Discord looked at Tempest as soon as they were back in Sunny Oasis. “Alright, we're safe now, we can... Tempest?” Her eyes were closed. He quickly landed, hurrying for Kris's house. He didn't waste time knocking, just throwing the door open and running in. “Kris! Tempest is hurt!”
The storm creature jumped up, but before she could get annoyed at his intrusion, she saw Tempest's side and gasped. “Quickly, bring her over here!” She led him to a different room with a bed in it, and Discord laid Tempest down.
Now that she was stretched out, he could see the deep tear in her skin, starting at her shoulder and going all the way across her side, ending at her hip, and it was steadily bleeding.
Discord stared in shock. His initial reaction was to raise his hands, ready to use his magic to stop it, but he didn't want to make the situation worse. He could cause internal bleeding instead if he misjudged the depth of the wound! He hesitated, but luckily Kris regained her composure almost immediately and moved into action. “She's losing a lot of blood, first thing I need to do is get the bleeding to stop. Discord, fold this cloth into a square and apply pressure to the gash. I'll do the same.” She tossed him a cloth, and he quickly folded it while she did the same with her own. Then they pushed the squares against Tempest's side.
“Is this really all we can do?” Discord asked.
“These cloths are laced with a clotting agent,” Kris explained. “They'll help her stop bleeding, and once that's done I can check her for further damage.”
“Is she going to be okay, she doesn't look like she's breathing, have you checked-”
Kris turned and slapped him. He jerked back, and she said, “I can't have you panicking on me. Get a hold of yourself.”
He blinked, then sighed and looked back down at Tempest. “Thanks.” He silently berated himself for almost panicking.
“She's breathing. It's just very slow.” Kris felt the side of Tempest's neck, finding her jugular. “And I've got a heartbeat here. She'll be okay. But what happened?”
“We went to confront the Roc,” Discord explained. “She tried talking to her, but she refused to find any sort of peaceful solution. She said she was going to kill and eat everyone here. Tempest got mad and attacked her, and we ended up fighting. And well... the Roc kicked her. Got her right here with a single claw. I'm glad it was only the one claw, but it did some serious damage. Threw Tempest through the air, I was lucky I saw it happen and was able to catch her before she hit the ground. She might have died.”
“Oh, poor dear.” Kris checked Tempest's temperature. “I'm glad she had you looking out for her.” She lifted the cloth and glanced underneath. “Okay, looks like the bleeding's stopped. If you'd like to clean the blood off, I'll check for broken bones.”
Discord snapped his fingers and vanished the blood. Kris didn't comment on it, feeling along Tempest's rib cage. She lingered about halfway down it, furrowing her brow.
“What is it?” Discord asked, concerned.
“She's got a few broken ribs.”
“Oh, that's terrible! I wish I could help, but I... I mean I can heal a broken horn, but bones are much more complicated, they've got all that muscle attached to them and there's nerves and...”
Kris touched his arm. “It's alright. I know what to do, I've patched her up plenty of times before. Her own body will be better at healing her than anything else.” She pulled on some gloves. “I'm glad she's unconscious, now I can set her bones without her feeling it. Though... you may want to hold her down, just in case.”
Discord nodded and went around to the other side of the bed, holding Tempest down. Kris began pushing her bones into place, and Discord winced at the audible popping noises, keeping his eyes on Tempest's face. It didn't wake her up, but he saw her ears flick. Kris was quick, setting the ribs and then sewing the wound together. It took her a while, as the gash was nearly two feet long. But finally she was finished and picking up a length of bandages.
“Alright, now if you could just lift her up slightly so I can bind her ribs,” Kris said.
Discord carefully lifted Tempest, and Kris wrapped the bandage around her barrel.
“Should we make sure we cover the rest of her wound?” Discord asked, seeing that a good bit of the wound was still visible over her shoulder and thigh.
“This is just to keep her ribs in place,” Kris explained. “I can put normal sticky bandages over the rest of her wound.”
Once Tempest's chest was bound, Discord set her down and Kris covered up the rest of the cut. With that taken care of, she gently stroked her neck.
“Poor dear,” she said. “But that was very brave of you both to take on that fearsome creature.”
“We had no choice. She was going to kill everyone, we had to do something.”
“So... how did the fight go? Did you defeat her?”
Discord shrugged. “I'm not sure. I basically collapsed a mountain onto her, but I think I saw her moving a bit. I didn't have time to check, I just wanted to get Tempest back here. And I'm glad I did, because she passed out from the blood loss as soon as I teleported.”
“I'm glad you brought her back then. A few more minutes and she might have lost too much blood.” Kris sighed at how soaked the bed was. “I know I've asked you for a lot, but if it's not too much trouble, do you think you could hold her up again so I can put down fresh linen?”
“Oh, absolutely.” Discord used magic to levitate her, not wanting to risk hurting her ribs. He was able to hold her completely steady in a comfortable position, and Kris quickly pulled the bloody blankets off. She made sure it hadn't soaked into the mattress, then pulled on fresh sheets. Then she gestured for Discord to put Tempest back down. He did, and rested her head on a pillow. She slept on, unaware.
Kris gathered up the dirty sheets. “I wish I had more equipment, but we'll just have to monitor her ourselves. I put in a request for a heart monitor though, maybe I'll get one soon. And I need more supplies for my IVs, and oh... being a medic is such an expensive job.”
“I imagine so. But I'm glad you're here, and you've done a great job with what you have,” Discord said.
She smiled and carried the sheets out.
Discord picked up the chair from the corner of the room and took it over to the side of Tempest's bed, sitting down and watching her. He held her hoof, gently stroking it with his thumb, watching her chest rise and fall with slow breaths. But her breathing seemed even, and he was hopeful that she would make a full recovery.
Several minutes passed. Kris returned to check on them, and said that Tempest will probably wake up soon, and once she does, to make sure she drinks water. She left a gallon jug of water on the table along with some painkillers, and said she would be back soon, she just wanted to check up on everyone who had been injured in the bandit attack. Discord nodded and said goodbye, and returned to watching his partner.
“Ugh, I should have been paying attention,” he growled to himself. “I knew you were down there at the Roc's feet trying to attack her, I should have stopped her from kicking you, if I had just put a little more effort into my magic, maybe I could have defeated her...” He felt the corners of his eyes sting and hastily wiped them off. “No, don't cry,” he ordered himself. “You're better than that. Look, she's fine. Your... your marefriend is... fine.” It was still weird to think of Tempest that way. Marefriend. Girlfriend. Partner. Whatever term, it didn't matter, but she was his. And he wished he had taken better care of her.
He kept talking to himself. It was really his main way of coping with things, and he's done it for so long it was second nature. “At least she's asleep. Maybe by the time she wakes up, she won't be in much pain.” He looked up and down her body, taking in the old scars. She's been through a lot growing up, countless battles, and the evidence of them was plain on her hide. He thought it made her look tough. And now, judging from how deep that wound in her side was, she would likely be adding another scar to the collection. But at least it would make an epic story, he mused.
He wondered what will happen after this. Was the Roc injured too? Would she come back for revenge? Maybe he should go back and finish the job. Tempest will probably be asleep for quite some time, he can probably teleport to the mountain and back without her noticing. He stood up, hand slipping away as he prepared to go.
Then she moved, legs curling in a little closer and her ears laying back. “Ugh, that hurts...”
Discord immediately leaned over her. “Tempest? Are you awake?”
Her eyes flickered open, blinking before focusing on him. She tried to get up, but he pushed her back down.
“No, don't move, you're injured,” he said.
“That would explain why my side hurts so much,” she replied. She licked her lips and coughed. “Ugh, my mouth is so dry.”
“Here, drink this.” Discord passed her the water. She uncapped it and took several gulps, before cringing and putting the jug down.
“Oww, ow, that's bad, what happened?” She looked at the bandages.
“You were kicked by the Roc and one of her claws gave you a nasty cut,” Discord replied. He handed her the painkillers. “Here, take these too.” He waited for her to swallow them, then continued, “The blow also broke some of your ribs. I was able to bring you to safety, and Kris fixed you up. But you'll need to rest for a while so you can heal.”
“Oh. I remember being thrown out of the nest, and you catching me... everything just seems kinda blurry.” Tempest rubbed her eyes and sighed. “I guess I passed out, then?”
“Yeah, you did. You were losing a lot of blood. But it's okay. You're going to be fine.”
“I sure hope so.” Tempest picked up the water, drinking more slowly. “I think the Roc is still alive. I saw her move right before I passed out.”
“Yeah, I think so too. I was just going to go check on her.”
“Mm. Man, I can't believe I just attacked the Roc like that. Knowing they're able to resist magic, and I just shot her. Ugh.” Tempest kneaded her pillow.
Discord chuckled and stroked her mane. “It was a good attempt, I think you actually hurt her with that first blow. It was just... everything else that didn't really affect her. I'm just glad you're alive. That could have been much worse. And you know what... when I go back, if she's still alive, I'm going to finish the job.”
Tempest thought about it, then shook her head. “No. One person alone probably can't do it, even if they're as powerful as you. We need a plan. I think... I think we should have the storm creatures help us. Get them to attack her, and distract her enough that then you can come around behind her and attack without her being able to block your magic. Then you can deal a killing blow.”
“So we're going to kill her? You don't want to keep trying for peace?”
Tempest sighed. “As much as I wish there was a peaceful solution... there isn't. She just doesn't want that, and we can't force her to change her mind. She wants to kill all of us, and after what we did, I doubt she's going to cooperate with us now. So... we'll get rid of her. For the good of Sunny Oasis, she has to go.”
Discord nodded. “If that's what you think is best.”
Tempest was quiet for a while as she finished the water. Then she set the jug down and gestured for Discord to lay next to her. He gladly did so, and she carefully snuggled up with him. “Thanks for catching me. I was certain I was gonna die when I went over the cliff.”
“Heh, no problem. I'm glad I saw what happened, otherwise I might have just kept fighting and not even noticed you going over. Thanks for screaming.”
“Oh, no problem I guess. I don't like screaming but I was really scared.”
“I don't blame you, that had to be terrifying.” He kissed her forehead. “But it's okay now. You'll get better and then we can teach that Roc a lesson.”
She smiled and cuddled closer, and Discord draped a wing over her to keep her warm. The bed was almost too small for him but he made do, curling up his tail and his neck around Tempest. She closed her eyes, resting her head on his neck and idly petting his side. Next thing he knew, she had fallen asleep.
“You must be really exhausted,” he said. “That, or those painkillers are stronger than I thought. But no matter. Rest, my dear. You need it.” He stayed with her as she dozed, deciding that he can check up on the Roc later. After getting tons of rock dumped on her, she definitely wasn't going anywhere.
Discord waved his hand and pulled the curtains across the window, casting the room into darkness. Then he rested his arm across his partner and held her close, pressing a kiss to one of her ears before drifting off to sleep with her.