Everypony loves ghost stories. Twilight and her friends are no exception.

Everyone always tells Twilight that the ones who love us never truly leave us.

But that's a lie. It's always been a lie.

Things that live must also die. It's simply the cycle of life, and that cycle doesn't care about love or the pain it causes.

Until one day, that cycle is broken by a forgotten figure from her past: a little tortoise who's not so little anymore.

This story is, first and foremost, a gift for the incomparable Mushroom, who clearly must be some sort of undiscovered species of fungus dog since we definitely don't deserve her. I have it on good authority that this story gave her Many Feelings, and I hope it gives them to you, too. :)

This also won first place in the of the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting '2021 Gift Fic Exchange' contest portion, which is neat.

Cover art commissioned from the lovely Shaslan!

Twilight finds out something isn't quite right about the crystal castle and herself. When she learns that something has changed about her and she isn't who she thinks she is, she tries to find out why and how that came to pass.
The answers isn't what she expected, but now that she knows, what will she do with that information? Will she change, continue, or end it all?

Pinkie Pie is alone in a place she does not want to be. She wants to go home. She wants everything to return to normal. Pinkie Pie has to deal with the reality of a tragedy she does not want to face. Her friends, and the staff of the Psychiatric Ward of Ponyville hospital do their best to support her through this time.

Written well before Season 4 started, so expect some incongruities.

Cover art by V-D-K, used with permission.

Edit: Rewritten for hopefully an easier reading experience.

Also, if you are going to write in the comments, please use the [spoiler][/spoiler] tag. Last time pretty much everyone was giving away the ending in the comments.

Twilight Sparkle is the master of her own mind. She is the Princess of Friendship. She is the fourth piece of the Alicorn Tetrarchy. She has incredible power, and she has always asserted it in a necessary and compassionate way. She has a charmed life—a wonderful set of friends, a beautiful castle in a lovely little town, and is constantly busy with her life, stretching her wings upward and outward to new horizons as often as possible.

There can be nothing wrong with her.

Pre-read by Majin Syeekoh.

The following transcripts are of a journal found in Ponyville on April 16th of this year. The last recorded contact with the town had been 3 days prior, on the 13th, when a team under orders from Princess Celestia was sent to look into several missing pony reports in the area. When another group of investigators were sent on the 16th, the town was found deserted. The journal’s owner is believed to be the princess’s personal student, Twilight Sparkle. None of the town’s inhabitants have been located in the weeks since.

Readings:
Nimbus Productions
Scribbler Productions

I highly recommend both of them.

A print version of all the stories in this series can be found here. (There is currently a printing error I am working to correct. This will be available again soon.)

This story is a sequel to Too Shy for a Rainbow

If you liked this fic, check out the awesome Audio Dub version of it by The Lost Narrator!:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnqCBZacYIwK0xcHv85Lke-xFf5V9p7R4

It's been a month since Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash started dating. Everything was going fine until Fluttershy started experiencing horrific nightmares that started keeping her up at night. Looking for answers, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie seek out Twilight. But when the three mares find themselves within the world of Silent Ponyville, will things turn out for the better? Or will things end in tragedy?

Sequel: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/14866/Silent-Ponyville%3A-Reunion