Comet The Last Son of Kolton

The mood at Ponyville General Hospital that day was frantic to put it mildly. Doctors and nurses rushed victims of the train crash into any and all available rooms that could find. But with so many victims and not enough beds and doctors it was an uphill battle. Patients with minor to moderate injuries had to be put up in rooms, while the most critical were rushed into emergency surgery. Relief ponies and supplies were on the way from Cloudsdale, but until then the staff was on their own.

In the midst of the chaos one young colt sat next to his oldest sister as Doctor Horse examined him. His eyes were puffy and stained with tears, and a miserable sense of guilt filled the pit of his stomach.  Memories of seeing thru the victims of the crash flashed in front of his eyes, mares with internal bleeding, Stallions with concussions and fractures, colts and fillies wailing as they were carried away on stretchers flashed thru his mind. It had been too much for a such a young foal to take, He'd fainted in his sister's hooves and woken up in a bed sometime later.

"Well Comet your very lucky to be not only alive but also completely unharmed as impossible as that seems. I've been over all your x-rays twice and I haven't been able to find so much as a trace of any broken bones fractures or internal injures." Dr Horse flipped the light switch illuminating Comet's x-rays. "All the same I'd to check you over personally myself just to be sure. Is that alright?"

Comet didn't reply he simply nodded his head.

"Alright now I'm just feel around your body for any injuries tell me if you feel any pain." Dr Horse said as he gently moved his hooves around Comet's body checking for broken bones or internal injuries.

"Any pain here?"  Comet shook his head.

"What about here? "Again the response was no.

Dr Horse examined Comet from head to toe he checked his temperature, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, and his reflexes. In every instance Comet despite the impossible odds was completely healthy the only abnormality was when Dr Horse tried to test his reflexes and broke his hammer on Comet's knee.

"I honestly don't know what to say my colt you must have had the Princesses watching over you because you don't have so much as a scratch on you." Dr Horse said looking over his clipboard.  "I am a bit concerned about your senses however, They seem to be a little over stimulated.  Has he been having any problems at home? Any trouble eating, sleeping social interactions stuff like that?"

Applejack shook her head. "No nothing like that at all until today."

"Did anything unusual happen today prior to the accident?" The Dr asked.

"He had a little incident at school, A'h had to called to come get him."

"What happened?"

"Well Ms Cheerilee said he suddenly started complaining of loud noises and ran out of the classroom, She found him in the bushes behind the schoolhouse crying.   And after A'h picked him up he started complaining of loud noises and took off like a bolt of lightening."

"And then the accident happened?"

Applejack nodded while Comet placed his head in her lap. "Ssh it's okay sugar cube it's almost over." She softly said to her little brother.

"Well I understand what the problem is and thankfully it's nothing serious." Dr Horse set his clipboard down.

"What is it?" Applejack inquired.

"Comet has sensory overstimulation, basically whenever he's around loud noises or bright lights or something like that his senses become overstimulated. This is very common in foals these days with how much they're surrrounded by stuff like TV, braystation and the canternet.

"We don't have no fancy video games at our place and the only tv is in our living room." Applejack said.

"Well like I said it's nothing serious. Dr Horse replied. Just keep the stimulation around him under control, And if something happens bring him back here."

"A'h can't thank y'all enough for this Doctor." Applejack said.

"It's no trouble Applejack it's what I'm here for." Dr Horse smiled as Applejack and Comet left his office.

Comet sat silently in the corner of the family wagon as Big Mac wheeled them home, His face buried beneath his hooves.

"What's the matter Comet?" Applebloom looked at her brother concerned.

"What's wrong with me?" He sobbed softly.

"What are you talkin about? There's nothing wrong with you Comet. The doctor just said y'all were completely fine."

"I shouldn't have lived thru that crash, I shouldn't be alive right now."

"What in tarnation are you talkin bout? Your alive and we're all grateful for it." Applejack said.

"I wish I wasn't, I wish I was dead." Comet said as he looked down into his hooves.

"Now don't you go spouting any nonsense like that. Granny Smith sternly said.  "Your alive and well and your gonna stay that way."

" But it's all my fault! If I hadn't run away like that all those ponies wouldn't have gotten hurt, If that train had just killed me instead..."

Comet was cut off by Applejack shaking his shoulders.

"Hey what happened wasn't your fault, Y'all couldn't have known that train would've wrecked like that, Y'all need to let it go and move on."

"I could see right thru them, they were hurt real bad sis, How could I let that go? What if I do something like this again?"

Applejack smiled and gently pulled him into a hug

"You won't do something like this again, Your far too honest and kind to do something like that."

Despite her reassurance, Applejack could still feel Comet's tears dripping onto her coat.

"Why is this happening to me Applejack? What did I do to deserve this?" He whimpered.  Applejack looked down at her little brother, unable to find the words to answer his question.

"Ah wish I knew Comet A'h really wish A'h knew."

Comet took his seat just as the school bell rang, He rubbed his temples as he tried to focus at the front of the class.

"Alright class today we'll be learning about what makes us all special." Ms Cheerilee said as she wrote the lesson on the blackboard.  "Now I'm going to call you up alphabetically and I want you to tell the class what makes you special.  Let's start with...Comet Apple."

Comet's throat tightened as he looked down at the report he'd written the night before.

"What makes me special by Comet Apple." Comet's eyes scrolled down the page which was written in strange letters he couldn't read. He blinked his eyes and the letters turned back to Equestrian writing.

"Comet? Are you ready to give your report." Comet noticed Ms Cheerilee's tone sounded strangely like she was getting impatient, With his paper in his mouth Comet trotted up to the front of the class.

"What makes me special by Comet Apple." My Name is Comet Apple I am seven years old. I live with my Granny, my big brother and two big sisters at Sweet Apple Acres, I really don't know what makes me special yet."

Ms Cheerilee smiled softly at him. "Oh come now Comet everypony has something that makes them special, There must be something your good." A hoof raised itself over the class. "Yes Pound do you have something to say?"

"Ms Cheerilee I know what makes Comet special."

"Really and what is that?" She asked.

"Simple he hurts ponies."

In that instant Comet's blood ran cold as the color drained from his face, Pound Cake one of his closest friends had told everyone he hurt ponies.  But it was what Ms Cheerilee said next that made his stomach churn.

"That's correct Pound Cake, As we all know from yesterday's train crash Comet's special talent is hurting other ponies.

"W-What th-that's not true I-I didn't cause that wreck I-I mean I didn't mean to."

"He even admits it!" Pumpkin exclaimed "I think we all know what your cutie mark is going to be."

"N-No I-I-I don't hurt ponies I-It was an accident!"

"Try telling that to the families of everypony you put into the hospital yesterday you heartless monster!" A pegasus filly said.

Comet's senses began to go into to overdrive, The classroom seemed to stretch on for miles thru a forest populated by staring eyes and sneering faces. His ears picking up every word his classmates said.

"An accident like anypony would believe a story like that."

"We all know  you did it on purpose."

"Your nothing but a freak!"

"Stop It!"  Comet shouted out to the class, His temples throbbed with pain as if somepony had set the inside of his head on fire. He looked out into the see of Classmates all of their insides showing several injuries.

"You should be locked up where you can never another pony as long as you live!" A Unicorn Colt with a broken horn said.

"I say we throw him in the stocks and pelt him with rocks." An earth filly with broken back shouted with glee."

"Hey that's a great idea!" Another earth pony added.

The class began pelting Comet with rocks as they shouted names and insults at him.

"FREAK!"

"MONSTER!"

"GET LOST!"

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

"GO AWAY!"

"DIE!"

The burning in Comet's head grew hotter and hotter, His vision began to turn red as it felt like his head was going to explode.

"MS CHEERILEE MAKE THEM STOP PLEASE!" He Begged. She turned to him and smiled with a wicked grin.

"Make them stop but Comet don't you see? They're only giving you what you deserve."

  Comet's eyes burned hotter than the surface of Celestia's sun, He shut his eyes in a last ditch effort to hold it in but it was to no avail.

"I SAID STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!

With a flash of intense heat beams of red light shot from Comet's eyes. His classmates screamed as they instantly vaporized at the flash point along with the school. A terrible rage exploded from as he felt his body become lighter than air, The beams of heat scorching fields and buildings as he rose higher and higher into the sky. Ponies desperately ran for their lives desperate to escape the destruction but to no avail as Comet's eyes charged up one last blast.

"NO PLEASE STOP I DON'T WANT TO HURT PONIES!" Comet shouted at the top of his lungs but it was like he was yelling against a hurricane, His screams snatched away by the raging wind. "NO!!" With one last wide sweeping blast Ponyville was no more.

When the blast faded Comet finally saw the extent of the destruction he had caused. Buildings were nothing more than charred ruins, the trees and grass scorched into embers and the entire town's population was completely vaporized, Only charred outlines where they had fallen remained.

Comet sunk to the ground, his heart heavy with guilt, his first day at school he'd hurt ponies and now he'd killed everypony in town.

Then out of the dust and wind Comet saw somepony in the distance?

"Is someone there?" He called out. "Pl-Please I-I need your help." Fast as his shaky legs could carry him Comet ran over to see if he could help. What he saw chilled him to the bone.

Kneeling there in the street beside the bodies of Granny, Mac and Applebloom was Applejack.

"Applejack!"

"NOT ANOTHER STEP YOU VARMINT!" She hissed her voice dripping with venom.

"Applejack it's me Comet your little brother!"

She turned to face Comet a look of pure hate in her eyes as she glared at him.

"We took ya in, raised ya as one of our own, we fed ya, clothed ya, sheltered ya and this is how ya'll repay us? Your no brother of mine!  Y'ALL ARE NOTHIN BUT A HEARTLESS SOULLESS MONSTER!

Comet felt every fiber of his being shatter into glass

"A-A-Applejack I-I'm s-s-sorry  I-I-I-I d-d-didn't m-m-mean to!" the words stuttered out of his mouth as tears fell from his eyes.

"YA DIDN'T MEAN TA? TELL THAT TO EVERYPONY YOU EVER HURT!" She said as she advanced on him.  Comet stepped back as he saw the rest of the Apple family rise up, Their eyes sunken and their flesh charred from his heat vision.

"MONSTER!" Applebloom cried pointing what was left of her hoof at him.

"MONSTER!" Granny cried out!

"MONSTER!" Big Mac said joining in.

"Comet felt his eyes begin to burn again."

"NO PLEASE NOT AGAIN!" Comet shut his eyes desperate to stop the rays from shooting out. His eyelids burned with a fury he could not contain. "NO MORE PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO HURT NOPONY ANYMORE! " The Apples closed in him hooves pointed, repeating their mantra.

"MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER MONSTER MONSTER MONSTER MONSTER MONSTER MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER!"

"STAY BACK! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER PLEASE!" Comet shook his head desperate to try to stop the beams of his vision from coming out. The voices grew louder as if everypony in town had joined in. Mares, Stallions, Fillies, Colts all their voices repeating the same word. Comet's head like someone was running  a buzzsaw thru it.

"MONSTER! MONSTER MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER!

"STOP IT!"

Suddenly as if an answer to his pleas the voices disappeared, Comet opened his eyes to see Ponyville still in ruins but thankfully now empty save for a single figure standing right in front of him.

"Greetings Comet was it? I'm glad to finally meet you after all this time."

The Mare stood a head taller than most ponies, Her coat was a midnight blue, Her mane twinkled and shone brightly like the night sky.

"H-How do you know my name?" He nervously asked.

"I am Princess Luna." She stated. "Princess of the Night and a bringer of pleasant dreams to Equestria. I have come into your dreams to help you."

"I'm dreaming? then that means my family...."

"Is safe and sound in their beds as is the rest of Ponyville." She answered.

Comet felt a wave of relief wash over his body, His heartbeat slowed to steady pace as he watched the destruction and desolation fade away before his eyes.

"I sense you have many questions about what's happened so far? Unfortunately I cannot completely explain this strange phenomenon of yours. However I will tell you what I do know. You are not from Equis.

Comet's pupils shrunk to the size of a pinhead, the recently returned color in his face vanished in shock. He tried to ask her what she meant but his the words would not come out of his mouth.

Luna's face softened as she saw the look of surprise on the Colt's face. "I am sorry my little pony I did not mean to upset you, But I think it's time you learned." Luna's horn lit up conjuring a starry cloud above her.

"Seven years ago on my nightly travels I noticed a shooting star that was not part of my sky streak across the heavens." Luna's memory appeared before Comet inside the cloud.  "Curious as to what it was I followed it to Ponyville where it at Sweet Apple Acres.  Comet saw the spaceship that had apparently carried him crash landed in the Apple Family Orchard.  He watched as the Apples came together to rescue him from the heat of the castle. His Sister Applejack pulling him out from the ship, cradling him in her hooves."

"I know not where you came from Comet Apple but ever since that night I have been watching you." Luna said. "I've watched you grow from a tiny foal to a happy go lucky young colt." Images of Comet's life from the past seven years played in front of his eyes.  "It's amazing though you do not come from our world you are so much like us."

Comet stepped back from the cloud, his head was spinning with questions. Was what the Princess saying true? Everypony told him that he was dropped off on the Apple's porch when he was just a newborn foal. Had they been lying to him all these years?

"That's impossible!" Comet said. "Granny always told me kinfolk don't keep secrets from one another, And Applejack is the Element of Honesty was Celestia's sake!" He looked up to Princess Luna his eyes telling her he wanted to doubt this, To believe it was nothing more than a dream caused by the stress of everything that had happened today. "Princess Luna please tell me, Are you absolutely sure this is the truth and not something I'm dreaming?"

The Princess of the night looked him in the eyes and answered.  "I assure you Comet this is all true. Though we in the realm of dreaming, I and the visions I have shown you are the truth."

Comet sat down and head his hooves to his head, He couldn't believe for seven years they kept this from him.

"I don't believe it they lied to me. They lied to me for seven years, Every time I asked about what happened to my real parents they told me they abandoned me.

"I can understand why your upset Comet." Luna said. "But you shouldn't blame the Apples for withholding the truth from you.

"Why not?" He sharply responded as he stood up and begin to walk away. "They obviously don't love me or care about me to tell the truth!"

"That is not true! In all my years I have rarely seen anypony love and care about someone the way Applejack and her family care for you." Luna responded.

"Then why didn't they tell me the truth?" Tears stung Comet's eyes as he shouted at the Princess of the Night.

"Perhaps they wanted to wait until you were ready." Luna responded.

Comet grit his teeth and let out a growl of frustration. "And when was that supposed to be?, After the second accident I caused or third or fourth, How old is old enough to honest with your own family.  He turned to walk away but stopped and looked up when he felt Luna's hoof on his shoulder.

"I know how you feel right now Comet, I too once held bitterness toward those I loved. It led me down a dark road that separated us for a thousand years.  Celestia and I still have our disagreements from time to time but I love her and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the whole world." Comet hung his head low at the Luna's words. "I'm not saying Applejack and her family were right for keeping the truth from you.  What I am saying is you should let go of your bitterness and talk to them. If they didn't care about you why did they risk their lives to rescue you when to came to Equis?"

Comet sighed. "Well yeah there's that I guess."

"And didn't they feed you, clothe you, change you, bathe you, and play with you when you were a foal?"

Comet hung his head in shame. "That's right."

"And didn't they go out of their way to spend time with you whenever they could?"

Comet thought at the many memories he had of his life on the farm. He remembered Applejack showing him how to buck apples when he was three and how she kissed his boo boo better when he hurt his hoof trying it. He remembered baking with Granny Smith and licking the apple batter off the spoons when they made Apple Strudel. He remembered the games he played with Applebloom and her friends and how much they had together and of course there was Big Mac and the jokes he'd tell him. They were corny and dated but Comet still laughed at them.

"Yeah they did." Comet softly said as a tear slid down his eye. "I guess I never really thought about how much they do for me. I've been too busy worrying they'd think I'm a monster after I hurt all those ponies today."

Luna smiled softly then lifted Comet's head up under her hoof.

"You are not a monster Comet, A monster wouldn't feel bad about hurting others or destroying property. Your a good pony Comet, You might not come from our world but you'll always be one of us. "

Comet smiled as Princess Luna gently wrapped her hooves around him.

"What if it happens again?, What if I hurt somepony else?"

"Ssh no more talk like that my little pony, You won't hurt anypony else I promise. I'll talk to my sister about this tonight."

"Does Princess Celestia know about me being..well you know?" Comet asked.

"Yes Tia knows, Do not be afraid your secret is safe with us." Luna said with a smile as she released

"Thanks Princess Luna I know what I have to do now. "Comet said as he walked away.

"Till we meet once more Comet Apple." Luna said as his dream faded away.

Comet opened his eyes and threw off the covers, He dashed over to his window to check and see. To his relief Ponyville was still standing, He was awake and he knew where to go.

Comet turned the knob and opened the door to his sister's room, He walked over to her bed and nudged her with his hoof.

Applejack? Applejack? C'mon Sis wake up." With a moan and toss Applejack turned over and slowly opened her eyes.

"Comet it's af'tah midnight you ought to be in bed, you've got school tomorr'ah." She said as she rubbed her eyes.

"But I need to see it now."

"Can't it wait till morn'in Sugarcube?"

"No I need to see the spaceship now."

"Y'all been reading too many comics, There ain't no spaceship around here."

"Yes there is, The one Princess Luna says you found me in remember?" Applejack's eyes shot wide open.

"Get undressed and meet me in the barn , We've got a family meeting to discuss."

End of Chapter.