A crisp click.
"This is Investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, interview one. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date."
Paper being shuffled, then the scratching of a pen on paper.
"Miss, please state your name and age for the recording."
"Um, Lilyshade, twenty-three."
"Where do you live?"
"Like, my address, or–"
"The city you live in."
"Oh. Sweetwater."
"Please describe your cutie mark."
A heavy wooden thump.
"This is dumb! I just wrote down all this stuff on a form! That one right there, by your left hoof. I know you see it."
"Miss, it's proper protocol. We just need to cover the basics for the recording."
"Fine. My cutie mark is a garden trowel holding a lily that's sprouting from a little pile of dirt. Happy?"
"...One moment please."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Okay, Miss Lilyshade–"
"Lily is just fine."
"Alright, Miss Lily–"
"I just said Lily was fine."
"..."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Hey, what'd you just write down?"
"...Okay, Lily, I'm interviewing you today for the purpose of the investigation of Case One-Two-Five, pertaining to the Sweetwater Foal Disappearance Incident that occurred about fourteen years ago. I trust I don't need to explain further?"
"Yeah, that's when I got lost in the woods as a filly."
Paper sliding across a wooden surface.
"The incident occurred in the spring of that year on this date, correct?"
"Yep."
"And you were seven years and one month of age at the time?"
A mare's groan.
"Mm-hmm."
"Good, good. Okay, Lily, please describe the events of the day of the filly's— your disappearance in a detailed manner."
"Uh, alright. That day was a weekend. My older brothers were out. I was at home being watched because I was too little to be left alone."
"Who was watching you?"
"My mom. Dad had a job in Dodge City back then. He came home on the weekends."
"Thank you. Please, continue."
"Um... we were in the back yard, mom was gardening, and I was playing in our old sandbox. We lived on the edge of town, next to the forest. We were a lot smaller then, before all the logging, so the forest was a lot closer than it is now."
A heavy sigh.
"So, anyway, there we were in the backyard, like normal. She was busy with her flowers, I was busy with my sand, and then she came by and told me we needed to go into the woods for a second to get something to help her with her gardening work. She was always usin' leaves and seeds and stuff to help her plants grow, so we went into the woods.
"I'm not so sure exactly how it happened, but I lost sight of her somehow. I wandered further in, got myself good and lost, and cried for a few hours. Mom freaked out, of course, and some ponies from town found me that later night. It was simple as that."
"You're sure of these events?"
"Sure enough. I was seven."
"Lily, are you aware that you were missing for almost an entire month?"
"What? That's stupid. I remember it clear as day."
Paper shuffling, then sliding across a wooden surface.
"This is one of your 'missing foal' posters, dated five days after your disappearance."
"..."
"Miss?"
"I'm done talking. Shut off that stupid recorder."
"..."
A crisp click.