A crisp click.
"This is Investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, interview two. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date."
"What are you doing?"
"One moment, Miss."
A crisp click. A soft, background static.
"This is Investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, preparatory interview. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Ma'am, please state your name and age for the recording."
"Um, L-Leaf Shade, forty-eight."
"You live in Sweetwater, correct?"
A slight cough.
"E-excuse me. Erm, yes, I do."
"Please describe your cutie mark."
"Oh, dear, is that really necessary?"
A soft sigh.
"Yes, ma'am, it is."
"If you say so. Um, my cutie mark is a potted plant with wide, green leaves."
"One moment please."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Ma'am, you are Miss Lilyshade's mother, is that correct?"
"Yes, um, I am."
The shuffling of paper.
"Alright, Miss Leaf Shade. 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 you are familiar?"
"Of course! How could I forget my own daughter's disappearance? How dare you ask me that?"
"It's just proper protocol, Ma'am."
A cough.
"Oh. I'm sorry, then."
"That's alright, Ma'am."
Paper sliding across a wooden surface.
"The incident occurred in the spring of that year on this date, correct? And you were thirty-four years of age?"
"That's all correct."
"Good. Now, Ma'am, can you please describe the events of the day of your filly's disappearance?"
A short silence.
"It's quite unpleasant. Are you sure–"
"I'm sure."
"..."
A throat being cleared.
"I-it was a weekend. My husband was at work in Dodge and my two older colts were over at a friend's. I was home with Lily. Lilyshade, my daughter."
"I know her name. Please, continue."
"I was watching her outside, while I was gardening. She was playing with her toys in our old sandbox on the other side of the yard. She used to talk to herself as she played, Lily did, so I didn't think much of it until I heard her talking to 'mommy'."
"She was talking to her mother? To you?"
"She was talking to somepony, but it sure as Celestia wasn't me. When I turned around, I saw her being lead into the woods. We lived near the woods then, or I suppose the woods were nearer to us, but I saw her following a pony. A mare, but something— something wasn't right about that mare. She was much too tall, and she— and there was this horrible smell, and I tried to follow them, but she— and I— and—"
Very labored breathing.
"Miss Shade, are you okay?"
Labored breathing.
"Y-yes, yes, I'm quite alright. It's just... as I said, it's unpleasant. I just... I just wish we could have found her sooner. She never talked about what happened, just pretended that it hadn't, and I... I worry."
A crisp click, and the static cuts out. Slightly labored breathing.
"You went to my mom? Do you know how much that mare worries about her kids? And you went and involved her in this mess?"
"I had to know what she thought about your–"
A wooden crack.
"I'll let you know what I think, you trash-for-brains piece of–"
A crisp click.