Mike hung up the phone. He had tried to convince himself to contact the authorities, but it was in vain. Why wouldn't he let himself call the police? If he did, this whole nightmare would be over for him, and the dangerous restaurant would be closed down. Or, worst case scenario they would think he was crazy and never look any further into it. Curse Ponyville's stupid, low crime rate.
There was a truth spell they used for when a case wasn't making any progress for a long time. But the spell had to be performed correctly and that was the problem. Nopony knew how to perform it correctly. Not even the princesses. It was a pretty complex spell that required unicorns that were experts with magic. But there was usually only a migraine afterwards if it was performed as correctly as possible. If it was performed badly, the pony on the receiving end could be brain damaged for life at the least. Mike had a bit of experience with this, as he had caught a few infamous criminals throughout his career and had been asked to multiple hearings as a witness.
Why Mike went back to that restaurant, he would never know for sure, but he did. He came at 11PM this time so he could catch a few employees for some questioning before he left. Upon opening the doors he spotted the same mare from yesterday, the one who told him he shouldn't have come here. He opened his mouth to speak, when she looked up, her mouth a straight line on her face, as their eyes met one another's. Mike's mouth faltered and he froze in his stance. He had to admit, he was kind of scared of the mare. Both of the two times he had encountered her, she always looked so....grim. After a few seconds of intense staring, Mike spoke up.
"Excuse me , Miss....."
"The name's Shady Billow, former weather pony. And you must be Mike." Mike was surprised she knew his name until he remembered they worked in the same place. Mike had already prepared his questions in his head and he was read to tell them to her, since she seemed to be the only other employee there besides Farley, who was counting money from the cash register.
"Um, I've got a few questions I'd like to ask you. Would you mind answering them?"
"That depends on what the question is."
"Okay, don't worry, this'll be fast. First, how long have you worked here?"
"Why do you need to know?" Mike frowned. It's like she was trying to make this more difficult for the both of them.
"Can you just help me out and tell me?" Shady thought for a second and answered. Shady stood there, the handle of the broom tucked beneath her wing. Her face remained the same way it had since they first started talking. Mike couldn't believe he was going to be forced to go through with this until he was out of questions to ask.
"Please?" Mike had a hopeful look on his face as he waited to see what she would do. After a few seconds, that seemed more like a few hours, Shady responded.
"4 years. Wish I could've stayed at my weather job. I used to worked with fog and storm clouds ya know. But then, they stared cutting employees and now I'm stuck at this old dump."
" Were there any strange occurances that happened in the past 20 years or so?
Shady's mouth opened wide, her pale blue eyes opened even wider. Mike was surprised to find her face displayed some sort of emotion for once
And that emotion was fear. It was like she was expecting some sort of terrible prospect if she answered or even acknowledged my question. Her next emotion was anger.
"Don't you ever ask me any questions ever again!" She said I in a furious whisper, like they were discussing something forbidden. Then Shady ran past Mike, dropping the broom and almost knocking the stallion off his hooves when she bumped into his side. Farley had looked up from his counting and tried to chase her
"Hey, wait! Your'e shift's not over for 50 more oh, why do I even bother. Won't matter for much longer anyway." Farley slumped his head and walked back to the counter.
What did he mean it wouldn't matter for much longer?
"Hey Farley, what do you mean it won't matter?" Farley looked at me surprised at my question.
" You mean you don't know? The place is closing down upon the arrival of next Monday! I don't know what I'll do after that happens. I guess I'll just have to move on, find a new job."
Next week?! Mike's ears must have been deceiving him.
"Excuse me? Did you just say next Monday? You're kidding right?" Farley shook his head.
"No, I am quite serious about that."
How could this be? He still had so much to learn, so much to discover about the place! Mike needed to uncover the truth. He needed to know what had happened here when he was young, why his mother never told him about what had happened. 'What do you mean, why can't we go anymore? Honey, we're just not going back and that's final. You don't get everything you want sweetie, now stop pestering me about.No. Mike had to know. And he would solve this mystery no matter what.
Even if it killed him.