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// Life and Limb - Tragedy 
// Story: Krizak's Compendium of Concise Chronicles 
// by Krizak 
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The darkness once again engulfed them as Rarity panted hard, shaking her head and its overworked horn in frustration. “It’s no use, Fluttershy, I can’t budge this dumb rock! I simply don’t have the horn strength of our dear Twilight.”

“It’s okay, Rarity, you did your best,” Fluttershy said in a comforting voice, shifting her footing with her hind legs once again. The rock pinning her foreleg against the cave wall prevented her from shifting into a more comfortable stance, and her rear hooves were getting awfully tired. “We’ll just have to think of something else.”

“But what, darling? If I leave you alone here in the dark, those… creatures might find you, and your unique gifts won’t be of much use pinned to the wall in a pitch-black cave.” Overcome with worry, Rarity began trotting in place, trying to jog her mind into coming up with new solutions. “Let me think, let me think…”

Quiet overtook them for a second, and then Fluttershy spoke up, her voice even softer than unusual. “…I have an idea.”

”What, Fluttershy, what is it?” Rarity implored her friend, bringing her face as close to Fluttershy’s as she could sense in the darkness.

“You have to a…” The pegasus’ words trailed off into incoherent mumbling.

“What was that, dear? I didn’t quite catch that.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath. “You have to amputate my hoof.”

There was a muffled whumph of air as Rarity sat down hard, shocked by the insane plan of her closest friend. “What!? Fluttershy, surely there must be another way! We haven’t explored all of our options! We—”

“No, Rarity, we have,” Fluttershy interrupted with no force in her voice, Rarity easily yielding to the yellow pegasus’ quiet tones. “You could leave me here alone to try to get help—”

“I already told you, that is not an option!”

Fluttershy continued despite Rarity’s dramatic outburst, “you could stay with me until those creatures catch up with us, and I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose you, Rarity.” The older mare reached out with her snout, seeking out the coat of her friend and nuzzling her softly. “The only other option is to leave my hoof behind, and with the other two plans being so… terrible, how could I not choose this?”

Rarity remained silent for a moment, the firm and even tone of Fluttershy causing her to actually consider this stupid idea. “How… how could we even manage it? It’s not like I brought surgical tools with me.”

“You may not be able to lift the rock, Rarity, but everyday at the Boutique, you cut fabric, you cut gemstones.” Fluttershy smiled her most reassuring smile, hoping that even in the darkened cave, Rarity would feel it. “It’s just another cut; I know you’ll get it done right.”

She was going to do this, Rarity realized. She was going to sever the limb of her closest, kindest friend. And once she put it like that, she was ready. Reaching into her saddlebags with her magic, she pulled out a couple long pieces of fabric. With her horn glowing once again, she was able to see Fluttershy’s pinned arm, and she wrapped one of the scraps of fabric just above where the hoof was caught. She pulled it as tight as she could before tying it off, drawing a gasp of pain from Fluttershy and a pang of guilt from herself.

Levitating the other fabric piece over to Fluttershy’s mouth, Rarity folded it into several layers. “Bite down on this, Fluttershy. It—it might help.” The pegasus obediently took the cloth into her mouth, clamping down on it hard. Seeing her friend ready herself, Rarity turned her attention back to the trapped limb. “Okay, dear… I’m going to begin…”

It was more a question than a statement — or maybe a last attempt to get out of having to do this — but Fluttershy nodded her head once, and Rarity steeled herself for what she was about to do. Her horn flared brighter as she brought her array of shearing spells to the fore, ready to be applied for a task she never thought she’d use them for.

And as the magic touched Fluttershy’s forelimb, as blood began to flow and the dear sweet pegasus quickly transitioned from whimpers of pain to muffled screams, Rarity was in the back of her mind already thinking of the artificial hoof she would craft for her friend. It would be the finest limb ever crafted by ponykind, and Rarity could only hope that it would be a worthy apology for what she was doing now.