private The Canterlot Caravan

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight's vision began to get blurry, as she felt the salve begin to sting her wound. The unicorn took the leaves in her mouth, and began to chew them, trying to make them easier to swallow. She coughed, her head hurting and her sight getting darker. "I'm sorry-" she croaked, struggling to stay awake. Moonlight had only made things more difficult, she should've notified a more eligible pony.

[Frosty V 309]

Jaeger became frantic "Dammit! Come on stay with me." he said as he began to shake her. "No no no no no no." he was no medical expert he did not know how to wake the mare up, but he knew that if she did not get help in a few hours she could slip into a coma from the shock. He sat back and punched the ground. He had never felt more helpless in his life.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@Durandal

 

"Soothing Serum, are you not a healer of sorts?" Asked Bardic blindly as he knelt beside the wounded mare: willing to put what little he knew about medicine to use if need be.

 

@@Frosty V

@@Moonlight Fire

 

"I do not believe a song will suffice alone, I am afraid." He said with a perfectly serious look on his face: it wasn't a joke. "I am no healer but I will assist to the best of my abilities if required....

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight struggled to reply to Jaegur and Bardic,, but she couldn't make a sound as she was overwhelmed with an aching cold. "W-we need..to..get warm...w-we can't catch hypothermia.." she choked, trying to calm her breathing. The unicorn tried to get up, but promptly slid back down.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@Frosty V,

 

"Jaeger, can you ignite a fire?" Bardic asked with a hit of urgency in his voice, pulling the thick cloak he had purchased back at the market off as he did.

 

@@Moonlight Fire,

 

Placing the cloak over Moonlight, he tucked the edges around her to keep in the remnants of warmth. "Remain still, we will not allow you to come to further harm." The scholar instructed as reassuringly as he could, glancing around nervously: trying to remember some kind of song that might help.

[Frosty V 309]

Jaeger nodded at Cinderscribe and ran to his bag and pulled out to blankets, his knifes, and some fire wood from the previous campsite. He layed the blankets over the two ponies, placed the firewood, and struck his knives together to make a spark. When the fire started going he sat back and closed his eyes. "Work dammit." he muttered.

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight Fire shivered under the cloak, still freezing. "H-here," she said to Soothing Serum, passing it to her. The pony knew Soothing would need to get warm too. The unicorn began to feel the welcoming heat of the flames, and said, "Thank you, Jaeger, Bardic." Moonlight glanced at Driftwood, wondering what he was thinking. The catastrophe had slowed the entire group down.

 

((Is Lightning still not active?))

Edited August 28, 2013 by Moonlight Fire

[Frosty V 309]

Jaeger let out a breath if releaf as he looked up at the sky then turned his head to Bardic. "You know you are one chill stallion, a traight a lot of others should have....to an extent." he said turning his head back to the sky. "Thank you for not letting us lose these two." he mumbled to himself thinking about if it were Celestia he was talking to.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@Frosty V,

 

"Panic serves no purpose other than to cloud judgement." Bardic nodded, fairly certain that he understood what Jaeger had meant.

 

@@Moonlight Fire,

 

"Rest for a moment, 'Zahrah, conserve your energy." He smiled at the unicorn who was shivering by the small fire - he could relate to how she must feel - to an extent.

 

"Rest for a moment, 'Zahrah, conserve your energy. This may aid you. though I do not know by how much." He said, before lowering his head, mumbling the words to a song he could hardly remember under his breath, horn beginning to glow and pulse with each syllable as he did.

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight listened carefully to Bardic's soothing voice, and felt her tensed and sore muscles begin to relax. The melody was beautiful, and she felt herself almost get lost in the music. "That's amazing," she whispered, her breathing getting more even.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@Moonlight Fire,

 

"My thanks, you are too kind. Songs carry magic well, I find. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but feel a slight surge of pride and smiled. "How do you now feel?" He enquired hopefully.

 

The magic wasn't particularly strong when he had last sung that particular song but then again, it had been a good few years and he was somewhat more experienced than back then.

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight smiled slightly. "A lot calmer, that's for sure," she said, coughing a bit. The unicorn felt her side continue to ache, but felt better. "I..I'm sorry. Because of my blundering rescue, we lost some time," Moonlight admitted, slightly hanging her head.

[Frosty V 309]

Jaeger looked down at the shivering mare. "Aahhh don't worry about it, It's only one day, that shouldn't affect us at all." he said as he layed back in the grass putting his hoofs behind his head. "Some day." he muttered as he began to whistle a lullaby that his mother used RP sing every night to him when he was a foal.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Frosty V

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@Moonlight Fire,

 

"You took action, showed courage. A feat which should never be apologised for. We can spare a little time much more easily than we can spare the life of one of our own, I am certain."

 

@@Durandal,

 

On that note, he turned to glance at the intriguing mare, Soothing Serum. She appeared to be less harmed than Moonlight, though only just. Tucking the loose edges of the cloak around her, he wondered just how dangerous this journey might become.

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight nodded, slightly relieved at Bardic's words. The unicorn glanced back at the chaotic river behind them, and shivered. Just the thought of the murky waters made her want to run and hide. Moonlight sighed and glanced up at the sky, knowing the trip would only get more dangerous.

[Durandal 623]

(Sorry guys, have been busy with school. Once I get accustomed to the schedule [and don't sleep for insane amounts of time] I should be all good.)

 

Liberta had been dumbstruck by their reaction. They did not question her, or berate her, they simply cared for the both of them unconditionally.

 

She could feel her paranoia fade as her faith in ponykind grew. She should have expected this, in hindsight. Ponies were kinder, less suspicious beings than changelings. Of course they'd only want to help. Perhaps there was a time for caution, yes, however she felt safe around this group. They didn't seem to particularly notice any odd behaviors, or accepted them as different. As long as she didn't tell them explicitly what she was, maybe she'd turn out alright.

 

But... Perhaps they deserved to know? This was only the beginning of their journey, and they had already shown her the sort of kindness she didn't even see from most ponies, in addition to saving her life. It would make things... Complicated, but maybe it was worth it. She couldn't do it now, however. She was much too frightened, and in a poor position to do so. No, she'd try later. Eventually. Maybe.

 

Willing herself to settle down, she finally became aware of the fact she was freezing. Though the warmth of the cloak and the fire were enough to keep her stable, she continued to shiver, if only slightly. Ignoring the cold, she turned to her savior, Moonlight. Besides having certain... Qualities, that made her blush, she noticed that Moonlight had become injured in the process of her daring rescue. Her blush intensified, the wound sending home the fact Moonlight had put her own life on the line for her. Lunging at her, she wrapped her forelegs around the mare's neck, forcing back a few tears.

 

"I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry. Thank you s-so much! Pleas-se forgive me."

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight was surprised by the sudden hug of Soothing Serum. The unicorn wasn't sure how to respond, after all, she wasn't a fan of contact. Moonlight gently wrapped a front leg around the mare. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. It wasn't your fault the river's so slippery," she said, shuddering as she looked back at the rushing water. Moonlight had seen Soothing look at her wound, and said reassuringly, "Don't worry about me, it's just a scratch."

[TotalNeon 72]

Driftwood huffed, then began to walk along the river towards the stepping stones he saw earlier leaving behind the band of ponies. The river's water was murky and the waves made it hard to see what lay under it, but those stones must have been connected to something in the river, something strong. He walked back to his traveling companions, "Alright, when will you two be able to continue traveling? Because we really need to get across this river today." he didn't try to sound cold, he understood that when accidents like this happen it could really throw your plans off track, but he couldn't sit around either. They needed to keep going. He didn't know this part of the forest and certainly didn't know if it was safe to camp here. "In the meantime," he turned to the other ponies, "we have a few ways of getting over this river that I can think of, we can send a pegasus over to the other side or use magic to push down that tree," he motioned to the large, but rather weak tree on the other bank "which we can use as a precarious bridge," he turned around and looked at the stones, pausing before continuing. "Or, we could try to use those" the stones, as he noticed earlier, were tall enough to get across without getting carried away by the waves, but they would have to be jumped from one to another which was, in itself, quite dangerous.

 

"There are probably some other ways we can get across, if anypony has other ideas, please share."

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight glanced at Driftwood, sensing his impatience to get moving. "Right," she said, slowly standing up, her side aching. The unicorn tensely looked at the powerful river, and swallowed. "So, the only uh, way through here is to cut through the river," she asked nervously, pawing at the ground.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@Moonlight Fire,

 

"Do not push your body more than you should - you are wounded still." Bardic told the mare softly as he watched her struggle to her hooves. He Turned to face Driftwood.

 

@@TotalNeon,

 

"I believe that we should bridge the river. Those of us in good health can assist the injured across." He said calmly, looking over at the tree that the stallion had pointed out. "Position the tree along the rocks, like so..." He held his foreleg forward so that a it traced out a line between the rocks. "And while narrow, it may be stable enough for use to cross each in turn."

 

Holding a hoof to his chin thoughtfully, he thought for a moment.

 

"The cart may be a difficulty."

[TotalNeon 72]

Driftwood looked back at his cart, which was still trailing behind him. "Blasted thing." he said, monotonously. "We'll find a way to get it across, I have to arrive at Canterlot with it," his voice dropped to a mutter "apparently...".

 

He studied the rocks, the tree could certainly be lain betwixt them to make a bridge, but the weak old thing looked as though it might collapse under the weight of the cart. He tried not to think about that for now.

He looked at his bandaged wing, showing a little dismay at the sight of it. He could not fly across the river, but another pegasus could, or a unicorn could use magic to pull down the tree, assuming they knew the correct spell.

[Durandal 623]

Liberta's face burned as she was reminded of her folly. It certainly wasn't the fact the river was slippery that caused her to slip in. Anyone could see that. Liberta's ability to sense the mare's emotional state also spared her no sympathy, the rhythmic flow of compassion a clear indication of her thoughts. It amazed and confused her how kind these ponies were - even Driftwood, the stoic, hadn't berated her for her mistake, much less question why she had walked into a river.

 

Swallowing back her abashment, she listened in on the conversation at hand. While they could certainly use the stones and log to walk across the river, the cart was an issue. If only they could...

 

Liberta's eyes shot open as she counted those present. Seven ponies, including her. Two pegasi, five unicorns. Most likely none of them had the magic to lift a cart. There was something she had picked up from one of her books, however. Collaborative spell-casting, it was called. If done correctly, several unicorns could do what it normally took a well-trained, powerful magi to handle. Five unicorns was quite a few, and the cart couldn't have been too heavy.

 

"Perhaps-s," she began, unconcerned about the hiss that crept into her voice, "we could use collaborative s-spellcas-sting? There's five of us-s here, and the cart can't be that heavy, right?"

 

Liberta was drained from her experience in the water. Though unsure of whether this exhaustion came from her panic or a lack of energy, she had no doubt in her mind that moving the cart would require feeding to offset. Confident that the ponies were too accepting of abnormality, she expelled the rogue thought. They wouldn't expect a changeling if it sucked them dry of emotion - though she would never, ever do that.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@Durandal,

 

Bardic raised a brow inquisitively at the mares suggestion: truly she had an astounding knowledge of magic to even recall such a technique. Perhaps teachings were different here: spell-casters tended to be secretive and reclusive where he hailed from and group-casting wasn't a common skill to even remember existed.

 

"Certainly the wisest plan we have heard thus far. Is this magic common knowledge for your kind?" He asked with great interest. "And do you believe that even together our caravan will be potent enough?"

[Moonlight Fire 20]

Moonlight Fire listened thoughtfully to Soothing Serum's idea, and shakily stood with a nod to Bardic. "Indeed, I'm not sure our magic will be enough. The spell must require large amounts of magic from each unicorn. I'm still in an unstable position, but I think I still have enough magic energy to help," she said, scratching her mane and thought. Although, even the thought of going near the river again terrified Moonlight, she knew there was no way around it.

[Frosty V 309]

Jaeger sat and listened to the idea be passed around. He decided to have some input. "If it's any help I can fly to the other side and weaken it enough for you to not have to output to much magic." he said softly. "Besides I probably couldn't buck it in the right direction anyway." he chuckled.