Twilight, as I heard the white unicorn call her, put me in a chair in one of the biggest rooms of the castle: the library. There wasn't a single wall in the room that wasn't lined with books from top to bottom.
“Poyo…” I exclaimed with wonder.
She smiled. “You like it? The library is one of my favorite rooms in my castle. The only room I’m in more often is my bedroom.” I couldn’t blame her. I don’t know many people who don’t like to sleep.
She took out a short stack of paper. “I’ve compiled a list of things to ask you about…” She handed the young dragon the stack of paper and a feather tipped with ink. “But that isn’t it. That’s just for Spike to write down more questions that may arise.” Then she took out a few sheets of paper and another ink-tipped feather. “These are the questions I already have for you. Are you ready?”
Starting off with just a few questions? That didn’t really make much sense. I mean, I’m not even from around here! “Uh… Poyo.”
“Good! Okay, here’s the first question…”
“Um, Twilight?” Spike asked. “What makes you so sure that was a yes? Seriously, ‘poyo’ is pretty much the only thing we’ve heard it say besides hi. It was pretty hesitant too.”
“Relax, Spike. It’s probably just nervous because this is the creature’s first time getting asked a lot of questions.” Twilight looked back at her papers. “As I was saying, here’s the first question. What’s your name, if you have one?”
I smiled. It looked like she was starting off with questions that I could answer in a word or two. And since I can’t talk very well, that was a blessing. “Kirby!”
“Kirby? That’s an interesting name. Question two: Where are you from?”
I looked up towards the sky. “Pop Star.”
“Pop Star?” Raising an eyebrow, Twilight took a moment to think. Then with a laugh, she answered, “No, Kirby, I didn’t ask what you wanted to be when you grew up. I asked you where your home is.” She levitated a book from the bookshelf and opened it for me. It was open to a picture of a big city, like one you’d read about in a story set in medieval times. “This used to be my home, Canterlot.” She put the book away. “What’s the place you were born in? Your hometown?”
I shook my head. “Pop Star. Planet.”
“A planet called Pop Star?” Spike asked. “Honestly, that doesn’t sound familiar to me. Twilight, what about you? You ever heard of a planet that's known as Pop Star?”
“Neither have I. And you know what that means?” Twilight beamed. “I’m going to learn about a new planet!” Spike promptly started writing down things on the stack of paper. “But before that, I’ve got to ask the rest of the questions on this list. Question three: What kinds of things did you like to do back in your home land?”
I started to reminisce. Back on Pop Star, the citizens lived their lives eating, having fun, and chilling out. “Food… music… sleep…”
“I see. Now for the fourth question. What do you like to eat?”
I resisted the urge to drool. I had three favorite things to eat, and they were all very, very yummy. “Tomato! Watermelon! Cake!”
Twilight licked her lips. “Those are all really tasty! I’m getting hungry just thinking about them!” Her tummy rumbled. "...Oh, right, I skipped the picnic to ask you these questions."
“Should I head down to Sweet Apple Acres to pick up some apples?” Spike asked.
A light bulb seemed to go off in Twilight’s head. “Actually, I think I’ll go instead.” She took the stack and feather from Spike and put them in a saddlebag which she put on. “Spike, take care of the castle while I’m gone, okay?”
“But what about Kirby?”
“Kirby’s coming with me.” I got out of my seat and followed Twilight. “I’m going to use this opportunity to see how he reacts to various stimuli. In other words, I’m conducting a field study.”
The walk to the square was nice and calm. It was just like taking a nice walk down a country road like the ones in Vegetable Valley and Green Grounds. Add some Star Blocks, Waddle Dees, and the occasional fruit, and I’d feel right at home!
I looked to my left, and I saw something that I was barely familiar with: a huge building that rivaled Twilight’s own castle. I didn’t remember seeing a building like it back on Pop Star. What was it for? “Poyo?”
Twilight followed my gaze. “Oh, that’s the School of Friendship. My friends and I put it together in order to teach not just ponies, but all creatures about friendship!”
School… I remember that word. My friends told me about going to school. It was a place where you could learn all sorts of important stuff that could help you in life. I might have to take a lesson or two at the School of Friendship someday so I can learn how to be an even better friend. And I’m already a great friend, because I’ve forgiven a bunch of villains who aren’t fully evil, such as Daroach and Magolor. “Whoa…”
Some more walking later, and we finally reached the square. Ponies were out doing their thing, and most of them would stop and look at me for a second before carrying on. Everypony else just didn’t pay me any attention. For me, that was kind of a good thing because I didn’t want to either scare ponies away, get attacked by any who thought I was an invader, or get chased by ponies who want to hug me.
We passed some houses, but one immediately got my attention: a two-story house that looked like it was made of gingerbread. For some reason, music was coming from it. I pointed at the house. “Poyo! Poyo!”
“You want to stop here at Sugarcube Corner? Okay.” Twilight seemed to have picked up the music. “Sounds like Pinkie Pie’s throwing a party for someone. I wonder who it is?”
“Poyo?” I took a peek through the window. I quickly ducked to avoid a confetti cannon blast. I peeked through again. I wasn’t surprised to see the pink pony, who must’ve been Pinkie Pie. But I was surprised to see one of my friends. I put on a big smile. “Gim!”
Gim stopped partying and looked at me. “Aw, snap! It’s you, Kirby!” He turned to Pinkie. “Hey, guess who came looking for me!”
Pinkie’s gaze met mine. “Your name’s Kirby? I love that name!” She motioned towards the door. “What’re you waiting for? Come in and party with us!”
Without delay, I came right into Sugarcube Corner. I high-fived and low-fived the resident of Misteen while Twilight followed me in. “Poyo!”
“You know this… robot?” Twilight asked, amazed at seeing a real-life robot and surprised to see that I’m acquainted with a robot.
“He sure does!” Gim replied. “I’m GM-2375, but my species goes by Gim. Kirby came to me on my home planet Misteen because he needed to put together a super-cool team to keep this evil dude named Hyness from awakening a Dark Lord.”
“But if you’re trying to stop a bad guy, what are the two of you doing here?”
“We ended up here because of a dumb mistake made by one of Kirby’s helpers. A young psychic boy called NESP. He tried out a new spell, and the next thing I know, I’m falling out of the sky and into a clubhouse of some sort.” Gim chuckled. “At least I got to know three young creatures who dubbed themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
“So, the two of you came here because of a magical accident?” Twilight put on an optimistic smile. “I may be able to help you. But right now, I’m heading to Sweet Apple Acres with Kirby so we can grab a bite to eat. I skipped a picnic to get to know Kirby.”
“Oh, okay,” Pinkie Pie said. “Remember that if you have some time and wanna join Gim’s crash-into-clubhouse party, we’ll be right here!”
Finally, after a long trip, we made it to Sweet Apple Acres. The place reminded me of Whispy’s Forest, but with a farm and no talking trees.
Outside, the orange pony Applejack was bucking the trees to knock down some apples. She saw us. “Twilight? Little pink thing? I thought y'all were at the castle!”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, but my rumbling belly reminded me that I skipped the picnic. I had Spike look after the castle while I took Kirby--” She patted me on the head. “--with me here to get some fresh apples. Mind if we join you?”
“Well, that’s alright with me.” Applejack asked me, “Say, Kirby, do you have any apple trees where you come from? If not, I can show ya how I get apples out of them.”
I nodded. “Yeah!” Before the ponies could say anything, I ran towards the nearest tree and grabbed onto it. Then I started climbing, until I was in the leafy top. Once I was there, I started shaking the apples out of the tree. When I had shaken all the apples down, I jumped down with a proud smile. “Poyo!”
Applejack laughed. “That’s one way to harvest apples. With that kind of ingenuity and fancy tricks, no doubt you’d surprise anypony who meets you!”
Surprise? Yeah, I sure have surprised a bunch of creatures in my life, and I wondered if Applejack or Twilight would be surprised by my skills. Twilight’s been with me for a little while, so I figured using a power of mine wouldn’t mess up her nerdy brain too much. I looked up at Twilight with a smug grin.
“...What?” Twilight began to sweat. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I dunno, Twilight.” Applejack took a step back and held onto her hat tightly. “But I got the strangest feeling that we’re gonna get our minds blown. Get ready to have a meltdown!”
If this didn’t cause the nerd pony to have a meltdown, I wouldn’t know which of my powers would. But first, I set a few of the fallen apples aside for one or both ponies to have after they freak out or go unconscious.
I made sure that the rest of the apples were in my line of fire, and then I used my most iconic power… my Inhale! I opened my mouth really big, and a vortex came from it and caught all the apples. One by one, the apples popped into my mouth. Gulp!
Applejack stared at me in shock. “Whoa, nelly… And I thought I had a huge appetite when I was a filly! I bet this little guy could rival Pinkie Pie if they had a race to eat the most, right Twilight? ...Twilight?”
“Poyo…” I rubbed my head apologetically. I knew I would cause somepony to have a meltdown, but I didn’t expect Twilight to faint from one of my most basic powers!