The Lightbringer

The moon hovered high in the dark night sky, a bright light surrounded by the distant twinkling of numerous stars. The Carousel Boutique’s sign swung lazily in the cool evening breeze, a rhythmic creak filling the silence of the night.

Inside Rarity peacefully slept, nestled deep into her silk bed sheets. Her dreams were filled with fashion and fame. Finally, she was being recognized for her brilliance.

Thump

There was a loud noise like somepony had dropped their luggage on the floor. Rarity rolled over in her comforter and sighed contently, her mind slowly waking up. Subconsciously her ears rotated, listening for the sound to repeat.

Must have been Opal jumping off of the counter. Just go back to sleep dear, she thought, wanting nothing more than to get back to her dream.

“Damn this bites!” cursed a male voice in a pained whisper.

Rarity’s eyes shot open, adrenaline coursing through her system. Somepony was in her boutique. Why was somepony in her boutique? Were they thieves? Or foal nappers?

She swallowed a lump in her throat and pushed her thoughts aside. She had been reading too many novels lately, she decided. The only way to find an answer was to see for herself.

With as much stealth as she could manage she slipped out of her bed and levitated the first heavy object, she could find to her side, a deep green gemstone about the size of a hoof. Her blue aura cast pale shadows across her bedroom.

She then started creeping out of her bedroom. Every step more stressful than the last with her hooves making a light tapping sound on the hardwood. She listened intently as she crept down the stairwell. She could hear somepony shuffling around, their hooves noisily clacking as they moved about.

“They always make this look so easy…!” the voice grunted rhythmically, like somepony trying to pull something that was almost too heavy.

Thief! She knew it! Somepony was trying to steal one of her masterpieces! Likely to sell it on a black market for dresses!

Sneak into her home and steal her hard work will he!? She’d give him a piece of her mind!

With a burst of speed, Rarity raced down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. Her eyes scanned the room as she hit the bottom of the stairs. The moonlight poured in from the display windows set into the front of her boutique, illuminating the outline of a figure. With a push of her legs she ran towards the intruder, lifted the gemstone high into the air, and then brought it down on the thief’s head with a resounding thwack.

The thief’s body gave out under the force of the blow and he crumpled into a heap. The gemstone dropped from her telekinetic grip and clattered across the floor, refracting silver moonbeams around the showroom.

Rarity’s heart was pounding in her chest, the adrenaline of the situation forcing it to pound against her ribcage. Fight or Flight slowly gave way to conscious thought as she took control of her breathing.

She took a hesitant step towards the stallion. Her hoof landed on something warm and sticky, causing her to recoil in surprise. She lifted her hoof to inspect the bottom, but couldn’t discern anything in the moonlight.

Rarity turned on the lights with her magic, the sudden change in brightness caused her to blink as her eyes adjusted. When she could see again the sight before her was far different from what she had expected. The floor of the boutique had blood dripped everywhere, most of it centered about where the thief lay unconscious.

Most bizarre was what else she found around him. She had expected one of her dresses, or even some comical bag of loot complete with a money sign on the outside. Instead, she only found a curious collection of sewing supplies. Needles of various sizes and thread of differing weights were scattered around his hooves.

Why would anypony steal sewing supplies? Unless...

Gingerly she took the stallion in her magic and rolled him onto his side. A large gash ran along most of the length of his barrel and was slowly weeping blood onto her bare floor. She began to notice other injuries. A cut here, a scratch there. Most of his body was covered in bruises. It was like he had been tossed down a flight of stairs. She could even see the dark purples of a new bruise forming beneath the faint blue fur on his muzzle.

She had caused that one.

Oh no no no. What did she do? He was just hurt and trying to fix himself up and what did she do! She just… just… assaulted him! Like some base ruffian! He wasn’t moving, was he even still alive!?

Urgently she moved to the stallion’s front and brought her ears by his muzzle. She held baited breath as she listened. After what felt like ages he finally exhaled.

Yes! He was still alive!

Rarity raised her head and looked towards the ceiling, thanking some unnamed deity that she hadn’t accidentally caused the stallion’s demise. She turned to run for her medical kit. She needed to get his injuries wrapped up and take him to the hospital!

Her thoughts were cut short, however.

A hoof suddenly shot up and grabbed her by her throat before she could move away. The grip tightened, cutting her breath short before she was quickly slammed down onto her back. A muffled yelp of pain managed to squeeze past the grip on her throat, but that was it. For a moment she was too shocked and afraid to do much of anything but sit there and stare blankly. Some part of her mind realized she’d really be feeling that one in the morning.

The stallion towered over her with his hoof firmly on her throat. She stared at him in mute surprise. His face was contorted into a vicious look more befitting a griffin than a pony. His breath came in sharp, ragged bursts through clenched teeth; as though every inhalation hurt.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on people,” the stallion growled, bringing his face far too close to hers. Golden eyes bored azure. It was like he could see into to her soul and was judging what he saw.

His grip held firm on her throat as her face began to turn red. He took his time watching her. He tried to look angry, to appear intimidating and worthy of her fear. Instead, all she could see was just how tired he was, how obvious it was he hadn’t slept in days. There was something else too, was it fear?

Rarity knew these were not the eyes of a thief or a murderer but instead the eyes of somepony who needed help.

“Don’t scream.” He ordered. The intimidating facade he had been holding finally gave way to to the purest exhaustion. Suddenly he released his hold on her throat. Sweet oxygen suddenly flowed freely into her vacant lungs. She couldn’t help but find herself greedily sucking in every breath.

Rarity watched the stallion as she caught her breath. She was shocked that he had tricked her so easily, surprised he had overpowered her so easily with one simple motion and left with so many questions. If he was truly a bad pony why had he just let her go? Why was he so tired? And why would he stoop to sewing himself up instead of seeking a hospital?

He had already returned to his task, stitching up the still bleeding wound on his side. It almost seemed like he wasn’t aware of how much he was bleeding, or that he was doing it all over her once clean floor.

“I just need to patch myself up, then I’ll go.” He grunted as he sewed his injury up with the needle. To Rarity’s eyes, it was obvious the Stallion had never used a needle and thread before. She doubted his work would last five minutes, let alone a night of bed rest.

“Darling, you’re hurt. We need to get you to the hospital.”

“No!” he barked, turning to look Rarity in the eye. “I’m not going to any hospital!”

“Look at yourself!” Rarity demanded, pointing first at him and then at the blood that pooled around his hooves. “You are bleeding all over my boutique. Until today I didn’t even know a pony could lose this much blood,” She shuddered a little at the thought.

The look in the stallion’s eyes hardened, telling her everything she needed to know. The only way he was going to a hospital was if she knocked him out and dragged him there herself.

When she didn’t continue talking he turned his attention from her back to his injury, hissing at the sensation of sewing his own flesh shut.

Rarity rolled her eyes. His sewing skills were amateur at best. None of his work would hold up for any length of time if he kept moving. That is to say nothing of infection that might occur since he wasn’t cleaning the wounds at all.

She quickly grabbed the first aid kit and a bottle of alcohol from her bathroom before returning to the Stallion. A white cloth hovered in her blue aura as she poured some of the alcohol into it.

“Well Darling, if you can’t go to a hospital then I guess we’ll just have to make due. Now hold still! Normally I work on dresses, not ponies.” She hoped her tone came across as both firm and kind.

A pair of scissors undid all of the stallion’s hard work. The wound still needed to be cleaned after all. Wouldn’t do to let infection set in after everything that happened tonight. Every piece of thread was cut and then gingerly pulled out with her magic. The stallion seemed upset at having his work destroyed, but he remained silent.

When she placed the cloth against his injury she expected a hiss of pain, or perhaps even for him to try to hit her out of instinct. Instead, he simply watched her curiously, as though he couldn’t feel the burning of the alcohol.

After she became satisfied the wound was as clean as it would get, what with it still refusing to stop bleeding, she levitated a small needle and began to look over the thread he had collected.

The collection was nearly useless, all of it was much too thin to hold up to any real stress. She threaded the needle with the thickest thread the stallion had raided, it would probably be enough to hold his side shut if he wasn’t too rough on it.

Her patient frowned as she sterilized the needle and thread with the alcohol.

“Why are you helping me?” He asked, though his tone asked another question, “What do you expect in exchange?”

“Because you look like you needed help. That is enough of a reason for me.” Rarity explained as she started sewing the Stallion’s side back up. He hissed when she began but quickly grew silent again, was he trying to put on a strong face? Rarity couldn’t be too sure.

“Is everyone around here so generous?” The stallion asked incredulously.

“Darling, I think you’d be hard pressed to find any pony here in Ponyville who wouldn’t help out a stranger,” She tilted her head in thought,”Though maybe some of them would be less forgiving about breaking into their homes.”

She swore she saw the stallion smile at her comment before quickly returning to his stoic face.

Rarity backed up to allow the stallion a chance to inspect her craftsponyship. He glanced down and gave the stitching a quizzical look before flexing his body experimentally.

“Seems a bit complex, but it feels like it’ll hold. Thank you. I’ll be going now.” He stated. His tone was serious but his voice wavered like he was forcing himself to keep going. His legs strained as he walked, barely seemed capable of holding up his frame as he walked towards the front door.

“You can’t walk around like this dear,” Rarity placed a hoof on his back, noticing the way he tensed up at her touch, “It’s late and you are injured. Just stay here, at least until morning.”

The stallion thought for a moment before shaking his head. “You have done so much for me, I will not bother you anymore,” he stated before leaving Carousel Boutique.