It was almost Night now or at least it felt like night, it was very dark. Where had all the time gone? Only a few minutes ago the rain was just a little downpour and the sky was sort of bright but all of a sudden the slow rain had turned into a power storm and the sky was completely black as ink. For now, Twilight and Stranger didn't have time to think about the odd weather all they cared about was getting into shelter.
They both galloped towards the tree almost breaking down the door as they reached it. "Well I did say I liked rain but I do have my limits." Stranger said smiling, bad luck and bad weather didn't seam to affect him much.
Twilight on the other hoof was not in such a good mood. She was late on her studies, completely soaked, and she had to let a stranger live with her for who knows how long. Rather, she didn't need to, but she felt it was her duty. Twilight closed the door and looked at herself, she wasn't just wet; she was complete and utterly drenched. It had been a serious cloudburst. As they tried drying themselves, a little purple dragon was running down the stairs shouting. "Twilight, Twilight!" The dragon stalled as he saw the two ponies, looked at them and let out a relieved sigh. "You are never late so I thought something was wrong." He said.
"No need to worry Spike, I just got dragged away by Pinkie Pie, you know how it goes." Twilight said.
"Yeah I know how it goes. But who are you?" He asked Stranger.
"I'm a visitor or rather your new house mate if you want, you choose." Stranger said.
"New house mate! Twilight would you please explain. I don't get it, why does he have to stay with us?" Spike asked with an, I'm not so happy about this, tone.
"Because he's got nowhere else to stay for the night. He just has to stay here for a while, or would you rather have me leave him out in the storm?" Twilight was sounding very convincing. Spike couldn't contradict with that but Twilight figured he would come around sooner or later.
Stranger didn't seem to pay much attention to their conversation; in the meantime he had just helped himself to some books in the library, immersed in the knowledge kept inside the small pieces of paper. "Don't you think you should wait till you've rested? I'm sure the books can wait for you, right now you really need a bath." Twilight said.
"Maybe you are right, it's just been such a long time since I've read a new book, probably years." He said. Stranger put the books back into the bookshelf with his magic and yawned, "But where will I get to sleep? I'm fine with the floor if you don't have extra beds."
"Oh no need to worry, I have an extra bed upstairs, just beside…my bed." Twilight had just about got used to the thought of living with him, but sleeping right next to him wasn't the plan.
Stranger saw the expression on her face, he understood what was bothering her and said, "Great! I'll go up and move it." He said as he went upstairs. He didn't let her know that he knew how she felt about this so he said it like they had planed it from the very start.
Meanwhile Twilight now turned her attention against Spike. "Please try to understand, I don't like this anymore than you do. But this pony knows things, things we can never find out if we just let him go. This is an opportunity for us to learn something about his land, and where he comes from. Information you couldn't find in the Canterlot archives if you searched for a hundred years."
As she had just finished talking, Stranger came down with a floating bed behind him. Twilight couldn't help to be a little impressed as she saw him lifting the bed while walking downstairs. A bed is a bit heavy and is not the easiest thing to levitate, but he didn't even hold eye contact.
"Where should I put it?" he asked
"You can put it in the basement I hope you are okay with that." Twilight hoped.
"Sure, I could sleep on a rock if I had to, wait I did that once…wasn't pleasant."
After struggling a bit with getting the bed through the door he placed it on the floor and looked around in the room. The basement was filled with all kinds of devices and machines for research and studying. And of course it was below the tree so there were a lot of roots in there as well. "I can use all the books I want right?" he yelled to the room upstairs.
"Yes, as long as you treat them properly. The library is paid through taxes so it's free to rent books." Twilight walked down to join him. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay. If there is anything you need just let me know. I'll leave you to get settled"
"Well it's not like I got any luggage except my saddle bag, so I'll just skip straight to that hot bath of yours; if you don't mind that is?" Stranger asked and threw his bag on the bed.
"Oh it's just upstairs on the first floor, or you could just go outside." She joked. Stranger smiled and walked upstairs to find the bathroom.
'I'll give him a day to rest and THEN ask questions.' Twilight thought to herself. But then another thought struck her mind. 'Maybe I could learn something about him by the contents of his saddlebag.' She took a look at the bag. It was just lying there, waiting for somepony to search it. 'I really shouldn't snoop around in other ponies private belongings.' She moved closer. 'Oh what could possibly go wrong? It is just a bag I'm sure he wouldn't mind.' She was now holding the bag in her hoofs. Twilight slowly opened it, but then dropped all its contents down on the floor as she tried to look inside. 'Blasted hoofs!' Just as she predicted, there was the wrapt roll that could be used as a tent and the bedroll Stranger mentioned earlier. What she didn't expect was three equally sized books, each very old, even older than the bag. The books had letters on them Twilight didn't recognize, with details that couldn't have been made by pony hoofs or magic. Actually the details looked like magic, not light, sparkling, and glowing but like they were living and with a magic like shape. Each of the books were locked with an old leather strap around them. The lock somehow looked new but had the same kind of details as the books. The colors were worn out with age, but Twilight could still detect blue, red, green, and light brown. The books were all different in details, color, and design but it was clear they were a set. They were magic, that much was sure. These books were special, very special, as in one of a kind special. They were properly written by he Stranger and properly in his own language.
It took some time for Twilight Sparkle to realize what she had just done, so after staring at them for a while she tried to put the books and his other stuff back with her magic. But the books, however, wouldn't move. They must have had some sort or magic repelling enchantment for protection. Twilight had to move it with her hoofs and once again her predictions were true; the book felt weird as she touched it. It was warm like the skin of a living pony, but as she held it up and observed, forgetting she was about to put it away, it got cold. It got very cold, as if it didn't want to be touched for too long. It began to shake and Twilight knew this was the sign to hurry up so she quickly stuffed all three books back into the bag and threw the bag on the bed. This was getting scary.
Now Twilight was even more curious than before, this could have answered a lot of questions but instead it only brought more questions up; what was written in those books? Were they magic? Why were they locked? Why did they shake when she was holding them? Were they secret? She wanted to know all this but then she would have to admit she looked in his bag without permission. The only way she would ever find out was for Stranger to show it himself… or she could take a second look. In the end curiosity got the better of her, so she decided to look again.
As she was just about to open the bag again the door slammed open. "Ah that sure was a cold bath." Twilight just managed to put the bag back on the bed before Stranger turned his eyes on her. "I know it may be a bit early, but I think I want to sleep now, I see a big day coming up tomorrow." He smiled a tired smile. He was torn out from all the walking.
"I understand, I'll leave you to your snoring." Twilight said, then walked up the stairs, and finally closed the door.
'This pony mean trouble I jus know it. At first he was just secretive but now he was damn right mysterious.' She thought to herself. She went up to her room took a quill some ink and some paper. She began to draw tree equally sized books. It didn't go so well. She is good with a quill when writing and spelling but drawing wasn't her strong side but she was satisfied with the drawing. The unicorn spent some time just starring at it, as if it would somehow answer some of the many questions on her mind. 'Who is this mysterious pony?'
After a while of doing nothing, she turned to her books to find some answers….
8 hours later: 'A whole night, a whole bucking night of nothing!' Twilight slammed her head into one of the all too many useless books. The studious unicorn quickly went through her list:
-The books were magic: check.
-The books were special: check.
-The books must have some kind of history: check.
-That history must have been written down: uncheck.
Not a single one of her books referred to anything of the books description or features. She had searched everything from sophisticated history to lullabies for foals. Twilight felt ridiculous; she had stayed up all night without finding a reference of a hint to what she saw last night.
Just as she was about to pass out; a blue stallion with a tangled mane come up to greet her "Good morning, how did you sleep? Oh!"
Twilight turned her head slowly, she had no need to say how tired she was. "Sleep?" She asked.
Stranger didn't need to ask what had happened, the books on the floor and Twilight's eyes spoke for themselves. He knew she had been studding and what she was trying to find out. "I think its time for you to go to bed"
"I can't sleep now, I have appointments and responsibilities to keep. Spike can't handle all of my chores himself." She said.
"How about we do it like this, you write a list of the things you need done, and I'll take care of it for you while you get your rest." Stranger proposed.
"Are you sure you can do that? I warn you, I have a lot of responsibilities." Twilight warned him.
"You don't need to worry about me doing your work, what you need to worry about is me doing them better than you." He said with a teasing smile.
Twilight draw a little smile. "There no arguing with you is there?" She used her magic to lift a quill and some paper from the nearby table, and began writing a list:
-Rainbow Dash is late with some books; give her a reminder.
-Applejack has an order of apples ready; go get them.
-Fluttershy should have counted this year's population of newborn baby bunnies; get the numbers to the major's office.
-Ask Pinkie Pie for a schedule of the upcoming parties; bring a wheelbarrow.
-Rarity wanted more books about the history of fashion but is too busy with her work to retrieve them herself so I offered to deliver them to her.
"There, that just about covers it. I'm sure Spike can give you directional *yawn* help to where each pony lives or might be. This list is *yawn* relatively short, so you don't have to worry about *big yawn* theee… *bonk*." Twilight head hit the desk.
Stranger rolled eyes and turned off his façade. The understanding and caring smile on his face vanished, and the eyes which before was oh so happy now seamed like a big black and numb hole. It looked like an act from a talented actor who was now playing his role in the theatre. He also seamed to get a little darker and a bit duller; the colours of his mane and coat were the same as before but somehow he didn't fit in to his surrounding colours anymore, that much was sure. Despite this, his eyes only seamed to get more color, they had changed from an innocent distinctive yellow to a lightning like glowing magical orbs that could pierce through any wall or soul; you could almost see the lightning sparking inside. It was like a charm had worn off, leaving his soul without light and filled it into his eyes. From one second to the next, a completely different pony had appeared where the other one had vanished. He picked up the note Twilight had dropped when she fell asleep. "Time to make some friends." He said with a different smile.