Twelve

Pain.

Lots and lots of pain.

Darkness.

Lots and lots of darkness.

Wait. The pain was receding. And so was the darkness. Her senses were slowly returning one by one, the first one being smell. Giving a short sniff, her brain recognized a scent. A delicious scent. She slowly opened her big, golden eyes. The room was big and made of wood. Since when was wood a construction material? Her golden eyes explored the room. Almost everything was made of wood or had it in some way. A drawer, a vanity, a table, the stairs. Even the bed she laid on! That explained the creaking tough. Who could possibly sleep at all with the noise it made? The light of the sun entered through the windows, signaling the end of midday and making her squint a little.

What was this? Prehistory?

The tasty smell once again reached her nostrils. Drawn by it, she jumped out of bed. Ignoring the slight pain that came with brusque raise, she walked down the stairs. Predictably, the entire first floor was made of wood and earthly construction materials. But that wasn't what caught her attention. Her mind was focused on the absurd amount of animals that were eyeing her as she walked down. A couple of squirrels, a few birds that hovered around, three turtles, a few ferrets and even an ursa! A single rabbit seemed to have some sort of authority, as he stood in head of the ursa with no fear whatsoever. How did they even manage to fit?

"Now now my dears, don't stare at the guest. It's not polite."

The soft voice was barely heard, but all the animals immediately left her alone. Except for the rabbit. It was still giving her an ugly look. She responded with the same anger in her eyes.

"Please have a seat. I prepared some lunch. I bet you must be starving after your, eh, trip." the owner of the voice. To her surprise, it was a pegasus. A yellow pegasus. How could a pegasus be here? And living like this? Warily, she walked to the table and sat on a stool made of, of course, wood. In front of her was a plate with a green leaves and a couple of flowers. She raised an eyebrow as the pegasi sat opposite to her, immediately starting her own lunch. She gave a glance at her plate.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! My name is Fluttershy, what is yours?" the other pegasi asked. Fluttershy. What kind of name was that? She doubted a few seconds before answering.

"Leo." she answered, short and strongly. Fluttershy recoiled a little from the tone, but recovered immediately. Leo dropped her guard a little. This Fluttershy pegasi didn't seem very dangerous. And even then, she probably was no match for her. It was good to know she still had her skills with her.

"Uhm...how is your salad? I hope you like it. I'm afraid I didn't knew what you liked so I kept it simple." she said, her tone dropping at the end. Leo looked at her plate, filled with said salad. With a hoof, she carefully poked a leaf. Nothing happened. Closer inspection revealed it was just that. A plain green salad.

"Is...is there something wrong with it?" Fluttershy asked as Leo poked it a bit more.

"I have a complain..." Leo said. Fluttershy gulped, expecting the worst. Leo stared at her, her eyes digging into her. Fluttershy felt herself getting smaller under the predatory sight.

"Where is the meat?"

Meanwhile, not far from there, two ponies worked in digging the ship out of the hole it made. Or at least, one of them did. The other pony was flying around, spewing excited nonsense.

"Can you believe it?! An alien! A real alien! Just like in the Daring Do book! Do you think she's gonna conquer the planet or reveal ancient knowledge? Or maybe both! Oh this is so awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Applejack shoveled, pushing dirt out of the way.

"RD, if Ah' hear the words Daring Do one more time, Ah' swear Ah'm gonna shove this thing so far up your rear, you're gonna spit dirt." Applejack threatened. Progress on digging the damn thing out had been between little and non existing, mostly because she was doing all the work, while Rainbow Dash did nothing. Good things they were friends right? Because friends helped each other, right? Dash, being the rebel without a cause she was, responded to the threat as anypony would.

"Daring Do."

Next thing she knew, a shovel passed right above her, shaving a few strands of her mane. She didn't even manage to reply before Applejack had tumbled her to the ground, ready to fulfill hear threat. Just as she was about to bring on the pain, a loud crash was heard. Peering over the edge of the hole, both ponies had to duck a little as critters of all kind ran and flew in horror. Birds, dogs, chickens and the occasional deer, all of them leaving as fast as they could.

"Wow...look at all those animals..." Dash said.

"Yeah. Wonder where they came from?" Applejack added.

Didn't take long before the logic answer came up.

"Fluttershy!" both of the shouted before blasting off.

Meanwhile, back at the shed, Discord would be proud at the mayhem that reigned. Tables were smashed and rugs where torn as Leo and the bear tumbled through the room, Fluttershy vainly trying to calm them down. Leo drove a well placed punch on his stomach, followed by a buck on his leg, bringing him down. Flutershy immediately tended to him

"You are big...fought bigger." Leo said with a smirk.

"What in tarnation is going on here?!" Applejack asked after bucking the door open. Leo took a fighting stance, as if the earlier fight had been but a warm up.

"If you wish to do battle with me as well, I warn you: you wont fare better than the ursa." She threatened. Rainbow Dash was about to step up to the challenge, but Applejack stopped her.

"She took down Fluttershy's bear RD. Let's stop this for now."

"Why did you attack Mr.Bear!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Me?! I merely asked a question before that mewling quim there sent her beasts upon me!"

"Hey! Nopony calls Fluttershy a quim!" Rainbow shouted before turning to Applejack. "What's a quim?"

Applejack ignored her, focused on the issue at hand. She doubted her next course of action. Any wrong word could star the whole thing all over again.

"Look. Nopony here wants to, eh, do battle with you..so just..stand down and come with us." she said, trying her best to be diplomatic.

"I will do no such thing until some explanations are done." Leo ordered. Applejack groaned in frustration. Not only was this mare an alien, she was a jerk too! This would be tougher than she thought.

"It was just a misunderstanding! She didn't really mean it!" Fluttershy said, wanting to end the conflict. Tense silence invaded the room. After a couple of minutes, Leo dropped her guard, though she was still visibly tense. These alien creatures would not catch her by surprise.

"What do you propose?" Leo asked.

"Come with us to the library. We have a friend there who's good at dealing with...ponies like you..." Applejack said. Leo hesitated for a few moments.

"I will comply for now, but know this: I will not hesitate to use force should the need arise." Leo warned. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Yeah yeah whatever, can we go now?" Dash said, flying out the door, followed by Applejack. Leo reached the door before giving one last look to Fluttershy, who was to busy helping the poor bear. Without a word, she left after the other two. It wasn't long before they arrived in Ponyville. A few sights were drawn as Applejack and Rainbow Dash strolled in with this new pony in tow.

"Such a rustic village. Nebula is nothing like this." Leo mentioned, looking around.

"Is that your home planet?" Dash asked brashly, receiving a glare from Applejack.

"It is the city where I was born." Leo answered sternly.

The library was soon in sight. Tall as always, it was oddly quiet, given the usual business that went about inside. Knocking on the door, Applejack waited.

"Why would a library be inside a tree?" Leo asked.

"That is something that we ask ourselves too..." Dash answered. Soon enough, the door creaked open, a very dirty Spike. Dust covered him from head to tail.

"A dragon? I have not seen of your kin in a long time." Leo commented.

"Spike? What happened to you?" Applejack asked.

"Twilight fell asleep after an pulling an all-night session. You wouldn't believe the mess she made that I, being the assistant, had to clean up..." he grumbled, letting them inside. Just as he said, Twilight laid on a table, a small pool of saliva around her mouth. Books and scrolls were scattered around her, a few of them slightly wet. Spike poked her nose, making her wrinkle it for a second waking up violently, falling on her back with a loud smack.

"You ok Twilight?" Spike asked. Twilight grumbled something before getting up.  She cracked her neck and noticed Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and the alien.

"The alien!" She nearly shouted.

"Alien?" Leo repeated.

"How long as she been awake?" she asked.

"Alien?"

"We don't know! We found her having a grudge match with Mr.Bear!" Applejack answered.

"Alien?!" Leo nearly shouted.

"She nearly tore down the house!" Rainbow Dash said.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CALLING ME AN ALIEN!?" Leo roared, effectively shutting everypony up. Spike faceclawed. He could already feel the headache coming.

This was not going to be a good day.