Dreaming, Elu was floating among the stars once again. An infinite canvas full of small dots of light, the full night sky was the true magnificence to behold. It was an infinite darkness, but it was filled with infinite light. Old stars died, new stars were born. From cosmic dust, planets were created. It was an eternal circle of the universe, repeating again and again in a span of many billions of years. The whole process was so long no living being would ever hope to see it by themselves. Unless it was a dream, of course. Despite all the things that happen around the world, dreams can often create something new, something exciting and unusual. And all of that was just in the head of one person.

"You seem to enjoy this view quite a lot," a familiar female voice spoke to Elu.

"Yes... yes, I do," he replied, turning to the source of the voice. "Luna... You're back."

"Sorry I couldn't contact you earlier, many different things were making me quite busy," the alicorn apologized, "I sense you already know what happened. As if... as if you knew it would."

"I didn't know when exactly I appeared in your timeline, but now I do," the colt replied, "The Changeling Invasion of Canterlot... that's a memorable event," he let out a soft chuckle, remembering writing about it in one of his stories.

"I'm tempted to ask what else you know about the possible future, but I'm afraid I might just make it worse by trying to prevent any disasters. Messing with time cannot end well," Luna said, "But... I am interested in knowing at least something. Tell me... is there something we should worry about?"

"Depends on what you mean by that," Elu replied, remembering all the various events from the show, "So far... the Mane Six haven't failed at preventing world-ending events, so you probably don't have to worry about it."

"The... Mane Six?" the alicorn asked, confusion in her voice.

"That's... a play of the words 'mane' and 'main' in a language I know. Probably doesn't work as well in yours as it doesn't in my native language," he explained. However, some confusion remained on Luna's face, and the colt added, "I'm referring to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

"Ah, now I see," Luna nodded, "So... they are 'main' because they're the central characters of that children's book our world is in, and they are 'mane' because they... have manes?"

"Yeah, it's kind of dumb," Elu chuckled, "Nevermind... Anyway, I wanted to ask you something... How are my parents?"

"They're safe, and I assured them you are safe as well," the alicorn said, "And I've heard you had a surge of magic. How do you feel?"

"Just... tired. And it brought some bad recent memories..."

"If I may ask, what are those memories?" Luna asked with worry and concern.

"...Electricity killed me."

An uneasy silence fell on the two for a few long moments before Elu spoke again.

"Uh, that was blunt..." he chuckled nervously, "I, uh... um... shocking, am I right?"

"Elu..." Luna let out a deep sigh, "Joking about your own death is... it's just... not right."

"Sorry... I guess I just try to deflect everything with humor, jokes, and such," Elu explained, regretting his choice of words. "I mean... I can laugh at plenty of things. It's a kind of... defense mechanism? Humor makes it easier to deal with heavy stuff. Though, even I don't joke about certain things, and before you ask, I'd rather not talk about those things."

"Elu... don't take it the wrong way, but you certainly need to see a professional," Luna replied in a serious tone, "The issue, however, is that we don't have anyone that can realistically help you deal with it. I suppose I'm the best at it currently but only because I'm the only person to having had talked to you for some time."

"C-can we just change the topic now?" the colt replied rather nervously, "I, I know I have to deal with all that, but... uh... I just... want to take on it at my own pace, alright? I have nothing against you or anything, but... I hope you understand."

Silence fell once again. Elu was looking away from the princess, trying not to think about his deeper problems just yet. He was very aware of them, he knew he had to fix them eventually if he wanted to live a healthy life; but at the moment, he wasn't ready to reveal himself in full and discuss his innermost. It was one thing writing about it or making a story based on it; it was a completely another thing being there in person in front of someone else; the consequences would be very real and very personal.

Elu trusted Luna. However, before he came to Equestria, she was just a character. An idea. A fictional character that was animated using a computer, and her voice was provided by a voice actor, the same one that voiced Rarity. Now, Luna was very real. She sounded similar to how she sounded in the show but now she wasn't fictional. She was real, she had a personality that wasn't dictated by a script. And in truth, such a realization was scary from a certain point of view. Thankfully, Luna didn't know as much about Elu as he knew about her. Otherwise, it would make him paranoid.

"I understand," Luna finally said, "In this case... let's talk about your magic. You've had a surge, which means that you either have some level of telekinesis or other forms of basic magic or you are about to get them. Either way, you would need to learn how to control your magic and how to develop it. I'm sure your parents will do a good job at it, but feel free to ask me for assistance."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," Elu nodded, "Oh, and, well, I have my own idea of how telekinesis works. Basically, what I think happens is that you reach out with your magic and you feel the texture of what you want to lift in the air. You feel that texture as if you're actually touching the thing without magic. And then you just... kinda move it around. Yeah, that's not the most well thought out, uh, theory," he chuckled sheepishly, "But, well, magic was also fictional... until I became a pony and appeared here. It's very interesting and I'll probably spend some time figuring out magic stuff."

"Your idea of telekinesis does sound interesting and it's pretty close to reality," Luna nodded, "What unicorns feel when they use telekinesis is difficult to describe. However, you will feel it and understand it once you accomplish telekinesis. Not to mention that foals until the age of four can self-levitate sometimes. Usually, they don't remember it when they grow up but you... you will feel it in full."

"Sounds awesome!" the colt replied enthusiastically and then yawned. "Wait... did I just yawn in a dream?"

"That means you'll wake up soon," the alicorn explained, "In this case, I'll leave you to rest. I still have some business to attend to at Canterlot, but I'll try to see if I can visit you when I have the time."

Elu woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside the house. He blinked groggily, coming to his senses and stretching his body. After a small yawn, he looked around. Plain Runner was nearby, sleeping soundly. In fact, she wasn't just nearby, she was all around the colt, who was tucked in and protected by her from all sides. He blushed slightly, not used to such a thing, and attempted to snuggle away from her. Unfortunately, she turned in her sleep, hugging him closer.

The two were still in the closet, its door half-opened, allowing some light to go through. The air had a slight scent of ozone in it, and the changelings were gone, leaving not a trace behind. The sounds coming from the outside were calm and peaceful as well, just as if nothing had ever happened to this quiet and distant village.

Elu suddenly felt a tingle in his horn. However, instead of spewing lightning, he telekinetically moved a small ball from somewhere in the closet. The eyes of the colt opened wide as he saw the ball hovering in front of his face, surrounded by his green aura. He wanted to jump in joy, shout like a dolt, dance around carefree — he finally had magic! A very basic form of magic, but he had it, and it wasn't going away anytime soon.

For the next few minutes, Elu had been spinning the ball around, moving it in random directions, just staring at it as it moved according to how he wanted it. At first, he had difficulty following the movement with his eyes — it was faster than moving anything with his hands as a human. It made him question just how needed close-range teleportation of objects would be if just moving them telekinetically was already fast enough.

However, he was soon bored with it and he felt a slight soreness in his horn. Deciding to drop telekinesis for now, he slightly nudged the filly, hoping that she would wake up soon. His stomach growled, he licked his dry lips. The sooner the filly woke up, the sooner he would be able to break free from her sleeping grasp and find some food and water.

"Mhh..." the filly moaned as she was nudged awake, "J-just five more minutes, mom..."

Chuckling at the situation, Elu continued to nudge her. After all, it was better than crying to be fed. A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered how awfully loud children can be. He was aiming not to be one of those no matter what. First and foremost, he didn't want to annoy those who took care of him. Second, he didn't want to embarrass himself; after all, he would remember it clearly despite being physically young.

"Ah, Elu..." Plain Runner finally opened her eyes, "Sorry, I dozed off... I guess you want to eat, right?"

Elu nodded, and his stomach groaned again, which was more than enough for the filly to stand up and return to the main room. Quickly, the colt reached the water and lapped on it. Suddenly, he heard a flutter from above, and then something sat on his back. He froze in place and slowly turned his head.

"Frut?" the fruit bat chirped, shoving a banana into Elu's mouth. He groaned in displeasure but accepted the tasty treat regardless. In a few moments, the bat unfolded its wings and took off, moving to Plain Runner.

"Awww, he's so cute!" she commented, a smile appearing on her face. The fruit bat landed on her back and was soon petted by the filly, "Haven't noticed him before..."

Elu let out a sigh and returned to drinking the water. He too almost forgot about the existence of this unusual pet. Though, it was a cute, fluffy, adorable pet indeed. Useful, too — where did it keep getting all those bananas? There were other questions that were yet unanswered, but they weren't anything to worry about at the moment.

The bat chirped gently as it was being petted, closing its eyes and nuzzling Plain Runner affectionately.

"You know, now I want one!" the filly said, continuing to pet the creature, "No idea if my parents allow it, but... Gotta try, he's adorable! And... if my parents don't allow, I'll just come over more," she turned to Elu, "You know, Elu, you're easy to deal with. I like you for that. You're better than... like, ninety-nine percent of all foals. No, make that ninety-nine point ninety-nine."

Elu let out a short laugh.

"And you're smart," Plain Runner added, "I mean... it seems you have no problem understanding me whatsoever."

The colt nodded and then showed a tip of his tongue in a silly manner.

"Ah, you wanna do a blep?" the filly giggled, "Well, then..." she copied his expression. And then, she blew a raspberry.

Finding it hilarious for some reason, Elu burst out laughing hard. He might've been somewhat smart but simple body noises could be enough to amuse him sometimes. Was it refined humor? No, but if it made laughs, it was right anyway. And, most importantly, it was one of the simplest things he could enjoy. It helped him deal with harder, more difficult things in life. And while Luna's words about it lingered in his mind, he hoped he could do at least something by himself.