Chapter 3 - Lost

Edited by Clavier

Rainbow Dash cut through the air over the mountains with no destination in mind.  All she  knew was that she had to get out of Ponyville and get away from everypony for a while.

She felt like her mind was on fire, and her thoughts caught up in the swirling inferno.  The gravity of her actions was not lost on her.  She worried that the kiss may have permanently pushed away her best friend.

She landed on a high ledge with a good view of the whole mountain range.  It was a good place to think.  The altitude made it very chilly, but she didn't mind the cold for once.  It felt appropriate.

How long, she wondered, had she been flying?  A half hour?  More?  None of the land around her seemed very familiar.   She looked at the sun, which was getting close to the horizon, and judged that she still had a few hours before she had to fly home.

She lay down with her front hooves over the edge of the cliff, looking down at the sheer drop below.  She sighed sadly.  What had she done?  The impulse to kiss Applejack had just overwhelmed her.  The country pony had stood over her in the hay with such confidence and had been so close that it seemed like Rainbow Dash had no choice but to lean in and kiss her.  Recalling it caused more of that tightening in her chest.

Her heart plummeted again as her thoughts turned to the look of horror on Applejack's face after the kiss.  She had looked shocked and hurt, but what was worse was that she had looked betrayed.  Rainbow Dash hated the feeling of betraying anypony, let alone Applejack.

It made her feel so low.  She couldn't help but let out a pained groan, and was surprised when she heard it echo back.  For some reason, this felt cathartic, so she groaned again and listened to the sound return to her.

She sat up and gave a small yell, listening to its echo.  She yelled louder, surprised at how good it felt, and the sound bounced around the whole mountain range.  Soon she was screaming at the top her lungs, feeling as though she was forcing all the bad energy and thoughts out of her through her voice.  She screamed until her complexion was even bluer than its usual hue, and then she sat back, feeling a little bit better.

She chuckled.  "Sometimes you just need to scream."

Lost in her own thought and guilt, she continued looking down over the mountain range, when suddenly there was a small noise behind her.  

She froze.

She was very aware that there was somepony or something behind her.  Could it be an animal?  Probably not at this altitude, thought Rainbow Dash, and why would it get so close?  Her sensitive ears twitched as she waited for another noise to tell her where to attack.  She felt her heart race, but knew that she could outfly any real danger if worst came to worst.

She suddenly felt a wind at her back and her nostrils were filled with the distinct smell of smoke.

In a panic, she whipped around and confirmed her fears.  Looming above her was an enormous dragon, with scales as black as pitch.  Its deep purple eyes were filled with a sort of cruel mirth, like a cat with a mouse between its paws.

Her wings flared and she screamed, jumping up towards the dragon's face.  She knew the eyes were a weak spot for dragons.  She had learned long ago that she could not defeat a dragon alone, but if she could damage one of its eyes, she may be able to escape.  

The black dragon casually swatted her down, and pinned her to the ground.  She struggled hard against his claw.  

"My little pony," boomed his deep voice, "You have woken me from quite a restful sleep."

She pushed hard against the claw, and managed to scramble out of his grip, diving for the cliff’s edge.  If she could just get out of his reach, she was sure she would be able to outfly him.

She found herself suddenly stopped in midair. The dragon had her tail pinched between two of his fingers.  "I don't think so," he laughed.  She flapped her wings as hard as she could, pulling against his grip.  As precious as it was to her, she was willing to lose her tail if it meant not being trapped here.

She felt herself being dragged backwards as the dragon slowly crawled back to his cave.  She had been so distracted when she landed on the ledge, she hadn’t noticed it.  He held the end of her tail casually as he dragged her in, her strength no match for his.  "No!" she screamed in horror.  If he got her in there, she would never be able to escape.  "No... no, no, no, no!!"  They were only ten feet away.  She hit the ground and dug her hooves in, hoping to hold herself against him, to slip free from his claws, to tear her tail off, anything but enter his cave.  But she was powerless in his grip.  

Five feet.

"No, please, Celestia no!"  Her hooves burned from digging at the ground, but she could not stop his motion.

They were at the mouth of the cave.  She tried to fly one more time but nothing could stop his advance.  He laughed coldly at her struggling.

She felt his claw release her and thought for a fleeting second she had won her freedom, won her ability to see Applejack again, to tell Applejack that she was sorry, and that she would never want to do anything to betray her.  But to her horror, she felt the claw wrap around her, and was thrown into the complete darkness of the cave.    

***

The next afternoon, Applejack was working in her fields.  Though her body was going through the motions of bucking the apple trees, her heart and her mind weren't in it.  She felt empty, and she didn't want to face her own thoughts.  She felt cold.

Big Macintosh worked quietly next to her, as he always did.  He was very in tune with his sister, and knew that if he gave her time and space, she would approach him for help if she needed it.

She bucked a particularly tall tree and watched as almost all the apples fell into their baskets.  No one in the Apple family knew why the apples always landed in the basket, but it sure was a handy trick for the family to have.  One lone, stubborn apple remained near the top of the tree.  She bucked again.  It didn't budge.  Frustrated, she began to buck repeatedly, pounding her back hooves against the tree.  

"Sis!" barked Big Macintosh.

She suddenly realised what she was doing.  She turned around to look at the tree, and saw in the side of its trunk an indent of one her hooves.  

"Shoot!" she cried, then let out a drawn out sigh.  "Ah'm sorry, Big Mac.  Ah guess ah got a little carried away.  Apple Bloom can get that apple up top later."

He nodded solemnly, then went back to his own work of loading up the wagon with the baskets of apples.

She moved to the next tree, readying herself to buck, and allowed herself to think about the experience.  What a strange day it was, she thought with a huff.

"Big Mac, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked in an uncertain voice.  The big pony stopped his work, and looked at her.  She moved closer to him.  "Let's say, hypothetically, one of your close friends... someone you've known and trusted for years... someone who's as close as family... well, they go and kiss you out of the blue."  Big Mac raised an eyebrow.  "What do you tell that pony?"

Big Macintosh opened his mouth to say something, but Applejack cut him off.  "Now, ah know what you're going to say!  You're going to tell me it matters how I feel about this pony."  She thought for a moment over this question, which had kept her up all night.  "And the truth of the matter is I don't rightly know my own feelings!  Shoot, she's my closest friend.”  She nearly kicked herself for giving away Rainbow Dash’s gender, but kept going.  “We've shared so much together, and I reckon I love her.  I love all my friends!  But I'm not sure if I'm in love with her, you see?"

Big Macintosh nodded.

"But is that even what she meant with the kiss?  Was she kissin me because she likes me?  Was it because she's just attracted to me?  And am ah even attracted to mares?”  She looked irritated before adding softly,  “Ah mean, how do ah even find out if ah'm attracted to mares?"

A sly smile snuck onto Big Macintosh's face.  Applejack snorted.  "Yes, ah can think of one obvious way, too.  Wipe that smile off your face, mister."  He did, but a ghost of a smile remained.  "Ah just don't rightly know what to do.  Should ah ask her what the kiss meant?  Should ah try to figure out my own feelins first?"  She groaned and stomped a hoof on the ground.  "Why's this kind of stuff always so hard for me?"

He walked towards her and gently leaned against her in an equine hug.  She sighed, and leaned back into him.  "Ah guess I should figure out how I feel before I talk to her about this.  But ah should probably talk to her soon."  She kissed him on his cheek.  "Thanks, Big Mac.  You're a good big brother.  You always give the best advice."  She headed back to her tree.

Big Macintosh nodded at his job well done, and went back to his wagon.  The two worked in silence without interruption for an hour more before they heard a voice come from above them.

"Applejack!" called a far off voice.  The siblings' heads immediately snapped towards the sky.  Applejack feared for a moment that it was Rainbow Dash, and she wouldn't know what to say.  "Applejack?" called the voice again, and she realized with relief that it wasn't Rainbow Dash.

"Down here!" yelled Applejack.  Within a few seconds, Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, appeared above the trees.

"Aw, hey, Spitfire," greeted Applejack.  She had only had a few interactions with the captain, but Spitfire always seemed very kind.  "What brings you to Ponyville?"

"I'm looking for Rainbow Dash!  She didn't come to practice this morning, which is... unusual.  She's not at her house.  Fluttershy told me she often hangs out on this orchard with you, so I thought I'd see if she was here."

Applejack was shocked.  The Wonderbolts were Rainbow Dash's life.  She had never missed a practice since joining the group.  Applejack recalled a time when she was too sick to stand, but still went to practice.  The team made her sit on the stands and simply watch, but her dedication was clear.

Would she really miss a practice because of the kiss?

"Truth be told, Spitfire, me and Rainbow Dash had..."  Applejack, glancing towards the barn, took a second to figure out what exactly to call what had happened.  "... an argument yesterday afternoon.  Ah'm afraid she flew off afterwards, and ah haven’t seen her since."

Big Macintosh made a face as he connected the dots.

Spitfire looked worried.  "Well, you're the last person who saw her, then.  Did you see which way she flew?"

"Off towards the mountains," she replied.  Suddenly she was very worried.  "Y'all don't think... something happened to her, do you?"

Spitfire shook her head.  "I don't know.  But we do know that she's been missing for at least a day, and that her last flight path took her over the mountain range.  There's nothing to worry about yet, but we should play it safe, and ask Twilight Sparkle for help."

Spitfire shot off towards the Ponyville library.  Applejack looked at her brother, worry in her eyes.

"Go on," he insisted, "I can handle the work.  Go."

“Thank you,” she said warmly.  She gave him her strongest smile as she sped off in a full gallop towards Twilight's home.

***

When Applejack arrived at the library, she was shocked at how messy everything was.  Twilight, roaming around the library reading books and gauging magical items that Applejack could not even begin to name, clearly had not slept last night.  She seemed incredibly distracted, and Spike, who followed her every move, looked worried.

"Hey, Applejack!" greeted Spike warmly.  "Sorry about the mess... come in!"  

Spike had gotten to the size where he was eye level with his pony friends.  Eventually it would be difficult for him to move around Twilight's house, but for now he was the perfect size.

"What in tarnation is goin on...?" asked Applejack, confused.

Spitfire, who sat in a chair, motioned for Applejack to come over.  "I haven't brought up Rainbow Dash yet," she whispered to Applejack.  "Something seems wrong.  Spike just sat me down here and told me to wait."  From the look on her face, waiting was one of her least favorite activities.

Applejack approached Twilight.  "Uh, sugarcube?"  She spoke carefully.  Twilight was always a little hard to deal with when she got like this.  "Is everything... alright?"

"Hi, Applejack," mumbled the magician without looking at her, "I'm not sure yet.  Here, sit down, I’ll tell you and Spitfire what's going on."

She sat next to Spitfire while Twilight checked one more magical device, some kind of ancient-looking compass.  She groaned, shook her head, and then turned towards the two of them.

"I've got a lot of work to do, so I'm going to do my best to keep it brief.  Last night, something happened.  I'm not exactly sure what, but many of the magic devices I use to monitor Equestria started... going crazy.  Especially this device, which measures fluctuations in magic over large areas."  She held up the compass.  "I created these devices because they can detect large increases in magic from magical artifacts or magical beings.  For example, if a powerful magician were to come within 50 miles of ponyville, I would know immediately, because the amount of magic in the area would spike.  Or, if an ancient dragon were to awaken near us, his magic, dormant while he was asleep, would be easy to detect.  These devices are wonderful tools to help predict when a magical disaster is coming.  I would know the moment something was wrong.  Do you understand so far?"

Applejack and Spitfire nodded, neither of them really understanding.

"Great.  So, here's the problem.  Last night, the magic changed drastically... but for the first time since I built the device, the magic spiked down."  She looked at them, but neither gave any indication that they understood.  "Don't you understand?  Something is draining magic from Equestria!"

The two of them blinked.  It sounded bad, but they really didn't have enough experience to know how bad.

"After doing some simple triangulation, I've determined that whatever is draining magic is in the mountains, and it—"

"Wait!" cut off Applejack, suddenly struck with fear.  "Whatever this thing is, draining all the magic around these parts, it's coming from the mountains?"

"Yes, Applejack, without question.  I have a theory on what it is, but nothing—"

"What is it?" asked Applejack, not really wanting to know the answer.

Twilight looked fairly scared.  She hesitated before she gave her answer..  "I think... it's a black dragon."

Applejack felt her stomach drop.  The only things Applejack knew about black dragons came from old pony tales, but the stories said that they were cruel, evil monsters who captured and killed for fun.  

"I don't understand," said Spitfire.  "A black dragon?"

"Yes.  Black Dragons are not magic creatures, like their cousins.  They are actually anti-magic creatures.  They cannot use magic, but likewise, magic cannot be used against them.  They feed off magical energy, and so they are like black holes, sucking up all the magic around them.  This is why they are considered to be the deadliest of the dragons: the usual tactics to defend yourself against dragons are magical in nature."  She looked around at her devices.  "Everything I have... everything I could do... would be useless against it," she added softly.  She suddenly cheered up.  "Still, though, we have lots of time to prepare!  Dragons usually don't move very much the first year they wake up.  Of course, we have to figure out a plan if it decides to come to Ponyville, but there's no reason for us to go looking for it."

"Twilight," whispered Applejack in shock, her voice shaking, "We have to go looking for it."

"What?" asked Twilight, looking at Applejack as if she were insane.  "Why in Equestria would we do that?"

Applejack swallowed hard.  "Because ah think the dragon has Rainbow Dash."

***

Check it out, guys, we're getting to the adventure part of the story!  Let me know what you think, and please, if you liked it, a thumbs up would mean a lot.

This is the first chapter added that has been edited by the talented Clavier.  We're going back and editing the old chapters too, so don't be too surprised if they suddenly have good grammar and proper formatting!  

-Gold