The storm which raged for the past day had finally ceased, leaving behind a chilling atmosphere which was unforgiving on the wounds of the ponies who gathered on the forest ground. The only noise keeping still silence at bay was Rainbow Dash’s barely audible groans and winces as blood continued to trickle down from under her left wing. The former bright purple fabric Rainbow laid on had turned a sickly red in certain areas and had completely lost its shine.
Fluttershy sat beside Rainbow, holding her breath to prevent more tears from flowing out of her eyes. Her hooves trembled immensely as she popped open her saddlebag and gripped a roll of bandages in her mouth. Turning back around, the mere sight of Rainbow’s condition almost caused her to release the bandage and grip her head in tears. Rainbow’s bright cyan coat was no longer bright, it had faded into an almost grey color.
‘It’s from all the days of travelling...’ Fluttershy lied to herself in her mind. The upper half of both of Rainbow’s wings had been scorched a jet black, forcing her to leave her wings unfolded as they slumped lifelessly over her body. It looked as if her wings were ready to turn into a coffin for the pegasus. Underneath Rainbow’s left wing was a huge wound, blood flowing like a small red river onto the fabric beneath. The wound had previously healed but Rainbow’s recent movements on her assault on Applejack had reopened the gash, sending waves of pain throughout her body.
Rainbow’s signature six colored mane and tail had also lost its striking brightness and hue as with each passing moment, the colors appeared to fade into the air around her, disappearing forever into the starry night sky.
“N-Now this, this will hurt for just a moment...” Fluttershy tried her best to reassure her friend through the roll of bandages in her mouth, even though she knew Rainbow probably couldn’t hear her. Quickly, Fluttershy leaned forward, pressing a bandage on to Rainbow’s under-wing gash and as she did, Rainbow released a bloodcurdling scream into the night sky. Fluttershy shut her eyes as tears started to flow, her ears falling close as the bandage started to turn into a dark blood red.
A short distance away sat Rarity, her white coat had been tainted with various bloodstains and cuts. She was unsure which were hers and which were Fluttershy’s but she honestly didn’t care. As Rainbow’s scream echoed into the night sky, she shut her eyes tightly, preventing any sort of tears to form. She couldn’t bear to open her eyes to see her injured friends. What added salt to the wound was the thought of Sweetie Belle, alone in the boutique every night.
‘Oh Sweetie Belle, I do hope you’re all right.’ Rarity pleaded in her head, hoping that somepony would hear her thoughts and give her a sign that her dear sister was safe and sound. The more she thought about it, the worst she felt. She finally opened her eyes once again after some dreadful thoughts, this time directing her gaze Pinkie Pie, who lay to her right a few feet away who was getting treated by Applejack.
“Hold still okay, Sugercube?” Applejack whispered to Pinkie Pie, whose pink mane and tail was no longer curly or puffy. Pinkie’s eyes were closed shut as Applejack brought a white cloth to her flank. The area the white hot lightning burned had now begun to bleed, the burnt flesh, blood and pus was a sickening sight to anypony which saw it. The cloth Applejack gripped had been dipped in a solution meant to treat burns, giving it a dark brown shade. Slowly, she placed the cloth over Pinkie’s wound as she bit hard on the bottom of her lip, wincing as the medicine seeped into the burn.
“You’ll start to feel might better when the medicine starts working. Now don’t Ya be moving an inch until I say you can.” Applejack sternly instructed.
“Thanks Applejack! I didn’t think being burnt would hurt so terribly-bebbily much!” A large grin grew on Pinkie’s face, completely taking Applejack off guard. A mere day or two ago, Pinkie wouldn’t even crack a smile, especially not after Applejack cursed Fluttershy.
“P-Pinkie, how can ya be smiling at a time like this?” Applejack inquired.
“Well, duhh!” Pinkie responded in her usual fashion. “Everypony else is being mopey wopey so I figured ‘Hey! It’s already happened, so why don’t I smile and cheer everypony up!?’” Pinkie said happily, kicking her hooves around. “Besides, Twilight’s been the mopiest of us all...” Pinkie used her hoof to point to Twilight, who was lying on the ground, tears flowing down her face. Applejack approached the purple mare.
“Heya Twi, you doing okay?”
“No.” Twilight sobbed, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I never wanted any of you to end up like this. This was my task. I’m responsible.” Twilight closed her eyes shut, her face turning away from Applejack.
Applejack lifted her hoof and allowed it to rest on Twilight’s back. “Now Twi, when we came with you we all knew the risks,” Applejack reassured her. She half expected Twilight to toss her hoof away but Twilight merely sat there, unmoving. “,ain’t no way should you feel sad about what has happened. We’all will get through this together Twilight...”
Twilight slowly turned her head to finally give the orange mare a glance and upon doing so, her mouth dropped open. On the right on Applejack’s face was the cut Rainbow had given her. Even though the blood was dried and the cut was smaller than it originally was, it still chipped another part of Twilight’s heart away. “AJ, your face,”
“Huh?” Applejack lifted her hoof to the wound, realizing she had forgotten all about it. Desperately, she tried to find a way to explain, knowing Twilight would over-react.
‘Ah knew Ah should have covered it.’ Applejack blamed herself.
“Oh that? Its nothing Twi, it’ll heal back.”
“It’s-It’s not nothing! Applejack...” Twilight scanned her eyes over to the other ponies who lay scattered in front of her. Fluttershy was tending to the heavily wounded Rainbow Dash, Rarity laid against a tree, drifting off to sleep while Pinkie Pie laid on the ground next to her as she started to hum her own little tune, bouncing her head back and forth.
Fluttershy had begun to wrap Rainbow’s left wing. With each round of the bandage, Rainbow would scream louder and louder. She felt as if somepony was driving a huge knife through her wing each time. Each scream started to eat away at Fluttershy’s sanity and heart, threatening to shatter the already fragile pegasus. To see the pony she always thought of as the strongest act so defeated did nothing to save her breaking mental state.
“It...it hurts...” Rainbow managed to mutter throught the searing pain that was present throughout her body. She closed her eyes tightly, small droplets of blood dripped from the edge of her lips. “It hurts so much. Just...just let me go... I can’t take this anymore.” Fluttershy shattered. She released the bandage which ,just moments ago, she clutched in her mouth. Her breath started to quicken and became more shallow, tears flowed down her face like a waterfall. She crouched down onto the muddy ground, forcing her ears shut with her hooves.
“I-I don’t want to do this anymore! I don’t want to hurt my friends! Please, somepony make this stop!” Fluttershy dug her face deeper into the ground. Rarity awoke from the loud sounds of Fluttershy’s begging. Rushing over, she tied off the bandages on both of Rainbow’s wings. However, Rainbow’s tail and mane had continued to lose its color. The indigo shade had all but vanished ,leaving behind a grey trail of where it once used to be.
“I...” Twilight tried to gather her thoughts. “We’re going home.” She stood up immediately, leaving Applejack with her mouth agape, her hooves rooted firmly to the ground.
“Come again, Twi?” Applejack squinted her eyes to the purple unicorn who was walking away from her. “I thought I heard you say that you give up?”
“That’s what I said.” Twilight spun around as she reached Fluttershy. “Look at us AJ, look at all of us. We’re tired, injured and one of us could very well die if we don’t get out of here!” Twilight glanced quickly at Rainbow before glancing back. She lifted her saddlebags onto her back.
“Twilight, you never give up!” Applejack yelled, hoping to get some sense back into Twilight.
“Well, now I’m going to.” Twilight responded without hesitation, her tone made Applejack understand that she was not joking.
“Twilight, you mean to tell me we went through all of that just for you to walk out on us!?” Applejack tried to look Twilight eye-to-eye but the unicorn turned her head, not wanting to look at Applejack any longer.
“If we proceed any further...” Twilight’s mind was in a mess. “I...I just can’t see you guys like this.”
“Twilight, darling. When we said we were with you to the very end, we meant it.” Rarity said with a smile.
“Yup! And we aren’t going anywhere!” Pinkie chirpily shouted with a smile.
“I never expected anything less from you guys. I know you guys will stick with me till the very end, that’s why I’m calling it now.” Fluttershy regained some of her composure and turned her head upwards, staring at Twilight with tear-filled eyes. “This is the end.”
The other ponies watched as Twilight trotted to the edge of the forest, the same clearing from which they came from. Applejack wanted to argue, she wanted to convince Twilight to continue on but another glance at Rainbow brought her will down to zero.
“A...Ah think Twilight’s right...” Applejack solemnly admitted. “Rainbow’s our friend and if we don’t find help, she’s not gonna make it.”
“I-I afraid to admit it but Twilight’s right.” Rarity supported, reluctantly.
“You girls can’t just give up! We could... We could...”
“We could what, Pinkie!?” Twilight directed her loud voice towards the pink pony. “Rainbow’s close to dying! We’re leaving now!”
There was nothing but silence. Pinkie’s smile vanished for a quick second, her eyes filled with fear and anger but she quickly reverted back to her normal self after Rarity trotted up and nuzzled her lightly.
“Girls. Let’s go. Now!” Twilight’s loud voice commanded the girls. Without another word, they started to pack their saddlebags with a heavy, guilt-ridden heart. All, that is, except for one mare.
“No.” Everypony spun around in shock, recognizing the voice but their mind couldn’t comprehend if it was the same pony talking back.
“Fluttershy! What do you mean ‘no’!?” Twilight angrily asked.
“I mean, no.” Fluttershy stood up on her hooves, her face showing a wide array of emotions which was stirring within her. “I am not going to leave.”
Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity only stood in shock and awe as Fluttershy took steps closer to Twilight.
“Fluttershy, this isn’t the time for you to-” Before Twilight could finish her sentence, Fluttershy interrupted with a strong and determined voice.
“Twilight. Rainbow flew up into the sky, not because she was angry at us laughing at her during the campfire, but because she wanted to find Gryphus so that we wouldn’t have to travel anymore. She had the best intentions at heart, she always did. She put her life on the line just so we would be able to reach our destination quicker.” Turning around to glance at Rainbow’s fading colors, her heart sank deeper. “And that line is close to breaking.”
“That’s why we need to go back! That’s our only chance to save Rainbow!”
“Twilight. Have you forgotten why we’re on this mission. This isn’t about us, its about the fate of Equestria. If the Griffins send the dragons to us...”
“I know what the mission is, Fluttershy! You don’t have to remind me! But the mission isn’t as important as my friends!”
“This-This isn’t you, Twilight. You were always the logical pony. Then tell me, is it worth saving one pony’s life but risk millions?”
There was not a word uttered from anypony. Even the wind seemed to have ceased its howling.
“If you leave now, I’m not coming with you. I want to see Rainbow fine, I want to see her fly again, laughing as we always did. I want to see her strong-willed, brash personality again. We all do, Twilight... but giving up now isn’t going to bring her back. She is fighting for her life right now and I’m sure she wouldn’t want to wake up to see that we’ve given up, it would have made her risk worthless.” Fluttershy gulped. “You can leave, I’m not stopping you. But I’m going to at least try to make Rainbow’s sacrifice worthwhile.”
“F-Fluttershy...I...” Twilight couldn’t find any words to describe her feelings at that moment.
“I’m going with, Fluttershy.” Pinkie said in a serious tone.
“Ah’m going too.” Applejack added without a second thought.
“And so am I. I just cannot bear to throw away our hard work.” Rarity supported.
“Twilight.” Fluttershy stared at Twilight with begging eyes. “You’re right. We will always stand beside you. Now, could you please do the same? For us?”
Twilight took several seconds, running through her thoughts, her beliefs, the events that unfolded the past three days and in one deep breath, she replied.
“Let’s go. Let’s go, to Gryphus.” The words brought a huge grin to everypony’s face as Twilight trotted back to her friends.
“T-Thank you...Twilight...” Fluttershy’s meek voice seemed to return to her.
“Girls, pack your saddlebags. Fluttershy, you carry Pinkie. Rarity, levitate Rainbow onto Applejack’s back. Then we’ll try to find a way out of here.”
Immediately, the other ponies got to work on Twilight’s instructions, ready to venture into the forest once more...
----------
The night sky seemed to become even darker when Twilight and the others broke through the trees.
“G-Girls! Look!” Twilight pointed to the ground in front of her, which had a clear dirt path on it. “A road!”
“D-Do you think it’s safe to follow the road?” Fluttershy asked, worried. “What if those griffins find us?”
“We don’t have a choice, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy nodded her head, knowing that Twilight was correct. The only hope left for them was to follow the dirt road, hopefully leading to the town they so desperately needed to be in.
“Darling, how in Equestria are we supposed to know which direction to walk in? And how do we know that it’ll lead us to Gryphus?” Rarity asked.
“I-I don’t know.” Twilight admitted.
“Duhhhh. Have faith!” Pinkie responded with a cheerful grin, bopping her head back and forth as Fluttershy carried her.
“Girls! We have a problem!” Applejack yelled to get the other’s attention. Laying Rainbow onto the grass next to the road, the problem was clear as day. Rainbow’s mane and tail had lost another color, this time they were the blue shade, turning into a dull and lifeless shade of grey. It was clear that the other colors would soon follow. The ponies knew what would happen when the final color faded away, though they pushed the thought away.
“If we don’t find help, Rainbow ain’t gonna make it!”
Suddenly, as if on cue, the sound of flapping wings and wood hitting dirt resonated through the night sky. Twilight glanced down the road and in a swirl of emotions, she saw a faint light in the distance, rapidly approaching them. In a fit of desperation, she jumped onto the road, her face showing her resolve. The other ponies reached to pull Twilight out of the way but Twilight held strong. Staring at the growing bright light, her eyes could finally make out a familiar shape. The shape of a Griffin...