"Horsies!" Sparkle squealed as she and Crusher approached the horse ranch. "Look at the cute horsies!"

"Yeah... they are cute." Crusher chuckled at the child's enthusiasm.

"You wanna go see the horse I take care of?" Sparkle chirped.

"Sure, go on ahead," Crusher nodded and let the girl drive off.

When he had first been offered to babysit Sparkle while everyone else was busy, heading to the horse ranch was something he had never expected to do while babysitting. It sure was different from babysitting Gherkin, that's for sure.

Given a further reminder that Sparkle was also HIS little sister now.

"Bongo! Here boy!"

The horse gave a neigh before zooming towards them. Crusher yelped as Sparkle greeted the horse with a giggle.

"Don't worry, Bongo here is my friendly chestnut horse," Sparkle assures him. "Isn't he beautiful?"

"Uh… yeah," Crusher cautiously approached the horse. "Hey, there, uh… Bongo, was it?"

Bongo snorted with a nod.

"And now that you volunteer here with me, you can pick your own horse!"

"Me? Pick a horse?" Crusher glanced at stables full of horses. "Oh boy… this should be fun…"

He drove through the first stable, glancing over at each of the horses. Each horse were either busy eating or were scared of him as they turned away. He sighed.

"You okay?" Sparkle asked.

"Yeah, just…" he winced. "The only animal I've ever taken care of was a pig, and he didn't turn out well. Besides, these horses don't seem to like me,"

"Well... there's a really sweet mare I think you'll like. Her name's Evernight. She's sorta like you, actually. You're gonna love her. Come on."

"Alright…" Crusher followed her to a stable.

And in that stable was a beautiful black mare with blue tips on her mane and tail, sitting all lonely in her stall.

"Hey, Evernight," Sparkle cooed. "This is Crusher. I think you two are really gonna be made for each other."

Crusher approached the mare carefully. Evernight glanced up at him with eyes as black as coal. He smiled and slowly reached out to her.

"Hey, Evernight," he spoke, almost in a whisper to not scare her.

Suddenly, Evernight's eyes glowed icy blue, as did the blue tips of her mane and tail.

"Uh... is it supposed to do that?"

"No…" Sparkle shook her head. "This… never happened before— woah, you're glowing too!"

Truth be told, Crusher's whole body was glowing with crescent moons. He glanced down at himself in surprise before turning to Evernight.

"What's happening?"

"It's almost like... you're magically bonding!" Sparkle gasped.

"Must be the Moonstone's doing…" Crusher murmured before turning back to her. "But… I'd still need help taking care of her. Do you wanna help me, Sparkle?"

"Sure!"

X

"I wonder how Crusher and Sparkle are doing at the horse ranch," AJ wondered as he and Blaze finished up their duties at the police station.

"Let's go and check on them," Blaze suggested. "Besides, I wanna see how my girl Fireheart is doing."

"Sure," AJ agreed. "Come on!"

They all headed to the horse ranch, changing out of their police uniforms/looks as they zoomed at top speed. When they got there, they heard laughter from inside the stables, and they entered to see Crusher and Sparkle with Evernight and Bongo.

"Hey, you two," AJ greeted in a soft tone.

"Hey, guys!" Sparkle said. "Say hi, Bongo."

Bongo let out a cheerful neigh. Blaze chuckled and approached their brother. He glanced at the glowing horse, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.

"Is Evernight… glowing?"

"Yeah!" Crusher confirmed. "Her and the Moonstone are bonding! You should try it with your horse,"

"Okay..." Blaze walked over to another stall, and a golden palamino with brown eyes, and a white-ish mane and tail with golden, orange and red tips came to say hello. "Hey, pretty girl..."

Crusher immediately looked over at the palamino and looked stunned at how beautiful she was.

"Wow... she's amazing..."

"Thanks," Blaze said. "Fireheart was my 13th birthday present, but we keep her here, since--"

"Blaze, look!" AJ gasped. "You and Fireheart are glowing!"

They all gasped as Blaze found himself glowing sun marks as Fireheart's tips began to glow as well.

"This is really weird, but amazing!" Blaze exclaimed. "I gotta talk to Roarian about this. Maybe he'll know what's going on."

"In the meantime, Sparkle and I can teach Crusher to tack and ride Evernight," AJ volunteered.

"Ride?" Crusher asked.

"Yeah!" AJ beamed. "After we teach you, we can go with Mom and Dad on our family trail ride!"

"Actually, that sounds... fun." Crusher smiled.

"It is," Blaze nodded. "Now you guys get Crusher learning. I gotta learn as much as I can from Roarian."

"See ya when you get back, Blaze!" Sparkle waved her older brother goodbye then she turned to the dark blue truck. "Ready for me and AJ to teach you, big brother?"

The honorific caused Crusher to pause.

"Oh... sorry," Sparkle realized what she said and winced. "I shouldn't have said that..."

"N-No, it's okay," Crusher said gently. "I actually don't mind. I kinda like being called a big brother."

"I like having you as one!" Sparkle beamed.

"Thanks," Crusher smiled. "Now show me what to do."