The Ark

Twilight screamed, her scream could be heard all over the library. It took her a while to understand that everything she saw was just a nightmare. There was no sing of a boat, there was no sea, no monsters and white creature without a face. Only her in the bathtub full of water. She calmed down a little and dived deeper into practically cold water. Spike knocked on the door.

"Twilight? Is everything okay? I heard you screaming." He said over the door.

"It's okay Spike, I felt asleep in the bath and had a nightmare."

She looked out the small window she had in the bathroom. It was completely dark now.

"Okay Twilight, but remember if something's wrong you can always tell me." Twilight could hear Spike walking away.

Lavender unicorn felt strangely calm. After getting rid of the hand, she could finally think clearly.

"Spike still doesn't know... that's good. I fear for his safety, less he has to do with The Ark, the better." Twilight thought about the letter, the briefcase, the hoof that she did just get rid off. "I should get to decoding the books... but the question remains... who have sent me that briefcase?"

She levitated the towel and came out the bath, wiping her body out of water.

"If they... can kill a pony because of it..." She shook, at the thought that one pony could murder another. "Then maybe I shouldn't give it to them. I don't have much choice right now... but if I find something they might try to contact me again."

She opened the door to the corridor. She lit some candle and came downstairs. The baby dragon was lying in bed but still not sleeping.

"You're not going to bed Twilight?"

"I've had enough sleep now Spike, I think I will go down read something."

Spike didn't say anything, but he was already too tired to say anything. Twilight lit some candle and came downstairs. It was dark, but after casting a simple spell, all the lights lit showing the room, it was acomplete mess. Twilight groaned, the books were everywhere, there were a lot trash lying around, and the whole place looked just dirty. She hated that. But it was no time for cleaning. Twilight knew what she had to do. She quickly levitated the books she got in the briefcase. Opening them all at once and lying them on the table. She carefully studied the alien sings. Making notes on every similarity she found. After some research she stated with satisfaction that she can recognize some letters and words. As she quickly discovered, the language was very similar to magic speech that the spells for unicorns were written in. But the problem was, every book was written in different variant of the language. There were also some really strange grammatical traps, like someone did not want the book to be read. The language was masterpiece. It had a really intelligent construction.  But still it was really hard and different from the pony language. Twilight found out that she can't even speak some of the words properly. Even with her skills it would take a lot of time to decode the whole text. But then one thing struck her.

"This language has a lot of similarities to magic speech. Could there be some mention of the mark in my spell books?"

She took one of her spell books from the shelf. She opened it. Comparing speech helped a little to reveal some mysteries about strange texts. But many of the grammatical rules were different. Actually magic speech seemed like a really poor version of the language from the books. What Twilight noticed after a while is that the word Ark in magic speech, appeared constantly. It was used to create almost every protective spell that she could find. When she looked it up in magic dictionary, she found out that it means "safe".

"Got ya" She smiled. She looked at the window, it was a dawn of a new day.

"Maybe a little break." She thought. "I did not read the last newspaper... I wonder what is happening in Ponyville"

She went to the kitchen and made herself a tea. Her stomach was growling at her but she ignored it. She wasn't in a mood to eat anyways. She levitated the newspaper with her magic and began to read.

"The country is shocked! First murder in Equestria for over 1000 years!"

Said one of the headlines. Suddenly Twilight felt the fear from before, she knew that the murder was connected to her, but she decided to read further.

"Ponyville, usually a calm, small village lying near the capital of Equestria, Canterlot. But in the last weeks, this peaceful village became far less peaceful. It began with disappearance of a farm pony named Caramel. The family reported about this  four days ago. Last time anypony seen Caramel, he was helping the Apple family keeping the crops safe during the great rain from Everfree forest.

"I've told him to go check The Western Fields for the tools, he ran into the rain and BAM! He was gone" Says Applejack from the Apple family.

The royal guards finally found Caramel impaled on a tree, one of his hooves missing. The Princess is shocked and refuses to comment on this situation. Since the Caramel's death, a lot of ponies disappeared without a trace, all seem to have some connection to the farm pony. If you know anything about Caramel or disappearances, please report this information to royal guards."

Twilight breathed heavily. Her heart was beating quicker than before. Not because of fear, but because of guilt. She couldn't help but feel guilty for death of innocent farm pony. She knew that it wasn't her fault, but he died because of her. He died to give her the proof.

"What about Applejack... she could be in danger..." She thought. "No... she is a hostage, even she doesn't know this. She is held alive to force me to search The Ark..."

She thought about all her friends. They were all in danger, just like she was. What will happen when she will find the ark? Will  the oppressors leave them alone? Or will they end just like Caramel?

"For now we are safe... they would kill them only if they became danger to them or to the search... like if they could make a connection between me and..."

She stopped. She knew where this was going. There was one pony that came too close when she was burying the hoof. That pony was in danger. She had to warn her. She ran out the library. It was still pretty dark and Celestia didn't rise the sun completely yet. Most of the ponies were still sleeping, so the town was almost empty. Twilight rushed trough the streets straight to Fluttershy's house. She kicked the door open. The cottage was completely empty.

"No, no, no, no, no!" She screamed to herself. "Where is she?!"

She looked around the whole place. Searching for any trace of the friend. The back door was open. She rushed trough and saw footprints of a chicken and pony leading to Everfree forest.

"She couldn't go in here! That can't be true!" Unicorn followed the trail, she trotted inside the forest. The fear of loosing a friend kept her going trough the dangerous woods. She just hoped that she isn't too late. Then she saw it. A small meadow in middle of the forest. Fluttershy was here, still alive. Twilight heart calmed down a little. But then she noticed, the yellow pegasus was shaking, actually quaking in fear. She ran faster, jumping into the meadow. Knocking down Fluttershy and falling on the ground. She coughed as the flying dirt got in her mouth. She stood up, to see that a white, faceless creature in suit, from her nightmare was standing above them.