9:10 am [Fluttershy’s cottage]
“So what brings you to my cottage exactly?” Fluttershy closed the door after the element bearers and the baby dragon walked in, but in Pinkie's case, it was more along the lines of shaking while hovering.
“Pinkie sensed a ‘doozy’ while in Ponyville and—” Twilight's head snapped back to Pinkie, who shook furiously just from being near the cottage.“...I think you get the idea."
After rolling her eyes at Pinkie's shaking, she turned her head back to face Fluttershy, clearing her throat before she began; "Well, judging by her reaction, it's more than likely that the 'doozy' is somewhere in your cottage..."
"Oh, I see... um, what is the 'doozy', exactly?"
"That’s kind of what we're here to find out." said Twilight.
“Well, since I have company, I might as well put the kettle on.” Fluttershy smiled.
Twilight and Spike perked up a bit at the unexpected offer; “Thank you for the offer. But, are you sure you want to do it yourself? I could help with my magic if that's okay...”
"No, I don't mind at all really, but thank you. Um.." Fluttershy looked at Pinkie as she shook ,then back at the purple duo; "Should I make some for her?"
"She'll probably stop sooner or later, so yeah, go on ahead." came Spike's reassurance.
With a gentle smile, Fluttershy lead the others to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Alan sat on the bed in the guest room, swallowing his soup. For each spoonful he had taken, he had became just a little stronger and a little less weak. Even so, the whole bowl had to be finished before he could even think of moving around in the cottage that this talking yellow pony with wings apparently lived in, despite his curiosity towards the voices of whoever were downstairs. After taking one more spoonful of the soup, he then put the spoon on the desk drawer and used both hands to lift the bowl towards his face. He then opened his mouth a bit and had the bowl angled slightly so that the surprisingly tasty liquid would wash down his open mouth and into his throat without spilling onto the bedsheets.
Seeing that the bowl was now completely empty from gulping the rest down, he put the bowl on the drawer. True to what Fluttershy said, he didn’t feel warmer than usual anymore, in fact, he even felt strong enough to move around much more. And so, the boy carefully maneuvered himself off the bed without knocking Angel over, who merely leapt off of the bed after being woken up from his nap. As Alan made his way towards the door that would lead out to the hallway, he suddenly stopped in mid-step.
Angel looked up at Alan to see what the hold up was exactly, and upon the boy’s face, he saw a bit of sweat trickling down his little hairless face as easily as raindrops travel down a glass window, and was shaking a bit. The poor kid’s body language was all that the little white rabbit needed to accurately guess his thoughts, and remedy them as well. While Alan was still lost in his nervous state, he felt something tug at the right pant leg of his garment and down to see a concerned Angel. The little white rabbit looked up at the little hairless ape-boy as he gave him what could only be described as a reassuring pat on the shin. Alan smiled a bit at the gesture as he walked out of the room, with Angel hopping close by.
As the two walked out of the hallway, they turned and came upon the opening leading down the staircase. They then got close to a spot, close enough to where Alan could see what was going on (with Angel using his head as a vantage point), but could still keep himself hidden from being seen by the three new guests in this cottage by simply crouching down. Despite Angel’s reassurance, it was better to at least see what they were like first as the sound of a tea-kettle’s whistle resonated down stairs in the living room.
Fluttershy came out of the kitchen while using her teeth to carry a small tray with four cups of tea towards Spike and Twilight, both of whom were sitting on the couch in the living room. After setting the tray on the table, the compassionate pegasus used both of her wings to hold her cup. Twilight levitated her cup towards her, while Spike simply reached out for his, the third one was left on the tray in case the still shaking Pinkie had managed to stop that rapid, persistent shaking of hers. With one sip of her tea, Twilight immediately got down to business as she casually kept the cup floating in mid-air.
“Since the ‘doozy’ is in your cottage somewhere Fluttershy, I may have to ask you a couple of questions. It may help provide a couple of clues, but only if you’re willing to answer them.”
“Oh no Twilight, it probably wouldn’t be too much of a problem, especially if I can be of some help.” she replied so softly.
“Thank you.. Now for my first question, did anything unusual happen last night?”
“Well.. Last night I was feeding the chickens their dinner, and just as I was finished, I decided to look up at the stars for a little while before going back inside the cottage. They were especially bright, so it just made the moment all the more satisfying for me. But then, something very strange occurred..”
“What was it exactly Fluttershy?”
“For a moment, during my stargazing, something appeared in the sky in a bright flash of light, then I saw what looked like a comet that soared across, except..”
"Except?"
"Except it was multi-colored. It almost looked like Rainbow Dash was performing a sonic rainboom at a distance."
"Interesting.. What happened after that?"
"I lost track of it, it seemed to escape my sight as easily as it entered. After that, I just went back inside."
Twilight briefly paused in thought before continuing; “Okay, next question. Did anything occur this morning?”
“Um.. Now that you mention it..” Fluttershy hesitated a bit; “I-”
“Wait, hold on a second.” Spike interrupted as he looked around the room; “Does anypony know where Pinkie is?”
Having payed so much attention to Fluttershy talking to the purple pony with the horn, and that purple iguana... thing, that Alan forgot about that pink blur now known as Pinkie, he turned his attention back to see that, indeed, the pink guest seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. Ignoring Angel frantically tugging a bit at his hair, he continued to see if he could find the exact location of the SUPO (Somewhat Unidentified Pink Object). As the kid leaned back, wondering where ‘Pinkie’ could’ve gotten to, his back felt something solid. He reached his hands back to touch whatever was behind him.
Something's fuzzy... Alan continued to feel around, then allowed his hands to slide up on the fuzzy object; Are these... LEGS?!
The child turned all the way around to confirm that, indeed, they were legs, a pony’s front legs to be more precise. Unlike his new caretaker, they weren’t pastel yellow, but bright pink. Now getting a little more nervous, Alan slowly stood up as he noticed not only how long these pink equine legs were, but they were attached to a chest. Due to his height, he came approximately up to somewhere around the front leg area, thus was below the chest area. Obviously it was similar to the size difference between Fluttershy and himself, though Flutters was taller and skinnier than that). Alan turned his head upwards, only for him to see a blue-eyed, bright pink pony’s face, who had a smile that looked about ready to tear her face in half like a wet party napkin. The pupils and irises of Alan's eyes shrank in size as he edged towards the stairs, Angel trying to sound out some sort of warning to him from atop his head. Unfortunately, Alan didn’t speak rabbit. What happened next however, was not something he’d expect.
“Omigoshomigosh! Hi there little guy! You must've been the doozy I felt back in town! Oh wow! Somepony that I haven't seen before! A somepony that isn't a pony! Anyway, are you some kind of hairless monkey or something? That's so neat! I mean wow! I-”
As the two ponies and baby dragon were looking around the living room for Pinkie's location , they looked up to the stairs at the sound of Pinkie's rambling as they witnessed the little guest about to take a nasty tumble down the stairs, with Angel (unfortunately) going along for the ride.
Thankfully, there was no need for Twilight to use her magic or for one of Fluttershy's bursts of motherly instinct fueled adrenaline to catch the little guy. As Alan's small and slim body twisted to his front side in mid-fall, he had his eyes tightly closed as he braced for impact, though oddly enough it didn’t seem to come. In fact, now that he thought about it, shouldn’t he be kissing the ground right about now? This question, of course, was answered by Angel poking his cranium, which told him to open his eyes. Complying with this command, the boy opened his eyes to find, not the two of them tumbling down the staircase as he thought, but rather himself being pulled back while floating in midair, to the point where he was hovering above the first step down the staircase. The boy blinked, as he turned his head to see that the bright pink pony was holding him off the ground by the back of his garment’s straps.
"'At suh was a cose one lil' guy! Ah be'r help y' dow the rest of the stahs, woul' wah such a lil' cutie like you gett huh' a' ah, 'Kay?" (Translation: That sure was a close one little guy! I better help you down the rest of the stairs, wouldn’t want such a little cutie like you getting hurt and all, okay?)
While Alan couldn't exactly tell what she was saying(what with her mouth full and all), the 'cutie' part was obviously directed at him, which caused him to blush heavily. How she snuck up on him without even making a single sound however, well.. that was the more interesting part.
Alan’s thoughts would have to be interrupted for a brief moment as he found himself being escorted downstairs by this rather energetic pink pony carrying him without any difficulty. Pinkie's hooves each took a step downstairs while humming a rather pleasant sounding tune to herself, with Angel clinging tightly onto Alan's hair during the little ride downstairs. As soon as Pinkie reached the floor of the living room, Fluttershy rushed over to the three, her motherly instincts once again kicking in, with the purple duo acting as spectators for this strange spectacle.
“Oh sweetheart, are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, checking all over him as he hung limply from Pinkie Pie's grip on his garment's straps.
"I-I'm okay Fluttershy.." Alan said, still a little shaken up from nearly falling.
As soon as she finished, she sighed with relief; “Thank you so much for catching him Pinkie.”
Pinkie cheerfully nodded approvingly at the praise, with Alan bouncing a bit as she did so.
“What about you Angel? Is Momma's little helper alright?” Fluttershy looked at the little bunny on top of the child's head, who merely flashed her a confident smile as he flexed his little front legs to show how strong and tough he is. That was all Fluttershy needed to know as she giggled at his little macho display, and turned to see Twilight and Spike staring at all three of them with confused looks on their face, then at Alan who was trying to hide his face from the two, and then finally to Pinkie; “Um, you can put him down now Pinkie..”
Pinkie complied by lowering the boy down (with Angel hopping off of the boy's head). As soon as Alan's feet completely touched the ground, Pinkie released her grip on the straps. "There ya go! " Pinkie cheered; "If you ever need a ride on the Pinkie Pie Express, just give me a whistle!" She gently ruffled the kid's hair with her right hoof.
"Um.. sure.." as he walked up to Fluttershy, and suddenly hid behind her right foreleg as Twilight and Spike walked over to them.
I guess Fluttershy was going to mention this kid before Pinkie's usual randomness started.. He actually makes Fluttershy look like Pinkie by comparison. Spike thought with a snort.
"It's okay dear, nopony's going to hurt you. Everypony in here is a friend of mine" Fluttershy lowered her right wing over Alan as she gestured her left foreleg towards the two purple guests; "This is Twilight Sparkle, and that's her assistant Spike, they're very nice when you get to know them" Alan meekly waved at them; "And I believe you've already met Pinkie Pie. She may seem rather.. overly enthusiastic, but not to worry, she's quite friendly."
"Yep-yep! I love making new friends and making them smile! Especially if one of those friends is somepony as adorable as you~" Pinkie lightly pinched Alan's right facial cheek, who blushed once again at such a compliment.
"Did she just sprout fingers out of her hoof again?" Spike whispered to Twilight.
"Yes.. And apparently they're working fingers this time.." Twilgiht whispered back.
"..She's getting scarier every day.."
"I know Spike.. But it's something we all have to live with."
Fluttershy turned her head down towards the boy using her wing as a shield and whispered; "Go on ahead honey, introduce yourself." She was met with a look of fear from the boy; "They're friendly remember? They won't bite.."
Reluctantly, Alan came out from under her wing and began introducing himself; "Um..I'm.. Alan.. Banc.. "
Twilight blinked at this; "Um.. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to speak up there kiddo.." she sighed to herself mentally; I'm getting such a deja vu feeling from this.
"Yeah! Do it like I do! Just open your little mouth, and tell us your name as loud as you can, okay?" The bright pink equine, for once, calmed down more as she patted the kid on his shoulder with her hoof.
Unease in his eyes, Alan first looked at Pinkie, then Twilight, then Spike, and finally up at Fluttershy, who smiled and gave an encouraging nod. Alan then breathed in and out in both physical and mental preparation. With that out of the way, he then uttered; "My name's Alan..Banc.."
"Well nice to meet ya Alay!! Can I call you that? I mean it's just such a nice name! Oh, if you remove the 'an' part of 'Alan', it actually rhymes with pal, and I can tell you'd be a great one!" Pinkie continues to ramble on once again while she leans her head down and nuzzles against Alan's cheek, which only caused his face to redden once again.
Excessive blushing, nervousness, shyness, and some difficulty speaking around strangers.. I wonder if.. Hmm, I'll have to read one of the foal psychology books at the library later to be sure. Twilight concluded her thoughts as she then started breaking up Pinkie's little.. nuzzle-fest; "Well, Alan, while we may not know where you come from or what your species is called yet, we can always discuss that later at my library. Right now, I think what's important is that we get you cleaned up and a change of clothes.. And I know the perfect place." She flashed a smile at Spike, who was simply beaming with hope at the possibility of whom she might be mentioning; "Yes Spike, we'll be going over there.."
"Well what're we waiting for? Let's-" Spike was stopped mid-sentence as Fluttershy spoke up while she held Alan up with her forelegs.
"Um.. I'm not really sure how the other ponies in town will react to him, plus.. well.."
"Don't worry Fluttershy.. I've got that covered." Twilight winked at her, with her horn glowing magenta as she began casting a spell.
