Waiting for the Elements

Twilight had awoken from her slumber. She felt somewhat tired since she woke up in the middle of the night to check on Aleu. As she went downstairs, she saw what was mistaken as a banquet. She looked around to see waffles with chocolate chips, syrup splattered on top, and a nice butter piece spreading itself to sweeten the taste a bit further. She looked around expecting her friends to jump out and surprise her, even though she had no idea why they would. Going up to the breakfast, she saw Aleu come out of the kitchen with Spike.

"Oh, hi Twilight!" Aleu greeted. "Glad you're up for breakfast!"

Twilight looked at the table with a raised eyebrow. "Are we expecting…more ponies?"

Aleu looked at the table, then replied, "Too much?"

"No way! This is just enough!" Spike told Aleu as he ran up to the food and took a big bite out of the waffles. "Oh~, so good~!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Spike. "Oh come on Spike, no matter how delicious it may be, there's no way we'll finish-" Before she finished, she took a bite of her breakfast. Her eyes widened and quickly took another bite making sure what she had just tasted was real. "This…is amazing!"

Aleu grinned as he sat down with them. "Thanks! I'm glad you like them!"

As they all ate, a knock came at the door. Aleu got up to open it to see Pinkie awaiting for it to open.

"Ah, Pinkie, right?" Aleu made sure.

"Hi Aleu! I'm glad you're awake! I wanted to-, Oh my gosh! What's that!?" Pinkie stopped focusing on Aleu and to his homemade breakfast. The smell caught her attention as she dove right in and ate all the waffles in one swoop. Twilight and Spike had only finished their first plate before Pinkie engulfed the rest.

"Ah, that was Delicious!" Pinkie expressed her satisfaction.

"W-Whoa, you just ate, like, a breakfast for five in one second." Aleu pointed out.

"Well, that was great while it lasted." Spike spoke sadly as there were no more waffles.

Pinkie was just so excited after eating the food. "What was that stuff anyway!? I thought it was waffles, but it had chocolate, and apple syrup, and sweet butter!" She then held Aleu's cheeks and quickly asked, "Did you make it!?"

Aleu nodded as she gave a sparkly look in her eyes of amazement. "Oh my gosh! You have to give me the recipe!"

Aleu grinned and responded, "I'll be more than happy to."

Twilight went up to Pinkie and wondered, "So, what brings you down here so early?"

"Oh! I almost forgot! Aleu, when's your birthday?" She questioned me with a happy expression.

"My birthday?" Aleu repeated.

"Oh, well, Pinkie tends to ask everypony when their birthday is." Twilight explained.

Aleu tilted his head with a grin. "Sorry, but I can't say."

The two ponies and the baby dragon seemed a bit confused.

"What do you mean you can't say?" Twilight questioned.

"I really mean, I can't say." He said again with his small smile.

"Oh, I get it! Your trying to keep it a secret, but don't you worry! I'll figure it out." Pinkie said as she slipped into a bush and vanished.

"H-How did she do that!?" Aleu questioned as he checked the bush. "So cool…"

Twilight giggled and said, "It's just Pinkie being Pinkie."

After cleaning up the breakfast table, Twilight suggested to Aleu, "Hey, you wanna take a walk outside?"

Aleu looked at her with uncertainty. "That depends, is there gonna be another golem or something? That monster freaked me out when I saw it."

"Really?" Twilight said surprised. "You looked almost as if you weren't even threatened by him."

"Hmm? No way! I was scared that he was gonna crush me to bits!" Aleu expressed his confrontation back then.

"Ha! Looks like he isn't so high and mighty as he seems!" Rainbow's voice said as she herself came in. "Hey Aleu, just came to see if you're okay and all."

"Aw, thanks Rainbow." Aleu replied.

"So, you really were afraid of that big guy, huh?" Rainbow made sure.

"Yeah, weren't you?" Aleu replied casually.

"Please! I could have taken care of that guy in 10 seconds flat!" Rainbow boasted.

Twilight was about to rebuttal, but Aleu looked down and replied, "Oh…I guess Twilight didn't need me after all…"

Remembering Aleu did get pulled out if his world just to help them, Rainbow backed up a bit somewhat guilty. "Well, I guess if you weren't there, my friends would have gotten hurt so…" She reassured Aleu.

Aleu held his head up with a smile. "Oh, okay then!" The two bumped fists and hooves regaining both sides of pride. Twilight smiled at the two getting along.

"Well Aleu, what do you wanna do?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know." Aleu replied. "Usually, my friends invite me to do whatever since I'm often open every day."

"Really?" Rainbow grinned. "How about we do a little contest?"

Aleu raised an eyebrow as she said so. "Contest? What kind?"

"Follow me, we'll go to Applejacks for some extra space." She told me as Aleu complied. Twilight gave a slightly worried look as she lead Aleu to Sweet Apple Acres.

A while later, Aleu and Rainbow Dash accompanied by Applejack went to an open field, vast enough to do anything your active heart could ever desire. Along the area was a stick digging into the ground and some other small details like stones and small grass patches.

"Okay, so what are we doing?" Aleu questioned again.

"Let's have a race!" Rainbow Dash said with a smirk.

Aleu noticed Applejack sighed as she said, "Now you're just taking advantage of him."

"Advantage?" Aleu repeated.

"Nah, he'll be great! You saw how he took down the golem, he's probably fast." Rainbow assured the unsure Applejack.

"Alright, I'm down with it! Where to where?" Aleu asked readily.

"Great! We'll start here and head to that wooden pole, ready?" Rainbow Dash asked as she readied her position.

Aleu got into his ready position and replied, "All set!"

"Then…GO!" Rainbow Dash took off with an amazing head start. She had reached the pole and headed back in seconds.

"Ha! Did you see that?" Rainbow asked to the missing Aleu. "Uh, hey, where'd he go?"

Applejack looked to the tree to see Aleu blown all the way up on it. Rainbow couldn't help but laugh as Applejack bucks the tree bringing Aleu along with a few apples down.

"You alright sugarcube?" Applejack asked Aleu.

Aleu brushed off the leaves on his head and glared at Rainbow. "Okay, that explains the name, but does that really mean you have to blow me away!?"

Rainbow Dash still laughed as Aleu sighed. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry dude!" Rainbow apologized to the pride loss Aleu.

"Sorry won't cut it." Aleu said as he pointed his finger to Rainbow. "I want another challenge!"

Rainbow replied with a smirk as she spoke, "Alright Aleu! You ready to lose two times in a row?"

Aleu pointed to the wooden pole again. "This time, whoever can smash that stick wins, alright?"

Rainbow again gave a pompous look as she said, "Dude, we all know I can reach the stick before you can, so what makes you think you can break it before I can?"

Aleu didn't answer the question as he stood in a battle pose this time. "Ready?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged and got into her starting position. "Ready!" She replied.

"Go!" Aleu yelled, signaling Rainbow to go. She flew at a high speed yet again. Applejack noticed Aleu this time stood his ground from where he started. He simply raised a foot and stomped it on the ground. All the way over by the pole, a small quake was felt and the wooden pole simply shattered into pieces of bark. Rainbow and Applejack were completely shocked that Aleu was able to break the stick so far away before Rainbow could even touch it. Rainbow flew back to Aleu with a bewildered face.

"Wha!? How did-!? When!?" Rainbow stuttered with a hundred questions upon her lips.

"Guess I got you pretty good, huh?" Aleu grinned as he bumped fist to hoof with Applejack.

"Gotta say that was mighty impressive! Don't think I've ever seen anypony do something like that before!" Applejack complimented Aleu.

"Ha, ha! Thanks!" Aleu responded.

Rainbow flew up to Aleu with a disappointed look. "Well that's no fair! I didn't know you could do that!"

"Well I didn't know you were fast enough to literally blow me away!" Aleu rebuttable.

"Yeah, well…" Rainbow stopped as she had nothing else to reply with. Aleu looks closer to notice Rainbow's wings a bit different than the other.

"Hey, what's with your wing?" Aleu asked.

"Huh?" Rainbow looked at Aleu inspecting her wing.

"It looks a bit bent." He pointed out.

"Rainbow, how'd your wing got like that?" Applejack questioned.

"Probably one of my exercises, no biggie- ow! What are you doing!?" Rainbow yelled as Aleu poked the wing.

"Uh, Aleu, I don't think-" Applejack stopped as Aleu kept rubbing the wing with both hands. Rainbow was about to hit him until he stepped back to see the wing brand new.

"I massaged a birds wing before, so this wasn't so hard." Aleu informed the two as Rainbow flapped her wings.

"Hey…feels good as new…" Rainbow expressed the smooth feeling of her wing.

"Well I'll be, I didn't know you were a masseuse." Applejack inquired.

"I just use the pressure points." Aleu explained. "If you battle a lot, you can find all kinds of pressure points, regardless of species."

"So basically, you turned what you know that could be used to hurt others into something that can help others." Applejack deduced. "That's pretty smart of ya!"

"Hey, I think he's perfect for Twilight!" Rainbow joked as the two ponies laughed. Aleu felt a bit uncomfortable talking about such a topic.

"Right…anyways, it's already near sunset, I think I'm gonna go back to Twilight's." Aleu told the two.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Applejack agreed. "See you later!"

"Bye dude! Hope to compete with you next time!" Rainbow said as she too flew away.

Aleu smiled and went on home. Heading back to the library, Aleu opened the door and  noticed the room was completely dark. As he turned on the lights, all the hidden ponies inside jumped yelling, "SURPRISE!" Aleu jumped and fell down with the sudden surprise. He got up and saw all kinds of ponies that were in the library before him. Somehow Applejack and Rainbow made her way there before Aleu did. Well, Applejack anyways.

Pinkie hopped over to Aleu as he got up and asked him, "Well? Were you totally surprised!?"

Aleu nodded as he scratched his head. "So, this must be that welcoming party I've been told about yesterday."

Pinkie nodded very fast while saying, "Yep! You got that right!"

Twilight went over to Aleu and brought him over to the center of the room.

"It's the least we can do for what you did so far." Twilight said to Aleu.

Aleu nodded no as he said, "You really shouldn't mind about that kind of stuff. I am grateful for all of this though."

Aleu grabbed a cup and yelled out to all in the room, "Party Time!"

They all cheered as Aleu scooted next to Vinyl and started to mix the tunes. Cakes were eaten and drinks were drank. Dances Aleu had made often involved him doing a few flips and going on his head while spinning. Ponies have never seen anyone more energetic than Pinkie, but at least he didn't eat all the food like her. In the middle of the party, everyone were taking the time to have some small talk. Aleu was taking a drink near the punch bowl and up came the six.

"So, you loving the party?" Pinkie questioned.

"Loving it to the fullest!" Aleu grinned as he chugged the rest of his cup.

"I must say, you do know how to make a party last. Even if this is one of Pinkie's parties, never have I seen so much more pizzazz!" Rarity complimented Aleu's personality.

"So Aleu, why don't you tell us more about yourself?" Applejack asked.

"Like, where you're from?" Fluttershy added.

"Or how you learned to fight like that!" Rainbow added as well.

Aleu's smile seemed to have shrunk. It was still present, but not as wide as earlier.

"I learned how to fight because I was…well, alone back then." Aleu explained.

"Alone?" Twilight repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I used to live alone. That's why I can cook, read, and all that stuff. I always had to do it for my survival." Aleu continued. "I admit it may have made me supernatural compared to other people, but it also helped me get by."

The girls looked a bit sad for Aleu. He then moved on with the story with his grin returning.

"But then I met them. Drew, Mark, and Shade. My friends really showed me how to live, you know?" Aleu stated.

Twilight began to remember a similar feeling when she first moved in to Ponyville. "So…how was it like when you first met them?"

Aleu tilted his head as he huffed. For this moment, he had an annoyed face. "Well, Drew did electrocute me on accident, Mark let a construction beam crush me, and Shade accidentally cut all my clothes clean off!" As the girls tried to hide their laughter, Aleu regained his smile as he said, "But it was funny!"

The girls and Aleu laughed as he continued to mention things that went to his mind.

"So, where did you live?" Fluttershy questioned.

"In a town called Apple Wood." Aleu answered.

"Apple Wood?" Applejack became interested in the name. "What gave it the title?"

"Well, our town's main crop are apples. We have all kinds of them too. From red, to green, to orange, and of course we shouldn't forget all those products we have. Apple Wood merchandise would often hold up apple juice, apple soda, apple sauce, apple cider-"

Rainbow's eyes went up at the mentioning of cider. "Wait! You have apple cider!?" Rainbow questioned. Aleu nodded 'yes', making Rainbow squeal in excitement.

"Do you have any right now?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, sorry, no, but I can make you some." Aleu offered.

"You know how to make cider?" Applejack questioned.

"Oh yeah, like I said, I know how to cook." Aleu proudly said.

Pinkie jumped at Aleu and quickly asked, "How many recipes do you know?"

Aleu started to think. "Around…one…two? Around 250."

They all had their jaws dropped as Pinkie bounced in glee.

"Are all those dishes made of apples?" Twilight questioned.

"No, thanks to our apple crops popularity, we get other fruits from famous places, best of the best. I have all kinds of recipes for apples, cherries, pumpkins, potatoes, oranges, all kinds of foods really." Aleu explained.

"Aleu, do you plan on opening a restaurant someday?" Rarity wondered.

"Well, I'm not old enough yet, but if I could, I'd love to take that chance!" Aleu smiled once more.

Pinkie crept behind Aleu and jumped on his head. "Alright! Now when's your birthday?!" She demanded to know.

"I can't say, sorry." Aleu said again.

"Darn!" Pinkie yelled as she slid off of Aleu.

"Why can't you tell us your birthday?" Rainbow wondered.

"Yeah, just tell us. It's nothing to hide you know." Applejack assured Aleu.

Aleu's smile now disappeared this time as he slowly said, "If it's really nothing to hide, then how come no one has ever told me?"

The girls were a bit shocked. Aleu sighed and looked down deeper. "You see, I lived alone for a very long time and…no one told me when I was born."

Not knowing his birthday? That was ridiculous. But his reason was as simple as can be. Being alone for so long has made him completely forget his date of birth. Pinkie patted Aleu on the shoulder as she said, "Sorry to bring it up."

Aleu's smile came back very quickly and said, "No problem! Now let's go back to having fun!"

He jumped out of the corner and continued the party's rushing hour. They all seemed to have a great time before midnight, as they finally went home. As Twilight closed the door, she turned to Aleu sleeping on the floor. She levitated him to the second bed upstairs and lied him slowly as he rested the night away.