Twilight Sparkle and Spike found the Pyro showing off his taunt to the Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom near the water fountain. “Awesome,” Scootaloo said “how do you do it?”
“Mmmrph” (Well little one, it involves a complex manipulation of the laws of physics, I need to be fully focused on bending the light rays to create the rainbow effect, the unicorn just appears. And for some reason, I also need to be holding this.” The Pyro said, as pulled out Rainblower out of thin air
“Where the heck did that come from?” Apple Bloom asked him pointing out the sudden appearance of a large three horned tube from behind his back.
“Mrmph mur” (Where I come from, we have very deep pockets.) The Pyro responded. He began to shower the cutie mark crusaders with bubbles and rainbows, the three frolicked under the wondrous out pour. Pinkie Pie stood back and talked to passing ponies.
“He came from a shooting star and he’s super friendly, look at his tuba, it shoots bubbles.” Pinkie Pie said to Golden Delicious.
“He sure seems nice Pinkie, what’s his name?”
“I call him Mumphy, but Twilight Sparkle doesn’t think that’s his name, but he hasn’t set me on fire yet, so I guess he doesn’t mind.”
“Fire?” Golden Harvest asked sounding worried.
“Never mind, you should go say hello.” Pinkie Pie told the reluctant pony. Golden Delicious called out to Mumphy and waved at him, he responded by raising his thumb. “That means yes and, I guess, hello too.” Pinkie Pie said goodbye as the orange-mane pony walked away. Twilight Sparkle walked toward her. "Hi Twilight, what's up?"
“Hi Pinkie, Princess Celestia said that the warning yesterday was about the shooting star.”
“Does that mean she knew Mumphy was coming?”
“No, she had no idea, but do you mind if I talk to Mumphy?”
“Don’t ask me Twilight, ask him.” Twilight and Spike walked towards the Pyro.
“So Twilight, what’s your plan?” Spike asked the unicorn. “Some mind manipulation magic, interrogation, bribery, some fourth thing?”
“Excuse me sir, may I ask you some questions.” Twilight Sparkle asked smiply.
“That’s it?” Spike asked confused.
“Oh Spike, no need to make things so complicated.” She responded
“Mmmmphr” (Of course purple unicorn, maybe you can aid me in getting back home, I understand that your species of pony can do magic.) Twilight Sparkle gave him a nervous smile. He began to look around and saw a stack of newspapers; he rushed to grab one If these creatures can speak English, they can most certainly read and write it. He thought. He sighed when he saw that their written language was gibberish to him. This would take a few hours to translate. He felt a gentle nuzzle on his side.
“Listen, we can’t really communicate, but you can understand me, so how about I ask you some yes or no questions and we can develop from there, would that be alright? Twilight asked. The Pyro gave her a thumbs up.
“That means “Yes” Twilight!” She heard Pinkie Pie yell from behind her.
The Pyro pointed to Pinkie Pie “Mrmhmph mrmumph” (I would like her to be there when you ask your questions; she deserves to know everything that you may learn from our interview.)
“You ... want Pinkie to come with us?” Twilight asked, not sure if that’s what the Pyro meant, he gave her another thumbs up. “Pinkie, um, Mumphy would like you to be there with us when I ask him questions, can you meet us at the library?”
“Of course Twilight, lets go right now.” Pinkie Pie said as she hopped next to Mumphy.
----
Got anything, brotha? The Scout asked Dell, as he gave the Pyro robot one last whack with his mace.
“I figured out it was no run of the mill sapper which sent the Pyro to Mars or Venus or wherever he's gone to. That’s all I got for now though.”
“Well not t’ rush you or nothing but dat was the seventh box we got from Mann Co., and in case you hadn’t noticed, the bots dat’s in 'em boxes, they keep trying to kill us as soon as we open 'em.”
“Well then, maybe you should stop opening the crates.”
“What! You just can’t not open a box from dem, what if they got new toys in 'em or maybe even a hat.”
The Engineer sighed “Maybe you should stop opening the boxes that are making noises then. And another thing, why are you using that, you said it was useless when he gave it to you.”
“I did, I did, I uh, just wanted a challenge, ya’ know.”
The Engineer chuckled “Well alright son, let me get back to work, I’ll figure all this out soon enough."
“We have received another noise making package from Mann Co. men; I have a good feeling there are hats in this one.” Soldier said, as he began to open the box.
----
“First things first. I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to officially meet you, even if we don’t know your real name yet.” Twilight Sparkle said offering her hoof to the Pyro. He shook it gently.
Pinkie Pie gasped in horror “I never introduced myself! Oh no!” She rushed to the Pyro and began shaking his hand “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what got over me, I usually always, always introduce myself to new people as soon as I meet them, I’m so sorry, my name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie Pie.” She gave the Pyro a hug. “I’m so sorry Mumphy, can you ever forgive me.” She began to cry. The Pyro petted Pinkie Pie’s mane, she smiled.
“Okay, now that introductions are done, are you an alien?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“Mrmph.” (I would say that I am, but I do not recognize any of your night sky’s constellations and strangely enough, I can breathe. If science fiction is to be believed, this is most likely some sort of parallel universe and this place, a carbon copy of earth with a few, obvious, differences.) The Pyro gave a thumbs up.
"You are, good to know." Twilight said. “Okay, do you want to go home, wherever that may be?”
The Pyro looked at Pinkie Pie, “Mmmrgh” (Do not take this to mean I do not appreciate your friendship, but I have a life where I am from, with people who depend on me, I do wish to go back home.) He gave a thumbs up. Pinkie Pie began to cry.
“Oh Mumphy! You don’t like it here!” She held onto the Pyro as she began to cry, louder than before “I’ll give you all the cupcakes you want, if you could forgive me for holding you here against you’re will.” Pyro petted her mane again and Pinkie stopped crying and began to smile. “You don’t hate me?” She asked, he responded by shaking his finger. “Yay!” she yelled.
“Pinkie please, he probably has friends and family who miss back home, he can’t just abandon them. Okay, next question, do you know how you arrived in Equestria?”
“Egh yrgh mghma” (Not exactly, although I did hear talk around the Mann Co. laboratories, of some sort electro-sapper that could send a teleporting subject to another universe. It sounded like rubbish to me, with no practical applications, but perhaps that is the reason why I found myself encased in a meteoroid and landing in this world of talking miniature horses.) The Pyro shrugged his shoulders and raised his palms.
“Well, at least hoof gestures are universal. You don’t know?” Twilight Sparkle asked. The Pyro gave a thumbs up.
“Okay last question, is your name Mumphy?”
The Pyro looked at Pinkie Pie, who was sitting and smiling at him. He thought for a moment, and gave a thumbs up.
“Yay! I told you I was good at the guessing game, Twilight. C’mon Mumphy, we still need to introduce you to everyone in Ponyville. Um, wait, Twilight are you sure you don’t need to ask him anymore questions?” Pinkie Pie asked happily, hopping around her red suited friend.
“No Pinkie, you two go off and meet everypony, I have a letter to write to Princess Celestia.” Twilight Sparkle said as Spike came rushing into the living room.
“Wait! Mumphy, was it? Can you teach me how to do some of your fire tricks? Spike asked holding onto the Pyro’s jumpsuit.
“Mmphpry!” (If you can learn, I will teach you. Now attempt to mimic my movements) The Pyro crouched and clasped his hands together; he released them in front of him and let out a fireball.
“Oh, that is so awesome.” Spike said as he started to copy the Pyro’s gestures. He let out a tiny spark from his palms. “I did it! I did it!” He cheered, “Twilight did you see?”
“I sure did Spike, that’s great, but I need you to write a letter, then you can hang out with Mumphy some more. Okay?” She told the dragon. The Pyro petted his spikes and went off meet some more of the inhabitants of Ponyville.
“Okay Twilight, what am I writing?” He asked with a quill and parchment waiting. Twilight cleared her throat.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I had recently let you know that we discovered a new friend in the Everfree forest and after a short interview I was able to gather that he does in fact come from another world. He is in no way dangerous, in fact he has become friends with several of the ponies here in Ponyville. He has let me know that he does wish to return home, but he seems content to stay here with us for the time being. Since you have experience sending ponies to far off places, I request that you visit Ponyville and see if you can help our new friend, Mumphy, return home.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
“Okay, come on Spike, lets go see hang out with Mumphy and Pinkie.” Twilight said. She smiled as she and Spike ran to go find their new friend.
----
“Twelve, frickin’ twelve of those bot things! What the hell is wrong with Mann Co., how come they ain’t getting killed packing up these bots.” The Scout yelled over the Engineer’s shoulder.
“Men, I’m 300% percent positive this one has a hat. It sure does sound like one.” The Soldier announced carrying another crate.
“Thirteen! Frickin’ thirteen! Engie, you got anything yet?” Scout said as he hid the crowbar.
“I think I do son. I found a broken sapper near my teleporter, it's been modified. I can use parts from my Pomson and make something similar that could send me to wherever the Pyro got to.” The Engineer said as he looked over blueprints of an electro-sapper.
“You mean that over-powered alien gun you got? Wait, what da, are you f@*king crazy! You’re gonna go look for the mute; you don’t even know if he’s alive! And how the hell is this thing going to send you to where he’s at?” Scout said worried, as the Soldier started to beat the box open with his shovel.
“Optimism .” The Engineer said as he put his ray gun on top of his work station.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no way. We can live without the mute, but we still need you, what are we gonna do when I need a dispenser here?” He said as he saw the Soldier getting closer and closer to opening the crate.
“Well that’s too bad son, I’m already working on it and unless I suddenly become as stupid as those scientists up at Mann Co. it’s gonna be ready in a few hours.”
“Yeah, well good job there hardhat. Bring him home soon then.” Scout said as he patted the Engineer on his back.
“Men, good news! It’s a large metal hat; I think it’s for the Heavy. More good news, it’s shaped just like the Pyro and it just set me on fire.”
“Aw, jeez.” The Scout said as he picked up his mace.