Guardian Angel
By
Bronystrongwing
As the evening sun settled behind the green rolling hills of sweet apple acres, Applejack, with her mindset of always getting the job done no matter what, sweat rolling along her orange fur and blonde, pony-tail mane, pivoted on her forehooves and swiftly brought out her back legs, colliding with the thick bark of the apple tree, resulting in the delicious red fruit to fall neatly in the awaiting baskets below. Pride in a days work finished, the cowpony removed her signature Stetson and wiped away the sweat forming on her brow. "That oughta be 'nough fer t'day." the mare said to nopony in particular. 'maybe a visit to rarity is in order,' she thought to herself. 'Celestia knows she can b-,' but, before her thought could be concluded, the all to familiar shriek of a certain yellow filly rang through the normally calm autumn air. "Applebloom!" the elder sibling shouted, running in the direction of her sisters cry. As she arrived upon her sister’s location, just outside of the CMC tree house, she saw a beast of great size and ferocity towering over the cowering apple filly. It hand the body and head of the fearsome lion, the venomous tail of a scorpion, and wings of unknown origin. The manticore paid no heed the Hat bearing pony and continued it’s path upon the small meal before it.
“Hey!”, the farmer shouted. “Keep away from mah sister!”, and with that charged the lumbering behemoth with no regards of self preservation. She swiftly bucked the creature in stomach, with less than satisfactory results. Instead causing great pain, she instead created a small nuisance for the patchwork monster. It turned it’s attention to it’s assailant and let out a deep, bone-shaking roar, purposely baring it’s teeth. The orange sibling ignored it’s threat and bucked again, this time aimed for it’s head, but the goliath revealed it’s surprisingly nimble abilities and dodged out the way and, with a swift turn of it’s massive form, swatted her away with it’s massive tail. She careened through the air and collided with a nearby tree, causing some of it’s apples to fall.
Before Applejack could return to her hooves, and the fight, a form rushed past her. It ran on two legs and wore strange garments all over it’s body save for it’s bald face and fore arms. It was headed straight for Applebloom. Worried it was another predator, the older sibling attempted to balance herself against the tree she only seconds before collided with. She was out of breath and could hardly see through her haze of sweat and tiredness. What she could make out was the same odd creature coming between the manticore and Applebloom, grabbing her and turning it’s back the monster and crouching, doing it’s best to protect the filly’s face from the onslaught of claws that now collided with the bipedal’s back.
The farmer couldn’t believe what she was seeing, an odd creature, clothed in odd fabrics from head to toe, was protecting her sister from the beast, subjecting it’s own odd body to the oncoming attacks. Another being ran by her, this one, though, she recognized as Big Mac.
His crimson fur created a blur as he made a mad dash towards the manticore, colliding his head with it’s side, causing it to go airborne. When it finally landed and it’s tumble came to a stop, it glared at the bright red stallion before retreating to the Everfree. The creature, it’s back torn to nothing but blood red stains and exposed spinal cord, released it’s grip on Applebloom before falling face first into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust that settled mostly in his massive wound. Applebloom ran to her sister. “Applejack! Are yah okay?” she asked, her accented voice thick with worry. “ Ah’m… ah’m fine sugarcube.” Her eyes drifted from her sisters head all around her body, searching for wounds. When she found none, some of the tension in her system was alleviated. That is, until, she remembered her sister’s unexpected savior, the strange bipedal. She slowly approached it, partly out of caution, but mostly because her side ached from her unexpected meeting with a tree.
When she was at it’s side, she could see that it was still breathing, albeit, rather raggedly. It’s head was slightly turned, revealing it’s dark blue eyes and short, pointy nose. As Applejack observed it’s face, she could see from it’s rapidly moving eyes that it was doing the same with her. “You… you’re Applejack.” it said, much to the farm pony’s surprise. It’s voice was deep, yet raspy. “H-how do you know that?” she asked with a tone more full of curiosity than accusing. “Is Ap-” he begins to cough violently, blood slowly pouring form his mouth and nose, “Is Applebloom okay?” it asked as it’s voice cracked. “How…? Yes, yes she’s alright, thanks to you.” She said, grateful towards the weird being. Applebloom slowly walked next to her sister and looked sadly at the creatures mangled back and bloodied face. “Hey, Applebloom come here.” the creature said, trying to keep it’s voice from wavering. The filly looked to her sister, who merely nodded and stepped back a bit. She slowly approached the beings face, tears slowly forming in her eyes. “ I want you to promise me something.” it said. “Anything, please jus’ tell me.” “promise you’ll try your best to get your cutie mark.” slightly taken aback by this odd request, she remained silent for a couple of seconds before responding. “ Ah… Ah will, but, please, tell me who you are.” the creature let a smile grace his cracked lips. “I’m…” it appeared to pause, deep in thought. “I’m a guardian angel.” it said, a cheery tone contrasting his physical state.
“An angel?” she repeated, stunned by this revelation. “Yup… although I doubt I look the part, especially now.” he allowed a light chuckle to escape his throat. Applejack worried deeply, but not for her sister, but for the angel laying in the dirt, a gapping hole in his back. “Everythin’s alright, we kin get you to the hospital an-” but she was interrupted by the guardian. “Please, I don’t like seeing the element of honesty lying, especially to herself. Just… just let me rest, please.”
“Thank you” Applebloom whispered before giving him a light peck on the cheek and lightly smiled . “No, thank you for letting me see that beautiful smile of yours. Now, please have Big Mac take you home.” The filly did as requested and had her brother accompany her home. All that remained were the fallen angel and the element bearer. “Why did you send her home?” Applejack asked. “She’s a strong filly, but I doubt she can stand seeing someone die.”
‘Die.’ The word echoed through her mind before she allowed a tear to roll down her cheek. “Don’t cry, please, just be glad that she’s okay.” Applejack nodded her head. “I’ll ask of you only one favor, please, give me a proper burial.”
2 months later
In the royal garden stood a large crowd of ponies, in the front was a pair of crying earth ponies, one an orange mare, the other a yellow filly, the recently earned cutie mark of a zap apple gracing he flank. Before the crowd stood Princess Celestia, behind her stood an object shrouded by a large cloth. When the royal alicorn finished speaking, the cloth was removed by her magic, revealing a statue perfectly resembling the guardian angel, standing tall and proud, a pair of large, graceful wings adorning his back.