//------------------------------//
// Carrots, Clouds and Cages 
// Story: "Can I Keep Him?" 
// by pepdog1 
//------------------------------//

He awoke on a very fluffy thing. He called it a thing because he honestly didn't know what it was. Eyes still closed, he thought.

What could possibly be this fluffy? Maybe Tokkori fluffed the pillow? It felt like he was sleeping on a cloud...

"Hey, look at this thing!"

Kirby's eyes finally opened, revealing to him that he on fact was sleeping on a cloud. But the only question was; how? He was lying in his bed next to his roommate Tokkori a few... Somethings ago! How did he get here?!

As he sat up, he noticed two more things standing in front of him. Two ponies, stallions, actually. One with a brown coat and one with a grey coat. And both with wings.

"Hey look, Hoops! It's awake!" The grey one smiled. Kirby began to worry a bit. The stallion's smile was not a nice one, but a mischievous one.

"Heheh, awesome!" The brown stallion replied. "What do you wanna do with it?"

Kirby's eyes widened. Do? He wasn't a thing to be played with!

It was obvious to him now. These weren't friends.

He stood up, glaring at them, judging whether or not he would be able to inhale them.

Barely, he decided. If he used his super inhale, he should be able to suck them both up at the same time.

He stepped back, about to attack, when he heard an almost heavenly voice come from behind them.

"Boys, thou shall leave that creature alone. This is a royal duty, and we can't have thou frightening off the thing we're meant to capture!"

The two boys turned around, blocking the person from Kirby's view.

"Ah, princess Luna! And Twilight! We're so sorry!" The grey one chuckled. "We were just leaving!"

"But--"

"Leaving, Hoops!"

The two stallions flew off, giving Kirby a view of the heavenly creature...

... And the Mane Six plus Luna plus the no-longer-sleeping Spike a view of Kirby.

"Aw, look at that thing!" Pinkie giggled. "It's so cute!"

The others smiled, and Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "You know what to do."

She then turned to Applejack. "If that doesn't work, begin the roundup."

Applejack saluted her. "Aye aye, captain!"

Kirby watched in fear as Fluttershy tiptoed towards him. he tried to back away, but a wall of cloud was stopping him from doing so.

"Don't worry." Fluttershy crooned."We're not going to hurt you! We just wanna help."

She stopped around a meter or so away from him. "Are you hungry, little one?"

Rarity passed her a carrot using her magic, which Fluttershy took by grabbing the leaves on her mouth. Kirby still pressed himself up against the wall as the Pegasus drew nearer.

"Uh, Flutters?" Rainbow Dash whispered.  "I don't think that this is working."

Fluttershy was determined, however. She dropped the carrot on the ground. "I know what's going on. You don't know if you can trust me. Well then..."

She took a small bite out of the carrot. "See? It's not poisoned." 

Kirby was still reluctant, but stepped forwards anyway.

"There we go." Fluttershy smiled, rolling the carrot towards him.

Kirby stared at the carrot that was lying at his feet for a few seconds, before picking it up. He had no teeth to chew with, so he simply put it on his mouth and swallowed.

The seven ponies (and Spike) seemed to light up.

"You see that?" Spike smiled, nudging Luna. "Fluttershy can handle any animal! And you had doubts."

Luna rolled her eyes. "You would too, if she almost fainted the first time you tried to talk to her."

Fluttershy nodded at Pinkie. "Your turn."

Pinkie hopped forwards, a big smile on her face. "Hey little guy! My name's Pinkie Pie!"

Kirby smiled a bit. What could he say? Smiles are catchy.

"Now, I know we may seem scary because there's a lot of us, but trust me, there's nothing to be afraid of!"

She turned around, pointing to her friends.

"Okay, so the pretty purple princess is Twilight Sparkle, the wonderful white unicorn is Rarity, the brilliant blue Pegasus is Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus you just met was Fluttershy, the outstanding orange pony is Applejack, the dangerous-not-so-dangerous baby dragon is Spike, the princess of the night is princess Luna, the bunny is Angel, the dog is Winona, the cat is Opal, the owl is Owloysius, the turtle is Tank, and my little crocodile is called Gummy! He has no teeth!"

She turned back to the now confused Kirby, her smile as wide as ever. "Got that?"

Kirby slowly shook his head as a 'no'.

Pinkie stepped a step closer. "Now, listen, little guy. We don't wanna hurt ya! We just wanna be your friends!"

She put her hooves out to the sides. "Whaddaya say? Give me a hug do I can prove we mean no harm? Unless you're evil and want to take over Equestria, because in that case we might have to use the no-longer-actually-existing Elements of Harmony on you, but I highly doubt that something as cute as you is evil."

That time, even the rest of the Mane Six had to take a few seconds to figure out what she said.

Kirby, having figured out what she meant, slowly stepped forwards, until he was right next to her. Then, after only a bit of hesitation, he leaned into her and hugged her with his tiny little paws.

Pinkie hugged him back, and the other six ponies had to stifle an "aaaw" from escaping from their mouths at the cute sight.

They hugged for a few moments before Pinkie let go. Kirby smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling with happiness. It felt good to be able to find a friend so easily.

"Come on now, little one!" Pinkie giggled, turning around. "Do ya wanna ride on my back while we go looking for your friends?"

Kirby nodded happily, jumping onto the pink pony's back. As soon as he did, however, he was picked up by a glowing magenta aura. He wriggled around as he was lifted into the air, but couldn't get himself down.

The rest of the Mane Six looked at Twilight with sad eyes. Even Luna seemed disappointed.

"What?" Twilight asked. "It's all going according to plan! We'll just put him in the cage at my house and we'll be ready to get the next one!"

The other's looked at the ground. Well, the cloud beneath their hooves, to be exact. 

"I know we went through the plan before we got here..." Rainbow started saying. "...But..."

Twilight raised an imaginary eyebrow. "Yes?"

"And you did say that not following it precisely could lead to serious problems..." Pinkie continued, before fading off.

Twilight was getting annoyed. "Yes, yes I did say that. What are you trying to say?"

"I think what Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are trin' ta say is..." Even Applejack couldn't find the words.

"That perhaps you are being... j-just a tad..." Rarity bit her hoof in an unladylike manner.

"A tad what?!"

"Maybe you want to... I mean, it's just an idea b-but..." Fluttershy's stuttering was barely audible under the cloud of annoyance that had rose above Twilight Sparkle. It was almost visible.

"We think you should change the plan!" Spike blurted out, covering his mouth immediately afterwards. 

Twilight was silent for a moment, but started chuckling nervously soon after. "What do you mean, guys? It's the perfect plan! Why would we need to change it?"

Even the pets seemed to be giving her a look of disappointment.

"Twilight." Luna sighed. "We do not find it right for thou to manipulate such a small and cute creature. We want thou to at least give them a chance."

Twilight's expression softened to something sad. "B-but..."

"Twilight, as your friends, you know that we only want the best to happen to you." Rarity smiled, placing a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder to comfort her. "And you know we definitely approved of your plan in the first place and admire your planning abilities... But since this... creature can now be considered our friend too, however, I do believe we should treat it like one."

Twilight sighed, but smiled. "You're right, Rarity.  I was wrong, okay? I'll let him go."

Of course, she was a little disappointed about her plan being changed, but her friends did have a point. She put Kirby down on the ground gently. "Sorry for almost locking you in a cage. Do you forgive me?"

Kirby smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Of course, poyo! You did say I was your friend, after all! And friends forgive each other!"

He suddenly noticed the horrified look on the ponies' faces. "What, poyo? Something the matter?"

It took a while for anybody to reply, and of course it had to be Pinkie Pie who ended up doing it.

"YOU CAN TALK!"