Redemption: The Legend of the Equestrian Saiyan

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: No Rest For The Weary

I awoke to the sound of beeping.

"Damn alarm," I sighed to myself. I knew what it meant. I turned my head to see a familiar sight outside of the window, planet Vegeta. It had been a month since I had seen it, but I was too tired to care.

Without looking, I reached out and lazily began to punch the buttons, which initiated the landing sequence. With the coordinates set and my ship steadily on course to approach the planet, I sat back and closed my eyes for a few more minutes and relived in my mind the events that had transpired over the last thirty days.

My mission had been simple and straightforward: go to planet nicknamed Alpha 1 by our scientists who found it and kill all inhabitants for Lord Freiza and King Vegeta. As brutal as it sounds, it was routine, really. That was just the life of a low class Saiyan. As a race of alien warriors, it is our nature to fight for glory and to push the limits of our abilities. It’s in our DNA to battle; it’s in our blood. All Saiyans can be readily identified with a few consistent traits – the need to fight, a shock of dark hair, and a tail similar to that of a primate. Yes, a tail. The tail drastically increases our power, but the power cuts both ways so to speak, as it can also be a Saiyan's greatest limitation. If not trained properly, just one grab of the tail can completely immobilize a Saiyan. But the power? That’s where it gets interesting. The tail also allows Saiyans to transform into the mighty Oozaru, a giant ape as big as a small apartment building and extremely destructive. But there are limitations here too. We can only transform into an Oozaru when there is a full moon, or if a Saiyan creates a false moon by sacrificing a lot of its own power. And, the effects only last as long as the full moon is in the sky, or if the tail is cut off.

Saiyans have become feared in the galaxy because of their fighting prowess, but there’s something else - the legend of the Super Saiyan. A Super Saiyan is a member of the race whose power is so great, that it can only be maintained in a transformed state. This state, however, is currently unknown to Saiyans because it has not been achieved in over one thousand years. So I guess it’s just that – legend.

Because of our immense power, Lord Freiza decided to annex Planet Vegeta into his empire. We Saiyans quickly joined his army because of the promise of glory. We’re mainly used to take over planets for the empire. Usually, teams of Saiyans are sent to 'secure' these planets, but I had a reputation of not playing well with others, hence the nickname Rogue, which I have become quite fond of. This planet however, was more than I could handle. It turned out that the mission wasn’t so routine after all.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when I felt my ship suddenly slow followed with jolting stop. Touchdown. I hit the button next to the door and it opened. I detached my harness, and walked out onto solid ground. I felt every step as my muscles protested, and glanced down to see that I was literally covered in dry blood and bruises. No real surprise here. It had been quite a fight.

"Welcome back, Rogue. Heard you had fun," scoffed one of the Saiyans who was waiting for me by the door. I simply pushed past him on my way to the hallway, causing him to laugh in a mocking reaction. It wasn’t a hero’s welcome.

I walked through the building, and finally reached my destination, my room. I opened the door, and painfully began to remove my armor, then headed into the shower. As the fog of steam surrounded me, and the dried blood dissolved in the water, my mind flew back to what happened on Alpha 1.

A crowd had formed around my pod's crater moments after I had crashed, and now they could only stare in horror as I began to fly out if it. An evil smirk formed on my lips.

"Too easy," I whispered as I extended my had and began to fire my ki blasts at the people below.

Many people began to run, screaming. I found this quite enjoyable, as most Saiyans do, but I also felt a little guilt as I looked down at their faces. I quickly shook it off and began to fly towards the city nearby. A job’s a job, I thought. It's either this or no food. As I arrived in the city and began blasting buildings, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I quickly dodged, and was immediately greeted with a loud explosion and a blinding light. I then looked to my right to see that there was a hole in the building next to me where I had been standing just moments before. I then turned to my left to see a man flying towards me. My look of anger at my attacker transformed to a look of pleasure.

"Finally!" I laughed, "some competition."

I felt a blast of cold, which quickly brought me back to the present. My shower water had turned frigid.

How long have I been in here? I wondered, as I stepped out to dry myself off. I quickly got dressed in some standard issue black shorts and a white undershirt, then headed towards my bed so my body could continue to repair through rest.

As I walked towards my bed, something caught my eye. A man was in my room – and he looked somewhat familiar but also different at the same time. Instinctively I surveyed him in an instant just in case I had to defend myself. He had long, dark hair and looked very physically fit. He also had scars that were visible through his shirt, some that looked fresher than others. He looked like an average Saiyan, but something seemed off. He looked older than the being I thought I recognized. As I approached the stranger, it hit me. That person is a reflection of me in a mirror.

"I've changed so much," I whispered to myself, still in shock by my new appearance. I had finally grown into a young adult. As I forced off the shock of this realization, I began to feel my eyes grow heavier. Sighing, I stumbled across my room just to fall onto my bed, exhausted. I was about to fall asleep when I heard a knock on the door.

"Sigh, not even a moment of rest" I grumbled, moving towards the door. I quickly pressed the door button to be greeted by a familiar face.

"What do you want, Doc?" I asked, obvious annoyance in my voice. Doc looks just an ordinary man, with the exception of two horns in his forehead and bluish skin, hallmarks of his alien race. He is relatively short and constantly wears a white lab coat. Doc is the representative of Frieza and is in charge of examining a small section of the Saiyans, including me, before sending them on a mission. I knew this, and knew what his visit meant... I had another mission.

"Sorry to disturb you, Rogue," Doc said, shaking his head with a light smile, "but because of your failure on Alpha 1, we need to send you on another mission."

I sighed, "Fine, lead the way." Doc nodded in his friendly yet efficient manner, and we began a short, familiar trip to the prep area.

As we entered the area, I took my usual place on the platform, while Doc went to his desk.

"Ok, let us begin!" Doc said, pressing some buttons at his desk. "Hmmm, looks like the pod did a great job at healing your wounds" he stated, looking at the chart that hovered over his desk. "You're still are 6'2, so nothing there has changed there. Weight is the same. Hmmm…" Doc began to press a few more buttons, "it looks like your power level has somehow escalated!"

I sighed, "Don't you remember Doc? The power of a Saiyan increases after battles…especially after near death ones." The last part I said quietly, feeling embarrassed.

Doc didn't seem to notice. "Well, looks like your a year older now," Doc said.

Wow, I thought, how could I have forgotten my own birthday?

Doc finally looked up and began to stand up. "Alright," he sighed, "We're done here. You’re beaten up but still fit for combat. Let’s get you into your new armor and send you out." I nodded and walked towards the armory to get my gear and began to prep myself for the flight.

Meanwhile, in the land of Equestria, two ponies - a colt and a mare - were walking up the stairs toward a purple door. The colt was strong and proud – with a blue coat complimented with a blue mane and tail, with two crescent moons as his cutie mark. The mare was softer; a light grey with a mane and tail of mixed light purple and white; her cutie mark had three purple stars. Both had a horn sticking out of their manes, identifying them as unicorns. The colt slowly pushed the door open to reveal a purple unicorn filly inside of the room. She had a dark purple mane and tail with a light purple and a pink streak in it. Her colors reflected her name – Twilight. She was sleeping soundly with her head on a desk. Upon further examination it become obvious that she had nodded off while reading, as her head rested comfortably on an open book.

The mare slowly approached the little filly and nudged her softly. "Wake up, my little pony," she cooed, eliciting a moan of annoyance from the filly.

"Come on, Twilight Sparkle" said the colt, "today's the day of your audition, you don't want to be late do you?" With that, the filly's eyes darted open, and she was out of the room with a flash.

"Come on, Mom and Dad! We gotta go!" yelled Twilight as she ran down the stairs. The two ponies smiled and began following their daughter. When they finally caught Twilight, the filly turned around, beaming as they opened the door and left the house.

"Everything is going to change after today!" She said excitedly. If only she knew how right she was, not just for herself, but also for an alien from another planet.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: In the Knick of Time

I walked into the armory and approached the counter where a white haired man stood. I don't know him, and I honestly don't care to either. His eyes followed me as I walked across the room towards his counter, and he stared at me with his deep, piercing eyes. He was a humanoid, like me, but it was obvious that he was not a Saiyan due to not having a tail, but also the enlarged gut. As I stood before him, he finally broke the silence.

"What d'ya want, Saiyan?" He grunted, obviously showing the hatred he has for my race, which is pretty common among Frieza's men.

"Armor," I spat, showing the same amount of loathing towards him. He grunted and threw some gear onto the counter. I grabbed it, mumbled incoherently under my breath, and headed towards my locker.

I stripped out of my clothes that I had just put on, and began to armor up. Checking gear has always been an essential part of preparation for battle, but to me it’s also part of a ritual. With each piece I place on to my body, I take the time to recognize the familiar feel of the armor and its role in protecting me during a fight. But this time, I found it difficult to focus and my mind began to drift back to the last month.

“Finally some competition” had been my battle cry. Now the mysterious warrior and I descended quickly to the ground and prepared to fight. I took a few seconds to look him over. It’s Saiyan instinct to assess the situation before engaging an enemy. He was a green alien, just like his people, with white robes and a blue undershirt. He wore brown boots, a belt, and a turban-like object on his head. He appeared to have no nose and ears similar to what I had heard Frieza's looked like. It was clear that he was assessing me as well. Finally, I broke the silence.

“So – ya got a name?” I shouted.

The mysterious warrior just stared at me and then responded, "They call me Pikkon, and I recommend you get off my planet before you get yourself killed."

I started laughing maniacally, "And who's going to do that? YOU?!" I asked before laughing some more.

"Yes," he stated cooly, causing me to stop laughing and take a serious tone.

"Then," I hissed while smirking through my thinned lips, "bring it on!"

With that, I charged straight at him, launching a barrage of punches and kicks that would have buckled the strongest opponent. To my surprise, he began to dodge them with ease – and worse, with a casual expression on his face that said my efforts were nothing to worry about at all. Finally, I caught him with a roundhouse kick, launching him back a few yards. I grinned, thinking he would finally know that he was outmatched. Instead, he shocked me by lifting up his head and smiled, blood showing through his teeth.

"Good hit," he said, "but now it's my turn!"

I had no time to react before he catapulted himself directly at me, and began to land blow after blow. His fists felt like blocks of lead as they made contact with my body. I could hear my armor begin to crack as he landed an uppercut squarely into the center of my stomach, which propelled me backwards into a nearby building. I felt a series of sharp pains as I literally went flying through a building – first the glass, then brick, and finally steel beams. I could feel the shards cut deeply into my skin.

As I regained my balance, I turned to look for my enemy, only to feel a jolt of pain shoot up my spine as he kicked me in the back. I was amazed and wondered, How can he move so fast? After recovering briefly again, I turned to face him. He just stood there, a calm look on his face. My rage began to burn inside of me until it could not be contained.

"Enough!" I snarled, "Time to end this!"

I then raised my hands up and pointed my palms at him and began to charge my ki in a desperate, final attack. Seeing this, Pikkon just smirked. To my own horror, he disappeared in a blink of an eye. Confused, I looked around, trying to find where he went when suddenly I saw movement in the corner of my eye. I turned left to see him finishing up what appeared to be a strange dance. Before I could react, he brought his arms across his body, and placed his fists together, pointing them at me. I knew it was over, and pure terror replaced the brash confidence that had been there only moments ago.

"Thunder Flash Attack!!!" Pikkon yelled. After these words, a huge storm of flames shot out of his fists, and flew straight towards me. I quickly put up my arms to protect myself, but knew that there was no way I could escape the power of this attack. I shut my eyes as I braced for the pain. I could feel the flames licking and scorching my skin as the attack knocked me off balance and sent me flying. After what felt like an eternity, I landed with a loud, audible thud. I could hear pops and cracks, but I could not determine if these were from my now destroyed armor, or my bones, or both. All I could feel was extreme pain – in fact, it was pain like I had never felt before. I slowly opened my eyes, trying to fight against the cold grip of unconsciousness, to see that I was in the crater where my ship was. Bloody and bruised, I instinctively tried to crawl to my ship.

I moved slowly, carefully inching myself closer to the pod nearby. I had gone a few feet when I again saw something out of the corner of my eye. I then turned my head and my worst fear was confirmed - Pikkon was descending towards me. I quickly turned my head towards the pod, and began to drag myself even faster towards it, my only chance for escape.

Almost there! Just a bit more!, I thought, now completely panic stricken. As I tried to drag myself those last couple of feet, my arms finally gave out on me. As I collapsed, I let out a loud grunt of pain. Pikkon was closer now, walking towards me, and I turned my face to look at him directly. I quickly tried to get back up, but found my arms were too weak. I looked up to see that Pikkon was almost to me now. I felt my heart beat steadily increasing in my chest. There was no more fighting it. I was done for. Resignation began to take over.

This is it, this is the day I finally bit off more than I could chew…, I thought, finally submitting to my fate.

My thoughts were interrupted by Doc's voice over the speaker system.

"Rogue! Hurry up in there! Your pod is already prepped for takeoff!"

I sighed and quickly slipped on the rest of my armor. Once it was all in place, I wrapped my tail around my waist like a belt and began to examine myself in the mirror. The white chest plate and boots contrasted the black pants and the wrist guards. The shoulder guards are brown, just like they are for all the armor. I quickly moved to pick up the last piece of equipment, but I realized it wasn't there. Seeing this, I rushed back to the armory and to the counter.

The white haired man just looked at me – but really looked through me, obviously not wanting to see me again.

"What d'ya want NOW!?" he finally sighed, showing his displeasure that I was still here, but bound by duty to acknowledge and serve me.

"You never gave me a scouter," I hissed, now barely withholding my fury. A scouter is a device that is given to all of Frieza's operatives before each mission. The device covers the ear and has a colored screen that is transparent and covers the eye. Scouters are used to judge and locate power levels, which can be tremendously helpful for locating and eliminating the inhabitants. They are also used for communication. Even Saiyans have their own channel on the scouter's communication system. I hadn't worn a scouter on my last mission, so I was hoping that it would help me not to repeat the same mistakes and miscues as last time.

"Sorry," smirked the man behind the counter, "but we don't give out scouters to MONKEYS anymore."

Of course he would call me that. 'Monkey' is probably the worst thing to call a Saiyan. I looked up at him, rage filling my eyes. He only smirked, he knew that he had gotten under my skin, but he would soon regret it. Instantly, I grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him up from behind the counter. His snide expression quickly morphed into a look of terror. Before he could say or do anything, I proceeded to launch him into the wall behind me with one powerful throw. He made contact with a large crunch, and then fell to the ground. He didn't get up, but I didn't care. I jumped behind the counter and picked up a scouter with a blue screen, then headed towards the exit of the armory. As I left, I looked over to the man who was still lying on the ground.

"Serves you right," I said, chortling confidently, as I finally left the armory and began to walk to the takeoff area with the taste of victory. I took it as a good sign, but still dreaded going out again, especially so soon.

I walked down the hallway, taking my time. The knowledge that Doc wanted me to hurry motivated me to move to the takeoff area even slower than usual. I passed two other Saiyans in the hallway but I didn't recognize either of them, so I kept moving. As I strolled by, I could hear them talking.

"Did you hear about Bardock?" one of the Saiyans asked.

"Yeah, I heard that he's gone crazy," said the other.

"Well, it was bound to happen," retorted the first, "I mean, he did change after his mission to Kanassa."

I couldn't catch the rest of the conversation, but it had peaked my curiosity. I had heard about Bardock for many years. Bardock is an extremely strong, low-class Saiyan who is in charge of one of the elite squads that are used to take over planets for Frieza. He is an amazing fighter, and an even better leader, or that was what I had been told.

I hoped that he didn't go crazy; it would be a shame to lose such a man.

I finally reached the takeoff area in less time than I had hoped. I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Doc who was sitting at the launch station and two pods. Muffled crying also could be heard from inside the room, which surprised me. Doc looked up from his work and saw me.

"Ah, Rogue! I see you finally made it," he said before returning to work.

"Doc, why are there two pods and what's that noise?" I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me.

"Oh, that," he said, as though he had not even realized that there was a second pod, "that pod is going to an unknown planet. I have decided to nickname it Epsilon 3. I am sending Kakarot, Bardock's son, on his first mission to this new planet."

"That explains the crying," I grunted, remembering how horrible my first mission as a child was.

So, Bardock had another son, I thought, and I wondered to myself what else had actually changed over the last month.

Doc chuckled before pointing over to my pod.

"Speaking of missions, last time I checked, you still have one," he said, much to my chagrin.

I nodded and headed over to my pod, the crying getting somewhat louder due to my closer proximity to Kakarot's pod. A question popped into my head as I prepared to embark.

"Hey Doc?" I asked

"Hmm?"

"Where am I going, anyway?"

"Well," he responded, "just like Kakarot, you are headed to an unknown planet that we have just discovered. I've taken to calling it Theta 5."

I shrugged, "Alright Doc, I guess I should get to it then."

He nodded in agreement as I opened the pod door and sat inside. I could see that Doc had already put in the coordinates, so I sat back and waited for the rush of force that is the result of takeoff.

I could see Doc on the other side of my window holding up five fingers.

Now four.

Three.

Two.

One.

The familiar initial pressure greeted me, as the pod thrust straight through the air with incredible speed. I looked out the window to see Kakarot's pod flying in a different direction than mine. I quickly wondered if I would ever see him again, but just as quickly shook it off. Only time will tell, I thought. As Planet Vegeta began to fade out of my sight, I could swear I saw a large ship flying towards it, but I couldn't see for sure. I threw the thought out of my mind as my eyelids began to flutter a bit before growing too heavy for me to keep open.

Doc walked out of the building, and looked up at the sky. He gasped at what he saw, a shocked expression transformed his face. A ship was hovering just above the atmosphere. This would not be thought of as uncommon, but he knew it was not just any ordinary ship. As he looked closer he could see a large ball of energy rapidly approaching the planet. Doc shook his head in disappointment.

"There must have been another way. I cannot believe that you turned to genocide in order to alleviate your foolish fears of being overthrown. But I have made sure that even if you do succeed on killing this planet that you will not kill the Saiyans. As much as you have tried Freiza, you have failed."

With this last statement, the ball of energy made contact with Planet Vegeta, and in a matter of seconds, it was no more.

Twilight and her parents sat in the waiting room of one of Canterlot palace's many towers. They were surrounded by many different unicorn fillies, colts, and their parents as well, all hoping to get into Princess Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns. Twilight was quickly going through her flash cards, making sure that she would be ready for anything the instructors threw at her in the entrance exam. The tension in the room was palpable. She was just finished reviewing illumination spells when a commanding voice shattered the tension of the room.

"Ms. Sparkle?" the voice asked. Twilight looked towards the voice to be greeted by the sight of a unicorn colt with a grey coat and black mane. He was wearing a suit, so Twilight assumed he was an instructor.

"Here..." she sheepishly replied.

"Come," he stated, before walking through the door.

Twilight and her parents quickly got up and followed him.

As she reached the door, Twilight stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then opened her eyes, a look of confidence replaced her nervous one.

"All right," she whispered to herself, "this is it. Time for me to finally begin the path to my destiny!"

She then galloped to catch up to the instructor and her parents, ready to take on any challenge…or so she thought...

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Arrival

As I began going in and out of sleep as I normally do while traveling through space, my mind once again drifted back to the events of Alpha 1.

I tried to pull myself closer to my ship as Pikkon approached, but it was no use. My body was just too physically exhausted from the thrashing I had just received for me to pull myself even an inch farther. I quickly looked towards my ship. It was only about 5 yards away. Seeing how close I was, I felt some adrenaline kick in, giving me a slight energy boost, one large enough for me to try one last thing. In one last desperate attempt at survival, I slowly raised my hand and began to focus my energy. To my joy, a small blue ball of energy began to form in my palm. I quickly fired the ki blast at the approaching figure. I wasn't expecting it to kill him, I was just hoping it would distract him long enough for me to try to escape. The ball flew closer and closer to him. Unfortunately, when it was only a few inches away from him, he swatted the ball away. The ki blast went sailing to his right and made contact with one of the crater walls. My outstretched arm collapsed as hopelessness flooded over me. I was doomed, and I knew it.

He continued to walk slowly towards me. As he walked, my life began to flash before my eyes. I saw the destruction, mayhem, and fear that I spread whenever I began to exterminate a planet. I also felt something that I had suppressed after every mission. I felt guilt.

Finally, he reached me. He was only a few feet away from me. He slowly extended his hand, his palm facing me. I knew this was it; he would hit me with a ki blast. I knew I couldn't take one more hit, not after the beating I just took. So this is the end, I thought. I closed my eyes tightly.

"Do it," I whispered, "end this."

I sat there, waiting for my demise. As the seconds went by, my heart began beating faster.... faster....faster as I waited for my end.

"No," Pikkon finally said, breaking the seemingly eternal silence.

I opened my eyes to see him lowering his arm, turning, and walking away. I was confused. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me.

"Wait!" I yelled.

Pikkon stopped and turned back to look at me.

"Why didn't you kill me? You know what I was planning on doing to your planet. Hell, I would've killed you if the rolls were reversed!"

"Simple" he said, "I'm sparing your life so that you can question your way of life. I am doing this in the hopes that you will change your ways."

With that, he turned away and began to ascend into the air. He paused for a second, and turned to face me one last time.

"Leave this planet, and never return, otherwise I won't be as forgiving."

With that, he turned back and flew out of the crater. I quickly shook off the shock and slowly crawled back to my pod. I opened the door and slowly hoisted myself inside.

The door quickly shut behind me and the pod lifted off the ground as I began hitting buttons. I looked out the window to see Pikkon looking at me as I lifted away, a slightly less serious look was on his face. I looked away and began to think about what he said as tiny robotic arms began to lower from different places in the pod. The arms began to work on my wounds as I finally gave into the cold grasp of unconsciousness.

I woke up with a jolt as I drifted back to reality.

"Maybe Pikkon is right, maybe what I'm doing for Frieza is wrong," I whispered, thinking about what he had told me.

"I'll talk to Doc about it when I get home, maybe he can help me think this through."

With that, I began to relax. It felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders knowing that I had a plan. Feeling this new freedom, I drifted into a deep sleep.

Twilight stood in the front of what appeared to be a lecture hall. She looked up at the four unicorns in the back of the room: the ones who are responsible for her future, in Twilight's eyes at least. The four unicorns consisted of the instructor who led the Sparkles into this room, a light brown mare with a brown mane, a blue colt with a white mane, and a yellow mare with a light purple mane. All of the examiners wore suits and carried clipboards, with pencils prone, ready to assess, in the grip of their magic.

Twilight began to panic. Maybe I'm not ready for this, she thought, shaking with nervousness. She looked over to her parents to her right, by the door. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle motioned for their daughter to smile. They both knew she could do it, she just needs to be confident. Twilight quickly sighed, then turned back to the instructors, nervously smiling to signal that she was ready.

As if knowing the moment had come, the doors on the opposite side of the room opened, revealing a small cart being pushed by an earth pony. The pony pushed the cart in, and then quickly walked out. The most interesting thing was what lay on top of the cart: a strange purple egg with dark purple dots on it. Twilight recognized that it was a dragon egg from what she read about them. There was a sign on the side of the cart that stated what needed to be done, which was pretty obvious. Twilight needed to hatch this dragon egg.

Twilight began to panic again. She had read about eggs, but had never learned how to hatch one! She had never thought that was a skill she would need to use.

Her thoughts of panic were interrupted by one of the instructors.

"Well Ms. Sparkle?" the yellow mare asked, impatience dominating her voice.

Twilight walked closer to the egg, looked at it, then looked back up at the examiners, letting out a nervous laugh. The examiners responded by raising their clipboards with their magic and writing furiously, making Twilight even more nervous.

Ok, Twilight thought, taking in a deep breath, I can do this. She took a couple of steps backward, planting her hoofs firmly in the ground. She took in a deep breath, lowered her head, and clenched her eyes shut in concentration. She began grunting with effort as she attempted to tap into her magic, but for some reason, it would not work. After a few seconds, she let out her breath, and looked up at the egg in worry.

Come on, I have to do this! Everything is riding on this moment! she thought, panic quickly rising in her mind.

She quickly began to try again, only to meet the same results. The silence of the room was interrupted by a loud yawn from one of the instructors. This was greeted by a glare from Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle, which was ignored.

Another instructor looked at her watch and quickly said, "We don't have all day!"

With that, Twilight began to jump around the cart, hoping that maybe a new angle or position would cause the egg to hatch.

After failing time and time again, Twilight placed herself in her original position.

All right, this is it, one last try, she thought, then gulped, here goes nothing!

She closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. A tiny ball of magic began to form on her horn.

Almost...there..! She thought, trying even harder. She leaned closer and closer toward the egg, until she lost her balance, and fell on her face.

After a few seconds she sat up, hunching over in shame. She looked over to the instructors, trying to hold back the floodgates of tears.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time," Twilight whispered. The admittance of defeat almost caused the tears to flow freely, but she held back so that the instructors would not know how hurt she was. Her only response as she lowered her head was the sound of rapid writing from the four unicorns.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom outside. This caught everyone in the room off guard, but no one more than Twilight. In response to the noise, Twilight, to even her own surprise, fired a magic beam from her horn. The beam made contact with the egg, caused it to float in the air. The egg then split, launching shards of the shell across the room to reveal a baby purple dragon with green spikes, still surrounded by the magenta aura of Twilight's magic. Twilight then close her eyes and screamed. When she opened them, her eyes were glowing white.

After that, she lost complete control of her magic. Magic beams shot everywhere. One of these beams hit the instructors, causing them to float in the air, unable to escape this powerful magic. Another beam hit Twilights parents, turning them both into plants. A third beam flew over and hit the new baby dragon.

A lone white pony walked through the garden of Canterlot palace. A lot had been going through her mind, but that was now a common thing for her. A lot of the thoughts were from work, or something pertaining to it, but the main thoughts that troubled this mare were on a personal level. They would deal with her sister and the choices that she made many years ago. The mare would walk in the garden just to escape these thoughts, but only for a little bit. The thought would always come back. As she was walking, she heard a large boom and was extremely surprised to see a giant purple dragon's head popping straight out of one of the towers. Seeing this, the mare ran toward the tower. After all, it is the job of the princess of Equestria to investigate something like this.

Twilight began floating in the air, but then she felt something. She looked and saw a hoof on her shoulder. She turned around fully to see the mare from the garden.

She was tall, taller the average pony. She had a white coat and a mane that was rainbow colored. The most interesting part of the mane and tail was that they flowed, as though blown by an invisible breeze. She had a cutie mark that looked like the sun. Unlike everyone else, she wore a crown on her head and had both a horn and wings, showing she was an alicorn. She was Princess Celestia.

Twilight looked into the princess's face, and calmed down instantly. Her eyes returned to normal, and all of her magic wore off at once. There was a loud thump as the instructors fell to the ground. Twilight's parents looked shocked once they were turned back, but they quickly regained their composure. The baby dragon then turned back to normal, and began sucking on the end of its tail.

The princess then spoke:

"Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight, seeing that she was in trouble, quickly said, "oh, I am so sorry! I didn't-"

"You have a very special gift," interrupted Princess Celestia, "I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities"

Twilight was dumbstruck, all she could saw was "Huh!?"

"But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focus study"

"Huh!?"

"Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school"

"HUH!?" was all Twilight could say.

"Well?" Celestia asked, waiting for an answer.

Twilight turned to her parents, who were grinning and nodding with enthusiasm.

"YESS!" screamed Twilight, unable to contain her excitement.

Celestia interrupted her celebration though.

"One other thing, Twilight" Celestia said, holding up a hoof.

"More?!" Twilight asked, as she fell over.

Celestia then walked over to Twilight and pointed at her flank. Twilight followed Celestia's hoof to where it pointed. She saw that there was something on her formally blank flank. It was a pink star with five white smaller stars around it. Twilight gasped with excitement on realizing what it was.

"My cutie mark!" Twilight shouted with excitement, "YES YES YES YES YES YES!!"

After a few seconds, Twilight calmed down and hugged her parents. Celestia smiled at this.

"Come" she said, "let me give you a tour of your new school."

With that, Celestia left the room, followed closely by the Sparkle family, who were beaming with pride. As they walked out of the room, none of the ponies noticed the broken window where a beam of Twilight's out of control magic had gone through, and was now currently moving through space.

As the beam of unstable magic flew through the window, it began to pick up speed. It flew through the air, breaking through the atmosphere before continuously moving through space. By the time the runaway magic reached space, Celestia had calmed Twilight. However, since the magic had not connected fully with anything, technically it had not taken effect and consequently did not dissipate. Instead, it was left free to travel onwards. As it continued on, it increased in intensity and velocity, going faster and faster until finally it made contact with its ultimate target - a pod with a sleeping humanoid alien inside. Once hit by this magic, the pod began to glow with Twilight's magenta aura. The pod grew brighter and brighter until it disappeared, breaking through time and space in the process. As Twilight’s powerful magic bent the time/space continuum, the pod was catapulted off its course and hurled through the darkness. It would be many years before the pod would reappear, but it only felt like a few seconds to its inhabitant.

I heard a large *thud* as something unknown hit the pod, forcefully removing me from my light slumber.

Probably just a small asteroid, I thought, before drifting back to sleep. At least, that's what I tried to do.

Suddenly, I was jolted awake to the sound of alarms.

"What is going on?" I asked myself, adrenaline now coursing through my veins.

I look out the window to see a large planet before me. But something didn't seem right, it seemed a little too close. That's when it hit me.

"I have to put in the landing coordinates!" I shouted, then began pressing buttons, trying to set where the pod should land. One set of bad coordinates could send me straight into the ocean, so that is probably what I need to avoid the most.

I began to type in the coordinates of what appeared to be a small, open field in the outskirts of a forest when more lights began to flash.

I turned to my left to see the screen flashing up a warning. I couldn't see it well with my scouter on, so I took it off and placed into a compartment in the ship. When I finally got a good look at the screen my heart began to sink. It read:

Warning! Pod's landing guidance offline. Shields offline. Manual landing required.

I could deal with one or the other being offline, but BOTH!? With the guidance offline, the pod could not land in its normal style, where it crashes into the ground, like a meteorite would, leaving a massive crater. With guidance offline, I would have to land manually. That would be ok if that were the only problem because all of Freiza's men have been taught to land pods in case of emergency. With the shields offline though, even if I have to land the ship, I cannot take it down in the usual meteorite-like landing because the ship, and me, would be torn apart on contact. The only solution would be if I went down at a 45 or less degree angle, treating it as if I was skipping a rock on water. It's risky, but I prefer some chance to no chance at all.

Ok, I thought, grabbing the controls, here goes everything!

I began steering the ship into the planet's atmosphere, and got ready for one bumpy landing.

Twilight sat outside her house, looking up at the stars with five of her friends. It had been many years since her entrance exam and now she is a young adult mare.

"Twilight, when's the meteor shower gonna be?" asked Rainbow Dash, sounding a little bored. “I mean, the skies are clear so you should be able to see everything!”

"Just a few more minutes, Rainbow," Twilight responded to her friend, who groans and shifts uncomfortably in the grass.

"Yah said that ten minutes ago, sugar cube," retorted Applejack, a little impatience in her voice.

"Darling, you know that even Twilight can't predict when exactly these showers are going to be, so please be patient," sighed Rarity.

“Ah'm trying' to, but it's gettin' late, an' Ah gotta lotta apple buckin' to do tomorr-.”

"Look!" Pinkie interrupted, pointing at the sky.

As if on cue, the sky began to fill with shooting stars as the meteor shower began. The girls sat there, closely watching the beauty of this event.

"This is so beautiful!" commented Fluttershy in her quiet voice.

As the girls watched, they noticed a shooting star get bigger and bigger.

"Look at that one, its huge!" commented Rainbow.

The girls stared with joy on their faces at the large star, but Twilight's face soon distorted into one of terror.

"Watch out!" She screamed.

The girls quickly ran out of the way. They looked up to see a ball enwrapped in flames come flying above their heads. Twilight followed its path with her eyes until it finally made contact with the tree tops, then finally crashed in the Everfree Forest. She quickly turned to the girls.

"Come on girls! We have to go see if anypony was hurt!"

"Uhm, I don't think that would be a good idea," Fluttershy quietly said.

"But Fluttershy," Twilight said, "what if somepony or animal was hurt, they may need he-"

She was interrupted by Fluttershy quickly flying past her, headed as fast as she could towards the crash sight. The girls looked at each other for a second, then ran after Fluttershy as fast as they could.

I had just flown over a small hill when my target came into sight, a forest. If I can find a clearing, I can finally land this thing, I thought, becoming a little more confident about my odds. The pod's condition, however, still caused me to worry. Due to the lack of shielding, the entry through the atmosphere had damaged my pod more than I expected. This damage is now making the pod almost impossible to control. I see the last hill before the forest. As I fly over, I saw a flash of color on the ground, but it disappears quickly due to the pods speed. As I reach the forest, I begin to drop in altitude a little quicker than I expected. I looked at the flashing screen to see another horrible message. Apparently, the damage the pod had sustained on entry had finally caught up to it. The message stated that the manual guidance was now offline.

"Can I catch a break?" I cursed.

A second later, the pod made contact with one of the tops of the many trees, causing to begin to spin. As I rolled around and around in the pod, I was flung straight into the door, hitting the open button in the process.

In less than a second, I was sent flying from the pod. As I began falling, I heard the crash of the pod, which came down farther in the forest. I tried to react as gravity began to pull me towards the ground. I began to spin in the air, trying to catch myself, but the speed from the pod was too much. I could only look in horror as I flew headfirst towards a line of trees. I made contact with a loud crunch as I flew through a few of them, feeling pain from all over my body, and my armor cracking. I then slid across the ground of a clearing, creating a small crater, which finally stopped me. I opened my eyes only to see blurry colors of the trees and dirt around me before finally passing out from the pain.

Twilight and her friends had been looking for the meteorite for almost an hour. Finally, when the search party was just about to give up, Twilight heard a shout. It was Rainbow Dash who had flown up in the sky and could now see the crash site in its entirely.

"Hey guys! It looks like something big crashed in a clearing just ahead!" Rainbow Dash reported. “There’s a bunch of knocked down trees and what looks like part of a crater!”

The girls ran as fast as they could. Upon reaching the clearing, the girls were greeted with the sight of broken treetops, torn up ground, and fallen trees. As the girls followed the destroyed trees, they noticed something was lying in the small crater. It looked like an ape, but with no hair except on its head. It also seemed to be wearing some soft of armor, but none of the girls had ever seen anything like it.

"What in tarnation is that?" Applejack asked.

As if on cue, the group looked at Fluttershy for identification. She could only shake her head. "I've never seen a creature like that before," she said quietly, with concern and awe in her voice.

Twilight carefully approached the creature. As she did, she looked more carefully at this being that crashed from the sky. It doesn’t look so scary, and it’s definitely hurt, she thought, noticing the blood that caked the exposed skin of it's body.

Twilight tenderly placed her hoof on its throat to check its vital signs. Her face quickly distorted in terror and she quickly reported back to her friends, "It has no pulse!"

Terrified now more for the creature’s safety than her own, she urged her friends to help her take action. She knew that the only hope this being had to live was in their hooves. Without their help, it surely would not survive. "Come on girls, we gotta get this creature to a hospital!"

The girls looked at one another with doubt in their eyes but as soon as they turned back and saw the pleading look on Twilight’s face, they knew they had no choice. They ran over to the creature and began devise a plan to carry him out of the forest.

Applejack was the first to jump in - “Come on y’all. Let’s giddy up and help Twilight. She can’t carry it all by herself.”

Immediately, Rainbow Dash pushed Applejack aside and began ordering the girls into action. “Applejack’s right. Ok, everyone, let’s work together to get it out of here. I’ll dash ahead and find help.”

Together, the ponies began to move the creature slowly, and carefully out of the forest and began to make their way to safety.

“Ah have no ideah how Ah’m gonna explain this to Granny Smith,” complained Applejack. “Ah hope this doesn’t come back to bite us!”

“Shhh, it’ll hear you!” whispered Fluttershy.

“Aw, it’s out like a light…he can’t hear a thing!” said Pinkie. “And if we’re not careful this could turn into an enormously huge entire-town-in-total-chaos Princess-has-to-come-and-save-the-day problem. This is an unknown creature we’ve got here, ponies!”

Applejack interrupted “Uh, beg pardon but, could we maybe move things along? This here creature’s a mite heavy and we’re too far down the road to be hollering at one anuther over this ideah.”

It was true that they had no idea who they were helping, or why other than somehow Twilight seemed to be intent on making this happen.

"Hold on" Twilight whispered to the unconscious Saiyan, "you'll get help soon."

Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Through the Fog

A sigh of relief escaped Twilight’s lips as their destination finally came into sight, the Ponyville hospital. They had alternated dragging and carrying the being for what seemed to be hours.

“Come on, girls,” she encouraged, “just a little bit farther!”

Scratched, muddy, and exhausted from their trek through the forest, the four other ponies got their second wind upon hearing Twilight’s call and quickly picked up their pace towards the white building. As they finally reached the doors, they noticed Rainbow Dash standing with a team of nurses, wearing their white nursing caps with a red cross embroidered on them, a lone doctor, and a gurney. Dash quickly pointed at them.

“There they are!” she shouted.

The group ran the gurney over to the five ponies carrying the unconscious being. As soon as they reached the bloodied creature, looks of amazement and concern were expressed upon their faces as they tried to comprehend what they were witnessing.

“I’ve never seen anything like this…this THING!” one of the nurses commented in pure surprise, “What did you say it was again?”

“No more time for gawking,” commanded the doctor, “no matter what it is or where it came from, we gotta get it inside on the double! Get my team into the operating room ASAP!”

The team of nurses nodded and quickly moved the creature off of the girls’ back, placed it on the gurney, and urgently, but gently, began to move it inside. The doctor began barking orders at the nurses, which they followed as rapidly as possible. The doctors was a light blue unicorn colt, with a darker blue shade color to his mane; a white lab coat covered his cutie mark. Twilight approached him straightaway, believing that if anypony would give her answers, it would be him.

“Excuse me, sir,” Twilight asked, getting the doctor's attention, “is there anything that you can do for…uh… it?” As she spoke, worry began to fill her voice.

The doctor hesitated, then responded, “I don’t know what we can do for it, given the injuries its sustained and because, quite honestly, we haven't seen anything like it before."

Hearing this, Twilight lowered her head.

"But, we are willing to try anything we can to help it."The doctor added, causing the mare to smile gratefully.

With that said, he quickly ran into the operating room. Twilight stood there in the sterile, bright fluorescent lighted area of the ER lobby, watching as the doctor disappeared through the double doors. The stress of the emergency was wearing off and the cold reality of the situation beginning to settle in. Just as she was about to dissolve into tears, she felt a warm hoof on her shoulder and turned around to see Applejack and her other friends behind her.

“Come on, Sugar Cube,” Applejack sighed, “les’ head over ta the waitin’ room fer now,”

Twilight nodded and headed toward the nearby seats. They waited in silence for a while until Rarity decided to break the ice with the question that had been on all of their minds.

“Oh my gosh, my coat is so filthy! Twilight, darling, I was just wondering, why did you want to save that creature so badly?” Rarity asked, with a look of confusion on her face. The rest of the ponies looked on in a similar fashion.

“Well,” Twilight stated, “I couldn’t just leave it there in that condition. Plus, I’ve never seen anything like it before in any of my books, even Fluttershy hasn’t seen any thing like it.”

“It’s true, and I know every critter in this area,” Fluttershy commented softly.

“Exactly!” stated Twilight, “so who knows, it could be from an unknown species, so it's my responsibility to learn everything about it.”

The girls nodded in understanding, and returned to an awkward silence.

After about a minute of quiet, Rainbow Dash shattered the growing tension.

"Ok, is it just me, or is anypony else freaked out about that THING!? I mean did you see those stubs coming out of its hooves? That's just not right."

"What are you talking about, Dashie? They're probably just claws, like Spike's, you silly billy!" Pinkie replied in her upbeat tone.

"I saw them too, girls. They were definitely way too rounded, and better manicured, than claws." responded Rarity with a flip of her mane.

"I have a thought…if that's alright with you." quietly commented Fluttershy from behind her mane, who then spoke after being urged to continue by her friends. "Maybe it's like a monkey's paw. For all we know, he could just be a new monkey."

"Well whatever it is, it looks like we're gonna have ta wait a spell 'fore we can ask it."

The girls agreed, and began to preoccupy themselves as they waited for the results of the surgery.

The blue-coated doctor walked into the operating room, wearing a medical mask over his muzzle. The operating table was surrounded by a ring of doctors and nurses, obscuring his view of the patient. He could hear them whispering to eachother as they looked at the creature laying unconscious under the bright surgical lights.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat, announcing his arrival to the team. Immediately, they went silent, and stepped back so that the doctor could approach the table for a closer look. One look confirmed his worst fears - he had never seen anything like it before. It appeared to be a two-legged animal of sorts, but without fur except the dark patch on its head. But the most curious thing was its hooves - er, what should have been hooves but had five long appendages that branched out on each one. And then there was its clothes - it was some sort of armor that appeared to be cracked and broken.

He's been through something serious, the doctor thought to himself. After his quick look-over, he began to talk to the team of unicorn doctors who had been waiting for him.

"Alright, what do we got?" he asked calmly.

One of the other doctors spoke up, "well, this....thing…appears to have several broken bones as well as a large nasty gash in its head."

“Obviously. What else? Anypony?”

Another doctor, a mare intern, responded, “Well the gash appears to be bleeding profusely, but head wounds bleed a lot.”

The blue coated doctor was about to move on when she quickly added, “And the placement of the gash is what is concerning.”

“Go on…” encouraged the lead doctor as he turned around to face her, “Why is it an issue? What do we need to worry about?” Now all of the other doctors were looking at her.

“Well, it is located in an area that is particularly sensitive,” she said nervously, “and if there has been internal bleeding then that could mean death!”

“And the options?” asked the lead doctor, “What’s the prognosis on those?”

Solemnly, with her head down and eyes looking to the floor, the bright young intern whispered quietly, “There really is no other option. If we don’t operate, the internal bleeding WILL kill it.”

"Whoa there," interrupted a doctor in a brown coat, pushing his way past the others. "I'm not going to waste my time trying to save that, that…beast!"

"Me neither," added a young nurse, backing away from the table with fear in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Alright then," the lead doctor stated, "I can't make any of you do this, so anyone who wants to step away - I suggest you leave now. "

One by one, the doctors and nurses stepped away from the table and observed from afar, leaving the doctor in the blue coat, and a few interns and nurses to proceed with the surgery.

"OK - I guess that's clear…if this creature lives, it will be a miracle. We don't have another moment to waste...let's get to work!"

With that, the operating staff's horns began to glow with their own separate aura as they tapped into their healing magic. The creature began to glow with the combination of all of their auras as his injuries began to heal.

"Let's start with the bones and cuts, then we will move our way up to the head." The blue unicorn said, receiving nods of approval from the others. Seeing this, the doctor closed his eyes, as did the others as they focused on the bones. As they began to work, the doctor could swear he heard a moan, and immediately alarm bells began to go off on the machines nearby.

"Oh no! I think we're losing it!" The nurse shouted, fear filling her voice.

All of the staff quickly opened their eyes only to see the creature, whose vital signs were weakening dangerously.

The blue unicorn quickly reacted, "Quick, it's bleeding out - we need to cauterize this wound and stop the bleeding before its blood pressure drops too much!"

An intern with a white mane quickly lit up her horn as she applied the spell. As her aura faded, they were all surprised to see its vitals were still declining dramatically.

"It didn't work!" The white mare said, horror filling her face.

"Well there's only one thing to do," the blue doctor said, "we all need to use the spell to cauterize the wound."

The other doctors gasped at the thought.

"But doctor, you know that there are side effects associated with more than one unicorn using that spell on one being! With a head injury like that, it could cause him to slip into a deep coma - and never wake from it, plus what about the other side effects?"

"And if we don't, he could enter shock and die." The doctor stated matter of factly. "We have no choice. I say it's a risk we have to take."

As the staff discussed amongst each other, a voice from the back of the room interjected, "You're right doctor, it IS too dangerous. You need our help." From the shadows, the brown coated unicorn stepped forward and took his place at the operating table. He was quickly joined by the others, who all were nodding in agreement. "No matter what this thing is, we all need to do this together to save it. It's our duty as physicians. We took an oath."

The blue coated doctor nodded in appreciation, and then turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "OK, then. We all agree that there is no other option. Let’s all proceed with the spell - on the count of three - one, two, three…"

The team all lowered their heads and together began to cast the spell. As they opened their eyes, they were all glad to see the creature calm down, and slip into a deep slumber. Seeing him asleep, the unicorns continued their work, knowing that they would have to face the consequences of this decision when the time came if their plan did not work.

As I began to awaken, I could swear that I could hear a continuous beeping.

Well, that’s odd, I thought. That doesn't sound like my ship’s alarm.

Suddenly, my senses came back, and a large, sharp pain began to coarse through my head. Almost on cue, the beeping of the machines picked up in tempo. I wanted to scream as loud as I could, but could not let out anything louder than a grunt.

Then I heard someone…or something…speak.

"Oh no! I think we're losing it!"

"Quick, it's bleeding out - we need to cauterize this wound and stop the bleeding before its blood pressure drops too much!"

Wait, cauterize…what does it mean by…

That's when I realized that the beeping I heard was coming from me, and something began to run through my mind that filled me with fear. The beeping sound … it was a something I had heard before – a machine that monitored vitals, usually associated with hospitals and operations. In training, we were all warned about being captured by the natives. In some cases, though rare, the natives would dissect the would-be invader to see what makes them tick. I was well aware of this possibility and now, unbelievably, it seemed to be happening to me. No way. I was not going to be anybody’s science experiment.

Adrenaline began to run through my body, lessening the pain. I tried to open my eyes, but was quickly blinded by the light above me.

Something spoke up, but I ignored it as I fought to get off the operating table. As I continued to struggle, a feeling of weakness began to fill my limbs, turning them into dead weight. This, out of everything, scared me the most. Whatever they had done to me was killing me.

I will not go down like this! I thought, pushing through the strong desire to succumb and literally willing myself to wake up. I was clawing through the fog now towards the light of consciousness.

As I continued to fight, some of my senses began to give out. I could tell that my tormentors above me were talking, but the sounds they made were more garbled, as though they were underwater.

I then began to thrash around, forcing my eyes open. All I could see were the silhouettes of my dissectors that stood above me.

If I'm going down, then I'm going down fighting, I thought as a snarl formed on my lips.

I began to focus my energy, trying as hard as I could to form a ball of ki in my hand. I had no choice but to blast my way out of there. I planned on blasting a hole in the wall of the operating room and escaping through there. If I couldn't make it, though I was planning to take as many of them as I could with me.

As the blue ball in my palm almost finished forming, I noticed a light glow appearing on the foreheads of the silhouettes that were above me. Suddenly, I was overcome with a large amount of pain, forcing me back down onto the operating table. As my mind fell back into darkness, the beeping of the monitors returned to a slower pace, and my ki dissipated.

I found myself standing in some sort of small dark room. I tried to feel for a wall or some sort of object that would get me acquainted to my surroundings, but couldn't find anything.

Suddenly, a voice went booming into the room.

"I am doing this in the hopes that you will change your ways."

That voice... it sounds so familiar, I thought.

I tried to think of who it could be, it sounded so familiar, but yet, so unknown...

"Who are you? What is this place?" I yelled, hoping for a response only to be greeted with more silence.

OK, so that didn't work, maybe if I go over that phrase again, I'll figure it out.

I began to recite the phase, "I am doing this in hopes that you will….uhhh….I am doing this….what was it again?"

My thoughts were interrupted by a bright light at the beginning of what looked like a tunnel. Hoping that this was a way out, I began stumbling, then walking, and finally running towards it.

Twilight paced rather nervously around the waiting room. It was just her alone there now. One by one, all of her friends had to leave. Applejack had to go work on the farm, Rainbow had to buck some clouds for the weather team, Pinkie had to finish setting up for Colgate's surprise birthday party, Rarity had to watch Sweetie Belle for the day, and Fluttershy had to leave to feed the animals. Everypony, it seemed had something more important to do than standing vigil over this being who wasn’t even one of them or somepony they knew. Twilight herself was supposed to open up the library this morning, but decided that studying a never-before-seen creature would probably be more important. Plus, her assistant, Spike, could use the extra sleep.

The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon when the doctor came out of the operating room. He saw the purple mare and approached her.

"Is it ok?" she asked, raising her head so that he saw the look of worry and heard the tremor still in her voice.

The doctor spoke gently to her, "There is a lot that we don’t know to be sure. We still need to do some tests and honestly, only time will tell…but I think it should be fine."

Twilight held on to the one little bit of hope and let out a breath that she didn't know she had held.

"Is it possible for me to see it?" she asked.

The doctor nodded, "Yes you may, but you must be careful - there is so much that we don't know about it. But since you brought it in, technically you are the closest we could get to next of kin, anyway. I'm sure that it will be happy to see the mare that saved its life."

The doctor then led Twilight down the hall, and to the room 102. As the doctor pushed open the door, Twilight was greeted with the sight of the creature before her, still wearing the same outfit as the night before, but also covered in bandages. These coverings were most prevalent around the top of its head.

As Twilight walked into the room, the doctor spoke, "I'll be back in a few minutes, miss. Here's a buzzer to call if there is any sign it waking up." He pointed to a button on the wall, and she nodded in understanding as the doctor shut the door.

Twilight then carefully moved to the chair by the bed and sat down. The deep, rhythmic breathing of the creature was somehow calming. Even though the room was brightly lit with the harsh fluorescent lighting, it was quiet and suddenly she felt so very tired. Her eye lids felt heavy, her head began to nod, and she started to fall asleep…but then she saw something move.

I. Must. Do. THIS! Rogue gathered all of the strength he had and made one last push through the thick fog, running towards the light. He bolted awake with a gasp.

The room was bright. He was alone. The sharp smell of disinfectant hung in the air and behind him a machine pinged in rhythm with his heartbeat. Rogue tried to move his right arm and looked down to see an IV attached to it, with tubes connecting to a hanging bottle of dripping fluid.

His pulse quickened, and in response the machine behind him began to ping more rapidly. Where AM I? he thought to himself. What happened?

The back of Rogue’s head answered with a deep throb. He raised his left arm to his head and felt the source of his pain – what seemed to be a large gash on head that had been stitched and bandaged.

He closed his eyes and tried to recall an accident. Nothing. What was the last thing he remembered? Again, nothing.

Rogue turned his head, but the movement sent a spike of pain radiating down though his skull. He took deep breaths and let the pain pass. Instinctively, he surveyed his surroundings. The hospital room was all white and brightly lit which hurt his head. There was a single bed, which he was on. He saw a table nearby and next to it a medical waste bag, which looked like it held remnants from a trauma – bandages and gauze covered with blood. Damn! Must have been bad, he thought.

Now Rogue turned his head very slowly toward the window beside his bed. It was just getting light outside. He saw his reflection in the window – a bandaged head, tubes, and wires to the machine behind him – but something else, too. What is that??? A stuffed animal?

He turned his head back around in response to see what was behind him and to his surprise locked eyes with Twilight. "Oh!” Twilight gasped. “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."

He immediately gasped in both pain and surprise, setting off a symphony of alarms from his machines.

Rogue stared incredulously at what was before him. It wasn't a stuffed animal after all, but something real. She appeared to be a young adult…female horse, smallish though – maybe a pony.

Reflexively Rogue responded in absolute surprise "You can talk!" as he recoiled on his bed, setting off another set of alarms. Almost simultaneously, Twilight responded with the same reaction, "YOU can talk!" As she cried out, she backed away in surprise and knocked over the small table, which hit the silent alarm button on the wall.

They looked at one another in a stand off, each waiting for the next one to make a move. Rogue was amazed that the pony could speak his language, and Twilight was delighted that this creature had intelligence. She could now learn so much from it!

Realizing that she presented no immediate harm, he fell back onto his bed as the alarms quieted, and nodded weakly in response. "Yeah, I can talk. Where am I?"

As Twilight looked at him, Rogue felt oddly comforted. Her eyes were large and gentle but penetrating pool of violet. They looked caring and concerned at the same time. He found himself staring deep and deeper into them, until he forced himself to pull away, suddenly self-conscious.

“Where am I?” Rogue repeated, “What happened?”

"Wow! You can speak!" she gasped again.

"…Uh huh? We've established this."

She blushed with embarrassment, "hehe, sorry, just a little excited."

She then grinned from ear to ear, "Oh my goodness, that is amazing! I was hoping you could, but I really had my doubts. Now that I know though, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"

Rogue nodded his head, which responded with a painful reminder of why he was there.

She clopped her front hooves together happily as though she was clapping.

"Before I begin, let me introduce myself," she said, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, what's your name?"

Rogue opened his mouth to respond, and slowly uttered his name with a raspy whisper, "Rogue..."

"Oh! Rogue! That's an interesting name!" she added excitedly. "And where are you from?"

He searched his mind for a few seconds. The question was so simple, and he knew the answer was right..there…but only could envision a thick fog where his memory used to be. Frustrated, he finally responded.

"I….I don't know…"

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: More Questions Than Answers

Twilight stared at me and held her gaze. She had an astonished look on her face, but to my confusion, she burst out laughing.

"Very funny, you almost had me!" She said as she composed herself, "Now really, where are you from?"

Does she seriously think this is a joke? I thought, dumbfounded by the idea.

I maintained the same serious voice, but tried to punctuate my words so that she would believe me, “I. Don’t. Know.”

"OK, it was funny the first time, now let's be serious. Where are you from?" Twilight asked, still teasing but becoming less patient and more annoyed with me now.

It was clear she was not getting that I was telling the truth.

Will this chick ever take the hint? I thought, annoyed myself.

"Listen, Twilight was it? I don't remember! Everything just seems like a blur…"

I could tell that the gravity of the situation had finally hit Twilight as her expression slowly morphed from confusion to one of comprehension and then finally to a look of concern. Her face literally was an open book.

"Oh! Oh - this is not good! Do you remember how you got to the Everfree?"

"To the WHERE?"

"Oh no!" Twilight said, her worry starting to get to me now. "Ok let’s think. Maybe if I ask you some questions it will help jog your memory. Like do you know what species you are? I noticed your tail…”

“My WHAT???” I asked in astonishment.

“Uh – your tail? I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but notice it – at first I thought it was a belt but then it became unwrapped when you were sedated...see?” Twilight pointed her hoof in the direction of my side and I looked over. I was shocked by the sight of a brown tail. Just to make sure it was in fact mine, I began to slowly move it back and forth.

Wow. I have a tail! What the hell?

“So the books that I have read – primates have tails. Do you think you might be some sort of monkey?"

Upon hearing that last word, I grew incredibly angry, but I didn't know why.

"I may not be certain of much right now, but I am sure I'm not a monkey, Twilight!" I spat my words in anger, causing her to recoil slightly. Surprised by my own reaction, I felt a pang of guilt.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, this is all just happening so fast and I'm getting frustrated that I can't remember something so simple."

Twilight seemed to understand my panic, and began to speak in more soothing tones to calm me. "It's alright Rogue," she said, "I would be acting the same way if I was in your situation. Now just take a moment and relax – maybe it will come to you."

As I began to think, my eyes drifted back down to my tail, which was swishing around slowly at my side. I then finally took notice of the outfit I was wearing. It appeared to be some sort of strange suit that had ripped black pants, a chest plate that appeared to have seen better days, dirty white boots, and damaged wrist guards.

What is this stuff? I asked myself.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my hospital room door opening, followed a couple of loud hoof steps. I turned to see who had entered and saw what appeared to be a doctor and a nurse or assistant. They both looked similar to Twilight – as in they were also ponies.

Whatever this place is, I am obviously not normal here, I realized.

The Doctor had a brown coat and was wearing a clinical white lab jacket that had a nametag on the lapel, which read “Dr. Brown”.

How original, I though with a smirk.

The nurse-assistant was a pale yellow color with a white mane tucked under her nurse’s hat. She held a clip board with her hooves and was prepared to take down notes.

Twilight greeted them both by quickly sharing the status of my situation, “Doctor Brown! Rogue-just-woke-and-I-started-asking-him-questions-and-he-says-he-doesn’t-know-where-!”

“Whoa! Slow down Miss Sparkle, I can barely understand you!" He laughed to himself. "for a second I thought you said it can talk! That would be ridiculous!”

"Uh…I can talk!" I said, a little angry.

Is the idea of me talking really that out of the ordinary in a world of talking colorful horses? And call me crazy but it sounded to me like the Doctor was insulting me…

This suspicion was further confirmed when the brown-coated Doctor didn’t even look at me and instead turned his full attention to Twilight, speaking only to her.

Hey, who’s the patient here?

Dr. Brown cleared his throat and started speaking with an air of haughty authority.

“Tsk, tsk. Dear sweet Twilight. You really should not presume too much about its ability to think, or understand. It may be that this creature does not have the mental capacity to know such things as where it’s from.”

“I’m a ‘he’ not an ‘it!’” I interrupted, “And I have a name - Rogue!”

The doctor ignored my comment and turned his attention to the machines, which recorded my vital signs. He called out numbers to the nurse-assistant who was busily trying to keep up and write them all on her clip board. She obviously was intimidated by this brown-coated jerk. Finally, he turned back to Twilight, but this time he was actually speaking over me as if I weren’t even there on the bed between them.

“It’s clear this thing went through quite a bit – almost didn’t make it – and as you recall, it was not my recommendation that we even waste our time or ‘resources’ to try to save it. I mean, we aren't vets."

He finally turned to look at me, and I could see the hatred as his eyes went dead when they locked onto mine “As you can see, we are quite a bit different from this creature!" He said the last word as though he was disgusted with the idea of me. I knew one thing for sure, I really didn't like this guy.

“Doctor, please!” Twilight interjected, defending me, “It’s not like that! Rogue is not a creature. He’s a…a…well, I don't know what he is, but he’s intelligent! And he is trying to remember!” It was clear that poor Twilight - while coming to my aid - was also uncertain what to call me. Still, I appreciated the try.

The doctor turned to address Twilight, dismissing me again. “Perhaps our medicine boosted its brain waves – I mean, it can speak and respond to questions after all. That’s more than I expected from it.”

This guy’s really pissing me off, I thought.

The nurse-assistant spoke up, with a slight tremor in her voice, “Do you remember anything? Any thing little thing at all?” It was a bold move to address me as she was clearly going against the ‘good’ doctor’s orders. Dr. Brown glared at her, causing her to retreat a few steps back.

What do I remember? Surely something… I thought as I dug deeper and deeper, trying to find something.

Such a simple question answered only by emptiness, and that frustrating fog where my brain used to be. It seemed like there was something beyond the thickness that was so close, but just out of reach. And the more I tried to get to it, the more the dull ache in my brain began to throb with pain.

Nothing, I sadly realized, I remember nothing.

But the 'good' doctor did confirm something important. I am not one of them. Not wanting to be anybody’s scientific experiment, I decided to turn the tables and make him answer questions for once.

“What’s happening to me? Why can’t I remember anything?” I asked, and braced myself for the worst.

Just as I anticipated, Dr. Brown had a big ego and it liked to be stroked. He cleared his throat again and spoke with the same haughty tone.

“A-hem. Well, actually, there are number of things that could be happening.” The doctor began. “It could be the nasty gash on its head which caused trauma, or it could be the procedure we did which caused pressure and swelling…or it could be the result of the magic we performed during surgery that obliterated its thinking. Any of these things could affect its memory. But most likely, you are just that dumb.”

I was about to retort against his last comment, but then something else hit me.

“Wait – what – MAGIC?” I asked, not believing what I had heard.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Dr. Brown.

"It's something that your puny mind can't even dream to comprehend."

Just as I was about to lose my temper, a new voice entered the room - "Ah I see you're awake! I was worried we were going to lose you!"

Great, what more is in store for me? I turned my head to see another doctor-pony standing in the entrance of the room. This one had a light blue coat, with a dark blue mane and was wearing a white lab coat.

Oh yay. Another doctor to insult my intelligence.

He was older and I could tell from the way he carried himself that he was in charge. But this one was different. His eyes were more caring and concerned. And he had a blue horn on the top of his head, similar to the one on top of Twilight's.

Wait…blue fur….lab coat…why does that seem so familiar? I asked myself.

As I pondered this for a moment, a single word began to form in my head.

"Doc..." I said, almost as if I wasn't entirely there.

"Wow! It really can talk!" the blue doctor exclaimed in enthusiastic surprise, “I was hoping…”

I didn't get a chance to respond as a jolt of pain began to emanate from my head and transcend down my entire body, enveloping me in a vise of pain. I gripped my head, hoping this would somehow alleviate the pain.

Make it stop! I screamed in my mind.

I barely heard Twilight and the new doctor’s concerned calls for help as I shut my eyes and fought the searing pain in my head. My eyes rolled back into my head and felt myself descend deep into a different realm. Images began to appear as if they were right there before me. I saw a man, he sort of looked like me…well, more like me than the ponies did…but he had light blue skin and wore a white lab jacket. The most interesting thing about him was the two horns on his head. In some ways, he looked like the blue doctor.

As these images zoomed by, a bright light began to move closer and closer until it completely blinded me. Then, in an instant, I found myself become absorbed into the white flash, which had transported me into what seemed to be a hospital, but not the one I had been in moments ago.

I looked around me to assess the environment. I was standing on a platform. I looked down at my body to discover I was wearing new clothes.

How’d that happen? I wondered. My clothes were similar but different from the ones I was wearing before. Instead of being damaged, they appeared to be brand new, as if I had just put it on. They also seemed different, as though it was an older style. The colors, and some of the pieces of the suit were definitely different. I was wearing a tight blue jumpsuit with white boots and gloves. On top of the suit, I wore a chest plate that was white with two brown shoulder guards.

My attention was quickly taken away from my gear when some object went flying past me. As I looked up, I was surprised to see multiple small devices were whizzing around me as they examined my body. Suddenly, they all stopped at once and flew into a compartment that opened on the platform. I began to lean forward to see where the compartment went when I heard a metallic sound came from behind me. Turning to see the source of this noise, I saw the blue man with the two horns from my vision was standing there.

The man looked at me and smiled a moment before he spoke, "So we finally meet. I have been waiting for you. You can call me Doc.” His voice sounded slightly garbled as if it were traveling through space from another world.

“Let’s see what the analysis is."

I simply nodded in response, as he picked up a chart from a desk nearby.

"From my scans, it definitely seems like you are in good shape…But we will have to do more tests to verify. Please follow me…”

Why was this so strange and yet so... familiar? I thought. What is this place? And who is this guy?

Still, I followed him obediently down the hall and as I did I continued to view my surroundings. It was a long hall, with several chambers every so often appearing on either side. It was evident to me that this was some sort of training facility, and these were examination rooms. As I walked by them, I noticed different people, varying in ages and genders, going through the same scan that I had gone through moments before. The thing that stuck out to me was that they all had tails and looked like me, well at least more than the ponies did.

As I walked by the last one, I noticed a small child who was dressed in similar clothes as mine standing with his side to me right by the door, with his head turned to look at me. I stopped and examined him for a few seconds while he appeared to be doing the same. He looked like an ordinary child with the exception of one distinctive feature that I noticed right away…he also had a tail that emerged from his lower back, right at the beltline. But something else seemed off. I looked at him and noticed his expression. He seemed to be a serious child. At one look, I could tell that he had been through a lot. As I continued to examine him, an overwhelming feeling that I had seen him someplace before began to fill my senses.

Who is this kid? I questioned.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Doc's faded voice.

“Come along!” he called – time to go. The boy and I nodded at each other – almost at the exact same time. It seemed strange to me, but I walked on. It took me a moment – maybe 4 or 5 steps down the hall - before I realized the reason where I had seen the boy before….

Immediately, it felt like the air was being sucked out of my lungs and my gut kicked in all at once, as a jolt of searing pain went through my brain. The sheer excruciating shock ripped through me like a bolt of lightning, and caused me to gasp awake in the hospital bed. My eyes flew wide open and my face was covered with beads of sweat.

Twilight, the nurse-assistant, and the blue-coated 'ponified' Doc were around me, calling my name.

“Rogue! Are you alright?” Twilight asked worriedly, “What happened?”

As I looked at the faces that were so clearly concerned with me. They all seemed to be so worried. I wondered how I could ever explain this? How could I make them understand where I had just been and what I had seen, when I did not even understand it myself?

“Nothing. I’m fine,” I lied. “Just a little head ache – and maybe too much excitement, that’s all.”

“You scared us half to death! You were thrashing around – and you kept calling the name 'Doc' over and over again!” Twilight added. “What happened? What did you see?”

“I’m not sure - I can’t really explain it but I felt that I was in a different place – and that there was a doctor who looked like me, but had blue skin and horns – like you – only there were two horns.” I tried to explain, but could see from the looks on their faces that it was futile, “Never mind – I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“Well maybe you remembered something from your past!” encouraged Twilight, “Can you recall any other details?” She was so kind, and I could tell that she honestly wanted to help me figure this all out.

"I would hardly call that a memory," scoffed Dr. Brown who stepped into the light from the dark shadow in the corner of the room where he had been observing, "it is obvious that it is just having hallucinations due to the amount of shock that it had. To think that there is another monkey out there that looks like Doctor Bluemoon is beyond me!"

I was furious at this point, "Again, I am not a MONKEY, and I am not an IT and, if what I saw was a 'hallucination,' then explain the similarities between…"

I trailed off. Why waste my breath when it was clear this guy was a buffoon who would never understand?

Doc Bluemoon broke the silence, by turning and addressing me by name as he looked at me. "Rogue, if what you say is true, and you did feel a strong sense of things being familiar, then maybe you are having 'flashes' in order to regain your memories."

Twilight spoke up this time, adding, "Maybe it’s because Doctor Bluemoon looked familiar to you and this Doc person who you might have known in your past."

“That’s correct, Twilight. Memory flashes are like small power surges in the brain, where the memory tries to reboot.” Doc Bluemoon added. “Rogue, you mentioned that you had a vision about something that looked like me, so maybe things that are familiar to you will cause these 'memory flashes' to occur.”

I was feeling a little more optimistic now. “So that means if we find things that were important to me, then my memory might fully return?”

Doc Bluemoon rubbed his chin with his hoof, and thought for a moment. “It’s possible - but unlikely it would happen all at once. For right now these episodes might just be pieces to a larger puzzle."

"I think it's about time that we give our patient a little bit of rest, I know that he's gone through a lot in a short period of time. Miss Sparkle, you should probably head home as well. We still need to run some more tests on him, and analyze his body just in case a future occurrence happens but he should be out by tomorrow."

Twilight nodded and turned to me, "Don't worry Rogue, I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up from the hospital. You can stay with me."

I nodded and smiled lightly, "Alright, see you tomorrow, Twilight!" I felt grateful inside.

How am I so lucky to find such a friend? I thought.

Twilight smiled warmly then walked through the door, followed by the nurses. Dr. Brown was about to go as well, when he was stopped by Doctor Bluemoon.

"We need to talk after this," he said strictly, “about your bed-side manner and patient care.” This stern tone caused Dr. Brown to sulk in a guilty manner before quickly galloping away. Doc Bluemoon glared after him before turning his gaze to me with a grin.

"Ok Rogue, you don’t have to worry about him anymore. I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask, but it's really important for you to sleep right now."

I nodded as I lowered myself down onto the bed. I didn't realize how tired I was until my head hit the pillow.

I wonder who I was before all of THIS? I thought to myself myself as my eyes grew heavy. What did this all mean? Who was the Doc in my vision? And how did this all fit together in the puzzle of my identity?

I had so many questions - but I did know one thing for sure. I knew that I did not need to feel my lower back for the confirmation again that I had a tail…and that the child I saw looking back at me – was me!!!