Chapter 16.
Silver Axe groaned when he woke up and his body reminded him of why he was lying in a hospital bed. The medication he had been given had mostly worn off so he didn’t feel as groggy or out of it.
The Pegasus frowned as he glanced around and wondered for a brief moment when and how he got here and how much time had passed. He really couldn’t recall much after passing out after the fight, though his foggy memories recalled hearing Snow Heart’s voice talking with him.
Wait, he thought focused a bit more on that memory, she had probably been here when he was still too hopped up on medication to response properly. And no doubt used that to her advantage.
Glancing at the window only revealed that it was still night, the Pegasus then took note of the rest of the room. He was alone in it and first now did the stallion notice that he was in fact restrained to the bed, though in his current condition escape was the furthest thing away from Axe’s mind.
I don’t recall what I was meant to do if I was caught, not that it matters. He frowned; events of the weekend were slowly coming back to him.
The Pegasus’s ears perked up when hearing faint voices. Ponies were talking outside his room but he couldn’t quite make them out. He didn’t need to wonder for long, the door opened and a yellowish mare with blue striped mane and tail came walking in. Silver Axe could just glimpse a guard standing outside through the open doorway.
“Oh, I see you are awake,” the nurse pony said and smiled. “I just wanted to check and make sure you hadn’t disturbed any of your bandages.”
Silver Axe raised an eyebrow but it wasn’t as if he was in any position to protest. The nurse removed his blanket to reveal more of his bandaged body. She then carefully inspected the wrappings but nothing was out of order and the Pegasus was soon covered again with his blanket.
“Now do you feel like you need more pain medication?” the nurse asked. “The doze we gave you should be worn out by now.”
Rather not, that batch really knocked me out, Axe thought and quickly shook his head.
“I’m sorry about the restraints, but the guards insisted on them since you are under arrest,” the mare explained and smiled more sympathetically. The guard outside cleared his throat rather audibly but the nurse ignored him.
“It will be morning soon, if you feel up for some breakfast I can note it for the next shift so they bring it to you,” she offered. Silver Axe considered it for a moment before nodding.
“Splendid, well it’s still few hours before dawn so you can rest a bit before breakfast,” the nurse said before heading out.
Silver Axe shook his head and doubted he would fall asleep again anytime soon. He watched the nurse leave and began to close the door, but it stopped half way and the Pegasus could hear her address someone:
“Big Macintosh, you really should stay in your room.”
“Ah know, but Ah really need to talk to that feller I fought,” Big Mac said.
“It’s highly irregular, you both need your rest,” the nurse protested.
“Ah’m aware of that and Ah’ll take full responsibility for it,” the red stallion assured her.
“Well… what do you think?” the nurse addressed the guard now.
“Very well, but don’t be long,” the guard grunted.
Why would he want to speak with me? Silver Axe brow rose and he watched as the door opened fully again and Big Macintosh entered. He was only slightly less bandaged as the Pegasus.
“Now Ah understand that ya can’t speak?” Big Mac addressed him while approaching the bed. Silver Axe nodded in confirmation.
“Well that’s alright, Ah’m not much of a speaker mahself,” the red stallion explained and sat down.
Silence commenced for a brief moment. The guard had closed the door so the two big ponies were pretty much alone in the room. Silver Axe kept his gaze on the ceiling waiting to find out what exactly the Earth Pony was after. Big Mac was contemplating how to begin.
“Why did ya not finish me off?” the red pony finally asked. Silver Axe slowly glanced towards him. “Oh right, that’s difficult to answer when ya can’t talk and Ah don’t understand hoofsignals.”
“Alright, let me just be blunt then Mister Silver Axe. A lot about ya right now don’t make lick of sense. Ah admit Ah went face first into the fight because Ah figured you were going to harm mah sister and her friends. But now that Ah’ve had time to think, ya never really tried to break off from the fight at all. Ya had plenty of chances to break off and run, even go and warn yer partner. Ya both had the advantage of wing power. Then when ya threw me, ya could have easily just let me crash land and Ah would be far worse off than Ah’m right now,” Big Mac started on his theory, speaking probably more now than he had for the past several months.
“Now stop me if Ah’m wrong but why do Ah have a feeling that ya wanted to be captured?”
Well it wasn’t supposed to be quite like this but no you aren’t wrong so to speak, Silver Axe thought before simply nodding.
“Ya wanted to be captured?” Big Mac asked again though it was more in surprise that he had been correct. Silver Axe nodded the second time.
“Ya are not really working with the foalnapper are ya?” the red stallion’s brow rose high when the Pegasus shook his head.
“Alright, if Ah find somepony who understands signals, will ya explain now what exactly yer part in this is?” Big Macintosh asked and he immediately rose up when Silver Axe nodded. The Earth Pony trotted as quickly as his injuries allowed to the door and peeked outside.
“Hey, do ya understand hoofsignals?” he asked the guard standing outside. The white Unicorn guard looked at him questionably.
“Uh a bit, why?” he asked.
“Yer prisoner wants to explain something,” the red stallion told him.
Might as well explain what I’m really up to now, maybe that will get the ball rolling, Silver Axe waited until Big Mac returned with the guard. Soon enough both were sitting on either side of his bed.
“Alright, talk, well signal, what is it you have to say?” the guard asked.
The Pegasus carefully raised his right hoof and began tapping it on the bed railing, forming his thoughts into clicking signals as long as you understood them. The guard translated every word.
I fully confess that I’m guilty of assisting with the foalnapping of Diamond Tiara. I had honestly hoped to be able to stop things in its birth but things moved faster than I anticipated. You see, I had been living in solitude near the Crystal Mountains for many years when a mare calling herself Snow Heart arrived on my doorsteps, Silver Axe began his tale.
At the time she looked like she had been traveling for weeks nonstop and was both hungry and thirsty. I allowed her to stay for few days to recover until she could on her own continue whatever journey she was on. She did leave after a week and I thought that was the end of that, she never asked anything of me and seemed just as eager to get going.
Then few weeks ago she returned with a Gryphon named Paul. She asked me if I needed a job, I informed her that I wasn’t really looking but she turned very insistent. She said it was an easy job and all I needed to do was make sure Paul did what he was supposed to do. I almost threw them right out when the job was revealed to be foalnapping.
Silver Axe stopped for a moment to rest his hoof. He was still weak and tired so this was more laborious than usual. Both the guard and Big Mac waited patiently for him to continue.
Something struck me about this, you may or may not know but years ago I lost my daughter in a terrible storm. I know how it is to lose a foal and I would never wish that on anypony else. I realized that these two would just go and find somepony else to work for them, maybe even a pony far more willing to foalnap for easy money. I figured if I played along I could unravel their plans and expose them before the foalnapping took place.
I just didn’t take into account what a good strategist Snow Heart turned out to be. First of all Paul and I were supposed to do all the hard work. Snow Heart would come to the hiding place later and only stop there for a short while then go and collect the ransom money. Paul was then in event of capture to claim full credit for the foalnapping and I was simply the hired thug.
The day the foalnapping took place I attempted to bungle things up; I took my time to arrive to the meeting point with Paul and even stopped in the local bakery. Unfortunately Paul didn’t turn out to be as incompetent as I thought and succeeded in getting Diamond Tiara without anypony noticing.
Once again the Pegasus stopped both to rest and because he looked almost embarrassed. Big Mac wondered if Silver Axe felt he had done more harm than good. The Guard also used the opportunity to go to a nearby sink to drink some water, since he was doing the translation. When both were ready the pony on the bed continued his tale.
After that I was pretty much at loss what to do. The plan had gone mostly without a hitch. I could have alerted someone to our presence but Paul would then just claim the sole credit for this and Snow Heart would escape and she sounded like the type to try again no matter what. But after seeing what that mare really had in mind for the poor girl, I decided to Tartarus with it, at first opportunity I was exposing us.
If I really was going to be doing my job I would not have allowed Paul to go back to his apartment, but I did and as I suspected would happen he was followed, by his own cousin who proceeded to beat him up. I took some mild satisfaction in watching him being used as a mop on the Forest floor. I figured his cousin would do to lead search parties to us and thus knocked her out and sent her away on a cloud in the general direction of the town.
Things didn’t quite happen in the order I wanted, first just these kids and a stallion arrived. I tried to scare them off in hope they would also get a search party into the area, of course I had to act as if I was chasing them just in case Paul was watching. Then Big Macintosh came and we had our brawl. At that point I was so frustrated that things didn’t happen like I wanted them too that I honestly stopped seeing Big Macintosh and kept seeing Paul and that I was beating him up.
That’s why I didn’t let you crash, I got too carried away imagining I was beating up Paul and realized my error when I sent you flying. When I dropped you off outside the woods and within view of the town, I realized this was perfect to finally alert myself to the search parties so I kept the fight going as long as possible. Of course Big Macintosh turned out to be the better fighter anyway.
Silver Axe finally finished. The guard and Big Mac were staring at him looking both surprised and mildly confused. The Unicorn finally opened his mouth to say something but the Pegasus began tapping again with his hoof.
There is one more thing.
“Oh please, do go on,” the guard allowed him.
While I reluctantly allowed Snow Heart to formulate her plan in my cabin, she did receive letters from somepony. I don’t know who and if either Paul or I asked, we didn’t get much in response.
Snow Heart wrote letters too and sent them regularly. When Paul voiced his concern how close our hiding place would be to the town, she told him not to worry and that it was covered. I don’t know about you guys, but it almost sounded like Paul and I weren’t the only pony and Gryphon in her employment.
I mean, when I arrived at the forest line I was surprised to see how close the woods were to the town. Any good searching party would have no trouble finding the cottage we were hiding in. It was almost as if this was deliberate, like it would be ensured by somepony that we wouldn’t be found.
I honestly think Snow Heart had somepony on the inside, probably whoever it was she was writing letters too.
“So let me get this straight, you were trying to sabotage the foalnapping efforts from the inside?” Guard asked and Silver Axe nodded. The Unicorn glanced skeptically towards Big Macintosh.
“Well he was confirmed to enter Sugarcube Corner by Mrs. Cake before the foalnapping took place and Ah find it strange he would not just let me crash after throwing me, not to mention he never really tried to chase mah sister and her friends,” the Earth Stallion pointed out.
“And yes, he did allow this Gilda to beat up on Paul without interference and then just sent her off to be easily found,” the Guard looked back at Silver Axe who just shrugged.
For the record I’m not trying to deny my involvement. I fully realize I should have had this stopped much sooner, I just wanted to try and ensure Snow Heart be caught as well and hopefully find whoever accomplice she has in this town, the Pegasus added.
“Um… I probably should report this to my superior,” the Unicorn Guard glanced unsure back to the door.
“Eeeyup,” Big Macintosh agreed.
End Chapter 16.