“Mommy?”
Dashie slowly opened her eyes. Her head was thumping, protesting in the pain that lingered within. Her body felt broken, small wings fluttering in an attempt to lift herself. But Dash couldn’t fly. At least not yet. She was a mere filly, a small foal in the beginning of a great life. But for now, that great life had to wait. For the small filly was in a big situation. There she lay, alone in the dirt with a bruised body. Surrounded by a strange forest she had never seen before. The soil was odd, to her. it was her first time on the ground. Her hooves were feeling the texture of the dirt they had never experienced before.
She slowly got herself up, legs wobbling under her. She wasn’t used to the hard ground at all, for her entire life she had only walked on clouds. That life had been short so far, yes, but it was still something the filly had never felt before. Her parents never allowed her to go down before she was able to fly. But her wings weren’t strong enough to fly herself up to Cloudsdale again. She looked up to see that massive floating city. The clouds weren’t nice white and welcoming anymore. The city had turned into a huge thunderstorm.
Dashie had always been told by her parents not to play too close to the cloud’s edges. At least not until she was able to fly properly. Because of the risk of falling off and getting lost in the forest. Things like that had happened before, not with Dash, but with others. Luckily, they were always almost directly found when they plunged down into the depths below. This time was different, though. Dash didn’t fall off because she was playing too close to the borders. The only thing the poor filly could remember was chaos, clouds splitting up, yelling, and then a plunge down.
“Mommy!” She called out towards the city. Of course nopony could hear her voice. It just flew away with the wind, unheard. Dash was alone. She didn’t have the ability to fly. She had to rely on others that weren’t there. She had to be found. The place she stood was only a small clearing, but certainly not big enough to make herself seen. To make things worst, it was nightfall, and the only illumination came from the lightning in Cloudsdale, and the faint orange background created by fire. Not even the contrast of her cyan coat on the dark green grass was a big aid.
“H-Help!” She called out desperately, setting a step forward. The foal only yelped and stumbled forward, a soft whimper escaping her lips as she lifted the left hoof she moved up. It hurt to lean on it. She sat down on her haunches, holding the aching hoof as tears formed in her magenta eyes. She sniffled and looked up to Cloudsdale. “I-I’m scared…” She muttered, as if her parents would be able to hear her. The forest that crowded around her was scary. It was dark, as if it was hiding looming beasts and vile secrets. Even if Dash would be able to move, she wouldn’t want to walk too far from the small clearing.
Dashie deemed herself lucky she wasn’t hurt more. With the height she dropped from, she’d expected to have worse than just a hurting leg. Then again, her wings are strong enough to make sure her landing was softer, albeit not being strong enough to properly fly. The rough descend did knock her out, however, but she had no idea for how long. Her body had bruises and cuts all over, but nothing bad enough to make her bleed or ache heavily. She was in pain, of course, but not bad enough to make her curl up and cry in agony. The only reason she’d cry right now is because she’s in a dark forest. Completely alone.
Suddenly a growl came from the shadows. Dash froze up, eyes going wide as she was still gently caressing her aching hoof. She quickly glanced around, only to see two red eyes lurking upon her from between two trees. She whimpered and dragged herself backwards through the clearing, the thunder from Cloudsdale rumbling through the forest. The eyes moved forward to show a snout. A wooden snout. The beast stepped out into the clearing, showing a wolf made entirely out of wood. Dashie sniffled and crawled against a tree, her whole body shivering.
“G-Go away!” She exclaimed with a trembling voice. She curled up against the tree and let out a soft cry as the beast came closer and closer. It licked its lips as it stalked towards the easy yet small prey, who helplessly sobbed against the tree. The canine stooped, ready to pounce as it made an offensive growl. Its legs stretched out, sending the wooden beast airborne, paws stretched out and claws aiming for the small filly. But instead of catching its prey, the canine let out a yelp as it was charged out of the air.
Dashie opened her eyes to see what was happening. And what she saw was something that made her smile. A yellow pegasus with a fiery mane stood there, in a wonderbolt costume, in front of the wolf that was laying on the ground. The mare turned to the filly, panting. Her suit was slightly tattered and her face had bruises and burn spots on it, as if she had been dealing with fires.
“You alright kid?” She asked, taking her eyes off the wolf. Bad idea, for the wooden canine stood and pounced on the Wonderbolt, clamping its vicious teeth down on her left wing. The pegasus cried out in pain as the wolf tried to tear the wing off, only getting its face slammed on by a hoof. The canine let go with a whimper, before the Wonderbolt turned around and bucked the predator in the head, the wooden beast falling apart in a heap of twigs. The pegasus panted and stepped back, turning towards Dash. Her wing was twitching slightly, drups of blood sipping onto the dirt.
“Everything alright kid?” She asked again, Dashie whimpering and nodding slightly, looking at the Wonderbolt.
“Y-Your wing…” She said softly, the yellow mare taking a look at the wounded wing, trying to spread it. But she winced, shaking her head.
“It’s gonna be fine kid, can you fly?” Dashie shook her head in response. “C’mon, you’re gonna have to try…”
“B-But I can’t fly yet…” Dash said in a whimper, standing and spreading her small wings. She fluttered them slightly and hopped up, only to land back on her hooves. She cried out in pain and collapsed forward, sniffling, her front hoof aching. The mare winced, noting to herself that maybe it would be a better plan to just find some hiding spot.
“Alright… uh… We’re gonna find a safe place first.” The Wonderbolt said, scooping Dash up on her back and quickly trotting off into the forest. It was still clear enough for her to see where she was going, but she needed to hurry as the night was slowly creeping up on the duo. Luckily, she ran into a cave soon enough, and took a large branch with her mouth, tossing it into the cave to see if anything alive was inside. Dashie let out a cry when a flock of bats came flying out, but other than that, no terrible beasts, horrifying monsters or scary beings. So the Wonderbolt decided it would be a good shelter for the time being.
She walked in, seeing no signs of an animal or anything else inhabiting the cave, which was a good sign. She slowly set Dash down, looking at her. She stooped down, so she was on eye-level with the scared little filly.
“Alright, can you tell me your name?” The wonderbolt asked, Dashie nodding slightly.
“I-I’m Rainbow Dash…” She said with a squeaky voice. “I want my mommy…” She added, the wonderbolt nodding.
“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, I’ll get you to your mommy. I’m Spitfire, a rookie in the Wonderbolts. You need to stay calm for me, okay?” Spitfire told the cyan foal, who nodded, keeping her hurt hoof off the ground. Spitfire’s wing was still steadily dripping blood.
“W-What happened in Cloudsdale?” She asked the Wonderbolt, who flattened her ears.
“As far as we know, an accident in one of the factories…” She answered, grabbing the branch she threw earlier and holding it next to her wing. It could do service as a splinth of some sort, the branch was certainly straight and long enough, she just needed something to bind it with.
“What kind of accident?” Dash asked, slowly placing her hoof on the ground, albeit with a soft whimper as the pain surged through her body.
“We don’t know what happened exactly, kid, but it was a pretty big accident. All we know is that a very big storm got loose…” She said, not telling everything of course. She didn’t want to scare the filly. At least not more than she needed to. She headed to the entrance of the cave to look for some kind of material that could serve as rope. She settled with some vines hanging from a tree nearby, the much smaller pegasus limping with Spitfire.
“We’re not going to get back up there, are we…?” She suddenly asked, receiving a worried gaze from the wonderbolt, who ventured deeper into the cavern again once she got enough vine.
“We will, Dash. I’m pretty sure they’ll send out search parties once the problems up there are settled.” Spitfire said, trying to stretch her wounded wing, wincing. That timber wolf surely had done a number on it, it was certainly broken. “I need you to help me out for a second… Can you hold this branch on my wing while I bind it?” Spitfire asked. Dash nodded, holding the branch up on the wing as Spitfire bound the vine around it. She was clearly grunting in pain while doing this. But she was more scared of possible infections she could get without any means of cleaning the wounds.
Dash let go of the branch once Spitfire had securely bound it to her wing, nodding. She carefully flattened the wing against her body, looking at it. Dash just sat down, looking like she was about to cry. So Spitfire decided it would be best to talk some courage into the small foal.
“Hey, you’re a strong kid… You’re definitely Wonderbolt material.” Spitfire said with a smile, Dash looking up with big eyes, filled with some hope.
“Really?” She squeaked, Spitfire nodding with a chuckle. Dash couldn’t believe her ears, she didn’t even have the power of flight yet and already this wonderbolt saw potential in her!
“I’m pretty sure that, once you start flying, you’ll be unstoppable.” Spitfire said in the pep-talk. She needed to keep the filly’s hopes up after all. “But for now, we’ll just have to wait for rescue. Take a nap, Dash, I’ll keep a look-out on things…”
The filly nodded, looking out of the cave. She lay herself down on the cold rock floor as her ears folded back. She laid her head on her good hoof, closing her eyes and trying to forget about the situation. It was hard though, the filly wondered if she’d ever see her mother again, or if she’d ever get out of the forest. But being under the custody of a Wonderbolt somehow made her feel more safe. At least she wasn’t alone. But what was coming would be an adventure nonetheless.
She opened one eye to peek at the Wonderbolt, seeing how she was gazing at the entrance of the cave. The sounds of the nocturnal forest echoed through the cave, and it scared the filly to hear the mixture of creatures. She closed her eyes, trying to think the nasty noises away and pretending to be in her bed at home, safely warm with her mommy and daddy…
...As it should be.