//------------------------------//
// Plans and Pencils 
// Story: What a Strange Little Colt 
// by Lynwood 
//------------------------------//


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.