Consciousness, ever a fickle beastie, had still yet to return to Red even after three days laid out in Zecora's hut, Now, Red was of course completely oblivious to this, his dreams filled with the simple pleasures of an animal. After his initial dream, a dream of what would be his first hunt, he no longer questioned anything he experienced. He didn't question the taste of his prey on his tongue, nor did he question how silently he padded through the underbrush of his hunting grounds. He most certainly didn't question the time he caught sight of his reflection in a still pool beneath an old gnarled tree.
A rather impressive sort of cat stared up at him from the pool, bi-colored eyes narrowed in curiosity. Its fur was a deep red in color, a red mottled here and there with darker stripes that served well to hide it among the shadows despite the crimson of it's coat. Red reached out a paw, watching as the cat in the pool did the same. Cocking his head a little he dipped a paw into the water, his reflection mirroring the action right until the ripples distorted it. As he drew his paw back, irritably shaking the wetness from it, his eyes fell back on the pool and widened slightly. Staring back at him now was prey. A red pony with eyes much like his own. They stared at one another for a seeming eternity before Red, the hunter, crouched and sprung like a coiled spring, landing in the water without so much as a splash. The hunter found itself... Red found himself crashing into wakefulness like a freight train through a china shop.
"GAH!" Red exclaimed suddenly, startling all the assembled ponies as he shot upwards and came crashing down again, landing in a tangled heap of bandaged, and rather confused, pony. Twilight was at his side again in an instant, fussing over him and helping him straighten himself out. A fact that the muzzy headed pegasus was most grateful for.
"Oh thank Celestia..." Twilight breathed, cuddling up to Red once more after he'd been righted and declared unhurt, at least any more so than he was already. "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up." Careful of her injured coltfriend, she hugged him for a moment. "Don't you EVER scare me like that again or I swear I'm going to petrify you and keep you on the lawn." Her grip had grown suddenly fierce and possessive at this.
Red just nodded, blinking and looking around in a daze. The last thing he remembered was a long fall and an intense pain in his wing and foreleg. Frowning slightly he made an effort to look himself over. First his right wing, which didn't move much in it's bandages. That seemed to be in order well enough. He'd been hurt hadn't he? Next his legs and barrel. Bandaged here and there, with one of his forelegs in a heavy splint. It stuck out at and odd, slightly bent, angle from the rest of him. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but he could deal with it. Not like he'd never broken anything before really. Red's examination came to a screeching halt when he caught sight of his other wing... Or lack there of really. Disbelief spread slowly over his features as he waggled the stump where his wing should have been, a deep frown on his lips. Just like that it all came flooding back to him. The pain of the cockatrice's claws and spines as it tore into him. His feverish jaunt through the forest... The taste and the almost delicious shriek of pain as he tore into that arachne. His fall, the wet snap of his wing breaking so badly it had come clean off. Just like that disbelief was replaced with denial and, unbidden, the word "No..." came bubbling from his mouth in a constant, slowly quickening, jumble of repetition.
With a flash of magic and without much concern Twilight shoved her friends out the door. A fact none of them really gave complaint to, there were some things that they knew they couldn't help with. This was one of them. Once the others were gone Twilight turned her full attention to Red who stared numbly at the stump of his wing. Gently she lay a hoof against his lips to still the stream of "no"'s spilling forth.
"Shhh..." she said softly, pulling him closer and hugging his head to the crook of her neck. This, she thought, couldn't make up for her failure to prevent something she thought she could have. It was, however, a start. If she couldn't have been there to prevent it, she could be there now to make it hurt a bit less... Somehow. She ran her hoof through his mane slowly, offering her support and love silently. Words were pointless right now, invalidated by the overwhelming need to hold her special somepony until he didn't hurt any more. Later in Life, Twilight would come to say that science and knowledge, for all her love of them, was honestly a second stringer to emotional response in more situations that she'd once thought.
Like someone had broken a dam, Red clung to Twi, sobbing in confusion and loss. Despite the tears he just felt hollow and empty, like someone had reached in and scooped out something that he hadn't missed until it was gone. Even as badly as he'd been hurt before, nothing had even been taken from him, not like this. Broken bones mended, cuts and scrapes healed in time, concussions cleared up, but to his understanding a lost limb was a lost limb. There was no "fixing" that. Sure, he'd heard of people having hands reattached if the doctors were quick enough... but they never worked quite the same again. From his point of view, his wing was lost forever and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. That brought a fresh round of tears to his eyes and he hugged Twilight all the tighter.
They stayed like this for a long while, long enough in fact that neither of them noticed that their friends had slipped in again and joined in on comforting them both. By the time they did notice the others they were asleep, crowded around the two of them and pressed gently against them here and there. Rainbow's head rested against Red's neck, one wing draped gently over his back. Pinkie was using his rear end as a pillow and snoring softly, her hooves wrapped around Fluttershy's tail. Flutters had curled herself loosely around Twilight, her head against AJ's rump. AJ leaned against Twilight lightly, asleep on her hooves. Rarity had somehow managed to get herself snuggling in almost between the two of them, keeping contact with both. Slowly, Red and Twi disentangled themselves and glanced about at their friends, blinking slowly.
Red's bloodshot eyes softened slightly, a faint smile appearing on his face. This... This was something he'd never thought he'd actually have. Friends that cared enough to about him to go and... Well... He wasn't sure what exactly they thought they were doing, but it was touching none the less. Twilight's eyes sparkled slightly with unshed tears of gratitude for her friends. She'd pushed them out, and despite that they'd come right back before too long to comfort them both. She couldn't have asked for a greater joy in life than the ponies who surrounded her right now.
They glanced back at one another and smiled faintly before settling down among their friends and drifting off to sleep, nose to nose... With their heads on Rarity's belly. If she was going to lay there like that, she was going to get press ganged into service as a pillow... Not that she'd mind in this case.
In the doorway Zecora watched this all with a faint smile, settling down to keep watch on her charge. Despite what they may want, until Red was healed he was her responsibility. It was her duty as a medicine mare after all to ensure those in her care left better than they'd come... "I see you come to check on him, oh princess of most grievous sin." she whispered to seemingly thin air.
Shimmering into view after a moment Luna sighed softly and took a seat next to the Zebra. "... Can you blame me? I should have been watching him. He's here because I brought him here, he's my little pony so much more so than what Tia can claim." she said after a long moment. Zecora just nodded sagely, the silence stretching on for a long while.
"Blame is not mine to give, and we should be grateful that he still does live. From the spider kin he took a bite, their venomous blood did further his plight. From him his flight was taken, through you something else did awaken. Much of this my eyes do see, but what is to come is shrouded to me..." Zecora said at length, turning to look at the pony beside her.
Luna sat there, slumped slightly, her wings dragging the dirt almost as she let them hang slack. "He... Before I brought him to this land he was one who worshiped my moon like ponies of old did Tia's sun. A druid he called himself. Flattering really, but he was one only in name. Because of my inaction he's lost something precious to any pegasus... I made him a druid in truth. Zecora, teach him for me... As much as I wish to, I do not think I could without bursting into tears every time I see what was lost. I can think of no better teacher than a sybil anyways..." With that, and a faint glow of silvery light, she was gone, leaving Zecora to frown slightly and shake her head.
Sybil, there's a term she had not heard for a long time. A seer, a wisemare, a wytch some would say... Despite dumping this on her, Zeora had to admit that Luna was correct. For what was to come down the road for the wine red pony, her instruction would certainly be of use. Sighing, the zebra walked calmly off into the night, her hoofsteps fading into the sound of an owls wings in the air as she was lost to sight.