Home is Where Your Heart Is

"Crap." The exposed pony muttered as Fluttershy sat there with her mouth hanging open. Turning away from the shocked pony, Wanderlust glared at Rarity. "Why did you let her in?" He half asked, half growled.

"Fluttershy is my friend," She replied simply. "How could I just send her away?"

"Mmm..I don't know how about, 'Oh dear Fluttershy. I'm very sorry but I'm terribly busy right now. Goodbye.'" He answered in a terrible imitation of Rarity's voice.

The dressmaker narrowed her eyes. "Well excuse me if I'm not terribly rude like you."

Wanderlust just let out a noise of annoyance and looked back at the still silent Fluttershy. Still she said nothing and a look of annoyance appeared on Wanderlust's face. As the seconds stretched on Wanderlust felt his aggravation grow and it must have shown on his face as Fluttershy finally moved.

Her shoulders started to shake slowly and she put a hoof over her mouth as a small giggle bubbled in her chest. After another moment she was visibly shaking from the effort to keep from laughing.

Despite her best efforts a small burst of laughter escaped her which was soon followed by another and another until she finally exploded. She laughed so hard that her sides started to burn and tears leaked from her eyes.

A second set of laughter rang out in the room as Rarity felt small bursts of laughter being pulled from her by her friend's joyous laughter.

The only one not laughing was Wanderlust as he looked between the two laughing mares. As his gaze slid from Rarity back to Fluttershy he caught sight of something that made him snicker and almost laugh himself: a mirror! Or rather the pony staring back at him.

In the mirror he saw a gray pony wearing blush and with a horribly skew wig on top of his head. On his face sat a look of bewilderment and Wanderlust couldn't blame them for laughing...even if it did hurt a little.

After a moment he grabbed the wig off his head and threw it away from him as the laughing ponies started to calm down. Fluttershy muttered apologies between her quieting giggles and Rarity covered her mouth trying to suppress her own giggles. Wanderlust just smiled and rolled his eyes at the two mares.

After the ponies had reigned in their laughter Fluttershy asked shyly, "Wanderlust..why are you here and why are you dressed like a mare?"

Wanderlust opened his mouth to answer but was quickly cut off by another voice as Rarity answered instead. "He's modeling for me."

Fluttershy looked at Wanderlust in confusion for a moment. "But um...Wanderlust is a stallion." She said and felt some color flow into her cheeks.

"Yes I know but his colors made me think of a dress and I just had to make it!" Rarity exclaimed. "So naturally I asked if he model for me and he said yes!"

"R-Really?" Fluttershy asked Wanderlust.

"Yeah, really." He answered. "But Rarity was supposed to keep everypony out of the store while I was..." He shuddered slightly, "modeling..."

"Oh. I-I'm sorry..." Fluttershy put her head down and retreated into her mane a little. "I d-didn't mean t-to intrude..."

Wanderlust smiled at her apologetic nature. "Don't worry Fluttershy. I'm not mad or anything."

"R-Really?"

"Really! Besides it wasn't even your fault." He replied and sent an accusing glare at Rarity to which she smiled awkwardly. Rolling his eyes Wanderlust said, "Well we might as well finish with the dress." This elicited a squeak of joy out of Rarity and Wanderlust felt himself float back to the middle of the room as Rarity's magic grabbed him. "Just finish it quickly."

She nodded happily and stuck the gray wig back on Wanderlust's head and took the blood spotted towel from his hoof. She looked at his injured hoof for a moment and after seeing no more blood surface she tossed the towel in a trash can. Immediately afterwards fabric started gliding around the room as Rarity got back to work.

Fluttershy sat on the floor and simply watched her old friend as she worked her dress making magic and her new friend tried to not make a break for the door. They both succeeded in their tasks as soon Wanderlust stood in the center of the room in a beautifully made gray and blue dress. Fluttershy had to admit, he looked like a very pretty mare.

"Is it done?" Wanderlust asked Rarity as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"Yes. It is done." She replied with a smile as she looked over her masterpiece.

"Good. Now can I take it off?" He asked.

"But why would you want to?" Rarity asked with genuine surprise in her voice. "You look lovely in that dress! Don't you agree Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy was caught off guard by the question and her cheeks turned a slight pink. Whatever her response was was so quiet and shaky that nopony could ever hope to hear what it was. Rarity and Wanderlust both smiled at the timid pony's response or rather her lack of one.

Minutes later all three ponies walked out of Rarity's boutique. Rarity with a slight bounce in her step from the joy of a successful day of dress making, Wanderlust with a slight grimace as he imagined what would happen if anypony knew what he had done in the boutique, and Fluttershy was acting shy (believe it or not) and placed herself next to Rarity and away from Wanderlust.

"So Wanderlust," Rarity began. "What are you going to do now?"

Wanderlust pondered this for a moment. "I don't really know...I guess I'll see if there is any work in town that I could do." He replied with the idea of money and his debt to Fluttershy at the front of his mind.

"Why do you need so much money?" Rarity asked confused as she knew that in Wanderlust's borrowed saddle bag there now sat a bag of fifty bits.

"Oh you know food and uh..stuff." He answered but decided to not mention the supplies he would have to buy to fix the holes that he had made in Fluttershy's house, lest Fluttershy try to convince him that he didn't owe her anything.

"Maybe Applejack has some work that needs done..." Fluttershy suggested quietly.

Wanderlust looked around Rarity and focused his gaze on Fluttershy. "Applejack? Is he a friend of yours?" He asked Fluttershy.

"Y-yes!" She squeaked out quickly. "But Applejack isn't a..."

She was cut off as Wanderlust cut back in. "Well if he has work I would really like to talk to this Applejack. Do have any idea where he would be?"

Rarity was the one who answered. "I believe that Applejack is helping Pinkie Pie today with some baking. So they'll be at Sugar Cube Corner."

"Sugar Cube Corner? Is that a candy shop or something?" He asked.

"More or less. It's in the center of town." Rarity replied before Fluttershy could say anything.

"Great! I'll go see him!" Wanderlust answered before galloping off towards the sweet shop.

"B-But Applejack isn't a him!" Fluttershy called after Wanderlust but it was no louder than a squeak and Wanderlust didn't hear.

Rarity smiled mischievously and looked at Fluttershy. "This should be interesting... Let's watch!" The white mare laughed as she trotted after the stallion.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy muttered before chasing after both of them.

Wanderlust walked into the sweet shop and looked around for the stallion named Applejack but saw that the store was empty except for a single orange mare wearing a beaten looking cowboy hat who was currently placing pies on a counter. Looking around, Wanderlust was positive that there were no stallions in the store. No stallions meant there was no Applejack. At least that was what Wanderlust thought.

Wanderlust grunted in annoyance and looked towards the orange mare only to find his gaze returned by a pair of emerald green eyes. The mare and the stallion watched each other for a moment before a spark of recognition registered in both ponies. Wanderlust remembered a determined pony looking ready to attack him to save her apples despite being hundreds of feet in the air and Applejack remembered a shocked looking thief attempting to whisk away her family's apples right under her nose.

Applejack walked up to Wanderlust slowly and looked at him carefully. She registered his slightly gaunt form, his multitude of small scratches and faded scars (since Wanderlust had washed all of Rarity's makeup off) and the bump on his head that seemed to resemble a second horn. She stopped a foot in front of the stallion and glared at him silently as he looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Can I help you?" Applejack asked the nervous pony.

"Uh yeah..." He answered hesitantly. "I'm trying to find somepony..."

"Why? So you can steal from them?" She answered in a voice cold enough to freeze water.

Wanderlust opened his mouth with a retort ready but knew he had no right to say anything so he simply looked down at the ground in shame. Just then two ponies burst through the door in front of the store and took in the scene before them seeing the look of shame on Wanderlust's face and the cold fury on Applejack's.

'Oh no...' Fluttershy thought. 'Did Applejack get that mad that Wanderlust thought that she was a stallion?!'

Rarity simply thought, 'This looks interesting.'

Applejack and Wanderlust didn't even seem to notice the two ponies watching them.

"So. Who exactly are you looking for?" Applejack asked with that same cold voice.

Wanderlust flinched from the tone as if it hurt him and responded in a small voice. "I'm trying to find a pony named Applejack..."

"Well you found her." She responded in a slightly less harsh tone. "So what do you want?"

Wanderlust was more surprised that he had tried to steal from the pony he was trying to get a job from than the fact that Applejack wasn't a stallion. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. "I...I wanted to know if there were any jobs that you needed done..."

This was a surprise to Applejack. A thief wanted to work for her. That was very surprising and rather ironic considering that he had tried to steal from her about a week ago. "Why? Why would you want to work for me?"

He looked up at her. "Because...I need money to..." At that moment Wanderlust noticed Rarity and Fluttershy standing a few feet away watching them. "I just need it." He said turning his head slightly to look at Fluttershy.

Applejack followed his gaze and saw her two friends standing in the doorway. Fluttershy looked noticeably uncomfortable but Rarity seemed perfectly content to just watch them. After a moment Rarity actually waved her hoof in a motion that suggested that they should keep going. Wanderlust smiled slightly at this but it quickly vanished as Applejack looked harshly at him.

Every pony sat there in an oppressive silence as Rarity waited for the "show" to resume, Wanderlust smartly kept quiet, Applejack pondered the appearance of her friends, and Fluttershy worked up the courage to approach her angry looking friend and her sad one.

Fluttershy eventually did work up the courage and walked towards Wanderlust and Applejack looking very nervous. When she stopped a foot away she had to resist the urge to hide herself in her mane. She leaned her heads towards Wanderlust and whispered in his ear, "Applejack isn't a stallion!"

Wanderlust just started laughing but it was almost a sad laugh. "Thank you for telling me that Fluttershy." He said and smiled a grateful smile at being able to laugh again.

Applejack watched the exchange in confusion. 'What the hay?' she thought as she watched her shy friend whisper something else into Wanderlust's ear that was too soft for Applejack to overhear. She watched as Wanderlust smiled at Fluttershy and shook his head silently. It was then that Applejack noticed something odd about the bag that Wanderlust had. It had a small pink butterfly on it and Applejack was sure that it belonged to Fluttershy. 'Who exactly is this thief and why is he friends with Fluttershy?' She wondered. She broke out of her thoughts as Rarity trotted over.

"So...What were you two talking about Applejack?" Rarity inquired. She knew that her farming friend had been angry but she couldn't imagine that Wanderlust's possibly confusing her name for a stallion's would make her so mad.

It was Wanderlust who answered in a shaky voice. "We were just talking about me possibly working for Applejack on her farm." He looked back at Applejack and silently pleaded with her to agree with him. He didn't want his new friends to know that he had tried to steal from this pony.

To his surprise she did. "Yeah. We were talking about him working for me." Applejack didn't know what had happened between her friend Fluttershy and the apple thief but she seemed to like him. 'He can't be too bad if Fluttershy likes him...' She thought before saying. "Be at the farm at sunrise tomorrow Mr...?"

His smile grew wide and he said simply, "Wanderlust."

"Well Mr. Wanderlust, as I was saying be at the farm tomorrow at sunrise. I'm sure you can find your way there." Her voice got a little cold towards the end.

Wanderlust felt his smile falter slightly as he knew that the only reason she gave him a job was because Rarity and Fluttershy were there. But at least he now had work. He was that much closer to repaying his debt to Fluttershy, not that he would ever tell her about that. His plan was simple: work in Ponyville for a month or two, fix the holes in Fluttershy's house, repay her for her care, and leave Ponyville before he got too attached to this town or anypony. That last part hurt his heart a little but he knew it was for the best. 'No attachments. No friends. Just explore.' He thought before returning his thoughts to the ponies around him.

"Sunrise it is." Wanderlust said with his smile returning. "Thank you for this. I won't disappoint you."

Applejack snorted and was about to say she hoped not when a voice that could only be described as loud and squeaky came from another room. "Applejack! Where did you go!?"

The voice gave Wanderlust a very distinct image of a pink pony with a crazy looking mane. Wanderlust had no idea where the image came from but the clarity with which the image popped to his mind was so shocking that he almost laughed.

"Sorry Pinkie! I'll be right there!" Applejack called back to the voice and was about to turn towards but she was beaten to it as a pony emerged from another room with a plate of cupcakes balanced on her back.

She looked almost exactly as Wanderlust had envisioned her. She was a light pink color with a darker pink mane and tail that both looked as if they had been stuck in a cotton candy machine. Wanderlust wandered if any filly had ever mistaken her tail for real cotton candy and tried to take a bite out it. Her cutie mark was a small image of three party balloons with two of them being blue and one being yellow.

Applejack walked over to the pink pony and took the plate off of mare's back and placed it on the counter. "Sorry Pinkie. I was busy..."

She was quickly cut off as the pink pony took a very quick and very deep breath as her eyes settled on Wanderlust. "You were busy meeting a new pony and you didn't tell me!" She said quickly and with so much excitement that it seemed as if someone had injected her with a heavy dose of sugar. In an instant the pink pony was inches away from Wanderlust and was talking so quickly that Wanderlust's head spun. "Hello! My name is Pinkie Pie. What's your name? Do you like cupcakes? Have you met Fluttershy and Rarity and Applejack?" She asked very quickly and then continued without giving him a chance to respond. "Well if you haven't you should! They are some of my bestest, BESTEST FRIENDS!" She ended in practically a shout. "Oh and there is Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash too! They are my bestest friends too but they're not here right now!" She looked sad for a fraction of a second before her smile returned and she returned to her barrage of questions.

Wanderlust looked so uncomfortable that Rarity couldn't help but laugh. Applejack just watched them and smiled at her overly-excited friend. Fluttershy listened to her friend's rambling questions and she was unsure what to do but from the look on Wanderlust's face it should have been obvious that he needed help.

Wanderlust could feel his head pounding as the torrent of words kept flowing from the crazy ponies mouth. Eventually something snapped in his head and he yelled very loudly. "STOP! For the love of Celestia just stop!" To his surprise she did.

She didn't look particularly upset or anything at his outburst and her smile remained planted on her face. "Oh! I'm sorry was I was talking too much?" She inquired. "I tend to do that sometimes like this one time..." She quickly launched herself into another assault on his ears with her endless stream words.

Wanderlust was left simply wondering if this pony didn't need oxygen or something because not once did he see her stop for breath.

"Uh Pinkie?" Came Fluttershy's timid voice. "Can you calm down a little? I mean if it's not too much trouble..."

"Of course!" Pinkie Pie replied happily and then was silent.

After the noise of the past few moments, the silence that followed felt unnatural but no pony really complained as most likely everypony in the room most likely had a headache from all of the pink pony's talking.

"Sweet silence." Wanderlust muttered and almost immediately after his stomach growled breaking his 'sweet silence'.

This elicited a smile out of everypony in the room and even Applejack couldn't help but crack a smile.

Wanderlust just laughed lightly at his stomach and addressed Pinkie Pie. "So is this your store?" He asked.

"Nope!" She answered immediately. "This store belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Cake (author note: I like cake.)! I just work here. Making cookies and cakes and pies and cupcakes and..." She stopped talking as Wanderlust's eyes locked onto the plate of cupcakes that Pinkie had brought out earlier.

His eyes grew larger as he looked at the blue frosted cupcakes and he had to stop himself from drooling as his stomach growled like a rapid animal. "So um...how much for a cupcake?" Wanderlust asked while resisting the urge to rush at the cupcakes and eat them all.

Fluttershy giggled beside him as Pinkie Pie answered him with a laugh. "Just three bits."

"Done!" Wanderlust dived into his saddle bag and pulled the small bag of bits that he had gotten from Rarity out. He pulled out thirty bits and practically threw them at Pinkie as he quickly snatched ten cupcakes. Without a moment's hesitation he attacked his food and in an instant three cupcakes had vanished leaving nothing behind but three crumbled paper wrappers.

Everypony watching had different reactions to the cupcake carnage. Rarity was disgusted by the sheer abandon with which Wanderlust attacked his food. Fluttershy smiled at how enthusiastically he was eating and was vaguely reminded of how her Angel Bunny sometimes ate. Applejack didn't think much of Wanderlust or how he was eating. Pinkie Pie was just impressed that anypony, besides herself, could down sweets so quickly.

Wanderlust devoured one more cupcake before pausing to take a breath. He smiled contently as he looked at the six cupcakes sitting in front of him. He licked the icing from his lips and reveled in the sweet taste of all of the sugar. He sighed contently and looked around at the other ponies. He took note of Pinkie watching his remaining cupcakes with a covetous look on her face. "Want one?" He asked to which Pinkie instantly gasped sharply.

"YES!" She practically shrieked as she quickly grabbed a cupcake and ate it in an instant, paper and all.

Wanderlust laughed and he asked Pinkie how she could want a cupcake so much despite making them for a living. "Why wouldn't I want a cupcake?" She asked with shock creeping into her voice. "They're delicious."

"Fair enough." He laughed. "Anypony else want one?"

To his surprise they all did, even Applejack. Everypony munched on a cupcake while Wanderlust grabbed the last two and carefully put them in his borrowed saddle bag. He just hoped the frosting wouldn't smear around too much.

Wanderlust looked around at all of the ponies who had just finished their cupcakes except for Fluttershy who had only taken a single bite of hers and just looked at the rest of it. Wanderlust found this strange but decided not to comment on it. So he just yawned and decided it was time for a nap. "Well I have to get going. It was great to meet you Pinkie Pie. Applejack, I will see you tomorrow at sunrise."

Applejack nodded to show she heard and was able to resist the urge to glare at him again.

"Goodbye everypony." He smiled, turned and left the store.

Fluttershy watched him leave. Applejack and Pinkie Pie went back into the kitchen. Rarity and Fluttershy stayed for a little while and just talked about anything until Rarity abruptly turned the conversation to Wanderlust.

"So darling, you have to tell me." She started. "Is there anything between you and Wanderlust?"

Fluttershy blinked at this. "Yeah...We're friends I think." She answered timidly.

Rarity smiled at her naive friend. "No darling, I mean is there anything special between you too?" She asked.

Fluttershy felt her cheeks quickly warm and she shook her head quickly. "N-no no no..." she stuttered out. Rarity raised an eyebrow at her blushing friend. "I-I don't know. M-Maybe?" She confessed. "At least...At least I hope there's something."

Rarity smiled softly at her friend. "That's all I needed to hear. Now let's get you two paired up." Immediately her soft smile was replaced by a mischievous one.

Fluttershy opened her mouth to voice her objections but found her tongue frozen. Despite her shy nature, she had to admit that she liked this stallion. But something was bothering her: she had taken care of Wanderlust for a week but she had really only met him today! She felt weird about having a crush on a stallion that she had only known for, at most, a few hours.

"Rarity...I-I hardly know him at all." Fluttershy admitted.

This didn't phase Rarity at all. "So?" She responded. "Love at first sight right?" Her eyes sparkled as she thought back to some of the romance pony tales she used to read.

"B-but..." Fluttershy started.

"No buts." Rarity cut her off. "Now let's go. We have to get you ready."

Fluttershy blinked. "R-Ready for what?"

Rarity just smiled. "Your romantic dinner of course."

Fluttershy's eyes widened and her cheeks felt like they were on fire. 'Only one choice...' she thought. Fluttershy put a hoof to her head and did her best attempt at fainting.

Rarity looked at her with an annoyed look on her face. "Nice try." She said simply before grabbing Fluttershy with he magic before walking out of the sweet shop with Fluttershy magically being dragged behind her.

Fluttershy just frowned as Rarity dragged her to Celestia knows where.

Wanderlust wandered around Ponyville trying to find one building in particular. He didn't know why, but Wanderlust suddenly had a deep yearning to read something. So far he wasn't having a whole lot of luck with finding any place that looked like a library and surprisingly enough, there didn't seem to be anypony on the street he could ask. He wished that his wing wasn't broken so that he could just fly up and find the library that way. He sighed and kept on walking around trying to find the library.

In the clouds high above Ponyville flew a light blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. Rainbowdash flew around the clouds in a lazy manner bucking clouds with a yawn. "No rain today." She muttered as she casually bucked another cloud making it vanish in a puff of smoke. "So bored." She yelled at a cloud before kicking it into nothing.

Wanderlust looked up as he heard an aggravated yell. He watched several flashes of colors as clouds vanished overhead. In a few moments the sky was clear and the only thing in the sky was a mysterious floating rainbow. He blinked a few times and looked closer. He saw that the rainbow was attached to a light blue pegasus that blended in quite well with the surrounding sky. He recognized her as the pony Rainbowdash.

"Hey!" Wanderlust shouted. "Rainbowdash!"

Rainbowdash bucked another cloud and looked down as she heard her name called. She squinted at the ground and saw a gray pony looking back at her. 'Who is that?' she wondered before dropping into a steep nose dive.

Wanderlust backed up a few steps as he watched the pegasus drop out of the sky. "What the hay..." He muttered as she gained speed.

At the last second she pulled up and came to a stop just inches from the ground. She hovered above the ground for just a second before setting down softly. Rainbowdash looked at the pony in front of her and smiled. "Oh hey Wanderlust. You called?"

Wanderlust responded in a daze. "Uh yeah."

"Well what do you need?" She asked. When he didn't answer she raised an eyebrow and waved a hoof in front of his face. "Hello? Anypony home?"

He shook his head and snapped out of his daze. "Sorry. I was trying to find the library." He said.

"Another egghead huh?" She laughed lightly. "Yeah I can show you how to get there. Just give me ten seconds." With that said she dashed off leaving a rainbow streak behind her as she headed straight up. The rainbow streak flashed in and out of sight as every cloud in the sky exploded into nothingness as the rainbow hit them. Exactly ten seconds after Rainbowdash had flown away, she reappeared in front of Wanderlust with dust swirling around her. "Let's go." She said cheerily before turning and trotting off.

Wanderlust followed with his mouth hanging open. "Do you always do stuff like that?" He asked incredulously.

Rainbowdash looked back at him. "Stuff like what?"

"That flying!" He exclaimed. "That was just plain awesome!"

Rainbowdash straightened up and smiled proudly. "That's nothing. I do stunts that are way more awesome." She proclaimed loudly. "I'm training to be a Wonderbolt so I have to stay in top flying form."

"I imagine so." Wanderlust laughed as he admired the athletic pegasus walking beside him. His wings fluttered slightly and he wanted nothing more than to unfurl his wings and take to the sky like Rainbowdash had done. 'If only my wing wasn't busted...' He thought sadly.

"Well here we are." Rainbowdash said pulling Wanderlust from his thoughts.

Wanderlust looked straight ahead and saw a tree that had been seemed to have been converted into a building. "This is the library?" Wanderlust asked.

"Yup." Rainbowdash answered and walked up to the door. "My friend Twilight works here so she can probably help you find whatever you're looking for." She knocked on the door lightly.

They sat there for a few moments before the door opened revealing a small purple and green dragon. "Hey there Spike. Twilight home?" Rainbowdash asked the small dragon.

"Yeah." The dragon yawned. "I'll go get her." With that the young dragon turned away and ran inside.

Rainbowdash was about to walk inside when something caught her attention. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Pinkie Pie hiding in the shadows of a nearby building. She was gesturing to Rainbowdash telling her to come over to her. She blinked a few times in confusing but thought that it must be something important if Pinkie was hiding. Or at least trying to hide. 'Can't be very easy to hide when you're all pink' she thought. She was about to call over to her when she noticed Pinkie putting a hoof to her mouth. 'Quiet...got it'

"Well, I have to go now." Rainbowdash said quickly. "Have fun reading." As soon as she finished talking she dashed away from the library and left a rather confused Wanderlust behind.

"Okay then..." Wanderlust muttered as he walked inside the library and shut the door.

Rainbowdash flew in the exact opposite direction of Pinkie Pie and flew around the town so that Wanderlust wouldn't look in Pinkie's direction. She stopped right next to where Pinkie was hiding. "What is it Pinkie?" She asked.

Pinkie Pie turned to her with a gleam in her eye and said only one word. "Party."

Wanderlust looked around at all of the books sitting on the countless shelves built into the walls. He smiled as he walked over to one of the shelves and looked at some of the books. He looked at one in particular that caught his eye and read the title on the spine.

"Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide..." He muttered. He was about to reach for the book when he heard a voice calling into the room.

"Rainbowdash? Are you in here?" Came the questioning voice.

Wanderlust turned around to see a lavender colored unicorn coming down a set of stairs in the back of the room. She had a soft lavender coat and a straight mane that was a darker shade of purple than her coat. Two small streaks of pink and a lighter shade of purple ran through both her mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a light purple sparkle surrounded by five smaller white sparkles. She had a pair of dark violet eyes that were currently locked onto Wanderlust.

"Uh hello." Came her voice. "Where is Rainbow?"

"Oh uh she had to go somewhere." He said awkwardly.

She raised her eyebrow at this but simply shrugged. "Well anyways, my name is Twilight Sparkle and welcome to the library."

He smiled at her. "My name is Wanderlust. It's nice to meet you Miss Sparkle."

"Just Twilight is fine." She said as she walked over to him. "So do you need help finding a book?"

"Actually I think I'm good. I was just looking at this one." He said gesturing to the book he was going to grab.

She looked at the shelf and smiled when she saw what book he was referring to. "I actually read that myself when I first came to Ponyville. It really helped me out."

Wanderlust was confused. "Helped you with what exactly?" He asked.

"It helped me find the Elements of Harmony." She said and watched as his eyes widened. "Have you not heard about what happened with Nightmare Moon?"

"Sure I've heard of it but I wasn't in Equestria at the time. I thought it was just a hoax or something." He admitted.

"Well I can show you that it was not a hoax. Follow me." She ordered him and walked over a display case sitting against a wall with Wanderlust following. "These are the Elements of Harmony."

Wanderlust looked at the objects sitting in the case. There sat five golden necklaces and a golden tiara, all adorned with special cut gems. Looking closely at the jewels he saw that they were cut in the shapes of a butterfly, a lightning bolt, a balloon, an apple, and one that was actually cut into the shape of a normal diamond. 'Where have I seen these shapes before?' He wondered as he looked at the tiara's jewel.

His eyes almost bulged out of his head as he realized where he had seen all of the shapes, one of which he had seen just moments ago. He looked at Twilight's cutie mark just to make sure. "Why do all of the jewels look like cutie marks?" He asked. "I mean this jewel is obviously your cutie mark." He said gesturing at the tiara. "And that one is Rainbowdash's. That's Applejack's. There is Fluttershy's, Rarity's and even that pony Pinkie Pie has a jewel shaped like her cutie mark."

"Well, in a way, me and my friends are the Elements of Harmony." She said. Wanderlust looked at her like he was waiting for her to say she was kidding. "Speaking of my friends, you seem to have met all of them seeing as you were able to recognize their cutie marks."

"Yeah I met them." He answered. "They're real nice." 'Cept Applejack, but I guess that's my fault.' He thought. "In fact your friend Fluttershy actually took care of me when I was hurt. She is really the kindest pony I have ever met." He felt his heart beat faster as he thought of the kind mare. It settled down a few moments later.

"Fluttershy really is very kind." She smiled at the memory of her friend. "So how did you get hurt?"

"Well um... I actually fell out of the sky and...well I crashed through the roof of Fluttershy's house." He answered with a frown.

"Well are you okay now?" She asked taking note of the faded bruises and small cuts on Wanderlust.

"Mostly. The only thing that is still hurt is my wing and my head." He answered.

"Yeah that looks like a rather nasty looking bump." She said pointing at a large lump on his forehead next to his horn. "Wait! You have a horn AND wings?"

"Uh...Yeah?" He answered although it sounded more like a question than an answer.

"That's weird...I thought all alicorns were royalty." She muttered.

Wanderlust drew himself up and tried to make himself look tall and regal. "And who is to say that I'm not royalty." He stated.

"Oh! Um, well..." Twilight stuttered.

Wanderlust laughed. "Relax, I'm not royalty. Just trying to poke a little fun." After he said that, he did in fact poke Twilight in the side. "As per all alicorns being royalty, I believe that most are but I guess I'm just the exception."

Twilight just shrugged and used her magic to grab the Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. She floated it in front of Wanderlust. "You wanted to read this right?"

"Oh right! Thanks." He tried to grab it with his magic but felt a sharp pain behind his eyes as he tried to focus his magic even to the small extent he would need to grab the book. He winced and the book fell to the floor with a dramatic thump. The pain soon dissipated and the room swam back into focus. The first thing he saw was a pair of violet eyes staring worriedly into his own.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah." He lied. "I think I'm just tired." He slid the saddlebag off his back and grabbed the book. He opened the bag and was about to slide the book in when he noticed the two cupcakes still sitting in there. Miraculously none of the icing had rubbed off but it would most likely not have stayed that way if he put a book on top of them. So he put the book down and pulled the two cupcakes out. "Want them?" He asked as he held them out to her.

"Uh sure." She grabbed them with her magic and floated them onto a nearby table. "Thank you."

"Consider them payment for letting me borrow this book." He smiled wearily. He slid the book into the bag and clipped it shut before sliding it back onto his back.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Twilight asked again.

"Yeah I'm fine." He smiled again and took a few steps before he felt his legs give out. He was sleeping before he hit the floor.

Twilight blinked a few times as she stared at the sleeping pony. "For some reason, I don't think you're okay." She said to the sleeping stallion before grabbing him with her magic and levitating him up the stairs and into her spare bed. "Sweet dreams you odd pony."