In the broad daylight

by Askre

Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

Sunday morning arrived bright and sunny. The only real cloud was the dark figuratively speaking one that hung over many ponies in Ponyville regarding the still unsolved foalnapping case.

At Sweet Apple Acres, The Cutie Mark Crusaders hurried with their breakfast so they could sooner head to town. As the fillies rushed out of the house, they noticed Applejack and Big Mac speaking with one another. While listening in on what the two adult ponies were saying, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle climbed into the wagon and Scootaloo prepared the scooter.

“They need more local volunteers? Huh guess that makes sense,” Applejack remarked.

“Eeeyup,” her brother agreed.

“A local could show ‘em areas they hadn’t thought of yet. But what makes ‘em think the hoodlums are still around here?” the orange Earth Pony wondered. Big Macintosh only shrugged.

“Well Ah hope they don’t need ya all day, there is a lot to do on the farm as ya know,” she said.

“Eeeyup,” the red stallion replied nodding. “No need to worry AJ. Ah doubt they’ll need me all day.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Apple Bloom said since it was obvious this conversation was near its end. Scootaloo stepped up on her scooter and took off flapping her wings.

“We are goin’ to Ponyville sis, see ya!” the yellow filly called just as they passed Applejack and Big Mac.

“Alright, Ah’ll be at the apples stand in the market around lunch,” the farm pony shouted after the Crusaders who were already turning into a distant dot on the road thanks to Scootaloo’s speed.

“You think they will let us in to see Silver Spoon? We aren’t exactly her friends nor are we family,” Sweetie Belle asked while the Crusaders sped towards Ponyville.

“The ponies at the hospital don’t have to know that we aren’t strictly speakin’ her friends,” Apple Bloom told her. “We just have to say we are uh acquaintances from school.”

“I’m not sure they will buy that.” The Unicorn didn’t hide her skepticism.

“Don’t worry Sweetie Belle, Ah’m sure they will let in worried classmates,” The Earthy Filly assured her.

Sweetie was about to respond but suddenly the wagon began swerving. Scootaloo was trying to break and prevent them from hitting a pony that had appeared on the road near the bridge leading into town. The Pegasus had been going so fast that she hadn’t noticed the new obstacle until a bit late. Her two passengers held on for dear life and screamed.

The scooter hit a rock in the attempt to prevent collision. Scootaloo flew high into the air before crashing head first in a bush. The remaining Crusaders were thrown off and landed harshly on the road.

“Oh my, are you girls alright?” the pony they had almost crashed into asked and approached them.

“Peeeyu, the road does not taste nice,” Apple Bloom spat dirt out of her mouth and struggled to her feet. She was disoriented after the hard fall and had few bruises.

“I’ll be fine once the world stops dancing,” Sweetie Belle remarked, she was still lying on the ground feeling dizzy.

“Somepony get me OUTTA HERE!” Scootaloo shouted and struggled to get out of the bush but was all tangled into it.

Sweetie Belle began to rise and was offered white hoof. She looked up and saw it was the adult pony. The little Unicorn accepted it and was helped to stand. Apple Bloom went to try and pull their Pegasus friend out of the bush.

“Uh thanks miss, sorry we almost crashed into you,” the white filly apologized.

“Oh think nothing of it dear. I’m just glad to see that none of you hurt yourself,” the mare said and drew back the hood on her black and white cloak, revealing her dark-gray and white mane and broken unicorn horn.

“Just Scoot’s pride I wager,” Apple Bloom giggled and dragged Scootaloo out of the bush. The orange filly grumbled. She was covered in leaves and twigs and did have a slight cut on her left front leg. The yellow pony helped her friend brush off.

“Are you new here?” Sweetie asked the mare curiously. “I have never seen you around here before.”

“Well I use to live here in Ponyville, but that was many years ago. I’m just visiting now, returning after a long absence,” the mare answered with a warm smile.

“I’m Sweetie Belle and those are my friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo,” the young Unicorn introduced herself and the rest of her friends as the two other fillies approached. “And together we are…”

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” all three girls finished in unison.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders,” the mare giggled in amusement. “How charming, I am Snow Heart.”

“Nice to meet ya Miss Snow Heart, are ya going to stay long here in Ponyville?” Apple Bloom inquired, she tried desperately not to stare at the broken horn of the adult unicorn.

“Oh I’m really just passing through. Maybe for a couple of days or so, see how much has changed and catch up with old friends,” Snow Heart told the girls. There was an odd emphasis on the last two words.

“What happened to your horn?” Scootaloo asked cocking an eyebrow.

“Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle hissed at their friend. Fortunately the mare took no offense and just laughed lightly.

“Oh it’s alright girls; I guess my stub is rather obvious. I had a little accident and couldn’t afford having it fixed,” the adult pony and pulled her hood back over her head. “But I better get going, you three be careful now not to bump into any other ponies.”

The girls waved bye and watched Snow Heart head across the bridge and into Ponyville. Once she was out of earshot two of the Crusaders glared at the Pegasus member of the group.

“Scoot, you don’t just ask people like that about obvious old injuries,” Sweetie Belle scolded her.

“Yeah, ya never know if it somethin’ they don’t like talkin’ about,” Apple Bloom concurred.

“Sorry, it just dropped out by accident. I was really just thinking out loud,” Scootaloo grunted and went to pick up her scooter. The other girls fetched the turned over wagon and hooked it back to their ride.

“You know, I got a nagging feeling I’ve heard that name before,” the Unicorn Filly commented and climbed back into the wagon.

“You too?” the Pegasus glanced back at her fellow crusaders.

“Now that Ah think about it, the name does ring a bell. Then again she said she used to live in Ponyville, maybe we’ve heard our relatives mention her?” Apple Bloom suggested while fixing her helmet. She jumped up into the wagon.

“That’s probably it yeah.” Sweetie nodded and Scootaloo did as well.

“Well off we go to the hospital,” Apple Bloom declared.

“Hold on,” the Pegasus said and once again took off.

The speed of the orange filly quickly brought them to Ponyville Hospital. The scooter and wagon was parked near the front steps and hurried inside. But only few seconds passed before all three of them walked back out with their heads hung.

“Aw she’s already checked out and gone home,” Sweetie Belle sighed.

“Guess they figured she needed the familiarity of her own house.” Apple Bloom shrugged.

“So do we go home to her? You think her parents will let us talk to her?” Scootaloo asked while stepping on to her scooter.

“We can try, but we don’t know where she lives. I only know where Diamond Tiara lives because I live in the street next to hers,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“Actually, Ah know where she lives,” the Earth filly corrected the Unicorn.

“You do?” both her friends exclaimed.

“Yeah, I mean Mr. Rich isn’t the only important business pony who deals with the farm. He’s just the one who buys the most zap apple jam,” Apple Bloom explained.

“Well let’s go then.” Scootaloo flapped her wings and once again the three Crusaders were off.

---

Charming girls, quite different than Mr. Rich’s little devil spawn, Snow Heart thought and held back a slight chuckle. She was near town hall and noticed all the guards coming in and out of it. Hm, looks like the search for the little princess is in full swing.

“Excuse me miss,” a rough sounding voice addressed her. The mare looked back and saw a Unicorn guard approach with a dead serious expression.

“Yes?” she asked and pulled down her hood.

“We noticed you were arriving into Ponyville. You wouldn’t happen to have identification on you? I apologize for the intrusion but we must screen all new ponies entering the town,” the dark gray pony explained to her.

“Oh it’s no trouble, yes I have identification,” Snow Heart answered and reached into her cloak.

She pulled out a small I.D card and showed it to the guard. The stallion used his horn to levitate it from her so he could get a closer look. At the same time he pulled a large sheet of paper and compared the ponies listed on it to the card. The Unicorn guard frowned slightly in thought and for a moment the mare wondered if all her plans had just fallen through in one swoop.

“Everything seems to be in order. I apologize again for the intrusion Miss Snow Heart,” the stallion said and eased a bit his expression as he gave her back the card.

“I don’t suppose you could tell me why new ponies are being screened?” the white Unicorn wondered while replacing her card in the cloak.

“A young filly was foalnapped from the town on Friday, the search is still ongoing for the perpetrators,” the guard explained.

“Oh my how horrible. I guess since you are screening new ponies you do not know who they are?” the mare asked.

“Well we do know actually…” the dark gray Unicorn was silenced by the sound of someone clearing his throat. Another guard, this time a Pegasus with the same coat color, was approaching.

“Excuse me private, but we do not discuss the cases so openly with civilians,” the newly arrived growled.

“Oh… um right,” other stallion grinned nervously.

“I apologize, miss, but this case is very sensitive and we can’t talk about it too openly. All you need to know for now is that we are searching for the foalnappers,” the Pegasus addressed Snow Heart.

“Oh it’s quite alright, I need to get going anyway,” the mare said. She quickly turned around and walked away, she could hear the superior guard continuing to scold the other one.

Well that was interesting to hear, it does seem they have some idea who did the foalnapping, she thought and narrowed her eyes. So the idiots were seen. Oh I am going to have to give them an earful for this.

“HI!”

Snow Heart reeled back when Pinke Pie suddenly appeared right in front of her. The party pony was smiling ear to ear and her eyes held a clear recognition.

“Is that you Snow Heart? Really? You’re back to Ponyville?” the Earth Pony squealed in excitement. She then began dancing around the surprised Unicorn. “Snow Heart is back. Snow Heart is back. Back. Back. Back. Back. Back.”

“Hello Pinkie Pie… I see you haven’t changed much,” Snow Heart chuckled nervously. So much for discreet entrance into Ponyville.

“Of course I haven’t changed and it’s always super exciting to meet old friends,” Pinkie said and grabbed the mare in an air chocking hug. “We gotta throw a welcome back party!”

“Oh wait, you don’t like parties.” The pink pony released Snow Heart who had to take a moment to regain composure after the embrace.

Thank Celestia she remembered that. The Unicorn fixed her cloak and eyed the hyper pony who was frowning in thought for a moment before springing back to her feet grinning eagerly again.

“Then a welcome back song will have to do,” she declared.

Oh no, the mare palmed her face with one hoof.

“Hey Pinkie, who is this?” Twilight’s voice interrupted the Earth Pony before she burst into one of her on-the-whim songs.

“Oh hi Twilight,” Pinkie waved the purple unicorn who approached carrying a saddlebag on her back.

“This is Snow Heart, she used to live here in Ponyville few years ago, she used to work…” suddenly the pink mare fell silent and cringed. She eyed the white pony with an apologetic look. “Oh right… you moved out for a reason...”

“It’s alright,” Snow Heart said with a strain in her voice. “I try not to think about it.”

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked raising one eyebrow. The other Unicorn was digging one hoof hard into the ground.

“Ah…” the white mare stopped and lifted her hoof. “I will be fine, I’ll just go to the café and have something to drink and calm down.”

With that Snow Heart trotted off muttering under her breath. Twilight eyed Pinkie who seemed embarrassed and was rubbing the back of her head. Before she could say anything the party pony gestured to her to follow in the other direction.

“So what was that all about?” the purple pony wondered as they walked away.

“Snow Heart worked as a housekeeper at Mr. Rich’s house,” Pinkie whispered, glancing carefully in the direction the white unicorn had gone into.

“It was about a year, no two years before you came to Ponyville. Something happened at Mr. Rich’s; there was this big mess around his daughter. Snow Heart was accused of attacking Diamond Tiara. She was found innocent but the whole situation really made Snow Heart snap and she went really mad and stuff and was found trashing everything at the park. She was so mad she even broke her horn on a rock,” she explained.

“Wow,” Twilight remarked.

“Yeah I know. It took Big Mac to hold her down until she finally calmed down. They tried to take her to the hospital but she broke free and ran out of Ponyville, not to be seen again until today,” Pinkie shook her head sadly.

“Wonder what has prompted her to finally return. You think she came to make amends?” the Unicorn wondered.

“Oooh maybe I should throw a ‘Snow Heart makes amends’ party,” the Earth Pony bounced in excitement for second before she remembered a crucial detail again. “Oh wait no, she never liked parties.”

“Maybe we should just give her some space. By what you told me already and from what I saw she may still have some issues,” Twilight suggested. Pinkie considered for a moment before nodding in agreement. She considered another topic to talk about and noticed her friend’s saddlebag.

“Where are you going?” she asked, but the question was almost immediately answered as town hall came into view.

“I discovered some new information about one of the foalnappers, Silver Axe,” Twilight said and used her magic to open the bag and pulled out a book. Still using the levitating aura the Unicorn opened the volume and turned to a page and showed it to her friend.

“Huh. ‘A Pegasus is badly injured in a thunderstorm near Cloudsdale’,” Pinkie read. “Hey Twilight, it says this happened many, many, many, many, many years ago.”

“Read further,” her friend instructed.

“Okay. ‘A local of Cloudsdale, the Pegasus Silver Axe was badly injured after flying through a thunderstorm while searching for his daughter who had gone missing. A lightning struck him, causing him to crash to the ground. Doctors say that most of his wounds will heal but he may never speak again as his throat was badly injured in the crash’,” the party pony kept reading. “I don’t get it. What has this to do with him today?”

“Pinkie, it says he had a daughter that went missing,” Twilight reminded her and closed the book. “He clearly loved her enough to risk flying through a storm to search for her. Can you imagine somepony like that foalnapping?”

“Huh, I guess it does sound a little strange. I mean, he would know how painful it is to lose a child,” Pinkie said thoughtfully. The purple pony nodded in agreement.

“There isn’t a lot more info about him, at least not much I can get in the library, the police or the guards will have to handle that. But from this small piece of information, he doesn’t seem like the pony to foalnap, unless the loss of his child and his injuries snapped him,” the Unicorn said and replaced the book in the saddlebag.

“You think this will help find Diamond Tiara though?” the Earth Pony wondered.

Twilight had to consider this question. It was true that the information wasn’t exactly anything more than an expansion of what Rainbow Dash had told her. It didn’t contain information on where the Pegasus in question was now. At best it just gave possible insight on his psyche.

“I don’t know Pinkie. But every bit of information we can get could be helpful. You never know what could come in handy later,” the librarian finally answered.

End chapter 7.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

So Silver Axe is doing this for a reason other than just causing trouble or getting rich.

[Axel Nyan]

Just finished reading this.. and then I found out you updated. Not sure if ninja...

[Iamsorry]

hmmm interesting
now i wana know more about silver axe
i wana know what his angle is in all this

[Askre]

801834 Well not to spoil anything, but Silver Axes does not quite share the same ideals as Snow Heart and Paul. So yeah he does have reasons that will be touched on in future chapters

[Askre]

802843 LOL, well I am a veteran from the Ninja Turtle fandom, maybe that helped

[Askre]

803046 We will most certainly learn more about Silver Axe in future chapters

[PinkPearl]

w00t new chapter