My second fic for this year's nuts and dolts week, written for the prompt Carrying Each Other. Set in early V7. Enjoy!

Ruby's just finished her final mission of the day (patching up one of the larger holes in the barrier wall surrounding Mantle with whatever she can find) when a loud crash immediate catches her attention. She whirls around, looking for the source of the sound, before noticing the cloud of dust coming out of nearby alley. Bingo!

She rushes over to the gap between two buildings, where there is now a considerable crater in the ground that Ruby is pretty sure wasn't there before. She has no idea what to expect. Is it a Grimm attack? On of the Atlesian drones malfunctioning? A citizen protest? "Penny?"

"Hello, Ruby," her friend responds, peering over the rim of the crater. Penny is smiling, but it seems less radiant than usual, almost forced. "I'm sorry, I hope that my unplanned landing didn't alarm you."

"Never mind that," Ruby replies, walking over to the edge of the crater. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

Penny's smile dims even further. "I may have miscalculated a bit," she admits, looking sheepish. "One of my propulsion systems was damaged earlier, and the damage was worse than I anticipated. I was trying to head back to my father's workshop, but the remaining propulsion system was not enough to maintain flight for the duration of the trip."

Most of what her friend just said went over Ruby's head, but that's not important right now. "You didn't answer my first question," she points out. "Are you okay?"

"Well," Penny replies, frowning slightly. "There was some slight structural damaged acquired in the crash."

"Slight damage?" Ruby gets the feeling that Penny is trying to downplay her injuries. "How bad is it? Do you need any help?"

"The damage is serious enough that it may prevent me from getting back to my father's workshop." Penny seems pained by this admission. "I may need to call for backup."

"Or I could help you," Ruby points out. "We're not too far from his clinic right now. You could call him and have him meet us there."

"I couldn't ask you to do that, Ruby," Penny says, looking up at her with wide eyes. "Surely you have things you need to do that I'd be keeping you from."

"Nope!" Ruby shakes her head. "I just finished my last assignment, and surely anything else Ironwood wants can wait for a little bit." Penny still seems reluctant, so she presses on. "C'mon, surely you don't want to sit around in this alley all day. Let me help you."

"Well, if you insist." Penny bows her head gratefully. "Thank you, Ruby."

"Don't worry about it," Ruby insists, leaning over to help haul Penny out of the crater. "This is what friends are supposed to do. We carry each other. You can't just rely on yourself all the time, even if you can fly now. I've got your back, no matter what."

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it.