More missing posters had been posted in the Ponyville Post Office. There were now six posters hanging on the walls in the Ponyville Post Office. Two for the missing detectives, another one for a pony named Meilliot, two posters for missing kangaroo pilots, and a third for a missing representative of Emerald Ordinance.

This troubled Derpy Hooves to no end, and as such, she found herself hopelessly distracted during her delivery route, and despite the fact that nopony had sabotaged her mailbag today, she didn’t come anywhere close to making her deliveries on time.

Derpy returned her mailbag to the post office, and was about to make her way home when she bumped into Trixie. Neither of them had been paying attention.

“Sorry Trixie...I’ve got my head in the clouds today,” Derpy said.

“Trixie does too. I’m disturbed by all the missing person posters that have been plastered around town,” Trixie replied understandingly.

Somepony had taken to posting them everywhere they could. The missing detectives had been missing nearly a week at this point; everypony was worried to say the least. Nopony knew anything. Everyone who had gone missing either wasn’t from Ponyville, or kept to themselves.

“I think we need to do something!” Derpy said. “I can’t keep going to work and watch as more and more posters pile up!”

Trixie frowned at her friend; she was an illusionist, not an investigator. Derpy was a postal worker, what could they possibly do that the police weren’t already? Derpy understood Trixie’s convictions, but she couldn’t sit by anymore.

“I understand if you don’t want to get involved... but I need to,” Derpy said simply.

Trixie smiled at her friend. “Trixie has a few months to live at most, might as well spend it doing something worthwhile.”

Derpy smiled at her friend, she was glad to have her along for the ride.

...

They had no idea what they were doing.

Derpy and Trixie discovered very quickly that they had gotten in way over their heads. If they were going to crack this, they were going to need more help.

Lyra and Bon Bon were naturally good choices to ask, and of course, they agreed without hesitation. The Doctor would have been if he were an easy pony to find, which of course, he was not.

Derpy, Lyra, Bon Bon, and Trixie had found themselves on the edge of the Everfree forest. So far, it was the only place that the police hadn’t looked.

“We’re... we’re not really going to go in there, are we?” Lyra asked.

“It’s the only place that hasn’t been checked,” Derpy said. “CPS won’t go anywhere near it!”

“For good reason!” Bon Bon exclaimed. “There are... monsters in there!”

Derpy nodded. “We’ve faced down monsters before and come out okay,” Derpy smiled and placed a hoof on Bon Bon’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”

Lyra and Bon Bon felt much better with Derpy’s reassurances, and with that, the four mares took a deep breath and entered the forest.

Truth be told, it was not as bad as it had been in the past. Fire and kangaroo had cleared out many trees and the sun was visible overhead. The forest had been thinned so that walking along a predetermined path wasn’t necessary, because they weren’t going to find clues along the main road anyway. Everfree felt different now. The new found openness to the forest made it feel more like Whitetail Wood than the dark and scary Everfree forest. While things still operated on their own, the ponies felt that if they wanted to retake the forest and bring it back under their control, they could parts, maybe.

Everfree was vast, while the forest itself was relatively condensed around Ponyville, which was at the forest’s northern end, the forest extended hundreds of kilometres to the south and expanded east and west the farther south you went. While Everfree had at one time been under Equestrian control, retaking the forest now would take years upon years to claim the entirety of it.

Lyra and Bon Bon were trotting along the path, still slightly nervous about the situation, Derpy and Trixie had taken to searching just east of the path where the trees were thicker.

Lyra smiled at her friend, hoping to alleviate some of the uneasiness.

Bon Bon however did not smile back, she froze, and her mouth dropping open at what was lying before her. She let out a scream of terror, causing Derpy and Trixie to run to their aid.

Lyra looked at what Bon Bon was screaming at. When she saw it, Lyra screamed too.

Before them was a decomposing body of a unicorn mare. Eyes gorged out, despite being partially decomposed, they could tell that the mare’s coat was yellow. The body before them was one of the missing ponies. Detective Constable Banana Crème. Further walking around the area turned up the bodies of Detective Sergeant Lucky and the two Kangaroo pilots. All of them in equally bad shape.

Both Lyra and Bon Bon found themselves vomiting heavily. They had never seen something so horrible, so brutal, in their entire lives. None of them had.

What was worse was that there were still two unaccounted for. Derpy tried her best to get the group to stay positive, the bodies of Melilot and the Representative from Emerald Ordinance were not to be found, in the forest, there was hope, however slim, that they were still alive.

Trixie noted that the bodies were roughly along a straight line with each other, which meant that whoever dumped them here had walked in a straight line when they did the deed. Derpy smiled, this was the clue that they needed, and they could follow the line back to its origin. They were close to finding out the truth.

...

Following Derpy’s compass on as straight a line as they could, the mares walked towards the eastern edge of the Everfree forest. They broke the tree line and stopped. They were right next to Fluttershy’s cottage.

No... It couldn’t be! The line had led them here, but Fluttershy couldn’t be the one behind it, could she?

The four looked at each other in fear, silently communicating to each other that caution needed to be exercised from here on out.

The four took the first step, going up and knocking on the door to Fluttershy’s cottage. Fluttershy opened the door and was surprised to see the four of them together.

“Um... Hello,” Fluttershy said nervously. Though that wasn’t anywhere out of the ordinary. “Is there something I can do for you?”

Trixie glowered angrily at the pegasi, causing her to recoil slightly. “We know,” she said.

She was bluffing, they didn’t know if Fluttershy was behind this or not, but she figured that if they confronted her in this manner, she’d break down and spill everything. Turns out, Trixie was spot on.

“You... do?” Fluttershy said her eyes widened with fear. “Oh no... No no no!”

Fluttershy tried to slam the door in their faces, but Trixie was too fast, she caught the door with her hoof, pushing it open and sending the Pegasus flopping backwards.

The four closed in on her. Fluttershy panicked, her eyes darting around the room for an exit. She found one, the large open window at the other end of the room. Fluttershy took flight, darting quickly out the window as fast as she could.

“Lyra! Bon Bon!” Trixie called out. “Go after her! We’ll look and see if those other two are here!”

Lyra and Bon Bon nodded, running outside and towards Ponyville.

Derpy and Trixie went over to the partially open cellar door, pushing it open and trotting down the stairs.

Sitting bound and gagged was a kangaroo, his eyes wide with panic. Derpy and Trixie undid his gag, dropping it to the floor.

“She’s crazy! You hear me! She’s insane! You have to get me out of here before she comes back!” the kangaroo said.

“Relax!” Derpy said. “We’re here to help you!”