Friendship May Be Magic, but Trust is Power

by VampireFluttershyTails

Rating: everyone
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Adventure, Discord, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 21534

"...because you must have trust before you can ever have a friendship." Summary: The denizens of Ponyville, especially the Mane Six, are at a loss of what to do when a small, pink (asocial), puffball crash-lands near their picnic. Will con

Kirby x MLP : FiM crossover
Started: March 11, 2014 (8:42am)
Finished:
Summary
The denizens of Ponyville, especially the Mane Six, are at a loss of what to do when a small, pink (asocial), puffball crash-lands near their picnic, Will contain predominantly all characters and a little bit of every genre except Romance and Grimdark, (well, maybe a little bit Dark, but not THAT Dark! :twilightoops:) throughout the story! XD Rated E for now. =3
It's not yet finished in my notes and thus it's not finished on paper, but it will be.

Huh... I don't understand why Slice of Life and Adventure CAN'T go together... *bringing this to my blog*
My own cover will be here eventually! XD
For now, I'm thanking flimsy-cat for the part that contains his or her cover art and warriorcatsrpg.com for the rest of the picture! XD

Working on getting a 3DS; just need to find the gift cards.. [
Will be getting the 3DS soon! XD FOUND THE GIFT CARDS! (May 10, 2014) so if I can, I'll draw a cover art for this story using the 3DS (when I get it). --bringing this to my blog! XD

I hope you like My Little Pony - well, of course you do; you clicked on it!
Lemme change that up there; well, of course you do! you're on FIMfiction! And I hope you like dark Kirby too! XD
Not dark, as in grimdark, but just... dark... ya know.... opposite of happy?
I also hope I stuck true to the characters; I'm a little new to the show. ^^;
P.S. I also snuck in a few Portal references and maybe a reference to something else entirely; see if you can find them. =3
Alright, here we go! XDSample
It was a windy day in Ponyville.
The branches of the many trees were shaking; the green blades of grass rippled in whichever direction the wind seemed to go, and the blankets Pinkie Pie set out kept getting blown away so many times that she finally had to hold them down with bricks.
It was also a beautiful day out!
The sun was shining; birds were chirping, and, of course, Pinkie Pie was out waiting for her five friends with an assortment of picnic baskets....
End Sample
XDD Want more? *Pinkie Pie style* clickie clickie on the button for Chapter One! =3

Published 2014-05-11 14:10:03 UTC
Last updated 2015-01-03 02:27:03 UTC

Chapter Two - Burden of Thoughts

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Three - Falling Apart

Beg.
est. May 20, 2014

Chapter Three - Falling Apart

A pale, light grayish gold pegasus, flanked by her bunny pet, sat on her green cot by the fireplace, looking through the window at the whispering, nocturnal Everfree Forest with sad, concerned moderate cyan eyes. Fluttershy sighed, nodding her head sleepily; her ragged, pale, light grayish rose mane slightly getting in her face.
Angel nuzzled her, comforting her, but he knew it wouldn't work; she'd been stuck in a rut whenever she'd have the chance to rest.
The kind pegasus looked at the bunny, tired eyes carrying that one thought since that pink puffball crash-landed here those few days ago.

"Um... Angel... how do you think he's doing?" Fluttershy began softly, curling up within herself to gather warmth. The bunny tilted a bit, tutting that he had no idea, and Fluttershy groaned to herself.
The pegasus snorted in annoyance at this unchanging fact; it's been that way with Rainbow Dash as well, when the athletic pegasus stopped by to deliver that one piece of intel. She'd asked then,―"how is he? Did you find him?"―only to receive a disappointed―

"No... " Rainbow Dash had said with a frown, backing up from the yellow pegasus's cottage while Fluttershy, close to tears, followed her out, almost angry at this.

How can there be no intel? you've been at this for a day and a half! she'd thought and wanted to say, but the pegasus had swallowed her anger and kept up her kindness, smiling even when a frown would have been appropriate.
She remembered, however, just before Rainbow flew off, that "golden star" was mentioned and that her friend Twilight Sparkle was examining it, and the pegasus frowned at this and receded into her house after she'd watched the multicolored trail make lines throughout Equestria's darkening sky.
Fluttershy still attended to her duties as an animal caretaker, either going into the Everfree Forest or staying within its cusp, trying her best not to let the fact that the pink puffball had yet to be found bother her. As a matter of fact, she'd even pretended some of the animals she cared for were that pink puffball, and she kept up a warm smile even while on the inside she was being ripped to shreds.
This "being ripped to shreds" part of her ordeal was now starkly shown as her hollow, sad eyes stared out the window into the Everfree Forest, as her overly long mane and tail were raggedy and like an out-of-control mop on her head and down her neck, as her body shivered as she brought her forelegs closer to herself so the coldness within her soul, resultant from the void she felt, wouldn't swallow her up, as the kind smile, having moved, was stilted and in its place settled a frown that would be enough to scare Pinkie Pie.
Yep, she was "being ripped to shreds"—as her heart, mind and soul could attest.
All she wanted was to find Kirby...
...to care for him...
...to know if he was okay.
How could she? when he was M.I.A., somewhere deep in the Everfree into which she would be too scared to enter at this time, and possibly hurt to the point of—?!
Angel nuzzled her again, this time rubbing her muzzle, and Fluttershy reset her countenance, which she then realized had been twisting into a scowl. The bunny chittered a piece of advice to the fallen pegasus, and her smile returned, albeit a bit empty, and her once hollow cyan eyes gained some light again.
The advice, Fluttershy realized, was to get some sleep, which she needed severely right about now; plus, there would always be tomorrow, yeah?
The pegasus opened her wings, standing up on her cot and a determined look settling upon her face; Angel Bunny crawled onto her back after he smiled at her newly gained confidence.
Fluttershy then attempted to fly to her bedroom, but then her sleepiness got to her; her wings locked up and she was snoring before she hit the floor. A familiar draconequus then manifested as the very cot the sweet pegasus had been sulking on, saying, "Oh! Fluttershy! isn't this wonderful!?"
What he was referring to was a lamp in Fluttershy's liking that had appeared in his lion paw / arm of the chair; but, of course, he made it himself!

"Fluttershy?" Discord lowered his voice, growing concerned for his friend as he melted off the cot and popped himself into his proper form. His mismatched red eyes then saw poor Fluttershy (and perhaps poor Angel, as well... he scoffed) on the floor, snoring, with her usually well-combed mane in her face and her extra long tail—which he found "cute", he noted—curled around her matted, yellow fur.

"Oh," he began in a whisper, "I see..." and smirked as he brought up his eagle talon and snapped his fingers. In a flash, Discord was in Fluttershy's bedroom, sitting with a fez on a red throne, with Fluttershy snug in bed and Angel Bunny sleeping on top of her covers.
The draconequus smiled, tossing away the paper that came with the disguise and poofing off his throne, which turned into a mini-sun now positioned at a safe distance from the kind pegasus's bed, radiating heat for her, and poofing into existence hovering beside her, the grin on his face growing as he took away her nightmares and left her in a meadow full of happy animals which needed her care.
And with another snap of his talon, he then added a happy tune with a haunting melody, and Discord smirked once more as he hovered into the floor and slithered to the stool beside the bed, his draconic tail softly whipping the stool and adorning it with the lamp he'd made for her.
And, as a final condiment, as Discord yawned and stretched into a three dimensional figure once more, he snapped his talon, and a magical sun brooch appeared in Fluttershy's hair.
"There," smiled Discord, "you're all better, eh?" slithering quietly up to her bed, "I tell you, there's no use worrying. This pink puffball—he'll soon appear," and a doll resembling Kirby appeared in his lion's paw just then. Discord looked at it and frowned, trying to think whether or not Fluttershy should have this, but eventually smiled and zapped it away from him and onto her bed stand.
"You see, there's always a tomorrow, my dear," he good-naturedly smirked. "Good night, Fluttershy mere," and then, one-by-one, body part by body part, he vanished, and soon the only traces of him being in that room were the lamp, the dream, the sun brooch, the Kirby doll, and Fluttershy herself, who now smiled genuinely as she cared for her pets within her mind, heart and soul…

It had been a few days since he'd had those apples to eat. Kirby still felt bad for running away, but with the way some of those ponies were staring at him...
He couldn't take the risk.
He was in a forest of some kind, but it didn't seem natural to him, compared to what he'd seen of this new land. The puffball eventually shrugged, As long as I'm away from those ponies, I'll be fine...
His stomach growled, and he rubbed it with a stubby hand. He needed to find some food...
Kirby walked along, his hunting instincts slightly guiding him. Since no one had taken care of him or even bothered with him, he had had to learn to take care of himself to survive—
The puffball heard a rustling in the bush, and, startled, readied himself for anything. He took a quiet step closer, and then another step toward the bush. He came close enough to see through it, and saw a rabbit—an unusual-looking one, but a rabbit nonetheless—on the other side.
His mouth watered involuntarily, a small, predatory part of his mind believing that rabbit to be his meal in the near future. Kirby brought out his switchblade discreetly, licking his lips as his stomach growled quietly and briefly.
But the larger part, but no more or less in demand, of his mind said to him that something wasn't right, and that it was wrong. Could he just kill and eat that rabbit? just like that?
He looked at his blade, seeing the bits of dried blood from battles and from remorse-filled meals of the distant past; the very same battles for which he was persecuted, despite his good intentions...
Kirby snapped out of his unpleasant reverie, instead focusing on that rabbit; trapped in a dilemma of moral beliefs and of corporeal instincts. His stomach growled again, reminding him of his hunger, and his usually dull red eyes briefly glowed and gained dark, animalistic slits, and he, licking his lips once again, narrowing his eyes, prepared for the kill...
...But was yet another stain on his blade worth the merely momentary fill?
After a brief fight of equally loud yeas and nays, his eyes lost the dangerous glow and slits, and he widened them, quietly gasping at the realization of what he was about to do...

No... no, it's not... and, with one last look at the bunny, he retracted the blade and re-sheathed it inside his cloak, almost trembling due to his deep, nearly raging river of hunger. Kirby couldn't stay there any longer, lest he wanted to test his hungry instincts, so he turned to leave, but the soft humming of a sweet melody stopped him in his tracks.
The puffball chanced a look behind him through the bush, and saw the same kind, yellow pegasus in his memory from those days ago. She looked a bit concerned when she saw the bunny, asking in a soft voice if there was anything wrong. Before the bunny could reply, though, his stomach growled again, much louder this time, and he grimaced when their ears perked up and toward the bush behind which he was hiding.
They each looked at the bush and exchanged equally perplexedly surprised glances, and decided to investigate.
Kirby panicked on the inside, the fear of being found again rising to a near high but only leaking through to his body language; he didn't care that the one about to find him was the one who calmed him with her presence alone all those days ago.
He just wanted to be left alone!
So he ran to his left betwixt a mess of trees, dodging them left and right with superior jumping skills and reflexes. Fluttershy had only seen a pink and round blur, but instantly knew who he was. The puffball who had crash-landed here all but a few days before, but it never seemed that long ago.
...And she just missed him by a hair!!
She plopped down and covered her face with her forehooves and wailed into them, so deeply worried about him. The bunny beside her nuzzled into her, trying his best to comfort her and kept trying even though he could tell it wouldn't be any use.
Kirby had stopped running, stepping out of the almost tightly woven trees onto a dirt path, and was startled and immediately ashamed by the haunting wails of the winged pony from whom he'd just run away...
Again.
He solemnly sighed, but kept going.
He wouldn't let himself be found.

It was late at night on the Sweet Apple Acres.
The Apple folks tilling the field for next week's harvest were gearing up to hit the hay. Those who stayed inside to make piece-meals for the family and food for profit—that which is sold in the Ponyville marketplace—cleaned up and talked heartily about their day. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had happily volunteered to sell the apple pies, curry, and apples to the residents in Ponyville, and Applejack, no more excited about this prospect, volunteered to supervise them.
Needless to say, despite being stationed in the busiest section of the marketplace, despite getting their products sold at a rate rivaling Pinkie Pie buying a batch of their cider come that day, and despite Apple Bloom's, Sweetie Belle's and Scootaloo's excitement to sell products grown and made by the folks at Sweet Apple Acres, the light brilliant gamboge pony was nothing short of bemused as she leaned on the produce stand, waving away with an empty smile the successful customers and snarking lightly at those who failed to buy or didn't want to buy anything, sharing only a little excitement with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Apple Bloom, her younger sister, was the first to notice, and her reddish amber eyes narrowed at her mentor in concern, "Applejack..."—moderate sap green eyes snapped open in firm attention as the farmpony responded awkwardly as if waking up from a dream and turned her attention to her volatile prodigy, "Yes...?"—and then the country filly asked, "What's wrong?" after selling a pie for four bits to an eager customer.
Applejack had to think on this, shaking herself out of her stupor. Sweetie Belle, the younger unicorn sister of Rarity, noticed next, as she balanced the big bowl of apple curry on her head, having ventured out into the crowd to get customers to buy a bowl, and she placed the giant bowl of curry lithely on the produce stand as her sparkling pale, light grayish harlequin eyes beheld her good friend's older sister's not-so-gungho attitude. The light gray unicorn filly then settled for bringing out the bowls and ladle, using them to dole out what paying customers requested, still watching Applejack trudge her way through advertisements and showing what their produce stand had to offer, which Scootaloo had happily undertaken, using her trusty scooter and helmet and her voice to lure a crowd.
Apple Bloom's older sister sighed drearily, her moderate sap green eyes rolling off to one side for a bit; her left hoof remained as a prop for her head and her blond forelocks covered her tired, pensive eyes.
She really wanted to say she was okay...
She really did...
...but she wasn't...
She wasn't okay...
Applejack often found herself thinking about the pink puffball and his stomach, even throughout her chores.
And...if'n he's as hungry as I suspect, those apples sho ain't gon' be nuff to hold him...
An apple bonked her on the head, reminding her of reality.
Yes...
Yes, she did just relapse into that burden of thoughts, and the Earth pony wanted to facehoof herself so bad—
"Applejack!" cried the frail yet strong pegasus filly, and the farmpony jerked herself out of her thoughts and groaned to herself.
"Yes, Ah'm fine," she stubbornly attested, bringing down her right hoof onto the table, and immediately felt bad, and rolled her eyes to sigh loudly yet no more dramatically than Rarity.
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at Applejack, stopping her scooter tricks as her grayish purple eyes scanned the older pony.
"You sure don't look fine to me..." the light brilliant gamboge filly frowned, even as their money bowl filled up to the point of overflowing, and the sky darkened to make way for the moon.
The elder farmpony sighed again, "Nope... Ah sure don't..." and a bit of a smile appeared when she looked near the heart of the table and saw how much money they gathered and how many products they sold.

"Why can't you be happy, AJ?" the pale, light grayish olive pony asked, as she replaced the full money bowl with an empty one, her sparkly reddish amber eyes widening with concern; she intended, and she hoped her two cutie mark-less friends also intend, to press and figure out this issue with Applejack.
No matter what it may take.
And it sure don't matter how... seriously mused Apple Bloom, her hoof acting as a prop for her head and her elbow stretched up on the produce stand. She thought it over again, decided, rather frantically in her mind, that this current thought was nearing a Despair Event Horizon, and, much to her satisfaction, added, Or maybe it does matter how... within reason!, as her worried, bemused eyes still watched Applejack stumble over counting the amount of bits they'd earned.

"We're doin' a pretty good job here, y'all!" the gamboge pony smiled a bit, after she'd cut through about half of the bits they'd obtained. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, however, saw right through the usually diligent farmpony's efforts to put up a cheery face and tone. Scootaloo was too busy drawing the crowd to help Applejack through her rut; though she was concerned, she couldn't stop her tasked job.
Applejack's smile slid off her face, her moderate sap green eyes glazing over again, her thoughts now and again centered around the pink puffball. Earlier, she was okay and working hard on the farm, the thoughts only bothering her a little bit; there were times, however, when the mare would mess up a task because those same thoughts got too big for her to push away. This time, she wondered about the "golden star" Rainbow Dash told her she'd found earlier today. She remembered frowning in deep thought for a moment and then giving Rainbow a deadpan stare when the sky blue pegasus told her the star was with her friend Twilight Sparkle for experimental purposes.

"What?" Applejack remembered her saying to that look, "it's Twilight Sparkle's orders!"

"But Ah can't just leave the farm right now! Me an' the Apple family have been pretty busy as of late," she remembered returning as she loaded a box of apples onto a cart filled with several other boxes of apples.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't help that!" the pegasus shot back, stretching her wings, "but you could always visit later."
Applejack outwardly scoffed, but, feeling bad, she sighed and said, "An' what if'n Ah wanted to see this 'golden star' right now? Yer reckon Ah go see her?"

"Yep."
Another apple bonked her on the head, and she awoke from the past once more, her tired look twisting into a scowl at the one she knew would do that. Scootaloo simply shrugged, a smirk on her face, and the new money bowl filled up even more—perhaps at its halfway point; perhaps even more than that... came Applejack's fatigued estimate. Applejack scoffed and mumbled incoherently to herself, shaking her head.

"Applejack..." began Sweetie Belle, gaining AJ's attention and hoofing over a bowl of apple curry to yet another customer who paid her due, "we're worried about you."

"Yeah," Apple Bloom supplemented, collecting the pay of two bits and putting it neatly into the bowl; her elder sister watched her with tired eyes, which were then met with those sparkly reddish ambers, narrowed with worry, and the leader of the CMC added, "what's wrong, sis?"
The diligent, honest farmpony hunched over, sighing and snorting,—almost sending her sister into a worried frenzy—before she set her forelegs on the edge of the table, "It's... kinda a long story, ya'll... but... Ah reckon Ah should'a told ya'll sooner..." and thus she delved into the story where she and her friends had to run from their picnic site or else a mysterious star cruiser would've fallen on them—the Cutie Mark Crusaders gasped at that and other distasteful bits, shooing away curious onlookers. And then she got to the part where they investigated, describing what it turned out to be.

"It was a cute critter... yes, indeed," the light brilliant gamboge pony chortled a bit, rubbing at her mane with anxiety. The three fillies, though keeping at their lessening duties, listened intently to what she had to say, deeming this as important. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shot a glance at their products, noting six pies and three scoopfuls of curry left, smiling a bit with the knowledge that they could soon rest.

"That is, until it opened its eyes..." Applejack recounted, a dry look in her eye, and the CMC tensed, "a dull, dark red... an' ya know what that oft' means, doncha?"
The Crusaders nodded firmly, exchanging scared glances, though Scootaloo tried her best to hide hers, riding in on her scooter as a finish since their customers were dwindling as the night drew on. Applejack then shook her head to show that stereotype wasn't to be, "We were still scared... but Ah felt bad and gave 'im mah picnic basket..."
The CMC were all equally surprised that Fluttershy stood in like that, but decided they shouldn't be—that Cockatrice incident, for one...
She recounted some more of the story, a tear coming to her eye when... "An' then, he took th' basket, an' ran away from all a' us..."
Applejack wiped away the tear swiftly, though Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle still noticed.
Ah, so that's why mah big sis isn't bright as a bushel... the sibling filly bit her lip, asking, "So... you're worried 'bout 'im?"

"Boy, am Ah!" she exclaimed, bowing her head and touching her stetson hat, narrowing her moderate sap green eyes with an indescribable emotion; she sighed, noting that it was time to make a move toward home with their earnings and grabbing the money bowls and empty apple baskets to put in her saddlebags, "With all these thoughts scuttlin' 'bout, Ah hadn't been up to par... it's jus'... a great big mess! Ah worry 'bout his safety," she doubtfully paused, biting her lip tentatively, but then went along and finished her thought, "but also 'bout ours as well..."
Apple Bloom pursed her lips as she packed up the pie holders, her mouth open to ask a question, but, unknowingly, Applejack answered it, "The critter's loose, y'know? An' we have no iota of what he can do..." shaking her head with both doubt and pity.
Reddish amber eyes widened in fear, and their owner whispered a quiet, "Oh..." as she drooped.
Sweetie Belle, though just as fearful of the situation, comforted her as she gathered the big, empty curry bowl and the ladle to carry in her saddlebags, offering, "Perhaps the creature's not so bad, Apple Bloom... he didn't attack our elder friends," with a warm smile. Scootaloo was too busy hooking the cart to her scooter to care, zooming off on the road back home. Apple Bloom looked at the unicorn filly, registering pensively what she had to say and looking anxiously up at the moon, before she smiled back, attempting to match the amount of warmth present in Belle's smile to show appreciation, but it fell flat; the smile was fake and the twinkle in her eyes suggested worried uncertainty.
...But what if he is a bad guy...? the filly fearfully wondered, her eyes sad and troubled and her legs tense as they worked to carry her load home, an apprehensive Applejack and a worried Sweetie Belle at her flank...

Fin
June 17, 2014
1:46a

Author's Note

This scene is particularly dark... :fluttershbad:
Showcasing Kirby's hunger, and the timeskip too (a few days)...
Perhaps it will pass the rating, but if not, I'm afraid I'll have to bump it up to a T-. :pinkiesick:

But this scene isn't the only one that's part of my notes. There are gonna be things that happen before and after this scene; not just this one in particular.
I'll just need to write around this scene, since this was written on a spur of the moment on my phone and such that.
But you guys get to see it because you have "priority". :twilightsmile:

Enjoy reading.

EDIT May 21, 2014: I hope you realized that I made up some words... and from the looks of it none of you noticed the video game references/memes and "puns" I put in Chapter One and possibly in Chapter Two, so no rewards.. :applecry:
There's still a chance though! if you hurry back! :pinkiehappy:

Here's the first and second scene of Chapter Three! I hope you enjoyed (even though it /is/ kinda dark for Fluttershy, just imagine how you'd feel if someone you tried to help ran away from you...; and there we go...) Besides, it /is/ canon! :twilightsmile:
I also hope you enjoyed Discord! I tried my best to write him and his crazy antics! :twilightsmile:
I also hope, nope, I also wish that you enjoyed Kirby. He is the "star" of the story after all, so yeah. :rainbowlaugh:
Credits
1st Video and 1st Link: DJ Sonicfreak, uploader: MrMasterJD
2nd Link: Brandon Strader
2nd Video: TrueNightMusic
3rd Video: RebornBeatz
(You have the option of listening either to the first link or to the second link...
:ajsmug: or you could combine 'em! :pinkiehappy:
Either way, the music is awesome! :yay:)

~~Haven't written the scene for Applejack just yet, but I'm getting there.~~ :ajsmug:

*blogged* :twilightsmile:

Oh, would you look at that? Chapter Three is finished! XD
Chapter Four is soon to come; but I don't know how soon.. >_>
Welp, ta ta for now! =3

Chapter Four - Worries Abound

Beg.

est. June 18, 2014

Chapter Four: Worries Abound

Anxiety hung deep within Ponyville's atmosphere. Fear especially permeated the stratosphere.
Twilight Sparkle had been studying the golden star ever since Rainbow had given it to her, and she, truth be told, was at her wit's end. Her normally straight mane and forelocks had a few visible split ends as she ran out of ideas in seeing how this star worked. The lavender unicorn had shrugged off all Spike's attempts to get her to rest, determined to find at least a lead in this case.

The puffball case... Twilight narrowed her eyes in slight resentment and fear.
She prepared a light magical concoction, one she wasn't sure at this point would do, but, wearing protective goggles, she activated her magic and picked up the star using tongs and, clenching her teeth, widening her eyes, carefully dipped the star into the potion. Spike watched, tucked in the corner, trembling as the star crackled and popped, electricity warping around it, a bright light issuing forth.
Twilight's eyes shrunk to the size of peas, and her perplexed, toothy frown grew bigger as she backed away from the reaction, almost dropping the golden star.
Spike covered his eyes after having observed the spell, the brilliant light swarming up and swallowing nearly the entire area. Outside the Library, the residents of Ponyville noticed this strange light engulfing the home of the cooped-up unicorn and her assistant; only murmurs escaped their lips, and nopony lifted a hoof to help.

Somewhere deep in a forest, Kirby felt sick.
It was a strange sickness, but it felt like a great surge of magic coursing through his body, and it wasn't the comforting kind. He lay next to a tree, searching with his dull red eyes a possible reason for such a temporary surge, rubbing his stomach to alleviate the pain. Kirby then grunted, picking himself up and shrugging off the pain, and continued his trek through the forest.

Back at the Library, Twilight Sparkle looked even worse off, but nothing was hurt.
Not even Spike.
The unicorn let out a small chortle and smiled when she beheld her untouched library, but the smile slid off her face when she saw the golden star was still the same as always. Her left ear twitched, her eyebrows furrowing with disappointment. She huffed and scoffed, almost about to dash the whole thing and run along with her assumptions... raising the star that was now turning a greenish blue with the intent of smashing it against the floor...
But then... that wouldn't be the best way, Twilight sighed, carefully setting the star back in its place. I have to deal with this... this problem... the lavender unicorn snarled to herself, but then tightly shut her eyes, as if the very thought was wrong, her heart feeling a twinge of remorse.
Twilight looked at the star neutrally at first; of course, it shimmered for her. But then she sighed, her look of frustration and resentment shining through as she now stared hard and cold at it.

"This is all your fault..." she spoke to it, not at all sure if she meant every word, "Things were so wonderful when you weren't around!"
Spike cringed, but didn't intervene.

"Nothing's the same anymore!" she shouted once more, her forehooves stomping the wooden floor, her voice ringing against the walls and against the golden star to which she once devoted her time with delighted enthusiasm.
Twilight's eyes then drifted around and then locked onto a photo of a smiling Fluttershy and a certain smiling draconequus hanging up on her wall. She furrowed her brow, "Hm... I wonder if he's behind all this..." and thus decided to investigate, grabbing her hat and bubble pipe. Spike watched her gather investigative tools with sad eyes, sighing as he too looked at the picture of Fluttershy and Discord, very much doubtful of Twilight's assumption.
His eyes then flicked over to the star, eyeing it with a fearful uncertainty. The purple dragon untucked himself from the corner as he watched the unicorn leave in a huff, and made his way to the podium where the star sat twinkling as if nothing happened. Spike bit his lip, looking at the notes Twilight took and picking up a quill to jot down the last reaction; he then sighed as he looked at the star again. The dragon carefully lifted a claw and touched it, offering little vibes of comfort amongst the fear he felt. It shimmered only a tiny bit for him, and he smiled, almost delighted that the star shimmered for him.

Don't worry... Spike began with uncertainty, I'm sure she didn't mean those things…
He chuckled uneasily, exchanging glances with the vast tomes on either side. But, biting his lip and narrowing his eyes, even he wasn't sure what his mentor was feeling…

The pink puffball sighed drearily, leaning back on the tree and clutching at his precious pendent he'd grabbed from out of his cloak, his eyes closed with the pain he thought he'd never feel again.

Never? huh... he narrowed his eyes, scoffing. He looked at the pendent, sighing as tears, unbidden, came to his eyes.
The words stung, he had to admit, and he, for some reason, despite the thousand-year barrier around his heart, was sad and hurt—We barely know each other... was his weak, yet poignant thought.
He sighed, wiping away the tears and scoffing once more.
To be honest, he's heard worse...
Much worse... and despite this other aura, albeit smaller, uneasy and afraid, providing him with comfort, he felt none. Kirby looked at the pendent once more, the scowl returning to his face; grunting, he hopped up onto his feet and, double-checking his weapons and pocketing his pendent, continued along the path through the forest.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash patrolled the southern part of the Everfree—the region, in fact, held Fluttershy's hut on the very edge—keeping a sharp eye out for this elusive pink puffball. Her wings fluttered as she scratched her head, unsure and getting annoyed at the total lack of sightings. Rainbow scoffed, her tail flicking, and she flew a few hooves to her right.

This is impossible! she sighed, how could a pink puffball be so hard to sight?!
The sky blue pegasus searched the perimeter, scanning with her eyes and ears, a hoof in a look-out gesture.

This puffball surely is trouble... Rainbow frowned, interrupting our lives... he won't be found...
And then her stomach growled, and she blushed and chuckled sheepishly.
"Heh.. I guess it's time for lunch..." she patted her tummy, and looked out across the Everfree one last time, frowning, "Hm..."
And then Rainbow Dash flew off toward Ponyville, eager to get something to fill her stomach.
...and Kirby was right under her nose; he hid when he heard something growl. Once he was sure the danger had passed, he came out from the bush, looking up and around for a while before he eventually shrugged, moving forward.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was pronking around town aimlessly, her thoughts meandering to Kirby and sometimes whether or not he'd like balloons at his party—!
She sighed, her eyebrows furrowing, But, really, I wonder whether or not he's fine...
The pink party pony stopped pronking and simply started walking around the plaza, looking just a mite sad. Ponies noticed, but none of them stepped up to comfort her, instead settling for gossip and talks amongst themselves. Pinkie Pie noticed, raising an eyebrow and frowning at each and every one of them, but otherwise paid them no mind. The thought had never before crossed her mind, but now that she thought about it the more she realized that the Ponyvillians were not her friends.

Huh... what an ugly truth! she scoffed, trying to mask her sadness with anger, but like either emotion she was scared by them and ended up socking them both in the box.
She sighed but eventually ignored them all, deciding that the pink puffball Kirby was more worthy of her thoughts and spent the rest of her pronking in the plaza thinking about him. That is, until her light cerulean eyes caught an interesting sight. She halted in that one spot, lifting a foreleg in confusion as her eyes contracted and her ears perked up and her mouth went oval-shaped in similar emotion. Her attention was now drawn to the Golden Oak Library, Rainbow Dash speeding along the sky above to the Hayburger notwithstanding; she saw an unkempt Twilight Sparkle, wearing a detective's hat and puffing on a bubble pipe, after days of self-isolation, actually step hoof out of the library.

"Hum..." Pinkie Pie narrowed one eye at this, wondering what the unicorn mare could be up to, "could it be an investigative activity?" ... "it has to be! that detective gear proves it!" she smiled to herself, but then the smile went upside-down, "but what could she be investigating besides that golden star?" a hoof on her chin and a perplexed look on her face, she then saw her unicorn friend amble away to the southeast. "Huh," she scoffed, "this calls for an investigation!" and put on her detective gear after having grabbed them from nowhere, and then set off after her.

Rarity had been working on Kirby's outfit, not allowing a time for rest; the burden of thoughts had gotten that bad. There were times when she, despite her sharp precision, misplaced a seam or cut the material wrong. The unicorn shrugged these off, albeit with a loud cry, and with her magic either undid the seam or levitated the black material over so she could cut again.
She looked worse for wear, her usually well-coifed mane, both matted with sweat and poofy,—though not like Pinkie Pie's, however; more like Vinyl Scratch's—her tail fluffed out and looking more like a squirrel's tail, and her eyes had four bags underneath them to symbolize each night she went without sleep. Rarity sang the song she sang when making for her friends outfits for the Gala, ...or was it for that modeling instance...?
She sighed, determined to get the seams right this time; else she'd have to go out and buy some more material. Looking anxiously from the design she had flawlessly produced, Rarity got to working on the outfit once again, sewing the seams where they should be and needling in those that required delicate precision. Rarity smiled for once this entire session, sure that this one out of hundreds would be it. In less than thirty minutes, she was finally done, albeit with the shell; smiling proudly, she decided to work on pockets and everything else later. As the light gray unicorn levitated the unfinished cloak over to the hoofmade puffball mannequin, she was happily surprised that no burden of thoughts berated her for such a decision.
Fitting it on the mannequin, she prided herself on a job well done and, as a reward she set for herself, she could go outside and get some fresh air and just wander around the plaza. Rarity ambled her way to the door, using her light bluish magic to open it; the strong light of the sun repulsed her and she raised a hoof over her eyes to block it out. She allowed her eyes to adjust before taking another step, slamming the door, and taking a look around. Some ponies, she saw, were surprised and disgusted by her appearance and galloped into their houses and shut the windows and doors.

Ugh! what nerve of them! she scolded and scoffed, flicking her tail as she walked toward the Golden Oak Library. Rarity then saw Rainbow Dash flying through the sky in the direction of The Hayburger—she noticed the pegasus was about to wave but then stopped and with widened eyes picked up her speed, one thought on her mind, Maybe my hunger is causing this hallucination. I mean, Rarity? looking like that? Psh, come on!
The light gray unicorn huffed at this, narrowing her eyes, and then focused more on her destination, noticing a shocked Pinkie Pie and a Twilight Sparkle dressed investigatively, the latter heading southeast. Rarity tilted her head, walking towards Pinkie Pie and calling her name before she could successfully follow Twilight.

"Huh?" the pink party pony stopped, wistfully looking Twilight's way before she took off the detective gear and looked toward the voice; "oh! Hi, Rarity!" she smiled, pronking over to her.
Rarity smiled and sighed, Oh, thank Celestia—she doesn't care about my appearance!

"Hello, Pinkie, darling," she greeted.

"It's been a while since I've seen you!"

"Yeah," uneasily chortled Rarity, "I've been working on something top secret!"—Pinkie Pie's eyes widened excitedly at this—"and I really haven't gotten a chance to rest."

"Ah, I see! Well, don't worry! your secret's safe with me!" the pink Earth pony assuringly smiled, still pronking in place, gesturing her signature swear. Rarity smiled, but then the smile dissipated as she looked toward the Library. She really wanted, now that she had time, to see about that golden star...
Pinkie Pie noticed and wrapped a foreleg around her neck, "Oh, we can still see it! Spike is still there!"
Rarity was shocked by this sudden gesture, squirming to get out of her grip, but happy that Pinkie Pie cared enough to alleviate her sadness with such news. Pinkie Pie let go of the light gray unicorn and started pronking to the Library's door; Rarity soon followed, a few hooves behind her as the party pony knocked. It didn't take long for the purple dragon to answer the door, and once again he blinked twice at Pinkie Pie, greeting her.

"Hi, Spike!" she smiled, glancing back at Rarity, who stepped closer a bit apprehensively. At the sight of the light grayish unicorn, he choked on his own saliva and widened his eyes as he beheld her new look.

"Wow... you still... look as...gorgeous as ever... Miss Rarity," he half-lied in between coughs, looking at her with near lovestruck eyes. "Is that a new look you're going for?"
Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes, looking from both the flustered unicorn mare and the "charming" dragon.

"Why, thank you, Spikey-Wikey," Rarity cooed, smiling at him and batting her eyes.
Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, and, before Spike could reply, retorted, "Enough chit-chat!" pushing past the purple dragon and wrapping her tail around Rarity's foreleg so she could pull her in, "We've got a star to see!"

"Oh..." was Spike's only reply as he closed the door and walked to the podium where the star was kept, the remnants of a recent potion sparkling in a bowl on the table. Rarity's eyes widened as she glimpsed the star, successfully wriggling out of the party pony's tail and ambling over to it.

"Wow... it's...gorgeous," the light grayish unicorn smiled as it shimmered for her.
Pinkie Pie smirked as she looked her way, seeing indeed the star shimmer for Generosity, and then spent her time analyzing the notes Twilight had written on this canvas, tilting her head as she digested the info.

"So... any idea on what exactly this is?" the unicorn mare asked, to which Spike sighed and shook his head. "Really?" her moderate azure eyes widened.
Pinkie Pie interjected, "Mm-hmm... sadly...."

"Oh... what a disappointment..." Rarity 'tsk'ed, shaking her head; staring at the star, she, however, smiled.
I know the answer, though! the party pony smiled in her thoughts, but the smile dissipated, but it has to be kept secret for plot's sake! I Pinkie swore! and then the smile came back, and Pinkie kept on reading through Twi's notes, and knew in the back of her mind that Spike was watching her. She eventually turned to look at him, and Spike cowered a bit with a grimace; the pale, light raspberry pony raised an eyebrow at this. The purple dragon chuckled sheepishly, his foot shuffling the floor in shame.
Clearing his throat, he decided to ask, "So, whatcha doing over there, Pinkie Pie?"
Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes for a split second before she answered, "Reading Twilight's notes!" with a large smile.
Spike snuck a look at Rarity, noticing she was still entranced by the golden star, and then switched back to Pinkie Pie, who turned her attention back to the notes, flipping up a page with her muzzle.
"But, um..." Spike began, slowly leaving Rarity's side, brushing past her bushy tail, and moved along the floor to the pink pony's side, "isn't that information a little rough for you to ingest?"
It took a few seconds, but Spike soon realized his error, widening his eyes and clenching his teeth as Pinkie Pie snorted in anger. She turned on her heel, her enraged face bumping into Spike's scared and remorseful face, angered light cerulean orbs meeting widened, fearful moderate pistachio draconic orbs. The usually peppy pink pony snorted in his face, the dragon wincing out of fear and remorse. She narrowed her eyes, sighed, and ultimately turned away with a huff, her tail slapping his face.
"Uh... oops..." Spike whimpered, pawing at his face.
Rarity didn't notice the whole ordeal, staring dreamily at the star with a smile. The star gleamed heavily, causing Rarity's smile to grow wider. Her forehoof reached out to touch it, and when she did its shine was brighter than ever; she smiled even wider, her big moderate azure eyes welling with tears of joy.

Kirby felt this, his eyes narrowing; he was unwilling to accept this touch of generosity—if it even was. But he couldn't shrug it away; instead, he kept the feeling, not that he had any choice. It comforted him in a way, as he walked one of the many paths through the dense forest.
The pink puffball sighed, pulling his black cloak closer to him. He looked to his left and then to his right, his dark red eyes narrowed with paranoid readiness. In the distance, he heard the light tap-tap-tap-tap of hooves behind him. Kirby's eyes widened; if he wasn't quick he'd be caught. He quickly ducked behind a tree; he wasn't choosy at all. After a while, he saw a familiar pony carefully trod the path. It was the light grayish mulberry unicorn from a few days ago; Kirby remembered those moderate violet eyes skeptically glaring at him, narrowed at him, almost as if...
...if he was back in those labs...
Kirby jumped a bit, stopping the memory in its tracks and forcing a whimper back down his throat. The unicorn briefly stopped in his line of sight, and he could now see that the pony was dressed as a mystery detective, and her forehoof held a bubble pipe. The mare took a couple of decisive puffs from it, just staring down the road pensively. Kirby then noticed how... off she looked; her eyes had just a glint of "craziness" to them, and her mane and tail had just the slightest fringe. He saw the light grayish mulberry unicorn look in his direction, still with that eyebrow raised. The pink puffball shivered for a moment, thinking for a split second that the horned pony saw him.

Though...if she had... Kirby drifted off, the thought too painful to finish.
He then saw her eyes roll toward her right, and he almost sighed in relief. She took another few puffs of the bubble pipe, her tail and ear twitching, before she resumed her slow gait to wherever she was going. Kirby narrowed his eyes at the horned pony, his lips curling into a snarl; the anger quickly dissolved, however, because he knew it only resulted from the terrible flashbacks that had chosen to play in his head. His eyes still narrowed, only with pain and slight resentment; the unicorn mare had reminded him so much of several scientists who had had him (briefly) detained in labs so horrible he remembered crying.
He then felt wetness on his face and hurriedly wiped those tears away. That was long ago... he thought, narrowing his eyes, his scowl deepening, it's useless to cry now...
Suddenly, he, for some reason, had half a mind to follow her. Kirby pulled his cloak closer to him as he contemplated whether or not to follow, his dark, dull red eyes staring up at the sky. He mumbled, shaking his head, ...Pheh...
He'd decided that wherever the mare was going was none of his business, and thus took the path through the trees.

Meanwhile, Discord was reclining against the green couch, humming to himself as he snapped several items into existence. Fluttershy smiled at this, giggling at some of the silly items that would appear; the draconequus smiled at this as well, Anything to keep her happy...
Angel Bunny watched with apprehension and resentment from the kitchen.

Especially with that pink puffball, Kirby, running around... My poor, dear Fluttershy...
Suddenly, a Kirby doll popped into existence. Fluttershy immediately bowed her head, letting loose a whimper. He remembered what she told him earlier that day, crying into his chest...
That she'd almost found him...
The draconequus hated to see her sad, so he comforted her by conjuring up every silly thing he could think of. He supposed he messed up when he thought of the pink puffball; he sighed and frowned, and, with a snap of his talons, the doll was gone.

"Fluttershy..." the draconequus teleported to her side, lifting her head up with his paw, "my dear, sweet Fluttershy..."
Angel Bunny gagged at this, sure to show his disgust; this was met by an unpleasant zap to the foot, courtesy of Discord. While the bunny hopped around in agony holding his foot, mismatched red eyes met sad moderate cyan eyes.

"You'll find him soon, Fluttershy," the draconequus told her, a sombre tone taking over; Fluttershy's eyes widened at this. "You'll find him soon."
Fluttershy then smiled, and these words echoed over to the Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were bucking apples under a brilliant amaranth stallion's diligent and Applejack's tired supervision. His moderate sap green eyes worriedly looked to Applejack, who pursed her lips, looking in the direction of the Everfree, and Big McIntosh bit his lip, combing a light yellowish gray forehoof through his brilliant orange mane.
They'd been at this for a few hours; the CMC wanted to help Applejack. Despite Granny Smith disagreeing wholeheartedly, Applejack sloppily provided a reason why it was a good idea and Big Mac promoted it with a "Eeyup" and a nod of his head. And so, they had filled over a hundred buckets and baskets with all kinds of apples.
Applejack and Big Mac smiled at their accomplishment and at their attempts to look at their flanks to see if they had gained a Cutie Mark, but to no avail, and decided that they could take it from here, sending the CMC to the leader's room. Despite not getting Cutie Marks, the three were very satisfied that they had helped the family, looking out the window with enthusiastic grins at Big McIntosh and Applejack loading the baskets and buckets into carts. As they then looked over to the direction of the Everfree Forest, the Cutie Mark Crusaders grew scared and worried, Apple Bloom especially—Scootaloo tried to deny this fear, "I'm not scared!" with a huff and a fold of her forelegs. Sweetie Belle simply looked at the light brilliant gamboge filly, narrowing her eyes in worry.

"Come on, we're all a little scared, aren't we?" the light grayish unicorn filly countered with a tilt of her head.

"Nope!" the pegasus filly denied once again, turning away from her and closing her eyes.
Apple Bloom simply stared out the window, a fearful and worried look on her face as her ears drooped. "Like Applejack said," she started to say, narrowing her sparkly reddish amber eyes and her brow wrinkling with fear and uncertainty, "that critter is loose... and we have no idea what he's capable of..."
Sweetie Belle had no idea what to say to this, opening her mouth and then closing it again.

"...but Ah'm gonna find out...!" the pale light grayish olive filly finished, determination suddenly filling her face and equine language. Sparkly pale, light grayish harlequin eyes and grayish purple eyes widened with shock as Apple Bloom hopped down from the window sill, heading for the door.

"B-but what if he's evil and attacks you?!" Sweetie Belle stammered out, clenching her teeth.

"Yeah! what if you get hurt?" Scootaloo supplemented.

"...But Ah thought you were optimistic, Sweetie Belle?" the Earth filly rebuffed her, and the unicorn filly bowed her head in shame. "...and that's a risk Ah'm gon' haveta take."
And then, with a simple order—"Cover me."—she left for the Everfree Forest...
Applejack and Big McIntosh were none the wiser, as the little filly slipped through the door and past them, but they were deep in their jobs and conversation. It was midday, the Sun just in the middle of the deep blue sky, and the light brilliant gamboge farm mare sighed, her usually bright moderate sap green eyes droopy and tired. The burden of thoughts bothered her since the night the puffball landed. This was no reason to hate the critter, though.
Applejack sighed again, dumping off the apples into the cart. She reflected on what she told the three fillies, and, with a pensive half-frown, wondered if she stuck the right idea about him into their heads. She then looked to Big McIntosh, "Uh... Big Mac...?"

"Eeyup?" the brilliant amaranth stallion responded, picking up a few baskets full of apples and heading over to the apple cart his younger sister was nearby.

"Remember what Ah told ya a few days ago...?" she began, scratching her head with an unsure expression.

"Erm... 'bout that pink puffball...?"

"Yes..." Applejack closed her eyes for a good minute; the stallion dumped off his apples into the cart. "Ah'm worried 'bout 'im..." she then opened her eyes and looked up at the sky, "but Ah jus' don't know what to do..."
Big McIntosh tilted his head, a wrinkle forming in his brow.

"Ah mean... have Ah sent th' right message to Apple Bloom an' her friends?" she then sighed, almost face-hoofing herself, "...Is he even good...? or is he evil...? Those red eyes... ugh! no...! Ah don't even know enough ta—!"
Big Mac rubbed against her, and Applejack recoiled a bit, letting out a surprised cry. He simply shook his head, saying, "Don't stress yerself, AJ. The answers will soon come to light."
The mare's eyes widened at this piece of wisdom, and then she smiled, "...Okay, Big Mac. I'll try..."

"Eeyup."

Apple Bloom was at the entrance to the strange forest by then. Whatever determination she had back at the farmhouse quickly melted off, and the filly quivered as she stared down the dark, creepy road.

"Well... Ah came this far," Apple Bloom said, gulping down her fear. "Can't turn back now..."
She gulped again, looking back at Ponyville for what she thought would be the last time. And then the filly charged into the forest, not looking back...

Just outside of Fluttershy's cottage, a light grayish mulberry foreleg stepped into view. Moderate violet eyes narrowed in anger, her face scrunching up similarly; the only dissonance was the smile on her face...
That sick, angry, toothy smile...
Twilight Sparkle, her horn glowing a rich magenta in preparation for a powerful spell, right then and there decided to skip the investigation, throwing off her investigative clothes, and trotted slowly to the door.
Discord predicted the doorbell ringing, murmuring, "Oh... well who could that be?"
Fluttershy stared blankly at him for a second before she realized, "Oh," and then got down from the couch and fluttered to the door, "I'll get it!"
By the time she reached it and was about to open it, the mahogany door suddenly slammed open, flattening Fluttershy on the other side. The draconequus's eyes widened and mouth hung open in response, his entire body taking on a genuinely shocked language. The unicorn then stepped in animalistically, and when their eyes met, she growled, "Discord!"
The horn suddenly gained even more of a charge in response to her growing anger. The draconequus was too shocked to say anything, and quickly he snapped out of it, "Well, if it isn't Twilight Sparkle... how pleasant it is to see you," and put on a smile.

"Cut the act!" the unicorn snapped, and the draconequus righted himself out of shock. "I know you're behind this..."
Discord exchanged glances with the walls of the room before he met her crazed eyes again; he played with his hands, "Behind what, my dear Twilight?"

"Oh... don't play dumb with me!" she bucked the door closed, lips curling into a snarl. Fluttershy fell out against the floor, letting out a small groan.
Discord noticed, about to make a move to help her, but Twilight stomped the wooden floor and the draconequus stayed right where he was.

"Uh... now, now Twilight," he raised his paw and talon in defense, "no need to be boorish..."
The unicorn, thinking that he was about to attack, released the spell on his mismatched hands, and the draconequus yelped and hollered in agony.

"Boorish... boorish?! I'm not the one who summoned this pink puffball here!" Twilight narrowed her eyes, her tail whipping back and forth.
Discord waved his hands around, blowing on them to get them to stop hurting, "Ow... wait... summoned the who what now?" he then looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"You know..." darkly replied Twilight, her eyes narrowing even more as her horn prepared another potent spell.

"No, actually I don't," Discord countered, narrowing his eyes at her. "I'm innocent this time, my dear Twilight."
Moderate violet eyes studied him, before they narrowed, "That's only what you want me to think."
Discord exchanged glances with the walls again, and shook his head vigorously.

"...With you gone..." Twilight stepped closer, the glow on her horn growing larger, "the puffball will be gone... and everything will be back to normal..."
Discord's eyes widened dramatically, "No... no..."
The sick, angry smile crawled back onto her face as she stepped even closer. As much as he'd love to defend himself... unfortunately, Fluttershy made him promise that he wouldn't hurt her friends...
He rolled his eyes at this irony, and simply braced himself.
Fluttershy then began to stir, her eyes fluttering open to an upside-down confrontation. Her eyes widened, and she immediately got up on her hooves, narrowing her moderate cyan eyes at this atrocity.
Twilight Sparkle giggled crazily, inching toward Discord another step, before...

"STOP!!"
The light grayish mulberry unicorn widened her eyes, the spell evaporating, before she was then body-checked across the room. She created an indent in the wall, and the pale light grayish gold pegasus glared at her, standing protectively in front of Discord.

"And just what do you think you're doing, Twilight?!" demanded Fluttershy, narrowing her eyes at her recovering friend.

"Ugh..." Twilight groaned, a bit dazed, as she looked into fierce moderate cyan eyes. "Fluttershy, you don't understand!" she then stood up, her eyes pinpricks as she panted, trying to regain wind.

"Understand what...?" the pegasus began, raising an eyebrow.

"Discord...!"

"Discord was here all along," the kind mare interrupted; the draconequus then smiled and nodded, a halo appearing over his head. The light grayish mulberry unicorn simply stared, her mouth wide open in disbelief; Fluttershy tilted her head as she repeated, "He was here... with me... all along..."
Silence reigned over them all, and then Twilight hung her head, her eyes closing. So I was wrong... Oh, Celestia...

"...I'm sorry..." and then she poofed away.
The pegasus stared confusedly at the spot where her friend was, and then looked to Discord, who simply shrugged.

Meanwhile, at the Golden Oak Library, Rarity was still staring at the golden star; Pinkie Pie was thinking over Twilight's notes, having read all of them, sitting near the east bookshelf, and Spike was sweeping up. Suddenly, the librarian herself pushed herself inside the library, the word "dejected" written all over her, her head bowed as she entered. Her friends and number one assistant looked up and over to the door, smiles overcoming their faces when they saw her, but the smiles quickly slid into frowns when they heard her sigh and saw her equine language.
The purple dragon rushed up to her, dropping the broomstick, "What's wrong, Twilight?"
The unicorn shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to talk about it. Her friends still looked at her, worried, as the unicorn walked past all of them, heading upstairs to her bedroom...

Fin
August 9, 2014
4:42p

Author's Note

Hm... when I first wrote this first scene, I wasn't quite proud of it... :ajsleepy:
So I reworked it; that's why Chapter Four took so long getting up here. :ajsmug:
Once again, it's only one scene of Chapter Four. I have so much more in store! :pinkiesmile:
I tell ya, it's gonna be fun writing the rest of this! :yay:

So enjoy this one scene for now. :twilightsmile:

Credits
Discord (Eurochaos Mix) - Odyssey Eurobeat
(might add a more fitting theme to these Kirby scenes later on...) :twilightsmile:
I will also add an actual picture of Fluttershy and Discord from DeviantART, but there's a problem with that... (I no have an account... so no go... :unsuresweetie:)
(Maybe I should join DeviantART... I plan to in the future anyway... *snaps my fingers* AHA! That's EXACTLY what I'll do!! :pinkiehappy:)

My DeviantART account. =3

(EDIT: July 4th, 2014) FINALLY!! I got some more of Chapter Four up! :pinkiehappy:
(Though I feel like I'm missing something with Pinkie Pie.... >_>)
~~Next scene will involve Rarity!~~ :pinkiesmile:
This scene is almost finished; the next one will possibly involve Fluttershy and Discord! :pinkiehappy: (and then Applejack of course. Gotta incorporate her sometime, yeah? :ajsmug:)
Hm... and it'll revisit each of them from then on... yes, that's how it will go! :pinkiehappy:

(EDIT: July 20, 2014) Woohoo!! I got some sentences up! I'd say that's pretty reasonable for Pinkie Pie...
So, I think I can go onto the next scene now; gotta include Fluttershy and Discord sometime, right? XD
Wait, a short scene with Kirby, and then Fluttershy and Discord! There we go. =3

(EDIT: August 1, 2014) Well, as you can see, I included Rarity's motions before I moved on to Kirby. Now things are starting to get interesting, I believe. =3 Now, you know some more of Kirby's backstory, (in the previous chapter you learn a bit about his past) but it's a bit vague in terms of when and how it happened to him. That will clear up in future chapters. =3
Next will be Fluttershy and Discord; let's see how they're doing, eh? XD at least, before Twilight catches up with them.
And then after that will be Applejack and then the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Or the Cutie Mark Crusaders and then Applejack. Or both at the same time! who knows except me? Well, even I don't really know... hehe...
And then afterwards, will be a sort-of confrontation between Twilight and Discord, or something... but why am I telling you all this? XD
This only just makes me want to plan the scenes a different way and in different times.... >=3
So, capping that off there, enjoy! XD

(EDIT: August 7, 2014) Okay, so there's the two scenes. Fluttershy and Discord I wrote two nights ago (or was it last night...? o.o) and it was updated yesterday or that same night two nights ago (I dunno...), and the CMC I wrote this morning in bed, as detailed in my blog. =3
Next will be Applejack and Big McIntosh discussing the recent events; I didn't forget about them, don't worry. XD
I might have Twilight Sparkle's confrontation with Discord go into the next chapter... but what's the point of having the top video playing? 0_0
I dunno...
But things are really starting to get interesting, aren't they? XD
So, yeah, read on, my little ponies! Read on. XD

(EDIT: August 8, 2014 - 2:05am) Whew... just wrote another few sentences, er... paragraphs to this here chapter, as detailed in my blog... whew... I transferred half of it here by tablet, but then I had to come up here to finish transferring because my hand was starting to hurt and it was taking a bit too long by tablet. So, yeah...
Enjoy, my little ponies! XD
Tell me what you think of this so far.
I'll be back! =3
(Hopefully with another portion of the chapter! XD)
But it's getting late right now... I should be half-sleep right about now... *sighs and yawns*
Well, enjoy... enjoy...
And see ya'll whenever... =3

(EDIT: August 9, 2014) Ugh... my neck is killing me... >_<
...
Well, well, well... looks like that's the end of Chapter Four! XD
Hopefully it or the confrontation scene wasn't too cheesy or abrupt or anything... it feels like it to me. >_>
Oh, well... it's the end of Chapter Four, okay?! XD
YAY! WOOHOO!! See ya'll later with Chapter Five~! XD

*zooms away* YEEHAW!

Chapter Five - Misunderstood...

Beg.
August 10, 2014
12:20a

Chapter Five: Misunderstood...

Rainbow Dash was back from her trip to the Hayburger, patrolling over the same spot of the Everfree yet again. Her moderate cerise eyes narrowed as they looked across the canopy of trees, her ears pricked as they searched for audio intel, and her nose ready for action. She surely wasn't giving up the search for the pink puffball.
Nope.
She'd search for him all day if she wished.
The pegasus perched herself on a tree, an almost wistful look in her eyes. She then sighed, chin on her hoof.
"Won't I ever find him?"

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom found herself in the heart of the dreadful forest, climbing over a tree stump in the middle of the road. Her brilliant amaranth mane and tail billowed in the strange wind, and her ears folded against her skull. Her sparkly reddish ambers searched the perimeter, narrowed in determination, even if the rest of her shook like a leaf.
Apple Bloom kept on, eyeing the trees, fearful that something was going to pop out from behind them. She then heard a sigh, and it sent a shivers down her spine, her eyes contracted to mere pinpricks, her back arching like a cat's and her teeth bared in a frightened frown. Her legs kept moving though against her will; she tried to stop, but—!
And then she saw him... and a quiet gasp escaped her lips and her legs froze up.
There, standing with his cloaked back to her, was the pink puffball.
He twitched when he heard her gasp, and the pitter-patter soon stopped. Apple Bloom couldn't move; fear took to her legs like yellow on hay. The filly could only stare at him, as he soon turned to face her; those dark, dull red eyes would've stopped her heart if she wasn't so strong. Apple Bloom cowered, soon falling flat on her face.
The pink puffball raised an eyebrow at this, and the filly quickly stumbled up, staring up at him. After a while of looking into his eyes, she took a step forward, looking at him with wonder. Apple Bloom pursed her lips; she noticed something she couldn't exactly place in his eyes.
Among that stone and ice, she could see... sadness?
Hurt...?
Another sigh from the pink puffball shook her out of her thoughts.

...Another pony...? he narrowed his eyes at her, rubbing at his chin and pursing his lips. ...This one's smaller...
They seemed to stare at each other for hours, each examining the other. The pink puffball eventually rolled his eyes, frowning more, and turned away from her, about to walk deeper into the forest.

"Um... wait!" the filly cried out, trotting to his side, and the creature turned to face her again, eyebrow raised as a deadpan element entered his eyes. Her sparkly reddish ambers gazed at him once more, examining him yet again, and she asked, "What's your name?"
A sigh escaped his lips, and he lifted his stubby hand to point at the filly, who jumped with surprise and a bit of fear before she realized, "Oh! Ah'm Apple Bloom! sorry. What's yours?"
The pink puffball tilted his head a bit at the strange name, but soon shrugged it off and pulled out one of his sakabatōs from within his cloak. Apple Bloom jumped up and backed away, staring at the sword in fear and anticipation. The pink puffball's scowl deepened even more as he pointed the sword at the ground and etched his name into the dirt. The pale light grayish olive filly then looked at the ground, tilting her head a bit. It was so neat! and wow... it takes skill to write upside-down.
She smiled, seeing the letters "K", "i", "r", "b", and "y". Her eyes widened, but she had no idea why. Apple Bloom then pronounced the name, and then looked up at the pink puffball, who twirled his sword before resheathing it inside his cloak.

"Kirby, huh?"
He nodded, a small sigh escaping his lips.

"That's a pretty cool name!" she remarked, hopping around him; his gaze followed her, keeping an eye on her just in case Apple Bloom tried something. He was genuinely taken aback by her show of enthusiasm, but kept that shock well-hidden, the frown sticking to his face. Kirby sighed again, not sure what to do with this filly.

"It's so nice to meet ya, Kirby!" Apple Bloom smiled up at him, her fear of him gone.
The pink puffball growled a bit in response, his eyes drooping a little bit; the pale light grayish olive filly noticed, worry worming into her eyes.

"Um... what's wrong?"
Her little southern drawl shook him out of her thoughts, and, once her question properly registered, Kirby shook his head, and Apple Bloom, with a small pout, didn't delve more into it. He grunted again, and turned around, walking deeper into the Everfree Forest. Apple Bloom didn't realize, having been trapped in her thoughts, until he was gone, and she jumped a bit before seeing his shadow and then rushing to meet back up with him.

Rainbow Dash's ear perked up, her moderate cerise eyes widening a bit as she realized she may have found him. A small smile captured her lips as she took off from the tree, landing softly on the forest floor. Rainbow looked around, her rainbow tail flicking about, and her left ear perked up as she heard rustling in the bushes. Eyes narrowing, the light cerulean mare tiphooved over to the sound, her heart pounding due to both excitement and dread.
What if it wasn't him?
...what if it was...?
She gulped, a bit nervous, before peeking behind the bush.
It was nothing but a baby cockatrice, who stared right at her, but fortunately it hadn't yet gained the ability to petrify things; she sighed in relief, backing away from the bush. She then sighed with sadness in her eyes, her ears drooping.
It wasn't Kirby... Rainbow frowned, and then she opened her wings and took off to the sky once more.

Fast forward—it was nighttime.
Everypony had settled themselves into bed, and Luna had raised the moon and was now guarding everypony's dreams. That is, except for a certain pair traversing the Everfree.
Apple Bloom had forgotten how many twists and turns they had taken. All she had to do was stay as close to Kirby as possible and nothing bad would happen to her. They've had a few close calls though, but he fought them off. Apparently, he's immune to the Cockatrice Stare...
The Everfree was darker than ever at this time, and Apple Bloom cowered, staring at the trees as they walked. Kirby noticed and sighed once more, and stopped walking, deciding that this was where they should stop for the night. He looked around and saw a giant, hollowed out tree. The pink puffball smiled at this serendipity, until he remembered the little filly standing beside him. Thankfully, she didn't notice his smile.
Kirby tapped her shoulder, gaining her attention, and pointed to the tree; Apple Bloom followed his stubby hand and gulped at seeing the scary-looking tree. He narrowed his eyes at this, patting her back to let her know there was nothing to be afraid of. The filly simply stared at him, skeptical of his certainty; Kirby saw this and sighed, and picked her up, walking toward the tree with apprehension and confidence. Once they were inside, the pink puffball inspected the interior, poking at some parts of the tree before he relaxed and put Apple Bloom down, who looked around as well, still unsure even though Kirby relaxed.
The pink puffball sat down on the cool grass, dreamily looking up at the roof of the tree. The little filly watched for a few seconds before she stepped over to where Kirby could see her and therefore protect her should things go awry. She stared at him, pursing her lips, Ah don't know why Applejack or mah friends are so afraid of 'im... he's misunderstood.... That's all...
Kirby then noticed, raising an eyebrow at her as she then realized and sat down next to him, looking at the wall of the tree. They sat like that for a long while, the pink puffball looking up at the ceiling of the tree and Apple Bloom looking at the wall of the tree, before the latter then lay down on the grass, her nose touching Kirby's shoe-foot. The puffball looked down at her, pursing his lips in thought; he couldn't understand this at all.
Why was this little pony not afraid of him?
He sat up for a while, still thinking, before he lay back on the cool grass, still feeling Apple Bloom's nose on his red shoe-foot.
He wasn't used to this...
He wasn't used to this at all.
And, to be honest, he was kinda scared.
No... apprehensive.
Kirby patted his tummy, and the filly looked up at him, inspecting him for a while. The pink puffball, albeit feeling uncomfortable, let her stare this time. Apple Bloom settled her stare onto the unsightly, prominent scar across his left eye and, after a few minutes full of blinking passed, she had a thought to ask him how and where he got that scar. Kirby had felt her staring at his scar and grew more uncomfortable as minutes passed; he pursed his lips and looked at her, an unsure growl emanating from his throat. Apple Bloom heard the growl and raised an eyebrow, but the pink puffball kept quiet, not wanting to say anything.
He didn't trust her enough to dare open his mouth and speak.
The little pony then stopped staring at him and his scar, and Kirby relaxed, closing his scarred eye for a while, and then his other eye. The question she wanted to ask him was getting to be too much for her to keep pushing aside, she found, and she looked at him again. However, she knew the question was going to be very uncomfortable, and, despite her wish to ask it, settled upon asking something else...

"Um... Kirby?"
The pink puffball grunted in response, opening his eyes and yawning a bit. She waited until he finished yawning before she continued, "Tomorrow... would ya like ta come ta Ponyville with me?"
Kirby stiffened visibly at this question, and then he looked at her and shook his head with a frown visible on his face.
That...was a rather interesting question...

"Aw... but... why not?"
The pink puffball continued to look at her, almost as if considering it.

"Mah sister, Applejack, could treat yer ta all th' apples and apple treats yer could ever ask fer..."
He then raised both his eyebrows, now especially considering the offer...what with food now involved. Apple Bloom lifted herself up, smiling when she saw his change in expression, and asked, "So... is that a yes...?"
Kirby then realized he was just about to nod, and stopped himself, shaking his head instead, and the little pony deflated, lying back down on the ground. He couldn't let the prospect of free food whenever he wished cloud his judgment and intuition, as much as food was his favorite...
He had to give her credit for trying, and that she even knew his "weakness".
...how did she know...?

"But... Kirby... life would be so much easier there—!"
He shook his head again, ...or harder...
She thought extra hard, but finally came up with, "We would accept you!"
Another shake of his head, his brow furrowing and his frown deepening, and Apple Bloom kinda cowered, knowing she hit a button she didn't mean to hit.
...Nobody had or has accepted me... they all hated me... his eyes gained a hint of sadness, and the filly saw this. They all shunned me... like I was a monster...
He closed his eyes with a sigh, and heard Apple Bloom whisper an apology, and he then took his stubby paw and fondled with her mane to show that it was accepted, for he knew she did not mean it.

"Oh, who am Ah kiddin'?" he heard Apple Bloom whisper. "They did not accept Zecora..."
Kirby sighed and blinked as he looked up, almost forgetting he couldn't see the sky. He didn't know who this Zecora fellow was, but what Apple Bloom said proved his point...
Her use of the past tense, however, intrigued him...
...Was he or she finally accepted...? he wanted to ask. ...or was he or she...?
Kirby cringed, ceasing that train of thought, and stopped playing with Apple Bloom's hair, and the filly noticed, opening her eyes and gazing into his tired and sleepy dark, dull red ones, and she took this as a sign for sleep, so she yawned, wished him good night, and fell asleep, her snout re-positioned to touch his shoe-foot. He blinked, frowning a bit as he checked to see if she were truly asleep, and she was. Briefly, he wondered if she were like that at home before he then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep...

It was incredibly dark... and Kirby thought for a minute that he was still in the Everfree Forest, but then he soon heard shouts...
Angry shouts.
He found that he was smaller, much smaller, and without his cloak and weapons, and that he was hiding under his bed, tears falling from his innocent sapphires and blood dripping from the mild wounds on his back. Soon, the angry shouts came to belong to a middle-aged lady, dark hair flowing as she wandered madly about the house, holding a lantern and a broken, bloody glass bottle, and one shout was:

"Demonspawn! you were never my child! go back to Hell where you belong!"
Soon, she found him, and her fiery green eyes narrowed as she dragged him by his feet from under the bed. Kirby tried to get away, but he was only an infant, and he squirmed, "Poyo... poyo!"

"You must think you're so cute, Kirby! and so innocent..." she shouted some more, poking into his side with the sharp, jagged edges of the bottle, and he whimpered, "but you're not, Hellspawn! I don't know why Hell commanded that you crawl out of me on your first birthday ever, but I'm going to send you back!! SEND YOU BACK!!"
She then held him up, not listening to his pained cries nor seeing his hurt expression and tears, and smashed the lantern across his body like a baseball bat, sending him crashing through the window and flying, screaming, to a place unknown. He then sensed the nightmare changing on him, and he grew a bit older as he fell, the wounds now only slight, barely noticeable scars on his body, showing how his recuperative ability was stronger, much stronger, as a child. Kirby fell on his shoe-feet, tired, wary, and weary sapphires looking around, and he saw trees lined up on either side of him. He was someplace else, and he was almost pubescent by the looks of his body, and he narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to hear.
Soon, he heard screams and guttural growls coming from the east, and he headed that way, the hero in him guiding him. He then found himself at a clearance, and saw the biggest monster in the middle of it all, and two handfuls of people screaming at it, half throwing stuff at it and half hiding. Kirby exhaled a bit, and saw two swords on a tree trunk, and he didn't hesitate to grab them and then use them to destroy the beast with skill, long story short. The pink puffball then looked at the blood on the once-clean swords and sighed, and then looked at the crowd, "...poyo..."
In their confusion, they were about to congratulate and thank him with all their hearts, but then saw what he was and revolted against him, long story short, throwing rocks at him and shouting all kinds of bad, hurtful, acidic things at him. Kirby then tried to run away, but one human caught up to him and pinned him down, and started to beat him senseless.

"You just wanted to save us so you could have us all to yourself!!" the fighter snarled.
After suffering much pain and many denied assumptions, Kirby snapped and seriously wounded the crowd with his swords, and then got away, running deeper into the forest. He took one more guilty look at the blood gleaming off the swords, and one more look behind him, and, sighing, slowed his pace to a walk so he could more successfully find water, for himself, for the swords, and for the people he both saved and had to defend himself against. As soon as he got to the water, the nightmare changed again, and this time he found himself a child again, double of one anyway, and he was running feverishly from someone or something he couldn't tell, but he had an idea...
Evil, composed laughter he heard behind him, and that only made him run even harder.

"Why don't ye stop?!" the voice grew louder as the carriage grew closer, glowing a scientific, sterile white. "We only want ta examine ye!"

"No!" his then prepubescent voice shouted as he kept running for his life.
A darker voice then prevailed, "Then we'll have ta take ye by force..."
The vehicle behind him then shot out a cord of sorts, intent on wrapping it around his foot; "No!!" he started crying.
And then, all of a sudden, a royal, deep voice yelled and the owner of that voice appeared to the two shocked drivers of that vehicle, the cable wrapping around her forehoof instead. She narrowed her dark turquoise eyes at them and then yanked the cable, causing the vehicle to start careening down the hill, and then the mare rushed to Kirby to protect him, flashing him away. The pink puffball didn't notice, as he was still crying, and Luna sighed, looking up at the night sky that seemed to hold no moon or stars.

"I'm so sorry, Kirby..." she whispered, "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner..." She then brushed his face with a forehoof, "Sister Celestia was right... you hold so much pain...."
The Night Princess then scooted away from him so as not to make him feel uncomfortable when he recovered, staying a large amount of hooves, which, to her, were only seven, away from him, and then she sat down, staring at Kirby and awaiting his awakening in this new 'scape. Kirby sighed and recovered completely, and, seeing as that he didn't have his cloak and weapons, felt for them, and found that he did. He opened his mouth in shock, but, felt someone watching him, so he composed himself quickly, and then he noticed his tears...

"Little one..." the Princess then decided to make herself known, but it wasn't out of lack of patience, and Kirby then looked up at her, those dull red eyes almost making her shiver and shudder; she then continued, "I have seen thy nightmares... and rescued thee from them."
The pink puffball narrowed his eyes, made even more uneasy by her proclamation, and Luna realized this, "...I am Guardian of all Dreams... it is my duty to protect the sleeping."
Kirby narrowed his eyes more as he took her in and his eyes widened when he found that this "Guardian of Dreams" was a pony... a rather large pony at that, and that this pony had both a horn and wings, which were currently outstretched to show that she had nothing to hide. Luna said nothing as he inspected her, keeping a warm smile on her face all the while. Her attire, the way she sat, the way she spoke... all of this gave off an air of regality, and he then looked to the ground before looking into her warm, kind moderate cyan eyes, and she spoke then, "My name is Luna," straightforwardly, trying not to make Kirby uncomfortable and even more uneasy just because she gave off an aura of royalty. "I am the second Princess of... Equestria... one who controls the moon and the dreamscape..." she stopped to look at him, unsure whether to keep it there or continue.
Kirby finally knew what this place was... and had his suspicions about her confirmed, and he nodded, still on his guard, and she took a deep breath. "But... that's more than enough about me," she warmly chuckled, trying to make Kirby feel at home. "What about you, Kirby?"
As she expected, the pink puffball didn't say anything, and she looked to her left, staring at some object, trying to get Kirby to do the same. She failed, for he kept staring at the dark blue mare for any kind of movement. Luna sighed and then returned her moderate cyan gaze onto him, tilting her head.

"Once again, I am dreadfully sorry that I couldn't get to you sooner. Lots of ponies were having nightmares for some reason tonight..."
His eyes widened at this piece of information, and the Princess took note of this. He then narrowed his eyes, ...Nightmare...
She was about to correct him that it was plural, but she heard the way it was said; it couldn't be a regular noun...

"Who... who's Nightmare?" and when the name rolled off her tongue, she had a feeling it wasn't the forces that turned her into Nightmare Moon...
Kirby gasped at this, shocked and scared that Luna could hear his thoughts, and her eyes widened, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, little one!"

...Damn it...

"Terribly sorry..." she muttered off even after hearing a curse foreign to her land.

...I... I'm blown...

"Blown? blown where?" she looked around.

It's an expression, he snapped.

"...oh..." she looked at him, and then narrowed her eyes, "forgive me if I'm not exactly savvy to your language..."
Kirby said or thought nothing, and she sighed. Thirty seconds passed, and Kirby sighed, finally answering her question via thought-links what Nightmare was and is.

"Oh. I see. An arch-enemy of yours who induces nightmares and who once ruled a company where he makes things called Demon Beasts to conquer planets?"
He nodded.

"Did I miss anything?"
He shook his head, and she slightly smiled, "Good... or bad... this villain of yours... is very... bad..."
There was another nod, and Luna hummed in understanding.

"...So," she struck up a conversation in line with what they had talked about, "...you think Nightmare has something to do with these nightmares Equestria has been having?"

...Just a guess...

"....Good... cause I can sense when thing are amiss... and there's no darkness, so... no Nightmare."
Kirby thought nothing for he knew not what to say to that, and Luna nodded with a smile as if to confirm her own idea. She then stood onto her hooves, looking up at the sky, and Kirby jumped back a bit, ready to defend himself if need be.

"Do not be alarmed, little one," she spoke out, "I have merely realized I had overstayed my welcome here..." she wanted to say more, but she was running out of time. Kirby then stepped forward, taking into account how large she really was. "....May thou and thy heart stay safe, my friend. I shall see thee on the other side!"
Kirby then watched her teleport out, a wing draped over her shoulder, and he then woke up, gasping. Apple Bloom, he then saw, had been up long before him, and she nasally said, "Good. You're up. You looked really pale earlier, and you kept kickin' mah nose..."
The pink puffball apologized with both gestures and his face, and the filly shrugged, "You're really tough ta wake up too... must've been some nightmare..."
Kirby sighed, almost afraid to think, but the filly hadn't responded to his thoughts before, so... he thought it safe...
Yes... it sure was...

"Ah guess Luna"—he widened his eyes—"must've gotten to ya. Good thing too... 'cause Ah was not able to save yer..."
...he really wanted to ask the little pony how she knew her, since all the royalty he'd witnessed before barely set foot outside of their palace.
Hm... either this princess is different... or Apple Bloom had seen her in her dreams as well...
Kirby settled with these possibilities, and then reached into his cloak to get a roll of bandage wraps for the filly, and Apple Bloom looked at them, "Um... Ah'm fine... it's just a sprained nose..."
The puffball simply stared at her, preparing the bandage wraps, not taking no for an answer. As long as she was with him, she was his responsibility, and he was not gonna let that little nose get worse.
She shook her head, "No..."
The pink puffball continued to stare...

"No...!" she shook her head again.
...Stare.

"No!"
He sighed.... and then...
...Stare.

"Oh! fine!" she finally agreed, and then Kirby got started wrapping her nose after cleaning it with cotton balls, and in a few minutes he was done.

"...oh..." she muttered, and then Kirby pat her on the head with a small smile in his eyes; she looked up at his face and saw this, but didn't call any attention to it, cause she wanted that smile to last. He looked... less intimidating and more innocent and cuter with that smile in his eyes...
She wanted him to smile like that more often...
...and wanted that moment to last forever...
But as quick as that smile appeared, it was gone... just as quick.
Apple Bloom sighed, and then Kirby lay back down to go to sleep again, feeling that he won't get another nightmare. She followed, her bandaged nose touching his shoe-foot again, and smiled. Soon, she heard light snoring, and this time, they and he were in peace.
Hm... I wonder... what would Kirby look like with a smile also on his lips? the filly sleepily wondered, but then she also fell asleep, both comforted by the aura of the Princess nearby...

They had slept soundly till a little before Princess Celestia raised the Sun, and Apple Bloom then woke up, yawning. Kirby sensed this movement, and woke up as well, yawning and stretching. A series of thoughts ran through his head as they do every time he wakes up, but they were interrupted as the filly gasped, and he shot up onto his feet, ready to defend.

"Kirby! you have to hurry me to mah home now! before they wake up!"
The puffball sighed in relief, and got out of his battle stance, glad there was no monster for him to fight; he then looked at the filly. He failed to see the urgency, and pursed his lips. Apple Bloom groaned, and then said, "Ah snuck outta mah room so Ah could see you!"
The pink puffball reacted to this with a look that said, "What?! you know how dangerous that was?!"

"Yes, Ah do! but Ah had ta see what yer were really about... Ah had to..." she bowed her head.
Kirby sighed, but then nodded; he understood—if something like this happened when he was young, he would've been the same way.
...he saw a lot of his past self within her...
And... hopefully she won't have the same future...
So, after checking if they had everything as well as making separate pit stops, the two were then on their way to Apple Bloom's home, and the filly, since she knew her way, pointed Kirby about the paths in the forest. Soon enough, they reached one of the many exits, and, in their view, a red barn, and a field and orchard stretching behind it.

"Well, here we are," she announced, and Kirby nodded, sighing.
She looked at Kirby, "Are you sure you don't wanna come to Ponyville...?"
A nod answered her.

"Or stay with me for a while?" and another nod answered her, and she sighed. "Okay... well, I guess this is goodbye for now..." another nod, and then she said, "Bye, I'll miss you..." and then trotted along the path to the door, the sun glinting behind the horizon.
...goodbye... Apple Bloom... he sighed in his thoughts.
She then turned to wave to him again, and he stepped up a little closer and waved back, and then they both turned around and walked back into their homes. Apple Bloom tiphooved to her room, and opened the door to it, and her two friends immediately woke up and were on her like yellow on hay, bringing her into the room with murmurs about how they missed her and such.

"So," Sweetie Belle chirruped, "how was he, Apple Bloom?" and Scootaloo leaned forward.

"Well," the country filly smiled, disregarding the bandage wrap around her nose, "he was pretty nice actually."
The others were shocked yet happy.

"Really, Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo questioned.

"Yep!" she chuckled and chirruped, "all in all, he's just misunderstood!" and the scene zoomed out to Kirby walking back to the tree, and he looked back across the path with a smile on his face...

Fin
12/31/2014
6:34p

Author's Note

Well, here's (part of) Chapter Five! :twilightsmile:
Notice that it's only a scene and a half so far.
I wrote all of this last night, (or, rather, this morning... :unsuresweetie:) as you can see with the "Time Tag".
I decided to start with Rainbow Dash. I figured I'd start with her since she was practically missing in the previous chapter, so.. yeah.
The scene with Apple Bloom and Kirby isn't finished yet, as you can also see... but it will be. :trixieshiftleft:
You guys are lucky; I had half a mind to make you wait a few more days before this. :twilightsmile:
Well, enjoy this for now.
Ta ta! :pinkiehappy:

October 5th: Well, I updated the chapter once more. :twilightsmile:
WOOHOO! Read on, my fellow ponies! Read on. X3

October 22nd: Chapter is updated once more.. X3
Enjoy!

December 16th: Well, here's an early Christmas present for you guys. The chapter is updated once more. It shouldn't be too long before this Chapter is finished and I move onto Chapter Six, where I'll be relying more on my notes for this story. That's right. This Chapter was written using only sheer imagination. XD
So, enjoy all. Until next update. XD

December 31st: Well, well, well... looks like I'm finally finished with this Chapter... look out, guys ((there's one curse word in this entire chapter, but it's not really major))... the latter half really turns serious ((and I cried inside writing it...)) and starts to really be worth the rating and genres I gave it. I know it's Everyone, but Everyone also includes young adults... so, yeah.. I hope it's still acceptable and readable for the younger half of Everyone...
1st Link: Whispy Woods - Hoshi no Kaabii OST, uploaded by LuckyTac13
2nd Link: Hotel Dusk: Room 215 OST - Song 36 The Long Night, uploaded by DarkRayoX
3rd Link: Hotel Dusk: Room 215 OST - So Noted, uploaded by OstProject
4th Link: Fountain of Dreams - Kanji Kobayashi, uploaded by Kanji Kobayashi
So, next Chapter... there's gonna be something big happening in it, and, if you want, you can guess at it while I make you wait for the first half of the chapter... X3
So, until next time, everypony! XD
OH, AND HAPPY NEW YEARS! XD
January 12th: Just came back to edit out mistakes. There shouldn't be any now. X3

Chapter Six - The Calm; In the Care of Kindness

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter One - Just An Average Day

Author's Note

*LE GASP*

I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO SAY!! XDDD
But it won't let me have an Author's Notes at the bottom section of my story too, so oh, well! XD
Though, lemme start by saying this....

Thanks for the welcome!! XD
Even though there isn't one.... yet! =3

So, while I work out the kinks with this story here, we can have a conversation right here! XD
Where?
umm..... in the Commentary section af-course! XD
Apple Blooom...?
Ah-Yes?
Lemme take over for now! =3
Apple Bloom: Oh... sorry! XD

*ahem ahem* Hum... =3
There are some references to other video games in this story and I want to see if you can find them by yourself! XD

(*whatever time it is when it's fixed: 3:29pm*) *LE GASP*!! IT'S FIXED!! XDD
There's (will be) music (credit to everyone who made them) and everything, but you don't have to listen to them if you don't want to! XD
Enjoy!

*EDIT: May 11, 2014, 12:52pm* LE GASP!!!
I just realized that I've been testing the formats here and there. =3
So now I know that Centered format, thanks to Bobbananaville, isn't really conducive to this site, so I'm changing it to left format. =3
With some minor adjustments. >=3
I don't bite, and I appreciate the favorites and the reviews thus far. =3
~~What I still don't understand is how the genres Slice of Life and Adventure can't cross as separate themes... o_o~~
~~Somepony should do something 'bout that... =/~~

I'll add some color to this later, so you can know who's thinking/saying (for those that aren't obvious, duh!) what and which. =3
Unless you don't need that.... >=3

(EDIT: August 15, 2014) I just fixed the spacing on some dialogue.

Chapter One - Just An Average Day

Friendship May Be Magic, but Trust is Power
Chapter One: Just an Average Day

It was a windy day in Ponyville.
The branches of the many trees were shaking; the green blades of grass rippled in whichever direction the wind seemed to go, and the blankets Pinkie Pie set out kept getting blown away so many times that she finally had to hold them down with bricks.

It was also a beautiful day out!
The sun was shining; birds were chirping, and, of course, Pinkie Pie was out waiting for her five friends with an assortment of picnic baskets.
Do you honestly think she would do this in the bitter cold? Heck no!

...well...

...yes...
Her light sapphires surveyed the area as she lay on one of the blankets, scanning for her friends, all of whom she was sure would come eventually!
Ten minutes passed, and the pink pony changed position every two as she continued to wait.

"Hm... I wonder if they're too busy to come..."
This idea only took a moment to process before she pushed that thought to the back of her mind, shaking her head and in a hushed tone said, "No... they would've told me they were busy... with no time for—no! there's always time; you can always make time!"
The pale, light raspberry pony laughed at her ramblings, her brilliant raspberry mane getting puffy, crinkly, billowy, and flat all at the same time.

"Woah!" a familiar voice rang out, heavily imbued with a Southern drawl—Pinkie Pie's left ear perked up, "if this ain't windy, Ah dunno what is!"
Pinkie Pie hopped off her back and twisted and twirled herself around so that she'd land on her hooves in the direction facing the newcomer, who struggled to trot against the wind with clenched teeth, vigorously holding onto her precious light brown Stetson. Her pale, light grayish olive mane and tail flew every which way, and she was almost afraid that her light brilliant gamboge coat would tear off!

She'd be one embarrassed pony, that was for sure...
Feeling the wind relent a little, she unclenched and opened her other moderate sap green eye and smiled.

"Hi, Applejack!" the pink pony greeted, smiling, and then grabbed the handle of a gamboge basket with her mouth.

"Oh, hey there, sugarcube!" exclaimed Applejack, ambling closer; the now gentle breeze whistling past them both and sifting their manes and tails. "Sorry 'bout comin' in late," she apologetically smiled. "Ah had to clean up th' farm, an' ol' Windbags sho din't help mattahs. An' then Ah actually had ta get here!"
Pinkie Pie nodded, humming as she set the picnic basket on the gamboge blanket. Applejack looked in the direction of the Weather Factory and raised an eyebrow, "D'ya think somethin' might'a happened at Cloudsdale?"
The pink pony shrugged, her light cerulean eyes almost apologetic, "How should I know? I didn't even do my danger twitch!" she opened the picnic basket, various delicious scents then filling the air, and offered, "Apple Pie? Apple Cookies? or just plain ol' Apples?"
Applejack smiled and decided to push the wind incident to the back of her mind for later; after all, this is a picnic, not a Concern Conference, as far as she knew. "Why not all o' th' above?"
Pinkie Pie was so happy she could buck for no reason, but then she remembered her other friends and slightly deflated.

"Oh, now donchu worry 'bout yer friends," Applejack consoled the pink pony as best she could, eating an apple. "Ah'm sure they're on their way!"
And she was right; a few minutes later, the voices of Pinkie Pie's other friends revealed themselves. The party pony jumped with glee and grabbed the picnic baskets bearing the same color as each of her friends and placed them on matching baskets. The Unicorns and Pegasi knew to move onto their respective blankets."Is my mane alright?" the light gray unicorn asked, trying to see with her moderate azure eyes her beautiful moderate indigo mane shaded with gradient shadows of dark mulberry and moderate mulberry, "The gale is so brutal today."

"Eh, don't worry much 'bout yer hair, Rarity," retorted Applejack, biting into another apple, much to the regal unicorn's dismay. "'Sides, it's fine. Doesn't even look like it's been tossed by that ol' Windbag!"

"Really?" Rarity's tone made it seem like she was asking for reassurance, but the raised eyebrow, the pursed lips and overall equine language suggested that she thought A.J. was lying.
Applejack scoffed and guffawed, having caught sight of Rarity's skepticism, and replied, "Puh-leese! Do Ah ever lie?"
The regal unicorn's eyes widened in realization and, blushing, smiled, chuckling, "My apologies..."
Applejack shrugged in compliance, taking another bite of an apple; Rarity cringed a bit and turned to her picnic basket, opening it and bringing out her special paninis(?) via magic. She ate slowly and delicately, and then turned her moderate azure gaze onto the kind, quiet pale, light grayish gold pegasus silently munching on apples also, her pale, light grayish rose mane and tail fluttering in the wind.

"So... nature's not so bad," began Rarity, her voice directed to Fluttershy. "Not as... deplorable as I thought I knew it was..."
Fluttershy smiled and nodded, her moderate cyan eyes glancing at Rarity, "I'm glad you agree! Nature's my most favorite thing..."

"I see..." Rarity smiled, then looked to the pale, light grayish mulberry unicorn whose mane and tail were beautifully colored with a moderate sapphire blue streaked with a moderate violet and a brilliant rosy red. The unicorn had her snout in a book she had brought with her, telekinetically holding it up and scanning it with moderate violet eyes. She had skipped right to the Apple Pie, also using her telekinesis to eat it.
Rainbow Dash, a very light cerulean pegasus whose billowing mane and tail were a rainbow of colors,—light brilliant red and vermilion, a light gold, moderate sap green and violet, and a brilliant cornflower blue—cocked a moderate cerise eye at the bookworm, offhandedly wondering while eating the Apple Cookies how Twilight Sparkle didn't once mistake the book for the apple pie.

"So," piped up Pinkie, eating her sweets, "how's the snacks I made you?"
The ponies, after getting over the shock of her now disturbed silence, murmured with some side commentary that they loved the snacks.

"Good!" she smirked, but, just as she was about to eat more sweets, she started to shudder really badly. The other ponies, except Twilight who was still deep into her book, gasped in shock. "Oh, no! shudder attack! something's about to happen that will flip and flop our lives forward and back!" announced Pinkie, and Twilight then bolted up, skeptical shock present on her face. And then her tail twitched, and she shouted, "And whatever that something is—it's gonna fall from out the sky!"

"Oh, boy! here we go again..." sighed Applejack as she and the other ponies gathered their baskets and scattered for safety.
They hid behind nearby bushes, and everypony noticed a ship resembling a star swerving into the atmosphere.

"What—?" nearly spluttered Twilight.

"...what...is that thing?" Fluttershy whispered, cowering.

"Mah guess"—the splutter of an engine cut Applejack off for a brief second—"is that there's th' thing that's gonna flip an' flop our lives forward an' back...!"

"That sounds corny coming from you, A.J.," Rainbow Dash spouted bravely, seemingly unfazed by the star spinning towards their picnic spot.

"An' Ah agree!"
Rarity simply stared curiously at the object, and Pinkie Pie grew more visibly excited as the star cruiser closed its distance. It then crash-landed, carving a deep crater into the earth and spewing up debris and dirt onto the onlookers and everywhere. The ponies coughed and brushed and shook off the dirt as they recovered from the shockwave that had knocked them back, and Rarity overreacted, screaming and bucking. "Dirt! It's all over me! Get it off!"

"...But I thought you said nature wasn't so bad..." replied Fluttershy, cocking up an eyebrow.

"Not when it's on me!"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Rainbow Dash interrupted Rarity's breakdown, throwing her hoof down.

"A thing"—Twilight Sparkle, rounding on Rarity, pointed in its direction—"just crash-landed on our picnic site, and all you're worried about is dirt?"
Rarity calmed down, her moderate azure gaze directed to the ground, "I apologize... my behavior was extremely inappropriate and uncouth..."
In the middle of her apology, Pinkie Pie inched slowly toward the mysterious star ship she predicted would change their lives and had indeed fallen from the sky. She had the biggest grin on her face, eager to meet an extraterrestrial and to befriend it.

"...I shouldn't worry about beauty in the face of..." Rarity slightly lifted her head and out of the corner of her eye noticed Pinkie Pie tip-hooving off toward the crater, "...such situations..." she drifted off and raised her head completely, her moderate azure gaze trained on the pink pony. The regal pony then announced, "Where are you going, Pinkie Pie?"
The rest of the Mane Six then turned toward the now sullen and embarrassed Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, don't tell meh you were 'bout ta visit that—!"

"—thing we don't know what it does, or is?" Twilight rounded on her, "we don't even know if it comes in peace!"
"...Yes..." the pink Earth pony innocently replied, smiling.
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle showed their frustration in different ways—the former two face-hoofed, and the latter simply frowned at Pinkie.
The pink pony then blurted in defense, "It could be friendly!" and maneuvered her light cerulean eyes over her friends, as if trying to find somepony who agreed.
"But you could've been hu—!" the light grayish mulberry unicorn couldn't finish, for a soft voice interrupted with:

"She could be right," and all eyes turned to Fluttershy, who lightly scuffed the ground with her hoof and sat upright, her moderate cyan orbs trained on the crashed star cruiser. "The poor creature could be in trouble," and then her eyes maneuvered to her friends and hardened, "and look at what we're doing..."

Rarity showed a bit of shock-induced hesitation before she nodded, "Fluttershy's right, everypony," and looked to the other three. "We're wasting valuable time. But, just in case the creature proves dangerous, somepony is going to have to lead us in."

Rainbow Dash spoke up then, "I'll do it," puffing out her chest, and made her way toward the ship; the rest of her friends lined up in a near pyramid formation behind her. Rainbow Dash stopped directly in front of the star cruiser, almost glaring at it; her friends carefully kept an eye on it as they peeked out from behind her, each holding different expressions—Pinkie Pie, in particular, was almost grinning from ear-to-ear.
The sky blue pony with the multi-colored mane then tapped the dome with her right hoof, and instantly there was a mechanic hiss; she gasped, clenching her teeth, and stumbled backwards up the crater, unknowingly pushing back her protesting friends. The dome started to rise, pulling itself from the cruiser as it revealed what was within.
Pinkie Pie almost squealed with delight; Rainbow Dash promptly adorned a look similar to that of disgust, as if to say, "This is what we were afraid of?!"; Fluttershy and Rarity looked at it with sympathy; Applejack stared blankly, not sure what to think, and Twilight Sparkle shared the same look, only more of skepticism as she examined the creature.

The creature was a pink puffball wearing a black, tattered cloak, seemingly unconscious.

"...Whaddya think that there critter is, Twi?" inquired Applejack, and everypony's eyes turned to Twilight for her knowledge. The lavender unicorn thought long and hard about this matter, racking her brain for a solution, as her moderate violet eyes scanned the puffball, before she gradually began to realize that she hadn't a clue, much to her dismay.

"I...don't know," and her friends were taken aback, and they turned back to the creature, sizing it up and down; she added, "but one thing I do know is that Princess Celestia has to know about this."Rainbow Dash frowned, her deep cerise orbs locked onto the creature, and she voiced her previous expression, "Hold on! This is what we've been afraid of?!" and she stepped up to the ruined, open star cruiser, "a pudgy little pink ball?" and poked the creature lightly.
"Don't do that..." softly commanded Fluttershy.

"Oh, calm down, sugarcube!" Applejack cried, "you of all ponies should know that it could'a been much worse!"

"Yes!" Rarity jumped in, "besides, we don't even know what it can do yet, much less decide if it is truly a danger to us all."
Pinkie Pie, taking advantage of their brief tiff, snuck past all of them to take a closer look at the creature, marveling at its simplicity and daydreaming the many adventures they both would have together! The pink mare then noticed the creature wiggling, as if being aroused from a deep sleep, and "sing-songily" announced, "It's waking! it's waking!" bouncing in place with excitement.
The other mares then fell silent as quickly as a fire would go out when doused and turned their attention to study the creature. Applejack pulled Pinkie Pie back into the pyramid formation, and the latter then popped her head up and out from behind the former so she could watch too. The lines they thought were scars were actually eyes, as they fluttered open, unveiling dull, dark red ovals that struck fear into their ever-loving hearts.

The cute, iridescent blushes suddenly didn't matter anymore...
Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack tried their very best to bury their fear of the creature underneath what they hoped were kind, hospitable smiles. The pink puffball, now sitting up, frowned regardless, its eyebrows slanting inward in a perpetual dark mood. Twilight Sparkle gasped, almost backing away and breaking up the formation were it not for her friends' hooves being firmly rooted to the broken ground.
Rainbow Dash wasn't sure what to make of this; she stared with empty shock into those eyes. She'd been taught through experience to beware, especially, those with red eyes, for they either contained evil or powers beyond their reckoning and imagination—or were evil themselves...
But then, on an unrelated note, Rainbow Dash would also have to have herself to beware, so at what point should the line be drawn?
She stooped down to the creature's level and studied it some more, much to the latter's aggravation.

What makes you so dangerous, pink puff?
The pink puffball didn't falter one bit as it glared back into her eyes. He wasn't sure what these creatures were, or why they were staring at him so, but he knew he couldn't trust them.

He knew what trust had gotten him in the past...
Everypony except Rainbow Dash who was busy staring down the pink puffball exchanged uneasy glances, each unsure whether to speak or even what to say—or who would speak.
After what seemed like forever, Pinkie Pie smiled genuinely, having wrested enough of her previous excitement and happiness and a whole lot of other bubbly emotions that extinguished her fear of the creature, and cheerfully greeted it from behind Applejack,

"Hi there, cutie!" and then eventually pushed the light brilliant gamboge Earth pony aside, the latter loudly mumbling in confused protest, and outright knocked Rainbow Dash out of the way, which resulted in about as much of a reaction as you'd expect. The pink puffball, startled, hopped up onto his red shoe-feet, prepared to defend himself, as he gazed at the other pink creature that had taken the rainbow-colored and winged creature's place.

And in a rather dramatic way, if he had the right to mention.
He had to admit—it was a rather nice change of pace from staring into judging, prying cerise eyes.

This didn't make him smile though...
"What's your name?" nearly shrilled Pinkie Pie; the ponies, including Rainbow Dash who had recovered and was now hovering above the group, grimaced and also noticed the pink puffball cringe and shut its eyes, clenching its teeth. When he reopened an eye, he rubbed the side of his head (...body?) with a stubby hand to calm the ensuing headache and glared at the noise maker. The pink pony simply smiled toothily and from ear-to-ear, unaware that her attempt to befriend the creature was only irritating it and making it mad.
When she felt a hoof tap on her shoulder, Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, her once smiling mouth forming an "o"; the "o" shape only slightly expanding in size and altering a bit to form an oval when she noted the glaring frown on the puffball's face, obviously directed at her, for reasons she couldn't understand. She then turned on her right hoof-heel to face who she thought tapped her shoulder, but Applejack pointed her the other way, still keeping an eye on that creature—just in case it tried something.

The party pony looked in that direction, her light cerulean eyes meeting moderate azure ones, and their owner then spoke, "I do believe this requires more of a delicate touch, my dear Pinkie," and batted away her bangs in a manner not that far off from snobbery. Rarity smiled softly when the pink Earth pony seemed disappointed, silently questioning "Why?" through her eyes, and simply replied, "You're aggravating the poor thing."
Before Pinkie Pie had a chance to react, the unicorn's ivory horn started to glow a bluish white and then so did Pinkie Pie!
The rest of their pony friends were confused as to why she would use her magic and the alien jumped back in similar sentiment, but with shock intermixed. Her eyes widened when she started to levitate, and Rarity gently sent the pink mare back into the pyramid formation. Her horn stopped glowing and so did Pinkie Pie, and then Rarity stepped forward, taking the loud mouth's place with elegance and grace, eyeing the pink puffball with concern and an ounce of curiosity. The pink puffball was unsure about this and he stroked where his chin would be as he gazed at this creature and into her eyes.

Something about them all reminds me of horses... but not quite—they're too small...
He stole a glance at the rest, noting how each had different expressions as they tried to make head or tail of him, and then looked back at the light gray creature smiling gently at him.

...Ponies, maybe?
"Hello, dearest," the horned pony greeted, lowering her head only slightly, "I apologize for Pinkie Pie's antics. She's merely expressing her excitement."
...Pinkie Pie? the puffball then looked over at the pink pony—Rarity following his gaze—who then waved cheerfully at the two, but especially at him.

Huh... well, it fits...
He then turned his dull, dark red eyes back onto the light gray, horned pony, and they each studied each other more closely. Rarity, being the eye for fashion, noticed with horror how tacky, tattered and malformed the creature's black cloak looked—WARNING: this vision might've been exaggerated.
"Oh, Celestia!" she gasped out, her pupils shrinking,—confused, the puffball frowned, raising an eyebrow, ...Celestia?—"your attire... it's worn, unclean, and maybe just a touch outdated."

The puffball grew irritated, ...Outdated?, and also a bit frightened, and he thought, Wait... she's not thinking about removing it... is she?, as he backed away, stumbling a bit over the interior ridges of the star cruiser. Rarity, surprised and concerned, added, leaning in closer, "Don't fret, dearest. Rarity shall make you a new cloak, and it shall scream perfection...!"

The fashionista formed an expression of perplexed despair when she saw that it still didn't seem to like the prospect of having a brand new cloak tailored to its needs, as it hugged its current one closer to it.

That can't be... perhaps there's another prospect it didn't like buried somewhere...
A soft, gentle voice—"Excuse me..."—garnered Rarity's and the creature's attention, and they turned to their right (or, rather, left for the creature) and saw the pale, light grayish gold winged pony. Rarity stepped aside, allowing Fluttershy to take her place, albeit with slight timidity; her moderate cyan eyes gazed upon the cute animal in front of her with sympathy and kindness.

The puffball's usual scowl lightened a bit in this winged pony's calming presence; he found himself about to smile, but suppressed his natural affinity, settling in favor of the firm, steady, neutral line instead. The rest of the ponies watched this with full-blown interest; Fluttershy didn't even have to say anything to evoke such an emotional change in the alien puffball; it even stepped forward!
The pegasus scanned the creature for any wounds, bruises and other injuries, noticing none except for old scars, one of them, particularly prominent, running at an angle down through his left eye. Fearing the injuries may instead be internal, she softly inquired, "Are you alright, little one?"
Shock quickly danced across his features, and Fluttershy took special note of that fleeting expression, her concern growing ever more due to the (possible) unfortunate implications that this shock uncovered. After a short while of wrestling with his (now and only for this moment) unreasonable trust issues, he brusquely nodded his answer, careful not to tip over.

"Oh, thank Celestia...!" whispered the kind, timid pegasus in a celebratory tone, but by no means did she forget that special note.

...There goes that word again... by the sounds of it so far, it seems to be some sort of mild oath... the puffball mused, stroking his chin again.
Fluttershy still couldn't believe how long it took her to speak up—if the poor creature was hurt, perhaps to the point of lethality, she wouldn't have had much time to save him and probably would have had to watch him die.
She deemed herself extremely lucky that prospect hadn't come to pass, or she would've been heartbroken. She pushed the thought out of her mind, instead choosing to focus on the more promising, sweeter reality rather than the bitter, downer "what-if". Fluttershy knew that the pink puffball had no intent to harm them—if he did, he would have done so already... said her thoughts—but asked, "Do you come in peace?" anyway, just to help the few pony friends who still considered the creature a threat to Equestria feel better. There was no hesitation; he nodded, vigorously this time as if to make a point.
Pinkie Pie smiled even more, if that were possible, and Rarity sighed in relief, thanking Celestia that she didn't have to get her hooves dirty and that she wouldn't have to help do away with that cute creature.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were still wary of it, although the latter relaxed a bit, and Twilight Sparkle was still skeptical—We know nothing about this thing... what if it pulls a fast one on us? there're these...things, you know? called lies? ever heard of them...?!—but kept it to herself for the most part, though her incredulity still shone through her countenance in pieces.

"Well, that's mighty nice to hear—er, Ah mean, see, sugar cube!" piped up Applejack, tipping her Stetson. The puffball creature turned his uncertain eyes onto the light brilliant gamboge pony who had no wings or a horn from his observation, and heard her chuckle sheepishly when her moderate sap green eyes met his red ones, her ears flattening against her hat.
"No sarcasm, or anythin', if'n that's what ya might'a thought," she seemed to have felt the need to add. Applejack could've sworn she'd seen the ghost of a smile flit across his lips, but was unsure if that could have been her imagining it instead.

Oh, shucks! the smile looked cute on 'im, regardless... she mused, smiling, and stopped acting sheepishly when the critter looked back at Fluttershy, subtly breathing out a sigh of relief, and immediately felt bad for doing so.
So, she, after a while of hearing Fluttershy's retraction of questions and Rarity's attempts to help and seeing the confused yet calm face of the puffball, decided to trot out of her spot in the pyramid formation and join Rarity and Fluttershy in front of the star cruiser, giving the best, kindest smile she'd ever given when the creature looked her way, and offered, "If'n ya hungry, Ah've still got some apples—"
And then Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up beside her, upside-down, scaring Rarity, Fluttershy, the pink puff, and especially Applejack half to death and surprising everypony else, grinning lopsided and holding the gamboge picnic basket out to her.

"Here you go!" she shouted in a hushed tone, still with that lopsided grin, and Applejack looked at her funny as she took with her mouth the basket off her hooves.

"Why, thank ya, sugar cube!" gratefully smiled the farm pony, and then took a good look at Pinkie Pie's position next to her and asked the question everypony and puffball were undoubtedly asking, "and how the hay bales are ya doin' that?!"
The pink mare shrugged and "sing-songed", "I dunnooo!" and then nonchalantly flipped herself so that she joined the four right-side up. The pink puffball and Rarity just stared; the latter eventually started repeating "Don't think about it!" in a sort of sped-up mantra, and Fluttershy looked concerned.
Rainbow Dash laughed, which made Pinkie Pie's grin get bigger, and Twilight Sparkle shifted uncomfortably, briefly wondering whether Pinkie Pie was the fraternal, good twin of Discord, only born thousands of years later.

Or maybe even a distant cousin...
"So, anyway," Applejack continued, turning to face the pink puffball who had shaken off the confusion when he heard her country accent and looked back at her, "Ah've got some apples for ya if'n yer hungry," and she set the basket in front of the creature and opened it, smiling. And then the smile faded, and she asked, "Uh... ya do laike apples, right?"Oh, he loved apples; she had no idea!But the surge of happiness inside was only communicated by another vigorous nod—his facial expression didn't change a bit.

"Well, that's mighty nice, sugar cube!" she smiled, nudging the basket closer to him, and the other ponies smiled too; she continued, "You are definitely gon’ laike it here!"

The puffball frowned a bit, which made the four ponies take a step back anxiously and Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle take a step forward, intending to defend their friends if they had to.
Like it here? ...he'd have to be the judge of that...!
And, speaking of "here", he'd have to find out what this place was.
He hesitated for a moment, and then nabbed the picnic basket and started running away from them, much to their shock, dismay, and surprise. He heard them protest and call for him to come back, but he kept going, going as fast as he could. He felt bad for leaving the kind winged pony and the Stetson-wearing pony, though; they seemed nice...
...but he couldn't trust them.

The only person he could trust was himself.
"Oh, great! the thing is loose and now it's gonna wreak havoc on Equestria!" the lavender pony, having cantered out of the crater in the direction the creature had gone, cried out.

"He is not a thing or an 'it', Twilight," decried Fluttershy, following her; Twilight cringed. "You know better than that!"
The unicorn sighed, shaking her head at herself, and said, "I know... I'm sorry, Fluttershy."
"Besides, he said adamantly that he wasn't gonna wreak havoc and harm anypony here! that he came in peace," and while she said this, the rest of their pony friends were climbing up the crater to join them—Rainbow Dash flew up and Pinkie Pie popped up and out of a nearby flower that wasn't there before; nobody wanted to question that.
Coughing and panting, Rarity stepped up, "We still must stop him, though. He's not cognizant of Ponyville or of the rest of Equestria. He could run into very dangerous creatures."

"Oh, Celestia!!" the pale, light gold pegasus shrilly exclaimed; everypony jumped back in shock. "You're right! he could get lost, hurt, or something far worse..." and she plopped down, her tail curling around her, and hung her head in deep sorrow and regret. Why couldn't I have stopped him? Why didn't he stay?
Rainbow Dash gazed at Fluttershy, exchanging worried glances with her friends, and flew down to her side and placed a hoof on the depressed pegasus's shoulder, waiting until she looked up at her before she said, "Don't worry, Flutters!" grinning into Fluttershy's surprised, watery eyes. Rainbow Dash twirled up into the sky and pointed to herself, puffing out her chest, "I'll go scoutin' for 'im!"
A smile eventually twitched its way onto her snout, and, wiping away her tears, stuttered her gratitude.

"Well, that's wonderful!" Pinkie Pie celebrated, pronking in place.

"There's just one problem," began Twilight Sparkle, earning a raised eyebrow from the pegasus with the multi-colored mane and stares from everypony else, "if he spots you, he'll either freak out more or defend himself; neither of which are good. And, as Rarity said before, we don't know what this creature is able to do, and we definitely don't want to find out on the receiving end."
"I got ya! so don't worry your little tail off, Twi"—the target grimaced and slightly glowered at this—"I'll be careful!"
Twilight Sparkle grunted, and then sighed, "You better. I wouldn't want to have to attend your funeral..."

Rainbow Dash faltered in her resolve, slowly spinning around to take in the reactions of her friends who had gathered in a circle around her, and Pinkie Pie, whose expression was especially pitiful, cried out, "None of us would!"
It took only one look at Fluttershy and her pleading eyes to restore that resolve, and she then shook off her worry and asserted with a smile, "There won't be a funeral!"
Fluttershy's eyes lit up and eventually that smile graced her snout once again, and Pinkie Pie got up on her hind hooves to celebrate, shouting, "Woohoo! Yeah, Dashie!"

Rarity only stared out in the direction the puffball had taken, as if to will him to return, and hoping it would work.
But she knew it wasn't. That's why hope could be so sad at times...
...but it always helped—to hope.

Even if you knew whatever you were hoping for would never come…
Rainbow Dash then zoomed up and off to find that pink extraterrestrial puff, cheered on by the waves and messages of "Good luck!" from her friends. Applejack, noticing her fashionista friend's slouched body and somber, wistful eyes, then said, "Well, at least th' cute critter won't starve," to try and cheer her up.
Even though it was more directed to Rarity, who raised her head and looked back at her with a sad smile and replied, "Yes... yes, that's always very much a boon, is it not?", the others started chattering about that, nodding in agreement.

"Meanwhile," Twilight began, on another topic, and turned to go back to her home at the Library where she also worked, "I'm off to have Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia about this. She must know."

"Okie-dokie, Loki, Twi!" Pinkie Pie giggled, waving, "See ya later!"
The light grayish mulberry unicorn then cantered her way home, backed by farewells from all four friends.
Pinkie Pie then grinned, "Well, I guess the picnic's over now! Bye!" and then pronked her way to Sugarcube Corner, singing a song about the pink puffball. After having said their goodbyes to the pink pony, Fluttershy looked toward the distant trees, her ears flat against her skull and her already tareme* conveying worry for both Rainbow Dash and the pink puffball.

"I hope they'll be alright," she expressed her concern, and the wind started picking up again, blowing her and her friends' manes around. Applejack put one hoof on the timid pegasus's shoulder and the other on her hat to keep it from getting snatched by the wind.

"Hey, don't worry, you two," she had to shout over the wind. "Thangs will be ahlright soonah or latah! But Ah can't stay—Ah've gotta git to mah farm"—she pointed quickly with her hoof used to hold down her Stetson in that direction—"before this here wind gets any worse!" and then she zipped off, almost screaming, "See yaaa!"
Rarity and Fluttershy, after waving, then exchanged glances, and then got closer to one another, their attention still directed to where that alien had gone.
They sighed, and they each had one thought on their minds:

Why had he not accepted my design proposal?
Why had he run away from us?...and then they got up and sauntered home together.

Fin
March 19, 2014
10:54pm

here

Optional Ending to this Chapter

It wasn't too far into the night that a certain pony of the Mane Six realized something.
She realized it sitting at the foot of her bed in the roomy upper floor of the Sugarcube Corner, thinking cheerily about the next parties she would put into manifest once they detained and calmed this pink puffball who ran away earlier today.
Once she realized it, Pinkie Pie shot up, high into the air but, fortunately, missing the ceiling by a hair, and shouted,

"WE FORGOT TO INTRODUCE OURSEEEEEEEEEEELVES!!!!!",

so loudly and dramatically that it practically woke up everypony in Ponyville!
...Well, except for the ones who were already awake.
Many complaints were to be had as the residents who were disturbed from their dreamland; just to hear Pinkie Pie scream something nonsensical.
When it comes to Pinkie Pie, however, nothing is a joke...
Really, it's not.