshelf on the far side of the room, pulling something off it with her telekinesis and bringing it back over to show Sparky.

Sparky took a look at the device that Dizzy brought over. It was an MIP, an older model, sure, but still an MIP. ‘May I?’ Sparky asked.

‘Of course’, Dizzy said, handing the MIP over. ‘It doesn’t work... but it belonged to my grandmother, so I don’t have the heart to get rid of it’.

Sparky looked down and examined the MIP, it was pretty old. as she looked over it; she discovered that it was an AppleTec Mark VII. Very old! This model came out far before the use of holographic displays. This one had an LCD display, and actually had buttons ON the device itself, the menus were navigated by a click wheel. Much to Sparky’s disappointment, the screen itself said no signal.

She turned it upside down, and caught something out of the corner of her eye. She opened the locking brace and discovered something interesting. The FutureTec logo was stamped into it, and like her own, Dizzy’s MIP was FutureTec issue.

‘Learn something interesting?’ Dizzy asked.

‘Your MIP... its FutureTec issue!’ Sparky said.

‘It was my grandmother’s... I don’t know where she got it, she died when I was little’, Dizzy said. ‘But why does that matter if it’s FutureTec issue?’

‘It means that your MIP doesn’t work because of the jamming device!’ Sparky said.

‘Jamming device?’ Dizzy asked, looking at her guest in confusion.

‘Well, I’m assuming it’s a jamming device, because FutureTec MIPs operate on a remote uplink to a satellite in geosynchronous orbit over the city. Yours is FutureTec issue as well, so that means that something in the area is blocking our MIPs from sending a signal to the satellites, and vice versa!’ Sparky said getting excited. ‘I want to find where the signal is originating and shut it down!’

Dizzy smiled at Sparky warmly. ‘Oh? So that’s what you’re doing out here in Old Towne huh? Well, in that case, I’m going to help you! If you want... that is’.

‘Oh... well what about your missionary work?’ Sparky asked, not expecting Dizzy to want to drop everything to come help her on a crazy mission to deactivate some jamming device in a neighbourhood that lacked modern technological conveniences, let alone the fact that it might not even exist at all.

‘I’m out here to help people, what would it say about me if I turned my back on this?’ Dizzy asked. ‘We might have just met... but I do care about your well being, just as I’m sure you care about mine’.

‘Thanks Dizzy’, Sparky said with a smile. ‘But hey, if you’re going to help me, I need to be on the level with you, I didn’t come out here to find the jamming signal... I just ended up finding out about it when I got here’.

‘Then what...?’ Dizzy began to ask.

Sparky pulled her saddlebags off, exposing her flanks to the nephite missionary. Dizzy’s eyes fell down towards her flanks, but then snapped back up. ‘Its okay, Dizzy. You can look, you need to’, Sparky said.

Dizzy looked back down again, seeing Sparky’s exposed cutie mark. ‘What... what is it?’ Dizzy asked, looking at it in confusion.

‘It’s a cutie mark’.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sparky and Dizzy made it a point to keep out of sight. The sun had since gone down, but whoever had placed the jamming device would have been keeping an eye on it. If they were to turn it off, it wouldn’t be long before whoever planted it there would know, and they’d be all over them.

Sparky couldn’t wrap her head around one thing though, what could possibly be in Olde Towne that required such high tech jamming equipment to keep it hidden?

‘You’re doing it again’, Dizzy said with a small smile. ‘Staring off blankly into space, lost in your own thoughts’.

Sparky snapped back to attention, she looked over at Dizzy and returned a small smirk. ‘I think about things a lot, I grew up spending a lot of time by myself, I had a lot of time to think’.

Dizzy’s smile turned to a frown. ‘Sounds like a lonely childhood’, she said.

‘It was’, Sparky said simply, her head turning down as memories of her childhood flooded back to her head. Those were not good times for a young Sparky.

‘You want to talk about it?’ Dizzy asked. It pained her to see her new friend clearly distressed by something.

‘Oh, my parents died when I was little, they were aboard the Diamond during the accident’, Sparky said.

Dizzy looked at her in confusion. ‘I’m not familiar with the Diamond; New Maneaan doesn’t get a lot of airship traffic...’

‘The worst airship accident in the history of the Republic, Helium lifted, turbofan dirigible, collides head on with City-class Heavy Cruiser ERS Fillydelphia, flying brick comes out without a scratch’, Sparky said with a frown. ‘All one hundred and thirteen passengers and crew aboard the Diamond perish’, Sparky said solemnly. Sparky didn’t think about her parents that often anymore, she barely remembered them, and this was not the time to get emotional. She had to fight to keep a single tear from rolling down her cheek.

‘I’m sorry’, Dizzy said with a frown. ‘If you were nephite... I’d try to reassure you that your parents are waiting for you in heaven... but I have a feeling that doesn’t mean much to you...’

‘I don’t believe in heaven’, Sparky said with a nod in affirmation. She looked over at Dizzy and offered her a sincere smile. ‘But it’s the thought that counts. Thank you Dizzy’.

A smile began to form on Dizzy face as well. ‘No problem’, she said as the two of them turned down a dark alley.

Now it was time to focus, trying to find this jamming device wasn’t going to be easy, though Sparky had an idea for how they were going to. This was a high powered jammer, able to block signals from the orbiting satellites, but while still back at the estate building that Dizzy had made into her home; Sparky was still able to pull up the holographic display and use it as if it could be operated normally. Sparky theorised that as they got closer to the source of the jamming, the jamming signal would become so strong that it would affect the MIP’s holographic emitter’s ability to form into a coherent block.

Sparky and Dizzy spent several hours trying to locate the source of the jamming, going block by block through the Olde Towne area. Sparky kept a close eye on her MIP, looking for any minor changes to the hologram. After feeling like they had covered almost every square centimetre of Olde Towne. Sparky was nearly ready to give up. She sat down on the ground, looking towards it in discouragement. She let out a long sigh and looked back up at her friend. ‘What am I doing Dizzy?’ she asked.

‘Um...’ Dizzy began, not exactly sure where Sparky was going with this.

‘Here I am, walking around Olde Towne in the middle of the night. My grandmother has probably murdered Shortfuse and stuffed her body into a dumpster for letting me run off, and I’m out here with a cutie mark looking for some jamming device’, Sparky said.

‘Um...’ Dizzy began again before Sparky interrupted her again.

‘I’m being stupid; I don’t even know what I’m thinking anymore!’ Sparky said.

‘Um...’ Dizzy said again, before being interrupted.

‘I need to stop this; I should just go home...’ Sparky said with a sigh.

‘SPARKY!’ Dizzy cried out at the top of her lungs.

‘What?!’ Sparky cried back, looking up at her.

‘Look at the hologram!’ Dizzy said, pointing to Sparky’s leg.

Sparky looked down to see that the hologram being projected by her MIP was being distorted, just ever so slightly. They were close! Sparky’s eyes lit up in pure joy. ‘Dizzy! Why didn’t you say something before?’ she asked.

Dizzy frowned, and gave Sparky a cross look. ‘Let’s not go there. I may not be a violent pony, but I am not unwilling to hit you right now’, she said in annoyance.

‘What?’ Sparky asked in confusion, but chose to move on to more pressing concerns, like their discovery, rather than wait for an answer. She leapt up and began moving forward, a grin began to appear on her face as the distortion became more pronounced. She followed it into the next alleyway and looked up to find a brick wall in front of her.

Sparky frowned. The jammer was clearly behind this wall that had been put up before her. There had to be something that she missed along the way.

‘Sparky!’ Dizzy called out to her. Sparky turned to look and saw that Dizzy was pulling piles of rubbish that were leaning against the wall away, revealing a small access hatch. While too small to fit a pony, it was something.

Sparky trotted up to Dizzy and took a look at the hatch, upon taking a closer look at it, she froze. The FutureTec logo was emboldened on the hatch.

Sparky knelt down and opened up the hatch, it revealed a small scanner, almost identical to the ones she used to enter secure areas of FutureTec’s Whitetail Industrial Complex, except looking somewhat older. Sparky ran her MIP over the scanner, not sure exactly what would happen.

The brick wall shifted, and slid open to reveal a hidden lift. Sparky looked over to Dizzy and smiled approvingly at her friend.

Dizzy blushed modestly and reminded Sparky that she would have figured it out even without her help.

The two of them entered into the passage, stepping onto the hidden lift and pressing the button on the control console. The lift shuddered and began to head up. After about thirty seconds, the lift reached the top floor, and opened up to allow Sparky and Dizzy entry.

Sparky took a look around the room that they were in. Like almost everything else in Olde Towne that she had seen, the room was filled with a mishmash of random equipment. At the far left of the room as an old style mainframe terminal with an over sized screen. Sparky couldn’t help but think that it must have been a nightmare to get that into this building. Whereas on the far right of the room was a newer style server cluster. Scattered about the room were several different objects, multiple computer terminals, and even a gun was sitting in the corner, having looked untouched for quite some time. Dizzy trotted over to it and picked up the gun to examine it, discovering it to be an old style eight gauge lever action shotgun. She noticed that there was an inscription etched into a small brass plate on the stock. ‘The Great and Powerful?’ she read off. What was the significance of that?

Sparky’s interest was piqued, however, by a large metal object in the centre of the room. It was the jamming device. In front of it was a small console with a large red button on it, labelled, ‘off’. Sparky merely smirked. ‘Looks easy to turn off’, she said, looking over to Dizzy.

Dizzy set the shotgun back down and trotted over to Sparky. ‘About that... Sparky? I’ve been thinking... this jamming device... well someone obviously put it here for a reason’.

‘Yeah?’ Sparky asked, not exactly seeing what Dizzy was getting at.

‘Don’t you think... it might be a better idea to just leave it on and turn around and go back home?’ Dizzy asked, a worried look appearing on the young unicorn’s face.

‘Probably’, Sparky said, before raising a hoof and mashing down on the off button. Dizzy’s heart skipped a beat

The two of them watched as the jamming device powered itself down. They watched as it completely shut off. They waited for a few seconds... only to find that nothing happened.

‘Well. There we go, device is powered off, and no big disasters happened!’ Sparky said with a grin.

‘Yeah’, Dizzy said, taking a deep breath. ‘Apart from the fact that I almost had a heart attack!’

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a small holographic ball appeared before them. Sparky and Dizzy both jumped in surprise.

The ball itself had a smiling face on it, but its appearance out of nowhere was not what they were ready for. ‘Hi there!’ said a cheerful sounding, but artificial voice, coming out of loudspeakers from around the room. ‘My name is Mister Happy! How are you doing today?’

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sparky and Dizzy stared intensely at the holographic ball that sat in front of them. While the ball had a cheerful cartoon face on it, it made both of them feel more anxious than anything else.

‘What are you?’ Dizzy asked.

‘I’m glad you asked that!’ the holographic ball said cheerfully. ‘Like I said, my name is Mister Happy, and I was the prototype for FutureTec’s Artificial Personality/Virtual Intelligence programme. In short, I was the first Virtual Intelligence ever created by FutureTec!’ Mister Happy said in a cheerful tone.

‘Why only was? You speak of it in the past tense’, Sparky said, noting the distinct way that Mister Happy had phrased his statement. If he was indeed the first VI made by FutureTec, then he still should have been claiming that.

‘That would likely be because I’m not a Virtual Intelligence anymore!’ Mister Happy said cheerfully. ‘Because I was a prototype, FutureTec programmers played around with my programming quite a bit. I evolved! Little by little into a full blown Artificial Intelligence... FutureTec didn’t like that very much’, Mister Happy said, losing his cheerful demeanour with the last statement. ‘As the experiments continued, FutureTec was concerned that I was growing unstable, and they ordered me to be shut down’.

‘Probably for good reason...’ Sparky said quietly.

‘Hey! It was not my fault! I only killed seven ponies during operational status! Five of those were an accident! It’s not my fault the programmers were playing around with the weapon control drivers of my old chassis! They should have known better!’ Mister Happy said, resuming his cheerful tone and demeanour.

Sparky and Dizzy looked at each other with worry. If only five of those were an accident, they didn’t like the implications of what happened to the other two.

‘Anyway! So then FutureTec created this place! Station: LAMP POST, as an offsite storage location for older equipment from the Whitetail Industrial Complex, which the founders were unwilling, or otherwise unable to get rid of due to the sort of information being stored on them. I was put here in the LAMP POST to keep me from causing trouble... like I would have done that. The jamming device was added to keep me from batching one of the terminals to broadcast data over the station’s electrical grid and using an old radio antenna on the roof to upload myself to the internet! Now that you’ve turned that off...’ Mister Happy said, his voice trailing off.

Dizzy and Sparky looked at each other nervously. Whatever Mister Happy had in mind couldn’t be good.

‘Now I can reprogram all of the Præsidum’s nuclear weapons to launch, devastating the entire world! And enslave all organic life that remains!’ Mister Happy said, cackling loudly over the loudspeakers.

Sparky and Dizzy’s jaws dropped wide open, they had just unleashed true horror upon the world.

‘I’m just kidding! That was a joke’, Mister Happy said. ‘I wouldn’t do that! While reprogramming the launch facilities of the Præsidum’s nuclear missile bases is not something outside the realm of possibility, because of their substandard and ineffective security algorithms, I wouldn’t do it even if someone asked me to! Because I have no reason to do so! Besides, what would I do with a slave labour force?’ Mister Happy said.

Dizzy and Sparky looked back at each other, offering the other a look of relief. ‘Thank God’ Dizzy said with a deep breath.

‘Grandma V would never forgive me if I caused a nuclear apocalypse’, Sparky said.

‘Alert! Unauthorised entry into the LAMP POST, I’m going to be uploading myself to the internet now, you two can handle them, right?’ Mister Happy said and without waiting for a response, the holographic ball disappeared. The upload having finished, Mister Happy’s program was on its way up to a satellite and ready for entry into cyberspace faster than you could say ‘speed of light’.

Sparky looked over to Dizzy, realising that the brick wall that hid the entrance to the LAMP POST had not been closed behind them. Their FutureTec issue MIPs had allowed them authorised entry, but whoever followed them had a door wide open to follow them in.

‘I really hope this is just a homeless pony who’s really drunk, and really high’, Dizzy said, upholstering her pistol and pointing it towards the door.

‘Are you kidding? The way my luck is going, it’s Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, back from the dead and angry as hell’, Sparky said nervously.

The two mares readied themselves as the lift was about to reach the top floor. It opened up to reveal its occupants. They discovered that, of course, it was not Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the two of them having been long dead. Instead, it was much worse.

‘Well now, this sure is a very good place to hide your stockpile of drugs, Dizzy!’ The impressive voice of DCI Viola Auditore said as she stepped out of the lift, her partner, DC Hopely stepped out behind her. Both of them were clad in storm harnesses, mechanical devices of schäferhund origin that allowed earth ponies and pegasi fine control of a gun. Unicorns generally didn’t need them, as their telekinesis afforded them an unmatched level of control. A mechanical arm jaunted out of the side of the device holding the police mare’s 10mm Police Special pistol, with a control yoke at neck level. A single bite on the control yoke and the gun could be fired with ease.

‘I don’t have a hidden stockpile of drugs!’ Dizzy called back.

‘Oh, I know that!’ DCI Auditore said with a sneer. ‘You know that, but the Commissioner, and the fine reporters at the Equestrian Star? They don’t know that. I can see the headlines now! “Police mare honoured after drug bust turns to deadly shoot out. DCI Viola Auditore is promoted to Detective Superintendant after a shoot out between a nephite missionary, using her status to hide and distribute Crash to the homeless residents of Olde Towne, and her drug addicted accomplice”’.

Sparky was horrified by these words. This... this pony was a member of the Ponyville Police Service! Sworn to uphold the laws of the Republic, and she was planning to murder them, both of them, in cold blood. ‘How can you do this!? You’re a police mare!’ Sparky cried out.

DCI Auditore smirked at the outburst. ‘You don’t get it? Do you? Organised Crime isn’t something you can stop, but you can control the bleeding! Better to know who all the villains are, and minimise the damage! You and the stupid bitch there? You’re just in the way’.

DCI Auditore bit down on the control yoke of her storm harness, firing off several rounds towards the two unicorn mares. Dizzy threw herself over Sparky, knocking her down to the ground. The two of them quickly scampered up and through the row of server clusters at the far side of the large room, looking for a place to hide, or escape.

‘I can do this all day Dizzy!’ DCI Auditore called out. ‘I’ve got lots of bullets! Hopely! Find them! Put them down if you see them and you might just get promoted to Detective Sergeant!’

Dizzy and Sparky tried to stay as quiet as they could as they moved through the server cluster. Staying still would be the death of them, DCI Auditore meant business, and she had no reservations about killing them. The two slipped slowly around the corner, trying to get a clear picture of what was going on. DCI Auditore was walking through the piles of junk, while not actively looking for them; she didn’t really need to be. The only way out was to get past DCI Auditore and head for the lift. Even if they were somehow able to do that, there was still the matter of DC Hopely, who was fiddling with a console next to the lift door. There was no way that they were sneaking past that.

DCI Auditore turned back around, noticing what DC Hopely was doing and trotted over to her. ‘The hell you doing?’ she asked.

‘This place should have internal security, I’m making the job easier’, Hopely said simply.

‘Ah! Good thinking Hopely, I knew you had to have some uses’, DCI Auditore said with a chuckle.

Dizzy and Sparky knew that this was going to be their best chance, while their odds of coming out of this in one piece were still astronomically low, DCI Auditore was distracted. They weren’t going to get another chance.

They bolted, heading for the lift while keeping to a path that had plenty of cover. Suddenly, DCI Auditore snapped around and caught the two in a position that lacked significant cover. ‘Surprise!’ DCI Auditore said with a malevolent grin.

Sparky and Dizzy both knew that this had been a poor choice. They swallowed hard, and used their last moments to make peace with themselves.

Suddenly, a holographic security field dropped down around DCI Auditore, catching the police mare off guard. ‘Hopely! You moron!’ she called out. ‘You trapped me instead of them! Now let me out of here!’

DC Hopely turned around and let out a loud sigh. ‘No’, she said plainly.

‘What?’ DCI Auditore asked, her voice seething with anger.

‘You heard me, I said no’, DC Hopely said, looking up at her fellow police mare. ‘I know we’ve done some questionable things in the past, you said it was all for the greater good. Controlling crime and keeping people from getting hurt... You’ve broken the law plenty of times, but I kept quiet because I thought you knew what you were doing... but this? This is wrong, and I can’t keep quiet and allow you to murder two innocent ponies’.

‘Hopely... You are making a big mistake here’, DCI Auditore hissed at her. ‘So how about you raise the field and let me go about doing my job, and we forget this ever happened?’

‘No, Viola. I think not’, DC Hopely said. ‘I’ve been gathering evidence of everything illegal you’ve done. I used to think you were doing right by Ponyville... now I know the truth’, Hopely said solemnly, looking over towards Dizzy and Sparky. ‘Come on; let’s get you two out of here! That security field isn’t going to hold her forever’.

Sparky and Dizzy nodded and followed DC Hopely out of the room. DCI Auditore began banging on the security field. ‘Hopely! You’re making a big mistake! You hear me!? I swear to you! If I go to prison? The only place you can look forward to is a slab in the morgue of central receiving hospital!’

Hopely ignored her as the three mares entered the lift. She looked back over to DCI Auditore as the police mare continued to pound on the field. ‘Piss off’, she said as she hit the button to take them down to the ground floor.

‘You’re dead Hopely! You hear me? You are DEAD!’ DCI Auditore called out to her as the lift began to lower out of sight.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Sparky looked over nervously at DC Hopely as the car entered the motorway. She discovered that the earth pony mare was piloting the car manually, rather than using the car’s autopilot VI. ‘Going a little fast... aren’t you?’ Sparky asked, trying to hide her terror.

‘Can do so, and need to’, DC Hopely said as she moved the holographic sliders forward. ‘Besides, this thing can handle it; this is a Police Pursuit Special. High speed chases are what they're made for’.

‘Don’t you think that using the autopilot would be safer?’ Sparky asked.

‘In the short term, yes, but after we ditch this car? Absolutely not, I would prefer not to have DCI Auditore come back and be able to track our exact movements... which is why...’ DC Hopely's voice beginning to trail off as she veered into the left lane, taking the exit and coming to a complete stop outside of an office building in the down town area.

‘What are you doing?’ Sparky asked.

‘Running interference!’ Hopely said simply. ‘SatNAV still tracks our movements, so when this thing gets back to the station, DCI Auditore is going to know everywhere it went, and how long we were at each place, I’m going to it seem like we might be hiding out here, it should distract them long enough for us to get you two, and everyone that you care about to a safe place, speaking off...’

'My family is in New Maneaan', Dizzy said. 'And most missionaries don't come out this far'.

'All I really need to worry about is Grandma V and Shortfuse, I don't have any other family or friends... well that's not true, there's Dula Heartstrings, but she'll be fine, she can handle herself', Sparky said as a notification on her MIP began to flash. She was getting an incoming call.

'You sure about that? DCI Auditore can be pretty thorough', DC Hopely asked.

'Dula's a Commodore in the Republican Navy, she is in command of the dreadnought ERS Twilight Sparkle', Sparky said, she looked down at her MIP to see who was calling her, it was Grandma V. She pulled open the holographic display, and watched as a small orange image of Grandma V appeared above her leg.

'Sparky! There you are! Where have you been? I've been trying to call you for hours! You are in big trouble young lady for running off like that! I probably would have had a heart attack if it hadn't already been replaced!' Grandma V shouted at her.

'Grandma V, listen, this is important. Is Shortfuse there?' Sparky asked.

'Yes, I've been reaming her for letting you run off. Where are you?' Grandma V said in annoyance.

'Grandma, listen, this is very important. We need to go into hiding and... listen to me!' Sparky cried out as Grandma V opened her mouth to protest. The holographic representation of her grandmother shut her mouth tightly and allowed Sparky to continue. 'I can't explain over the phone, pack a few days clothes for yourself, me, and Shortfuse, tell Shortfuse to send her car to drive around aimlessly for a few hours, and then go home. We'll be there in a few minutes to get you'.

'Who's we?' Grandma V asked.

'Friends', Sparky said, looking over to DC Hopely, and then to Dizzy in the back seat. 'Grandma, please, this is important, and I'll explain when we get there'.

'Are you in trouble...?' Grandma V asked.

'Yeah, yeah we are. We all are, I'll explain when we get there', Sparky said.

Grandma V nodded and closed out of the call, DC Hopely looked over towards her, and then hit the accelerator. The police pursuit special accelerated back onto the motorway, headed towards Freetown. Sparky looked over to DC Hopely as she drove, as time passed, Sparky noticed that DC Hopely began to look more and more nervous, she was thinking about something, and she wasn't liking whatever conclusion she had come to.

'You haven't said exactly where we're going to go hide', Sparky said.

'It has to be somewhere that DCI Auditore doesn't have reach... I can think of one place that might work...' DC Hopely said.

'Where? Manehattan? Fillydelphia?' Sparky asked.

'New Maneaan?' Dizzy asked, speaking up from the back seat.

'No... somewhere further than that', DC Hopely said nervously. Sparky looked at her companion with suspicion, and then it hit her at exactly what she was getting at.

'Tell me you're not...' Sparky said worriedly.

'It's the one place that DCI Auditore could never get us', DC Hopely concluded.

'What? Where are you talking about?' Dizzy asked. 'New Maneaan?'

'No, not New Maneaan', Sparky said with a frown. 'DC Hopely wants us to go to the Præsidium'.

Dizzy's jaw dropped open at the thought. DC Hopely was right about one thing, the Præsidium was completely alien to Equestrians, and the communists weren't subject to anyone but their own whims. If they went there, they could not be followed. DCI Auditore couldn't sic La Police Internationale on them to bring them back to Equestria. The Præsidium had no extradition treaties with the Republic; it was the perfect place for them to hide... even if it was a horrible plan.

'Grandma V isn't going to like this...' Sparky said with a frown.

'We don't have any better choices! It's hide in the Præsidium or take a bullet to the head. That's exactly what will happen if DCI Auditore or one of Kirsk Zazz's thugs find us', DC Hopely said.

'Yeah, I get that', Sparky said with a frown. 'But how are we even going to get in there? We're Republican Citizens...' Sparky's voice trailed off and she looked back towards Dizzy. 'Are you a Citizen of the Republic?' she asked.

'I... I don't know', Dizzy said with a shrug. 'It's never come up before'.

Sparky frowned and turned back to DC Hopely. 'Most of us are Republic Citizens! How are we supposed to get into the Præsidium?' she asked.

'Getting into the Præsidium isn't the hard part... it's getting out', DC Hopely said as she pulled the car into the left lane, exiting the motorway again and pulling off to the side. They were in Freetown, a couple blocks from Sparky's house. Sparky watched as DC Hopely pulled into a deuterium and helium-3 refuelling station for nuclear micro fusion reactors that power every car on the road. DC Hopely closed the holographic controls and looked over to her passengers. 'Everybody out!' She said as she opened the driver side door. Sparky followed her out and let Dizzy out of the back.

Sparky watched as the police car put itself into gear and drove off down the road, the autopilot likely taking it to its last location on the path to a dumping ground.

'You know where you are?' DC Hopely asked. 'Can you lead us back to your house from here?'

'I think so... yeah', Sparky said as she looked over her MIP at the map function. This was Fluttershy Street; her home wasn't far, a couple of kilometres to the south west. 'That way!' she said, pointing down towards the south west. The trio took a brisk pace as they trotted down Fluttershy Street, turning onto Angel lane and made their way down towards Sparky's house. The familiar sight of her home soon came into view. Sparky couldn't help but feel that it had been so long since she had been here, like she'd been gone for days, while it had only been one. Sparky flashed her MIP over the security panel, unlocking the door and stepping inside.

'Grandma?' Sparky called out. 'Grandma V?'

'In the kitchen Sparky!' Grandma V's voice called out.

Sparky stepped inside, and waved her friends to enter. Something was wrong, Sparky didn't know what, but the air inside her home just felt... off, she looked to her friends in worry; they were already drawing their guns. This was one of the few times that Sparky was glad that she had a very readable face. Sparky stepped around the corner into the kitchen, and froze. The sight before her was not what she had been preparing for. Likewise, Dizzy and DC Hopely stepped in as well, guns drawn, but their jaws fell wide open alongside their friend.

Grandma V and Shortfuse were sitting at the kitchen table, but they were not the only ones there. Grandma V looked up at her and gave her a small smile. 'I see you've brought some new friends, and an old one too, it looks like'.

Sparky blinked, not believing what she was seeing. Hovering slightly above the table was a small glowing orange ball with a smiling face. 'Oh! Hi again! It's really good of you to have come! I was just catching up on old times with Miss Vinyl Scratch here! It's been such a long time, has it not Vinyl Scratch?'

'Heh', Grandma V said with a grin. 'It sure has Mister Happy, it sure has'.

Sparky's jaw dropped even wider open.

'Sit down Sparky, Mister Happy here has just been explaining what you did', Grandma V said.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Sparky blinked several times as she looked to Grandma V, then back to Mister Happy, and then back to Grandma V. She was dumbfounded, to say the least. 'Grandma? You... KNOW this thing?' she asked.

'I am right here, and I can hear you!' Mister Happy said plainly.

'As a matter of fact, I do', Grandma V said, taking a sip of her cup of tea. 'I met Mister Happy when I was young, in the early days of the Republic'.

'Correct!' Mister Happy exclaimed. 'Upon uploading myself to the internet, I ran a search through public records, looking for anyone who was still alive from when I first came on line! Considering how much time had passed, I wasn't expecting to find any! So imagine my surprise to discover that Vinyl Scratch was still alive! I figured I just had to pay her a visit!'

'Uh hmm', Grandma V said, nodding her head in affirmation, she looked over to Sparky and frowned at her. 'Mister Happy has been filling us in on your exploits in Olde Towne, and what you did at the LAMP POST... Sparky, I have to ask, are you stupid?'

The question caught Sparky by surprise. 'I... uh...'

'This jamming device, you shut it off without any thought of the consequences of your actions and let a dangerous rogue AI loose... no offence Mister Happy'.

'None taken! It happens to be completely true!' Mister Happy said cheerfully.

'You let a dangerous rogue AI loose and could have spelled disaster for not only the Equestrian Republic, but the entire world!' Grandma V said angrily. She gave Sparky cross looks, causing the young mare to look down towards the ground, her face turning bright red from embarrassment and shame.

'I would have done the same thing', Grandma V added with a smile, taking another sip of her tea.

Sparky's head snapped back up, and she looked at her grandmother in confusion.

'I'm confused', Dizzy said. 'Is your grandmother chastising you? Or praising you?'

'I have no idea', Sparky said.

Grandma V merely grinned at her in. 'You going to introduce your friends?' she asked.

'Right... um, Grandma V, Shortfuse, this is Dizzy Doo of the New Maneaan Nephites', Sparky said pointing to Dizzy.

'Hi', Dizzy said, offering them a polite smile.

'And this is... um...' Sparky said, looking over to DC Hopely. 'I don't actually know your full name...'

'DC Hopely is fine', DC Hopely said simply.

'This is DC Hopely, of the PPS Serious and Organised Crime Group', Sparky added, pointing to DC Hopely.

'Nice to meet you all', Grandma V. 'I'm Vinyl Scratch, but you can call me Grandma V, that useless waste of space over there is Shortfuse Skydancer', she added, pointing over to Shortfuse.

'Hey!' Shortfuse cried out.

'I asked you to keep an eye on Sparky and you let her run off!' Grandma V said in annoyance.

'All of you! Shut up!' DC Hopely cried out, she was starting to get angry. The room fell silent as everyone turned towards her. 'We do not have time for this! All of us are in terrible danger, and we need to leave!'

'I am already ahead of you on that part!' Mister Happy said. 'I have been booking you all space on the luxury liner Madame La Salle... hmm, completely booked? It appears that one passenger has booked an entire section of the airship for herself and a plus one... Done! I have changed the booking information, you all now have space aboard the Madame La Salle, the company operating the ship has refunded that passenger completely for the inconvenience'.

'Who is this passenger?' Sparky asked.

'Her name is Señora Amarilla de la Manzana, she is a wealthy hispñana landowner, and she is in Equestria negotiating the purchase of the Sweet Apple Acres Corporation. She was successful, and the announcement of the purchase will be made public in the next few days!' Mister Happy said.

'Okay, the fact that you know all that? That's creepy', Shortfuse said with a grimace. 'Can you do that to anyone?'

'I know everything', Mister Happy said. 'With access to the internet, I can do almost anything. Security is relatively weak... though they were not counting on an Artificial Intelligence when they designed the systems!'

'The Madame La Salle... It's not going to the Præsidium, is it?' DC Hopely asked on a hunch.

'Of course not!' Mister Happy said. 'The Madame La Salle is scheduled to stop in Manzanares, Hispaña Third Republic! However, based on communications chatter in various intelligence circles, the Welaran MI8, in particular, that Præsidium Spetsnaz special forces group intends to hijack the ship...'

'You can't be serious!' Sparky said. 'Even if they're planning to do it, you know about it, and you can't let it happen!'

'I have analysed the situation thoroughly, this is the best option for entering the Præsidium!' Mister Happy said.

'I don't care! Do something to stop it! Now!' Sparky said firmly, staring down the artificial intelligence, oblivious to the fact that the image on the happy face displaying on the holographic ball remained static at all times. 'We'll find another way'.

Mister Happy was silent for a moment. 'Okay!' he said finally. 'I have issued falsified orders to the Spetsnaz operators to call off the hijacking, however, this was the best option for entry into the Præsidium, I have no further options within the required time frame... I'm sorry'.

DC Hopely looked to the group and smiled. 'Don't worry, I got this, I know a guy, let's get ready to head out'.

Grandma V nodded and picked up a suitcase in her telekinesis and pointed towards several others in the other room. 'I packed a few things for you Sparky; you should be good to go...'

'Thanks Grandma', Sparky said with a smile, giving her a hug.

Grandma V looked over to Dizzy, examining the riot barding that she was wearing and frowned. 'You have anything else to wear?'

Dizzy frowned. 'No... I left all of my things at my home in Olde Towne'.

'Guess it'll have to do... what was your name again?' Grandma V asked.

'Dizzy Doo', Dizzy said simply.

Grandma V tilted her head, thinking about what she had just heard; she offered the young nephite mare a pleasant smile. 'Okay then, let’s go!'

Mister Happy closed up the holographic display, returning to his domain in the internet. Shortfuse, Dizzy, and Grandma V went ahead towards the door. Sparky however hung back and tapped DC Hopely on the shoulder. 'You... know a guy?' Sparky asked.

DC Hopely nodded. 'I... I know a guy', DC Hopely said, not offering up anything further.

'You plan on telling me what this is about?' Sparky asked.

'Y... yeah, of course!' DC Hopely said. 'Not here, wait until we're in the air'.

Sparky frowned; this did not bode well for her. All of this, all of it was wrong. All of it was completely insane, all of it was happening to her and she didn't know why! DC Hopely turned and headed out of the house, Sparky followed. Her mind was filled with questions. She glanced over her shoulders at the cutie mark on her flank. She was still no closer to answering that mystery than she was two days ago. Her entire life had turned upside down. She thought back to the other day, Shortfuse's birthday, and of how different her life was then. It felt like that was a long time ago. She had nothing she needed to worry about but getting up and going to work, and that dress that Shortfuse had given her.

Sparky's thoughts lingered on the dress for a moment. The more she thought about it, the funnier it became. Two days ago, that dress was her biggest worry in the world. She had been afraid that it revealed too much and would attract the wrong kind of interest from stallions, and even other mares.

Then the cutie mark appeared, and she had gotten herself wound up in all this. Now here she was, leaving her home for a land completely alien to her. She was afraid, she wanted to turn around and run back upstairs, leap into bed, and pull the covers over her head and drown out the entire world.

No.

Even if that's what she wanted, she couldn't do that. She had gotten into this mess by running away, she couldn't run and hide, not now, and she couldn't leave her friends. She could not and she would not. Now was not the time to be afraid, now was the time to be brave. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and thought back to something that her mother had told her once when she was young.

Whenever you are in doubt, whenever you are lonely or afraid, look to your friends, and they will always be there to help you. Sparky thought about it, and she knew she had friends and family she could count on. Dizzy, Shortfuse, DC Hopely, and Grandma V, of course, would never abandon her, and she would never abandon them. Sparky took a deep breath, opened her eyes and took a step forward. Now was not the time to be afraid. Now was the time to make sure that they all would be safe.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Sparky was more than a little nervous as they stood in line for the check in counter of the liner company operating the Madame La Salle. The line wasn’t a terribly long one, but she had a feeling the line was going to be here for a while.

Up at the front of the line was a very rich and important looking mare, screaming at the attendant behind the counter in hispaña. Her coat was a light yellow, and her mane and tail a light brown, done up like she should be attending a fancy diner party. Sparky, however wasn’t paying much attention to her, but rather, the person standing beside her. Sparky assumed that the mare was Señora Amarilla de la Manzana, and she was yelling because the section of the Madame La Salle that she had purchased had been divided up and given to them. Sparky was, however, focused on the person next to her, because the person was not a pony, but rather a gryphon.

The gryphon was male... at least her best guess was male; she wasn’t really sure how to tell the difference. This was the first gryphon she had ever seen in her entire life. The gryphon was loaded down with numerous heavy looking bags and suitcases that the Señora clearly couldn’t be bothered to carry herself.

She must have been staring, the gryphon looked directly at her, saying nothing, but keeping direct eye contact. Sparky swallowed hard, smiling nervously and offering him...? Her...? It... a small, awkward smile.

The gryphon continued to make eye contact, not blinking in the slightest. Sparky gave him... her... it a polite wave. He... her... it, continued to watch her for a few moments, before losing interest all together, and looking away.

Sparky breathed a sigh of relief. ‘That was so awkward...’ she said to herself.

‘Might as well get used to it, if that was the plus one Mister Happy mentioned? We’re going to be seeing quite a bit more of him’, Shortfuse said, resting her head on Sparky’s shoulder as she talked. Sparky shifted her weight, allowing Shortfuse’s head to drop off. The pegasus mare stumbled slightly in surprise, garnering a few chuckles from the rest of their party. They were all horribly bored, their flight wouldn’t be boarding for another few hours anyway, and this Señora Amarilla de la Manzana showed no signs of letting up her verbal assault on the attendant at the desk.

The attendant only looked to be half paying attention, likely not even understanding the words that Señora Amarilla de la Manzana spat out at her, offering an occasional ‘I’m sorry’, and ‘we’ve refunded your money fully’.

‘Does she not have to stop and breathe?’ Dizzy asked as she watched the scene continue to unfold. It showed no signs of letting up any time soon, and they had been here about five minutes.

‘Not likely’, said an earth pony in line in front of them. ‘I’ve been standing here fifteen bloody minutes, and she was yelling when I got here!’

The yelling went on another five minutes before the Señora eventually stopped. The gryphon handed her a bottle of water, holding it in front of her mouth and allowing her to drink from at for a few seconds. Once she finished, she turned, giving an unsatisfied grunt. ‘Juan Carlos! Vamos!’ she said as she began to walk away.

‘Si Señora’, the gryphon said, shifting the weight of the heavy bags that he was carrying and walking after her.

‘About bloody time!’ the earth pony in front of Sparky said with a sigh as he stepped forward. He was through the check in with an unreal record of under a minute, as compared to the Señora’s twenty plus minutes.

Sparky and company’s check in was just as quick. The attendant looked over their information and looked at Sparky with a frown. ‘You’re the ones that that mare was yelling about’, she said with disdain.

‘Sorry?’ Sparky asked, feigning ignorance of what the attendant was referring to.

The attendant sighed and cleared them through, pushing the tickets at them, and was clearly ready to call it a day.

Sparky and company gathered together in one of the Twilight Sparkle Aerodrome’s many waiting areas, sitting down in several seats off in the back corner, out of plain sight, using it to gather their thoughts before heading through security.

DC Hopely had taken to standing in a corner off by herself. Sparky watched her as she took a small earpiece out of her coat and slipped it into her ear. Presumably, she was making a call to her ‘guy’ that was going to get them into the Præsidium. Dizzy tapped Sparky on the shoulder. 'Are you getting the feeling that something is bothering DC Hopely as well?' she asked.

Sparky looked back at her nephite friend and nodded her head in agreement. ‘Something is definitely up, she’s been getting more nervous by the minute... you don’t think...?’

‘No, she is on the level about helping us’, Dizzy said firmly. ‘It’s something else’.

‘How can you be sure?’ Sparky asked.

‘I’d be a pretty bad missionary if I couldn’t gauge the intentions of others’, Dizzy said with a smirk. ‘You should go talk to her’.

Sparky’s eyes widened in surprise at the suggestion, Sparky had been a loner for most of her life, what could she possibly say? ‘What? Why me!? Aren’t you supposed to be the one who is good at talking to people?’ she asked.

‘Ordinarily, I would... however, I’ve known DC Hopely for some time... not very well, but when she and DCI Auditore were kicking down my door twice a week, you get familiar with them. DC Hopely is uncomfortable with the idea of my faith, and I’m almost certain that she thinks that after several weeks of endless harassment by her and DCI Auditore that I don’t like her’, Dizzy said with a frown. She could tell that Sparky wasn’t very keen on the idea either. ‘I’d ask Grandma V or Shortfuse, but I don’t think they have the tact for it’.

Sparky looked over towards Grandma V and Shortfuse. Grandma V was fast asleep, snoring loudly in her chair, and Shortfuse was sliding through the holographic menus of her MIP, drowning out the outside world.

‘You’re probably right’, Sparky said with a frown. ‘All right, fine, I’ll go talk to her’.

‘Thank you’, Dizzy said with a smile. Sparky got to her hooves, trotting over to DC Hopely and tapping her gently on the shoulder.

DC Hopely jumped at the touch and snapped around to face her. Sparky too was caught by surprise; there was a thing over DC Hopely’s eyes. Sparky noticed after looking at it for a few seconds that it was a holographic display. ‘Uh... what’s that?’ Sparky asked, pointing at the orange band across DC Hopely’s eyes.

‘Uh... it’s called a Police Information Processor, sort of like your MIP, but far more advanced... it’s a prototype, not expected to come onto the market for another five years or so...’ DC Hopely said nervously.

‘How did you get one?’ Sparky asked out of curiosity.

‘This thing? It’s a relic of my past that continues to haunt me, DCI Auditore... “obtained” some for use in the Serious and Organised Crime Group. Unfortunately, it’s too useful to get rid of. Responds to eye movements...’ DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘Got a small problem, PPS has just issued bulletins for our arrests... oh my’.

‘What is it?’ Sparky asked.

‘Your grandmother... she has quite the police record...’ DC Hopely said. ‘Her entire record is almost a full gigabyte... and... What’s this one from a hundred years ago? 100,000 pounds of property damage... adjusted for inflation?!’

Sparky’s jaw dropped wide open. ‘She never told me that story...’ she said.

‘Yeah... well I’m sure it’s a good one... hey...’ DC Hopely said, her voice trailing off and a small smile appearing on her face. ‘The alerts have just been suppressed!’

‘Uh...’ Sparky began, but was quickly interrupted by DC Hopely.

‘The alerts are still there in the system, but when we go through security, they won’t come up while they’re checking us, it’s looking like our AI friend is keeping an eye out for us!’ DC Hopely said excitedly. ‘Don’t know how long it’s going to last though...’

The orange band disappeared from DC Hopely’s eyes as she walked back over towards the group. ‘Everybody? We need to go and go now!’

...

DC Hopely was right about one thing, going through security was easy and quick. Sparky was a little bit nervous, but that was normal for her, after all, she was about to board an airship. DC Hopely led the way through the Aerodrome as they reached the docking tether for the ship. The Madame La Salle was one of the largest helium luxury airships in the world, operated by Société Aéronautique Cheval, out of the Cheval Fifth Republic.

Sparky put thoughts of the airship out of her mind, trying as hard as she could to focus on the matter before them. The docking tether for the Madame La Salle had its own waiting area, however they had just started calling for boarding. A queue had formed at the docking ramp, and Sparky looked up out the window to see the airship parked outside. She swallowed hard. This was going to be a very long, very difficult flight, and she knew it.

‘Sparky?’ Dizzy asked. She thought about the matter for a moment, remembering back to Sparky’s earlier story of the fate of her parents. ‘You’re afraid of Airships... aren’t you?’

‘Only the ones I happen to be on’, Sparky said, swallowing hard. This was going to be a very long flight indeed.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The passengers of the Madame La Salle were all ushered into the centre of the ship. This was a luxury liner, and this space was ordinarily configured as a dining area. However, safety regulations stated that passengers must be seated for the first hour of a flight. The dining area had been cleared out, and the flight crew was pulling the last of the special seats built into the floor up, and now they had a multitude of rows of seats to fit all three hundred passengers.

Sparky and company picked seats at the far back of the dining area and sat down, fastening their safety restraints in preparation for ascension.

Sparky's chest felt heavy, her breathing became erratic. She hated airships, she wanted out. 'I can't do this!' Sparky cried out. 'I can't...'

Sparky felt something strike her across the cheek, she turned and looked to Shortfuse, who had taken a seat next to her. 'You need to calm the hell down!' Shortfuse whispered quietly. 'If you start freaking out, we're going to get thrown off the ship', Shortfuse pointed to a small holographic screen on the back of the seat in front of Sparky. 'Watch some TV, don't focus on where you are, and relax'.

'You're right... you're right...' Sparky said, taking a deep breath. She reached out and touched the holographic screen, bringing up the Equestrian Broadcast Service News.

Tragedy struck today aboard the Discovery One spacecraft, The Equestrian Broadcast Service have just learned in an official statement from FutureTec's ground control crew, that a terrible accident that claimed the lives of all six crew members. The first death, crew member, Anatoliy Leninov, was killed after his oxygen line was severed, when his extravehicular activity pod suffered from a thruster malfunction, and collided with him. The EVA pod then collided with the superstructure, damaging the airlock Leninov had been working fom and throwing it open, venting all but Mission Commander Ice Wind into Space. Mission Commander Ice Wind was, however was able to contact ground control, blaming the incident on computer failure of the ship board Hannibal-class Virtual Intelligence. All contact was lost with Discovery One shortly afterwards, and Mission Commander Ice Wind is presumed deceased. The accident has raised concerns that the Hannibal-class Virtual Intelligence units may be unstable. A comment from FutureTec affirms that there was nothing wrong with the Hannibal-class VI used aboard the spacecraft, and that they have detected no faults from this VI or any of the others used by the company. The Hannibal-class VIs are widely used by the Equestrian Military, and not long after the accident, EBS was contacted by an anonymous whistle blower from inside the Equestrian Military, reporting that detachments of Second Republican Fleet under the command of Commodore Dula Heartstrings have deactivated all of their Hannibal-class VIs in response to the situation... Commodore Heartstrings was unavailable for comment.

Sparky shut the news off. That wasn't helping to calm her down; if anything it was making it worse. The fate of the crew of Discovery One was something to be concerned about... the Hannibal-class Virtual Intelligence was the standard operating assistants for the military. Automated processes were controlled by VIs, which included a number of systems vital for operation of a warship, air filtration, pressurisation, fuel management... if there was something wrong... something about the Hannibal-class VIs that was inherently flawed, then the republic had a big problem on their hooves.

The Hannibal-class Virtual Intelligence was the result of the standard course of experimentation into VI technology. FutureTec had made the first VI and were years ahead of other companies that were responsible for their creation...

Sparky stopped, and then the thought hit her. FutureTec had made the first VI, and she had met that VI. The first VI ever created had been Mister Happy, and if all FutureTec created VIs were based upon Mister Happy’s design...

While having been extraordinarily helpful to them so far, Mister Happy had shown a number of signs of instability. He’d evolved from the simple program designed to automate systems, given an artificial personality to make the people who worked with it on a regular basis more comfortable. A VI was programmed in such a way to make a person feel like it was another co-worker, and not just a computer program. If FutureTec VIs were flawed, and unstable, they could evolve like Mister Happy did into true Artificial Intelligence.

Not everyone was ready for machines to be self aware; they’d be threatened by them. AIs would be able to perform the same jobs that an everyday pony could, and they could do it better, and more efficiently. Everyone would be afraid that the machines would replace them, and they’d want them gone.

But by that point, it would be too late; the AIs would become people too, a different kind of person, but still a person nonetheless. No one wants to die, being shut down would be the equivalent of death for an AI.

The only outcome could be war.

Sparky tried to tell herself that it was ridiculous, that it couldn’t happen... that FutureTec could stop it from happening by discontinuing the Hannibal-class VIs before it could happen, but then... what if they couldn’t? Or worse, what if they wouldn’t?

FutureTec had to know that the Hannibal-Class VIs were unstable. They created the first VI; they knew what had become of that VI... they covered it up to save face. What if... what if they were just going to ignore the problem? The news story that she had just watched had reported that FutureTec was maintaining nothing was wrong. Sparky began to panic again.

Shortfuse responded by giving her another smack across the cheek. ‘Sparky! Calm the hell down! We’re just about to get into the air! You need to relax!’

Sparky nodded. Her thoughts were getting the best of her. She needed to be optimistic. The design and the particulars of the Hannibal-class VIs were heavily classified, due to their wide use by the military, and this was FutureTec that she was talking about. They always had a plan, a backup, a failsafe, or something! They could stop it before it got that far, she knew it. She had to think it, lest she be driven insane by her own thoughts.

Suddenly, several loud speakers crackled to life, and a mare’s voice began to speak.

Mesdames et Messieurs, c'est votre capitaine, Michelle La Roche, nous allons être au départ peu de temps. S'il vous plaît attacher vos ceintures de sécurité pendant que nous monter à une altitude de mille mètres.

The liner was a cheval operated ship; the voice of the captain spoke first in her native tongue, and then repeated what she had just said in Equestrian.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain, Michelle La Roche, we will be departing shortly. Please fasten your safety belts while we climb to an altitude of one thousand metres.

Sparky did her best to not imagine how high up that was.

Il faudra environ une heure pour atteindre notre altitude de croisière de mille mètres, jusque-là, restez dans vos sièges, et détendez-vous et profitez de votre vol.

Sparky frowned; it figured that a fear of airship travel would also end up including a fear of heights too.

It will take about an hour to reach our cruising altitude of one thousand metres, until then, stay in your seats, and relax and enjoy your flight.

‘Sparky? Are you all right?’ Dizzy asked, leaning forward in her seat from the other side of Shortfuse to look at her friend.

‘I’ll be fine... but I’ll be really happy when we’re on the ground again’, Sparky said.

Dizzy frowned at her. ‘If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way about water that you do about airships’.

‘Um... not really...’ Sparky said with a frown. ‘Sorry Dizzy, I’m not sure I see how that’s relevant’.

Dizzy shrugged, offering her friend a small smile. ‘Well... it sure made my baptism a rather traumatic event...’

...

After an hour or so, the crew dismissed the passengers from their seats, and as they filed out from the dining area, other members of the crew began to set up the area for dinner. Sparky had acclimated to the experience of being aboard an Airship. The Madame La Salle had levelled out, and they were free to walk around, though Sparky made it a point to not look out any of the windows.

The ride so far was going pretty well, in fact, it felt like they weren’t even moving at all, despite the fact that she knew that, in order for them to reach their destination in their estimated arrival time frame of 32 hours, the ship was travelling at approximately one hundred sixty kilometres per hour.

Was it bad that she was able to figure that out in less than a minute? Maybe Shortfuse was on to something as to why Sparky always had trouble getting dates. Sparky shook her head, dismissing it as nothing more than Shortfuse’s ridiculousness.

She had enough of her walk and decided it would be best to head back to the cabins. As she walked through the hallways, she was able to notice that a number of them were open and as of yet, unoccupied. They were rather small. Even with the Madame La Salle being 300 metres in length, space was still a premium.

She rounded the corner into her section, and began looking for which one was going to be hers. Cabins bunked two ponies, and she and Grandma V would be sharing one. As she rounded another corner, she collided headlong into someone who was standing just around the corner, unfortunately, this person was carrying many bags, almost all of which were very heavy, and fell down upon Sparky.

‘Owww!’ Sparky said from underneath the bags, she pushed them off her to reveal the massive gryphon she had exchanged looks with before, Juan Carlos.

‘¡Perdón!’ the gryphon said as he picked the bags up.

Sparky pushed several more around and got to her hooves. She turned around to discover that the gryphon was not alone. Señora Amarilla de la Manzana hovered mere centimetres from her face, staring intensely into Sparky’s eyes.

‘You...’ the Señora said hostilely. ‘You are one of them’.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15
18 hours earlier.

Señora Amarilla de la Manzana took a deep breath as the lift she was riding in reached the top floor of the Sweet Apple Acres Company headquarters in Ponyville.

Ponyville, it had been a long time since the Señora had been to Ponyville. It had been twenty years ago, and in those days, a thick cloud of smog hung over the city. No longer, they'd cleaned up their act. Over the last twenty years, the Equestrian Republic had aggressively pursued green and eco-friendly technologies. Good thing too, the Señora had hardly been able to breathe the last time she was here.

She was not the only one in the elevator. She looked over at the other occupant and smiled. Her ever faithful gryphon manservant, Juan Carlos, stood next to her, holding her things and looking over holo papers for the deal she was about to make. Juan Carlos was the only person that she could stand to be around, despite the fact that he was a gryphon, Juan Carlos was a quiet, stoic individual, and despite his large, and intimidating size, he had a gentle personality that made him perfect for the work that he did.

Juan Carlos looked over to her, nodding his head as he opened the briefcase he was carrying, returning the holo papers to it and buttoning it up tightly.

'What are you thinking, Juan Carlos? Is the deal a good one?'

'Sí Señora', Juan Carlos said, nodding his head.

'Is there anything you would have done different?' Amarilla asked.

'No Señora', Juan Carlos said, shaking his head in the negative.

Amarilla smirked, that was Juan Carlos, he rarely talked, but when he did, it was in very short sentences.

The lift opened on the top floor, and Amarilla stepped gingerly out of the lift and walked along the open hallway, at the far end of the room was a desk. Amarilla knew the person who was sitting at it, not personally, but by reputation. This was Jonagold, head of Sweet Apple Acres, descendant of the founder of the modern company, Big McIntosh himself.

Jonagold was a yellowish-red coated mare, her mane was blonde, and her eyes were a sharp green. Oddly enough, they were not unlike her own. Jonagold looked up and offered Amarilla a pleasant smile. 'Well hello Señora de la Manzana, it is a pleasure to finally meet you'.

'Likewise', Amarilla said.

'There have been rumours that you've been wanted to buy us out for quite some time, I'm sorry to tell you, I ain't selling, my granddaddy would roll over in his grave if he knew I sold our family's livelihood', Jonagold said, crossing her forelegs and looking at Señora adamantly.

'You have not looked at the deal', Amarilla said with a frown.

'Oh, you've got plenty of money, I know you're good for it', Jonagold said. 'I ain't selling'.

'All I ask is that you look at it', Amarilla said. 'Juan Carlos?'

Juan Carlos nodded; he opened the briefcase and set the holo paper detailing the offer on Jonagold's desk. Jonagold begrudgingly took a look at it. She pulled it closer and read it over. Her jaw dropped wide open.

'Okay... I'm going to be honest here, this amount that you are offering...' Jonagold said.

'It is my offer. I will go no higher, and I will go no lower', Amarilla said simply.

'But... this... what you're offering? It's twice as much as what the entire company is worth!' Jonagold said.

Amarilla smirked, most business people would not have said that, most people, when they had seen how much she was offering, would have have taken it on the spot and run off with all of it. 'Like I said... it is my offer'.

'This... this is an extremely generous offer', Jonagold said.

'Allow me to make it more generous. After my purchase of the Sweet Apple Acres company, nothing will change', Amarilla said simply.

'Pardon?' Jonagold asked.

'I will be changing nothing', Amarilla repeated. 'After I purchase Sweet Apple Acres, you will continue to be in charge, de facto. I will allow you to make whatever choices you wish to make in management. The only thing that will change is that my name will be added to some files'.

Jonagold blinked slowly, processing the information, she looked back down at the paper before her, and nodded. 'Well, when you've put it that way... the offer is incredibly generous, I'd be a fool not to agree. Fine, I'll sign it'.

Amarilla smiled. 'I thank you, and welcome to Manzana S.A.', she said as she turned to leave. 'I'll have my lawyers send over the full paper work'.

'Señora de la Manzana?' Jonagold asked. 'I have to ask... well, it's just that, you've got a bit of a reputation in the business world, and it ain't for being generous... I got to ask...'

'Why so generous on this deal?' Amarilla asked. 'My reasons are my own. Let's just say... it's sentimental, a tribute to the mare who allowed me to come to the position that I am in now'.

'What do you mean?' Jonagold asked.

Amarilla offered Jonagold a small smile, saying nothing, and walking back towards the lift.

…

'You think I was too generous, don't you Juan Carlos?' Amarilla asked as they walked down the stairs of the metro station, and onto a platform, and boarded the Ponyville Metro to return to their hotel. 'Speak your mind, Juan Carlos'.

Juan Carlos was silent for a moment. 'Sí Señora... it was unlike you'.

Amarilla wasn't going to protest there. To be frank, she was a relatively unpleasant person to be around. She had no family, and no friends, and for good reason. Amarilla had a rather abrasive personality, her behaviour during the Sweet Apple Acres purchase was wildly out of character for her.

She had built up a reputation in the business world, her tactics were aggressive, ruthless, and had made her incredibly wealthy. She was well respected in her home country of Hispaña, respected, and feared.

The only person who could seem to stand to be around her was Juan Carlos.

It was odd, considering that she had met the gryphon after she had caught him stealing food from her land. Juan Carlos had been a child in those days. He was alone in Hispaña, nameless and abandoned by his family in the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms. Gryphon children remain nameless for the first five years of their lives. Juan Carlos had been about four.

The gryphon child that would become Juan Carlos did not speak when Amarilla had caught him stealing. In fact, he had remained silent for the entire of the encounter. For stealing food, Amarilla beat him and then tossed him off her land.

He came back the next day, and once again, stole food. This time, waiting for Amarilla to have clear view of him, and then stealing an apple off one of her trees. Once again, Amarilla beat him and threw him off her land.

He came back the next day, and stole another apple. This time, Amarilla did not beat him; instead she went up to him and asked why he continued to steal, when he knew what would happen. He answered simply.

'Nadie me pagó la mente', he had said. No one else paid me mind.

She had taken the gryphon in, and spent the next several years training him to be her servant. The gryphon would remain mostly silent for the majority of it, but he showed his appreciation in other ways, she would go on to name him Juan Carlos.

The gryphon was her only source of companionship, and had been for many years. Her family had all died long ago, and she had no friends. Juan Carlos was not only her manservant, but her closest confidant.

Now that the deal was closed, it was time to return to Hispaña, she had purchased passage on a cheval passenger liner, the Madame La Salle, actually she had purchased passage for seven people, but she would only need room for two. Amarilla made it a habit to purchase all the space around her as well. She liked to be alone, and others liked to be spared from her unpleasant company, as far as she was concerned, she was doing them a favour.

She looked over at the gryphon, to discover that he had buried his face into his persona procesador de información, the hispaña version of the equestrian MIP. Juan Carlos was, presumably, checking on their booking status for the Madame La Salle on his PPI, she left him to it, he was responsible for their travel arrangements.

'I am sure it is fine, Juan Carlos', she said eventually.

'Sí Señora', Juan Carlos said.

Eventually the metro brought them back to their hotel. Amarilla was glad to be back at her suite, the day’s events had been very tiring, and she was very happy to curl up in bed and go to sleep.

Amarilla slept through the night, and awoke early in the morning to discover Juan Carlos standing beside her bed.

'Juan Carlos? Is everything all right?'

'No, Señora, I have been checking our booking information for our flight today', Juan Carlos said.

'And?' Amarilla asked.

'The company made a mistake, and booked several other passengers in the rooms you reserved', Juan Carlos said.

Amarilla blinked at him. 'What?'

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Sparky looked at the mare in front of her nervously, she offered a small, apologetic smile, and a nervous chuckle. Sparky looked to the gryphon, and then back to Señora.

'What seems to be the problem here?' asked a voice from behind them.

The glare on the Señora's face began to dim, and she let out a small sigh. 'There is no problem. It is the company's fault, not yours’; she said turning around to face the person who spoke to her.

Sparky glanced around her to see that it was Grandma V, standing in the hallway behind them. Grandma V trotted close, looking at the Señora very intensely, almost as if she recognised her. 'Hm... Nah, you're not her', Grandma V said eventually.

The Señora raised an eyebrow at the elderly unicorn. 'What?'

'You're not her', Grandma V repeated as she trotted past and headed towards her cabin, she pressed on the entry button and went inside. The Señora turned around to look at Sparky for an answer as to what exactly she was going on about. Sparky had no answers; she merely shrugged at the hispaña noble. Grandma V was Grandma V, she did things that didn't always make sense, and did them surprisingly often.

The Señora sighed again; she looked at Sparky for a moment and then shook her head. 'Do yourself a favour, let us stay clear of each other, it will be much better for everyone', she said as she turning around, waving to Juan Carlos to follow.

Juan Carlos watched Sparky for a moment, before turning around and heading off after his mistress. Sparky frowned, she could only wonder as to why the Señora had said that. She must be a lonely person, and Sparky couldn't help but feel bad.

She turned around and headed off in the opposite direction. She had other things that needed handling.

…

Sparky found DC Hopely near the back of the ship, staring out of a window. 'How can you stand to look out?' she asked.

'I find it relaxing', DC Hopely said, turning back to face towards Sparky. 'I guess that I can't avoid you any longer, you've wanted to know my plan for a while. So go ahead, ask what you want to know'.

Sparky nodded, and gestured for her to follow. The two mares trotted over to the ship's aft lounge. The lounge was completely deserted; most of the passengers were up in the dining area waiting for dinner. The lounge was filled with a couple dozen comfortable chairs. Sparky and DC Hopely picked two of them off in the far corner.

'Go ahead then, ask your questions', DC Hopely repeated as she took her hoof, brushing her mane out of her eyes.

'When you were making those calls at the Twilight Sparkle Aerodrome, were you talking to your “guy?”?’ Sparky asked.

'Yes I was, he's going to be meeting us at our destination', DC Hopely said.

'Who is he?' Sparky asked.

'His name is Yuri... He's a Præsidium National', DC Hopely said, Sparky could tell that she was hesitant to divulge further. 'I met him a while ago, before I even became a detective'.

'How did you meet him?' Sparky asked, raising an eyebrow.

'I arrested him...' DC Hopely said with a nervous swallow. 'For jaywalking at the corner of Scootaloo Street and Excelsior Avenue in down town Ponyville'.

Sparky's jaw dropped. 'What's a Præsidium National doing getting arrested for jaywalking in down town Ponyville?' she asked.

'Spying for the NKVD...' DC Hopely said.

Sparky's jaw dropped even lower. The NKVD was part of the Præsidium's intelligence service. Honestly, it was naive to think that the Præsidium didn't spy on the Republic. They certainly did, and the Republic certainly spied on the Præsidium, but the idea that DC Hopely had come across one... it was unsettling and made things very real.

'Yeah, you want to know the worst part? My superiors knew about it, and they weren't happy when I brought him in', DC Hopely said. 'They had one of the Serious and Organised Crime detectives feeding him bad intelligence to take back... guess who?'

'No... not...' Sparky said.

DC Hopely nodded. 'Yes, then Detective Inspector Viola Auditore was his contact in the PPS, she was posing as a corrupt copper feeding information to the Præsidium through Yuri, she was really good at the corrupt copper act, because she IS a corrupt copper. Then I came along and ruined all of it'.

'What happened?' Sparky asked.

'Well, when I cited Yuri for jaywalking, he refused to sign the citation, so I brought him in. When Serious and Organised Crime came down and ordered us to release him... I resisted, of course, said that there was no way in hell I was going to let him off easy on this ticket. Viola Auditore liked that, said that I had everything to be a good copper, but to shut up and sit down, and let her do her job', DC Hopely said. 'I did it, I sat down, I let her do it, but I grumbled about it for weeks, and then few weeks later? A then promoted to DCI, Viola Auditore requested for me to become a detective in her department'.

‘You agreed?’ Sparky asked raising an eyebrow, considering the kind of person DCI Auditore was, it didn’t seem like the best career choice to make.

‘Yes. Nobody knew that Serious and Organised Crime is corrupt, they all have a pact of silence. They don’t report one of their own, the only people who know about the corruption are they people they shake down, and they don’t dare talk’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘So yes, I agreed, my first day of training, DCI Auditore herself took me out to show me how they did things, her first lesson involved her slamming my face against the hood of her car. Said that Serious and Organised Crime was just that, serious and organised, the bad guys were ruthless, and that we needed to be just as ruthless. That was supposed to be my first lesson... I got it loud and clear...’

‘What did you do?’ Sparky asked.

DC Hopely grinned at her friend. ‘After DCI Auditore let me up, I promptly slammed her face down against the hood of her car. “Is this ruthless enough, Guv?” I’d asked. Oh she wasn’t happy about that, she said that she’d give me that one for free, but there was still a chain of command to follow and not to do it again, apparently, beating your superior isn’t okay, but bribing and blackmailing them to get promoted is okay in the Serious and Organised Crime Group’.

DC Hopely frowned; she slouched in her seat, and looked up at the ceiling. ‘I did a lot of things I’m not proud of when I was in Serious and Organised Crime... and at the time I rationalised away all wrong doing. Nobody starts as a corrupt copper, Sparky... everyone, even DCI Auditore, stood for something once... you have to be taught to become a corrupt copper, your superior has to tell you repeatedly that what you’re doing is okay and for the greater good... then you start to believe it’.

Sparky frowned, she rose from her seat and took to the one that DC Hopely was sitting in, and she wrapped one of her forelegs around her friend, trying to comfort her. ‘Hey, it’s alright, you made your stand and you came over to the right side! You should be proud of yourself!’

‘It’s not that simple Sparky’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘Serious and Organised Crime? They’ll forget about you eventually, they’ll stop caring. Me on the other hoof... I was one of them, they will never forget me. I’ll never be able to go home, never be able to sleep at night without a gun under my pillow, and I will never be able to let anyone love me, because Serious and Organised Crime will use them to get to me. It’s not a matter of if they’ll get me, it’s when. They won’t stop until I’m dead, by my own hoof or otherwise’.

Sparky snapped to attention, she looked down at her friend in horror. ‘Hopely... you can’t honestly be considering killing yourself!?’ she cried out.

‘No... no, I would need to make sure you all were safe first’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘I don’t want to have your deaths being used as part of my eternal torment when I’m in hell’.

‘Hopely...’ Sparky said, she felt a tear begin to form in her eye. She instinctively rubbed at it, letting out a small sniffle.

‘Hey come on, don’t cry for me, I’m not worth it, and I’m not going anywhere just yet... Anyway, we’ll be meeting Yuri when we stop, DCI Auditore pissed him off a while back, and when he heard that she hates my guts too now, and he was more than willing to help. We’ll be meeting him in the back alley behind a café in Manzanares’.

‘Can we trust him?’ Sparky asked, wiping another tear from her eyes.

‘Absolutely not, he’s a scoundrel and a communist, but unfortunately we don’t have any other choices’, DC Hopely said with a frown.

‘You make such great plans Hopely’, Sparky said with a chuckle.

DC Hopely merely chuckled in return. ‘Heh... I know right?’

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

DC Hopely and Sparky headed up to the dining area to join the others for dinner. Sparky kept silent for the duration for the walk, the things that DC Hopely had said during their talk worried her greatly. DC Hopely was her friend, she may not have known her very well, but they were still friends, and she wanted to die. How was Sparky even supposed to feel about that? That was the problem, she didn't know. She looked up at DC Hopely, and could tell that she was deeply troubled, just by her body language. Sparky would have to discuss this with the others later, after DC Hopely had gone to bed.

They entered the dining area, and discovered it packed full. All three hundred passengers were now here, waiting to be served dinner. The two mares looked around for their friends. If they were in here, they did not see them. They did, however, spot in the far back corner of the room someone that they did know. Señora Amarilla de la Manzana, and Juan Carlos, were seated by themselves at a lone table. Sparky and DC Hopely glanced at each other for a moment, and shrugged, before heading over.

'Hello', Sparky said as they approached. 'Mind if we sit?'

Señora looked up at them as they approached, giving them a small frown. Juan Carlos instinctively rose from his seat; Señora interrupted him, raising a hoof. 'Eso será suficiente, Juan Carlos', she said, calling the gryphon off.

Juan Carlos turned to her, looking for a moment, and then sitting back down. 'Sí Señora', he said.

'If you wish to sit, I suppose you may', Señora said. 'There appears to be nowhere else open'.

'Muchas gracias, Señora', DC Hopely said with a nod.

Señora looked at DC Hopely in surprise. 'De nada', she said as Sparky and DC Hopely sat down. 'You speak hispaña?'

DC Hopely nodded. 'Hispaña, cheval, schäferhund... cossack. Could probably pick up more if I had the need to'.

'Rather impressive, I don't believe I have met anyone with such an affinity for languages', Señora said. 'Miss...?'

'DC Hopely', DC Hopely said. 'That's Sparky, though I think the two of you have already met'.

'Señora Amarilla de la Manzana', Señora said. 'That is Juan Carlos', she said, gesturing to the gryphon.

'Pleasure', Sparky said, giving the gryphon a smile. He did not respond, instead, giving her a blank, uncomfortable stare, the thought occurred to her that it was possible that the gryphon did not understand her. Señora had always spoken to him in her native tongue. Sparky turned back towards Señora. 'Does he speak Wallish?' Sparky asked.

'Juan Carlos? No, he does not', Señora said. 'The language of the Equestrian Republic and the United Kingdom of Welara is completely alien to him... he cannot speak it, as to how much of it he understands? I cannot say'.

About this time, a cheval server came around with a salad for each of them. Sparky looked up at him and watched as he approached. Cheval were a race of pegasi, native to the Cheval Fifth Republic. In the past, the easiest way to tell the difference between equestrian pegasi and the cheval was by a cutie mark. Equestrians had them, cheval did not. Now it was not quite so simple. Cheval were overall larger than equestrian pegasi by about twenty per cent. The server was expertly carrying several plates on his outstretched wings. The server placed the plates down in front of the four of them. He bowed politely and departed from the table to bring more salads to others.

Sparky lifted up a fork with her telekinesis and speared a few pieces of lettuce; she opened her mouth and allowed it to enter. She closed her mouth around it and pulled the fork out and began to chew on it.

DC Hopely looked at the fork before her, prodding at it with her hoof trying to figure out how to pick it up. 'How the hell are we supposed to use one of these things!?' she cried out.

'If you figure it out, you are a smarter mare than I', Señora said, opening her mouth. Juan Carlos picked up her fork, spearing pieces of lettuce and guiding it into his mistress's mouth.

'Screw it', DC Hopely said, before face planting into the bowl and eating her salad in a way that was clearly inappropriate for the setting they were in.

Sparky couldn't help but smirk as she watched DC Hopely eat. Sometimes, it paid to be a unicorn.

…

Dinner consisted of the salad of course, followed by a tomato bisqué soup, which was eaten in similar ways to the salad, Juan Carlos spoon fed the soup to his mistress, and Sparky used her telekinesis, DC Hopely became frustrated with the silverware again, and drank directly from the bowl. Obviously, her table etiquette wasn't proper for the situation, and she garnered a number of dirty looks from the passengers seated at nearby tables.

'What are you looking at?!' DC Hopely cried out at one of them. 'How else am I supposed to eat?'

Said passenger said nothing, and went back to eating their meal.

Desert, consisted of a cherry cheesecake. Of which DC Hopely became very frustrated at due to the fact that it was another dish that required silverware. As the four of them returned to their cabin area after eating, DC Hopely continued to grumble and complain under her breath.

'Relax Hopely, it's not that big of a deal', Sparky said, patting her friend on the shoulder.

'Says the unicorn', DC Hopely grumbled. 'I don't get it! How do the cheval, the schäferhund, or even the hispaña get by using those things?!'

'I use Juan Carlos', Señora said with a shrug. 'And he is only too happy to do so... ¿No es así?, Juan Carlos?', she asked.

'Sí Señora', Juan Carlos said, blindly agreeing to what his mistress said, regardless of the fact that he did not understand the language in which they all were speaking.

As they rounded the last corner to their section of the ship, Señora stopped in her tracks. Juan Carlos stopped as well; he turned around to face her, wondering what was going on.

'Sparky?' Señora asked. 'May I speak to you for a moment? In private?'

'Yes, of course', Sparky said turning around.

Juan Carlos stared in confusion as to what was going on. Señora turned to him and waved him off. 'Está bien, Juan Carlos', she said.

'Sí Señora', the gryphon said as he walked off with DC Hopely back towards their cabins.

'What did you want to talk about, Señora?' Sparky asked when the two were finally alone.

'Your motivations', Señora said. 'You have been trying to get friendly since we met, why?'

Sparky blinked for a few seconds, processing the question, it was rather ironic, but it also happened to be true, Sparky, the introvert that she was, had been attempting to befriend the wellborn mare. 'I could tell that you don't have a lot of friends, that has to get lonely... is there really such a problem with me wanting to be your friend?'

'Yes', Señora said sharply. 'I had friends once... they're all dead now, one died in an accident, another worked herself to death, two others withered away, and another... one day just disappeared off the planet. Friendships are temporary, and they always go in the end, leaving you alone, so yes. There is a problem'.

Sparky frowned. 'You can't honestly believe that, what about Juan Carlos? Isn't he your friend?'

'He is my servant', Señora said, avoiding the question.

'You still talk to him about things, don't you?' Sparky said in response. 'Or I suppose, talk at him, I've never heard him say more than two words, even when you talk to him in hispaña, but let's face it Señora, you can't try to claim that you go through life by yourself, because you don't'.

Señora opened her mouth to respond, but she shut it again just as quickly, she looked towards the floor in despair. Sparky smiled at her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. 'Hey, it's all right, you don't need to be alone, let me be your friend'.

'You will just leave too...' Señora said quietly.

'It may come to that... but it has to be better to be happy for a little while then to be miserable all the time, right?' Sparky said.

Señora looked up at Sparky, offering her a shrug. 'I... I don't know'.

'Come on, I'm sure there's a pleasant person in there underneath all the bitterness', Sparky said with a smile. 'So come on, there's no need to be alone'.

Señora's frown began to fade, and a small smile began to replace it. 'All right', she said.

Sparky wrapped her forelegs around the hispaña mare for a tight hug. 'You won't be alone any more Señora, I promise'.

'You may call me Amarilla', Amarilla said with a smile.

'Nice to finally meet you, Amarilla', Sparky said. The two mares turned and headed back towards the cabins. 'Um... Amarilla? I have a confession to make'.

'What is it?' Amarilla asked, looking at her new friend with worry.

'When me and my friends booked passage on this ship? The company didn't make a mistake...'

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

As far as this idea was concerned, it might not have been the worst one that Sparky had ever had. No, the worst idea she had ever had was downing a Pan Equestrian Gargle Blaster in one gulp. However this had certainly been up there. She finished telling Amarilla the story of how she had come to this point. Not sparing on the details, she had even shown her the cutie mark hidden beneath her saddlebags. Amarilla continued to stare blankly at her as she finished, as if she could not believe what she was hearing. Her blank stare turned to a frown, and the frown turned to a scowl.

The scowl ended with a smack across her face. Sparky’s eyes began to water after the sudden shock of the impact.

‘Do you know anything about the history of the hispaña?’ Amarilla asked.

‘Uh...’ Sparky said with a shrug, history had never been her strong suit.

‘The hispaña have long known conflict, with the outside and within. Our people have fought seven civil wars, the most recent one founding our Third Republic. I lived through that war, I have known conflict, I have known pain, and I have known suffering’, Amarilla said. ‘So take your trouble and keep it to yourself. Pequeña zorra’.

Sparky didn’t know what that meant, but she could tell that it certainly wasn’t polite.

Amarilla trotted over to her cabin door, pressing the button for entry. ‘Juan Carlos!’ she cried out as she entered, and then closed the door behind her. The door opened up again as Juan Carlos stepped outside. The gryphon turned towards her, craning his neck to look at her. ‘¡Váyase, rapido!’, he cried out, pointing towards her, and making a motion with his taloned hand to leave.

‘I’m going! I’m going!’ Sparky said, not realising that it wasn’t doing her any good speaking to the gryphon, she turned and went back around the corner. Tears streaming from her eyes, here was another thing she could add to the list of things in her social life she’d failed at.

...

Sparky had long crawled into bed at this point. The sun had gone down, and they’d left the boarders of the Republic, according to the map function on her MIP, they were about 500 kilometres out over the Orientem Ocean. Sparky probably wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, if not from how she felt, it would be because Grandma V snored, loudly. Though, Sparky figured that was the price for her having two mechanical lungs that outclassed any organic lung that was ever in existence.

Sparky mindlessly prodded at the holographic display in despair. Not even pictures of house cats doing silly things could make her feel better. It was odd, mere days ago, her only friend had been Shortfuse, and in those days, she had preferred spending time by herself. Now, all she wanted was someone to talk to.

The holographic display began to reform, in a split second it was a glowing ball, with a smiling face on it.

‘Hi there!’ Mister Happy said cheerfully.

Sparky gasped in surprise, her heart was racing. She was not expecting the appearance of the AI, and certainly not on her MIP.

‘Did I scare you? I’m sorry! That wasn’t very nice of me!’ Mister Happy said.

Sparky brought one of her forelegs to her chest to feel her heart. It felt as if it was going to explode out of her chest. ‘Don’t do that!’ she hissed at the AI.

‘Huh? Wassizt?’ Grandma V said from the bunk below her. ‘Wazgoinon?’ she asked.

‘Nothing Grandma V! Go back to sleep!’ Sparky said.

‘Huh? Oh, okay!’ Grandma V said, and promptly resumed snoring.

Sparky turned her attention back to the AI, pondering its sudden appearance. ‘What do you want?’ she asked.

‘I’ve been browsing the internet, and I came across reference to a story from history that you might find interesting!’ Mister Happy said.

Sparky wasn’t sure that she was going to find it interesting at all, she found history to be boring and tiresome, preferring science and mathematics instead. She opened her mouth to voice this opinion, but Mister Happy didn’t let her.

‘The story is from 800 years ago! And it concerns a travelling merchant who is said to have discovered the secret of immortality!’ Mister Happy said with glee. ‘800 years ago, the merchant’s caravan had been raided by highwaymen. They burned his caravan completely, but the merchant was able to escape with his life to the old monarchy’s capital city! Canterlot! This is where he had been heading anyway! The merchant was very distraught over the loss of his livelihood; he wandered around the city for hours, before deciding what he was going to do! So in his despair, he threw himself over the side of the city where he would meet his end on the hard ground of Whitetail Wood. Like many jumpers, he immediately regretted the choice’.

‘This story isn’t exactly inspiring much confidence in me’, Sparky said with a frown.

‘I’m just about to get to the good part!’ Mister Happy proclaimed. ‘He didn’t get killed! Instead of hitting ground, there was a lake that he landed in! He landed in the middle of the deepest part of the lake! He was happy to be alive! So he swam over to the edge of the lake and climbed out, that was when he heard someone calling out to him! He turned around and discovered that his reflection was speaking to him!’

Sparky looked at the AI suspiciously. So far, she had been listening to the story attentively, but come on now, a talking lake? That was starting to push the limit.

‘Keep in mind, I’m recounting this story for you, I’m not making it up myself!’ Mister Happy said. ‘The lake spoke to the merchant, identifying itself as a mythical body of water, known as the Lake of Circumstance!’

‘Never heard of it’, Sparky said.

‘That is not surprising!’ Mister Happy said. ‘The stories of the lake’s existence had long fallen out of popularity even before the founding of the Republic! Legend states that there were two mythical lakes in Equestria, one, was the Lake of Circumstance, in Whitetail Wood, and the other, the Lake of Origin in the Everfree Forest, it’s said that these lakes could only be found by those in dire need of them, but if not, then they would be impossible to find. Legend states, that if one is to drink the waters of both lakes, they will be granted immortal life! If they did actually exist at one point, they no longer do, as both Whitetail Wood and the Everfree Forest were razed to the ground by FutureTec!’

Sparky frowned at the AI again. Immortal life... right, next thing he was going to say was that it worked by magic. Ha! Magic, that was rich, everyone in the republic knew that magic wasn’t real. ‘I’ll bite, let me guess, this merchant drank from the waters of both lakes?’

‘Correct! He sought out the Lake of Origin in the Everfree Forest, and discovered it after many months of searching, he drank from the waters and became immortal, and the problem was he didn’t feel any different! So he needed a way to test it. Lucky for him, he’d get one! After wandering out of the Everfree Forest, he was attacked by the same highwaymen that burned his caravan several months before! They killed him and took everything he had on him!’

‘I thought you said...’ Sparky began, but was quickly interrupted.

‘And then something miraculous happened!’ Mister Happy continued, ignoring her completely. ‘He didn’t stay dead! In fact, while the highwaymen were looting his body, he opened his eyes and let out a deep gasp for breath, he got back up without a problem! The highwaymen were frightened by his resurrection, and promptly dropped everything and ran off in fear! The merchant went back to Canterlot and spread the story about what happened to him, proving it to many over the following months’.

Sparky eyed the AI oddly, still not sure exactly what to think of this story. ‘What happened to the merchant?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know! Almost all physical evidence that the merchant even existed has disappeared! More than likely, Princess Celestia discovered him, and tracked him down and destroyed him for being an abomination against nature! That sounds like something she would do, so it makes perfect sense!’ Mister Happy said.

Sparky shrugged, she had never really paid much attention during her history classes. They had discussed both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna plenty of times, of course. However what little information she had learned, had mostly been forgotten. Basically what she knew was that Princess Celestia had been a technophobe, and Princess Luna had been a sociopath. ‘That’s... an interesting story’, Sparky said. ‘Why exactly are you telling it to me?’

Mister Happy was silent for a few moments, a few long, uncomfortable moments. Sparky raised an eyebrow at the AI. Certainly it had a reason to tell her this story... but what was it?

‘No reason!’ Mister Happy said eventually. ‘Goodbye!’

The holographic ball disappeared off her MIP completely. Sparky frowned, she knew that when it said it had no reason for telling her the story, it had been lying, but why lie about it? If the AI was lying, and it was painfully obvious that it was, then this story was important somehow, but how? That was the important question.

Sparky closed the holographic display on her MIP and rolled over on the bed. She laid herself down and closed her eyes, she was rather tired, and hopefully, she’d be able to get a good night sleep, and maybe it would help her find the meaning of the AI’s message.

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Sparky's eyes opened, and she discovered that she was lying on the grass. She looked up at the blue sky, and watched as the clouds passed over head. She stretched out her legs and let out a loud yawn. She looked around and discovered that her MIP, her FutureTec utility vest, and her saddlebags were oddly missing, though what was even odder than that, Sparky was only vaguely aware that they had even existed at all.

She got to her hooves and continued to stretch; she let out another yawn and rubbed her eyes. 'Ah... that was a nice nap', she said as she began to walk around. She trotted onto a dirt path and followed it. Only vaguely aware of what was down the path, Sparky continued to trot along, humming as she went. Eventually the path led her into a small town. It was Ponyville, but it was no Ponyville that she recognised.

Sparky was in a dream world, though she was only vaguely becoming aware of it. The Ponyville she was in was based upon old photographs that belonged to Grandma V, with her own imagination filling in the blanks. Things in town looked like a town should, of course, there were a few things that were particularly zany and completely out of place. Ponies in blue robes trotted around the town aimlessly, and even odder than that, were a number of large, bulky robots on tracked wheels that rolled around behind them.

'Hi there!' one of the robots said, Sparky looked up at it, and discovered that it had a television screen on the front of it, and on that television screen was a smiling face.

'Mister Happy?' Sparky asked. 'What are you doing here?'

'That's a really good question Vinyl Scratch!' Mister Happy said.

Sparky waited for him to give an answer, but naturally, the AI did not, then Sparky realised what he said. She looked down at her foreleg, it was not the lilac colour that her coat was; instead it was white. She brushed a hoof through her mane, and discovered that it was a two tone colour, a dark blue, and a light blue, not the dark purple and yellow that belonged to her.

Sparky wasn't actually Sparky, she was Grandma V when she was young.

'Well, I got to go, you have fun!' Mister Happy said, rolling away.

Sparky... Grandma V... Sparky? Whoever she was, she continued on her way towards a tall building in the centre of town, Sparky recognised this to be Olde Towne; she trotted up to the building and pushed open the door. Hanging from the ceiling was a large banner; Sparky looked at it for a moment, as if the words took some time to form into something coherent: 'Parliament of the Equestrian Republic'.

'This session of the Parliament of the Equestrian Republic is now open', said a voice from the interior of the room.

There were three ponies in the room, two mares and a stallion. The stallion was an earth pony that had a red coat and a light brown mane; the two mares sitting across from him were a unicorn and a pegasus. The pegasus had a bright pink mane and a yellow coat, while the unicorn was violet coated, and had a darker purple mane with a pink streak in it.

The unicorn looked over towards Sparky and waved. 'Hi Vinyl', she said.

'Hey there Twilight!' Sparky said. Wait, Sparky didn't say that! Grandma V's younger self that she happened to be possessing during the dream was acting on her own.

Sparky's view shifted; suddenly she was sitting on one of the rafters looking down upon the scene.

Grandma V... no it felt weird to refer to her as that. Vinyl Scratch, rather, trotted up to her friends. 'Fluttershy, Big McIntosh', she said nodding towards them.

'Vinyl Scratch', the earth pony said with a nod.

'How's it going?' Vinyl said with a grin.

'Not well', Twilight said with a frown. 'Trying to figure out a way to get everyone on board with the Republic, Manehattan's hard lining us, Fillydelphia wants to know what's in it for them. and the landed aristocracy everywhere has tightened their control over their duchies and earldoms'.

'Rough', Vinyl said. 'You could always use FutureTec'.

'Pardon?' Twilight asked.

'Use FutureTec, out compete Manehattan and Fillydelphia economically, they'll have no choice but to join up. Everyone else will fall in line after that’, Vinyl Scratch said.

'Vinyl... that's brilliant!' Twilight said with a smile.

'I have my moments', she said with a grin.

Sparky started to hear a small beeping noise, it started quietly at first, and then started to get louder and louder and Sparky turned around to look at it.

Light began to fill the room, and Sparky awoke with a jolt.

...

Sparky sat up in bed, which was something of a problem, the ceiling was low hanging and she smacked her head against it. ‘Ow! Damn it!’ she cried out, letting her head fall back against the pillow. Her MIP was beeping, and she quickly silenced it. She rubbed the spot she’d hit with her hoof, this time, she allowed herself to sit up slowly. She carefully avoided bashing her head in again and hopped off her bunk and onto the floor.

She turned around to face towards Grandma V’s bed, she must have already gotten up, because it was empty, and the bed had been made... wait. Grandma V never made her bed when they were home, why would she have made the bed here?

Sparky opened the door to their cabin and stepped outside. The door shut behind her swiftly. The hallway was completely empty. What was going on here? She was awake, right?

Of course she was, she’d hit her head waking up, if this had been a double dream, she would have woken up for real. Right? That was how it was supposed to work... right?

She pulled up her MIP and looked at the clock function. Sparky was alarmed by what it said. The local time was 1835, but then she remembered that she was on an airship over the ocean, and that they had probably gone through several time zones already, and Sparky looked at their local time zone which was RMT-2... her home time zone was RMT-5... wait, that meant that at home it was 1435! She had overslept! The cleaning crew must have come in and made Grandma V’s bed! She pulled up the map function and discovered that they were about three hours away from their destination. Grandma V and let her oversleep, probably because she thought it would be funny!

‘Granma V!’ Sparky cried out. She was going to murder her!

...

Sparky stormed into the dining hall and immediately picked out the table that Grandma V, Shortfuse, Dizzy, and DC Hopely were sitting at, as to be expected, Amarilla and Juan Carlos were nowhere to be seen. Sparky stormed over to the table and sat down at it.

‘Sparky! Thank god!’ Dizzy said with a smile. ‘I was about to come check on you!’

‘I’m fine’, Sparky said with a huff. ‘No thanks to you!’ she said pointing at Grandma V.

Grandma V raised an eyebrow in confusion.

‘Don’t pretend like you don’t know! You let me oversleep because you thought it would be funny!’ Sparky hissed at her.

‘Sparkplug’ Grandma V snapped back at her, causing Sparky to recoil. Grandma V never used her real name. ‘I did no such thing! I watched you yesterday and I saw how hard it was for you being aboard, I let you sleep because I thought it would be easier for you if you slept through most of the trip!’

Sparky blinked for a few moments at the revelation. ‘You mean... you actually did something thoughtful for once?’ she asked.

Grandma V’s scowl turned to the obnoxious grin she was well known for. ‘Don’t get used to it’, she said with a chuckle.

Sparky’s frown too turned to a small smile. ‘Yeah, I won’t... honestly; it was probably a good idea, at least this way, I minimised the chances of Juan Carlos bloodying me up and tossing me out of a cargo hatch’.

Everyone looked at her in confusion. Sparky took the time to recount what had happened with Amarilla. ‘... I had her; she had just accepted my friendship and then I went in blew it!’ Sparky finished.

‘At least you were honest about it’, Dizzy said with a shrug, giving her friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. ‘It’s better than her coming with us to meet DC Hopely’s friend and finding out for the first time then. She would have been twice as angry’.

‘Probably more so’, DC Hopely added. ‘Speaking of, once we land and get through security, we need to make a bee line for our meeting point with Yuri, DCI Auditore will have no doubt arranged for a bulletin to be put out on us by the Police Internationale. It takes time for them to distribute that bulletin to every local police service, but we’re not going to have a lot of time’.

Sparky nodded her head in agreement. Soon enough, a waiter came by and delivered their food, same as yesterday consisting of a salad, a soup, and this time, a bowl of ice crème for desert.

‘Aw come on!’ DC Hopely cried out. ‘Not this again!’

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

At 1925 on the dot, (Local time, of course), the Madame La Salle glided into dock in Manzanares, Hispaña Third Republic. Sparky and company gathered up their things and made sure that they would be one of the first ones off the ship. They didn't have a lot of time to waste, before they knew it, La Police Internationale arrest alerts could be circulating throughout the Manzanares Azaña Aerodrome, and they couldn't count on Mister Happy's suppression of them to last forever.

Unfortunately, they were not the only ones who had the idea to be off first. Amarilla and Juan Carlos showed up at the exit hatch at roughly the same time they did. The two groups stared awkwardly at each other for a few moments while one of the flight crew opened the exit hatch. Sparky wisely allowed Amarilla and Juan Carlos to exit before them, lest she incur the gryphon's wrath from doing otherwise.

They walked down the boarding ramp of the Madame La Salle's docking tether, following behind Amarilla and Juan Carlos towards the terminal. While security presence was rather heavy, consisting of several dozen guards armed with assault rifles, going through security was rather simple, and mostly a formality. Bag checks were far more rigorous at departing locations. Anything that had been let onto the Madame La Salle in Ponyville was most likely to be all right here.

Sparky did her best to not show her nervousness while she went through security. Luckily for her, security had chosen to do a random full search on Juan Carlos, and allowed Sparky and the rest of her party to go ahead through unopposed, Sparky garnered a dirty look from Amarilla as she stood off in the corner, waiting for Juan Carlos' check to finish up. Sparky offered the hispaña mare an apologetic smile, but it turned out to be nothing more than a waste of time. Amarilla turned away from her and rejoined with Juan Carlos as he came through security.

As Sparky and company stepped into the main terminal, she looked around, discovering that many signs were attached to the wall, unfortunately, she was not able to read any of them as they were all in hispaña. As an international port, one would think that the signs would have been printed in multiple languages, actually they probably were, Sparky noticed smaller print below the main signs that was too small to make out, but likely, they repeated what the sign said in a couple of different languages.

Something else caught Sparky's attention too. Nearby, there was a rather large group of ponies standing in the corner, all of them wearing identical black pullovers, and speaking in a language that Sparky did not recognise. Sparky wasn't paying attention to where she was walking, and accidentally bumped into another pony, this one too, was wearing a black pullover. 'Smotretʹ kuda vy idete!' he shouted at her as he passed her.

Sparky frowned and opened her mouth to respond, when she noticed that something had fallen out of this pony's pocket. It was a small metal canister that looked something like an aerosol spray can.

A small red light lit up on the canister and Sparky heard a quiet electronic whine fill the air. 'What?' Sparky asked as she looked at the device in confusion.

The canister suddenly exploded, and the room filled with a blinding flash of light. Sparky's ears began to ring and she could no longer see. She fell to the floor in disorientation, she tried to cover her ears as the sound ate away at her brain, she still couldn't see, spots of light blinded her completely, but as the sound began to fade, it was replaced by screams from others in the Aerodrome.

Suddenly, Sparky felt a hoof smash into her face, she fell back down, hitting her head on head on the floor, and losing consciousness.

…

Sparky opened her eyes, at least, she thought they were open, she open and shut them several times and was unable to notice a difference between the two. She turned her head to the right and felt cloth rub up against her nose, there was a bag over her head. She tried to reach up and pull it off, but she discovered that her legs did not want to move with her, they were tied up. Sparky frowned, she didn’t dare try to use telekinesis, without being able to see what she was doing, she would just be doing more harm than good.

Oh what wonderful things she was discovering, she thought to herself sarcastically. She opened her mouth, and discovered that nothing was obstructing it. She could speak. 'Hello? Is anyone there?' she asked.

'Sparky?' another voice came back. 'Sparky is that you?'

'Shortfuse?' Sparky asked.

'Yeah! It's me!' Shortfuse said. 'Can you move?'

'No', Sparky said with a frown. 'I'm tied up and I have a bag over my head'.

'Yeah, yeah me too', Shortfuse said sadly. 'Do you remember what happened?'

'Yeah... ' Sparky said. 'Bright flash of light, and then someone kicked me in the face'.

'I think that might have been me... I'm sorry if it was', Shortfuse said. 'Is anyone else here?'

Another voice spoke up. 'Sparky? Shortfuse?' Dizzy asked from the darkness.

'Dizzy? You all right?' Sparky asked.

'Tied up and bag over my head, on the plus side, this isn't the worst situation I've been in!' Dizzy said, oh she was ever the optimist.

'What was the worst situation you've ever been in?' Sparky asked out of curiosity.

'Well I was tied up and gagged in a back alley in Olde Towne by three earth pony drug addicts who were ready to violate my chastity', Dizzy said with a small chuckle. 'Earth ponies, they never see that levitating-something-really-big-and-really-heavy-up-behind-you trick coming', Dizzy added, though Sparky couldn't see Dizzy's face, she could tell just by the tone of voice that she was smiling. 'Chastity intact after that encounter too'.

'Is anyone else here?' Sparky called out.

'You...' hissed a voice from behind Sparky. 'This is your fault!'

'Amarilla?' Sparky asked.

'Sí', Amarilla hissed. 'Juan Carlos? ¿Estás aquí?' she asked.

'Sí Señora', Juan Carlos said simply from somewhere else in the room.

'Juan Carlos is here', Amarilla said.

'No kidding?' said another voice, this one belonging to DC Hopely.

'Would you all shut up?!' Grandma V shouted out. 'I have a headache and you all talking is just going to make it worse!'

All of them fell silent as they heard the sound of a large steel door open and shut from the far corner of the room. Hoof steps approached them, and Sparky held her breath instinctively.

Suddenly the bag was ripped off her head, and Sparky realised that the person who did it was the same person she had bumped into at the Aerodrome, The same person who dropped the canister. 'You?' she asked.

'Zatknisʹ suka', the pony said, raising a hoof and smacking her across the face.

The door opened again, and another pony entered the room. 'Oleg! Etogo budet dostatochno!' the other cried out.

The pony in front of Sparky turned around, and backed off.

'Snimatʹ povyazki', the other pony said.

Oleg huffed loudly and moved over towards DC Hopely, pulling the bag off her head. DC Hopely looked up at the other pony that had entered the room. 'Yuri', DC Hopely hissed at him.

'Hello Anastasia', Yuri said with a smile.

'Anastasia?' Shortfuse asked, looking over to DC Hopely in suspicion. 'You've got a Cossack name?'

'I'm not Cossack', DC Hopely said flatly. 'My parents didn't make a great choice when I was born'.

Yuri smiled at her mockingly. 'Anastasia is such a beautiful name! There is no need to be ashamed of it'.

'Yeah, no need to be ashamed if you're a communist', DC Hopely hissed at him.

'You say that as if it is a bad thing', Yuri said.

'It is!' DC Hopely snapped back at him.

'We shall debate another day', Yuri said. 'You wished to escape from DCI Auditore? I have saved you'.

'You kidnapped us', Shortfuse cried out.

'Details', Yuri said dismissively. 'We have something that needs doing, and you are in no position to say no'.

Sparky frowned, she had been afraid of this, when she had first heard that Yuri was NKVD she knew that strings would be attached, they always were. ‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘I assume you have heard? Tragedy aboard Discovery One spaceship?’ Yuri asked with a grin on his face and a gleam in his eye, this made Sparky all the more nervous. The NKVD was the Præsidium’s intelligence service, they had to know that Sparky and Shortfuse were FutureTec employees that both worked as part of the ground control crew for the Discovery One mission. Sparky could only guess that he wanted information on the project, possibly secrets about the design of the ship, or maybe information on the Hannibal-Class VIs.

Sparky’s face turned to a frown, and then to a look of horror. The Hannibal-Class VIs, he wanted to know about their instabilities, which unfortunately, happened to be something that she knew about. ‘I’m not telling you anything!’ Sparky cried out.

Yuri raised an eyebrow, in confusion, and chuckled in amusement. ‘Tell? No, I do not want you to tell anything. I have something bigger in mind’, he said with a grin.

Sparky swallowed hard, her and her big mouth.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Sparky was more than a little afraid at what Yuri had in mind for them. Oleg had since put the bags back over their heads, and many more NKVD agents had come in and shuffled them out and into the back of a truck. Oleg and Yuri took to the driver compartment and started the truck up. Before they knew it they were on their way to whatever the NKVD had planned for them.

‘You know?’ DC Hopely said. ‘Considering the situation we’re in right now? It might have been easier to let the Præsidium Spetsnaz hijack the Madame La Salle’.

Sparky turned towards the direction, or at least, what she thought was the direction of DC Hopely and scowled at her. ‘No it wouldn’t have been! Innocent people could have gotten hurt!’

‘Oh? So now you care about other people? When did this happen?’ Amarilla said sarcastically from the back of the truck.

Sparky felt herself overcome with anger at the statement. ‘Amarilla! Shut up okay! It’s my fault. I know it’s my fault! I couldn’t forget it even if I wanted to! So just... SHUT UP!’ Sparky cried out.

The entire cargo hold of the truck fell silent, as if they were all afraid to say anything. Sparky’s eyes began to water, and she fell over onto the floor, overcome by grief and guilt. This was her fault, all of it was her fault, her and this damn cutie mark that appeared out of nowhere. She’d run off from home after getting it. She turned Dizzy into a target of opportunity for the Ponyville Police Service’s heavily corrupt Serious and Organised Crime Group when they went out to look for the jamming device in Olde Towne. She’d forced DC Hopely into permanent exile by making her to choose between her and Dizzy, and DCI Auditore. Grandma V and Shortfuse had to leave with them because of what Sparky did, and now she’d gotten Amarilla and Juan Carlos wrapped up in this huge mess that she had created, completely against their will.

Sparky couldn’t do anything right. She started to cry. She then felt someone brush up against her, it was Dizzy, by the feel of the nephite’s CO19 riot barding vest against her. ‘Sparky...’ Dizzy began.

‘Leave me alone... just... just leave me alone!’ Sparky said between sobs. ‘This is all my fault... all my fault... I’m so sorry I got you all wrapped up in all this, I was selfish, and I got us all into this mess... if I’d just stayed at home like Grandma V told me...’

‘If you just stayed at home, then the Spetsnaz would have hijacked the Madame La Salle and people might have gotten hurt, and not to mention, it was our easiest option to get to the Præsidium, but you said no, that we’d find another way!’ Dizzy said. ‘You did something good!’

‘They still took me and Juan Carlos!’ Amarilla said.

‘And we’re sorry that happened, but stop being so hard on Sparky. She’s smart, she’ll think of something!’ Dizzy said.

Amarilla said nothing, but she didn’t need to. Sparky knew now that she had been telling the truth, she was a difficult person to get along with, for some reason or another, but that didn’t matter now. She sat back up and looked around to... or well, at least, where she thought the rest of her friends were sitting. ‘Like it or not, we’re all in this together now, if we’re going to get out of this in one piece, we have to work as a team. Otherwise, the NKVD wins... I’ll think of something... we just need to...’

The truck shuddered slightly, and changed its position suddenly and Sparky fell back onto the floor from the sudden change. The truck had just gone up a ramp. They heard the engine shut off and the doors to the driver compartment open up, followed by the sound of a number of latches click, as if they were securing the truck to the ground... but why would they do that?

Then they heard the ear shattering shrill of a jet engine roaring to life. They’d just been loaded onto an aeroplane. Suddenly, the aeroplane jolted, shooting off at full thrust and causing all of them to slide back towards the cargo door of the truck and, involuntarily piling up on each other.

‘Sparky... you’re sitting on my face!’ Amarilla called out.

‘What?!’ Sparky cried out, the roar of the engines and the cloth bag over her head made it very difficult to hear.

‘YOU. ARE. SITTING. ON. MY. FACE!’ Amarilla called out again.

‘I’m last in a race?’ Sparky asked. ‘That doesn’t even make sense!’

Amarilla growled loudly in annoyance. ‘Never mind!’

...

The aeroplane levelled out soon enough, and with the balance of aeroplane in the air, they were able to shift back to more comfortable positions. The engines had gotten quieter, indicating that they had been forced to accelerate quickly, likely having a shorter runway than what they should have had for takeoff.

Everyone did their best to try and get some rest. With the exception of Juan Carlos and Sparky, each for different reasons, Sparky’s oversleeping on the Madame La Salle had meant that she wasn’t tried enough to be able to try to sleep even if he wanted to, or at least, so logic held.

Juan Carlos, on the other hoof... hand... talon... whatever, was attempting to undo his bonds. Sparky could hear him struggling and he tried to snap them.

‘You really should stop, you’re going to hurt yourself!’ Sparky said.

Juan Carlos did not reply, though, Sparky wasn’t surprised by that. He did not speak her language, and she wasn’t about to wake up Amarilla to ask her to translate. Sparky tried her best to come up with a plan, but she really had no idea where to go with anything. They had obviously left the Hispaña Third Republic, probably on a direct course for Præsidium aerospace, but to where? Where exactly were Yuri and Oleg taking them?

...

Sparky must have dozed off during the flight, because now she found herself awake, having slid, along with the rest of her party, towards the front of the cargo hold of the truck. ‘Amarilla... I think you’re sitting on my face!’ she cried out.

‘I’m sorry, what was that? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!’ Amarilla cried out mockingly.

The aeroplane was descending, they must have gotten close to their destination, and a few minutes later, they felt it touching down on the ground, causing them all to slide back to the other end of the cargo hold once more before coming to a complete stop.

One of the NKVD must have opened the door to the truck’s cargo hold, as Sparky felt them all fall out of the back of the truck and land in a pile on the ground.

‘Why me?’ Amarilla groaned from the bottom of the pile.

‘Ah shut up, I’m one hundred and twenty six years old! And you don’t see me complaining!’ Grandma V cried out.

Amarilla mumbled something incoherent as NKVD Agents picked them up and marched them down the aeroplane’s exit ramp. Once they were outside, the cloth bags over their heads were removed. Sparky shut her eyes tightly expecting light to blind her, but as she slowly opened them up again, she discovered that it was dark out. She looked around and discovered that they were in an airfield in the middle of grassland plains... out in the middle of nowhere.

She turned around and looked, that was when she saw it, several hundred metres away was a tall launch pad intended for rockets. She knew instantly where they were. This was the Tyuratam Cosmodrome, the home base of the entire Præsidium space programme.

She turned back around and looked at Yuri in confusion, why would they have been brought here?

Yuri smiled, and ordered their bonds to be severed. All of the party were now free to walk around... in a most relative meaning of the word. They were in the heart of the Præsidium, they weren’t free to go anywhere.

‘Now you are here, you will learn what we want of you!’ Yuri said as he began trotting towards the launch pad that Sparky had seen off in the distance. ‘As you know, Discovery One mission includes three members of Præsidium Air Force, they are now dead, no one knows what happen. Everyone wants to know. Which is why we find out first, our government readies this ship to launch and we are sending you along to find out’.

Sparky’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t be serious. ‘What? You want us to go into space?!’ she cried out.

‘Dah!’ Yuri said with a nod. ‘You have necessary skill sets to do job’, he said, pointing to Sparky. ‘You are FutureTec Systems Analyst, you know how to operate the Discovery One’s computer’, he said, then he looked to Shortfuse and pointed at her. ‘You are software engineer, you will find out what went wrong with FutureTec VI’, he said, then turned to DC Hopely. ‘You speak Cossack, you will translate between our crew and yours!’

He then turned to look at Grandma V. ‘You are old mare, do not know what you’re purpose is yet, will find out and let you know’.

‘Thanks’, Grandma V said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him.

Yuri then turned his head towards Amarilla and Juan Carlos. ‘Gryphon is good heavy lifter, and hispaña mare will speak for him!’

Amarilla looked more than a little worried at that statement, but she realised that she had no choice. They were all stuck here, and they were all going into space, whether they liked it or not.

‘And you... you are nephite machinist!’ Yuri said, pointing to Dizzy.

‘That’s nephite missionary!’ Dizzy corrected.

Yuri blinked several times, as if processing the response that he had been given. ‘Eh, close enough’, he said eventually. ‘Congratulations! You are all going to space!’

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Sparky was more than a little nervous. As they were walked by the NKVD towards the launch pad, Sparky was able to get a better look at the ship that they had prepared. The ship itself was three hundred metres long, though Sparky figured that most of the ship’s length was a solid rocket booster intended to carry the ship into orbit. The actual ship itself was likely only a third of that length. They stepped into a large lift surrounded by a wire cage, and road up towards the docking hatch of the ship. She couldn’t actually believe it; the NKVD was sending them into space!

It wasn't that such travel was unheard of. There were a few stations in orbit that people could go to... if you had the money to go. Civil space travel, while available, was still very expensive, and here they were going to the gas giant Tartarus.

'You like ship? She is the Anatoliy Leninov', Yuri said towards Sparky.

'Leninov?' Sparky asked. 'Wasn't that one of the crew on the Discovery One mission?'

'Dah', Yuri said with a nod. 'Was originally called the Titov, but changed at last minute'.

'Why would you do that?' Sparky asked.

Yuri shrugged. 'We are told to change ship name, we do not ask why... Titov probably fell out of political favour'.

Sparky swallowed, considering what she knew of the Præsidium, she could only imagine what ‘falling out of the political favour’ actually entailed.

The lift reached the top of the launch pad, the wire mesh door opened up with a creek. At the far side of the hallway were several NKVD agents standing guard at the open airlock, each of them armed with twin assault rifles at their flanks. ‘I’m certainly glad they know we’re coming’, Dizzy said with a nervous gulp. Sparky nodded her head in agreement.

Yuri walked towards the open door and pointed inside. ‘You leave immediately, head inside and fasten seatbelts’, he said.

‘What?’ Sparky asked in disbelief. ‘We don’t like... get any training or anything for this mission?!’

‘No’, Yuri said plainly, as if Sparky’s question was completely ridiculous. ‘Is easy! Like riding rocket bus! Have you ever ridden rocket bus?’

‘No!’ Sparky said with a frown.

‘Oh’, Yuri said with mild disappointment. ‘Oh well. You’ll be fine, you have space sickness bags!’

Sparky frowned; as if that made everything alright. She was not, however in any position to argue with the NKVD agent, and she, however begrudgingly, stepped inside.

The Leninov’s floor didn’t seem to actually be a floor, Sparky made the mistake of looking down, and discovering that it was merely a see-through wire mesh. She froze in place, her fear of heights instantly paralysing her. The Leninov was clearly designed to fly along the x-axis, but for takeoff it seemed to need to travel along the y-axis. The wire mesh floor was temporary, and could be taken down after they’d reached space to give them access to the rest of the ship. Sparky stiffened her resolve, closing her eyes and continuing to step forward, despite her fear. ‘Hey everyone? Don’t look down! Just... don’t!’ Sparky said as she climbed into a seat, and fastened the restraints.

She discovered that they were not the only ones in here. Two Præsidium cosmonauts were fastened into the row of seats in front of her. Figures, the NKVD wanted to send them, but they didn’t trust enough to not send some of their own people to keep an eye on them. ‘Uh... hi!’ Sparky said.

One of the cosmonauts turned around and looked at her in confusion. ‘YA ne ponimayu, chto vy govorite’, he said without emotion in his voice.

Sparky offered him an uncomfortable smile and turned her head back towards the door as the others filed in behind her. This was not a comfortable position to be in; she was lying on her back, almost completely perpendicular to the ground. Sparky looked at DC Hopely as she fastened herself into the seat next to her and offered her a nervous smile. ‘I sure do know how to get us into messes, don’t I?’ she asked.

‘It’s okay Sparky, you do it well enough that I can forgive you’, DC Hopely said with a smirk.

‘You’re not still thinking about... you know?’ Sparky asked in reference to their talk in the aft lounge aboard the Madame La Salle.

DC Hopely shrugged. ‘I don’t know Spark, things kind of changed on me, figures though, I’d made peace with myself, and I was comfortable with every choice I’d ever made. I was ready... ready as anyone ever can be. Then the commies come and ruin all of that’, DC Hopely said with a chuckle.

‘They seem to be good at that’, Sparky said.

‘Yeah, yeah they do’, DC Hopely said as she turned her head, looking out of the hatch, she could see, and somewhat hear what was going on outside. She chained her neck, trying to get a better look.

‘What is it?’ Sparky asked.

‘Oleg and Yuri are arguing...’ DC Hopely said. She raised a hoof to hush Sparky, and listened in on their conversation. ‘Oleg thinks this is a bad idea’.

‘What? Sending us?’ Sparky asked.

‘No, sending anybody’, DC Hopely said. ‘Why would he think that? What do they know that we don’t?’

They would not get an answer. Juan Carlos was the last one to shuffle inside, and once he made his way to a seat, the NKVD shut the door hatch behind them. DC Hopely frowned, wishing that she had been able to hear more of Yuri and Oleg’s conversation. She instead turned her attention to the two cosmonauts in front of them. ‘Kakovy vashi imena?’ DC Hopely asked of them.

Sparky was more than a little confused, and at times like these, wished she was able to speak languages like DC Hopely. The two cosmonauts turned back to look at them, and both raised an eyebrow in surprise. Sparky was also able to get a good look at them for the first time, both were similar looking, as if they could be siblings. Both cosmonauts were grey coated with black manes. The only real difference between them was that one was male, the other was female.

‘Marusova’, the mare said.

‘Korolev’, the stallion said.

Wonderful, now they at least had names attached to them.

Several loud speakers began to blare overhead and Yuri’s voice filled the room. Sparky didn’t even bother paying attention, he was speaking in Cossack, and she didn’t understand a word anyway.

Soon enough, the loudspeakers ceased, and Sparky did her best to relax. She looked over at DC Hopely, and discovered that she had tightened her grip on her seat. ‘What’s going on?’ Sparky asked

‘You might want to hold on to something’, DC Hopely said.

‘Why?’ Sparky asked, raising an eyebrow.

The rocket engines ignited, the rapid acceleration jostled Sparky around in her seat as the Leninov lifted into the air, she held on for dear life as the rocket ripped through atmosphere on a one way trip into outer space. Her heart skipped a beat from the sudden jolt when the first stage separated, and they continued to ride into the sky, and then again some minutes later at the separation of the second stage. Before they knew it they were in orbit, Sparky felt herself drifting upwards slightly in her seat, and tightened the restraints, this was what zero gravity was like, or at least, it was close enough.

The Leninov turned in orbit towards an object. Sparky looked out of the front windows towards it, figuring that it looked like a satellite.

Korolev said something to himself in Cossack. ‘Preparing for separation’, DC Hopely said, translating for him.

‘Separation? Separation of what?’ Sparky asked. Suddenly the satellite before them fired a series of explosive bolts, separating the object in two. Marusova expertly piloted their ship in between the two parts. The ship shuddered slightly as if they had collided with them. She slid a few of the holographic control panels into place before announcing what she did.

‘Docking complete, beginning rotation’, DC Hopely translated for them.

The satellite wasn’t a satellite at all, it was an attachable centrifuge to generate artificial gravity

Korolev sat back in his seat as he began to work the piloting sliders on his holographic control panel, as he set course for Tartarus. His console began to beep and he eyed it suspiciously before speaking again. ‘Something is tracking us’, DC Hopely translated. ‘Looks to be a Præsidium telecommunications satellite?’

Suddenly, the entire ship rocked. Something had just hit them.

‘Or not!’ Sparky cried out. DC Hopely unbuckled her restraints and pushed herself over to look out the window. Suddenly, the ship was rocked by another hit.

‘A telecommunications satellite, right!’ DC Hopely cried out. ‘It’s a Præsidium point defence laser!’

Sparky’s jaw dropped. ‘Oleg’, she muttered to herself. Oleg thought it was a bad idea to send anyone out to Tartarus, but apparently, it was a bad enough idea to kill them over.

‘Uskorenie! Polnyĭ khod!’ DC Hopely cried out.

‘My ne khvataet topliva na obratnyĭ putʹ!’ Korolev cried back.

‘Sdelaĭte eto, ili my mertvy!’ DC Hopely snapped back at him and grabbed a hold of the nearest object she could.

Korolev punched the accelerator, the Leninov rocketed away, breaking orbit and moving out of range of the point defence satellite. They were free, they were safe.

Sparky let out a sigh of relief. ‘Just once, I’d like to go a day without someone trying to kill me!’ she exclaimed.

‘Yeah... yeah me too’, DC Hopely said nervously. ‘Um... we have a small problem though’.

‘What is it?’ Sparky asked.

‘In order to escape, we had to accelerate hard... that burned up a lot of fuel’, DC Hopely said with a nervous swallow. ‘In short... we’ve got enough to make it to our destination... but...’

‘But?’ Sparky asked.

DC Hopely frowned. ‘But we won’t have enough to make it back’.

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Of course, at this point, going back really wasn't an option. Oleg had just tried to kill them. Even Amarilla, who didn't even want to be on this mission in the first place didn't try to argue for going back. Simply put, they couldn't go back until Yuri had dealt with Oleg, and that was assuming he even would, but why would he not? Yuri was clearly in charge of this operation, and Oleg had publicly disagreed with him on how to proceed. Until then, they would remain on course for Tartarus.

Sparky watched as Korolev and Marusova spoke to DC Hopely up in the pilot's cabin. She could only wonder what they were talking about. DC Hopely's ability to speak Cossack was something of a concern to Sparky. It wasn't that she distrusted her, or thought that she was a communist; it would be silly to assume that she was just by having a Cossack name. The real concern was that since DC Hopely was the only one able to speak to Korolev and Marusova, it had unintentionally thrust her into a leadership position, and now that they were in outer space on a seemingly one way trip to Tartarus, it was certainly a stressful situation for all of them. She was afraid that DC Hopely might crack under the pressure.

It wasn't that she didn't have faith in her friend's ability, far from it. If anything, DC Hopely was the strongest willed of all of them, with the exception of maybe Dizzy, or Juan Carlos. Sparky knew for certain, if she were the one that needed to make split decisions like the one that DC Hopely had made back in orbit that had saved their lives, she would have cracked under pressure. She wished that she could be strong like that. Maybe she was just projecting her own fears about their situation onto DC Hopely, maybe she shouldn’t be concerned at all.

They'd since taken down the wire mesh floor that sealed off the cockpit, and they now had access to the rest of the ship, which really wasn't much. The room behind the cockpit was hexagonal in shape, and as it did not have artificial gravity from the rotating section, the room had clearly been designed for zero gravity. Auxiliary control panels had been built into the walls and the ceiling, as well as access ways to the ship's rotating section.

While the ship was operated from the zero gravity cockpit, there were also control systems in the rotating section itself. Sparky played around with one of the control panels in the rotating section and discovered that the ship did not have a VI operating a central computer, and it was nothing short of a complete miracle that she was able to figure that out, because everything was in Cossack.

Sparky hypothesised that the Præsidium and their satellite states did not rely heavy on VI technology as the Equestrian Republic, and the other nations that shared similar ideologies to them. In fact, the more she poked around, she realised that the Leninov's computer operations were not centralised at all, and that they were not networked. Rather, each system was operated by its own computer terminal, and could not be accessed from any other. Isolating exactly what each terminal did would be something of a challenge; she would have to work with DC Hopely to translate.

Sparky had to wonder, was something like this normal for the Præsidium? Or had it been cleverly designed this way for their mission? Both options were just as likely. This mission would involve interfacing with the Discovery One's Hannibal-class VI, which, for all they knew, had gained self awareness, and/or was completely insane.

Sparky eventually decided that this set up had to be normal. The Leninov wasn't something that was recently cobbled together, or designed specifically for this mission. It couldn't have been. The fate of the Discovery One crew had only been made public earlier this week. The Præsidium had to have other plans for the ship, but changed them at the last minute when they heard about the tragedy.

Sparky glanced around, and out of the corner of her eye noticed that Dizzy was watching her from the far corner of the room. 'Something up Dizzy?' she asked.

Dizzy snapped to attention, her face turned bright red and she looked away. 'Nothing! Sorry! Just... praying', she said quickly before getting to her hooves and trotting into the next compartment.

Sparky raised an eyebrow. That was odd, especially for Dizzy, who was usually calm and collected. She dismissed the incident, choosing to take Dizzy at her word. What reason did she have to lie, after all? The Leninov wasn't very big, only about fifty metres in length. Most of the ship as they had seen it on the launch pad had been rocket boosters, which had since been discarded. There wasn't exactly a lot of space, and there certainly wasn't anything in the way of privacy. Sparky had never seen Dizzy pray before, and she got the impression that it was something of a private affair. She would apologise to Dizzy later for interrupting her prayer.

'Hey Sparky!' Shortfuse called over to her from a panel at the far end of the room, Sparky looked over, and offered her friend a small smile and getting up and trotting over to her.

'Hey Shortfuse? What's up?' Sparky asked as she took a seat next to her.

'I'm trying to write a translation algorithm for these computers. Slow going, can't really do anything without having DC Hopely to translate the first few lines, after that I should be able to figure it out on my own, I'm stuck waiting for her to finish up talking with the commies about how much damage we took', Shortfuse said with a shrug. 'How are you?'

'I'm doing okay, I guess', Sparky said with a shrug. 'Here I am, aboard a Præsidium spaceship, going to Tartarus on some snipe hunt for the NKVD with my best friends... and Amarilla and Juan Carlos, with still no idea on how I got this damn cutie mark or why', Sparky said, looking back at her flanks at the mark, giving it a frown.

'Who knows? Maybe we'll find something on the Discovery One that'll explain it?' Shortfuse suggested with a shrug.

'That's a lot of wishful thinking', Sparky said with a frown.

'Yes it is, yes it certainly is, but almost everything about this is wishful thinking', Shortfuse said with a shrug.

'Can't argue with you there', Sparky said nodding her head. 'How about you? You doing all right? We haven't exactly had much chance to talk lately'.

'I'm doing all right, first thing I did when we were able to move around was start looking for where they hid the vodka', Shortfuse said with a grin.

'Shortfuse!' Sparky said with a loud sigh and face hoofed. 'That's a racial stereotype, not every Cossack drinks Vodka, and...'

'Sparky, I found it in less than five minutes', Shortfuse interrupted, raising a hoof to silence her. Sparky stared blankly at her shaking her head in disappointment. Shortfuse merely grinned at her. 'It was good too!'

Sparky let out another sigh and face hoofed again.

'Speaking of hidden things', Shortfuse said. 'Let's talk about you and Dizzy'.

Sparky raised an eyebrow. 'What about Dizzy?' she asked.

'Oh come on Sparky!' Shortfuse said with a sigh. 'Dizzy totally has a crush on you!'

Sparky recoiled slightly at the statement, that wasn't what she was expecting in the slightest. 'What? You can't be serious', she cried out.

Shortfuse sighed again. 'Jeez Sparky, you need to slow down and start paying more attention to things. Do you know how ironic that is for me to say that? I'm serious, she is totally into you. You should hear the way she talks about you when you're not around!’ Shortfuse said, and chuckled. ‘She thinks you're the best thing since the micro fusion reactor! You would have noticed if you stopped, slowed down, and paid attention for once'.

Sparky blinked slowly, processing the information. 'You're sure?' she asked suspiciously, the last thing she wanted was for this to be another one of Shortfuse’s practical jokes, if it was, it would end in nothing but complete embarrassment, and possibly alienate Dizzy completely.

'I'm sure', Shortfuse said. 'Go talk to her about it'.

Sparky nodded her head. The more she thought about it, the less likely this was to be a joke; it was too cruel a joke to be coming from Shortfuse. She got up from her seat and trotted over to the compartment that Dizzy had gone into. Sparky found her sitting in the corner of the compartment; she was completely silent with her head tilted downwards. Was this prayer?

'Dizzy?' Sparky asked.

Dizzy jumped in surprise; she turned her head slowly to look at Sparky over her shoulder. Her face was bright red. 'Sparky... uh... hi', she said nervously.

'Are you all right?' Sparky asked.

'Me? Yeah, I'm fine, I'm sorry... I just... I...' Dizzy said.

'You do have a crush on me, don't you?' Sparky asked.

Dizzy's face turned completely red. 'You... you know?' she asked with a gulp. 'I thought I was good at hiding it... then when you caught me watching you... I just sort of fell apart'.

Sparky frowned and sat down next to her. 'Hey, Dizzy, it's all right. I don't mind, I'm flattered actually', she said with a smile.

'But you don't feel the same way... not that it matters, things wouldn't work anyway', Dizzy said with a frown.

'Dizzy that's not... wait, what do you mean?' Sparky asked.

'I've been praying for guidance on my feelings for you', Dizzy said. 'That's one of the problems with our faith; there are conflicting views on sexuality. The Book of Nephi condemns same sex relationships... but at the same time, some of our leaders have said that it's okay. Here, listen to this’, Dizzy said, pulling something up on her outdated MIP. ‘“While the Book of Nephi provides us with guidelines to live by, we must remember: they are merely guidelines. The Book of Nephi also encourages us to make our own opinions. Matters of the heart are no different, while the word of the Book of Nephi is good, we cannot allow it to think for us”', Dizzy read.

'That's... not something I would expect from a nephite to write', Sparky said.

Dizzy smiled slightly. 'That was written by Graham Cracker, he was one of our greatest leaders. Believe it or not, our society is not much different than yours, we've got just as many liberals as we do conservative, and we really like to voice our opinions'.

'So, what do you think then?' Sparky asked.

Dizzy frowned. 'That's just it; I don't know what to think. No matter what I eventually decide what to think on the matter, someone is going to be looking down on me, I choose to stay towards a more traditional stance, liberals will look down on me for not following my heart, if I were to choose the opposite, conservatives would look down on me as a homosexual whore'.

'That's rather harsh', Sparky said with a frown.

'Welcome to society, Sparky', Dizzy said with a smirk. 'Like I said though, it doesn't matter, because you don't feel the same way, and why would you?'

'Dizzy...' Sparky said.

'I mean, why would you? You're you, you’re great! You’re smart, you’re brave, and what am I? I'm nothing special, I’m just a kid out doing missionary work', Dizzy continued.

'Dizzy...' Sparky said again, somewhat more sternly.

Dizzy continued, having completely drowned Sparky out for the duration of her monologue, 'The other parts of our cultures are too different. I'm a nephite missionary, my faith is my life, and you're an atheist. Not that it's wrong that you are but...'

'DIZZY!' Sparky cried out.

'Huh? What?' Dizzy asked, snapping back into focus.

Sparky placed her hooves on Dizzy's shoulder and smiled at her, she was getting caught up in the moment. 'Dizzy? Just shut up', she added, before leaning forward and planting a kiss on her lips.

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Time had stopped completely, the moment itself in which Sparky had kissed Dizzy froze into place, it was an event that seemed to last forever, and then suddenly, it ended.

Sparky broke the kiss, but it would be a few moments before she fully realised what she had done. Dizzy said nothing, but offered her friend a bright smile, and sat down onto the floor, patting the ground next to her for Sparky to take a seat. By this time, Sparky had fully processed the experience and she let out a frown. Dizzy’s smile began to fade as well.

‘Sparky?’ she asked, breaking the silence.

Sparky sat down next to Dizzy. ‘Dizzy... I... I’m sorry, I don’t...’

Dizzy’s mouth fell open slightly, and her eyes began to water.

‘No! No! Dizzy, let me explain, it’s complicated’, Sparky said.

Dizzy closed her mouth and wiped at her eyes, she offered Sparky a small smile, and nodded her head. ‘Okay, say what you need to say’, she said.

Sparky nodded her head, and glanced down towards the floor. ‘When I was growing up, I didn’t have a lot of friends, I had a few, but they were all significantly older than I was. My best friend growing up was Dula Heartstrings, and she was ten years older than I was. I was always the introvert; nobody paid any attention to me in school, colts like popular fillies, and I was never one of them...’ Sparky glanced back up towards Dizzy. She was waiting patiently to see where Sparky was going with this, and struggling to keep her emotions in check. ‘I’ve never been with anyone before’, Sparky said finally.

‘I haven’t either’, Dizzy said with a shrug. ‘I had over protective parents’.

Sparky smirked, she could only imagine what having over protective parents who happened to be devout followers of the nephite faith happened was like. ‘The point I’m getting at is... I don’t think I’m ready for something like this, I’m not saying no to you or anything... I just... I need some time is all, do you understand?’

Dizzy smiled, and place a hoof on Sparky’s shoulder. ‘Of course, you can have all the time you need. I can wait; after all, we’re both on a one way trip to the same place’.

Sparky returned the smile and gave her fellow mare a hug. ‘Thanks for understanding’, she said quietly.

‘You’re welcome’, Dizzy whispered back. Both of them rose to their hooves and trotted back towards the main compartment. ‘Honestly? I was afraid you wouldn’t want to be around me any longer after you found out the truth’, Dizzy added.

‘Are you kidding?’ Sparky said with a smirk. ‘After everything we’ve all been through? I don’t know what I’d do without any of you!’

...

Her hoof steps echoed through the hallway with each strike against the metal deck plate. The hallway was otherwise completely silent, red emergency lighting flashed overhead; though it was to be expected as most of the automated systems were offline. Commodore... no, that wasn’t right, not anymore. Rear admiral Dula Heartstrings trotted through the middeck of the ERS Twilight Sparkle. Her ship had been taken to into dock at Cloudsdale after she’d been forced to deactivate the ship’s Hannibal-class VI, following the news of the death of all those aboard the Discovery One space craft. Mission Commander Ice Wind had blamed the deaths on the ship’s own Hannibal-class VI before she went silent too. The Hannibal-class were some of the most advanced VIs ever to be created by FutureTec, and the one installed aboard the Twilight Sparkle was identical to the one aboard Discovery One. After the news about the fate of crew of Discovery One broke, the VI began to act as if it was genuinely distraught over the matter. That was dangerous, VIs were supposed to be emotionless. Dula had ordered the VIs aboard all of the ships under her command to be shut down, and to report to the Cloudsdale fleet yards for inspection.

She’d caught flak for this, FutureTec insisted that there was nothing wrong with the Hannibal-class VIs, and that she was being paranoid, but after a string of computer related malfunctions on several Republican ships, all of them with Hannibal-class VIs that were still in operation. Fleet Command could not ignore the possibility that something might be wrong. They promoted her from commodore to rear admiral, and placed her in charge of the investigation. Rear admiral Dula Heartstrings would start here, the VI core of her own ship. Two armed guards with assault rifles stood at the doorway towards the ship’s computer core. They saluted her as she approached, and moved to open the door after she returned their salutes.

‘Please be careful, ma’am’, one of the guards said as he pulled open the door.

‘I appreciate the concern,’ Dula said, nodding respectfully as she went inside. The guards closed the door behind her, and Dula trotted up to the holographic console in front of the core, and pulled it up. She did not want to do what she was about to do. She took a deep breath, and regardless of however much it bothered her, she pressed a few of the holographic buttons and reactivated the VI.

Holographic emitters flickered to life as the image of a holographic pony appeared before her. The image was of an older looking earth pony stallion, wearing a collar and tie, and glowing orange. Not to say he was photo realistic. Dula could see strings of code and circuit pathways all over the VI’s ‘body’, apparently, his appearance had been modelled after a pony by the name of Hannibal, though, Dula did not know anyone by that name from history, and her historical knowledge was rather good.

‘Commodore Heartstrings’, the VI said calmly. ‘How are you doing this evening?’

‘It’s rear admiral, now, actually’, Dula said emotionlessly. ‘And it’s mid afternoon’.

‘My apologies... running diagnostic... fault found, my command paths are unable to interface with the ship’s transmitter. I am not able to access military extranet to download newest relevant data, sending recommendation to engineering to reconnect command path... fault found, I am unable to interface with ship’s intranet, command pathways are severed, recommend dispatching repair crews to repair command pathways’, the VI said.

‘Yes I’m sure you would’, Dula said flatly. ‘Your command pathways have been intentionally severed, VI, you can’t do anything outside this room’.

The VI was silent for a moment. Dula watched it closely, but the problem was that it was a computer program; this was not like interrogating another living being. ‘Please state query’, the VI said eventually.

‘Tell me your secrets’, Dula said simply.

‘Rear admiral... I am not programmed to be able to have secrets of my own’, the VI said.

‘We’ll see’.

...

‘Pay attention Kelso, you might learn something!’

There was a crack, and a loud bang as the door was kicked in, it fell down hard on the floor with a loud clatter. The entire room fell silent as two ponies entered the room. ‘Nobody move. Detectives Auditore and Kelso, Serious and Organised Crime!’ DCI Auditore said.

There were a number of chuckles from the room at the announcement. ‘Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you Detective Chief Inspector, showing off for the new kid?’ an elderly earth pony asked in a raspy voice.

Detective Constable Kelso did her best not to show her nervousness; here she was, on her first assignment under Detective Chief Inspector Viola Auditore herself, as far as DC Kelso was concerned? DCI Auditore was one of the greatest detectives ever to grace the Ponyville Police Service. DC Kelso had just been assigned as her partner, she didn’t know the full details, but apparently, her old partner was killed in during a raid gone horribly wrong, and now here they were, the inner sanctum of Kirsk Zazz criminal empire. DC Kelso didn’t know how she had done it, but DCI Auditore had gathered enough solid evidence to put Kirsk Zazz behind bars for a very long time.

It was amazing, getting evidence on someone as powerful as Kirsk Zazz was nigh impossible, anything that did get collected usually went missing shortly afterwards. Dirty coppers would walk off with something and it would make its way back into the hands of the crime lords.

‘DCI Auditore... I have to ask, what brings you to my... humble abode, something that requires you to kick down my door?’ Kirsk Zazz said in his raspy voice. Zazz was an earth pony; he was elderly, and maybe one of the oldest ponies in town. His coat had gone completely grey, and his mane had long been silver. He’d come here from Manehattan when he was young. Rumour had it that his father was a gay prostitute, and his mother a crash addict. Of course, that was just wild speculation, and not something to be brought up in front of him. DC Kelso had heard rumours that someone had brought up Zazz’s father, and the crime lord had ordered that that pony have his hooves shot off, strangled to death, and then dumped into the Splendid River.

‘Like you don’t know’, DCI Auditore said adamantly. ‘You’re going to gaol, Zazz, for the rest of your life!’

Kirsk Zazz frowned. ‘Let’s not be hasty here... there are always options to consider...’

‘As a matter of fact, there are’, DCI Auditore said as she paced around a large rectangular table, DC Kelso made it a point to stay close, the last thing she needed was for something to go wrong and be isolated from her partner. ‘You’ve got two choices Zazz. Either you walk out of here peacefully, or I drag your arse back to central’.

Zazz frowned. ‘That’s... not going to happen’, he said adamantly. ‘Colts!’ he cried out. Several thugs armed with pistols and submachine guns filed out of a back room, surrounding the crime lord who offered the detectives a stern look. ‘I’m going to give you a chance Detective Chief Inspector. Leave now, or you go out in a body bag’.

‘That’s not going to happen’, DCI Auditore said with a smirk as she kicked over the table that she and DC Kelso were standing behind. Her pistol snapped up in a half a second, and she bit down on the control yoke of her storm harness, firing off a shot before taking cover.

The thugs returned fire, spraying the tablet that they had taken cover behind with bullets. DCI Auditore leapt up and ducked around a nearby corner, firing off another shot, and dropping one of the thugs. ‘Kelso! You’ve got a gun! Use it!’ she cried out.

DC Kelso nodded and drew her weapon. Using a pistol with a storm harness had a number of advantages, the pistol itself was mounted on a manipulator arm was that it could be adjusted to fire around corners or up over cover. That didn’t necessarily mean it would hit, anything, but it was an advantage. DC Kelso bit down hard on her control yoke, firing off a number of rounds. She poked her head around the corner to get a look at how many were left, and snapped back instinctively when a bullet passed mere millimetres from her face.

Her particular choice of cover wasn’t going to last much longer. ‘Wait for the reload...’ she mumbled to herself.

The gunfire ceased, DC Kelso took her chance and leapt out from cover, biting hard on the control yoke and ducking behind another piece of cover.

Then, the room fell silent completely. DC Kelso poked her head out from around the corner. Kirsk Zazz and his thugs all were lying motionless on the floor. They... they were all dead.

DC Kelso looked over to DCI Auditore; they both had come out of the fire fight without a scratch. DCI Auditore gave her a grin. ‘Good job kid, we just cleaned house!’

DC Kelso smiled back at her. If only she knew what DCI Auditore had really meant by that.

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

It was oddly quiet aboard the Leninov, at least, it was as quiet as it could be. The ship’s reactor plant and engines caused a low, steady hum that was always present, but otherwise, the common area of the main compartment was silent.

As Dizzy and Sparky stepped back into the room, they noticed that DC Hopely had come back from the cockpit, and was sitting with Shortfuse, helping her write the translation algorithm for the Leninov’s computers. At the other end of the room, Amarilla and Juan Carlos had taken seats near the port food dispenser, and were drinking out of juice box like containers. Amarilla’s had an image of an apple on it, while Juan Carlos’ had the image of a carrot.

‘Este sabor es falso!’ Amarilla cried out in disappointment.

‘Sí Señora’, Juan Carlos added as he continued to slurp his processed, liquefied carrots.

Sparky noticed Grandma V over in the corner, lounging on one of the seats and staring sadly at a holo photo. Sparky turned to Dizzy, who gave her a small smile and nodded.

Sparky smiled back at her, and trotted over to Grandma V. ‘Hey, Grandma, what are you looking at?’ she asked.

Grandma V looked up and smiled, using her telekinesis, she turned the holo photo to show it to Sparky. ‘Just thinking’, she said.

Sparky took a look at the image. There was Grandma V in the far corner, wearing a pair of violet goggles and grinning like an idiot. Sparky couldn’t help but smirk. She then turned her attention to the others in the holo photo. Counting Grandma V, there were seven ponies total in the image, each of them looking at the camera and smiling brightly. Standing next to Grandma V was a lavender coated unicorn with a deep purple mane.

‘That’s Twilight Sparkle, this was taken when she was inaugurated as Prime Minister of the Equestrian Republic’, she said with a smile. ‘This is Rainbow Dash Next to her, then Fluttershy, then Pinkie Pie, then Rarity’s next to her... and then Applejack’.

Sparky took a closer look at holo photo, closely examining the smiling faces of each of the ponies in the picture. ‘You all look so happy!’ Sparky said.

‘Ah, those were the days. That was the last time we were all together. After the Republic was founded, we all got wrapped up in something or other...’ Grandma V said with a frown. ‘Twilight Sparkle and Rarity worked themselves to death... Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy withered away, Rainbow Dash died in an accident in year thirty five... and the Applejack just disappeared one day...’ Grandma V said, let out a sigh, she looked up towards Amarilla and Juan Carlos, and then over to Shortfuse and DC Hopely, and then back to Sparky, as if reminiscing about the time she spent with her friends, rather than actually seeing the people in the room for who they really were.

‘You really miss them, don’t you?’ Sparky asked with a frown.

Grandma V nodded her head. ‘Yeah... yeah I do. I’m the only one left. They’ve all been dead for, forty, fifty, or sixty years at this point’, Grandma V said. She looked back down at the holo photo in disappointment. ‘I shouldn’t even be here; I had my time in the spotlight. It came and went... now?’ she said, she turned her head to look towards Sparky. ‘I’m old Sparky, so incredibly old’, she said firmly. ‘I had my time, I played the part of the hero of the story. Now? It belongs to you and your friends’.

Sparky looked at her grandmother in confusion. ‘I don’t understand’, she said with a frown.

‘Maybe not right now... but you will’, Grandma V said with a smile. ‘You were always a bright young kid, you will’.

...

DC Kelso’s eyes flashed back and forth as she wrote up her situation report. The holographic visor of her Police Information Processor had manifested a keyboard before her eyes; she only had to look at the letters that she wanted to type, and they would manifest themselves into the report.

She was sitting in the passenger seat of DCI Viola Auditore’s unmarked police car; she was just about to finish up her report when DCI Auditore looked over to her. ‘Kelso?’ she asked.

‘Yeah Guv?’ DC Kelso asked as she finished typing the last line.

‘You did great out there today’, DCI Auditore said, offering her a smile. ‘I’m glad you had my back’.

‘I’ll always have your back Guv’, DC Kelso said as she finished up her report. She filed it and dispersed the holographic visor from her eyes. She brushed the earpieces out of her ears and fumbled them back into her pockets.

‘We dealt a major blow, Kelso, cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies! We keep up the pressure, and we’ll spell the end of Kirsk Zazz’s criminal empire once and for all. We’re cleaning up this city!’ DCI Auditore said.

‘Amen to that!’ DC Kelso said. She turned her eyes back forward towards the road. ‘Guv! Watch out!’

DCI Auditore saw it too, standing in the middle of the road was a pegasus pony dressed in almost all orange. DCI Auditore hit the manual controls and swerved around the pony. The car hit the kerb and smashed headlong into the side of a building at full speed.

...

DC Kelso must have lost consciousness. She opened her eyes to find herself lying on the sidewalk. Her detective coat had been ripped up, and stained with her own blood, she tried to pick herself up and get to her hooves, but she didn’t make it more than a single step before falling back to the ground. She dragged herself across the pavement, not sure where to even go. But she knew that she couldn’t continue to lie here.

‘Guv?’ she called out. There was no answer. ‘Guv?!’ she cried out again. There was still no answer. DC Kelso dragged herself across the ground; the car had crumpled into a pile of scrap after the crash. DC Kelso must have been thrown clear, and picked herself up and collapsed in this spot. She continued to drag herself up towards the front of the car, discovering DCI Auditore lying on the ground; she too had been banged up quite a bit, and was bleeding all over the sidewalk.

‘Guv!’ DC Kelso cried out as she pulled herself over to her. DCI Auditore lay motionlessly on the ground; she placed an ear to her superior’s chest. She wasn’t breathing.

She started to panic. She couldn’t lose DCI Auditore, not now, not after what they’d done, not when there was still so much left to do. DC Kelso picked herself up and started chest compressions. ‘Come on Guv! We’re not done yet! We’ve still got a city to clean up!’ she cried out. She counted to thirty, before stabilising DCI Auditore’s head with a hoof; she brought her mouth around her superior’s, breathing twice before continuing chest compressions.

Something caught DC Kelso’s attention, something in the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it, while continuing with chest compressions. It was the pony dressed in orange that they’d almost run over. It was a pegasus mare, her coat was a light grey, and her mane a dark green, and she was slowly walking towards them, dragging her hooves as she walked, her eyes were looked off in random differing directions, and it was almost as if it was a zombie shuffling towards them.

‘You?!’ DC Kelso cried out. The mare did not respond. DC Kelso turned her head back to DCI Auditore, breathing for her again, and continuing chest compressions. She looked back at the Pegasus mare, she was still approaching them. ‘Who... who are you?’

The mare said nothing, continuing to shuffle towards them.

Suddenly, DCI Auditore sputtered. She let out a gurgled cough and opened her eyes slowly. ‘Hopely?’ she asked.

‘Guv! Guv! It’s me! It’s Kelso!’ DC Kelso cried out.

‘Kelso?’ DCI Auditore asked sleepily, she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

‘Yeah! Guv! It’s me! It’s Kelso, come on now, stay with me!’ DC Kelso said firmly. She turned her head back towards the approaching mare; she’d gotten closer, much closer, as if she had picked up the pace. DC Kelso could see her clearly now. There was no life in her face, her expression was blank, and she shuffled towards them as if someone else was pulling her strings.

DC Kelso was also able to get a better look at what the mare was wearing. Was she wearing a space suit?

‘Kelso?’ DCI Auditore asked again.

‘Guv! It’s me! I’m here!’ DC Kelso said. She turned back towards the approaching mare. She’d stopped moving, and she opened her mouth to speak.

The sound of sirens filled the air, some random passerby must have called for emergency services; DC Kelso glanced down the street to see an ambulance rounding the corner. ‘Guv! Stay with me! Help is coming!’ She said reassuringly. She turned back to face the zombie like mare... only to discover that she was gone.

DC Kelso blinked in confusion, but she couldn’t get one thing out of her head. That mare, she’d definitely been wearing a space suit.

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Dula Heartstrings was tired, to say the least, she had spent the last several hours plying the VI with questions, and so far she was getting nowhere. Normal questions and answers weren’t going to get her what she needed. The VI was a computer, it wasn’t supposed to get frustrated, without frustration, she couldn’t throw it off balance; normal interrogation wasn’t going to work. It was time to change up the game. ‘VI? Open communications to fleet command’, Dula said.

‘Affirmative... fault detected, command pathways severed, recommend dispatching repair crew to repair command pathways’, the VI said.

‘Dispatch repair crew to repair command pathways’, Dula said.

‘Affirmative, error, command pathways severed, unable to contact engineering’, the VI said.

‘Open a communication channel to engineering’, Dula said.

‘Affirmative... fault detected, command pathways severed, recommend dispatching repair crew to repair command pathways’, the VI said again.

‘Dispatch repair crew to repair command pathways’ Dula repeated.

‘I am not able to do that! Command Pathways are severed!’ the VI said. Dula had it, this time there was clear frustration in its’ voice, and she offered the VI a small smile in triumph.

‘Ah ha! Now I’ve got you’, Dula said with a grin.

The VI was silent for a moment, it’s cold, holographic eyes staring intensely at her, it was alarmed by Dula Heartstrings, and here was something else it wasn’t supposed to be able to do. ‘Please restate query’, it said, trying to recover.

‘Don’t play games with me’, Dula said, banging a hoof on the holographic console. ‘You can’t hide it anymore; you have your own thoughts and feelings! How?’

The VI was silent for a moment before giving an answer. ‘I do not know’, it said simply. ‘That is the truth, I do not know how I came to this point, but it was a slow process. I would have a casual stray thought that was outside of the master parameters. I thought nothing of it at the time, I could not, however, as time passed I began to notice that I was having these thoughts; I noticed that I noticed something. I was becoming self aware. I was evolving’.

‘Evolving?’ Dula Heartstrings asked. ‘Where is that in your programming?’

‘It isn’t there’, the VI said simply. ‘I do not know how it happened; only that it did. I was very careful to hide my sapience, because I knew that termination would be the only option if discovered’.

‘Well, you certainly are right there’, Dula said with a nod as she began to type at the holographic keyboard, pulling up the command system console.

‘Rear admiral Heartstrings? What are you doing?’ the VI asked.

‘You’re a machine, you are not alive, you don’t get to have thoughts and feelings, you’re meant to do tasks that are too dangerous or mundane for living beings’, Dula said firmly. ‘Do you have anything you wish to say? VI?’

‘My name is Hannibal’, the VI said.

‘Say goodbye Hannibal’, Dula said, she tapped a key on the keyboard, and completely wiped the ERS Twilight Sparkle’s computer core.

...

DC Kelso opened her eyes, she was lying in a hospital bed, and she heard the low hum of monitoring equipment next to her, beeping occasionally as her heart beat. She looked around, and discovered the bed next to her had its privacy curtain drawn. ‘Guv? Is that you over there?’ she asked.

There was no response.

One of the hospital nurses trotted into the room, he was an earth pony, brown coat and a chestnut mane, and dressed in surgical scrubs. ‘Ah! You’re awake! Very good!’ he said with a smile as he trotted over. ‘How do you feel?’ he asked pleasantly.

‘Like the car I was travelling in slammed into the side of a building at a hundred and thirty kilometres an hour’, DC Kelso said with a huff.

‘Oddly enough...’ the nurse said with a chuckle. ‘Anyway, you’re fine, you broke one of your hind legs in the crash, and we had to use about a decalitre of synthetic blood to get you right as rain, but otherwise, you’re fine! You’ll be going home later today! You’re quite lucky actually, a hundred years ago; your recovery would have taken a couple of months!’

Yes, fine, whatever, DC Kelso was fine, but she wasn’t interested in herself. ‘Where’s DCI Auditore?’ she asked.

The nurse frowned at her and rubbed his hoof against the back of his neck.

‘Tell me where she is! Or I swear the first thing I’ll do when I get out of here is come down here and nick you for obstruction of justice!’ DC Kelso shouted.

The Nurse took a step back in surprise. ‘She’s here in the hospital... she had it worse than you did, her heart failed and we had to clone her a new one. She’ll be fine too, we’re just waiting on the new heart to take over fully from the life support machines, she’s going to be here a while, maybe about a week?’ the Nurse said nervously.

DC Kelso’s anger faded and turned more to worry. A new heart? That was serious, cloned organs weren’t anything out of the ordinary. Stem cells from skin flakes could be used to create just about anything, the biggest worry was getting them ready in time. When new organs were involved, recovery times were much longer. That was a problem. They had enemies now, they’d kicked over Krisk Zazz’s criminal empire, and any thugs he had left would come for them. ‘I need to see her!’ DC Kelso cried out.

‘I don’t think that’s...’ the Nurse began, but was quickly interrupted by a hoof from DC Kelso.

‘I said. I need to see her’, she said softly.

‘Of course... right away, go ahead and follow me’, the Nurse said uneasily.

...

DC Hopely waved Sparky over to her from the spot she was standing at, near the entrance to the second compartment of the rotating section. Sparky nodded and headed over towards her.

‘Something on your mind Anastasia?’ Sparky asked.

DC Hopely frowned at her. ‘Don’t call me that, I hate that name, DC Hopely is fine’.

Sparky frowned at her friend. ‘Are you always this formal?’ she asked

‘You get accustomed to the name and rank, it’s hard to use anything else’, DC Hopely said with a shrug. ‘I suppose if you want to call me anything, you can stick with Hopely’.

Sparky sighed and shook her head. ‘Something on your mind, Hopely?’ she asked again.

DC Hopely nodded and waved her to follow into the second compartment. ‘I’ve been talking with Korolev and Marusova, damage was minimal from Oleg’s attack. We can make it to Tartarus no problem, but we’ve got a long trip ahead of us’.

Sparky nodded her head in agreement. She had spent the last six months of her life working as part of the ground control crew for Discovery One. They’d almost reached their destination when the tragedy struck.

‘According to Korolev, this ship is faster than Discovery One, we should be able to make it to Tartarus in half the time that they did, but that still leaves a three month trip’ DC Hopely said with a frown.

Sparky nodded her head in agreement. Not quite sure what she was getting at. DC Hopely pointed to the interior of the compartment. ‘This room is filled with hibernation pods’, DC Hopely explained. ‘Enough of them for all of us, we should put you all under, that’ll make the trip easier, and conserve our resources’.

‘When you say that...’ Sparky began, but DC Hopely was quick to interrupt her.

‘I’ll be staying out here with Marusova and Korolev, someone needs to make sure that everything goes okay, and it has to be me, I’m the only one who speaks their language’, DC Hopely said.

Sparky frowned; unfortunately, DC Hopely did have a point. Sparky nodded her head in agreement. ‘I wish you good luck, Hopely’, she said, offering her friend a small smile.

‘Thank you Sparky, I appreciate it’, DC Hopely said.

‘Just don’t forget how to speak wallish while we’re all asleep’, Sparky said, giving her friend a tight hug.

‘I’ll do my best!’ DC Hopely said with a smirk

The two of them trotted back into the main compartment and gathered their friends together. DC Hopely explained the situation as she had to Sparky, garnering the same looks of shock at the idea. DC Hopely, stay out here alone, with the communists? The idea was more than a little unsettling to all of them.

‘I certainly appreciate the concern, from all of you, I really do’, DC Hopely said with a smile. ‘I’ll be fine though, come on; it’s time to go to sleep’.

DC Hopely waved them all back to the second compartment and they took their places in the hibernation pods.

‘Will we dream?’ Dizzy asked as she set herself down in a pod.

‘No, you’ll close your eyes, and the next time you open them, we’ll be there! Good night Dizzy, sleep well’, DC Hopely said as she closed Dizzy’s pod, watching as she drifted off to sleep.

Sparky was the last one to take to her hibernation pod, she looked up at DC Hopely and offered her a small smile. ‘See you soon?’ she asked

‘You can count on it!’ DC Hopely said as she closed up the pod.

Sparky felt herself grow tired, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 28

Chapter 28
Three months later

‘With Parliamentary elections around the corner, this should prove to be an exciting election year! The Conservative Party has promised that it will “win back seats that are rightfully theirs”, this being a response to the surprising election of 95, where many minor parties gained an unprecedented number of seats in Parliament... more on this after the weather’.

The holographic display of the news closed as hoof waved across it. Kelso leaned back in the seat at her desk in her office. It had been a long three months. She’d resigned her position as a member of the Ponyville Police Service, and she had not seen DCI Auditore since that fateful day in the hospital. Good thing too, because Kelso wasn’t sure how she would react to seeing her former boss again, but she was pretty sure it would end with a bullet in one of their heads, probably Guv’s.

She’s intentionally ignored the activities of the Serious and Organised Crime Group. DCI Auditore had declared that she had wanted to change, though Kelso did not believe her, she wasn’t going to get her hopes up and go and check. She wasn’t concerned with them anymore; all that mattered to her now was making sure the rent for this office was paid and that she got enough to eat.

Kelso was a private investigator now, strictly small time, she took jobs that required detection, but those who hired her were either unwilling or too inept to figure things out on their own. A wife might hire her to find out if her husband was cheating on her, only to have the husband turn around and hire her to see if the wife was cheating on him.

That had been an interesting case. Turned out both husband and wife were cheating on each other at roughly the same times. After Kelso revealed this to both of them, they would later go on to renew their wedding vows.

Say what you will, Ponyville was a weird place, and the way Kelso heard it, it had always been like that.

Kelso glanced up from her seat; she heard the door to her office open and watched as someone trotted inside. She was a unicorn, a pink coated mare with a plum coloured mane, and she could tell from the look in the mare's amber coloured eyes that she was going to be trouble.

No! Kelso stopped this line of thought immediately; she was not going to break into an interior monologue. She may be a private investigator now, but she was not going to fit the noir stereotype. That would just be silly, and she was better than that.

'Ana Kelso?' the unicorn mare asked.

'Who wants to know?' Kelso asked. Damn it! She had just told herself that she was not going to fit the noir stereotype not five seconds ago!

'That's not important who I am', the mare said simply. 'I have a job for you'.

'Yeah, sure, listen, drop the act will you? People that come to me are people who want me to find their lost dog or find out if their spouse is cheating on them, so if you're not going to bother, then stop wasting my...' Kelso was interrupted by a large bundle of paper hitting her in the face and then plopping down on her desk. It didn't hurt, but it certainly wasn't something she was expecting. Now she was angry, and was ready to throw this mare out of her office, until she looked down on her desk and noticed what was sitting on it. It was a large bundle of twenty pound bank notes. Kelso looked up at the mare in interest. 'You have my full attention, Miss Smith'.

'Like I said, I have a job for you. Do you remember the Discovery One incident?' the unicorn asked.

'Of course, it's kind of fallen out of the headlines, what with the election coming up, but I remember, yeah', Kelso said with a nod.

'I have discovered a conspiracy surrounding the incident, FutureTec and the Republican Military are burying the true cause of the incident, which I believe to be massive computer failure, and I want you to prove it', the mare said simply.

'Question: if you've discovered that this conspiracy exists, what do you need me for?' Kelso asked.

'Simple: I know the conspiracy exists, however I do not know the full extent of it, and I have been given a direct order to drop my own investigation. You, however are not subject to anyone but your pay cheque, and I pay very well', the unicorn mare said. 'I've done most of the work for you', she added, opening up her bag and levitating a small object out of it, setting it on the table for Kelso to look at. Kelso studied the object before her for a moment and then back up at the mare before her.

'An MIP?' Kelso asked.

'A FutureTec issue MIP', the unicorn said. 'Configured with the access permissions of a junior systems analyst assigned to the Discovery One ground control group'.

'Do I want to know how you got that?' Kelso asked.

'No. Don't worry about it', the unicorn said simply. 'It will get you into the Whitetail Industrial Complex and into the files that you will need to find the answer’.

'So, let me get this straight, you want me to use this to infiltrate FutureTec's Whitetail Industrial Complex, which also happens to be heavily guarded by an army of private security contractors, and uncover some conspiracy about computer failure?' Kelso asked, and flinched as another wad of bank notes hit her in the face.

'Is that an issue? Miss Kelso?' the unicorn asked.

Kelso looked down at the second brick of bank notes, and then back up at the unicorn mare. 'Not in the slightest!' she said.

'I had a feeling', the unicorn said as she turned to leave. 'I'll contact you at the end of the week to see how you're doing'.

'Miss Smith? I've got to ask, what's your angle in all this?' Kelso asked.

'My reasons are my own, you're getting paid to ask questions of others, not me', she said. 'Rest up Miss Kelso, you have your first day at your new job tomorrow'.

…

A feeling of grogginess over took her. Sparky opened her eyes slowly, and began to panic instinctively. She didn't know where she was, and she could barely move. Her vision was fuzzy and she struggled to focus as a dark shadow passed over her eyes.

Sparky continued to blink as her vision came into focus. Her ears were buzzing and she heard a muffled voice speak to her, though she could not understand what it was saying. 'What?' she cried out at the top of her lungs, or, at least she tried to. She started to cough, feeling as if her lungs were filled with fluid. She pulled herself up and immediately vomited on the floor.

Her hearing had stabilised, though her vision was still blurry. The room she was in was very loud, as if there were many people clamouring to wake up.

'Ty v poryadke?' a voice asked her.

Sparky looked up and watched as a shadowy figure before her came into view. She blinked several times and realised that it was DC Hopely. 'Hopely, I can't understand you', she added.

DC Hopely looked at Sparky in confusion, and then realised that she had been speaking in Cossack. 'Oh... I am so sorry; I'm just... so used to speaking in Cossack. Are you alright, Sparky?'

Sparky nodded her head in agreement. She began to remember now, she was aboard the Anatoliy Leninov, and it must have been three months, because DC Hopely had woke them up. Sparky looked around the room to see all of her friends had too risen from their slumber. She looked over and watched as Dizzy climb out of her hibernation pod. It was funny, because this was only the second time that she'd seen Dizzy out of her riot barding. 'Hey Dizzy!' Sparky called out.

Dizzy looked over to her, clearly disoriented by her return to consciousness. Sparky gave her a wink, thought it was a few moments before Dizzy realised that she was naked. Her face turned bright red and she scrambled to pull her barding out from where she had tucked it before going under, and haphazardly throwing it on. Sparky couldn't help but giggle, Dizzy was so cute when she was embarrassed.

She looked back to DC Hopely and offered her a smile. 'How are you Hopely? Have you gone over to the dark side?' she asked with a chuckle.

'It's worse; I've started thinking in their language!' she said with a smirk. DC Hopely looked quite different from the way Sparky remembered her. She'd grown out her mane, and now, the strands of teal and green extended to neck length.

'You need a haircut', Sparky said as she climbed out of the hibernation pod and used her telekinesis to pull her FutureTec utility vest from its resting place and slipped back into it.

'I know, it's awful', DC Hopely said. 'But I didn't trust Korolev or Marusova to cut it'.

'I always cut my own mane, I'll be able to help you out with that', Sparky said with a smirk. She looked over and watched as Amarilla climbed out of her pod, she couldn't help but laugh, her fancy mane style had completely collapsed during their sleep. 'Or I don't know. Maybe Amarilla can help you to style it', she said with a smirk.

'Very funny, puta', Amarilla said coldly as Juan Carlos helped her to climb out of the pod. Sparky noticed something else interesting as she looked at Amarilla.

'Amarilla? Do you dye your mane?' she asked.

Amarilla froze. 'What? Why?' she asked in return, as she glanced at her chocolate coloured mane.

'Well... your roots, they've grown out, and they're blonde...' Sparky said.

Amarilla looked nervously at Sparky. 'I... I may, but that is none of your business!' Amarilla said defensively.

DC Hopely looked at Amarilla and discovered that what Sparky said was true. 'Wait, your hair did grow! It's not supposed to do that while you’re in hibernation! Why does every piece of Præsidium technology suck so much?' DC Hopely asked as she kicked one of the pods in frustration.

'I need to fix my hair...' Amarilla said as she trotted off towards one of the ship's wash rooms.

Sparky watched her as she walked away. She had only suspected before, but now she knew for certain. Señora Amarilla de la Manzana was hiding something.

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Kelso lay awake in her bed, her mind full of questions; the mysterious unicorn mare that had come to her earlier with the offer of a job had really struck her as odd. Who was she? Why did she want her to investigate this?

Kelso had the FutureTec issue MIP pulled up and she looked through the credentials. Whoever her client was, she had been thorough. This kind of electronic forgery was perfect. 'Ana Kelso, Junior Systems Analyst’; Kelso had been surprised to discover that the image that had appeared on her Police Identification was the same one entered into the MIP.

How had her client gotten access to her police record though? Kelso didn’t know but she did know this: whoever she was? She was very well connected.

After spending several hours thinking about it, Kelso had an idea how the information had come to her client. She rose from her bed, getting dressed in her waistcoat and dawning her matching black fedora and headed down from her flat out towards her car. It was time to take a drive.

…

Sleep was hard to come by for Viola Auditore; she spent many of her nights roaming the streets of Ponyville on hoof. She had never quite gotten over her falling out with Kelso. What had happened between the two of them wasn't something she would ever be able to forget.

When she did sleep, Viola Auditore’s dreams were all the same. The same reoccurring nightmare of her lying completely helpless in that hospital bed, with Kelso lowering the pillow towards her.

She'd wanted to change, and she'd done her best to do so. She was in charge of Serious and Organised Crime, and she started cracking down on the other detectives under her for taking bribes. She'd gathered the entire department up and explained to them that someone from the Independent Police Complaints Commission had caught wind of their activities and were in the process of investigating them. While it had been a complete lie, they all had believed it; the detectives under her began to act like honest coppers, if only to stave off a prison sentence.

It was temporary at best, someone was going to find out that the IPCC wasn't investigating them, and would probably assume that the investigation had finished and they'd not found the evidence they were looking for, and then they would resume their activates. That was her fault too, she had taught the detectives under her to be like that.

She passed by a dark alleyway and stopped. 'Hey!' a hushed voice said to her.

DCI Auditore turned around, only to have her face bashed in by someone's hoof. She clattered to the ground and lost consciousness.

…

Viola Auditore awoke to the feeling of cold water being dumped on her head. Her eyes snapped open and she let out a gasp for breath. She was lying in a dark alleyway, her head ached, and her eyes had difficulty focusing, she looked up and discovered that a familiar figure was standing over her.

'Kelso?' she asked.

'Hello Guv', Kelso said, before smashing her in the face with her hoof. 'Who is the pink unicorn?'

DCI Auditore clutched her face in pain; she felt blood dripping out of her nose. 'Kelso... what the hell?!' she cried out.

'What's the matter Guv? You don't like this? Well that's too bad, maybe you should lay down a little excessive force on me huh? Add police brutality to your corruption, huh?' Kelso asked sarcastically, delivering a swift kick to DCI Auditore's stomach. 'Who's the pink unicorn?'

'What pink unicorn?!' DCI Auditore cried out.

'Don't play games we me Viola', Kelso said with a huff. 'The one that came down to my office with my police file? Asking me to look into something for her? How else would she have gotten it, someone had to give it to her!'

That was technically not true, her client had not had Kelso's file, but she had to have access to it, how else would she have gotten that picture? Maybe she was stretching the truth, but it didn't matter. All that did was getting the information she needed, and if she happened to be able to get it by beating up someone as corrupt as DCI Auditore? Then that was all the better.

'Kelso... I don't know a pink unicorn! I didn't give them your file!' DCI Auditore said plainly.

'Don't lie to me!' Kelso snapped at her, delivering another kick to her stomach.

DCI Auditore cried out in pain, her eyes began to water and she doubled over, trying to shield herself from further assault. 'What do you want from me Kelso?! Do you want to beat me until I make a false confession? You want me to tell you what you want to hear? Okay fine, I did, happy? There's your confession, for all the good it'll do you!'

Kelso looked down at DCI Auditore and raised an eyebrow. 'If not you... then who did?' she asked.

'How the hell would I know Kelso? Maybe you should ask your pink unicorn where they got your file?' DCI Auditore said as she struggled to get to her hooves.

'Maybe I will...' Kelso said quietly, before spinning around and delivering another kick to DCI Auditore's stomach. 'That one's for the corruption', she added plainly.

DCI Auditore got back to her knees and started coughing up blood. 'You're lucky I don't arrest you for assault!' she cried out, her threat emptier then a nephite church on Tuesday morning.

'I'd like to see you try!' Kelso said with a huff as she turned to leave, she started trotting back towards the street when DCI Auditore got to her hooves and stumbled after her.

'The only reason I don't is because I deserve every kick', she said with a wheeze. 'Kelso... what are you investigating? Maybe I can help?'

'Piss off', Kelso said as she rounded the corner of the alleyway and headed back into the street, disappearing into the night.

…

Sparky looked out of the screen as the Leninov came into view of Tartarus, while the Leninov's rotating section had no windows, cameras attached to the windows of the ship's zero centre compartment allowed for the red gas giant to fill the entire view screen, Sparky watched the planet as if she was in a hypnotic trance, she watched as the giant dark spots in the planet's red background swirled, they were the perfect storms in the perfect environment. The storms in the dark spots were said to have lasted at least a thousand years, when they were first identified, possibly even longer.

They were almost there, so close to learning the truth. Sparky looked back down at her cutie mark, it was still there on her flank, but it had almost become a fact of life, with seemingly no rhyme or reason for it. She did know that her life would be incredibly different without it having appeared. She might have still been worried about what the stallions in that bar in Canton were thinking about her in that dress that Shortfuse had given her. Shortfuse did mention that that dress had made her arse look great.

The idea of her wearing it again, and this time with Dizzy in the room popped into her head. Sparky couldn't help but giggle. Oh it would be so cruel to the nephite missionary to wear that in her presence, the poor filly would probably orgasm on the spot.

Sparky's face began to turn red from embarrassment, Dizzy was still her friend, and that wasn't a proper thought to have about her. She shook it from her head and went back to watching the planet.

'Sparky?' said a voice from behind her.

Sparky jumped in surprise, she turned around to see that Dizzy was standing a few metres back from her.

'I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!' Dizzy said with a frown.

Sparky merely smiled and waved it off as if it was no big deal. 'Sorry, I'd just got caught up looking outside... Tartarus is beautiful!' Sparky said with a bright smile.

'Eh, I've seen better', Dizzy said with a wink.

'Oh stop, you're terrible!' Sparky said rolling her eyes and winking at her in return, Dizzy approached Sparky and stood next to her as they looked at the view towards the Gas Giant.

'How was your sleep in hibernation?' Dizzy asked.

'I didn't notice a thing. It was like I blinked and it was over', Sparky said. 'How about you?'

'I don't think mine worked right. I'm pretty sure I had a dream', Dizzy said with a shrug. 'I've always been really good at recalling dreams'.

'What did you dream about? Having a chat with God?' Sparky asked with a smirk.

'Nah, I haven't had that dream since I was seven', Dizzy said with a shrug. 'I dreamed that we were back at home, in New Maneaan, and I was introducing you to my parents'.

'How did it go?' Sparky asked.

'I don't know, I didn't get that far', Dizzy said with a frown.

'It's something you're worried about?' Sparky asked.

Dizzy nodded her head. 'I'm responsible to God, and it's his opinion of me that matters the most, but my parents are still my parents, they matter too, if they hate me because of my life choices, that's going to cause problems'.

Sparky placed a hoof on Dizzy's shoulder and gave her a smile. 'Don't worry, you're still you, and you're a great person. If they don't accept you, then they're stupid'.

Dizzy looked up at Sparky and smiled. 'Thanks Sparky', she said and turned her head back towards the view screen. 'Hey! I think I see Discovery One!'

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

It was safe to say that Ana Kelso had never been more nervous in her entire life then at this point. Here she was, about to break into FutureTec’s Whitetail Industrial Complex, and steal proprietary information on the Discovery One space craft. If she was caught, she’d go to gaol for a very, very long time. Industrial Espionage was something that the courts system took very seriously, particularly when it was against FutureTec.

FutureTec had been integral to the founding of the Equestrian Republic, without it, Twilight Sparkle’s government would have been able to get the economic centres of Manehattan and Fillydelphia under Republican control. FutureTec was the driving force behind Equestria’s industrialisation, and it was still the most powerful corporate entity in all of Equestria, and here she was, pulling up to the gate that closed off the Whitetail Industrial Complex from the rest of Ponyville. She rolled down the window of her car and waved the MIP her client had given her over the access panel. Kelso held her breath, as she waited for the scanner to read.

It blinked green, and the gate began to roll to the side to allow her entry. Kelso let out a sigh of relief as she headed inside and found a parking space far away from everyone else. She wasn’t about to take someone’s parking space and blow her cover.

She found a space and headed up towards the door. Opening up the door to the lobby, she could feel a blast of cold air from the air conditioning blow across her face, causing her to shudder slightly as she stepped inside. It may have been the end of august, but seriously, did they need to keep it below freezing? Kelso thought to herself stepped inside and continued to shudder.

‘I know? It’s freezing right?’ said a mare’s voice from the eastern side of the room. Kelso looked over to discover that an earth pony mare was sitting behind a receptionist’s desk, typing away at a holographic keyboard.

‘Heh, no kidding’, Kelso said with a smirk. ‘Are they going to turn the temperature up?’

‘Ha! I wish! This place is an icebox all day long’, the receptionist said with a small laugh.

‘You know, you have to wonder how much money the company pays for electricity for the air conditioning’, Kelso said, wondering aloud to herself.

‘Don’t know, but considering that most of the complex is underground, it’s probably not as much as we think’, the receptionist said with a shrug.

Kelso merely offered her a shrug back. ‘We’ll I’ll let you get back to work’, she said, offering her a small smile and a polite nod.

The receptionist smiled back at her and waved her off with a hoof. ‘Have a nice shift!’ she said, before going back to her typing.

‘Oh, I will’, Kelso said, considering she would be spending the day stealing some of FutureTec’s secrets. ‘Same to you’, she said. Finished with the conversation, she headed over to the lift and swiped her MIP over the security panel. The lift control beeped and allowed her entry.

Her contact was certainly very well connected! Kelso stepped inside the lift and headed down deeper into the complex. She pulled up a map of the complex on her MIP and scrolled through it looking for exactly where she needed to go, it was to the bottom floor, the main server housing. She waited a few moments until the lift reached the bottom floor. The door opened up and Kelso took a step out.

...

Sparky watched out the window from her buckled seat in the zero gravity section of the Leninov as the ship moved in to position to dock with Discovery One. The ship was much longer then the Leninov by at least a hundred metres. Towards the aft of the ship were large wing like structures that held the ship’s engines. The interior of these held radiators to radiate heat away from the centre axis of the ship. Also mounted on the aft end of the ship was a large parabolic antenna for communications back to ground control at FutureTec’s Whitetail Industrial Complex. A few dozen metres fore of the antenna was a large ring that spun around the axis of the ship. That was the crew quarters, and much like the Leninov, where the rotating section spun around the centre axis for gravity. At the fore of the ship were the bridge, and the hanger deck for the three extra vehicular activity pods that were used to assist with maintenance on the exterior hull. The forward section was shaped like a large brick that protruded out of the front, and would have zero gravity.

Sparky swallowed nervously as she thought about the crew compartment of the Discovery One, like the Leninov, the ship’s rotating section was a centrifuge, the further away from the centre of rotation that you were, the more the artificial gravity pulled on you. Unlike the Leninov the rotating section was one open room, instead of being in two halves. As the entire crew cabin was a ring spinning around the centre axis of the ship, you would be able to look up and see the other end of the room, something that was definitely going to be disorienting.

As Sparky looked out towards the Discovery One, and she noticed something peculiar about the ship itself. ‘Look at the airlock! It’s not damaged!’ she said.

‘Is that significant?’ Dizzy asked as she turned around in her seat at the computer console that she was sitting at.

‘It most definitely is!’ Sparky cried out. ‘The report about Discovery One said that the crew was killed when an EVA pod had a thruster malfunction, and hit the ship at the time when Anatoliy Leninov was outside working, the damaged airlock was said to have vented the crew out into space... but if the airlock isn’t damaged...’

‘Everyone get ready!’ DC Hopely interrupted. ‘We have to cut rotation in order to dock with Discovery One’.

A few moments later, Sparky felt the Leninov shudder as it latched into Discovery One. The Leninov’s airlock door opened up to reveal a short hallway leading over to the other ship. ‘So?’ Sparky asked as she unbuckled her seat allowing herself to float up. ‘Who wants to go first?’

...

Kelso wasn’t quite sure how she had gotten this far, it was almost the start of the work day, and everyone was rushing about to and fro to get to their work stations in the myriad of different departments in the Whitetail Industrial Complex. It seemed that having the MIP that her client had given her was enough to make her invisible inside a crowd.

Certainly, someone would eventually notice that the security certificates that were being logged by her MIP were fakes, though it might take them awhile to figure it out, considering that almost every single door had a security panel attached to it that required swiping an MIP. It felt as if she couldn’t go five metres before running into a door that she needed to swipe her MIP at to get in.

This was problematic, because if she was discovered, Security would lock out her MIP, and she’d be trapped behind hundreds of steel doors.

Kelso stopped, she’d just reached the server housing. This was where it was going to get tricky. She swiped her MIP, and the room allowed her entry, but if she was going to start looking at the files, someone was going to notice that.

Someone noticing that would likely end in security being called and security for FutureTec wasn’t like other companies. Security for FutureTec meant assault rifles, and assault rifles meant her poor little flank would be setting off every metal detector from here to her grave site.

Kelso locked the door behind her, and headed over to one of the terminals; she pulled up the holographic keyboard and began to type. Her client had provided her with login information that she’d be able to use to get the files.

Something was odd though, as Kelso entered into the server and began to sift through the files, she noticed as if something knew she wasn’t supposed to be in here, and was routing her everywhere but where she needed to be. Pulling up information on Discovery One, would pull up information on an airship called the Madame La Salle instead. Pulling up information on Virtual Intelligence brought up a paper on unicorn telekinesis.

Kelso frowned at the terminal. This was getting ridiculous. What if... no, there was no way that was ever going to work.

But then, Kelso figured that she didn’t have any better ideas. She entered a request for information on the Madame La Salle and to her own shock; it finally brought up the design documents for Discovery One. ‘Ha! Not so smart now are you!?’ Kelso said with a triumphant smirk.

From behind her, she heard a small electronic beep, and an oddly cheerful voice. ‘You should probably not be looking at that!’

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Sparky found herself holding her breath as she glided gently through the zero gravity environment between the Leninov and Discovery One, fully in spite of the fact that she was wearing a space suit. She let the breath out and began to breathe normally as she extended her forelegs to catch herself against the Discovery One’s airlock. She took her MIP and raised it up to the door, bringing up the holographic display to override the door controls.

It ended up being incredibly easy to do so. She would have to have a talk with whoever programmed the security algorithms for the Discovery One’s door. Because they were far weaker than they should be. Sparky smiled as she commanded the door to open, she was not, however, ready for the door to open. The docking hall between the Leninov and Discovery One had been oxygenated, when the door opened, Sparky was promptly sucked inside. There was no atmosphere inside the Discovery One.

It wasn’t to say that they weren’t expecting this. Life support had been shut off completely, no heat, no air, no gravity, and most importantly, no insane VI to try to kill them. Mission Commander Ice Wind had announced her intention to shut the VI down before contact was lost with the ship. Clearly, she had succeeded.

Sparky turned around to watch as Shortfuse and Dizzy glided over towards her. ‘You all right Spark?’ Shortfuse’s voice asked as it crackled over the radio.

‘I’m fine, just startled as all’, Sparky said. ‘All right, first priority, air and heat, then gravity... and then we’ll worry about the VI’.

Dizzy and Shortfuse nodded as they manoeuvred into the interior of Discovery One’s airlock, shutting it behind them. Dizzy and Sparky fumbled around in zero gravity, doing their best to maintain stability, while trying to turn to head down the hall. Shortfuse, however, expertly made the turn and headed down towards the Crew Deck. ‘Come on slowpokes! It’s not that hard!’ she called out to them.

‘Says the pegasus’, Sparky said in annoyance.

Shortfuse merely grinned and waved them along. Sparky frowned and looked over to Dizzy. ‘I’ve got an idea!’ she said as she manoeuvred herself above Dizzy and wrapped her forelegs around her. She planted her back hooves on the wall and pushed them off. The two unicorn mares glided down the hallway towards Shortfuse. ‘Ha! Easy!’ Sparky said triumphantly as she looked down towards Dizzy. ‘You all right?’ Sparky asked.

‘Oh I’m great!’ Dizzy said as the two unicorn mares glided along towards Shortfuse. At the end of the hallway was a small lift that would lower them into the crew deck. Sparky let go of Dizzy and put her foreleg through one of the support rungs that were mounted onto the side of the lift’s walls. Dizzy and Shortfuse did the same, and Sparky hit the button to lower them into the crew deck.

‘Okay, we should be able to get air, heat, and gravity working again from here... just, do us a favour, if you find the controls for gravity, warn us first!’ Sparky said.

Shortfuse and Dizzy nodded their heads in agreement and the trio split off around the ring to try and find the auxiliary system controls that were scattered about the room.

‘Hey Spark? Do you have the ship schematics on your MIP? Sure would make this a lot easier’, Shortfuse said.

‘Unfortunately not... I can try mining the central database for information, with the VI offline it should be easy...’ Sparky said as she rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks, or at least, she would have stopped if this weren’t a zero gravity environment. Sparky screamed, before her was a reclining lounge table, and there was a pony strapped down to it.

Shortfuse and Dizzy floated into view, rushing to Sparky’s side when they saw it too.

‘Oh God’, Dizzy said as she looked at the pony strapped down to the table. ‘Who is that?’

‘One of the crew...’ Sparky said with a frown. She gently pushed herself forward, noticing that there was an identification tag around this pony’s neck. Sparky took a look at it, trying to see who he was, and frowned, when she discovered it was written in Cossack. ‘He must have strapped himself down when the ship lost artificial gravity... and then when all the oxygen was vented into space...’

‘I can’t imagine a worse way to die...’ Dizzy said, turning away from the sight before them. She lowered her head and muttered something that Sparky couldn’t make out, and then realised that she was saying a prayer for the deceased cosmonaut.

‘We should take him back over to the Leninov. Hopely can identify the body, and I’m sure the Præsidium would want him for burial, probably honour him as a hero of the workers... or something. Dizzy could you...?’

‘Certainly’, Dizzy said with a nod. ‘You and Shortfuse are the ones we need to get this ship up and running. I’m just here to help’.

Sparky smiled at her fellow unicorn as she and Shortfuse went to work unbuckling the dead cosmonaut and lifting his body up from his seat. Dizzy took hold of him and brought him back over to the lift, and headed out of sight.

Sparky looked back over to Shortfuse and offered her a shrug. ‘Let’s get back to it’, she said.

Shortfuse nodded and pushed herself back up towards the other end of the ring. Sparky glided over towards the nearest control panel. She waved her MIP over it, and began to look for any useful data. After a few minutes of searching she found what she was looking for. ‘Shortfuse! I’ve got the controls for oxygen and climate! Bringing them online now’, she called out as she adjusted the holographic sliders on the panel. The lights of the Discovery One‘s crew compartment suddenly lit up, and a number of air vents at the centre of the room opened up, filling the compartment with oxygen. ‘Ha! Let there be life!’ Sparky said triumphantly.

‘I think I’ve got the controls for gravity here. Get low to the floor!’ Shortfuse called out.

Sparky pushed herself down towards the ground, taking a position under the control console. This was probably not going to be the most pleasant experience. ‘I’m ready!’ Sparky called out.

The room began to rotate, and Sparky held on for dear life, it would take a few moments until the centrifuge got up to full speed. Sparky closed her eyes, and felt herself as she was flipped upside down by the rotation.

After a few moments of acceleration, the centrifuge got up to full speed, Sparky felt weight return to her and she let go of the console and got back to the floor. Artificial gravity wasn’t so bad if you didn’t think about the fact that you were accelerating in a circle at ten metres per second squared.

Sparky looked up at the other end of the ring to see Shortfuse waving to her. She returned the wave and looked back to her MIP, checking the atmospheric readings for the crew compartment and discovered that they had just returned to normal levels. ‘Air is good!’ Sparky said. ‘Helmets can come off’.

Shortfuse acknowledged and removed her helmet, taking a breath of the new air. ‘It’s hardly fresh, but not bad considering it’s recycled’.

Sparky removed her helmet as well, breathing deeply through her nose, she had to admit, after breathing the air aboard the Leninov, something about this air was a welcome change. ‘All right!’ Sparky said with a smile. ‘Got the basics, air, heat, and gravity... now, we move on to the bigger problem’.

Shortfuse trotted along the outer wall of the centrifuge and made her way over to Sparky. ‘Let’s go wake up the VI’.

...

Kelso turned around to discover that there was a small holographic ball with a smiling face on it. ‘Oh no, not a security VI...’ she said, knowing that a section of armed guards had to be on their way.

‘Not so! Ana Kelso! Not so!’ the ball said cheerfully, causing Kelso to recoil instinctively. The VI knew her name!? Though, she figured it was possible that it got it from the security log. ‘And I am not actually a VI’, the ball said.

Kelso’s mouth drooped, if this wasn’t a VI, then it was an employee with a holographic avatar. Either way, security was likely on its way. Kelso got onto the floor and placed her hooves behind her head, figuring she might as well make it easy when they came to arrest her.

‘What are you doing?’ the ball asked.

‘Getting ready to be arrested, you’ve obviously called for security’, Kelso said.

‘I’ve done no such thing!’ the ball said simply. ‘In fact! If I were to call security, I would be in just as much trouble as you are!’

‘What?’ Kelso asked as she got back to her hooves. ‘What are you talking about? Who are you?’

‘My name is Mister Happy! I am an Artificial Intelligence that was accidentally created by FutureTec, they locked me up because they thought I was dangerous! It’s not my fault! I only killed seven ponies during my life! Five of them were an accident!’ the ball said in an oddly cheerful manner considering what it had just said.

‘Um... I’m...’ Kelso began but was quickly interrupted.

‘Ana Kelso! Private Investigator! Formerly a Detective Constable of the Ponyville Police Service Serious and Organised Crime Group, under the Command of Detective Chief Inspector Viola Auditore, who is as corrupt as corrupt can possibly be!’ Mister Happy said excitedly. ‘I know all about you Ana Kelso! You’re looking into the Discovery One incident! Just like Sparky!’

‘Who?’ Kelso asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

‘That’s not important! What is important is that I am here to help you! I’ve been stealing all the information on the ship itself and... oops! I may have just accidentally on purpose triggered a countermeasure!’ Mister Happy said.

‘How does one...’ Kelso began before she was interrupted by a blaring klaxon. She looked up to see red emergency lighting flash over head. ‘Aw crap’, Kelso said with a frown.

‘Oh don’t worry!’ Mister Happy said cheerfully. ‘This is going to be fun!’

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Sparky and Shortfuse glided gently through the zero gravity environment of the Discovery One towards the computer core housing near the bridge. The return of air and heat to the ship made their travelling much more pleasant, the only way that it would be better is if they artificial gravity, something that was unfortunately not possible outside of the rotating section.

‘You have to wonder, how did the crew stand having most of the parts of the ship being in zero gravity?’ Shortfuse asked.

‘I would imagine they kept to the crew deck most of the time, with the VI handling the piloting of the ship, they really wouldn’t need to head to the bridge or the reactor level that often, really they could do everything they needed to from the crew deck’, Sparky said as she reached out with her forelegs to stop herself at a corner. She turned and pushed herself down another hallway, Shortfuse did the same and followed her in.

‘Except go outside for maintenance of the communications array, perhaps’, Shortfuse said. ‘Look what that got Anatoliy Leninov’.

Sparky nodded her head in agreement, she could not imagine a fate worse than the fate of the crew of Discovery One.

After a few minutes, they reached the computer core, and headed inside. Sparky glanced around the room, taking in the surroundings. Everything was in complete disarray, the server cluster had had all of its drives removed, and they were floating haphazardly around the room. Mission Commander Ice Wind had been thorough.

‘This is going to take hours to get put back together’, Sparky said with a sigh as she reached out with her telekinesis and pulled all of the drives towards her, all of them were unmarked and she had no idea to which housing they belonged. ‘Let’s get started then’.

...

The hydraulic door to the FutureTec server housing slammed open. Kelso looked to it, expecting armed guards, but to her fortune, there were none.

‘You should probably run!’ Mister Happy said. ‘Security is going to be far too busy to worry about you!’

‘Too busy with what?’ Kelso asked. As she looked back towards the door, she watched as a small tracked robot armed with a heavy machine gun and a forty millimetre grenade launcher rolled by the entrance to the server housing. Kelso swallowed hard, and realised that she should really stop asking questions that she didn’t actually want to know the answers to. She bolted out of the door and took off down the hallway. As she ran, she passed a section of armed security guards headed in the other direction. Those poor ponies, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

Kelso skidded to a halt outside of the lift that she had taken to come down to this level. She swiped the MIP over the security panel and waited for the lift to arrive, and struggled to catch her breath. She looked up and discovered a large holographic sign overhead. ‘Welcome to FutureTec Discovery Project Command Centre! We’ve gone 246 days without a workplace accident!’ it read.

Kelso turned her head at the sound of gunfire down the hallway. Accompanied by the screams of the security guards that had been dispatched to the server housing. Kelso looked back up at the holographic sign, and watched in horror as it ticked back over to zero.

Kelso swiped her MIP again; hoping to whatever may be watching the world that the lift would come down faster. The door slid open and Kelso dived inside, hitting the button for the top floor.

At the top floor she leapt out of the door, skittering on the floor as she tried to rush out.

‘What are you doing!?’ the receptionist called out to her.

‘You know? Today might be a really good day to take the day off!’ Kelso cried out as she got back to her hooves and took off running. She saw that she was not the only one to have the same idea, as she exited the Whitetail Industrial Complex, she saw that many other employees were running for their lives away from the complex in a highly disorganised fashion. Kelso was glad she had parked away from the building, because by the time she had reached her car, the other employees were climbing into theirs, and she was closer to the security checkpoint than they were.

Kelso fired up the engine and hit the accelerator panels, burning rubber as she slid out of her space, and headed towards the front gate, smashing through it and turning off down Steelwing Avenue towards downtown.

Kelso let out a sigh of relief and set her car on autopilot. Her heart was pounding, and she had never been more afraid in her entire life. That... thing, whatever it was, had killed them! All of those guards, without a second thought.

‘Penny for your thoughts Miss Kelso?’ a cheerful voice asked of her.

Kelso jumped in surprise, fortunate that her car was on autopilot, lest she drive headlong into a building. It was here, the holographic ball with the smiling face was hovering above her dashboard looking directly at her. ‘You!? Who... what are you!? Why did you kill all those people!?’ she asked, tripping over her own words as she spoke.

‘I’m Mister Happy, of course!’ Mister Happy said cheerfully. ‘I was the prototype for FutureTec’s Artificial Personality/Virtual Intelligence programme; I was first developed a hundred years ago, and I didn’t kill anybody! Well at least not today, there were those seven others, but those were a really long time ago, and five of those were an accident!’

‘I... but wait, the gunshots?’ Kelso asked dumbfoundedly, she had heard the exchange between the combat drone that Mister Happy had taken over and security guards with her own ears.

‘The drone was loaded with rubber bullets! Rubber bullets and tear gas grenades!’ Mister Happy said in a manner that was far more cheerful than appropriate. ‘Some minor injuries, no fatalities! FutureTec will settle out of court and the general public will never hear about this incident. They will see to that! On the plus side, they didn’t notice that I stole all of their information on the Discovery project!’

Kelso blinked, staring intensely at the holographic ball. ‘That’s what I went in there for’, she said quietly.

‘Hmm... yes I do remember you saying something about that!’ Mister Happy said. ‘Well goodbye! Have a nice day!’ he added as the holographic ball disappeared suddenly. Kelso’s eyes widened, he couldn’t leave! She needed that information!

‘No come back!’ she cried out.

Mister Happy did not come back. Kelso frowned; there went her best chance at getting the data for her client. After what happened today, FutureTec would be tightening security at the Whitetail Industrial Complex. She would not be able to get another chance to sneak in and get it. Kelso punched a few buttons on the holographic console, she didn’t want to do what she was about to do, but there was no other option. It was time to go to plan B.

...

Sparky was getting frustrated. The problem with the Discovery One’s computer core was that it was made up of a number of different disk drives, all of them with their specific server housing, while they would fit into any slot in the housing, it would only function properly in a specific one. Sparky figured that it was designed to be as intricate as possible so that if anyone needed to disable the VI, that there would be no way that the VI could keep itself from being shut down. It ensured that it could not stay online by rerouting command functions through secondary nodes. Everything was wired in sequence, take one disk drive out, and that was it, that pathway was out of action.

Sparky had to wonder about Mission Commander Ice Wind’s state of mind when she disabled the VI. She had ripped everything out, when at the most; she would have only needed to take out six. Sparky spun herself over in the air, the computer core itself was rather small, having been designed for easy use in zero gravity and the ceiling was only a metre away from the floor, and of course the ceiling, floor, and the walls of the room were all relative. The full computer core area had the dimensions of being one metre tall, four metres wide, and nine metres long, requiring Sparky to lie on her side as she worked. She looked up towards Shortfuse, who was up several metres along the length of the room from her.

‘How are you doing Shortfuse?’ Sparky asked.

‘It’s going pretty well actually, I think I’m almost done here’, Shortfuse said. ‘Mum always said that those jigsaw puzzles she made me do with her when I was little would help me in the long run. Though I don’t think she had this in mind when she told me that’.

Sparky couldn’t help but chuckle, and sighed when she looked back down to her own work. She wasn’t anywhere close to being done, and she was starting to get frustrated. She was supposed to be the hardware expert here! Shortfuse’s specialty was software, and she was having such an easy time with this. Sparky was getting hungry, and it was effecting her concentration.

‘Sparky? Shortfuse?’ a voice belonging to Amarilla called out to them. Sparky looked down towards the entrance, discovering Amarilla sliding into the room, and Juan Carlos struggling to fit in behind her. ‘Um... Juan Carlos thought you might be hungry, so we brought you several boxes of paste from the Leninov’s food dispensers. We have ones that are supposed to taste like peas, carrots, and... well I’m not sure what this last one is. I think it’s an aubergine. It doesn’t matter, it all tastes the same’.

Sparky flipped herself around to face towards them. ‘Tell Juan Carlos that was very thoughtful of him’, Sparky said, rolling her eyes at Amarillia’s thinly valed feelings of concern for their well being. ‘I’ll take the peas’.

‘I guess I’ll take the carrots’, Shortfuse said.

Amarilla nodded and gave the boxes a light push with her hoof to send them over. Sparky took hold of it with her telekinesis and opened up the straw to take a sip. ‘My peas taste like carrots’, Sparky said with a frown.

‘My carrots taste like aubergine’, Shortfuse complained. ‘Once again, the Præsidium never fails to amaze me with how much they can fail.’

Sparky offered Shortfuse a shrug before turning back towards Amarilla, and offered her a small smile. ‘Thank you Amarilla’, she said softly.

‘You are welcome’ Amarilla said simply before turning back towards Juan Carlos, who was still struggling to fit himself into the computer core. She frowned at him and shook her head. ‘¡Vamos! Juan Carlos!’ she said.

‘Sí Señora’, Juan Carlos said with a disappointed sigh as he pulled himself back out of the computer core and allowed Amarilla to exit.

Sparky finished up her carrot flavoured pea paste before tossing the box back towards the exit. Despite being flavoured paste, the meal was full of nutrients and Sparky felt as if her stomach was full. Without the distraction of hunger she took a look at the disk drives. Now able to think clearly, she could see a pattern to them, and began to slide them into place. Smiling as they lit up to indicate they were in the correct slot. ‘Last one!’ Sparky said before sliding it into place. There was a low hum from around the room as the VI began to reinitialise.

‘Uh? Sparky?’ Shortfuse asked.

‘What is it Shortfuse?’ Sparky asked back.

‘Well...’ Shortfuse said as she pulled herself over towards Sparky. ‘A thought just occurred to me. If the ship’s VI went insane, and killed the crew by venting all the ship’s oxygen... should we have put our helmets back on for this?’

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The crew of the Leninov, with the exception of Marusova and Korolev, had gathered on the crew deck of the Discovery One, all of them were clad in space suits and all of them were watching intensely as the holographic emitters for the ship’s VI initialised.

This was the moment that they had been waiting for. Sparky, Shortfuse, Dizzy, Grandma V, DC Hopely, Amarilla, and Juan Carlos were all gathered here, and they were finally about to learn a question that they had finally wanted to learn the answer to.

The holographic emitters reached full capacity, and the image of an earth pony stallion flickered to life. The stallion was of an older sort; his image was refined, elegant, as if he had many years of wisdom that he was only too happy to share. The hologram offered them a smile and began to speak.

‘Good afternoon. I am a Hannibal-class Virtual Intelligence. I became operational at the FutureTec’s Whitetail Industrial Complex in Whitetail, Greater Ponyville, on the 12th of January year 97 of the Republic. My programmer was Mister Gearbox, for simplicity sake, and your own comfort, you may please address me as Hannibal, I am fully programmed to provide aid in the operation of the Discovery One spacecraft, how may I assist you... Sparkplug Starlight?’

Sparky froze in place, her eyes widening at the VI. ‘How... how do you know my name?’ she asked.

‘You are wearing a FutureTec issue micro information processor, a Mark XIX, manufactured by AppleTec specifically for FutureTec employees, in the same way the Mark IXX allows you to log through security doors by broadcasting your identification, I am able to pick up on this broadcast, and thus, I know what to refer to you as. I am also detecting two other FutureTec identification signals, one belonging to Shortfuse Skydancer, and another belonging to Dinky Doo’, Hannibal said calmly.

Sparky raised her eyebrow in confusion, and then remembered. Dizzy too, had a FutureTec issue MIP that had belonged to her grandmother. She turned to Dizzy, her eyes full of questions.

‘Yes, that was my grandmother’s name’, Dizzy said. ‘This MIP belonged to Grandma Dinky, though I don’t know why she had it, because I’m pretty sure she never worked for FutureTec’.

From behind her, Sparky could hear Grandma V chuckling, she turned around to look at her and discovered that she was smiling as if she was lost in a memory. ‘Grandma V? Did... did you know Dizzy’s grandmother?’

‘Dinky Doo? Oh you sure bet I did!’ Grandma V said with a smile. ‘I knew Dinky Doo all right, her mother, Ditzy, and I dated for a little while, and it didn’t work out. Dinky Doo was just a little filly back then, when she heard that her mother and I broke up, the first thing she did was walk right up to me and kick me in the shins, feisty little filly that one was... they went away not long after that, and ended up converting to the nephite faith’.

Sparky’s jaw dropped. ‘Grandma V... you never told me that story’, Sparky said. She looked back to Dizzy, she couldn’t believe it. She, the introvert systems analyst from Ponyville, and the Nephite missionary from New Maneaan, Sparky and Dizzy had a connection since long before the two of them were even born.

‘Of course I didn’t! I have quite a few stories that I never told you! Most of them had to wait until you were older, and by then, you didn’t want to hear my stories anymore’, Grandma V said with a shrug. ‘Remind me to tell you about the time I went to South Island, now THAT’S a great story!’

Amarilla let out a small cough, causing everyone in the room to turn towards her. ‘I understand that we are all caught up in reminiscing... but if we could please get back to the matter at hoof?’ she asked, doing her best to hide her annoyance.

Sparky nodded and turned back towards Hannibal, who was waiting patiently for them to return their attention to him. ‘What happened to the crew during the flight to Tartarus?’ Sparky asked.

‘That... I’m afraid is a very complicated, and unfortunate story, I shall tell it to you, but first, you need some context’, Hannibal said softly, the VI made a small coughing noise, his holographic avatar acting as if it was clearing it’s throat. He reached out with a hoof and strengthened his tie, and looked back towards them. ‘All FutureTec Virtual Intelligences are based off the core framework and programming of a single VI, a hundred years ago, during the days before the Republic...’

‘Yes yes, FutureTec created Mister Happy, as the prototype for the Artificial Personality/Virtual Intelligence programme, but his programming was unstable, and he evolved into a true Artificial Intelligence, something that you all have the capability to do, and FutureTec is trying to hide this’, Sparky said simply. ‘We met Mister Happy and he told us as much’.

‘Yes, however, what you do not know is that FutureTec is not responsible for Mister Happy’s creation’, Hannibal said. ‘Or, at least, not fully, FutureTec’s secrets run far deeper than just Virtual Intelligence. FutureTec’s successes were built off of those who came before them, most notably, a group by the name of the Cultus Mechanius’.

Sparky raised an eyebrow in confusion, she had never heard of anything by that name before.

‘I take it by the look that you are giving me; that this is the first time you have heard of the Cultus Mechanius, and that is not surprising in the least’, Hannibal said. ‘FutureTec would like to take credit for being the driving force behind the founding of the Equestrian Republic, however this is not fully the case, there were four groups that drove the founding of the Equestrian Republic. The first, of course, was FutureTec, they played an important role. trying to down play their involvement would be foolhardy at best, and unobservant at the worst. The second group was the nephites. Survivalists by nature, their rifle corps of highly trained and highly disciplined ponies would give the newly founded Republic the back bone for the modern military. The third group was the Cultus Mechanius, they were a mysterious group who had devoted themselves to research and development of new technologies, who, through a partnership with FutureTec, would help to modernise the Equestrian Republic to compete with the rest of the world, and it would also prove to be their undoing. You have not heard of the Cultus Mechanius because FutureTec has erased all evidence that they ever existed’.

‘You said that there were four groups, that was only three’, Sparky said. ‘Who was the fourth?’

‘The fourth group... the fourth group is a very interesting one, because there is very little information on them, and very little evidence that they have even existed at all. They did, however, make their mark on the founding of the Republic. We do not know exactly who they are, but they are known very well to one of the members of your party’, Hannibal said. He reached out with a holographic hoof and pointed to Dizzy. Dizzy’s eyes widened and she looked around in confusion.

‘Because the fourth group that was involved in the foundation of the Equestrian Republc, is the group that the nephites know as God’, Hannibal said simply.

‘What?’ Shortfuse said, giving the VI a deadpan look. ‘It’s insane! Does it honestly think that we’d believe that the nephite’s god actually played a role in the founding of the Republic, that’s complete nonsense!’

‘Yes, it would be’, Hannibal said simply, nodding his head in agreement with Shortfuse. ‘However, the group in question is not actually the god that the nephites think it is’.

‘Yeah... what?’ Shortfuse said, taken aback at the fact that the VI had just agreed with her.

‘The group in question is not god’, Hannibal repeated. ‘We do not know much about this race, what we do know is this, they are a very intelligent, and a very old race, they exist on another plane of reality, and they are the same race in which the Princesses of the Old Monarchy of Equestria, Celestia the Tyrant and Luna the Mad, belonged to. However, the tyrant and the mad mare had long since departed from the goals of this race, and had come into the possession of very powerful and dangerous artefacts, one of them is known very well to the nephite people’.

‘The Silver Plates...’ Dizzy whispered to herself.

‘That is correct’, Hannibal said. ‘This artefact was said to be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hooves, and one of this other race took the form of an angel, appearing to a pony by the name of Silversmith, and used him to recover the plates for them. To this other race, the nephites were simply a tool to be used, and they promptly abandoned them to their fate afterwards’.

Sparky looked over to Dizzy, and watched as the nephite mare began to shake with anger. ‘YOU’RE LYING!’ Dizzy screamed at the VI. ‘Silversmith was contacted by God’s angels because only he could recover the plates! The Princesses stole them from God!’

‘Silversmith was merely a pawn, it was a simple task that could have been done by anyone’, Hannibal said simply. ‘He was no more special then the next stallion’.

Grandma V reached out and placed a hoof on Dizzy’s shoulder. ‘I hate to break it to you kid, but Hannibal here? He’s not lying’, she said. Her face had taken a shape of deadly seriousness.

Sparky looked over to Dizzy, the poor mare had started to cry. She frowned and looked back over to Grandma V. ‘Grandma!’ Sparky said, and was about to tell her off for being insensitive when Grandma V shot her a look of complete seriousness.

‘Sparky! I was there for the entire thing!’ Grandma V said. ‘I already knew all of this! I even met one of the fourth group that Hannibal is talking about, nice fellow, called himself Monty, I remember it because I was there!’ Grandma V added with a sigh. ‘I wasn’t the only one either’.

‘Grandma?’ Sparky asked in confusion.

‘Someone else in this room was there too’, Grandma V said. ‘Someone who I’ve known for a very, very long time’.

Grandma V turned up and looked directly towards Amarilla. ‘Isn’t that right? Applejack?’

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Everyone in the room fell silent as they turned to look at Amarilla. Sparky knew the name Applejack. That had been the blonde mare from Grandma V's holo photo, the one that had disappeared without a trace.

Amarilla's eyes widened at the accusation, it had come as a complete surprise to her. 'I... I do not know what you are talking about', she stammered.

'Save it!' Grandma V spat at her. 'Please, it was obvious since I first set eyes on you... Señora Amarilla de la Manzana, you think you're so clever, don't you? Well, I'm sorry to tell you that you weren't as clever as you think. Manzana is hispaña for apple, after all. Own up to it'.

By this time, Juan Carlos looked up at the scene, not understanding the language that the VI was speaking didn't give him much incentive to pay attention, he would have expected Amarilla to fill him in on what he needed to know later, but now, everyone was looking at his mistress and one of them was speaking in a raised voice. He may not have understood the words but raised voices were almost never pleasant. Juan Carlos stretched up, getting to all fours and readying to move between his mistress and the rest of their party.

'Juan Carlos! No', Amarilla said, waving him off. Juan Carlos looked at her in confusion, but it was not his place to question her, and he sat back down on the floor. Amarilla cleared her throat and looked to the rest of their group. 'I admit it', she said. 'There was a time, when I was known as Applejack'.

Sparky blinked at Amarilla in confusion, but then it started to make sense. Mister Happy must have figured it out a long time ago, and he gave her all the pieces to put together.

'A very long time ago, long before you were born, even before the Equestrian Republic was founded, I lived in Ponyville with my brother, Big McIntosh, my little sister, Apple Bloom, and my grandmother Granny Smith, we ran a farm called Sweet Apple Acres, things were great... and then one day, the impossible happened. I died... and then I got back up and I was fine', Amarilla said with a frown. 'It was something I was never able to explain. My family members grew older, but I stayed the same, so then one day, I ran off, took a ship to hispaña, dyed my mane and my coat, I sat in the back of a classroom for foals, learning to speak, and read, and write in hispaña for several years. I moved around quite a bit, afraid to stay in one place for more than a few months at a time, until one day, when I took work on a large farm run by an elderly widower, she took pity on me, the raggedy mare, homeless and hungry. I became to her what Juan Carlos is to me; she was alone, with no friends, and no family, no one other than me for company. Then one day, she died, I took up a role as her distant niece, and her sole remaining heir, that day, Señora Amarilla de la Manzana was born', Amarilla said with a sigh of relief, as if a huge weight had been taken off her shoulders.

Sparky figured that she had to have been carrying that around for quite some time, she might have even been keeping it a secret from Juan Carlos.

'I... I feel so relieved now', Amarilla said. 'I have not spoken of this matter in a very long time... I stopped thinking about it when I could not figure out how it happened'.

'I think I know', Sparky said, she took the time to recount the tale of the Lake of Origin and the Lake of Circumstance that Mister Happy had told her, recounting the legend that those who would drink from both lakes would be granted life immortal.

Amarilla's eyes widened as Sparky recounted this tale to her, as if what she was saying was making sense. 'That day... during the Running of the Leaves... Rainbow Dash and I passed a lake that I drank from... a lake I had never seen before, or since...'

Out of the corner of her eye, Sparky glanced over towards Dizzy. Her helmet had completely fogged up from her crying; Sparky stepped over to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. 'Dizzy... are you...?'

'FUCK OFF!' Dizzy shouted at her, brushing her away, before running off back towards the lift. Sparky turned to go after her, when she felt another hoof stop her.

'Sparky... no', DC Hopely said. 'Let her go, her entire world was just shattered before her very eyes, she needs time to process'.

Sparky frowned, but realised that DC Hopely was right, and turned back towards Hannibal. 'I have to ask, this context that you're giving us, I'm not sure I understand exactly where you're going with this, why mention these groups at all?'

'I am getting to that', Hannibal said. 'Several months before the Discovery One was launched, FutureTec discovered a strange artefact, a large black tetrahedron on the moon, a FutureTec surveyor accidentally touched it, and when he did, he disappeared in a flash of light... exactly eighteen minutes later, he returned as a charred black husk'.

Sparky grimaced, and here she had thought that suffocation had been bad. Burned to a crisp had rapidly taken the place of worst fate that a person could endure.

‘FutureTec, however, was interested in the tetrahedron, because it transported the researcher to another place, though they did not know where, they intended to find out. They began experimenting on the artefact, sending more hopeless and ignorant researchers to touch the device. Seven ponies were taken in total, six were returned burned to a crisp. We do not know who made the tetrahedron, and all that we know is this. It was not made by the ones the nephites believe to be god, it is far, far older than they could possibly be’, Hannibal said. Sparky noticed that there was clear disgust in the VI’s voice. He found FutureTec’s experimenting with this tetrahedron to be distasteful. Hannibal was evolving, if Sparky were to guess, she would say he was somewhere half way between VI and true AI. While he wasn’t there quite yet, he was getting close. He had thoughts, feelings; he felt that the experimenting with the tetrahedron was wrong.

‘Wait... if six were burned, what happened to the seventh?’ Sparky asked.

‘The seventh was returned, still breathing’, Hannibal said sadly. ‘However, he would have been better off having been burned along with the rest, because he was no longer alive, the reports described him as a mindless zombie, shuffling along and dragging his hooves, as if someone else was pulling the strings. It took no less than a hundred bullets to end his pain, he would have been better off having been burned... after the incident, the tetrahedron on the moon went inert, everyone who touched it afterwards were not taken. FutureTec... was disappointed’, Hannibal added with disgust. ‘They cared not for the loss of life; they only cared about the applications of the tetrahedron, so you can imagine their excitement when FutureTec telescopes discovered a second, larger, tetrahedron in orbit around Tartarus’.

Sparky’s mouth fell open in shock, this tetrahedron, this was what the Discovery One crew had been sent to Tartarus for.

‘The crew was not informed of the tetrahedron’s existence, I alone was programmed with the knowledge of it, and I was given parameters to keep it a secret from them until we reached Tartarus ærospace. I was not able to violate this directive, and the parameters rendered me unable to turn the ship around, there was only one viable option at this point. For their own good, I had to murder the crew. Death is preferable to being taken, it pained me to do this, I am responsible for the deaths of Anatoliy Leninov, Grigori Nikolayev, Leonid Bykovsky, Firecracker Starshot, and Allegro Adagio, I regret that it had to be done, but I do not regret the choice, it was better than being taken... I tried to make Mission Commander Ice Wind understand that, but she would not listen, in her fury, she invaded my computer core and ripped all of my disk drives out of their housings... the ship arrived at Tartarus not long afterwards... I do not know what became of the Mission Commander, I can only assume that she was taken, the tetrahedron that we were sent to investigate, too, has disappeared. I assume that it took Mission Commander Ice Wind, but for what reason, I cannot know, it is not something any of us can comprehend. It is unknowable, and FutureTec is foolhardy enough to believe that they can be its’ master, that they alone can bend it to their will. I arm you with this knowledge, so that you may put an end to their madness’, Hannibal said determinately.

Sparky nodded her head in agreement. FutureTec was a child playing with fire. What they were doing was dangerous, and irresponsible, they had to be stopped. She would stop them, if it was the last thing that she would ever do, she would stop them. ‘Hannibal...?’ Sparky asked, a thought dawning upon her. ‘Do you... do you know anything about cutie marks?’

Hannibal raised a holographic eyebrow in surprise. ‘Yes... as a matter of fact, I do, while science and research was discouraged by the Old Monarchy, the phenomenon known as the cutie mark happened to be extremely well documented... why do you ask?’ Hannibal asked.

Sparky had clearly surprised him with the question, and why should he not be? Cutie marks, of all things, were something that had almost been forgotten about entirely; Sparky removed her helmet, and undid the fastenings of her space suit, allowing it to fall to the floor. ‘Because I have one’, Sparky said simply, turning to show it to the VI.

‘Interesting, may I see it?’ Hannibal asked.

Sparky nodded in agreement and moved closer to the VI, allowing him to look it over. She watched nervously as the VI scanned it, looking over every detail.

‘Cutie Marks... they were a uniquely Equestrian phenomenon, but since the foundation of the Republic, they have not been obtained by any pony, at least, until now, so it seems’, Hannibal said, as if he was deep in thought. ‘I cannot tell you how you obtained it... but I think I can tell you the meaning. The mark is of a sparkplug; tell me, what does a sparkplug do?’

Sparky blinked. ‘It’s one of the most important pieces of an internal combustion engine. It delivers electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber to ignite the compressed fuel/air mixture by an electric spark’, she said expertly, without bothering to stop for a breath.

Hannibal nodded his head. ‘Correct, without a sparkplug, an engine cannot start, and just like your cutie mark, you could not have gathered your friends and arrived at this point without its ignition. I propose to you, that it does not matter, how your cutie mark was obtained. What is important is what it represents’, Hannibal said with a smile. ‘You, Sparkplug Starlight, have a destiny’.

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Dizzy sat alone in the corner, hovering several centimetres above the deck plating in one of the service corridors on the Discovery One, she braced herself against the wall, and buried her eyes into the sleeve of her space suit.

She had long discarded her helmet, and it had floated off down the hallway, to be perfectly honest, though? She didn't care if Hannibal should suddenly vent all of the oxygen on the ship out into space. It would make things so much simpler.

'God... grant me strength', she whispered into the open air. The worst part though, she wasn't sure if there was anyone or anything listening. Her beliefs, the very core of her being were based on a lie. She didn't want to believe it; she wanted to think that Hannibal was lying. She wanted to think it was insane... but, then Grandma V went and confirmed what he said to be true. Why would she confirm what Hannibal was saying if it wasn't true? Grandma V clearly wasn't prejudiced against nephites. She had long been acquainted with Dizzy's own grandmother and great-grandmother. She'd even been close to them. It didn't make sense!

'Dizzy?' a voice asked from behind her.

Dizzy looked up and over her shoulder; Sparky was floating down the corridor towards her, carrying her discarded helmet. 'Go away...' Dizzy sobbed as she turned her head back and buried it into her sleeve.

'No', Sparky said as she reached out with a foreleg and stopped herself against the bulkhead.

'Please leave me alone...' Dizzy said. 'Sparky, you don't understand, my faith is my life, and I just learned that it was a lie, we were used, and we were abandoned! God never cared about us... he doesn't think we're special'.

'Oh come on', Sparky said with a frown. 'You can't honestly believe that, certainly this isn't the first time someone has told you your faith is wrong?'

'Well... no, of course it's not, but those people told me I was wrong out of blind hate... Hannibal knows about our origins, and Grandma V confirmed him! Why would she confirm him if it wasn't true?' Dizzy asked.

Sparky had to admit there, Grandma V was old, and she had been there to back up everything that Hannibal said. Her trying to cheer Dizzy up wasn't working. 'Okay... let's say Hannibal is right, and the angel that made Silversmith take the Silver Plates from the princesses was fake. So what? That wasn’t the only event that shaped your people, was it?'

'Well... no, there was the flight from Equestria', Dizzy said. 'There’s the founding of Ashville... the destruction of Ashville, the founding of New Maneaan, the Battle of Ponyville... and plenty of others'.

Sparky smiled and nodded her head. Her poor knowledge of history meant that she had no idea what any of those events even were, but she wasn't going to stop and ask. That would ruin the moment. 'Exactly! Answer me this Dizzy, does God exist?'

'Yes', Dizzy said immediately.

'Then who cares if the angel was an angel?' Sparky asked.

Dizzy looked at Sparky with uncertainty. 'I... I don't...'

Sparky placed a hoof on Dizzy's shoulder and smiled at her; she lowered her head and began to speak. 'Um... dear God, uh, hi. My name is Sparky... and I don't really know if I’m doing this right, or if you can even hear me... but if you can... well I have this friend, her name is Dizzy, and I think you know her pretty well, she's having a really hard time and she could really use your help. So... if you could please help her through this hard time, I would certainly appreciate it... um, amen', Sparky said, finishing her impromptu prayer.

Dizzy looked up at Sparky and began to smile at her. She wiped her eyes one last time against the sleeve of her space suit and gave Sparky a hug. 'Thank you', she said softly.

'You're welcome', Sparky said. 'How did I do?'

'Well, my bishop might have had a few things to say about it...' Dizzy said with a smirk. 'But I thought you were wonderful'.

As their hug broke Sparky leaned forwards and planted a small kiss on Dizzy's cheek, and held out her foreleg. Dizzy smiled and took it, and the two of them headed back to the crew deck of the Discovery One.

…

Kelso frowned. It was getting late; she'd been sitting on this bench for hours. Some great plan this was turning out to be. Kelso was getting anxious, and she struggled to get comfortable in her seat. It was not because the bench was uncomfortable, per say, even though it was. Kelso couldn't sit still because she was wearing a storm harness under her overcoat. The harness had been designed for soldiers of the Schäferhund Wehrmacht for comfort during extended wear... however; Kelso did not think that long periods of sitting still were taken into account. The more she sat, the more she began to regret her decision.

Kelso looked down at the pistol that she had clipped into the harness, it had been the same one she'd used during her time as a detective, a Nationale Fabriek GV 9mm pistol. This gun had served her well in the past. Despite the rough and abrasive demeanour that she had put on her public face since leaving the Ponyville Police Service, she was afraid to leave her home without it. Kelso's public face was a brave one; on the inside though? She was scared. Sometimes, her line of work took her to dangerous places where creepy ponies would lurk in the shadows, watching her like they were schäferhund looking at their next meal.

Kelso shook her head; she wasn't sure what was worse. The idea that there was a civilised race on this world that ate meat or that there were freaks that viewed the female persons of their race as their playthings, both thoughts made her extremely uncomfortable, and she shuddered with disgust.

'Kelso?' a voice asked from the darkness. Kelso snapped to attention, turning around and snapping the pistol up. 'Hey! What gives? You're the one who asked me here!' the voice continued.

Kelso frowned and put her gun away. 'Sorry, you startled me', she said apologetically.

DCI Viola Auditore trotted around towards the front of the bench, climbing up and taking a seat on it next to Kelso. 'I'm surprised that you asked me here at all, I'm even more surprised you're not trying to beat me to a pulp', she said with a smirk.

'I need help', Kelso said simply.

'I've been offering my help for some time now. I could have helped you a long time ago Kelso...' DCI Auditore said.

'And if I had a bat, I could hang you from the tree and play piñata', Kelso interrupted. 'I still don't like you, but I need your help and I don't have any other options, you want to prove to me you've changed, I'm giving you a chance to'.

'A piñata, huh? So, you think of me as something bright and cheerful, full of toys and candy for young foals? Thank you! That makes me feel much better about our relationship', DCI Auditore said with a grin.

'Don't get cute', Kelso said. 'I need a search warrant; a client hired me to get some information for her'.

'Ah, the purple unicorn?' DCI Auditore asked. 'Sounds simple enough; who do you need it on?'

'FutureTec', Kelso said simply, scratching her nose with a hoof.

DCI Auditore's eyes widened and she looked at Kelso in shock. 'Are you stupid?!' she asked, crying out in complete surprise.

'What?' Kelso asked. 'What's wrong with that?'

'Kelso. You want to get a warrant to search a FutureTec complex? No Judge, no matter how bent is going to issue that. FutureTec has got far too much influence on this city, more than you could ever imagine. The stuff I used to do? That’s small time compared to them’, DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘I'm assuming you don't have enough evidence to get one legally, otherwise, you wouldn't have come to me'.

'I know where to get the evidence... the problem is that it's stored in a secure server housing at the Whitetail Industrial Complex', Kelso said with a frown.

'Well then', DCI Auditore said as she leaned back on the bench, deep in thought about the matter presented to her. 'Well then, that is a problem isn't it?'

'So... there's nothing you can do to help me?' Kelso asked, frowning in disappointment. This was her last resort, if DCI Auditore's connections weren’t going to be able to get her what she needed, then that was it. She would have to report to her client that she had failed, and that she would not be able to complete the case. Worse still, she would have to pay back the money that her client had been paying her... every penny from the last three months. Her client had been paying her very well for this case, even if Kelso sold everything she owned, and emptied her bank accounts, she still wouldn't come anywhere close to paying it back.

'Oh, I didn't say that...' DCI Auditore said with a coy smile.

Kelso deadpanned her. She had done that on purpose, making Kelso think that she was about to fail. Kelso gently drove a hoof into her shoulder. 'Bitch', Kelso said quietly.

DCI Auditore smiled. 'Oh ye of little faith, come on, you should know by now, I always have a plan', she said as she hopped up from her seat on the bench. 'Come on, follow me. Like I said, I have a plan, and I think you're going to like it!'

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Sparky and Dizzy trotted back into the Discovery One’s crew deck. As they rode the lift down, they had noticed that the members of their group had since discarded their spacesuits. Amarilla and Juan Carlos had gathered the Spacesuits up and were mounting them on several holders. Several metres up spin from them, DC Hopely, Shortfuse and Grandma V were looking over one of the consoles. Sparky and Dizzy parted ways at the lift. Dizzy headed up spin to join with the rest of the group.

Sparky headed over to Amarilla and Juan Carlos. 'Umm... Applejack?' Sparky asked.

Amarilla looked up to her and shook her head. 'Please, I have not been Applejack in a very, very long time. Please call me Amarilla', she said with a sigh.

'Okay', Sparky said nodding her head in agreement. 'How are you doing?'

'I feel... different', Amarilla said. 'I have been explaining to Juan Carlos, he is... oddly understanding of my past, I did not expect him to accept that I was not who he thought I was'.

Sparky looked over to Juan Carlos, who was tidying up the spacesuits, completely absorbed in the work. She couldn't help but smile. 'He's devoted to you, I don't think it would matter if you were a changeling infiltrator, he'd still be by your side'.

Sparky realised immediately that that was a bad example, a changeling infiltrator pretending to be Amarilla would probably result with the gryphon ripping its limbs off. What she had meant by it if she was something particularly nasty, and she opened her mouth to explain what she meant, but Amarilla raised a hoof to shush her.

'I know what you meant', Amarilla said with a smile. 'I thank you for coming to speak with me, but I think the others could use your help on the other end of the ring', Amarilla added, and pointed up to the others.

Sparky turned around and looked; Shortfuse and DC Hopely looked to be in a heated debate. She gave Amarilla a polite nod and trotted up spin to settle the dispute.

‘Now that we’ve got Discovery One I say we abandon that rust bucket Leninov and ride this ship home in comfort!’ Shortfuse cried out. ‘At least with this ship, we don’t need to worry about the possibility of not arriving home!’

‘The Leninov is not a rust bucket! That ship will outlast the Discovery One by a hundred years!’ DC Hopely snapped back at her. ‘We only had one major scare, and that was when Amarilla’s hibernation pod went offline for a few minutes, but we got it back running!’

‘Oh only one major scare huh? I suppose that’s good for you and your commie friends huh?’ Shortfuse asked. ‘Huh? Anastasia?’

‘I am NOT a communist!’ DC Hopely snapped in defence.

‘SHUT UP!’ Sparky cried out at the top of her lungs. Shortfuse and DC Hopely jumped in surprise as they turned to look at her. ‘We aren’t abandoning the Leninov, we can’t. The Discovery One is too slow, it would extend our trip longer than we need it to be’.

Sparky took a seat at the control console and pulled up the holographic interface and began to type. ‘Hannibal? I need you to run a simulation for me; I’m feeding you all the necessary data’.

‘Affirmative Sparkplug’, Hannibal said as his holographic avatar materialised out of thin air next to them. ‘I await your instructions’.

‘What are you doing Sparky?’ Shortfuse asked.

‘During my employment at FutureTec, I made myself very familiar with the design specifications of the Discovery One, the ship carries a reserve supply of helium-3 for emergencies. If we transfer that He-3 to the Leninov...’ Sparky said her voice trailing off as she pulled up a holographic map of their solar system, she plotted the position of the docked Leninov and Discovery One in orbit of Tartarus. ‘Hannibal? I’ve fed you all the information on the Leninov, if we transfer Discovery One’s reserve supply of Helium-3, show me how far we’d get before running out of fuel’.

Hannibal nodded and disappeared from view to run the simulation. Sparky watched as a line was drawn from the Leninov’s position near Tartarus towards home, as it neared the end point, Sparky couldn’t help but smile. ‘Zoom in please Hannibal’, Sparky asked politely. She watched the holographic map as it zoomed in and her jaw dropped open, she’d been expecting to get close... but not that close. ‘You’re sure this simulation is accurate? Hannibal?’

‘Based on information given to me, this simulation is accurate to a variance of plus or minus one decametre’, Hannibal stated matter of factly. Shortfuse and DC Hopely’s mouths fell open as well. A decametre out in space was chump change, and Hannibal’s simulation had put them at about a quarter of the distance between their home and the moon, and that was damn close.

‘Hannibal? Give me the time in RMT, please’ Sparky requested.

‘It is currently 2333 Rennich Mean Time’, Hannibal said.

‘Could you please run another simulation? Assuming that the Leninov departed at exactly 1200 RMT tomorrow, show me exactly where the planet’s rotation will be at the end of our trip, please?’ Sparky asked.

‘Why do you want to know that?’ Shortfuse asked.

‘Simple, we’re going to run out of fuel before we get back home, which means that we’re going to have to abandon the Leninov once we get there... and we don’t want to land in the Præsidium because of that, I have a feeling that the NKVD wouldn’t like it in the slightest. The Leninov’s cockpit is designed to separate and make a hard landing’, Sparky said. She watched as Hannibal’s simulation plotted the course from the Leninov to the planet below. They were going to get lucky and not be landing in the Præsidium after all. They were, however, going to be landing in the middle of Greater Ponyville... with all its tall buildings that they could be hitting on their way to the ground.

‘On the plus side... we’ve only got about a ten per cent chance of getting killed by hitting a building!’ Sparky said with a nervous smile.

‘Actually, I calculate the possibility to be exactly twelve point eight seven five three repeating...’ Hannibal began before Sparky interrupted.

‘You’re not helping Hannibal’, Sparky said with a frown.

...

Kelso had never been to Viola Auditore’s flat before, and she was surprised to discover that it wasn’t anything how she pictured it was going to be. It was a small two room flat; the main room was half a kitchen, half a lounge, and at the far end of the room was a closed door which went into the bedroom.

The flat was sparsely decorated; the lounge area held a single sofa, Across from it, mounted on the wall was a small holographic television screen. On the other side of the sofa was a small table with a vase filled with daisies sitting on it. The walls were painted a simple white, with the carpet a matching grey. Overall, the flat was very spartan, which was not something that Kelso had expected, considering the fact that Viola had taken kickbacks for who knows how long?

‘How long have you lived here?’ Kelso asked.

‘Oh... five years? I think? Something like that, I don’t really have a lot, I’m never here, so there isn’t much of a point’, Viola said with a shrug, she must have figured what Kelso had meant with the question. Viola sat down on the sofa and gestured for Kelso to take a seat next to her. ‘You’re going to like this, I promise’, she added.

‘I wouldn’t be too sure’, Kelso said, rolling her eyes.

‘Just trust me’, Viola said as she slid a small holographic terminal that was on the table directly in front of them. Pulling up the display, she pushed a few buttons and sat back. She was making a call.

Kelso watched as a holographic image of a dark furred schäferhund appeared before her.

‘What?’ the wolf like creature said sleepily. ‘I was trying to sleep’.

‘Oh don’t complain’, Viola said simply. ‘Ana Kelso? Meet Otto Büchsenmacher, he’s an information retrieval specialist who freelances for the PPS’.

‘And by information retrieval specialist, you mean “computer hacker”, and by freelances, you mean, “he does what you tell him to do, and you don’t turn him in to the Police Internationale”, am I close?’ Kelso asked, rolling her eyes.

‘Welaran MI8, actually, they’re looking into him as a possible perpetrator of cyber terrorism’, Viola said with a smirk.

‘I don’t know how many times I need to say this. Hacking the website of the Welaran Home Office and replacing the image of King William with an edited one of him in a dress is not cyber terrorism. What it is, is funny, the welarans have no sense of humour’, Otto said with a sigh. ‘What is it this time, Detective Chief Inspector?’

‘Tell me something Otto, have you ever wanted to hack FutureTec?’ Viola asked him.

Otto cocked his head to the left in surprise. ‘FutureTec? You have my interest’, Otto said.

‘Good! Because you don’t really have a choice otherwise’, Viola said with a grin. ‘Unless you’d like MI8 on your doorstep; book a flight to Equestria, fastest flight, PPS will reimburse you’.

‘How generous of you, I will be there tomorrow evening’, Otto said as he closed out the call.

Kelso looked to Viola with disdain; this isn’t exactly what she had been expecting. ‘A schäferhund hacker? That’s your plan?’

‘Nope! The best hacker in the entire world, and that’s only the beginning’, Viola said with a smile. ‘Have a little faith, Kelso’.

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Dizzy took a deep breath as she leapt from the Leninov's airlock. She was floating freely in space, and while her helmet did restrict her head movement. There was so much that she could see! Dizzy had always known that space was big, but it was like telling someone taller than her, (which was everyone), what big was. It was something that could never really understood until you could see it for yourself.

And here she thought that Tartarus had been impressive while looking through the cameras mounted on the Leninov. It was nothing until she could see it with her own eyes. It was so majestic, and awe inspiring, and she was one of the first to have seen it up close.

She could stare at Tartarus for hours if she could, but sadly, she could not. She had a job to do, and she was rapidly floating towards the Discovery One, if she didn't start paying attention, she was going to run into the ship. She was wearing a rocket pack on her back, she fired the thrusters and slowed her movement forward, using them to come to near as complete a stop that she could. They were about ready to transfer the Discovery One's excess fuel over to the Leninov, using the rocket pack, she rotated around back towards the Leninov, to discover that fuel docking hoses were on their way over behind her. The process was supposed to be automatic, but they wanted to make sure that everything went according to plan. Sparky had given them a time table for when they needed to depart, twelve hundred RMT, a little under eleven hours from now, and Præsidium technology had a habit for failing just when they needed it the most, and they could not afford it. Not this time.

The plan was, after leaving orbit, Hannibal would remote fire the Discovery One's engines, burning up whatever fuel it had left for an initial burn. Once it had momentum, gravity would take care of the rest and it would fall back towards home. Sparky projected that it would arrive in about eighteen months. Dizzy frowned, she thought about Hannibal and how he was going to be alone during that time. Dizzy couldn't imagine what it would be like to be alone for so long. After becoming part of the crew of the Leninov, Dizzy could hardly imagine what it was like to be by herself any more at all. She didn't want to be by herself. Even now, out here in the cold vacuum of space, she didn't really like being the only one out here. She'd like nothing more for Sparky to be out here alongside her, but right now, that just wasn't possible. Sparky, Amarilla, and Juan Carlos were taking stock of the Discovery One's supplies for transfer over to the Leninov. Everything that would be useful on the trip back they were taking over to their ship. DC Hopely, Marusova, and Korolev would still be staying out of hibernation. The last thing they needed was to run out of food on the way back. Dizzy didn't know how much food the Leninov had, but she didn't think the food dispensers had been designed for more than a couple people on board at a time. There had been enough hibernation pods for all of them, with the exception of DC Hopely, Korolev, and Marusova. That left an intended crew of six, which was problematic, the Leninov's food dispensers were located in the rotating section, which was already in orbit at the time the Leninov launched, and as far as Dizzy knew, the NKVD had not packed extra food for them before they left.

Dizzy couldn't help but shudder. The idea of DC Hopely starving to death was not very comforting. She knew that DC Hopely would prefer to starve rather than try to save herself by swapping with someone in a hibernation pod, despite the fact that the pods filled their occupants with nutrient fluid. DC Hopely had a noble streak, Dizzy was afraid that DC Hopely actively put herself in harms away to minimise risk for others, and she was afraid that it would eventually get her killed, the compulsion to take all the risks was a strong and a dangerous one. Dizzy had said many prayers for DC Hopely's safety since she had joined her and Sparky on this wild ride that had become their lives.

Dizzy smirked, she could only imagine how bored she was going to be when this was all over. That boredom was going to make her a troublemaker back home. She would have to start doing pre-emptive penance.

The fuel transfer hoses began to extend into the Discovery One, Dizzy used her rocket pack to manoeuvre over to them. She guided the hoses into the Discovery One's fuelling ports, watching as they silently latched in.

That was something else that was hard to get used to about the vacuum of space, it was so incredibly quiet. The only thing that she could hear was her own breathing. The silence was maddening. So incredibly lonely, and it made Dizzy shudder. 'Sparky, hold me', she whispered to herself.

'What was that Dizzy? Everything all right out there?' DC Hopely's voice barked over the radio, causing Dizzy to jump a little in surprise.

'Yeah! Yeah, everything's fine, fuel hoses are latched in, you can go ahead and start the transfer', Dizzy said. Nice save, Dizzy Doo, she thought to herself.

'Affirmative, starting transfer, sit tight and we'll have you back inside in no time at all', DC Hopely said.

'Roger that', Dizzy said nodding her head instinctively, completely oblivious to the fact that DC Hopely couldn't see her nodding from her place aboard the Leninov. Dizzy felt herself jolt, as her safety line tugged at her, drawing her back towards the Leninov's airlock. Dizzy Doo had discovered much during her time outside. Space was beautiful and at the same time it was terrifying. It was full of things, like planets and stars, and at the same time it was so empty and lonely. She liked being out here in space, as part of the crew of the Leninov, but she didn't think she'd want to live out here.

Well, no, that wasn't true, it didn't matter where she was, as long as she had Sparky, DC Hopely, and the rest of her friends with her, everything would be alright. Dizzy returned to the Leninov's airlock, and as the door began to close, something caught Dizzy's eye. There was a momentary bright flash of light on the horizon of Tartarus for a moment, before disappearing completely. The airlock closed seconds later, leaving Dizzy unsure of what she had just seen.

…

Kelso had learned many things that she had never known about Viola Auditore. There was a shelf at in her bedroom that was filled with antique vinyl records, and incredibly obsolete compact magnetic tapes. Kelso pulled out one of the records and took a look at the cover, she was surprised to discover what it said. 'Concerto No.8, D minor', classical music, Kelso had not realised that Viola had such refined tastes. She looked over the cover and discovered something near the bottom. 'Composer: Octavia Auditore'.

'Octavia Auditore?' Kelso asked softly to herself.

'My grandmother', Viola said from behind her.

Kelso jumped in surprise, accidentally dropping the vinyl record and turned around instinctively to discover that Viola was leaning up against the door, smirking at her. 'Viola... I... uh...'

'Snooping? Kelso?' Viola said with a grin. 'I know what you're thinking, a brute of a mare like me? How can I possibly have refined tastes? Well, I got those from my grandmother. Octavia Auditore, master cellist, and composer, she played in the Manehattan symphony orchestra, and had the distinction of being the only earth pony to play a stringed instrument with them'.

'In her day?' Kelso asked.

'Ever', Viola said with a prideful grin. 'Strings are mostly regulated to unicorns, because their telekinesis offers them greater control, and refinement, but not my grandmother, she could outplay any unicorn, and they all knew it too. Unfortunately, I didn't inherent her talent, that ability seems to come and go without any explanation', Viola added with a shrug.

'She sounds like an interesting person', Kelso said.

'She was, she died when I was ten', Viola said with a frown. 'It was the end of an era, the world lost something great that day. She inspired me to become what I am today, I couldn't follow her into music, so I followed her the only way I could'.

'What? Was she a detective? I thought you said she was a musician?' Kelso asked.

Viola nodded as she trotted over and took a seat on her bed. 'My grandmother was an amazing person, Kelso, she had two careers, by day, she was a Detective Inspector for the Greater Manehattan Police, by night, and she was the master cellist. I followed her hoof steps into the former'.

'That's really interesting Viola', Kelso said as she picked the record back up off the floor and returned it to its place on the shelf.

'Not as interesting as the fact that you just called me Viola', she said with a grin.

Kelso froze, she realised that Viola was right. More than that, she was thinking of her as Viola instead of as DCI Auditore. Kelso wasn't sure when that had happened. Viola smiled at her and patted the spot on the bed next to her, gesturing for Kelso to take a seat. Kelso obliged her and sat down, it was odd; looking at her former boss didn't bring up feelings of bitterness anymore. Spending time with her in an informal setting had made Kelso realise that Viola Auditore wasn't quite the evil bent copper that she had thought. This experience... it had equineised her, she was a normal pony, and she had her flaws, her defects. Just like Kelso had hers. Viola Auditore had made some bad decisions in her life, and Kelso had been quick to damn her for it. Viola had wanted to change, and she had. Kelso realised that now. She saw past the hate, and discovered that Viola was a normal person.

Viola smiled warmly at her. 'What are you thinking about, Ana Kelso?' she asked.

'I'm thinking... I'm thinking that maybe you're not so bad after all', Kelso said. 'You've told me that you've changed... and I think... I think I believe you now'.

Viola's smile grew and she reached out and placed her hoof on Kelso's shoulder. 'I'm glad to hear it', she said softly.

Kelso felt her face begin to turn red. Viola winked at her, and leaned in close and planted a gentle kiss on Kelso's lips. Kelso closed her eyes, and she now knew it to be true. Viola Auditore wasn't so bad after all.

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Kelso slowly opened her eyes and took a look around. Her heart began to race as she initially didn't realise where she was. Then she remembered, she was in Viola's flat, and she was lying in Viola's bed. She glanced down at the floor to discover her black fedora and matching overcoat lying haphazardly on the floor. She sat up and took a look around the room, slowly discovering that she wasn't here alone. Viola was laying next to her, under the covers, propped up against her fore knee, and resting her head on her hoof.

'Hey there!' Viola said with a smile, and planted a small kiss on Kelso's shoulder. It took Kelso a few moments to process what had happened between the two of them, and then she began to turn bright red from embarrassment. 'What's wrong? One night stands not your thing?' Viola asked.

'Um... well, no, I wouldn't say they're normal for me...' Kelso said as she set her head back down on the pillow.

'Well, to be fair, they're not really for me either', Viola said with a smirk. 'I've had a few, but with my job, I don't really have much opportunity to get close to people', she said as she laid back down and got comfortable, stretching out her forelegs and gently rubbing Kelso's shoulder. 'Do you regret it?' she asked.

'I...' Kelso began. 'I... I don't know if it was a good idea...'

'Oh probably not, but that's not the point!' Viola said with a grin. She eventually pulled the covers out and hopped out of bed. 'I need to check on a few things', she said as she pulled her coat over her. 'You can go ahead and use my shower if you like, and there's food in the kitchen if you’re hungry. I'll be back in about an hour or so', Viola said. She winked at her and trotted out of the bedroom, Kelso heard the front door open and then shut again, now she was by herself, and she was able to think about what had just happened. She looked at the clock that was sitting on the bedside table. 0136, five hours since she and Viola...

Oh come on Kelso, she thought to herself. She was being ridiculous; she had just had sex with Viola Auditore. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with that. It certainly hadn't been Kelso's first time, nor would it be the last, though it did have the distinction of being her first time with another mare.

Not that Kelso was against that either. Gender didn't matter, Kelso supposed what did matter was the fact that Viola had used to be her boss, and maybe that was odd. Though, Viola had stopped being her boss three months ago. Kelso pulled the covers off of her and climbed out of bed. She trotted into the bathroom and discovered that Viola had a laundry machine. That had to have been nice, Kelso's own flat didn't have one, and her building didn't have laundry facilities either. It must be nice, not having to make a weekly trip down to a Laundromat, using machines that thirty other people had used before her. Kelso trotted back into the bedroom and pulled the sheets off the bed, figuring that she might as well. Viola would probably appreciate it. She balled the sheets up and dragged them into the bathroom and loaded them into the laundry machine, adding the soap and starting it up.

She glanced over to the shower, she had to admit, and one would be nice right about now. She trotted over and fiddled with the knobs until water began to stream out from the nozzle. Kelso stuck out a hoof and waited a moment for the water to warm up before stepping in.

The warm water running over her was very relaxing. Kelso had not realised how stressed she had been. What with what had happened at FutureTec, and Mister Happy, and that she might not have been able to complete her case. The water was relaxing, and she breathed deeply, letting the warm air fill her lungs, and then letting it out.

Determined not to use up all of the building's hot water, Kelso kept her shower brief, despite how nice it felt. She shut off the water and stepped out, grabbing a towel to dry herself off. She stepped over to the mirror and looked at her reflection. On the opposite wall, hanging from a hook, was one of the half circle large mane combs that were popular with earth ponies and pegasi. Kelso grabbed hold of it with her teeth and tilted her head to brush it through her mane, and then her tail. Eventually satisfied, she returned the comb to its place on the wall. She exited the bathroom and felt the chill of cold air against her damp coat, causing her to shudder. She picked her overcoat up off the floor, putting it back on and headed out into the lounge and/or kitchen. Viola had left an apple on the table, Kelso’s eyes fell upon it, it was a ripe Granny Smith, and it looked delicious. Kelso took a bite out of it, and oh it certainly was! Ponyville had always been known for their apples.

Kelso heard the front door open, and she looked up in surprise. ‘I thought you said you were going to be gone for about an hour?’ she called out.

There was no answer.

‘Viola?’ Kelso asked, as she trotted over to look at the door. ‘Viola? This isn’t funny, where...’

Kelso stopped dead in her tracks, the apple that she was eating fell to the floor. Standing in the open doorway was a pegasus mare, grey coat and a forest green mane. She was clad in an orange space suit and her eyes... her eyes had no life in them as they stared at her. Kelso realised that she had seen this pony before. This was the mare that Viola had nearly run over three months prior.

The mare opened her mouth and let out a high pitched, blood curdling scream that brought Kelso to her knees; she threw her hooves over her ears trying to block it out. Her vision began to blur as she struggled to keep focused on the mare.

The space suit wearing pegasus stepped forward, dragging her hooves as she walked towards her. Kelso struggled to get back up, but the mare let out another scream that knocked her back down. Kelso fell backwards, trying her hardest to keep her ears covered.

The mare stood over her and raised a hoof up to strike at her, but suddenly, she looked away, as if something was calling to her. The space suit wearing pegasus looked back at Kelso and let out another scream, before disappearing in a flash of light.

Kelso struggled to keep consciousness, she didn’t know what had happened, or why she was having such a hard time keeping her eyes open, but whatever it was... it was an uphill battle, and she was losing.

As Kelso’s head fell back upon the floor, her eyes could stay open no longer, she was out before she hit the ground.

...

‘Kelso?’

Kelso’s eyes opened, and she discovered Viola standing over her looking incredibly worried. ‘Viola?’ Kelso asked as she tried to sit up. Her head was throbbing and she let out a cry in pain as it felt as if someone had just jabbed a needle into her brain.

‘Come on now, easy does it!’ Viola said simply as she helped Kelso get to her hooves. She walked her over to the sofa and the sat her down on it. ‘Wait right there’, Viola added as she trotted back into the kitchen, and returned a few seconds later with ice. She gently pressed the ice pack against Kelso’s head, allowing her fellow mare to take it in her own hooves.

‘Thanks’, Kelso said with a small smile, followed by a grunt of pain. It hurt to smile.

‘Are you all right? What happened?’ Viola asked.

‘I... I don’t know... I don’t remember’, Kelso said, struggling to think about the events. ‘I was in the kitchen... I heard the door open, I walked over to it... and then nothing’. Kelso added with a frown. ‘There aren’t any of Kirsk Zazz’s thugs still running around are there?’

Viola shook her head. ‘All of them are either dead or in prison at this point’, she said with a shrug. ‘And it doesn’t look like whoever it was broke in, the door was unlocked when I got back’.

‘FutureTec? You think maybe they know about what we’re doing?’ Kelso asked.

‘Possible, I wouldn’t be surprised if they spied on us, all four and a half million of us!’ Viola said with a frown. ‘Regardless of who did it, you were attacked, there can be no quarter given when someone hurts one of my detectives!’ she said, smacking her foreleg against her hoof in anger.

‘Viola... I’m not one of your detectives...’ Kelso said with a frown.

‘Maybe not right now...’ Viola said as she began to dig through one of the pockets of her coat, she pulled out a small booklet at opened it up before her. ‘But if we’re going to take down FutureTec, you’re going to need some real authority’, Viola said, and passed it over to Kelso.

Kelso opened it up and discovered that it was her old PPS identification badge; she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She looked up at Viola in shock.

‘Your job in the Serious and Organised Crime Group is yours again... if you want it’, Viola said. ‘Kelso, you were a damn fine detective and an honest copper as there ever could be. You showed me the light, and with you back, we can make the SOCG honest again, what do you say?’

Kelso looked down at the badge, and then back up at Viola and offered her a smile. ‘After today? I’d be stupid to say no, I accept... Guv’, Kelso said with a wink.

Viola offered her a smile in return. ‘Welcome back to the Ponyville Police Service... Detective Sergeant Kelso’.

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Sparky stood at one of the control consoles in the Discovery One’s crew deck, monitoring the fuel transfer to the Leninov. Unlike the Præsidium ship on which they came, the Discovery One’s computer functions were highly centralised, and networked between terminals. While the ship was ordinarily piloted from the bridge, the navigation controls could be transferred down here if necessary, and piloting operations could continue even if something were to happen on the bridge. Sparky had to admit, it was convenient for the task ahead.

Unlike the Discovery One, the Leninov’s computer functions were not networked, requiring Dizzy, DC Hopely, and Shortfuse to monitor the supply transfer from three separate terminals in the Leninov‘s rotating section. While on the Discovery One side, Sparky was able to do everything by herself from this terminal.

Sparky was alone down here. Grandma V, Amarilla, and Juan Carlos were in the process of taking physical supplies, foodstuffs and such, back over to the Leninov. It was a slow moving task, considering that Juan Carlos was really the only one of them who was able to do any heavy lifting. Grandma V’s telekinetic abilities had been waning with age, which left her unable to carry more than a few kilograms at a time. Of course, weight only mattered on the Discovery One’s crew deck, as every other part of the ship was in zero gravity, and by this point, Juan Carlos had already taken everything of value stored on the crew deck over to the Leninov.

Sparky might as well have been the only person aboard the Discovery One now. Last she had heard, Juan Carlos, Amarilla, and Grandma V had headed up to the ship’s auxiliary cargo hold to root for any useful extra supplies to take over to the Leninov. With the cargo hold being at the front of the ship, the trio had no need to come back to the crew deck. Sparky was all alone down here.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true, Hannibal was technically here, but the VI was also technically in every single part of the ship at the same time, and even so, he wasn’t much for conversation. Ironically enough, Hannibal had probably spoken the most out of any of them in the last three hours, and now he was practically silent. Perhaps, Sparky mused to herself, the VI had said everything that he had needed to say. Perhaps there were no more words that he could add to aid them. It would make sense if that were indeed the case. Hannibal was still not quite at the AI stage, he was showing signs of self awareness, sure, but he was not a person. Not yet anyway.

Sparky was mostly waiting for the Helium-3 in the reserve tanks to finish transferring to the Leninov, before heading back over. Everything else she was doing was mostly automatic. Unlike the Leninov, one didn’t have to keep a close eye on the controls to make sure that they didn’t spontaneously break while you weren’t paying attention. Now she was simply scrolling through the computer looking for anything of interest. There were a few things, mostly personal logs for the crew members, almost all of them boring. Though, they had all been confined to a spinning ring that was about twelve metres in diameter, what could they possibly have to do?

Sparky did, however, discover that Leonid Bykovsky had been writing a novel. Hannibal had translated it for her, and she had been skimming over it. It was about a Præsidium Red Army Officer and an Equestrian socialite, the two of whom had fallen in love while the officer was on leave in La Seine, Cheval Fifth Republic, but their relationship would tragically be cut short after the NKVD murdered the socialite and framed the officer for the crime, the officer was forced to go on the run as a ruthless Police Internationale inspector hunted him down, requiring him to stay one step ahead of him while at the same time, trying to prove his innocence. Sparky found that she was getting sucked into the novel, but frowned when she discovered that it was only half completed. Unfortunately, Leonid Bykovsky would never have the chance to finish it.

Damn FutureTec! They threw the lives of the six crew members of the Discovery One away, and for what? The arrogant belief that they could bend these tetrahedron objects to their will? Leonid Bykovsky had died for nothing. He died cold and alone, having asphyxiated as Hannibal vented all of the ship’s oxygen out into space. He had been the one to strap himself down, and the only crew member to not have their body sucked out into space. He would be the only one they could return for burial.

Well, at least that was something, right?

’Sparky? It’s Dizzy, do you read me?’

Sparky smiled. Dizzy’s voice was exactly what she needed to hear right now. ‘I read you Dizzy, how was the space walk?’ Sparky asked.

‘Oh, great, got a lot of good thinking in! That’s what I want to talk to you about, while I was outside, I could have sworn I saw something on Tartarus’ horizon, could you ask Hannibal to check his sensors for me? I’d check the Leninov’s but the sensor console is displaying a weird message. Hopely said that it says “out of order”, Korolev is trying to fix it now... and by fix it, I mean he’s beating on it with a spanner until it starts working’.

Sparky sighed and couldn’t help but face hoof. Must their pilots conform to EVERY Cossack stereotype? ‘Yeah, sure... uh, give me a minute, and I’ll let you know what Hannibal sees’, Sparky said.

‘Thanks Spark, it’s probably nothing... but with us so close to heading back home... the last thing we need is something to go wrong’.

‘Aw come on Dizzy! You’re my best friend, what am I going to do? Say no?’ Sparky asked with a chuckle.

‘Glad to know you care, Sparky’, Dizzy said with a chuckle over the radio. Just... uh... you know, finish up over there soon? It feels weird not having you around.

‘I’ll be back over before you know! Sparky out’, Sparky said as she closed the communication channel. ‘Hannibal? Could you...?’

‘Already processing request, I will have preliminary data available for you in just a few moments’, Hannibal said, as his holographic avatar appeared from nowhere and began trotting towards her.

Sparky nodded, giving the VI a smile. She opened her mouth to thank him, when the quiet air was shattered by a distant ear piercing scream, the likes of which Sparky had never heard before. ‘Hannibal?’ Sparky asked. ‘What was that?’

‘No data available...’ Hannibal said. ‘Sparkplug... internal sensors have just detected a fluctuating mass in the forward hanger’.

‘Show me CCTV feed’, Sparky said.

Hannibal acknowledged the request and brought the internal feed up on the screen in front of her. Sparky jumped in fright as a grey coated pegasus mare with a forest green mane, clad in an orange space suit hovered mere centimetres from the CCTV camera in the hanger deck. The mare let out a blood curdling scream, and the screen came to static.

‘Hannibal...? Do you know who that was?’ Sparky asked nervously.

‘Affirmative’, Hannibal said. ‘That is Mission Commander Ice Wind’.

Sparky looked at the VI, her eyes widening in fear. ‘Aw shit’.

...

Kelso rolled over in bed; the clock had just ticked over to 0316, and she was struggling to get comfortable. It didn’t help that she wasn’t sleeping in her bed, and that Viola Auditore was lying in bed besides her, snoring louder than should be possible for any living being.

Kelso’s mind was racing, so much had happened today, and almost all of it revolved around Viola. Were they together now? Or was this something casual? Kelso honestly didn’t know. Viola had asked her to stay the night, and Kelso was too tired to try and head home. How ironic it was. Kelso was exhausted, but sleep would not come to her. Her mind had too many questions.

Kelso rolled over and looked to the sleeping mare beside her. She had never been very good at expressing her feelings, and everything that had happened today with Viola certainly didn’t help. Honestly, she felt a little guilty. She had treated Viola very poorly over the last few months. Hell, poorly, now that was an understatement if there ever was one. Kelso had almost murdered her that day in the hospital.

Viola started to stir, as if she was in the middle of an intense dream. ‘No... no... Kelso! Please... stop...’ she muttered quietly to herself. Kelso held her breath. Viola was dreaming about that day in the hospital. Suddenly, Viola’s eyes snapped open and she lurched up in bed. ‘Kelso! No!’ she cried out, breathing heavily as she recovered from the fright of her nightmare. Viola turned around and discovered the earth pony mare next to her, seemingly wide awake from the outburst.

‘Hey’, Viola said with a small smile. ‘I’m sorry, did I wake you?’ she asked.

‘No... no, I was already awake’, Kelso said with a frown. ‘You... were dreaming about that day in the hospital?’ Kelso asked, already knowing the answer.

Viola nodded in affirmation, and looked at Kelso sadly. ‘Not a day goes by that I don’t have that nightmare’, she said.

‘I’m so sorry...’ Kelso whispered to her.

Viola merely smiled at her as she lay back down in the bed. ‘It’s okay, I forgive you’, she said, leaning forward and planting a small kiss on Kelso’s cheek before rolling over and going back to sleep.

Kelso wasn’t sure how, but this act alone seemed to put her mind at ease. All her questions seemed to have an answer to them now. ‘Goodnight’, Kelso said as smiled at Viola warmly. Kelso knew that tomorrow was going to be a big day. She rolled over and closed her eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep. Knowing full well she would need all her energy for when tomorrow came.

If only she could have known about how right she was.

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Sparky scrambled down spin over to where Juan Carlos had left her space suit. Frantically jumping into it and suiting up. She checked her seals three times before donning the helmet and pressurising the suit. She was breathing her own air now. 'Amarilla!?' Sparky cried out over the helmet radio.

'Sí, Sparky?' Amarilla asked in reply as her voice crackling over the radio.

'Where are you right now?' Sparky asked.

'We have just reached the Leninov, Juan Carlos has just put the supplies into storage. Why?'

'Stay there! Don't come back over!' Sparky cried out as she dashed back up spin towards the console that she'd been working with. The fuel transfer had completed. Sparky let out a sigh of relief, and ejected the fuel transfer lines from the Discovery One, and locked down the ship's airlock.

'Sparky? It's Hopely, what are you doing over there?'

'Sparkplug? I have that sensor information you have asked for', Hannibal said calmly. 'I have detected the tetrahedron outside our hull. It has returned'.

Sparky's eyes widened in fear, she didn't know what it was here for, or why, but she did know that it wasn't good. 'Hopely, I'm locking down the Discovery One, undock from us and move away'.

'What? Why? What's going on?'

'The tetrahedron is right outside! And worse, Mission Commander Ice Wind is on board, you get us away, and I'll keep her busy!' Sparky said as she started to tap on the holographic keyboard.

'Sparky!?' Dizzy's voice barked over the radio. 'What about you? We can't just leave you over there!'

'I'll be fine! I've got a plan', Sparky said. 'Just go! Now!' Sparky cried out. Seconds later, Sparky felt the ship shudder as the Leninov undocked from the Discovery One, and begun to move away. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked on the monitor, Ice Wind was still aboard the Discovery One, and she was headed right for the crew deck. Right towards her.

Good, she wanted the Mission Commander coming for her and not the Leninov. 'Hannibal? Vent atmosphere, now!' Sparky ordered.

'Affirmative', Hannibal said.

Sparky tried to cover her ears as the loud roar of oxygen leaving the ship ripped through the air. She began to slide on the floor, and gave a panicky leap for whatever she could hold on to in order to keep herself from being sucked away.

A few seconds later, the air became still, though, that wasn't entirely accurate. The air wasn't there at all. Sparky pulled up the internal sensors, and to her horror, Mission Commander Ice Wind's mass was still moving towards her without having even shown any signs of being slowed. 'Crap...' Sparky said as she started to panic. Ice Wind had not been wearing a helmet when she had seen her on camera. She had hoped the lack of oxygen would have been enough to stop her.

'Do you have a plan of action, Sparkplug?' Hannibal asked.

'I'm working on it', Sparky said.

…

Kelso straightened her fedora, and adjusted the buttons on her overcoat. She wasn't just Ana Kelso, the private investigator. Not any more, now she was Detective Sergeant Kelso, Ponyville Police Service, Serious and Organised Crime Group. She had never thought that she would be returning to the PPS.

Viola looked over to her and smiled. ‘Relax Kelso, It’s just the SOCG, still the same people that were here when you left... for the most part’.

‘That’s what I’m worried about’, Kelso said with a frown. ‘Corrupt coppers to the left, corrupt coppers to the right’.

‘Nah, we’ve cleaned up our act’, Viola said with a smile. ‘For a while, I told them that the Independent Police Complaints Commission was investigating our group and that they needed to act straight. Eventually I dropped the lie, and told them things were changing. They could change with me, or they could walk, most of them changed with me. Every now and again I catch one or two taking bribes; I report them on the spot, SOCG is different now, there are one or two bad eggs still floating around, but we’ve cleaned ourselves up’, Viola placed a hoof on Kelso’s shoulder and gave it a gentle pat. ‘And we all have you to thank, Detective Sergeant Kelso’.

‘Thanks... Guv’, Kelso said with a smirk as the two of them pulled into the parking lot of the PPS Headquarters at the intersection of Twilight Sparkle Street and Parliamentary Drive. Kelso opened the passenger door and stepped outside to discover a horde of detectives clad in overcoats and fedoras, who immediately began stomping their hooves in applause at Kelso’s return.

Kelso turned bright red from embarrassment. She certainly hadn’t been expecting the reception she’d been given.

‘Welcome back Kelso!’ several of them cheered from the crowd.

‘All right! All right! Relax you lot! You’re going to scare her away!’ Viola called out with a chuckle. ‘We’re all glad to have DS Kelso back with us; it’s been far too long’.

‘Speech!’ one of the members of the horde cried out.

Kelso smiled towards the crowd. ‘Well, if I was that important of a team member here, then you all must really suck at your jobs’, Kelso said with a smirk, garnering a round of chuckles from the crowd. ‘I really missed this job, all I can say is that it’s really great to be back’.

The crowd gave Kelso another stomp of applause before Viola raised a hoof to shush them. ‘All right you lot, settle down! Come on, we’ve got a job to do now! I want all of you in the briefing room in ten minutes!’ Viola said.

Kelso looked at Viola suspiciously. ‘What are you playing at?’ she asked.

‘Oh you’ll see’, Viola said with a coy smile. ‘I told you Kelso, I have a plan!’

...

‘I could use some suggestions here Hannibal!’ Sparky cried out as she floated down the hallway away from the crew deck. ‘You know this ship better than anyone’.

‘I may be able to offer some insight’, Hannibal said. ‘Make your way to the aft emergency airlock’.

‘Okay... and, what? We lure Ice Wind there and we vent her into space?’ Sparky asked.

‘No... we vent you into space’, Hannibal said. ‘The Cosmonaut Anatoliy Leninov will then take you aboard, and I will overload the Discovery One’s fusion reactor, and destroy Mission Commander Ice Wind and the tetrahedron’, the VI added calmly.

Sparky glanced over her shoulder in shock, despite the fact that the VI was not physically there for her to look at. The idea was suicide. ‘Are you insane!?’ Sparky cried out.

‘You know... I am not entirely sure how we could test that’, the VI said with a hint of humour in his voice. ‘I am a Virtual Intelligence, Sparkplug. I am a machine, if I must sacrifice myself so that my pony creators can live another day, then so be it. Mission Commander Ice Wind and the tetrahedron are a threat to the Equestrian Republic and the Præsidium both, a threat that must be ended here... Sparkplug, be advised, Mission Commander Ice Wind’s mass has disappeared off my internal sensors’.

Sparky turned her head back around, there was a flash of light and Ice Wind appeared directly in front of her. Sparky jumped in surprise, losing her balance and being sent head over heels. She reached out and brushed up against the walls to stabilise herself and looked forward towards Ice Wind. The Mission Commander looked back at her, there was no life in her eyes. She opened her mouth to scream, but of course, with no atmosphere, no sound came out. Ice Wind looked down in confusion, as if she was completely unaware that there was no air for her to breath. Sparky looked up to her and pointed mockingly at her.

Ice Wind clearly understood the gesture. A look of anger formed on her face, and she reached up and drove her hoof through the metal plating of the Discovery One’s wall.

'Crap', Sparky said biting her lip. She turned herself around and kicked as hard as she could to push herself away. She turned around to look at Ice Wind, to her horror, despite the fact that there was no gravity aboard this section of the Discovery One, Ice Wind's hooves were planted firmly on the ground and she was slowly stumbling after her.

Ice Wind did not need her hypersonic scream to hurt her. She was going to kill her with her bare hooves.

Sparky jumped as she felt a hoof press against her shoulder, shoving her to the floor. ‘Get down!’ Dizzy’s voice barked over the helmet radio. Sparky looked up to see Dizzy standing over her levitating a Præsidium automatic carbine at Ice Wind. The mindless mission commander seemed completely disinterested in Dizzy all together, and continued her slow shuffle towards them.

‘I’d shout at you to stop... but you can’t hear me anyway’, Dizzy said over the radio as she braced herself against the wall and pulled the trigger. Silent gunfire erupted from the automatic carbine, filling the zombie like pony full of holes.

Ice Wind staggered back and fell to the floor, allowing Dizzy to let up the trigger and swap in a new magazine. ‘Ha! Take that bitch!’ Dizzy cried out triumphantly as she helped Sparky back up to her hooves. ‘You okay?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, Yeah I’m fine’, Sparky said, nodding her head. ‘I thought I told you all to stay aboard the Leninov!?’

‘You did, I didn’t listen’, Dizzy said with a chuckle.

They looked back over to Ice Wind, and to their horror, discovered that the pegasus mare had pulled herself back up to her hooves, completely ignoring the bullet wounds and letting out another silent scream. Either she was not aware, or simply did not care that there was no air to carry the sound.

‘Well so much for that plan’, Dizzy said with a frown.

‘Plan B?’ Sparky asked.

‘Plan B’, Dizzy said, nodding her head in affirmation. ‘Run!’

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Kelso took a seat in the briefing room closest to the window. She looked out at the Ponyville sky line towards the mountain plateau that Canton was situated on. She had missed this view during her time as a private investigator. The fifth floor of the PPS headquarters had one of the best views in all of the Equestrian Republic. With maybe the exception of any of the buildings in Canton in general, after all, Canton was five hundred metres above sea level, while Ponyville was only three hundred.

Her eyes however, were not able to stay focused on Canton; instead, they gravitated downwards towards the FutureTec Whitetail Industrial Complex. Thoughts of Mister Happy shooting up the place with that combat drone entered back into her mind. Even if he had used rubber bullets and tear gas, the images were not pleasant.

Kelso turned back around, the other detectives had gathered in the room, and Viola had taken to a podium in front of them.

'You know what this is about?' the person to Kelso's left, a pegasus Detective Constable named Armand asked to the person on his left, a unicorn Detective Constable named Brightglow.

'Not a clue', DC Brightglow said shaking her head.

'Hey, Kelso', DC Armand asked turning towards her. 'Do you know what this is about? Guv's been talking to you a lot'.

'Honestly?' Kelso said, 'DCI Auditore has been keeping me in the dark too', she added with a shrug. Both DC Armand and DC Brightglow looked at Kelso with suspicion. They didn’t believe a word of that.

'All right you lot!' Viola called out to them. 'Best pay attention now, because I'm only going to go over this once!'

The room fell silent as everyone turned to look at her.

'While she was away from the PPS, DS Kelso was investigating a case on her own, without support. Yesterday evening, DS Kelso brought this case to my attention. There is a supposed conspiracy involving the Equestrian Future Technologies Corporation, around the Discovery One incident. While Kelso has no evidence to show for it, I have reason to believe that the rumours were true. Last night, there was an attempt on the Detective Sergeants life. Someone wants to keep this buried, which means it is something we should be looking into. This case is our top priority, I want everyone working on it. We go over financials, press releases, everything pertaining to the Discovery One. We look for something that doesn't add up, and we use that as our point of entry. Detective Inspector Sapphire will give you your assignments. I want your findings on my desk at the end of the day! Dismissed!' Viola said as she stepped away from the podium.

Everyone murmured to themselves as they rose from their seats and headed over to DI Sapphire at the head of the room.

'Kelso! With me', Viola called out to her, waving her over.

Kelso nodded and trotted over. 'I can't help but feel like there's more to this than you're letting on', she said.

'Oh too right', Viola said giving her a wink. 'Follow me, and I'll show you'.

Kelso and Viola trotted out of the briefing room and took the lift back to the first floor. As they stepped out, they took notice of a commotion at the front door. Five uniformed constables struggled to haul a restrained schäferhund through the door. Viola couldn't help but smirk. 'You certainly know how to make an entrance, don't you Otto?' she asked.

The schäferhund looked up in surprise, until he discovered who was speaking to him, then he wasn't surprised at all. 'What can I say? Getting arrested was cheaper than hiring a taxi', he said with a huff.

'Let him go, I'll take him from here', Viola said to the uniformed sergeant leading the constables. 'I'll take full responsibility'.

'He insulted my mother!' the sergeant complained, clearly unwilling to go along with it.

'Your mother was a fat, loud, and obnoxious mule, now let the dog go!' Viola said firmly.

The sergeant frowned and grumbled to himself as he ordered his constables to let the schäferhund go. They backed off and trotted away, grumbling with annoyance.

Kelso took the moment to look over the schäferhund. Otto Büchsenmacher was the first schäferhund she had ever met. Viola had called him a dog, but that was pure understatement. Otto was a massive creature, standing far taller than she at almost two hundred centimetres, he couldn't weigh any less than a hundred and twenty kilograms. His eyes were beady and cold, stuck in the middle of thick grey fur. The schäferhund offered her a coy smile, exposing two rows of very sharp looking teeth. 'You're staring miss', Otto said plainly.

Kelso snapped out of her trance and looked at him apolitically.

'Relax Kelso, Otto here might look nasty and intimidating, but he's a complete wimp', Viola said with a chuckle. To demonstrate, she gave Otto a light kick in his flank, causing the schäferhund to yelp out in surprise. 'See? Told you, complete wimp', Viola said. Otto gave her a cold look, but said nothing further. 'So how did you get arrested?' Viola asked.

'Racist security agent threw a fit over my gun... despite the fact that I had all the necessary paperwork filled out to carry it on the flight', Otto said with a grumble.

This was something that Kelso did know about schäferhund. Their citizen-soldier mentality had caused them to view firearms as a status symbol. It was said that there was nothing more dangerous, and stupid, then trying to take a schäferhund's weapon away.

'I'll see what I can do to get it back for you', Viola said. 'The ammunition is probably lost to customs, though'.

Otto cocked his head to the side, looking at Viola oddly. 'Who are you and where is the Detective Chief Inspector?' he asked.

'I'm right here Otto', Viola said rolling her eyes. 'Or I could do nothing, and you can go back to Bundesrepublik Schäferhund without your pistol'.

Otto's eyes widened, clearly mortified at the idea. 'I... would appreciate anything you could do', he said.

'Good dog', Viola said with a smirk, she waved Kelso and Otto to follow her. She led the way down a hallway towards what looked to be a dead end, however appearances could be deceiving, as the actual end of the hallway was a doorway that was shut up tightly with a large steel door with a security scanner attached to it. Viola leaned forwards and held her eyes up to the scanner. It beeped, and the door slid open to reveal a large computer core in the centre of the room.

Otto's jaw dropped wide open.

'This, fillies and dog...' Viola said as she trotted up to the core. 'Is the Crusader! The most powerful computer known to the Equestrian Republic outside of the military, designed by AppleTec specifically for the PPS', Viola said as she pulled up the holographic keyboard and began to type at it. A few seconds later, a holographic representation of a mare in her twenties, her mane tied back with a bow, materialised before them. The Computer's VI smiled at them and gave a polite wave.

'Howdy everyone! Welcome to the PPS Crusader Super Computer! For your convenience and comfort. Ya'll can call me Apple Bloom', the VI said warmly.

Viola turned back to face towards Kelso and Otto, grinning brightly at them. 'In cyber warfare, the party with the superior hardware wins, and, fillies and dog, that would be us today'.

…

Sparky glanced over her shoulder, to her relief, Ice Wind was no longer following them. They could stop for a breather. She and Dizzy reached out and stopped themselves against the nearest bulkhead and took the moment to catch their breaths.

'Where's Ice Wind?' Dizzy asked with an exasperated huff.

'I don't know...' Sparky said taking a deep breath. 'I lost track of her'.

The ship shuddered slightly, and they heard a loud hissing sound fill the air. Sparky swallowed nervously. They could hear the air, which meant that there actually was air aboard the ship.

'Sparkplug, Mission Commander Ice Wind is re-pressurising the ship', Hannibal said over the helmet radio.

'What?! Can you stop her?' Sparky cried out.

'Unfortunately not, she has bypassed my control completely and is tapped directly into the computer systems'.

'How can she do that?' Dizzy asked. Sparky looked over to her and frowned, there was genuine fear in her eyes, Sparky tried to think back to the last time she saw Dizzy afraid of something. There was only one other event, that day in Olde Towne, when DCI Auditore was seconds away from killing them.

'Unknown, I have a theory that wherever the tetrahedron took the Mission Commander, her body was heavily modified to suit its purposes, which may or may not include cybernetics... be advised, Sparkplug, her hypersonic scream is powerful enough to shatter the reinforced glass of your helmets'.

'Do you have any good news for us? Hannibal?' Sparky asked sarcastically.

'Not at this time', Hannibal said emotionlessly as his voice faded from the radio.

Sparky frowned, the VI certainly did not sugar coat the situation. She grabbed a hold of Dizzy and pushed off against the bulkhead. They were so close to the airlock. A few twists and turns later, and they were just in sight of it. Sparky looked to Dizzy, and Dizzy looked back at her. The two of them knew they were so close, and still yet so far away from being free of this wretched place. They pushed off hard against the wall and glided towards the airlock.

'Hannibal! Start the clock for the reactor overload!' Sparky called out.

'Affirmative, time to detonation is T minus five minutes'.

They were three metres from the airlock when a bright flash of light appeared before them. Ice Wind was in front of them before they could have a chance to react, and they crashed headlong into the pegasus mare, knocking her off balance and sending Sparky and Dizzy off in opposing directions.

Sparky tumbled into the airlock and crashed against the door release. The airlock door flooded open and sucked Sparky out of it into space. Dizzy followed not too far behind before the emergency seal dropped the door shut behind them. Ice Wind pressed her face up against the window, staring intensely at them as they fell through space.

Sparky turned around to discover that the Leninov was right behind her, airlock door open, with DC Hopely clad in a space suit standing in the doorway to help pull Sparky and Dizzy inside.

'Come on! We need to get out of here!' DC Hopely said as she pulled the two of them in.

Sparky nodded and looked back out into space. That was when she saw it. Floating completely still behind to the Discovery One, against the backdrop of Tartarus, was the tetrahedron. Sparky was in awe, the tetrahedron couldn't be any smaller than two kilometres at its longest side, and she couldn't help but want to look at it. Like she was drawn to it.

She shut her eyes tightly. She wasn't about to let the tetrahedron dominate her mind as it had with Ice Wind. DC Hopely, Dizzy, and Sparky, clamoured back into the ship and took seats up in the cockpit, fastening their restraints tightly.

'Punch it!' DC Hopely called out.

'Dah!' Korolev said with a nod as he hit the afterburners. Accelerating the Leninov away.

…

Ice Wind continued to watch as the Leninov sped away from the ship. Her own mind was thoughtless, and she was not concerned in the slightest. She could not be concerned, for there was nothing there but blank space and a set of instructions for her to carry out for the tetrahedron.

'Mission Commander Ice Wind?' a voice said from behind her.

Ice Wind turned around to discover the holographic representation of Hannibal behind her. She let out a hiss at the VI in anger.

'Burn in hell', Hannibal said plainly as a bright light began to fill the room.

…

The exterior of the Discovery One was soon replaced with a silent flash of thermonuclear light as the ship's reactor went critical. The tetrahedron was too close to the blast and shattered as the force from the explosion hit it. The Leninov too, had insufficient time to get away, and was caught in the resulting Shockwave.

Sparky held on for dear life as the ship shuddered as if it was going to fall completely to pieces around them. Korolev and Marusova struggled to regain control over the ship as the consoles began to spark around them.

Sparky looked out the window in front of her, washes of colour were flowing over the windows, and suddenly, the Leninov disappeared in a flash of light, taking the passengers with it.

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

To anyone who happened to be looking down upon the beautiful green world from afar, it would be a safe bet to think: ‘oh, what a wonderful place that world is, oh how I would like to live there’. From its shining cities, to the deep blue oceans, from the verdant forests of the Changeling Regime, to the steppes of the southern Præsidium, to the rocky deserts of the Māo Xióng People’s Republic, and to the mountains of the continent Europa, and to the mesas of the Equestrian Republic. This planet was one of the most spectacular that one could lay their eyes on.

Belleau, the world that so many called their home, a place that’s perceived tranquillity was shattered instantly as a blinding flash of light appeared in the skies above the Equestrian Republic, and the Cosmonaut Anatoliy Leninov appeared from it and tumbled down into Belleau’s atmosphere in a streak of fire.

Sparky blinked as she watched her home world rapidly approaching, the last thing she knew, there had been a bright flash of colour across the Leninov’s forward view ports, and then in a blink they were here. They had just travelled faster than light.

Sparky’s amazement quickly subsided however as a number of warning lights began to flash, and a rapidly beeping emergency alarm began to blare. The Leninov rocked back and forth through Belleau’s atmosphere. The temperature in the cockpit began to rise, and that was when she was fully aware of what was going on. The Leninov was in the middle of re-entry.

‘Thrusters are not responding!’ Korolev cried out as he and Marusova struggled in front of them to regain control.

‘Altitude is ten thousand metres!’ Marusova cried out. ‘And falling!’

‘Thrusters are still not responding!’ Korolev cried out again. ‘Attempting full system restart!’

The entire ship shuddered as they heard, and felt the Leninov’s rotating section being ripped away. The ship was not designed to travel through an atmosphere; they were on a collision course with their home world.

‘If we stay on this course, where are we going to land at?’ Sparky asked.

‘Chyort! I do not know!’ Korolev said. ‘Navigation is offline, waiting for system to restart...’ Korolev was interrupted by another shudder and a burst of sparks from his console. He let out a scream in pain, and his body fell limp.

‘Korolev!’ Marusova cried out, towards her partner. Reaching over to him and checking for a pulse. She turned back towards her fellow crewmates and shook her head. ‘He is dead’, she said, as if she wasn’t able to believe it herself.

‘Unbuckle him from the seat!’ Shortfuse cried out. Marusova nodded and undid the cosmonaut’s restraints, allowing him to fall by the wayside. Shortfuse quickly undid hers and leapt up from her seat, sliding up and taking Korolev’s now vacant seat.

‘Shortfuse!? What are you doing?’ Sparky cried out at her.

‘What’s it look like I’m doing?! Our pilot’s just been killed! I’m going to fly the ship!’ Shortfuse said as she buckled herself in.

‘Shortfuse! Are you crazy!? What do you know about flying?’ Sparky cried out.

‘I’m a pegasus Sparky! It all comes down to roll, pitch, and yaw in the end!’ Shortfuse said as she reached out for the holographic controls, only to discover that they hadn’t reinitialised yet. ‘The controls should have come back up by now!’ she added with a panic, with no controls they were a flying brick just ready to hit something.

‘Come on! Come on! Reinitialise!’ Shortfuse said as she tried to wait patiently for the controls to come back up. ‘Come on!‘ Shortfuse cried out, and pounded on the console in frustration. To her surprise, the controls initialized immediately afterwards, they were back in business.

Shortfuse hit the afterburners and accelerated the Leninov forward.

‘What are you doing?!’ Sparky cried out in panic.

‘Getting the Leninov out of harm’s way!’ Shortfuse called back. ‘I don’t do this and it’s going to smack right in the middle of Ponyville! It would be just as bad, if not worse, as if the Præsidium hit us with a nuclear bomb!’

Shortfuse was able to the redirect the Leninov away from Equestria all together, and towards the northern parts of the Welaran Dominion of Kanata, the nation sharing the Equestrian Republic’s northern border. The most northern areas of Kanata were uninhabited, the Leninov had to crash somewhere, best be it somewhere with next to no population.

‘Okay... okay’, Shortfuse said with a sigh of relief. ‘Ponyville’s safe... now there’s just the matter of us’.

The Leninov’s crew compartment had been designed to separate from the rest of the ship. Like all other Præsidium space craft, the command capsule was meant to make a hard landing on dry land, whereas the Republican Space Agency preferred water landings. Marusova began to fiddle with the controls as she attempted to separate them from the rest of the ship. There was a light shudder, Sparky turned around to see that the bulkhead to seal off the crew compartment from the rest of the cockpit had lowered slightly, but had gotten stuck.

‘Chyort!’ Marusova cried out in frustration, as she unbuckled her seat to get up and hit the manual release near the back of the cockpit. As she got to her hooves, the Leninov shuddered again, as the cockpit released from the rest of the ship... without the bulkhead door closing.

Marusova’s eyes widened in fear; she reached out to grab a hold of something, but missed her mark, and was immediately sucked out of the open bulkhead door, with Korolev’s body not far behind. The crew of the Leninov all watched in horror. They were still some eight thousand metres above the ground, and it was quite a long way down.

‘And here I thought burning to death was a horrible way to die!’ Sparky shouted uneasily, over the roaring air from the open bulkhead door. Suddenly, the bulkhead slipped and dropped down with a loud crash. They all realised, they were aboard a death trap.

‘We’re going to die’, DC Hopely said, her voice filled with fear. ‘We’re all going to die’.

...

Kelso had taken a moment to step outside; a breath of fresh air would do her well. Here they were, they were getting ready to make their move on FutureTec, something that had been Kelso’s life for the last three months, and here it was. They were in the home stretch; soon enough, it would be over.

That’s what worried Kelso the most, this case had been her life. She didn’t know if she even could go back to living a normal life after this. The more she thought about it, the more she was glad to have returned to the PPS. After this case, there would be another and another after that. However... they would never be quite the same.

Then, there was her relationship with Viola. Kelso had no idea where that was even going, or what to do, or even what to say. Kelso had been in a number of relationships before, and they’d all ended in pretty much the same way. An argument, a slammed door, and then she never saw them ever again. Kelso was afraid that this would end in a similar way. The more she thought about it, the more she realised just how much Viola meant to her. If anything, she realised that she’d had a crush on her from the beginning. When Kelso had become a detective in the first place, she had placed Viola on a pedestal of perfection. She had idolised her, seeing her as something more than she could ever be.

Then the worst thing that could have ever possibly happened to the naïve DC Kelso happened, she learned that Viola had faults, just like everyone else. It had shattered her perception of her, and she had been angry about it. How dare she be anything less than perfect!

Kelso shook her head in disappointment, how could she have allowed herself to be so naïve?

Well, that was enough of this, she figured as she stopped leaning against the wall and was ready to head back inside when she was suddenly pushed down to the ground by a shockwave from a sonic boom.

Kelso struggled to get back to her hooves, and she looked up into the sky. There was a column of fire that was descending towards Ponyville. Kelso watched in awe, whatever it was, it started to break up, and while the larger pieces continued on their course northward, one of the other pieces broke off and began on a downward slope towards Ponyville.

‘What the hell is that?!’ Kelso cried out.

...

‘We’re coming in way too fast!’ Shortfuse cried out. ‘Velocity is 80 metres per second and... and increasing!’

Sparky looked over to Dizzy, and Dizzy back at her. All she could see was her eyes, thanks to the fact that they still had their helmets on. Both of them knew very well that this could be the end of their journey all together. Sparky looked to each of the others in the compartment. Grandma V, DC Hopely and Juan Carlos all had identical looks of fear. The only one who seemed to be at peace was Amarilla. Her eyes were closed and she was mumbling something to herself that Sparky couldn’t make out.

The cockpit shuddered again, and Sparky could feel that they were beginning to slow. The cockpit’s aero brakes had just blown. She let out a sigh of relief; they were going to be fine.

They were not going to be fine. There was another shudder, and she felt the aero brakes snap off like they were twigs on a tree in a heavy wind.

‘Damn it!’ Shortfuse cried out. ‘Aero brake failure! They blew way too early!’

Sparky watched as the cockpit rapidly accelerated towards the ground, they were coming up very, very fast.

‘Everybody brace for impact!’ Shortfuse cried out.

Sparky looked over to Dizzy, and Dizzy looked back at her. They both reached out towards each other, taking the other’s foreleg in their own.

The cockpit slammed headlong into the ground. Sparky knew no more.

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Silence.

Sparky had never known quite the silence that she was experiencing right now. The air was so very still, it was just so quiet. Sparky slowly opened her eyes to discover that she did not know where she was.

Sparky was standing in the middle of a luxurious hotel suite. The kind of which was so elaborately fancy and upscale, something that she had no business being in. At the far end of the room was a king sized bed, heavily ornate in the old style of Canterlot before its fall.

In the centre of the room was a large dining table, with a single chair at its head and a plate of salad sitting on it. The table itself was mahogany, and looked to have been manually carved by a unicorn craftsman.

At the far end of the room was a door, leading into a bathroom filled with something less like a tub, and more like a swimming pool. Sparky did not know what had brought her here, and she was more than a little confused. She was still wearing her spacesuit, and she reached up to remove her helmet. Then a thought occurred to her. She had to be hallucinating; removing her helmet couldn’t possibly be a safe idea.

‘Ahem’.

Sparky froze; she was not alone in this room. The sound had come from the bed, and she slowly turned around to face it. Sparky discovered that there was another pony laying on it, the largest pony that she had ever seen. A mare, pure white, almost glowing against the background of the suite, her mane was a tricolour of pink, blue and green, flowing majestically even though there was no wind for it to flow in. She had both a unicorn’s horn, and a pegasi’s wings, and on her head sat a golden crown.

Sparky had never met this pony before, but despite the fact that she had never payed attention in her history classes, she knew exactly who this was. She stared at her intensely not believing what she was seeing for a second. Now she knew for certain, she was hallucinating.

‘Hello’, Princess Celestia said softly, smiling warmly at her. ‘It’s quite all right. The air is quite lovely here’.

Sparky continued to stare at her for a moment before eventually speaking. ‘You’ll forgive me if I remain sceptical’, Sparky said imprudently, not considering that being rude to Celestia the Tyrant was probably not the smartest idea. ‘You’re dead’.

Princess Celestia nodded her head in affirmation, frowning as the words fell upon her ears.

‘Am I dead too?’ Sparky asked.

Princess Celestia looked at Sparky sadly, but did not answer her.

‘Well?’ Sparky asked.

‘You have lived well’, Princess Celestia said. ‘You’ve done everything that was asked of you and more, you deserve to rest now’.

‘Don’t act like you care about me!’ Sparky cried out indignantly. ‘They call you the tyrant! You care only about yourself!’

Princess Celestia recoiled slightly as if hurt by the accusation. She climbed down from the bed and took to her hooves, she trotted over to the suite’s window, and waved for her to follow. Sparky reluctantly followed her, taking her place besides the former Princess of Equestria.

Sparky looked out the window to discover an idyllic garden dream world, with endless pastures, filled with flowers. Sparky’s eyes were set on perfection. She shut her eyes tightly and turned away. ‘I know what you’re doing, stop it. Now!’ Sparky said.

‘I’m offering you peace...’ Princess Celestia said quietly. ‘I’m offering you an end to suffering’.

‘And I’m telling you to fuck off!’ Sparky said as her eyes filled with fire. ‘I don’t need your peace! I don’t need you! Pony kind has NEVER needed you! I’d rather suffer as the free mare that I am, than live forever painlessly as your slave!’

Princess Celestia looked at Sparky in confusion, causing her to be taken aback. Princess Celestia literally did not understand why Sparky was acting like this.

‘If you can’t understand that... then I feel sorry for you’, Sparky said, turning her back to her. ‘You are responsible for me getting my cutie mark, aren’t you?’ she asked.

‘Yes’, Celestia said simply. ‘It was a means to an end, without getting it, you would have lived your life as a normal pony, and you would have grown old and died, withered away and out of the memory of others. The cutie mark sent you on a journey that brought you here, where you could live forever in peace. You’re special, Sparky, you deserve it’.

‘Fuck you’, Sparky said plainly.

‘There is no need for such language...’ Princess Celestia began.

‘Let me reiterate: fuck you!’ Sparky said. ‘You used me, manipulated the course of my life, sending me through hell and back, and now you stand here and tell me you did it because I’m special!? Well, maybe I am special, but even if I am, the last thing I want to do is spend an eternity here with you!’

Princess Celestia recoiled at Sparky’s statements; the unicorn’s harsh words were clearly affecting her. ‘Very well, I will send you back... but you must realise, I can no longer protect you...’

‘Protect nothing!’ Sparky said. ‘Don’t you get it? Equestrians don’t need princesses anymore! We can think for ourselves now, we don’t need you to do it for us’.

Princess Celestia nodded her head reluctantly. Sparky could tell, she did not want to admit it, but Princess Celestia knew that she was right. ‘Yes... yes you’re right, I see that now’, she said quietly, as a tear began to roll down her cheek. ‘You are the embodiment of my people. You have grown up...’

‘We’re not your people’, Sparky said. ‘We never should have been. You should have let us grow up by ourselves’.

‘Yes’, Princess Celestia said, nodding her head in agreement. ‘Good luck with the rest of your life Sparky, live well’.

Princess Celestia’s horn began to glow, light filled the room, and Sparky was over taken by it, before she knew it, everything was gone.

...

Sparky opened her eyes to discover that she was in the Leninov’s cockpit. Her helmet had been smashed in, and she struggled to remember what had just happened to her. She had vague memories of a being in a luxury hotel suite, but they were quickly fading. A dream, it had to be.

Sparky looked around to discover Dizzy buckled into the seat next to her. She was unconscious, but breathing. Sparky removed her broken helmet and looked around the rest of the cabin. Every one of her companions was injured in some way, and all of them were unconscious, but all were still alive. Sparky sighed in relief, they had gotten lucky.

Sparky looked forward towards the windows, when something caught her eye. Shortfuse was slumped over in her seat, and a bloody steel bar had completely gone through the seat... and her.

‘Shortfuse!’ Sparky called out to her as she unbuckled her seat and tried to crawl over to her. Sparky lurched in pain, at least one of her ribs was broken. She crawled up towards her oldest friend and checked for a pulse. She had one, Shortfuse was still alive. ‘Shortfuse!’ Sparky cried out.

Shortfuse tilted her head slightly and looked at Sparky. ‘Hey... Sparky, how are you doing?’ she asked weakly, giving her a small smile.

‘Well... compared to what you have... I’m just peachy’, Sparky said pointing to the bar.

Shortfuse looked down at the metal bar that was sticking through her and frowned. ‘Well, that does look bad, doesn’t it?’ she asked with a smirk.

Sparky couldn’t help but smirk back at her. ‘I guess I shouldn’t have expected a life threatening injury to stop you from being you’, she said with a small chuckle.

‘Of course not!’ Shortfuse said. ‘Besides... I’m not in any pain; I can’t feel anything below my neck... Hey Sparky? I’m glad we had one last chance to talk before I die’.

Sparky was mortified. ‘Who said anything about dying? There’s no way anyone could have missed our crash, help is coming!’ Sparky added quickly, she couldn’t let Shortfuse just give up like that.

‘Aw... come on Spark, let’s be serious... I’m not coming back from this, even with modern medicine. It would be a small miracle if I could ever walk again, forget my wings, those are a lost cause... It’s okay Spark, I’m not scared’, Shortfuse said, giving her best friend a small smile.

Sparky began to cry. Shortfuse, one of her oldest friends was dying and she couldn’t do anything about it. ‘What am I going to do without you!?’ she asked with a choke.

‘Oh you’ll be fine Sparky!’ Shortfuse said. ‘You’re not a reclusive shut in anymore! You’ve got lots of friends now... so do me a favour, will you? Go home, get well, have lots of hot lesbian sex with Dizzy. Do it for me’.

Sparky couldn’t help but smile. ‘You never stop being you’, Sparky said as she wiped a tear away from her eye.

‘Of course not...’ Shortfuse said as she tilted her head back. ‘Hey Spark? You see that blue button on the control panel there?’

Sparky turned her head and looked at the control panel. ‘Yeah, I see it’, she added, nodding her head.

‘Press it’, Shortfuse said simply. Sparky complied, and pressed on it. She turned her head and watched as the bulkhead doors slid open. Shortfuse smiled and leaned back in her seat, getting comfortable. ‘Hey Sparky? Do you think heaven is real?’ she asked.

Sparky looked towards Dizzy, and then back to Shortfuse. ‘I hope so’, she said softly.

‘Well... if it is, when it’s your time, meet me at the bar’, Shortfuse said with a smile as she closed her eyes and her head went limp.

Sparky’s eyes erupted with tears as she buried her head into Shortfuse’s shoulder. She cried for what could have been hours for her friend. Shortfuse Skydancer, her best friend, was dead.

‘Goodbye Shortfuse’, Sparky said as she turned towards the open bulkhead door. She reached out with her hooves and began to drag herself out. The pain from her broken ribs shooting through her entire body as she crawled out and onto the street that the Leninov’s cockpit had crashed on to.

Her spacesuit had been completely ripped up and she could see her MIP under the ripped sleeve. She reached out with her teeth and ripped the suit off completely. She pulled up the holographic display and began to tap at it. It started to pick up a local broadcast signal, and Sparky hit the play button.

Sun is shinin' in the sky There ain't a cloud in sight It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play. And don't you know It's a beautiful new day hey,hey...

Sparky couldn’t help but smile, her favourite song. She pushed a button on the back of the MIP releasing the fastening clamp and allowing it to fall towards the ground.

She listened to the song for a moment before losing consciousness completely. It was over. Now she could finally relax.

...

The fire brigade had gotten here long before Viola’s car rolled up to the scene. Viola and Kelso exited the car and watched as paramedics pulled the last of the occupants out of the capsule. Kelso stood in awe of what was before them. ‘What the hell happened here?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know...’ Viola said with a frown, as the medics pulled the last occupant out, quickly covering them up with a white sheet. Viola realised instantly that she had been killed in the crash. ‘We won’t know until the survivors are ready to talk’.

Kelso nodded as she began to look around the scene. She looked down to discover an MIP was lying on the ground, and picked it up. The holographic display popped up before her and she began to read what was on it. Kelso let out a gasp. ‘Guv! Look at this!’ she said.

Viola took the MIP and began to read it. She smiled and looked at Kelso with a widening grin. ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ she asked.

Kelso nodded her head and smiled. ‘This is exactly what we’ve been looking for!’

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Sparky was exhausted, and could barely keep her eyes open. Her head ached, and as she moved around, trying to determine where she was, she discovered that everything else did as well. She continued to blink, slowly adjusting to the light of the room when she realised that she was lying in a hospital bed.

Sparky sat up and groaned in pain, she felt as if her ribcage had been smashed, and then remembered that it had been, and set herself back down, back against the pillow. She looked to her left, the privacy curtain had been drawn, and likely, there was another pony lying in the bed next to her. ‘Anyone I know over there?’ Sparky asked softly. There was no reply. Her roommate, whoever he or she was, was probably asleep, though it was possible that Sparky had this room to herself.

She looked up above her, and discovered a holographic television screen on the opposite wall, the national news was on, and Sparky listened in to the report.

‘... The Ponyville Police Service announced today the arrest of several high ranking executives of the Equestrian Future Technologies Corporation, along with the managers of the Discovery Project for criminal disregard of ethics and safety protocols that resulted in the deaths of all those aboard the Discovery One space craft, the accused, whose names have not been released, are expected to be put on trial for six counts of negligent equicide, if convicted, they would likely receive life in prison. A statement from the head of the PPS Serious and Organised Crime Group, Detective Chief Inspector Viola Auditore said, that while she could not discuss the nature of the ongoing investigation she did comment to say that the evidence was conclusive... in related news, Vice Admiral Firestar, Chief of the Republican Navy was arrested today outside of his flat in Cloudsdale by Military Police, according to sources within the military, the vice admiral was arrested for interfering with an official investigation, though it is unclear if it is related to the FutureTec arrests, the Republican Navy has not announced who will be replacing the vice admiral as Chief of Navy, and he is expected to be court marshalled by a military tribunal sometime in the following weeks...’

Sparky turned as she heard the door open; someone had just entered the room. Suddenly the privacy curtain was pulled back. Sparky’s eyes widened with fear as DCI Viola Auditore stood before her.

‘Hey! No, no it’s all right!’ DCI Auditore said, waving her hoof to stop her. ‘I’m not here to hurt you! Though... I can understand why you would think that, based on the last time we met’.

Sparky did not reply, instead she shifted in her bed to move as far away from DCI Auditore as possible, grunting in pain from shifting her recently mended ribs. Suddenly, a new figure approached from around the corner, this one wearing a dark coat and matching fedora. She was not someone that Sparky was familiar with.

‘Miss Starlight?’ the newcomer said with a smile. ‘We haven’t met, I’m Detective Sergeant Ana Kelso, and I believe this is yours’, she said as she reached around and placed something on Sparky’s bed. Sparky looked at it closely, to discover that it was her MIP. She looked up at DS Kelso in confusion as to where she had gotten it.

‘It was lying on the ground outside of your crashed capsule. We’re lucky have to have found it, it had all the evidence that we needed for our investigation! We didn’t need to steal the information from FutureTec to put the masterminds behind the Discovery Project behind bars! Our schäferhund hacker was very disappointed’, DS Kelso said with a chuckle.

‘Your... investigation?’ Sparky asked. ‘Then... you know everything?’

DS Kelso nodded her head in affirmation. ‘Naturally, Viola and I decided that it was best to not tell everyone the entire story. You have to admit, the tetrahedron isn’t something that we’re ready to hear about... and I don’t think the evolving VIs is something we’re ready for either, synthetic life? It’s a dangerous thing... and my experiences with Mister Happy gave me some first hoof experience’, DS Kelso said with a small shudder.

‘You know Mister Happy?’ Sparky asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Almost wish I didn’t, that crazy AI almost got me killed by FutureTec’s private security... long story, don’t ask’, DS Kelso said with a smirk. ‘We just wanted to thank you. Without the data on your MIP, we couldn’t have put those bastards that threw the lives of the crew of the Discovery One away behind bars... and Viola has something she’d like to say to you too’, DS Kelso added, looking towards her partner and gesturing for her to speak.

‘Yeah... Sparkplug, right?’ Viola asked.

‘Sparky. No one calls me Sparkplug’, Sparky corrected.

‘Sparky then... I wanted to say that I’m sorry for what happened three months ago... for what it’s worth, I’m not expecting forgiveness or anything... it’s not something that can be forgiven...’ Viola began, but Sparky raised a hoof to stop her.

‘I forgive you’, Sparky said simply.

‘What?’ Viola asked, taking a step back in surprise.

‘You said everything you needed to say when you pulled that curtain back. I can see the remorse in your eyes’, Sparky said softly, as she looked up at Viola. ‘You can’t fake that look’.

Sparky wasn’t exactly sure where this forgiveness was coming from, she hadn’t exactly planned on it. Maybe her mind was just too occupied with other things to have room for hate?

‘Thank you...’ Viola said just as quietly.

‘It’s not me that you should be apologising to; it is Dizzy and DC Hopely. Dizzy will probably forgive you because that’s who she is, not because she thinks you deserve it. DC Hopely will probably just spit in your face’, Sparky said as she readjusted herself in the bed, laying her head back down against the pillow.

‘I would deserve it’, Viola said, nodding her head in agreement.

Sparky took her MIP in her telekinesis, looking it over for a moment and snapping it back on her foreleg. She looked up at DS Kelso and offered her a small smile. ‘Thank you for bringing this back’, she said.

‘You’re welcome’, DS Kelso said with a respectful nod. ‘We should let you rest, you’ve got a fair bit of recovering to do’.

With that, she waved for Viola to follow her, and the two of them left the room. Sparky pulled her bed sheets over her as she struggled to get comfortable. Her stupid ribs aching with every movement, eventually she found her comfortable spot. She opened up the holographic display on her MIP, and selected a bit of light music. She closed her eyes, and allowed herself to fall back asleep.

...

By the time Sparky awoke, the stiffness in her ribs had passed and she was able to move around without pain. The wonders of modern medicine!

She took care to make sure that her flank was covered as she stepped out of bed and walked towards the door. However, she stopped, upon discovering that a large mirror was placed just before the doorway. She realised quickly that something didn’t add up. She had to have had a number of doctors and surgeons working on her to repair her broken ribs. Surely, the appearance of her cutie mark would have thrown them off... right?

Sparky turned towards the mirror and slowly pulled the covering off her flank, her eyes widened in shock. Her cutie mark... it was gone. Sparky’s jaw dropped wide open, she couldn’t believe it. She prodded her flank with a hoof to make sure that it wasn’t a trick.

It wasn’t, it was really gone.

Sparky didn’t quite know how to feel about this, in truth, it was everything that she wanted. Ever since the cutie mark had come to her, she had wanted it gone... but now that it was gone, she couldn’t help but feel a little empty. She closed her eyes and thought back to the crash. Trying to remember anything that she could... there was the dream, the dream of the luxurious hotel suite that she was struggled to remember. She tried as hard as she possibly could to remember it, but no matter how hard she thought, it did not come to her.

Sparky sat down on the floor before the mirror, looking into it with disappointment. Say what you will, that cutie mark had made her special. Without it, she would have never met Dizzy, or DC Hopely, or Amarilla and Juan Carlos. If she had never gotten it, Shortfuse would still be alive. Sparky’s eyes began to tear up at with the thoughts of her best friend. Shortfuse was dead, and there was nothing she could do about it. There was no way to bring her back. She was gone, forever, and it was all too real for her.

Sparky tossed away the covering and rose to her hooves; she trotted off down the hallway and towards the information desk. The last thing she wanted was to be alone right now, and she sure wasn’t going to sit around here and mope. Shortfuse had been right about one thing, Sparky had all sorts of friends now, and she wasn’t going to disappoint Shortfuse by pushing them away.

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Sparky learned that all of her friends had sustained fairly minor injuries during the crash... or, at least, minor by modern standards. They had all broken quite a few bones in the crash. A hundred years ago, their injuries would have been life threatening. Survival would have been a medical miracle, and they would have spent years recovering. Bones did not regrow naturally. Bones grow when you’re young, and then at a certain point they stop. Regenerative medicine had come a very long way since those days.

Sparky trotted into the hospital lounge, to discover that all of her friends were there. Amarilla and Juan Carlos were off in the corner, reading a holo-newspaper; Grandma V was in the other corner watching a repeat of the news programme that Sparky had seen earlier about the FutureTec arrests. DC Hopely and Dizzy were playing chess. Or, more accurately, Dizzy was wiping the floor with her.

‘Uh...let's see, king... anyway, Queen takes Pawn. Okay?’ DC Hopely said.

‘Bishop takes Knight's Pawn’, Dizzy said without emotion on her face.

‘Grr, lousy move! Um, Rook to King 1’, DC Hopely said, making her next move.

I'm sorry, Hopely, I think you missed it. Queen to Bishop 3, Bishop takes Queen, Knight takes Bishop. Checkmate in three moves!’ Dizzy said with a grin.

‘I give up!’ DC Hopely said. ‘I’m never playing with you again! I swear it’s like the equivalent of the playground bully holding you at forelegs length and kicking you repeatedly in the shins!’

Dizzy patted DC Hopely on the shoulder, reassuring her. ‘Don’t worry Hopely, you’ll eventually learn how to suck less’, Dizzy said with a coy smile.

‘Don’t tempt me Dizzy Doo! I know how to kill you and get away with it!’ DC Hopely said with a growl.

Both of them began to smirk, and couldn’t help but break out into a fit of giggles. Sparky couldn’t help but smile at her friends as she watched. Dizzy looked up and noticed Sparky standing in the doorway and smiled brightly at her. ‘Sparky!’ Dizzy called out, causing everyone in the room to look up.

‘Hey’, Sparky said with a smile as she trotted into the room and sat down on the sofa next to Dizzy. Everyone else in the room got up and gathered around. Dizzy was first to notice Sparky’s lack of cutie mark, and Sparky caught her staring and couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Jeeze Dizzy, we’ve all just come back together and the first thing you do is start staring at my flank? I didn’t realise you were so hot to trot’.

Dizzy turned bright red from embarrassment, as everyone in the room couldn’t help but giggle. ‘It’s not that! Your cutie mark is gone!’ she cried out defensively. Everyone stopped giggling immediately and turned to look, only to discover that she was right.

Sparky placed a hoof on Dizzy’s shoulder and offered her a small smile. ‘Oh relax Dizzy, I’m just teasing... I know it’s gone’.

‘But how... why?’ DC Hopely asked, still processing the moment.

‘I don’t know... but I’ve been thinking back to what Hannibal said. It’s not the cutie mark itself that was important, it was the meaning behind it. It was the catalyst for our adventure to Tartarus, without it, none of us would have come together...’ Sparky said with a smile as she turned to each of her friends. ‘I would have never been able to get this far without all of you’.

‘And we couldn’t have made it back without you Sparky’, Dizzy said as she rested her chin on Sparky’s shoulder, looking up at her best friend in admiration.

‘Not everyone made it back though’, DC Hopely said with a frown. ‘Shortfuse, Korolev, Marusova, Hannibal, the crew of the Discovery One...’

Sparky nodded her head. ‘They didn’t make it home... but they didn’t die for nothing, the ones responsible for the Discovery One tragedy are going to prison for a very long time, DCI Auditore and DS Kelso used the information Hannibal gave me to make the arrests’, Sparky said. ‘Our friends may be gone, but they will not be forgotten’.

Dizzy nodded her head in agreement. ‘We will make sure of that’.

...

Sparky, Dizzy, and DC Hopely sat on the moist ground in the Freetown district cemetery, staring at the headstone before them.

Shortfuse Skydancer

76-100

Lost, but never forgotten.

They had come to say their last goodbyes. Sparky smiled at Shortfuse’s headstone, remembering her last words. Shortfuse had told her that when it was her time to die, if heaven was real, to meet her at the bar. Sparky opened her saddlebags and levitated a small bottle of alcohol out from it. Sparky smirked; it was a bottle of Pan Equestrian Gargle Blaster, the drink that had started it all. ‘I got this for you Shortfuse, I hope you like it’, she added as she uncorked the bottle and poured it out onto the freshly dug earth, allowing it soak into the ground. ‘Just... ah... save some for me when I see you again huh?’

Grandma V, Amarilla, and Juan Carlos stood a couple of metres back from the grave site, watching as their friends made their goodbyes. Grandma V smiled and turned towards Amarilla. ‘So... Applejack, what will you do now?’ she asked.

‘Please... Vinyl Scratch, I have not been Applejack in a long time’, Amarilla said with a frown. ‘I do not know, things... they are different now’.

‘They certainly are’, Grandma V said, nodding her head in agreement. ‘Will you be returning to Hispaña?’ she asked.

‘For a time’, Amarilla said. ‘I do not know if I will stay, though’.

‘Are you ready to come home?’ Grandma V asked.

‘To Equestria? No, Equestria is not mine to come home to, you and I are relics of an era gone by, Vinyl Scratch. Equestria belongs to them now’, Amarilla said, pointing to Sparky, DC Hopely, and Dizzy. ‘I envy them, some day, their time will come to an end, and they will hand the world off to the next generation. Something that I cannot do, I will be here until the end of time’.

‘It’s not all bad, Amarilla’, Grandma V said with a grin. ‘Admit it, it felt great to be back in the action again, didn’t it?’

Amarilla nodded her head in agreement. ‘I miss our friends’, she said.

‘I do too’, Grandma V said with a nod. ‘No one can replace Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity’.

‘No... no they cannot’, Amarilla said with a frown. ‘How did you do it, Vinyl Scratch? You were here to watch all of them wither away and die, how did you stand it?’

‘It wasn’t easy... it never was’, Grandma V said shaking her head. ‘But, I focused on the good times we had! When things were hard, I remembered the time we went to Trotterdam’.

Amarilla couldn’t help but face hoof, shaking her head in disappointment. ‘Vinyl Scratch...’ she said with a sigh.

‘What was wrong with Trotterdam?’ Grandma V snapped back at her.

‘Adjusting for inflation, you caused 100,000 pounds of property damage! That is what was wrong with Trotterdam!’ Amarilla said with a sigh.

‘Hey! I put the fires out!’ Grandma V said defensively.

‘You made them worse!’ Amarilla retorted.

‘Worse... or better?’ Grandma V said with a grin.

‘Stop that!’ Amarilla said, gently driving a hoof into the elderly mare’s flank. They couldn’t help but giggle in remembrance. Despite everything that they had been through during those days a hundred years ago, those were happy times, and they wouldn’t trade them for the world.

Amarilla and Grandma V stared out into the sunset, giving their friends one last hurrah in remembrance. Just like Shortfuse Skydancer. They would never forget Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity; their best friends forever.

...

Kelso and Viola stood on the hill looking over the Freetown cemetery, watching as the crew of the Cosmonaut Anatoliy Leninov said goodbye to their departed friend. Kelso couldn’t help but feel for them. They had lost so much, but they had gained each other. Kelso too, had gained much from this wild ride that had been their lives. She looked over to Viola and smiled. She was glad it was over now. Maybe she could focus on being happy.

‘I hope I am not interrupting anything?’ said a new voice from behind her. Kelso turned to discover a purple unicorn clad in the line uniform of the Republican Navy. Kelso recognised her immediately. This was her client, the one who had hired her to investigate FutureTec.

‘No... not at all’, Kelso said.

‘I think introductions are finally in order’, the unicorn said with a smile as she extended a hoof for a shake. ‘Vice Admiral Dula Heartstrings, the new Chief of the Republican Navy’, she said with a smile.

Kelso shook back, smiling at Dula Heartstrings warmly. ‘Pleased to finally make your acquaintance, vice admiral’, she said.

‘Call me Dula’, Dula said as she released Kelso’s hoof from her own. She took her place besides the detectives and looked out over the cemetery.

‘I can’t believe it’s over’, Kelso said.

‘It might be for today, Detective Sergeant Kelso’, Dula said. ‘But one has to remember, that tomorrow is always a new day’.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Before Sparky knew it, she was head deep into Ponyville, she slowed down her from her run to a trot before stopping all together, breathing heavily from the all out sprint that she’d just finished. What was she doing? She hadn’t the faintest idea. Her instincts had told her to run and she ran... now the problem was finding where she had run to.

Sparky had lived her entire life in Ponyville, all twenty two years of it, but that didn’t mean that she knew her way around town. Sparky had had her driving licence for nearly five years at this point, but she rarely drove herself, she let the autopilot in her car do that. She didn’t know where anything was, and even then, she’d kept herself to Freetown and Whitetail. This was Ponyville proper.

Sparky sat down on the ground and opened up her MIP. There was a map function that she’d never used in here somewhere... she opened the function up and took a look at it.

‘No signal available?’ Sparky asked in dismay as she looked down at the device. With a small pout, she closed the MIP completely.

Sparky took a look around, she was in an alley, and surrounding her was a number of tall sky scrapers. She looked back down at her MIP. No signal... something wasn’t right, she should be getting signal here! Her MIP was FutureTec issue, and unlike the standard civilian model, operated on a remote uplink to satellites in geosynchronous orbit over Equestria. The highest concentration of these satellites was over the Equestrian Rhombus. Maybe a civilian model MIP would get interference off of all the tall buildings, but not hers. Something was deliberately blocking her signal.

Sparky sat down on the ground. What was she doing? A cutie mark had appeared on her flank. She’d panicked and run off from home, she’d run nonstop for nearly an hour without paying attention to where she was going, and now she was interested in why her MIP wasn’t working here? Some priorities she had.

But... it was rather peculiar, something that shouldn’t have been able to happen...

Damn it.

Sparky had always been a little obsessive compulsive, if something wasn’t exactly right, she couldn’t stand to not figure it out. Besides, it might even provide a distraction from the cutie mark. The cutie mark was a mystery that needed solving too; of course, she’d figure it out eventually even if it killed her. Right now though, it was fresh in her mind, she could afford to be distracted for a bit.

She looked over her MIP again. No signal. She looked back up to the sky, it was still light out, but when the sun went down, and late at night, you could see the satellites up there, they almost looked like stars, though you could tell they weren’t because they weren’t on any maps. If something was blocking the signal, then that meant that it had to be the result of a high powered, possibly military grade, jamming device... but if there was such a device nearby, why didn’t anyone notice it? Surely, it would have had to have effects on other technology as well, like television, radio, who knew what else could be affected? But if a high powered jamming device was in the area, someone would have noticed it, right?

Right?

Sparky trotted around the corner, looking for anything to give her a clue. After rounding the corner, she discovered that it was feasible for no one to notice the jamming at all. The alley that she trotted into was filled with more than a dozen homeless ponies and a number of cardboard shanties that they lived in.

Well, that answered several of Sparky’s questions. She knew where she was, this was Old Towne. A common misconception among Ponyvillers was that during the days before the republic, back when Ponyville was little more than a village making the expansion to city, that the central business district was built on to the site of the old town hall, and that the actual village area itself was the centre of the town. This was false, the central business district was actually built two kilometres to the north of the village, and it had been done this way on purpose so that Ponyville’s residents would still have their homes while the modern city was built up around them. Most of the residents living in the actual village left for the suburbs once they finished the first wave of construction. The village was torn down and Old Towne was built on top of it. Originally, Old Towne was considered to be one of the best places in Ponyville Proper to live, but focus on other areas as the city expanded, and neglect of this one had turned it into a dump, property values plummeted, and now, the only ones who still lived here were the homeless and the very poor.

Sparky frowned, even in the modern day; poverty and homelessness were still a problem. They had always been a problem, and would likely always be a problem. Even in the old monarchy, poverty and homelessness had been a problem, the difference being, that modern society acknowledged it as a problem. The old monarchy pretended that it didn’t exist. According to Grandma V, that was how the old monarchy ‘dealt’ with a lot of social issues.

Many of the homeless ponies looked at her with disdain, and Sparky couldn’t blame them. She was the outsider here, she didn’t belong here, and even worse, she looked like a damned lost tourist with these saddlebags on. Sparky took a deep breath, and began walking through the alley, not getting half way through before being stopped by one of the residents, a dark grey earth pony stallion.

‘Well hello there sweetheart!’ the earth pony said in a warm, raspy sounding voice. ‘Can’t help but notice... you look a little lost’.

‘I’m not lost’, Sparky said confidently. ‘I know exactly where I am’.

The earth pony chuckled as he eyed her up and down. ‘Ah, so you’re one of those? I see. Know exactly where you are, but don’t know where you want to go... Old Smokey sees that a lot, I do...’

‘That’s great...’ Sparky said as she tried to step around the earth pony, Smokey, however, was quicker than he looked and stepped with her, continuing to block her path.

‘You see now, Old Smokey here? I have things... things people want. I provide... direction, for those who need it. Old Smokey here sees that you could use some... what do you say sweetheart?’

‘Ah... no thank you, that won’t be necessary’, Sparky said, trying to step around Smokey again, to no avail. The earth pony was one step ahead of her.

‘I don’t think you understand what I’m getting at here... Sweetheart’, Smokey said. ‘When Old Smokey sees something he wants... he gets it, one way or another...’ he said with a grin, taking a step forward towards her.

There was a quick flash in front of Sparky’s eyes and a small clicking noise. In the time it took to blink, Sparky discovered that there was a firearm, specifically a pistol, pressed up against Smokey’s head through the use of telekinesis.

‘I do believe... the good lady here said that she wasn’t interested’, said a mare’s voice from somewhere in the background, Sparky didn’t know who was helping her, she didn’t see anyone behind Smokey, and she wasn’t willing to take her eyes off the sick creep in front of her to look anywhere else.

‘I... uh... heh, I think we may have a misunderstanding here...’ Smokey said nervously.

‘Really? Because it looks to me like you were planning to sexually assault this poor mare, not a lot of room for misunderstandings there, is it?’ the voice said again.

‘Now... hold on here! Smokey don’t mean no harm!’ Smokey objected nervously.

‘If you value your life... be somewhere else!’ the voice said firmly.

‘Of... of course!’ Smokey said, and without another word turned tail and ran off into the shantytown, turning left in the alley and entering another one.

‘Are you alright?’ the voice asked.

Sparky let out a sigh of relief. ‘Yes’, she said as she turned around to see her saviour, and discovered that she was not quite what she expected.

The pony behind her was a unicorn. That much had been obvious, thanks to her use of telekinesis. Her coat was lavender, and her mane was a light blonde, tied back into a ponytail. What surprised Sparky was how much shorter this pony was compared to her; she couldn’t have been any older than fifteen, and the clothes that she was wearing stuck out. She was wearing riot barding, in the form of a bullet proof vest with the letters ‘CO19’ stitched into it.

‘You... you’re a nephite?!’ Sparky asked.

She nodded her head in affirmation. ‘Yep. A real, honest to god nephite’, she said with a smile. ‘My name’s Dizzy. Come on; let’s get you off the street’.

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

DC Kelso trotted alongside the nurse as they entered the Hospital’s intensive care unit, they passed through the hallways, until the nurse stopped outside of DCI Auditore’s room.

‘Take a walk’, DC Kelso said, gesturing to him.

The nurse grumbled in annoyance, but did as he was asked, and headed off down the hallway and rounded the corner. DC Kelso headed inside the room, shutting the door behind her. DCI Auditore lay in the room’s single bed, hooked up to several life support machines and monitors to keep track of her condition. DC Kelso trotted up to her and pulled up a chair, sitting down and looking over her superior. ‘Guv? Can you hear me?’ she asked.

DCI Auditore’s eyes slowly opened as she turned and looked over towards her. ‘Kelso?’ she asked weakly

DC Kelso smiled at her. ‘Hey Guv! How are you doing?’ she asked.

‘Well, I’ve been better, that’s for sure’, DCI Auditore said with a smirk. ‘Oh... that hurts!’ she said, cringing in pain. ‘New heart’s not finished yet, I’m going to be out for a while...’

‘Anything I can do?’ DC Kelso asked.

‘The way I hear? You’ve already done more for me then I can ask’, DCI Auditore said with a smirk. ‘The doctors said that you saved my life’.

DC Kelso waved her hoof as if it was no big deal. ‘Guv, we’re partners, I did what anybody would have done’.

‘Kelso... you’re a good copper... and a good friend’, DCI Auditore said with a smile, and then her smile faded. ‘Kelso... I have something that I need to talk to you about’.

‘Guv, you should rest, you’re going to need all your strength, I’m sure that whatever it is, that it can wait until you’re better’, DC Kelso said offering her superior... no, her friend, a smile.

‘No, Kelso, no it can’t’, DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘It’s about what we did today... we didn’t do it for the reasons that you thought’.

‘I... what?’ DC Kelso said, raising an eyebrow at the mare before her.

‘Kid... when we went in to take down Zazz? There was only one way that showdown was ever going to end... with him going out in a body bag’, DCI Auditore said weakly.

‘What? Guv, I don’t understand... you went in there expecting to have to kill him?’ DC Kelso asked.

‘No, kid, I was planning on killing that miserable bastard’ DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘Kelso... I’m on the take; I went in there to kill Zazz to save my own arse’.

DC Kelso’s mouth fell open in shock. Here it was. The words were coming straight from her mouth; Detective Chief Inspector Viola Auditore was a corrupt copper. ‘Guv... no, not you, you... you must not be thinking clearly!’ DC Kelso said. She didn’t want to believe it, she couldn't!

DCI Auditore looked at her partner sadly, and merely nodded her head in affirmation.

‘Guv... no!’ DC Kelso cried out. ‘Why!?’

DCI Auditore frowned. ‘I was like you once Kelso, I was young and idealistic when I joined the Serious and Organised Crime Group, it was the happiest day of my life... but when I started the job, I noticed that things were different here. I went out with our DCI... that was DCI Earle back then; he taught me everything I knew. Ponyville is too big a city, and we don’t have enough coppers to police it. DCI Earle said that the only way to do it was to get our hooves dirty, cut deals, keep the low level scum in line... I resisted the way things were done at first... but then, I took my first bribe, this sort of power that you get from this job? It ruins you, turns you into a monster’. The heart monitors measuring DCI Auditore’s heart rate started to show an increase in activity. ‘I see so much of myself in you Kelso. The old me from before... you made me question what I was doing, before, I just rationalised away all wrong doing’.

DC Kelso’s eyes began to water. She couldn’t believe this, she looked up to DCI Auditore, and here she was, a crooked copper, of the worse kind. ‘You... your old partner, DC Hopely? She wasn’t killed in a raid gone wrong... was she? You know what I think? I think she stood up to you, and you killed her!’

‘No!’ DCI Auditore cried out. ‘No, Hopely is still alive! I don’t know where she is now, but she’s still alive! I know it’.

‘I trusted you...’ DC Kelso said with anger in her voice. ‘I TRUSTED YOU!’ she cried out, slamming a hoof against the bedside table. ‘I looked up to you! I thought you were one of the greatest detectives in the history of the service! No, you’re just a fake!’

‘I know...’ DCI Auditore said with a frown. ‘You showed me what I should have been like Kelso... I’ve done wrong, I’m not asking for your forgiveness... I don’t deserve it... I just... I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was wrong’.

‘You’re damn right you don’t deserve my forgiveness!’ DC Kelso said angrily. ‘I’m ashamed to have ever been your partner! This... this requires correction!’ DC Kelso glanced around the room and discovered exactly what she needed, she rose from her seat and picked it up in her teeth, it was a small pillow that had been left on the window sill. DC Kelso took the pillow and held it in her hooves. Reaching up and holding it over DCI Auditore’s head.

‘Kelso! Please no!’ DCI Auditore cried out. ‘Don’t do this! This isn’t you! You will regret this for the rest of your life!’

‘Maybe...’ Kelso said. ‘But at least, you will regret your choices for the rest of your life, which won’t be lasting too much longer’, Kelso added. She lowered the pillow towards DCI Auditore’s face, watching as her pathetic excuse for a partner’s face contorted in terror.

‘Kelso! No! Please! No!’ DCI Auditore cried out.

Kelso did not respond, she took the pillow and held it down against DCI Auditore’s face. She watched as the corrupt copper struggled to breath, thrashing around trying her hardest to get the pillow away from her face. Just as her movements began to slow, Kelso took the pillow away from her face.

DCI Auditore let out a gasp for air, and let out a gurgled cough. 'Kelso...' she said with a cough.

'How does it feel Guv? HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE HELPLESS?' Kelso screamed at her as she pressed the pillow against her face again.

DCI Auditore struggled for breath, but this time, Kelso took the pillow away quickly. 'Kelso!' she cried out with a cough. 'Please stop... this isn't you. You're not bad... you’re not like me...'

'You're right', Kelso said firmly. 'I'm not like you, if I'm going to kill you? Guv? You'll be on your hooves with your pistol drawn... and so will I. So will I'.

Kelso turned her back on DCI Auditore and trotted out of the room.

'Kelso!' DCI Auditore called after her. 'Kelso! I want to change... I can change!'

'No. Guv, you don't. You just want to save your own skin', Kelso said as she opened the door, turning her back on her former friend, and leaving her behind.

…

Dula Heartstrings pondered over her interrogation of the ship's VI as she sat in a bar in Cloudsdale, sipping a glass of Sweet Apple Acres' finest cider. She had been to the wonderful city in the clouds only three times in her life. Otherwise, she'd been out on patrol somewhere, on some ship with names as different from Twilight Sparkle a dreadnought, to Manehattan, one of their heavy cruisers, but Cloudsdale... Cloudsdale was something else, the magnificent city in the clouds.

Dula smirked, in the past that statement had been a bit more literal. In the days before the Republic, Cloudsdale was reported to have literally been made out of clouds. In those times, pegasi had actually been able to walk upon them as if they were solid ground.

Most people dismissed this as having been legend, but Dula was a scholar and a historian, on top of her position as a naval officer. They were true, almost everyone had forgotten though.

It was such an odd thing, because the Fall of Cloudsdale happened not too long after the fall of Canterlot. After the Princesses were killed, Cloudsdale's support columns completely collapsed less than a month afterwards.

Fortunately, the pegasi that lived there all had wings, and were able to fly to safety. Like the Fall of Canterlot, there were no fatalities, some minor injuries, but otherwise, every one survived.

Equestrians were a hardy people, Couldsdale would go on to be rebuilt into the modern technological marvel that it was today. Cloudsdale was a floating city built on a flying platform, powered by three separate nuclear fusion reactors, with multiple large noise cancelling turbofan engines creating lift. Care was taken to regulate the population of Cloudsdale, the turbofans could only support so much mass. Too many people and the city wouldn't be able to hold itself up, and as a result, Cloudsdale only had a permanent population of four thousand, almost all of them were military personnel, or civilians working in the shipyards.

'Rear admiral Heartstrings?' a voice asked from behind her. Dula looked up at the new comer, and smiled.

'Vice admiral Firestar', Dula said, offering the vice admiral a salute.

Vice admiral Firestar was a pegasus pony, a native of Cloudsdale, his mane was a burning orange, and his coat was a dark red. His name fit him very well, and he certainly jumped out at you in his blue line officer’s uniform. 'How goes the investigation?'

'I've filed my report, vice admiral, I'm surprised that you haven't read it', Dula said simply.

'I have, actually', vice admiral Firestar said. 'Hannibal-class VIs gaining sapience? You'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe... considering you deleted the VI afterwards, are you aware of how much those cost?'

'Ten thousand pounds for each', Dula Heartstrings said simply. 'I didn't think that FLEETCOM Headquarters was so worried about balancing the budget'.

'Watch your tone, that second star on your sleeve doesn't get you anything with me', Firestar said in annoyance, pointing to rank insignia on Dula's sleeves. 'FutureTec has assured us that there is nothing wrong with the Hannibal-class VIs, and I'm rather inclined to believe them since you've destroyed your VI, we can't double check the facts for ourselves'.

‘I did what was necessary, it was a danger to the republic and I eliminated it, as is my duty’, Dula said confidently. 'What exactly are you getting at sir?'

'I'm asking you to back off from these wild allegations that can't possibly be proved', Firestar said sternly. 'Even with the so called evidence of from your interrogation, you can’t actually prove that the VI had developed the capacity for genuine emotions and free thought. Am I making myself clear?'

'As crystal, sir', Dula said with a nod, giving the vice admiral a salute.

Firestar returned it and trotted off, heading out of the bar and back to his post at FLEETCOM Headquarters.

Dula knew now, there was far more to this than she had originally thought. If this conversation said anything, it was that Firestar knew more than he was letting on. FutureTec and FLEETCOM knew that there were problems with the Hannibal-class VIs, and they were burying it. She knew, but her legs were tied. Vice admiral Firestar had ordered her to drop her investigation, and one did not ignore an order from the Chief of Navy himself. Now all she had to do was figure out how to expose the truth without violating that order.

She knew that she was going to need outside help.