Heart and Mind

by Quick Fix

Past Seven - Hidden in Plain Sight

Lightleaf Farmstead, Southwest Equestria
November 9th

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"Ok, I get you don't want to disturb the scene, but did we really have to walk the last five miles off the road?" Apple Bloom asked as she stumbled over another tree root. After their meeting at the Canterlot Institute of Development, Pinkie Pie had practically vanished on some private mission of her own. Apple Bloom had returned to Ponyville and had a few days trying to get back to normal before Pinkie had shown up again and told her they were clear to investigate the farm. Now here they were, trekking through the hilly south edge of White Tail Wood, about to try and find out just what had happened to Figleaf.

"There was snowfall over here last night, everything is covered. Even the snow can't be disturbed until we're able to start looking, it keeps all the clues covered." Pinkie replied, bouncing her way through the rough terrain just ahead. Even with how hard going it was, Apple Bloom couldn't help but giggle at how Pinkie was treating it like it was nothing. She was just about keeping up as they reached the next hilltop, the view on the other side easier to see as the woods gave way to snow covered farmland, buildings visible not too far away.

"Looks so peaceful, like nothing ever happened..." Apple Bloom mused, taking the sight in. There were no crops at this time of year and the area was silent aside from the gentle whistling of the wind.

"Okay, go through the fields and see if anything stands out, be thorough but try not to get caught up following your hoofprints." Pinkie instructed, bounding down the hill but still managing to barely leave a mark in the snow. Apple Bloom stared in wonder for a moment before following her down, knowing better than to chalk it up to more than just Pinkie being Pinkie. The two soon cleared the trees and made their way into the fields, splitting up to cover more ground. Apple Bloom kept to the perimeter, moving slowly and methodically, while Pinkie Pie darted through the snow where the fields were, taking photos of everything.

"So, I've been meaning to ask..." Apple Bloom looked over at Pinkie, wondering why she was doing this now. There wasn't anypony else around to hear them, that had to be it, now all she had to do was get it out. Get those weird feelings out in the open and see what Pinkie thought of them, that was all she had to do. This was it, time to basically sound like she had a crush on Pinkie Pie. "...How do you manage to walk on any surface without leaving deep hoofmarks?"

...Dammit.

"You know, I never thought about it before...How DO I do that?" Pinkie mused as she looked back at her tracks, the hoofmarks light enough to look like they were made by mice. A few moments later, she perked and looked round, hearing movement from the buildings. A few moments later, a unicorn stallion stepped outside, light brown coat, long yellow mane and a dice cutie mark.

"Errm...Hello, please state why you're here before I report you for trespassing." The stallion called to them. Pinkie grinned and darted over, bouncing slightly in anticipation at a chance to get somewhere.

"Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie and my friend over there is Apple Bloom. See, we came out because Figleaf, the farm owner, went missing about a week ago. We're trying to investigate what went and happened to him, if you need verification we have the authority of the CID." Pinkie finally took a breath as Apple Bloom finally managed to catch up. The stallion took a moment to register the rapid explanation before smiling slightly.

"They sent an Element of Harmony for this? Glad to hear those in charge are taking it seriously. My name is Lucky Roll, lodger and part time helper here. Anything I can do to help, I will."

"Great," Apple Bloom panted, still getting her breath back from trudging through the snow without any winter clothes. "Because we could really use a little background on the last few days here."

"Okay, I last saw Figleaf about eight days ago now, on the first. He told me to have some downtime while he met a possible new worker, so I decided to make the most of it and take a nap. That was in the afternoon, when I woke up it was early evening and there was no sign of Figleaf or the pony he was meeting. I didn't think anything of it at first but when he didn't show up in the night I started to worry, it's not like him to wander for any reason. Nopony saw him the next day either, I ended up heading for the nearest guard post at the end of the day and filing the missing pony report."

"I see," Apple Bloom thought for a moment before looking over at the house. "Long shot but, would we be able to investigate inside?"

"Oh, err, of course. I tried to keep it close to how it was in case he came back." Lucky replied, leading them into the farmhouse. It was a relatively simple setup but Apple Bloom felt right at home immediately. Pinkie went straight back to taking photographs of everything while Lucky sat down at a table. Figuring they could spend less time intruding if she joined in, Apple Bloom headed upstairs, the description of events earlier running through her mind. No matter how many times she went over it, something about the story felt off.

The thing was, Lucky Roll had said that Figleaf disappeared on the first of November and the missing pony report had been filed and sent on the second. According to Moondancer, the report had arrived on the fifth. Somehow she doubted that the delivery service would have given such an important piece anything less than its most rapid delivery. While she believed that Lucky had filed the report, she also believed he was missing the explanation for a day or two. She couldn't do anything about it without evidence though, so it was time to try and find some.

The upstairs was even simpler, just a restroom and two bedrooms. A quick look round indicated that they belonged to Figleaf and Lucky, hopefully perfect for finding some more details. She decided to go for Figleaf's room first, thinking that if it had been left as it was, it would have more clues left in place. Apple Bloom stepped through the doorway and glanced round, trying not to think about the privacy invasion she was committing in the process. Unfortunately, it started to feel like it was for nothing, the longer she looked the longer there didn't seem to be anything that so much as suggested what had happened.

She was about to call it quits when she stopped, realising something else was bugging her. The bed. To the normal eye, it looked just like any other single pony bed, she'd made enough to see it with a carpenter's eye though. Several inches of the side frame were coloured ever so slightly lighter than the rest, enough to warrant further investigation. She eyed it up closely, running a hoof over it, even up close it looked like another solid part of the frame. Good thing she'd had orders involving hidden compartments in the past. Some carefully applied pressure and a hidden panel flicked down.

"Hah! Score one for 'menial' professions." Apple Bloom grinned, probably feeling prouder of herself for noticing that than she should have been. The panel was more of a small container on a closer look, holding a book. Any former trepidation vanished in the face of a chance at progress, she took the book and looked it over, grinning more as she realised it was Figleaf's diary. Without hesitation she opened it up and looked through the last few entries.

October 24th

Lucky Roll came back from his break today, from the photos he took it looked like some resort town on the edge of the San Palomino desert. Said he met a mare who took an interest in the farm though, Star Shine or something like that, I'd welcome the extra help either way. It's good to have the whole team back together for now, maybe we can finally finish up the barn renovations without Tarragon diverting us with his goofing off again.

October 26th

Had to give Lucky Roll a disciplinary talk today, lacking awareness in the work zone. He almost dropped a wood stack on Corn Wrangler after zoning out for unknown reasons. That's not like him though, he's normally so diligent...Met with some of the others after wrapping up for the day and they all agreed to keep an eye on Lucky, just in case.

October 30th
Between you and me, diary, I'm worried. Everypony seems to have reported Lucky Roll for some instance of absentmindedness while working, even if there weren't any today. I'm starting to think that something he encountered during his break may have captured his attention a little more than I'd like. Really wishing I'd paid more attention to the name of that mare he talked about, seems like she's cast a bit of a spell on him.

November 3rd
Ok, this is pushing my patience now. Lucky Roll just announced out of nowhere this morning that the mare he'd met was coming here to discuss a job, today! I don't care how good she is, he can't just go and arrange something like that with no warning. I can't figure him out at the moment but there's something more going on here, I'm going to keep him out of the way for the meeting and then try and get the truth when it's done, maybe convince him to see a doctor afterward.

"Oh, this is perfect!" Apple Bloom grinned even more as she read. Now she had some solid evidence that Lucky Roll was withholding information from them, what had happened in the two day difference between Figleaf's disappearance. All she had to do now was head back downstairs and confront the seemingly up to no good, possibly mentally unstable magic user that she had left down there...with an oblivious...Pinkie Pie. She looked back toward the door nervously, half expecting somepony to have been watching her. After a few moments of silence, she jumped at a familiar feminine scream from downstairs.

"Pinkie!" Apple Bloom cried as the scream was suddenly cut off. Without thinking she dropped the book and rushed downstairs at full pelt. As her hooves hit the ground floor she barely had time to look round before a beam of olive gold magic hit her left shoulder, knocking her off her feet and wracking her body in pain. As Apple Bloom managed to look back over at where the attack came from, her blood froze up at the sight.

Lucky Roll had Pinkie Pie pinned against the wall, using his body weight to keep her in place despite her struggling, his leg pressed against her throat in a tight chokehold. His gaze was fixed on Apple Bloom now though, his green eyes somehow both staring and unfocused at the same time, a slowly growing grin on his face that only made the look even more unsettling, like a demented alley-pony that was five seconds from drawing a knife. All she could think though the pain was that she'd be seeing the scenario again in her nightmares, even as he opened his mouth.

"You know what they say about the inquisitive...?"