//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: Calm before the Strom // Story: Lost // by Cyanjames2819 //------------------------------// The next morning as Rarity awoke from her sleep, she checked up on the girls in their room. She gently opened the door so she wont wake them if they're still asleep. What she saw melted her diamond heart. Her sister Sweetie Belle and Playtime were embracing each other, under the sheets as they slept. She quietly got to the side of the bed and noticed a light sparkle from the two. She looked closer at the fillies and saw Playtime's little tears at the edge of her eyes. She took a tissue paper from her sister's small desk and wiped Playtime's tears. "I hope she holds up." she thought to herself and placed kisses on their foreheads before getting out quietly. After some time, Playtime and Sweetie Belle started to wake from their restful sleep. Playtime yawned widely as Sweetie Belle rubbed her eyes. Playtime then just slumped down onto her pillow, still tired. Her friend giggled at her, "Good morning, Playtime." she nudged her head with her muzzle, "Time to get up." she said happily. She moaned and covered her face on the pillow. Her friend laughed and got off her bed. After a moment, she lifted her face off the pillow and looked around the room. "I guess." she said and hopped off the bed and followed her friend into the bathroom. Sweetie Belle noticed her coming in and scooted aside to give some room for her. She left the tooth brush in her mouth and gave Playtime a new red brush and passed over the tooth paste. Playtime nodded at her and starts brushing her own teeth. As they sat and ate their morning breakfast, Playtime stopped and looked at Rarity, "Um, Rarity." She looked at the filly, "Yes, dear?" "When can we go visit my mom?" she asked, eager to know. Rarity looked at the time and sighed, "In a couple of hours, dear." she answered to the filly. "Oh... okay." she seemed a little sad about the answer but continued eating. Rarity then started thinking of what to do to make time go by faster. An idea popped in her mind and looked back at Playtime, "Playtime. How about we go visit the animals after breakfast, hm?" she said with a smile. She looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded with a smile, "Okay." she answered more happily and continued eating. Once they were finished, the little group got ready to go to Fluttershy's cottage home. But in Rarity's perspective, she didn't know if this was a good idea or not sense they were still in danger of being killed by the creatures. Yet again, Fluttershy might get upset if she comes home to find all the animals half starved to death or abandoned the home. So she got herself a saddle bag and grabbed a few things just in case. As they got to the edge of town, a guard went up to them, "Where are you three going?" he demanded in a low male voice. Rarity got up to him, "I'm sorry, kind sir, but we were going to Miss Fluttershy's cottage to see if her animals were okay." she then invaded the guards space and fluttered her eyelashes, "Can a Big Stallion like you, help us defenseless girls get there?" The guard blushed at the mare's beauty and looked to the side and saw both fillies with their soul crushing puppy-dog faces staring at him, pleading to go. He gulped, "O-Of course, m-ma'am." he stammered and started leading the way. Rarity looked at them, "Always works." she whispered and started following the stallion, the two fillies following right after her, giggling at what Rarity briefly taught them. Want a stallion to do some for you, just get them to feel very uncomfortable. As they got to the small building, the guard stood his ground near the little bridge and waited for the three when they have to go back to town. When the girls started walking towards the cottage, a bear walked out from behind a tree and growled at then and made a fearsome roar. Rarity then started backing away with the fillies behind her, "Girls, stay behind me." she said to them. The guard galloped up to them and got in front of Rarity. The large bear stood up on its hind legs and roared loudly. Sweetie Belle whimpered and stood close to her sister, but Playtime looked closely at the bear's paw. "Stay back!" the guard yelled but the creature advanced. Playtime then got out from behind the Mare and tried to head towards the bear, but was stopped by Rarity's hoof. "Playtime, what are you doing!?" she asked the filly. "No. Mister Bear's, just hurt." she walked around the mare's hoof and advanced towards the creature, remembering what her mother told her how to deal with grumpy bears like this one. "Playtime! Get back here!" Rarity yelled but she just ignored her. She got up to the bear and looked up with a big smile, "Hi!" she said happily. The bear leaned down to her and roared loudly at her, sending Playtime's headband flying off towards the little, terrified group. Once he was finished, Playtime just giggled at him and nuzzled him. The little group watched her in awe as the little filly started to tame the great beast. The large animal sat back and watched the little filly curiosly. Playtime got up to him and wrapped her little hooves around him, "You big softy." she giggled and backed up to look at him. The bear started whimpering and looked back and looked at the little filly once more. It started groaning and moaning like if she knew what he was talking about and showed his big paw. Playtime looked at his paw and found a large thorn embedded in, "Awe, is that's what hurting you?" she leaned in, "This might hurt a little." she said right before yanking the thorn out with her teeth. The bear roared in pain, causing the little group to cover their ears. Once the bear finished, Playtime lightly pecked the bear's paw, "There. All better." she said to the creature. The bear picked her up and hugged her tightly, thanking her and placed a big, wet lick on her cheek. She giggled and was set down to her hooves, "You're welcome." she replied. With that, the bear laid down beside the tree to rest happily while the little group went inside with the guard back in his place. The animals were very happy to see one of their care takers come back and piled up around her, embracing every part of her. Angel went up to her and hugged her head. Playtime smiled at them, "Good to see you too." she said to them. After the little reunion, the ponies started taking are of them. Sweetie Belle then thought up something went looked at her sister and went up to her, "Hey, sis! Can I go get my friends to help as well!?" she said excitedly. "Okay, but bring the guard with you, okay?" she answered and her sister nodded with a big smile and galloped out. Rarity looked at Playtime and saw her taking care of a little turtle with Angel standing beside her, keeping her on track on which animal to aid next. She truly is Fluttershy's and nature's little Angel. After feeding the animals, Sweetie Belle came back with the rest of the Crusaders and Pinkie Pie right behind them. "Where here!" Pinkie bounced in and picked up Playtime in her hooves and hugged her. The group then went around the cottage to clean and help the animals. Rarity looked at the time and looked at Playtime with Angel on her back, "Playtime. It's time." she said to her. She looked at her blankly for a moment before she grinned. Rarity, looked at her friend Pinkie and the Crusaders, "I'll be back, everypony. I need to get Playtime to Fluttershy." she got to the door with the happy filly, Angel still sitting on her back. "See yah later, Playtime!" Apple Bloom waved at her. She waved as they got out. Rarity looked ahead and figured out a way to get to Ponyville a little faster. She looked at the filly, "Okay, Playtime. Stay close to me." she nodded and stuck close to the mare. Rarity started concentrating but all of a sudden, it seemed all to easy just to get to the edge of Ponyville. She then figured out her magic was much more concentrated around and figured they could just teleport to the Hospital. She smiled and cast her spell with Playtime and Angel right beside her. Once they reappeared in front of the hospital, Playtime smiled and galloped ahead to go inside. She followed and when she got in, she saw Playtime was standing right in front of the door to the hallway with a big smile. Rarity got up to the counter and looked at Nurse Redheart, "We're here to visit, Miss Fluttershy." the mare nodded and went up to the door. The moment she opened it, Playtime darted through the hall at breakneck speeds with Angel holding onto her tail for dear life. Playtime got to the door and twisted the nob using her magic. She pushed the door opened with her head and looked in the room with a big smile. "Playtime!" Fluttershy called to her daughter happily as she sat on her bed. The filly smiled at her mother and rushed up to her bed. She had a bit of a difficulty trying to get up the bed but the moment she did, she hugged Fluttershy tightly. Fluttershy kissed her forehead and wrapped her hooves around her, "I missed you too, sweetie." Playtime loved her mother's sent and how soft her coat was. She just wanted to stay there by her side and be her little girl forever. Rarity came in, "Good morning, darling." she greeted her bandaged friend. Fluttershy smiled at her as she had her hooves around her little girl, "Good morning, Rarity. Thank you so much for looking after Playtime for me." she thanked her as Angel got on top of her head. "Anytime, Fluttershy." she sat down beside her bed, "Are you doing okay?" She nodded with a smile, "Yes, I'll be out of here tomorrow afternoon and I'll get most of my bandages off this afternoon." she nuzzled her little filly and made her giggle. "Great to hear, dear." she stood up to her hooves and Angel jumped over and onto her back, "I should be heading back. I'll see you two at lunch." she started heading out. "Okay, Rarity." Fluttershy answered and made Playtime giggled with her feathers. Once Rarity was out the magical field around her was back down to normal. With that, she only manage to teleported up to the edge of town. With more concentration, she reached Fluttershy's cottage. In the Everfree, the strange mare moaned and moved her head to the side as she felt the sun's light hitting her eyes. "Ten more minutes..." she mumbled. After a few more moments, she groaned and opened her eyes to see a rock wall right in front of her and the mushrooms underneath her. She quickly lifted her head and and looked around her surroundings. She found herself at the end of the cave, mushrooms right under her and pieces of charcoal smoking just near her. Her cloak was covering her body and felt something wrapped around her body. She pulled off part of her only clothing and saw part of her cloak was used to bandage her. With that, she took a big gulp of air to see what was wrong with her and soon knew what was wrong. She winced in pain and took small breaths to ease the pain. She then heard bushes being moved outside the cave. She quickly recovered herself with the cloak and rested back down, closing her eyes. She heard the sound of steps but they weren't hoof steps and they sounded more heavy then a pony should be. As it got closer, she heard its talons clanging on the solid rock beneath. "Maybe a Griffin?" she thought to herself and continued hearing the mystery creature. As it got near to her, she heard it resting down something beside her and the creature got cover to it's own spot, "Good morning." it greeted in its low voice. The sound of its voice alone made her skin crawl but the sound of scales brushing against the rocky floor made her realize it wasn't a Griffin. And how in the world did it know she was awake? She slowly opened her eyes to see a black dragon resting and looking out the cave mouth. She was too scared to move or close her eyes, frozen on the spot and she even held her breath. As time passed, it just continued looking out the cave with a neutral expression and held a relaxed body composure. She then looked at what it gave her and saw delicious looking berries and other fruits wrapped in a makeshift leaf bowl. Ever so slowly, she inched over to the food, trying not to gain the creature's attention. All of a sudden, the whole bowl started making a faint purple aura and lifted over to her. She froze once more and waited for the creature to say something to her. It looked over at her and she curled in response, "Aren't you hungry?" he asked. She just stared at him, shaking a little. "Don't worry, miss. I won't hurt you. I'm just trying to help." he stood and got a little further from her to give her some space to get used to him. He smiled at her, "Eat up, miss. You need the strength to heal." he said to her and turned his gaze back out the cave mouth. After a few moments, she started nibbling her food and made a sly smile when she tasted the new fruits. As she ate, Nebula thought of what to say when he gets back home with his new family he just left. Some how he knew Fluttershy was okay but couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't happy. With That, he decided once this mare was well enough, they'll start heading back to Ponyville. In his mental though, another town is closer, but that town didn't look too good for an injured mare to be in. In the middle of afternoon, the mare just continued looking at the mystery dragon and thought why her sides were aching a little. She took another good look at her bandages and saw a little bit of dried blood sticking onto her coat. She wanted to see what it looked like and the bandages and the moss needed some cleaning. The moment she thought about though, the dragon stood up to his feet and started going over to her. She froze at the creature's close proximity and just starred at him. He took a good long look at her bandages and looked at her, "You need to be clean, miss." he said kindly to her. He rested down on his stomach and looked at her, "Get on my back." he said to her. Her waited and waited for the mare to budge. After fifteen minutes or so, she finally got up and slowly got onto his back and rested down with her hooves tuckered in. He got up and slightly lifted his wings to keep on secured on his back and started heading out. When the mare got on and rested on the creature, she didn't expect it to be so warm. She expected it to feel cold and hard like a cold blooded Lizard. Once they were out, the sound of birds singing the the air quickly entered their ears. As the dragon went through the forest, a little bird landed on one of his horns and hopped about on his head and his other horns. The mare feared for the worse when the little bird got to his muzzle but instead of being burst into flames, he just chuckled, "Good to see you too." he answered kindly and the chirped happily. They then reached a small lake surrounded by trees and bushes. He rested down to let the mare walk off him. She did so and looked around and it looked very peaceful. She then heard the dragon and looked around to see him digging down on the ground nearby. He grabbed something and yanked it out. She saw it was a root of some sort and he went back over to her, putting the root on the ground, "I need to get the bandage off so be still." he said to her and she nodded shyly. He sat up and started untying the bandage and once it was off, the two mosses from her sides fell off, revealing her bite marks surrounded by dried blood. She looked at her wound in shock, wondering what happened to her. He then grabbed the root and started blowing fire onto it. As he continued blowing fire, she noticed his eyes started to glow and wondered how or why. She then saw blob of water floating over to her. He stopped and dropped the ashes of the room in the blob of water. He looked at her, "Rest down. This'll only take a few minutes." he said to her she obeyed. The ashes mixed and the water turned golden yellow in color. As she rested with her hooves tuckered in, the blob of water split into two parts and stuck to her sides. he caused a shiver to down her spine but it also eased the pain a little. It then started rinsing around, getting rid of the dried blood and disinfecting her bite mark. As she rested, letting the water rinse her coat, the dragon grabbed the bandage and walked over to the lake to clean it. The little bird on top of his head then chirped and flew off to some unknown location. She summoned up her courage and gulped, "Th-thank you..." she said and looked down to her fore hooves, nervously. "You're welcome." he answered simply as he continued rinsing the fabric in the water. The rest of the time was spent in silence, beginning to get a little awkward for the mare. She then saw the little bird fly back to him with a honey comb in its grasp. It chirped to him and dropped the comb on his claws, "Thank you." he thanked it as the little bird got itself comfortable on his head. He got up and twisted the bandage to squeeze the remaining liquid out. The water dripped and flowed out for a few moments before stopping. He looked at it closely and nodded to himself. The water that's been rinsing around on her side then levitated away and just splashed down on the grassy ground. He got up to her and gently grabbed the honey that had been levitating beside his head wiped a little bit of honey off it to start covering the mare's bite marks. It didn't effect her at all so she stayed calm. He finished both her sides and showed the honey comb to her, "Have it." he said and she nodded. She gently bit down on it as she got up to her hooves to let him wrapped the bandage back on and put her cloak back on her. He rested down to let the mare get on top of him and started heading back. She got a little more used to the dragon's kind nature, but was still a little on edge. She looked around her with the honey comb still being held by her mouth. She sucked and licked it as they went through the forest t help her relax a little more. She always did love the taste of honey sense she was a little filly herself. What confused her though was why she couldn't she remember what happened to her? Once they got back in the cave, Nebula rested down to let her get off. She gently got off the dragon's back, being careful not to hurt him and rested back down onto the mushrooms. She tuckered in her hooves and continued sucking the honey comb. When she heard her stomach growl in hunger, she started chewing the comb itself, and making sure she sucked all of its remaining honey. The Dragon then stood up and looked at her, casing her to stop chewing, "Stay in the cave. I'll be right back." she lightly nodded at him. She watched him get out and rested her head down and sighed and continued eating and chewing her honey comb. "I should at least introduce myself to him." she thought to herself and waited for him to get back. "Maybe he knows what happened to me." After a while, she finished her honey comb and licked her lips to to get the remaining honey off her lips. When the dragon came back, she looked at him and saw a wrapped leaf levitating beside his head. He rested down and laid the leaf right beside her and unwrapped itself like a blooming flower. She spotted a new honey comb, but she decided to save the best for last. She hen heard a loud crunch and looked at him to see him eating a red apple. Now or never, "Th-thank you... for... taking care of me..." He looked at her and she cowered down to her hooves, "You're welcome." he answered and finished up the apple. "Wha... what's your name?" she asked, still cowering in her hooves. He turned his attention to her and rearranged his position to face her, "Nebula." he answered and crossed his arms on the floor. She started to feel a little nervous when he turned to her. They stayed silent for a few moment before she spotted a large scar on his chest, "W-what happened to... your chest?" she asked, noticing it wasn't that old. He looked at it, "It's by... accident." he looked at her, "What is your name?" "S-Sunny." she answered shyly. He smiled, "Good to meet you, Sunny. Where are you from?" "Dodge City. A-and you?" "Ponyville, Equestria." Her ears perked up, "I was heading there before..." she started thinking, searching for her memories. "Something..." She looked at him, "Um... do you know what happened to me?" she asked, hopeful he knew the answer. "Your body was being used to harm the Elements of Harmony." her eyes got wide in shock "Used by what!?" "Nightmare." he decided to tell her the whole story, "It almost killed Fluttershy, I bit it so you have the bit marks instead of it. I went after it in the means of killing it." Her expression went into shock, "I was blinded with anger. It almost killed my only guide to a happy life. So after hunting it down, it left your body, leaving me with you." After hearing that, she felt a little guilty hurting those ponies and she was sure he was sorry about biting her. "So... w-what now?" "I'll take you to Ponyville Hospital so you'll be treated properly." "When?" "We'll start heading their tomorrow morning." They were silent for a moment, then she looked at him, "Thanks for taking care of me again, Nebula." she blushed and he nodded with a neutral expression. Her friends and family wont believe she gained a dragon friend once she tells them.