"Well... anypony feel like there's a sense of irony in that we lost a map?"

Three mares stood in the middle of the woods, letting their gazes wander the surrounding landscape in search of anything to help them on their quest. Despite the fact that they had been searching for hours, they couldn't find very much at all; not even a shred of Rainbow's saddlebags. The group's overall hope was slowly being sapped by the situation, but nopony was willing to give up just yet.

"You mean that I lost the map?"

It was a statement that Applejack knew was self-accusatory. It seemed that Rainbow Dash was not in her best of moods right now; but even then, it was rare for her to beat herself up. Applejack just assumed it was the lack of flight making her mopey, but she didn't know if that was really the case or not. "C'mon now, Dash, aint no need t' be like that! Ya got us with ya, an' we're all in this t'gether. Now, we gotta find that map soon! It's already past noon, an' Ah've got the funniest feelin' that Pinkie an' Fluttershy prolly got back to th' camp by now."

Rarity nodded. "Indeed! Why, dare I say it, with Pinkie's time spent as a Foal Scout, and Fluttershy's knowledge of nature, they're perhaps the two of us best suited to survive and find their way around this environment!"

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Wait... Pinkie was a scout?"

The unicorn nodded. "Oh yes. She was pretty good at what she did! She became a troop leader, and I hear she only stopped to help the Cakes around the bakery more often. Rumor has it once the twins are older, she's going to personally get them into the scouts and help them learn all they need to know!"

Rainbow gulped. "... C-Can she read maps...?"

Rarity giggled. "Oh, I should hope so! She lead foals into the wilderness a lot!"

If she hadn't been using one foreleg to keep her front end standing and had another in a sling, Rainbow Dash would have facehoofed. "Ugh! She could read maps the whole time and... and she didn't tell me!?" The two mares turned to Rainbow. "She saw how I was panicking! She saw me freak! Why didn't she say anything!?"

Applejack put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Now calm down y'all, Ah'm sure she had a good reason. Maybe it jus' slipped 'er mind, or maybe she thought you'd feel upset if she found the way back?"

Rainbow wanted to argue the point, but she found herself unable to. Much as she wanted to deny it, she knew she might feel a bit embarrassed if Pinkie Pie had found their way back home instead of her. Silly and petty as it seemed, she didn't like having ponies have to clean up after messes she made; it was damaging to her pride.

"You're right Applejack... it's my fault..."

The mare's eyes widened. "Hold on, now! That ain't what Ah meant at all!"

"But it's true..." said Rainbow Dash, staring at the dirt. "I wanted to have fun and explore, and I found a cool cave, so I tried to take my friends to see it... and I should have said something but I didn't." She scuffed the dirt with a back hoof. "I'm so... so stupid..."

Rarity and Applejack both approached her from either side and wrapped her into a hug.

"Come on now, Rainbow Dash, you can't possibly believe that?" said Rarity.

"Ah know! Yer th' most loyal friend a pony could ever have!"

Rainbow shook her head. "So loyal, I get ponies lost, I lose them, and then I lead other ponies into getting lost..."

"But dear, you tried for them!" said Rarity. "You tried to help them, you tried to find them... you hurt yourself quite badly trying to find them actually."

Rainbow scowled. "But I should have come found you girls first!" She pushed away from her friends, pulling back and looking at both of them with utter self-contempt in her eyes. "I was so worried about looking bad... or needing help... I don't even know what it was I was scared of... all I know is it was selfish, and I didn't want to tell you girls I had lost them..." She looked at the dirt and sighed. "This is all my fault, and there's nothing to be said about it..."

It was then that Rarity and Applejack saw something neither thought they'd ever see.

Rainbow Dash's eyes were glistening, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

The two ponies trotted towards their friend, and embraced her again. She wanted to pull away, but she didn't. Nothing was said this time; there may have been not much to say about it, but a hug could convey all the message they needed.

They had already forgiven her, if there was indeed anything to be forgiven.

The walk through the woods had been quiet. Very quiet.

Almost deafeningly so.

Big McIntosh had taken the lead from the very start; not out of any form of aggression, but most likely as a form of pushing forward... or at the very least, distracting himself. Twilight followed silently, trying constantly to think of what to do. Should she try to apologize again? Should she give Smartypants back to him? After all, it's not like he knew Smartypants was her doll, right? Did she even have a right to have been upset? Any way she sliced it, Twilight felt guilty for what she had said. She wanted to take it back, to try to make it better, but what could she do?

She sighed and steeled herself, deciding it better to try and fail than to never try at all.

"Look.... Big Mac, about Smartypants... I-"

"Nothin' ta be said."

Twilight bit her lip. "It's... it's not...." She looked forward at the stallion, whose pace did not change, who did not turn to look back at her, and whose body language betrayed nothing short of the stoicism he was known for. She felt what little courage she had crumple. "... Nevermind..."

And so, their trip returned to silence.

Twilight would occasionally let her attention wander, to look at anything other than the stallion leading her. 'Well, that went smoothly...' she chided herself. 'Great. You finally get Smartypants back from the colt who foalnapped her, and YOU'RE the one who feels bad...' She stopped that train of thought, considering all things. 'Well... by the sound of things, he did take care of her...' She looked back at her saddlebags and, using her magic, opened the one containing her doll, stealing a glance at it. 'He also seems to have cleaned her and fixed her up a little... she still looks a little worse for the wear, but still in better condition than when I had...' The last thought brought her even more shame than she felt she really needed. '... Cast the want-it, need-it spell and had everypony in town trying to chase after her...'

Once more, her attention returned to the stallion she was following. 'He's not a bad stallion... he's very friendly, if a bit on the quiet side. He could have argued; there's a lot he could have said. That I'd thrown her away, that he didn't know... but instead he just handed her over...' Twilight's face adorned a grimace. 'And my first thought was to call him a weirdo, loser, and a freak...'

She was going to apologize again, but thought better of it. She had already tried, but he stopped her each time; he never let her really utter an actual apology. She didn't know if he felt guilty himself, or if he simply...

'Oh great... I bet he hates me now...' she groaned internally.

Twilight was no stranger to making other ponies hate her. She didn't like the idea, but growing up, she always had other foals who were jealous of her status as Celestia's personal student. She made other unicorns jealous at her particularly potent magic. Heck, she had once made a teacher mad when she corrected him on outdated information - which had resulted in updated text books for her class, which was great, but also lead to that teacher never talking to her again.

But this was Applejack's brother. He was an honest, kindhearted pony, and he never did anything to hurt anypony. Despite being quiet and reserved, he never showed anything short of politeness and respect for other ponies; even at times they might not have warranted either of those things.

This time, she wasn't making a pony jealous with knowledge, or with fortune of being Celestia's student, or even her magical skill. She had upset somepony by lashing out at him, and calling him names.

This time, she was truly to blame.

Twilight sighed, shaking her head. She would have to come up with something; ANYTHING to try to make things right. She might not know Big Mac well, but she knew he didn't deserve what she said to him. If anything, he probably deserved Smartypants more than she did.

That trail of thought was cut off when a sharp pain shot up her leg, eliciting a pained yelp from her.

Immediately, Big Mac turned around to look at her as she doubled over. He began to trot towards her as her own vision swam a bit. 'Something is wrong...' she thought to herself. 'I'm... why is my leg hurting...?'

"What's wrong?"

Twilight blinked, focus slowly coming back to her, though not fully. She looked down at her hoof to see it was swollen and turning a slight blue tint - in the center of the lump was a red dot, and vein-like patterns trailed from that point. "Oh... I... I think something bit me last night while I was searching for shelter..."

Big Mac sat down next to her and reached a hoof down, gently lifting hers up and looking at it for a few seconds. Slowly, his expression switched from it's usual stoicism to a great deal of concern. "... Blue Sage..."

Twilight blinked. "B... Blue Sage? You mean the spider?" Big Mac nodded. "B-But... Blue Sage bites are poisonous, and... potentially...."

Fatal.

Big Mac placed his nose beneath her and shoved her up to her legs.

"Forget th' others" he said decisively. "Emergency situation. Goin' home."

'Blue Sage bites... ponies don't usually die of them because the poison takes a while to work...' Twilight thought to herself. 'Usually, by the time it becomes a problem, it's already been found, and can be dealt with... but...'

Twilight gulped. "I-I can't..."

Big Mac scowled. "Why not?"

"I can't teleport all the way to Ponyville..." Twilight turned with panic on her face. Her vision was beginning to swim more; how long did it take for the bite to kill? Days, she thought. Still, before then, victims were known to go into a comatose state. Even worse, it drained energy and made victims weak before then. "The bite's already sapping my strength.. I wouldn't even be able to reach the edge of the forest, and if I pushed myself that hard, it might exacerbate the venom and speed up the process..."

Big Mac stared at her for a few minutes. His expression became something strange; Twilight couldn't tell if it was determination or irritation... or maybe a mix of the two. "Can ya stand?"

Twilight put her hooves on the ground and slowly, shakily pushed herself up. As she stood, her vision seemed to blur more. Was she already that far along? She began to waver a bit, gulping nervously. "I... I think.."

"Nope..." Twilight was surprised when suddenly Big Mac lowered onto the ground and looked over at her. "Get on"

"Wh... what?" She shook her head, wondering if she were hallucinating.

"Get on." he said. "Save yer strength."

Twilight looked at Big Mac uncertainly, before nodding and trotting forward. Immediately she realized he was right; vertigo seemed to take over as she moved. She thought she was going to fall over for a minute, but luckily she had reached him, and climbed over top of him. Slowly, he lifted up, and she felt her hooves leave the ground.

"Just hang on."

"We've been searching for hours, and still nothing..."

Pinkie and Fluttershy had returned to camp just moments previously. They had taken time to occasionally venture from camp, without venturing too far, to see if they could find anything; all they had managed to find, however, was the damaged remains of Rainbow Dash's saddlebags.

Fluttershy had not been able to stop staring at it.

"Do you think Rainbow Dash is okay...?"

Pinkie tapped a hoof to her chin. "Yeah. I mean, it's Rainbow Dash, silly! Toughest of the tough! Only Applejack is tougher! Or equally tough. Almost as tough? Who won the Running fo the Leaves?"

Fluttershy sighed, hanging her head. "Oh Pinkie... this was a trip that was supposed to be fun... why did all of this happen? How did we all get separated?"

Pinkie threw a hoof up. "Ooo! Rainbow Dash wanted to explore a cave and look for buried treasure, so we went to explore! Then she realized she couldn't read maps, so she flew away without asking me if I could read maps! Then, when she realized she lost us, she started flying around and ended up falling down and getting injured so she can't fly! Rarity and Applejack went out to look for her, since they had the other map - BUT WAIT! Maybe they DIDN'T have one!? Maybe Applejack left it at home or something! Anyway, they spent the night in a cave with Rainbow Dash, who they found, but she didn't have the map either cause she lost it! Twilight and Big Mac were chased away by the bear, and then they had a fight over a doll or something, and Twilight got bit by a spider, so she has to be carried around!"

Fluttershy stared at Pinkie Pie.

"Of course, I'm just guessing!" said Pinkie, smiling. "They mighta just all got scared away by the bear!"

"We'd better find them before somepony ACTUALLY gets hurt..."