Lightning Strikes the Hearth

"Hey! How was your night?" Sweetie Bell yelled as 4o9 and Apple Bloom came over the hill.

"It's fine and a bit weird" Apple Bloom said as they got closer. 4o9 was following a butterfly as it fluttered from flower to flower.

"What happened?" Sweetie Bell asked.

"He started crying when I gave him some of the pie. He said he had never had anything sweet before in his life, and where Scoots?" Apple Bloom whispered.

"She hasn't got here yet, and well. I think Spirit mentioned that places in there world don't have very sweet things."

"Yeah bu' aren' those places for away?" Apple Bloom retorted, Sweetie Bell was about to agree before they heard a familiar sound of wheels running over dirt. They both turned to see Scootaloo speeding down the road toward them with the wagon attached to the scooter. She was going really fast, and something told Appple Bloom that it would be a good idea for them to be in the same route as the speeding scooter.

"We should move" Apple Bloom said. She was getting closer and they decided to just move to one side of the road. 4o9 didn't hear this and was still following the butterfly who had stopped on a flower right on the edge of the road leaving 4o9 in the middle of it.

"Get out of the way!" Scootaloo yelled trying to slow down. 4o9 looked up and saw the getaway scooter which was now a few feet away and getting too close for comfort. At the last second there was a flash of light like the one the fillies had seen before and then 4o9 was behind the scooter.

There it was again. What was that? Scootaloo thought.

"Hey, are going to take a tour now?" 4o9 asked the group as if the flash of light didn't happen.

"Did someone else see that?" Sweetie Bell asked, "Or am I going crazy?"

"No I saw it so I must be crazy too" Apple Bloom said, 4o9 began to laugh out life.

"Then I am crazy too because I saw it too."

"Then what is that light?" Sweetie Bell yelled out loud in exasperation.

"I don't know. Are we gonna get going eventually?" 4o9 asked patiently trying to get them away from the topic. The fillies gave each other a look that said 'We will talk about this later'.

"Well then lets get going!" Scootaloo yelled, "Get on and we'll get going!" Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom got on the little wagon.

"Where are we going first?" Sweetie Bell asked.

"We're going to the Sugar Cube Corner; Pinky Pie said that she would give us some free sweets for the new pony. 4o9 get in!"

"It's fine. I'll run" he said in a calm tone, and began stretching.

"You serious?" Scootaloo asked turning to see him, "You know that I can go pretty fast on this thing"

"Don't worry I can keep up" 4o9 said with a smile, "Now let's go". Scootaloo shrugged thinking that if he was too far back she could slow down. She began to flap her wings as what she did for her normal take off procedure. Then she literally exploded off and she was racing down the street, she heard Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell grip the wagon as they always did when she went really fast. She figured this was going too fast and decided to slow down just a bit for the sake that 4o9 wouldn't be able to keep up them. She turned to see how far back he was. She almost jumped off of her scooter when she saw that 4o9 was right beside her. How the hell is he doing this? He is going at the same speed on foot as I am on a scooter, which shouldn't be possible. 4o9 smiled as he ran beside her, this gave her such a weird feeling within her she almost stopped fully.

"Hey, Come on, don't slow down now." He said with a smile. Scootaloo decided that he wasn't kidding so I decided to speed up. They basically raced all the way towards the pastry shop and it wasn't sure who really won the small race.

"That was fun!" 4o9 said.

"Yup" Scootaloo said in between breaths. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell got off the wagon shaking as if they had just run through all of their nightmares in one small ride.

"Never again" Apple Bloom said in a scared tone.

"Never" repeated Sweetie Bell in the same tone. 4o9 turned to Scootaloo and said "What's there problem?" Scootaloo laughed and just then they heard a yell of glee from one of the windows. They all looked up to see a pink pony with a darker pink hair. 4o9 thought that she looked funny and that she wouldn't be right in the head.

"Hey guys where the new guy?" said the pony. 4o9 decided to wave, "Hello there! What's your name? Oh wait! Let me guess; Neon Bigs, no no no wait, Electric Bugalo, no wait! Acid Frights!"

"4o9" he said walking into the building. The fillies followed and Pinky appeared bouncing down the stairs.

"That's a number silly, what's your name?" the pink pony said, "My name is Pinky Pie, now tell me yours"

"4o9" he said again.

"That's a number" Pinky said.

"4o9" he repeated.

"That's a number" Pinky said again getting exasperated.

"4o9" he repeated with a wry smile.

"Argh". Pinky broke out. "Tell me your name?!". After a while, 4o9 sat down and looked up again and said "4o9" Pinky jumped up and managed to bounce on the ceiling back down and repeated over and over again.

"Pinky stop! He doesn't have a name. He is called 4o9" Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah he wasn't given a name when he was born" Sweetie Bell said.

"WHAT?" Pinky said, "That's terrible, how could your parents do that?" a dark shadow covered 4o9's face. Pinky saw it but her optimistic nature she couldn't tell what it meant. Scootaloo saw it and turned to Pinky and said "Well he doesn't have any of those either."

Pinky just stopped. Stopped entirely. "I am so sorry. I didn't know"

"Don't worry", he said, "Can't miss what you never had right?" putting in a fake smile for the fillies and there compatriot. Pinky Pie's hair flat lined and she became her droopy sad Pinky. Scootaloo did like it so decided to distract her, "Hey, Pinky , how about you get us some treats? I think this could bring up the mood right?"

"Yeah!" she said, perking up, "I just made a batch of tiny pies so why don't we have some of those?"

"Yeah" said the fillies sitting down next to the colt. Scootaloo made sure to sit next to 4o9, she didn't know why she did this but she made sure of it. Pinky Pie came back with a tray full of small pies each one with a little different picture on it made from icing. One with a feather made from purple and blue icing, another with and apple made from red and pink icing, another with a diamond made with blue and white icing. The last was basically cloud with lighting coming from it and different angle made from black and yellow icing, 4o9 thought that this was strangely coincidental.

"Well dig in!" Pinky yelled at them. They each grabbed one and began to eat it. 4o9 was taken aback by the way it tasted. It was overly sweet to a point where it felt sour, he immediately spit it out and began to gag.

"What's wrong? Too much sugar? Too much egg? Are you ok?" Pinky Pie.

"Too-t-t-to-to-too s-s-s-sw-sw-s-sweet, n-n-n-no-not us-us-used to it" 4o9 managed to spew out in between gags.

"Well of course its sweet. It is a pie" Pinky Pie said as solid fact.

"No, something too sweet is bad. 4o9 has never had anything sweet until this morning and my pies are never that sweet." Apple Bloom said.

"He has never had anything sweet before?" Scootaloo asked amazed.

"w-w-w-w-wa-wa-wa-water" 4o9 choked out.

"I think he need some water" Sweetie Bell said. Pinky rushed and got him a glass of water which he chugged down in two gulps. He opened his mouth to let out a very large gasp. He then spat behind him and began wiping his tongue with his hooves. Everyone laughed at that seeing as he was ok just a bit shell shocked. The fillies then decided that it is time to check some other places to show 4o9 the town.

"Come on, let's head to the see Zecora. I think it would be a good idea to show 4o9 that he isn't the only one from far away." Apple Bloom said.

"That would be a god idea but do you remember the way there?" asked Sweetie Bell

"Of course I do" she replied, yet she didn't really remember it.

"Well lets go!" Scootaloo said.

"Just as long as you stay under the speed of light" Sweetie Bell told her and 4o9 with a stern look. The other fillies got on the wagon and they began to set for the Everfree Forest. The went inside and Apple Bloom began to led them in what she thought was the right direction. This went on for a long time and the sun was getting closer to the horizon.

"Apple Bloom! You said you knew where we were going?" Sweetie Bell said as another branched hit her.

"I did! I think we took a wrong turn though…" Apple Bloom said.

"Great! Were lost aren't we?" Scootaloo said stopping in the middle of large expanse of trees that didn't look right.

"Well, if you can't find her place then why don't we just head back?" said Sweetie Bell.

"Fine" Apple Bloom said. Then there was a rustle behind the trees.

"What was that?" said Scootaloo.

"Something living" said 4o9, "And its big, with a lot of friends" then an out of nowhere a whole bunch of Timberwolves appeared and began to surround them.

"They look so cool!" said a mystified 4o9 who got close to them. Scootaloo dragged him back as a Timberwolf went for the kill. 4o9 smiled and yelled "Woah, that was fun let's do that again!" and he stepped forward again. Another wolf tried to bit him but he manages to jump back to dodge the strike, laughing will doing so.

"Stop that 4o9!" scream at him, "We have to get out of here!"

"They will kill us!" Screamed Apple Bloom starting to cry.

"I don't wanna die!" Sweetie Bell said. 4o9 looked at them and asked "So you want these guys to go away?"

"Yes!" They cried.

"Well do you mind closing your eyes?"

"What?" asked Scootaloo incredulously.

"Just close your eyes for me till I say so, okay?" 4o9 smiled which was strangely comforting to Scootaloo and said "Ok girls let do it"

"What/ Are you seroius?" said Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell.

"We just got to trust him. Trust him" Scootaloo replied. They closed their eyes and so did Scootaloo.

"Ok their closed." Scootaloo lied as she only partly closed. 4o9 smiled and his eyes began to glow. The wolves' growling had become a little more subdued. 4o9 began glow as well and there was a feeling of energy or static in the air. The 4o9 raised his hoof and there was a sort of ball of electricity in his hand which scared all of the Timberwolves as the stepped back. Then he threw it into the air, where it exploded and the sparks flew around the cowering group. The Timberwolves cowered back further this time and they had ceased their growling. Then 4o9 turned around to face the girls. Scootaloo hastily closed her eyes and turned away.

"OK who wants to go home?" 4o9 asked.

"How is that going to work'?"asked Apple Bloom, "and can we open are eyes?"

"Just tell me if you want to go home. And no!" 4o9 said with a bit more urgency.

"Yes! Yes please!" they fillies screamed, 4o9 smiled and closed his eyes began to glow even more till he was a light source in himself. Scootaloo cracked open her eyes again and saw his as pure light that was hard to stare at. 4o9 then opened his eyes and multi colored lightning began striking down around them. He jumped into the air and was stuck by one of the black lightning bolts and disappeared with all of the scenery around them. Then Scootaloo realized that they were falling she looked down and saw they were going to fall onto a very familiar looking tree. Then they smashed right into it and feel through what Scootaloo realized was a roof. After a bit of midair maneuvers they landed heavily on the floor.

"Ouch" said Apple Bloom who was on the bottom of the pile.

"You said it" said Sweetie Bell rolling off of her.

"How did we get here?" Scootaloo asked not believe her eyes.

"Sweetie Bell did you do it?" asked Apple Bloom trying to get the wagon off her.

"No. I can barely make three book levitate. How could I do a teleport us?" Sweetie Bell said managing to get up.

"Well then how did we get here?" Scootaloo asked anyone in general.

"That is a question worth asking indeed" said a familiar voice. The fillies turned their heads and saw Twilight standing there with a plate of cracker and cheeses.

"Twilight" Sweetie Bell said not believe that she was actually there.

"Yes, and why are you girls breaking through my roof?" Twilight asked. Then there was another lighting crack and 4o9 fell through the hole in the roof, landing right in front of Twilight, almost knocking over the plate of food she had.

"4o9!" Scootaloo yelled in surprise, "What took you so long?"

"Magic doesn't work the same with me"

"So it was Sweetit Bell" Apple Bloom said helping her up.

"No it wasn't" she said.

"Hey Twilight what's taking so long with those snacks? The party snacks shouldn't take too long." Said Rainbow Dash she said coming into the kitchen. She saw the fillies and said "I thought you guys were giving the new guy a tour?" then she saw 4o9 and said "Hey new guy, the name is Rainbow Dash, The fastest pony to ever live. Don't you forget it."

"You can't be that fast" 4o9 said in a mater a fact tone.

"WHAT!?'" yelled Rainbow and Scootaloo together.

"Hey Twilight where are those snacks?" said Shining Armor who had just come into the room, "And when did you get a chimney?"

"Mister Armor" 4o9 said in a quivering voice.

"No way," Shining Armor said "You made it out". He made a smile that was very shaky. 4o9 ran up to him and tackle hugged him into the next room.

"Um, dear." Cadnace said, "You have some sort of explaining to do" Armor started laughing and was joined in by 4o9.