Ch. 1 - The Way Things Were
Chapter 1 - The Way Things Were
"Shady, I'm going to pop down to the store for a bit. Can I trust you to watch the apartment while I'm out?" called a grey pegasus as he grabbed up his keys and put them into his saddlebags.
"Sure thing, Uncle Silver! Make sure to pick up those chips I like while you're out, and maybe a bit of cheese dip too," replied his niece from the far end of the hall. "I'll be doing my homework."
"Alright. I won't be gone for longer than an hour, but please don-"
"Don't drink the bleach, play with knives, or burn down the kitchen, I know. You go get your shopping done, I'll be fine!"
"Shady Grove, what have I told you about interrupting me?" he called back.
"To do it as often as possible, and at the least convenient moment for you," she answered back, sarcasm coating her words. Shaking his head, Silver Stroke walked out the door, taking care to lock it behind him.
"That filly of mine, good grief..." he thought to himself. She could be such a handful. She was awfully precocious for an eleven year old, and she never hesitated to let him know it.
He began to make his way to the elevator at the far end of the hall. Somepony was just now walking out of it, a mare he didn't recognize. They bumped into each other as they passed, but she didn't even throw a backwards glance in his direction.
"Well excuse you, princess," he thought gloomily.
He trotted over to the elevator and called for it. Thankfully he didn't have to wait for long, as it was already stopped on their floor from the rude mystery mare. It was a quick trip down to the lobby and out into the cold, wet Seaddle evening. The sky was a perfect slate grey that neatly matched his coat color, and the rain fell nice and steadily. His kind of evening, on the whole.
He set off at a brisk pace down the city block, passing by ponies huddled into their winter wear and holding umbrellas over their heads. He could never quite get why they always bundled up like they did. After all, it was only 55 degrees. Having grown up down near Appleoosa had made him detest heat and bright sunlight, and he had always craved those brief reprieves where the storm clouds would ever so often roll in and blot the sun out.
"I guess living in the cold and wet all the time makes you hate it after a while," he thought. "Sure made me hate the heat."
He spent so much time gazing at the ponies and their trepidation that he nearly missed his stop at Berry Mint's Food Emporium. Gazing up at the warm and welcoming letters on the sign, he opened the door and stepped inside. The bell tinkled merrily as he shook himself out, and a happy little foal bounded over to greet him.
"Si-vuh! Si-vuh!" cried the little red pegasus. He beat his tiny wings frantically to try and float up to Silver's face, but barely managed to get an inch off the ground before plopping back down.
"Good to see you too, Ruffle," said Silver as he tussled the little colt's mane. "Is your mommy around?"
Ruffle smiled and leapt back to his hooves. He took off down the aisle, crying "Mama! Si-vuh's heer!" over and over again.
"I hear you, sweetie," called a sweet voice from in the depths of the store. Coming from around a shelf was a stout magenta unicorn mare. Her hair was a bit lighter than her coat, light and fluffy, and streaked with blue. She picked up her bouncing baby boy and placed him in his carrier with his pacifier and a plush squid toy. He took to it like a duck to water, and promptly fell asleep.
"Hello there Silver," said Berry Mint in greeting. "Still haven't bought an umbrella, I see."
"And miss out on all of this glorious rain? I think not," he replied as he wrung a bit of his mane out. "Why do you think I moved here, to stay cooped up inside all day?"
"I swear, one of these days you'll catch your death out there, and then what'll happen to Shady Grove, hmm?" she chastised playfully as she sauntered behind the cashier's counter.
"Oh, you know Shady. She's always happy to be rid of me whenever she can. You should've heard her shoving me out the door when I went to work today."
"Speaking of jobs," she interjected, "you are currently in mine. Now, are you going to make idle chit-chat, or are you going to buy something?" A quick smile crossed her face, and he knew that she meant no harm by her ribbing.
"As a matter of fact, I am. Lemme just get the old list..." he muttered as he opened up his saddlebags. Unfortunately, what had been a decent piece of paper was now a damp wad of cold mush. The rain must've soaked through his saddlebags a little more than he thought.
"Having a bit of trouble there, sweetheart?" asked Berry. She gave him a look that screamed "I told you so."
"Okay, so I should invest in an umbrella," he said as he dropped the former shopping list on the counter.
"Want me to get the blow-dryer again?" she offered as she tried her best to lay the paper flat without tearing it.
"Nah, I only had a few things on it anyway. Hey, do you still have those chips that Shady really likes? The nacho cheese ones?"
"You're in luck, there are a couple in the back. She'll want some dip with those, I assume?"
"The cheese dip, if you please," answered Silver as he walked down one of the aisles. It would take a bit longer to find what he needed without the list, but this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened.
He returned to the front about fifteen minutes later with his goods, and reached for his coin purse. "So, what's the damage Berry?"
"This'll run you about twenty bits," she answered.
"Twenty? I bought all of this same stuff last week, and it was only sixteen."
"Well, we've had to raise some prices. In case you haven't noticed, we aren't really in the best straits right now. Business has been kinda slow, and we've had to raise prices to compensate."
"The bake sale last month didn't help?"
"It did a bit, but we had to pay through the snout for the ingredients. We barely managed to break even. I think we only pulled in about fifty in profit."
"Damn, that's a shame," answered Silver as he scanned the shop. It was true that small family owned businesses were starting to go downhill, but he always thought that Berry and her husband were doing pretty well, all things considered. Apparently, the problem was a lot worse than he pictured.
Reaching into his purse, he pulled out thirty bits and laid them on the counter. "Here, take it all. You need it a hell of a lot more than I do."
"You really are too nice for your own good, Silver," she said as she bagged up his groceries. "Just don't let that goodness go out of you, alright? There aren't nearly enough stallions and mares in this town with your attitude."
"I'll do my best, Berry. Tell Nova that I said hey, and give Ruffle a hug for me." Placing his goods in his bags, he made towards the door.
"Silver, wait!" called Berry from the counter.
"Listen, don't feel guilty about the money, you are obviously in need and I just want to he-WHAP!" A good hard slap hit him right upside the noggin, and he grunted in pain.
He turned to find Berry holding an umbrella in her magic, a mischievous grin played across her face. Ruffle, who had been woken up by his mother's call, was giggling in his carrier.
"Oh," Silver stated, "right. Sorry, I just thought that-"
"Oh, all this thinking will get you in trouble one of these days. You need to do a lot less of that," she said as she fixed the umbrella to a few straps and buckles on his saddlebags. "Now you get home before this rain gets any worse, alright?"
"Yes ma'am," he said. He stepped out under the awning of the shop and popped the umbrella open. "When do you want this back?"
"You can keep it," replied Berry. "You need it more than I do."
With a final smile and wave goodbye, Silver began the trek back to the apartment building he called home.
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"Shady, I'm home!" called Silver as he came back inside, setting his keys down on a small end table and putting his umbrella into the nearby wicker basket. "Are you almost finished with your homework, cause I could use some help in the kitchen."
"Just a second," she called back. A few minutes later she came down the hall, and Silver was forced to suppress a laugh when he saw her.
"What in the name of Celestia did you do to your mane?" he choked out. Her normally tidy lime green mane appeared to have a cargo ship's worth of oil and product in it, and it was swept backwards in jagged points. Thankfully she had kept her cobalt blue coat as it was, but it only served to highlight just how ridiculous her mane was.
"What? All the fillies and colts at school are doing it! It's the latest fashion from Canterlot!"
"Fashion shamsion, you look like you just stuck your head in a wind tunnel and had someone spray gel in your face while you were there!" Silver finally lost the ability to contain himself, and he flopped down to the floor and had a laughing fit.
"It's not that funny..." replied Shady moodily.
"Oh... Oh mercy me," said Silver in between ragged breaths and half laughs. "I'm sorry Shady, but that mane is too rich, really."
"Yeah, whatever," she said sulkily as she rummaged through the groceries.
"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" Silver said as he picked up on his niece's foul mood. "Tell ya what, after dinner we can go back into your room and you can screw with my mane all you want? That sound like a fair deal?"
"Only if I can give you pigtails and frilly bows," she replied as she took her chips and dip and put them in the pantry.
"Besides, who are you to tell me about proper hair care? Yours looks like a pack of rabid chimps had their way with it."
He took a quick glance up at his unkempt brown and red mane. Though he didn't want to admit it, she was right; he barely did anything with it other than washing it every other day or so.
"Point taken," he admitted. "How about this; tomorrow, after you get home from school, we both go down to the barber's shop and get our manes done. That sound like fun?"
"Eh, it's better than nothing," she said. "Ooh, can we stop by that really good ice cream shop afterwards?"
"You mean Buttermilk's place? Sure, I don't see why not."
"Sweet!" After they had finished putting the groceries away they got to work on dinner. It was always their nightly routine; Silver would work with the stove and the cutting board while Shady would set the table and help with miscellaneous tasks. Soon enough they were sitting down to a hearty potato and leek stew with a side salad and bread rolls.
"So, what'd you learn in school today?" asked Silver, striking up a conversation.
"Nothing that I couldn't have learned here," Shady replied coldly as she took another bite of stew.
"Bullies getting to ya again?" Shady was a little on the tough side, and her bad habit of picking fights with the wrong children led to her being pestered and tormented by them.
"Well, if by 'getting to me', you mean stealing my sketchbook and threatening to throw it out of a second floor window and making me almost breakdown in the middle of class, then yeah, they're getting to me."
"I swear, if I could I'd slap the sorry parents that think they can get away with raising their fillies and colts to behave that way, I would. Haven't you tried to get the teachers or administrators to help?"
"They always say they're going to 'file a complaint'," she replied in a mocking tone, "but they never do. Even if one of them gets written up it only makes them madder at me."
"Okay, next week I am arranging a parent-teacher conference at that school. This has got to stop."
"Or you could just pull me out of school," she said nonchalantly.
"Shady, you know we don't have the cash to try and home school you. I've been gunning for a raise at work, but cloud-busting only brings in so much to begin with. If I could, I would."
"We don't need some fancy tutor! I've learned more from you than I ever did at school, and I learn what I like from you! You encourage my drawing, and you teach me how to run a house, and how to..."
Silver sighed with resignation. They had been having some variation of this same conversation ever since Shady had moved up into middle school. She hated it there, he knew she did, and he wanted to do everything he could for his niece. She just was unable to see the reality of the situation, and that reality was that they were only making enough to maintain their current standard of living. Anything more would likely be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
"Shady, sweetie," he interjected, "you know that I would stand up to Nightmare Moon if it meant protecting you, and I want to see you happy. I love you with all of my heart, but I simply cannot divide my time any more than it already is to try and teach you at home."
"But-"
"No buts, please. Not now. When we can seriously consider this as an option, I swear on my parent's graves that we will. But we can't now, so we aren't going to. Now finish your dinner, okay?"
"... Okay." she replied. They finished their dinner in sullen silence and headed to their respective rooms after cleaning up the kitchen. Silver could hear the shower running in Shady's room, which meant he had about half an hour to himself. He shut the door to his bedroom, pulled up to his writing desk and clicked the light on, and settled in to get a little bit of his father's novel written.
Silver thought to himself as he shuffled through the pages, looking for where he had left off. He hated having to remind himself of what happened to his parents, but he knew it was the only way he could get Shady to listen. She could be so stubborn and obstinate. He knew that she cared, but it was a right pain in the flank to try and get her to not be so determined to have her own way.
He found his mind wandering back to all those years ago, when he had first heard the news. It had seemed so unreal at the time; of all the times for a train to go off the rails, it had to be when his parents were coming back from their anniversary weekend. He had been barely older than five or six at the time, but he still remembered the officer arriving at his house clear as day. He never thought he'd stop crying, even after his grandparents had agreed to take him in.
He had learned to live with his life after all of that, and was even happy with it for the most part. It didn't mean that the memory didn't sting, of course, but it was a part of his past that he had long since overcome.
Finally finding the page he wanted, Silver rolled it into their old typewriter and started clacking away.
"Chapter 13: In Spite of Myself..."
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Silver Stroke lay slumped over in his writing chair, fast asleep. His papers were strewn out to the side, and the light above him hadn't even been turned off.
Shady smiled slightly. She had seen him fall asleep at his desk more times than she could care to imagine, but he always made sure to move his papers to the side. Calmly she tiptoed into the room, clicked the light off, and hoisted him up onto her back. She may be little, but earth ponies are stronger than most, and pegasi are lighter than most. She had had to carry him into bed dozens and dozens of times, and not once had he ever stirred.
She gently laid him on top of his mattress and pulled the sheets up to his chin. He was snoring like a log before she could even take her hooves off the bed.
"Sweet dreams, you big dummy," she whispered before leaving. Gently she shut the door and turned to go back to her own room. It was nearly 2:00 in the morning, and she had school to get up for.
"Psssst! Hey, little filly," hissed a harsh, raspy voice.
Shady's heart skipped a beat before going into overdrive, and her fur stood up on end. Slowly, deliberately, she turned her head out towards the hall, thinking that was where the voice came from.
There was no scream. There was no struggle. A soaked rag came down over her muzzle from behind, and before she knew it her vision started to swim. She slumped to the floor, and the last words she heard before the grip of unconsciousness overtook her was the assailant speaking to themselves.
"Alright boss, I've got the kid. I'll be out by the fire escape waiting for ya."
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Silver awoke to the sounds of a few pigeons cooing outside of his bedroom window, probably the closest thing he was ever going to get to birds chirping. He took a quick look over to his alarm clock as he rubbed the grit out of his eyes.
"8:13," he muttered. "Better go see if Shady's up." Wearily he got on his own four hooves and trudged to the open door of his bedroom.
Even with his brain still booting up, he could tell something was amiss; the apartment was never this quiet on a school day. While Shady certainly didn't enjoy having to wake up early, she could normally be counted on to get up at around eight o'clock to get a good shower in. Yet, as he stepped out into the hall, he didn't here her little shower running, nor the sounds of any sort of commotion coming from her room at all. He cracked the door to her room open slightly and poked his muzzle in.
"Rise and shine, little lady. It's another big day today." Hearing no response, he surmised that she probably decided to sleep in a bit.
Silver took the time he would normally spend getting ready for his job at Seaddle Weather Maintenance to get some breakfast out for the two of them. He quickly laid out a couple of bowls of oat cereal with dried cranberries and two glasses of orange juice. He set the milk jug to the side, as he normally took his own cereal dry.
Still perturbed by the lack of sound from her room, he decided to take some initiative and took a look inside. Her walls were a deep fuchsia color, and her bed was set in the center against the far wall. A few stuffed animals littered the bed surface, and her sheets were all bunched up near the head of the bed.
"Man, she has some weird sleeping habits," thought Silver. As deftly as a cat he tiptoed up to her bedside. "Alright Sleeping Beauty, time to get up and face the day!" he said as he threw the covers back.
She wasn't under the sheets; All that was there was a pillow, and one that looked like it hadn't been used the night before. Thinking she was just trying to play a prank on him, Silver called out to the empty room.
"All right Shady, very funny. Seriously, where are you hiding? You're gonna be late for school." No response.
"Shady, the joke's over. You can come out!" he called again with a bit more urgency. Again, there was no response.
"Shady Grove, you get out here this minute! This isn't funny anymore!" Now his heart was starting to beat a bit faster. Shady never let a prank hang like this.
Thinking quickly, Silver started to search the apartment. While it was slow going at first, he grew increasingly more hurried as he grew more panicked. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong, and he knew it.
"Shady!? SHADY!?" he called with panic in his voice. He flew all over the apartment at a breakneck pace, desperately trying to find a note or clue to where she was. He overturned furniture, tore open pantries, even checked in his own room.
Yet everywhere he looked turned up no clue, no hint as to where she was.
"Okay, think Silver. Think think THINK!! She can't have gotten far, and somepony would had to have seen her leave. Maybe the check-in mare in the lobby saw her leave!"
Not wanting to waste time with the elevator, Silver threw open his bedroom window and soared out into the early morning air. He landed at a canter on the sidewalk outside his building, and nearly caused the doorpony to jump out of his skin. He burst in through the lobby doors and ran up to the thoroughly confused mare at the lobby desk.
"Sir, can I help yo-" she began.
"Look, I really don't have a lot of time. I live up on the fifth floor, apartment D, and I am having a crisis right now."
Having taken a moment to look him up and down, the check-in mare realized who she was talking to.
"Oh, sorry Silver. I didn't think it was you, since you busted in through the front and all. Is something wrong, you look a bit flustered."
"Yeah, flustered is one word for it. Anyway, have you seen my niece? Earth Pony, about half my size, bright green mane, dull teal coat? Has she passed by this way recently?"
"I'm afraid not, sorry," she answered apologetically. "Has she gone mis-"
"What do you think!?" he hollered, catching the mare off guard. Quickly catching himself, he continued. "Sorry, I'm just a bit frantic. Could you call the police for me while I keep searching. Tell them to meet me upstairs in about half an hour."
"Certainly," she answered. Without another word he streaked out the door as fast as his wings would carry him, making his way down to the one place he could think to look.
He arrived at Berry Mint's shop in record time, and found her just now flipping the "Closed" sign to "Open." He very nearly slammed into the door, but managed to stop himself just short of a glass-shattering halt. Berry visibly jumped back before opening the door to admonish him.
"Silver, what in Celestia's name do you think you're doing, tearing around without a care in the world?" she berated. "You're gonna give somepony a heart atta-"
"Berry, I would love to chat right now, but it's an emergency! Have you seen Shady around anywhere? I went to wake her up for school, but she isn't anywhere in the apartment building!"
Suddenly realizing the gravitas of the situation, Berry's expression changed from bemusement to concern. "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen hide nor hair of her this morning. When'd you last see her?"
"Last night, right before bedtime. She went to go take a shower while I went to get some writing done, and I'm pretty sure she put me in bed when I fell asleep at my writing desk. Oh, this is bad, this is so bad..." Exhausted after his hectic morning, Silver plopped down onto his haunches and held his head in his hooves.
"Silver, calm down, just calm down and take a breather," Berry said reassuringly as she stroked his back. "She'll be fine, don't worry."
"Don't worry? DON'T WORRY!? How could I NOT worry!? Berry, she's all I've got left, and I'm all she's got! Now is the perfect time to worry! She could be dead for all I know, or kidnapped by the mob and being held for ransom, or-"
A quick backhoof from Berry ended his little tirade as she tried to slap some sense into him. "Silver, get a hold of your senses such as they are!" she admonished as she turned his face forward. "I understand that you're worried out of your mind, and you have every right to be, but now is not the time for hysterics! Shady's not going to be found with you sitting here throwing a fit! You need to calm down, take stock of the situation, and figure out where to go from here."
Silver was about to heed her advice when he noticed a faint wail coming down the street. He and Berry both turned towards the source of the noise to see a police wagon coming down the street, and straight towards his apartment building.
"Well, they sure came quickly," Silver said. Quickly he got to his hooves and began to hover. "Sorry for snapping at you, Berry, and please let me know if you see her."
"I will. Good luck Silver," she called as he raced back down the sidewalk to try and meet the police wagon at his building.
"You're gonna need it," she muttered to herself. Without another word she went back to work, even as Silver Stroke knew he had a lot bigger things to worry about than his job.