I wasn't surprised to find myself back in the hospital when I woke up. I wasn't surprised to learn I had been out for a few days. I wasn't even surprised to learn my visits were limited to strictly family. I wasn't surprised until Applejack came to visit me.
"Howdy Pard'ner, how ya doing?"
"Feeling better," I answered. How's everypony doing at home?"
Applejack took a slow breath. "We've all been missing you terribly," she said. "Listen, Apple Comet, there's something I have to tell you." She told me what happened with Spike and how Rainbow and Fluttershy saved us from falling to our doom. My heartbeat spiked inside my chest as I realized what that meant. Applejack's friends knew my secret.
"So they know," I whispered, unsure how to react to this devastating news.
"Don't worry, A'h made them Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone."
"Can we trust them?" I asked.
"A'h trust them," Applejack answered. "Celestia knows they ain't perfect, but Ah'd trust them with my life."
I looked out my window, listening to the birds singing. "How're Rarity and Spike doing?"
Applejack's ears sank. "Rarity's doing fine. She's already backfilling orders for customers. Spike on the other hoof, Twilight says he hasn't gotten out of his bed for the past few days."
My heart sank with empathy for the young drake. I couldn't say I blamed him. If I had transformed into a rampaging monster and destroyed the town I'd probably do the same thing.
"Listen Apple Comet, A'h ain't going to pretend like things will go back to the way they were. But like A'h told them, this is your truth to tell when you are ready."
"Thanks, Applejack,"
I didn't cry the rest of the time I was there. I didn't panic, at least not outwardly. I didn't read or play with the other foals. I mostly just sat in bed, pondering the implications of what I had learned or spying on the doctors and nurses through walls and floors for anything about my case. I was so quiet that many hospital staff asked me if something was wrong. I told them I was just tired or wasn't hungry or I pretended to be asleep.
The next day I was discharged from the hospital. When Nurse Redheart came to get me, she told me that my family couldn't come because of the start of zap apple season, so they had asked Twilight to get me.
My adrenaline raced as I pondered what this meant. Twilight Sparkle the mare I admired for her dedication to knowledge and learning and her devotion to her friends. How would she react when I told her the truth about me? Would she still see me as a pony or a scientific specimen to probe and study? 'She has a good heart,' I told myself. 'Besides Applejack trusts her enough to come to get me, and she wouldn't do that if she suspected her friend had an ulterior motive."
Twilight was waiting for me as I stepped out into the lobby. Her face was the same warm gentle expression she always wore when I stopped by. "Hey Apple Comet, you ready to go home?"
Home? I can't say I was expecting that from her. 'What were you expecting? Hey, Apple Comet want to come to my laboratory so I can study your alien physiology?'
"Uhh...sure?"
We stepped out of the hospital into the crisp autumn air.
"So, how are you feeling? Better?" Twilight asked as we trotted down the path.
"Much better," I answered.
"That's good, I bet you can't wait to return to school and see all your friends."
"Yep,"
"And I bet you can't wait to stop by the library."
I couldn't take it anymore. We were lying to each other to avoid the Ursa Minor in the room.
"Twilight, you don't have to pretend. We both know what you want to talk to me about."
Her ears folded down as she realized she'd been found out. "That obvious huh?" She muttered rubbing her hoof against her cannon.
I could imagine the suspense driving her crazy while I was out. The answer to one of Equestria's biggest mysteries was practically at her hooves. So close and yet so far away. Add to that dealing with Spike and the cleanup of last week's rampage; it was a wonder she looked half as well as she did.
"Why don't we talk about it back at your lab?" I suggested. Her violet eyes shimmered as she neighed with excitement.
"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes," She said as she bounced circles around me like a foal on Hearth's Warming Morning.
"Uhh Twilight? Are you alright?" She paid me no mind as she continued to bounce around.
"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes."
I shrugged my withers and snorted. "Okay let's go then."
We started our journey to the library after letting Twilight get her excitement out. I could see signs the townsponies had been hard at work repairing the damage from Spike's rampage. Most of the footprints had been filled in and the water tower was back in its rightful place. There was still a big hole in the roof of Sugarcube Corner that somepony, probably Pinkie Pie had covered with an oversized band-aid.
"Applejack told me Spike's been taking things pretty hard," I said.
Twilight folded her ears and frowned. "Yes, he has."
"Would it help if I talked to him?"
Twilight pondered the question. "I don't know, Apple Comet. All of us have tried, even Rarity,
We arrived at the library shortly after. Peering through the tree's bark, I saw Spike sitting in a fetal position inside his basket. his blanket draped over him as he gazed down at his feet. He had hastily thrown all his birthday presents into the closet.
"Spike, I'm home," Twilight said as she stepped inside. "There's someone here who wants to see you." For a moment Spike looked over at the door, then went back to his sulking. Twilight looked at me. "I'll be in the lab when you're ready." With that, she turned the knob to the basement door and opened it.
I trotted up the steps to the bedroom and knocked on the door.
"Spike? It's me, Apple Comet. Are you okay in there?"
"Go away! Leave me alone!"
I opened the door a crack and leaned inside. "Spike, please talk to me." He turned his back to me, clutching the blanket tighter.
"Stay back don't come any closer! I said stay back!" He pleaded desperately on the verge of tears.
"Spike listen, I don't blame you for what happened," I said as I stepped through the doorway. Spike bolted from the basket and dove under Twilight's bed.
"Please, go away! I don't want to hurt you again." 'He just did,' I thought as I sped over to the bed and lifted it with my hoof. Spike looked up with an expression of sadness and guilt. His emerald eyes were dull and faded, having lost the otherworldly glow of the green mineral. His cheeks were beginning to hollow and his rib cage poked against the scaly skin of his chest.
"Sweet Celestia," I gasped softly. Spike lunged past me and dashed for the exit. I cut him off in a millisecond.
"Spike listen to me,"
"No you listen to me!" he interrupted. "I don't want you around me! I don't want anypony around me! You're not safe as long as you're around me! Nopony is! I'm a monster and that's all I'll ever be."
He tried to pass me but I blocked him. "You're wrong!" He stopped and stared at me. "Would a monster feel bad about the damage he did or the ponies he hurt? Would a monster shut himself off from his friends out of fear of hurting them? Your feeling this way proves you are not a monster Spike. You're my friend, and I care about you."
At that, he threw himself onto my shoulder sobbing.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry."
"I forgive you," I said wrapping my forelegs gently around him.
*Pop!* Twilight, appeared in a flash of lavender light. "Is everything okay up here?" Spike looked up from my shoulder at her with tears in his eyes. He wiped them away with a wave of his claw, then ran his wrist across his nose. Twilight summoned a box of tissues and floated one over to him.
"Yeah, we've just been having a little guy talk," I said. "Isn't that right Spike?" The young dragon blew his nose and wadded up the used tissue.
"Yeah, guy stuff." He puffed up his bony chest. "You wouldn't be interested."
Twilight let out a giggle as she offered him another tissue. "If you say so Spike."
I trotted over to the closet door and opened it.
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked as I dug through the pile of discarded presents until I finally pulled out the heart-shaped fire ruby.
"I think someone's overdue for a well-deserved birthday dinner," I said.
Spike's heart rate increased as he stared at the magnificent gem. "N-no thanks, I-I'm good." The growling of his stomach betrayed him.
Twilight scowled and levitated him over to me. "Spike, you've hardly eaten the past few days. You're turning to scales and bones."
I offered the outstretched gem to him with a warm smile. "Go on." He looked at me and the fire ruby. One trembling claw reached out and grasped it. For a moment Spike gazed into the gem's many facets. Then slowly, he brought it up to his lips and opened his mouth. His jaws closed around the edge as he took the tiniest bite. His pupils dilated as his fangs chewed the bite into tiny pieces which his tongue quickly lapped. Then without a word, he swallowed. His mouth-watering Spike proceeded to devour the fire ruby like he was Applejack in a pie-eating contest.
"Feeling like your old self again?" Twilight asked as he licked his leathery lips.
Spike let out a short belch and licked his claws clean. "Yep."
"Please have a seat." Twilight gestured to a lonely chair in the middle of the lab. I did as instructed. Twilight levitated a roll of parchment and a quill and ink bottle from the desk. Calmly she opened the bottle and dipped the point in the ink, then began writing. "So how long have you been the biggest mystery in Ponyville?"
"Since the Summer Sun Celebration," I said, not knowing how I felt about this. Was I being interviewed? Interrogated? Evaluated as a candidate for experimentation?
Twilight paused momentarily, peering her head out from behind the scroll. "That matches up." She said resuming her writing. "My next question is how can an Earth Pony, especially one so young be capable of pulling off such feats of magic? I mean flight, strength, transformation spells, or is the comet an illusion spell?"
This was it, time to see how she reacted. "Because I'm not an earth pony."
Twilight carefully set the writing materials on the desk and looked me over confusedly. "Well, you've never had a horn or wings as long as I've known you. So if you're not an earth pony, what kind of pony are you?"
"A Koltonian," was my answer.
Twilight blinked once. "A what?"
"A Koltonian," I repeated.
"How do you spell that?" She asked.
"K-o-l-t-o-n-i-a-n." She hastily scribbled it down.
"Okay, Next question, what kind of pony is a Koltonian?"
"The extraterrestrial kind."
Twilight's pupils shrunk as the quill fell from her aura. "Excuse me."
I could do this, I just needed to lay it on gently for her. Taking a deep breath, I stood up. "Twilight, what I'm about to say might sound crazy, but I swear on my sister's element it's the truth. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. You might want to sit down."
Twilight looked at me quizzically but did as I suggested. Okay here goes.
"I wasn't born on Equus. I was born on another planet called Kolton. My parents sent me here in a spaceship when I was a newborn. It crash-landed at Sweet Apple Acres where the Apples found me and took me in."
For a moment she didn't say anything or move a muscle. Her heart rate increased as her brain processed what I had told her. Finally, she spoke. "So what you're saying is you're an alien lifeform that just so happens to look exactly like an Earth Pony?" She lit her horn illuminating my barrel with an X-ray spell. She studied my anatomy for several minutes, writing down her findings in her scroll. "Hmm, your anatomy doesn't show anything unusual." She made her way up my neck to my head. "Gasp!"
"What is it?" I asked.
"Your brain, one moment please." She levitated over a book of anatomy and flipped it open. "Brain development, brain development, aha here we are. Oh my gosh, Apple Comet, your brain is at the stage of adult stallion."
"Well, everypony always tells me I'm smart for my age," I said. "Do you believe me now?"
She closed the book setting it down on the table. "Sure, why not." She said throwing her forehooves up for dramatic effect. If Pinkie sense can exist, I don't see why you can't be an alien."
A sly grin crossed my muzzle. "You want to see my spaceship?"
Twilight's pupils sank deep into her eyes. A beaming smile crossed her face as she let out an excited neigh.
"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!"
A short time later we arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. The zap apple trees had begun to blossom, meaning the third sign had already passed.
"So basically the cells of my body absorb solar energy, then store that energy for when I need it," I explained as we trotted to the barn.
"That's amazing! Are you getting all this Spike?" Twilight turned the baby dragon riding on her back. His claws wrote feverishly as he struggled to keep up with our conversation.
"Doing...my best Twi." He panted, his claw throbbing from the sheer amount of writing he had done since we started up the hill."
"This is it," I said as we stopped at the door. "You ready?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Apple Comet, I've been in here before remember?"
"I do, Pinkie Pie's last birthday party," I said undoing the latch.
"Please, don't remind me of that," Spike shuddered. "I'll never look at a bucket of turnips the same way. The door swung open illuminating the barn.
"So where is the spaceship? Is there some invisibility spell or something?" Twilight craned her neck examining the rafters.
"No," I answered shutting the door behind us. "Look under the hay on the floor."
Twilight's horn lit up, her magic parting the hay to reveal the hidden trapdoor.
"Always the last place you think to look," Spike commented as Twilight lifted the handle.
"How long did it take you to dig this shaft?" Twilight asked as we descended the ladder.
"About 11.8 seconds," I answered. "It wasn't so much digging as it was boring."
"Doesn't sound very boring to me Spike commented as we reached the bottom. Twilight's horn lit up illuminating the chamber. Her jaw hit the floor upon seeing the sleek silver diamond-shaped craft before them.
"Whoa," Spike whispered.
"I trust you believe me now?" I said as I trotted up to the ship. Both of them nodded their heads silently.
The canopy opened with hiss at my touch revealing the interior. A static hum filled the air as the holographic form of Kerax materialized.
"Young Master, It is good to see you again." His head turned to face Twilight and Spike, causing the former's eyes to roll back in her head as she fainted on the spot. "Is she alright?" Spike said nothing, his gaze transfixed on the hologram.
I trotted over to Twilight who had fallen ungraciously on her side. Her breathing and heart rate had slowed, but she was otherwise fine. "She'll be fine, she's just fainted from shock. Carefully I turned her onto her back and raised her forehooves above her head.
"What are you doing?" Spike asked.
"Stimulating blood flow to the brain," I said.
"Mmm, Mph," her eyes flickered, then slowly opened. "Spike? Apple Comet? What happened?"
"You fainted after this glowing alien looked at you," said Spike.
Twilight sprang to her hooves with a startled neigh as she looked at Kerax with frozen fear.
"Guys, this is Kerax. he served my parents on Kolton and now serves me. Kerax, this is Twilight Sparkle and Spike. They are friends of mine."
"Uhh....hi?" The young dragon raised a hesitant claw smiling nervously as he gazed into the glowing light of Kerax's face screen.
"It is nice to meet both of you," The AI said politely. "Although it seems my first impression was a bit too strong. So Young Master, what can I do for you today?"
I smiled confidently. "My friends might be interested in seeing the memory crystal." I looked over at them. "
The fear in Twilight's eyes vanished and was replaced with curiosity.
"Very well, Young Master, by the way, you'll be happy to hear that your parent's memories are at twenty percent synchronization." The compartment door slid open revealing the memory crystal.
"What was it he said about your parent's memories?" Spike asked as I took the memory crystal out.
"My parents made copies of their memories and placed them inside this memory crystal, along with all knowledge of my planet's history, science, and culture. But they were...hey!"
Twilight with an excited gasp snatched up the crystal in her magic. "History, science, culture, all knowledge?" Her eyes twinkled in the darkness as she gazed into the crystal excitedly. "Just imagine it Spike, the secrets of an alien civilization. The proof that we're not alone in the universe!"
"Uhh...Twilight?" He poked her wither.
"Oh, Princess Celestia will flip when she hears about this. I can see it now!"
"Twilight,"
"The groundbreaking discoveries, the advancements in magic, the award ceremonies!"
"Twilight!"
"What?!" Spike pointed at me. In an instant, Twilight was in my face. "Apple Comet, you have to let me study this crystal." She pleaded frantically. "Please, it could change Equestria forever!" Her pupils bulged as she stared into me. "I'll do anything, anything!"
My internal temperature rose as I gazed into her sparkling violet eyes. They shimmered like pools of beautiful desperation. My heartbeat swiftly picked up as I breathed in the scent of her coat. The smell of her lavender shampoo mixed with nervous sweat.
"I'm afraid the memory crystal is keyed to Young Master Kom-El's thoughts," Kerax interjected. "It won't activate for you."
Twilight looked at me with pleading eyes. I'd already committed to sharing this much with her.
I sat down, placing one hoof on the crystal. The other, I extended to Twilight. She accepted and offered the other to Spike.
"Close your eyes and clear your mind." As I did, the crystal lit up with ethereal light. When the light faded, we stood in a vast black void filled with glowing white orbs.
"Where are we?" Twilight asked. "Is this it?"
I put one hoof out. Lines of light raced out of the ground forming a square. It felt solid, then again none of this was physically real. "No, this is something else. The last time I used the crystal, I was transported to Kolton or at least a memory of Kolton."
"Really?" Her eyes lit up once again. "What was it like?"
"I was at my parent's house, It was like nothing you've ever seen." Suddenly before our very eyes, the house materialized out of thin air.
"W-What's going on?" Spike asked astonished at the living room that just spontaneously appeared.
"It's the memory crystal," I explained. "It takes your memories and projects them around you."
"So you're doing all this with just your mind? That's incredible!" Hearing Twilight say that filled me with a sense of pride.
"It even feels real," Spike said wiggling his clawed toes on the carpet.
"So where are your parents?" Twilight asked. Memories of that night flashed before my eyes.
"I'm sorry Kom-El, I tried to stop her, tried to fight back. But she was just too strong."
"Forgive me my precious shooting star! It will all be over soon."
"MOM LET GO OF ME!"
"Mommy's not here anymore little prince. It's just you, your sister, and me now. But do not despair both of you will be seeing them again very soon. In fact, you'll be so happy you'll never want to leave again."
"Apple Comet! What's going on?"
"I-It's okay my little shooting star, I do not blame you."
"Is that any way to treat your Mother, Little Prince? I think you need a time-out."
"Goodnight Little Prince."
"Sleep tight remember you've got school tomorrow,"
Twilight and Spike stood aghast. Both of their heart rates had spiked and they were breathing faster.
"T-That was N-N-Nightmare M-Moon!" Spike finally stammered out.
"Wait, you saw that too?" I blurted out forgetting where we were. Both of them jumped back. The three of us stood silently for a moment, trying to rationalize what we'd just seen. Then, Twilight levitated me into a hug.
"Shh...It's okay," She cooed. I felt the warm tears running down my face as I embraced her.
The orchard was quiet as we walked back to the farmhouse. No one said a word, though I could tell from their heartbeats that Twilight and Spike were eager to know the truth.
"Hey, Kom El," Twilight whispered, then paused to ponder her wording. "I know what we saw back there...was a lot...for you to go through. I'm not saying you need to tell me what happened right now. But I'm willing to listen if you ever want to get it off your barrel."
"Thanks, Twilight," I said. "And please call me Apple Comet."
A soft smile formed on her muzzle. "No problem, Apple Comet."
"I'm guessing this means Princess Luna knows?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, she knows," I said. Twilight's jaw hit the dirt and her eyes widened.
"Wait if Luna knows then does that mean Celestia knows too?"
"No, she hasn't told her, thankfully," I said. Twilight looked at me like I'd thrown a book on the floor.
"What's that supposed to mean?" My heart began to beat faster as I thought about that day at Sugarcube Corner.
"It's just...you know how sunlight becomes more concentrated the closer you get to the sun?" A nervous smile spread across my face. "And with the whole me absorbing sunlight thing." The neurons in Twilight's hippocampus began firing rapidly as she began to remember. Her left eye began to twitch as she bit her lower lip.
"What does that have to do with Luna not telling Celestia?" Spike asked confused before Twilight burst into flame like Celestia had.