Velux stood in the middle of the town square hall, frozen. Whisperings and murmurs broke out from the ponies surrounding him, asking questions to each other.

“Where did he come from?”

“I thought he was Zecora. . .”

“What happened to his horn? It’s broken!”

“Forget that! He’s an alicorn!”

Velux ignored them, his eyes connecting with Princess Celestia. There was little emotion in her eyes, no anger or frustration. On the contrary, she looked curious.

“Twilight,” the princess said, turning to the purple unicorn, “take your friends back behind the hall, you’ll meet our new arrival there.”

Twilight nodded then, motioning to her friends, left the balcony. Each of the six ponies gave Velux one last look before disappearing from view, quizzical looks on their faces. Celestia then turned to Velux and motioned out the door. Velux took his queue to leave and turned away from the princess and out the door, stuffing his cloak in his saddlebags as he went.

The brightness of the morning sun beat upon Velux’s eyes as the door swung shut behind him, Velux could hear the discussion about him amongst the ponies inside. He knew that Celestia wanted him to join the Elements of Harmony where she had sent them. Sitting down on the steps of town hall, he wondered how six ponies could be the Elements if they were supposedly honored in some castle ruins hundreds of years old. What puzzled Velux more was that here was Celestia, who, according to the inscription, used the Elements previously against Nightmare Moon. Though the mayor had said that Nightmare Moon was defeated a year ago, long after the inscription describing her defeat had been erected.

In the fantasy stories Velux had read as a foal, alicorns were described as having longer lives than the average pony. Though he had never imagined that they could actually live over a thousand years. A sick feeling settled itself in the pit of Velux’s stomach, if alicorns lived up to a millennium, then it was logical to assume that the same would happen to Velux.

If I don’t end up dead before that, Velux thought darkly. He had never imagined that he could live for so long; now that he really thought about it, he had never really thought of how long he would truly live.

Renewed with more questions than before, Velux gave a long sigh and headed back around the town hall to be greeted by the six ponies waiting for him.

Velux turned the corner around the building and saw the six ponies who had been ushered out by the princess moments ago. They were still wearing their jewelry and talking in hushed voices. When they had seen Velux, their chatter slowly died and they all gave him the same looks they had given him when he had revealed himself. The pink earth pony positively beamed at him, and Velux couldn’t help but smile back. The purple pony named Twilight opened her mouth to say something when Princess Celestia came through the back door, unescorted.

“To the library, Twilight. I sent Spike a letter.” said the princess.

Twilight gave another nod and began to lead the ponies through Ponyville. The ponies gathered in town hall began to file out of town hall and head towards the hills, a picnic area set upon the hill. The pink earth pony gave a small sigh, disappointed in not being able to join immediately in the festivities. The other ponies, including the princess, shot Velux looks over their shoulders, who had deliberately lagged behind the company. Velux wished that they would all stop doing that, giving him looks as if he were going to suddenly attack.

No, Velux told himself, they’re right to be nervous. I’m an alicorn who just came out of nowhere, unannounced. I’ll make sure to let them know I mean no harm.

Not a word was uttered as the eight ponies reached a large tree which had been carved out into a quaint little library and home, a telescope set on a balcony to study the stars at night. Velux was reminded briefly of Zecora’s home in the Everfree Forest; though, admittedly less creepy. Twilight opened the door to the tree-home and held it open for the other ponies to go inside, Celestia leading the way. Books upon books lined the shelves of the library, their bookcases nearly reaching the ceiling, a ladder leaned on the nearest bookshelf to reach the more difficult to reach tomes. Parchment and quills littered the desks around the library, some documents and letters left unfinished, or crumpled and neglected to be placed in the trash. As Twilight shut the door behind them, footsteps sounded down the steps leading up to the bedroom above.

“Twilight! Is that you?”, a childlike voice said, “The princess said that you were gonna be coming here with...”

The creature who had called for Twilight stopped at the foot of the steps. He was a shade of green and purple, and for a moment, Velux was unsure as to exactly what he was. Then, seeing the spiked tail, the spines running down his back, Velux realized that the creature was a dragon. A very young dragon, to be more exact, he bore no wings, and he certainly didn’t hold the intimidation and fear that a full grown dragon would posses. This must have been the “Spike” that the princess had mentioned earlier.

Spike had stopped mid-sentence upon seeing Velux, who had placed himself near the front of the company of eight. Then, Spike did something Velux had never expected from anypony; he bowed. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“There’s no need for that, Spike. He’s not royalty, at least. . .” Twilight said, turning to Celestia, “I don’t think he is.”

“No, he isn’t.” the princess replied. Spike seemed to relax, and stood up straight again, flushing.

“Perhaps we should start by having you introduce yourself.” Celestia continued, addressing Velux. Velux gave a slight pause and finally spoke up again.

“Um. . .hey, my name is Velux.” Velux said, suddenly nervous.

“That’s a funny name!” the pink earth pony exclaimed, talking so fast that Velux had trouble keeping up, “I’m Pinkie Pie! Oh, I’m gonna need you to write down your name, I need to put it on the banners for your welcoming party! Ooo Ooo, Twilight! Could you please please pretty please let me have the party here! Oh please, this place is perfect!”

“My welcoming what?” Velux asked.

“I think it’s a very elegant name.” the white unicorn put in, ignoring Pinkie’s pleas to throw a party in a library. The unicorn spoke with an air of nobility, “foreign, yes, but elegant in a way. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! How rude of me, I am Rarity.”

“Howdy there, partner!”, said the orange earth pony, tipping her hat, “Name’s Applejack.”

“And I’m Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed the rainbow pegasus, who had been unable to resist the urge to float a few feet off the ground, flipping her mane.

“Nice to meet you all.” Velux responded politely, then he noticed that one pony did not introduce herself yet. The yellow pegasus pony had somehow managed to become nearly invisible amongst her friends; she had reduced herself to such a small size that she looked like a filly.

“And you are. . .?” Velux asked softly, trying not to appear more intimidating than he might have been.

“Um. . .” the pegasus paused, then said something that might’ve been her name, if not for the mumbling. She took a small step back towards Twilight.

“What was that?” Velux asked again, once again feeling embarrassed. He felt as if he were intruding on something personal, something private.

The pegasus mumbled again, further retreating to Twilight.

“Oh for crying out loud. . .” Rainbow Dash muttered, “Fluttershy, her name is Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy gave a small squeak and a nod, unable to say another word, mumbled or otherwise. Applejack shot Rainbow a dirty look.

“Oh,” Velux said, glad that this small situation was over, “okay, pleased to meet you, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy squeaked and nodded again.

“Now that we are all properly introduced,” Celestia said suddenly, “perhaps you can tell us where you’re from?”

“Gallopolli.” answered Velux.

All of the ponies, including Spike, looked quite oblivious, as if they had never heard of Gallopolli before in their lives. Except for Twilight and Celestia, who appeared to have heard of Velux’s homeland before. Twilight chuckled a bit, an act that confused Velux.

“Gallopolli is completely uninhabitable.” she said, “Has been for hundreds of years, I read about it in a geography book, it was supposedly destroyed by an volcanic eruption. There’s nothing there except for ash and dust. How could you have possibly have lived there?”

When Twilight had finished her small history lesson, she gave the princess an admiring look, hoping for her to confirm her story and divulge where Velux had really come from. Celestia giving Velux a small nod of understanding was not what she had expected.

“Velux did come from Gallopolli, Twilight.” said Celestia, making Twilight’s ears droop and putting a look of confusion on her face, “Gallopolli is not uninhabitable, it never has been. Those books you read, they’re ancient and inconsistent. Nopony could figure out the whole truth, so they put together what they could and put them in the geography books. Nopony since has even bothered to go and confirm if the books were true. Though I believe that Velux can rectify those mistakes.”

Everypony’s attention was once again diverted to Velux, eager to hear about this lost land shrouded in secrecy. Velux gave a deep breath and began to describe the atrocities that the citizens of Gallopolli had committed, their immense hatred and fear towards magical ponies and their relentless hunt to rid all traces of magic in their land. Velux recounted his life of pursuit from Nexus, his family sacrificing their peaceful lives so that they could protect him. He told them how his family were earth ponies, therefore the could not possibly be his family by blood. Velux ended his story with his capture and escape from Nexus in the Everfree forest, the damage to his horn, and his nursing to health by the zebra Zecora.

Nopony said a word as Velux told his story, though he was sure they would have plenty of questions. Even the bouncy Pinkie Pie had settled down to listen to him, the bashful Fluttershy had sat up straighter, a curious look in her eyes. When Velux had finished, there was a moment of silence while everypony drank in what Velux had said. Finally, Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Wow. . . just. . . wow. . .”

“Ya got that right partner,” Applejack said, “Why, I woulda never thought that there’d be a place like that. . .”

“A country that hates and kills magic ponies?” Twilight said, her hoof had been covering her mouth throughout most of the story, “But. . . all ponies have some trace of magic in them, even earth ponies! Look at our cutie marks! They aren’t just there when we’re born!”

“A what?” Velux snorted, “What’s a cutie mark?”

The six ponies, including Spike, looked absolutely stunned, and each gave a small gasp.

“You mean. . . you mean you don’t have one?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t think I’d know what it is even if I had one.” Velux replied.

“The markings on our flanks!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Velux then finally saw the overlooked detail on the ponies in Equestria. Everypony each had a symbol on their flanks, he had been so distracted with what had been going on that he didn’t pay any attention to them at first. Celestia’s cutie mark had been the sun, and the rest of the ponies had cutie marks that matched the jewelry they had been wearing. Velux looked back at his own flank and saw nothing, no symbol, no picture, nothing.

“What are they for?” Velux asked.

“A cutie mark only appears when a pony find that certain talent that makes them special.” Rarity recited, “everypony gets one eventually, it’s supposed to help you find out what you’re supposed to do for your life.”

“But I’ve never seen anypony in Gallopolli having anything like that!” Velux, “were they so extremist as to wipe out cutie marks from future generations?”

“I don’t think so.” Twilight said, “You’re obviously not related to any of the earth ponies there. So I don’t see how they somehow erased cutie marks from your generation. I guess you just haven’t found your special talent.”

Velux wasn’t sure if Twilight’s words had alleviated his concerns, or made them worse. What, if anything, was he supposed to do? What would his cutie mark be if he ever recieved one?

“Still,” Twilight began to add, “based on what you described, Gallopolli seems like an awful place.”

“It isn’t all bad.” Velux retorted, “We have plenty of food and space to expand. It’s a very pretty country to stop and look at as well. Like the capital, Crystalmare, it’s-”

“I think we can all hear about Crystalmare eventually.” Celestia interrupted, “For now, I should go to the feast, I suspect many ponies are wondering where we’ve gone. The rest of you should come as well.”

Celestia stood to leave, as did everpony else.

“Not you, Velux.” Celestia added quickly as Velux began to leave, “You need to stay here, I don’t want everypony to think that I’m too welcoming to strangers, especially an alicorn they have never heard of.”

“What if I want to go to the feast?” Velux objected, “this whole Summer Sun Celebration sounds fascinating.”

“Try to see this from their perspective,” Celestia said “This is one of the most important holidays of the year for Equestria, and this small town was looking forward to celebrating it without interuption. Your arrival here is going to be big news, and you’ll be getting a lot of attention. I’d prefer to keep you out of everything; it will give me time to quell any rumors that may pop up about you.”

“I. . .fine.” Velux gave in, “but I don’t want to be cooped up here for days. I still have more questions for you.”

“Don’t worry, Velux,” Celestia assured, opening the door to the library, “I’ll be in touch, but until then, stay here until I can sort things out.” Celestia then stepped over the threshold and disappeared off towards the feast.

As the other ponies and Spike began to file out the door, Twilight paused.

“That isn’t the only reason you wanted to go to the feast, was it Velux.”

Velux glanced back at his saddlebags, sighed. Finally, slowly he answered. “I’m starving. I haven’t eaten in. . . I don’t even know how long.”

“Well all you had to do was say so,” Twilight said. “Applejack!” she called, back outside the door. Applejack came trotting back into the library.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Could you bring some food back for Velux when you’re done?” Twilight requested.

“I sure can,” Applejack answered, then turning to Velux she said, “Just give me a chance to talk to Applebloom and Big Mac and I’ll bring a little something back for you to sample.”

“Alright.” Velux said, relieved. “Thank you very much.”

* * *

Velux had plenty of time to peruse the library’s contents while he waited for Applejack. He picked out books at random, opening them and scanning what information they held inside. Velux was never much of an avid reader, but he figured that he might as well learn what of Equestria he could while he was here. Books containing small stories for foals and fillies (Velux ignored these), textbooks detailing the history of Equestria and it’s settlements (Velux skimmed through these, they were so thick), down to dusty, nearly destroyed scrolls containing arcane secrets (would he ever use magic again?).

Velux’s stomach was growling irritably when the library door opened and Applejack was finally back, pushing a small cart. Applejack bucked the cart once, and it popped open revealing the pies, cakes, and other assorted goods that were inside. Velux marked the place in the book (“Healing Arts for Nurses”)  where he had been and trotted over to the cart, eager to see what Applejack had brought for him.

“Sorry it took me so long.” Applejack apologized, “Applebloom wouldn’t stop asking me questions about you and I had to have Big Mac watch over her.”

“That’s fine.” Velux said, “Who are Applebloom and Big Mac?”

“Oh, Applebloom is my little sis and Big Mac is my brother.” Applejack smiled, “Applebloom is just a little filly, doesn’t even have her cutie mark yet, she’s always trying to find out what her special talent is, but she usually gets into trouble doing it. Now, Big Mac is a mite different, he’s more quiet, but he helps me out lots at apple bucking.”

“You buck apples?” Velux asked, “That’s a tough job, is it just you and Big Mac?”

“Yep,” Applejack said proudly, “the whole orchard, an’ we still get enough done for some leisure time, but once Applebloom is old enough, she can help us get the job done mighty fast.”

“Still, it’s amazing that you two can handle an entire orchard.” Velux said.

“Well, we don’t really think about it much.” Applejack said, “We just work till the sun goes down or till the entire orchard is bucked. Now, enough of that, what would ya like? Apple pie? Apple fritter? Apple tarts? Apple dumplings? Apple crisp. . .”

The list went on, every item on Applejack’s cart were laden with just about every kind of food with apples as you can think of. There were even some things that Velux thought nopony that was sane would put apples in, but it all seemed so delicious, he didn’t know what to pick. . .

“Ummm. . . how about an apple pie?” Velux picked at random as Applejack finished listing off all the apple assorted foods on the cart.

“Sure thing!” Applejack said, setting down the pie for Velux, and grabbing an apple crisp for herself.

It was some of the most delicious pie Velux had ever tasted. His father had made some pretty great pies, but nothing like this! He found that he couldn’t stop eating once he started, Applejack finished her apple crisp and looked on incredulously.

“Golly,” Applejack said as Velux finally rose from the crumb filled plate, “I’ve never seen anypony eat an apple pie so fast!”

“Sorry,” said Velux, wiping his mouth, “that was just. . .incredible. Did that come from your orchards?”

“They sure did.” Applejack replied, “Nearly every apple in Ponyville comes from Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Well, you must do some good work there to make all these.” Velux complimented.

“Why, thank you kindly.” Applejack said. She paused before pursuing further. “You know I think you shoulda went to the feast. Princess shouldnta kept y’all couped up in here.”

“You heard the princess,” Velux said, “I’m not supposed to be out in public now; everypony will get nervous.”

“Funny, wasn’t anypony lookin’ scared at all last time I checked.” Applejack said, “They all just looked a fair bit curious, y’know?”

“What did the princess do?”

“She mostly pretended that nothing happened, I guess she didn’t wanna deal with everypony.”

“Yeah, I guess. . .” Velux trailed off.

“So, it’s really true?” Applejack asked suddenly, “There’s really a country that hates all the pony folk here?”

“Why? You think it’s a story?” Velux said.

“Sorry,” Applejack said quickly, “it’s just a mite much to take in.”

“I can imagine.”

“So. . .you’re family is all still there? Ya just left them there?” Applejack asked.

“Had to.” Velux said firmly, not without remorse. “There was no way we were all going to make it at once. Besides, you heard what I said, Nexus nearly killed me back there. Imagine what might have happened if I did decide to bring them all with me.”

“I can’t imagine doing that to my family.” Applejack said thoughtfully, a few moments of silence followed, then “What are they like? Your family, I mean.”

“Well,” Velux started, “there’s six of us, including me. My father, Ixxus, was in the service. He taught me and my brother how to defend ourselves, something that came in pretty useful back there. He was rather paranoid, really, always moving us from place to place. Nopony ever came and found us, but it didn’t stop him. It was all for our safety, I suppose, so I guess I can’t complain much.”

“Well that just sounds right awful,” Applejack said. “How was it? All that runnin’ around, I mean. Mighty lonesome, I’d reckon.”

“Well, not entirely,” Velux explained. “Gallopolli may hate magical ponies, but you’d find some who were sympathetic to us... or at least, ones that weren’t quite genocidal. I do remember some giving me some nasty looks though, but they wouldn’t dare say anything in front of my dad.”

“Anyway, that’s my dad. Now, my brother Ignis was really competitive. We always had some dumb little contest going; hoof-wrestling, eating contests, whatever we could fight each other on. Very playful, but he had a short fuse. He would get into fights with the villagers and nearly blow our cover. Thankfully he was smart as well, and managed to keep us out of too much trouble.”

“My mother, Constance, well. . . she was always kind of stressed. She had trouble moving from place to place, always fearing for our lives; and she couldn’t work on what she wanted to do.”

“What did she want to do?” Applejack asked.

“My mom always wanted to be a playwright” Velux answered, “She had these wonderful ideas for plays, but she never wrote them down. She never blamed me for her problems, though, not once. She never gave any indication that she did, she treated me like I really was her son. I really appreciated that, it’s bad enough you got an entire country hating you.”

“My sisters, Caeli and Terra, are twins. They’re completely different, though. Caeli was always the wild one, striving to be like one of the colts. Competing with Ignis and I, she’s actually pretty good. She’s beat us more than enough times to take take her seriously. She’s got a soft spot, though, I guess she gets it from Terra.”

“What’s Terra like?” Applejack asked.

“Terra’s more like me, I guess.” Velux continued, “She’s a bit more quiet, but she tries to be like Caeli. Personally, I think she’s fine the way she is, she always has Caeli to talk to about. . .well, anything really. But she also like to talk to me about personal things, one-on-one. I don’t know, we just sort of. . .bonded, but it’s nothing like her and Caeli. They do almost everything together, whatever Terra falls behind in, Caeli picks up the slack. They way they talk to each other, you’d think that they’re telepathic.”

Velux paused, indicating that he was done with his description of his family.

“Golly, Velux.” said an incredulous Applejack, “I’ve barely even talked about my folks, and you go on ahead and tell me all about them.”

“Sorry,” Velux said, “I didn’t mean to go off like that.”

“Do ya miss them?”

“Yeah, I do. . .” Velux sighed.

“ ‘Aint ya gonna go back for them?”

“One day, I will.” Velux replied “I just need to. . .establish myself here. Does that make sense? I want them to have a home to come to, not just refugees moving from there to here. Hey. . .” Velux trailed off again, an idea manifesting itself in his head. Then the door to the library suddenly opened and Twilight Sparkle strode in, carrying a sleeping Spike on her back.

“Feast’s over.” Twilight announced, “Spike ate himself to sleep. Can you believe that?”

Both Applejack and Velux shook their heads, smiling at the comical sight of the baby dragon sucking his claws while he slept.

“I’m gonna put him to bed real quick.” Twilight said, heading for the stairs to the bedroom above, “The others went home. And Applejack, Big Mac says that you should head back to the farm as soon as possible. I guess he didn’t want to handle Applebloom by himself anymore.”

Twilight giggled then disappeared up the stairs, leaving Applejack and Velux alone again.

“Well, I’d best be heading back now.” Applejack said, getting up off her haunches, “I reckon I’ll be seeing you around, Velux.”

“Yeah, nice talking to you.” Velux said. Applejack raised a hoof in farewell and left the library. Suddenly remembering what Velux wanted to do, he quickly called after her.

“Hey, Applejack!”

Applejack turned around, having barely left the library.

“Yeah?”

“You said before that you and Big Mac could get things done at the farm faster with somepony else, right?”

“Well, it couldn’t hurt to have an extra worker or two. . .” Applejack said thoughtfully.

“Well, maybe I could help out,” Velux offered, “I’ve done my fair share of hard work, and I think I could really help out, give you guys less to work with. I’d also like to save up some bits, try to get a home somewhere to bring my family to.”

Applejack tapped her hoof on her chin in thought, considering Velux’s offer.

“Well. . . alright. But I gotta watch over you, make sure that you really can buck a hard day’s work.”

“Trust me, I have a strong buck.” Velux said, remembering an instance where he nearly knocked Ignis’s teeth out from play-fighting.

“Alright,” Applejack said, offering her hoof, “Deal.”

“Deal.” Velux echoed, shaking her hoof.

“I’ll send Big Mac along to come git ya tomorrow.” Applejack said, “See ya.”

“Bye.” Velux said, turning back into the library. Inside he found Twilight, having put Spike into bed, reading a book. Twilight’s concentration broke when Velux shut the door.

“Oh hi,” she said, looking up from the book, “I was just doing some research. I talked to the princess earlier, she said that you’re going to have to stay in the extra bedroom here for now.” Velux nodded and sat down on the nearest cushion.

“What were you researching?” Velux asked.

“Well, I’m trying to find a solution to your horn.” Twilight replied, her purple eyes darting side to side along the pages, “But I can’t find anything now.”

“Something might turn up.” Velux said hopefully, he was never a big magic user, but the thought of never doing it again unsettled him, “I still have the broken piece.”

“That might help later on,” Twilight said, “Velux, can I ask you for a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Could you try lifting this ink bottle with magic, please?” Twilight requested.

Velux had not expected to be asked to use magic again in such a short time. He hesitated.

“It’s all right, Velux.” Twilight said, “I’ve been studying magic since I was a filly, I’m one of Princess Celestia’s most trusted students. You’re in safe hooves, trust me.”

“If you say so. . .” Velux said, turning his attention to the ink bottle sitting at Twilight’s desk. He reached for the magical presence he felt everytime he used magic, focusing all of his energy on lifting the ink bottle. He felt the magical presence begin to form around his horn then. . . nothing. Suddenly, a sharp, stabbing pain coursed it’s way through Velux’s crippled horn. He clutched both of his front hooves to his horn, falling to the floor, rolling and yelling in pain. The pain was white-hot, it was worse than when it had been cut by the manticore. He had never felt so much pain in his life.

Velux could faintly hear Twilight cry out in shock and fear, and Velux desperately worked to let go of the magical presence now hurting him, killing him. . .

As suddenly as it began, the pain stopped. Velux felt the magic retreat back into his body and all was well again. Groaning, Velux slowly stood up, his legs nearly buckling. He looked up into Twilight’s horrified face.

“What happened?” Velux said slowly.

“I. . . don’t know.” Twilight said.

“I thought you said I was in safe hooves.” Velux said grumpily.

“You were!” Twilight said quickly, “I had to force you to stop using magic using my own. It was out of control and you weren’t stopping and. . .”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Velux said. He looked at the ink bottle he was supposed to be moving and saw that it had been tipped over, it’s contents spilling onto empty rolls of parchment. Though it wasn’t just the ink bottle that had moved. Twilight’s chair, parchment, and some books had been knocked over as if a strong wind flew through the window.

“Well,” Velux added, “at least I moved it. Amongst other things.”

“Yes, but look at what it did. You sent everything flying, you were going crazy.” Twilight said, frightened.

“Well, that settles it. No more magic.” Velux said.

“But you can’t just stop!” Twilight exclaimed, “What’s an alicorn without magic?”

“Well what do you expect me to do about it?” Velux snapped, “I just nearly died trying to do something I could have done a few days ago without breaking a sweat!”

“I don’t know. . .” Twilight said, “There has to be some way. I’ll include this in my report to the princess, maybe she’ll know what to do.”

“Yeah, the sooner I get some answers, the better.” Velux said, throwing himself back onto the cushion. The day went by without further incident, Velux helped Twilight clean up the mess he had made and soon Twilight pored herself over medical books, history books, anything that might indicate how to treat a broken horn. Velux occasionally attempted to assist her, but he soon discovered that it was best to leave the studious unicorn alone while she worked.

Finally, after the sun had set and a quick meal was prepared by Spike and eaten, Twilight showed Velux the guest room and went back to her late-night studies. Velux settled into the small room and propped himself onto the bed, the days events repeating itself in his head. After a sudden reminder that he may have to wake up early in the morning to work at Applejack’s orchard, Velux lay his head onto the pillow and drifted off to the first bit of good sleep he had in a while.