No Moon New Moon

by RTStephens

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike
Length: 16468

An odd researcher at the School for Gifted Unicorns becomes Twilight's new mentor.

Twilight Sparkle has been given the chance to work at the School of Gifted Unicorns, a dream come true. The catch? She has to work under a researcher with a few skeletons in his closet.

Published 2011-11-03 23:36:05 UTC
Last updated 2011-11-04 12:15:16 UTC

No Moon New Moon

“What do you think the Princess is calling us in for, Twilight?”

Heaving a long suffering sigh, Twilight answered the baby dragon riding her back, “Like I said a hundred times before, Spike. I don’t know.”

Even though her tone was reproachful, Twilight Sparkle, favored pupil of Princess Celestia, couldn’t help but wonder the same thing herself for what felt like the thousandth time. Not that she would ever tell Spike that. A prominent student of the princess had to keep up appearances for her assistant after all. Still, as she trotted through the streets of her former home of Canterlot, Twilight’s thoughts kept coming back to the letter that Celestia had sent that morning.

The letter had been brief, only stating that Celestia wanted her and Spike to come in later that day for a special meeting. That was it. No clues as to why or what for. So to pass the time as they traveled and try to fill in the blanks, Twilight’s over imaginative mind came up with some possible scenarios.

It could be a new spell the princess wanted to teach her. Something that would put all her tricks from before to shame. It could be a spell that only a few select unicorns such as herself could learn. It would be so complicated to cast that Celestia needed to show her in person how to do it.

Or could it be a summons for a quiet tea party all by themselves? That would be wonderful as well! The princess was so busy with her courtly duties that any time she could spare for her subjects was a treasure to cherish. And Twilight would have her all to herself this time! No standing around and greeting hundreds upon hundreds of other ponies trying to get just a few fleeting seconds of their ruler’s attention like what had happened at the Grand Galloping Gala. Just Celestia and herself!

A loud belch from above interrupted her pleasant daydream. “Oh, geez! That tasted way better going down than it did coming back up!”

And Spike...

“Cover your mouth next time!” Twilight chastised him. “We’re going to be in the presence of the princess soon.”

“Sorry...”

Where was she? Oh yes! The reason for this trip. Well, aside from those other reasons, there was also the very teeny tiny and unlikely possibility that Celestia was calling her in because she had done something wrong. At least Twilight hoped that wasn’t the case.

Or was it? Oh, she hoped not! She had been sending in her reports on friendship on a regular basis. She had made sure that she had dotted all her “i’s” and crossed all her “t’s”. It could have been about the mess her friends had made at the Grand Galloping Gala but Celestia hadn’t seemed all that upset about it. Strangely, she had been rather pleased with how things had gone. So it couldn’t be about that.

She hoped.

Any further thoughts on Twilight's status under Celestia’s eye were shattered when the sound of a large explosion split the air followed by the ground violently shaking beneath her. Spike and herself looked up sharply and spotted a plume of smoke rise up from behind a row of buildings further down the street. Everypony in the vicinity also stopped what they were doing and beheld the sight themselves. Some turned to whomever was close and began asking what was going on while others ran off to get help.

“Twilight!” came Spike’s panicked voice. “What’s happening?!”

“I-I’m not sure,” she stuttered as a reply. However, she firmed up her features and then took off, nearly throwing Spike from her back. “But we’re going to find out!”

“But what are we going to do?” Spike continued to ask, holding his claws tightly around Twilight’s neck so he could keep from falling off.

“Anything we can do to help.”

No more words were spoken as Twilight galloped past the row of houses and into an open field. On the other end of the field, well away from any other structures, was a small house that was completely engulfed in flames. Already, a fleet of unicorn ponies were either using magic to dump buckets of water over the blaze or to move pieces of flaming debris from the structure. Twilight ran up to one of the unicorns and was about to ask if there was something she could do to help when a large cloud of smoke blew out from the ruined entrance of the building. The smoke blew over them, causing everypony to begin coughing. Once the smoke passed, a figure could be seen slowly walking away from the wreckage.

It was a unicorn pony, a stallion no older than Twilight with a pitch black coat and horn and a silver mane. Or at least the mane appeared to be silver in color as the dust and grime from the fire covering it made it appear gray. The pony coughed several times as he staggered away. A nearby unicorn rushed up to him and helped lead him away from the crumbling building. After getting the stallion to a safe distance, the unicorn turned back to help with the dwindling fire.

Now alone, the black unicorn wiped what soot he could from his snout with a hoof and then looked up at what was left of the building he had just escaped from. Slowly, a range of emotions crossed his face flowing from frustration to sadness before finally settling on anger. He stamped his hooves on the ground and began emitting an impressive array of colorful curses at the air and at the destroyed building in particular.

“Wow, he’s really going off over there,” Spike commented. “Whoa!” This last outburst was caused when Twilight shook him off and quickly covered his ears with her hooves. “What gives?!”

“You shouldn’t be listening to stuff like that!” Twilight exclaimed. After a few seconds more of hearing the stallion’s rant, she amended, “I shouldn't be listening to stuff like that...”

“What is going on here?” called out a regal voice.

All ponies, save the yelling unicorn, stopped what they were doing and beheld the sight of their ruler, Princess Celestia, trotting in on the scene. Her ever present guard ponies were a step behind, flanking her on both of her sides. The assembled ponies all dropped down and bowed. Celestia quickly took in the scene and sighed when she saw the remains of what had once been a small but well built house. “Not again...” she moaned out.

“Princess Celestia!”

Celestia looked down and smiled at seeing the excited face of her prized student. “Hello, Twilight. I’m glad you were able to make it with such short notice.”

“Oh, it was no problem at all, princess!” Twilight said back brightly.

Celestia graced Twilight with one last smile before turning her attention towards the sole pony that had yet to notice her presence. “New Moon,” she called out to the now sulking black and silver unicorn.

He didn’t seem to have heard.

“New Moon!” she said louder.

Again, the stallion remained unresponsive.

Losing some of her composure at being ignored, Celestia yelled out, “SMOKE!”

This time she got a reaction. The unicorn suddenly cringed and looked behind him. His coal colored eyes widened in surprise and horror followed by a loud gulp. He whipped around and then prostrated himself on the ground before her. “P-p-princess!” he stuttered.

Celestia gazed down unamusingly at the stallion for a few seconds. Finally, her features softened and she stated, “I see you’ve had another failure.”

Not daring to look up, the stallion yammered out, “Y-y-yes, princess. I’m sorry.”

“Was there anypony else in there with you?”

“No. I was the only one.”

“That’s good to hear. I am glad that you are safe. Rise, New Moon.”

Sheepishly, New Moon got to his hooves and nervously waited for Celestia to continue.

The princess turned to one of her guards and said, “Be sure that things get cleaned up here. Let me know of any materials that you find that you can’t identify.”

“Yes, your majesty!” The guard saluted smartly and he walked forward to carry out his orders.

New Moon watched the guard go past him and raised a hoof to draw attention. “Um, I can help him with that last part. I have a list of all the things I used for my experiment.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Celestia gently put him down. “You can take care of that later. Instead, I need you to come with me.” She pivoted gracefully and began walking away. After a few steps she looked back and called, “Twilight. Spike. You two as well.”

“Coming!” Twilight happily said back. She lowered herself down so that Spike could climb back onto her and then trotted after her mentor. She caught up quickly and fell into place where her guard used to be. She glanced back briefly and noticed that New Moon was following, though at a more sedate pace and with his head held low. Unsure if she should say anything, Twilight decided that Celestia had things in hoof and focused on the fact that she was once again close to her idol.

The trip to Princess Celestia’s throne room was done in silence. The echoing of their hooves on the marble flooring was a stark contrast to how quiet everypony had been on the way here. Twilight was thankful when Celestia ascended her throne and took a seat before finally breaking the uncomfortable quiet.

“Now then,” she began. “Twilight. Spike. I want to say how grateful I am for you to travel all this way to meet me.”

“Don’t think anything of it, Princess Celestia,” Twilight humbly responded.

Celestia nodded and continued. “Before going any further, lets get introductions out of the way.” She regarded the other pony she had asked to come here. “Twilight. Spike. This is New Moon. He works as a researcher at the School for Gifted Unicorns. New Moon, this is Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike.”

“How do you do?” Spike asked and held out a claw. New Moon looked at it for a second before raising a hoof and shook it. He did the same when Twilight offered her own hoof.

A quizzical look crossed his features before he voiced a question. “Twilight Sparkle? As in the Element of Harmony that represents magic?”

“That’s me!” Twilight proudly proclaimed.

New Moon nodded, pleased that his assumption was correct and turned back towards the princess.

“There, that’s all settled,” Celestia said in satisfaction. “Now to get to why I’ve brought you all here. Twilight, I have a favor to ask of you.”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide and starry and she felt her heart beating in anticipation. “Really? What is it? I’ll do anything!”

“Settle down there, my little pony,” Celestia laughed at her pupil’s eagerness. “What I need you to do is help New Moon with his research project.”

“What?!”

The outburst nearly bowled Twilight and Spike off their hooves and feet. It came from the researcher in question. New Moon, having been downcast and moody since the trip here, suddenly came alive as this latest revelation was revealed.

“You heard me, New Moon,” Celestia confirmed for him.

“But-but-but this is my project!” he protested. “This is my life’s work! You know better than anyone what this means to me!”

“I do understand, but you’ve also hit an impasse,” the princess was quick to counter. “You haven’t made any meaningful strides in a long time and your experiments are becoming more risky and dangerous. Just look at what happened earlier. Somepony could have been hurt or even worse from that fire.”

New Moon’s mouth opened and closed several times, as if he was forming words to say but unable to give voice to them. The shock on his face was evident at what was transpiring.

“This is not up for discussion. Am I clear?” Celestia stood up to her full height, letting her considerable regal authority wash over him like a wave over a sandcastle.

New Moon swallowed whatever words he was about to say. Resigned, he lowered his head in deference and said, “As you wish, princess.”

Celestia nodded her head in approval and settled back into her throne. “Good. Don’t misunderstand me, New Moon. This is not a punishment. I’m giving you one of the most gifted ponies I’ve ever met.”

Twilight nearly fainted at the praise.

“I’m certain that Twilight Sparkle and Spike here can help you get past the roadblock that you’ve come up against. In exchange, I’d like you to show them how professional research is carried out. I believe this will be a good experience for all of you.”

“Did you hear that Twilight?” Spike asked in growing excitement. Unable to contain himself, he began running around in circles. “We’re going to be working at the School for Gifted Unicorns!”

Twilight would have scolded her dragon assistant for being so rowdy if she weren’t about to swoon. She couldn’t believe her good fortune! To work at the most prestigious school in all of Equestria! It was a dream of hers ever since she had been a student in those halls when she had been just a tiny filly. Now she was going to get the chance to contribute on actual, official, research! It took all of her willpower not to join Spike in his celebration. Although, her internal monologue went something like, ‘YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!’

The only one not joining in on the good cheer was New Moon. He kept his expression as neutral as possible but it wasn’t enough to hide the frustration in his eyes. However, he had been given a direct order from the princess and knew there was no arguing his way out of this. Holding back a sigh, he wondered what he had done to deserve this. ‘Blowing up my third research lab probably didn’t help,’ he thought to himself sourly.

Once Twilight and Spike had calmed down enough, Celestia declared, “Then this meeting is over. I wish you all good luck.” She rose from her thrown and the guards surrounding the room came to attention. The two ponies and one dragon bowed to her. Celestia then cantered out of her royal court, off to deal with the rest of her duties for the day.

After being led out of the palace, Twilight and Spike followed New Moon as he led them through the busy streets of Canterlot. New Moon had been mostly silent, only speaking to anypony that greeted them or to give some quick directions as to what street they would be taking. Twilight felt uncomfortable with how little conversation was taking place. She would be working under this pony for the foreseeable future and wanted to know more about him. Despite her jubilee back in the throne room, she hadn’t missed how downcast he had been when Celestia had told him to take her under his horn. Perhaps if she got him talking he would loosen up? Applejack and Pinkie Pie made it look so easy with how they could break the ice with somepony they had just met.

Firming herself up as they crossed a busy intersection, Twilight spoke up, “So, New Moon. Have you been working at the school for long?”

For a few seconds New Moon didn’t say anything as he walked ahead and Twilight was afraid that he wasn’t going to answer. However, eventually he spoke evenly, “For a while, yes.”

Taking that as a cue to press on, she continued, “What kinds of things do you work on?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “This and that. Depends on what the school needs at the time.”

“You know, I went to the same school myself. I wonder if we had any of the same teachers. Who did you study under?”

Twilight noticed that New Moon’s ears drooped a bit and he gained a far off look to his eyes. Afraid that she may have offended him, she was about to ask what was wrong when the other pony shook his head and regained his composure. “Probably no one you knew,” he said tersely.

“Well, regardless, I’m really looking forward to working with you-”

She didn’t get to finish as New Moon suddenly whirled around and locked her with an intense gaze. “Look, Miss Sparkle,” he snarled and poked her in the side with a hoof. “Let’s get something straight. I’m only doing this because Princess Celestia told me to. I don’t know what she’s thinking letting a novice like you butt in when I’m at a critical time in my experiments, but apparently she thinks the world of you. Element of Magic or not, I’m not going to allow anyone to ruin my work. So, you do exactly as I tell you to do and we’ll get along just fine. Capiche?”

With each point he made he invaded Twilight’s personal space until she was crouched on the ground and looking up at him. She gave a nervous laugh and smile and rapidly nodded her head. “Heh, heh, heh. Um, uh-huh.”

“Hey!” Spike, who had remained quiet during the exchange, hopped off Twilight’s back and interposed himself between the two unicorns. Coming to the defence of his friend, he pointed a claw at New Moon and said, “You can’t talk to her like that! She’s the smartest pony in all of Equestria and she’ll have whatever it is you’re working on figured out in no time!”

“Hmph. We’ll see about that,” New Moon replied. He took notice of the strange looks they were receiving from the other ponies around them and decided that they needed to move on. “Come on. My home is still a ways off.” He turned and headed away.

Spike watched him go with his hands on his hips. “Who does he think he is?” He then felt the sensation of being picked up and was placed back on Twilight’s back by the lavender pony herself.

“I’m sure he’s just stressed about his work,” Twilight sighed and moved to follow the retreating stallion. After a few steps she looked back at her assistance and smiled. “Thanks for sticking up for me though.”

Spike blushed a little and waved a claw in embarrassment. “Shucks. Weren’t nothin’.”

It didn’t take long for them to catch up to their new mentor. New Moon looked back briefly and was satisfied that his new charges were keeping up. Surprisingly, after a few minutes, he spoke up, “So, Mr. Spike. I take it Miss Sparkle hatched you during her initiation into the school?”

“Hey, that’s right!” Spike confirmed excitedly. “How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess, I guess.” He then went back to being silent.

Spike was about to pester him again on how he’d known about his origins but something that had escaped his notice until now caught his eye. He pointed a claw at New Moon’s flank and asked, “Hey, where’s your cutie mark?”

“Hm?” New Moon looked back and at his pure black rear. “Oh, that. It’s there. It’s just really hard to see.”

Twilight took a look herself and squinted to try to make out any markings or symbols that would identify whatever it was that was suppose to be there. “What is it? I can’t see anything.”

“It’s a moon,” New Moon explained in a way that indicated that this was not the first time this subject had been brought up. “Specifically, a marking of a new moon. It’s what happens to the moon when its shadowed side faces Equestria. That’s why once every month there’s no moon in the night sky. Unfortunately, since my cutie mark and my coat are very similar in color, it can’t be seen unless you look very closely.

“But enough of that. We’re here.”

New Moon stopped them in front of a single story home in what was considered the suburbs of Canterlot. Like many of the buildings in the city, it was white and fitted with decorations that gave it a grand appearance. The shrubs and trees nearby were all trimmed and well groomed to give the place a pleasant and relaxing feeling. It was a picture perfect home.

Inside, it was a totally different story.

The moment Twilight and Spike stepped through the door after New Moon opened it for them, they beheld the messiest, most disorganized room they had ever seen. Books, scrolls and quills littered the floor while the walls were covered in charts, diagrams and paper seemingly tapped up with no rhyme or reason. There was a workbench in one corner that was stacked with dirty petri dishes and beakers. In the center of the room was a pile of discarded instruments that appeared haphazardly tossed aside.

New Moon stepped up besides them after closing the entrance door and realized what this must have looked like. “Um, ah, sorry for the mess. I, ah, wasn’t expecting guests.” Embarrassed, he headed towards a door at the other end of the room, carefully stepping his way through the junk underneath him.

“A mess?” Spike said in understatement. “How can anypony find anything in this place?”

“Hey! I know it looks bad but there is a method to my madness,” New Moon was quick to say.

Spike leaned over to whisper into Twilight’s ear. “He’s got the madness part right.” Despite herself, Twilight couldn’t quite hold back a giggle.

“You two stay put,” New Moon was saying from across the room. “I need to wash out all this dirt from earlier.” To punctuate this, he ran a hoof through his silver mane, causing a small cloud of soot to billow out and caused him to cough. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He magically opened the door and then closed it behind him a moment later.

It turned out to be several minutes when New Moon returned but he at least looked and felt more refreshed from the rinse in his washroom. He stepped into his work space where he had left his new burdens and called out, “Now then. Where-?” He stopped and blinked at the sight before him and his jaw nearly hit the floor. “-were we?”

Twilight and Spike had been busy the short time he was gone. The clutter of books had been lined up neatly onto his bookcase, the scrolls were all stacked in a corner along with the quills and the workbench cleared off. The instruments in the center had been separated, sorted out and placed away in their proper drawers. He heard running water from his kitchen area a door down and rushed through it. When he came to a stop he spotted Twilight at the sink magically washing his beakers and other dishes with a cloth while Spike was flame drying them.

“Wha-what are you doing?!” he cried out.

“Oh?” Twilight looked back and smiled. “I hope you don’t mind but I thought we’d help get the place cleaned up for you. I know how hard it can be to keep things tidy without somepony to help.” She indicated Spike who was placing the dried dishes in a rack.

New Moon was momentarily at a lost for words. Finally, he worked out, “You...you didn’t have to do this...”

“It’s no problem. We wanted to. Now things will be much easier once we get to work.”

“Do these go in here?” Spike asked as he carried a stack of beakers to a nearby cupboard and reached for the handle.

“Don’t open that!” New Moon exclaimed and lurched forward to stop him.

Too late. The moment Spike turned the handle, the cupboard flew open and a flood of multicolored objects buried the baby dragon and unicorn instantly. A second later, Spike popped his head out and beheld the treasures surrounding him.

“Gems!” he cried in delight. Immediately, he grabbed a clawful and began shoving them into his mouth.

New Moon’s head came out not too long after and gasped in shock at what Spike was doing. “Don’t eat those! They’re mine!” He smacked Spike on the back of the head with a hoof, forcing the little dragon to spit out the half chewed precious metals.

“Hey! What gives?!”

“Who taught you to come into someone’s home and start eating things without asking?”

“Um, well, ah, heh. Sorry. Sometimes I can’t help myself.”

Unamused, New Moon levitated Spike out of the pile of gems with a burst of magic and set him at the far end of the kitchen. The black stallion then hopped out of the gems and used his magic to pick up the entire lot of them and shove them back into the cupboard. The door slammed shut once they were all in. He then turned back to his guests.

“Now then. While I appreciate the two of you going to the effort of getting this place cleaned, there are some ground rules I’m putting into affect. One: No snooping around. There are secrets here that you are not cleared for and do not need to know about. Two: Ask first before doing anything. The last thing I need is for either of you to set off something and then have a repeat of this morning’s fire. Got it?”

“Got it!” both Twilight and Spike repeated.

“Good.” He was about to herd them back into the work area when he saw Spike raise his claw. “What?”

“Question! Why do you have so many gems in there?” He pointed at the cupboard full of his favorite food longingly.

“They are for research,” New Moon replied easily. “I’ll tell you more later. Let’s go back to the main room.”

Once everypony was back in the work room that had once been the sight of a disaster area, New Moon began looking over his books. Grudgingly, he had to admit that it was much easier to find what he was searching for when everything was alphabetized. He picked out a stack of books and placed them in front of Twilight. “Before I can go into detail about what I’m working on, you’ll need to catch up with these.”

“All these?” Spike moaned at the books that towered above his own height.

Twilight pushed him back with a hoof. “Don’t mind him,” she said. “I’ll gladly read through these.” Her horn glowed and picked them up with telekinesis. However, she stopped short when she noticed that she hadn’t brought her saddle bag. “Shoot. How am I going to carry these all the way back home?”

“I’ve got an extra bag here,” New Moon offered and grabbed a white saddle bag near the door with his teeth. He set it over her back. “Just bring it back when you’re done.”

“Thanks!”

“Remember,” New Moon warned. “You can’t continue working for me until you’ve gone through all of that. Our kind of work isn’t just tossing things into a jar and waiting for something to happen. Most of our time is spent in research and careful study.”

“Got it!” Twilight saluted and placed the books in the loaned bag. “Come on, Spike! Let’s get home so that we can get started!” Spike hopped up onto her back and Twilight headed for the door. With a final wave of goodbye, she galloped off towards Ponyville.

Now alone, New Moon sighed in relief. Peace and quiet at last. If he could keep his new pupil busy enough, perhaps he’d get through this project without anymore interruptions. He headed to his work desk and went back to work.

The next morning, New Moon checked over his pack one more time to be sure that he had everything he needed when he got to the school. He had been working all evening to write a proposal for a new lab. The one at the School for Gifted Unicorns was adequate enough for most cases but the risks he was taking required a space away from where other ponies would be around. Unfortunately, he didn’t have high hopes that this latest request would go through at the Board of Approvals. He had had to fight long and hard to get the last one built after the previous two labs had met their untimely end and now he was asking for a fourth. He’d be lucky if they so much as granted him funds to purchase paper clips with his track record.

Still, he had to try. Risks were a part of the path to discovery and failure was just a means to check off what didn’t work. As long as he kept persevering, he was sure that the dreams of an old friend would finally come to fruition.

Satisfied that he had everything, New Moon took a moment to spare a thought for how Twilight would be faring with the material he had given her. He suspected that it would keep her out of his mane for at least a week. While he didn’t doubt that she was gifted, it was still an extra worry on his mind that he didn’t need right now. Hopefully by the time she came back he’d have things moving along to the point where she wouldn’t be necessary to keep around.

Taking one last look to be certain all was well, much easier now that he could actually see all of his stuff without having to dig for it, he turned towards the door and opened it up.

“Good morning!”

“GAH!”

Twilight Sparkle and Spike cringed as New Moon pratfalled from their unexpected greeting. The papers he had been carrying in his bag fell out and drifted down to the floor in a heap.

“Um, sorry to startle you,” Twilight offered as an apology. She gave a nervous chuckle and then she and Spike began to pick up the papers littering the floor. New Moon climbed back to his hooves and joined them in gathering up his work. Once it was all back in his pack properly, he glared at the newcomers.

“I thought I told you not to come back until you had finished what I gave you,” he scolded.

“Oh, but I am done,” Twilight was quick to point out. She levitated out the books from the saddle bag she had been given last night and hovered them in front of him. “I’m here to return these and then we can go on to the next step!” Twilight was on the verge of bouncing on her hooves just like her friend Pinkie Pie did when she was excited.

New Moon blinked. “Impossible. There were nearly a dozen volumes of reading here.”

“Well, I actually own most of these already so mostly it was just review. I still had to burn the night oil to get through it all but I was able to manage.” She politely covered a yawn that she wasn’t quite able to hold back.

The black unicorn looked at the books and then back at Twilight. Narrowing his eyes, he said, “Okay, but you couldn’t have remembered everything in these already.”

“Sure I did. Test me.”

“Test you?”

“Yeah. Ask me a question from one of these and I’ll answer it.”

New Moon was at a loss. Was she for real? How could she have read these and remembered their contents already? It wasn’t possible. Well, since she had put forth the challenge, he was more than willing to oblige.

Thinking up something that would be considered obscure, he asked, “What was the name of the mine where omanyte was discovered?”

Twilight held up a book entitled “Minerals of the World” and recited, “Chapter 4, section 6. Omanyte is a mineral formed from dead crustaceans and first found in the Hollow Mines of Gallopia.”

New Moon was taken aback. “That’s...correct. All right. How about this? Tell me the composition of starlight.”

“Just starlight?”

“Just starlight.”

Clearing her throat, Twilight pointed at a book hovering next to her titled “Everything About the Universe, Vol. 2” and lectured, “Starlight is believed to be composed of atomic substances far too small to see. They are called photons which can act as both a particle and a wave. Do you want me to tell you all the different waves that sunlight can produce?”

For the second time in as many minutes, New Moon was speechless. It took some time before he could work his mouth and when he did, he forced out, “That’s...also...correct.” Scrunching his features together he pondered just what it would take to stump her. Nothing tangible was coming to mind so he looked around for inspiration. A symbol on one of his diagrams caught his attention and while it wasn’t a hard question, he was fresh out of ideas. “What is pi?”

“Oh! Oh! I know this one!” Spike piped up and hopped up and down while waving a claw. He reached into a bag strapped to his side and pulled out a freshly baked pie. “See? This is a pie. It’s got eggs, flower and sugar for the dough and something else for filling. This one’s got apples though it doesn’t always need to be apples. It could have blueberries, cherries, pumpkin-”

His explanation was interrupted when Twilight ground a hoof into his head affectionately. “That’s cute Spike, but that’s not what he was asking.” Placing her hoof back down she took a deep breath and said, “Pi is a mathematical constant equal to the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter with an approximate value of 3.14159265-”

“Okay! Okay! Okay!” New Moon frantically waved his hooves to get her to stop. He settled down and regarded the mare in front of him. She was smiling pleasantly but there was a small amount of smugness to her look that she couldn’t quite hide. Despite himself, New Moon was smiling as well.

“Impressive,” he commented, letting a little bit of respect seep into his voice. “I can see why Celestia favors you so much. You live up to your reputation.”

“Reputation?” she repeated.

“Egghead.” New Moon swiftly held up a hoof to stop any protests. “Don’t take that as an insult. Pretty much everyone at the school is considered an egghead in some way or another, including myself. It’s almost a badge of honor to be called one there.”

“Oh.”

Silence befell the room again as New Moon considered what to do next. This latest event had thrown all his plans in the trash. Twilight was further ahead than he could have imagined which left him in a bind. He had said he’d explain what his research project was when she returned but he was unprepared to deal with that now. Still, he wasn’t one to go back on his word. Sighing, he magically took the books that Twilight was hovering before him and placed them in a stack to be sorted out later. He also took back the bag that Twilight had borrowed since she had brought her own this time.

“Well, I guess there’s no helping it,” he said and began leading them out the door.

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked.

“To my office at the school. We’ll discuss what to do next there. Come along.”

The trip to the School for Gifted Unicorns was uneventful and quiet but this suited Twilight and Spike just fine this time. As they entered the grand building and walked through the halls and watched all the young unicorn colts and fillies rush around to their classes, a wave of nostalgia swept over them. Not too long ago, Twilight had been one of those fillies trying her best to keep up with homework and assignments day in and day out. It felt strange to be coming back here not as a student, but as a pony ready to move on to the next level of education. It was sad in a way that she couldn’t explain but exciting none the less to be back here and begin learning the ways of a researcher.

New Moon led them to a wing of the school reserved for the professors. Twilight and Spike could remember coming through here a few times when they had to meet a teacher for some reason or another. Not much had changed which was a bit of a relief. Too much change would have been awkward to deal with when coming back here after so much had happened in their lives recently. They met a few teachers they recognized on their way and were greeted warmly for coming. New Moon allowed them some time to catch up but kept them moving regardless. Eventually, he brought them to his office and ushered them in.

Twilight and Spike had half expected his office to be in as much disarray as his home but were surprised to see that it was well kept. There wasn’t much to the room though. A desk with a single picture frame facing away from the entrance, a few mats to sit on, a bookcase with some books and a single diploma on the wall.

“Have a seat, please,” New Moon said to them as he rounded his desk. He placed his belongings on top of it and began sorting them out as Twilight and Spike sat on a pair of mats in front of his desk.

Spike began looking around the room as he waited. Finally, he voiced his opinion. “Not much in here.”

“Shush!” Twilight hissed at him.

Rather than take offense, New Moon stated, “Yes, that’s right. I don’t actually use this room very much so I never felt the need to decorate. I don’t have any students myself so I spend most of my time elsewhere; either in a lab or at home.” He finished unpacking and sat down on the mat behind him. “Now, I promised that I’d explain what I’m working on but before I do, I must get your agreement not to talk about any of this with anyone else. Secrecy is paramount when we are conducting research. It’s not that we here at the school don’t want to tell the public anything but leaking out information can cause rapid speculation that could cause problems. Once we’ve confirmed our findings and have gotten approval from the scientific community, then we release what we have found. Understood?”

“Yes!” came Twilight and Spike’s voices in stereo.

“Do you swear then not to tell others of what you will be working on?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good. I expect you to keep your word. Anything less and I may be forced to dismiss you. That’s not a threat from me but from the policies that are kept here.

“Let’s move on.” He magically picked up one of his papers and floated it in front of the pair. “This is what Celestia wants you to help me with.”

Twilight and Spike read through the sheet that contained a few sketches of plans and ideas. Twilight was the first to ask a question when she finished looking it over. “What’s a ‘battery’?”

“It’s a device that I’m trying to create that will hold magical energy so that it can power a multitude of things. Appliances, hoofheld devices and lights to name a few.”

“But we already have things like that,” Spike pointed out. “They’re enchanted to do whatever we want. I know our friend Fluttershy has a dehumidifier.”

“That is true but those are manufactured with enchantments to perform a specific function and no more. Once the magic runs out you have to get a new one or call a specialist to re-enchant it. What I have in mind is a more generalized form of magic that can be used across any number of things. If something stops working due to the magic running out, you can hook it up to this battery and power it back up. As long as the original enchantment is intact, all it needs is a little boost to get it running again.”

Twilight and Spike looked at each other, unsure if they followed.

“But those are just the mundane things I have planned,” New Moon followed up. “What was originally envisioned was a way for land and pegasus ponies without magic to be able to use this battery themselves to cast spells. To be able to do things that us unicorns can do. To help improve their lives by giving them the benefit of magic that we take for granted.”

Twilight raised a hoof in question. “Is that wise? I mean, ponies without magic have gotten by just fine without it.” She could just imagine how Rainbow Dash, one of the most impulsive pegasus pony she knew, would use magic to try to improve her flying tricks to even greater heights. Considering how accident prone she was on her off days, a magically generated crash was not something Twilight wanted to experience in her lifetime.

“You have a point,” New Moon conceded. “And you are not the first to bring that up. That will probably be debated later but for now I’ve been given approval to continue with this line of work. I’m sure some sort of compromise will be made.” His face fell as he muttered, “If I can get the stupid thing to work in the first place, that is.”

Spike ventured a guess. “I take it you haven’t had much luck with this.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” New Moon snorted.

“Was that what the explosion from yesterday was about?” Twilight asked.

The researcher nodded sadly. “Yes. I was working on the final stages when things went out of control and literally blew up in my face. It doesn’t usually end like that. Most times things just fizzle out or nothing happens at all. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll show you my lab here and we’ll continue this discussion there.”

Before he could move from his desk, Twilight decided to voice something that had been on her mind since coming into his office. “If you don’t mind, my I see that picture on your desk? I’m sorry to be nosy but I’m just curious is all. Is it a family member?”

New Moon appeared to consider it for a moment, then shrugged, not seeing any harm in showing her. He magically flipped it around to display the picture to his pupil.

The reaction he got was far more than he had expected.

“OH MY GOSH!” Twilight squealed and zipped up to the desk to grasp the frame in her hooves. It was a portrait of a unicorn mare, older than herself with an orange coat and yellow mane. A cutie mark of a rising sun was on her flank. The pony was smiling a happy smile for the viewer to see. “This is Morning Shine!”

“Ah...” New Moon eloquently said. “I take it...you know her?”

“Know her?! She’s my idol! Right after Princess Celestia, of course! She was the most influential scholar this school has ever had. So many of the inventions she created are used to this day! Oh, she was one of my biggest inspirations when I studied here!”

“I’m...I’m glad to hear it,” New Moon beamed. He took the frame from her hooves as her handling of it was a little too ruff for his liking and put it back on the desk. “She’s an inspiration for me too. She did a lot of great things when she was working here.”

“Where’s she now?” Spike wanted to know. This was the first he’d ever heard of Twilight gush about another pony not named Celestia.

“Passed on,” the researcher explained sadly. “She lived over two-hundred years ago.” He gazed at the pony in the picture fondly for a moment before setting it aside and reclaiming his professional air. “Now, we’ve spent enough time here. To the lab.”

The lab area was a space that Twilight and Spike had never been allowed in when they had been accepted in the school. The place had much tighter security than the labs found in Cloudsdale, which Twilight had seen firsthoof. Even some of Celestia’s guards were found patrolling the halls or standing guard for anypony caught where they weren’t suppose to be. New Moon checked them through all the necessary checkpoints to reach the lab he was assigned to, an easier task than it normally would have been since Princess Celestia herself had sent word to let Twilight and Spike pass. On the way, Twilight was in awe to see all the different unicorn ponies working away at magical instruments and conducting experiments with spells that she had never seen before. Would she be doing any of this? She hoped so. It looked so exciting!

Finally, New Moon reached a spot that was sanctioned off by glassed walls and stuck his horn into a hole set in the middle of a mural of the Moon. A second later there was the sound of a click and a door slid open. The two ponies and baby dragon stepped through and once they were in, the door closed behind them and sealed. The inside was furnished with what one would typically think of for a scientific lab. A workstation with instruments such as microscopes and test tubes were in one corner while a machine with blinking lights took up an entire wall. Another wall was draped in a giant curtain and it was this that New Moon walked towards.

“The battery I’m working on requires a very specific mix of magic and materials in order to function but I’ve yet to find a combination that works. I’ve tried everything. Unicorn magic. Dragon magic. Gems. Coals. Flubber. Adamantium through vibranium. Celestia’s tears-”

“Celestia’s tears?!” Twilight gasped.

“It took an onion and a lot of pleading to get those, let me tell you,” New Moon groused.

Spike had a suggestion. “How about-?”

“Tried it.”

Twilight spoke up to add, “What about-?”

“Tried it.”

Twilight and Spike shared a look and as one they asked, “There’s-”

“Tried it!” New Moon yelled and pulled a corded rope with his teeth. The curtain on the wall drew open to one side, revealing a huge blackboard. Covering the entire blackboard was a spreadsheet drawn in chalk that had numerous cells containing a different mineral and the form of magic used on it. All but one of the cells had a large red x mark over it. New Moon levitated a piece of red chalk and marked off the final cell on the board.

“These are all the different combinations that I’ve tried since working on this,” he explained, depression filling his tone as he set the chalk down. “Now with yesterday’s failure, I’m back at the drawing board as it were.” He heaved a weary sigh. “I’m running out of ideas as to what to do.”

Twilight stared wide eyed at the massive display of data. It was crammed full of more numbers and signs than the Periodic Table. She was beginning to suspect why Celestia had sought out help for New Moon and why he may have been so short with them at the beginning. It was daunting to see so many careful calculations but having each one of them end up not gaining any results.

She felt the need to try to console him. She herself could relate to the frustrations of experimentation, especially during her investigation of Pinkie Pie’s body twitching predictions. That whole episode had literally drove her over the edge and back. Thankfully, she had been able to move on and cope with it but it appeared New Moon hadn’t.

Twilight stepped forward and laid a hoof on the black unicorn’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s not so bad. You said you have a few more ideas, right? You’re not starting from square one just yet.”

New Moon glanced at her through the corner of his eye but otherwise didn’t object to the touch. “Not unless you know where I can find tritium or unobtainium.”

“Um...” Twilight trailed off, removing her hoof from him and tapping it to her chin in ponderment.

“Forget about it,” New Moon said and moved away from her. He magically drew the curtain to cover up the blackboard and then turned towards the two that were suppose to help him with this predicament. “So, now you know where I’m at. Until I get this battery figured out I can’t move on to anything else. So if you two have any bright ideas, I’m listening.”

The two neophyte researchers looked at each other, hoping the other had some clue as to what to do. After a full minute of them scratching their heads and pawing at the floor, New Moon came to a conclusion.

“I didn’t think so.”

Twilight shot the black pony a glare. “Now hold on a minute. Spike and I only just started and you’re already judging us as useless. We can help you; I know we can. You just have to give us a chance.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Twilight considered that for a moment and then brightened as something came to mind. “Hey! I know! The Elements of Harmony! Those are magical and they helped my friends tap into magic they normally couldn’t use.”

If anything, New Moon looked even more frustrated. “Unfortunately, Celestia refuses to let me study them. She said that those were not to be used under any circumstances besides you and your friends. Besides, from what I’ve heard of them, they operate on the power of friendship. What I need is magic that works under any circumstances, friendship or not. Nice try, though.”

“Ugh,” Twilight groaned. She had been so certain that that would be the solution too. Still, she wasn’t going to give up. She trotted up to the large curtain and pulled on the rope that New Moon had before. Once again, the blackboard and all its data was revealed. “Then I’m just going to have to copy this all down and look through it. Once I’ve studied this then I’ll understand more of what you have tried and perhaps figure out what to do next. How’s that sound?”

New Moon didn’t look confident. “This is an awful lot of stuff to go through.” The memory of this morning came back into his mind. “Still, you showed that you can whip through text like nobody’s business.” He walked towards a metal filling cabinet and opened up a drawer. He rifled through the papers inside and then pulled out a tightly wrapped scroll as thick as an apple. He levitated it over to Twilight and offered it to her. “This is a copy of what’s up there. It just doesn’t have any of the red x’s on it.”

Twilight accepted it gratefully and placed it in her saddle bag. “Thank you. I won’t let you down.”

With things settled for now, New Moon led them out of the lab and out of the school. Once they were outside, Spike hopped up on Twilight’s back and prepared to depart. Twilight had a question first.

“So, what are you going to do once we’re gone?”

New Moon heaved a disgusted snort. “I have to meet with the Board of Approvals later to try to convince them to get me another lab. Sometimes my experiments are too dangerous to work on here and so I have to have one built away from other buildings. I’m not looking forward to it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Not wanting to leave her new mentor in a foul mood, she thought she’d take a cue from Pinkie Pie’s book. “Why don’t you come to Ponyville afterwards? I’ll get my friends together and we can have a party to celebrate!”

New Moon gave her an odd look. “Celebrate what?”

“Spike and I working for you, of course!”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a reason to have a party...”

“It’s reason enough for me! I’ve always wanted to work for the school. It’s a dream come true!”

The other unicorn shook his head. “Sorry, but I’m going to have to decline. I’ve got too much work.”

“Bring it with you,” Spike suggested. “Ponyville’s a great place to get some studying done. Much quieter than this city life. Well, sometimes that is...” Mentioning things like parasprite plagues, sleeping dragons and a closeness to the Everfree Forest wouldn’t help his case.

“Spike’s right,” Twilight seconded. She stepped in front if him and gave New Moon the largest puppy dog eyes she could produce. “Please? It’s good to get away from work sometimes. It sounds strange coming from me but it does help take your mind off things and come back with a fresh perspective.”

New Moon leaned away from the sugary sweetness that Twilight was oozing. The mare certainly knew how to turn on the charm if needed. He could already feel his arguments crumbling in the face of so much cute pleading.

“Alright, alright!” he relented. “I...suppose I can stop by for a little tonight.”

“Yippie!” Twilight cheered. “Do you know how to get there?”

“I’ve been to Ponyville a few times,” New Moon admitted.

“Great! I live in the library that’s a tree! You can’t miss it!”

“Just don’t be making a habit of this,” New Moon cautioned. “It’s indecent enough as it is with you being my pupil and all.”

Twilight waved the concern away. “It’s just a party between friends.” She whipped around and galloped off, calling back, “See you, tonight!”

When they were out of hearing range, Spike asked, “Where’d you learn that trick?”

“Magic isn’t the only thing Rarity has been teaching me lately,” Twilight answered with a grin.

New Moon watched her until she and Spike disappeared from sight. Once she was gone, he groaned out, “What have I gotten myself into?”

It was almost evening when New Moon trotted his way into the small villa of Ponyville. The town didn’t appear to have changed all that much from the last time he had been here. A few more stores and buildings but that was about it. Country life certainly didn’t change as fast as the city, that was for sure.

The ponies in the town were a colorful bunch, with more earth tones to their coats and manes as compared to the darker colors of the unicorns in Canterlot. There were certainly fewer unicorns here as well, though that was to be expected since the town had been founded by earth ponies generations ago. What was a little more of a surprise were the mixing in of pegasus ponies here and there but once again that was due to them being there to control the weather.

New Moon shook away such thoughts. He wasn’t a social or historical researcher by any stretch and really didn’t have much interest in the workings of how towns were built and populated. He was here to go to a party of all things. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been to one of those. Social outings weren’t his thing either, not when he had so much more work to do on his project. He’d stop by, have a quick chat and then be on his way.

As Twilight had said, finding the tree where she lived wasn’t that hard. It was possibly the only treehouse in the entire town and right now it was lit up like a Christmas tree. He trotted up to the door and knocked with a hoof. There was the sound of somepony rushing up to it on the other side and then it swung open. However, the pony that answered wasn’t Twilight at all.

“Oh! You must be Twilight’s new teacher!” a pink and cotton candy colored mare squealed in delight.

“Ah, yes,” New Moon said uncertainly. Did he have the wrong house? “Is she-WHOA!”

Without warning, the pink pony picked him up and placed him in the center of the main room with a plop. Eyes whirling at being ponyhandled so abruptly, the unicorn scholar picked himself up only to have a party cup full of punch shoved into his hooves.

“This is so exciting!” the pink pony exclaimed, hopping up and down in an uncontained bundle of energy. “I’ve never met any of Twi’s other teachers, other than the princess, and she’s been telling us all about you and the secrety work you’re doing at the school she used to go to and all the neato things that’s going to change the world!”

New Moon hadn’t caught most of that exchange but one statement in particular had him turn as pale as his mane. “She told you what we are doing?!” he burst out in alarm.

“Well, nothing in particular but she did say that it was super-duper secret and that she couldn’t tell anypony else, no matter how good we are as friends. And the changing of the worldly stuff I made up but I’m sure it’s every bit as sweet as earth shattering discoveries can be!”

The stallion let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding in.

Suddenly, the pink pony pulled him close and draped a hoof over his shoulder. In a conspiratory low voice she said, “I’ve never been to that school but I hear they have some really weird experiments there. Is it true that you guys keep saber-toothed rats the size of cows and are breeding worms that can burrow into your mind and suck out all the memories you have in there and then transmit them to a humongous magic database that will then be used to-?”

“Pinky!” came a voice from above. “Stop! You’re going to scare the poor guy!”

New Moon was more than grateful for whomever it was that interrupted the crazy mare’s theories and took the opportunity to slip out of her grasp. He looked up and saw a light blue pegasus mare with rainbow colored mane and tail, flying just above them.

“Howz it?” she greeted. “Sorry about her. She can get really irritating when she gets going.”

“No kidding,” New Moon agreed, trying to discretely put some distance between him and the earth pony that had tried to interrogate him.

“I’m Rainbow Dash and that’s Pinkie Pie,” Dash offered as introductions. “You must be that bookworm Twilight’s been telling us about.”

“Actually, I prefer the term, egghead.”

“Really? Wow, Twi hates it when I call her that. Must be some type of secret lingo you guys at the school use, huh?”

“I guess you could say that. Um, just what the hay is going on here?”

“A party, silly!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed. “Twilight told me to give you the bestest party you’d every partied at! And I’m the best party planner in Ponyville so that makes this the best party to party at!”

“Heh, she’s got that right at least,” Dash confirmed. “You’re in for quite a night.”

“Ahhh, you really didn’t need to go to the trouble,” New Moon nervously said. “Really.”

“Ah, don’t be actin’ like that,” another voice came from behind. New Moon turned to the new arrival coming in from the outside. A lump nearly formed in his throat at the sight of the orange coat and yellow mane of the pony trotting up to him, so similar to somepony in memories past, but the straw brimmed hat and the cutie mark of apples allowed him to keep his composure. “Howdy! I’m Applejack!”

“A pleasure,” New Moon greeted back with a nod. “I’m New Moon.”

“Sorry I’m late everypony, but I wanted to make sure I picked out the best apples for y’all.” Applejack reached back and unhooked the saddle bag she had been wearing and placed it on the floor. It was bursting with green and red apples.

“Ooooooh,” Pinkie Pie cooed at the sight of the delicious fruit. “I’ll take these in the back and start baking right away!” So saying, she lifted the bag with her mouth and headed towards Twilight’s kitchen.

“Anypony else we’re missin’?” Applejack asked to the group.

“Just us!”

All eyes turned to two new mare ponies, one a white unicorn with a purple mane and the other a pegasus with a light yellow coat and pink mane. The unicorn elegantly strode in while the pegasus followed her at a more casual strut.

“Late as usual,” Applejack teased.

“I like to call it fashionably late, thank you very much,” the unicorn shot back but lacked any real heat. Her eyes found the one pony in the room that she didn’t recognized. “Ooh, you must be the handsome fellow that’s giving Twilight her big chance.”

“Does everyone in this town know about that?” New Moon asked in exasperation.

“Obviously you haven’t been around girls much. We tell each other everything. By the way, I’m Rarity. Charmed, I’m sure.”

New Moon was going to introduce himself, again, when the pegasus behind Rarity cautiously stepped forward. “Um, ah, I have, ah, question,” she said nervously, unable to make eye contact.

When she didn’t continue, New Moon prodded her with a, “Yes?”

“Oh, um, that is, um, I’ve heard some things about the school you work at and I wanted to, um, wanted to know if ponies there experiment on...living creatures.”

New Moon smiled, taking pride in what he was about to say. “Miss, I can assure you that no experiments are conducted on any living beings at the School for Gifted Unicorns. Princess Celestia has expressly forbidden any such things from happening under her rule. Even the creatures outside our borders, such as the Everfree Forest, are left untouched.” He then turned towards the kitchen and raised his voice. “That includes saber-toothed rats!”

“Aw...” a disappointed moan came from beyond the entrance.

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that,” the pegasus sighed in relief. Raising herself up and feeling more confident she said, “I’m Fluttershy.”

New Moon introduced himself again. It was then that some of the names he had heard started ringing a bell. “Wait.” He began pointing at the ponies and named them correspondingly. “You’re Rainbow Dash, you’re Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy...”

“And Pinkie Pie!” the disembodied voice once again sounded from out of sight.

“...and Pinkie Pie,” New Moon finished, annoyed at having his momentum interrupted. His gaze swept over the gathered ponies and came to a conclusion. “And with Twilight Sparkle, you’re all parts of the Elements of Harmony.”

“That’s us!” Dash confirmed.

“Fascinating,” he trailed off. “I never thought I’d meet the saviours of our land and that they’d be so...colorful.”

“Ah, we don’t let it go to our heads,” Applejack assured him with a wave.

“Speak for yourself!” Rarity contradicted. She got right in New Moon’s face, forcing him to back up, and asked eagerly, “What do they say about the fabulous and generous Rarity in Canterlot? Huh? Huh?”

“Um,” New Moon gulped. “That...you’re the Element of Generosity?”

“That’s it?! What about my daring escapades against Nightmare Moon, my brilliant escape from the Diamond Dogs and all the gorgeous dresses I’ve designed?!”

“Well, I don’t really follow up on all the gossip in the city...” the black unicorn admitted, nearly bent backwards from having Rarity’s face thrust into his personal space.

“Bah! My talents are wasted!” With that, Rarity stormed off in a huff to go find a drink.

“Everypony ready?” That came from Twilight, descending from upstairs with Spike trailing behind. She spotted her mentor and beamed a bright smile. “New Moon! You made it! I’m so happy you’re here to meet all my friends!”

New Moon rubbed the back of his head with a hoof in embarrassment, once again the center of attention. “Well, I did say I would come...”

“How’d your meeting with the board go?”

His face fell instantly. “Not good. They hardly let me finish before tossing me out.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. But don’t worry. I’m sure things will work out.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

The souring mood was quickly turned around when Pinkie Pie pranced out of the kitchen with a tray full of apple related sweets. “All ready!” she called out. “Let’s get this PAR-TAY started!”

“Bye, guys! Thanks for coming!”

Twilight’s friends all called back with their own goodbyes, ready to turn in after a long but fun night of being together. Twilight watched them go, feeling happy and content that things had gone well. It was a bit sad that things had to end but she would be seeing them again soon so there was no reason to feel that way. Still, it was always a little bittersweet in having to call things to a close when everypony was having so much fun.

Well, enough thoughts about that. She was about to close her door when she felt somepony standing next to her. She looked up and found New Moon placing away his belongings for the trip back to Canterlot.

“You have...interesting friends,” New Moon commented as he finished his preparations.

Twilight caught the buried subtext but didn’t take offense. “Believe me, when I first met them I thought they were all a little strange myself.” She looked back out into the night, a small smile gracing her features. “But they have a way of growing on you. Now, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost a single one of them.”

“I know what you mean,” the stallion said quietly to himself.

But not quietly enough.

Twilight looked up at him in concern and was about to ask what he meant when he began leaving. “I had a fun time tonight. Odd to admit but it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” He took a moment to look back at her and said more professionally, “Send me a message once you’re through going over that chart. We’ll figure out what to do afterwards.” He then began heading off.

“Wait!”

Twilight’s urgent call stopped him in mid-stride and he turned back towards her. “What? Something wrong?”

The lavender unicorn looked indecisive for a moment before appearing to come to a decision and rushed out to block his path. “Are you really planning on traveling all the way back to Canterlot at night?”

New Moon waved aside her concerns. “Don’t worry about me. I’m capable of taking care of myself. A nice jaunt through the night air will do me some good.” He then moved to pass her.

Once again, Twilight stepped in front of him. “Why don’t you stay here for the night and wait for morning to go back? I’d feel much better knowing you weren’t out there all alone.”

New Moon firmly shook his head in the negative. “Miss Sparkle, that would hardly be proper. Coming over for a party is fine but spending the night at my own pupil’s home? That’s not something I want getting out.”

Twilight wasn’t budging from her spot. “I insist. Look, I have an extra bed that we can place downstairs if it would make you feel more comfortable. And don’t worry about what anypony says. Nothing’s going to happen because you’ll be gone before the town wakes up. Please?”

The black unicorn stuck a hoof out to stop her before she tried using her sappy eye trick again. “No. This is not open to discussion. Stand aside.” He was about to try going around her again when the noise of his stomach rumbling sounded through the still night air.

“You’re still hungry?” Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “I saw you eat more than anypony else back there.”

“Um, well...” New Moon hemmed and hawed nervously, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

“That’s it! You’re staying! I’ve got plenty of leftovers for you to eat up and take back with you tomorrow!” Now with the perfect excuse, Twilight charged and tackled the slightly larger pony and pushed him into her home. New Moon felt the air knocked out of him so he was unable to do anything as he was forced back the way he came. He was dumped unceremoniously on the floor.

“Spike!” Twilight called out. “Get the guest bed. And some food!”

Spike appeared from the landing above, rubbing his eye tiredly with a claw. “What? What’s going on?”

“New Moon’s staying tonight. Come on, hop to it!”

Spike became more alert due to the urgent order and went to get what his boss wanted.

Meanwhile, New Moon was laboriously making it back to his hooves. “What is wrong with you, girl?” he groaned. He didn’t have the chance to protest further when he felt himself magically lifted up and then placed down on something soft. The next thing he knew, a blanket was wrapped around him and then several plates of food placed on top of that.

“There, all set,” Twilight smiled in satisfaction. New Moon was tucked in snugly in her extra bed and with plenty to eat all night.

However, he wasn’t about to cooperate. “Now see here you-” A pastry shoved in his mouth shut him up.

Twilight stepped up to the bed, smirking at his predicament. “Now, you stay there and we’ll see you in the morning.” Her smirk vanished and then she thrust her snout into his, starring him down in the best imitation of Fluttershy’s special skill as she could. “You don’t want me to get ruff with you, do you?”

New Moon shrunk himself deeper into the bed. “yes, ma’am,” he squeaked.

“Good!” All smiles again, Twilight stepped away and headed towards her own bed, blowing out candles as she went. “Goodnight!” She disappeared up the stairs and minutes later, her and Spike’s gentle snoring could be heard.

Down in the study, their new “prisoner” sighed and tried to settle himself in as best he could. ‘Celestia sure knows how to pick ‘em,’ New Moon muttered internally before yawning and finally dozing off.

A few hours later, New Moon peeked an eye open. He looked around and patiently listened for the breathing from the two other occupants of the library. The sounds coming from them indicated that they were fast asleep. Perfect.

As silently as he could, the black stallion slipped out of the bed he had been more-or-less forced into. Placing his hooves carefully around all the empty plates of food that had been provided to him, he slowly tip-hoofed towards the front door. However, he couldn’t stop the rumbling coming from his stomach. Mouthing a curse at it for potentially giving him away, he nearly ran into the door frame but caught himself just in time. Easing the door open with magic, he stepped out into the night. Once the door closed behind him, he sighed in relief. Free and clear.

“Hoo?”

New Moon nearly lost all the hair on his mane from the shock of being discovered.

“Hoo?”

Frantically, the unicorn looked around for the source of the voice. He couldn’t see anypony around so who could it be that was making that noise?

“Hoo?”

This time, he heard it come from above. He looked up and saw two yellow eyes staring down at him. He squinted to get a good look, difficult to do since tonight there was hardly any moon light.

“Hoo?”

“Whoever you are, stop that!” New Moon hissed. Finally, his eyes adjusted to the light enough for him to make out a small shape perched on top of a branch not too far up. It was an owl, giving him an inquisitive look.

“Hoo?”

“Oh, hey. Um, could you do me a favor and forget that you ever saw me?”

“Hoo?”

“Exactly.” Feeling that the bird had the right idea, New Moon continued on with his escape.

Back inside, in Twilight’s bedroom, the young apprentice to both Celestia and New Moon yawned. This had the effect of waking her up. Groggily, she sat up and tasted the inside of her mouth. “Blah. Stupid aftertaste.” A cup of water should hopefully wash it out and then she could get back to sleep.

Twilight hopped out of her bed and happened to take a glance outside her window before passing on. Less than a second later, she zipped back to it and stared out into the darkness, now fully awake.

“New Moon?” Sure enough, the unicorn she had been assigned to the other day was cautiously trotting away from her home and into some hay fields. The only way she could even make him out in the gloom was the flash of his silver mane in the faint light of the moon. Quickly and urgently, she rushed down the steps to the main room and barged out of her home.

“Hoo.”

“Owlowiscious!” Twilight called out to her pet and second assistant. “Can you help me find New Moon? You can see in the darkness better than me.”

Owlowiscious nodded his tiny head and flew off towards where he had last seen the retreating scholar. Twilight followed from below, keeping on eye on her owl and for the missing New Moon. Luckily, it appeared New Moon was concentrating on being stealthy rather than speed and Twilight caught sight of him ducking behind a large storehouse where hay and straw was kept. She doubled her efforts to speed up, certain that something was wrong and that New Moon was in some type of danger.

Just as she was going to turn the corner and catch up to him, a cloud of smoke came out of nowhere and blanketed her and Owlowiscious. The two of them coughed uncontrollably, the smoke clogging their lungs and stinging their eyes. Twilight forced herself to keep them open though and charged forward and past the thick smoke.

Only for her to slam into something hard, rough and scaly.

Twilight fell back on her rump and rubbed her sore head from the unexpected impact. She felt Owlowiscious perch on her horn and was grateful that he was okay. Finally clearing the stars that swam in her vision she looked up to see what it was that she had run into.

A black shape loomed before her. Terror growing within her, Twilight looked farther up and up and up, until she came face to scaly face with a dragon. Hay was falling from its mouth, apparently caught in mid-chew after taking a bite out of a bale in its claws. It looked to be just as surprised as she was at being found out.

“YEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” “GRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!”

Twin cries of fright erupted from both the pony and the dragon. An instant later, both took off in opposite directions, Twilight bolting back to her home with Owlowiscious hanging onto her mane for dear life while the dragon ran further out into the hay fields. Twilight didn’t stop until she had barged her way into her treehouse, ran up the steps to her room and hid under the covers of her bed.

Shaking uncontrollably, Twilight slowly came out from under the protection of her sheets. Trembling with every step she took, she fearfully peeked out the window. There was no sign of the dragon. Feeling her nerves begin to settle, she heaved a shuddering breath at making it out alive.

However, now that the immediate danger was gone, a single, distressing question came to the forefront of her mind.

What happened to New Moon?

“You girls ready?”

“Yes!”

“Good,” Twilight said before her “troops,” the current holders of the Elements of Harmony.

It was morning now and Twilight had wasted no time gathering her friends together in her study room to launch a search party for the missing New Moon. He hadn’t returned after wandering off last night and Twilight was trying not to think as to what might have happened to him. Not for the first time, she viciously scolded herself for her cowardliness at running away without trying harder to find him. New Moon may have been a little rough around the edges at first but she had come to respect him and his diligence to his work. She was hoping that soon he might start to feel the same way about her and Spike. However, that wouldn’t matter if something terrible had happened, such as being eaten by a big, ravenous-

Twilight smacked herself before she could complete that thought.

No. New Moon was fine. He had to be. He was a researcher at the School for Gifted Unicorns. A stupid dragon couldn’t possibly be enough to do him in. She was positive.

Mostly.

“Alright!” she announced to them. “Let’s go!” Leading the charge, she rushed towards the door, opening it up with her magic.

And desperately put on the brakes to avoid crashing into New Moon standing on the other side.

Unfortunately, her friends coming from behind her weren’t so quick. Applejack was the first to slam into her, followed by the rest. A pileup of multicolored ponies in front of the door resulted from plowing into each other.

“Ah, did I come at a bad time?” New Moon worriedly asked to the groaning mares amassed in front of him. The mane six ignored him in favor of disentangling themselves from each other.

“Whomever has their hoof in my eye, get it out!”

“I would if I knew which one was mine!”

“Quit hollern’ and get off me!”

“Ow! Watch it! Those are my wings!”

“I’m so sorry but I’m kinda stuck too. Perhaps if you would all be so kind as to stop moving so I can get away?”

“HA! HA! HA! You guys are tickling me! HA! HA! HA!”

It took a while, but eventually the girls pulled themselves apart. They were fine, if a little worse for wear. Once they had checked themselves over to make sure every body part was in place and working, they all turned their gaze to the cause of their entanglement.

“New Moon!” Twilight gasped and rushed forward. Impulsively, she wrapped her hooves around his neck and hugged him tightly.

“Ah, um, M-Miss Sparkle,” New Moon stuttered out, a blush forming across his cheeks. “This is v-very unbecoming...”

Twilight relented and released him from her hold. She stepped back and stared at him intently. Questions began pouring out of her. “Why did you leave last night? Where did you go? Why didn’t you come back sooner? Did you run into that dragon? Are you all right?”

New Moon held up a hoof to forestall any further questions. A moment passed as he worked through what he wanted to tell her. Eventually, he sighed and said, “Miss Sparkle. Twilight. I don’t think we should work together any longer.”

A collective gasp was released from those behind them. Twilight just stared at him, her features slowly falling in incomprehension and growing dread. “B-but why? Was it something I-?”

“It was nothing that you did,” New Moon quickly and firmly interrupted. “Everything I asked you to do you performed admirably. Believe me when I say this that you will definitely grow up to be one of the greatest unicorn scholars of all time. You have the drive and spirit of learning in you that I’ve rarely found in any other pony.

“This may sound cliche but the problem is with me. There are things about me that I just can’t tell you. Things that you can’t possibly understand.”

“I’ll understand!” Twilight protested, the faintest traces of tears building up in her eyes. “Just tell me!”

New Moon hung his head, sadness also building up within him. “I am truly sorry, Twilight Sparkle. But it has to be this way. Today I will request that Princess Celestia move your tutelage from myself to some other pony at the school. You shouldn't be denied the chance to fulfill your dreams due to a fool like me. Again, I apologize.”

Unable to meet her eyes or the accusing glares he was receiving from her friends, he looked past his former pupil and magically levitated over his saddle bag. Wordlessly, he placed it on his back and then turned to leave. He had nothing more to say as nothing would be able to make up for what he had done. He just hoped that she’d be able to forget about him and move on.

He hadn’t taken more than two steps when an impact on his back knocked him into the ground. Coughing up dirt and dust from his mouth and nose, he looked up and beheld the furious face of Applejack staring down at him. Another impact was felt but the pressure didn’t go away as something landed on him and kept him pinned. A flash of blue wings identified the culprit as Rainbow Dash.

“Now wait just a cotton pickin’ minute here!” Applejack yelled down at New Moon. “You stroll in here, get Twi’s hopes up and then think you can let her go just like that?! Not happenin’ buster!”

“You don’t know anything-” New Moon tried to say but a hoof to the back of his head forced his face back down into the ground, accidentally inhaling a lungful of dust.

“No, you don’t know anything!” Dash spit out above him, her hoof grinding into his mane. “How could you do that to her?! You should be grateful for having such an awesome pony practically given to you! Jerk!”

“Guys!” came Twilight’s distressed voice. “Stop! Let him go!”

“Not until this here moron takes back what he said!” Applejack shot back. She lowered herself down until she was eye to eye with the pony who dared discard one of her best friends because of his own selfish reasons. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Achoo!”

A sneeze to her face wasn’t exactly what she had been expecting. Nor was the smoke that was violently expelled from New Moon’s mouth.

Applejack reared back, coughing and waving her hoof in front of her to get rid of the vile cloud. While that was happening, New Moon continued to sneeze, producing more smoke from both his mouth and nostrils. One particular convulsion was so powerful that it threw Rainbow Dash off his back. Now free, New Moon drunkenly got to his hooves and rushed out towards the center of town, all the while sneezing and expelling smoke at an alarming rate.

The Elements of Harmony left behind looked at each other in shock.

“W-w-w-what’s going on?!” Fluttershy was the first to voice the question on everypony’s mind.

Rarity stepped forward and said, “If we don’t follow him then we won’t be able to find out! Come on!” She then ran off in pursuit, the others quickly doing the same.

When they finally caught up to him, New Moon had reached the central square where all the vendors and stores were located. He wasn’t making much progress getting away as his constant sneezing caused him to stumble and fall. From one of the stores, Spike came running out, having been sent by Twilight earlier to alert the town to keep watch for the missing unicorn. His face lit up upon seeing that that wasn’t necessary anymore.

“Hey! New Moon! Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick!” Spike finally noticed that the stallion was having an uncontrollable sneezing fit and ran up to him. “Are you alright? What’s w-?”

“AAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!”

This latest sneeze, the most violent of them all, let out an enormous amount of smoke that completely obscured New Moon’s form. However, instead of dissipating like the rest, this smoke swirled around and around, reaching higher and higher into the sky, creating a column at least twenty feet high. Spike backed up, getting the feeling that something was seriously wrong.

“Spike! Over here! Quick!”

Twilight’s desperate call roused him into action and Spike bolted as fast as he could towards the safety of his friends. He hopped up onto Twilight’s back and watched with the rest of them the spectacle happening. Other ponies, surrounding the entire square, were watching with a mixture of fear, confusion and awe.

And then, from within the column of smoke, a black scaled claw reached out. It was aimed at a vendor’s stall with a cloth overhang. The pony working the stall shrieked and covered her eyes, unwilling to watch as her time had come. There was a tearing sound followed by sunlight striking her body. Cautiously, the vendor peeked out from behind her hooves and looked up. Her overhang was gone, along with the column of smoke, but those were the last things on her mind.

It was hard to think of anything when you saw a twenty foot black dragon blowing its nose with a portion of your stall.

“Ahhhhhh,” the dragon sighed in relief at finally clearing out its system. It looked between the overhang in its claw to the poor pony that it had taken it from. Contrite, it bent down and held out the mucus covered cloth to the vendor. “Um..., do you want this back?” it asked in a deep, rumbling voice.

“Ah, no. You can keep it.” Then the realization of the situation finally hit her. “Wait, what am I saying? AAAAAHHHHHH! DRAGON!”

Her scream set off the rest of the town. Ponies yelled, scrambled and generally panicked at having a creature that would consider them as nothing more than a tasty snack right in their midst. The square was chaos as everypony ran to hide themselves from the sight of the monster before them.

The dragon, its scales as black as night and its belly, spines and claws colored a shiny silver, winced as it watched the ponies run away from it. It sighed deeply and sadly, tossing away the overhang it had used as a unconventional tissue. “Celestia is going to kill me for this,” it moaned. It spread its wings, larger by several magnitudes than any sign hung on the surrounding storefronts and prepared itself to take off.

Only to stop as it felt the slightest touch to its massive scaled leg.

It craned its next to see what it was that had been brave enough, or foolish enough, to come near it. It blinked its yellowed eyes to see Twilight Sparkle with Spike on her back looking up at it in astonishment and a little bit of fear.

“New Moon?” Twilight breathed out when she finally managed to find her voice.

The dragon looked away, its hardened features looking ashamed. “Yes, it’s me.” It swallowed a lump in its throat before continuing. “But, I...go by Smoke when I’m like this.”

Neither Twilight or Spike could say anything more. However, their minds worked in overdrive as several things from the past two days started clicking into place. The gems found in New Moon’s kitchen, the interest he had had in Spike’s birth, the lack of a cutie mark, the blackboard full of experiments that must have taken countless years to perform, the hunger he displayed even after eating more than any pony could stomach.

The picture on his desk...

“Oh my gosh,” Twilight gasped. “Morning Shine. She’s...she’s your...”

Smoke nodded, seeing as she had things figured out. “She was the one who hatched me when she took the entrance exam for the school. Over two-hundred years ago.” He blew a puff of smoke from his mouth. The smoke hovered briefly before swirling and then a flash of light surrounded it. When the light disappeared, a picture was in its place. Smoke magically lowered it down to Twilight and Spike’s eye level.

The picture was of Morning Shine but she wasn’t the only one in it. Riding on her back, a black and silver dragon, no larger than or older than Spike, was waving happily to the viewer. Morning Shine was affectionately rubbing her face against his, looking as content as the dragon did.

“She was the best friend I ever had,” Smoke explained, the longing in his deep voice almost unbearable to hear. “There was nothing we couldn’t do as long as we worked together. She and I discovered so many things throughout her time. When she finally passed on, I vowed that I would continue the work that we had left unfinished. She’s the one who came up with the magic battery but was never able to complete it. So I’ve been doing my best in getting it done so that she’d leave a legacy that no one would ever forget.” With a flash, the picture disappeared.

The dragon looked away again, bitterness now replacing his earlier gloom. “Do you see why we can’t work together now? It would make things too difficult; too awkward. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to finally get Shine’s ideas finished. It could take hundreds or even a thousand years to make her realization come to light. Far longer than most ponies can live.

“Plus.., well...look at me. I’m a dragon and not a cute baby like Spike is. I’m not even fully grown yet. That’s why I came up with the idea to impersonate a pony to be able to work at the school. Celestia was kind enough to let me get away with being New Moon so that others wouldn’t judge or fear me.” Smoke sighed, feeling the weight of his years despite not even being considered an adult by his own kind. “I’ve been acting as New Moon for so long that I don’t even know which one is the real me anymore...”

He trailed off then, out of things to say. He noticed that many of the ponies that had hid themselves had slowly come back out while he had been telling his story. Feeling very self-conscious of the fact that everypony was staring at him, he decided it was time to leave.

“I have to go now,” he said down to Twilight and Spike. “I have to tell the princess of what’s happened. I don’t think it’s wise that we ever see each other again. Farewell.” He once more spread his wings to take off.

The feeling of something climbing up his back once again stopped him. He looked behind him and saw Twilight frantically trying to make her way up his spine, Spike hanging onto her mane with a tight grip.

“What are you doing?” Smoke asked, a hint of anger entering his voice. “Get off!”

“Not a chance!” Twilight shouted at him. “You’re going to listen to what I have to say!” Suddenly, Twilight slipped and she and Spike began to tumble down his scaly hide. Smoke’s eyes widened and he moved to catch them. It proved unnecessary as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy appeared underneath them and caught their friends from a painful fall. Grateful for the save but needing to move quickly, Twilight ordered, “Dash! Take me higher!”

“Um, you sure?” Dash nervously questioned, much of her bravado from earlier absent. After the encounter with the last dragon, she was much more wary of them than she used to be.

“Just do it!”

“Okay...” Dash heaved and flew them up so that Twilight was facing the black dragon. Fluttershy was behind her, carrying Spike between her hooves.

Now that she was in position, Twilight took a breath and said, “What makes you think that I wouldn’t want you as my mentor? Just because you are a dragon? Because you misled me?

“Well, I guess those are pretty big reasons. But never mind that!

“Princess Celestia herself chose you and that means you can’t just fly away when things get tough. Okay, so I’m pretty peeved that you kept this stuff away from me and Spike but I’m willing to let that go as long as there’s no more things you hide from us. Don’t you see? I want you as my teacher, despite what you are! You’re smart and want more than anything to finish what you and Morning Shine started, things I admire. I’ve learned a ton while living here about not judging others just because of who they are or what they look like. I’m not going to start now.”

“That goes ditto for me too!” Spike piped up from his precarious position of being held up by Fluttershy. “You’re the first bro dragon I’ve met that wasn’t out to kill me! We may have gotten off to a bad start but Twilight’s right. You’ve got a lot to teach us. Especially me! You got to show me how you did all that magic.

“And well, it would be nice having a friend that wasn’t just a girl,” he admitted, a little embarrassed but then picked up steam. “I mean, Twilight’s friends are nice and all but do you know how much estrogen I have to put up with on a daily basis?”

“Spike!” Twilight yelled at him. “You’re not helping anymore!” Even Fluttershy was wondering if she could “accidentally” lose her grip and drop the baby dragon on his fool head.

“Well said, my student.”

The gathered group of ponies and two dragons looked up and beheld Princess Celestia descending from the sky, her ever flowing, aurora colored mane trailing behind her. Immediately, everypony dropped down and bowed to her. Once Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy placed down their burdens, they too joined the rest.

“I see certain things have come to light around here,” she stated. She gazed up at Smoke who was now rising from his own bow. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you like this. You’ve grown.”

Smoke’s sharp, yellow eyes narrowed and he pointed an accusing clawed finger at her. “You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?”

“Moi? Whatever do you mean?”

Struggling to keep his temper in check, the dragon that towered above the Princess of Equestria said, “Don’t give me the innocent act. You had this planned all along. The moment you assigned me to your pupil, you knew that I’d reveal my true form to her. Why couldn’t you have just let me be? Now look!” Smoke spread his claws to indicate the town and all the ponies that were now aware that a dragon had been in their ranks the whole time. “What am I to do? I can’t go back to the school! There’s no way they’d accept me back now!”

Celestia kept her calm despite how riled up the large creature in front of her was getting. “What in Equestria makes you think that?”

“Because of what I am! I’m a big, scary, ugly dragon!”

“Smoke,” Celestia called to him, letting some sympathy enter her tone. “Were you not listening? Didn’t you hear what Twilight and Spike said to you?”

Smoke glanced down at the two he had been charged with. He then looked away, laid down and covered his head with his wings. “They don’t mean it,” came his muffled and emotion filled voice from underneath his makeshift canopy. “They’re young and don’t know what they are talking about.”

He felt his wings being gently parted away, revealing Celestia above him. She tenderly wiped away the shameful tears that were falling down his scaled faced with a delicate hoof. She laid down in front of him and placed her head on his broad snout, allowing her to look at him fully.

“Smoke. I think they now exactly what they are talking about. And I think you do too.

“I miss Morning Shine as well. Just like Twilight, she was a very gifted pony and I loved every second that her presence graced me with. But we have to move on.

“It was very noble of you to be able to carry on with what she left us. For as long as I’ve known you you’ve worked tirelessly to make her dreams a reality and I’m sure she’s grateful for it. But at what cost to yourself?

“I’m the princess of this land and it’s my duty to make sure that my subjects are as happy as they can be. Ponies and dragons alike. Smoke, it was only my intention to let you meet Twilight and Spike. Everything else that happened was entirely left up to you and them. Sometimes it’s best to get things started and let the natural flow of friendship take care of itself.”

Celestia stopped and waited patiently for Smoke to respond. He sniffed and eventually, slowly, mumbled, “It...was kinda nice...to have them around. Just a little. And the party they threw me was fun. And...and...they weren’t afraid of me...when I changed.”

Smiling and nodding her head, Celestia rose to her hooves. “Come on, big guy. This doesn’t suit you. Get up.”

Blushing in embarrassment, something that no pony ever would have imagined a large dragon could do, Smoke pushed himself back up. The shadow he cast in the mid-morning sun stretched beyond the buildings and covered a quarter of the ponies standing around him. He looked around in uncertainty, not sure what was next. “So...what happens now?”

“You tell me,” Celestia said. “What do you want to happen?”

Smoke knew the answer well before he spoke it. “I want to continue on with Morning Shine’s project. And...if they feel up to it...I would like Miss Sparkle and her assistant Spike to help me.”

A flash appeared before his eyes and Twilight and Spike teleported onto his snout. Both were smiling from ear to ear.

“You betcha we feel up to it, New Moon,” Twilight boasted. She then quickly corrected herself. “I mean, Smoke.”

“You couldn’t keep us away if you tried,” Spike added.

Smoke cracked a smile of his own. “Hmph. You have no idea what you’re in for. But thank you, regardless.”

At that, a town wide cheer rose up from the crowd of gathered ponies at the happy outcome before them. Twilight, Spike and Smoke looked at each other in resigned embarrassment. However, that didn’t last long as they all burst into laughter, Smoke’s roaring guffaws easily drowning out all those in attendance.

“Oh, wow! Look! I can see the whole town from up here!”

The three researchers glanced up to see Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down on Smoke’s head. How she made it up there was anypony’s guess.

“See! See! There’s Sugarcube Corner! And there’s Carousel Boutique! I wonder if I can reach Cloudsdale from up here? I betcha I’ll be the first one to tell if it rains! Weeeeeee!” She squealed as she jumped onto her back and used the large dragon’s neck and back as a slide. When she hit the curve of his tail, she rocketed into the air, momentarily gaining the gift of flying.

Smoke, a.k.a New Moon, quirked an eyebrow at his pupil. “Is she for real?”

Twilight Sparkle could only shrug at her mentor. “Eh, you’ll get used to her. Eventually.”

Spike, Twilight’s number-one assistant, had one last thing to say to that. “Too bad eventually can mean a really long time.”

A joyous round of laughter was shared at that.