“Moondancer.”

“Eh?”

“My name is Moondancer.”

Moondancer sat at his usual table, studying reference materials as usual, across from Anonymous Source, as usual these days. Anonymous stuck to him like a rash since the semester’s start weeks ago.

Anonymous had been unnaturally quiet during the five minutes he had been here, reading his book, so Moondancer felt… compelled to keep the situation copasetic. That was it. Anonymous was a dumb first year and would easily get bored without stimulation, so Moondancer would keep Anonymous from finding entertainment at his expense.

A smirk played across Anonymous’ lips, “Cute name.”

Of course he would do his best to ruin it. Moondancer’s kindness was wasted on stallions like him. Why did he even bother? Moondancer scowled and went back to reading.

“Cute name for a cute stallion.”

Don’t rise to it, Moondancer. Persevere. Focus on your readings and you’ll make it through. Why did he talk to this stupid, horny teen? All he ever did was proudly express prurient interests and poke fun at Moondancer with crass, puerile jokes. He was nothing but a bully.

Anonymous leaned back in his chair, holding up the paperback he had been reading, the spine broken from him folding the book backwards over itself. Moondancer hated it so much. That kind of treatment towards books was unacceptable. He wasn’t one to care about minor things, like dog-ears or highlighting or notes in margins, all of which he was guilty of, but destroying the book like that served no purpose.

Anonymous met Moondancer’s scowl over the book and unfolded it, showing the creased front cover off. Yellow scars criss-crossed a starry field with two blushing stallions, one a unicorn and one a pegasus, in suits with bubble helmets staring up at space in wonder. The title, styled like stamped metal, read ‘Sleeping Beneath the Stars’. It looked completely lacking in scientific rigor; some decades-old pulp without substance or sense.

Anonymous waggled the book in his hoof, “It’s a good book. You’d like it.”

“It looks asinine and unlearned. Perfect for its owner.”

“Here, let me read an excerpt for you:”

Ion Tail flew to the peak of the Montes Coltillera—

"Flew?"

"Uh, yeah. Ion Tail is the pegasus." Anonymous taps the cover, "See? His suit protects his wings, so don't worry."

Moondancer scowled, "You can't fly on the moon. It has a trace atmosphere. Not enough air."

"Wh—Who cares, dude? It's a good story. Shut up and let me read it." Anonymous coughed and found his place.

Ion Tail flew to the peak of the Montes Coltillera dome and sat down, staring up at the cosmos. He contacted Aphelion Heart on his 'C' comm—

"What's a 'C' comm?"

Anonymous grunted, "Stands for crystal communicator. It's a magic device they use to talk in space. You know, because it has no air or whatever?"

Moondancer didn't respond. The reading resumed.

He contacted Aphelion Heart on his 'C' comm.

"Aphelion Heart, you need to come up here. The view of the Horsehead Nebula is—

"How is he seeing the Horsehead Nebula from Coltillera?"

Anonymous set the book face-down and stared at Moondancer with thin lips and furrowed brows, "What are you even on about?"

Moondancer sighed, talking to Anonymous as if he were a foal; slow and over enunciated, "Coltillera is always facing Equestria. It's the anchor point for Luna's magic. The Horsehead Nebula is in the opposite direction."

Anonymous stared at him. Moondancer rubbed his temples with his hooves, "Which means that they couldn't see it from Montes Coltillera. The moon's facing is locked. And since we don't revolve around the sun like other systems, Equestria's orbit will never allow ponies on Montes Coltillera to—"

"Who fuckin' cares!?" Anonymous stood up from his chair, hooves on the table to lean over it. He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper, "Why are you nitpicking every little thing?"

Moondancer allowed himself a small grin at riling up Anonymous, "Because it's bad science."

"Science isn't the point, Asshole. It's about the story of two stallions admitting their love for each other while waiting for rescue after their spacecraft crashed!"

Moondancer made a derisive snort, "You're right, it's rude of me to expect anything from some two-bit 'red book'."

"You do not call Posie Prose's magnum opus a 'red book'! This is literature at its finest." Anonymous slumped back in his chair, picking the book up and flipping through it to a marked page, "Shut up and liste—shut up. Listen to this:"

Chapter 12: Bivvy for Two

Aphelion Heart shivered back to back with Ion Tail in the crater. The meteor storm did irreparable damage to their ship. Their signal beacon had been destroyed, food reserves split and spilt across the sky. Even if help came for them, they wouldn't be found in time. They were as good as gone.

He hugged himself and stared up at the debris floating away above. It sparkled like starstuff. He searched for meaning in the beautiful destruction, but found none. It was all just an accident, unfortunate circumstance. A small pouch of pudding—

"Don't even fucking think about interrupting."

Moondancer shrugged. He'd had his fun. He was sure Anonymous would leave him alone after today. And then he could finally, finally have a peaceful study session.

A small pouch of pudding tumbled away, ruptured, globules of chocolate flung to Celestia-knows-where. It was the last one. He had been saving it.

Aphelion Heart wept.

Moondancer felt Anonymous staring at him, but he focused on his own books, levitating his quill to take notes, In the case of a black hole, the accreted material can only radiate until it reaches the event horizon R_S.

Ion Trail turned around and hugged him.

"Don't cry, Aphe. We're gonna be okay," Ion Tail said.

"No we're not. This is it. We're toast! We worked so long and hard, and for what? For nothing," Aphelion Heart said.

"We did the best we could," Ion Tail said.

"And it wasn't enough," Aphelion Heart said.

Ion Tail reached around to Aphelion Heart's suit panel, turning on the interphase mode. He set his own to—

"Interphase mode makes their suits combine into one so they can share life support systems and cuddle and stuff. And it just works, so shut up."

Moondancer nosed over to the next page, "I didn't say anything." Hence a quasar with a luminosity of—

"Are you even listening?"

"No."

A hoof slammed Moondancer's book shut, the hard cover swatting him on the nose. He flinched backwards, glasses almost falling off his snout, "What the heck is your problem?!"

Anonymous looked upset. And… hurt? "Let me finish this part and I'll leave."

Not like Moondancer cared. He rubbed his snout and grumbled, "You could leave now, instead, and save us both the trouble."

Anonymous responded by reading aloud:

He set his own to interphase mode, as well. Aphelion Heart let him, and their suits combined into a bivvy for two. Ion Tail spooned Aphelion Heart, resting his head on the unicorn's neck.

"I want to be alone," Aphelion Heart said.

"You didn't stop me from joining you," Ion Tail said.

Aphelion Heart didn't respond. Ion Tail gently squeezed his friend. Aphelion Heart whimpered and curled up, making it easier for his mission partner to hold him. Ion Tail licked the tears from Aphelion Heart's cheek.

"And you saved me from the meteors. Thank you," Ion Tail said.

"How can you say thank you when I'm the one responsible for destroying the ship?" Aphelion Heart asked.

"Because I got to hug you again," Ion Tail said.

Aphelion Heart turned around to face Ion Tail. His tears shimmered like liquid stars in his eyes.

"But I doomed both of us. I could have saved the ship, too. I'm sure of it," Aphelion Heart said.

"No, you doomed yourself for me. I would have died, and you could have continued repairs and returned home," Ion Tail said. He rubbed his nose against Aphelion Heart's.

"I couldn't have! I don't want to go home without you," Aphelion Heart said. He hugged Ion Tail back and returned the nose rub.

"It's a little late to say this, Aphe, but I love you," Ion Tail said.

"I love you too, Ion," Aphelion Heart said.

Ion Tail pulled his head away and searched underneath his wing. He pulled a pouch out from it and offered it to Aphelion Heart with a smile.

"Is that chocolate pudding?" Aphelion Heart asked.

"I was saving it for a special occasion. I think this is as special as it can get," Ion Tail said.

"I knew mission control wouldn't have made a basic inventory error like that!" Aphelion Heart said.

Ion Tail held the pouch. Aphelion Heart tore it and spat the trash between them. Ion Tail bit down on the pouch, feeding Aphelion Heart. It was hard to eat, and he got pudding all over his snout. His tongue reached out to lick it up.

"Wait," Ion Tail said.

Ion Tail spat the pouch out. His tongue came out and he licked up the pudding. Aphelion Heart blushed.

"Ion," Aphelion Heart said.

"Aphe," Ion Tail said.

Their lips closed in for a kiss—

"You can stop now. I don't want to listen to you reading smut."

Anonymous threw the book at Moondancer, hitting him square in the horn and making him wince, glasses hitting the desk. "It's NOT smut! It's erotica! The highest form of literature, the only art that dares to show the full pony experience!" He swiped the book and stuffed it in his saddlebags. "I have to go to class, Asshole. See you never."

"Bye!" Moondancer glazed his voice with cheer, satisfaction on his face despite the sore horn. He magicked his glasses back onto his snout. That was it. Anonymous Source was out of his life for good. He double-checked that he had written down the formulae correctly and continued on with his studies. Long-slit aurascopy of stellar ley lines in nearby galactic nuclei…

Moondancer stretched at his desk in his dorm, magicking away his textbooks. He had just finished an entire semester's course load for the second of his six classes this semester. It was too late to start studying something new, but too early to turn in. His thoughts turned back to the library today and scowled. Of course Anonymous would try to read him a red book aloud. Way to play into stereotypes. Loud, boorish, always thinking of sex…

And why read a book about gay stallions to him? It's not as if he cared about stallions. Or mares. He was perfectly happy to be studying. In peace and quiet, alone. Studying alone. Studying… wasn't something he could do right now. But, that was fine. He had other hobbies to distract himself.

Hobbies such as… reading! He had a collection of good science-fiction novels, emphasis on the science, that he brought with him from home. He got up from his desk and left the common room for his bedroom, crawling up on the bed to peruse the titles adorning the shelf on the wall above the headboard.

They had a layer of dust covering them. Moondancer frowned. How long had it been since he'd sat down with a good book? He wiped them down with a hoof, shielding his face from the dust with magic. Let's see… Neighvan, no… Fervor Fringe, no… ah, here we go. Woolly Words.

Contrary to his name, his fiction was anything but soft. The only errors Moondancer had found in his works were things Woolly never could have known due to scientific advances that had happened in the decades since he stopped writing, but Moondancer wouldn't fault him for it. He pulled it from the shelf and settled underneath his covers, turning off the lights and turning on his reading lamp.

The Centennial Condor, adrift in space, ran on waning power crystals…

Moondancer closed the book, satisfied. He hadn't taken the time to appreciate a book in a long, long while. Since before he was even a first year, if he recalled right. Had it really been that long?

He looked at the bedside clock. An hour until sunrise.

Had he really been reading that long?

Moondancer groaned, pushing his glasses up to rub his sore eyes. Of all the days to stay up all night reading, it was one with morning class. In two hours, he had to be in Dr. Kelpier's class and—

He bolted upright as terror took hold. There was a test today. He wasn't going to be in top form. How was this going to affect his grade? GPA? Scholarship? Graduate school recommendations? Career? Life? Everything was on the line here and he just fucked himself because Anonymous made him want to read a book.

He held his head in his hooves, "Crap, crap, crap!"

Calm down. Just get coffee. He pulled back, forcing his head up. Coffee and camp outside the class. His class was the first one so there's no way he could miss it, even if he fell asleep. Dr. Kelpier would wake him up and he'd take his test and go back to his dorm and sleep. Except he couldn't, because Dr. Nebulebray counted attendance as part of her course's grade even though that was stupid and unnecessary because she wrote the damn textbook on magic in geodetic applications so her lectures were straight from the book and—

Moondancer closed his eyes and took a deep breath, resting his head in his hooves. All he needed was t—

Moondancer woke up. The sun was low enough to shine through his windows. He just fell asleep in his own hooves. They peeled off his cheeks and he could feel the marks they left. He slept through both classes. His posture left him in ringing pain when he moved. He didn't feel like catching the last half of the third, or going to the fourth. He didn't feel like doing much of anything right now, so he curled up underneath the covers and cried.