A Different Visitor

by AppealingOtter

Messing with Fire

Upon a complete miracle, nobody had seen me maneuvering my way across Ponyville to get to the Library... apart from maybe Owlowiscious, but she didn't say anything to Twilight about it, so she probably didn't. Twilight was pretty sorry about being home so late, so she didn't end up punishing me for barring the doors on her, just told me not to do it again. After a while I had thought the whole experience was a dream: Had I really almost died about three times? I'd been into the Everfree Forest before, but I'm pretty sure that it's never been that bad. Apart from the time with the Hydra. Oh, and maybe the time I got chased by a dragon... that was pretty bad too.

Actually, what was special about this time? Why was I so scared? The hydra wasn't so scary because I was protected by Twilight, and the dragon wasn't bad either, because I was mainly jealous of Owlowiscious. I guess this time I had no reason NOT to be scared - like I said: I almost died!

I had barely avoided getting caught last time, and again, I had Twilight constantly watching me, so things were back to normal. Kinda. The thing I met in the forest had been lurking around, but I was the only one to see it. Even so... I knew that I wanted to speak with the creature again. I drew a picture of the it, from memory, and showed it to Twilight, the pony who's pretty much read every book in Equestria, and yet, she didn't recognize it. Maybe it was just my bad drawing, but Twilight is perceptive: She would probably be able to pick up on any distinguishable details, but yet all she told me was that it looked like a bad doodle of a pony.

But since there was no way anyone here in Ponyville could know about the creature - for if they did then they would consequentially have to know about my trip to the Everfree Forest - it was up to me to discover more about it. The only problem was that the thing was as quick to disappear as it was to appear. Every time I noticed it, that would be the time it left. How was I going to find a way to learn about it when I was barely able to look at it?

My curiosity for the thing sprouted from the point in time where I made a theory: A meteor lands in the middle of the Everfree Forest, and on the same night, I was in the middle of the Everfree Forest when I discovered a creature that has never been seen before in Equestria... so how do I know that the creature wasn't from the meteor? The fact that it had never been seen before was pretty much clarified when Twilight did not recognize the picture.

Once I'd theorized that, I realized how much it was sounding like one of Twilight's experiments. This intrigued me more. At most, in past I'd been offered to help her, but now I felt as though I was conducting my own personal research. I felt so independent!

The independence was an illusion. In theory, there was no way I would be able to have any free time, what with Twilight's busy schedule. Every now and again, she lets me go out into town on my own, but at most I've only been out for about half an hour, and even then Twilight got nervous. The only exception I can think of is my birthday, but I don't have a birthday coming up, and besides, even if I did, the amount of time I got free might still not be enough time to capture the thing.

I needed to think of a big plan, and a plan this big needs it's own spare time to devise. Upon checking Twilight's schedule, I found that on Tuesday morning, she was going to be out for at least an hour! She's always up at the crack of dawn, however, that particular Tuesday especially, she was up early, running errands and getting jobs done.

The rest of the week was spent fretting over how I would ever find a way to wake up that early, but it seemed that on Monday night, I came up with a solution: I don't have to wake up if I never slept in the first place. Looking at the calendar, I could tell that it would be a busy day for the both of us, but I was not willing to let an opportunity like this go. So throughout the night, I struggled to keep my eyes open between fake snores.

Just as my eyelids were about to give in on me, Twilight was up and preparing herself for the day in a flash. I breathed a sigh of relief, and Twilight turned and looked my way as I quickly tried to turn it into a yawn, as I turned to her: "What time is it? It's still dark out." I said in the grumpiest voice I could pull off.

"The sun is just about to rise. Go back to sleep." Twilight said, without even the slightest tone of suspicion in her voice. Perfect. As soon as she was out of the door, I was up on my feet, pacing around, thinking of a way to lure out the beast so that I could talk to it, when it hit me: It seemed to be the happiest to move around when it was in the Everfree Forest. How much time had passed? Looking out of the window, I could see that the top of the sun was just peeking over the horizon now. Twilight would be back by the time the full sun was showing. I couldn't afford to waste time.

I was running to the Everfree Forest immediately, taking not a second's thought of what might be lurking in there, and instead going as deep in as possible whilst following the path. It did not take long for the creature to appear, but it was too far for me to do anything. Every time I approached it, the wind would pass and the creature was gone, reappearing behind me in the bushes. What lured it out last time? My vulnerability? I tripped up, to no effect. The creature was stubborn today, and it wanted me to work for this reward.

Well, if there's anything I've learned about the Everfree Forest, it's that if you're looking to be a large creature's snack, the caves are the first place to look. On the way, I noticed the creature's curiosity for my lack of focus. This better work. I'm putting too much on the line for this not to work.

Finally, I found a gigantic cave in the side of a hill. I took a step forwards and the creature leapt in front, blocking my path.
"What do you want from me?" I asked. No response.
"Are you from the meteor?" The creature nodded.
"Are you from Equestria?" It shook its head.
"Are you from... this planet?" It shook its head.
"So you're an alien?!" It nodded. This was too cool! As far as I know, I was the person in Equestrian History to speak with alien life!
"What are you doing here?" It looked up at the sky, then back at me, with a quizzical look on its face. It doesn't know.
"Are you... planning on leaving?" It shook its head.
"Why not?" It stared at me without response.
"Well... do you have a place to stay?" It looked down, like it was sad, and shook its head. "I could try and arrange something with Twilight at the library. You could probably pull it off as a normal pony here if you wear something over those spikes, some good clothes." I stopped for a second, a large grin spreading across my face. "And I know the perfect place. Just, stick with me."

We arrived back in Ponyville as the sun was half showing. In the library, I sewed together some raggedy clothes last-minute from the sewing machine Rarity got me as a gift a while ago. I needed something to cover the creature up before I took him to see Rarity, anyway. The worse the clothes are, the cheaper Rarity will sell some clothes to him for. She couldn't stand someone standing in her shop with clothes this bad for long before she gave him a free outfit. Of course, I could've just made nice clothes, but that would've taken me hours, possibly even days, and we had fifteen minutes at most.

Finally, I finished my awful outfit for... Only then and there I realized I had never even asked for a name.
"Pardon me for asking, but, what is your name?" Of course, it couldn't speak, and it looked at me blandly like I was an idiot for forgetting.
"...Well, should I name you?" It seemed to like this idea.
"Let's see... well, you have lots of spikes coming out of your body, so we could name you Spike... no, wait, that's my name." I remembered then that I hadn't even introduced myself. "Hi there, I'm Spike, but you can call me... oh, right, you can't speak. Well, that makes you silent... so I'll call you... Mute." It showed no sign of taste, nor distaste, towards the name, so I kept it.

"Well, Mute, we've got to hide you from Twilight, my older sister, until Rarity, my girlfriend, opens the Carousel Boutique, her clothing store." I warned it. Truly, at this point in time, I could appreciate how amazing it was at hiding. It took no time for it to maneuver its way into the darkness, and if I didn't know it was there, I would never have seen it...

"Who?" The all too-familiar noise came from behind, and I remembered that Owlowiscious had been watching the entire thing... and I knew from past experiences that the owl would let Twilight know immediately - no matter what I tried to do to stop her - of the thing I'd done.
"Owlowiscious, if you let this one slide, then..." I stopped dead. There is nothing I have that Owlowiscious would want... but there is something I could do. "If you tell Twilight, don't forget that Mute can hear. I've seen him ruthlessly tear apart a pack of hungry wolves... imagine what he could do to one loudmouthed owl." Once I had said the harsh words, there was no taking them back, and I did feel guilty watching Owlowiscious shrink back into the shadows and swoop away in fear. I had finally grown to like her, and I feel like I probably just jeopardized that friendship. I'll explain to her later that it was the only thing I could do... but it's not like she'll forgive me.

Twilight walked in, looking tired and a bit surprised. I had forgotten to get back in bed. "Spike, what are you doing up? And where's Owlowiscious?"
"I dunno, she must've gone on a flight at dawn. I thought she was putting on a few pounds, maybe she's getting self-conscious." I lied, putting no attempt of plausibility into it. "I'm awake because the window was open and I got up to shut it." Again, a blatant lie.
"Spike, what's really happened?"
"...I got scared because I thought I saw a monster." This would be really easy to say without Mute listening in on every word I said. "I don't know where Owlowiscious is. I didn't even notice she was gone." This sounded more believable, and though it was clear Twilight didn't completely buy it, she didn't ask any more questions. The day went on as usual, but I worked hard to finish all my chores early and get a chance to go out into Ponyville.

Once I was out in the streets, Mute decided to join. It was wearing the pathetic attempt of clothing that I had made for it. We neared Rarity's clothes shop, everything going better than expected.
"Spike! Get your butt over here!" I suddenly was seized by the powerful magic that could only be Twilight. "Explain to me why Owlowiscious has shown up with her feathers all rustled up, hooting about some creature you let in the library?" Mute had not disappeared, but instead continued going without Spike.

"I don't know what Owlowiscious is talking about! How, in the small gap of time between you being gone, could I have convinced a creature to go into the library? And even so, how would I do this without anyone seeing?" As the words came out, I realized how unlikely the whole predicament really was, and Twilight was relaxing a bit more.
"Maybe I misunderstood what Owlowiscious was trying to say... sorry Spike." She turned and started going home, seeming a bit embarrassed.

As guilty as I felt, I ran to catch up with the creature and tried to pretend I wasn't letting down the huge amount of people I was with all my lies. The two of them walked into the Boutique, Mute put it's hoof in front of me, stopping my path.
"What is it, Mute?" He was silent. I stepped ahead of him, brushing his hoof down and walking in.

It's funny, because for a second there, I could've sworn I saw him open his mouth.

Like he was about to talk.

Comments

[The One and only One]

media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m82c7b22dT1rs8mfo.gif

[AppealingOtter]

1526238
Thanks bro.