“Twilight, you okay over there?” Rainbow Dash asked, landing beside her friend on the ground. Even from the sky, she could see the confused look on the unicorn’s face.

“Huh? Oh, hey there Rainbow.” The librarian was more focused on a large rock jutting up from the ground. “...do you see anything off about this rock?”

The pegasus tilted her head and looked at the miniature boulder. “Uh...no?”

“Weird...I saw Mayor Chuck hitting it with a shovel earlier.”

Rainbow blinked. “Wait...what?”

“Yeah. He slammed his shovel into it a couple of times, looked disappointed, and walked away. I still have no idea what the point of that was.”

Scratching her head, the rainbow-maned pony sighed. “Maybe he was trying to break the rock, or something?”

“I doubt it. It’s hard to break a rock this big with a shovel.” She shook her head. “Never mind...I’ll figure it out later.”

“Huh...alright then. Oh! Before I forget, I should tell you that the weather pegasi are planning a big storm tomorrow. So you might wanna stay indoors...of course, you pretty much do that all the time anyway. Ha!”

Twilight glared as the pegasus laughed at her own joke. “Not funny, Rainbow.”

“Yeah it is! Someday, you’re gonna forget all about the outdoors and not come outside for, like, a year!” She giggled. “Try to make sure that doesn’t happen, okay? We can’t exactly turn back time.”

She sighed. “I’ll keep that in mind...”

“Thank you again for your donations! Have a pleasant day!” a brown stallion with a Trottingham accent called to Chuck as the human walked out of the large building. As he did, a white unicorn walked in, giving the mayor a passing glance.

“Mr. Turner, was that the new mayor?” she asked.

“Hm? Oh, hello there Miss Rarity. Indeed that was.” Time Turner, as the stallion was called, smiled in delight. “The museum hasn’t had a donation ever since I opened it, and then Mr. Chuck came in just now with about four dinosaur fossils! Quite amazing, I must say.”

Rarity’s eyebrows shot up. “Four fossils? In one day?!”

“Unbelievable, isn’t it?” The museum curator beamed. “I do wish I had that kind of talent.”

“Hmm...I wonder how good he is at finding gems?” the unicorn wondered aloud, tapping her chin.

The sun rose to mark the beginning of a new day. Parents were getting their kids up for school; ponies who had early morning jobs to get to were currently rushing out the door; weather pegasi were just about to kick the clouds; and one certain unicorn was struggling to muster up the strength to get out of bed.

Lyra sat up with a tired groan. She had stayed up all night sorting and filing papers, practically forgetting about going home until the sun was already just peeking over the horizon again. She had gotten maybe two hours of sleep overall, and she was not looking forward to coming in to work today.

It’s only the second day...you can’t be showing up late already…

Sighing, she forced herself to stand up and began to slowly move to her bathroom, only to jump at the sound of thunder and find herself facedown on the carpet. She stood back up with another groan, looking out the window for the first time.

A huge torrent of rain was falling from the sky, activated by the pegasus ponies just seconds earlier. The ponies who were already outside and not prepared for the storm quickly began running for shelter, or at least expressed some sort of annoyance at becoming soaking wet. Lyra, for her part, simply felt lucky to have not gone outside five minutes earlier.

She facehoofed when she realized she was still going to have to walk through the rain to get to the town hall. With a tired grumble punctuated by a yawn, she set about to cleaning herself up for the day. She made a mental note to purchase an umbrella at some point.

Leaving the hotel he had rented a room from, Chuck only glanced at the downpour before pulling out an umbrella made with a simple green fabric. Where he had gotten it from was a mystery to all, as he hadn’t purchased an umbrella since arriving in town and he didn’t have anything on him when he arrived.

The human began to make his way to the town hall. Thanks to his umbrella, the rain didn’t bother him, though he could do without the loud thunder and flashing lightning. It wasn’t particularly dangerous, but it left him a little unsettled.

Along the way, he glanced around at the other ponies heading out to start their day. Those who were inside when the rain started, or at least still close to their house and could go back in, had put on raincoats or grabbed umbrellas, if not both. The unlucky ponies who were too far from their homes to go back and get such things without being late for school or work had no choice but to deal with it. Occasionally, there were some generous ponies who would share their umbrella with these unlucky ones, or even give it up completely. Chuck couldn’t help but feel a little surprised at the friendship between these ponies, even if at a glance they all seemed to be complete strangers.

He was so busy looking around him that he failed to look ahead, and he accidentally bumped into somepony. He heard a feminine yelp, followed by a splash, as he tried to keep himself on balance. Aside from stumbling a bit, he managed to stay upright, and turned to see who he knocked over.

“S-Sorry about that, I’m in a bit of a hurry...” Lyra tried to explain from her new position sitting in a puddle, now even wetter than before and with a layer of mud covering her hooves and rear. She blinked as she recognized who she bumped into, and her eyes widened. “M-Mayor Chuck! I...I’m sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was...”

Chuck shook his head at her in a silent message not to explain, and extended his hand out to her. She gratefully took it and let him pull her up, not seeming to care about the mud getting on his own hand. “Th-thank you. I was just heading to the town hall...”

The human nodded with a smile and gestured for them to walk together. As they started off, he handed his umbrella to her, causing her to blink in confusion.

“Um...but don’t you-” She was cut off when he pulled a second umbrella, exactly the same as the first, out of his pocket. “...oh. Uh...r-right, thank you.”

Taking the offered item in her magic, Lyra smiled as she finally managed to put a barrier between herself and the cold water falling from the clouds above. As they walked, she frowned when she realized how much mud she had on her body from falling into the puddle. I probably look like a homeless pony right now…

As the town hall came into view, the unicorn turned to Chuck. “Head on inside, okay? I’ll be right in. I’ve got something important to tell you about.”

Raising an eyebrow, but not arguing, Chuck nodded and walked up to the door, putting his umbrella away before walking in. Sighing, Lyra began to look for a hose to clean herself up with.