Author's Note

For this chapter, I wanna give a fair warning for my fellow readers. There’s going to be something in this chapter that’ll be triggering to read.

Also, you might think Zipp is out of character here. Just, wanted to give you a huge warning here.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Make sure to comment, like, favorite and follow for future updates. Thank you all and goodnight everybody.

Chapter 7: Angry Accusations

“Hi Sunny!” Izzy excitedly said, surprising her friend at the Smoothie Cart she owned and operated. She had opened up almost 2 hours ago. Izzy knew this, because this would be the time where Sunny would take her break. Whenever that happened, she would join her friend to keep her company.

“Oh, hey Izzy. You want me to make you your usual before I go on my break?” Sunny asked her with a smile on her face.

“No thank you.” Izzy said, waving her hoof. “Besides, I wanna ask you something. Something REALLY important.” She emphasized to her friend.

Sunny giggled as she put up her BACK IN 30 MINUTES sign. When she walked out of her smoothie truck, she decided to ask Izzy what was up.

“What is that’s super important to ask me, Izzy?” Sunny asked, as her and Izzy sat down on a bench near her truck.

“It’s about your old friend, Sprout. What do you think about him?” Izzy asked very directly, but with an upbeat tone.

Now, Sunny had known Izzy for a while now. She knew a lot of things that she was. Sweet. Upbeat. Outgoing. Silly. Artistic. Creative. Kind. And a lot of other things.

One of those other things she knew Izzy was, and arguably the most about her, was Random. She was one of the most random mares she had ever known. Whether it be making some wacky device just for fuck all reason, imitating somepony, or just dancing out of nowhere, Izzy was as random as a raffle drawing. And, honestly, that’s what made Sunny gravitate toward Izzy.

However, sometimes randomness could lead to moments of uncomfortableness. Somepony could not understand how to comprehend what they were seeing and could react in a not so fun way. And, sadly, this was one of those moments.

Sunny felt like a lightning bolt shot through her body. She REALLY didn’t expect Izzy to ask her something like that. Furthermore, she started to wonder why Izzy would even ask her about him in the first place.

Did Izzy and Sprout….talk? Like, ACTUALLY in a conversation? Without him running away terrified?

Izzy started to notice her friend not answering her. So, she asked again.

“Did you hear me, Sunny? I asked how do you feel about Sprout?” She asked. Though this time, there was a bit of concern in her tone. She didn’t know if she might’ve hurt Sunny by asking that.

After a few seconds of silence, Sunny broke it by asking, “W-W-Why do you wanna know, Izzy?”

“Well, he looked pretty sad when I brought your name up. He said he doesn’t think you consider him a friend anymore. And that he doesn’t blame you.” She said in her upbeat tone again.

Sunny looked surprised to hear this. So Sprout ACTUALLY spoke with Izzy? Not only that, he talked about his feelings with her? This didn’t sound like the Sprout she grew up with. The Sprout she had known all her life.

“You…You TALKED with Sprout? H-How?” She asked.

“Well,” Izzy started. “He apologized to me for when he told me to leave him alone 2 weeks ago. And for the giant machine of doom. He looked so sad while doing it. And he really meant it too.” Her ears dropped in empathy. “He even called himself a worthless coward. That kinda hurt a little to hear it.”

Sunny just couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Sprout…actually said SORRY to Izzy? And called himself worthless? This sounded like the Sprout she knew was overtaken by a benevolent force trying to trick her and Sunny into believing he was a changed stallion.

…..yeah, right.

“Sprout… apologized to you?” Sunny asked Izzy.

She nodded happily. “Yep. And I want to know if you are still friends with him. I think he REALLY wants to talk to you, Sunny. To apologize to you too.” She said in a sweet tone to her.

“Do you think he meant what he said?” Sunny asked.

Izzy nodded In approval with an upbeat smile to her.

“What makes you think that?” Sunny asked.

Izzy was silent for a quick second before replying…

“I just do. I’ve always had this feeling if ponies are being sincere or not. And he totally was, Sunny.” She said, trying to reassure her friend.

Sunny looked at the ground. She didn’t know what to feel about all of this. It was all so sudden.

“So, what do you think, Sunny?” Izzy asked again.

Sunny continued to look at the ground. She heard Izzy’s question. She heard it ring through her mind. However, she couldn’t answer that very question. Why was that?

Simple. She didn’t KNOW how to feel.

It felt like a pin could be heard dropping in the Sheriff’s office. With the shock of this announcement, Hitch felt like he just didn’t know what to say. What to do. What to think.

His old deputy, somepony he’s known since he was a little colt….is now a potential suspect for murder? And not just any murder. A murder that included Lilac Summer’s marehood being mutilated by a knife. Tortured before getting her neck snapped. Then buried on the beach of Maretime Bay.

He took a quick look at Zipp, and knew this wasn’t good. He saw the intense look on her face. He saw the anger in her eyes. He saw her hooves and body shaking. It was clear as day that Zipp ABSOLUTELY thought that Sprout was 100% the murderer. He just knew she was itching to arrest him.

Hitch felt his lip quiver a little bit. This couldn’t be right. There had to be some type of mistake. No WAY Sprout would do something like this. No way.

“That…That…That’s wrong. That’s gotta be wrong. You need to test that again.” Hitch told Charnelle.

“DNA is NEVER wrong, Sheriff. And I’ve tested it 3 times already. You need to bring Sprout Cloverleaf in for questioning.” She said.

“Gladly.” Zipp angrily said with intensity in her voice. She then fluttered her wings and flew out the door at top speed.

Oh No. This wasn’t good.

“Zipp! Come back!” Hitch yelled at her as he attempted to chase after her through the front doors. But, it was too late. Zipp was already up in the sky, further away from the Sheriff’s office.

As he looked up at the sky in worry, he heard Pipp come up behind him.

“Hitch, what’s going on? Zipp just rushed past me in the lobby. Where’s she going?” She asked, worrying about her big sister.

“All I know is she’s about to make a big mistake. We gotta catch up to her. We need to run to Canterlogic. NOW!” Hitch said in a desperate tone, followed by him running away like crazy toward town.

Pipp felt scared. If Hitch is looking worried, then this must be bad. Really bad. And it involved her sister too. She knew she couldn’t sit this one out.

So, with that, and fear and worry in her heart and veins, she followed Hitch into town. Flying above him to keep on the lookout for the fast pegasus.

She just hoped, whatever it was that got Hitch worried, they wouldn’t be too late.

“Another day goes by again.” Sprout muttered to himself, as he had just gotten done with his shift. He was now heading home.

As he walked, he started to wonder if Izzy Moonbow really was going to ask Sunny about him. She seemed pretty adamant about doing it. Not to mention, she also didn’t exactly seem the brightest in his eyes. She’s the kind of mare that wouldn’t really think things through. If she felt it was right, she’d do it. Even if it would lead to consequences.

While continuing his walk home, being given glares by other ponies in the process, he saw a very familiar looking food cart. Or in this case, Smoothie Cart.

He felt his nerves rise up. It was Sunny’s, no question about it. There was a line of ponies, waiting to get their smoothie from her. Truth be told, Sprout missed Sunny’s smoothies. If there was one thing he KNEW she was amazing at, it was making smoothies. His favorite was Wild Raspberry Lemonade.

However, after the giant machine of doom fiasco, he hasn’t been to her cart since. He was worried about the awkwardness of facing her after destroying her home. Maybe she’d ban him from her cart forever. Maybe she’d tell him to go find another smoothie to buy.

Maybe she’d tell him to go away, because she hates him and never wants to see his sorry face ever again.

Yet, after apologizing to Izzy, and telling her about how he thinks Sunny feels about him, there was a part of him that WANTED to stand in line and talk to Sunny. To order a Wild Raspberry Lemonade Smoothie. To apologize to her and beg her for forgiveness.

He even stood there for a couple minutes. Not really in line, more like standing next to the line. There was a feeling he had of getting in line right now. He felt conflicted. Should he tuck his tail between his legs and run back home in isolation again, or puff out his chest, be a man, and stop being a Celestia damn coward?

However, just before he could make his decision, he heard a very loud, angry voice hovering above him.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” Said a very irate Zipp Storm, landing right behind him.

Obviously being startled by this, Sprout turned around and saw a very pissed off and almost enraged looking pegasus stare at him with true anger in her eyes. Her wings ruffled. Her body and hooves shaking. Her huffing and puffing.

Sprout was caught off guard by this. He had never seen anypony look this pissed off before in his life. Hell, not even Hitch looked this pissed off when he terminated him. Was she looking at him?

Speaking of looking, the customers in Sunny’s line had taken notice of what was going on and looked in on it. They too had never seen Zipp Storm look like this.

But, perhaps the pony who was paying most attention here, was Sunny herself. She was shocked to see Zipp looking like this. She felt scared looking at Zipp like this.

And she also saw her old friend Sprout Cloverleaf too. She saw the surprise and fear in his eyes. This didn’t look good.

Moments after landing in front him with that angry look, Sprout decided to ask what was going on.

“Uh, can I help you with something?” Sprout asked, feeling intimidated. Something wasn’t right here. He just knew it.

“You’re coming with me, murderer.” Zipp said aloud.

There were gasps in the crowd. Sprout noticed that. What was she talking about?

“What are you talking about?” Sprout asked, sounding scared now.

“You know, I thought you were bad enough with that stupid giant machine of doom, but now I realize what a sick, twisted fuck you really are.” Zipp shouted at him.

Murmurs from the crowd were heard by Sprout. He had no idea what was going on here.

“I-I’m not understanding what you’re saying. What did I do?” He asked, sounding angry and afraid at the same time.

Zipp furiously snorted. “You know what you did.” She yelled at him.

“No, I don’t. What are you yelling at me for?” He shouted back at her.

By this point, almost every citizen of Maretime Bay was hearing the shouting match that was going on and were curious enough to listen in on it. Even Sunny herself had come out of her cart to get a closer look.

Zipp had enough of this. She decided to come out and say it.

“It was you, Sprout Cloverleaf! You murdered that mare that was found at the beach!” She loudly exclaimed.

Huge gasps could be heard from every pony. Even Sunny herself. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

The same could be said for Sprout as well. Bella and Vinny had told him to watch himself after they told him about the dead mare on the beach. He never thought a culprit would be found so soon.

What he also didn’t know, was him being accused of it.

His nerves rose up to a level 10. He had never felt so scared in his life.

“What?! No I didn’t! Are you crazy?!” Sprout asked her in a scared tone.

“Then why was there a partial match of your DNA found at the scene? Huh?” Zipp shouted at him.

If being accused sent his nerves up to 10, now evidence of his DNA SOMEHOW showing up at the crime scene sent them up to 15. His heartbeat was racing like crazy.

He rapidly shook his head. “No. No. No. This-you’re crazy. T-This is crazy. I didn’t do this.” He pleaded his case to her.

Sunny felt numb. There’s DNA evidence that Sprout murdered that poor mare on the beach? This is crazy, she thought. There must be a mistake.

However, Zipp wasn’t having any of it. She trotted toward him.

“Yeah, right. I know it was you, psycho. Like I said, you’re coming with me.” She said, getting closer and closer to him.

Sunny knew this was bad. She needed to do something. Fast.

However, just before, she could do anything, Zipp grabbed Sprout by his shoulder with force.

Now, growing up, Sprout learned two things about situations like this. You either fight or flight. You either stand down and fight, or you run away and live to fight another day.

And when Zipp grabbed his shoulder, one of those instincts came to him.

Fight.

He slapped Zipp’s hoof away from him.

“Get your hooves off me, bitch!” He angrily yelled at her.

Then, something inside Zipp just snapped. She was pissed off. She wanted him to come with her, so she could charge and book his ass. Be done with this crazy as hell case.

So, she tackled him to the ground. Sprout struggled like crazy. Thrashing about.

“Get off me, get off me!” Sprout yelled.

Sunny couldn’t take what was going on. She pushed through the crowd and walked up to Zipp and Sprout.

“Zipp! Stop! What’re you doing?! Let him go!” Sunny pleaded with her.

Zipp shot an angry look at her friend. Which scared Sunny tremendously.

“Are you HONESTLY defending this guy?! After everything he did?” Zipp angrily asked her.

Sunny couldn’t speak after the look she saw in Zipp’s eyes. This wasn’t the same Zipp Storm she knew. This was somepony different entirely.

Now, what happened next would stick with Sprout forever. He NORMALLY would never do this. Not after knocking that filly on her ass back when he was a colt. However, in situations like this, desperate times called for desperate measures. And this was one of them. Didn’t exactly make him feel better, but he knew that it was a scary situation that he had to get out of.

So with that, while Zipp looked at Sunny, he managed to get a hoof free, swung as hard as he could, and he punched her in the face. Very hard. So hard, he knocked her off of him.

“AHG!” Zipp shouted in pain from the blow she took. He hit her so fucking hard, she almost felt dazed on impact. She even swayed over toward Sunny.

As Sprout scrambled to his feet, the whole crowd that was watching this just gasped in shock. They just witnessed Sprout Cloverleaf, who had just been accused of the murder of that mare on the beach, just punch the shit out of a mare.

Sunny helped Zipp stand up from the blow she just took. “Zipp, are you okay?” She asked her.

As she held the side of her face that just got punched, her anger grew to even bigger levels now. She was gonna beat the piss out of this guy.

Zipp wasn’t the only one pissed off either. The whole crowd looked at Sprout with true hate. They felt it. They knew he was the guy. He murdered that mare, and now just hit another one to get her off his ass.

However, all Sunny could do, was just look on in concern for both of them. Sprout because this crowd looked ready to pounce, and Zipp because she took a really hard right hook to the face. She could get a black eye. A concussion.

As she stood there, not knowing what to do, her concerns were saved by somepony she knew very well.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” She heard Hitch Trailblazer yell out loud. Thankfully, the crowd had stopped with their death glare at Sprout and looked on at the Sheriff. Pipp had landed next to him.

He surveyed the situation at hoof. He saw Zipp covering her sore face, Sunny looking worried, the townsfolk looking angry, and his old friend looking scared as hell.

“ZIPP!” Pipp exclaimed, rushing over to check on her sister’s condition.

He wanted to know what the hell had just happened, but he already had an idea. He knew Zipp must’ve started some shit. He knew she must’ve let her emotions get the better of her.

However, he wanted this to be done behind closed doors. He didn’t want the townsfolk seeing any of this.

He walked over to Sprout, who looked on the verge to run away. However, the look in his eyes caused him to have his feet glued to the ground. He couldn’t run if he tried.

Hitch then whispered to Sprout, “Listen Sprout, you need to come with me, now. If you don’t, this is gonna end bad for you.” He motioned to the angry crowd looking at him.

This crowd looked ready to attack. Sprout knew that. So, he decided to agree with his old friend’s request.

“Okay. Just get me outta here.” Sprout whispered back.

Hitch nodded. The two of them then walked off together toward the Sheriff’s office. With Sunny, Pipp and Zipp following suit.

What Hitch was afraid of, was the townsfolk were following too. They wanted to know what was going on as well. They were probably hoping that Sprout would be found guilty of the crime he was accused of.

Hitch knew when he got back to the office, he was going to hear one hell of a story.