//------------------------------// // Final Push // Story: Strange Flora // by Shockhoof //------------------------------// Morning wasn't exactly what Briar had expected when his eyes first shot open. His senses started connecting to his brain almost one by one. His vision began to come into focus, and the vile smell of the bog assaulted him. He went to move, assaulted with the pain of yesterday's wounds and the realization that something was holding him down. He shifted his neck and looked down the rest of his body, realizing that in the night he'd sunk slightly into the soft grass under him, and that Lyra had also suffered the same fate. He rolled over, prying his side from the muddy grass, and came to a full stand. Sitting on his hind quarters Briar observed his surroundings. It was still fairly dark. He had no idea what time it was, the only indication that time existed was the small specks of light sneaking through the foliage of the canopy. He looked at Lyra who was still sleeping. A deep sigh escaped him as he peered around the rest of the mire. His stomach growled and his throat was try, begging him for water. Trying to ignore his body's requests for sustenance he lifted his forward right hoof to nudge Lyra awake. The moment he touched her, a sharp pain shot up his entire leg, causing him to wince and let out a light whimper. He pulled the hoof close to his face to inspect it. The bandages were soaked through with blood. He unwrapped the gauze to look at his injuries. The wound that had been created by the fall yesterday was clearly infected. Gray puss oozed from the wound with each beat of the stallions heart. The puss was only the beginning though. Briar wiped off the puss to find that under it his tissue had started to blacken, and the flesh around the edges was a sickly green. Worried he checked the rest of himself over. The scrape on his chest didn't appear to be severe. He couldn't tell if his horn was damaged, or if it was infected around the base, so he moved to try to wake Lyra again. This time he took his left hoof and nudged her gently. "Lyra, Lyra come on, we should go." The mare rolled over still sleeping. Drool dribbled from her mouth and she muttered something incomprehensible. Still in a hushed tone he tried again. "Lyra, we have to get moving, we may have taken too long already." "Mnn. I don't want to go back to school." Lyra continued to mutter small phrases in her sleep. Briar looked at her, saddened that he would have to be the one to wake her from her dreams into the horrible situation that reality seemed to be at the moment. "Lyra It's really time for you to get up." He grew slightly impatient and raised his voice to normal levels. "Lyra get up." The mare bolted up into a sitting position that didn't seem to fit a pony very well. "I'm awake!" she practically shouted. Her stomach immediately tried to set priorities by growling loud enough that they could both hear it. "What've we got for food?" She didn't seem the least bit phased to be in the bog. She scratched her stomach with a front hoof and took to standing. "Not much I'm afraid. This was really only suppose to take a few hours. I think I still have two soggy sandwiches." He began to rifle through his pack until he pulled out what would have to be their breakfast. He passed one to her and they ate in silence, both peering around at the trees and bubbling bog. Finished with his sandwich Briar was the first to speak. "If I had to venture a guess, I'd say we're likely not too far from where the forest makes the complete transition from trees to bog, and we just happen to be part that's still fairly wooded, early on in the transition." Lyra nodded, taking a bite of her sopping daisy based breakfast. The flavor would have been pleasant if not for the waters of the mire and their contaminants. "So which way do we go." "Well," Briar hesitated and took another glance around. "I'd like to say that way." He lifted a hoof to point. "The trees are thickest in that direction. We don't want to accidentally make it further into the bog, I've heard rumors of a hydra." Lyra nodded. She seemed much quieter than yesterday, only offering a "Mnn," in response. "Let's get moving." Briar stood up, lifting his right fore-foot to his chest and attempting to walk without it. Lyra stood as well, falling in close behind him. "Let's avoid yesterday's mistake. Get up next to me. I don't want either of us getting lost or separated." His voice seemed commanding, and as a result Lyra quickly came to his side, almost too close for comfort. As they made to limping through the bog, attempting to stay in as little water as possible, the tree behind them exhaled a deep and bellowing wish of fortune for them. Eventually coming to what was consistently dry ground Briar made another check around. "What is it?" Lyra's interest had been piqued. "It's nothing, could you um, wait here?" Lyra very quickly went from calm to fearful, to exploding with anger. "You want me to do what?! I'm not waiting anywhere! I don't care what the situation is, we're not separating even an inch while we're in this forest! I don't care what the circumstances!" To emphasize her point she practically slammed her side into his, taking a hoof and wrapping it over him, and pulling him tight to her. "I don't care." Her voice suddenly filled with sadness and dropped to nearly a whisper. "I don't want to get lost again. I don't anyone to die." Tears started to well up in her eyes and her voice started trembling. "This was supposed to be an easy trip, just to Zecora's house. And look at us. I was nearly killed by that... thing! You, you're hurt all over. Your hoof is injured and probably infected, your head too. Not to mention all the minor cuts and bruises that we both have. Plus you fell down that hole, who knows if you actually broke anything on the inside." By the end of her ramblings she had fully broken out into sobs and collapsed to her knees. "Lyra, I... you're right." Briar straightened his posture, and stared at one of the trees. "Excuse me," his horn began to glow. His head was immediately assaulted with enough pain to force him to stop. He tried to shake the pain that seemed to be spreading from the base of his horn. He took a few deep and staggered breaths. Lyra's sobs had quieted and instead she was only sniffling. He focused again, trying to keep his mind through the pain. "Excuse me, could you direct me to the Zebra Zecora's house." As soon as he finished his sentence he let the hold on his magic go, To Lyra the whole situation sounded bizarre. Briar's lips moved, but no sound seemed to come out. Though as soon as he was done speaking, the trees seemed to shake in the wind around him. Odder still was that she felt no breeze. "We should go this way," Briar said, motioning towards one of the larger trees. "How do you know?" She got to her hooves, her lips still trembling. She pulled herself close to him again, sticking by what she said before. "I err, I talk to plants, kinda." He started off in the direction he had pointed earlier, Lyra still determined to stay physically attached to him. The two of them continued in the same direction for what felt like ages before coming into view of a little cottage in a tree, just off to the right. Briar motioned for Lyra to knock on the door. The resounding thump of her hoof quickly brought the denizen to open it. The black and white mare opened the door to the two ponies and looked them up and down. "Oh dear, what a sight. The two of you gave me a fright." A look of concern quickly washed over her. "Unhealthy the two of you do look, come on in, I have food to cook." She made a motion with her hoof, beckoning them into her hut. The two ponies looked at each other, Lyra nodding to Briar before they entered. The decorations of the hut were frightening at first, but the numerous vials of liquid, brewing cauldron and odd smell seemed to give them hope. Shortly after sitting bowls with some manner of stew were placed in front of the pair. "Tell me what brings you to my hut. What has made you bruised and cut?" The Zebra continued to speak in her carefully metered tone. "We came to see if you had something that might help Ponyvile. It appears that," Briar paused to cough, "they've gotten into some trouble with this plant." He fetched the pulsating plant out of his bag, pushing it across the floor. "Ah, the Velnik plant of lore, I have seen this plant before. When ground to paste, and placed on head it can turn your hair to red. When eaten or ingested see you'll be glad you came to me." She gave a knowing smile. "Eat up, eat up, my pony friends, for this isn't where your journey ends." The two ponies nodded and began to eat silently while the zebra looked around her hovel and shuffled through a few things. After bringing a few things down onto the floor Zecora sat and waited patiently for the two to finish eating. "The cure for that is one of smoke, the plant you need is poison joke. I have some here, but just a bit. some per pony you must get." The zebra pushed a few instruments into their bags. The two nodded slowly, and gave thanks before leaving the shack, not having said much of anything the entire time. Once the door was shut behind them, they started off in the direction the zebra had pointed just before their leave. The poison joke wasn't hard to find, the distinctive coloring gave it away. Conveniently it was abundant on the path out of the forest. "Ms.Redheart, do you think they'll be back soon?" Pip asked the nurse. His voice was meek and pathetic, bringing a horrible feeling to Redheart's chest as she watched him in his hospital bed. "Yes, I'm sure they will." She felt like she was lying through her teeth. Twilight had assured her that the two ponies sent to the forest would only be gone a few hours, but a whole day had passed and the patients were only getting worse. Even the most resilient, Big Macintosh had come down with bad symptoms, unable to work. Redheart exited the room, once out of view of everypony else, she let her head and shoulders sink. The worry that seemed to fill her now was not only for her patients, but also for the two in the forest. It was unheard of for anyone other than the zebra who lived there to stay more than a few hours, let alone a night in the forest. She wandered out into the waiting room, which had become another place for sick ponies to sleep in the over crowded hospital. Her mopey mood was shattered as the door flung open, a male nurse looking frantic. "Nurse Redheart, we need your help, they're back." She rushed after the other pony, "What've we got?" she asked, her spirit restored as she quickly shifted mentally into 'nurse mode.' "Two broken ribs, an infected and broken hoof, likely head trauma, and a few minor injuries." The two raced down the halls of the hospital to find a stretcher, the quickly outside to a desperate sea-foam green pony dragging a brown stallion on her back. They rushed to her aid, and quickly transferred the stallion onto the stretcher, carrying him into the building. Another nurse quickly went to the mare's side to ask her questions, but Redheart was determined in her job, to get the stallion to a doctor. "What's your name?" She asked as she tried to keep the stallion awake. He continually shook his head, likely dizzy. His face looked like hell and he was covered in mud, twigs and leaves sticking from nearly everywhere. Once he was placed on an operating table a doctor came in. "Great news, the mare says that she has the cure for everyone here." The doctor, a blue mare with a silver mane, quickly began to clean the stallion off. "You did a great job buddy. Just hang in there until we can get you fixed up. Briar drifted into consciousness, but his eyes refused to open. "It looks like he'll make it." The unfamiliar voice of a mare drifted into his ears. He tried to move but wasn't able to. His hooves felt has heavy as boulders, and he couldn't feel his chest. He concentrated on the beat of his heart to make sure he was still alive. "Yes, and the others?" The voice of another mare he wasn't familiar with. "They'll be fine, most are already showing signs of improvement." If Briar had been able to smile he would have, but his lips refused to move, like they were pinned in place. "What about his leg?" It was the second voice again. "Sadly we'll have to amputate it. The infection is spreading, and its already killed a lot more tissue that it looks like. A lot of the decay is under the skin." Briar started to fill with panic he wanted to open his eyes and thrash about but he was immobilized by something. "And his horn?" "It should be fine, there will be scaring, but we'll be able to patch it all up." Briar could feel himself breathing heavily, but drowsiness grasped him and he fell again into unconsciousness. "Briar? Briar come on, get up." Lyra's voice rang in Briar's ear. He slowly opened his eyes. The bright light of the room felt blinding, but he refused to shut his eyes again. Finally dilating properly, Lyra came into view. "I'm so glad you're awake. When you collapsed just outside the forest, I was so worried." "Am I in the hospital." The question escaped his lips, but he didn't feel like he had really asked it. "Yes." Lyra nodded, and a smile displayed across her face. "How long?" Another question that made it feel like someone else was in control. "Thirteen days. But it's no surprise, you were a lot more hurt than we realized." "Celestia in Canterlot, that's a long time." He took a deep breath. "Lyra, is it gone?" He hadn't moved his head since opening his eyes. Lyra's head bobbed up and down. "How bad is it?" Her face looked puzzled for a moment as she stopped to ponder. "It's not so bad. Doctor says you'll learn to walk without it." She seemed to be relaxed. The sun shining through the window played across the far wall keeping Briar's attention for a few minutes. "I'll go tell the others you're awake. They'll want to know." Lyra hopped to the floor from her awkward looking sitting position in the chair. Briar tried to raise his hoof in protest, but was quickly reminded of his new situation. Once she was out of the room, he wondered aloud. "Others?" He looked around the room to find the nightstand littered with dozens of well wishing cards, and a few deflated balloons. The next few moments seemed like a blur and before he knew it, there were nine other ponies crowded around his hospital bed. "Now careful y'all, don't crowd in too tight." He smiled at the voice of Ponyville's apple farmer, scanning the faces to find hers. He easily located her with her hat among the crowd. "Hey AppleJack." "Well don't go forgetting everyone else now." The orange pony smiled and motioned to the rest of the ponies in the room. Each of them gave their greeting, before the room fell silent. Briar looked around at each of their faces. Apple Jack, Rarity, a light blue pegasus with rainbow mane, Pinkie, Twilight, Lyra, Fluttershy, Nurse Redheart, and a pony he guessed was the doctor. He smiled warmly. "Thanks for coming by guys." "No, thank you darling. You saved us from my dreadful mistake." Rarity spoke up, she looked a bit embarrassed but still sincere. "It could have been anypony." "Perhaps, but it wasn't. It was you. And you gave a lot up to make it happen. I don't know many others that would have gone through all of that to help anypony." Twilight stepped forward this time. "Alright, that's enough everypony. Time to get out. You can come back to see him later." The doctor started pushing the others out of the room, leaving just Lyra and Briar again. "Thanks Lyra. I wouldn't have survived out there if you hadn't been there." He smiled. Lyra seemed less pleased though. "That's not true. I didn't do anything but carry you back to town, you would have made it here somehow." She stared at the ground. "Not at all, if not for you, I would have fallen into the hole, probably curled up and died." She stayed quiet for a long moment. "So do you think they'll let me out of here?" Her ears twitched in response and she looked up at him as he rolled over and out of the bed, falling onto his face, being unable to catch himself without his missing hoof. "Oh, no you should get back in bed." "Nope, I've been there thirteen days too long, wait any longer and I'll get fat." He pushed himself up off the ground coming to a full stand. He made his way to the door, walking awkwardly out of it.