Animal

Today was a busy day for Applejack. With winter right around the corner she needed to clear the trees and fast so she could sell some of them off and strip others down to collect the seeds for spring. She had just finished bucking one of the trees, knocking almost every apple out of it with one powerful kick. She stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow. Only two more acres of land left to cover. She sighed tiredly to herself and looked up at the sky. Judging from the position of the sun she could only assume that it was about 7 o'clock and that the moon would be raised soon. That signaled the end of her work for the day; so she grabbed the basket she had just knocked all of the apples into and dragged it up to the house. When she arrived she found three fillies playing around in the dirt and one old green mare sitting in a rocking chair watching them.

"Howdy Applejack." Said the old mare, "How''s it coming along out there?"

"Well, Granny, I still got a little ways to go but it should be done before winter." Applejack replied with confidence.

"Alrighty then, as long as it gets done." Granny said with a smile. "Now go on inside and get some rest, I'll have them there fillies put those apples in the barn for ya."

Applejack nodded, "Thanks granny." She set down the basket full of apples and trotted into the house to get to bed early. She had a lot of work ahead of her tomorrow and would need the energy.

Granny looked over at the three fillies playing in the yard and waved to get their attention. Once she was sure that they were all focused on her she spoke. "If you youngins wouldn't mind, I would like you to take those apples into the barn for me."

The fillies stood up straight and saluted the old mare. "Sure thing granny, we'll get right on it." Apple Bloom said, running off with her two best friend to retrieve the basket and carry it into the barn. They set it down by the wall and were about to leave but froze in place when they heard a strange noise come from the hayloft. "Did y'all hear that?" Apple Bloom asked, slightly unnerved.

"It sounded like something was moving around in the hayloft. Maybe a small animal?" Sweetie Belle answered, being the voice of reason as usual. There was a loud bang that was followed by the sound of bones being broken.

The noise was enough to make the fillies jump and cower behind a stack of apple-filled baskets. They quietly debated who would leave the hiding spot to inspect the sounds and eventually Scootaloo was shoved out into the open. She gulped and slowly made her way over to the ladder leading into the upper half of the barn. When she got to the ladder she placed a hoof against the first step and looked back to her friends who were gesturing for her to continue. She looked up at the edge of the loft and started to make her way up, each step feeling heavier than the last as she got closer to her destination. When she reached the top her eyes had already scanned everything with three feet of her. Nothing but bales of hay filled the area and Scootaloo let our a sigh of relief before looking back at her friends. "Girls, there's nothing up here." She said with a reassuring tone. As she turned her head back into the loft though she was met with the sight of a short dark figure that made her cry out in fear.

Her friends could only watch in shock as the thing seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but oddly ran off when Scootaloo screamed. It was almost as if she had scared it away. "Scootaloo! Are you okay?" Sweetie Belle called out, praying that her friend was unharmed.

Scootaloo took a moment to recollect herself before finally answering. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said, taking in short quick breaths. Her coat was pale and her body was trembling. She looked like she had just seen a ghost, and for all she knew she had.

"What was it?" Apple Bloom asked

"I don't know..." Was all she could say before something caught her attention. A small rabbit was jumping around and made its way over to Scootaloo. She smiled a bit and reached out to pet it but jumped back when a black arm shot out from behind the hay and grabbed the small animal before puling it into the barreled up stacks of straw. Scootaloo had finally had enough and leaped off of the ladder, fearing that if she stayed it would come for her next.

Once Scootaloo made a safe landing she and the rest of the fillies charged for the exit. Before they could reach it though a large bale of hay landed in front of the door. They tried with all of their might to push it out of their way, but it was simply too heavy. They all looked back to the loft to see the figure from earlier drop down and land on its feet. The sudden reappearance of the creature made them scream in terror as it started to wobble its way toward them. They stopped trying to move the hay, knowing they wouldn't be able to make it budge. Now all they could do was watch as this thing came closer and closer to them. When it was only mere inches from them it leaned down and growled. The smell of blood filled their nostrils as the world around them turned to nothing but an empty black pit full of fear.

"Come on now," Big Mac started. "ya gotta get up. We got work to do."

Applejack opened her eyes and let out an audible yawn as she sat up and stretched her limbs. "Ah'm up, I am up..." She said drowsily. "Sorry Mac, didn't mean to sleep in on ya like that. I'll be out in a bit. Big Mac nodded and exited her room to get started on another hard day of work. Applejack crawled out of her bed and got ready for a long day. Once she was washed up and ready to go she went outside to see Big Mac standing oddly by the barn door. She decided to investigate and trotted over to him. "Something going on, Mac?"

"Door's jammed, won't open." He said plainly, giving the door a light shove to sow her that it wasn't moving.

"Well that seems a tad odd. We've never had this kind of problem with it before. Why's it actin' up now?" She asked herself curiously. Applejack placed both of her hooves against the door and started pushing it. "Come on, let's get this darn thing open."

Big Mac mimicked her position, putting his front hooves against the door and pushing it. The force behind the two of them was more than enough to get the door open, but also to knock down a large stack of hay barrels that seemed to have been blocking the door. They both looked at the tumbling pile with surprise and confusion before entering the barn. All of the walls were blocked off with barrels of hay that should have been in the loft and a lot more were stacked around in the center, shaping some sort of obstacle course.

"What in tarnation?" She asked, baffled by the sight before her. "What the hay happened in here?" She walked through the barn with her brother following close behind. After a bit of wandering on the ground floor all they found were more and more hay stacks just randomly placed about. "There aint nothing down here." Her eyes suddenly wandered up to the hay loft and she felt a slight tugging in her chest. "Mac, I'm gonna go up into the loft and try to find out how all these bales got down here. You think you can tear this down and get them re-stacked?"

"Eeyup." He said almost routinely.

Applejack nodded and climbed the ladder to the hay loft. Once she got to the top she found herself being met with a ray of light coming from a large hole in the roof and more hay barrels, however, these ones were ripped apart and spread all across the flooring. After glancing around for a bit she started to walk around the hay, striding deeper and deeper into the loft until she found a rather unnerving sight. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were all laying side by side nestled into the midsection of one of the strangest creatures she had ever seen. The light from the hole was just bright enough for her to make out its features. Pale skin, no fur, long dirty black hair, and some sort of dark cloths covering most of its body. The final thing she noticed were its glowing green eyes that seemed to be staring directly at her. She felt her heart skip a beat and froze as she realized that the creature was watching her. Her blood ran cold as she heard a low growl come from the beast before it flashed its sharp teeth at her. Applejack took a step back, completely forgetting that this thing had her sister. It opened its mouth and something disturbing happened. The lining of what looked like its throat came out from its maw and slowly stretched further out until it was only a mere meter from Applejack's face, a row of thick sharp teeth appearing at to make a disgusting looking mouth at its end that drooled heavily. A low hum came from one of the fillies and the extended mouth retracted back into the creature. It looked down at the small ponies as they were stirred from their sleep.

Apple Bloom was the first to wake up completely and noticed her sister standing just a few feet from them with a horrified expression on her face. "Applejack? What are you doin' in here?" She asked plainly

"Apple Bloom," She whispered, "get your friends and get away from that thing."

"Why are you whispering?"

"Just get away from it!"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were up and at attention from the sudden shout. "What? What's going on?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh, hi Applejack." Sweetie Belle said with a yawn.

"Girls, you need to get away from that thing. It could be dangerous." Applejack stated with concern.

"Oliver?" Apple Bloom asked, looking at the creature they were laying on. "He wouldn't hurt no pony. He may be a little bit funny looking, but he's no more dangerous than a teddy bear." She said with a smile, nuzzling the creature. It followed suit, sounding almost like it was purring, if demons could purr.

"Did you just call it, Oliver?" Applejack asked, going from scared right back to confused.

"Yeah, that's the name on his tags." She replied.

"Tags?" Her confusion was just getting worse and worse as time went on.

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle started, "he has dog tags." She reached up and pulled a necklace out of his shirt. There was a small metal plate with the name Oliver engraved in it. "See?"

"Ah see it, but just what is that...thing?" Applejack asked, doing her best to not sound offensive just in case it could understand her.

"We don't really know." Scootaloo replied, "but he's really energetic."

"He's playful." Sweetie Belle followed up.

"And he's protective." Apple Bloom finished. "Why, just last night one of them hay barrels nearly crushed Sweetie Belle."

"Yeah," Scootaloo jumped in, "then he leaped into action and caught it."

"Can we keep it?" Apple Bloom asked.

Applejack was taken back by the sudden question. "Uh, Apple Bloom, I'm not so sure-"

"Aww, come on sis. Please???" She started giving Applejack the puppy eyes.

It took everything in her power to resist her sister's gaze, but she caved. "Fine..." The fillies all smiled brightly, "but, ah wanna take him to Fluttershy or something first so we can figure out just what he is and make sure he doesn't have any illnesses."

"YAY!!!"The fillies yelled in unison.

Getting this thing, or Oliver as it's called, out of the barn wasn't all that hard, it was keeping him from running off that was the problem. The second they got him outside he started jumping all over the place. Eventually, Applejack was forced to leash him with a rope. It definitely didn't solve the problem as the creature proved itself to be much stronger than she, despite barely being four feet tall, but it helped. In short, getting to Fluttershy's cottage was a nightmare. When they did arrive however, Applejack was slightly shocked to find that there wasn't a single animal in sight. Usually this place was being horded by every type of small critter within the Equestrian border. The fact that it wasn't was worrisome. She made her way over to the door and knocked, calling her friend's name to let her know she was here.

A few seconds later the door was opened by a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane. "Oh, hello Applejack. What brings you...here..." Fluttershy found herself choking on her own words as she saw the bipedal creature standing behind her friend.

Applejack, sensing the oncoming panic, quickly talked Fluttershy down and reassured her that whatever this thing was it was peaceful. After calming her down she went on to talk about finding him in the hay loft with the fillies and how Apple Bloom figured out its name and wouldn't stop begging to keep him as a pet. "So, since we're gonna be havin' this thing around, ah wanted you give him a check up and make sure he don't have rabies or nothin. And, if you could, help me identify just what exactly it is ah'm dealing with here."

Fluttershy couldn't make heads or tails of just what this thing was just by looking at it, "I'm not sure if I could help with identifying it, I've never seen anything like it before, but I can definitely do a check up."

Applejack took a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Flutters. Ah really appreciate this. Havin' him checked at a vet would cost me a might some."

Fluttershy nodded and stepped aside to give Applejack and her new pet room to enter. "Come on in." Once in she had them follow her to the kitchen. "If you could, would you mind making him sit on the table while I collect some supplies?"

"Ah can try." Applejack turned her attention to Oliver as Fluttershy went off to get what she needed. Pointing a hoof at the table she spoke, "Go sit down." Much to her surprise he actually listened perfectly; walking over to the table and placing his rear on it. "Well ah'll be..." She suddenly noticed that there didn't appear to be any animals inside of the house, which was even weirder than there not being any outside. "Hey Fluttershy, where are all your little critters at? I'm not used to seein' this place so empty."

"It was so strange," Fluttershy started, "one minute they're all playing peacefully, the next they just ran off. It was like they were scared." she replied. "I certainly hope they're all okay. I would have gone after them but by the time I got outside they were nowhere to be seen."

"That's odd. When did that happen?"

"Just a few minutes ago." Fluttershy said, earning an odd look from Applejack as she flew over with what she needed. "Okay, let's get started." She looked over the creature and gave it a few reassuring pats on the leg. "You're going to be alright, okay little guy. I promise." She said to it with a smile as she flew up and lifted the shirt off of him, revealing his midsection completely. He was extremely thin on the torso and had a large scar going down the center of his body from his neck down to his waist. Tracing down his spine were a series of pointed bones that broke the skin just enough to show their tips, several more of these were found on his arms, especially his shoulders. Also with his arms, each one had one large lump on its top side with a sharp chunk of what looked like curved metal breaching at least three inches from its flesh. "Oh...my..." Fluttershy commented, her ears dropping to the sides of her head.

"Heavens to Betsy. What are you?" Applejack couldn't hardly believe that what she was looking at was actually real.

Fluttershy took a few shaky steps closer to the monstrosity sitting on her table and started poking randomly on its body before fumbling with the obviously odd parts of him. She pokes at the studs decorating his skin, "These appear to be bone, but I don't know why they would grow outward like this." She moved on to the small metallic blade-looking thing in his arms and pressed randomly about on them. "The skin doesn't seem to be irritated or strained in any way, so whatever these are they are completely natural to his body." She put a hoof to his lips, "Open up, please." He obeyed and opened his mouth, letting Fluttershy inspect the inside. "He has many rows of small, but very sharp, teeth. This means that he is a carnivore." Fluttershy took the information fairly well, but it unnerved Applejack some. Knowing that her little sister was playing with a potentially dangerous creature that eats meat wasn't exactly very comforting. She moved on to inspect his hands and feet. "Sharpened nails, he's definitely a predator." Fluttershy patted his head, this time trying to reassure herself that she was safe. "You're a little hunter aren't you." She said in a cutesy voice. It seemed to take some comfort in the attention which was enough to put Fluttershy a bit more at ease. She moved on and grabbed her stethoscope, using it to listen to his heart and lungs. "He has a very strong heart beat and can take in a large amount of air despite his thin appearance." She grabbed an otoscope and inspected his ears. Finding nothing that she could call odd in them she moved on to look at his eyes. Once she finished up she trotted over to Applejack, leaving Oliver to himself on the table. "I don't see anything that would label him as being ill. He is pretty young from the looks of it and definitely very unique...and a little scary."

"You're tellin' me, ah'm gonna be livin' with it." She looked back at Oliver who was sitting silently. "Do ya have any idea what it is?"

"I'm sorry, I don't." She said, her words making Applejack lower her head in disappointment. "But maybe Twilight will know, she might even have a book on his species."

Applejack's head perked right back up. "Yeah, you're right. She's probably had the answer to this question the whole time." She said with a smile, "In fact, ah reckon that she'll be able to tell me what this thing is the second she sees it."

"What in the wide wide world of Equestria is that thing!?" Twilight shouted

"Aww, come on! Ya'll don't know what this thing is neither?" Applejack yelled.

"No, I don't." She replied, "but it's definitely not natural."

"Why does it have knives coming out of its arms?" Spike asked curiously.

"Spike, not now please." Twilight said, gesturing for him to leave. He groaned, but left without saying a word. "Where did you even find that, Applejack?"

"Ah didn't, my sister did. He was up in the hay loft and the her and her friends spent the night up there playing with it." She explained.

"And it didn't hurt them?"

"Nope, but now she's lookin' to keep it as a pet."

"She wants to keep that...as a pet?"

"Yeah."

"And you agreed to this?"

"Well...yeah, but-"

"Why would you agree to something like that?"

"Well i- she just- I don't-" She said, stuttering as she struggled to put her words and thought back together while Twilight raised her brow at the farm horse. "look, she gave me the puppy eyes." Twilight's expression remained unchanged. "Look, can ya please just help me?"

Twilight's eyes wandered from the creature back to her friend. "Alright, I'll see what I can figure out. He'll need to stay with me overnight for some tests. You can pick him up tomorrow around noon and I'll notify you of my progress then."

"Thank you Twi." Applejack passed the end of the rope over to Twilight and exited the castle, making her way back home so she could get started on helping Big Mac with the harvest. She was already way behind and didn't want to leave her brother in the dirt doing all of the work.

Twilight walked the creature down to the lab she had set up shortly after her castle appeared. She noticed the name tag chained to his neck and looked it over. "So, your name is Oliver?" She asked, knowing he wouldn't respond. "Well Oliver, you and I are going to have to get to know each other tonight." She found a chair and had him take a seat before doing a complete anatomy inspection. "You certainly are different from anything else I've seen in Equestria." She said to herself. She started poking randomly on his body with almost no reaction. Until she got to his neck. When she would press on a certain spot where it would appear his lymph nodes were swollen his jaw would twitch. She decided to risk it and pressed down harder, which resulted in his jaw coming unhinged. She gasped, thinking she hurt the creature, until the gums of his teeth disconnected from the rest of his face and extended outward on a long flesh-like tube. She stared at the odd appendage in shock and awe, never has anything she had ever studied done something like this. The tube was obviously made of living tissue, the pulsing veins going through it were proof enough of that. It was attached to the lining of his throat and after a few stretch tests she concluded that it was very flexible and very lethal due to the jagged teeth at the end. When she was finished fumbling with his limbs she took hair, skin, and blood samples to study for when Applejack came back to pick him up. He was very fascinating and she almost didn't want to stop studying every little thing about him, but it was getting late and she needed to rest. "Well Oliver," She yawned, "I think it's about time to call it a night. Come on." She grabbed his rope leash and led him to an empty room. "I don't really want to leave you in here, but I can't having you running around and breaking things." She yawned again as she gave him a light shove to get him into the room. "Goodnight Oliver." She closed the door and locked it before walking away. She stopped before she even got a foot away from the door though. 'That was odd.' She thought. She could have sworn that she had heard someone say Goodnight to her. She shrugged it off though and was on her way to bed.

Applejack waited until eleven thirty to start walking over to Twilight's place. She had some time to think about things with Oliver, like a shelter to make for him, how they would go about feeding him, schedules to go out and play with him for the fillies and what not. She was starting to warm up to the idea of having a new pet. Granted, this one wasn't your average pet and would likely be more difficult to deal with than Winona. She made it over to the castle five minutes early and knocked on the door. There was a loud crash and as the sound of hooves came closer to the door the more it sounded like things were being broken.

Twilight finally made it to the door and opened it. "Applejack? You're here!" She smiled at first but her smile soon dropped as she realized what that meant. "No, wait! You can't take him, not yet!"
`Applejack was heavily taken back both by Twilight's appearance and behavior. Her mane was all over the place, her fur was standing up in some places, and her wings needed a preening badly. "Twi, are you okay?"

"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" She replied quickly.

"Twilight!" She yelled, snapping her out of whatever state she was in. "Ya need to calm down. What's going on?"

Twilight closed her eyes and took a breath before focusing back onto her friend. "I'm sorry, I'm just really excitable right now is all. After he started talking I just-"

"Hold on there now! Did you just say he spoke?" Applejack wasn't sure how to feel about this, but it got her attention real quick.

"I know!" Twilight replied, thinking Applejack's confusion was actually excitement. "Come on, I'll show you!" She grabbed Applejack and pulled her into the main room where she had left Oliver. "That's weird." She said as her eyes wandered around, trying to find him, "He was here a second ago."

Applejack didn't know why, but her instinct were telling her to look up and upon obeying them she was met with another weird sight to add to the list of things she never thought she'd see. "Twilight, ah think I found'em."

Twilight looked to Applejack and followed her gaze, gasping as she saw what she was looking at. "How did he get up there?" She asked as they watched him crawl across the ceiling.

As Oliver crawled, his nails digging deep into the crystal-like structure to hold him in place, his sights were locked onto a small yellow bird that seemed desperate to get away from him. The bird flew away from him and closer toward the ground, earning adoring awes from the mares below. Oliver unhinged his jaw and his teeth disconnected from the rest of his face. Just as the bird was about to land it was caught by something very strong and very sharp before being pulled back to the creature it had been trying to escape from and forced into his maw. The birds life was ended with the small crunching noises that followed its departure into Oliver's mouth. After properly chewing the bird to bits and swallowing it down he made his way down the wall and back to the mares watching him.

Applejack backed away a bit as it came closer to her, she saw Twilight do the same. "Ah know Fluttershy said it was a carnivore, but ah don't think I'll ever be able to get used to it doin' stuff like that." Twilight looked ready to throw up, "You gonna be alright there, girl?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She shook off her sickness and cleared her throat. "Back to the mater at hoof." She took a few step closer to Oliver and looked him in the eye. "Oliver, speak!"

"Speak..." He replied slowly.

Applejack's eyes widened, she was't actually expecting him to reply. His voice was smooth and quiet. It reminded her a lot of Fluttershy in a way. Her attention went back to Twilight who was clapping her hooves with glee. "That certainly is somethin." she started, "Did ya learn anything else?"

Twilight levitated a small stack of papers over to her, "I've found a few things." She let out a small cough before taking a seat and putting on a pair of reading glasses. "From what I could gather he has multiple different types of genes in his body, everything from mammals to reptiles. However, most of these genes are lying dormant deep within his body. The sharp bones coming from his body are likely due to a mutation from having so many different genetic codes rammed into one body, the metal in his arms are from a large amount of iron in his body that seems to have somehow been focused on that particular area and built up. I also learned that he is highly adaptable. After doing some tests on both blood samples and on him I've deduced that his body will mutate and change based on whatever climate he is in, activating whatever dormant genes it needs to rewrite his genetic code. That's all I have so far sadly, but I would love to study him further-" She stopped as she looked up at Applejack to see the deadpan expression on her face. Twilight let out an annoyed sigh, "In short, he's an abomination of nature that has managed to survive due to his ability to adapt." She said slowly.

"Okay then..." She said plainly, "but he isn't dangerous is he?"

"...Applejack, we just watched him eat a bird and from the looks of his genetic background, not only is he dangerous he might just be one of the most lethal creatures to walk on equestrian soil. Not only that, but my studies have also showed that he hasn't even gone through his pubescent stages yet. And, like most wild animals, once he does he could end up being very deadly." This only further presses Applejack's anxiety with this thing and Twilight could see that so she made quick work of correcting herself. "But, he clearly isn't hostile. If he wanted to hurt any of us he would have a long time ago. I mean, I was poking him with needles and he hardly flinched. If anything I think he's grown a liking towards ponies. Plus, with the name tag I can only assume he's had a previous owner who domesticated him."

"A previous owner..." It clicked in Applejack's head, finally she would have a way to keep her sister safe from this thing while not looking like the bad guy. "Of course! We can't just up and keep an animal we just found if there's another lovin' pony out there missin' him." Twilight couldn't help but notice Applejack's somewhat more upbeat behavior. "We better start puttin' up posters, cause ah'm gonna get you home."

It took a lot of convincing a few shed tears to get the cutie mark crusaders to accept that he may have another home and would need to go back to it, but after cutting a deal with them they were a little more relaxed. The deal was if someone did not come to claim Oliver with one week that he would belong to them forever. With that Applejack and Granny Smith got started on making Pet Found posters with a small description of Oliver's appearance and his name at the very bottom. The fillies played outside with their new friend; this made Applejack nervous. She honestly didn't like this thing and she definitely didn't trust him. For all she knew he could be biding his time before gobbling them up and taking off in the dead of night, never to be seen again. She quickly shook those thoughts out of her head, her fears only worsened the more she thought about them.

"Hey Apple Bloom," Scootaloo called out, "catch this!" She threw a brightly colored orange ball in the air, doing her best to keep it from Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle jumped up to get it, but she didn't nearly get high enough. Luckily her back-up, Oliver, turned out to be a very high jumper. His body launched into the air high enough to grab the ball and still go into the air by at least another foot and a half. "Woohoo!" Sweetie Belle cheered, "Go Oliver!"

Big Mac watched in the distance as the fillies played with the odd creature. He had met with it once, but only to pin it down and put the rope-leash on its neck for Applejack. He wasn't really sure how to feel about it, but he had heard Applejack say it was okay for the fillies to keep it and he trusted her judgment. He stopped focusing on the playful fillies and went back to continuing his work on the farm. There wasn't a whole lot left for him to do, so he would get to it and get it done as soon as possible.

Oliver landed hard on his feet with little reaction. When he landed he heard Sweetie Belle cheer for him and mimicked her "Go Oliver!" In doing this he earned himself three tiny gasps, followed by three sets of eyes staring at him in surprise.

Apple Bloom took a few steps closer to him. "Did you just talk?"

"Did you just talk?" Oliver mimicked, using both her words and accent.

Apple Bloom took a moment of silence before an idea popped into her head. "Crusaders, do ya'll realize what we have here?"

"A new pet?" Scootaloo asked in a confused manner.

"A pet we can teach how to speak?" Sweetie Belle asked with excitement.

"Sort of." Apple Bloom began. "Girls, what we have here is a live animal that's never been seen before; A livin', breathin', learnin' thing that is the only one of it's kind. We can do more than teach him to talk, cause if he can learn to talk he can learn other things, we can teach him how to live. It would be like having our own baby!"

Scootaloo was the first to shoot her an odd glance. "A baby, seriously?"

"I don't know. He isn't exactly a pony." Swettie Belle followed up.

"Plus, doesn't there need to be some sort of dad or something?" Scootaloo added.

"I know he aint a pony , but if he's sentient than he should have every right to a normal life as any other pony; and who says that we can't raise him without a stallion?" Apple Bloom argued.

"Well," Scootaloo started, "I guess I'm cool enough to be a father-figure. Why not, I'm in!"

Sweetie Belle hummed to herself. "I guess you're right. If he can think and speak for himself then he should be treated as an equal."

"Of course I'm right. So what do you say crusaders; Do you wanna help me raise this child into a proper, hard-working, gentlecolt or what?" Apple Bloom held out her hoof and her friend's laid theres on top of hers before cheering loudly with excitement for their new journey.