You Can't Take The Sky From Me

by FailcopterWes

Chapter 16: The Arrival

Chapter 16

The day wore on. Every few hours, Ditzy would check the bandaging on her friends, retying them when the poorly tied wrappings came loose. The sun began to set, it’s golden rim melting into the horizon. Ditzy watched it set, nestled between her friends.
“Huh, sun sets in the north here” Ditzy said as she watched the sun descend into the group’s intended route. Not long after she said this, the sun’s glare forced her to look away. She turned from the light and faced the other way, gazing at the darkening landscape. The rocks slid into shadow and the dust faded to black as she watched.

The rocks moved. Ditzy cocked her head, peering into the darkness.

It moved again, separating from a larger rock. The shape slid out and stood alone. It’s edges blurred into the night. Ditzy lost sight of it several times as she stared.

It moved forwards. Bobbing slightly as it advanced, slowly and steadily, towards Ditzy.
“Who’s there?” Ditzy called. She widened her stance and lowered her body, her eyes glanced around. “Who’s out there?”

A voice floated back, but the wind carried away the words.
“Come where I can see you!” Ditzy yelled “Come on!”

The shape came forwards faster, moving at an ever increasing pace.
“I didn’t mean it you can stay right there!” Ditzy squealed, rearing up onto her hind legs, spinning in place, and diving behind her wounded friends.

The wind whistled in her ears. Her hooves were clamped over her eyes. Ditzy curled up into a ball, shivering. The cold bit into her skin. She bit into her lip to stop herself from crying out.
‘It’s not going to hurt you’ Ditzy thought ‘Just stay still. It’s not going to hurt you’

The thought circled in her head, repeating endlessly. The voice in the wind started to form recognisable words, but Ditzy ignored them.

Something touched Ditzy’s shoulder. She leapt backwards, her legs flailing as a scream echoed out into the uncaring dark. One of her hooves connected with something as she flew through the air with the elegance of a feathery brick. A thickly accented voice gave a small grunt in surprise.
“Miss Doo, please be careful, your hoof just gave me an earful” the voice said.
Ditzy ceased her violent flailing; her legs paused in an awkward position above her. After a moment her right eye opened slowly. Her yellow iris flicked around, searching for the source of the voice. A figure against the still darkening sky stood over her, the very last ray of sun escaping before Ditzy could make out any details upon it.
“Kindly lower your twitching hooves.” the figure politely instructed as it gently pushed down on Ditzy’s left foreleg. “You disturb the world with such frantic moves”
“Don’t hurt me” Ditzy squeaked, pressing her body into the ground as hard as she could “Take Dashie, but leave the saddlebags... or even better just leave us all!”
“I am not here to rob you, I came to assist. My home is no more and you’re lost in the mist”
“But there’s not enough water for mist...” Ditzy pointed out. The figure sighed loudly and shook what appeared to be its head. “Wait... was that one of those numbers of talking?”

The figure turned away and sighed again.
“A ‘figure of speech’ I believe you mean, now stand so their wounds can be seen” the figure said, gesturing towards the two still bodies nearby. “They appear to have been wounded once again. From that we asked for you to abstain.”
“Hey, I only head butted her this time” Ditzy said, her head popping up to keep the figure in sight as it slowly advanced on Rainbow Dash.
“We will have to check for the onset of Carise. Open your other eye and help me with this.”

Ditzy obediently opened her other eye and rolled over, pushing herself to her hooves. She hesitantly approached the figure from behind, her eyes flicking to Fluttershy’s body every few seconds.
“Miss Doo, do you know what the Carise virus does?” the figure said, its head nudging at Rainbow’s cheek and sniffing regularly. “It breaks down the mind and fills the body with pus.”
“She has been a bit strange lately” Ditzy admitted. “Wait...I shouldn’t be talking to you”
“Miss Doo, we have been through this situation before, the last time your friends were silent on the floor”
“You weren’t here last night... wait, were you in my dream? Because I had a really weird one where... “ Ditzy was cut off by a hoof ramming itself into her mouth.
“My name is Cortich, or perhaps you are too dim. Now help me help your friends you ignorant quim”

Ditzy was silent for a moment.
“You know I’m from the place that word originated, right?” Ditzy said, her face set in a glare.
“I apologise, miss Doo, I was not aware. Now please, I am tired, I just want to care”
“...Alright...” Ditzy said “but why’re you here?”

Cortich was silent, and simply scanned Rainbow’s body, prodding gently at her body.
“I mean, weren’t you up the wall with all the wolves and stuff?”

No response came.
“I mean, either you’re dead and I’m hallucinating or you did some pretty impressive escape manoeuvres”
“Please be quiet...” Cortich muttered, turning away from Rainbow and moving quickly to Fluttershy’s side.

Ditzy stood waiting for the sentence to end, her ears pointed forwards expectantly. After a short moment of silence, she gave a small cough.

Cortich muttered something inaudible. Ditzy leaned in, hoping the zebra would repeat it.

But the only sound she heard was a gentle sob.
“... Are you alright?” Ditzy asked.

Cortich wiped her face with her hoof, flung back her hood and turned to Ditzy.
“I am fine. If you could light a fire, please try it” Cortich said, her head gazing at Fluttershy’s body.

Words drifted on the wind, blurred and mumbled in the air. Fluttershy could not read them as they drifted past her eyes, or work out the sounds that reached her ears. She tried to call out, but the only sound she made was an incomprehensible noise. Her tongue felt alien in her mouth, like a parasite. It refused her commands to make sense and screamed its nonsense. The air around her swirled in shades of green, brown and blue. The colours mixed and split, twisting and flowing like oils in a fantastical whirlpool. Fluttershy tried to move her head, but found her body moving instead. She tried to move her body, only to find her legs and head moving the opposite direction. Images formed in the twisting colours, abstract and indistinct. But Fluttershy felt as if she knew them, a sense of familiarity came from them in the instant they existed before they were lost in the colourful fog that pressed against her eyes. The words floated around, written in a language she could not read. But she felt the meaning. It was imprinted upon her as she looked on each word. An indescribable blast of emotion, feelings never experienced by ponykind before.

Rainbow was kicking in her sleep. Cortich had told Ditzy that the length of her unconscious period was worrying her, pointing out that a simple headbutt should not have caused enough damage to silence her for more than half a day.

But they could not wait in the Badlands forever. Cortich had advised they continue moving. With Rainbow Dash mounted over Cortich’s saddlebags and Fluttershy mounted upon Ditzy, the group had begun its movement again. Ditzy initially questioned the direction of travel, before being told they had been drifting westwards since they entered the Badlands.
“How do you know that?” Ditzy had asked.
“I’ve been following you, and the trail you drag. I also can use the compass you have in your bag” Cortich said, pointing to the item hanging from her neck. Ditzy had found a similar item in her saddlebags, but had left it there upon seeing Cortich not only had her own, but could use it competently.

They walked side by side. But Ditzy was unused to the weight of both a grown pony and enough food for three, and regularly slowed enough for Cortich to wait for her to catch up. But even side by side, Ditzy never quite saw Cortich’s face clearly. Her hood was up against the beating sun, and her head bowed slightly to keep her face in shadow.

Night fell once more, and a camp was made. Cortich lowered Rainbow to the ground with a scowl only suitable for a pony that had been unconsciously kicked for most of the day. Ditzy was sweating with exertion as she unceremoniously fell to the floor and began to doze, using Fluttershy as a skeletal blanket. Ditzy could feel her ribs through the thin layer of skin and flesh. The saddlebags weighed in on her side.

Cortich lit a fire, allowing Ditzy time to get comfortable on the ground before walking over and gently removing Fluttershy. She laid the yellow body beside Ditzy, avoiding the confused gaze the grey mare gave her. Cortich turned away once Fluttershy was comfortably positioned, moving to her saddlebags and extracting a small package. She unwrapped the leaves and began to quietly feed on the grain within.

Ditzy extended a hoof and stroked Fluttershy’s mane, idly inspecting the back of her marefriend. She pawed at Fluttershy’s back, stopping each stroke as she reached the bandage. After a few minutes, she stopped moving and pushed a hoof under Fluttershy’s foreleg, feeling her strained breathing.
‘Wake up Flutty’ she thought, before adding aloud “Wake up”

Cortich looked up from her meal, observed the mares with a stern face, and returned to her food.
“Why won’t they wake up?” Ditzy asked, breaking the silence like a strong gust of wind breaks the stalk of a dried flower. Cortich rewrapped her food and placed it to one side. She glanced at Rainbow, and the turned her gaze across the small blaze to Ditzy. Their gaze locked, the pegasus’s eyes peeking out from behind the mess of pink.

Cortich opened her mouth to speak, but paused.
“They just don’t have it in them, do they?” Ditzy said.

Cortich nodded.
“They need time to find themselves, into their souls each one of them delves”

Ditzy nuzzled the back of Fluttershy’s head.
“She can do that” Ditzy claimed. Cortich let out a small noise, gesturing with a hoof for Ditzy to explain further. “She looks at you and she can see right into your soul.”

Rainbow flailed, trying to connect with something to hold, something to beat her wings against. No air to push on, she was not flying, she was falling in an empty space. With nothing she could do. It rushed past her, swirling in all directions. Shapes flickered in the fog that pressed against her eyes. Rainbow tried to cry out, vainly hoping that some other creature would hear her in this strange world, but she could not even understand what came from her mouth. She could not feel her teeth and her tongue as they formed words independent of her thoughts. Every thought gave a new image, bursting for a moment onto the fog before vanishing the instant it appeared. Her body was numb, it moved out of control. She could not see herself, she could not understand herself, and she could not feel herself. In the fog, something loomed, darkening the entire cloud. As it filled her vision, it split in two. One side glowed with a silver light. Rainbow sensed her body curl away from it. The other seemed familiar, like a long lost friend, but twisted into something she could not recognise. Both things surrounded each other, taking each other’s place and swirling with the fog. There was no sense of distance here, but each one felt close, and pressing in further. Rainbow tried to focus, to figure out where everything was moving, but everything moved simultaneously, every flow and thought she sensed, senses and would sense all came together. There was no time, but she perceived it anyway. Everything happened at once, and as soon as she had entered the fog, the things had her.

“You never looked her in the eye, did you?” Ditzy asked. Cortich shook her head. Ditzy stood beside Fluttershy, gazing down at her. “It’s weird, whenever you do, she can see right into you. Most of the time she holds back, or gets awkward and looks away...” Ditzy stifled a giggled “Sorry, it’s just... she looks funny when she gets all shy”. Cortich raised an eyebrow, waiting for Ditzy to stop. “Yeah, anyway, she doesn’t do it unless she has too, but Flutty here can see right down to the bottom of you. She’ll know what you love, what you hate, what you’re scared of...” Ditzy fell silent, looking out into the desert.
“Miss Doo, do you feel alright? Your face suggests you wish to take flight” Cortich said.
“I’m fine” Ditzy insisted, turning to the zebra and clearing her throat.
“No, you are not, do not lie to me. For your own sake tell me what worries thee”

Ditzy looked down, her hooves shifting awkwardly. For a moment she mumbled, but the feel of a hoof on her back, and Cortich’s unhooded head appearing in her view made her relent.
“We kind of had an accident with it” Ditzy said quietly, picking her words carefully “I wanted to know what it was like, and she wanted to know if she could use it to peacefully convince animals to help her, instead of just scaring them and... turns out it’s much easier to be scared than happy.”

Cortich thought for a moment.
“In conversation, I see why that would not rise. But it does explain your curious-“
“You finish that sentence and I stick your head in the fire” Ditzy growled, slapping away the hoof Cortich was using to indicate Ditzy’s askew iris.
“-I doubt those are lies” Cortich finished.
“Nah, it was lies... sorry.” Ditzy said, throwing off the zebra’s hoof and settling down beside Fluttershy. “Just... don’t mention the eyes, okay?”

Cortich nodded solemnly.
“My most sincere apologies, dear miss Doo. I-”
“And stop with the “miss” thing, my name’s Ditzy, alright?”
“-will say as such when I address you” the zebra finished. Ditzy gave her a small smile and lowered her head to the ground. “I’m afraid I have not asked how you three have fared, have you had trouble, have you been scared?”
“Well... apart from all this I think we’ve been... alright” Ditzy told her. Cortich turned to Rainbow Dash and cleared her throat. “What?”
“If nothing is wrong, then why are both hurt, forcing them to lie in the dirt?”

Ditzy’s smile failed. She bit her lip before continuing.
“Rainbow went a bit crazy” Ditzy said tactfully “Started ripping up Flutty’s bandage. I fixed it, I think, but still...”

Cortich stared at Ditzy, her face clearly showing her disbelief that Ditzy had told all there was to know.
“... And I might, only might, have taken that a bit personally and beaten her unconscious... again”

Cortich facehoofed.
“An understandable response, I must admit, but you must think these things through a bit.” Cortich told her “Miss Dash and your friend would do best awake. Their company is vital for sanity’s sake.”
“Are you saying I’m crazy?” Ditzy asked.

Cortich shrugged.
“I barely know you, and so I cannot say. And I feel we won’t last long past today” she said.
“What do you mean?”

Cortich appeared to ignore the question, and instead began gathering items from the nearby area. She filled a wooden bowl with dust and sand, placed it by the fire and surrounded it with small stones. From her saddlebags came a small bundle of yellow leaves and a fine grey powder, all of which was placed in the bowl. Ditzy watched on, attempting to guess what she was doing, but her cries of “ghost summoning” and “freaky witch stuff” went unanswered.

Cortich bent down to the fire and whispered something inaudible. She picked up a flaming branch in her teeth and gently dipped in into the bowl. The contents of the bowl lit in a large blue flame. Purple smoke twisted into the air and mixed with the grey wisps from the campfire beside it.

The flash of light from the bowl’s sudden ignition caught Ditzy’s eye. One pupil drifted down to the small blaze, the other stayed watching Cortich as the zebra moved gracefully in twirls and strikes at the clouded sky, muttering under her breath with every arcing movement. Ditzy opened her wings a little, taking a step back. The wind rushed under her unused feathers, forcing a shiver through her body.

Cortich plummeted to the ground, her cloak and hood billowing behind her body. Her hoof snuffed out the flame and buried itself in the debris inside the bowl. Her body flattened to the ground, her head to the ground. Ditzy squeaked in alarm, jumping into the air and hovering in place, her legs curled up around her body.
“Are you okay?” she called out to the motionless zebra.

The purple smoke vanished, whisked away by the air and hidden in the sky. The night stood silent, watching the zebra.

Cortich lifted her hoof.
“Look in here... for it is done” Cortich said, removing her hoof from the bowl. “For one of us, the prophecy has won”
“Prophecy? You were future-seeing?” Ditzy said, landing next to the bowl “Darnit, nearly guessed it” The zebra ignored her and began to peer into the bowl.
“Here, look and observe the pattern. See where lumps rise and the burnt twigs flatten”

The ashes laid in the bowl. Broken and blackened and burnt. The surviving fragments rose and fell. They formed a pattern. Its meaning soared from the bowl.

“Death” Ditzy whispered. She looked up at Cortich “One of us is going to die?”

Cortich nodded gravely.

Comments

[DreadedCandiru2]

It ain't hard to see which one either. This is because I do a real annoying thing called remembering stuff like "COPS: Equestria", "Equestrian Knights" and "Harbinger" wherein the author wants to remind his or her readers of how grave the situation is by travelling the following five-step path:
1) Kill
2) the
3) Un-nameable
4) Grey
5) Pegasus.

[FailcopterWes]

1464405 I haven't read any of those three.

And I have a plan for Ditzy, she's safe for the moment.

[DreadedCandiru2]

1467569
Still, though, I ain't liking her chances of surviving this. It's usually the one with the most to lose that gets the ax in this sort of thing.

On edit:
Insert comment about living envying the dead here.

[Rainbow87dash]

My bets are on Flutters

[FailcopterWes]

1915610 Nobody wants Dashie to cop it then? hmmm, interesting.