What a Strange Little Colt

Chapters

Overhead
A Beautiful World
Acclimation
Excellence
Plans and Pencils
Perspective
Flashes
Leaps and Bounds
Breakthrough
Truth
Onward and Upward
The First Choice
The Second Choice
Fickle Honesty
Epilogue

Overhead

Wednesday morning

Rainbow Dash's mind ground to a halt at the smear of red on the grassy field below. Thoughts about the morning were forgotten. The frustration locked away in her chest, waiting to be kicked into a hapless cloud during the first of two long shifts, drained away like lightning from a thunderhead. Any self-concern evaporated the instant she saw the crumpled little form that lay motionless at the edge of the field.

Consciousness caught up with body and Rainbow remembered to slow down just in time. She slammed into the ground with a barely controlled descent, bending her legs to absorb the impact with unconscious ease, and stumbled to where the colt lay. The still dewy grass reached nearly up to her belly, wetting the fur on her legs.

"No, no, no-no-no..." Her gasp caught in her throat when she saw him up close. Fur matted with dust, legs and wings bent at sickening angles, and far, far too much blood to come from such a tiny little thing. He lay in a puddle of it. It had turned his mane from a light green to a muddied brown and his darker coat fared no better. His breaths came in short, wheezing pants, drawing Rainbow's eyes to his faintly rising and falling side, where it looked like parts of him had simply been... removed. The foal couldn't have been more than twelve.

Rainbow's stomach did a flip in her gut and it took all of her being not to revisit her breakfast right then and there. Instead, she swallowed as hard as she could and stepped closer. Her hoof jerked back at the first touch of the blood-soaked grass, but with another look at the foal, the wide-eyed pegasus shoved the feeling away and forced the limb down. This colt needed her help.

"Hey." Her voice didn't work right. It sounded quiet, wavering. She tried again. "Hey! Hey, can you hear me?" He didn’t make a sound. Rainbow's heart thudded in her chest, threatening to jump right out of her throat. Red crept up the cyan fur at the edges of her hooves.

"Ok, if you can hear me, just..." She shifted from hoof to hoof, readying herself as best she could. "I'm sorry if this hurts, ok?"

Rainbow Dash sucked in as big a gulp of air as she could manage, and, using her wings to keep her body steady, scooped the colt up with her forelegs. She hoped that he would cry or scream or do anything but he simply lay in her forelegs like a ragdoll. His body weighed so little.

"Ok, it's ok, I gotcha..." Rainbow's breaths came quickly. Her eyes darted down to the fur on her chest. "I gotcha..." She could feel it seeping through, staining the skin underneath. When she looked at that ragged, horrible tear in his side, her mind clicked. The hospital. She needed to get him to Ponyville General, now.

A fantastic flap of her wings shot her into the air and she was off, speeding above grassy fields, then rooftops and streets, flying as low and as fast as she could manage, ignoring anypony and anything. The howling wind hid the colt's breathing, and it only pushed her harder.

Rainbow felt the beginnings of a cone forming when she thrust her wings out into the air screaming around her. They wrenched in their sockets, sending a lance of pain up her back. She groaned, but the pegasus came to a messy canter at the hospital entrance, struggling to jar the foal as little as possible, and shouldered the doors open.

"Help! Somepony!"

The front desk mare barely opened her mouth before she saw him. Before the frazzled pegasus knew it ponies swarmed everywhere and her world became a flurry. Somepony swept the colt onto a stark-looking gurney that wasn't white for very long. An angry-looking stallion slammed rapid-fire questions at her but all she could stammer was "I don't know", which only made him look angrier. Then they took him away through the doors underneath the big "EMERGENCY" sign, surrounded by a veritable swarm of ponies all shouting at one another in terms that Rainbow didn't understand, but put a cold feeling around her heart.

It was over as soon as it had started. Rainbow stood in the middle of the lobby, wide-eyed and blinking, surrounded by a wide circle of bloody smears and hoof-prints. Muddied cotton filled her head. The stunned pegasus didn't notice much of anything until the unicorn mare from the front desk walked up to her, eyes full of worry. She said something that didn't register quite right.

Rainbow blinked. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were alright, honey?" She looked even more worried now.

"Uh... Um, I..." Rainbow blinked again. Nothing came to her. She looked around at the room, and then down at herself. A sight straight from a horror movie greeted her—it looked like she had taken a literal blood bath. She was dripping on the off-white linoleum floor, for Celestia's sake.

Drip, drip, drip. "Uh..."

The secretary mare patted her shoulder. "You're all messy, dear. Would you like some help cleaning up?" Rainbow drew her eyes up to meet the mare's own in a blank stare. They were full of concern and a lovely pink. She managed a nod.

The mare set her foreleg across Rainbow's withers with the gentleness of a mother and guided the pegasus away from the EMERGENCY door, down the hall, and into the little filly's room. Its silence let Rainbow hear each squishy hoofstep clear as day. Who had filled her veins with lead? She didn't feel herself moving to the sink or the temperature of the water as it flowed over her fur.

The kind mare had produced a wet cloth. Its whiteness turned a muddy brown before she had even finished scrubbing the caked blood from Rainbow's chest. Her extra pegasus fluff there felt matted and heavy, and it made Rainbow want to lie down on the bathroom floor.

The mare didn't seem to mind getting her cream-colored hooves dirty. She wrung out the now-stained cloth over the sink in her soft pink aura. Its water curled and danced in reddish-brown swirls as it disappeared into the pitch-dark drain.

"Did–... Is he gonna make it?" Rainbow croaked. Her voice came out so low and grimy, it almost sounded like a stranger's.

The mare's face scrunched up. "Oh, honey. The doctors here are very good at their jobs. I'm sure they're doing the very best they can." She kept scrubbing her fur as she spoke, working to return Rainbow's coat to something as close to its normal brilliant cyan as possible.

"But is he gonna be ok? Was I..." She could hardly bear to say it. "Was I too late?"

"You poor thing." The mare leaned in and pulled Rainbow into a tight hug. Rainbow didn't return it, but she leaned into the grip. It felt nice, and her soft green mane smelled like flowers. "You did everything you could," she said, "and believe me, the ponies here are like family to me. I know they won't give him up without a fight."

That lifted Rainbow's spirits a little bit. She took a deep breath. "...thanks," she managed.

The unicorn mare leaned back and wrung the cloth out one more time, then set the reddish-brown rag down on the edge of the sink. "That's the best we can do for now," she said, "you'll need a shower and a good soapy scrubbing to get rid of the rest of it."

The pegasus looked down at herself. Where her fur had been red and slick minutes ago, it was now merely a dull bluish-brown. "Okay."

"Do you know him, dearie?"

Rainbow blinked. "The colt? No, I just... found him."

"Oh, dear." Her face fell and she spoke in a mutter. "We're gonna have to send somepony to the town hall about this." Then she switched back to that comforting, motherly voice. "It'll turn out okay, I just know it."

Rainbow wished she could be as sure as the kind mare. "How, uh... long will it take?"

The mare bit her lip. "I don't know, sweetie. A while."

"Oh..." Rainbow said. Something inside her told her that she didn't like that, that she should be getting annoyed, angry even, but the pegasus found she couldn't summon the energy. Instead, she looked at the bathroom floor and played with her hoof, drawing circles in the muddy brown puddles on the tile. "Is it alright if I stay? For just a little bit?"

The mare gave Rainbow a gentle smile. "You can stay in the lobby as long as you like."

The pegasus followed the front desk mare―she had a cutie mark of a swirl of water around a medical cross―with her head held just high enough to catch the concerned glances that she kept throwing backward. Once they reached the lobby, Rainbow found the seat furthest from everypony else. Then she fell into it with a huff and began to wait.

Not long after she sat down, a pegasus mare with the lankiness of a teenager trotted into the lobby. She wore a hurried look and a set of compact, wraparound saddlebags, the kind couriers used. She half trotted, half flapped to the front desk and began to speak quickly and quietly with the nice mare.

Rainbow watched silently as the courier pulled a note from her bags and hand it to the mare, who lit her horn and jotted something down on it. As she wrote, the courier said something to which the front desk mare only shugged in response.

Then they both looked at Rainbow, whose eyes snapped open. She quickly looked down at her hooves, hoping against hope that they wouldn't walk over. I'm sure it has nothing to do with him. Hospitals need to send messages all the time, it's fine. Her ears twitched at the approaching sound of hoofsteps on linoleum. No, no, please don't say it...

"Miss Dash?" Rainbow looked back up to see the kind mare standing only a few steps away, wearing a reassuring smile, "I've got somepony who needs to ask you a few questions." She still held the note and pen in her magic, floating beside her head.

Rainbow felt her stomach flip in her gut. "What happened? Did something..." it suddenly became very hard to speak. "Did he, um–?"

The courier mare shook her head. "No, as far as I know the colt is still in surgery. We're trying to get word to the town hall, but I need all the information, just to make sure I'm not missing anything. It's important to make sure we know all we can when addressing potential emergencies."

"E-emergencies?" Rainbow stammered. "What's going on?"

"You said you found him outside of town?" she asked. "He was already injured?"

"Um, yeah," Rainbow muttered, trying not to focus on the mental image of a speck of red on green.

"Where, exactly?"

Her mouth felt dry. "Um, I don't know exactly, it was—it must have been the southwest fields, past the park." She rubbed the side of her head. "Sorry, it's just... it happened so fast..."

The courier nodded. "That's fine, thank you. I'm sure the mayor will have somepony fly out there and take a look around." Beside her, the mare from the front desk began writing something on the note.

Rainbow furrowed her brow. "What? Why?"

"Because we have no idea what happened. What if what happened to him happened to other ponies? What if the reason his parents aren't here is that they're out in that field, too?" She nodded her thanks to the front desk mare, taking the note from her aura and tucking it into her saddlebags with a light blue hoof.

Rainbow's eyes widened. "B-but I didn't see anypony else!"

"And I believe you," the mare said as she turned. "Like I said before, it's about having all the information. We just need to be sure that nopony else was hurt."

Rainbow began to get to her hooves but the mare waved her down. "It's alright, Miss Dash. You've done your part, just take a breather. Let us handle the rest, okay?"

On any other day, Rainbow might have taken that as a challenge, but all she could bring herself to say was a soft "okay."

And then the courier was out the door, and Rainbow was back to sitting in silence, listening to the ticking of the clock.

As she watched a custodian pony drag a mop and bucket to the center of the lobby and begin to clean up the mess, her mind refused to do anything but play out the scene for her over and over again. How long had it taken her to notice that little splotch of red? Had she hesitated too long before picking him up? What if she hadn't flown fast enough?

She imagined one of the doctors walking out of those EMERGENCY doors, stony-faced and red-eyed. She'd know what happened before he spoke a word. And what then? The feeling of a colt dying in her forelegs would stay in her brain, just playing over and over, showing her how bad of a job she did, how she failed to save him. Rainbow didn't even notice herself grab her tail and hug it close to her chest until somepony called her name.

Dash blinked and raised her muzzle out of her tail. "Huh?" It was Thunderlane, from the weather control team. The gray pegasus hesitated in the doorway, looking more than a little confused. He hadn't even made it inside, he just stood there with his hoof outstretched, holding the door open.

"Hey, yo, are you ok?"

The familiar face delivered a swift kick in the rear. Right away, Rainbow Dash became acutely aware of the fact that she was currently stroking her tail like a little filly. She pushed it away and straightened up, wiping a foreleg at her eyes. When did I start crying? She sniffed and plastered a cool look on her face, quick as a flash.

"Yeah," she said a bit too quickly. "Yeah, I'm alright. What's up?"

"Oh, um, okay," said Thunderlane. He let the door swing shut behind him and cantered over to Rainbow. "What happened, Dash? We've been lookin' all over for you!"

All day? She looked up at the clock above the welcome desk. Seven minutes past noon. How'd that happen? The kind unicorn mare at the desk noticed her stare and gave her a little smile.

"I’m only here 'cause Mrs. Cake said she saw ya tearing tail here," he said. His eyes dropped to the stains on her chest and forelegs. "Geeze, Rainbow, is―is that blood?"

"Oh, um..." Rainbow didn't know where to start. "Somepony's foal got hurt on the edge of town, I guess. I flew him straight here."

"Was it bad?"

She looked down at herself again. "This... isn't from me."

Thunderlane's face fell. "Oh..." The silence made the air feel heavy. Rainbow swallowed.

"Sorry I missed my first shift," she said, looking down, "I wanted to stay here and make sure he was okay, y'know? Since we, uh, don't know who his parents are."

The stallion blinked. "Oh! Oh no, you-you're all good here," he stammered, "It's all good. We'll get someone to cover your shifts, it'll be fine. The storm doesn't have to be finished 'till next week, anyway."

"I'll make them up, I swear."

"Yeah, of course," he said, "we know you're good for your word, Dash. Just, uh, swing by the office once you're done here, ok? Let everyone know you're alright."

"Yeah..." Dash said, "I'll do that."

"Okay..." Thunderlane took a hissing breath and rubbed his silvery mane. "I'll, uh, tell the others what happened and, um... leave you to it."

"Yeah," Dash said again. Thunderlane gave one final concerned look over his shoulder and disappeared out the door. Rainbow let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and slumped back over.

The hospital wasn't very busy today. Ponyville General really wasn't very busy at any time. They usually dealt with things like kitchen burns and the odd bungled landing, and not many of them at once. The air hung still.

Something clicked in Rainbow's mind. What about his parents? They hadn't shown by now, but the hospital surely would have sent somepony to the town hall. Maybe they just hadn't heard yet? What if Rainbow had to tell them what had happened to their son? What if they screamed and cried and wailed at her, demanding why she hadn't been faster?

The EMERGENCY doors parted and a ragged-looking doctor walked through and cut his horn's aura, letting them shut behind him. He brushed his messy chocolate-brown mane out of his eyes and swept them over the room before settling his sights on Rainbow. "Miss Dash?"

Now he was trotting over to her. Oh no. Here it came. Rainbow wanted to curl up into a ball, roll over, and–

The doctor stopped in front of her. "That colt you brought in is going to be alright. He'll pull through."

Rainbow's head shot up. The tightness in her chest and the weight on her neck all flowed away at once and her heart soared. "What? Really?"

The doctor gave her a tired smile. "He lost a lot of blood, but his spirit must be very strong. If we'd gotten to him any later, he may not have made it. You very likely saved his life, Miss Dash."

The tightness in Rainbow's chest disappeared and she smiled a wide, relieved smile. She looked to the nice mare at the front desk who gave her a happy wave. For the first time since seeing the colt, it felt easy to breathe.

"So, what's his name?" said the doctor.

Rainbow's train of thought came screeching to a stop. "Oh, um―sorry, I don't know, I just found him."

The doctor's eyebrows furrowed. "That makes him especially lucky, then. I take it you don't know how it happened?" Rainbow shook her head. "Well, foals don't go missing without folks going looking for them, not in Ponyville. Once town hall notifies the parents, I'm sure they'll be here soon enough, if they aren't on their way already." Then he winked at her. "I'm sure you’re going to have two new fans, eh Miss Dash?"

Rainbow chuckled at that, even if she couldn't keep the tiredness from her voice. "Yeah, I bet I will... H-how is he?"

"Sedated," the doctor reassured. "He should be out for quite a while."

"Oh," Rainbow said. "Yeah. I guess that makes sense."

"If you'd like to visit him once he’s awake, I don't believe that would be a problem." He gave her a big smile. "I'd say that colt deserves to meet the mare that saved his life!" They both shared a relieved laugh over that.

"If you like," the doctor continued, "we can send our courier when he wakes up, so you don't have to wait here." He gestured to the dark splotches on Rainbow's fur. "I'm sure you'd like a wash."

Once the doctor mentioned it, the crustiness in her fur felt much more noticeable. "Oh. Yeah, I really do. That'd be great," Rainbow replied.

"Of course. I'll let Miss Flowing Fields know." He nodded at the front desk mare.

Rainbow got up to leave but the doctor stuck a hoof out. "Erm, Miss Dash, before you go, let me say thank you. Really." He gave Rainbow another wide, honest smile. "It's a good thing you did today. I'm glad I didn't have to find out about this colt the way I would have if you hadn't brought him here so quickly."

Rainbow paused for a moment, then smiled back. "I'm just glad I made it in time, Doc." He nodded, and then, with a final wave to the nice mare—no, Flowing Fields, a thoroughly relieved and equally drained pegasus left Ponyville General. She made straight for her cloudominium. Time for a long, hot shower.

Several hours later, Nurse Redheart entered the room of the hospital's newest patient, who lay heavily bandaged and fast asleep in his too-big hospital bed. Celestia's evening sun shone through the slots between the blinded windows, throwing the room into a broken white-and-golden twilight. She yawned, her thoughts on not much else besides checking the still-unclaimed colt. It was a quick job to jot down the numbers on the clipboard at the foot of the little green foal's bed. She quietly hummed to herself as she worked, careful not to wake the little one, and as she turned to leave him be, she gave one last look over her shoulder at the sleeping colt.

He stared right back. "Eep!" The mare jumped in place, nearly knocking the nurse's hat off her head. "I didn't see you were awake, dear!"

His silence brought on a cringe. Any minute now, the foal would start crying for his mommy and daddy, and Redheart would have the sizeable and far-from-comfortable job of calming him down and reassuring him that everything was going to be alright, even though they still had no idea who his parents were. In all honesty, she'd considered the idea that this foal's case in that department was... special, and the thought worried her.

Instead of beginning to wail, however, the colt continued to stare. If anything, his deep brown eyes got even wider. They looked like two painted saucers on his tiny face. Redheart blinked herself out of the impromptu staring contest and rushed to the colt's side. "Are you alright, honey? How do you feel?"

The colt's head swiveled and followed her as she walked around his bed, but still, he didn't make even the tiniest peep.

Redheart's smile grew more strained. Was this foal deaf? "Can... can you understand me, dearie?"

Slowly, almost like he had to focus very hard to do so, the colt nodded his head, those dark brown eyes locked with hers all the while.

It's better than nothing... "Are you okay?"

Again, a snail’s-pace nod. No doubt about it, something was very different about this colt. Redheart began to feel uncomfortable. "Do you know where you are?"

The colt finally took his eyes off her, looking around the room, then down at himself. He raised his forelegs, one splinted, one free, and examined them like he was trying to set them on fire with only his intense stare. His little mouth dropped open as he inspected his own limbs, turning them this way and that. It would have been cute if it hadn't been so amazingly strange.

"Um, dearie," Redheart began. Again, the colt looked at her with those wide, dark eyes. "Dearie, can you tell me your name?"

After a moment's thought, the colt whispered out something raspy and unintelligible. Then he blinked, swallowed hard, and spoke again. "Gabriel."

Even though her now-strained smile remained, Redheart's ears dropped. It’s going to be a long night.

A Beautiful World

Thursday

Rainbow couldn't help but sigh in relief as she walked through the hospital's front doors. It was funny—before yesterday, she had only ever thought of the lobby as either boring because you were here to wait, or sad, because something had gone wrong and somepony was hurt. Now she only felt thankful, each time she entered the room, that she wasn't holding a nearly-dead foal.

Flowing Fields looked up from her desk and smiled, waving her over. "Good afternoon, Miss Dash! I'm happy to see you back here so soon!"

"Yeah," Rainbow said, trotting to the secretary. "I finished my weather shift early today, figured I'd swing by and see how the kid was doing." Her tone was as relaxed and cool as if she were talking about grabbing a bite to eat, but the truth was that Rainbow had finished her shift a little hurriedly and then flown straight to the hospital. The colt had asked her to come back after all, and Rainbow found that she didn't want to let him down. Flowing Fields didn't need to know that, though.

"That's so sweet of you!" Flowing made a big smile and clapped her hooves together a little bit. Rainbow blushed a little and looked away. "He'll be happy to see you, and healthier than last time, too! He's one sturdy little foal."

"Huh?" Rainbow tilted her head a little at that. "Whaddaya mean?"

"It's amazing how fast he's been healing. His wounds are all closing up nicely. At his rate, he won't be needing his splints much longer. Doctor Horse says that he must come from a very magically gifted earth pony family, even though he's a pegasus."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and scratched her chin. Where have I heard of that before? "Oh... like how the Cakes' foals aren't earth ponies?"

Flowing nodded. "Exactly! Now let me see..." She gave one of the books on her table a quick scan. "Yes, I believe that you should be good to visit! It says here that Miss Sandy Hills is just finishing up with him."

"Who's that?"

"She's a foal counselor, with the Ministry," Flowing explained. "You met her as you left yesterday evening?"

The tan mare, with the saddlebags and the concerned look. "Oh, yeah, I remember her."

"She's really quite nice. Do you need me to show you to Gabe Real's room?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Nah, I got it. Thanks a bunch, Fields!" With a smile and a quick wave, she was off.

Rainbow easily retraced the path back to Gabe’s room—she doubted she’d be able to forget any part of yesterday anytime soon. The mare examined the hospital's lacing decor as she trotted. Its green walls and brown trim were not well-complemented by extremely boring-looking bulletin boards, but nothing else competed to occupy her eye. Rainbow didn't even see another pony until she rounded the final bend, and by then, it was too late.

"Oof!" A tan and brown pony bumped into Rainbow at a brisk trot, sending the two reeling. "Ah!" she said, once she had found her footing. "Miss Dash!"

"Uh, hey," said Rainbow, "sorry about that."

Sandy Hills blushed as she rebalanced her slipped-up saddlebags. "Oh, no-no! That was completely my fault, but you're just about the perfect mare for me to run into. Let me introduce myself properly.” She cleared her throat. “I'm Sandy Hills. Um, I've been assigned as Gabriel's counselor." The mare stuck out her hoof, and Rainbow shook it after a moment's hesitation.

"Nice to meet ya, Sandy," said Rainbow with a bit of an awkward smile. "I'd introduce myself, but it seems like you already know me."

Councilor Hills nodded. "Oh yes, Miss Fields told me all about how you saved Gabriel. Very admirable." Rainbow couldn't help but puff out her chest a little at that one. "I take it you're here to see him?"

"Yeah," Rainbow said, "he asked me to come by yesterday, so, uh, here I am. Why? Is something up?"

"Oh, not at all!" Sandy Hills shook her head. "No, all things considered, he's actually doing quite well. He's healing remarkably fast, physically speaking, and in a safe environment. The foal will be up and about in no time, and then there's just the matter of..." The longer Hills spoke, the less it seemed like she was talking to Rainbow at all. Her hoof came up to her mouth and she hummed into it, studying the floor in thought. Rainbow nearly asked her what she was doing but the counselor stopped and looked her straight in the eye. "Miss Dash, how much do you care about this colt?"

Whatever thoughts she'd had at that moment got ejected out of her head like a brick through a window. The pegasus blinked. "A-a-uh, whuh?”

Sandy cut her off before she managed to actually formulate a response. "I’m sorry, that was a little forward of me. Maybe I should explain a bit more. Erm, did Gabriel tell you all that much about his past?"

Rainbow’s wings unclenched a little. Thank Celestia she didn't make me answer that mushy question. "He only told me that his parents were, y'know, out of the picture. Nothing past that, really."

Sandy Hills bit her lip a little before she spoke again. "It's my job to help foals like him and, let me tell you, Miss Dash, I've never seen anything like this in all my years at the Ministry. I don't think anypony at the Ponyville branch has. When I gave my report on him this morning, they assigned me as his personal counselor for, um, the foreseeable future."

"What?" Rainbow had never heard of something like that before. "Why?"

Sandy's face darkened a little and she reached a hoof up to tuck a stray bit of hair behind her ear. Her eyes dropped to the floor. "Gabriel opened up a little during our session yesterday evening. It's... well, it doesn't look good. He's had a highly unstable life, and I’m afraid he may have been a victim of..." she hesitated with the last part, "...foal trafficking."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "What?"

She nodded solemnly. "Or a very abusive family, at the very least. Gabriel mentioned being moved around by adults with others his age and didn't deny that those adults got him hurt sometimes. He's mild-mannered, polite, unassertive. He doesn't act out and appears to be familiar with pain... and he works very hard to behave like an adult. I believe he escaped from abuse and, judging by his injuries, not without a great deal of risk."

With each detail, Rainbow felt herself getting angrier and more upset. What kind of ponies could do such a thing to foals? To produce a colt like this was nothing short of a horrendous crime. By the time Sandy had finished talking the pegasus had to actively stop herself from shaking in rage.

"What kind of monsters—" Rainbow couldn't help but make a growl. "I swear, if I ever find the freaks that did this, I'll give 'em exactly what they deserve." The venom practically dripped from her words and it made Sandy lift a hoof to her chest.

"T-the important thing, Miss Dash, is going to be moving forward," she stammered. Rainbow blinked, a little surprised to see the counselor so put off by her tone.

Whoops.

"It's clear to me that Gabriel is an intelligent foal, but he's gone through some very hard times. It's my job to help him heal, and that's going to take some time."

Geeze, this poor colt. "What's going to happen to him once he's out of the hospital?" Rainbow asked, a bit of worry seeping into her voice. "He hasn't got a place to go back to, so what then?"

"He'll need a foster home, but the problem is finding the right family." She gave Rainbow a tired look. "I've done some thinking on this. He'll need an unaggressive environment, and that excludes any situation similar to... his past. I think that rules out any larger families. In fact, I think it's best if he stays somewhere. without any other foals at all. Learning to fit in with the other foals in Ponyville will be a difficult enough road, so it shouldn't be a full-time job. A space free of other foals will help him acclimate."

Holy Celestia, thought Rainbow, a little guiltily, this is one messed-up colt.

"He'll need a lot more attention, help, and most importantly, understanding than a normal foal," Sandy continued, "which makes it uncomfortable to find willing foster homes even without considering the rest of his situation. By the necessary standards, I'm afraid none of the homes we have listed are good fits."

"So, what's gonna happen to him?" Does she look... nervous?

"That's why I hoped to run into you, actually." That didn't sound good. "Um, Miss Dash, I know this is an abrupt way to ask you, but I was wondering if you would be willing to consider becoming Gabriel's foster mother."

Rainbow was already concerned, but the way the word 'mother' derailed her train of thought so completely that her mouth slowly and soundlessly opened was the real show-stopper.

"I know this is incredibly abrupt, and you only met this colt yesterday, and it's a lot to think about, and it's a huge thing to ask, but I believe that Gabriel would heal best in your care."

Me?! Rainbow thought, A mom? This sort of thing wasn't supposed to be something she had to think about for years!

"You're both pegasi, you don't have any other ponies living with you at the moment, and he's taken a real liking to you. More importantly, you were a first-hoof witness to his, er, unfortunate arrival in Ponyville."

Her own mother hadn't even gotten on her case for grandfoals yet! Never in her life had she even considered wanting a foal and here this counselor she’d barely met was just asking her to adopt a foal that she would have to care for and provide for and everything?!

"I think the fact that you saved his life makes it much easier to trust you, and that would go a long way towards getting better, and, and..."

Sandy Hills' face fell when she saw Rainbow's face, which she realized had become a rather abstract expression of the muddle of anxiety, surprise, and guilt that churned away in her gut. "...ah."

Rainbow blinked, then rushed to find something to say. "I mean, uh, it's not that I don't like him, it's just that... y'know, I'm not even that old, and I've never taken care of a foal, and, uh, I never even thought about–"

Sandy cut off her rambling with a raised hoof and a gentle smile that twisted up Rainbow's heart. "That's okay, Miss Dash. I know it's a lot to ask. I'll make sure he'll get to a loving home, whatever it takes."

“Sorry, I...” Rainbow trailed off.

“Don’t worry too much, you’re far from the first pony to turn down fostering,” she replied, her voice already back to its normal pleasant cadence. “Any foal is a big responsibility. If you don’t feel like you’re ready, it wouldn’t be good for him either.”

Rainbow nodded even though the mare's words didn't loosen whatever was squeezing her heart so tightly. She was right, though. It was a lot to ask! It wasn't fair to expect somepony to just up and do that for a foal, even the mare who saved his life, right?

"Anyway, I'm sorry I took up so much of your time. I'm sure you were in a hurry to see him." The counselor stepped aside, letting Rainbow by. She had almost reached the door when she heard the mare's voice again. "He was talking about you earlier, you know."

"He was?" Rainbow's thoughts were pulled from what she had just turned down for a moment. "What'd he say?"

"He mentioned that he admired you," Sandy said, "and that he wished he could be more like you."

Rainbow's pride leaped in her chest, then came crashing back down once she remembered what she'd said.

"Oh, and tell the little one hi for me!" The counselor added before the coat on her face reddened a little bit. "Even though I, erm... just saw him. Heh."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Sure thing," she said and pushed open Gabe's door. "Hey, kid, I, uh, came back."

The empty room did not respond. It only offered up an energetic noontime glow and a hospital bed with mussed-up sheets. She stepped back out into the hallway. "Hey, Sandy! Where is he?"

After a moment her tan-and-brown head poked around the corner, eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean, 'where is he?'"

"Kid's not here."

The counselor's mouth set into a frown. "I was just in there talking with him. Maybe he went to the bathroom without telling anybody."

The two mares made their way down the hall a short distance, stopping in front of the stallions' room. Rainbow rapped a hoof on the door. "Hello? Gabe? You in there, dude?"

A muffled, noticeably adult voice came out from the door. "What kind of name is Gabe?" Rainbow felt her face get very hot.

"Uh..."

Councillor Hills came to the rescue, thank Celestia. "Sir, is there a small green colt in there with you?"

"No," came the voice, "nobody in here but me... for half an hour now."

Ew! Too much info! What the heck, dude? Rainbow screwed up her muzzle.

"Thank you, sir," said Hills, ever the professional, before turning to Rainbow with a concerned, almost scared look. "This isn't good."

"Hey, wait. That first voice sounded familiar..." And that was Rainbow's cue to leave. She took off at a brisk canter, and the councilor hurried to follow.

"Okay, so you're the, uh, medical... professional pony," said Rainbow, walking without any real destination. Anxious energy thrummed in her chest, growing stronger by the second, and she did not like it one bit. "What now?"

"We need to tell the front desk. This foal is not incapable of getting hurt, and he's already injured. We need to sweep the hospital."

"What if he's not in the hospital?"

"Then we sweep Ponyville," she responded, her voice grave, "and we don't give up until we find him. I am not abandoning that foal."

Wow, thought Rainbow, she’s got a little grit when it comes down to it.

Flowing Fields helped without a moment's hesitation. She flagged down a courier as he passed through the lobby and told him to report the news to all the orderly ponies in the hospital and to tell every available set of eyes to look for the foal.

Before she knew it, Rainbow Dash was going door to door alongside Sandy, checking every hospital room, closet, and bathroom they could find. With each room, Rainbow's heart sunk a little deeper and her thoughts grew a little darker. Why did he leave? Did somepony take him? What if I hadn't talked to Sandy so long in the hall? Would I have been fast enough to stop them?

Rainbow began to worry neurotically, searching faster and faster, letting her wings take over and carry her onward. What if it was those traffickers? Did they know about him? Did they come back to scoop him out from under their very noses? Was she never going to see Gabriel again? But I promised him! I promised him I would see him again! I can't break that promise. I won’t.

"Miss Dash!" Sandy's voice yanked her out of her reverie. She looked over her shoulder to where Sandy was huffing and puffing, trying to keep up. "Miss Dash, please slow down!"

What in Celestia's name was this mare thinking? "Slow down? Slow down?!" The pegasus pivoted on a dime, flying herself up into the counselor's face. "What if he's in trouble? What if he's hurt again? You really wanna slow down now? We need to speed up!"

Councilor Hills snorted and stamped her hoof. "What we need right now is calm, collected action. I am hurrying as fast as I can, Miss Dash, but I simply can't keep up with you when you fly ahead like that, and I bet that you're in such a rush, you aren't even aware that you missed that room." She jabbed a hoof at one of the doors behind her.

I missed that? Really? Once she thought about it, Rainbow realized that she didn't even remember what the last room she searched looked like. They all blended into one amorphous mess of spooky machines and hospital beds.

Hills closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose, then blew it back out. "Listen," she said, looking Rainbow in the eye, "a traumatized colt, especially one from an abusive background, will know how to hide, potentially very well. We need to make absolutely sure that he is not in any of the rooms in this wing, or else we are doing the rest of the ponies searching a disservice." Then her tone shifted to something a little softer. "We'll find him, Rainbow. It's going to be okay."

She found that hard to believe, but nonetheless, Rainbow forced her hooves to the ground and carefully searched each room—or verified with the patients inhabiting them that a colt hadn't entered—until they reached the end of their hallway. Still nothing. The two returned to the lobby empty-hooved and heavy-hearted.

A small crowd of orderlies, nurses, and helpful volunteers mulled about in the open-spaced room, speaking to each other in concerned voices. When she saw Rainbow and Sandy enter, Flowing Fields gestured the two mares over. "No luck, I take it?" she said, keeping her voice low.

"None," said Sandy, sounding very official, "Are all the teams back?"

Flowing nodded, looking downtrodden. "Yes, the hospital is swept. He's not here. Oh, that poor dear. I hope he's alright."

"Then we'll have to notify Mayor Mare. Town-searches take time to put together, but I'm sure there won’t be a shortage of volunteers. Everypony will want to help find a missing foal. Is there a courier free?"

"I'll go. I can get there the fastest," Rainbow said.

Sandy gave her a stern look, and for a second she thought that the tan mare was on the verge of shooting her down, but after a long moment of studying her with those piercing blue eyes, she nodded. "You're probably right. Come on."

The two made their way through the group of concerned ponies and out the door. The noontime had given way to the early afternoon. The wind blew gently, providing the perfect amount of breeze to keep a pony cool underneath the brilliance of Celestia's sun, which currently bathed Ponyville in a warm, comforting brightness. Rainbow could see the whole town and then some, all the way to the Everfree and the fields, where the beginnings of a thunderstorm were beginning to take place. When she squinted, she saw tiny dots flying around the clouds, pushing them into place. What a strange time for such an amazing view.

Rainbow made to take off right away, but Sandy Hills stopped her. "Okay, remember, Miss Dash, you'll need to be concise and clear about what's happened. There'll be a protocol that needs to be followed in situations like this, and you may not like how long it takes to put a project like this together. Just keep in mind that, um–"

Something over Rainbow's shoulder caught the counselor's eye. Her face flipped from cautiously optimistic to overwhelmingly annoyed and she slapped a hoof to her face. "Oh, for Celestia's sake," she groaned, sounding like she'd just woken to the discovery that some thick-skulled teens had knocked over her mailbox for the fifth time that week.

"Huh?" Rainbow turned around. In her near overwhelming confusion, she nearly missed the sight of a little green form sans hospital gown and laying oh-so-calmly under a tree a little ways off from Ponyville General's main entrance. He looked as if nothing were wrong in the world. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me..."

Rainbow spotted Sandy’s clenched jaw and careful hoofsteps as the two made to join the little green foal. To be honest, Rainbow was having a little trouble not stomping over there herself. What kind of dimwitted, selfish foal just up and leaves a hospital? Does he even know what's going on? Is he an idiot?

The foal had set himself down on the grass and laid his head down, looking out at the world through half-lidded eyes. He kept looking out at the Ponyville afternoon even as his ear twitched ever so slightly towards them.

"Gabriel?" Sandy Hills said after taking a deep, calming breath. "What are you doing out here, dear?"

The mare's usually kind voice carried a lining of cold, sharp clarity, very clearly warning the foal that this was no time for unsatisfactory excuses. My mother would be proud.

The little colt sighed contentedly and raised his head, finally looking at the two mares standing above him. "Hi, Miss Dash, hello, Councilor Hills. I just needed to stretch my legs and relax somewhere nice." He looked out over the Equestrian landscape. "And... this place is really nice."

The answer seemed so absurd to Rainbow, who had just spent the better part of an hour helping to carefully comb a hospital, that she couldn't help but make a sound somewhere between a laugh and a snarl. "Are you messing with me? Kid, we just tore apart the entire hospital looking for you."

"Oh?" He cocked his head. "So that's what all that fuss was." Sandy produced an annoyed huff in response but laid herself down at Gabriel's side nonetheless.

"Gabriel, honey," she started with a stern but still remarkably tender voice, now void of any anger. "You can't just go off like that without telling anypony."

Wow, she's really good with foals. If it were me, I'd be chewing his head off.

"Why not?" Gabriel said with a twitch of annoyance, "It's not like anything bad was gonna happen." Rainbow groaned but Sandy only sighed. After a second's consideration, the foal spoke again. "Uh, I'm sorry I worried you, though. To be honest I kind of assumed that you'd find me out here pretty quick." He scratched his head. "I guess I don't really know how things work around here all that well."

The counselor smiled at him very gently. "Apology accepted, Gabriel, though I'd still like you to stay with an adult or in your room for now. We care about you, and we don't want you to get hurt."

The foal became silent at that, turning his head back towards Ponyville. The view from the hospital was peaceful, with the whole town stretching out before them. Rainbow watched the ponies mill around on the streets, talking with one another, going about their daily business, simply being with their families...

She turned to Gabe. He seemed so thoughtful and contemplative as he studied Ponyville, and it made Rainbow kind of screw up her muzzle. A foal was not supposed to look like that. A foal shouldn't be worried about much more than an early bedtime or a school bully. What's he thinking so hard about, huh?

"...the grass is literally greener here," he said out of nowhere, pushing at said grass with a similarly green hoof. "It's greener, it's softer, it smells nicer, it's just... better in every way. This place is amazing." Rainbow raised an eyebrow and looked to Sandy Hills, who only shrugged.

"I'm real glad I ended up here. It's so different, but it's good. Peaceful." Why did he sound so worn? What had he been worrying about?

"But," he continued, without turning to either of the mares, "I don't know what's going to happen to me now, not really. I don't have anywhere to go, do I?" His words put an ache in Rainbow's chest.

Sandy's face filled with gentle concern as she searched for the right words. "Well, ah, you see, Gabriel, you're a very special foal, and it will take a special family to take good care of you!" Her voice carried optimism, but a trail of sorrow and shame followed in her words, and both the foal and the counselor's faces fell the more she spoke. "Until then, I'm afraid that we'll have to, well–"

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "What she means to say, kid, is that while she's trying to find a real good, super-nice new home for you, you're gonna be staying with me!"

For the first time since meeting him, Rainbow saw a look of pure shock spread across his face. His mouth dropped open but he didn't speak, and Rainbow's confident grin became a little less confident. C'mon, think! Say something! "Ah, how does that sound, kiddo? Y'know, like a, uh, foster home or somethin'." She gave him a wink. "Two awesome pegasi, tearin' up the town. You and me. You in?"

The colt studied her with those deep brown eyes like he was looking into her soul. It was still weird as heck. "Well, kid? Whaddaya say?"

"...shit, why not?"

Dash burst into hoarse barks of laughter and rolled onto her back while Sandy stuck up her head indignantly. "Gabriel! Language!" Still, Rainbow spied a small grin on her face.

After Rainbow had gotten her giggles under control and Sandy had given the colt a short lecture on acceptable verbal behavior, the pegasus moved to slap the colt on the back, then remembered herself and gently patted him instead. It's only for a little while, she thought to herself, Sandy'll keep on top of this, she said so herself! I can take a few weeks of a weird little colt, no sweat. "We're gonna have good times, Gabe, just you wait."

He produced a silent but happy grin. Sandy gave them both a wide but still tired smile. When she met Rainbow's eyes, the smile widened even further and she made a little squealing noise, dancing on the tips of her hooves before dashing forward and pulling Rainbow into a tight hug.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She ran into Rainbow with enough force to make her take a step back. She blinked in surprise, looking at nothing in particular, then over Sandy's shoulder at the colt. He shrugged.

"Uh, yeah, of course," Rainbow awkwardly said, patting Sandy on the back. The hooves wrapped around her neck tightened sharply for just the barest moment before pulling away. The counselor took a quick step back, blushing and coughing into her hoof.

"Erm, yes, sorry about my, um... Ah-hem." She tucked an errant strand of earth-brown mane behind her ear. "Well, Miss Dash. You both seem to have made up your minds, and since Gabriel seems fully capable of travel,"—the foal didn't even flinch at the pointed look she sent his way—"there isn't much reason to keep him at the hospital. It shouldn't be too much paperwork to fill out, and then we'll have you two out of here." Her smile grew. "Thank you for making the right choice, Miss Dash. I’ll make sure it’s not too much trouble."

"Sandy, c'mon," she responded, giving the mare a lopsided smile of her own, "you can call me Rainbow."

Acclimation

Thursday

"Sign here, here, and... here, please. Oh, and over here. And here. And riiiiight over here." The counselor pointed at each dotted line with her sand-colored hoof, and Rainbow Dash, in turn, wrote her name in scribbly, impatient mouthwriting in each place. Then she spat the pen out and set it on the hospital’s front desk.

"Okay, are we done? Any more forms?"

Sandy Hills gave her a cheery smile. "That's it!" She scooped up the two stacks of bureaucracy manifest and shuffled them into neat stacks, then set one of them into her bags. No foal was going to prance around Ponyville without papers on their watch, no sir. "These will go to the town hall, and these are for you." She picked up the other pile and slid it into the cheap set of brown paper saddlebags Flowing Fields had retrieved from under the desk for Dash. "Keep those forms safe, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Rainbow resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was a difficult job. "You mentioned that a bunch already." The mare swept the bags off the front desk and onto her back, settling the strap behind her wings. She gave them a few test flaps for good measure. They already held the rest of Gabriel's hospital paperwork and a bunch of extra bandages and ointment, plus one spare magical healing splint, foal-sized. "How long is Gabriel going to take?"

Flowing put the tip of her hoof to her mouth. "Well, he does have quite a few wrappings, so it'll take a while to change them, but the little one should be finished at any moment now."

Rainbow huffed and shuffled her wings. She never liked wearing saddlebags; it seemed impossible to keep her wings pressed against herself just the way she liked. Paper ones especially annoyed her because the creases and edges scratched at her fur and her wing joints in the worst way. These are going in the trash the second I get home.

"I included a rough schedule for Gabriel's sessions," said Sandy, "the first one is tomorrow morning. I understand you have a shift on the weather team then?"

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I still have to make up the time I missed."

"Okay," Sandy replied. "He said he's willing to go to school soon, and I don't see any reason to stop him, as long as Cheerilee is properly informed of his situation. You know, in case anything, erm, goes sideways. I'll need to meet with her after the school day finishes to set up a placement test for him tomorrow, and I can walk him over to the schoolhouse after our session." After a second's thought, she added: "The test will take a while. When will you be finished?"

Rainbow had to think about that one. If she started as soon as she dropped off Gabriel, and factored in the lunch she was supposed to have with the girls... "If he's done by mid-afternoon, I should be able to pick him up by then, yeah."

Geeze, listen to me, Rainbow thought, I sound like my mom when she talked about picking me up from flight school. I wanna puke. She shook her head. Keep it together, Dash, it's only for a little bit.

"Great! I'll see you then, I'll be there to pick up a copy of his results."

A bolt of anxiety raced up Rainbow's spine at the gravity of her spur-of-the-moment volunteer job, but she steeled herself. It was the right thing, and besides... Rainbow Dash doesn't back down from a challenge.

Then the doors to the general wards opened and Nurse Redheart trotted out alongside a slightly limping Gabriel, sporting a new set of clean white bandages. A lollipop stuck out of his mouth and wiggled in the air as he worked it around. "Gabriel did very well," said the nurse, "fastest bandage change I've ever done on a foal his age. He's a very brave colt."

Rainbow suppressed a chuckle when she saw Gabe make a tiny smirk and roll his eyes. Instead, she turned it into an eager but cool smile. "Okay," she said smoothly, "are we ready to roll here?"

Redheart put the tip of her hoof to her chin. "If all the paperwork is in order, and you've got all of Gabriel's things... fresh bandage change..." she looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then finally set her hoof down and smiled. "One last thing. Gabe, are you ready to leave the hospital?"

The little green colt nodded, looking up at her with those big brown eyes. "Yes, Nurse Redheart, I think I am. Thank you again, miss, and tell Doctor Horse thank you for me too, please," he said, polite as can be.

Redheart, Flowing Fields, and Sandy all made mushy faces as if the little colt were melting their collective hearts. "Awww..."

While nopony was looking, Rainbow stuck out her tongue. Bleh.

"Of course, dearie. I'll let him know. You take care now! Remember to change those once a day until the bandages are coming away clean and ask Miss Dash to bring you back if anything reopens, okay?"

"Can do, Nurse," he said in the most respectful voice Rainbow had ever heard come out of a colt. He turned to Dash. "Are we all set?"

Rainbow grinned. "Yup. Let’s get outta here, dude." She gave the other mares a wave and a smile, and Gabriel did the same. Then they were off.

The day had hardly changed. The sun was still comfortingly warm and the breeze was still refreshingly cool. Rainbow smiled to herself as she felt it ruffle her coat and her mane, and she spread her wings. "Alright, kid, are you ready?" She looked down to her side, where Gabriel looking up at her.

"Ready for what? Ready to fly?" Why'd he sound so incredulous? Oh, wait. She rolled her eyes. Of course I forgot about the wing. She crouched down and beckoned with her head. "Alright, hop on."

It was Gabriel's turn to look confused. "On your back?"

"Yeah, where else? Just be careful of the saddlebags. They've got all your forms and stuff so we can't lose 'em."

"Uh, alright." He walked to her side, hesitated for a moment, then clambered up between her wings in a very ungraceful way.

"-Urk," Rainbow said.

He coughed. "Er, sorry, Miss Dash,"

"Ah, It's alright, kid. Got plenty of ribs. And you can call me Rainbow." Ow...

"Sure," he said, seeming settled.

Rainbow did her best to ignore the ache in her side. "You all set back there?" she said, stretching her wings and getting a feel for the restricted movement that came from a small foal clinging to one's back.

"Yeah, I'm good to go," came the response.

"Good." She twisted her neck, using her wings to nudge the foal into a more comfortable position. "You know, as soon as that splint comes off, you're flying yourself."

"Uh."

Don't tell me... Rainbow sighed and rubbed her face before sending an incredulous look over her shoulder. "Kid, you do know how to use those things on your back, right?"

He peeked over his shoulder and rustled his wings, flopping them awkwardly around, then blinked those big brown eyes at her. "Nope."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Nopony ever taught you how to fly?"

"Uh, no, I can't say that, um, anypony has ever taught me how to fly." Then he looked at the ground in thought. "I always thought it would be cool to learn, though," he muttered, almost to himself.

Rainbow looked at him in confusion, but only for a moment. Brush it off, Rainbow. It's not that big a deal. She blinked away the weirdness and summoned her sleekest grin. "Well, lucky for you, kiddo, you're gonna be hanging around the best flier in Ponyville! If anypony can teach ya, it's gonna be me. And I can teach ya." She gave him a big wink and was rewarded with a shy-looking smile that put a grin on her face.

"Uh, yeah, that sounds awesome."

"Now you're talking my language! Now hold on." She leaned forward and wiggled her rear a little, placing her back hooves just so and tensing her muscles. "And here... we... go!"

Rainbow Dash burst off the ground in a fantastic leap and beat her wings, launching the two of them into the air. Almost immediately, she felt four tiny limbs tighten around her barrel and neck with surprising strength. "Agh! Kid! Loosen up!"

"WOOOAAAAAAAAUUUGGH!"

Rainbow leveled out and came to a hover, looking over her shoulder at the kid, who currently had his face buried in her coat and was squeezing the living daylights out of her. "Gabe," she wheezed, "it's gonna be real hard to fly with you holdin' on to me so tight." He said nothing. "Uh, kid?"

The only response she got was a muffled mantra. "Holy shit holy shit holy shit I did not think it would be like this, I did not think it would be like this!"

I really hope I didn’t just saddle myself with the only pegasus colt afraid of heights in Equestria, I swear to Celestia... he'd be great with Flutters.

"Hey, hey, Gabe," Rainbow reached a hoof over her shoulder and put it over the colt's. "It's alright, dude, I won't drop ya! But you really gotta loosen that grip, like, right now." The hold loosened a tiny bit. "I won't drop ya, I promise."

Finally, she could breathe. "Thanks, kid. I'll go slower from now on, alright?" Rainbow felt him nod into her back and smirked. For as serious and grown-up as he could act, the foal was still a foal.

From then on, she flew more smoothly, coasting over Ponyville. A few pegasi waved as she passed them, inevitably giving her odd looks when they saw the colt on her back. She did her best to ignore them, though she'd have been lying if she said her cheeks didn't grow a little hotter.

Out in the distance, she could see the storm. It was still fairly barebones, but the rain date was coming up, and this one was supposed to be big. The thought of the sore nights that would follow thunderhead duty made Rainbow stick out her tongue. Flying around inside a storm as ponies actively forced it to keep all its energy pent up was no walk in the park.

That was a worry for another time, though. Today’s flight relaxed her more than anything, really. Flying always helped clear Rainbow's mind. This is really happening, she thought, I’m gonna take care of this colt. He was her responsibility now, and for the next couple weeks if he got himself into trouble, or, Celestia forbid, he got himself hurt again, it'd be on her head. Yeesh. There's a heavy thought.

The pegasus landed as gently as possible, letting her legs act like springs as her hooves touched the clouds of her front porch. Home sweet home. Wow, the colt didn't even notice. I'm pretty good. When he didn't remove his face from her mane, she groaned and bumped the colt with her wings. "Hey. Kid. You can open your eyes now."

Gabriel lifted his head off her back, looking as cautious as a pony could be. He checked below them first, then looked at Rainbow, before noticing where they were. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, transforming his expression from terror to wonder.

"I guess that wasn’t so—whoa... It really is all clouds, huh?"

Rainbow smirked. "Mostly clouds. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I never thought I'd really see, uh, rainbows... flowing."

"Yeah, takes a lot of work to get 'em to do that, actually. Now hop off, my back is crampin' up," she said in what she hoped was a lighthearted tone, crouching down again so he could climb off her back a little easier.

"But... what if I fall through?"

Seesh, doesn't this kid know anything about being a pegasus? Can't fly, never walked on a cloud... It's like he was raised underground. "C’mon, dude. I haven't fallen through yet, have I?"

He only hummed worriedly in response before shuffling around. The strange little colt carefully set his hind hooves on the porch clouds before deciding that they were apparently solid enough and sliding off Rainbow's back. She sighed and stretched her wings. "Ah, much better. Now c'mon in, lemme give you the tour!"

Rainbow ditched the paper saddlebags the moment she stepped inside, tossing them away, and relished Gabe’s gasp as he followed her in. His eyes almost bugged right out of his head at the sight of Rainbow's foyer. "What? Is that statue really stone? I never thought all this could be in a cloud!"

"Yup. It's all enchanted to keep it in the cloud structure, so it's not going anywhere." She kicked the nearest wall with her hind hoof. "Sturdy as heck. You'd have to really work to get this place to fall apart. C'mon!"

Gabriel followed her with hesitant footsteps as she showed him each part of her home. Rainbow showed him everything from the kitchen to the bathrooms, to the closets, to the trophy room, stifling a chuckle whenever he looked at the floor like it might give way beneath him any second. She even showed him her brand-new personal bookshelf, complete with three books—Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet, and That One Novel Twilight Had Given Her But She Never Read Because It Wasn't Daring Do—and the previously-guest bedroom, which was only a door down from her own. "This is gonna be your room, sound good?"

Gabe looked pretty scrawny, standing in the middle of the space and sort of owlishly swiveling his head around. Then he nodded. "It’s very… roomy."

She laughed. "Don't worry, we'll getcha some stuff. That's where we're going after this."

Finally, she showed him her own room, the best for last. "Alright, Gabe. There's someone I want you to meet. I'm warning you, this is pretty darned cool, so prepare yourself." She opened the door and flew over to where she knew her closest non-pony companion would be sleeping and scooped him up, spinning around and presenting him to the little green colt with a flourish.

"Ta-da! The world's awesomest tortoise."

Gabe raised an eyebrow and trotted closer, inspecting the reptile closely. "Oh, hey, it's—" he started before awkwardly cutting himself off and bringing his head a little closer. Tank, for his part, gave the colt a patient, curious look. "...it's got a propellor on it."

"Duh," said Rainbow, "I live in a cloud house. What's the tortoise supposed to do? Fly around on friendship wings?"

"That thing really works, huh?" the colt said, sounding surprised. Rainbow gave him a wide grin.

"Oh, check this out." She pressed the little red button on the side of Tank's propellor and it whirred to life right away, lifting him out of her forelegs and bringing him to a hover between the two ponies. "How awesome is that?"

"Whoa..." was all Gabe had to say, watching the turtle float around for a solid thirty seconds. "Um... has he got a name?"

Rainbow puffed out her chest. "Tank!" Wait, how'd he know Tank was a 'he'?

"Well, that's a pretty good name for a turtle. Hey, I rode on a tank once. That was ages back."

"Tortoise," Rainbow corrected, "and that's pretty cool. I didn't know they could get big enough for a pony to ride! Are they like that up north?"

"Huh?" The colt looked at her funny, then shook his head. "Ohh... Yeah, no, it wasn't a giant tortoise."

"What?"

"Nevermind, don't worry about it." The little colt waved his little hoof at her. "It was a dumb story anyway."

"If you say so, dude." This colt was just endlessly weird. "You ready to head out?"

"For what?"

"To get you some stuff! You know, like a toothbrush. And new sheets. And, uh. Other things. Toys? Books?" She tilted her head. "I don't really know what kind of stuff you're into."

“Sure,” he said, still looking around at her room and not entirely sounding like he was listening.

“Anyway, you wanna head out now, or were you and Tank having too good of a time?"

The colt shot a look at the airborne tortoise, who shot a look right back. "Um, Tank's pretty chill, but I can hang out with him after we're done. Let's go."

Rainbow went to put on her good saddlebags and in a few more moments they were back on the porch, where she crouched down again to let the colt climb on. "No squeezing the air outta my lungs this time, got it?" she joked.

"I'll try not to," came the muffled response. She felt him mumble his words into her coat. "I'll just be keeping my eyes shut the whole time, thank you very much. Just let me know when we're on the ground."

The cyan pegasus chuckled. "You got it, bud."

Due to her intentionally relaxed pace, the flight into Ponyville took a little longer than Rainbow might have liked. As much as she wanted to fly straight to the shops, the pegasus landed the moment she reached the streets. "Alright, all done. C'mon."

Gabe dismounted and he and Rainbow began to trot towards the general store. As they walked, Gabe seemed enraptured by the sight of Ponyville. His eyes stayed wide. Just the sight of ponies walking to and fro or talking to one another seemed to be amazing to him. How different could his old life have been for the colt to be so astounded by daily goings-on like gardening?

Once he stopped ogling, however, Rainbow found herself being weirded out, again. Gabe insisted on walking close to the buildings lining the streets, for some reason, and when they had to cross, he seemed a little... squirrelly.

The general store wasn't too far away, so they arrived in a few short minutes, even with Rainbow slowing down to match the colt's pace. It seemed mostly empty, which made sense; it was midday, after all. A tiny bell announced the pair's entry with a cute chime and a moment later a large earth pony lumbered out from the back room.

"Rainbow Dash, welcome!" He said warmly, giving her a courteous smile. "And you've got a little one with you today!" he added when he saw Gabe staring owlishly up at him. "Looks like you've been through the wringer, son! What's your name?"

It took a second for what the stallion said to process, apparently, because Gabe just kept staring at him. Fortunately, he responded just as the storekeeper began to look concerned. Really fortunate, because Rainbow absolutely did not want to answer the line of questioning that would start. "I'm Gabe, sir. It's good to meet you."

That made the stallion laugh a deep, hearty laugh. "Oh, I appreciate the manners, but don't call me 'sir'. That's much too fancy for a humble shopkeep like m'self. I'm Broad Side."

"Okay," Gabe shrugged. The stallion grinned at Rainbow.

"Dash, I don't see ya around foals too often. What's the story?"

"Eh, it's a long one." Rainbow gave a bit of an uncomfortable grin and rubbed her mane. "Short version is I'm takin' care of him for a little while. Givin' him a place to stay, y'know?"

"Sounds like his parents should be thankful. I know how foals can be," he said with a chuckle. "Welp, let me know iffn' ya need anything." Then he returned to the back room.

Gabriel followed Rainbow through the aisles as she picked out his things. It wasn't like she was hurting for bits, so the pegasus wasn't shy picking out anything she could find that she thought he might need. Of course, Gabe kept being weird through all of it, finding the strangest, most mundane thing every ten steps and eyeballing it like it was a completely baffling piece of modern art, best exemplified when they got to the dental aisle.

"Alright, kiddo, pick out a toothbrush." She remembered hearing from 'Shy that foals liked it when you asked them their opinion on stuff, even if it was a completely meaningless choice. Normal foals were already weird, and here she was with the first-prize-winner of the lot, watching him study the shelves, seemingly completely missing the fact that they were inches from his muzzle.

"Uh, sure, but I don't see any."

Almost unsurprised, Rainbow lifted an eyebrow. "They're right in front of your face, kid."

His eyes shot wide open and he gave her a look that almost made her laugh out loud. "That's a toothbrush?! Why is it shaped like that? What's the loop for?"

"It's for holding in your fetlock, look." She picked one off the shelf and demonstrated, curling her hoof around the handle and holding it up to her mouth. "See?"

"Oh... That makes more sense than, uh, what I was thinking."

Rainbow replaced it and gave him a concerned look. "Please tell me I'm not gonna have to teach you how to brush your teeth."

He shook his head. "No, no, I know how to brush my teeth, just..." he reached up, scooped a brush off the shelf, and clumsily mimicked Rainbow's hold on it, "...not with one of these."

"Well, you're gonna learn. You good with purple?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." He tossed it in the bag. The scene repeated itself a few more times before they returned to the counter—the kid didn't know the difference between a body brush and a mane brush and had never even heard of a dandy brush—where Broad Side rung them up, charged them, and sent them on their merry way with a hearty nice-to-meet-you.

"Nice dude," Gabe said as they pushed open the door with a happy chime, "loud though."

"You should see him at parties," Rainbow gave a good-natured chuckle, "he loves the Apples' cider."

The walk from the general store to market street didn't take long at all, and in a few short minutes, the two pegasi had arrived. The market usually claimed the title of the liveliest part of Ponyville and today was no different. Ponies trotted and flew between the various brightly-colored storefronts and market stalls in a colorful storm of coats and manes.

The air carried the general bustle of haggling and chatting and everyday life and the ever-shifting wafts of delicious and usually unhealthy wares peddled by the food carts that stood proudly on every corner. Rainbow's stomach rumbled, but she pushed the thought aside for the moment.

"So, kid, now that we've got the boring stuff out of the way, what say we, uh, head down to the toy store down by Sugarcube Corner? Would you like that?"

"Huh? Why?" came the response, laced with an undertone of disbelief.

Ugh. I shoulda seen this one coming. Rainbow felt her cheeks get just a touch hotter. "To, uh, to buy you some toys or somethin'. I thought you'd like that..."

"Oh. Oh! You wanted to buy me something that I wanted?" The surprise in his voice caught the pegasus a little off guard. "Wow, that's really nice of you! I can't remember the last time, uh, somepony did that for me."

And just like that, her heart broke just the tiniest bit. Celestia, this colt... She didn't let that show, of course.

"Well, we can head over there right now!" Rainbow said, putting enough enthusiasm into her voice to mask the painful feeling in her heart.

The colt made a humming noise and looked around. "Actually... can we get something to eat instead? Something smells, uh, really good."

What? Rainbow thought. "Uh, are you sure? You don't even want to look? I promise they're really good toys... I think. Rarity sometimes donates their stuff."

"Yeah, I'm sure, now c'mon!" The colt in between the front window of a shop and a surprised-looking mare, already following his nose, and vanished. It summoned a terrifying vision of losing the tiny foal in a forest of ponies and having to explain to a furious Sandy Hills what had happened.

"Augh! Kid, wait up!"

Lady Luck gave Rainbow a helping hoof; she found Gabe not thirty seconds later standing in front of a hay dog cart being run by a worried-looking stallion in a red-and-yellow-stained apron. She trotted up just in time to hear the tail end of a conversation that made her eyes shoot wide open.

"...kid, what do you mean your parents are gone?"

Rainbow bolted forward.

"It's exactly what it sounds like, they–"

"HEY! I mean, hey!" The pegasus mare planted herself between Gabe and the stallion. "Sorry about that." Then, over her shoulder, "Gabe, what the hay were you thinking? You can't run off like that!" Gabe pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows in a crude imitation of an adorable pout.

"Oh!," said the orange-coated stallion, drawing her attention back forward. "Rainbow Dash! Is the foal with you?"

I'll deal with you later, you weird little foal, Rainbow thought as she forced herself to refocus. "Yeah, yeah, I'm, uh, looking after him for a bit." She gave him a half-embarrassed, half-nervous smile.

That seemed to be enough for him. He adjusted his little red-and-white cap atop his mussed-up mane and gave her a welcoming, businesslike smile. "Well, what can I get for you two?"

After a second's hesitation, Rainbow stepped to the side. "Well, kid? You're the one who ran over here, anything catch your eye?"

The kid eyed the menu standing next to the cart that was taller than he was, but his face just looked... confused? He turned to the stallion. "This says all I can order is hay stuff. What smells so good?"

The stallion chuckled at the face he was making. "Well, that would be my grade-A delicious fried hay dogs! I'd recommend the number four. Tastes great with some ketchup and mustard, and my fries, well," he leaned over his cart and brought a hoof to the side of his mouth in a comically theatrical stage-whisper, "...my hay fries are better than anypony else's in town. Old family recipe." A grin and a wink. "But let's have that be our little secret. If the secret got out, I don't think I could keep up with the demand!"

Gabe looked confused during the earth pony's performance at first, but a moment later a happy little grin spread across his face. Hey, when he's not being as strange as possible, he can actually be a little cute.

"Well, if they're really that good..." he said, humming exaggeratedly and looking at the sky in feigned thought.

The stallion continued their little show. "Oh, I assure you, sir! Only the best for you!"

"Well, you sold me. I'll take it!"

"I knew you were a clever little colt! Comin' right up! And for you?" The cart pony looked to Dash.

"Oh, I'll take one of those too."

"Fantastic choice, ma'am. I'll have those done right away." True to his word, the stallion gave them a basket with a hay dog and fries that steamed even in the noon-day air and gave off a smell that made Rainbow's stomach growl with an embarrassing ferocity. Rainbow gave the cart pony his bits and they were off to find a spot to eat.

"The park's nearby. Wanna eat there?" Rainbow suggested.

"Sure, sounds good," he responded, more focused on carrying the tray on his back than anything else. He kept knocking it around with his wings like he was unused to carrying stuff around with them or even moving his wings at all. They kept twitching and jerking and making Rainbow very concerned for the food.

They had almost made it to the park when, only a few steps away from the grass, the little colt let out a "Hup!" as his splinted hoof caught a divet in the dusty road. He wobbled just enough for the basket to slide off his back and bounce to the ground, tossing the hay dog and a bunch of those supposedly world-class fries into the dirt.

"Aw, dude, I'm sorry!" Rainbow began, expecting to console an immediately distressed foal. Instead, Gabe stared at the food, not moving. "You can, uh, you can have mine if you want." Offering the delicious-smelling meal on her back wrenched her heart with grief, but she wasn't about to make a kid eat a dirty lunch.

"Nah, that's okay," Gabe said and began scooping the food back into the basket along with a frankly alarming amount of dirt.

"Ah–..." Her sentence was dead on arrival as she watched the colt swipe a fry up off the ground and pop it into his mouth.

"Wow hey, yeah, these are pretty good."

Rainbow tried again. "A-are you sure, kid? I mean, your food's covered in dirt!"

"Yeah, it's all good. Five-second rule."

"What?" She boggled. "It's been way more than five seconds!"

"Five-second rule. Come on, the park's right there." He set the basket between his wings again and made for the park. Rainbow blinked and rushed to catch up with him.

"Whoa, wait, kid, hold on! At least let me shake some of it off! I don't want you eating freakin' dirt!" She caught up to the little foal and bit the edge of the basket, raising it and giving the contents a few bounces. Far too much dirt and dust fell through the holes in the cheap wicker, and even once she was done the food hardly looked edible.

He eyed her, one eyebrow raised. "Are you done?" he said, sounding a little annoyed.

You've gotta be kidding me! "Kid, are you really–"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure, Rainbow. Believe me, I've eaten way worse." The no-nonsense statement tightened up her chest. She frowned but didn't retort. Instead, she spun and carried the basket the rest of the way to the park, letting him hobble along behind her.

The park wasn't so full that it took more than a few minutes to find a nice shady spot under the tree. Rainbow set Gabe's basket down on the grass before reaching over her shoulder and grabbing her own basket from between her wings. "Alright, here you go."

"Finally," Gabe said, focusing solely on his dusty food. He very awkwardly laid down while Rainbow removed her saddlebags, maneuvering himself to keep his weight off his side and splinted foreleg, which he splayed out in front of him. Then he gave the food his full attention.

In a flash, half the hay dog was gone.

"Holy lord, I never thought hay could taste so good," he moaned through a mouthful of dirt and ‘dog before jamming a few more nasty-looking hay fries into his mouth. "Mmmmmm..."

Gross, definitely, but not gross enough to dispel the hunger rolling in Rainbow's gut. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, after all.

Ignoring the colt's weirdly emotional meal, Rainbow lifted her own very-much-not-dusty hay dog to her mouth and took a bite. The most satisfyingly greasy deliciousness exploded in her mouth, pushing any thoughts of dirt all the way to the back of the line. The cyan pegasus scooped up a hoofful of the fries and stuffed them in there too, and in that moment, she absolutely believed every boastful word that stallion had said.

They ate their meals in peace, listening only to the sound of the easygoing wind, far-off shouts, and satisfied munching.

The food was gone too quickly for Dash. She looked down at her empty basket, forlornly wishing that the few stray crumbs that remained were something more, then produced a burp that would have gotten her an earful from Rarity. What surprised Rainbow (though perhaps it shouldn't have) was that the kid finished his food far quicker. Every crumb had vanished. He even licked the basket.

"That was pretty frickin' good, huh kiddo?"

The little foal produced a burp almost as violent as her own and shook his light green mane. "Ohhh, yeah. I got no idea what I did to deserve that, but I loved every bite."

Rainbow let a silence pass. The mood was that special satisfied-mellow, and she wasn't in a hurry to dispel it. A concerned thought grew in the back of her mind, though, and after a while watching some of the weather team push a cloud across the sky, she voiced her thoughts. "Hey, kid... What did you mean, you've had worse? You were just about ready to eat more dirt than food back there."

Gabriel shrugged without meeting her eyes. "I mean that I've had to deal with a lot worse than some dust on my food before. No big deal."

"...how much worse?"

The little green foal picked at the grass with his good hoof. "Much worse. And a lot of it. Every day." He sighed, looking lost in his thoughts. "...but it's okay now. In fact, it’s great now," he said, looking to her with a grateful smile, "I'm here, and here I can eat a really delicious hot dog and fries." Hot dog? "Thanks for that, by the way. It's just like when I was a kid." He looked back out at the park. A couple of mares and a stallion played with their foals not too far away.

When he was a kid? What did he mean—Oh. Maybe he means... before he got taken away from his family. Rainbow took in a deep, shuddering breath, looking away once she felt her eyes watering. Once again, it struck her just how fast this foal had been forced to grow up. He tries so hard to act like an adult.

"Of course, kid. Anytime." She blinked hard, then turned back to the foal. "But you can't run off like that, okay?"

"Oh, right. That." The kid sounded noticeably less grateful now. "I knew you were right behind me, it turned out fine."

"I know, but I could have lost track of you. I don't want that to happen, okay?" She channelled her mother as best she could and fixed a stern stare on him. "And don't think I forgot the hospital. This disappearing act better not be a habit."

"But I wasn't in any–"

"Kid." Her harsh tone cut him off. After a second, she tried again with a slightly softer tone. "I just don't want anything to happen to you, okay? I'm supposed to be the one looking out for you. If anything happened to you, that'd be on me."

"...alright."

"Thanks, kiddo." She said it as laid-back as she could manage, trying to siphon off some of the tension that hung in the air. "You ready to head home?"

He burped again. "Ready as I'll ever be."

It only took a moment to crumple up the used baskets and stuff them into her saddlebags before she put them on. "Alright, all aboard. Rainbow Dash is ready for takeoff." He huffed at that, but Rainbow caught the ghost of a smile flit across his dark green muzzle. He climbed on and Rainbow leapt into the sky.

The pegasus mare transformed her smooth but powerful launch into a gentle bank and began coasting towards her cloud home. She flew as gently as she could, gliding on the afternoon updrafts and keeping a smooth, easy ride. A quick check over her shoulder confirmed her suspicions; Gabe had his face buried in her mane.

She reached over her shoulder and tapped his hoof. "Hey, kid, check out the view."

"...I'm good," he replied into her neck.

"C'mon. Just for a second? I promise on my life I won't drop ya."

He didn't move.

Rainbow sighed quietly and turned her head back around, a tad disheartened, but a moment later she heard a tiny gasp. "Oh, wow..."

Another glance over her shoulder revealed the colt looking down at the town with those wide brown eyes, albeit with his forelegs around her neck and his cheek pressed into her mane. "I had no idea it looked like this."

"Pretty cool, right?" Rainbow grinned. She felt him nod against her coat. The view was, indeed, spectacular. The town was beginning to get that late-afternoon bustle, full of lively, colorful ponies moving about, through the streets and over the rooftops. When she looked back up, Dash spied a handful of stray clouds drifting across the sky and banked towards them.

Rainbow then glided to the widest, most stable-looking cloud and landed with a little flourish. "Alright, kid, time to see that you can really walk on clouds." She took a canter around the clean, fluffy platform and struck a pose for emphasis. "Ta-da! See?"

"Um. I don't know about this, Rainbow. It's really different from your house."

"It's alright, kid, I promise. Even if you fall, I'm right here. I gotcha."

He didn't say anything, hesitating in silence for a minute or so before shifting about, going down rear first. His back hoof reached out, carefully tapping the cloud. It pulled back, almost in shock, then settled on the material. Limb by limb, he made his way off her back, and when he finally did have all four hooves on the cloud, he simply stood and felt at it, pressing each limb down into the cool softness.

Gabe looked at her with starry eyes, filled with genuine childhood wonder. "I can't believe it! This is so weird! It’s so soft!"

The sight of the kid looking happy and actually like a foal filled Rainbow's chest with a special kind of pride she had never felt before. Maybe there really is hope for this kid after all.

Rainbow caught one of the other clouds giving off the faintest flash in the corner of her eye and an exciting idea popped into her head. "Alright, kid, check this out." She spread her wings and took off, doing a few loops and rolls while she gained altitude. Even from a little distance, she could tell the kid's eyes were still wide with awe. She grinned determinedly; she was about to rock his world.

Rainbow shot herself upward and performed a magnificent corkscrew, then flipped and dove back at the cloud, hooves outstretched and forelegs locked. She collided with the cloud at a fantastic speed, knocking the lighting out of it with a flash and a terrific Crack-Boom!, blowing the cloud apart. The thunder rolled through the sky. She knew that, to the colt, it would have looked like she shot lightning from her very hooftips and looked up, expecting to see his wowed expression and a grin across his face.

Instead, she saw him dive off the side of the cloud.

Rainbow couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She just flapped there in the air for a half moment, dumbfounded, before her body caught up to her brain and she exploded into action, diving towards the colt in a manic blast of speed.

"Waaaaaaaaaauuuuugggghhhh!!" The damn kid screamed his head off as he tumbled through the air. Dash flapped her wings even harder, fighting her instinct and driving her faster and faster. She reached towards the foal and the orchard he hurtled towards. Her saddlebags ripped at her sides. They held her back, slowing her down. The trees rushed up to meet them far too quickly. Nonononononononono–!

The two collided and Rainbow locked her forelegs around the smaller pegasus, squeezing him against her chest and groaning as her wings screamed in protest. She pulled out of the dive with barely a breeze to spare, screaming right over the treetops and back into the endless blue sky.

Rainbow realized that she had stopped breathing and sucked air into her panicked body. Every single muscle was tensed and her eyes were locked open. They darted around, taking in the landscape in excruciating detail. She felt each feather in her wings shift in the air and each shiver that shot through the little body pinned against her chest. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." The energy was too much, she had to move.

Minutes later she just about flopped onto her porch, landing awkwardly on three hooves. She held the colt against herself, who kept his hooves tightened around her neck. Unlocking the door with just her mouth was awkward and hobbling through them even more so, but her wings burned and ached as they hung limply at her sides. Walking would just have to do.

The pegasus carefully made her way up the stairs and into the guest room, making it about to the middle of the space before her legs gave out under her and her rear fell to the floor. Gabriel stared at the wall with a far-away look that, in all honesty, scared her to her core. He still had both forelegs wrapped around her very tightly, as if she were the rock that kept him from being swept into a roaring, wrathful sea. "I'm sorry, kid," she whispered, stroking his mane and tucking his head underneath her chin. He only continued to shiver and stare.

"I am so, so sorry..."

Though Luna's night sky shone in all its glory, Rainbow Dash found herself still awake. She lay in her bed, her room shrouded in darkness, staring up at the ceiling. The scene from earlier in the day played over and over in her mind, whenever she closed her eyes. It had been too close. Far too close. Had her reflexes taken her a second longer, or he had somehow wormed out of her grip, or if she hadn't been able to pull up in time... That would have been it.

Ohh, Celestia, Sandy would have her head. I am so, so, screwed. What was I thinking?! I'm not good at taking care of foals! This was such a stupid idea! She groaned and rolled over in her bed, mashing her face into her pillow. Ugh. Maybe it’s for the best. The kid deserves better than me.

A moment later, she rolled out of bed. Even though it was the middle of the night, the late summer made sure the air felt plenty warm. Rainbow crept past Tank, fast asleep in his little bed, and to the door, careful not to set her hooves down too hard. A few moments later, she had exited her room, silently flown down to the floor of the foyer, and placed herself before her front entry.

The doors opened with a soft groan but it couldn't be helped. She trotted out onto her front porch, taking a deep breath of the cool night air before stepping off the edge of the tightly-packed clouds. Practiced but aching wings slowed her fall to a hover and she flew up beneath her front porch to where she knew a long rope hid, sprouting from her home's foundations and coiling around a big cloud-dowel.

She took hold of the thick, sturdy rope's end with her hooves and unwound it a ways before gripping it with her teeth, and then, after making sure the rest was secure, she slowly backed away. Once the rope was taut, she turned around and eased the work her wings were doing, letting herself slowly descend. The rope resisted, but Rainbow insisted, and slowly, very slowly, the cloudominium began to fall.

It took nearly half an hour before Rainbow deemed the home at a good height. Somepony standing on her porch would be able to make out the individual blades of grass in the hilly plain below, as long as they squinted, and if they decided to take a dive, they'd end up with, at worst, a broken bone. Perfect for a flightless pegasus foal.

Her teeth, neck, and wings all raised tartarus as Rainbow flew back up to the bottom of her porch. She stuffed the rope around its dowel in a messy, haphazard way, and after brief good-enough inspection, the worn-out pegasus flew back up and set herself down on the porch. Her head hung low as she walked back inside and pushed her front door shut.

Tank raised his head when she pushed her bedroom door open. She sighed, trudging over to the little dude and giving him a gentle pat on the head. "Yeah, Tank," she muttered, "I really screwed up."

The tortoise gave her a slow, wrinkly smile, and Rainbow couldn't help but feel her spirits rise just the tiniest bit. "You're right, bud. I should get to sleep." After one final pat, she took four steps and flopped into her cloudy bed, snuggling into the nice, soft sheets with a relieved sigh.

Tomorrow would bring what tomorrow would bring, and it was tomorrow Rainbow's problem. Until then, she was long overdue for a nice, long rest.

Excellence

Friday

"You need me to what?" Rainbow Dash said, her mouth twisted into a grimace. A muffled, high-pitched voice responded from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Look, I need help changing them because I can't reach all the way around my back. It's not that bad."

Rainbow's stomach flopped a little bit but she pushed the feeling away as best she could, setting a hoof on the doorknob. "Okay, kid, I'm coming in now..."

Gabriel sat on his hindquarters in the middle of the sparsely-decorated upstairs bathroom, fiddling with the yellow-white bandages around his foreleg. He'd already removed the bandages around his head—they'd come away clean, so at least she wouldn't have to rewrap that particular wound. She watched as he undid the wrappings around the enchanted splint that clung to his foreleg with his teeth, taking care to extract the bits of faintly-glowing wood and set them on the tile floor. Then he removed the bandage underneath, pulling at layers of cloth that became progressively more yellowed and browned as they came away.

"You gonna just stand there and stare?" he muttered through the bandage without looking at her.

Rainbow coughed and pretended she didn't have an embarrassed blush growing in her cheeks. "Er, yeah, of course." Then, more confidently: "How can I help?"

The colt jerked his head. "C'mere, I need you to hold this," he said through his teeth. The cyan pegasus sat down beside the much smaller foal and leaned in to grab the end of the bandage from his mouth. He spat a little once it was free. "Augh, that tasted kinda like pus."

"Gross," Rainbow chuckled.

Gabe returned his focus to his foreleg, shifting it to point at her and waving it in a circle. The bandage there quickly became loose and he pulled the rest of it away in one big heap, holding his naked foreleg up.

"Ah, much easier," he said as he turned his head away, apparently missing the face that his caretaker made.

The sewn-up gash on the kid's leg radiated an angry red color. Little bits of his stitches stuck out of his flesh here and there, poking up in a way that made Rainbow deeply uncomfortable. The fur at its edges that had not escaped the razor wasn't green anymore and a mostly clear but, yellow-tinted liquid seeped out through the cracks in the crusty-brown scabs that ran the length of the wound.

"Uh, kid, are you sure you're fine? That cut doesn't look so hot."

"Huh?" Gabe turned back to look at Rainbow with a quizzical look, a tube of ointment held between his pearly whites. He glanced down at his foreleg and spat the tube out onto the floor. "What do you mean?"

Rainbow grimaced. "Just look at it! There's that stuff coming out from it. Doesn't that mean it's infected?"

"Infected? Oh, no, not at all." The colt shook his head."I mean, maybe, like, a little? But believe me, if it were really infected, you could tell from the smell alone. And, y’know, there'd be real pus. The green-and-yellow stuff. No, it just looks nasty because it's healing right, and I'm pretty sure that paste is an antibiotic. It's probably all good, so don't worry."

Gabe inspected a droplet of blood that welled up from a crack between two scabs and muttered very quietly to himself. "Hmm. I wonder what my blood type is." Then, he looked back up at her and gestured to the neat pile of bandages sitting beside him. "Can you grab one of the smaller rolls?"

Rainbow scooped up one of the clean white bandages. "How do you know about blood types? Did you learn it in school?"

The colt didn't respond right away, as he had removed the cap from the tube of ointment and placed the tube back in his mouth. Rainbow watched, a little impressed, as the colt carefully squeezed some of the medicine onto his wound. Then he spat out the tube again and spread it over the whole cut with the tip of his hoof.

"I've dealt with a lot of stuff like this in my day, believe it or not. Unpleasant times."

No kidding.

"It wasn't all bad, though. Folks just tended to get... scraped up along the way. Some worse than others. And we weren't always lucky enough to have, um, doctors nearby." Rainbow got the feeling that 'unpleasant' was a grave understatement as Gabe continued. "Okay. I'm gonna need you to hold the edge of the bandage right here..."

The colt walked her through the process of rebandaging the wound, replacing the splint, and then wrapping it all up tightly. After they finished and he tested out the range of movement in his leg, a bit of pride surged through Rainbow's chest. She'd never changed bandages like that before.

"And now for the hard one," Gabe said, reminding Dash of the ugly wound on the colt's side. "Hmm, not lookin' forward to this."

Rainbow stuck her tongue out. "Me neither, kid."

They removed the outer wrappings easily enough, but things got rougher once they reached the final layer. Rainbow tried not to focus on the way the cloth peeled away from his shaved skin, trailing thin strands of Celestia-knew-what and prompting the colt to produce the softest hiss. The wound underneath looked so unpleasant that Rainbow had real trouble keeping her breakfast down.

Through it all, the colt looked calm as ever, continuing to give Rainbow level-headed instruction as she smeared the wound with ointment and re-wrapped the colt's torso up like it was Nightmare Night and he'd chosen to dress up as a very incomplete mummy.

She pinned in the trailing edge of the bandage and produced a relieved sigh. "Finally. That was gross as heck."

The little green colt gave a good-natured chuckle. "Hey, at least you're not the one who's gonna have to walk around with a brutal scar."

"Yeah." Rainbow still couldn't shake the thought that had lodged in her head. How did he keep such an impossible calm? "Hey, doesn't this hurt?"

The colt shrugged, beginning to paw at the bandages on his wing. "Sure. Why?"

"I mean, doesn't this hurt, like, a lot? This isn't like, y'know, dressing up a hoof-cut." Rainbow had seen other foals in tears over things like papercuts and bee stings.

The colt thought about that for a second, cocking his head to the side and chewing on his lip.

"Yeah, I mean, it hurts just about as much as you'd expect, but it's not so bad once you get used to it. I think why, uh, ponies freak out when they get hurt is just because it's surprising, yeah? It's pretty shocking to get injured." He twisted his head around to look at his freshly-bandaged side. "But once you get over the shock it's just annoying. And from there it's a matter of doing your best to not think about it."

“Wow,” Rainbow felt a little dumbstruck.

Gabriel chuckled. "Y’know, isn't so bad that I can't ignore it now, but if I'd have been awake when I got it, I probably would have been screaming my head off."

It felt indescribably absurd to watch such a little colt talk about getting horribly injured and maimed so calmly. How many times had he seen this happen to become so jaded by it? How many times had he been hurt to learn to ignore pain on the scale of getting your side torn out?

What did this to him?

Rainbow felt so simultaneously heartbroken for him and angry at the ones responsible that the emotions just clashed in her head, rolling around and tousling and mixing into a blob of sorrow and disgusted exhaustion. She shook her head a bit and refocused when she noticed Gabe struggling to undo his wing splint. "Here, let me give you a hoof."

It turned out that, at least when it came to wings, Rainbow was much more knowledgeable than Gabe. Apparently, nopony had ever bothered to teach him about them. She carefully inspected the limb, preened out the bad feathers, and after a while of moving it this way and that and asking Gabe if it hurt (she told him not to play it down, just to make sure,) Rainbow announced, somewhat surprised, that his wing had healed and the splint could go in the trash.

This kid is healing fast, she thought to herself as she dropped the used wing-splint in the bathroom wastebasket with the rest of the old bandages. It lay there, discarded, its job complete, and Rainbow furrowed her brow. I can't wait 'till it all goes in here. It would be a relief to see that colt trotting around looking normal and not like a walking bandage roll.

To think that there were people in this world willing to do such terrible things to a foal. Whoever did this had better hope I never get my hooves on 'em. Then she took a deep breath and let her twisted-up muzzle relax.

"Hey, Gabe," Rainbow said over her shoulder.

"Hmm?"

She turned around. "I, uh, I want you to know that you don't have to worry about getting... hurt like this anymore. I'll make sure you stay safe."

The little foal got a weird look in his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, then after a moment closed it again. A moment passed. "Thanks, Rainbow."

Sandy Hills' ears twitched at the sound of an opening door and she raised her head to see Rainbow Dash and little Gabriel shuffle into the room. She greeted the duo with a wide grin. "Gabriel, Rainbow Dash! So good to see you two! I'm glad you found the room alright."

"Heya, Sandy." Rainbow remained in the doorway, shuffling her hooves.

What’s going on with her? Sandy thought. She looks... nervous? Uncomfortable? Odd.

"Hi, Miss Hills," Gabriel said, walking into the room and examining its decor.

Sandy had worked hard to make the foal therapy room as comfortable as possible. The walls were painted with a mural of blue skies and rolling green hills punctuated by images of frolicking colts and fillies.

The only furniture in the room was a table made to be just the right height for foals, surrounded by a set of well-loved sitting pillows. Beat-up donation toys cluttered the room's corners; some foals talked best while playing.

Gabriel ignored them, making his way to the table and prodding one of the cushions with a curious hoof before plopping his rear down on it. "Alright, Rainbow I'm all set," he called over his shoulder.

"Great, I'll see you this afternoon. Be good for Sandy, okay?"

"I will."

Rainbow gave them both a big wave, which Sandy returned, and vanished back out the door. Gabe turned back to face her, looking expectant, so the counselor retrieved her clipboard from her saddlebags, which she had set in a pile nearby, and began their session.

"I'm glad to see you walking around so well, Gabriel. I noticed your wing is free."

The aforementioned limb flopped on his back at its mention. "Yeah, Rainbow said it was good so we didn't splint it again. Feels great."

"How's your pain. Not too bad?" He shook his head. "Ah, fantastic." She cleared her throat, wishing she'd had the foresight to bring a glass of water in here. "So, tell me! How has your time with Rainbow Dash been so far? What have you two been up to?"

"Oh, she's been good," he said, "she showed me her house, which is made of frickin' clouds! I've never seen anything like it. Then she took me into, uh, Ponyville and we bought some stuff. She was real nice the whole time, explaining everything to me and buying me food. We bought hot dogs from a stand and they were amazing, I, uh, just wish I could have helped her pay."

Sandy decided to address the paying comment second. "Hot dogs? Do you mean hay dogs?"

He made a confused face. "Same thing, right?"

The counselor shook her head. "I've never heard them called 'hot dogs.'"

"Huh. Well, you get the idea."

"Gabriel, what do you mean when you say that you wanted to help pay for the hay dogs?"

He shrugged his little green shoulders and brushed some of his tousled mane out of his eyes. "I just mean that, uh, I'd rather not be a burden. Pulling my weight and all, y'know?"

His words made the pegasus mare put down her clipboard. "Oh, honey, you're not a burden to us, I promise."

She could tell from the look he gave her that he didn't believe her for a heartbeat. "Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't change the fact that she still has to pay to keep me fed and a roof over my head. I don't like that."

"Oh, don't worry, Gabriel. Because she agreed to it, the ministry will give Rainbow the money to take care of you. She shouldn’t need to pay out-of-pocket, not a single bit."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, you guys really do that?" When she nodded, he chuckled a little. "This place is so different from home..."

"Well, how'd the rest of you two's day go?"

"Ah, it wasn't much more than that. We ate the hay dogs at the park and talked a little bit. She really is sweet, that mare."

Celestia, it was so strange to hear the foal talk about Rainbow like she was a friendly coworker and not his temporary foster parent. Then again, she thought, there are worse ways for a foal to think of their caretakers. "What do you mean, Gabriel?"

He waved his hoof in the air. "Oh, I mean that she's so concerned about me, even though she tries to hide it and be cool all the time. When we were shopping she offered to buy me some toys... or something."

Sandy Hills smiled a big, happy smile and clapped her hooves. "Oh, that's wonderful!" Not something I would have expected from the ever-cool Miss Rainbow Dash, either. "Which did you pick out?"

"Oh, I didn't get any." She blinked and her smile disappeared, to which he responded: "Yeah, Rainbow gave me the same look. Don't worry, I made sure she knew that it wasn't because of her, just that, y'know..." he scrunched up his muzzle. "I don't even know what I'd do with a toy. Not really about to play with one."

"Why not?"

He looked her in the eye. "Miss Hills, I haven't really wanted to play with toys in years. I guess I grew out of 'em, like, um, anypony else."

Sandy hummed, trying her best to keep her expression positive. "It's okay to play with toys at your age, Gabriel. I'd say most every foal your age does so. There's absolutely no shame in it."

He huffed but didn't deny what she said. "Anyway, I can tell Rainbow's really concerned about me, especially when I tell her about anytime I've been through something tough. She's just..."

A moment passed while he hesitated, scratching at the surface of the worn wooden table with the tip of his hoof. "She's lookin' out for me, and I can appreciate that."

The foal obviously put a great deal of effort into putting up the appearances of an adult. It was going to take time and hard work to convince the little foal that it was okay to act his age here. She shuddered to think of what experiences he had been through that had so thoroughly convinced him that he absolutely had to behave in such a way.

"I'm glad that you and Rainbow are getting along so well,” she replied, “Not every foal takes to their foster parents so well, especially if they're this temporary."

"Huh. Weird," he said. She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow in a silent question. He blinked and then rushed to explain. "I mean that, uh, I didn't really think about the fact that she's my foster mother. Odd thought. But yeah, she's cool, even if she tried maybe a little too hard yesterday."

"What do you mean?" A spark of worry leapt up in her heart and she rushed to suppress it. This is an Element of Harmony we're talking about. I'm sure it's fine.

"Oh, it's just that, on the way back to her, uh, floaty cloud home she stopped to show me what it was like to walk on a normal cloud. It was pretty cool, but then she got too excited and tried to show me a trick."

Uh-oh, Sandy thought.

"She hit one of the clouds going real fast, and it made lightning, and it caught me off-guard." He looked back to the table, scratching at it again with one hoof and brushing light green mane out of his eyes with the other. "She had to fly down and catch me after I jumped off."

That made Sandy's heart leap up into her throat, and a rush of anger leapt up with it. How dare she? Didn't she know she was dealing with a traumatized foal? "Now, Gabriel," she began, not quite able to keep her voice venom-free, "If you want me to speak with Miss Dash–"

"No, no, it's not what you think," Gabriel waved his hooves, his big brown eyes glinting with something that seemed close to concern, "she didn't know I’d do that. If I’d had any idea what she was trying to do I would have told her that loud noises like that are a pretty bad idea. She was really sorry afterward. I think it's still bothering her, even though I told her it was ok. She's apologized, like, forty times. Really. I barely got her to stop."

Sandy paused, holding her righteous anger back. "...are you sure, Gabriel? If Rainbow Dash tries anything like this again–"

"It's fine, I promise. I just wasn't expecting it."

The counselor thought for a minute. "If you say so, Gabriel. If she does something like that again, though, I want you to tell me as soon as you can, okay?" It'd be unfortunate if Dash wasn't able to foster because of her ego... The tan mare reminded herself to send the letters she had written out to the potential families. "Now, Gabriel, I know you've been through a lot, so I want to remind you that if you feel uncomfortable answering any of my questions, just tell me, okay? I need to find out a little more about your background, so I know how I can help you best, alright?"

He nodded. "Alright."

"Thank you for letting me help. Now, can you tell me a little bit more about why loud noises are a bad idea?"

The colt chewed on his lip a little.

Sandy smiled and waited patiently for him to think out his answer.

"They're reminders. Of hard times." And that was apparently all he had to say about that.

"Well, can you be a little more specific about the kind of noises that scare you? Is it any loud noise?"

"Just loud, sharp ones," the colt specified, "like lightning cracking or dropping a heavy book on a flat floor. Also, uh, thunder. Thunder especially, even though, um… it’s not sharp. I guess."

Sandy noted that down with a quick flourish of her pencil. "Thank you, Gabriel. I won't ask you about those noises anymore, but I will remind you that you're welcome to tell me about them at any time, as long as you're comfortable."

He blinked at her. A little bit of his light green mane fell over his eyes.

She cleared her throat. "Gabriel, I'd like to know a little bit about your background. This can be a hard topic, so just know that–"

"I'll let you know if I'm uncomfortable answering."

Good. Foals could sometimes be hard to convince to do things like admitting when they weren't comfortable talking. Depending on the foal, it could take multiple sessions to get them to be able to tell her that they didn't want to speak on a subject instead of awkwardly dancing around it or just clamming up entirely.

It was great that Gabriel said he was willing to tell her, but whether or not he actually would do so posed to be an entirely different matter.

"Okay, Gabriel. I'm going to ask you about your past." She looked at him, and he gave her a nod. "You said you're from Westfield, correct?"

The colt nodded. "Yep."

"Were you born there?"

"Yeah."

To his knowledge, which may be unreliable. The colt had said he had grown up in Westfield, but that could be anything from a town to the trafficking circle's base of operations. "And your parents, um..." she peeked at her notes, squinting and trying to remember how he had pronounced those odd names.

"Amelia and David."

"Right." She noted down phonetics this time. "Can you tell me about them?" Gabriel had said they weren't ponies, leading Sandy Hills to theorize that, whoever these people were, they were not his real parents, and the same could likely be said for his sister.

The fact that he shared their strange naming conventions implied a renaming as well. However, that didn't mean that they hadn't treated him kindly; he did refer to them as family, after all.

Then again, foals' recollections weren't known for being especially reliable.

This really is all up in the air.

"I remember 'em pretty well," Gabriel began. "My ma was super sweet, if a little doting. Because I’m the youngest, she would always be making sure I was safe and stuff like that." He paused for a while, swallowed, and continued, still not meeting her eye. "She had a kind soul."

Caretaker, Sandy thought, maybe one of many made to look after the stolen foals. Perhaps uncharacteristically kind?

"My father definitely wasn't so sweet,” he said with a sad little chuckle, “but he cared about us. Just had a hard time showin' it."

As she wrote, Sandy jotted a note on the margins to ask if he had any more siblings. These foals, for all she knew, were still being abused somewhere. If—no, when she had enough information, she would take it to the police.

"He was stern and traditional. He liked being thought of as tough, and it was true. He made anyone dumb enough to pick up a fight with the family regret it, but I think he was a softie inside because when folks really needed it, he wouldn't hesitate to cut 'em a break off work and pay the cost."

This was interesting. Gabriel sounded like he was describing a guard, perhaps hired muscle, but one with a caring heart. If that was really the case, what was he doing foal-trafficking?

Sandy finished her note and looked up at him. He still seemed alright, perhaps a tad uncomfortable. If that gets any worse, I may have to stop asking questions regardless of what he says. Some part of her thoughts seemed to show on her face, though, because he spoke up a moment later.

"They were good people, Miss Hills. They did their best, and they didn't deserve what happened to them."

"What happened, Gabriel?"

He scratched the table. "I'm not going to talk about that, but... well, when I say they're not around..."

She had no trouble putting two and two together. "They've passed on."

He solemnly nodded, still looking down.

The counselor wondered what they had done to deserve such a punishment. Maybe they’d given in to their conscience and helped some of the foals escape... if that were the case, then the group Gabriel had gotten away from was highly dangerous.

His injuries certainly supported that theory.

"Were they always your parents, Gabriel?"

He gave her a little bit of a weird look. "Yeah, of course."

Taken too young to remember? The monsters. Sandy wondered if his real parents, his pony parents were somewhere out there, still mourning the loss of their colt. Maybe, one day, they would find out enough to track them down... but it wouldn't do to give the colt false hope, so she kept the thought to herself and moved on.

"What can you tell me about, um, Raych-ell?"

"Rachel," Gabriel corrected, "she's... she was my older sister. My only sibling." That one, unfortunately, did not need explaining. "After our parents were, uh, out of the picture, she took care of me."

Another guard, perhaps, or an older child that had been subject to the same kind of renaming as Gabriel? Sandy continued to jot notes as he continued.

"She was tough as nails, like our dad, and didn't fu–, erm, mess around, but she was angry a lot of the time. Things were pretty rough for us, and she hated it.” His voice became low and quiet. “She took care of me for a long time, and she always stuck up for me."

An ache Sandy hadn’t felt in a long time gripped her heart. She reminds me of Gentle Breeze...

"Eventually, she had to go. I—" The foal folded his forelegs on the table and rested his head on them with a sigh. "I miss her."

Sandy's heart wrenched in her chest. "Oh, Gabriel..." She set down her clipboard and walked around the little table to wrap him in a hug. He didn't lean into her, but she silently gave thanks that he didn't push her away.

After a moment, she backed off, though the pegasus mare chose to sit beside him now instead of across from him.

"It's okay," he said. "I know that she's in a better place."

A silence passed as Sandy Hills considered how to proceed. Their time was drawing to a close, so she decided to begin to tackle one of the colt's bigger issues. "Your family... they didn't look like you and me, did they?"

A tired chuckle escaped from the little green foal beside her. "No, they did not. They weren't ponies." Griffons, most likely, despite the names not starting with ‘G.’ She supposed that included his strangely-named sister, too. Perhaps it wasn't only pony children being trafficked...

Sandy shifted to another question, one she asked the few foals raised by other species that she had counseled. "Can I ask you how you feel about your body, Gabriel?"

He looked at his forelegs, one bandaged and splinted, one free. Perhaps unconsciously, he flapped his wings a little. "It's not particularly comfortable. Different than, um, I guess what I'm used to."

What he's used to? What? Sandy wasn’t quite sure how to address that, but it went in her notes anyway.

"It's strange, but I can get used to it... I think. It’s a lot. This has all been just... a lot." He rubbed his chin. “I’m exhausted, but what else can I do? Just… stop and give up? Freak the hell out?”

Sandy chuckled. “Well, I will admit, you have been calmer than I would have expected from a foal your age.”

Gabriel waggled his hoof in a so-so motion. “I wouldn’t exactly say calm, more like… at capacity. It’s kind of all I can do to take things one step at a time. New place, new, um, ponies, and it’s been real strange just being a little kid, but I gotta make the best of the things that come my way. It’s what I’ve always done."

Sandy quickly jotted down every enlightening yet confusing detail. I want to continue talking about all that but we need to go soon. I suppose I’ll just be casual instead, and that stuff will have to wait for another time.

"Well, to be honest, I kind of envy you,” the counselor said. “I wish I could be a foal again. Then I wouldn't have to worry about adult stuff all the time."

That brought a more legitimate snicker out of him. "Yup," he grinned, looking at her, "don’t gotta worry about getting laid off or your house getting repossessed or any of that shit."

He spoke like he’d worried about those things before. Sandy hesitated, unsure of how to respond, but a glance at the clock saved her hide. "Well, speaking of things that foals do, it's time to go for your test at the schoolhouse! Pretty soon you'll be going to school with the rest of the foals in Ponyville, what do you think about that? Are you excited?"

"That's great, but uh, wasn't this kind of a short session?"

She gave him a sheepish smile. "It was a bit tough to schedule, honestly, because I forgot I had to do grown-up-pony things this morning. In the future, I'll be sure to plan ahead." She glanced at the clock and jumped in her seat. "Oh! School's about to get out!"

“Huh?” Gabe blinked and glanced at the clock. “Isn’t it too early? It’s barely past noon.”

“The teacher ends classes early on Fridays.” Sandy quickly stood and trotted to her saddlebags, scooping her pencil and notes into them and throwing them across her back. Then she made for the door. "Come on, if we hurry, we can just make it!" As she pushed the door open, she heard a grumble from over her shoulder.

"I can't believe I'm late for school again."

Sandy couldn't help but smile.

Getting out of school early on a Friday was possibly the best feeling in the whole world. The air smelled fresh, the sky was clear and blue, and, best of all, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were off being demonic brats somewhere else. As far as Sweetie Belle was concerned, all was right in Equestria.

"Rrrgh, darn it." Scootaloo, apparently, didn't agree. "That quiz was too freakin' hard! Like what the hay! The school year just started!"

"I thought it was fine," Sweetie watched the other foals walking down the path leading away from the schoolhouse and towards Ponyville. The two currently sat on the school's front porch, waiting for Apple Bloom to finish talking with Miss Cheerilee. She could hear bits of their muffled conversation through the door. "What'd you have trouble on?"

"The one about the melons," grumbled the orange pegasus filly, "I mean, who the heck buys that many melons? It's insane! She really should rewrite the test. And another thing was how..."

Sweetie tuned Scootaloo out for the most part as she complained about the quiz. This was far from the first time it had happened, and the unicorn filly knew that she just needed to get the frustration off her chest, so she let her eyes wander.

As she looked out at the town, one ear tilted towards her ranting friend, she noticed a pair of ponies trotting (or in the second's case, more like stumbling) towards the schoolhouse, and one of them looked awfully familiar. She tapped the pegasus filly on the shoulder. "Hey, Scoots, do you recognize them?"

"Huh?" Scootaloo's eyes followed her pointed hoof. "Oh, um, isn't she that one ministry mare? Whats-her-name Hill?" Then she squinted, looking closer. "I don't know that colt with the messy mane, though. Dang, he looks kinda beat up. Are those bandages?"

Now that they were closer, Sweetie could make out that yes, the colt was indeed wrapped up in clean, off-white bandages. They almost completely encased his middle, with his dark green wings sticking out like two sore hooves, and almost covered one of his forelegs.

"Oh, yeah.” Sweetie tapped her chin with a hoof. “I think that mare came into the boutique last week. She talked with Rarity forever. Why's that colt walkin' so weird?"

"I dunno," shrugged Scootaloo. "Broken leg?"

"Look," Sweetie said, "he doesn't have a cutie mark." Her eyebrows raised.

By now they were at the short path leading up to the schoolhouse. The two fillies watched them walk up. The colt had a little trouble with the slope but after a bungled try he managed. How can somepony be so bad at walking? Sweetie thought. I mean, yeah, he has a wrapped-up leg, but still...

The brown pegasus mare gave the two a cheery smile. "Hi, girls!" she said in a warm, welcoming voice. "How are you today?" The colt, meanwhile, gave them a completely neutral stare.

"Um, we're alright, I guess," Scootaloo said. When she didn't continue, Sweetie Belle realized that it was up to her to pick up the conversational slack. She gave the mare a smile and her friend an elbow-jab.

"What she means to say is that we're doing good, how are you?" Sweetie ignored Scootaloo's indignant 'Hey!'

"We're well, thank you for asking!" the friendly mare said. "My name is Sandy Hills." She glanced down at the colt, but when he continued to stare at the fillies, she continued. "This is my friend Gabriel." He blinked and raised up his hoof in a little wave.

Weird name for a weird colt, Sweetie Belle thought.

Sandy Hills continued to smile at them. "We're here to see Miss Cheerilee. Is she here right now?"

"Yeah, she's just inside, but she's talkin' to our friend right now. She should be out any–" Apple Bloom cut Scootaloo off herself when she pushed open the schoolhouse door.

"Hey gals! Hope Ah didn't take too long, 'cause–" The yellow filly stopped short when she saw the newcomers. "Oh! Were ya tryin' to see Miss Cheerilee? Did I keep ya waiting?"

Sandy Hills shook her head. "No, there’s no trouble at all. We just got here!"

With Apple Bloom finished, absolutely no reason to stay at school remained. The weekend called their names and offered cutie marks to crusade for, but Sweetie Belle found herself curious about the colt, and while Scootaloo began to repeat her complaints anew to Apple Bloom, she watched the newcomers greet Miss Cheerilee and enter the school.

As the strange green colt walked through the door, one of his eyes flicked to hers in a split-second sidelong glance. Something in that look sent a little spark up her spine.

"Sweetie! You comin'?" And then it dropped from her mind. The little filly turned tail, hurrying to catch up with her friends.

"Well... he certainly finished the test." With Cheerilee's opening words, Sandy Hills knew that this conversation was going to be an interesting one.

The examination had taken Gabriel fairly long to complete. He’d had trouble holding with his pencil, giving up mouth-writing after a fruitless half-hour and electing to hold it in the crook of his fetlock in what appeared to be the most uncomfortable way of scribbling down answers possible.

On top of that, the colt refused to let Cheerilee help him, insisting that he could do it himself. In his defense, though, it wasn't exactly a short assessment.

Once he’d finished, Gabriel had asked to wait outside and enjoy the afternoon while Cheerliee went over the exam. He and Sandy had watched the weather team as they wrangled a hoofful of clouds and flown them off towards the growing storm past the edge of town. Sandy had even pointed out Rainbow Dash as she swooped and dove, pushing chunks of white fluff this way and that. It seemed to please the colt.

Now Sandy stood back in the schoolhouse, having left Gabriel outside to enjoy the day. Sunbeams poured through the tall windows and laid their golden selves across the whole room, filled with dancing motes of dust. The slightly musty air felt warm enough to lie down right there on the wooden floor and have a nice long midday nap.

Sandy pushed away the sleepy thought and looked at Cheerilee expectantly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I suppose we'll start with the writing portion." The pink-maned mare set the relevant sheet of paper on her desk. It was covered with the most jagged, unclean writing Sandy had seen in a long while, and she raised her eyebrow.

“His mouth–, erm, hoofwriting leaves something to be determined.”

Cheerilee chuckled a little at her understatement. "Yes, but once you get past that, you can see that he has excellent grammar and near-perfect spelling. I only found a few errors here and there. It's completely unlike a foal of his age." Sandy's confused look only continued to deepen.

"What's more, he was tasked to write a fairy tale, and he produced possibly the most disturbing version of Hoofzel and Grazel that I have ever seen. In his version, the two foals have very strange names and don't escape the witch at all, they–" she stopped, looking a little green. "I'll, ah, spare you the details. Of course, he scored mid-to-high marks in reading, but that's not completely out of the ball-park for a foal his age."

Maybe he wrote a griffon retelling or something, Sandy thought. "And the rest of the test?"

"All over the place." Cheerilee brushed a hoof through her mane, frazzling it a little. "I've never seen anything like it, honestly. He did well on some parts of the science portions, physics and chemistry specifically, and scored rock-bottom on the thaumaturgical and natural science questions. How can he know the scientific method perfectly but not know that the sun revolves around the planet?!"

"What? I didn't think anypony has taught heliocentrism for centuries, even outside of Equestria."

"To my knowledge, they don't," Cheerilee frowned. "Moving on, his history scores are nearly as low as they can go. I can tell that he was guessing on almost every question, and for the written responses he put down multiple dates that are several hundred years in the future." Celestia, this just got stranger and stranger.

"The same goes for his geography and civics, although I should mention that he answered a few questions about Equestria right, but his knowledge of the larger world seems sparse, to put it generously."

The counselor hummed into her hoof. "He's going to have a heck of a lot of catching up to do."

"Well, in everything but math," Cheerilee said with a chuckle, making Sandy's ears perk.

"Huh?"

"It's incredible. He got every question right perfectly. No muss-ups, no missed carrys, even though he used some kinds of notation I've never seen before. I watched him breeze through the arithmetic and geometry sections. He only slowed down when he got to the algebra, and even then, I could tell it gave him almost no trouble at all. There are even a few very simple trigonometry and calculus problems at the end of the portion just in case, and he got those perfect, too. He's at upper secondary school levels, maybe higher."

Sandy raised her eyebrows. "Wow, that's... unexpected."

That made the teacher laugh. "That's one way to put it. Altogether, I'm really not sure where to place him. Again, he's all over the place." Cheerilee shuffled the papers on her desk. "I'd probably say that he'd do best in a year or two behind his peers, but it wouldn't be out of the question to push him forward if he performs well.”

Sandy hummed. “The school year did just start, so he'd be at pace with the other foals as far as new material is concerned, right?”

Cheerilee nodded. “You know him better than I do, though. What do you think?"

Well, Gabriel needed to be able to fit in if he was going to develop proper social skills—Sandy doubted that was even possible, given how oddly he tended to act—and putting him with a bunch of smaller foals wouldn't do much to help that, but it wouldn't be as detrimental as the teasing the colt would likely receive from other ponies his age.

On the other hoof, if he were put in with his peers, he'd have to work hard to catch up in the areas he was behind. It was certainly a pickle.

After a minute or two of thinking, Sandy spoke up. "Well, I think that it's important for him to be around other foals his age if he is going to have a chance at making friends. It’s paramount, considering his situation."

"I'll give him plenty of help,” Cheerilee smiled, “but he'll still have to work harder than the other foals. Is he capable of that?"

Sandy looked out the cracked window to where the colt was sunning himself on the schoolhouse's verdant green lawn. He looked perfectly content, eyes closed and almost asleep, but the pegasus mare noticed that one ear was cocked and pointed directly at them.

How long had he been listening to them speak?

"Well, to be perfectly honest, Cheerilee," the counselor said, still looking out the window, "I'm not quite sure what exactly that colt is capable of just yet."

Plans and Pencils

Friday Afternoon

My dearest student,

I am writing to you not to alarm you, but to inform you. Luna and I are currently managing a potentially dangerous magical accident in Canterlot. I hate to ask this of you, but we’ve come to the conclusion that we require your help.

I've sent a package of relevant materials via courier, they should be arriving at your library later today. Enclosed are multiple texts from the royal library. I need you to familiarize yourself with the concepts within, specifically Golden Aura's Anima Thaumaturgia and its magical codex. Please do so as quickly as possible and respond when you are finished with your research.

It might also be prudent to keep your friends up to speed, as I do not know if we will have need of the Elements. Equestria could very well be counting on our efforts, but it is imperative that we keep our wits about us. We may need them in the coming days.

With much love,

Celestia

Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's resident librarian and the Element of Magic, almost-unconsciously rolled up the scroll and placed it on the kitchen table. Then she stared at the wall with such intensity that her number-one assistant almost tripped on his way past her.

"Yo, Twilight, what the heck was in that letter?"

Twilight blinked herself out of her stupor and looked at the little dragon beside her. "The princess says something's wrong in Canterlot," she managed. "She needs my help."

"Your help with what? What happened?"

"I—" Twilight snatched the letter back up and reread it, then dropped it to the floor. "...she doesn't actually say, just that I need to research a few texts and get back to her." She sprang into gear, trotting quickly into the treehouse's largest room with Spike hot on her heels.

"Alright, which books do ya need? I'm sure we can find them lickety-split."

"We don't have them here."

The little dragon paused with his purple foot mid-step. "What?"

"We don't have them here. They're supposed to arrive with a courier sometime today." She began perusing the shelves, tapping the spine of each book as she passed it and pulling out any that seemed potentially helpful.

Spike's little snout wrinkled. "So if you don't have the books, what are you doing right now?"

"I'm looking for helpful material so that I can get a head start, Spike," she said as if that were the most obvious fact in the world—which it obviously was.

"But what about your lunch with the girls?"

Urk! I completely forgot! The unicorn shook away the discomfort. "The girls are just going to have to go on without me."

She heard her assistant groan to himself. When she turned to face him, he was reading the letter. When had he picked that up?

"Twilight, it doesn't even say what you're supposed to be researching aside from the name of something by somepony named ‘Golden Aura,’ which we apparently don't even have."

“Golden Aura was a mid-millenium magic historian.”

“Twilight.”

She groaned. Why didn't he understand? "Spike," Twilight began as patiently as she could, "the princess needs my help, that means I owe it to her to do whatever I can, and that includes gathering anything that could have information similar to what's in Anima Thaumaturgia and researching it."

"But don't you think that Celestia would have told you if you had the right books already?" Spike's response froze Twilight in her tracks. She hated to admit it, but he did have a point. He pressed on. "It even says here not to freak out. I think that Princess Celestia knows her stuff, and you can get working on it this afternoon, which means you can go to lunch with your friends. It won't be the end of the world."

The unicorn mare made a whining noise and danced from hoof to hoof. "But what if it does mean the end of the world?"

He shrugged. "Well, then you've got the Elements of Harmony right there. I'm sure it'll work out. Now c'mon, it's lunchtime. Remember what happened the last–"

"Okay! Okay, Spike, we don't need to go over that again," Twilight blushed, "you got me. I'll go meet the girls."

Spike eyed the clock. "Good. You better hurry, too. You said you'd be at that sandwich place two minutes ago."

The unicorn made a noise Rarity would not have approved of. "Didn'tseethetimewellgottagobye!" Then she vanished in a flash of brilliant violet light, leaving the young dragon grumbling and blinking the spots out of his eyes.

“A daisy on rye sounds like it’ll hit the spot just perfectly!” Rainbow Dash pointed it out to the waitress pony, who nodded and jotted it down, then looked to the group as a whole.

"Alright, I'll have that out for you lickety-split!"

"I’m terribly sorry, miss, but can you please hold off delivering those orders to the chef for a few minutes?" Rarity corrected her mane with an alabaster hoof, ignoring Rainbow's groan, "we've still got one more on the way. She should be here any minute!"

"No problem, ladies, just wave me over when you're ready." The waitress smiled, tucked her notebook and pen in her apron, and trotted to another table.

The summer sky above shone a clean, brilliant blue thanks to Rainbow and the rest of the weather team. She had just spent a shift clearing stray clouds from the Ponyville skies and pushing them to the forming storm. Now that she wasn't busy flying, though, she could enjoy the relaxed feeling of the day. Rainbow could feel the weekend gearing up even though she still had another shift to go, which was why she was a little anxious to get that darn daisy on rye.

Bouquet Sandwiches' outside seating offered the ideal place to pony-watch. The girls had gathered around one of the tables, relishing the shade of its umbrella.

"I wonder when Twilight's gonna show," the orange earth pony across from Rainbow said as she picked a stray leaf from her mane.

Rainbow stage-pouted. "I bet she got sucked into another book and completely forgot." She earned a giggle from Pinkie Pie while Applejack cracked a smile.

"I'm sure the dear just lost track of time and is hurrying here as we speak," Rarity said, her voice even and proper, "You know how she can be."

"Well, my lunch break isn't gonna last forever," Dash said. Before Rarity had a chance to respond, a bright flash highlighted strange, misshapen shadows for a half-second. "Oh, thank Celestia."

The group watched as Twilight blinked and looked around, smiling when she spotted her friends. Rainbow beckoned her over as Pinkie jumped up and snagged the waitress's attention with a big, enthusiastic wave.

"Hi, girls!" Twilight joined them at the table, her mane looking a little frazzled. "Sorry I'm late."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, darling!" Rarity gave her a polite pat on the shoulder. "It happens to everypony now and then."

The waitress came back and Twilight sheepishly ordered. Rainbow sighed and slumped into her chair when the waitress mare adjusted her apron and left to walk into the restaurant. That sandwich would soon be hers.

"So, Twi, what was it this time?" Applejack leaned forward and setting her elbows on the table while pointedly ignoring Rarity's raised eyebrow. "Experiment go wrong?"

"Ooh! Lemme guess! You turned Spike into–" Pinkie gasped, smacking her hooves to her cheeks, "A dog! And you had to send Princess Celestia a letter about it, only you had to go to Canterlot yourself because Spike's a dog and–!"

"No, Pinkie," Twilight smiled, "Spike is still plenty scaly and his appetite for gems is unharmed. It does have something to do with Princess Celestia."

Dash snapped up and leaned in close. "Really? What happened?" The rest of the girls nodded along too, looking curious. Even Fluttershy looked more interested than nervous, leaning out of her mane a little.

"Well, it's just that I got a concerning letter from the princess today. She said that there was a magical accident in Canterlot and that she may need my help."

"Oh, that's simply dreadful!" Rarity’s eyes widened. "Whatever happened?"

"That's just the thing, I don't really know. She didn't provide specifics, she just said that she was sending me some books that I needed to study and get back to her once I understood them." Twi looked really concerned now. "I hope I can help."

"I know ya can, sugar cube!" Applejack clapped Twilight on the back and she made a little 'oof' as the rest of the mares voiced their agreement. "If anypony can figure it out, it's you."

"Yeah, and you can always count on us! We’ll be ready!" Rainbow made a reassuring smile—and maybe puffed out her chest just a little bit.

Twilight smiled, looking a little relieved. "Thanks, girls, I appreciate it. You're all the best."

"Think nothing of it, Twilight. We're here for you any way we can be." Then, without warning, Rarity gave Rainbow a downright predatory look that seemed to jam an ice cube directly into Dash's left ventricle. "Now, Rainbow, what's this I hear about you adopting a little colt?"

Each of Rainbow's friends' attention snapped to her. Pinkie's face immediately split into a wide, energetic, knowing grin. Twilight's jaw dropped and Applejack's eyes widened, gleaming with mischief. Fluttershy leaned in close with the most starstruck look in her eyes.

"Wow, adoption!" Her voice was high and excited. "That's so cute! Why didn’t you tell us? What's he like?"

"How long did it take ya ta convince him to call you mama?" Applejack snickered.

"Wowee! I bet little Gabie was so excited! Or maybe he just stared at ya with that super-weird stare!" Just to be generous, the pink pony reproduced it for Rainbow. "Which was it? Huh? Huh?"

"What colt?" Twilight said, looking lost.

Of course, through it all, Rarity had that sly smile plastered across her smug white face. "Oh yes, darling, do give us all the details."

Rainbow had known the news would get out eventually, but for Celestia's sake, this was ridiculous! It's only been one day! The pegasus rolled her eyes and held up her hooves to quiet her friends. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you guys. But first, Rares, I gotta ask, who told you that?"

"Carrot Top, believe it or not," she said.

Dash gave her wings a little flap and snorted. "Carrot Top needs to check her sources. I'm only fostering the colt, I didn't adopt him, and he doesn't call me ‘mama.’" She shot a look Applejack's way.

"What colt?" Twilight repeated, looking even more lost.

Pinkie Pie jumped in to answer that one. "Rainbow found a banged-up little coltie and brought him to the hospital! He's super mysterious and he has a weird name and I got in trouble for standing on his bed!" Now Twilight looked confused and concerned.

"Well, Pinkie covered the bases. I saw a little kid on the edge of Ponyville a few days ago, while I was flying to work. He was in pretty bad shape, so I flew him to the hospital as fast as I could." She grimaced at the memory but relished the way that Rarity's gently-teasing smile was replaced by something more concerned.

“My goodness,” Fluttershy muttered.

"It turned out alright, though,” Rainbow continued. "His name is Gabriel, he's from some town up north called Westfield, he's about 'Bloom's and Sweetie's age, and Pinkie's right, he is pretty weird." She watched all the mares except Pinkie made odd looks at the name. "Gabe's a good kid, though, just a little troubled. His counselor thought he'd do good with me, so I, uh, temporarily took him in, while she looks for a good home."

“Ah,” hummed Applejack, “So that’s what all that hubbub at the hospital was about.”

Rarity looked much more sympathetic now that she knew Rainbow rescued the foal. "Oh, that's very kind of you. I do hope the little dear is alright."

Applejack adjusted her stetson and smiled. "Sounds like a sturdy lil' bugger. I think I'd like ta meet the kid."

"I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later," Rainbow said, more than a little proudly. "He's pretty easy to spot, all wrapped up in bandages. Looks like a lil' green mummy."

"Oh!" Fluttershy's gasp was almost inaudible. "Have you been changing them regularly?"

"Yeah, of course," Rainbow rubbed her mane. "Actually, he's pretty on top of that himself. He had me help him redo them this morning, walked me through the whole process. Pretty tough, too, he didn't cry or complain or anything and believe me, he had every right. There's a reason his whole middle's wrapped up."

"Oh, wow," Twilight said. "That all sounds pretty impressive, Dash."

Darned right. I had to get covered in a little kid's blood.

The pegasus all but posed. "Thanks, Twi. Just doing what was right." Applejack made a little snort but smiled anyway.

"Ooh, I know!" Pinkie shouted, drawing everypony's attention, including that of ponies not sitting at their table. "We should have a party for Gabie! That way he can meet a bunch of new friends! And all of us! And me again!”

Rainbow fell back into her seat. "Ahh... I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Huh?" Pinkie tilted her head. Twilight, however, seemed to have a bit of an inkling of what was wrong.

"Why not, Rainbow?"

"It's just that he's uh..." Rainbow rubbed at the back of her neck and bit her lip.

Should I be telling them this? What's the best way to put it...

"The kid's been through a lot. His family's out of the picture, he's from out of town, and his past, well... let's just say it doesn't look pretty and leave it at that." The mood over the table got a little more somber, contrasting harshly with the happy-go-lucky Friday afternoon all around them. "I just... I don't think he'd do well around a big group of ponies and loud noises."

Pinkie Pie looked downright heartbroken, but she managed a smile. "Oh... I hope he's all-rightie."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "What if we throw just a little party instead of your normal 'Welcome to Ponyville' bash? We could only invite a few ponies and just let Gabe get to know us? After all, if he's around you, he's going to be around all of us sooner or later." Ah, Twilight, ever the problem-solving egghead.

Rainbow thought about that for a moment, trying not to get distracted by the idea of her sandwich. Her delicious, juicy, filling sandwich, just cool enough to hit the spot... Focus, Dash!

"Not too many ponies? Not too crazy?” Rainbow nodded. “It'd be a boring party, but it'd be good for the kid. Yeah, I guess that could be alright. I'll ask him, though."

Pinkie sprang back up, fully re-energized. "Oh! I'll start getting ready! Where should we hold it? Also when?"

"Well, it was my idea, so we can have it at the library, if that's alright with everypony," Twilight offered. "What day works best for you two, Rainbow?"

The pegasus hummed. "I'll have to ask him that, too, but I don't think there's any reason not to do it tomorrow. That alright with everypony?" The other mares all nodded and yep'd.

"Ooh, I can't wait to introduce him to Sweetie!" Rarity clapped her hooves together. "I'm sure they'll be the best of friends."

Applejack grinned. "I betcha he'll be better friends with 'Bloom," she responded, earning a pointed look from the exquisitely-maned unicorn. Oh, no.

The waitress then demonstrated the meaning of perfect timing when she arrived with the group's order, and from that minute onward, Rainbow stopped caring about anything past her plate.

Rainbow Dash's wings complained with remarkable enthusiasm when the pegasus landed in front of the Ponyville Schoolhouse. She let them hang at her sides and pushed her flight goggles up onto her forehead. Her mane resisted, complaining and bunching up in the way that it always did when it was made to stick up. Rainbow didn't care much at first, but once she spotted Gabe giving her a big wave from the school's front porch, she pulled her goggles down around her neck and dragged a hurried hoof through her mane.

"Hello, Rainbow!" called Sandy from beside the little colt. Rainbow waved back, then cantered her way up the path, enjoying the afternoon breeze.

"Hey, Sandy! Yo, kid, how'd it go?"

"I flunked out." He looked perfectly serious. Rainbow's face screwed up in confusion while the counselor's eyebrows shot up to the top of her head.

"Young stallion, you did not flunk out! You can't even fail that exam! It's for placement!" Gabe only chuckled, and Rainbow cracked a grin.

"So it went alright?" she asked the counselor.

Sandy nodded. "I'd certainly say so. Gabe has been behaving very well!" She gave him a pat on the back and his expression returned to a stone-like state. "We've decided that he be placed in the class with the other foals his age, with your approval of course."

Rainbow looked to Gabe. "That sound good?"

"Yup."

She smiled. "Then I'm on board."

"Great!" The counselor clapped her hooves once. "I'm sure that will be very exciting, though I did warn Gabe here that he will have some catching up to do, and he's okay with that."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "If you say so, kid. Was the test hard?"

He gave her a wide grin. "I failed the thaumology portion." Why does he sound so proud?

"Thaumaturgy," Sandy corrected, sounding exasperated. The counselor stood up and stretched her back, sticking her front legs out as far as they could go, then straightened up with a contented sigh.

"I see that you don't have any saddlebags on right now, so I can mail the exact results to you later. It'd be good for his foster mother to see which subjects he'll need help with." She was looking away, so, thankfully, she didn't see Rainbow cringe at the word 'mother'. "I also set up a schedule for counseling sessions, so I'll include that."

"Sure, sounds great."

The brown pegasus made sure her saddlebags were good and snug and gave them both a big grin. "Thanks for being good for me, Gabriel. Goodbye, Rainbow! See you both on Tuesday!"

Hold on, wasn’t there something I was supposed to—

"Oh, wait!" Rainbow shouted. Sandy stopped short just as she was about to take off, stumbling a little and shooting a confused and slightly annoyed look her way. "I forgot to ask Gabe and you if you think it'd be alright for me and the girls to throw him a party?"

"A party?" said Sandy, tilting her head.

"A party?" Gabe repeated. "As in, a room filled with ponies and loud music?"

Rainbow shook her head. "More like my friends and some other foals for you to meet. Just something to make you feel, y'know, more at home. Um, in Ponyville. No crowd, no loud music." The pegasus coughed into her hoof. "And, of course, Sandy's invited too." She nodded at the counselor, who threw in her two bits.

"Well, I think that'd be alright. What do you think, Gabe?"

"Yeah, sure." It was very hard to tell if he was excited or not.

At least Sandy was an easy read. "Well then, in that case I'd love to come! Oh!" Rainbow could practically see the lightbulb flicker on over her head. "I have some friends with foals his age. Can I invite them?"

"Not too many?" Rainbow asked.

"No, of course not, just two families."

"Uh, sure, sounds good to me. Gabe?" An impartial nod.

The counselor gave them both a very happy smile as she danced on the tips of her hooves. "Oh, that's so exciting! A party just for you, Gabriel!" Then she blinked, seeming to remember herself, and coughed into her hoof. "Now, I'm afraid I have a meeting to make, so I'll have to say goodbye now... again. Goodbye!"

Rainbow Dash chuckled and waved as the pegasus leapt into the sky. "Goodbye!" Then she crouched down and looked to Gabe. "Welp, hop on and we can head home. This mare needs a shower."

The little green foal rubbed at his wrapped-up leg. "Actually, uh, I was hoping we could go into town?"

"What's up? Want another hay dog? One without dirt this time?"

He huffed a little chuckle. "That sounds good, but I was hoping... Um, remember when you offered to buy me a toy?"

The pegasus mare smirked. "Don't tell me you changed your mind, kid."

"No, no, I don't want a toy, but I was thinking about things that I did like to do and I thought about, um, drawing."

"What, like paper-and-pencil drawing?" Rainbow tilted her head.

The little colt nodded. "Yeah, exactly. I want to pick up the right stuff and draw again."

"Really? I mean, uh, sure!" Rainbow could barely care to find the sharp end of a colored pencil, let alone sit still for hours and make lines with said pencil, but if that was what he liked to do, then that was what he liked to do. "I think I know a place. C'mon!"

The colt smiled one of his rare, truly excited smiles. "Thanks, Rainbow, you're awesome."

Rainbow's heart swelled, and she walked into Ponyville with her head held high.

After a quick stop by the teller to withdraw some bits, Rainbow and Gabe made their way to Ponyville's local art supply store. The door made a piercing creak when the pegasus mare pushed it open and summoned a wild-maned green-and-yellow mare from the store's crowded depths.

"Hello, um, and welcome to Pigments and Pencils!" She greeted them warmly but distractedly, as the stack of canvases on her back towered at about double the mare's own height and seemed to be considering a topple. "I'm Crazy Paints, and I'll be right with you—oop!" She stumbled out of sight, doing her best to correct the dangerous tilt her cargo had adopted.

Rainbow blinked, feeling a little shell shocked at the lightning-fast introduction.

"I like her," Gabe said, grinning.

The little green colt led the way through the warm, musty-smelling store. He seemed to know everything about the myriad of odd-looking art supplies cluttering the towering wooden shelves they wound between, pointing out paints, inks, brushes, and quills alike while prattling off facts about gradients and ratings and a whole lot of other malarkey. More than she was willing to admit went straight over Rainbow's head.

How the heck does the kid know all this? she asked herself, not for the first time. She got the feeling it was far from the last.

"Ooh! This one!" Gabe dragged a pad of drawing paper off a shelf, making the whole thing wobble and giving his caretaker a miniature heart attack. "Check it out!" he said, propping it up for her.

"Erm, it sure is, uh paper." She wasn't sure what made paper good. Whiteness? Smell? Paper-cut capability? Maybe, in this case, it was the size. "Are you sure, kid? It's half as big as you."

"Rainbow, that's the best part." Always feels good to be right. She maneuvered the pad onto her back, taking great care not to bump it into the racks of art on either side of them. In the narrow walkways, such a thing was easier said than done. Meanwhile, Gabe trotted off in search of pencils with an eager bounce in his step, ignorant of—or, as she suspected, actively ignoring—her spatial plight.

The kid picked out a dozen identical-looking wooden sticks from a hoof-made wooden sorting box a short distance away, plucking them up one-by-one, quick as a flash. He apparently knew what he was doing, though, because when Crazy Paints returned to see if he needed any help she complimented him on his selection, even making a few suggestions of her own. Well, at least they know what's going on.

After picking out a few odds and ends like masking tape and a weird gray blob that he insisted was an eraser, Gabe led them to the register. He had to rear back on his hind legs to put all his things on the countertop.

The mare happily rang them up. "It's so nice to see that you're encouraging your son's creativity!" she said as she wrapped up all the pencils and tools the foal had picked out.

Rainbow coughed. "Erm, I'm not his mom, I'm just taking care of him. Temporarily."

She smiled. "Well, it's still very sweet." Then she looked down at Gabe, handing him the brown-paper package, complete with fringy twine and bow. "Take good care of these, young stallion, especially the HBs. You got the last two and I don't get restocked 'till next month."

What the hay's an HB? Rainbow thought, no less confused.

The little foal tucked the package into one of his schoolbags and beamed at her. "I will. Thanks for recommending the charcoals, I'm looking forward to trying 'em out." It felt like they were speaking another language. Isn't charcoal for burning?

"Of course! Have a good day!"

The two made their way back outside, still walking carefully on the edges of the road, with Rainbow carefully holding the pad on her back with her wings. The afternoon hadn't begun to consider turning to evening and ponies occupied the streets in full force, enjoying the summer weekend after a long day of work. Lighthearted chatter and welcoming laughter drifted in the warm, comfortable air alongside the smell of dust and spice from the market a few streets over. "Alright, ready to head home?"

She looked over her shoulder at the colt, who was staring at the package in her hoof. "Rainbow," he started, looking up at her and biting his lip, "um, thanks for picking this up for me. I promise I'll pay you back."

Rainbow tilted her head. "Whaddaya mean, 'pay me back?'"

"Well, you paid for all this stuff for me with your own money, and I don't really like not carrying my own weight." He scratched a little rut in the dirt road with his hoof as he spoke.

His words filled her chest with damp, cold unease. The foal expected himself to provide for everything he had? 'Unpleasant times', what an understatement. Despite the wrenching in her heart, Rainbow put on a confident face. "Kid, don't worry about it. I mean it."

"But–"

"Nope. I agreed to take care of you, and I'm gonna take care of you. And this?" She shuffled her wings and grabbed the pad off her back with a hoof. "This stuff is a gift. From me to you. No strings attached."

Gabe opened his mouth to reply and she cut him off. "I insist, kid. I promise that it doesn't bother me at all. I want to do this." She smiled. "The best way you can pay me back is making the most of this stuff." Then she turned her smile into a playful smirk. "And also maybe make some cool drawings of me along the way."

He looked her in the eye for a long minute, then looked at the package in his hooves, then back up to her with a look Rainbow couldn't quite place. Somewhere between determined and scared. "Okay."

"Great, now we really gotta get home, bud, because I am about as sweaty and dirty as a mare can be." She waggled her eyebrows and crouched down. "Hop on."

"Gross," he said as he climbed aboard, but Rainbow knew he was smiling. Once he wrapped his forelegs around her neck, she scooped up the paper in her forelegs and gave her wings a powerful flap, launching them into the sky. She happily noted that, as they flew, Gabe kept taking his head away from her technicolor mane and looking around for a moment before burying it back against her neck.

They made it home quickly. Gabe hopped off her back as soon as she touched down on the porch, picking up his new pad and dragging it through the front door, into the middle of the hall. He yanked the package from his bags and tore into it right away, grabbing a pencil in his hoof and flipping open the pad.

"Knock yourself out, kid," Rainbow said as she made for the stairs, "and holler if you need me." She was so close now. Rainbow could practically hear the shower calling to her with its promise of a warm caress and a soft, non-sweaty coat. Rainbow, it sang like a siren on the rocks, come to me Rainbow...

"Hey wait," said Gabe, "I'm gonna need you to hold still for a second." Rainbow smacked a hoof into her face and held back a grumble, prompting a chuckle and the sound of scratches on paper.

"Not the pose I woulda picked, but hey, that works just fine for me."

Scrape, scrape, scrape.

Rainbow Dash groaned, turning over in her bed while keeping her eyes securely shut. The sound went away, and in a moment, she felt the world drifting away, returning her to a deep and peaceful–

Scrape, scrape. Clonk!

"Nngh." She rolled over again, grabbing her pillow and pulling it over her head. Another long pause. Once again, she began to drift off, settling into the comfortable warmth her soft, luscious cloud bed so dutifully provided.

Scrape-scrape. Creeeeeaaaaaaaaak.

That was the front door. Rainbow opened her eyes, greeted by her moonlit bedroom. Soft blueish rays poured through her window, casting the deluge of Wonderbolt memorabilia cluttering the far shelf in a cold light.

"Dang it, kid, what in the world are you doing?" She muttered to the room, which, very helpfully, provided no explanation. She pulled off her covers.

The kid had left his door open. Rainbow rubbed her face as she made her way to the stairs, keeping one eye wide open as she stepped down them one-by-one. The only thing that could make the night worse was falling down the stairs and Rainbow deemed her mood dumpy enough already. Once she got to the foyer, she saw that the colt had left the front door open as well, letting in a ray of moonlight.

The pegasus yawned as she walked out onto her cloud home's front porch. The little green colt sat smack in the middle of it, his wings drooping at his sides, staring up at the night sky.

"Hey, Gabe," she groaned, "what are you doing? It's the middle of the night." He had better have a good explanation.

"Stargazing," he replied. Wrong answer.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and swallowed a growl. "Kid, come on. You're gonna catch a cold or something, and I'm gonna be the one who gets in trouble if that happens."

She knew the half-threat fell flat on its face; the colt stood practically zero chance of getting sick during a late summer night, but it didn't matter because the colt didn't reply. He didn't even bother to turn around.

Rainbow huffed. "Dude. Don't you wanna get back to bed? I know I do."

"No," he said, "not really. I had a nightmare."

Well there's one heck of a guilt trip. Rainbow sighed, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hoof, then took a few steps forward and took a seat next to him. A couple of silent moments passed. Ugh... what am I supposed to say?

She tried to think back, all the way back to when a much smaller and higher-pitched Rainbow Dash pushed her way into her parents' room in the middle of the night crying about her dream. Her mother and father had always been there, scooping her up onto their seemingly massive bed and carefully asking her what had happened. Is that the right move?

"Um..." began Rainbow, speaking without looking down at the kid, "do you want to talk about it?"

"No." His reply was short and curt, bordering on sharp.

Okay, not the right move.

He spoke a little bit later. "The stars are beautiful here."

"Couldn't you see them from your hometown, too?"

The colt stayed silent, and the fear of another misstep jumped up Rainbow's throat.

"Not since I was little," he said, startling her out of the thought. "But here, it's... nice."

Rainbow took a moment to gaze up at the stars with him. They glittered in the night sky, twinkling brightly in the cold, dark void, little beacons of life in the darkness. She tried to look for constellations but without the lines in Twilight's book, she couldn't find any. I don't get how ponies see any pictures or anything up there.

"Yeah, they are," she eventually replied, "looks like Princess Luna did a good job."

"Princess Luna..." Gabe trailed off. Rainbow watched his gaze shift across the sky, settling on the moon. It shone bright and pale and full tonight. "She’s my favorite princess,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Of course she is. Weirdness: par for the course.

“Have you ever met her?" Gabe asked.

"Yeah." She thought back to a certain Nightmare Night, then reconsidered. "Erm, kinda. I didn't actually, like, have a conversation with her or anything. That was Twilight."

"Was that when she visited Ponyville?" Gabe asked.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and gave the colt a look. "Um, yeah, but how the hay do you know about that? Aren't you from, like, way far away?"

Gabe shrugged. "Ah, you were surprised when I knew who you were, remember? I guess the stories reach a lot further than you thought."

"Wow, really?"

"It’s clear that it's a pretty big deal when one of the princesses of Equestria goes and visits a town for a holiday. Word really gets around." He shrugged again. "Where I'm from, plenty of people have heard about this place."

"Cool..." Rainbow smiled. "Anyway, there's not all that much to the story. 'Cause Princess Luna was on the moon for like, a thousand years, she had a hard time getting back into the groove of things. Twi was a real genius with that, she helped her kinda get rid of that whole 'Nightmare Moon' thing."

Gabe made a little humming noise. "That was nice of her."

"You shoulda seen it," Rainbow chuckled. "The princess was goin' around shouting at full volume to everypony. It was pretty hilarious."

He didn't seem to find it all that funny. "I wonder if she understands what it's like, adjusting to all this." He scratched at her porch with the tip of his hoof. "This place is so different compared to where I came from. I'm trying to fit in, but... I dunno." Gabe lifted his gaze back up to the stars. "...strange times, I guess."

"Well, chin up, dude," Rainbow said, "you're in Ponyville. It's, like, the most welcoming place in the world. I'm sure you can fit in just fine."

He wrinkled up his muzzle and studied the cloudy porch, prodding at it with a hoof. It ain't getting any solider, kid.

"I guess..."

"Anyway, the good news is that you don't have to worry about it until tomorrow." She gently patted him on the back. "And you do have a big day tomorrow, dude. We got that party, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." He looked back up at her. "We should probably get back to bed."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Rainbow rose to her hooves and stuck out her forelegs, yawning as she stretched. "C'mon inside."

The colt got up, sparing one last look back at the night sky before following Rainbow in. He went on ahead, trundling up the stairs, while Rainbow stayed. She fiddled with the lock on the door for a moment before a flash of movement caught her eye.

The pegasus stuck her head back outside and looked up into the night sky. The moon and the stars hung there, serene as ever, and just as Rainbow convinced herself that she had just experienced an exhaustion-induced hallucination, the very moon itself trembled and jerked before quickly traveling a short distance.

Rainbow blinked and tilted her head. What the–? She watched it for a couple more seconds, waiting for more strange shifts, but it just stayed up there in the sky, pretending that nothing had happened.

She shrugged after a moment passed. If it was something important, she'd hear about it from Twilight soon enough. If not, well, then it wasn't her dang problem and some awful comfy covers were calling her name. She stifled one more yawn as she swung her front door shut. It closed with a resolute clunk.

Perspective

Saturday Evening

"Yo, Gabe, I'm home!" Rainbow Dash pushed open her front door, relishing the flow of cool air that washed over her body. It had taken going to work on the weekend, but Rainbow had finally made up the shifts she had missed the day she rescued the colt.

She took off her goggles and hung them on their hook by the door, rubbing her face. They always liked to leave sore spots around her eyes, especially when she was building the frame of a rainstorm. Her muscles ached to the bone and she felt like she'd been drained by a vampire bat. "Gabe?"

"Hey." He sat exactly where Rainbow had left him at noon: at the edge of the foyer, on a cushion, next to his pencils, and hunching over his pad of paper. Tank napped nearby, and it looked like Gabe had even given him his own little cushion. The pad had been bestowed a great deal more scribbles since last she saw it, and its owner was surrounded by a little squadron of crumpled-up balls of paper and a fleet of pencil shavings. Can't wait to see what he drew... right after I hit the shower.

The pegasus mare returned to the atrium fifteen minutes later, rubbing the last of the water out of her damp mane, her spirits higher and her coat fluffier. "So, Gabe," she said, hopping down to the bottom floor in a tiny flight, "how's things? I see you managed not to burn the house down."

He looked up from his paper and tilted his head. "This house can burn down? Isn't it made of clouds?"

"Yeah, um, that was kind of the joke." And it went right over your head. Well, you can't win 'em all.

"Oh, good one," he said with the enthusiasm of a pile of shale before looking back at his paper.

Rainbow huffed a little laugh. "So, how's the drawing goin'? Did you use the, uh, HBs yet?"

Gabe groaned a little, frowning at his hoof, of all things. "It's too hard to hold my pencil. I can't make the lines straight. It's, uh, not what I'm used to."

"Why not just use your mouth?" Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow.

The colt stuck his tongue out at that. "Gross, no thanks. I'd rather just learn how to use my stupid hoof. Urgh."

Rainbow hummed a half-response and trotted up to look over the colt's shoulder. It only took a second to recognize that the countless wobbly, squiggly lines coalesced to form a surprisingly familiar sight. "Hey!" Her head popped up and looked around. "You drew the big room!" And in surprisingly good detail, despite the lines' shivery crookedness. She recognized the pillars next to the front door, her awesome Wonderbolts statue, even the pattern on the floor, all realized in a startlingly accurate yet jittery perspective. Holy crap! It's like the room is boogying down!

"More like tried to draw the big room," he grumbled, scratching the paper a little more with the pencil, "I can't make any of these lines right. My arm moves differently, it's set up all weird."

Arm? Whatever. Rainbow snorted. "You're sellin' yourself short, kid. This looks pretty freakin' good to me."

"Hmm." Gabe traded his pencil for the 'eraser' and used a green hoof to mush it against a part of the drawing that, apparently, did not meet his standard of quality. Lo and behold, when he took the gray mass away, the paper looked a bit less streaked with pencil.

"Hey, how'd it do that?"

The little colt looked up at her and blinked. "Huh?"

Rainbow pointed at the gray blob. "How'd it erase? You didn't even rub it on the paper."

"Oh." Gabe held it up and examined it with one brown eye. "I dunno. It sticks to it, maybe." Then he began stretching and squishing it between his hooves like the world's least appetizing gum.

"Why're you doing that?" Rainbow leaned in to examine it. The mass smelled like warm rubber and hoof, though maybe she shouldn't have been surprised at the second part.

"'Cause it cleans it." Gabe sounded bored.

"How?"

He flashed her a self-satisfied grin and responded "Magic," sounding very much like he knew the actual answer and had elected not to tell her.

"Pssh, whatever," Rainbow said with a smirk. She blew a bit of mane out of her face and straightened up. "You ready to head out?"

Gabe frowned and cocked his head to the side. "Is it time for that party already?"

"Yup. Aren't you excited to meet some new foals?"

He shrugged. "Not really," he said, "why would I be?"

The question kind of stumped Rainbow. How am I supposed to respond to a question like that?

"Uh, because you're gonna be going to school soon. Don't you wanna have some friends when it starts?"

"If you say so."

Not the answer that I was looking for, but good enough, Rainbow thought. "Then c'mon, we don't wanna be late to your party. You can leave your stuff there." He groaned and stood up, trotting to the door. Because she couldn't help it, Dash added "Tank probably won't eat them," much to the unsubtle disapproval of her temporary foster kid.

The Ponyville summer evening was divinely serene. The duo flew under a sky painted with the vibrant colors of Celestia's sunset. The shades of the world below them were beginning to deepen, but the town had not yet fallen asleep. Ponies wandered the streets in ones and twos, enjoying each other's company. Saturday's energy had bled away, leaving everypony sedate and calm, and all was right with the world.

Dash came to a gentle landing in front of Twilight's library tree. Even outside, Rainbow could hear muffled voices and music coming through the front door. After he hopped off her back, Gabe stopped to ogle at it.

"The whole thing really is in a tree."

"Yup."

"And it's alive? It's not fake?"

"Those look like alive leaves to me."

"How?"

"I dunno, ask Twilight, she's the one who lives in it." She rolled her eyes with a smirk and rapped her hoof against the library's bright red door.

"Coming!" said the door in a muffled but eager voice. Twilight Sparkle appeared a few hoofsteps later, greeting the two with a welcoming smile. "Hi, Rainbow! Right on time!" Then she looked down at the smaller arrival, stepping forward and extending her hoof. "And you must be Gab Real! My name is Twilight Sparkle, it's very nice to meet you."

"Hi, Gabie!" came a disembodied but very excited shout from somewhere inside.

Gabe stepped forward. Instead of bumping her hoof like literally anypony else on the planet, he wrapped his fetlock around hers and bounced it once. "Gabriel. You too." Then he walked inside, leaving Rainbow to snicker at the somewhat dumbfounded unicorn, who was staring at her hoof as if it'd just turned bright yellow.

"...what?"

The pegasus let out a bark of laughter. "You'll get used to it." She stepped past Twilight and entered the library.

Rainbow noticed the banner first. Massive and pink, it hung from the ceiling and announced: "Welcome to Ponyville Gabie!" in large, ecstatic, and hastily-painted letters to anypony that entered. It made Rainbow smile, despite its corniness. Even though this party was low-key, Pinkie had still pulled out all the stops.

Pink and blue balloons decorated the spaces that weren't filled with streamers and party tables piled high with far too much food. Cake, cookies, and cups of colorful candies adorned every free surface underneath the not-too-harsh lighting, and soft acoustic music emanated from some unseen source. Energetic and exciting, but not too much. Pinkie really had tried her hardest.

The mare herself balanced on one of the upper shelves, trying to pin up what appeared to be the very last streamer. Her tongue was out and her face was scrunched up in concentration as she teetered high above the ground, reaching with all her might.

Dash leapt into action. "Whoa, Pinkie! Lemme give you a hoof."

The pink mare's relief was palpable. "Whoof! Thanks, Dashie!"

After averting a disaster, Rainbow returned to the floor, scanning the room for Gabe. Twilight was refilling her glass from the punch bowl as Pinkie trotted to join her; the two had likely spent the afternoon setting up. The pegasus spied her foster kid at the edge of the room, having a conversation with Fluttershy, of all ponies. Looks like Rares and AJ haven't shown yet.

Rainbow made her way to the two, catching the last bit of Fluttershy's question. "...and you're sure you've been changing it properly?"

Little Gabe nodded. "Mhm. Twice a day, and Rainbow helps. I used to have to do it for my wing and my leg, but I don’t need the bandages now." He held up her foreleg to show her the ragged scab on his foreleg. Picking the old stitches out of that this morning had not been fun, but Rainbow had noticed that more of his coat had grown in over it than she expected.

"May I?" the butter-yellow pegasus asked in a soft voice, glancing at the outstretched limb. Gabe nodded and she gently took it in her hooves, examining the wound.

"Hmm... Yes, it looks like it's healing up nicely, but, um..." Fluttershy hesitated, her voice growing very quiet. "Um, it seems like, maybe, um, you haven't been... keeping the scab very clean? And... it looks like you maybe, erm, picked at it?" She continued to disappear into her mane as her voice lowered to a whisper. "S-so, um, possibly think about keeping it clean and, um, try not to scratch it maybe until it's coated, okay?"

"I'll try my very best. Hi, Rainbow."

Her timid friend finally noticed Dash standing beside them and made a squeak, pulling her hooves back. "Oh!" she said. A moment later, she remembered herself and hid a little less behind her soft pink mane. "H-hi, Rainbow. Sorry, I didn't see you there."

The cyan pegasus smiled good-naturedly. "All good, Flutters. I see you met Gabe."

Fluttershy smiled, emerging just the tiniest bit. "Oh, yes! Gab Real is a very polite young stallion, and I'm very impressed that he’s attentive to his injuries. Most foals, um, aren’t so good at that."

"Thanks, miss," the colt said, "and not to be rude, but it's Gabriel."

She blinked. "O-oh, did I get it wrong? I'm sorry!"

"It's alright," Gabe said with a sigh, "not a single one of you has gotten it right on the first try. Most of you say 'Gab Real,' but it's all one word. Gab-ree-ul." He sounded out each syllable, and Fluttershy nodded.

"Gabriel. That's a very, erm, interesting name."

"Thanks," he said with a smile. "I'm gonna get some punch." Then he turned on a bit and trotted away.

Rainbow gave Fluttershy a grin. "So, whaddya think?"

The yellow pegasus blushed. "Um, he's very, ah, mature for his age."

She chuckled. "That's one way of putting it, but yeah, he is."

A rapping knock-knock-knock came from the door. Oh, must be AJ or Rares.

Rainbow made her way to the entrance just as Twilight opened it. "Oh! Hello! I don't believe we've met, miss...?"

The tan-and-brown mare standing outside bumped Twilight's hoof properly and politely. "I'm Sandy Hills, Gabriel's counselor."

"Twilight Sparkle," the purple mare said. Sandy almost certainly already knew who she was, but Twi was always polite. "Come on in!"

Sandy smiled and stepped inside, admiring the decorations for a moment before trotting up to Rainbow and saying hello, leaving Twilight to greet the guests Sandy had brought with her. "Mr. Rich! I'm pleasantly surprised to see you and your daughter here!"

The amber stallion walked into the treehouse, tailed by his daughter. Isn't that the filly that teases Scoots and her friends? A cold feeling began to settle in her gut as Rainbow realized she probably should have asked who Sandy intended to invite.

"Yes, well we're good friends with Ms. Hills. She's been an immeasurable help to my Diamond." Rich looked down at his daughter. "Hasn't she, cupcake?"

"Oh, yes," the filly said in a voice that was just a little too sugary. "She's a very nice mare!"

"Thank you, sweetie," Sandy smiled, "let me introduce you two to Gabriel!" As the three began walking over to the forest green colt—who was currently having trouble reaching the punch bowl—Rainbow heard Diamond ask her father a question.

"Daddy, when will Spoon be here?"

"Soon, cupcake, they said they'd make it," her father answered a bit tiredly.

Urk. After Twilight closed the door, Rainbow wrapped a hoof over her shoulders. "Uh, Twi, I should probably tell ya now that Diamond over there and her friend are the fillies that like to mess with Rares and Applejacks' sisters at school."

"Really?" After a moment's thought, the unicorn smiled. "Oh, I think it'll be fine. They've got their parents here to keep them in line."

Rainbow wasn't so sure, but Twilight seemed confident enough, so she let it go. She probably knows what she's talking about.

Rarity arrived a few minutes later, wearing a stylish scarf and headband with a feather that probably complimented her eyes or something. She entered the library with pizazz, as usual, flourishing once she stepped over the welcome mat. "Oh, what a wonderful party!" she said loud enough to turn everypony's head for a second. The mare was noticeably alone.

"Uh, Rares," Rainbow mentioned, trotting up, "weren't you gonna bring your little sister?"

Rarity's face dropped and she produced an annoyed huff. "I told her that she needed to get ready, but she insisted that she wanted to meet with her little friends and come here with them. They were playing on the Apples' farm, so I'm sure that she'll arrive with Applejack, probably covered in, eugh, farm dirt."

Then the unicorn cleared her throat, apparently remembering herself. "Oh, would you please introduce me to the little one? I've been positively dying to meet him."

Rainbow resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yeah, sure, follow me."

Gabe sat at one of the tables, focusing very hard on the cup of punch clutched between his hooves. It seemed that even with his foreleg splint removed he still had trouble holding a cup. The colt looked up when he noticed Rainbow approaching with Rarity, but it didn't stop him from lifting the cup to his mouth.

"Hey, kid, I wanna introduce you to somepony." Rainbow motioned with a hoof and stepped aside, letting the unicorn take the stage.

"Hello, darling!" Rarity said, weathering his sidelong punch-drinking gaze. "My name is Rarity, and I'm one of Rainbow Dash's friends. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Rainbow took the opportunity to roll her eyes because the unicorn wasn't looking her way.

Gabe just kept on drinkin' his punch, still staring Rarity in the eye. After a second he set it down and inspected her top to bottom. Rainbow just knew he was about to say something outrageously weird, something that Rarity, or any of the girls for that matter, would never, ever let her live down.

He put a handsome smile on his face. "No, Miss Rarity, the pleasure is all mine, and may I say, you look absolutely stunning tonight."

What?!

"My name is Gabriel." The kid somehow made his weird name sound fancy and foreign.

Rarity's eyes widened and she let out a ladylike giggle, which she of course covered with a dainty hoof. "Why, thank you! You may just have the best manners of any colt I have ever met!" She leaned in collusively. "You could stand to teach my sister a thing or two!"

"If she's as beautiful as you, madame, then I look forward to it." He gave her a winning grin.

"Ooh!" Rarity giggled again. "You flatter me, young stallion! You're very sweet. I'll be sure to introduce you two the moment she arrives." She turned to a still-shellshocked Rainbow. "You appear to have found yourself a wondrously polite foster colt, Rainbow. I envy you."

"Uh."

"Now, a lady doesn't spend a party talking to just one colt," she said to Gabe, "even if he is charming. Ta-ta for now!" The unicorn flipped her mane and trotted off to say hello to the other partygoers.

Rainbow blinked once, then twice, then fixed an incredulous look on Gabe. "Okay, what the heck?"

"What?" he said, far too innocently.

"What the heck, Gabe?" Rainbow repeated, "how'd you know to say that?" Or even learn to speak like that at all?

He shrugged and smiled at her. "Lucky guess?" He had that grin on his face again, the one that made Rainbow feel like he knew something she didn't and that he very much enjoyed that fact. "Plus, who doesn't love a good compliment?"

"But you've never met Rarity before!"

"She showed up to the party with a feathered headband and a fur scarf. She seems like she enjoys being fancy."

Is—is he...? Yeah, he’s messing with me. "Whatever," Rainbow huffed, "I'm gonna go get some cake."

"Please get me a slice, too." Then the colt's grin disappeared like nothing had happened and he went back to concentrating on his cup of punch.

Just focus on that cake, Rainbow. Just focus on that cake...

There he is! Twilight Sparkle spotted the little colt sitting at a table near the edge of the party and made her way over.

"Hi again, Gabe! This party sure is fun, huh?" She looked around at her brightly-decorated library. "I've been studying all day, so I can appreciate having a relaxing get-together. How are you liking it so far?"

The colt looked up from his cup and gave the room a cursory glance. Everypony but Applejack and the fillies were here, and mellow conversation flowed through the air. Definitely a relaxed party. "It's uh, it's pretty good." He took a sip. "Pretty good party."

Twilight cleared her throat. "I wanted to give you a bit more of an introduction than just a name." Gabe nodded, motioning with a hoof to let her continue. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, but you, erm, you knew that already. This is my library, I live here with my number-one assistant Spike. Has he introduced himself yet?" She swiveled her head around. "He should be here somewhere." And if he doesn't say hello, he's also going to get an earful.

"How's the tree alive?"

Twilight blinked. "Oh, um, it's a very complex magical process, but the short answer is that there are spells in the walls and the roots that help it stay healthy and hydrated."

"Oh, so they help transport all the nutrients and water and stuff?" He looked around. "The walls seem too thin to do it themselves."

"Erm, yes, to put it simply." This colt's kind of sharp.

"Oh, cool." The colt gave her a smile and a shrug. "I don't actually know that much about trees."

Their little conversation hit a pause and Twilight struggled to think of something to say. Hmm... Rainbow mentioned that he had a rough background, so I had better not ask him about his past... "So, Gabriel... how do you like Ponyville so far?"

Yet another shrug. "It's kinda different from what I expected, but also kinda not. Still weird that I'm here at all."

Huh? "Oh! I didn't know you were familiar with Ponyville before. Have you heard about us?" The unicorn smiled good-naturedly "Good things, I hope?"

"Uh, yeah, I've heard of Ponyville, in a manner of speaking. And don’t worry, pretty much only good things."

"I'm glad to hear it. Are you fitting in okay?"

That question actually produced a smile. "Yeah. Rainbow and Miss Hills've been really nice to me, and I'm supposed to go to school on Monday." He slurped from his cup. "Now that's gonna be weird."

Twilight cocked her head. "Why will that be weird?"

He chuckled. "It's just been a while since I went to elementary school."

"I'm sure you'll pick it up again quickly!" She made what she hoped looked like an encouraging smile. The colt nodded and took another sip of punch.

Another lull. Think, Twilight, think! What do foals like to talk about? Books? She grimaced inwardly. No, that's what you liked to talk about as a filly. Maybe he likes–

"Miss Sparkle, can I ask you a question?"

"Huh?" She blinked in a way Owlowiscious would've taken pride in. "Um, yes, of course. And please, call me Twilight."

The colt looked at the table. "You know a lot about history, right?"

Where's he going with this? "I like to consider myself pretty well-read, yes."

He bit his lip. "Has Equestria ever had really bad things happen to it? Like really, really bad things?"

Twilight had to stop herself from reeling. She had been expecting a question like 'Do ponies think I'm weird?' or 'Are you really Celestia's student?' Nothing like this. "Um, like natural disasters, or ones that were caused, like magical accidents or conflicts?"

He blinked. "Either."

"Well, of course, Equestria has suffered a number of disasters in its past. Why?"

"Which one was the worst?" he asked instead of answering.

"Um, That's a tough question, Equestria's been around for a long time." Twilight had to think for a few moments.

Disasters, disasters... Well, there was the grand flood and the long winter, but neither of those hold a candle to Discord's original reign. Twilight shivered a little at the unpleasant memory of her encounter with the God of Chaos. Then there was the ancient king of the lost crystal empire, but those were both dealt with by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, so I guess that only leaves...

“I’d say Luna’s banishment. About a thousand years ago, Princess Luna was corrupted by something called a Nightmare." As she spoke, he nodded along. "She raised a dark army and attempted to take total control of Equestria. After a long struggle, Celestia was forced to use the Elements of Harmony to destroy the dark army and seal her own sister away on the moon. Equestria suffered a civil war and the loss of one of its leaders for a millennium."

The colt nodded. "That's a heavy thing to do to your own sister."

"Yes, it is. The princess herself told me it bothered her more than anything else she's ever done. To this day, she wishes she had found a better solution." Twilight took a deep breath and smiled. "The good news is that, now that she's returned and been cleansed, Celestia and Luna can rule together and be sisters again after a thousand years of separation."

"Hmm. Better than the alternative."

Is he implying that, instead of banishment, Princess Celestia could have–? Twilight coughed. "Y-yes, I suppose it is. Why do you ask?"

Gabriel scrunched up his muzzle. "It's just that, um... Well, something really bad happened to my home. A really bad disaster, I guess." He took a sip from his cup of punch. "I'd like to think that it'll turn out ok."

"Oh, that's terrible." Twilight began to feel overwhelmed. How in the world am I supposed to respond to something like that?

Then the colt looked her in the eye, and Twilight saw, in his gaze, a sharp, gruesome pain. His gaze spoke not just of terrible hurt and bitter, lonesome grief, but also deep, vengeful wrath. It felt like a tendril made of something very cold and very dark wrapped around her heart when he spoke in a gravelly voice.

"Yes, it is."

Twilight Sparkle found she couldn’t speak.

"Hey, kid! Hey, Twi! Whatcha talkin' about?" Rainbow Dash set a paper plate of cake in front of the colt and plopped herself down next to the two. Light and sound returned to the room and Twilight could breathe again.

"Oh, I was just asking Twilight about some history stuff." Gabriel didn’t miss a beat. The darkness Twilight had seen had vanished without a trace, replaced with a colt currently very interested in the slice of cake in front of him.

"Well, you picked the perfect egghead to ask questions like that. She knows all about that stuff." Then Rainbow looked at her own piece of cake. "Ah, sorry Twi! I woulda' gotten you some if I knew you were gonna sit down. Here–" she slid the plate between the two mares, "have some of mine."

Twilight stared at the cake for a moment before levitating a bite-sized chunk of cake into her mouth. She immediately had to stifle a moan when it exploded into perfectly luscious sugariness. Celestia, Pinkie really outdid herself, she thought. The cake was so delicious that it almost made the unicorn completely forget what Gabriel had said.

Almost.

"Wait, so who's this colt again?" Apple Bloom asked for what must have been the fourth or fifth time. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.

"His name's Gib Reel or something. He's green with a lighter mane, and he has bandages. That's all we know."

"But ya said ya met him!"

"Ugh." Scootaloo looked annoyed, "We only saw him for like, three seconds, and then we left 'cause you got done with Ms. Cheerilee. Remember?"

The four walked through town underneath a late-evening sky that had just about lost all its color. The stars had begun to shine through, and the streets were mostly empty, though most of the windows were lit. The air felt comfortably warm and fresh in the way only a summer night's air could.

"Oh, right." She wrinkled her muzzle. "What kind of a name is ‘Gib Reel’ anyhoo? That's weird."

"Hey!" Applejack shot a reproachful look over her shoulder as they approached Golden Oaks Library. "It ain't polite ta talk about other foals that way, 'specially one that's new in town. Be nice."

"Sorry, AJ," the filly said. The older sister only raised her eyebrow and knocked on the door, which opened a few seconds later, letting the sounds of conversation and music flow around the form of a purple unicorn.

"AJ! Girls! Come on in!"

Applejack paused to make conversation with Twilight that Sweetie Belle didn't care enough to listen to, letting the Cutie Mark Crusaders enter freely. When they saw the ponies in the library's main room, Scootaloo snorted. "Some party. There's barely anypony here!"

"Rarity said that's because the colt comes from a ‘troubled background,’" Sweetie recited, recalling a boring and one-sided conversation from a few hours ago, "so they decided to have a party that wasn't too loud or big."

"Wow. I bet the colt's scared of his own shadow," the orange filly smirked.

Sweetie shot Bloom a somewhat confused glance. What's up with Scoots?

Then Rarity spotted them and rushed across the room. "Ah! Sweetie! I was hoping you would arrive soon!" For some reason, she sounded pretty excited to see her. She even completely ignored the dirt on Sweetie's hooves! "Come, come, you simply must meet Gabriel! He's over this way." Without checking to see if they were following her, the alabaster unicorn turned and began to walk towards a small group of ponies across the library.

The three fillies shared a look. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shrugged, and it was decided. They followed Rarity.

Her sister led them across the room to where the colt sat while listening to a bunch of grown-ups talk about boring grown-up stuff. "Oh, Gabriel!" she called. He turned his head.

"Miss Rarity!" he said. "Hello again."

"Gabriel, I'd like to introduce you to my little sister, Sweetie Belle, and her friends." The colt fixed his surprisingly sharp gaze on her.

Sweetie hesitantly waved back. "Erm, hello." He doesn't seem like he's afraid of his own shadow...

"Hi! Ah'm Apple Bloom! Ah live at Sweet Apple Acres with mah granny, mah big brother, and mah sis, who's still talkin' to Twilight back by the door." The yellow crusader stepped forward and extended her hoof. He looked at it for a moment and bumped it.

"I'm Scootaloo." The pegasus filly didn't move.

The colt looked at them one by one, seemingly inspecting them, sizing them up. "...hi," he eventually said. His voice was even and calm, but it felt like he should have been talking a lot louder. "I'm Gabriel. I live with Rainbow Dash."

Sweetie tilted her head. There was something weird about the way he spoke, but she couldn't quite say what it was. An accent?

"Glad to see you're all getting along!" Rarity smiled and winked at the little green colt. "You work your magic, Gabriel!"

What the hay is that supposed to mean? Sweetie thought. Her older sister did a little pose and went off to greet Applejack, leaving the young ponies to stare at one another.

Scoots snorted. "So, Gib Reel, how'd you get so beat up?" The way she spoke almost sounded like sneering. Sweetie Belle shared another look with 'Bloom.

"Gabriel," he repeated and twisted around to look at the bandage wrapped around his middle, "and, um, I don't really remember."

"Psh, so you don't even have a cool story about it?" Scootaloo smirked at the colt. "That's kinda lame."

"Guess so," Gabriel said, staying completely neutral.

"Can ya fly?"

His wings flopped a little on his back. "No."

“Do ya like going fast?”

“Not particularly.”

"Humph. Why'd Rainbow Dash even foster you, anyway?" And just like that, Sweetie Belle put two and two together. Going by the look on her face, ‘Bloom did, too.

"I dunno," the colt shrugged, looking almost bored, "she volunteered."

"Oh hey!" Apple Bloom said, rather assertively. "You got no cutie mark!"

Gabriel shot a look at his rear. "Yeah, looks that way."

"You're like us! We don't have cutie marks neither!" she turned and pointed a hoof at her rear.

The colt nodded sagely. "That is true."

"We're all searching for our cutie marks," Sweetie chimed in, sensing that 'Bloom was needing some help, "so we formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

The green colt tilted his head. "What's that?" he asked in a flat voice.

"It's a pact," Apple Bloom said dramatically while waving a hoof in the air. "We joined forces ta' discover our special talents! Don't you wanna know what'cher cutie mark is?"

"Not really."

Apple Bloom nearly tripped and Sweetie swallowed a glob of her own spit, choking a little. Even Scootaloo, who until this point had been semi-pouting, widened her eyes a smidge. "What?" 'Bloom said. "But a cutie mark is a symbol of who you are! Without one, you ain't gonna get anywhere in life!"

He shrugged. "Seems like I made it this far just fine without it. Doesn't really bother me." It struck her as absurd to hear those words coming out of another foal's mouth. Sweetie reeled. How could somepony not care about this sort of thing?

"You don't wanna know your special talent?" Apple Bloom looked like her world had been rocked.

He snorted. "Kid, there's only ever been one thing that I've been really good at, and if I can help it I'm not gonna ever do it again."

"Well, well, well." The voice sent shivers right up Sweetie's spine. "Looks like the loser club found a new recruit."

The nasty, snarky remark was backed up by an equally nasty, equally snarky giggle. "You said it, Diamond!"

The stuck-up brat duo shouldered their way into the foals' circle, standing with their heads up high and their noses raised ever so much. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. What the hay are these jerks doing here? What idiot let them get invited?

"It's just like them!" the little gray filly said, flipping her mane. "You know how those blank-flanks need to stick together."

Sweetie snorted in anger. The fact that these two horrible fillies could pull garbage like this in the middle of this colt's welcome party without any of the adult ponies caring made her want to stamp her hoof. And we can't go get help, either—we'd never hear the end of it.

The two rounded on Gabriel, singling him out. Sweetie looked to her friends, trying to tell what they were thinking. Apple Bloom looked at about the same place that she was, but Scootaloo looked conflicted. The little unicorn could tell that her envy for what Gabriel had and her hatred for what Diamond Tiara did were warring it out inside her friend.

"So, Gabie, what's the deal with this party?” Diamond asked, “Don't you have more friends to invite?"

"Yeah," sneered Silver Spoon, "there's barely anypony here."

The colt still managed to hold an even face. "I don't know anypony else."

"Oh, that's right. You have no friends, do you?" She snorted, turning away. "I guess I can't expect much from a baby blank-flank like you." Her little sycophant 'hid' her laugh behind her hoof.

"Guess not," the colt said in a very disinterested-sounding way. Uh-oh.

Diamond's head whipped back around to face the colt. Judging by the look on her face, she didn't like being challenged, not one bit. "So, how'd you convince your fake mom to throw this lame party for you? Did you have to beg?"

Gabriel rubbed his chin. "Um, I'm pretty sure my fake mom decided to throw this party on her own and then asked me later if it was alright." He shrugged. "I dunno, I wasn't there. Real nice of her, though."

"Yeah, it sure was nice of her. She must feel really bad for you, such a sad little colt, all wrapped up like a baby," added Silver Spoon. Her insults were never as good. Sweetie heard Scootaloo snort quietly beside her.

"I know for a fact she does."

The pink earth pony put her face so close to the colt's that their manes were touching. He didn't move a muscle, looking at her with half-lidded eyes. This colt has the best poker face I've ever seen, Sweetie thought.

"Well, that makes sense. It's hard not to feel bad for pitiful little colts like you, colts who pretend like they don't care a bit, but I can see right through you. You think your little act is gonna make you seem any less weak?"

She jabbed a pink hoof into his neck and he still didn't move. He didn't even break his bored eye contact.

"You know why ponies don't feel bad about me? Because I don't need fake parents. I have a full, happy family." Now their eyes were nearly touching.

How has nopony noticed her doing this yet? Come on!

Then Diamond hissed possibly the meanest words Sweetie had ever heard her mutter through clenched teeth. "Remind me again, why do you need a fake mommy?"

That was a step too far. Sweetie Belle couldn't stand by and watch any longer. "Alright, quit it!" She shoved herself in between the two foals, forcing Diamond to take a few steps back. "DT, what is wrong with you?"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom stepped beside her, putting a reassured smile on Sweetie's face for a moment. "You gotta back off. Ah'm not gonna let you say such horrible things to a new colt."

Diamond snorted, entirely unintimidated. "And of course, the loser squad steps in for their loser friend." She looked at Scootaloo, who hadn't moved. "What's wrong, chicken? Is somepony jealous that Rainbow Dash is giving a wimp like that her attention? Are you just now realizing that she thinks even he's better than you?"

'Bloom stepped forward, red in the face. "Listen here ya–!" A deep green hoof across her front cut her off.

Gabriel stepped between the two fillies protecting him, putting himself right in front of Diamond Tiara. He shot them a look over his shoulder. "I appreciate the help, girls, but don’t worry about it." He spoke as if he were waving off somepony offering him a bite of their food: polite, but clear.

"Ooh, big blank-flank colt, all grown up, standing up for himself," said Silver, widening the smirk on Diamond's face.

Gabe glanced at the place where his cutie mark would appear and turned back to them, still holding that perfectly even, almost bored tone of voice, but Sweetie swore she saw his eyes narrow just the tiniest bit.

"Y'know, I forgot that little kids care about the most absurd things."

"What?" Diamond laughed. "We're both older than you and we've got our cutie marks. If anypony here is a baby, it's you."

"Yeah, it certainly looks that way, doesn't it?"

Logically, he had just admitted that Diamond Tiara and her henchpony were right, but the way he said it implied that he felt the exact opposite, putting some satisfyingly confused looks on their faces.

"Now, listen, I get that you get your kicks from projecting your little insecurities onto everypony around you and it's very impressive, but I was actually enjoying this pow-wow before you waddled over here, so, as great as making fun of children is, I'm gonna tell you that you should run along back to being good for your daddy."

Then he fixed the bored gaze on the gray filly, speaking in a tone that was a bit more friendly. "And ease up, Spoonie, really. Your muzzle's gonna turn brown if you don't."

"H-hey!" was all she could muster in response.

Diamond snorted again, but now she actually looked a little angry. "You can be as clever as you want, it's not gonna change the fact that you've got no–"

The colt cut her off and rolled his hoof in a let's-hurry-this-up motion. "Yeah, yeah, no family. You used that one already. Think of something better, cupcake."

Sweetie could tell Diamond was starting to get flustered. "I swear, if you call me cupcake again, I'll–"

"Let me stop you right there." The colt said looked her up and down. When he spoke, Sweetie saw the corner of his mouth twitch just the tiniest bit up.

I don't think he was pretending that he wasn't angry... Sweetie could tell that Diamond noticed it too, and that was the best part.

Gabriel pressed on. "You may scare other foals with your bullying, but I can promise you that it will never scare me. You can never intimidate me, cupcake, because, at the end of the day, I have unfortunately seen things that are much, much scarier than you, so do us all a favor and just stop." The colt sounded one-hundred percent sure of this fact.

He makes it seem like a threat.

"My father will–"

That put a grin on his face. "If you really think that I'm gonna be any more scared of your dad than you, you are actually going to make me laugh."

Diamond finally shut her mouth and fixed an acidic stare on the colt, a single strand of mane hanging down in front of her eyes. Gabe returned it with a friendly smile. "Go on."

"Whatever. You blank-flanks can have your smart-aleck new recruit." She blew an errant lock of pink mane out of her eyes. "Have fun pretending to be a brave little pony. Come on, Spoon."

She trotted away, head held high, but not quite as high as before. To Sweetie Belle's surprise, Silver Spoon actually hesitated before following Diamond. When Sweetie looked back at Gabe, though, she quickly thanked Celestia that the two bullies had turned away so quickly, because she saw something flash across the colt's face. It wasn't anger, it was something different. Sadder?

Still, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at Gabriel with slack jaws for a moment. He looked back at them. "What, you never seen anypony stand up to that filly?"

Are you kidding me?! "That was amazing!" Sweetie Belle said. "I've never seen her so mad! I don't think anypony talks to her like that!"

"Yeah!" 'Bloom chimed in. "That was some real talk there! You really had everypony goin'!" She took a second to look at his flank. "Dang, for sure I thought you were gonna have a bully-fighting cutie mark!”

Scootaloo coughed and looked away. "I guess that was kinda cool," she mumbled at the livingwood floor.

"Well, thanks." He smiled, nodding at each one of them. When he looked at her with those deep brown eyes, Sweetie felt her stomach do a little flip, and she took a step forward.

"Girls, I think that we should follow Diamond's advice."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both looked at her like she had completely lost her marbles. "What?!"

Sweetie smiled. "Diamond said we could have our new recruit so... what do you think?"

Apple Bloom's face split into a wide, enthusiastic grin. "Sign me up!"

Scootaloo seemed less spirited. "I guess."

"That seals it, then!" Sweetie Belle nodded, still smiling, and held a hoof out to Gabriel. "So, whaddya say? You wanna be a Cutie Mark Crusader?"

He examined her hoof for a moment, then wrapped his hoof around hers. "Yeah, sure." Sweetie's eyebrows shot sky-high and her mouth formed a little 'o' when she felt him squeeze her hoof tightly and lift it up, then drop it down. Worse, the little unicorn felt her face getting hot.

Then he took it away, leaving her holding her now-feeling-very-cold hoof out in front of her like an idiot. All she could do was hold her limb to her face and stare at it.

"Hey, where're ya goin'?" Apple Bloom's question made her raise her head to see that Gabe had taken a few steps away from the three fillies. He stopped and turned around.

"I'm gonna get some more cake. You three comin' or not?" And then he was off.

Apple Bloom looked at her friends, then shrugged. "Well, Ah want some cake."

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, I want some too. If it's one of Pinkie Pie's party cakes, I definitely don't want to miss out on a slice." She shot a sly grin at Sweetie. "C'mon, let's follow your new crush." Excuse me?!

"I don't have a crush on him!" But Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were already gone. She blinked and followed after a moment, grumbling to nopony in particular.

"I do not have a crush on him..."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Looks like you were right,” she muttered to Sandy before sipping from her glass of punch. “He handled it just fine on his own.”

The counselor nodded. “I do owe you my apologies, though. Celestia, I didn’t even consider that your friends’ little sisters would be here too. If I had, I wouldn’t have invited Rich and Sterling. Their daughters can be kind enough to strangers, but they tried to pick a fight just because those crusader fillies were talking to him…” She groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. "That was a stupid mistake."

Rainbow bit her lip, watching the two fillies from across the library’s main room. “Yeah, that was a little shortsighted of all of us.” She shrugged. “Those girls looked pretty mad. I wonder what they were arguing about.”

“Diamond probably said something to get under their skin,” Sandy sighed. “I do worry about that filly. We’ve been making progress, but, well…” She made a sad little laugh. “Let’s just say I won’t be saying goodbye to that client for a while yet.”

“Hmm.” Rainbow rolled the thought around in her head, pondering the filly for a bit before realizing she didn’t have all that much to say about it. “...hey, at least they’re sticking to their parents now.”

Sandy nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on them until they leave. We barely avoided an episode just now, so let’s keep it that way.”

“You said it.”

Sandy downed the rest of her own punch and set the cup down before giving Rainbow a little nod and trotting to join her friends and their fillies. “Sterling Silver! I haven’t had a chance to speak to you yet. Tell me about this new project of yours…”

Rainbow looked back down to her cup, swirling the juice around. Yeah, that was a close call. Good thing Gabe apparently isn’t bothered by bullies. She scanned the room, growing a little concerned after a moment. Wait, where’d he go?

“Hey, Rainbow.”

“Gah!”

She started hard enough to jostle a little juice out of her cup. It seeped into the fur on her hoof, staining it purple. “Geeze, kid, you can’t sneak up on me like that!”

He laughed.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Whatever. What do you think of the party?”

“It’s cool as hell,” Gabe said, grinning up at her and neglecting to explain what ‘hell’ was. He had another plate of cake balanced between his wings and a bit of bright pink frosting on the end of his muzzle. “Thanks.”

Her chest flooded with warmth right away, raising her head and bringing a smile to her face. “Of course, kid.” She bumped him a little with her elbow. “Don’t mention it.”

“It’s funny,” he said, “when I was younger I didn’t care about stuff like this.”

“Stuff like this?” Rainbow tilted her head.

“Cake and punch. Balloons, music. Talking with people. Making fun of kids. Parties, yknow?”

Wait, hold on, what was that last one?

“Yeah, I didn’t care about it at all. Thought it was just a waste of time and money.”

Rainbow decided not to address it and raised an eyebrow. “Uh, so what changed?”

He bit his lip. “When you go without this sort of thing for long enough, you, uh, realize you miss it a lot more than you think. That’s just how things were, um… back home.” He suddenly looked a lot more uncomfortable. “I mean—I forgot what it all really was.”

“Uh… how long did you not…?” Rainbow trailed off, not quite sure how to finish her thought.

Gabe’s ear flicked. “A long time.”

Celestia, what did this kid go through?

A strange feeling filled Rainbow’s chest. The warmth was still there, but it was mixed up with something else. Something that squeezed her heart. She swallowed and awkwardly patted him on the back, putting on a brave smile. “Well, uh, good thing you got to remember, right?”

“Yeah,” he said.

Rainbow grinned. “Also, you’ve got some frosting on your muzzle.”

“What? Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” The colt crossed his eyes but didn’t spot the dollop of sugary pink right at its end. When she laughed, he wrinkled up his face and gave her an annoyed look. “Ha, ha. Really funny.”

“Well, that’s for sneaking up on me.” She chuckled and wiped it off with the back of her hoof. “C’mon, I think AJ still needs to meet ya...”

Flashes

Monday Morning

Weekends always felt short. Sunday came and went in the blink, and once again, Sweetie Belle was back at her uncomfortable wooden desk, groggy from being dragged out of bed by her older sister, because she and the girls had stayed up too late crusading again.

They'd invited the new colt but he had politely declined—stating that he wanted to spend the day indoors. Scootaloo had called him a weirdo.

Even though the morning light streaming in through the schoolhouse's windows was warm and cheery, every foal around her carried the same half-tired, half-annoyed look on their faces as they sat there waiting for the school day to start. Even Ms. Cheerilee looked unenthusiastic as she shuffled through the papers on her desk.

Ugh. I miss summer vacation, the filly rested her head on her folded forelegs.

Foals still streamed into the classroom in ones and twos. Sweetie was always early, Rarity hated when she wasn't, and as such, she was always the first of the crusaders to find her seat. Apple Bloom came in next, bearing bags under her eyes and a mistied bow. Scoots followed a few minutes afterward, nodding to her friends and plopping down at her desk with a yawn. Looks like the hedgehog she uses to brush her mane was extra-mad today.

Then Rainbow Dash entered the room, rousing Sweetie’s eyes. There, trailing behind her, was Gabriel, wearing a set of saddlebags over his bandaged middle. The unicorn glanced at Scootaloo, who sank lower in her desk and glowered at her hooves.

Rainbow Dash and Gabriel walked over to Cheerilee, who stood up and greeted them warmly. Sweetie couldn't tell what they were saying from her spot near the back, but her teacher nodded along with whatever Rainbow was saying. Then she said something back and Dash nodded, and then she led them both to a vacant desk in the front row that hadn't been there last week, nearest to hers. She watched Gabriel as he unbuckled his saddlebags with a fumbling hoof, letting them fall to the floor before nudging them underneath the desk.

Rainbow Dash said her goodbyes and trotted out the door, leaving Ms. Cheerilee to talk to Gabriel for a while. By now, most of the other foals had arrived and were watching the new colt with the bored half-interest of those who have nothing better to look at. The last to walk in was Diamond, whose face twisted in disapproval once she spotted the class's newest member. They locked eyes for a bare moment before she rolled hers and trotted over to her normal desk.

A few minutes later the clock ticked to the hour and it was time to start class. Ms. Cheerilee stood up and walked to the front of the room.

"Good morning, everypony!" she announced.

"Good morning, Ms. Cheerilee," came the tired, scripted reply from every foal but Gabriel.

"As you may have noticed, we have a new student with us today!" She looked at Gabriel encouragingly and beckoned with her hoof. He got up out of his chair and walked to the front of the classroom, brushing some of his light green mane out of his eyes. "This is Gabriel, and he's new in town, so I expect you all to be as warm, welcoming, and friendly as I know you can be!"

As she spoke, the little colt looked out over the classroom like he was looking at the cover of a somewhat interesting book. If he cared that many of the other foals began whispering to each other when they heard his name, he didn't show it. "Gabriel, can you tell the class something about yourself?"

"Hi, I'm Gabriel, but you can call me Gabe if you want," he said with a wave. "Uh, I come from really far away."

"Thank you, Gabriel. You may return to your seat."

He nodded at her and quickly did so.

"Okay, class, today we're going to learn about the beginning of the middle period..." Sweetie stuck her tongue out. Gross, history. All around her, foals were making similar expressions. She did her best to pay attention as Ms. Cheerilee began to talk about what long-gone ponies she'd never even meet were doing five hundred years ago.

Her ears perked up when she heard the rustle of paper. Heads turned towards the new foal as he retrieved a notebook from his saddlebags as well as a pencil. He flipped open the notebook and began to write in it not with his mouth, but with his hoof. Contrary to everything she had been taught, the foal stuck the pencil in his fetlock and began carefully tracing out jagged letters one-by-one.

Sweetie couldn't help but stare. That's so slow! Does he not know how to write normally?

Cheerilee began talking about the Griffonian Invasion, which was a relief because that was something everypony knew about. They'd all heard the story. Griffons, as was common knowledge, had lived in the mountain lands to the north for seven hundred years after their ancestors colonized it from the griffon homelands across the ocean.

Five hundred years ago, the evil king decided he wanted a piece of Equestria and invaded. Only by working together were the ponies able to stop the Griffon tribes and push them back into the north, reclaiming all the towns that the evil king had captured, after they had lost, the griffons overthrew him.

It was a story they had all been told before, so Sweetie expected the lesson to be just about as boring as it could possibly be.

She did notice, every so often, that Gabriel would look down and scratch something into his notebook. He ended up writing down a lot. Before she knew it, he had covered a whole page.

Of course, just as Ms. Cheerilee got to the part about the Griffons deposing the bad king, Gabriel raised his hoof. The teacher stopped and blinked, not expecting a question on such a well-known story.

"Yes, Gabe?"

"Were the Griffons united when they invaded Equestria?"

Cheerilee looked surprised for a moment. "Erm, yes, I believe they were."

"Did King Grimmer unite the tribes himself?"

Sweetie couldn't help but roll her eyes at the asinine question. Duh, of course not, everypony knows that he was a bad king. What kind of living-under-a-rock pony didn't know this?

Her teacher blinked again, then smiled at the question. "Why, no, he did not! That was one of his predecessors."

"Thanks." Gabriel went back to writing poorly in his notebook.

"Now then, where were—yes, Gabriel?"

The colt put his hoof down. "Did the griffon tribes stay united after they overthrew their king?"

Sweetie blinked, then shook her head. They definitely did, because Griffonstone was still one kingdom today.

"Actually, they didn't," Ms. Cheerilee said, patiently.

What?

"With no clear heir, the tribes turned on themselves and broke apart. It would take an especially brave and noble leader, King Grover, to unite the tribes two and a half centuries later."

"Hmm. Thanks." Gabe scratched at his notebook some more.

Ms. Cheerilee finished the lesson without any more interruptions, and then it was time for math. "I hope you all did the reading I assigned over the weekend!"

Sweetie groaned as she and every other foal dragged their math book out of their saddlebags and plopped it on their desks. It wasn't that she was bad at math, she was actually just fine at it and often helped her friends with their homework, it was just that learning the math was boring.

It's a good thing nopony ever does those readings. She just goes over it in class anyway, so there's no reason to.

She opened to the geometry portion of the book and waited for her teacher to start.

After opening her own textbook, the pink-maned teacher wrote a weird-looking symbol on the chalkboard and turned around, pointing to the board with a hoof.

"Alright, who can tell me what symbol this is?" The squiggly set of lines rang a bell, but Sweetie couldn't quite place where she had seen it before.

The class was dead silent. She saw a certain dark green colt look around the room before sticking his hoof up. "Yes, Gabriel?"

"Is it called pi?" he asked.

Cheerilee smiled. "Correct! This is the Unicornian letter pi."

Hey, how'd he know that? Sweetie stared at Gabe. He shrugged back.

The teacher fixed a disapproving look upon the class. "Now, I hope you all didn't answer because you were still feeling groggy, that was in the weekend reading."

She wrote the short name next to the squiggly symbol and Gabe wrote down something in his notebook. "We use Pi to help us know things about circles, like how long the outside is, or how much space is inside them."

She drew a big lopsided circle beside pi. "For example, we know that the circumference, or the distance as if you were walking around the outside of the circle, is found like this." Ms. Cheerilee wrote a weird bit of math on the chalkboard.

C = 2 x π x r

"From what we learned last week, we know that this is an equation. Can anypony tell me why we can't solve this equation yet?"

Sweetie scrunched up her muzzle. She thought she knew why, but she didn't want to raise her hoof. What if I'm wrong? I don't wanna look dumb.

Gabe raised his hoof again, but this time, Ms. Cheerilee didn't call on him right away. "Erm... anypony else?" Sweetie swallowed and slowly raised her foreleg in the air. "Yes! Sweetie Belle."

"Um... is it because you can't multiply numbers with letters?"

"Exactly right! Very good, Sweetie!" Sweetie's heart soared. "We can't simply because we don't know what numbers pi and 'r' are standing in for. Now, finding this is fairly simple. We'll look at 'r' before we tackle pi."

The teacher drew a line from the center to the edge of her wobbly circle and wrote 'r' over it. "The distance from the center of a circle to part its outside is called the radius. When we do calculations with the radius, we let 'r' stand in for it because writing 'radius' every time would get annoying. There's a radius for every circle, so in this case, let's say the circle has a radius of four."

She wrote '= 4' next to her 'r'. Sweetie noticed that Gabe didn't write that in his notebook.

"But we can't do our equation yet, because we don't know what to put in for pi. Can anypony tell me?" She looked out over the class. A green hoof raised up. "Let's let somepony else answer this one, Gabriel." The hoof lowered, and nopony spoke up.

"This was in the reading," Cheerilee said, sounding disappointed. Still, no foals raised their hoof, and the teacher sighed. "Alright, Gabriel, what does pi stand for?"

"Pi's an irrational number," he said, sounding as confident as Ms. Cheerilee.

Sweetie tilted her head. What's an irrational number?

"It's the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter and it's an infinitely long non-repeating decimal, so it's easier to just approximate it with three-point-one-four, or twenty-two divided by seven if you really like fractions."

Most of Gabriel's answers went straight over Sweetie's head. What's a diameter? How can a number be infinitely long?

Ms. Cheerilee made another, heavier sigh. "That's a little bit beyond the scope of our lesson, but yes. We usually let 3.14 stand in for Pi, but it's actually much, much longer. Ponies know Pi to about the five-hundredth number or so, but some mathematicians say that it goes on forever. For our problems, just think of Pi as 3.14."

She wrote the new equation on the board below the old one: C = 2 x 3.14 x 4

The rest of the lesson went much like the first part. Cheerilee would ask a question and only very rarely would somepony other than Gabe answer. The colt was some kind of math whiz. He knew the answer to every question and could do big multiplications in his head. He calculated the whole first equation without even writing anything down!

After they had figured out the circumferences and areas of what seemed like a hundred circles, recess time finally rolled around. All the foals immediately leapt up as if they'd been electrocuted, completely unrecognizable from the classroom's lethargic, slightly annoyed state of ten minutes ago. Sweetie Belle stood up and walked over to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, intending to follow them to the door.

She was going to wait for Gabe, too, but he walked up to Ms. Cheerilee instead of bolting to the door like every other foal. "Excuse me, prof–, erm, teacher? Can I ask you a few things about the middle period?"

Is he serious? Sweetie almost couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Ms. Cheerilee frowned and tilted her head. "Don't you want to go outside and play?"

"Eh, I could take it or leave it. I'm more curious about this Griffon Invasion. Tell me, were the Northern Ranges colonized by one overseas nation or several?"

Scootaloo stuck her tongue out. "C'mon, girls, let's go. He can catch up if he wants."

The three trotted through the schoolhouse door into the late summer day. The air was warm and comfortable, and overhead, the weather teams were still getting ready for the coming thunderstorm. The trio followed the tail end of the class and walked around the side of the building to the playground, where most of the foals had begun to talk or play. In an unspoken habit, the three fillies found a spot away from the other foals and sat down.

Sweetie Belle coughed. "So..."

"That colt is a real egghead!" Scoots raised an indignant eyebrow. "How'd he know so much about all that math?"

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Maybe they just really like math where he's from?"

"I mean, he just would not stop answering questions! He even read the reading and made us all look bad! Nopony reads the weekend reading!"

"Yeah, that is kinda weird," Sweetie Belle said, "but it was like he didn't know anything about all that Griffon history stuff!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom, "that's almost like not knowin' about the princesses! Or apples!" She bit her lip. “He’s weird, and AJ thinks so too.”

“Huh?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “What’d she say?”

“She said that he was polite enough, but something about him was…” She furrowed her brow, working to summon the exact memory. “It was when we were walkin’ home from that party. She said–” Apple Bloom puffed up her cheeks and deepened her voice. “‘–There’s somethin’ odd about that colt. He ain’t a liar, but he ain't exactly honest neither.’”

"Yeah, your crush is weird as heck," Scootaloo said, smirking at the unicorn filly. Immediately, Sweetie felt her face grow hot, and she fixed a pointed look on her orange friend.

"Our soon-to-be new member is weird as heck," she insisted.

"Hey, I'm not the one who couldn't keep my eyes off him."

"Yeah," Apple Bloom said, apparently joining in on the fun, "every time Ah looked over you were starin' at the colt."

Sweetie Belle groaned and dropped to her belly, laying her muzzle on the grass and covering her face. "Ugh, I don't have a crush on him!"

"Just sayin'!"

"Can we please not talk about this anymore?"

Her friends eased off, thank Celestia, and they spent the rest of the break debating over what to crusade for after school. Amazingly, Gabriel still hadn't come outside by the time Cheerilee called the class back in. Instead, he greeted them from his desk with a little wave when they reentered the classroom. He did the same for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, which they appeared to find considerably unamusing.

The day went on normally enough. Ms. Cheerilee taught lessons on science and social studies, peppered with weirdly specific questions from Gabe just like during history. The teacher dutifully answered each one, and by the end of the day, every foal was rolling their eyes when that little green hoof went up in the air.

Finally, after what seemed like an often-interrupted eternity, Cheerilee announced the school day officially over and set the foals loose. This time, Gabe packed up like everypony else, tossing his notebook, pencils, and books into his bags and throwing them over his back. Then he trotted up to Sweetie and her friends, who awkwardly greeted him. He didn't seem to care.

"That was weird as hell," he said, not bothering to explain what 'hell' was, "it is so strange to be back in grade school."

The four foals made their way outside with the others into the freedom of an afternoon full of possibilities. "So, Gabe," Apple Bloom said to him as they trotted, giving his name that trademark Apple twang, "we're gonna haf'ta give ya a good 'n proper initi-aytion inta the Crusaders, so–"

"Hey, Gab, wait up!" Diamond's shrill, sarcastic call drew the heads of nearly every foal in front of the schoolyard.

Oh, Celestia, not again. Sweetie's muzzle scrunched as she saw Gabe frown to himself for a moment. Then the brief, annoyed look disappeared and he turned around.

"Oh, what's up Diamond? Feeling persistent today?" he said, friendly as ever. "And it's 'Gabe', by the way."

"My bad, Gab!" Diamond sounded far too sweet as she cantered up to the foursome, trailed, of course, by her gray henchpony. "I just wanted to know why the new colt, of everypony, decided to make everybody else in the class look bad!" Her tone was still sugary enough to make Sweetie's stomach flip in distaste.

Gabriel tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"I mean how you answered questions nonstop like a self-centered nerd, of course!" Diamond covered her giggle with a hoof. "Why, it made all of us look terrible! You don't have to make everypony around you seem dumb just because you're a little better at math than the rest of the class!"

Sweetie heard a few annoyed agreements and shouts of 'Yeah, what the hay?' from the other foals as they shuffled into a rough circle around the two. Diamond Tiara smiled and raised her head a little higher, bolstered by the small crowd's support.

Sweetie leaned to Scootaloo. "This is gonna get ugly fast if we don't do anything."

Her friend huffed. "He knows how mean DT is. If he didn't want this to happen, he shouldn't have been such a goody-two-shoes for Ms. Cheerilee."

Before Sweetie could speak, Gabe shrugged and responded to Diamond in that perfectly calm and easy tone of his. "Hey, sorry you feel that way. I didn't mean to make you all look bad, I'm just trying to find my footing in class. I don't know everything that you all do."

His verbal assailant snickered. "Well, you don't have to tell us that. Besides math, you didn't know anything! I mean, who doesn't know where Yakyakistan even is?"

Sweetie Belle elected to not mention that she had known of the kingdom's location for approximately one month.

"I didn’t realize that was an important thing to know."

"Oh, you poor thing!" the earth pony mocked, "A colt like you must be, erm, special. Are you sure you didn't get put in our class by mistake?"

"Yep." Gabe's stony exterior seemed uncracked, and his voice sounded lazily friendly, but Sweetie couldn't gleam any idea of what the colt really thought of the one-sided conversation.

"Well in that case, I think–"

"Sorry, Diamond, but I really don't care what you think." To the surprise of nearly every filly and colt surrounding the two, Gabe stuck his hoof in her face, sharply interrupting whatever nasty thing was in the process of falling out of her mouth. "I'm hungry and I haven't eaten since breakfast, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna go find a hay dog stand." Then he turned and began to walk away.

Once Diamond had finished flapping her mouth like a fish, trotted up behind Gabriel, and the whole class moved around them. "Gab Real, don't you know that interrupting another pony while she's speaking is rude?"

"I do, in fact, know that," he replied, staring straight ahead.

"Then you know what happens to rude little foals." Diamond raised a hoof. "They get punished!"

The stuck-up brat slapped her hoof across the back of Gabriel's head hard and instantly got the response she so desperately wanted. Gabe spun around much quicker than Sweetie thought him capable of, and she watched as Diamond's expression snapped from smug satisfaction to stone-cold fear.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Gabriel had a look in his half-glazed eyes, one that Sweetie had never seen on the face of another pony before in her entire life. It was different from the righteous or indignant anger that she saw on the faces of the heroes and villains in comic books, and it was different from the frenzied fury on her big sister's face when she tracked mud on the rug or that one time she ruined her best fabric.

No, the emotion consuming this colt's entire being instantly turned Sweetie's blood to ice because it was the most cold, absolute, definite rage that she had ever seen, and it scared her so bad that the only feeling that made it through her head was relief that it was not directed at her.

Gabe smashed his hoof straight into Diamond's cheek, snapping her head back and sending her stumbling. She didn't even have time to cry out before he struck her on the side of her head while sweeping his other foreleg against her own, forcing her to topple to the ground. She hit the dirt with flailing legs and a shell-shocked whimper, sending her namesake bouncing away. Without wasting a beat, Gabe reared back on his hind legs, his hoof above one of Diamond's forelegs, which lay outstretched and propped up on her other.

The class gasped.

Sweetie had the presence of mind to choke out "Gabe, no!"

The colt brought his weight down with lightning speed and produced a sickeningly crisp snap.

Diamond's foreleg folded where he had struck it, between the wrist and the elbow, in a way that was so fundamentally wrong that it made Sweetie want to throw up right then and there. Gabe raised his hoof, which left a weeping red crescent in her coat, and blinked at the filly's leg with wide, vacant eyes, not noticing her blood dripping from his hoof―at first. His eyes widened, his pupils shrunk, and his mouth parted with a soft 'oh'.

Barely a few moments had even passed. For a heartbeat, absolutely nothing happened. Nopony said anything. The world stood still. Then Diamond raised her head, took one look at her leg, and began to scream.

A lot of things happened very quickly.

Every foal in the crowd began to shout. Ms. Cheerilee exploded out of the schoolhouse door and sprinted towards the small crowd, which immediately started to scatter. Foals began to make a run for it, some crying, some calling for help. Sweetie felt herself being yanked away from the scene.

She blinked and realized that both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had a foreleg around her neck. "Cmon, Sweetie, we gotta get outta here!" Scootaloo shouted as they stumbled away. "This is gonna be bad!"

Sweetie dumbly nodded and shot one final look at the terrifying colt before she fled with her friends. Gabriel was still standing there, staring at his foreleg as if the entire universe consisted of himself, his hoof, and the blood that ran down its edge.

Once she had gotten the word from the panting courier, Sandy Hills excused herself from her current session as quickly as she possibly could, apologizing profusely and promising another meeting the next day. Then she threw on her saddlebags, dashed out of the Ministry office, and launched herself into the air, flapping as hard as she could manage.

She was no racing pegasus but she thought that she must have been flying pretty damn fast because she arrived at the schoolhouse at the same time as Rainbow Dash. The two glanced at each other, took one look at the little spot of bloodied dirt on the path leading up to the school's front door, and made for the school like their tails were on fire.

They thrust themselves through the front door in a clatter of hooves and a burst of feathers. The sight of a wide-eyed Cheerilee, an absolutely furious Filthy Rich, and a little green pegasus staring at his hoof greeted them. He still had his saddlebags on.

The amber earth pony's head shot up when they entered and snapped towards them, disheveling his mane even more. "Sandy! There had better be an exquisite explanation for why my daughter is with her mother in the hospital right now." he growled at the two with enough aggression to make them both take a step back.

"H-hold on, Rich, we just arrived, we were just told that Gabriel had hurt somepony at the school."

"Yeah, what happened?" Rainbow said, sounding a little defensive.

"Your colt just about snapped my daughter's Celestia-damned leg in half!"

"What?!"

Cheerilee looked at them, talking in a shocked voice. "I-it's true, I saw the aftermath myself. There was... an angle."

"So you had better start talking." Rich snorted and stamped his hoof, looking like he was about to charge.

"Hold on, hold on." Sandy placed herself between Diamond's father and Rainbow, who was beginning to look red-faced. "We just got here, we need to know what exactly happened."

Cheerilee sniffed. "I got the story from one of the colts. Rich's daughter got confrontational with Gabriel after school, apparently implying that he was embarrassing the other foals by asking too many questions during class time and implying that he was 'special'.”

Of course she did, thought Sandy.

“When he faced away from her, Diamond hit him, and he, urm, responded by knocking her down and striking her foreleg. I ran outside the moment I heard your daughter, Rich, and I saw her on the ground, with Gabriel standing over her, looking... well, looking just like this."

She gestured at the colt, who, upon closer examination, seemed not to be staring at his hoof, but at something far, far past it.

"Hold on a minute, it sounds like your little brat hit Gabe first!" Rainbow said as she pushed past the counselor.

"And he breaks her foreleg? What kind of reaction is that?! He took it too far!"

"He was defending himself!"

"She was on the ground! He wasn't in any danger when he snapped her damned leg!"

"Hey!" Sandy placed herself between Rich and Rainbow again. "Rich, we need to have a talk about the kind of colt that Gabriel is."

"What, a psychopath?"

Sandy had to stop herself from smacking the stallion right then and there, snorting aggressively instead. He's just scared for his daughter, he's just scared for his daughter. Instead of responding right away, she turned her head to the teacher.

"Miss Cheerilee, would you please bring Gabriel to the back corner of the room?" she asked curtly. The mare nodded and wrapped a leg around the colt, guiding him as far away from the adults as possible and murmuring to him all the while. Sandy returned her attention to Filthy, giving him the sharpest look she could manage.

"Filthy Rich," she began in a low, pointed voice, "Let me be very clear. Gabriel was found on the edge of Ponyville in a state of near-death Wednesday morning. He was rushed to the hospital and barely saved. When we searched for him on the records, we found nothing. Any person that has cared for him in his past is dead or gone, and we believe he barely escaped from foal-traffickers."

"I–, what?" The rage on the stallion's face mixed with hesitant surprise.

Sandy took another step closer. "Let me be clear. I am not saying that what he did was okay. It absolutely isn't, and it will be up to Gabe to make this right, but you need to understand, that colt over there is terribly damaged. We have reason to believe that he was stolen from his real family at a very young age and raised by non-ponies, possibly in captivity. He avoids appearing like a foal at any cost and is terrified of loud noises. If he lashed out, I believe it's because it was instinctive, borne from a demanding, violent life. I assure you, Rich, that his actions, however intense, were in self-defense and were not intentionally cruel."

"I, um–"

"Now, I understand your fear for Diamond. I can't imagine learning that your only foal was unexpectedly hurt and taken to the hospital, but I need for you to understand that this colt is heavily traumatized, and if he was provoked then he effectively had no control over his actions."

Rich was silent for several moments. He stared into Sandy's eyes. She didn't back down. "I... I see," he growled. "It seems that we have an extremely unfortunate accident on our hooves."

"Agreed," Sandy nodded, "and, if anypony is to blame, it's me. I was the one who approved him for schooling so quickly. I did not know that he had violent tendencies to this extent, though, it's likely a signifier of a history of conflict. So, Mr. Rich, I apologize. If I had known, I would have made sure that Cheerilee would have been better equipped to stop it from happening in the first place."

The amber stallion nodded. "Thank you." His face didn't soften one bit, but he no longer looked as if he was about to explode. "I expect this to be prevented in the future. I am not unreasonable, and I haven't forgotten what you've done for our daughter, so we won't press charges due to his... history. But," he said with a stomp of his hoof, "it would be absolutely inexcusable to allow it to happen again."

Sandy dared to take a breath and prayed the stallion couldn't hear how shaky it was. "Of course, Rich. Thanks for being understanding."

"You are welcome. Now, if you don't need me for anything else, good day." He dragged his hoof over his mane in a futile attempt to smooth it out and trotted out the schoolhouse door.

The moment it closed, all the air rushed out of Sandy Hills' body. Rainbow blinked and rubbed her head. "Holy Celestia," she muttered, "that was intense."

Sandy took another deep breath. There were more important things to deal with than reeling right now. "Come on," she said, making for the corner where Cheerilee and Gabe were sitting.

"...Gabriel?" Sandy said as calmly as she could manage. Her hooves were still shaking after the confrontation. "Gabriel, can you tell me what happened?"

He continued staring at his hoof.

Rainbow walked next to him and sat down, putting a wing over his shoulders. "Kid? Can you talk to us? We're worried about you."

He opened his mouth and moved it, but no words came out.

"What was that?" asked Sandy as gently as she could.

"I really hurt her." It was a statement. His voice was hollow, empty. Completely emotionless. Sandy blinked and swallowed.

"Yes, I'm afraid you did."

"I broke her leg. I made her bleed."

"Yes."

"I broke a little kid's leg and made her cry. Not s'posed to happen." Nopony had a response to that. The adults looked at one another while the colt before them continued to mumble. "What the fuck is wrong with me?" Each word crept out like it was forced, heavy with regret.

"Gabriel," managed Sandy, "what happened when Diamond hit you?"

"I, uh–..." he blinked and gaped for a moment. "I didn't–... It was like I..." He took a shuddering breath, but his eyes stayed dry. "It... was like..." Sandy saw Rainbow's hug grow tighter.

"Do you remember hurting Diamond?"

He nodded, staring for a while before he spoke. "...I was satisfied, because I, uh... knew she wouldn't try it again. Then I, uh," he gulped, "then I realized what I did."

Oh, Celestia.

The summer sun shone brightly through the windows. "Gabriel," Sandy ventured, wondering if her next question would be wise to ask, "have you had to hurt others before?"

A long silence passed.

"Worse," he said, very simply.

Cheerilee gasped. Sandy Hills took a slow, shuddering breath. Rainbow Dash hesitated, then wrapped the colt in her hooves and squeezed him tight, scooping him up in her forelegs. Her wings lifted them off the ground. "C'mon, kid," she said in a low, gravelly voice. "Let's go home."

The next day, Gabe didn't go to school. He didn't leave his room. He left his drawing things out in the foyer of the cloudominium, wrapping himself in his sheets and sitting in his bed next to Tank instead.

Rainbow Dash made sure he ate breakfast before she left for work, but it didn't feel like enough. She wanted to be there for him, just so he could have somebody to talk to, so he wouldn't have to be alone, but the imminent storm demanded attention, and the weather team was already stretched thin for ponies. The best Rainbow could do was a short morning shift and a promise to make up the hours.

The pegasus worried the whole time she wrangled storm clouds, punching her frustration and anxiety into the angry gray clouds being used to construct the thunderstorm. The shift couldn't have passed any slower, and when her time was up, she clocked out as quick as she could manage and bolted home fast enough to feel her wings scream.

The kid's drawing stuff hadn't been touched. Rainbow threw her goggles on their hook and trotted upstairs to Gabe's room, but she hesitated outside the door. After a few seconds of thought, the pegasus gently rapped her hoof on the wood and pushed it open a hair.

"Uh, kid? Are you there? Can I come in?" No response. "If you don't say anything, I'm gonna come in there, so you better not be doing something real embarrassing!"

Complete silence met her joking tone. Rainbow's frown deepened and she pushed open the door.

The room was still as sparse and barren as the day the colt had moved in. The blinds were drawn and there were no posters on the walls, no toys scattered around the floor. It just wasn't right for a foal's room. Rainbow bit her lip and trotted towards the lump under the blankets of Gabe's bed.

"Kid?" The lump still didn't move. "You asleep?" Darn it, what am I supposed to do? the pegasus did her best to imagine that her mother was there. Her old mare always had a way with foals.

A quiet 'mmph' came from the bed, muffled by the covers. Rainbow took a deep breath and hopped onto the bed next to him, settling down with her legs beneath her. Tank raised his wrinkled head and inspected the disturbance before laying it right back down.

"Hey, kiddo... you can talk to me."

"...stop doing that."

She blinked. "What do you mean, bud?"

"I mean that." The voice coming from the blanketed lump sounded... disappointed? Sad... but mostly tired. "Maybe you shouldn't call me a kid, because I'm not."

Well, it sure didn't sound like that was the case. Rainbow's eyebrows furrowed. "Uh, what do you mean, Gabe?"

The lump under the covers didn't respond, and for a few moments Rainbow thought that she had said something wrong or overstepped some unseen boundary, but then the comforter shifted and a little green head poked halfway out of the sheets. His mane was even messier than usual and deep bags hung under his eyes. He looked up at her for a long, uncomfortable moment, then sighed and dropped his chin to the mattress.

"I mean... It's been fun and all pretending to be twelve, but..." He hesitated, shifting around underneath the covers. "That thing with the little filly, I can't ignore the fact that I'm still capable of... doing things like that.” He groaned. “I don’t know. I guess I thought that maybe because I didn’t have to anymore… Ugh. I dunno. I thought I'd get better. I thought I'd be fucking normal again." He snorted. "Silly me."

The kid spoke in riddles. It felt like he was dancing around something he wanted to say, but something else was stopping him. Plus, pretending to be twelve? What in the hay?

“Uh, what do you mean, ‘pretending?’”

He scrunched up his face. “I mean I wouldn’t consider myself a real child.”

I have no clue what that means, but… I guess he grew up a whole lot faster than he should have.

She watched Tank crawl across the bed and lay down next to Gabe’s muzzle, nuzzling him at a snail’s pace. "So, uh, what are you really?" It took real self-control not to add 'kid' to the end of her question.

Gabe looked up at her. "Someone who doesn't belong here, Rainbow. You all have something nice here and I want to be part of it, I really do, I think that’s not supposed to happen. I can't ignore the fact that I just maimed a little kid.”

"It wasn't your–"

"It was," Gabe snapped at Rainbow. She couldn't help but take a step back. "I should have been better, I—I shouldn't have messed with her. I knew that she'd be stupid. I just didn't think..." He groaned and held his head in his hooves. "It's on me. It has to be. She's just a kid, for fuck's sake."

She struggled to find words. "Gabe..."

He sighed. “I wanna be a good pony, like you, but I think that no matter how hard I try I’m only gonna mess up the way things should be. The hard truth is that... is that I don't belong here."

The pegasus mare waited for a moment, then snorted. "Gabe, I’ll be honest, I’m really confused and most of that went right over my head, but even I can tell that’s bull."

He blinked and looked up at her. "What?"

"All that crap about not belonging here. It's completely honky," she said with a smirk.

His face fell and Rainbow knew she had taken a wrong turn. "You don't believe me."

Uh-oh. Think fast, Rainbow. "I-I do believe ya. I believe you came from a really rotten place, one that didn't give you the chance that you deserved, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to live here." The pegasus produced what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "Ponyville's, like, the most welcoming place in Equestria. We want you to be happy, dude. Nopony's trying to kick you out."

The colt thought to himself for a second, his mouth set in a thin line. "So why am I here, then, being given a second chance? I don't even know if it's a good idea to take it."

Rainbow shrugged and put on her most confident smile. "I try to leave that kind of thinking to big, important eggheads like Twilight."

"...so what?"

"So go with it. Give being a normal kid a shot. Make the most of it, I'd say." She snickered. "Celestia knows, if I was a foal again, I'd do a lot of stuff differently."

Gabriel looked down at his hooves, folding them over one another. "What do I do?"

"Dude, are you for real?" Rainbow couldn't help but laugh. "You got no responsibilities! You're a kid! Hang out with your friends, mess around, maybe get into a little trouble, whatever! You can do whatever you want."

"Whatever I want?" He bit his lip again and set his chin down on the bed. "But... I really hurt that filly, Dash. That's not okay."

"Ah... Yeah, you did." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. "Which is why we're gonna have to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's also why Sandy is coming by in a bit to bring us to their place to apologize. "

"Oh. Yeah. I guess that's a good idea, huh?"

"Well, you can't hide under the covers feelin’ sorry for yourself forever. Gotta get back at it." She scooted closer to the lump, pressing her side up against it. "Listen, uh, I don't know what made you freak out so bad, but nopony's like that without having a pretty good reason, and it seems like you didn’t really get to choose what to do when she hit you."

He didn't respond.

"I know you're, uh, not ready to talk about that stuff, so just know that I'm willin' to listen, for when you're ready." Still nothing. "Alright?"

He gave one tiny, pathetic nod and a mutter.

"I didn't hear you, kiddo."

"Alright," he said, louder and somewhat begrudgingly.

That put a smile on Rainbow's face and she bumped him with the edge of her wing. "That's better. Now, dude, you’ve moped around all day and it's time to clean up. We both smell terrible. C’mon, I’ll even let you use the shower first."

The Rich family home was pretty damn impressive, all bright brick and thick wooden beams. The three-story mansion stood tall, with well-trimmed ivy scrabbling around its roots and big, imposing windows smattering its front. Even in the warm light of the mid-afternoon, the front entrance made for an intimidating place to stand.

Sandy Hills gently nudged the little colt before her with a hoof, motioning towards the doorbell. "Go on, Gabriel," she said, her voice gentle, but with a firm quality that let Gabe know didn't have too much choice in this particular matter, "the doorbell's right there." He looked back up at her with that strange gaze of his but didn't speak.

"We know it's gonna be awkward," Rainbow Dash said, "but we'll be right here the whole time. You can do it."

It wasn't the first time that the tan-and-brown pegasus mare had stood before the massive mahogany doors. After the incident, Sandy was taking no chances; she had made sure that it would be okay for this little apology party to go down in the first place. The little green colt straightened his neck and walked up to press the little white button beside the expensive entryway with a hoof. The muffled sound of bells came through the doors.

A minute later they produced the sound of a deadbolt being turned and swung open to reveal Mr. Rich. It took an extra second to spot his daughter, who huddled behind him. He fixed a hard look on Gabe before nodding at the two adults flanking the colt. "Sandy Hills, Rainbow Dash… Gabriel."

Then he turned back towards his little filly, and his voice softened a great deal. "It'll be okay, dear, I promise."

Diamond wordlessly glanced up at her father, then swallowed and hobbled out from behind him. A nasty purple bruise marred her little cheek, her tiara was missing, and a blank white cast encased her foreleg, making it look not unlike Gabriel's had only a few days ago. She carried her head low, and her eyes kept darting to the stallion beside her.

Sandy coughed and nudged the little green foal again, a little firmer this time. "Gabriel, do you have something to say?"

He blinked himself out of a wide-eyed stare and cleared his throat. "Um. Diamond, I um. I wanted to say that I'm really sorry for breaking your leg." He winced as he said it. "I shouldn't have antagonized you. I didn't mean to hurt you. That was wrong. So. I'm sorry." He lowered his head. His voice was so shaky, so different from its usual confident, calm tone.

Diamond Tiara swallowed and rubbed her cast, looking left and right before giving a tiny nod, then looked up at her father for a second, who only raised his eyebrow. "I-I'm sorry, too," she said, her voice almost inaudible, "...for hitting you, I mean."

Nothing more was said. I think that's the best that we're gonna get, Sandy sighed internally. She hadn't expected Diamond to forgive him right away, but she could tell that this was going to take a long time for them to get over.

Rich apparently agreed. "Thank you, Gabriel," he said in a very stern but not unfair voice. "That was very mature of you. I expect this to never happen again."

The little foal met the stallion's gaze. "No, sir. Never," the colt said with a bit more strength in his voice. "I won't let it. I promise."

"Good to hear. Now, if you'll excuse us..." Diamond retreated back into her home, looking relieved, and Rich gave them all another curt nod before shutting the door, leaving the three standing on the porch.

"Wow," said Rainbow as she eyed the doors, her voice low, "I've never seen her like that before."

Sandy turned to Gabe, kneeling down to look him in the eyes. "That was very good, Gabe. It was a nice first step, and I'm sure that with enough time, you'll be able to make it up to her, but that's all you can do for now, okay?"

He nodded, picking at the stone porch with his hoof. "Yeah..."

Sandy smiled. "Now, I stopped by the schoolhouse to pick up the materials you missed today." She bent and retrieved a few sheets of paper from her saddlebags and gave them to Gabe, who lay them down and began looking through them with a hoof. "You'll have to catch up on your reading and finish those worksheets so you'll be ready for tomorrow."

Rainbow coughed. "Sounds like we better get home, kid."

"Yeah." He scooped the papers up and climbed onto Rainbow's back, who gave him a grin.

"So, when're we gonna start on your flying lessons?"

"Uh..."

Sandy laughed a little at the surprise on his face. She couldn't help herself! It was like the idea of flying sounded alien to the little pegasus. It was as absurd as it was sorrowful.

"Alright, you two. I'll see you Friday!"

"Later, Sandy," Rainbow said, "thanks for setting this up."

"Yeah," said Gabe, his voice barely above a whisper. "...right thing to do."

"I was happy to." She returned Gabe's little wave and the two were off. Sandy watched them ascend before adjusting her saddlebags and trotting off. After all, she didn't have to fly anywhere, and it was a nice day. No need to rush.

The counselor started off down the road feeling energized and confident. This incident had been bad, yes, and development in Gabriel's past was a dark one, but she truly believed that, together, they could tackle it. With closer supervision and a generous helping of therapy sessions, the colt was truly capable of coming out of that shell of his and fitting in. He had a long, happy life ahead of him in Ponyville, she just knew it.

After all, the worst was behind them now.

Two days later, under a certain princess's calm, clear night sky, Celestia's protégé fell into her writing desk's chair with an unkempt mane and large, dark bags under her eyes. She levitated out an inkpot and quill from a drawer with a yawn and smoothed out the parchment that had been lying on the wooden surface, waiting for its time to come. Tired eyes watched the pen wet its nib and float over to the paper, hesitate, and spring into action.

Dear Princess Celestia, it scrawled in neat, careful lettering, I've finished with the materials you sent me, and I believe I have a thorough understanding of the history, use, and troubles of soul magic...

Author's Note

P.S.

Happy April 1, everybody.

Leaps and Bounds

Friday

Twilight Sparkle perked up from her breakfast the moment she heard heavy-hoofed knocking on the library's front door. "Spike?" she called as she flipped to the next page of the textbook open before her, careful not to dirty it with crumbs from her toast, "can you get that, please?"

"I'm on it!" Spike called. Almost immediately, Twilight's attention was pulled back to the book in front of her. Anima Thaumaturgia. Roughly translated: ‘soul magic.’

The field of study (if it could be thought of as one) was not unknown to Twilight. She had briefly been taught about it at the School for Gifted Unicorns by a rapidly-aging professor who frequently forgot to bring his materials bags to class. Only one day's time had been spent on the subject, and it was mainly to detail its brief history and explain how it was one of the extinct practices of magic.

Twilight took a bite of her breakfast as she examined the current page. It displayed a primitive, unbalanced-looking casting circle for a spell that was supposedly able to project one's soul out of one’s body. The problem, the book helpfully provided, was that the spell had no way to return the soul to the body, making the spell little more than a one-way ticket to an early grave.

"Twilight!" shouted Spike from the main room, "It's that stallion from the letter!" Twilight's ears perked up and she nearly fell out of her chair hurrying to the entrance.

The 'stallion from the letter' stood just past the front door, looking around at her library. His coat was a smooth newspaper white and contrasted cleanly with his deep black mane. Both came together to make his thoughtful golden eyes stand out in that eye-catching manner that had drawn so many hopeful mares back in school, and they lit up when they met her own.

"Twilight Sparkle! I knew I was coming to meet you, but my goodness, it's strange to see you again!"

Twilight smiled back. "I could say the same thing about you! It's been, what, how many years?"

He chuckled. "More than I care to count."

Spike stretched and made for the stairs. "I'm gonna go feed Peewee, Twilight. Holler if you need me."

"Thank you, Spike!" The librarian turned back to the new arrival. "Don't just stand there, come on in!" The stallion nodded his thanks when Twilight levitated his two conservatively-sized suitcases in, setting them beside the staircase. Custom-made, she noticed, embossed with his cutie mark: a magnifying glass over a closed book.

"So," she began, making her way towards the table, "I hear congratulations are in order, Investigator Looking Glass."

The stallion rubbed his cheek and produced a somewhat confident smile. "Oh, yes, the princess told you, I take it?"

"Of course! That's something to be proud of, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, definitely." His smile grew a little. "The status upgrade is a boon in Canterlot, you know how it is, and the pay doesn't hurt, either." Then it fell. "The title comes with a great deal of pressure, though, and with this new case, you can imagine the demand to provide results is, well..." Looking gulped. "I don't fancy my chances of remaining an investigator if I don't meet the challenge."

My goodness. Twilight cringed inwardly. She knew exactly what that kind of pressure was like. "Well, you're here now," she said with as reassuring a tone as she could, "and I know that you'll do your best. You weren't exactly one for half measures at school." Her smile grew a little more devious. "Remember that time in the gardens with that mare from transmutation class..."

The light-gray coat on his face grew a few shades redder. "N-now, I don't think we need to go over that particular event," he sputtered.

Twilight covered her giggle with a hoof. "So, what's your plan?"

He coughed and cleared his throat. "Yes. Um. Well..."

His horn glimmered and his saddlebags unlatched themselves, floating over the main room’s table and producing a small stack of mismatching papers. They shuffled as the investigator examined them with nearly-crossed eyes one by one before he plucked a piece from the pile, which set itself down on the floor. Then Looking Glass unfolded the paper with a bit of a flourish, revealing a map of Ponyville and the surrounding countryside.

"The Bureau's been in close contact with Princess Celestia on this one," he began, sounding far more professional. "After a lot of careful deliberation, our ponies determined the, um–" He bit his lip. "I know I probably don’t need to ask you of all ponies, but how well-read are you on soul magic?"

Twilight gestured to Anima Thaumaturgia. “I’ve been studying this since I got it a week or so ago. The princess sent some other materials, but they’re mostly just primary sources and codices. That text is pretty definitive.”

The stallion hummed. “Can you sum up a general understanding for me? I’m going to need to know if there are any gaps in your knowledge.”

“Of course.” Twilight pulled up a chair for Looking, and the two sat down. “The writing is pretty dry, but it starts with soul magic’s origins. We’ve known since antiquity that beings are made up of three distinct parts: mind, body, and soul.”

She flipped open the corresponding chapter and tapped an old-looking print of a unicorn with a hoof. “One of Starswirl's later students theorized that manipulation of the most interior, most delicate magic of a pony’s being could be a pathway to amazing powers, like immortality and truly bringing back the dead.”

“Mm-hmm.” Looking nodded. “If I recall, the rest of the historical section is a long list of the horrible things that happened to ponies that actually tried it, correct?”

Twilight grimaced. “Yes, it says that, if you were lucky, you got cursed with pallid, sickly bodies or dull, slow minds. The rest is mutations, corruptions, and horrors galore.” She shivered a little. “After reading the descriptions, I had to take a break and switch to another text for a while.”

The stallion chuckled a little. “Well, you wouldn’t be alone there. Golden Aura goes into frankly excruciating detail.”

“Yes, I thought that was a little overboard,” Twilight said with a weak smile of her own, “but what bothered me most was the entries about the ponies who initially appeared to be unscathed by the magic...” She trailed off.

Looking nodded again. “Only to commit unthinkably evil deeds or transform into something otherworldly because the thing that got returned to the body wasn’t the soul that left it.” His horn shimmered with golden light and the text flipped open to Twilight’s least favorite chapter and he spoke in a low voice. “Interlopers.”

Twilight frowned. “The illustrations are clearly a step too far.”

“You should see the unedited version we have at the Bureau,” Looking said with a grin.

Twilight turned a little green at the thought before shaking her head. “Moving right along, things like that are the reason soul magic is no longer practiced or even legally allowed. It’s so easy to bungle up, and the consequences are enormous, dangerous, and usually permanent.” She flipped a couple more pages. “Here’s the list of ponies whose souls were completely or partially repaired,” she said. It was five entries long.

“Yes, soul magic certainly has quite the track record.” Looking raised his eyes to meet hers. “However, that’s not the most important thing to remember. Do you know what is, Twilight?”

She blinked and an embarrassed heat immediately began to spread across her face. “Um, well, you see―I mean, it depends on how you look at it–”

“Hey, relax! Don’t worry!” Looking raised a calming hoof. “It wasn’t a quiz.” His horn glowed again as he flipped the text back to the theoretical section. “As Anima Thaumaturgia so carefully states, those theories of soul magic's potential benefits haven’t actually been disproven.”

Twilight nodded along as he spoke. That’s what makes it so tempting, she thought.

“They’re still theoretically possible,” Looking continued, “but even the most skilled, powerful ponies haven’t produced solely positive results. The most notable example is actually Princess Luna herself, you know. She used soul magic to successfully empower her own being, but gained a stowaway in the process.”

She chuckled awkwardly. “We all know how that one ended.”

Altogether, it painted a very concerning picture of what had happened in Canterlot.

“Yes, we certainly do.” Looking Glass nodded. “Well, it seems that your study habits haven’t changed a bit. Always the perfect student, eh?”

She blushed a little. “Well, I do try.”

“Just like old times,” he said with a small smile. “So, how much do you know about the incident?”

Twilight shook her head. "Just that there was one, and it involves soul magic."

"Hmm. I'll bring you up to speed, then." His mouth thinned into a line. "Last week, a currently unknown unicorn attempted to perform an unknown soul magic spell and failed spectacularly. Luckily, nopony we know of was hurt, and Canterlot got to experience a rather surprising light show early that morning."

The line drooped at its corners. "Unfortunately, the spell discharged several bound auras. Most of them were small and we were able to track them to sites in and around Canterlot, but the largest had a lot more power behind it and manifested all the way out in Ponyville."

"Wait," Twilight couldn't help but interrupt, "how do you know it was soul magic? Couldn't these auras be harmless?"

"If we knew that for sure, Sparkle, I wouldn't be here." He sighed. "The Royal Guard provided us with photographs of the site, and the circle matched the designs in many of the old texts. Here, take a look."

He levitated the picture out of his saddlebag, showing Twilight a casting circle that looked related to the one she had been examining in Anima Thaumaturgia not five minutes ago but far, far more complex. I guess 'extinct' is too strong a word.

“Wait,” Twilight said, examining the photograph, “are these… necromantic runes?”

“I’m afraid so.” Looking’s frown deepened. "As you likely know, the circle's base structure is unique to soul magic, but it contains runes from other schools, many of them similarly outlawed.”

Oh, good, Twilight thought, a smorgasbord of illegal magic. What the hay was the caster thinking?

“We've still got mages trying to decode the spell's exact purpose, but, well, without access to the caster or any additional knowledge, that may take a while, which brings me to my second point."

Looking Glass retrieved a pen and returned to the map. "After a lot of talking and not a lot of doing, the ponies at the Bureau determined that, based on the miasma it left behind, the aura probably landed in this area." He drew a generous oval on the outskirts of the town. "We think that the reason it had so much power behind it was that it was carrying a living thing. Probably the pony that cast the spell, or, in all liklihood, the creature that they became."

“So you think that area is the best place to look for clues?”

He nodded and tapped the circled area with a hoof. “Unfortunately, yes.”

Twilight stared at the map for a little while, her head filled with scenarios of an eldritch beast that used to be a unicorn stampeding out of the Everfree Forest towards Ponyville. She let out a long whistle. "That's... quite a bit to take in at once."

The investigator let out a sheepish chuckle. "I know that it's a lot. I had the same look on my face when they told me, and a considerably more terrified one, when they told me the Ponyville investigation was my responsibility. I nearly passed out when they said that I'd be joining forces with nopony less than the princess's personal student to do so."

He said it with a grin, and though she blushed, Twilight pushed past the compliment. "It's also quite a bit of ground to cover," Twilight said, tracing the area with a hoof, "and we're going to have to use some pretty sophisticated scanning spells. It's been a week, so any signatures the aura left behind will be badly faded."

"Well, then," he said, giving her a winning smile, "we had better get started.”

"Holy fffffrick, girls, this is ridiculously heavy. Are we gonna be building with cinder blocks?"

Sweetie Belle giggled from the back of the wagon. "We're pushin' as hard as we can! Come on, ya big, strong, stallion! You can do it!"

The groaning stopped and Gabe came trotting around to the rear a moment later, giving the other crusaders a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, looks like it's really takin' it out of ya."

"Doy," Scootaloo said, grinning, "why do you think we're up here?"

‘Bloom snorted. “Didn’t ya notice it’s stuck?”

The little green colt rolled his eyes and the fillies hopped out of the cart, the satisfaction of a prank well executed putting a little bounce in their step. Gabriel gave the other foals a sharp look before returning to the front of the cart to re-hitch himself, pausing below the shade of one of Sweet Apple Acres' many, many trees.

"Y'all ready to skedaddle?" came a call from the farmhouse.

"Yeah, come on!" Apple Bloom hollered. All three of her fellow crusaders slammed their hooves over their ears and winced at the shrill, piercing shriek.

"Jeez, 'Bloom." Scootaloo slowly removed her hooves from her ears. "Give us a warning next time, will ya?"

The filly blushed as her saddle-bagged older sister trotted out to join the three under the hot afternoon sun. The air felt pretty dry now that all the moisture was rolling around in the growing thunderstorm outside of town; the clouds looked fit to burst. "And yer sure you got everything?"

"Yep!" Sweetie pointed to the bed of the medium-sized cart. The four foals had haphazardly stacked a multitude of wood, nails, screwdrivers, rope, and a bunch of other building supplies she didn't know the names for but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had insisted were important. Gabe had nodded along without saying anything.

"Alright," Applejack said, nodding at the road. "Let's get goin' then."

A grunt came from the front of the cart and it acquiesced with a groan, beginning to roll its way down the road. "Wow," said a sarcastic voice, "it’s not stuck anymore. How very strange."

Sweetie Belle snickered to herself, then followed her friends up to trot along beside Gabriel, leaving Applejack to trail along behind, much to Apple Bloom's annoyance. After the property damage incident last time, she had promised to bring along adult supervision because it had been the only way to wiggle out of a grounding of epic proportions.

Sweetie gave Gabriel a sidelong glance as the party left the farm. After he and Diamond returned to school, things had been more than a little awkward, but lo and behold, the incident seemed to have knocked some sense into that green head of his.

Gabe didn't ask or answer as many questions as possible in class and he actually came out to recess with them, telling them about what had happened. Even better, he helped them all with their math, which was great because he was an honest-to-Celestia genius at it.

Of course, things had been tense. Most of the other foals gave him a wide berth and whispered to each other when they thought he wasn't looking. Even though it didn’t seem to bother him, once Sweetie convinced Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to give him another chance, he seemed… well, not ecstatic, but happier, as far as she could tell.

Being around him had been scary at first—Sweetie kept remembering the face he had made after he got hit—but it turned out that he was actually pretty friendly when he wanted to be. It wasn't so hard to think of the pony who had broken Diamond's leg without a second’s hesitation and the colt who made toilet jokes because he knew they got on Ms. Cheerilee's nerves as two entirely different beings, and that was enough for her.

"I still think we shoulda made him pull us," Scootaloo murmured into Sweetie's ear. Despite Gabe actually trying to be their friend, Scootaloo still hadn't come around.

“Nngh.” The colt muttered as he pulled. “Being tiny fucking sucks.”

Sweetie huffed and muttered her response. "Scoots, we're walking to the other side of town. That'd stop being funny and start being mean before we passed Sugarcube Corner."

"Pfft, whatever." Scootaloo looked ahead when she saw Applejack appear on Gabriel's other side.

"Howdy, Gabe," she said.

"Howdy," he grunted back.

"You sure ya don't want any help pullin' that thing?" She made a little smile. "I saw those fillies piled on quite a bit 'a cargo."

"Mnnh, nope!" he replied, giving her a strained grin. "Got it. Thanks."

Applejack 'hmm'd, but didn't say anything more about it. "So, Gabe," she said, "it's good to see ya out of all those bandages."

"Yup. Now I get to show off this gnarly scar." Sweetie didn't know exactly what gnarly meant, but she could sure as heck guess. The first day he had come to school bandage-less the fillies (and much of the rest of the class) had all stared the moment he looked away.

The furless knot of previously-sutured tissue running down the length of his side was pretty darn nasty to look at, and Apple Bloom had only managed it for a few seconds. From then on, ‘Bloom made sure to carefully avert her eyes whenever his side was facing her.

Applejack only laughed, though, not bothered at all by the sight. "Well, enjoy the surprised looks while ya can, once yer coat regrows it'll look good as new." Sweetie Belle doubted that.

"Only if I decide not to shave it off. Gotta let everyone know how bad this pony is," Gabe said, throwing a little strut into his step. Apple Bloom groaned, looking a little green around the gills, and Sweetie couldn't help but giggle.

The five walked across town, passing through the markets and into the park, which had been chosen as a crusading location because it offered plentiful free space for activities and not a lot of possible casualties. By the time they reached the tree shaped like a three-armed slingshot, Gabe was sweating and panting. Applejack unharnessed him with a raised eyebrow.

"That was some real haulin', sugar cube," she said with a bit of a smile.

"Aint—huh—nothing I haven't managed before." The way he flopped on the grass implied that his statement may not have been entirely truthful. AJ raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if'n yer ever lookin' for a few extra bits, Sweet Apple Acres would be happy to put those skills to good use."

"Wow. I'll keep that in mind." It sounded like he wouldn't.

Applejack's smile vanished. "Just so you know, most folks 'round here don't take kindly to smart-alecks."

He didn't respond.

While Applejack retrieved the daily paper from her saddlebags and made herself comfortable next to Gabe, the fillies began to drag their construction materials out from the cart. An excited Scootaloo unrolled their blueprints for the device that would carry them through their next crusade and they all gathered around to admire the brilliant plan.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Long-Range Projectile Marksponies Yay!"

Applejack shot them a suspicious look. "I better not be seeing any fillies get launched, 'Bloom."

"Don't worry, sis, we–"

"I better not be seeing any colts get launched, neither."

"We're not launching ourselves, Applejack," Scootaloo said, backing up her frustrated friend. "We're just launchin' rocks and stuff into the old field.”

Applejack opened her mouth.

“And nopony’s over there."

She closed it again. "Mmm."

The skeptical mare returned her attention to the agriculture section and the foals got busy. Scootaloo shimmied up the tree and looped the rope around one of the branches, pulling it down to ground level and tying it down. Apple Bloom and Sweetie were up next, constructing a cup at the end of their impromptu spring.

"Oh, dude," giggled the pegasus filly as she dragged a hoof through her purple mane, "this is gonna be so awesome." That was about the time when Gabriel decided he wasn't that tired.

"Not as awesome as it could be," he said from his spot on the grass with a downright villainous twinkle in his eye. "What you all need is a counterweight."

The fillies all squinted and tilted their heads. "A what now?"

"A counterweight," the little green foal repeated, getting up off the grass, "It's just physics. If we add some leverage and put a weight on the other end, it's gonna throw stuff way further, and I mean way further."

Apple Bloom smiled right alongside Sweetie Belle. "That sounds terrific. Let's do it!"

"Wait, hold on!" An annoyed-looking Scootaloo turned to look at the other fillies. "Girls! We designed this together! Come on!"

"I dunno, Scoots. Gabe seems like he knows what he's talkin' about."

"B-but... but!" Scootaloo's face got a little redder. "But it was my idea!"

"He's just trying to give us a hoof," Sweetie said, trying to be helpful and regretting it the moment Scootaloo whirled around to face her.

"Shut up! Heisn't trying to help, he's just trying to make it his!" She hissed in her face. Sweetie Belle might have said something she would have regretted if Gabe hadn't stepped in.

"Uh, Scootaloo?"

The filly whirled around to face him. "What." He didn't flinch.

"Um, I wasn't trying to cause an issue. What's goin' on? Something wrong?"

"What's wrong is that you're trying to steal the show!"

His eyebrows drew together and his muzzle scrunched. "I was trying to help."

"Yeah, well, the girls and I designed the tree catapult. You can't just come up and, and..." she snorted, stomping in a little circle. Her eyes looked wet. "And come around and replace us!" The way she said it made it sound more like 'replace me'.

The colt bit his lip and looked Scootaloo in the eye for a long moment before speaking. "...I'm sorry, then. I'm not trying to replace anypony. If it's that important to you, we can do it your way. I don't mind."

Scootaloo blinked. "...really?" she said, somewhere between hesitant and suspicious.

"Yeah. It clearly means way more to you than it does to me, and I wouldn't be much of a crusader if I knew that and I still got in a fight with you over it, would I?"

He got an owlish stare in response. After a second, the pegasus filly sniffed and dragged a foreleg across her eyes. "T-thanks," she managed, "that's really cool of you."

"Don't mention it." He gave her a big, honest smile and held up a hoof. She looked at it for a second, then returned it with a bump and a little smile of her own.

"And hey, Scoots," he said, "I wouldn't worry too much about taking Rainbow away from ya. I'm only supposed to stay with her for a few weeks."

Sweetie Belle's eyes shot open. He's known the whole time?!

The pegasus filly nearly choked on her own tongue. "W-what?" she chuckled awkwardly. "Uh, I-I don't know what–"

"Oh, come on, I'm not blind," Gabe said with a good-natured grin. "There's only one reason you'd be jealous of me, and it's not because I'm good at math."

Sweetie caught a bit of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to see Applejack standing a little ways away with a satisfied smile on her face. She nodded at Sweetie and turned around, trotting back over to her newspaper.

Oh, wow, Sweetie Belle thought, it's a good thing Applejack didn't have to get involved... That could have been too awkward to handle.

Scootaloo opened her mouth, closed it again, then looked back at the tree, then at the plans, then at Apple Bloom and Sweetie, then looked back to Gabriel. "Well, I guess we can use a counter-thingy if it really is gonna make it that much more awesome..."

Gabe's smile became a great deal more mischievous. "That's the spirit."

"Twilight!" The stallion's voice came drifting over the next hill. "I think I found something!"

Twilight straightened her neck, bringing her head up to look around for a moment. Not that she could see all that much; she'd been investigating a patch of muddy ground in the ditch between two of the field's rolling hills. She'd been sure the whisper of remnant magic had come from somewhere over here, and judging by the excitement in Looking Glass's voice, she'd been right.

"I'm coming! One second!" Her hooves complained as she worked her way up the hill. The grass here grew unmaintained and unchecked, and its rough, scratchy tips reached up to the fur on Twilight's belly. Needless to say, the midday heat and hours of searching had left her feeling very itchy and hot.

I'm going to be brushing out burrs for an hour tonight, she thought to herself with a groan, glancing up at the cloudless blue sky.

"Here! Over here!" The black and white stallion danced on his hooftips in excitement when he saw Twilight crest the hill. "Take a look at this!"

He pointed his hoof at the spot he had been skirting, and Twilight trotted into the gently-sloped saddle-shaped divet in the hill. The not-yet-yellow grass obscured her view until the moment she was upon it, so much so that she nearly stepped in a spot of cracked, reddish earth.

"What?" Twilight stopped, inspecting the spot, then at what Looking was so focused on.

It wasn't much more than a disturbance in the grass. A circle no wider than two ponies end-to-end had been flattened some time ago. In the center, more grass had been crushed, and something had discolored the stalks there, creating a strange scratchwork of brown and green. The earth below it had been similarly discolored in strange spots, making a nonsense outline.

"What is it, Looking?" Twilight said, tilting her head.

"Don't you recognize it?" Looking crouched down in a way that reminded Twilight of Opalescence. "It's dried blood, and it’s been here a while."

Blood! Twilight's heart seized and she took a step back, a little unnerved. Now it made sense. Something had collapsed here and crushed the grass, and it had been injured.

"H-hold on," she said, trying to keep her voice steady and professional, "I'll do a scan."

She closed her eyes and lowered her head, reaching out and searching for the telltale unbalanced whisper of an aura that signified soul magic. At this point, she'd performed the spell so many times she didn't have to focus particularly hard to weave it, and each and every time, it had returned exactly zero response, so Twilight nearly jumped out of her own hooves when it went ping! "Oh!"

"What? What'd you find?" Looking raised his head, his eyes wide.

"It was here," Twilight said, not quite believing it herself. "It's a soul magic aura, just like you said. Weak and nearly faded, but here." Then she furrowed her brow and walked around the site, positioning herself up next to the bloody spot and looking out into the world. In the distance, Canterlot's magnificent spires and extravagant buildings gleamed. "Whatever the spell created," she said, "it landed here."

"Oh." Looking's voice caught Twilight's attention. "Twilight, look at this."

He held, in his magic, a small, crusty clump of grass. No, Twilight corrected herself upon closer inspection. A feather.

It had been soaked in blood and had long since dried, leaving its bristles crusted and bent and nearly coloring the whole thing a dull, muddy brown, save for one spot right at the very tip. There, the feather's original forest green color still shone true.

Gabe's addition to the weaponized tree required them to add a good deal of wood along the length of the bent branch. The resulting extension stuck out into the air opposite the cup, pointing out into the sky.

Sweetie Belle had watched as the others hung a basket from the end with a length of rope and began to stack old bricks in it. Scootaloo got pretty excited when she had to nail in the spike keeping the branch bent even harder.

"Now we're talkin'," Scoots had muttered to herself as she stomped the stake into the ground.

They’d stopped once the wood began to groan angrily, and now they stood together near the cup at the end of the branch. She watched as Gabe passed a hefty yet hoof-sized rock to Scootaloo. "The honor's all yours, Scoots," he said.

She eagerly (but gently) loaded the treeapult, giggling all the while.

The four walked back to what Gabe said was ‘probably a safe distance, don’t worry about it’ and Scootaloo picked up her lengthy poking stick. Sweetie's ears twitched as she heard Applejack trot up behind them and stare at the groaning, bent-over tree.

"Hey now, before ya–"

"No-no-wait, hold on. Watch this." Scootaloo held out the stick and, ever so gently, nudged the stake with its tip.

The tree, now with the freedom to do so, expressed its displeasure with lightning speed and the mightiest THWAP Sweetie had ever had the pleasure of hearing with her own two ears. The onlookers were treated to a blast of leaf-strewn wind and a lesson on why they had kept their distance: the stake whipped around on the rope fast enough to embed itself into the tree's trunk. Meanwhile, the little rock transformed into a blur via sheer force and rocketed out over the park, over the field past the park, and into the Everfree Forest.

Scootaloo whooped and hollered and jumped in the air. Apple Bloom widened her eyes and rubbed her head. Applejack got a heavily concerned look on her face, and Gabe pumped his hoof in a way that was definitely not cute and muttered "Aw, fuck yeah," which Sweetie guessed she wasn't supposed to hear. Then he looked right at her.

The little unicorn's eyebrows shot up and she tore her eyes away from his as fast as she could, cursing her white coat and praying that her blush would go away before Scootaloo noticed.

Of course, because the universe hated her, Scootaloo did look back, but a voice interrupted the snarky remark that Sweetie could see forming behind those devious purple eyes.

"Hey, kids did you just now see an... Um, is that what I think it is?"

"Oh, uh—hey, Twi," Applejack said, giving her a quick nod before looking back at the treebuchet, still a little dumbfounded. Twilight paid her very little mind, trotting up towards the tree as she wiped the sweat from her brow. The duo had been combing the fields all day.

It was the work of a madpony—a tree that had been fitted with structural supports and a counterweight, all held together by at-best questionable carpentry and a heavy helping of nails and ropes. An arboreal siege weapon.

"Holy Celestia," Looking Glass said from beside her.

The unicorn mare huffed. No kidding.

"Twilight! Did ya see? Did ya like it? Huh?" Apple Bloom rushed up to the purple unicorn, her eyes wide and sparkling. Scootaloo was not far behind.

"Oh, Twilight, you shoulda seen it! It was amazing, it musta thrown that rock across the Everfree! Woo!" She buzzed off, too full of excited energy. "Let's do it again!"

"Wait, hold on now sugar cube–"

"And you all designed this?" Twilight boggled.

"Yeah!" said Sweetie Belle, puffing out her chest. Then her eyes widened and she quickly checked her flank. "Aw..."

"My goodness, is that a counterweight?" Looking Glass said.

"Yeah! It was Gabe's idea!" Sweetie pointed a hoof at the little green colt, who gave Twilight a wave. She offered a confused, hesitant wave back. Then Sweetie Belle looked back to Looking. "Also, who the heck are you?"

"Sweetie Belle!" AJ said, apparently summoned from her stupor by bad manners, "that is not how we greet new ponies!"

"Sorry," the filly muttered.

"Oh, it's quite alright. I'm from Canterlot, and I'm just visiting for some business with Ms. Sparkle here. My name is Looking Glass."

"Oh, that's pretty cool, I guess."

Ah, the tact of young foals.

Gabe trotted up to the two and stuck out his hoof. As he walked, Twilight happily noted his lack of bandages. "Nice to meet'cha, Mr. Glass. I'm Gabriel."

"And you as well," the black-and-white pony responded, bumping the offered hoof. "That's quite an exotic name."

"I'm not from around here," Gabe smiled.

Twilight's breath caught.

"Ah. Well, I trust you're enjoying Ponyville?"

That couldn't be right.

"Oh, yeah, especially when I get to build medieval weaponry out of a tree."

That absolutely, positively couldn't be right.

"Yes, I can... see that. Clever use of leverage."

Twilight saw, in his gaze, a sharp, gruesome pain. His eyes spoke not just of terrible hurt and bitter, lonesome grief, but also deep, vengeful wrath. It felt like a tendril made of something very cold and very dark wrapped around her heart.

"Thanks! It took a lot of fiddling to get the weight-to-length ratio right."

A strange arrival a week ago. Mysterious, unknown. Odd name, weird habits, similar to those of a normal foal's, but not quite... and a forest-green coat. It too lined up far perfectly. Twilight Sparkle, star pupil of Princess Celestia, valiantly battled losing her lunch right there on the grassy hill.

"Erm, Twilight? You good?" The unicorn blinked herself back to the present. The colt was standing right in front of her, giving her a concerned look. "You look like you're about to puke."

She gulped and let out a nervous chuckle. "Ah, why wouldn't I be? I mean, why would I be? I'm fine! Completely fine!" She pointedly ignored Applejack's judgmental look. "Um, well, we better get going, right Looking? We've got a lot of ground to cover, right?"

The other unicorn's eyes darted around. "Um, yes, I suppose we do?"

"Well then come on, slowpoke!" Twilight motioned with wide eyes. "We'd better get moving."

"...alright?"

"Welp, you heard the stallion! Bye, Applejack! Bye, kids!" She waved like she was trying to smack a fly out of the air and hooked a foreleg around Looking Glass's neck.

"Urk! Erm, bye! Nice meeting you!" The stallion waved to the group of confused foals and a very overwhelmed mare.

Once they were for sure out of earshot, Twilight stopped dragging the Canterlot unicorn, much to his relief.

"Oof," he said rubbing his neck with a hoof. "Alright, Sparkle. What's going on."

"I think it's the colt."

He tilted his head, flopping his jet black mane to the side and locking that golden stare on her. "You think what's the colt?"

"The aura. The subject of the soul spell. I think it's that colt, Gabriel."

Looking's eyebrows met and he frowned. "Twilight, I appreciate your eagerness to help me solve my case, but I don't think a unique name is grounds to–"

"He showed up last week," she interrupted, "out of nowhere. He has no known family. He wasn't in the ministry's registers. It's like the universe just plopped him there on the edge of Ponyville. That's not even mentioning the feather. You saw his coat color."

"B-but, the caster had to have been a unicorn."

"Yes," Twilight said, "but the subject of the spell could have been anypony."

His eyes went wide. "You don't mean–"

"I think somepony may have tried to use a foal to do soul magic, and this is the result."

The stallion's jaw fell open and he held his head with a hoof. "How could somepony do such a thing? This is... It's..."

Twilight swallowed. "Unspeakably, awfully, deeply evil. Somepony could have ripped out a little colt's soul."

"But, if that's the case," Looking Glass met her equally terrified gaze, "then what's in that colt right now?"

Twilight tried to think of some theory, some explanation to quell the maelstrom of thoughts and worries bogging down her mind as she looked up at the brilliant blue sky.

She failed.

"...what do we do?"

"And what're you all craving on this hot, dry day?"

"I'll have a vanilla," Sweetie Belle smiled her cutest smile up at the ice cream mare. She nodded and glanced at the other foals.

"Chocolate!" Scootaloo hopped from hoof to hoof with a big smile on her face.

"Peanut butter," Apple Bloom said thoughtfully.

"You guys have cookie dough?" asked Gabe.

Scootaloo wrinkled her muzzle. "What the hay are you talking about, ya weirdo?"

"Yeah, Why would I have any cookie dough?" The ice cream mare nodded as she adjusted her cart's umbrella, reminding Sweetie exactly why the fillies had begged Applejack to get them ice cream. This dry heat is killin' me.

"You've never heard of cookie dough ice cream?" the colt asked, looking incredulous.

"No," the mare frowned. Her horn lit up and an ice cream scooper hovered its way off the brightly-colored ice cream cart, disappearing behind its countertop. "Is that some kinda fancy-schmancy new flavor from Canterlot?"

"Lady, I've never even been to Canterlot." Gabe shook his head. "It's where you put little bits of cookie dough in with the ice cream and you get to run into these little sugary treasures as you go. It's awesome."

The mare raised an eyebrow and put a hoof to her chin. "Now there's an idea..."

"Anyway, I guess I'll just take a vanilla one, thanks." He glanced over his shoulder. "Applejack?"

"No, thanks," the farmer said, shooting a disapproving look Apple Bloom's way, "we're gonna be havin' supper in an hour." Her sister examined the underside of the ice cream cart's colorful umbrella with a remarkable intensity.

"Suit yourself. Thanks for the ice cream, by the way."

Sweetie's head jumped up with a blush. "Oh, yeah, thanks Applejack!" The other fillies echoed her. Wow, it sure is a good thing Rarity isn't here. She'd have had my hide for forgetting to say ‘thank you.’ She shivered as she imagined the scale of the talking-to she had evaded by sheer luck.

The ice cream was a perfect idea—thanks, Scoots—and the five made their way to one of the market street tables to relax and enjoy their sweet, satisfying treat. Sweetie hummed as she began to work on her cone. How does anypony ever get anything but vanilla? It's just so good!

Scootaloo buzzed and bumped around in her seat, taking bites out of her own ice cream. "That was so freakin' cool!" she said through a chocolatey grin, "I bet we sent that rock past the castle!"

Apple Bloom giggled. "We built that launcher so well it's downright scary."

"Nah," Gabe hummed, "ridiculously awesome, definitely, but not scary. What's terrifying about throwing rocks?"

"Well fer' one, y'all could have put a hole in somepony's home," Applejack rebuked with a raised eyebrow and half-lidded eyes, "or somepony."

"Okay, granted, I don't wanna hurt anypony, but that's why we shot it at the forest."

"Oh yeah?" Scootaloo leaned onto the table with a chocolate-stained hoof, "what if it hit Zecora's house?"

"What, the zebra?" Gabe shrugged. "I'd have to go and apologize, I guess."

"You know she lives in the Everfree Forest, right?" Sweetie Belle said with a healthy dose of skepticism.

"And?" Gabe smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"And you'd have to walk through the Everfree Forest to get to a spooky shaman's tree hut!"

Apple Bloom snorted. "She's not that scary."

"I'm missing your point, here." Gabe chomped at his ice cream and promptly widened his eyes. "Ooh! Now this really takes me back."

"Are you seriously saying you'd walk through the Everfree without a second thought?" Scootaloo tapped her hoof against her head. "You really are crazy."

The colt grinned. "Is that a dare?"

"Nopony is going in the Everfree," groaned Applejack, a hoof over her muzzle.

"Whatever. Everfree isn't scary anyways."

Scootaloo snorted. "Okay, tough guy. If the Everfree Forest isn't scary, then what is?"

"Nothing around here, that's for sure."

"Oh yeah?" Sweetie saw a glint behind the pegasus filly's eyes.

"Oh yeah.”

Scootaloo straightened up with a victorious smirk on her face and jabbed a hoof at the market. "If you're really not scared of anything in Ponyville, then you'll go ask one of the spa ponies on a date." Then she shoved the remains of her ice cream cone into her mouth.

Apple Bloom began to giggle furiously behind her ice cream and Sweetie couldn't help but drop her jaw. The two notoriously beautiful mares stood in front of Carrot Cake's stand, haggling from the looks of it. Gabe, amazingly, seemed to hesitate just the tiniest bit. He has to turn this one down, right?

"Oh, yeah, Aloe and what’s-her-face. What do I get if I win?"

"Mmphrgh?"

"Scootaloo, swallow!" Applejack was starting to sound really tired.

She produced an audible gulp and wrinkled her muzzle. "Umm..." the orange filly looked around, then looked down at her less-than-unstained hoof. "...a friendly hoof bump?" she said as she rubbed the worst of the chocolate off on her chest.

Applejack groaned.

"Well, it had better be the friendliest hoof bump I'll ever get." And just like that, he passed an incredulous AJ his ice cream and hopped out of his chair.

"Oh, no way..." Scootaloo muttered.

The fillies huddled together and watched as the colt strode right up to the spa ponies. The Friday afternoon bustle claimed their words but they saw the mares talk to Gabe for much, much longer than it took to turn down a colt, at least according to Rarity. He motioned with a hoof, they pointed at his side, he struck a pose and grinned as Lotus looked a little sick. Then the three even began to laugh! What was he saying?

Sweetie felt her face grow a little hotter and her heart beat a little faster. They'd never go on a date with a little colt like him... would they?

After what seemed like a million years, Gabe smiled and gave them a big wave, which they returned, and trotted back to the table, a pleased grin plastered across his stupid face.

"So," he said, hopping back up onto his chair, "this had better be a really good hoof bump."

"What?!" Scootaloo dragged her hooves through her mane and streaked it with chocolate and dirt. "What'd they say?"

"Yeah, spill it!" Apple Bloom and Applejack spoke at the exact same time, then stared at each other. The former stuck out her tongue.

"Oh, yeah, I'm supposed to go on that date with Lotus tomorrow. Now, about your end of the deal–"

"What?!" Sweetie Belle shrieked the moment her brain confirmed that, yes, she had heard him correctly. "Are you kidding me?!" There were so many emotions swirling around inside her that she didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or spontaneously combust.

Gabe burst out laughing and shaking his head. "Holy hell, I really had you all going, huh? Hah!" He wiped the tears from his eyes. "No, I'm just messin' with ya. They said to come back and ask again in six years, but until then, I was welcome at the spa anytime. I'll take that back, now, Applejack."

Sweetie crossed her forelegs and channeled Rarity as hard as she could, fixing the most venomous stare at the giggling colt. "Ha. Ha. Very funny."

"Thank you! I certainly do try my very hardest."

He chuckled as Sweetie harrumphed and slumped even further into her chair. Then the colt slurped the last of his ice cream out the bottom of its cone, which he shoved directly into his mouth à la Scootaloo. Crunch crunch crunch.

"Now, then, Scoots," he said after swallowing, fixing his eye on the still-gaping filly, "where's my prize? I had better be impressed."

"Oh, you'll be impressed," Scootaloo replied, replacing her open mouth with a devious grin. "You're not gonna be ready for the pure friendship this hoof bump is gonna contain."

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I don't know if you can handle it," she added, "maybe you should back off."

"I'll die before I turn down something that friendly!"

Scootaloo's grin only widened as she rolled her shoulder, stretching out her foreleg. "Well, don't say I didn't warn ya."

The colt slapped his hooves together. "Bring it on,"

Applejack groaned and tugged her hat down over her face.

Rainbow Dash's wings ached as she came in for a shivery landing beneath the Sweet Apple Acres front gate. The thunderstorm was behind schedule, and, well, sometimes her reputation as Ponyville's best flier wasn't all fans and camera flashes. Her coat was wetter than it was when she got out of the bath, and her mane was even worse. The pegasus ran a hoof through it and shook herself as best as her tired muscles would allow, trying her damndest to get the water out of her coat.

"Figures they always give me thunderhead duty," she grumbled.

"Geez, Rainbow, what happened to you?" a high voice said with a sigh. "Looks like you got put through a dishwasher."

Rainbow blinked and looked at the greenish lump on the shaded grass beneath an apple tree a little ways away. Between the grass matching his coat near-perfectly and the sun-broken shadow moving over them both, she had to strain her eyes to pick out the colt.

Wow, when he closes his eyes he blends the heck in, she thought, Celestia, he can be sneaky when he wants to.

"Oh, hey, kiddo," Rainbow said, exhaustion dripping from her voice almost as much as water dripped off her coat. "Sorry I'm late."

"Ah, you're good. I was just–" He produced a massive yawn, his mouth a pink island in a sea of green. "...I was just chillin'. No biggie."

"Good to hear."

He looked so darned comfortable lying there on the grass that she couldn't help but want to join him. Rainbow's urge to be responsible and bring her foster son home put up a valiant but brief fight against her crushing lethargy. Her tired legs were carrying the pegasus over to a particularly enticing sunny patch of grass before she knew it.

Gabe made an indignant noise as she shook her mane and flopped down, sticking his head up. "Gah! Wet!"

Rainbow chuckled. "Yup." Oh, Celestia, it felt good to finally lie down and take a load off. "Hope you don't mind if I lay here for a bit..."

"Mmgh." He lay his head back down on the grass. "Fine with me."

"So," she said, getting comfortable, "how was your little hangout with the fillies?"

"It was pretty good. My hoof fuckin’ kills though."

Rainbow grinned. Foals always hurt themselves screwing around. "What happened to it?"

"A friendly hoof bump," he said as if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation. The deadpan absurdity was too much and Rainbow let out a laugh.

"Happens to the best of us, kid. Remind me to tell you the story about my alley race sometime."

Rainbow let the sunlight gradually warm her up and listened to the gentle rustling of the trees. The day was the perfect temperature to warm up a cold, wet pegasus, and, pleasantly coincidentally, the perfect day for a nap.

Wait, she thought, opening her eyes and wrinkling her muzzle, there was something I wanted to tell him. It took real strength to muster the energy to talk.

"Hey, Gabe," she mumbled.

"Yeah?" he murmured.

"I've got tomorrow off," Rainbow said, closing her eyes again, "and I thought that maybe, um, we could, uh, go to the park for a little flight lesson or somethin' after you meet with Sandy. Whaddaya think?

She heard the colt sigh long and deep. "No flight lesson, not yet," he said, his voice low. Rainbow's spirits sank a little bit. "But, um, I'd still like to hang out with you. Do you think it'd be okay if we, like, went to the park and just... relaxed?"

Relax... Relaxing sounds nice... "Sure, kid. That sounds perfect."

Birdsong echoed across the wind from some far-off place. The orchard rustled around them. All felt right with the world.

Rainbow was asleep in moments.

A hoof fumbled at a doorknob and key. An unoiled bolt groaned and slid into place. A tan and brown pegasus let out a long, drawn-out sigh around the package in her mouth, staring vacantly with bleary eyes at her office door for a long while. Then she turned and began to plod down the hallway.

As she walked, a well-loved but quickly-donned pair of saddlebags chafed against her coat, rubbing its fur the wrong way with every step. She ignored it and made her way down the stairs, past an abandoned break room and the darkened foal therapy room, and into the lobby.

Once again, she found herself standing and staring at the wall. With a groan and a shake of her head, she forced her legs to move. A single, buzzing lightbulb cast fuzzy light and long shadows across the room and up the walls, staining the drawn curtains with wobbly shadows. The air was oppressively quiet, and the pegasus only had her hoofsteps and her tired breathing for company.

She hobbled to the front desk and stuck out her neck, dropping the package in a sad-looking wire basket sloppily labeled "outgoing mail" with construction paper and marker, and the last element on today's mental to-do list finally got crossed off. The mare gave her package's postage last look, just to make sure. Yes, the address was correct. 'Equestria Ministry of Public Health and Family Services—Canterlot Office'.

The report had taken hours to write because its subject was not an easily described pony. The mare had made sure to make the situation absolutely clear and to make her requests for additional support and a royal investigation into the possible trafficking operation in the north even more so. To be perfectly honest, she was having a harder and harder time believing the theory, but if there was even a chance other foals were in the same situation, she had an obligation to do something about it. Besides, she didn't have a better explanation.

With any luck, she'd hear back from them within a month. With a great deal more, they might even believe her. Whoof, she thought as she rubbed the side of her head, I'll get to those foster request letters tomorrow.

Sandy Hills pushed open the front door and walked out into the cool night air, taking a deep breath through her nose and blowing it out in a long, drawn-out whistle. Nearly all of her worry and stress melted off of her, and she began the walk home.

The streets were empty. The windows were darkened. Luna's night sky was out in all its brilliance. The quiet journey home was the perfect opportunity for the last remaining worry, the last remaining doubt of the day to worm its way out of the back of her skull and fill her mind, reminding her that, after an exhaustive registry search, a frustrating discussion with a coworker, and a visit to the local cartographer, she had learned a rather worrisome fact, one that threatened to cast into doubt everything that a certain little colt had told her.

There was no known town named Westfield.

The scroll flexed once before neatly unrolling itself. Princess Celestia’s aching eyes flicked over its surface as her eyebrows drew together. Then it followed her out of her bedroom, down the stairs, and to her chambers’ doors, floating beside her head as she ordered a guard to fetch her sister as quickly as possible.

Luna arrived later than she expected. Must be a busy night court. Her face was worn and gaunt with concern but focused as she closed the massive chamber doors right behind her glimmering starlit tail. It’s floating even lower. A very busy night court, then.

“What is it, sister? Another request for me to mingle with our little ponies?”

“News,” Celestia stated. She floated the letter to her sister, and she read it in a moment. Her eyes grew wide.

“They found the interloper?”

She nodded. “She is brief, but it would appear that way. A pony, no doubt. Twilight seems unsure of her next step.”

Luna sighed. “We must apprehend it, right away. There isn't much time to waste.” She stopped, breathing deeply, then turned a quizzical eye on her sister. “The Guard, then?”

Celestia pursed her lips, rereading the letter. “I am… hesitant. I would be confident in Twilight and her friends, they have faced monsters before, but this? They may not be prepared to take it head-on, and I fear a platoon would only hasten the issue.” She rubbed her chin. “Perhaps if we… Sister?”

Luna stared at the floor with a lowered head, her hooves a step further apart than they should have been. She breathed deeply as if she had just landed from a vigorous flight.

Their eyes met. “Worry not, sister, I am quite alright, I,” she paused again to breathe. “These bouts are merely… I do not…” Her eyes grew wide and her gasps deepened. “I—”

Celestia could only stare as her sister took another toiled breath and dropped to the ground, struggling for air.

Breakthrough

Saturday

"Gabriel, I'd like to ask you a question." Sandy Hills drew a deep breath in and slowly let it out through her nose.

Across from her, a little green colt spared her a curious glance as he got comfortable on his pillow, setting his hooves on the foal-sized table between them. "Sure, shoot."

Her heart began to beat a little faster. This was going to be like pulling teeth. "Can you tell me where you're from?"

He tilted his head. "Um, Westfield? Didn't I already tell you that?"

"Yes, you did." The mare swallowed and shuffled her wings, mentally forcing them to stop clamping against her back so tightly and just relax. "I looked through every register I could find. I even went to a cartographer. There is no town in the country named Westfield, Gabriel."

The colt kept his eyes locked on her in a way that, frankly, made her shift on her pillow. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, thinning it into a line. A moment passed before he tried again. "So, uh, you found out, huh?"

"Sweetie, did you make that town up? Are you from somewhere you're embarrassed by?"

The colt narrowed his eyes. "No, no, it's definitely real. Born and raised, kind of. It's just not in Equestria."

"Gabriel, there's no town on the continent with that name. Nopony knows of a town called Westfield."

He blinked at her several times. The clock ticked from its place on the wall, giving the empty air an unnerving rhythm. "...it's really, really far away."

"I can't help you if you aren't being honest."

"Who said I wasn't being honest?"

The two stared at each other, and, somehow, the counselor found herself a little intimidated by the look at the back of Gabriel's eyes. There was... something there. It was that something that she'd been trying so hard to reach. What was stopping him? She straightened her spine, fixing a disapproving look on the colt, but did nothing more to try and demystify where Westfield actually was.

She glanced down at her clipboard. Her pathetically sparse notes stared back up at her, offering painfully few talking points. How much did she really know about this colt? How much was a lie?

"Have you been dishonest with me before, Gabriel?"

He blew a little air out of his nose. "No, Ms. Hills. At least, not that I'm aware of."

"I’d say being deliberately misleading counts, Gabriel." Sandy tried to look as caring as she could, but it didn't feel quite right. "You never specified that Westfield wasn't in Equestria. Can you see how that might lead us to the wrong conclusion, even if you didn't actually tell a lie?"

She saw his jawline harden. "You never asked."

"Gabriel, what if you have family that you aren't aware of? Wouldn't you–"

"You're not gonna find my family. I can promise you that much." He cut her off with the slightest bit of venom in his voice, but when he spoke again, it was softer. "I just... figured it wasn’t worth mentioning. That’s all."

Sandy reminded herself to count to ten and breathe and jotted down a note. Self-reports family permanently unavailable. She envisioned the colts and fillies that had come before Gabe, nervous, aloof, scared, annoyed. Playing with toys and hiding under the table. Anything to avoid confrontation. Countless times, she had sat in here with them and calmly spoken to them, slowly but surely drawing them out of their shell. They were always so honest, so... pure.

She had never seen such... unnerving defensiveness in any of their eyes. Not like this.

"Well, can you tell me a little more about what Westfield is like?"

His face fell, but he didn't look away. "It isn't like anything. Nobody lives there anymore, I think."

She blinked, deciding to ignore the fact he'd used 'nobody' instead of 'nopony'. "It was... destroyed?"

"No," he said, "just emptied."

How could everypony in a whole town be... removed? Just like that? "What, um, what happened to it?"

He set his little green hooves on the table, one folded over the other. "I'm not comfortable talking about that."

Another roadblock. Regardless, the counselor recorded the status of Westfield in her notes. It looked right at home, surrounded by a dozen other miscellaneous facts about the colt's clouded, murky past that painted a dark, dark picture.

History of violence. Reacted overaggressively when provoked, displayed clear willingness to hurt others to ensure own safety. Caretakers: self-referred parents, sister - deceased. Non-pony (self-reported), likely abductors.

And there, at the bottom, in the corner where she would have to look at it least: Taken another being's life - possibly multiple.

At this point, the trafficking theory was all but out the window. I have practically no idea what I'm dealing with.

All the while, he gave her that guarded, mistrusting look. She clenched her jaw and forced herself to keep her back straight. She needed to get him talking about something, it didn't matter what. Once foals began to speak, once she coaxed them out, they usually told her everything she needed to know to give them help. With any luck, it would work on him, too.

"So, dear," she said after a silence that was entirely too long, "I'm told you spent yesterday with some fillies from school?

His shoulders relaxed just the tiniest bit. "Um... It was fine, I guess."

"Did you have fun?"

The slightest smile graced his face, and for a moment, she glimpsed the foal that she knew was in there. "Yeah, actually, more than I thought I would. We hung around after school and went to the park and stuff. They're good kids."

That's it, there we go. "Oh? I'd love to hear more."

"Um, well, they initiated me into their little club the other day and had this whole ceremony, so I'm uh, officially a Cutie Mark Crusader. They gave me a cape and everything." He twisted around to look at his flank. "I wonder if I'll ever get one."

Finally, an issue she actually knew how to address. What foal wasn't nervous about getting their cutie mark? "Oh, don't worry, dear. Everypony grows at their own pace, there's no hurry. I promise you'll get your mark when the time is right," she said with a comforting smile, "I promise."

He raised an eyebrow and bit his lip, still giving his rear a somewhat quizzical look. "I dunno, I'm not exactly like you guys. Who knows if I've got that weird... whatever, magic, in me."

She giggled a little. "Take it from a mare who went through the same thing, I'm confident that you do. We've all worried about it at some point in our lives, but all ponies have that magic, it's part of who we are."

He bit his lip and furrowed his brow. "Sure."

He's closing off. Switch the topic! "Well," Sandy said, sounding as casual as possible, "what kind of cutie mark do you want?"

"None," the colt said with a snort, "Not really my style, I think."

She bit her cheek. It wasn't the first time she'd seen this―sometimes foals denied wanting a cutie mark because that was easier than admitting they actually did want a special talent, and just hadn't discovered it yet.

"Well, what if you had to pick?" He only shrugged. "Come on! There are so many cool, fun talents to have out there."

Gabe rolled his eyes. "Knowing myself, I'd actually rather not know."

"What about stunt flying? Ooh, or exploring?" Sandy did her best to sound enthusiastic. "I hear Rainbow thinks you're quite the little artist! How about a drawing mark?"

"Can you stop?" He stuck out his tongue with half-lidded eyes. "You're gonna make me sick."

What? Had she misstepped? "What's wrong? I need you to use your words to tell me if I upset you, Gabriel."

"Ugh! That!" He gave the table a light stomp with his hoof and huffed. "You just—you don't have to be so condescending all the time! I'm not a little kid."

This again. He was so wrapped up in this need to act adult-like, and Sandy was no closer to understanding exactly why. What had she done wrong? She furrowed her eyebrows. "But dear, you're–"

"Yeah, believe me, I know." He lifted his forelegs and inspected them, disdain painted across his little face. "I'm tiny. I can see that."

Where is this coming from all of a sudden? The colt had had no problem with this before. Rainbow hadn't mentioned any resistance against being treated like a foal—then again, Rainbow also hadn't told her about the lightning incident. He'd agreed to go to school, and he even hung out with three little fillies who Sandy knew, for a fact, were not the most mature girls in town. "If I've been doing something that you don't like, Gabriel, I'd be happy to stop. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Some of the anger evaporated from the colt's eyes and he slumped back into his seat, shrugging as he spoke. "I dunno. The novelty wore off, I guess? I'm tired of pretending I'm something that I'm not."

"And what made the, erm, ‘novelty’ wear off?"

He chewed on the inside of his cheek and folded his hooves over one another again. "When I broke that kid's leg. It was a real reminder."

"Oh, honey," she said, "nopony blames you for what happened. We all know that you didn't mean to hurt Diamond." His eyes jumped to hers in a flash, full of fire again, and the counselor knew that she had made a mistake.

"What did I just tell you, lady?! Come on!" He reared up onto his hind legs, stomping the table. "Were you even listening to me? Did what I say register?"

A flash of anger jolted up the counselor's spine. I'm trying to help you!

He clenched his jaw as they stared at one another, forcing air through his flaring nostrils. "What is it, huh?"

Sandy blinked, drew in a breath, and slowly, very slowly, let it out. She had failed to reach him again. The conversation had been going somewhere, and then what had she done? She'd fallen back on her experience. On her training, on the past. What had made her do that?

This colt is the opposite of normal. Why am I using my normal methods?

The counselor chewed on her cheek. Gabe stayed perfectly still, eyes still locked on her. It was like he knew how to stare right into her soul.

The clock ticked on. Tick, tock.

Fine, she thought, let's try something new.

"I'm sorry," Sandy began, "I didn't mean to offend. That wasn't my intent."

The colt's mouth thinned into a line. "Okay then. Alright." He let out a sigh as he settled back into his seat, his gaze wandering around the brightly painted room. "Just, uh... don't do it again."

"I don't plan to," the counselor said, completely honestly. The colt produced a hum that implied that she would have to prove it. So, prove it she would. The mare glanced over her shoulder. "It's getting pretty close to lunchtime, and I didn't have a big breakfast. Would you like to grab a bite to eat with me?"

Gabriel blinked and cocked his head. His eyes danced over her face, searching for something. What, I wonder, Sandy thought to herself. Dishonesty?

"Um, sure. I can't pay, though."

"Oh, that's quite alright. My treat!" She began to strap on her saddlebags, drawing an even more confused look from the colt.

"What, you mean right now?"

"Of course," she replied as she pulled her bags' belly strap tight, "why not?"

"The, uh, therapy session?"

She smiled at him. "I thought we could talk on the way, or while we eat. Get out of this stuffy room for a while. Sound good?"

He stared at her for a long while. Once again, Sandy tried to guess what was going on behind those deep brown eyes. She came up empty.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well get your saddlebags on, then!"

Gabriel took a little longer to get ready. He had a bit of trouble with the strap on his bags, fumbling with its buckle, but Sandy didn't try to give him a hoof. The colt managed on his own after a few moments and nodded to her after making sure it was good and tight. She wondered if the strap hurt, pressing against his fresh scar.

What am I thinking? Of course it does.

The sun shone hot and bright as the two left the Ministry office and headed towards Mane Street, particularly fitting for the last few days before the scheduled rainstorm. The streets shuffled and shook with the hoofsteps of a colorful herd, vibrant and lively with ponies enjoying their weekend, and a healthy cloud of dust hung in the air, kicked up by the mass traffic. It smelled rich and earthy - the smell of an enthusiastic day, and the ponies around them only made it better.

Sandy felt the mistrust and frustration of the stifling therapy room escape into the open sky as the two made their way along. Carrot Top smiled from a corner as she chatted with Colgate. Bon Bon showed off her sweets to little Rumble from behind her stand, winking as she pressed one into his hoof.

Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie yelped and hollered as they tried to corral two rambunctious little scamps dashing and flying through the multicolored forest of ponies' legs. The latter paused for just a moment to give the duo a big, excited, two-hooved wave and promptly tumbled over, taken out by little Pound's surprise crash-landing. Sandy's eyes widened in brief alarm, but she relaxed as soon as she heard the foal giggling louder than Pinkie.

The counselor turned to the colt with a smile. "So, Gabe, where would you like to eat?"

"I'm not the one who's been living here for more than two weeks," he said back at her with a lopsided smirk. "Any ideas?"

Sandy rubbed her chin with a hoof and hummed. "You know, I've been craving a big, greasy hay burger recently, and there's a good place nearby. How does that sound?"

The sight of his grin refreshed the mare's spirit. "That sounds fantastic."

It ended up being a superb idea. The cook must have decided to put something special into his work today because the picturesque, perfectly cooked burgers tasted absolutely incredible. The two devoured their lunches ravenously, any thought of talking forgotten, and as they leaned back, satisfied and oh-so-full, Sandy let out a particularly undignified burp. It was loud enough to turn heads, but she couldn't find it in her to care. "Whoops! Excuse me!"

Gabriel chuckled and took a sip from his vanilla shake before leaning back in the booth. "You weren't kidding. This place is pretty good."

"I'm glad you like it! I used to come here all the time before I noticed a little too much of it was going to my flank," she said with a wink, drawing a laugh out of Gabe.

"Are you from Ponyville? Has this place been around for a while?"

She shook her head no. "I moved here, oh, three years ago, and it was here back then, too," Sandy said. It felt nice to just have a normal conversation. Not that she didn't love her work, but it could get sad when you only talked about ponies' problems. "I'm originally from Manehattan."

"Oh, city girl, huh?" He threw in the twang of a country accent, but it wasn't quite like the Apples'. Something about it was different, something she couldn't quite describe. "What made you move out here?"

"Honestly?" She leaned in close, smirking. "Don't tell anypony I said this, but Manehattan kind of stinks. It’s crowded, the ponies there are all so stuck-up, and city life is exhausting! I don't know how my parents stand it!"

He chuckled. "Ain't that the truth, sister." Then he paused, blinking, before looking at the table for a while.

The colt coughed and cleared his throat. "Hey, uh—I'm sorry for kinda blowing up at you earlier. That wasn't cool of me." A quiet moment passed and he coughed. "So, yeah. Sorry."

"Apology accepted," Sandy nodded, "Thank you."

"Hmm." He took another sip from his shake. He's much more relaxed now, and his spirits seem a little higher. If there's a time to ask about what's troubling him, this is it.

"You mentioned that Monday's incident reminded you of something," she began. "What did that remind you of, Gabriel?"

The colt rubbed at his face with a hoof. "Reminded me of, um… y’know. Things I’ve done. Who I am."

Getting warmer... "And who are you, really?"

"Somepony capable of breaking little kids’ legs in a heartbeat, apparently.” He grumbled as he looked towards the kitchen. His ears twitched at the sounds of hissing grease and orders being called out. “Not like you.”

The colt was clearly struggling with some intense feelings. Guilt, she guessed, likely over past actions. Did he see himself as scarred over what he was made to do? As less deserving of a try at happiness?

"Well," she began, "for what it’s worth, I don't think you and I are so different. For example, we both love these burgers." She looked down at the grease-stained red and white wrapper on the plate before her. "Um, I'd hold mine up to make my point, but I ate it."

He smiled. "I guess."

"And we both like Ponyville!"

"You've got me there."

"And... we've both lost family we care about."

The colt's ears snapped up and his eyes widened. "Oh, I didn't... Um, who'd you lose? If, uh, you don't mind me asking."

"It's alright," Sandy gave him a reassuring smile, though it was a little sad. "I don't have any brothers or sisters, but I was very close with my cousin growing up in Manehattan. She was older than me and just about the most stubborn filly you ever could have met, but we still did everything together. School, flying, messing around, whatever. You didn't see one of us without the other."

"Hmm." The colt smiled to himself. "Reminds me of my sister."

"You want to know the funny thing? It was always her talking about wanting to become a psychologist. She loved learning about ponies' minds, and she had a real knack for helping ponies talk through their problems. Her cutie mark was a lounge chair, for Celestia's sake!" The two ponies shared a bit of a laugh over that.

"But then..." Her smile fell at its corners, fading, but she didn’t let it disappear entirely. "Well, to make a long, sad story shorter, she got sick, and never got better." Sandy swallowed. "Her passing was the final push that convinced me to enroll at the school she always talked about. It helped me, too. Every time I help a foal talk through their problems, it's like she's still there beside me, you know?"

He nodded, but Sandy already knew how perfectly he already understood. "What was her name?"

"Gentle Breeze," she said. It felt almost wrong to say it out loud. She didn't remember the last time she'd done so.

"She sounds really nice. I wish I could have met her."

Sandy chuckled at the thought. "You two would have either been fast friends or absolutely despised each other."

"It sounds like she would have gotten along great with my sister, then. We fought all the time." He hummed. "I guess you have a point."

Now we're getting somewhere, Sandy thought.

"But," he continued, "I've done some things in my life that I'm really not proud of, Sandy. That I don’t want to do anymore." It felt more than a little strange to hear him use her first name. "I, um... I've done some really messed-up things." He swallowed. “I’ve hurt a lot of people.”

"I don't think that just because we've made mistakes in our past, or have been made to do bad things, that we shouldn't get a chance." Sandy smiled. "You're no bad pony, Gabriel. You’re a better one than you believe, and I think you deserve to be happy."

"Um..." The colt tapped his hooves together and looked down, but she caught a shy smile. "That's nice of you to say. Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

The colt sipped on his shake a little bit, and a comfortable silence passed.

“You said you wanted to know about Westfield?” Gabriel said, out of the blue.

Sandy raised an eyebrow. “Only if you’re comfortable sharing.”

He shrugged. “There isn’t that much to share, honestly. It was a normal town. Not that different from here, actually." Gabe's mouth twisted up for a moment. "I used to live there, and I had to leave. We all did. For all intents and purposes, it doesn’t exist anymore. No family, no people, nothin’. It's gone.” He nudged at his empty burger wrapper with a hoof. “I didn’t talk about it because I figured it didn’t matter. I wasn’t trying to lie or trick you, just… not draw attention to things that don’t need it.”

The counselor smiled gently. “I know what you mean,” she said, “everypony has things they’d prefer not to talk about. I just want you to remember that I’m trying to help you, and not just because it’s my job. If it takes time for you to be ready to talk about your past, that’s okay. We're not on a deadline or running out of time or anything like that.”

The colt smiled at her, but he didn’t respond and looked away a moment later. Sandy listened to the grills behind the restaurant counter sizzle as she watched passers-by outside the window and smiled to herself. This was the way to reach him.

It's tragic to see a foal forced to grow up so fast... but it's the truth, and there's no going back. It's time I started acknowledging that. It would take hard work and a lot of time, but it'd be worth it.

The colt made a polite little cough. "So," he said, "you wanna get another burger?"

"Oh, absolutely."

Rainbow Dash came in for a landing next to the most secluded spot in the park. A single tree capped the little hill, providing shade and the quiet rustle of leaves to compliment a beautiful view. She set down Gabe's drawing bag as her rear hooves touched the ground, careful not to let it tip over, and Gabe hopped off her back a second later.

"I'm glad your session went well," Rainbow said as she stretched her wings. They continued to complain incessantly along with every other muscle in her body, rebuking her for yesterday's exhausting shift. "It sounds like you had a pretty good lunch. Honestly I kinda wish I got a hayburger now, you made that joint sound almost as awesome as me!" She gave the colt a wink.

He grinned. "Well, Miss Awesome, I do love me some burgers. We can hit it on the way home if you want."

"Sounds good to me, dude." She poked her hoof at a curious grasshopper and watched it bounce away, disappearing into the grass.

From their spot on the hill, Rainbow could see nearly the entire park. Lonesome trees punctuated the rolling sea of green and shining gold, offering a welcome reprieve to dozen or so ponies enjoying their day out across the yard.

Two special someponies shared a picnic under a wide-brimmed oak, leaning against one another. A distant trio of foals yelped and whooped in a desperate race. Past them, Rainbow could just barely make out Pinkie, who was performing some pretty elaborate gymnastics for the Cake twins while their mother napped in the shade behind them.

It was a place that Rainbow had looked over countless times before, just from a far more elevated angle. It's honestly kind of weird to watch from the ground.

Gabe hooked a foreleg around his bag of stuff and dragged it across the grass with a loud, papery crinkle, upending it once he reached the shade. Rainbow followed at a lazy trot, watching him flip his pad open to a fresh sheet. "So, kid," she said as she found a spot next to him, "whatcha gonna draw?"

"I dunno yet," he replied. "We'll see."

Rainbow flopped onto her side and stretched her legs with a long, satisfied grunt. She would have preferred a cloud's soft, welcoming embrace to the somewhat scratchy grass, but there were none to be seen; every drifting wisp of white in the Ponyville skies had been used for the storm.

She could see it from here. It churned out past the fields, an angry, roiling gray, bubbling and flashing with power. That's gonna be one heck of a storm. We really outdid ourselves.

She drew her forelegs up and rested her chin on her crossed hooves, staring out at the distant tangle of shadowy trees that formed the edge of the Everfree and listening to the intermittent scratching of pencil on paper. "You've been hangin' out with the Crusaders a lot, huh?"

"Mmm." Gabe nodded with a stuck-out tongue, his little face screwed up in concentration.

"You like 'em?"

"Yeah," he said without looking up. "They're nice kids. Scootaloo didn't like me at first, I think she was jealous."

He still held his pencil in his fetlock. Doesn't that hurt? Rainbow thought, watching the way he twisted his hoof to hold it. She furrowed her brow. "Jealous? That doesn't sound like her."

"You're pretty much her idol, Rainbow. She talks about you all the time, so it makes sense." He looked up from his paper. "Random colt shows up and you suddenly start spending a bunch of time with him for no obvious reason?"

"Oh, yeah." Rainbow bit her lip. "Wait, is that why she hasn't been asking to hang out and stuff?"

"Uh-huh. You should maybe spend some time with her. She'd like that."

"Ah. That's probably a good idea." She watched as he twisted his hoof this way and that, manipulating the pencil in a way that didn't seem comfortable at all. The mare found herself a little enraptured by the quick, controlled movements.

How's he doing that? Rainbow looked down at her own cyan hoof, bending it back and forth and picturing holding a pencil with it.

"I'm also pretty sure Rarity's sister has a crush on me."

Rainbow's eyebrows shot up. "Wow, really? Are you sure?"

"I had a hunch before, and then when Applejack took us to get ice cream in town Scoots dared me to go up and ask the spa ponies if I could have a date. I thought it'd be a good way to find out."

The mare blinked. What kind of story is this? "Well, did you get a date?"

The colt laughed a little. "No, they thought it was cute, though. I did go back and say I got a date at first, and Sweetie blushed really hard and got pretty upset, so yeah. I'm pretty sure."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Did you do that just to see if she liked you? Dude..." She blew an orange strand of mane out of her face. "That's... kinda mean, kid. What the hay?"

He looked up at her and pulled the corner of his mouth to the side. "How is that mean?"

What? "Kid, you messed with her emotions for fun! How is that not mean?"

"I didn't actually get a date with those mares, Rainbow, and besides, it's not like her crush is anything more than wishful thinking. Better not to let her get her hopes up, and I don't think it's that big a deal anyway."

She tilted her head and frowned. How could he be so... unfeeling? Wasn't Sweetie his friend? Rainbow bit her cheek. "So, I take it you don't like her back?"

From the face he made, somepony would have sworn that she just asked him to pick a dead worm up out of the dirt and grind it between his teeth. "What? No, of course I don’t like her that way, Rainbow! She's, like, eleven!"

"Okay, okay. Geeze." Sheesh, touchy subject, even though you're 'like, eleven', too. She pinched a bit of grass between her hooves and pulled, tearing it out of the ground. "I just think that it's mean to play with somepony's emotions."

"Hmm." The colt frowned and tried to burn a hole in his paper with just his vision. "Shit," he said after a while, "you're right. I just... I keep forgetting how different things are here."

Rainbow huffed but didn't say anything more. The kid was still getting used to life in Ponyville, so she supposed it made sense that he still did stuff like this. It was still weird, though... and just a little concerning.

A ladybug buzzed across her vision, drifting through the air in lazy swoops and whorls and landing on her hoof. She watched it waggle its tiny antennae and scuttle over her fur, stopping here and there to inspect its very warm, very blue surroundings.

What's it looking for? she thought. My fur must seem kind of like grass, just warmer and brighter and bluer. The bug crawled around in a circle on her foreleg. I wonder if it's confused. How much does it understand?

Then she blew on it a little, and it flew off.

The dry wind played with her mane a bit as it rustled the leaves above them. She laid her head back down on her hooves and closed her eyes, content to feel the breeze on her coat. Her ears twitched at the sounds of far-off shouts and Gabriel’s surprisingly near-rhythmic scratches on paper.

It had the same patternless beat as rain on a window, endless and soothing, the perfect background for staying home and diving into the latest Daring Do book with Tank. Those days were the best, just sinking into her cloud bed and getting lost in the adventure, imagining how cool it would be to forage through an endless jungle wrought with dangerous beasts and pony-eating plants, searching for a priceless, ancient treasure...

A particularly frigid draft flowed over Rainbow and she opened her eyes. Purple had overtaken the pure blue sky, stretching across the roof of the world, and, in Ponyville, many of the windows glowed in yellows and golds. The park was empty now, save for them.

Rainbow yawned and dragged a hoof across her eyelids, rubbing out the sand. "Sorry, kid, looks like I took a pretty long nap."

"Hey, if you slept that long, you probably needed it." The colt was still drawing, but now a thin pile of paper sat next to him on the grass. "Don't worry, I don't mind."

"You weren't bored or anything?"

"Your boring is my calm. Just fine with me."

“Cool.” Rainbow smacked her mouth and rubbed the side of her head. "How long was I out?"

He shrugged as she got to her hooves and stretched. "Few hours maybe? Three, four? I dunno."

The pegasus twisted her head and stood with a very satisfying series of pops and cracks, then trotted up to the colt's side, peering over his shoulder. Her eyes grew very wide and she looked up at the view, then back down, then back up again.

"Wow, kid, this is incredible!"

Somehow he'd reproduced the view from the hill in startlingly accurate detail, from the fragmented light reflecting off the grass to the paths that crisscrossed the grounds to the dappled shadows beneath the trees. Only two ponies populated the picture. They sat on one of the many benches installed beside the paths, silhouetted by the setting sun.

The real ponies had disappeared since then, but their moment of peace was recorded in their paper-bound copies, forever watching a colorless yet beautiful graphite sky.

"Oh, thanks." Gabe smiled. "I've gotten a lot better at drawing with my hoof."

"No, Gabe, this is, like, really good! Where'd you learn to do this?"

"Some classes and a lot of practice. Good to see I still remember, after all this time."

Rainbow didn't understand. When had he taken classes to make stuff like this? Most foals were still drawing stick-ponies at his age. For Celestia's sake, the best she could do was a stick pony! "Must've been some pretty good classes."

"I liked 'em." He added a few strokes to a shadowed patch of grass across the park, and Rainbow's eyes fell to the little stack of paper beside him. She flipped the top one over with a hoof and an image of herself greeted her.

The other Rainbow lay on her belly, with her chin buried in her forelegs and her tail curled around her side, lost in a comfortable nap. The landscape had been drawn in careful, detailed lines and immaculate shading, but this drawing's edges shuddered and shook, just at the verge of falling apart. Quick, sharp strokes made up her form and the monochrome grass she lay in. Her mane and tail stood alone as the only things Gabe had chosen to fill in with differing shades of gray.

"You like it?" She blinked and looked up. "I dunno if you're one of those people who hates getting their picture taken. Or drawn, in this case."

"No, no, I..." How'd he make her look so peaceful? She'd never been drawn before. It put an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, something in between embarrassment and pride. "It's, uh, it's good." Rainbow carefully set it to the side and flipped over the next drawing.

Her muzzle screwed up. Gabe had created, in the same sketchy detail, a remarkably unsettling, ungainly, awfully strange-looking type of creature that Rainbow had never seen before.

The thing was built like a scrawny, shriveled minotaur. It stood on two misshapen black paws and its hairless skin hung down in wrinkly, droopy folds. A strange mottled pattern of uneven shapes and varying shades covered most of its body, and it cradled an awkward, angular-looking black mass against its chest with thin, lanky arms that ended in strange, dark, knobbly claws.

Only its head seemed even remotely appealing to look at. It was small and mostly hairless, with much smoother skin, a little nose, and a thin mouth. A mess of dark fur sprouted from its crown, snaked into what appeared to be a braid, and trailed down to lay on its misshapen shoulder.

Most strikingly, its two tiny eyes stared out of the page and into her own, but, as weird as it looked, its expression wasn't angry or scary. It smiled a small, closed smile at her, looking like it had somehow just finished an exhausting double-shift of storm duty—an uncomfortable emotion to recognize on such an otherworldly face.

"Gabe, what the heck is this ugly thing? Why is it shaped so weird?"

He set down his pencil and looked down at his drawing. His smile disappeared. "Oh. That's my sister, Rachel."

Her eyes shot wide open. "Erm, uh, I mean–" A thousand questions immediately began to surge in Rainbow's head. What in Tartarus is that? Why does she look like a mutant? They obviously aren’t actually related but how can he think of that as his sister? "I... What?"

He stared at her for an uncomfortable second. "...Rainbow. I should tell you something." He chewed on his lip. “Can you keep this between you and me?”

Huh? Rainbow's head spun, but she shuffled her wings and tried her best to seem calm and cool. "Uh, of course, dude, what've you got?" Was that too laid-back? I hope it doesn't sound like I don't care!

He fixed a stare on her. "Promise."

Rainbow gulped. "I promise."

"I'm, uh..." The colt studied the grass with an almost violent intensity. "...I'm not from Equestria. I'm from far away. Really, really far."

She pursed her lips. It kind of made sense. No, scratch that—it made a lot of sense. He's real different, and the world's pretty big, and there are an awful lot of weird-lookin' creatures on it.

Twilight had mentioned lands across the sea before, vast continents full of mysteries unknown to Equestria. She supposed one of them, far, far away, was home to these strange, wrinkly beings, but it was odd that she'd never heard of them before. Then again, maybe this was one of those things that only really mattered to fancy political diplomat eggheads and snooty nobles.

"How far?"

"I, um... I don't know. I don't know how I got here. I think maybe someone or something brought me here." Another question that Rainbow seemed to never get closer to answering. Somepony out there had to know what happened to this foal, right?

Right?

She frowned a little and looked back at the picture. “So these, uh, people live where you’re from?”

"Yeah. Quite a few, actually."

It must have been so darned weird to be a kid surrounded by these things. "Erm... Why is their skin so wrinkly?" She pointed a hoof.

He raised an eyebrow, then blinked and chuckled. "Oh, that's not her skin. That's her clothes, her, uh, uniform. I drew this from a picture—er, a memory of a picture that I looked at a whole bunch."

"Uniform? You mean like Royal Guard armor?"

Gabe nodded. "Yeah, exactly."

"Oh." Rainbow bit her lip and tilted her head, examining the drawing. "It, uh, it doesn't look like it'd protect ya from much."

The colt chuckled to himself again. What's so funny?

"Well,” he said, “it wasn't made to stop spears or magic. It's supposed to help protect against different weapons. See that vest she's got on over her chest?"

Rainbow looked closer and discovered that she could make out a strange, square-ish article of clothing clinging to his sister’s upper body, wrapping around her shoulders and wrinkling the uniform underneath. "Yeah?"

"It's made to carry a special piece of really hard, tough, uh, stuff that's supposed to keep all the important bits sloshing around in there intact." He tapped the paper. "There's also a helmet, but she's not wearing it here."

It looked so uncomfortable, all wrinkly and baggy. How could anypony stand to wear something like that? Wouldn't it chafe? "Do all, um, do they all wear clothes like this?"

Gabe hummed in thought. "No, not all of 'em, but a hell of a lot do."

"Oh, cool, I guess." The mare tapped her hoof on the angular black mass his sister clutched in her forepaws. "What's that? Some sort of weird sword?"

He rubbed his foreleg again, then rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh... it’s a kind of weapon, I guess."

Rainbow blinked and looked at the strange shape. How was that supposed to be used? There were somehow no bladed parts and no blunt parts and the handle sticking out the end looked far too thin. Maybe it was magical―but then, where were the crystals, the inscriptions? Where was the telltale glow?

"It sure doesn't look very dangerous."

"It is," he said, his voice flat. "Take my word for it." Rainbow decided that would be a good idea.

A gust of wind rustled through the trees, carrying the wet smell of a brewing storm.

"So, uh..." The mare swallowed. "So your sister was a guard?"

He looked up at her. "No, she was a soldier."

She cocked her head and frowned. "What's the difference?"

"Well, uh… she and the others, they... They're kind of similar, but..." Gabe tapped the edge of his hoof on the grass. "Rainbow, what does the Royal Guard do?"

She bit her tongue. "Um, their number-one job is to protect the princesses. Sometimes, if something really bad happens, they'll show up to help with medicine and police work and stuff like that. They also used to keep Equestria safe from invaders and stuff, but that was a long time ago."

"So, would you say a guard keeps the peace?"

Rainbow smiled. "Yeah, that's a good way of putting it."

Gabriel's voice was gravelly when he spoke. "A soldier... doesn't." Her smile disappeared. "They try to get it back. One way or another."

A soldier gets back peace? That didn’t make all that much sense. Rainbow was no history nerd, but she knew that kingdoms had soldiers even when they weren’t at war. Soldiers did things besides just fight, right? What kind of soldiers does this kid’s home have?

The colt looked down at his hooves again and rubbed one against the other. Some of his mane fell over his face. A cold, wet stone settled in Rainbow's gut as she began to put two and two together.

"Something really, really bad happened in your homeland, didn't it?" she asked, her voice low.

The colt looked up at her with a deep sadness in his eyes. "I had better show you the last drawing." He flipped it over.

This, at least, Rainbow could identify. A far-off urban skyline stretched across the entire paper underneath a dark sky, a mass of blocky buildings and towering spires—including a titanic onyx spike near the middle—giving form to a massive cityscape.

He’d drawn it with sharp, jagged lines. The skyline looked kind of like Manehattan's, but bigger. From what she could tell, much bigger. It must have been his homeland's capital, just like Equestria had Canterlot.

At first glance, the cityscape looked tall and majestic, but it didn't take long to notice that something was wrong. The structures were all marred and pitted. There were gaps in the skyline, and some of the towers were even missing large chunks. When she looked closer, Rainbow could make out smoke billowing from shorter towers and curling around the larger ones, dissipating into the air. Most striking of all, the clouds above the desiccated urban sprawl appeared to be streaked and cracked with wispy, snaking lines of some strange light.

"What is this?"

The colt took a very deep breath. "This was a city from my homeland. Its name was Chicago."

"’Chicago,’ huh?” Rainbow tilted her head. "Wait, was?"

Gabe shrugged. “I mean, I guess the buildings are still there, they’re just… empty.”

What?! Rainbow’s eyes widened and she looked back at the picture. The city was massive. Thousands and thousands of these strange people could have lived there. What could do something like that? “What happened to it? Why's it so messed up?"

A moment passed.

"A war," the colt said, his voice empty.

A war. Rainbow swallowed. Wars were something old. Something outdated. Something that ponies weren't supposed to worry about. The tribal wars? Nightmare Moon and her dark army? The Griffon Invasion? Those were for history books and for eggheads that obsessed over dates and the names of long-dead ponies. They were something to point to when you had to write a two-page essay on how Equestria had changed in the last thousand years. Wars weren't something that happened anymore.

But... Gabe's home was different. Gabe's home still had wars. There, they still fought... and died. That's what destroyed this entire city, she thought. Maybe that’s even what killed his family.

For a moment, Rainbow felt her heart seize at the sight of Cloudsdale streaked with snaking, uncanny light, torn apart and dissipating, its buildings sinking through their disintegrating foundations and out of the sky, crumbling as they fell.

What would it be like, Rainbow thought, to see my father with those deep bags under his eyes, trying to keep a stiff upper lip while asking for a place to stay? To listen to my mother bawling her eyes out over losing all the photos in our family's home? Then her blood ran cold.

What would it be like to wake up to a next-of-kin letter in my mailbox instead?

Her lungs began to burn and Rainbow realized, with a start, that she had forgotten to breathe. She sucked in the cooling afternoon air and slowly let it whistle out as she stared at the drawing. Gabe was looking at it, too.

Had he seen this with his own eyes? Had he watched this place be destroyed? What could have done this? Who could have destroyed a city so massive?

"Um... who were your people fighting?"

The colt let out a snort and a bitter, bitter laugh. "They were fighting themselves."

His words struck a little bell in the back of Rainbow's mind, and she furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember the term, reaching all the way back to blurred and broken secondary school memories of sleeping through her most mind-numbing classes. What's it called when people fight themselves? "A... civil war?"

He laughed again. What was so funny? "No. Well—it depends how you look at it." A tired shrug. "It’s complicated."

Okay… "How'd it start?"

"That’s... also complicated." He rubbed a hoof across the end of his muzzle. "Long story short, times got real tough, some people ran out of something they needed, and they decided to take it from somebody else.” The colt drew his mouth into a tight-lipped grimace. “Everything unraveled from there. Slowly at first, then, uh, really, really fast."

It felt a little strange to hear him say ‘somebody’ but she supposed they weren’t talking about ponies. Rainbow pushed the feeling away and cleared her throat. "Well, uh, how'd it end?" She rubbed one hoof against the other.

"It hasn't," Gabe replied. "At least, not that I saw. Last I remember, it hasn't even slowed down."

The pegasus mare's head spun and she couldn't help but focus on the horizon. Somewhere, far over the seas, this war that had taken so much from the colt beside her was still raging. Were cities still burning? Were people still dying? How can things be so terrible over there, but so peaceful here?

Thank Celestia for that.

A wave of cool relief washed over her, immediately followed by a stab of guilt. It must be a terrible war, to see such a scale of death. Hundreds of thousands of these strange creatures must have lost their lives... maybe even a million.

It's not right to feel so relieved. Wait… “What happened to, um, Rachel?”

Gabe clenched his jaw. “I never found out.”

Rainbow almost recoiled. “Wh–” She bit her lip. Should I even ask this? “Um, what do you mean?”

A few seconds passed before he answered. “She messaged me almost every day,” Gabe said. “One day, she stopped.” He swallowed and shrugged. “That was when things were really getting bad. Wasn’t too long after that we stopped seeing many soldiers at all.” His voice lowered to a grumble. “Ours, at least.”

“Dude…”

"In a way, I'm kind of glad," he continued, still looking at his drawing. "I'm too young to really remember life before. I knew people who lived back then, before everything started to fall apart, and I think it was way harder for 'em. 'Cause they knew what they'd lost. Not many of those folks around these days."

Rainbow found herself at a loss. "Oh... wow."

"And here I am," Gabe said. His eyes looked tired and empty in the way a foal's eyes never should. "While everyone back home is suffering, I'm here, and nobody else." He waved his hoof at the park. "Green grass, clear skies. Warm beds, good food, school, friends. The way life is supposed to be. And I love it here."

His voice wavered as he spoke and he refused to meet her eye. "There are people back home, Rainbow. People I know, that I… that I miss. We all did what we had to do, but they’re good people. They do their best. They would do anything to have this. These are people who've lost it all. And now I'm here, and I don't even have a clue what to do with the best second chance you could ask for. I..." He sniffed and swallowed hard. "How stupid is that?"

Rainbow opened her mouth and tried to speak, but her throat closed up. What could I even say, anyway?

Gabriel turned his head away from her. "I'm violent," he said. "I—Rainbow, I hurt that little girl. I know I didn’t have a choice, but I’ve, I’ve k-killed people. I’m not even supposed to be here, so why? Dumb luck? Did someone put me here on purpose? To teach me a lesson?"

The colt stomped his hoof into the ground with surprising force and Rainbow's stomach flipped in her gut. She remembered the way he’d held onto her as she flew him home after that terrifying catch.

"I shouldn't be here. It doesn't make sense, it's not right! I just—it shouldn't be me, I’m only gonna fuck things up. What am I supposed to do? It doesn’t make any fucking sense! I-I don't understand. I don't understand!"

He sank to the ground and buried his muzzle in his hooves. "I don't understand..."

Icy lead flowed through Rainbow's veins despite the warmth of the early evening air. His shoulders shuddered, even though he wasn't making any sound. She should be doing something, right? But what could she do? What could she say? She blinked, hard, and rubbed a foreleg across her eyes. What am I supposed to do?

Streaks of brilliant red and purple ran across the early evening sky as Rainbow watched the colt shake on the grass next to his drawings. She twisted up her muzzle. It was just wrong. This was a day for relaxing. A day to enjoy. This colt didn't deserve to be tortured like this on a day so beautiful. Celestia, he didn't deserve any of what had happened to him!

And yet, Rainbow could do nothing to fix a torn-apart homeland. No words she could say would make the pain of having everypony you know or love go away. All she could really do was just... be here with him. And I've been doing a crap job at it.

Rainbow swallowed, shuffled up next to the colt, and lowered her belly to the grass. She pressed her side against his and spread her wing over his back to hold him close. It felt so pitiful, so useless, so insignificant in the face of such titanic loss... but it was all she could think to do.

I hope it helps.

She stayed like that for a long time, listening to the deep grumbling on the edge of the wind with a tight heart and a head filled with visions of a burning city far, far, far away.

Twilight Sparkle pushed open her front door and nearly fell through it, catching herself in the nick of time with jelly-like legs. She stumbled out of the late-evening dimness and into her home, twisting and shutting the door behind her, then let out a sigh, slumping against it and squeezing her eyes shut.

"So, um," a voice said from the table, "I take it the meeting didn't go so well?"

She groaned. "About as well as you'd expect, Looking." Twilight forced herself to her hooves and plodded across the living wooden floor, collapsing onto one of the table's stools.

"Well, no word from the Princess, yet..." The stallion sent her a concerned look from behind Anima Thaumaturgia. "Pardon me, Twilight, but you look downright ragged. What happened?"

"I spoke with Sandy Hills, just like we planned. She told me a lot after I said I was concerned about the safety of the other foals. She's eager to put the incident with Mr. Rich's filly in the past."

"And?"

Twilight set her chin down on the table. "And nothing. She was completely confident that his 'episode' occurred due to a stress disorder. She said it was probably a flashback." She drew in a breath and let it out in a long, tired sigh. "There was nothing past that. Aside from a self-reported history of violence, he's been completely willing to peacefully integrate himself into pony life."

"Exactly!" Looking sprang up out of his seat, letting the textbook fall to the table with a loud whap! "It's blending in perfectly. It knows what it's doing. No real foal could be so calm when being introduced to such a strange, new environment."

Twilight frowned. "I don't know," she muttered, "and she really doesn't seem to think so. Sandy Hills may think the colt is strange, but she doesn't think he's malicious. It's the same with Rainbow. Shouldn't I take that into account?"

"Of course," Looking said, "but you also need to consider the possibility that their proximity to the 'colt' will sway their decision-making. If it's around them so often, it would make sense for it to know how to fool them better than other ponies."

"It still doesn't feel right."

He nodded. "And the interloper's counting on that. It's up to us to push through." He looked her in the eye. "Don't forget, the princesses are relying on us." The stallion coughed. "So, unfortunately, we'll have to write off Sandy Hills as a possible source of assistance. It seems we've gained all we can from her."

“We shouldn’t give up on that just yet. Who knows? We may find some way to convince her.” Twilight propped a foreleg underneath her chin and rubbed her eye with a yawn. "So, what's our next move?"

"We're going to need some heavy-duty equipment if we're to account for every possibility. Aura wrote that some of the summoned creatures had incredible magical powers, and it'd be simply disastrous to spring an underpowered trap–"

"Yo, Twi!" Spike shouted from the top of the staircase. She winced and flattened her ears against her skull.

"Spike! Not so loud, please!"

"Erm, sorry." The little dragon trotted down the living wooden steps. "Just got a letter for you. It's from Celestia, so I figured you'd–"

Twilight had already snatched the scroll from his claws with her magic, working to undo the seal as Looking Glass scurried around the table.

Spike snorted as he walked back upstairs. "Yeah, you're welcome."

She didn't notice. Her heart was too busy trying to pound its way out of her chest as her eyes danced over the thin, inconspicuous sheet of parchment floating before her.

"What's it say? What's it say?" The stallion hurried to her side, poked his muzzle over her shoulder, and gaped.

My dearest student,

I apologize for being unable to respond sooner. It is a great relief to learn of your discovery of the interloping creature, and I can assuage your fears of a foal's abduction. The caster has informed me of the methods used and, thankfully, no foal was harmed.

The creature inhabits a true physical form borne from magical power, but it would not surprise me to learn that it has modified it to its own ends. Take great caution procuring it.

However, I fear I have not been entirely honest with you about the nature of the situation at hoof. I had hoped that the problem would be solved without the need to tell you, but I see now that this is not the case and that you need to be informed if we are to avoid a disaster.

My sister, Princess Luna, was the one who cast the soul magic spell.

Please be discreet with this information. I can tell you the unfortunate reasoning behind her decision at a future date, but it does not currently matter. Far more dire is the fact that this action has severely injured her.

At first she seemed stable, but unfortunately, this is not the case. Her condition worsens by the day, thus my haste to find the creature. In the future, there may be time for research and study, but now is the time for action.

You must return the interloper to Canterlot as quickly as possible if Luna is to be saved, so you have my personal support in acquiring any materials you need, but take great caution when acting—you are already well aware that it could be extremely dangerous.

Do not panic. Please use the utmost care and subtlety, and should something go wrong, contact me immediately.

I have not yet involved the Guard, but should I deem it necessary, I won't hesitate to do so.

With much love,

Princess Celestia

Truth

Monday Morning

Twilight Sparkle studied the parchment sitting on the table before her with narrowed eyes.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Is there any way to help Princess Luna without

The interloper looks just like a foal, and I’m having trouble believing that

There’s something about the interloper that I think you should

I know you must have your hooves full, but if the interloper isn’t dangerous, should we still

Are you sure you trust me with this?

She groaned and scratched out her newest failed attempt at an opening line. The walls around her groaned and rumbled as the rain poured down outside, drumming on her home’s leaves in torrents. Her magic flickered and blinked out as she replaced her quill in its holder.

Ugh, she thought to herself as she rubbed her temples, there has to be some way to say this right.

The whole situation seemed simple on paper. A dangerous creature was on the loose, and she was supposed to get rid of it. Not that I have much of a choice with a princess depending on us.

It still felt surreal. How could Princess Luna be in danger? She was an alicorn! One of the most powerful magic users in Equestria! It seemed far too absurd that she would be in mortal danger, but it had been right there in the letter. She was injured, and she wouldn’t be getting better until Twilight and Looking did their job.

Anima Thaumaturgia had been explicit in its description of combating interlopers, and Twilight had worked hard on enchanting the bindings. Soon the rest of the items she and Looking had sent for would arrive, and then all they would have to do is actually carry out the plan, well-camouflaged and pleasant-mannered interlopers notwithstanding.

So why do I feel so… off? Twilight looked back at her scratched-up letter, a mess of anxiety flipping around in her gut. Princess Celestia’s own sister was in danger, and she probably had a lot on her mind—was it really a good idea to tell her every misgiving she had? Should she say that she wasn’t confident at all?

What good would a letter do? she thought. It still has to be done either way. She groaned again and reached out for the quill with her magic.

Knock knock knock!

Twilight jumped in her seat with a yelp and tumbled backward, meeting the library's unyielding wooden floor with a fantastic thud.

“What was that? Is everything alright?” a voice called from upstairs.

“Um, nothing, Looking!” Twilight called back, extremely thankful that the stallion wasn’t present. “Somepony’s just at the door!” She groaned as said door continued to produce impatient knocks. "Coming! Coming! Just hold on, you darned–"

She yanked the door open and instantly was buffeted by a blast of freezing rain. It blew around the hooded pony standing in the doorway with ease, who didn’t wait before stumbling her way inside. Twilight slammed her front door shut the moment she was able, and the howling rainstorm outside was relegated to a faraway grumble.

The mare wiped her hooves free of mud on the welcome mat and used her wings to clumsily maneuver a simple box off her back and onto the ground. Then she drew her rain-slick poncho's hood back and shook out her pale yellow mane, sending water droplets everywhere.

Twilight cringed. The books!

"Whoof!" Derpy Hooves said, giving Twilight and the wall to her right a wide, thankful smile. "That's one heck of a storm out there! The weather team really went all out on this one!"

The librarian eyed the inconspicuous brown package. "Erm, to be perfectly honest, I didn't expect it to arrive until after the storm."

"Well, it was marked 'urgent', and us mailmares know that's no joke, 'specially when it's got a fancy stamp." She tapped the red mark on the top of the package, inked right beside the address. "I hoofed it here right away!"

"Well, thank you for going to the trouble." Twilight gave her a frazzled but thankful smile. Her horn lit and she lifted the box, levitating it behind her in a smooth, orderly arc and setting it where she knew the table would be.

The mailmare stood ramrod straight and saluted and stuck out her tongue. "Shine or rain, we always deliver! Well, time to get back at it!" She tugged her hood back over her head, turned, and walked headfirst into the wall. "Oof! Where'd that come from?"

Twilight pulled the front door open, gritting her teeth and turning her head away from the rain and growling wind. "Over here, Derpy."

The pegasus closed one eye and carefully ventured through the doorway and out into the cold before turning and giving Twilight a wave and a smile that seemed entirely too friendly for a mare about to walk through a thunderstorm. Then she was gone.

Shivers wracked her body for a moment as the unicorn shoved the door closed, eager to return the library to a more bearable state of muffled but frantic rhythmless tapping and slowly returning warmth. That's better. Now for that package...

Twilight spun and returned to the table, lighting her horn and correcting her chair as she walked.

“Was that the delivery?” Looking Glass called again.

Twilight's magic made quick work of the seals, popping them off the package's sides. “Yes, it’s early!”

“Great! I’ll be down in just a moment!”

“Okay!” Twilight turned back to the package, but her hooves paused as they moved towards its lid. She bit her lip and stared at the bright red stamp emblazoned on the top of the box: the shield-and-scepter insignia of the Royal Bureau of Investigation.

Her stomach flipped. With this, they had everything they needed. With any luck, the plan would work, and no pony would have to get hurt. I don't have a choice. It's for the princesses. We do it today.

She pulled off the lid, but she already knew what was inside. A dusty-smelling manila folder that held a copy of the records of one Councillor Sandy Hills, a summons form, and a gleaming golden badge that bore a different crest than its packaging.

Twilight's muzzle screwed up as she read the words pressed into the metal: 'Equestria Ministry of Public Health and Family Services.'

The unfinished letter lay underneath the box, quietly forgotten.

For a split second, a pale yet incredibly bright light flooded the room, followed by an echoing, bone-shaking crack of thunder. The walls shook, the lights flickered, and Rainbow Dash's heart seized a little.

"Woo!" Thunderlane let out a cheer. "That was a good one!" He laughed and flopped back onto the couch.

Dash bit her lip. "Uh, yeah, it was." Rain drummed against the Weather Office break room's window with what seemed like an exceedingly unnerving beat. Try as she might, she just couldn't find it in herself to sit down.

"This sucks, though. I hate emergency storm duty." The stallion rolled over onto his stomach, his chin resting on one of the couch's questionably clean cushions. "It's so dumb! Do they think this is some Everfree squall? We spent forever building this storm, it's not gonna go haywire."

Rainbow began to walk back and forth in front of the window, only half-listening to her coworker as he continued to complain.

"For Celestia's sake, I'd rather be running forest patrol instead of this! And it looks like you've got somewhere you'd rather be, too."

"Huh?" Rainbow blinked. "Oh, it's just―it's Gabe. I'm a little stressed."

Thunderlane sat up and leaned forward, looking attentive. "Oh, that kid of yours! What about him?"

She raised an indignant eyebrow. "I've told you, dude, he's not my kid, but it's just..."

Rainbow looked out the window, even though there wasn't much to see except dark roofs and heavy rain. "He doesn't have a great track record with lightning." A bolt lit up the sky as if to punctuate her point, casting the thatch rooftops in stark shadow. The window rattled with its boom.

Thunderlane whistled. "We really charged this one huh? And hey, didn't he say that he'd be alright?"

"Yeah, but he dove off a frickin' cloud the last time he heard thunder." He had seemed so confident before she took him to school, even as the first droplets began to fall. How had she let that little squirt talk her into this? Damn it, why does he have to be so good at words?

He raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Rainbow fixed a stinging look on him. "So, he can't fly."

"Oh." The stallion coughed into his hoof. "Well, uh, if half the stuff you say about the little dude is true, he's one tough cookie. He'll be alright."

She huffed. "I guess you're right, but it's killin' me not to know... Maybe I should–" She stopped, her ears twitching.

A faint cacophony of hoof-on-wood clomping—almost inaudible, but growing louder. Thunderlane cocked his head, but his ears swiveled towards the door too. The steps were growing louder now, wild and uncoordinated. Coming up the stairs. At the end of the hall. Thundering towards the door.

Cloudchaser burst into the room in a flurry of hooves and water. Her goggles were pushed up into her frazzled mane, her pupils were the size of pinpricks as they frantically scanned the room. She'd practically left a small river behind her. Did she fly here?

The new arrival's head popped up when she saw Rainbow. "Dash! I–" She gasped, fighting for breath. "I gotta... You need to..."

"What? What?" Rainbow said as she cantered up to the panting mare. "Come on, spit it out!"

"It's your kid!" Cloudchaser finally managed, sending a spike of ice into Dash's lungs. "At the school, something's wrong!" She gulped air. "They need you there right away!"

Rainbow whipped her head around to look at Thunderlane. "Or, uh, maybe he's not alright?" He offered up the most pathetic, awkward grin she had seen on a stallion in a long time, which was really saying something. "Oops?"

She snorted and galloped out the door.

Sweetie Belle squirmed in her seat. She swallowed and shuffled in her desk chair and tapped her hooves together. Another bolt of lightning painted eerie white shapes on the walls and she jumped. A second later, its thunder threatened to tear the windows out of the building, and a colt made a muffled cry.

At least she wasn’t the only one. Apple Bloom had her eyes locked on her desk. Scootaloo kept glancing around as if she was waiting for a cue. Every foal sat in silence. Well, nearly every foal.

Silver Spoon snickered from her desk. Cheerilee's head popped up like a submersible's periscope and scanned a sea of faces, but none of the fillies or colts must have looked guilty enough to draw her away. She lowered herself back down to the ground, cooing softly.

"It's okay, Gabe, it's going to be okay."

Sweetie craned her neck and leaned as far out of her desk as she dared, just enough to see underneath that desk right in the middle of the front row.

"It's not real, it's not real, it's not real, it's not real..."

Gabe had crammed himself underneath his desk as best he could and wrapped his forelegs over his head, one across the base of his skull, and the other over his muzzle, covering his eyes. His ears were pinned back as he muttered nonsensical mantras to himself over and over with a faint, weak, and frankly insane-sounding voice.

"It's not real, it can't hurt you. It's not real, it can't hurt you. It's not real, it–"

Another flash of light, another ear-splitting crack of lighting, another grumbling barrage of thunder. He made a sound halfway between a yelp and a growl and spasmed, banging his head on the underside of the tiny desk.

Sweetie craned her neck to get a better look. Thunder rolled and the colt made a low whine.

Cheerilee's muzzle screwed up and her eyes watered as she pressed her hoof against his side. That cackling snicker came back, followed shortly by a snooty whisper that, unfortunately, was within earshot.

"Look at that little baby, Diamond!" The stuck-up filly scooted her desk closer to Diamond Tiara's and stuck out her neck. "What kind of kiddie is afraid of a thunderstorm?"

Sweetie couldn't see Diamond's face, but she knew the predatory 'I win' grin that would be there well enough. Her chest got cold just thinking about it.

Another flash, and another roaring boom. "Head down, don't forget—cover your neck, cover your eyes, count to seven. Don’t hold your breath. It's not real, it's not real.” The sound of thunder from a strike further away began to rattle the roof’s shingles. “Ngh! One, two, three..."

Silver Spoon chuckled like it was all a pleasant surprise.

Sweetie felt her face grow hot and she had to hold back a snarl. Apple Bloom still had her eyes locked on her desk, but now she wore a deep, dark frown, Scootaloo was rubbing her hooves together and eyeing the back of 'Spoon's head like it was the world's most tempting hoofball, and Ms. Cheerilee was still lying on the ground next to Gabriel! Couldn't she hear? Wasn't she going to do anything?

Flash. Boom. Venomous giggle. "What a weenie. Hiding under a desk and counting? He sure isn't so tough now, huh, Diamond?"

Diamond turned to her partner in crime, but her face was completely clean of its usual conspiratory sneer. Stranger still, the filly wore nothing in its place.

"It's not the thunder," she said, completely deadpan, apparently not caring that the whole class heard her.

Sweetie's eyebrows attempted to climb to the top of her head, and Silver’s twisted grin evaporated. "W-what?" she said.

DT stared at her, then held up her foreleg and examined it with precisely zero emotion. A clean white cast encased her limb from hoof to elbow like a partial exoskeleton, free of any mark or blemish save for a single poorly-penned signature.

"Thunder's just noise. He knows that." She stared directly at Silver Spoon. "He's the scariest pony I've ever seen, so what’s so horrible could make him do that, huh? What's he really so afraid of?"

Silver opened her mouth as if to respond, but no words came. The rain pounded on the roof. Ms. Cheerilee made shushing noises from the floor. Flash. Boom. Sweetie heard the colt groan through tightly-grit teeth.

"Nnngh, stay calm, s-stay calm... stay calm, you’re not the target, it's not real, it's not real. One, two..."

Not the target? Sweetie Belle thought. Who would be targeting him?

The schoolhouse doors slammed open and every other foal jumped in their seat. A few of the ones closest to the door let out squeals of their own. Immediately, the wind went from an unnerving whisper to a howling roar, filling the space with sound and clawing at the posters on the walls.

Rainbow Dash turned and shut the doors behind her as fast as she could, returning the storm to nothing more than an unhappy but external presence for all but one pony present.

Flash. Boom. Louder this time—enough to make the walls groan.

Gabe groaned into his foreleg and Rainbow Dash rushed down the nearest aisle between the desks, racing to the front of the classroom. She crouched down next to Ms. Cheerilee as the teacher tried to get the colt's hoof out from between his teeth.

"Hey, hey, Gabe. I'm here, I'm here." The colt didn't do anything but keep his eyes squeezed shut, so the sopping wet pegasus mare reached out with a hoof and placed it on his shoulder. "Kid, can ya hear me?"

The colt opened his eyes for the briefest moment, passing his vision over Rainbow for a split second before squeezing them shut again. "Nngh. Rainbow."

"Yeah, it's me."

Flash. Boom. Sweetie swore she felt the whole building shudder.

"Gah!" the colt cried out again. "It's not real, it's not real, cover your neck, cover your eyes, count to seven. Rainbow, I–" He grunted and bit his lip, keeping his eyes closed. "I'm sorry, I thought... I just... nngh. Sorry."

"It's alright, dude, I'm not angry. Don't worry about it." She wrapped her hoof around his, and he held it to his face, over his eyes. Rainbow scooted closer. "You wanna go home, dude? Where it’ll be quieter? Could you do that?"

"...don't know that I can." He muttered. "Loud." This time when the lightning struck, he squeezed Rainbow's hoof hard enough to make her softly hiss. “Can’t stay here.”

"I can make the flight in a minute flat. If you can close your eyes and cover your ears, I can take care of the rest. Can you do that, kiddo?" Gabe didn't move for a long while, then nodded once, sharp and quick. "Alright, c'mere."

The whole class watched as the colt crawled out of the desk towards the encouraging sound of Rainbow's voice. The two adults guided him, step by inching step, into Rainbow's forelegs, where he pressed himself to her soaked coat. He kept his eyes squeezed shut and curled into a twitching lump of fur and mane and clamped-down wings at the next fantastic crash of thunder, but he didn't dive back under the desk like before.

Rainbow hugged the foal tight and began to beat her wings, lifting the two of them off the ground. Ms. Cheerilee followed them to the door. The mares paused within hoof's reach of it and talked to each other in hushed voices that Sweetie couldn't quite overhear.

After a few tense moments, Rainbow spoke up. "Alright. Thanks, Cheerilee. I mean it,” she said with a nod.

The teacher tried to smile. "Of course. He's one of my students now."

Still hovering, Rainbow looked down to the foal huddling close. "You ready? Cover your ears." He did, one with each hoof, as she spread her wings. Then a stony-faced Ms. Cheerilee stepped to the door and pulled it open. Rainbow Dash launched the two of them out into the roaring wind with a single flap and they disappeared.

The teacher slammed the door shut and once again sealed the storm outside. It complained in a throaty, rumbling roar, and nopony made a noise. Then she sighed and began to make her way back to the front. Sweetie Belle's gut felt twisted and empty, and her heart hurt.

Once Ms. Cheerilee reached the front of the class, she turned towards the foals and put on the same smile as Rarity did when a customer came in two minutes before closing after a busy day with a torn dress and tears running down their face.

"Alright, everypony, I know that we've just started, but I don't think we'll be getting much learning done, so I'm giving us all the rest of the day off. Now, if anypony wants a buddy to walk them home, please raise your hoof..."

The colt had curled himself into a tight, shaking ball by the time Rainbow arrived at her cloud home. It was still floating low, so it got to endure the storm the same as any other house in Ponyville. She shoved open her door with her shoulder and hurried in, still hovering, only letting herself pause once she kicked it back shut again with her hind leg.

Unlike the schoolhouse, with its large, empty space and thin walls, the cloudominium didn't function as a massive drum. Here, the rain harmlessly fell into the clouds or onto the stone. The structure itself acted as a giant muffling pillow. Even the thunder didn't seem so bad in here, reduced to an annoyed grumble, but Gabriel twitched and muttered anyway.

She flew them upstairs with aching wings. Flying with a colt was normally taxing, but doing it through a storm while both of them were soaking wet? They practically screamed at her to stop. She paused in front of Gabe's room, then decided against it and went straight to her own. We gotta get some posters or something. That place is just too depressing.

Rainbow crossed the home stretch out of breath and reached her bed just as her wings gave out. The two flopped onto the gloriously soft cloud mattress with a whump. I'll deal with wet sheets later.

Another clap of thunder rolled through the air outside, and Gabe shivered, sopping wet, his eyes still shut tight and his hooves over his ears. Rainbow raised her hoof and tentatively reached out, carefully pressing her hoof against his and moving it off his ear. "Hey, kid, I'll be right back." He didn't respond.

Rainbow ignored her legs’ stiff complaints and hauled herself off her bed before wobbling her way to the bathroom, letting her wings hang limply at her sides. Then she grabbed her biggest, fluffiest towel, and wobbled right on back. Gabe hadn't moved, but he’d gone back to covering his eyes and the back of his neck. His breaths came deep and measured, but she could tell he was forcing it because of the way he shuddered as he sucked in air.

She climbed back onto the bed and shuffled up next to Gabe, throwing the towel over the little green foal's back.

The mare dried the little green ball of foal as best she could, careful to work around his wings and thoroughly rubbing the worst of the water from his mane and tail, but he still didn't move when she tried to untuck one of his legs. "Gabe, you gotta work with me here, I'm tryin' to help ya."

He didn't open his eyes, but one forest green hoof extended itself. Rainbow dried it, then the next, and the next, and the next, and then was faced with the puzzle of drying off a little colt's underside. She frowned, set down the towel, and hooked a leg under his belly. "Hup!"

"Whuh–!?" Gabe flailed halfheartedly as she lifted him up and plopped him down on the towel. He splayed his legs out in all directions, his eyes still shut but a perplexed look on his face nonetheless.

"There ya go. That better?"

Gabriel gulped a breath of air, then another, then a bunch of quick breaths, and in one go, snapped his eyes open. He blinked a few times and looked at Rainbow, then around the room, examining each and every Wonderbolts and Daring Do poster on her walls.

"...your room?" he eventually said.

"Yeah." She gave him a sheepish smile, "yours was kinda bummin' me out. Sorry."

His red-rimmed eyes stopped, focused on some part of her wall. Rainbow blushed when she followed his line of sight to the picture he had drawn of her, hung up next to her Soarin and Spitfire poster. “If you want me to take it down, I can–”

"No, no, it’s fine, I... I, uh... You're good." He stared at her until thunder rumbled outside, and his chin immediately dropped to the now-damp towel. He looked completely ragged. The fur on his face was mussed up like crazy, sticking in every direction, and his mane was no better. Deep bags hung under his bloodshot eyes.

At least he's not still squeezin' em shut, she thought.

"You, uh, you don't... I mean, sorry, Rainbow," he said, mumbling into the sheets. "I... I thought I could handle it."

Rainbow frowned. "How is that your fault? You didn't ask to be so scared of that sort of thing, dude."

He stayed silent, and the mare mentally kicked herself.

Stupid! That was the wrong thing to say. Think! What would Mom do? "Um... do you want to talk about it?"

"I–..." he rubbed his cheek with a hoof, missing up the still-damp fur on the side of his muzzle. "I don't know."

"Well, uh," Rainbow said, frantically wracking her mind for the right words. "Why don't we, um... give it a shot? And see how it works out?"

"...okay." Gabe tapped the tips of his hooves together and winced at the sound of the storm outside.

How do egghead therapists talk, Rainbow? Ugh, I wish Sandy was here. She shook her head, blinking hard. Come on! You can do this. Use your noggin! "Uh... how are you feeling right now?"

Gabe continued to study the wet bedsheets. "Exhausted," he decided after a few moments. "I'm tired of being... put on edge by this."

"What's putting you on edge?" He fixed an incredulous look on her and Rainbow coughed into her hoof. "Uh, I mean, what about the thunder and lightning and stuff? Is putting you on edge, I mean."

Real smooth, Rainbow. Perfect. What a bang-up job you're doing.

The colt rubbed his hooves together but didn't speak.

Rainbow tried again. "It's something to do with your homeland, isn't it?"

He looked at her, gave a tiny nod, and took a deep breath.

"We only ever called 'em 'new bombs', 'cause we never found out what they actually were... but, uh, they sounded just like that. Like rolling thunder. Even when they were right on top of you. And they could... really mess you up." He had a far-off look in his eyes when he spoke. Thunder grumbled outside.

Rainbow grimaced. How could such a natural, normal noise become a harbinger of something so terrible? "I'm sorry, kid. That sounds awful."

"Just another scar, I guess." He rubbed at the one on his foreleg, which had now grown a peach-fuzz type layer of fur. He stared at the gnarled knot of twisted skin underneath its sorry disguise. "I'm such an idiot."

"What?" the mare tilted her head.

"I keep getting this idea that I can fit in here. Like, I dunno, like eventually I could be a real Ponyvillian, or whatever." He flopped his forelegs down on the bed. "But I’m, uh, worried that I can't. Not if this keeps happening. I keep trying, but–"

Rainbow snorted. "So you're saying that you can't get over this? Come on!" She jabbed a hoof at him, poking him gently. "You've come this far and you're giving up now?"

"I–, huh?" The little colt gaped up at her.

"Listen, kid, if this is anypony's fault, it's mine. I'm the one who got put in charge of you, and I'm the one who’s been screwing that up, not you, so you better not just tap out."

"What?" Gabe frowned. "How've you been screwing that up?"

She fixed a flat look on him. "On my very first day, I made you jump off a cloud trying to impress you."

"Oh, um... right."

“And I really shouldn’t have let you go to school.” Rainbow looked down and bit her cheek. "Dude, if I'm being honest with you, your counselor was the one who convinced me to take the job.” She huffed. “I didn't even want it at first. I never even thought about having a kid!"

"So, uh, what changed?"

"...you're a pretty tough dude." She smiled a little. "You've gone through a lot and you're still here. How can I not like somepony with a fighting spirit like that?" The smile grew to a grin. "Even if it does mean you can be a smartass sometimes."

He huffed a not-entirely-mirthless laugh. "I've just been in the right place at the right time long enough to still be around. It's mostly dumb luck."

"Life is mostly dumb luck. But I just..." Come on, Rainbow, get your shit together! Use your words! "I wanted to be in your corner, you know? A dude like you needs somepony holdin' him back, so he doesn't beat everypony else." Her eyes instantly widened at her incredibly poor choice of words. "Uh, I mean, to give everypony else a chance."

Nice one, Rainbow. Well done.

Instead of getting upset or annoyed, Gabe actually laughed. "No, it's alright. I get what you're trying to say, and thanks. Feels good to have somepony in my corner. Real good."

Those final two words filled Rainbow's chest with a feeling she couldn't describe, and she swept the foal into a tight hug.

"Augh! My ribs!"

She set him down in a tangle of limbs. "Oh, shut it, it wasn't that bad." He smirked at her.

Rainbow's ears swiveled towards her room's shuttered windows and she grinned. "Hey, kid, you hear that?"

"Hear what?" he turned towards the windows. "Rain?"

"Rain and...?"

"And... nothing else?" She could practically see the light spark to life behind his big brown eyes. "Ohhh."

"Sounds like the storm finally burnt itself out." She grinned. "Nothin' but water from now on. A lot of water."

"Whoof. What a relief." The colt flopped onto his side. "Also, you smell like a wet dog."

"Just means I get the first shower, kiddo." She gave him a bump with her wing and promptly stumbled off her bed, landing in a heap. "I meant to do that."

"Yeah, I could tell you rehearsed."

The mare smirked. "Whatever."

Ding-dong!

"Gabe! Can you get that?" Rainbow shouted from the bathroom. Why did somepony have to show up now? It was still pouring, after all. What were they, crazy? Well, they were crazy loud knockers. "GABE, YOU LITTLE–!"

"Yeah, I got it, hang on a fuckin’ second!”

She heard his hooves clatter past the bathroom door and down the stairs. Hopefully, it'd just be Derpy with the mail or something, and she wouldn't have to leave the perfect comfort that was a warm shower right after being freezing cold and soaking wet.

"Rainbow!" Of course. Why not? "You had better get down here!"

The pegasus growled and stepped out of her bath, grabbing the nearest towel and giving herself a speedy dry-off.

She trotted out the bathroom door a few minutes later feeling both refreshed and intensely annoyed. "Alright, what's got you so riled—oh."

Twilight Sparkle, Sandy Hills, and a black-and-white unicorn stallion with a cutie mark of a magnifying glass over a book that Rainbow had never seen were all dripping rainwater in the middle of her foyer next to Gabe. Is that the guy that Twi mentioned was staying with her?

“Hello, Rainbow,” Sandy said, without her usual gentle confidence. She and Twilight both seemed extremely nervous for some reason, and the look on the newcomer's face put a funny feeling in her stomach. Something wasn't right.

"Uh, hey, Sandy. Hey, Twi," Rainbow said cautiously. "What's up?"

The stranger stepped forward and flashed a very shiny, very golden, very official-looking badge. "Miss Dash, my name is Looking Glass. I’m with the Equestria Ministry of Public Health and Family Services. Your charge and his personal counselor have been summoned to the Canterlot office immediately. They are to have an official appraisal this afternoon."

Twilight gave her the most embarrassed, sheepish grin Rainbow had ever seen. "Um, surprise?"

Ponyfeathers.

Onward and Upward

Monday

Twilight listened to the rain drum on the roof of the train car.

The light, rhythmless barrage normally brought comfort and relaxation, a constant background noise meant to accompany a warm cup of tea, a soft blanket, and a good book, but when paired with the constant, regular chug-chug-chug that shook the carriage, all Twilight heard was discomfort. The mismatched noises were anxious, sloppy, and unprepared, and she didn’t need any reminders of her feelings of the task at hoof.

The unicorn inhaled deeply and looked back at the short, less-than-sweet letter that lay on her lap.

Twilight,

It is a relief to hear that you are en route with the interloper. I fear Luna may be Please bring it to the palace as soon as you are able.

Celestia

"Don't tell me that you're reading that again." Looking Glass eyed her from his place on the seat opposite her own. "You already know what it says. Nothing on it is reassuring."

Twilight sighed. "I can't really help it. It's so... short." She read it again, ignoring Looking's eye-roll. "The Princess is never this concise and her writing is never this sloppy. I’m worried."

"Well, we're working just about as fast as we can."

She breathed deeply, trying to lessen the ache in her chest, and wondered when they would be far enough away from Ponyville to escape the storm. The raindrops streaking sideways across the window offered no answers.

"I know, I know,” she finally replied, “but every second we don't deliver is another second we risk him finding out what's going on." She snorted and stamped her hoof. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"You saw it! It has no idea this is something to be concerned about." He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's got no reason to! The creature's new to Equestria, so–"

Her eyes widened and she snapped her hoof to her lips. "Shh! Are you crazy? Aren't you worried he'll hear?"

"Oh, I'm not worried. The interloper's in the next car with Spike and the others." He waved his hoof at the far end of the train car. "It's never left Ponyville, so it'll be trying to blend into a different environment, and the rest of them are probably talking about how rude it was for the bureaucrat stranger to pull you away from your friends to talk business. No worries. I'm happy to take the blame for that one."

Twilight bit her lip. "Well, if you say so." She wasn't convinced, and every rumble and jolt the train made set her on edge. Was that the sound of hoofsteps outside the door, or just a bump on the track? She frowned. Even if it were somepony, it’s far too noisy between cars to hear us speak.

"The creature was new to Equestria, you can tell by its behavior." He tapped his hooves together as he spoke. "Its strange mannerisms, its not-quite-right accent... It seems like it was just adapting to the goings-on around it on the fly. The counselor even mentioned how oddly it behaved when it first arrived. Now, admittedly, that all doesn't explain everything, but you and I both know there are stranger traits an interloper can have. Remember the entry about the one that turned ponies inside out and–"

"Yes! Yes, I remember." Twilight grimaced and held out a hoof. "Reading about it once was plenty, thank you."

"Ah, of course. Apologies." Looking Glass blushed a little and shuffled a bit on his seat. "My point is that things are going well for the moment, no need to panic. You've double-checked the inscriptions on the bindings?" His horn lit and he levitated two leather bracers out of his saddlebags. The silvery, faintly glowing inscriptions made them look almost beautiful.

Twilight nodded. "I tested them on myself. The second we get even one of them around the interloper’s foreleg, any magic he, ah, it tries to summon will be siphoned off. No transformations, no discharges. Then we just have to get it to touch Luna, and our problem will solve itself."

"And I’ll be near him all through Canterlot, just in case I need to get these on him at a moment’s notice.” Looking Glass replaced the bindings. “I'm confident we've done all we can, at least for the moment. Nothing we can do now but stay alert."

The train rumbled around them. The engine huffed and chugged, muffled by distance and wind. Thank Celestia the train's mostly empty. Some primal force of luck must have been on their side. No prying eyes, no clueless strangers walking up and involving themselves, and best of all, low chance of casualties should something go terribly wrong on the ride to Canterlot. Really, only the counselor and Rainbow would be in danger.

Rainbow Dash... She got that glimmer in her eye whenever the colt struck a pose or cracked a dumb joke or acted like a smart aleck. Rainbow would stick up for Gabriel like she would any of the girls. The thought pinned Twilight's ears against her skull. They still needed to be separated, and when Rainbow finally found out... She has to know it's for the better. We're trying to save a princess!

She groaned. “I really wish Rainbow hadn’t insisted on coming along so… convincingly. This would all be so much easier if she stayed in Ponyville.”

The stallion grimaced. “Yes, she was rather, erm, vocal. Still, we knew she would probably resist being left behind, and that’s what the backup plan is for. It should give us enough time, even with her speed.”

Twilight knew, logically, that he was right, and nodded. "We're doing the right thing," she said, more to herself than Looking. "That colt is a being from another world. He's an interloper. Even if, by some infinitesimal chance, he isn't malicious, it won't matter. We still have to save Princess Luna."

I know I'm doing the right thing, so why does it feel so bad?

Looking Glass reached out a hoof and touched its edge to hers. "I know that it isn't easy. I'm not comfortable with the situation either. It’s built a personality. It looks just like a little foal," he said quietly. "And I know your friend and the counselor aren't going to understand at first, but we're doing it to help them. To help everypony. To help Princess Luna. We can't back down, no matter what. They're counting on us."

“I know, I’m just nervous, is all.” Twilight gave a little smile. “Thanks for all your help, by the way.”

The stallion laughed. “You know, Twilight, you’ve really changed since we left our schooling. What happened to that awkward filly who could barely keep a conversation going?”

Twilight giggled a little at that, despite herself. “I suppose she became an Element of Harmony.”

“Ah, yes. Are you sure you don’t want the rest of your friends along?”

Her smile disappeared. “I don’t want the situation getting any more, erm, complicated than it has to be. I wouldn’t feel like a very good friend if I dragged them along just for an uncomfortable decision, even if it is a difficult one.” Heck, I feel like a pretty terrible friend already.

“Mmm.” Looking nodded. “Well, have you got the backup letters? You know, just in case?” He nodded to her saddlebags. She eyed them as well, staring at the one she knew contained four tightly-wrapped scrolls, ready to be sent at a moment’s notice.

“They’re ready,” Twilight said. “Hopefully we won’t have to use the most powerful magical artifacts in Equestria for this, but if it comes to it, I can tell the rest of the girls to get to Canterlot as soon as possible. The express chariot tickets are already in there.”

Looking chuckled. “You really do plan for everything, don’t you?”

The far door made a loud Clunk! and its doorknob began to jiggle. Twilight and Looking both yelped and their heads snapped to the end of the train car. A moment later, it swung open, strengthening the train's rumble to a roar and revealing a little green colt. The two ponies stared at the imposter, and he raised an eyebrow.

He trotted into the car, letting the door swing shut behind him. "Uh, what's with the look?"

Twilight blinked. "Um..."

"To be perfectly honest, you caught us somewhat by surprise!" Looking Glass came to the rescue with an awkward laugh. "We weren't expecting the door to make such a startling noise!"

"Heh, sorry about that." The colt began to make his way down the aisle. "You guys done talkin' business in here yet?"

"Um, not quite, Gabriel," said Twilight, forcing an even tone into her voice, "but we'll be back with everypony in a second!"

He chuckled as he paused at their booth. "Oh, no worries from me. I don't care about whatever you're talking about. The others are the ones who’re wondering why you’re taking so long. I'm just looking for a bathroom." He gave them both a broad grin and trotted out the next door. "Ciao!"

Once it had shut behind him, blocking out the wind and quieting the train car's cabin, Looking Glass pointed his hoof. "See? No idea."

Twilight breathed a partially relieved sigh. "I think you're right. Now, let's get back to the others before it comes back. I don't want to be gone too long."

"Right behind you."

Spike's claws tapped on the train car's floor as he made his way through the empty space, humming to himself. The way the walls around him rumbled and shook didn't bother him as much as it did the other ponies, even when it was too loud to hear over, like now, as it rumbled up to the foothills of Mount Canter. Perhaps it had something to do with his dragon nature? Maybe I'm just used to those kinds of noises.

The little dragon imagined himself making a throaty railroad growl as he opened another door and stepped through, onto the platform between the cars. The railroad ties sped by below him so fast that they were only wooden blurs on the mountain's slate-gray stone. He elected not to think about what would happen if he fell, and stepped through the next door, smacking right into a pony.

"Oof!" the two went tumbling into the train car in a heap of limbs. Spike's eyes widened and he untangled himself as quickly as he could manage. His face grew hot as he got to his feet and held out a claw. "Sorry about that, Gabe! My bad!"

"Ah, no worries, dude, I've been through worse," said Gabriel, taking the outstretched limb and hauling himself to his hooves. "Didn't expect to literally run into anyone else here, though."

Spike raised an eyebrow. He said 'anyone’. "Yeah, I'm only following you to the bathroom."

The little colt shrugged. "Well, uh, you're not gonna have any luck here. I've been all the way to the end and I haven't found one."

He seemed pretty confident he knew where he was going when he left, Spike thought. Weird.

The little dragon snorted. "I guess I'm out of luck 'till we get to Canterlot, then. Good thing it's not that far."

"Yeah, good for me too. I was considering doing my business off the back of the train."

Spike snorted and let out a laugh. "Oh dude! Twi would freak if she caught me doing that."

"Ah, that's part of the fun," Gabriel said with a grin of his own. Then the colt tilted his head and tapped his chin. "Hey, Twilight seems a little neurotic today, yeah? Well, uh, more than usual, I mean."

Spike rolled his eyes and scoffed. What an understatement. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Oh?" The colt leaned up against one of the seats and crossed one foreleg over the other, grinning. "Do tell."

The little dragon crossed his own arms and set his shoulder against another bench. "Dude, she's been running herself ragged over things this past couple of days."

"What's been going on?"

Spike began to count on his fingers. "Well first, she got this super mysterious letter from Princess Celestia, telling her to research a bunch of old banned magic. Then that Canterlot stallion from the Royal Bureau of Snobs showed up to help with finding some sort of magical interdimensional monster or something. I don't really know the whole story."

The colt's eyes widened. "What?"

"Oh, yeah, you're new in town. This sort of thing seems to happen a lot, so don't worry about it too much. The longer you hang around Twi and her friends, the more you'll see that they get involved in all sorts of crazy stuff." He grinned at the colt. "You're livin' with Rainbow, so hey, maybe you already found that out."

"Whoof," Gabriel ran a hoof across his mane. "I've certainly learned my fair share living with her."

"And then, as if that all wasn't enough, she gets a letter from Celestia saying that Princess Luna is really sick because of that monster." He rubbed the side of his head. "You can imagine that it's been driving Twi up the freaking wall."

“Wait, the Princess is sick?”

“Yeah,” Spike said, his face falling, “I think things are really bad. Twi’s been so caught up in trying to help her. She’s thrown herself into it so much that I think she barely notices when I’m around. I should consider myself lucky that I even got brought on this trip.”

"Sounds like a lot to deal with." The colt rubbed his foreleg. "Well, do you think they're gonna catch that monster? Is that why we're going to Canterlot?"

"If I had to guess, we're up here to find some magical scroll or doohickey or something to help her out and she brought that nice mare and Rainbow along to give her a hoof, which would be why you're getting dragged along on this." He shrugged. "All I really know is that Twilight'll get the job done no matter what. At this point, I've learned to just sort of go with it, figure things out as they come, and decide what to do then. Way less stressful that way."

"Hmm. You ain't kiddin'." The colt smiled and held out a hoof. "I think I could stand to learn a thing or two from you, Spike."

Spike grinned and bumped it with a fist. "I wouldn’t mind hearing that more often." He turned around, and together, the two began to make their way back up the train.

The engine hissed and the breaks squealed as their train groaned to a stop at the Canterlot Main Station. Any hint of storm clouds and rain had been left behind. The clear afternoon sky filled its massive windows, pouring sunlight down onto the throngs of ponies milling about on the platform.

Gabe hopped off the carriage and onto the platform right away, his eyes wide at the grand hall arching above them. Rainbow Dash smiled as he ogled the sight, even if she was a little befuddled at his awed muttering. "This is what Grand Central must have looked like..."

"Hey, kid! Don't wander off too far!" She called as the others began to trot off the train. Twilight and that weird bureaucrat chatted quietly with one another while Sandy Hills followed Spike, the two of them coming up next to Rainbow.

"Augh, I'm so nervous," the counselor said, looking a little green around the gills as they all began moving towards the station's exit. "I can't believe the Ministry responded to my report so quickly!"

Rainbow patted her on the withers. "Don't sweat it, Sandy, You're great at your job! These Canterlot snoots would have to be idiots not to recognize how much you care about what you do!" She widened her eyes and blushed, looking to a smirking Looking Glass. "Erm, sorry, no offense, dude."

He chuckled. "None taken at all, Ms. Dash. I'm well aware that we Canterlotians can be somewhat... self-centered at times."

"Anyway, if they take you off the job, those desk jockeys are gonna have to deal with me." Rainbow bounced into the air and flexed, smacking her hooves together for good measure. "And they're not ready for all this."

Gabe laughed at that, snorting as he walked. Rainbow felt her heart swell with pride and found it difficult to hide her giggly-grin behind a machismo smirk.

The six exited Canterlot Station a few quick bathroom trips later, walking into the warm afternoon sun and brilliantly fresh mountain air. Moods soared all around as they began to make their way through Canterlot. Throngs of often extravagantly dressed ponies filled the roads, filling the spaces with energetic voices and forming a colorful river flowing in all directions between the whites, golds, and purples of the streetside buildings crowding for space.

Ponyville's storm was nothing more than a far-off thought here, where the skies were a jaw-dropping blue and proved a perfect backdrop for the colorful pegasi flying through the sky. The sight of ponies dipping and gliding overhead filled Rainbow with energy and she let out a whoop, performing a twisting loop-the-loop and coming in for a landing that would have Applejack huffing and telling her to 'be a tad less dramatic, sugar cube'.

Ohh, it felt so good to finally be able to stretch her wings.

"Yeah!" she said, grinning at Twilight and Sandy, "Sweet Celestia was I ever cooped up in that tiny train." The counselor hid a giggle behind a polite hoof and Twilight smiled.

"We had better get to the Ministry before we miss those meetings, but, uh, I'm sure there'll be time to enjoy the day afterward."

Rainbow blew a raspberry, but only a little one. "Alright, alright. Let's get a move on."

The group set off, pushing their way through the midday crowds. Once again, Gabe insisted on walking on the edges of the streets, near the buildings’ colorful façades and fanciful displays. Rainbow made sure to keep a close eye on him, but he seemed to be sticking to the others.

The colt rubbernecked at every detail, though, his eyes wide at everything from a countess's immaculate dress to the ivy crawling up one of the city’s many towers. It brought a smile to her face, and she lowered her head to his level.

"Pretty crazy, right?"

He laughed. "This place is insane. There's just so much of it!"

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction the first time I saw Canterlot," she said.

"I've never seen a city so alive and active! It's so, so open! and colorful, and everypony's just walking around! There must be thousands and thousands of ponies living here."

"Right you are!" said Looking Glass as the group entered a street-corner square. “Despite the location, Greater Canterlot has over a million citizens!." His voice swelled with pride.

Rainbow thought that wasn't all that impressive, but she held her tongue. She also didn't mention that Cloudsdale had a cool two million.

"Oh. Huh." Gabe seemed impressed, for the most part, but had already been distracted by a troop of guards marching through the square in formation, dressed head to toe in their royal armor. Surfaces polished to an immaculate shine caught the sun and threw it all about, transforming the ponies into barrages of golden shimmers. Their armored boots clinked and clacked against the cobblestones underhoof.

"Hey, Sandy, what are those guards doing?" Gabriel said.

"Hm?" Sandy pulled her eyes off a troupe of actors performing on a hastily-constructed wooden stage and turned to the colt as she trotted. "Oh, I don't know. I'll be honest, I'm—oops! Sorry!" She blushed at the scowling mare she had just bumped into and turned back to Gabriel. "I'm pretty unfamiliar with what the Guard does besides, erm, guarding the princesses."

Gabe shrugged. "That's alright. I'll just ask one the next time I get a chance."

"Hey, Twi, don't you know some ponies in the Royal Guard?" Spike said. “Besides your brother, I mean. Hey, do you think he’s stationed in town? Maybe we could visit!”

"I’m not sure, I haven’t heard from him in a while. And beside him, only a few," Twilight replied, turning away from her conversation with Looking, "and I haven't been in touch with them since I was at school.” She perked up a little, raising her head. “Oh, that reminds me, Rainbow, I've been meaning to ask for your help."

The pegasus grinned and answered without a moment's hesitation. "Of course, Twi. How can the ever-awesome Rainbow Dash give you a hoof?"

She expected Twilight to smile, but she didn't. Instead, she looked like she'd eaten some particularly old cheese—and not the good kind of old, either.

"You remember that problem I told you about?" she said. Rainbow nodded. "Well, since we're in Canterlot, I need to stop by the palace library to pick up a scroll. Can you help me look for it?"

Why does she look so uncomfortable? What's wrong?

Spike leaned closer to the colt. “Called it.”

The pegasus raised an eyebrow. "Um, sure, but aren't we trying to make this meeting?"

"Actually, Ms. Dash," Looking said, butting in, "Only Ms. Hills, Gabriel, and I must attend the meeting. It's quite alright if we split up for a little while."

Rainbow's brow furrowed and she frowned. Is this a good idea? Something didn't feel right, and Looking Glass was standing just a little too close to Gabe, but her friend Twilight had asked for her help, and Rainbow Dash didn't just leave a friend hangin'.

"Uh, I guess, as long as we aren’t gone too long." She looked at Gabriel. "Is that alright with you, kid?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine," Gabe said, perfectly relaxed. "I can handle these nerds no problem." Beside him, Spike looked confused about something.

She grinned. "That's the spirit, kiddo. Let me know how it goes, alright?"

"Can do," he said with a lazy smile before looking at Twilight. "Good luck with that."

"...thanks," she replied with an awkward grin. "Alright, Rainbow, let's go." Why did that make her uncomfortable?

Dash nodded, passing one last concerned glance at the counselor. “Keep an eye on him for me, okay, Sandy?”

“Of course, Rainbow,” she said with a nervous smile, “see you soon.”

A little later, Sandy Hills couldn't help but crane her neck as the now-diminished party made their way up to the building that headquartered the very government institution she worked for. It towered above the street, staring down at passers-by with tall, thin, presumptuous-looking windows inset into gray stone. Even its doorway imposed, arching far over her head and holding two medieval-looking oaken doors. She didn't like it one bit.

Much less welcoming than our quaint little Ponyville office.

"Come in, come in," Looking said, ushering them through the doors, "we haven't much time before our meeting with the regional manager."

Sandy kicked herself mentally and hurried inside. Focus. You've got a job to do.

The lobby was a good deal fancier than the building's exterior but no less imposing. The air was quiet and proper, spiced with polite conversation and the scratching of pens on paper. The front desk, apparently made of hoof-carved mahogany, stretched across the entire far wall beneath an exquisite mural of Celestia herself and housed several secretaries.

Tall, smooth pillars held up an arched ceiling far above her head and created enough space for her to comfortably fly. Had she chosen to do so, it would have been easy for her to go all the way to the ceiling and inspect the massive map of Equestria they'd had painted up there in meticulous detail, with all the Ministry's various offices marked. Manehattan, Las Pegasus, Baltimare, and there, a simple dot for Ponyville. It looked tiny next to Canterlot's bright, ornate star.

She imagined flying up to look closer would result in a lost job and an unfriendly escort out the front door, though.

Looking led them a short way into the lobby before holding up a hoof to stop them and walking up to the front desk alone. He said something she couldn't make out and flashed that shiny golden badge at the secretary, whose eyes widened before nodding quickly and sharply. The two had a fast-paced back and forth for a minute, then Looking turned around and strode back to the group.

"Alright, all, here's how this is going to be done. I'm going to take Gabriel in for an assessment and report." The unicorn turned to her. "Then I'll come down and get you, Ms. Hills, and they'll do the same for you."

Sandy frowned “What? Why would the manager be meeting us like that? That doesn't make any sense.”

“I don’t know, Miss Hills. I wasn’t the one who set it up. If you like, I can go back and file an official complaint.”

Her eyes widened. "N-No, that sounds fine.” Sandy nodded, feeling like her head was full of cotton. “Spike and I can wait here, in the lobby." She supposed the Canterlot branch just did things differently.

"Wonderful," the stallion said with a warm smile. "Come along, little one."

The colt snorted and followed in his trail, and the two disappeared through one of the doorways to either side of the massive, overly ornate front desk. Sandy stood for a moment, staring at the gold-trimmed door they had disappeared through for a moment, before shaking her head and following Spike to one of the lobby's many benches. They had plush velvet covers, of course.

The two made themselves comfortable, but Sandy raised an eyebrow when Spike set his chin into his palms and sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Twilight went to the library without me!" He snorted a little, shooting a small jet of green flame from his snout.

"Ah!" Sandy pulled back with a little gasp, then blushed and coughed into her hoof. "Erm, excuse me... Are you missing Twilight right now? Are you not used to spending long periods of time away from her?"

"No, it isn't that." The little dragon groaned. "It's just... Ugh. I'm supposed to be her number-one assistant! I'm the one who organizes the library! Rainbow barely even reads! Why would she choose Rainbow, and not even want to bring me?"

"Well, I’m sure she… actually, wait, you're right." The counselor frowned. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

"I bet it's some kinda Element thing. But if that were the case, why would she only bring Rainbow?"

Sandy Hills didn't have an answer for that. The conversation withered and died as quickly as it had been born, and the two resigned themselves to bored pony-watching. Sandy's heart thudded in her chest as she watched ponies file in and out, their faces most often masks of bored annoyance.

What made them read her report so quickly? Did she do something wrong? Did she overstep her boundaries? I know I've been out of my depth with Gabriel, but I'm doing my best! She forced the edge of her hoof away from her teeth, reminding herself that that habit was broken, thank you very much.

"Lady, what's up with you? You got ants in your mane or something?" Spike said out of the blue, raising an eyebrow. "You look like Twilight when she gets all worked up about a friendship lesson."

"Oh, it's nothing." She tried to smile, but couldn't quite get it to reach her eyes, and Spike could tell. "It's a little nerve-racking to be here." She waved a hoof to the intricate seal carved into the center of the front desk. "This is the head office of the government ministry I work for. There's an office in Ponyville, but it's, uh..." She craned her neck to look all around the room, blinking at the inset gems and gaudy chains hung on the pillars. "...a lot less golden."

"Yeah, no kidding. They really went all-out with this lobby." He smirked. "Seems like a little much to me."

"This would even be too much in Manehattan," Sandy said. "The reason I'm feeling a little jittery is because, well, the ponies that work here are my bosses' bosses' bosses. They run the whole show and they're the ones that report to the Crown."

"Ah. Okay, I see how that could be some pressure. Heh." Spike rubbed his frill, looking a little awkward. The expression disappeared a moment later when he widened his eyes and pointed. "Hey, Looking's back! But..."

The stallion had his head low as he plodded back towards the two. When she saw him, Sandy stood up right away, ready to join him and go talk to her superiors, but she hesitated. He was biting his lip, he wasn't meeting her gaze, and far more importantly, he came up to them alone.

Sandy Hills swallowed. "Where's Gabriel?"

The ministry worker only looked her in the eye once he was a foreleg away. The slight wetness there made Sandy's heart skip a beat. He cleared his throat.

"Ms. Hills, I'm afraid I have some bad news..."

Rainbow Dash turned on a dime, looking at her friend directly. "What do you mean, bad news? What's going on?" Ponies flowed by them as they trotted up the gleaming marble steps to the Royal Palace, each and every one dressed in exquisite finery and noblewear, the colors bright and piercing in the afternoon sun. Twilight had pulled her off to the side a little ways once they’d reached the top of the wide, shallow stairway.

The unicorn straightened her neck and pulled a deep breath in through her nose. "Rainbow, I’m sorry. I haven't been completely honest with you."

Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What?" she said, very quietly. This doesn't make any sense.

"Well, um, you see Rainbow, I... Um, you know how the Princesses asked me for help?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, there’s more to the story." She fidgeted her hoof, drawing an invisible spiral on the cobblestones. "A few weeks ago, Princess Luna tried to perform a certain, erm, very dangerous kind of magic spell, but she messed it up and got hurt. That's the problem that I'm supposed to be helping her with."

Rainbow snorted as weight sloughed off her shoulders. "That's it? Princess Luna bungled a spell? Twilight, why didn't you just say so?" The look the unicorn gave her shoveled it right back on.

"Soul magic is a very dangerous type of magic, Rainbow. She's very sick right now, and in order to save her, we need to return the missing piece of her soul."

"I still don't get why this is such a problem," Rainbow said, frowning. "I mean, I get that this is a big deal, but why not just tell the truth, Twi? Why lie to me?"

"It's... complicated." She looked more green than purple at this point.

"Twilight, are you gonna puke?"

"I'm okay!" The unicorn said with a little too much force. "I'm fine, alright?" She rubbed her eyes with a hoof. "I... The spell was supposed to summon a pony, but Luna summoned something else instead. Something potentially dangerous. And now there's a cosmic monster disguised as a pony on the loose, and it has a piece of Luna's soul. It's called an interloper, and it's unique from any other interloper dealt with before."

"A cosmic—" Rainbow couldn't quite believe her ears. She dug a hoof around in one and made sure everything was in working order. "Twi, did I just hear you right? Did you just say that there's an alien around somewhere?"

"Shh! Not so loud!" Twilight ran a hoof through her already-messy mane, as she threw a wide-eyed glance at the ponies milling about past them. "Listen, Rainbow, you have to understand, if we don't get the interloper back to Celestia and destroy it, Luna could die. Will die, actually. It has a piece of her soul, and it needs to be returned."

"Okay, yeah." Rainbow snorted. "Monster, Luna's soul, whatever. Twi, I get that it's a big deal, so why are you being so weird?"

"I–, I, um, Rainbow, you need to understand–"

Rainbow put herself up in the unicorn's face. "Spit it out, Twilight!"

"Rrrgh!" Her friend snorted and stamped a hoof. "Rainbow! Luna performed the spell the week before last, on Tuesday night."

"What?" Rainbow waved a hoof. "Twilight, what the hay does that have to do with anything?"

"Think! What happened that Wednesday morning?"

"What? I don't know, Twi? How am I supposed to know that?" Rainbow saw a top-hatted stallion pause to look at her from over Twilight's shoulder. The hot-faced mare didn't care one bit. Her friend was acting weird and refused to tell her why! For Celestia's sake, what did anything have to do with a day almost two weeks ago?

Tartarus, so much has happened since then. Her life had been downright non-stop. Once she thought about it, the only reason she felt any energy at all right now was because of that day off at the park with Gabe.

Gabe, the fantastically strange colt who had upended the last couple weeks of her life just by being around.

Gabe, who appeared as if from nowhere and was known by nopony.

Gabe, who she'd found Wednesday morning.

Twilight looked her in the eye and spoke with a hoof slightly raised off the ground, halfway towards her chest. She looked ready to bolt. "Rainbow, it's him."

"...no," Rainbow said. She stamped her hoof. "No, no, that’s not right. I'm sure of it."

"Rainbow, I–"

"No!" She thrust herself into Twilight's face, "it can't be Gabe."

"L-Listen to me, Dash."

"You listen to me! He's not some sort of superpowered soul-sucking alien! If he's anything, he's the world's greenest doormat! Do you have any idea what he’s been through?" She jabbed her hoof into the unicorn's chest, completely unphased by the small crowd gathering around the two. "He doesn't deserve to be called a monster just for being different!"

"Listen!" Twilight shouted. Rainbow blinked and took a step back. "Rainbow! I'm sorry, but that colt is not who you think he is! Looking and I tracked the magic in Ponyville. I saw the manifestation site. I saw the green feather there." Another step forward. "You even said so yourself. Gabe's weird. He doesn't fit. He doesn't belong, and it's because he's not a he. He's an it. Look what happened to that little filly!"

"I—I don't..." Rainbow swallowed. "But he's such a good—I mean, he means well! He wasn't trying—I mean he didn’t want to hurt anypony!" She huffed out an unsteady breath. "He just wants... He just–!"

Twilight took another step. "These interlopers can be very dangerous, Rainbow. They could be anything, including something that is very, very good at wearing the skin of a cute little pegasus colt."

The crowd's murmurs grew to gasps and confused rabble. Rainbow felt Twilight's nose brush against her own as she glared her in the eye.

"I'm trying to help you, Dash! Even if, even if, by some universally infinitesimal chance, that thing is not malicious, we're still going to take it to Celestia and put it down. We have to save Luna.”

Rainbow saw a flicker of flame jump through Twilight's mane and balked. Her head felt light and the judging eyes gathering around the duo didn't help one bit. Her heart was beating far too quickly and she found herself struggling for breath. Rainbow trusted Twilight with her life, but this? It didn't make any sense!

Or... maybe it did. That home of his—that burning city. Those strange creatures. They aren't really across the oceans, are they? Her head began to spin. No, they’re from further away. They were from some strange land, some strange torn-up tartarus of a land, full of strange creatures with strange weapons that fought strange wars against each other and burnt their own cities to the ground.

That place that had produced the being that called itself Gabriel. The being that had hard eyes and a marred body, the being that had broken a little filly's leg without hesitation. The being that had killed.

But... that being also appreciated a sunny day. It devoured hay dogs, even if it had a weird name for them. It liked to draw and screw around with its friends and make smart-ass remarks. It was guilty over things it had done, and was good at math, and terrified of thunder, and it—

And he was not a monster. He may have been messed up, but he wasn't a monster. Rainbow knew, in her pounding, aching heart, that that kid was not the evil that Twilight was looking for. He was just someone tired and scarred by an unfair life.

And through it all, Princess Luna had been slowly dying.

They had to save her. She was a princess of Equestria! Celestia's sister! They had to! There was no way they couldn't! If Princess Luna really was going to die without that piece of her soul, what choice did she have? What would Rarity and Applejack and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy say if they didn't? What would her parents think of her if she was the one who failed to save a princess?

All we have to do is kill the kid who I promised to look out for. The kid who I promised to protect. The kid who never got a say whether he was here or not.

The kid who doesn't deserve it...

Rainbow's face hardened. "No," she said.

"Dash–"

"No!" The mare snorted. "I'm not just giving him up! There has to be some other way. I–" Her throat closed up, and she had to force it back open. "He doesn't need to die. We can figure something out, ask the princesses for help or something. We can work it out, but I won't let you take him."

Twilight's face fell, and when she spoke, it was much, much softer. "Rainbow, I'm not the one who was supposed to take him," she said. "Why do you think I brought you out here?"

Rainbow's eyes widened and her mouth opened as if she were going to speak. Then it closed. She spread her wings.

"Rainbow, wait, you need to– Ah!" Twilight shielded her face with a hoof as the pegasus rocketed herself into the air. The crowd of ponies gathered around them burst into surprised cries and shouts, but they were already fading behind her, swallowed in the sound of rushing wind alongside a certain unicorn's desperate shouts.

"What? What happened?" Sandy Hills tilted her head and shuffled her wings against her back, glancing at Spike over her shoulder. He only looked up at her with those big, green eyes and shrugged as he tapped his claws together. The counselor looked back to Looking Glass. "What happened?"

The unicorn took a few deep breaths through his closed-lipped muzzle and swallowed. "There's no easy way to put this Ms. Hills, I'll just... I'll just tell you. We had our meeting with the Ministry's regional manager."

"And?" The question burst out of her. She felt full of anxious energy: manic, sick, and exhausted all at once. "What'd they say?"

"Well, before he gave a verdict, he listened to Gabriel tell his story. The colt recounted it all, right from the moment he woke up at the hospital." He bit his lip. "And then, well... he made a decision."

"What?" Sandy had to consciously keep from shattering the grand lobby's proper quietness. "That– that doesn't make any sense at all! He wouldn't even want to hear my professional report?"

"Evidently not," Looking said with a sigh. "It seems that he heard what he needed to hear. I, um, I am to report that as of right now, you are no longer assigned to Gabriel's case. All decisions you've made regarding Gabriel's care are marked null and void and you've been ordered to return to your station in Ponyville. He's to be assessed and looked after here in Canterlot."

Her mouth opened and closed. The tap-tap of hoof on marble seemed to echo through the towering space, fracturing and multiplying, becoming a barrage. She couldn't breathe.

"...I'm afraid that that's just the way it is, Ms. Hills. It's out of my hooves." Looking Glass twisted his hoof, grinding its tip against a groove in the white-tile floor. He spoke in a low, quiet voice, as if he was trying to let somepony know that their mother had just passed away, but didn't want them to make a fuss in public.

"W-what? How can they do this?" Sandy Hills pressed her hoof to her chest. "Was it my report? D-Do they think I didn't do a good enough job?"

The unicorn looked helpless. "I don't know. He didn't say. He only told me to report his decision to you." He stepped forward and gingerly set his hoof on her shoulder. "I know that this colt meant something to you, and I wish I was the pony making the decision, but I'm not. I'm sorry."

She blinked with the jerky, uneven gait of a rusted typewriter. "I– I didn't... I..." The words refused to assemble in her brain. It felt like a million things were bouncing around inside her head all at once, bashing into each other. The world began to blur.

"You had better go outside now," said Looking. "I need to return to the colt. Again, I'm sorry." He made a halfhearted smile and turned around to trot away.

"But... but I, I—"Sandy blinked hard and wiped a hoof at her eyes. "What..." She sniffled, talking to nopony in a quiet voice. "What'd I do?"

The cold, spacious lobby provided no answer.

"Hey, we had..." The mare felt a claw wrap around her hoof. "Um, Ms. Hills, we had better go."

She nodded, blinking hard and swallowing, but the tears didn't stop. She couldn't see! They made it hard to follow Spike. Why was it so hard? What did she do wrong? She ducked her head low and tried to look away as they passed the other ponies in the lobby, but she knew that they saw her.

I must look pathetic.

Spike led her out into the afternoon sun, but it no longer brightened her day. Instead, it shone far too harshly into her eyes, forcing her to squint. There were more ponies out here. Too many eyes. Were they all looking at her? Were they whispering to each other as they watched a full-grown mare get led through the street by a baby dragon? Were they talking about how awful she looked?

Sandy gulped down a sob and squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on following where the claw led. It felt like she was coming apart at the seams.

"Alright, let's just, um... Let's take a breather here, okay?" She gently bumped up against something at shin height. Smooth metal, warmed by the afternoon sun.

"W-whuh?"

"It's a bench, Ms. Hills," came Spike's voice from somewhere beside her. "I thought we could wait for Twilight and Rainbow Dash here."

Sandy sniffled and nodded, rubbing the back of her hoof across her snout. "Um, y-yeah, that's a good idea," she whispered.

The mare climbed onto the bench's curved metal slats, flopped onto her belly, and buried her face in her hooves. She hoped nopony was listening to her choked, shuddering sobs.

Spike swallowed. "Uh..." His throat closed up when he looked at the mare crying into her hooves on the streetside's bright purple bench. Its color shone with confidence in the midday light and the bench flaunted it, showing off its fanciful curves and superior craftsponyship. Just like everything else in Canterlot, it practically glowed with elegance and grace—the exact opposite of the mare breaking down atop it.

Her mane stuck out in all directions, bobbing gently with every shudder. She huddled into as small a shape as she could manage, keeping her legs tucked tightly under her and her tail swept around her side. The mare sniffled and croaked, desperately fighting a losing battle against her emotions.

Spike raised a claw, then paused. His clawtips hovered just above the matted fur on Ms. Hills' foreleg. It was the color of desert dunes.

"Hey!"

Spike's head whipped around before he even recognized the voice, only to be buffeted by a snap of wind. He shielded his face as a pegasus nearly crash-landed in the middle of the street, stumbling into a panicked run towards him. "Gah!"

The fact that it was Rainbow didn't reach him until she stood a hoof's width away from his face, her muzzle up close and personal. He stumbled back, arms held up in a waggling defense, and fell onto his backside.

"Spike!" Rainbow shouted. "Where is he?"

"What? Who?" Spike blinked and looked at the pegasus, really seeing her for the first time. "Where's Twilight?"

For some unholy reason, the question seemed to enrage Rainbow even more. She growled. "Spike, where is that slimy, snaky little bureaucrat?"

"Huh?" Spike managed, still dumbfounded. "Are you talking about Looking? The RBI dude?"

"The what?" Both of them jumped out of their skin at the cry and snapped their heads around to the bench. Sandy Hills' head stuck straight up, her mane everywhere. Her eyes glowed red and matted streaks of tear-soaked fur covered her face. She sniffled.

Rainbow took a step back. "Celestia, Hills, you look like absolute–"

"Spike," Sandy said, "what did you say?"

"Um, about Looking? He's an RBI agent. Y'know, he works for the Royal Bureau. But you guys already knew that, right?" Rainbow Dash and Sandy Hills both fixed gaping looks at him. "...right?"

A blinding flash of lavender-tinted light turned all their heads. Twilight appeared a short way down the street, in front of the Ministry building. She whipped her head around and spotted them an instant later, galloping towards them. "Rainbow!"

"Twilight?" Sandy said with Spike.

"Twilight." Rainbow lowered her head and glared.

She was out of breath by the time she skidded to a stop. "Rainbow, listen to me! I’m sorry, really, but it’s out of our hooves! Looking will have it well on the way to the palace by now, we–!"

"Where is he now, Twilight?" Rainbow snapped. "Where's that slimy ass?" Spike's eyes widened and he took a stumbling step back. He had never seen Rainbow lose her cool like this. What was going on?

"Uh, Twi?" Spike said with a timid voice.

"What has Looking done with Gabe? What's happening?" said Sandy, considerably less timidly.

"It's complicated, I–"

"No, it's not!" Rainbow cried. "Sandy! Twilight and Looking Glass are trying to kill Gabe."

"What?!" Sandy sprang to her hooves, tripping a little as she raced to get off the bench. "They’re what?!"

"It's not that simple!" Twilight said, starting to sound desperate. "That thing's not really a pony!"

Rainbow snarled. "It doesn't matter!"

"What are you talking about? That's insane!" Sandy clutched her head.

"I mean Gabriel's not a pony, it's something else." Twilight stepped past Rainbow, putting herself squarely in front of the shocked-looking counselor. "It was summoned to this world by dark, forbidden magic. It only looks like a pony."

"I–, what?"

"Twilight's trying to scare you!" Rainbow said, butting in. The three of them were muzzle-to-muzzle now. "That kid's no monster! And stop calling him an it!"

"No monster? It snapped a filly’s leg in half without hesitating, for Celestia's sake!" Twilight scoffed. "Rainbow, I'm trying to show you the truth! Stop acting like an idiot!" Spike's mouth dropped open. Twilight had complained about Rainbow acting brash in the past, sure, but going so far as to insult her? This day wasn't looking up, that much was certain.

Rainbow's face screwed up and a blush spread across her face, but Sandy beat her to the punch. "That was in self-defense, Twilight, I know it. That filly hit him in the head while he wasn't looking." Her face darkened. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Twilight–!"

The counselor put the tip of her hoof to Rainbow's lips. "I want to hear it from her." Rainbow scowled but kept her mouth shut, and the two pegasi fixed their looks on Twilight. Spike did, too.

She snorted. "About time somepony kept a level head," she said, returning Dash's toxic glare for a moment before turning to the other mare. "Sandy, Gabriel is something that we call an interloper. Old, outlawed magic summoned it to this world, and like the other interlopers summoned here in the past, it's very, very dangerous."

“W-what? Gabriel… isn’t really a pony?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, it isn’t.”

Sandy’s eyes widened, a mess of emotions flashing across her face. “But, but his past, his home, his sister–! Was that a lie? Did he lie?”

Twilight continued. "I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. More importantly, because of the interloper, Princess Luna is in grave danger."

"Princess Luna?" Sandy took a step back. "What? How? What does she have to do with this?"

"She's the original summoner," Twilight said, her voice low. "When she cast the spell, it ripped out a part of her soul, and well... we need to destroy the vessel to get it back."

Rainbow looked about ready to blow a gasket, but Sandy held a hoof across her front and cleared her throat. "Will she die if we don't?"

"Yes," Twilight nodded. "I don't know how soon, but soon. We need to move quickly."

“This can’t be right,” the counselor muttered, “this isn’t right.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”

"So let me get this straight," Sandy said, sounding unsteady. "You are going to kill Gabriel, even though he didn’t choose to be ‘summoned’ here and hasn't acted anything like these other ‘interlopers,’ because the Princess needs to be saved."

"Yes," Twilight said, "I'm sorry you got so attached to it, but–"

"Do you call him things like 'vessel' and 'it' because that makes it easier?"

Twilight blinked. "I–, w-what?"

"Well, is it?"

The unicorn sputtered as she tried to form an answer. "Um, I don't really–, I, I'm just telling you the truth–"

"I want you to be aware of what you're doing, Twilight Sparkle," Sandy said. Her voice shifted into something downright venomous. It was so far away from her normally cheery, comforting tone of voice and it made Spike shiver. Even Rainbow took a step back.

"You're accusing Gabriel of being malicious, but you have no solid evidence for it. You lied to all of us, saying that 'friend' of yours was in the Ministry when he was really an RBI agent. You're willing to murder somepony to get what you want. Is that correct?"

"I want the princess to live!"

"That sure is a noble goal," the counselor answered, "but you're using it to kill somepony, Twilight. Somepony innocent. And you're sure there's no other way?"

"There's no time, and it isn't a–"

"He is a person, whatever he may be, and I know for a fact that Gabriel has no idea how he arrived in Equestria."

Twilight raised her voice. "I am trying to save–!"

Sandy did the same. "I also know that he isn't the monster you're saying he is. Intensely troubled, definitely, but not a monster!"

"It doesn't matter if he's the goodest little colt in all of Equestria!" Twilight exploded. "We don't have a choice!"

"You always have a choice!" Sandy roared back, slamming her hoof into the ground. "ALWAYS!"

"You really think that thing's life is worth more than Princess Luna's?"

Sandy's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Why, you stuck-up b–"

A black-and-white stallion came skidding to a stop an arm's length away from Spike with a panicked shout. His mane made him look like he'd been through a tornado, and his sprint had tinted his bone-white cheeks pink. He slid on his rear, his hooves scraping against the pavement and coming to a jerking stop on the curb. "Oof!"

"There you are, you little snake!" Rainbow cried victoriously. “Tell me where Gabe is, or I promise ya, you’re gonna be sorry.”

Looking Glass ignored her, fixing his terrified, wide-eyed stare directly on Twilight. He managed a short sentence in between pants.

"The colt escaped. It's gone."

The First Choice

Monday Afternoon

Princess Celestia truly loved the Royal Gardens at this time of year.

Life jostled for room in every corner. Lush grass paths wound between immaculately-kept flower beds that boasted everything from red-pink amaranth bushes to burning yellow-orange dahlias to soft white blue-speckled stargazer lilies. Their fragrance barely tinted the air with hints of passing sweetness.

Weeping willows swayed in the breeze, their full branches casting wide, generous shadows across perfectly manicured and exquisitely comfortable patches of sitting grass.

These days held no springtime chills or autumn winds, even at night, though those cool, easy times were a far cry from the comforting, all-encompassing heat the day was providing her. A hoof-crafted brook gurgled somewhere, feeding the stone-bound pond across the way, where Celestia knew a school of well-fed koi spent their days without a care in the world.

She felt a pang of very deep envy when she thought about them swimming about in their water, serene as silk, unworried about the world beyond their next feeding.

Indeed, the gardens were the most beautiful part of the palace grounds. It was a shame Celestia was currently unable to enjoy them.

The alicorn huffed and looked at the smooth blue sky that stretched infinitely over the pond and past the hedge that encircled the gardens. It looked so clean and pure. The afternoon was growing old, but she still had a while before she would need to lower the sun―and raise the moon.

More than anything, Celesia wanted to go for a flight, to soar above Canterlot and be free from it all for just a little while, but her shoulders felt impossibly tight. She couldn't hold her head quite as high as normal. Her chest ached with each heartbeat. Luna...

The flight would have to wait.

The white mare yawned and rubbed her eyes and the bags beneath them with her fetlock. They ached in their sockets, begging for rest that Celestia could not give. She sighed, grateful that, for once, nopony was close enough to see her so... disheveled.

No gold clung to her hooves or weighed down her head. In fact, she hadn't donned her formalwear for quite some time. Her mane, while still ethereal and magically buoyant, floated a good deal lower than usual, and her stylist would have a fit when she saw the state her coat was in. But all that could wait, too. There was a situation at hoof.

Celestia sighed again, but not in relief. It's time I check up on Luna. I've spent too much time away from her.

She thought about writing Twilight again for the umpteenth time today, but once again, considered the fact that her student could look after herself. She had been groomed to do exactly this sort of thing, after all, and asking for status reports every twenty minutes simply wouldn't do.

Get a hold of yourself, Celestia.

The mare rose to her hooves with a groan, stretched her legs in a very un-royal fashion, and turned away from the garden's beauty, but as she began to make her way towards the palace's gold and ivory towers, a strange, near-inaudible noise broke through the brook's gentle babble.

She froze, one hoof held in the air, and swiveled her ears, waiting for the sound again. A moment passed, and then another, and right as she started to convince herself that she hadn't heard anything...

There. A slight rustling, and... something else?

Celestia didn't need to solve this problem. She had, at her beck and call, over a hundred guards in this wing of the palace alone. It would only take a moment to direct one here as she made her way back to Luna's bed chambers, but something stopped her.

Perhaps it was her lack of enthusiasm to return to the torturous storm of stress and worry that had consumed her last few days, or maybe it was just plain curiosity, but Celestia set her hoof back down on the path as gently as she could and stood perfectly still, listening for the rustling again.

Another rustle. Her ears locked on to it this time. It came from across the flower beds. She began to trot towards the sound, keeping her ears pointed straight at the mystery. Another rustle. The snap of a twig, a little further to the right, closer to the palace. The mystery was on the move.

Her curiosity had been piqued before, but now the situation had her full attention. Her voice of reason shouted that it likely came down to a squirrel or rabbit in a bush somewhere, but she pressed onward.

Now she was past the flower beds and the willows. The only thing left between her and the hedgerow on the garden's border was the stream, and it certainly wasn't coming from there. Another rustle, much clearer and louder this time, and a high, but quiet voice. "–Ow! Stupid branch."

A foal! Celestia had heard foals' voices of all kinds over the centuries and this one could belong to no other type of pony. She tilted her head. What was a foal doing in the Royal Gardens' hedge wall? Perhaps a game of hide-and-seek gone wildly wrong?

Despite her exhaustion, the mare couldn’t help but raise her head and perk her ears. What in the world? Celestia thought. Well, it’s not every day a foal unknowingly breaks into the palace.

She held her breath and began to sneak up on the rustling, walking as lightly as she could. The grass swallowed her hoofsteps perfectly, masking her approach right up to the face of the massive, formidable, and overwhelmingly green hedge.

"...such a fuckin’ pain in my ass, walking across half a goddamn city and—gah! My eye!” the bush growled. “I swear, these fuckin' branches!"

Celestia paused. Apparently, this foal's parents were not doing a very good job at teaching their child to speak with a clean mouth. Her confusion only grew as the growl became a tired, annoyed chuckle.

“Hah. If only those fucks could see me now. Some dick from—ow—nowhere, Pennsylvania stuck in a baby horse’s body, crawling through a god damn hedge trying to sneak into a stupid castle and to find a pretty pony princess…”

The string of utter nonsense threw Celestia for such a loop that a scratched-up colt's tumble out of the hedge's leaf-stuffed branches caught her completely by surprise.

"Oof!" he said as his chin hit the grass, his eyes squeezed shut. "...ow."

Celestia blinked and tilted her head from side to side as she inspected the scratched-up pegasus foal. "What a strange little colt..." she murmured under her breath. Then she spoke aloud. "Who are you, little one?"

"Gah!" The little green colt jerked his head and waggled his legs, tangling them up nicely as he attempted to stand. He tumbled back down to the ground with a grunt, and his head popped up.

Such deep brown eyes, she thought.

They grew to the size of saucers when he saw her and he smiled. "Oh, shit! It's you!"

Celestia blinked. "It's me?"

His ruffled little wings flopped around as he rolled, finally untying his legs and getting them underneath himself. He stood with the confidence of a pony who had just been allowed to leave their wheelchair for the first time in weeks—he clearly knew how to stand, but it took a moment for him to remember exactly what that meant. She also noticed he wore a curious pair of leather bracers on his forelegs.

"Yeah, you. Celestia. Man, that’s lucky. God damn." He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "You look really tired."

For the first time in a long time, Princess Celestia found herself at the slightest loss. After a mind-boggling moment had passed, however, she rapidly reeled in her confusion and threw it to the back of her mind. This is no time to be gaping like a fool. It was a small thing to refocus herself and don a familiar motherly tone.

"What are you doing here, my little pony?"

She spoke those words softly, with all the kindness she could muster, but he jerked as if he had been hit by lightning. His eyes shot up and locked with her own, and in that instant, the utter wrongness of them hit Celestia like a strike through the heart.

A thousand years did not pass without conflict. Not even Celestia could bring about such a lasting peace, and despite her constant efforts to keep it at bay, the mare had seen such times take Equestria in its grip.

Those times long, long ago did not boast armor made of gleaming gold, polished and shown off in extravagant parades. No, it had been forged from cold, dark iron. In those grim days, Celestia had seen countless souls claimed by the suffering that such things brought.

She had seen those eyes in the pegasus that had returned from battle wingless and the prisoner shackled in iron chains.

She had seen those eyes in the displaced as they guided their homeless families to the sides of muddy roads to make way for her soldiers, turning so that she would not see how their ribs showed underneath their coat.

She had seen those eyes in the foal that sat on a threadbare cot wrapped in a thin blanket, shivering and alone, waiting for parents that would never return.

Celestia had not seen those eyes in many, many years but there they were, here and now, staring at her from inside this little green colt's head.

He laughed. "Sorry, but–"

"You're not one of my little ponies, are you?"

His gaze lowered. "No," he said, after a second's hesitation, "I'm not." Then he looked up again. "But that doesn't mean I was raised without manners." The colt stepped right up to her, confident as you please, and stuck out his tiny little hoof. "You asked who I was? I'm Gabriel."

A strange creature, from a place of suffering, made to look like a pegasus foal... he spoke in an accent she had not heard before and of places she knew not to be in this world. It didn't take long to put two and two together.

The interloper, delivered right to my hooves.

A bolt of alarm raced up her spine, and, if somepony were looking closely, they would have noticed her eyes widen slightly and wings clamp closer to her body. Why did Twilight not mention that he was in the form of a foal?

She shifted slightly, nearly shouting for her guards and calling upon her magic right then and there, but she looked him in the eye again and stayed her hoof. Interlopers were never to be taken lightly, but this one... There's something different about him.

With her revelation locked behind a gently pensive face, the princess extended her hoof. "I am Celestia. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gabriel." She watched him closely, ready for any kind of magical buildup or attack. Should he attempt something, he will be sorely sorry.

The colt wrapped his hoof around hers and pumped it up and down once. "The pleasure's all mine, Princess."

How strange. The others wouldn’t have hesitated to take that advantage, but he chooses to shake my hoof, of all things. The momentary thought didn’t stop her from making her first move. "I'm sorry to say, but I must be returning to check on my sister. Would you like to come with me?"

The colt blinked. Apparently, he hadn't been expecting that. "Um, yeah, sure."

The mare turned and began to stride towards the palace doors, taking care to walk more slowly so that Gabriel could keep pace.

"Convenient..." he muttered behind her a moment before breaking into a trot. The foal had to hurry to catch up to her and walk at her side. "Y’know, this palace is a lot bigger than I thought it would be," he said as they approached the massive oaken doors.

Celestia smiled as she lit her horn. "You are far from the first to observe that, little one." She pulled the massive doors open and the two strode into one of the palace's many halls.

"I bet." He craned his neck as they walked, looking all the way up to the ribbed arches that held up the cavernous stone ceiling. “Jesus, that’s tall…”

The guards that patrolled the miles of palace hallway certainly noticed her company, but they didn't do anything besides manage to look stoic and confused at the same time. Celestia hid a smile. It wasn't every day she got to lead a strange, unfamiliar foal past legions of ponies whose job description included keeping strange, unfamiliar ponies away.

"Um, Celestia, if you don't mind me asking, what's going on with Luna?"

It took a good deal of effort to not show any reaction. He knows that I know. It appeared the interloper was a little sharper than she gave him credit for.

Still, the mare smirked a little at the colt's lack of titles, and she wondered if he knew just how few ponies addressed her as such. All the guards, all the staff, all the nobles, and any normal pony for that matter would have forgotten their own names before they forgot to call her 'Princess'.

Twilight still did it, too, even though Celestia had reminded her many times that such an honorific was unnecessary, and even young Cadenza called her 'Auntie'... though with her plans for that stallion of hers she’d been rather distant as of late.

Really, the only other pony to just call her by her name was Luna... who was slowly dying in her bed at this very moment.

Celestia's chest ached and she began her response with a grand understatement. "She had... not been herself as of late," she said. "We were busy with the rule, and I assumed that her moods were because of workload stress, and nothing more." She winced. "I confess, I wasn't nearly attentive enough, and she, well... took matters into her own hooves."

The colt hummed. "What does the whole soul magic schtick have to do with this?"

The issue of the hour. Celestia suspected that she would never truly understand the emotions that had pushed her sister to make such a choice. "From what I can tell, she was attempting to summon a pony she was quite close with... or at the very least, recreate him. Instead, she severely injured herself—and summoned you."

"Oh, fuck." Gabriel looked over his shoulder at himself as he trotted and flopped his wings around a bit. "Did he look like this?"

"It's been a long time since I saw him, but no, I believe he was a deep blue."

“Then why am I green?”

“I must confess I do not know. Perhaps there was something in the spell that decided that color best suited you—unfortunately, the pony best able to answer that question is currently indisposed.”

"Best suited me, huh?" the colt muttered. “That spell had one cruel fuckin’ sense of humor.”

Celestia didn’t quite know how to respond to that.

“So, what, this is all Luna’s fault?” the frowning colt asked a few seconds later. “She forgot to think for a fuckin’ second and pulled a royal fuckup? That’s why all this happened?” He scoffed. “That’s, like, monumentally stupid of her.”

“Yes, Luna has made a grave mistake,” Celestia said, looking down at the colt with an arched eyebrow, “but it is one I suspect she has paid dearly for over the course of the last three days. I will also remind you that you are speaking of my sister.”

The colt shut his mouth. After a few moments of silent travel, he spoke again, his childlike voice filled with gentle curiosity. "So, why haven't you killed me yet?"

The absurdity hit Celestia like a ton of marble blocks and she suppressed a start. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific than that, Gabriel."

"You're not stupid," he said. "You've probably got a stack of letters from that student of yours all about me and you're a thousand years old. I'm sure you've figured out that I'm the ‘magical interdimensional monster' you're looking for."

He snorted. "For God’s sake, your sister's dying, and the cure is walking along beside you, but you haven't scooped me up and just teleported me to her or something. We’re just walking there. What're you waiting for?"

Truth be told, Celestia had been acting with caution in the face of an unexpected and thoroughly alien situation. She knew not why Twilight had apparently not seen fit to inform her that the interloper had taken on this particular form, but, whatever he was, he appeared not to know of the danger other interlopers had posed in the past, even to ponies as powerful as her.

I suppose I can assume force is an option, now.

Still, the admission that he understood what his life meant to her only poured more questions into her head.

"Well," Celestia began, "if I had done that, then I wouldn't have been raised with manners, would I?"

“Hah!” The colt barked out a snorting laugh. "No, I guess not. I tell ya, if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't have been so patient."

"...why did you seek me, little one?" Celestia said, looking down at the little foal as he walked by her side. "If you knew that I could kill you without a moment's hesitation, why would you come to the palace at all?"

The colt studied the tiled floor as they walked. "A mix of things, really. Partially because I was tired of pretending that I didn't know what was going on." He tossed his unbrushed mane. "That student of yours, Twilight? She and her friend had this clever plan set up to get me to you. It would have worked, too, if I hadn't realized what they were trying to do.”

Gabriel chuckled a little. “Would you believe that when someone who thinks they locked you in a room sees a broken window, they think you climbed out of it?”

The princess refused to let the barest hint of confusion show on her face.

“Yeah, they thought they had me all figured out. Not quite." He grinned at her, and she caught something of a predator's glint in his eyes. "Still, though, she really gave it her all to get the job done, and I had an unfair advantage anyway. You should be proud.”

That's one of the strangest compliments I've ever received. "Thank you. I am indeed very proud of her," Celestia said, trying to sound gracious.

"It was pretty fun to slip under their radar, actually, but I guess..." he trailed off into a thoughtful stare.

Celestia tilted her head at the gibberish idiom, but she picked up the subtext well enough.

"Foiling her plans wasn't really the point. I just—" he paused for a moment. "She thinks I'm some sorta space monster, and I guess she's kinda right, in a way, but not the kind she's thinking of. I didn't want to have to make her, I dunno, do something stupid. Well, she might have already done something stupid, so I guess somethingwrong.”

Gabriel looked up at her. “Seems to me like there’s a pretty bad problem that needs fixin’. I just wanted to make things right, y'know? And make ‘em right my way."

On that, I can empathize thoroughly, Celestia thought, nodding as they finally approached the doorway to Luna's chambers. She waved a reassuring wing to the two guards flanking it and lit her horn, pushing the iron-banded doors open. The two entered.

"Well, you certainly have taken the initiative by coming here."

"That was the idea... whoa."

The colt stared, wide-eyed, at the many candle-lit tapestries and diagrams that adorned her sister's sitting room. Celestia would not have chosen this sort of decor for herself, but Luna loved to display her diagrams for the night sky alongside multi-century-old works of art that proudly flourished the beauty of the night, depicting nighttime landscapes and scenes of moonbeam-lit ponies with exquisite detail.

The unwindowed walls' splendor put the rest of the furniture in the room to shame, overshadowing the meager chairs and tables that occupied the half of the room across from Luna's massive desk. Unfinished drafts and designs still cluttered its surface.

Celestia pushed her thoughts on the colt away, moving towards Luna's bedchamber. "Please wait here a moment, Gabriel, I'm going to check on my sister. It would be wise not to touch anything in this room."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said in an unworried voice while inspecting one of the silver-embossed bracers on his forelegs.

Celestia blinked, caught off-guard by the colt’s candor again. She shook the passing consideration away and stepped into Luna's room.

The candlelight was dimmer here. When she closed the door behind she cast the room into a low, flickering light. The flames threw dim, dancing shadows across the tall, dark walls.

There, in near-solitude, safe from any possible eye, Celestia finally let her shoulders fall. Her head lowered from where she’d been working so hard to hold it, hanging low, and tears began to fill her eyes. Her mane dropped out of the air and lost its blues and greens, returning to a simple pink and falling across her neck. She felt her tail do the same. They feel so heavy.

Then she took another deep breath, wiped her eyes, and walked towards the room’s main feature: a massive four-poster bed, carved from dark oak and draped in flowing folds of night-blue silk. There, Luna lay, beneath a down blanket embroidered with a beautiful map of her night sky.

She looked minuscule in the oversized bed. Her pale blue mane lay, scraggled and tangled, across the pillows behind her head. One foreleg lay on her covers, motionless, and her chest barely rose and fell with each breath.

Celestia sat beside the bed. “Sister? I am here…” she didn’t move. “Lulu? Can you hear me?”

Her sister took a shallow, shuddering breath. One eye slowly opened and blearily drifted around before settling on her. Celestia could hardly see the teal in her eye through its cloudiness. Luna gasped again, twitching her lips, but her melodic voice remained lost.

“Luna, I found the interloper.” A smile spread across her face, and tears gathered in her eyes. She sniffed and wiped them away again. “Lulu, you’re going to be okay.”

“...hhhh,” Luna hissed, “...hurts…”

“I know, I know.” Celestia reached out a hoof and carefully touched its tip to Luna’s. Her sister’s eye blearily followed it, and when they met with an almost-silent tap, she weakly twitched her own hoof.

Celestia smiled and sniffed. “You’ll have to wait a little while,” she said. “There’s a problem with the interloper. It’s not quite what we expected.” The eye swiveled around and met hers again, clouded and uncomprehending.

Luna struggled for air. She huffed an unintelligible word.

“It’s going to be okay, I promise,” Celestia said, “I’ll be back soon. Just rest, okay? I’ll… I’ll be back soon.”

Her sister’s eye remained on hers for a moment longer before slowly closing.

Celestia swallowed a sob and raised her chin, wiping at her eyes once more. Then she stood, forced herself to look away from the still, limp form of her sister, and returned to the doors.

She paused before them, taking a moment to light her horn. Her mane and tail re-lit with a flash, caught by a magical breeze. Celestia cast a glance over her shoulder to check that they were in order and took a deep breath, making sure her eyes were dry and her head was raised before opening the chamber doors.

The colt had moved, but not by much. He stood nearby Luna's desk, examining it at a respectful distance with a careful eye. Though it huddled away, letting the tapestries and beautifully complex charts of the night sky take the stage, the desk was as much an artifact and work of art as anything else in the room. Hoof-carved greatwood, embossed with glittering starmetal and inscribed with runes for longevity. It was one of the few things of Luna's that had survived her long exile.

"How is she?" the colt called over his shoulder.

"She... has not improved," Celestia replied as she strode towards him. Her head felt terribly heavy, and her neck felt incredibly sore. He turned around and fixed a steely look on her.

"I'm, uh… I’m sorry to hear that," he said. There was genuine sympathy in his voice, to be sure, but the expectant way that he spoke made Celestia believe that the concept of a slow death was no news to him. How dark.

He walked to her, completely ignored the table and chairs, and plopped his rear down on the magnificent carpet. Then he held up a foreleg.

“Do you know what these are?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow and seated herself across from the colt, leaning her head down to examine the leather-wrapped around his limb. “I believe that is an enchanted bracer. Why do you ask?”

He huffed. “Yeah, I figured it was magic. I only ask because I can’t get the dumb things off.” He pushed at it with his other hoof, and lo and behold, it appeared to be stuck.

Celestia leaned in closer, examining the silver patterns on the bracers. Ah, binding, draining, with an active-magic trigger. Very clever, Twilight. Her knowing eye followed its swirls and crossings until it found a certain place where the faintly glowing lines met in just the right way. She lit her horn and let just a little bit of magic flow into the pit in the leather.

“Try again,” she said.

The colt pulled at the bracer and it slid right off. “Well, damn, would you look at that,” he muttered and held up his other foreleg. “Please?”

“Of course.” Celestia repeated the process and Gabriel slid the other bracer off a moment later.

“Thanks a bunch,” he said, rubbing at the fur that had been trapped beneath the bindings. “I couldn’t really figure out what they were for, but I really didn’t like that I couldn’t take ‘em off.”

“It was my pleasure,” Celestia smiled politely.

The colt nodded his head and coughed into a hoof. "So, um, about the whole, ah, Luna dying issue—sounds like there isn't any time to screw around with."

"Indeed there isn’t, Gabriel,” Celestia said, shaking her head. “Well, then, what do you suggest? You are the one who managed to break into the royal gardens, after all." And it’s anypony’s guess how he managed that.

He rubbed his chin. "We've got a problem to solve here, and I’d rather not die, so I think it's high time you sent Spike a letter telling all'a them that I'm here so we can sort this out. Twilight and Rainbow and the others'll have regrouped by now. They’ll want to catch up."

How did he know about dragon-fire letters? Had he perhaps seen Spike send one? Celestia elected not to ask why the colt sounded so familiar with the idea. Instead, as she levitated a parchment and quill from a drawer in her sister's desk, she asked her other question.

"Rainbow Dash?" Celestia raised an eyebrow as she began to draw up a letter. "The Element of Loyalty is in Canterlot, too?"

"Yeah," the colt said with a grimace. "Um, I should probably bring you up to speed..."

Spike wrung his claws together. His stomach flipped in his gut and he tapped his feet, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"You don't know what you're implying, Dash! You're putting your hoof down for this 'kid' you haven't even known for two weeks, and you'd let the princess die! You're being hardheaded." The corner of Looking Glass's mouth raised in a disgusted sneer as he spoke.

Twilight gave her support in the form of an astute nod. "He's right, Rainbow, and if I didn't know you, I'd say there was mind-magic at play."

The pegasus visibly resisted the urge to leap into the air. Spike saw her scrape at the ground with a hoof. "I'm not mind-controlled and I'm not the one being hardheaded! That slimy jerk convinced you that this was the only way, and now you won't listen to me!" She punctuated her words with a frustrated snort.

"Yes, you two were awfully eager to slaughter an innocent. You didn't even have the common courtesy to just ask him about all this."

Counselor Hills' tail swished behind her and eyes looked hard and cold, completely void of their usual welcoming shine. Every time they flicked his way, Spike's heart skipped a beat, and he wasn’t even the focus of her rage.

"Oh, of course!" Looking snapped as he rolled his eyes and waggled his hoof up and down. "Why didn't I think of asking the eldritch beast from beyond if we could snap its neck? It's genius!"

Sandy's gaze snapped to his and Spike saw his eyes widen a little. "Be quiet, liar," Sandy hissed. "In anything close to a fair world, you'd lose your Celestia-damned badge for impersonating Ministry workers. Lying and telling me I not only lost my job, but I failed?"

"I'll have you know that it was–"

Rainbow cut him off with an indignant shout. "He what?! You soulless freak, I'll throw you in the dungeons myself!"

Looking Glass jumped a little when Rainbow put herself in his face, but he held his ground. "I'd like to see you try, you raving narcissist."

"Hey!" shouted Twilight, barely stopping Rainbow from leaping at the stallion. Desperation gripped her wavering voice. "None of this matters right now! We have to focus on finding the interloper, because, in case everypony’s forgotten, Princess Celestia’s sister is dying and we’ve lost it." She sent a brief but razor-sharp frown at Looking Glass.

Spike bit his lip hard. Twilight didn't sound like that unless something really bad was going on. The last time he had heard her like that, Nightmare Moon had shown up. He studied his toes and rubbed an upset stomach, trying to ignore the prying eyes on the street. I hope they're enjoying the show, those jerks.

The stallion snorted. “How was I supposed to know it wouldn’t be enough to take its magic and lock it in a third-floor office? I was only gone for two minutes!”

“It’s got wings!”

He jabbed a hoof at Sandy. “She said it couldn’t use them! And I took its magic!”

Twilight grumbled and rolled her eyes. “Regardless, we still have to find it.”

"At least say his name, Twilight," the counselor sneered. “You owe him that much."

"Yeah, do we really want to find him, Twi?" Rainbow's frown deepened as she looked away from Looking. "Do I really want to focus on that so you can drag him to Celestia a second later? Maybe I want to let him escape."

"Rainbow, I–! Rrgh!" Twilight smacked her forehead with a hoof. Spike could see her struggling to keep the raw anger from her voice. "You're making me out to be some sort of soulless killer! I'm trying to save a life! The princess's life! And I don’t like this either!"

Sandy snorted. "You aren't trying to save a life, you're trying to trade one. Don't lie to yourself."

"Yeah, and that's all you're trying to do, Twi. I don't see you looking through any magic books for another way, huh?"

The RBI agent snorted. "That's not how that works, Dash."

"Oh yeah, slugger?” Rainbow spat at Looking. “Are you both suddenly experts on soul magic now?"

“W-well, we researched it enough to know what we need to do!”

Dash groaned. “So why not go find a real expert and see if they know anything? You know, somepony who can actually do ‘soul magic’? Maybe there’s another way out of this!”

Spike grimaced, but not because Twilight dragged a hoof through her rat’s nest of a mane again.

“Soul magic is illegal, Rainbow,” Twilight said, “and for good reason. The only pony our sources mentioned that might be able to help and didn’t die hundreds of years ago is Princess Luna, and that’s obviously not an option!”

A familiar feeling rose in Spike's stomach, like a swirling, burning storm in his gut, and pushed its way up and out. He let out a fantastic belch and a gout of flame and his arms darted forward automatically. Half a moment later, a scroll plopped down into his waiting claws.

No ribbon trailed behind it and no royal seal held it shut—it was just a plain, rolled-up sheet of parchment. He unfurled it and read the short yet neatly-penned note inside. His eyes grew wide.

"Uh, guys?"

"Rainbow, I'm sorry, but we're out of time! There's no point in looking for an alternate solution if the princess we're trying to save is dead by the time we find one!"

"Hey, guys!"

Rainbow Dash showed absolutely zero sign that she heard his call. "You don't know that! You have no idea how Luna is doing right now!"

"Hey! Hello? Anypony?" This was getting out of claw! Why wouldn't anyone listen to him?

"Spike, please be quiet!" Twilight shoved a hoof in his face as she shouted, giving him the barest annoyed glance. "Rainbow, Princess Celestia told me herself that she thought Luna was in critical danger, and she's the only pony we know of who even knows how to do real soul magic! We don't have time to figure anything else out!”

“Yes, Rainbow Dash,” Looking snarled, bringing his muzzle up to hers, “use your brain for once!"

Spike saw a special type of fire burst to life behind Rainbow's eyes. "For once?! Oh, c’mere, you son of a–" That was about all she managed before her hoof rocketed into Looking Glass’s jaw.

“Urk!” The stallion stumbled backwards and collapsed. Rainbow dove forward but Sandy collided with her and the two went tumbling to the cobblestones.

“Agh! Sandy, let me go!” Rainbow shouted, “I'm gonna make sure this jerkwad stays down.”

“Rainbow, stop! Think about what you’re doing!” Sandy said. Rainbow squirmed free and leapt at Looking again, but slammed into a translucent lavender wall.

“Stop! Everypony stop! We can’t afford to fight!” Twilight cried.

Looking finished struggling to his hooves with a cold, absolute malice in his eyes. He wiped blood away from a split in his lip and lit his horn, and Spike knew he was out of time.

"LISTEN TO ME, YOU IDIOTS!"

The group blinked, totally choked off, and turned, wide-eyed, to look at the little dragon, then at the scroll he held in his claws. The violet wall disappeared and Looking’s horn stopped glowing. Twilight opened her mouth, but Spike gave her a pointed look, cleared his throat, and unfurled the letter.

"My dearest student. I wish to inform you that, uh, Gabriel arrived at the palace attempting to seek me out and is currently in my care. Please gather your friends and come to us at once. Gabriel wishes to inform you to bring everypony, including Ms. Sandy Hills, Mr. Looking Glass, and Spike." The little dragon blinked, coughed once, and finished reading. "With much love, Princess Celestia."

Spike's final words hung in the energy-drained air. Twilight's mouth hung open, her expression a near carbon-copy of Rainbow's, whose wings fell to her sides. Sandy plopped down onto her rear and Looking rubbed the side of his head with a hoof.

"Oh, wow," he whispered.

Spike had done it. Gabe wasn't missing anymore and they had finally stopped shouting. So why does it feel like things only just got worse?

Rainbow shut her mouth and swallowed. She glanced at Twilight. "Uh, I guess we had better get going, huh?" she said in a low, gravelly voice.

Twilight blinked. "Yes, I... we...." She bit her lip. "...yes. I guess we should."

"The princesses are in here, miss." The royal guard pointed a wing towards two massive wood and wrought-iron doors. The two stallions already standing before them waited for the guard to nod before they turned around and each braced a hoof against the dark, majestic wood. A creaking groan echoed through the halls, and the candle-lit room beyond appeared.

Rainbow Dash's heart soared when she spotted Gabe, sitting on a cushion near the middle of the room, and plummeted at the sight of the sunlight princess next to him, her head lowered and her gaze attentive to the little foal. It felt strange to see her without her golden regalia—no, it felt wrong.

"...so you can probably guess that things weren’t in all that great shape by the fifth year when–" The colt stopped mid-sentence at the sight of the group. He smiled when he met her eyes, and Rainbow's spirits lightened just the tiniest bit.

Celestia raised her head to face the newcomers. She looked exhausted. "Twilight, my dear student. I am glad you are here," she said, "and to the rest of you, welcome."

Every time Rainbow had seen the princess before, that same smile had seemed so warm and motherly, but right now, she couldn't shake the thought of Gabe's fate from her mind. Surely the princess would be on Twilight's side, right? Her own sister's life was at stake, and it showed. She wasn’t wearing any of her fancy gold stuff and Rainbow had never seen bags underneath Celestia's eyes.

Twilight mumbled something vaguely gracious to the guard, who nodded and motioned with a hoof. The five entered the room, and the doors groaned again. The thin bar of sunlight on the opposite wall thinned to a sliver, then disappeared, returning the massive tapestry on the far wall to its humble, flickering light.

"Hey, guys." The colt waved his hoof.

Rainbow wanted desperately to run to him, scoop him up, and bolt back out the door. Instead, she raised her own hoof and forced it not to tremble. "Hey, kid."

The group began to move towards the two, forming a rough circle of ponies in the middle of the room. Rainbow made sure to seat herself next to Gabe. Sandy moved in at her side, looking sweaty and anxious. She kept glancing up at Princess Celestia with wide eyes, which Rainbow could certainly empathize with—she had felt the same way when she first saw the princess up close.

Twilight and Looking moved to sit beside Celestia, leaving the latter and Spike to sit across from the colt of the hour. The stallion wiped at his mouth again and narrowed his eyes at Rainbow. She glared right back.

A few tense seconds passed where the air hung over them all like a thick, smoky cloth. Everypony listened to the click-click-click of a little dragon's claws tapping together.

Gabe looked around at them all. He seemed so small, surrounded by big ponies, and looked especially tiny next to Celestia. Even Spike looked bigger. If somepony looked in on them now, Rainbow doubted they would even notice the little colt.

Twilight cleared her throat with a little cough. "So, Princess," she said, "what happens now?"

Celestia made the faintest smile. "I believe Gabriel requested your presence, isn't that right?" She looked to the colt at her side.

Gabe nodded, brimming with that calm confidence of his. "Now we talk it out. No lies, no vagueness. We really don’t have time for that anymore.” He looked up at the alicorn sitting beside him. “Celestia? You're up first. Tell us what's going on with Luna."

Rainbow's eyes widened at his blasé tone. The kid didn't even call her 'princess!'

The princess simply nodded once, then straightened her back and looked down at those gathered around her.

"My little ponies," she began, "as you all must know by now, my sister is currently gravely ill. This is because of a forbidden spell she performed some time ago, one I believe was meant to summon the mind and soul of a pony very close to her in years long past. She failed, and instead brought Gabriel here, to Equestria. In doing so, she tore her soul in two, and a considerable piece of it is now in him. If it is not returned, I, ah…”

Celestia swallowed. “I do not believe she will see nightfall."

Rainbow's heart tightened. Some part of her had been holding out that maybe, maybe Twilight was wrong, but to hear it from the princess herself? That was something else.

To her left, the counselor made a little gasp. "So it's true..."

The princess nodded again. "Yes. Gabriel is definitely the interloper, but not a kind we have encountered before."

"Celestia told me about your interlopers," Gabe cut in, "and I can tell you all right now, I'm not some sort of supernatural deity-monster from beyond the stars wearing the skin of a pony. I don't have any mind control powers and I'm not going to remove anyone’s skeleton. I'm just me."

Sandy seemed like she would tip over if Rainbow gave her even the slightest push. "So, you're really not a pony?" she asked with a paper-thin voice.

Gabe took a deep breath. "No. I'm not. I’m not even a kid. Or I wasn’t, at least."

Sandy’s eyes leapt open and she covered her open mouth with a hoof. Her already unsteady breathing became even more staggered.

Not a kid? Rainbow felt her head swell and spin. This whole time, I’ve been treating him like he’s a little colt, but… it kind of makes sense. She shook her head. No, it totally makes sense. Self-sufficient, knowledgeable, sometimes, and he kept talking about ‘when he was younger.’ Geeze, that makes so much more sense.

Looking Glass leaned in, looking cautious. "So what are you, then?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"...I’m just a person. A type of person from very far away."

"And what are your people like?" Looking pushed. "Are they dangerous?"

A hot white flame burst to life inside Rainbow. "That doesn't matter, you snake!" A flash of alarm and regret surged through her when she realized she had just spoken like that in front of Princess Celestia, but the thought faded as quickly as it had come because she realized that she simply didn't care.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and she was trying to save somepony too.

The investigator met her glare. "I'm only being sure!"

Rainbow began her less-than-polite retort but Gabe held a little foreleg across her front, freezing the angry words in her throat.

"It's fine," he said without looking at her. "Glass, I wouldn't say my people are, by nature, any less complicated than ponies, but Rainbow's got a point. Is that really what you want to focus on right now?"

The stallion pursed his lips and raised his chin. Rainbow could see him struggling to swallow his pride. "...no, it is not. Despite what some ponies may believe, I'm trying to do what's right here."

Rainbow snorted.

"Then start by being honest," Gabe said. "What was your and Twilight's plan today?"

"Erm..." The stallion shuffled his hooves and massaged his jaw.

He had better pick his words carefully, Rainbow thought.

Eventually, he sighed and began to speak in a tone that almost sounded guilty. "Twilight and I were to separate you from Ms. Hills and Ms. Dash. She was to say she needed Ms. Dash's help, and I posed as an agent in the Ministry of Public Health and Family Services."

Looking licked his split lip and glanced up at Celestia, but her face remained as emotive as the stone walls surrounding them. He swallowed and continued. "I took you into the offices and told you to wait, locked you in, and then... falsely told Ms. Hills that she had been removed from the case."

Rrgh, the more he talks, the more I want to smash his stupid face in, Rainbow thought. Again.

His gaze dropped to the carpet. "By the time I returned, you had disappeared."

"What would you have done if I had stayed?" Gabe said. He didn't sound upset or angry at all, just genuinely curious.

"I would have brought you here, to the princess. By force, if necessary."

"Alright." The foal looked satisfied enough, shifting his gaze to the lavender unicorn beside him. "Twilight." She jumped a little when he said her name. "Why were you two doing this?"

"I..." Her voice wavered, but she glanced at the white mare beside her and squared her shoulders. When she spoke again, her voice was steady and confident. "Because we believed we had to. It was the best way to save the princess."

Rainbow would have harped on the 'believed' part right away, but Gabriel moved right along. "And how exactly did you plan on saving her?"

How can he be so calm? Doesn't he know his life is at stake? What is going on?

Twilight's stance faltered and she glanced down at her shuffling hooves for a second before meeting the colt's eye. "Um, based on what we know about Luna's spell, your body contains the torn piece of Luna's soul. All we needed to do was, ah..." She looked up at Celestia and shuffled again. "Free it, by, um, initiating contact."

"Initiate contact?" Sandy said.

Twilight blushed. "I-I mean, all we'd have to do is get the two bodies to touch. Anima Thaumaturgia says that the soul fragment should be desperate to return on its own, since it must have been separated rather, erm… messily when Princess Luna’s spell failed."

“Ah,” muttered Gabriel, “That’s why it feels so weirdly hot in this room.” He glanced at Luna’s bedroom door.

Rainbow couldn't stop herself. "What? We can't just remove it? There's no way to suck the soul out of him or something?" She glanced at Gabe. He had a pensive look on his face as he rubbed his chin with a hoof.

"You don't seem very confident in what you're saying, Twilight," Sandy said. She kept her chin raised, but Rainbow could hear the waver in her voice. How hard was she trying to keep her voice steady?

Looking piped up and Rainbow didn't try to hide her sneer. "She's correct. He contains the piece of Luna's soul. Princess, can you confirm this?" Brown-noser.

Princess Celestia nodded. "I know my sister's magical presence. It follows Gabriel as well. I can feel it." She spoke with a calm, even tone, almost sounding dead. Again, when compared to her usual regal voice, it made Rainbow shiver, but she pushed the feeling away.

"So remove it!"

"We can't, Rainbow," Twilight said. Her voice's frustrated tone made guilty satisfaction bounce off the inside of Rainbow's chest. “Not without killing, um, him.”

"Why not?” Sandy asked. “The elements did it with Nightmare Moon!"

"I... don’t think the elements are an option right now,” Twilight said, her eyes flicking to meet Rainbow’s for a moment. “Besides, that was different. The Nightmare was an entirely different entity than Princess Luna. There were two! When we return Luna's soul, there won't be anything to keep his body going."

The counselor came to her side again, pointing her hoof. "Twilight, are you saying that colt does not have a soul?"

The jab hit Twilight where it mattered. "I'm saying that interlopers do not have souls," she said, sounding defensive, “not like ponies do. Whatever he’s got in him, it wasn’t meant for a pony. It needs help to keep him alive.”

"That's simply not true!" Sandy said, almost cutting the unicorn off, "Gabriel is kind and empathetic! He is far from soulless! I saw him make friends with three little fillies, for crying out loud! How can you say that?"

"That doesn't mean that it has a soul, not like we do," Looking said. Rainbow saw red. "it could just be–"

"Stop calling him an 'it'," she growled, leaping to her feet. "All you ever do is call him 'it'! Like he's not a real pony!"

"But he isn't a real pony!" Twilight cried.

Rainbow came very close to acting on the urge to slap Twilight on the side of the head. She stamped her hoof instead. "Urgh! Person! You know what I mean!"

"He isn't a real person either!" Twilight shouted back, "He's a-a flesh golem with a mind or soul or something from another world, powered by a piece of an alicorn's inner magic! It's the only thing keeping the body alive!"

"Don't talk about him like that!"

"Rainbow," Sandy said, setting a hoof on her shoulder. Rainbow frowned and pushed the hoof away, but kept her mouth shut... for the moment. "Twilight, whatever his nature may be, cruelty is unnecessary. You must know by now that he's not acting maliciously. Why are you so unwilling to look for another way?'

"Because I don’t think there are any," Twilight snapped, her voice hard. "There's no way around this. We’re running out of time.” Her voice softened. “I'm sorry.I really am."

"How can you be so sure?” Sandy looked up at the alicorn. “Princess Celestia? You’ve been around for, um, a long time. Don’t you know anything about this, erm, soul magic?”

“I am afraid not,” Princess Celestia said, her face falling, “Before my sister’s… banishment, there was no need for me to know, as she is more of an expert on the subject than I could ever be. Afterwards, I had no desire to research the magic that had helped... lead to it all. I am sorry, my little pony, I cannot help you here.”

Rainbow spoke up. “That doesn’t mean we should give up. Maybe there’s some scroll or something that–”

"There's no time!" Looking Glass cut in, sounding agitated and impatient to the point of desperation. "I understand that it’s uncomfortable, but we don’t know how long Princess Luna has! We can't afford to gamble with her life."

"So you're throwing away somebody else's!" Sandy said. "I wonder, would you be so eager if it were your foal's life on the line? Or how about Spike, Twilight?"

The little dragon’s eyes widened. He wrung his claws together and looked at Twilight, whose mouth hung open silently.

Looking Glass had no such problem. "I don't have any foals," he said, glaring at Sandy.

Rainbow leaned forward. "Then how could you possibly understand? You heartless bastard."

"It doesn't matter! Yes! I would! Is that what you want to hear?" Looking exploded, shouting hard enough to send spittle flying through the air. "I would give up my own foal to save the princess's life! You know why? Because Luna's worth more!" He stamped his hooves. "She's worth more than you, she's worth more than me, and she's especially worth more than an interloper! She's an alicorn! She's immortal!"

"I don't care!" Rainbow leapt to all four hooves and planted herself in the middle of the circle. "You're going to kill him and you won't even look for another way!"

He shook his head. “We’re out of options. We’re out of time.”

Rainbow Dash felt spittle drop from her lower lip and dragged a hoof across her mouth as she whipped her head around to Sandy. She's been backing me up all day! She's the only other pony with their head screwed on right. She'll know what to say!

The counselor stayed silent, staring at Looking with a twisted-up, disgusted look on her face. Then her wings drooped and she hung her head low. She couldn't even meet Rainbow's eye. Pathetic. "R-Rainbow, maybe–"

"Of course. Of course. I'm the only one who has the guts to do the right thing here, huh? Cowards! You all make me sick!" She glared at every single pony in the circle. I can't believe every one of these selfish mules is keeping their mouth shut. Of all of them, only Celestia returned her stare's strength. The two locked eyes and Rainbow grimaced inwardly. "I can't believe I used to think you were perfect." She turned around. "Gabe, I–"

The spot next to Celestia was empty. "What?" She looked up at the others, and amazingly, horrifyingly, they all had the same flabbergasted look on their face. Even Celestia’s eyes had widened.

Rainbow’s ears twitched and caught the sound of a door groaning shut. It didn't come from the main entrance, so the only place–

No!

She exploded off her hooves in a wild burst of movement and frantic wing-flapping. Her hooves slammed into Luna's bed-chamber doors a half-second after they made a heavy, thudding clunk. Rainbow's whole body attempted to continue its journey forward and crumpled like an accordion. Then she uncrumpled and tumbled to the floor. Not that she could have recognized that, because the whole room was spinning like mad.

She blinked hard. Come on, Rainbow. You've had worse. Shake it off. One by one she found her hooves and got them underneath herself and with a grunt, pushed herself back right-side-up. With one more shake of her head, she raised a hoof and tried the magnificently crafted metal door handle. Clunk. It didn't budge.

"Hey!" Rainbow shouted. She pounded her hoof on the door. "Hey, what's going on? Open up!"

The voice that followed came through the door muffled and quiet. "Rainbow, chill!"

"Kid!" Rainbow pounded on the door some more. It rattled in its archway. "Kid, something's wrong, the door's stuck!"

"That's because I locked it."

"Just wait, I—what?" Rainbow blinked and shook her head. "Then unlock it." She glanced over her shoulder. The others were still sitting in their circle, save for Twilight, who had gotten to her hooves and held a foreleg to her chest. "Don’t worry, I'm not gonna let them hurt you," she said, glaring at them. Princess Celestia rose, graceful as ever, and gave her a sad look. Rainbow felt uncomfortable.

"Rainbow, that’s not–" the wood fell silent for a moment. "Rainbow, you heard them. We're out of time. There isn't another way out of this."

The rest of them began to stand, making their way closer to the door in slow, measured steps. "Rainbow..." Twilight trailed off.

Dash ignored her. "Kid, open the door. You're making a mistake."

"Oh, this is gonna be rough," he said so softly that she strained to hear his words. Then he called through the door again. "I appreciate it, Rainbow, I really do, but this is how it’s gonna be."

"Don't be stupid. Open up." A second shadow crawled up the door and Rainbow turned to see Celestia standing beside her. She suppressed a sneer, but not very well. "Can't you open this stupid door? It's your castle!"

The princess shook her head. "It's Luna's bedroom, Rainbow Dash. It wouldn't be a lock if I could enter whenever I wanted."

"Can't you just force it open? Come on! You're the princess!"

Another shake, slower this time. "This door isn't just made of solid wood and iron, it's heavily warded against magic. If I were to use a spell to force it open, that spell would need to be powerful enough to also force open anything in the next room, including Gabriel and my sister."

Rainbow didn't believe that for a second, but she had better things to do than argue with the princess of the sun. "Rrgh!" She pounded her hoof on the door so hard it hurt. "Gabe! C'mon, open the stupid door!"

"Rainbow, will you listen to me? I-I-I'm trying to–" Gabe stuttered from behind the door. "I... c'mon, Rainbow. Twilight said so. Celestia said so. If there were something they could do, they would do it. I'm looking at Luna right now. She needs help."

"So, we can–"

"Rainbow. I know it's hard. Believe me, I've been on your side of the door. Please, just... it’s my choice. Don't make this worse than it has to be."

"But, I–" Rainbow felt her heart drop into her hooves. “I don’t get it! Princess Luna’s the one who caused all this! It’s all her fault, not yours! You don’t deserve this. It’s not fair! Open the door!”

“Yeah. It’s not fair. Nothing ever is.” His voice was gravelly and slow. “But I’m not going to let her die so I can live, Rainbow. I’m done with that shit.”

“Gabe! What about your friends? What am I gonna tell Scoots and ‘Bloom and Sweetie? Come on!” It felt like somepony was squeezing her throat shut. “What about me?”

"...I'm sorry."

"Kid?" Rainbow knocked on the door. "Gabe? Gabe, don't!" She tried the doorknob and smashed her hoof against the ancient wood. "Kid, don't do this! Don't give up! You said you wouldn’t give up!" Her heart ached and seized in her chest and she just wanted it all to stop. "No, no no!"

Twilight said something but Rainbow couldn't make it out over the sound of her own heartbeat pounding away. She backed up a few steps and drove herself into the door shoulder-first. Come on! Not even a little budge? "Come on, come on!"

Her shoulder ached and complained so pegasus turned around and bucked with all the strength she could muster. The impact vibrated up her bones and into her spine, but she grit her teeth. Pony up, Rainbow. You can do this.

She bucked the door again and winced at the impact, but the wood didn't move. "Nothing?" she growled. "You stupid door!" Rainbow readied another buck, ready to show that damn door who was boss when two hooves pressed together on either side of her head.

"Rainbow! Listen to me!"

Twilight stood nose-to-nose with her. Where the hay did this jerk come from? Spike and the princess looked on from behind, one looking nervous enough to throw up, and the other as emotionless as a marble statue. "Dash, you need to stop!"

"Shove off, you stupid nerd!" Rainbow pushed her violet hooves away and glared at her. "You're not gonna help me, so just stay outta my way!"

"I'm trying to–" Twilight's indignant response got cut off by a tan foreleg across the chest. Sandy gently pushed her backwards, placing herself in between the mares.

"Twilight. Let her be." How can she be so calm? Doesn't she realize what's happening? Rainbow Dash delivered another buck to the door. It remained seemingly immovable.

The unicorn mare stamped her hoof on the lavishly-carpeted floor. "Look at her! What if she hurts herself?"

"I know. But it's not the time. Trust me." The counselor turned around to face Rainbow, who blew multicolored strands of mane out of her own face.

Rainbow took the chance to speak first, letting out the burning acid in her gut. "What, you gonna try and stop me too, shrink?"

She expected a gasp, or an offended retort, or really anything more than the simple thin-mouthed stare that she got. Then Sandy simply shook her head no and lined herself up beside her.

"What?" Rainbow said with her eyebrows raised. "What’re you doing?"

"Helping you." Sandy looked her straight in the eye. Her face was unwavering and just as honest as AJ's.

Rainbow huffed and stamped her hoof. "Alright, on three." The counselor nodded. "One. Two. Three!"

Their buck hit the door with a fantastic thwack and Rainbow's heart practically leapt right out of her chest. "Again! One, two, three!" That time the door rattled and creaked in its frame. "Come on, just a few more! One, two, three!"

Again and again they bucked the supernaturally strong door, and each time, Rainbow could feel that lock getting just a little looser. She didn't care that the rest of them were staring at her with varying degrees of pity. She didn't care that she was trying to bust into Luna's personal chambers. Nothing mattered to Rainbow besides getting in that damn room.

"Nngh!" A buck finally produced the groaning, faintly splintering sound she had wanted so dearly to hear, and a spark of excited hope raced through her chest when she saw Princess Celestia’s eyebrows raise.

"Yes! Yes! We're so close!" Rainbow cried. Sandy didn't look happy, but Dash ignored that. She was helping, that's what mattered. "Alright, again! One–"

An impossibly bright light exploded from the crack beneath the door. It cast the room in black and white, lighting the group from underneath for just the barest of moments. There was a whooshing sound, the light went out, and there was silence.

Nopony spoke. Nopony moved. The doors went clunk and swung open.

The Second Choice

Monday Afternoon

Every part of Luna hurt. Every bone and bit of flesh cried out in pain.

It was a special pain. Just lying on her side felt like Luna had worked every muscle in her body to the point of complete exhaustion, and like she hadn't eaten in months. Her throat was a desert. Her brain ached in her skull. It hurt to move—so she didn't. It hurt to see, so she kept her eyes shut. It hurt to breathe, so she wheezed. It hurts…

It felt as if she were falling apart.

Her ear off the floor twitched. Shouting. It was muffled, but it sounded like it was right outside her door... Is that... Celly's voice? Luna's curiosity barely surfaced before she was dragged back into her ocean of agony.

She focused on her breaths just as she had been for countless hours.

In... out.

She missed being able to move, to walk, to eat and drink, but it was hard to remember. It was hard to even think. How had this happened? Headaches at first, then short breath, and then, who knew how many days ago, dropping to the floor, unable to get back up. Being rushed to her quarters. Her sister standing over her, looking worried. Looking scared. She never looked scared.

The shouting sharply grew louder for a moment, then disappeared just as quickly. Clunk went the lock on her door. Somepony was in her room. Celly? She needed more water, and desperately. She opened her mouth to ask but only a dry whisper came out.

A voice, unmuffled, clear as day. High, but distinctly male. Not Celly. Somepony else was in her room. The princess of the night struggled to open her eyes as he spoke. She couldn't quite put together his words, but he sounded... sad? And tired. Exhausted, even. The shouting on the other side of the door grew and grew.

In... out.

A swimming pool of white-and-black-streaked blue filled her vision. The colors were faint and drained. She huffed as she blinked, forcing her bedroom into a blurry mimicry of focus. There, by the 'door', a tiny dark blob. She blinked some more, and slowly, painfully slowly, the blob turned into a pony she had long thought dead and gone.

The foal turned away from her bedroom door and looked her in the eye. Her heart soared in her burning chest as his image grew larger. It is him. Really him. Spell worked. I did it. Oh. He is... sad? Why is he sad? Don't be sad!

She mustered up all the energy in her tortured body and shifted her foreleg, doing her best to ignore the seething pain as she reached towards him. "Nuh," she rasped, "Nigh... Nighttime… Breeze..."

The burning in her chest spread to her foreleg as he drew nearer and nearer and then finally sat at her bedside. Why was he looking at her like that? Was he… green? What was happening? Luna's ear twitched again as her brain finally registered the periodic thumping coming from her door.

"...I'm sorry, Luna," he finally said with a slow, soft voice. "I'm not who you think I am. I’m not your friend."

Luna's heart crashed down and her foreleg fell onto the bed sheets like a deep blue noodle. "Whuh?" she managed.

"I think your spell was supposed to get someone else, but instead it grabbed me. I don’t know why." The room grew a little more blurry, but she could only wheeze. "You fucked up. You failed. I'm sorry."

Her head spun even more and no amount of blinking could steady it. The colt before her took a deep breath. "My name's Gabriel," he said, saving her the pain of asking the question herself. "And... I come from a different world."

Luna's ear twitched. Not of this world? She kept her eyes locked on his as best she could while he spoke.

"My home is, um, very different from here. My people’re the only ones who live there, and, well we… We, uh..."

He trailed off, still staring at her. Then he sighed, letting his rear fall to the floor and looking at the stone-block wall. He didn't speak for a long, stretching moment.

In... out.

"...you know, my sister would have loved it here."

His voice sounded gravelly and hollow, and his eyes narrowed. "She was the one who made me sit down and watch you guys' old show. It's her fault I even became a fan at all."

Sister? Show? Luna's addled mind couldn't make sense of it. The burning tore at the edges of her consciousness, pushing—no, pulling her towards him. Not that she could move or do anything about it, though.

"We'd watch you guys for hours. After school, every day. We'd get home and turn off the scary news and we'd watch you all in your little colorful world and just... wish that we could be there in the screen with you. It was insane how much we wanted that. We musta' gotten our hands on every one of those comics, too, and we'd read 'em until the battery died." He swallowed and looked at her with a soft gaze.

"You were always my favorite, though." Luna's eyes widened and her breath hitched in her throat. He chuckled. "Surprising? Hah! Rachel thought so, too. We'd constantly argue over who was the best pony. She loved Fluttershy. Couldn't even understand why I wouldn't pick one of the six."

Most of what he said behaved like a wrench in her cognitive gears, but Luna didn't care. She was his favorite pony? Did he prefer her over everypony else, even over Celestia?

"I think it's because I was such a night owl," he continued, his gaze drifting away. "I love the quiet nighttime, the peaceful dark. I loved stargazing, back when you could still see 'em, and I remember all that time watching under the covers, no arguing, no broadcasts, just... me and all of you."

'Gabriel' looked back at her with a smile as she scrabbled to gain purchase among so much information she didn't understand. "I especially loved it when you showed up, though, You were so honest and regal and funny and real. Not like Celestia at all." He leaned in and his smile turned to a conspiratory grin. "Just between you and me, she always seemed a little too stuck-up and stuffy," he said with a wink.

Luna's world promptly turned upside-down. A pony, a real pony, who preferred her over Celestia and loved her night? It had been so long... why did nopony seem to love her night as she did? Why did nopony seem to love her instead of her sister? But wait! This colt did! It jammed her brain like a stone thrown into gears. I do not understand! How? Why?!

"You weren't in very many episodes, but those were my favorites. I watched them over and over, even after we grew up. God, I musta watched that Halloween one a million times. Every time I'd see you mess up, or do something wrong, or be sad or alienated or alone, fuck, I just wanted to hold your hoof and say 'Hey, it's okay. You're not alone. You've got me.'" He looked at the floor, so he didn't see Luna struggle to reach out her hoof. "It was terrible how alone I was after she left."

He smiled at her again, but it wasn't a happy smile. It spoke volumes of unspeakable sadness. She wheezed. "Funny thing is, those were the good times. Before everything just... came apart at the seams. When people still had food on the table and drove their cars whenever they wanted and didn't own blackout curtains or any shit like that."

He swallowed and his voice became hard. "I didn't even get to finish college. My folks worked so hard to keep me in school while they were around. Rachel gave me her fuckin’ savings and enlisted so I could go and I didn't even get to fuckin' graduate. Those jets just showed up and the world just... fell apart. Just like that. No more classes. No more school. God..."

The colt's head dipped and his words got quiet. He rubbed at his eyes with a fetlock. "And that’s how it was. I just... I lost everything.”

The colt's words hung in the air for a long time. When he spoke again, his voice had become hollow and bitter. “We had to hold on anyway, of course. Going from place to place, watching things get worse and worse, fighting a hopeless war because we had no other choice. Hell, Luna, I wasn't even a real fucking solder. I didn't have tags or an actual uniform or anything. Just a scared kid with a fucking gun."

He sniffled and the door made a rattling, creaking sound. That is not supposed to make that kind of noise, Luna managed to think.

“...I know you don’t understand. I, ah, I think I just wanted to tell someone before I, um—” The colt swung his head to look towards the entrance, then back to her. "Shit, I’m rambling. What matters is that I’m running out of time." He huffed a little. "Those people out there, they do mean the best, but... the decision is up to me. I'm not gonna let this be on anyone else."

The colt glanced backward. “I know this is all your fault, and there’s some awfully upset ponies outside that door, but I can’t really be mad at you. How could I be? You’re the one who brought me here, to fucking Equestria! I got to see it with my own damn eyes!”

He looked into her eyes and Luna saw real fear. "I want this so bad, Luna. I want to live here. It's practically paradise... but there’s always a price, isn’t there?”

The colt made a sad little chuckle. “God knows I don't belong in a place like this, but I'm gonna make it right. I’m gonna fix it.” He swallowed. “You guys'll work it out somehow. You’ll get your happy ending. I know it."

His upper lip trembled and Luna's heart ached. Even though she didn’t understand him, she wanted very badly to be able to sit up and hug the strange foal, to tell him that it was okay, but it was so hard to move, and she was so tired...

No. No. The princess of the night grit her teeth and poured all of her energy into her chest, taking in as much air as she could manage.

"Will... be... okay..."

The little colt tried his best to smile. "Yeah. It will be okay." The door trembled in its stone frame. Something made a tortured metal groan noise as he wiped at his muzzle. "I got to come here, make friends, see the stars again. It was good. I'm... thankful." He held a trembling hoof out to her. "...no sense putting it off anymore, I guess."

The bedridden princess's confused gaze dropped to his outstretched limb. He wants me to... touch his hoof? He nodded at it.

"This'll make everything better, I promise." The door shuddered and Luna heard the slight splintering of wood. He looked back over his shoulder, then at her, studying her eyes for a moment. "Don't let go, okay? I'm... I'm scared."

Luna looked back up at the colt for a moment and nodded, her eyes wide. Then she summoned the last of her strength and limply raised her foreleg off the bed, wheezing as she pushed it towards him. It felt as if it took ages, and the closer she drew, the more her hoof burned like it was in a dragon's forge, but she did it.

In...

The colt only hesitated for the barest of moments before taking her hoof into his in one quick swoop.

The world exploded. White-hot fire surged into her foreleg and raced up it with the power of a lake bursting through a dam. It filled her entire being, washing away the agony. She sucked in her first painless breath as the room snapped into crystalline focus and all her limbs extended at once. The princess nearly cried out as the fog that had seeped into her mind and muddled even the tiniest thought instantly dissipated.

In that one miraculous moment, it all became clear. The spell failed. Luna had selected a different consciousness by accident and yanked it from who knew how far away to seal to give it a new form. She didn’t know why it had picked Gabriel, though - and she doubted she ever would. Luna had collapsed before she and Celestia had tracked her errant piece of soul down but her sister must have found him and brought him here.

Confusion washed over her as she wondered just what kind of interloper she had created but it was thrust out by wonder not a moment later. That interloper had given himself up for her, he had sacrificed himself.

Why? What had made him do that? Who was Gabriel?

The 'conversation' rushed through her head. A non-pony, from a different place—no, a different world. A being who knew of them, somehow, and had enjoyed their presence. And he had said she was his favorite! A lover of the night! A being from another world! The mystery! The intrigue! Eager excitement surged through her at the possibility before her, and the possibility of finally having somepony who had reached out to her.

His hoof began to slip from her grasp.

Luna snapped back into the present. She clasped her hoof around his right away, locking his limp fetlock with hers, and thrust herself out of the bed that had been her prison just seconds ago. They slumped to the floor together, and Luna swept her other foreleg underneath his head, keeping it off the floor. His eyes were wide when they met hers. Such a deep brown.

“Huh,” he whispered in a frail, near-silent voice, “it’s different this time.”

Then he closed his eyes. They stayed still beneath their lids. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. Luna stared, open-mouthed, shell-shocked.

Sister! She gasped and lit her horn. Her bedroom doors’ deadbolt slid away with a simple flick of magic and she yanked them open, revealing a menagerie of unexpected and extremely concerned-looking ponies... plus one baby dragon. Celestia stood tall behind them, and the two locked widened eyes.

"Gabe!" cried the mare in front. Rainbow Dash... an Element of Harmony.

What is she doing here? Luna thought, feeling foggy and lost.

She burst forward, nearly tumbling to the colt’s side. "No, no, no-no-no-no, don't do this, don't do this!" She ignored the princess and took Gabriel’s head in her forelegs. "Kid, c'mon, wake up. Wake up!"

Celestia moved next, taking careful strides towards Luna. She stopped and looked down at Gabriel in silence.

Luna felt as if she'd been struck in the head. She struggled to form coherent thoughts. If he were blue instead of green, he’d be just like Nighttime.

"A shame..." Celestia whispered.

The princess licked her lips. "Sister, what has happened? Did he…?"

"Kid, come on, I know you're in there, just wake up, damn it, don’t do this to me..."

Her sister swallowed. "Yes, I believe he did."

Luna looked down at the little green form she held. It meant a great deal to Rainbow Dash, but now it was empty. Dead. But just moments ago it had spoken with such heart and soul. How could that be? How could that be right?

It wasn't, but she understood why. Without that part of my soul, I would have surely perished. He gave himself up for me.

He… died for me.

She had brought him here, that had been her choice, her desperate, utterly moronic attempt to drag companionship from the dregs of the past, and where had it gotten her? A foal’s corpse in her grasp, a sobbing mare holding him, and a being torn from his world and made to die for no good reason at all.

Loss, plain and simple.

All because of me and that accursed magic. What possessed me to believe that I could do the impossible?

She’d been so sure. She’d researched for weeks on end, pushing off sleep and staying up well into the day to make sure she got everything right. She’d set everything up perfectly. She’d been so sure she’d get him back, the only one who’d ever really and truly understood, and then she wouldn’t be so heart-crushingly alone. All she’d had to do is convince herself that she could do the impossible.

The absolute, suffocating absurdity of the situation began to seep into Luna's awareness. One thousand years ago, when soul magic was not so unknown, she had led entire platoons of armored guards to put down interlopers. She knew what they looked like when they cast off their pony forms. Watching a storm of whipping tendrils and long, jagged teeth emerge from a form so familiar left something of a lasting impression, yet here had been an interloper unlike any Luna, or likely any pony, had ever known.

Familiar ponies and strangers alike had gathered in this room. Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's student, seemed at the edge of breaking down, and a nameless pegasus mare hesitated some distance away, one hoof still over her mouth and tears soaking into her muzzle.

What had this interloper done to deserve such mourning from so many ponies? How had he earned the fierce loyalty of an Element of Harmony? Even now, both regents of Equestria attended his death in respectful silence. Celestia is right…

“Gabriel,” Rainbow moaned, clutching the little green form close and rocking back and forth. “Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel…”

Such sorrow.

And it’s all my fault. Again. That familiar, painfully cold feeling settled in her chest, squeezing her heart and pulling her down. It’s all my fault again. Just like the Nightmare. Someone is dead because of me.

She blinked as she looked down at the pegasus mare holding the still-warm foal close. She looked up at her sister, who looked downright lost, an emotion she had not seen on that face for a very long time. As she looked at everypony in the room, each watching the unfolding scene with looks of guilt and regret, something sparked in her.

I have done a terrible thing… Luna thought, her mind racing, but perhaps there is a way to make this right.

She lit her horn, reaching out into her quarters and grasping the bottom-right drawer in her desk. It slid free with practiced ease and drifted through the open doorway and over to her, where it slowed to a stationary hover. Then, Luna spoke.

"Move."

The pegasus mare sniffled and wiped at her eyes. When they found hers, they narrowed. "You," she said in a shaky but dangerously sharp voice, “this is your fault.”

"Step away, Rainbow Dash," Luna said as she stood on three legs, lifting Gabriel's form in her magic. "I will not ask you again."

Her face twisted up into something near rage, but when she locked her eyes with Luna’s, something gave and the anger disappeared. Without it, the pegasus looked limp. Frail. Drained of every drop of pep and energy. She stood and backed away, still looking at the foal, and she didn't move when a tan mare walked to her and set a wing across her withers.

"Sister, what are you doing?" said Celestia. Luna ignored her. She had a job to do and very little time to do it.

A folded sheet of well-used parchment leapt from the drawer first, floating before Luna and unfolding itself. Then bits of pure white, faintly glowing chalk jumped up and danced in the air before dropping to her bedroom's smooth stone floor, where they whisked about in a flurry.

Quickly. Move as quickly as you can. Luna bit her lip in careful concentration, and bit by bit, a casting circle began to appear. Anypony besides her would likely be thrown off by its strange, off-balance structure and its many seemingly extraneous features, but Luna knew exactly what she was doing. After all, she had spent countless hours designing it.

While most of the occupants of the room looked confused or sorrowful, Celestia had a deep frown on her face. Luna could feel the comment coming on. Three, two, one...

"Sister, stop. I cannot condone this. Think of the risk."

"Condone what you like," Luna shot back immediately, her voice hard. "I am doing what I must." It took a great deal of focus to draw so much of the circle so quickly, but she did not have the luxury of time. I only hope it is not too late. I do not know how long his interloper presence will endure.

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, her eyes wide. "Princess Luna, is this…? This is another soul magic circle."

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle," she said as she frowned and used an enchanted cloth to wipe away some of the chalk, replacing it with an outwardly similar but slightly more simple pattern of lines.

To anypony else in the room, it would look like an arcane mess of symbols and sigils, but Luna knew each and every placement by heart. It had to be perfect, or it would only bring more pain. No retrieval, no fabrication, no far-reach... I pray I am not overlooking anything.

"Luna, really," Celestia said, her voice far more insistent, "consider your actions."

"I have." Idle chatter did not occupy her current interests.

Twilight looked to her mentor, her voice wavering. "Princess, what's she doing?"

She speaks as if I am not here. Luna smothered a grimace as she put the finishing touches on her circle. The complex part was done. She needed only to maintain the simple powering spell. A thing easier said than done, she thought, remembering how poorly the first attempt had gone.

"I believe she is attempting to revive him," her sister responded.

"W-What?" Rainbow said, her voice tinged with disbelieving hope. "You can do that?"

"Sister!" Celestia said as Luna placed her supplies back in the drawer, her voice gaining a forceful edge. "This did not work before, you rent your soul in two! You're only putting yourself in danger!"

"No," Luna responded, fire in her chest. She stood in the middle of the circle and gently placed the foal's body in its middle, still holding on tight. "This time it is different."

"Luna–"

"It is!" Luna cried. "I am not summoning somepony who is really and truly gone, and I am not preparing a vessel! I'll split my soul properly." She fixed her gaze on her sister and softened her voice. "Please. Trust me. I will fix this wrongdoing."

Celestia's face wavered. "...Luna, I can't. Not with this."

Luna swallowed and spoke, her voice sharp. "Then stand back."

She hesitated then, for just the barest second, acknowledging what she was about to do.

There’s always a price, isn’t there?

The princess began to pour as much magic as she could manage into the circle. The chalk drank it up greedily, letting it flow across its lines and intersections, mixing it, transmuting it, and channeling it into bright, flashing forms. A glow enveloped the colt's body, starting at his core and spreading up his leg and onto Luna.

"Luna!" Celestia called. True alarm rang in her voice. The surprise at hearing her like that gave Luna the slightest pause.

I have not heard her like this since I returned.

“Stay away!" Luna shouted. A great heat sprang to life in her very core, and then, as the magic finally filled the innermost layer of the circle, a sharp, stabbing pain. She grunted and her legs nearly gave out, but she forced herself back up, muscling through it as best she could manage. Every part of her trembled.

Be careful. Only a small piece. Just what’s needed. Just enough. Please don’t fail.

Then, at the spell's most vulnerable moment, Celestia stepped into the circle. "No!" Luna cried, struggling to speak. "Celestia, don't–!"

But Celestia didn't break the circle or siphon the spell away. Instead, she placed her hoof on the foal's side. Her horn burst into light.

Luna felt some of the strain lift from her mind and the searing pain lessened. The princess of the night gaped like a fool for only a moment before she shook it off and took a deep breath.

Please don’t fail. Please don’t fail. Please don’t fail.

It wasn't like the last time. Instead of flickering and pulsing angrily, the circle maintained a healthy, steady glow. Across from her, Celestia's mane whipped like she stood against a hurricane. The circle, the colt, and the three ponies continued to glow, brighter and brighter and brighter until Luna's room was lit like Celestia's sun had appeared right in its middle.

Then, all at once, without any fanfare, it disappeared. A small section of the circle went poof and Luna felt her and her sister's magic flow out and back into the world.

The air tasted of rust when she took a deep breath, resisting the urge to pant and gasp, and she blinked the spots from her eyes. Her mane settled down again, as did her sisters, and had somepony bothered to measure, they would have found that they hung just a little lower than they had before.

Nopony made a sound, but Luna's eyes met Celestia's.

Her sister took a deep breath before she spoke. "Did it work?"

The colt gasped and coughed, nearly jerking his hoof free of her grip.

Luna's eyes widened and she opened her mouth just in time to see him get enveloped in a tackle-hug. All but one limb disappeared into Rainbow Dash's forelegs in a flash, and the mare squeezed him for all he was worth.

The mystery pegasus mare followed her, though she stood a hoof-length away. Her face shifted between joy and sorrow and disbelief as she stood there, still with a hoof over her mouth. "I-I can't believe it," she said, sounding distant.

"Could it really...?" said the black-and-white unicorn as he stood a little further away.

Rainbow Dash finally loosened her grip, leaning back a little and tilting the colt's head up. "Hey, kid?" she said. "G-Gabe?"

It's been a long time since I last heard a pony sound so terrified and overjoyed at the same time, Luna thought.

The little green foal groaned and scrunched his muzzle. His eyes flickered open and he coughed. "Ah, fuck, ow," he groaned. "Rainbow?"

The pegasus mare squealed and enveloped him in another crushing hug. He gurgled. "Urk! Rainbow!"

She didn't let up for another moment for two, and when she finally did, she looked at him with red, puffy eyes. "Holy moly, Gabe, I can't believe you're okay."

The foal took a few gasping breaths, looking around the room, then at his leg, His eyes followed his limb up to where it met Luna's and his eyes widened. He met her gaze and Luna made a small, cautious smile. "Hello, Gabriel."

"..."

He looked back down at their hooves, still clasped together. "You didn't... oh my God, did I…?" He trailed off, leaving his mouth gaping open. The princess nodded and very slowly, very gently released his hoof. He drew it towards himself, looking at it in shock. "No. No, this isn't right."

Luna's face fell immediately. She saw Rainbow pull her head back, and though her smile remained it faltered and her eyebrows drew together. "W-what?" she said as she wiped most of the snot from her muzzle with the back of her hoof.

Gabriel's eyes narrowed. "This wasn't supposed to happen," he said, his voice gaining an edge. "I figured it out. I did."

The tan pegasus mare stepped closer, drawing Luna's attention. "Gabriel, what do you mean?"

"I figured out what I was supposed to do!" His voice gained heat with every word. "The whole reason I'm here! I fixed it!"

"I brought you here by accident, little one," Luna said.

"No, that's not—rrgh!" he growled, staring down at his hooves, still in Rainbow's grasp. "I'm not supposed to be here. You were dying, and I was supposed to save you and set things right. This isn't the way it's meant to—to be!"

Luna recoiled, pulling a hoof to her chest and feeling utterly lost. The colt was ranting now. How could he know the way things were meant to be? Unless...

"Gabe, you're not making any sense!" Rainbow looked worried, now. She tried to tighten her grip on the foal like she was about to lose him again, but he pushed her hug away with both forelegs and continued, his voice rising.

"No, no, none of you get it!" He pressed his hooves into the bit of pegasus fluff on his chest. "I'm not supposed to be here! I'm not one of you! I should have never met you!" he said, jabbing a hoof vaguely outward at the ponies. "I'm a violent, messed-up joke compared to you, but what matters is that me being here is wrong!"

His eyes shimmered and his voice wavered, barely holding out with his last words. Luna's open mouth slowly closed into a frown, then thinned into a line. Something about his wording, the way he spoke about himself like he posed a danger to some ideal, scratched at the back of Luna's mind. She knit her brow.

"Oh... oh dear." The unnamed pegasus mare walked up to the little foal, kneeling in the used-up casting chalk. She met his gaze with her wide, soft, remarkably blue eyes. She clearly cared about him a great deal. "Gabriel, what do you mean? Can you help me understand?"

"I-I, I..." he stammered, struggling to keep his voice level. "I'm not supposed to be here,” he repeated. “I'm not like you all. I don't belong." With that, his chin dropped and his forelegs drew close to his body, like he wanted to shrink until he popped into nothingness, and he spoke in a very quiet voice. "I'm just going to mess everything up even more if I’m around."

Nopony spoke. Luna's eyes widened as she recalled his then-final words to her, spoken with a heavy heart as she lay in her bed, too weak to move or even speak, dying without even realizing it.

He knew of us, she realized, somehow, he knew. He watched our past, he knew of this world before he ever set hoof here. But it does not make sense that he fears his actions may affect what he believes how this world is supposed to be, unless...

Luna started, gasping a tiny, unnoticed breath. Unless he watched our future as well... Her eyes darted to the tiny little foal sitting in Rainbow's grasp.

What does this colt know?

"Gabe..." Rainbow said. With surprising gentleness, the pegasus tucked the edge of her hoof underneath the colt's chin, raising his face to meet hers. "If having you around is messing things up, then that's how I want it to be. As messed up as possible."

He looked up to her, shocked once again. "W-what? Really?"

"Of course," the tan mare said. "I've told you this before and I'll tell you again. Just because you've done bad things in the past, doesn't mean you don't deserve a second chance." She put her hoof on his shoulder. "And you do deserve a second chance, even if you used to look different. We're here for you, Gabriel."

"But what if things go wrong?" he said, worry dripping from his voice.

Luna felt some of the uncertainty that had filled her heart upon her realization melt away. That he cares so much about our fates...

Rainbow sniffed a little, still with that smile on her face. "Dude, things always go wrong. When they do, we'll handle it. Together."

"And," Luna said, "if there is some way things are meant to be, then I believe that is how they shall be, regardless of your presence."

Gabriel looked up at her. She saw confusion briefly, then an understanding filled his eyes. Then he looked down, blinking hard and rubbing at his face with his foreleg. "I... Okay..." he said, still sounding unsure of himself.

Then he sniffed, looked up at Rainbow Dash, and spoke with stone in his voice. "Yeah. Okay."

Rainbow chuckled a little, her face still matted with dried tears. "C'mere, you." She wrapped him in another embrace, and this one he accepted leaning into her fur with the smallest smile on his lips. Luna felt her heart begin to melt at the relief of it all, right up until Rainbow looked at him in his deep brown eyes and cleared her throat.

“Now you better be ready for this,” she said, raising her hoof.

Gabriel had just enough time to look surprised. Clonk, went his skull.

"Ah, fuck! Ow!" His hooves shot out and he tumbled onto his back. "Rainbow–!"

"You little brat!" the pegasus yelled, standing up with a small puff of chalk dust. The remains of the used-up magic circle crisscrossed her rear, making patterns over her cutie mark. "What in tartarus made you come up with that stupid plan!?"

She smacked him again and he held up his forelimbs over his head. "You massive idiot! Going and getting yourself killed without even saying goodbye?! I swear to Celestia I'll make you wish you were never born!" Clonk!

The aforementioned mare took a step back, her eyes wide and slightly concerned, and Luna couldn't help but crack a tiny, relieved smile.

"Gah! Rainbow, Jesus fuck! I'm sorry, I– Ow! I said I was fucking sorry!"

The tan pegasus mare stepped in. "Rainbow, stop! I think he got the message."

"Hmph. Fine," Rainbow Dash said, lowering her hoof. "He better have."

"Yeah, no, loud and clear," Gabriel said, sitting up and rubbing his skull, his coat caked in exhausted magical chalk. "I guess I kinda deserve that."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Pfft. 'Kinda.'" Still, Luna saw a smile.

"Hold on," said the black-and-white unicorn, stepping forward and earning a withering glare from Rainbow and the pegasus mare. The former shifted to place herself between him and Gabriel.

"Princess, erm, Princess Celestia," he began, "how do we know that it really is him in there? Couldn't you have summoned another soul by accident?"

Celestia looked down at him. "Actually, Investigator Looking Glass, I believe my sister is better qualified to answer that question."

When Celestia looked to her, Luna felt her heart drop. The knowledge that allowed her to answer the stallion’s question was the same expertise she’d used to cause it all. I’ve performed a lot of very dangerous magic that was outlawed for good reason. The tension and relief drained from her body, and the cold, nervous guilt that she’d pushed to the back of her mind rushed to take its place.

Luna noticed that everypony had their eyes on her. She forced herself to speak.

"Ah, well, Investigator," Luna said, "Interlopers are normally created when something similar to a soul, but otherworldly, joins a pony's own soul, initially without changing the mind or body. It is from there the presence usually takes control.”

She nodded at the colt. “From what I can tell, Gabriel here is made up of a constructed pony body, his unique presence, and a piece of my own soul," she glanced at Celestia, "as well as a piece of my sister's. All the pieces already here—there was no retrieval from the stars of any kind."

"Wait!" Twilight cried, looking very alarmed. "Princess Celestia! You really put a piece of your own soul–?!" She stared at her mentor and looked utterly flabbergasted.

"Yes, my little pony," Celestia said with that gentle yet knowing chuckle of hers, "a small piece, much smaller than he had before, and I believe was done properly."

"And you'll be alright?"

"I feel a little weakened, but yes. All three of us will be okay. With Luna's piece and mine together, I think Gabriel should be able to live perfectly normally. Luna, do you think so?"

“Yes, I do.” Though I wonder if having two pieces of two different souls will yield any side effects.

"Wow, um, thanks, both of you," said Gabriel, his eyes wide. "That's a really high price to pay for one person. Like, really high. I, um, I…” He shrugged. “I don't know what to say, really."

Luna smiled sadly. "You saved my life, little one, from a grievous mistake that I made. You had no obligation to do so," she said, "so it was only right that I save yours."

"Hmm." Gabriel stayed silent for a moment. He looked down at his hooves, flipping them over and inspecting them from every angle. "So, uh... what's next?"

What’s next?

Rainbow took a deep breath. It helped to keep her hooves from shaking. Helped… but didn’t stop. She looked down at her foreleg and watched it twitch.

Everything felt... off. Her fur tingled and her ears twitched, trying to find sounds that weren’t there. Her heartbeat was too slow—or was it too fast? It’s too dark in here. Not enough light.

A spark of fear leapt to life in her tired chest and she looked right back to Gabriel. He was still there, looking up at her, that unreadable expression in those eyes that managed to be sharp and soft and warm and cold and distant and close all at once.

He’s real. He’s really safe. He’s really okay.

The slowly-dying whirlwind of emotions inside her leapt up one more time and she hooked her foreleg around his withers and hugged Gabe close again, feeling his fur against her chest.

He’s okay.

She took another deep breath, and another. With each one, she felt a little more solid in her stance, a little more physical. A little more real.

Rainbow really had no idea what would come next. But… I know what I want. She smirked a bit at the way she’d insisted Gabe would just be a temporary job, how she’d cringed when ponies had called him her kid. All those worries seemed so far away. Even when AJ and Rarity would inevitably tease her about it, Rainbow knew it’d just bounce right off after what she’d just been through.

But what about Twilight? She took a moment to look away from Gabe and study Twilight. She looked like she’d fall apart at any second. There was relief there, sure, but she looked like her worries were far from over.

Rainbow remembered the burning, all-consuming rage that had filled her not so long ago. She’d been ready to tear her apart—her and that scum Looking Glass—but now she just felt tired. Empty. How could Twilight do such horrible things to her own friend?

Something in the back of her mind whispered that Twilight had had her reasons, as awful as they were, and in the end, Gabe was okay, and that was what mattered. On top of that, Twilight didn’t look proud, or happy, or even very relieved. Maybe it was the exhaustion, or maybe it was all the moments of friendship they had shared, but Rainbow found that, for whatever reason, she didn’t like seeing that very much.

Twilight looked up at her then, and Rainbow held her eye for a second before looking away, back to Gabe.

He’s okay. He’s here, she thought. Gabe’s okay, but Twilight’s going to have a lot to answer for. She doesn’t deserve it, but… maybe I’ll hear her out. Eventually.

She’d better stay out of my way until I’m good and ready, though.

What's next?

Sandy Hills' smile faded. For the first time since she thought she'd lost her job, the world gave her a moment to think, to consider what was really going on.

So much had changed in just the past hour or so. The presence of the two rulers of her entire country standing in the room with her, scarcely a step away, hit her first. A bolt of lightning ran through her body, from the top of her skull down to the tip of her tail.

Augh! she thought. Should I be bowing? Groveling? Begging for forgiveness for standing in Princess Luna's bedroom?! She felt her heart begin to race and the telltale urge to bolt, but the counselor reminded herself to take a deep breath.

After all, the so-called 'investigator' Looking Glass stood in the room too, looking similarly dumbfounded, and if they hadn't given that snake a swift kick in the rear, well, she saw no reason to leave.

The counselor's thoughts began to move forward. She had her job, still, and as far as anypony outside the freaking princess's bedroom knew, she still bore responsibility for Gabriel's care.

She relaxed a little as she considered the answers she'd finally gotten. Gabe wasn't even from Equestria. She no longer needed to worry about tracking down family or a town called Westfield, and, thankfully, the whole escapade had ejected her foal trafficker theory clear out the window. All that left was a wildly uncertain future, all wrapped up and conveniently presented in that short two-word question.

The sight of Rainbow standing right next to Gabriel, still staring like she couldn't quite believe that he was really back, banished the uncertainty in Sandy's heart. My goodness, what if the princess hadn’t been able to do anything? I don’t even want to imagine what that would have done to Rainbow.

Sandy smiled, relishing the feeling that she wouldn’t need to worry about the stack of unsent foster request letters sitting on her desk. It seemed Gabriel had found a home here in Equestria.

However, that didn't mean he was ready to go it alone. No matter the age, no matter where the damage had come from, Gabriel still bore deep scars, and it was her job to help him. I may be trained as a foal counselor, but I can learn.

She raised her head, confidence flowing through her like liquid sunshine. The road ahead promised a lot of work to do, but if all this hadn't stopped her, nothing could.

I can do it.

What's next?

Twilight Sparkle felt her heart finally slow from the frantic pace it'd been sustaining all day. It's over. We did it. She forced herself to breathe deeply. Princess Luna was okay. They saved her—no, Gabriel had saved her—and in turn, she had saved him. It had all worked out. So why doesn't it feel like we won?

Twilight already knew why. It’s because I messed up. It’s because I really messed up. It’s because I really, really messed up.

Her eyes flicked over to the colt. He looked so... normal, sitting there next to Rainbow, and Twilight could hardly imagine him as the same breed of creature as those pictures she had seen in Anima Thaumaturgia. Twilight had, moments ago, watched him crumple at the idea of ruining the world he'd been forced into. She'd seen him receive a dose of righteous fury from a Rainbow so relieved she didn't quite know how to show it, but most of all, she saw somepony—no, someone unsure of what the future held.

Twilight still couldn't shake the feeling that had gripped her heart when Gabriel had spoken to her at the party. What was it that he'd said?

Something really bad happened to my home. A really bad disaster, I guess. I'd like to think that it'll turn out ok.

And then he'd looked at her, as if he'd watched everything he loved get torn away from him right before his eyes... I doubt I'll ever forget it, but... I was more afraid of it than anything. How did I get so carried away?

At least Spike is still with me. She smiled a little as she looked down at the little dragon, sidled up against her, with one arm around her foreleg. He looked up and gave her an uncertain smile. It only added to the dark, cold pit in Twilight’s stomach.

I wonder, would you be so eager if it were your foal's life on the line? Or how about Spike, Twilight?

The mare shivered. She’d been so sure, so positively sure of herself until that moment. Those words had sent a spike straight into her chest, and her breath had failed her. Would I be willing?

Twilight found she couldn’t quite answer that question.

A coldness permeated her body now, but she still felt hot and uncomfortable. She felt physically sick at the thought, no, the memory of what she’d been trying to do to someone willing to sacrifice themselves for a pony they’d never met. Without the desperate pressure to succeed, it all felt… wrong.

Twilight looked up at Rainbow, whose mane stuck up in all sorts of odd angles and manners of cowlick. Her face looked so different from the angry, desperate, fearful sneer she'd given her as she fought the inevitable. She remembered the shocked hurt and betrayal that had filled her chest. All for trying to save Princess Luna?

She forced her eyes away. No. Of course not. It was for lying to her face and for trying to take him away. Now she’d ruined her friendship, and possibly even more. What would happen when some other, real monster reared its head, and the only answer was the Elements of Harmony? What would happen then? They’d be broken, that’s what.

But even the idea of failing to use the Elements paled at the prospect of permanently losing one of her closest friends.

When she looked back at Rainbow, Twilight's heart fell even further at the sidelong glance Rainbow was giving her... nervous, upset, but most of all, distrustful.

I’ve been a terrible, horrible friend.

She lowered her head. Now that it was all over, it seemed so... stupid. Stupid! How had she let herself get so carried away?

Can I even make it up to Rainbow? Can we still be friends?

Twilight pulled Spike closer. Maybe not, she thought, but I’m still going to try.

What's next?

Princess Celestia, for once, found herself processing the situation at the same pace as any other pony—or person—in the room, a truly rare occurrence. She let herself breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that the situation had not imploded and Gabriel had not ended up forcing her hoof. That could have been messy, but thank goodness Luna is safe. Even as well as this has turned out, I have quite a bit on my plate.

Celestia glanced at her investigator, who’d seated himself the furthest from the colt. From what she understood, he’d pushed the hardest for Gabriel’s death, almost to the point of bloodthirstiness. She suspected he was the reason for her student’s willingness to go through with a surprisingly vicious plan, and that simply wouldn’t do.

I’ve worked too hard grooming Twilight to value friendship above all, and today has been something of a step backwards.

She’d see to it that he be removed from the Royal Bureau of Investigation as soon as possible, and a more detailed, level-headed account of the incident would help her determine the necessity of a possible imprisonment. She certainly wouldn’t have him interact with Twilight or her friends any further. That fanatical lack of empathy is far too dangerous. I’ll have to keep a close eye on him.

However… he’d demonstrated a remarkably strong loyalty to the Crown, and, in the end, she couldn’t deny that Looking Glass had done everything he could to get his job done—the job she’d sent his way in the first place. I can think of a few tasks well-suited for a stallion of his nature.

He’d certainly hijacked Twilight cleanly enough. Her student had been far too willing to burn some very important bridges on her way to fulfilling Celestia’s mission. I was aware that she thinks highly of me, but this is too much, practically blind worship. It’s good that this incident has not been far-reaching, but if she is so easily led astray… well, she’ll need help to fix that little issue of hers. A doable task, but it will take time.

Thank goodness Twilight didn’t directly do anything illegal. Celestia believed that cleaning up the sizable mess she’d made would be penance enough, and coming before a court of law would only hinder things in the long run.

Celestia was sure the other Elements would react in their own dramatic fashions. Learning a friend is capable of such dark deeds can do that. Yes, there would be problems, but she was confident that, between Twilight’s efforts and some healthy nudges, the friendship could be repaired with all of them… even Rainbow Dash, though that particular relationship would take much more time and effort.

She glanced at Luna, who still stared, bewildered at the colt. Celestia’s shoulders fell at that. Her sister had broken down, and on top of that, she’d committed a crime and used illegal magic. That was the long and short of it. There would need to be action, but imprisonment or another banishment was out of the question. I won’t do that again.

But Luna was currently unfit to rule, that much was obvious. She needed attention and help, and keeping it all under wraps would be fickle, but if Celestia wasn’t capable of keeping her little sister safe, then nopony was. And I am plenty capable. I will work something out, I’ll keep a close eye on her—and I’ll be spending much more time with Luna from now on. I won’t make that mistake a… third time. Ouch.

That just left the colt of the hour.

Celestia hesitated as she weighed her options, her face outwardly calm and relieved, save for the tiny, almost unnoticeable creeping-together of her eyebrows. Perhaps it was centuries of rule instilling a healthy sense of skepticism, but the mere fact that this foal did not have otherworldly powers or magic did not entirely satisfy the small, yet persistent part of her brain that constantly whispered: 'But what if it is dangerous?'

Otherworldly knowledge, however, was an entirely different game.

After she had sent her letter, Celestia had gotten a chance to speak with the colt, and the picture he’d painted of his home had not been pretty. He had spoken in a hollow voice of strange places, hard times, and very, very terrifying machines.

Though he had been vague and evasive, she had gleaned enough from his description. Some kind of terrible conflict had taken place and from it had sprung horrors that had scarred this being to his very core.

Such things made Celestia concerned, to say the least.

Gabriel was truly well-meaning, that she could see plain as day, and he really did deserve his second chance, but if she said that and Luna were the only reasons she helped revive the colt, well… Celestia would be lying.

She had no way of ensuring his alien knowledge wasn’t dangerous... or potentially valuable. Perhaps he carried only small things, insights and dark lessons passed to him from a life of unknown hardships—or possibly, and as Celestia suspected, he knew some things that were not so small, because of all the questions she had gently steered Gabriel into answering, the one he had not-so-subtly avoided was scale.

Without that crucial piece, Celestia found many of her assumptions about Gabriel's people and their capabilities to be nothing more than mostly-baseless conjecture, and that was no way to analyze the potential threat—or advantage—that the products of such a world could create.

But that was just a possibility. The gaping hole in her knowledge of his home bothered her to no end, much like the strange way Gabriel interacted with the world around him. Why did he speak to her so casually? How did he know of dragonfire messages? Yes, these could be explained away with a brash confidence and a quick ear but they still struck her as distinctly off.

She couldn’t rid herself of the discomfort such incongruencies brought on, and over a millennium of experience had taught her not to ignore such feelings. The colt hid more than one secret, to be sure, and Celestia hated being kept out of secrets, especially ones that involved her.

Unfortunately, Celestia thought to herself, There is not much that I can currently do besides observe. Up until today, Gabriel had escaped her scrutiny. From now on, she'd be more careful. She would be patient. She would work. Though it would require a special subtlety, that knowledge would come to her eventually.

After all, it cost me a piece of my soul.

The princess cleared her throat.

"I believe that is up to you, Gabriel," said Celestia. "I do not believe we can return you to your world, but I see no problem with letting you do as you choose here." She shot Luna a sly look. "I believe my sister might even let you stay here in the palace if you ask her nicely enough."

Celly, you know me far too well, Luna thought.

Gabriel screwed up his muzzle. "I thought I might be stuck here, but… that’s okay." Then he looked up, inspecting each of the ponies in the room with an even stare. His gaze landed on the nearby Rainbow, who was shifting her weight from hoof to hoof. "And... as generous as your offer is, I think I'd like to go back to Ponyville and keep on living with Rainbow. I got a big fluffy cloud bed there, and after today, it’s calling my name."

Dash's face burst into a wide grin and she scooped him up into another tight hug. "Atta kid! I knew you'd make the right call."

"Ack!" wheezed Gabriel, "just don't smack me up again."

"Don't go dying on me and I'll consider it."

Luna smiled, as did most of the rest in the room. Twilight even scooped her dragon up into her own hug. Really, the only pony who looked downright miserable was the stallion, who sat the furthest away from everypony else. I wonder why...

Still, the princess felt happy for the colt, truly, and it was clear that the two ponies before her had a special bond that shouldn't be broken, but a part of her had wanted the strange foal to stay here.

It clearly wasn’t meant to be, though, and maybe that was for the best. Luna still needed to finish cleaning up her mess and face what she’d done. True, she was a princess, but she had no doubt Celestia had lost a good deal of confidence in her… confidence that Luna couldn’t claim to deserve.

Her smile grew a little sad, but if an odd yet kind stranger from another world could want to be her friend, then not all hope was lost. Maybe one day in the next few years, she'd meet somepony who could see past–

"Can you visit?"

Luna blinked. What?

The little green foal continued, keeping his eyes locked directly on hers. They widened a moment later if in realization of what he had just asked. "If it’s, um, y’know… possible? Maybe?"

"Me?" she said dumbly, as it was all her brain could offer.

That brought out an awkward chuckle. "Uh, yeah, you, the one who literally brought me back from the dead just now," he said, as if it were perfectly obvious that he would want one of the diarchs of Equestria to come to Ponyville and visit him. Going by the looks on the faces of Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and the two ponies whose names she didn't know, they didn't exactly expect this either. "Can you?"

"I, ah, erm..." Luna's eyes widened. I've never gotten this far! What do normal ponies say to something like that? She shot a desperate look at a mildly-surprised Celestia, who, of course, took a moment to chuckle at her expense before nodding. Luna turned back to Gabriel still looking a little shocked. "Well, um... yes?"

"Oh, great!" He gave her a wide grin. "I thought I broke ya there for a second." Then he groaned, stretching his legs one by one. "Well, uh, I don’t know about you guys, but between the storm and all of this, I am really tired." He twisted his neck with a cascade of pops and crackles. "I don’t suppose we have time to catch a train home..."

"Oh, yes, please. That sounds nice," said the wilting pegasus mare, whose name remained a mystery to Luna. I really ought to ask...

"Hah!" Rainbow laughed. "Whatever you want, kiddo." The two shared one more hug, and when they separated, Rainbow set a hoof on his shoulder. They shared a look that filled Luna's heart with a special kind of warmth. Gabriel looked so comfortable, so hopeful, and Rainbow, well, her smile was truly motherly.

Then she smacked him again. "Ow! Fucker!"

Luna couldn't help but laugh.

Fickle Honesty

Wednesday Evening

Just outside an unassuming-looking door, Doctor Horse paused, turning to face Rainbow Dash.

"Er... before you go in there, I should warn you, miss. This is not a normal colt."

"Huh?" Rainbow stopped and tilted her head. "What do you mean, doc?"

The doctor shifted his weight from hoof to hoof. He looked uncomfortable, almost... nervous? "It's just that he, well... He's been behaving very... peculiarly. He rarely speaks, he mostly stares. We're not really set up to handle this sort of situation at the moment." He rubbed his neck with a hoof. "It's best if you see for yourself." Then he pushed open the door.

The little green colt sat in the middle of his hospital bed. Its size made him seem very small, tiny even, and he was already small and thin enough that he really didn't need its help. A pillow propped him up, and a patchwork of bandages ran around his middle and spiraled up one of his hooves, which had been splinted along with a wing. Yet more bandages clung to his skull, wrapping around his head and forcing his mane to stick out in clumped tufts. He held a bright red foal's cup with both hooves, and his deep brown gaze currently focused on the crazy-looking toy straw that twisted in the shape of a butterfly and vanished straight into his mouth.

Nurse Redheart sat on a bedside stool that looked like it had seen much better days, frazzled and drained. She perked up when Doctor Horse followed Rainbow into the room.

"Horse," she nodded, "and Miss Dash, too. I was wondering when you would be by." She turned to the doctor. "Have you–"

Doctor Horse cut her off with a wave of his hoof. "Yes, I let her know. Now go ahead and take a break, Redheart. I think you've earned it." Redheart nodded, looking relieved, and trotted out the door.

The doctor cantered to the colt's bedside but Rainbow Dash followed behind at a far more nervous pace. She bit her lip as she watched the foal, who had his face so screwed up you'd think that he was trying to do math in his head instead of drinking out of a cup. The relief that came with seeing him there, apparently managing just fine, was immeasurable, but now she didn't know what to say. Ask him if he was ok? What happened to him? Maybe I should just start with his name.

The doctor tapped him gently on his shoulder. "Erm, Gab Real, you have a visitor."

What the hay kind of name is that?

He looked up at Doctor Horse, who nodded towards Rainbow. She gave a tentative wave. "Hey, kid. I'm—uh... Are you okay?"

His eyes had at least doubled in size and his eyebrows had disappeared underneath the edge of his mussed-up mane. "No way..." he said as if Princess Celestia herself had just walked through the door.

Rainbow blinked. "Uh, what?"

"I can't believe it," the foal said. "You're Rainbow Dash."

That threw her for a loop. "You know me?"

"You know her?" Doctor Horse said with an equal amount of confused surprise.

"Uh..."

Horse looked at Rainbow with a somewhat shocked look. "That's the most he's said at once, you know."

"Um…” She looked back at the foal. “So, are you a fan of mine, kid?"

The colt blinked, looking at her for entirely too long. "...you're famous."

"Um, yeah... I guess I am famous," Rainbow replied with a little smile, holding her head up a bit higher. "but I'm not that famous, not like the Wonderbolts or anything." Not that she didn't like the recognition, but getting used to being an Element of Harmony took a while. Then Rainbow realized she was grinning to herself and cleared her throat. "So, uh... your name's, uh, Gab Real?" She did her best to parrot the strange name Doctor Horse had used.

"Gabriel," he corrected, though if she was being honest, Rainbow couldn't really tell where she had gone wrong. "But I'm also called Gabe."

Well, at least that's easier.

"I've never heard a name like that before," Rainbow said, trotting closer, up to the side of his bed. "Where's it come from, uh, Gabe?" The name felt so strange coming out of her mouth. What did it mean? What kinda mean-spirited parent would give their kid a name like that? It's practically asking to be bullied.

"Um..." The colt bit his lip and looked back down at his cup. "It comes from a really old story, I think."

He spoke with a peculiar accent, barely different enough to notice. Weird. "Really? It must not be any story I've ever heard." As the two spoke, the doctor gave Rainbow an encouraging smile and moved to check the clipboard at the end of the colt's oversized bed. "So, uh, how're you feeling, kid? When I found you, you were in pretty bad shape."

The foal—Gabe—gave her that funny look. "You're the one that found me?"

"Yeah, I am." Rainbow grinned and puffed her chest out just the tiniest bit. "I scooped you up and flew you back here, quick as a wink! Probably the fastest anypony crossed Ponyville. Good thing, too, because something roughed you up pretty darn bad."

"Oh, well, thank you. Very much."

The foal was being... surprisingly polite, Rainbow realized. She expected any other foal to be scared stiff of all the strangers, crying to go home, but nothing about this foal struck her as normal. At all. He didn't look scared, really, just... numb and confused. What kind of foal is this?

"And I'm okay," he continued. "It's not too bad."

That nearly made Rainbow's eyes bug out of her head. The condition that she’d found that foal in would’ve hit a grown mare like a train, but no, it seemed like the only trouble he was having was keeping the cup propped up. Joys of a splinted foreleg, I guess.

She turned to the Doctor. "What kind of spells do you have this kid on?" she said under her breath.

The doctor only offered a raised eyebrow. "The top shelf stuff, apparently. I didn't cast them."

Rainbow coughed into her hoof and looked back to the foal. "So, kid, I gotta know, what happened to ya? How'd you wind up in such bad shape?"

The stare he gave her in response was haunting. His eyes looked scared, sad, horrified, and angry all at the same time but the rest of his face stayed perfectly level. Rainbow realized that she had started to step back, raising one hoof slightly off the ground.

"I don't remember," he said with the calm of a pile of rocks. Then it was time for a sip from his butterfly straw. Rainbow remembered herself and set her hoof down.

"Well," said the doctor, thankfully breaking the silence, "we'll make sure you get better as soon as possible. I'm sure your parents will be relieved to know you're okay. Can you tell me their names?"

That made the colt look away. "Um..." He spoke in a very quiet voice. "My parents. Uh. They aren't around."

Rainbow's breath caught in her throat and she saw the doctor's eyes widen. "Oh." After a moment's hesitation, he made for the door. "I'll be back soon, I have to... send for somepony." Then he was gone.

Things in the room got very quiet, save for the slurping of a toy straw trying to suck up the last drops of juice. What the hay do I say to something like that?! the pegasus thought. Then she took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh. "I'm sorry to hear that, kid."

Gabe blinked, then spoke without being asked a question, which caught the cyan pegasus by surprise. "Miss Dash, am I really in Ponyville?"

"Uh," Rainbow began, "are you not from here?"

"No, not at all," said Gabe.

Rainbow set herself down on the stool and leaned forward "Well, where are you from, then?"

The foal looked down at his now empty cup, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "A little town up north," he said, eventually. "It's called Westfield."

"I've never heard of Westfield," said Rainbow, putting a hoof to her mouth in thought. "Wow, I'm famous in places I didn't know existed. That's pretty awesome, actually." The colt nodded. Heh. A northern town called Westfield.

"Wait," the pegasus mare spoke after she thought for a moment. "How'd you get all the way to the edge of Ponyville in the first place?"

"...I don't remember." Rainbow frowned a little. There was an awful lot that this colt didn't remember. What in Celestia's name had happened to bring him from the north (which was a real flight, even for her) all the way to Ponyville? She'd have asked the question if a certain realization hadn't dropped a lightning bolt right into her spine. Her eyes widened.

"Um, you said, you've never been to Ponyville, right?"

"Yeah," said the colt, still fiddling with his straw.

"And we're the only ones who've visited?"

"Mm-hmm."

Rainbow put the tip of her hoof to her chin. "Weird, I would've thought that she'd have gotten here before–"

A very poofy, bright pink head peeked through the little window in the hospital room door. "I hear somepony new in there!" came an excited but muffled voice, followed shortly by an intense, melodramatic gasp. "Whaaaaaat?! Dashie beat me there! How can this be?!"

The door leapt open with a dramatic clang of strained hinges. Ponyville's party pony, the ever-energetic Pinkie Pie wasted no time bouncing over to Gabe, jabbering her head off and making the most expressive faces that Rainbow had ever seen since... well, since the last time she saw Pinkie.

"I knew that somepony new was in town because my back left hoof was itchy-twitchy and I knew it was a foal because it was just itchy-twitchy and not itchy-witchy like the way it is with grown-ups and I just knew that I had to give you the warmest, huggiest, most superlicious Pinkie Pie welcome ever so I made a big batch of super-yummy cupcakes but then my tail got wiggly and I knew somepony in the hospital would need more than just a normal cupcake so I made a brand-new batch of extra super-yummy cupcakes to make somepony who was having an terrible horrible no-good very bad day into somepony who was having an extra special new friend day so then I brought one up to the hospital but the SUPER nice mare at the front said that I had to wait for the doctor to come back but I just couldn't stand by while a foal was so horribly cupcake-less so I got super sneakey and sneaked so fast that the mare couldn't stop me from getting all the way to your room and then I saw that Dashie was already here and I was like 'whaaaaaat' but that's okay because now it’s a party and at a party you're always supposed to introduce yourself to people you don't know even if they have super-duper weird and scary eyes so hi my name's Pinkie Pie what's yours?"

At that point, the bright pink pony had climbed all the way up onto the hospital bed. Her eye-to-eye stare had backed Gabe so far into his pillow that it had started to swallow him. For a moment, nopony moved, and the room—despite containing Pinkie Pie—was completely silent.

"Well that's not right!" said Pinkie rather abruptly, leaning away and drawing a hoof up to her chest. "You don't say–" the pink pony made a very serious, wide-eyed face for a second, "–you say your name, silly! That's ok, though, you can try again!"

The foal's attention jumped to Rainbow and he gave her the slightest pleading look. Rainbow chuckled a little. "It's alright! My friend's just trying to be, erm, friendly. You can tell her your name."

He looked back at Pinkie. "Uh, It's Gabriel."

Pinkie sprang up on her hind legs and pressed her hooves to her face. "Wowee! That's the most super specialest uniquest name I've ever heard!" Then she fell back down and grabbed his un-splinted hoof with surprising care, extended it so his hoof pointed out, and bumped it. "It's a super-duper pleasure to meet you, Gab Real!"

"Miss Pie, you get down from there this instant!" Pinkie's head snapped around to look at the doorway, where three very annoyed-looking ponies stood. Her ears fell back right away.

"Ah-heh-heh," Pinkie chuckled sheepishly as she clambered off Gabe's bed. "Sorry... But I just had to give Mister Real here the best 'Welcome to Ponyville' Ever!"

Doctor Horse raised an eyebrow and kept his eyes half-lidded. "And now you have, Miss Pie, which I'm sure he appreciates, but you really need to learn to listen to the staff. We're looking out for our patients' best interests here."

"Oh. Yeah..." Pinkie said, looking down and scratching at the floor with a hoof.

"Now. Miss Pie, Miss Dash, I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave. We have somepony here this foal needs to meet, and visiting hours are almost up."

Somepony he needs to meet? Rainbow took a closer look at the two ponies behind Doctor Horse. The sight of a positively drained Flowing Fields brought gratitude to her heart, but the other rang very few bells in Rainbow's head. The saddle-bagged stranger looked middle-aged. She had a sand-tan coat, a light brown mane, and a cutie mark of a heart wrapped in a bandage. Unlike the other two, the mare directed her focus not at Pinkie, but the foal, studying him with her bright blue eyes.

Rainbow’s heart sunk a little but she knew how... convincing the staff could be from personal experience. They did not take the wellbeing of their patients lightly. "Sure thing, Doc," she said. Then she turned to the foal sitting in the hospital bed. "Hey, kid, it was, uh, good meetin' ya."

"Are you gonna come back?" he asked, tilting his head. Rainbow blinked.

What? This random kid wants me to come back? she thought. Truth be told, her anxiety about the foal had been satisfied. Parents or no, he was alive, and in a whole building bustling with ponies who could help him a whole lot better than she could. Why does he want to see me again? Is it because I'm the awesome Rainbow Dash? Maybe it's because—oh, crap, everypony's staring at me. C’mon, Dash, think of something to say...

"Erm, would you want me to?"

"Yes." He gave her a small but heartwarming smile. The first she’d seen from him. I guess it wouldn't hurt to come back one more time and make sure everything's alright.

"Um, sure thing, kid." She replied, flashing him a confident grin. "C'mon, Pinkie."

"Okie dokie! Nice meetin’ ya, Gabie!" Pinkie gave the foal a big wave and her biggest, widest, happiest smile, then followed Rainbow Dash past the three ponies and out the door... or at least she would have if she hadn’t stopped in place and jumped straight up, avoiding concussing herself on its frame by a hair.

"Omigosh! I almost forgot!" She pulled a cupcake from her mane in the blink of an eye and rushed back to Gabe's bed. "It's extra super yummy, believe me! I used all my super-special–"

"Pinkie," Rainbow called from the door.

"OkayhereitiswelcometoPonyvillegottarunbye!" She dropped it at the foot of his bed and leapt across the hospital room to join Rainbow at the door, where she gave Rainbow an excited smile. "So, spill it!" she said as the two started down the hall, away from the strange foal's room. "How'd you beat me to 'im?"

Rainbow huffed a tired laugh. "Well, this morning I was flying over those fields outside of town..."

Behind a gentle, friendly face, Counselor Sandy Hills worried.

She'd dealt with similar situations. She’d talked to foals and parents about the long-term effects of a childhood injury as traumatic as this. She knew how those foals behaved. Confused, scared absolutely stiff of an unfamiliar environment and new experiences. Clinging to a parent—or in the most unfortunate cases, a legal guardian—like they were the only rock in a terrible storm. At that age, going through something like this stayed with the foal, and that kind of permanence scared anypony. Some days, bearing news like that felt impossible. Just the thought made her shuffle her wings on her back.

The way this foal behaved didn't just make her uncomfortable, it put a small, cold stone of dread in her stomach.

This colt did not look scared. Confused, maybe, but if he was afraid, he was doing a downright professional job of hiding it. He seemed attentive and lucid, too, looking Doctor Horse right in the eye as he spoke.

"Gab Real, I'd like you to meet a very close friend of mine. She's here to help you feel better, ok? Does that sound alright?" Good thing that Doctor horse has a talent for speaking to foals. His tone always sounded so perfectly understanding and kind. 'Gab Real', only nodded, then looked at her and quizzically tilted his head just the tiniest bit.

Sandy cleared her throat. "Hello, Gab," she said. "My name is Sandy Hills. I'm a counselor, and it's a pleasure to meet you!" she drew up the friendliest smile she could manage.

"Hello Miss Hills," he said. His voice sounded so small and high, but he spoke calmly and evenly. "I'm Gabriel."

Oops. Was I saying it wrong? Counselor Hills trotted to the side of his bed across from Doctor Horse and drew up the nearby stool, removing her saddlebags and setting them down beside her. "How are you, Gabriel?" She made extra sure to pronounce the strange-sounding name exactly as he had. If it meant anything to him, she couldn’t tell. "Are you comfortable? Do you feel any pain?"

All while she spoke, he kept those deep brown eyes right on hers the whole time. It was unnerving, sure, but Sandy had encountered far worse. He nodded. "I'm comfortable. The pain isn't anything I haven't dealt with before. I can handle it."

Immediate red flag. Healthy foals of his age needed to be surprised and scared by any kind of pain. She didn't let her worry show, though, keeping them locked away underneath the friendliest, gentlest smile she could muster. They always say smiling keeps your mood up. "It’s reassuring to hear that."

With the greetings out of the way, now it was time to move on to the hard stuff. She steeled herself. "Gabriel, I was asked to be here by the staff because you told Doctor Horse here that your parents are 'not around.' Is that true?"

Sandy glimpsed a crack in the colt's calm façade. He swallowed and his eyes darted away for just the barest second. Then he nodded that calm, even nod. "Yes, I did."

Even though she knew it was foalish, Sandy Hills had hoped that this wouldn't be the case; that this would just be some colt that had royally botched running away and was too embarrassed to say who his parents were. Despite her best efforts, the mare's smile became a little sadder.

"Okay, Gabriel. I'll need to talk to you about some very important things, then." She paused. Even in rare cases like this, there was usually somebody familiar with the foal to help them through this next conversation. A legal guardian, a family friend, a familiar neighbor, anything. She stumbled for a moment. "Uh, would you like Doctor Horse to stay with you while we talk? I know it can be tough, meeting new ponies. I know you don't know him all that well, but–"

"No, that's all right." He shook his head. "I'll be okay, Miss Hills."

Sandy blinked. "Oh... Alright. Doctor Horse, Miss Fields? Some privacy, please." The two nodded and walked out the door, carefully closing it behind them.

Celestia's sun had set and the sky outside was the color of deep water. The only thing illuminating the room was the lamp on the small table next to Gabriel's hospital bed. It exaggerated the shadows on the colt's face and cast long black forms about the rest of the room. They clashed harshly with its golden light.

"Gabriel," Sandy started, "I want you to know that I am here to help you. I only want the best for you, ok?" He nodded. "But for me to help you, I need you to tell me the truth, ok? You can tell me anything, even things that other ponies, even adults, have told you to keep secret. Do you understand?" Another nod. She looked him in the eye. In the darkened room, his irises almost disappeared into his eyes. "Can you help me by telling the truth, Gabriel?"

He didn't answer right away, biting his lip instead. The way he looked at her made the counselor feel like she was being studied. "Alright," he eventually said. His voice was low, almost... sad? "I'll try."

"I'll do my best to be as understanding as I can, I promise." It was of the utmost importance to help the foal feel as welcome and safe as possible. "Anything you tell me can only be between you and me if that's what you want." Sandy gave the foal her slyest wink. "It can be our little secret."

"That's alright, I don't mind you telling other ponies."

Sandy bit her lip. This next part was going to be tough. "Gabriel, if your parents aren't around, who takes care of you?"

He worked his jaw for a moment, looking for all the world like he was working on some prime chewing gum. "My older sister used to take care of me, but I've been living without her for a while." The detail caught her off guard somewhat pleasantly. She’d been expecting a short, choppy response. Still, her smile fell a little bit.

I may have a homeless foal on my hooves.

"Have you been on your own?"

"No," he said, right away, "I live with my... friends." His hesitation raised an eyebrow.

"Are your friends grown-ups?"

He shrugged. "Some of 'em."

"Are your friends nice to you, Gabriel?"

"It depends on the friend." He said astutely.

"Gabriel, if they're not being nice, then I don't think they count as being your friends."

"Can you hand me that?" What? Her eyes followed his pointed hoof straight to the cupcake that Pinkie Pie had left at the foot of his bed.

The counselor frowned a little.

"Please?"

"...Of course, Gabriel." She reached over to the foal-sized cupcake and glanced at its bright red frosted writing. "Welcome to Ponyville, I hope you feel better super-duper soon!" it read in tiny sugary writing, accompanied by a little heart.

Nice work with the details, Miss Pie, she thought as she passed it to the foal, who cupped it with his fetlocks. He studied it for a moment, holding it this way and that, perhaps considering how best to begin. He eventually brought it to his mouth with both hooves and took a hesitant bite, chewing thoughtfully.

"Gabriel, if you don't feel safe or secure answering a question just say so. We can move on. The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable, okay?"

He swallowed. "No, it's fine. I know they're not the best friends in the world, but they're the only ones I have." Then his face fell just the tiniest bit, in a way that made Sandy want to cry. "Or had, I guess."

Sandy decided they could follow this topic of conversation some other time. "Where are you from, Gabriel?"

Gabriel moved on to the new topic right away, looking a little relieved. "Little town up north called Westfield."

Never heard of it. I'll have to look it up. "Is that where you and your friends lived?"

"No, we moved around a lot." The situation got more concerning with every word that came out of this foal's mouth. A group of ponies that weren't in his family, traveling with multiple adults and other foals, always on the move. It began to paint a very disturbing picture.

"Gabriel, when you were traveling, were you ever hurt?"

The foal became very silent. Then, when he turned his head, he didn't look at her, he looked right through her, at something only he could see. At that very moment, Sandy realized that she had a severely traumatized colt on her hooves. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Of course. That's perfectly fine." Sandy smiled. "Would you like it if I asked you about more boring stuff?"

He shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth all at once and nodded. She chuckled.

"Sure thing, Gabriel." Sandy bent down and retrieved a clipboard, pencil, and the form that she’d really hoped she wouldn’t need. "Okay, Gabriel. I need to fill out this very boring grown-up paperwork. Would you be willing to help me?"

"Sure," he managed through a mouthful of frosting and cake.

She nodded, smiling. "Okay. I've already got your name, mm-hmm, just need to fill a few things out first..." Counselor Hills quickly jotted down her own name, his tribe, colorations, and roughly sized up his height and weight. "Okay... first question is... age. How old are you, Gabriel?"

"Erm..."

Oh, dear.

"Gabriel, do you know how old you are?" His eyes furrowed and he looked at his hooves, then back at his wings.

"...Nope." The counselor resisted the urge to rub her temples.

"Well, honey, do you want me to guess for you?" He nodded, and she jotted down her best guess. 'Approx. 10-12' appeared next to the little 'age' bullet. "Alright. Do you have a cutie mark?" The foal blinked and got an odd look on his face, then checked under the covers.

"Nope."

Sandy suppressed a chuckle. I don't think you would have gotten your special talent by getting brought to the hospital, even if it was by Rainbow Dash.

"Okay... Do you know what your parents' names are?" Sandy made sure to use 'are' instead of 'were'. Best not to remind him of his loss before he's ready.

"Amelia and David."

More strange names. She raised an eyebrow. "Can you tell me your sister's name?"

"Rachel."

"Gabriel, these names don't sound very pony-like at all," the counselor said as she made her best effort to write them down. Sandy intended to follow-up with a question about whether or not he had even been living with people like him—an assumption she apparently should not have made—but he beat her to it.

"That's because they aren't."

"...I see." The picture was shaping up, and Sandy Hills did not like what she saw. Whoever this foal was, wherever he had come from, he had endured a difficult life. By her guess, he had been stolen very young. He’d been transported with others his age, likely in a similar situation, and at times, he’d been hurt by those handling him. It all pointed to one deeply-disturbing fate: foal traffickers.

Scum. The lowest of the low. Those who would steal the youngest, most innocent minds of this world and exploit them. To escape from such creatures was a treacherous thing to attempt. No wonder he had been found with half his side gouged out.

Snap!

Sandy looked down at her clipboard. She'd pushed the pencil into the paper too hard and its tip had snapped clean off. When she raised her head, she saw the colt giving her a very strange look.

"Well, Gabriel," she said, "I think that's enough questions for now, and, erm... Well, it's late, and you've had an eventful day. I'm sure you would like some sleep."

He gave that trademark even nod of his. "Yes, I would, Miss Hills."

She stowed away her clipboard and now-useless pencil. "Then I'll let you have your room to yourself."

"You're leaving already?" That made her stop in her tracks.

"Erm... Well, I was going to come to visit again first thing tomorrow, Gabriel, but..." she set her saddlebags down, "Would you like me to stay with you?"

Gabriel ducked his head and his eyes flicked to the side. "Erm, please? Just for a little while?"

Is he scared to be alone? Sandy couldn't help but satisfy her curiosity. "You're not unsure about me? Somepony you just met?"

"I've met a lot of people in my life, Miss Hills," he said, furrowing his eyebrows a little. Sandy noted that he said 'people' instead of 'ponies'. "I've gotten pretty good at sizing up folks when I first meet 'em. You're a good person, Miss Hills. I can tell. And, uh... I don't really like being in hospitals, even when they're as clean as this one."

The purest bit of foalhood innocence shone through for just a moment when he said those words. They were astute, honest. It put a real, happy smile on Sandy Hills' face... until she realized, of course, what 'even when they're as clean as this one' implied. Her smile became that much more forced.

"Of course I'll stay, Gabriel." She scooted the stool a bit closer and he settled down, drawing the blankets up to his chin. Then she turned out the lamp with a push of the button at its base, casting the room into a complete, peaceful dark.

"Goodnight, Miss Hills," came his calm, tired voice from the darkness.

"Goodnight, Gabriel."

Princess Celestia’s ear twitched towards her private chambers’ main door. Hoofsteps. Another calling from a castle runner, most likely. Her own hooves sprang to life, swiping her trashy romance novel off from its place atop the textbook-like ledger that a more responsible ruler might have been studying and into her writing desk’s bottom right drawer. It slid shut and Celestia’s magic winked out not a moment before the doorknocker rapped against the doors’ iron frame.

Celestia cleared her throat. “Come in!”

The left door hesitated before swinging open in a smooth arc, revealing the one pony Celestia was positive should not have been present, especially since the night court should have just started. Something is wrong, whispered a voice in the back of her head. A coldness dripped down into her heart, but untold years of practice killed any chance of a change appearing in her face.

“Sister!” Celestia said, with just the right amount of tired cheer in her voice. “What a pleasant surprise! Though, I should ask, won’t they be missing you in the throne room?”

It truly felt nice to see her sister these days, especially with the particular difficulty of the past few months, but the arrival was clearly no social calling. Princess Luna’s face showed no hint of what lay behind her little sister’s eyes, but dark bags beneath them and the long pause before her response spoke volumes. “...Celestia,” she said with a low voice as she walked into the room. “...Sister, I have…” The massive door swung shut behind her, closing with the barest cushioned thump.

A lance of worry stabbed into the princess’s chest and she furrowed her brow. “Yes, Lu?” she said. “Is something wrong?”

Her sister opened her mouth, then closed it, and blankly nodded. She swallowed. “Sister,” she began again with a voice that had begun to shed its stupor, “I’m afraid I bring terrible news.”

Epilogue

Saturday, Much Later

The chariot jolted underneath Princess Luna's hooves with a clattery enthusiasm as it bounced to a stop in the dusty Ponyville road. She paused for a moment, watching the sand-brown clouds carry dried leaves in the air for a brief, fluttering moment, then letting them settle to the ground. The Ponyville air tasted crisp and clean. It really is so much sweeter here.

The morning sun still hung low over the horizon, freshly raised by her very own sister. It shone in a pale yet bright blue sky, the year not so late as to paint the roof of the world gray. The princess stepped out of her personal ride, admiring its deep, night-colored coat and its finely crafted silver frame. She didn't use the thing nearly as much as she ought to.

Ponies traveled to and fro all around her, cleaning, delivering mail, and preparing the town for its routine activities. Wooden window-shutters clacked, thrown open by ponies greeting the day while hatted-and-earmuffed shopkeepers shuffled before their stores with brooms in hoof and wing and magic. Some heads turned her way, but their sights never lingered for very long.

Luna chuckled. It’s taken a while, but I suppose I am becoming something of a routine sight here. It is still happening quicker than I expected.

The princess thought back to the hasty, panicked bows she had received on her first visit. She had taken those first hesitant steps so long ago, flanked by night guards and doing her best to keep her head held high. Now, much later, things were different... and it felt good.

The princess adjusted her silver scarf with a hoof, appreciating its softness for a moment, and turned to her chariot-bearers, who had already moved the thing off to the side of the road. They unharnessed themselves with practiced hooves and trotted to her, bowing upon their arrival. "We’re all set, Princess." said the senior ranked one.

“Then let us be off,” Luna said.

The two saluted. "Yes, your majesty!"

Luna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Guards. Always so formal. The armored stallions bowed and split up, taking their places at her sides. She took another deep breath, gave her mane a shake, and began her walk.

The princess smiled at the citizens of Ponyville as she made her way to the public park. Many still bowed—despite past insistence against it—but, to her joy, some did not, smiling back at her instead. A hoofful even gave her a friendly wave, which she returned with as much casual ease as possible.

I'd like to see Celly walk through this town without being groveled to by every living thing, she thought to herself a little smugly as she waved to Mr. Cake, who had been trying to clean the front windows of his shop while keeping his eye on a tiny pegasus foal. I bet she wouldn't even make it one step.

Morning frost clung to the park's fading-but-still-green grass, making it seem to glitter and shine as she made her way through the main entrance. Once they passed it, the guards waited while she went on ahead, only following once a bit of distance had been made. Ah, good. They remembered this time.

From there, Luna followed her normal route, walking along a path for a way before splitting up and climbing a small hill capped by a fire-leafed tree. Two pegasi waited for her underneath it, and it seemed like one was getting something of a lecture.

Nighttime Breeze! came the knee-jerk thought when she saw him. Luna shook her head, pushing away the tightness in her heart. No. That still isn’t right. He isn’t even blue. Get a hold of yourself.

"...and how many times am I gonna have to tell you to keep your hind legs up? It's like you're trying to make drag!"

An annoyed groan. "Alright, ma."

"And you had better not ‘forget’ to go by the store on your way home again, bucko."

"I won't, ma."

"Good." Rainbow Dash scooped up Gabe and hugged him tightly. "I'll get off just before dinner, so I'll see you then?" The foal wore his own scarf today, a lovingly-knitted but scratchy-looking red-and-pink thing with hearts patterned on it, plus a hat that matched.

"Yup!" he said, hugging her back. "Sounds good." Then he opened one eye and looked right at the princess over Rainbow's shoulder. "Hey, Luna."

The princess froze, caught red-hooved in her attempt to sneak up on the two from behind. The best reaction she got was an annoyed scowl from Dash. Drat.

"Again, Luna? For real?"

She looked away and shrugged. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Rainbow Dash."

The pegasus snorted through a smile as she adjusted her wool-lined flying vest. "Whatever you say, Princess." Then, to Gabe: "I'm off! Later, squirt."

"Ciao." The pegasus took off and quickly shrunk to a speck. As the little colt waved goodbye, Luna noticed that his hat and scarf looked a little smaller on him.

She shot a glance at the base of the hill, ensuring her guards had followed without issue before taking a seat beside him and lighting her horn, hovering her tiara off her head and onto the ground next to her. The rest of the regalia followed, piece-by-piece, assembling into a neat black and silver pile on the grass.

Oh, that feels nice to get rid of after a long night. Once she had finished, the two sat in silence for a moment, watching the town awake in earnest. Luna shivered a little bit, drawing her scarf closer around her neck.

"So, Lu, it’s been a while," Gabe said. "Bring me any booze?"

Luna sent a rigid scowl his way. "I believe my wording on the matter was very clear. No matter how old you may have been, you are growing now."

"Ah, cmon," he said, twirling his hoof. "A little developmental disorder never hurt anybody." He grinned right through her judgmental look.

"No 'booze' for you, young stallion."

Gabe rolled his eyes. "Fine. Check this out, though." He turned and pulled his drawing tools and pad out from where it had been hiding behind him.

Interesting, Luna noted, raising an eyebrow, he is nearly out of paper. That would make a good gift for my next visit.

"Look!" The colt held up a collection of pencils. Luna widened her eyes at their unfamiliar color.

"They are new!"

"Yup! Crazy said these're top-notch, from Manehattan. Ordered 'em special for me. I can't wait to see if they're as good as she says."

"What shall you draw first?" Luna asked as he flipped open his paper-pad.

He scooped up a pencil in that oh-so-strange manner of his and pointed the sharp end at her. "Strike a pose, lady."

Luna harrumphed. "I am no mere lady! I am royalty, not nobility, and you shall address me as such."

"Hah!" Gabe laughed with a bit of a snort, "One more comment like that and you're going to have to settle for drama queen." She produced a horrified gasp, but she couldn't quite hide the smile.

Settling for a toss of her ever-flowing mane, the princess rose and walked a short distance away before sitting primly and adopting that straight-backed, even-faced pose she had once been so familiar with, making sure to keep her chin up and her wings pressed against her sides.

Gabriel, of course, took one look at her and stuck out his tongue. "Bleh. Why do you look like someone died?"

The words hit her like a sledgehammer. She cringed and looked away.

“Shit,” Gabe immediately said. “Sorry, that was a bad choice of words. I was just wondering why you’d pose so boringly.”

“Um, well…” Luna raised her chin again. "I'll have you know I've had hundreds of portraits done in this pose by more artists than I care to recall, and they were done perfectly."

"Did they all eat chalk for fun? Seriously, how boring can you get?" He jabbed his pencil at her. "C'mon, I'm not gonna draw you like you have a stick up your ass. Relax."

Luna gasped. "How crass!" She made sure to roll the 'r.'

"Bite me, queenie."

The two shared a chuckle and Luna relented, settling down onto her belly and crossing her forelegs while letting her wings splay. "Does this suffice your neediness?"

"I'd give you a thumbs-up if I could."

Thumbs-up... Yes, he mentioned that meant ‘all is well’ once... I think.

Luna hoped for the best as he prepared his pad and a moment later the soothing sound of pencil scratching paper joined the sound of birdsong and far-off conversation in the air. She let him continue for a while as she enjoyed the serenity of the morning before speaking again.

"Do those new pencils meet your lofty standards?"

"Yeah, actually," he mused. "They're almost as good as some of the ones I had back home."

"Almost?"

"It's something about the graphite, it's off, and some of the softnesses are kinda the same. You guys just haven't gotten the hang of it yet, but you'll get there." Then, underneath his breath: "...probably."

"I shall pretend I didn't hear that," Luna said, still smiling. Oh, it felt so good to just get out of that stuffy palace and have somepony talk to her without 'princess' and 'your highness' and 'your majesty' choking every sentence. Truly, how does Celestia stand it? "So, give me the updates, yo. How goes your schooling?"

"I still regret telling you about 'yo,'" he grumbled, much to Luna's delight, "and it's still easy as hell. A lot of the material is new, yeah, but we go at such a slow pace that it's all a piece of cake." He shrugged. "Crazy how hard they drive you in college. I still remember how much I worked like it was yesterday, even though that was ages ago. It's seared into my brain." He stuck out his tongue. "In the four years I was there I barely even had time to draw, and when I did, I was too damn tired to care, and after that… well, you know."

Luna nodded. "Well, perhaps you will get that chance to work yourself into near-death again. Have you considered attending university here in Equestria? I’m sure that any institution would consider somepony with, say, a letter of recommendation from a princess." Luna winked.

"Yeah," he mused with a smile, watching his breath in the air. "I’m not sure. I do want to actually finish becoming an engineer, I think it’s what Rachel would have wanted, but, uh, I don't wanna get, like, dragged off the street or something because I accidentally reveal that I know too much about… I dunno. Math? Physics? Electricity?” Gabe shrugged. “You get the idea."

Luna snorted with disdain. "If anypony tried that, they would have quite the unfortunate surprise coming their way."

"Heh. Thanks, Lu," he chuckled, still looking at his drawing and sketching away. "Anyway, I'm not too worried about it, since it'll still be like, six years or whatever till I have to worry about it. Right now, all I have to do is convince my friends to do their damn homework without my help once in a while."

Luna tilted her head. "The crusader fillies?"

"Them's the ones," he nodded, "they always ask me for help on their assignments, which I pretty much always give 'em, but they’ve been taking it for granted for a while now." He rolled his eyes. "Kids."

"Have you tried simply saying 'no?'" Luna asked.

"Are you kidding? Have you seen those girls? The faces they make!" He huffed. "It feels like I'm about to kick the hell out of a cute little puppy every time I get ready to say 'no, do it yourself, idiot.'"

"Perhaps consider leaving out the part about calling them an idiot."

"And have them miss out on my personal charm? Please." Luna laughed a little at that. "So, you been spending good time with ol' Celly?"

She beamed, picturing her favorite part of the last hour. "Instead of departing right after I lowered the moon, I had breakfast with her this morning! It was quite nice, indeed."

"Ooh, ooh!" The colt looked up from his paper. "Did you say the thing?"

"Of course I did," said Luna, "right after I asked her to pass the pancakes. You should have seen her face! Priceless!"

Gabriel made a barking laugh. "Wish I coulda seen that. What'd she say?"

Luna waggled her hoof. "Oh, the same old thing about having a clean mouth. I am to remind you to 'stop corrupting my sister, you meddlesome alien.'"

"Hah! Fat fuckin' chance."

She snickered, but it trailed off a little quicker than usual. “Yes, it’s good to spend time with her. It feels almost like before the Nightmare.”

“Hmm.” Gabe’s face fell, but he kept a reassuring smile. “How’re things going with the whole, um, not ruling thing?”

Luna shook her head. “The leash is still short. You know how my sister has been, always worrying about my well-being.” She glanced at the two guards at the base of the hill and her head fell a little. “I cannot say that I blame her.”

“Hey now, chin up,” Gabe said, “and not just because you’re messing up your pose. You’ve been making progress with that new therapist of yours, yeah?”

That brought a little smile to her face. “Yes, the new mare, Steady Heart, has been much easier for me to speak to.”

“Then you’re on your way. It might be a while, but you’ll get there. I’m sure it's only a matter of time until you’re back at the Night Court having a blast listening to, uh... whatever it is Canterlot ponies complain about.”

Luna chuckled at that, then turned to admire the park. The sun had risen further into the sky and cleared the frost from the leaves, bringing out the brilliant oranges and yellows filling the trees. The park didn't even draw near to the Royal Gardens' quality, variety, and downright majesty, but the simple spread of trees, grass, and snaking dirt paths brought a special comfort to the princess. All the more reason to visit, I suppose.

"So, Gabriel, I take it your flight lessons have not been going so well?"

"Right, you heard that." He stuck out his tongue as he drew. "Yeah, I still fly like a beached fish." He paused to glance over his shoulder, giving his wings a few flaps. "These two things just don't do what I tell them to unless I only focus on them, but then I can't think about, like, where I'm going. Or which way is up. Plus it's freakin' cold up there." He blew a raspberry. "I think my brain just isn't wired right for that sort of thing, but hey, Rainbow stopped giving me rides everywhere, so I kinda gotta learn."

"Ah, Rainbow! How is she?"

"Hmm. Pretty good, I guess?" He shrugged. "Same old, same old, for the most part. She does friendship stuff with the girls a lot, even though she and Twilight still kinda have some beef." Gabe took a moment to erase, sticking his tongue out in focus before resuming his drawing. "Rainbow insists they worked it out like I asked, but when it's just them, and none of the others, you can still feel it, y'know?"

“What of the Elements?”

He shrugged. “It’s still anyone’s guess. Personally, I’d say they’ll work when they’re needed. I’m not worried.”

"That all sounds like another friendship letter in the making," Luna hummed. "I wonder if my sister will get involved? Directly, I mean."

"Doubt it. You know how hands-off she is. Or, uh, hooves off... or whatever."

"Very true indeed." The princess took a moment to twist her neck, sighing after it produced a shower of little pops. "Well, while we wait for them to sort out their 'beef,' might I suggest a flying lesson or two? Perhaps I can aid in your troubles."

Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "Wow, really?" Then he scratched his mane with the end of his pencil. "Hmm... How much do I want to embarrass myself in front of a princess?"

"Oh, hush. I'm sure you'll do fine."

"You'd be surprised at my ability to screw up in countless new and exciting ways." He shrugged. "Your funeral, though. Or, I guess, if things go bad enough for me, our funeral."

"'Our?'"

"After Rainbow gets her hooves on you."

Luna blinked. "Ah, yes. Of course." She cleared her throat and readjusted her scarf. Luna had heard plenty about the infamous Amulet Incident and how the mare flew into a protective rage over her adopted son. The princess had no wish to experience it firsthoof.

"I've said the same thing to Sandy, too. About the flying. She says that she meets lots of foals who have trouble with flight and that I should just keep at it, which I think is really dumb because it's so unhelpful."

"I'm sure if she had something more effective to say, she would do so, but what else can she offer? To flap your wings for you?"

He snorted. "That'd be a sight. Almost tempted to try."

Ah, Sandy Hills. Such a wholesome mare. I wouldn't be surprised were she to agree, just because she wishes to help so badly. "How are your sessions with her? Proceeding well, I hope?"

Gabriel picked up two pencils, inspected them for a moment, and selected one before responding. "Well enough. I can talk about the, uh, hard times more often. Aside from that, We're still focusing on the stress exercises like I asked. I was able to listen to that thunder-clapper without freaking the hell out the other day." He tilted his head. "Well, the first time, at least."

"That is wonderful to hear, Gabe." She hummed.

“Yeah, it’s progress. I still have the dreams pretty much every night but you know about those. Thanks again, by the way.”

The dreams. Luna suppressed a shudder. The things Gabriel dreamed of tended to be wispy and incomplete, mixed-up images and swirls of emotion, mere echoes of what he truly feared, but every so often those muffled blasts and metal edges would coalesce into a glimpse of a war so horrid, well…

I hope never to see such things with my own eyes.

She pushed the thought away. “You’re very welcome, Gabriel. I am happy to hear that I am helping.”

“Mhm. Lots easier to talk about them with Sandy.”

"Have you decided to mention the, um..."

"The show?" He finished for her, frowning. "...no. At least, not yet. I don't really want the fact that I know the future to get out. Maybe, maybe I’ll tell Sandy, but the fact that she and Twilight know that I'm not really a pony is plenty uncomfortable for them. At least Rainbow left it alone after she figured it out and we had that shouting match.” He stuck out his tongue. “Ugh. What a mess that was."

Then the colt shot her a raised-eyebrow look. "You still haven't told anyone, right? Not even Celestia?"

Luna shook her head. "Of course not."

"Good," the colt sighed. "Thanks. I'm just... trying my best to be a somewhat normal pony." Then he looked at his hoof. "Mouth-writing excluded."

"Well, do you feel like a pony?" Luna said, taking a moment to scratch behind her ear before returning to her pose.

Gabriel didn't answer for a while, but she let him take his time. The foal liked to work through these kinds of questions at his own pace, putting his answer together before speaking. He had a way of narrowing his eyes and barely bringing his eyebrows together when he was deep in thought. Just like Breeze.

Nighttime had also loved to stargaze, and hadn’t been so great at flying, and had preferred to sleep on his stomach. It was remarkable how similar the two were. Luna had spent much time considering, but she still had no way to explain the similarities between them. She often wondered why her spell had chosen Gabriel. Perhaps he was the closest thing… or perhaps it was just plain coincidence. It annoyed her not to know.

She listened to the rustling leaves above her as she watched a flock of some kind of swallow pass over Ponyville. The peacefulness of the world brought on a wide yawn. If I'm not careful, I may fall asleep right here.

"...I'm starting to get closer, I think," he said. "All the weird shit about being a kid again is taking some getting used to, yeah, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be, really. Good, actually. Whole lot of an easier childhood than I had the first go around."

He paused again, scratching his face with the end of his pencil.

"It’s not exactly like being little again, though. Some lessons you don’t forget, and Sandy and Rainbow know that I used to be in my twenties, but I guess it doesn't take so much effort to say 'pony' instead of 'one' and I've noticed what little accent I had is pretty much gone. But, uh, I dunno.”

Gabriel smiled. “It's still so surreal that I’m even here at all. Back when everything went down, I was so sure that was it for me.”

Luna did her best to suppress her cringe this time. Focus on him here and now, just as you’ve been taught.

“I still feel lucky to be here at all, but I guess that nobody dying is about par for the course for this place. Not like home.” He shrugged. “But yeah, I think I’m settled and lying low. I feel... good."

He focused for a moment as his paper made a shuffling sound, a telltale sign of shading.

"I never really got the chance to live in real peacetime. I heard a lot about it from the old-timers, though. They'd always go on and on about how good things were back then, but those were just stories. I didn't give them all that much thought, really, besides maybe appreciation that ‘the good old days’ made you guys’ show.”

Luna shivered a little bit. I think I shall never get used to the fact that Gabriel is an oracle. Then she snorted. Even if he is a useless one. He never tells me anything.

“We always worried about what tomorrow's news would bring, even when I was little, before things got real bad.” The colt drew a few strong lines. Scrape, scrape.

“The idea that I can just... live my life in this quiet little town? Just sort of... do my own thing without focusing on the world at large? Being able to rely on things staying around? It's... uncomfortable."

Luna smiled. "Well, rest assured, politics have not stopped in Canterlot. Just yesterday, Celestia hosted ambassadors from the griffon homelands. So proper, those ones. Very traditional."

The flock of griffons had certainly been looking to impress with their layers and layers of noblewear and finery, and they had looked so out of place in the palace that she had struggled not to laugh. "But the things they brought to our attention hold no candle to the stories you tell of your home."

"I wonder how it's doing." His voice got quiet in the way it always did when he thought about such things.

Luna frowned for a moment, searching for the right words, or at the very least, the words that would help him feel a little better.

"Equestria has endured many a dark time, yet it persists because of the character and substance of the ponies it's made from. If all your people possess half as much strength of will as you, I have faith that, whatever the darkness in your world today, it will pull through. No storm can last forever, yes?"

Gabriel's hoof stopped, and he stared at his paper. "...I sure hope so, Luna." Then he sniffed and cleared his throat. "But, uh, check this out. What do you think?"

The colt flipped his pad around and held it up for her to see. He had replicated her form with remarkable quality and she widened her eyes at the sight, clapping her hooves. "Gabriel! You have improved!"

"Ah, thanks," he said, ever hesitant to accept compliments, "I, um, I've been practicing a lot lately. I thought this one turned out pretty nice."

That's certainly one way to put it. The colorless sketch held no uncanniness at all, and he had captured her pose perfectly. Her relaxation after a long day's work, the way her easy smile reached her eyes, the dappled sheen on her coat, the folds in her scarf, it was all there. He'd even gotten the way her mane drifted and how her wing drooped at her side, its feathers spread on the grass. "I believe this is one of your best, Gabe. Will it be going on your wall?"

"Actually, uh," the colt said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I was going to give it to you."

Luna blinked. "Truly?" she said, looking over the drawing once more. "But you like keeping your art..."

"I've decided to make an exception, so, uh, accept," he said with a bit of an awkward smile. "Y'know, before I change my mind, because it is pretty good."

Luna smiled wide. "Thank you very much, Gabriel. I accept." She rolled up the drawing, careful not to damage it, and tucked it under her wing. Another yawn came on, and she could not stifle it. Gabriel chuckled a little at the face she made.

"You should probably get back to the palace before you pass out."

"Hmm. Agreed," Luna said, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hoof. "I have an entire night’s escape next week. Wednesday, I believe." She levitated her regalia towards herself, donning the collar and tiara before stepping into the hoof-covers.

"Wow, Celly’s letting you out again that soon?” Gabriel said, smiling. “Sounds good!" he scooped his supplies into his saddlebags. “You'll have to show me those constellations you've been working on."

The little comment brought a swell of warmth to Luna’s heart. She smiled wide and scooped up the foal, giving him a tight hug. "I would be happy to." He returned it and she set him down. "Until then?"

"Until then."

The princess nodded. "Ciao!"

"Hey!"

Luna stuck her tongue out at him with a rather foalish giggle, then turned around, giving him one last wave over her shoulder before making her way down to her guards. They returned to the waiting chariot, and after a few minutes of fiddling with harnesses and a bumpy takeoff, they were on their way.

She hugged the drawing to her chest every minute of the chilly flight home, taking great care not to crumple or crease it and avoiding every errant cloud that drifted her way. The rolling golden farmlands and fields passed below, slowly giving way to foothills, then cliffs, and finally the urban density of Equestria’s capital city.

As she flew over Canterlot, Luna’s chariot passed by a few surprised pegasi and a detachment of guards on a morning patrol, who all stopped mid-air to salute, of course. Sleep pulled at her eyelids as they bumped down on her tower's landing balcony, but she dismissed her guards and made it down the stairs without taking an unfortunate and very un-princessly tumble. From there, it was only a short walk to her quarters, where a pair of day guards bowed before lighting their horns and pushing open the door.

The princess's bedroom called to her dearly, but she paused by her desk to retrieve a bit of tack-rubber. It floated beside her head as she entered her room, splitting into four with a simple thought. She pressed them onto the back corners of her drawing one by one and finally pressed the drawing against her wall right beside her massive four-poster bed, where it stuck.

Luna admired it for one more moment before once again shedding her regalia. They floated into a messy pile beside their storage stand in a way that Celestia surely would have rolled her eyes at, but that didn't matter to Luna one bit. The only item of concern called her name with its satin sheets and endlessly soft pillows.

The princess crawled underneath the edge of her covers like a worm, only peeking the top of her head out from beneath them, taking care not to spear any pillows on her horn, and wiggling as she made herself as wonderfully warm and comfortable as possible.

Her horn lit and the doors to her bedroom swung closed, plunging the world into soft, comforting darkness. Though she couldn't see it, she pictured her new drawing hanging on the wall only a foreleg away. I think I shall never take it down, She thought to herself.

Luna fell asleep smiling.

-The End-

Author's Note

Thank you very, very much for reading, and thank you to those of you who gave feedback and cheered the story on.

The afterward, which you'll be interested in if you want to know about a sequel, can be found by clicking here.

Until next time,
Lyn