//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: Blood. 
// Story: You Can't Take The Sky From Me 
// by FailcopterWes 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 15

Rainbow Dash stood, scanning the horizon. In front of her, the map was open, held down by four rocks. There were no landmarks, just hardened ground in every direction. The map held no clues, and the sky was too full of cloud to discern the position of the sun from ground level. By her hooves lay an open wrapper, rustling in the wind, that until recently contained a rudimentary sandwich made with flat bread and a wad of unidentified leaves. Behind her, she could hear Ditzy soothing Fluttershy, talking gently to her in half realised sentences and dysfunctional metaphors.
It seemed to be working. The sobs that had awoken the two mares were now dying down. Shortly, the only sound remaining was the wind in Rainbow’s ears and the shallow sound of her own breathing.
Ditzy emerged from the hut. She trudged over to Rainbow and gazed down at the map.
“You know where we’re going?” Ditzy asked.
“Same way as before I guess” Rainbow answered, pointing to her left, but looking the way they had come. “Just keep going until we see something we can use”
Ditzy snorted and smiled.
“That sounds like you alright” Ditzy said “Just keep going and we’ll get there.”
“Hey, don’t knock it, it works” Rainbow said. Her voice dropped slightly “We should get moving as soon as we can”
“What about Flutty?” Ditzy asked.
“Carry her, same as before” Rainbow instructed.
“But I don’t want to move her, she’s all...teary”
“Ditz” Rainbow said, rounding on her friend “You get in there, you convince her to get up and get going. Tell her it’s important.”
“You mean it wasn’t important already?”
“Just do it” Rainbow snapped, baring her teeth at Ditzy. Ditzy turned and hurried over to her marefriend.
“We’ve got to go now Flutty” she whispered, nuzzling Fluttershy’s forehead.
Fluttershy made a small noise, somewhere between a groan of acceptance and a squeak. Ditzy nuzzled her a little more.
“Now?” Fluttershy said, as if she had just awoken from a dream.
“You can sleep on the way” Ditzy told her “But Rainbow Dash wants us moving. And I don’t think she means in the fun way”
Fluttershy’s cheeks flushed. She pulled away from Ditzy and curled into a ball.
“Oh...sorry Flutty” Ditzy said, lightly pulling her out of her foetal position. “Sorry” she repeated “I don’t think being out here’s done much for my head”
“That’s not what you need to worry about” Fluttershy whispered. Ditzy cocked her head. “What about Dinky?”
Ditzy shrank back.
“I... I’ve been trying not to think about it” Ditzy said “I mean... she can look after herself, she’s a big mare and... and...” she trailed off. Fluttershy rose from the ground, her wounded leg crumpling beneath her and throwing her down with every movement, and moved to embrace Ditzy.
“I’m sure she’s fine” Fluttershy said, her neck pressed to Ditzy’s and her head laying between the mare’s shoulders. “I’m sure Cloudsdale moved before the storm hit”
“You think?” Ditzy said, pulling her head back to look Fluttershy in the eyes. A tear formed in the corner of her eye and ran down her grey cheek. Fluttershy paused for a moment before responding.
“I’m sure of it” she said, before kissing Ditzy on the cheek and wiping away her tears. “Just... imagine if we got back and she ran up to you and hugged you and had missed you”
Ditzy paused to think for a moment, then gave a little smile.
“That’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever imagined.” Ditzy giggled.
“Then let’s go and find her” Fluttershy said, pulling away, wincing as she accidentally placed a little weight upon her damaged leg.

Outside, Rainbow flicked her mane out of her eyes. It was getting in the way. She had never noticed it before, but when she stood still long enough it hung in her eyes like the wings on a starving bird. A small amount of thought was focused on wondering why she had come up with such a grim simile, but dismissed the thought. Her mind was focusing on home. It tugged in her head, stopped her from resting properly. She had only slept last night when tiredness had forced her legs to crumple. Something in the back of her head told her to keep watch, to keep her friends safe. The voice told her to rest when she could, but her mind told her to watch. It was a painful struggle. She put a hoof to her head, trying to force out the headache this caused.
“I can’t leave them alone at night” she reasoned.
The voice told her she was of no use dead.
“But I’m not going to leave them undefended”
The voice told her she was not thinking properly.
“You know why?” she hissed, keeping her voice low “Because you won’t let me think for myself.” As she talked, her lips began to twitch, giving her words a staccato edge.
The voice did not respond.
“You’re keeping me up, you might not mean it but knowing you’re there is not helping”
The voice was still quiet.
“Leave it Rainbow” she told herself “You’re letting it get to you”
Behind her, Ditzy emerged from their shelter, with Fluttershy mounted upon her back. Rainbow rolled up the map and stuffed it hastily into the saddlebags, which she threw over her back and grabbed the food bag. Without a word to her companions, she set off across the bare ground.
A few words of encouragement later, Ditzy set off after her.

“Rocks”.
Fluttershy sighed as she correctly guessed the answer to Ditzy’s latest way of passing the time, continual games of I-Spy. Unfortunately, the only things Ditzy had been able to spot were rocks and dust. It had been five days since they reached the badlands, and Fluttershy had begun to suspect they were going in circles.
“Couldn’t be” Rainbow had insisted, proving her point by flying high up into the air and yelling “I can see mountains over there” whenever she was asked. But after each repetition Fluttershy never saw any mountains coming over the horizon.
‘We’re going to die out here’ she thought to herself, every hour the thought filled her mind. The meagre rations they lived on, whilst unusually filling for their size, she knew would not sustain them. She could see Ditzy was beginning to struggle to carry her every day for the untold miles they covered. Beads of sweat dropped from the grey mare’s face, her entire body quivering when the days dragged on without stopping for rest.
Rainbow would not let them rest. She charged on ahead, often striding faster than Ditzy could keep up, forcing her to gallop to catch up. As was the case now. Fluttershy pointed ahead at the rapidly disappearing image of Rainbow Dash ahead of them and held on as Ditzy began to gallop, abandoning the game of I-Spy in favour of survival. Fluttershy gritted her teeth and held on tight as she felt her body smack against the charging mare’s back. For a few seconds, her wounds screamed. When Ditzy slowed to a light trot at Rainbow’s side, Fluttershy let out a small whimper and curled up as much as she dared.
“Flutty, are you okay?” Ditzy asked, looking back at the pained mare.
“I think it’s opened up” Fluttershy squeaked.
“What?”
Fluttershy’s eyes began to widen and cross. Ditzy glanced along her marefriend’s body, checking for anything that could be causing this.
“Rainbow wait up!” she called out “Flutty’s hurt!”
Rainbow stopped suddenly and darted to  Ditzy’s side. She grabbed at Fluttershy, quickly moving her limbs and roughly inspecting her for any signs of further damage.
“Ah, no, please” Fluttershy squeaked as she was handled by Rainbow.
“There” Rainbow stated flatly, ceasing her rough movement. She stared directly at the bandage over Fluttershy’s stomach wound. A slow moving wave of red expanded across the bandage.
“Flutty!” Ditzy yelled, seeing the blood on the bandage. “Get her off me! Help her!” she screeched at Rainbow, who proceeded to drag Fluttershy to the ground and began tearing away at the bandage with her teeth. Fluttershy shrieked in pain and writhed beneath Rainbow’s hooves as the bandage was ripped into shreds. “Hey, stop it!” Ditzy yelled, grabbing at Rainbow and attempting to pull her away. She got a loose hold around Rainbow’s shoulders and pulled at her mane with her teeth. As the last shreds of bandage fell away Rainbow pulled back slightly.
Ditzy threw Rainbow backwards, pinning her to the ground and growling in her face.
“Stop it” Ditzy said, her clenched teeth muffling the words. “Stop it”
Rainbow glared up from beneath her. The pained cries of Fluttershy echoed in their ears as their gaze stayed locked.
“Get off me” Rainbow hissed, attempting to rise.
“No”
“Get...off”
“No” Ditzy said, punctuating the word with a small shove, pushing Rainbow’s shoulders down onto the hard ground again.
“Don’t make me hurt you”
“You already hurt her” Ditzy snapped, pushing her snout against Rainbow’s “I don’t care if you hurt me”
“I’m going to count to three...” Rainbow warned.
“I’m not counting” Ditzy said “Now stop it.”
“One...”
Ditzy headbutted her. Rainbow let out a short cry and mashed her teeth together. Her head fell back against the ground, hitting it with a sickening crack.
“Uh-oh” Ditzy said. She leaned down and looked at the side of Rainbow’s head. From beneath it, a small trickle of blood had begun to appear. “Ah...no, ah, I” Ditzy stammered “R...rainbow? Hello? I...I... Ah!”
“Ditzy...” came a quiet voice from behind her “What happened?”
Ditzy span around, her eyes rolling around, scanning the landscape for anything that could help.
“Ah, ah, Flutty, I...I... I...” Ditzy said, unable to form the words she needed. Her eyes caught Fluttershy’s wound, which glared from her stomach like a red eyed cyclops. Blood flowed steadily from it, pooling on the ground around her belly. “Wait” she managed to say, and dived towards the saddlebags. She flipped open the top and rummaged through, throwing aside wrappings of food and their canteens of water, until she pulled out a small box, upon which a leaf was imprinted. She quickly carried it over to Fluttershy and flipped it open, inside lay various vials and a roll of cloth. “Can you stand a little?” Ditzy asked, her voice trembling. Fluttershy tried to push herself up, managing only a few millimetres of height before she crashed back to the ground with a cry of pain. Ditzy wrapped her forelegs around Fluttershy’s head and asked, with a tear in her eye, for her to try again.
Fluttershy pushed at the ground, forcing herself up the little distance she could manage. She felt Ditzy’s hoof helping her up, and bit her lip to keep herself from shrieking at the pain. She felt  her bandages being pulled away.
Ditzy lowered her to the ground, lying her on her side. She could clearly see the Temise inside Fluttershy, bloated and red like a crimson pufferfish. Cautiously, Ditzy reached forwards with both hooves and clutched the sponge.
“Get another one first” Fluttershy squealed. Ditzy glanced up in confusion, before realising Fluttershy was right, removing the Temise without another one nearby to stop the bleeding was a bad idea. Ditzy leapt back to her hooves and rummaged through the saddlebags again. “Hurry” Fluttershy said weakly.
Fluttershy’s vision was blurring. She tried to focus on her marefriend trying so desperately to help, but only saw a swimming mess against a bright background.
“Hurry” Fluttershy repeated, barely audible even to herself, her body sinking against the hard ground.
She saw Ditzy turn back, a shape clutched in her mouth.
Then she saw nothing at all.

Ditzy sprinted back to Fluttershy’s side, dropping the fresh Temise beside her and yanking out the old one.
“No, no, no Flutty don’t go!” she shouted as she saw the yellow mare’s eyes drift shut. She grabbed the fresh Temise and slid it into the wound. The blood ran around it as it entered, but the sponge did its task as expected. The flow of blood ceased quickly. Ditzy flopped to the ground, tired.
“Flutty?” she said, half expecting an answer “You alive there?”
She received no response, but a small look over her resting body revealed the rising and falling of her chest.
“Yeah, you’re alive” Ditzy told herself, allowing herself a small smile of victory.

Over the next hour she busied herself with bandaging Fluttershy and Rainbow’s wounds without causing either of them undue discomfort. She had to lift Fluttershy several times to pass the long bandage beneath her and tied it off over her back in a manner that vaguely resembled a primitive saddle. Once satisfied that her medical assistance was up to her low standards of aesthetic beauty, as well as testing it was no longer being stained with blood, she turned her attention to Rainbow Dash.
For a moment, she was hesitant to help the mare who had treated Fluttershy so badly, consciously blocking out the thought that her running was what caused the wounds to open on her marefriend. Rainbow had deliberately been rough with Fluttershy, and that was what mattered.
However, Ditzy relented when she saw the trickle of red behind Rainbow’s head was beginning to dye her mane a deep crimson. She bandaged it and tapped her skull to try and hear if anything was broken, but eventually deduced that she could do no more until Fluttershy awoke.
And so she carefully dragged Rainbow over to Fluttershy’s side, placed the saddlebags on Fluttershy’s other side, and lay down the two unconscious ponies.
And then she waited for them to wake up.