Neon Pony Evangelion

Twilight groaned and slowly opened her eyes, seeing an unfamiliar white ceiling. A hospital room, she realized. Sunlight was streaming in through the window, and she could hear birds singing.

"That was quite the rough fight last night," a male voice said from beside her.

Twilight gasped in surprise as she turned to look at the speaker: a unicorn about her age with emerald green eyes, sapphire blue mane and tail with amethyst highlights, and a ruby red coat. He wore a simple outfit:white button up shirt and blue pants. He was looking at her with a smile.

"Sorry I startled you," he said, still smiling at her. "Are you alright?"

Twilight slowly sat up as she nodded. "I'm okay. Feel like I was repeatedly hit in the head with a sledgehammer, but I'm okay." She looked away from him. "Um... Who are you?"

He chuckled. "Sorry. My name is Facet. It's nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle."

"H-How do you know my name?" Twilight asked in suspicion, blushing darkly as Facet climbed onto the bed, holding himself above her on his hands and knees, still with that smile on his face. "Uh... What are you..." she was cut off by him leaning in and deeply sniffing her hair.

"The scent of LCL suits you, Twilight," Facet muttered as he pulled back enough to look her in the eye, chuckling at her darkening blush before starting to close the distance again, moving slowly. "And so beautiful too," he breathed as their lips brushed together.

Twilight's eyes shot open as she gasped. She looked around her hospital room, completely alone. She climbed out of bed and left the room in search of something to drink. Finding a drinking fountain, she drank from it eagerly, the cool water soothing her parched throat and easing the dull ache in her head. After finally quenching her thirst, she stepped away from the fountain and turned to look out the window, staring at her reflection as she slowly raised her fingertips to her lips, feeling the phantom sensation. "A dream. It was just a dream," she muttered, trying reassure herself. "It was nothing."

"Twilight!" Cadance called as she ran over to her and hugged her tightly. "So glad you're okay!"

"What happened?" Twilight asked as she pulled out of the hug. "I remember I was fighting the Angel, I blacked out, then when I woke up, it was gone and... Unit-01..."

Cadance nervously chuckled. "Yeah, we probably should have told you that the Evas aren't robots. They're biomechanical lifeforms similar to the Angels. We're extremely careful to keep them restrained at all times. As for what happened after you blacked out. Unit-01 went berserk and killed the Angel on its own. An Eva going berserk means that it starts acting on its own without pilot input."

"I see," Twilight said. "And after I screamed at the eye regenerating? I don't remember anything after that."

"That's because you fainted," Cadance said with a light giggle.

"Oh," Twilight muttered with a blush before a pair nurses rolled a bed past them. The bed was occupied by a pegasus girl with long pink hair and a yellow coat. She had bandages around her head and on her right eye, and her right arm was in a cast. Twilight looked her in the eye as she passed by. "Cadance, who is that girl?"

"Fluttershy Sandora," Cadance said. "The First Child, and designated pilot of Eva Unit-00."

"What happened to her?" Twilight asked.

"An accident during a synchronization test with Unit-00," Cadance explained. "The Eva went berserk and she got hurt in the process." She put her hand on Twilight's shoulder. "On to a more cheerful topic. You'll be living with me."

"Really?" Twilight asked with a smile. "Glad I get to live with somepony I know."

Twilight let out a content sigh as she stripped off her clothes in preparation for a hot bath after dinner. Cadance was still an amazing cook. Depositing her clothes in the hamper, Twilight opened the door from the laundry room to the bathroom, only to be perplexed by the sight of a short, purple creature covered in scales rubbing itself down with a towel.

Said creature looked up at her with green eyes that had slitted pupils, an eyeridge arching.

Twilight finally fully registered the situation and screamed loudly, running to the living room. "Cadance! There's a thing in there!"

"A thing?" Cadance asked in confusion.

"A purple, scaly thing!" Twilight exclaimed before yelping as she felt the heat of flames mere inches from her ass.

"I am not a thing!" the purple reptile indignantly snapped as he stalked pasted Twilight. "My name is Spike! And you will fear my fire breath!"

"Oh. Him," Cadance said with a giggle as Spike continued past her. "He's a dragon, actually. Just think of him as another roommate."

"Yeah. And never call me a thing again," Spike said as he grabbed a bowl of gemstones and started eating them as he sat down on a scaled to size chair and grabbed a book. "I can heat water myself, so don't worry about the hot water." He shot Twilight a smirk. "Nice tits, by the way."

Twilight suddenly remembered she was naked in front of a male and yelped as she covered herself with her arms, blushing up a storm. "You little pervert!" she snapped back as she went into the bathroom, ignoring the dragon's laughter.

Twilight lay in bed staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. She couldn't get that dream she'd had in the hospital out of her head. Getting up, she went to Cadance, who was reading in her room. "Cadance? Do you have Dr. Glimmer's number?"

"Need to talk to her?" Cadance asked as she grabbed her phone.

Twilight nodded. "Something on my mind, and I can't sleep because of it."

Cadance nodded in understanding as she called Starlight and passed Twilight the phone.

"Thanks," Twilight said as she went to her room for some privacy.

"Hello?" Starlight's voice came when she picked up.

"Dr. Glimmer? It's Twilight. Can I talk to you about something?" Twilight asked.

"Of course. What's on your mind?" Starlight asked.

"Uh, well..." Twilight hesitated. "Does the name Facet mean anything to you?"

"Ruby red coat, emerald green eyes, sapphire blue mane with amethyst highlights, and he's a unicorn?" Starlight asked.

"Yeah. That's him. Do you know anything about him?" Twilight asked.

"Facet Orichalcum. The sixth qualified pilot chosen in accordance with the Yearling Report. The Sixth Child, and the only male among the Eva pilots," Starlight explained. "His assigned Eva is still under construction, so he won't be assigned to active duty for quite some time. In the meantime, he's enrolled at Celestia's School, same as you, so you're likely to meet him soon. Why do you ask? And on that note, how did you learn his name?"

"Well... It's just..." Twilight gulped as her face flushed. "I had a dream about him when I was in the hospital. He introduced himself, asked how I was feeling, and then..."

"What happened then?" Starlight gently pressed, greatly interested in this dream.

"He... climbed onto my bed and hovered over me." Twilight was feeling a little sweaty at the memory. "He sniffed my hair. Said the scent of LCL suits me. And then he..." She shivered a little at the memory as her blush grew. "He kissed me."

"Facet is noted to have interest in interacting with his fellow pilots," Starlight said. "And LCL's scent, known only to pilots, is very distinctive, so he has identified his fellows as pilots by that scent. He also has little regard for personal space at times. Though he's never gone so far as to kiss any of the other pilots." Starlight was silent for several seconds. "Maybe the dream was prophetic."

"Prophetic?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's said that if a mare sees a stallion in her dreams before ever meeting him, it's means that stallion is her true love."

Twilight's blush engulfed her face. "I don't believe in such silly superstitions!"

Starlight laughed at Twilight's outburst. "It's just an idea, Twilight. No need to get worked up. In any case, I wouldn't worry too much about it. People we've never met can appear in dreams if we've seen them. Even if we don't remember seeing them. Remember that dreams are a byproduct of the sleeping mind organizing data."

"Yeah. Thanks for the talk, Dr. Glimmer," Twilight said with a smile. "I feel better now."

"Glad I could help," Starlight said warmly. "You should get some sleep. Tomorrow's your first day of school after all."

Twilight chuckled. "Yeah. Good night, Dr. Glimmer."

"Sleep well, Twilight."

"Everypony. We have a new student joining us today," Cheerilee said with a smile. "Ms. Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight nervously smiled as she stood beside the teacher. "Hi. Nice to meet everypony."

"Nice to meet you too!" a pink pony returned, suddenly standing right in front of Twilight, making her jump back in shock. "I'm Pinkie Pie!" She pulled three other ponies close to her. A mare with a white coat and royal purple curls to her mane and tail, a mare with a blond mane in a ponytail with a stetson, and... Twilight blushed as she laid eyes on Facet Orichalcum. "This is Rarity, Applejack, and Facet! Now you have friends at school!"

Twilight nervously laughed at Pinkie's energy, blushing when Facet stepped closer to her and sniffed her mane.

Rarity blushed at the sight. "Facet, really! Learn to respect a mare's personal space!" she snapped in outrage.

Facet stepped back and smiled at Twilight. "The sweet scent of LCL. You were the one that fought that Angel the other night, weren't you?" The entire room fell silent at his question.

Twilight felt the whole room staring at her, waiting for her answer. Gulping, she slowly nodded. "Y-Yeah. That was me." The whole class erupted into chatter and words of gratitude, calling Twilight a hero. Though that noise quickly fell silent when a fist impacted Twilight's face and knocked her into the wall with a yelp of pain.

"Applejack!" Rarity scolded, aghast at what the blond had done. "That is no way to treat the one who saved all our lives!" She helped Twilight to her feet with a look of concern. "I do apologize for her."

Twilight glared at Applejack. "What did I do to you anyway?!"

"Wasn't gonna feel right till Ah did," Applejack answered. "Mah little sister's in the hospital 'cause o you."

"I do hope it was worth the detention you just earned," Cheerilee said with a frown.

"Sorry about Applejack, Twilight!" Pinkie said as she bounced around her family's bakery preparing treats. "I just know she'll come around!"

"Pinkie is right," Rarity said as she painted Twilight's nails, which had taken a great deal of convincing. "Her little sister Apple Bloom means the world to her. They lost their parents in an accident, and their brother died in the Second Impact. She's the only family Applejack has left, so she's very protective."

"Now I feel kind of bad," Twilight said with a crestfallen look, looking up at Facet as he laid his hand on the one Rarity didn't have in her grip.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Twilight," Facet said with that gentle smile. "Apple Bloom's injuries aren't your fault. Don't dwell on the one that got hurt. Focus on the many more that you saved."

Twilight thought for a few seconds and nodded. "You're right. She'll probably come around once her sister's okay." She gave Facet a smile. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Any time, Twilight," Facet answered as he returned Twilight's smile.