The rain hammered on the roof of the car. Occasionally, lighting and thunder cracked the night. Hagane admitted that he probably shouldn’t have removed the insulated headliner.

He sat in his car at a rail crossing, barely able to see the flashing lights through the rain and the night. Foot on the brake, he took his hands off the wheel and stuffed them in the pockets of his jacket. He shouldn’t have removed the car’s heater, either. It was tough balancing his dream of being a racecar driver and his reality of being a ramen delivery driver. Particularly because he only had one car. At least he had a car. A scooter would be terrible for this weather.

The train rolled by, barely audible over the rain. The lights went out and the crossing guards lifted. Hagane put the car in gear and crossed the tracks. The mansion of apartment rooms where he stayed was further on, a few blocks away. There was half a parking space along the street that he squeezed the car into.

Shutting the engine off, he paused to look at the rain, sighed, and got out of the car. He spent an agonizing second locking the door as the rain poured on him before dashing for cover.

His domicile was on the first floor, the entrance covered by an awning about the same size as the doormat. As Hagane ran towards shelter a flash of lightning lit up the front of the building, casting a shadow of a creature standing between him and the door. Despite the rain, he stopped short. What was it? He’d gotten a brief glimpse, but whatever it was seemed to be the size of a large dog. Did Nakagawa-san’s shiba inu get out again? he wondered. Wow.

He took a few steps forward, seeing its silhouette under the awning. Seconds passed. Water was already running down his back and faced with confronting a possibly dangerous animal or losing his cell phone to water damage, Hagane made his choice.

Moving forward again, he wasn’t attacked. The creature stepped to the side, attempting to remain under the awning while leaving him room. Polite. Hagane returned the consideration, staying to the other side as he unlocked the door. He took half a step inside and reached for the light switch.

With illumination, he realized his visitor was a miniature pony. Hagane, being Japanese, immediately knew cute things when he saw them. Even rain-plastered, the grey-colored pony was clearly well groomed. Someone’s pet? Nobody in his neighborhood had anything like that.

“Where did you come from?” Hagane wondered aloud. He glanced out at the rain again. He could hear water dripping off his clothes onto the floor. The pony made a small noise. Hagane looked down again. The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Hagane stepped back and opened the door wider. The pony came in.

Hagane closed the door. The pony seemed domesticated, comfortable indoors. Someone had even tied a pink bowtie around its neck.

Hagane hung up his jacket. It continued to drip. He plugged in the space heater to help warm up. Remembering his phone, he quickly pulled it out of his pocket and set it on the kitchen counter. There was a little bit of moisture on it, but it seemed fine. He sighed with relief.

Behind him, he heard cautious steps come into the kitchen area. He turned, seeing the pony for the first time in a brighter light. He bent forward to get a closer look. The eyes, surprisingly, were purple.

Hagane knelt and put a hand on the pony’s withers. It was a female, he’d decided, though that was mostly based on looks. He didn’t know anything about ponies.

She moved a little under his touch and kept watching him. His eye caught something on her hindquarters. It was a pink treble clef.

“What’s this?” He touched it.

The pony neighed and jerked away from him. She didn’t go far, but her attitude had changed.

Hagane raised his hands. “I won’t do that again.”

The pony glanced away, looking around the kitchen. Her tail switched, dripping more water on the floor.

Hagane stood “We should both get dried off.” He headed for the bathroom to fetch a towel. To his surprise, the pony followed along.

“Since you’re here, do you want to get into the shower to keep water off the floor?” he asked.

She stared at him. Hagane gestured to the shower. Surprising him again, she seemed to understand his motion and stepped in.

Hagane picked up a towel, but heard his phone began to ring. “Wait here.”

Back in the kitchen, he picked it up. It was his girlfriend, Blue. “Hagane, have you seen the rain? I could use a ride from the station.”

The nearest train station was a ten minute walk away. “I can pick you up,” he said.

In the other room, Hagane heard the shower turn on. “What’s that?”

“Hagane?”

“Hang on, Blue. Something strange just happened.”

He walked to the bathroom. The door was closed and he didn’t remember shutting it. Going inside, he noticed that the shower curtain was pulled and the pony seemed to be humming as she showered. Her bowtie was carefully folded on the counter.

Hagane pulled the curtain back. The pony gasped, and punched him in the face.

Falling backwards, Hagane cracked his head against the wall and went out like a light.

The sound of the front door lock opening brought him back. Hagane lay on the futon in the front room without any idea how he had gotten there.

Blue walked in, soaking wet and angry. “Where were you?”

“Uh…” Hagane wasn’t sure. His head throbbed as he sat up.

Blue put down her guitar case beside the door and the bag with her concert outfit beside it. “I thought you said you were going to come get me. I had to walk in the rain! This is just like you. What else did you have to do that was so important?”

“I’m sorry, Blue, I really am. I would have come, but-”

The pony walked into the room as if on cue.

As a woman who’d changed her name in order to better fit her role as a rock and roll guitar player, Blue understood how important image was. The appearance of a bowtie-wearing pony had her speechless for a few seconds.

Her eyes lit up and she started forward. “Oh my! Did you get this for me, Hagane? So cute!”

Hagane got to his feet and stopped her. “You may want to give her some space.”

More slowly, Blue knelt and offered her hand. The pony glanced at it and resumed looking between Blue and Hagane. Blue started to pet the pony’s neck. “Where did you get the money?”

“I didn’t, actually.” Blue glanced at him and Hagane shrugged. “She just kind of showed up. I don’t know who owns her.”

“Well, she can certainly stay with us.” Blue smiled. “What’s her name?”

Hagane shrugged.

“Well, I really like this,” Blue said, gesturing to the mark on the pony’s hip. “It’s perfect! We should name her something musical.”

“We’re keeping her?”

“Well, why not, especially if we don’t know the owner. She’s perfect, like a perfect octave. That’s it! We’ll call her Octavia.”

As long as Blue was happy. Hagane’s head still ached. But then, he supposed he couldn’t blame Octavia for that, him walking in on her in the shower. He frowned. Was he remembering that correctly? She was actually using the shower?

As he contemplated that, Blue said, “What do ponies eat?”

Hagane frowned. “I don’t know.”

“What do we have? Is there ramen in the fridge?”

“There’s always ramen in the fridge.”

Ignoring her wet clothes, Blue beckoned Octavia to follow her and walked into the kitchen. She found a takeout container of ramen in the fridge and set it on the table. Returning to looking in the fridge, she asked, “Are you hungry, Hagane?”

Hagane didn’t reply, focusing instead on Octavia, who had taken a seat at the table and opened the takeout box.

Blue glanced up, looking at Hagane for an answer to her question. She was just in time to see Octavia take a pair of chopsticks from the holder in the center of the table and lift some noodles out of the takeout box.

Octavia noticed both of them staring at her. She gestured her thanks for the ramen before transferring the noodles to her mouth.

Blue said, “You got me a magical pony?”