Autumn Turns to Winter

by Dead_Account_0

Silver Spoon's Search

A grey mare with a tidy white mane and fashionable blue gasses galloped through the village square. She knew time was running out, but she couldn’t risk a glance at her watch; at this speed she’d probably trip over if she tried. She panted as she ran, taking a left at the library and hurtling down a worn path. There was a heavy rainfall scheduled for ten a.m., and she wanted to be at Diamond Tiara’s by then. Her frantic dash had her weaving past ponies in the street, and earned more than a few questioning looks from passersby. Risking a look up, she saw that a group of pegasi were already manoeuvring the clouds into place. Silver Spoon narrowed her eyes as she looked back down, coaxing more speed from her already tired legs. A few more turns later and she finally saw it, looming in the distance: Filthy Rich’s Manor.

As she grew closer she realised something was wrong. A group of ponies seemed to be milling around the normally locked front gate. A duo of earth ponies in police uniforms appeared to be blocking them entry. Silver Spoon visibly paled as she maintained her sprint towards the gate.

“What’s happening? Why are so many ponies here?” a blue unicorn asked his neighbour. Silver Spoon couldn’t help but listen in, that was the exact same question she was going to ask.

“Din’t ya here? Filthy Rich’s place gots broken into! If y’ask me, that slime ball deserves it!” the pony replied.

“Really?! They must be brave to risk incurring Rich’s wrath,” the unicorn said surprisedly. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it. Did you hear the other day that he closed that deal with the Diamond Dogs? What kind of pony deals with Diamond Dogs?” the unicorn whispered conspiratorially.

“Hey, you two! No lollygagging! Go on, clear off!” the larger uniformed pony shouted to the two chatting unicorns.

“Officer! Officer!” a familiar voice cried out as a short blue unicorn colt wearing a fedora shoved his way through the crowd.

“Oh Celestia, not this kid again,” the smaller police pony groaned, putting his hoof to his forehead.

“Officer Shields, it’s me, Snips, from the Ponyville Publication. Have you got a minute?” the unicorn said as he hopped to the front of the crowd.

“Stay back there, Snips, this is an active investigation. You’ll hear nothing from me,” the smaller police officer said boringly, in a tone which suggested he’d said it a thousand times.

“Can I be in the paper?” the larger offcer said, shifting his hooves awkwardly.

“Of course, if you give us a statement, you might make the front page!” Snips said excitedly. Silver Spoon noticed a small card labelled press tucked onto the side of his hat.

“Don’t do it, Beat; you’ll be lucky to get a footnote with this guy,” Shields said insistently to his larger friend.

“Hey! I take care of my informants. It’s not my fault Mr. Breezy had that freak accident. If he hadn’t of somehow fallen into one of his fans, we could’ve made the front page,” Snips argued.

“If you can get my picture on the front page, then I’ll tell you everything!” Officer Beat said excitedly.

“Fine, go ahead if you want, I’ll just stay right here. Doing my job!” Officer Shields shouted angrily before turning his back to the pair.

The unicorn walked up to the police pony and the two started talking in hushed whispers. Silver Spoon couldn’t hear from her vantage point in the crowd, so she started to inch closer. Once she reached the front of the crowd she could just make out Beats half of the conversation, if she strained her ears.

“… is still missing. We have signs of a struggle in her bedroom, claw marks on the doors.”

Silver Spoon’s blood froze in her veins. He had just said “her bedroom” hadn’t he? That could only mean one pony, Diamond Tiara! Silver Spoon began to feel faint, something had just happened to her best friend. With a shock she suddenly realised that the two ponies were still talking and listened in again, sniffing loudly.

Snips must have said something in reply as Beats nodded and replied, “Yeah, we’ve got one of those crime lab guys identifying them now, but I’ve seen marks like that before.” Another pause for Snips followed by: “I’d wager a month’s pay that those are griffon claws. I know I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but we’ve been on the trail of a trio of griffons in the area; a gang of hoods calling themselves the Silver Talons.”

Snips jumped at the news and replied quickly and excitedly, but Silver Spoon could only catch a few snippets, “exclusive… tiara… headline.” Beats nodded along, a beaming smile spreading across his face, before giving a final resolute nod. Snips then turned abruptly and galloped back along the path he had just come from.

“Wait!” Silver Spoon screamed impulsively. Snips stopped instantly and turned around. Silver Spoon began to trot slowly towards him and he recoiled as their eyes met.

“Uhh… Silver Spoon. What a surprise, uh… I’m kinda in the middle of something so... uh,” he began to babble worriedly

“Where is Diamond Tiara!” she yelled angrily.

“Well… uh… you see… um,” Snips looked around awkwardly and massaged the back of his neck with a hoof.

Silver Spoons lower lip began to wobble and tears began to stream down her face. “Something’s happened… hasn’t it?” she said quietly now, looking down sorrowfully.

“Look, Silver Spoon, something has happened,” Snips said, regaining some confidence now that she had lost hers. “She’s uh, she’s gone missing. Her butler called it in and uh, I’m writing the uh, plea to the public,” Snips said, his eyes darting in every direction except her own.

“That’s horse apples and you know it!” Silver Spoon rushed forwards with anger stopping mere inches from his face. “I overhead you mention griffons and kidnapping!” she shouted at him. As soon as she’d finished she found herself being pulled away from the crowd and into his tight grasp.

“Meet me at ten p.m. round the back of the Farrier’s Arms,” he whispered quickly and seriously before releasing her and galloping away.

She watched him leave through bleary-eyes, before sniffing again and turning back to the crowd. They had all stopped talking to listen in but turned back to their conversations the second Snips was gone. A sympathetic mare trotted through the crowd.

“Miss Cheerilee?!” Silver Spoon shouted, straightening up instinctually.

“Calm down, Silver Spoon, and it’s Mrs. Cheerilee now. I don’t suppose you know what’s happened, do you?” she asked quizzically.

Silver Spoon opened her mouth as if to say something but suddenly stopped herself. Something is definitely up here; Snips must have been being so secretive for a reason. Maybe it’d be better to give everypony the doctored truth that Snips had told me.

“Are you quite all right Silver Spoon?” Cheerilee said concernedly as she walked right up to Silver Spoon.

“I’m… I’m fine, it’s just.” Silver Spoon took a deep breath. “Someponies broke into Diamond Tiara’s house, and now she’s missing,” she said quickly but the words still left an acrid taste in her mouth.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Silver Spoon. I know how close the two of you were, are you going to be okay?” Cheerilee said; her voice full of empathy as she clasped Silver Spoon’s shoulder.

“I’ll be fine, can you just uh… give me a moment,” Silver Spoon said faintly, putting a hoof to her head. Her mind was swimming; her best friend in the world was missing.

“I’ll just get out of your way. If you’re feeling lonely or just want some help, don’t hesitate to call on me,” Cheerilee said with a warm smile before turning and leaving.

“Thanks, I’ll… I’ll see you around,” Silver Spoon called after her as she left.

“Okay all of you can clear off now. Go back to your homes. Thank you for your civic concern, but you’re now disrupting an active investigation,” Shields said as politely as he could manage.

“Aww, come on officer, tell us all what you told that journalist,” a purple pegasus begged.

“There will be a press conference in the town hall later today, until then I have to ask you all to leave,” Shields insisted.

“Where’s Filthy Rich?!” an orange unicorn called from the back.

“This will all be covered in the conference later! Would you all please leave,” Shields said, slightly irately this time.

“Is he dead?” a green mare asked quietly.

“That’s it! If anypony is still here after I count to five, then Beats here will take you down to the station for obstruction of justice!” Shields shouted angrily.

“Ya can’t be serious,” a colt called out.

“Five, four, three…” Shields began. The other ponies lost their nerve and practically fell over each other in their haste to gallop away leaving just Silver Spoon and the officers. “…two, one,” he finished, letting out a laugh as the crowd fled in all directions away from the gate.

"Officer?” Silver Spoon asked politely.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, didn’t everypony get the blasted memo?” he shouted loudly and, frankly, quite rudely at the young pony. “We.” He motioned to himself and his partner with his hoof. “Cannot,” he continued, shaking his head. “Help.” He motioned downwards with both of his hooves. “You,” he finished, pointing once more at Silver Spoon.

“Yeah! So clear off; get out of here!” Beats added enthusiastically.

Silver Spoon looked up at them with tear-filled eyes that could have melted the heart of anypony, anypony except Shields.

“Yeah, nice display. Now, hop it,” Shields said, distinctly unimpressed.

“Aww! But, Shields, she’s so cute…” Beats began.

“Shut it, Beats! One more word out of you, and you’re going back to the Traffic Division,” Shields turned on his friend angrily, advancing on the larger but lower ranking police pony.

“But Traffic Division is so boring! There aren’t even enough carts to warrant a darned division!” Beats whined.

“I know it’s blooming boring! That’s why I’m using it as a threat, you dolt!” A vein in Shield’s forehead was visibly bulging as he clenched his teeth and pulled back his hoof.

“Okay! Okay! Calm down, Shields! Remember what the doctor said, don’t stress out!” Beats grasped his compatriot by his shoulders. “Come on; take deep breaths, in and out. In and out. Come on you can do it!” Beats said demonstrating the process in case Shields had somehow forgotten.

Shields seemed to grow visibly redder before finally giving in and starting to breathe in and out. After around thirty seconds he was once again calm and composed. “Thanks, Beats. Sometimes the red mist descends and I just can’t do anything about it. Sorry about that,” he apologised calmly and returned to his default position. “Hey, where’d that filly go?”

“I… uh… think that… uh… you scared her off. Yeah she got scared when you got angry, and galloped away,” Beats replied, hoping to Celestia that it was true.

Silver Spoon tried not to cheer as she quietly galloped down the long driveway to the large house at the end. As she approached the manor she began to clearly hear talk. Diving into a conveniently placed shrub, she managed to just avoid a pair of police officers as they walked out the front door. She couldn’t help but hear a snippet of their conversation.

“…look at that thing. I thought motorised bicycles would never catch on, but a steel death-trap like that? I mean come on!” a distinctly masculine voice shouted.

“You can’t stop progress; it isn’t a huge leap from motorised bikes to motorised carts,” a feminine voice replied.

“You wouldn’t catch me dead on one of them!”

“Why not? They’re sorta like personal trains, y’know? Trains that don’t need tracks.”

“Bah! They’ll never catch on.”

“Lay of ‘em, grandpa.”

"I hate you sometimes…” his voice trailed off as they passed out of earshot.

After waiting another minute and hearing nothing, Silver Spoon poked her head out from the shrub. A quick scan revealed the coast was clear so she darted to the house to find the front door collapsed inwards, lying on the floor inside. Surrounding it were small splinters of wood, dirtying the otherwise immaculate white carpet. That is, if you disregarded the red bloodstains that coated the foot of the stairs. A voice suddenly made her look up as she saw a pair of unicorns turn onto the stairwell. She leapt around the corner, her heart pounding in her chest. The voices continued as normal, they probably didn’t see her.

“So what’s your verdict Swab?” the green female on the left asked.

“Definitely griffons. Three of them I’d say; we found two unique claw marks on the bedroom door on top of a third set on the butler.” The red male replied, who Silver Spoon assumed must be Swab.

“Is he going to be fine? He lost a heck of a lot of blood.”

“Time will tell, but the wounds were mostly superficial. I don’t think they wanted to kill him, just get him out of the way. The real goal still appears to be the kid.” The voice stopped moving at the foot of the stairs.

Silver Spoon risked a quick glance to see the two ponies were still talking, but appeared to be staring back up the stairwell as if waiting for a third pony. Seeing her chance Silver Spoon snuck past them and into the adjoining room. She stopped there and continued listening to the conversation.

“All her bags are packed; she must have been leaving for somewhere, probably for a long time. I think she caught wind of this and was trying to escape it, but left too late. An empty bottle of white rum was sloppily concealed under her bed. I’m thinking something bad happened recently in her life, and she’s trying to cope with it,” Swab said.

“Well, I’ll get Brass to bring in anypony she was close to. A friend or co-worker should be able to shed some light on this,” the female replied.

“Yeah, you go do that. Any clue where the parents are?”

“Separated. Her mother lives in Prance whilst her father’s away on business in Canterlot.”

“Has he been told?”

“A letter’s been sent, but he won’t be back until tomorrow either way.”

“Hey Kite! We’re going to go without you if you don’t hurry it up!” Swab shouted after a brief pause.

A faint voice returned from upstairs, “I’ll be there in one second!”

“Hurry it up! We’ve got leads to chase down!” Swab shouted back up. The sound of hooves galloping along the carpeted floor banged upstairs.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here; let’s go,” Kite said as he trotted downstairs.

“About time,” Swab mumbled as the three of them trotted outside.

Silver Spoon waited another minute before galloping upstairs. She almost screamed in horror when she saw the huge chunks torn from her best friend’s bedroom door. It looked like a savage beast had tried to tear its way in, rather than two sapient creatures. Inside the room was almost completely bare; all that remained was the furniture, and a few old posters on the wall. Silver Spoon had been up here many times and it had never been this sparse. The cases appeared to have been taken away as evidence, leaving Silver Spoon with nothing. A memory suddenly forced its way into Silver Spoon’s consciousness, one she hadn’t thought of in a very long time.

Diamond Tiara had a safe hidden in the back of her wardrobe. She had once hidden Silver Spoon’s glasses in there as a joke. She could still remember the code: it was the date Diamond Tiara’s parents split-up. With a sad sigh, Silver Spoon pulled open the wardrobe door and knocked on the rear of the wall. A compartment opened up revealing a classic metal safe with a dial on it. Five twists later the door sprung open to reveal a folder. The safe was completely empty of all personal effects, all that sat inside was a brown paper folder. Silver Spoon removed it and looked at the title. It didn’t appear to be written in Equestrian, a glance inside told her the rest of the contents were the same. Why would Diamond Tiara have something like this? I can’t believe this is the only lead I have. If only Twilight was still in town… wait! Today’s the day of Sweetie Belle’s leaving party! Twilight is in town for the party. Silver spoon shut the safe and resealed the compartment.

She carefully trotted back out of the manor and up to the front gate. All the ponies had left, but a police line lie stretched across the front gate. Silver Spoon crawled under it and galloped back into town. With folder in hoof she rushed to Sugarcube Corner; the only place in Ponyville big enough for a party like they had planned. She just hoped that Twilight would know what language this was, and, more importantly, know how to translate it.

Comments

[Dead_Account_0]

Well, it is finally an update. Lots of dialogue here, decided to see if I could create personalities with only a few lines. Probably failed there. Also this sets Silver Spoon up for the party scene which will come whenever I get around to it.

[bcsnakeeyes]

well this is actually starting to get good, please put out mroe chapters when you have time, the plot is definlty intiging and well driven.
also why do i see not only diamond tiara kidnapped but sweetie bell too??

[Dead_Account_0]

417317 How did you even get to this? This story hasn't been updated in months!
Well, I haven't abandoned it completely. I mean, I've got some work towards a chapter which never got updated. Once I've updated H:CE and P:E I might take another look at this. No guarantees though, my work has been very haphazard as of late. I did like this story.

[bcsnakeeyes]

418336 i got to it by reading almost every story from the last page to the first with a lot of exeptions hehe, anyway this story has potential.