Something is causing Ponyvillians to disappear into the nearby Whitetail Woods. It's up to Ponyville's small guard to figure out what's happening and what creature lies within.
Something has happened in Ponyville that hasn't happened for nearly a century: someone has gone missing.
Such a situation is more than the Ponyville guard normally has to deal with. But they're willing to take up the case no matter how strange the circumstances seem if it means preventing it from happening again in the future.
As more oddities about the case surface, the guard may be in over their head... so long as they can keep it on straight...
Caramel woke up in a dark clearing as though from a deep, hazy sleep.
Pine, oak, and birch trees were all around him. There were three exits to the clearing; one that led deeper into the forests, one to a patch of rather sweet blueberries that Caramel had been picking not long before, and one that led in the direction of Ponyville, just out of sight.
Caramel groaned and picked himself up. He shook away the last of his sleepiness and looked around. Not too far away, his basket lay toppled over on the ground and a good many of the berries he’d collected lay scattered around the clearing. He wasn’t sure why he got there, or what had made him fall over.
Nor why it was so late at night. Caramel only just realized that the moon was shining brightly overhead; the light gave the white branches and trunks of the surrounding birch trees an eerie glow, and the dense forest covered the path in near impenetrable shadow.
Impenetrable except for a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Caramel made contact with the strange eyes floating in the darkness but was not afraid. A long figure that supported the eyes could almost be seen in the shadows but its color was so dark that Caramel couldn’t see what the exact shape was. An odd noise came from the shadows, silent and almost a whisper on the nighttime wind.
Despite facing what seemed like some sort of peril close to the village, Caramel was calm. For some reason Caramel felt as though he would not be harmed by the strange glowing eyes and whatever they were attached to in the darkness. A sort of peace came upon him and he merely stared curiously at the eyes in the shadows. He picked up his basket unhurriedly and gathered together his berries; some of them were dirty from spilling onto the ground, but he could wash them off at home.
Caramel started off towards the path back to Ponyville, but turned around to look at the glowing eyes once again. They sat, unmoving, in the shadows. Caramel stared at them for a while before unhurriedly setting off for Ponyville.
But the further he walked away, the more a sudden fear seemed to strike him. The forest wasn’t as dense and the moonlight could be seen shimmering through the trees, but Caramel suddenly felt a prickle on his back. It felt strange and uncomfortable and he had the feeling like something was watching him rather intently.
Caramel picked up his pace, now going at a trot. The shadows seemed to crowd him in. The branches of the oaks and birches looked like strange claws reaching out to grab him. He felt himself begin to sweat and his breathing became quick. He felt like he was being strangled and couldn’t breathe. He picked up the pace again and set off for Ponyville at a gallop. It felt like something was following him, something was on his hooves, it would catch him at any moment...
There was suddenly a burst of moonlight and Caramel found himself sprinting along the path that went from the Whitetail Woods back to Ponyville. A few berries fell out of the basket over his back, but Caramel didn’t mind it; he just wanted as far away from the Woods as possible. It seemed strange to him that something so frightening could live in the Whitetail Woods instead of the Everfree Forest.
But that didn’t matter. Caramel ran and ran until he was safely inside his own house. He locked the door, placed the basket on the counter, and jumped into bed. He pulled the sheets over his head and did not dare to come out until the sun began to shine.
But, as he lay there, he felt a strange need to go back. Something about needing to go get more of the berries...
Revenant Wings was awake. But, for some reason, his eyes were closed as though he was deeply asleep.
His breathing was a steady rise and fall of his chest; in through his nose, out through his mouth. He lay comfortably on his side, wings kept tight to his back, one hoof splayed out from the sheets and hanging just slightly from the edge of the bed. He could feel the hoof of his roommate Garnet Heart lying heavily on top of him; it had been wrapped around his chest not long ago, but it had since loosened after Garnet himself had fallen asleep.
Revenant’s own body felt heavy and lethargic and he couldn’t move much more than his ears. He felt a breeze coming through the open window that cooled his body, which seemed to be dripping with sweat. He heard a gentle rustling from the grass outside his window and a sound like a whisper on the nighttime breeze. It seemed to be saying something about rest and peace, of swinging as though in a hammock in the trees...
But something was off about the voice. Revenant might have been half asleep due to it, but it had woken him up in the first place and he knew it didn’t belong. He tried as hard as he could to move and swiveled his ears in the direction of the open window.
The voice stopped temporarily before picking up again, droning on and on. Revenant Wings almost fell back asleep, but he reminded himself that it almost sounded as though someone was outside his bedroom window. He felt a hoof fidget, then another, then another, and suddenly his eyes shot open as though he was waking up from a nightmare.
But before Revenant could make another move, both the sound and the rustling by his window had vanished. Revenant sat up in the bed, feeling Garnet’s hoof sliding off him, and looked out the window. Off in the distance, there was nothing but the vague, dark shape of the Whitetail Woods and the light of the moon hovering in a cloudless sky.
Now wide awake, Revenant found it difficult to go back to sleep again, especially with concerns about the strange voices and the thing that had been outside his window. He gently got up from the bed, trying not to disturb Garnet Heart, and walked off to the single bathroom in the door right outside the bedroom.
Revenant fumbled around in the dark for a minute before finding the light switch. The light blinded him and he closed his eyes for a minute, slowly opening them to adjust to the sudden brightness. It was a small bathroom, with a sort of toilet, a sink, a bathtub with showerhead, and a small mirror that contained a medicine cabinet. He went over to the sink, turned on the water, and splashed his face a couple of times before grabbing a nearby towel and drying his face off.
Revenant looked in the mirror of the medicine cabinet for a moment. His white coat and wings were still rather neatly groomed from his shower and preening earlier in the evening, but his mane was standing in all directions and his eyes looked as though they were slightly bloodshot. There were small dark patches under his eyes as though he had not slept very well for a long time.
That was actually somewhat true. For a while now, he’d been having strange dreams, dreams that said there was something watching him from the Whitetail Woods, things that were somehow very large but spoke in the voice he had heard not long ago.
But... had he actually heard it? Who was to say he hadn’t actually been dreaming a rather realistic dream and that nothing was there in reality, nor had ever been there? Revenant sighed quietly, trying without much success to convince himself that was the case, and opened up the medicine cabinet above the sink.
Not much was in the cabinet. Inside was a bottle of vitamins, a bottle each of acetaminophen and ibuprofen, a bottle of allergy pills, a few spray-on deodorants, a small canister of hair spray, and two small glasses. Revenant Wings pulled out one of the glasses and turned the sink onto cold water before putting the glass under the stream and filling it up. When it was full, Revenant shut off the water and took a long drink, draining the cup without stopping.
Revenant Wings had just put the glass back in the cabinet before he felt another pony bring its hoof around him and gently nuzzle his neck. Despite not expecting it, Revenant knew exactly who it was and leaned into the gentle, soothing feeling of the nuzzle.
He closed the cabinet door and looked into the mirror to confirm. Another pegasus as white as he was with bright purple eyes and long blonde hair tied into a ponytail and a handsome face was standing behind him. Down on his flank was a cutie mark in the shape of a heart that seemed like it was made out of crystal.
“You’re awake early,” the other pegasus said.
Revenant sighed and turned around so that the other pegasus could nuzzle him on the nose. “I haven’t noticed. What time is it?”
“A few minutes past four,” Garnet Heart answered. He pulled away and looked Revenant in the eye. “Did you have the dream again?”
“Yeah,” Revenant Wings replied. “Fifth night in a row. I’m not entirely sure what it’s all about. I don’t think its stress or anxiety, even though we have the report to Celestia to finish tomorrow.”
Garnet Heart smiled soothingly. “We’re nearly done with that, though. A few more items, a few petty larcenies to report, and we’ll turn it in and send it on its way.”
Revenant nodded. “It’s probably just my overactive imagination again.”
“Was there anything different about it?”
Revenant shook his head. “Same as always. It feels like something is watching me. I can see nothing, but I hear a rustling outside the window and voice that sounds like it’s whispering to me.”
Garnet Heart took his hoof from around Revenant Wings’ neck and put a wing around him instead. He gently led him out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom, flicking the light off with his other wing. “Perhaps you should see Zecora,” he said. “If you’re having trouble sleeping, perhaps she could make you a natural sleeping medicine.”
“I’ll think about it,” Revenant Wings said. “I just hope it’ll all be over soon.”
Garnet Heart clambered back into the queen bed they shared and waited for Revenant to climb in beside him. Garnet waited until Revenant was lying comfortably on his side and gently reached a hoof out to stroke Revenant’s muzzle.
“Go to sleep,” Garnet said. “We have a long day tomorrow with that report.”
Revenant reached up a hoof and wrapped it around Garnet’s own. He smiled. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just a dream anyways.”
Garnet went to sleep before him. Revenant watched him by the light of the moon, watched his own calm breathing and trying to match it with his own. Three years together in the Guard, two years as roommates and sleeping in the same bed because of their low income, and one year since they had officially were ‘together’. Revenant smiled happily and felt himself become drowsy thinking about his partner laying across from him. Eventually, he closed his eyes and started to fall asleep.
Far, far away, the voice returned, almost singing about sleep. Revenant felt himself become peaceful, calm, heavy, and relaxed, and soon fell asleep, this time not worrying about the strange voice.
Seven o’clock the next morning came much too early. Revenant Wings opened a bleary eye towards the beeping alarm clock on the nightstand next to his bed and lazily reached out a hoof to turn it off. When he saw the time, he groaned and got lazily up out of bed.
Garnet Heart was already up. He was in the small kitchen looking over the toaster and a frying pan and with two plates in front of him. The frying pan was off and two strips of hay bacon were being put on each plate, which also included two pieces of buttered toast with pomegranate jelly, what looked like scrambled egg whites, and sliced banana with dark red cherries and what looked like blueberries. Two glasses of milk were already on the table.
“Caramel finally told me where to get a patch of the sweet blueberries he always gets from Whitetail Woods,” Garnet said upon seeing Revenant’s reaction to him putting the plates on the table. “How’d you sleep? I hope you don’t mind I set your clock back half an hour; figured you needed a little extra time.”
Revenant yawned. “Certainly better last night than the ones before,” he said. “What’s the special occasion?” he asked looking over the meal.
“Just wanted to do something nice,” Garnet said. “Also, we should last longer trying to do our report.”
Revenant Wings nodded simply and sat down to eat. Garnet Heart was a better cook than Revenant and the food was as delicious as ever. The only thing Revenant noticed was that Garnet Heart didn’t have any of the blueberries on his plate.
“Aren’t you going to eat any?” he asked.
Garnet Heart shook his head. “Too sweet for me to have for breakfast. Maybe as a topping over ice cream.”
Revenant Wings took up a berry and looked at it. It certainly looked like a blueberry with its small round shape and indigo skin, but it had some splotches of purple and almost tasted like a blueberry mixed with a pomegranate. He considered it for a moment before popping it in his mouth and somewhat agreed with Garnet Heart on the notion of putting it over ice cream.
When Revenant had finished eating, he went to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. He took out the small glass, filled it with water, and chewed one of the vitamins and swallowed one of the allergy pills sitting in the cabinet. That done, he swished his mouth with another glass of water before brushing his teeth and leaving to put on his armor.
By the time he had finished putting on his armor it was almost a quarter to eight and it was nearly time to leave. Garnet Heart was already in the living room putting on his armor; a shining gold breastplate, a golden helmet with a blue crest, and golden hoofcuffs.
“Come, Revenant,” he said, white coat shining brilliantly where it could be seen from under his armor. “It’s almost time.”
Revenant Wings nodded and donned his own set of armor before nodding to Garnet Heart. With that, they headed out the door and into the warm morning sun of Ponyville.
Their house was at the edge of Ponyville; the only two farther out were Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s own cottage. From the back windows of their house they could see across a small plain, over a small river meandering by, and into the Whitetail Woods, a much friendlier sight than the Everfree Forest to the south. It was somewhat apart from the main town, almost a whole soccer field away from the nearest home.
“Can I confess something to you?” Garnet Heart said, turning to Revenant Wings as they walked.
“Hm?” Revenant replied.
“I heard something last night, as we were drifting off. Pardon me, but it sounded almost like the way you talk of the voice in your dream.”
“...like a gentle sound between a whisper and a hiss?” Revenant said, sounding intrigued.
“Yes. Difficult to decipher, so I couldn’t tell you what it said. But I also felt like I was drifting off as it spoke, and so even if I could understand it, I probably would have been asleep soon after.”
Revenant Wings nodded. “Yes, that sounds right. But... did you hear the tone? What did the voice sound like?”
Garnet hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know... it sounded gentle, almost reassuring.”
Revenant Wings frowned slightly and shook his head. “That’s not the voice I hear in my dreams. It’s more like a silky, almost oily voice. As though it’s trying to convince me.”
Garnet Heart smiled knowingly. “So that is why you wake, now, is it? To escape the voice?”
Revenant Wings shrugged. “Who knows.” They entered into Ponyville’s main sections, and Revenant decided not to speak of the dream directly in case anyone around thought he was going crazy. “Also, I am surprised you take the whole dream thing seriously.”
“I take it seriously because it affects your sleep and your health. You’re not exactly a stranger to illness, you know.”
Revenant looked away. “True.”
“That reminds me; you did take your allergy pill today, didn’t you? Don’t want you to go home again because you’re sneezing to the point you can’t see.”
“Yes, I did. I may need to buy a new bottle soon, but I’ve got enough for the rest of the month.”
“Well, remember to do so.”
Not long after this, they had reached the office of the Ponyville section of the Royal Guard. There were not many present; the whole of the office had a mere nine members; the Captain, six on-duty officers, a secretary and front-desk member, and a night guard who managed the office after official closing time. It contained a rudimentary collection of desks for the guards to write reports and examine evidence, a small forensics station for examining evidence, evidence storage as managed by the secretary, and a few holding cells that were more often empty than filled, only really being used for petty thieves, drunks who needed to sober up, and strange but otherwise illegal uses of magic. Ponyville was not particularly known for any of those three crimes.
At the time Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings had arrived at the office, there was quite a stir. The Captain was going over a sheaf of papers and even the night guard was present and hadn’t gone home. The secretary was nervously shuffling through papers and two of the other guards were present and sitting at their desks with nothing to do.
“Well, seems we’ve arrived late to the party,” Garnet Heart said. “What happened in the time it took us to walk from home to here?”
The Captain, a white unicorn with an electric blue mane and a bronze-colored shield as a cutie mark who went by the name Iron Shield, fixed his deep red eyes on them. “About time you boys arrived,” he barked. “Come here, I’m taking you off reporting to Princess Celestia for now.”
Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart looked at each other in confusion before going to sit at their own desks and facing the Captain’s desk, the largest one towards the back of the room.
“Alright, gentlecolts,” Iron Shield said. “We’ve got ourselves a heck of a problem. I’ve been talking with Night Watch, our overnight guard, and an interesting story has been developing over the past thirty-six hours.”
“Interesting how?” said another guard nearby. “Are we talking a slightly higher petty larceny case? Has Filthy Rich been robbed?”
“Well, interesting in terms of I’ve never had to deal with it before in my time as Captain, but I used to encounter such a case in Canterlot.” Iron Shield put his hooves on the desk and leaned over, eyeing carefully every guard present in the room. “We’re dealing with a kidnapping. A missing person’s case, if you will.”
Revenant Wings’ eyes widened. He looked over to Garnet Heart, who had much the same expression on his own face. Neither of them had ever had to deal with a kidnapping.
“The facts of the case are these.” Iron Shield used his magic to straighten his papers and cleared his throat. “Around five o’clock the evening before last, a pony by the name of Caramel left work with the intent to go into the Whitetail Woods to find a patch of sweet blueberries that he’d discovered a few months ago. He was apparently supposed to go collect the berries, then return home in time for dinner at six. He currently lives with his brother, Ponyville Hospital’s own Doctor Stable, from whom he is renting his own room and bathroom.”
“However,” Iron Shield continued, “Caramel did not show up at six. Doctor Stable reported that he waited until seven o’clock then assumed that Caramel went out with some friends of his, but as it went on towards ten and even eleven o’clock, Caramel had not arrived back home. Nor was he at home at six o’clock yesterday morning, when Doctor Stable got up to prepare for work; he reported that the bed looked much the same and is keeping the room closed so that we can get a forensics team in there and take pictures of the room as Caramel left it two days ago. Watchful Eye, I am going to give that job to you once the briefing is complete.”
A dark grey unicorn in the back of the room saluted but did not move, waiting for the Captain to finish.
“The magnitude of the situation did not become apparent until the owner of Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack, called the home of Caramel to complain that Caramel did not show up to work. Two calls were made, one at approximately ten o’clock wondering where Caramel was, and a second at about four saying that if Caramel was sick, he should have called ahead instead of just resting without letting them know. Doctor Stable received both messages and called back shortly after five when he got home to say that Caramel had not come home last night and he had not seen him that morning, and that Caramel was not home that evening, either. Doctor Stable waited a little while longer, wondering if Caramel would suddenly turn up, but again Caramel did not return home last night.”
“We finally received the call about a missing person’s report at five-oh-three this morning, picked up by Night Watch,” Iron Shield continued. “So, as of five o’clock on the morning of the twentieth, Caramel has been missing and we have three leads: Doctor Stable, Applejack, and the sweet blueberry patch. I assume by talking with Doctor Stable we’ll be able to ascertain the names of Caramel’s friends and get another potential lead from there.”
“Well, sir,” one of the guards said hesitantly, “I should rather give you a bit of a warning I’ve heard on my rounds.”
Captain Iron Shield turned to face the pony that had spoken, a unicorn with a spyglass for a cutie mark. “What sort of warning is this that it hasn’t been reported to the guard, Watchful Eye?”
“Well, there are reports of a strange creature living in there,” Watchful Eye said. “Apparently there are rumors around saying that a large creature lives in the Whitetail Woods. It has kept to the shadows of night for now, but apparently has large glowing eyes and none as yet can describe the exact size of the creature.”
“Do you know, by any chance, the source of the rumors?”
“Not that I can think of, only that they started up about a week ago.”
Captain Iron Shield nodded. “Very well. Does anyone else have anything to add on to the thread about these rumors? We may have to look into them later.”
No one said anything.
“Well, then, we shall get on with the assignments.” Iron Shield motioned to the secretary at the front desk, a tan unicorn with curly brown hair, pink eyes, and a light purple eye-shadow. “Quick Quill will have the picture of Caramel available for those who don’t know him and thus know what to look for, along with his other personal details. Watchful Eye, take the camera and the black-light and go take pictures of Caramel’s room at a time when it suits Doctor Stable. Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings, go with Watchful Eye and see if you can’t interview Doctor Stable about the time he last saw Caramel and who his friends are. Hoofprint, I need you to go interview Applejack and see how much she knows about the disappearance. The rest of you go about your business as normal, but I will want Night Watch back a little earlier than he usually comes in.”
The group nodded and split up. Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings looked over to Watchful Eye, who came up over to them. “Well, I guess we’d better check out the file, huh? See what we can get out of it?”
The three headed over to Quick Quill and received the file from her. It was very small; Caramel was born at the Ponyville Hospital and was twenty-something years old with a steady job as a hired hand at Sweet Apple Acres and currently renting from his older brother, Doctor Stable. He’d attended Canterlot University for a short time and got a bachelor’s in Environmental Science, and had no history of criminal activity or even rowdy behavior. He seemed to be a bit of a teetotaler and sometimes kept to himself.
“So, this is our colt,” Garnet Heart said. “I was talking with him not long ago about the sweet blueberry patch. I wonder why he’d suddenly disappear.”
“You didn’t speak to him recently, did you?” Watchful Eye asked.
“Last week,” Garnet replied. “Probably even before the rumors started. I only knew him in passing, though; we frequently ended up doing our beat around the time he was heading home and along the same path.”
“Well, that rules you out, then,” Watchful Eye said. “Quick Quill, can you call Ponyville Hospital and see if Doctor Stable is in and if we could have an interview with him?”
“Give me fifteen minutes,” Quick Quill said politely. “He might be busy.”
The three headed over to their desks.
“Why do you think he disappeared?” Revenant Wings asked.
“There’s not too many reasons available,” Watchful Eye said. “We’ve got either a creature from the Everfree Forest, or a stranger who isn’t from around here. Ponyville doesn’t have any cases of this happening in the last hundred years.”
“Yeah, but Everfree Forest doesn’t even factor into this right now,” Garnet Heart rebuffed. “Creatures hardly ever come out from there, and I doubt they’d go into the less dense and pony-controlled Whitetail Woods. Stuff in there is more natural and probably wouldn’t have the sapience to do something like that.”
“All the same,” Watchful Eye said with a thoughtful shrug. “I admit I’ve always been a bit off-put by the Whitetail Woods. Sure, we’ve got the train that goes through there fine to Los Pegasus, but really, it almost seems as undiscovered as the Everfree aside from the train.”
“Fluttershy’s cottage is around there, too,” Revenant Wings said. “Maybe we should talk to the Captain about interviewing her and seeing if she’s noticed any strange creatures nearby.”
“If everything else dries up, that’s probably the route to go,” Watchful Eye said. “But let’s focus on getting the main leads out of the way first. We’ll have our interview with Doctor Stable and see what we can get out of that.”
At this, Quick Quill turned her head around. “He’s available, boys,” she said. “Says he’ll meet you at his house in twenty minutes.”
Watchful Eye stood up and grinned. “So it begins,” he said. “I’ll get the camera and the black-light, you get the notepads and pencils, and we’ll be on our way.”
Revenant Wings sighed and steeled himself. Heck of a way to start a morning, he thought. Probably gonna be a long day today trying to collaborate everything.
Another small thought appeared in the back of his head. The rumors about a creature in the Whitetail Woods and Caramel telling Garnet Heart about the wild blueberry patch seemed to be oddly close together. Revenant Wings wanted to investigate the blueberry patch as soon as possible.
But first, they had to get information from Doctor Stable.
Doctor Stable’s house was in a rather nice section of Ponyville and was one of the few two-story houses in the entire town. On the outside it looked rather plain with a simple oak paneling and a roof made with a combination of standard tiling and a thatched-straw cover. A few steps led up to a shaded porch and a set of double doors with fine brass handles. Revenant Wings also noted that there was a spare door off to the side.
Doctor Stable trotted up to them and greeted them all in turn at precisely ten minutes after nine.
“Thank you all for coming,” he said quietly but cleanly. “Please come inside and make yourself comfortable.”
Doctor Stable opened the door of the house and invited them all inside. The inside was almost as surgically clean as the outside with spotless floors, a neatly-cleaned and organized kitchen that led into a large sitting room with an equally large fireplace, and finely-upholstered couches that he invited them all to sit on. Revenant Wings had the feeling that he could drop a piece of food on the floor and it would still be clean enough to eat.
“I’ll open the room in a minute,” Doctor Stable said. “I would like to do the interview first. Perhaps the interview may leave more clues than an empty room.”
Watchful Eye nodded and sat back in a chair, waiting.
Revenant Wings took out a voice recorder with a blank cassette tape and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. Garnet Heart took out a pencil and a pad of paper and looked attentively at Doctor Stable. The Doctor himself sat in an armchair across from Revenant, his eyes focused on the pegasus and his hooves together in front of him.
When he was sure Garnet and Doctor Stable were ready, Revenant Wings leaned over and pressed the ‘record’ button on the voice recorder. The tape began to emit a small whirring noise as Revenant settled himself back in the chair and began to speak as clearly and as directly as he could.
“Thank you for agreeing to do this interview with us, Doctor Stable. I promise you we’ll use whatever information we can get from you to return Caramel back safely.”
“Thank you,” Doctor Stable said. He kept a stoic expression on his face. Garnet Heart’s pencil was steadily scratching on his pad as Revenant Wings continued.
“First of all, when was the last time you saw Caramel?”
Doctor Stable closed his eyes and slightly bowed his head in thought for a moment before looking Revenant in the eye again. “The last I saw him was the day after yesterday, on the morning of the twentieth, shortly before I left for work at seven.”
“What were you both doing at that time?”
“I was making sure that Caramel was awake. He’s a bit of a heavy sleeper, and so I went to go wake him up. He got up, had a bowl of cereal, and was cleaning the dishes when I was leaving.”
“What time does Caramel normally leave for work?”
“Last I heard from him, he had a pretty average day. He leaves here about eight-thirty, works from nine to five at Sweet Apple Acres, then comes home about five-thirty in the evening.”
“How long has he been working at Sweet Apple Acres?”
Doctor Stable gave a long sigh. “I’d say about three years now. He occasionally complained about it. Said he went to Canterlot University for an Environmental Science degree for five years and got stuck farming. But he’s on friendly terms with the whole family, and occasionally hangs out with Big Macintosh.”
“Did he have any other friends?”
“Well... none of which I knew about. Caramel never exactly had what I call ‘friends’, merely a series of acquaintances that he tagged along with on occasion. Big Macintosh maybe counted as a friend, but he never really talked about anyone else.”
“Were you and he on particularly close terms at all?”
“Of course. I let him live here, he pays me fifty bits of rent a month, and is fairly good about the upkeep. I lend him money if he absolutely needs it, but he’s been pretty independent; just never really got out on his own.”
Revenant Wings must have paused too long before his next question, because Doctor Stable spoke up again.
“You must think me somewhat impassive or that I don’t care with how I’ve been taking this,” he said. He sniffed and Revenant Wings saw him close his eyes again. “The truth is I’m very worried. I really am. I’ve gone everywhere I knew he’d gone and looked for him, asked around to see if anyone’s seen where he’d gone. I love my brother and it would pain me very much to see him harmed.”
Doctor Stable suddenly seemed very upset. As he talked, his voice became louder and faster until it had quite nearly broken towards the end. He stopped himself before he could break down completely and took a few deep breaths; when he opened his eyes again, he had calmed down somewhat though Revenant Wings could see his eyes were shining.
Doctor Stable took out a small handkerchief in a golden magic aura and gently wiped his eyes with it, then wiped his glasses. “Forgive me,” he said. “I did not mean to burst out like that.”
“It’s okay,” Revenant Wings said. “We’re going to do whatever we can to bring Caramel back in one piece. I assure you.”
Doctor Stable offered a small smile and motioned for Revenant Wings to continue on.
Revenant Wings nodded. “Now, when did you first notice Caramel was missing?”
“Two days ago, about six o’clock, I noticed that Caramel hadn’t returned home yet. He’s normally rather punctual and so I figured something strange had happened and he would return home any minute. I knew he was going to get some of the sweet blueberries he rather likes, and so I factored that into when he would get home. But as it got on to seven o’clock, Caramel had not come back.”
“You said you thought it was due to him being out with friends. Yet you recently said that Caramel had no friends aside from Big Macintosh. Mind explaining this train of thought?”
“I thought that Caramel had somehow made some new friends and did not tell me. I thought it good for him, as he is somewhat often shut up in his room. But as it came on to ten and eleven and the streets became quieter and quieter, I began to worry because even if he had been out with new friends, Caramel normally returns home by nine o’clock.”
“What did you do when Caramel did not return home at eleven o’clock?”
“I wondered if something happened to him. But I work early and so at eleven o’clock, I started getting ready for bed and decided that if I got up at six o’clock and he wasn’t home and in bed, I had a real problem. It was not easy to sleep that night, and I ended up not really falling asleep until about midnight or one. But I didn’t hear knocking on the door or anyone coming home during that time.”
Revenant Wings nodded. “So, what happened when you woke up the next morning?”
“I checked Caramel’s room and bathroom. But everything was as he’d left it the previous morning. I went about my business but he didn’t return home by the time I left, so I wrote a note and set it on the counter. It said: ‘I have gone to work. If you get home before me, I will be back home at the usual time.’ That was it.”
“Upon returning home, you received two messages from Applejack. Can you tell me the contents of the two messages?”
“Of course. The first was asking where Caramel was since he was late. She sounded slightly irritated at that one. The second one sounded a little more concerned and said that if Caramel was sick he was supposed to call and let her know.”
“You said to our guard Night Watch that you called Applejack back. Can you give me the details of the call?”
“Of course. I called up Applejack’s house as soon as I got home, at about five eighteen in the evening.
“Applejack picked up the phone. ‘You’ve called Sweet Apple Acres. My name is Applejack. May I ask who’s calling?’
“I answered her and said: ‘Applejack, this is Doctor Stable. I am Caramel’s older brother and I wanted to talk to you about Caramel.’
“‘Well, what’s he been up to now?’
“‘That’s the thing, I haven’t seen him since yesterday. I was wondering when the last time you saw him was.’
“That took her by surprise a bit and the line went silent for a long while, likely because she didn’t believe me. She finally came back on a minute later and said ‘I ain’t seen him since he left here yesterday, ‘bout five in the evening.’
“‘Did he tell you where he was going?’
“‘Said something about a patch of sweet blueberries he found in the Whitetail Woods. Seemed a bit eager to go, too; soon as we let him go, he bolted there faster than I’ve ever seen him run.’
“‘And you haven’t seen him since?’
“‘Not a lick of him.’
“And that was that, aside from a polite goodbye and if they saw him again to call me and let me know.”
“What did you do when the call was done?”
“I first went to the hospital to see if anyone had seen Caramel come in and ask for me. When they said no, I went out and checked Caramel’s usual hangouts. I tried Sweet Apple Acres again, but they still hadn’t seen him. I tried Sugarcube Corner, the local bar, the fountain area, the restaurant, the train station, but no one had seen any sign of Caramel in any form.”
Doctor Stable was having trouble and breaking down again. He choked and coughed a little bit and had to stop to take a deep breath again. Revenant Wings let him calm himself down and waited until he seemed ready to speak again before asking him another question.
“What time did you return home?”
“About ten o’clock. I searched every nook and cranny of Ponyville and found no traces of him. I ended up eating leftovers and going to bed early that night. When he did not show up by the time I had woken up at five o’clock like usual, I called the police department.”
“Have you received any word from him between your call and our arrival?”
“None.”
“You said that Applejack told you that Caramel was acting a bit eager to go to the Whitetail Woods. Had you seen any strange behavior similar to this from Caramel prior to his disappearance?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. About a week ago, Caramel had gone off after work to go get the sweet blueberries, but did not return home. I worried about him then, but when I woke up at five he was in his bed sleeping like normal. But it seemed a bit heavier if restless sleep, as it took longer to wake him up.”
Revenant Wings was about to ask another question, but Doctor Stable held up a hoof to stop him.
“There is more. He suddenly became rather panicky and flighty. I asked him if something went wrong and he would tell me nothing. Finally that evening he allowed me to check him over for any damages, but he was clean and without any marks or bruises. I told him not to go back to Whitetail Woods for a while in case something had tried to attack him, but he wouldn’t tell me anything about what happened.
“He became almost obsessed with the Whitetail Woods. I caught him at times mumbling to himself that he wanted to go back, he needed to go back, but he wouldn’t explain to me what it was. But, even stranger, he wouldn’t eat the berries he brought back, and he loves them. I ate them, but I never saw him eat them or them go down when I wasn’t looking. I wondered if he’d tried to eat one without washing it and gotten sick, but nothing.
“And then, on the day he disappeared, he suddenly became very calm. He prepared himself to go to Applejack’s like normal, and woke up like normal, and calmly went about his business. And... in truth, the normality of the situation scared me more than the possibility of him being hurt and his strange mad ramblings about the Whitetail Woods. It scared me because whatever fear he had vanished, as though he was never even scared to begin with.
“But fear doesn’t just vanish. When someone experiences an anxiety attack of any magnitude, there is a cool down period where one realizes that nevermind, they are in control of their circumstances and that things are okay. But it almost seemed as though Caramel went to bed afraid as though for his life, then woke up without fear. After a week of being afraid, it should have taken longer than a few hours to go away.”
Revenant Wings made sure that Doctor Stable had finished completely before speaking up again. “Okay, I think that’s enough. Thank you for your time on the interview. Watchful Eye will perform a quick scan of the room and take photographs for us to take back to the office. We would appreciate it if, until we find Caramel, that nothing gets moved in or removed from that room.”
“Of course. I will let him take as many pictures as necessary. Thank you.”
Revenant Wings was about to turn the voice recorder off when Doctor Stable started speaking again.
“Do you know much about the rumors that are floating around?” Doctor Stable asked.
Revenant Wings shook his head. “No, I don’t believe I have.”
“They say something is in the Whitetail Woods. Whether pony or beast I have no idea. But I have the slightest suspicion that whatever it is has Caramel. I do not want to assume the worst and I do not want to believe it, but something tells me that whatever it is is behind Caramel’s disappearance.”
Revenant Wings looked at Doctor Stable intently but strangely. But Doctor Stable said no more and looked like he had composed himself rather well.
Doctor Stable got up. “Watchful Eye, is it? Come this way; I’ll show you to Caramel’s bedroom. I’ve kept it locked up.”
“We’ll be heading back to the police department in the meantime,” Garnet Heart said. “If you need anything more, call or stop by.”
“Of course.”
Garnet and Revenant packed up their things and left Doctor Stable’s house. They walked along the streets of Ponyville towards the offices of the local Guard.
Revenant Wings was ready to review the interview, but before he could step inside Garnet Heart suddenly laid a wing on his shoulder and turned him aside from the door. They walked around to the side of the building where there were no windows and Garnet Heart stopped leading Revenant along.
“Why were you looking at him as though he was mad at the last thing he said?” Garnet Heart said. “Make no mistake, I saw you.”
“It only sounded mad. But all things that Doctor Stable said right now point towards that patch of blueberries in the Whitetail Woods. Someone needs to go there and do an investigation.” After a moment’s thought, he added: “And preferably not alone.”
Garnet Heart was suddenly looking at him as though he was the mad one. “Oh, bloody heck, you think something’s really in there, don’t you?”
“I won’t lie the thought may have crossed my mind,” Revenant quietly admitted. Too many things have happened within a week surrounding the Whitetail Woods to not be suspicious of something. There’s my... my odd dreams, the rumors spreading around, Caramel’s sudden disappearance and his odd behavior surrounding it. There’s something at work here, and I don’t like it one bit.”
“I read the signs,” Garnet Heart said somewhat forcefully. “Doctor Stable is a pony who is holding himself together rather well but is otherwise somewhat maddened by grief. And I don’t blame him; we’ve never had this happen in our lifetimes. But this rumor is just a rumor.”
“Doctor Stable does not seem to me the type to be spreading around rumors if he doesn’t think it applies,” Revenant Wings said. “He is a doctor. His is supposed to say everything he knows about a situation and what he thinks can help. If he mentioned the rumor and thinks Caramel may have disappeared somewhere around the Whitetail Woods, then I think there’s something to it.”
Garnet Heart took a step backwards but said nothing.
“Look, we got no leads about friends from Doctor Stable. The one lead we may have gotten will have probably be interviewed by Hoofprint by the end of the day. The Whitetail Woods is, in all likelihood, our next stop.”
Garnet Heart opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but closed it and shook his head. “You’re right,” he said after a moment’s thought. “But we’ll do it this way. We’ll start by seeing if Fluttershy knows anything. We can visit her cottage near the Whitetail Woods and see if she’s seen anything strange going on. But we won’t go in to Whitetail until later.”
“That’s all I ask.”
They both turned at the sound of hoofsteps; Watchful Eye was returning at a brisk trot from Doctor Stable’s, camera and black-light in hand.
“Come on,” Garnet said briskly. “We’d better get inside and review the pictures he took.”
Revenant Wings nodded and they went around the building and back into the Guard offices.
Watchful Eye was in the back room of the office that served as the forensics laboratory, in all likelihood working on developing the photographs taken of Caramel’s room at Doctor Stable’s house. It would likely take the whole of the lunch hour before they could look at the photos.
For lunch, Revenant Wings checked in the tape with Doctor Stable’s interview and went to Garnet Heart to see where to head to lunch. After very little debate, the two headed out to a small sandwich shop around the corner from the Guard offices, Grinder’s Subs, and ordered sandwiches and potato chips and fresh lemonade.
“Do you suppose Fluttershy knows Caramel at all?” Garnet Heart asked.
“No,” Revenant Wings said. “All I know is she lives outside the Whitetail Woods. If we can talk to her, maybe we might get something. And she can talk to animals, can’t she? Perhaps we can ask her to see if she can’t send an animal or two out to see if they can’t find anything related to Caramel.”
“It’s as good a shot as any,” Garnet Heart mused. He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed it thoughtfully. “You’d have to talk with the Captain and make sure he approves, though.”
“I kind of prefer he goes over the tape first,” Revenant said. “I have a hunch and Doctor Stable has some evidence in that direction, but we shouldn’t go forward without talking with Iron Shield first.”
“Well, before that, what did you think of the good Doctor?” Garnet asked. “You say he seems pretty reliable.”
“Well, his testimony matches exactly what the Captain gave us as a synopsis,” Revenant said. “Either he’s telling the truth or he has a very well-rehearsed cover-up story. But you say he’s mad with grief.”
“He broke down at least twice. That gives some credence to the story because he seems emotionally invested in it. I also seemed to read some signs of shock; it came as a surprise to him and so he doesn’t know what to think. That doesn’t sound like a cover-up.”
“So we put Doctor Stable on the back-burner but leave him as a possible suspect. But if Doctor Stable did have something to do with the disappearance of Caramel, what do you think he would do?”
“Beat him up? Cause him to run away? Doctors face a lot of responsibility and it wouldn’t be surprising if Doctor Stable suddenly snapped due to his work. But he seems young and Ponyville is small, so it would take more years than he has to crack.”
“And he’s got a pretty good record, too. A few surgeries, at least a quarter of the patients who visit the hospital, and a published paper or two on anatomy with regards to magic is nothing to scoff at.”
“I’m almost inclined to leave him out entirely if it weren’t for the fact that he called thirty-six hours after the disappearance. If he was getting messages and already knew Caramel hadn’t been sighted by the time he got home, how come he didn’t phone Night Watch then? Why wait for morning?”
Revenant Wings nodded thoughtfully, but replied no more.
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.”
Revenant Wings immediately set to work the moment they walked back into the Guard offices.
After lengthy talks with Captain Iron Shield and presenting of the evidence of Fluttershy and the early stages of the conversation with Zecora, Revenant Wings had presented the berries to the Captain. Once a berry had been separated for evidence and the others marked for sending off to the main Guard forensic offices in Canterlot, Revenant decided it was time to spring his idea.
“Sir,” he said respectfully, “may I present to you another lead that has been shown us this whole time. There is a patch of these blueberries somewhere within the Whitetail Woods. Perhaps we could see if we can’t get to this area and if there is any evidence that hides itself from us there.”
It was at this remark that Captain Iron Shield suddenly became rather wary.
“I am sure your judgment is not hindered by foreknowledge of Caramel, his brother, Zecora, or Fluttershy,” he said. “But without much else to go on – Hoofprint’s own interview returned nothing more than what was revealed in the Doctor Stable interview – I need you to present a good, sound, and logical case as to why we ought to pursue this lead.”
“Caramel knew the location of these berries,” Revenant Wings said. “The Doctor’s interview revealed that Caramel was going to go there after he had finished work and from that point he disappeared. No one saw him come out. Perhaps we may find evidence of a creature or a pony that had been there, perhaps in the brush around the location of the berry patch.”
“We do not know the location of the berry patch,” the Captain remarked slowly. “Unless you know where it is.”
“Garnet Heart does,” Revenant Wings replied. “He told me this morning before work that Caramel told him where to find them and gave him some.”
“...you mean Garnet Heart knows Caramel?” Captain Iron Shield exclaimed. “Revenant Wings, why didn’t you tell me this before!?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Revenant said politely though taken aback, “but I did not remember it until now. And I never hear more than passing conversation; Garnet himself often is put on a beat that goes by where he works. I do not believe the day of the disappearance was his route, however.”
Captain Iron Shield made a somewhat disgusted face. “Revenant Wings, I am appalled at this information being hidden from me regardless of when you remembered it. I am going to give you a warning for now, but you must tell me anything else you know right now otherwise you face suspension.”
Revenant Wings sincerely regretting his idea now, but Iron Shield’s word was law and he had every right to be angry at him. “Zecora hinted at the existence of two creatures inside the Whitetail Woods, one of which came from the Everfree Forest. But her memory was impaired somehow and she could not give specific details. That is also part of the interview we heard from, but we had not gotten to that point yet.”
Captain Iron Shield raised an eyebrow and folded his hooves on his desk. He stayed silent for a long while, Revenant Wings not even daring to move, as though thinking.
Finally, the Captain looked at Revenant. “Get the information from Garnet Heart. Then send word to Zecora. You two will go tomorrow with Watchful Eye and see if you can’t find anything at the clearing. Take the forensic toolbox with you. I will be interviewing Garnet tomorrow.”
Much to Revenant’s own surprise, Garnet Heart had taken this information relatively well when he explained it over dinner of stuffed peppers.
“First of all, we could have collaborated and found a decent way of explaining it to him,” Garnet said. “You might not have gotten in trouble that way. However, I am not surprised I didn’t tell him before. I suppose I got caught up in our own investigations I didn’t think my own information may be helpful. I’ll let him know tomorrow it’s partly my fault and it might take the blame off you.”
“So, where is the patch of berries?” Revenant Wings said. “I’ll be getting Zecora tomorrow to go there.”
“Not too far north of Fluttershy’s house is a westward path that winds behind the hill where her house is located and through the Whitetail Woods. This leads to a clearing. Go north again and the berry patch is there, but I have no idea where the path goes if you continue westward.”
“Is it within sight of Ponyville?”
“There are a few twists and turns,” Garnet Heart said, “but it’s pretty easy to determine how to head back. The path to Ponyville is well-worn and much wider across. It could have been used as a creature migration path before Ponyville was settled. The other is thin and very rocky before long, and the woods are thicker there.”
“Well... wish me luck, then,” Revenant Wings said. “I’ve gotten myself into quite a mess. I only hope that, with Zecora’s and Watchful Eye’s help, I might be able to get myself out of it.”
“The Captain did merely give you a warning,” Garnet Heart pointed out. “He’s probably interested in seeing where the lead goes himself. But the facts being that we’re essentially cops and this is a rather sensitive case right off the bat, he needs evidence to move on.”
Revenant Wings poked his red pepper with his fork. “That’s what I’m afraid of: I won’t be able to produce anything.”
At eight o’clock the next morning, Garnet Heart went into the office to have his own interview with Captain Iron Shield, while Revenant Wings and Watchful Eye prepared themselves for an outing into the Whitetail Woods.
Revenant Wings took the job of a sketch artist and note-taker, in addition to bringing along the tape recorder and a blank tape in case it was necessary. Watchful Eye brought along his camera and took the entirety of the forensics toolbox in his saddlebags. With the necessary items packed, the two each took a spear for defense as mandatory for explorations outside Ponyville’s boundaries, and set off.
Their first stop was the path to the southwest and into the Everfree Forest to find Zecora. Revenant Wings, having taken the path before, led the way as they walked in silence. Compared to the previous evening, the woods were silent as they walked and Revenant did not feel the same feeling of being watched as he did before. Even so, he kept his spear at the ready and did not relax it for any reason.
At last they came to Zecora’s door.
“She may not be an evil enchantress,” Watchful Eye commented as they approached the giant tree, “but she definitely has the looks and home for it.”
“Be quiet,” Revenant Wings said. “It’s rude to talk about her that way.”
Revenant Wings knocked on the door and called inside yet again. Zecora opened up, already looking wide awake despite the hour.
“Good morning, Revenant, here once more,” Zecora said politely. “What brings you here today to my door?”
“Miss Zecora,” Revenant Wings asked equally politely. “We would like to ask for your assistance. We are going to find the blueberry patch we were telling you about yesterday. But we want you to come with us and let us know if you see any signs of those creatures you were telling us about.”
“I can make no guarantee I will spot any sign,” Zecora said. “But, to accompany you, the pleasure is mine. I’ll see what I see and nothing more, but if this is my task, it’s an easy chore.”
Revenant Wings introduced Zecora to Watchful Eye. Zecora merely smiled and nodded before Revenant excused her to collect some supplies she might need. She came out with saddlebags filled with herbs and three blue bottles and offered one to both Revenant and Watchful Eye.
“Drink these potions to increase your guard,” Zecora said. “If we find the creatures, your mind will be barred.”
Revenant Wings and Watchful Eye drank the bottles in one gulp; to Revenant, it tasted like the berries but as though they had been pressed and juiced. The concentration was stronger and it tasted sweeter and caused Revenant to shake his head in surprise. Zecora was not bothered by it and took the bottles back when they were done, placing them back in her home before leading the way out of the Everfree.
The way out was as silent as the way in. Zecora led them confidently through the Everfree and back out to Ponyville, at which point she let Revenant take the lead once more. Revenant himself led them first to Fluttershy’s house, but stopped slightly before the approach to the front door and went around behind the house, heading slightly northwest. Looking around, Revenant Wings could see Fluttershy peeking out one of the windows of her house in their direction, along with the white rabbit.
Sure enough, there was the path that Garnet Heart had mentioned. It seemed little used; there was only one pair of hoofprints going into the forest, and they led straight in.
“Someone’s used this trail,” Revenant Wings said. “And rather recently. Watchful Eye, come here and take a few photographs.”
Watchful Eye took out his camera and a small ruler. Placing it next to one of the hooves, he found a set of hoofprints that seemed clearer than the rest and took a few pictures.
“In this dry earth, hoofprints will easily hold,” Zecora said. “They look to me a few days old.”
“Then there’s a possibility these are Caramel’s...” Revenant Wings mused. “There’s no way to confirm this right now, but certainly somepony’s been this way and he’s the one that knows this secret.”
Revenant Wings headed off down the path, followed by Zecora with Watchful Eye taking the rear. The path was wide and the trees were spaced in rather large intervals. White pine, birch, and oak mingled with one another with a clear floor lightly populated by bushes. The trail through the trees winded around larger stems but mostly traveled fairly straight into the woods and soon the trees became denser and denser, and Ponyville was soon out of sight.
By the time they had been walking for nearly twenty minutes, Revenant Wings guessed they had gone up a small hill then down into something of a gully. The trail turned north for a while before going south-by-southwest, and they passed over a river heading southwards and probably flowed into the Everfree Forest given enough time. It may have been pony-controlled, but the woods seemed wilder than almost anywhere else Revenant Wings had seen.
At last, they came to a clearing. They stopped for a moment and noticed the trail of hooves turned northwards. They followed the hoofprints northwards a few hundred yards more and they disappeared into a large patch of grass and what Revenant Wings soon recognized as the berries.
“These are the berries, aren’t they Zecora?”
“It seems we’ve reached the berries’ source,” Zecora agreed, “Now, let us look for this Caramel horse.”
But the grass obscured any further footsteps. If the dirt wasn’t at the entrance of the patch with their hoofsteps joining the other pony they had followed, Revenant Wings wouldn’t have known that was the way they had come from. There were multiple small bushes not much taller than Revenant’s chest scattered around but no sign of anything nearby.
“Do any of the bushes look recently plucked, Zecora?” Revenant asked.
Zecora shook her head.
“And I’m not seeing any more hoofprints,” Watchful Eye said. “It seems they just kind of stop at the edge of the berry patch, almost like whoever made them just... vanished.”
“Well, that narrows it down somewhat,” Revenant Wings said. “Either something strayed off the path by now, or a unicorn came and teleported him.”
“Except teleportation is a rather rare spell, especially compared to telekinesis,” Watchful Eye said. “Heck, not even Iron Shield knows it, and he’s pretty skilled in defensive and evasive magic.”
“Your companion here is on the money and rather bright,” Zecora responded. “The only teleporting unicorn I know is Princess Twilight.”
“And she’s an alicorn now,” Revenant Wings said. “Castle and everything. She’s supposed to be one of the most talented magicians of the age.”
“So that rules teleportation out, most likely,” Watchful Eye said. “So, what do we do now?”
“There’s got to be something,” Revenant Wings said. “Check the edges of the clearing where the bushes stop growing. They don’t seem to grow much farther than the trees.”
So they set out to work again. Revenant looked around bushes and around the trees at the edge of the patch but found nothing. Neither did Zecora after a long stretch of searching. Watchful Eye didn’t see anything for a long while, but suddenly gained an interest in a nearby tree.
“Hey, you two!” he called over. “You might want to come check this out...”
Revenant Wings and Zecora trotted over to where Watchful Eye was standing. He was under a large oak tree with the nearest branches nearly fifteen feet off the ground. The tree seemed rather thick with branches and full of leaves that blocked out the sun and placed them all in a dark shade. He was pointing to the trunk of the tree.
“...what is that?” Revenant Wings asked.
It looked like a place where the bark had been rubbed off and worn down. Instead of the rough contour of the bark, the tree felt smooth and polished like a stone. So something had not only rubbed against it, but rubbed against it for a very long time. Moreover, the worn area wrapped around the tree and looked to spiral upwards until it disappeared into the thick cover of leaves.
“Very few things could make that mark,” Zecora replied. “The scales of a snake cling like that to the bark.”
“Scales? Snake? I’ve heard of some garter snakes around here or some other small ones, but those things are huge!”
Watchful Eye brought out his smaller ruler and placed it against the bark, but it was quite plain the smaller ruler was not enough to measure the distance. He then pulled out a tape measure, extracted a long piece of the tape, and set it up against the tree.
“Certainly big,” Watchful Eye commented. “They’re almost ten inches wide.” He looked over to Revenant Wings, the biggest of the lot only slightly, and measured him up in his head. “If it wrapped around you, it’d cover you from your neck to the bottom of your hooves in five or six loops.”
“Nothing that big should live around here,” Revenant Wings said. “We’re temperate enough no snake that big should be able to survive in these woods. Rainwater’s not frequent enough to keep the scales wet and this place experiences winter like everywhere else, which would force them into hibernation.”
“Unless there is serious dark magic at work,” Zecora spoke up. “Or something crawled out from Everfree and came here to lurk.”
Revenant Wings held the tape measure as Watchful Eye took photos of the tree branch. They took pictures at a few different locations and it was all the same fourteen inches wide.
“Hey!” Watchful Eye exclaimed as they came to the back of the tree away from the berry patch. “There’s a trail leading deeper into the Whitetail Woods!”
He was right; Revenant Wings looked over and noticed a definite depression that formed a slight S-shape deeper into the Whitetail Woods. The trees became thicker and the shadows darker and Revenant thought better than to pursue whatever it was into the depths of Whitetail.
“Take a few photos of the depression,” Revenant Wings said. “Then we should head back. It’s already mid-afternoon.”
“Yeah,” Watchful Eye said. “I don’t want to be anywhere near this thing, and I’m starving as it is.” He took a few photos and packed up.
All three were eager to leave as Revenant led the way back. They went south to the clearing, then followed the trail of hoofprints going east as fast as they could. They passed back over the river in a steady gallop and went through the winding woods and back into lighter territory. The trees spaced out again and suddenly they burst out from the forest and into the path towards Ponyville.
At the edge of the woods, Zecora took their leave and headed southwards towards home. Revenant Wings and Watchful Eye headed back to the Guard station and were welcomed back by Garnet Heart and Captain Iron Shield, who had bought sandwiches for the two.
“Well?” Captain Iron Shield said. “Did you find anything?”
“Plenty,” Watchful Eye said. “Though let me develop the photos first. It’s admittedly a bit strange, and will make more sense. Revenant can tell you the details once that’s in.”
Captain Iron Shield and Garnet Heart looked back and forth between Revenant Wings and Watchful Eye curiously. After a while, the Captain’s eyes fixed firmly on Revenant Wings.
“Give me the short version,” he said.
Revenant Wings gulped. “Well, we got Zecora and headed down the path Garnet mentioned,” he said. “We found a set of hoofprints, and followed them down the path that Garnet told me about. They led to a clearing full of the berries, but then disappeared. But, on the opposite side, we found evidence of something roaming around the woods that seems similar to a large snake, including worn-down bark on a tree and depression of grass leading deeper into the Whitetail Woods and off the beaten path.”
Captain Iron Shield raised an eyebrow and looked at Revenant Wings warily. “You mean to say something is living in those woods that, in all likelihood, shouldn’t be? And that it’s been sitting there under our noses this whole time without us knowing?”
“Watchful Eye has pictures if you don’t believe me. Give him time to develop them and we can go over them however much you want. But know that, at the moment, it seems like a rather large snake.”
Captain Iron Shield’s face softened. “Yes, you mentioned that before. And I should apologize for earlier. You barely knew about the case, and I shouldn’t have punished you for information Garnet Heart had not revealed yet. So I’m going to rescind my warning and leave your record clear.”
“Thank you, sir,” Revenant Wings said.
The Captain’s face became stern again. “But keep up your work, and if anything else comes up from either of you, report it to me immediately. Now go on and do the transcripts of your latest interviews; I’ll let you both know when I have more work.”
Revenant Wings took the sandwich that was brought for him, opened it up, and headed back to his desk. It was already one and he was surprised how long he’d spent in the Whitetail Woods searching for Caramel. He ate his sandwich quietly and transcribed one of the tapes he’d made not long ago; Garnet Heart stayed quiet temporarily as he transcribed another.
Around four thirty, both tapes were written down and given to Quick Quill as part of the evidence for Caramel’s case and the office went quiet. The photos had been developed and Iron Shield was now looking over them in his office and wasn’t saying a word to anyone yet.
“You were there in Whitetail a long time,” Garnet Heart said. “What happened?”
“Well, picking up Zecora first took some time,” Revenant Wings said. “Then we had to find the trailhead. We found hoofprints leading in, too, so we took some pictures. I honestly didn’t think we spent as much time as we did, but following the hoofprints and scouring the berry patch for any signs of evidence must have taken some time.”
“...do you think Caramel was eaten by a giant snake?”
“I doubt it,” Revenant Wings. “I’d think it would be more likely if it scared him off. All the same, something that large needed to be reported anyways.”
“True,” Garnet Heart said. “I just wonder why something that big would be around here. With scales as wide as the pictures say, that thing has to be at least twenty-five to thirty feet long.”
“Scares me to no end, honestly,” Revenant Wings replied with a shiver. “Especially considering our house is not far from the Whitetail Woods’ trailhead and not very far from the woods themselves at all; just a quick jaunt across that small grassy area.”
Captain Iron Shield emerged from his office and looked at the now quiet main room. “Were you discussing the creature and the markings?” he asked.
Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart nodded.
“Well, hopefully it’s too scared to come out into the open,” the Captain said. “Fluttershy has a few extra pairs of eyes and ears available for us if everything went as you said. It might not try leaving the Whitetail Woods if it thinks it’s going to be spotted.”
“Heck, maybe Fluttershy could deal with it herself,” Garnet added. “If it’s a snake, no matter how large it is, Fluttershy ought to be able to communicate with it. She does so with all the garter snakes, rat snakes, and hog-nosed snakes we see around here occasionally.”
“Yes, but those are much smaller,” Iron Shield pointed out. “Only about four to six feet long. And we’re dealing with something potentially five or six times longer than that, something that could easily loop and crush a pony. And remember not even Fluttershy can control the rock-o-dile.”
The guards were left in silence. The clock struck five o’clock and Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart started packing up and getting ready to check-out for the day. A call came in to Quick Quill, but all of them were silent and ignored it for a long while.
But suddenly Quick Quill turned around and spoke.
“Garnet Heart?” she asked. “Fluttershy just called me. She says that one of her songbirds noticed a sleeping pony lying just inside of the Whitetail Woods behind her house and wanted to let you know. She said it looked like Caramel.”
Iron Shield was out the door first, followed quickly by Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart, all three of them armed with spears. Revenant Wings felt panicked and wondered why Caramel would suddenly appear in the woods as though he was asleep. Where had he gone? Why was he suddenly back?
The three ponies tore across Ponyville with surprising speed. Revenant Wings took to the air and went high enough to scan over the treetops. The Whitetail Woods were mostly empty but, sure enough, there was a light-brown patch a little into the woods and just off the path looking like it had been just dropped there.
Revenant Wings dived down and galloped alongside Iron Shield. “Just inside the woods and right off the path, Captain! There’s a small patch of light brown there that may be a pony.”
“Come on!” Iron Shield said, slowing down a bit so he was behind Reveanant, letting him lead the way. “We need to pick him up and get him to the hospital if necessary.”
Revenant felt a slight feeling of déjà vu at the feeling of travelling the same path as he had earlier that morning. The evening sun cast a strange light on the Whitetail Woods; shadows lengthened, leaves turned to orange, and the grass became a darker yet more vibrant green. Thankfully, the pony wasn’t too far in.
Once they were just out of sight of Ponyville, Revenant Wings turned a sharp left off the path and hopped over a slight bush. Garnet Heart leapt over just after him and Iron Shield crashed through the bush as they followed the pegasus to the sight of the pony.
The pony was a bit smaller than Revenant Wings or Garnet Heart, covered in a caramel-brown coat with a dark brown mane and a cutie mark of three blue horseshoes. The three surveyed the fallen pony; on his right shoulder blade were two pinpricks like bite marks, but other than that he seemed to have taken no damage whatsoever. He was breathing slowly but comfortably and indeed looked like he had just fallen asleep where he was.
There were no tracks leading away from where Caramel’s body was, however, and there was little to suggest another pony had been with him not long ago. But Revenant Wings soon sighted a trio of small, dark brown hairs that looked more like coat hairs than mane hairs and picked them up, tucking them into his armor.
Iron Shield sat down and used a hoof to open up one of Caramel’s eyes. Amidst the green eye, the pupil was abnormally constricted as though he had intently been focusing on something small or had been in direct sunlight for a long while. It vibrated occasionally, making small jitters but Caramel looked hardly anywhere close to waking up.
“It’s him, alright,” Garnet Heart said. “Everything matches; the coat, the mane, the eyes, and the cutie mark. We’ve found Caramel.”
“But what’s he doing sleeping out here like this!?” Iron Shield said. “His pupils are contracted like someone shone a flashlight at him, and he’s in REM sleep.”
Revenant Wings looked over the sleeping body of Caramel. He was too focused on two things: the small hairs that he had seen on Caramel’s body and the two small red pinpricks on Caramel’s shoulder. Three days... three days... seventy two hours...
“Oh... oh my...”
Iron Shield heard his gasping. “What is it?”
“You listened to the interview tapes, right, sir?” Revenant Wings said. “Zecora had the same thing happen to her and has two pinpricks on her earlobe. They’re the same width apart, too. She was gone seventy-two hours. And now... now so has Caramel.”
Iron Shield looked strangely at Revenant Wings. “Seventy two hours gone... a set of bite marks similar to Caramel’s... We’ll need to call her over so we can measure the distance and size of the marks. But, if you’re right...”
But Iron Shield’s voice faded away and Revenant never heard what would happen if his assumption was right.
They decided to take Caramel to Ponyville Hospital. Iron Shield gently picked up Caramel and the three gently hopped back over the bush and made off down the trail to Ponyville again.
“How high profile is the case?” Garnet Heart asked.
“No one knows about it except for those who we interviewed,” Iron Shield responded. “The Apples said they would keep their silence and otherwise I don’t think the shy Fluttershy or Zecora hidden away in the Everfree would make much mention of it.”
“We should have made them promise their silence,” Revenant Wings said.
“Hindsight being twenty-twenty, we should have,” Iron Shield said as they busted out of the Whitetail Woods. “But all we can hope for now is that Ponyville’s rumors stay rumors.”
They busted into the Ponyville Hospital and ran up to the nearest nurse at the desk, a white pony with a pink mane and a red cross for a cutie mark.
“Nurse Redheart,” Iron Shield said. “We found this pony lying asleep with a bite mark on his shoulder. We need to get him into a room now and make sure he’s not poisoned or anything. Also, tell Doctor Stable that Caramel is here.”
The nurse nodded and made a quick call on her intercom. A few seconds later, two other ponies in white coats and with green face masks over their mouths came out from one of the corridors with a gurney between them. Iron Shield gently deposited Caramel onto the gurney, and the doctors wheeled the gurney around and back into the corridor before a fuss could be made.
Iron Shield turned around and looked at Revenant Wings and Garnet. “Anything more before we break up for tonight?”
Revenant removed the hairs from his armor. “I found these on Caramel. They didn’t look like they belonged to him.”
Iron Shield took them in his armor. “No, they certainly don’t,” he agreed. “We’ll take them back. If Watchful Eye is still at the station, I’ll have him bake these for five minutes then run a DNA-analysis, see if we can’t match it up with a pony somewhere.”
“Is that all, sir?”
“Yes. You two are free to head home from here, unless you have anything you need to collect from the station.”
Neither Garnet Heart nor Revenant Wings did, so they left the hospital and trundled off home.
Neither said anything more about the case until late at night when they were in bed. The window was open and the light was off, but neither of them seemed to be able to fall asleep.
“Well, the case is ‘solved’,” Revenant Wings said. “We found Caramel.”
“And yet... I’m not satisfied,” Garnet Heart added. “I feel like I should be. First real kidnapping case in a hundred years gets solved in seventy two hours. Why isn’t it as rewarding as it should be?”
“There’s too many loose ends,” Revenant suggested. “We still don’t know who did it, nor for what reason Caramel came back in three days. And there’s how he disappeared, why he disappeared at all, and what the berries have to do with it.”
Garnet hummed thoughtfully and nodded. “No perpetrator, no motive, no answers,” he agreed. “What do we do? Interview Caramel?”
“We’ll have to try,” Revenant Wings said. “But I think that’s going to go as far as it did with Zecora, if things are repeating themselves.”
The two sat in silence for a long while, with nothing but the gentle flap of their curtains and the rustling grass outside the window. It was calm and quiet and Revenant thought they had better go to sleep in case they had another long day tomorrow. He rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes, feeling heavy and tired as the excitement of the day began to wear off.
But for all his wanting to sleep, Revenant remembered something that Doctor Stable had said. “In truth, the normality of the situation scared me more than the possibility of him being hurt and his strange mad ramblings about the Whitetail Woods. It scared me because whatever fear he had vanished, as though he was never even scared to begin with.”
Revenant Wings’ eyes bolted open and he looked towards the window. His eyes managed to widen further as he leaned over and shook Garnet, who also appeared to be falling asleep.
“Garnet!” Revenant Wings yelled. “Garnet! Wake up! You’ve got to see this!”
“What is it?” Garnet mumbled sleepily. “Why you gotta be so loud?”
“Look!” Revenant Wings shouted. “Out the window!”
“Oh, what’s got you all in a twitter?” Garnet Heart mumbled. He turned around and propped himself up on the bed, looking out the window.
A moment later, his eyes too widened considerably.
Out across the small grassy plain, in the forests of the Whitetail Woods, a pair of brightly-colored eyes looked back at them from the shadows.
At nine o’clock the next morning, Quick Quill received a call. She went over to Captain Iron Shield’s office and spoke with him privately for about ten minutes. They talked deeply for a while before Quick Quill left and resumed her position at the front desk. Iron Shield came out, looked around, and barked.
“Revenant Wings!”
Revenant had been working on a report regarding his thoughts on one of the transcripts of an interview. But as soon as he heard the Captain bark out his name, he shuffled it to the side of his desk and got up, going over to the Captain.
“Yes, sir?” he asked.
“Come into my office,” Captain Iron Shield said simply.
Revenant Wings followed the Captain into the office and sat down across from him at the desk. The Captain was quiet for a few moments, looking over the pegasus guard sitting across from him as though measuring him up himself.
“I want to talk with you about two things,” Iron Shield said. “First off, we found no match with the hairs. But there were some other things with the DNA we found that are strange, and so we’ll be looking into that.”
Revenant Wings nodded. “Are you able to access the whole Equestrian database from here?”
“That had occurred to me,” Iron Shield said. “Canterlot and Manehattan have the full databases available to them. Perhaps we could see if it’s someone from Canterlot or Los Pegasus, but I don’t know if that’s going to be the case.”
Revenant Wings nodded again, but did not say anthing.
Iron Shield looked over some of his papers. “That being said, there is hope for finding who may have been behind Caramel’s disappearance with the hairs. We are going to have them analyzed soon, and with it we may have something as to where the perpetrator at least lives.”
Revenant Wings didn’t say anything nor moved from where he sat.
“Secondly, I have a task for you. Go to Doctor Stable at Ponyville Hospital; he is eager to see you and thank you for bringing his brother home. Then, I want you to see if you can’t speak with Caramel; he is awake and seems to be doing fine and suffers no adverse effects from his time away.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do not bring the tape recorder,” Iron Shield continued. “Take a notepad and a few pencils with you to take notes. See if you can’t glean anything important from what he knows and take a few notes as to his condition.”
“...is that all, sir?”
Iron Shield sighed. “Well, not entirely.”
The white unicorn looked over the photographs of the bite area on Caramel and Zecora, which must have been taken sometime between the time Caramel went to the hospital and that morning before he came in, and sighed.
“I want to apologize,” the unicorn said. “For being harsh on you. As it turns out, we have more leads and more avenues to look at as a result of the information you and Garnet Heart gave. Understand it was not because I am angry with your work – you two have done excellently – but because I was nervous about it going on for longer than it had to.”
He took a deep breath and sighed again. “I know this isn’t over. But at least we have something to go off of. Be gentle on Caramel and see how much you can get from him, but don’t wear him out.”
“Yes, sir,” Revenant Wings said, and left the office.
Doctor Stable was very glad to see Revenant; as soon as the pegasus was shown to his office by a young orderly, Doctor Stable got up from around his desk and made to shake Revenant’s hoof, only to grab him and bring him in for a hug, which Revenant quietly accepted.
“Thank you,” Doctor Stable said quietly. “You promised me, and you did it.”
Revenant withdrew first. “How is Caramel doing?”
“He woke up at about six o’clock this morning. He was a little groggy at first, but he remembered where he was and ate a decent breakfast. We were thinking of discharging him this afternoon if his blood work comes back okay with no signs of venom.”
“So no broken bones or anything?”
“No. His eyes were very much contracted when he first woke up and alerted the nurse, but by the time he was brought something to eat and drink he seemed fine. He was very happy to see me, though he still refuses to say anything about what happened to him.”
“Well, I must admit that’s what I’m here for. With your permission, I would like to see if I could interview Caramel. No tape recorder; just a few pencils and a notepad.”
“Well, I suppose I could let you in. Come with me; he’s in Room 107.” They walked out and down the hall a short ways. “He’s been a little restless, but it’s normal so far as he’s concerned and we simply can’t let him leave bed until the results come in.”
Caramel was sitting upright when Revenant Wings and Doctor Stable came in. His green eyes were lively and alert and he seemed rather cheerful, reading a book and relaxing as though he was not just recovered from the woods after being missing for three days. He took a drink from the glass of water on his nightstand and looked up to them as they entered.
“Hey,” he said. “Have you got the blood work?”
“I’ve told you before; it’s in the lab and they’re looking at it.” Doctor Stable came over and put on a stethoscope, checking Caramel’s heartbeat. “You seem fine to me, but it’s just as a precaution.”
Caramel nodded. “Who’s the guard?”
“This is Revenant Wings. He was involved in the case of your disappearance. If you don’t mind, he wants to ask you a few questions about what happened.”
“Oh, okay.”
Doctor Stable brought over two chairs and set himself down in one while motioning for Revenant Wings to sit in the other. Revenant pulled the chair up to the bed and pulled out his notepad and a pencil and looked at Caramel.
“Don’t worry,” Revenant said. “We just want to find out where you were and what happened to you. Kidnapping and letting you sustain an injury like that is a very serious offense, and we want to try and find out who did that to you. Understand?”
Caramel nodded.
“Now, what is the last thing you remember before waking up?”
Caramel thought it over. “Well, I remember two things, actually. But one seems almost... almost like it never happened.”
“Alright. Then let’s start with the one that seems the most clear to you. What happened then?”
“I think... I think I was at the berry patch,” Caramel said, looking out the window towards the Whitetail Woods. “I wanted to collect some of them and bring them back home. I went looking around and found a rather nice patch of them, but I had left it at home.”
“If you wanted to go to the berry patch to pick them, why did you leave it at home?”
Caramel seemed to hit a roadblock in his thinking. He opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly his eyes widened and he shoved a hoof in his mouth, either because he refused to speak or didn’t even remember why. Revenant Wings made a note of this.
“Anyways,” Caramel said after a moment’s silence. “I don’t know why, but I just sat down in the middle of the berry patch. Like... like- like I was waiting for someone. It grew later, and then... everything becomes fuzzy.”
“Did someone come upon you and attack you?”
“No.” Caramel said. He shook his head. “Nothing like that at all. I just... don’t know what happened.”
“If I hadn’t checked you out,” Doctor Stable interjected, “it sounds like you had a small concussion.”
“But nothing hit me,” Caramel reiterated firmly. “I just... lost it. It kind of feels like I just suddenly fell asleep right in the middle of the berry bushes.”
“I know,” Doctor Stable said almost equally firmly. “I meant that the symptoms are like a concussion, but medically nothing happened. Your brain is working fine.”
“Then why are you questioning me? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, and that’s it.”
Caramel does not remember what happened after entering patch. He also gets defensive when pressed, even gently, about trying to remember further events. Revenant Wings quickly scribbled into the pad before moving on.
“No matter,” he said, eager to diffuse the situation before Caramel decided he wouldn’t talk anymore. “Perhaps you’ll remember more details later. But now, let’s move on to the memory that seems hazy. Can you describe that for us?”
“What? Oh, of course.” Caramel scratched the back of his head with a hoof. “Um... well, I remember being on a ledge that looked out over some of the forest. I thought of jumping off it, but it was high enough that I thought I would hurt myself and strand myself.”
Revenant scribbled some minor details about the ledge. “Alright. What else?”
“Well, I remember being surrounded by tall rocks and the area being shaded by trees. There was a spring at one side and the water seemed to go into the rocks. There sounded like a waterfall on the other side, but the hole in the rocks was too small for a pony to crawl into. And so I was trapped on the ledge.
“But,” Caramel continued, “I didn’t feel a need to run, really. I felt calm, almost safe there. I walked about, exploring the area as though in a daze. There was no berry patch there, but there were some long patches of grass and some excellent-tasting wildflowers that I was able to eat from until I felt full and sleepy. And I drank from the spring until I wasn’t thirsty anymore; it was cool and cleaner than anything I’d tasted.”
“Could you see Ponyville if you looked out from the ledge?”
“As a mere speck in the distance,” Caramel said. “It seemed like I had travelled a long way, maybe five or six miles. There was a large stretch of the Whitetail Woods, a single home maybe just outside the woods themselves, then the sights of Ponyville.”
Revenant Wings scribbled down some quick notes on the description of the hideout in the rocks. “And what happened after you drank from the stream?”
“I felt calm and peaceful again, and especially lazy. I don’t know why, but I sat down as though waiting for something again. And then... it feels like I fell asleep again after that.”
“You don’t remember how you got up there at all?”
Caramel shook his head. “I don’t. But then, the next time I was awake, I was in the hospital.”
“Do you remember getting the bite mark on your shoulder?”
“Bite mark?” Caramel asked, clearly confused.
Caramel does not seem to remember how or where he obtained bite mark on shoulder.
Doctor Stable pulled out a small rectangular pocket mirror and held it up with his magic such that it pointed towards the mark on Caramel’s shoulder. Caramel inspected the mirror for a while before reaching up and touching the places where the pinpricks were.
“Huh...” he mused. “I don’t remember getting something like that. It doesn’t hurt, and I don’t feel sick or anything.”
“How do you feel, for that matter?” Revenant Wings asked.
“Well, mentally, I feel quite awake,” Caramel said. “But... my legs seem heavy. Like there’s a huge weight attached to them that I can’t seem to shake off. I can move them, but not very far from each other.”
He seems weakened in much the same way Zecora noted. Specifically points to back legs feeling heavy and can’t move them as much as he wants.
“Well, I suppose I only have one more question left for you and I’ll leave you alone,” Revenant Wings said. “It’s just a small one, just a few thoughts will suffice. There have been rumors of a creature that’s been lurking in the Whitetail Woods. Do you know of them or have you heard of them?”
Caramel looked somewhat amused by the question. “Rumors? Oh, about something in the Everfree Forest. You see... I started them.”
Revenant Wings and Doctor Stable looked astounded. Doctor Stable’s mouth was agape as though it was the last thing he’d expected to hear.
“You did?” Doctor Stable asked. “What... is it some sort of joke?”
“Well, it perhaps spread a bit far by accident,” Caramel replied. “I went a few days prior to the berry patch and got myself scared by something in the Whitetail Woods that was considerably larger than anything around Ponyville. I ran home that evening and told Applejack and Big Macintosh about it the next day; they must have spread it out just by talking to others.”
“But why didn’t you tell anyone...” Doctor Stable fumbled with the next word for a minute. “...you know, powerful? In-command?” He pointed to Revenant Wings. “Like... I don’t know, the guard?”
“I suppose I was just scared out of my wits,” Caramel shrugged. “Just so scared of what I saw it didn’t occur to me.”
“I suppose that brings up another question,” Revenant Wings commented. “If you knew something like that lived in there, why did you go back again a week later?”
“I like those berries,” Caramel said. “I wanted some more. I guess I must have thought it moved on and wouldn’t be there anymore.”
“Doctor Stable said you weren’t eating any of them,” Revenant Wings said. “He said you liked them before, but in the week beforehand you didn’t eat a single one.”
“Huh...” Caramel said. “Well, I know I gave some to Garnet Heart. But I wasn’t sure if I had enough to give some to others, either.”
“How come you decided you didn’t want any, though?” Revenant Wings said. “It sounded to me like you ate them pretty frequently.”
“I don’t know. Maybe I just decided I wouldn’t want some. You know how you get tired of things after too long? I... I guess I just decided to take a break from eating them all the time.”
Revenant Wings decided to take another cue from that answer. He wrote one more thing in the notebook – Frequently changes story as to why he went back to the patch when faced with contradictory evidence – then folded it up and stood up from the chair.
“Well, I had better get back to the guard’s station,” he said. “Thank you both for your time. I hope we can make a bit of progress on who or what found you in the woods. Hopefully we can give you some more information shortly.”
“It is some measure of peace already that my brother is back,” Doctor Stable said. “He can be stubborn, but I’m sure with patience and time we’ll figure it out.”
“You were one of the ones who found me in the woods?” Caramel said, looking at Revenant Wings. “Thank you. It feels like I’ve been asleep for the past three days. Hopefully I’ll get out of this funk soon enough.”
“If you think you spot that creature again,” Revenant Wings replied, “Do not be afraid to come to the guard’s station and we’ll see if we can’t figure out what it’s doing or why it’s there.” He tipped his guard’s helmet. “I’ll be seeing you two around.”
Doctor Stable followed Revenant Wings out into the hallway. Nurse Redheart was coming into the room as they left, a clipboard in her mouth.
“Thank you very much,” Doctor Stable said. “Really, I’m grateful that he’s back.”
“It’s just my job, Doctor Stable, sir,” Revenant Wings replied. “Of course, it’s one of the few kidnapping cases Ponyville has had in recent years, though I’m glad at least that Caramel was brought back safely.”
“Yes, of course,” Doctor Stable agreed. He sighed. “It’s so strange. I mean, Ponyville has many magical creatures around, so I suppose we often take for granted the fact that we don’t see them around too often.”
“It is a rather strange occurrence,” Revenant Wings said. “We’ll in all likelihood be reporting this to Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight, as well; perhaps they might have something to contribute such that this doesn’t happen again.”
“Again, thank you. That itself puts my mind at ease. Ugh, I should hate for it to happen to anyone else.” He wiped his brow with a single hoof and readjusted his glasses. “I would like for you and Garnet Heart to join us for dinner sometime as an expression of thanks.”
“Well, we’ll see where the case takes us,” Revenant Wings replied. “But I think I speak for both of us in that we both appreciate it. We’ll see what our schedules look like and perhaps find a time in the next week or two.”
“Excellent. I’m free almost any evening unless I have an emergency surgery, but those tend to be few and far betw—”
There came a very loud thump and something of a crash from inside the room, followed by Nurse Redheart gasping. Revenant Wings and Doctor Stable quickly went back into the room to see what happened.
“Oh my god!” Doctor Stable exclaimed.
Caramel was sprawled out on the floor of the room. It looked like he had tried to move but simply crashed onto the floor. Thankfully, he was only dazed and not knocked out and already seemed to be wondering what happened to him.
“It’s alright,” Caramel said. “I... what happened? I feel alright, but I can’t move my legs...”
Revenant Wings thought he saw a very good reason for that. In the confusion over Caramel’s sudden appearance and trying to get him to the hospital, hidden by the blankets during their last conversation, a glaring detail now stood out to him: Caramel’s cutie-mark was nearly faded out.
Revenant Wings found himself tearing down the path through the Everfree Forest towards Zecora without really thinking. He didn’t exactly have to do it, he knew that, and the Captain might be a little angry with him if he arrived late, but he hoped he would excuse him if he knew what happened when he returned.
He arrived at Zecora’s quicker than he had before – and profusely thanked his times coming there before – and knocked on the door rather rapidly. Zecora came out and smiled at Revenant, and was about to open her mouth into a rhyme before Revenant interrupted her.
“We found Caramel.”
Zecora’s smile turned into surprise, and she opened her mouth to say something else, but Revenant interrupted her again.
“He’s weakened. I think we need that juice. He’s weak like you said you were.”
“I have a vial for Caramel to heal,” Zecora said. “But I need to collect more soon, I feel.”
“I don’t want to drain your stores,” Revenant said. “It can wait, but I would like to help him out.”
“Do not fear about draining my store,” Zecora said kindly. “I can always easily make more.”
Zecora brought out to him one more vial of the blue liquid, and Revenant Wings took in his mouth and gently tucked it in an open spot in his armor. He said a polite but rushed “Thank you” and took off again, using his wings for extra speed.
He made it back to the hospital almost quicker than he made it to Zecora’s. He burst into the hospital, asked Nurse Redheart at the front desk where Caramel’s room was again, and dashed off down the halls as soon as she gave him an answer.
Caramel was back in his bed. Doctor Stable was looking over his medical charts with a look of disbelief on his face, pacing back and forth across one side of the room. Neither one seemed to notice Revenant standing in the room.
“I-I don’t understand,” he stuttered. “You’re supposed to be all healed. Everything checked out. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Caramel replied. “But ever since I came back I just feel tired. Maybe my legs fell asleep. Maybe I’ve been sleeping on them for a while.”
Doctor Stable looked befuddled.
“But that doesn’t just happen. And neither does a faded cutie mark! I ought to perform some magical tests on you, but unfortunately I don’t have clearance yet.”
“Excuse me,” Revenant Wings said.
Doctor Stable turned swiftly around. “Oh, it’s you. I don’t understand. You dashed out so quickly I wanted to ask if you knew anything about this.”
“Very little,” Revenant said. “But it may have something to do with whoever kidnapped him.”
“But... my magic?” Caramel said. “Who would want to capture me and drain his magic? The only one I knew who could do that was Tirek. I should hate to think what happened if that monster came back again...”
“Princess Twilight defeated Tirek, along with the other Elements of Harmony,” Revenant Wings said. “His cutie mark isn’t completely gone and Tirek is locked away in Tartarus. It’s not Tirek.”
“Then who?” Doctor Stable asked.
“Well, we found a hair sample on Caramel when we picked him up. We’re going to see if we can get some DNA samples off it and send it up to the main facility in Canterlot so we can see if it matches anyone’s DNA.”
Doctor Stable heaved a sigh that, to Revenant, sounded like one of relief.
“Admittedly, when this whole thing first started, I was afraid nothing was going to get done and you’d sit around for a week first,” he said. “But to hear you’ve got things in progress even now! Oh, I thought things were getting worse when I saw the cutie mark...”
“Well, no guarantees,” Revenant said. “But we are hoping something comes up. Anyways, I have something else for you.” He pulled out the blue vial and gave it to Doctor Stable. “You can have this on one condition: you get that clearance and see what is going on with that faded cutie mark.”
“Well, of course, but what exactly does the vial do?”
“It’s the juice of the berries that he’s been picking. It ought to completely reverse the effects of the fading cutie mark. But I want to see what the fading is caused by first, and I’m sure it would interest my superior to know, as well.”
“But of course,” Doctor Stable said. “I ought to receive the clearance in a day or two and should have the results a day or two after that, but— Caramel, what are you mumbling about?”
Caramel had turned away from them and was facing a window though he seemed to be looking nowhere in particular. But Doctor Stable was right; Caramel seemed to be muttering incessantly at the sound of having to take the vial. He didn’t even seem to notice Doctor Stable calling out to him.
“Hang on,” Revenant Wings said. “Let’s get closer and see what he’s saying.”
The two crept closer and leaned in as much as they could, hoping Caramel didn’t notice them. Revenant couldn’t make out very much, but he did manage to catch the stray word or phrase.
“...can’t... take me away... feed... return... master...”
“...‘master’...?”
At the sound of Doctor Stable repeating what he’d heard, Caramel blinked and looked up as though he didn’t know where he was for a moment. He looked at Revenant and Doctor Stable for a moment in confusion, then smiled weakly and scratched the back of his head.
“Eh he he... I must have dozed off for a minute.”
Doctor Stable looked like he wanted to ask Revenant something, but he merely said: “You probably should get back to the Guard offices. I’m afraid we’ve kept you too long.”
Revenant Wings nodded. “Call the offices if you need anything more. And remember the magic medical report.”
“Of course.”
It was quite a pain to explain everything to Iron Shield when Revenant returned. He often had to repeat things because Iron Shield seemed to not believe him at every other sentence. Of particular interest to him were Caramel’s collapse, the faded cutie mark, and his ramblings.
“I should like to have a more formal interview with Caramel himself,” Iron Shield said when Revenant Wings was done. “But if he’s in that condition, I’d like to wait until we get the reports. I don’t know what else to do from here, though. I think we just have to wait until we get the DNA results back.”
“And when will that be?”
“Well, I’d expect late tomorrow and a return via priority express mail.” Iron Shield rubbed his forehead with a hoof. “Ugh... this case is just getting worse as it goes.”
“What should I do in the meantime?”
“Finish that report to Princess Celestia. And add in a note about this case and Caramel’s faded cutie mark. She might not get to it soon, but I’m at a loss of what to do.”
The evidence with the hairs was for naught. They came back from the main database in Canterlot with the following message:
DNA is clearly pony. However, our database has no record that matches with the DNA in the hairs. There is the suggestion it may be from an earth pony with relatively high magic reserves, but again nothing matches.
Iron Shield visibly bashed his head on the desk upon reading the note.
“He’s taking it a bit harsh, isn’t he?” Garnet Heart muttered as they finished up the report.
Doctor Stable’s report of Caramel’s magic levels, which came in the day afterwards, was enlightening but otherwise didn’t really lead them anywhere.
Caramel’s magic was revealed to have been reduced to twenty-five percent of normal levels. Amount is relatively small, considering he’s an earth pony, but even so it prevented him from working at all. Administration of the vial of juice from the berries – found out to be Vaccinium sammohana, the Nagani berry – restored Caramel to full health within a few hours including bringing his cutie mark back. Would request seeing Zecora to see if more vials can’t be made for emergency purposes if someone else falls to the same ailment. However, no clue on how or why magic levels decreased; coma did not cause it as no other patient has had such a thing happen.
“Vaccinium sammohana, eh?” Iron Shield said. “Well, that berry might be worth looking into.”
“But why was he bit?” Revenant Wings asked.
“Bite?” Garnet Heart replied. “Looked to me more like he’d been injected. He didn’t have a chunk torn out of him.”
“Well, it could be something similar to a rattlesnake,” Iron Shield said. “But there wasn’t even a sign of being poisoned.”
But no one could suggest another option.
Two days after Doctor Stable’s report, another message came in from Princess Celestia.
Ponyville Guard Offices:
I have read over the report and have read over the additional notes considering the case of Caramel. I am afraid to say it, but it is entirely likely that something has entered the Whitetail Woods and is currently living there. Whatever it has probably has dark magic at its command, so it would be advised to stay as far away from it as possible.
I have too many things preoccupying my time at the current moment to come down there and handle things personally; taking care of diplomatic relationships, tracking down other wider-spread criminals, reigning in Discord, and rehabilitating damaged ponies from these incidents along with the minutiae of ruling Equestria has me going constantly. I am, however, able to send a small contingent of guards to help patrol and Luna has promised some of the night guards to help keep an eye on things at night. They will be coming in tomorrow and setting up camp just outside of Ponyville, as this should only be a temporary issue.
I also suggest that you maintain close contact with Zecora and Fluttershy. Zecora knows the Everfree Forest better than anyone else, and Fluttershy may be able to confront the creature – if that indeed is what is causing the disturbances – and communicate with it in a way that no one else can. Keep these two informed of your own actions and provide them with a small stipend for helping us out; I shall cover the expenses, whatever you name them, though I trust they shall be within reason.
Princess Celestia
“So, keep doing what we’re already doing,” Watchful Eye said. “Easy enough. But we ought to keep a closer watch on if there is something in Whitetail.”
“But how do we do that besides sending a group of us into the woods on a daily basis?” Revenant Wings commented. “Those woods are definitely wilder than everything but the Everfree Forest. It won’t be easy.”
“We could always have small scouting patrols along the path to the berry patch,” Iron Shield mused. “At least we know something lives in that general area if that’s where Caramel was captured. Two of you plus one of the guards Princess Celestia’s sending us ought to be enough. Take the hike, look for signs, and report what you find.”
“Great, more night shifts,” Garnet Heart said.
“Not necessarily,” Iron Shield said. “With Luna’s guards available, we have enough to cover the night shift for the most part. We’ll just need the usuals available in case someone needs to report anything.”
“Yeah, more night shifts,” Garnet insisted.
Garnet Heart was right.
Revenant Wings found himself alone one evening at home a few days later, eating dinner picked up from Sugarcube Corner and watching a comedy show on television. Garnet Heart and Watchful Eye had been selected for one of the first shifts with Luna’s Night Guard, who had apparently come under the presumption of working with the Ponyville Guard.
Revenant guessed that was more an idea of Iron Shield than it was of Luna’s guard.
Either way, Revenant Wings was left alone at home for the first time in a while. Garnet wasn’t taking a whole night shift, just a few hours overtime until ten that evening to give the night guard a tour around town. He didn’t like the feel of it but figured four hours alone wouldn’t be too bad.
Night settled in. Revenant was bored but otherwise the silence wasn’t too bad. He liked the sound of voices, however, and kept the television on whenever he did anything. This included going to the bathroom, getting anything from the bedroom, or getting something from the kitchen.
It was while going to the bathroom he heard the first twig snap.
He had just finished going to the bathroom. There was a dramatic movie on the television now and it was in a quiet section. Revenant Wings went to the sink and washed his hands for a moment.
The twig snap came outside the window from the bathroom.
Revenant froze and went absolutely still.
The television felt oddly quiet, like it was waiting for something. There were the sound of crickets and then those suddenly stopped. Revenant Wings looked outside the window; the light filtering outside barely illuminated the patch of grass outside the window, and the moon was small enough barely any light was outside.
Revenant screamed and quickly kicked backwards as something launched into the bathroom window. Revenant couldn’t see what it was, only that a shape flung itself at him from the dark, and he wasn’t too keen on sticking around to see what it was.
Revenant Wings flung open the bathroom door and went for the front door to try and alert someone. But he didn’t even touch the handle when he noticed a large shadow with the front half of a pony and an elongated torso outside his living room window. Suddenly the shadow lowered its head and charged towards the house, banging against the door, causing Revenant to scream again.
Revenant darted for the bedroom – keeping the lights out – and opened the blinds, thinking he could open up the window and fly out. He moved the blinds out of the way and opened up the window a crack.
The shadow appeared in front of him out from the darkness, the features obscured by the low light of the moon behind it. Revenant almost thought it was looking at him for a long while before its eyes began to glow, two golden eyes with black slits like cat’s eyes staring at him from otherwise impenetrable shadow.
Revenant was frozen. He couldn’t move. He tried pulling his head away but couldn’t tear away from the shining gold eyes that glowed and pulsed and fluctuated. He tried moving his hooves but felt as though he was rooted to the spot, as though he stepped in glue and was stuck to the floor.
Suddenly he saw slivers of blue, green, and white swirling and shifting around inside the eyes. The eyes grew larger and larger as they came closer and closer. Revenant felt like he was drowning in the shifting shapes. He tried to scream but nothing came out other than a faint squeak. His head jerked around and his hooves stuttered but nothing he did shook him free from the grasp of the thing.
The shadow moved closer until all he could make out was the shifting eyes amidst the darkness. There seemed to be a sound coming from the shadows like soft breeze. Revenant couldn’t hear anything specific, but it almost sounded like a soft whisper trying to incite him... to fascinate him.
Revenant’s wings finally worked. But instead of fleeing, Revenant found himself shooting forwards, wings flapping as fast as they could go.
Glass broke and shattered as he braced for impact. Something scratched him along the sides and on his shoulder and burned like fire despite the cool night air. Revenant hit something that felt simultaneously warm and soft like a blanket but cool and smooth like a stone. There was a writhing mass all around him for a while and Revenant flailed around, trying to free himself from the knot he was finding himself being pulled into.
After a while Revenant’s wings flapped once and he took off from the ground, rocketing into the air. He gasped for air as though he hadn’t breathed for a while and took a look around, realizing he was in the sky over his house. He looked at himself and noticed his shoulder was bleeding, a small trickle of blood coming from a bright red gash.
When Revenant Wings looked down to see what hit him, he found a large shape receding into the Whitetail Woods.
Revenant Wings flapped softly downwards and surveyed the damage. The bathroom window was surprisingly intact, but the lock was busted on the front door and the bedroom window was completely shattered. Glass littered the ground outside the window and seemed to fall in little dents around the place.
Revenant Wings crawled back inside the bedroom window and went for the bathroom again, wetting a washcloth and placing it on his shoulder. It burned like Tartarus but the cool water was a relief and almost immediately the blue cloth became stained with red.
Revenant limped towards the main kitchen and sat to wait.
Sure enough, a group had heard his cries. Garnet Heart arrived with two of Luna’s night guards. Revenant opened the door with ease and showed them the busted lock and the broken window, in addition to the spot in the bathroom where he’d first seen the shadowy figure.
“You’re bleeding,” Garnet Heart said tenderly, coming up with a new wet washcloth and a bottle of alcohol.
A doctor was sent for. They came and looked over Revenant’s blood-stained shoulder. Garnet Heart cleaned the wound relatively well but Revenant was finally coming off his adrenaline rush and simply moving the affected leg made him wince and gasp sharply through his teeth. It was recommended he go in for emergency surgery for sutures and a high-dose pain medication with no strenuous activity for a few days.
Revenant Wings allowed himself to be bandaged and placed on a stretcher, keeping the affected leg even height so the pain was reduced. He was taken to Ponyville Hospital and let the anesthesia gently lead him down to oblivion.
When he woke the next morning, the shoulder wasn’t bleeding anymore and a cast was put over it. He tapped a button and a nurse came in to check on him and helped him sit up and eat breakfast, since he was down a front hoof. He ached all over and when the nurse left he removed his bedsheets to look at the rest of him.
There were bruises all over his body and he was surprised that nothing was broken. The bruises went from his neck, across his stomach and chest, and even down to his legs, ugly purple blotches that ached when he touched them and caused small shocks to go through his body when he tried to move them.
Iron Shield and Garnet Heart arrived around noon. Iron Shield didn’t say anything for a long while, merely staring at the beaten body in terrified awe. Garnet came over and held Revenant’s hoof.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Revenant Wings could tell he was trying to hold back tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. We didn’t know what happened; we just heard your scream twice and realized something was wrong.”
“It’s okay,” Revenant Wings replied. “It wasn’t your fault. You were on duty and I was not. And, all things considered, it took me by surprise. I couldn’t have told you something like that was going on.”
“Well, there are some problems with it,” Iron Shield said.
Revenant Wings looked up at him, almost offended.
“Not with you,” Iron Shield said. “But a few things have happened even in the last eighteen hours that have been rather strange.”
“...like what?” Revenant Wings asked hesitantly.
“First, there are others besides Zecora and Caramel who have the bite marks on their bodies. Second, you’ve been attacked by something that retreated into the Whitetail Woods. Thirdly, Watchful Eye is now missing, and this is the last photo he took before his camera was found outside your bedroom window.”
Iron Shield brought out a picture from inside his armor and gave it to Revenant Wings. It was the outside of his house, an aerial view looking down almost from the rooftops. He could see the shards of broken glass, and now understood why they were all in dents in the ground.
The depressions gathered and seemed to be concentrated around Revenant Wings’ bedroom window, but a little further away there was a giant S-shape leading away towards the Whitetail Woods. Inside one of the depressions was a ruler, one that showed the width of the depression was ten inches wide.
“What do you have to say about that?” Iron Shield said.
Revenant Wings looked at the picture, then looked solemnly up at Iron Shield.
“I guess... we have no choice.” He looked out the window towards the Whitetail Woods. “We have to wait seventy-two hours.”
Revenant Wings half thought that the three days of Watchful Eye’s disappearance were going to be at least somewhat peaceful and maybe even slow-paced. They would have to bring Celestia’s and Luna’s reinforcements up to speed, after all, and he was somewhat out of commission with his hoof and heavily-bruised body.
That was not so. Iron Shield himself came along and asked him multiple questions about what happened the previous night when his home was attacked. Revenant gave what details he could about the eyes that he saw and the multiple colors he saw in them, the banging on the door, the feeling of being tied in knots until he couldn’t breathe. But he could see that Iron Shield was somewhat skeptical despite the description he gave over and over again, answering the same question like the captain was trying to get a decent answer.
“Did you get a DNA result from the hair?” Revenant asked.
Iron Shield shook his head. “No results. Nowhere has a pony registered with that exact imprint.”
Revenant was also subject to some media attention. News of his fight with the creature of Whitetail Woods had spread quick and a few had even travelled to his house to examine the damage. Celestia’s guards, instead of prowling the edges of the woods and keeping an eye on things, were relegated to keeping prying eyes away from the crime scene. And since Ponyville was a small town, everyone knew Revenant and came to see him in the hospital.
News must have spread really fast, because there weren’t just reporters from Ponyville’s two papers. There were no less than three from Canterlot papers. However, guards were trained in the art of stoicism if necessary and Revenant put on a face that looked unfazed by everything. It kept the reporters away, but he had to constantly remind the nurses that yes, he was open for talking if it was about treatment matters.
Doctor Stable did a good job keeping the ponies at bay. Eventually he made the second-floor off limits unless it could be proved within seconds there was a blood relation to someone on that floor, which wasn’t too hard since the doctors knew everyone around Ponyville, too. And eventually he himself took over most of Revenant’s check-ups, which primarily consisted of rubbing an ointment on his bruises by a nurse, while asking him questions about what attacked him and looking him over for other injuries. But nothing else emerged and x-rays taken after his surgery on his shoulder showed no internal injuries; he left whatever it was too fast to be hurt terribly.
Only three visitors were allowed to Revenant Wings’ room. Iron Shield came in for questioning and left almost as soon as he was done. The next to come in was Garnet Heart, who ate lunch with him and offered apologies again that Revenant deflected yet again and insisted on it not being his fault. But all too soon, Garnet had to return to work; with Revenant gone, he had extra to do.
The final visitor was Zecora, who had travelled from her home to bring him a small vial of the juice of Vaccinium sammohana; likely the only reason Doctor Stable let her in. Revenant held the vial for a moment, staring at it.
“I’m not bit,” Revenant said. “My cutie mark hasn’t faded.”
“It’s not for the bite I came to give this to you,” Zecora said. Revenant drank the vial of liquid at her urging as she continued. “It is for magical protection and to make you see true.”
“...I’m afraid you’re going to have to clarify that a bit.”
“I have my suspicions about what happened last night. It was only after being hypnotized that I received my bite.”
Revenant’s head twitched. “Hypnosis?”
“You reported eyes filled with spiraling color. That is one form of the hypnotic allure.”
“You mean...” Another twitch. “Huh, I thought that was only in fiction.”
“Do not underestimate magic, young one. No matter the form, it can fascinate and stun.”
Revenant thought quietly for a moment.
“...you do not believe me?” Zecora asked simply.
“It is a lot to digest. I know not what creature would be able to do that, nor in that fashion. It just...”
“Well, let us take a minute to see,” Zecora said when Revenant had trailed off. “You have seen its eyes by its own choice. Have you ever dared to hear its voice?”
“Voice?” Revenant thought long and hard. His head twitched again and eyes widened. “I thought it was just a dream... Something’s...” Another twitch. “...that thing’s been prowling around my window for weeks!”
Doctor Stable, who happened to be walking by, dropped his notebook and felt his magic sizzle out from surprise.
“Revenant!” he exclaimed. “What in the world are you going on about!?”
“Doctor!” Revenant shouted. “Can I be released?”
“Whatever for? You’re supposed to get bed rest all of today!”
“No physical exertion, I get it. But I need to get home!”
There was an unexpected fire in Revenant’s own voice that caused Doctor Stable, fumbling with his notebook, to drop it again. “I think so. But the minute you think you’re going to go running off again, I want you back here, you understand?”
“Yes, yes, I know.”
A nurse was called in to remove Revenant’s bandage and he was cleared for an early release with a doctor’s note not to go into work the next day. Revenant Wings was given a smaller cast that would keep him covered but flexible and he limped as fast as he could out of the hospital, Zecora following behind him.
They returned to the house. There was a slight crowd of ponies there, but Revenant easily slipped around the other side of the house and looked at the place where the broken window was.
There was the scene exactly as Watchful Eye had left it. There was the depression in the grass, the glass shards, the red-stained window, the ruler in the depression, and the line that went all the way to the Whitetail Woods.
Revenant Wings’ head twitched again and he started to limp off towards the Whitetail Woods. But something stopped him and he felt his tail being pulled.
“Zecora...!”
“Calm down, young Guard! You are in no condition!” Zecora said firmly. “Though I agree with your sentiment, you should heal before this mission.”
“This can lead us to what attacked me!” There came another twitch of the head as he turned around to face Zecora again. “This could lead us to whatever took Caramel and Watchful Eye!”
“You were bruised and bleeding after your last confrontation,” Zecora said calmly. “But trying right now I doubt would lead to your destination.”
Revenant wanted to argue, but sadly agreed with another twitch that there was truth in what Zecora said. What had taken Caramel and what had likely taken Watchful Eye was more cunning than that and would not be found so long as Watchful Eye was in its possession. There was nothing more to do except wait and see if the trends could be continued.
Revenant Wings and Garnet Heart stayed the night at a kindly bread-and-breakfast, whose owner promised she wouldn’t say anything about their staying there. It, too, was on the edge of town, but a little further away from Whitetail Woods and closer to the main town. They couldn’t move back in yet; a new window and door with locks had to be installed.
“It’s so strange,” Garnet said as they lay in bed. It was dark and the lights were off, but they weren’t tired at all. “The locks were built in, yet I thought we’d never need to use them.”
“Really makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Revenant replied. “Everything seemed under control before. Now, though... now there’s two things out there that we are realizing have been under our nose this whole time.”
“And are potentially dangerous,” Garnet added. “I mean, stuff in the Everfree pretty much always stays in the Everfree. But this thing, crawling around our homes. Makes me shudder to think of it.”
“And how could seven other ponies be bit and disappear for three days be unnoticed?”
“It’s never been anyone important,” Garnet said. “It’s all small people. Janitors. Store associates. Aides. No Elements, no government, no company people, and no one living with someone else.”
“And then one day a doctor notices his brother is missing and it all blows up in our faces.”
“Well, I wouldn’t entirely say that.” Garnet shifted from his back to his chest, letting his wings flare out a bit to get some air. “Whatever it is has finally shown its hoof, what cards it’s playing with.”
“Even so, one of those cards is the joker.” Revenant stared outside through a protective screen in the open window. Off in the distance, he could see his house. The shadow under the moonlight lengthened. “I want this creature, Garnet. Whatever it is, I want it. Before it does any more harm.”
Nothing answered his reply but a slight breeze.
Except...
The shadow from the house had disappeared despite the moon staying still, and no trees were moving.
“Garnet... you hear that?”
Garnet mumbled something next to him.
“In the name of Tartarus, wake up!” Revenant shouted.
“...eh?” Garnet muttered sleepily.
“Something’s out there!”
Garnet looked outside. “I don’t see nothing,” he said. “Just... just lay down and go to sleep. You need to for that leg.”
Revenant wanted to keep watching. He stared out the window.
“Resssst...”
Something was close by. It felt near, but Revenant couldn’t see it.
“Relaxssss...”
That voice...
“Nothing to fear... nothing to scare... close your eyessss... for I will be there...”
The deep voice lilted and sang as it slipped softly through the night. Revenant felt himself become heavy and weak and it took all his support to keep looking out the window.
“Slip ssssoftly into gentle sleep... tonight the watch I shall keep...”
Revenant’s eyes jolted wide open despite the increasing heaviness. This... this is what plagued him all those nights. This is what he heard when it felt like he was drifting off. If only he could see...
“The night is cool, the pillow so soft... winds carry your wingssss down from aloft...”
Revenant was surprised he didn’t hit the headboard on the way down, and that Garnet didn’t even wake up as he collapsed on the bed next to him.
“My voice is nary to you but a dream... an illusion of ssssleep, under the moonbeam...”
Revenant’s head twitched. This was not the voice that plagued his dreams. This was the one that came after.
“We shall meet soon enough, my young friend... but close your eyes and resssst until then...”
Revenant listened as the voice faded away and the night became quiet once again. He wanted to see if something was out there so badly. He wanted... he wanted...
“Ssssleep...”
He wanted to sleep.
His eyes closed, unable to resist any longer.
A final twitch, a final thought: something allowed him to relax around one voice, while protected him from another.
Revenant knew not why that was.
“I really think you should follow Doctor Stable’s orders,” Garnet Heart was saying the next morning.
Revenant Wings ignored him. His armor and spear were still clean and good; he might as well use them. He buckled his chest-plate and back-plate as he got himself ready to go and checked to make sure the helmet didn’t have any kinks in it.
“You weren’t supposed to do any physical work,” Garnet said. “You had a terrible ordeal that night, and who knows how long it’ll take for the thing to close up.”
“I can fly or hover from place to place,” Revenant said. “That’s not putting any strain on it. And I have the more flexible cast on it anyways.”
“What do you want to know?”
“The ponies that have been bit. How many did you say there were?”
“...I haven’t said anything of the sort.”
“Right...” Revenant Wings was momentarily checked, but resumed putting on his armor a moment later. “Well, then. There’s got to be some sort of connection, some sort of underlying situation we haven’t been paying attention to thus far.”
“I understand what you’re getting at, but seriously, you think Iron Shield is just going to let you waltz into the office and work given what happened?”
Revenant Wings nodded. “Because I think what happened to me may have happened to Caramel and Zecora. And if it happened to them, it may have happened to these others, too.”
It was harder work getting to the police office than Revenant thought and they were closer to the police station than they had been at their house and the distance was shorter. Even so, Revenant flapped his way to the station and only needed to stop twice before they stopped, though Garnet wasn’t convinced.
“You’re pale,” he said.
“We’re all pale,” Revenant Wings replied. “We’re pure white.”
“Yeah, but I seriously think you should sit down for a while and go home.”
“Might as well do some work before then.”
Revenant limped his way to his desk. Iron Shield noticed him and busted out of his office, heading straight over to Revenant’s desk.
“Doctor Stable called me,” he said. “I can’t have you doing much work until your shoulder is healed. What are you even doing here!?”
“I want to look over the other ponies’ cases.”
Iron Shield gave a mild snort. “I want to myself, but we don’t have many reports. A few came up to me and told me but I have yet to have any full confessions. The only reports we have are Zecora and Caramel.”
Revenant’s head twitched as he pulled over a piece of paper. “Good. You can at least give me rudimentary details, then.”
Iron Shield’s face contorted in ways Garnet Heart didn’t think possible. Revenant, for the most part, ignored him.
“Wait, what!?” Iron Shield finally sputtered after a minute.
“Well? You wanted to look over the other ponies’ cases. I was going to write down some rudimentary details about the ponies and we can look and see if there’s even anything on the surface pointing to potential similarities.”
Iron Shield nodded. “Alright. I think I see where you’re going.” He sat down by Revenant; Garnet sat down at his own desk and watched with vague interest.
“So, let’s start with Caramel,” Revenant Wings said. “He’s an earth pony lives with Doctor Stable by Ponyville Hospital, works at the Apple family farm, and had the bite mark on his shoulder.” He scribbled that information down. “Then we got Zecora, who lives primarily in the Everfree Forest and occasionally walks into Ponyville for supplies.”
Iron Shield watched with a vague interest.
“So, let’s go through some of the names. Name one, anyone, off the top of your head.”
“Roseluck, earth pony. She lives over by Carousel Boutique, and has a garden on the west side of town.”
Revenant scribbled the information down. “Alright. Next?”
“Amethyst Star, unicorn. She lives close to the Apple family farm, but works over by Mayor Mare’s offices in a jewelry shop.”
Revenant scribbled like mad.
“Spectrum, pegasus. Lives in Cloudsdale but serves on Ponyville’s weather team; transferred departments about two years ago.”
Revenant’s head twitched. “Oh, where are the bite marks on all these ponies?”
“Roseluck’s is on the shoulder like Caramel’s was. Amethyst Star had it on the forehead. Spectrum had it near the wing joint. The bites seemed to be surgically placed; no major arteries or ventricles nearby, and all had full use of the limbs afterwards with no major concerns.”
“Alright. Got any more?”
“Rare Find, unicorn. Lives in Canterlot, mostly, but has occasional job as a gem dealer for Amethyst’s jewelry shop and comes down here every once in a while. Bite mark on forehead.”
“A-ha!” Revenant suddenly said. “We have a potential connection. Tell me, do you know of another pegasus in the bunch?”
“Actually, there were two. Evergreen, the most recent, lives in Canterlot but makes a living chopping down trees. He was down here for a while cutting trees from the edges of the Whitetail Woods and Everfree Forest for a Canterlot lumber company. The other’s Tracy Flash, a photographer for the newspaper who lives over by the mayor’s offices.”
“Okay. Where were the bite marks?”
“Well, both were by the... the wing joint.”
Revenant Wings’ head twitched again. “Ah, yes. So there is a potential connection. See, two earth ponies with bites on the shoulder, two unicorns with bites on the forehead by the horn, and three pegasi with bites by the wing joints.”
Iron Shield looked somewhat strangely at Revenant Wings. “If you don’t mind me asking, what in the name of Celestia are you getting at?”
“It’s a center of magic. Each one is bit at the place where their particular race has the strongest magical concentrations. It’s how each pony is stronger than the others at certain tasks; the magic inside them, even if it doesn’t take physical form, is stored and channeled at those areas.”
Iron Shield’s face contorted a bit more. “Explain,” he sputtered again.
“We’re dealing with something that drains the magic out of ponies,” Revenant Wings said. “Caramel’s had the bite mark on his shoulder and was unable to function enough to do his talent with Doctor Stable’s magic tests noticing a low level of magic ability. Zecora also noted a light-headed feeling until she ate a specific berry...”
Revenant Wings’ head twitched again and he suddenly looked surprised.
“...you aren’t getting seizures, are you?” Iron Shield said.
“Zecora!” Revenant Wings suddenly shouted. “We need to see Zecora! Even though Zecora and Caramel were cured, perhaps we can use those berries to refresh their memory!”
“There’s a berry that Caramel liked to collect, but consuming the vial of juice from the Nagani berry Vaccinium sammohana caused Caramel and Zecora to recover. But then Zecora came here yesterday after my attack and gave me another vial and told me to drink it. She said it had something to do with protection against hypnosis because that’s what she thought the creature used on me when I became paralyzed with fear.”
Revenant Wings stopped only a moment and twitched yet again. “I’ve been eating the berries for long enough I was able to break out of the trance it caused. And the reason I’m twitching so much is because I keep remembering new things or gaining new insights into situations.”
“How long does the effect of the juice last?”
“I don’t know.”
Iron Shield watched Revenant closely. Revenant had a feeling that, even though it didn’t seem like it, Iron Shield believed him; he watched as though looking for another twitch that would betray him having some new information about his condition.
Iron Shield nodded. “I think we need to go see Zecora.”
“Why? And why ‘we’?”
“She’ll listen to you. But I want to pay her for more vials of that juice. If we’re dealing with something that can take out a pony’s basic magic abilities, we’ll need more of that as an antidote.” Iron Shield gulped, for the first time hesitant in his actions. “Can you go with me, however?”
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to do physical work.”
“...I’ll carry you.”
The option did not leave much room for argument.
A few minutes later, Revenant Wings was perched on top of Iron Shield, balanced mildly precariously, as he directed his captain over to the pathway leading into the Everfree Forest and to Zecora’s hut. The way was a lot rockier than Revenant remembered, as Iron Shield kept jostling him around and he had to constantly re-adjust Revenant on his back. It was also a lot darker; despite coming mid-morning, the shadows of the trees covered anywhere outside the path in heavy shadow that the light barely pierced.
After a while, Iron Shield stopped. “Why don’t I just carry you in my magic?”
“I mean, if it can work for that long,” Revenant Wings said. “I could hardly go from home to work this morning without draining myself.”
“I can do it. Hold on a minute...”
Revenant was soon enveloped in a tingly blue aura and lifted off Iron Shield’s back so he was floating in mid-air. He felt a little guilty due to being a pegasus and supposed to be able to do so himself, but his current condition meant that was a no go.
“Right. Keep an eye out for me.”
“Will do, Captain.”
They continued onwards towards Zecora’s hut much quicker than before; unhindered by Revenant on his back, Iron Shield was able to easily maneuver over the rough terrain and odd bumps and twists in the road. He half wondered why didn’t they do it sooner.
When they reached the door, Revenant was set down and he walked up to the tree and knocked on the door.
“...not exactly an ideal location for a house, is it?” Iron Shield mused.
“It probably is for the herbs and plants she uses,” Revenant replied.
Zecora opened the door and looked at Revenant happily. “Hello, again, my dear Revenant Wings! It’s been a while, how goes things?”
“Miss Zecora, we would like you to do something for us?”
Zecora looked between Revenant Wings and Iron Shield curiously.
“We would like you to create more of those vials of juice from the Nagani berry,” Iron Shield said. “They’ve helped you and Caramel release from the power of whatever is in the Whitetail Woods, and we think it’s entirely possible that may help save or release more later.”
“I’m afraid the berry is in limited supply,” Zecora said. “But I’ll drop them off next time I pass by. Stores are small and hard to find, but I’m sure I could as I am inclined.”
“You will? Thank you!” Iron Shield bowed a little bit. “The Guard will compensate you for their creation and delivery, of course.”
“No compensation required for my skill,” Zecora said happily. “I get all I need selling wares in Ponyville.”
“Even so, we would like to offer you so—”
A crack, a rustle, then silence. Everyone tensed and Revenant about fell over.
“...what was that?” Iron Shield said gruffly.
“Many things dwell here in this dark wood,” Zecora said warily. “But that came and left quick; that doesn’t seem good. You should get out as quick as you can, before whatever that was waylays your plans.”
Iron Shield picked up Revenant Wings in his magic rather forcefully. “Even so, thank you so much for your contribution. We will discuss some form of compensation later. So long, Zecora!”
“Bye, Zecora!” Revenant Wings said as he was dragged away.
Iron Shield, unburdened by Revenant sitting on his back, galloped off down the trail.
“I still can’t understand how she’d want to live in a place like this,” Iron Shield said. “We have enough problems back home; I would want to deal with whatever is in here as well.”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard something that close,” Revenant said. “I’ve never had something close by when I came here before.”
“Yes, yes, you sort of repeated yourself there,” Iron Shield said. “But I don’t like the feel of this place. I’d wager if you stayed longer any other time, there would be more incidents like that... huh?”
Iron Shield suddenly skidded to a stop and he actually dropped Revenant in his magic; the pegasus flew forward a few feet before landing head-first on the dirt path. He looked up at Iron Shield and shook his head.
“Hey!” he said. “What’s with the rough landing? If you wanted me to fly, you could have just told me.”
“It’s not that,” Iron Shield said with a growl. He angled his own spear so that it was battle ready. “There’s something in the woods over there.”
Revenant Wings followed the spear tip until it looked off into the woods. Amongst the shadows was a pair of golden eyes surveying the two ponies; they looked like cat’s eyes with black slits down the middle. They scanned the two ponies back and forth, from Revenant to Iron Shield and back again, before closing and disappearing into the darkness.
Even Iron Shield was flabbergasted. “W-w-what was that?” he asked shakily.
“I have no idea,” Revenant said, also quivering. “Perhaps you’re right, the less time we spend in here the better.”
Iron Shield picked up Revenant Wings and galloped away as fast as he could, but Revenant caught one more glimpse of the eyes watching them as they left the Everfree and catapulted into the sunshine.
That night the lock was back in place on Revenant’s and Garnet’s house. They moved back in and Revenant Wings decided he would take a few days off until his leg had healed, and that he would eat a small serving of the Vaccinium sammohana with every meal just so nothing caught him unawares.
“How was your trip to Zecora’s?” Garnet Heart asked as they got in bed.
“Eventful,” Revenant Wings replied, adjusting a pillow under his shoulder. “I’m sure something is out there, and it’s keeping tabs on us every time we go near Whitetail.”
Garnet looked worried. “It’s weird,” he said, shivering slightly as he pulled up the covers. “Part of me is sure it wouldn’t with all the attention, but what if it tried attacking our house again?”
“I don’t know if it would,” Revenant Wings said. “Like you said, with all the attention we’re watching it in turn. It wouldn’t come out here if it knew it was being watched.”
“Yeah,” Garnet agreed. “Although... how long has it been since Watchful Eye disappeared?”
“Uh...” Revenant thought about it. “Oh! Tonight’s supposed to be seventy-two hours since he disappeared. ...do you think it’ll come and set him here?”
“Let’s trade watches,” Garnet said. “If nothing else, we can see where he comes out and get aid to him quickly.”
“Alright. Do you want to take first watch or should I?”
“I will.” Garnet smiled. “You rest your shoulder. We’ll probably have more work to do soon.”
Revenant Wings settled himself into the bed and pulled only the sheet over him. The room was warm, but Garnet refused to have the window open in case the creature came towards them. He settled down uneasily and went to sleep.
A short while later, Garnet shook him awake. Revenant rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and saw Garnet sitting on the bed, pointing outside.
Revenant Wings sat up and watched outside where Garnet was pointing. Across the fields towards the Whitetail Woods, a large shadow emerged almost completely shrouding a figure that looked like a pony.
Two shining golden eyes could be seen scanning the fields. They did not notice Garnet and Revenant hiding with their eyes just above the windowsill and laid the figure in its grasp down on the soft grass. The eyes were the first to recede, followed by the shadow slowly moving off of the figure. After a few minutes the shadow had fully disappeared from the body of the figure.
The two ponies waited a while. They were about to call the guard when they heard a snort and a large sniff and a large brown bear walking on all fours came into view, slowly lumbering in the direction of the figure.
“...that must be Harry,” Garnet said. “I wonder if Fluttershy told him to keep a lookout.”
“If that’s true, we owe Fluttershy quite a bit,” Revenant said.
The brown bear sniffed over the figure for a little bit before sitting down and gently lifting the pony onto its back. It looked around a bit, gave a few more sniffs, and stood up. It adjusted the pony until it was sure it was secure, and walked back in the direction of town, heading towards the hospital.
“Wonder why it didn’t come all the way over?” Revenant asked.
“Wanting to stay hidden, I think,” Garnet said. “It certainly is going about its business rather stealthily. It stayed in the shadows, did what it needed to do, then left.”
“I hope Watchful Eye is okay,” Revenant added as Harry lumbered on by them, holding the unconscious pony over his shoulder.
“I’ll see about getting to the hospital tomorrow and seeing if he has a bite mark and how his cutie mark looks,” Garnet said. “Were you able to get more of those berries or juice from Zecora?”
“No,” Revenant said. “She said she’d deliver them once she had some ready.”
“Distilling process to get rid of the pulp?”
“I don’t know.” Revenant settled back down onto the bed. “You don’t have to worry about me tomorrow. I’ll take my day off and rest. I think I need it.”
Trouble came tomorrow, and even Revenant Wings sitting at home wasn’t hidden from it.
Garnet came home at lunch to report that Watchful Eye’s condition was much the same as Caramel’s had been: his cutie mark was half-faded and he seemed to have a bite mark at the base of the horn.
“He can’t work his camera,” Garnet said. “He can’t even lift it. And when he tries to take a picture with his hooves, the camera’s not steady.”
“He can take pictures with his hooves, can’t he?”
“I’m presuming that’s part of whatever drained his magic; it also took away his proficiency.”
“But he’s not lame like Caramel was. Caramel couldn’t use his legs at all for a while, but Watchful Eye can walk around.”
“Certainly. But they’re keeping him at the hospital since he has trouble manipulating objects by himself. He just also gets to walk around and exercise.”
“But what’s the difference between him and Caramel?”
“Doctor Stable presumes it’s because, as an earth pony, Caramel needed his legs to work. So when his magic was drained, so was his ability to use his legs. Watchful Eye’s isn’t exactly attached to a limb, just a piece of mechanics, so he has trouble manipulating the camera but can walk fine.”
“Can he remember anything?”
“Same thing as Caramel: he remembers the gully over the cliff and he somewhat remembers being surprised by something coming up behind him as he was taking photos. But everything in between is a haze. He’s less combative than Caramel was, though, just sincerely unsure of what happened.”
Revenant Wings sighed. “But why him?”
“By taking away Watchful Eye, whatever it is took away some of our ability to gather evidence. The camera wasn’t broken, but our camera-stallion is.”
“But it’s also the first high-profile victim.” Revenant Wings sighed and absentmindedly stirred the soup he’d made for lunch. “It’s been relatively small positions but serial abductions until now. Watchful Eye, as a guard, marks the first high-profile case.”
“Sure. But right now we can only hope it’s indiscriminate and Watchful Eye is just another pony in the line.”
Revenant Wings nodded.
Garnet Heart stood up to go. “Iron Shield isn’t putting me on night shift anymore,” he said. “Not until this passes. He says it’s better if we stick together.”
Revenant Wings nodded again. He stood up and put a hoof around Garnet. “Be careful out there,” he said sweetly, and nuzzled Garnet.
Garnet nuzzled him happily, a smile on his face, and left the room.
Revenant hoped to have some form of good news, either about his shoulder or about something else, by the time Garnet came home. His shoulder did feel better a little later that afternoon, but he decided to make an appointment by phone for an X-ray to see how it was doing.
But when he saw Zecora trotting towards the house with saddlebags on her back, he thought he might have some good news in the form of the vials. He limped over to the door and opened it with a smile on his face, expecting to receive one in return.
But Zecora was not happy at all. Her face was a frown, her eyes were almost pleading, and she even appeared to be sweating. She was either unnerved or frightened.
“Zecora!” Revenant exclaimed. “What happened?”
“The berries... they’re all gone!” Zecora exclaimed in return. “None were left when I went at dawn!”
Revenant invited Zecora inside and asked if she wanted to sit down as he made a cup of tea. Zecora nodded and shuffled through her bags as Revenant set a kettle up on the stove and began to boil the water for tea.
He went over to Zecora to find her with three vials outside the bag. Two were full, but one was only three-quarters-full.
“That is all I had left in my store,” she said. “I would give you these and go off to get more. But when I to the clearing arrived, the bushes were destroyed to my surprise!”
“Destroyed!?” Revenant exclaimed. “Are they all gone? Like torn up from the root?”
“Nothing so devastating occurred in the clearing,” Zecora said. “Although I admit this is something I’d been fearing. The branches are broke and busted with care; the creature, of our purpose, is now well aware.”
Revenant Wings thought about it for a while. “It kept the bushes up, but busted the berries so we can’t use them anymore...”
Zecora nodded.
“There must be another patch around here somewhere, though,” Revenant said. “I’m sure there’d be more on the species and someone would be conserving them if they were endangered.”
“If they are native to Whitetail, I’m sure that there are. But Whitetail is large and you’d have to go far. These vials are precious, but we have only three; examine the moment and use them wisely.”
Revenant Wings looked them over. “Watchful Eye was taken away. He came back last night and is in much the same position as Caramel.”
Zecora seemed to sense his further thoughts. “It’s not up to me to decide and not to me to choose; though I’m confident when the time comes... you’ll know what to do.”
“You know, I kind of wish you were a little more straightforward with these things.”
Zecora snorted. “You know more than I do at this point in time. Take it with grace and help solve this crime!”
Zecora stayed for tea. She drank quietly but graciously and seemed calmer when she had finished. She saluted Revenant without saying anything and left as quietly as she came.
Revenant walked over to the couch and looked at the three vials. Two were full-doses, but the one filled with less might not even work to fully cure Watchful Eye even though the damage was less than Caramel according to Garnet. It would have to be used in a last-ditch effort.
When Garnet came home, Revenant told him about Zecora’s visit.
“Iron Shield won’t be happy,” he said. “It’s already set him on edge that Watchful Eye is incapacitated and we’re down two guards for now. But if we only have three vials it might not be a good idea to use one right away.”
“And one isn’t even full,” Revenant Wings added. “We can’t even count on fully healing three ponies. One would just be an energy booster if we find ourselves facing it.”
“Let’s hope we don’t anytime soon,” Garnet said warily. He knocked three times on the wood table. “Just in case.”
The next day, Revenant Wings went to the hospital to get his shoulder examined. The X-ray scanned and Doctor Stable took it off to be developed, but he was allowed to go see Watchful Eye if he wanted to.
He took the opportunity and walked over to Watchful Eye’s room. He was sitting and reading a book in his bed, turning the pages with his hooves. He heard Revenant open the door and closed the book as the pegasus entered and walked over to him.
“How... how are you?” Revenant asked.
“I’ve certainly felt better,” Watchful Eye said. “Feels like I have a headache constantly. Not major, like a migraine, but just... ech.”
Revenant Wings nodded.
“How’s your shoulder?”
“I’m hoping to be off the cast today,” Revenant Wings said. “I’ll probably have to stay at home a day or two more, though. I feel bad that I haven’t been much use around the Guard offices.”
“Well, you’re supposed to get more in from Zecora soon, right?”
Revenant Wings didn’t have the heart to tell him.
He was saved by Doctor Stable entering the room.
“Revenant? The scans check out. We can remove the cast.”
Revenant looked back over to Watchful Eye. “Yeah. Soon.” And he walked out of the room before the unicorn could ask him any more questions.
Revenant was taken into a little room and Doctor Stable took up a small electrical saw in the shape of a pizza cutter. He slowly worked down Revenant’s front leg, cutting away the bandages and flexible plaster of the cast. Revenant’s front leg itched all over and he longed to scratch it.
“I’ll give you a prescription for an anti-itch ointment,” Doctor Stable said. “You’ll squeeze a little on your other hoof and rub that leg down with it. Put it on every eight hours for the next couple of days.”
“What about work?”
“I’d stay home for two more days; that is, today and tomorrow. I’ll take care of telling Iron Shield. You go rest up at home.”
Revenant nodded. “How’s... how’s Caramel doing?”
“He seems to be doing okay. But he’s been quiet. He stares out in the direction of Whitetail often, but he never talks about it.”
Revenant Wings ruffled his wing feathers, at a loss of what to say.
“I...” Doctor Stable seemed hesitant. “...I can’t shake the feeling there was something about that day that, if I answered that, I could solve this whole thing.”
“...is something in particular bothering you? I mean, we’ve examined the case up and down and we’re all baffled about it.”
“It... it was something he said. ‘Feed... return... master...’. What is supposed to be fed? Where was he supposed to return? And who is this master he referred to?”
But Revenant himself could offer no answers. He merely filed away the information in the back of his mind and went home to ponder it himself.
He spent the rest of the day on the couch with his hoof elevated and constantly wishing he could put the anti-itch ointment on more than every eight hours; the feel was terrible and he was constantly hoping it would go away sooner than a few days.
The house was quiet while Garnet was at work. No one came by the house and nothing tried bashing the windows in again, but Revenant couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He didn’t admit it to Garnet, but the experience had somewhat shaken him and he did not like the idea of something moving around his house. Moreover, he was afraid of it coming back.
A breeze picked up as a group of pegasi flew overhead. He sat on the couch and drank tea, wondering why it seemed so quiet today. He wished he could be at work, asking around the ponies who had disappeared, but doctor’s orders were to stay at home.
No, not really; the doctor’s suggestion was that he stay home and rest. The doctor’s orders were that he didn’t go into work. Which left Revenant free to do whatever he wanted so long as it wasn’t strenuous.
Revenant put on his guard chest-plate and collected his spear. He made sure no one was paying attention to their house before slipping outside and skirting around the outside towards the back. No one paid attention to their house anymore, as they were more focused on the fact that someone else had been abducted.
The indents in the grass were still there though not as clear as before. Revenant wandered across the plains, following the indents until he came to the edge of the northern Whitetail Woods. The sky was clear and the sun shining bright, but the trees here were thick and only a dappled light shone through the canopy.
And, yes, there it was: a trail, worn from use, keeping the same width as the indentation. Ten inches, ten inches of pressed grass turning into ten inches of a worn dirt path clean of vegetation.
Revenant Wings steeled himself and slipped inside the Whitetail Woods. He walked carefully as he could while trying not to make a sound. Thankfully, pegasi were lighter than other types of ponies and he was easily able to traverse the terrain, flying over rocks and bushes that blocked his path instead of scrambling over them.
He kept walking for some time, the dappled light of the trees beginning to play tricks on him and suspecting that the shadows off the path were other ponies or creatures instead of bushes. He moved slow and wondered how far he could go before it would be noticed he was gone. It was difficult to tell the time of day through the canopy and so hard to tell how long he had been gone.
But suddenly the trail stopped. It wound its way around the trees and out of sight. He looked up and tried following the worn bark coiling around the tree, only to stop when he came to a cliff.
He’d walked all the way from Ponyville to the edge of the mountains. He was at least five miles out over rough terrain.
But something about the search intrigued him. The cliff was much smaller in one place specifically, right above him by about fifteen feet. The walls seemed to stretch up a further twenty or even thirty feet except for a small divot right above where he stood.
And he could hear something, something that sounded like no more than a whisper on the wind.
“...hello?”
The silence that came afterward scared him and made him rather quickly regret his calling out. The whole of the Whitetail Woods seemed to freeze and the only thing that told Revenant time hadn’t stopped entirely was his own breath.
He stood there for a much longer time before he could tell anything was happening. The whisper was back, and suddenly he could make something out in it.
A visitor... willing and unguarded...
Revenant Wings did not like the sound of that. Nor did he like the sound of rustling grass that seemed to be heading in his direction.
Stay where you are... I am coming for you...
The line brought Revenant back to his wits. Damn the doctor’s orders of no strenuous work; he needed to get out of there. Not risking flying and hitting a tree on the way out, Revenant turned tail and ran.
You won’t get away... I have seen you and know who you are...
Revenant didn’t even stop to taunt it, to say he knew what it did. He could hear it closing in behind him and dared not risk even turning around to see where it was. The sound was enough for him to strain his muscles as much as he could. The itch was gone, ignored in paranoia and adrenaline.
And then...
...the sound came from in front of him, too.
Revenant came to a screeching halt, kicking up dust as he slid along the ground. The sound of rustling grass was all around him, coming closer, enclosing him. The path was narrow and he had no way to fly out. He was trapped.
When he opened his eyes, for a long time there was nothing but blackness and a ringing in his ears. But the more he lay there, among the mud and the leaves and the grass, the more he could see a pale, ghostly light shining down on him and the more the ringing subsided until he could only hear the sound of millions of insects.
The forest at night was eerily still around him. He moved his head and found it would listen to him just enough to survey his surroundings. He was in a clearing in the woods and broken branches lay scattered around him. Large bushes surrounded the edges to the point where he could see no easy way out of the clearing and the forest around him became no more than the shadows of trees beyond the walls of the clearing.
He was still splayed out where he landed, his hooves at his sides and his wings sort of haphazardly stretched in various directions. He tried moving them and the pain nearly made him fall unconscious again, but he managed to tuck them to his sides and determined they were merely sore and not dislocated. Now sure that his wings were okay, he grunted and tried to move his legs.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you.”
The voice was deep, reverberating, and deathly calm. Revenant Wings looked around as best as he could, trying to find the source. But he stayed right where he was and didn’t move his legs or his torso any; the voice meant business and Revenant wasn’t sure how much danger he was in.
“What are you?”
“What am I?” The voice laughed and Revenant could see a shadow shifting about just outside the edge of the clearing. It looked like a pony leaning against a tree nearby. “What am I, indeed? I deign no light to shine on me. I hide in the dark, or else fear judgment from your kind. I am not foe, yet they would put me in the same category as he merely because we look the same. They deny who I am by focusing on what I am.”
It sounded like a male the more Revenant listened. And it seemed open to conversation. “Then... who are you?”
“Others would ask out of politeness, but you… despite your fear, your curiosity is genuine. Very well, but you know who I am despite your lack of recognition so far. I don’t blame you. I did tell you to blame it on merely being a dream, an illusion of ssssleep, after all.”
Revenant Wings felt his breath leave him as the pony turned around and slithered towards the edge of the clearing. A pair of golden eyes with slits like cat’s eyes shone from the darkness and emerged on the body of a blue stallion with a mane so dark a gray it was nearly black. But from the waist down he had no pony legs nor tail, for the thing that emerged from the shadow had the tail of a giant snake, larger even than Mirage’s coils, with brilliant azure scales and large black spots that shone almost purple in the moonlight and a silver underbelly.
A second lamia... Revenant gasped with recognition. “You were outside my house, and outside the bed and breakfast after… after the other one attacked me.”
“He remembers!” The lamia sounded... excited? Revenant couldn’t tell, the lamia’s tail just kept coming out from the bushes and the voice now sounded like it was behind him but he couldn’t move his head that far to see. “I applaud you; most others wouldn’t have remembered. Of course, you’ve been eating those berriessss, haven’t you? And drinking the juice that comes from them?”
Confusion at the strangeness of the situation replaced fear. “You know… you know about vaccinium sammohana?”
“Know?” The lamia crossed in front of Revenant’s view again, this time a clear expression of pride on its face. “I discovered them. One hundred and thirty-eight years ago, as a matter of fact. We lamias are rare, but we can live for a rather long time. And they even honored me by putting my name on them!” The lamia let out a mournful sigh, now behind Revenant again, who tensed in surprise at the sudden noise. “Alassss… at least four generations have come and gone, and who I am is now forgotten.”
Revenant Wings picked through his brain, somewhat unnerved by the lamia constantly circling him, the azure scales with their dark black spots going by in an endless loop. “...’Sammohana’?” he asked.
“Sammohan, to be precise.” He said, placing the accent on the second syllable, as he passed in front of Revenant again and laughed. “What scares the pony?” he asked playfully. “Certainly not me, I hope.”
Revenant had to shake off his surprise. “Admittedly so. You speak rather eloquently, yet there are certain things I must question about you.”
Instead of continuing to circle him, Sammohan did a fancy loop and rested his head in his hooves on a pile of coils in front of Revenant, staring him down; it was only when he blinked that Revenant remembered he was still part pony. “Go ahead; assssk away. It has been long since I talked with another pony and I am sssstarved for conversation.”
The cordial talk of the other pony unnerved Revenant Wings even more, making him wonder if the lamia realized the situation of Revenant being weakened enough to be totally at his mercy. He summoned up all the courage he could muster. “You wished to not be categorized the same as the other. And yet… how do I know you aren’t merely trying to lower my guard and do the same to me as Mirage did to Garnet?”
“Oh ho ho, my dear young friend...” Sammohan leaned in a little bit closer and curled his lips up in a wide smile. Revenant shivered where he lay and felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. “...you haven’t told me your name yet. I cannot properly addresssss you without a name.”
Did he tell him? The lamia sounded smart and Revenant guessed that any answer that displeased him – blatantly wrong answers or straight-out refusal – could get him hurt more than he already was. “...Revenant Wings,” he finally managed to sputter out.
“Well, Revenant, let me ask you this in turn: you see what lies before you, do you not?”
The lamia suddenly rose up over Revenant and his face became obscured in shadow except for the piercing yellow eyes that glared down at him.
“Thirty-five feet of scalessss enough to crush bone, speed to rival your own, fluidity of motion and agility that surpasses any of your kind, and words… powerful, powerful wordssss and magic that can make you do as I please.”
Before Revenant could scream out in horror, the lamia returned to resting on his coils at almost eye-level with the pegasus again and resumed a playful tone. “And yet here we sit, talking… rather pleasantly, given the circumstances.”
Revenant Wings once again mustered up the courage to speak; at least the coils weren’t constantly shifting anymore, but there was the thought that they did surround the clearing completely. “But what is the difference between friendly behavior and a beguiling facade? And how can I tell which you are showing me?”
Sammohan smiled pridefully at Revenant. “Now you’re asking the real question. How are you supposed to know which one I am? I am acting rather cordially, I haven’t once sssspoken to you threateningly, and I have technically answered whatever question you’ve asked me so far. But what separates me from the other? There is one question you can ask that can differentiate between the two.”
Only one question came to mind: the one Revenant had not asked yet. “Why did you tell me not to move? Am I in danger?”
“First of all, I did not tell you not to move; I merely suggested that you didn’t. But secondly, I heard your impact and it sounded like you fell on the left side of your body. Thussss, bearing the brunt of the damage, your left shoulder and back leg are likely broken.”
Revenant did not want to believe him. His first thought was to flap his wings and fly away. He prepared himself to push off...
...and was promptly greeted by a shock of pain that coursed through his body when trying to even move his back leg. Revenant winced in pain and inhaled sharply through his teeth, buckling over even as he lay in the dirt with a loud groan.
“I tried to warn you,” Sammohan said lazily.
Revenant Wings decided to trust the lamia for the time being. His legs were quite clearly broken and he hadn’t made any attempts at attacking him. Besides, there could be more information to pry. He took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down again. “...you have no malicious intent?”
“I believe that was a new question as opposed to answering the question I gave, but the answer is correct. I do not wish to harm you, Revenant Wingssss.”
The lamia said his name with an almost loving caress of the tongue which confused Revenant yet again. But the confusion quickly turned to fear as a fire came into the yellow eyes and a rather un-snakelike growl came into Sammohan’s voice.
“Nor do I wish to do what that monster has been doing to your kind.”
Revenant shivered again and fought against his flight instinct; he was clearly too damaged to move. “Y-you... he... Mirage... a monster?”
Quick as a flash, Sammohan’s face was inches from Revenant’s own, glaring angrily. “Do you know what a Changeling is?”
Revenant’s entire body tensed as he searched his memory again. “They’re bug-like creatures that can shapeshift to look like any other pony,” he said quickly. “They turn into a pony, then use that form to get close to someone they love before feeding on that energy.”
Sammohan nodded and backed away, but not very far; Revenant could not see much farther than the lamia himself. “Much is similar in the process from Changelings to lamias. But while Changelings are masters of subtlety, a lamia forgoes that. We bite, and through our bite we drain magic from others. But so long as we keep draining magic… we can keep going as though in our prime.”
“...how old are you, then?”
Sammohan backed off towards his pile of coils again; Revenant jumped slightly as he brought the end of his tail over to Revenant and gave him an odd little stroke of the cheek. “I believe this year is one hundred and sssseventy-four.”
Revenant leaned his head away from the end of Sammohan’s tail. “Then if you say you are not like him, where are you draining your magic from?”
“An excellent, informed question. The Everfree is a veritable hive of magic and food. I need not drain a pony, not when the magic contained in ponies is rather insignificant compared to the magic required to consssstruct and keep alive the things that dwell in there.”
“...does Mirage know that at all?”
Sammohan pushed his tail underneath Revenant’s chin such that he could look at the lamia, once more glaring angrily at him. “This is what separates us. I know and utilize it. It’s why, until recently, you’d never heard from me before. But he, whatever he calls himself, does not care. He hunts and drains ponies like it’s sport! PAH!” he suddenly shouted. “No proper lamia would think of such a thing! We have the brain of a pony, we ought to think like one!”
Revenant found his breathing was shaky and he tried to speak, to respond, but nothing more than a mild squeak came out.
Sammohan gently put Revenant’s head back on the ground and calmed down again. “But Mirage, or whatever you call him, was born in the Everfree, born of dark magic corrupting a pony who went in there to die, and has become twisted by his own dark thoughts.”
“...but... three days every time they’re gone?” Revenant sputtered.
“He likes toying with you. And what better way than to induct and re-induct?”
“Re-induct? You mean... like repeatedly hypnotizing them?”
Despite the glare, Sammohan gave a proud smile. “You catch on fast. A pony cannot go for three days without food or water. It severely inhibits them on all fronts. So he has chosen a place where he can provide that.”
“So... he makes them not want to leave him.”
“Not quite. He hides them away in the hills, a place with fresh grass and clean water. He makes them afraid if they are too far from him. Subtle fears, but effective ones; those he wants close he keeps close, but everyone else is frightened away by rumors of monsters and strange dark creatures. They trust him, but fear me.”
“...are you doing the opposite with me?” Revenant asked.
“Whether I am, I’ll leave up to you. But you already know he’s a problem. I’m just giving you more information.”
“Valuable information, at that.” There was now no other course of option. Revenant gulped. “But there’s a slight problem: how am I to get out and use this information? I mean, all things considered, I’m stuck here with my broken legs.”
Sammohan’s gaze softened. “That is what I’ve been trying to do. But you are tensssse and do not trust me. I do not wish for you to get hurt more by flailing around when I merely want to help.”
Revenant looked hesitantly at the azure lamia. “...what must you do?”
“The easiest way to transport you is to wrap you in my coilssss. Done properly, I can keep your body steady and limbs from moving too much. I dare not risk Ponyville proper, but I can take you to within sight of Fluttershy’s hut.”
Revenant did not like the sound of that at all. But, with two legs broken and unable to get to proper care on his own – Mirage had flung him quite a long ways away – he had no other choice. “I… If it’s what you must do, then do it.”
“I’m afraid it will be a slow process,” Sammohan said.
“I don’t care. I need to get out. I need to tell my commanding officer, especially if Garnet is now missing and held by Mirage, too.”
“Very well. Hold sssstill... and do not be afraid...”
That didn’t matter. Revenant went frozen from the feel of the cold, smooth scales touching his back legs. Gently as possible, Sammohan’s tail crept underneath the legs and propped them up, then slowly began to curl up around his back legs, pinning them together and keeping them perfectly straight.
Revenant watched in mild fascination as the coil gently curled around his legs and slipped back under them. Sammohan was being rather tender and careful with his legs and slithered around to Revenant’s back to watch his handiwork. But the longer Revenant watched and the more coils slipped around him, the more he began to see it as something else.
...what have I done!? He’s got me the same as Mirage has Garnet! “Sammohan?” he asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.
Sammohan looked over towards Revenant Wings. “What is it?” he asked, concerned. “Are they too tight?”
“N-No... I just... I’m beginning to think... I really don’t like this idea.”
“It’s the easiest way to get you back,” Sammohan insisted.
“I just... why don’t we... can’t we just... OH GOD, I’M GOING TO GET EATEN! OH, DAMN IT ALL TO TARTARUS, WHY DID I HAVE TO TRUST YOU!? WHY DID I HAVE TO GET MYSELF FLUNG OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!? SOMEPONY, ANYPONY, HELP ME!!”
Revenant closed his eyes and started crying. Not just crying, but bawling and sniffling and coughing and wheezing. All his years in the Guard had not prepared him for this, and nor was he entirely content to think that his last memories would be of sliding down a snake’s gullet.
When Revenant Wings opened his eyes again to try calling out, he noticed that Sammohan was leaning over him. Their eyes met, Sammohan’s golden slits to Revenant’s large blue pupils, and Revenant could see a concerned look in Sammohan’s face. Revenant’s eyes opened wide, terrified and shaking but unable to conjure up enough strength even to continue crying. It occurred to Revenant that Sammohan wasn’t moving anymore.
Sammohan closed his eyes. “I’m afraid it must be done.”
He opened his eyes again.
Sapphire. That was the first thing Revenant saw. Not the gold of his usual eyes, but a pair of twin sapphires hovering over him. Revenant gasped.
But slowly, the eyes started to shift. Now there came a trace of gold, slowly moving around the eye in lazy circles. Next a trace of green, slowly spinning around and occasionally intertwining with the gold. A patch of silver appeared like the moon at night and joined the others swirling and twisting around.
“Relaxssss...” Sammohan hissed.
Revenant didn’t know if he’d call his current position ‘relaxing’ or even ‘relaxed’, but he certainly wasn’t crying anymore. He guessed his current inability to move was either complete fear paralysis or he was imagining things.
“Listen, pay attention, and relaxssss for me... I’m here to keep you safe, little pony...”
Gold, green, silver, blue... more little strands came and intermingled in Sammohan’s eyes. The colors swirled and shifted and changed and rotated... Revenant didn’t know what to stare at. He was most attracted to the blue or the silver, but then the gold or the green would shine and he would start to follow them, only to have his attention shift back to the silver or blue.
“Slow your breath and calm your mind... let my wordssss your thoughts entwine...”
There was something... oddly beautiful about the eyes. Something told Revenant that wasn’t what he should be thinking, but the shifting shapes and colors fascinated him. His fear slowly began to melt away and his breathing relaxed from near hyper-ventilating to panicked but somewhat in control, like an adrenaline rush.
"This is hypnosis, but do not weep... think of yourself just falling assssleep...”
Hypn- THAT’S WHAT MIRAGE DID. NO. And yet the words were just so smooth, so fluid, so calming...
“Safe and sound and warm in your bed... let my coilssss be a pillow for your sleepy head...”
Revenant opened his mouth to protest but the warmest feelings came over him and he could not speak a word. He could feel Sammohan’s tail begin to curl around him again and this time he didn’t tense up. He was too focused on the swirling, shifting colors in front of him, the way they languidly and lazily spiraled around.
“Don’t be afraid of the coils and rings... they’re here to relax you, Revenant Wingssss...”
He began to breathe to the rhythm of the swirling colors. Sammohan raised his head up above him and began to sway back and forth like a pendulum and he followed weakly along. The rhythmic chanting and swaying felt soothing and calming as Sammohan’s tail gently curled around his waist. Something still egged the back of his mind, but it no longer caused him any deep anxiety.
“Sa... sam...” His tongue felt thick and heavy. “Sammohan...”
“Let your body relaxssss and go limp at my touch... your eyes feel so heavy, you needed this so much...”
He... needed this? But of course he did; he’d been there so late into the night, and injured, too. Of course he could rel- NO. This was still a lamia, and he still needed to watch what he was doing. He kept looking at Sammohan’s colorful, beautiful, swirling eyes because he needed to keep tabs on him; and he kept watching the slow, rhythmic, mesmerizing sway because he needed to see what he would do next. And he kept letting the coils wrap up around him, now pinning his front hooves to his sides, because... because...
“Losssst in the power of my entrancing gaze... All else muddled in this sleep-addled haze...”
...he forgot.
“My voice-”
OH. Because my hooves don’t hurt anymore! He’s wrapping them like a splint and bandage! ...that’s neat.
“My voice is a lullaby, a calm, gentle crooning... my eyes make you tranquil, the colors so soothing...”
Sammohan now had his coils up and around Revenant’s neck. But it wasn’t so tight he couldn’t breathe, just enough that his hooves couldn’t move. He couldn’t fidget all that much, for that matter, the space was just tight enough for him to sit comfortably and relax without being in danger of falling out.
Not that he wanted to move, anyways. He was quite calm and content here, even a little sleepy. He felt Sammohan’s coils slowly shift and bring him upright; the motion felt like a massage and he blessed the fact that his legs were comfortable and the lamia tender and caring. And through it all, his eyes never left the swirling colors in Sammohan’s own.
“Nothing to scare and nothing to fear... close your eyessss, for I will be here...”
Had Revenant been able to look at his own eyes, he would have seen his pupils were shrunk to not more than pinpricks and his eyes mimicked Sammohan’s own. His eyelids began to droop and he struggled to keep staring deep into Sammohan’s eyes. He felt tired, so very tired, and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep...
“Slip ssssoftly into gentle sleep... tonight the watch I shall keep...”
Sammohan’s gentle, kindly words wrapped around him as much as his coils and he tried desperately to keep listening despite the invitation to sleep. He was intensely fascinated by the whole process and wanted beyond want to remember the warm, sleepy, languid feelings he had during it. He never felt calmer, more relaxed, more content in his life, and for once in the past few weeks he felt no fear.
“Know when you’re here, you’re safe and sound... when you’re with me, no stress shall be found...”
His breathing was like he was already asleep but he didn’t dare close his eyes without Sammohan’s permission. Not because the lamia would likely punish him for it, simply because it felt rude to do so. And besides; he would take in as many of the colors as he could.
Sammohan’s silky soft words and cool, smooth coils were one of the few thoughts dominating his brain and he felt somewhat guilty about it. But the guilt was soon washed away in the shifting eyes that constantly changed and held his attention and the mesmerizing voice that kept winding around, slow and without end, like his first glimpse of the azure scales.
“You’ll soon be home and safe again, my young friend... but close your eyes and resssst until then...”
Revenant Wings felt his eyelids become so heavy he could barely hold them open anymore and longed to close his eyes and sleep without care. He couldn’t even feel his legs anymore, much less remembered that they were broken, and any and all panic – even about Mirage or the simple existence of lamias so close to Ponyville – was gone. All that was left was the soothing voice, the almost tranquilizing coils, and the enchanting eyes that burned into his mind.
Despite most thought being pushed away amidst the chanting and the colors and the coils, there was something he noticed. He had not drank a vial of the berry juice before going off to face Mirage and yet fought his magic off with ease. But his body put up rather little resistance to Sammohan’s power and he had few qualms about falling into his spell. He wondered if it had anything to do with Sammohan ingratiating himself with the conversation beforehoof.
“So close your eyessss, dear Revenant... and sleep, sssleep, sssssleep...”
Revenant Wings’ eyes slowly closed and he drifted off into a deep, relaxed, peaceful sleep.
The colors soon faded out of Sammohan’s eyes until only the bright gold remained once more. He looked up and noticed the moon was beginning to fade but the sun had not yet come up and no light shone down. Carefully, quietly, he shifted the sleeping Revenant Wings until he was sure he had a good grip on him and carefully maneuvered off into the underbrush of the Whitetail Woods.
When Revenant Wings awoke, he was lying on the ground again but his scenery had changed significantly. It was very early morning, so early the sun had just started to come up over the horizon. Instead of being in a clearing deep in the woods, he found himself almost within sight of Fluttershy’s little house in the hill. He started to try to get up and go home.
“Not yet,” came the voice of Sammohan from somewhere nearby. “You are still injured, after all.”
Revenant looked around and found Sammohan reclining with his back against a tree not too far away. The area he was lying in was covered in bushes, and Revenant knew without asking that it would be very difficult for anyone to find his trail in such thick underbrush. He smiled at Revenant.
“How are you?” he asked.
Revenant yawned a little. “How long was I asleep for?”
“I’d guess a good six hourssss,” Sammohan replied. His smile became a little more playful. “Probably the best six hours of sleep you’ve gotten in your life.”
Revenant Wings was not only surprised by remembering the hypnosis rather clearly but the fact that his brain seemed to be all in one piece afterwards. No memory missing, no memory altered, and even a slight confusion towards the lamia remained untainted. “How long have I been on the ground for?” he asked.
“About ten minutes,” Sammohan said soothingly. “That’s rather normal. Deep as you were, it takes time to release naturally from hypnosissss. Don’t worry, the fact that you woke up means it only took that long for you to regain full mental functioning after you left my coils.”
Revenant Wings stared off into what he could see of the sunrise through the brush at the edge of the Whitetail Woods. “I should apologize,” he said. “For my fear. You’ve made good on your word bringing me back here safely and in one piece. I should thank you instead of assuming the worst, as I’m sure I did a few times last night.”
“I do not blame you,” Sammohan said kindly. He smiled tenderly at Revenant. “Mirage has been sowing these rumors that, while unfair to me, are justifiable. Who wouldn’t be afraid when facing the unknown? And, considering you’ve known me for less than twelve hours while you’ve been hearing about and seeing the effects of Mirage for weeks, your preconceived notions will be a little hard to break, with or without convincing.”
Revenant Wings nodded and turned to face Sammohan. “I want to meet with you again. I want to talk some more. About Mirage. About you.”
Sammohan’s smile faded. “I... I’d rather not. I should stick close to the Everfree Forest, just in case the ponies from the village see me and think me the monster that’s been stealing them away.”
“I have the weekends off. I can come to you. Please. We fight against a common enemy. If we could team up against Mirage, perhaps we can expose him or defeat him and bring justice to your own name.”
Sammohan closed his eyes quietly in thought.
Revenant Wings averted his eyes. “I mean, if you don’t want to, that’s fine. But... I would feel bad for judging you like I did then not having the chance to really make it up to you.”
Sammohan was quiet for a long time.
The sun rose a little more. There was suddenly the shouting of guards in the distance, and Revenant decided it was about time he went. He looked over to Sammohan, who had opened his eyes again but had yet to speak.
“Well, they’ll probably find me soon. Well, you since you’re sticking out of the trees. I guess this is goodbye, then.” He looked Sammohan in the eye. “Thank you.”
Sammohan smiled. “A week from now,” he said. “Where the Everfree meets the Whitetail. I will be waiting by the lone birch tree. There’s a path there, but it’s small and you might get lost. I will come and get you, and bring you back. That is, if you’re out from the hospital.”
Revenant Wings smiled. “A week, then. I’ll try.”
Sammohan smiled again and ducked down below the underbrush. There was the slightest rustling of leaves and then he was gone.
The guards came with a stretcher following a songbird of Fluttershy’s, and Revenant Wings shouted at them to direct them to his specific position. They were surprised that he showed neither blood nor severe open wounds, and both helped to load him on without damaging his legs too much. As they carted him to the Ponyville Hospital, Revenant looked back at the Whitetail Woods, then forwards as they trekked through Ponyville, and a smile came on his face.
Lamia versus lamia... things have gotten a little more interesting.