Return of the Lord

Sunlight crept in through Twilight's parted curtains, and softly caressed the mare's face, rousing her from sleep. Twilight grumbled, and rolled over onto the other side of the bed: it was far too early for the unicorn to be awake.

Others, however, were already out and about, as Rainbow Dash could be heard outside, swiftly flying around on her weather patrol duties.

As time passed, however, Twilight eventually decided to sit up in bed, groggy, but awake. She reached over to her bedside table, and lifted a book off of it and started to read, for Spike was still asleep in his bed nearby, and Twilight did not wish to awaken him.

Although Twilight would have appeared to be awake to an observer, her mind was still much at rest, and it would take a few minutes before she actually began to activly process what she was reading. With the residue of sleep still filling her eyes, she glanced down quickly at what she was meant to be reading:

V. I. Pegasus's Guide to Strange and Unnatural Cutie Marks from all over Equestria.

Twilight blinked heavily for a second. Why was she reading a book on cutie marks?

As soon as she thought about the subject, however, she was immediatly reminded of her strange encounter the previous night.

Who was that strange pony?

Twilight removed herself from her bed, and taking care to be as quiet as possible, she gradually opened her bedroom door and crept down the stairs to the main library on the ground floor.

She was expecting her unusual visitor to still be asleep, but as she looked around the darkened living room, rubbing her eyes, she could have sworn she saw a figure seated at her studying desk.

A little afraid, she quickly cast a simple telekinesis spell, exerting herself ever so slightly. The spell exacted it's intended purpose, however, and the curtains inside the hollowed tree, that served as the basis of the library's structure, flung open, spilling bountiful amounts of sunlight into the room, illuminating a certain pegasus, who appeared rather alarmed at the sudden explosion of light.

Now that the library was suitably illuminated, Twilight could recognize the slender form of Midnight Feather sitting at the study desk, and she calmed a little.

Much to her surprise, he seemed to be surrounded in books.

If he likes reading so much, maybe we could be friends after all?

"I see you've acquainted yourself with my library," Twilight announced to the pegasus, chuckling under her breath slightly as she saw the rather impressive stack of tomes adjacent to the desk.

"Just some light reading," Midnight Feather replied, only briefly glancing up from his book.

"I'm just going go into town to meet some of my friends, Ok? Spike should be able to answer any questions you have." Twilight responded.

She waited for a reply, but the pegasus merely grunted, deep in thought.

It was early, and Twilight hadn't yet had breakfast yet, but what she had told Midnight Feather wasn't entirely untrue - there was a particular pink maned pony who she particularly wished to talk to about Ponyville's most recent visitor, and she had had a lunch date set for today for quite a while.

Zaros was engaged in the current activity of rather deep thought, as he was reading through an especially interesting tome.

Creatures... that feed on love?

For around the hundredth time that morning, Zaros stumbled across yet another highly interesting packet of information.

He was paying particular notice to anything that could speed up the regeneration of his power, or anything he could possibly manipulate to do so either.

Zaros could have easily used his ability to almost instantly scan and process all the information in the library within a very short space of time, but he was going to be stuck in Equestria for a long time anyway, so he thought he might as well do it the fun way. That wasn't the only reason, however.

That mare isnt weak, and from my observations, pegasi aren't meant to be able to cast magic. I better limit the extent of my power I use, lest I wish to be discovered.

Zaros abandoned his thoughts about Twilight for the time being, however. Zaros had only got a few hours sleep, because although it was useful, he simply didn't need it. He had spent the rest of the morning reading through the books in the library.

He had expanded his knowledge greatly, and he now fully understood each of the different species in Equestrian society, and had also learnt about the function of cutie marks.

In addition to this, Zaros had even read through several editions of Equestrian history books. Zaros was, essentially, prepared for most eventualities that could present themselves as of the current moment.

The baby dragon, Spike, had been avoiding him, and very obviously too, when he had woken up a few minutes prior, but Zaros didnt mind. Truthfully, he was slightly worried that Twilight would evict him from the library, so he continued through his stack of tomes, as after all, knowledge was power.

"Wait?! A new pony in town?!" Pinkie shot out of her seat with boundless energy. "Why did nopony tell me sooner? I have invites to deliver! Come on Gummy!"
Pinkie Pie had been speaking at quite an alarming pace, and then as soon as she had finished, and after scooping up her near motionless pet, immediately shot out the door to invite everyone to Midnight Feather's "Welcome to Ponyville" party.

An unfortunate Twilight had been, for the short duration conversation was being participated in at that table, trying to explain to Pinkie that the pony had only just arrived the night previous, and until that point, Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Applejack had all been having lunch together in Sugarcube Corner.

"Dun worry 'bout it Twi, ah'm sure he's a real nice pony!" Applejack said, comforting Twilight.

"Yes, Applejack, I'm sure he is, but I don't, want him living in my library!"

Applejack looked slightly confused as to why Twilight, her friend, was so scared of this new pony.

"Applejack, are you sure you don't need any help on the farm? Any at all?" Twilight queried.

Applejack started to grow a little annoyed.

"No, Twi, only us Apples can buck them trees proper! I won't have no lazy pegasus on mah farm!" Applejack retorted, briefly thinking of all the times Rainbow Dash has slept in her orchard.

Yeah, but I was never paying Dash, was I?

Twilight looked down at the floor, dejected, and her ears lay flat back against her head.

"Are you sure, Applejack?" Twilight moaned, and Applejack decided to at least give the pegasus a chance.

It could be worse, Applejack thought, She was essentially getting a free worker!

"Ok, but he can sleep in the barn!" Applejack responded, rather aggravated.

Applejack left, and feeling rather weary, Twilight started to trot back to the library, anxious about Midnight Feather's reaction to her decision.

Ah well, at least I won't be sharing the library with a stranger anymore, even if he did like reading.

The scratching of a fountain pen filled the Varrock library with sound as Reldo continued to write notes and annotations on a particularly old book, one of his favourites.

He briefly paused from his task to think about traveling between realms.

Of course, many adventurers transfer between realms everyday, but these transfers were along ancient bridges of sorts, built to allow safe inter realm travel.

What if it was possible to travel between realms without these pre-existing bridges?
And what kind of creatures or gods would lie within?

Reldo returned to his writing, and the sound of pen on paper once more filled the library.

Twilight entered the library to find Midnight Feather still reading. She knew she spent a lot of time reading, but this was ridiculous.

"Midnight Feather?" Twilight inquired.

He glanced upwards, so Twilight continued,

"I have been talking to some of my friends, and I am afraid that you cannot stay at the library anymore..." Twilight shifted uneasily on her feet, before continuing,
"But my friend Applejack told me she had some accommodation for you, but only if you help with the farm work?"

Midnight Feather put down his book and rose from the desk. He then thanked Twilight for her hospitality the night prior, before leaving without another word.

Twilight stood there for a while, a little in shock, before starting to put away the books her visitor had been reading.

She felt horrible about asking that pony to leave, but then again, he'd probably leave in a few days anyway.

At the back of her head, however, Twilight just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something odd about that pony.

Zaros sighed.

Applejack had shown him where the barn was, and his new accommodation, and although it wasn't that great, even with the work schedule Applejack had imposed on him, who'd had Twilight's help to actually make the schedule, Zaros still had plenty of time to try and regain entrance into Gielinor, although it would be hard without a world gate.

Zaros was constantly growing in power, and he had formulated several plans to help him recover quicker.

Zaros was sure that the ponies' faith in the goddesses who ruled Equestria, whom Zaros had read about, was not something he would be able to compete with, meaning that traditional power gain through worship would be hard pushed.

Instead, Zaros planned to travel to Gielinor as soon as possible, in order to build favour with his few remaining followers.

How to get back to Gielinor in the first place, however, would be problematic. Zaros had, however, read of a large, magic library in a nearby city.

If this library contained any divine items, similar to the Stone of Jas or the Staff of Armadyl, then Zaros should be able to amplify his power enough in order to return to Gielinor, provided he could get these items first.

Zaros turned his mind back to the near future again. The pony known as Pinkie Pie had invited many of the town's inhabitants to a party celebrating his arrival.

Zaros saw such an event as rather a waste of resources - better a shining temple, or a glorious conquest, but Zaros guessed that here in Equestria, that didn't really apply.

Maybe this would be an ideal time to try and harness the "friendship" Zaros and sensed, in order to quicken his regeneration?