The only noise that bothered Twilight Sparkle during her research was the breathing of her friend, Rainbow Dash, who sat on the stairs, reading the newest book in the series of Daring Do’s grandiose adventures. That, and the ticking of the old clock on the wall. The noises were insignificant enough for Twilight to ignore completely, and to instead, focus on the text that was before her.

Whether it was inside the library, or outside under the surprisingly breezy summer air, everything was painted with the lazy color of gray. The vibrantly brown surface of the library’s walls was not enough to drive away the yawn-inducing atmosphere created by the Sunday morning. If it was not for the clock’s constant ticking, both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle would have felt as if the time of the room suddenly stopped.

Twilight felt a small irritation in her dry throat. She had gone a few hours without having anything to drink, and now it was beginning to show. The idea of ice cold water lingered in her mind, but knowing how important her work was, she decided to forgo the refreshment before returning back to the dusty tomes. After all, she could easily rest after she was finished with her current project. Rainbow Dash was counting on her to solve the mystery that the pegasi encountered on the western border of Equestria, and she couldn’t let her friend down.

Minutes passed as Twilight slowly made her way through the pages of a book on nephomancy, written by a famous pegasus whose name she had already forgotten, due to the flood of information that had assaulted her from the book. Occasionally, Twilight levitated her pen, and wrote down various notes, only adding to the growing pile that had formed on her mahogany desk. Anything that sounded remotely like the weather-anomaly in the west was worth writing down, since neither the pegasi, nor Twilight herself, had any idea what to do.

Every now and then, Twilight gave a slow glance to the copper-colored object that kept slowly moving on her table. It made no noise, but its movement was enough to captivate her eye. It was a beautiful, yet frustrating thing, a constant reminder of her failures. It was a test given to her by her mentor, Princess Celestia, that she yet to pass. Without a clear goal other than to “solve” it, Twilight had eventually all but given up on figuring out the apparatus.

The thing was a glass-sphere, the size of a pony’s head, suspended in the air by a copper pedestal. On the pedestal, the glass-sphere was spinning around in place. And inside that glass-sphere, there was a dodecahedral cage made out of copper, with yet another glass-sphere inside it. The alternation between a copper-cage and glass-sphere was repeated until, at the very center of the sphere, there was a single diamond-pyramid with glyph carvings all over.

With the ideas about the mysterious cloud swirling in her head, Twilight found herself staring into the depths of the apparatus once again. She shook her head, pushing it out of her mind. While it reminded her of her greatest personal failure, it wasn’t what she needed now. She needed to help Rainbow Dash, and the puzzle had nothing to do with the problem at hoof. Thus, she pressed on, focusing on the books once more.

“This is just strange,” Twilight finally spoke up. “The more I read, the more apparent it becomes that there shouldn’t be any rain clouds that the pegasi cannot control.”

“Hey, don’t blame me,” Rainbow Dash answered and gave an unconcerned gesture with her front leg. “I’m just the messenger. The pegasi of Los Pegasus just gave me a heads-up, and I brought the news to you.”

“I don’t want to bother Princess Celestia with this, but…“ Twilight put the book down on the table. “This is just nonsensical. It’s as if the readings you gave to me from this cloud were specifically made so that they would prove all my calculations and predictions wrong. No, not only that. Just by looking at these photos, the thing seems to have this… sense of unreality, if you understand what I mean.”

“Nope, not at all,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “I’m not an egghead like you, so to me, a cloud’s a cloud. Ain’t anything else to it.”

“Well, this one certainly is not just ‘a cloud’. Pegasi can’t change its direction, they can’t force it to rain down… It is clear that something weird is going on,” Twilight said. “If I could just figure out what.”

“Maybe it’s like the clouds above Everfree Forest?” Rainbow suggested. “Those things never move the way we want to, and nopony makes a big deal out of them.”

“No, there are other things about this cloud, too,” Twilight answered. “See the form in this picture? This cloud is shaped like a cumulonimbus, but it doesn’t even come close to the size of the usual clouds of the vertical cloud family. Not only that, but instead of flying somewhere above two thousand meters, this cloud is dangerously and unnaturally low; it’s only at about one thousand and two hundred meters or so. For some reason, it’s getting lower and lower. By the time it reaches Canterlot, this cloud could very well cover the city.”

“And I guess Princess Celestia would not like that?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight smirked.

“Nopony would like that. Especially if the cloud decided it was time to rain. So yeah, it’s best to figure out what’s the deal with this cloud. I’ve had enough of strange clouds when we dealt with those pink ones that rained chocolate milk.”

Twilight and her friend giggled. She watched as Rainbow Dash, after calming down, returned back to her book, and took it as a sign to continue her own work. While the cloud research was not threatening, it was at the very least annoying.

While writing down the notes of her latest findings in her book, Twilight gave a cursory glance over to the other, smaller book she had laid on her table. While she herself had her doubts, it was allegedly authored by the famous unicorn mage, Count of St. Germane, which meant, even in the case of a forgery, it would have knowledge worth of reading. Depending on the supposed author of a forgery, the contents could only be of a certain level, and if somepony dared to use the name of St. Germane, it was clear the writer, whoever it was, knew what he or she was talking about. The main reason why Twilight currently had the book open on her desk was her interest in the contents, as they could possibly relate to the subject at hand.

“Though then again, Threefold Wisdom might be a completely wrong angle to approach this mystery,” Twilight muttered to herself with a tepid smile. “The cloud seems to be following the ley lines, so I guess intercepting it with a barrier in the forest, or on the road leading to Canterlot would be our best option. Then again, I have no idea which path it’ll choose. This is getting so complicated.”

Rainbow Dash remained silent, letting her friend’s thought process run its course. She had learned that there were times when Twilight might have seemed like she was trying to stir up a conversation, when it was only the puzzled unicorn’s way of organizing her thoughts. It was especially true when Twilight was studying or conducting research, so it was clear that her words were far from needed at the moment. Even if Dash, in a moment of sudden curiosity, would have wanted to ask about the few frankly indigestible lines in her friend’s sentences, it was better left for another day.

And so, moments of silence passed, filled only with the ticking of that old clock, the rustling of turning pages, and slow breaths of two ponies enjoying their not-so-refreshing Sunday.

After about half-an-hour, there was a knock on the door of the library. Before Twilight could even ask the visitor to step inside, the door was opened. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie entered the library while wearing varying degrees of smiles. Twilight put her notes to the side for a moment, and walked over to the entrance to greet her friends.

“You finally got here,” Twilight said with a smile. “I’m sorry about asking to cancel the picnic, but this request from the pegasi patrols simply needs to be done. Work before fun, as you know.”

“Oh, that was not a problem at all,” Rarity assured her fellow unicorn. “The weather outside is simply unbecoming for a summer day, which is why a small brunch indoors is quite the competitive alternative for the picnic.”

“Yeah, ya gotta admit it’s a bit gloomy outside,” Applejack said. “Makes ya wonder why all the pegasi haven’t done anything ‘bout it yet.”

“Well, we would if we didn’t have some silly cloud to worry about,” Rainbow Dash groaned. She put aside her book and got up, stretching all of her four legs in succession. “Like you heard, the pegasi even requested Twilight to look into it, like it was end of the world or something.”

“Ooh! A mysterious cloud! What’s it like?” Pinkie Pie bounced to Twilight’s desk where her research lay in chaos. “Don’t tell me it’s another cotton candy cloud.”

“Luckily, not this time,” Twilight said with an awkward smile. “Just a cloud with a shape, size, and altitude it should not have. The pegasi have no control over it, and it seems to be defying all the norms Cloudsdale prepares its clouds with.”

“May I have a look?” Rarity asked, and was quickly given a photo of the cloud by Twilight. “Hmm. Very interesting, I must admit. This cloud looks almost as if it had been fashioned by hoof. There is a sort of artificial feeling to it. It looks like somepony tried to create an ideal image of what a cloud should be.”

“Wow. You really do have an eye for detail,” Twilight said, clearly surprised. “I hadn’t even thought of that. Maybe somepony really did create it artificially, before sending it off. That would explain why it doesn’t respond to the pegasi who try to control it.”

While Twilight would have probably ran straight to her desk to write up this new possibility, she was suddenly approached by Fluttershy, who seemed to be a bit anxious. The yellow pegasus kept looking around, her eyes darting from one corner to another.

“Um, hello, Twilight,” Fluttershy greeted Twilight. “Have you seen Angel bunny today? Well, you see, he disappeared last night, and I haven’t been able to find him ever since. I am really worried.”

“I’m afraid I haven’t,” Twilight answered and gave a questioning glance at Rainbow Dash. “What about you, Rainbow?”

“Nope! Not a single bunny seen today,” she said curtly. “Just awesome adventures of Daring Do.”

“Sorry, Fluttershy. Seems like he isn’t here,” Twilight said while she turned back to Fluttershy. “Do you want us to help look for Angel?”

“Oh, it’s alright,” Fluttershy assured. “I’m sure Angel can find his way back home. The thing I’m really worried about is if Angel’s causing trouble for some other ponies in town.”

“In that case, shall we start with the brunch? The Cakes baked this delicious pie just for this occasion by Pinkie Pie’s request, and I have some tea and scones to go with it,” Rarity suggested while laying down the contents of her bag to the corner-table. “If we dally too long, the food will get cold. Especially in weather like this.”

“Ya know, if Ah knew we were gonna eat something homely like a pie, Ah would’ve made one mahself,” Applejack commented. “The Cakes have enough to do with their foals these days, troublin’ them with more orders ain’t nice.”

“Oh, it wasn’t trouble at all!” Pinkie reassured her friend. “I helped them out, which means the pie will be super-duper-extra-delicious this time!”

“Well, I guess that explains why the pie is pink.” Twilight said and the ponies chuckled.

Twilight decided it was time to indulge in that previously skipped break from before, and joined her friends, who had already gathered around the table to enjoy the brunch that had been laid on top of it. As usual, the Cakes had outdone themselves, but that did not mean the scones Rarity had prepared with her younger sister were bad. In fact, since the ponies knew that they had been the result of their combined efforts, they tasted twice as delicious.

While enjoying the tea and the food, the unusual expression on Twilight’s face caught the attention of Applejack. She quickly swallowed what she was munching on, looking at her friend.

“Ya okay, Twi? It’s a bit unusual to see yer usually content face that bothered,” Applejack asked. “Is it ‘bout the cloud? Or is something else botherin’ ya?”

“No, I couldn’t say anything is wrong. But then again, something kind of is… It is hard to put into words, you see,” Twilight said with a troubled expression. It seemed that she was beginning to regret opening her mouth. “It’s about Spike. I am not sure if it’s normal for all the dragons during summer, or if Spike’s sub-species is unique to it, but it seems that the arrival of summer has made him a bit… weird.”

“Weird? How weird are we talking about, exactly?” Rarity asked.

“What's Spike’s sub-species, anyhow?” Pinkie Pie cut into the conversation before Twilight could answer. “I thought all dragons had wings. But Spike didn’t, even when he turned into that super greedy adult-version of himself!”

“Um, maybe Spike is a rare dragon? Twilight did say that she got him from an egg given to her in Canterlot, didn’t she?” Fluttershy suggested. “So, so maybe he is a lucky dragon or something similar. Maybe that’s why Twilight keeps finding spare change lying on the street. Taking care of Spike blesses her with luck.”

Although Fluttershy looked very satisfied with her own theory, Twilight looked at her with a mixture of confusion and awkwardness. She quickly regained, however, and shook her head, to deny the weird suggestion.

“First of all, I do not find any more spare change than anypony else. I just have a keen eye for stuff like that,” Twilight said. “Secondly: What's Spike’s sub-species is not the problem. The problem is how… he has been behaving recently.”

“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Rarity asked, still quite worried.

Twilight shuffled her legs uncomfortably before, finally, as if plunging into the deep-end of a pool, nodded towards one of the windows that showed the scenery of the backyard. Curious, the ponies amassed before the window to peer into the greenery behind the Golden Oaks Library.

And the scene they saw was enough to make them understand Twilight’s awkward hesitance.

There, on his knees on the weed-filled grass, was Spike, who was going through the lawn with surprisingly furious pace. His claws were digging into the soil and pulling out the weeds while being careful not to damage the actual grass too much. And judging from the sacks that had been piled up against the wall, he had been at it from the time the sun had climbed up to the sky. Rarity, most surprised of the ponies at that moment, tilted her head in confusion.

“Just what in Celestia’s name is he doing?”

“I have no idea,” Twilight shrugged. “This morning I pulled open the curtains on the second floor window, and there he was, moving here and there. I asked from him what he was doing, but he simply said that he had too much energy, and that he had to direct it to something productive. And, well, if I am completely honest, I’m not complaining that the weeds in the backyard are getting removed.”

Indeed, Spike’s work was showing great progress, as the weeds were quickly stuffed into the sacks that he had most likely borrowed from Rose. These sacks were then moved over to where the others were, in a very systematic manner. It was like watching a lawnmower, powered by unicorn-magic, at work. Though this lawnmower was far more sophisticated.

Silence quickly filled the library as the ponies passed the minutes. While enjoying their brunch, they kept a watch over the surprisingly energetic baby dragon. After all, it was quite the change to see him up and about so early, as he was usually still sleeping during at this time. However, it did not dawn upon any of them to actually offer help, and they simply kept staring with curiosity that one would reserve for a spoiled apple, in an otherwise healthy apple tree.

Spike did not seem to care about the stares at his back, even though he must have realized them. Instead, the small dragon kept tirelessly working on the backyard, pulling out claw-full of weeds one after another, before stashing them into the bag near him. Once he was finished, he tied the bag shut and flung it to accompany the rest of the brown bags, before taking a new one from next to him, and began filling that.

Sure enough, as the hour slowly changed into the next one, he had made decent work across the small yard, as it now started to look more like a proper yard, instead of the makeshift jungle Twilight had let it become. What made this sight even more surreal was the fact that Spike was known for being extremely lazy, and to see him working like this was not something anypony had expected.

“Huh.” The ponies said at almost the same time.

Not a single one them figured why Spike had suddenly taken up gardening.

At that same time, in the troposphere east of Los Pegasus, a single cloud was flying at high speed towards a certain destination near the center of the continent. Unlike any of the other clouds around it, this black cloud seemed to have a straight trajectory, heading unerringly towards its goal. While they could not do anything, the pegasi kept watch from a safe distance. However, nopony was too worried about it, as there was no indication that the cloud would actually harm anypony.

Unfortunately, if the pegasi had heard the low voice that spoke inside the cloud, they would have quickly sprung into action to stop the object, no matter what it took.

“Current time: 1000 hours. Estimated arrival time: 2200 hours. Atmospheric scan of the target area, complete. Results: Nitrogen: 78.08%. Oxygen: 20.95%. Water Vapor: <3.00%. Ozone: 10 ppmv. Harmony Level: A. Akasha Residue Level: Abnormal.”

After finishing the report, the voice in the cloud chuckled menacingly, as if it had found something amusing.

“Anomalies of reality converged to the upper troposphere. Suggesting ground-level attack. Warning: Encounter possibility with multiple targets: Highly possible. Discretion is advised.”

Picking up speed, the cloud suddenly burst into even faster flight, zooming through the sky and leaving the pegasi guarding it far behind.

Having done so, another voice spoke from inside the cloud. A voice of sneering stranger.

“Glaine ár gcroí. Neart ár ngéag. Beart de réir ár mbriathar.”

The ponies spent most of the afternoon helping Twilight with her research of the black cloud that steadily approached Ponyville’s general direction. While the purple unicorn herself had her snout glued in the book of nephomancy, her friends helped her by bringing her additional books, checking weather charts, or in Pinkie Pie’s case, by staying put and not touching anything that was even vaguely important.

Thanks to Rarity’s off-hoof comment about the artificial shape of the cloud, Twilight was finally starting to make progress. She started comparing the shape of the cloud to the models usually created by Cloudsdale, proceeded to analyze the possible contents of the black cloud with the help of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and finally prepared a list of the theoretical contents of the object by bringing together all the information she had gathered so far. The list turned out to grow surprisingly long, as Twilight did not want to leave anything to chance, opting to record down all the possibilities which could affect how the cloud had become such an enigma in the Equestrian airspace.

“Well, this is certainly a surprise,” Twilight finally said as they put the list on the wall so everypony could see all of its contents. “Does this mean that the cloud is-”

Although the ponies had initially considered the cloud to be just a relatively small cumulonimbus with a few strange properties to it, the truth turned out to be something completely different. It became apparent from analyzing the photos of the cloud that the shape of the cloud was actually more tower-like, continuing to a high altitude. However, most of the cloud was, in fact, a steep curve of ice crystals which were nearly invisible to the naked eye. As the cloud had travelled forward from Los Pegasus, the ice crystals had eventually evolved into a high, thick cirrostratus cloud which caused the sky in Ponyville to look as gloomy as it did.

“So, natural or artificial, this cloud is bringing rain somewhere near Ponyville, I suspect,” Twilight finally said aloud.

“When halo rings the moon or sun, rain’s approaching on the run,” Fluttershy concluded with an old rhyme. “I-It’s just something I learned in the school. At Cloudsdale. If you, um, look here you can see it creates a halo around the sun.”

“But a cloud with those specific attributes could never be a natural cloud; like the ones around Everfree Forest. And nopony in Cloudsdale would create such a weirdo-cloud,” Rainbow Dash commented. “Whatever it is, it was made another way.”

“In other words, a cloud created via spell?” Rarity asked. “How dreadful. For what purpose would one create such a cloud?”

“Maybe it’s headed for Sweet Apple Acres, and the maker of the cloud is planning on making the biggest apple-smoothie ever!” Pinkie Pie suggested, causing Applejack to groan.

“Ain’t no way somepony is using our apples for something like that,” Applejack said.

“Well, whatever the reason, we need to inform Princess Celestia about our findings. She will know what to do,” Twilight said and turned towards the window before opening it with her hoof. “Spike? Spike! Come inside! We need to write a letter to Princess Celestia.”

To everypony’s surprise, Twilight’s shout did not seem to have any effect. There was no movement in the backyard. In fact, the baby dragon who had been there working had completely disappeared, leaving nothing else behind but the sacks that were leaning against the library wall. For a few seconds, the ponies wondered just what had happened to Spike. That question was quickly answered, however, when the door of the library quickly opened, and the purple-scaled dragon walked in with a content smile on his face.

“I’m here! And I brought few visitors!” Spike announced proudly. Twilight gave a relieved smile.

That smile was quickly turned into a one of confusion, though, as after Spike, somepony else entered the library. Somepony very familiar, with an even more familiar white rabbit riding on his back.

“Twilie! Am I glad to see you!” Shining Armor greeted his younger sister. “I was afraid I would have to walk around Ponyville looking for you. This bunny wasn’t as great of a guide as he tried to be.”

Angel stuck out his tongue at Shining Armor and hopped down from his back, running to the waiting hooves of Fluttershy, who was clearly glad to see her animal friend safe and sound.

“Shining Armor?” Twilight said. “What are you doing here!? Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon with Cadance?”

“Unfortunately, royal duty calls, even when I’m on vacation,” Shining Armor answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Though I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t know that Princess Celestia had a good reason to call Cadance and I back.”

“Is this about the cloud?” Twilight asked. “We were actually doing pretty well on our own, and were just about to send a report to Princess. There was no need for you to come all the way here to watch our progress, you know.”

“Forget about the cloud, that’s not important right now. The Cloudsdale Sky Patrol is on it, so it’s nothing to worry about,” Shining Armor assured the ponies. “What is important right now is that there’s trouble in the horizon.”

“Oh great. Last time we heard that, we had a dark mare of legends in our hooves,” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“And after that, it was a Spirit of Disharmony.” Applejack nodded with similarly sour expression.

“Ooh! Don’t forget about that icky Changeling Queen!” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “She nearly ruined the best wedding in history!”

“Err, it’s not that we’re not willing to help,” Twilight explained to her brother, who looked rather confused. “It’s just that we can kind of expect what comes after hearing something like that. So, what seems to be the problem?”

“It’s nothing as grand as what you’ve faced before. However, it is still very troubling,” Shining Armor said. “You see, a few days ago, a strange messenger arrived from a land that I had never heard of. Apparently, he presented the Princess with a message which she read in private. At that time, both Cadance and I were called back to Canterlot urgently, as if something terrible had happened. During all this, the messenger himself disappeared from the castle, but not a single guard saw him leave. Afterwards, Princess Celestia ordered that the amount of patrols on the areas of Canterlot and Ponyville be doubled.”

“That’s it? A strange letter arrived and suddenly the amount of guards skyrockets?” Twilight asked, having clearly expected something far worse.

“That’s not all, I’m afraid. It’s not being announced to the public, but after that letter, Princess Celestia seemed… surprisingly stressed. She paces around the Canterlot Castle with an odd look in her eyes, and even refuses to confide to her own sister, Princess Luna. Whatever was in that letter must have shocked her pretty bad,” Shining Armor continued. “Thanks to Princess Celestia’s behavior, the whole castle is on edge, and the ponies are growing restless. And it’s starting to affect the city, too. Although there is clearly a problem, the ponies are confused as to why the Princess hasn’t called the Elements of Harmony to ‘fix it’, as usual. This has sparked some rather nasty arguments between certain groups, and it’s clear that the political situation is not the best at the moment.”

“In other words, Princess Celestia is increasing the security, which makes the ponies of Canterlot nervous. But since there is no clear problem to fix or an enemy to defeat, crowds start trying to find somepony to blame, is that right?” Rarity asked, and when Shining Armor nodded, she gave a tired sigh. “That seems very troublesome indeed.”

“Ah know Princess Celestia’s just tryin’ to protect our normal lives. That’s why we haven’t been called to the rescue, Ah suppose,” Applejack commented.

“Oh… oh no. Is the situation really that bad?” Fluttershy asked with nervous eyes, her gaze shooting from one corner of the room to another.

“Calm down, calm down. I know I might have made it sound horrible, but it’s not that severe yet. What I mean is that this sort of anxiety is starting to slowly spread to some groups, and that we have to be careful,” Shining Armor hurried to explain. “However, as long as Princess Celestia is not acting like herself, her stress will eventually take a hold of the citizens, too. That’s why I came to warn you. To make sure what sort of situation possibly lies ahead of us.”

“Thanks, Shining Armor. You truly are the best big brother a pony could hope for,” Twilight said and gave a hug to her brother. “It’s good to know that even though it’s your honeymoon, you’re still ready to help your sister and her friends if there’s trouble.”

“Of course, Twilie. What did you expect?” Shining Armor asked with a mild grin. Then, as if remembering something, his eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s right! There was another thing I needed to ask your help with, since you know so much about history.”

“Another thing?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Here. Take a look at this.”

Shining Armor carefully picked a folded note from inside of his armor, and spread it to the table so that everypony could see what was drawn on it. The contents were surprising, to say the least. The symbol on the paper had clearly been drawn in a hurry, but it was still fairly clear. A piece of charcoal had been used to draw a triangle pointing downwards, with a strange symbol in its center. The symbol was a one long vertical line with a 45-degree hook pointing downwards from the top. To most of them, it looked like an upside-down hook.

“What do you think about it?” Shining Armor asked Twilight. “The messenger I saw had this symbol on his front leg. I’m not sure what it means, but I know you might.”

“Well, the downwards pointing triangle is easy,” Twilight answered, while quickly bringing forth different books from the shelves with her magic. “That’s an old symbol used in alchemy. Alchemy was an old form of magic used by the unicorns in ancient times, as a crutch to help them with their own unicorn magic. It was focused mostly on alteration and transmutation, with some focus on brewing different potions, not so much different from what Zecora does. Though I think Zecora’s brewing techniques come from the south-”

“Err, Twi? What ‘bout the symbol?” Applejack reminded her friend. Twilight, realizing he had gone off the tangent, gave a sheepish smile and nodded.

“Oh, right. Well, this downwards pointing triangle is actually the alchemic symbol for water. That in turn is associated with alchemic element of mercury. So I guess the triangle here means water, or the element of water,” Twilight explained and then turned her attention to the symbol inside the triangle. “This other symbol though… I have no idea. It looks like a rune, but I do not have lot of information about runes, especially foreign ones. On the top of my head, it does remind me of runes used in Coltic Lands. Let’s see…”

Twilight’s magical aura snatched multiple books from the shelves and she began going through their contents with surprising speed. Her eyes scanned a page after page, trying to find anything that could have indicated the meaning of the mysterious rune. However, despite her fervent search, no clues whatsoever appeared before her eyes, leading to more and more books being pulled quite roughly from the shelves.

“Oh! I know what this rune means! Just look, it’s like an upside-down “L”, isn’t it?” Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted. “That must means it’s the signature of Princess Luna’s evil sister, Ssecnirp Anul!”

“Pinkie, Princess Luna’s name doesn’t actually contain ‘Princess’ in it,” Twilight answered dryly. “Not to mention that we know who Princess Luna’s sister is. And if she had turned evil, that would bring forth a whole new can of worms I don’t even want to think about.”

Suddenly, Twilight’s eyebrows shot up, and a strange gleam appeared in her eyes. She quickly reached for a book that laid on the whole other side of her library, and brought it before her eyes. The purple unicorn opened the book on a specific page, clearly having a good idea of what she was looking for. And only few seconds later, Twilight let out a triumphant cheer and put the book down to the table in front of her.

“Thanks, Pinkie! You actually gave me a rather important clue,” Twilight patted her friend on the back. “You see, this rune’s name really did start with an ‘L*. From what it looks like, this rune is part of the runic alphabet called Futhorc, which consists from about 33 runes. It originates from around the Coltic Lands, just like I had suspected. The name of the rune itself is ‘Lagu’, and it means ocean. So this would mean that the tattoo the stallion had depicted the alchemic symbol for the element of water, with the rune of ocean inside it.”

“Well, that certainly sounds fishy, if I may say so,” Rarity commented. “Whatever do you think it means?”

“It does combine two symbols that are completely unrelated to each other, so it hardly has anything to do with actual unicorn magic. I’d venture a guess that this tattoo was just the insignia or the emblem of whatever force the soldier belonged to,” Twilight theorized. Her brother nodded in agreement.

“That sounds logical. From what I saw, the messenger was an earth pony, and he would have little to do with unicorn magic,” Shining Armor said. “But somehow, it doesn’t exactly ease my worries.”

“Well, what else can you tell us about the soldier?” Twilight asked. “What did he look like? What sort of pony was he?”

Shining Armor momentarily descended into a deep thought. When he finally raised his eyes to meet the group of friends, there was something strange in their glassy depths, as if Twilight’s brother had not been looking back at only the soldier, but at something else.

“On his back he bore a red lance, and his leather armor was inscribed with runes of protection. But even without those it was obvious that he was unlike the soldiers of Equestria. While we act in legions, this stallion was clearly somepony who did not need a squad. I could tell from how he walked and carried himself,” Shining Armor began his explanation. “I can only think of one group of warriors were like that. The Fianna. They are a single standing army that consists of many smaller groups of warriors, who act in the lands north-west of Equestria.”

“A-are they dangerous? I mean, what you said makes them sound pretty cool, but I’ve heard lots of nasty rumors about Coltic Lands,” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Very dangerous. Their warriors are so fast and agile that they make us look like we were standing still, and although their unicorns have only limited ability in magic, they are usually extremely powerful. You could very well call them the product of their environment, the unforgiving Coltic Lands. Although they lose when it comes to the size of their army, it is clear that one-on-one, the members of Fianna have the upper hoof,” Shining Armor concluded.

“Hold yer horses,” Applejack suddenly cut into the conversation. “If ya know so much ‘bout the soldier and his background, how come ya don’t know which country he’s from?”

“That’s exactly the weird part,” Shining Armor said and frowned, mostly to himself. “That soldier had made it clear that he was not in Canterlot under the orders of the leader of Fianna, nor did he represent the Coltic Lands in general. Somepony else was behind that letter, and he had hired this one warrior to deliver it for him.”

“So, even if we find more about this soldier, we are still back at square one,” Twilight said. “I don’t like it, but I guess we’ll have to accept it. Thanks for stopping by though, Shining Armor. Now that we know all this, it’s easier to take precautions for whatever might happen.”

“Hey, what are big brothers for?” Shining Armor said with a grin and ruffled Twilight’s mane.

At that moment, the ponies began to hear the sound of pouring rain from outside. Raindrops fell to the ground at an increasing pace, signaling that the raincloud that they had been studying previously had just arrived.

“Alright, Ah think that’s our cue. Let’s head back home, everypony, before we’ll end up wet as weasels,” Applejack suggested.

“Yeah. I think that’s the cloud we’ve been researching the whole day,” Twilight said with a tired smile. “Looks like it didn’t bring anything but rain with it after all. So let’s call it a day, shall we?”

Needless to say, everypony agreed to her proposal. They had been doing a whole lot of thinking the whole day, and everypony was at least somewhat tired. The drizzle was quickly gaining more power, and soon it would be a full-blown rainstorm. This meant that if the ponies wanted to get back home before the full force of the rain was upon them, they would have to hurry.

The ponies said quick goodbyes, and then headed out, everypony to their own direction. Shining Armor advised everypony to move in pairs just to be safe, and so Applejack and Fluttershy headed towards the edge of the town. Rarity and Pinkie Pie followed them soon, their target being the center of the town where they lived. Only Rainbow Dash was left without somepony to accompany her, but for somepony with wings, getting back home fast wasn’t a problem. Thus, only Twilight and Spike were left at the library. And for them, sleep was the next logical course of action.

And so, the rain-beaten yard of the Golden Oaks Library was eventually swallowed by silence, covered in the dark shadows of the clouds above. A place without a single soul in sight, completely abandoned, now that the activity of the day was over. In the middle of the small torrential rain that was developing in the area, nothing else moved but the drops of water that battered the ground, turning it into muddy plain that would cause a lot of trouble for the next day.

That is, if the rain wasn’t already doing something worse.

It was clear that what started as a gentle drizzle that only licked the coats of the ponies was now turning into quite the powerful rain, one that was pounding the rooftops of Ponyville with surprising force. Inside their homes, some ponies even woke up to the sound of the water pummeling the earth, before either going back to sleep or placing buckets under whatever leaks that might have been in their ceiling.

There was no thunder. No wind. Just constant, powerful rain. Nopony had ever experienced a downpour like this before.

But in the end, they thought nothing of it. After all, none of them ventured outside to the vicinity of the town square. And it was because of that, that none of them heard the chuckle, a sneering low laughter that seemed to reverberate from one raindrop to another.

And they definitely did not hear the voice as it started speaking.

“Hmh. Such a peaceful place. How can anypony actually live in a town like this?” the disembodied voice, dripping with sarcasm, asked to no one in particular.

It was then that something moved amidst the rain. Or rather, something was being born. The rain formed four small puddles that were unnaturally close to each other. More and more water fell into the puddles, making them grow quickly. They extended straight up in the air in unnatural way, forming first four powerful legs, then a sleek body of a warrior and a breastplate that protected it. Then came the thick neck and the head with jagged features. A sharp, spiraling horn, and a long, rain-licked mane.

Like poured water filling a glass, the rain filled up and created a tall stallion right in the middle of the town square.

He was dark blue in color, and the mark on his flank depicted a raging ocean that seemed to try to swallow everything into its depths. Everything in him seemed to reflect the rain from which he was born, like some sort of absurd reflection in a mirror.

The stallion’s tail and mane, both of light blue color, were wet from the rain and stuck against his coat, but it did not seem to bother the stallion. In fact, it did not seem that he cared much about his style in any way. The way his mane had not been cut in a long while made him seem far more barbaric than any of the stallions one usually saw in Equestria.

As the stallion moved forward, his armor was hit by the raindrops, creating the only sound that could be heard as he silently made his way through the rain.The breastplate that protected his chest, along with the shoulder pads, were made from leather, and fashioned to pronounce the already muscular form of the stallion.

“So those were the ponies that are supposed to represent the Elements of Harmony? Hah! Give me a break,” the stallion cackled as his ocean green, merciless eyes scanned his surroundings. “Such a bunch of idiots. None of them could even sense me.”

The stallion cracked his neck while taking a step forward. Every move he made felt calculated and agile. The stallion was more like a dangerous beast hunting for prey than any regular pony. He moved silently and swiftly on the streets of Ponyville, heading for one specific place.

“But who knows? Perhaps I can have some fun while I’m here. Why not put them to a test?” the stallion said and stopped.

He had gotten to the target he had searched for. A predatory grin spread upon the stallion’s face. Forms other than him began rising from the puddles created by the rain, like hunting-dogs answering their master’s call.

“Well then. Let’s see how you ponies handle the challenge of Cleitus the Black,” he said, referring to himself.

The green eyes narrowed as they focused on his prey: Golden Oaks Library.