A Shy Pegasi's Wing

by Dark Tempest

...And Through the Woods...

Fluttershy felt her stomach swirl about inside her as she felt her hooves hit solid earth again. She felt as if she had been spinning too long around the Cloudsdale's playground roundabout again (she still remembered that she had lost her lunch), and she fell to her side, her chest heaving.

As she attempted to re-gather her strength, she took a glance over at Matrixwing, who was in a similar state. The only pony of the three who didn't seem affected by the teleportation was Twilight, who stood over the pair of them. "Are you two alright?"

Fluttershy meant to answer: "Oh yes, I just need a moment to rest," but instead, her stomach decided to do a quick somersault, forcing bile to her throat. She decided to choke that back instead, her words being replaced by gagging.

Fluttershy watched Twilight's ears fold, then perk up again, as if she had just remembered something. "Just a second..." Twilight's horn began to glow as she cast a spell. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but gradually (and rather quickly), Fluttershy began to feel her nausea fade away, and she stood along with Matrixwing, whom looked less sick with the exception of exhausted eyes.

Matrixwing sighed gratefully. "I feel so much better than I had... I never want to teleport again." Fluttershy shook her head in silent agreement.

All of a sudden, each of the ponies' ears flicked in the direction of some rustling brush, and Twilight turned towards the noise, planting her hooves firmly in the ground. It was certain that she had heard the noise also. Her horn glowed in the dark as she prepared to cast a spell, and she glared at the noisy clump of bushes. "Show yourself," Twilight barked angrily, who was obviously determined not to lose any other Element of Harmony.

All of a sudden, two feminine voices began whispering to each other in a quiet argument. One voice, with an unmistakable cowfilly accent, was especially unhappy: "Now, ya'll better go first, Rarity. If anypony could withstand an accidental magic missile, it would be a unicorn!" Twilight quickly ripped away the brush, exposing Rarity and Applejack, looking very disgruntled as they were almost strangling each other.

The two mares quickly stopped their childish behavior and smiled sheepishly up at Twilight. "Twi!" Applejack looked very relieved to see that she hadn't been turned into an ant. "Fluttershy and Matrixwing too," Rarity added. "Are we glad to see you!"

Fluttershy grinned widely. "Well, umm... We're happy to see you too! It's great to see that you are alright." Rarity climbed to her hooves, her normally pure white coat spattered with dirt, mud, and other filth, similarly to Applejack's, who seemed to have gotten off a little better with her darker coat. Rarity harrumphed, "Oh, I wish I was alright, just look at my glorious coat! It's so filthy..."

Twilight rolled her eyes before remembering about the Rainbow Dash trick. She glanced at the two ponies' necks, checking for their Elements (which they had, fortunately), and proceeded to question them for the whereabouts of the real Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

"Ah'm not exactly sure where they are... or where we are." Applejack pawed at the muddy earth in embarrassment. It was at that moment that a high, shrill scream could be heard from a distance. Everypony in the group stopped and stared in the direction of the screech with wide eyes and a few of the ponies with tiny "O"s of fear.

Fluttershy, who was hiding under a blushing Matrixwing, had her eyes covered up, and was shivering in fear. "W-what was that?"

Twilight turned to the other Elements. "That sounded like Pinkie Pie! We have to find them and end this now! We've no time to lose!" In response, the other ponies nodded their heads, and followed the princess of twilight deeper into the darkened forests, their fear nullified at the fact that an alicorn and friend was leading them.

As they galloped towards the origins of the scream, Fluttershy could not help but notice two large streams of freshwater running along the upraised mound of dirt and rock that the ponies were sprinting along. It was beautiful in its own way, but Fluttershy knew that this wasn't the time to stop and smell the flowers.

All that could be heard within the next ten minutes were the sounds of hooves' dull thuds upon the dirt as they raced in the night, the streams' rolling rapids as they followed in their eroded guides, and the occasional nocturnal animal howl or insect buzz.

As they continued, Fluttershy's mind was laden with thoughts of what may have been happening to Pinkie Pie. What if she is badly hurt? What if she is bleeding alone somewhere? What if the Shadow has turned her? Eventually, Fluttershy had delved so deeply into her thoughts and fears that she had not noticed that the rest of the ponies had stopped in front of her, and she slammed full-speed into the hindquarters of Matrixwing, then recoiled and fell back.

"S-sorry..." Fluttershy looked about the area in which they were in, and realized why everypony had stopped. Ahead, the two streams ran in from the sides and merged into a river, making walking forward impossible. Also, the thick brambles and branches which hung low over the river made flight impossible. Fluttershy saw that the river weaved through the brambles and continued onward, and she knew everypony was thinking what she was thinking: they needed a boat.

"And just how are we supposed to get through that??" Rarity looked to the others for the answer to her question. Applejack spied something large and wooden buried in bush, and she trotted over to it as the rest of the Elements discussed possible ideas for getting down the river.

Each Element turned at a new scraping sound as Applejack dragged a boat towards them. "How about we use this?" She dropped the rope she used to drag the boat and smiled.

"Ah mean, there are a few holes in the bottom, but with a bit of clay and patience, ah'm sure she'll be able to carry us down the river." Applejack smiled wider at the other ponies.

"Provided that we don't crash into those trees," Matrixwing pointed out, and Applejack gave him a look. "What? I'm just observing likely problems..."

Twilight stepped into the boat. "Are you sure we'll all fit?" Applejack climbed in next to her. " We'll have to, Twi."

The two ponies climbed back out and began to gather clay, and before long, the clay was filled in the holes and drying, the ponies waiting. The process was long and underwhelming, thoughts of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash weighing everypony's minds down.

Applejack walked over to take another look at the makeshift seals. "Aren't you finished yet, Applejack?" Rarity had asked this question twice more before, and it was evident that she was becoming impatient and restless. "Yes!" Applejack climbed into the finally-repaired boat, satisfied that the makeshift sealant would keep the ponies afloat (especially after Twilight had magically bailed out all the water that had filled the boat).

"All aboard ya'll!" Applejack scooted to one side, not noticing the boat stretching slightly to make room for the other ponies.

As soon as the rest of the Elements were safely inside the boat, it began to guide itself (with the help of some of Rarity's magic) down the river, flowing towards the trees and thickets.

"Looks like we are going to make it," Matrixwing said, "be ready for anything." It was at that moment that Rarity accidentally guided the boat into a patch of rapids that she lost control of the boat.

The ponies yelled as the boat lurched about, barreling at high speed further down the river, towards an uncertain destination.

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Nice job with this chapter. I'm happy this story updated. I can't wait for future chapters. Good luck.

[Dark Tempest]

4596604
Thank you so much for the support.