Sweetie Belle sat on her bed, listening with satisfaction to the agonized screams of the trespassers. Get ‘em mom! She knew her mom wanted to protect her from having a role in such activities, but she desperately wanted to assist her. Why can’t I be tough like mom? Her ears perked up; the screams had stopped. Instead Rarity’s voice, loud and commanding was heard. “Sweetie Belle, I need your help. Hurry up now, downstairs, Sweetie. Time is of the essence!”
Without another thought, Sweetie Belle bolted down the stairs and out the front door, stopping in shock at the sight that awaited her. Rarity sat there, calm as could be, lacerations covering her hide as she draped one of the corpses over her lap; a pinprick hole in the neck. Looking up she spoke warmly. “Upstairs in my room, plastic bags and tubes. Get them, now. Let’s go, chop chop!”
Racing upstairs, Sweetie Belle frantically bolted into Rarity’s room and quickly found what her mom requested. Why does she need these? Using levitation to carry all nine of the bags and tubes she quickly rushed to her mom’s side. “Got 'em Mo-”
Rarity sat grim-faced. Her voice though warm, clearly stated she hated doing this. “Thank you, Sweetie.”
Without another word she slid one tube into a bag and quickly pinched it sealed. Only as Rarity took the other tube and jammed it into the dead bandit’s neck, did Sweetie Belle, read the following on the bag: TRANSFUSION FLUIDS. For use of blood transfusions only. She watched in a horrified fascination as the blood flowed from the bandit into the bag, filling it with the dark red of blood. “Mom what’s transfusion?”
Rarity pointed at the tube. “A transfusion is when you take blood or plasma from one source and transfer it to another source that is in need of it.”
“Oh but why are you-”
Sighing, Rarity looked at her daughter. As much as she wanted to protect her from this world, she knew it was no use. Sweetie Belle watched as her mom’s disheartened eyes stared into her own in silence for a moment before she heard. “I guess you can’t stay innocent forever can you? It’s funny; I see you, and all I can think of is an adorable filly who should never know darkness. I can’t shelter you forever, though I would...If able. The world is not a fun place. The rainbows that graced our skies have long since faded, and any means to survive must be exploited.”
A tear slowly slid down Rarity’s cheek as she continued. “Much like on the battlefield, fighting against Sombra, the blood of the fallen can still be utilized and put to better use than dirtying our entryway. Loss of blood can be a nail in anypony’s coffin. The tubes are imbued with a magical vacuum on one end and a flow valve in the other. By turning the tube one way, it will draw the blood and turning it the other way will allow extraction. Having some blood prepped in advance could be the reason they pull through...”
Her next words seemed directed at another. Sweetie Belle saw her mom give a wan smile. “Isn’t that right, Rainbow?”
“Mom who are you-”
“There’s no time to explain. Sweetie Belle I want you to use your magic to help detoxify the blood stores as I seal them...Pay attention to what I tell you. We’ll do it together. Today you become a medical assistant.”
***2 Days Later***
Scootaloo staggered. Can’t stop.
Her tiny form was bruised and her blood dripped down holes ripped in her flank. Her mane and tail showed her lack of grooming, while her muzzle gripped the hilt of the sword of her mother. The sight of the giant blade looking almost comical in her grip but the little filly’s eyes were hardened by determination. Keep going.
Her eyes showed her lack of sleep. Don’t give up!
Rainbow Dash’s limp body was draped over her daughter’s back; having lost consciousness shortly after finishing her tale. Scootaloo had reacted purely on instinct; ripping apart her own cloak to form strips and bandage the wing as she discovered the wound. After staunching the blood flow, she grabbed a nearby branch and braced the wing against it; making a splint for the damaged wing.
Making a snap decision, and with tears streaming down her face with the sounds of predators closing in on them, Scootaloo slung her mother’s heavy frame over her back and began trotting towards their destination. I won’t let you down!
Meanwhile in her stupor, Rainbow Dash’s mind replayed the battle in which she had lost her other wing.
***
“Dah-ling what did you do?”
Rainbow Dash lay on a stretcher as it was brought into the medical tent, her left wing completely missing. “Hey Rar, I...I think I..I may have bucked up this-”
A white hoof pressed firmly against her lips. “Not another word Rainbow. Let me fix you up.”
It had been a year since the heart-to-heart that caused the two to connect. Rainbow had become the forward commander for what was left of the rebellion while Rarity had been by her side; encouraging her the entire way. Rainbow had been injured many times but this, this was the most severe Rarity had even seen. A tear threatened to roll down Rarity’s cheek as she wiped it from her eye with her hoof. With the amount of blood loss and lack of medical supplies; she wasn’t sure she could save her Rainbow Dash.
Her Rainbow Dash. There was no doubt; Rainbow was hers and she was not going to let anyone have her. Get your claws off her, Death, she’s mine!
***
“Yours?”
Rarity glanced up as Sweetie Belle interrupted her. The two sat in front of their new home, scavenging the organs from newly slain attackers; Rarity removing them intact, and Sweetie Belle removing all bacteria and disease based organisms from them. “Yes Sweetie. Mine. Don’t get me wrong, she was no toy to me, no object to own. No, She was mine to guide, to love, to cherish. She had given me her heart, and I would rather suffer Tartarus than see her in the icy clasp of Death. Now as I was saying…”
***
As Rainbow Dash’s eyelids closed Rarity took a deep breath. This is for you. Spinning around to face her assistants she barked out. “Get me Engineer Twilight. Now, please.”
“Ma’am if we go out to where she is, we’ll probably be killed.”
Rarity’s tone and expression took on that of a denizen of Tartarus. “Listen here, Dah-ling. I got a pony who's bleeding to death and may die if we don't help her. I am TRYING to help her, and that can only happen if you bring me Engineer Twilight! I swear, if she dies because of your disobedience...”
The unicorn drew forth two medical scalpels and pressed them against the terrified assistants throats within a heartbeat. "She will NOT be the only pony who bleeds to death in this room. HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?"
***
Scootaloo limped down the path; completely at her physical limit. As she crested the hill, her heart sang with excitement. There just over the next rise, was the place where her mom had told her of; the new house. Finally made it! Don’t worry Mom we’ll be fine now. As she breathed a sigh of relief, she heard it. A harsh roar behind her. Slowly turning around, Scootaloo’s eyes beheld the giant lumbering form of a Risen-Bear. The undead behemoth slowly advanced towards her; the decaying rotted flesh slow dripping from the grisly skeletal form of what had once been a Grizzly Bear.
Scootaloo stared at the abomination as it grew closer and smiled. It wasn’t a normal smile, no, it was full of intent to kill. As she placed her mom’s unconscious form gently to the side, Scootaloo grasped the sword in her maw. Her blood began to boil with excitement, and her tired form surged with new energy and life. Like those that had come before her, she was a Pegasus; a Hunter. The desire to take down this creature was welling in her.
Her eyes burned with a fire, as had her mother’s; the night Cloudsdale fell. Unlike her mother though, she reveled in it. Scootaloo had encountered a few nightmarish remnants of Sombra’s power along the way here. She could not deny her heritage as she charged the Risen; a blood-curdling warcry tearing itself loose from her throat.
***
“ROOORRRRGHHHHH!”
Sweetie Belle’s ears perked up as she heard the howl of a wild creature. Quickly she ran to her mom. “Mom did you hear that?”
Rarity glanced up as her tale was interrupted again, and looked towards the area the scream came from. “I did.”
She then turned back to ripping garments to make make-shift gauze strips. Sweetie Belle didn’t understand why her mom was so calm as she spoke gently. “We’ll be having proper company soon. Do me a favor, take those three herbs by my hooves and dry them out. We will be needing a numbing agent.”
Sweetie Belle then heard a nightmarish shriek, unlike anything her ears had ever beheld. “MOM! WHAT WAS THAT?”
Glancing up again, Rarity eyed Sweetie Belle and smiled. “A hunter sharpening her fangs, quickly now, prepare that numbing agent. Particularly if you want your new sister and my wife-to-be to live past greetings, Sweetie.”
As Sweetie Belle’s horn lit up with magic, Rarity was lost in swirling memories. It feels like before. And like before it will end the same way. She smiled and directed a single heartfelt thoughtful command to her lover. Stormy Crescendo! I command you to fight Death, hoof and wing. I can feel you fading. Don’t you dare give up! I’m waiting for you, come to me. The words left her lips as barely a whisper. "That's an order...Dah-ling."