• Published 25th Aug 2012
  • 11,126 Views, 559 Comments

Lost and Found - Cloudy Skies



AJ and FS are lost, trying to get home. Meanwhile Dash struggles to understand what FS means to her.

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14. Ponyville

It wasn’t unexpected that Rarity would be late, of course. When Rainbow Dash had asked to meet her, she’d known about the extra five, ten, twenty or sixty minutes the unicorn seemed to add to any date in the name of fashionable lateness. The sensible thing, and what Dash usually did, was simply ask to see her an hour earlier than she otherwise would, and then take an hour-long nap. It was a great way to annoy her, and worked like a charm for sleepovers, hanging out and whatever else.

Today, Rainbow Dash was on time. She’d waited by the desolate cottage for all of two minutes when she spotted Rarity coming down the road as well. Even the short time it took for her friend to walk the path that led from Ponyville to the cottage was too long to wait.

After Fluttershy and Applejack had disappeared, the animals had seemed to abandon the place entirely. It wasn’t just that those who had made their home here had relocated; it was quiet and abandoned in a way that seemed entirely unnatural.

Perhaps the critters and birds had left it alone out of respect, Dash mused, but whatever the reason, it was decidedly uncomfortable standing outside the deathly silent home where she’d usually have to wrestle with birds on her way through Fluttershy’s door or windows coming in.

“There you are,” Dash snapped when Rarity finally drew near, leaning on the wall by the door.

“Yes, well, I had to observe certain matters of etiquette. By which I mean that I had to tell Sweetie Belle I was heading out for a bit on short notice, thanks to your message,” Rarity replied. Her tone was harsh, but her expression showed nothing of the sort. Dash could see it in her eyes and in her faint frown; Rarity was carefully watching her, judging and waiting to see how she’d react, as if she were a bomb ready to go off. As if she was fragile.

“Yeah, well, thanks anyway.” Rainbow Dash puffed out her cheeks and shrugged. She couldn’t work up the energy to pick a fight about it.

“You’re still flying out every day?” Rarity asked, tilting her head ever so slightly.

“I guess,” Dash affirmed. “Flitter’s the only one who still makes time to help out, but she just flies around Ponyville and Whitetail. I was thinking of doing another pass over the Everfree tonight.”

“In addition to the weather duties? After all these weeks?” Rarity pressed. If she was making a point, Rainbow Dash didn’t care to see it. With another shrug, Dash pushed the door to Fluttershy’s cottage open. Like most Ponyville citizens, she’d never gotten into the habit of locking it.

“Rainbow Dash, what did you want me here for? Celestia already obliged you in sending those royal guards to investigate, and they found nothing here.”

“I know!” Dash barked. “It just, I don’t know, it doesn’t feel right to be sneaking around her house alone. Makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong.”

“Well, that certainly doesn’t stop you often,” Rarity remarked.

Dash re-furled her wings and stopped on the spot barely past the threshold. The orange glow of the afternoon sun filtered in through the curtains illuminating the dust that danced in the air, and the cottage was exactly how she remembered it. It was scary that she’d thought of it like that, on impulse; as if there was a chance she’d ever forget. It was a house full of life, frozen in time. Various types of dry bird feed stood over by the corner, an open book lay at rest in the couch, and from where she was standing she could barely spot the kitchen nook where Rarity had respectfully cleaned up ‘lest mould overtake it.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that,” Rarity said from somewhere behind her.

“Huh? Eh, whatever,” Dash muttered, taking another few tentative steps forward. It was hard to decide where to start looking for something you didn’t know what was, exactly.

“Ah. Very well. Still, if you wanted me to come along because you’re uncomfortable being here alone,” Rarity continued, her voice softer by far. “I, ah. Well. I can sympathize, but it still doesn’t explain why we’re actually here.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. She knew that whatever it was that was missing from her nightstand, it was here. Fluttershy had knocked on her door some time last year, saying she really needed it. Dash had been half asleep and told her to take whatever she wanted, but now, she had to know. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that it was something that Fluttershy would keep in her bedroom, but the thought of invading upon that room was abhorrent for some reason. Best to eliminate all other possibilities. Rainbow Dash puffed out her cheeks and trotted over to throw open the nearest set of cupboards, revealing some writing supplies and dry feed of some sort.

“Rainbow Dash? What’s the matter?” Rarity asked, fidgeting over by the door. “You do realize I would help, if only you’d let me.”

“There’s something here,” Dash muttered. “Something that’s mine, I think. I don’t know.”

“Alright?” Rarity said. “What is it, then?”

“I don’t know,” Dash repeated.

“You’re here to collect something of yours, and you don’t know what it is?” Rarity deadpanned. Dash nodded and pulled open a set of drawers, but it was all wrong; linens and nothing but. As she reached for the next cupboard over, a soft glow surrounded the doors, and they wouldn’t budge no matter how hard she pulled.

“Come on, stop horsing around!” Dash groaned, turning around to glare at Rarity, but the unicorn wasn’t smiling. Nor was she looking particularly angry, for that matter. Horn still glowing, Rarity brushed the floor with her tail and sat down on her rump, all the while looking like she was trying to figure out where to put the next piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

In other words, she wanted to talk. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and flapped her wings, sailing over to scan a nearby bookcase instead.

“Rainbow Dash.”

She knew she wasn’t looking for a book, of course. That was pretty much all she knew; aside from a few old weather control manuals, she herself had never owned any books up until recently.

“I know she’s your oldest friend,” Rarity said.

“First. My first friend,” Dash corrected her, craning her neck to see if there was anything behind the neatly arranged books. Fluttershy had a lot of books on animal care, and while it was a far cry from Twilight’s collections, she had a wealth of other books as well. Mostly romance novels and silly fairy tales.

“Okay. And she means a lot to you, I understand that. Applejack does, too. They both do, to all of us, but perhaps—”

“Princess Celestia said to keep hope and never give up and all that stuff,” Dash interrupted her. She knew what Rarity wanted to say. She knew what the unicorn was getting at, and she had no intention of letting her say it. Empty words filled the gap instead.

“Yes, well, about that,” Rarity muttered. She touched her mane as she followed Rainbow Dash with her eyes, the pegasus flitting over to uselessly check under the cushions of Fluttershy’s living room couch. “I wouldn’t dream of gainsaying the princess, you understand, but when Twilight herself seems to avoid even speaking of her, much less with her, as I understand...” she trailed off.

Rainbow Dash made no reply, lifting the couch and jamming her snout underneath. Her body was searching in the most ridiculous places while her mind was paying far too much attention to Rarity’s words. It was impossible to ignore her.

“In fact, I worry as much about her as I do about you,” Rarity added.

“Tried talking to her,” Dash grunted, letting the couch back down. “She’s not listening. Miss Magicpants isn’t even working on something to bring them back any more.”

“Yes, the one time I managed to have a proper conversation with her, she said it was a complete effect. There is no way to do anything with the armor shard, no simple way of un-doing it because the spell was ended,” Rarity agreed, lowering her eyes to the floorboards.

“Uh-huh. So she’s working on something else now, I don’t know what. Could be a magical cake. I don’t know. I don’t care. It’s not helping,” Dash snapped, sounding a little angrier than she’d intended as she stuck her head into the kitchen.

“It’s not right of you to belittle all those who aren’t running around like headless chickens!” Rarity snapped, but whatever fury was in her tone was gone in an instant, the fashionista rubbing a foreleg with the other. “You’re so busy focusing on your own efforts, you don’t even try to understand.”

Dash sighed and lay her ears flat as she hung her head.

“I’ve sent word as far as I can—” Rarity began, but Dash cut her off.

“I know. I know you’ve done super awesome stuff, and I know Pinkie is going nuts trying to ask all her friends, which pretty much amounts to everypony in all of Equestria, and those few who travel outside, I know,” Dash groaned, rubbing her face. “I know. I didn’t mean it like that. I thought we had talked about this. We’re cool, right? Everything’s awesome,” she concluded with a weak smile.

“No offense taken,” Rarity affably agreed, pausing to nibble her lower lip as Rainbow Dash opened an ornate chest over on the other side of the room. Scarves, a few hats, and a bag of bits. Probably what little she’d not given away to charity after her little modelling stint. Still not what she was looking for. In the corner of her eye, she could see Rarity watching her still, the room pregnant with words.

"Maybe it's time to consider that they might not come back. They've been gone for well over a month, almost two, and we've heard absolutely nothing."

Rainbow Dash tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry. She closed her eyes and tried to make Rarity unsay those words, but it was futile. Like a marionette, her strings pulled by something much stronger and more immense than her, she snapped around to face Rarity.

"I'm not saying they won't," Rarity rushed to say. The white unicorn glanced nervously around. "I'm hardly about to say that they are lost, you know that, I just worry—"

"Take it back," Dash heard herself say.

Rarity's eyes were wide, but she didn't move a single inch. Rainbow Dash didn't wait for her to speak. Her eyes burning, her muscles aching with aimless strain, she leaned towards the frozen unicorn. "Take. It. Back!" she yelled as loud as she could. Her chest hurt.

"How can you say that? How can you even think like that?" Dash spat, her voice a low hiss. "If you don't want to run around, fine, let me be the headless chicken, I'm cool with that, but don't you dare try to convince me to give up!"

Rarity said nothing. She closed her eyes and sat very still as Dash railed at her.

"I don't. I don't have to consider anything!" Dash added, gritting her teeth. "I don't have to think anything except how to get them back. I don't have to think about where Fluttershy and Applejack are, I don't have to wonder about what we're all gonna do if they don't get back, I don't have to think about how I miss them, too, even if I don't have time to sit down and cry about it, okay?" Dash asked, desperately hoping there'd be no answer.

"I don't," she repeated, swallowing. Her fury all spent, she took a deep breath and drug her foreleg across her snout. It came away wet. "Because I have to—I have to find something, okay? So, can you help me look? It's probably upstairs. Fluttershy gave me something. Or I gave her something. I don't remember, and it's been driving me crazy."

Rarity remained still for another moment, eyes closed and snout down. Rainbow Dash could see her breathing slow, the fashionista exhaling before opening her eyes again. Sometimes, Rarity was cool like that. She merely nodded and put on a thin little smile.

"Of course," she said, motioning towards the stairs placed on the other side of the living room. "Let's go find it. I'm sure you'll recognize it when you see it."

Rainbow Dash nodded, waiting to walk side by side with Rarity as they mounted the stairs.

"I don't really think they are. And I wouldn't ever ask you to stop. If that's what you have to do, then you do it," Rarity said. Dash looked her way, but Rarity was carefully avoiding her eyes now.

"Yeah. Well, I won't stop," Dash shrugged. "And I know I'm not really gonna find them here."

"Then I haven't given you nearly enough credit. I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Rarity muttered.

"Mh," Dash voiced.

"Besides, you don't want to see the spare room back in the boutique. I think I've made enough scarves for you that I can sell them for three bits all through the coming winter."

Rainbow Dash couldn't quite suppress a little grin at that, nudging Fluttershy's bedroom door open. That terrible sense of intrusion returned. Where she'd usually have no problems soaring through Fluttershy's bedroom window unannounced, it was so very different now, and she couldn't help but think it wasn't just due to her absence.

"Okay, so, what do you think we're looking for?" Rarity asked. She trotted over to place herself dead center in the room, but Rainbow Dash shook her head.

"If I knew, I'd have found it, I think," she said, her eyes roving over mantelpiece, bedside chest, rafters, and finally her childhood friend's nightside work desk. The desk was tidy enough, even though Fluttershy had never really had a proper nightstand and thus used it as something the like. Books were neatly stacked, a brush and a small mirror rested on the far end, and closest to the bed, a small, colorful bracelet lay.

Rarity must've followed her eyes. As Rainbow Dash watched, the thin little bracelet was enveloped in the unicorn's aura and floated over to hover in front of Rarity's face.

"What is this?" Rarity asked, and Rainbow Dash couldn't decide whether to try to explain as she slowly began remembering, or tell her to put it down before she broke it. It was such a silly thing, but right now, the bracelet mattered more than all the rest of the world combined.

"It's just something me and Fluttershy made a long time ago," Dash said, licking her lips. "Can—can you put it down? Come on."

"Hair and down, is it?" Rarity suggested, arching a brow. Thankfully, she floated it over to Rainbow Dash, the pegasus catching it on a hoof. "I didn't expect one could make something so fine from such basic materiél."

"Yeah," Dash muttered. The half rainbow-colored, half pink bracelet was small, made for a foal's foreleg, and it was soft to the touch. She would probably have stood there staring at it all day if Rarity hadn't cleared her throat.

"Is this common? I've never seen anything like it," Rarity asked, walking over to stand by it. "It's Fluttershy's hoofwork?"

"No, and yeah. I used to think that everypony did this, or at least that most pegasi did it," Dash shrugged, sitting down on her haunches. "I guess not, huh? It was her idea. We made it in second year, I think. She wanted me to have it, but last year she popped by and asked if she could keep it with her. I didn't think about it, really. Just a silly little thing."

"Indeed," Rarity muttered, but she didn't look like she agreed at all. The silence lingered while Rarity sat there giving her some odd looks, but at length, the unicorn rose to stand. "Well. I’d say our little sortie was a success, then. Is that all? I should head back to the boutique, I suppose. I was, ah, thinking of trying to open for some sales on the coming Monday."

Dash frowned at the little bracelet. It took a while before she realized there'd been one of those questions that weren't really questions, there. She raised a brow at Rarity where she stood by the stairs down.

"In case you wanted to be warned. Or, well, if you object," Rarity added. "I wouldn't want to be disrespectful, but I do need to open the boutique again at some point."

"No, whatever," Dash muttered. "I'll just stay here for a bit I think, but thanks."

Rarity nodded, and with another long look at Rainbow Dash, left her alone. The pegasus stood immobile, waiting for the clop of her friend’s hooves to recede. Only after she heard the door shut downstairs did she let her mind roam.

Definitively second year. A year after the Sonic Rainboom. It had been a long day with a hard-earned lesson about the nature of fairweather friends. Details were hazy, but she knew there had been something of a fight. Ponies were claiming that Rainbow Dash had never actually done the rainboom herself, that it was a trick Word travelled fast in the flight school airspace, and her hang-arounds had shown their true colors. She barely remembered how it all had started, but she took the blame for it in the end. Blame and more than a few knocks to the head.

Perhaps the fight had been her fault, come to think of it. Often enough that was the case, but all Dash remembered was her and Fluttershy curled up in front of the fireplace in her parents' home. Just her and the one friend who stayed. Rarely the loudest support, she was always there, somewhere in the background. As long as she was in the crowd, flying felt worthwhile. How often hadn't she shrugged off Fluttershy's apologies those rare times she couldn't come watch her practice, only to decide she didn't feel like flying that very day anyway?

Dash rubbed her forehead. Days like these, being saddled with the Element of Loyalty felt like a hollow joke. It wasn't as if though she didn't miss Applejack too, but nothing would be gained by hitching on that. She was still missing something.

Dash groaned and clenched her eyes shut. Of course she was 'missing something'. She was missing Fluttershy, but that felt wrong, too. All this was making her head spin. With a little effort, she undid the clasp of the bracelet and put it the only place it would fit: around the base of one of her wings. That done with, she sailed downstairs and made for the door. She'd love to take a flight to clear her thoughts, but after so many days spent on her wings in a fruitless, limited search doomed to fail, she almost preferred to use her legs instead. If Applejack was here, she'd challenge her to a race or something just to burn some energy, but Applejack was gone, too.

Rolling her eyes at the whole situation, preferring exasperation to yet more moping, Rainbow Dash didn't notice the rubbish bin by Fluttershy's door before she smashed a foreleg into it.

"Gah!" Dash yelped, cradling her leg as the bin toppled over, spilling its contents all over the floor. With a groan, she started shoving back in all the stuff that had spilled. "Why the hay couldn't the stupid guards take out the trash while they were here?" she muttered, silently grateful that it had all been dry stuff; cardboard, boxes of different types of animal food and a single piece of paper.

A piece of paper with Rainbow Dash's name on it. She couldn't not peek. It was a thing of complete chance that she saw the word "Rainbow" on the creased paper, and it wasn't a decision to lay it flat against the floor, smoothing the wrinkles before she read it. It wasn't an invasion of privacy or curiosity—or maybe it was, but she had to know.

Dear Fluttershy,

I’m very sorry, but your mother and I can’t make the wedding you mention. We couldn’t clear the schedule in time due to it being such short notice, but as always, we appreciate the invitation. If you had told us a little sooner, we would have been delighted to attend.

We hope things are well with you and your Rainbow Dash. Is there another wedding on the horizon? Whatever you decide, we are proud of you, and we always will be. Your mother still feels you should come visit more often, and we hope you understand that you are both welcome in our home even if we've had our disagreements in the past.

Love,
Mom and Dad.

Dash blinked, furrowed her brow and read it again. When she'd finished her second read, she automatically read it yet again, and then another time for good measure, but the strange letter refused to make sense. She left the letter on the floor, barely pausing to slam the door shut before shooting down the road at a speed that raised a furrow of dust in her wake. It still felt too slow. For all the time she'd spent trying to busy her mind for the past month—trying to make time pass waiting for her friends to get back home—everything was dilated, syrupy and soggy now. It was a matter of minutes to catch up to Rarity, but it may as well have been hours.

"Rainbow Dash!" cried Rarity as Dash skidded to a halt in front of her. The unicorn had nearly made it to the bridge that crossed into Ponyville proper, and once Rainbow Dash stopped, the fashionista broke into a cough brought on by the dust Dash drug in her wake.

"Whatever is the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost," Rarity added, futilely waving a leg to clear the air.

"You've talked to Fluttershy's parents, right?" Dash asked. There was a time for playing nice and explaining. This wasn't it.

"Well—"

"You took over sending them letters about how stuff is going, right?" Dash asked. Rarity drew back and nodded, her neck craned and her lips pursed.

"As I was about to confirm, yes," Rarity agreed with a huff, raising her snout skywards. "Twilight isn't doing the best of jobs keeping up with things, as we've both agreed, so I'm keeping dear Posey and Rising Star informed. They're very nice ponies both."

"Okay, yeah, great, amazing, where do they live?" Dash pressed.

"I've seen better manners from animals," Rarity muttered. "They live in Cloudsdale. Rising Star has a rather prominent position in a college of some sort, Posey got an enchantment done. She's an earth pony, you know. Not many earth ponies live in Cloudsdale, but you can imagine how many want the services of an earth pony gardener there."

"Address!" Dash cried.

"I am not telling you until you tell me why you want to know! What's gotten into you now?" Rarity snapped right back, sitting on her haunches and crossing her forelegs, a gesture that was as odd on her as it was annoying.

"And if you tell me something vague or if you say you 'don't know' one more time, I swear I will scream," Rarity added just as Dash opened her mouth to say those exact words. The pegasus groaned and flapped her wings pointlessly.

"I found something, okay? A letter. I want to ask Fluttershy's parents something—"

"Something," Rarity repeated, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Rainbow Dash sighed and slumped. "It wasn't even important, I think. Something about the wedding. She said something about her parents not being able to come to the wedding, remember?"

"Then why so eager to talk to them?" Rarity asked, tilting her head. "Darling, I'm not trying to be difficult here. You've been running around half-crazed lately and if I can help, I will, but I don't know if barrelling into their life talking about their missing daughter is what they need right now."

Dash inspected one of her hooves and cleared her throat. "So, uh, did they ever talk about me?"

Rarity blinked.

"I mean, Poser and whomever-Star," Dash shrugged.

"I'll admit Fluttershy never talked much of them," Rarity said, each word measured. "I'd have thought you would know better than I, honestly. What's this about?"

"Why would they say 'your Rainbow Dash' in a letter to Fluttershy? And why would they think we would get married?"

Rarity raised a brow, mouth half open, and Dash waited. Better that Rarity put her brain to use than that Dash should draw the wrong conclusion and start panicking.

"Do they think you're an item?" Rarity gasped.

Or perhaps Rarity would draw the exact same conclusion as her. Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut and drew breath through her nose. Her voice shook ever so slightly. "Can I have that address now?"