Equestria's Ray of Hope

by The_Darker_Fonts

Think Fast

Ray hadn’t thought much about clearing the battlefield before. It was a necessary part of closing out their operations and making sure the dead were counted correctly while also ensuring no surviving minotaurs made any problems for them. He hadn’t expected it to be so somber, however.

Slowly making their way through the horror show that was the battleground, he was in the left wing of a long, one soldier thick line that checked every body on the field. If the minotaur was dead, they moved on to the next, and if not, then a thrust of their spear into the dying creature’s chest was all that was needed. They went about the task silently, adding to the strange atmosphere, as every few seconds it seemed like there was a sudden crunch and final bleat of pain before silence retook the battlefield. He himself had lost track of how many dying minotaurs he had put down. Strangely enough, it presented him with an opportunity to see how lethal his Fallen were.

Even though there was a large number of dead before they had taken to clearing the battlefield of any living minotaurs, at least a third of the minotaurs they came across were still living, if barely. The Fallen were effective in downing their enemies, but not killing them instantly. That could be problematic, given how there would almost certainly be battles when they wouldn’t have the time to clear the field. Leaving an entire third of their opponents to remain as informants on the Fallen’s tactics and numbers before and after the battle would essentially be handing their enemies all the information they would need to know in the next battle.

Ray’s thoughts paused as he came across a wheezing minotaur, a terrible gash in his stomach deep enough to be lethal, but not enough to kill quickly. Even though the creature was the enemy, the human couldn’t help but feel the slightest tinge of pity for it. The battle had ended some two hours ago, the waxing moon now high in the sky. He could see the pain and fear in the minotaur’s glazed eyes as it looked up at Ray. Pressing his lips together, he quickly pressed his kharamh through the creature’s ribcage with a crunch. It tensed up momentarily before closing its eyes and relaxing into death, finally free from its pain.

That was the difference between them and the minotaurs, Ray told himself as he moved on, finding a dead minotaur in front of him. They were the ones who went back and made sure that their enemy’s suffering was cut short, even if just for a strategic reason. The Fallen would massacre the minotaurs by the tens of thousands, but they did so to guarantee less death, not cause more. Another dead minotaur, this one facedown and nearly halved by its wounds.

“It’s grim work, isn’t it, lordling,” Yarem asked from Ray’s side, pulling his spear from a dead minotaur’s chest. He wore a look somewhere between disgusted and satisfied. Ray gave a silent nod, finding another dead minotaur in front of him.

“It’s important work, though,” the stallion continued solemnly. “I think every soldier should have an opportunity to clear the field. It gives you a new perspective on who we're fighting. I mean, I never would have thought it while charging them, but these minotaurs are living creatures kinda like us.”

“Yeah,” Ray audibly agreed, feeling a tugging of remorse as came across another dead minotaur. This one had its legs torn off somehow, but was otherwise unharmed, meaning it had died from blood loss. He could explicitly see it from the pool of blood it rested in.

“They feel fear and anger like us,” Yarem stated, keeping in step with the human before passing another few dead minotaurs in silence. Finally, however, he bitterly added, “But they’re just as ruthless.”

Ray glanced over, surprised by the sudden statement, only to find the general staring mutely at the mutilated corpse of a green Fallen, his translucent blood already losing its glow. The human sighed deeply at the sight, a pair of Fallen already moving to remove their slain comrade from the battlefield. It wasn’t the first corpse they had come across. As a matter of fact, it might have been the hundredth one at this point, dozens of dead Fallen dotting the battlefield. Most of the corpses had been at the very front, where the two armies first smashed into each other, but here and there, another dead Fallen would be found.

It made him wonder how many Fallen they had lost in this battle- which until he consulted Kraven, would be nameless- given the number of dead he had seen. He didn’t want to guess, but in his head at least five hundred had been lost. It was more than their previous battles combined, which while sobering, was expected from such a large-scale confrontation. There had certainly been more minotaurs present in this battle than any other, and having worked clearing so much of the battlefield already, he was confident that over forty thousand minotaurs had fought here.

“It is surprising that-” Ray began to say before the minotaur in front of him lurched forward, swinging its axe desperately. The human slammed his kharamh into the creature’s face while he felt a tug on his stomach, like someone pulling on his shirt. Except he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Letting go of his kharamh, he stumbled backwards slightly, looking down at his stomach. The moonlight let him see the damage, the right side of his abdomen dark with blood as it flowed down his stomach and leg like a river. The shock of the sudden wound delayed the pain, but Ray knew immediately how severe it was.

“Ray, what the hell happened,” Yarem practically shouted. Other nearby Fallen began to move closer to Ray, their questions and exclamations of surprise drowning each other out.

The pain hit him like a burning fire, pain he’d only felt once before scorching him like lava in his core. With a grunt of pain, he looked up to the sky, away from the wound as he clasped his hands over it. He couldn’t let himself go into shock. He had to act fast. There was no time to think.

“Move outta the way,” he roared, lurching to the side. He needed to get somewhere clear of Fallen. There wasn’t time to get back to Zecora. He needed something quicker.

He tried his best to run, each step sending a spurt of blood shooting in front of him. Blood loss would kill him quickly. He’d be lucky if he had ten minutes.

The Fallen listened, at least, moving out of his way. Some of them began running back for help.

“Skalos is in charge,” he shouted over his shoulder, though it came out more as a choked cry. His legs were weakening already.

Thankfully, he was in the left wing, and far left at that. He was out of the battlefield in only a minute, shambling towards the open as best he could. His head was woozy though. His thoughts were slowing. Maybe it had been more than a minute.

Reaching a bloodied hand to his neck, he desperately grabbed the pendant hanging there. If this failed, he was dead. He didn’t have time to consider it though. It needed to work.

He ripped the pendant off from around his neck and lifted it to the moon. Even without the full moon and wayport, he felt the pendant begin to grow warm. The familiar glow of traveling through light surrounded him.

The light began as the warm whiteness he had become accustomed to, however, as it became all consuming, it began to glow brighter and harsher, yellowing as the warmth became searing. Gritting his teeth, he shouted as the pendant became burning hot, searing his fingers. He forced himself to hold onto it, not wanting to know what would happen if he dropped it mid-teleportation.

When the process was finally over, he fell to the floor, seeing steam rising from his skin. He dropped the pendant as he collapsed, his fingers badly burnt, as were other parts of his body. With a groan, he checked the searing pain in his stomach, which was quickly overwhelming his senses. Blood still spilled from it, but it seemed the heat of the teleportation had cauterized some of his wounds.

Looking up, he found Twilight’s library empty, though a fire was lit in the hearth. Summoning all the strength he could, he bellowed, “Twilight, I need your help. Now!”

Surprisingly, the alicorn burst into the room as soon as she heard his voice, asking, “Ray how did you - Sweet Celestia!”

Her question was cut short at the sight of him, but he didn’t have the time to answer her questions.

“I’m wounded pretty badly and am losing consciousness,” he explained quickly, his eyes growing heavy. “I’m about to go out, actually. You need to heal this wound and somehow stop the bleeding before it kills me. I don’t have much time.”

“I don’t think I can,” Twilight mumbled, staring with wide, terrified eyes as he bled.

“I don’t care what you think, dammit, you need to do it,” the human growled, the burning pain worsening, forcing him to lie flat on the ground. Then, controlling himself a little, he managed to say, “I know you can. That’s why I took this risk. Twilight, please, you’re strong enough to help.”

Whatever her response was, Ray couldn’t hear it. A surge of strange warmth overtook him as his eyes began to tunnel vision. He tried to reach an arm out and say something, anything to encourage her, but the world faded to obscurity before he had the time.

---

Twilight set to work instantly, heart racing as Ray’s arm dropped to the carpet with a soft thud and his eyes drifted closed. His blood was spilling all over the place, his stomach terribly red and sticky while other parts of his body were inexplicably burned. She didn’t have time to worry about his minor wounds, however. She needed to focus on what was wrong, but even then, there wasn’t enough she alone could do. Thinking fast, she shot a short, telepathic burst in Discord’s direction before setting to work.

Focusing on Ray’s split side, she lit her horn and squeezed her eyes shut, probing into the wound without physically touching it. The cut went deep and wasn’t particularly clean, leaving shredded skin that wasn’t evenly sliced. It ran diagonally down his body from near the center of his abdomen down right to near his pelvis. Gritting her teeth, she went deeper and found the edge of the cut, which had damaged his large intestine and kidney. The kidney was what was causing so much bleeding, but if either one was neglected for too long, Ray would die in minutes. Taking a deep breath, she finally took action.

She had studied healing, of course, but it wasn’t her strongest suit, so she made sure she was extremely cautious in proceeding. She had to heal his organs first to prevent blood from getting trapped within and causing infections. Carefully, she surged magic into his cells there, prompting a rapid recovery in the kidney. Thousands of cells a second began reproducing and sealing off the wound, but it was incredibly tedious. At that rate, she would heal his kidney in time for him to die. She needed to work faster.

“Twilight what’s-” Discord began to ask, suddenly appearing somewhere near her.

“Help me save Ray,” she interrupted. “He needs strong sources of iron and copper to boost his erythropoietin immediately. I’m trying to heal his wounds; you need to summon whatever you can to help bandage him and reproduce blood cells. Treat his burns if you can.”

“On it,” Discord replied, the seriousness in his voice like nothing Twilight had ever heard from him before.

Refocusing, she surged herself, trying to enhance her magic to make the boost it was giving Ray’s body more powerful. It seemed to work, as suddenly the wound in the kidney began to rapidly seal itself. She kept having to pull excess blood away from the wound, but in mere moments, the kidney was repaired to a point that she could leave it be.

Turning her attention to the intestine wound, she found it much more severe, a deeper and longer cut than in the kidney. Steeling herself against the draining effects of such intense magic usage, she set about repairing the damaged organ. It was already filling with blood, so in an act of desperation, she purged it by pulling it out from within, her stomach churning as she heard the blood splash on the ground. With a grunt, she managed to shield the rest of the blood from entering the wound and began the process of restoring the cells there. It was slightly different from the kidney, the larger cells needing more time and effort to heal. She felt the healing process rapidly draining the energy from Ray’s body, but at the same time, the bleeding was quickly slowing down.

“Discord, force nutrients into Ray,” she instructed as she finished sealing the intestines after a laborious minute of work. She felt dizzy, the toll using so much magic so quickly and concisely quickly draining her as well. Ignoring it, though, she began work on the other internal damage he had suffered, working to restore the severed muscles within his side.

Muscles were by far the hardest, the tough, dense cells needing proper prompting and balance to grow in the right places and not fill in areas where skin and arteries would go. Hayfeathers, arteries!

Backtracking, she began to restore the thick veins that were deeper in his body. The bleeding began to significantly slow down by the time she had sealed those away, but the strain it was taking on her was evident. She was practically collapsed on the ground, mane matted with sweat and coat suffocating as she panted hard. Still, there was work that needed to be done.

Returning to the muscles, she did her best not only to restore them, but to match them to the strength of the muscles on his left side. She was rapidly getting used to balancing the restructuring of cells into the shape they should be, so even though the muscles were draining the last of her energy, she was completing them quickly. Ray’s breathing had grown shallow, but whatever Discord was doing seemed to have kept him from the brink of death.

Twilight felt exhaustion finally beginning to overtake her, her closed eyes now working against her as she felt her head dip down momentarily. Jerking herself upright, she attempted desperately to focus on healing the rest of Ray’s destroyed muscles. Her attempts were successful for a few moments, before once again she felt her energy puttering out. With a frustrated grunt, she forced a surge through herself, and while once again, she was briefly able to focus and restore more of the damage, she found herself nearly drifting out.

“Sweet Celestia, why are there so many muscles,” she growled out loud, pushing herself that much harder. It didn’t work this time though, and in spite of her best efforts, her horn’s magic sputtered to a stop. Instead of any relief from the exhaustion she was feeling, however, she only felt even more tired. She couldn’t even lift her hoof to try and help Discord as he mutely applied bandages to Ray’s burns.

“Discord, I’m gonna pass out,” she warned him, her eyes closing before she even finished speaking. “Bandage whatever I couldn’t heal. I’m sorry…”

“Woah woah woah, Twilight,” Discord eased, catching her as she almost fell onto Ray. “I got you. Just take a moment to…”

Twilight didn’t hear the rest of the sentence, her mind eagerly rushing to rest from the traumatic exertion it had just undergone. The last thing she felt was being gently laid onto something soft and warm as she drifted into a deep sleep.

Author's Note:

Wouldn't it be quite the plot twist if this was Ray's end? I mean, all of this build-up, only to leave Equestria without a general to lead them against the minotaurs and protect Equestria from whatever the Spectre is. But I would never... On a different note, this might be the chapter that makes me put on a watchlist. I looked up so many detailed facts about damaged kidneys and intestines and which is worse and yada yada that I'm sure Interpol has begun an inquiry into me. Anyways, as always, questions, comments, and concerns welcome and wanted.

Comments

[TheVirtuousOne]

You know, I had it in my head that a lapse in concentration would come back to bite him somehow, its always the sneaky ones isn't it?