Rumour Has It

by daOtterGuy

Closing Statement

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Log Entry ### on [##/##/##],

As a follow-up to the above incident, we did, in fact, find both Lacey and Dust Cropper. They had been dead for several weeks. Both foals were trapped within a latch box inside of a tool shed on the outer edge of Gulp Gulch.

Cross-referencing the journal along with our investigation, it seems Dust Cropper and Lacey had devised a prank to trick their mother Hemline into thinking that they were missing when they had in actuality been hiding nearby. Dust Cropper went in first, Lacey reported that she couldn’t find her brother, then got in herself afterward to keep up the charade.

What neither foal had anticipated was that when they got inside, the latch would close on the outside making it impossible to open again from the inside. Dust Cropper would have died from asphyxiation within a matter of minutes when Lacey left him. Presumably, Lacey was not paying attention when entering the box later on and realized only too late that she had trapped herself inside with her then-deceased brother.

Between this and the journal, the entire situation is a complete tragedy. I don’t know what actually caused those ponies to disappear, nor do I necessarily think it was that shadow monster or whatever it was, but the fact that this whole situation was started by a stupid prank from two foals makes this so much worse.

I recommend sending a letter to the company that produces the latch boxes to include a new safety feature to open them from the inside. Additionally, we should set up regular patrols to these outlying outposts to ensure nothing like this happens again. If even a single other pony had visited, if the crown had done its job of proper oversight, this entire incident could have been prevented.

We need to do better.

Captain Shining Armour

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Comments

[overdue]

How was it started by a prank