My Little Pony, Friendship is Out of This World

by Robobrony


Ponyville's Pest Problem

Ponyville’s Pest Problem

Nova was at his work table with a few tools levitating next to him with his goggles on as he looked down at two metal silver necklaces with a round center, one was smaller than the other. He was fiddling with a few wires in the bigger one when Starburst came up to him. “Nova, what are you doing?”

*ZAP* “GAH, Quasars!” Nova used his magic to lift his goggles off his eyes and looked over at
Starburst. “Starburst, don’t sneak up on me like that.” The necklace sparked and startled Nova.

“Sorry Nova, I didn’t mean to, I was just curious what you were doing.”

Nova sighed then began to explain. “*Sigh*Starburst, that incident with the poison Joke was too close a call, we need some other way to disguise ourselves that doesn’t rely on our magic, so I’m making us a pair of portable holo-emitters to disguise us. As long as we have these on, we’ll look like regular ponies so we don’t have to worry about close calls with our magic anymore.”

Starburst smiled. “Really, great.”

“By the way, how did you get the cure for me again?”

Starburst grew a little nervous. “Oh, uh, I…..I just told Twilight that you were affected too and was too embarrassed to come out and let any pony see you, so she gave me the ingredients and wrote down how to use it. Remember?”

“Right, well, I’ll have to be sure and thank her for it the next time I see here, and good thinking on your part too Starburst, thank you for that.”

“Anything for my big brother.”

Nova put his goggles back down over his eyes and resumed his work. “Ok, just a few more adjustments here, and…..there we go, that should do it.” Nova removed his goggles completely. “Good thing I was able to find enough spare parts to make these, now we just need to test them.” Nova placed the tools down on the table and levitated the larger one up in front of him. He placed it around his neck and pressed the button on the center of the device. Once he did, his form flickered from alien to pony a bit until finally it stayed on pony with the necklace hidden as well. “Sweet celestial bodies it works, HA, perfect, now I don’t have to worry about stressing my magic anymore. Here Starburst, put yours on.”

Nova levitated the smaller one over to Starburst. He took it in his magical grasp and placed it around his neck, then pushed the button like his brother did. The same thing happened and now Starburst looked like a normal pony too. “It works, how do I look Nova?”

“Like a regular pony, this is perfect, come on, let’s head out, I need to drop off an order for Rarity, while were out, we’ll get something special to eat to celebrate.” Nova went to the bedroom to retrieve his saddle bags.

“All right, can we go to Sugarcube Corner?” Starburst cheered.

Nova came back out with his saddle bags on his back. “Sure thing little brother, let’s go there first, then we’ll head to Rarity’s place.” The two headed off for town.

As they headed in, they saw Twilight leaving the library in a brisk trot. Starburst pointed her out. “Look Nova, there’s Twilight.”

“I see her Starburst, let’s go say hi.” The two trotted up to catch up. “Hey Twilight, what’s up?”

“Oh, hey you two, I’m afraid I don’t really have much time to talk, I need to make sure everything is ready for Celestia’s arrival.”

Nova’s eyes went wide for a moment. “D-did you say Celestia’s arrival?”

“Yes, didn’t I tell you, she’s coming to Ponyville tomorrow for a visit?”

“Great galaxies I forgot about that.” Nova muttered under his breath.

This started a whispered conversation between the two brothers as they followed Twilight with Starburst starting. “Nova, what is it?”

“Didn’t you hear, the princess of this land is coming here.”

“So?”

“Don’t you get it, she’s one of the two most powerful beings here, she and her sister control the orbiting bodies of this planet for cosmos sake. What if she sees through our disguise, this could be bad.”

“Nova, don’t you think you’re over reacting.”

Nova went off keeping his voice low. “Starburst, how many times do I have to say it, if she finds us out, we’ll have to leave.”

“Well…..what if your wrong, I mean, the ponies here have gotten to know us, maybe if they did know, we wouldn’t have to leave. Twilight and the others accepted Zecora remember?”

“Because she’s just from another part of this world, we’re from a whole other world entirely, I’m not taking any risks here Starburst, end of discussion.”

“But….”

“AH, we are not telling any pony where we’re from, understand.”

Starburst hung his head in defeat. “Ok Nova.”

Nova then spoke to Twilight. “So Twilight, me and Starburst are heading to Sugarcube Corner, I don’t suppose you’d want to join us?”

“Actually, I’m heading over there now.”

“Perfect, we can sit a spell and chat.”

Before Twilight could answer, she stopped in front of two mares setting up a banner. Nova remembered meeting them before at one of Pinkie’s parties. One was Berry Punch, the other was Carrot Top. The banner they were putting up had ‘Welcome princess Celest’ crudely painted on it. “What happened to the rest of her name?” Twilight asked them.

Carrot Top answered. “We couldn’t fit it all in.”

“You can’t hang a banner that says welcome princess Celest, take it down and try again.” Twilight then started to trot off again.

Nova and Starburst stopped to greet them. “Hey girls, despite what Twilight says, I think it looks nice.”

Berry Punck responded. “Thanks Nova, how are you two doing today?”

“Fine thanks, but we should get going, we can talk later, maybe I could help you with the banner, I’ve got some free time later.”

Carrot Top smiled. “We’d appreciate it Nova, thanks.”

“Ok, I’ll come by a little later and help you with it, see ya then.”

Berry said her goodbye. “Bye Nova, see ya later Starburst.” The two mares waved.

Starburst waved as he trotted with Nova. “Bye, see you in a bit.”

They managed to catch up to Twilight after she had stopped to compliment another mare, Bon Bon, on how well she was taking care of some flowers. “that looks perfect, keep up the good work.”

“Hey Twilight, I wanted to thank you about giving Starburst the cure for that poison joke stuff for me, I can’t tell you how glad I am to be rid of it.” Nova said as he came up to Twilight.

“No problem, but you know you can come to me if you ever have any problems, I’m more than happy to help.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The three soon arrived at Sugarcube Corner, they walked in and Twilight addressed the cakes as they seemed to look busy. “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake, how’s the banquet coming?”

Mrs. Cake answered. “It would be coming along a lot better if a….” She pointed to a hoof to a table with all kinds of sweets set up on it, but they all looked like they had been eaten.

The only thing on the table that was still whole was a large chocolate cake with a little crown on it, it soon disappeared as Pinkie munched down on it and gained a frosting beard and now had the crown on her head. Pinkie then licked all the frosting off her face as Twilight came up to her looking very displeased and worried.

“Pinkie, what are you doing, those sweets are for the princess!”

Pinkie gave a sheepish smile. “I know, that’s why I’m tasting them.” She continued her explanation with a regular smile. “Some pony needs to taste them to make sure they’re tasty enough to touch..” Pinkie stuck out her tongue that still had a little frosting on it. “The royal tongue.” She pulled it back in and started speaking like a royal figure. “And I, Pinkie Pie, declare these treats are fit for a king, or a queen, or a princess.”

Nova came up to try and resolve the situation. “Pinkie, your just making more work for the cakes, just stop eating them already, I doubt the princess will care how sweet they are.”

Pinkie lowered her head with a small smile. “Oh, right, I didn’t want to burden the cakes, sorry.”

Fluttershy then came barging in excitedly. “Twilight, Pinkie, Nova, you won’t believe what I…..oh.” She then stopped herself and went back to her shy self as she tried to hide her face behind her mane. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting?”

Pinkie answered. “Not at all, come on in and make yourself at home. What’s going on Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy stated with a smile. “You won’t believe what I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest.” She turned her head to face a part of her mane. “Come on out little guy, it’s ok.”

A small round insect with four black legs, two sets of wings, and big round eyes emerged from her mane and hovered next to her, it was soon joined by two more that came out of her mane. Fluttershy was surprised by this. “Three?”

Twilight came up to her to get a better look at them. “They’re amazing. What are they?”

“I’m not sure, I’m also not sure where these other two came from.”

Starburst came up to Twilight. “Awe, they’re so cute.”

Nova came up to them as well. He just eyed them curiously.

Twilight couldn’t help herself. “I’ll take one off your hooves, I’ve never seen anything so…adorable.” She said as she held one in her front hooves and nuzzled it. She soon realized the others were looking at her and changed her tune when she released it. “Besides, it’ll be nice to have a companion for Spike so he won’t bother me so much while I’m studying.”

Starbust started pleadingly. “Nova, can we take the other one, pleeeease?”

Nova shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Starburst, we don’t know anything about these.” Nova then turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, if you don’t know anything about what these things are, you should probably take them back where you found them, who knows what kind of trouble they could cause.”

Fluttershy started. “Come on now, how could something so adorable be trouble, Pinkie, do you want the other one since Nova doesn’t?”

Pinkie stuck her tongue out. “Ugh, a parasprite? Are you kidding?” She then started for the door.

Fluttershy was confused at Pinkie’s reaction. “Ugh?”

Twilight was also confused. “A para what?”

From Pinkie’s reaction, Nova got the feeling Pinkie might know exactly what these bugs were. “Pinkie do you….”

Before he could finish, Pinkie cut him off. “Now I have to go find a trombone.”

“A what?!” Twilight asked feeling more confused.

“A trombone, you know.” Pinkie then made like she was playing a trombone before leaving through the door.

Twilight just rolled her eyes and shook her head. “*Sigh* Typical Pinkie.”

Nova disagreed. “I don’t know Twilight, I think she knows what these are, as for the trombone thing…..I’m lost.”

“It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie, I need to head over to Rarity’s next.”

“Me too, I need to drop off an order for her.”

Starburst then came in. “But Nova, I thought we were gonna get something to eat here?”

“Sorry Starburst, but the cakes look like they’re very busy right now, we’ll have to skip getting something here.”

“Awwwee.”

The three headed off and Fluttershy went off for home. The little bug hid inside twilight’s mane.

They soon arrived at Rarity’s and walked in to see Rarity fussing over Rainbow Dash wearing a kind of dress and a large wig with white curls and yellow shoes on her hooves. She was impatiently trotting in place. Starburst couldn’t help himself. “TCh, pfft, HA HA ha ha, Rainbow dash, what are you wearing ha ha?” He started rolling on the floor.

Nova started to scold Starburst but was also holding back his laughter with a smile. “Pfft, now Starburst, let’s not tch, be rude here.”

Rainbow scowled at them. “Go ahead, laugh it up, like I care.”

Rarity looked over to them. “Excuse me, but this happens to be one of the latest fashions.”

Nova tried to regain his composure. “Ahem, sorry Rarity, I’m just here to drop off an order.”

“Wonderful, let’s see it.”

Nova used his magic to open his bag and levitated out a round orange gem with an orange glowing center. “Here you go, what do you think?”

Rarity swooned. “Why darling, it looks absolutely perfect, thank you so much, you money is on the counter over there.”

“Thank you.” Nova went over to the counter Rarity pointed out and set the jewel down, then levitated a bag of bits up and set it in his bag.

“Well Nova and starburst may not like them, but I think your outfits look gorgeous.” Twilight complimented.

Rarity cooed. “Thank you twilight, it’s nice to know some pony appreciates my talent.”

“Uh, sooooo boring.” Rainbow Dash said as she stretched out her bottom eyelids with her hooves.

A chirping was herd from Twilight’s mane. Rarity came up to her looking curious. “Huh?”

Rainbow flew over to Twilight’s other side looking at her mane. “What’s that sound Twilight?”

The bug came out of her mane and stood on her back, it was soon joined by two more that jumped out from behind the first one. Rainbow was impressed. “WOW, what are they?”

Twilight began. “The better question is where did they come from, I only had one a minute ago.”

Nova didn’t like the looks of this. “Ok, what is going on here, there’s something odd about those things.”

Rainbow grabbed one off Twilight’s back. “I’ll take one.”

Rarity agreed. “Me too, they’re absolutely perfect.”

Nova tried to interject. “Now girls, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, the same thing happened with Fluttershy when she first showed up with them, she said she had one a minute ago too and then there was two more.”

Rarity disagreed. “Oh come now dear, how can something so cute be so dangerous?”

Before he could answer, Pinkie appeared in the door way. “Does any pony know where I can find an accordion?”

The girls were too busy admiring the bugs to answer. Nova answered. “Sorry Pinkie, looks like they’re not listening.”

Pinkie tried again. “Girls, HELLO, this is important! GAH, thanks a lot.”

“Pinkie wait!” Nova called out to her but it was too late. He ran to the door with Starburst behind him looking worried. “Pinkie, Pinkie!” She was gone, she was nowhere to be seen.

“Nova, do you really think those things might be trouble?”

Nova looked down at his little brother to answer. “I don’t know for sure, but if we want to find out, we need to talk to Pinkie, I think she knows what they are and she seems worried about them. We’ll just have to try and find her tomorrow. Come on, let’s meet up with Carrot and Berry to help them with that banner.”

Later that afternoon:

“Thanks for your help Nova and Starburst, we really appreciate it.” Berry Punch said to the two.

“Yeah, thank you so much, it went a lot faster with your help.” Carrot Top said with a smile.

Nova responded with a smile of his own. “You’re welcome, glad to be of help. Me and Starburst should get going now, we’ll see you later.”

“Bye, I had fun with the painting.” Starburst waved as he and Nova walked off. The two mares waved back under the finished banner that now said ‘welcome princess Celestia’.

Before they got much further, a voice called out to them. “Hey you two, wait up!”

Nova and Starburst stopped in their tracks and saw a grey Pegasus float down in front of them. Nova gave a greeting. “Oh, hello…..Derpy, right?”

The blond maned Pegasus confirmed. “Yep, that’s me, nice to see you two again.” Derpy was another Pony Nova met during Pinkie’s party she threw to welcome the two brothers.

“Hi Derpy, nice to see you again.” Starburst said.

“Hey there Starburst.”

Nova started. “What's up Derpy, you need help with anything?”

“No, I just wanted to come over and say hi, I saw you two helping Berry and Carrot with the banner, that was nice of you.”

“Yeah, well, I just want to help out around here.”

Derpy smiled big. “And I think such things deserve a nice treat as a reward.”

Starburst perked up at this. “Really, what kind of treat?”

Derpy reached into her saddle bag and pulled out a muffin. “A muffin, its banana nut, my favorite.”

“AAAHHH, MUFFIN!” Starburst shrieked and jumped behind his brother. “KEEP THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!”

Nova became worried at this encounter, Derpy just looked at Starburst confused. “What’s wrong, why is he afraid?” She asked Nova.

“Uh, he had a bad experience with a muffin a while back, apparently, there was a bad batch of muffins that came out of Sugarcube Corner and Starburst had one of them. The muffins made a lot of ponies sick and Starburst was one of them.”

Derpy frowned at that. “Awwe, I remember that, I was one of the ponies that got sick too, but I didn’t let that deter me from my love of muffins, that was an accident, when made right, they’re really good. Just try one, I promise it won’t make you sick.” She held the muffin towards Starburst.

Starburst was shivering in fear behind his brother. “I….I don’t know, promise it won’t make me sick?”

Nova tried to encourage him. “Go on Starburst, just try it, It’ll be fine.”

Starburst looked up to Nova and cautiously stepped out from behind him. “Well….ok.”

Derpy was giving Starburst her best reassuring smile as she held the muffin out for him to take. Starburst took hold of it in his hoof, he gave it a sniff and recoiled a bit at first. He slowly opened his mouth and took a tentative bite. He rolled it around in his mouth and let the taste sink in. He swallowed and thought for a moment. “It’s……..better than the first one I tried, it’s actually good.”

Nova smiled at his little brother. “See, I told you.”

“I didn’t get sick right away from the first one I tried either, so if I don’t get sick, I may want to try this again.”

Derpy smiled. “I promise you won’t get sick, just you wait. I need to go now, enjoy the rest of the muffin.” She then took to the air and flew off.

“Come on Starburst, lets head home.”

“good idea, I want to be able to get right into bed if I get sick again.” The two brothers then headed for home.

The next day:

Morning came and the two brothers got out of bed. Nova greeted Starburst. “*Yawn* Good morning Starburst, feeling okay?”

Starburst looked over to his brother with a tired smile. “I sure am, I don’t feel bad at all.”

“That’s good, I told you it would be fine. So does this mean your finally over your fear of muffins?”

Starburst looked in thought. “I don’t know, I think the only way to know for sure is to have another one, can we go get a few?”

Nova chuckled. “He he, sure Starburst, come on, let’s get the holo-emitters and head out.”

Nova climbed out of bed while Starburst jumped out and ran for the living room to grab their necklaces. Nova couldn’t help but laugh at his little brother’s eagerness. They put on their disguises and left for town.

As they neared Twilight’s library, they heard a ruckus of things falling. “By the stars what was that?”

“That didn’t sound good.” Starburst commented.

“Come on Starburst, Twilight might be in trouble.” Nova and Starburst then galloped up to Twilight’s door and burst in. “Twilight, are you ok……holy black holes!” Nova cried as he saw hundreds of those little bugs flying around all over the place and knocking books off shelves.

“Nova, thank Celestia you’re here, I need your help to round up these things!”

“Twilight, where did they all come from?”

“I don’t know? Please help!” Twilight asked in a panic.

“Right, Starburst, you can help too.”

“Ok, what should I do?”

“Just try to round up as many as you can in a shield bubble. I know you can only produce a small one but that will help.”

“You can count on me big brother.” Starburst gave a salute with determined eyes.

“Twilight, I’m going to make a makeshift pen with my magic, you, Spike, and Starburst try to get them to it and I’ll keep them locked up until we can figure out how to get them out of here.”

Twilight smiled at that idea. “Good thinking Nova, let’s do it.”

Nova managed to create a bubble and trap a few of the bugs already. He held it in position while Starburst used his bit of magic to make small bubbles to trap a few of them, the bubbles he made were a little bigger than his head, but was able to move it around and get the bugs into Nova’s bubble. Twilight followed Starburst’s lead and did the same, she was able to make larger bubbles to trap a few of them as well. Spike just did his best to heard them to Nova’s bubble or try to grab them and toss them in.

Once the bugs were finally gathered in Nova’s magic pen Twilight started. “We should try and get them to Fluttershy, I’m sure she’ll know what to do, she knows about all kinds of animals.”

Nova disagreed. “Twilight, don’t you remember, yesterday when Fluttershy first came to us with those things, she said she didn’t know what they were, but I think Pinkie does. We should find her and ask her about them.”

“How would Pinkie know, she said something about getting a tuba when she saw them, she…”

Nova cut her off. “Twilight listen to me, you promised to listen to me whenever I tried to tell you something rigt?”

“Well yes, but…..”

“Then listen to me now, Pinkie may be odd and eccentric, but that doesn’t mean she won’t know how to deal with this, now I say we find Pinkie and ask her.”

“Can we at least see Fluttershy first, she is an animal expert after all.”

Nova just gave a defeated sigh. “*Sigh* Fine, but if she doesn’t know, we find Pinkie, agreed?”

“Agreed. Now let me get my saddle bags and we can put those things in them.” Twilight retrived her saddle bags and Nova funneled half of the bugs in one of Twilight’s saddle bags and the other half in the other bag. “Come on, let’s go to Fluttershy. Spike, you stay here and clean this up.”

“Oh come on, really?” Spike whined.

Twilight was already out the door before she heard him. Nova and Starburst followed.

Along the way, they came upon Rarity who also had a pair of saddle bags full of the bugs. “I see we’re having the same problems.” Rarity commented when she saw Twilight’s bags.

“Ditto!” Rainbow cried as she flew up with a few of the bugs hanging off her chin, she stopped and shook them off then sped on with the pests following her.

“Fluttershy knows everything about animals.” Twilight informed as she started to gallop with Rarity following. “I’m sure she can tell us how to stop them from multiplying.”

Nova wasn’t so sure. “I doubt it.”

Twilight approached Fluttershy’s door and reached to open it, before she touched it, the door flew open and a huge swarm of the bothersome pests came flying out. “AH!” Starburst shouted as he was startled, he hid under his brother for protection.

“Great cosmos.” Nova muttered under his breath.

Rainbow soon came up to them in hopes of Fluttershy knowing what to do. The girls looked in and saw a bunch more flying around ruining Fluttershy’s place. “Do something Fluttershy, can’t you control them?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy explained as she ran around and tried to avoid getting hit with things the bugs were carrying. “I tried everything, I tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking nicely!”

Twilight seemed to zone out for a moment. Nova tried to snap her out of it. “Twilight….Twilight!”

She snapped out of her daze. “If we can’t get these things under control before the princess arrives, it’ll be a total disaster!”

One of the bugs flew up in front of Rarity’s face and spat out a glob that turned into another bug. “EEWWE, if you ask me, it’s already a total disaster.”

Nova tried to inform. “Which is why we need to find Pinkie Pie, I’m telling you she knows how to deal with this!”

Rainbow disagreed. “Pinkie Pie, are you kidding, she is so random.”

Before Nova could retort, Applejack came up with a cart full of apples. “Here’s all them apples you wanted Fluttershy, but I still don’t know why you wanted so many.” A bunch of the bugs then flew up and ate all the apples in a second. “HEY!”

Fluttershy asked. “Oh, what are we going to do?”

Nova tried again. “We’re going to find…”

Twilight cut him off. “I got it, no pony can heard like Applejack.”

Nova was starting to get irritated. “Twilight, you said that…..”

Nova was again interrupted by Rainbow. “Yeah, we can drive them back into the forest.”

Applejack agreed. “I’ll rastle em up, but I’ll need everyponies help to do it.”

Nova gritted his teeth and exploded. “GIRLS, FOR THE LOVE OF……” He stopped himself from finishing his sentence and started a new one. “Listen to me! I’m telling you PINkIE PIE KNOWS HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS, we need to find her and get her help!”

Twilight came forward. “But Nova, Pinkie is so…..”

Nova stopped her. “I know, she’s a little eccentric and random, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have anything to offer. If you all want to just ignore my advice, then go ahead, but me and Starburst are going to find Pinkie and get her help, come on Starburst, let’s let our friends deal with this themselves.” Starburst just looked back at the girls with worry, he then started following his big brother away.

“Nova, don’t you think that was a little harsh?”

“Are you kidding, it seems like every time I try to give them advice with this whole ordeal, they just blow me off, Pinkie knows something and I’m going to find out.”

“NOVA, wait!” Twilight’s voice called out.

Nova and Starburst stopped in their tracks and turned around. Nova just gave them a scrutinizing look. “Well, are you all FINALLY ready to listen?”

“Nova……we’re sorry for not listening.” Twilight apologized.

“You must understand with the way Pinkie is, it’s hard to take her seriously. But she was going on about having to gather instruments.” Rarity said.

“Yeah, I mean, when she saw these bugs, she just started wanting to collect some instruments for some reason, you gotta admit that’s random.” Rainbow informed.

Nova glared at them and they all seemed to cringe. “Did any of you bother to ask her WHY she was gathering them?” A simple headshake gave his answer. “Then let’s ask her. You all coming or what?”

Applejack answered for them. “You betcha.”

“Good, then let’s find…..Pinkie, there you are, we were about to come looking for you.” Nova had turned around and Pinkie was coming up to him with a pair of symbols around her neck.

“Hey Nova, what do you need?” Pinkie asked with a smile.

Nova started. “Pinkie, we need you to tell us what these bugs are and how to get rid of them.”

“Don’t you know?”

Rainbow answered. “Of course not, that’s why we’re asking you, Nova seems to think you know how to deal
with this.”

Pinkie kept her smile. “Well of course I do, they’re called Parasprites, and the only way to get rid of them is to lead them away with music.”

Starburst then came forward. “So is that why you were trying to gather instruments?”

“You betcha.”

Nova then came forward. “How many more do you need to lure these things away?”

“Let’s see, I still need a trombone, a tuba, a drum…..” Pinkie just listed off all the instruments.

“All right, come on girls, let’s get Pinkie those instruments!” Nova declared.

The ponies all then spread out throughout town and gathered all the instruments.

About half an hour later, they all met back up at the center of town and Pinkie put all the instruments on. “Now Pinkie, are you sure this is going to work?” Twilight asked after making sure the drum on her back was secure.

“Of course I’m sure, just watch.” Pinkie answered with a smile. She started her march through town playing all the instruments at once. As the music filled the air, all the parasprites heard it and started bouncing in mid-air to the beat of the music. Needless to say, the girls were surprised by this. The parasprites were now following Pinkie out of town in a single file line as they bounced behind her. Nova Starburst and the girls all followed.

As they neared the forest, Twilight saw Celestia’s carriage coming pulled by four Pegasai. “Look!” She cried out.

“Oh boy, this isn’t good.” Nova said quietly to himself.

Twilight saw him freeze up, she grabbed his leg with a smile and dragged him to meet where Celestia would land, they had rushed past Pinkie as she played. “Come on Nova, this is your chance to meet the princess.”

“Uh, Twilight, I don’t know if I…..” He didn’t get to answer. They all stopped abruptly and bowed, Starburst followed suit. Nova was still afraid to confront the princess, fear of being found out welled up inside him. Starburst was worried too as he hid under his brother.

Celestia got off her carriage and stepped off to greet the ponies. “Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil.”

Twilight greeted back. “Hello princess.”

“So lovely to see you again, as well as your friends.” Pinkie’s symbols sounded off loudly, startling every pony. Pinkie was now marching past them with the parasprites following.

Twilight came up to Celestia nervously and spoke. “So, how was the trip, hit much traffic?”

Celestia became curious at what she was seeing. “What is this?” One of the parasprites flew up to her and landed on one of her folded wings. She held it up closer to get a better look at it and laughed. “Ho ho ho, these creatures are adorable.”

“They’re not that adorable.” Rainbow retorted under her breath.

“I’m very grateful that you and the citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit.”

“Parade?” Twilight asked in confusion, she then decided to take this opportunity to use it as an excuse for the bugs. “Oh, yes, the parade.”

“Unfortunately, that visit will have to wait for another time. I’m afraid an emergency has come up in Phillydelphia. Apparently, there’s been some sort of infestation.”

Twilight asked to confirm. “An infestation.”

“Yes, it seems a swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town. I’m sorry Twilight to have to put you through so much trouble.”

“Trouble, what trouble?”

Celestia started to get back on her carriage before she stopped to ask Twilight a question. “Before I go, would you care to give me your latest report on the magic of friendship in person?”

“My report?” Twilight looked over at Pinkie as she continued to march in place as the parasprites passed her by and into the forest, then over at Nova who was still looking nervous. Twilight grew concerned about this. “Actually princess, I would like you to meet a couple of ponies you didn’t get the chance to, he’s been a big help to me and my friends with my lessons on friendship so far, he and his brother are the ones I told you about in my letters.”

“Really, very well, I suppose I have time for a short introduction.”

Twilight grabbed Nova’s hoof as Starburst came out from under him and pulled him in front of Celestia. Nova was sweating nervously while Starburst just hid behind his brother. Nova tried to speak. “Uh….g-g-goood day p-p-princess, it’s an honor to-to meet you. I’m….N-Nova and th-this is my little b-b-brother Starburst.” He said with a nervous smile.

“Um, hello.” Starburst said meekly from behind his brother.

Celestia smiled down at them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you two, I wish we had more time to talk, but I must be going, perhaps we can have time to chat later since I never got the chance to meet you like Twilight’s other friends.”

“Um…sh-sure…no-no problem heh heh.”

Twilight then intervened. “And as for the lesson, I’ve learned that the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect them, it’s a good idea to stop and listen to your friends ideas and perspectives, even if they don’t always make sense. Nova helped me learn this today, and I’m very grateful to him.”

Celestia gave a smile to the ponies before her. “I’m so proud of you Twilight Sparkle, and I’m very impressed with your friends as well, it sounds like you’re all learning so much from each other.” Celestia’s carriage then pulled away and took off.

Right after she left, the last of the parasprites finally entered the forest and were gone. The girls made their way over to Pinkie. Nova stayed where he was, still frozen. Starburst finally came out from behind him and looked up at him. “Nova, are you ok?” Starburst poked his brother’s foreleg, he got no response. “Nova, hello?” Nova then just fell over stiff and lay there on his side. “NOVA!” Starburst cried out.

The girls all looked over and saw what was going on, they all rushed over to him. Twilight was the first to ask. “Starburst, what’s wrong?”

“I…I don’t know, he won’t answer me and he just fell over.”

Twilight looked him over. “He….fainted.”

“Fainted?” Starburst asked.

“But, why did he faint?” Rainbow asked.

“He did seem rather nervous when Celestia came by.” Rarity pointed out.

“Oh my, I hope he’ll be all right.” Fluttershy said with worry.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, he just fainted after all.” Pinkie pointed out.

“But why would meeting the princess make him so nervous?” Twilight mused.

“Who knows, I’ll take him back home.” Applejack offered. She managed to lift Nova up on her back. “Come on Starburst, let’s get you two home.”

Starburst gave a weak but thankful smile. “Thanks Applejack.”

Once they were out of ear shot of the girls, Applejack spoke to Starburst. “So any luck in convincing Nova ta let the others know about ya’ll bein aliens yet?”

Starburst answered with a frown. “I’m afraid not, he just seems too scared of being found out, and I think the meeting with the princess pushed him over the edge, which is why he must have fainted.”

Applejack felt sorry for the two. “Poor feller, why is he so afraid of us knowin?”

“Well, if we’re found out and chased off, we may never find another planet that can sustain life, Nova said we were lucky to find this world so if we have to leave, we may never find another one again.”

“Wow, that is hard, I can’t imagine what that must be like, I’m aweful sorry, but ya gotta know that aint gonna happen.”

“Applejack, I was terrified to let you know about us, you know that, how scared do you think Nova is? He fainted upon meeting the princess because he thought she would see through our disguise. Can you honestly tell me there won’t be at least one pony who would want us gone?”

“well I…..I guess not.”

“Exactly, and if there’s one, there’s bound to be others, no matter how much we want, we have to keep our origins a secret from others so we can make a life for ourselves here.”

“You sure are soundin aweful mature fer one so young.”

“Nova’s been my teacher my whole life, he’s really smart and he helped me with my magic too, which is why I can use it at such a young age.”

“You sure are lucky ta have him fer a big brother.”

“Didn’t you say that already?” Starburst said with a smile as he looked up at Applejack.

“Yep, and what you been sayin bout him just reinforces my statement, I do wish he would get over the fear of bein found out though.”

“Me too, and I am sorry for troubling you with this secret Applejack, but you kind of……well….” Starburst wasn’t sure how to finish his thought there.

“Yeah, I’m sorry bout that, I didn’t mean ta pressure you like that. But I don’t like it when others keep secrets from me, and I don’t like keepin secrets from my friends either.”

“Here we are, home sweet home.” Starburst announced as they approached the disguised ship. “Follow me inside.”

Applejack did just that. “So where should I put him?”

“You can just lay him on the couch, if you put him in the bedroom, that might raise suspicion.”

“Why’s that?”

“We didn’t disguise that part of the house. If Nova wakes up there and sees where he is, he’ll know one of you came in and saw the place and freak out.”

“All right then.” Applejack managed to gently lay Nova’s fainted form on the couch. “I’d better get goin, ya’ll two take care now.”

“Bye Applejack, and thanks again for everything.”

“Anytime sugar cube.” Applejack then turned to leave.

Starburst was now left with his fainted big brother to take care of. “Nova, I wish you weren’t so afraid.” He said somberly.