Battle Scars

Nov 5,
9:45pm

Out of breath, and each step filled Double Edge's body and mind with pain. What sense of relief he had while he had support, carrying the armored pegasus, Dawn Star, with the help of the unicorn still bleeding on his back had all but disappeared with her blacking out as well. Leaving only him the last remaining conscious survivor from the fight in the Eastern Residential District.

Since then Double Edge had pushed himself in every sense to make sure that he got both his pegasus friend, as well as this nameless unicorn to some form of medical help that they needed, and he might, after all this. Taking a breather, the rebel grinned as he saw that he had finally made it to the Western Residental District. It was here that a clinic was supposed to be. Here where he could finally find the two with him some help. Looking around he noticed the lines of doors, but...but which one? He had to find it...now!

Feeling as if his mind was about to split apart, the unicorn tried to grab every large stone he could find hurling it at a door and window he could aim at. "P...PLEASE....H-HELP ME! I...I...HAVE PONIES IN...N-N-NEED OF HELP!" He cried out, his voice being drowned out by the rain. Double needed to get more audio...now

Focusing once more, the rebel gripped all the remaining energy he could find within him as he sent out one last mirror self. His mind feeling like it had finally taken its limit, blood began to trickle down from his tear ducts, as the unicorn pushed everything into this one last attempt of yelling in stereo.

"AAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHAAAAA......PLEASE! SOMEONE! ANYONE...H-!" before Double Edge could finish, he felt his body and spells give out, causing him, the unicorn, and Dawn to collapse onto the wet street. "h...help"

There wasn't just one doctor in the Western Residential District. It tended to be home to the higher-class ponies, meaning that it would be only natural for one of the medical profession to live here and maybe even run a clinic out of their home. One such pony was Coiled Serpent, a green-coated, blue-maned pony.

What appeared to be a knock on her door was followed by screaming muffled by a constant downpour of rain. Deciding to play it safe, she stayed inside... until the second scream was heard. This time, it was clearer. A pony needed help... and from the sound of it, badly.

It was an incredible risk to even go outside, but she wondered if griffons would even fly in this weather. She decided that it was improbable for a griffon patrol to go through here, and that it was only the natural, right thing to do in assisting these ponies. When she opened her door, she saw the dim outline of a heap of ponies in the street. There was a pool of red around them.

She gritted her teeth- was it really worth it to try to save these ponies, who seemed to be injured unto death? No.. It was the right thing to do. She broke into a gallop, fast approaching the downed ponies. She shifted the grey-coated unicorn onto her back, through a half-levitation, half-body movement. She took the pegasus up into her telekinesis, and noticed that the charcoal-coated unicorn was actually conscious. She looked down to him, moving down a bit as to provide a shoulder for him to use as a support.

"Hey! Can you walk?" She asked in a hurried and slightly panicked tone.

Every part of Double's body felt like it was on fire as he lay there in the streets, especially that of his horn and eyes. Dread began to fill the unicorn's mind as he tried to pick himself up, only to have his body protest once again, leaving him stranded, more importantly though were the two mares next to him. He...he had failed them. He had pushed himself to the absolute limits and still he hadn't been able to save these two.

A faint noise began to join that of the sound of rain, it sounded like that of, hooves on cobblestone. But it sounded so far away. Maybe it was just his imagination playing tricks on him due to stress, The sound continued to grow louder, until it was suddenly silenced. Maybe it had been just that...his imagination, a desperate attempt for his mind to find some form of comfort.

"Hey! Can you walk?"

A voice next to him caused Double Edge's eyes to shoot open intensifying the burning sensation. Quickly covering his eyes with his foreleg, the stallion resigned himself to simply nodding, before swinging his hoof trying to find purchase, until find the new pony's shoulder. Putting as much energy he could muster, the unicorn pushed himself up onto his hooves, putting the majority of his wait on this savior.

She exhaled slowly at the extra weight of the charcoal unicorn as she began to move toward her house... Well, stumble, rather. With the weight of two unicorns plus a pegasus dragging behind her, it became harder to walk than ever before. None the less, she made it to her door, hopefully not attracting attention or causing pain for the charcoal unicorn.

As she entered the house, she promptly dragged the pegasus in and slammed the door into a closed position with one of her hind legs. Thankfully, in her house were two beds; one for herself, one for a guest. Tonight, she would be sleeping on floor. Speaking of the floor, it was now sticky... because of blood. Coagulating blood. Well, that was always a good sign.

She let the unicorn slip off of her shoulder, and figured she'd return to him later. The grey unicorn across her back was the first to be placed in a bed, in a room a bit in front of the doorway but to the left. The pegasus was placed in a room not far from it, albeit a separate room. They were both in critical condition, based on her swift observation of the two as she shifted their positions. However, the unicorn had lost more blood than the pegasus; the grey one was of priority.

Not waiting to see the charcoal unicorn, Serpent hauled ass into the grey unicorn's room, having rummaged around for supplies. She came up with a rather hefty first-aid box, and cracked it open by the unicorn's bedside. Her primary focus was the bleeding coming from her shoulder, and, judging by the speed at which she was bleeding, Serpent came to the conclusion that it was an arterial wound. Having no other sophisticated tools at hand, Serpent retrieved a candle and began heating some oil in a can nearby. When it was hot enough, she promptly poured the searing liquid into Hark's wound, cauterizing it and thus preventing further bleeding. She drained it and some of Hark's blood into the same can used to heat the oil. Placing it on a table nearby, she bandaged the wound and the rest of her minor wounds. The more major ones received suturing.

The spiderwebbing cracks on Hark's horn worried Serpent. If she had cast more spells, she may not have even had a horn left. However, Serpent did what she could for the horn (I.E. bandaging it) and the rest of Hark's face. It wouldn't be long until she regained consciousness, or so she predicted.

As she exited Hark's room and moved to the pegasus's, she glanced toward the charcoal unicorn and spoke: "I'll get to you in a moment." She then proceeded into the pegasus's room, with her massive first-aid box (it was really more like a hospital in a box) in tow. It seemed that the only serious injury the pegasus sustained was an arterial puncture in her shoulder, only in this one, the wound was much worse. Repeating the same procedure of cauterization for the unicorn, followed by bandaging and telekinetic setting, as well as suturing for any wounds that needed it. She also stripped her armor in the process of this, performing the best work she could.

She then exited the pegasus's room, and went over to the charcoal unicorn, asking him one question: "Can you tell me what's wrong? You seem as injured as they are."

Double Edge felt himself being moved out of the rain and into some place warm, before feeling his body shift again as he was placed on the ground. Keeping his forehoof to his eyes, the rebel pushed himself up into a seating position, up against a nearby wall, as he listened to the sound of movement around him as doors were shut, then opened again. Taking deep breaths, the unicorn tried to keep himself calm as every now and again his body would feel yet another spike of pain.

Eventually the noises once again fell silent, leaving nothing more than the slight pitter patter of that of the rain hitting the windows. Before once again hearing the voice beside him.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? You seem as injured as they are."

"I...I...used too much...magic...Pushed myself too...much...but I-I just couldn't...let them die..." Double grunted, trying to speak through the spikes of pain that lashed out from the base of his horn filling his mind. "M...My eyes...I...can't open them..."

Serpent frowned. Magical Exhaustion wasn't a serious condition, but it was indeed a painful one. This unicorn before her was probably in extreme pai- wait, he couldn't open his eyes? "It's that painful," she said in a matter-of-fact manner. She sighed, hoping that she really wouldn't need to use her precious supply of magical drugs; this unicorn took priority, however. She went somewhere, returning with a small leaf about fifteen centimeters in length. It was vividly green, almost neon in color. It was very thin, almost appearing to be an extra-long pine needle; however, some more leaf-like structures were embedded in it.

In any case, she levitated the leaf right in front of the charcoal unicorn's mouth, acknowledging that he could not see with his eyes closed. She prodded it against his lips. "Here. Trust me, and ingest this. Please."

"What...What is it?" Double Edge asked, having no choice but to listen to this pony before him. A pony that he had never even been able to introduce himself to. Feeling the continued trickle of blood trail down from his tightly shut eyes, at this point he had no other choice but to trust this pony.

Leaning forward, the rebel bit at the air until aiming for whatever 'this' was, until he finally bit into something, a plant of some kind. It tasted fresh and bitter. Eating away at the small needle like leaf, the charcoal unicorn quickly sucked the rest into his mouth chewing it thoroughly before swallowing the plant. It felt nice to finally have something in his stomach, especially if it could help him. Panting softly Double could only mumble his thanks. "T-Thank you...for everything..."

Serpent gave a soft smile as she placed her hoof on the charcoal unicorn's shoulder, staring into his closed eyes with worry. There wasn't much more for her to do, so she supposed she could stay with the only conscious one of the three, and try to piece together the way these three got the way they were. "It's nothing. Can you tell me how all of you got this way?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she sat on her haunches.

My friend...and I...the pegasus...w-we heard the sounds...of fighting in...and nearby alleyway. It was the unicorn...she was fighting. Fighting a griffon agent..." Double struggled through ragged breaths, whatever she had given him, it didn't seem to be helping yet. Hopefully it would soon. "I...I fought the agent. Told my friend to grab the...unicorn and run. She did...but was ambushed by another agent....I d-did all I could to get them away...used all my magic...but I had to get my friends to a clinic...."

Serpent smiled softly at the unicorn as he spoke, shifting her position to be closer to him. She stroked his mane with her hoof. "It's alright. You did well; your friends should recover and you should too..." She trailed off, now frowning.

"... However, as you probably already know, they lost a ton of blood. Arterial-bleeding-tier blood loss. So, basically, they need stuff replaced yesterday. Do you need anything right now, before I go to treat them?"

Double Edge struggled to keep his voice calm as he tried to slow his breathing, trying to keep a steady speech, "No...no I don't need anything. Dawn and the unicorn need more attention than I do. Please help them...I'll be fine right here." This doctor...Double felt as if time was still against him, and right now this doctor was still helping him when there were still two others that needed help much more than himself. Please...Please Sisters, help them...don't let them die.

Serpent nodded as she stood, going to the rooms of each pony and taking a sample of their blood (it wasn't very hard; just take a swab from under a bandage). Back to her supply closet. There, she treated each sample with a mixture of chemicals, careful not to mix the two samples up. Essentially, how much the sample reacted would determine blood type. Each had a different reaction to the treatment.

Then, the next course of action was to get packs of blood (Serpent only carried whole blood) and string them up on I.V. posts, attaching a tube to a port on each of the ponies to let the blood into them. It would only take time now, and careful monitoring to be sure of their survival.