Stone Vault

The assembled Equestrians stood in silence for a moment, until the tell-tale sound of gentle snoring could be heard. This tense silence didn't last for long.

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie whisper shouted, “What do we doooo!?”

“I'm not…” Twilight began in her normal lecturing voice, only to be stopped when Vault let out an annoyed grunt. “I'm not sure Pinkie,” she continued at a more subdued volume, “Applejack?”

The orange cowpony had shaken off her initial shock, and was looking like she was ready for round two with the beast. Her muzzle was scrunched up in anger, and she was breathing so hard she was practically snorting.

“Now listen here you varmint!” she yelled, only to have her forthcoming triad be stopped in its tracks by a very frightened yellow pegasus. Said pegasus was silently making placating gestures towards Applejack, begging her to be more quiet.

However, the damage had already been done, and Stone once again stirred in his sleep. Without fully waking up, he reached for the nearest source of warmth. With an adorable yelp of sheer terror, Fluttershy was grabbed by the giant before she could scramble out of reach. With uncommon strength, Vault pulled the downy soft sky horse into an all consuming hug. His snoring resumed shortly thereafter.

“He's cuddling me!” Fluttershy screamed inside her mind. “What stallion would want me now?” she bemoaned her loveless fate. The terrified animal caretaker turned her head towards her friends and squeaked out a pathetic “Help me!”

“Now look what you did!” Rainbow Dash yelled at Applejack in the loudest whisper she could muster. “Hang on Fluttershy!”

Once again, all attention was on Twilight. The purple princess now in charge of saving their yellow friend.

“Ok, this situation is spiraling out of control.” Twilight moaned to herself, hooves rubbing her temples. “Can't use magic, as all we know is that Stone absorbs it.” she continued, “Can't use force, as he technically hasn't done anything wrong.”

“Ah disagree,” Applejack cut in, “Breakin’ and enterin’ is still a crime, last time ah checked.” she stated matter -o-factly.

“Ok fair,” Twilight admitted, “But that doesn't mean that we should resort to violence.” Applejack hummed in agreement. “Besides,” Twilight began, “I saw how easily he dealt with two trained guardsponies, he clearly isn't a pushover.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash giggled, “No offense Twi, but I think Opal could give your guards a run for their bits.”

Pinkie giggle-snorted at this. While Rarity tried, and ultimately failed, to hide her own laughter behind a hoof. Even Spike had to stifle a laugh.

Twilight groaned in frustration, this wasn't getting them anywhere. Besides, she kind of had to admit they were sorta right.

How she wished that wasn't the case.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy’s panic had largely died down. She realized she wasn't in any immediate danger, she just hoped that he wasn't hungry when he woke up.

“Oh my…” she whispered to herself, “This seems to be taking quite a while…”

Resigning herself to her current predicament, she realized it wasn't so bad. She was comfortable enough, Stone was surprisingly gentle and pleasantly warm.

It was rather late, way past her normal bedtime. And the gentle inhale-exhale rhythm of her unwanted snuggle partner was oddly soothing. Exhaustion and body heat finally did her in, and slowly but surely, Fluttershy drifted off to sleep.

The assembled friends continued to “strategize” over how best to extricate Fluttershy from the giant's grasp. Which mostly entailed Twilight coming up with an idea and somepony else shooting it down. That was until Rainbow turned her head to check on her fellow pegasus one more time.

“Umm… guys?” Dash gathered everyone's attention, pointing a hoof over toward the sleeping pair.

“Aww…” Rarity couldn't help but find situation adorable. “Twilight… Are you positive that this “Stone” creature isn't dangerous?” she asked.

“I'm not sure of anything at this point,” Twilight admitted, “But I also think he hasn't been intentionally hurting anypony.”

“Except Private Stormy,” Spike oh so helpfully provided, “Stone did kick him through a door.”

Twilight shot Spike a mildly annoyed look, “Well, we should keep an eye on him, just to be safe.”

“Ya’ll don't mean…” Applejack began.

“A slumber party!” Pinkie yelled, only to be shushed by everypony else. “Yay~!” She cheered as quietly as possible.

AJ sighed, “Ah’ll go get some blankets.” she said while trotting toward the door.

“No need!” Pinkie cut in, and proceeded to pull out color coordinated sleeping bags for everyone.

From her mane.

Those assembled briefly considered questioning why Pinkie had six custom sleeping bags, probably more. Or how she was carrying all of them in her mane. However, just as swiftly as the thought was made, it was dismissed. Because to ask such questions was to invite madness, better to leave it as “Pinkie just being Pinkie.”

Five ponies and a dragon set up their sleeping bags in relative silence, wishing each other good night. Twilight, used pulling all-nighters, would stay up to keep an eye on Stone. She promised to wake up one of the others if she started to doze off.

As the others drifted off, one after the other, Twilight set herself up to record all she could about the alien creature sleeping before her. This was so exciting!

Into the wee hours of the morning, the only sounds coming from the barn were gentle snores, and the frantic scratching of a quill pen.