They slowed down a few minutes after leaving town, and settled down for the night.
"Your leg is bleeding real bad," Windy noticed as the observed the obvious.
"You don't say? I thought I was just pissin' my leg?' Sure Shot snapped, and Windy got a defensive look. "Sorry it's the blood loss, I feel like an ass."
His saddlebag opened with a magical outline of blue and some medical tape, a blood pack and a pair of scissors rose from within. "Now I'm goin’ to need your help," Sure Shot laid on his stomach.
Windy came closer, "Sure. What can I do?"
"Hold my legs..." he took off his hat, and his mane fell just a centimeter above his eye, "That bullet has got to come out."
"Okay, I'll hold down your hooves," Windy took a few steps until she was at Sure Shot's back hooves. She studied the stallion's haunches; his legs were in excellent shape, besides the bullet hole. Windy felt herself get really warm, "Damn look at that flank!" she exclaimed in her head.
"Are you ready yet?" the bleeding stallion asked impatiently.
Windy shook her head, "Focus!" she commanded herself. "Yeah," she put her front hooves on his back hooves.
Sure Shot turned his head and gave a small smile, "You may want to put your whole body on there," he stated. "I'm part of the Apple family and we're strong buckers."
"Oh, okay," Windy acknowledged and sat on the stallion's legs. She then asked, "How are you going to remove the bullet?"
He gave a slight chuckle, "Magic of course."
His forehead began to outline a horn, but it is not in the typical cone shape of a regular horn, it was jagged as if it were broken, the hole in his leg also began to glow, Wind stared into the glow.
"You're a unicorn?" she asked.
"Yeah..." he responded dryly, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, you have an Appleloosan accent, and..."
"I'll be happy to chat after I'm not bleeding out."
"Sorry, I'll shut up."
The impatient stallion let out an exaggerated huff, "Sorry for my attitude..." he apologized, "It's just loosin' all this blood. Ahhhh!" he screamed as more blood came out.
"What's happening?" Windy asked off guard.
The sound of tearing muscle tissue and the squishing of blood could be heard. "I'm pulling ouwwwt that damn bullet!" he exclaimed. "Alright..." he began with a loud huff, "I'm goin' to pull hard, be ready!"
Windy squatted on his haunches because she thought it would make her heavier, "Okay, I'm ready."
More squishing and tearing was heard, but only faintly over Sure Shot's loud screams of pain. Windy began to jump violently, so she wrapped her front legs around his back legs and held on tightly. "He wasn't lying about being a bucker!"
A few seconds of furious bucking, Sure Shot laid still and breathed heavily.
"Did you get it out?" Windy asked while still holding on.
"No!" he breathed exhausted. His horn lit up a little duller and so did the hole, "One more pull! Ready?"
"Yeah!" she answered. "Wow, willing to stick out even the worst pain," Windy admired, "and he is pretty cute."
The squishing continued, and the bucking began. A sound of a low pressure faucet sounded and a liquid his Windy's face. Wind fell off of him with a terrified scream and furiously whipped the warm liquid off her face. A small piece of brass floated up to Sure Shot's weary face, and he examined it.
"Forty-four..." he whispered exhausted, "Lucky that didn't blow my leg off." The bullet slowly hovered to the fire and was placed inside.
Windy finally felt all of the of the blood leave her face, unaware the blood stained her green coat. She noticed the bullet in the fire and immediately jumped back and threw a wing over her face.
The dreary stallion put his tired eyes on her, "What, in the name of... Old Celestia are ya'll doin'?"
"You put a bullet in the fire! It's going to explode!"
He gave a weak laugh. "It's not goin' to explode. It’s already been shot, the gun powders gone and all that jazz." He was quiet for a second, then said, "That wing wouldn't have protected ya, that bullet would have gone right through your feathers, and buried itself in your brain."
Windy got an eerie chill up and down her spine and she retracted her wing. He tail twitched nervously, "Thank you fro putting me in a calm mood!" she scolded as she twitched.
"I didn't mean to upset ya..." he defended, "I'm just not myself because of the blood loss. I'm usually a good gut." He smiled and it made Windy's heart beat a little faster as she smiled back. He slowly lifted his hoof and pointed at the blood pack, "Can ya set that up?"
Windy walked up to the blood container, "Uh, sure." Her ear twitched a little as she thought about how she was going to retrieve the crimson liquid container," That is not going in my mouth," she said aloud and Sure Shot chuckled. Then she got a brilliant idea, she would scoop it up with her wing, "That could work. Good thing Wind," she congratulated herself. She unfolded her wing and bent it down to place it underneath the container and made a bowl shape with her wing. Her wing felt warm again, she felt another cold chill as she lifted it shoulder level.
The fire began to hiss. The brass bullet rose from the orange fire and flew slowly towards the fading blue stallion, "Finally!"
Windy walked towards the stallion and coked an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"
"Closin' the wound,” he explained. The bullet hovered above the small crater in his leg; he looked up at the confused mare. "You may not want to look." he insisted. "When the screaming stops, stick that tube in my leg and lightly squeeze the pack."
"Wait, have you done this before?" Windy wondered.
Sure Shot didn't answer he shoved the bullet in his wound and howled in pain, "Fuuuuck!" The leg meat began to sizzle, Windy felt a warm sensation in her throat, she turned her body and emptied her stomach. Sure Shot took short, choppy breathes as the wound slowly began to close, and the glow from his horn faded to a barely visible black blue.
Windy felt terrible after regurgitating the meal that may have remained from two days ago. She stood up straight, but did not turn around in order to avoid seeing the cooking wound. "This is awful, I can't let him suffer alone," her conscience kicked in.
Windy turned around and saw the screaming stallion crawling towards a boulder. Windy met him there, blood pack in wing, "Are you okay?"
Sure Shot continued to crawl, but looked at her, "Field Runner? I thought you were dead sweetheart?" he wondered in excited astonishment.
The bullet dropped in the sand. Windy gave him a concerned look, "I'm not Field Runner..." she stated, "I'm Windy Skies remember?" She leaned in closer to inspect his fading eyes.
Sure Shot raised his head up high and kissed her for four seconds, then lay by the rock. "Runner you know you can't tell a lie good," he closed his eyes.
Windy had a goofy grin on her face, "He kissed me!" While staring at the stallion she noticed it was silent, "The screaming stopped!" Windy immediately jumped into action. She took the end of the tube in her mouth and jammed the end under his skin and lightly squeezed the pouch by folding her wing. "Don't die! Please! Don't die!" she ordered Sure Shot.
There was no answer or movement from the stallion. Tears formed in Windy's eyes as she stared at the motionless stallion, his breathing became slower, and shallower, until his stomach stopped rising. "No!" Windy shouted. "No! You said we'd watch each others' backs," she squeezed the pack harder. When no improvement was seen she moved closer to him, "You were going to teach me skills to survive." It was still silent as Windy talked to Sure Shot's motionless body, Windy began to cry and she wrapped herself around Sure Shot, "Please wake up..." she whispered, "I love you!"
Windy's tears stained Sure Shot's coat. Sure Shot's heart began to beat up to speed. Sure Shot opened his eyes, and began to breathe, he turned his head, but it couldn't move all the way due to Windy being right there. "Uh, Windy can ya'll give me some elbow room?" he asked weakly.
Windy hopped up with a burst of energy, "You're alive!" She fell on Sure Shot who gave off a painful gasp of escaped air. "I thought you were dead!" Windy explained.
Sure Shot looked desperate, "Please get off me, I can hardly bre..." He was cut off by Windy pressing her lips onto his, and she positioned herself on top of him. Sure Shot weakly pushed her head away from his. "The hell are ya doin'?!" he complained.
Windy smiled, "Well, I thought we could celebrate you being alive," she explained.
Sure Shot smiled, "Please get off of me."
"Why?" Windy quarreled.
"First of all: I need to wrap my wound, I'm too weak for a sex tumble, you're crushin' my tumbleweeds, and I ain't gunna have sex with ya in the first place," he explained.
Windy huffed and jumped off of him, "Why wouldn't you have sex with me?!" Windy had a stern look, but then turned her head, "Am I that ugly."
Sure Shot's horn lit up dully and the tape and scissors came to him. "No, ya ain't ugly..." he explained as the white tape wrapped tightly around his leg, "If I were into mares I would ride you like a stage coach."
Windy blushed and turned her head back, "Wow, you know how to... Wait! What?"
The scissors snapped closed and the white tape stayed in place, "What?" Sure Shot wondered.
Windy laughed hysterically and slowly walked up to the wounded stallion, "Did I just hear you say, 'If I were into mares."
Sure Shot chuckled softly and laid flat on his back, "And I said I'd ride ya like a stage coach, but I think you want to know the truth."
Windy extended her wings in anticipation, "Yeah, I want to know why you won't have sex with me!"
He smiled broadly, "Well ain't it simple Windy? I'm gay, and ain't nothing gunna change that fact."
Windy's wings fell to her sides, her mouth flew open and her eyes widened. "Wha...What?!" she stuttered. "You are gay. Like you like to look at stallions and..." she swallowed her saliva, "touch them?" Sure Shot nodded. Windy sat down in astonishment, "So, Field Runner is..."
"Was my partner," he corrected Windy's question. Wearily he turned his head up to the stars. "Do you ever wonder what ever happens to the ones we love the most when they die?" Windy folded her wings and returned to her normal face, and didn't respond. "My mom always told me they moved into the sky and watched over us and protected us," he explained. He released a big breathe, "I loved that stallion with all my heart; every pony knew we were madly in love and saw a future together. But hell if that damn purple mess we called a princess fucked everything up."
Windy let her body slump into the warm earth, and grew really interested, "Did you two ever have sex?"
Sure Shot took his eyes off of the single star he was interested in and shifted his head to look at Windy. His face grew a concerned look, "What the hell is with you an' this sex thing?" Windy shrugged. Sure Shot turned his head back to the same star he was observing before, "Well to answer that... Yes, a couple of times, we enjoyed each other’s company more, but hell we'd do it anywhere." He began to smile and rub his hooves as if he was embarrassed.
Windy imagined Sure Shot and this Field Runner tumbling over each other on a bed made for one, she felt her temperature rise. "So what happened? Did he die in the blast?'
Sure Shot lay silent and stared at the star; Windy thought he was dead until he blinked. He then struggled to get up, groaning while working against the exhaustion. When he was on his haunches he leaned his back on the rock and looked dreamily at Windy. "Yes, well I think," Sure Shot answered. "I'm not so sure," he put his hoof on his chin, but it fell back down, "I looked for him for three days, trying to find some sign of him. I couldn't find remains, no sign that he ever existed. There were remains of friends I could point out..." he got quiet, "I just couldn't find him."
"I'm sorry," Windy apologized.
"It ain't your fault..." Sure Shot slowly began to slump down the rock, "Every pony lost some pony in the blast." He now laid on his back with his head uncomfortably positioned on the rock.
Windy nodded, "Yeah that's true... My parents are most likely gone." Windy felt a tear come to her eye, and when she looked at Sure Shot, her tears poured out of her. "I miss them so much!"
Sure Shot watched the crying mare and felt his heart hurt. "You know... I know my parents are gone." Windy rubbed her eyes as she looked at the drowsy stallion. "They were both mares, and they were visiting Ponyville," he looked at the stars, "So they were with her when she casted the spell."
Windy sniffed, "Your parents were gay, too?"
Sure Shot chuckled, "Is that all you heard?" Windy smiled, and Sure Shot noticed two stars flash brightly, "Well yes, they were their to meet cousin Apple Jack. They were Apple Fritter and Cherry Blossom."
Windy perked up because she remembered when she visited Applelosa and had one of Apple Fritter's, apple fritters, “Did you say Apple Fritter?"
"Eeyup, "he answered. "The best fritter maker this side of the wastes was my ma, and so was the nicest cherry picker."
Windy's smile faded and turned to confusion and curiosity, "Wait were you adopted? Because if I've learnt anything in biology, two mares can't have a baby."
"They can if they have a doaner," Sure Shot retorted.
Windy scratched her leg with her hoof, “But I thought they didn't like...You know stallion parts."
Sure Shot laughed, but then coughed in agony. "Okay, don't laugh too hard," he instructed himself. "They didn't have to have sex with a stallion in order to get his sperm. They went to the sperm bank, picked out the baby they wanted, and planted me inside of Cherry Blossom."
"Oh, that makes sense," Windy realized. She thought back to the day when she was in high school, and they were in Applelosa after a track meet. She had just placed first in her division and stopped at Apple Fritter's stand to buy one of her famous fritters, "I wonder if she liked me?" she wondered to herself. Sure Shot moved his head from the rock and laid it beside the rock. Windy stared at the stallion as he laid there, “Whey did you save me?" she asked quietly.
Sure Shot didn't respond, he just made a slight snoring sound. Windy smiled, "You can answer that when you aren't dead," she joked to him. She crossed her legs and placed her head on top of them and closed her eyes. "I never thanked you," she said with a yawn, "but thank you for saving me." With that she was asleep.
A couple of minutes later Sure Shot raised his head and forced himself to roll over. "Come on! Git up!" he commanded his weary body. His body ached and shook as he rose, "If I make it through the night, I would of wished I was dead," he cursed himself. His horn lit up brighter than before, but is still not to its total hue, and his blood pack floated beside him as he limped over to Windy. He made it over to her, and collapsed next to her, "Thank Celestia, it was like running through the Saddleion deserts," he relieved. He placed the blood pack on another rock that was smaller than the boulder, but still tall enough to elevate the bag, and he scooted his back against her's, "It was cold over by that damn rock," he explained. "You'll see why I saved ya pretty soon," he whispered. He closed his eyes and yawned, "Night Windy."