Lost and Found

by Cloudy Skies

27. Lost

It wasn’t the nicest of places to sleep, but it was better than the desert by far. Fluttershy awoke to Applejack gently nosing her in the side, and for the first time she found that she wouldn’t mind another five minutes. Whether that was just because there was no glaring sun, or if it was in hopes of sneaking back into her dreams—normal ones or not—she wasn’t quite sure. Whatever the case was, gathering their things and trotting onwards proved simple as pie.

Applejack was still a little short. Skittish, even, but whenever Fluttershy asked, she claimed it was nothing. It was still easy enough going, they agreed. Easy, until the light fell short.

At first, Fluttershy feared that their crystals might be giving out. They had no idea how the things worked, content with the way they lit up when touched, but it quickly became evident that there was nothing wrong with the little gems. Ahead, the tunnel closed in, and Applejack sped up in response.

“You’re kidding,” she spat seconds later. Right in front of the earth mare’s hooves, the soil piled up. The tunnel had almost completely collapsed, one of the walls spilling in and leaving only a small hole along the ceiling on one side.

“Hang on, excuse me,” Fluttershy said, slipping past the still-cursing mare. Scrabbling up the loose soil, using her wings for balance, the pegasus scurried up to peer along the gap near the ceiling. After a moment, she bent back and seized one of the light-crystals in her mouth and stuck her head in, coming back with dirt in her mane and a smile on her face.

“It’s just a little bit,” she announced, hopping back down to stand at Applejack’s side. “Just a few strides through, and the tunnel is fine on the other side. If we really want to, I think we can get past.”

“The hole looks big enough,” Applejack suggested, blowing her mane out of her face. She kept glancing at the walls around them, as she did every time they paused. Taking a deep breath, she bent low to let her saddlebags slip off of her, setting to work on her cloak soon after.

“I don’t know if we can squeeze through,” Fluttershy said, giving the gap a skeptical glance. “I think we have to dig a little, but the soil is loose. Maybe we could use the bottle?”

“And ruin our drinking water? Sugar, I swear I saw that thing swallow a fish when we tried filling it in that oasis way back. We hardly even know how it works. Let’s just get this done with. Just toss my saddlebags through,” Applejack grumbled, already free of her burdens and climbing the little slope with practiced and steady steps.

“Um, no, really,” Fluttershy tried anew. “I think I’d hurt my wings even if I tried. It won’t take long at all.”

“Well I hardly have wings now, do I?” Applejack snapped, making Fluttershy recoil from her tone. “Besides, you’re a mite bit smaller. We’ll be fine. The sooner we’re through the better.”

Fluttershy sighed and shook her head as Applejack took a final, deep breath and slipped her forelegs and neck through the gap. The earth mare’s mane disappeared soon after with a grunt and a wriggle, and it looked like she was making good progress—all the way until Fluttershy saw very little happening except her hindlegs wiggling. After a pause and no movement, Applejack’s legs spun twice as hard, first finding no purchase, and then uselessly scuffling loose dirt away.

“Right, this’d be the part where you get pushing,” Applejack said, her voice muffled.

Obediently, Fluttershy wound her way up to Applejack’s hindquarters, put her hooves to her flank, and pushed. With little to brace against, it was a pitiful effort, and more than once did she almost receive a hoof in her face for her efforts.

“It’s not working!” Fluttershy cried.

“Just push harder, it ain’t getting us anywhere,” Applejack retorted. “It’s gotta work!”

“Even if we get you through, you can’t really push me through afterwards. Can we—can we just try getting you back? I really think we should have widened the hole first,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Well, then do it fast!” Applejack shot, writhing uselessly.

It was equally useless. Fluttershy shed her cargo and her cloak, wrapped her forelegs around Applejack’s rump and kicked off to no avail. Again and again she pulled, gaining not a single hoofbreadth’s worth of purchase. Applejack was well and truly stuck. When she let go, the pegasus was panting, sweating, and covered in dirt. She sat there trying to catch her breath, the only noise her own breath and Applejack’s labored breathing.

It was odd, though. She wouldn’t have expected Applejack to be short of breath, but at her side, the farmpony’s flanks were heaving. She sat listening for a few seconds before Applejack’s voice sounded again through what little gap there was.

“Fluttershy? Sugar?”

Fluttershy frowned. “I’m here. You need to stop moving,” she said. “It’s not helping. I’ll try digging you out slowly and carefully. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“Right,” Applejack retorted. A second later, she squirmed again, still breathing loudly.

“Applejack? Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, slowly getting up on all fours. It was so very hard not to be a little nervous herself when it was obvious that something was making Applejack afraid. Perhaps the staunch earth mare hadn’t wanted her to notice, but there it was.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Applejack snapped. A moment later, she sighed so loudly that even Fluttershy could hear it, adding in a lower voice, “Just stay where I can hear you. Okay?”

Fluttershy reached over to rest a hoof on Applejack’s flank. “I’m here,” she murmured. “I’m going to start widening the hole a little bit, okay? Please try to relax.”

“Relax,” Applejack repeated with a mirthless bark of laughter. “Can you hurry up?”

Fluttershy sighed. “It’s going to take a while, and I haven’t even started,” she said, her eyes roving over the area. She dearly hoped that it was safe to move the already-fallen soil. Ever so carefully she put her hooves to task, shuffling the earth away from Applejack to free her. It would be the work of hours, not minutes, and Applejack was quite clearly still struggling.

“Can you hear me?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, just fine, what? Why?” Applejack asked.

“I just thought maybe you’d like to hear a story,” Fluttershy suggested, frowning as she tried to figure out exactly how to proceed. After a moment, she moved closer to Applejack, sitting leaned against her as she shuffled the soil around.

“A story? I ain’t some foal needing a bedtime story,” Applejack grumped.

Fluttershy winced, thinking she might have insulted one of her best friends. Swallowing, she tried to think of something else to say, but her ears had barely drooped before Applejack did relax a little, continuing in a lower voice.

“Sorry, sugar. Didn’t mean—just, yeah. Sorry. Story would be good. What’ve you got?”

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Well, um, I just meant to say, I was actually afraid of big, open places, before. Not that I mean you are afraid now, but—”

“You can say it,” Applejack interrupted with a nervous laugh. “I just ain’t too happy with this, okay? Don’t need to make a big deal of it, but afraid of open spaces? How the hay does that work?”

“I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. It’s especially bad if you’re a pegasus, I suppose,” Fluttershy agreed, giggling. “I’m not really afraid any more, but it’s still a little scary when you’re high up and everything’s so, um. Well. Big. Don’t you ever get that?”

“Well, on account of not being high up much, I guess not,” Applejack replied with another weak twitch of her legs. “The sky’s the sky, and big’s big. Won’t find me complaining about the size of our orchards, if you know what I mean.”

“Many pegasi have claustrophobia. I think there’s a word for something specific to pegasi, fear of small spaces and hard surfaces, walls that you can’t buck a hole in,” Fluttershy mused. “I don’t really know. I never had that.”

“So how’d you fix it?” Applejack asked.

“Hum?” Fluttershy intoned, shoving the earth she’d shifted further down the little mound.

“If you were afraid but you ain’t?”

“Oh.”

“Rainbow Dash, huh?” Applejack asked with a grin that Fluttershy could hear even if she couldn’t see it.

“No,” Fluttershy replied, her cheeks heating up. “Or, well, yes, but I don’t think she knows. I’m sure I told her, but ever since we were fillies, she just didn’t see the problem.”

“Because she never had the problem herself? Well ain’t she a gentlemare,” Applejack barked.

“She just kept asking me to come fly with her, to watch her practice, or to come with her to Whitepuff Cloud Centre to play with her,” Fluttershy explained. “She wouldn’t let me say no. I—I don’t think that’s a very clever way to do things. Doctor Horse would probably be very very angry if I said that, but it turned out okay. Maybe because it was her,” she added with a private little smile of her own.

Applejack laughed. It was good to hear her sound a little more like herself, her body—or what Fluttershy could see, anyway—was resting easier.

“Ain’t looking for advice, sugar, and you won’t see me locking myself in a closet to try to fix nothin’ when I can fetch stuff just fine from my cellar already. Just ain’t too fond of this here tunnel, is all.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Fluttershy agreed.

“And I don’t care if you and Dash share everything from horse shoe size down to whatever else, you ain’t tellin’ her about this,” Applejack added.

“Cross my heart,” Fluttershy giggled, putting all her efforts into digging.

---

Freeing Applejack and getting back on track had taken longer than either of them would have liked, but in the end, the spirits were high for the two dirt-covered ponies. The tunnel showed no signs of collapsing on their heads. What it did, was go on, and on, and on. At length, the ponies were forced to spend a second night in the darkness, and then a third. Applejack was still eyeing the walls uncomfortably, but by and large, the cooler tunnel was a better deal than the desert, and the magical bottle made water a non-issue.

“Stairs,” Applejack said.

“Sorry?” Fluttershy asked. She’d hardly noticed that she had lapsed into walking on autopilot, as happened every so often with the monotony of the tunnel.

“There are stairs ahead,” Applejack repeated, upping her pace. “Think we’re finally getting out of here!”

“Oh! That’s wonderful, I think,” Fluttershy replied.

“Well, ain’t like I’m keen to walk this tunnel twice, and this is lookin’ good!” Applejack replied. Large stone steps were ahead, soon flanked by stone tiles not unlike the ones that had led them down into the tunnel in the first place. Applejack had apparently found her usual energy again, the orange mare bouncing up the steps and halfway to prying aside the fake stone-tile hatch before Fluttershy had even caught up. With a grunt, she shoved aside the cover, adding pale moonlight to their crystal-given luminescence.

“These places just keep getting more and more cheerful, don’t they,” Applejack called from above. Fluttershy spread her wings, awkwardly hovering up the narrow shaft to land at her side on solid ground.

“Oh,” was all Fluttershy could think to say. Again they stood in ruins, though these were more reminiscent of the abandoned desert tower than the time-lost shells of the nameless earth pony town. Presently, the two ponies found themselves in the courtyard of a small fortress or a large tower. The night was upon them in full, but they could clearly see the moonlit outline of the low wall that surrounded a square and squat structure. Up a short staircase, the inside of the building was in shadow, and the flagpole far above flew no flag.

Outside the small courtyard, the land was barren, but it was no desert. The air bit at them with a nasty chill, and while there was no snow here, rime loomed. With a quick glance at Applejack for reassurance, Fluttershy took to the air again. Saddlebags heavy with what was left of their supplies, it was tough going to gain height, but before long she hovered above the towering structure. At their backs, what little of the ground she could see in the relative darkness was dry and cracked. Opposite, however—

Fluttershy was a bolt of lightning as she zipped down to the ground, impacting so hard her knees hurt.

“Sugar?” Applejack asked, brow raised.

“The forest!” Fluttershy said, pointing. “I think I see treetops in the distance. That’s east, right?”

“North-eastish,” Applejack affirmed with a nod, smiling back at her. “Well, ain’t that just the best news all day, yesterday, and the last week all combined. You tired?”

“Not really,” Fluttershy said. “But if you want to stop—”

“Afraid of the dark?”

“Not more than usual,” Fluttershy giggled. “And the moon’s full.”

“Cold bothering you?” she pressed.

“Not at all.”

“Then what are we waiting for, huh?” Applejack retorted, trotting on with her head held high. Fluttershy was happy to follow her friend, the two of them soon making their way across the flat landscape towards where the tall and jagged shapes of trees waited in the distance. Luna must have brought all the stars out this night, and it seemed that the moon glowed brighter than ever before in the cold.

“I think Twilight once told me something about the princesses,” Fluttershy said, knitting her brow as she peered up at the sky above. There was not a single cloud in sight.

“And what’s that?” Applejack asked, the earth mare awkwardly digging around in her saddlebags as they moved. More than once did she almost stumble on a rock or crack in the earth before she finally fished the compass out.

“Well, it wasn’t something she had read—” Fluttershy continued, but Applejack was giving her an odd look. “Um, sorry?”

“Give me your wing, would you?” Applejack asked. A little confused, Fluttershy extended her left wing, only for Applejack to put the compass down on top of it, soon after grabbing the map and splaying it out on top. Applejack mumbled her thanks.

“We could always stop if you want to look at the map,” Fluttershy suggested, but Applejack’s eyes never left their map as she trotted on at her side.

“Naw. Keep talking, what was that about Twilight?”

“Oh. Right, well, she just told me she sometimes thought she could tell what the princess was feeling just from the way the sun behaved,” Fluttershy said.

Applejack did look up at that. “Behave? The sun doesn’t behave, sugar. Er, does it?”

“She seemed to think so,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head and smiling at that. “I think she was a little embarrassed after she told me, to be honest. It was late one night, and she’d had three cups of tea with sugar. She kept talking about how the sun always seemed to shine brighter when the princess was happy or stressed, and she could tell when the princess was having a bad day, too.”

“Twi sure does like to overthink stuff, leastwise when it comes to the princess,” Applejack retorted, grinning.

“She cares a lot.” Fluttershy squinted ahead. There was still a ways to go, but even in the minutes since they’d left the tunnel behind, the ground had been getting softer.

“And I wouldn’t have her change for the world, weren’t my point. Why, though?” Applejack asked.

“Why what?” Fluttershy countered.

“Why bring this up? Ain’t like I mind a little chatter, but it’s a bit of an odd thing to say, ain’t it?”

Fluttershy said nothing at first, once more casting her gaze skywards, and this time Applejack’s eyes followed. When Applejack slowed, so did Fluttershy, the two of them staring up at the starry skies together.

“What’re those pink and green streaks?” Applejack asked. “That don’t look much like regular northern lights or whatever Twi calls it.”

“I don’t know. Do you think maybe something nice happened? Luna could be happy. That would be wonderful,” Fluttershy suggested.

“That, or she’s mourning,” Applejack murmured, carefully folding the map and compass both before slipping them back inside her saddlebags. “Lotsa different things that make ponies break out the good cider, if you know what I mean.”

“I guess,” Fluttershy agreed, much preferring her own version. “Did you find out where we are?”

“Map ain’t to scale, or that tunnel makes no sense. All the same, not much in the way of landmarks here except one.”

Fluttershy made an inquisitive noise at that, at which Applejack shrugged.

“The fortress or whatever it was where the tunnel ended. It was on the map. We’re at the edge of the desert. Just have to head east by north-east through the forest, and we should be getting to the Badlands.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news!” Fluttershy said, furling her wings.

“Well yes, except this whole not to scale business meaning it could be a day’s worth of travel or ten. Or a hundred,” the orange mare said, frowning. “And there’re all these little settlement markers, but they ain’t connected to the only road going through here.”

“Did Tadar say anything about it?”

“He ain’t been this far east, remember? Ain’t much in the way of cities here like he spoke of further to the west. Could be anything.”

A moment passed in silence, the tree-tops ahead still growing and the frosty ground crunching under their hooves. Here and there, small piles of snow rested in spots that hid from the mid-day sun. When Fluttershy made no reply, Applejack continued.

“I say we steer clear of them anyway. We got some dates and other fruits left, and we’re getting good at this whole eating roots and berries thing. Think you’ll be able to talk with your little varmint friends here and get us some help?”

“Oh, I’m sure. I don’t think there are more, um, dialects of fox,” Fluttershy replied. “But many of them will be hibernating.”

“On account of it being winter and all, right,” Applejack agreed as they passed by a withered bush flecked with snow. They could finally start to make out bits of frost-tipped grass here and there. “Easy to forget. Guess it’s warmer in the south, then,” she added.

The night never darkened further. The moon, stars, and the strange lights above all lit their path as the two companions trotted on. The desert released its hold on them, the dry climate slowly giving up, league by league, until winter-frosted grass became the norm. The occasional bushes soon became copses, and when the horizon started bleeding the bright colors of the sun, they walked among great and tall pine trees covered in snow.

The sunlight burned their eyes, used to the darkness by now as they were, but it offered little warmth. Under the great branches of a particularly massive tree they brushed the worst of the snow off the ground. With a tarp overhead to ward off snow and rain and proper bedding beneath where they lay, their camp was the envy of all their previous campsites, and Fluttershy’s heavy silver cloak was ample protection from the cold. All they were lacking was a cozy campfire. After they had shared much of what was left of their food, Applejack wormed her way into her own brown cloak and rubbed at her eyes with a foreleg.

“After that whole disaster up on the mountain, this ain’t so bad far as winter goes. Just need the cocoa now,” she said when the both lay side by side looking out at the dawn breaking through the forest.

“It’s nice,” Fluttershy agreed, lowering her head to the ground. “Do you think it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve soon? It should be winter back home, too.”

“Didn’t think about that,” Applejack hummed. “Should be a while yet, I think. Ain’t much been in the habit of keeping track of days. You’ll pardon me if I don’t have a gift for you just yet if that’s what you’re thinkin’,” she added with a grin.

“Oh, no,” Fluttershy giggled. “It’s just what I think about when it’s winter, I guess. A lot of animals come to live in my cottage during winter, and that’s always nice, but Hearth’s Warming is the best. Or, well, the day after. Last year was especially nice, all of us spending the night at your farm and everything.”

“Yeah. We should do that again sometime. Was fun to see Pinkie able to treat it as something like a quiet night in rather’n some big party for once. Good food and some games.” Applejack nodded, her easy smile growing into something of an impish grin as she stared at Fluttershy.

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked, glancing every which way. Experimentally, she dabbed at her cheeks with a hoof to see if she had some food stuck to her face.

“Just wondering, you weren’t at all thinkin’ about Hearth’s Warming on account of mistletoes and everything?” she asked, still grinning ear to ear. “Thinking of a certain other mare?”

“Goodness, no!” Fluttershy cried, leaning over to nudge Applejack in the side even as her cheeks practically caught fire. Applejack was laughing so hard, she hardly even seemed to care, and Fluttershy lay there glowering until the earth mare’s mirth petered out, her green eyes glistening with tears.

“I’m sorry sugar,” Applejack finally said, still chuckling. “Ain’t trying to give you a hard time about this all. Just ain’t much else to talk about out here on the road. Well, forest, I guess. We could go back to discussin’ my plans for our new chicken coops if we get our permit, if you’d like.”

“No, it’s okay,” Fluttershy said, puffing out her cheeks and slowly deflating.

“Uh, no really. Did I go and say something wrong?” Applejack asked, sitting up. Concern was plain on her face, and Fluttershy couldn’t shake her head fast enough.

“It’s not that, not at all,” she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth as she rolled over on her side, facing her. “I just don’t know how to say it, how to tell her, and I don’t want to do it wrong, so it’s a little scary.”

“Aw, sugar, it’s Rainbow Dash. Love her or not, that mare ain’t got a bone of subtlety in her,” Applejack said, leaning forwards to nuzzle the top of Fluttershy’s head. “Doubt you can do much wrong, unless you’re like Rarity and need it to be just perfect or what-have-you.”

“Maybe I’m a little too good at being, um, subtle,” Fluttershy suggested. “I just hope I can say it at all. I mean, I want to, but—”

“No buts,” Applejack cut her off, shrugging her cloak off. “No excuses. You just wait here. I’ll be right back.”

“What? Applejack?!” Fluttershy cried, but the blonde tail had already disappeared out of view. The tarp hid her, but Fluttershy could hear the earth mare rooting around nearby.

“Just hang on,” Applejack called before giving a great grunt, followed by a rustle of branches. Not ten seconds later, she stuck her head back inside and made off with her saddlebags. More noises followed.

“Um, what are you doing?” Fluttershy tried anew, but she received no answer. A squish, a squelch and a muttered curse all preceded an appreciative noise from the other side of the canvas before Applejack strode back into view.

Pinned under the straps of Applejack’s saddlebags, two bushy branches poked out, one to each side. In the soft tinted glow of the crystals the ponies had for light, Fluttershy could see her hair had been dyed, the bangs of her mane streaked with what juice she could squeeze out of their dried foods, giving her a three-tone blonde, brown, and darker brown mane. A dried plum was stuck behind her ear still.

“There’s your Rainbow Dash,” Applejack announced, grinning hugely. Her ‘wings’ wobbled precariously. “Now, was there something ‘awesome’ you had to tell me, sug—er, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy’s heart caught in her throat, as did her breath. She opened her mouth, but found no words; only a laugh that bubbled out and came out a snerk. It was that—to laugh, or else she’d cry.

It was an utterly sweet gesture, and a terrible impression that couldn’t fool anypony for a second, but she so desperately wanted to be fooled. Fluttershy hung her head and closed her eyes to see if she could pretend, but it was impossible. All it did was bring into sharp relief how real that dream of a few days hence had felt.

Strong forelegs wrapped around her neck, and Applejack leaned against her, drawing her into a hug. “Sorry. I think I did that thing where I do something ‘afore I think, again.”

“No,” Fluttershy whispered, sniffling. As gently as she could, she pushed Applejack away so she could look upon her again, forcing herself to smile. A nervous giggle slipped out. “I mean, you did get the wings right,” she added, poking at one of the pine tree branches. The branch, for its part, responded by falling off.

“Just as well. If you were gonna ask me to practice kissing, we might have a problem,” Applejack retorted, tossing her sticky mane and nudging the other branch off her back.

“You think about it a lot,” Fluttershy said, snug under her cloak while she watched Applejack clean off all her little effects. The earth mare paused with her head low to the ground where she was trying to scrub the fruits out of her mane.

“Pardon?”

"I don’t mind, but we talk a lot about Rainbow Dash and me, that’s all,” Fluttershy added, staring at her own hooves.

Applejack pursed her lips, dragging her hooves through her mane one final time before she hopped back onto her bedroll and got comfortable. “You’re both my friends. I want y’all to be happy, and I figure you’re good for each other. I ain’t ready to find me a stallion or a mare just yet, but I know a good thing when I see it.”

“That,” she added. “And it’s better than thinking about the less pleasant things. We ain’t hardly even home yet. Maybe Big Mac went crazy and sold the farm. Maybe the princesses packed up and moved to Las Pegasus and don’t care about Equestria no more. Maybe Ponyville is deserted ‘cause they didn’t get any cider this season.”

Fluttershy gasped, but Applejack forestalled any protests with a hoof. “We know most of it ain’t so. Princesses told us to come home, didn’t they? So they’re okay at least. Sun still rises, too.”

“But—”

“But nothing,” Applejack said. “Worrying won’t help. Which is why I’m tryin’ my hardest to focus on getting back home. If it stretches thin at times, just thinking I want to get home for my own reasons—because I want to make sure my family’s alright—well, then I can count on me wanting to get you home safe too. Keeps me moving.”

Fluttershy sighed and leaned against Applejack. “Thank you,” she murmured.

“Thank me nothing,” Applejack snorted. “Without you I’d be stuck in a hole a bit back, wouldn’t I? Reckon’ we need each other.”

Comments

[Psykosis]

Oh, bother.

[xXshaydXx]

awww

[UnlicensedBrony]

1346611 Glad I'm not the only one who had that spring to mind

i.ytimg.com/vi/l5zsz-78zU0/0.jpg

[Psykosis]

2054604
Ha, I completely forgot I even made that comment! Glad someone finally got it, though. You just made my day.

[Meta Four]

"Congratulations, Applejack, you're the new Rainbow Dash!"

That part had me laughing out loud for quite a bit.