Silky, Guilty Pleasures

Chapter 4: Betrayal

An Alternate Universe Detective Rarity Story

I walked out of the palace and I began to think about it. The guards would have known that Lemon Hearts was doing something, going somewhere, but she hadn’t told Twilight what she was doing. In truth most of the guards wouldn’t have really known much more than the fact that Lemon Hearts simply came by to visit Twilight. Most of them, but not Flash. As Twilight’s Consort, as her husband, he would have access to information like that.

But if Twilight was having an affair with Lemon Hearts, would she even tell him what Lemon Hearts asked? I sighed as I thought about this. This was getting big, and if Flash, or any of the guards, had something to do with it then there was a potential case for treason going on. I had to find Lemon Hearts, I had to hope that she was still alive, and I had to hope that perhaps she had some information, something that would help connect her disappearance to the death of that young colt.

It felt like it was connected, and everything Pinkie had told me pointed toward it being connected. If Pinkie sent Lemon Hearts to check up on Suri then there was a chance she might have came across something that was happening. She could know what exactly happened to that young colt, and if she did there was a very good chance she was on borrowed time at best. I hated thinking that, but it was the truth. I needed to find her, to find out what and where she might be. The best bet I had would be to see if Lemon Hearts other friends had any idea of where she might have went looking.

While I know she would be checking up on Suri it didn’t mean that she would follow the same trail Suri might would have gone. It’s likely those closest to her would have more insight, and with that thought, I began the trek to Minuette’s. What I knew about Minuette was limited to some professional information. She was a dentist, and I knew she catered to everypony. I had to travel to North Canterlot, not quite as far in as Sound’s apartment had been, but far enough that the homes became less grand, and they took on a more middle class look.

I saw Minuette’s dentistry. The dentistry itself was on the first floor of a two story home. I walked toward it, knocked, and after a moment a young mare opened the door. She was a pegasus, a little shorter than I was, a bit older, with soft butter yellow fur, a dark red mane, and a pair of reading glasses. Her nurse’s uniform was a soft blue, and it did clash a bit with her fur, but I was here to see Minuette, not discuss the option of perhaps finding a more complimentary color for her scrubs.

“May I help you?”

She was so soft spoken, it reminded me a bit of Fluttershy. In truth she actually reminded quite a bit of Fluttershy. Still, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about how this mare seemed to remind me of dear Fluttershy. I needed, desperately so, to see if Lemon Hearts had visited Minuette before leaving.

“Is Minuette in?”

She nodded, walked over to the desk, and took a seat, “She is, but she’s currently with a patient. If you have a little time to wait she should be finished fairly quickly. It’s just a routine cleaning.”

I smiled, took a seat, and waited. A moment later I heard the door open, and I saw another dear friend of mine. Rainbow looked tired, her normally sharp eyes looked distracted, and I could see her stumble a bit as Minuette put a hand on her shoulder.

“For the most part your teeth are fine; however, I’d like to see you back in about three weeks. That wisdom tooth is looking like it might become a bit impacted, and I’d rather we catch it early.”

Rainbow nodded, looked at me, and then her eyes widened.

“Rares?!”

“Rainbow is wonderful to see you,” I said as I hugged her.

“Good to see you too. What are you doing here?”

“Actually I needed to talk to Minuette for a moment. I was hoping that she could tell me if Lemon Hearts had stopped by to tell her where she might be visiting.”

Rainbow looked at me for a second, and then scratched her chin, “Wait, isn’t that the yellow unicorn with an off blue mane that works for Pinkie Pie?”

I nodded.

“Oh, I totally saw her a couple of nights ago. The Wonderbolts were finishing up their show, and since the Shadowbolts, that Lunar Pegasi version of the Wonderbolts, were finishing up their training we decided to kind of get some drinks together,” she smiled, “So we went to the Cider Pit, saw AJ, chilled out a bit with her, and I saw Lemon Hearts across the alley. It was kind of weird, I mean sure, she’s a vampire and everything, but that’s still a pretty rough neighborhood.”

“I see, do you know what she was doing?”

“Naw, not really. I did kind of wonder what she was doing down in Skid Row, but I figured it was her own business. Although, I was going to invite her to come on into the bar. After all, safer in there than outside I figured. Thing is, when I got up she was gone. That alley was a dead end, and vampires might be fast, but not so fast that I can’t seen them take off.”

Rainbow made a point. She was the fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria. Flying she could pass anyone or anything, and she was fairly quick on the ground as well. I’d seen her watch the events happening inside of a controlled tornado, and even though everything was a blurr to me she seemed to know exactly where each and every pony was, and what they were doing. If Lemon Hearts would have taken off I’m sure she would have seen her.

“This alley, it was directly across from the Cider Pit?”

She nodded.

“Thank you Rainbow,” I hugged her again, and then I felt her hands rest right above my tail for just a moment too long.

“You’re totally welcome, and ummm. Rares, it’s good seeing you. Maybe you could come around, a little more often. Like a sleepover or something.”

I smiled at her, “Perhaps, although, I’m not sure that Soarin’ would enjoy us having a girls’ night in would he?”

“Naw, he’d be fine with it… I mean not that anything would happen, because… Yeah… I’m going to just shut my mouth right now.”

I smiled at her, promised that I would most certainly come and visit her home, and then headed out toward the alley she talked about. The Cider Pit and Sound’s apartment were in the same area, well within a few blocks of each other. When I arrived at the Cider Pit I looked across the street at the alley Rainbow Dash has talked about. From where I was it looked normal, as if there wasn’t really much there except for the walls of the buildings creating it, and another wall at the back.

I walked toward it, uncertain if there was really anything I would notice, and as I neared it I thought about something. Applejack had told me that the dumpster they were supposed to use had been moved a few times. Before hand it had been on their side of the street, but about a month ago it started getting moved across the street. I looked at the dumpster, and I could see something behind it.

I lit up my horn, moved the dumpster over a little, and saw what looked like a brick colored door. I checked it, finding it locked, but not with any spell. I checked the lock itself, and after a slight picking it opened. I slipped into the door, and once inside I felt something. Once, about a year ago, I had to interview a gryphon hen that owned a restaurant. When I visited the back of that restaurant I found a room that made me feel ill at ease. She had explained that to keep costs down she butchered most of the smaller livestock there.

What I had felt in that room was exactly what I felt in this one. I cleared my mind, breathed out, and thought of a simple spell that would create a black light. The room was dim enough that when it shined I was certain anything that needed to be picked up would be. The moment the spell lit up I could see something that made me ill.

In the middle of the room was a drain, and all around it was evidence that something, or somepony had been bled out. I moved toward the center and I looked up. There was still a pulley in place, and as I studied it I realized this was set up just like the area where the gryphon hen had to butcher her livestock.

I backed up, realizing that Lemon Hearts must have found this room, and if she did, and she was missing, then there was something she saw in here that she must not have been meant to see. The idea of that poor colt came back to my mind, and I felt sick.

“Well, this certainly is a wonderful surprise.”

I recognized the voice, but before I could turn something struck me, and everything went black. I don’t know how long I was out, but I did know that my head hurt like there was no tomorrow, and I could barely see anything around me. I worried, honestly worried, for a few moments that I might be going blind, but then I saw a light turn on in doorway. I took in where I was, what was going on, and I felt a shudder run down my spine. I’d been here once, back when Sonar Ray had explained what she wanted for Sound.

It was part of the Royal Guard’s compound, and this was under the barracks. Sonar had a training room down here, and she rarely had anyone in it. The day I came with Sound to this room she had been training for indoor flight. I remember how powerful she looked, how confident, and then I remember how much contempt she had for me.

“This is not a good idea!”

I certainly knew that voice, My ears pointed toward it as I listened.

“You worry too much, and besides, this gives all of us something we want.”

“You don’t understand. She’s Twilight’s friend, and a very good friend at that. It was bad enough with Lemon Hearts, but this is going to be impossible to just sweep under the rug.”

There was a huff, and then something crashed into the wall, “Then you will find a way of sweeping it under the rug. Solar Pegasi, so flighty, so wary; take those testicals that you are susposed to have out of your wife’s handbag.”

“Oh, buck you.”

There was a haughty laugh I knew anywhere. The same laugh that had stopped when she had seen me with Sound Ray. I shook my head, attempting to clear it, trying to get the grogginess to leave, and as I did I felt something on my horn. I tried to create a light spell, but instead of creating a small amount of light it produced a small electrical shock. I kept my mouth shut, realizing that a suppression ring had been put onto my horn. From the feel it was a standard issue, not very attractive, but designed well enough to curb an unicorn’s magic.

Like any unicorn I’d heard stories of those daring enough to cast a massive spell, something so powerful that it actually broke the suppression ring, but there had never been any real proof of it. If I tried to cast a powerful spell there would be a good chance it would backfire and send a stronger shock into me. I couldn’t chance that. Instead I tried to move my hands and found that they were tied together. Whoever had done it didn’t seem to want to tie me to anything specific, so I began moving, pulling my hands down to my tail, past it, and then leaning forward as I move them down my legs.

My yoga classes were certainly beginning to pay for themselves now.

I moved my hands past my hooves, and when I did I felt another rope around my hooves themselves. I checked how it was tied, and it appeared to be a standard slip knot. Obviously my captors had went for speed over quality. Their mistake allowed me to undo the knot, shuffling around my hooves helped me to slip out of the ropes, and I quickly reached up and found the suppression ring. It felt large and bulky, designed for a large variety of unicorns and not a specific skilled user. I pulled it off, creating a little light, and saw that my hands were similarly tied. Using my magic I untied them, slowly stood, and looked around.

I needed to leave, I had to get out before too long. I could hear the voices getting fainter, leaving, and I let out a sigh of relief. I had very little time to get out, and I realized that. I lit my horn up a little brighter and I saw an position of metal eyes sticking out of the floor. They certainly hadn’t been here before, and I took another look at them. They were made of silver, pure silver.

Silver was a beautiful metal, wonderful for making jewelry, fantastic for accents, but I knew it wasn’t nearly hard enough to be of any real use when trying to attach equipment to it. Like gold silver had a tendency of being soft, malleable, and it was for that reason that it rarely used for much else other than jewelry, or fillings for some ponies teeth.

I looked toward the door the voices died down from, and I realized that I had to leave that way. Sound had shown me around down here before, but this room had just the once exit. Swallowing what I was feeling I walked toward the door, found it unlocked, and opened it. Like I remembered it lead up to a staircase, but oddly enough this wasn’t the same staircase as before.

The room looked exactly like Sonar’s training room, but the stairs weren’t the stately stone steps of Canterlot’s elite royal guards. Instead it looked like the crumbling steps of a building somewhere in Skid Row. I walked up it, nearing the top, and I heard the voices again.

“Flash, you worry too much. Go, have fun with that vampire toy before we destroy her.”

“You’re a real tailhole Sonar. You are a serious pain my flank.”

I heard a soft sound, and I opened the door at the top of the stairs. There was Flash Sentry with Sonar Ray. Flash was against the wall, his breathing harsh, and his arm was being held behind his back.

“You are adorable, for a Solar Pegasus, but understand that you are not, NOT a ledrfladder. Perhaps if you were I would consent to recreate with you. But you aren’t and I will not dirty my pure blood line.”

Flash had Lemon Hearts, Sonar had helped him, and this was getting really big. I looked around, and saw another exit. It wasn’t that far. Just a few quiet steps across the floor, toward the window, and then out. I followed it, nearing the window, opened it, and looked out to see the same alley from before. I hadn’t even left the building. I was further up, perhaps a couple of floors, but I was certainly in the same building. I moved out to the fire escape, and when I did the old metal thing decided to announce my presence.

Both Flash and Sonar turned toward me, and I realized that I had to move, quickly. I descended, as quickly as I could, and hoped beyond hope that I could make it to the Cider Pit. I made it almost to the ground level when I felt a pair of arms around me. I tried to fight, to light up my horn, but I saw Sonar with a disgusted look on her face. She slammed her fist into my stomach, causing me to fall forward.

“You soiled my son, you… a common unicorn tried to become his mated bride,” she spat as she ripped open my top at the collar, “He marked you! You will die today, and your body will be found.”

I coughed and looked at her. Seeing that hate, that anger, and while I was certainly angry, I felt a great deal of pity. Sound was so much better than she was. I didn’t know how he was, but I knew it.

“Ponies will question what happened.”

She laughed, “No, they won’t. They haven’t a question about that colt, have they?”

I looked at her in disgust, “You… You killed him?”

She smiled at me as Flash dragged me into the room I discovered earlier.

“He was a necessary sacrifice. Both the Lunar and Solar guard have protected Equestria from all threats, but when these- monsters began to live among us we couldn’t protect Equestria from them. No, the Princesses, all of them, had given each and every one of them basic rights,” she spat the last word before she had Flash lift me into the air.

“That colt made ponies think that the Vampires can’t be trusted, and you… You will serve to show that the weres are no better. Yes your mutilated and violated body will prove that they are savage beasts that need to be put down.”

I struggled, desperately trying to get loose, when the door slammed open. I didn’t see anything except the blur, but a moment later I dropped to the ground. I looked up to see Applejack pinning Flash to the ground, his arm behind his back at an angle that meant it was broken. Her muzzle had the most savage snarl I’d ever seen, but facing Sonar was Sound. He held his dagger, a fresh red line of blood on it.

“You would throw away your family! Throw away your bloodline for a whorse of a unicorn?!”

“No mama, I would stop a mare I no longer recognize to save the mare I love.”

She rushed toward him, years of training, learning in the art of killing, training to disarm enemies of the crown, but with her training she also carried an older age. I watched as Sonar missed Sound, and Sound’s dagger found her side. She grunted, fell to her knees, and held the wound.

“Do it, kill me. I will not live with this dishonor. I will not see my son make a mockery of our bloodline.”

Instead of killing her Sound hit her hard, knocking her out cold, and then he began to patch her up as best he could.

“S..Sound?”

He rushed to me, putting his arms around me, pulling me close. I looked at Applejack who was standing over a very unconscious Flash Sentry.

“Rares, Ah gotta say, if anypony knows how ta find trouble ya sure do.”

Author's Note

(AN: Ah, so we've discovered what happened to the the colt, and who was behind it. There's about two more chapters left. I'm afraid this isn't a long, long story, but I promise to get those chapters out fairly soon. Thanks for reading everyone.

RJP)