The panic in the streets of Ponyville had mostly quietened, but there was still a layer of dread and doom on the shoulders of everypony. There had been rumours of Nightmare Moon's return on everypony's lips, especially with the arrival of Princess Celestia's star student to the town, but nopony had actually expected the rumours to hold some truth. Despite the long night of parties and celebration for the Summer Sun event, there was nopony even trying to get some sleep, the concept of everlasting nighttime resting heavily on their minds.

One stallion, however, was not suffering such insomnia. He had, in fact, just woken up. He sat up in his bed, stretched his legs and yawned, before glancing to the clock on his wall. It had just passed seven 'o clock.

Ugh, he thought, groggily climbing out of bed, one sleepless day of research and study and my sleeping pattern goes to hay. Stealing myself some lunch is gonna be tricky in broad daylight.

He trotted over to his dresser, performing the one check he ever did when he woke up - examining his own cutie mark. Relieved, he saw that it was the same shape as yesterday - a perfect circle, bordered top and bottom by two parallel lines, with a small cross in its center. No change, he thought, giving a cursory look to his mane before moving from his mirror. I've been in Ponyville two months, and no change at all. I think that's a new record. As usual, he didn't bother opening the curtains on his shabby, wooden windows, instead using the slight embers that remained in his fireplace to light the one torch in his house, which flickered into life, lighting up the single-floored, single-roomed shack. Again, as usual, he glanced around the dull, lifeless room and sighed. Two months may be a new record, but two months in this dump is nothing to sing about. Noticing his near-bare food cupboard, with only one apple gracing its shelves, he sighed again. Grabbing the apple and consuming it in one huge bite, he went to sit at his desk, brushing the books and scrolls onto the floor, looking for his list.

Even a scatterbrain like Ditzy Doo is gonna catch on if I keep stealing from her, he thought, finding his list and running his eyes down it, looking for a new mark. Worst comes to worst, I'll go get some more apples from that farm, they've got plenty tos pare.

His eyes wandered from the list to one of the books he'd brushed away. Seeing its cover, he made another sad sigh, before going back to the list.

:::::::::::::::::::

"The last known location of the Elements of Harmony is the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters..." Twilight Sparkle gulped, after seeing the next few words on the page. "...in the Everfree Forest." she said, finishing her sentence.

"THE EVERFREE FOREST?"

Twilight jumped at the synchronised yell, turning to the five ponies that had followed her into her library.

"Yes, it's a scary place, but this is a library, and there's no need to shout." Twilight said, looking at the slightly nervous ponies.

"Sorry, Twilight, but, well, it's the gosh-darned Everfree Forest, for pony's sake!" Applejack said. "Y'all know the stories around that place, dont cha?"

Rarity nodded. "Yes, something about nopony ever returning alive? I've always had that down as an old mare's tale, but..." She paused, and looked at her hooves. "That forest is awfully...weird, for want of a better word."

"Yeah, the weather there makes itself!" Rainbow Dash said, now hovering slighty from the ground. "Me and the other pegasuses haven't touched it, but all the clouds move on their own!"

"The animals there are strange as well," Fluttershy said, blushing once she realised that all eyes were now on her. "They, um, they take care of themselves," she continued, her voice quietening slighty. "I tried helping them like I help the animals in Ponyville, but, um, they don't like that."

"You guys are worried about animals and clouds?" Pinkie Pie chimed in, bouncing on the spot. "What about all the MONSTERS? There's hydra and dragons and snakes and ents and demons and bats and trees and big ugly snails and ghosts and..."

"Alright, Pinkie, settle down," Applejack said, putting her hooves on Pinkie's shoulders, stopping her bouncing. "There aint no need in scarin' us more than necessary, 'specially if were gonna be going in there tonight."

Twilight saw all of the ponies nod their heads at Applejack's last statement, and gave them a confused look. "Wait, you guys wanna come along too?" she said. "I should be able to handle this on my own, and I wouldn't want to put anypony else in danger."

Applejack shook her head. "I aint letting no friend o' mine go in that place on their own, an' I'm sure everypony else here would say the same." she said, the rest of the ponies nodding again.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed, now swinging her hooves at an imaginary opponent. "I could take anything in that forest single-hoofedly, so with six of us this'll be a walk in the park!"

"Um, more like a walk in a really, REALLY scary forest." Fluttershy said, her voice barely audible.

Twilight looked at the five ponies. The word "friend" had made her shudder, but the thought of wandering through the forest on her own was a daunting one. She nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, everypony. It's very generous of you to offer your assistance." She turned back to The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide, using her horn to turn the pages. "I'm gonna do a bit more research before we go in there. If you need to get supplies, go get them now, we'll leave in twenty minutes."

She heard the sound of hooves on he wooden floor, before hearing a different sound - the sound of a knock at the door. Applejack was closest to it, and opened the door to reveal the sweating, panting form of Ponyville's Mayor.

"Hello...Applejack..." she said, between gasps. "Is...Twilight...Sparkle...here?"

"Hey, Miss Mayor, she's over at her desk.", Applejack replied. "Is something wrong? Y'know, besides Nightmare Moon's return an' all."

The Mayor collected herself, pushing her spectacles back into position. "Well, I just saw Twilight run like the clappers after...what happened." she said, trying not to relive the last hour of dread. "I figured she must have known what was going on, her being the Princess' start student."

Twilight turned from her book, looking at the Mayor. "Yes, Mayor, I know what's happening." she said, a hint of worry in her eyes. "I actually suspected it would happen about a day ago. I've got a plan though. Girls," she said, her eyes moving to the ponies waiting at the door. "Go get what you need, I'll tell the Mayor what we're planning on."

Four of the five ponies nodded, trotting through the still open door, but Applejack remained. "If y'all don't mind, I'd like to stay and hear what the Mayor has to say. I don't need nuthin' for the trip, to be honest."

The Mayor nodded. "That's fine, Applejack. Clearly you girls are all in this together." She turned to Twilight. "So, what's happening?"

Twilight closed her eyes. "Well, I'm sure you know the tale of the Mare in the Moon, Mayor, so I won't repeat it. But to defeat Nightmare Moon, we need to go and find the Elements of Harmony. They're somewhere in the Everfree Forest, according to my books."

The Mayor sighed. "Yes, that's what I've read too. I figured that was your plan." She looked at Twilight with concerned eyes. "It's very dangerous going in there, Twilight. I won't stop you but...I think it might help if you go with someone who's been in there before."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "But I thought that anypony that tried had never returned?"

Shaking her head, the Mayor replied, "That's just a story we tell to protect the fillies, to stop them wandering in there. Quite a few ponies have been in the forest and returned to tell the tale, although...well, let's just say, most of the time? It's a tale they don't want to tell."

Twilight nodded. Undeterred by the otherwise harrowing statement, she pressed on. "Well, I assume that you have somepony in mind to accompany us then?"

The Mayor nodded. "Yes, a young stallion, in fact. He lives in that old shack, near the road to Sweet Apple Acres."

"Wait a gosh-darned minute," Applejack interrupted, confused. "Nopony's lived in that shack for years! I checked it myself, about three months ago!"

"He's only been in Ponyville for two months," the Mayor replied, before she corrected herself. "Well, this time it's been two months. He comes and goes quite a bit."

"And he's been in the forest?" Twilight asked.

"Probably." the Mayor responded, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not sure, but he told me he'd been, well, everywhere, as unbelievable as that sounds. Even if he hasn't, though, he'd be a useful addition to your quest."

"So how comes I aint never heard of this guy?" Applejack said, the confused look still on her face. "I've lived here for years, I know everypony in this town!"

"He keeps a...low profile." the Mayor said, not looking at either of the two ponies. "He fixed a, um, small problem a while back. In return he asked for a house he could use whenever he wanted, and my word that I wouldn't tell anypony that he was here. I gave him what he asked for. I was suspicious, of course," she continued, seeing Applejack's disapproving look, "But he did me a big favour, and I never like to owe anypony something for too long."

There was a silence before Applejack spoke again. "He don't sound all that trustworthy to me, Miss Mayor."

"I'm not forcing you to ask for his help but...it wouldn't hurt to go ask him. He has a bit of a reputation around Equestria for, um, solving problems, and I think you'll agree that this is quite the problem."

Twilight nodded in agreement, intrigued at the concept of a stallion with a "reputation", as the Mayor had said, but with the ability to be a complete unknown on the streets of Ponyville. "Well," she said, "It would be useful to have someone who at least knows his way around the forest. It's a big place, who knows how long it would take us to find the Ancient Castle?" She looked at Applejack, still seeing a slight look of disapproval on her face.

"Don't worry, Applejack." she said, trying to give a comforting look. "There's no harm in knocking at somepony's door. If he seems too...shady, we don't have to take him with us."

Applejack shrugged. "I s'pose your right, Twi'." she said. "If we're going to see him, we'd best move our hinds, we don't wanna leave the other girls waiting."

Twilight nodded, using her horn to close the book, and moving it back onto the shelf.

"There shouldn't be a problem, Applejack." The Mayor said, heading to the door with the two ponies. "He's friendly enough, as long as you don't ask about...well, about himself. He tends to get a bit defensive."

Twilight nodded again. "It's none of our business if he wants to keep himself to himself, Mayor. But I'm sure we can get him to help us. Nopony likes the idea of eternal nighttime."

As they exited the library, the Mayor laughed. "Actually, he'd probably quite enjoy it. Let's just say...he's a more of a night pony than most."

:::::::::::::::::::

The stallion inside the shack had long forgotten about his ever-increasing hunger, and had yet again been distracted by his book. A lot of his waking hours had gone this way, sometimes to the extent of him spending his entire day reading, before going to bed, only to wake up and start reading again. It was a book he had read hundreds, if not thousands of times, but he knew there was something left to learn, some secret within the pages left to uncover, something that could help his predicament.

I could probably recite this book word for word, he thought, sighing. But there must be something I've missed. Something that can stop...

His thoughts were distracted by a knock at the door. He froze in his seat, instantly assuming the worst, but he realised quickly that a knock at the door was not a moment for panic. It was certainly a moment for confusion, however. Nopony knew that this shack was occupied, but logic dictated that anyone polite enough to knock must at least suspect that there was someone to answer.

He got out of his chair and walked slowly to the window, pulling the curtains apart slightly to get a look at the two ponies stood outside his door. A violet unicorn, and an orange earth pony, he thought. Well, the earth pony is Applejack. Or Applebloom. Well, someone from the Apple family. But I don't recognise that unicorn. He quickly moved from the curtain, looking at his list again, but finding no trace of any unicorn like the one outside his door. She's not on the list? She must be new in town. Well, he thought, trotting over to his door, and smiling. I suppose I'd better be a good neighbour and introduce myself.

::::::::::::::::::::

After what felt like an age, the door in front of Twilight Sparkle on Applejack finally opened, revealing the stallion that the Mayor held in such high regard.

He was, as the Mayor had said, quite a young stallion, maybe a year or two older than Applejack and Twilight, but Twilight could sense that this pony had experience far more than his years seemed to allow. His coat was a vibrant, blood red, similar to Big Macintosh's, but its vibrant colour didn't hide the sizeable scar, extending almost entirely across his left side. His mane was jet black, long, and unkempt - this stallion clearly cared not for hairdressers. Twilight's eyes, however, had lingered at the stallion's cutie mark. It matched the colour of his mane, but its odd shape was what caught Twilight's eye. A circle, two lines and a cross? she thought. Not many ponies have such a simple cutie mark. And I could swear I've seen that symbol before. She pushed the thought away, preparing to introduce herself.

"Hello, sir," she said, her royal etiquette dictating her words. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to request..."

"Twilight Sparkle?" the stallion said, glancing quickly around the area, not registering that the early morning sky was still pitch black. "Beautiful name. Quickly, come inside, don't want anypony seeing me." He turned and walked into his house. Applejack and Twilight glanced at each other, before following him in.

Twilight was shocked to see that the one room she could see was the entirety of the shack's contents, confused as to how anypony could live in such a dilapidated place. The wooden walls were rotting in places, and the one torch barely lit up the room at all, only serving to make an ominous glow on the few pieces of furniture - only a bed, a desk, and a cupboard populated the floor, with most of the stallion's possessions littering the floor.

"Before you request anything, sweetheart, I want to know how you found me here."

She turned to the stallion's voice, seeing him sitting at his desk.

"Uh, well, the mayor told us," Twilight stammered, caught off guard by the word "sweetheart". "She said you could, er, help us out with something."

The stallion sighed. "Well, the Mayor doesn't seem like one to break a promise," he said, turning to face the ponies, "So, this must be something quite serious." His voice was fairly deep, which didn't quite fit his youngish body, but Twilight was more interested in the accent - it was like none she'd ever heard, almost like it was a combination of all the accents she'd ever heard from the multi-cultural streets of Canterlot.

"Yes, it is serious." Twilight continued, regaining her composure. "The Mayor said you might be able to help us, Mister...?" She paused, waiting for the stallion to fill the gap.

He placed a hoof to his chin, thinking for a second, before speaking. "You can call me Quinn." he said.

"You had to think about that? You forgot your name or sumthin'?" Applejack said, grinning.

"Well," Quinn said, looking at the earth pony with an unreadable expression, "It's one of five names I go by, so I had to remember which one was the right one for this situation."

"Y'all got five names?" Applejack responded, raising an eyebrow. "How come?"

Quinn smiled. "In my line of business, it helps to carry more than one identity." he said.

"And, just whut line of business would that be?" Applejack said, her eyebrow still raised.

Quinn's smile vanished, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "My line of business is to tell nosy earth ponies to mind their own business." he said, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

Applejack opened her mouth to respond, but was stopped by Twilight's voice.

"Well then...Quinn...I'm sure you've noticed that the sky is still dark, even at this time in the morning?"

The stallion's eyes widened, before going to the window and peering through the curtains, confirming Twilight's statement. "Well, actually, I hadn't noticed." Quinn said, shrugging. "I usually wake up at night, so I didn't really notice." He looked back at the unicorn. "You wanting me to fix the sky? Because, y'know, I actually quite prefer it like this." he said, grinning.

"There's only one person who can fix the sky, and she's...gone."

"Celestia, right? Well, I'm sure she was partying last night just like everyone else. Royalty need to have fun too, y'know. She's probably just overslept, I hear she can't exactly take her drink." Quinn's grin widened. "I can tell you that from experience, actually."

Twilight frowned. "No, she's not...hungover," she said, shuddering at the thought of her mentor being even slightly drunk, "She's disappeared. You honestly didn't know? You weren't at the Summer Sun Celebration?"

Quinn shook his head. "Like I said, I prefer the night. No point celebrating the sun with that attitude, is there?" he said, his grin still wide on his face. "I'm sorry, but are you here to request my assistance or gossip about drunken royalty? If you've got something you want, do get on with it, I'm a very busy stallion." He turned back to his desk, sitting and re-opening his book.

Twilight was confused as to exactly how Quinn could possibly be doing anything noteworthy in this shack, but she pressed on. "Okay, well, long story short, Princess Celestia disappeared, and Nightmare Moon, the Mare in the Moon, crashed the main celebration. Me, Applejack here, and a few more of my... friends...are going into the Everfree Forest to find the Elements of Harmony, to try and stop her, and it might be useful if we have someone with us who knows their way around it. According to the Mayor, that's you."

If Twilight could see Quinn's face, she would've seen his eyes widen in shock. Nightmare Moon? he thought, his mind racing. Everfree Forest? Elements of Harmony? Has it really been a thousand years since...

He shook the thoughts away. Pull yourself together, he thought, trying to adopt an uncaring look. He turned back to the ponies.

"So...you want a guide?" he said, trying to imply that such a job was beneath him. "This isn't some tour of the palace, y'know, this is ACTUAL danger. Braving that forest to try and find a possibly mythical weapon to take down an immortal goddess? You need more than a guide, ladies. You need a miracle."

Twilight's frown grew. "Well, we were told you were a stallion that could solve problems. Are you saying you can't solve this one?"

Quinn looked at the two ponies, taking in their looks of determination. They're actually serious. This could be the answer to all my problems! But I can't let them know that...hmm, I know.

After a pause, Quinn finally responded. "It's not can't. It's won't." he said, seeing the ponies' faces fall. "Yes, I solve problems, and yes, I could probably help you out on the way through the forest. But if your plan is to take on Nightmare Moon, then my first instinct is to get as far away from you as possible. No offence, but there's no way such a powerful force is gonna get stopped by six random fillies from a town like Ponyville."

This time, it was Applejack who cut off Twilight's response.

"Now wait just a cotton-pickin' minute, mister!" she said, angrily. "I aint gonna let you talk about mah friends like that! You've been here two months and haven't talked to anypony here! You don't KNOW us! So don't y'all go acting like ya do!"

Quinn smiled. "Your name's Applejack, right?" he said. "You live up on Sweet Apple Acres. You live with your brother, a crimson earth pony called Big Macintosh, and your little sister Apple Bloom, a pony so young as to not yet have a cutie mark. You also live with your grandmother, Granny Smith, and you just had a big family reunion. You buck apples from the trees, perhaps better than anypony in this town could, and you also sell apples at the market every so often. When you were younger, you took a trip to Manehatten to try living with your upper-class relatives, in an attempt to get your own cutie mark, but you couldn't stand the snobiness of them and moved back here quite soon after. You're a dab hoof with a lassoo, and not a bad baker either." He stopped, enjoying the look of slack-jawed shock on the pony's face. "Should I carry on?"

"How...how do y'all know so much about me?" Applejack said, her look of amazement clear on her face.

"Again," Quinn said, grinning smugly. "In my line of business, information carries more power than any weapon could. Give me a name of one of your friends, I'm sure I know just as much about them. But that'll serve less purpose. The point is, I doknow you, Applejack. If I happened to know that Nightmare Moon is weak to a good buck to the shins, then I'd be on this expedition like red on rice. But I think we both know that isn't the case."

Twilight and Applejack were both stunned into silence, trying to figure out how Quinn had gathered so much information without anyone even realising. Quinn decided to continue his grandstanding.

"Having said that," he said, leaving a meaningful pause before continuing. "I don't know anything about you, Twilight Sparkle. Even so, I doubt you alone could make this ragtag group of ponies succeed against Nightmare Moon. I admire your audacity, though. If you guys survive this, do be sure to call back and I'll take back everything I said. Meanwhile, well, you can show yourselves out."

Quinn turned back to his book, leaving the two ponies in silence. Seconds passed, the silence still continuing.

"If you didn't realise," Quinn said, not turning, ""You can show yourselves out" was a polite way of saying "get the hay out of my house.""

There was another moment of silence before Applejack spoke.

"FINE! Don't help us. We don't even need your help! All you've done is given me ANOTHER reason to beat this mare, to prove you wrong!" She turned to Twilight. "Come on, Twi', the other girls will be waitin'."

Applejack stormed out, nearly crashing through the old door back into Ponyville. Twilight took one last look at the back of the mysterious stallion, before she followed suit, closing the door behind her.

There was a few minutes of silent trotting, as they headed back to Twilight's library, before Applejack spoke again.

"Who does that guy think he is?" she said, her voice still dripping with anger. "What kinda stallion wouldn't want t'help when all of Equestria is at risk! He's gonna suffer just as much with Nightmare Moon flyin' around. And he's goin' around, researchin' us like were some kind of test subjects! I tell ya, next time ah see that guy, he's getting a face full of..."

Twilight nodded in agreement, but her intrigue about the stallion was dominating her mind. He's a jerk, for sure, Twilight thought, but there's something more to him. What was that scar from? How does he know so much about everypony? And WHERE have I seen that symbol before? Also, how does he know Princess Celestia? He might've been joking when he said she was once...hungover...but I get the feeling he wasn't. Just who IS this guy?

She tried to push the thoughts away, trying to focus on the task at hand. Bottom line is, he's not gonna help us. No point dwelling on it, we've got a job to do.

She sped up, her trot turning into a canter, heading towards her library, Applejack matching her pace.

::::::::::::::::::

Quinn had stayed in his seat after the ponies had left, deep in thought. That was a good enough performance, he thought. That means they'll never suspect me of following them into the forest.

He stood, and rummaged through his pile of possessions, finding his saddlebags, and quickly putting them on. He glanced around his desk, finding his journal, grabbing it with his mouth and putting it in his bag, along with a few pencils. His eyes landed on the book he had been religiously for many years, eventually deciding not to take it with him.

He quickly glanced out of his window, seeing that the ponies had long gone. Trotting to his door, he made his twentieth sad sigh of the hour. Oh, Luna, he thought, sadly. What HAVE you gotten yourself into now? Quinn exited his house, and cantered through the cool night air, towards the Everfree Forest.

Quinn's house was now empty, the torch still flickering, lighting up the cover of the book Quinn had left behind. The words on the cover read: Elements of Harmony, A Reference Guide.