The Good, The Bad, and...The Ponies?

Waking up early in the morning is something that I'm sure nobody likes to do.  I'm not talking about waking up to an alarm or being awoken by someone.  I'm talking about waking up in the middle of the night before anyone else.  It feels like I've been asleep longer than I wanted and I have to get up and do something.  It doesn't matter what, just as long as I do something.

I lay on the bed in complete darkness, staring at the ceiling wondering what I should do.  Not able to resist laying still for any longer, I shifted a little to a more comfortable position.  The sound of Applejack grumble caused me to dart my head in her direction afraid that I had just woken her up.  Her eyes were still closed, thankfully, meaning that she was still asleep.  Turning over to face me, most likely to find a comfortable position as well, she reached out, wrapped her hooves around my arm and pulled herself closer, resting her head on my arm.  She let out a sigh and sleepily uttered one word, "Kiyoshi."  I looked at her wide eyed, unable to comprehend what had just happened.  Whatever she's dreaming of must be making her happy.

Looking back up at the ceiling, I noticed the room was slowly getting brighter.  "The sun is coming up already?"  I whisper to myself.  Barely lifting my head to look out the window, I saw that it wasn't the sun that was producing the light.  Something falling out of the sky was causing it.  Focusing on the source more, my eye started to pulsate.  "Whatever it is," I thought to myself, "I must be related to it somehow."  Looking over to Applejack, I gently removed my arm from her grasp and got out of the bed.  Once I had my belongings with me, I quietly made my way to the door and opened it.  I turned around to see that she was still sleeping peacefully.  Happy with this, I closed the door and went to investigate the strange anomaly.

Reaching outside, I scanned the night sky for the meteor.  Sure enough, the meteor was still falling, but only closer now.  I could see that the meteor was much bigger than it originally looked like.  Judging its' trajectory, I started my sprint towards the Everfree Forest.

The entrance of the Everfree Forest loomed in the distance getting closer with each step.  I watched in amazement as the meteor screamed overhead into the middle of the forest, landing with a loud crash.  The sight of frightened birds taking flight made me realize something.  Stopping in my tracks, I face-palm at my own stupidity.  Focusing on the entrance, I could feel my eye pulsate and then everything go numb.  Seeing my vision going aerial, I could only assume that the teleport was working.  "Hmm, I wonder..."  Focusing new energy into flight control was a simple yet complicated task.  Seeing the forest pass beneath meant that I am in total control of where I can "reassemble."

Gazing at the sight beneath me was almost frightening.  There was a smoldering trail of fire and destruction that stretched on for at least a mile stopping where the meteor had come to a rest.  "I really hope that my 'entrance' wasn't that exquisite."  Continuing the flight getting ever closer to the massive crater, I could see a flock of ravens flying by my side.  "Good, at least I don't have to worry about missing an arm or leg."  I thought to myself.

Looking down at the crater, I saw a flash of purple light near its edge.  Swooping down into the remnants of the tree line, the "flock" and I landed on the remaining trees that are still standing.  "Twilight?  Have I ever told you how much ravens scare me?"

Looking around for the voices' owner, I saw Spike and Twilight next to the crater.  "Yes Spike, you have.  If I recall correctly, you said quote "They swarmed around me and stole my ice cream." correct?"  Spike nodded to this.  "Spike, that was just a nightmare.  There is nothing to be afraid of.  Here, I'll prove it."  Twilights' horn began to glow and she disappeared from where she once stood, only to reappear underneath the branch I was perched.  Sticking out a forehoof, she levitated a cracker out of her saddlebag.  Looking up to me, she started to coax me to fly to her.

"Hmm," I thought to myself, "Listen to her, get free food.  Don't listen to her, make her look like a total fool."  Not wanting the latter, I flew down to her forehoof and began to happily eat the cracker as birdlike as possible.

After I had finished eating the cracker, she nuzzled my side and looked over to Spike.  "See?  Nothing to be afraid of."

Looking over to Spike, I winked at him.  "Yeah, you really shouldn't let your nightmares get to ya.  They'll make your life miserable."  Twilight and Spike looked at me in total shock.  They looked like they've seen a ghost.  "Problem?"  I look down at my body to realize that I'm still in bird form.  "Oh!  Right, hold on."  Twilight and Spike followed my every movement as I flew to an open area.  Landing on the ground, I canceled the spell and the other ravens immediately flew into my body one by one.  With each raven, I could feel myself rising to my original height.

Once completed, I gave my body a once over to check if I was complete.  Arms, check.  Legs, check.  Head, check.  Other head...check.  Satisfied with the inspection, I walked over to the stunned Twilight.  "So Twilight, what brings you here?"  No response, expression the same and still focused on where I was before turning back to normal.  I crouched on her left side facing her and began to poke her face.  "Yo Twilight, you there?"  No response.  I waved my hand in front of her face.  "Helloooooo."  The response I got was silence yet again.

Fed up, I stood and looked over to Spike to see him unconscious on the charred ground.  "Definitely not the bravest dragon I've ever seen."  A familiar male voice in my head spoke.

"Oh joy it's you again," I say sarcastically, "What do you want now?"

The voice began to laugh, "You still mad about our last encounter?" It asked.

"Well, you managed to leave me with more questions than answers the last time we met.  So that kinda left me a little peeved."

The voice took on an apologetic tone, "Yeah sorry about that.  I was kinda in a hurry due to the fact I'm behind enemy lines."

"Really now? How do I know you're not lying to me?"  I couldn't trust the voice just yet.

"Hmm, let's take a moment to think about that,"  the voice began,  "If I was lying to you then you'd probably be dead by now."  He got me on that account.  "Also there's the fact that after I saved you, I told you that I'm an ally."

"Alright, ya got me.  But how can you prove that you're an ally?"  I asked half expecting it to not give a good reason.

"I was waiting for you to ask that."  Dammit!  "If you ask Twilight what the most recent major event was, then you'll get an idea of who I am."  Yet again more questions.

"I would like to do that, but she's kinda... gone at the moment."

The voice took a few seconds to gather its thoughts.  "What do you mean, "gone"?"

"Just look for yourself."  I turned back to Twilight and sure enough, she was still frozen from the sudden shock.  "See what I mean?"  I picked up a small pebble and tossed it at her.  The pebble bounced off of her head as she made no attempt to evade or block it.

"Oh right, she does that when she's confused sometimes," the voice said nonchalantly.  "Just say that Princess Celestia is there for her most recent friendship report."

"Princess Cele-say-who-now?"  I was utterly confused to the point where I was drawing blanks.

"Just do it.  It's something of a mental shock remedy for her.  I don't get it myself, but it works,"  The voice went silent for a moment before returning sounding very hurried. "I've gotta go, remember: Ally, recent events, Celestia, Friendship reports.  Got it?  Good, I'll resume contact when I have a chance.  Later."  With that, the voice went silent.

"Dammit, he left again before I could even ask what the enemy's name was," I thought to myself as I approached Twilight.  "I guess all I can do now is get her back to normal."

Looking down at her, something in my mind clicked and caused a new plan to come forth.  I began to lightly scratch the top of her head to see if that'd get any type of reaction.  Seeing her shudder and slowly close her eyes was a good sign.  Ceasing the scratching motion, I placed my hand by my side.

She nudged my hand with the top of her head almost like a cat wanting to be scratched.  "Who said to stop?"  She asked in an euphoric manner.  Shooting her eyes open, she realized what she just said.  Stumbling back, she began to freak out.  "Who... Why... Where... What?"  The confusion on her face was just too funny, causing me to go into a fit of laughter.

"Welcome back Twi," I said while wiping away a tear.  "How was your vacation in the clouds?"

"Oh shut up..."  She said angrily trying to hide the blush that appeared on her cheeks.  "What are you even doing out here?"  She snapped.

I looked at her like it was obvious and said, "Probably the same reason as you.  I'm here to investigate the meteor."

Her ears immediately perked up at the mention of the meteor.  "That's right!  I was here to study the meteor before anypony else did."  Turning around she galloped past the still unconscious Spike to the crater.

"She really is devoted to her studies."  I say to myself.  Walking over to Spike, I hoisted him onto my back giving him something like a piggy-back-ride.  Spike weighed next to nothing surprisingly.  From all of the video games that I've played in the past, I know dragons weigh an exponential amount because of their thick scales and sheer size, but probably due to his lack of stature and scale size, he might not be fully matured yet.  But what do I know, I haven't seen any other dragons.

"Kiyo, I think you should see this."  I turned to see Twilight staring into the crater, unable to look away from it.

Calmly walking towards the crater I ask, "What is it?"  Looking down into the crater, I saw a body.  Only the body wasn't a pony, it was a girl.  Dropping Spike, I slid down into the crater to the and rushed to her.  She was laying on her back, positioned how someone would stand at attention.

Sliding to a stop, I got down on my knees and placed my ear over their mouth.  "Good, she's still breathing."  Sighing a breath of relief, I stood and looked up to Twilight with a calm demeanor and yelled, "Twilight, come down here, I need your help."  Watching her levitate Spike onto her back, she teleported next to me.  Before she said anything, I asked, "Can you teleport all of us to your place?"

She looked at me with a shocked expression and asked, "What? Wouldn't the Hospital be better?"

I looked down and shook my head.  "No, it wouldn't."  I said matter-of-factly.  "Remember?  Humans aren't part of your world.  So the staff would probably freak out just like last time if they saw the two of us."

She closed her eyes in deep thought, only to reopen them and nod in approval.  "You're right.  I have a laboratory in my basement, so she'll be safe there."

"Thanks, I don't want her to go through what I had to."  I said while had images of me being chased through Ponyville.  Kneeling down, I picked the girl up placing my arms behind her shoulders and knees.  "Okay, let's go."

Nodding in agreement, she closed her eyes and her horn glow a violet color.  With a flash of a violet light we were gone.