September.
‘A gift of Aphrodite.’
“Surely there has to be a better way,” Cheerilee muttered as she was pulled from the lake.
“Someone’s scared of getting a little wet,” Strawberry laughed as she tossed Cheerilee a towel.
Up ahead, Daring stood at the start of the path, staring intently into the forest. “I told her to wait,” she muttered. “Who knows where she’s gone off to now?”
Cheerilee looked around at the bustling Garden around them. “Any sign of them?”
“Nope,” Strawberry said, putting an extra pop on the ‘p.’ “We haven’t seen hide nor tail of Ingenue or that other guy.”
“She’s avoiding us,” Daring mused. “Beings like her don’t typically like being found.”
“Let’s get a move on, before Night decides to claim all the fame to herself,” Strawberry said, pushing past Daring to lead the way.
Daring just grumbled but motioned for Cheerilee to follow. Together, the three descended once more into the forest. Cheerilee had been into the Garden a few times in the past few months, but each time she still found that it took her breath away.
Fruits and berries of every shape, size, and color littered the branches around them. Plump red apples, bright purple grapes, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, and hundreds of other things that she had never seen before sprawled as far as she could see.
The air was rich and sweet, and the leaves were crisp beneath their hooves. It was the perfect place for a pony like Applejack, she quietly thought.
“Over here!”
The three picked up the pace as they heard Night Glider’s voice from nearby.
“Strawberry… Any thoughts?”
“Holy…”
Cheerilee swore under her breath as she stared at the saplings in front of them. The bark was too smooth and the shape was too curvy. Their very positioning was unnatural, looking nothing like any kind of tree she had ever seen before.
“They look like ponies.”
That statement didn’t sit well with any of them.
“What is this?” asked Cheerilee.
“Four Divisions,” Strawberry muttered.
Daring raised an eyebrow. “The Coven Tale?”
“Has to be.”
“What’s that?” asked Night Glider.
Strawberry cleared her throat. “With places like these… Old earth pony covens used to say that they obey a rule of Four Divisions. Each Division is about three months, and by the end of the Fourth Division something expelled from this world will attempt to return.”
“So you’re saying something in here is trying to get out.” Night Glider sighed quietly. “That’s not good news.”
“We need to destroy them,” Daring said, stepping forwards.
“You can’t!” Strawberry said. “Unless you want to get annihilated by whatever considers themselves the god of this place.”
“If it’s trying to escape then we have to contain it to some degree,” Night Glider said. “We can’t destroy them. But we need to make sure nothing crosses over.”
“How do you recommend we do that?” Strawberry groaned.
“Wait!” Daring looked around, frowning. “Where did Cheerilee go?”
As the pegasi debated, Cheerilee turned around and stumbled towards the path they had come from. She felt sick: her vision was tilting and her balance was off. She collapsed to the ground and took several deep breaths, trying to quell her nausea.
That was when she heard it again.
“A face.” The voice was from nearby: not echoey and distant, but clear and quiet.
Cheerilee quickly climbed to her hooves. “Ingenue?”
“A place.”
She strode forwards, captivated, picking her way through the bushes.
“A chase.”
Then, reaching a clearing, she saw her.
“A waste.”
The mare was sitting on a rock, facing towards her. Slowly, she looked up, and Cheerilee was blinded by a pair of bright, golden eyes. “Hello,” she said.
Cheerilee stammered, unsure of how to really address such a goddess. “Are… Are you Ingenue?”
She nodded. “I have been called many things by our kind.” She gestured to the grass beside her. “Come. Sit.”
Cheerilee obeyed.
“You are like the other who passed through here,” Ingenue said. “Curious. Hopeful. Eager.”
“Applejack?”
Ingenue was quiet.
Cheerilee looked around them, seeing more stetson-flowers. “What happened to her?” she asked, not knowing if she dreaded hearing the answer.
“A face, a place, a chase, a waste,” Ingenue hummed. “Four divisions. That’s what they say, yes? Four chapters of a single story. The same through time, though the names and faces always change.” She paused to brush wisps of their mane from their face.
They stood, slowly, and Cheerilee realized that their back was made of a leaf covering, like a bush. Twigs and sticks stuck out of her body, and vines were intermixed with her mane. She was like a statue carved from nature.
“My lungs are made of stone. My heart is like a berry. My eyes, my eyes, my eyes… They can see what they have done to me.” Ingenue slowly turned to stare into the distance.
“Where are you?”
“You can see what they have done to me.” Slowly, Ingenue raised a hoof. Dirt and pebbles fell from the open crevices. “Do not let her do the same.”
Cheerilee’s heart began to beat a little faster. “Who?”
“The Gardener.”
“Where are you?”
Ingenue smiled sadly. “Leave.”
Cheerilee scrambled to her hooves as a twig crunched behind her.
“Cheerilee where are– Oh. There you are.”
She glanced behind her to see Daring emerging from the bush. “Can you stop running off like that?”
Cheerilee turned back to face Ingenue, but by the time she did, the rock was empty. In her place was a stetson-shaped flower, sprouting from the rocks.
[REDACTED] Incident, September [REDACTED]. Special Agent Night Glider. Transcription of Interview.
“Tell me what you saw.”
“I told those cops already, and I–”
“Hey, just breathe. It’s okay. I’m here to help, alright? I want to know what you saw.”
“I… I saw this pony. They were walking through the street with this cloak. I… I thought maybe they had some kind of helmet with horns on it, or maybe they were real horns. I don’t know.”
“Okay. What were they doing?”
“Just… Walking, I guess. I thought they were some drunkard so I went to get them off the street.”
“I see. Then what happened?”
“I came up to them and I just… I couldn’t see their face. There was a streetlight right above them but I just. I couldn’t see it.”
“It’s okay, here. Drink some water. So no face, you don’t know what he looked like?”
“That’s the thing! He didn’t look like anything! There was… There was nothing. I swear to you, there was nothing.”
“And you said he spoke with you?”
“Yes, it was… muffled. Like he was mumbling, but it was also echoing. Like we were in some really big hall or something.”
“What did he say?”
“I couldn’t make it out. Something about a place? Or a waste. I don’t know. And he kept asking ‘Where are you?’ Over and over again. ‘Where are you? Where are you?’ He said he was looking for something. And I just… I got scared. So I ran.”
“I see. Thank you, Mr. [REDACTED]. Was there anything else?”
“He… He left a trail of dirt behind him. Like it was falling off his body. And that smell…”
“What smell?”
“[REDACTED].”
Note: Information appears to align with data collected by previous agents. Recommend escalating to Threat Level Present until intentions can be determined. Recommend authorizing Special Response Force and exploring containment options for [REDACTED]. Will continue to investigate and update as more information is retrieved. Signed: SA Night Glider.
End Third Division.