The Mare of Everfree Lake

by Gordon Freepony

Chapter 3: Damage Control

A/N: I want to apologize to all of you readers out there. This past five months have been hectic with school and family issues. Projects and multiple hospital visits became my priority for the time being and the fic took the back burner. I want you all to know, though that this fic is NOT dead in the water! It will be continued through the summer in direct collaboration with Kamunami. Again, I’m sorry for the horrible delay and I hope you enjoy future chapters.

Celestia’s morning sun shone through the thick canopy that covered the Everfree Forest. Little pinpricks of light occasionally made their way to the forest floor, barely enough to light the weed-covered ground. There were scattered tree branches hanging low over the shallows, but the rest of the lake was laid bare before the sky, allowing the sun’s rays to shine down through the water and pierce the darkness that shrouded the lake bed. At the bottom lay Dulset Tarn, who slept soundly with her head resting on a small rock.

The heat of the sun gently warmed the delicate creature and roused her from sleep. Her eyes slowly opened to the partially dimmed light of the lake bed. With a small kick of the hoof, she turned over onto her back and yawned, stretching out her legs to eliminate that morning stiffness in her joints. Dulset lazily floated up to the surface of the lake, squinting for a few moments as she allowed her ruby colored eyes to adjust to the morning light. She made a content sigh before she heard a low rumble from her stomach. It took a moment to remember that her most recent prey had gotten away.

“Tch, I can’t believe I messed up that catch... I should have been holding on tighter...”

Dulset swam over to the shore and pulled herself out of the water. It took her some effort being that she wasn’t quite in shape. She wasn’t overweight by any means, quite the opposite, but she never exactly matched up to the average pony in strength. Upon stepping onto the grassy shore, she took a moment to let the excess moisture slide off of her body before beginning to make her way toward the nearby town of Ponyville, in hopes of bringing back a fine meal to make up for yesterday’s... incident.

On the way there, Dulset recalled the events of the prior evening clearly. The pegasus had been putty in her hooves until he saw her normally hidden form. Sure, it was disappointing that he’d gotten away, but that insult. That insult! Not once did a pony ever call her such a thing to her face! Even now, Soarin's words still stung her on the inside. She shook her head and mumbled to herself. “I’m not a monster... I would never cause a pony suffering! I mean, I’ve made ponies happier in their last moments than they’ve ever been in their entire lives! Who is he to say that I’m some kind of... senseless beast?” With her nose to the air, she stubbornly continued to trot through the woods. However, she failed to notice the the long, round object that lay in her path. “I hope he--OOF!”

She tripped over the object and face-planted right into the moist ground, causing her face to appear spotty and brown. Duslet struggled to bring herself up and wiped the dirt off of her face in frustration. “Hey, what in the world wa--” She stopped and gasped. Laying against the base of a worn oak tree was an unconscious Soarin’. His wings were bent in directions no wing should ever bend and his flight suit was stained with blood and small spots of drool. Dulset could hardly stand to look at him in such a painful-looking condition. It appeared that he was hardly breathing at all; as she rushed to his side, she could barely hear the pegasus making regular, shallow breaths. “Soarin’!”

She knelt down next to him and nudged him in the side with a hoof. Nothing. She tried gently shaking him, but still to no avail. After multiple attempts to rouse the Wonderbolt, she gave up with a frustrated sigh. She sat at his side without a word and laid his head down in her lap, worriedly stroking his deep blue mane and humming softly. Another fifteen minutes passed by before Soarin’s eyes slowly fluttered open, appearing unfocused and dazed. “Urrrggghh...”

She worriedly exclaimed, “S-Soarin’! Are... are you alright...?”

He tried to lean forward and sit up. “...I don’t...I don’t feel right--AAAAAAAGGGH!!!” He recoiled in pain and quickly lay his head back against her lap.

Dulset cringed when she heard his agonized yell. “A-are you dying??”

His only response was a drawn out groan as his face contorted in severe pain.

She couldn’t bear to see him in such agony. Considering her natural abilities, she tried to think of some possible way to help. “Umm, I-I’ll sing you to sleep, so it won’t hurt anymore, okay?”

“...wait, what...? SING me to sleep? I need help!” He stopped for a few moments to register whose lap he was lying in. He turned visibly pale when it clicked in his brain just who he was speaking with. “Y-you...you...!”

Dulset’s eyes narrowed at him, almost certain as to what word he’s looking for.

Something else occurred to Soarin’: she didn’t make a single attempt to consume him during this conversation. “I...I thought you wanted to eat me...! Why are you suddenly trying to make me feel better?!”

She looked away a bit. “I-I found you here hurt and... w-well, I can’t stand seeing ponies in pain...”

The pegasus blinked. “...that’s so backwards. You mean to tell me that--NNNNGGH!!!” He winced in obvious distress and bit his lip to hold back a yell before speaking again. “...I was almost your dinner...and now you suddenly want me to be healed...?”

“Hey, maybe I eat ponies, but...” She mumbled, “I’m not a monster...”

Soarin’ sensed the change in tone at the word “monster” and recalled the prior evening. Yes, he did indeed call her that. “If you’re no monster...then what in Celestia’s name are you...?” Before letting her answer, he shook his head, not wanting to think of the possibilities. The motion caused his back and wings to feel worse and he cringed in her lap. “Whatever, that’s not important. I need to find medical help now!”

Dulset became more and more uncomfortable with the situation. “Um, um, there’s a pony town a few minutes away! I-is that okay?”

“That’s fine, that’s fine! Just get me there!” Poor Soarin’ struggled to stand, grunting in pain and biting his lip to try and hold it back.

By the time Dulset realized the curtness of his demand and how strenuous it would be to help him lug himself all the way to Ponyville, she had already helped him up and was slowly trudging off with him. She grunted and said, “You’re... kind of heavy for a pegasus...”

He gives her a dry chuckle as they mustered their way through the forest. “I’m not that heavy. Just be glad it’s muscle and not fat.”

Under normal circumstances for Dulset, a one-way trip to Ponyville was no more than twenty minutes. Unfortunately, she had to take on the burden of an injured pegasus, which increased the travel time by nearly three-fold. Soarin’s distressed grunts and occasional swears made the journey even harder on her. Upon finally arriving into town, they saw very few ponies walking the grass-covered streets. Of the ones that did pass by, less than half of them offered to help carry Soarin’ to the local clinic.

They eventually reached the clinic and stepped inside. The waiting room itself was spick and span with a few rows of chairs lining the left wall. Between the hallways to the two wings was an information and check-in desk where Nurse Redheart was seen organizating patient records. She peered up from her work and her attention immediately shifted to Soarin’s wrecked wings and bleeding back as Dulset laid him down on a nearby chair. She rose from her desk and rushed to their side, urgently asking, “What happened?!”

Dulset replied in confusion, “You tell me! I found him like this in the Everfree Forest!”

The nurse gave her a questioning look when mention of the forest was made, but shook it off before pulling the injured pony onto a gurney. Three more doctors and faculty appeared and rolled him off towards the emergency room, shouting orders and calling for various medications whose names would be impossible to pronounce for most. Dulset raised her hoof as if to protest. “Wait! Where are you taking him? Is he going to be okay?”

One of the surgeons stopped along the way to explain, “He’s going to be alright, miss. He’s being taken into the OR for surgery right now so we can assess the damage and make all of the needed repairs.”

She warily raised an eyebrow. “‘S-surgery’? What does that mean?”

The doctor rolled his eyes. How could she not know what he meant? “It means we’re going to open him up, secure the damaged skeleton, and stop any internal bleeding that we can’t yet see.” Dulset couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of the pegasus like that. He gave her an encouraging smile and continued, “I promise you, though, that he is in the safe hooves of highly trained professionals. Your husband will be alright in the end.”

“T-thank you, I-... wait, did you say ‘husband?’” Before she could finish speaking, the surgeon had already headed into the operating room with the others. She saw little purpose in staying any longer and was preparing to leave, but it didn’t sit right with her knowing the poor pony was still suffering. Dulset sighed then took a seat in the waiting room to quietly wait out the surgery in hopes that he would recover quickly. “Please be okay...”

A pegasus could be heard shooting across the sky over the practice field. Spitfire watched from below with a clipboard and what appeared to be an evaluations sheet. With every stunt, she marked down scores and took detailed notes, half of them looking like diagrams. Fleetfoot eventually landed by her side, panting laboriously. She asked in between breaths, “How did I do, captain?”

The pegasus tapped her chin with her pencil before responding. “Eh, not bad. You know the sequence of moves just fine, so I’m not worried about that at all. I did notice though, that your timing is off during stunts three, five, and six. It puts you ahead of the rest of the team by at least...” She stopped for a second to add up the numbers she had scribbled down. “two and a half seconds.” Her charge’s face fell at that. “I’m glad you’ve got the moves, but you’re too impatient. You need to slow down and stick with the team if we’re going to nail down this routine. Got it?”

Fleetfoot sighed and wore an expression that showed her displeasure in being ordered to slow down. “Yes, captain.”

She nodded her head in satisfaction. “Good. Now go hit the showers.” The Wonderbolt prepares to leave herself before pausing to check her clipboard one more time. Herself? Check. Fleetfoot? Check. Soarin’? His evaluation sheet was, “Blank?” Of course. He had left to other day to be with that mare he had started going out with. The stallion should have been back by now, right? She called out for her squadmate to come back out before washing up; Fleetfoot was at her side in moments. “Hey, have you seen Soarin’ today by any chance? He wasn’t here for his scheduled practice run.”

“No, not yet. It’s been a few days since I’ve seen him,” she replied.

This wasn’t like him at all. Where was he? Would a mare really take up that much of his attention that he would forget about the team? Wait...could something have happened to him? Spitfire shook her head, trying not to let such pessimistic and potentially morbid thoughts from lingering. She went to her locker and pulled out her flight suit and goggles. Her partner lays a hoof on her shoulder and asks, “Wait a minute, where are you going?”

“To find Soarin’,” her goggles let out an audible snap as she let the elastic bands pull them back to her face “and straighten out this junk. I should be back later tonight or tomorrow.” With that, she left the locker room and took flight, heading to his last known destination: Ponyville.