It was a normal day in Ponyville. Sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the skies were clear, except for a few expertly positioned clouds. It was a beautiful day for everyone who saw it, especially a certain pegasus who was new to town. His eyes glistened with hope, as he finally made it after such a long time searching. He had spent months trying to track down a certain unicorn who now resided in the quaint little town, and now he had arrived.
He flew into town, spiraled past the few clouds in his path, and landed in the middle of the market. His blue and gray mane was wind-fluffed, and his white body was darkened with dirt. He had camped out for a couple of days to ride out a severe wind storm that tossed all manner of dirt and debris into the air. His most notable features were his ice colored eyes, and his thundercloud cutie mark. Aside from that, he looked like any normal pegasus.
Now that he was in town, he quickly set off to find out where the town records were, so he could find the pony he was searching for. He looked around and spotted an apple stand with a friendly looking mare in a big cowpony hat. He trotted over to her and was immediately greeted by an overly enthusiastic filly with a big red bow in her mane.
"Hi there mister!" The filly said happily, with a southern draw, "Are you hungry? Cause if you are, we've got the most sweetest, most crispiest, and most deeelicious apples in all of Equestria for sale, right here!" She exclaimed, gesturing proudly at the apple stand behind her.
"Umm..." was all the pegasus could reply.
Before she could continue, the little filly was quickly shoo'ed away by the mare with the cowpony hat. "Don't mind Applebloom, she's mah little sis. She gets a little excited whenever ah ask her to help with the stand," the cowpony laughed nervously. Then she held out a hoof in a friendly manner. "Ahem, mah name's Applejack. How can ah help you, mister...?"
The white pegasus took her hoof and shook it. "The name's Stormrunner. I was actually hoping you could tell me where town hall is. I'm looking for something, and I think that's the best place to look."
"Oh, sure thing, sugarcube. Just follow me, ah can take you right to it." She said, tossing the apron she had been wearing behind the apple stand and calling out to her sister, "Applebloom! Come over here and mind the stand while ah show Stormrunner where town hall is."
Applebloom jumped up in excitement, and rushed to the stand, smiling widely behind it. "Don't worry big sis! I'll have em all sold out by the time you get back! Then maybe I'll finally get mah cutie mark as an apple salespony!"
Applejack just laughed and replied, "Ok, Applebloom, just don't go scarin away all the customers, like last time. And don't go givin away all the apples as free samples neither!" She turned away and began leading Stormrunner to town hall. "Well, mister Stormrunner, what brings you to town? Ah can't say I've ever seen you around, so you must be new to town, right?"
"Yeah, actually, I am new. And like I said earlier, I'm here because I'm looking for something. I think I can figure out where to look from town hall."
"Sounds interestin. If ya don't mind me askin, what exactly are ya lookin for?"
Stormrunner smiled, "Well, it's actually a who. She's somepony I haven't seen for a while, and I was just trying to get in touch with her. I was hoping town hall had records of residence that I would be able to look through, to make sure she's still here."
Applejack stopped where she was. "Wait a minute, if ya'll are lookin for records, you should be headin for the library. All the town records and such are stored there for public use. Mah friend, Twilight, she runs it, she'll be able to help you out with that." She turned and began leading Stormrunner to the library instead.
"Twilight? That name rings a bell, but I can't remember where I've heard it..."
"It does? That's funny, she never mentioned knowin a pegasus before movin here."
"Oh, no, it's not that I've ever met her, it's just that the name is familiar."
"Hmm, well, there's the library, just up ahead. It's that big tree over there, ya can't miss it." Applejack said, pointing towards Twilight's home. "Just walk right in, and she'll help ya out. Unless she's busy with some book, then Spike'll probably be the one helpin ya. Alrighty Stormrunner, ah gotta get on back to the stand. Ahm sorry ah can't go and introduce ya, but who knows what Applebloom could do if ahm away too long."
"Ok then. Thanks for your help, Applejack!" Stormrunner said, giving a small wave as she left. He turned to face the large tree ahead of him. It was amazing that an entire library was built inside of a hollow tree. He trotted up to the door, and walked in, marveling at how smoothly built it was. 'The builders must have used magic to help shape it,' he thought to himself. He was always good with building things, but it wasn't really his special talent. He continued looking until he saw a lavender colored unicorn sitting on a couch, reading a book. Stormrunner walked over to her. "Hello," he said.
The unicorn jumped off the couch, knocking her book onto the floor. Her face turned bright red, as she picked the book up with magic, and hid it behind her. "I wasn't reading anything, really!" She announced in a rather panicky voice. When she finally seemed to realize who was standing in front of her, she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, I thought you were somepony else. You kind of snuck up on me."
"Uh, yeah, I guess you were really into that book," Stormrunner said, laughing lightly. "What were you reading, anyway?"
Her face turned red again, and she quickly locked the book away in a blue chest. "Oh, it was nothing, really. Just something I picked up somewhere. It's my only copy, and it's a personal one, so I can't lend it out to you. Sorry."
He wondered to himself, what kind of book would be so embarassing that somepony would keep it locked up in a chest. Then he thought of what it could have been and deadpanned, "Oh."
"Yeah." She cleared her throat, and tossed her head back, putting on a very professional attitude. "I apologize for that. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I run the library. Is there anything I can help you with, Mister...?" She looked expectantly at the pegasus.
"Stormrunner," he replied, the book issue being quickly shelved. "And yes, there is something I was hoping you could help me with. You see, I was looking for records of residence for all the ponies in town, and I was told I could find them here."
Twilight's face brightened up. It wasn't every day she got to help a pony with a problem involving books. "Well, my friend, you've come to the right place." She said with a smile. "I just happen to have all the Ponyville residential records catalogued in chronological order. What time period do you need?" She asked, walking up to one of the bookshelves built into the wall.
"It was probably about a year or two ago that this pony came to town, so I suppose from the 1000th summer sun celebration to now will do."
Twilight quickly scanned the spines of the books until she found one marked Year 1000-Current. It was the smallest book on the shelf, as it only contained two years of records. She levitated the book to a small reading table nearby, and stood by Stormrunner as he began to skim through it. "So, who exactly are you looking for, anyway? I might know where they live, and be able to save you the trouble of looking them up." Ordinarily, Twilight would never try to get somepony to stop reading. Today, however, she had a book that she desperately wanted to continue reading, but wouldn't be able to with other ponies around.
"Well, she's a really nice pony, and lots of fun. The problem is, she never really had any friends the last time I saw her. Something was always coming up, and she was always too busy to make any." Twilight looked at him in wonder, that pretty much described herself before coming to Ponyville.
"Excuse me, but have you ever been to Canterlot before? Because I really think I might know the pony you're talking about."
"No," he said absently, skimming the names in the book. "I'm from a small cloud town called Aeropolis, and I've only ever been to Cloudsdale for work, and Manehatten. That's where I met the pony."
"Manehatten you say?" Twilight grinned, as she guessed that it was one of her friends Stormrunner was looking for. A certain apple farmer who was always hard at work. "I really think I know this pony. What's her name?"
Before she could get a response, the pegasus said, "Aha! I found her! Looks like she's living alone near the edge of Ponyville. Do you have a map I can borrow? I promise I'll bring it back as soon as I find her."
Twilight couldn't resist his pleading eyes. She was almost transfixed by their icy color, but she snapped out of it and retrieved a map from a nearby bookshelf. She spread it out on top of the open book and let him examine it, looking over his shoulder to see if he'd point out where it was.
He never did, only took a quick glance at the edges of the map, and upon finding what he was looking for, turned to leave. "Thanks for all your help, Twilight. It means a lot to me." He quickly flew out of the library, with a surprising amount of energy, leaving Twilight to wonder about the new pony, and his motives.
"Edge of town..." Twilight thought out loud to herself. "Well, Fluttershy lives out of town, and she's a pegasus. Maybe she visited his town? No, not likely, with how timid she is. Unless he met her in Cloudsdale! That would make a lot of sense. He never mentioned if he met this pony in Cloudsdale or Manehatten. That's it! It must be Fluttershy!" She exclaimed, pleased with unraveling the mystery in her own mind. "I'll ask her about it later. But for now..." She hopped back onto her reading couch, and used her magic to fetch the book she had been reading. "Oh Twilight, you are such a naughty thing." She thought to herself as she found the spot she left off at. The cover showed a picture of Princess Luna standing defensively in front of Princess Celestia. The title read, 'The Eclipse, A romance novel by Page Scrawler.'
