When Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings returned from lunch, it was to find Iron Shield locked up in his office with the tape player and the recording of Doctor Stable’s interview, as well as Watchful Eye placing the now developed photos of Caramel’s bedroom into the evidence locker.
“Well, I was going to transcribe the interview after lunch,” Revenant Wings said, mildly irritated. “He could have looked over that instead and asked me questions on it.”
“Never mind that,” Garnet Heart replied evenly. “The photos are developed. We should look at them since the Captain’s preoccupied.”
“You won’t find much,” Watchful Eye commented as he signed the evidence into the locker. “Looks like a pretty standard bedroom to me.”
“Even so,” Garnet Heart said. “Any information is good information, even if it means we no longer pursue a lead for right now. Come on, let’s see those photos.”
Garnet Heart signed his name and a time for the evidence locker and took out the photos. There were almost twenty of them in total looking over a bedroom and a bathroom, as well as two entrances; one from the side door at Doctor Stable’s house, and one from a hallway leading off from the sitting room on the first floor.
But as much as they looked through the pictures, it became clear there really was not much information to glean. The room looked like an average bedroom and connected bathroom with average usage. There was a desk with a few items neatly arranged on it, a bedroom with the sheets and blankets slightly rumpled like someone had recently gotten out of it, a nightstand with half a glass of water and a small lamp, a bookshelf with assorted books, some pictures, and a small color television on its own stand. The bathroom had a toothbrush in a small holding container, a half-used toothpaste container, a few different soaps and towels and washcloths, and a few rolls of toilet paper. Even the black-light photos contained not much more than the lit-up hoofsteps of someone going about a standard morning or evening routine.
“Well, there really isn’t much here,” Garnet Heart said.
“I didn’t really think there would be,” Revenant Wings replied. “Doctor Stable said he went off to work at Sweet Apple Acres that day. There shouldn’t really be any signs of struggle or of a break-in unless someone wanted him for something.”
“And that’s looking increasingly unlikely,” Garnet Heart conceded. “I was just hoping for any evidence regarding his disappearance, whether he left any clues about why or what happened to him.”
Garnet Heart signed the photos back into the evidence locker and the two went back to their desks. Nothing had changed and no new reports had come back in since they went off to lunch, so they started working on the crime report to send to Princess Celestia.
They had been working only for about twenty minutes when Captain Iron Shield came out to his office and went over to them. He had the tape with the interview in his magic aura.
“Gentlecolts,” he said to the two of them, “I wanted to ask you two a few questions about the interview. You know, sort of a wrap up and ending thoughts.”
“I was going to provide that when I did the transcript,” Revenant Wings said, ears flattening. “Annotated and everything.”
“Well, I want to hear it now and see if we’re on the same page,” Iron Shield said firmly. “Let’s start with you, Revenant Wings. What did you take from Doctor Stable’s interview?”
“Well, it seems everything Doctor Stable knows points to the disappearance having something to do with the patch of blueberries Caramel found in the Whitetail Woods,” Revenant Wings replied. “Additionally, Caramel’s recent behavior and almost obsession with the berries has been strange according to Doctor Stable.”
Iron Shield nodded. “Garnet Heart, what about you?”
“Sir, Doctor Stable seemed slightly mad with grief and stress,” Garnet Heart said. “He often broke down many times and had to recompose himself, which is natural to see such distress and eliminates him having much reason to be involved with the disappearance. But he also thinks the rumors going around about something in the Whitetail Woods are the key to finding out what caused Caramel’s disappearance.”
Iron Shield nodded. “Then I suppose our next lead is Fluttershy. Go talk to her. See if she can’t use her animal friends to help search the Whitetail Woods for any signs of Caramel. Quick Quill will make a copy of Caramel’s photo for you to take. Then see what she knows about the berries and where they’re located, then find a sample of the berries to bring back here. We can send them off to a lab in Canterlot to see about their chemical composition.”
Garnet Heart spoke up. “If I may suggest, sir, we could also take a few to the zebra Zecora who lives just inside the Everfree Forest. She is an expert in the local flora and fauna, and so we may be able to learn something about the berries from her.”
“Then take two sample bags with you,” Iron Shield said approvingly. “That way there’s one for us to send to Canterlot for a chemical examination, and one to take to Zecora and check her more practical knowledge. Both Fluttershy and Zecora are close enough, so do those and I’ll relieve you for the rest of the day.”
Revenant Wings got a clean tape and the recorder and picked up a few sample bags from Quick Quill and headed off. There was no sign of Hoofprint or his evidence from Sweet Apple Acres, either, so he and Garnet Heart gathered their things and headed out, hoping that something came up later on.
Fluttershy’s cottage was about as far out as that of Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart, the only difference being a path more south and west than their own house. The stream that traveled through the village went out and followed the path from the Guard station to her cottage.
As they got closer, Revenant could easily hear the trill of dozens of birds singing in the trees that grew nearby and from birdhouses strung on the branches. The river was teeming with small silvery fish and they passed many small dens along the bank. Even Fluttershy’s house itself seemed like a giant hill from which a burrow had been dug and made to look like a home instead of a giant mound of earth.
Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart went up to the door of Fluttershy’s house, watched by a rather large brown bear, and gently knocked on the door. No one responded. Revenant knocked again and they waited a little longer, but still nothing answered.
After a while, the door finally opened but no pony was standing there. The two looked around for a little while before looking down at the floor to see a small white rabbit sitting there looking up at them.
“We’re looking for Fluttershy,” Revenant Wings said. “Is she home?”
The rabbit looked at them for a little while, then opened the door a little farther. Revenant began to walk inside the house, assuming the rabbit was inviting him inside.
“...wait a minute!” Garnet called out.
But he was too late. Revenant Wings walked a few steps over the threshold when the rabbit slammed the door in his face with a giant thud that shook the burrow-house and startled nearly every creature in the vicinity. Revenant himself was thrown backwards a slight way by the force of the door in his face and covered his face with his hooves.
“Ow...” Revenant groaned. “That hurt.”
“She really needs to get that rabbit checked out,” Garnet said. “He’s nothing but trouble if she’s not around.” He helped Revenant Wings get up from the ground. “Oh... you’re bleeding slightly.”
“Oof,” Revenant Wings groaned again as he plugged his nose with a hoof. “No wonder.”
It wasn’t long before a rather small-looking yellow pegasus with a rather long pink mane opened the door. She looked from Garnet Heart to Revenant Wings and back again before quietly speaking. “May I help you, Mister Guard?”
“My name is Garnet Heart, and my friend here is Revenant Wings. First things first,” Garnet said smoothly, “Do you mind if we step inside, Miss Fluttershy? I believe my friend here has a bleeding nose from when your rabbit slammed the door in his face.”
Fluttershy opened the door a little farther. Not too far behind her, in the middle of a small but homely living room, sat the white rabbit. “Angel, did you slam the door on this nice guard?”
The rabbit shook its head.
“Then what was the noise I heard earlier?”
The white rabbit mimed a knocking guesture.
Fluttershy looked at the rabbit as though she didn’t entirely believe it before looking back at the two Guards with a polite smile. “He means well, I assure you,” she said. “Oh, come in. Do you want some tea?”
“I think we’ll be fine with a towel, thank you,” Garnet Heart said as he entered the house. Revenant Wings limped behind him into the living room and they were both seated on the large three-seat couch that probably could have supported four ponies.
Fluttershy went to the kitchen, bustled around a little bit, then came back with a small damp towel and a cup of steaming hot tea with sugar and lemon. She gave the towel to Revenant, who immediately put it over the bleeding nose and clamped his two front hooves to steady it, then sat down in a rocking chair with her tea.
“Thank you very much,” Garnet Heart said. “Now, do you mind if we ask you a few questions about the disappearance of Caramel?”
“...Caramel’s disappeared!?” The pegasus seemed quite shocked about it and gasped. “Oh my! Wha- what happened?”
“Give us a little time and we’ll tell you everything. But we would like to ask you some questions and record it for purposes of evidence. You aren’t a suspect or anything; we just need to see if you can help us along with some information.”
“Oh, of course.” Fluttershy nodded. “Um, I don’t know how much I can give, but I’ll see what I can do.”
Garnet Heart nodded politely. “Thank you for your time. Revenant, you still need to do the recorder.”
Revenant shook his head.
“Oh, fine, I’ll get it.” Garnet Heart reached into Revenant Wings’ saddlebags and took out the tape recorder and placed a fresh tape inside of it. He placed it on the couch between them and looked gently at Fluttershy before Revenant pressed the play button with a back hoof.
“Now, how well do you know Caramel?”
“Well, I’m afraid I don’t know him at all, really,” Fluttershy commented. “I see him around the spa sometimes getting a hooficure when I go with Rarity. I think he may do it because working on the farm may make his feet rough and cracked.”
Garnet nodded and smiled soothingly. “Then I think I can safely say we don’t need to ask you any more on that front. However, we also wanted to ask you a couple of questions about things you may have experienced around here.”
“Like what things?”
“Well, first of all, you live near the Whitetail Woods and seem to have a few animal friends that live inside the woods themselves. Caramel was last seen somewhere near the Whitetail Woods before his disappearance. Have you seen any strange behavior from your house, or have your animal friends told you of anything strange?”
“Um... well, there has been some weird noises around here lately. Sort of a rustling noise in the longer grass or the bushes just inside the woods. It’s always been very late, but almost always I hear one of my animal friends telling me they woke up to hear it in the middle of the night.”
“Very good. What else can you tell us?”
“Um, I’ve also heard some of the smaller ones are scared to go too far in without one of the larger animals accompanying them. Harry normally accompanies them and sometimes Angel does, too, but Harry is sometimes scared even though he’s big and Angel is usually headstrong but doesn’t like the smell of it, either.”
“...excuse me, but could you clarify who ‘Harry’ and ‘Angel’ are?”
“Harry is a large brown bear. He probably is swimming in the pond just outside right now. Angel is the little white bunny you met at the door. By the way, is your nose okay?”
Revenant Wings took the damp cloth off his face and turned to Garnet, who looked at it for a moment. “I think it’s stopped,” Garnet said. Revenant wiped his nose one more time before placing the towel on Fluttershy’s outstretched hoof. “Thank you,” Revenant said.
“It’s no problem. Again, he normally means well. But anyways, do you want to interview either Harry or Angel? I’m sure they would both be willing to provide some answers.”
“I think we’ll be okay from your answers alone,” Garnet continued. “There’s only one more thing we wanted to ask and we’re done. I wanted to know if you knew anything about the sweet blueberries that Caramel was collecting from just inside the Whitetail Woods.”
“Well, I’ve never had any myself,” Fluttershy said. “But the birds and the deer and the raccoons that usually come around here like to eat them. It makes them kind of perky and spunky when they eat them, so I sometimes wonder if they have a lot of natural sugars. They seem to be pretty common, too.”
Revenant Wings took a pad that Garnet Heart was not using and a pencil and wrote down ‘Berry = perky. Extra sugar?’
“Alrighty. Well, I guess I must say we have one more small request,” Garnet Heart said as silkily as he could. “Do you think you could have your animals help us keep a look out for anything? Like if they see anything, have them tell you and send word back to the Guard station?”
“I suppose that wouldn’t be too bad,” Fluttershy said. “Um... yeah, I can do that.”
“If necessary, we can provide financial compensation. It’d be small, only about ten bits per day while the investigation continues, but we can assure you that your help is greatly appreciated.”
“I would do it even without the promise of bits,” Fluttershy said. “Poor Caramel. I hope he turns up soon.”
The two said thank you and goodbye to Fluttershy and turned off the tape recorder before leaving. They walked down the path until they got to flat ground and away from Fluttershy’s hill, but didn’t immediately head back to town. Instead, they turned southwards and started walking towards a much larger path that led into the Everfree Forest.
“So, what did you think of Fluttershy’s new information?” Garnet Heart asked as they walked along south.
“I’ll admit she really didn’t add much,” Revenant Wings replied. “She didn’t know Caramel had disappeared and seemed surprised to hear about it but didn’t know him very well at all. The rustling doesn’t add much, and some of the animals around her I read were naturally skittish anyways.”
“Caught all the same things myself,” Garnet Heart replied with a wink. “However, if Fluttershy and her animal friends do come through we might have a new lead, especially since the Whitetail Woods seems to come prominently into the equation.”
“Let’s hope they’re reliable,” Revenant Wings said. “If they’re skittish, we will need to be aware of exaggerations in the reports, especially if Fluttershy tries to mute it a bit.”
“She seemed willing enough to respond. Now, let’s make our way into the Everfree Forest and meet with Zecora.”
Revenant Wings was very glad he did not have to go very far into the Everfree Forest. He hated the dark, enclosed spaces that seemed to tighten around them, the wild nature of the paths and flora and fauna that were out of ponykind’s control, and the way it felt he seemed to be watched from the shadows by things that disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Twice along the route to Zecora’s he actually thought he saw something in the path. Once he was walking along the path and they were about to turn; Garnet ahead had already turned and ignored it, but suddenly two bright golden eyes with slitted pupils had emerged from the shadows just beyond the trail. Revenant was not helped by a them coming around the corner and both him and Garnet spying a blue tail just shrinking out of view.
“Good thing we don’t have to go that far, eh?” Garnet Heart said. He was playing like he was unafraid, but Revenant could see the hairs on his back were standing on end.
Zecora’s hut was built out of the base of a large and sprawling tree and the somewhat eerie lights coming from inside looked positively homely compared to the Everfree Forest. Revenant Wings picked up his pace a little and speedily knocked on the door.
“Excuse me a moment, this pot I must scour; but still I ask who calls at this fine hour?”
Revenant still got a chill when he heard the strange rhyming patterns of the zebra. “Miss Zecora? My name is Revenant Wings from the local Guard station and I am here with my partner Garnet Heart. We would like to ask you a few questions related to the disappearance of Caramel.”
The inside was quiet for a moment but the door soon opened to reveal Zecora. She stood aside and bade them to come into her house; both Guards immediately agreed, not wanting to stay outside any longer.
Zecora’s center firepit was glowing warmly had a large pot over it which seemed to have boiling water inside it without much else. A few towels were laid over a counter that held a great variety of flowers and roots and berries that were held in wooden and glass jars. A few masks hung on the walls and a small door off to one side led to a dark bedroom with a strangely-colored candle.
“I’m afraid I do not know much about this Caramel,” Zecora said with a shake of her head. “As to why you wish to involve me, then, do tell.”
“Well, it’s not so much about Caramel as to the circumstances of his disappearance,” Revenant Wings spoke up. He pulled out the tape recorder. “Do you mind if we record this conversation?”
Zecora merely shook her head. Revenant pressed the play button and set the recorder on Garnet’s back.
“Now, we last heard that Caramel was last seen going into the Whitetail Woods, apparently in pursuit of a sweet blueberry. Do you know anything about this berry?”
“If you mean bits of purple on indigo skin,” Zecora replied, “then this is not of blueberry’s kin. If one were to need this particular berry, then they must be particularly wary.”
Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart looked at each other. “What exactly do you mean?” Garnet asked.
“If you are trying to avoid deep sleep, then by eating this, your energy will leap. The juice itself serves its purpose the best: to leave you invigorated without the rest.”
“So it is perfectly safe to eat?” Revenant Wings asked.
Zecora nodded.
“It seems something like that must contain caffeine or sugar to make a pony’s energy jump like that,” Garnet Heart observed.
“Caffeine has nothing to do with this fruit,” Zecora gently reprimanded. “Instead it takes a different route. The energy is not of a physical bind, but instead it comes to awaken your mind.”
“So, why is it sweeter than usual?”
“Many plants draw their harvesters by taste. They eat and they carry, and deposit it as waste. Sweetness attracts many to its brew, and encourages others to share it anew.”
“So, we know that Caramel had been eating these berries and searching for them not long ago,” Revenant Wings explained. “But less than forty-eight hours ago, Caramel disappeared when he went to search for these berries. We think that the berry patch is where he disappeared and where his strange behavior preceding the event comes from.”
“But where had he found a decent store? It’s not easy to find at the market floor.”
“Caramel had apparently found a patch of them inside the Whitetail Woods,” Revenant Wings said. “Finding this patch may lead to finding clues about Caramel’s sudden vanishing. However, there are rumors about something in the Whitetail Woods lately. We also were wondering if you had any possible information on that end, as well.”
“Ah, of that I am more than well-versed,” Zecora said excitedly. “But permit me to mention the Everfree first. From here many vile things within are born, but few trails beyond the boundaries are worn. Whether by magic or instinct they stay inside, but lately something has entered Whitetail to hide.”
“...so you’re saying something has been sighted inside the Whitetail Woods?” Garnet Heart said, unable to contain his disbelief.
“Rumors are often founded in truth,” Zecora said sagely, “but often add details that make them uncouth.”
“Then what is hiding in the Whitetail Woods?” Revenant Wings asked.
“I know not the nature of this new beast,” Zecora said, mildly disappointed, “but it seems that lately their number increased. I think one lived there for many years, it’s true, but now their number has grown to two.”
“Two!?” Garnet Heart exclaimed. “Two things came out from the Everfree Forest into the Whitetail Woods, and neither the Guard nor Princess Celestia knows about them!?”
“If something like that got out amongst the village, there would be an uproar!” Revenant Wings agreed.
“You mistake my meaning, so I apologize,” Zecora said. “But let me take time to clear your eyes. One has lived there long and quiet, and creatures of Everfree are its sole diet. It’s stayed there for years without ever a sound, but something came out and now it wants to be found.”
“Then why haven’t we seen anything like it?”
“I know very little but one clue or two,” Zecora said. “The first has yellow eyes and a skin of blue. Its twin is the one come from Everfree ground; it shares the same eyes, but its skin is brown. Long and powerful these creatures are; and so in Whitetail you must not stray far. They hide in the shadows and prey on the weak, approaching quiet behind like a sneak.”
“...you must have seen one, then,” Garnet Heart said. “Why don’t you remember more?”
“True, one I’ve seen before, but my memory’s fogged; I try to remember but it’s as though something’s clogged. But I have a momento of my meeting right here. Behold; two pinpricks that sit on my right ear!”
The two looked and there were certainly two small pinpricks somewhat widely spread apart. They looked at it with a mix of fascination and terror.
“I awoke in a clearing weakened and tired,” Zecora said. “And a nap was all that I desired. But I ate a berry and was soon restored, though to go back to Whitetail I dare not afford.”
Garnet looked as though he had all the information he needed. But Revenant Wings decided it was crucial to ask one more question as crazy as it sounded.
“...how much time is gone from your memory?”
Garnet looked like he was about to politely excuse himself but suddenly looked at Revenant Wings almost dumbstruck. He tried to say something but didn’t get a single word out. When Zecora saw that Garnet wasn’t going to say anything, she spoke.
“I vanished from home from dawn through dawn, by my calendar three days had come and gone.”
Garnet Heart looked at Zecora strangely. “But... no one reported you disappearing. And why didn’t you come to the Guard to tell us about it?”
“By chance, I fell ill and to my bed was confined; As for why no one thought? Out of sight, out of mind.”
Revenant Wings stopped the tape recorder shortly afterwards.
The rest of the events at Zecora’s house were a blur. Revenant pulled out the sample bags and Zecora gladly gave them a sample of four berries from the stash she had easily available. Then they packed up their things and, due to the darkening sky, Zecora led them through the Everfree and back within sight of Ponyville.
“I hope you find Caramel safe and sound,” Zecora said. “If I hear any more, then I’ll come ‘round.”
“Any information would be appreciated,” Revenant Wings said.
Zecora bowed and left back into the Everfree Forest.
“You really think a creature has something to do with Caramel’s disappearance?” Garnet Heart asked. “And what’s more, one that apparently lived in the Everfree Forest?”
Revenant Wings shrugged. “We’ll know soon enough. Tomorrow, we need to find that berry patch.”