A/N: This is just a story I found while digging through the deep dark depths of my backpack. It's my first attempt at writing in the third person so any feed back on how I'm doing would be greatly appreciate. Curiosity on how well this story would do is the main reason that I'm posting it. Enjoy mis amigos! If it does well then expect more!

It was a moonless night in Ponyville. A cool breeze blew across the desolate streets and with walked a stallion. His coat matched the darkness of the darkest shadows, some say it was as devoid of color as the darkest voids of space. His mane was just as dark and a streak of astral purple, specks of white gave his mane the illusion of stars in the night sky.

He was appropriately named Shadow Shield, for stayed submerged in the darkness of night except for when he needed to purchase the bare essentials for survival. The pegasus never had a permanent home, he slept in random clouds during the day to avoid encountering others. During the day he would do nothing but laze about in the clouds, sleeping and daydreaming. But his nights were spent patrolling all of Equestria, protecting the innocent and punishing those who would use the darkness of night to commit crimes.

The stallion of darkness meandered his way around the small town before coming across a bench that gave him the motivation to take a break. How dull, he thought, this town has no fun for me to have tonight. Though I guess that is a good thing for a change. He scanned the street he was on when his eyes caught a tree growing in the middle of the street. What the buck? The pegasus hopped off the bench and started to approach the strange tree. As he came closer he realized that it was not just a tree but some kind of library. OH, YAY books! he said internally, the concept of books lifting his mood.

Shadow gently tried to open the door, however it didn't budge. Well at least someone in this town is smart enough to lock their doors at night. Wouldn't want any of the terrible creatures of the darkness to get inside hehe. Chuckling at his own joke the night dweller took a lock pick from his saddle bag. It took him a matter of seconds to pick the lock. This time when he pushed on the door it swung open with ease. The stallion was annoyed to find that the library seemed to have somepony living inside, alongside a dragon, if the gems on the table was anything to go by.

Quietly Shadow walked around reading the names of the books that lined the walls. Whenever he saw a book that peaked his interests he would pluck it off the shelf and tuck it under his wing for safe keeping. Eventually he looked out the window as he reached for another book and was mortified to find the sun peaking above the treeline. He frantically withdrew a piece of parchment from his saddlebag and began to scrawl an apology to whomever lived in and kept the library. In his letter he explained that he planned on returning each of the books he had taken after he had finished reading the. He included a list of the titles he had taken, as well as promising that the books would be returned to the library in the condition they were in when her 'borrowed' them. He set the note on the table and flew out the door just has he heard a yawn from upstairs.

Twilight Sparkle awoke with a rather loud yawn. Gathering herself for the long day of studying ahead of her she got out of her bed and walked down to the before she could reach the fridge a cool breeze ruffled her already chaotic mane. Turning around she found that the door was swinging in the breeze, wide open and unlocked.

"Spike!" she yelled.

The baby dragon stumbled down the stairs as he yawned his reply "Yes, Twilight?"

"Did you forget to close the door last night?" asked the lavender alicorn.

"No, I closed it before we went to sleep. I even made sure to lock it," Spike answered looking proud of himself.

"Then why is the door open?" she asked dumbfounded.

Spike's eyes widened as he stared at the door hanging ajar. His eyes scanned over the room and he immediately began to notice numerous books missing from the shelves, however he failed to notice the letter resting on the table directly behind him. "Twilight," he breathed, "I think we've been robbed."

"But, who would want to steal from a library? There isn't anything here of real value."

"Well then you explain the missing books, and the lock picks under the door."

Realization of the truth hit Twilight like a freight train. "Spike, lets go get the girls and see if we can find this thief."

"All right! We get to go on a ponyhunt!" Spike shouted excitedly.

The thief in question was snoozing lazily on a cloud just above Twilight's library when the sound of a slamming door startled him to wakefulness. Shadow flopped over reluctantly and peered over the edge of the cloud. He was stunned to see a lavender alicorn storm out the library with a baby dragon close in her wake, and she looked furious. They must not have seen my note. He sighed inwardly. Oh well, I just have some fun with this. He thought as he rolled back over and let the warm rays of sunlight warm himself as he fell into slumber.