Three hours to sundown and miss Rainbow Dash was snug at home in her bed. She unconsciously flapped her wings and ruffled the sheets. This meant she was having the Wonderbolt race dream again, the one where she pulls ahead of Spitfire for a split second victory. She smiled and without control, put her front hooves up in victory. Unknown to her, a dark shadow of a pegasus was cast over her. It raised it's wings and blacked out the whole room before sinking out of clarity. Then a dark shape on the floor started to slink in from under the window. It slipped into the center of the room and it rose up with a puff.

Fearwing hovered just above the floor, then tapped it to check it's density. Just as he wanted, just soft enough to land without a sound. He did just so and silently crept over to her dresser. Three drawers, but Rainbow didn't strike Fearwing as the type of pony to have a lot of clothes. First he found her gala dress, then her winter wrap up vest. He was getting annoyed, but then he found just what he was looking for, her diary.

With wicked glee, he took it out and placed it on the floor, then started reading. "Let's see what the cute little tomboy has on her mind. Hmmmm, fastest thing alive eh? I bet I can fix that. Also says she has a huge crush on...wow, I did not need to know that. I think I've learned enough. She'll be tough, but I can get her to turn soft." There was an audible yawn that made his smile disappear and his eyes shoot open.

Rainbow sat up with another big yawn. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the full view of her room that she had from bed. "I have got to get a painting or a plant or something. This place is so empty." Indeed it was. Not a sign of anypony, but the air. Dash jumped out of bed, did a little stretch and happily skipped over to her dresser, immediately going for the third drawer. She removed her diary and hugged it tight. She fluttered over and dropped back into bed. Taking a pen from a little table next to her bed, she clicked on the desk lamp and started to write. 'Dear diary: I had the racing dream again, Spitfire had no idea what hit her. Plus, that special pony was waiting for me at the winner's circle.'

As Dash leaned back, she went unaware that Fearwing was on the opposite side of the wall. His chest heaving up and down from the speed he had to pull putting the diary back and getting out without being seen. "Man, that was close! Okay, I might as well head to the rendezvous point. I can't wait to see what the boys brought to the party." He flew off toward the Everfree Forest with wicked glee.

Meanwhile, at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack had just woken up from her little nap. Well rested, and with time to spend, she decided to get in some apple bucking. Needless to say, the new energy was paying off. One basket full, two baskets full, then three. One by one, trees were losing apples. A.J. whistled a happy tune as she worked, then stopped when she heard a sound of distress. First a grunt, then a thump. The combo of noise meant only one thing. A few trees back, sure enough, Applejack found Applebloom trying to do her share of the work. Now, as you can imagine, it was a small filly versus a big tree, so the apples didn't budge much. "Shoot," Said a frustrated Applebloom. "Come on now, somethin's gotta give sooner or later."

Applejack smiled and shook her head. "Ahem." The little crusader was a bit startled, but relaxed when she turned to find her big sister, who spoke when she had her attention. "Now, Applebloom, we've been over this. You just ain't big enough for apple bucking yet."

Applebloom took the statement with a disappointed frown. "But sis, I gotta get my cutie mark somehow." She pointed upward. "And look at that big apple at the top. I bet one more good kick and that'll just pop right off."

The blond farm pony eyed the apple, then shook her head. "Doesn't matter anyhow. Looks like that worm's about to get it."

Sure enough, there was a little green worm inching off the branch and crawling to the big apple. As it wrapped around the stem, ready to ruin said fruit, there was a loud and terrifying sound that made the worm shake. It turned it's little head and "Caw!" Vincent the raven swooped in and snapped up the worm. He gave the apple a little kick and knocked it down to the sisters below.

A.J. was a bit surprised. "Well, how do you like that." She and Applebloom watched in curiosity as the raven flew down, swung passed them, and perched on top of a scare crow Big Macintosh put up earlier in the spring. Vincent slurped down his prey and turned his steely gaze on the farm ponies.

Applebloom was a bit puzzled. "Isn't that supposed to scare crows away?"

The elder sister kept her eyes on the bird. "Strangest crow I've ever seen. Seems a bit more refined, see the way he stands? Most crows hunch over a bit. Not this one."

The cutiemark crusader ran off for a minute or two. She returned with a small dish full of corn kernels. "Here you go, little fella."

Vincent cocked his head slightly, then flew down and landed before the dish. He pecked at the corn gladly, then looked to Applebloom. He walked over to her and nuzzled his head against her chest, cawing softly, like a content pet.

The sisters reacted in unison. "Awwww." Applejack continued. "He certainly is a sweet little guy. You wanna hang out 'round here a little longer, buddy?"

The raven happily nodded his head. The sisters walked off to the barn, but Vincent held back a second before following. If one looked close enough, one could swear they'd seen a smile on his beak and a sinister twinkle in his eye.

At the library, things were at their usual pace. Twilight was looking at maps of the Everfree Forest to try and find the most likely location where Luna's lost blanket might have landed. It wasn't terribly hard getting the info, but the calculations were the tricky part. The unicorn let out a little sigh and took a sip of coffee. She had no idea what she was getting into when she agreed to help Luna.

Spike approached her desk with arms full of scrolls. "Okay, here's the wind directions and cliff areas you wanted to see."

Twilight turned to her assistant with a smile. "Thank you, Spike."

The little dragon gave her the scrolls and scratched his head. "I still don't get what the big deal is. Why doesn't Princess Luna just get another blanket?"

The unicorn gave him a look. "Spike! Her mother gave her that. It has a deep emotional value. What if something happened and you were lost. Should I just go out and get another baby dragon?"

He went wide eyed. "You wouldn't do that, would you?"

She gave him a reassuring hug. "Of coarse not, silly. I could never replace you."

Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud crash. They turned and gasped at the sight of a toppled over book shelf. Completely face down on the floor and several books scattered around, this truly was a sight. What was even more unbelievable was that it happened at all.

Twilight looked at the mess in shock. "How...How does a fully loaded book shelf, that size, just fall over?"

Spike shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, don't ask me. I'm just as surprised as you are."

The unicorn let out a sigh, then put her magic to use. She strained and her horn glowed bright, raising the heavy shelf back to standing position. Once it was back in place, Twilight took a breather as Spike started putting books back. In a few seconds, she started using her magic to levitate them back in place. However, one book caught her eye.

The title read: Mythical Creatures and Old Folklore. Twilight liked this book; she remembered how her mother would always read her a story from it before bed. As she flipped through the pages, an illustration made her shudder and drop the book. Spike stepped over to see what was up. "The Headless Horse? You still afraid of that?"

Twilight shook off the goosebumps. "Oooohhh, it just gives me the creeps. You know, I had an uncle that was investigating him. He went into the Everfree Forest looking for him, but never came back."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you told me. Wasn't that uncle kind of a jerk. You ever think he just moved and didn't tell anypony?"

The unicorn scholar took a deep breath. "You're probably right. Still, I still get the creeps from it each time I here the story." With a smile, she placed the book back on the shelf. "Come on upstairs. I need help packing for the trip."

The two went on their task with an air of peace recovering from that unexplained jolt. However, we know that book shelves don't fall like that by themselves. Out from the shadows in the corner, a gaze from two cold eyes looked right at the book Twilight just put back. Edgar stepped out with a rather serious tone about him. You'll soon see that while Vincent has a more friendly personality, Edgar can be rather cold. Not to mention sharp and to the point. He walked over to the shelf, claws clacking on the floor and when he reached it, he flapped his wings and rose up to the book. He grabbed it's spine firmly in it's talons, but before he could pull it out...

"I'll be right back up. I think I left one of the maps down by the desk." As Spike turned the corner, he spotted the stately raven trying to nab the book. "What the...?"

Before he could finish, Edgar let out a screech and shot right toward the little dragon. There was a bit of a commotion as the two rumbled through the library, but soon Edgar had the upper claw. He grabbed one of the curtains with his beak and wrapped Spike in it super tight, making sure his mouth was shut. He then lifted the bound baby dragon into the air and dropped him into an open laundry basket. The raven shut it fast and gave a little series of caws that sounded like a hushed laugh. He then flew back over to the shelf, grabbed the book, and took off out the window.

Twilight came back down. "Spike? What was that noise?" Her little assistant was nowhere to be seen. "Huh, I wonder where he ran off to?" She didn't hear the muffled shouts of 'let me out of here!' and grabbed the maps herself, then trotted on upstairs.

After learning all that they could know, the trio each made their way back to the tree house. Once they put the new intel to use, they would begin getting their scare on.