Luna sighed, resting her head against her hoof as she slumped in the chair. She had recently taken part in a midnight binge of research and had failed to come up with the answers to her question. She had, of course, checked into the possibilities of Hendrick being a changeling, but had failed to come to a conclusive decision. She had gone through all the books she had at her disposal and still, there was no creature that could take the form of a pony that shared the personality traits of Hendrick.

Her frustrated exhale hadn’t gone unnoticed, as there was a pony in the library who had been trying to find her amongst the massive collection of tomes. At the sound of the noise, the pony in question altered her course and approached the blue alicorn, a soft smile on her face.

“Hello, sister,” Celestia said, a small joy rising in her heart as her sister jerked around to see who was talking. She had missed her so, when Luna was on the moon, and it was great to have her back. “I understand that you’ve been doing some heavy research. May I ask as to what you are searching so deeply into?” She was hoping that her sister would start spending time with her subjects on her own and, indeed, if Hendrick hadn’t arrived, she probably would have taken action to get her sister to be more social. Though she was hesitant, the last time she had acted on her sister’s behalf without consulting her first... it hadn’t ended well.

“Oh, Celestia. You surprised me,” Luna said, a smile of her own blossoming across her face. “I was just looking up the various different races and types of creatures that inhabited Equestria.”

Concern showed on the elder sister’s face. “Why would that be? Did you see something odd?”

“No, nothing like that. It’s just...” The alicorn hung her head slightly, realizing how weird it sounded to her now. “I thought that Hendrick wasn’t a pony; he just seems so odd.”

Celestia’s smile returned and she approached her sister. “All ponies are different Luna, even more so the farther away they are from Canterlot. Which, if he’s telling the truth, Hendrick is from very far away, indeed.”

“I guess so, but- I don’t know...” Luna said, her hesitant tone telling of how unsure she was now.

“Of course you don’t, sister. You’ve been in this castle almost the entire day and some of your beautiful night. You need to get out and think about what you’ve read and seen. Not to mention that the fresh air would probably do you worlds of good.”

“Ah yes, that would be wonderful. Oh, but I have my night court.”

“I’ll tell them you took the night off. I’ve done it occasionally myself when I need time to think. Go ahead and have a night flight.”

“Okay. Thank you, sister,” Luna responded with a smile as she stood from the desk. Celestia nodded to her and the blue alicorn walked to a nearby window. She opened it slowly with her magic, letting the cool night breeze flow over her and the feeling of serenity consume her for the moment. After taking a deep breath of the air, she smiled broadly and jumped from her perch, spreading her wings wide as she left the library window behind, as a white alicorn was smiling contentedly at her departing sister from inside the building.

The lunar princess’s wings beat against the air, the warmth from her working muscles fighting against the night’s chill air. Her gaze wandered lazily over the whole of Canterlot beneath her as her mind began to work around the mystery of Hendrick. Perhaps Celestia was correct and he is just an odd pony from far away? That would certainly explain everything nicely.

Occasionally on her flight, something might catch her attention and she would examine it from the air, taking in the details until her mind was bored or content with her examination and she would move on. After reaching the edge of the city, the alicorn decided that it was probably about time to head back to the castle. If she hurried, she might even be able to be in time for some questions at her night court.

She was about to turn when an odd reflection from below caught her attention and the alicorn glanced down. The reflection had come from the dim light of the stars as they met with the water of one of the town’s fountains. As she looked at it however, she noticed something she wasn’t used to seeing, especially in the dead chill of the night. A pony was standing beneath the flowing water, scrubbing himself with a crude brush.

Intrigued by the odd act, the princess descended out of the sky and landed lightly on a nearby building to get a better look while still remaining mostly concealed. From this distance, the best she could make out was the outline of the pony that was most definitely a stallion. However, the colors of his mane and coat were indistinguishable because of the low light that lit the area.

After he had finished getting what he could with the brush in his mouth, he raised a hoof out of the water, a small brush strapped to that, and began to work his way through his mane, down his body, and finally, his tail. Just as he finished the tail though, his balance failed him. The water sloshed from his sudden tip and after a moment, he stood slowly out of the ice water. At long last, he finally stepped from the fountain, his brushes wrapped in a dirty cloth which he held in his mouth.

His steps took him down the road next to the building Luna had alit upon and gave her the opportunity to see the stallion as he shook compulsively from the biting, ice-like water that still clung to his coat. As he walked away, Luna’s curiosity continued to gnaw at her and she followed, flying as stealthily as she could behind the pony and hoping she might find out where he lived that would explain why he had taken to the fountain in order to clean himself.

The stallion walked, jittering, down the road. His unsure steps marked his movement across the cobblestones as the alicorn tailed him from the sky, though the princess passed this off as being caused by his nighttime dip into the water. At last, he turned, but not to enter a building. Rather, he walked down an alleyway. Cautiously, the alicorn moved forward to allow her to see down the gap between the houses on either side.

She was shocked to see a semi-residence in position. A small collection of newspapers marked where he slept, his cloth bundle resting nearby now that he had put it down. The stallion was on the newspapers, his head resting on his hooves as he gazed down the other alleys that continued towards the end of town and eventually opened up to a view of the land below the capital.

Overcome by curiosity, the princess landed, her hooves hitting the stones and telling the stallion he had company. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder to see Luna approaching and then he turned away. “I didn’t expect you to be out tonight, Your Highness.” His voice was shaky, but it was familiar and the princess froze in her steps as she recognized the stallion she had been following for the past hour.

“Hendrick? Is that you? What are you doing here?” Luna asked, stepping forward to approach the stallion.

“Some sky watching. Would you like to join me?” he said, his tone the same as one would use when being polite, but really don’t want the listener to take the offer. The tone wasn’t lost on the princess, but nonetheless, her curiosity was still peaked and she never could let a mystery go unsolved.

“Is this your home?” It was blunt and straightforward, not allowing the stallion to weevil his way out of the question with some alternate phrasing. Though, he still managed it.

“Home is where your heart is. Mine is far far away from here and broken in half.”

“Stop dodging questions and being so cryptic!” Luna said, frustration leaking into her voice. “Is this alley the place where you live?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you rent or buy a home?”

“No money.”

“Why don’t you get a job?”

“No talent.”

And then the pieces fell together for the alicorn. He was a reject from everyone else, relying on the good will of his fellow ponies to make ends meet for himself. No one would hire a blank flank, she realized now. She doubted even her sister would be kind enough; it was just too much of a risk. The best he could hope for was small jobs that would last for a day and then bleed away.

She looked at the stallion who was so odd and a feeling of sympathy hit her. She knew what it felt like to be an outcast, to live in the shadows from day to day. But something was still bugging her, a feeling at the back of her mind. “But then... what did you do before you came here? You must have had a job where you originally came from.”

“Librarian,” Hendrick answered, never turning to face the princess.

“Oh, well, perfect, then,” the alicorn said as excitement built in her voice. “We have an opening in the library. You could come work at the castle.”

“No, but thank you for offering.”

“What? You were looking for a job, and then I offer you the same one you held before and you turn it down? Why?”

“Well, I’m a bit more klutzy than I was back then. I would hate to accidentally damage a book. That is the one thing that I cherished in my previous job. Every page, every word was important to me and had to be protected. That’s also the thing that got me banished, my identity torn from my person, and then brought here. Because, apparently, if you hate something enough, the words about it, or written by people who are near it, become plague and taboo, something I still don’t believe despite me being in this alley.

“Words are to be taken in and respected, as the thought that the author put into the words flows through them no matter what. To want to be rid of books because of something as shallow as anger... Well, I didn’t agree. And despite the punishment I’ve received, I still believe it. That’s why I was so disappointed in Front Page.” The stallion looked at a nearby newspaper and paused for a moment. “If the author doesn’t love their words, then no one else will, and that is a tragedy in and of itself.”

The alicorn absorbed his words, her steps taking her next to the stallion as she did so. Though parts of what he just said seemed odd and alien to her, she had understood at least one thing. “The reason you’re here, is because you were banished?” The stallion nodded and her sympathy rose to a new level. One event had turned his world on its head and he had been removed from everything he knew.

Silence reigned with an iron fist as both the ponies rested, side by side. The sky above shown down with the lights of stars and illuminated the pitiful excuse for a home, but both rested on the ground and let their gazes move across the open expanse above them.

A chill breeze ran through the alley and a sudden spasm of shivers went through Hendrick’s bones. Subconsciously, the alicorn draped her wing over him in an attempt to warm the still wet stallion. As soon as he felt the contact, he pulled away and put some distance between him and the blue alicorn, leaving her with a feeling of guilt about the event that had occurred without her thinking into it.

His gaze still never met her, his vision locked on the night sky beyond the edge of the city. “Luna.” His words caught the attention of the alicorn and she turned her head to look toward the stallion. “I’ve heard that you create and control every night. Is that true?”

“Yes, I take a few moments every dusk to dream up what the sky should look like that night, and then I create it. Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if you could do a shooting star.”

“Of course. May I ask as to the purpose behind it?”

“Nothing important, really,” the stallion said, then let out a slow breath exit his lungs. “I could just really do with a wish right now.”

(A/N: I promise more funny next chapter. I'm just setting the stage with this one.)