It was a very warm summers day in Ponyville, as Twilight Sparkle trotted out of the small town, when she was met with somepony. "Where ya go'in Twilight?" Twilight turned to face her friend Rainbow Dash "I have to go visit Zecora, Spike is sick" She explained "Okay, is there any news on the new Daring Do book?" Dash asked "It should be out in a month" "A month? That's like 30 days!" Twilight rolled her eyes "Just re-read the others, you might notice something new" "Okay..." Dash ran off "She hasn't returned those books since I let her "borrow" them..." Twilight thought to herself as she walked towards the Everfree Forest
There was a knock at the door, the Zebra looked up from the cauldron in the centre of the circular room "Who is knocking at the door I wonder?" Twilight opened the door and walked in. "Hi Zecora!" "Welcome, what do you need, I ponder?" Twilight turned to look around at the many strange boxes of ingredients and vials of potions "I need a potion for Spike, he's got Scale Rot." "A Scale Rot cure you need for your dragon, but there is something I need in this flagon." "What is it? If it is a herb from Ponyville, I came prepared." She gave Zecora her bag "Unfortunately, the herb is not from Ponyville, I fear." Twilight sighed "Okay, then what is it?" "It is in this forest, but is not near here." Twilight thought for a moment "What does it look like?" she asked. Zecora showed her a picture of a strange flower. It looked like a Venus Fly Trap, but there were six more mouths in its mouth. "Bleh" Twilight muttered in disgust, Zecora smiled "I do not usually have to use a herb so rare, but for Scale Rot, you must retrieve this flower, my dear mare" "Where do I find it?" Twilight asked "You must go to the most northern tree, when you find it, bring it back to me." "Is there anything else you need?" "Yes, but I will gather the herb of flanger, because you will be busy with the Trapped Fly Trap, but beware the possibility of danger." "Why is it dangerous?" "Does it matter what wants to maul? Just please watch of the Death Crawl. It pretends to be what you seek, but when it reveals itself, just ignore it, and be meek." "Okay, could I borrow a compass, so I don't get lost?" Zecora handed her a compass with two needles "Umm... why are there two needles?" Twilight asked "One will lead to what you wish to find, the other leads back to the other will lead to my home, keep this in mind." "Okay, if I'm not back in a couple hours, get the others to look for me." "I would only give one hour to look, and another hour to flee, please signal when you come across the nook." "Alright, I'll see you in two hours at most." "I wish you luck."
Twilight walked into the surrounding darkness, the sun had almost gone down, she had not realized that she and Zecora had been talking for so long. "Just remember! Do not take haste, or you will be crushed into paste!" Zecora yelled after her "Don't worry! I'll be fine!" Twilight yelled back. Twilight looked down at the compass Zecora had given her, the white needle was pointing back towards Zecora's house, but the red needle wouldn't stop spinning, probably because Twilight's mind couldn't stop spinning. She gave her head a violent shake, her mane whipped into face as she cleared her head and concentrated as hard as she could at what she needed to find. The image of the plant flashed in her mind's eye, but then her mind wandered to the section of the library where she kept the books on every kind of plant imaginable. "No no no, concentrate on the plant, I can find out about it later!" Twilight muttered to herself. Suddenly the red needle stopped spinning and pointed deeper into the forest. "Wait, am I thinking of the plant?". The plant suddenly flashed bright as the sun in her mind's eye. "I guess I am." Twilight sighed "Looks like it's going to be another long night" she muttered, as she delved into the darkness that would soon consume her.
Miles away, in Canterlot, Princess Luna had just woken up to the sound of her alarm clock. She quickly silenced it, and got out of bed. She walked out of her room, and down a long corridor. The hallway opened up into a balcony, where her sister sat, looking through a telescope. "Morning sleepy!" Her sister Princess Celestia laughed. Luna rolled her eyes "You know it's not morning, that joke was funny the first time." Celestia laughed still "Anyways, time to raise the moon." she said. Luna nodded, and slowly began to build up her magical energy. The moon slowly came over the horizon, as the sun vanished from Equstria. Luna turned to Celestia "Goodnight big sister, remember to set your alarm, I don't want to have to wake you up again." Celestia smiled and turned to walk away, but suddenly stopped "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, keep an eye on the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle is in there, I saw her walking into the forest." Luna looked through the telescope for a short second. "Why are you worried sister? Twilight Sparkle is more than capable of handling anything in the Everfree Forest." Celestia paused before she answered "Just... I have a gut feeling that something will happen." Luna looked through the telescope again "Alright sister, I'll keep a look out, goodnight." "Goodnight." And with that, Celestia left towards her bedroom, she was ready for a long sleep. Luna closed the balcony doors "Something must be wrong, my sister usually doesn't go with gut instincts" she muttered to herself as she looked out towards the Everfree Forest
As she delved deeper into the forest, Twilight could not help but feel nervous. Sure, she had been in the forest alone at night many times before, but something felt wrong. She had felt this once before, when she was put face to face with a Cockatrice. This feeling that your own shadow was not following you, but stalking you, hadn't even been this strong when she had been turned to stone by that Cockatrice. A chill went down her spine as she stepped on a twig, snapping it. She couldn't help but admit that she was afraid of the forest, ever since that night she experienced what Discord had gone through to be turned into stone. She shook her head, dismissing these fears as irrational, and the chance of her falling for the same trick twice was very unlikely. "If I see any feathers, or snake tails, I'll just use my magic to make it run away from me" Twilight thought to herself "Oh, that reminds me, I should really go back to Canterlot and see if I can find any books on dragon illnesses. Oh! And the history of baking, Pinkie would love it, and probably some advanced stitching methods for Rarity, and-" as her thoughts trailed on, she slowly forgot about her nervous feeling, if only she hadn't, then she would have noticed the footsteps that weren't her own.
Luna yawned as she stood up, she was bored out of her mind. It was a new moon, so she couldn't see her beautiful moon. This is what she hated most. Not being able to see the moon at night time. She walked over to the slightly open door and peered through the gap. No pony was there. She turned back to the sky with a mischievous smile. "Maybe just a few, nopony will notice..." And with that, her horn started to glow, and a moment later, a few shooting stars appeared across the sky. No pony would notice them unless they were looking for shooting stars. After a few minutes, she became bored of the shooting stars and wandered back to the telescope. It was still pointed towards the Everfree Forest. When all of sudden, she felt a twisted feeling in her stomach. She gasped, jumping back from the telescope, her heart racing. "Dear big sister! What in Equestria was that?" She whimpered. The balcony door opened, as Luna turned to see her sister standing in the doorway. "You felt it too" It wasn't a question, but a statement. "Now you know why I trust this feeling" Celestia said. Luna looked back to the telescope "What was that?" She asked with a nervous look at her sister. "Evil" Celestia replied. Her horn started to glow, and Luna looked at her curiously, but the spell became apparent at once. A small bed materialized and landed with a soft thump on the balcony. "I think it would be safer if I slept here" Celestia explained "So you can wake me much more quickly" As Celestia settled on the bed, Luna slipped away from the balcony. She had to do something to help prevent whatever was about to happen. The first guard she ran into, she ordered to go to the Everfree forest, and listen outside for any suspicious noises. The guard nodded curtly and trotted off down the hall. "What made you dash off?" Celestia aksed her sister "We have eyes on the forest, but no ears." Celestia's eyes blinked with comprehension, as she turned her head to the Everfree Forest. "Good luck Twilight. Whatever you may be doing, please come back alive."
As Twilight Sparkle continued to talk to herself in her mind, the footsteps had gotten closer to the mare, who hadn't noticed a thing, not even the owl that had landed on her back, and not even the sound of whirring engines as a mysterious blue box disappeared right in front of her, but even the most distracted ponies will notice the feeling of falling off a ridge, and even sleepwalking ponies would notice the feeling of hitting the ground after a 10ft. fall. *WHAM* Twilight raised her head from the ground as the owl on her back flew away, frightened by the sudden fall of the mare. "Did ya get that cart's number?" She asked stupidly, dazed by her impact with the ground. Her eyes were rolling around in her head, but they weren't the only things, as Fluttershy rode past on a giant apple, and then Applejack appeared and said, "Hey Twilight, we need more pony juice." When suddenly Fluttershy turned towards her and crushed her with the apple. Twilight jumped up, looking around. She was still in the forest, no giant apple riding Fluttershy, no Applejack. She had fallen unconscious. Twilight looked up. The moon hadn't moved in the sky too much, she would have said she had been out for 20 minutes. She looked down and found saw her bag, which Zecora had returned after she had taken the herbs Twilight brought her, and upon picking it up, felt the compass within its contents "But..." Twilight choked out "It wasn't in my bag before I fell, what's it doing in it now?" She looked around nervously. She had finally regained the sense of dread telling her to run, to just run, and to wait until morning until getting the flower. But Twilight unwisely shrugged off this feeling. If only Twilight had payed attention to her surroundings before she fell, she would have noticed that she had been moved while she was unconscious.
A scream pierced the air around Sweet Apple Acres. "BIG MAC!" "Eeeewha?" A tired voice replied to the panicked mare. "APPLEBLOOM'S ROOM HAS BEEN RANSACKED! SHE'S GONE!"
