//------------------------------// // Chapter 85 // Story: Welcome to the jungle // by Hiver //------------------------------// Sunlight was touching the forest around the track, giving us a true image of the accident. It was a complete catastrophe. The train was folded and twisted, laying half across the tracks and half down, some wagons among the trees. But what’s worse… much, much worse… The tracks were ruined. The thick steel twisted and bent like straws, the bank they were sitting on itself was seriously disturbed. All of which showed what kind of forces were involved Nocturnis relied on imports on a lot of things. Even something as simple as grains… Securing the surface just turned from important to absolutely critical. I stomped my hoof against the metal bottom of the cart I had been standing on, I turned around and jumped off, spreading my wings and gliding down to the ground before walking back towards the small encampment that had been set up outside the royal carriage with the wounded in it. It wasn’t much really, but it was a fire and an improvised tent. The fire helped. None of the things in the jungle liked it. Some like a Rexosaurus wouldn’t care, but at least it kept most of the smaller ones away. If we were in a Rexosaurus territory, it would likely be more interested in the dead turtle thing in any case. Predators in general tend to be lazy and a dead massive clump of meat would be a lot more attractive then a bunch of much smaller ones that try to run away. Flower looked up from where she was by the fire before she lifted a kettle off the head and poured a cup before moving to meet me, “Tea, your highness?” she asked with a tired smile. The small thestral looked a bit of a mess, her normally carefully styled mane was matted and had leaves in it and her coat was dusty. But she was unhurt, other than favoring her left rear leg slightly. “Thank you, Flower,” I said and took the cup in my magic, “How are you holding up?” “I’m fine,” she said softly, “Just a bit tired.” I nodded, “Go get some rest, okay.” She shook her head, “All I can do is help with the food. I’m useless for anything else right now, it’s the least I can do.” I put my hoof on her shoulder, “Flower, go rest. You’re not good for anything if you end up passing out in the mud. Everypony else has taken turns resting, even Amber has taken a nap. Now is your turn.” “...You haven’t… Princess Twilight hasn't.” “Alicorns,” I told her with a small smile, “We’ll be fine, just go rest, okay? Somepony else can handle the food for the next meal.” Flower Rain hesitated and then nodded, “I’m just going to rest some in the carriage if you need me, your highness.” “Sweet dreams, Flower.” She wasn’t wrong though. I was tired. And if I was tired, then Sparks was at least twice as tired as she had been much more active than I had been. Never mind teleporting dozens of tons of mushed turtle beast thing. Taking a gulp of my tea, I headed towards the carriage of the wounded and walked in through the new door. I had cut it out where one of the windows had been earlier so anypony needing to get in and out didn’t need to climb to do so. Made things easier. “How does it look?” Sunset asked as she walked up to me. Her normally freely flowing mane was tied back in a quick braid, tied off with what looked like a piece of makeshift bandage. I sighed softly and shook my head, “Bad,” I said and frowned, “The tracks are completely bucked. I’m not a train pony, but I can’t imagine this sort of thing being easily repaired, especially here.” Sunset nodded grimmly, “Yeah,” she agreed, “Buck.” “Has Sparks taken a nap yet?” I then asked, looking towards her where she was putting a cast on one of the injured with the medical pony and Amber. It may be mildly disgusting, but changeling resin was about as good as you could get for casting material. If you could ignore her spitting it up. Sunset shook her head, “Not yet.” “She needs to,” I said, “Because if we’re attacked, we need her rested, not asleep on her hooves.” “You tell her that she needs to go to sleep when there are ponies that need help, I tired and it didn’t take,” Sunset told me before she smiled slightly, “And that goes for you too.” “I’m not anywhere near as useful against a Rexosaurus,” I told her seriously, “I’ll talk to her.” Sunny sighed softly and nodded, “...I guess you’re right,” she admitted, “Maybe she’ll listen to you,” and turned around, walking over to Twilight and whispered something into her ear. Twilight blinked at her and then nodded, passing the bandages she was holding over to Sunsets magic as Sunset took over, leaving her free to walk over to me, “Sunset said you wanted to talk about something?” I nodded, “You should get some rest.” “I can’t yet, I need-” “To get some rest,” I said and moved closer, “Seriously, you’re asleep on your hooves.” Twilight sighed and shook her head, “Page, everypony is tired, we need to-” “Not everypony is critical to defend against a large attack,” I told her seriously and walked up, resting my cheek against hers, “I know you want to help,” I continued quietly, “And I know exactly how you feel about resting when you can do other things to help. I know exactly how you feel about it, but the best thing you can do right now for these ponies is to sleep. Anypony can watch over the wounded, nopony else can keep us safe.” Twilight didn’t move for a long moment before she shook her head and blinked back tears, “Page, I…” she started to say before she nodded with a sigh, “...I know,” she said quietly, “It just feels wrong.” “That’s how I felt about not going out and helping after the crash,” I told her quietly, looking into her eyes, “Every fibre of my being screamed at me to help, but it wasn’t what would actually be the most helpful and might even have made things worse as it would distract the guards from their jobs. We’re not normal ponies, Twilight. We can’t always do just what we think is right.” “We have to think steps ahead and of consequences for every action,” Twilight agreed with a slight nod, “I know, I remember that lesson too. But it still feels wrong.” “I know. We got this, Sparks, go get some sleep.” “You should rest too.” I nodded, “I will, but later. Me being rested is a lot less critical than you getting some sleep. What I can do however is to make sure everypony has something to eat and keep morale up. After that I’ll get some rest, I promise.” She gave me a small tired smile and kissed my cheek before moving over to a clear corner and settling down, closing her eyes. I swear, she was asleep before her head set down on her hooves. Floating my tea back to myself, I finished the cup before I nodded to myself and headed back out. Everypony will be hungry soon, let’s see what I can salvage from the kitchen. Might not be a good cook, but I can make soup.