Transcript of Session 04: Verdant Vines, Head Investigator
Date: April 27th
Time: 7:15 p.m.
Interviewer: Doctor Blue Sky, PhD
Blue Sky (BS): Good evening, Miss Vines. I hope your day hasn’t been too stressful.
Verdant Vines (VV): No, not at all, Doctor. I trust you and your team are doing fine as well?
BS: Yes. Before we start in earnest though, I’d like to apologize for the impromptu session last night. I’d like to do something more in-depth, if you wouldn’t mind?
VV: It’s alright, Doctor. And yes, I’ll have plenty of time.
BS: Excellent, could you state your name for the record, along with your role here?
VV: Verdant Vines, head investigator into Ponyville’s mass disappearance.
BS: And how long have you been with the agency?
VV: Twelve years, roughly.
BS: Perfect. In regards to my team’s work, we’ve luckily only had one or two no-shows, but that’s to be expected when this isn’t set up enough in advance.
VV: I’ll make sure to stress to everyone how important attending the sessions is. You said in your note to me that you had a few points you wanted to discuss first?
BS: Yes, yes, we’ve come across a few… not troubling, but discussion-worthy things with your group. My colleagues have also noted some issues that seem common throughout the town’s detail.
VV: Patterns among the entire team? Is that alarming?
BS: Not at all. In situations like this, group mentality plays a large part. Nightmares in particular can be molded based on what others have talked about, and opinions on the current situation can be much the same.
VV: So, you’re saying they’ve had similar nightmares and dreams?
BS: Yes. Some are in fairly bad shape due to lack of sleep and insomnia, but none of them seem as bad as Lantern. Which is why things seem much more odd when that is taken into account. Lantern described the dreams he’s had both before and after he found the cella—
VV: Before?
Miss Vines seemed quite confused at my statement, which was understandable.
VV: He had them before?
BS: Yes, Miss Vines. He apparently thought they were just his subconscious, playing up details he’d read during the case. He said he was in a dark hallway, lit by a candle, and that there were hundreds of eyes watching him.
VV: That sounds like the dream Miss Sparkle mentioned in her journal, yes. Why is this odd exactly?
BS: My colleagues report that within the past two nights, fifteen other members of your personnel here have had the exact same dream. The same hallway, lit by just a candle, and the feeling of being watched.
VV: He never told anyone about it. If he had, someone else would have come to me about it: Cage or Pendant or someone underneath him. I even asked around when he complained about nightmares after we found the journal. Doctor, you’re absolutely sure of this?
BS: Yes, Miss Vines. In fact, Lantern mentioned looking at a window in his dream and seeing the reflection of one of the investigators from the first group, the one stationed at Town Hall.
VV: Solace. We only got concrete information about where he was from the journal at the farmhouse.
BS: Some of those that have had the dream more recently and who knew him, mentioned seeing him as well. One even described what he looked like, but had never met him.
VV: One of them could have had this dream an-and told others—
BS: I’m aware of that possibility, Miss Vines, but I think, given how little we are certain of at this stage, that we cannot simply rule out the worst case scenario. Now, none of these individuals has had any alarming behavior. They feel tired during the day and restless at night, but it has not appeared to have affected them psychologically. I’ve put together a list of those that I think should have reduced hours, but they should continue regular screenings. I recommended a dream journal to Lantern and my colleagues have done the same to others. We’ll compare them and see if there’s a similar lagging between them. If we see another pattern, I think it will be safe to assume this is more than coincidence.
VV: Of course, Doctor. I appreciate you and your team’s opinion on the matter. Were there any other problems?
BS: A few things, yes. Pendant was extremely late to her appointment and brought her work with her. I was able to talk with her for a bit, but I insisted on another session, this time without her work joining her. I noticed your file doesn’t stress her obsession as much as previous superiors.
VV: I know how that seems, Doctor, but Pendant has a brilliant mind. She bounced between teams because of her attitude, yes, but how long she’s been with the agency is a testament to her capabilities despite that. I respect that you need another session with her, but I saw the drive she has, the talent. I like to think she’s more focused than she was in her previous assignments.
BS: I’ll let you know how it goes. Hopefully she’ll be on time.
VV: I’ll stress the importance to her at the start of her shift tomorrow.
BS: I also had a session with Gilded Cage. Cage, as he preferred to go by. He was a bit more focused on the session, though did not take it as seriously.
She laughed.
VV: That does sound like Cage. Was he more abrasive than usual?
BS: Not based on his file, no. He seems more skeptical than others on your team, and he was very talkative about his hobbies and some of his family. He actually asked for another session or at least to delay our current one.
VV: I’m a little surprised by that. Do you think he needs one?
BS: No, not based on his responses, but it never hurts to be sure. He might display some issues based on the problems with the town’s detail as a whole. He also mentioned some other members who might be having issues, so another session could assist with that.
VV: It is your team’s decision here, Doctor, not mine. Is that about all that has to do with ponies besides me?
BS: Yes, I suppose we can get started. With the pressure you’ve been under, attempting to deduce and summarize exactly what occurred here before your arrival as well as the supposedly vivid descriptions you’ve read and reported, have you found it to be challenging?
VV: This case in particular, yes. I came in expecting to work under Spanner, the lead of the original party from the 13th. It was a… shock to discover they were missing. It was even more of a shock to read what we found in Miss Sparkle’s journal, the only account of what had supposedly occurred. Even digging up ghost stories in a book she referenced hasn’t gotten us any closer to definitive proof, though the journal from Sweet Apple Acres certainly corroborated, slightly.
BS: Is that impacting you negatively?
She took a few moments to consider her response.
VV: Somewhat.
BS: Would you care to explain?
VV: I worry. I worry night and day while we’re working as hard as we possibly can. What I’ve read is unnatural. Unearthly. It shouldn’t and couldn’t have happened, but I worry that it really did. I worry an entire town disappeared overnight and that every single one of them suffered. Even worse, I worry it can happen again, anywhere, without any notice.
BS: That’s… natural, Miss Vines. Your reaction, I mean. Being in charge of such a large operation and dealing with such uncommon circumstances is stressful. Have you had any dreams or hallucinations yourself?
VV: No. I’ve barely had a dream at all since I was a foal. None I can remember at least. As for hallucinations, no. Lantern is the only one who has, as far as I’m aware.
BS: Would you be comfortable ending the investigation tonight?
Miss Vines raised an eyebrow, shifting in her seat uncomfortably, before staring at me.
VV: Excuse me?
BS: It’s only a hypothetical, Miss Vines.
VV: O-of course it is, I’m… I wouldn’t be comfortable, no. I don’t want to leave here without an answer, even if I’m afraid that’s what will happen.
BS: Understandable. Miss Vines, you talked about how what your team believes occurred is unnatural, that it shouldn’t have happened. What evidence would you need to draw a conclusion, to classify it as any kind of natural?
VV: I don’t know, honestly, Doctor. I have two accounts of events that happened in this town. Both are beyond impossible, because they describe the days my team has spent here digging through an empty ghost town. Even worse is that they contradict one another. Miss Sparkle arrived at Sweet Apple Acres to find it empty while the Apple Family and my co-workers were supposedly still there.
She paused for a moment, rubbing her temples and looking down at the floor before looking back up at me.
VV: Cage probably mentioned it in his session: we could be chasing a false lead. Someone could have planted these to throw us off their tail, but there’s no other evidence. I don’t know how much magic it would take to uproot an entire town’s populace overnight and take it somewhere we couldn’t find . We’ve had small teams combing all of Equestria for any other leads. So, there’s only two real possibilities. One: I am dealing with the most talented set of foalnappers in the history of Equestria, pulling off a crime with no ransom note, no motive, and a week’s worth of events we can verify from our own record leading up to this historical crime, which they felt the need to have an audience for. Two: this entire town was… taken somewhere that has no sun, no moon, and no stars, just an endless void in every direction, and they were attacked by something out of the worst nightmares imaginable.
There was a long silence from both of us. I had become aware of these events over the course of the past two days, but Miss Vines paints events in a far more vivid light than the records I was given to review. After nearly a minute, she continued.
VV: I will do everything in my power to try and solve whatever happened here. I will try my greatest to cling to the hope that all of these ponies are not gone forever. I pray the truth won’t be the worst thing I can imagine. Do you have any other questions, Doctor?
BS: No, Miss Vines. I… I think you deserve to get some rest. But, there was one thing, a request.
I expected a question, but Miss Vines waited for me to continue.
BS: Lantern mentioned that his dreams weren’t happening when he slept during the day. If these are happening to others under your employ and Lantern’s dreams are a precursor to theirs… There is a set of herbs one of my old professors studied during his master’s thesis, which could induce deeper sleep in ponies. I could requisition some within a day to give to Lantern, if need be.
VV: Those dreams tormented him. He came to me begging for relief. Are you asking for my consent to make him experience them again?
BS: Yes. I will not do anything against his will, but I need your signature in order to request these herbs.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
VV: Alright, Doctor. I’ll sign.
BS: Thank you, Miss Vines.