//------------------------------//
// When Things Start to go Wrong 
// Story: "Can I Keep Him?" 
// by pepdog1 
//------------------------------//

In the middle of the mountainside between Canterlot and Las Pegasus, a small ship lay. Inside that ship; an alien.

The alien was rather strange looking. He was small and cat-like, only instead of paws he had two gloved hands floating by his sides. He wore a blue hood which covered his ears, and the hood was decorated with white and gold, with a particularly pretty gold cog-shape around the opening. Attached to the hood was a white scarf which covered the alien's mouth. Wrapped under the scarf, with a little bit poking out, was a blue collar that buckled together at the front. Attached to the collar was a white cape with gold ends. And, last but not least, the main part of his ball-like body was covered in a sort of bodysuit, a blue one with a gold cog pattern like his hood, and lined with a royal purple.

The little alien tapped a key on the main keyboard of his spaceship. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing.

He sighed, resting his head on the keyboard. The keyboard had, by now, figured out the difference between him typing and him sleeping on it, so it didn't do anything. Not that it would anyway. Even though it could still take commands and write down notes, there was one fatal thing missing. The engine.

The alien slammed his hand down on the keyboard in frustration.

"No, no, nonoNO!" He cried. "Why?! H-how did this happen? Wh-where even am I...?"

The ship took that as an order. "Master Magolor is in an unknown universe; 500 light years away from Popstar."

Magolor got up and slammed his hands on the keyboard. "I know that, Lor!" He cried, eyes tearing up. "B-but h-how?!"

The Lor pulled out a metal hand, gently patting Magolor's head. The alien slowly dissolved into a purring heap on the keyboard. 

Worked every time.

"The locals call this place Equestria." She noted. "The place seems to be inhabited by four legged, hooved creatures, some with wings, some with magic, some with both, and mostly female."

"Female…" Magolor was getting sleepy. Head pats could do that to you. He yawned softly, shaking his head. "Nevermind. Lets just go to sleep… We can explore in the... Morning..."

"...Why does everything always have to go wrong?..."

oOo

It was four o'clock when Twilight and her friends arrived in Canterlot. Four in the morning, that is.

"Oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-excited-oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-excited-oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-excited-I SHOULDN'T HAVE EATEN THAT ENTIRE CAKE!"

Those where the first words Luna heard when she greeted them as they came through the door, one by one.

"You're up a bit early, aren't you?" She smiled at the hyperactive pink pony who was bouncing in front of her. Gummy was struggling to keep a hold of her mane.

"Pinkie Pie dragged us here early." Rainbow moaned, flying above said pony. "She couldn't wait, apparently…"

Tank was held between Rainbow's front hooves. He was inside his shell, obviously still asleep.

Applejack was next through, and she was practically dragging her head on the ground. 

"I'm so sentenced I ain't even tired properly." She mumbled, walking past the princess.

Winona was barking madly as she followed her master, both trying to wake her up and scold Pinkie for their early wake up call.

Rarity followed behind, but her face was covered entirely by a purple scarf and a pair of black-rimmed sunglasses. Opal sat lazily on her back.

Fluttershy was dragging herself along near the ground by her wings. She seemed to be sleeping, but her wings were still working. Angel was on her head, thumping his foot furiously to try and wake her up.

Lastly came Twilight, who was half asleep and pulling a baby carriage containing a sleeping Spike inside it behind her. Her hair was completely messed up, and she had heavy bags under her eyes.

"We're heeeere…" She drawled. "Leeeeet's get moving…."

Luna giggled. "Pft, you guys are almost worse than my sister. Almost…"

"Whadda-ya-mean?" Pinkie asked. "Is something wrong with the princess?!"

"Yes… and no. You'll see." Luna winked, leading them into the throne room.

As soon as the doors opened, the six (not including the pets or sleeping ponies) saw Celestia with her back to them. She seemed to be casting some sort of spell.

Twilight was about to approach her and ask her how she was, but Luna blocked her with a wing.

"My sister needs to concentrate, Twilight." She whispered. "She's very tired after last night, too. I'd suggest not talking to her; she's not much of a morning pony."

Twilight would've cleaned out her ears if she wasn't so surprised at what she had just heard. "I'm sorry... The princess of the sun is not a morning pony?!"

Luna shushed her, walking forward towards the white alicorn. "Sister, thou has guests. Doth thou think thou can take a second to--"

Celestia looked back at them, and Luna cut off the rest of her sentence. Celestia's eyes had bags under them matching Twilight's, and her expression was a mix of annoyed, tired, and "I am going to kill you for doing this to me."

"Hold on a second." She mumbled, going back to casting her spell. "I think..."

A ball of bright light suddenly appeared on the end of her horn. That woke everybody up. Twilight ran around to see Celestia's face, only to find her with a blank expression and glowing white eyes.

"P-princess?" She stepped forwards to see if her mentor was alright, but Luna held her back by the tail.

"Stay away. We don't know what's going to happen next."

Celestia's spell suddenly ceased, and she collapsed onto the ground. Twilight was even more worried, and Luna finally let her go. She --as well as the rest of the Mane Six-- gathered around the princess in worry.

"Sister, are thou okay?" Luna asked, watching as the little fillies stared at her sister in concern, waiting for an answer.

Celestia's eyes fluttered open. "Cloudsdale." She muttered. "The next portal is in Cloudsdale..."

"Princess, what were you doing?" Twilight asked, helping her up. "What kind of spell was that?"

"I was using my magic to figure out where the next portal would open." Celestia replied, managing to sit up. "I did this by casting a spell that would find substances of powerful magic, like the magic created by the portals. But since the other portal already closed, it was quite hard to do since the magic only becomes apparent right before the portal appears, but there' no knowing when the portal appears, if that makes sense... So I was casting the spell all night, because it is necessary that we get to it right away to make sure none of the creatures escape. Got that?"

Everybody nodded.

"Understood!" Rainbow smiled. "But... just in case... repeat-it-all-again-I-wasn't-listening."

"So pretty much," Applejack thought about this for a moment. "You're saying that you were usin' a spell ta locate the portal, but since there was no portal, you had to wait until a new one appeared for the spell ta work, right?"

"Exactly." Celestia smiled. "It takes a lot out of me though, especially since I was holding it for such a long time. It doesn't help that I didn't get any sleep... I'm just upset because there's likely to be more than one portal, so I'll have to do the spell again..."

"It's alright, sister." Luna said, nuzzling her sister's muzzle to comfort her. "You just go to sleep, and the Element Barers and I shall sort everything out."

Celestia smiled, lying down where she was. "A little nap couldn't hurt, I suppose..."

A few seconds later, the sun princess was asleep.

"Alright now." Luna whispered. "I shall teleport you all to Cloudsdale. You know what to do from there."

The Mane Six nodded. 

"We won't let you down!" Pinkie Pie said confidently.

And so, with one final goodbye to the sleeping princess, the seven ponies, their pets and Spike were teleported to Cloudsdale.