Them.

It`s hard to put into words how I felt right then.

Hearing one of the nicer, if not the nicest ponies I knew... suffering like that...

I couldn`t stop thinking about her...
How wonderful she allways was when we chatted before going on our respective assignments...
At least it was over for her. She was out of it...
She was lucky.

I didnt know what to do... Lingering here was a bad idea, but I lost all motivation to move on. Being lost in a pitch black cave with something horrible lurking around the corner does that to a pony.. The thought of sharing her gruesome fate... I couldnt muster the courage to move...

I gave up...

... a faint moan broke the silence...

My ears perked up. Was I hearing things?

another moan ommited that theory..

She was still alive.

I could not believe it. She managed to live through all of that?
A refreshing sensation of relief and joy ran through my body, immediately followed by sadness.
She was alive, alright.. Alive and in horrible pain.

I knew we werent alone, and that the creature could come back at any moment, but I didnt care...

I just wanted to comfort her. At least letting her know that she wasn`t alone in this mess...

Slowly and carefully I emerged from my hideout. My elbows and knees were pretty sore from being rubbed against the rough rubble...

As soon as I got out I could see her. I was relieved.

She looked far better than I expected.

I could see her thanks to the gentle moonlight shining throught the opening on the ceiling...

...lying on the ground all curled up, clutching her stomach and gently whimpering.
There were no visible injuries on her, however. And she even kept her wings...

But as I got closer, I realised they were horribly deformed..

One wing was just dangling from her back like a dead piece of meat. The other was bent completely in the wrong direction. All the bones inside of them must have been pulverised...

She didn`t notice me even when I was right next to her. I tried to get her attention gently by nudging her with my muzzle.

It startled her a bit... I tried my best to calm her down..

"It`s ok. Im not going to hurt you..."

She looked at me, still weeping, with an expression of pain and pure terror, soaked in tears...
It broke my heart seeing her like that...

The fear in her eyes deminished. She recognised me.

"What`s wrong?" I asked...

"..p- please.. help me... m-..my... it hurts"
she mumbled and pointed to her abdomen.

"Ok, just... let me take a look.."

She removed her hooves. What I saw made me sick for a second.

Her abdomen was horribly bloated.
Gently inspecting it with my hoof revealed that a hard, jagged object was inside her. And it was hurting her bad. I could tell she was bleeding inside... It was slowly killing her.

She looked at me with pleading eyes. She wanted this nightmare to end..

But what could I do.. Moving her was out of the question, but so was staying here.
If I didn`t do something she will die...

"P- please... get it out of me... I..I can`t.."

"But... That will kill you..."

"I..I`m dead eather way... please...do it.."

I went quiet quiet for a few minutes...

By the look in her eyes she was dead serious.

In my head I frantically tried to think of better ways to help her, but I was just wasting time.
The thought of it made me cringe, but I knew it had to be done. Maybe I had a slight chance of saving her. And it was slipping fast. It was final... I had to oblige her...

I stood up, and started searching our sorroundings for something I could use..

Something sharp..

I returned shortly with a stone that had a good, serrated edge on it. I don`t know what was I thinking, but I gave her my wing... It seemed like a good idea..

"Here.. Bite into this.. it will take some of the pain away.."

She gave me a weak look of gratitude. Wanting me to do this to her like that... the pain must be really bad...

I went on my knees next to her...

her breathing quickened. She clenched her teeth as hard as she could and closed her eyes tightly.

I paused a bit to gather myself before I made the cut. My hooves were shaking. Every part of me refused to do this, but I had to..

I pressed the tip of the stone to her belly,

closed my eyes...

Thrust..

Her muffled scream hit me in full force.

The stone pierced her skin and hit the object underneath.

I could feel her warm, sticky blood on my hooves. It was rushing out of her...

I had to finish this quickly.

I proceeded to cut down along the foregn object...

accompanied by her cries of agony... but not for long.

She went silent shortly afterwards... Passed out due to the pain..

I hoped it would be easier to concentrate now, but her screaming was replaced with the ripping sound of her flesh being cut...

It was incredebly sickening.. I tried my best not to listen to it...

I was nearly done now.. just a few more inches...

I paused a bit. Took a few deep breaths to prevent myself from throwing up...

Now it was time for the really unpleasant part.

I threw away the makeshift knife and, without wasting any more time, started pressing on her, forcing the object out...

It ripped up the wound.. took some of the flesh with it.. but it was out... and it was nothing more than a simple rock...

Now ... I just pressed on wound with my hooves, keeping it shut and praying the blood will clog it up by some miracle...

But it was no use.. her pulse was long gone and pretty much all of her blood was on the floor beside her...

She was dead...

I guess it was for the better... she would be die a slow and painful death anyway... I did my best to help her...

But that didn`t help me... I felt sick..

My head started spinning when I stood up, so I sat down on the same rock I sat on earlier, and broke down..

I buried my face into my hooves and cried...

What I just did started to set in..

I killed her...

There had to be a better way.. had to be... and I messed up...

It was too much...

Then, I felt something press against my cheek.

I went numb...

It was all over..

The thing was back...

It had me..

"hey... don`t cry..."

That was... no.. that was her voice. But she was just... what the hell?

I slowly raised my head, my eyes still shut since I was too terrifyied to open them...

"Thanks for getting that rock out of me..."

That made me open my eyes...

and there she was..

staring at me with a look of gratitude...

with a fully healed scar where her gaping wound used to be...

smeared with her own blood...

it was her... she was alive...

My brain stopped working properly.. I felt like it was about to explode.. I started freaking out...

The next thing I felt were her hooves around my neck and her body pressing against mine..

she hugged me...

I calmed down.. and hugged her back..

We stayed like that for a long, long time...