It was dark.
Rarity had to keep her horn lit throughout the entire way home, and Thunderlane kept his wing over her head to keep her dry. The only things visible were outlines of houses and lampposts. Sweetie Belle and Rumble had disappeared in the distance on their race to get to the Boutique, and the two older ponies cantered to meet them there as quickly as possible. The rain was now a deluge, and the wind was howling.
Finally, Rarity saw the outline of the Boutique a few yards away. “Look, Thunderlane! That’s where I live! Just a bit further now.”
Thunderlane sighed as the building came into view. “Do you see them?”
Rarity squinted. “No, I don’t.” She turned to him with a smile. “They’re probably already inside. Sweetie Belle knows where the spare key is.”
Thunderlane nodded. “That’s good. If they ran off at this time of night...” He remained silent as they reached the front door.
Rarity tried opening it, but it wouldn’t. She went to her left and felt around the closest column for something, and picked out a key from it. “I’d call for them to open the door, but they probably wouldn’t hear me anyway.” She unlocked the door, placed the key back into the column, and opened the door.
The power was out, so Rarity kept her horn lit as she went to a drawer. She removed a few candles and lit them, placing one on the kitchen table and two around the main lobby. While she was trotting upstairs to light the other rooms and calling the foals, Thunderlane stayed below and looked around.
“Huh,” he mused to himself. “So she’s a seamstress.” He looked over some of the more ornate ensembles. “Not bad.”
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity called from upstairs. “Rumble? If you two are still playing Hide-’n-Seek, then just stop and come out. this isn’t fun anymore.” Trotting, and then a door being opened. “Yes, I know you’re hungry, Opal, but right now I need to find Sweetie Belle. Have you seen her?” No response.
Thunderlane stopped his looking and began to trot around, looking behind curtains, under dresses and around anything that could hide the foals. “Rumble? Hey, buddy, it’s time to stop playing.”
He combed the entire lower part of the boutique, but found no trace of them. He trotted upstairs, where Rarity had emerged from a room on the right. “Find ‘em?”
She shook her head. “They ran off again.”
The words came out emotionless, any sense of fright or panic crushed. She hung her head, eyes closed. Thunderlane looked to a window, just in time to see it light up from lightning. Thunder shook the building. “Maybe they overran, and they just need to be brought back.”
Rarity shook her head. “No, I doubt Sweetie Belle would pass the Boutique, as she comes here every weekend. She’d be able to find it.”
Thunderlane scuffed a hoof. “I don’t know. I mean, it is dark—”
He soon found his vision being obscured by her. “You know what I bet happened? I bet your little brother decided that the game wasn’t over, and decided to whisk Sweetie Belle off to Celestia-knows-where. I bet Rumble has a nice secret clubhouse where he’d hide her and do things to her, while she wonders where she is and why she’s not back here.”
Thunderlane’s brow furrowed. “Look, I know Rumble may be playful—”
“And I know, dear sir, that you were the one that convinced Rumble to foalnap her in the first place. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“No!”
“Then what is it!?” Rarity butted heads with him and stomped forward until he was trapped between her and the wall behind him. “What did you tell Rumble? Why did he foalnap my baby sister?”
Thunderlane could see the tears in her eyes; with a sigh, he straightened up and looked her right in the eyes. “I didn’t tell him to foalnap Sweetie Belle.” She huffed, but he continued. “I told him to continue the game.”
Rarity turned away. “And what exactly do you mean by that?”
Thunderlane walked to the window and scanned the outside. “Look, I... Can’t we talk about this when we know the foals are safe?”
Rarity stomped a hoof. “I know they’re safe, because Rumble took her away, and they’re probably hiding in a clubhouse somewhere making out! I want to know, and—”
Suddenly, they both heard a scream. They jerked their heads and bolted to the window.
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity whimpered, pressing her head against the window. A second later, another scream could be heard.
“That’s Rumble!” Thunderlane cried. Without a moment’s hesitation, he bucked the window open, letting in a gust of wind, and bolted out the window.
“Then that means...” Rarity sat there in disbelief until a bolt of lightning cracked in the sky. With the candles extinguished from the wind, Rarity galloped out of the room, downstairs, and out the door; it closed on its own, from the force of it hitting the wall on its way out.
“Rumble!” Thunderlane yelled over the din of the rain. “Where are you?” A clap of thunder sounded overhead, making it impossible to hear anything for a few seconds.
“Sweetie Belle!?” Rarity cried out, running around town trying to find them. There was a scream a distance away. “Sweetie Belle!”
“They’re in the Everfree Forest.” Thunderlane flew back to her. “Listen, get back inside. I’ll go in there and find them.”
“What?” Rarity yelled. “Go inside while my little sister is in danger? No way am I going to do that! Besides,” she continued, lighting her horn. “It’s too dark, you’ll never be able to see in there.”
Thunderlane looked at the bright light coming from her, and tried to think of a way to protest. “But if you get hurt—“
“If they got hurt, I would never be able to forgive myself.” She began galloping towards the dark forest. “Now come on! We’ve wasted enough time standing here and talking.”
Thunderlane floated there for a few more seconds, and then braced himself. He darted forward and with absolutely no hesitation, he dove into the canopy of the forest. Rarity followed with a war cry. “We’re coming to get you, kids!”
Creatures scattered immediately as they entered the dark place. Rarity’s light only went so far, but the creatures buzzed around it with a frenzy that momentarily halted her. She was not going to be defeated, though, and with a grunt she pushed herself through them, ignoring the few that persistently chased her.
Thunderlane, meanwhile, had his entire attention on seeing as far ahead of him as possible. Rumble and Sweetie Belle had to be in here somewhere. He could see small movements in the distance, but nothing large enough to be a foal. He looked left and right, straight into the dark and back to Ponyville, but there was no sign of them to be had.
“See anything,” Rarity asked under him.
“Nothing yet—“
Another set of screams, this one much more faint than the others.
“This way!” Thunderlane began flying deeper into the Everfree. “They’re running away from us!”
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity yelled.”
“Rarity!” It was faint, but it was definitely her.
“Sweetie Belle, where are you?”
“I’m—AGH! Go, Rumble, go!”
“Sweetie Belle!”
They pressed onward, past large puddles of mud and leaves. The trees became more twisted, the branches jutting out and the tips sharper. Bushes crowded this area, making it hard to press through.
“Look,” Rarity said. “Hoofprints!” They looked at the ground and saw two sets of hoofprints leading through the bushes.
“They definitely went this way.”
“Alright,” Thunderlane said quickly, flying over them. The bushes posed no threat to him, but the branches above kept catching his wings, as if trying to cage him. Rarity was pushing bushes out of the way, making the same sluggish progress he was.
Suddenly, both of them lost their temper. Rarity began uprooting bushes and throwing them to the side, making a path for her to get across. Thunderlane began bucking the branches out of his way, sending them flying on top of the bushes, just a bit to the side of the path Rarity was tearing.
With many scratches and bruises, they both managed to make it to the other side. They panted, their energy drained from the task. At that moment, a fainter scream sounded.
“Rumble!” Thunderlane began flying forward.
“Wait!” Rarity called. “The hoofprints go this way!”
He watched as Rarity began galloping to the right of where he was going, and followed after her. The hoofprints definitely led that way, and there were a few feathers laying on the ground.
“Don’t worry, dears,” Rarity said under her breath. “No matter what, we’re going to find you and make sure you come back safely.”
”Faster, Sweetie Belle!”
The filly picked up the pace, with the timberwolves still behind them. They were both beginning to tire, while the wolves, older and more experienced to the chase, picked up the pace. They still had little idea where they were going, but with the threat behind them, it didn’t matter.
“I-*huff*-I’m trying, but-*huff*-I-I-I don’t think I can go on much longer.”
Rumble dared to fall back and run next to her. “Don’t think like that! Just keep going!” He nudged her forward, but that did little to spur her on. “Keep going!”
“I’m trying!” she yelled. She looked behind her, and saw them inching closer to her. One locked its eyes on her, and went faster, closing the distance between them.
“Rumble,” Sweetie Belle said as it snapped at her tail. “Help!”
All the wolf had to do was snatch her tail and that would be it. It continued to snap as it came closer, and for a moment it looked as if the filly would be done here. The others joined it in going after her. She screamed as they lunged forward. She closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she was flying. “A-Am I dead?”
“N-No!”
She felt herself sag and begin to fall, but was lifted up again. Hooves were wrapped around her. She looked up and saw
Rumble, face a mixture of exhaustion and determination, flying. Looking down, she saw the ground speeding past her.
“Rumble!” She couldn’t help it: she smiled. “You-what?”
“I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you,” he said, panting. “We’re gonna get out of this. You just wait and see!”
The filly dared to hazard a glance behind her, and saw that the timberwolves had fallen behind by a large margin. They were still on their trail, though. “We’ve gotta lose them, Rumble!”
He grunted. “And how do you plan on doing that?”
“Hide in one of the trees!”
They looked at the branches and, thinking of no better alternative and feeling Rumble droop down more, he hoisted her up
and placed her on the nearest branch. The timberwolves raced towards them, no doubt happy their prey was stationary. When they were a few feet away, the foals hugged each other and braced for the attack.
They saw one leap up… and fall back down, missing them by a good three feet. The others leapt straight up, and met with the same failure as the other. They tried to climb up the trunk, but fell when they barely made it halfway up.
Seeing this, the foals sighed. “We-*huff*-we’re safe.” Rumble took a few deep breaths. When he regained his breathing, he found himself pulled into a hug.
“Thank you, Rumble.” Sweetie Belle rested her head against his. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be eaten right now.”
Rumble felt her heart hammering against her chest, and he knew his was doing the same inside of him. It’d take a while for that to stop, when the timberwolves were no longer a problem, and when they weren’t so close to each other, keeping each other warm from the rain and the wind. For now, though, they were content to rest in each other’s hooves, with the threat unable to get them.
After a while, Sweetie Belle looked into his eyes. “Hey, Rumble?”
“Yeah?”
She fidgeted with her hooves. “Do you think our big brother and sister will find us?”
They strained their ears to hear if the older ponies were still calling their names, but they heard nothing of the sort.
“Maybe… maybe they’re lost like us.”
“Or maybe they were eaten,” Sweetie Belle added.
“Or maybe they were captured.”
“Or maybe they were turned to stone by a cockatrice.”
“Or maybe they’re just a little bit away from us!” Rumble added with enthusiasm.
Sweetie Belle thought, and then her ears drooped. “Or maybe they just went home.”
Rumble tilted his head. “Why would they do that?”
She sighed. “Well, we are far away from Ponyville, and they have been chasing us all day. Maybe… maybe they’re sick of chasing us, and they decided to just go home out of the storm.”
When she had stopped talking, Rumble couldn’t say anything. That hadn’t been a possibility for him. “B-but Thunderlane has always been there for me. He’s done everything to make sure I’m always safe, even when we’re doing dangerous things.
He—“ He sniffled. “He wouldn’t do that.”
She didn’t reply.
“I mean, he told me to keep playing, because he was having fun.” He put on a trembling smile. “He-he wouldn’t just stop and
go home without me…” He looked into the darkness. “He wouldn’t.”
She sighed. “I hope Rarity doesn’t either.”
Rumble was trembling, and tears ran down his face. He took a deep breath.
“Thunderlane!”
“That’s Rumble!” He whirled around and around. The yelling echoed from the trees around them, and pinpointing a direction to run to was impossible.
“At least we know they’re safe,” Rarity said, although she knew that only Rumble had yelled. Sweetie Belle’s voice didn’t follow; her heart beat loudly. “Come on, we need to keep following the hoofprints.”
Whereas Rarity cantered while keeping an astute eye on the tracks, Thunderlane sped along them, eager to get his brother back. He had to stop a lot, in order for Rarity’s light to illuminate the path again. His breathing was ragged, now more from anxiety than physical exhaustion.
“Come on, Rarity,” he yelled as the tracks turned sharply to the left.
“Alright, alright!” she yelled, beginning to gallop. “We need to be more careful! Who knows what’s lurking around, and we can’t lose the track—“
“Thunderlane!”
“HURRY UP!”
Rarity couldn’t resist him after hearing Rumble again, this time a bit louder, and they continued on in the slightly-more-spacious forest. “I’m coming, I’m coming—“
“Rarity!”
It was her turn to speed forward. “Sweetie Belle!” It was closer, they could hear it. As they sped forward, they began to hear a howling in the distance.
“Timberwolves,” Thunderlane said. They didn’t continue the conversation, but sped along.
This newfound reassurance of their safety made them run until they overshot the tracks, and they had to turn and search for them again before they continued to speed on. They continued to call for them, and the yelling gradually became clearer, closer. The two looked at each other, knowing they were almost there.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot down and made contact with a tree branch. It burst into flames and fell to the ground. That had barely concerned them—they didn’t see the foals fall along with it—and their attention was drawn to something else.
“Rarity,” Thunderlane began desperately. “Where are the tracks?”
She looked around, but only saw the hoofprints end abruptly. There was a small patch where it looked like something large and massive had fallen. They looked behind the bushes, but found no hoofprints there. The pawprints of the timberwolves, though, light as they were, continued on.
“What do you think happened?” Rarity asked, looking back at the lost trail.
Thunderlane looked into the surrounding distance, and then at the patch. “Either they had flown away before they were caught, or they didn’t get away and—“
“Stop!” Rarity shrieked. He closed his mouth, waiting for the trembling mare to continue. “Didn’t you hear them? They’re still calling for us! And there’s no blood here. It’s just rain water and mud.”
He nodded. “I didn’t mean to get your hopes down. I just blurted out what could’ve happened.”
“Well, control your mouth, please.” She huffed. “No doubt they’re still around here—“
“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”
It came from the southwest, and they galloped forward to follow it, their conversation now utterly forgotten.
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity yelled. “I’m coming, sweetie ! Just hold on!”
“Rumble!” Thunderlane yelled. “Don’t worry, buddy, I’m on my way!”
The screams became fainter, and the sounds of barking and howling grew louder. The two ponies went on faster,
Thunderlane flying out of the comfort of the light, Rarity galloping over sharp rocks and roots, around various creatures that were found this deep in.
Rarity’s breath became ragged, and her vision began to blur; she began to feel sick. The burning in her legs was almost unbearable, but she pressed herself on. That is, until she lost her balance altogether and landed in a large puddle of something.
“Thunderlane!” She began to sink, and no matter how hard she kicked or flailed, she couldn’t get out of the sticky substance. “Help!”
The stallion had flown much farther ahead, but when he saw the forest become dark again, he panicked. “Rarity?” He heard her screaming, and backtracked. “Rarity! Where are you?” He couldn’t see her, but he heard a sloshing, and soon the sounds of splashing. “Rarity!” He looked down, and soon saw two legs sticking out and clawing at air. With a swoop, he dove down and grabbed them, pulling them clean out of the sticky puddle.
It sputtered. “Th-thank you!” It attempted to shake itself off, but most of it refused to come off on its own. Fortunately, the rain from above continued to come down, and it began to wash the muck off of her.
Thunderlane stepped forward and began to wipe it off of her. She remained motionless as she did this, her eyes staring at the ground. Soon it was out of her coat, and a few moments later it was out of her mane and tail.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Of course,” he said briskly, flying up again. “We need to move. Rumble!”
There was no sound.
“Rumble!”
Rarity ran around the puddle, looking this way and that. “Sweetie Belle?” There was no answer. She ran into one of the few openings in the deep Everfree, where the little bit of moonlight that made its way through the clouds beamed down on her.
“Sweetie Belle?” The only sound was thunder, and the lightning lit up the place, showing the area devoid of any other life.
“Sweetie Belle!” She screamed this to the point where she became hoarse. There was still no answer, and Rarity’s legs finally gave way. She collapsed on the ground in the open space and began to sob. Thunderlane, at a loss for what to do, walked over and stared down, trying to figure out what to say to her.
”Do you see anywhere safe?”
Rumble looked this way and that, anywhere for a place to hide. The trees would do no good; the branch they had been on had been struck by lightning, and had sent them running away from the timberwolves yet again. Rumble hadn’t recovered enough to carry her quickly, so they had to run for their lives.
“I don’t see anywhere,” he said. “Maybe we can hide in one of the trees—“
Suddenly, Sweetie Belle caught a root, and she fell to the ground. The timberwolves maniacally sped forward. “Rumble!”
He looked back and darted to the sky, turning around and speeding after her. As one of the timberwolves latched onto one of her legs and began to drag her away, causing her to scream, he reached her and kicked it in the face. He picked her up and flew away from them, just narrowly missing the jaws of the other wolves.
“Okay, somewhere to hide, somewhere to hide!” He continued saying it, looking left and right.
“There!” Sweetie Belle yelled, pointing to a dark hole in a few boulders. Rumble could just make it out, it being pitch black rather than a very dark grey.
“But what if there’s something in there?” he asked. He didn’t get an answer, as the timberwolves leapt up and almost got Sweetie Belle’s tail. Without thinking about the unknown dangers that could lie in it, he flew to the hole and landed on the rock.
The timberwolves began to climb up the rocks scattered around, and Rumble began to push Sweetie Belle inside. She got halfway inside, but soon stopped.
“Rumble!” she yelled. “I’m stuck!”
He looked at her backside, and saw her hindlegs trying to push her into the hole. He began pushing at her, looking back as the beasts were almost upon them. A few more jumps and they would be done for.
He continued to push, his vision becoming blurry from the tears forming from panic. Sweetie Belle grunted and pulled, trying to fit. The timberwolves jumped up once twice, and then they were one away from devouring them.
Then, when lightning illuminated the forms of the wolves making a final pounce at them, Sweetie Belle’s body disappeared into the hole, and Rumble sped in after her.
It was completely dark inside, and the only thing visible were the eyes of the timberwolves clawing at the entrance, trying to fit inside.
“Are you okay?” Rumble asked, feeling around for Sweetie Belle.
“I-I’m fine,” she whimpered. “I’m fine.”
“Are you hurt?”
“It bit me!” she began to wail. “It bit me!”
Rumble’s breathing quickened. “Look, don’t worry, we’ll get out of this!” He felt around, but found that he could only go back a few inches. There was very little room to move around, so the timberwolves’ growling and Sweetie Belle’s crying echoed loudly. He tried to flatten his ears, tried to nuzzle and console her, but she wouldn’t stop.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a trembling voice. “Everything will be fine. You’ll see. Everything… will be…”
He couldn’t hold it in anymore. He began to cry as well. They both lay against each other and began to cry, terrified of where they were, in pain, wondering if they would ever make it home.
The noise carried through to the opening. It rang in Rarity’s ears like a bell that signaled for her to follow it. The crying reverberated in her head, and she ceased her crying.
“What am I doing?”
Thunderlane looked at her. “What?”
“What am I doing?” She began to stand. “I’m lying here, bawling like a foal, while my little sister is crying for my help!” She began to snort in anger. “What kind of a big sister am I!?”
Thunderlane didn’t attempt to argue; he trotted next to her. “We’ve been after them all day, and yes, they ran off again.” He launched himself into the air. “But we’re their big siblings, and we’ve got to be there for them!”
Rarity nodded. “Sweetie Belle!” she yelled. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you! You just hang in there, I’m on my way!”
With that, Rarity circled the opening, straining her ears. She picked up where the crying was coming from, and galloped away.
“Rumble!” Thunderlane yelled. “I’m coming for you, don’t you worry. Just hang in there, and I’ll find you!” With that, he took off after Rarity. They travelled side-by-side, the light a warning to the creatures of the Everfree to beware of the big siblings.