//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Off the Beaten Path // by wonderkid125 //------------------------------// As the morning sun lifted ever higher into the sky, golden rays of light pierced through the gloomy haze of clouds that had been present since the day before. While the sunlight gently streamed down onto the forest floor outside of their home away from home, Rainbow Dash and Blue Bolt were still slumbering peacefully and resting their weary bodies against the cold cave floor they had claimed as their own. The sound of birds chirping outside slowly stirred Blue Bolt from his dreamless sleep. He lifted his head up, groaning softly as his head ached along with his body, though he felt marginally better than he did the previous day. As he let out a silent yawn and opened his eyes, he climbed up to a seated position and stretched while looking around. Light was streaming into the cave from outside, barely allowing him a glimpse of the sky through the clearing in the trees just beyond the cave opening. A faint whiff of smoke was present in the otherwise fresh air, coming from the remains of the campfire that had been burning all night. As he looked at the dim embers in the pile of ash that was left, he wondered how long the meager supply of sticks had actually lasted after he fell asleep. Thinking back to his cyan companion, Blue turned his head and found her still asleep a few feet away. Rainbow Dash was turned over on her side, facing him so she didn’t have to lie on her bad wing. Her legs were tucked close to her body, and she had a relatively peaceful expression on her face as she breathed silently. The stallion smiled softly at the sight of the sleeping pegasus before getting up and walking to the front of the cave. “Ngh…” Blue Bolt winced while looking down to his many scrapes and bruises from the night before. Everything except for his tightly wrapped wing hurt to some degree, though it was more of a faint throbbing than anything else. After reaching the front of the cave, he sat down and took in the sights of the outside world. The forest outside was just as big as ever. He wondered if it even had an end to it at times. Still, without the sense of impending doom that came from overthinking his situation, the area was pretty to look at. The faint sound of running water, the birds and other animals making noises, the wind and sunlight flowing through the trees, it was all such a beautiful experience to take in. However, the stallion couldn’t enjoy the sights and sounds of nature as much as he wanted to. The only important thing on his mind was ensuring that he got the cyan mare home safely. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash found herself waking up as well. As she slowly opened her eyes and came to her senses, she noticed something other than the aches and pains from her injuries plaguing her. Her body felt oddly hot and cold at the same time, her head was a hazy and unfocused mess, and she had a general feeling of sickness that would not go away. “Ugh…” Rainbow rolled over onto her back and put a hoof up to her forehead. She felt feverish, which explained the whacked out temperature she was feeling. As she tried to move and get up, a fit of weakness and trembling overcame her and she was forced to lie back down. “Blue Bolt… are you awake?” She called while turning her head and looking for the stallion. Hearing the distress in the pegasus’s ill voice, Blue Bolt turned around in surprise. “I’m here… What’s wrong?” He asked while getting up and walking over to his companion. Once he got close enough to see her, he paused in concern as he noticed that she was shaking slightly. “I don’t feel too good…” Rainbow Dash said in a strained voice. She cringed in pain as she tried to move again. “My stomach hurts too,” Blue Bolt reached down and felt the sickly mare’s forehead. He frowned with concern as he felt that she was clammy and warm. “You’ve got a pretty bad fever… Do you feel like you’re going to throw up?” He asked curiously, noting how she was holding her stomach. Rainbow Dash groaned while fighting through her weakness to get to a seated position. “No… not like that. My stomach actually hurts, like my wound feels sore,” She explained. “Here, let me take a look at it,” Blue Bolt said while sitting down next to the mare. He gently reached down to her midsection and pulled back the makeshift bandage a little ways so he could see the gash underneath. Aside from all of the dry blood, it didn’t look very good. And judging from the pained expression on Rainbow Dash’s face, it must have hurt quite a bit as well. Blue shook his head and sighed while putting the bandage back. “It looks like it’s infected… I guess that explains the fever,” Rainbow Dash’s expression fell as she heard the discomforting term being used in reference to her. “Is that bad? I mean… an infected cut can’t cause too much harm, right?” She asked, her voice holding a hint of anxious doubt. “Well… normally it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but your cut is really big… and we’re in the middle of nowhere. You can’t exactly take an aspirin and wait until it gets better out here,” Blue Bolt said uneasily. He rested a hoof on his chin and struggled to think of a way to help his companion. Rainbow Dash seemed to grow more uneasy the longer the stallion remained silent. The mixture of cold shakes and hot temperatures she was going through wasn’t helping her to stay calm either. “So, what do we do?” She asked, taking a deep breath and trying to stay optimistic. Blue Bolt glanced to the side while still deep in thought. Suddenly, he shifted his attention to the distant sound of water running. “We can’t do much for it right now… but let’s at least get it clean and re-wrap it.” He said while getting up and holding a hoof out to her. “Come on, let’s go.” Rainbow Dash stared at his outstretched hoof for a moment in confusion before taking it and letting him help her to her feet. She still felt weak, and her limbs were still a bit shaky, but he helped her to stay on her own four legs. “Where are we going, the stream?” She asked curiously as she started walking out of the cave with him slowly. Blue nodded. “Yeah, I found a spot where the water isn’t as fast while I was looking for firewood yesterday,” He said with a pleased smile. Slowly but surely, the two ponies made their way out of their cave sanctuary and into the forest once more. While she was teetering around like a newborn fawn, Rainbow Dash eventually managed to get by without assistance from the stallion beside her. Of course, she would occasionally falter, halting their progress and forcing Blue to help her stand for a while at a time before she felt good enough to make another attempt at walking by herself. Eventually, the stream that they had been hearing from clear back at the cave came into view. Blue Bolt led the sickly mare along the rushing waters until they finally reached the area he was talking about. There was a cluster of rocks in the stream to their left that was blocking much of the water from getting through, resulting in a more gentle flow that was just calm and shallow enough to stand in. Rainbow Dash placed a foreleg into the water, briefly recoiling from how cold it was. She didn’t even really feel anything pushing on her to a significant degree. It was hardly the roaring stream that had carried her into a rock the day before, despite being part of the same body of water. “Wow… this is pretty cool,” She let a pleased smile form across her face as she noted the sound of the rest of the water smacking into the rocks beside her and slowing down as it passed around. “Alright, let’s get that bandage off you.” Blue Bolt suggested while moving behind her. Rainbow Dash held still while he started untying the wrappings around her waist. “So… how does your wing feel?” He asked curiously, briefly glancing down to the appendage in question. Rainbow Dash looked down to her injured wing and gently tried moving it. Although it was wrapped pretty tightly to prevent her from hurting it any further, it did feel rather painful as she tried wiggling it around. “Still feels broken…” Rainbow reported with a dull sigh. “You don’t sound too worried about it,” Blue Bolt noted curiously. “Huh?” Rainbow Dash turned her head to glance back at him with a confused expression. “It’s just… what if this has a lasting effect on your wing?” Blue ventured. He immediately kicked himself at how blunt he just sounded. “Umm… I mean, it probably won’t… but take it from a guy with experience, these things are more fragile than you think,” He nodded toward his own wing suggestively. Rainbow Dash grew uneasy at the memory of the stallion’s wing getting broken. “Well, you did fall on it pretty hard. The doctors said you had some nerve damage too…” She paused uncomfortably. “It’s a good thing you recovered from it,” “Yeah… it is,” Blue Bolt replied, still mindlessly unwrapping the mare. “But, we fell pretty far off of that cliff… you aren’t worried about yours?” He asked with a surprised tone. Despite the somber thought of her wing receiving permanent damage, she seemed unfazed. “No, not really,” Rainbow Dash replied nonchalantly. “See… I’ve kind of got this friend that has healing powers. He likes to make sure me and the girls don’t end up permanently damaged,” She explained, trying to go easy on the information overload that she knew would come from such a discussion. Blue Bolt paused what he was doing and looked at the cyan pony with a raised eyebrow. “Wait… do you mean that human that came to Equestria?” He asked with an intrigued tone. “What was his name again… Tom or something, right?” “Yeah, how did you…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and mentally slapped herself as she realized the obvious. “Oh yeah… I kind of forget how big of a deal the whole business with the hooded ponies and Tom coming to Equestria was,” She said. “Well, they did try to overthrow the princess and take over the world… The hooded ponies, I mean… Not your friend,” Blue corrected himself awkwardly. Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly. “But, yeah… Tom usually keeps us in good health whenever he drops by Ponyville. I’m sure he can fix up this wing no problem if it hasn’t healed by then… Gah!” She abruptly cringed as the stallion finished unwrapping her and started cleaning out her wound with water. “Watch it, that’s cold!” “Sorry,” Blue Bolt cringed himself while pausing for a moment. He continued cleaning her wound, albeit slower than before, while thinking about his companion’s words. “So… your friend can actually heal a broken wing?” He asked with a surprised and mildly intrigued tone. “Yeah, definitely,” Rainbow replied. “He has healed a lot worse… trust me. It would have been handy to have him around back in school. That way, you wouldn’t have had to have gone through all those months of physical therapy,” Blue Bolt nodded to himself. “Yeah… the thought did occur to me,” He muttered while looking to the ground pensively. He shrugged and shook his head before returning to the task at hoof. Finally, he got done with cleaning the cyan mare’s wound. “There you go, that should be good enough to last you,” Rainbow Dash looked down to her stomach curiously. Her wound looked much better now that it didn’t have a buildup of blood covering it; although, it was still a bit grizzly looking due to its size. “Thanks, Blue. I think it feels a little less tender now,” She turned to the stallion with a pleased smile. “No problem,” Blue Bolt smiled back at her before looking off to the side as if he were searching for something. “Now, I need to find some more plant fibers to make a new bandage for you. Why don’t you stay here, maybe get a drink?” He suggested, nodding toward the river. “You don’t want to get dehydrated… especially not with you being sick right now,” Rainbow turned back to the waters gently passing by. She didn’t drink anything the day before, and she knew that couldn’t have been good for her. “Alright, that sounds good,” She looked back to see the stallion walking away. “Don’t go wandering too far away. I want you within hobbling distance if I have to come save your tail again!” She called. “Noted…” Blue Bolt chuckled lightheartedly while waving behind him as he walked. With her companion working on collecting plants, Rainbow Dash was left to her own devices by the water. She groaned softly while feeling her forehead again, narrowing her eyes as she confirmed that her fever was still present. “Ugh… I hope I feel better soon. We need to get out of this stupid forest or I’m going to lose it,” As the babbling brook beside her drew her in with its clear and cool wiles, she took a few steps in and let herself cool off. Her limbs were still a little shaky, but she pushed through the weakness as best she could. The last thing she wanted was for the stallion to see her in such a state. Rainbow Dash slowly lowered her head down to the level of the water. It looked clean enough, and she was definitely thirsty. Finally, she made contact and closed her eyes while sipping up the cold liquid. The water was among the most refreshing she had ever had, whether or not this was from her desperate situation or the wonders of nature, she didn’t know or care. She drank for what must have been a solid minute before reeling back and letting out a relaxed breath. The sound of a twig snapping somewhere up ahead suddenly made Rainbow Dash’s ears perk up. She snapped her attention to the trees in front of her, where the noise most likely came from. There was a lot of thick brush in the way, blocking her view of any potential dangers that could have been lurking. Before she chalked the sound up to her paranoid nerves being on overdrive, a soft rustling occurred in roughly the same direction as the previous snapping sound. Rainbow Dash took a step back while keeping her eyes glued in front of her. If there was a timberwolf hiding in the trees, then it might very well have been too late by the time she could react for her to get away. She looked behind her briefly, desperate to find her companion and alert him to the possible threat. Thankfully, she saw him a short distance down the stream, picking leaves off of plants and stripping them of their fibers. “Blue…” She spoke in a calm voice, unable to hide a bit of unease. She hoped that she was loud enough for the stallion to hear, while also being quiet enough to not alert anything that could have been watching. Judging from the lack of a response from her companion, he must not have heard her. Rainbow Dash felt a pit developing in her stomach as she heard more rustling and saw some movement in the brush ahead of her. “Blue Bolt!” She said again, more desperate and slightly louder. Blue Bolt paused what he was doing and turned his head. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he saw the cyan mare in a defensive stance, staring ahead with a tense look on her face. Suddenly, the rustling came again, louder and closer than ever. Rainbow Dash prepared herself for the worst possible outcome as she saw whatever unseen creature that was approaching as it moved through the brush. Much to her surprise, the shape that casually stepped out of the trees was far less intimidating than she was expecting. Instead of a bear, timberwolf, or some other form of terrifying predator, a white-tailed doe slowly walked out of the trees and over to the stream. The docile looking animal completely ignored Rainbow Dash, opting instead to take a drink from the water, much like she had. “Something wrong?” A voice from behind her spoke up, nearly causing the pegasus to jump out of her coat. Rainbow Dash looked over to see Blue Bolt looking back at her curiously before he turned his attention to the doe. She couldn’t help but to smile and laugh silently at her own paranoid delusions. “No… it’s nothing, apparently,” Blue Bolt looked to his companion blankly, feeling like he missed out on something. He shrugged before taking the plant fibers he had amassed and setting them down beside him. “Ok then, how about we get you patched up again?” He suggested. Rainbow Dash looked down to the unsightly wound still present across her waist and cringed. “Yes please,” She said, sitting down beside the stream and letting the stallion get to work. After a few minutes of Blue Bolt carefully wrapping the new bandages around Rainbow Dash’s waist, the stallion finally finished his work. He tucked the ends into the folds before turning to his patient. “How’s that?” Rainbow Dash frowned slightly as she felt the restricting bindings squeezing against her form. “It can’t be any looser?” She whined pleadingly. “So now you want it to be loose?” Blue asked, thinking back to when he wrapped up the pegasus yesterday. “You didn’t seem to mind back in the cave,” “That was when I was too unconscious to care whether or not you squeezed my insides till I pop,” Rainbow Dash groaned, trying her best to adjust to the tight wrappings. “But other than that,” She shrugged before adopting a slight smile. “It’s pretty good… for a patch job,” She turned to see the stallion cracking a smile as well. Now that her wound was tended to, she shifted her attention to her surroundings. “So what do we do now?” She asked curiously. Blue Bolt lowered his expression as he noted the sickly appearance his friend still had. “I think maybe we should head back to the cave… rest up a bit before we make our next move,” He suggested. “Blue,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in disbelief. “My health is the least of our concerns at the moment,” “Is it?” Blue replied with a raised eyebrow. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you can barely walk on your own,” He pointed out the mare’s shaking limbs. Rainbow Dash looked down to her legs and saw what the stallion was talking about. As much as she wanted to tough through her bout of illness, her body seemed to have other ideas. “Since when do you care about me so much?” She huffed in an upset manner. Blue Bolt frowned sadly. He hesitated, seemingly thinking about something for a moment, before looking back to his friend. “Rainbow Dash… I thought we-” “Yeah, yeah… fresh start,” Rainbow interrupted. “Well, sorry if I’m harboring a bit of bad blood after what you did,” She turned back to the stallion, pausing uncomfortably as she saw him with such a gloomy look on his face. “Anyway… We need to get out of this forest as soon as possible. I’m fine… fine enough to walk, anyway,” She said while starting to walk down the river. Blue Bolt watched the cyan pony walking away at a slow pace, and sighed. Despite the difficulty she was having, she did not look like she was accepting the idea of resting until she was better. “Wait for me!” He called after her while trotting to catch up, which took less time than he first thought. Back in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle sat in the main room of the library pouring over various books on weather. After the strange storm forced their retreat to town, she had been burning with questions on what had caused it. More importantly, she wanted to find a way to prevent it from happening again so nobody else fell to the same fate as her two missing friends. Twilight sighed, resting her head on a hoof while trailing over yet another useless page of information. As much as she liked reading, she was getting nowhere fast. It seemed like the weather team’s reactions were fairly accurate. A powerful storm appearing out of nowhere outside of the Everfree hadn’t happened before anywhere in Equestria. *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* A soft knocking abruptly pulled the unicorn from her thoughts. Twilight peered behind her toward the front door before glancing to the early morning sunlight streaming in from the windows. “Who could that be?” She wondered out loud while getting up. Not many people came to the library this early in the morning. As she reached the door and opened it, Twilight was met with the sight of Fluttershy waiting outside. The pegasus had a certain anxious air about her that told the purple mare just how worried she still was about Rainbow Dash and Blue Bolt. “Fluttershy…?” Twilight softened her expression as she saw how stressed her friend was. “Morning, Twilight,” Fluttershy greeted awkwardly. She fidgeted her hooves together for a moment, seemingly trying to think of something to say. “I… I couldn’t just stay home and do nothing; not while Blue and Dashie are still out there. I was wondering if you wanted to help me look for them now that it’s day out,” She said, hopeful that the unicorn would agree to assist her. Twilight frowned slightly, noticing some bags under the yellow pony’s eyes. “Fluttershy, you should relax for a minute,” “No…” Fluttershy shook her head. “I can’t… I can’t just sit here and do nothing! Rainbow Dash would do anything she could if it were me that got lost,” She stated, growing more anxious by the minute. “There must be something we can do to help them. Maybe we should contact the princess… or maybe we should go back to the forest, or-” “Fluttershy… I need you to just breathe for a minute, ok?” Twilight interrupted, concerned by how exhausted the pegasus seemed. “Besides… I already contacted the princess,” Fluttershy tilted her head curiously. “You did?” “Of course,” Twilight nodded. “I did as soon as we got home. She’s working on figuring out what was up with the weather, but in the meantime, she sent Sunspot and Glitterball to help look for Rainbow Dash and Blue Bolt,” She explained cheerfully. “So… they’re coming to Ponyville?” Fluttershy smiled slightly at the thought of meeting the two mares again. “Yeah, they should be here on the next train,” Twilight explained. She gently took the pegasus by the shoulder and led her into the library. “So how about you come inside and rest for a while until they get here and then we can all go out and look for Rainbow and Blue?” “Umm…” Fluttershy tried to protest by maneuvering away from her unicorn friend, but it didn’t look like Twilight was giving her an option to say no. “O-ok… I guess I can maybe take a minute,” She reasoned. Somehow, Twilight managed to get the bundle of nerves that was her pegasus friend to sleep for a while. However, Fluttershy insisted that she be woken up when it was time to go meet Sunspot and Glitterball. And after two hours had gone by, the time had arrived. The two mares waited patiently on the platform of the train station. They mostly had the area to themselves, so they were spread out a little bit as they watched the distant tracks eagerly. Finally, a faint rumble accompanied the train as it came into view and cruised into the station. Twilight and Fluttershy gathered by one of the middle cars as all of the doors opened. Soon enough, a few passengers started getting off and disembarking to Ponyville. Just as the last few ponies were getting off and the pair was starting to lose hope that their friends had made this train, two mares walked off of the train near the back car. One was a white unicorn with her rainbow polka dotted hair tied up in a ponytail, and the other was a yellowish orange pegasus with similarly colored hair that had a solid yellow stripe in it. Both ponies were carrying a suitcase behind them, and both were devoid of their monster hunting uniforms. Looking around the station, the pair quickly noticed Twilight and Fluttershy waiting for them and smiled. “Hi guys!” Glitterball called and waved as she saw the pair turning toward her and her orange companion. Both parties started walking toward each other and met in the middle. Twilight happily received a quick hug from the pair before they did the same to Fluttershy. “Glitterball, Sunspot, it’s really good to see you again,” The unicorn said cheerfully. “Yeah, it’s good to see you too,” Sunspot replied. Her expression lowered slightly as her thoughts shifted elsewhere. “I only wish we could meet up under better circumstances,” Glitterball frowned as well and offered the pair a sympathetic expression. “We’re sorry to hear about Rainbow Dash and that other friend of yours,” She briefly turned to her partner. “We came as soon as the princess contacted us,” “Glimmer and Sparkplug would have come too, but they were busy working a case with Tom,” Sunspot explained. “It’s ok… we appreciate you taking the time to come out here and help us,” Fluttershy said with a heart-warmed smile. “Of course,” Glitter nodded. “Well, now that we’re here, why don’t you come with us to find a hotel? You can tell us what happened on the way,” She suggested while looking back to her luggage, which needed to be put somewhere before anything could be done. “Right, ok,” Twilight replied. “But, how about you two just stay at the library for the time being?” She offered. “Works for me,” Sunspot said. “Whatever gets us out there looking for the others the fastest,” Twilight and Fluttershy were glad to see that the two mares were just as eager to find the missing pegasi as they were. They started walking back through town toward the library, explaining everything that had happened leading up to the accident out in the wilderness. They were hopeful that their friends were still alright, and that they would find them before something bad happened. Meanwhile, back in the forest, Rainbow Dash and Blue Bolt were still following the stream, hopeful to find a way out of their nightmarish situation. Rainbow was at the front, leading the way despite her weakness slowing her down a fair amount. While the cut along her waist seemed to have calmed its constant burning since being cleaned, the infection was still present, and it was still wreaking havoc on her body. Blue Bolt trailed along behind the cyan mare in silence. He couldn’t stop staring at her and wondering if they would ever have a functional friendship again. She had made attempts to close the distance between them, but she was clearly still hurting over the events of the past, not that he could blame her. Perhaps noticing the uncomfortable silence, Rainbow Dash glanced back to her companion and lowered her expression as she saw how glum he was. Thinking back to how she stormed off and completely disregarded his opinion, she understood why he was a little upset. She sighed, “… Blue, I didn’t-” She paused awkwardly, struggling to get over her bruised pride long enough to form an apology. “You didn’t what…?” Blue tilted his head curiously as the pegasus stopped in front of him. Rainbow Dash turned around and softened her eyes as she looked at the stallion. “Back there… I didn’t mean to just rail on you like that. I know you were just concerned about me… and I just ripped off a band-aid that I put there to begin with,” She explained regretfully. “It’s not like I didn’t have it coming,” Blue Bolt replied somberly. “No,” Rainbow shook her head and sighed in exasperation. “This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. I don’t want us to die out here because we can’t get over what happened years ago,” Blue Bolt rested a hoof on the frustrated mare’s shoulder as she sat on the ground and looked down sadly. “We’re not going to die out here… I won’t let something like that happen,” He stated adamantly. “Well, if we’re going to survive, we need to work together,” Rainbow Dash suggested. “I’ll try my best to not bring up anything that will just make us both upset,” She looked up, only to see the stallion offering her a helping hoof to get off the ground, which she accepted. “And I’ll try my best to not leave your slow tail behind,” Blue jested with a smirk, eliciting an unimpressed expression from his companion. “If that’s your way of getting a fresh start, then we’re going to get off on the wrong hoof,” Rainbow Dash smiled and shook her head before starting to walk again. The pair continued downstream for several minutes, all the while enjoying the reprieve they were getting from the constricting forest around them. There were still trees aplenty, but for the most part the shoreline was just wet dirt or sand. The calm sound of the water was almost hypnotic, especially when compared to the rushing rapids that they had witnessed before. Still, the two would have gladly traded the beautiful sights and sounds around them for the mundane streets of Ponyville. Up ahead, the seemingly endless stream actually came to an end. The pair stopped walking as they laid eyes on a small watering hole surrounded by grass and trees. There were rocks sitting between the miniature pond and the stream, catching the flow of water and regulating it. A group of deer were drinking from the pond, along with a bird that was bathing itself. Rainbow Dash sighed while looking at the trees beyond the watering hole. “Well, that’s just great,” She muttered in a frustrated manner. While the watering hole was serene and beautiful, it didn’t exactly help them with getting out of the forest. “So much for our ticket out of here,” Blue Bolt droned while shaking his head. “Man… I was really banking on that working,” “Ugh… I freaking hate nature,” Rainbow Dash huffed and sat down for a moment. “I am swearing off of hikes if we ever make it out of this stupid forest,” She vented angrily. Blue Bolt tilted his head slightly as he noticed the cyan mare breathing a bit heavier than usual. She also looked a bit sickly underneath her agitated scowl. “Hey, are you feeling ok?” He asked in a concerned tone. Rainbow Dash turned to see the stallion eyeing her closely. “I’m fine, Blue… no need to get worried,” She insisted. Much to her chagrin, Blue Bolt walked over to her and sat down before putting a hoof against her forehead. “You still have a fever,” Blue reported with a frown. “Let’s take a minute and rest up while we think of another plan,” “Come on, we’ve wasted enough time as is, Blue” Rainbow Dash sighed and got up from the ground. “We have to find a way out of here, and we’re not going to do that if we keep stopping every five seconds because I’m a little hot,” She insisted adamantly. She wasn’t about to let a little bug impede their progress. A soft rumble passed through the forest, causing the pair to pause their conversation abruptly. They both turned their heads back to where they came and looked up at the sky, narrowing their eyes uneasily as they spotted what looked to be storm clouds rolling in from the distance. “Great… That’s just what we needed, another freak storm,” Rainbow Dash groaned as she thought back to the first experience she had with the unpredictable weather that was rolling across the countryside willy-nilly. “I’m still a bit confused as to how the first one snuck up on us like that,” Blue Bolt added curiously. Rainbow Dash briefly thought on the matter before shaking her head and shrugging. “Well, curiosity isn’t going to help us very much when it starts coming down. Whatever we’re going to do, we better do it before that gets any closer,” She said, turning to her companion to get his input on the situation. Before Blue Bolt could speak up, another noise came from over by the watering hole that distinctly sounded like bushes rustling. The two ponies looked over just in time to see the animals down by the watering hole fleeing in a panic. The group of deer let out shrill noises of fear as they ran into the forest, and the bird that was playing in the water frantically beat its wings and darted off into the air. A few moments after the animals had fled the area, the rustling sound came again, and again, seemingly getting closer to the edge of the clearing. Soon enough, the source of the noises became abundantly clear as two shapes exited the trees and walked up to the watering hole. “Timberwolves…” Rainbow Dash muttered in a quiet voice while inching backwards uneasily. Her partner seemed to be in the same defensive stance she was, ready to run or hide at a moment’s notice. Strangely enough, the two wolves looked different than the average timberwolf. Their bodies had cracks and frayed pieces of wood all over. One of them was missing an ear, and the other seemed to be walking with a limp. For all intents and purposes, they looked injured. “What’s up with them?” Blue Bolt asked quietly. “Why do they look all broken up?” Rainbow Dash narrowed her expression as a thought occurred to her. “Maybe those are the same ones I sent over the edge into the river,” Blue Bolt looked back to the two predators with an astonished expression. “I guess that would explain it… They must not be able to heal damage done to their bodies that doesn’t just break them apart,” He ventured. His expression shifted from astonishment to concern as another thought occurred to him. “You think they’re mad at us?” Rainbow Dash simply glanced to the stallion. “Wouldn’t you be?” The two predators approached the watering hole, pausing every once in a while to look around. They started sniffing the ground feverishly, and while they seemed to be unaware of the ponies’ presence, that could have changed at any moment. “Come on, let’s get moving. Anywhere is better than here,” Blue Bolt suggested while slowly making his way across the stream. Rainbow Dash nodded and quietly followed the stallion, glancing over to the two wolves every few seconds to see if they had been spotted. Due to the calmness of the water this far down river, the ponies were able to slowly and stealthily walk across with little issue. The thick canopy of trees on the other side was just ahead, and with it, safety. If they could make it through the trees, the chances of the wolves finding them dropped immensely. Just before Blue Bolt stepped on dry land, a deep growl from off to the side made him freeze in place. He and his cyan companion looked over, only to see both timberwolves staring right at them. “Well, so much for the quiet approach. Run!” He exclaimed while darting into the trees. Rainbow Dash raced to follow her friend as the two wolves raced to catch up. She could hear them barking and snarling, though they were further behind than she was used to. Much to her concern, the cyan mare started to feel the effects of her sickly state. She was getting exhausted much faster than normal, and she could now feel the hotness that most likely came from her fever. “Blue… I’m not… exactly… in the best shape for running right now.” She called ahead to her partner in a concerned and out of breath manner. Blue Bolt looked behind him at his fellow pegasus, frowning as he saw how she was faring. She had a general appearance of unwellness about her, and she was pale in the face. “Don’t worry, it looks like they aren’t in good shape either,” He noted, glancing past her and seeing nothing but trees. The wolves were still following them judging from the barks and growls, but the predators seemed to be much slower than usual. “Just keep going, we’ll lose them soon enough,” He said in a reassuring tone. Rainbow Dash tried her best to soldier on and keep moving, but her limbs were getting weaker by the minute. She felt like her heart might explode out of her chest, or like she was going to pass out, and she wasn’t sure which one was going to happen first. “Blue… I-” Rainbow started to speak, until she groaned painfully as her forelegs caught a tree root and collapsed underneath her. The blue stallion skidded to a stop as he heard his friend collapsing. He turned around, only to see Rainbow Dash sprawled out along the ground, breathing heavily and struggling to get back up. The sounds of the timberwolves were getting closer, indicating that they were almost upon them. “Oh no…” After a few moments, the two wooden beasts came bolting through the trees as fast as their injured bodies could allow, barking and snapping the whole way. The two wolves gradually skidded to a halt and looked around. They hadn’t seen their prey in a while, but they were certain that the ponies couldn’t have gotten far. Spreading out and growling fiercely, the timberwolves started sniffing the ground to get the scent of their prey back. Much to their initial frustration, their keen noses were unable to make out the ponies’ scent from the many smells around them. Either their noses were somehow broken from their fall into the river, or they still had water trapped in their many parts. The distant rumble of thunder happened again, sounding much less distant as time went on. The wolves looked to the side and perked their remaining ears up, growling slightly at the approaching storm. With how injured they were, getting their wooden bodies soaked any further could prove troublesome for a number of reasons. With no signs of the two ponies anywhere, the predators hesitantly made the call to run off to find shelter. They would have to find a meal after the storm passed over. As the timberwolves bounded off into the expanse of the forest, Blue Bolt silently watched them leaving from his position on a low hanging tree branch. He glanced to his side to check on his sickly companion, only to see her still clinging weakly to the branch while struggling to catch her breath. “I think they’re gone,” He reported quietly, making sure to check the surrounding area one more time before starting to climb down. Rainbow Dash smiled slightly under her exhausted exterior. “Good… good thinking finding this… tree to climb up,” Blue Bolt hung off of the branch as far as he could before letting go. He grunted softly as he hit the ground, doing his best to cushion the blow by bending his legs. Finally, he brushed himself off before looking up at his companion. “Alright, jump down. I’ll catch you,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes briefly while looking down and noting how high up she was. “If you miss me, I’m kicking your tail so hard that you’ll miss the timberwolves,” She stated bluntly. “Then I guess I’ll try extra hard not to miss,” Blue Bolt chuckled slightly while readying himself to catch the falling mare. Rainbow Dash shrugged and swallowed her anxious thoughts before inching her way over the side of the branch. She cringed briefly and mentally counted to three before letting go and falling back to earth. Much to her relief, she landed in the stallion’s forelegs, softer than she first imagined. “See?” Blue Bolt smirked down at the pegasus in his grasp. “I would never let a damsel in distress down,” Rainbow Dash lowered her expression as she saw how smug the stallion looked. “Alright prince charming, put me down,” She rolled sideways, speeding up the process a bit before landing on her own four legs and sitting down. She nearly slid to the ground again as her forelegs shook under her weight. Blue Bolt frowned with concern as he saw how much his companion was struggling to appear healthier than she was. “How do you feel? And don’t sugar coat it for me, this is important,” He insisted. Rainbow Dash tried to put on a calm expression, but her labored breathing and pale appearance betrayed her. “Well… if you must know, not very good,” She adopted a concerned expression herself as she noted how much she was shaking. “It’s… getting worse actually,” Blue Bolt softened his expression as he saw genuine worry in the mare’s eyes. “You’ll be fine.” He assured. Another thunderous outburst made him look up toward the hidden sky before looking back to his companion. “Come on; let’s get you somewhere safe before it starts raining. We can rest as much as you need then,” He suggested while helping the sickly pegasus to her feet. As much as Rainbow Dash wanted to walk on her own, she had to accept Blue’s help with walking due to her weakness and general feeling of illness. *A few hours later* As thunder and lightning permeated the sky up ahead, Twilight, Fluttershy, and their two friends paused uneasily in front of the forest where the pair of pegasi went missing. The sky over the forest was completely covered in gray or black clouds. The air was dead still, with practically no wind. Somehow the stillness around them made the storm clouds even more intimidating, even though it was only sprinkling at the moment. “Oh no...” Twilight’s expression deflated as she saw the storm flaring up. While it didn’t look as severe as the one from yesterday, the storm was producing enough lightning to make it dangerous to be out and about. “Not this again!” Fluttershy groaned in frustration before reeling back slightly as a loud crack of thunder startled her. Sunspot and Glitterball glanced at the storm for a moment before settling their eyes on the expansive forest. “Great… needle, meet haystack,” Sunspot muttered while trying to imagine how hard it was going to be to find the two missing ponies. Glitterball stepped forward with a determined expression and fished a vial from the tote bag she had across her back. She twisted the cap of the vial, causing the sand inside to flash red a few times before dimming back to normal. The others watched with hopeful expressions as the unicorn pointed the vial around, only to frown as they saw the sand lighting up in multiple directions. “Grr… I was afraid of this. There are too many heat signatures from all of the animals in there to pinpoint where Rainbow Dash and Blue Bolt are with the locators.” She reported with a defeated frown while putting the useless vial back into her bag. “Well… there has to be something we can do, right?” Fluttershy asked, looking around at her three friends with a hopeful expression. Twilight frowned as she saw the utter desperation in the yellow mare’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but it looks like there isn’t much we can do with that storm rolling in. It’s just too dangerous to go in there,” The unicorn explained reassuringly. Fluttershy shook her head in refusal. “No! We can’t just give up and call this another wasted trip! Who knows what kind of danger they could be in right now while we’re sitting here doing nothing!” She said, her voice cracking slightly. Fluttershy looked around, only seeing uneasy frowns from her companions. Finally, she turned to the forest and steeled her expression. “I’m going to fly up and look for them from the air, that way the timberwolves won’t even matter,” She suggested while taking a few steps forward. “Don’t go up there, Fluttershy. You’ll get yourself electrocuted!” Glitterball fretted with concern, reaching a hoof out to the determined pegasus. Fluttershy briefly looked up at the many displays of lightning in the sky as it started to rain a bit more. The clouds still weren’t above them, but they were close enough to affect them, especially if they went flying up to them. The yellow mare cringed hesitantly and considered turning around and leaving with her friends, until she thought about what Rainbow Dash would do if their roles were reversed. “I’m not going to leave here without finding them!” She exclaimed before spreading her wings and taking off. “Fluttershy!” Twilight reached after the reckless pegasus before coming to a stop as her friend exceeded her reach. She sighed and watched with a concerned expression as the yellow pony flew up and over the forest. Sunspot sighed and shook her head. She understood where Fluttershy was coming from, but this was just plain grasping at straws. “I’ll go get her,” Sunspot said while stepping forward and taking off as well. Up in the air, Fluttershy braved the ever intensifying blanket of rain and the ever present threat of lightning striking her down as she soared over the forest. Once she was at a comfortable height, she started scanning her eyes around the forest below, hopeful against all odds that she would see a flash of blue or cyan against the greens and browns. “Oh, Dashie… Blue… where are you guys?” She thought out loud, feeling a wave of despair hitting her as she took in the sheer scope of the forest. If she and the others were having such a hard time finding the pair from the air, then what must it have been like down in the forest trying to get out? As she was feverishly searching the ground, a flash of a different sort filled her vision, followed by an uncomfortably close rumble of thunder. Fluttershy whined nervously while darting her head up to the clouds against her better judgement. Just seeing the flashes of lightning so close to her made her body scream at her to flee. However, she couldn’t just flee, not while her friends needed her. “Rainbow Dash! Blue Bolt! Can you hear me?!” She shouted while flying around to a few other spots. “Fluttershy! Come back down before you get hurt!” A voice behind her called out. Fluttershy spun around, only to see Sunspot flying to catch up with her. “I’m sorry Sunspot, but I can’t-” Fluttershy started to speak, until she felt a slight tingling in her side. Much to her shock, a bright light engulfed her vision from the side, forcing her to shut her eyes. Accompanying the light, possibly the loudest noise she had ever heard rocked through her so intensely that she could feel the vibrations. She screamed, but her voice was lost amidst the noise. After a few seconds had passed, Fluttershy shakily opened her eyes and looked over. She gasped as she saw that a tree down in the forest was on fire, seemingly having been struck by lightning. Thankfully, the flames were small enough to be quickly put out by the rain, but the spot where the lightning had struck was nearly on top of the pegasus. “Are you ok?” Sunspot asked in a sympathetic voice, much closer than Fluttershy remembered. The yellow mare looked up as a hoof was placed on her shoulder. She saw Sunspot hovering in front of her, wearing a concerned frown. “Y-yeah… I think so,” Fluttershy nodded, though she was still shaken up quite a bit. Sunspot looked to the forest below, perhaps giving a cursory search of the area before sighing and looking back to Fluttershy. “We can’t do anything for them right now… especially if we get burnt to a crisp. How about we head back home for now and rethink our plan?” She suggested softly. Fluttershy took one last look at the forest below before another rumble of thunder drew her attention away. She felt tears welling up as she thought about her friends being stuck in such a terrible place, possibly injured and starving. “Ok…” She closed her eyes and nodded, letting out a sniffle and letting her tears fall freely. Sunspot frowned as she escorted the gloomy mare back toward the ground. She could tell that the weight of everything was crushing Fluttershy and tearing her up on the inside. And so, with another rescue attempt thwarted, the ponies started the trek back home. Some of them felt defeated, like they would never see their two friends again. However, some of them were all the more determined to find a way to save the two pegasi stuck in the wilderness.