//------------------------------// // Suspicions // Story: My Little Pony: The Brothers of Discord // by mr.myxsiple //------------------------------// CHAPTER 6 SUSPICIONS "OK, that's uh..." he did a quick count in his head. "25 bits." The weird, cross-eyed pegasus handed in her bits before taking off, a sack of apples in her mouth. "Thanks again Ms. Hooves!" Applebloom said waving at the pegasus as he left. It had been three days since he started working at the farm. Through the hours of working on the farm (despite being banned from the apple fields), he had gotten a little closer to the Apple family during that time though he had gained somewhat of a rival in Big Macintosh. At the moment, he was manning the a stall in the marketplace along with Applebloom. Scar hadn't found anything that could be causing the build up of light yet which worried him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary around Ponyville. Why the hell was the ground filled with light? If this kept up, if they were too late to find the cause, Ponyville would be destroyed just like his home all those years ago. He looked over to Applebloom. She was a good kid, nice, sweet, kind...It made him smile. It also made him think of...his sister... He shook his head. They had to save this town and everypony in it. "Hey bro!" he heard a familiar voice yell. Ironhead looked to the side and saw his brother land near the stand. "I couldn't find you at the farm." "Yeah, Applejack makes me run the stall here sometimes." the earth pony explained before speaking in a hushed tone. "So...you find anything?" Scar shook his head and hung it in defeat. "This is stupid. Everything's normal, but dad keeps saying that there's more and more light in the soil every day." He stomped his hoof as if he was mad at the ground or something. "What the hay's going on here!?" His shout of anger and frustration had attracted the attention of a few surrounding ponies. He recoiled slightly and spoke quietly. "What're we gonna do? Even dad's stumped." "Huh..." Ironhead did some thinking. "D'you think maybe we could...y'know...ask for help?" he asked reluctantly. "From whom? The ponies here?" "Well...yeah." "Are you crazy." Scar almost shouted. "Anypony we ask is gonna get suspicious." "You don't have to say Ponyville's in danger. Just say that you're looking for light or something." "Why can't you do it? You're better at making stuff up than I am." Ironhead was interrupted by a poke to his back. He turned around and saw Applebloom as well as a long line of irritated customers. "Oh uh...Sorry!" he apologized before returning to his post. "Ironhead..." Scar said annoyed. "I got stuff to do." Ironhead said as he accepted another customer's bits. "Just find somepony and ask; you'll be fine!" "But-" Unfortunately, Ironhead was already swamped by the sheer number of customers he had to attend to. Scar sighed and took off still wondering what to do. "What was that all about?" Applebloom asked curiously. "Eh, just brother to brother talk. Little kids like you wouldn't understand." Ironhead answered. That caused the filly to pout and cross her hooves. "I ain't that little..." she said. The sight made Ironhead laugh and ruffle her mane a bit before going back to the customers. "Ask somepony?...Pft. Who'd I ask?" Scar muttered as he flew around Ponyville. Their job was supposed to be a secret to avoid mass panic and chaos. Then again, they were seriously out of leads. Neither of them knew a lot about the town. Whatever could be the source of the light could be something only the ponies there would know. He gave an annoyed sigh and dove down, landing in front of a familiar, sweets-covered building- Sugar Cube Corner. He didn't know that many ponies in town, but he certainly knew the pink mare that worked at the place. He entered the shop and was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of freshly baked good. He took a big whiff of it and sighed contentedly before shaking his head and remembering the reason he was there in the first place. To his delight, the mare he was looking for was right before him behind a counter. Pinkie spotted him and in right in front of him in less than a blink of an eye, a grin plastered on her face. "Hi Scar. I haven't seen you in a while. How's the job hunt thing?" "I oh…" His eyes darted from side to side. "It's ok…I haven't found a job yet-" "Oh I know! I bet you came here 'cause you wanna work here." Pinkie said bouncing up and down excitedly. "Uh…no." Scar said. Pinkie stopped in mid-air and descended slowly, puzzling Scar. "I'm actually here to ask you something." "I'm all ears." Pinkie said leaning towards him, her ears moving up and down. "Uh oh. You might wanna take a bath later." Scar gave her yet another funny look. "What? Anyway, I was wondering...d'you know anything about...light...?" "Hmm...Oh! I have some light right here!" She held up a flashlight up to his face and switched it on and off repeatedly. Scar blinked several times not because of the flashlight but because she wasn't holding one when she ran up to him. "No...I don't mean that kind of light." "Well, that's the only kind I know." Pinkie tossed the flashlight aside. "Why don't you ask Twilight? She's like, the smartiest smart pony in town; maybe she can help." "Twilight huh?" He could somewhat recall that name from the party. "I guess I could try. Where does she live?" "Ponyville Library. "It's a big tree thingy." "OK then. Thanks Pinkie; I'll see you around then." He turned and made his way to the door as Pinkie waved at him. "Bye Scar; make sure you use lotsa soap!" Her last sentence made him turn his head towards her. "What do you-" Unfortunately, he wasn't watching where he was going. Talking to Pinkie caused him to miss the steps outside the shop. He lost his balance and tumbled down the steps and onto the street finally stopping face-down in something damp and filthy. A raise of his head told him that he had crashed into a mud puddle. He gave an exasperated sigh before smacking himself face first into the mess beneath him. One bubble bath later... All clean, Scar showed up in front a large tree that looked like somepony lived in it. He knocked on the candle-marked door and waited. "Spike, could you get that? I'm a little busy at the moment." "On it!" said a new voice, a male voice which puzzled Scar. That soon turned into surprise when the door opened, revealing a small, purple...dragon? Holding a feather duster? "Uh, can I help you?" he said to Scar's surprised expression. The red pegasus quickly recovered. "Sorry. I-I'm looking for Twilight." Scar explained. "Oh. Hey Twilight! Some guy's looking for you!" the dragon called into the library before turning back to Scar. "C'mon in." He led the way as Scar stepped into the library. Several books were scattered about the floor while some were levitated by a purple aura and placed on several shelves. Twilight saw Scar and approached him. "Oh! Hello there Scar." Her eyes traveled over the library. "Sorry about the mess. We're doing a little cleaning at the moment." "Nah, it's fine. I'm just here to ask something real quick." Scar said. Twilight nodded in understanding, and Scar steeled himself once again. "D'you know anything about...light...?" The mare tapped her chin in thought. "Well...If you want to know about light, this should get you started." A yellow book flew out of its shelf surrounded by a lavender aura. Twilight held it up in front of Scar who read the title. It was titled "Optics for Dummies". "That's uh...not the kind of light I'm looking for." he said peering past the book at the librarian. Twilight put the book aside and looked at him puzzled. "Really? What kind of light are you looking for?" Light that can blow away everything in its path... Scar thought. "Well...I heard there're other kinds of light." "Really? Where'd you hear that?" Twilight asked, her interest piqued. Scar hoped she didn't notice the sweat on his forehead. "I uh...can't remember...So...heard of any other kinds of light?" "N-no." She shook her head. "Sorry, but I can't think of anything Scar." The latter wasn't really surprised at all. An idea struck him. "Wait, d'you got anything on the history of Ponyville or something?" "Huh? First you ask about light, then you ask about the town's history?" Twilight asked confused. Too late, Scar realized that he didn't think that through. She might make a connection between Ponyville and light and get closer to the truth. "If you don't have any, then I'll-" "Wait." Twilight said stopping him. She picked out another book titled "A Brief History of Ponyville" and gave it to Scar. "If you must know Applejack's family founded Ponyville in the first place." "Really?" Scar took the book from her."Well, I guess this could help me. So, do I gotta pay or anything or..." "Oh no. This is a library. Just have in back in a week OK?" Twilight told him. "Will do. Thanks again Twilight. I'll see you around then." With that, Scar took of carrying the book. Twilight watched him leave for a while before turning to her assistant. "Spike, you done there?" "Almost." he replied. Indeed, his half of the library was almost completely tidy. "Good because once you're done, we're going to look a few things up." Twilight said as she levitated some books and put them in their proper places. "What kind of things?" Spike asked. "You mean the stuff that guy was talking about?" She nodded. She wasn't suspicious at all, just curious. For some reason, Scar affiliated light with Ponyville which got her thinking.