It was 9 AM when Rainbow Dash woke up. She looked around and saw her friends talking amongst themselves.
She gently lifted her wing to check on August and saw that he was still fast asleep. She smiled and closed her wing again.
"Oh Rainbow! You're up! That means we can leave!" Pinkie Pie said.
Rainbow was confused, "Leave? Leave to go where?"
"To the castle, silly! Starlight hasn't met little wiggle August yet!" Pinkie replied.
Rainbow forgot about her, "Oh yeah, she hasn't has she?" Just then, she felt movement in her wing. She knew this meant August was finally awake, so she very carefully held out her wing and grabbed him with her hoof.
"Hey little buddy, how you feeling?" Rainbow softly asked him.
August rubbed his eyes, and smiled softly, "I'm ok Rainbow, thank you for protecting me from the scary dreams last night."
Everyone on the room awwed at his little voice, and Rainbow replied, "You're welcome little guy, but that was actually Princess Luna that did that, you'll get to meet her soon enough. Her and Princess Celestia."
He nodded and rested his head against her chest. They all left Golden Oaks to set off for Twilights castle.
"R-Rainbow, where are we g-going?" August softly asked just loud enough for her to hear.
"Well, we're going to take you to meet another friend of ours. Her name is Starlight Glimmer." She told him.
Augusts smile faded after hearing he was gonna meet someone new. Rainbow instantly noticed, and she lightly nuzzled him, " Don't worry, she's really cool, she wouldn't do anything to hurt you. I promise."
When they finally did arrive at the castle, they marveled at the size and royal tone to it, despite going there on a daily basis.
August stared up at the massive structure in awe, as he has never seen anything like that before.
They entered the building and went into the cutie map room.
"Girls, I need to have a private talk to you, it is important. Rainbow, do you think you could take August somewhere safe until we're done? It shouldn't be but a minute." Twilight said.
Rainbow didn't know at first, since she wanted to keep a close eye on him at all times, but she thought maybe the talk was about him, so she nodded, and left the room to find somewhere to hide him.
She walked along the hallway and looked in the library for a safe place to hide him. She spotted a small drawer near the entrance.
She gently set him down on top of it, and nuzzled him.
"Rainbow, w-where are you going?" August asked.
She gave him a light smile and said, "I'm just going to go back to the cutie map room which is right around the corner, to have a talk with my friends. Don't worry, I will only be gone for a couple minutes." She gave him a nuzzle again, and backed out of the room.
August looked around at the room, and decided that he wanted to go explore the room.
In the cutie map room...
Everyone was gathered in a circle, to hear what Twilight called them to talk about.
"Well sugarcube, what did you want to talk about?" Applejack asked her.
"August of course." she quickly replied, "Something very important and a little... upsetting."
They all looked at each other, and then back at Twilight, and Fluttershy asked, "What is it Twilight? What about the little one?"
"The thing is," Twilight rubbed the back of her neck, "It is impossible for me to send him back to where he came from, because, well, I have no idea where he ce from."
Everyone gasped, Rainbow gasping the loudest, and she asked, "W-well, there has to be something we can do, r-right. I mean, come on. We can't just throw him out into the world. He wouldn't be able to survive!"
"Oh, no no no, I would never even dream of doing that to the little one. That's why I was thinking one of us could take care of him." Twilight replied.
Rainbows face instantly brightened, "Me! I'll take him! I really want to take him!"
Everyone looked at her stunned at her outburst, but not surprised of her answer since she has been the one carrying August, and she has grown rather fond of him.
"I don't know, Rainbow," Applejack said, "You do live on a cloud, and you are a full time Wonderbolt."
Rainbow sighed, for this is true, but she was stubborn, " I don't care! I'll live on the ground if that's what it takes! And I don't have to worry about the Wonderbolt thing, because I don't work all the time. And even on those days, I can have one of you watch him."
Twilight looked at her dead in the eyes, "Well Rainbow, you do seem to really want to take care of him, so," She paused, "As long as you take good care of him, I'll allow you to keep him."
Rainbow grinned widely, and basically launcher her self into the air, "Yes! I promise I will take good care of him!"
Everyone looked up at her with big smiled on their faces.
Meanwhile in the library...
August very carefully climbed down the drawer, and looked around. He looked at the entrance to see if they were coming to get him yet. After seeing no one there, he turned to go explore.
Seconds later, he heard hoofsteps coming towards the room. Thinking that it was the others, he ran towards to doorway to meet with them. However, who he saw was not anyone he had met before.
He saw a light purplish pink unicorn mare, with a purple and turquoise mane. Obviously not recognizing the pony, he ran back to his behind the drawer, unfortunately, however, he was not quick enough.
"What the..." Starlight stuttered when she saw a tiny silhouette move behind the drawer.
She slowly creeped towards the drawer to move it and see what it was.
When she did move it, she shrieked what she saw what she thought was a bug.
August looked up at the collosal pony, terrified. This terror grew when he saw one of her massive hooves coming down at him.
He gasped and quickly jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding it.
However, he was on the ground and more vulnerable. He looked up as he saw the hoof coming back down at him. He could do nothing but lay on the ground and sob.
"Starlight, no!" They heard Twilight say behind them, August, however, paid no mind and kept sobbing.
"Twilight, what is it, what's wrong?" She asked back and looked to see all of the main 6.
"Don't do it Starlight! That is not a bug!" Twilight replied.
Starlight tilted her head and looked back down at August, who was bawling loudly.
Twilight used he magic to levitate August up and into Rainbow Dash's hooves.
Rainbow pressed August to her chest and covered him, "Shhhhh... Shhhh... You're okay. You're safe. I got you. I'll protect you. Shhhh..." Rainbow started to rock back in forth to calm him.
Everyone looked at Rainbows hooves with frowns, except Starlight, who maintained her dumbfounded look.
Twilight looked at her and said, "This isn't your fault. We don't blame you for thinking he was an insect. This, however, is not how we wanted to introduce you to him."
Starlight didn't look away from Rainbows hoof. She only had one thing on her mind. She just tried to kill a sentient living being. A small one too.
Rainbow quickly flew out of the room to find a good and quiet place to console him.
She went back to the cutie map room and sat down in her throne. She looked down at her hoof which contained August. She continued rocking back and forth, and started rubbing at him.
"Shhhh... August, it's okay. She didn't mean it. No one would ever try to hurt you." She whispered to him. She could hear his small little sobs continue, and her frown grew deeper. She couldn't believe she wasn't there to protect him.
She sat there thinking of something she could do for him. Then it hit her.
She started humming a lullaby called Hush Now, Quiet Now.
After she started humming, she could hear his sobs start to quiet, and feel his shakes start to cease.
Even after his cries and shakes completely stopped, she continued rocking him, rubbing him, and humming to him for over an hour.
When she uncovered August, she saw August looking up at her with a still tear stained face. She frowned and nuzzled him gently.
She turned to the doorway to see that her friends were standing there watching, with small frowns on their faces. She motioned for them to come into the room.
Applejack was the first to approach her, "Hey, is the lil fella alright?"
Rainbow nodded and held out August with a hoof. His face broke all their hearts.
They all saw Starlight slowly trot into the room, showing a look of guilt, "H-hey, is the little guy here?" She saw August furrowed in Rainbows hoof.
Her guilt rised once she took a good look at him and saw that he was definitely not a bug, "Hey there little one. I am so, so sorry for what I did. I-I overreacted. C-can you forgive me?"
August looked up at Starlight, and shakingly nodded.
"Do you wanna hold him, Starlight?" Rainbow asked her, holding him out to her
Starlight hesitated, not wanting to scare him, but nodded, and used her magic to levitate him towards her. She reached out and gently grasped him, and brought him to her chest.
She looked down at him, as he snuggled into her chest, "Aww... you are the most adorable thing ever!"
"Isn't he?" Fluttershy asked rhetorically.
They all fell silent and looked at August snuggled up against Starlights chest.
Starlight held August for what felt like hours, before she finally gave him back to Rainbow, to which he then snuggled into her.
"Hey guys, do you think I could take August flying? I promise I'll be careful and I won't go to fast." Rainbow asked.
They all hesitated in answering, remembering Augusts fragile state.
Twilight walked forward and said, "Girls, I think that it's okay. We should let her take him flying."
Everyone else nodded, but still held looks of worry.
Rainbow grinned and started to slightly hover above the ground. August started to shake a little, confused on the sudden change of altitude.
She lightly rubbed at him to let him know it was alright. Then she took off into the air. She quickly looked back and waved at her friends. They waved back, and Rainbow took off out of the door.