He turned over, the light of the morning sun drifting through the window. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

Rivet must have been dreaming.

A girl was in his room like every other morning. She stared out the window, which she was propping open, only allowing Rivet to see her from the back. The fact that she was there was not the surprising fact, or maybe it was. More so than her presence was her hair. In the bright sunlight, her hair shone with every colour of the rainbow.

Rivet slid back in his bed, half in surprise, and half in embarrassment.

“Rainbow!?” Rivet gasped.

A familiar giggle radiated from the girl on the other side of the room. She messed with her hair in her pink hands and turned around, allowing her hair to flourish. “Do you like it?” The high pitched voice asked.

“Light?” Rivet asked, his eyes wide. “What’s with-”

“The hair?” She flipped it around. “Isn’t it… Funky? Mom helped my do it last night while you were up here sulking!”

“I wasn’t sulking!” He defended. “I was… I was… working.”

Completely dropping the previous subject, First Light moved on. “What do you think?”

“It’s…” Rivet shook his head in disbelief. “It’s different. How did you learn to do that?”

First Light giggled madly. “It was easy. There was this girl at school with it, Rainbow, and she had hair like this, and so I asked her how she did it. She said she gets asked that a lot, and told me where to find instructions. So I did it!”

“And it turned out this well?” Rivet looked at her. “On the first try?”

“Of course!” She smiled broadly, barely containing her giggles. “I’m First Light.”

Rivet still lay in absolute surprise at his sister’s hair. He felt embarrassed that he had mistaken her for Rainbow Dash. Quickly as she had appeared, First Light bounced out of the room closing the door behind her. Rivet rolled off of the bed and rubbed his eyes.

“This,” Rivet chuckled. “This is gonna be weird.”

It was the last day of October, Halloween day. At the school, they were allowed to dress up, and surprisingly, most of the kids did. At his old school, Rivet remembered that most kids could not have cared less about spirit days. But here, people couldn’t get enough of them. Everyone’s school spirit was peaked.

Rivet, however, had no idea what to wear, until the day before, when Swift had suggested 40s mobsters. Then they could wear suits, look good, and coordinate their costumes. Thankfully, the day before, Rivet had asked Clyde and Swift for their numbers. After a remark from Swift about ‘stranger danger’, he had gotten both of their numbers, and was able to text them if he had any more issues with his homework.

Rivet looked in his closet for his black suit. It was all still there, though he hadn’t worn it in a while. As he tried on the pants and white shirt, they fit like a glove. He found a black tie in the back of the closet and tied it around his neck. Remembering that Clyde had said that he did not have a tie, Rivet grabbed a second black tie and stuffed it in his bag.

First Light was a little more eccentric when it came to her costume. That day, she decided to wear all black. Her shirt was a black turtleneck, and she wore black cargo pants with combat boots. Her hair, even though it was rainbow now, seemed to work with it somehow. The fact that she was so mellow was eccentric to Rivet.

“Well, what do we have here?” Their mother asked as they came into the kitchen.

“I’m a mobster.” Rivet shrugged. “Me and some guys decided that it would work.”

“Cool.” Their mother smiled. “And… Sweetie, what are you?”

“I’m the scariest thing of all.” First Light mumbled, extremely subdued for her. “A moody teenager.” After a moment of silence in the room, First Light cracked a smile and began giggling. “This is gonna be so hard!”

“I’m sure you can do it.” Rivet grinned.

“Totally.” First Light’s voice dropped down to the same dull and depressed tone. “Whatever.”

“Have either of you even thought about a book yet?” Rivet asked Clyde and Swift, taking his seat in English.

“Of course.” Clyde pulled out a sheet of paper with book titles on it. “I have three I decided on.”

Swift pulled out a page from his bag, dropping the bag back to the floor. “I have some too.”

Rivet did the same as the others, and they exchanged their lists, noting that not one of them had the same story on any of their sheets. The bell rang loudly, causing the class to quiet down, and Luna to take her seat at the front. Luna was dressed for the day as well, in a white lab coat and glasses. Her hair was a mess, but still had a slight elegance to it. She had a name tag pinned to her chest that read, “Vice Professor Lunatic.”

She pulled out a page of her own, with the heading “Selections” on it, lay the list on her desk and looked out. “Single file in front of my desk with your selections, please.” Luna stated.

Immediately, the class stood up and began to form a line at the desk. One by one, the class rattled off their lists, most getting their first choices. There were more than a few, however, that did not get their first or second choices and had to settle with the third. Those who had to resort to the third or fourth choice mumbled their way back to their desks.

Finally, it was Rivet’s turn to make his choice. He approached the dark blue woman in the labcoat, grinning slightly to try to ease the awkwardness.

“Did the Principal put you up to this?” Rivet chuckled, looking at the costume.

“Yes.” Luna sighed in relief. “Finally, someone who gets it.”

“Did you get to make one for her?” Rivet asked.

Luna raised her eyebrows with a devious grin. “Of course. Just wait and see. Now. To your book?”

“Daring Do number Three.” He stated.

Luna scanned the list and looked back up at him. For a moment, Rivet’s heart sank when he assumed she was going to tell him that it was taken, and he would have to settle with something else. Her hand hovered over a previous entry before sliding back up the sheet.

“Alright. Thank you.” She nodded, penning his decision in the box next to his name. “Have a seat, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rivet nods and takes his seat, waiting for Clyde and Swift to return.

When they both sat back down, Rivet looked at Swift, who groaned and put his head down. Apparently he did not get any of his top three. To that, Rivet responded by giving him a consolatory pat on the back before turning to Clyde. Clyde shrugged, pointing to his second choice with a look that said “I am okay with this.” Rivet pointed to his own first choice and Clyde nodded.

As soon as everybody was back in their seats, Luna cleared her throat. “Alright, class. I want you to begin reading your books as soon as possible. Remember to take notes. For the time being, we will continue the poetry unit in class for part of the lesson, and the rest will be silent reading.”

The class groaned at the all-too-familiar concept of silent reading time. Acting as if she hadn’t heard it, Luna told them to come up to the front again to get a new sheet of poetry. Another chorus of groans sounded as they all stood up again for the sheets.

“Oh.” Rivet snapped his fingers as he looked at Clyde when they sat down. “Your tie.” He began fishing in his bag for the black tie. He pulled it out and handed it to Clyde.

“Thanks.” Clyde looked down at the tie as if it had instructions in a foreign language.

“You can’t tie one of these, can you?” Rivet raised an eyebrow.

Clyde scratched his head. “Nope.” He handed it to Rivet with a shrug.

Rivet received the tie and wrapped it around his neck, tying it over his other tie. When he was satisfied, he pulled it off and handed it to Clyde again. The other boy thanked him and wrapped it around his neck, folding his collar over it.

For the rest of the class, he spent his time trying to decipher the new poem and its meaning.

The three boys walked through the halls in their suits, headed towards the cafeteria for lunch. As they moved through the halls, they observed all of the costumes that people were wearing. There were pirates, doctors, cats, police officers, criminals, soldiers, even a few zombies and more. Occasionally, there were costumes that were pretty obscure, and only a few people got the reference.

One costume in particular, however, caught Rivet’s eye. There was a girl wearing a pith helmet and a green combat jacket. He immediately recognized the Daring Do costume. He offered the girl a thumbs up in appreciation, and she smiled back.

When they reached the cafeteria, the loud sound of music drifted into the halls. As they stepped through the doors, they realized why. The Party Planning Committee was throwing a Halloween party in the cafeteria. It had everything a Halloween party should; food, music, teenagers dancing like they had horrible stomach pains, it had it all.

From across the room, Rivet could see everything. The girl Swift had identified as Pinkie Pie was standing behind a table where there were snacks spread out, with her was the girl with the light yellow skin and pink hair. Pinkie Pie was wearing a tinfoil jacket and had a hat with a giant cherry strapped to the top of it. The girl who shyly stood next to her wore a simple pair of cat ears which matched the colour of her brown sweater.

Scanning further, Rivet saw the girl in the cowboy hat and blonde hair was wearing a straw hat and a striped vest sitting behind the punch table, which had several flavours arranged in a rainbow. Next to her sat Rainbow Dash, with her hair tucked up into a ballcap and wearing a blue bomber jacket with a pair of wings pinned to the chest.

“Guess who?” Cooed a voice from behind the three of them. Rivet turned to see a girls hands covering Clyde’s eyes. It was the pale girl with purple hair. She was dressed in a short white dress and a hat with a red cross on it.

“Hm.” Clyde faked thinking. “Is it… Rarity?”

“No.” Rariy giggled, trying to make her voice different. “It’s… It’s…” She pulled her hands off his eyes, allowing him to turn around and see her. “Nurse Redheart.” She put a hand through her hair. “What do you think?”

Clyde’s eyes widened, and he blushed slightly. He looked her in the eye and shook his head. “Wow.”

“Oh…” She stuck out her lip and widened her own eyes. “I see… You don’t like it. I understand. You don’t have to say it.”

Clyde was visibly panicked by her reaction, he paused, stammering on words he could say to apologize or recover, but nothing came.

Rarity winked, giving Clyde a smile. “Oh Clyde, I’m just having a little fun.”

Clyde sighed in relief.

“Enjoy the party.” Rarity giggled over her shoulder as she was headed over to see a girl with purple skin and hair who was wearing robes and a pair of round glasses over top of a school uniform.

“Well, that was…” Rivet nodded slowly. “Different.”

“That’s her.” Clyde smiled over at where Rarity had disappeared into the crowd of people.

“Speaking of her…” Swift elbowed Rivet in the side. “Who’s the cute new girl with the rainbow hair?”

“Cute new girl?” Rivet tried to find out where Swift was looking. Over to one side of the room, he found out who Swift was talking about. Rivet saw a girl with combat boots, cargo pants, a black turtleneck, and rainbow hair smiling and shaking her head around, air guitaring to the music. She looked over to a girl next to her, one with orange skin and purple hair, who was dressed similarly to Rainbow Dash, and began to talk to her while still dancing.

“She looks familiar.” Swift tapped his chin.

“I thought Pinkie was the girl of your dreams.” Clyde joked.

“She is.” Swift blushed. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t say another girl is pretty.”

“I would argue this with you,” Rivet said, “But that’s my sister.”

“Whoa!” Swift looked back over. “She looks way different. She’s normally so bright and peppy, but today she looks like a…”

“Teenager.” Clyde raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Swift stated in disbelief.

“It’s Halloween.” Rivet grinned. “At least she’s enjoying herself.”

First Light proceeded to look at the orange girl in amazement before bringing her in for an excited hug. Apparently she liked whatever they had talked about. The orange girl seemed just as excited as she was as she lead her somewhere else, disappearing into the crowd.

“Hey.” Rivet nodded over at a table. “What do you say we get something to eat, eh?”

“Sounds good, eh.” Swift mimicked Rivet, who gave him a look. Swift chuckled and lead Clyde and Rivet to the table with snacks on it.

“Hiya!” Pinkie smiled at them as they got close. “Wow! Don’t you guys look classy!”

“Hi.” Swift waved slightly, picking up a snack.

“What’s your costume Pinkie?” Clyde asked as he did the same. “I can’t figure it out.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She posed with a hand on her hip, crinkling her tinfoil jacket and jostling the fruit on her head.

“Not exactly.” Rivet shook his head slightly.

“I’m a pie!” She posed again, in another way. “Get it? Pinkie Pie?” She snorted with laughter, causing Swift to smile and blush a little.

“Good one.” Rivet grinned. “Thanks for the food.”

“Hey! No problem.” Pinkie waved as they walked away from the table.

“I’ll be back in a bit.” Clyde looked back at Rivet and Swift, looking over to another corner of the room.

“Sure.” Rivet shrugged as Clyde walked away.

“So.” Swift looked at him. “What do you think of Canterlot High so far?”

“It’s nice.” Rivet said as he dodged a person who cut him off. “Everyone is really into this, aren’t they?”

“Oh yeah!” Swift smiled. “Everyone here is all about school spirit ever since the last fall formal.”

Rivet paused, but continued walking. “Fall formal? What about it?” He looked over his shoulder to see a bunch of people where Swift had been before. “Drat.”

He looked all around him, but could not seem to catch a glimpse of Swift. He decided it would be easiest just to keep wandering around, and eventually he would find someone. Feeling a little claustrophobic, Rivet made his way to the outside of the pack of bodies and sat down against the wall. He felt much more comfortable against the wall than in the group of people.

“Riv?” He heard a voice ask from beside him. He looked over to see a pair of combat boots.

“Hey, Light.” He looked up into her concerned face. “What’s up?”

“Why are you all alone?” She asked, sitting next to him. “What happened?”

“I lost them by accident.” Rivet shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll find them soon, though. What happened to your new friend?”

“New friend?”

“The girl you were talking to before.”

“Girl…” First Light squinted. “Oh! She was asking me, since I was new, if I had any special talents. I told her I had no idea. She said her and her friends have been trying to figure out what theirs are, and invited me to join! They make internet videos about it.”

“Sounds like fun.” Rivet grinned slightly, feeling the calming coolness of the brick wall behind him on his back. He hadn’t realized with all the people in the room, just how hot it had become.

“I hope so!” She giggled. “We’re gonna meet up some time to try some stuff out. Oh! There she is! And her friends.” She looked back down at Rivet. “Is it okay if I-”

“Of course.” Rivet nodded. “Go hang out.”

“Thanks, Riv.” She stood up and dusted herself off. “Have fun with the rest of the party!” She immediately jogged away towards her new friends. Rivet enjoyed the slight peace he had in his spot. But it didn’t last very long.

“Hey, Rivet!” Swift called from a few metres away, coming out of the crowd. “There you are.”

“Sorry I lost you.” Rivet said.

“No problem. This big guy just came out of nowhere.” Swift looked over his shoulder. “Lunch is only half over, what are we gonna do for the rest of it?”

“I dunno. Where’s Clyde?”

“Probably with his ‘boo.’” Swift shrugged. “She’s probably telling him how she made the costume.”

“Why?” Rivet raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, right.” Swift slapped himself on the forehead. “She’s a seamstress, makes her own clothes and stuff.”

“She’s so young, though.”

“Welcome to Canterlot!” Swift laughed. “Everything is possible!”

“It seems like it.” Rivet looked at all of the commotion going on.

“Hey, why are you all the way out here?” Swift looked back at the group. “That’s where all the fun is.”

“I took a break.” Rivet shrugged.

“Why not get some punch? I hear it’s good.”

Rivet slowly rose to his feet, dusting himself off. “Sure, why not.”

The two of them waded back into the sea of people, towards the table on the opposite end of the room. When they reached the table, the both of them stepped out of the crowd.

“Howdy.” The girl with the straw hat and vest said, fighting a strong southern accent to sound like a businessman. “What can I do for you?”

“Can we get a couple glasses?” Swift asked.

“Sure enough-I mean…” She worked out the words with slight difficulty. “Certainly, sirs! Why, with this punch, you’ll have the confidence to jump out of helicopters!”

“You’re a travelling salesman.” Rivet stated.

“Not just a salesman.” The girl grinned and whispered, breaking character. “I’m a scam artist.”

Rivet looked down the table, only to lock eyes with Rainbow Dash. She seemed to recognize him, and slid a pair of aviators over her eyes, her cheeks flushed. Rivet averted his eyes to the ground, feeling his cheeks warm up. Before the glasses covered her eyes completely, they made eye contact for a split second, causing them to look away again.

“Rainbow.” The girl with the straw hat called. “Can you pass me a couple of cups? I’m fresh out over here.”

“Sure, AJ.” Rainbow kept her glasses over her eyes and slid two little cups across the table.

“You okay, RD?” The girl asked, pouring the drinks. “You look a little warm. Maybe you should take the bomber jacket off.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

The two boys turned away from the table, taking their drinks and walking back into the group, thanking the girls at the table.

Swift lead Rivet around the room, meeting up with various friends and acquaintances along the way. Eventually, Rivet felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Clyde smiling at them.

“Sorry I was gone so long.” Clyde said.

“No problem.” Swift shrugged. “Have you tried the punch?”

“Yeah.” Clyde nodded.

“Hey, how much time is left in lunch?” Rivet asked, tapping his bare wrists to show he had no watch on.

“Um.” Clyde looked down at his watch. Suddenly, the bell rang for the afternoon classes to begin. “I guess that answers that.”

“Well, I’ll see you guys around, then.” Rivet said, heading towards his next class.

They parted ways towards their respective classes.

Later on, during his spare period, Rivet was back down in the cafeteria. All of the tables had been moved, and the floor was being swept up by the janitor. Rivet almost felt strange, seeing the cafeteria empty now, when it had been teeming with life just a few hours before. He sat there in cold isolation, without a guitar to play, only the worthless poetry from Luna had dished out that morning.

With nothing better to do, Rivet pulled out the sheet and stared down into the verses and lines.

“How am I going to do this with Daring Do,” Rivet shook his head, “if I can’t even do it with poetry?”

Other kids in his class had seemed to understand and find the meaning in every line of the poem. Sometimes it was the word choice, sometimes it was how long or short the line was, and sometimes it was so farfetched that Rivet had no idea where it came from, but it made perfect sense once it was said.

After fighting with what sorts of assertions could be made about the text, Rivet felt a presence near to him. Looking up, he found himself staring up at Rarity, still sporting the nurse’s uniform. She looked a little concerned, mixed with sorrow.

“No guitar today?” She asked.

“Afraid not.” Rivet shook his head. “One of the strings is busted and I haven’t found any of the music stores in town yet.”

“That’s a shame.” She replied. “You always seemed so intense when playing. It’s a pity you can’t do what you like.”

“I’ll probably be back to it eventually,” he said.

“I should hope so.” Rarity nodded, turning to leave before stopping. “You know… There is someone you could ask for the location of a music store.”

“Really? Who?” Rivet put the page down on the table.

“Rainbow Dash.” Rarity stated. “She plays guitar too, you know. She would know where to find a music shop around here.”

“I see.” Rivet nodded.

“Actually, as I recall… There’s a music shop next to the little cafe downtown. Do you know the one?”

“Not sure… What’s the name of it?”

“It’s called Le Café Enchanteur,” Rarity stated, accenting the French words.

“I’ll keep an eye open for it.” Rivet smiled.

“It’s best to keep both open.” She replied, chuckling. “It’s a small place, you might just miss it.” As soon as she finished speaking, she turned and walked away, her high heeled shoes clicking on the hard floor.

“I’ll see if I can go tonight.” Rivet nodded to himself, turning back to the page on the table. “But first, I need to find out what makes you tick.”

Rivet walked down the sidewalk of the shopping district as he had before, but this time he was more observant of his surroundings. He was changed out of his suit, and was back into his street clothes of a t-shirt and jeans, with the added warmth of his jacket in the cool evening. He walked past the bookstore where he had purchased the second Daring Do book, and silently reminded himself to go in there at some point to look for the third.

Rivet found himself moving farther and farther away from the semi-familiar part of town, and towards some nicer shops. Not that the ones before weren’t nice, but the shops further down were kept in incredible conditions. Signs were replaced when they became faded, and displays in windows gave off a welcoming glow.

He saw a hanging sign on the corner, where the street veered off to the right. It had the words “Le Café Enchanteur” printed in white on a black background in cursive letters. When he stood directly in front of the shop, he looked to his left and right, searching for a music shop.

There it was. It was a well lit little shop with guitars of all different kinds in the front window. Rivet took hold on the door handle and stepped inside. He looked around the store, trying to locate the strings.

“Can I help you find something?” The man behind the counter asked. He wore a fedora as well as a t-shirt with a band name on it, Rivet could not see what kind of pants he was wearing. His face was accented with a five O’clock shadow.

“Yeah, I need some new strings for my acoustic.” Rivet looked over his shoulder, as if they were walking up behind him.

“Sure. They’re over there.” He pointed to a corner.

After paying for the strings of his choice Rivet went back out into the street, stuffing the bag into his pocket. As he walked past the bookstore, he stopped. Looking over at the door, he decided that it would be a good time to check for the book.

The bells jingled as he came through the door. The shopkeeper nodded in greeting as Rivet passed him by. Moving to where he remembered the Daring Do books were, he peered up at the shelf. He found the third book quite quickly, but noted how there were no more until the sixth on the shelf. If he wanted to keep going after he finished the assignment, he would have to find another source of the books. Perhaps the library would have something for him.

He paid for the book and left the shop, tucking it under one arm. When he got home, he would have to begin reading for the report. Hopefully, it would go better than the poetry assignments.