"Can't we just blast him and go home already?" Rainbow Dash angrily asked. "All these lame tricks are just getting annoying...again." Pigs flying around and a plaid sky were only a few things among the many that decorated the upside down town of Ponyville.
Twilight nodded. "Right. Ready to lose again, Discord?"
His sinister laugh filled the air as he came nose to nose with the purple unicorn and scratched her chin. "Lose? Oh hardly, kiddo. You can turn me to stone all you want today, but I've already won and you don't even realize it. So go ahead, fire your pretty little rainbow at me! See if I care."
"Whatever you say," she said with a smirk. The Elements of Harmony glowed and lifted the group into the air as they activated. Discord just watched and grinned. Nearly two years ago when he first turned the friends against each other and brought the worst out in them, seeing his reign fall apart in the blink of an eye thanks to the Elements filled him with fear. Now, he truly didn't seem to care.
The girls opened their eyes and bright light poured forth from them. An all-too-familiar rainbow fired towards the sky and slammed into the Spirit of Chaos. Engulfed by the blast, he began turning to stone as he had before. He lifted his head up and a final desperate flash of yellow light sparked from his eyes right before he was completely consumed. The Elements deactivated and lowered the group back to the ground. The statue that was Discord fell over and had retained the devilish little smile he had right before his fate was sealed once again. With Discord defeated, Ponyville was restored back to its original state.
"We won we won we won we won!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing around triumphantly.
"Is it just me, or did that seem awful easy to y'all? Like, easier'n last time?"
Fluttershy asked, "Um, what do you think he meant when he said he already won? We stopped him again, didn't we?"
"Don't trouble yourself with it, darling. Just the rantings of a lunatic. I don't know about you all, but after dealing with this ruffian again, I could use some R and R." The idea of a visit to the spa was the first thing that popped into Rarity's mind and she shuddered with delight, even if it would have only been a half-day treatment.
Twilight chuckled. "We should let the Princess know that Discord's been defeated first. Then, yes, that sounds like a pretty good idea."
-----
A quiet few weeks had passed and the girls had gotten back to their usual goings on. It was later on a Friday afternoon and Sugarcube Corner was closing up for the day. Pinkie Pie was humming one of her many favorite songs and putting away the various cookware downstairs. The Cakes were out of town for the weekend visiting family and had brought the twins with them, so Pinkie had the whole place to herself. She hadn't seen her friends all day and desperately wanted to throw them a quiet party just for them, quiet being a relative term for Pinkie.
However, as she finished putting the last of the cooking sheets in their drawers, her tail began violently shaking, more so than it usually did when her Pinkie Sense went off. She gasped and dove under a nearby table. She poked her head out from underneath and waited. Nothing came. After a minute, she stood up confused.
"That's weird, my Pinkie Sense has never been wrong before."
Outside, a few feet above the store, the winds started to pick up. A flicker of light appeared and disappeared just as quick, followed by a few more in rapid succession. A bright flash fired for a split second, followed by the appearance of an odd looking creature. It yelled in a panic as it fell from the sky and smashed through the roof of the bakery. The few ponies walking around Town Square at that hour heard the scream and the crash. They crept towards the locked building and peeked in the windows to see if there was any signs of what the source of the commotion was.
The ruckus startled Pinkie, and she dove back under the table, shaking. "Heh, I guess it still hasn't," she commented to herself. "What in Equestria was that?"
Cautiously, she snuck upstairs and peeked in a few of the rooms. So far, she didn't find anything. She finally came to her room and immediately saw from behind a weird creature laying there on its right side among the broken roof panels and falling dust. It was curled into a ball and not moving, but its breathing was labored and it groaned in obvious pain.
The groan was all that was needed to scare Pinkie senseless. She bolted downstairs and out the door screaming, spinning a few of the spectators around and onto their flanks. The onlookers saw Pinkie's reaction to whatever it was and backed away from the building slowly, returning to their business with nervous looks on their faces. In a blur, she headed straight for the library. If anypony would have any idea what that thing was, it was Twilight.
-----
Spike was in the main room cleaning up the last of the shelves Twilight had requested him to while she had her nose in a book as she usually did. She typically reserved her Friday evenings for adventure or historical stories. While her passion was studying whatever she could get her hooves on, even the most diligent student needed to unwind from time to time.
"Just a couple more spots to go and the place will be all done, Twilight," Spike said.
Twilight looked up from her story and smiled. "Nice work, Spike. You know how weekends can get around here sometimes. May as well look nice for any visitors." The front door suddenly opened and slammed shut so hard, all of the books flew off the shelves and onto the floor. Twilight and Spike nearly jumped out of their skin. "Or not."
Spike just sighed, shook his head in aggravation and started picking up the books again.
"TWIIIILIIIIIIIGHT!" Pinkie stood on her hind legs with her back on the door, panting heavily from her high speed run.
"Pinkie! What's wrong?!"
"I was closing up Sugarcube Corner and thinking how nice it would be to throw us all a party because it's been about a week or so since we had one and suddenly my tail started twitching and my Pinkie Sense told me that something was about to fall so I dove under a table and nothing happened so I thought something was wrong with my Pinkie Sense but then there was this big loud BOOM! KRSSSHH! coming from upstairs so I dove under the table again because it was so loud and scary and it sounded like something was about to come through the roof of the store but when nothing did I went upstairs and checked to see what it was and when I got to my room there was this weird looking thing that was alive laying on the floor and I screamed and ran out the door and came here as fast as I could and then you asked me what was wrong!"
"Wait, weird looking thing that was alive?"
"YEEEEES!"
"Was it a dragon?" Pinkie shook her head spastically. "Was is a griffon?" She shook her head again. "Was it...uh...a really weird-looking pegasus?"
Pinkie dropped to her forelegs and glared at the unicorn, rightfully insulted. "I know what a pegasus looks like, Twilight."
"Well then, what did it look like?"
"I don't know! As soon as I saw it, I panicked and ran here. I figured with all the reading and stuff you do that if you took a look at this thing, you would know what it was," Pinkie said.
Twilight looked back at the mountain of books on the floor and smirked. Spike glanced back and shrugged, returning his attention to cleaning up Pinkie's mess. Twilight just sighed.
"Fine, let's go see what this thing is. Maybe it'll justify your destroying everything around here."
The mares headed out of the library and off to Sugarcube Corner while the young dragon grumbled under his breath about having to straighten everything out again. It had taken all day, too! Ugh!
-----
The sun had started setting by the time the pair had gotten to Sugarcube Corner. Twilight led the way while Pinkie slinked around behind her, not wanting to go anywhere near the store.
"You said it was upstairs in your room, right?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie nodded, and they slowly moved up the stairs and towards the still open door. The creature was still laying in the same position as when Pinkie found it. The party pony ducked outside her room and stuck her head out just enough to peek in behind Twilight.
The unicorn cautiously tiptoed closer. She had no idea what it was either. She never found anything that resembled this...thing...in any of her reading, either in Ponyville or in Canterlot when she lived there. It had on what appeared to be clothes. Nothing like what Rarity would put together for her clientele; there didn't appear to be anything particularly glamorous or showy about it. The creature was wearing a plain, light blue shirt with short sleeves and tattered black shorts on his, assumedly, hind legs. Its hind...hooves?...had socks and some black shoes with this white, rounded check on them, while what looked to be a set of claws on its forelimbs were bare. They almost reminded her of Spike's.
Its coat was almost completely bare and beige in color, and it had a short brown mane, at least it would be for a pony. At least Twilight believed it was its coat and mane. The shirt had some tears and tatters thanks to the fall through the roof. Twilight glanced once over it and noticed that its eyes weren't open, and there was an nasty wound on its head that had appeared to have stopped bleeding onto the floor only recently. Its breathing was still quite shallow, and its mouth just barely hung open.
"Wow! A new species of creature. This is amazing! You were right, Pinkie! It's a living thing here in your bedroom!" Twilight exclaimed. She looked back and saw Pinkie still hiding terrified in the hallway. "It's OK, Pinkie. It's not awake. I think it may be hurt though."
Pinkie slowly entered her room and approached the odd beast. "Well it can't stay here. The Cakes will be back Sunday night. How would I be able to explain this?" Another plank from the roof snapped off and landed on the thing's hind hooves, just missing them and making them jump.
Twilight looked up at the busted ceiling. "We'll fix the hole tomorrow. As for this," she pointed at the mysterious visitor, "we should try and sneak it back to the library so I can do some research on it in private. Trying to figure out what it is or where it may have come from wouldn't happen at Sugarcube Corner. Plus, with all the customers you'd be getting over the weekend...yyyyeah."
"And how do you suppose we're gonna do that? It's not quite dark yet. Plus, it looks kinda...bigger then us."
Twilight tapped her chin, pondering an idea or two. Pinkie was right. Although she wasn't able to tell exactly how much bigger in height it was since it was balled on the floor, girth wise, it could have easily had at least fifty pounds on them. Just then, she formed an idea. Her horn started glowing and her magic grabbed hold of Pinkie's bed sheet, laying it out flat on the floor.
"What are you going to do with that? You're not expecting me to go to sleep next to it, are you? Because I can't sleep unless I'm on my mattress. It's really comfy!"
"No, Pinkie. I'm going to wrap this...whatever it is...up in your sheet and we'll carry back to my study. At least I hope we can carry it." A purple glow encircled the creature and Twilight strained. Forget fifty pounds; it was a good hundred pounds or more. "Well, this is going to be fun," she deadpanned.
Gritting her teeth, her horn came alive again, lighting the room like the midday sun. She was going to put a lot of her magical muscle into this try. The stranger glowed again and gradually levitated off of the floor, even if it was only a couple of inches. Twilight growled and eventually moved the injured creature onto the waiting linens.
"Grab me another sheet so we can cover it completely while we're moving it. I can't let anypony else see this thing until we get it home. It could lead to a panic if it was spotted. We'll get the girls together in case it attacks when it's awake."
"Okie dokie lokie!" In a flash, Pinkie was in her closet. She popped out an instant later with an equally sized sheet. "Found one!" she exclaimed with a large smile.
Twilight's horn glowed again, and she laid it atop the beast at an angle. Pinkie zipped over to the creature and immediately went from jubilant over finding the sheet to being scared of staying in the same room with it. Twilight guided the corners of the sheet on the floor to the middle of the body and tied them into a tight knot. She tucked the other corners underneath the motionless monster until she had covered any exposed areas.
Pinkie spotted the blood on the floor that poured from the thing's head and gasped in horror. She sprinted off the bathroom and grabbed a thoroughly soaked sponge. Almost instantly, she returned to her bedroom and tried desperately to scrub the dried blood off the wood.
"Come on, come on, come on! I can't have the Cakes finding blood on my floor! WHRRRRK!"
She spat, prompting Twilight to recoil in mild disgust, and continued scrubbing. It seemed to do the trick. It gleamed and twinkled once the blood was gone, good as new. She grinned proudly at her accomplishment and deposited the sponge back in the bathroom.
"Pinkie, see if you can find Rainbow Dash. I'm going to need some muscle and I don't want to drag this thing on the floor. If it is hurt, we don't want to make things worse, and yes, if it needs and wants help, we're going to help it."
Pinkie raised a hoof and hung her mouth open, ready to object to assisting a monster, but an annoyed glare cut her off before she could say anything. She dejectedly closed her mouth and frowned.
The pink pony headed downstairs and hopped outside into Town Square. She figured Rainbow Dash would be hanging out in a cloud somewhere, but didn't want to waste much time searching. There was a...well, something...in her room tied up in some bedsheets and she wanted it gone immediately.
"RAINBOW DAAAAAAAA-AAAAASH! WHERE AAAARE YOOOOOU?!"
Her loud yell practically rattled the entire neighborhood. It was fortunate there were no ponies wandering around close by, otherwise they may have spontaneously lost their hearing.
"Pinkie!" Twilight hollered, throwing open the window upstairs. "I could have done that!"
"Uh, duh!" she fired back. A moment later, she noticed a blue pegasus charging hard with a rainbow contrail following behind. "Hi, Rainbow Dash! That was fast."
"Hey, fast is what I'm all about, you know that. I heard you halfway to Cloudsdale. What's going on?"
"Twilight needs you upstairs. There's something, err...kind of important in my bedroom," Pinkie said as she nervously rubbed a hoof on the back of her neck.
Rainbow jerked back, puzzled at Pinkie's bizarre situation, and regarded at the gaping hole in the roof. "Uhh...in the bedroom? Why's Twilight there? And why is there a hole up there? What're you two up to?" Pinkie was met with an accusing eye.
"There's something heavy up there that she can't pick up and carry by herself, silly! She wanted your help in keeping it off the ground. What'd you think was going on in my bedroom? Sheesh!" Pinkie rolled her eyes and nonchalantly trotted back into the store.
Rainbow facehoofed and shook her head, flying up to the hole. She peered in and saw Twilight standing by the body she had hidden from sight.
"Hey there. What in the world happened here?"
"Oh, Rainbow, you're here. Good! It's a long story. I really need your help here. I have to carry this...rather heavy thing back home, but I have to be gentle with it. I can't let it hit the ground or, uh...it could break," Twilight said with a terribly insincere smile. "Could you please help me get it down the stairs? I won't be able to carry it far using only my magic."
Rainbow could only glare at Twilight in disbelief. "You want me to carry something heavy and be gentle with it? Twilight, you've seen what happens when I practice my routines, right?" Twilight continued with her fake smile. "Fine, fine, let's get this over with. What do you want me to do?"
"Pick this up from the knot there in the middle while I lift it as best I can with my horn. This will a lot easier with the both of us carrying it," the unicorn stated.
"Uh, what is it?" Rainbow asked, poking at the bundle of sheets.
Twilight grabbed her hoof before she could undo anything and get a good look. "Uh, it's, umm...important research material! Yes, very heavy important research material!" A trickle of sweat rolled down her temple. Rainbow stared unconvinced and eventually looked up at the hole once more, trying to piece together what Twilight was going on about. "In Pinkie Pie's room. That crashed through the roof. A meteorite! Yep, that's it, a meteorite. That happened to crash through Pinkie's roof. That's exactly what it is!"
Twilight's phony smile got wider as she whipped her eyes back and forth. Her horn glowed and surrounded the sheets. Rainbow shrugged, grabbed the knot, and lifted.
"Oof! Wow, you weren't kidding," Rainbow said. She adjusted herself just slightly until she was comfortable holding whatever it was that Twilight claimed, stretching her limbs and back out. "OK, there we go. Let's head out."
The strain on Twilight was mostly gone, but lingered just enough for her to notice. With Rainbow Dash helping her, however, she knew they'd be able to make it back to the library without much trouble.
"I can't thank you enough for this, Rainbow," Twilight remarked with a sideways glance. They started to carry the 'meteorite' out of the bedroom door, but in Twilight's distracted state, she hit its head against the door frame. The random clumsiness grabbed her attention, and her cheeks burned red with embarassment.
She turned to Rainbow, hoping that the pegasus didn't notice her blunder, only to receive an angry sneer in response. Twilight groaned and shrunk her head into her shoulders as they continued to slowly move the body into the hall and down the stairs where Pinkie was waiting for them. The party pony stuck her head out the front door and checked around. The coast was clear and she waved them outside.
"Pinkie, if we happen to run into anypony while we're carrying this, let me do the talking if they ask questions, okay?"
Nodding, the earth pony gestured that her lips were zipped, locked closed and that she had thrown away the key. It took a moment for Twilight to translate the random assortment of motions, but eventually got the hint.
-----
It took about a half hour of work to get Twilight's 'research material' back to the library, thanks to how heavy it was. Pinkie opened the door and let them all in, swiftly closing it behind them. Inside, Spike was barely a third of the way done with the mess that the nervous mare made on her previous visit.
Rainbow noticed the remaining chaos strewn about in the main room. "Jeez, Twilight, you're usually such a neat freak. What happened?"
"Pinkie happened earlier when the err...meteorite landed in her room. She came running here and slammed the door a little too hard. Pinkie, Spike, could you clear this area here, please? Thanks," Twilight demanded, motioning toward the center. Rainbow and Twilight set their prize down once everything was ready. "Thanks again, Rainbow, really."
"Hey, no prob, Twilight. Need me for anything else?" she asked.
"Actually," Twilight sighed, "I wasn't being completely honest with you earlier. It's not a meteorite. It is important research...well, I don't know if I'd call it material, but I do need to do some research on it. But I need the rest of the girls here first."
"Why? What is it that would require us all to have to be here?" Rainbow queried.
Twilight glanced at the body still wrapped up. "I honestly have no idea. But I don't want to take any chances with whatever it is. Just...please? I need you to get Applejack over here as fast as equinely possible. Pinkie, could you run and get Fluttershy while I go get Rarity? And Spike, whatever you do, don't touch this until we get back, understood? And...if it happens to, uh, get up on its own, just...hide, okay?"
"'Get up on its own?'"
"Please, Spike?"
"Uhh...sure, Twilight. Got it."
-----
About thirty minutes – and a lot of pacing in the library by a nervous dragon – had passed before anypony else showed up. Twilight and Rarity had been the first to arrive. The door opened on its own, bringing relief to Spike that he was no longer alone with whatever it was that had Twilight so spooked.
"Twilight, dear, I really hope what you have to show us justifies dragging us all out here at this hour. It may still be early in the evening but I was hoping to...what's this thing on the floor?"
The others arrived a few minutes later as Twilight was explaining in little detail what was going on to Rarity. Applejack was the first to speak up when they walked in.
"Alright, we're all here, Twilight. So, what's this all about?" Applejack and Fluttershy noticed the pile in the middle of the room as fast as Rarity did. After a brief pause, the country girl asked, "What, are we supposed to be havin' a slumber party or somethin' that Ah wasn't aware of?"
"Um, I wasn't told of anything like that. But I would be okay with that if we are," Fluttershy cooed hopefully. They and Spike gathered together, and all but Pinkie looked quizzically at Twilight.
"I'm sorry for asking you all to come on such short notice, but something...weird happened at Sugarcube Corner earlier this afternoon. Something crashed into Pinkie's room through the roof and we're not sure what it is. The only thing we do know is that it's alive, but it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen in any of my books."
They glanced over each other, trying to make some sense of what Twilight was saying. Did she just say that it was some living thing she was clueless about?
She continued, "I wanted you all here in case something terrible happened when it woke up. It's unconscious at the moment, but I don't know how long that'll last."
Rainbow piped up, "Well? Show us already!"
Twilight nodded, her horn glowing. Little by little, the knot came undone and revealed the unexpected arrival.
"Step back a bit. I don't know what's going to happen."
She finished untying it and tossed the corners aside. Twilight and Pinkie Pie exchanged knowing looks as the top sheet was lifted off and tossed away. The rest of them gasped in shock.
"What in tarnation?"