Corpse Flower

"…Princess Zephyrina Storm and Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer will continue to investigate the unusual disappearances in Maretime Bay. Speaking of Maretime Bay, let's go to Dazzle Feather who is live there at the residence of Phyllis Cloverleaf, a mother who pays tribute to her late son's life with a super-sized rose that all of Equestria has fallen in love with. Dazzle?"

"Skye, I'm currently in the garden of Mrs. Cloverleaf—as you can see, there's quite a number of ponies that have gathered here today. Mrs. Cloverleaf, enormous plants, including flowers, are a common sight here in Maretime Bay. What makes this particular rose so special?"

"I believe in my heart this was the last plant my beloved son, Sprout, grew before he passed away this spring. Oh dear, excuse me—I'm still very emotional about it. As a mother, I sensed that it had a special connection to my son, but I never thought that it would become so popular! I mean, look at all the poni—HEY! You three, GET OFF THE ROSE! Those leaves are NOT trampolines!"

"Uh, ehem, here comes Posey Bloom, the talented gardener who helped raise the rose. Excuse me, would you elaborate as to how you maintain this rose in perfect condition?"

"Well, um, with earth pony magic, of course. I brought it back to life with my magic when it was small and basically dead and then it started to grow. It doesn't grow fast exactly, but it's getting pretty tall. What's for sure is it took a lot of time and dedication and hard work on my part to get it to where it is now."

"And it definitely shows, Ms. Bloom. You have been receiving a great deal of recognition because of this rose. How do you feel about your new celebrity status as a premier plant expert?"

"It's a little irritating, but I'm getting used to signing autographs and taking pictures with random ponies. It's kinda nice, actually, not having to sell flow—"

"Wow! We're on TV!"

"Everypony in Equestria can see us!"

"Hi, Mom!"

"Excuse me! I'm talk—"

"And what are your names, fillies?"

"I'm Seashell, and she's Peach Fizz and she's Glory. And we're here to see the super amazing rose that's been in Pipp's new Clip Trot videos! Look, here she comes! Pipp! Pipp!"

"Oh my pony, hey you guys!"

"Princess Petals, would you like to share your thoughts on Mrs. Cloverleaf's rose?"

"It's the most beautiful rose I have ever seen! And I totally recommend everypony watching to come and see it for themselves—it's soooooo fly!"

"Thank you, princess. It's evident that this stunning wonder of a flower has mesmerized ponies from all over Equestria. This has been Dazzle Feather, reporting from Maretime Bay. Back to you, Skye."

"Pipp is so right!" said Izzy as she changed TV channels. "Have you seen Phyllis' magical rose, Misty? I mean, besides on TV?"

"Um, not quite yet," Misty replied sheepishly.

"Well I did, and it's huuuge! If you get up really close to it, you can see the whole thing is glittery and sparkly—ooh, and the smell! It smelled so nice. It made me feel all dreamy and relaxed…"

Sparky giggled as Izzy tickled his belly.

"Izzy?"

"Yeah?"

Misty looked down at her hooves, her kinky mane hiding half of her face. "I'm really worried about those missing ponies."

The smile on Izzy's face faded. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Zipp and Hitch are working hard to find them. Even Sunny is helping out today, so there are plenty of ponies on the case. Try not to worry about it."

Misty's eyes took in the interior of the Crystal Brighthouse. "It feels so empty in here without our friends," she sighed.

"They'll be coming soon," Izzy cheerfully reminded her.

"They're working so much, we don't see much of them these days. I… I miss them a little."

"Aww, she misses us," said Hitch, grinning.

Hitch, Zipp, and Sunny walked tiredly into the room. Jumping off the sofa, Sparky ran to Hitch and tightly hugged his foreleg.

"Hey there, buddy!" Hitch said as he embraced him. "Did you have fun with Izzy today?" Sparky scrambled onto his back and wrapped his tiny arms around his neck.

"Did you find out something new about the missing ponies?" Misty asked.

Brooding, Zipp sat down beside Misty and leaned back into the sofa.

"We confirmed a suspicion Zipp had," Sunny explained, taking a seat next to Izzy. "After interviewing every pony that's reported a missing loved one, we now know that all the missing ponies are earth ponies—", she glanced at Hitch, "—and they all had visited Phyllis' rose."

With a grim expression, Zipp eyed her friends. "Something's up with that rose, you guys. We've gotta figure out what's really going on. I say we head to Phyllis' garden and take a good, long look at that flower."

Hitch shook his head. "Phyllis isn't going to let us inspect her rose. She's way too protective of it."

"Oh yeah, I remember she yelled, 'Stay back!' when I got too close," Izzy chimed in.

"Really?" asked Misty.

"Yup. True story."

"It is weird how she lets everypony see it, but only at a distance," added Sunny.

"Anyhow," Hitch continued, "we can't look through her property without her permission."

"Hmm," Zipp said, a plan forming in her mind.

A blur of white swooped down from the morning sky. Posey, who was placing pumpkins around the garden, looked up.

"Hey! There's a gate, you know!"

"Don't need it," Zipp retorted. Flying in place beside the rose, she took out a magnifying glass from her saddlebag.

Posey narrowed her eyes. "You've been spreading rumors about the rose, and you have the nerve to show up here? Nopony wants to come anymore because of what you said!"

"Does that bother you?"

"WHAT do you think you're DOING?!" bellowed Phyllis as she came storming out of her house. "Leave RIGHT NOW!"

The sudden outburst nearly made Zipp drop the magnifying glass. Steadying herself, she said, "I don't get it. You're okay with having tons of ponies in your garden, but you don't want any of them getting too close to your rose?"

"It's mine, and I say who gets to be near it and who doesn't!"

Zipp carefully studied the magnified details of a petal. Knitting her eyebrows, she was surprised to see that it was shimmering. This reminds me of something, Zipp thought. But what?

Phyllis stood protectively next to the rose, glowering at her. "I'll have you arrested for menacing my beautiful flower!"

Zipp rolled her eyes. "I work with Hitch, remember? And I'm not hurting your flower! Why are you overreacting?!"

"Why are you even here?!" Posey shouted back.

"This rose might be responsible for the disappearances, that's why!"

Zipp swapped the magnifying glass for her phone. She took pictures of the sparkling petals, and then the stem, being wary of the pointy thorns which were the same size as a unicorn's horn. She noticed that the rose was surrounded by a large, grassless circle of plain dirt.

"Pfft! Oh, please! Again with that fabricated nonsense? I can't believe you're going around saying that my flower made ponies disappear!" yelled Phyllis.

"I said that it might of," Zipp responded.

From her bird's-eye view, she scanned the garden, noting that some spots looked as if they had been recently dug up. She snapped a few more pictures.

A speck of blue peeking out of the dirt by the fence caught her eye. She glided down to it. Scraping away at the soil with her hooves, she unburied the object. Phyllis and Posey came over to see what she was doing.

It was a blue ball.

"Doesn't this belong to a colt who lives around here, that cute one who's a great kicker? What's his ball doing buried near your garden?"

"Well, I-I didn't, uh—" stammered Phyllis.

"Who, Turnip? He probably just lost it. Kids lose their stuff all the time." Posey shrugged indifferently.

"But the ball was buried."

"Ugh! I don't know, maybe he buried it!"

Zipp studied them coldly. "He and his mom, Daisy Jo, are missing, in case you didn't know. I'm going to show Hitch this," she said, holding up the dirty ball. "Maybe it's not the rose I should be investigating."

Without waiting for their reply, she spread her wings and took off.

"What an annoying pegasus," Phyllis muttered.

"So… we're going to finish putting up the Nightmare Night decorations, right?"

"Oh, of course, of course!" replied Phyllis, hugging the rose' stem. "We'll make the garden nice and spooky before the kiddos come tomorrow. Hopefully that pegasus hasn't made them too scared to come. Would you please go inside and get the rest of the decorations for me, sugarcube? They're in a box in the attic."

Once Posey was inside the house, Phyllis' smile turned into a scowl. She tightly gripped the rose. "Make Mommy proud, Sprout," she whispered. "I know you're in there somewhere. Do what you have to do to stay alive. Don't disappoint me again! And for crying out loud, bury things better next time!"

Zipp's words echoed in Phyllis' mind. "There's trouble brewing, Sprout. If they find out, they'll kill you—and I can't lose you again!" Phyllis lifted up her eyeglasses to wipe away a tear.

"Mommy loves you so much, sugarcube," she cooed, resting her head on the rose's stem.