The Vanishing of Twilight Sparkle

Rarity was the first to speak up.

“You don’t think she actually went into the Everfree Forest to try her new spells out?”

Fluttershy let out her nervous squeak, and everypony else turned to face her.

“Well, what are we waiting for?!” yelled Rainbow Dash, causing the ponies on the next table to spray their milkshakes over themselves. They glared at Rainbow, who was just about to shoot off when Applejack bit onto her tail.

“Shimmer down, Shally” Applejack said, unable to speak properly with her mouth full of tail.

“Quite. Let’s finish reading the journal first. I’d hate to go into the Everfree Forest if we didn’t need to.” Rarity explained. Rainbow Dash settled down.

“Oo, oo, if we’re gonna be here a while, let me get some snacks!” Pinkie Pie shouted. She bounced off, while the others looked through the other two entries.

“Hmm. She was trying new spells” said Rarity, “maybe she accidently set her house on fire then?”

Fluttershy popped her head up from under her hooves. She was still shaking after the thought of having to go into the Everfree Forest. “But that wouldn’t make sense. Surely she’d be back by now?”

Rarity pondered that one. In the meantime, Pinkie Pie was hopping over two trays of sweets and drinks. She placed the trays on the table, and bounced over to her chair. Before she sat down, her impossibly long tongue shot out and picked up a cupcake. She put it in her mouth and chewed on it slowly, with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Mebe ith wath a ragun?” Pinkie said, spraying crumbs everywhere. Rarity cringed a little and pulled out a handkerchief, Rainbow Dash looked confused, and Applejack said “Would you repeat that for us?”. Pinkie swallowed what was left of the cupcake and said “Maybe it was a dragon? You know a big, scary, fire breathing dragon. RAWRRR!”. Fluttershy paled, but Rainbow Dash started laughing.

“Ah’m pretty sure Ponyville would’ve seen a dragon” Applejack said.

Pinkie went on to start one of her crazy theories, probably including how the dragon used magic or something, when Applejack shoved another cupcake in her mouth.

“Maybe we should just read on” said Rarity.

Entry for 6th November

Not much to report. After researching a lot of the other wildlife and creatures, most seem to be harmless and pose no threat. Aside from Ursa Minors, which I’ve already dealt with, and Ursa Majors, which I’d have no chance of dealing with, there isn’t much more information about mythical creatures I can include.

I was thinking about going to the Everfree Forest, maybe tomorrow, or when I got some time, maybe do some observational study. The night terrors I’ve been having are unnerving me a bit now though, since most of them take place there. I know they’re only night terrors, but still…

I’ve actually decided to keep a record of my night terrors involving animals and other ponies in here. My logic behind it is that dreams – and night terrors – are actually your brain processing what you have learnt, and what you may have picked up subconsciously. Maybe noting them down will help me learn something I didn’t pick up or understand before. See Appendix A for details.

Appendix A

Night Terror 1

This one seemed to be a more detailed version of the first night terror I had, where I was being chased by a unicorn with a Cockatrice for a horn. Was practically the same dream, except way more colourful, not the greyish sort of colour it was before.

I was being chased through Ponyville by the unicorn (?), when suddenly I ended up in the Everfree Forest. I can’t remember this shift happening. I looked up to see the faceless unicorn (?) staring (?) at me, so I started running towards the exit. Again, the dream shifted and I found myself running deeper into the Forest without realising. I remember turning around and there was nothing. Literally nothing. Just darkness. Turning back around, the faceless unicorn was just staring at me.

Needless to say, I woke up, sweating like I had just sprinted the Running of the Leaves. I had trouble getting back to sleep after this.

CRUNCH!

Everypony jumped and turned around to see Pinkie Pie sitting there with a bucket of popcorn. They all glared at her and she held the bucket out. Rainbow Dash shook her head in a ‘Just being Pinkie Pie’ sort of way, and they turned back to the journal to read the next entry.

Entry for 8th November

Today has pretty well made sure I’m not taking a single step into the Everfree Forest. I had a similar dream to last night, except it went on for longer. I also had another one after that finished. I find it quite strange that I didn’t wake up.

After waking up, I found myself sprawled on the floor, sheets a mess, and a pretty cut on my flank, and I’m not sure how it got there. Since Spike is on Official Canterlot Business, I have nopony to tell me if I was sleepwalking or not. The fact the house is still clean suggests I didn’t. It was still dark out when I woke up, and the window was still shut.

I think I’ll stick to the book study.

Appendix A

Night Terror 1

Exactly the same night terror as last night. Exactly the same. Not much to add. Turns out the unicorn(?) is a dark green colour. Not a nice green, a sort of yucky green, so to speak. Apart from that, there weren’t any other details I noticed.

Night Terror 2

That faceless Pegasi was back. I remember shouting out “Rainbow?”. After all, she does like to play pranks. They just hovered there. I remember blinking, and suddenly I was face to face , so to speak, with the Pegasi. It was in my house. I jumped backwards out of bed, got tangled up in the sheets. It was then I noticed that the Pegasi had spikes driven through its legs. He slowly come forward and landed next to me. Couldn’t get the damn sheets off, and he skewered me through the flank with one of them spikes.

All I remember after that was waking up because of the pain. In hindsight, I must have cut myself falling out of bed.

Everypony, except Fluttershy, who was hiding under her hooves – even just reading about it, she didn’t like the thought of anypony getting hurt – just stared in disbelief.

“It must be a prank. It must. And a very scary one.” said Rainbow Dash. Her usual bravado had gone, and she was sweating a little.

“Ah doubt it. If Twilight was gonna pull pranks, it’s probably be something to do with books or something” said Applejack, who looked just as uncomfortable.

“Come ON guys!” shouted Pinkie, her mane and tail straight: she’d obviously been distressed by the reading too. Nopony was around to glare at their table this time. “We should keep reading! Twi could be in danger!”

If Pinkie Pie is taking something seriously, you should listen to her.Rarity’s horn glowed again and the page turned.