Today was a brand new day as Celestia's golden sun had risen to the sky, and every living creature awoke to greet it. From the wildlife residing in the meadows, to the citizens living in Ponyville, everypony had begun their own preparations for the day: Rainbow Dash was keeping herself in peak flying condition, Twilight Sparkle was making haycakes for spike (having already made a dandelion sandwich for herself), Applejack and Big Macintosh were hard at work on the farm bucking apples, and Rarity was coming up with new fashion ideas for designs. As for Pinkie Pie—she was in Ponyville, bouncing about in her usual upbeat and energetic mood.
The beams of sunlight greeted even the mysterious Everfree Forest, filled with creatures that were as numerous as they were dangerous, as they penetrated through the treetops and brightened up the area somewhat. Right by this entrance to this mysterious forest was the cottage of the Element of Kindness and caretaker of animals big and small herself: Fluttershy.
Inside this very same cottage, the yellow colored pegasus had already gotten out of bed in order to start the day. The first thing she did was trot downstairs where the living room was, and made a right to the small hallway that led to the bathroom. She then trotted over to the bathtub, and stepped in, where she closed the shower curtains surrounding the tub and turned on the water as she began her shower. After about fifteen minutes of showering under the warm water, she turned the water off and grabbed a towel from the metal ring (where the curtains hung from) with her fore hooves, which she then used to dry herself off. After brushing her pastel pink mane with a comb (and help from a couple of robins living in her cottage), she then trotted out of the bathroom and headed into the kitchen.
There, she began fixing breakfast for her animal friends living inside her cottage. After fixing the meals, she began the process of feeding: starting with giving the birds a mixed meal of seeds, corn kernels, berries, and even juicy worms she had plucked from the ground. Then she fed the rodents, respectively: acorns and nuts for the squirrels, seeds and cheese for the mice, and fruit for the bats. Then she topped it all off by giving her pet rabbit, Angel, a nice fresh carrot.
The small white rabbit, although usually spoiled and bossy, was grateful for the carrot his owner gave him as he happily nibbled on it. Fluttershy smiled as she watched, then trotted to her front door, where she then fed her other animal friends (including the bear living nearby). After that, she then thought out loud to herself:
“I should restock on fish, wouldn’t want the otters to starve”.
With this decision made, she briefly went back inside.
“Angel, could you, um, bring my saddlebags to me? If that’s okay with you.” She said to the small bunny with her usual soft voice.
Angel, now in a good mood from eating his carrot, hopped upstairs to Fluttershy’s bedroom, then came back downstairs with two saddlebags with pink butterfly clips similar to her cutie mark. After that, he had a couple of sparrows carry the two brown bags and place them on their winged equine friends' back.
“Thank you very much, little ones.” Fluttershy said with a smile, “I won’t be gone for long Angel; you’re in charge until I return, understand?”
The white rabbit gave a single paw salute in response, which caused Fluttershy to giggle at the rabbit's antics.
The Element of Kindness left her house once more and headed for a nearby stream due southeast from where her cottage was. It didn’t take her too long to reach the location, just fifteen to twenty minutes was all. As soon as she had reached the stream, she got to work on retrieving the fish from the water. Right and left she quickly nabbed them from the stream, until she had enough to fill both bags up. Just as she was about to trot back to the cottage, she turned to her left at the sound of bluebirds chirping for her assistance about one hundred feet from where she was. The Pegasus then galloped to better understand what the commotion was about. When she got there, she saw a small figure laying his back (assuming it’s a “he”) with the bluebirds she heard earlier watching over him. Fluttershy trotted over carefully to get a better look, and what she saw astonished her.
The strange little figure bore a resemblance to that of an ape, with many features that made it stand out from apes. The first thing that stood out was that while he had hair, it was only on top of his small head. It was ash-blonde in color, and seemed to reach his shoulders and past his eyes as well. On his cheeks, though they had dirt on them, Fluttershy could clearly see four freckles on each cheek, and a few on his little nose. In terms of overall skeletal structure, he seemed to be bipedal, just like Spike (though this little creature was obviously a mammal). In terms of size, he appeared to be somewhere around twenty four inches tall (either more or less than that, she couldn't quite tell), meaning that he was smaller than a colt or a filly. Looking at his face again, Fluttershy could definitely tell he was very young, though to what extent she’d have to guess later. What really stood out to her was not only that he wore clothing (which probably made sense since he didn’t have fur to survive in harsh conditions), but the type of clothing he wore. He wore a simple white t-shirt with what appeared to be a couple of small holes on the chest, sleeves, and even the neck area; the shirt was worn underneath a strange loose fitting garment (made from a rather unusual fabric) that had a bib on the front, a hole on the right knee area of the garment, and even stranger still, the garment appeared to be held up by shoulder straps. Then came the final article clothing: which happened to be a pair of shoes, somewhat like those a pony would wear for formal occasions, but they looked much different. Unlike other pony shoes, they were made of leather, were colored black with two white stripes racing along both sides, and had these strange strings that seemed to keep them on somehow.
Fluttershy looked about, wondering where the little animal’s parents were. After ten minutes of waiting, she finally made up her mind. Within a moment or two, she managed to get him onto her back without disturbing him in the slightest. With him safely sleeping on her back, Fluttershy made her way back to the cottage.
After performing their morning rituals to start the morning that greeted them, everypony in town had begun performing their tasks that they needed to have done before the day ended.
Meanwhile, a certain Element of Laughter waved towards a number of citizens that she greeted while bouncing about in her usual cheerful demeanor. As per usual, she was
As she bounced by the Golden Oaks Library, Pinkie had stopped in mid-bounce and was seemingly frozen in midair three feet off the ground as her “Pinkie Sense“ went off in the form of a shudder, which spread from the top of her fluffy cotton candy-like mane to the bottom of all four of her hooves. As soon as the shuddering had ceased with spreading through her body, the pink ball of hyperactive sunshiny goodness dropped to the ground on all four hooves as easily as a cat would.
Uh oh...
Inside the library-tree, the purple unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle had already begun organizing an entire shipment's worth of new books as she effortlessly levitated them into their proper place while her horn gave off her signature magenta colored aura.
The baby dragon that many knew as Spike was sorting today's mail, consisting of the usual bills and occasional junk mail.
Why the heck would we even want a lifetimes supply of dog-food? Spike thought to himself.
No sooner had they thought today would be an eventless day, the door of the library slammed open as a pink blur rushed over to Twilight and used her forelegs to shake the unicorn senseless as Spike stopped mid-sorting.
“Pi-i-i-inkie ca-ah-ah-ah-ahlm down and sto-ah-ah-ah-ahp sh-sh-sh-shaking me!”
Pinkie Pie immediately stopped shaking Twilight in her forelegs as she looked at Twilight, now annoyed and sporting a dishevelled mane from the vigorous shaking.
“Heheh.. Oops..” Pinkie so eloquently stated as she released her friend.
Spike immediately went to his older sister's side as he waited for Pinkie’s logical explanation for why she was acting like this today, which in all honesty is something that you won't usually expect.
“Now, since you’re done shaking me like a complete and utter lunatic, would you be so kind as to tell me exactly what it is you’re trying to tell me?” asked Twilight.
“And this time, do it in a way where it’s actually decipherable.” Was Spike’s suggestion.
The purple duo waited as Pinkie Pie breathed in and out. Her chest steadily rises and falls as she performs this technique to relax. On the last breath, she exhaled outwards and began her explanation.
“Okay, you know how when I shudder my Pinkie Sense is telling me that it’s a doozy?”
Twilight and Spike nodded nervously, since there’s no way in Tartarus they could ever forget, not after that whole fiasco involving her Pinkie sense.
“Well, I was just minding my own business and doing my usual happy bouncing while greeting most of everypony in town when-”
Pinkie’s body immediately shuddered from her mane to hooves in mid-sentence, and stopped almost as fast as it had begun.
“When that happened!” Pinkie exclaimed; “Guys, I think it’s trying to tell me to go some place! I don’t know where! But it’s super-duper-chocolate-sundae-with-a-cherry-on-top important that we go there right now!”
Twilight and Spike looked at each other for a brief moment, then looked back at Pinkie.
“Show us the way.” came Twilight’s request.
-
8:55 am [Fluttershy’s cottage]
Upstairs, Fluttershy was in the bedroom that she had reserved for guests visiting her humble cottage, or rather, the strange little ape she brought into the cottage a little while ago. After walking slowly to the bed so she wouldn’t disturb the poor little thing on her back, Fluttershy turned her head towards him, then used her teeth to grasp the straps of his garment and carefully lifted him off of her back by said straps. As he dangled from her mouth by the back of the straps, Fluttershy then used her forelegs to hoist herself onto the bed and gently lowered him until he was laying on his back with his head resting on one of the pillows.
Seeing him sleep so peacefully, Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile as she gently towards him and gently rubbed his left cheek with her left foreleg, but her smile disappeared upon touching it. She then moved her foreleg to the little ape's forehead, and gasped at how warm it was and quietly got off the bed.
Angel watched the doorway as Fluttershy walked out of the bedroom, his left eyebrow lifted. While it wasn’t unusual for the compassionate pegasus to bring in sick, injured, or starving animals in need of help, the creature she had brought in was just so odd looking! What was it? Why was it wearing such odd clothing? How did it get in the area by the cottage? And what kind of ape would only have hair on its head and on its brow? There was so much to be made clear, and it’s obvious that Fluttershy didn’t know much about this thing either.
“Angel? Sweetheart?” The small white bunny immediately directed his attention towards Fluttershy.
“Since you’re here, would you mind watching over the little one while I get something to lower his fever?”
Angel nodded as Fluttershy smiled gently.
“Oh thank you Angel! I know he’ll be safe, especially when you’re around.”
Angel simply flashed her a bold smile as he nodded and hopped into the bedroom. Fluttershy simply giggled as she hovered off the ground with her wings and flew downstairs.
Inside the bedroom, the small white bunny made his way towards the bed where the young mammal laid peacefully. After a bit of preparation, Angel hopped onto the bed with ease, and turned his attention to the new guest in the cottage. Hopping a little closer towards him, Angel then got on his chest and managed to get a better look at his face. Now, aside from the fact that this, whatever it is, was male and similar to an ape or a monkey, it was obvious from his scent that not only was he young.. But he really needed a bath!
Angel then poked and prodded at the little one's cheeks and nose, not only did he have freckles on his cheeks like that orange stetson wearing mare that Fluttershy hung out with, but on his weird looking muzzle as well, how strange! Having such dots on there wasn’t something that ponies with freckles had, so what was this ape-thing doing with them there?
Angel's questions would have to be put on hold for now since his rabbity ears twitched in response to the creature's soft groaning and moved back a little. Soon, Fluttershys guest slowly started opening his eyes as his groaning came to a stop. The young one's eyes, which were hazel colored, then fully opened as his voice echoed from his throat in a tired and soft tone.
“Huh?” His head slowly turned left and right; “Where am I?”
Angel's eyes widened a bit as he heard the thing's voice. Why, he was as young as those three fillies that were always trying to earn their cutie marks! Maybe just a little younger!
The ape-boy turned his head to Angel as he slowly raised his left hand towards the bunny on his chest. Before the bunny could hop away from him, not knowing what he had planned, he stopped in his tracks as he felt the ape gently scratch him behind his long ears. The bed slightly shook as Angel’s left hind leg repeatedly thumped the boy's chest, oh how he enjoyed this! He was so into it that he didn’t even hear the ape chuckling in amusement at him.
This ear scratching and thumping session would soon end as the sound of wings flapping was heard by both occupants of the guest room. Angel looked at the bedroom door exiting out into the hallway for a moment, then looked at the ape-boy, who had shut his eyes and turned his head to the side away from the doorway as Fluttershy flew in with her forelegs holding a small red bowl of some sort of herbal smelling concoction with a tablespoon sticking out of it. What both the pony and the bunny heard from him next was something that they would not’ve guessed.
“I’m sorry if I’m trespassing. I-I don’t know how I ended up in this room, just don’t hurt me! I’ll do anything you want! I promise!! ”
Angel did a double take from what he had just heard. He was cowering.. From FLUTTERSHY of all ponies?! Well, it was normal to do that when she was using “The Stare” and facing down threats that would harm her or her loved ones. But for this boy to actually do so when she’s not in her 'assertive mode' ? Wow.. This seriously takes the carrot cake.
Fluttershy hovered lower as she placed the bowl of the herbal concoction on the desk drawer by the bed and then sat on the bed on her haunches by the boy.
“Why would I hurt somepony as young as you? Especially when I brought you here in the first place?”
The young one's eyes immediately popped open as his face relaxed, then turned his head upwards towards Fluttershy. Those same eyes widened just a bit upon seeing Fluttershy's face, and upon looking at the rest of her, he seemingly started asking questions if his lips trying to form words were of any indication, except for one tiny detail. No actual words were escaping them, vocally speaking.
“I’m guessing where you come from, there aren't any ponies like me.” Fluttershy said with a gentle smile. “Anyways, my name is Fluttershy, would you mind telling me yours sweetheart? If that’s okay with you.”
The boy's hazel brown eyes darted about in great confusion and hesitation. Obviously this wasn’t a dream, otherwise how else could he have felt the white bunny’s soft fur as he was scratching his ears? But then, this yellow pony thing with wings did bring him here, and she DID sound nice.
“Alan..” The boy squeaked out with a blush on his face (Angel of course had to withhold the urge to giggle), then cleared his throat; “I mean um.. Alan Banc.”
“Nice to meet you Alan. Now, seeing as you’re a little young to be out in the woods by yourself, would you mind telling me old you are? If you don’t mind that is..” asked Fluttershy.
The boy now identified as Alan looked at his hands as he counted his fingers, then responded to her request; “Um, I’m six, I’ll be seven sooner or later..”
Fluttershy's eyes widened in the same way Alan's did when he saw her face.
SIX YEARS OLD?! Fluttershy mentally exclaimed; This boy’s nearly the same age as Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie! Thank goodness I found him in time, or Celestia knows what would’ve happened. With that thought finished she resumed with her gentle smile; “Thank you for telling me Alan, now, could you sit up a bit?”
The child complied with her request as she turned her body to the desk drawer, lifted the bowl with her forelegs and turned back towards him with the bowl still in her forelegs.
“I checked your forehead, you have somewhat of a fever. Luckily, I made something that should take care of whatever’s ailing you, so I need you to eat it all up, okay sweetheart?”
“Um.. Okay, Miss Fluttershy.” said Alan.
“Just call me ‘Fluttershy’, there’s no need to call me miss.” Fluttershy giggled at the thought of it as she handed the bowl to him.
Alan began eating and found that, despite being medicine to help him feel better, this actually tasted better than he would have thought.
Of course those thoughts were interrupted by the sound of somepony knocking at the front of Fluttershy's cottage door.
“Er, keep eating Alan, Angel will keep you company while I get that.”
Fluttershy hopped off the bed onto the floor, then walked out of the door to see what the commotion was all about. After making her way downstairs, and towards the front door, she opened it to see Twilight, with Spike on her back, and Pinkie Pie who appeared to be shuddering quite a bit.
“Hi Fluttershy, I hope we're not interrupting something but.. Do you mind if we come in?” Asked Twilight.
“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.
“Are you absolutely sure this will work?” asked Fluttershy as she walked alongside Twilight with Spike on the unicorn's back, and Pinkie bouncing on Fluttershy’s right.
“Of course it will Fluttershy! Twilight’s so awesometacular when it comes to magic remember?” said Pinkie in between bouncing.
“Er, thanks Pinkie..” Twilight nervously chuckled; “Anyway, neither you nor Alan have anything to worry about. The cloaking spell will make sure that nopony in town will be able to see him.
“And I should know! When she tested it on me a couple of days ago, I didn’t turn visible until she deactivated the spell, it was so cool! I mean, she even mastered it in about half an entire day!” Spike added with enthusiasm.
“Well, yes.. but even then it still took hard work, and further testing to even know if I truly mastered it. Besides, the spell only turns an intended target invisible, not the unicorn that casted it in the first place.” said Twilight.
Spike shrugged his shoulders at everything Twilight said as he then turned his head towards a supposedly empty space that was currently occupying Fluttershy’s back; “Hey Al, you holding up alright there buddy?”
“Um, yeah..” Alan’s voice replied from the ‘empty space’; “It’s a little weird... But it feels kinda nice."
“Good to hear!” Spike smiled; “It means the spell’s doing what it’s supposed to do.”
Later, the sound of Ponyville’s busy streets could be heard as the five casually went into town, everypony being too occupied with their own business to direct any of their own attention towards them, though Pinkie did give an occasional enthusiastic wave of hello towards a few citizens. With the currently invisible Alan riding on Fluttershy’s back, his arms, wrapped around Fluttershy’s neck, seemed to tighten it’s grip a little bit more as his eyes darted about while looking at the ponies that they were passing, of course it wasn’t hurting Fluttershy in the least thankfully.
Alan snapped out of his thoughts as amongst the citizens of the town, he saw two particular ponies passing by the still bouncing Pinkie. The first of the ponies was an average sized adult earth-pony stallion with a dark blue coat, an electric yellow mane with matching mutton chops to go with it, the same hazel brown eyes as Alan, and on his flank was an empty blueprint as well as a golden hammer. The second pony was likely the pony’s son, as the young earth colt had the same mane and eye color as the older stallion, the biggest differences between the two being not only that the coat was the same shade of blue as Alan’s garment, but there being both a blank blue print as well as a silver hammer.
Out of the corner of Spike’s eyes, he saw something falling right beside Fluttershy as it reflected sunlight off of it brightly. While the yellow pegasus didn’t seem to have notice it, Spike’s left brow was certainly raised upon seeing it. Making a mental note to himself, Spike’s eyes then kept its focus straight ahead as the three mares walked.
At Rarity’s boutique/house, the white unicorn (and Element of Generosity of course) was telekinetically placing a tuxedo on one of her numerous mannequins, possibly to sell to a client. As she finished up, the sound of her doorbell ringing reached her ears. The sophisticated young mare checked her coat, mane, and tail (in that specific order) for a few moments, not wishing to have either of them in an uncouth and ill kept manner when possible guests/clients are visiting. Feeling satisfied, she walked over to her front door to see who would possibly wish to see her. As she opened her door, she smiled upon seeing Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, and Fluttershy and in her usual formal manner of speaking greeted them; “Why hello darlings, how very nice of you all to stop by! Oh please, do come in.”
“Thanks Rarity!” Pinkie bubbly replied as they all came in, with Rarity closing the door behind them. Spike then slid off of Twilight’s back as Rarity then directed her attention towards him.
“And I see you’re still as handsome as ever Spikey Wikey.”
The white unicorn then kissed the purple dragon on the forehead, who may as well be made of putty as he nearly melted to the floor with a goofy smile on his scaly face, and hearts in his eyes. It was only thanks to Twilight’s telekinesis that he didn’t collapse right there, who gave a chuckle as she levitated him onto a couch for him to rest on while in his ‘lover boy’ state of mind.
“So tell me girls, what brings you to my humble abode? Is it something that I could do to help?” asked Rarity.
“Um, yes.. If you want to..” Fluttershy replied.
“Well whatever it is I’ll be glad to be of help! Just tell me what it is.” Rarity responded back.
“Oh, okay then, thank you.” Twilight smiled a bit and then continued; “We need your help designing some clothes for somepony that we recently met…”
“Hmm? Is it a stallion or a mare?” asked Rarity.
“Well, he’s technically not a pony, but he’s close to your sister’s age. Anyway, we also need to get him cleaned up since he’s rather dirty.” said Twilight.
“I see.. Well where is he? I simply must see him if I wish to be of some assistance.” said Rarity.
“He’s right here in your boutique actually. I simply casted a cloaking spell so no pony in town would scare him and in case it’s also vice versa. Just um, wait one minute..” Twilight sat on her haunches as she reached her forelegs out towards the empty space occupying Fluttershy’s back; “Alright, down you go..” she then lifted the invisible object off of the pegasus and carefully placed it on the floor.
“Do I really have to be seen?” Rarity’s ears perked up at the soft boyish voice, and from how it sounded, it seemed Twilight was correct about his age.
“I’m sorry honey, but you have to be. Rarity won’t be able to help if she can’t see you.” Fluttershy responded to the voice.
“We guarantee, she’s not going to hurt you.. Now hold still.” Twilight’s horn gave off a magenta colored glow as the invisible object now had the same glow surrounding it in an aura like fashion.
Then, in just one-fourteenth of a second, Alan became visible once more. Rarity gasped with delight in her eyes as the boy appeared before her; “Why hello there little one! And just what is your name?” she then sat down on her haunches in order for her better interact with the boy.
The child looked downwards with his eyes moving about again as he mumbled and shook nervously with his hands in the pockets of his garment.
“Oh there’s no need to be scared of me dear, you can trust me. Didn’t the others just guarantee this to you?” Rarity’s voice became a bit softer as she attempted to comforted him.
Pinkie gently placed her left fore-leg on Alan’s right shoulder; “It’s okay kiddo! Remember back at the cottage? Just tell her your name loud enough so she can hear ya.”
Alan looked up at the Pink one, who rapidly nodded with encouragement and a smile on her face. He then turned his attention towards Rarity who simply gave him her own gentle smile while waiting for the boy to introduce himself. With only a bit of hesitation in his voice, he answered; “It's um..Alan Banc..”
Rarity continued talking with the boy after his introduction; “Well thank you darling, that wasn’t too bad now was it?” Rarity gently patted him on the head then asked him; “Oh, and may I ask what the name of your unusual garment is? I’ve never seen anything like it before, and my curiosity has been rather sufficiently 'piqued' as it were.”
“Um.. They’re my overalls..” Alan replied.
“Overalls you say? Fascinating ..” Rarity’s horn glowed blue as she levitated a notebook and a pencil over to herself with ease and started writing down some notes on the ‘overalls’.
“Er.. How did you do that? I saw Twilight do something like it back at Fluttershy’s cottage..” asked Alan.
“Hmm? You mean my telekinesis?” Rarity replied.
“What?” Alan asked in confusion.
“Telekinesis darling, it’s the ability to move objects without touching them through the power of one’s own mind by using magic.” Rarity explained as she was writing down her notes on ‘overalls’.
“It’s the most basic ability that all unicorns learn, even foals can use it. For us, using telekinesis is as easy as you blinking your eyes or using your hands.” said Twilight to Alan.
“Some ponies believe that a pegasus-” Fluttershy looked at the boy, who was once again confused; “That’s what type of pony I am Alan. Anyway, some ponies believe that a pegasus is able to fly thanks to a similar type of magic, with our wings helping us steer and stay airborne. We can even control the weather in Equestria with it..” she giggled softly as Alan’s jaw dropped a bit in amazement.
“Oh! Oh! Me next!” Pinkie said so gidily; “Most earth ponies don’t do stuff like that, but boy do we have a natural green hoof! Oh, and I have this thing I call my ‘Pinkie Sense’, which is how I got to Fluttershy’s cottage, and that’s how I found you, and now we’re here and-”
“I do believe he gets the gist of it Pinkie..” Rarity interjected while continuing with her notes; Though what she didn’t mention, thankfully, is her other rather inexplicable ‘abilities’.
After a little while, Rarity finished with her notes; “Alright, that should just about do it. Now Alan, I’ll need you to remove your clothes so I can take your measureme-” Rarity stopped in mid sentence as she looked Alan’s blushing face; “It’s alright dear, there’s nothing to be embarrassed of, now then, on with the measurements..”
Alan was now standing on a platform stripped of his clothes, with the only piece of clothing he had on was this strange white lower garment with an elasticated waistband at his waist, the front and rump areas being covered, and a flap on the front of the garment. The blush on Alan’s face had actually gotten deeper to the point where his face now resembled a cherry. As Rarity was using her measuring tape on him, the other three ponies (along with Spike, having recovered from his brief bout of love-sickness) looking on, with Pinkie being the most confused out of the spectators.
“Why’s Al wearing that white thingy?” Pinkie asked quietly.
Spike gave her funny look at the question, while Twilight replied in the same tone of voice; “I’m guessing that what he’s wearing is some type of garment that he probably wears underneath his regular clothing most of the time. I suppose they’re ‘under garments’ or ‘under wear’ , at least if they’re what his species calls them anyway.”
Pinkie blinked in confusion; “Well why would they even wear them? I mean, yeah some ponies wear clothes, but I’m pretty sure we’ve gotten along without having to wear undies.. I think I made up my new favorite word~” she giggled.
Spike gave Pinkie an even funnier look at her nickname for the garment as Twilight tried think of a way to explain the reason in words Pinkie could understand (since it was Pinkie after all..), thankfully Fluttershy, with her zoological knowledge, was there to save the day as she started whispering something into Pinkie’s ear, after which, Pinkie stared at Fluttershy.
“Wait, so you're saying monkeys and apes don’t-”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Meaning that Al doesn’t..”
Fluttershy nodded again.
“So he wears that thing to..”
Thrice again Fluttershy nodded, to which Pinkie responded; “Ohhhh..”
Rarity continued to make the necessary measurements as the boy felt goosebumps develop on his bare skin; "Mhmm, yes.. Yes I do believe I can make this work.. There now Alan, I'm all done with measuring. You were very helpful in cooperating despite your eh, shyness in exposing yourself. I for one, believe it was very admirable." Rarity leaned down and kissed him on his cherry red cheek, then turned to the yellow pegasus; "Alright Fluttershy, you may take him upstairs to get him bathed, in the meantime, I shall start working on his new attire. After I've finished, I will help you groom his hair before he gets dressed." Alan slowly walked over to Fluttershy, who simply led him up the stairs to Rarity's bathroom as the others looked at the fashion diva, who seemed to be in the zone as it were.
Downstairs, Rarity was right at work, creating Alan’s brand new clothing with the assistance of Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike. For Rarity, as she was humming a pleasant tune, (a song that she likely learned from one of her clients) she was using her natural telekinetic abilities to levitate an entire roll of cloth (the material, surprisingly enough, was similar to the overalls Alan had worn) while at the same time using a trusty pair of scissors to cut the outline for Alan’s new overalls, and unlike Alan’s old overalls however, they were navy blue in color. After finishing the outline, she started thinking about certain things regarding the notes she took previously.
Obviously those buttons on the hips of the previous overalls have a sort of ‘snap on’ function, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find some buttons that are similar. Of course I have absolutely no extra buckles that I could spare in order for the straps to attach to the buttons on the front. Although I could possibly re-use the old ones for the new overalls, after all, it just wouldn’t do to simply let materials that could be of use go to waste.. Maybe I could even incorporate some of the colorless diamonds I have on hoof somehow into the design..
She then turned her head towards the others as they were working on the clothes that they were assigned with.
Satisfied with their progress, Rarity then turned her focus back to Alan’s new garment as her brain was wracked with interesting designs she so wished to use.
Up in the bathroom upstairs, little Alan was in the bubble filled bathtub (blushing of course, considering his lack of clothes in front of somepony he's still getting to know..) as Fluttershy got out a couple of bottles that were necessary for making a sparkly clean boy like him. First things first, Fluttershy used both forelegs to then lift a pitcher full of water over the kid in the tub. Thankfully for Alan, there wasn't too much water in the tub, just enough where his bare torso and arms stuck out of the surface.
"Alan, I need you to hold still for me, okay? Oh, and be sure that you close your eyes.." came Fluttershy's request to the tiny kid in the tub.
Complying with Fluttershy's specific instructions, Alan closed his eyes and waited. Fluttershy hummed a rather soothing tune as she lifted the pitcher just a tad higher, and proceeded to pour the water onto the boy's head. Naturally, Alan's long thick hair, having been soaked, drooped over his closed eyelids. As Alan listened to Fluttershy's little tune with his hair over his eyes, the yellow pegasus got out a bottle of shampoo, that, with a little bit of effort, she squeezed out onto Alan's scalp with both of her hooves.
*** At a small 1 story house within a relatively normal neighborhood, a car moved all the way up into a driveway. Upon stopping, a couple, likely somewhere in their mid to late twenties, got out of the vehicle. The first one out of the couple was a relatively tall male with a slender build, standing six feet in height, has dirty blonde hair on his head with side-burns growing all the way around his jaw and connecting with a beard, a pair of hazel brown eyes, and wears a red-plaid shirt with a pair of black trousers. The second was his wife, petite and standing at five feet one inch, has jet black hair, and a pair of bright green eyes behind a pair of eye glasses. In the female's arms was a tiny infant, his age largely unknown.
"Well, we're back home cutie.. Did you have good time? Hmm?" the female asked her infant son, who looks up to her with his little face, and simply blinks his hazel brown eyes at his mother.
"I guess that's a yes.." Her husband replied in a slight accent (it's noticeable, one just has to listen carefully) with a chuckle as he went up to the front door, his wife and child right behind him.
After getting themselves relaxed a little, the male then went into the kitchen.
"I'll go on ahead and start making dinner, that all right with you Daisy?" He asked his wife.
"Not a problem Harold, I'll just put our son to bed, he's starting to look a little tuckered out.." Daisy replied to him.
And with a smile, she then carried the infant in her arms from the living room, and towards a bedroom, complete with a crib, a rocking chair big enough to support her weight, and a couple of stuffed animals that the tiny one likely plays with from time to time. His mother then walked over to the chair, and had a seat, her only son still in her arms.
"Hard to believe you came out of me, isn't it sweetheart? Now that I think about it.. It really is amazing what life can do… I think I know the perfect song for you Kiddo. It's something I heard as a little girl when it was on tv.. You want to hear it?"
The little baby, all snug in her arms, simply yawned at this as his mother smiled down at him and soon proceeded to sing the lullaby that she has chosen for him.
How very special are we For just a moment to be Part of life’s eternal rhyme How very special are we To have on our family tree Mother Earth and Father Time
He turns the seasons around And so she changes her gown But they always look in their prime They go on dancing their dance Of ever lasting romance Mother Earth and Father Time
The summer larks return to sing Oh what a gift they give Then autumn days grow short and cold Oh what a joy to live
How very special are we For just a moment to be Part of life’s eterrrnal rhyme How very special are we To have on our family tree Mother Earth and Father Time
Daisy leaned her head down to the now sleeping infant, and pressed her lips to his tiny forehead to give him a kiss. ***
While Alan was sitting in the tub in silence, Fluttershy was still at work kneading his shampoo covered hair, being ever so careful as to not be rough since she had hooves and all. In spite of her lack of fingers, the pegasus was getting at every possible spot of the boy's little scalp as much as a pony could with her shampoo covered hooves. All the while she was doing this, the corners of Fluttershy's mouth was in a small smile. The instant she finished kneading Alan's head, Fluttershy soon rinsed off his hair as she once again used the pitcher, which she previously refilled. She then picked up a dampened washcloth with her right foreleg, rubbed a bar of soap against it, then brought it over to the tiny boy as she gently scrubbed his body.
Upon finishing up, Fluttershy then rinsed Alan off. As soon as she did this, she got out a towel with both forelegs, then lifted the boy out of the tub as she wrapped him up completely while she dried him off.
Suddenly, the door of the bathroom opened as Rarity entered the bathroom while using her telekinesis to levitate what appeared to be Alan's new clothes.
"I see you've done a fabulous job Fluttershy~" She said with a smile as she set the clothes down, walked over to the tub as she then directed her attention to Alan as he opened his eyes to look at her.
"Since your mane has been cleaned of the ghastly grime that invaded it, I believe it's time to further groom it, wouldn't you agree dear?"
Rarity's horn then gave off a blue glow as she prepared to help Fluttershy groom the boy.
In the royal castle of Canterlot, Celestia was walking to the throne room after a 2 hour long meeting with her council, regarding whether or not Equestria would keep its trade route with one of the Griffon Kingdoms open. The sun based alicorn was doing the best she could to finish her day's agenda. The agenda itself consisted of paperwork, which befitting one of royal status, were rather dry.
A few seals of approval here, a little organizing there, nothing she wouldn't be able to handle.
"Celestia! There thou art!"
She turned around to see Luna up and quite early, which was unusual, seeing as Luna was usually resting during the day, what with her being in charge of the night and all. As the alicorn of the night galloped towards her, she stopped in her tracks.
"What is It Luna? Is it something important?"
The younger princess immediately responded as she nodded her head; "Ay dear sister, ti's something quite important that needs to be brought to thy attention!" She then walked up to her; "Come, we shall converse on the way to our thrones..."
The two sisters then walked as they began to "converse".
"So what exactly is it that needs to be brought to my attention Luna?"
Luna breathed in and out a bit as she began; "Twas something rather peculiar last night Celestia... While you slept, I was taking flight in the night sky, when what should I see soar right above me but a comet in the colors of a rainbow. But twas not an ordinary comet mind you, especially not just in appearance!"
"How so exactly?" Celestia asked, hoping this would lead up to something.
"Well... As the comet flew, my horn started to spontaneously glow. Somehow, my magic was reacting to it just by being within proximity."
This certainly cemented Celestia's curiosity at the odd phenomenon.
"And ti's more sister? Somehow, it felt as if something was alive inside of it." Luna looked up at her; "I have not even the faintest idea of how exactly, but I could feel it..."
"A-alive?" Celestia's mouth hung agape for a bit before she recomposed herself; "Well... That's... Certainly perplexing..."
"At first I had thought it be one of Discord's jests, but twas not something that would fit within that trickster's highly mischievous and vagabond nature."
"Well, what happened after that?" Celestia asked her.
"The comet disappeared from my sight, quick as a flash I daresay..." Luna said to her sister; "Although? Judging by the direction, I wouldst wager that this phenomenal object was heading towards the vicinity of Ponyville!"
Celestia's brow furrowed in thought as she processed this information, until suddenly, a miniature sun brightened up in her head; "Luna, when we reach the throne room, have a guard bring a quill feather and a sheet of paper."
"Of course sister!" Luna replied, knowing exactly what she had in mind.
"Splendid! We're off to a good start!"
-
11:05 am [Carousel Boutique]
"Oh darliiiings~" Rarity's voice practically sang out, getting the attention of Pinkie and Twilight, as well as Spike, now no longer in lovesick mode.
"First, thank you ever so much once again for providing assistance for putting the lad's clothing together. Second, now that I have your utmost attention, I- Pinkie could you please be a dear and provide a drum-roll?"
"Oki doki loki artichokey!" Pinkie grinned as her hooves inexplicably stretched like taffy and reached backwards until she found what appeared to be a small drum set and put it in front of her. She then sprouted fingers from her hooves once again as she then used them to grip some drumsticks and gave them a twirl as she began the drum roll.
Spike's face a bit scrunched up from the pony's bizarre and downright freaky talent.
"Now then.." Rarity cleared her throat; "Introducing, the new and much more groomed, Alan Banc!"
With her announcement out of the way, Fluttershy walked past Rarity with Alan sitting on her back cross legged. Once Fluttershy walked up to the three, she lowered herself to the ground to let her passenger off of her back.
"Go on honey, show them how nice and clean you are~"
As soon as the little guy slid off of Fluttershy, he allowed the others to look him over. True to Rarity's word, he was much better groomed than he was previously, his hair now having been cut short so that his bangs couldn't get over his eyes, and the back of his hair reached only the base of his neck. It also helped that without the dirt, his freckles were now more visible.
Alan's clothes consisted of a new pair of navy blue overalls, with three colorless little diamonds on the chest pocket, though the way they were placed made it look like Rarity's cutie mark somehow got on his garment. For a t-shirt, he now wore a simple long grey shirt (necessary since it was getting colder, due to the upcoming autumn and all). The only garment that wasn't new was his pair of shoes, though now he wore what the boy apparently called 'socks'.
"Looks like we did a great job!" Twilight said with a smile.
"Yep yep" Pinkie bounced over to the ape boy as she then sat besides him; "Plus, now I can see your eyes without that hair of yours getting in the way!" Pinkie said as she ruffled the kid's hair.
Alan actually chuckled a bit at the statement as his cheeks turned somewhat pink, causing Fluttershy to smile at his bashfulness.
"Now Pinkie, don't mess his hair, at least not too much.." Rarity said as she trotted over to the two.
"Since he's all cleaned up, I'd say it's a good time to go to the library.." Twilight said.
"Is it okay if I joined? I would very much like to get to know the lad.." Rarity asked her.
"Heck ye-" Spike was about to say before Twilight gave him a bit of a knowing smirk; "I mean, yes you can.."
"Marvelous!" Rarity said; "I'll be sure to let any other potential customers know I'll be out for a while.." She then galloped off to get a sign to put up on her door.
-
11:40 am [Twilight's Library]
Soon, the group (now consisting of two unicorns, an earth pony, a pegasus, a baby dragon, and a certain pint-sized kid who was currently invisible to everypony in town), arrived at the tree library that also acted as Twilight's living quarters. As soon as they walked in, Twilight turned the ape-boy visible again, she then aimed her horn at the ceiling of her library. Her horn glowed magenta, and fired a small beam at it, and the results were, well..
"I'm not doubting your magical abilities dear, but.." Rarity looked for the proper words to say in this situation; "What reason did you have for using your own magic on the ceiling? It didn't even to do a thing to it, not even lightly singe it.."
"It's a project I finished a week and a half ago.." Twilight said to them.
"Just look closely!" Spike said as he pointed up to the ceiling.
The three mares looked up and as they squinted their eyes, they saw what appeared to be a symbol, similar to Twilight's cutie mark, carved into it.
"It's a special security system designed to make the inside of my library soundproof, just in case we need to have a private conversation, meaning that nopony outside can hear our conversations no matter how loud our voices are.. All I have to do is channel some of my magical energy into it as a catalyst." Twilight easily explained; "I learned about this in one of Starswirl the Bearded's more theoretical books.."
"What about your windows? Wouldn't somepony try to get in through? There's no glass in a couple of them.." Fluttershy asked.
"Glad you asked Fluttershy... Rarity, could you please launch a magical bolt at one of the windows?"
Rarity raised an eyebrow, but complied as she did so, firing a bolt of her blue magical aura at one of the windows. Rather than go through the window however, it seemed to make physical contact with it. The edges of the window soon glowed bright magenta, just like Twilight's own magic.
If the three ponies were stunned, then Alan was practically flabbergasted, if his jaw threatening to drop to the floor was of any indication.
Twilight giggled a bit at the boy's look on his face, then continued as she faced the rest of the group; "As you can see, I took some precautions with my windows. Although any unicorn is able to make the aura surrounding the windows visible, they can't cancel out the system, because it's connected specifically to my magic, so only I can cancel it out..."
"Is it possible I could do something like this for my boutique?" Rarity asked, a small smile appearing on her face.
"It's possible! From what I've read in the book, it's possible that any unicorn, even if they're just at a regular level, can place a system like this in their homes. Of course, there's no actual known physical record of Starswirl even performing it, but it's more than likely..."
As Rarity pondered the possible uses of this system, Twilight then had Alan come over to her with a wave of one of her forelegs. The boy obeyed as he walked over to her, his hands currently in his pockets; "Just come with me Alan, I need to do a few private tests with you..."
Alan looked like he was about to slowly walk backwards, but Pinkie stopped him stopped him by standing right behind him; "It'll be all right Al, you can trust Twili~! Think of it like... a check up!"
"Oh, yes exactly! You've been to a doctor's office where you come from, right?" Twilight said to Alan with a smile.
"Well, yeah, I have... Why?" Alan responded to her softly.
"Well, this shouldn't be entirely different.." Twilight walked over to private area/lab where she keeps her equipment, with Alan following behind; "Spike, can you keep the girls company? This should only take about thirty to forty minutes.."
"Can do!" Spike said, with a suave grin sneaking on his face, now that he'd be with Rarity. Of course he'd also be with Flutters and Pinkie, but still! What a lucky purple little dragon..
Inside Twilight's lab, as soon as the 'doctor' and her 'patient' walked right in, Al looked all around, seeing machines he'd never seen before in his life, even a strange looking helmet by a chair, attached to some kind of, rectangular-ish lie dector-like.. Thing?*
Anyway, the two walked over to what appeared to be a lab table. Twilight then slowly reached her head down towards Alan, and used her teeth to grip the back of Alan's new overalls. She then gently picked him up off the ground by his garment, and stood up on her hind-legs. As she placed her front hooves on the table to maintain her balance, she lowered Alan down until he was on the table, and released her grip on his overalls.
"There..." Twilight then sat on her hindquarters as she looked at Alan; "Now, before we begin the tests, there's just one question I want to ask you kiddo.."
"What's that exactly?" Alan asked the unicorn as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Is there a name for your species?"
"Name for what?" Alan asked, his tone of voice betraying his lack of understanding.
"Species. It's the name of a group of animals or plants that share similar things in common. Like, for example, a feline refers to cats, or a canine refers to dogs." Twilight replied.
"Oh! Uh..." Alan blushed a bit.
Twilight rose an eyebrow at this, but shook it off as she asked again; "Do you know what your species is called?"
"I think we're called humans..." Alan replied; "Though that's what I was told anyway.."
"I'm sorry what was that last part?"
"N-nothing Ms. Sparkle..." Alan said, a bit of sweat rolled down his head.
"… Okay then, let's just begin with the first test..." Twilight levitated some strange looking device, looking like a box that had a megaphone attached to a pipe that was welded onto it; "Now hold still Alan, I promise this won't hurt a bit.." As she aimed the cylindrical part of the device at Alan, she then pressed a button on the back of the device with her hoof, the cylindrical object attached to the pipe to move up and down as it seemed to scan him.
The device gave off sounds of whirs and clicks while the light shined down on Alan. Eventually though, upon finishing, the only sound it gave off was a buzzer-type noise.
"Interesting..." Twilight said as she levitated some paper and a pen over to herself and wrote some notes down.
"What did that sound mean?" Alan asked.
"It meant that you don't have magical energy within you, save for some possible traces from the cloaking spell, but that's it as far as I can tell..." Twilight shrugged her withers.
"Now, to begin the second test.."
Meanwhile, as Twilight's companions waited outside of the lab, Spike's belly growled.
"Wha-" Spike then belched out some green fire and what appeared to be a rolled up sheet of paper, causing the girls to look at the paper.
"What could Princess Celestia have sent this letter for?" Rarity asked.
Spike picked it up and unrolled the paper, after which he began reading it. Upon reading the entire thing, he then re-read it a second to make sure he didn't miss anything.
"She... She wants to see us as soon as we can make the trip!" Spike explained
"I-it's not a mission is it?" Fluttershy asked softly.
"It doesn't say, only that it's for something important.." Spike said.
"Oh! Maybe it's to help organize a party!" Pinkie said as she hopped up and down excitedly; "I could set up some Autumn themed decorations if she wants!"
"I don't wish to dash your hopes like this Pinkie, but I somehow doubt it's for a party... " Rarity said as she levitated the letter to herself, and put her glasses on to read it a bit closer.
"Awww.." Pinkie said as her hair and tail deflated.. Then immediately re-inflated; "Oh well! There's always next time~"
Rarity blinked at how quick Pinkie cheered right back up, once again proving just how much of an enigma she was.
"You can come in now!" Twilight called from her laboratory.
The three ponies and baby dragon at each other as they then walked towards the laboratory.
On the aforementioned farm, a certain Stetson wearing orange farm-pony was at work, and as usual, it involved the fruit that her family was named for.
*Twack*
This was the resulting sound of Applejack's powerful back legs bucking out as her hooves slammed into said apple tree. Just as she and Big Mac were taught, the impact wasn't too soft as to not have any effect, but it wasn't too powerful since that would either damage the wood, uproot the tree, or outright annihilate it. Just enough so that the impact's vibrations would cause the apples above to neatly fall into the baskets placed underneath the tree by its sides.
The young mare then walked to each basket to make sure that there weren't any rotten apples in them. With a nod of approval, she used her front legs to place them both on her back. As she walked away from the freshly bucked tree, she felt something zip by from behind her as she felt a breeze on her hindquarters. Turning her head around, she saw nothing. Shrugging her shoulders a bit while holding the baskets on her back, the farm-pony trudged on. It took a little while until she came to where the rest of the apples that were bucked off their trees today were being stored. As Applejack put the baskets down on the ground, this time, something zipped right above her so fast that it caused Applejack's hat to fly off, and a couple of apples to be launched out of the baskets.
"What the hay?!" Applejack looked about as she looked for the cause of it, only for her to hear the sound of laughter coming from above her. Upon realizing who was zipping about on her farmland, her face visibly scrunched up a bit in annoyance as she looked up to see her friend/fellow-tomcolt, Rainbow Dash, pointing a hoof and laughing at AJ as she hovered above Applejack while also holding an apple she'd pilfered from one of the baskets in her other hoof.
"Ohohohoman AJ, you should've seen the look on your face!" Rainbow calmed down a bit as she gasped for air; "Y-you were all like... Like this!" She did a mocking expression of befuddlement where her eyes were exaggeratingly widened and her jaw dropped; "Pfft, I wish I'd gotten Photo Finish to capture it on camera, that would've been twenty percent cooler!" Rainbow chuckled as she took a bite of the apple she swiped.
"Well, Ah'm glad y'think that's funny Dash..." Applejack sarcastically replied as she gave a small smile; "But y'know what'd be even better?"
Rainbow Dash gulped down one last bite of the apple as she threw it over her shoulder and hovered down lower in curiosity as she watched Applejack turn her neck to reach into her saddlebag.
"You bein'... GROUNDED!"
Being as close as she was, Rainbow Dash barely managed to avoid having her left back leg snagged by the orange earth pony's lasso; "Uh... You know, I just remembered, I need to go practice this one maneuver that the other Wonderbolt back-ups taught me, so I'll just-"
"Oh-hoooo no y'don't Dash, y'ain't gettin' off that easy!"
AJ managed to snag RD's tail before she could dodge again, the lasso's noose firmly tied to the multi-colored tail. Just as she was about to pull the pegasus down to the ground, Applejack found herself being pulled into the air by Rainbow Dash, with her teeth still gripping the lasso no less.
Rainbow Dash zipped to and fro, trying to get the earth pony off, though it was easier said than done, thanks to said earth pony's physical strength and stubbornness. As she looked back at her passenger, she gave a mischievous smirk to her as she immediately went up higher and into a corkscrew spin. As soon as she finished, she looked back again, only to find that it didn't shake Applejack off, though it did make her pretty dizzy.
Dizzy, but determined nonetheless.
As Dashie flew over the branch of a fairly big apple tree, Applejack quickly used both forelegs to grip the branch, sat on it, and began pulling on her lasso. While trying to fly away, the pegasus felt herself being jerked back in mid-air. Looking back at Applejack with an annoyed look as she was being pulled back, her expression soon turned into that of a devious smile.
"ONETWOTHREEGO!"
Applejack's eyes widened as she saw RD fly straight at her, rather than from her, and was too late to do anything as she felt herself being tackled off the tree. While being tackled, Applejack used her forelegs to pin Rainbow Dash's wings to her sides, causing the both of them to fall into some bushes. As they rolled out of them, whilst they were wrestling on the ground, the two tomcolts stopped as they heard an "eh-hem" interrupt their little match.
Looking up, they saw the bemused expressions of Twilight, Rarity, and Spike.
"Can I wrestle next?" Pinkie asked the two, bouncing enthusiastically as she did; "It looks like so much fun! Oh, maybe I could try wrestling you Dashie! Although that wouldn't be fair since you have a rope attached to your tail and all, so maybe I could try you AJ! Of course you're pretty strong, though I could probably still manage!"
As Rainbow and Applejack stood up on their hooves, the farm pony removing her lasso from RD's tail.
"We weren't rasslin', Pinkie..." was Applejack's retort.
"Yeah... What she said..." Rainbow Dash replied.
"Could've fooled us..." Spike murmured.
Rainbow rolled her eyes as she coughed a bit to break the ice; "So, what brings you guys here?"
"Celestia's summoned us for something important... Again..." Twilight said.
"This obviously implies that it also includes the two of you, of course.." Rarity raised an eyebrow at the two ponies' disheveled state, deciding to let it slide for today.
As the young mares were talking (with AJ doing more of the talking than RD, who flew up to cure her boredom), Flutters was galloping somewhat as she hurried on over to where the others were. Apparently, her young house guest needed to "drain his pipe" before he could go on any further. Thankfully, it didn't take too long, since afterwards, they were managing to catch up.
Rainbow Dash spotted her from the corner of her eye above, and as she turned to look, she saw a small figure poking his head out from her mane, and attempted to duck down in an attempt to hide in Fluttershy's mane again. But it was too late, as Rainbow flew down to Fluttershy, feeling a bit curious at the moment, and it wasn't really like the other four were paying attention anyway.
"Hey Flutters, do you have someone with you? I thought I saw something poking out of your mane..." she asked her.
Before Fluttershy could reply, Alan slid off of her back and attempted to hide, only for Fluttershy to stop him by with her left wing, and gently push him so he stood by Fluttershy's legs and that Rainbow could get a better look at him.
"It's okay honey, this is Rainbow Dash, I've known her since we were fillies." Fluttershy softly said to him as she turned her attention to her childhood friend; "Rainbow, this is Alan..."
"Uh.. hi..." The kid waved sheepishly at her.
RD smiled, a bit amused at his shyness, reminding her of Fluttershy, though not to this degree. As three walked back, to the conversing mares, RD turned to her friend and asked; "Is it okay if I borrow him for a sec Flutters? Just need to introduce him to AJ..."
"Um, I suppose so.." Flutters looked down at her young house guest; "What about you Alan? Are you okay with this?"
Alan thought about it, and since it wasn't like he'd be able to hide again, what with him already being found and all, he nodded.
"All righty then... Oh, and could you hold still for a sec squirt?"
"Wait, what do you-" Alan was interrupted as he felt himself being hoisted into the air by the back of his overalls, the straps being firmly gripped in Rainbow Dash's teeth. Since he was quickly becoming accustomed to being held like this, Alan only kicked out a bit as Rainbow carried him over to the others, each step bringing the two closer to the other ponies.
Said others turned their heads to see Rainbow walking over, with Fluttershy following behind.
"What'n tarnation? Who's that she's got in her mouth?"
"You'll be acquainted with him soon enough..." Rarity smiled a bit as Rainbow soon came to the four mares and baby dragon.
Once Rainbow walked up to Applejack, she sat on her haunches, positioned her front legs 'neath Alan's under arms, and held him out to AJ after releasing her grip on the straps of his garment.
"Alan, meet Applejack; Applejack, meet Alan..." she said with a grin.
"H-hi.."
"Well howdy there sugah cube! No need to be bashful with me..." Applejack greeted him; "Ah'd tip m'hat t'ya, but a certain SOMEPONY caused it to fly off while Ah was busy with m'chores!"
Rainbow Dash whistled oh so innocently in response.
Fluttershy smiled as she saw that Applejack didn't seem to be bothered by him one bit. Thankfully, Alan didn't seem to mind her, so much so that he found himself being held in AJ's forelegs, and wasn't trying to squirm out.
"Haven't seen anythin' or anyone like ya..."
Before Applejack could ask about his species, Twilight interrupted; "We'll tell you on the way, for now, we need to get to the train station that goes to Canterlot.”
"Ah'll be sure to let m'family know... Though won't the folks at the train station have a few questions, y'know, regardin' this little fella?"
"I'll be using a cloaking spell... It's pretty much the same way we got him into town and out without anypony seeing him." Twilight responded with a nod. -
2:50 pm [Canterlot]
As Celestia sat on her throne, reading a scroll to herself she was levitating, one of the guards walked up to her and said;
"Your majesty? The bearers of the Elements have arrived!”
Celestia smiled as she put the scroll down; "Good, send them in..."
As the doors opened, Celestia smiled gently as the six ponies and baby dragon, walked into the throne room.
"Hello my little ponies.." The majestic white alicorn gracefully walked off the platform the thrones were on, and walked to the seven (eight, if you count a certain invisible "human" boy) ; "It's so good of you to come here, though I apologize that I had to summon you so suddenly..."
"S'all right yer highness.." Applejack said as she bowed a bit.
"We're sorta used to it by now..." Rainbow said shrugged her shoulders.
"So what'dya call us here for? Is it to help out with party decoration designs? I mean, Rarity already told me that wouldn't be the case, and it probably wouldn't be the case, but I just wanna ask ya so-"
"N-no, I'm afraid that isn't the case dear.."; Celestia fought the urge to chortle in amusement at the party pony's antics; "However, I will let you know when I need help in that regard, if that's okay.." Pinkie nodded in satisfaction at the answer, while Celestia then cleared her throat as she got down to business; "Now, regarding why I called you here.." The seven stood in attention, especially Spike; "This morning, Luna brought me some.. interesting news.." The sun raising pony blinked as her mind quickly raced to think of how to put her explanation into words; "Apparently, while I slept, she was taking a stroll in the night sky, when she saw something..."
"What was it, if I may be so bold to ask?" Rarity asked Celestia.
"Well.. It was a comet, but... It wasn't any ordinary one mind you" Celestia said calmly.
The ponies, especially Fluttershy, straightened up, as they realized what she was getting at.
"For one, this was a comet that was colored exactly like a-a rainbow!" Celestia's voice betrayed a bit of amazement, still apparently not getting over what her sister had told her; "Not only that, when she was within proximity of it, her magic reacted to it by having her horn glow without her meaning to. If I had to guess, I would say this 'comet' had a unique form of magic that nopony in Equestria had ever encountered before, much less the entire world!"
Each of the ponies, plus spike, looked at each other in amazement at this.
"The last time that Luna saw this magnificent thing, she said it flew in the direction over Ponyville, and since all of you live there, or at least in proximity of it.." Celestia managed to catch herself before she made a blunder, since she took into account that half of the six didn't actually live in the town itself; "I've called you over to see if any of you've seen the comet itself.."
The five ponies (plus Spike), looked at Fluttershy, who grew a bit nervous, but was given a nod of encouragement to speak up; "Well.. I saw it fly over my cottage last night, but it was only for a brief moment.."
"Thank you for telling me dear Fluttershy.." Celestia's horn gave off a very faint golden glow, one that the ponies would hardly be able to see with the lights in the throne room on; "Now, since you're the one who saw the comet last night out, I'd like to talk to you in private to see if I can learn anything else.." As the rest of the gang exited the room, she interrupted Twilight in mid-step; "Oh, and Twilight?"
"Yes Princess Celestia?" Celestia's faithful student asked, her eyebrows raised in puzzlement.
"While the cloaking spell is very well cast, could you please make whoever is in the throne room visible?" Celestia calmly requested; "There's no need to keep anything from me.."
Twilight, not really shocked that her mentor had managed to detect her spell, given her status as an alicorn and all, couldn't do anything but breath out as she gave Fluttershy an apologetic look.
"Better do as she says Twi'..." Spike whispered to his adopted sister; "Besides, I'm pretty sure she won't hurt Alan..."
Fluttershy gave a nod of approval at Twilight, letting her know to cancel the spell. Said lavender unicorn's horn immediately gave off a magenta colored glow as she canceled out the spell, after which, Twilight and Spike left the room completely. As a result, the now visible boy was shaking like a bundle of leaves while he was underneath the yellow pegasus's pink mane,
"Would you mind telling me who or what is shaking underneath your mane Fluttershy?" Celestia asked her.
"Well.. Your highness.." Fluttershy brought her left front leg up to rub the shaking object, getting him to calm down more; "*cough* He's, well.. On the timid side, shy even.. If you want to see him, I suppose you can. He managed to trust my friends well enough.." Fluttershy smiled gently as she whispered to the figure; "Come on down.. You'll be okay, I promise.." Slowly and reluctantly, the overall clad ape-boy slid off of her back, though he was obviously not very interested in taking a look at whoever the princess was, considering that he had grabbed hold of Fluttershy's left leg and buried his face in the fuzzy yellow appendage. Fluttershy kept her gentle smile in tact as she gently ruffled his hair with her right hoof and looked at Celestia, who was surprised at the reveal of a species she hadn't seen before, even more so at the fact that he was far more afraid of her than a pony would probably be; "This is Alan... Alan Banc. I found him in an area close by the Everfree Forest and brought him into my cottage to recover, since he's just a boy and all. I don't know where his pare-"
Celestia smiled as she lifted a hoof up respectfully, to show her understanding.
The yellow pegasus reached her head down to nuzzle at the top of the boy's head; "Could you turn around and look at Princess Celestia for me?"
Alan slowly did so, though as he opened one of his eyes, he quickly opened his other as he looked up in amazement at the princess of the sun. The princess's height (especially compared to most non-alicorn ponies) allowed her to dwarf the boy easily, making their size difference all the more prominent. This, thankfully, didn't intimidate him too much, as it was overridden by gazing upon her majestic and graceful appearance. Her eyes especially captivated him, as they held an air of authority, but at the same time, they had the same feeling of that of the mother-like figure that she obviously appeared to be. And when combining her white coat, with her stream-lined body and wings, then she may as well've been the spitting image of a swan.
"Um, I uh.." Alan shook his head out of his stupor as he looked up at her, and proceeded to bow very low to the ground.
Celestia suppressed the urge to giggle as she spoke in a motherly tone; "Relax child.." As she watched the boy stand up straight, she gently placed a hoof on his left shoulder; "I appreciate you acting like a little gentlecolt.. And I realize that this may be your first time meeting or even talking to royalty, but you don't have to act too formal with me. It's something I wish from all of my subjects.."
"M- I mean, Princess Celestia?" Alan looked up at the much bigger equine as he put his hands into the pockets of his overalls.
"Yes Alan?" Celestia asked as she sat down on her haunches.
"I-I saw something on your.. leg.. that looked like a sun.. What is it exactly? I mean, I've seen some pictures on other ponies legs too, and I didn't want to bother Miss Sparkle by asking, so I-"
"They're called 'Cutie Marks', dear..."
"Oh, well.. What exactly are cutie marks?"
Celestia smiled as she reached her front legs to him, and lifted the boy up so their eyes could meet; "Well, that's a very good question Alan. You see-"
-
3:50 pm [Outside the throne room]
"It's like Spikey said Twilight, the princess won't hurt him, I'm sure Alan's quite safe with her.." Rarity said to Twilight as she placed a hoof on her right shoulder.
"I know, it's just..." Twilight sighed; "What does it say about me when I keep something hidden from her? That I can't trust my OWN teacher despite the fact that I've known her since I was a little filly?!"
"Hey, cool it there Egghead..." Rainbow responded; "Look, we didn't know how any of the other ponies in town would react to the kid, right?"
"Right..." Twilight nodded.
"Aaand we didn't really know how Princess Celestia would react.." Pinkie said to her lavender colored friend
"Or anypony else in the castle would for that matter.." Spike quickly finished.
"Well, yes..." Twilight nodded again; "Bu-"
"But nuthin' Twi! While Ah wish we'd come clean to her, we all know there was a good reason t'try an' keep'im under wraps.." Applejack gave her a reassuring smile; "Ev'rypony in Ponyville'll obviously learn about Al sooner or later. But for now, let's just make sure he feels welcome.. Jus' hope his ma an' pa are doin' okay, wherever they are.. Probably lookin' ev'ry where they can for him Ah imagine."
Just as they were about to say anymore, the door opened up to reveal Fluttershy smiling brightly as she carried Alan on her back, who waved back towards Celestia from the other side before the door.
"So, how'd it go Flutters?" Rainbow Dash asked her fellow pegasus, which was the same question everypony else had.
"Oh quite well.." Fluttershy replied; "Celestia liked him, she even told Alan what cutie marks are, and what royalty usually do.. Or at least the basic gist anyway.."
"Really?" Spike asked as he looked up at Alan; "It wasn't too boring was it? I mean, royalty's usually all about paperwork, and crud like that.."
"No, not too boring, she made it easy to understand.." Alan replied softly; "Though she mentioned... Somepony?" He looked at Twilight, who nodded to show that it was the correct usage of the term; "Yeah, she mentioned somepony named, Luna, who's she?"
"Luna's her younger sister.." Spike said to him; "Just as Celestia raises the sun, Luna raises the moon.."
"Woah.. Will I get to meet her?" Alan asked.
"Maybe, but not right now.. Right now, we have to get back to town for a nice rest until tomorrow.. " Twilight's horn glowed as she once again casted the cloaking spell on Alan; "Besides, you're probably pretty tired.. Why don't you take a nap while you're riding on Fluttershy's back on the way? It'll get pretty dark later on.."
The boy yawned; "Sure.." Despite being invisible, it could be seen that he was clearly going underneath Fluttershy's mane.
-
7:00 pm [Fluttershy's cottage]
Some time after a dinner consisting of milk and lettuce sandwiches had been eaten, Alan was in the bathroom, using a toothbrush (likely designed for adult ponies to hold with their forearms) to clean his teeth. Upon spitting the toothpaste out, he turned the sink on to have the toothpaste go down the drain. As he left the bathroom, Fluttershy walked up to him; "Rarity told me that she'll have some p.js made for you, and some more clothes as well, but it'll take a while until she has them done.. Oh! I think I might have something for you to wear to bed... Just go up to the guest room and get yourself ready, okay?"
Alan nodded as he obediently walked up the stairs and to where the guest room was.
A little while later, Alan had already untied his shoes and taken them off, unbuttoned his overalls and taken those off, and finally finished taking his shirt off. All of this now leaving him only in his tighty whities (this was a word that Alan told Rarity and Fluttershy that was apparently another word for the type of undergarment he wore) and his socks. Fluttershy soon came in, and helped Alan put a garment on him. As soon as Alan's head went through the top opening, he saw that the garment he was wearing was apparently a sort of nightshirt with couple of patches with flower patterns that were knitted onto the shirt. The nightshirt itself was a tad long for him to wear, as the entire length of it came over his feet, and the sleeves would have to be rolled up in order to see his hands.
"I wore this when I was about your age or so.. I was a bit tall for a filly.." Fluttershy giggled as she gently grabbed Alan by the scruff of the nightshirt with her teeth and lifted him up as she carried him over to the bed and placed him on it, releasing her grip as the boy went under the covers, smiling a bit as Fluttershy softly pat him on the head; "I'll be downstairs if you need anything.. Good night, Alan.."
"Good night.. Fluttershy.."
As soon as the light went off, Alan looked about nervously at the shadows, which to a six year old child, could be something more sinister than what they actually were. The shadow of the tree branches outside could be the clawing hands of a beast, or perhaps there was a monster with a taste for the flesh of children lurking about in the room.
These fears were put aside as he felt something smaller than him poke his right shoulder gently. Turning to face who it was, Alan found it was Angel, who'd snuck into the room. The rabbit scrunched his nose up as he looked at the boy with concern, and smirked as he gave small pat on Alan's face, and proceeded to show off his mightiness by flexing his arms/front-legs. Angel curled up on Alan's chest and went to sleep, making sure he'd guard the kid with his life. Those stupid monsters wouldn't dare mess with the might of Angel, the bunny of awesomeness!
Alan smiled as his eyes became heavy, and eventually, the boy found himself in dreamland alongside his furry little bodyguard.
*** The phone's ringing throughout the Banc household reaches Harold's ears as he holds his son in his arms, rocking him gently as he picks up the phone.
"Hello, who is it?" Harold asks as he holds the phone in one hand, and the tiny one year old in another.
"Is this the Banc residence?" A woman's voice asks him back, from the other end.
"Yes.. I'm Harold Banc.. My wife's out visiting an old friend of hers, so she-"
"Mister Banc, it's about your wife.."
"Is Daisy all right?.."
"Mister Banc.."
"Please, tell me if she's okay!" Harold fights the urge to yell at her and keep his patience in tact.
"Mister Banc, your wife was in an accident... She was driving on the road back to her friend's house from a drugstore when a truck driver under the influence of alcohol swerved into her lane and accidently pushed the car off the road.."
"O-oh mon Dieu.." Harold whispers hoarsely, holding back a choke.
"The car.. It.. it crashed into a tree, and it.. It killed her on impact.. I'm.. I'm so sorry I have to tell you this... I wish this was a sick prank that someone put me up to, but it-"
"N-no, no.. I understand, you're just doing your job..." Harold shakes his head as his breathing becomes more rapid.
"If it helps.. The driver's been found and taken into custody, if you want you can press charges-"
"I-I will, but.. I have to hang up now.. Good bye.."
*Click*
Harold breathes in deeply, and out, tears falling down his cheeks as looks at the phone, than to the baby in his arm. He carries him into the living room, where he holds his son in his arms. As he shuts his eyes, he hugs his tiny boy tightly, doing everything he can to keep him safe..
An entire month and a half has passed since Daisy's funeral was held, tears were shed, heads were hung low, and goodbyes were said to her as colleagues and certain family members paid their respect.
Around noon, on an autumn day Harold pushes the baby carriage, with his only child sleeping inside all snug in his warm clothes and blanket. The man looks down at his sleeping son, the corners of his mouth rising as he gazes upon him, though the smile was contrasted by his eyebrows in a curved and saddened position. Eventually, they come to a stop as they arrive to where they need to be, the grave where the woman Harold loved is currently resting. The now widowed husband, and currently single father, pushes the carriage over, where he stops and has it parked under a tree, just eight feet away from the grave. Rubbing the back of his neck, Harold slowly walks over to it, where he silently reads the words engraved on the tombstone: - Here lies Daisy Roma Banc Devoted Wife and Loving Mother May she always live in the hearts of those who loved her. - Reaching into his coat without taking his eyes off of those words, Harold pulls out a box from one of the coat's pockets. Opening it up, he reaches in, taking out a silver rose. Harold takes this moment to kiss this plant, and kneels down to gently place it down atop the grave, and places a hand on the tombstone. Looking at it with a sigh exhaled from his mouth, he does the best he can to keep himself from breaking down.
Hearing some footsteps reaching his ear, Harold turns around to look at a woman, standing at 5'4, around the same age as he and his late wife.
"Bonjour, Harold.." The woman looks at him, her silver eyes showing a glimmer of sympathy.
"Bonjour to you too Karen.." Harold stands up; "Though I already told you, you don't have to greet me in my parents' native tongue, just a simple hello'll do.."
"S-sure, course.." The woman's light orange hair flows in the wind as she keeps her jacket on with her hands.
They stay silent briefly, as the wind's howling while it scatters the fallen leaves about haphazardly. Upon counting to ten in her head, Karen takes it upon herself to break the ice.
"Harold, I..." Karen's brow furrows in uneasiness as she looks at the widower; "I'm.. I'm so sorry, for what I've done.. If it weren't for me, she'd still be alive.."
Harold raises an eyebrow in query; "Wha-what?"
"I was the one who invited her over to my place to begin with.." Karen's head lowers down; "She didn't have to accept my invitation, but she still did it, and what happens? She gets killed, all because I wanted to see her! I was so selfish that I didn't stop to think that the road she'd be driving on would be dangerous at night! If I didn't invite her over, I wouldn't lose a friend, you wouldn't lose a wife, and Alan.." She looks at the carriage, tears pouring from her silver eyes; "Alan wouldn't ever have to grow up without a mother-"
"Karen!" Harold places his hands on her shoulders; "Karen, I want you to listen to me very carefully.."
Karen slowly turns her head to him, as he wipes away her tears with both thumbs; "I don't blame you, nor will I ever do so. Comprenez vous?" Karen says nothing as Harold continues; "What happened to Daisy was never your fault. If anyone's to blame, it was that drunken idiot who got the bright idea to get behind the wheel when he had no business in the first place!" He takes a minute to compose himself, until he's calm again; "There was nothing you could do to prevent her death..."
"But-"
"Let me repeat just this once.. There was NOTHING you could've done to prevent it.." Harold shakes his head; "Just as I wish that I could turn the clocks back, and prevent it from happening, but I can't very well do that.."
As the two step over to the carriage, Karen's looks down at Alan, smiling a bit sadly as she watches the baby shift his position in his sleep.
The woman looks up at Harold; "I.." after a brief pause, she continues; "If there's anything I can do to help, just name it... I'll be there to help out whenever I can, so you won't have to raise your son all alone. I don't have any desire to marry you or anything like that, I mean, let's face it; I could NEVER take her place, and I don't ever want to. But, I'll do the best I can to help you raise Alan, and.. That's all I can really do.."
The six foot tall man smiles gently; "Wouldn't have it any other way.."
As Alan wakes up from his nap, Harold looks at him; "Say hi to your Aunt Karen, sport.."
Karen picks him up out of the carriage, holding him in her arms and laughing as he reaches up to touch her face in curiosity.
***
8:40 pm [Golden Oak's library]
Having tucked Spike into his new bed (which she'd bought with her hard earned bits since he can't exactly sleep in a basket forever) , Twilight was now able to spend some free time at night, using it to look for a particular book by levitating a couple over to her with her telekinesis.
"No, no, no.." Twilight's gaze fell upon one book, or rather, magazine, with a curvaceous mare on the cover giving a wink while showing off her rump; " 'Plots-a-plenty'?!" It took some willpower for her not to scream that out, and keep it to a whisper; "Note to self: be sure to give the stallion that shipped this over here a stern lecture until he's in a comatose state.. Oh, and have him sit in a corner for good measure.." Twilight then gave out a light whistle, a special one she'd trained Owlowiscious to respond to. Right on cue, the tawny owl flew silently to her and landed on her back, rotating his neck all the way around to loosen some muscles, who gave out a 'hoot' as a greeting; "Could you please take this magazine into the woods and have it ripped to shreds by the other animals? I don't want Spike to accidently find and read it.."
With a simple nod, her other faithful assistant carried out his mission by flying up to the levitating magazine, and grasped it in his talons, carrying it out of a window Twilight opened for him and into the dark woods. With a smile of satisfaction, the eggheaded (and quite frankly overly nagging at times) unicorn continued her search until she found what she was looking for.
" Disorders Under The Bed: A Guide For Identifying Mental Disorders In Your Child.. Rolls right off the tongue.." Twilight rolled her eyes at the lengthy title as she opened the book and started looking for any mental disorders that could match whatever the little human boy had, until she came upon some pages discussing the anxiety disorder category. Since she wasn't an expert in psychology (considering she mainly specialized in the study of magic despite being knowledgeable in other subjects), naturally she wasn't able to pinpoint the exact and specific disorder the boy had. Shyness aside, he also seemed to have certain symptoms usually found in social anxiety disorder, which were: sweating, shaking, excessive blushing, and difficulty talking to strangers (though this is also found in shyness).
After levitating the book over to her bed, Twilight yawned as she stretched her front legs. Just as she stood up, she heard a familiar voice greet her.
"Good-den*, Twilight.."
Turning around, she faced none other than the Princess of the night herself..
"We have much to discuss, and thankfully, just as much time to discuss it."
"What do we need to discuss exactly Princess Luna?" Twilight asked the blue alicorn, thankful she was using a regular tone of voice. While she still had that quirk where she still somewhat spoke in a 'ye olde' fashioned manner of speech , she definitely seemed to have come a long way from the 1000 years out of touch princess who saw indoor voices as a foreign concept.
"Firstly, is thine meeting with my sister.." Luna sat on her haunches and allowed the lavender unicorn to do the same; "I'm glad she was able to let thou and those five friends of yours know of the comet I had encountered. It makes it easier as there's more of a chance that we shall learn more about it, especially since thou art quite the scholar as Celestia tells me.."
"Oh, um… Thank you princess.." Twilight did her best to supress the urge to allow a blush be seen on her face as she coughed a bit into her hoof to clear her throat; "But that's not the only thing you've come to talk about, right?"
"Ay, thou art very correct in presuming so.." Luna nodded her head a bit; "Give me leave to bring us both to the next topic at hoof... Celestia hadth also taken the time to let me know of something very interesting. Apparently, after the night of the comet's sighting had ended, one of your friends had made a discovery.. Now, would that friend of yours happen to be Fluttershy?"
Twilight nodded slowly, knowing where Luna was going with this.
"And if I were not mistaken, I believe that discovery was a boy of an unusual species, am I correct?"
Twilight nodded; "His name's Alan, he's something called a 'human'.. I did some tests on him before we were summoned to Canterlot, is it okay if I showed you the notes I've taken?"
"By all means young Sparkle.." The alicorn stood up to her full height on all fours, while the unicorn did the same.
Twilight slowly walked to her lab, with the princess following behind. With a simple glow emanating from her horn, Luna lit up the lab so Twilight could see her clearly during their conversation, since she didn't have the same adaptations for seeing in the dark as she did (being the princess of the night and all). Twilight gave the notes from the first test she'd done with Alan by levitating the paper to Luna, who read what her sister's student had written up on the boy.
"No magic detected... Except for traces of the cloaking spell thou casted upon him multiple times.." Luna looked at Twilight inquisitively; "I take it to... How does one put it.. Smuggle him over to the castle?"
"Y-yes, if you put it that way.. We didn't know how anypony else in Ponyville or Canterlot would react to him. It was the only way I could think for us to get him into town and out without him being discovered, plus I didn't want him to be freaked out from everypony staring at him." Twilight said without a hint of deception in her voice.
"Duly noted.." Luna put the paper back as she levitated another piece of paper, though something intrigued her; "Similarities with apes?"
"Appearance wise, he's somewhat ape-like, though much more upright in the way he stands... Oh, he also has hair only on the top of his head, eyebrows aside.. Just to be a bit more thorough, I did a quick test at 7:30 pm by using one of Alan's hairs as a sample. His species seems to apparently have similar genetics as apes, though he looks a bit more like a chimp, given the color of his skin and all. In terms of his body structure , I'll have to borrow some equipment from the hospital for further physiological research. I'm sure Nurse Redheart will allow me to if I ask.."
"Does he have any contagious diseases we should know about?" Luna smartly asked, not wanting to miss such a crucial detail.
"None that I know of, though when Fluttershy found him, he was developing a fever, likely in the early stages of a flu. Thankfully, she had him drink some special herbal medicine and it quickly faded away within minutes.."
"I'm presuming the recipe of this 'medicine' was taught to young Fluttershy by Zecora?" Luna raised an eyebrow at the unusual speed of which the boy had recovered from his illness.
"Probably.. He didn't seem to suffer from any adverse effects, and from what I've seen, he seems to be a healthy young boy. Well, I'm guessing he's at least as healthy as a colt his age would be. I still don't quite know the standards of human health, since Alan's much too young to actually know stuff like that, being a six year old and all.." Twilight clicked her tongue as she looked at Luna's face, which had a shocked expression on it.
"Six?!" Luna kept her voice to a low whisper, keeping herself from shouting; "Where art his parents?!"
"I. don't. know! None of us know where they are.. They probably got separated from him or something.." Twilight sighed sadly as her ears drooped a bit; "Alan must've been frightened, waking up alone and not knowing where he was... That poor kid... "
Luna placed a wing on Twilight's withers gently, having a sad expression of her own, and asked; "Since it will likely take a while to find his parents, will Fluttershy look after him until then?"
"Yes, he's over at her cottage as we speak.." Twilight nodded firmly.
"I'd like to see the boy for myself. Does this sit well with thou?..." Luna gently asked; "I hath no desire to force thou into this.."
"No, it's perfectly fine..." Twilight nodded; "We'll have to be quiet however.."
"Of course Twilight..." Suddenly, with just a slight light blue glow of her magic generated from her horn, Luna easily teleported herself and the studious young unicorn out of the entire library.
- 8:55 pm [Fluttershy's cottage]
In that instant, the two were relocated right in the living room. Right in front of them, Fluttershy was reading the latest issue of "Wild Life Aficionados Monthly", a magazine she'd recently subscribed to after learning about it from somepony in town when they arrived, and upon hearing the unmistakable sound of teleportation (but more silent), she looked up and placed it on her table, keeping it open so she wouldn't loose track of what she was reading. Upon seeing who was with Twilight, she gasped a bit in surprise.
"P-princess Luna? What-" The young mare asked softly, not wanting to wake little Alan up.
"I already know of thine guest, young Fluttershy. Thou have my sister to thank for that.." Luna put a hoof up, silencing her a bit; "From what Twilight's told me, he's no different from any of the foals in Ponyville, or Equestria ."
Fluttershy smiled with relief; "Thank you.. I was a bit worried.."
"I'm sorry if we're intruding.." Twilight said to her.
"It's not a problem Twilight, at least I have a bit more company tonight.." Fluttershy replied in good humor.
"Is the child asleep?" Luna asked raising a hoof inquisitively; "I asketh since I hope we have not disturbed his slumber.."
"I checked on him half an hour ago, he's sound asleep. He also has Angel with him, it's one of the most adorable things I ever saw in my life. He's like a little guard-bunny~" Fluttershy giggled at the image; "Anyway, why do you ask?"
"I wish to see him Fluttershy. I shalt not to wake the boy up, lest he wake up frightened, and mistake me for a boggart coming to abduct him.." Luna calmly said to her with sincerity; "If thou wouldst be so kind as-"
"He's up in the guest room..." Fluttershy replied immediately; "Though I'm not sure how Angel will react if he sees you..."
With a slight bow, Luna then left the living room, and silently went upstairs. She then emanated some light from her horn, and used her magic to find the guest room (having not been inside Fluttershy's cottage before) by tracking the child by the small traces of the cloaking spell that was still on him.
After gently pushing the door open, she walked into the room without making any noise. Though this didn't stop Angel's ears from twitching as they were picking up on her soft hoof-steps. Opening both of his eyes, the small white rabbit stood on his hind legs and looked at the alicorn, understandably with a look on his face that said: "If you try to hurt this kit, you'll have to answer to me, got it?"
"I hath no ill intent, little rabbit.. You have my solemn word as a princess of Equestria that no harm shall befall him in any sort of manner. I merely wish to have a good look of him, without awaking him of course" Luna whispered to him, not wishing to wake said boy.
Angel nodded without loosing his look, satisfied with the answer, and leapt off of his sleeping spot without even taking his eyes off of her. Luna stifled a chuckle of amusement, though admittedly, she had to respect his vigilance. Not everyday you see a little white bunny stand his ground against something bigger than himself while guarding a child, especially when that something happened to be an alicorn. As she looked away from Angel and turned her attention towards the boy as he slept blissfully, unaware of what had occurred between Angel and herself. Looking down at his sleeping face, Luna smiled gently at how peaceful he looked, not to mention how huggable he looked for an ape-like creature that only had hair on the top of his head. After very softly rubbing one of his freckled cheeks with a hoof, Luna used her telekinesis to carefully and gently lift him out of the bed without disturbing him in even the slightest. Her eyes widened a bit at the sheer size difference between herself and the little one before her, though she brushed it aside as she also had to fight the urge to squeal out at the nightshirt he was wearing. It was definitely easier said than done when you considered the fact that the nightshirt was too big for him, since, after all, that's kind of a rule of cute when it came to how adults usually see children. In fact, there's a little scientific/math equation for it..
Child minus Height plus Clothing-too-big-for-him/her = ADORABLE
Anyhow, as she finished up, Luna silently and gently placed the boy back under the covers without him ever being the wiser. As his head peaked out and rested against the pillow, Luna softly and playfully ruffled his hair as she reached her head down to him. She gave him a nice soft kiss on his left cheek, and just to be thorough, she gave him another on his forehead; "Rest well little one... ".
As if he heard her, Alan's sleeping smile grew bigger, while Angel's expression softened u- Wait, gotta remember, he's not supposed to be a softie, he's supposed to be tough an' terrific. Still, he supposed having a softer side wasn't too bad. As Angel smiled at the alicorn that left the room, and closed the door behind her, the little rabbit yawned as he proceeded to climb onto Alan's chest, and curl up again to join him. - Downstairs, Luna had rejoined with Twilight and Fluttershy, smiling with eyes that were as soft as the latter's.
"I hath never seen a boy as tiny as he..." She said to them both.
"You should see him compared to Spike.." Twilight replied humorously.
"And neither of thee mentioned how snuggly he actually looked. He quite honestly reminded me a of a plush toy I used to have as a little filly, save for the lack of fur on his body.. " Luna chuckled as she recomposed herself; "I can promise this... I look forward to him meeting me. If not awake, than at least in his dreams, should he need help with nightmares..."
Fluttershy smiled at her; "Good to know your highness... "
*** "A little to the right..." Karen smiles as she kept her camera still.
"Like this?" Harold shifts a bit in his seat, wearing a santa hat, a red and green plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of bright red trousers held up by white suspenders, and a pair of black boots that come up to his shins. As he does so, he's keeping little Alan from falling off of his knee.
"Yeah, stay like that..." Karen put a mouth to her hand as she muffled a laugh; "Oh god, Alan looks so freaking cute right now.."
"Well, it helps he gets his looks from his old man. Isn't that right mon petit assistant?" Harold says with a grin as he looks down at Alan, who's decked out in an elf costume. Coupled with his size (not even being that much over a foot in height), he now looks even more like one of Saint Nick's little helpers.
"M-moon p-p-eh-teet.." The toddler tries to repeat his dear old dad, though without success.
As he chuckles in amusement, Harold softly instructs his boy; "Stay still for me and Aunt Karen kiddo.."
The instant Alan did, his Auntie Karen successfully took their photo in a flash with her digital camera and looked at the photo; "Looks great!"
Harold stands up, with the bitty toddler in his arms growing sleepy by the minute; "Thank you for letting us stay at your place for Christmas Karen, and.. for everything.."
"Anything for you and my surrogate nephew..." The woman says as she takes Alan from him into her arms; "I'll get him ready for bed, you can make some hot chocolate if you want..."
"Thanks.." The man smiles as Karen carries the little guy out to a nursery she had set up for him. Once she's out of sight, Harold slowly walks to the brightly lit fireplace, and looks at a couple of photos above it. One photo has Karen holding one year old Alan in front of Cinderella Castle, a photo Harold had taken when the three of them went to Disneyland in Florida during the summer (it was worth the humidity, and occasional mosquito); another has Alan riding on top of Harold's head; and the third, has shrunk Harold's smile. It's a photo of Daisy and Karen, where Daisy was giving Karen bunny ears on her head while Karen had an arm around her shoulders.
Harold wipes a tear from his right eye as he whispers to the photo, or rather, Daisy..; "Joyeux Noël ... Mon bien-aimé..." Harold then looks out the window, where the snowfall outside is guaranteeing a white Christmas, almost as if he can see her, and her loving smile.
If she's there, than he'll let her in. Just so he'd have the chance to feel a hand as warm as his caress his face. After that..
And especially after that..
He'd embrace her, not wanting to ever let go, for fear of loosing the one he loves again..
On a morning during the spring, Harold's eyes open begrudgingly from the intense sunlight. As he sits up, he looks to his left at the other side of his bed, the place where Daisy used to occupy whenever they slept together. Harold sighs to himself a bit as he looks away, and gets out of bed, walking to the bathroom. There, he examined his face in the mirror while rubbing his beard a bit, which has grown a bit longer after a couple more years or so. Thankfully, he has no need to shave it, since he always keeps his beard groomed, being a sensible man in his early thirties and all. As he turns on the sink, and splashes some water on his face, he then takes a comb and begins using it on his beard and sideburns. After getting his facial hair combed, he then takes a bottle, and sprays it on his facial hair to keep it the way he styled it. Satisfied, he starts whistling as he gets out of the bathroom, and even starts singing a special, and rather charming little song to himself as he goes to his closet.
Quels sont les chats qui habitent les grands quartiers? Quels beaux minets ont l'plus long pedigree? Quels chouchous dans la soie se prélassent? Naturellement, les Aristocats
Harold's first items of clothing he puts on are his white t-shirt, and blue plaid jacket.
Quels doux mimis ont des profils de Joconde Quels chats trésor savent se tenir dans le grand monde? Très gourmets refusant les erzats Et naturellement, les Aristocats
Next, he pulls up his relaxed straight jeans as he continues singing.
Aristocats, Il sont toujours même quand ils font un petit tour Toujours précieux là où ils vont Et sont fiers d'leur éducation Dédaignant les ruelles Ils préfèrent les marres aux poubelles Dont se contentent trop vulgaires les chats de gouttière Quel miaou réprouve les gros mots? Quels chat chouchou s'estime sans défaut Et devant qui les autres tirent leur chapeau? Mais naturellement, les Aristocats
Soon enough, Harold puts on his socks and shoes, while also tightening his belt as he sings the next verse.
Aristocats, Il sont toujours même quand ils font un petit tour Toujours précieux là où ils vont Et sont fiers d'leur éducation Dédaignant les ruelles Ils préfèrent les marres aux poubelles Dont se contentent trop vulgaires les chats de gouttière Quel miaou réprouve les gros mots? Quels chat chouchou s'estime sans défaut Et devant qui les autres tirent leur chapeau? Mais naturellement Mais naturellement voyons [Oh ho, naturellement] Les Aristocats!
As he finishes, he has a smile on his face as he sighs out in satisfaction.
"Ahhh.. Always good to sing that... Reminds me of my days back in Quebec as a kid.."
Harold suddenly feels someone gently brushing against his leg. As Harold looks down, he sees his tiny four year old son in his pajamas, and grins, amused at the drowsy boy's disheveled bedhead.
".... Bonjour Papa.." Alan whispers as he rubs his eyes with one hand, and covers his yawning mouth with the other.
"Bonjour to you too mon petite homme, your french is getting better.." Harold then gently kneels down and ruffles the boy's hair; "You didn't stay up all night practicing some of the basic words again, did you?"
"………. Yeah…" Alan sheepishly admits; "But I wanna be able to speak in two ways like you can.."
"I know…" Harold says gently, picking the boy up in his arms; "But you also need to get plenty of sleep. You're a growing boy after all.." As he stands up, he checks his arms and the way his son's positioned. Satisfied, he then begins carrying the little boy to the kitchen, making sure to not drop him by accident; "Anyway, after breakfast, I need you to get dressed Alan.."
Alan gives him a look of curiosity, which prompts a grin from his papa.
"We're going over to the zoo today. Aunt Karen's going to meet-" Harold pauses as he sees that his boy's expression became more nervous.
"I.. I.." The little one struggles, but fails, not sure what to say in fear of offending his dad.
"Alan, I want you to listen to me.." Harold lifts the tiny boy up a bit more so that their faces can meet.
"But-"
"Please, listen.." Harold says to him in a gentle voice as he continues uninterrupted; "I know it's scary for you to be in public around people you don't know. But I promise, you'll be safe, because you'll be with me and Aunt Karen the entire time. Nothing bad will happen to you, not while I'm around, understand?"
Alan says nothing, and simply nods as he looks at his father's face.
"Good, now give me a smile.."
Alan slowly smiles, but only a little bit, which Harold raises an eyebrow at.
"A little bigger, if you'd please.."
Alan's smile extends, so now it's more noticeable.
"Heh, that's my boy..." As father and son continue their trek to the kitchen, the former asks the later; "So what sounds good today? Maybe some scrambled eggs?"
To which the latter replies; "Yeah.." with an enthusiastic nod.
"All right then. I was planning on making some anyway..."
***
August 28, 6:50 am [Second Day in Equestria]
In the bedroom of Twilight Sparkle, the young unicorn was sleeping peacefully with a smile adorned on her muzzle, all snug under her covers. Her smile, of course, being that from the pride she felt from having a productive day yesterday. After all, a day where one of your best friends finds a young boy from an unusual race/species of creature that's never been discovered by Ponyville (not to mention getting to learn about them a bit, no less) has just a one hundred to one chance of occuring, if ever. Even when the rays of Celestia's sun shined through her bedroom window and on her face, she didn't loose her smile as she opened her eyes and yawned. Upon getting out from under the covers, she stretched all four legs out to loosen up her muscles, and quietly got down to the floor. Turning to Spike with a smile, she then quietly walks downstairs to make some breakfast for the both of them, until she hears Spike belching.
Spike came down the stairs, yawning as he carried a scroll in his hand; "Cele-"
"I heard you from downstairs. Thank you Spike..." Twilight smiled as she briefly looked at one of the windows, and whispered to him; "There's a muffin in the fridge if you want one.."
"... Why're you whispering?.. Is this because of that incident with Derpy?" Spike asked her.
Twilight nodded; "Yes, I don't want to take any chances.."
Spike shrugged his shoulders, and after handing the scroll/letter to Twilight (which she simply levitated in front of her face), the purple dragon went to the fridge to get some breakfast. As she unrolled the paper, she cleared her throat a bit as she read it to herself, in silence of course.
Dear Twilight,
Last night, Luna told me of your discussion with her about little Alan, as well as your research notes on his people. I'm glad to see you take initiative regarding matters such as these. However, this not the only reason I've written this letter to you. It's also because, should I have enough time, I wish to discuss something with you. It's something regarding you, and your studies, but please don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong, it's merely something I believe you need to hear from me.
Your teacher (who will always be proud of you),
Princess Celestia
Twilight blinked as she finished reading this letter, and promptly rolled it up into a cylindar again as walked over to where her saddle bags (thankfully already open), and stored it in the left one, proceeding afterwards to telekinetically close it with her magic.
"Twilight?.."
"What is it Spike?"
"There's a pro-"
"Muuuuuuffiiiiin"
Twilight's eyes widened as she heard a familiar (and hungry) voice coming from the kitchen.
"DERPY NO!!" -
7:03 am [Carousel Boutique]
Rarity sipped her cup of coffee that she levitated with her telekinesis, smiling as she looked over the clothes she meticulously crafted for the human child (thanks to the using the notes she'd taken, regarding his measurements). For the first set of clothes (socks and underwear aside), she crafted a pair of orange overalls (with a brown leaf on the chest pocket/bib), as well as a long sleeved burgundy shirt. For the second, she made what appeared to be a simple white nightshirt that would reach past his knees while keeping his feet visible, as well as a nightcap to go with it. The fashion designer perked up as she felt something rubbing against her front legs, and upon looking down, she saw her beloved cat, purring as she showed affection.
"I'd say I did a smashing good job, wouldn't you agree Opal Wopal?~"
The longhaired pedigree simply responded by continuing to rub against her owner's legs.
"I'll take that as yes…" Rarity put her coffee mug on a table as she then levitated the clothes, and folded them up. After she levitated them in one of her bags, she cast a minor spell on it, likely as a way to prevent the clothes from wrinkling up.
"Now then, after breakfast, I'll bring the clothes over to Fluttershy's cottage.. But first.." Rarity levitated a wind-up toy that looked like a mouse, and telekinteically wound it up; "Something to keep Opal busy.." As she placed it on the floor, she released the toy.
The instant Opal heard the sound of mechanical gears shifting, she turned her head to face it. Looking at the metallic mouse speeding across the floor, she instantly sped off in pursuit of it, likely wishing to disembowl her quarry. -
8:00 am [Just a couple of minutes from Fluttershy's cottage]
First you wriggle your tail, (OINK OINK OINK)
A pair of blue birds blinked in confusion..
Then you wriggle your snout, (OINK OINK OINK)
A squirrel twirled one of its paws near its temple, as if to indicate the thing it looked at was coo-coo..
Then you wriggle your rump, (OINK OINK OINK)
Harry (the bear that lived close by Fluttershy's cottage), gave a look that clearly said: "This better be the result of tainted fish.."
THEN SHOUT IT OUT~ (OINK OINK OINK)
A brown rabbit peeking out from its burrow pressed its paws against its ears, not because the voice was singing badly(it was actually pretty good), but rather from the volume.
Pinkie continued the song by humming the lyrics, having so much fun as she bounced down the path to Fluttershy's cottage, but not by her usual method. As it turned out, she found a new use for her tail, which she had coiled up and formed into a spring, using it as if it were a pogo stick. Needless to say, plenty of raised eyebrows (coupled with lower jaws that were threatening to hit the floor in shock) could be found back in Ponyville after she left for the cottage. As soon as she saw said cottage from a distance, she gave out an enthusiastic "WOOHOO!!" and prompty bounced even higher and further, until she landed perfectly and precisely just 12 inches from the front door, despite the trajectory, distance, and how powerful the bounce was. As a result, she successfully took the law of gravity, and beat it over the head with a sledgehammer. After that, she started using her right hoof to knock on the front door (to the tune of "shave and a haircut" no less).
Inside the cottage's laundry room, as Fluttershy had finished hanging Alan's overalls, shirt, and socks up to dry, she heard the knock and promptly answered it, opening the door with her signature gentle smile as she looked at her hyperactive and eccentric friend.
"Morning Flutters~" Pinkie greeted her as the kindly pegasus let her in; "How'd last night go with the little guy?"
"Oh quite well.." Fluttershy softly replied; "He's in the kitchen right now, having breakfast with some of the critters.."
The two quietly tip-hoofed over, and peeked into the kitchen, and just as Fluttershy said, the boy (still in his oversized nightshirt) was indeed enjoying his breakfast, which consisted of a glass of apple juice along with a plate that held a yummy looking omelette. While eating his breakfast, he seemed to also enjoy the company of the critters. Aside from Angel (who was on the table eating a salad), there were some squirrels and chipmunks eating their acorns, and a baby robin atop the boy's head as it attempted to figure out what exactly he was. Now, for Pinkie, seeing Alan wearing that oversized nightshirt was enough, but this whole scene? This was almost too much for her to contain her giddiness at the overabundance of 'adorbs' in the kitchen. As soon as Alan finished his breakfast, Pinkie stealthily crept in without even making a sound, gently reached her front legs out, and lifted the boy out of his chair.
Alan faced Pinkie with surprise, but smiled a bit anyway; "H-hi Pinkie.."
"Hey kiddo, what's up?" She gave him hug, a bit tight, but thankfully she knew not to give out one of her patented 'Squeeze-the-oxygen-out-of-somepony' hugs to someone much smaller and younger than her.
"Nothin' much, I guess.." Alan said with a bit of a blush.
With a little bit of fancy front hoof-work, she managed to place the kid on her back, and place all four hooves on the ground at the exact time, and carried him out, with Angel following behind. While on the pink pony's back, Alan faced Fluttershy.
"Um.. N-nous vous reh-mer-shoon deh les omelette.." Despite his struggle pronouncing the words correctly, he still managed nonetheless.
"Ooooo, you can speak fancy?" Pinkie asked the boy, with amplified interest.
"It's French.." Alan replied to her; "I mainly know some of the basics.."
"It sounds very similar to 'Prench'.. " Fluttershy said with a smile; "Who's been teaching-?" A knock on the door interfered with her question, however; "Oh, that must be either Twilight or Rarity.. Pinkie, could you-"
"Yepyepyep!!" Pinkie quickly responded, and moved into the bathroom with Alan on her back. It was so fast, mind you, that there were still some dust outlines of the two.
Fluttershy grinned as she shook her head at Pinkie's eccentricity, and immediately walked to the door. As she opened it and greeted both Twilight, Spike, AND Rarity, much to Spike's delight, she let them in, and looked at both Rarity and her bag; "Um, I'm guessing that bag contains his new clothes?"
"Oh yes indeed Fluttershy~"
The instant Rarity used her telekinesis to open the bag and levitate the overalls, shirt(etc) out however, something pink snatched them all out of thin air, and just sped all over the place, until it stood in the center of the living room.
"What in blazes is-?!"
Soon enough, the pink tornado stopped spinning, and in its place, was Pinkie, with Alan on her back, now wearing his new shirt and overalls; "Tadaaaa~" As she looked about the room, she saw that the other three mares apparently now sported wild disheaveled manes from the wind and sheer speed of that tornado. Rarity took it quite badly, now sporting a twitch in her left eye from her mane-do looking like somepony had put it through a vaccum cleaner.
Spike, on the other hand, promptly collapsed on his back, still trying comprehend what the buck just happened.
The four mares (along with Spike and the currently invisible Alan) continued walking as they looked for one of their tom-colt friends, and considering that Applejack would be busy with some chores on her farm, they had decided beforehand (or before-hoof) it’d be more logical to look for Rainbow Dash first. Still, it was a nice day for a walk, so why not stop and smell the metaphorical roses along the way? Besides, it’d give Twilight plenty of ample time to think to herself over a couple of the day’s events.
“Today definitely started out unexpectedly.. Doesn’t exactly help that Derpy and Pinkie made that possible…” Twilight fought the urge the to rub her forehead with her hoof, knowing that doing so would likely trip her up (what with ponies being mainly quadrupeds and all); “Pinkie, I can, semi-understand, since that was her just being herself.. Still can’t figure out how Derpy got in despite the library being locked down tight.. Better start thinking of something else fast before I run into one conundrum after another..”
The young purple unicorn breathed through her nostrils, and exhaled out in an attempt to clear her mind. It seemed to work thanks to the fresh autumn air. Satisfied, Twilight turned her head to look at Fluttershy, or rather, the invisible child riding on her back. Twilight smiled a bit, remembering last night’s events, where it seemed like she’d made a breakthrough somewhat, regarding information about Alan’s people.
That aside though, as Luna said last night, the boy wasn’t really any different from a foal, much like how Spike was in spite of being a dragon.
“Let’s just hope everypony in Ponyville doesn’t panic when they find out about Alan. It’s not really like that kid could do anything to us..” Twilight blinked a bit as she thought of something a bit peculiar; “Although.. Why is it that Alan showed up when that comet- Wait just a minute , get a hold of yourself..” Twilight mentally sighed; “I’ll discuss things with the girls in private to see what they think..” Twilight nodded to herself, knowing how logically sound it was.
A soft (but still loud) snoring snapped the unicorn out of her thoughts, as she and the others looked up. There, right above them was none other than Dashie herself, curled up on a cloud, and snoozing..
“… Of course we’d find her doing this, and before it’s even nine am no less..” Rarity said with an eloquent deadpan.
“How's she doing that?" Alan whispered into Fluttershy's ear.
"Well Alan, aside from controlling the weather, we pegasi have the ability to interact with clouds as if they were solid. What that means is, we can touch or walk on clouds as easily as anypony can walk on the ground.. Nopony really knows what magic allows us to do this, but it's said that we've been able to do this long before we were tasked with controlling Equestria's weather.." Fluttershy whispered back to the boy with a smile.
Little did everypony know that Pinkie had already thought of a way to get RD to wake up. As she lifted a front hoof into her mane, she immediately started digging around; "Nope, nope, no- Wait, here it is~" And right there in broad daylight, Pinkie whipped out a hollowed out megaphone (the kind fans would usually use during a sporting event).
"Pinkie, as much I find your unusual abilities useful, I do must ask.. How is it you were able to even carry that thing around in your mane?" Rarity asked her with a very inquisitive look on her face; "Doesn't that get, well.. Uncomfortable?"
"Oh it's not as bad you'd think.. I can even store a ladder in there!" Pinkie gave a chortle and a snort as her tail coiled up, and she used it to bounce right up a tree. As she landed on a branch across from the napping pegasus, Pinkie kept a hold of her megaphone with both front hooves, and streeeeetched the upper half of her body across to Rainbow Dash, almost as if the pink party pony was made of taffy (and given her obsessions with sweets, she may as well be) . As soon as she was close enough, Pinkie surpressed a giggle, and put the megaphone close to the pegasus's face. She then took a deep breath and-
"RISE AND SHINE DASHIEEEE~!"
The impromptu wake-up call jolted Rainbow Dash right off of her cloud, though she managed to keep herself from falling to the ground, thanks to her wings; "Mornin' to you too.." Dashie muttered grumpily, though thankful she hadn't gone deaf. She then promptly flew down to the ground, stretching out a bit; "Anyway, I'm guessing we're going over to the library?"
"Correct, but first, we have to go get Applejack.." Twilgiht replied.
"Got it.." Dashie replied; "Though I'm guessing she doesn't need a MEGAPHONE.." She gave Pinkie an annoyed look, to which Pinkie giggled at.
9:30 am [Sweet Apple Acres orchrids]
Having taken care of the last basket of apples for the day, Applejack was taking a breather under a shady tree, her ears twitching from the sound of birds tweeting, which put a content smile on the orange earth pony's muzzle. It became even bigger as she saw her five pony fireds, as well as Spike, and the now currently visible Alan; "Mornin everypony!" She then walked up to Fluttershy, and lifted the boy off as she held him in her front legs; "Mornin' sugar cube.. How's it goin' over at Fluttershy's place?"
"A-alright I guess.." Alan said with a small smile; "The animals seem to like me.."
"Good t'hear.." AJ set the boy down as she ruffled his hair and turned to face the others; "Before y'all ask, yes, Ah'll be able to join ya at the library.. Ah've let Granny and the others know about our little mission without givin' away too much.. "
Twilight was a bit stunned at the convenience, but nonetheless, she was grateful.
10:20 am [Ponyville]
Spike looked around as the entire group passed by some of the locals, occassionally waving to somepony he knew, including Lyra and Bonbon, the two young mares that lived in the chocolate shop run by Bonbon herself. Spike turned to the empty space occupying Fluttershy's back, having looked beforehand to make sure there weren't any other ponies passing by. Eventually, the entire party of eight arrived at the Golden Oaks library, and went inside, where Twilight set up the security system, and once again turned Alan visible again.
"There, we're all set.. Girls, we need to have a discussion down in my lab. Um, Spike, you don't mind keeping Alan company while we're downstairs, right?" Twilight asked him, hesitant since she didn't want to make him feel left out.
"Nah, you go on ahead.. Besides, it'll give us a chance at some guy time.. Which, truthfully, I've never actually thought I'd get a crack at.." Spike chuckled.
As Twilight rolled her eyes in good humor, she and the other five mares went downstairs for their meeting, leaving the two boys of completely different species to get a chance at socialiizing.
"Um.. Spike?.. I-I hope you don't mind askin', but.. What's 'guy time'?" Alan asked the purple dragon.
"It's when two boys like us just, y'know, hang out, do whatever…" Spike looked at the smaller boy with a raised scaly brow; "Why do you ask?"
Alan looked down, a bit ashamed as he muttered something indecipherable.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that, what'dya say?" Spike asked him.
"I… Um.. I've.." Alan struggled to find the words he wished to form, gulping a bit as his throat became dry; "I.. I.."
"Al, dude.." Spike placed a hand on the boy's shoulder; "It's okay, you can tell me…"
Alan sighed, not taking his eyes off of the floor; "I've.. Never really been good at talking with other kids .. " Alan paused for a second; "I'm.. I'm sorry if I've been a bother to you.."
"Hey, it's okay.."; Spike gave an encouraging smile as he put an arm around the little guy's shoulders; "We could just do something simple, instead of playing a game. How does that sound?"
If Alan's small smile was of any indication, it was that he felt at least a bit better from hearing that from another boy, albeit it was one of a completely different species, but still..
"Hmm, what do you say we read something? There's plenty of books we could read… Oh, there's one on one of the upper shelves over there!" Spike pointed to a shelf that, quite honestly, looked to be a bit too high for the both of them to reach easily; "We could use a ladder, buuuut I don't think Twilight would appreciate us doing that without her supervision.." That's when a brilliant idea flashed into his head; "Wait, I've got an idea, just follow me…"
The two boys walked over until they were underneath the shelf, and looked up. Spike, of course, judged the height for a moment, until he was sure it was the correct height. Spike then motioned Alan to come closer, to which the smaller boy complied. Spike then picked the boy up easily, and placed him on his shoulders. Aside from Alan's size making him lighter, Spike wasn't a dragon for no reason, so he likely had some muscle on him (especially considering he proved himself able to pick up and carry all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders at the same time). The human/dragon tower then turned around so that they were facing the shelves; "Do you see a book with a red spine and golden letters?"
"Y-yeah.." Alan did his best to stay still and not fall off of the baby dragon.
"Good, just reach out and grab it…" Spike felt Alan lean a bit forward; "That's it…"
"I-I think I- Yeah, I got it.." Alan pulled out the book, though he wobbled a bit from the weight, and was then gently lowered back to the ground.
The two boys then looked down at the book, smiling a bit at the title:
"Ponytales Treasury: A Collection of Stories by the Brothers Trott "
"Still in good condition!" Spike said enthusiastically; "Now, let's see…" he opened the book, and saw the first story; "Oh this is a good one: "The Silver Fox" "
"What's that about?" Alan asked, now more curious and intrigued.
"Why don't I show you?" Spike asked as he began turning a page.
Meanwhile, downstairs, the meeting was still underway.
"What I'm saying is, don't you think it's a bit weird that just after that comet arrived and left, Alan somehow showed up the next morning? Something about this doesn't really add up.." Twilight asked the five mares.
"Well, yes, what you're saying does indeed make perfect sense dear" Rarity replied; "Although we can't really say for sure, it most definitely is likely the boy's somehow connected to the comet in some way.."
"Oh, do you think he might be a space alien? I mean, the comet DID come from space and all!" Pinkie said with a jubilent grint; "That'd be soooo neat!"
"… Now that's jus' plain silly.." Applejack shook her head; "'B'sides, those britches with the bib'n straps he wears, what're they called again?"
"They're called overalls.." Rarity said to AJ.
"Right.. Anyway, those 'overalls' don't exactly look like they'd belong to some alien with fancy schmancy high tech junk. They look more like somethin' his people'd wear for farmwork or somethin' else.."
"Fair point.." Twilight said;
".. Maybe I could ask him a couple of questions and see if we could find out a few things.. " Fluttershy suggested.
"Hmm.. Yeah, that could work." Twilight nodded; "You're the first pony he met, so he may be able to open up a bit more than everpony else. All in favor?"
