Day 1 - 10:59 PM
It has been over twelve hours since the weather balloon crashed, and Twilight shivered as the cold, damp cave continued to drip more cold water onto her head. The jackets only provided minimal protection from the elements, and the scant amount of food they had eaten did not provide her enough calories to burn. With such little body heat, only the small fire in the center of the cave proved to keep her warm. She raised her head, and watched as Applejack continued to tend to Rainbow's numerous wounds, which had stopped bleeding so badly. Unfortunately, she was still trembling very badly. With such gruesome wounds, and possible internal bleeding, her core body temperature had plummeted, leaving her completely at the mercy of the cold. Only her friends can keep her alive. Twilight shivered again, and slowly stretched her hooves out to the fire. It provides the desired warmth, and Twilight brings her hooves back to her frozen body, trying to heat herself up. She yawns, drowsy with all the energy she has exerted in the day.
"Easy now Twilight, try not ta fall asleep. I need yer help with this camp." Applejack said as she placed a heated rock underneath Rainbow. She gave a quick yelp of pain at first, but then sighed with relief as the rock warmed her. She sighed and laid her head against the wall of the cave. Twilight reaches her hooves back out to the fire, in another effort to warm herself up. She doesn't make an effort to stop shivering. She has read several books on survival, as well as training with survival experts as part of her extra activities when she was a filly. Shivering allowed the body to produce heat, and any additional heat was welcome. She breathed into her hooves as she brought them back to her face. Quickly, she placed her hooves to her forelegs, rubbing them to warm them up.
"So... How long till' anypony knows that something's up?" Rainbow asks as she shifts her head against the cave wall. Applejack takes a piece of the balloon she had gone back to get, and adjusts it behind her friend's head, creating a makeshift pillow. Rainbow groans, clearly aggravated that she is being babied.
"Hard to tell. Nopony's expectin' us for two days, we'll have ta hold out till' then." Applejack says as she slips another rock into the fire pit. Twilight takes a twig in her mouth, and tosses it onto the fire. The nearby trees have provided them with plenty of firewood, but they don't have any food to use it to cook. Twilight knows that a healthy pony can survive for weeks at a time without food, but in their predicament, food is going to be essential, as it provides calories that the body can burn to create warmth. Without it, they are all at severe risk of hypothermia. But these worries would have to wait until morning, when they had enough strength to go out and check for any more food that might have survived in the wreckage. Water would be another concern, but with a fire and plenty of snow nearby, they can simply melt it down in one of their bottles.
"I wonder how Spike and the others are doing..." Twilight says aloud. She looks up to see her friends looking at her, clearly wondering what their loved ones are doing as well. Applejack looks to the fire, and chuckles.
"I'd bet 50 bits that Big Macintosh is readin' Applebloom a story ta help 'er fall asleep." She said with a smile. Twilight smiled and nodded, watching the embers in the fire glow a light orange color, quickly fading into a dark red. Rainbow sighs and leans against the wall again.
"Well this sucks." She says. Twilight gives a short chuckle and nods.
"Yeah it really does." She says agreeingly.
"I third that." Applejack says as she holds up a hoof. Rainbow gives a short laugh as she looks over to the fire. She forms a frown on her face, and looks down to the ground. Twilight notices, and asks her what's wrong. Rainbow looks up, and Twilight can see that her friend's forehead has a small gash just above her eyebrow, but nothing to be concerned about. However, Rainbow's apparent gloom is something to be worried about, as she always tried to be upbeat.
"I just really wish I was at home... In my nice warm bed... Tank by my side..." She said longingly. Twilight frowns. Looking down, she thought about days long ago, when Spike would get scared in the night, and ask to sleep with her. She would always let him, and would just comfort him until he fell asleep. She had always enjoyed those moments, and Spike never did that anymore. Still, it was a fond memory, and it helped ease Twilight's mind whenever she was upset. Right now, she would give anything to have Spike by her side.
"Yeah... I can relate to that... I really miss Spike..." She said as she closed her eyes, tying to keep herself from crying.
"You two get some shut eye. We'll sleep in shifts. I'll take the first one, and Twilight can take the second." Applejack said. Rainbow lifted her head, raising an eyebrow.
"What about me?" She asked. Applejack gave a nervous smile and looked around, clearly nervous. Rainbow glared at the farm mare, waiting for her answer. Applejack chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head.
"Sugarcube, I don't think you're exactly in the best shape to be doing anything 'cept restin'. You're hurt mighty bad, and you need as much as you can get." She said. Rainbow couldn't argue with this, so she just grumbled and angrily glared at the ground as she adjusted herself to get comfortable. Twilight chuckled. Even when she was hurt, she was stubborn. It was a good thing some things hadn't changed. Twilight laid her head down on her hooves and let the cracking of the wood act as a lullaby as she drifted off to sleep.
