Blue cringed at the stallion's blunt statement. She kept quiet for a second before she then took a deep breath in as her fore hoof immediately began to tremble. Her voice shook when she then said, "Fine."

Her voice, though shaky, was as strong as she could possibly muster. She squeezed her eyes shut and then looked away with a whispered, "Just get it done with."

"At last," RipEar scoffed, though his voice was less scathing than it had been before. He then paused, his eyes softening when he raised a hoof uncertainly. "Are-Are you sure?"

Blue snapped her eyes open and glared at the stallion with a piercing grey stare, her teeth bared slightly as she batted around with her hoof for a piece of wood. When she found none, she grabbed  "I'm gonna lose my nerve in a minute," she hissed before she then looked away once again, her wings constantly rustling. "Please, just get on with it."

RipEar gave a small smile and his scowl faded while he nuzzled around in his saddlebags. He pulled out a few strands of sinew with his magic—harvested from a well-scavenged deer carcass the day before, poor thing—and levitated them up to his muzzle. Then he picked up the large needle which rested by his hoof, hovered it up and paused with his tongue poking out of his mouth as he narrowed his eyes.

RipEar brought the two together slowly, the sinew unwilling to be poked through the needle's eye, and shuffled closer to Blue quietly. He stopped at her side and lowered his head down to her still-stained flank, the fur now a grubby shade of pink, and levitated the needle closer. He let out a small breath as he did so and cringed at her involuntary shudder before she stiffened.

It was now or never. With gritted teeth he pinched the two flaps that made up her wound together and hovered the needle closer. With his stomach squirming, he then placed the point against her skin and pushed.

Blue's cry was immediate as her body involuntarily constricted and hunched up. Sweat beaded on her fur and she fought not to scream as the needle pierced her skin once more, the sinew pulled through to join the flesh back up. Again and again, the stallion repeated the actions and each stitch sparked unimaginable, intolerable pain in her flank; with every second that passed, her skin was crudely snagged together, the agony only growing worse.

But she could not cry. She would not let herself; she had to prove her worth. And, judging by RipEar's slow smile when he pulled the needle away, it was a positive step.

"Nice one," he said with a quick wipe of the needle by a small cloth. He placed both back in his saddlebags. Then glancing up to the sky, he was still for a few seconds before he stood and shook himself free from dirt and dust. He sent a glance towards Blue and Coalburst as he then slipped the packs onto his back. "Okay. We've got an hour's walk before we reach the village, and it's already half nine thanks to someone." He snapped his gaze towards Blue and frowned at her; she only huffed whilst she narrowed her own eyes.

"It's not my fault that you two didn't wake me," she bit back before she gasped; her flank suddenly protested as she moved. With a groan she flicked her tail a few times and her ears fell backwards slightly, but she bit her lip and chided herself not to complain.

RipEar remained frowning, though he couldn't help the momentary sparkle in his eyes which betrayed his amusement at her words. He quickly fought to cover it up. "If Coalburst and I were to die, we wouldn't be here to wake you up, so learn fast. But, as I was saying, we'd better get moving; it'd be nice to get to the village before lunch."

"When was the last time we had a proper meal out here at lunchtime?" Blue, who trembled a little as she took a deep breath in, hesitated for a moment before she rolled her eyes. Then making a move to get up, her teeth gritted and her eyes tightly shut, she faltered; she jerked her head up to the sky, her flank quietening a little when it didn't have to move, and couldn't help but be skeptical. "On that note, how can you even tell what the—argh!—time is? The sky hasn't changed once since we've been out here."

"It has, actually," Coalburst chirped. "The sun and moon are always fighting; that's a rumour I heard. And it feels true, too, 'cos the sky's a little bit darker and a whole lot colder at night. Couldn't you tell?"

Gritting her teeth once again as she moved a little more and pushed herself up to her hooves, Blue shook her head slowly. "I didn't really think about why I was cold," she bit out before she gave a gasp as she straightened up. Once she'd balanced herself, she then lifted her rear leg from the ground to rest her hoof. The relief, though slight, was immediate. She then turned her gaze on the filly and pouted. "I was much too busy trying to warm up. Course, I wouldn't have to if you'd just make a decent fire."

Coalburst smirked whilst she nodded to RipEar and wagged her tail. "His rules, not mine. But now that he's forgotten your question, I'll tell you." She leaned forwards before saying, "The internal clock spell; every foal my age learns it. Or, every unicorn at least—which just proves that I'm way better than you. "

Blue narrowed her eyes and snapped back in a somewhat strained voice, "Get off your high horse. You can't even make a fire when you want to."

Ignoring the foal's indignant huff and mumbled, "Not like you could!", she snapped her gaze over to RipEar and frowned; he was much too busy nuzzling around between the rocks to notice her. Pausing a second later, though, he nudged a few out of the way and waited with a grin plastered upon his muzzle. Jerking his head up, he then beckoned for the two females quickly, his expression akin to that of a pirate who had struck gold. And, in truth, his find was more valuable than any precious material; it was a life-giving substance.

Pure, sweet water.

The odd patches of grass—normal, un-mutated, non-deadly stuff, for the most part—which had made up most of the ponies' diets over the past few days had contained water. Nevertheless, none had had a decent drink in well over twenty-four hours; the prospect was heavenly. And, as Blue staggered over with a contorted face and lowered her head to just touch her lips to the stream, she felt her pain all wash away momentarily. It was just so exquisite, so perfect—so unlike the rest of this mad world.

Then again, it perhaps wasn't so bad. The huge mutant flies which buzzed around were admittedly aggravating and the perplexing nature of the plant-life was something of a hindrance. Nevertheless, the past few days, after the shaky start, had been quite quiet. RipEar had been quick to warn her that the calmness was only due to the remote location; an anomaly or not, Blue couldn't help but feel slightly more confident that maybe, just maybe, she had a chance.

Waiting quietly until Coalburst had taken a sip as well, RipEar stood taller as he hovered the rocks back over the small flow of water. Then he stepped forwards and glanced back to the girls before gave a genuine, oddly unforced smile.

"So, are we ready?" he said, not waiting for an answer before he reared up a little and pawed at the air. He completely ignored Blue's mumbled plea to wait a few minutes before leaving. Instead, he fell back to the ground and dug his hoof into the dirt, snaking his head before he glanced back eagerly. Then, as his body stiffened, he gave a feeble chuckle and looked away before he started forwards immediately. A blush rose up on his cheeks. Blue, in turn, groaned as she watched him go and let her seemingly heavy wings fall open so that they dragged on the floor.

Coalburst, stood at her side, gave a sympathetic smile before she turned her head to look at her own flank. Then wiggling her stump a little, she whispered, "You'll be okay, sweet-pea," before she shot off. She threw her head back as she galloped and her eyes were alight as she screeched with laughter. Blue only stiffened and halted for a moment before she gritted her teeth and hopped forwards in a similar mannerism; her flank screamed with each little step despite never touching the ground.

"Hey! You insufferable foal," she called out while she hopped forwards a little faster until she could at least match RipEar's pace. Nevertheless, a small smile was evident upon her muzzle, despite the pain which laced her expression. She couldn't help it; being around the two unicorns was, in the end, enough to keep her happy, despite everything else.