"Spike, quick! Help me get this thing out of here," Twilight shouted as she neared the hulking mass before her. She use her magic to toss aside more debris in her drive to reach the injured thing moving among the wreckage. "We need to get it some help!” Truthfully, Twilight didn’t know where to go. Her mind needed time to think- time it didn’t have.
Spike, jogging behind her, suggested, “We should take it to the hospital!” Hospital! That word kicked her brain back into gear. She shook her head. They now stood over the motionless form.
"We can’t bring it to the hospital because it’s not a pony. The doctors wouldn’t know what to do- they could make things worse! Besides, the last thing we want to do is start a panic." Spike looked at her like she was crazy.
"But the doctors are trained to help, Twi!” Twilight shot him one of her famous do this or else looks. Spike begrudgingly helped Twilight with the hulking mass by first shifting pieces of debris off of it, and then trying to move it. It remained silent. Spike groaned with effort.
“Stand aside!” A purple aura surrounded it. "Ugh, this thing must way a ton!" Twilight was trying to lift it with magic. It was a grueling effort, almost as if there were invisible wards around it trying to repel the magic. It felt slippery, but Twilight Sparkle refused to give up. The unseen wards seemed to be weakening until suddenly, they vanished with a flash of amber light and a crackle reminiscent of electricity spells. It was with somewhat less difficulty that the unicorn lifted the thing. It was tough, but manageable.
Twilight had to think about where to go next. Medical magic was too risky to try without proper injury assessments, let alone on an absolutely alien creature. Thanks to its thick, armored shell, Twilight couldn’t even get a read on its injuries of appearance. She couldn’t even tell whether it was alive or not. Spike watched her suspend the thing in the air. He knew of but one pony who might be able to help them.
“Twilight, what about Fluttershy?”
Her face lit up as realization spread across it. “That’s it! Fluttershy works with all kinds of animals. If anypony can help, she can.” It would also keep the thing under wraps. It was nowhere near as good as taking it to the hospital, but what choice did they have? Twilight Sparkle knew it was the only safe place where it could be cared for without ponies finding out and potentially inciting a panic. The town had reacted poorly to Zecora, and she was just a cloaked zebra. She shuddered to think what would ensue if something astronomically more exotic suddenly exploded into their midst. That was why they had to go to Fluttershy's house. Fluttershy herself was scared of everything and anything, including her own shadow; she had onced screamed when she saw it. However, Fluttershy's knowledge of animals and their anatomy would provide the best chance of helping the creature.
"You’re sure about this? I mean, she’s scared of pretty much everything Twilight- everything."
"I know she is, Spike, but Fluttershy can't help but help anything in need. Besides, she knows about all kinds of animals; I’m sure that she’d at least have some idea of what to do. C’mon- let’s go." He shut up and followed her to Fluttershy’s house.
“GAH!” Twilight jumped and nearly dropped her cargo.
“What was that?”
Twilight pressed on and replied, “I don’t know, Spike. There’s slippery something about this thing. I keep on trying to grab it with magic, but it keeps on trying to break free- weird...” Spike eyed the thing suspiciously, but remained quiet. The mare was not in the mood for wild speculation about what kind of evils must be hidden inside. As the pair drew near Fluttershy's house, the overcast day broke into a torrential downpour.
They were thoroughly soaked by the time they arrived on Fluttershy’s doorstep. Strangely, their passenger was completely dry, for all the raindrops that came near him disintegrated with a flash of that peculiar orange light. Twilight knocked as loudly as she could so it could be heard over the thunder. They stood there for a moment waiting for Fluttershy to answer. Knowing her, she was probably hiding under her bed because of the storm. It was quiet for several tense minutes. Just as Twilight was beginning to calculate what it would take to teleport the three of them to the hospital, the door creaked open. Fluttershy peeped through the crack in the door. "Y-Yes?" she asked tremulously.
"Oh thank Celestia! Fluttershy, I need your help with something." Twilight levitated the metal object into view. It had been covered in ash and soot before, but now it was cleaned off; or at least partially. Twilight could see what looked like scratches and burn marks on the outer part. It reminded her of armor, but she couldn’t be sure; it didn’t look anything like the armor she was familiar with. Parts of it were covered in this strange black substance that looked like plastic. Twilight was practically pleading with her friend. "This....creature needs your help. It's badly hurt and might die. I'd take it to the hospital, but it’s not a pony and I don’t want to cause a panic. The only place I could think of was here. Can you help, Fluttershy? Please?
Fluttershy, now curious, stuck her head out to get a better look at it. At the sight of it, Fluttershy did squeal and retreat inside, slamming the door with more violence than a mare like her ought to possess. Rather, the pegasus gasped in horror and flung open the door for Twilight and the patient.
Fluttershy cleared off a space on the floor, shooing aside Angel, who scampered away when the body was dropped there. Then, what looked to be a helmet came off the alien. It rolled a few inches away and came to stop with the neck hole on the floor. Twilight got a good look at the creature’s face. The skin seemed very white- almost too white. It had no snout to speak of; it was flat! Its main was nonexistent, or had been shaved off and confined to a strange flat top style covering the scalp. What was still there was a deep brown. It seemed to have more hair, but not much. Its nose was crooked, as if it had been broken more than once. It's lower chin and face was covered in brown stubble. A rather impressive collection of scars large and small crisscrossed all over the head.
Fluttershy looked extremely baffled and worried. “Can you get the rest of this metal off it, please? I’ll go get my supplies.” The pegasus shot up the stairs, leaving Twilight Sparkle and Spike alone. The dragon knew better than to bother Twilight when she was trying to concentrate, so he stayed out of her way.
Twilight didn’t know quite what to do. She started by defeating the shields, again, which was becoming an extremely exhausting task. She then searched the suit for any sort of separations or gaps. She found a few around the midsection. It took a lot of effort to release the locks, but they yielded when the unicorn applied more force. A small hissing of gas and crackle of amber energy escaped. Twilight noticed that the slipperiness finally quit. She surveyed the rest of the enormous body, trying to figure out how to release it. This was no easy feat, as unlike ponies, he limbs were comparatively bulbous and didn’t nicely taper to points. Again, Twilight searched for locks that could be opened. She found them near the ends of the limbs. These were much easier to remove, although each piece seemed to some ludicrous amount. It took another few laborious minutes to completely remove the shell. The upper body was covered in a strange sleeveless shirt featuring a multitude of narrow white and crimson horizontal stripes. The lower region was covered in a form-fitting garment almost halfway down to what could have been the knees.
Fluttershy returned came in with supplies; a needle, thread, gauze, cotton balls, and some warm water. They began to examine the body together, looking all over it. They found a medium-sized wound with a piece of metal sticking out. Blood could be seeped from the gash. The creature was still silent and still, save for an occasional twitch in one of its strange paws with the long toes connected to the upper body. They didn’t have a word for them. They were kind of like the paws owned by diamond dogs, and the other limbs had what they clearly recognized as feet. Sparse dark hairs coated the creature.
"Alright, Twilight I'm going to need you to roll it over onto its stomach so i can reach the wound," Fluttershy ordered. Twilight did as she was told, rolling the being over. Without another word, Fluttershy began to do her work, cleaning it out with the hot water and cotton balls, and then removing the piece of metal, which had lodged itself between two bones. More blood flowed from the gash, quickly soaking the gauze pieces. Spike chose that moment to reenter the room from the kitched. Fluttershy looked at him and commanded, “Spike, go back into the kitchen and grab some big towels.”
“Okay,” he shrugged and vanished from sight. He soon returned with several white towels.
“Thank you.” Now, she gave some instructions to Twilight. “Twilight, could you please put some pressure on the wound so we can close it?” The unicorn complied. Magic made this job several times easier. The towels were all soon drenched with blood, but the flow did gradually slake. Fluttershy voiced her worry. “I'm not really at all familiar with his anatomy, although it does seem to resemble apes in a way. But I’ve never seen a real one of those; only those monkeys at the Grand Galloping Gala." Twilight blinked. She didn’t know how Fluttershy determined that it was male, but that was irrelevant.
Twilight reassured her. “Just do whatever you think you have to. So what comes next? This bleeding isn’t stopping.”
“Well, um… I’m going to need you to hold the wound shut so I can stitch it together.” Twilight nodded and a purple aura covered the gash. Fluttershy began to stitch up the wound, but it took a surprising amount of time to complete her task. Not only was the wound huge by pony and animal standards, for it would have completely slit her belly open, but it was also extremely complex. Some parts were cut. Others were torn. It was just a horrible, bloody mess. Nevertheless, Fluttershy managed to eventually create a satisfactory seal. She wrapped the wound in bandages to stop it from bleeding everywhere, as well as to keep it compressed and closed.
Now that was done, they all gazed upon the creature. It did not look pretty. It was huge; certainly bigger than most ponies. It might have been larger than Princess Celestia or Big Macintosh. Its skin was a sickly shade of white, as if it seldom saw the sun. It might have been forced to live in its armor for months at a time. Its musculature was amazing; while the muscles were large, they were definitely toned instead of merely bulky; they were designed to work long and hard. Myriad bruises, scrapes, and small cuts coated its skin. There were certainly scars everywhere. Much of its body was sparsely covered with dark hairs. It was extremely lean, with almost absolutely no body fat to be found anywhere. Its ribs could be plainly seen underneath the skin through the sides of its shirt. The chest rose and fell slowly and deeply, suggesting that it were in a deep sleep. It all looked simultaneously mighty yet exhausted, as if it had been doing far too much for far too long with far too little food and rest.
Spike, who had grabbed the thing’s helmet and sat in a chair across from the two mares, looked at it quizzically. "You mean to say that you've never seen anything like this? The mare who loves every animal there is and knows everything about them doesn't know what this is???" Fluttershy nodded her head. "Well that's just great! This thing's an alien!" Spike shouted. Twilight glared at him and then focused her attention back onto Fluttershy.
She tried to take a much more sensitive approach. "Fluttershy, I know I've asked a lot of you, but I need to ask for something again. I need this to stay here for the night. There isn't room at the library, and if I have to make the journey through Ponyville with this thing, there will be questions. I lucked out while bringing it here, but I don’t want to risk it again. Can you let me keep it here?" she asked her friend.
Fluttershy stood there for a while, thinking. She finally nodded, knowing it would need to be cared for over the night anyways. "Yes, it can stay. But only for a night." Twilight beamed and gave her a hug. She smiled. "Now go, before the storm gets worse,” Fluttershy said. Twilight nodded, and grabbed Spike, leaving the helmet behind.
Once Twilight had left, Fluttershy looked at the creature before her. It was far too large for any piece of furniture in her home, so she took cushions from her seats, sofas, and stools in order to construct a makeshift bed for it. After laboriously rolling it onto this assortment of cushions, Fluttershy trotted up to her room, thinking that it might want a pillow to sleep on, so she retrieved them. Once she had returned, she laid the pillow next to it, and shifted its head onto it. As she was about to lay a blanket on top, Fluttershy could have sworn that it seemed to briefly stir and open its eyes. A brief vocalization did escape it though. It sounded confused, but not pained. Good, so her patient was alive and not suffering.
Suddenly, it woke up! "W-What are you?" it asked before falling unconscious once again. Fluttershy screamed and ran up to her room, locking the door and barricading it with everything she had.