Send the Pain Below

        As Celestia’s sun drew nearer to the middle of its cycle, two ponies crested the rise of an isolated mountaintop on the outskirts of a town just as secluded, both carrying skis on their backs and helmets on their heads. One of the ponies — a snow white stallion with a mane to match — balanced his skis almost perfectly as he trotted along the shelves of snow and ice whilst the other fumbled with his own and tried to keep up. His struggle was not lost on the other stallion however, whose enthusiastic canter slowed considerably when he realized how far behind his friend had fallen.

        “Are you alright, Party Bro?”

        “Yeah, I’m fine,” Party Favor insisted, already struggling under the weight of his skis. “Just gotta get used to it is all.”

        “You sure? We can stop and rest if you want.”

“I’m fine, honestly. We can keep going.”

“Alright,” was all the other stallion said before he turned and continued onward. Party Favor trudged after him, desperate to keep his teeth from chattering.

        The duo made their way along the snowy expanse without a word, Party Favor too cold and too tired to talk and Double Diamond too worried about getting them to their destination to say much of anything. The silent procession of two continued on for — what to Party Favor felt like hours — until Double Diamond stopped abruptly at the top of a particularly steep incline, causing Party Favor to have to stop as well.

        The party stallion was about to ask his friend why he’d stopped when he felt his already compromised center of gravity fluctuate as Double Diamond threw a hoof over his shoulder.

“Here we are. The best spot on the entire mountain.” Double Diamond made a grand sweeping gesture with his hoof, effectively drawing Party Favor’s attention toward the stretch of pristine white slopes in front of them, blanketed by a sheen of untainted snowfall. Party Favor had to admit that, for all of the misgivings and the regrets he was beginning to feel about their outing, the view somewhat made up for it.

“Pretty awesome, right?” Double Diamond asked after a heavy tick of silence.

“Alright, I will admit, it is pretty impressive.”

“Plus it’s pretty nice out today, too,” Double Diamond explained as he threw down his skis.

“Yeah...” Party Favor trailed off as he stared down the length of mountain, the slope staring menacingly back at him. Nevertheless, the party pony threw down his own skis and began to strap himself in.

The process took a fair bit longer than he would have liked — due in part to the lack of instruction from Double Diamond — but the stallion finally got himself strapped in and ready to go.

Party Favor staggered to an unsure standing position, his skis flailing wildly underneath him just as Double Diamond slid up to his side.

“You ready for your first legit day on the slopes, Party Bro?” Double Diamond asked, flashing the wobbling stallion an encouraging smile.

“Ready as I’ll ever be I guess.”

“Just remember what I taught you. Keep your head down and your stance wide and don’t lean too far to either side or you’ll fall.”

“Head down, stance wide, don’t lean, got it.” Party Favor took a deep breath, feeling significantly more confident...until he looked down the length of slope again. All at once, the blue stallion’s face went white as the snow under his skis.

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Double Diamond said, putting a reassuring hoof to Party Favor’s shoulder.

“Sorry, it’s just that — ” Party Favor swallowed hard, “ — It looks way steeper now.”

“We can go back to level ground again if you want.”

“Yeah that might — ” Before he could finish his thought, the soft, supple snow underneath the blue stallion’s skis gave way and he was sent careening off the precipice and down the mountainside.

Party Favor could hardly scream as he began to rapidly pick up speed. Scenery that had once thrilled and captivated now zoomed by in a dizzying blur; rocks, trees, and even branches all becoming potential hazards at the speed he was going.

Miraculously, despite the speed at which the stallion was flying down the mountain, he remained almost completely upright, wholly at the mercy of both gravity and centrifugal force — an utterly terrifying minute that lasted until the lip of one of his skis caught on a stray root.

All of the momentum the stallion had accrued on his way down was suddenly and viciously used against him, the abrupt force breaking his foreleg cleanly in two and slamming him into the snow, knocking him unconscious. Despite this, what was left of his momentum continued to carry him down the face of the mountain, the various protrusions and lips of the slope continuing to abuse his unconscious body until he eventually skidded to a halt.

“Party Bro!” Double Diamond yelled, coming to stop next to the unconscious body of his friend and frantically unhooking his skis. The stallion took a moment to assess the damage the fall had done before he made a move, cringing as the severity of his injuries began to sink in.

        There was a frightening amount of blood, leaking from various fresh cuts and gashes on the party pony’s body and running in rivulets down his body. The party stallion’s foreleg was in no better shape, bent at an almost impossible angle, hints of bone poking through the blue of his hide.

Double Diamond took a steadying breath and, with the utmost care, lifted his battered friend onto his back. He took a moment to make sure the other stallion was secure before he started further down the slope, where multiple days of exploration and documentation told him would yield the entrance to one of the mountains many interconnected caves and tunnels.

Double Diamond moved slowly down the slope, each of his steps made with an incredible amount of care and foresight so as not to exacerbate any of the grievous injuries his friend was no doubt suffering from. However, even though his steps were as careful and deliberate as he could manage, he could still feel his friend’s dead weight bouncing around awkwardly on his back and he feared that he was doing more harm than good by moving him.

A sinister wind nipped dangerously at Double Diamond’s fetlocks, effortlessly invalidating such thoughts and spurring him to move that much faster. Just as the stallion felt his legs were going to give out and his lungs were about to quit, the entrance to the cave caught his eye through the building storm.

Double Diamond struggled the rest of the way and — with the very last bits of his strength — hauled them both through the mouth and into the cave itself.

Not only was the size of the cave that Double Diamond had shepherded them into reason enough be thankful, but the way that the mouth of it curved so that it blocked out a majority of the rapidly accelerating wind was icing on an already generously sized cake.

However, leaning his friend up against the cave wall, Double Diamond realized he had no time for celebration. Party Favor was still gravely wounded, the extent of his injuries becoming even more apparent to Double Diamond as he took off the unicorn’s helmet.

Blood seeped liberally off of Party Favor’s helmet and dripped onto his still unconscious body, adding to the already impressive amount already collected there. Next, Double Diamond took to wrapping his friend’s badly mangled limb in his scarf, tying the knot tight so as not to let the dressing slip off.

        After the leg was tended to the best of his ability, Double Diamond moved to inspect his friend on a more thorough level. The gentle rise and fall of his chest told the sports pony that he was still breathing; that was good. Next, he noticed the injured stallion shiver, an action which he moved to counter by wrapping his comparatively warmer body around his friend.

        But there was more than one side to this particular coin. They weren’t totally screwed. Party Favor was still alive enough to try and keep himself warm. That was good, right?

        Party Favor shivered even harder. Double Diamond embraced him even tighter.

        “D-Diamond.” Party Favor’s voice was thin and jittery. Double Diamond gasped when it reached his ears.

        “Party Bro!” The snow white stallion exclaimed, nearly squeezing him in excitement before he remembered the wounds. “Thank Celestia you’re okay.”

        “What happened?” Party Favor asked, his voice just barely above a whisper. Double Diamond took a few moments to carefully choose his words.

        “You, uh...took a pretty nasty fall out there and got knocked unconscious so I carried you to this cave to wait for you to come to.” Party Favor smiled at him, a gruesome, regretful sort of smile that almost perfectly depicted the horrific aftermath of a stupid stunt.

“How bad is it?” The stallion’s eyes began to move down his injured body toward his leg. Double Diamond blocked him with his body.

“Don’t look at it, okay? Just look at me.”

“No, really. How bad is it?” Party Favor asked, his voice sounding tired yet frantic. Double Diamond tried to calm the other stallion down while simultaneously blocking his view of the injured leg. However, Party Favor was determined to assess the damage for himself. So, with a twist of his head and a flex of his leg, it slid out from behind Double Diamond and into view in all of its gruesome glory.

Party Favor screamed.

“Party bro, party bro, listen to me...listen to me, okay?” Party Favor continued to scream. Double Diamond forced Party Favor to look at him. “Party Favor, listen to me. You’re gonna be fine, okay? You’re gonna be fine.”

The screaming turned to hysterical sobbing as he continued to stare at his badly broken appendage. Double Diamond took a more hooves on approach to stopping him this time, grabbing either side of his friend’s face and holding it still.

“Listen to me Party Bro, you’re gonna make it through this just fine.”

“No I’m not. I’m gonna die out here!” Party Favor whined, tears spilling down his cheeks. “I’m gonna lose my leg!”

“No you’re not, I promise.” The head in his hooves squirmed almost violently but Double Diamond held it unfalteringly still.

“How come it doesn’t hurt?” Party Favor sobbed.

“You’re probably still in shock.” Party Favor started to whimper again, his eyes moving back toward his mangled leg. Double Diamond yanked his head back upward.

“Look at me, Party Favor.” Party Favor’s head rolled lazily back toward Double Diamond, his eyes still spilling over with fresh tears. “I swear to Celestia that you will not die out here and you will not lose your leg, okay?”

Party Favor’s head rolled back onto the icy wall of the cave.

“Okay?!” Double Diamond reiterated, shaking the other stallion’s head to get his attention.

“Okay…” Party Favor sniffed, another violent shiver assaulting him. Double Diamond Squeezed the battered body closer to his own running his hooves up and down the other stallion’s sides.

“Try to get some rest, okay? Tomorrow we can try and make our way back down the mountain and get you to a doctor.”

“Alright.” Party Favor smiled through chattering lips.