Disclaimer: I do not own MLP-FiM. I do own my OC, Akama.

Chapter 4-Surprises: Good & Bad

Twilight Sparkle slowly woke from a pleasant dream as Celestia's morning sun started to shine through her bedroom window. She let herself a small smile as she enjoyed the peaceful moment. The early morning was one of her favorite times of the day. The quiet that occurs as the night animals head to bed as the day ones awake, always gave the area a serine feel of comfort. She gave a small sigh, as she knew that nopony else was around to share the experience with her. This made her feel a little lonely, but she did not dwell on it as a day full of studying was ahead. She rose out of her bed and made it before descending the stairs that connected to the rest of the library.

"…That's not right…" came a voice the main area.

Twilight blinked. The voice was too deep to belong to Spike and everypony in Ponyville knew that the library did not open until later. So, who was there?

She slowly walked down the steps trying not to be seen or heard. She was soon greeted by a strange sight: Half the library was stacked in towers that nearly reached the ceiling while in the middle sat a red pony with his back to her.

"About time you woke up," he stated without turning to Twilight. "I think I made a bigger mess than I intended."

Twilight's mind suddenly registered the events of the previous afternoon:

Flashback—

Twilight levitated a try with two cups of tea over to where Akama was sitting and reading a book on the local geography. He looked up as he smelled the warm liquid and smiled.

"That aroma is sure pleasing," Akama stated. "What blend is that?"

Twilight shrugged. "Just simple tea, but I do add some honey and lemon. Is that okay?"

Akama grinned. "Actually, that's how I take my tea. It seems we have a bit in common."

Twilight smiled as she sat down near her new roommate. According to the doctors, and Celestia, Akama would need a week of recovery and light therapy before he could function on his own. She had to admit though he already seemed happier and more energetic since getting out of the hospital. As she levitated her cup of tea, she noticed that Akama held the cup carefully with his hooves as he took a few sips.

He quickly felt Twilight's curious look boring holes and turned with a sheepish smile. "I guess this is strange, an alicorn that's not using magic. Well, this one's on the house: I'll be honest with you, I can't fly or use magic." He took another sip of tea before turning back to the book in front of him.

Twilight blinked surprised. "How—I mean, why—that is, what do you mean?" she mattered to stutter out as Akama laughed quietly. She blushed. "Are you playing a prank?" she asked in slight anger.

Akama looked over with a sad expression. "I wish… The real answer is a bit more complicated. I'll explain in more detail when I'm getting questioned by you and your friends."

Twilight's face softened. "That's something I don't get. Why are you waiting to give the answers to our questions?"

Akama sighed. "The short answer to that is, I don't want to repeat myself several times. Also, many of my responses, will only lead to more questions. Better to get them all out of the way at once. Something tells me I'm going to be in this town awhile." He smiled as he looked at ceiling. "Maybe, I'll find a place to stay…"

Twilight did not understand what he was referring to, but decided not to press the issue. As she continued to drink her tea, she heard the front door open and close. She smiled, as only one dragon would walk in without knocking. "Welcome back, Spike," she called. "Did you finish your errand for Rarity?"

"Hey Twilight," replied the small dragon. "Yea, she just needed someone to pick up a package for her. It seems like she's backed up with orders."

Twilight giggled. "Well the Gala isn't that far off. Maybe it has something to do with it?"

Spike shrugged and took notice of the new guest reading quietly next to Twilight. It took him a few moments to recognize the guest as the red alicorn that fought the Oni monster over a week ago. Spike turned to Twilight. "Umm… what's he doing here? Shouldn't he still be in the hospital?"

"That's right, you weren't there. Celestia is having him stay with us while he recovers," Twilight explained. "Apparently, hospitals and him don't mix." She chuckled as she turned to Akama. "Say hi to my assistant and friend, Spike."

Akama glanced over with a slight bored look, until his eyes landed on Spike. His whole body seemed to go ridged and his face contorted to a look of fury. "Dragon!" he yelled in hatred as he tried to get his worn body to move.

Spike jumped from the yell, then hid behind Twilight as Akama struggled to get to his hooves. "What'd I do?" Spike asked in a scared voice.

Twilight stood in front of Akama with an angry expression of her own. "Hold on! What is your problem? Spike hasn't done anything to you."

Akama continued to try and stand but fell hard on his left shoulder. "Dragons… must… pay…" he grunted out through clenched teeth as he tried to block the pain of the new injury. "All… of them…"

Twilight had heard enough and levitated the enraged pony to the other side of the room while shooing Spike with her hoof. The young dragon did not need a second chance as he bolted. Twilight turned her attention back to Akama. "Now start talking. If I have to bring in the princess, I will."

Akama shot the unicorn a glare before turning away. "Short answer: a dragon took away someone very dear to me. So, I hunt all dragons, until I find the one who hurt me. They aren't to be trusted," he finished curtly.

Twilight anger shrunk only slightly after hearing the response, but she did not release him. "I see… You should know Spike has been with me since he was hatched. He's had no contact with other dragons."

Akama appeared to relax slightly. "You speak the truth?" he demanded. Twilight nodded. "How many years?"

"That we've been together?" she paused to think for a second. "I guess it's been about eight years this spring. Why?"

The red alicorn closed his eyes and took several slow deep breaths. This action seemed to remove the remaining tension in his body. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and serious. "I understand… I was in the wrong. I am sorry for my misconduct," he said with eyes still closed.

Twilight was still on guard. "Are you going to try and hurt my friend if I let you go?"

Akama shook his head making his now gray mane sway back and forth. "You say he has done nothing to warrant trouble. Therefore, I shall not attack him. I can't say that I will trust him anytime soon. I hope you can accept that." He looked at her with a sad seriousness.

Twilight sighed as she released the magical hold over the weakened alicorn. "You have to get used to him, he lives here with me."

At that moment Applejack walked in with a pair of saddlebags. She took one look at scene and gulped. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. "I can see that this is a bad time. I'll come back later…"

-End

"Have you been up all night?" Twilight asked as she levitated another stack of books back to their proper locations.

Akama still did not look in her direction. "Of course not. I slept for a good three hours. The rest of the time I was meditating to get my anger under control. I haven't had to do that in a long while, I was a bit rusty."

Twilight walked over and stood behind the red stallion. "So what's with the books?"

"Research," was the quick reply. "I'm trying to see if something I need is around here. I just spent the last hour or so doing that." He grabbed another book on geography and started reading without looking at his host.

The purple unicorn was starting to get annoyed with the obvious lack of manners the colt was showing her. A complete change from the way he was acting before meeting Spike. She had heard of ponies having deep hatred for each other that would change the way they would act to others, but she had never seen it for herself. She hoped that being around Spike would not become a time bomb of problems.

"How did you get all of the books down?" Twilight asked as she stared at the remaining books. "You can barely move."

Akama sighed as his study was interrupted, again. "Your Ryu-chan wanted to show me that he wasn't a threat. So he gathered them all for me. Now, I'd like to try and make some headway, so could you please stop bugging me?"

"Ri-wha? Who or what are you talking about?"

Akama ignored the question and continued to read while occasionally making a few notes. Twilight huffed a sigh and headed towards the kitchen for some breakfast. As she entered she spotted Spike sitting at the table staring at the wall while rolling a gem absently on the tabletop.

"Good Morning, Spike. Did you sleep well?"

Spike sighed. "Does Akama really hate me?" he asked in a distressed tone.

Twilight walked over and gave the baby dragon a hug. "I don't think he hates you specifically. I think he just hates dragons in general."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Like that's much better…" he deadpanned.

"Well, at least you know it's not personal. Did you try to be friendly?" she asked hopefully.

Spike shrugged. "I gathered the books he wanted, and he thanked me, but… he seemed very detached."

Twilight released Spike and gave him a confused look. "You helped him? So that's who he was talking about."

"Huh?"

"He called you something, I think it was another nickname," she said after thinking about it. "I wonder what's with him and the nicknames…"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, what does he call you? Ho-she, or something?"

Twilight nodded. "I think that's how it's pronounced. I feel like I heard that word before…" She thought for a moment then shook her head. "I'll worry about it later, I need something to eat."

By mid-afternoon, Akama had a stack of notes nearly as tall as the stacks of books around him. His eyes where blood-shot and there were dark circles forming, but he still continued to read through any and every geography and botany book in the library. Twilight looked over at her guest with more than a little concern. He had barely eaten all day, and admitted to only getting a few hours of sleep. This was not the way to recover one's health.

"I think you need a break," she finally said as she watched the alicorn's head bob slowly.

"I can't stop n…" he tried to hold back a yawn. "… Stop now. I'm so close… I think…" He rubbed his eyes with his hoof and tried to refocus on the page he was reading.

Twilight levitated the book away while giving the red pony a stern look. "Princess Celestia has left you in my care. So I am responsible for your well being. Take it from somepony who has pulled her own share of all-nighters. You need to take a break, and come back to the issue with a fresh mind."

Akama grumbled at first, then sighed and yawned. "Maybe you're right, Hoshi. Could you help me to the spare bed?"

Twilight nodded and stood next to red alicorn to help balance him as he slowly stood up. He gave an embarrassed smile as the two of them walked up the stairs with Akama leaning on Twilight the whole time.

Twilight felt her face redden as they carefully ascended the stairs. Aside from her family, she never had this kind of contact with a stallion before. She was silently thankful that Akama was more focused on walking than her. When they finally reached the spare bed in Twilight's room, Akama flopped on top and was asleep instantly. Twilight rolled her eyes with an amused smile. She carefully levitated him under the covers and closed the blind to keep the room as dark as possible. As she was leaving she heard something that made her pause.

"I'm sorry… I wasn't… strong enough…" Akama whispered in a sad tone. He then rolled over and quiet sobs could be heard.

Twilight quickly left the room and closed the door behind her. Akama seemed to be reliving a painful memory and she had no right to sit in on it. Maybe if they became good friends, and he decided to share… She shook her head. They barely knew anything about each other; it was going to be a while until they became friends. She walked back into the common area that Akama was using for his research and glanced at the notes he was making.

"That's strange…" she muttered as she compared his notes to a couple of her own. "I wonder if…" She smiled as an idea came to her. "Spike, I'm going to need your help," she called.

Akama slowly stirred under the covers. He opened his green right eye and glanced around the dark room. He could tell it was well after sunset as there was little light coming through the blinds. He was about to return to sleep's embrace when his stomach protested its emptiness.

"I guess a late dinner couldn't hurt," he mumbled to himself as he got out of the bed. He carefully tested his legs' strength and stability before venturing out of the room. "I was right," he smiled. "Getting out of that hospital was the best move. Now if my search turns out to be successful, I'll be golden."

As he neared the common area, he noticed that the lights where still on and his hostess asleep on the table he was using earlier. He chuckled at the irony of the situation. When he reached Twilight he paused, confused. Around the unicorn's head where his notes mixed with some that could have been Twilight's. Was she continuing my search? Akama wondered as he looked over a couple of the pages. That was nice of her.

As he was about to leave and fill his belly, one sheet grabbed his attention. It was half buried under Twilight herself, but what he could see made him a bit excited. He needed to know what was on the rest of the page.

"Hey," Akama spoke softly as he gently nudged the purple pony. "You're gonna wake up with a back ache if you sleep like that."

Twilight grunted and murmured in her sleep.

Akama laughed softly. He leaned in and whispered right next to her ear. "If you don't wake up, I'll shuffle all the books."

Twilight jumped awake with a startled look on her face. She frantically wiped her head around until she saw Akama laughing his head off. "What's going on?" she asked confused and worried.

The red alicorn stopped long enough to breath and answer her question. "Nothing. I was just trying to wake you up."

Twilight knew there was more going on, but decided not to press the issue. "What are you doing up, anyway?" she asked instead.

He shrugged. "Just getting something to eat when I saw you laying there with a nice puddle of drool by your mouth."

"What?!" Twilight wiped he mouth while looking at the papers on the desk. This only made Akama laugh all over again. Twilight quickly realized that she's been tricked and blushed slightly. "Okay, you got me," she admitted.

"What where you working on so intently?" Akama asked as if he did not already have an idea.

"Well, I was continuing your research, and I think I found what you where looking for." She levitated the piece of paper that was lying under her a moment ago. "Is this what you wanted to find?"

Akama read then reread the contents of the page until he was sure there was no mistake. He looked at Twilight with a grin that was bigger than any of Pinkie's. He then grabbed her in a hug, which surprised the unicorn. "Hoshi no daiski!" he cried as he held her.

"Uh… Your welcome?" replied Twilight, who did not understand what was going on. Not that she would complain. The hug was very nice, and felt a bit different than the ones she and her friends shared.

Akama pulled away from Twilight and looked at her with a face full of respect. She felt her face heat up from the closeness and the look he was giving her. Suddenly, Akama leaned in and captured her lips with his own. The kiss caused every part of Twilight's brain to cease function. The warmth of the stallion's lips on hers was new and a bit exciting. It sent a small wave down her back and made her tingle all over. She did not know what to do next, it was all so fast, and her mind refused to start up again.

Akama ended the kiss and smiled at the surprise/shock look on Twilight's petrified face. He smirked. "Was that you're first?" he asked in half seriousness.

Twilight's eyes rolled up into head and she fainted.

"Hmmm…" the red pony mused. "She must still be tired. Now for that dinner."

The next morning-

"Anypony care ta tell me why I'm here in front of the Everfree Forest at dawn?" asked a very annoyed Applejack. She looked at the three other companions that where with her, Twilight Sparkle, Spike (falling asleep on Twilight's back), and a nearly recovered Akama. Even early in the morning, Applejack could see that Twilight was acting a bit nervous but Akama looked like he was ready to burst with excitement.

" That's simple, Jackie," Akama said with a grin. "You're going to help us through the forest to my destination."

Applejack did not see the amusement. "You had Twilight's owl give me a message in the middle of the night. I thought somethin' bad had happened."

"On the contrary, it was something good," Akama said as he started walking into the forest. "If this is correct, then I will be able to fully recover before the day's over. You're here to help if there is any trouble. To be honest, you two are the ones I trust the most right now. That's why I asked you."

Applejack did not know how to respond to that. She felt a little honored that somepony trusted her, but at the same time it seemed to place a bit of pressure on her. Because she was trusted, she did not want to do anything to betray that trust. She smiled despite herself.

"Now let's go!" Akama cried as he walked ahead with the mares and dragon following.

"This was unexpected…" Akama deadpanned from Applejack's back.

"Tell me about it…" groused the orange mare as she carefully walked the uneven terrain of the forest.

Barely five minutes of walking and the alicorn tripped and twisted his back right ankle. Twilight suggested heading back, but he insisted on continuing. In order to do that, Applejack was resorted to becoming Akama's personal carrier, again.

"Ya better hope this place ain't to far, or I'm gonna start chargin' ya," the farmer commented in a half joke.

Akama chuckled a little nervously. "It shouldn't be to far. Only about a ten to fifteen minute walk, under normal circumstances."

Twilight turned her head. "You think it's that close?"

"According to your map," Akama stated. "I will know for sure soon." He laughed a little as he looked at the surroundings.

"What's funny?" asked Applejack.

"Hm? Oh, nothing," replied Akama with a smile that said otherwise.

"Uh-huh," she said back, not believing a word.

"Well…" He leaned his head until it was right next to her ear. "I'm starting to enjoy the feel of a strong mare under me," he whispered seductively.

Applejack froze and her whole face turned as red as her brother's coat. She tried to come up with some sort of comeback, but all she was able to do was sputter a few sounds.

Akama took this time to slip off her back and walk towards a narrow path under a pair of trees. "Hoshi! I think we need to go this way," he called to Twilight.

Twilight turned and walked over to the alicorn, but stopped next to her friend, who was still red as an apple. "Applejack? What's wrong?"

Applejack seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in. "Nutthin ya need ta worry 'bout," she stated as she sent a small glare in the red stallion's direction.

Twilight looked in the same direction and saw Akama smile, this caused her to remember the event from last night, and she blushed lightly. She had tried to talk with him about the kiss, but he either avoided the question, or changed the subject all-together, that left her confused and annoyed. She shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on things.

"Hurry up you two," called Akama as he limped down the path. "It's pretty narrow, be careful."

The mares nodded as they slowly followed the path. Soon they heard Akama gasp and they hurried to catch up. When the walked through a pair of bushes, they came upon an amazing sight, that made them gasp as well. It was a large meadow, with an uncountable number of flowers growing throughout. Colors and hues that had no name covered the petals making the field in the early morning light, look like something out of a dream. A stream snaked through near the opposite side of the meadow. The stream looked cool and clear, the perfect place on a hot day.

Akama slowly walked out into the field, being careful to not walk on any of the flowers. He sat down and took a deep breath. Suddenly, a golden light that seemed to swirl around surrounded him. Spike and the mares watched in slight awe as the light swirled faster and faster until a large flash forced them to close their eyes. When they could see again, all three jaws hit the ground.

Akama was standing tall, his now black mane fluttering in an unseen breeze, and 100% recovered. He grinned as he flexed his legs and did a few jumps. "Ah, much better. Time for a quick test." He turned and in an instant, was running at full speed across the field. When he reached a tree, he jumped, grabbed a branch and swung around it. He then let go and rolled on the ground before running IN the air. It looked like he was running on an invisible road that twisted and turned throughout the sky. Finally, he landed before his companions with a tired smile. "That felt good!" he cried happily.

"Wh-what was that?" stuttered Twilight.

Akama shrugged. "A little warm up. Fastest way to see if everything was working right. I'm now fully healed, so you can tell Celestia-hime that I can answer all of her questions. And all of your friends' as well."

Spike looked a little annoyed. "Why did you say Princess Celestia 'He may' ask you questions now? She's a girl!"

Akama blinked then laughed. "I said hime. It means 'princess' where I come from. I sometimes forget that not everypony knows my native language." He looked at the two mares. "You ready to head back?"

As they started walking Applejack turned to Twilight. "Just what was that place?"

Twilight glanced over her shoulder towards the meadow. "It was something he called a 'Mana Spring,'" she replied just as confused. "I guess we can ask him about that now. I'll have to see how soon the princess can make an unscheduled visit." She refocused on the path ahead to make sure she did not get lost.

Applejack smiled. "Just let me know. I'm gonna be bringing Applebloom, I'm sure she has a few questions herself."

"I'm sure Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, feel the same," the unicorn chuckled.

As the finally made their way out of the woods, Akama turned in the opposite direction of Ponyville. When asked why he stated that he was going to retrieve his cloak and meet Twilight back at the library later. Twilight and Applejack headed back to their homes with their minds swimming with the questions they wanted to ask the mysterious stallion.

To be Continued…

A/N: I hope you all liked this story. I was going to have it be the Q&A episode, but as I wrote, new events started to form. The conflict with Spike appeared on its own as I typed. This happens a few times, and when it does, the chapters get longer than I originally intend. So I have to find new spots to make the cut offs. Hopefully everything will go as planned in the next episode. Until then: JA NE! :D