//------------------------------// // Ch 5: Struggles // Story: Trapped! // by rainb0w_dash //------------------------------// "Water... I need water..." Thought Rainbow. Looking around for something, anything to drink. All she saw was sand, rocks, and more sand. She hadn't had anything to drink now for two days now. Her mind had slowly been wearing away at the very edges. Becoming a mindless zombie almost. Only thinking the words in her mind of anything she had to say to herself. She had lost the energy and will to talk long ago.. Trapped.. She thought to herself. I'm definitely trapped. Many thoughts ran through the cyan pegasus' mind. Thoughts about ever seeing her friends again. Thoughts about if she was ever going to even escape this disgusting rock that she had been trapped under for almost the entirety of two days. Thoughts about herself. Herself. Had she brought this upon herself? Her bullheadedness had gotten her into this horrid mess after all. There was no more use in getting angry or sad. She had already done all of those things long before. When she still had a glimmering chance of hope of survival and escape. Looking back at her wing. If you can call it a wing anymore. She saw the dried blood that had slowly pooled around under the rock from her accident. She had stared at that rock. Starting blankly at it with her magenta eyes. Just looking. All hope was lost in her. Her mind had gone through every memory, every fun time, every moment spent with all the ponies that she had met in her life. The Wonderbolts, her friends, her parents, everyone. Rainbow had exhausted every possible opportunity to spend times with her own friends. Her mind was slowly seeping from her head like the blood had from her now destroyed wing. All the thoughts had been building. She was angry. Angry at herself. Angry at fate. Angry at life. She couldn't help but kick up pebbles and dirt up from the ground with her hoof. That was when she realized how weak her body was. The way she felt after lightly kicking up some dirt was like racing to Canterlot from Ponyville 20 times back and forth. She layed there. Not even daring to move any muscle inside her body. Slowly moving her eyes up to stare at the beaming blue sky. A lone tear had slowly gone down her cheek. That was the only sign of sadness she could give in this situation. She then realized something. She stuck her tongue out of her dry mouth that was probably just as dry as the ground beneath her and felt the tear touch her tongue. She brought it slowly back into her mouth. Careful not to drop this source of water. To her astonishment, the tear had provided a refreshing drop of water. For the first time since this entire ordeal had started she finally had felt relief instead of pain. Even though the tear was extremely salty, it had quenched her thirst, but only slightly. She wanted more. Her body ached for more water. So... Thirsty... Her impatient mind had grown used to this. She had thought that maybe after a day or two somepony should come and rescue her. Right? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seconds seemed like hours, hours seemed like days, and days seemed like years for her. Waiting.. She thought to herself. Just, waiting. She had memorized every single surrounding object within her vicinity. Looking around if she could find a possible way out. She once more turned her head for the thousandth time and stared straight at the boulder laying on top of her. Looking at the dried blood. Blood, blood, wait a second. Blood! Rainbow then looked around. Even though incredibly difficult to move around her she had put all of her mind and physical force into doing so. She then found it. A sharp enough looking rock. She had never once thought about doing what she was about to do, but she had no other choice. She had hardly urinated over the past few days. Twice or maybe three times. She had been disgusted by the fact of having her own urine inside of her mouth, but she had braved it out. Eventually she had stopped urinating all together. She stared at the sharp enough rock looking slightly like a razor blade. It had an almost nice sleek and sharp look on it. It's bit dull, but it should get the job done. She looked around her body for the perfect incision point. After going through which point would be best to drink from, as well as trying to remember anything from her anatomy class so she would miss puncturing any major arteries she was ready to begin. She had found the best place to do this was in the base of her foreleg. Not on the bottom where her artery was, but on top. Just a small cut will do. Rainbow thought to herself. It had started. She was starting to become frightened as her thoughts were telling her that she did not have to go such drastic measures. But what other choice did she have? Just sit there and die? To sit there patiently waiting for Celestia herself to just land there and fly her away? She held the makeshift rock blade. Staring blankly into the edge of it. Looking at it made her sick. Knowing that she did not want to even do this, but she was determined to survive. Driven on, tried to keep calm. Looking down at her foreleg, her cyan, matted, and dusty fur, covered from days of not showering were about to be cut open, and blood covered. She stared bleakly once more at her weapon. Slowly, she inched the blade closer to her skin. Thoughts of what it was going to feel like to how painful it was going to be were flying through her mind. She bared it no more as she closed her eyes and made a small incision into the top layer of her skin. Feeling a slight prick she looked down at her arm and noticed a good amount of blood was coming forth. Rainbow was a bit frightened by this. Did I hit an artery??? She quickly bared down on it. The taste had hit her pretty hard. The metallic taste of blood which she had rarely ever tasted in her entire lifetime was now the only she could taste. Resisting the urge to suck the wound, or barf, she only had to lick it as the blood spewed forth. She was worried if she would lose too much blood from doing this, but at the moment she did not care. She had finally gotten a drink. Even if it was something entirely different and completely unorthodox. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seeing her now fully clotted wound she had made. She stared it. The fur around it was still slightly wet from her saliva and the blood which had been from the wound. Looking down at the dull razor like rock, covered in dried blood her mind was now reeling with questions. She had filled herself with as much blood as she could possibly have, and had felt slightly better even if she had lost some of her blood. It had taken a good deal of time for her wound fully clot. The sun was about halfway between the the "noon" part of the sky and the horizon. Rainbow thought it was around 4ish. Possibly later. She did not even realize how much time had gone by. Looking back, at her wing an idea was slowly coming into view. Nothing was out here. But a blunt knife like rock, herself and a giant boulder that does not give in to her excessive pushing and shoving. She had been thinking and plotting this idea since a few hours after she had gotten trapped under this rock in the first place. She did not want it to have to come to this sort of conclusion. But just as with the decision of cutting her own arm for the sake of not dying of thirst, she had to do the impossible. She had to cut her wing off. She shuddered at the very thought. Wondering how she could pull such a feat off? It would take just about all the energy she still had. The mare was relentless though, struggling for just a small, minuscule glimmer of hope. It can't happen. I-I'll just wait for somepony.. The mare couldn't even think. The door for herself being able to be freed from this cursed rock, this cursed valley was open and in reach! It was literally just a cut away.