//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: To Start Anew // by Kyi195 //------------------------------// It wasn’t the greatest morning for Snow Veil, having had another of her recurring nightmares. It seemed every night she had to relive the painful day her parents were taken from her. ============================== It started off as any other day. Celestia raised the sun at her normal hour and activity in Cloudsdale started bustling. Her parents left to their music shop while Snow Veil went to rot her brain at school. She really didn’t like school, felt it was unnecessary. She could easily learn what she wanted to know, whether through books, her parents, or some other medium. So it was a typical day at school. Snow Veil spends most of her day writing songs, not exactly listening to what the teacher was saying. She spoke with some of her friends, but mostly spent time with herself. Voluntarily. Some ponies poked fun at her for having no friends, but to their amusement, it was self induced. She much preferred to be a loner than to have a large posse following her around. But as the day wore on, Snow Veil could only imagine the even that was going to change her life forever. Her parents were running the shop as they did every day, getting visits from long time friends and loyal customers. Her parents were loved by just nearly everypony. Her mother was a white pegasus with a straight, blue mane. Her blue eyes were full of kindness and love, for everypony, to the point where everypony wondered why she became a shop keeper rather than a hospital mare. Only she knew the answer and it was to stay close to her husband. He was a striking figure; a larger built body and a light brown coat. His mane was quite a bright blond. His life dream was to open a shop in the business district of Cloudsdale and his wife was in full support. On her way back from school, Snow Veil was feeling really good as she had survived another day, AND had passed all her classes (it was the end of the school year). On her daily walk to help close the music shop, she was thinking of how her and her parents would spend the long break, but instead, the first sight she saw made her heart skip a beat. The door to the music shop lie on the ground. The police ponies were all over the place taking notes and looking around. There was even a private investigator looking around, placing numbered cards by everything he deemed was evidence. There was a large pool of blood coating the royal blue tiling behind the counter and by one of the shelves as if someone had placed a red carpet over the existing floor. She didn’t want to believe what she was seeing, but how couldn’t she. It was right there, looking her in the face. She tried to be strong, tried to repress the tears, but the feeling was too overwhelming for her. The only two ponies in her life she would always spend time with and always love talking with had been selfishly taken from her. Stolen from her life. Just like that. In cold blood no less. She knew everyone loved her parents. Who would be so uncaring, so mad that they would commit such an atrocity? “W-What h-happened h-here” was all Snow Veil was able to manage before she burst out into tears. She ran straight home. No one was going to stop her, prevent her from getting to her destination. She ran through the city, splitting couples, knocking over shopping carts… and ponies for that matter. All the while her eyes were spewing tears. ============================== She woke with a gasp. Reliving that tragedy was taking a toll on her sanity. Her bed was soaked with her sweat. Her bright blue mane (she took after her mother in looks and her father in personality) was tangled and matted. Her dark blue eyes, bloodshot and tear filled. “Just a dream,” she thought to herself. “Well, more like a nightmare… THAT nightmare…” Nearly weekly for the past year and a half Snow Veil had been reliving that moment in her life, that horrible event that changed her life. For better or for worse, she had yet to decide, but for now it definitely felt like it was for the worse, as she never felt any better about it. And to top it all off, in the six years that had passed since the day, the police never caught the two. All Snow Veil could do was sit and hope that her parents were happy; wherever it was that they went after death. She grudgingly pulled herself out of bed and hobbled to the kitchen, still groggy from just waking up. Sight was also difficult as her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light. She grabbed a box of cereal, a bowl, and some milk. She slowly ate her cereal in solitude. Through some string pulling her aunt and uncle in Manehattan had managed to allow her to legally stay home rather than go to an orphanage. When she finished her breakfast she put her dishes in the sink, the milk in the fridge and the cereal box in the pantry. After everything was away, she wandered out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom. She stumbled into the bathroom, still half asleep, and turned the hot water on. She know this would help her wake up. When the water heated up she plugged the drain and stepped in. While she was soaking in the tub her mind started wandering. “Has it really been six years? Have I really survived that long with nopony living with me? How have I stayed sane?” She just dwelled on the past until she realized that she had been in the bath for a good thirty minutes. She decided it was time to get out and get ready to take on the day. She stood up and stepped out of the bath, dried off, brushed her teeth, and brushed her mane. She then realized that working on the weather team was what kept her sane. Down-to-earth, so to speak as she lived on a cloud. “Today is going to be a good day,” Snow Veil told herself, as she did every morning. “A very good day.”