Beauty of an Illusion

[Spitfire]

        “-o no no no no, this simply cannot be happening!” a voice sputtered.

        I remember a grey pegasus slamming into me and that unicorn- Who was it? Rar- Rarity, yes that’s her name.

I was knocked over onto my side when the pegasus and I finally stopped sliding across the floor. My muzzle was shoved into her back and before I could stop her from smothering me, a loud bang went off and here I am. Wait, where’s here?

        My eyes shot open and I scanned my surroundings. The sun stood just over the horizon, bathing everything in a brilliant light. In every direction was a sea of sand. An occasional cactus could be seen in the barren landscape.  Looks like I’m in a desert. I also noticed I was not alone. Rarity was pacing in circles and mumbling to herself. Rarity’s dress looked worse for the wear. It was covered in sand and ripped in several places. She was pacing around the grey pegasus, the one who caused whatever this was to happen.

        The pegasus laid crumpled on the ground, her saddlebag hanging from her side. She had her left wing spread out lazily. Embedded in her wing was a large shard of glass about four inches in length. Dried blood was hardened around the wound.

        The sight of the injury turned my first-aid training into actions. The sand below me shifted as I brought myself up from the ground and wiped sand off my class A’s with a hoof. I reached inside my jacket and found the familiar square shape of my first-aid kit.

        I pulled it out and approached the pegasus.

        “Do I take it out or do I leave it in? Do I take it out or do I leave it in?” Rarity cried out as she frantically circled the injured pegasus.

        The pegasus heard my approach and lifted her head to look at me with a distorted face. Rarity picked up on my arrival shortly afterwards.

“Oh good! You’re awake! Derpy is hurt and I’m not sure if we leave the glass in her wing or take it out!”

I walked over to Derpy and placed a hoof on her wing to hold it down. I bent over and carefully grasped the shard between my teeth.

“What are you doing! We have to make sure it is safe!” Rarity gasped as she watched me bite down onto the glass.

With a hard tug, Derpy visibly winced as I slid the glass out from her wing. Fresh blood replaced the hole the shard had occupied. I dropped the glass on the sand and opened up my first-aid box and pulled out the hydrogen peroxide bottle.

I swiftly uncapped it and poured some of the liquid onto the wound.

Derpy cried out in pain as the peroxide disinfected her wound. I capped the bottle and replaced it with the roll of bandages in my box. I unravelled the bundle and prepared to wrap it around her injured wing.

Holding one end of the bandage on the edge of her wing, I used my other hoof to tightly wrapped the fabric over her wound. After securing the bandages and confirming they were taut, I closed the first-aid box and placed it back into my jacket.

Derpy visibly relaxed at the loss of the shard and Rarity stopped pacing.

        I dug a small hole to bury the shard and dropped it in. I swiftly covered it back up with sand and stepped away from Derpy to turn my attention to the two of them.

        “So, do either of you know where we are?” I asked.

        Derpy retracted her wing and shook her head no.

        “I am not sure where we are darling, the last thing I can recall is Pinkie Pie’s cannon firing towards us.”

No pony knows where we are or how exactly we got here. Great. Just something about this ‘Pinkie’ and her cannon. Maybe we’re dead.

Rarity turned her head side-to-side to scan the surrounding desert. “Since we have no idea where we are, where do we go?”

        She raised a hoof in a random direction. “I think we should walk that way until we find something.”

I sighed in annoyance. “Assuming we are in Equestria, the only deserts I know of are in the South. Therefore, we should head North.”

        She raised an eyebrow. “And where is North?”

        I pointed to my right. “That way is North and our best hope lies upon finding a forest with a food and water source, or if we are lucky we might come across a town on the way.”

        “And how do you know that’s North?”

        “All pegasi are especially sensitive to Equestria’s magnetic field. This sensitivity grants them the ability to differ directions naturally, like a compass.”

        Rarity nodded in understanding and Derpy lifted herself onto her hooves.

        “Thank you-” She tilted her head and stared at me.

Why is she looking at me tha-

“Her name is Spitfire,” Rarity answered Derpy.

Oh.

        Derpy bowed her head and continued her statement, “Thank you Spitfire for treating my wing.”

        She looked back up to face me. Her lips twisted downwards and her eyes lost focus and slid off to opposite sides. However unsettling it felt, I still felt her gaze on me despite her eye’s refusal to settle on the same target.

        “Sorry I accidently brought you to the middle of the desert-” She turned to face Rarity“- you too Rarity.”

        “It’s alright dear, I am sure we will be out of here by the end of the day, right Spitfire?” Rarity looked at me with a look screaming for me to assure Derpy.

        I sighed and answered Rarity’s gaze with a glare of my own.

        “Look, I am not going to lie. We are in a bad situation. The closet desert to Canterlot is a two week journey on foot.”

        I pointed at Derpy’s wrapped wing.

        “Derpy is not in good condition to fly.”

        Derpy’s frown grew. “How long do you think it will be until I can fly?”

        I shrugged. “I am no medic, but I can assure you flying is not a good idea after a recent wing injury.”

        Derpy seemed to accept this and sat on her haunches.

        I turned back to Rarity and continued, “So unless you want me to leave you to try and find help, which would leave you two to fend for yourselves for a few days, we don’t have much of a choice in the matter.”

        Rarity dropped the subject and gave me time to think.

        I thought back to my wilderness survival training from the Wonderbolts Academy.

First thing’s first. Food and water. Then shelter from the elements. There’s not much of anything for all three of them.

Derpy reached down into her saddlebag. She shuffled her hoof in the bag for a few seconds until she pulled out a fabric bag. She opened the top of the bag and pulled out three wrapped sandwiches and a large water bottle.

        Rarity looked at Derpy with her jaw hanging low. “Derpy, just where did you get three sandwiches?”

        Derpy hid behind her forelock.

        “I eat a big lunch.”

        I eyed the huge bottle and the wrapped sandwiches.

That’s food for a day and that bottle has enough water for the three of us for a day if we ration it.

Hopefully we are closer to civilization than I think we are.

Derpy emerged from hiding and handed a sandwich to Rarity. Rarity immediately opened up the wrapping and took a bite out of it. Derpy picked up another and reached out to give it to me.

        I raised a hoof to decline. “No, save it. You two will need it more than I will.”

        Rarity raised an eyebrow and spoke in between bites. “Are you sure? Everypony will need to keep their strength up, including you dear.”

She is right. But, I’ve been through worse in bootcamp.

        “Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

        Derpy glanced a worried look my way, but she walked back to her bag and slid the sandwich in.

        While I waited for them to finish their sandwiches I explained how and why we had to ration the water. They seemed to understand well enough and after I finished I let them have the peace of the moment to relax.

        The sun had rose a little higher since I woke up. Notable effects were that it was hotter than earlier. We still had no shelter or a reliable water source so we would have to depart soon. Derpy and Rarity must have noticed my thoughts as they prepared to start to start walking.

        I noticed the extravagant, but ruined dress Rarity donned and stated, “Rarity.”

        She looked at me and asked, “Yes dear?”

        “You might want to take off your dress.”

        She looked down at her dress. “I do agree-” She looked up at me with an inquisitive face “- but where would I put it?”

        I pondered if the dress would be useful at all and decided it could be if we did not make it out. Though, I was not sure where we would keep it.

        Derpy spoke up joyfully, “I could hold it in my saddlebag!”

        Rarity let out a breath of relief as she took off her dress and handed it to Derpy.

        Deciding it was a good idea, I also took off my Class A’s and hoofed them over to Derpy to carry. The heat of the sun seemed to be cooler with my uniform off.

        “Oh thank you Derpy, I was afraid I would have to dispose of it,” Rarity said.

I don’t think Rarity will like it, but we might be using my uniform and her dress for bedding tonight if we don’t make it out of this desert by nightfall.

        I took the lead of our small group and started a swift, but not tiring pace North.