//------------------------------//
// Getting Burned 
// Story: A Different Visitor 
// by AppealingOtter 
//------------------------------//

It took Rarity no time to notice the "Hideous rags" that Mute was wearing, and she was away, with measuring his height and width, asking for if it had any preferences, color in particular. "Rarity, my friend is really shy, and doesn't talk much." I piped in, before she grew suspicious. "And is also strictly against taking off his clothes, and loves wearing hats. He's an odd pony." I told her, improvising the alien's gender.
"However did you meet such a strange pony?" Rarity asked me, frowning. I had given him a veil to hide his horns, making his head look over inflated and still not hiding his grey pupils, but Rarity had noticed parts of the clothing being pointy. I told her it was a skin condition of his.
"Well between you and me, he's homeless. I met him on the streets of Canterlot wearing these rags and became friends with him then. Nobody knows who he is, but I wanted to be kind."
"Oh, Spikey-wikey, you're so generous! But... in future, please don't bring homeless ponies into my boutique... bad press, you know."
"Yeah, sorry." Things were going like clockwork! In fact, it was going so well, my many thoughts of how this was going to end up badly were beginning to fade, one by one! Once Rarity gets it some good clothing, I can take it around town without drawing attention to it. Then... I slowly become friends with it, and finally, I get some answers out!
A high, shrill and adorable scream came from the other side of the room. I turned, and to my dismay, Rarity had taken off Mute's veil, and was now quite close to fainting at the sight of his curled horns. Mute reacted by belting off to the window. Quickly, I ran in front to block it from jumping out, and it jumped over my head, landing vertically on the wall, and surprisingly not falling. In a bug-like fashion, Mute climbed up to the ceiling, causing its rags to fall off like leaves and float to the floor.
Now that Rarity could see the spikes sticking out from its body, the real screams were starting. Eventually I calmed her down. "What is this thing? It looked like an innocent hobo to me!" I lied.
"Oh, Spike... it's an innocent mistake to make." She lied.
"Lets not let anyone hear about this... this kind of stuff gets bad press." Secretly, people in high places was my real worry. During my time living in Canterlot with Twilight, I had a tour around the castle. There were dungeons there. Celestia said they hadn't been used in thousands of years, not since her and Luna had achieved harmony across Equestria... but I didn't buy that excuse. If they hadn't been used, then why were they still there? Why keep the dungeons as a dusty and dark place beneath the regal castle, instead of turning them into something nice, like a cellar?
Anyway, I was hoping Rarity would agree with me with it and keep it quiet, but unfortunately, she laughed a shaky laugh, still rife with panic, and smiled. "Oh Spike... don't be ridiculous. We will take... it... to Twilight, and see if she takes anything of it. I certainly have never seen something so... unique... before. Maybe Twilight will be able to tell us what it is..."
Twilight wasn't able to tell us what it was, but she was pretty angry about something the second I walked in the door. She said that she recognized it from something at the back of her memory. Something so insignificant that she put barely any attention to it and in fact, tried to forget the memory altogether: My doodle. Rarity was in the background, puffing with shock. The creature stood in the corner of the room, upon being brought to the library with a disappointing lack of struggle.
"Spike, I am very disappointed in me. You lied to both me and Rarity about various things for no clear reason! What is going on with this... this Alien?"
"...His name is Mute."
"What did you just say, Spike? You're in enough trouble as it is, and you have the nerve to try and talk back to me? What did you say?"
"...Nothing." I sighed. There was no point in arguing with someone who has more integrity than me. Everything was going wrong and it was my fault.
"Where did you find this... thing?" Twilight asked. I stayed silent. If I told her, I would probably never see broad daylight again. "Spike, answer me." She demanded.
"I found it by the library... in the tree."
"No, you didn't. You found it in the Everfree Forest. Zecora told me all about your little venture. I don't even have any studies in the Everfree Forest, and I don't plan to! It's much too dangerous there, even for me! What is wrong with you? You could've been injured! Or worse!" Never before had I seen Twilight this angry, and upset, making me angry, and upset. Why had I gone to such lengths in the first place to capture this stupid thing? I wished it would just disappear out of my life. I wished that I could just crawl into a corner and die, instead of having Twilight ripping me apart emotionally. I deserved it. I'd been so selfish.
Twilight and Rarity started talking about what they were going to do, but my ears just blanked out. I didn't want to hear anymore. It was so painful listening to word after word of disappointment and depression pounded against me like a thunderstorm against a leaf. Only, I'm not a leaf. I'm a weed.
As I looked at Mute, I saw him sneaking over to the window. Typical of it - weaseling it's way out of bad situations that it had gotten me into. Surprisingly, I found no more interest in the thing. In fact, I was happy to see it leave. Until it started arching... then running... and finally charging, right into me, with such a force that it broke through the library wall.
The wind was knocked out of me so fast and extremely that for a second, everything became dark. Something squeezed against my stomach, I heard a particular accent yell a noise, and the sound of galloping nearby, fading away. Once I had regained sight, I found that I was tied to Mute's back by vines, and it was running through what appeared to be the Everfree Forest. I sat up as best as possible, facing the opposite direction to which Mute ran, and saw Twilight and Applejack chasing after me from a long distance away. How did Applejack get involved? What in the name of Celestia was going on?
"Mute, please, stop! What are you doing?" In one giant leap, Mute flew above a crevice with extreme elegance. Looking at Applejack and Twilight, they both stopped on the spot. The gap was too wide for them to jump, until Twilight's horn glowed, and in a flash, her and Applejack were teleported across the gap, and running again.
"Where are we going? Mute, what are you doing?" The spikes on Mute's spine were jabbing into my scales. It barely hurt, but it was putting on pressure.
With little effort it craned its neck back, looking at me with a grin as wide as a cat's upon murdering a mouse.
"I'm going home." Said Mute.