A Hoof in Adventure

Eclipse did not have to travel long before she came across a large cave.

"It's not much," Eclipse sighed as she entered the cave "but it'll keep us safe". She proceeded to lay Aurora down in the back of the cave, as far away as she could get from the cold outside, and started addressing her wounds. For the most part, the wounds were mostly scratches and bruises, easy fixes, but Eclipse recoiled when she saw that Auroras wing was ruffled and bent the wrong way.

"I'll need to go outside to get what I need to fix that" Eclipse said to herself "but what do I do with Aurora?" Finally, Eclipse decided that nopony in their right minds would be out in the rain like this, Aurora would be fine for the short time it took Eclipse to find the things she needed.

Eclipse set out, yet again, in search of any nearby villages that may have the remedies she needed for Aurora. She might as well be searching for a rare, endangered animal with the luck she had. She sighed in defeat.

"I may as well go back to Aurora" she said dejectedly and started back in the direction she had come, but as she wistfully drug her hooves and hung her head, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Eclipse looked up to see a perfectly set up campsite, the smell of food wafting from the campfire and the warm tents beckoned her forward. She looked around in wonder, the owners of the campsite were nowhere in sight. 'What kind of pony leaves perfectly good food and tents just laying around the woods?' she wondered as she crept forward on quiet hooves, towards the campsite.

As she approached the campfire, it became clear that the ponies who had been camping had not been there for several hours. Eclipse took the chance, dashing in and out of each tent she took food, blankets, and a small medicine pack that had all the things she needed to fix Auroras wing.

As Eclipse left the campsite and walked back to the cave, she sighed in relief, now she would be able to help Aurora.

By the time the mare got back to the cave and started to treat Auroras wing, it was late morning. The green mare worked all though the day, only taking a break to nibble on a cracker she had taken from the campsite. When she was finally satisfied with her work on Auroras wounds, it was starting to get dark again. Eclipse yawned and used one of the blankets she had taken to cover up Aurora, then curled up under her own blanket and fell into deep sleep.

Eclipse awoke to the sound of three ponies whispering next to her. 'Aurora must be awake' she thought as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Don't move!" a gravely female voice warned.

Eclipse froze, her eyes wide, that wasn't Auroras voice.

"W-who are you?" Eclipse asked, trying not to let the fear that was threatening to enter her voice show.

"That's none of your business!" a deep male voice replied.

"The question is, why did you steal our stuff?" another female voice chided angrily.

Eclipse cringed and closed her eyes, 'So that's what this is about' she thought. She opened her eyes and turned to look at the ponies who had spoken. One of the mares was a white unicorn with a chocolate brown mane that was tipped with mint green. Her eyes were a bright magenta that stared angrily back at Eclipse. The strangest thing about this mare was her vibrant rainbow knee sock. The other mare sitting next to her was a simple, pale green earth pony with a long blond mane, her pink eyes stared shyly back at Eclipse. Eclipse noted that she had a satchel slung across her chest. The last pony, a stallion, was a navy blue pegasus whose mane was a brighter blue tipped with pink, his hooves were pink and his eyes were a bright shade of yellow.

"I-I was just trying to keep myself and Aurora-" Eclipse gestured to Aurora, who had not yet woken up "alive. I didn't mean any harm" she reassured the ponies.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the unicorn with socks said, her voice rich with mock sympathy "it's obvious that your so weak that you can travel for over an hour to come steal our stuff. Okay, that's perfectly fine since we need to survive as well!"

"But... I didn't mean any harm... you see, me and Aurora got in a-uh-a minor fight and she flew off. She almost got crushed by a bunch of boulders! She's knocked out, that's why I needed your stuff! I needed your stuff to keep her from dying" Eclipse told them, hoping that one of them could at the very least empathize with what she was going through.

Both the mares gazes remained angry but the stallions eyes softened when her heard her story. He turned to the pony in socks, "Oh, Record Beats, she was only trying to help her friend" he said softly "don't be so hard on her".

The mare sighed "fine," she said and glared at Eclipse "be glad SkyFall came to your defense! Otherwise you wouldn't have known what hit you!" and, with a final swipe of her hoof, she turned and left the cave, followed by the other mare.

"You'll have to excuse Record Beats" the blue stallion, SkyFall, whispered apologetically to Eclipse "she's a little hard-headed and rude, but she's nice once you get to know her". Eclipse smiled gratefully at the him.

SkyFall tilted his head in wonder "Although, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before" he said "why are you here?"

Eclipse sighed, "It's a long story".

"I've got time, those two wont really leave without me" SkyFall said, nodding his head to where the two unicorns had disappeared.

"Well... alright". Eclipse told him the whole story, how she had found the letters from the Princess, how she had gone to Canterlot castle and met Aurora, she left out the part about falling in love though, how they had been chased by the changelings, how Eclipse had angered Aurora by trying to get her to come with her on the quest, and then how she had brought Aurora back to the cave to treat her wounds. "And that's truly the whole story." she finished "now do you see why I needed to steal-uh, well... borrow your stuff?"

"Yes...." SkyFall said slowly "but why didn't you just use your magic to go get help? It would've been much faster" he asked, noticing Eclipses horn.

"Well... that's another long story but-"

Just then, the two mares returned "we've decided to help you" the one in socks, apparently named Record Beats, announced.

"Oh, how generous of you" Eclipse grumbled, this unicorn acted like she was Princess Celestia herself!

"Oh, come on" Record Beats said "don't act like you didn't want out help all along! We'll help you, but only until you friend is strong enough to travel, then you two will have to get out of here!"

Eclipse just nodded curtly, she didn't want to anger the unicorn mare again.

"Kaela" Record Beats ordered, flicking her tail at the earth pony who had also returned "you were in training as a medic, correct?" the pale green earth pony nodded. "Check this mare's friend for any serious injuries".

Kaela nodded to Record Beats and gingerly tip-toed towards Aurora's sleeping body. Then, with nimble hoofs, she began to poke and prod the purple pegasus' body, checking mainly sprains or fractures. When she got to Aurora's wing, her nose screwed up in surprise.

"Did you dress this wound?" she asked Eclipse and Eclipse felt hot embarrassment frothing under her coat. Had she done something wrong?

"Y-yes" she said in a small voice.

Kaela sighed and shook her head slightly. "That's what I was afraid of" she said gently "did you think to check her over for wounds before you wrapped the wing?" Kaela asked.

"N-no..." 'Stupid! Why hadn't I thought to do that?'

Kaela gazed at Eclipse, "I thought so" she didn't sound at all surprised as she turned back to her patient and sniffed at the wound. "There was a deep gash under the wing before you dressed it" the pale green mare informed her "those can get infected quickly, if not treated. I can already smell the sour scent of infection on this pegasus."

"Can you treat it?" Eclipse wasn't ready for the reply that came.

Kaela lowered herself onto her haunches so that she sat on the cold cave floor and cleared her throat "when untreated for a certain period of time, or treated carelessly, a wound that is deep or wide will start to smell sour with infection within less than a day. If still untreated the wound could cause death." the mare spoke slowly and calmly and sounded as if she was quoting something she had read many times before. "However, if treated within twenty four hours of showing the signs of infection, the wound will fully heal with nothing less than a scar. This-" Kaela twitched her ear towards Aurora's wing "- will be a challenge, but I think it may be possible for me to save your friend."

Eclipse let out a sigh of relief, that was the best she could've hoped for.

"But" the earth pony continued "your friend also suffered severe head trauma, this I cannot treat as well. Your friend will need to be strong and you will have to be patient with her. Head trauma, or concussions, sometimes have a result of forgetfulness or amnesia." she lowered her voice to just more than a whisper "I'm sorry, but your friend might not even remember you."