Haymaker

“Sweetie… Sweetie say something!” Rarity plead as she, Twilight and Big Macintosh (who fortuitously was passing by on his way to Fluttershy’s) struggled to dig them out. “Oh, if that ruffian has harmed you, I will destroy him!”

Sweetie called out “I-I’m alright! Th-the monster was the only one that got hit! I…I think it saved me!”

As Rarity pulled a blue tarp off of them, she finally got a look at the damage; it was gruesome. Shards of glass stuck out of one shoulder, blood covered his body, and his right arm was dislocated. Thankfully, he wasn’t conscious to feel any of this. He was propped up on his hands and knees, sheltering a shaken Sweetie Belle; Twilight carefully rolled him onto his uninjured shoulder to get a better look at him.

The creature was about six feet tall, and was wearing a dirty, tattered grey shirt and torn… leg covers of some kind. They looked similar to Pinkie Pie’s weird workout clothes, but longer. It had five clawless digits on each foreleg- which were shorter than its hind legs- and a manticore-like mane on its head, yet only a fine layer of hairs on the rest of its visible body.

“We have to get… whatever this thing is some kind of medical treatment!” Twilight announced.

Rarity looked shocked at the very idea. “This thing wanted to abscond with both myself and Sweetie, and you want to help it?!”

Twilight glared at the uncharacteristically heartless fashionista and replied “I don’t think that’s exactly what it wants… and I’ve never heard of slavers trying to save a single victim at the cost of their own life. Not to mention, a filly getting injured would have been a good distraction while he picked off bystanders.

“I don’t think he means us any harm, and at the very least, we need him alive to question. There is nothing, and I mean nothing in any book I’ve ever read describing a creature such as this. The princesses need to know about it.”

Rarity looked with great trepidation from Twilight to the creature, then to her sister, before finally facing the librarian. “…All right. I… will help you, Twilight.”

As they levitated the beast into the air, Sweetie Belle had a very good question to ask. “Do we take it to the doctor, or the vet?”

The two mares looked at each other briefly before saying, in unison, “Not Fluttershy.” Rarity, Twilight, Sweetie Belle and Big Macintosh then galloped off at top speed for the hospital.

Augh…wha- PAIN OH GOD PAIN…why no more pain? Not that I’m complaining. Oof…who’s talking? Eyes. Open. Open eyes. Open- There we go! Finally. Huh. A wall. Can’t turn over. Fine. Eyes close. Close. Clo- okay. Sleepy time.

*

“Well, I’ve removed the glass which, by no small miracle, missed the major arteries and organs. The bleeding has stopped, and the only further injuries it has sustained are minor contusions on its back, a dislocated shoulder that, with the aid of a scan spell and the other arm as a template, we managed to put back into place. The anesthesia spells are holding up, and the patient seems to be drifting in and out of consciousness. We expect it to be lucid by the end of the week.” the doctor summed up for the assembled ponies.

Twilight was hanging on every word, searching her vast inner repository of knowledge, attempting to discern any possible way to further aid or hasten his recovery. Rainbow Dash sat only a few feet from the bed the monster was laying on, guarding it like it would suddenly sprout extra legs and attack them. Fluttershy sat next to Big Mac in the corner furthest from it, glancing up from the biology book she had requested from Twilight for the occasion; it was open to monkeys, as that seemed to be closest to what they were facing. Applejack was eating a salad; she’d had to work through dinner, and with the cafeteria full of paparazzi, there was simply nowhere else to hold a meal…and regardless, she wasn’t going to miss this for the world. Pinkie was cheering up some sick foals down the hall, and Rarity, understandably, refused to enter the room.

Five of the six mares were wearing large, golden necklaces set with stones representing their Cutie Marks; the Elements of Harmony. Twilight Sparkle’s Big Crown Thingy sat upon the table next to her, just in case. “But doctor…what is it?

The doctor paused and considered his patient for a few moments. He then turned back to Twilight and gave a noncommittal shrug before exiting. Twilight threw her hooves up and gave a frustrated groan. Six days is too long to wait to learn about this creature! I have to know now!

She sauntered over to Fluttershy and Big Mac, and asked “Any headway? Do we have any clue what this is? I’d really like a better answer than ‘thing I haven’t seen before’ for-” she was abruptly cut off by the door swinging open.

“TWILY!!” her brother shouted, running over to her and scooping her up into a big hug. Fluttershy smiled gently as the siblings shared a heartfelt moment, a long time coming. “I can’t believe it’s been two years already! I missed you so much! I…um…what in the name of Celestia is that?!” Shining breathed, pointing slowly at the bedridden creature.

“We…have no clue.” Twilight responded, defeated. “Rarity thinks it’s some kind of Diamond Dog offshoot, but Fluttershy seems to think it’s a monkey of some-

“Um…ape…” the timid Pegasus interjected.

Twilight paused and said “Um, pardon?” The yellow Pegasus shrank away from her studious friend.

“S-sorry… but, um… m-monkeys have t-tails.” she finished, barely above a whisper.

“Ape, then. Some kind of ape. Obviously intelligent, since it apparently spoke to Rarity, and then saved her sister. Bipedal, clothes wearing, probably sees ponies as exotic animals, but has- had no idea that we could talk, which means that it probably comes from the furthest reaches of Maredagascar. Zecora’s on her way to examine it, since she spent most of her child hood in Zebrafrica, where apes are indigenous.”

“Well, I think maybe I should have a look at it, too.” a sweet voice from the hallway chimed. Cadence walked inside, smiling at Twilight, who immediately bowed to the pretty pink princess. Shining rolled his eyes at his always-so-proper sister. A serious look graced her visage, as she said “Twilight… I’m going to give you a direct order as acting regent.”

Twilight looked up from her prostration. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

Cadence briefly closed her eyes, and- letting out a soft sigh- said “Two direct orders, then. First, never call me Your Majesty, or anything along those lines, and second-” a smile crossed her face, “Never bow to your sister in law.” The alicorn then swept the librarian up into a great hug.

Everypony in the room smiled at the arrival of their favorite princess, and her ‘Joe Anypony’ charm. A rather off-the-wall question occurred to Rainbow Dash. “Say, Twi… doesn’t this make you, like, a duchess or something?”

Twilight and Cadence rolled their eyes and giggled. “Okay… let’s see this…monkey…thing…holy hay bales, that guy is big.” Cadence’s voice trailed off as she slowly gazed at the bedridden monster, stretched across two beds laid end to end. Well, a bed and a half, really. It wasn’t that huge. “What is it-”

“WE DON’T KNOW.” everypony monotoned in unison.

“Okay, okay…sorry I asked.” she said sheepishly. “…Say, it didn’t seem to have any…um… telepathy, did it?” she asked cautiously. Everypony (except Shining) exchanged curious looks with each other. “I didn’t think so. Nothing’s ever easy. Hmm… did it have any weapons, or such? I want to make sure it‘s not a threat.”

Again, glances all around, worried this time, and Rainbow Dash responding “We uh…didn’t think to check…heh.”

Cadence rolled her eyes and moved next to the creature. “I’m the strongest here, I guess I’ll do it.” Shining Armor opened his mouth hesitantly, then realized that she- truthfully- was the current protector of the realm, and promptly closed it. Nothing, however could stop him from worrying.

Cadence began levitating items, one by one, out of the creatures pockets. First was a ring of rusted skeleton keys, thirty in all. Next was a small, flat, squarish device made out of plastic; it had buttons covered in symbols and a black square on the front, with a few holes on one side. A pair of strings ran from a small hole on the side, ending in a mushroom-like tip. The letters iPhone were written on the back…maybe some kind of code, or something? she thought.

The princess poked the circle experimentally, and the black square lit up. A list of names appeared, and Cadence heard… music! Coming out of the strings, of all places! She put them to her ears, and listened for a bit, but seeing as the singer was making references that were meaningless to her, she simply began fiddling with the circle again.

In her experimentation, she accidentally disconnected the strings from the music box. The sound began playing loudly, causing everyone in the room to jump.

As Cadence turned the device over, trying to find a way to deactivate it, Shining Armor dragged his little sister out of the hospital, past dancing  patients and doctors, jamming to the music that the royal guard simply couldn’t stomach.

He didn’t stop until they were out of earshot of the hospital. “Okay, that was painful. I’m pretty sure that qualifies as a weapon.” Twilight laughed hysterically, half at the horrified look on her brother’s face, and half at the comment he made on the foreigner’s… eclectic tastes. Her brother watched her for a second, irritated and embarrassed looks crossing his face. “Alright! Alright! I get it, already…I need better taste- some taste- in music.”

Twilight slowly composed her self, and after a brief moment later, gave her brother a kiss on the cheek, and another hug for good measure. “Come on, I’ll show you my house… I’m sure with Cadence at the hospital, that… thing isn’t going anywhere soon.”

*

Cadence held the small, cylindrical object in her hooves, turning it over, and watching it gleam in the stark fluorescent lights. It had a pair of flat, metal protrusions were situated at one end, and a rectangular slit between them. She couldn’t pick it up with her magic, a fact that meant only one thing: her examination had bore fruit.

What she held in her hands was, first and foremost, used as a weapon.

But how? This little tube couldn’t hurt somepony, even if you chucked it at them. And what was in that little slot? Was this thing some kind of wand? She noticed a tiny bolt on one side: it seemed to be, in actuality, a button. Seeing no other recourse, she pressed it.

A short blade shot out, cutting Cadence’s leg and drawing blood. She dropped it in pain and surprise, the bloody knife cutting into the creature’s arm. What happened next reverberated throughout the entire world, and even reached deep into Tartarus. Simultaneously, every living and close-to-death organism in the animal kingdom on the planet had their hearts stopped for one second. There were no infarctions, no aneurysms. After that one second, every living, close-to-death and seconds-dead organism in the animal kingdom was revived, with enough healing energy to last twenty-four hours.

Death would be lost in Equestria this day.

*

The creature in the hospital bed began glowing, neon pink- the same color as Shining and Cadence’s Element of Love spell, the Seventh Element of Harmony. Cadence and Shining Armor likewise began glowing, and all three began levitating in the air.

THE BLOOD JOIN’D, THE PACT SEAL’D, THE COVENANT REBORN. FIND THE SENTINEL’S KIT AND KIN.

The voice boomed throughout Ponyville, shaking shingles from roofs, and scaring ponies left and right. Shining, Cadence and the being unceremoniously flopped onto the ground in their respective locations. Twilight blanched for a moment, looking around fearfully, then ran to her brother’s side.

“Shining? SHINING! Wake up! Oh goddesses, please wake up!” she sobbed frantically. The Royal Guard stirred underneath her hooves, mumbling, and sitting upright.

“Wha…what just happened? Somepony say somethin’ to me?” he groaned, rubbing his head.

Twilight threw her forelegs around him, squeezing tight. “Oh my GODDESS, that scared the hay out of me! Why did your love spell activate? And even without Cadence! And why did I feel like the world was just caving in on me? And what was that voice-”

“TWILIGHT!” her brother shouted, snapping her out of her tirade, “Calm yourself! We’ll figure it out!  Let’s just get back to the hospital and check on the others… and that…thing.” Shining Armor got to his hooves, wobbling a little bit, and then ran back towards Ponyville General, his sister in hot pursuit.