Both of them were pretty disturbed at what they just heard. The creature still kept that sad look on its face.

“C-can you repeat that? I think I misheard you,” Twilight asked, trying very hard to ignore what she just heard.

The blonde creature tilted its head and blinked in confusion, “Can… eat… you?” it repeated, “Rumia… Rumia, hungy,” its stomach grumbled to emphasize this.

Twilight’s ears folded back, “Umm…” she bit her lip nervously, “no, you can’t eat me.”

This response seemed to make the creature even sadder, “Really?” it asked in almost a whisper, “not even… bite?”

Twilight shook her head firmly.

The creature put one hand forward with the index finger and thumb close together leaving a very small space between them, “not even… tiny nibble?”

A flick of Twilight’s mane jumped out of place, she was getting pretty stressed about this, “No! You can’t eat me, bite me or nibble me, none of that!” she snapped.

That did it now, the creature was tearing up and its lips were quivering sadly, followed by a sad whinny cry.

More of Twilight’s mane and even tail was jumping out of place, “Oh no!” she brought her hooves to her head, “what did I do, I’m sorry! Please don’t cry I’m sorry!” she begged anxiously.

This didn’t deter the creature from keeping its wailing.

“You did it now, Twi. You made it cry,” Spike commented in a mocking tone, this got a not so nice glare from Twilight. He got his claws up defensively, “just saying.”

Twilight then repeatedly tried and failed to calm it down, if anything she's making things worst as the volume of the cries increased tenfold. They both covered their ears trying to muffle the annoying sound, to no avail.

“Twi, please make it stop!” Spike was on the ground wincing painfully at the deafening cries.

Twilight was starting to develop tears of her own at this point, “please I’m begging you, calm down!” she yelled trying to overpower the creature’s cries, it didn’t stop. Twilight’s eyes shrunk in desperation, “please… y-you’re hungry right? Please calm down and we’ll give you something to eat, just stop crying!”

Finally, after hearing a mention of food, the creature stopped crying and went back to sobbing, “really?”

Twilight nodded vigorously, “yes, yes, I’ll get you something to eat, so no more crying please.” How she managed to keep the creature in her magic during the outcry was remarkable, but she knew her head was going to complain to her later.

Signs of a smile started appearing in the creature’s face.

“Oh…” Spike grunted in the floor, “I think I’ve gone a bit deaf after that.”

Twilight massaged her temples, “Spike, stop being a drama queen for a second,” she sighed tiredly, mane and tail completely messed up.

Recovering some semblance of sanity back Twilight focused on the being in her magic, which was still looking at her expectantly with some traces of tears in its eyes.

Twilight thought for a moment about what the creature has said so far, “Rumia was it?” she called getting a slightly bigger smile from the creature, “what do you eat, exactly?”

“Human! Rumia wants human!” the creature threw its arms up cheerfully, “human yummy!”

Twilight was taken aback by the blunt request, but was also puzzled by it, “I’m unsure if we have those here, can you tell me what a human is?”

Rumia pondered, trying real hard to come up with something, “human…” it paused, “human look… like Rumia, but big!” it opened its arms to their full reach to put emphasis on how big humans were compared to it.

“Eh?” Twilight wasn’t too sure what to make of that, “they look like you but just bigger?” Rumia nodded, while Twilight was being bombarded by strange thoughts. There were some unpleasant implications in that statement for sure.

“Why do you like eating humans so much, Rumia?” Twilight was stepping into dangerous territory with this approach.

Rumia shrugged, “Humans yummy!” it said non-chalantly, but suddenly its face twisted in a strange way giving it a disturbing look that was enhanced by the blood covering it, “and funny, they scream funny stuff! Like: I don’t want to die, please don’t eat me!” Rumia giggled amusingly, “But Rumia knows human likes to be eaten!” then Rumia’s face returned to cute indifference.

Twilight and Spike felt a cold shock going up their spines after hearing that. Something was clearly wrong with the creature lazily floating in Twilight’s magic.

The purple unicorn laughed nervously, “yeah… funny, very funny!” she said as convincingly as she could, feeling overwhelmingly unclean as she did so, “but I’m sorry Rumia, there’s no humans in Equestria.”

“Rumia can’t eat horsey either?” it said while pointing at Twilight.

“I’m not a horse, I’m a pony,” Twilight corrected, “and again, you can’t eat me, Rumia.”

“Can Rumia eat other pony?”

“No, you can’t.”

“Not even a little one?”

“No, please stop asking.”

“Can Rumia eat…” but Rumia got interrupted by Twilight stomping a hoof in the wooden floor.

“No, Rumia. You can’t eat ponies!” Twilight snapped again.

“Is that so?” Rumia asked with uncertainty.

“Yes it is so!”

“Oh…” Rumia paused again, then its eyes drifted to the baby dragon behind Twilight. Spike was stiff as a statue under the gaze of the strange being, “Can Rumia eat lizard girl?” Rumia pointed at him.

Spike’s fear converted into an offended scowl, “Hey! I’m not a girl, I’m a boy you know!”

Twilight deadpanned at him, “oh, so that’s what offended you.”

“Oh, Rumia sorry, can eat lizard boy?” Rumia asked again after correcting itself.

Spike’s brain now caught up with the other wrong part of that statement, “also I’m not a lizard, I’m a prideful dragon!”

“Oh… Rumia sorry again,” it paused again thinking for a moment on how to formulate the question, “Can Rumia eat…”

“Enough!” yelled Twilight, with no more patience to spare, “you can’t eat Spike either. You can’t eat anypony!”

Twilight soon realized her mistake, as tears were building up in Rumia’s eyes again, threatening to assault her ears with another deafening wail.

She hurriedly waved her hooves in front of Rumia in a panic, “Oh no no no, please don’t cry I’ll get you something to eat.” She looked at Spike, “Spike, go to the kitchen and fetch some sandwiches, quick!”

Not wanting to relive the torture from minutes ago, Spike rushed to the kitchen as fast as his stubby little legs could let him.

Soon after, he came back with a tray full of different kinds of sandwiches, “here!” he showed them to Rumia, which was now staring at the things with interest.

Rumia reached for one, but saw that her arm couldn’t quite reach the tray as if something was hindering their reach, “Huh?” Rumia then finally took notice of the purple aura.

“Oh right, I’m still holding you in my magic,” Twilight commented, “Spike, get closer so Rumia can pick one.”

Spike did as told and Rumia managed to get a sandwich from the tray, a simple cheese sandwich. Rumia brought it closer and took a cautious sniff at it, not really disliking the smell Rumia took a bite from it, “Hmm~” Rumia seemed to enjoy it, if the smile present on its face was anything to go by.

Seeing this Twilight’s mind was in conflict, because the scene in front of her despite the contrast with the blood, looked like Rumia could be harmless. But she knew she was wrong, the insistence on wanting to eat them was proof that Rumia could be a potencial risk if left unchecked.

‘But perhaps, we can reach a mutual compromise?’ she thought, trying to figure out what to do next. Because she can’t just hold Rumia in her magic forever, at some point she would be too tired to keep the spell going.

“Rumia,” Twilight called. Rumia having finished the sandwich looked at her with an innocent smile, “can you promise me something?”

Rumia tilted its head confusingly, “promise? What is promise?”

“Is when you say you will do something, or assure somepony that something will happen in a certain way,” Twilight explained calmly, “are you with me so far?”

Rumia blinked a couple of times while processing what Twilight just said, then nodded.

Twilight let out a deep breath to be as composed as possible then fixed her sight on Rumia, “Rumia… if I let you out of my magic, can you promise me that you will not hurt us?”

Surprising Twilight, Rumia smiled sweetly, “pony and dragon give Rumia yum yums, Rumia won’t hurt friends.”

Twilight remained silent, her lips starting to curve into a smile as her tensed muscles began to relax.

Spike was a bit skeptic though, “are you sure about this, Twi?”

The magic around Rumia was already starting to disperse, “yes, Spike. I’am.”

But they noticed something strange, “Twi… did you really end the spell?” Spike asked, getting a nod from a gaping Twilight, “why is Rumia still floating, then?”

Being free, Rumia took another sandwich from Spike’s tray and then started looking around the library with curiosity while still floating.

“She flying!” Twilight pointed the obvious, “but how? She has no wings…” then she saw Rumia getting dangerously close to the bookshelves with those bloody stained hands, “Rumia no!”

“Huh?” Rumia turned and looked at her quizzically.

“Oh, I mean…” noticing her own mistake Twilight cleared her throat and used a more relaxed tone, “would you like to take a bath, Rumia? Having so much blood over you looks like it’s uncomfortable.” She half admitted half guessed as she never found herself in a similar situation.

Rumia looked in a mirror that was close by and saw the bloody mess, she looked back at Twilight, “Rumia too dirty for pony house?”

Twilight flashed a sheepish smile, “just a little bit. So, would you mind?”

“Ok!” Rumia responded energically, “Pony bath with Rumia?” Rumia then asked innocently.

“Oh,” Twilight paused momentarily and took a look at herself, then remembered what happened in the forest. The memory making her a bit green in the face, “yeah, I think I need a bath too, are you sure you want to share it?”

“Yes! With friends is more fun!”

“Alright then, follow me,” Twilight motioned for Rumia to follow her, ‘I guess I can also use this chance to get to know Rumia better.’

Arriving to the modestly sized bathroom, another question arose for Rumia, “pony, clothes are dirty too. What does Rumia do with them?”

Twilight tapped her chin thoughtfully, “we could wash them, and then I’ll use a spell to dry them up faster. At least until we can confirm if one of my friends can help you out with the clothing.” then another thought came to her, “oh, also my name is not pony, it’s Twilight.”

“Twalat?” Rumia attempted to pronounce the name.

Twilight giggled at the slight butchering of her name and shook her head a couple of times with a smile, “Twilight, Twi-light.”

“Twailit?”

“Try again, I know you can do it,” Twilight encouraged.

Rumia thought hard about it, “Twatlad?”

Twilight’s left eye twitched involuntarily, “what… how even?” she facehoofed and groaned, “nevermind.”

After that little set back and Rumia finally managing to pronounce Twilight’s name correctly. They proceeded to take a bath during which Twilight noticed a few things, like Rumia’s body being more similar to mammals than any other species and Rumia’s gender, asking the name of her species or where she came from wasn’t very helpful as Rumia wasn’t able to give a clear answer and just replied with something like ‘Rumia is Rumia’ and ‘Rumia came from forest.’ By helping Rumia clean herself Twilight was surprised by how nice and soft Rumia’s hair was to the touch, also how smooth her skin was, the girl was enjoying the attention very much.

Twilight was also enjoying herself, it was a very relaxing activity to do after such a stressful morning. She guessed this is what parents felt when helping their foals take a bath.

A couple of minutes later Twilight dried herself and left Rumia to her own devices as she was having fun in the bathtub with a rubber duck, while she focused on cleaning Rumia’s clothes.

‘Some of these stains seem to be very old, I wonder for how long Rumia has been wandering around the forest and who gave her these clothes? Did somepony gave them to her or were they made by her species in some unknown city, somewhere in Equestria? Does she have a family in said hypothetical city? She looks quite young after all. If she does… what happened to them?’ Twilight mind was free to wonder as she tried to get Rumia’s clothes as clean as she could manage.

While the girls went to clean themselves, Spike with a broom in claw used the time to clean the library.

After a while he saw the other two coming back, Rumia in particular looked rather cute without all the dirt and dried blood all over her, that said the dress still had some stains and looked even more worn out than before, “How was the bath?” he asked while resting the broom on his shoulder.

“It was surprisingly relaxing all things considered, Rumia behaved and seemed to enjoy it a lot. I tried to clean her clothes but I misjudged the potency of the spell I used to dry them and as a result the fabric frayed out some more, some of the torn parts got bigger due to this,” Twilight explained, “so we will need Rarity’s help soon, before it all falls apart.”

Out of nowhere Rumia hugged Spike making him tense up and yelp in surprise.

“Dragon, look look!” she said enthusiastically, “Rumia clean now,” she paused and looked at his blushing face, “why was dragon not in bath too? More friends, more fun!”

“Oh, that sounded like something Pinkie would say,” Spike said despite his uncomfortable situation, “but also I can’t do that Rumia, I can't just barge in for a bath with girls.”

“You figured out Rumia was a female as well?” Twilight asked with slight surprise.

Spike shrugged, “it wasn’t that hard, her voice and the fact that she uses a dress were dead giveaways. I don’t think guys from her species would use dresses either, unless it’s some kind of rule.”

“That’s…” Twilight pondered, “Actually a good point.”

“Dragon, dragon,” Rumia called, a quiet grumble came from her, “more food?”

Spike snorted amusingly, “sure thing-” but then he was suddenly lifted from the floor, “woah, hey!”

Rumia carried him to the kitchen, Twilight followed close behind.

Being freed from the girl’s grasp, Spike thought with a claw on his chin, “Would you like pancakes with sirup, Rumia?”

“Pancakes yums! Dragon, Rumia wants, Rumia wants!” Rumia floated around Spike with a twinkle in her eyes and a big toothy smile spread across her face.

Spike held his claws up while giggling, “Ok, ok. Just give me a couple of minutes and I’ll have them done, oh the name’s Spike by the way.”

“Spike!” Rumia confidently said Spike’s name on her first try.

It was enough to say that Twilight wasn’t a fan of this if the pout she was giving was any clue. But checking the clock on the wall gave her an idea, “Spike, can you watch Rumia for a little while? I’m going to go get the girls, they should all be up by now I figure.”

“Huh?” Spike perked up from the bowl where he was preparing the pancake batter, then his brain caught up with what Twilight said, “eh… sure thing, Twi. I can watch Rumia, should be simple enough now that we know how to handle her.”

Twilight nodded knowingly, then focused on Rumia, “Rumia, I have to go out for a moment to bring my friends.”

“Friends? More friends for Rumia?”

Twilight giggled into her hoof, “I don’t see why not. I’m sure they will all warm up to you, so can you please behave until I come back?”

“Twilight friend. Rumia will be good!” the girl exclaimed happily.

With a gentle smile adorning her face, Twilight left soon after feeling pretty good about their situation, ‘the day’s looking up finally, everything will be fine.’

Author's Note

Will it be, Twilight? Will it be?