"How bad is it?" Dee asked as she made her way over to me, my satchel slung over her neck

"Not too bad," I said and sighed, "Could have been a lot worse. Nopony died at least. But we have," I said and glanced down on the scroll with the report on it, "Four ponies with broken legs, one broken wing. Six ponies with lacerations. Ten ponies with various other serious injuries, such as broken ribs or concussions. There is... a lot of overlap. But the medics don't think anypony is in risk of dying from it, thank Luna, but it will slow us down and make us more vulnerable."

Dee frowned and nodded, "I meant your shoulder."

I glanced down at it, "Oh, that. I think I just sliced it on a rock or something, I don't remember being that close to claw or tooth. They cleaned it and put a pressure bandage on it and gave me something against infection, but then she had more critical cases in hoof with my bleeding dealt with. But it's nothing serious, I've had worse."

"Can you walk on it?" she asked as she sat down.

I glowered at her, "I haven't tried yet. Whenever I try to get up, Amber push me back down."

"The medic said you should rest and try not to move too much, sir" Amber said from next to me, "I'm just making sure."

"As he should," Dee said and nodded to the changeling before patting the satchel, "I think I'll carry this thing today. I put your bedroll and tent in the pile of supplies for ponies to divide to carry."

"I can carry my own stuff," I said and glowered at her.

"Why don't you come up here and say that to my face?" Dee asked with a smirk, “You can’t even carry yourself right now.”.

I hissed at her before I just gave up, "...Whatever," I grumbled and flicked my ears, "But we should get going soon. Ponies and those things bled here, blood attract predators. We should move before something worse shows up."

Dee nodded in agreement, her smile gone, "We should," she agreed, "I'm on my way to talk to Princess Midnight. Do you want me to send some ponies with a stretcher?" she asked and looked at Amber instead of me.

"No, you should not," I protested, "I'm good as soon as I'm allowed to stand," I then added and glanced at Amber, “I still have three working legs and two wings!”

Amber buzzed her wings and looked at me for a second before she finally shook her head, "...Won't be needed."

Dee nodded, "Just making sure," she said and moved on.

I glared after her for a second before I sighed and scraped the ground with one hoof in a circle, "I bruised my shoulder, I didn't lose a limb. Seriously, everypony making a fuss,” I grumbled.

A lot of ponies got worse than me. I could see the medics working from here and I could smell blood on the wind. Which was bad considering predators.

Over a week until rescue gets here. We had to get to the temple today or this might happen again tonight.

Or worse.

I started to get up and Amber surged to her hooves.

I shook my head, "I need to talk to Midnight," I told her seriously, "There has to be a way to speed this up."

Amber buzzed her wings, glancing around before she nodded, "Hoof off the ground," she ordered and moved around to my injured side, leaning against me to take some weight while avoiding my shoulder.

"I slashed my shoulder, I didn’t break my leg," I grumbled to her, but accepted her assistance, putting my wing over her back for support.

Which admittedly made it a lot faster to walk over to where Midnight was talking with Dee and Captain Jetstream. At least it was faster than trying to argue a changeling out of something.

I walked up next to Dee, "We need to get there today. With time to at least get things ready for tonight," I said, "We can't stay in the open like this."

"I still can't teleport this many ponies safely," Midnight said, "Not even in groups. Not that far."

"You teleported those monsters," Dee said.

"I didn't particularly care where they ended up," Midnight answered, her ears drooping for a split second before she shook her head, "If anypony has any ideas, I'm all ears."

Gulp.

Definitely never making her mad at me.

"How many can you teleport that far, Princess? In a group?" Jetstream asked.

"Safely..." she said and shifted her wings, "One or two. But even I need to rest after a couple of those."

"That'd take all day," Jetstream said with a sigh.

"And split the party," I agreed, "Never split the party."

"Might still speed things up," Dee said, "Get some of us there so we can start to prepare, clear the interior for traps and such. The injured that will have trouble moving at full speed and a couple of guards to keep them safe."

I thought about that for a second and then shook my head, "You can't be in two places at once," I said and looked to Dee, "We'd need you for navigation and for the traps."

"I or one of my navigators can get us there," Jetstream said, "Miss Dee showed me the location relative to where we were last night. It's almost a straight line from here anyway."

"And one of the unicorns at the temple can send up a flare every twenty minutes or so, just have a pegasus circling above the caravan to spot it when we get close enough," Midnight agreed, slowly nodding, "That... could work."

"It would still be splitting the party," I said, "Harder to defend both groups."

Tempest moved up stand next to Midnight. She looked thoughtful before she flicked her ears and nodded, "But one group would be in a defensible position and get it ready for the rest and the others would be able to move much quicker."

Midnight nodded and looked at her before she turned to me, "Page?"

I forced myself to pause and think it over. If we could move at full speed without the wounded, if the wounded could be behind thick stone walls...

"...Okay," I admitted, "It should work. I just don't like splitting resources like that, but we need to get to the temple before dark no matter what. We can't risk another night like this."

"Agreed," Captain Jetstream said and stomped his hoof, "So it's decided. How much can you move at once?"

Midnight hesitated for a second, "I'd need to fly there first to get a lock," she said, "Dee?"

"I'll guide you."

Midnight nodded, "Assuming the distance I think it is, two ponies or a pony and a hundred kilos. Maybe a bit more if it's nothing that'll break from falling a few meters. We should leave at once while everypony here gets organized. Tempest, find Moon Dancer, she has the lists of what's critical to bring at the first couple of teleports. Page?"

"Yes?"

"Lay down before you start to bleed again."

"...Yes Ma'am."