Ironhoof
This is not where I wanted to fly today!
The movement of the winds caught Kerfuffle off guard as they swallowed her miniature airship into the swirling storm system. As she veered off course, an ominous feeling settled in her story. Gears clinked as she attempted to use her levers and mechanics. No amount of steering pulled her away from the zephyr's feisty coils.
Looking at the mountainous terrain below, a slight shiver passed through as teeth jittered. The hardly spacious cabin, just enough to turn around or enter the balloon part above, felt a force bearing down. Yet she remained determined. Slapping on her goggles, she prepared herself. Numerous fears poked at her mind.
I'd do anything to ensure my survival.
Winds bellowed at her. Kerfuffle's hind legs threatened to buckle as the ramshackle airship swerved around a mountainside. The darkness, overshadowing the green valley far below, promised danger. Cockily smiling, Kerfuffle welcomed the life and limb adventure. This would certainly be a thrill. Roaming above these rocky lands delivered gorgeous sights as well.
Slowly, she was forced closer to the epicenter, staying entrapped in the atmospheric amber. Kerfuffle had escaped entirely intact, in body and mind, from her quests before. Yet she felt this one might be different. Naturally, it was the mundane mission she had bad luck on. The Ironhoof lightly rocked from side to side. It wasn't the best prototype, despite how flawlessly Torque Wrench's contributions worked.
A roar and flash confirmed the pegasi's suspicion of her chances.
She smelt the smoke the instant the lightning struck the experimental craft. Multiple thoughts spawned as she glanced around to gauge the likely source direction. Kerfuffle sighed in slight frustration as she recalled them telling her the sky would be clear that day. Her one-pony, semi-rigid airship was not built to withstand electrical barrages. Still, she kept her smile.
The Ironhoof rocked, unstable but steady, as she flipped levers to attempt any sort of descent. Staring out of the cramped cabin windows, her pale turquoise flank retained steady positioning. So much for a test flight to find and buy parts and supplies. She swung the craft away from the storm’s center as best as could. Though she could naturally fly, she didn’t want to bail out just yet. She liked her ships intact for a few months.
Those pies were going to be delicious-
Thunder boomed louder than she had ever heard, out of nowhere.
An arcing sight of white stole her attention. A second lightning hit the left stabilizing propeller. The Ironhoof shook as part of the wing snapped inward. Immediately, the left side structure crumpled under the intense, sudden heat. To Kerfuffle’s surprised horror, Ironhoof veered sharply down at an angle, threatening a spiral. The gas tanks and balloon skin miraculously stayed intact.
However, a feeling emerged they too would falter soon. The smiling demeanor dimmed a bit into worry as she took stock of her escape options.
Kerfuffle hadn't expected the storm to be this bad. The ship dipped in altitude as stabilization began to decline. Gray skies loomed as turbulence roared around. Adrenaline pumped through her rushing blood. Now was a good time to drop out the floor and let her wings loose to bail. Another craft cost less than her life. Plus, she'd be depriving Torque of a marefriend.
Her hoof moved to reach the button.
Just gotta-
A violent rupture interceded the action.
Bangs of dark orange, with tints of yellow, flared outward from the location of the strike from a couple of minutes ago. This sent her into the back corner of the airship as it careened directly downward with great force. Glass shattered, parts were sent flying, and shards burst. The scattering debris sliced deep, some narrowly avoiding her eyes. A headache popped right away.
Great pain shot through her. Ignoring it all, she stretched her recovering muscles to get up, walk over, and press to release the trap door.
She couldn’t move further. A mysterious hindrance prevented her from leaving the corner of the cabin. Waves of agony erupted from the nerves.
Kerfuffle gulped as she gazed.
An iron bar impaled her hind left leg to the wall. Skewered straight through her, it embedded itself in the wall. Blood splattered all over the airship and her. Running course in the middle of the calf, the metallic antagonist simply hurt from its presence in her torn flesh. It was too long to slide herself out off. Unsticking it was the only option.
Instantly, she attempted to do so. Grunting, Kerfuffle poured strenuous amounts of body strength. Between the tension and her awkward position, these actions pulsated wave after wave of sharp strikes throughout her body. Thousands of razor blades ground inside her pinned limb’s insides. Dizziness from bleeding was merely an obstacle.
However, try as she might budge, the rod remained stuck. The truth of the situation revealed itself to her. Contrarily, the spark of determination in her purple eyes never wavered.
Stay calm, Kerfuffle. You’re only going to lose half your leg. Everything will be okay. Your marefriend will get to make you one!
Positive thinking always helped. Even if one’s limb was guaranteed to be torn off due to an airship ride gone unhinged.
The Ironhoof was now hurtling to the earth as she bled out. Every nerve in her fractured limb urged her to scream and panic. To accept, she was now trapped. The pounding blood rushed through and out of her. Even so, the adventurer maintained steady breathing. Her violet seekers darted around for anything in her airship to help.
Every ticking second mattered. Remaining as part of the cabin only guaranteed this was her last flight. There was only one option now. In spite of the hazard she was in, Kerfuffle cocked a half-smile. Perhaps her general recklessness had caught up to her at last. Stormy zephyrs blew through her frazzled pink mane, whispering of death.
Kerfuffle tried one last time to shove the bar out of the wall. It didn’t move. Attempting to slide her leg out wouldn’t improve the situation. There was only one option, much to her chagrin. More thunder roared as the view of the ground came closer. The glass pickled inside her pricked pain proportionally.
The present moments felt surreal and slow as she delved into action. She’d been walking on this leg ever since she was born. Breaking it a few times over helped strengthen it, her, and their travels far and near. Amputation was a scary concept–more so when it was doing it yourself or dying. To think it’d no longer be part of her. She lived like it for the rest of her life. Sometimes stared at by others wondering how. Knowing it’d affect her for the rest of her questing days.
Undergoing any such process would never be easy for any pony. Perhaps she could help others like her. Yes, that would help alleviate the constant thinking to come.
You will be okay after this. You won’t be an outcast. Just a normal pony with a story to tell.
Quickly, Kerfuffle flipped herself over the bar. The impaled flesh ground as she rapidly moved. Half-dangling by her limb now, she entered herself into a state of fast-paced movement and thinking. Now, she simply has to do it.
Her front hoof strained to stretch to a metal cabinet. Unfathomable pain shot as the punctured flesh mangled with her movement. The cabinet opened. Nothing would deter her. She felt the airship quiver rapidly, attempting to mess her up. By the edge of her outstretched hoof, she gripped a crowbar in one hand hoof and a blowtorch in the other.
Now or never!
The smell of trees entered her nostrils. Time was of the essence. Kerfuffle took deep breaths. She took one last look at her soon–to-be-dismembered leg
Things are going to be different now.
Given the precious seconds ticking away, there’d be no time to simply melt or bang the piercing iron away. Brute and direct application upon the leg, therefore, stood as the only solution. Slight shudders passed as Kerfuffle. She stuck the end of the blowtorch in her mouth to balance it on.
The rusty, oily metal delivered a foul taste. She ignored it.
Sitting up to reach her leg, against gravity’s will, required immense energy. Kerfuffle brought the blowtorch into position as time became a meaningless concept. Swiftly, she flicked it on. Blue-orange fire whispered to life. Carefully, she kept her grip on it and brought its body to her chest with an agile movement. Readjusting the crowbar only further contorted pain. Yet she did it all the same.
Crowbar in one hoof, and blowtorch in the other, she went to work without a second thought. There was no such thing as time now. She gave her lower leg a final send off.
Looks like we’ll have to part now!
One flip of another switch later, and the blowtorch heated to a deep blue-orange glow. Hesitation almost interfered, with the thought of truly doing this, of how she’d live on.
All will be alright!
Flames made searing contact with the flesh. The tendons of her knee begged, sending signals to the brain to stop. But they were ignored as the fire burnt them to a crisp. Kerfuffle clenched her teeth shut as she whittled away with surges of determination, and a will to live that felt deeper than ever. The strain and sweat worked in tandem to keep her on focus. Burn, burn, burn, she must burn on.
The bones splintered from each hammering from the crowbar. They, too, told her to stop. Yet she did not. Numerous blows of force were delivered in a short time span. Heat from the blowtorch hastened the process. Muscles lit up, blackened, and fell away. Tears pooled to construct an opaque vision. That did little to deter the pegasus’s inner fires. Crack, crack, crack, she must crack on.
Seconds later, the bones split clean and the flesh above the bar melted clean off. She watched as the majority of leg fell through the windshield into the incoming pine tree abyss below. It felt strange to waggle half a limb as she felt a sudden loss of weight. One moment, it was part of her. The next, after tsunamis of blood, it wasn't. Kerfuffle slammed underneath the wheel as she fell forward, luckily not out of the airship.
The sounds of chirping birds caught her attention. She tightened her grip momentarily, entirely off balance.
Never mind all that!
With a flick of her hoof, the blowtorch quickly set upon her open wound. The flames quenched the thirsty bloodstream. Seconds later, the entire area cauterized. Kerfuffle tossed the blowtorch out to join her leg. The crowbar joined it too. The crackling fires spreading across the airship only now revealed themselves as her sense of smell snapped awake.
Kerfuffle haphazardly launched out of the crook she’d been nestled in. Her wings struggled to account for the new imbalance of her body. Nonetheless, she forced them to work with it. Midair, she swirled to face the dashboard. The alarming closeness of the treeline didn’t matter. Her hoof slammed down on a blue button.
The floor of the airship parted in two. Each half of a section in the middle parted outward. She kicked with her sole remaining hind leg to induce launch. That it wasn’t her good kicking leg did complicate things a bit. Kerfuffle completed her twirl, somewhat out of whack, as she propelled beyond the opened floor. Her wings struggled with the constant sloshing of intense maneuvers.
Yet she’d escaped.
Moments later, the airship imploded as it smashed into the trees. Cacophonies from the ensuing expansion of a fireball ruptured her concentration. Caught off guard by the ferocity of it all, all thoughts of flight haltered. Efforts to immediately fly stalled from the tussle of surprise catching up to her.
Work, wings, Celestia curse you!
Metal shrapnel shot at her as if targeting hail. Kerfuffle dodged most, she fell to the ground, trying to regather strength. The sight of rough dirt managed to motivate her wings to function in time. Before she hit the ground with a hard force, she managed to flutter her wings and produce an uplift to at least soften the blows.
Success in producing a massive vertical leap instilled a moment of pride. But at the same time, the wings elected to take a kiltering dip to the left, owing to the present imbalance of weight. Kerfuffle’s jaw smacked into a tree, then another tree, before grazing upon a rock then the soil. Everything hurt everywhere as she lay there. Especially the acquired leg stump.
This will take some getting used to…
Recovering wind in her lungs took perhaps thirty minutes. Watching the burning wreckage peter out provided entertainment. Influxes of rain swooped in to save the day. Hissing flames went up in smoke–embers ought to take a bit longer. Cool, soothing water-drenched Kerfuffle in relief most welcome. A small smile at its beauty graced her pained face. No worries about a forest fire damaging this wondrous environment.
Eventually, Kerfuffle sat up, soaking in the light sprinkle. Distant booms drenched the sky in faint cacophonies. Splaying her hind legs out, she felt the difference. Testing the stump produced an odd feeling. Phantom motions of it tingled each wiggle, jostle, and roll. Life with a disability would not be easy, that much she figured. But she’d find a way to manage.
She sat a while, basking in the rain, and, in time, sunlight.
Soon, boredom caught a hold of Kerfuffle. Thoughts of what to do now came naturally, in a pseudo attempt to focus on anything. Weary eyes crept over to the wreck of the Ironhoof. Then to her legs. Next, in the sky. Afterward, at the trees. Finally, the midday sun. The yellow star’s bright way stabbed at her widening eyes of realization.
It was going to be a long trip back home.
Snapping her eyes back to the wreckage, a lightbulb exploded in her mind, much like the airship itself. With some careful crafting, she’d be able to forge a rough prototype to trek across the mountains. At the moment, flying was all but impossible with her whack balance–another thing to learn all over again with a missing leg. The wreck contained plenty of metals to work with.
She took another glance at her hind legs.
Now, how to build an iron hoof to walk on…
Kerfuffle smirked at the challenges that stood clear before her. It’d be a long, winding, and difficult road. She cracked her neck.
Torque Wrench, get ready for your new and improved marefriend as soon as she’s back home!