After breakfast, the rest of the family packed up the wagons and headed off for home. We said our usual goodbyes and exchanged shows of affection, which unfortunately for me and Apple Bloom meant lots of wet kisses and cheek pinches from elderly relatives. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that my skin was indestructible. Anyway, after we'd said our goodbyes to everyone and the household had been given time to settle down, I decided it was time to talk to the family about what I saw in the crystal that night.
I walked into the living room to find Granny sitting on the couch looking through an old photo album with a cup of tea in her hoof. It was now or never. I couldn't let my guilt hold me back anymore. She had to know, they all did.
"Granny?" She looked up at me, her face looked more worn and haggard than yesterday.
"What is it, dear?" She asked me.
"I'd like to call a family meeting if I could. There's something I've got to tell you all." For a moment she just looked at me with her tired weary eyes. Then she closed the album and set it gently on the coffee table.
"Alright then." She said quietly before reaching into the nearby nightstand and pulling a small triangle out of the drawer.
CLANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG ALANG!!!!
"FAMILY MEETING!!!"
The volume of her voice was so loud it managed to drown out the clanging of the triangle. Needless to say, it was not a good time to have super-hearing. Much to my misfortune, the insufferable clanging was soon joined by a cacophony of stampeding hooves. I could already tell who they belonged to.
"Hurry up, Applejack!"
"Ah'm coming Ah'm coming!"
Apple Bloom came bounding down the stairs with AJ hot on her heels. Granny ceased ringing the infernal triangle and set it down on the nightstand.
"Where's yer brother?" Granny asked. Applejack and Apple Bloom looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
"Ah don't know Granny?" Applejack responded.
Flush!
"He's in the upstairs bathroom," I answered.
"You saw upstairs again huh?" Applejack asked me, I recoiled as the image of Big Mac sitting down to do his business ran through my head.
"Ugh, no gross! I just heard the toilet flushing that's it!" Applejack chuckled and sat down on the couch.
"Ah don't get it Applejack?" Apple Bloom asked her sister. "What's so funny?"
Applejack waved a hoof and snorted. "Oh, nothing just yer brother seeing things he probably shouldn't."
My embarrassment was thankfully short-lived as Big Mac came trotting down the stairs.
"Sorry A'h was late Granny, A'h was in the washroom when A'h heard ya!"
"WE KNOW!!!" I shouted in frustration, My voice shaking the window frames and shelves. "Sorry."
The living room became awkwardly quiet as Big Mac took a seat on the end of the couch.
"Umm...So Granny what'd ya call a family meeting for?" Applejack finally asked.
"Ah didn't call it, Ye'r brother did," Granny explained to her. "Go ahead Apple Comet."
"I took in a deep breath and sighed. "Thanks, Granny, Everyone I've got something to tell you. The night Pa showed me the rocket, I found a message inside the crystal he showed me.”
"You mean the funny-looking one that was glowing all funny-like?" Applejack gave me a look of confusion.
"Yeah, that one," I answered.
"Well, Ya started to act mighty strange when ya looked into it. What did the message say?" Granny asked getting right to the point.
"It told me the truth Granny," I answered. "About who I am, Where I come from, why I'm different."
"Well don't leave us in suspense!" Apple Bloom exclaimed as she stood up on the couch in excitement. "Come on tell us.?"
"As soon as it lit up everything just vanished, I found myself in a strange house that I'd never seen before, And I met these two ponies who said they were my parents.”
Their eyes went wide, pupils shrunk in surprise. Granny Smith spat her tea out.
"Yer parents?" They all cried out in shock.
"As in yer birth parents?" Granny asked reaching for her handkerchief.
"That's what they told me." I answered, "They told me their names were Jav-El and Loran and that I was on another planet called Kolton. They said it was where I was born."
The room went dead quiet, No one dared say a thing. They just stared in awe at me like a deer caught in a locomotive's headlight.
"Umm...Yeah so turns out I'm... kind of...sort of...probably...an...alien or something? I don't know how since I look like any other pony but... Hey, are you guys feeling okay?" An awkward smile stretched across my face. After about a minute or so Applejack finally managed to pick her jaw up off the floor.
"Granny?"
"Yes, Applejack?"
"Could Y'all give me a pinch right about now? A'h wanna be sure A'h ain't dreaming this."
"Of course Dear."
*PINCH*
"Yeowch!" Applejack jumped up landing on her flank in an undignified fashion. "Thank you."
"Um, Granny?" Big Mac raised his hoof. "A-A'h think A'h might need a pinch too."
"Y-Yeah me too." Apple Bloom added.
"Wait!" I interjected "I know this sounds crazy, but I can prove to you it's real. I just need to find some way to make it play the memory for all of us?"
They looked at one another with expressions of uncertainty unsure of what to make of my suggestion. Finally, Granny stood up from the couch and walked over to me.
"A'h don't know what to say about all this alien whatchamacallit." She said looking me in the eye. "After the way it made you act last time Ah'm not sure it would be a good idea."
"It didn't make me act that way Granny I swear it didn't." I protested. "I-I was scared, They told me that Kolton had exploded a long time ago and I was the only survivor. They said they put me in that rocket and sent me here to save me. And they said that I was going to become stronger than I am now. They said that ponies might fear me and that they might try to destroy me."
"Alright Ah've heard enough." Granny declared. "My mind is made up. Until you get a little older A'h don't want you fooling around with that thing. It's putting all sorts of kooky ideas in yer head.” She turned over to the couch. "And that goes for you three as well. Ah, don't want nopony fooling around in that barn when Ah'm not around, ya got me?"
"Yes, Granny." The three of them nodded.
"Alright then." She said as she turned back over to me and placed her hooves on my shoulders "A'h want cha to understand something. Ah, ain't doing this to be mean or cause A'h want to. A'h just want you to be safe because alien or not you're a part of this family and we love you. You've been through a lot these last few days, We all have. Right now you shouldn't be thinking about where Y'all came from or what's going to happen to you. Y'all should be out there being a colt, going to school, making friends. Not spending yer whole childhood cooped up in a barn looking at crystals all day.”
"But what about my powers?" I asked her. "Jav-El and Loran said I'm only going to get stronger as I grow. How am I supposed to go to school, make friends, and all that stuff without hurting someone?"
Granny rubbed her hoof against her chin, pondering how best to deal with the problem at hand.
"Well yes, A'h suppose that is quite a query of a quandary isn't it?" She pondered. "Although...
"Although what Granny?" Big Mac asked.
"A'h think A'h might have an idea about that." She answered slyly as she reached under the couch and pulled out a large gong and mallet.
"You young'uns are free to go, I've got some thinking to do.”
GONG!
"Family meeting adjourned."
"How many instruments does she have under there anyway?" I asked, To which my siblings only shrugged. I didn't know it at the time but tomorrow was going to be one of the craziest days of my life. And considering the last few days, that's saying a lot.