Moondancer wasted no time turning to me and asking me a plethora of questions. "How old are you? How exactly did you get magic? Are you really in a relationship with a Zebra? How-?"

"Whoa there, time out for a second!" I shouted, making the time out symbol.

She immediately zipped her lips, blushing. "I-I'm sorry," she said, "it's just that I'm super excited to actually be meeting you!"

"You're not the first fan I've met," I replied, "but how about this? The walk to the inn is about ten or so minute, so why don't we ask each other questions. You ask one, then I ask one, rinse, repeat. Cliché, sure, but it'll get a conversation going. Besides, you being an expert on Earth Pony magic wasn't talked about in the show at all."

"I think that will be fine," Moondancer said.

"Good. So, what's your first question?" I asked.

"Well, I've heard you got wings and magic this past summer," she said. "How exactly did that happen?"

"Ah, that's a complicated story," I said. "And part of it I can't really tell for security reasons. Long story short, it was an unintended consequence of a spirit of a deceased magical being trying to convert my body to better live in your world."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"My Earth has absolutely no magic," I explained. "The spirit who cohabitated my body before she finally passed on for good knew this and the moment I was teleported to Equestria, she began to convert my body so I could live and breath magic infused air. But that magic infusion gave me the power and wings of an Alicorn. It wasn't intentional on her part, but I'm grateful that I got it. Flying and magic is really fun. Now, a question for you. How did you get into studying Earth Pony magic?"

Moondancer nodded and said, "It's not really a nice beginning, to be honest. About a month after I got my cutie mark I was in the Canterlot Library and overheard some Unicorns picking on a group of Earth Ponies. Calling them lower class and farmers. I didn't get involved and stop them…"

"Too afraid of confrontation?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah…well, I stayed up all night thinking about it and got curious, so I decided to try and study Earth Pony magic as a side project for fun, just to see how they utilize magic. And I got hooked. I changed my magical focus to a dual Earth Pony and Unicorn magic major with a minor in Pegasus magic. There isn't as much on the subject since studies haven't been done on them, but being a member of Princess Celestia's school can open a lot of doors for their students. I've read all I can find on the subject."

"Huh…wonder why there hasn't been enough studies done on Earth Pony magic…?" I wondered.

"My turn!" Moondancer said eagerly as we turned a corner. "Could you tell me about the fight in the Lycan Empire?"

I was about to answer, when I paused. Turning, I looked behind me. I felt like someone was falling us, but all I could see were Ponies walking to and fro with saddlebags stuffed with presents and food for the Hearth's Warming holiday. Pursing my lips, I turned back to the excited Moondancer. "It's not really a pleasant story," I said, "but are you sure you want to learn about it?"

"Please?" she asked.

I smirked. She was like a child at Christmas, or more accurately, a lot like Twilight whenever she was learning something new. "Alright," I said. "It started a couple months ago…"

When we reached the inn, I had learned a lot more about the Unicorn Twilight lookalike than the show even said. Like Twilight, she was twenty years old and ironically she'd gotten her cutie mark thanks to the sonic rainboom.

Her story was a very unusual one. She had been studying in her house, ironically a map of the moon recorded by Gallop Leo, one of Equestria's most famous astronomers. She'd also had some books open to legends about the Mare in the Moon. She was trying to determine just why the lunar maria looked scarily close to that of a Unicorn. She had grown so frustrated at not finding what she wanted that at that exact moment, she shouted that unless something happened, she was going to give up. That was when the sonic rainboom happened, and she decided to devote her life to some of the more obscure magical studies. Her cutie mark confused her at first, but a couple days later, she found reference to an ancient society of Ponies called the Lunar Mages, which fascinated her to no end. She even dreamed of a time when that ancient society could be reestablished and she loved to read fiction books about them. Her favorite book was, ironically enough, Daring Do And The Crescent Staff.

I decided then to suggest to Luna that she take on Moondancer as another student of hers just in case.

As we reached the inn, I paid for her to stay for at least a week there with the money that I'd earned from the crown, putting her in one of the nicest rooms available. I led her to the room, and as I did so, I said, "Moondancer, before this gets completely out of hand, I would like to talk to you. About Twilight Sparkle."

Her good mood soured instantly, and she looked up at me. "What about her," she asked in an angry and hurt tone.

Sighing, I gestured to the bed. "Sit down. There are a few things you should know about why she didn't show up to your party that day."

Moondancer stared at me for a bit, then turned and walked over, sitting on the edge of the bed. "What do you know?" she asked.

"That she didn't make it because Princess Celestia asked her to be in Ponyville to help with the Summer Sun Celebration, for one," I explained. "You remember how devoted she was, and still is, to the Princess. It's almost like how you looked up to her, only turned up to an eleven. And don't try and deny it, I've seen an episode featuring you."

Moondancer grit her teeth. "She didn't even…say goodbye!" she shouted angrily.

"Twilight isn't perfect," I said, "and neither are you." I walked over to the stunned Pony and sat next to her. I reached over, put my hand on her back and continued. "I've learned something about you Ponies since coming here. You seem to take one negative event in your life and make it change your whole outlook on the world." I turned her to face me. "I know why you became a shut-in. Pushing Ponies and potential friendships away just because you don't want to be hurt is something I can understand. Very, very well."

"You do?" Moondancer asked.

I chuckled. "Before I came to Equestria, I didn't want friends either. Sure, I was friendly enough to the people I worked with, but making those kinds of deeper relationships scared me. I've lost both my parents and my best friend who later became my girlfriend. All three of them died years ago. I kept everyone at arm's length and just buried myself in entertainment to keep my mind off of the void in my heart. When I got to this world, my first encounter with anyone was a very kind and loving Zebra. Even before I could bring myself to acknowledge it, we became friends. But I still didn't want to admit it. Opening myself up would mean that I was vulnerable to being hurt. And now, I have a number of amazing friends, a fiancée, and a marefriend. And I haven't even been here a year."

"I…I just…" Moondancer was crying now.

I reached over, removed her glasses, brought out my handkerchief and wiped her tears away. "You had other friends besides Twilight. What about Minuette? Twinkleshine? Lemon Hearts? Lyra? You had them as friends, too."

"I…I wanted Twilight there…I just…"

"I know that once she realizes just what happened, she will regret what she did," I said as I put one wing around the trembling Unicorn. "I'll talk with her."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Miss Moondancer? Are you in there?" Celestia's voice asked from behind the door.

Startled by the sudden interruption, Moondancer wiped her eyes and grabbed her glasses from where I'd put them down on the bed. Putting them back on, she cleared her throat. "Yes, Your Highness."

"May I come in? There's a few Ponies here who has something to say to you," Celestia replied.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised by this turn of events, but Moondancer sniffed and stood up, facing the door. "Sure, it's open," she said.

When the door opened, I wasn't really surprised to see a teary eyed Twilight standing beside her. What I was surprised to see, however, were four other Ponies who had hopeful smiles on their faces. Lyra, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine all stood beside the purple Unicorn. Moondancer was too stunned to say anything as she stared at her old friends. Twilight slowly walked in, looking at Moondancer with a guilty expression. "Moondancer…I…I wanted to apologize for not coming to your party, or even not even explaining why I didn't come…" she said. Her voice was trembling and a little bit hoarse, like she'd been crying a bit.

Moondancer's stunned face turned to anger. "Isn't it a bit late for that?" she asked.

"Moondancer, if you want to blame anypony, you can blame me," Celestia said. "I was the one who sent Twilight Sparkle away that day."

"It wasn't your fault, Your Highness," Moondancer said respectfully, "Twilight could easily have come by for a few minutes and told me she wasn't able to attend, or even to send a…send a FUCKING NOTE!"

"Moondancer! That was uncalled for!" I shouted at her with disapproval.

The cream colored Unicorn's ears flattened, but she turned to me. "I…I was humiliated that day! I thought other Ponies would want to be my friend!"

"And there are Ponies who would love to be your friends," I said, pointing to the four other Unicorns. "You spent so much time focusing on trying to find a friend in Twilight that you practically ignored four others who would love to be your friends. And yes, while Twilight could have reached out to you, you could have done the same. But you got so caught up that you didn't."

Moondancer looked stunned at that revelation, and realization appeared on her face. "I guess I didn't…" she admitted. Turning to the four other Unicorns behind Twilight, she slowly approached them. "Did I really ignore you all?"

"Oh, don't you worry your cute little head about it," Minuette, who had a smile on her face, replied, "We all understood you were hurting."

"We just figured that after a few times of trying you didn't want to spend time with us," Lyra said.

"Moondancer?" Twilight spoke up again. When the aforementioned Pony turned, Twilight continued, "I was a horrible friend to you. I shouldn't have let my studies interfere with that. I've faced a lot of dangers over these past few months. Nightmare Moon, Eris, the Lycan Empire, Changelings, but…I never realized just how much seeing how my actions hurt you could make me feel this bad. I'm supposed to be studying friendship, but I failed to remember even my old friends. Especially you. I can't apologize enough…"

Moondancer began to cry softly, wiping her eyes. "Twilight…it really, really hurt me when you didn't show up. Even if you were told to do something by the Princess, I'd have at least understood if you'd sent me a note or come in Pony to tell me what happened. It still hurts…"

Twilight hesitantly approached. "If you don't want to be my friend after this, I'll understand, but don't let my own mistake be the reason you can't make new friends."

"These other four were your friends then, and I'm sure they'd love to be your friends now," I said, pointing to the four Unicorn mares in the room.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Minuette said with a chuckle as she approached. "We've all missed hanging out with you."

Moondancer finally broke into a small smile, then hesitantly looked back at Twilight. "Even if…even if I was hurt by what you did…Sir Jethro's right. I could just as easily have written to you. I knew you were in Ponyville, but I didn't do anything."

"I'm still sorry," Twilight said, looking even more guilty now.

Moondancer sniffed. "I…that's all I really wanted to hear, Twilight. And…I think I'm ready to forgive you…if you can forgive me for my behavior earlier….?"

"I deserved it," Twilight said, but a small smile appeared on her face, "but I can forgive you for it too."

Moondancer smiled a bit, then, to my surprise, she raised her horn and it began to glow. The scrunchie in her mane glowed, then was pulled off. Her mane fell down across her face, and to my further surprise it perfectly matched Twilight's own mane style. "Thank you…" She then turned to the other four mares and approached them. "You still want to be my friends? After I ignored and shunned you?"

"Of course!" Twinkleshine said.

"Moony, we missed you," Lyra said. "Game night doesn't really feel the same without you there."

Moondancer smiled again and nodded. "I…I'd like that."

I smiled, walked over to Celestia and put an arm over her withers. "Looks like the kids are making up, eh Mom?" I said in a teasing manner, looking into the twinkling eyes of the solar Diarch.

She too, gave me a teasing smile. She winked at me. "Leaves more time for us to spend some quality time together," she replied without missing a beat.

"Scandalous!" I gasped, putting a dramatic hand over my chest. "To quote a famous flower mare, 'The horror! The horror!'" I put a hand over my forehead and pretended to faint onto the bed, laughing hard after a few seconds. I heard Celestia giggling herself as I sat back up. "Okay, silly time over for now," I said.

"Um…yeah," a confused Twilight said as she turned back to Moondancer. "Our rocky reunion aside, I'm glad you're here. I don't know what else I can do about Applejack."

Moondancer stood, nodding as she pulled out a few old books from her saddlebags with her magic and pointed to them. "Twilight, as much as I don't like to admit it, you have a better head for magic than I do. I found these in an old section of the Canterlot Library and convinced the library to sell them to me. Even if I've read everything on the subject, there are a few things that I can't really wrap my head around. Let's go back to your house and read them over together," she finished, putting her books back in her bag.

"Of course," Twilight said as the two headed out the door.

Lyra tilted her head. "What's wrong with Applejack?" she asked, turning to me with a curious and worried expression.

"Long story," I said, "and when we get an answer, I'll let you know."

"You'd better," Lyra said, pointing a hoof at me with a grin. "I know where you live."

"It's a small town, Ly-Ly," I said as Celestia and I headed out of the room. "Everyone knows where everyone else lives."

Just before I left the room, I thought I heard branches outside the window rustling. Turning, I saw that it was just the wind blowing through the leafless tree next to the window. Shrugging, I headed out the door, closing it behind me.

Just over an hour later, I was sitting in the Golden Oaks Library with Applejack while Moondancer and Twilight were in another room looking over the books the former Unicorn had brought with her. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had stopped by a while ago and had asked if Spike could go play with them. Twilight had said he could, so the three fillies with the (presumably) newfound crush on Spike, practically dragged the poor Dragon away. The rest of the Apple family had gone home for the time being as had the other Elements of Harmony. Princess Celestia had teleported back to Canterlot but not before giving me a blank scroll which I could use to write to her like the journal we used to keep in touch with Earth.

Currently, Applejack and I were watching one of my favorite television shows, Stargate SG-1. Applejack had requested that we watch something I liked despite my initial offer of watching something else. She'd pretty much insisted, so that was how we ended up sitting on the couch watching a magically projected screen. She was sitting a bit closer to me than she normally would.

We were watching the scene where the humans arrived on the planet Chulak for the first time. Applejack shook her head. "Ah still can't believe that the mirror looks like that Stargate of yers."

"It's not really mine," I said, "but yeah, that's why I call it a Stargate."

Applejack leaned against me then, her blonde mane gently falling against my arm. She'd removed her Stetson which was sitting on the couch next to her. I put a gentle wing around her almost automatically. We sat there for a while, watching the show. Finally, Applejack said, "Ah might not understand this teevee show of yers, but ah can tell yah like it."

"It was made for humans," I conceded, "and a lot of the stuff here would be things only humans would understand. We could watch something else-"

"Yer as stubborn as ah am," Applejack said sternly, poking my chest with her hoof. "Ah wanna see the things yah like doin', too. Yer always doin' things we like with us, and it ain't fair that yah won't let us do the same."

I smiled and faced the beautiful orange mare. "Feels like we've had this conversation before," I said.

Applejack nodded. "Well, ah know that sometimes, when somethin' or somepony's actin' all stubborn, yah gotta hammer away until they crack."

I laughed. "That's fair," I said. Reaching down, I paused the show and turned to face her. "Listen, AJ, can we talk for a bit? Since we're alone right now, I wanted to discuss something with you."

She pointed her ears forward, giving me her undivided attention. "Sure thing, sugarcube."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "Now, I know you're the Element of Honesty, but I'd appreciate an honest answer to what I'm about to ask."

"Of course," she said, looking more confused now.

"I know that half of the Bearers of Harmony have developed feelings for me," I said, "but I'd like to ask if you feel the same way? I've been getting some signals from you that you might, and Malcom and Macintosh both said something to me about it. If you tell me no, then I won't ask anything else and we can go back to watching the show. If you don't want to tell me, I'll respect your wishes and not ask"

There was a pregnant pause in the room. Applejack's face was calm and composed, but her eyes betrayed her shock. She didn't look away, to her credit. She opened her mouth, closed it with a snap of herbivoric teeth, then opened it again. "And if ah say yes?" she asked.

"If you do, then I'll ask you out on a date to see where a relationship with you goes," I said honestly. "And nothing like the kinds of dates Rarity would insist you go on. Maybe we could go to Earth and see what a human rodeo is like? Or we go to your cousin Apple Fritter's dance club in Appleloosa. The Dancing Way, if I remember right? Or we could just spend a day together doing anything we want."

Applejack's eyes widened at all of the suggestions. Once more, she paused. Whether in shock or to gather her thoughts, I couldn't be sure. Finally, she took a shaky breath before she finally whispered out, "Ah do. Shucks, ah really do like ya, Jethro." She actually tapped her front hooves together nervously as she looked down.

I reached out, took both her hooves in my hands, and squeezed them. I could feel her trembling a bit, so I wrapped her in my wings and brought her close in a warm wing hug. She lay her head gently on my chest. She felt so warm, but the trembling wasn't just from her hooves. I reached around and stroked her mane, and immediately the trembling stopped and her body relaxed against me. She put both front hooves on my chest and gave a contented sigh. "This is nice," she said. "Ah normally don't do stuff like this with a stallion."

"I ain't a stallion, partner," I chuckled, "I'm a man."

She hit my chest playfully. "Yah know what ah meant."

"I do. I was just teasing."

"Ah wonder, though…what happens if Rarity and Rainbow Dash start likin' ya?" Applejack asked.

"If that ever happens, I'll promise them the same thing I've promised you and the other three," I said. "Dates to see what our compatibility is like. And to have some fun."

"Ah'm surprised yah ain't freakin' out. And ah'm also surprised yah approached me. The others said it was the other way around when they confessed," Applejack said.

"I trust you to be open and honest with me about these things," I said, "and plus, your brother and his human counterpart told me you could be pretty stubborn about these things. I hope I didn't push too hard."

"Yah gave me the option to not answer," she said in a grateful tone, "and ah'm mighty appreciative of that."

"I don't want you feeling uncomfortable," I said gently. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"Nopony else knows, except ah guess mah brother," she said.

"Quiet guys are pretty observant," I said, "and your brother ridiculously so sometimes."

"He's a good stallion," she said, "and ah do hope he finds a special somepony sometime."

"I know at least two mares who would be perfect for him," I chuckled, "so maybe I'll mention that to Princess Cadance."

"Don't go interferin' in mah brother's love life," Applejack said, looking at me with a playful warning look.

"Wouldn't dream of it, sugarcube," I chuckled as I ran my hand through her mane gently.

Just then, I heard two sets of hoofsteps rushing down the stairs. Before we had a chance to break away, Twilight and Moondancer both appeared in front of me and Applejack, both looking excited. "We might have found something!" Twilight said, before she noticed the position I was in with Applejack. "Um…are we interrupting?" she asked.

Applejack and I pulled away. "I'll tell you later," I said, before turning quickly to the Earth Pony mare. "With your permission."

"Ah'll tell her later," Applejack said. With that, she turned to Twilight and Moondancer. "What is it?"

"Right! Well, there's a book Moondancer has that had some writing that's untranslatable. It was written by Clover the Clever a few years after Equestria was founded. He found some ancient stone tablets in the old Unicorn fortress which Princess Platinum abandoned after helping to establish Equestria. This was the only portion he found that was actually ledgible, but just not translatable, even to the modern day archaeologist. Buuut…since you know every language in Equestria, maybe you can look at it?" A book appeared in front of her and she hovered it over to me, its page wide open to a certain section in the book. Both Ponies looked at me with hopeful expressions on their faces as I took the book.

I chuckled. "Well, I'll have a look," I said as I looked down at the old stained pages. The words there were in mostly modern English, or Equish/Ponish. However, there was an indented section of some script that I had never seen before. I looked at it carefully, trying to let whatever language it was come into my mind.

And it did after about ten or so seconds. I read it over carefully once, then twice, then three times just to be sure I was reading it right, then cleared my throat. "…kept securely in the Mætan Sæl, the Siex Gierd were used by the Friþhengest princesses to protect their land from outside threats. The Friþhengest were of four tribes, those which lived in tune with the ground, those that lived in tune with the skies, those who were also in tune with the skies but with the wings of magic, and those which lived in tune with the magic of the world. In times of crisis, they would call on those from beyond the Scúrboga. Their land, Eoh Eorðdenu, lay east of… " and then it cut off. I frowned and looked at them. "Do those names mean anything to anyone here?"

"Ah'm just a simple farmer pony, sugarcube," Applejack said, "ain't nothin' in what yah just said made a lick of sense to me."

"Yeah, you've got me," Moondancer said with a shrug. "I have no idea what some of those words meant."

"Same here," Twilight said.

"Hmm…" I pondered. "Well…there's only one or two Ponies who miiight have some answers for us." I grabbed the scroll Celestia had given me and began to write…

Dear Celestia and Luna,

We have found something in the books Moondancer brought that might be a clue. However, I would like to ask for a special favor from you both. I would like permission to give both Twilight and Moondancer access to the Canterlot Library's Restricted Section. I know this is a lot to ask, but if there might be any information about what happened to Applejack, our best chance right now would be in that section.

Your friend, knight, and fellow ruler of a nation,

Jethro Bethridge

My dear Jethro,

Normally, my sister and I would say no to a request like that since there is a reason it's called a Restricted Section. However, we have determined that this is a time where we can make an exception for you. If you wish, you may also bring along Sunset Shimmer. In an hour, I will send a flying carriage for you to come to Canterlot. If Applejack wishes, she may join you as well.

Your friends,

Celestia and Luna