Chapter 3 - Introductions
I hissed in pain as the bat pony mare gently traced her hoof across my chest, murmuring to herself quietly as she tended to my wounds.
Next to us lay the meager pile of what little I'd had on me when I'd fallen. Apparently, she'd removed them to check me for injuries. I was a little annoyed that she would had gone through all my stuff, but she seemed to have had good intentions in doing so.
Besides, she'd saved my life. It wasn't like I was going to complain.
"So, you caught me?" I asked, surprised.
"Yes. I heard the shouts and screams echoing down the tunnel I was in, and by the time I had arrived you were just falling. So, I swooped over, grabbed you, and was able to glide us both down to safety before pulling you into this small cave."
"Wow, so... I, like, owe you my life or something now? Just like in the movies?" I said.
"I guess?" she said with a shrug and a snort. "I was simply in a position to catch you and not kill myself in the process. So I did. If I didn't think I could have, I wouldn't have. Besides, you might still die in the next few hours if any of these injuries get worse..."
"Um... thank you?" I said. Not really sure what to say, and more than a little scared at the thought of just suddenly dying from some internal injury I may have gotten.
"Thank me when you're out of here. If I can get you out of here, that is." she said nonchalantly, still carefully examining me.
"Wonderful... simply wonderful," she grumbled, still talking with that quiet but powerful flute-like voice of hers as she lightly pressed against my chest.
I quickly noticed two things about this mare. One: that she was not a very gentle pony as she roughly moved her hooves over the big nasty bruise along my chest with little regard to my discomfort. Two: her hooves were warm and REALLY soft. I mean, now that I was getting a good look at her I supposed it made sense since she did have that thick coat of fur to keep her warm, but it felt simply amazing to feel. If it wasn't for the fact that I felt like she'd probably rip out my throat and then wear my skull as a new hat, I might have been tempted to run my hooves through her coat and see if it was as soft as her hooves were.
Celestia, I wished I had a thick coat like that. It's not super cold or anything, but it does seem a bit chilly. I shivered a bit from the cold stone beneath me.
That was one of the stranger things about being underground: no wind. Well, perhaps saying there was no wing wasn't true because there was certainly a bit of air-flow, but it wasn't in the same way as you'd feel it walking through a park, or down a street, or down a country road. It was more like quiet small breezes moving across your body without any of the sounds of wind lightly pushing leaves, trash, and other small objects by. It was as if the world was holding its breath. It was a completely alien experience to me, just another reminder of how far from home I really was.
I also realized how lucky I was that I wasn't claustrophobic. I felt scared enough with how battered and bruised I was without worrying about the earth itself closing in on me and crushing the life out of me. Ugh, the more I thought about it, though, the more terrifying it began to get as I tried to comprehend the sheer amount of dirt and rock surroundings me.
Stop it Flash. No need to give yourself more things to worry about. Focus on the present.
A deep purple bruise had formed across my chest. It hurt incredibly badly when the bat pony mare pressed her hoof against it.
"Bad news is you definetly have some fractures. The good news is I don't think any of your bones broken," said the mare calmly.
"Yeah, wonderful," I croaked. I released a held breath as she finally stopped massaging my messed up chest. She started examining my right foreleg next, the one that'd been snagged by the thick support rope from the bridge.
The foreleg looked disgusting. Dried blood caked it, and it looked like a good section of the coat, and skin, had simply been shorn away by the rope. I grimaced and tried not to look at it. the bat pony just rolled her eyes as I did so. I swear she called me a pussy under her breath.
She reached into a saddlebag strapped to her hips, pulling out a small first aid kid and grabbed some disposable latex gloves from it. They were pink, I noted.
Next she pulled out a transparent plastic tube filled with a mushy yellow paste. A thick dark-colored bandage quickly came out next, and some dark colored medical tape to match.
"This is going to sting," she said bluntly. Before I could ask her what she meant, my foreleg erupted with a searing hot pain and I yelped as she rubbed that tooth-paste like ointment over, and into, my bloodied limb.
It felt like hot-sauce was being slathered into the wound.
Suddenly, as horrendous as the pain had been a second ago, the burning sensation vanished. I looked at my forehoof in surprise. It was still just as caked in blood and gross looking as the wound had been before, but the pain that had been lancing up my arm was simply gone.
"wow, what did you do to my arm?" I asked, amazed. I could hardly believe the absence of all that pain as I wiggled the arm out of her grasp and examined it like a curious little colt. She snatched it back and held it firmly in place as she fixed me with a glare. I smiled sheepishly in response and stopped moving it so she could get back to her work.
"I applied a potent topical sedative derived from the distilled essence of a special type of deep-dwelling fish that lives in a lake nearby to my home city, called a..." She stopped talking as she noticed I was just starring at her stupidly, obviously not understanding a thing she was saying.
What? big words are hard for me sometimes...
She sighed and started over, speaking slowly. "It's a powerful pain killer that dulls the nerves so that way you don't feel the pain. That's why I'm wearing the gloves, because if I didn't I want to not feel my hooves for next 24 hours."
"Sweet Celestia, that stuff lasts for 24 hours?" I gasped.
Amazing, what an awesome medacine for any pony to have at their disposal! I noted that I'd have to figure out where to get the tropical-potent-whatsimakallit for myself next time I went to the store... or wherever you got it. I watched as she lapsed into silence and pulled out a canteen of water to wet the wound covering my leg before going at it with some bacterial wipes to clean the dirt, grime, and pebbles out of the open wound. It was a little creepy and awesome to watch as she patched me up while I couldn't feel it. Creepy, but awesome.
"Soooo...," I said, breaking the silence between us as she worked, "you didn't exactly answer my question from before..."
"Oh really..." she said, uncaring, "I must have forgotten..."
"Oh, well that's easy to correct. I asked what a bat pony was," I said, happy to repeat myself.
She gave me a flat look as I continued to speak.
"What needs to be said?" said the mare. She paused for a second to start wrapping the bandage around the leg. "I'm a bat pony. I'm sitting right in front of you, and I am what I am. You may have already noticed my strange and different 'demonic' qualities, as you call them, and how I'm not the same as you..."
"Whoa, so you really do have demonic qualities. that's awesome!" I said.
"I was being sarcastic again," she said, scowling at me. Have I mentioned I'm not always a very smart pony?
"Oh..." I said. I cleared my throat awkwardly and rubbed me neck, feeling fairly dumb now for all the whole "demon" stuff I'd spouted earlier.
I cleared my throat, and tried again. "Well, what I meant was I was curious about bat ponies as a culture. Like, what you guys are doing down here in these caves and stuff? I mean, If you don't want to tell me you don't have to answer or anything. I just was-"
"Good, because I wont." She said, cutting me off. She continued to robotically wrap the bandage around my foreleg.
"My business down here is none of your concern, Surfacer. The reason for my species living underground is also not relevant, or important, to the real objective here, which is getting you out of my mane and back up to the surface. I'm simply your guide for the remainder of your time down here in the Everdark, and not by choice. So drop it," she said. I yelped as she give the bandage around my leg a sharp tug before beginning to tape it down.
Now, most ponies would have stopped trying to talk at this point, but I wasn't like most ponies. But I got the feeling that if I didn't attempt to keep talking right now it was only get harder and harder to initiate conversation again with my strange new companion as the silence stretched out between us.
"Um, just one more thing?" I said with a little awkward smile.
She sighed, exasperated. obviously annoyed at my continuous talking. "... fine, Surfacer. But you only get one more question."
"What's your name?" I asked. "I just realized that neither of us know the other's name, and I thought that, well... it would be just something simple we could share with each other. That way you stop calling me Surfacer!"
I then added quietly under my breath, "and then maybe I can stop thinking of you simply as the 'demon-mare.'"
Her ears twitched, and her eyes slowly tilted up to stare into mine. I suddenly realized that those large tufted ears on her head were very big... and probably very good at catching noises and hearing. I gulped as she continued to stare at me... unblinking.
"Glint," she suddenly said, "Glint Surehoof, of Deep-Hollow."
"Glint. pretty name," I said. She grunted in reply as she finished up on the bandage now securely taped to my leg. Now that I looked at it, I realized that it would blend in quite nicely with the dark stone around us.
Hmmm... perhaps its like a camouflage meant to keep the individual hidden? a white bandage would surely stick out in an environment like this. Oh stupid me, names. I haven't told her my name yet!
"My name is Flash. Flash Wit Acumen, of Canterlot," I said. "It's a pleasure to meet you Glint."
What? She told me her full name so I figured it was only fair I tell her my full name. It just seemed like the right thing to do.
"Flash... kind of a dumb name," said Glint bluntly.
"Hey, its a fine name." I said defensively, "I mean, it might not accurately represent who I am as a unicorn, but then again Mom just always had a taste for the more, well, flashy things in life."
Glint raised an eyebrow at me.
"My Mom is kind of your stereotypical pegasus. Into stunts, and crazy gravity-defying acrobatics. I think she thought naming me Flash would somehow make me like my namesake," I said. Glint just shrugged, accepting my answer. I assumed, and hoped, she at least generally understood what I meant. I mean, she has wings. these bat ponies has to have some sort of air shows, or sports events, or something... right?
"Alright," she said, finishing up her hoof work, "that'll hold your leg. You can still walk on it fine since you just lost some skin and didn't damage anything important. Aside from some minimal scarring, the leg will most likely heal over fine as long as we change the bandage and keep it from getting infected. the ointment will help to alleviate any discomfort while you would otherwise experience moving for the duration of the numbing period, so it shouldn't bother you. The bigger problem now, is your horn, and chest..."
"nice, thanks a lot," I said, "Well... maybe now you can go fetch me some help? or find somepony who can come and collect me, or help me get to a nearby hospital?" I asked, hopefully.
Her lips twisted into a snarl as she glared at me. "Lets get something very clear between you and I, Flash Wit Acumen. I do not fetch. I am not your lackey, and I am most certainly not your friend. I'm a Dark Strider, and I'm simply doing my job."
I squeaked an affirmative, cowed by her sudden rage. She continued to scowl as she pulled my unbuckled hiking harness off me abruptly without asking and started to work on my chest again, rubbing more of that pain-killing salve on the tender skin. It took me a while before I could respond again to her as she just scowled angrily and continued to work diligently.
I made a note to myself to try as much as possible to not make her angry. She was already unsettling in general, but when she'd snarled at me it had downright terrifying. My heart was still fluttering a bit as my pulse raced. I had to do something quickly to try and amend this.
"W-what's your job then?" I asked, hoping she'd calm down.
She was quiet for a second as she worked. "... expedition scout. I've been mapping out these tunnels for other ponies. Why do you care? just shut up and be happy I saved your sorry flank from becoming a pile of red goo on the floor of the Everdark."
My ears pressed back. " Sorry, I was just... curious," I said meekly, "if you just point me in the right direction, I'll just start heading for the nearest exit."
She growled lightly. "And I'd LOVE to do exactly that. But I know you wouldn't last longer than a few seconds with a busted horn and only four more of those high powered glowsticks to light your way through unfamiliar territory. Also, there's no way you're hobbling anywhere for long with a messed up leg and a chest full of fractured ribs," she said with a huff, clearly annoyed at her situation as my impromptu caretaker and babysitter.
She started to wrap my chest with another one of those thick dark-colored bandages. "stop squirming, its making this harder than it needs to be."
"Sorry..." I said quietly, keeping myself still as I realized I'd been fidgeting nervously.
"Don't apologize, just shut up," she said, scowling deeper.
And yet again, I did exactly that as she ordered me to.
I admit I have a bad habit of simply talking when I shouldn't, especially when I'm nervous, scared, or overly excited. It's a coping mechanism of mine, and I just... do it. When it happens, I tend to simply just start speaking about anything to break the awkward pauses or continual silence in a room.... or cave in this situation. I hate awkward pauses, or continual silences.
So I initiate pointless small talk to create a distraction from my problems. It gives me something to do besides fret. But sometimes, you just had to know when to lid your own nervous twitches. So I did. I clammed up and shut up.
I went ahead and took stock of my bleak situation.
First and foremost, I was stuck in a cave with my body all banged up. Secondly, I was now with a strange bat pony mare named Glint, who apparently hated my guts for simply existing and burdening her life with said existence, and for getting in the way of whatever task or job she was doing down here. But, for some reason, despite her clear and obvious disdain for me, Glint was still helping me out. I had no idea why or what a 'Dark Strider' was, but I was clearly very lucky to have been somewhere Glint could swoop in and grab me as she had.
Maybe it's like her offical title as a scout? No, it sounds more menacing than that. She obviously doesn't want to share much about herself or her mysterious culture with me. She made that abundantly clear clear. So I guess I'm just going to have to live with that, and hope that I can just get to the surface fast with her leading the way.
So I continued to sit in silence as Glint finished wrapping my chest and taped the bandage down. Even when she rubbed some sort of goopy transparent glue to seal over the crack in my horn and then applied the magical Tabasco pain reliever onto my horn I did my best to not make any sounds. The entire process hurt like hell, but I just quietly took it as she finished up her thorough work to apply some first aid to my injuries.
"Alright. That should take care of those injuries," said Glint, sounding perfectly calm again. I suppose the silence had helped her to compose herself. She had slipped back into the emotionless mask of neutrality she'd been wearing when I'd first met her.
As I looked at her cold expression I gave a little shiver and averted my eyes from hers. it was chilling to see her so suddenly emotionally detached after her little spat of anger at me. As if she'd simply erased any such feelings or antipathy she'd once had towards me.
Glint stood up. "That'll have to do. come on, lets go."
"Come on? what? where are we going?" I said haltingly, not quite sure what she meant by that.
"Come on, get up," she said, rolling her eyes. "There's no way I'm carrying you, and the nearest exit to the surface is at least a few days away. We have quite a journey ahead of us, and it's only going to be made slower by you and your injuries. So come on. Let's get started."
"A f-few days? down here, in the dark?" I squeaked. and by squeaked, I mean in a very stallion-y and husky way that didn't make me sound like a little filly... at all...
"Yeah, a few days," she said.
"But, why don't we just go and meet up with the expedition you're scouting for? wouldn't that be faster and safer?" I said, not so sure about running off into the dark with just her for company.
"No. My expedition is too far away, and it would just be faster if I simply took you to the surface now. That way you get out faster, and then you're not stuck down here longer than you need to be," said Glint quickly.
Perhaps a little too quickly.
Now I narrowed my eyes. Something about what Glint had said seemed a bit off. But despite her seeming reluctance to go find her expedition, wherever it was, I had to admit; getting out of these dreary caves sooner than later certainly seemed like it'd be nice.
Glint sneered at me, breaking me out of my thoughts. "What, you thinking about asking me to take you to the big safe expedition? Don't have the grit to stand a little walk in the dark like a big pony? by the Void, even the foals where I come from are more stallion than you are, big sissy," Glint mocked.
I scowled a bit and set my jaw in anger at her words as I grabbed my personal effects and repacked them and wiggled back into hiking harness. I snapped the rig snug with sharp angry movements, ignoring the dulled pain in my chest as I did so.
"Oh, I've got the grit, and I'll prove it too!" I growled, struggling up onto my hooves painfully with a grunt. "I can do anything just as well as you can, and I'll do it while injured!" I said as challengingly as I could muster, glaring at her.
Glint watched me, face still that unreadable mask.
"We'll see..." said Glint simply. "If nothing else you certainly know how to talk big. We'll see if you can live up to those words soon enough." Glint turned around to head off. As she did, though, I swore I saw the smallest of smiles subtly twisting the corners of her mouth.
"Hey, wait up!" I said as I scrambled up and threw my small re-packed bag up and over my sides before snagging the glow stick and looping it into my harness as I hobbled off frantically to catch up with Glint.
Glint might be scary, and she might not like me: but she was my best bet for getting out of these nightmarishly-dark caves. Besides, I got the feeling I'd be in for a whole lot more trouble without Glint than if I stuck with her.