//------------------------------// // The Journal of Twilight Sparkle - 3rd Week // Story: The Curious Case of the Unicorn Twilight Sparkle // by The Rising Tide of Night //------------------------------// May 26, 3 LR Spike’s been doing a great job keeping track of everyplace we’ve already searched. He’s got a map of the area up in the library, and he’s been taking notes and marking down places every time somepony comes by with new information. Unfortunately, most of what comes back is ‘no luck.’ Everypony’s worried. Fluttershy was never the most popular mare (aside from her short-lived modeling career), but she’s such a sweetheart and everypony knows her. Who would want to hurt her? Even Pinkie Pie has less of a bounce in her step than she usually does. The police haven’t had much luck either. They’re doing their best, of course, but without any clues as to where she was taken, it’s hard to focus in any one location. Equestria’s a big place. I can’t believe it’s only been a week since the party. We were having so much fun, and now… May 27, 3 LR We’re all holding up well so far. Everypony’s confident that we’ll find her; it’s just a matter of time. She’ll be fine, just wait and see. It just gets harder and harder to believe that with every passing day with nothing new. The girls and I have been spending much of our time in the library. With Spike’s map, it’s been our home base. It’s also been a constant reminder of our missing friend. At least we all have each other to lean on. Pinkie’s been doing her best to cheer us up as well. She’s been popping out from behind bookcases and from under tables, singing and dancing as much as possible. I know she means well, but I think that Rainbow is about to snap if she surprises her once more - Rainbow just hit Pinkie Pie with a pile driver and looks like she’s about to flank drop her as well. Applejack’s trying to break up the fight, but it doesn’t look like it’s going well. Gotta go. Bumps and bruises notwithstanding, we’ve survived yet another night. Rainbow apologized to Pinkie for attacking her, and Pinkie apologized for irritating Rainbow. I hope we find Fluttershy soon. I don’t know if everypony will survive this otherwise. May 28, 3 LR Oh, Celestia, they found Fluttershy. What was left of her. May 29, 3 LR I apologize for the short entry yesterday. I just couldn’t handle the thoughts of what happened. Somepony found her remains in the Everfree forest, and the police brought me down to see if I could verify her identity. The scene was just horrible, like something out of a nightmare. I’m pretty sure I vomited at least twice. There was blood everywhere, and the only intact pieces they could find of her was a wing, a leg, and part of her mane. Or maybe it was her tail? It doesn’t matter anymore… I’ve been crying all day. I’m not sure I have any more tears left anymore, I’ve been crying for so long. Applejack is in shock, and hasn’t said a word since the police gave us the news. Rainbow is so furious, it’s almost scary. She’s been flying around town; questioning anypony she can find with such ferocity that I’m afraid she’s really going to hurt somepony. Rarity has shut herself up in her boutique and won’t come out for anypony. The two of them were so different, yet they were so close, this has to hurt her even more. Even Spike’s broken up about it, though he’s been doing his best to be strong for me. I really appreciate that little dragon. Only Pinkie Pie seems unaffected. Well, I suppose unaffected is a strong word. She’s the only pony who seems to have taken the news in stride. Oh, she’s unhappy, that’s certain, but she still seems to be her bouncy, smiling self. Maybe she’s just trying to cheer the rest of us up, like always. I just don’t know right now. The police think it might have been a wild animal that killed her, and scavengers that tore her body up. I don’t believe a word of it. I mean, yes, she was found in the Everfree forest, and it does look almost like she was… torn apart… but still, this is Fluttershy we’re talking about! The one who tamed a raging manticore with kindness, and who withstood the gaze of a cockatrice! Well, I guess it could be a timber wolf, but still… I saw her room that night. This was no animal attack. I’m going to get to the bottom of this. May 30, 3 LR Well, at least someone on the police force believes me. One of the detectives, Night Eye, agrees that this couldn’t be an animal attack. He did say that he’s been working the case, and that I should do my best to keep calm so he can do his job. He also asked that Rainbow Dash stop accusing everypony of being the killer. I could sooner stop the sun from rising. Seriously, Celestia’s that much more powerful than I am. I don’t know what he expects me to do, but I’m not going to sit idly by and wait while the pony that killed my friend is out there. I need to make sure that no pony else suffers. It might be a few more days before I can do anything, though. I need to make sure my friends will be ok. I also need to pass on Night Eye’s request to Rainbow Dash. No guarantees on that front, though. I spent most of the day trying to comfort everypony, but it’s hard when you’re hurting just as much as they are. Rainbow wouldn’t even pause long enough to talk with me; she just flew on by on the way to her next target. Applejack had gone back to the farm, to the solace of her family. I stopped by late afternoon to find her bucking apples with a determination I hadn’t seen since she tried to clear the whole orchard by herself. I think she splintered a few trees with the force of her bucking. I tried a few times to get her talking, but she would have nothing to do with it. Just (nicely, at least) told me to go away and let her deal with it her way. What could I do? I left. I tried to see Rarity, but Sweetie Belle told me that she wasn’t interested in seeing anypony right now. I was able to get Sweetie to promise to let me know as soon as Rarity was willing to see me. Pinkie… was being Pinkie, somehow. I found her at Sugarcube Corners, working the counter like usual. She seemed… happy. Not happy, as in happy Fluttershy was… gone, but just generally happy. She talked with me in matter-of-fact terms, and seemed more interested in making me happy than discussing what happened. While I appreciated her attempts, I wonder if she’s just burying the grief in an effort to just be happy. I hope not. I hope we’ll be able to make it through this and still remain friends. May 31, 3 LR I’ve been doing everything I can to figure out what happened. It’s been a hard battle – Night Eye keeps shutting down any questions I have, telling me to stand aside and let him do his work. I know I should, but she was my friend! Doesn’t that count for something? If only I hadn’t used that time-travel spell for such frivolous purposes. Trying to warn my past self not to worry about the future seems kind of stupid at this point. I suppose even if I could use the spell, I have no idea when it happened, so there would be no guarantee that I could even get to the right time. At least something useful has happened today. I finally found my missing research materials. Well, at least the bottle they were being kept in. Spike found it under the refrigerator while we were doing a deep clean of the library and trying to keep our minds off of the building frustration. It was empty, though. It must have fallen out at some point and spilled everything. Well, I guess that’s not really useful, but at least I found it. It did make me a little suspicious, though. Somepony had to have spilled it somehow. I think I would have noticed if it had been me. I asked Spike if he had spilled it and just not told me, but he looked honestly confused enough that I believed him when he said he had no idea. The library is a public place, so I guess anypony could have come in and found it, but most ponies don’t go anywhere beyond the main library area unless I specifically invite them to. I’ll have to do some asking around. The memorial’s tomorrow. I should get some sleep. June 1, 3 LR The girls and I held a memorial for Fluttershy today. It was a beautiful little service, attended by many ponies and many of her animal friends. Even Harry the bear showed up with Angel on his shoulders, both of them distraught. I tried to use some of the techniques I’d read about in mystery books and true crime novels to determine if the killer had shown up, but there wasn’t a single pony there who either was a stranger or who looked anything but grieving. Probably the only exception was, once again, Pinkie Pie. Even so, she still looked unhappy and even deflated at times. The party supplies may have been a bit much, though. We all cried together when her birds put on an impromptu choral performance that was simply beautiful. I’m still crying right now (apologies for all of the watermarks). It was I just I need to go.