Battle Ready is the new pony in Ponyville. A peculiar stallion, he has agreed to become Ponyville's temporary librarian while Princess Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike are away. As Ponyville begins to grow accustomed to Battle's odd habits, Twilight's friends can't help but feel that he's hiding something. A stranger from a strange land, there is nothing to be suspicious about a unicorn from a foreign country travelling to Equestria is there? But what about the scars that can been seen across his body? What 'personal tools' has he kept secret in the city vault? And perhaps most importantly, what sort of stallion has a Cutie Mark of a skull on a black shield?