Journal of Twilight Sparkle
Saturday, March 6
Five days ago, an earthquake shook Ponyville. Five days ago, we discovered the ruins of a great castle. Four days ago, the sun refused to go down. Three days ago, I discovered what might be a new species. Two days ago, I realized that the bats have something to do with this. Yesterday, Applejack cut town in search of Rainbow Dash, who seems to have gone missing.
Today, it began to rain. I thought that this was a welcome relief, but I was wrong. The tempest makes my gut swirl. The wind outside is deafening, and I can hardly see two feet from my window into the swell of the storm. Every so often I see a flash of golden armor; at least the guards are still on patrol. I can hear the metal outside, and it makes me feel a bit safer at least.
I’ve taken the time to circumspect the situation. Applejack’s note was scrawled with obvious haste, and honestly, I don’t blame her. I just hope she made it out of here before the storm caught her. As for Rainbow Dash, I’m not sure what happened, but it’s probably safe to assume that she never made it to her destination. I’m worried for her, but with a headstrong mare like Applejack on her tail, I’m confident that she’ll be found. And besides, Applejack is probably safer out of town.
Fluttershy has had her nose in my journal all morning, and I’m a bit sorry to take it from her. Though the entries make her shaky, it seems to give her mind something to do, and I think it’s helping a bit. She’s taken a keen interest in the transcribed painting, comparing similarities of the shape to bats. But she’ll only speak of it for a moment, before she skirts off of the topic. Again, I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t think of it if I didn’t have to.
Spike is being very helpful, too. When he’s not giving Fluttershy some much needed company, he’s downstairs with me, helping me creep through the library for some sort of information. So far we’ve found… nothing.
We started with bats, looking for any sort of clues to the origin of those skulls. Chiroptology is quite fascinating in itself, but I can find neither the origin these bones nor information about the bats we saw in the Everfree. We’ve been at this for hours now; it’s almost midday. But still, the closest thing we found about this was in a chiroptologic anthology, but all that told us was that there was a species of bat rarely seen before. We’re going to look into that, just in
There was a scream. Will continue shortly.
Saturday, March 6
I am perfectly disturbed. If the journal seems blurred, it’s because I’m soaking with rainwater. The scream we heard had no source, but I know better than to think the pony was swept away in the wind.
When I opened the front door, a swarm of foul bats skittered before me, screeching and crying as they rode the wind away. I almost killed over from a heart attack, but the stomping of armor in the mud pulled me back. A group of guards rushed up to me and pounded me with questions. Where was the scream? What had happened? Why were there bats here?
The answer was the same to all of them. I don’t know!! I don’t!
Quickly I rushed out with them, and we began a search of the area. The scream sounded like it came from Lyra; I would know her voice anywhere. But she wasn’t anywhere! The guards and I searched through the flooding streets and through the stabbing wind for her, but she wasn’t there! It sounded like came from Mane Street, but that street was as deserted as a graveyard.
Eventually we began to poke around town to see if anypony knew what happened. Thing is, those ponies were all locked away in their homes, safe from the storm. Nopony knew anything! I… I don’t know anything! We even asked Bonbon, but that was the most disturbing part.
We came up to her house, which sits on Mane Street. The lights were on, and there was a silhouette in the window above. It looked like her, but she was pacing. The guards and I took no time in rushing through her muddy yard and banging on her door. Poor mare must’ve been frightened to death; I watched the shadow nearly jump out of itself. From within we could hear heavy hoofsteps galloping towards the door, which was thrown open by a frazzled, shaky Bonbon.
“Lyra stormed out!” she told us. Her cheeks were matted and stained from long strings of damp fur. It was obvious that she’d been crying. “We’d been arguing and she just… she just grabbed her coat and stormed out! I’m sorry, where is she? Did you find her?”
I think that, in her dismay, she’d not heard the scream. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her that Lyra was lost somewhere in the storm (but I think I would have been lying if I did). We just… told her that things would be fine. What else were we supposed to do? Sad girl couldn’t take it if we told her the truth.
But I can’t live with that. Honestly, I can’t. I have a hunch where Lyra is, if she is in fact anywhere at all. I have a feeling that she’s in that castle in the Everfree. I want to go see, I want to go try and find her, but that storm is not letting up anytime soon. There’s no way I’ll be able to go out in it. I’m making a note to go back to the ruins as soon as possible, though. Just to check. I doubt that she’ll be there, but I pride myself as a smart mare, and my guts are telling me to at least check.
But in the meantime, the bats are back. I can see them in the sky, circling just beneath the clouds and thunder, flashing with the lightning. I can see them up there, looking down at us as we are beaten by the rain. The longer I stare at them, the more I feel like crying. I can’t explain it. However, I will be doing my best to keep Fluttershy away from any windows, and when the storm clears up, I will leave for the ruins.
That scream, it just wasn’t natural. It came from Lyra, of this I am sure, but it died and morphed with the howl of the wind. It was almost like it faded away. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid (remember: a level head is essential to problem solving) but I can’t shake this feeling. I mean… it was right there. Right there. Mane Street is where most of the ponies in Ponyville live. Even if they were all tucked away in their homes, they would have seen something. But they didn’t. They didn’t see anything.
I’m going to look more into those rare bats again. As long as they stay in the sky, I’ll be able to compare them with the diagrams. This may work to my advantage, but I hope that they stay in the sky, and away from the ground.