Lost and Found

by Cloudy Skies

22. Lost

Once they were out of the throne room, Fluttershy spread her wings and arched her neck letting out a deep, shuddering sigh. They were free. Before she could stop herself, she trotted closer to Applejack and wrapped her forelegs around her neck, seizing her in a hug.

“Uh, hey there, sugar,” Applejack chuckled, returning the hug before gently disentangling herself. The farmpony was grinning, but tilted her head in question all the same. “You okay?”

“We both are, now,” Fluttershy replied.

“Quite a feat,” Shadowtop added by way of agreement as they made their way through the palace halls once more. “I don’t quite understand how you saw it. Perhaps it’s one of those things it takes an outsider to see.”

“Outsider?” Tadar echoed with smug grin of his own. “Such a gamble would shame most of those native to the Bazaar, especially that bluff.”

“Bluff?” Applejack asked.

“The threat to stay whilst Fluttershy escaped,” Tadar said.

Applejack shrugged. “What bluff?”

“Applejack! You know I’d never—I mean, I couldn’t!” Fluttershy stammered, her legs nearly failing her as she tried to keep pace with the still smiling earth pony.

“Which is why I didn’t tell you, ‘cause you’d get your mane in a tangle over it,” Applejack said. “Hardly matters now anyway.”

Fluttershy stopped on the spot, her wings touching the floor where they drooped at her sides. Tadar and Shadowtop didn’t seem to notice, but Applejack halted after a few paces.

“Sugar?” she intoned, her brow set in a worried frown. Fluttershy could barely hear her over the sound of her own heartbeat and the rush of blood in her ears. The whole town, new and exciting as it was, had also been scary. The vague, ephemeral threat of the dungeons, that had been even scarier. The truly terrifying part had always been the thought of never being able to get home; that they should fail here and never see Equestria again. To never see Rainbow Dash.

But the idea that she should return alone, that Applejack was ready to stay behind, that made her blood run cold. Separation. Fluttershy fixed Applejack with a glare.

“It matters,” she said, her voice tempered steel.

“It’s over,” Applejack said, raising a placating hoof. “There’s no sense in getting riled up—”

“It’s only over if you can promise you’ll never ever do that again!” Fluttershy protested. “You can’t ever even joke about that. I mean it. I would never ever leave you behind, you have to believe that,” she cried.

“Of course I know that, I never once doubted that!” Applejack retorted, pulling back.

“No you don’t! Not if you think I’d have gone on without you. If I’m going to trust you won’t leave me, I have to trust that you trust me, too,” Fluttershy implored, shaking her head and sitting down on the spot. No sooner had her rump hit the carpeted floor than was Applejack in front of her, nuzzling her.

“You’re overthinking it, but for what it’s worth? I’m sorry,” Applejack murmured, her eyes downcast. “We’re getting through this together, and I am right sorry for tricking you if that’s what it feels like."

Fluttershy nodded and swallowed. “Okay. I didn’t really think you would. I mean, I just that I don’t want to have to do that, to leave you.”

“Don’t want to have to tough this one out alone? Yeah, me neither. Ain’t planning on it. For what it’s worth, next time I’ll tell you what I’m planning. Promise,” Applejack finished for her, nudging her chest to set her standing again. “Come on.”

Catching up to the other two was quick work. Tadar and Shadowtop had halted further down the hall and around a bend, engaged in hushed words that the ponies’ arrival scattered like straw before the wind. Once rejoined, they walked together to a large room set in the center of the palace, a tall chamber crammed with all manner of things from carpets and hourglasses to vases and chairs.

“Storeroom,” Shadowtop explained. “What we don’t find here, I’m sure I can find you the gold to purchase in the markets.”

“And what you can’t find in the Bazaar’s markets, well, odds are it doesn’t exist,” Tadar added. “I believe we had something of a list?”

“Map, water, food and shelter,” Applejack agreed with a nod.

“Maybe we could get some new saddlebags too?” Fluttershy asked. “If it’s not too much trouble. The ones we have are, well,” she trailed off, pointedly looking at the pair Applejack wore. A piece of Applejack’s heavier cloak was poking out from one of many holes. It was a miracle the hastily thrown together things had lasted so long.

“I’m sure we can find something suitable. Something made for a small camel or a large gazelle should fit you just fine,” Shadowtop nodded, the gazelle craning her neck to look down the different aisles lined with shelves and poking through bins of cloth as she spoke. “Map, though? I would have thought that was your area, Tadar.”

“This is as far east as I have ever been,” the zebra shrugged. “I am not one for challenging the Dune Sea, but I’ve been hundreds of leagues west and north both, you know.”

“Save your boasts,” the gazelle grunted. A moment later she lit up in a smile, darting over to grab a small, elegant bottle from a shelf. Gently, she put it down on the ground in front of the ponies. Fluttershy looked askance at her, and at a small nod, leaned forwards to inspect the curved glasswork. It looked like nothing special, though it was a very nice bottle.

“While I myself make no apologies, I believe this should be ample thanks for yelling at the prince and getting Tadar off my back by sending him south,” the gazelle explained with a glance at a particularly sour-looking zebra. Tadar held his mock look of hurt for all of three seconds before he brightened.

“Oh. Oh wait, this is the decanter the Rhiisian envoy gifted the prince?” Tadar asked.

“And in the six years since he got it, he’s not used it once.” Shadowtop nodded before turning to the ponies. “This decanter will hold anything, it is said. Well, practically anything. The envoy said it was once used to drain a small lake. We’re hardly, well, swimming in lakes here, so the prince wasn’t very impressed. It’s supposed to be very, very magical.”

“Cannot believe he’d let such an artifact gather dust,” Tadar interjected.

“Oh goodness,” Fluttershy said, taking a step back from it, suddenly afraid she’d accidentally step on it or ruin the doubtlessly very expensive thing. “Are you sure it’s okay?”

“He won’t miss it. If he does, I’ll tell the truth. If he’s not going to fire me over the worst breakfast interruption ever, he won’t fire me because I tossed out his trash. Now, let’s see about a map, shall we?”

---

It was awkward to find a good spot for farewells. The Bazaar didn’t have any city wall or real border, and its buildings gradually thinned out for almost a full league before the last of the outlying abodes were behind them, giving way to sand and stone alone.

At a small tower staffed by a pair of red-cloaked guards, the cobblestone road they had been following disappeared, swallowed up by the sands. Applejack was the first to stop and turn around, so Fluttershy did the same, lining up next to her friend to face Shadowtop and Tadar.

“You are absolutely sure you don’t want to stay a while?” Tadar asked. “It is no trouble at all, and if you have travelled as far as you say, another few nights of rest could do you good.”

Fluttershy shifted, working the new saddlebags they’d been provided with down her body a bit. It was a snug fit atop the thin and loose cloaks Tadar insisted they keep. When nopony spoke, she glanced over to find Applejack with her snout deep inside her own saddlebags.

Fluttershy smiled back at Tadar and shook her head. “It’s a very nice offer, but we talked about it a little, and we really want to get going. Sorry.”

“Proper clothes, light gem thingers,” Applejack rattled off.

“Hardly anything to apologize for,” Shadowtop commented with a low noise that might have been the beginnings of a chuckle.

“The map, compass, dried foods—”

“Well, um, maybe not, but I guess we won’t be seeing each other again. At least not soon,” Fluttershy said, her smile faltering at the thought. “I mean, when we get home—it’s so far away and everything.”

“Ah, don’t say that,” Tadar protested, taking a step forward to touch his forehead to hers. “Just because I’ve never journeyed further east doesn’t mean I won’t want to. There’s so much more of the world to see, and who knows? Maybe I’ll convince this here old relic to come with!” The zebra nudged Shadowtop in the side, making the gazelle jump, then roll her eyes.

“I think that’s rather unlikely, but I suppose odds are Tadar will get himself into some trouble that I need to help him out of,” she retorted.

“—fancy canteen thinger, Fluttershy has the shelter and her cloak, hm—”

“Or you’ll be working just as hard to get me into trouble,” Tadar replied. In the short silence that followed, the two shared grins that didn’t quite reach their eyes. Fluttershy brought a hoof to her mouth to stifle the budding giggle.

“Huh? Oh, hay, you’re comin’ to visit,” Applejack said, the earth mare apparently satisfied with her little inspection.

“Sorry?” Tadar intoned.

“We owe you. This stuff couldn’t have been cheap. Fancy saddlebags,” she said, poking them. “Clothes that’re supposed to make you feel colder at day—I still don’t understand that bit—and a magical flask thinger to boot? You gotta come by so we can repay you. Settle the debt.”

“Um,” was all Fluttershy managed, raising one leg half off the ground.

Shadowtop snorted, an impressively loud sound for such a slight creature. “I think we’re in disagreement of where the debt lies, here. You’ve done a lot—”

“See? Goes both ways, twice the reason to come visit,” Applejack interrupted, grinning.

With their farewells said, and their two friends walking back towards the heart of the bazaar, Fluttershy and Applejack stood before the Dune Sea so aptly named. Fluttershy’s lips felt dry just from looking at it. If she peered over her shoulder, she could see the living, breathing town of the Bazaar, the faint din of civilization still audible and smells drifting out all the way here. Ahead, there was only sand and a few rocky outcroppings to prevent total monotony. Fluttershy took a deep breath.

“Look at you, all ready to go,” Applejack commented, looking up from where she had the map unfurled on the single last cobblestone offered by the terminated road.

Fluttershy nodded. “I’m really sorry. If you really wanted to stay for a bit, I’m sure we could have.”

Applejack shook her head. “Figured spending the night would be good, that it wouldn’t make much difference, but I meant it when I said it was fine. No need to keep fussing and apologizing.”

“Right. Okay. Sorry,” Fluttershy said, taking the three steps needed to look upon the large sheaf of parchment with her friend. On the map taken straight from the prince’s own archives, the bazaar dominated the centre, with the Dune Sea occupying the east and the north. The desert made up a good portion of the map, annotated with various oases, and beyond, an equally vast area of hills and little trees marked something called “The emerald Frontier”.

If these two great swaths of land were frightening, there was one thing that gave Fluttershy hope. Past the desert and the forest, to the far top right of the parchment and beyond innumerable little symbols that made less sense than the last, a small area bordered on the edge of the map. An area simply called “The Badlands”.

“Do you really think it’s the same badlands?” Fluttershy asked, not for the first time.

Applejack didn’t seem to care that they’d discussed it twice before. She smiled as she rolled up the map, grabbed it in her mouth and stuffed it down one of her saddlebags. “Ain’t never heard of there being more than one. Got the same map of Equestria as you somewhere in the farmhouse. The Badlands’re south of Equestria proper. Wanna get going?”

Fluttershy nodded eagerly, and just like that, they were off. The first ten hoofsteps were odd, the sensation of hot sand against her legs where it crept past her hooves not entirely pleasant. After the next hundred steps, Fluttershy had decided that walking in the dry sand wasn’t at all something she was going to enjoy. A thousand steps later, it was obvious why Tadar and Shadowtop had both cautioned them against moving too much when the sun was at its zenith. They had barely crested the first dune that they’d seen from the edge of town when Fluttershy had to stop, her breath coming in gulps.

“Gotta pace yourself, sugar. All the same, let’s—let’s just stop for a second,” Applejack said, though despite her words, she was breathing hard, too. On top of the gentle slope of the sand-hill, they could see innumerable more such dunes stretching on in the direction they were going. Fluttershy’s heart sank. She knew it would be hard, but the enormity of their task was settling on her shoulders all the same.

Fluttershy sat down facing the town they’d just left, the sand uncomfortably hot against her rump. It couldn’t have been more than an hour, the sun still high in the sky, but her very eyes were dry. A nudge stirred her from her thoughts, Applejack poking her in the side with a hoof while she held the flask in her mouth. The pegasus nodded gratefully and took a few swigs of water before Applejack safely stowed it away again.

“It looks just the same,” Fluttershy murmured.

“Everything does. It’s just sand and rock,” Applejack replied, her eyes on the horizon.

“No, I mean, the town,” Fluttershy said, pointing in the direction from whence they’d came. “Everything changed. Twice. You just can’t tell. It barely changed at all when the prince went, um, well, I don’t want to say mad, but you know. And now that they know that they’re not in danger, they’re not celebrating or anything. It’s just the same.”

Applejack poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue. “It’s all up to the prince, I guess. We ain’t hardly trying to make footprints, anyway. We’re just trying to get home. Well, okay, so we might’ve ruined a mountain and some stuff along the road, but that doesn’t count,” she added with a bemused grin.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I just hope they’re all okay. If this was all because of something we did, us ponies...”

It had been a simple enough sentiment, a wish for well-being, but Fluttershy could see Applejack’s green eyes trained not on the city, but on something past it. The orange mare stood silent for so long, Fluttershy wondered if perhaps she’d said something wrong.

“Ain’t really about being okay or not,” Applejack said. “It’s about bein’ who they are, no matter what made them so. Just like I ain’t gonna apologize for being myself, even if I could stand to get a bit better at listening at times. And just like how you ain’t about to apologize for being you, either.”

Applejack sighed and scratched her head through her hat. “Well. Maybe you will, ‘cause that is you. I don’t know. Let’s just get moving.”

Fluttershy stifled a giggle and leaned over to nuzzle into Applejack’s neck-coat. “Maybe you’re right,” she offered with a wan smile, casting a final glance at the Bazaar before it passed out of sight, hidden behind the swells of sand.

The sun didn’t let up. There was not a single cloud to be had, and even if Fluttershy had dared to try her hoof at cloudcraft, there was no source of water from which to make one, either. The sky was clear for the first day, and the next, and every single one that followed. As Tadar had advised, they soon fell into a rhythm of moving in the hours or dusk and dawn rather than brave the crushing heat of full day or the deep chill of night. Fluttershy found herself as glad for the airy cover of her light cloak in day as she did of the heavier cloth and Applejack’s warmth at night.

Every night they set up the light metal rods and the open tent-like cover they’d been given, and every morning Applejack would pull out the map and compass to try to gauge their exact position based on the rocky outcroppings that dotted the desert. On the dawn of the second day, Fluttershy’s every muscle protested against the prospect of slogging through more sand, but on the dawn of the tenth, it wasn’t nearly so bad. At least, it wasn’t as bad as the way the heat worked its way into her brain.

All conversation not done around the water canteen before bed was inane and half-baked, and the oases marked on the map were hardly what she had expected, little more than muddy, soggy watering holes with sour grass.

The first real change wasn’t one Fluttershy would ever have asked for. They had barely broken camp for the day—was it the twelfth or the thirteenth?—when she sneezed.

“Bless you, sugar,” Applejack said with a glance and a chortle as they climbed the first major dune of the day. Where yesterday they had walked in the shadow of some sand-washed rocks, today it was all golden sand. “If you go and catch a cold here, I might just laugh,” she added.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy giggled. “I think I just got something in my nose. What do you want to do today? Maybe we could sing a little song before it gets too hot?”

“That sounds great to me,” Applejack replied, pausing for a second to rub at her face. Fluttershy was only now noticing the wind at their backs that set the fine-grained sand whirling up into the air.

“Alright, the sand on the ground is plenty, but it’s gonna be in our faces now too?” the earth mare growled, shaking her head. Fluttershy made to reply, but all she managed was a cough as she got a mouthful of the yellow stuff. Covering her snout, she glanced over their shoulders.

“Oh goodness,” she whimpered a second later.

“Oh. Uh, well,” Applejack agreed.

At their backs was a roiling darkness that fast closed in on them. Fluttershy’s eyes stung with sand as she stood there, paralysed, watching the sandstorm blot out the sun.

“Do—do we dig ourselves down?” she asked. “No, that’s for snowstorms, um, what do we do?”

Applejack chewed on her tongue and pulled her hat down on her head. “How about we tuck tail and run?”

“Sounds great,” Fluttershy agreed, having no problems being the first to do exactly that. A quarter second later, a second set of dull hoofbeats joined hers when Applejack pulled up to her side.

It was a matter of seconds before her muscles started protesting. Running uphill in loose sand was a terrible business, but it was never an option to stop and take her cloak off so that she could fly. Besides, the wind was picking up still, assailing them with sand. They were barely halfway up the next dune when they were blasted with a particularly nasty wind that sent Fluttershy straight into Applejack’s side.

“Easy there, sugar!” Applejack called over the howling gale, quickly followed by a loud series of coughs and sputters. The skies were getting darker and darker, but Fluttershy could see Applejack pull her cloak up to cover her mouth before she reached down to help her up. After a little fidgeting, the pegasus did the same. The sand still stung even through their clothes, far past being annoying and uncomfortable and well into the territory of being painful.

“This is terrible!” Fluttershy cried. “What do we do? We can’t set up our tent—” she coughed.

“Just keep walking!” Applejack called, and so, without much in the way of options, they did just that. All around, the world was a terrifying, howling mass of pale darkness, and every step was harder than the last. Galloping wasn’t an option any longer; Fluttershy was sure she would be blown away if she didn’t properly brace herself against the wind.

“I can’t feel my face,” Fluttershy murmured, closing her eyes and leaning against Applejack as she walked. Sand was trickling down her neck inside of her hood, and her friend made no reply. Together they walked on in as much silence as could ever be had. When Fluttershy stumbled, Applejack helped her up, and when Applejack fell, Fluttershy did what she could to get her back on her hooves.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed, but finally they crested the dune and began their descent on the other side—only to find there was no relief to be had. The storm did not abate in the least. Rather, it seemed to pick up. Fluttershy was just about to suggest they do something or anything, be that sit down and give up or whatever else, when Applejack slowed down at her side.

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked, trying hard to be heard over the raging storm.

“That’s the question, ain’t it?” Applejack retorted, gesturing ahead. Fluttershy squinted against the whirling sand trying to see what it was she saw, but all she could make out was a large looming shadow ahead; something vast and darker than the sandstorm that plagued them.

Comments

[Alondro]

Chapter 22 note: A vast dark thing looming up in the desert? A sand worm!

Oooo, maybe they can find Spice there...

[mrjerrio]

1305793 Maybe Fluttershy shall become the Kwisatz Haderach.

[Dream Catcher]

1305793 1306633 Oh, that made my morning... Oh, my sides... Can't... Stop laughing.

[JAG]

Nah, it's a Sandcrawler. This is the Dune Sea, after all. Now they just have to hope the Jawas don't sell them into slavery.

[TwilightSkeenSparkle]

...And these dark things, too large for earth ponies... only deity unicorns are so precise.

[Steampunkie Pie]

One of the things I really enjoy about your stories is the slight shifts in perspective.

As a reader, I feel not only that I'm observing, but to some degree that I'm seeing it through AJ and Fluttershy. I also feel like I'm getting everyone's feelings. It's an emotional journey to say the least.

[khatre]

I half expected AJ to threaten the prince with the most powerful weapon known to ponykind. Two words that would spell destruction to the city and all of its people ....
Pinkie Pie!
They live in a society that has not had a party in so long they have a cultural bias against them.
They NEED Pinkie.
and she will save or destroy them all

[Stainless Steel Fox]

Let's hope they don't fall into a Sarlaacc pit.
Remember, Fluttershy;
Fear is the mind killer, fear is the little death that brings total oblivion. I will let my fear pass over me, and only I will remain.