Her Frontier

by FromTheMoon

Interlude: Around Town

Chapter 19: Around Town

"...buck..."

"Buck!"

"BUCK IT ALL!"

The language that had been coming from Top Notch's mouth ever since he left the farm was enough to make any mother cover their children's ears. The stallion was sure that he had yelled every profanity under the sun by the time he stepped into the town. There were two things he wanted to get off his chest and, coincidently enough, two places in town that he wanted to visit.

The Sheriff's station came into view. Normally Top Notch wouldn't even bother coming in to the station in the middle of the day since chances were that Sheriff Silver Point would probably be out of town patrolling. Over the last month however the old pegasus had dedicated almost every waking moment to finding Whisky's killer. Folks around swore that the only time they saw the old stallion leave his station was to go to Whisky's restaurant.

Top Notch walked in and, just as he thought, Sheriff Silver Point was at his desk with papers and folders spread all cross the wooden surface. "Sheriff Silver Point." No response, the Sheriff definitely seemed to be consumed by his investigation. "Hey Silver Point!"

"Boy I thought I told you when you were a colt to always address me as Sheriff Silver Point or Sheriff. Don't you have any manners?" The Sheriff eyed Top Notch for a moment before putting a hoof to his own face. "You know what, never mind. I'm actually glad you're here. Follow me Top Notch I need your help with something real quick."

"Uh sure thing Sheriff." The Sheriff lead the stallion into an open cell and pointed at the lone bed. "You want me to get on the bed?"

"Don't flatter yourself boy. I just need you to make sure that it's comfy. These new cell beds arrived before the changeling attack and I want to get a second opinion on them."

It was an odd request but it seemed to make sense. "Okay, seems fair enough." Top Notch got on the bed and laid down on it. He twisted and turned for a bit before coming up with an answer. "Seems comfy to me Sheriff"

"So they are comfy? Good." Sheriff Silver Point walked out of the cell and slammed the door to it shut. "Top Notch you are here by placed under arrest for suspicion of murdering Whiksylifa. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say will and can be..."

The scene the played out in front of Sheriff Silver Point seemed awfully familiar. As if possessed Top Notch leapt off the bed and slammed against the cells bars causing the whole structure to shake. "This isn't funny old man!"

The Sheriff walked back to his desk, glanced around it as if searching for something, grabbed a piece of paper, and made his way back to the cell. "I never said it was going to be funny boy. You're in a heap of trouble so if I were you I'd watch my mouth."

"If you were me then you'd be watching me kick your ass all the way to Canterlot right now. Were do you get off suspecting me of murdering my best friend?" Sheriff Silver Point shook his head at that and slid the paper he was holding into the cell. Top Notch picked it and quickly glanced at it. "What's this?"

"That right there is a suspect bio. I have one for every pony in town and I always make sure to keep it updated. Don't be crying thinking that I suspected you right off the bat either. I went through every pony in this town before I got to you. I didn't want to believe it but out of every resident in EverGlade you had the most cause for murdering that boy."

"Most cause? What are you..."

"Actually let me correct myself. You had the most cause out of any resident currently in town. As I recall you and Whisky were arguing the day of the changeling attack."

Top Notch couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But that was nothing! Sure I was mad at him but over nothing serious enough to kill the guy!" He rattled his cell bars a little more.

"That ain't going to do you any good. Had them reinforced ever since the changeling broke out. Getting back on topic now, every single other town resident I questioned had an alibi that checked out on the night of the murder. Every single resident except for you however."

The solution occurred to Top Notch. "I do have any alibi that checks out. I was at the farm all day and night with Rainbow Dash when that happened! It was only the next morning when we found out about what happened."

The Sheriff smirked at this. "Okay so how about you and me head on over to the farm and talk to Rainbow Dash to see if your story checks out. If it does then I'll let you go free on the spot. If it doesn't...well you better hope that it does."

Not the answer that Top Notch wanted to hear. His ears splayed back and he hung his head. "We can't do that Sheriff. Me and her aren't exactly on speaking terms right now."

The old pegasus found his interest peaked. "Oh?" Slowly he walked back and forth in front of the cell making sure to keep at hoof distance from the bars. "Lemme guess, you got in an argument with your little mare friend didn't you?"
Sheriff Silver Point eyed Top Notch for a moment before going back to his desk and working on his report. "So am I going to have to put her under protection now too?"

"She hurt me real bad Sheriff but I think she hurt herself even worse." That definitely came from out of the blue. "I just don't know what to think anymore Sheriff. In a way you were sorta right about her from the beginning. Maybe I should of taken your advice and not of gotten so close to her."

Top Notch went quiet and kept his stare pointed at the floor. Sheriff Silver Point looked over and saw the look the dairy farmer had on him. Slowly he got up from his desk and made his way to the cell. "I just got one question for you Top Notch, do you think or do you know if Rainbow Dash killed Whisky? Be honest with me boy."

Sheriff Silver point stood right next to the cell waiting for Top Notch's answer. "No Sheriff, I give you my word that Rainbow Dash didn't kill Whisky and neither did I." That was all the Sheriff needed to hear.

He unlocked the cell and opened the door. "Alright, you're free to go Top Notch."

"What? But I thought you said that I needed to have my alibi confirmed by Rainbow Dash in order to go free."

"Yeah I'm breaking a lot of protocols letting you go just like that but its obvious you didn't kill him. You're heartbroken which I'm guessing is torture enough. I wouldn't know since no girl has ever broken my heart. There ain't no mare in this country of ours that's going to tie me down."

Top Notch got of the bed and walked out of the cell standing in front of the Sheriff. "Thanks Sheriff."

"Don't mention it boy. No seriously, don't mention this at all to anyone else. If the Mayor found out about this I'd probably lose my badge." He patted Top Notch on the head before sitting back at his desk. "I don't know what you did to have that girl break your heart Top Notch. I ain't no couple's counselor but maybe you should try and go talk to her. See if she'll take back a fool like you."

"I don't see that happening Sheriff. If anything she should be begging me for forgiveness after all the secrets she hid from me for so long. She's in the wrong here, not me."

The pegasus smiled at that. "Oh I highly doubt that boy. If you're this heartbroken I can't even imagine what she's going through right now."

"Wait...are you...you're defending Rainbow Dash?"

"I not her lawyer but yeah when you put it that way I suppose I am."

"But you hate her! Ever since she arrived in town you've done nothing but ignore her and put her down."

"Hated, don't get me wrong I still can't stand that attitude that she has but she's proven that she is dependable in a crisis situation. Heck without her this town would probably be ground zero of a new changeling hive. So yeah I've come to respect her a little, she's proven she can hold her own in a hoof fight."

Top Notch was struggling to believe what he was hearing. "But..but...she hid her secret from me for so long! I mean how can I even trust anything she says now?"

The Sheriff stretched his legs and let out a yawn. "Tell me Top Notch, did this secret involve her stealing money from you? Did she try to trick you into giving her the deed to your farm? Did she somehow travel back in time and convince Princess Celestia to not help you save your parents?"

"No, nothing like that. What she did was..."

Sheriff Silver Point held a hoof up silencing the stallion. "I don't care what she did or what her secret is. That's none of my concern. What I do know is that everyone has a personal secret of two they don't want others knowing about. Ponies that say different are damn liars. Heck for all you know it could of been hurting her more to keep that secret to herself for so long seeing as she's probably been weighed down by the burden. Now that her secret is out she's finally free to be completely honest with herself and those around her."

The young stallion kicked at the floor for a while trying to come up with something to say that would null what the Sheriff had just told him. A couple of minutes passed by in silence when Top Notch realized that he had nothing. "You've given me a lot to think about Sheriff. By the way you wouldn't happen to have any leads on the murderer do you?"

Shuffling through his papers the Sheriff gave shake of his head. "Can't say I do since I just let my prime suspect go free. There really isn't much for me to work with seeing as there literally nothing at the scene of the crime. No blood, no cuts or bruises on the body, not even any hoof prints on Whisky. The only thing that seemed out of place was a chair on its side next to where Clover Leaf found his body. It's almost as if Whisky died in his sleep and somehow ended up on the floor of his restaurant. There's also that dirt that was on the table and next to Whisky but nothing else. I'm honestly shooting blanks here."

"I'm sure you'll figure out what happened Sheriff. If you excuse me I've got one last stop I've got to make in town before I head home."

"You're going to go check on Clover Leaf and Whisky's mother aren't you?"

"Yes sir."

"Let me know if you find anything suspicious will you?"

"Will do Sheriff."

"Oh and one more thing Top Notch. Try to see it from her point of view when you talk to Rainbow Dash. I know it's going to be hard to believe coming from me but she doesn't seem like a bad mare."

Top Notch stood at the door of the Sheriff's station and nodded his head before making his way out onto the street and towards the restaurant.

---

The streets of EverGlade were crowded by its residents going about their afternoon businesses. Some of the ponies that Top Notch walked by he recognized from the funeral earlier that day. The stallion couldn't help but feel a little pissed off seeing them walk around town as if nothing had changed. "Ungrateful jerks. Whisky gave them amazing food and service and they act like he's not even gone."

Top Notch walked in through the front doors of the restaurant and looked around the dining room. All the tables were empty giving the building a life less feeling. Even the bar was empty despite usually being occupied by a pony or two. The whole room was eerily quiet which for whatever reason bothered Top Notch. "Hello? Clover Leaf? Anybody? It's me Top Notch, I just came by to check in and see if everything is alright."

A voice came from upstairs. "Give me one moment and I'll be down in a jiffy. Just taking care of some cleaning up here." Top Notch obliged and took a seat at one of the tables. It had taken him some time but he realized why the restaurant was so quiet. He turned his attention to one of the walls and saw that the jukebox was off.

The jukebox refused to turn on despite a minute of Top Notch fidgeting with the dials. "I never was good with these things. I know, maybe its unplugged..."

"Wouldn't waste your time with that thing Top Notch. Dang thing hasn't worked since Whisky passed away." Top Notch turned around and saw Clover Leaf come through the kitchen door with Whisky's mother behind her. "How have you and Rainbow Dash been holding up?"

Quickly abandoning his efforts to get music to play Top Notch made his way over to Clover Leaf and put her in a hug. "Oh you know me Clover, I'm a survivor and I'll get through this one way or another. As for Rainbow Dash...well...I guess you could say she could be doing a whole lot better right now." A sudden realization struck him. "Wait did you just call me Top Notch?"

"Yeah, that's your name isn't it? Don't tell you got a name change since the last time I saw you today."

"No its just that you haven't called me by my full name since before we dated all those years ago."

"Oh...that's what you meant." Clover Leaf rubbed the back of her head. "I've been doing a lot of thinking since...well you know. I figured it wasn't fair to Whisky, you, or Rainbow Dash that I call you by a nick name that I gave you when we dated. It's little too late now I guess but it's the thought that counts, right? At least that's...that's...what I've been..." Tears started to build up in the unicorns eyes.

Top Notch was about to move and embrace the mare in a hug to try and calm her down but Whisky's mother intervened putting the sobbing mare in a hug. "Hush now child. My son loved you to his final breath and didn't care if you called your ex by that name. Now dry your tears. You know what they say, you're not supposed to cry over a loved one that's passed away because it makes them cry in the next life."

Clover Leaf wiped away her tears and returned the embrace. "I know...thank you Ms. Hoofpac."

Ms. Hoofpac gave the unicorn a bright warm smile before turning her attention to Top Notch. "You must be the stallion that was best friends with my son right? Forgive me child cause my memory isn't so good these days but your name is Top Notch right?"

"Yes mam' and let me say that it is a pleasure to meet you at last although I do wish it was under better circumstances. Your son Whisky told me so many good things about you."

The smile on the old mare grew as she wiped away a small tear. "Thank you child, that means a lot to a pony of my age." She motioned for the three of them to take a seat at a close table. "Now Clover here has told me that my son may have wronged you by spreading some nasty rumors of you being romantically involved with a pegasus from out of town. Tell me young stallion, is this true? Did Whiskylifa really do such a thing behind your back and that girls back?"

Top Notch felt uneasy telling his dead friends mother such an awful truth. "I hate to make your son look back after he's passed away mam' but unfortunately he did do that."

Both Top Notch and Clover Leaf looked stunned when they saw Ms. Hoofpac break out in laughter. "Forgive me, forgive me but it just brings a little bit of joy to this old mares heart to hear that her son was still up to old tricks even after all this time."

The old mare noticed the looks they were giving her. "Oh look at both of your faces, you must think I've gone insane from my son's death." In reality that wasn't far from what Top Notch was thinking. "Here let me explain from the beginning. Me and Whisky's father had him when we were still pretty young. At first me and his father were as happy as a couple be, then came the rough years. For a while money was short with Whisky's father having lost his job. Eventually the stress of being jobless and having to raise a son was to much for that stallion."

Clover Leaf listened to the mares words and slowly put tow and two together. "Wait, you don't mean that Whisky's father..."

"I do child, that stallion couldn't handle the pressure and one day just disappeared leaving me to raise Whisky on my own. It broke my heart every time he asked me where his father was. I just didn't have the strength to tell him the truth until he was a bit older. Once I told him I think he hated his father for having abandoned him and me."

"That would explain why he never talked about his dad." Top Notch reasoned.

Ms. Hoofpac nodded her head at that. "My son was unhappy growing up without a father, that much I saw everyday he lived with me. Interesting thing is that even though he was unhappy he always tried to make the lives of those around him better. The most common way that he would do this would be by playing match maker."

Top Notch did a double take on that. "Match maker? You mean he would set ponies up on dates?"

"In a way yes but he was never direct about it. He would go around spreading little rumors about the two ponies and then let life take over. I believe that's what he did with you and that pegasus. Actually I know so because several months ago he sent me a letter saying that he had met a wonderful pegasus mare that was perfect for his best friend."

"Wait, he said she was perfect for me? What did he mean by that?"

The old mare reached across the table a put a hoof on Top Notch's shoulder. "My son would write to me saying how bad he felt for you. He always said in his letters that you out on a brave face. He told me how lonely you were after your parents passed away. Whisky thought that maybe all you needed was a special pony in you life again."

"There's only so much a friend can do, sometimes ponies need something more."

Those were the words that Whisky had told Top Notch the day he confessed to the rumors. "He wasn't talking about Rainbow Dash, he meant me."

"My son would never do anything to hurt his best friend. Whatever Whisky did he did with the best intentions."

Top Notch stood up from the table and thanked Ms. Hoofpac for her words. "I think I should head back to farm. There are some things I need to talk about with Rainbow Dash about. Mostly me apologizing for being an inconsiderate fool."

Clover Leaf's ears perked up at this. "Wait, what did you do to Rainbow Dash!? So help me Top Notch I told you that if you did anything to hurt that girl I'd..."

"Easy, easy Clover...glad to see you haven't lost your fighting spirit. I was just acting stupid and I said some dumb things. I thought she hurt me pretty bad but now I see that I was that one that probably broke both our hearts." Top Notch made his way to the door but called to Clover Leaf before he left. "Hey Clover, mind if I have a word with you real quick?"

"Uh sure Top Notch."

Both walked outside of the restaurant and once Top Notch was sure they were alone leaned in close to whisper. "So how have things been with the restaurant? I know the town awarded you ownership but how you holding up?"

"Oh I've been just swell business wise I guess. I'm going to have to hire another pair of hooves to help me out though. Why you asking?"

"Well actually Clover..." Top Notch began but stopped when he realized what he was about to say. The main reason he had come to the restaurant in the first place was to find out if Clover had any suspicions on who the murderer might be. He shook those thoughts from his head. "The Sheriff told me to tell you if you have any news or found any evidence to tell him immediately."

"Okay so is that what you wanted to tell me Top Notch?"

The stallion nodded his head before saying goodbye and taking his leave. There was nothing more that he wanted in than to apologize to Rainbow Dash.

---

The sun was setting over the horizon by the time Top Notch was out of the town and in the scrub land making his way back to the farm.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice call him from behind. "Hello there lover boy. How have you and Rainbow Dash been holding since the death of your bar tender friend?"

Top Notch spun around and came face to face with an earth pony. "Thatcher...it was you wasn't it? You killed Whisky didn't you?"

"Maybe I did and maybe I did. Either way I'm just glad that pest is finally out of my mane. What are you going to do about it lover boy? Kill me?" Thatcher laughed at his own crude joke.

"No but I'll beat you till you near death and then turn you over to the Sheriff. How does that sound to you?"

"Not going to lie, that actually sounds pretty unpleasant Top Notch."

Without a word more being said an enraged Top Notch rushed at Thatcher but didn't come anywhere close to him. He was held back by a a force and being lifted so that his hooves were barely off the ground. He glanced around his body and saw that he was completely covered in a magic aura. "What the...Thatcher what is this?"

"This is us using you as bait young stallion." An unfamiliar voice came from the incapacitated stallion's right side. Out of the corner of Top Notch's eye he saw what looked like to be a unicorn.

"Who are..." Top Notch didn't get a chance to finish. From his left side came a burly earth pony who landed a hard puch to the side of Top Notch's skull.

Stars were the last thing Top Notch saw before blacking out completely and then falling to the ground in a heap.