A Bounty to Fight

by NightSugar pone

chapter 10

the next morning, Star woke up to the clang of a tray being thrown into her cell again, but this time, the mush had bits of celery and carrots sticking out of it. It still looked as unappetizing as it did before but at least she knew she could eat something that was on that tray, even if it had some of the unrecognisable gunk on it. So she quietly said off her cot and moved closer to it when she was sure that the guard had left, and carefully pulled out the vegetable bits with her teeth and began to gingerly nibble on them. As she had guessed before, the mush had meat in it, the irony taste of blood and the slightly stringy feeling of muscle was almost too fresh to chew properly, but she ate some of it regardless of her expected diet. when the mushy puree meat was half done she stopped and gave herself a chance to breathe, even if she finished it wouldn't be much help to her body in any way. So she laid next to it on the cell floor as she felt the uneasy gurgle and movement of her stomach, it was in no way comfortable for her and it distracted her so much that she almost didn’t notice Windbreaker standing outside of the cell door. But as she groaned in pained disgust he looked back at her with a worried expression.

“Are you ok Star, you look like you tried to swallow a sentient ball of slime,”
He said, before noticing the half eaten pile of meat mush and vegetables, and he quickly opened the cell door so he could run to her side. She seemed to be vaguely aware of him being there before he hoisted her body up so she was sitting up.

“You didn’t eat that stuff, did you? you know it’s all just partially drained meat right? ponies aren't supposed to eat stuff like that,”
she tried to say that she knew what it was but the pain in her gut hurt too much for her to get it out, and another pained groan took its place.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you until you feel better, no other guards will go by here until the fight tonight,”
He said, trying to comfort her as he gently rubbed her belly, helping ease further into his grasp as she nuzzled him slightly. He jumped a bit at her sudden show of affection but just let her do her thing after a while, chopping it up to the fact that she wasn’t feeling well enough to think about what she was doing. And after a while of rubbing she started to feel limp in his arms, the gentle and rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, showing that she was now asleep. At first, he didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to wake her up but he also couldn't stay in the uncomfortable position he was in, so he carefully tried his best to lay on his back without moving her too much. As he laid back he let out a relieved sigh, and the mare now lying on top of him shifted slightly to lay on her belly, resting her chin on the curve of his breastplate. He was still worried about her feeling sick but decided to just enjoy the moment while it lasted, and wrapped his arms and wings around her as he let himself drift off into sleep as well.