8:45 am [Outside of Ponyville]
The four mares (along with Spike and the currently invisible Alan) continued walking as they looked for one of their tom-colt friends, and considering that Applejack would be busy with some chores on her farm, they had decided beforehand (or before-hoof) it’d be more logical to look for Rainbow Dash first.
Still, it was a nice day for a walk, so why not stop and smell the metaphorical roses along the way? Besides, it’d give Twilight plenty of ample time to think to herself over a couple of the day’s events.
“Today definitely started out unexpectedly.. Doesn’t exactly help that Derpy and Pinkie made that possible…” Twilight fought the urge the to rub her forehead with her hoof, knowing that doing so would likely trip her up (what with ponies being mainly quadrupeds and all); “Pinkie, I can, semi-understand, since that was her just being herself.. Still can’t figure out how Derpy got in despite the library being locked down tight.. Better start thinking of something else fast before I run into one conundrum after another..”
The young purple unicorn breathed through her nostrils, and exhaled out in an attempt to clear her mind. It seemed to work thanks to the fresh autumn air. Satisfied, Twilight turned her head to look at Fluttershy, or rather, the invisible child riding on her back. Twilight smiled a bit, remembering last night’s events, where it seemed like she’d made a breakthrough somewhat, regarding information about Alan’s people.
That aside though, as Luna said last night, the boy wasn’t really any different from a foal, much like how Spike was in spite of being a dragon.
“Let’s just hope everypony in Ponyville doesn’t panic when they find out about Alan. It’s not really like that kid could do anything to us..” Twilight blinked a bit as she thought of something a bit peculiar; “Although.. Why is it that Alan showed up when that comet- Wait just a minute , get a hold of yourself..” Twilight mentally sighed; “I’ll discuss things with the girls in private to see what they think..” Twilight nodded to herself, knowing how logically sound it was.
A soft (but still loud) snoring snapped the unicorn out of her thoughts, as she and the others looked up. There, right above them was none other than Dashie herself, curled up on a cloud, and snoozing..
“… Of course we’d find her doing this, and before it’s even nine am no less..” Rarity said with an eloquent deadpan.
“How's she doing that?" Alan whispered into Fluttershy's ear.
"Well Alan, aside from controlling the weather, we pegasi have the ability to interact with clouds as if they were solid. What that means is, we can touch or walk on clouds as easily as anypony can walk on the ground.. Nopony really knows what magic allows us to do this, but it's said that we've been able to do this long before we were tasked with controlling Equestria's weather.." Fluttershy whispered back to the boy with a smile.
Little did everypony know that Pinkie had already thought of a way to get RD to wake up. As she lifted a front hoof into her mane, she immediately started digging around; "Nope, nope, no- Wait, here it is~" And right there in broad daylight, Pinkie whipped out a hollowed out megaphone (the kind fans would usually use during a sporting event).
"Pinkie, as much I find your unusual abilities useful, I do must ask.. How is it you were able to even carry that thing around in your mane?" Rarity asked her with a very inquisitive look on her face; "Doesn't that get, well.. Uncomfortable?"
"Oh it's not as bad you'd think.. I can even store a ladder in there!" Pinkie gave a chortle and a snort as her tail coiled up, and she used it to bounce right up a tree. As she landed on a branch across from the napping pegasus, Pinkie kept a hold of her megaphone with both front hooves, and streeeeetched the upper half of her body across to Rainbow Dash, almost as if the pink party pony was made of taffy (and given her obsessions with sweets, she may as well be) . As soon as she was close enough, Pinkie surpressed a giggle, and put the megaphone close to the pegasus's face. She then took a deep breath and-
"RISE AND SHINE DASHIEEEE~!"
The impromptu wake-up call jolted Rainbow Dash right off of her cloud, though she managed to keep herself from falling to the ground, thanks to her wings; "Mornin' to you too.." Dashie muttered grumpily, though thankful she hadn't gone deaf. She then promptly flew down to the ground, stretching out a bit; "Anyway, I'm guessing we're going over to the library?"
"Correct, but first, we have to go get Applejack.." Twilgiht replied.
"Got it.." Dashie replied; "Though I'm guessing she doesn't need a MEGAPHONE.." She gave Pinkie an annoyed look, to which Pinkie giggled at.
9:30 am [Sweet Apple Acres orchrids]
Having taken care of the last basket of apples for the day, Applejack was taking a breather under a shady tree, her ears twitching from the sound of birds tweeting, which put a content smile on the orange earth pony's muzzle. It became even bigger as she saw her five pony fireds, as well as Spike, and the now currently visible Alan; "Mornin everypony!" She then walked up to Fluttershy, and lifted the boy off as she held him in her front legs; "Mornin' sugar cube.. How's it goin' over at Fluttershy's place?"
"A-alright I guess.." Alan said with a small smile; "The animals seem to like me.."
"Good t'hear.." AJ set the boy down as she ruffled his hair and turned to face the others; "Before y'all ask, yes, Ah'll be able to join ya at the library.. Ah've let Granny and the others know about our little mission without givin' away too much.. "
Twilight was a bit stunned at the convenience, but nonetheless, she was grateful.
10:20 am [Ponyville]
Spike looked around as the entire group passed by some of the locals, occassionally waving to somepony he knew, including Lyra and Bonbon, the two young mares that lived in the chocolate shop run by Bonbon herself. Spike turned to the empty space occupying Fluttershy's back, having looked beforehand to make sure there weren't any other ponies passing by. Eventually, the entire party of eight arrived at the Golden Oaks library, and went inside, where Twilight set up the security system, and once again turned Alan visible again.
"There, we're all set.. Girls, we need to have a discussion down in my lab. Um, Spike, you don't mind keeping Alan company while we're downstairs, right?" Twilight asked him, hesitant since she didn't want to make him feel left out.
"Nah, you go on ahead.. Besides, it'll give us a chance at some guy time.. Which, truthfully, I've never actually thought I'd get a crack at.." Spike chuckled.
As Twilight rolled her eyes in good humor, she and the other five mares went downstairs for their meeting, leaving the two boys of completely different species to get a chance at socialiizing.
"Um.. Spike?.. I-I hope you don't mind askin', but.. What's 'guy time'?" Alan asked the purple dragon.
"It's when two boys like us just, y'know, hang out, do whatever…" Spike looked at the smaller boy with a raised scaly brow; "Why do you ask?"
Alan looked down, a bit ashamed as he muttered something indecipherable.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that, what'dya say?" Spike asked him.
"I… Um.. I've.." Alan struggled to find the words he wished to form, gulping a bit as his throat became dry; "I.. I.."
"Al, dude.." Spike placed a hand on the boy's shoulder; "It's okay, you can tell me…"
Alan sighed, not taking his eyes off of the floor; "I've.. Never really been good at talking with other kids .. " Alan paused for a second; "I'm.. I'm sorry if I've been a bother to you.."
"Hey, it's okay.."; Spike gave an encouraging smile as he put an arm around the little guy's shoulders; "We could just do something simple, instead of playing a game. How does that sound?"
If Alan's small smile was of any indication, it was that he felt at least a bit better from hearing that from another boy, albeit it was one of a completely different species, but still..
"Hmm, what do you say we read something? There's plenty of books we could read… Oh, there's one on one of the upper shelves over there!" Spike pointed to a shelf that, quite honestly, looked to be a bit too high for the both of them to reach easily; "We could use a ladder, buuuut I don't think Twilight would appreciate us doing that without her supervision.." That's when a brilliant idea flashed into his head; "Wait, I've got an idea, just follow me…"
The two boys walked over until they were underneath the shelf, and looked up. Spike, of course, judged the height for a moment, until he was sure it was the correct height. Spike then motioned Alan to come closer, to which the smaller boy complied. Spike then picked the boy up easily, and placed him on his shoulders. Aside from Alan's size making him lighter, Spike wasn't a dragon for no reason, so he likely had some muscle on him (especially considering he proved himself able to pick up and carry all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders at the same time). The human/dragon tower then turned around so that they were facing the shelves; "Do you see a book with a red spine and golden letters?"
"Y-yeah.." Alan did his best to stay still and not fall off of the baby dragon.
"Good, just reach out and grab it…" Spike felt Alan lean a bit forward; "That's it…"
"I-I think I- Yeah, I got it.." Alan pulled out the book, though he wobbled a bit from the weight, and was then gently lowered back to the ground.
The two boys then looked down at the book, smiling a bit at the title:
"Ponytales Treasury: A Collection of Stories by the Brothers Trott "
"Still in good condition!" Spike said enthusiastically; "Now, let's see…" he opened the book, and saw the first story; "Oh this is a good one: "The Silver Fox" "
"What's that about?" Alan asked, now more curious and intrigued.
"Why don't I show you?" Spike asked as he began turning a page.
Meanwhile, downstairs, the meeting was still underway.
"What I'm saying is, don't you think it's a bit weird that just after that comet arrived and left, Alan somehow showed up the next morning? Something about this doesn't really add up.." Twilight asked the five mares.
"Well, yes, what you're saying does indeed make perfect sense dear" Rarity replied; "Although we can't really say for sure, it most definitely is likely the boy's somehow connected to the comet in some way.."
"Oh, do you think he might be a space alien? I mean, the comet DID come from space and all!" Pinkie said with a jubilent grint; "That'd be soooo neat!"
"… Now that's jus' plain silly.." Applejack shook her head; "'B'sides, those britches with the bib'n straps he wears, what're they called again?"
"They're called overalls.." Rarity said to AJ.
"Right.. Anyway, those 'overalls' don't exactly look like they'd belong to some alien with fancy schmancy high tech junk. They look more like somethin' his people'd wear for farmwork or somethin' else.."
"Fair point.." Twilight said;
".. Maybe I could ask him a couple of questions and see if we could find out a few things.. " Fluttershy suggested.
"Hmm.. Yeah, that could work." Twilight nodded; "You're the first pony he met, so he may be able to open up a bit more than everpony else. All in favor?"
Everypony else raised a hoof in agreement.
"Good.."