//------------------------------//
// CH39: The Monster 
// Story: A Dubious Welcome 
// by Maonyman 
//------------------------------//

Anon was just climbing back into the truck when he felt his chest tighten with aimless fear. Some unnatural force exploded in the distance, and an agonized scream echoed faintly on the wind.
He blanched and grabbed Mpho by the arm.
"Get me in there, NOW."
The man nodded and he punched the gas, tires crunching in the dirt and rocks. Anon did not even know what to do, he just knew that Twilight needed him. He looked back to see the rest of the convoy leaping into vehicles and hurrying to catch up. 
Then he noticed a pistol in the center console.
After what felt like a long time, he ignored it. Tempting as it may be, he was not trained in its use and he knew that made him just as likely to accidentally hit Twilight as anyone else. But he had to get in there. He had to help her somehow.
"Quickly, quickly..." he muttered absently as they flew around the hill Starlight had mentioned. 
They easily spotted the small outpost not even a tenth of a mile away. The rest of the convoy roared up around them, men leaning out windows, rifles at the ready, and together they rolled up to the building, vehicles rapidly surrounding the place. Dozens of men leapt out of the vehicles and Anon joined them, still having no idea what to do, yet unable to stay still.
Then, as one, they hesitated.
There was an eerie silence and a strange chill in the air.
Everyone looked around at the other, not sure what they felt and not wanting to be the first to go and find out.
Then a wall exploded.
Every rifle was instantly raised and aimed at the fading dust. There was a long, tense silence. Then, finally, Anon saw there was a shape moving in the dust. A large floating shape... and it glowed.
"Mpho! Tell them to hold their fire!"
The man shouted in his language and the others hesitated, rifles wobbling uncertainly. 
Then a lumpy white mass silhouetted by Twilight's lavender glow floated gently out of the dust, Twilight and Starlight walking slowly behind her. As the dust settled, Anon recognized the floating mass as a pony.
Then he saw Twilight and Glimmer both dripping with blood.
Anon yelled hoarsely and ran up to Twilight, but a burst of magic punched him in the chest, forcing him to stop.
"I'm fine, Anon."
He blinked.
"It's not my blood."
His own blood ran cold, "...W-What?"
He could only stare dumbly as they slowly walked past him. The large white pony shaped lump--Celestia, he realized--floated up and into the bed of the truck. Only then did Anon notice the long white cone floating along beside her.
"Oh god..."
He stumbled forward to Twilight and saw that she was trembling.
"Twilight, I-I'm so sorry. It she...?"
"She's alive."
He slumped to his knees beside her, wanting nothing more than to reach out and hug her.
"That... that's good, right?"
Twilight nodded slowly, then abruptly sat down, her eyes far away.
The other pony, Starlight, turned toward her, tilted her horn, and with a glow, the blood covering them both slowly dissipated into the breeze. Anon gave her a look of intense gratitude for that, then slowly reached out toward Twilight. She jumped as he gently touched her withers, wings unfurling slightly, the whites of her eyes beginning to show.
"Twilight... what happened?"
She could only close her eyes and shake her head.
Instead Starlight answered coldly, "I'm afraid you won't be taking Arno into custody."
"W-What!?" Mpho sputtered.
"There isn't anything left of him to take."
Mpho looked stricken and muttered, "Udoti..."
Twilight voice was almost a whisper.
"I... killed him."
Anon's grip on her withers tightened.
"I killed him, Anon. I wanted to kill him. It was easy to do it."
She turned to stare up at him, tears trickling silently down her face.
"Am I a m-monster?"
Without hesitation he leaned forward and wrapped her in a tight embrace.
"No... no no, of course not. Shhhh, it's okay."
She shuddered and buried her face in his shoulder.
Lizzy, whose face had gone ghostly white, finally managed to find her voice, "W-What do you mean, 'there isn't anything left'?"
Starlight shot her a dark look, "I mean he was blasted with pure unfiltered magical energy and his body was disintegrated into ash."
"A-Ash?" Her voice took on a note of terror, "You... You fucking melted him!?"
She took a nervous step back, glancing fearfully at Starlight's horn. The unicorn scoffed disdainfully.
"Relax, lady. I'm not about to 'melt' you too."
"Starlight..." Twilight's voice was shaky but the note of warning was unmistakable. Starlight rolled her eyes in response, then floated the long white cone over to him.
"Come on, Anon. You healed Twilight, now work your magic on Celestia."
Twilight jerked upright.
"Yes! Oh Tartarus, Anon, please!"
He nodded somberly as he plucked the horn out of the air and eyed the jagged end of the horn critically.
"There's some material missing..."
Standing and turning toward the truck where Celestia lay, he called out to no one in particular, "I need a first aid kit, now!" Then he hopped up into the bed of the truck and knelt beside the trembling white pony, taking stock of her condition.
Mare, approximately fourteen hands. Pulse week and fluttering. Breathing labored, ragged, light wheezing. Unconscious, delayed pupil response. Horn shattered off at the base, probable concussion. Both wings featherless and covered in small sores and bruises. Small puncture wound near subclavian vein, severe bruising. Left forehoof broken and healed at a sharp angle without being set. Severe blood loss. Hypothermic."
Somebody held a first aid kit out to him and he grabbed it without even looking at them, eyeing its contents critically.
Adhesive bandages, two inch gauze pads, a gauze wrap, medical tape, antibiotic ointment, a thermal blanket, some single-use alcohol wipes, eye wash saline with cup, a few wooden tongue depressors, plastic tweezers, vinyl gloves, and an ammonia capsule.
A decent kit, all told, but there was one thing he needed that would never be in a simple kit like this.
"She's dangerously low on blood... what she really needs is a saline injection."
He was mostly muttering to himself, so Lizzy's answering voice surprised him a bit.
"We might be able to make that happen. Do you need anything else?"
He stared at her for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Clean water, preferably hot without scalding but cold is better than none. A table to work on. A razor blade or ideally a scalpel. Powerful painkillers and horse sedative in case she wakes." He glanced back at Celestia and added grimly, "A hammer, chisel, and small hacksaw--a bone saw, if you can find one. She might never walk right again on that hoof but I'll do my damndest to make sure she does."
Without waiting for a response, he turned back to the pony, pulled on the vinyl gloves, and began some basic first aid.
First thing was to pull out the thin metallic heat blanket and tuck it around her barrel as best he could, hoping to trap in some of her body heat and help compensate for missing so much blood. Then he examined the base of her horn and let out a low whistle.
It appeared to have been shattered off by some violent force such as a heavy hammer, but oddly, all the shards seemed to point away from the center. Nevertheless, he used the plastic tweezers and alcohol wipes to remove debris, clean and sanitize both halves of the horn, then made copious use of the adhesive bandages to hold the larger shards in place.
When he felt he could do no more cleaning, he carefully aligned the jagged ends of the horn and pressed it firmly into place. Attaching it with a few bandages, he then aligned three tongue depressors like splints and secured them with some medical tape. Finally, he used up the entire gauze roll to wrap it up tight, giving her a thick white knob at the base of her horn, plus a good portion of the medical tape to attach the gauze firmly to both ends.
Next was that ugly puncture wound, but when he focused his attention on it, he was surprised to see the bruise had faded and the puncture was already scabbing over. Her wings looked better too, the sores and bruises faded significantly. He checked her pulse again and found it steady and strong.
"Strange..."
"What?" Asked Lizzy.
"She's recovering remarkably well, that's all. Even faster than Twilight did."
He hopped off the bed of the truck and turned, opening his mouth to tell Twilight that Celestia would be okay, but Twilight was not there, nor was Starlight. He scanned the vicinity, but their distinctive purple coats were nowhere to be found.
A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
"For what it's worth..."
He turned around to see Izzy holding a pistol ready but not quite aimed at him yet.
"...I really am sorry."
His hands made it halfway up before someone grabbed him from behind in a horrendously tight choke hold. He flailed instinctively, but his medical knowledge already knew it was too late. That was enough force to get all the way through to the carotid artery. 
Already his vision was beginning to dim.
Just a few more seconds and his struggling ceased entirely.