//------------------------------// // III- The Strange Animal // Story: Imperium et Imperator // by Emperor Gerald I //------------------------------// Applejack slowly turned over to check the clock in the guest bedroom she and Big Mcintosh were staying in. It was 6:00am, Applejack decided that she would make breakfast for her friend. On the other bed Big Mcintosh snored loudly. Applejack arose from her sleeping bag she had brought to Fluttershy's to sleep on and went to the other guest bed to ask Fluttershy what she would like for breakfast. The bed was completely empty. It was if nopony had even slept in it! Applejack assumed that Fluttershy had already gotten up and went to check on the injured animal, so went directly to Fluttershy's room. "Fluttershy?" whispered Applejack as she opened the door to Fluttershy's bedroom. "Hello?" she tried again. When there was no response Applejack fully opened the door and lit the lamp beside the bed. Fluttershy was there, sleeping soundly, hooves wrapped around the animal. "Fluttershy!" said Applejack gently, placing her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. Fluttershy yawned as her eyes fluttered open. "Applejack?" said Fluttershy groggily. "Yeah, its me shugarcube. Did you sleep well?" "Not really. I was worried the animal might wake up and be all alone!" "Well, I'll look after it today, you go get some rest." Fluttershy slipped quietly out of the room as Applejack followed close behind. As Fluttershy snuggled into the covers of the extra guest bed, Applejack awoke Big Mcintosh. "Big Mac!" she hissed. "Yeup?" said Big Mcintosh, rubbing his eyes. "Could you go down stairs and make you and me some breakfast? Fluttershy was up all last night." "Yeup." replied Big Mcintosh as he slipped from under the covers and went downstairs. Four hours later Fluttershy awakened. Applejack, whom was walking back from her shift watching the injured animal, noticed that her friend was awake. "Good morning, sleepy pony!" said Applejack "Big Mcintosh made breakfast for you. I'll go heat it up, you stay here." As Applejack left the room Fluttershy jumped to her hooves and rushed down the hall to check on the animal. She threw open the door to see Big Mcintosh sitting on a chair beside the bed, with the creature still lying unconscious. "Good morning Fluttershy." greeted Big Mcintosh "I made some breakfast for you, it is downstairs if you want it. It is an old family recipe, cinnamon and apple porridge." "Thank you Big Mcintosh." said Fluttershy "but I was more worried about this animal, it needs some food and water!" "So do you!" called Applejack from the downstairs. Soon Applejack returned with a bowl of steaming porridge. The three ponies settled in around Fluttershy's bed. "Thank you two very much!" said Fluttershy "I couldn't have done this without you!" "It ain't no problem!" replied Applejack, thinking of how much of a problem it actually would be if the harvest didn't get in before the frost. "But we really do have to get back to work on the farm soon", she continued "so why don't I go get somepony from the village to come up and help you?" "Certainly", said Fluttershy "I think we should get Twilight though, I can't tell what animal this is, and she might know more about it." "Sounds good shugarcube" replied Applejack "are you okay here alone if Big Mac goes back to the farm?" "I think so" replied Fluttershy uncertainly. Twilight was beginning to read, what seemed to Spike, the tenth book on building and maintaining friendships this week. "Um, Twilight?" asked Spike. "Mhm?" responded Twilight, not even looking up from her book. "Don't you think that instead of just reading about friendships you should, I don't know, EXPERIENCE them?" "Spike!" exclaimed Twilight, slamming the book shut "if I am to maintain these friendships with these other ponies I must be extremely well versed in the art of friendship, and by reading I gain vastly more information than simply stumbling into the situation uninformed, and furthermore like any other art the maintenance of friendship requires experience and knowledge. That is what this book is informing me of currently!" "Yeesh!" replied Spike "I was just making a suggestion!" "Sorry Spike" sighed Twilight," it is just that I cannot bear the thought of losing these friendships due to inexperience!" Just then there was a knock at Twilight's door. "It is probably somepony coming to use the library, Spike would you mind getting the door?" said Twilight, closing her book. Spike hopped down the stairs and scrambled over to the door. He opened it to see his friend Applejack "Howdy Spike!" said Applejack "I need to talk ta Twilight, if she is not busy." "Hi Applejack! I'll go get her right away!" replied Spike. Spike went back up the stairs to see Twilight preparing to give somepony the tour of the library. "They will most likely be interested in a very general topic, so I will have to help them narrow it down and-" "Hey Twilight?" said Spike, tapping her on the shoulder. "Yes Spike?" "Applejack is here, she is wondering if she can talk to you for a moment... or should I tell her you have to read about how to talk to your friends first?" "Spike!" chided Twilight "anyways, lets go down and see what Applejack wants." Applejack waved to Twilight as she walked down the stairs into the library. "Howdy Twilight, long time no see!" said Applejack, embracing her friend. "Hello Applejack, what brings you to see me today?" asked Twilight. "I was just at Fluttershy's, she is taking care of an animal that is hurt pretty badly and she needs some help identifying it, and taking care of it." "Identifying it?" replied Twilight "I thought Fluttershy was an expert on animals!" "She is but this animal is different than your regular critters, it was even wearing clothes!" "Ah ha!" exclaimed Twilight "that means it is either a domesticated or extremely intelligent species of animal! I would love to go and inspect it!" "Great!" said Applejack, heading toward the door, "I would love to stay longer but we are really behind at the harvest at the farm today and I need to get back fast!" "No problem Applejack, have an excellent day." replied Twilight, turning to Spike "Spike, I need you to get me all ten volumes of Rare and Mystical creatures, the Encyclopaedia of Equestrian wildlife, and The Book of Basic Magical Medicine." "Yes ma'am!" said Spike as he ran off to retrieve the books Twilight had requested. Fluttershy was using a wet cloth to attempt to have the animal drink some water, although it was coughing up more than it swallowed. "Please just drink a little!" she sighed. Just then Fluttershy heard a loud knocking at her door. "Fluttershy, this is Twilight! I heard about the animal you have and I have come to assist you in identifying it and taking care of it!" called Twilight from the doorway. Fluttershy arose from the bedside and went downstairs to greet her friend. She opened the door and was greeted with a cascade of books, notebooks, quills, and ink. "Whoops! Sorry Fluttershy!" said Spike, scrambling to pick up the things he had dropped. "Where is the animal?" asked Twilight "this could be a whole new discovery! Imagine that, I, Twilight Sparkle having the opportunity to name a new species of animal!" "Um, it is upstairs Twilight." responded Fluttershy quietly. "Excellent! Come on Spike!" exclaimed Twilight, picking up the startled dragon and all the books and quills with her magic and rushing up stairs. Fluttershy walked up after them. As Twilight entered the room, she knew that this was not a regular creature, it was large, apelike and wore a very complex and fancy set of clothing, almost the quality of something that Rarity might create. "Very interesting..." said Twilight, setting down her books and quills, as well as her assistant, and going in to inspect the creature more closely. "Please be careful with it's head, it is really hurt!" squeaked Fluttershy from the doorway. "Certainly" said Twilight as she slowly walked around the edge of the bed. "It seems to be a creature of some intelligence, did it have anything with it when you found it Fluttershy?" "Yes, Big Mcintosh brought back a pack it had on its back, and a weird hollow metal stick that it was carrying." "Would I be able to see these objects?" enquired Twilight. "Of course" replied Fluttershy, "they are on the desk over there." Twilight went over to the desk and inspected the "stick" closely. "It might be a magical tool..." said Twilight to herself. She then abruptly set down the "stick" and grabbed the backpack with her magic. "There seems to be some sort of energy coming from this bag..." immediately dumping the contents of the bag onto the desk. "What is it Twilight?" asked Spike curiously. "It is some sort of magic object that is emitting energy, and I am going to attempt to use it, stand back!" Spike and Fluttershy backed up as Twilight brought a yellow tube out of the pile. Twilight concentrated her magic on the tube and it made a clicking sound, sending a beam of light cascading from it's end. "That determines it!" said Twilight "it is likely this creature is much like Spike, the assistant of a unicorn whom specializes in magic!" "Wow..." said Spike looking up at the creature "I wish I was that big!" "Should we look for it's master?" asked Twilight to Fluttershy. "It is really hurt right now, I don't think we have the time to do that." said Fluttershy quietly. "Very well, Spike, get me the Book of Basic Magical Medicine." After some time of reading Twilight looked over to the creature. "I need to see the wound to properly ascertain the best way to help it." Fluttershy cringed remembering the bloody wound that was on the back of the creature's head. "I guess you can take of the bandage..." whispered Fluttershy. Twilight gingerly removed the bandages from the creature's head, being careful not to hurt it. "Oh my..." said Twilight looking at the wound, this was not like the other little scratches and bruises she had seen in her experience. Twilight returned to the book for another fifteen minutes, vigorously flipping through the pages. "Ah ha!" she exclaimed, pointing to a specific page. "It says here that the impact likely lodged a portion of the skull against the brain, causing the creature to remain unconscious." Fluttershy turned white. "Is there anything we can do?" she asked. "Yes, with magic this procedure is very simple, all we have to do is gently grab the fragmented pieces of the skull with our magic and..." A dull cracking sound came from the creature's head as Twilight attempted to re-align the broken pieces of its skull. At last the creature let out a groan and the dent in it's head seemed to disappear. "There we are!" said Twilight, turning around to see Fluttershy trembling and Spike covering his mouth. "Are-are you sure those cracking sounds were good?" asked Spike. "Quite certain, my assistant" replied Twilight "it should be awake within a few hours, during that time I shall attempt to ascertain it's species and gender. Spike, could you help me remove it's clothes?" "Okay" replied Spike "I'm glad YOU don't make me wear clothes around all the time, this thing's boss must be really weird." After many hours of study Twilight had figured out was that the creature was male, likely sentient, and that it was probably some variant of ape. "By the shape of it's teeth I think it eats mostly... nuts and fruit?" Twilight guessed. "Okay, I can go into Ponyville before the market closes and get some." suggested Fluttershy. "Yes, that sounds good, I shall stay here to observ-" Just then the creature sat straight up and rubbed it's eyes. "Hello?" said Twilight. The creature blinked a few times, looked around the room, rubbed it's eyes again, and promptly fainted.