//------------------------------//
// grounding 
// Story: Mapping Manehattan 
// by The Red Parade 
//------------------------------//

Fiddlesticks learned a trick when she was young to help with her anxiety. It involved taking deep breaths, then searching for five things she could see, four she could feel, three she could hear, two she could smell, and one she could taste.

It didn’t always work, but it sure did help. Fiddle shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath. She can see a broken escalator, an overturned table, an abandoned briefcase, a rusty fire hydrant, and a stained blue tarp on the ground.

She can feel the sharpness of a shattered glass railing, the wetness of the puddle of water, the smooth surface of a broken door, and the prickly leaves of the overgrown bush.

Hearing is a bit trickier, but she can hear the gentle hush of the wind as it ruffles her mane, she can hear the crunch of glass under Lightning’s hooves, and she can hear the chirping of birds in the trees.

She can still smell the everpresent stench of death that’s saturated Manehattan, but she can also smell the smoke that hangs in the air from a dying fire.

Lastly, she can taste the blood in her mouth. She rubs at her jaw as she thinks of it. Fiddle takes another deep breath and tries to convince herself that she’s calm now.

Lightning offers her a towel to wipe her face off. She points out that they can leave now.

Fiddle disagrees. They haven’t fully searched the area yet. She gets to her hooves and takes a few steps towards the wrecked shopping mall.
 
She doesn’t get far before Lightning stops her. She says that there isn’t anything in there worth going back for. Besides, Fiddle’s still hurting from that fight. They should turn back while they still can.

Fiddle shakes her head. They have to keep going. It’s their duty.

Lightning frowns, standing her ground. She doesn’t want Fiddle to get hurt again. Lightning thinks that she should go in alone. 

That makes her angry. She isn’t weak. She can take this. Fiddle shoves past Lightning and heads back into the building. She stops when Lightning calls out to her again. 

She asks Fiddle what it will take for her to stop.

Fiddle frowns and asks what Lightning means by that. 

Lightning stomps the ground in annoyance. In the Wonderbolts, she was told that there’s no shame in calling for help. That was the whole point of battle buddies: to have each other’s back, no matter what. So it annoys her that Fiddle won’t let her help. 

They fall silent for a second. Fiddle scoffs and brushes Lightning off. She doesn’t need help, she’s perfectly fine.

Lightning disagrees. She saw the same thing Fiddle did, and she knows that it’d leave her scarred if she wasn’t numb to it already. Lightning wants to help her, but she can’t if Fiddle won’t let her.

Fiddle snorts, trying to ground herself again but gives up. She doesn’t need help. 

Not from Lightning, anyways.