//------------------------------// // Her Story: Rescue // Story: For-never Alone // by Troypony //------------------------------// "Well, it all started when I was younger. I was out wandering alone in the forest, against my own parents’ wishes. I didn't worry much about the creatures in the woods. My parents would always tell me stories about all sorts of dangerous creatures that lived in there, but I knew exactly what to do in order to get away from them. Most of them involved just flying away, which was simplistic enough, but others were not so easy to escape from. That's when I had to incorporate speed along with flying, therefor making me quite untouchable, if I say so myself." Discord could have groaned. Here she was, acting so full of herself. Why wasn't she telling her story already? He didn't have time for...oh wait, he did. "Anyway, I'm getting off topic here. I was out in the forest, as I usually was every day for most of the day. I had found a huge stash of Poison Joke! Being my favorite snack, I decided in a few milliseconds to stay for a while and dove right in. For the next hour or so I merely stuffed myself full of the delicious blue flowers, not caring about anything else but stuffing my face. It would prove to be a horrible mistake." Finally! Discord was wondering when she would get to the exciting part. That was always the best part; the rest was usually pointless to him. "I was in the middle of eating another flower, when I heard a roar behind me. I turned to find a hydra, standing right next to me. How I never heard it approach, I'll never know. One thing was for sure, I knew it was there at that moment! I immediately tried flying away, but this hydra was smart, and smacked me with its tail as soon as I had gained any height off the ground. I fell to the ground in a heap, and ended up damaging my wings in the process, rendering them useless. Now my escape plan was a bust, and all I could do, and did do, was run. Unfortunately for me, I was no runner. Using my wings 90% of the time really didn't improve my running speed, and the hydra quickly caught up." "Once it was close enough, it grabbed me by my broken wings with one of its three heads. The bite on my injured wings counted as an overkill, damaging my wings even further than they needed to be. One of the free heads attempted to gobble me up whole, but was quickly shoved aside by the other free head. Soon, they had begun bickering about which head was to devour me, shoving each other aside while still trying to eat me. It was almost funny, actually! Just the fact that they were fighting over me, the afternoon snack." "Well, once the two heads started to really go at it, the third head began trying to do something, possibly break them up. Of course, that just caused more injury to my wings, and began tearing them at the point where I was being held. Though the pain was excruciating, I tried to fight through it and think of an escape plan. Luckily, and also unluckily, I didn't have to. Instead, the left head jerked away hard, tearing part of my wings of completely, and I began to fall real quick. I landed with a thud, adding more pain to the masses already filling my nerves. However, I thought quickly, and began to make a run for it, the hydra to busy fighting with itself to even notice my absence." Discord was quite finished. If that's all there was for the exciting bit, there was no point in listening to the rest of the story! So, he didn't. Of course, she didn't know that, so she just kept on going. "With my luck, it was amazing I had escaped with my life. I could still tell which way I had to go in to get home, but I was losing too much blood from my torn wings, and was finding it harder and harder to stay standing and conscious. I ended up tripping over myself and onto the forest floor, lacking the strength to get back up and keep moving. Slowly, as the pool of blood became more widespread, I was drifting off and other predators were drifting closer to me, hoping for an easy meal. Their growls and shuffling noises kept growing in volume, getting much louder as they zoned in on me. I honestly believed that this was my end, lying in a pool of my own blood for all of the predators to eat. Then, something unexpected happened. Instead of their growls, the predators switched over to whimpers and yelps, quickly fleeing from my presence. The yelps and whimpers began to fade into the distance, and were replaced by the sound of flapping wings above me. I couldn't stay conscious for any longer; my last memory being what sounded like something landing next to me and being lifted into the air." To pass the time from this BORING story, Discord decided to pass the time by watching the nearby wildlife, which were relaxing in the sunlight and grazing in the gardens. They looked so peaceful, as if they didn't know that the lord of chaos was standing not five feet away. He was not surprised at all, however. Who would fear anything that could not move, no matter how powerful they were when they could? Discord didn't feel like causing chaos, he felt as if he needed some peaceful time to himself. The other Draconequus, oblivious to whatever he was doing, kept right on going. "I woke up next in an unfamiliar environment, a cave of sorts. There was a fire nearby, its warm glow and heat radiating from it and protecting me from the cave's dampness. I could see nothing else around furniture wise, but I could see another figure in the shallow cave. The shape made me believe that it was hunched over, but I couldn't tell what it was doing. It was just out of the light of the fire, and all I could see was its silhouette. Recalling what had happened earlier, I tried moving my damaged wings, but didn't even move them an inch before pain flooded my brain. I winced and instantly relaxed the muscles, attempting to dam the pain up. I must've gasped when I tried unfurling my wings, because the dark shape began to get up and move towards me." "I had begun worrying about what this thing was and what it planned on doing with me. I had no idea if it was going to eat me or what else it might have wanted. I lightened up as soon as it stepped into the light of the fire, where I could see it. Well, not it, but him. It was another Draconequus, a male by the look of it. He had a beard, which was a very dead giveaway. He was also technically bald, another hair related reason. Honestly though, I tried to remember as much about him as I could so I could identify him later, either for thanks or prosecution. I didn't have to remember much, because I started noticing him walking with a slight limp in his right leg. As he got closer, I could tell why. Around his right leg, below where it attaches to his body, was a makeshift bandage, and quite thick by the look of it. Although it looked thick, I could still see the blood that threatened to seep through the bandage and all over the cave. Even though I had NO IDEA who he was, his injury quite worried me." "I didn’t get all that much time to examine his leg, as he moved behind me right then. Even when injured, he moved pretty quickly! I didn’t try moving over to get a look at what he was doing, in fear I would create more pain in my wings. Instead, I decided to lie still, and hope that the male Draconequus had good intentions on his mind…" "That’s when I felt a claw brush against my wings, but it was followed by one unrecognizable. It felt as if something was being unwrapped around my wings, like a present or something. Then, it stopped on one wing and moved to the other, the same feeling as before. The unwrapping feeling ended much faster the second time, and a low grumbling noise came from behind me, along with the sound of him walking away. His steps stopped, and sounds of rummaging began for only a few moments, then his steps coming back towards me. After a little more mumbling under his breath, I was hit with the most relaxing feeling I could ever dream of. Every single ounce of pain was swept away and replaced with the relaxation of a day-long massage. As the feeling seeped further into my wings, I could feel something being wrapped around them, the exact opposite of what I had felt before." "The feeling began spreading from my wings to the rest of my body, filling it with comfort and a sudden sense of tiredness. Once he had finished, he walked around me and took a seat in front of me." 'How do you feel?' He asked. 'They aren’t too tight, are they?' "I was almost too relaxed to even move my mouth, but I somehow managed to answer him. “Oh, yes. It feels wonderful.” I finished with a sigh brought on from this pleasurable feeling flowing through me. " He smiled. 'That means the ointment is taking effect, and doing a great job too!' He looked away for a moment, then back to me. 'Listen, you’ll need your rest. The most you rest, the more your wings can heal, and the faster we can get you back to your Clan.' "A sudden realization hit me. Everyone would be so worried about me! They have no idea what could’ve happened to me, or where I was, or anything! What would my parents think? Would they believe I ran away, or got hurt, or worse?" "Worried, I asked the other Draconequus, 'How long does it take for wings to normally heal?'" "He shrugged. 'Maybe a week? But that’s not how long you’ll be staying. They should be able to begin healing on their own in one or two days.'" "I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t expect to be getting out of here quickly, but now I’ll be leaving much earlier than I thought. Still, I was worried about my wings. I knew that they couldn’t grow back the other half of them, and I could possibly not ever fly again. Maybe the Clan knew what to do…" "Alright, I think you need your sleep. They’ll heal faster that way, and I’m sure you want to get out of here as fast as possible." "With that, he laid himself down on the other side of the fire, across from me. He did have a point there and surely felt that I needed some. Taking his advice, I tried curling up to the fire and sleep, letting all of my problems slip away as the relaxing ointment continued to ease up every part of me. Soon after, I slipped from consciousness myself and into a deep sleep I needed very much."