//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 - Fear 
// Story: Lost in Darkness 
// by ChocolateFan25 
//------------------------------//

Fleetfoot blinked a few times. Slowly, she regained her consciousness and she felt her entire body aching. "My head... it feels like it was smashed in two pieces." she thought, and closed her eyes again. She took slow, deep breaths to relieve the pain. 

While she laid there, she noticed the cold and wet ground under her. It smelled of earth, and it seemed like small sticks poked her body. "That's strange. Am I outside?" She kept her eyes closed and her ears twitched, while listening carefully. Wind rustled through leaves, birds chirped and a small, dry twig cracked in the distance, as if someone has stepped on them. 

"What has happened?" Her memories were gone, replaced by a dark hole. The more she tried to remember, the stronger grew her headache. "We were supposed to look for Timberwolves... We? I was there, fighting, and... oh, yes, Misty Fly and Wave Chill were with me. We all tried our best and... What happened after the fight?"

Her attention wandered away, when something pulled at her hind leg. "...Misty?" Fleetfoot asked, her voice sounded strained and quiet. She noticed, that it couldn't be Misty Fly. It was far too small, and its teeth felt sharp, poking through the uniform and scratching on her coat. 

A sharp pain went through her hind leg and Fleetfoot gasped. The shock made her jump up and wobble for a few steps, before she fell straight on her flank. The world turned around her, and her stomach started to rebel, threatened her to meet her breakfast again. With clenched eyes and laid back ears, she put her hoof in front of her mouth and gave her best to calm herself. The feeling of sickness faded away, even though the pain stayed. Heavily breathing, she opened her eyes again and looked around to see, where she was. 

Long, thin trees filled her surroundings, even farther, than she could see. Its thick branches with the countless brown and green leaves covered the sky like a blanket, only allowing small specks of light to touch the ground. A cold darkness spread through the place and the weak, red glow beyond the tree tops told Fleetfoot, that the day would end soon. 

"Why..." Fleetfoot muttered, and panic started rising in her body. Her breathing became more shallow and faster. "Why am I here? I w-was with the others, near Dodge Junction..."

She saw from the corners of her eyes something, coming closer. Fleetfoot turned her head and gasped, her eyes wide as saucers. She fell to her back and struggled to get on her hooves again. Right in front of her sat a Timberwolf. But it was far smaller than the ones, she remembered fighting. It barely reached her head, and its eyes seemed to glow brighter. It cocked its head and sat down with curiosity in its eyes. The small tail waggled, making strange wiping sounds on the floor. Fleetfoot wondered for a second, how it did that with a tail made out of twigs. 

Finally, Fleetfoot got up and kept her gaze on the Timberwolf pup. It sniffed a few times and ducked down, while lifting its flank into the air. His eyes changed from interest to foalish playing. 

"S-stay away from me." Fleetfoot said, her voice wavering and a foreleg stretched out in front of her, to protect herself. She had no clue where she was, or how she got into this situation. Or where her comrades where. The last thing she wanted, was getting in the next fight with a Timberwolf. 

The pup barked, even though it sounded far less intimidating, and jumped toward her. A few times it snapped in the air, before it was able to dug its sharp fangs into her foreleg. With a quick scream, the pegasus pulled her leg away and pushed the Timberwolf away. The push had enough force to whirl the small pup around. It scrambled up from the ground, whining, and lost no time to ran away from her. 

A sigh of relief escaped her lips. The barking died away, and she couldn't help but gulp down the lump in her throat. "It attacked me, I had to defend myself." she thought, looking down on her hooves. "But it sounded like a real puppy..."

Her gaze softened and her hoof sunk down. She didn't received much time to loose herself in her thoughts. In the distance, she could hear an enraged barking. Fleeftoots entire body twitched, her heart started beating like crazy. She knew instantly whose barking it was and what has caused it. No animal likes to see its young ones being attacked. The dangerous Timberwolves were on their way to her. 

For a moment, Fleetfoot's body was paralyzed. Her limbs trembled and her hooves seemed to have melted into the ground, not able to move a single inch. Suddenly, something appeared far away, from her behind the endless rows of trees. The big Timberwolf stood there, snarling at her. Even from the distance, she could see the broken branch, still sticking out of its flank. Fleetfoot blinked and regained control over her body. 

She tensed her body and flapped her wings instinctively, to flee from the incoming danger. Instead of lifting into the air, she felt a sharp pain shooting through her right wing. She clenched her eyes, burning with tears. The drumming of the wooden paws grew louder. "Please... It can't be..." Fleetfoot thought and tried her best to keep her eyes on the beast. She tried again to fly, but the results were the same. While she had no problems to move her left wing, she couldn't even feel her other wing. There was nothing but a hot, dull pain. 

The Timberwolf came closer. Only a few seconds more, a few more jumps, and it would be able to bite her. 

Without trying any longer, Fleetfoot turned around and ran, as fast as possible. Each jump felt like a knife, being twisted in her head and her wing. Her lungs burned and each breath was quick. The rough ground, covered in thick, brown leaves, and gnarled roots, made it far more difficult for her to get forward. She tripped a few times, but she didn't stop running a single time. 

"Come on!" She tried again to get into the sky, hoping, that she would have at least enough momentum to glide up. But her efforts were useless. She heard the constant barking of the Timberwolf, coming closer to her with each moment. Fleetfoot ran, in a last, desperate effort, even faster. 

"MISTY!" she screamed, despite the shortage of breath. "WAVE! HELP ME! PLEASE!" Suddenly, a terrifying thought appeared in her mind. "My comrades... did the Timberwolves...?" 

Fleetfoot turned around to see her pursuer. All of the sudden, its eyes widened and it threw its head back. Instead of running, it rammed its stiff legs into the ground and came sliding to a hold. 

"What's goin--" she thought, until she was interrupted. In her escape, she stopped paying attention to the path in front of her. Instead of cold, wet ground, her hooves touched nothing but the air. Fleetfoot looked down, her eyebrows lowered in confusion. She noticed too late, that she ran off the edge of a precipice. Fleetfoot gasped and flapped her wings, before another hard landing took her consciousness again. 


***


The day reached its end, and with every inch the sun came closer to the horizon, Misty Fly's worry grew stronger. She and Wave Chill split up, so they could search over more parts of the woods. For hours, she flew over the treetops, her eyes searching for any sign of their lost comrade. 

"Did I flew too far?" she asked herself, her mind restless. "What if I didn't noticed her? She could lay somewhere down there, hurt and alone..." She stopped in midair and looked down to the huge forest. She listened closely, but there was no yelling, no clopping of hooves. Nothing, but the sound of the wind. It frustrated Misty Fly to no end. 

"She has to be somewhere!" she thought, her breathing frantic. "For Celestia's sake, she's a blue pegasus in a blue-yellow uniform! She should stick out of the forest like a sore thumb!" The situation became worse, and Misty Fly's heart beat even faster. "Where is she... where?!"

She stopped the flow of thoughts, and took a deep breath. The pegasus swept her blue mane out of her face and tried her best to keep cool. "Don't panic." she calmed herself down. "Fleetfoot is not anypony. She is not in the Wonderbolts for no reason. She can defend herself and we will find her. After all, Spitfire gave me the responsibility for the group in this mission, and I won't disappoint her."

As soon as she calmed herself down, she turned her gaze back to the woods. The Hayseed Swamps were enormous. But not the whole forest was the territory of the Timberwolves. Misty Fly breathed a sigh of relief, when she thought of how they met the expert team. They were only four ponies, but they knew a lot about Timberwolves and their behavior. When they told them of the incident, the team immediately offered their help, and even showed the two Wonderbolts on the map, where the Timberwolves live and hunt. 

Misty Fly continued flying, her eyes scanning the ground over and over. Her ears followed every noise, that could be important. She started gritting her teeth, when she heard something. It was very quiet and Misty Fly thought for a second, that somepony had called her name. "Is it... her?" she asked herself. 

She remained as quiet as possible, to hear anymore yelling. For a moment, everything went silent. A barking sounded in the distance. With widened eyes, she stormed forward, pushing her wings to their limit. "FLEETFOOT?!" she yelled and her eyes sparked with hope. 

Misty Fly gave her best and in a few seconds, she reached the location, from which she thought the noises came from. "Are you here? Please, answer me!" she cried and listened. A few birds flew out of the treetops, but nothing came from her comrade. The situation became too tense for her liking, and she dived down to the ground. 

It was quite dark, and there was a strong smell of wet leaves in the air. "Fleet?" she asked again, hovering over the ground. In front of her was the edge of a precipice. "Could she...?" Misty Fly wondered, and shook her head. "No. I probably misheard..." With hung down ears, she flew up again. The hope in her eyes faded away. 

Her ears shot up, when another call reached her. This time from another location. "Fleet!" she yelled, and turned around. Instead of the mare, Wave Chill flew toward her. He came to a hold in front of her, breathing heavily. 

"Did you find her?" Misty Fly asked quickly, hoping for any kind of good news. 

"Of course I did! And then, I decided to leave her wherever she was, just to chat with you!" he yelled, his voice filled with anger. 

"I'm sorry to say this, but..." Misty Fly said and lifted a hoof in front of her face. "Could you keep your snarky comments for yourself right now? I'm really not in the mood for this."

"No one is." he grumbled and turned his head to the east. "The Timberwolf team went back to Dodge Junction."

Misty Fly looked up with shock. "Wha-- Why?!" she nearly yelled. 

"It's getting dark."

"She's still somewhere in here!"

"I know that! Why doesn't she... just fly out of the darn forest?!" He clenched his hooves and avoided to look into her eyes. 

"She would, but... she's probably hurt or..."

"Misty, she was taken by Timberwolves. It's more likely, that they ate--"

"WAVE! ...Please... don't say it." Misty Fly said. Tears began to swell in her eyes, and she sniffed quietly. 

Wave Chill sighed and lowered his ears. "I'm sorry..." he said with fading anger. Misty Fly rubbed her eyes while Wave Chill looked to the horizon. 

"It would be better to fly back."

Misty Fly looked up, her eyes wide opened and her lips trembling. This moment seemed to last an eternity for both of them. At last, Misty Fly sniffed for a last time and turned away from him. "I really don't understand, why you hate her. Everything was fine until this morning. If you don't want to search any longer, just fly home." 

She started to fly away, until a pair of teeth dug into her tail and pulled her back. "Misty!" he yelled, trying to reason with her. "I don't hate her." he said with a stern look on his face. "It's... complicated." Wave Chill's eyes turned away and he struggled to find the right words. "This place... it's just too big for two ponies to search. Also, it's getting dark, so we have even less of a chance to find her. We should fly back and report to Spitfire. Then, we can start a search operation with the team."

Misty Fly rubbed her chin, reconsidering his suggestion. It made sense and it was their best option at this time. Despite all of this, her guts turned around at the thought going back without her comrade. "And what should I tell Spitfire?" she asked with a frown. "She gave me the responsibility. What do you think she'll say, if she finds out about it?"

"If I find out about what?" a voice asked from behind her, coming closer to them. 

Misty Fly felt the blood in her freezing, and her body tensing. Slowly, she turned around and hoped, that she was wrong and she just imagined the voices. Two pegasi, both dressed in a Wonderbolt uniform, came flying toward them. Misty Fly gulped, when Spitfire and Soarin stopped in front of them and lifted their goggles. While Soarin looked worried, Spitfire lowered her eyebrows in suspicion. Her gut feeling already told the experienced captain, that something went very wrong. 

"Oh, well..." Misty Fly stammered. "W-what are you doing here?" she asked, despite knowing the reason. 

"You guys were gone for so long. We were worried about you." Soarin explained. 

Spitfire looked at Misty Fly and Wave Chill, lifting an eyebrow, when she noticed the missing member. "How did the mission go?" she asked slowly. 

Misty Fly bit on her lip. Her heart was beating even faster and a cold shiver went down her body. "I can't tell her. I just can't. She will be... mad. And disappointed. But..." She turned around, looking in Wave Chill's eyes. He also wore a frown on his face. Wave Chill saw Misty Fly looking at him, knowing, what she wanted to know, and nodded slightly. "It's our only chance, if we want to find her.." Misty Fly thought and turned back to Spitfire. 

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Misty Fly started slowly, with sweat sticking to her tight uniform. 

"Yes?" Spitfire said after a long pause, and waved her hoof. She became impatient. 

"Okay, the good news is, that we were successful at luring the Timberwolves back into the forest and the expert team arrived safely." Misty Fly explained. She gulped again, her ears nearly touched her neck. "And the bad news, it's..."

"Spit it out."

Misty Fly took a deep breath, to get over with it. "One-of-the-Timberwolves-knocked-Fleetfoot-out-and-took-her-into-the-forest-and-we-haven't-seen-her-since."

"WHAT?!?"

"W-we didn't expect that to happen." Misty Fly said, ducking her head at Spitfire's sudden outburst. She felt bad enough, even without Spitire's wrath. 

Soarin just gaped at her, while Spitfire pressed her hooves in front of her head and shook it in disbelief. "How could you let something like this even happen?! I'll send you in groups of three, so you don't end up as snacks!!!"

"She stormed toward one of them and... there was a second Timberwolf, who smashed her on the ground. And the moment we looked away from her..."

"Why did she stormed toward a Timberwolf in the first place?!"

"I provoked her." All eyes turned to Wave Chill, who had been quiet until now. His ears hung as low as Misty Fly's and he avoided all looks. Misty Fly looked at him and saw the guilt in his eyes, something, that only rarely happens. 

"Why did you do that?" Soarin asked with a calm voice, trying to understand what was going on in his mind. Wave Chill turned his head away, not wanting to talk about the incident. 

Spitfire groaned and rubbed her head, as if she would get a migraine from the sudden stress. "What did I expect from you." she muttered and turned her gaze to the two Wonderbolts. The sun was gone at this point, and the night sky covered the place in darkness. "We'll fly back." she said sternly, and sighed in frustration. "By the next dawn, we'll start a search operation."

She turned around to fly back, until Misty Fly said "We should start searching right now, instead of waiting until the next morning." 

Spitfire stopped and turned toward her. "It is already dark. It would be useless."

"But she is still down there."

"Misty, we only get lost ourselves, if we fly blindly over the woods. Besides," she explained and looked at Misty Fly's wings, flapping with barely enough force to keep her aloft. "you have been flying for the entire day. You guys need rest."

Misty Fly sighed at her words. "You're right." she muttered. "But... what about Fleet?"

Spitfire gritted her teeth, and looked down to the forest and the cold, black hell it had become. "We can't help her right now. May Luna have mercy on her."


***


Groaning and with a blurry sight, Fleetfoot woke up. "Oww." she mumbled, her voice even more raspy than normally. "I'll smash my head before anything can eat me." She needed a few more moments to grasp a single, normal thought. Longer than after the first unconsciousness. "And where am I now?" 

She lifted her head and felt something pulling on her legs. Panic overcame her, as it reminded her of her last awakening. She jumped up and punched in every direction, while keeping her eyes closed. "Get away from me, you beasts!" she yelled. Her body was still in something's grasp, but she heard no whining or snarling. She actually heard nothing. 

Fleetfoot dared to open an eye. Everything around her was dark and it was rather difficult to see something. The light of the moon, which shimmered sometimes through the tree tops, helped her seeing the outlines of the many trees. As soon, as Fleetfoot's eyes got used to the darkness, she looked around. After landing on a large boulder, she had rolled down a few more yards and fell into a bush. Her uniform got caught in some thick thorns, which kept her from crawling out. 

Fleetfoot stemmed her hooves on the ground, and tried pulling herself out. Those thorns were rather tough and refused to let go of her. After a few more tries, Fleetfoot gave up with a sigh. "That's not how I planned my day." she said and looked around. There was nothing indicating any kind of predator, so she was safe for now. 

"I have to get out of here anyway." she muttered and tried to come up with a plan. It was more difficult with the throbbing pain in her head. With a small moan, she rubbed her head and noticed something wet. "Is that...?" she wondered and looked at her hoof. She couldn't make the color out in the darkness. But in combination with the landing and the headache, she knew what it was. 

"Great. Now, something will smell me. I have to get out." Fleetfoot tried again to free herself, but the thorns poked too deep into her uniform. Her eyes widened, as an idea struck her. She took off her goggles and threw them a few steps away from her. She then preceded to unzip her uniform. "It's not like I need clothes anyway." she muttered. 

When she felt the dirt under her hooves, she pushed herself forward and fell right to the ground. A painful tug went through her wings, when she lost a few of her feathers to the bush. Fleetfoot scrambled up and spit out a few of the leaves. "Eww, they taste foul..." she said and rubbed her tongue. 

She then checked out her left wing. No important feathers were missing, and with a bit of preening, this wing would be fine again. Nervousness overcame her, when she thought of her other wing. The pain remained and she could barely feel it. A scary thought came into her mind. 

Without looking, she lifted her foreleg and slowly felt her wing. After a few inches, she felt the source of the pain. The bone was broken, but it wasn't too severe. She grimaced with pain and went further down. The rest of her wing hung down, the feathers ruffled and dirty. 

Fleetfoot sighed in relief and her body calmed down. She finally threw a look at her broken wing. It didn't look as bad, as it felt. "Dear Celestia..." she said with a smile. "I thought, I lost my wing. I've broken my wings a few times before, but I never felt... nothing." 

The pegasus looked around. She still didn't knew where she was, so she couldn't just went to the next hospital. And she knew neither, where Misty Fly and Wave Chill were or what happened to them. 

"Come on, Fleetfoot." she said and clenched her teeth. "Think! What happened at the fight?" Her memory came back, but very slow. "We... wanted to lure them back. And then, Wave said... something mean. I don't remember what it was. I became really angry and tried to attack one of them. And after that... nothing. But they wouldn't watch the beasts, taking me into the woods. Well, Misty wouldn't. Something has happened to them, I'm sure." 

She rested her head on the floor and started pondering. "If I think about it, why didn't the Timberwolves eat me? They just left me unconscious with that puppy. Too busy? Already ate themselves full with my frie-- NO, don't even think about that! ...Maybe, I was supposed to be hunting practice for the puppy?" 

She groaned and stretched her limbs. "Those are Timberwolves, it's not like they can think of anything other than eating, hunting and making more pups. It's useless, trying to come up with a reason." 

Fleetfoot rubbed her chin thoughtfully, and got another idea. She then looked down on her hind legs, which where covered in long, white bandages. They were a separate part of her uniform, and functioned as a stabilizer, to keep always balance in midair. They also kept the blood circulation of their wearer running, even if one would fly very high or low in a short time. In other words, they were really useful for missions or all kinds of stunts. 

"I won't fly for some time." she said and started unwrapping them. A minute later, she took both of the white bandages off, and hold them in her hooves. "That will hurt." she thought with a frown and carefully folded her wings. She made sure, that the wing was folded right, so it could heal without the bones growing together in a wrong way. 

It took her more time than she expected, but she finally wrapped her wing with the tight bandages. As soon, as she made the last knot, she fell back into the wet ground. "At least those first aid lessons were worth it..." she muttered. A cold wind blew through the air, and made her shiver. Fleetfoot didn't notice how cold it was without her uniform. 

She pulled her legs close to her body and tried her best to keep warm. Her eyes wandered up to the countless treetops, acting as a shield between the forest and the open sky. "I always felt trapped in such woods." Fleetfoot thought, her ears touching the ground below her. "Now I am trapped." 

She kept looking up, searching for an opening just to throw a glance at the stars, a cloud or anything, that reminded her of home. She stopped when she saw something in the distance. At first, it seemed like two stars in the middle of the forest. Fleetfoot raised an eyebrow, wondering what it could be, until she noticed it. 

Those were two, yellow glowing eyes, looking straight at her. It gave her a chill, her eyes widened. She kept her body as low as possible, even though the wet ground made her freeze even more. Minutes passed, which felt like hours for her. 

The longer she starred back at those eyes, the more she became frightened by the creatures, her imagination saw in the darkness. At first, those eyes belonged to a small animal, maybe even friendly. But over the time, it looked more and more like a monster to her. Fleetfoot gulped, and heard nothing but her heartbeat. Suddenly, the creature cocked its head, still without blinking. "Who?" 

Fleetfoot had never spent much time in nature, but she recognized that noise. Her shaking legs relaxed and small chuckle escaped her lips. "He... he, he." she said, as if she would laugh at herself. "An owl. I was scarred to death by an owl." Her chuckle turned into a loud laugh. "What am I, a scared chicken?" Her smile wavered when she looked down on her bandaged wing. "Well, that's closer to the truth right now, than I would like...", she muttered and got up again. The owl made a last call before spreading its wings, and flying into the night. 

Fleetfoot turned her eyes away and went to her uniform, still stuck in the bush. The way it hung, it looked as if an invisible pony would wear it. She came closer, grabbed some of the fabric in her mouth, and started to pull. "I still need it." she thought. "It'll need some repairs, though." 

She was able to free a part of her flying suit, when her ears caught another noise. This time, it was the quiet cracking of the underwood, with the sound of many steps coming closer to her. 

Fleetfoot froze. She needed to decide quickly. "Staying or hiding?" she thought. It could be her missing comrades. Or Timberwolves. This time, she decided to listen to her survival instincts and started looking for a place to hide. "If it should be Misty or Wave... I can still come out." she thought and spotted a fallen tree, not far from her. She quickly jumped over it, which provided her head and wing with even more pain. She simply gritted her teeth before crouching down. 

The tree kept her hidden and behind her were some more bushes, so she didn't worry about what could be behind her. Cautiously, she took a glance over the tree. While sniffing through the leaves on the ground and grunting, a few small animals walked toward her direction. Some were bigger than her, others were smaller. After a few quiet squeaks, she had an idea what these animals could be. 

"Pigs? In the woods? So... they are wild pigs?" she wondered. One of the really small pigs came close to the tree and Fleetfoot tried her best to not squeal at the sight of cuteness. "For a second, I thought they were a danger..." she thought, wiping away the sweat from her face. 

The wild pigs sniffed, their snouts high in the air. One of them made a really loud grunting noise, and their attention went over to her uniform, still hanging in the bush. Fleetfoot watched the scene with lowered eyebrows, trying to understand, what they wanted to do. The wild pigs sniffed at the blue uniform, before they started pulling it from the grip of the thorns. 

With a gaping mouth, Fleetfoot just stared at the wild pigs, who had no problems ripping her uniform apart, as if it was made of tissues. "Why are they eating my clothing...?" Fleetfoot thought and crouched down slowly, hoping, that they didn't saw or smelled her yet. She suddenly remembered the head injury she got from her second fall. "I was right... the smell did lead others to this place..." 

She laid down, her eyes covered by her hooves, and her entire body shivered. The sound of the animals stomping around, grunting and chewing, were completely unknown to her. "I just want to go home..." she thought. 

For the first time that day, the luck was on her side. After a while, the sounds of her uniform, being torn apart, ended and the sniffing and grunting died down, as the group continued their search for food. 

Despite their leaving, Fleetfoot didn't dare to leave her hiding place. Her mind wandered to the comfort of home. She imagined, what she would do in this moment, if she would have never ended up in the Hayseed Swamps. 

"My friends..." she thought, burying her face into the ground. "Misty... Wave... I hope you are safe."