The Ark

  It was Saturday, somewhat around 3 PM. The sky was very cloudy, the air was heavy, it felt like a storm was coming. It was actually making you sleepy. But only some, that didn't have any real duties at the moments, could let Morpheus carry them away. Twilight Sparkle was one of those ponies; she was laying on her bed, in her room in Ponyville library, listening to the sound of wind furiously banging the windows.

It was not any ordinary storm, it was a gigantic cloud which came from Everfree forest. It was rare that a cloud from Everfree forest came to Ponyville,  and all the pegasi did everything to prevent it. But when something as gigantic as this cloud was coming to the town, they could just look and watch.

The lavender unicorn desperately tried to sleep, changing positions every minute, constantly wriggling in her bed searching for comfortable position. But it was no use, the constant banging did not let her rest for a minute. With resignation she magically levitated a book from her table and began to read.

The book was one of Daring Doo series, telling the story of brave pegasus finding the ruins of an old race which lived long before ponies. The volume drew her in and the sleepiness disappeared very quickly. Some time passed, when the unicorn was startled by sound of lightning right outside her window. Twilight jumped terrified and fell off the bed.

   It began to rain. She groaned in irritation as she slowly got up, she looked out the window; The Ponyville streets were empty. Rain drops were falling quickly at the ground, sinking in. In the rain, stood a pony, definitely a stallion in a black coat. He looked like some thief or somepony from a violent cult.  There was something really unpleasant in this pony, other than his posture; He was holding a briefcase in his mouth. To Twilight's surprise he came closer to the library. The unicorn did not want this pony anywhere near the library, who knows what harm he could do?

"That's ridiculous", she thought. "I shouldn't judge ponies just by their looks. Maybe he is just a courier and that briefcase is a package for me? I don't remember ordering anything, but I could just have forgotten about it. There is probably nothing to worry about."

She tried to calm herself, but she was still shaking. She hurried downstairs, she came to the front door and opened it. There was nopony behind them. Only a black briefcase lying on the ground.

"Great job Twilight. He probably was tired of waiting here in the storm for me and just left the briefcase here." She scolded herself but deep inside she was happy that she didn't have to confront mysterious pony.

  Twilight levitated the briefcase closer to have better look at it. That's when she noticed a weird symbol on the front of briefcase, it was engraved on it. Probably with knife or a pair of scissors. It was a big crossed circle. Fear came back to the mare; Whatever that briefcase was, it was not an ordinary delivery. She thought about throwing the package away for a second, but even that she was scared of what could be inside, she was also curious, very curious. She took the briefcase inside and put it on the table. She looked at it for a while, still considering throwing it away and forgetting about it.

"Maybe I should wake up Spike?" She asked herself, but quickly dismissed that idea, Spike would probably be even more scared than her. She should handle it herself, for now.

She examined the black container with her magic, searching for any kind of curse, or maybe a trap-spell. It seemed to be safe. Finally, she slowly opened the mysterious briefcase, carefully, like there was a monster inside that she did not want to free. Inside of the briefcase at first did not seem harmful, there were some books, and a letter written on a light-brown old scroll. She ignored the books deciding to see the letter first. She levitated it closer and began to read.

"Twilight Sparkle.

You have been chosen because of your outstanding intelligence and hunger for knowledge. Do as we say and you or your friends will suffer no harm. DO NOT tell about this to your mentor or you and your friends will suffer consequences. Follow our instructions and keep your actions a secret. Your objective is simple, decode the texts we sent you and track the object known as The Ark. Failure is not an option. We are watching you. Find the ark or suffer death. This is not a joke, if you want proof... well I suggest you should look in your closet."

  Twilight finished reading the letter. The content was clearly threatening. This made her even more nervous than before. She had tons of questions.

Who are these "We" that letter kept mentioning about?

What is The Ark?

Why do they search for it?

Could they really harm her or any of her friends?

She looked at her closet with fear.

"Is there really something in there? How could they put something in here without me or Spike noticing?" More questions raced trough her mind.

She slowly stood up, shaking. As she came closer, she noticed that dripping can be heard. There was definitely something in there. She feared what may be inside but she had to see it, there was no other way. She very slowly opened the door. Her eyes widened as the light slowly filled up the space behind the door, showing her the "proof".

The dripping she heard before, was a sound of blood slowly falling onto the floor from a cut off hoof of a pony.