It was a beautiful yet cold, mid-winter day in the town of Ponyville. Snow covered everything in a white blanket and ice hung from whatever ledges could be found. The sun was shining high in the sky, its warmth raining down upon the peaceful village. Yet despite the sun's best efforts, a chill remained in the air. As such, the residents of Ponyville wore winter clothing to keep them warm as they went about their daily lives. The fillies and colts ran from place to place, enjoying the freedom the winter season brought them from school. The mares and stallions went about their jobs; those that could work during the winter season, while those who couldn't spent time amongst friends and family.
Such was the case of Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, while the former's farm was out of business during the winter, the latter left the library to Spike and the pair decided to spend time with their other friends. Pinkie Pie was busy with helping the Cakes make foods for all the winter celebrations as well as a few birthdays that were coming up. Rainbow Dash was working on keeping the weather under control, a few stray clouds from the Everfree Forest were encroaching on Ponyville air space, and she was given the green light to engage. Rarity found herself busy with orders flooding in for stylish, weather appropriate gear and accessories for some of the most famous ponies in all of Equestria; as well as a few local orders.
That left Fluttershy, being the pony in charge of tending to animals during most of the year, winter was her time off. To most ponies this would be seen as enjoyable, a blessing even, but to the “evershy” pegasus living near “everfree” forest, winter was a cold and often lonely time of the year. Even Fluttershy's most common companion, Angel Bunny, spent the winter months deep underground in hibernation. Until recently she would spend the months locked in her cottage; just waiting for winter to pass so she could wake up her little friends, but now that she had Twilight and the others she spent time with them and played. Today was meant to be such a day.
Fluttershy, waited at her door to welcome her friends inside to offer them some tea and a break from the cold, she had even prepared some cookies for them to eat while they warmed up. A gentle knocking at the door alerted her to her guests. “Come in!” she called, her soft voice floating like a feather caught in the wind towards the front door.
“Howdy Fluttershy, y'all ready to spend time with me and Twi?” replied Applejack, her thick, loud, accent breaking through the calm of the quaint little cottage.
“Oh, yes. I can't wait, but I thought you would like some cookies and tea....that is, if you want.” replied Fluttershy, her voice sinking to the level were even dogs would have trouble making out her words.
“Well thank y'ah kindly sugar cube. Whatcha say Twi, care f'er some cookies?” asked Applejack as she took a few steps inside, breathing in the smell of fresh cookies and tea.
“I would love some, thank you Fluttershy.”
The trio of friends had just sat down and were starting to dig in to the cookies before them when a loud series of knocks pounded on the door. “Who's that Fluttershy?” asked Twilight, as she levitated hey teacup down to the coffee table.
“I don't know, let me see.” Fluttershy peered out her window, expecting to see a pony, only to see a shivering mess of cloth outside her door. Whatever it was, Fluttershy couldn't tell; but she couldn't leave a creature to shiver out in the cold. “Girls, I don't know what it is, but it's my job to take care of the animals in Ponyville, so I'm going to let it in. Okay?”
The duo nodded their consent, neither of them had it in them to deny Fluttershy from her life's calling. With a smile Fluttershy opened the door and made way for the creature to step inside, good thing too; less she be trapped under it's weight. The creature fell inside the house unceremoniously, lying lifelessly on the hard wood floor of the cottage. “OH MY GOODNESS!” squeaked Fluttershy as she grabbed the creature and dragged it over to the fire place. The other two dropped what they were doing and raced over to help their friend.
When they had finally gotten the thing over to the fire place Fluttershy removed the strange cloth the animal was wearing, “This looks like a...sleeping bag? But, it's far to large for a pony. Who could use this....oh.”
Lying under the sleeping bag was a half frozen creature none of them had ever seen before. It was big and broad, hairless save for it's arms and atop it's head. Judging by how short it's forelegs were Fluttershy guessed it was bipedal. The creatures forelimbs ended with dexterous hands; much like Spike, and it was covered in clothing. The animal seemed to be wearing a pair of slim, half rimmed glasses. The creature seemed to be an unnatural shade of blue, leaving its true appearance a mystery until it got better. If it got better.
“What is this thing” asked Twilight, looking at the cute mute for some answers.
“I...I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before.”
“Hey, y'all take a look at what it's carrying!” said Applejack as she removed an odd looking saddle bag from the creature, as well as two other weird looking sacks from its side. Whatever this thing was, it was clearly smarter than an average animal, maybe as smart as a pony; if not smarter. In it's bags was some food and clear non-glass bottles of water, a few spare changes of clothes and a few other things they couldn't identify.
“What d' y'all reckon this is?” asked Applejack as she pulled out a thin, square thing from the bag. It was silver on the back with a strange half eaten apple emblem on the back, with a smooth, almost cloth like cover. While examining the back, Applejack found that the cloth fell off and revealed a screen. “Now what in tarnashin?”
“Wait, Applejack, is that a picture of....me?” asked Twilight as she looked at the screen of the strange slab. On closer inspection, it was indeed a picture of Twilight, but not just any picture. It was a picture of her sitting on the legs of a creature wearing clothing similar to the ones the strange animal was wearing, not only that but her expression was disturbing, almost lustful.
“Well, shoot Twi, when's the weddin'?” joked Applejack, earning a stern glare from Twilight that only caused her to laugh in spite of the creepiness of it all.
Fluttershy meanwhile was busy playing with another strange object the creature had on him. It was small and blue, with only a circle on one side and a clip on the other, when she opened the clip she could see another half-eaten apple insignia. The object was connected to a long pair of strings and when she clicked on a button in the center of the circle, the room was filled with music, but not just any music. The song was the one all of Ponyville sang at last year's Winter Wrap Up.
“Eeekk!” exclaimed Fluttershy as she backed away from the musical device.
“What is with this thing, how did it get a “FAKE” picture of me?” Twilight spared an angry glance at the still laughing Applejack, just causing a new fit of giggles, “And to capture all of us singing last year on, whatever that thing is?”
A sudden jerk and residual shiver from the creature alerted the girls that, while it may be creepy, the creature was still in dire need. Fluttershy was the first to act, racing off to the kitchen to set some water to boil. Applejack and Twilight, cleared off the coach and made room for animal, they had to clear off some room the coffee table as well to accommodate the creature's size. Fluttershy, after peeking her head around the kitchen doorway to see the commotion called out to her friends, “Girls, we need to get it out of those clothes. Would you mind changing it, so we can dry it off?”
Applejack and Twilight just looked at one another, as they were Applejack was at the creature's head, while Twilight was near the legs. “Whelp, ah'll start at this end. Twi, y'all get its pants.” Applejack quickly got to work, hoping that by getting started she could avoid getting into a debate, thankfully for her it worked. Twilight let out a sigh as she started undoing the belt on the creature's pants.
Meanwhile; out in the storm, Rainbow Dash had just finished dealing with the invading storm from the Everfree, proving once again that she was Ponyville's own ace weather controller. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash however, the winter weather kept her usual means of celebrating; snoozing on a cloud, dangerously unhealthy. Thankfully the job had her near a warm place of refuge, Fluttershy's cottage.
“Fluttershy won't mind if I crash on her couch.” mused Rainbow Dash as she landed just outside Fluttershy's front door, she was about to knock when a thought came to mind. While she knew Fluttershy was timid and sensitive, she thought a simple jump scare, wouldn't be too much for her oldest friend. So Rainbow Dash did a quick stretch; good for both pre-pranking and pre-napping, steadied herself and took a deep breath. 3. 2. 1.
“Boooooo...hey?!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she was hit by a pair of pants, thrown fast and hard by a startled Twilight. “What the hay was that fo...r?” demanded Rainbow as she tore the pants of her face to glare angrily at an unconscious fully nude creature lying unceremoniously on Fluttershy's couch. With a blush Rainbow Dash hid behind the pair of pants as she hovered over to her two, equally blushing friends. “So..uh, what's that thing and why were you taking off it's clothes?”
“It came to the door half frozen, we had to do something.” replied Twilight as she did everything in her power to stare at the ground and not at the creature behind her. “We didn't think it was a male.”
“Yeah, how were we suppose to know anythin' about this thing?” replied Applejack, her voice muffled as she shielded her eyes behind her hat. “Besides it was Fluttershy's idea!”
It was about this time that Fluttershy came back from the kitchen, holding a kettle of boiled water and a small wash tube, “Girls, who was that?” Spotting Rainbow Dash's multicolored tail sprout from behind a pair of floating trousers, Fluttershy spoke a simple greeting. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, what brings you here? It wasn't until Fluttershy was well into the room did she notice the brilliant blushes on the faces of her friends, “Girls what's wrong?” then she noticed her friends were either facing away from, or hiding their eyes from the creature on her couch. Fluttershy hover slightly higher to peer over her friends and her face was immediately sporting a blush as bright red as any other. “OH...oh my.”
Fluttershy; less than gracefully, lowered herself to the floor placing Twilight between herself and the creature. “Well, Fluttershy,” asked Twilight, “what should we do now?” Fluttershy didn't reply, her face hiding entirely behind her mane.
“Well ah say, we get a perfessional h're to take care of this h're thing. Rainbow, go find Redheart, tell her we got 'er a patient.” Rainbow Dash didn't waste any time in flying out the door. “A'right, Twilight, ah need you to cover that thing up.” Even with her hat hiding her face Applejack could tell Twilight was glaring at her, “ah just use a towel or somethin'!”
Twilight looked across the room and spotted a simple floor rug near the front door. Using her magic; and her best guess, Twilight flung the rug onto the sleeping creature. Twilight looked to see if she hit her mark, sighing thankfully when she saw that she had. “Alright Applejack, it's covered.”
“Good job Twi,” said Applejack as she returned her hat to it's rightful place. With her hat no longer obscuring her sight Applejack noticed the kettle and pan Fluttershy brought from the kitchen, “So what's next Fluttershy, should wait for Nurse Redheart or y'all got a plan?”
Fluttershy hadn't said a thing since she saw the creature laying on the couch. “We have to warm him up.” whispered Fluttershy as she took walked back to the kitchen and returned with some towels in her mouth. “If we place warm cloth on him then that should help.”
None of them were too keen on the idea of touching the creature before them, but none of them could leave it to die either. So, under protest, the girls each took a rag, dampened it with the boiling water, and tried their best to warm it up. The creature's breathing became less gagged and soon grew to a more standard rhythm. After a while of warming the creature up, Twilight took note that the creature had more hair than they originally thought; though not as much as a pony. Applejack noticed the peach tint the creature's skin had taken since they started administrating the towels, only it's lips contained a slight blue hue, and even that was soon gone. Fluttershy noticed the creature's body was a little toned in the arms and legs with just a bit of a pudge in the middle. “What's this?” asked Fluttershy as she pointed to a weird portion of the creature's skin right above the right thigh.
“Ain't sure sugar, but dang that looks nasty.” commented Applejack as she gave it a light brush with her hoofs. The creature immediately lurched forward, it's arms and legs recoiling as a look of pain flashed across it's face. This lasted for a minute or so as the creature thrashed and churned, amazingly remaining asleep during the whole event; with the throw rug still in place.
“If I'm not mistaken, it looks like a surgery wound. Though I've never seen one like this before. Best not to touch it at any rate.” commented Twilight as she had only then gotten to see the wound in question.
“Alright then. I think that about does it. Now where'd RD get tah, that girl should have been 'ere age's ago.” sighed Applejack, content in seeing that the creature seemed stable after it's episode, though she was hardly an expert in such matters.
As if on cue, a knock rapped at the door, “Hey guys! Got Redheart and Tenderheart here, is that thing covered?” called Rainbow Dash, having seen enough of the creature to last a lifetime, she wanted to make sure the coast was clear.
“Yeah, the coast is clear!” called back Twilight as she laid her towel in the now empty tube. Rainbow Dash popped her through the door and, seeing nothing indecent, lead Tenderheart and Redheart into Fluttershy's cottage.
“Alright so where is this thing?” commented Redheart as she removed her winter wear. “Oh, wow you weren't kidding. He is big.” The four friends looked sheepishly at the floor, though Rainbow Dash caught a few quick glares before she became interested in one of Fluttershy's other floor rugs.
Redheart and Tenderheart trotted over to the creature and began examining it for any cuts or bruises. Redheart winced slightly at the wound on the creatures stomach, “Tenderheart take a note, the specimen appears to have suffered from previous medical issues in the past.” As she continued to dictate to her co-worker, Redheart caught the bashful faces of the other mares in the room. “You didn't catch a cold from this thing did you girls?”
When none of the girls replied Redheart gave a quick node to Tenderheart who took a quick note to have the girls checked on. “Come here girls. I'll take your temperatures.” ordered Tenderheart in a sing-song tone. The girls were about to tell her that they were fine when a loud rustling drew their attention back to Redheart.
Redheart, who was also wearing a blush, turned to her co-worker and said, “Uh, Tenderheart I don't think they're sick.” Tenderheart tilted her head in confusion; not understanding what she meant. Redheart coughed into her hoof and glanced at the floor rug, “He's...uh, he's big.”
Tenderheart's eyes went wide but she kept from blushing as she scratched out her note regarding the others. Nurse Tenderheart looked at the four friends and asked, “What was he like when he came in?”
“He was wrapped in a sleeping bag and was wearing some clothes.” replied Twilight as she walked over to the bags and items the creature had on him, “He also had this stuff. We found some spare clothes as well as some weird devices.”
“Alright then, we'll need to dress him and keep him warm through the night. As it is, it's too dangerous to move him now, and seeing as how you've taken care of his immediate needs we shouldn't risk exposing him to the cold so soon.”
“Y'all ain't gonna leave it 'ere with Fluttershy are y'ah?” asked Applejack, more than a hint of concern, and a twinge of irritation, in her voice. “What if that thing wakes up in the middle of the night?”
“I'm sorry Applejack, but if we take him outside he may get worse. Not to mention Fluttershy's more of an expert on wild animals than we are.” replied Redheart as she and Tenderheart got their things together.
As the pair made their way to the door Tenderheart turned and looked at the concerned group of friends, “If you're so concerned it would be best to stay with her until tomorrow, if it hasn't woken up by then we'll take it from there.” With that the pair left, Redheart more than thankful to put some distance between her and the creature.
“Well don't that just beat all. Well sugarcube, do you want us to stay with y'ah tonight?” questioned Applejack, seeing Fluttershy looking hopefully at her friends. “Just in case this 'ere thing wakes up and ain't too friendly.”
“Oh, yes please!” exclaimed Fluttershy before she reined her excitement back in, “That is if you want to.”
Laughing inwardly to herself Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest and declared “Don't worry, if this thing gets out of line he'll have to deal with the Dash!”
The others shared a quick chuckle as Twilight looked out the window to see the sun setting on the horizon. “I'll stay too, we can make it a sleep over! Let me go tell Spike where I'll be tonight. Oh, while I'm at it I'll get my copy of Slumber Party 101.”
Fluttershy looked confused for a moment, her sites focused on Twilight, but when she caught Applejack signaling her to say no; by dragging a forehoof across her throat, she had to decline.
Twilight felt a little deflated but continued out the door. She only took a few steps away from the house when she transported herself to her library. Walking inside Twilight could see that Spike had kept himself busy today, the floors were sparkling, the bookshelves were organized, and even the air seemed cleaner than normal. 'I have to give him a treat for this.'
A clattering of pots and pans brought Twilight's attention to the kitchen, “Spike is that you?”
“Twilight?” called Spike, after a few seconds his head popped out of the kitchen doorway. “I was wondering when you'd get home. How'd it go with the gang?”
“About that, I'll be stay with Fluttershy tonight. This strange creature came to her door and she's taking care of it, and we've offered to stay with her until tomorrow; in case it's dangerous.” replied Twilight as she did a quick skim of the bookshelf for books on obscure creatures.
“What helps does Fluttershy need with dangerous animals. Didn't you see her break a bear's neck?” chuckled Spike, when Twilight had told him the story Spike knew right away she must have misunderstood.
Twilight gave an annoyed look; accompanied by a dry chuckle, at Spike before putting a book or two into her saddlebags, “Yes, well this creature is something even she doesn't know anything about. Seems to be a new species, intelligent too, it had these strange devices that played music and another that held some pictures.”
“What's it look like?”
“Well it's mostly hairless save it's head, though after we took it's clothes off he seemed to have more fur than we originally thought.”
“Wait, you took some guys clothes off? Dude, that's creepy.” asked Spike, already guessing where such actions could lead.
Twilight had spent enough time blushing over the event so she just shook her head and ignored the question, “Fluttershy guessed that it's bipedal, it's probably a head or two taller than a pony, it has peach colored skin and has hands and feet like you do, though it doesn't have claws. Over all it looks weird, but hopefully it'll be able to answer our questions soon. Until then I'll do a little research.”
“Cool, so I guess I'll have the house to myself?”
“That's right, are you sure you can handle it?” asked Twilight, genuine concern in her voice.
“Please, I'll be fine, honestly you could try and have some faith in me.” pouted Spike.
Twilight gave a sad smile and wrapped him in a hug, “I do.” she gave him a peck on the forehead. “You are, after all, my number one assistant. Don't have too much fun though, I expect this library to be this clean when I come home tomorrow.”
“Yes ma'am!” replied Spike with a swift salute.
“At ease.” chuckled Twilight as she put her saddlebags on and headed for the door. She gave a simple good night and left the library to Spike, she knew he could handle the place but she still worried for him; he is a baby dragon after all. Taking a few steps away from the Twilight focused her magic; and mind, on just outside Fluttershy's cottage and within seconds found herself right where she had left.
“Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight.” called Twilight as she rapped on the door.
“Come on in.” replied Fluttershy out of the second story window, “The girls and I are upstairs.”
Twilight smiled and entered the cottage, passing by the creature as it laid upon the couch. Even with one of Fluttershy's blankets on it the creature shook and shivered with cold. “What made you journey in the middle of winter?” asked Twilight to no pony in particular. Twilight was about to head up stairs when she saw the creature's sleeping bag drying out near the fireplace. Looking back at it and then the creature she sighed and magicked the sleeping bag over the creature.
A smile grew on it's sleeping face as Twilight walked up the stairs and into Fluttershy's bedroom; closing the door behind her. While Twilight and the girls started talking about their day, as well as combing over all the things they fished out of the creature's saddlebag, none of them noticed a faint teal light peek through the cracks in the door.