A/N: like I promised, the next chapter for this story would be up soon, hope you all enjoy.
Faith in the Past: chapter 3: healing wounds
It had been some time since Flame and Night Gale left for the market place, and it was getting late, Twilight was getting more worried by the minute, she paced back and forth in the main room, Star Dust just watching her pace back and forth.
"Oh, what is keeping your father and your brother; they've never been gone this long, it's not like them" she said worriedly, Star Dust just sighed, her mom would always get like this for the most pathetic reasons, "mom, the market place was probably more crowded today, I'm sure they're just taking their time, I'm sure everything's fine" she said with a smile.
Just as she did, the front door flew open, and there in the door stood Flame, with what looked like, an unconscious pony on his back, Night Gale walked in behind him and closed the door, and switched the open sign to close.
"Flame, what is this, who is she?" Twilight asked worried about the fact that he brought a stranger into the house, he looked at her, "Twilight, I'll explain later, she needs help, get the guest room ready, she needs medical attention" he said, Twilight was about to protest, but Flame looked at her seriously, she closed her mouth and ran ahead.
After walking down into the guest room, Flame placed the unconscious pony on the bed carefully, Twilight gasped when she saw who it was, "is that…?" she asked but Flame beat her to it, "yeah it is, we found her in an alley, getting beaten up by three other stallions, she was in really bad shape, she needs help now" he said as he began examining her wounds.
He noticed that there was a cold sweat running down her forehead, and her breathing was shallow, Flame undid the cloak, and pulled the blanket over her, as he removed it, he noticed a piece of cloth tied around her left shoulder, he touched it, it was soaked, with a red liquid.
He gently untied it, and removed it, all of them gasping at what they saw, on her shoulder, there was a deep knife cut, it was no longer bleeding, but the wound was beginning to swell, and the skin around it was slightly discolored, even though she was unconscious, her breathing was heavy, and she grunted in pain, as Flame ran a hoof over it.
"What kind of wound is that?" Star Dust asked, Flame frowned, "one I haven't seen in many years, it's definitely infected, but the wound itself is only two days old, wounds don't get infected that easily, I have seen this before, many years ago" he said, turning to Night Gale, "night gale, go get me that book on exotic poisons, it's in our personal library" he said and he ran out of the room, while Flame turned back to her.
"What was she doing there?" Twilight asked, Flame sighed, "I'm not sure, but we'll find out later" he said as Night Gale ran back into the room levitating a book, Flame took it and flipped through the pages, until he found what he wanted.
"Here it is, it's a special type of poison, the poison itself does not affect the victim, it is used by assassins mainly, the tip of their knife is dipped in the poison, and all they have to do is hit their target with the tip, and the poison enters the wound, it causes the infection early, and the cure is hard to find, but I think I can make it work" he said putting the book down, and turned to his family.
"alright, I need a few things, you'll have to get them for me" he said as he began telling them what he needed, "what's the hurry, she doesn't look nearly as bad as some of the symptoms in this book" he said Flame frowned, "trust me, I've seen this before, if it goes untreated, the victim could die, and from what I'm seeing, she doesn't have much time left, now hurry up" he said and Night Gale ran out of the room, while he tended to the other smaller wounds.
Lucky for Flame, he didn't have to wait long, soon they all returned with the ingredients and he began mixing them together, "you never told us who she was, you obviously know her" Night Gale said as Flame put together the remedy, "yeah I do, she was a friend of mine, we haven't seen each other in a while, I've known her a long time, back before I ever met your mother, we worked together, she was our team medic, she was a master at all types of injuries, and she knew how to heal them, she taught me this trick, I only hope it will work" he said as he finished the remedy.
He put it on the table, and it turned out to be a cream like substance, it had a pinkish color to it, Flame dipped his hoof in it, and turned to Faith.
Her breathing was becoming more and more heavy, despite being unconscious; her eyes were clenched shut, she was obviously in pain, sweat ran down Flame's face as he placed his hoof over the wound, and slowly began rubbing the cream over the wound, and the infected area around it, she cringed at the contact with the wound, and Flame had to go slower, but soon he finished.
The cream seemed to blend with her coat, after a few long moments of waiting, Faith's breath seemed to slow to a more normal, and her clenched eyes relaxed and her head turned to the side, and made it look like she was sleeping, Flame sighed and turned to the others, "is that it is she going to be okay?" Star Dust asked, "it's too soon to tell, the remedy has to get rid of the infection, but it looks like she will be fine for now, more cream will have to be applied tomorrow, soon it should work, and she'll be fine" he said as he walked past them, and wiped his face from the sweat, and looked back at his family.
"she should be fine for the night, but will need to take turned tending to her until she wakes up, let's get some sleep, that's enough excitement for one day" he said as he left the room, Night Gale and Star Dust just looked up at their mother with worried faces, he looked back at them, and motioned for them to go to bed.
Indeed, it was a rough day, but in the following days, it was only going to get more interesting.
(Two days later…)
Just like Flame told them too, they all took turns taking care of Faith, even in her unconscious state, Night Gale and Star Dust still could not fully understand why he cared for this mare so much, but when he told them who she was, they finally did.
It was now Flame's turn to go and check on her, he opened the guest room door, and calmly walked in; he looked towards the bed, and sighed.
She was still asleep, over time the medicine did its job, and the wound shrank more and more, until it was merely a simple cut, by this time the remedy had fought off the infection, now all they could do was wait for her to regain consciousness.
Flame sat by the side of the bed, her breathing was regular, but she still showed signs of sickness, even when she woke, she would be extremely weak, they tried giving her water, and food but they did not have the resources, other than opening her mouth and pouring in very small amounts of water, to keep her hydrated.
Flame sighed and took her hoof, she seemed to flinch at his touch, but she calmed down, Flame said just above his breath, "just hang on Faith, you'll be fine" he said, as he stayed there for a few minutes.
(PonyVille public library, main room)
Twilight and her two foals, walked around the room, Twilight was trying to occupy herself, by moving books around, as she normally did, when bored and found absolutely nothing to do.
Night Gale and Star Dust helped her, but a question kept nagging at the back of their minds, and finally Night Gale decided to ask, "hey mom, why does dad care so much for this mare, we barely know her, and he says he hasn't seen her in years, why does he insist we care for his friend?" he asked, Twilight sighed and turned to him.
"listen, her name is Faith, your father has known her since he was a young colt, they grew up together, and after their friend died, they were all they had left, your father and I got married, and they went their separate ways, but they still remained friends, they had been through a lot together, your father had obligations to this family, but he still wanted to stay in touch, but she never wrote to him, and they just drifted apart, and now she shows up, after years of absences, no note, or warning that she was coming, the reason he cares for so much is because, they were the best of friends, I'm sure you would want the same for your friends, if you lost contact after all these years" she finished just as Flame walked up into the room.
Night Gale and Star Dust were shocked by what they heard, they knew that she was his friend, but not to that scale, they just watched as Flame walked up to them.
"How is she?" Twilight asked coming up and nuzzling him, "she doing better, the medicine did its thing, all we have to do is wait for her to wake up, it shouldn't be long now, we just have to keep taking turns, if she does while I'm not there, come and get me, but for now let's just go about our business, it's time we open the library back up" he said as they all did their own thing.
But soon, things were only going to get more interesting.
A/N: well there you have it, I will be posting more chapters for this story as well as chapters for the others, see you guys then, peace.