“Poyo? Poyo?” I tried a whole bunch of stuff to try and wake her, but nothing worked. The closest I ever got to waking Twilight up was pulling on her horn, and the only thing it did was glow a little. “Oh…”
“I, uh…” Applejack was pretty surprised, judging by the look on her face. “I dunno what to say. What you did was the sort of thing that Pinkie Pie would do, and Twilight’s put up with her antics a ton of times. But for some reason she passed out when she saw you do the same thing. I don’t get it.”
“Huh. Poyo.” I thought about what to do. I had an idea, but I didn’t think it was a good one. However, I didn’t really have much of a choice. "Hmm..." With a sigh, I picked up Twilight by one of her back legs and started to drag her along the road.
“Hey, what’re you doing with Twilight?” AJ asked sternly.
I pointed back where we came from. “Twi home.” I pointed at myself. “Tell Spike.”
“You’re gonna bring Twilight back to her castle so she can wake up there? And you’ll tell Spike what happened over here so he'll understand why she passed out?” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “But how are you gonna tell him? For all I know, you can’t talk in full sentences!”
I reached into Twilight’s saddlebag and pulled out a piece of paper and an ink-tipped feather. “Poyo!” On the paper, I wrote, I can’t talk well, but I can still write!
“Oh, I see!” AJ smiled. “You’re gonna bring Twilight back to her castle, then when Spike asks why Twilight fainted, you just write out the stuff that happened. Alright then, I trust you, Kirby. I guess I’ll be seeing you later!”
I waved at Applejack before hauling Twilight away. I may look pretty weak, but I’ve actually carried plenty of heavy stuff in my life. Really long electrified bars, giant bombs, huge golden hammers… Dragging Twilight was just like pushing Dyna Blade’s chicks over to Whispy Woods to feed them!
When I had pulled Twilight to the square, I crossed paths with another familiar face: my yellow helper! “Rocky!”
“...!” Rocky jumped with joy when he saw me. “...?” Then he saw that I was pulling Twilight along.
“Poyo.” I pointed at her, then did a fainting impression.
Rocky nodded. “...”
“Oh, my!” The white pony with the horn and purple mane came out of a boutique, and she was looking at Rocky. Thank the stars she didn’t notice that I was dragging Twilight along! “That hat looks positively smashing on you! It would look even better if the rocky part of your hat matched your color, but for that I’d have to ask a rock expert such as Maud. Might I ask, where did you get that stunning headgear?”
As I discreetly put Twilight down, Rocky tilted his head in confusion. “...?”
“Pardon my manners, I forgot to introduce myself!” The white pony proclaimed, “My name is Rarity, and I run Carousel Boutique, the perfect place for fashionistas. What might your name be?”
Rocky looked at me with worry in his eyes. “...”
Rarity was confused. “Can… can you talk?”
“No,” I said for my partner.
“Ah, that makes more sense. At first, I thought he was nervous or being rude to me. I don’t mean to invade your privacy, uh… whatever your name is, little pink thing.”
“Kirby.”
“Right. Kirby. Anyway, might this be one of your friends?”
I nodded. “Rocky!”
“I see. Are all of your friends this... how should I put this…” Rarity hesitated. “...unique?”
I shook my head. I had a lot of good friends, and some were crazier than others. Some of the more normal ones I had were Bandana Waddle Dee, Adeline, and Meta Knight.
Rocky looked at me again. “...” He seemed kind of annoyed, but mainly curious.
“...Oh!” I figured out what his problem was. I asked Rarity, “Maud, where?”
“I’m not sure where Maud is at the moment, but there’s this mine that she visits often. If you’d like, Rocky, I can lead you there.”
“...!” Rocky’s eyes sparkled. Rarity had him at 'mine'.
Rarity looked back at Carousel Boutique. “The only problem is, I would need somepony to tend the boutique, and it seems like Spike isn’t available at the moment…”
"A boutique, you say?" Gim left Sugarcube Corner with a party hat over his baseball cap. “Now this looks like a job for me!” He politely lifted his party hat. “Kirby’s friend Gim, at your service.”
“I’m not sure…” Rarity cautiously eyed Gim. She especially took note of his cap. “While you have proven that you have good manners and appear able to perform a fair variety of tasks, your rather immature attire causes me to doubt your ability to tend to the consumers at a boutique.”
“You’ve got a point,” Gim admitted. “But the only reason why my kind are dressed this way is to denote our signature skill: utilizing the power of inertia to wield yo-yos! If the ponies who come to Carousel Boutique go by looks alone, I will gladly show them that looks can be deceiving. With my knowledge of fabrics, threads, and color coordination, I will not let you down, my lady!”
When he mentioned those three fashion terms, Rarity gasped. “You know about threads and fabrics?! Then it is decided!” Gim took off his party hat while Rarity thrust a top hat onto his head. “Look after the boutique while I escort Rocky to the mine, okay? And be sure to treat customers with respect!” Without another word, she went off with Rocky.
Gim started to head into the boutique, but he noticed Twilight who was still passed out. “What happened here? Did she up and faint from seeing one of your fancy tricks?”
I nodded.
“Which one?”
“Inhale.”
“Really? Of all the powers you have, she fell unconscious from your least incredible one?” Gim walked into the boutique with dull surprise in his voice. “Bruh…”
Alone once more, I picked Twilight up again and continued to pull her to the amazing crystal tree-castle that she called home. But I was only about halfway to the castle when…
“Hey, little pink thing!” I looked up towards the sky, and I barely had time to dodge a blue and rainbow blur. The blur turned out to be the blue Pegasus with the rainbow mane. But to my shock, she was wearing a green hat with a yellow brim and a pompom covered in water at its tip. “Put Twilight down, or I’m gonna be forced to use this!” She brandished a silver sword covered in water.
“Poyo?!” I let go of Twilight’s hoof and put my arms in the air, all the while wondering how the Pegasus got her hooves on my Ability.
“Good. Now if you know what’s good for you, you’re gonna pack up your stuff and get the hay out of Equestria!”
“Poyo…” I didn’t want to provoke her, but she had something I owned. She wanted me to pack up my stuff, so I cautiously pointed at the hat and sword. “Mine.”
“Not anymore! You don’t deserve to have a weapon, you Twilight-napping fiend!” She raised the sword high, ready to slash me.
"Eep!" I closed my eyes and put my hands in front of my face out of fear.
However...
“Rainbow Dash, don’t do something you might regret,” a calm but disapproving male voice said.
Rainbow took her attention away from me to glare at whoever just spoke. “Oh yeah? Who are you to tell me what not to do?”
“I’m glad you asked.” I opened my eyes, and before us stood a gray unicorn stallion with a yellow and black mane and tail, purple irises, and a black horn. “My name is Bright Fountain, and I am known for being a reliable source of useful information. My extensive research on many subjects, including faraway planets, never fails me.” He flashed his cutie mark, a green book with a light bulb on the cover.
“Useful information, huh?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Give me five good reasons why I shouldn’t dice up this thing.”
“Right away.” The light bulb on Bright Fountain’s cutie mark lit up. “First, Kirby is a Star Warrior. That means he is a hero who has traveled the galaxy to save his friends, and I’m sure a heroic pony such as you wouldn’t hurt a fellow hero. Second, he did not come to Equestria on purpose. He was accidentally teleported here by a psychic friend of his, so he couldn’t have come here with malicious intent. Third, I doubt Kirby would willingly knock out Twilight Sparkle. It’s more likely that she fainted after seeing one of his special powers. Fourth, if you kill Kirby, that’s one less hero to deal with an unexpected villain. He’s fought a literal Nightmare, Dark Matter, Zero, and several other dark villains that have threatened his home planet Pop Star and could have moved on to this planet. In other words, he's the reason Equestria's population hasn't dropped to zilch.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “And the fifth reason?”
Bright smirked. “He inhales his enemies and swallows them to gain their powers. The only reason you’re still here is that he doesn’t want to hurt you.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide. She handed over my hat and took off like a jet.
When she was out of sight, Bright gave me a comforting smile. “Hey, Kirby. I hope she didn’t hurt you too badly. You alright?”
I nodded as I put away my Splash Sword hat. “Poyo.”
He looked down at Twilight. “Looks like she had such a big meltdown that she passed out. Which of your powers did you show her, your inhale?”
“Yup.” Applejack trotted over to us. “I saw it with my very own eyes. Kirby sucked up all them apples like a champ.”
Bright laughed at my little predicament. “You’ve got quite a bit on your appendages, Kirby. Looks like you could use some assistance. Would it help if I took over for you?”
“Eh, I dunno.” Applejack seemed suspicious of Bright. “I only just now met you, and I’m not so sure it’d be a good idea for a stranger to bring the princess of friendship to her castle. Maybe I should carry her?”
Bright brought his hoof to his forehead. “Ah, I hadn’t taken that into account. My apologies for giving you such a sudden and mysterious offer, Kirby.” He started walking towards the castle. “I’m off to Twilight’s castle to explain the situation to Spike so he won’t be surprised when he sees the bearer of honesty with an unconscious Twilight on her back.”
There was something off about him, but I didn’t see any reason to accuse him just yet. I always wait until I have real, solid proof before I pin the blame on anyone for anything... Okay, so I once falsely accused King Dedede of stealing my cake, but that was only one time.
Applejack hefted Twilight onto her back. “Kirby, I’ve got a weird feeling about this guy. It seems like he’s hiding something. What do you think?”
I shrugged. “Poyo.” I had a strange feeling about Bright Fountain as well, but in a good sort of way. I didn’t know him, but at the same time I felt like I remembered him from someplace.