//------------------------------// // 1 // Story: The maned ape // by sykko //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle is a filly on a field trip with her class. She and her fellow students from Princess Celestia's School for Extraordinary Unicorns are being escorted through a nature preserve at the base of Mount Lot by the princess and several teachers. The students "Oooo!" and "Ah!" as the princess gestures to various plants and animals as she speaks about them. Twilight jots down the common names, the scientific names and a clear description of each on her notepad dutifully with her pencil. She leaves space for further annotations of each she can add later on when she can further study if each species is common, uncommon, rare, threatened or endangered. A guard comes up and whispers something into Princess Celestia's ear. A grim expression momentarily crosses her face. She quickly puts her motherly smile back on and turns to the class. "I'm sorry, My Little Ponies. A matter has come up that requires my immediate attention. Stay with your teachers and I will return shortly." She nods to the teachers, whom splits up the field trip into smaller groups and continues the princess' lessons on Equestria's wildlife. Twilight uses momentary chaos to slip away. She had never seen Princess Celestia have a grim expression before, even when the news was bad. This piqued her curiosity. She tramped down the trail that the princess had went down, her hooves kicking up little puffs of dust in the soil as she went along. Twilight could hear Princess Celestia talking to somepony just ahead around a sharp bend in the trail, but she couldn't hear what was being said. Slipping into the trees, she silently wove through the underbrush. She could hear the tail end of the conversation. "That's the second one poachers have gotten to in the past three years, Captain Iron Shoes." Princess Celestia clearly sounded displeased and irritated. "At least we caught them before they could finish butchering the carcass.", Captain Iron Shoes replied Twilight mused on what she had heard. She had read about poachers before. They were ponies, griffons and other creatures who illegally hunted rare, endangered and/or exotic animals, often for their feathers, hides and organs to be sold illegally. She had heard her parents one evening talking about a recent raid by the Canterlot police on a clothing store that was selling hats made with feathers from the rare and endangered Jubjub Bird that had been attained illegally. Her mother had been forced to retire early from the Canterlot police force when a criminal armed with an unregistered thunderbolt rod had seriously wounded her. That had inspired her BBBFF, Shining Armor, to join the Royal Guard. This had prompted her to push forward. Maybe she'd see her brother at work. What Twilight Sparkle experienced would be burned into her memory for the rest of her days. The air was mixed with the smells of ozone from magical weapons, singed flesh and blood. Medics tended to two of the guards' wounds. The four poachers, a unicorn, a pegasus, a griffon, and a minotaur, had been chained together and were currently being herded into a caged wagon by a combination of Nature Rangers and Royal Guards. Nature Rangers and Royal Guards were photographing, documenting and loading into nearby wagons snares made of chord, spring-loaded black iron traps, an assortment of bladed implements and platinum rod magical weapons. On a rack made of branches and chord was a drying, mostly hairless hide. There were images that appeared to be made of ink embedded into the hide, two looked like stylized swallows and one was an eagle standing atop a globe and anchor, the eagle had a long ribbon in its beak with strange writing. Laying on the ground was a creature, bright red and bloody from where it had been skinned. She knew what she was looking at from a picture in one of her natural history textbooks, a maned ape. Twilight felt sick to her stomach and tears stung her eyes. Why? Why did they kill and skin one of the rarest creatures in Equestria's history? She couldn't stay here. Everything about what was going on was wrong. She began to back away from her hiding spot. If she had been paying attention to what she was doing, she wouldn't have bumped into a slender tree and disturbed a mockingbird's nest. Twilight yelped in fright and scampered out from the trees where she had been hiding as the pair of angry mockingbirds flapped around her head, squawked repeatedly and pecked at her. Princess Celestia turned her head to the commotion and a look of sadness crossed her features. She trotted over to her protege and shooed the mockingbirds away. As the pair of angry birds flapped back to the trees, one stopped and blew a raspberry at the pair of ponies. The princess draped a wing over her protege, shielding the filly from the repugnant imagery. "Twilight, you should have stayed with the class. This is no place for foals." Twilight's ears pinned back and she ducked her head. "I'm sorry.Please don't be mad at me, princess." She sniffled and tears welled up in her eyes. Celestia flicked her protege's tears away with a feather. "I'm not mad, Twilight. I'm not happy you saw all this awfulness. Nopony should have to see something like this, especially a foal." "But why did they kill such a rare animal?" Princess Celestia grit her teeth. "Some ponies--", she spat that word out like it was poison. "...like to kill rare animals for their hides because they think wearing them is fashionable, and they think their meat and organs can be used for bunk medical treatments." "L-like how poachers chop the horns off of rhinoceroses?" "Just like what bad ponies do with rhinoceros horns. Let's get you back to the field trip, I'm sure the teachers are looking for you." As the pair rounded the bend on the trail, Twilight heard somepony call out, "We've got a strange weapon here!" *burp* Green flames spewed from the purple and green dragon's mouth. A scroll materialized from the flames. *zzzz-snrkt* Twilight woke up on one of the reading couches she had fallen asleep on. She had been exhausted from helping Applejack with apple bucking season. The earth pony mare had worked herself nearly to collapse. Sometimes that mare could be more stubborn than a whole herd of donkeys. Sitting up, Twilight rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She saw Spike gripping the scroll in his claws. She recognized the wax seal stamped with the royal solar symbol, a message from Princess Celestia. Lighting her horn, she levitated the scroll from her little brother, broke the seal, unfurled it and began reading the message. Dear Twilight Sparkle, I am sending a pegasus chariot to collect you and your friends. The guards are under orders to bring you and your friends with utmost haste to Lavender Lace Laboratories in Manehattan. I cannot disclose at this time what has been found other than it is both most fortuitous and most worrisome. ,Princess Celestia Rarity had swooned at the mention of Manehattan, swooned at the sight of the chariot, and now that it was making a lazy loop over the city, she swooned again. "The glitz! The glamour! The sophistication! The culture!", she placed a hoof to her forehead and did an overdramatic swoon. The pegasi guards simply rolled their eyes at the overdramatic actions of the white unicorn. "Rares! This city ain't all that. Or didja forget that Ah lived here for a short time?", Applejack said in a nonplussed tone. "Not all that?! Not all that?! This is Manehattan! The second grandest city in all of Equestria! Briddleway! Bronclyn! Saddle Row!" "An' home to some o' the rudest ponies you'd ever meet. The only reason why the ponies in Canterlot aren't ruder is b'cause they're all too busy sniffin' their own farts. No offense, Twi." Twilight waved off Applejack's comment. "No offense taken, Applejack. Mom used to say that the Canterlot royals had their noses jammed so far up their own plots that they would have to cough just to take a shit." Twilight's friends goggled at her. The pegasi guards snickered at the comment, they'd share that tasty morsel of the princess' prized purple protege using curse words around the barracks, probably much to the displeasure of Captain Shining Armor. The chariot set down on the curb in front of Lavender Lace Laboratories. Royal guardsponies surrounded the building on all sides, preventing entry or exit to all but approved ponies. Manehattan police had set up a three-block cordon tokeep the crowds back. The official story given to the press was that Princess Celestia had come to tour the facilities. As the element bearers exited the carriage, one of the princess' many assistants approached them. The stink of cigarette smoke clung to the mare's fur. "Princess Celestia is awaiting you six inside. This way, please.", she said in a gravelly voice that spoke to how many cigarettes she had probably smoked before they arrived. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flapped their wings to waft away the smell of cigarette breath. Pinkie Pie and Rarity waved their hooves in front of their noses. Applejack recognized the smell as the preferred brand that Granny Smith partook of when she thought nopony was looking. Twilight simply chose to breathe through her teeth as she smiled at the aide, she knew how stressful being an assistant to Princess Celestia was and how many had turned to smoking and drinking to deal with the stress, she hated the smell of cigarettes. The assistant led the six through the front door of the building. Guards had checkpoints setup scanning everypony for magical weapons, hidden cameras or secret microphones. Twilight scanned around the place hoping to catch a glimpse of Shining Armor, and pouted slightly when she didn't see or hear her BBBFF. One-by-one the six mares stepped in front of the pair of platinum rods, thick as a hoof and walked through. They shuddered at the fur-crawling sensation of the scanning spell, though harmless, the mild static discharge across their fur was uncomfortable. Once through, a contingent of guards escorted them to where the princess was waiting. She was standing in front of a two-way mirror. She gestured at the group to hurry up. "Twilight!", she said in an excited, but hushed tone, "They've found a live maned ape!" Twilight ran over and looked through the two-way mirror. Laying in the gurney was a maned ape. Its mane was a bright red. The bright red mane extended to its face. The sparse, curly fur on its barrel, forelimbs and around its genitals were the same color as its mane. "It's a male." She noted that the sparse red fur on its hind limbs was straighter. She took note of the stitches and staples holding wounds closed on its barrel, and the cast on its left hind limb. "How did it get injured?" "A trio of griffon poachers chased it into the city where they proceeded to stir up a panic. When the police arrived on the scene, the poachers fled and Big Red fled into the alleyways." Twilight quirked her head to the side. "Big Red?" "That's what the medical staff has named him, because of the color of his mane and fur, and because of his size." Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry. "Only eggheads could come up with such a lame name. He needs a much cooler name that would reflect his coolness and awesomeness and radicalness like Doomageddon the Great or Sir Stomps-a-lot." Twilight rolled her eyes at her multi-spectral friend. "Anyways. When the police subdued him, is that how he got injured?" "Those are wounds caused by gouge-spears and clamp-traps.", Fluttershy said with an angry growl and snort. "If I ever see them meanie pants, I'll kick them to death!" She noticed the surprised looks her gave her, well except for Applejack and retreated behind her mane. "I-i-if that's okay with them." "Ah'm with Fluttershy on this'un.", Applejack said. "Poachers killed my pa. He ran a whole mess o'em off our property when Ah was a filly. They came back an' left some strangle-snares high enough to nab a pony. Big Mac found 'im caught up half-up a tree, the life choked outa 'im. He ain't been right since. In my opinion they all need a short drop with a sharp stop an' tossed in a hole." Celestia cleared her throat to get the attention of all in the room. "While I agree with Fluttershy and Applejack's view on the matter, they must be brought to justice through the courts. If we allow vigilante justice to be carried out, how long before somepony has a lynch mob sicced on them just because they're an earth pony, a pegasus or a unicorn in the wrong town." She paused to allow the weight of her word to sink in before continuing. "We cannot leave him here. We don't know how many accomplices the poachers have, or if they're already in the city. I could order a full contingent of guards to remain here at all time, but Manehattan could ill afford the resources needed to maintain a no pony's zone around the building indefinitely. As soon as the medical staff clears him for transport, I'm having him transferred to Ponyville under the care of Dr. Flora Fauna. It's isolated enough that the poachers would have to go out of their way to track him and close enough to Canterlot that if something were to happen, emergency response can be there in an hour as the pegasus flies." *** That evening the medical staff at Lavender Lace Laboratories had declared Big Red stable enough for transfer. Three pegasus-drawn covered carriages left the building, one bound for Canterlot, one bound for Ponyville and the last bound for Whinnyapolis. In truth none of the carriages carried anypony or even a maned ape. Princess Celestia stayed in Manehattan for a short time longer, creating a spectacle as she used her magic to paint the sky brilliant colors as she set the sun. She then strode out to the throngs of her subjects, shaking hooves and kissing foals. A guard disguised as a civilian approached the princess holding a photograph of her and a scroll with a poem that was a coded message. The message was from Luna and the disguised guard was one of her Night Guard, it read, "The carriages bound for Canterlot and Ponyville were tailed by a pair of poachers each. When they were approached by the Night Guard, they fled. The carriage bound for Whinnyapolis was attacked by a squad of poachers. The Night Guard managed to capture two of them." Celestia made her usual show of asking the stallion their name and signing the picture with a flourish that was the secret short-hoof that she and Luna had developed many, many centuries ago to send secret messages to one another that said two simple words, "Message received." Celestia bent her head down to whisper to one of the Royal Guards. He nodded his head and moved back through the column of armored guards. A moment later an armored pegasus took flight from the rear of the column of guards and headed towards Lavender Lace Laboratories. That night a pair of simple pegasus-drawn covered wagons marked with the logo of a local moving company left the city on a northerly route. Once well away from the city, the pair of wagons made a wide loop to the south, headed towards Ponyville. One wagon held six sleeping mares. The other wagon held the comatose maned ape. It had been a week since Big Red had been brought to Ponyville. Doctor Flora Fauna had kept a constant vigil over him and each of the element bearers had assisted her in medical care, though Pinkie had been relegated to the observation room as she kept trying to throw "wake up parties" for the comatose patient. Twilight was looking over the police reports about the capture of Big Red that the princess had sent her. The Manehattan police had tried to use stun rods on him, to a minimal effect. The stun rods had slowed him down, but they weren't able to immobilize him. It was him succumbing to his injuries that led to his capture. Twilight looked over the medical reports. Big Red had lost a lot of blood and attempts to heal him using spells and magic potions had reduced effects. To keep him asleep so they could operate, they had to apply sleeping potions to an overdose level. The levels of potions applied would have caused a pony's body to completely shut down. Twilight scoured the library for what she needed, "Maned apes in the mist by Dr Allhoof". It wasn't a thick book, but it was the most comprehensive one on maned apes. She cracked the book open and read the primer for the first chapter. Concerning the maned ape, there are three known subspecies. The four-fingered maned ape, the five-fingered maned ape and the six-fingered maned ape. The four-fingered maned ape is affected normally by all forms of magic. The five-fingered maned ape is resistant to magic. The six-fingered maned ape is completely immune to all known forms of magic. Of the three, the five-fingered is the most common. "Resistant to magic. Resistant to magic." Twilight rolled the words over in her mouth and looked back over the reports the princess had sent her. There it was in black-and-white. Stun rods didn't immobilize him, only slowed his down. Healing spells had a reduced effect on him. It took an overdose of sleeping potions to keep him under, and that didn't kill him, instead putting him into a comatose state. Twilight went back to reading the book when the library door burst open and Applejack ran in. "Twi, he's awake!" "Who?" "Big Red! He's awake!"