//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Secrets of the Forest // by Cloud Thunderhoof //------------------------------// By the time Snow left the bakery where he had met the strange pink mare the morning sun had risen above the horizon. The sleepy little town had awoken in the time that the stallion had spent having breakfast. The town square where the bakery was located had transformed into a bustling open air market. Merchants now lined the square, setting up stands for their various wares and services. Snow trotted around the makeshift market, examining the products on offer as much as the merchants themselves. The Ponyville merchants were definitely of a different type than the ones he was used to in the big cities. Many of them flashed him friendly smiles as he walked by and didn’t try to push any products onto him, a stark contrast to the business ponies he was used to. The stallion spent a few minutes walking around the market, except that instead of examining the wares he watched the ponies themselves. As he had seen before, this little town was very tight knit, everyone knew everyone else and it created an interesting dynamic in the market. Suddenly snow heard a somewhat familiar voice behind him, “Oh hi Snow, didn't expect to see you here” The stallion turned towards the source of the voice and saw that it was the pistachio mare who was renting him the room. She gave him a friendly smile before continuing to speak to him, “You know you could have told me you’re an old friend of Lyra’s” Lyra had obviously held up her end of the deal, now all snow had to do was make sure he could sustain the ruse “Oh yeah, I guess it slipped my mind last night” he said in the friendliest sounding voice he could muster, which was to say extremely uncomfortably. Snow noticed a minor change in the mare’s posture and when she spoke again it was in a slower and more uncomfortable, “Sorry to bring this up now, but we still need to decide about the rent” Snow suddenly became painfully aware of how light his wallet had gotten over the past few weeks. Under normal circumstances Snow would just pickpocket some rich ponies but that probably would be the best course of action considering the circumstances. “Do you think that can wait until later, I’m not prepared to have that discussion right now” the blue stallion asked the mare “No problem, now I have to get back to work” She replied before trotting off towards the store which Snow assumed she worked at. The icy blue thief groaned when she was out of earshot, it’s always the money isn’t it, how ironic that my greatest weakness is my wallet. He mentally went through all of his belongings and their worth, and unsurprisingly his entire stash boiled down to a box full of dusty maps and trinkets, none of which would be worth much to anyone besides historians or collectors. Snow considered selling some of the relics to wealthy collectors in Canterlot and even though he had them all committed to memory and copied elsewhere he quickly realized the flaw in his logic seeing as he had stolen all of them from ponies like that. The thief quietly chuckled, imagining the reactions he would get if he showed up at some wealthy pony’s mansion with items he had stolen from them. There were a few things that would catch the eye of even the simplest pawn shop employee but they all had too much sentimental value. Then an idea lodged in his head. The castle of the two sisters was a mile or two away from the edge of town and was bound to have some trinkets he could steal and flip for cash. From what he had read most of the ponies in the town didn’t dare go anywhere near the forest and with good reason, meaning that the castle wouldn’t have been looted to extensively. However the thief realized that it would be a fool’s errand to go there without the proper equipment and information. He had some supplies and maps he could use but they were back in his lockbox. That presented an interesting problem, mostly having to face Lyra and, presumably, having to answer her questions. They were one in the same, Snow had no doubts of that, and that should have made him happy. However he only felt apprehension, he had spent over a decade of his life searching for some indication, some ray of light, that he wasn’t alone in the world. Then when he found it he couldn’t bring himself to face it, almost like it was a dream and the slightest nudge would bring the horrors of reality sweeping back in. The thief had spent the bulk of his life deceiving and manipulation others, burning every bridge he could have made in the name of his crusade; and some part of him believed that it would never end. There was no other option, all of the reasonable scenarios lead back to meeting with her. The house wasn’t far from the town square and Snow didn’t waste any time in getting there. As the icy blue pony pushed open the door and listened for a moment, not hearing any signs of life inside. Then when he reached his room something that left him genuinely dumbfounded; Lyra sat on the sofa the contents of his lockbox strewn out over the coffee table. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Snow screamed at the mint colored mare, his mouth working faster than his mind. “Come on, you and I both know that neither of us would be alive right now if we couldn’t pick locks” She continued in the same maddeningly calm tone as before. Snow sprung forward and swatted her hoof away from his belongings before glaring at her. “You honestly didn’t expect me to just accept that you are who you seem to be” She replied, giving a look like she expected more from him. Snow just stood there, realizing how trusting he had been and who stupid it was of him. Lyra’s gaze suddenly shifted and she stared at the picture of Snow’s family and she spoke up in a much more sympathetic tone “How long?” The rage which had initially consumed the icy pony instantly died and he replied, emotionless “Ten years, four months, and twenty seven days” “You were thirteen?” She asked “And it still hurts everyday” he replied, maintaining the detached note “Were you the only survivor?” Lyra asked as if she was afraid of treading on the wrong ground. The thief’s reply showed that she was through its grim neutrality, like the calm before a storm “One of my brothers made it out alive. He’s the shortest one in the picture” Snow began as he used a hoof to point towards the only reminder had of his prior life. Lyra opened her mouth, reading the expression of grief on his face and trying to change the topic before he said what she knew was coming next. However she did not act in time and snow finished his thought “We survived together for a year, living off of dumpster scraps and the dirty city rain. We couldn't risk going to any of the foal’s’ homes in the city, their checkups would had exposed us in an instant. Then one day I left him alone, he was seven and I left him alone in the bad end of Manehattan, I'M A FUCKING IDIOT!” his sentence ending in a release of years of pent up remorse and self-doubt. Then his tone changed, “And in the end it was the gangs or the murderers, it wasn't the rats or the disease they finally got to him. It was Equstria’s finest” he punctuated his sentence with more contempt than anyone thought possible. “When i saw those royal guards dumping my little brother's crumpled body into a cart it made me realize something; these things that killed my family and tore the world down around me bit by bit weren't monsters, no, they were something much, much worse” He finished, looking directly into Lyra’s eyes. The mint green mare said nothing, just looked Snow’s eyes. She saw all of the seething rage and darkest hatred in him and it scared her. She knew that the icy blue pony wouldn't harm her, but the look of pure hatred in his eyes made her blood freeze. “What did you do to them? You…” the green mare began Snow turned and glared at her then scoffed, “What? You expected me to rush in and fight them, a thirteen year old who forgot how his hooves worked once and a while versus two trained and hardened killers? Listen, the real world doesn't work that way. All of those skills that made me such a good fighter I got later in life. If they had seen me they would have killed me so I ran for my life, and they will never let me stop running” “The world we live in is nothing like those fairy tales we heard as kids, it’s dark and merciless. There is no such thing as the knight in shining armor who charges into battle just to thwart evil and save the day. If you try to be upstanding and riotous then the world will break you. I am no hero” Snow said, making sure that every word he said got through Then to his surprise Lyra looked him straight in the eye and spoke calmly “Then why don’t you kill?” The question took the outlaw by surprise and he was forced to reconsider what he was planning on saying “The ponies I fight don’t deserve to die, most soldiers and guards have no idea about what happened to our kind and it’s not right for me to take their lives for the sins of their comrades” “Why not, they killed your family?” She continued, her efforts to understand Snow’s convoluted moral compass were obvious if not a little cliché. “If I kill ponies who had nothing to do with my suffering than what makes me any different than the ones who did?” He asked hoping that would be a satisfactory answer. “So the rumors are true, the infamous Frostbite isn’t a killer” Lyra said, looking at the icy blue stallion Snow recognized the name and realized that she knew exactly who he was, but he tried to act as if she had it wrong “What makes you think that I’m him?” Lyra replied calmly, obviously knowing that she was right “I read your journal and all of those relics and maps with your belongings are the same ones which Frostbite, AKA you, stole” Snow stood there, on one hand he resented her for her intrusion but on the other hand he knew she would have found out eventually. In the end he chose to nod, knowing that she would not report him. “For a thief that could break any bank in the country you don’t seem to have a keen interest in money; all of the things you've stolen are ancient relics and maps and judging from your little stash and journal you don’t sell them. So, what have you been after, since it’s not money or jewels like most thieves” Lyra said Snow smirked and looked into the mint pony’s eyes before speaking “They did a very good job of burying the truth about our kind under years of lies and indoctrination, so good in fact that we don’t even know the whole truth. But no matter how hard they try to suppress it there loose threads in the web of lies they call history, there are things that cannot be buried under lies or destroyed by fire, things that I can find the truth from. I have no interest in money or power in the traditional sense, the truth is a good enough weapon for me” “So you’re hunting down the truth so that you can show the world what happened?” Lyra asked, almost sure she had him figured out. The blue pony smirked shook his head “That’s a side effect. No, I’m not some hero like you seem to think. When you assumed that I wasn't out for revenge you were wrong, I’m not out to seek retribution for what happened to me, I’m avenging all of the deaths. I want to watch the carefully constructed world of deception crumble around the silver tonged bitch who started all of the suffering. I want to watch Celestia’s world to burn” The duo stood there in silence, trying to find something to say. Before either of them could speak up the sound of the front door creaking open. The steady sound of light hoof-steps below them confirmed that someone was in the house. “Bonbon back”, Lyra said in a hushed voice “And a stallion”, Snow replied filling in the gap Lyra didn't know existed. “What?” she asked, not understanding what made him think that. Snow crouched down and closed his eyes before speaking “There are two sets of slightly offset step patterns, one’s much heavier and spaced out indicating that someone tall is with your friend. Also there is a slight variation in the gate of the second pony which doesn't match with hers, probably a stallion judging by the spacing of the sounds” Lyra stared at him unable to understand how he got all of that from listening to ponies walk “How...?” “Years of practice and hypersensitive ears” The expert thief interjected. The mint pony nodded, impressed but not sure she fully understood “She is going to notice if I’m up here and I don’t think it would be wise to attract any unnecessary attention, given the nature of our conversation” Snow nodded and then spoke in his usual calm manner “Any idea who the other pony is?” “I may not have your gift for hearing but it’s pretty obvious that it’s her boyfriend, don’t worry about him noticing anything strange, he’s as oblivious to the world around him as a rock” Lyra began Then to her surprise Snow’s expression changed to a slightly embarrassed grin “So you’re not…together? Not that there’s anything wrong with that…” “Bonbon’s my best friend not my girlfriend” she said, giving Snow an incredulous look. They both stood back up and without a word Lyra walked out of the door and closed it without making a sound. However before snow could start doing anything else the door creaked back open and the mint green head poked around the corner. When she spoke it was in a hushed voice and a different language, however Snow understood every word of it “If you had all of the skills and training you have now when your brother died would you have killed those guards?” Snow’s face remained absolutely neutral while he replied, speaking in the same language as Lyra “I often ask myself that same question”