Dash woke up on a cloud.

“What?" she thought “Was that all a dream?”

She couldn’t remember if the things from the night before had actually happened or if she had just been imagining. She tried as hard as she could to recall reality, but she didn’t have a single solid memory of the previous night.

She decided to go for a quick cruise to try and set her mind straight.

As she flew over Ponyville, she looked down at the town square. It was market day.

“Well, I do need a few things,” she said aloud to herself.

She descended into the marketplace, landed, and began browsing, looking for a vendor to buy some groceries from. Eventually she found an orange-maned mare selling carrots and stood in line.

As she waited for the confused customer in front of her to finish debating the price for a bushel of the vegetables, she began scanning the crowd. She saw several ponies that she recognized. There was Lyra buying new strings for her harp at the music store, and Rose buying a new flower vase. Everything was typical, as it normally was in Ponyville.

Then she saw him, the stallion from the mountains.

He was standing in the middle of the market looking at her. Dash’s heart skipped a beat. The two locked eyes, and her initial fear was routed by the kindness she saw on his face.

The stallion had gentle, proud green eyes, and she felt comforted as well as intimidated by his muscular, gnarled physique. He smiled at her, a sort of comforting grin, the kind of smile her father used to give her when she was scared or nervous.

Then, he silently turned and faded into the crowd.

“Wait!” cried Dash, “Who are you?!”

She began to run, pushing through the mob of ponies in the streets as she chased after the stallion, but he was nowhere to be found. He had vanished. Dash had no idea who this strange stallion was, and she wanted to know. But, she couldn’t find out by herself.

Dash flew as fast as she could to Sugarcube Corner to find Pinkie Pie, then to Fluttershy’s cottage, then to Rarity’s boutique, then Sweet Apple Acres to find Applejack, and finally to Twilight’s library, telling each of her friends the same thing, “Meet in the library in ten minutes! Something really weird is happening and I need your help to figure it out!”

Sure enough, ten minutes later, six ponies were all in the town’s library, five of them listening to Rainbow Dash’s story about the strange grey stallion. When she finished, the others just looked at each other, both concerned and confused as to what the identity of the newcomer could be.

Fluttershy was the first to speak, and in a timid voice, asked “W-were you scared Rainbow Dash? I would have been.”

“What?!” the blue mare exclaimed, looking to her fellow pegasus,“Come on, Fluttershy! It’s me, remember. I don’t get scared.”

Dash tried to look like she was telling the truth, but one glance from Applejack convinced her that none of them bought it.

Quickly, to get back on topic, and to cover up her embarrassment, she asked, “So, do any of you have any idea what could be going on?”

Pinkie Pie had the first idea. “Maybe he’s an evil, terrible, nasty, night stalking, pony hunter!”

She stalked up to Rainbow, impersonating some sort of ghastly killer as she stuck her tongue through her teeth and raised her hooves like a ghoul.

“I don’t think that’s it Pinkie,” said Twilight sarcastically. Pinkie was always being a little weird, but they had all learned to tolerate it, more or less, “Or else Dash probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Could it have been a ghost?” suggested Rarity.

“There ain’t no such thing as ghosts!” countered Applejack, “Ya really think it was a ghost?”

“Yes, a ghost or an entity of sorts could be responsible for the apparitions Dash has been seeing.”

Applejack rolled her eyes, and drawled, “Ghosts don’ exist Rarity. I thought ya knew that. Only fillies believe in those stories.”

A small voice behind Twilight quietly said, “I-I don’t know. It could have been a ghost.”

“I bet I could figure it out if I did some studying,” chimed Twilight, making her way over to her bookcase.

The others sighed, not wanting to participate in one of her lengthy reading sessions.

“Alright, ya go on ahead with that,” said Applejack as she and the others made their way to the door.

Just as she touched the door handle, they all jumped at the sound of a very near lightning bolt. The sudden crack of thunder rang out, and rain began coming down hard as well. Startled, the five hesitated, not wanting to forsake the shelter of the library for the storm.

Rarity spoke for them all, and with a nervous laugh, suggested, “Or maybe, we could help you read.”

They each grabbed a book about magic, monsters or anomalies, and started flipping through pages.

The storm had passed, and the six friends were no closer to figuring out their mystery than when they started.

They all sprawled out on the floor, covered in books, groaning, except for Twilight, who was still diligently reading.

“This sucks,” grumbled Dash as the other four groaned in agreement.

“But we have to figure out what’s going on! And none of these books have anything on weird pegasi whose eyes glow!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she threw a text into the air.

Applejack suggested, “It’d be so much easier if we could just meet the guy. We might be able to get him to just tell us everything.” The others groaned in agreement a second time.

Twilight came over to the five and tried to encourage them, saying, “Oh come on! It’s not that bad, is it? This is actually kind of fun!”

This time, a groan of disagreement replied.

“Ya know what, I’m just gonna go and try and find him again. This time, when I find him, I won’t let him get away. I’ll bet I could make him talk,” stated Dash, confidently punching her hooves together.

“Ah’ll help ya,” agreed Applejack, “Workin’ outside is better than bein’ cooped up in here anyhow.”

Pinkie Pie, who was beginning to actually twitch for the lack of a release for her energy, seemed to float towards the door, practically vibrating as she did. She began stuttering, unable to make her words audible due to her energetic shivering, but the others knew she would be accompanying them.

“I too could use some exercise,” said the white unicorn in her sophisticated accent.

The four trotted out the door, shouting goodbyes through the doorway as they left.

Only two remained, but Twilight knew Fluttershy was staying not because she wanted to, but to keep her company.

“You can go too if you want,” assured Twilight without looking up from her book.

Without responding, the yellow pegasus went for the door, and galloped to catch up to the others, leaving the library in silence, the only sound being that of an occasional page turning as Twilight read on.

She finished another book, closing it with a thud, no closer to what she wanted to know than when she had first opened it. Twilight walked over to her bookshelf near the window to try and find a conclusive source.

“A History of Equestrian Magic; no, too broad. Rare Natural Phenomena; maybe, but from what Dash described, he was certainly not natural,” she said to herself as she cycled through various books. “A Guide to Uncommon Magic; that might help.”

Twilight carried the book over to the sofa, and curled up to read. Before she lost herself in her studies, she got up to get a few things; a glass of water in case she got thirsty, a quill and some paper for notes, and some oats for a snack. She levitated the water, quill and paper in her magic after she found them, and walked back to the sofa with them in a purple aura.

Just as she was about to retrieve the oats, some movement outside her window seized her attention. She moved towards the windowsill to identify what had caught her eye.

It was a large pony who matched Dash’s description perfectly, except that his eyes weren’t glowing. He was walking on the road outside the library, carrying three giggling fillies on his back. He was smiling, even chuckling a little bit too.

Upon a closer look, she realized that the fillies on his back were Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, all wearing crimson capes.

Twilight ran outside in disbelief. The others had gone to find this stallion, and he had practically come to her.

She pushed through the library’s door and stood in the road in front of him. He stopped when he saw her, and the fillies he toted peeked out from behind his wings.

“Hey Twilight!” shouted Applebloom, smiling from ear to ear.

“What are you all doing?” asked Twilight, concerned.

“Oh, you mean on his back?” asked Scootaloo as she hopped down, “We just kinda climbed on and he never told us to get off.”

Twilight shook her head, “No, I mean what are you doing with him?”

She pointed at the grey pegasus, who eyed her extended hoof suspiciously as the fillies began to explain.

“Well,” started Sweetie Belle, “we were in the mountains earlier trying to see if any of us could get a biology cutie mark. We didn’t find any animals though.”

Her head lowered in shame, but it quickly picked back up again when she heard her friends at her side. Scootaloo continued where the white filly left off.

“Anyway, we got caught in the storm. We couldn’t get back to town before it started, and when we heard thunder, Applebloom and Sweetie Bell got scared.”

“You were scared too!” protested Applebloom.

“No I wasn’t!”

“You thought your shadow was a windigo, and you kept screaming for the rain to leave you alone,” said Sweetie Bell, raising an eyebrow at her.

Scootaloo blushed, and looked around, making sure nopony else was around, then admitted, “We were all scared, so we hid under a big rock in the foothills.”

Applebloom took her turn, “After a little while, he found us and took us outta the mountains. We went back to his house, and he gave us blankets and hot chocolate, and we warmed up by the fireplace! Now he’s just making sure we get home alright.”

Twilight inspected the three. They seemed to be unharmed, and they were happy, as usual. She turned her attention to the stallion.

He definitely matched Dash’s story, from his size and color to his abundant scars. He was very strong by the looks of him; each muscle in his neck was thick and defined. His mane was cut short, as Dash had said it was, and his coat had a glossy appearance that reflected the sunlight.

His cutie mark was strange; Twilight had never seen one quite like it before. It was a black shield rimmed in gold, adorned with a white lightning bolt in its center.

He returned her gaze, staring back with an eyebrow raised. Twilight began to realize that, though he was the one Dash had seen, he wasn’t as bad as she made him out to be. After all, he had rescued the fillies, who were still in good health and spirits.

His expression softened, and a smile slowly spread across his face. When she looked into his friendly green eyes, Twilight’s suspicions all left at once, and she knew he wasn’t dangerous.

He laughed quietly to himself when he realized she was inspecting him, and then shook his head, saying, “My apologies, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Clydesdale Sterling.”

His voice was deep and smooth, and held confidence along with gentleness. He bowed slightly, his broad muzzle lowering in a gesture of respect.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she said, flustered by meeting the stallion after all the hype Dash had built around him, “It’s good to meet you.”

“Likewise,” he said, smiling again.

Then, he gave another bow saying, “Until next time,” and continued down the road into town.

As Twilight watched him go, she kept remembering his eyes, along with his chivalry, and she couldn’t help but smile.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Thanks for reading! Please comment on what you liked or what you didn't, and I'll try and fix it. By the way, just in case this piece inspired you guys (however unlikely that may be), I don't mind at all if you want to post art inspired by my work on Deviantart or anything like that, just as long as I'm given credit and you leave a link in the comments so I can check it out. Thanks, I hope you keep reading!