10

Despite what Littlefoot had told her, Luna had decided to keep following her new reptilian…well, she wanted to say friend, but she wasn't sure if he felt the same way. She was incredibly tired, but that was ok. She probably wouldn't be able to sleep for the day anyways.
Right now, Luna was watching the treehouse library from a high cloud. She was still somewhat shy around other ponies, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to confront the ponies who had freed her from Nightmare Moon's influence.
She had felt her sister's power go up, then she had felt Littlefoot's power rise too, and it had gone up much higher than Celly's, and faster too. Luna had prepared to burst in, but the threat had gone as quickly as it had come. Then, after a few minutes, she heard something massive crash into the ground.
That can't be good, Luna thought as she flew down and came in through the window.
In the roof, there was a young gryphon female stuck in the roof. Around Luna sat her sister and the Elements of Harmony, all looking shocked. And on the floor face-down was Littlefoot, apparently unconscious.
"…How…what…huh?", she stammered.
"That annoying pink pony gave him a cupcake, and he fell over after eating it", the gryphon said, "Oh, and I'm Gilda."
Luna stared at Littlefoot's prone body. "What in Equestria was IN the cupcake?"
"Nothing!", the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie, said, beginning to bounce up and down, "Just dough, sprinkles, and lots of sugar!"
Several moments of silence passed, then Twilight sat up straight. "Oh, now I know what happened! He had a heart attack!"
"A…heart attack? From a cupcake?", Rainbow Dash said, confused.
"It makes sense. You saw how he acted when he took the cupcake, right? He said he'd never had one before too. And he's also from another world, which might not have sugary sweets. So, since he took in so much sugar for the first time in his life, he got a heart attack, which made his body panic and render him unconscious!"
"Oh", the other residents of the room said.
"So…is he going to be ok?", Gilda asked.
"From what I got from what he told me, not only is he from another world, he is also a deity there", Celestia said, "So I have no doubt that he won't suffer anything serious…though he may develop a fear of cupcakes now."
"What? That's silly Princess!", Pinkie exclaimed.
"Which actually brings up something else", Luna said, "You may want to stay away from Littlefoot for a bit. As far as he'll be concerned when he wakes up, you just tried to poison him."
"But-"
"Sorry Pinkie, but I have to agree", Twilight said, "He'll probably need time to be convinced that you weren't trying to kill him."
Pinkie opened her mouth again, but Luna cut her off. "She's right, Mrs. Pie", she said, "I had the opportunity to get to know him a bit earlier. He's friendly, but he doesn't forgive easily. Or forget."
Pinkie slumped down, downcast. Then she shot up again. "Oo, oo, I know! I'll make it like a game of hide and seek!"
And before anyone could correct her, she vanished in a burst of speed.
"…Well then", Rarity said, "Since he's going to be out for a while, the least we could do is give him a bath."
"WHAT?" her friends cried out. Luna and Celestia stared at her, eyes wide.
"Why not? It didn't seem like he'd be willing to do it while he was wake, and it will be good for him to have his armor off. He hasn't taken it off for three years; imagine what the poor thing's skin must look like! All pale, and sweaty, and-"
"Okay, okay, we get it!", Applejack exclaimed, then she looked at the others, "I reckon she's right, a bit of time outta that armor would do him some good."
"Wait", Twilight said, "If we're going to go ahead of this, doesn't that mean we'll actually have to…wash him?"
"Oh heavens no!", Rarity replied, "He looks more than big enough to simply put into a tub face-up. We can just let him soak for a while, then when he wakes up, he should be able to figure out the rest!"
"Oh, okay then", Twilight said, "All in favor?"
Rarity's hoof went up, followed by Applejack, then, after a glare from Rarity, Rainbow's, and finally Fluttershy's.
"Well, since you girls seem to have everything under control, I shall take my leave", Celestia said, standing up. She turned to Luna, "Will you be coming back to Canterlot with me Luna?"
Luna looked at her sister, then at the prone figure of Littlefoot.
"I'll stay, sister", she said, "Something tells me they might need some help with him." Plus, she was starting to like being around him, for some reason.
"All right then", Celestia said, and spread her wings. "Oh wait, one more thing."
A golden glow covered Gilda, and she was gently lowered out of the roof and to the floor.
"Thank you Princess", the gryphon said, stamping all four of her feet to get some blood flowing again, "I thought I was going to become part of the roof."
"You're welcome", Celestia said with a small chuckle, and she flew off. The Royal Guard followed her out.
Rainbow Dash looked down at their charge. "So…how're we gonna get him out of all that?"
_

It took a solid half hour before the last piece of Littlefoot's armor finally came off. It had proven surprisingly resistant for magic, and even Luna was sweating a bit from the exertion. Gilda and the ponies without magic had taken to pulling him out when the armor above his waistline was off, which had also proven surprisingly difficult. He was much heavier than he looked.
As they rested, they all finally got a good look at their new…acquaintance. He was covered in brown scales, and had a slightly muscular build. It looked as if he had been four-legged at some point, since his legs and feet had a natural thickness to them, suggesting that his kind needed much leg strength to support heavy weight. His lower body was also rounded in an odd way, suggesting that it had hung down for a time.
His tail appeared as if it had been thicker once too, but it was thinner now, and about two feet in length. At the tip of it was a long barb, slightly curved, like a scorpion's.
Littlefoot's upper body was much more interesting. It was very clear that he had been mutated in some way. On his hands were large, sharp talons, which did not seem to be naturally occurring…and, for that matter, neither did his fingers and thumbs. As well, a quick check revealed that his eyes were, in fact, smoldering orbs, obviously some form of magic. Along his upper neck and the back of his head were thin spines, which moved very easily. His teeth were all incredibly sharp, but they were spaced an odd distance apart, as if they had been wider at some point.
Something that really stood out to them was the number of scars that ran across his body. There were big scars, little scars, burn scars, stab scars, something that looked like tooth marks, and a strangely large bruise in his middle. One scar ran across his entire front, and looked as if the original wound had been very deep.
It was a good thing they had convinced Pinkie Pie to leave. This was a tough creature.
Despite all this, he actually looked very nice. The lines of his face suggested a face that smiled and laughed often, as did lines around the eyes. And he looked young. They didn't know why, but it appeared as if this had happened before he was even an adult.
All of these physical appearances made them even more curious about Littlefoot, especially Twilight and Luna. What in Equestria had been happening to him?
Well, it was time.
_

It took five minutes to make a big tub of warm, soapy water, and another fifteen to levitate/carry Littlefoot up the stairs. Even his body appeared resistant to magic, which meant that Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Gilda held him by the upper body and carefully pulled, while Applejack remained behind and pushed him when it looked like she was needed.
Eventually, they were able to slowly lower him face-up into the tub, and finally relaxed a bit. Surprisingly, the tub was large enough to hold Littlefoot, or enough so that he could face up at a 75 degree angle.
Once that was taken care of, the ponies (and Gilda) moved to the bottom floor again, and sat in silence.
"..So, Gilda", Rainbow Dash began, "How did you end up in the roof anyway?"
Gilda scratched her head. "Well, Littlefoot and I were kinda racing over here, and…you know how gryphons tend to bump each other in their races? I tried that with him, and at first he got the idea down quick…then, for some reason, he flew above me, and came down at a forty-five degree angle and elbowed me in the back of the head."
"He ELBOWED you?" Rainbow exclaimed.
"Well, it's not entirely his fault. I could have told him what I was doing, but I guess he thought we were going to have an aerial fight or something."
Rainbow opened her mouth, but then a groan from above stopped her.

…
"Ok, what in blazes is going on here?"
"Uh-oh", the group said collectively.