//------------------------------// // 4. Once Bitten, Twice Shy // Story: At Home on the Range // by chief maximus //------------------------------// Chapter 4- Once Bitten, Twice Shy Luckily for Mac, the wound was well below his heart, and on an extremity like a leg, he'd at least have some time to contemplate the horrendous death that awaited him. He was still a ways away from the river crossing, a light trot was all he felt safe doing as the burning pain intensified, as though someone was driving a white hot iron right through his calf. He had to keep his heart rate as low as possible, lest he aid the venom in it's spread. Soon he wouldn't be able to walk at all, but his resolve to get at least across the river before resting pushed him onward. Rainbow waited impatiently on the opposite shore, her annoyance growing with each passing second while the earth pony seemingly took his sweet time getting over to her. That was another thing that rubbed her the wrong way about not just him, but Applejack sometimes as well. It was like their whole family did everything at half the speed of everypony else. Every time she'd bring it up with AJ, she'd always have some story about how 'things that are worth doin' are worth doin' right.' or some such nonsense. "You want to hurry it up?" she yelled, noting no increase in the stallion's pace. Eyes narrowing to a glare at being ignored, she cast a quick look around the herd. They all seemed to be milling about in one place; not wandering too far from each other as the last stray made it across the river. As Mac drew closer, she realized he seemed to be limping. Great, he hurt himself. Though she couldn't imagine how he'd managed it. She assumed maybe he'd stepped on a cactus or something while tending to the wanderer. A flap of her wings and she lifted into the sky, gliding over the river and hovering next to him as she noticed how sweaty he looked. "What'd you do to yourself?" she asked bluntly as he still managed to limp toward the river, though his pace was growing slower and his legs weaker with every step. "Snake... bite..." he panted. The venom was acting quicker than he suspected. Macintosh made it to the edge of the river, before collapsing to his knees, unable to go a step further. The world began to slowly swirl around him as he fought for his internal bearings. It appeared he would also have the pleasure of going into shock before being killed by rattlesnake poison. "Snake? Like venomous snake?" she repeated nervously, hoping she had misheard him. Macintosh grimaced in pain as he answered her, "Eeyup. Probably got about four hours ta fix it up before Ah'm out cold." Rainbow dropped to her hooves and noticed two small holes in the red stallion's hind leg. Blood streamed steadily out of the wound, to the quick pegasus' horror. Mac's breathing grew deeper and hurried as Dash tried to comprehend the implications of her only guide out in the wilderness slowly succumbing to his wound. "Rainbow, Ah'm going to need your help," Macintosh wheezed, sweat now dripping from his face as the color began to fade from his normally bright red coat. "W-What do I have to do?" she asked apprehensively. Suddenly being thrust into a life or death situation was usually Rainbow's element, but it was also usually her hide on the line, not another's. Macintosh was wary of any help from his traveling companion, considering how much practical knowledge she had shown up to this point. As the burning spread to his thigh, he knew he had maybe four hours of consciousness, and at the most, a few minutes of useful limbs. After four hours, a coma would follow; followed then by...he shook the thought from his head. He figured as long as he told her what to do, she'd do okay. He just needed to have some confidence in Rainbow's abilities. Her medical prowess was severely lacking in several key areas: namely, all of them. The only thing she knew about snake bites was the woefully inaccurate old mare's tale of how to remove snake venom. "D-do I have to suck it out?" she asked timidly, praying the answer was no. Macintosh looked her right in the eyes with utter disbelief across his face before throwing his head back. "Dear Celestia Ah'm gonna die out here!" he howled toward the heavens. Dash's words weren't exactly inspiring. "You won't if you tell me how to treat you!" she snapped back, somewhat annoyed at Mac's lack of confidence in her as of yet undemonstrated medical abilities. She'd been in the hospital more than once for her flight related injuries, and had been conscious for most of the procedures performed on her. How hard could it be? Mac calmed himself as he managed to shrug the saddlebags off his back. "In the flap with the red cross on it... there's vials... with snake names... on them..." his breathing became more and more labored as he continued. "Find... Eastern Diamondback..." he added, cutting out extraneous words that required extra effort. Dash quickly fumbled with the flap until it finally gave up its contents. About twelve vials rattled around in the bottom of the bag, along with a sizable syringe, fitted with an elastic strap for use with hooves. One simply affixed the strap around one's foreleg, and withdrew and pushed the plunger with either the mouth or other hoof, as the situation warranted. As soon as Dash noticed the needle however, she froze. Gently resting her teeth against her bottom lip, she began to shiver herself. There was one thing none of her close friends knew about the normally dauntless pegasus. She harbored a deep, nearly debilitating phobia of needles. She had foregone pain medication many times while laid up in the hospital simply because it to had to be injected. For a long moment, she simply stared at the shiny needle taunting her at the bottom of the saddlebag, paralyzed by fear. "What's the... holdup?" he managed to gasp, growing weaker with every word. Rainbow's head darted back in his direction. He was looking worse with every second that ticked by. She looked back at the bag, still afraid to even reach in and get the vials, as if the needle was going to somehow bite her. "Big... I can't..." she whimpered, gripped tightly by her one, irrational fear. Macintosh couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was she really about to let him die the horrible death brought on by untreated rattlesnake venom? "Why!?" he shouted, anger temporarily pushing the pain from his mind. "I... I just can't..." she stammered. Dash couldn't admit her fear to him! This was the first time she had spent more than a minute or two in his company, and now she was going to tell him what made her cower like a foal? Not on her life. Her life wasn't hanging in the balance, however. His was. Could she dare face Applejack if she came back with no money, cattle, or Big Macintosh? Not if she didn't want to join him in the great pasture in the sky. "I'm gonna be dead in an hour... and you're just gonna stand there?!" he added, panic rising in his strained voice. "An hour?!" Rainbow replied, jolted out of her inner turmoil by his plea. "I thought you said you had four!" "Ah might have... if I'd have eaten breakfast... this mornin'..." Rainbow's mouth fell open as Mac rolled onto his back, now appearing to be forcing every breath. "You told me you ate before I got up!" she snapped in disbelief that the element of honesty's brother would lie. "Nope... Ah... gave you... my rations... 'cause you... lost your dinner..." he grunted in agony. Rainbow could think of only one response. "You idiot!" she barked, "What the hay is the matter with you?" Dash took a nervous look back into the saddlebag where the object of her terror still waited. She waited for a reply, before realizing none had come. A quick glance revealed Mac sprawled out in the afternoon sun, still breathing, but apparently unconscious. Oh no! C'mon Rainbow! It's just a stupid needle! Reach in there and grab those vials! she admonished herself, closing her eyes and quickly grabbing as many vials as she could, withdrawing her hoof as though the bag would eat it if she weren't quick enough. See? That wasn't so hard... Holding the vials close to her face so as to read the tiny print, she carefully read each one. "...Death Adder... no... Copperhead... no... Tigersnake... nope... Trousersnake... no... Ah! Eastern Diamondback!" Dash dropped the rest of the vials back into the bag and prepared herself for the most demanding part of her task: handling and injecting of the anti-venom. Rainbow read carefully the directions on the vial, before swallowing her fear and removing the syringe from the bag. Her hooves shook nervously as she affixed said medical instrument to her right foreleg. She glanced back at Macintosh. His chest still heaved, though it was obvious even in his unconsciousness his breathing was growing more labored and shallow. Without the administration of the anti-venom, he would soon slip into cardiac arrest. No amount of anti-venom would save him then. Rainbow fumbled with the vial as she read the instructions to herself in an attempt to calm her nerves. "One vial equals one dose. Inject intramuscularly at muscle mass nearest the wound. Please note it may take eight or more hours for maximum blood concentrations to be attained!?" she finished in shock, praying she wasn't already too late. Setting the vial on the ground, she slowly drove the needle through the rubber lid and pulled back on the plunger with her teeth. Adrenaline poured through her veins, partially from terror, and partially from the realization that she was quite literally holding Big Macintosh's life in her hooves. The syringe was large enough to hold the whole vial as she walked over to the red stallion's still, but thankfully breathing form. Though by this time, he was drenched in sweat and his normally bright red coat was a dull hue of its former glory. The largest muscle mass near the wound was his right flank, on which he was currently laying. Positioning her shoulder against Mac's ribs, she pushed as hard as she could, barely nudging the heavy draft horse. Rainbow gritted her teeth and dug her hooves into the ground, forcing her muscles past their limit. For a moment, Mac seemed immovable, but with a guttural roar and one final push, she managed to roll him over. After a few gasps for air, she searched for a suitable spot to inject the cure. Gently, she put her hoof on Mac's cutie mark, recoiling in shock at how physically hot the earth pony had become. She didn't really have a clue as to what made an injection site suitable, so she simply began feeling around for the biggest muscle she could find. Though they were all big, she finally located one after a bit of searching. Finally, she held the syringe an inch above his flank, closed her eyes, and stabbed her traveling companion, eliciting a twitch from the muscle as she pushed the plunger down with the other hoof, praying one vial would be enough to rouse Mac from his comatose state. She withdrew the needle and quickly took it off her foreleg, tossing it a few feet in front of her, convinced that if she never had to do that again, it would be too soon. Rainbow slumped down to her flanks, sitting against Mac's strong back as she gave his flank a slap, partially to congratulate herself on facing her fear of needles, and partially for a reason she would never likely admit, even to herself. Once she had taken care of Mac, she decided to read the rest of the instructions on the empty vial. If symptoms of envenomation persist, or if new manifestations appear, it may be necessary to repeat administrations with two or more additional injections?! Dear Celestia, I hope it doesn't come to that. Dash hoped it wouldn't come to that as she noticed her back begin to sweat against the still superheated stallion. "Please just get better," she whined, having played enough doctor for her tastes. Glancing across the river, she realized the cattle had actually settled near it, appearing to be ready for the night. "Looks like we aren't driving any cattle today," she said to herself. She then realized that she couldn't exactly leave Mac on the wrong side of the river while the anti-venom worked its magic. After pondering her situation for a moment, Dash decided to move the supplies across first; the heavy rucksack being the lighter of the two objects. The saddlebags dragged along the ground as Rainbow donned the straps holding it to her back. She was nowhere near Big Mac's height, which would have been a problem if she had to cross the river on hoof. A few strained flaps and she was off to a heavy start, keeping only a few feet above the river before dropping to the ground and unloading the pack onto the other side, but not before collecting the medical supplies she had strewn about while looking for the proper vial. Once back at Mac's side, she attempted to hook her forelegs underneath his own and ferry him across the river. That plan was short-lived, as she realized that as many times as she had lifted Fluttershy into the air this way, her ability didn't apply to Big Macintosh. He was easily three and a half Fluttershys, if not four. After a few nearly pulled muscles, Rainbow sat back against him as she had done before, wracking her brain to try and think of another way to get the big stallion across the river without drowning them both. "There has to be an easier way to do this..." She cast a gaze towards the setting sun across the river, as it elongated the shadows and bathed the dry landscape in an orange glow. "I got it!" she said to herself standing up and flying back across the river. Retrieving the same lasso Mac had used to save her flanks, she enlisted the help of one of the sturdier looking cattle and brought it across the river with her. After getting the cow to lay down, she tied the rope around his yoke as she donned his hat on a whim. She then led the rope over the cows back and pulled with every ounce of strength she had left, praying she'd have enough leverage to raise the heavy stallion onto the surrogate beast of burden. "Gah! Mac... you weigh a ton!" Dash gasped as she fluttered her wings in an effort to get even the slightest bit of help. But her plan seemed to be working. After a few more strained grunts, Mac's forelegs dangled off one side of the cow, while his still bleeding hind leg rested on the other side. Dash heaved an exhausted sigh and secured her cargo as best she could before leading him back across the river. She hovered a few feet in front of the cow; guiding it and making sure Macintosh didn't end up as she almost had. Once they made it across, she untied him and flopped down next to his still out cold form, though the heat he had been suffering earlier seemed to have gone down. Or perhaps it was the chill of the approaching night; she wasn't certain which. Checking over her red charge, she noticed his breathing had become more regular, and less shallow. Thanking Celestia for small miracles, Dash noticed his wound was still bleeding, as well as the injection site of the anti-venom. His color was also rather flushed and though he may not have felt as hot as before, he was still covered in sweat. I guess one more dose couldn't hurt. She dug through the medical bag and found one last vial of the appropriate anti-venom. Calming her nerves, she assured herself that if she did this once already, she could do it again. After administering another dose, she noticed her wings involuntarily flutter. A cold breeze blew across the flatlands as she drew them around her for warmth. She looked to Mac's face, still scrunched in pain, but alive. His wet mane now clung haphazardly to his face as she gently brushed it out of his eyes, thankful he wouldn't remember the act. Another cold gust drew her from her moment. It looked like in addition to playing doctor; she would also have to play Big Macintosh as well. Grabbing the large knife and rock he had used the night before, she set out in search of dry underbrush to start a suitable fire, never going more than a few yards away from Mac. She gathered as much kindling as she could find and piled it up the way she remembered him doing so last night. After a few bouts of profanity, frustrated stomps and small outbursts, she finally managed to get the embers to transform into flames. Dash tipped Mac's hat back and sat on her flanks near the fire, quietly observing the firelight dance and sway over the stallion's body. Naturally, Rainbow couldn't help but feel a familiar sense of pride. "You better not die on me you big lug," she whispered, retrieving her dinner from the bag, careful not to overeat. After dinner, she truly realized how well she had done. Pride swelled in her chest as she plucked a tall blade of the dry grass and put it in her mouth, emulating Mac's semi-constant sprig of wheat. Dash chuckled and lay on her back, looking into the vibrant night sky. "This cattle drive thing is all hype," she scoffed to the heavens, "I could do this with my eyes closed!" She shifted as she allowed her wings to spread out wide behind her, the right one still a bit achey from being slept on. "Yep, I got this whole thing locked up. Mac'll get better, we'll deliver these stupid cows, he'll get his money and I'll be free to practice at AJ's place whenever I want!" Rainbow grinned widely, ready to welcome the sandpony's embrace when a distant sound sent a chill down her spine: the lonesome howl of a wolf.