Red glowered at Caliber briefly. She didn't know why she was angry at him. She tried to clear her mind, but found that, for the first time in a long time, she couldn't. She backed up, dodging arrows. An arrow grazed her shoulder. Hopefully it wasn't poisoned.
She needed to think. She couldn't be offensive when her mind was in this state, she would get killed. Why can't I think straight? She closed her eyes for a moment, ducking under an arrow that shot straight where her head had been. I'm tired. I'm in pain. I want to help Caliber, but I don't know how. Caliber isn't helping us. How was Caliber feeling, though? He's definitely guilty, he said so himself. He isn't thinking about how the rest of us are, too-- but no, how is he feeling? Because understanding what somepony thought was the first step to helping-- or hurting-- them. He's just guilty. I think it's as simple as that. He watched something horrible happen, and he was the one that swung the sword. You weren't, you can hide behind the fact that you weren't. Poor Caliber.
How could she get Caliber to help them? She half wanted to shout at him again, tell him to leave if he wasn't going to help. But she liked him, and she didn't think she could bear it if he left. Tyra could probably knock some sense into him, she reflected, even if I can't. She did last time. And maybe he'll come out of it on his own, the next time we're in trouble.
But right now, none of that mattered. She jumped to the right of another arrow and briefly reflected that if she still had her tail, an arrow would have just been run through it as she dodged at the last second.
She let her thoughts drift to the back of her mind, taking in a slow breath. She charged forward, sword in her mouth as per usual, and ducked to the left of one pony with a bow and once again dropped her sword into her hoof, catching it by the blade, and attempted to hit the back of the djinn's head with the hilt of the blade.
I need gloves, she thought suddenly. Yeah, next time I go to the order base, I'll get gloves.