//------------------------------// // Run // Story: Scarlet // by Skijarama //------------------------------// It looked even worse than it had before. Scarlet slid to a stop at the edge of the campsite, her eyes wide and her jaw agape as she took in the horrid sight. Primrose was still unconscious, her tiny chest rising and falling in a series of shallow gasps. With every single exhale she released, she also gave off a tiny, high-pitched whimper of agony. The pool of her own blood that had formed beneath her was still growing.  Lens was hunched over her, desperately applying pressure to both stab wounds with his hooves to try and stop the bleeding while rummaging through their saddlebags with his magic. He glanced up at Scarlet and nodded down at the dying foal. “Come on! Help me!” he shouted before chucking aside the apparently empty saddlebag and hauling over the next one. Scarlet came up to his side and knelt down, her eyes frantically searching for something she could help with. “W-w-what do I do?!” she asked, her voice trembling in abject panic. “Lens, what do I do!?” “Do you have bandages?” he asked immediately before passing the saddlebags over to her and focusing all of his attention on applying pressure to the wounds. “I don’t know what you have. We have to stop this bleeding, or she is going to die!” Scarlet pulled open each pouch and scanned the contents. She pushed a few things around before finally finding a small roll of bandages. She lifted it out, a spark of hope and relief flooding her system. Alas, it was short-lived. The roll was small, and would not be sufficient to wrap around Primrose’s body enough to stop the bleeding from both stab wounds. Lens became aware of this fact as well, his eyes briefly locking onto the roll and narrowing with dismay. “That’s not going to cut it. We need more!” “We don’t have any more!” Scarlet replied, her trembling growing even worse. “We used a lot of it to treat injuries I sustained on the road a couple weeks ago!” Despair and dread were clawing at her heart, and their ferocity only grew with every strangled whimper and squeak that fled Primrose’s blood-stained lips. What cruel twist of fate was this?! She had been granted a sliver of hope, a chance to make things right, only to learn that it was all for nothing! She was going to have to sit still and watch an innocent foal die all over again! Her eyes fell onto the pool of crimson on the ground, her mind slowly blanking with renewed hopelessness. Lens was saying something to her, but her mind tuned it out. All she could hear were Primrose’s weakening gasps, and each one knocked her down just a little more. But then her eyes caught sight of something out of place. Blue. Her vision refocused, and she saw her cloak, still on the ground where she had left it to serve as a blanket for Primrose. Well over a third of it was now soaked and stained with blood, but the rest of the blue fabric remained untouched. Scarlet’s eyes widened, an idea coming to her and her hope reigniting, however faintly. She leaned over to Primrose, her eyes trained on the injuries. “Do the stabs go all the way through?” she asked urgently. Lens shook his head. “No,  thank goodness. Why?” Scarlet took that as her cue to act. She unrolled the bandage until it was one long strip in the air. She measured it by eye before surgically snipping it into two, roughly even halves using her magic. Not enough to wrap around Primrose’s body, but enough to be folded several times and cover each stab wound. “Move your hooves,” she ordered, focusing intently. Lens hesitated, then did as he was instructed, withdrawing his hooves. The moment he did so, Scarlet quickly applied each bandage to the wounds, folding them over themselves several times like a sheet of parchment made into a pamphlet. The gauss was already turning a deep shade of red, but it seemed it would hold enough blood for a time. At the same time, Scarlet’s magic reached to her cloak and shredded away two long strips of the unstained fabric. Her heart twisted in her chest, and she visibly cringed upon doing so. She barely repressed a sob, but a quiet choking sound was still heard. Moving quickly, she brought the strips over and wrapped them around the small foal’s body, tying them behind her back in a tight knot and holding the bandages to her injuries. “That’s not a permanent fix,” Lens pointed out, studying the arrangement. “That’s the last of your bandages. Without more, we can’t replace them, and Primrose could get an infection.” “I know,” Scarlet growled bitterly, her skull prickling. They bought themselves some time, yes, but it was not nearly enough to save Prim’s life. She needed more treatment if she was going to survive. Scarlet turned her attention back to Lens. “But it buys us some time.” Lens nodded before rising to his hooves. He winced and looked away, disgusted at the gruesome sight now that the immediate risk had passed. “Uegh… what do we do? Primrose still needs treatment.” Scarlet huffed, her mind racing. Their options were limited… but one stuck out in her mind. She swallowed the lump in her throat before lifting her now damaged cloak and placing it over her shoulders again. She then reached out and gingerly lifted Primrose in her forelegs, holding the still whimpering filly to her chest. After a moment, she carefully placed her on her back and rose to her full height. Her legs burned, and her own injuries reminded her of her presence, more of her own blood trickling down her legs. Lens looked at her with wide eyes as the extent of the damage to her own body finally registered with him. “And you need medical help, too,” he pointed out, grimacing. Scarlet shook her head. “Forget me. Prim needs the help more than I do,” she spat before turning her eyes to the east. She set her jaw and narrowed her eyes, forcing herself to ignore her pain. “We keep moving, we go to Hoofrest Shire. The ponies there know her. They’ll help us.” “That’s still a few days away,” Lens pointed out, worry clear in his voice and even more so in his pleading eyes. “Not if we sprint and don’t stop,” Scarlet shot back, starting into a trot. “If we do that, we can get there by sundown.” “Scarlet, are you insane?!” Lens all but shouted, baffled. “That’s way too far for you to sprint, especially as wounded as you are-” “SHUT UP!” Scarlet suddenly roared, spinning to face him with her eyes ablaze and a fire raging in her skull. “If the trip is too long for you, then you can stay here for all I care! But I am not going to waste any time with rest! Prim needs help, and I’ll DIE before I keep her from getting it! Now keep up or fuck off!” And with that, she turned and broke into a mad sprint in the direction she knew Hoofrest Shire to be. Her legs burned in protest, but the weight of the dying body on her back burned far hotter. Its weight and the dread it brought with it were more than enough to spur her on. She didn’t look back to see if Lens decided to follow her or not, but she could hear his hooves pummeling the earth as surely as hers were. In the back of her mind, she was grateful for that. She didn’t want to lose him after all of this, and in the event that she fell down or passed out from exhaustion on the way, she would need him to carry on and take Primrose in her stead. But those bridges could wait until they reached them. For now, Scarlet focused on her run, the faint tingle of death breathing down her neck, pushing all else aside. Lens’ lungs burned with exhaustion.  “How long have we been running?” he thought to himself, his tired mind unable to register much else besides that and the sight of Scarlet’s tail bobbing up and down wildly to match her brisk pace.  The sun had come up some time ago, bathing both of them in warmth and light. However, it did little and less to quell the dreadful chill that filled their hearts or lift the shadow that filled their minds. Not even the tall and majestic mountain range to the north or the rolling hills of the glittering woods to the south were enough to alleviate their feelings. “We must have been running for hours, now,” Lens continued, briefly glancing up into the sky at the distant orb of fire and light. It must have been noon, or perhaps a little after, and they were still going. He felt as though he would collapse at any moment, but somehow he was able to dreg up the strength to keep going. Which only made Scarlet’s continued pace all the more impressive. Here she was, continuing to run at a solid pace despite being exhausted, sleep-deprived, and seriously injured herself. She had stumbled once or twice, yes, but never once had she slowed down. “How is she doing it?” Of course, Lens knew the answer to that. It was the small bundle resting on her back, still whimpering every so often as her agony continued. From what he had heard about their developing relationship, Lens could only assume that Scarlet’s leftover maternal instincts for Crystal Clear had caused her to latch onto Primrose with every fiber of her being. An instinctual attempt to fill the gap left in her heart by her daughter’s untimely demise, perhaps. Whatever it was, it drove her well past the typical limits of even a hardened soldier like herself. It was awe-inspiring, in a way... But at the same time, Lens found himself growing steadily more and more concerned for her. He could not miss the trail of blood that Scarlet’s injuries were leaving in their wake, or the increasing frequencies of her stumbles, or the way her breaths were coming out increasingly haggard and desperate. “...She can’t keep this up for much longer,” Lens realized after a time, dread slowly starting to fill his soul. “She’s going to kill herself if she keeps going like this.” That horrible thought finally stirred him into action. He put on a small burst of speed, despite the agonizing protests of his legs, until he was at Scarlet’s side. He looked at her from the side and spoke between his pants. “Scarlet! You need to slow down! You’re gonna kill yourself!” “Save it!” Scarlet barked back, although there was next to no strength in her voice. She winced and shook her head before stumbling again. She briefly lost her momentum before pressing on, eyes focused forward. “If I drop, take her and keep moving!” “I’m not going to leave you behind!” Lens informed her simply. “Consider it my last wish!” Scarlet snapped at him before putting more strength into her hooves and forcing herself to pull ahead.  Lens stared into the back of her head as he fell behind, his jaw agape for more reasons than just to suck in air. “...Fine, then,” he thought to himself upon realizing he could not sway her. “If you fall, I’ll just carry both of you to the farm myself.” With that determination blazing in his heart, he focused on steadying his breathing and continued his charge, his eyes remaining on Scarlet the entire time. The sun was setting. Scarlet and Lens had been fortunate enough to stumble on a dirt road, and the one or two street signs they had passed on the way told them they were heading in the right direction. They were almost there!  Scarlet, however, was starting to finally show signs of fatigue. Her pace was beginning to slow down, and more often than not, her labored gasps were accompanied by violent coughing fits. She forced herself to press on, though. They were so close, she couldn’t give in now! No matter how much her legs and lungs were both screaming and begging for a rest, no matter how much agonizing fire her wounds filled her veins with, she forced herself to keep moving. Sadly, her determination was starting to run out. Slowly, her pace began to decrease from a full gallop. Without her permission, her body finally decided it had had enough, and the strength began to bleed from her muscles. Her neck gave out, causing her head to droop down, her eyes now staring at the dirt road beneath her. “Come on… come on…” she gasped to herself, her vision swimming and her head feeling as if it were filled with a solid block of lead and dense helium at the same time. “Gotta… gotta keep… moving…” She tried to lift her head as her pace devolved to a sluggish trudge, her hooves dragging in the dirt. How odd that she had four forelegs now… or was she just seeing double? It was impossible to tell. Her exhaustion was catching up to her. As she reached the top of the next rise in the road, her hoof met a stray stone jutting up from the soil. That was the last straw. Unable to even cry out in alarm, Scarlet fell forward and crashed into the dirt with a heavy thump. She heard somepony calling out her name, but through the haze and fog, she was unable to register the voice. She groaned weakly, barely aware of the sudden lack of weight on her shoulders. She looked around, her eyes lazily scanning for what she had dropped. Despite her blurring vision, she caught sight of it soon enough, coming in the form of a small teal lump with two blue stripes. “P-primrose…” she choked out, reaching out with a violently shaking hoof and weakly pulling the foal up against her chest. Her already-foggy vision blurred even more as fresh tears began to fill them, her chest convulsing as the realization came to her. She had fallen. Her run was over. Her vision began to go dark. She was just vaguely aware of Lens’ voice screaming out for somepony to help, but she didn’t have the mental strength left to care. All the world faded away, leaving just her and the small bundle of warmth clutched in her hooves. And then she knew no more.