Lost in Darkness

by ChocolateFan25

Chapter 5 - Loneliness

Her hooves nearly flew across the ground as she ran as fast as she could. She ran without a destination and with no direction. She just ran in pure panic.

"I have to get out of here!" Fleetfoot yelled. Her lungs burned and wing ached with every step. "Why did they leave me here! WHY!" Tears dwelled in her eyes and her eyesight became blurry. But for once, she didn't cared.

One of her hooves slipped on the wet ground and she lost balance. She tumbled and rolled around for a few seconds, before she slid to a halt.

Fleetfoot lay there and did nothing but breathing heavily. "I'm tired from running around... I'm tired of fearing everything..." she thought and pulled her legs close to her body. "I'm homesick..."

While laying among the foul smelling leaves and the crawling insects, Fleetfoot listened closely. The wind blew through the trees, rustling the green leaves. The birds sang happy melodies. A few mosquitoes flew in circles through the air. But no sound, that would indicate her comrades.

"Why did they left?" Fleetfoot asked to herself. "I thought... I thought we were friends. Or was I wrong? Was this one fight already enough for them to ditch me?"

Her sobbing grew louder, but no matter how long she thought about it, she came to no conclusion. Carefully, she lifted her foreleg in front of her and rubbed her eyes. Fleetfoot looked down when she felt something soft and was reminded of the piece of fabric around her neck, acting as some sort of scarf.

"Home..." she muttered and took the end of the scarf to clean her face from the tears. "I-I can't just... give up."'

With a bit of effort she got up. For a second, Fleetfoot felt dizzy and her body screamed at her to lay down again. "No... I have to keep walking... The woods are never safe."

Fleetfoot lifted her head and looked around her, to check the area and see, where she ended up. Far less trees blocked her view and the red evening sky lightened the place up. The ground was covered in even more leaves and a stench filled the air.

"It looks and smells like every other spot of the forest." Fleetfoot thought. "But why are there no trees?" She walked a few steps toward the clearing when she noticed the coat around her forelegs getting wet. She looked down to see her legs slowly disappearing into the ground.

"Wha-- Oh no!" she yelled and tried to back off. Her hind legs slid on the muddy ground. Fleetfoot tried to lift her weight on her hind legs to free herself. To her shock she saw, how she sank more and more.

"Think fast!" Fleetfoot thought and looked around. There was nothing in sight, that would give her a better grip. No low hanging branches and no boulder around her.

"I can't just die here! There has to be a way out!" she thought panicked. In an last effort, she opened her good wing and flapped as hard as possible. It was less of a good plan and more acting on instinct.

With only one wing, she was not able to fly, but thanks to all those years training, practicing and working as a Wonderbolt, her wing was strong enough to push her slowly out of the swamp. Fleetfoot grit her teeth and thanked Celestia in her mind for every inch she got farther away from the swamp.

With one last, final push, she felt the grip of the swamp fading and fell down on the muddy, but safe ground behind her. "That was really close." she mumbled and folded her wing again.

For a while, she starred up into the sky. The sun disappeared behind the horizon again and the stars of the night sky shone again. A cold chill went down Fleetfoot's body when it got colder.

"My comrades..." she thought. "They were there. Searching for me. If they would have not cared about me... they wouldn't have searched for me. I was overreacting. We have been comrades for so many years now. I know, I haven't been the perfect comrade lately. I do mistakes, like everypony else, and I apologize for them. But they wouldn't let me down so easily. Well, that's what I hope..."

With a long sigh, she stood up again and rubbed her head. "Why do I feel so tired?" Her gaze fell down on her good wing. "It should have been less effort than a round of wing-ups, but it still took me everything to get out of the swamps. Now that I think about it, how long have I been in the woods? When was the last time I ate or drank something?"

The more she tried to think, the more her headache grew. Until now, she thought the nausea was a side effect of her concussion. In her life she had a couple of concussions, so it wasn't something new to her. "It shouldn't last this long. And a sore throat is surely not caused by concussions." she said and frowned.

"Well, finding a nice apple tree was surely not the first thing in my mind. But if the others don't find me soon, then it should become my highest concern." She turned around for a last time. The rotten leaves did a great job, covering the swamps so it could lure its victims into thinking, that it was nothing but a simple clearing.

"I'm in the Hayseed Swamps, I should have expected to walk into an actual swamp at least once." she thought. She then looked down on herself. Her hooves were covered in brown-greenish mud. "At least it didn't reach my wing. There aren't too many open wounds, but I certainly don't want to deal with infections."

Fleetfoot walked to the next tree in sight and picked with her hoof some of the leaves up. There was no river or pond close by, so there was no way to wash the stench from her body. "First thing I'll do if I should leave the forest alive: taking a long bath."

Fleetfoot did her best to wipe the mud from her legs. The leaves weren't efficient, but it worked.

The cry of an owl made her shriek. "I should search for someplace to sleep. Someplace safe." She felt uncomfortable walking through the dark forest. After walking into so many dangers, she felt constantly watched.

"Stop being so afraid." she said to herself in her best effort to cheer herself up. "You are a strong mare. No, you are a Wonderbolt! A Wonderbolt is not afraid of dangers! We train so long, so we can protect other ponies. I escaped the Timberwolves, the bear and now the swamps! If I couldn't protect myself, I would have never became a Wonderbolt in the first place!"

Fleetfoot took a deep breath and lifted her head high into the air. "I can do it!" she said, but her voice still wavered.

She continued her way until she found a good spot to spend the night. In front of her was one of the bigger trees. Its roots were gnarled and stuck out of the ground more than it should be. This created a small room under the roots. It was certainly not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it was the best she could find in such a short time.

Carefully, she crawled down under the roots. The smell of earth was even stronger and to her dismay, it turned out to be a perfect spot for all sorts of insects.

"Eww..." Fleetfoot said when she wiped a spider from her face. "The night will be over soon. And then... well, then what?" For a moment she pondered what she should do next. But the tiredness washed over her and soon she closed her eyes. It didn't matter to her anymore in what mud hole she lay.

"It will be a better day. It has to be. Just remember - as long as I can protect myself, everything will be fine." she encouraged her while making herself comfortable under the roots.

She was nearly asleep when a voice echoed in her mind. "The Timberwolves? The forest? Tirek? Can you really protect other ponies? Or even yourself in that matter?"

Fleetfoot was tired. Really tired. But this one question, lingering in her mind, kept her from sleep for a long while.

***

"If you continue like this, we both end up bitter and unhappy."

Another night spread out its darkness over the lands and the Wonderbolts headquarters fell silent once more. Wave Chill sat on one of the chairs of the lounge. In his right hoof he held a mug, filled with black, hot coffee. He knew, he should sleep instead, but even without the coffee he would find no rest.

His left hoof shook against his will. Wave Chills gaze fell down on the table in front of him, but the sight gave him no more hope than an hour ago. A large map of the Hayseed Swamps lay unfolded on the table. Large markings were drawn on the spots, that were thoroughly searched.

In the course of this one day the eleven pegasi flew over the entire spot multiple times. But there was no sign of Fleetfoot other than the few parts of her uniform. High Winds brought the tracker to the spot on Misty Fly's order. But after not hearing from him for the rest of the day he came to the conclusion, that he had as much success as all the others.

"I love you, but... I can't go on any longer."

The only thing Wave Chill wanted was some rest. Just forgetting about the rest of the world and all problems and sleep for the rest of the week. But her voice seemed to haunt him. The words of his former marefriend. The last words of his former marefriend to him, to be exactly. He tried his best to ignore it and every memory of her, but it was useless.

"I hope you'll find somepony, who can make you happy. It seems that I am not this pony and have never been."

"Just... be quiet!" he hissed between his teeth and squinted his eyes.

"Are you alright?" He heard a worried, but well-known voice behind him. Wave Chill opened his eyes again and his body relaxed.

"Yes, I am." he said quietly. His head hung low, as well as his ears.

"It doesn't sound like that." Misty Fly trotted into the room and sat beside him. She looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. "Your hoof is shaking." she noticed.

Wave Chill frowned for a second and pressed his hoof against his side, to hide the shaking. "I don't need pity." he thought and snarled. "I hate this. And I hate my stupid hoof."

Misty Fly stood up and took the mug out of his hoof while resting her wing on his shoulder.

"I-I just had too much coffee. Nothing to worry about." he said and looked away. His hoof moved even more toward his back.

"You can't fool me." Misty Fly said with a chuckle. Wave Chill just bit his lip and looked down. "I know you since flight school. You already did this back then, when the homework was too much for you. Or after you got in fights with the bullies and the teacher punished you instead of them. Do you remember?" She showed him a warm and comforting smile.

Wave Chill looked away again and sighed. "Yeah. I know, it's a bad habit."

Silence filled the room, none of them knew what to say next. Misty Fly turned around and her eyes stayed on the fireplace not too far away from them. The fire crackled slowly, eating its way through the pieces of wood beneath it. "Is it still that painful for you?" she asked in a quiet voice and lowered her eyebrows.

Wave Chill frowned and he felt an unease at this question. "Of course." he said. His voice was emotionless, as if his mind would be far away.

"You can talk to me about it. If you want." Misty Fly said.

Wave Chill knew her as well as she knew him. She would never fake pity or sympathy. When she showed it, she truly meant it. If it would have been any other pony, he would have just snarled and left the room with the feeling of anger and embarrassment.

"There is nothing to talk about." he simply said and took his mug from her again. Another long silence filled the room, but this time it felt more uncomfortable. His hoof was still shaking, no matter how much he tried to stop it.

Misty Fly sighed and was about to get up and leave the room until he finally spoke.

"She doesn't leave." he said in a low voice and his eyes hung low.

Misty Fly looked at him for second, genuinely surprised that he decided to trust her after all. She took a closer look to see, what his body language told her. Finally she stood up, just to sit down more close to him. Instead of angry or annoyed, he reacted not at all.

"No matter where I am, she is everywhere. In the bakery, in my room, even in my coffee!" he said. His voice trembled. He tried for so long to ignore it, but he couldn't anymore.

"Your coffee?" Misty Fly asked.

Wave Chill looked down on the mug. The coffee was still hot, but he felt the heat fading away. "She... is a bit grumpy after waking up. Always hated the mornings. I used to make her some coffee so she could be ready for the day. Two spoons of coffee in one mug."

His mind wandered away and a faint smile appeared on his face. "Once, I did far too much workout and nearly overslept the next morning. I accidentally mistook the cacao for the coffee. It tasted awful, but... she laughed." He took a sip of the mug in his hooves. Warm and bitter. But on this evening, he found no joy in drinking it.

Misty Fly rubbed her chin and thought about his words. "You still love her." she said slowly.

For a while he thought about her words. His thoughts started racing again so he stood up and walked around the room. "Yes... no... I..." he started and walked in circles. His mind was too troubled to stay calm.

"I did, I really did. But... she abandoned me. For somepony else! Just because he... has a big family and a relaxed job with more time on his hooves than I'll ever have. And he brings her flowers and such things."

His voice was filled with disgust. "I have been with her for two years! I was her friend in all the difficulties of her life! Like the time she had to find a new job, because her co-workers blamed her for stealing from their lockers. Or the time she was in a huge fight with her father and I helped them to make up again. Or... or... It doesn't matter anymore. I helped her, always. But when I needed help, somepony by my side... she left me." He gulped and continued his walk through the lounge.

Misty Fly's gaze kept on him, but she kept quiet. Instead of commenting, she listened and offered him all the attention he needed.

"I know, I am not the kind of guy every mare would swoon over. I mean, bouquets and chocolate and poems are... well, things a guy throws at a mare if he is too desperate and can't think of something better. I have never been the romantic type, but... I always gave my best."

For a moment he stood still and lost himself in old memories. He tried to clung to the good memories, but they faded away, one after another. They became small and unimportant in his eyes. The only thing left were the disappointments.

"She... she left so much pain. I wanted... no, I made her suffer for that. With every second, with every word I wanted her to feel the pain she caused me!"

With a bit more force than intended he put his mug on the table. A few drops of coffee fell out of the mug and left brown spots on the map.

Misty Fly stared at them for a moment before looking back to her friend. "Fleetfoot is not her." she said and got up to get a tissue paper.

Wave Chill stood still, his ears hanging low. He realized it already on his flights over the Hayseed Swamps. But saying it was more difficult.

"I know it." he said slowly while Misty Fly lifted his mug from the table and wiped away the coffee. The stains would always stay, always be visible. But she decided it was better to clean up the rest of the liquid before it would be worse.

"I know it now." Wave Chill trotted to the chair and let himself fall into it. The feeling of emptiness stayed, even after talking most of his problems off his mind. "What Fleetfoot said back then in Spitfire's office... She was right. Fleetfoot is so much like her. This overambitious way to deal with things, this love for sappy stories and romance. Even this strange, snorting laughter."

He smiled, even if his eyes told something different. "I didn't wanted to hurt Fleetfoot on purpose. I couldn't help myself. We all knew how much she suffered from this incident with Tirek and... something in my mind told me, that it was the right thing to do. I wish I could still apologize to Fleetfoot for all of this. To set the things right I did wrong with her. But... It's too late for that."

"Don't give up." Misty Fly said, putting her hoof on his shoulder.

"The tracker." Wave Chill suddenly said. "What did the tracker find?"

Misty Fly gulped and took her hoof off him again. For a moment, she looked down and her ears hung low. "He... followed her hoofprints for a while. But a group of wild pigs trampled over them at some point and we lost the track again."

"The tracker gave up. The Timberwolf team gave up. Why shouldn't we give up?"

Misty Fly thought for a moment. She scratched her head and tried to come up with the right words to convince him.

"She is our comrade." she started slowly. "She has been there for us. And we should be there for her. Also, you know how stubborn she can be. Do you really think she would give up herself that easily?"

A small chuckle came out of Wave Chill. "No. I guess not." He looked up at her and into her eyes. "Thanks. For helping me when I needed it most." he said, his words sounding sincere.

Misty Fly opened her mouth to say something until both of them heard the clopping of hooves on the floor, coming closer to them with each step.

"Wave? Misty? Why are you still awake?" a confused and somewhat sleepy Spitfire said.

"Oh, we couldn't sleep." Misty Fly said.

Spitfire entered the room and came close to Misty Fly. "It would be better if you go to bed anyway." She made a motion toward Wave Chill and tried to tell her with her body language, that she wanted to talk with him alone.

Misty Fly caught on that and nodded vigorously. "Good night." she said and looked a last time to Wave Chill before walking away.

Spitfire looked to the blue pegasus and walked toward him. "We have to talk." she said.

Wave Chill groaned in his thoughts. In this moment he felt more vulnerable than he liked. Misty Fly was his friend, but he just couldn't feel the same way of trust for any other comrade. But he knew he couldn't walk away and leave Spitfire. She wasn't here as a comrade, she was here as a captain.

"I know."

"We all noticed your argument with Fleetfoot right before the incident. And according to Misty, this was the main reason for the failing of the mission and Fleetfoot's disappearance. What started the fight between both of you?"

Wave Chill kept silent for a moment. "She just... made me do it." he said. It was hard enough to pour out his heart in front of Misty Fly, a yearlong friend. He would never do such a thing in front of Spitfire.

"What did she do?"

"She didn't do anything wrong."

"What did she say then?"

"It wasn't about anything she said either. It's complicated."

"I don't think so." Spitfire turned around and looked into the fireplace. "Wave, answer me one question. Why do we always fly in groups of three ponies?"

"So we can protect each other in dangers and work as a unit, even if one of us is hindered from acting." He remembered with embarrassment the Timberwolves and how he just watched them attack Fleetfoot. It happened too quick for him to react.

"You still know it." she said and turned around again to look into his eyes. "What Fleetfoot did was... not smart, to say the least. But you shouldn't have added fuel to the fire. We all have our bad days, but we have to deal with it, so we don't harm the ponies around us."

She sighed and stepped closer toward him with a stern look on her face. "Wave." she said. "You are a good comrade and Wonderbolt and I really don't like to do this, but... if Fleetfoot doesn't appear in the next days, and also alive, there will be consequences for you."

Wave Chill gulped and nodded.

"You should go to bed as well. We all had a long and hard day." With dropped ears and another sigh she left the room and left Wave Chill alone with his never ending river of thoughts.

His gaze fell on the fire and deep in his heart he hoped, that Misty Fly was right. "That's quite typical for me." he muttered with a sarcastic laugh. "I ruin everything. My relationship, my friendship and now my career."

He got up, even more exhausted after putting so much focus on the wounds of his soul. "Good night, Fleetfoot." he said and put out the fire.

***

Fleetfoot's eyes were closed, but she felt a cold breeze running through her mane and coat. She felt weightless and she noticed, that something was off. It was very bright around her. Fleetfoot opened her eyes and noticed the bright blue sky above her.

"What happened?" she wondered in her thoughts and looked down. She wasn't in the Hayseed Swamps anymore. In fact, she was flying over the woods. Flying was so normal to her, that she barely noticed her wings moving. "What happened to my wing? Why am I flying?" she asked without stopping the flight.

"What are you talking about?"

The voice sent a shock through her body. She looked to her side to see Misty Fly. Her goggles were lifted as well as one of her eyebrows.

"MISTY?!" Fleetfoot yelled and stopped immediately.

"Can't stop causing problems, huh?"

Fleetfoot turned around with wide opened eyes. Wave Chill snarled and was clearly not happy about her actions.

"You... you guys..." Fleetfoot said dumbfounded.

This raised the concern of Misty Fly. "Are you alright? I mean... do you feel sick?"

"But... we were... and you... I was in the forest..."

"In the forest? But we are on our way there." Misty Fly said.

This confused Fleetfoot even more. "So... all of this was a daydream? I was not attacked by the Timberwolves and dragged into the Hayseed Swamps, were I wandered around for days?"

Wave Chill shook his head in disbelief while Misty Fly started laughing. "Fleet, you have a pretty vivid imagination. Come on, let's concentrate on the mission."

Fleetfoot's mind felt empty and far away, but a slow smile appeared on her face. "He... he he. I just dreamed..."

"Fleet, come on! We get in trouble if we don't hurry." Misty Fly said with a sudden urge.

"No, wait!" Fleetfoot turned to Wave Chill, who seemed to be still grumpy from their fight in the headquarters. "I'm sorry." she said sincerely. "I shouldn't have enraged you and what I did and said was foolish. Please, let's be friends again, okay?"

Wave Chill and Misty Fly exchanged confused looks before he said "Fine. Just don't annoy me anymore."

Fleetfoot felt the weight being lifted off her mind. "That's great... You don't know how much this means to me." She then looked to Misty Fly and said "We can go."

Misty Fly shrugged and they continued their way.

Fleetfoot couldn't stop grinning for a while. She felt for the first time in a while really good. "I must admit, that was the most realistic daydream I ever had." she thought with a sigh. "Hey, Wave? I'm sorry that I'm a bit absent-minded today, but what was our destination again?" Fleetfoot asked with a sheepish grin.

There was no answer. Fleetfoot frowned and looked to her side, but there was no one. "Wave?" she asked again. "Where is he?" She turned around again, but Misty Fly was gone as well. "Guys?!" she yelled. Panic started to take over her mind and she stopped in midair. "Guys!"

"FLEE!" A scream sounded below her. With a shock she saw Wave Chill and Misty Fly falling down. There were no fields or trees anymore, only an endless, dark abyss.

"MISTY! WAVE!" Fleetfoot yelled and flew after them. She pushed her wings with all her might, her forelegs were stretched out and she was only inches away from Misty Fly. Suddenly, she noticed that something was off. Instead of her dark-blue eyes, a pair of dull, gray eyes looked back at her.

"Flee, as far away as possible!" Misty Fly yelled.

All of the sudden, Fleetfoot froze in midair. She wasn't able to move a single inch. With terror in her eyes she looked down and saw her friends disappearing into the darkness.

"NOOO!" Fleetfoot screamed.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING, LITTLE PONY?!" a loud voice boomed.

She recognized the voice and fear overtook her completely. Her joyful awakening turned all of the sudden into her worst nightmare.

"YOUR MAGIC IS MINE!"

From the corner of her eyes she saw her pink colored magic being ripped out of her. Her body started to feel weak and her wings felt like rocks. His magic grip on her loosened and she fell into the abyss, like her friends before her. She yelled a last time while getting closer to the ground.

She punched around and gasped for breath. A hard knock against her head gave her the feeling for reality again. "Wha--" she said and looked up. Above her were the same hard and gnarly roots she crawled under before going to sleep.

"It... was a dream?" she thought. Her body was drenched in sweat and she shook in the cold air. It was still dark, but not pitch-black dark anymore. The morning would arrive soon. Fleetfoot lay back into the mould and closed her eyes. "It's good, that it was only a dream. Well, I wish the first part wasn't..."

She hugged her scarf and tried to sleep for a bit longer. Her body felt sore and her mind exhausted. "Tirek..." she thought. "Would there be any difference if I would've trained more before fighting him? No one got even close to him. Not even the Princesses. It took some sort of ancient magic to defeat him. Was all my effort in vain? Are there really some things I can't change or prevent... no matter how hard I try?"

Slowly, her mind drifted off into a more calm sleep.

Author's Note:

The exams are almost over (only English in two days) and then I can rest for the rest of the summer. More or less. In the last days I had a bit more free time, so I got around to write the next chapter. And draw a new cover art. I think this one looks better.

Next chapter Fleetfoot gets a nice pep talk and you guys will find out why the Timberwolves haven't eaten her yet, despite having all the time and chances to do it.