Return of the Lord

Rarity hurriedly rushed into her supply room, before exiting only a short moment later, carrying with her several large sheets of silk and other fabrics.

Using her magic, she carefully set them out and once more looked at her sketch.

Oh, so much to do! How will I ever be able to cope?

Fancypants had sent her a letter a week previous requesting a large amount of bespoke suits and dresses for a fashion show in Canterlot, which was now in a few days. Without delay, Rarity had set to work, but she had quickly fallen behind schedule. Much to Rarity's delight however, she had been promised that if the order was completed she would be able to attend the show, and spend a week in Canterlot with some of Equestria's finest ponies, which would be absolutely wonderful, and she knew the princess would probably provide accommodation for her anyway.

Putting her thoughts aside, she began to stitch together the pieces of fabric that she had cut, guiding the sewing machine and the dress materials with her magic.

She had received the measurements for each pony from Fancypants through the mail, and initially Rarity had been very worried in case Derpy had dropped any of the precious letters, but she soon found all the required information to be present within the envelopes she had been sent, and so she had begun her work immediately.

With utmost caution, she removed the dress from the sewing machine and began to decorate it with sparkling gemstones and laces of gold and silver. Satisfied that the garment looked suitably regal, she adorned a close-by mannequin with its presence. The model had been modified to the precise dimensions of the pony for which this dress was intended, and as soon as it was dressed in the newly fashioned raiment, Rarity was pleased to see that it fitted perfectly.

It's exquisite! Simply divine, a work of art!

Carefully laying the apparel down in a box, filled with more clothes, she slipped the measurements and a label inside a pocket on the dress, so the ponies at the receiving end would be able to distinguish for whom each dress was intended. Whether for better or for worse, Rarity had hired a pony delivery service to transport the clothes over to Canterlot, as she couldn't be expected to carry all those heavy boxes with her on the train, now could she?

She turned around and ticked off another item from the huge list she had been sent, and sighed depressively as she saw how many more she needed to produce.

Oh dear, it seems I shall not be getting any sleep tonight.

Twilight glanced up at the clock and saw it was well past midnight. She tried to ignore the fact she was tired, and she should really be getting to sleep, but she persevered and attempted to carry on reading. Her efforts, however, were in vain as she found herself losing her focus and concentration more and more frequently, and occasionally dozing off for a few seconds. Frustrated, Twilight closed the book and started to put all the books back in their homes on the library's bookshelves.

It had been a couple days since the party, and Twilight hadn't slept since. Instead, she'd been up every single night reading through stacks of books, and it was all because of Midnight Feather.

Twilight couldn't quite place it, but there was something very odd about that pony, from how tall he was, to his weird cutie mark. Twilight had read so many books on the study of cutie marks recently, that she now considered herself quite an expert, and although she was yet to experiment and test this in the field, she was pretty sure she could now successfully identify a pony's special talent nine times out of ten simply by observing their cutie mark, or at least, she was able to work out the examples in the book.

The books she had read had contained countless of these examples, and countless formulas and countless theories also, and Twilight had been surprised how complex the topic was. Twilight had also made an effort to remember and sort through every cutie mark she could remember seeing on ponies, and attempting to identify them, and it had worked for every single mark she could recall, except one. Midnight Feather's.

That wasn't all Twilight had read, however, for she had also read books on Equestrian geography and history, as Midnight Feather had told her he had come from the south through the Everfree forest. Twilight had searched through countless maps and old accounts for even the slightest hint at a pegasus tribe or civilisation in southern Equestria, but found none, infuriating her further.

She had found no trace of where Midnight feather could have come from, and she was no closer to identifying what his special talent was either.

There was something else about Midnight Feather, however, which was that he had a kind of inherent strangeness about him, as such, for lack of a better description. Twilight couldn't quite place her hooves on what it was, but she had a bad feeling about it all the same.

Maybe I should go to Canterlot for a while and see if there are any helpful books there? I'm sure there will be something in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing, and there is nothing more on the subject in this library that I have not read.

Now was the time for sleep, however, so Twilight started trekking upstairs towards her bedroom, but was so tired, she didn't manage to make it before falling asleep on the library floor.

Sunlight streamed through the door of the barn, awakening Zaros from his slumber.

He had helped Applejack on the farm for the last couple of days since the party, but now it was no longer applebuck season, she and Big Mac could handle all the work on the farm.

Zaros had found that working had provided him with time to think, and he was now certain that the acquisition of enchanted or holy objects would be the best way to bolster his power and hasten its regeneration.

Since he had more or less nothing else to do, he decided he might as well visit the library, and see if he could get any more information about the elements out of Twilight.

Zaros opened the barn door, which had already been slightly ajar, the remainder of the way, peering outside into the glare of the mid-morning sun. Satisfied it was an orderly time for a pony to be awake, he set off towards his destination at a leisurely pace.

Twilight had slept through the greater part of the morning, and much to her distress, this meant she had awoken near to noon without her schedule for the day written.

She would have started it after breakfast, (although she took the meal at lunch time), had it not been for the rather unusual arrival of Midnight Feather in the early afternoon.

He had asked a few questions, but Twilight simply pointed him to a particular area of the library, as she had suddenly decided she had important things to do outside the library.

She exited the building, which was more of a tree than an organised structure, and started walking towards the town hall.

After a few paces, however, she stopped, and realised she actually had nothing to do outside the library, and started to head back, but she then realised it would be exceptionally awkward if she suddenly came back into the library a couple of minutes after she left telling Midnight Feather she had things to do.

Sighing, she decided to simply walk around Ponyville, and observe various ponies as they went about their business. Eventually she arrived outside the Carousel Boutique, and saw the most unusual sight of a clearly tired and irritable Rarity barking out concerns as a few pegasi loaded a couple of crates, which Twilight presumed had come from the Boutique, and were most likely dresses, on to a cart.

Intrigued, Twilight wondered up to the odd scene and stood beside Rarity.

"May I inquire," began Twilight, "what exactly is happening here?"

Rarity panicked for a second, seemingly unable to identify Twilight's voice, and when Rarity turned around, Twilight could clearly see that she was very tired - she had bags under her eyes, and her eyelids were almost closed, even though Rarity was valiantly attempting to hold them open.

"Oh, hi Twilight!" Rarity slurred sleepily, seemingly recovered now she recognised Twilight. "These kind ponies are just preparing to deliver an especially large order over to Canterlot, but I'm just a little worried, for you see Twilight, those clothes took me almost all my time since the party, and if they're ruined, I wouldn't possibly be able to make them again before Fancypants needs them in Canterlot!"

Twilight could see Rarity was even more tired than she had first thought, so replied softly, "Well at least you can have a rest now, right?"

"Rest? Oh, Yes! Of course! Fancypants invited me to come along to an event in Canterlot in a few days, I simply must on top form!" Rarity exclaimed, half excited, half nervous. Twilight realised that if Rarity was going to Canterlot, it would look less suspicious if she went with her also, than if Twilight suddenly just left all of a sudden.

"Canterlot? I've been meaning to visit for a while, we could both go up on the train together, and I'm sure Princess Celestia will provide tower rooms in the castle for us!"

Rarity seemed thankful at Twilight's offer to go with her, and after a brief goodbye, Rarity slowly walked back inside the boutique, where Twilight presumed she would promptly be going to bed for a well-earned rest.

Twilight, however, had to pack her things, so she reluctantly started the walk back to the library.