As the sun began to slowly rise, a train pulled in to the Ponyville Station. Not many ponies were around, as it was very early in the morning and few ponies were willing to wake up this early for a train ride. Several ponies came off the train, however, one of them being a female purple unicorn with saddlebags full of books on her back. She had bags under her eyes, indicating that she hadn’t slept much at all on the ride home.

“Twilight! Welcome back!”

The unicorn perked up a bit at a voice familiar to her. Trotting up to her was the same orange earth pony who had run into Hovermic the previous day. Twilight smiled. “Hey, Applejack...you’re up early.”

“Ain’t much earlier than Ah’m used to,” the farmer replied. “The other girls are probably still asleep, though.”

Twilight nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me...I’d like to be asleep too.” She yawned. “Probably gonna take a nap as soon as I get home...”

Applejack chuckled. “Y’all go do that, then. Ah’ll let the others know yer back, and we’ll come by later.”

“Sounds good to me...” the unicorn said through another yawn. After a tired goodbye, she walked off, heading for the library that she called her home.

The sun was well up in the sky when Hovermic began to stir. Shifting under the blankets of the bed that had provided him such comfort for several hours, he forced himself up into a sitting position. He had taken a long shower the night before to try and clean himself up, but even now there were still streaks of dirt and grass stains on his body.

He headed right to the bathroom once again, taking a good twenty to thirty minutes to finish his business and try another shower. While he was still unable to get completely cleaned, at least it wasn’t completely obvious that he had taken a rather unpleasant stroll through Equestria’s most dangerous forest.

Collecting the few belongings he had and putting his headphones around his neck once more, Hovermic made his way out of the room and began heading down to the lobby. He silently prayed to whichever princess had more power that he wouldn’t have to deal with the same mare as the night before.

Thankfully, there was a completely different mare behind the desk. She was a very light gray pegasus, with a much skinnier build than the bulky mare from before. Her knee-length mane and tail were both a very bright light blue, and her hooves had burgundy markings at the bottom. On her front left hoof was a black watch, and she had what looked like some kind of an ice cream cone as her cutie mark.

As Hovermic walked up, the mare looked up at him with eyes the same colour as her mane. She smiled; not a fake smile like ponies in this job often put on, but a genuine smile. The stallion felt slightly calmer.

“Come to check out?” she asked. Hovermic nodded, and the mare retrieved a sheet and quill. “Just sign here, please. Do you have all your belongings?”

Hovermic took the quill and signed his name before speaking. “Y-Yeah, got everything.”

The mare glanced at the signature and blinked, then looked back up. “So you’re the one from last night, I take it? Postage Stamp wouldn’t stop talking about you.”

Somehow, Hovermic doubted that was meant in a good way. He just nodded.

“Don’t worry about it. She always complains about the last pony she has to help out, even when there’s nothing to complain about.” The mare’s smile dropped, and she tilted her head. “Are you okay?”

The stallion blinked. “Um...no? Yes. I mean, maybe?” He groaned. “Yes.”

“Doesn’t seem that way.” She shook her head. “Come on, what’s the matter?”

Hovermic sighed, using a hoof to rub his temple. This was a tic he had developed over a few years as something he did to look like he was getting annoyed, when really he was just trying to dodge a subject. Usually, it would cause whoever he was dealing with to drop the topic, either because they didn’t like his “attitude” or they sensed it was a sore subject.

This time, the trick failed. The mare stood and waited patiently, a calm smile on her face as she waited for an answer. A whole minute passed, and with the exception of glancing to the side whenever a pony entered or left the building, the mare never looked away from Hovermic.

Finally, the stallion relented. “I’m tired. I’m just...really tired.”

“Didn’t get enough sleep?” the mare asked, though she clearly knew that wasn’t what he meant.

“No...I just had a rough time getting here, and then I didn’t really get started off on the right hoof.” He left out the details. He didn’t want to get into the whole story of why he was wandering through the Everfree Fo-

“Is that why Postage said you looked like you came from the Everfree Forest?”

Hovermic groaned. “...yes.”

The mare’s eyes widened. “What in Celestia’s name were you doing in there?” Before he could answer, she held up a hoof. “On second thought, hold onto that explanation for a bit, okay? I’m about to finish my shift.”

Confused as to how that was relevant, Hovermic shut his mouth and waited. The mare sorted a few papers for a couple more minutes before a dark yellow stallion with a black mane and tail came out, heading behind the desk. The mare nodded to him and slipped out, walking over to Hovermic.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I’m Snow Cone.” She offered a hoof, which Hovermic tentatively shook. “You’re...Hovermic, right?”

The stallion nodded. “Y-Yeah.” He winced a bit at the redundancy of nodding and vocalizing in the affirmative.

Snow Cone, for her part, simply adopted that warm smile from before. “Well, let’s go for a walk. You can tell me your story over lunch.” She chuckled at his worried expression and nudged him gently. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay.”

She started heading off. Hovermic, after a moment, trotted after her. ...maybe this town’s not so bad after all.