Revenant Wings was awake. But, for some reason, his eyes were closed as though he was deeply asleep.
His breathing was a steady rise and fall of his chest; in through his nose, out through his mouth. He lay comfortably on his side, wings kept tight to his back, one hoof splayed out from the sheets and hanging just slightly from the edge of the bed. He could feel the hoof of his roommate Garnet Heart lying heavily on top of him; it had been wrapped around his chest not long ago, but it had since loosened after Garnet himself had fallen asleep.
Revenant’s own body felt heavy and lethargic and he couldn’t move much more than his ears. He felt a breeze coming through the open window that cooled his body, which seemed to be dripping with sweat. He heard a gentle rustling from the grass outside his window and a sound like a whisper on the nighttime breeze. It seemed to be saying something about rest and peace, of swinging as though in a hammock in the trees...
But something was off about the voice. Revenant might have been half asleep due to it, but it had woken him up in the first place and he knew it didn’t belong. He tried as hard as he could to move and swiveled his ears in the direction of the open window.
The voice stopped temporarily before picking up again, droning on and on. Revenant Wings almost fell back asleep, but he reminded himself that it almost sounded as though someone was outside his bedroom window. He felt a hoof fidget, then another, then another, and suddenly his eyes shot open as though he was waking up from a nightmare.
But before Revenant could make another move, both the sound and the rustling by his window had vanished. Revenant sat up in the bed, feeling Garnet’s hoof sliding off him, and looked out the window. Off in the distance, there was nothing but the vague, dark shape of the Whitetail Woods and the light of the moon hovering in a cloudless sky.
Now wide awake, Revenant found it difficult to go back to sleep again, especially with concerns about the strange voices and the thing that had been outside his window. He gently got up from the bed, trying not to disturb Garnet Heart, and walked off to the single bathroom in the door right outside the bedroom.
Revenant fumbled around in the dark for a minute before finding the light switch. The light blinded him and he closed his eyes for a minute, slowly opening them to adjust to the sudden brightness. It was a small bathroom, with a sort of toilet, a sink, a bathtub with showerhead, and a small mirror that contained a medicine cabinet. He went over to the sink, turned on the water, and splashed his face a couple of times before grabbing a nearby towel and drying his face off.
Revenant looked in the mirror of the medicine cabinet for a moment. His white coat and wings were still rather neatly groomed from his shower and preening earlier in the evening, but his mane was standing in all directions and his eyes looked as though they were slightly bloodshot. There were small dark patches under his eyes as though he had not slept very well for a long time.
That was actually somewhat true. For a while now, he’d been having strange dreams, dreams that said there was something watching him from the Whitetail Woods, things that were somehow very large but spoke in the voice he had heard not long ago.
But... had he actually heard it? Who was to say he hadn’t actually been dreaming a rather realistic dream and that nothing was there in reality, nor had ever been there? Revenant sighed quietly, trying without much success to convince himself that was the case, and opened up the medicine cabinet above the sink.
Not much was in the cabinet. Inside was a bottle of vitamins, a bottle each of acetaminophen and ibuprofen, a bottle of allergy pills, a few spray-on deodorants, a small canister of hair spray, and two small glasses. Revenant Wings pulled out one of the glasses and turned the sink onto cold water before putting the glass under the stream and filling it up. When it was full, Revenant shut off the water and took a long drink, draining the cup without stopping.
Revenant Wings had just put the glass back in the cabinet before he felt another pony bring its hoof around him and gently nuzzle his neck. Despite not expecting it, Revenant knew exactly who it was and leaned into the gentle, soothing feeling of the nuzzle.
He closed the cabinet door and looked into the mirror to confirm. Another pegasus as white as he was with bright purple eyes and long blonde hair tied into a ponytail and a handsome face was standing behind him. Down on his flank was a cutie mark in the shape of a heart that seemed like it was made out of crystal.
“You’re awake early,” the other pegasus said.
Revenant sighed and turned around so that the other pegasus could nuzzle him on the nose. “I haven’t noticed. What time is it?”
“A few minutes past four,” Garnet Heart answered. He pulled away and looked Revenant in the eye. “Did you have the dream again?”
“Yeah,” Revenant Wings replied. “Fifth night in a row. I’m not entirely sure what it’s all about. I don’t think its stress or anxiety, even though we have the report to Celestia to finish tomorrow.”
Garnet Heart smiled soothingly. “We’re nearly done with that, though. A few more items, a few petty larcenies to report, and we’ll turn it in and send it on its way.”
Revenant nodded. “It’s probably just my overactive imagination again.”
“Was there anything different about it?”
Revenant shook his head. “Same as always. It feels like something is watching me. I can see nothing, but I hear a rustling outside the window and voice that sounds like it’s whispering to me.”
Garnet Heart took his hoof from around Revenant Wings’ neck and put a wing around him instead. He gently led him out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom, flicking the light off with his other wing. “Perhaps you should see Zecora,” he said. “If you’re having trouble sleeping, perhaps she could make you a natural sleeping medicine.”
“I’ll think about it,” Revenant Wings said. “I just hope it’ll all be over soon.”
Garnet Heart clambered back into the queen bed they shared and waited for Revenant to climb in beside him. Garnet waited until Revenant was lying comfortably on his side and gently reached a hoof out to stroke Revenant’s muzzle.
“Go to sleep,” Garnet said. “We have a long day tomorrow with that report.”
Revenant reached up a hoof and wrapped it around Garnet’s own. He smiled. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just a dream anyways.”
Garnet went to sleep before him. Revenant watched him by the light of the moon, watched his own calm breathing and trying to match it with his own. Three years together in the Guard, two years as roommates and sleeping in the same bed because of their low income, and one year since they had officially were ‘together’. Revenant smiled happily and felt himself become drowsy thinking about his partner laying across from him. Eventually, he closed his eyes and started to fall asleep.
Far, far away, the voice returned, almost singing about sleep. Revenant felt himself become peaceful, calm, heavy, and relaxed, and soon fell asleep, this time not worrying about the strange voice.
Seven o’clock the next morning came much too early. Revenant Wings opened a bleary eye towards the beeping alarm clock on the nightstand next to his bed and lazily reached out a hoof to turn it off. When he saw the time, he groaned and got lazily up out of bed.
Garnet Heart was already up. He was in the small kitchen looking over the toaster and a frying pan and with two plates in front of him. The frying pan was off and two strips of hay bacon were being put on each plate, which also included two pieces of buttered toast with pomegranate jelly, what looked like scrambled egg whites, and sliced banana with dark red cherries and what looked like blueberries. Two glasses of milk were already on the table.
“Caramel finally told me where to get a patch of the sweet blueberries he always gets from Whitetail Woods,” Garnet said upon seeing Revenant’s reaction to him putting the plates on the table. “How’d you sleep? I hope you don’t mind I set your clock back half an hour; figured you needed a little extra time.”
Revenant yawned. “Certainly better last night than the ones before,” he said. “What’s the special occasion?” he asked looking over the meal.
“Just wanted to do something nice,” Garnet said. “Also, we should last longer trying to do our report.”
Revenant Wings nodded simply and sat down to eat. Garnet Heart was a better cook than Revenant and the food was as delicious as ever. The only thing Revenant noticed was that Garnet Heart didn’t have any of the blueberries on his plate.
“Aren’t you going to eat any?” he asked.
Garnet Heart shook his head. “Too sweet for me to have for breakfast. Maybe as a topping over ice cream.”
Revenant Wings took up a berry and looked at it. It certainly looked like a blueberry with its small round shape and indigo skin, but it had some splotches of purple and almost tasted like a blueberry mixed with a pomegranate. He considered it for a moment before popping it in his mouth and somewhat agreed with Garnet Heart on the notion of putting it over ice cream.
When Revenant had finished eating, he went to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. He took out the small glass, filled it with water, and chewed one of the vitamins and swallowed one of the allergy pills sitting in the cabinet. That done, he swished his mouth with another glass of water before brushing his teeth and leaving to put on his armor.
By the time he had finished putting on his armor it was almost a quarter to eight and it was nearly time to leave. Garnet Heart was already in the living room putting on his armor; a shining gold breastplate, a golden helmet with a blue crest, and golden hoofcuffs.
“Come, Revenant,” he said, white coat shining brilliantly where it could be seen from under his armor. “It’s almost time.”
Revenant Wings nodded and donned his own set of armor before nodding to Garnet Heart. With that, they headed out the door and into the warm morning sun of Ponyville.
Their house was at the edge of Ponyville; the only two farther out were Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s own cottage. From the back windows of their house they could see across a small plain, over a small river meandering by, and into the Whitetail Woods, a much friendlier sight than the Everfree Forest to the south. It was somewhat apart from the main town, almost a whole soccer field away from the nearest home.
“Can I confess something to you?” Garnet Heart said, turning to Revenant Wings as they walked.
“Hm?” Revenant replied.
“I heard something last night, as we were drifting off. Pardon me, but it sounded almost like the way you talk of the voice in your dream.”
“...like a gentle sound between a whisper and a hiss?” Revenant said, sounding intrigued.
“Yes. Difficult to decipher, so I couldn’t tell you what it said. But I also felt like I was drifting off as it spoke, and so even if I could understand it, I probably would have been asleep soon after.”
Revenant Wings nodded. “Yes, that sounds right. But... did you hear the tone? What did the voice sound like?”
Garnet hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know... it sounded gentle, almost reassuring.”
Revenant Wings frowned slightly and shook his head. “That’s not the voice I hear in my dreams. It’s more like a silky, almost oily voice. As though it’s trying to convince me.”
Garnet Heart smiled knowingly. “So that is why you wake, now, is it? To escape the voice?”
Revenant Wings shrugged. “Who knows.” They entered into Ponyville’s main sections, and Revenant decided not to speak of the dream directly in case anyone around thought he was going crazy. “Also, I am surprised you take the whole dream thing seriously.”
“I take it seriously because it affects your sleep and your health. You’re not exactly a stranger to illness, you know.”
Revenant looked away. “True.”
“That reminds me; you did take your allergy pill today, didn’t you? Don’t want you to go home again because you’re sneezing to the point you can’t see.”
“Yes, I did. I may need to buy a new bottle soon, but I’ve got enough for the rest of the month.”
“Well, remember to do so.”
Not long after this, they had reached the office of the Ponyville section of the Royal Guard. There were not many present; the whole of the office had a mere nine members; the Captain, six on-duty officers, a secretary and front-desk member, and a night guard who managed the office after official closing time. It contained a rudimentary collection of desks for the guards to write reports and examine evidence, a small forensics station for examining evidence, evidence storage as managed by the secretary, and a few holding cells that were more often empty than filled, only really being used for petty thieves, drunks who needed to sober up, and strange but otherwise illegal uses of magic. Ponyville was not particularly known for any of those three crimes.
At the time Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings had arrived at the office, there was quite a stir. The Captain was going over a sheaf of papers and even the night guard was present and hadn’t gone home. The secretary was nervously shuffling through papers and two of the other guards were present and sitting at their desks with nothing to do.
“Well, seems we’ve arrived late to the party,” Garnet Heart said. “What happened in the time it took us to walk from home to here?”
The Captain, a white unicorn with an electric blue mane and a bronze-colored shield as a cutie mark who went by the name Iron Shield, fixed his deep red eyes on them. “About time you boys arrived,” he barked. “Come here, I’m taking you off reporting to Princess Celestia for now.”
Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart looked at each other in confusion before going to sit at their own desks and facing the Captain’s desk, the largest one towards the back of the room.
“Alright, gentlecolts,” Iron Shield said. “We’ve got ourselves a heck of a problem. I’ve been talking with Night Watch, our overnight guard, and an interesting story has been developing over the past thirty-six hours.”
“Interesting how?” said another guard nearby. “Are we talking a slightly higher petty larceny case? Has Filthy Rich been robbed?”
“Well, interesting in terms of I’ve never had to deal with it before in my time as Captain, but I used to encounter such a case in Canterlot.” Iron Shield put his hooves on the desk and leaned over, eyeing carefully every guard present in the room. “We’re dealing with a kidnapping. A missing person’s case, if you will.”
Revenant Wings’ eyes widened. He looked over to Garnet Heart, who had much the same expression on his own face. Neither of them had ever had to deal with a kidnapping.
“The facts of the case are these.” Iron Shield used his magic to straighten his papers and cleared his throat. “Around five o’clock the evening before last, a pony by the name of Caramel left work with the intent to go into the Whitetail Woods to find a patch of sweet blueberries that he’d discovered a few months ago. He was apparently supposed to go collect the berries, then return home in time for dinner at six. He currently lives with his brother, Ponyville Hospital’s own Doctor Stable, from whom he is renting his own room and bathroom.”
“However,” Iron Shield continued, “Caramel did not show up at six. Doctor Stable reported that he waited until seven o’clock then assumed that Caramel went out with some friends of his, but as it went on towards ten and even eleven o’clock, Caramel had not arrived back home. Nor was he at home at six o’clock yesterday morning, when Doctor Stable got up to prepare for work; he reported that the bed looked much the same and is keeping the room closed so that we can get a forensics team in there and take pictures of the room as Caramel left it two days ago. Watchful Eye, I am going to give that job to you once the briefing is complete.”
A dark grey unicorn in the back of the room saluted but did not move, waiting for the Captain to finish.
“The magnitude of the situation did not become apparent until the owner of Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack, called the home of Caramel to complain that Caramel did not show up to work. Two calls were made, one at approximately ten o’clock wondering where Caramel was, and a second at about four saying that if Caramel was sick, he should have called ahead instead of just resting without letting them know. Doctor Stable received both messages and called back shortly after five when he got home to say that Caramel had not come home last night and he had not seen him that morning, and that Caramel was not home that evening, either. Doctor Stable waited a little while longer, wondering if Caramel would suddenly turn up, but again Caramel did not return home last night.”
“We finally received the call about a missing person’s report at five-oh-three this morning, picked up by Night Watch,” Iron Shield continued. “So, as of five o’clock on the morning of the twentieth, Caramel has been missing and we have three leads: Doctor Stable, Applejack, and the sweet blueberry patch. I assume by talking with Doctor Stable we’ll be able to ascertain the names of Caramel’s friends and get another potential lead from there.”
“Well, sir,” one of the guards said hesitantly, “I should rather give you a bit of a warning I’ve heard on my rounds.”
Captain Iron Shield turned to face the pony that had spoken, a unicorn with a spyglass for a cutie mark. “What sort of warning is this that it hasn’t been reported to the guard, Watchful Eye?”
“Well, there are reports of a strange creature living in there,” Watchful Eye said. “Apparently there are rumors around saying that a large creature lives in the Whitetail Woods. It has kept to the shadows of night for now, but apparently has large glowing eyes and none as yet can describe the exact size of the creature.”
“Do you know, by any chance, the source of the rumors?”
“Not that I can think of, only that they started up about a week ago.”
Captain Iron Shield nodded. “Very well. Does anyone else have anything to add on to the thread about these rumors? We may have to look into them later.”
No one said anything.
“Well, then, we shall get on with the assignments.” Iron Shield motioned to the secretary at the front desk, a tan unicorn with curly brown hair, pink eyes, and a light purple eye-shadow. “Quick Quill will have the picture of Caramel available for those who don’t know him and thus know what to look for, along with his other personal details. Watchful Eye, take the camera and the black-light and go take pictures of Caramel’s room at a time when it suits Doctor Stable. Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings, go with Watchful Eye and see if you can’t interview Doctor Stable about the time he last saw Caramel and who his friends are. Hoofprint, I need you to go interview Applejack and see how much she knows about the disappearance. The rest of you go about your business as normal, but I will want Night Watch back a little earlier than he usually comes in.”
The group nodded and split up. Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings looked over to Watchful Eye, who came up over to them. “Well, I guess we’d better check out the file, huh? See what we can get out of it?”
The three headed over to Quick Quill and received the file from her. It was very small; Caramel was born at the Ponyville Hospital and was twenty-something years old with a steady job as a hired hand at Sweet Apple Acres and currently renting from his older brother, Doctor Stable. He’d attended Canterlot University for a short time and got a bachelor’s in Environmental Science, and had no history of criminal activity or even rowdy behavior. He seemed to be a bit of a teetotaler and sometimes kept to himself.
“So, this is our colt,” Garnet Heart said. “I was talking with him not long ago about the sweet blueberry patch. I wonder why he’d suddenly disappear.”
“You didn’t speak to him recently, did you?” Watchful Eye asked.
“Last week,” Garnet replied. “Probably even before the rumors started. I only knew him in passing, though; we frequently ended up doing our beat around the time he was heading home and along the same path.”
“Well, that rules you out, then,” Watchful Eye said. “Quick Quill, can you call Ponyville Hospital and see if Doctor Stable is in and if we could have an interview with him?”
“Give me fifteen minutes,” Quick Quill said politely. “He might be busy.”
The three headed over to their desks.
“Why do you think he disappeared?” Revenant Wings asked.
“There’s not too many reasons available,” Watchful Eye said. “We’ve got either a creature from the Everfree Forest, or a stranger who isn’t from around here. Ponyville doesn’t have any cases of this happening in the last hundred years.”
“Yeah, but Everfree Forest doesn’t even factor into this right now,” Garnet Heart rebuffed. “Creatures hardly ever come out from there, and I doubt they’d go into the less dense and pony-controlled Whitetail Woods. Stuff in there is more natural and probably wouldn’t have the sapience to do something like that.”
“All the same,” Watchful Eye said with a thoughtful shrug. “I admit I’ve always been a bit off-put by the Whitetail Woods. Sure, we’ve got the train that goes through there fine to Los Pegasus, but really, it almost seems as undiscovered as the Everfree aside from the train.”
“Fluttershy’s cottage is around there, too,” Revenant Wings said. “Maybe we should talk to the Captain about interviewing her and seeing if she’s noticed any strange creatures nearby.”
“If everything else dries up, that’s probably the route to go,” Watchful Eye said. “But let’s focus on getting the main leads out of the way first. We’ll have our interview with Doctor Stable and see what we can get out of that.”
At this, Quick Quill turned her head around. “He’s available, boys,” she said. “Says he’ll meet you at his house in twenty minutes.”
Watchful Eye stood up and grinned. “So it begins,” he said. “I’ll get the camera and the black-light, you get the notepads and pencils, and we’ll be on our way.”
Revenant Wings sighed and steeled himself. Heck of a way to start a morning, he thought. Probably gonna be a long day today trying to collaborate everything.
Another small thought appeared in the back of his head. The rumors about a creature in the Whitetail Woods and Caramel telling Garnet Heart about the wild blueberry patch seemed to be oddly close together. Revenant Wings wanted to investigate the blueberry patch as soon as possible.
But first, they had to get information from Doctor Stable.