The Lost Wonderboltsby FireFlash13231ChaptersChapter 1: How Did This HappenChapter 2: I Found ThemChapter 3:The SpinfernoChapter 4: RecoveryChapters 5/6: We get in a Fight/Closer to the TruthChapter 7: EscapeSequel Is HerePrologue: CapturedChapter 1: How Did This HappenHow silly of me. I almost forgot to introduce myself. The name's Fireflash. Haven't heard of me? I'm not as well known as Soarin, Spitfire, or even Thunderstrike, although you may not have heard of him either. "Well, I suppose the first thing I should try to do is find out who wanted me here and why." I thought. "I know that Soarin and Spitfire disappeared because somepony wanted me gone, either so I would be unable to train Rainbow, and postpone the exam, or just because I was the original target. And I know that one of the ponies that captured me and threw me in this...cave had to be a unicorn because the exit had been sealed with magic. I'll figure out who and why exactly later, because I need to get out of here somehow." I could dig my way out, but that could take days. I can't stay in here and wait, because I don't know when somepony will notice I'm missing. They would probably just assume that I'm looking for Spitfire and Soarin, two of my teammates. I guess I'll look around this cave for a bit. After looking around for a few minutes, I found a dark tunnel in the back of the cave. After about five more minutes of looking around, I decided that that was the only opening in the cave. Since it won't do me any good to try to dig out, call for help, or just wait, I guess that I'll explore that dark, creepy tunnel in the back of the cave for now. Maybe there's another exit somewhere in this place..... Chapter 2: I Found ThemAfter 5, maybe 10 minutes of walking down that dark tunnel, I started to hear voices. I dashed ahead, and came out into another cave and ran into somepony, sending us both tumbling to the ground. I heard a voice say "Spitfire! Are you all right?" Instead of calling out, I waited for a reply. After a few moments I heard "I'm fine, Soarin. Somepony else is here, though. Hello? Who's there?" I was ecsatic to recognize the voices of my two good friends. "Spitfire! Soarin! It's me, Fireflash!" I cried. They called out in unison "Fireflash! What are you doing here?" "I don't know," I admitted. "Somepony or someponies attacked me, captured me, and threw me in here." "How did they catch you?" asked Spitfire. "You're faster than both of us combined!" "Well, I-" "Only in a straight line!" countered Soarin, cutting me off. "You can't turn to save your life at that sort of speed! Do you remember when Rainbow Dash saved me and Spitfire with her sonic rainboom at the Best Young Flyer Competition?" "I know guys, we have some great memories together, but now we need to focus on getting out of here" I interrupted. "In an answer to your question, Spitfire, I was attacked from behind. I had no way of knowing. At least now I know that you two aren't involved in my disappearance." "Of course we're not involved!" Soarin retorted. "Why would you EVER assume we were involved?" "You two disappeared first, and nopony could be counted out" I replied. Then Spitfire cut in. "Well, everypony is looking for Soarin and I, but we have no idea if anypony knows that you're missing, Fireflash. Supposedly you're still looking for us. There must be a pony guarding the cave, and you must have gotten too close so he captured you and threw you in here." "That makes some sense" I said. "But then why whould they have captured you?" "It's not neccessarily us" Soarin reasoned. "Somepony may have picked us at random to postpone the exam, then decided to capture you as well when they realized that you could still train Rainbow." "So our suspects are basically anypony with a grudge against you two, me, Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts, or any combination of the above." I concluded. "Anypony we know that fits those categories?" Spitfire asked sarcastically. "About everypony in Equestria." Soarin grumbled. I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Well that cleared up everything. Now how are we going to get out of here? Spitfire? Soarin? Any ideas?" "Um....." "Well....." I rolled my eyes again. "This is great. Just great. At last we found each other, and I guess kind of figured out who put us here, but we're still stuck in this STUPID CAVE!" "Whoa there, Fireflash. Slow down and cool off. You're breathing pretty hard." said Spitfire. "I took a few deep breaths and said "All right. So our first course of action is to find a way out of here. There's a tunnel in the front of this cave that leads to another cave, and the exit is in that room, but it's been sealed with magic. You two explore the rest of this cave while I try to think of something." I spent the next ten minutes or so pacing, and came up with a few insane ideas that were feasibly impossible and not worth mentioning, so when Soarin and Spitfire returned, I was ready for some good news. "Well? What's the report? I hope you two have something positive to tell me." Chapter 3:The Spinferno"In the back of the cave, there's a little hole in the roof." Soarin reported. "I think I could fit through and look for help!" "No, that would never work" argued Spitfire. "You can't fit through that, and you would get lost when you returned to look for us. We can dig our way out through that hole!" "It's a good idea, but our wings would get too tired" I explained. "I could use the new move that I've been working on to tunnel out through the hole!" Both of them stared at me before Spitfire narrowed her eyes questioningly. "What new move? You didn't say anything about a new move!" "Yeah!" agreed Soarin, also narrowing his eyes. "You said that we should never keep secrets from each other!" "Hold on a moment, you two. This was going to be a surprise, not a secret." I corrected. "I was planning on performing it at next week's event, only the event has definitely been cancelled by now, with three Wonderbolts missing." "You're probably right. Well, what's your new move called? And how will it help us get out of here?" "It's called the Spinferno, and it's extremely difficult, so I haven't exactly had much time to practice....." I said nervously, my voice trailing off. "That's all right!" said Spitfire. "It's worth a shot!" "Yeah!" urged Soarin. "Give it a go!" I looked into their eager faces and waited several seconds before replying. "All right. Just let me give it a practice attempt first. A Spinferno is dangerous, and I want to be sure I have enough space to do it." As Soarin and Spitfire moved back, I stood up on my back hooves and stretched my wings. Ah, how wonderful it felt to be using them again! I started to dash around in a circle, flaping my wings to accelerate more rapidly. As I ran faster and faster, a red glow began to appear beneath my hooves, and Spitfire and Soarin gasped in amazement. I began the second part of the trick, and started to close the circle. A glowing orange ring appeared inside of the red ring as I tightened my circle. As I lifted off, a third, yellow glowing ring appeared inside the orange ring. As I countinued to gain speed, the glow began to waver and flicker. An incredible wind had started to blow around the cave, and flames began to rise from the ground. As I flew faster, reaching unbelievable speeds in an impossibly tight circle, I gradually became surrounded by a flaming tornado known only as a Spinferno, and I was the only pony to ever perform one, though Soarin and Spitfire were the only other two ever to witness one. The heat and wind were intense, but I could stand it, thanks to a long week of practicing. As I began to slow down, the Spinferno slowed its rotation and the flames began to dissipate. As I touched down onto the floor of the cave, the glowing rings on the ground slowly began to fade away. As I trotted over to Spitire and Soarin, they stared at me in awe. "Wow, Fireflash! I didn't know you had that sort of ability! I mean, I knew you were great, but this...this is incredible!" Spitfire complimented. "For the longest time, I didn't either." I replied. "I only did this for the first time last week." "How would that help us out though?" wondered Soarin. "The tip that could drill us out is at the bottom, not the top! So even if you could modify it to help us escape, you would drill down. Not up!" "I though of the exact same problem." I said. "That's why I thought that I would run in a circle on the ceiling, using my wings to fly upside down, and then I could "run" on the ceiling, and right myself to prepare to modify it when I take off, so that I can drill upward with my inverted Spinferno. It might just work, but it would be so many times more dangerous than the original." "It can't hurt to try..." Spitfire said nervously. "Actually, it could hurt a lot-" "Just go for it, Fireflash! Me and Spitfire believe in you!" "All right, but let me rest first. This thing takes nearly THIRTY WINGPOWER." "Whoa. That's hard enough in a straight line, but in a tight circle?" Spitfire said, still awestruck. "Actually, flying in a tight circle increases the wingpower calculations significantly." "Really, Soarin? How do you know that?" asked Spitfire. "Remember? Fireflash and I went to Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash led the way for the pegasus ponies of Ponyville to become the next ones to have the honor of supplying the water for the weather ponies in Cloudsdale." "Right, now I remember." said Spitfire. "I wanted to go with you two so badly, but I had broken my wing a couple of days before." "Back to the task at hand." I interrupted. "I need to rest my hooves and wings for at least ten minutes or so before I can run or fly again, and just under an hour before I can even think of trying another Spinferno. That trick really takes the energy out of me. It doesn't help that I'm hungry, either. You two start digging a hole in the roof for me to drill into, and I'm going to rest up." "Will do, Fireflash. You rest so that you can drill us out of here." "Wake me up in an hour or so." I don't know when, but when I woke up, Soarin and Spitfire were snoozing side by side. "Hehe. Tired from flying and digging. I'll let them sleep and I'll try to drill out once they're awake." In another twenty minutes, they had gotten up and were ready for me to attempt the Inverted Drill Spinferno. "Stand back." I warned them. "I don't know what will happen." I started the stunt the same way, only upside down. This time, when I began to close the circle, it added a yellow ring, not an orange one. "Yellow?" Soarin said over the rushing wind. "Last time it was orange!" I knew in my mind that that could not have been a good sign, but I decided to keep going. As I lifted off the ceiling and righted myself, a blue ring formed inside of the yellow ring. "What's happening?" Spitfire yelled over the rushing wind. "I don't know!" Soarin yelled back. "I sure hope Fireflash knows what he's doing!" I knew exactly what I was doing, but I had no idea whatsoever what was causing the messed up colors. As I began to modify the move, I raised my front hooves to the ceiling and started grinding away at the rocks with my upside down Spinferno. After about a minute, I had drilled a five inch deep hole into the ceiling. I was starting to feel extremely tired, so I tried to slow down, but I couldn't stop! I tried harder to decellerate, but only accelerated faster, and at this speed, I could easily lose control. I immediately called out. "Help me! I can't stop! Help!" "Soarin! We've got to get Fireflash down from there!" "Well, I know that, but how?" "Help me!" I cried out. "If I can't stop, then my Spinferno might turn into an uncontrollable blazing fireball! I could DIE in this thing!" "All right, Fireflash, we're coming!" Spitfire and Soarin flew up to help me down, but it was too late. I lost control of my Spinferno, which morphed into a spinning ball of fire, with me tumbling around helplessly inside. "No! Fireflash!" Spitfire screamed. Spitfire tried to fly into the fireball to help me, but Soarin pulled her back. "I'm sorry Spitfire, but this is one thing we can't do." Soarin sighed, and lowered his head. "Fireflash is going to have to make it out of this one on his own." Chapter 4: RecoveryI screeched in terror as the fireball began to shrink, and I curled up to try and avoid its flaming walls. It continued to shrink, and I waited for it to be all over. I had no idea what would happen when it hit me, but I expected to catch on fire and be incinerated instantly. When it finally brushed my tail, I prepared myself as much as possible for the worst. It couldn't get any worse that catching on fire and burning to death, right? Wrong. The fireball exploded on contact, sending me screaming and flailing into the wall of the cave, where I fell to the floor, motionless, and in an akward position. When I finally woke up, water was dripping on my face, and I was in agony. I nearly passed out again, but I gritted my teeth and screeched loudly instead. "Oh good, you're awake." Spitfire turned away from Soarin and trotted over to me. "You broke your left wing, both of your right legs, and your back left hoof is sticking out at a weird angle, which is not good." Soarin unsteadily got up and slowly walked over to me on three legs and looked me over. "That explosion tore a large chunk of stone out of the ceiling. It also knocked me into a wall, and I sprained my front right hoof and left wing, so I can't run or fly, but you can't even stand up. Spitfire is the only one not incapacitated right now." I moaned in agony. I touched my front left hoof, the only uninjured one, to the left side of my head and winced. A lightning bolt shaped gash ran behind my ear, to the corner of my eye, and down the side of my face. I gasped as a searing pain shot through the gash. "It feels like a lightning bolt down the side of my face." I commented. "It looks like a lightning bolt down the side of your face." Soarin said. He walked back over to the other side of the cave and sat back down. Author's Note: The "lightning bolt on the side of my face" is not just an idea. I (the author) have the exact same issue in real life, though as far as everyone can tell, there is no actual injury. It hurts like hell... >_< "You need to rest, Fireflash... So do you, Soain." she snapped as he started to get up again. "That wing and that hoof need to heal." "All right, Spitfire." Soarin sighed. "I just wish that there was more that I could do to help in my current state." "The way that you can help most is by resting! Fireflash needs us now. He may be faster than us, and stronger, but you need to rest so that you can help him!" "Okay, okay, I get it. I'll rest up, and we'll see how everypony is doing later." Spitfire turned back to me, eyes soft and caring. "Don't worry, Fireflash. Everything will....." I never heard the rest because at that point I had fallen asleep. When I woke up, Soarin was on his hooves again. Well, three of them. I was surprised to see that his hoof and wing were bandaged with vines and leaves. I moaned in pain. "Ohhh.....my wing...my legs..." "Don't worry." Spitfire said. "I bandaged you up too." "Where did you get all these plants?" I asked. "That explosion knocked a lot of the roof out, remember? I can reach through that hole now! There were plenty, so we're probably in a forest somewhere. There's also a strawberry bush nearby, so se have some food as well. You want one?" "Yes! I'm starving!" "Hehe. that's what I thought." Spitfire smiled and gave me a bunch of strawberries. As I ate, I began to feel a bit better, but just as in pain as before. "Thanks, Spitfire. Yeowch!" I yelped in pain as Spitfire put her hoof on my back. "Oh dear...are you all right? Did I hurt you?" "No, I'm just sore, that's all. You saw how hard I hit the wall, didn't you?" Spitfire lay next to me for a while, and eventually put her hoof around me. It made me wonder...do I love Spitfire? I decided to think about that later, as Spitfire had started to rub my mane. "That feels niiice..." I said happily, closing my eyes. "Don't worry, Fireflash. Everything will be fine. I'll be here to protect you until you get better." "Thanks, Spitfire. I know that I can count on you and Soarin." I opened my eyes, and caught a glance of Soarin glaring at me from across the cave. Oh no. That can't be good. Does he have a crush on Spitfire? I really hoped not. I didn't want any rifts forming between anypony, not now..... After a long week of rest and recuperation, my back left hoof has healed, and Soarin's wing and hoof are both fully healed. I still have the vine braces on my two right legs and left wing, though. I can tell that this is going to be a long road to recovery. Chapters 5/6: We get in a Fight/Closer to the TruthIt's been three weeks that we've been down in this cave, and tempers are beginning to run short. There is no doubt in my mind that we were doomed to get into an argument from the very beginning. It all started with another mentioning of that same question that had been pestering everypony. "So, once my wing and back right leg have healed, how ARE we going to get out of here?" I asked for the millionth time. This time, Soarin finally lost his patience. Instead of replying with the usual "We'll finish digging our way out of here eventually," he let me have it. An extremely irritated Soarin stared straight at me with eyes narrowed and a snarl in his voice. "Well, if your SPINFERNO hadn't blown you across the cave and rendered you USELESS, we would have been FINISHED digging out by now!" "Careful, Soarin." Spitfire warned. "We don't want a fight, not now. And besides, it was MY idea to dig us out. Your idea of trying to fit through this hole would never have worked." "Watch it, both of you." I looked from one to the other. Soarin, glaring from me to Spitfire, murder in his eyes. Spitfire was glancing nervously between me and Soarin, hoping that things would settle. When our eyes met, I could clearly see her silently pleading with me not to escaltate the spontaneous argument. I sighed inwardly and looked back to Soarin. "Fighting will get us nowhere, and you're right. My Spinferno was a good idea, but it screwed up, and I'm sorry." I glanced quickly to Spitfire, who clearly was glad at my clearing the air, and she shot me a look full of meaning. Unfortunately, Soarin noticed, and I figured that he must have completely misinterpreted. I reached out my hoof. "Truce?" I offered Soarin my right hoof, completely unprepared for his reaction. Instead of accepting my offer of peace, he went into a rage. "YOUR SPINFERNO SCREWED UP? I'LL SAY IT SCREWED UP! YOU BLEW A CHUNK OUT OF THE ROOF, BROKE MY WING AND HOOF, AND MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOURSELF TO DO ANY SORT OF WORK! YOU...YOU..." "Stop!" Spitfire squealed. I had backed up against a wall, where I lay cringing in fear, hooves over my head. Soarin glared at me with as much hate and contempt as he could have possibly contained for three weeks. He turned around, and I lifted my hooves slightly from over my head and glanced up. Spitfire was clearly trying to keep this from escalating any further, potentially saving me from a fifth broken limb. "Our flaming tempers are going to cause this inferno of a fight to spin out of control! No pun intended." Soarin rolled his eyes, and returned his gaze to me, a murderous fire blazing in his eyes. I returned my hooves to my eyes, whimpering in fear. I knew that one wrong move, one misspoken word, even one misinterpreted glance could turn this fight into a full-scale riot. I knew that Soarin could hurt me severely if things got any more out of hoof, so I chose my words extremely carefully, slowly rising to three hooves and staring nervously back at Soarin. "We'll have to agree to disagree." I decided. "I use pure force, like supersonic speeds and my Spinferno, and when things backfire, I take the most damage from sheer reflective power. Soarin, you use a more passive force, like when you tried to force yourself through the hole in the ceiling. It won't always work, but it often has very few negative effects on a failed attempt. Spitfire, you are purely passive, soft-hearted, and gentle, and Soarin and I could both definitely stand to learn from your patience and kindness. If we had listened to you in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess." I took a deep breath, lowered my head, and waited, ready for whatever Soarin's response would be. The dark fire slowly faded from Soarin's eyes, and he sighed. "I guess so." I raised my head and looked at him, genuinely surprised. "We should have tried it the slower, safer way instead of trying to drill out with a risky move like that. It was me who told you to try your Spinferno." We both turned to Spitfire. "We're sorry." "Don't be." She put her hoof up, and we stared at her. "I was also eager for you to try out your Spinferno, Fireflash." She gave me another meaningful look, and this time thankfully Soarin didn't notice. I grunted and gritted my teeth as a bolt of pain shot the the lightning bolt on my face, bringing me back down to the ground. I touched it gingerly, knowing fully that it would scar over. "These headaches are excrutiating, jagged bolts of pain down the left side of my face." I complained. "And they won't go away!" Spitfire and Soarin trotted over, worried looks on their faces. "Are you all right?" Soarin asked, his sudden raging outburst over, to be replace with the Soarin I knew and loved; caring and gentle, for the most part. "It will heal eventually, I'm sure..." "You don't sound very sure..." "Will you two focus? We've almost finished digging out of here, Fireflash is nearly healed, and we need to escape before the ponies that put us here accomplish whatever their goal is!" I rose once again from the floor and walked over, a determined look on my face. Spitfire looked at me. "Fireflash! Lie back down! You still need to rest, so don't walk around or you could hurt yourself!" "No." I stared from Soarin to Spitfire, my intentions clear from the determined look on my face. "I've lain there with you two taing care of me for three weeks now, and it's MY turn to do some hard work. I may only have three hooves to walk on now, but my wing has healed, and I can fly. What is my task?" I looked from one to the other, silently daring them to make me lie back down. "Quiet!" Soarin hissed unexpedctedly. "I hear somepony!" We sat in silence, and heard hoofsteps overhead. We heard an unrecognizable voice. "Do you think that they're still alive? The search has nearly been gven up." We waited in silence, but nopony answered. We heard a grinding noise at the entrance, and an angry voice, a different one. "They're not here! They must have found the escape tunnel!" "Oh no." Soarin moaned. "There's no way that we can take them." "My wing has healed, remember? I can perform a third Spinferno and hopefully scare them off without a fight. I can only display my force through flying, so a Spinferno is perfect. I'm willing to give it a go as a last-ditch effort, because you two are my friends and I care about you." "Really? Soarin was astounded. "You would risk your life to try and pull off a SPINFERNO with a broken leg to save me and Spitfire?" "Yes." In the few seconds of silence that followed, we heard rapid hoofsteps echoing from down the tunnel. "Here goes nothing." I began running on three hooves in the now familiar circle. With one leg broken, it took longer for the red ring to form, and even longer for the orange ring. I took off, now able to go the full speed required to pull off the Spinferno, and the yellow ring formed inside of the orange one. My left wing, the one I had injured, began twitching as flames began to build up. I gritted my teeth against the pain, spun my Spinferno over to a corner near the tunnel exit, and waited. Two pegasi rushed in, saw the glowing Spinferno, turnd tail, and tore back down the tunnel, Soarin and Spitfire in hot pursuit. I followed rapidly down the tunnel, flames blowing around me. As I reached the main cave, I became too tired to fly, so I decided to land. Having forgotten that landing with three hooves would be extremely difficult, I tripped and skidded facefirst into the cave wall, almost knocking over Spitfire. "My bad!" I apologized. "Are you all right?" Soarin called. "I'm okay! Did we get them?" "No, but I caught a glimpse of them before the exit was resealed." Spitfire gasped for breath. "They were both a darkish gray with blue manes. A unicorn must have been waiting outside." "Not Wonderbolts." Soarin confirmed. "Definitely not Wonderbolts..." I thought to myself. "But how in Equestria did they find me again..." "Twins, probably." Spitfire decided. "That will narrow our search significantly. Now let's dig out of here!" I called to Soarin and Spitfire, but they had already dashed back down the tunnel. I stood up, and began pacing. They can't have found me...it's been seven long years...how could they possibly have found me? I needed to get out to warn Rainbow Dash. We were in danger, but I was still trapped, and she had no idea. I suddenly realized that the fact that they had found me was not the only thing bothering me. I lashed my wings in fury, unsure what it could be. Suddenly, I stopped, mouth wide in astonishment. I remembered our recent argument, when Spitfire had given me those meaningful looks...I remembered how she had nursed me slowly back to health, a look in her eyes the entire time. Could that have been...love? I could not believe it. Is Spitfire in love with me? Author's note: I am purposely not stating who "they" are. You may have figured it out yourself by now though. And yes, Soarin is in love with Spitfire, who is in love with Fireflash, who can't decide between Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. Chapter 7: EscapeOnly one thing is on my mind right now, and I think that Soarin and Spitfire are thinking the exact same thing that I am. Since my back right leg finally healed a few days ago, all three of us have been digging furiously. I can't believe that we've almost made it out of here alive! I was asleep when we made it to the surface. "Fireflash! Get up!" Soarin was yelling. "We made it!" I rolled over, sat up, and groggily rubbed my eyes with my hooves, dark patches under them from being so tired. "Mmmf.....zzzzz.....Soarin...whatsamatter..." I mumbled, still half asleep. I slowly rose to my hooves, eyes barely open, and wobbled back and forth, still half asleep. I was vaguely aware of somepony tapping my shoulder repeatedly. "Fireflash, get up." Spitfire siad, her voice soft with affection. "We made it." If I wasn't awake before, I was now. I remember my earlier revelations that Spifire had subtly been giving me looks full of love, and now was no different. I realized that she would not likely act with subtlety for much longer. "All right Soarin and Spitfire. I'll be ready to leave in a minute, just let me stretch my wings." I turned around, and was caught completely off guard as Spitfire kissed me. I immediately broke off and jumped back. "Spitfire! Wha...what was that!" My mouth was hanging open in astonishment. I was about to continue, but Spitfire took advantage of my open mouth and kissed me again, putting her hooves around my neck, not letting me get away. My wings shot straight out sideways. I struggled, but Spitfire refused to let go. I decided that the best thing to do would be to just let her do what she wanted so that we could leave. I closed my eyes and kissed her back. Instead of letting me go, she just put more passion into her kiss. She broke off as Soarin called out. "Spitfire? Fireflash? Where are you?" Spitfire flew up to the cave entrance and called out to Soarin while I tried desperately to make my wingboner go away before Soarin came back from exploring the area. As Soarin and Spitfire entered the cave, Soarin saw me hoofing at my wings, trying desperately to make them lay flat. I noticed him watching me and my face turned bright red, Spitfire giggling madly. "Ummm...Fireflash? What are you doing?" "I...I..." Unable to come up with an excuse, my face became redder, my wings still sticking out at my sides. "Never mind, I don't want to know..." Soarin sighed. "Whenever...that...whatever it is goes away and you can fly again, let's get out of here." After a couple of minutes, I was able to fly again, my wings no longer stiff. I took off out the exit and flew into the sky, before diving down and performing a sonic boom, flames shooting out around me, and I used my flame-colored tail to write smoking words in the sky, like Rainbow did after a sonic rainboom. My skywriting read "RAINBOW DASH, WE'RE ALL RIGHT!" I touched down next to Spitfire and Soarin. "She knows my style of skywriting, so just wait. She'll be here in ten seconds flat." We didn't have to wait long. I heard her as I saw her, a rainbow streak blazing through the sky. "I'M COMING, FIREFLASH!" She tackled me to the grond in an enormous hug. "I missed you so much, Fireflash! Tell me everything!" "Hehe. Don't forget that we still need to get home!" "It looks like somepony's missed you, Fireflash!" Soarin chuckled. "Yeah! I can't express how happy I am to see all three of you! Everypony thinks that you're gone, but I never gave up looking! I knew that you'ld never leave me, Fireflash!" "Of course not, Rainbow Dash. Let's go home." With that, the four of us took off into the sunset, heading back home. Author's Note: due to me losing the original handwritten draft, this does not go into full detail. If I find it, I will complete it. This was a rush job to satisfy people's happiness :P Sequel Is HereThe sequel is called My Adventures With Rainbow Dash, and it is here! Enjoy! Prologue: CapturedRainbow Dash and I have been best friends since we were only filly and colt. We played together all the time, had adventures, everything that best friends do. One fateful day, everything changed. When I passed the entrance exam for the Wonderbolts, unfortunately, Rainbow didn't pass. I was so sorry that my best friend couldn't join with me, and I made it clear to her that being in the Wonderbolts without her was nowhere near as much fun as not being in the Wonderbolts and hanging out with her. Time passed, and I realized that we were still best friends, and that nothing, not even one of us achieveng our life's dream and the other being left out, could break that friendship. I had an idea. I would train her, and beg the Wonderbolts' captain, Spitfire, to give her a second attempt at the entrance exam. After almost a year of training, I was convinced that my best friend in Equestria, Rainbow Dash, would easily make the cut. About a week before the exam, Spitfire and Soarin disappeared. They were two of the three judges for the exam entrants, and everypony wondered what had happened. Due to the fact that we were already short on performers for the next show, on the same date as the exam, no more flyers could be spared to judge the exam, and it had to be postponed. At this point I should have become suspicious, as I was forced to stop helping Rainbow prepare in order to look for Spitfire and Soarin with the rest of the Wonderbolts, hopefully in order to find them before the date of the exam. One day, I was looking for Spitfire and Soarin, when I was attacked from behind. I was bucked in the head, and I fell to the ground, unconscious. When I woke up, I was blindfolded, gagged, and had my wings bound to my side. I removed the blindfold, and immediately realized that it was extremely dark. I looked around, but I could not tell where I was. I assumed that I was in a cave, as the floor and walls were rocky and rough. It took almost ten minutes for me to remove the rope binding my wings. I had to admit, whoever threw me in here knew how to tie knots. I traced the cave wall with my hoof, and it took under a minute for me to find what I was looking for. "I thought so..." I said aloud. "Magic..." There was an exit, and it had been sealed with magic. I may be a pegasus, but years of hanging with Twilight Sparkle had taught me that you didn't need to be a unicorn to detect traces of magic. I tried to escape with a sonic flameboom, but it was no use. There was not enough space to accelerate. I was trapped.
Chapter 1: How Did This HappenHow silly of me. I almost forgot to introduce myself. The name's Fireflash. Haven't heard of me? I'm not as well known as Soarin, Spitfire, or even Thunderstrike, although you may not have heard of him either. "Well, I suppose the first thing I should try to do is find out who wanted me here and why." I thought. "I know that Soarin and Spitfire disappeared because somepony wanted me gone, either so I would be unable to train Rainbow, and postpone the exam, or just because I was the original target. And I know that one of the ponies that captured me and threw me in this...cave had to be a unicorn because the exit had been sealed with magic. I'll figure out who and why exactly later, because I need to get out of here somehow." I could dig my way out, but that could take days. I can't stay in here and wait, because I don't know when somepony will notice I'm missing. They would probably just assume that I'm looking for Spitfire and Soarin, two of my teammates. I guess I'll look around this cave for a bit. After looking around for a few minutes, I found a dark tunnel in the back of the cave. After about five more minutes of looking around, I decided that that was the only opening in the cave. Since it won't do me any good to try to dig out, call for help, or just wait, I guess that I'll explore that dark, creepy tunnel in the back of the cave for now. Maybe there's another exit somewhere in this place.....
Chapter 2: I Found ThemAfter 5, maybe 10 minutes of walking down that dark tunnel, I started to hear voices. I dashed ahead, and came out into another cave and ran into somepony, sending us both tumbling to the ground. I heard a voice say "Spitfire! Are you all right?" Instead of calling out, I waited for a reply. After a few moments I heard "I'm fine, Soarin. Somepony else is here, though. Hello? Who's there?" I was ecsatic to recognize the voices of my two good friends. "Spitfire! Soarin! It's me, Fireflash!" I cried. They called out in unison "Fireflash! What are you doing here?" "I don't know," I admitted. "Somepony or someponies attacked me, captured me, and threw me in here." "How did they catch you?" asked Spitfire. "You're faster than both of us combined!" "Well, I-" "Only in a straight line!" countered Soarin, cutting me off. "You can't turn to save your life at that sort of speed! Do you remember when Rainbow Dash saved me and Spitfire with her sonic rainboom at the Best Young Flyer Competition?" "I know guys, we have some great memories together, but now we need to focus on getting out of here" I interrupted. "In an answer to your question, Spitfire, I was attacked from behind. I had no way of knowing. At least now I know that you two aren't involved in my disappearance." "Of course we're not involved!" Soarin retorted. "Why would you EVER assume we were involved?" "You two disappeared first, and nopony could be counted out" I replied. Then Spitfire cut in. "Well, everypony is looking for Soarin and I, but we have no idea if anypony knows that you're missing, Fireflash. Supposedly you're still looking for us. There must be a pony guarding the cave, and you must have gotten too close so he captured you and threw you in here." "That makes some sense" I said. "But then why whould they have captured you?" "It's not neccessarily us" Soarin reasoned. "Somepony may have picked us at random to postpone the exam, then decided to capture you as well when they realized that you could still train Rainbow." "So our suspects are basically anypony with a grudge against you two, me, Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts, or any combination of the above." I concluded. "Anypony we know that fits those categories?" Spitfire asked sarcastically. "About everypony in Equestria." Soarin grumbled. I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Well that cleared up everything. Now how are we going to get out of here? Spitfire? Soarin? Any ideas?" "Um....." "Well....." I rolled my eyes again. "This is great. Just great. At last we found each other, and I guess kind of figured out who put us here, but we're still stuck in this STUPID CAVE!" "Whoa there, Fireflash. Slow down and cool off. You're breathing pretty hard." said Spitfire. "I took a few deep breaths and said "All right. So our first course of action is to find a way out of here. There's a tunnel in the front of this cave that leads to another cave, and the exit is in that room, but it's been sealed with magic. You two explore the rest of this cave while I try to think of something." I spent the next ten minutes or so pacing, and came up with a few insane ideas that were feasibly impossible and not worth mentioning, so when Soarin and Spitfire returned, I was ready for some good news. "Well? What's the report? I hope you two have something positive to tell me."
Chapter 3:The Spinferno"In the back of the cave, there's a little hole in the roof." Soarin reported. "I think I could fit through and look for help!" "No, that would never work" argued Spitfire. "You can't fit through that, and you would get lost when you returned to look for us. We can dig our way out through that hole!" "It's a good idea, but our wings would get too tired" I explained. "I could use the new move that I've been working on to tunnel out through the hole!" Both of them stared at me before Spitfire narrowed her eyes questioningly. "What new move? You didn't say anything about a new move!" "Yeah!" agreed Soarin, also narrowing his eyes. "You said that we should never keep secrets from each other!" "Hold on a moment, you two. This was going to be a surprise, not a secret." I corrected. "I was planning on performing it at next week's event, only the event has definitely been cancelled by now, with three Wonderbolts missing." "You're probably right. Well, what's your new move called? And how will it help us get out of here?" "It's called the Spinferno, and it's extremely difficult, so I haven't exactly had much time to practice....." I said nervously, my voice trailing off. "That's all right!" said Spitfire. "It's worth a shot!" "Yeah!" urged Soarin. "Give it a go!" I looked into their eager faces and waited several seconds before replying. "All right. Just let me give it a practice attempt first. A Spinferno is dangerous, and I want to be sure I have enough space to do it." As Soarin and Spitfire moved back, I stood up on my back hooves and stretched my wings. Ah, how wonderful it felt to be using them again! I started to dash around in a circle, flaping my wings to accelerate more rapidly. As I ran faster and faster, a red glow began to appear beneath my hooves, and Spitfire and Soarin gasped in amazement. I began the second part of the trick, and started to close the circle. A glowing orange ring appeared inside of the red ring as I tightened my circle. As I lifted off, a third, yellow glowing ring appeared inside the orange ring. As I countinued to gain speed, the glow began to waver and flicker. An incredible wind had started to blow around the cave, and flames began to rise from the ground. As I flew faster, reaching unbelievable speeds in an impossibly tight circle, I gradually became surrounded by a flaming tornado known only as a Spinferno, and I was the only pony to ever perform one, though Soarin and Spitfire were the only other two ever to witness one. The heat and wind were intense, but I could stand it, thanks to a long week of practicing. As I began to slow down, the Spinferno slowed its rotation and the flames began to dissipate. As I touched down onto the floor of the cave, the glowing rings on the ground slowly began to fade away. As I trotted over to Spitire and Soarin, they stared at me in awe. "Wow, Fireflash! I didn't know you had that sort of ability! I mean, I knew you were great, but this...this is incredible!" Spitfire complimented. "For the longest time, I didn't either." I replied. "I only did this for the first time last week." "How would that help us out though?" wondered Soarin. "The tip that could drill us out is at the bottom, not the top! So even if you could modify it to help us escape, you would drill down. Not up!" "I though of the exact same problem." I said. "That's why I thought that I would run in a circle on the ceiling, using my wings to fly upside down, and then I could "run" on the ceiling, and right myself to prepare to modify it when I take off, so that I can drill upward with my inverted Spinferno. It might just work, but it would be so many times more dangerous than the original." "It can't hurt to try..." Spitfire said nervously. "Actually, it could hurt a lot-" "Just go for it, Fireflash! Me and Spitfire believe in you!" "All right, but let me rest first. This thing takes nearly THIRTY WINGPOWER." "Whoa. That's hard enough in a straight line, but in a tight circle?" Spitfire said, still awestruck. "Actually, flying in a tight circle increases the wingpower calculations significantly." "Really, Soarin? How do you know that?" asked Spitfire. "Remember? Fireflash and I went to Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash led the way for the pegasus ponies of Ponyville to become the next ones to have the honor of supplying the water for the weather ponies in Cloudsdale." "Right, now I remember." said Spitfire. "I wanted to go with you two so badly, but I had broken my wing a couple of days before." "Back to the task at hand." I interrupted. "I need to rest my hooves and wings for at least ten minutes or so before I can run or fly again, and just under an hour before I can even think of trying another Spinferno. That trick really takes the energy out of me. It doesn't help that I'm hungry, either. You two start digging a hole in the roof for me to drill into, and I'm going to rest up." "Will do, Fireflash. You rest so that you can drill us out of here." "Wake me up in an hour or so." I don't know when, but when I woke up, Soarin and Spitfire were snoozing side by side. "Hehe. Tired from flying and digging. I'll let them sleep and I'll try to drill out once they're awake." In another twenty minutes, they had gotten up and were ready for me to attempt the Inverted Drill Spinferno. "Stand back." I warned them. "I don't know what will happen." I started the stunt the same way, only upside down. This time, when I began to close the circle, it added a yellow ring, not an orange one. "Yellow?" Soarin said over the rushing wind. "Last time it was orange!" I knew in my mind that that could not have been a good sign, but I decided to keep going. As I lifted off the ceiling and righted myself, a blue ring formed inside of the yellow ring. "What's happening?" Spitfire yelled over the rushing wind. "I don't know!" Soarin yelled back. "I sure hope Fireflash knows what he's doing!" I knew exactly what I was doing, but I had no idea whatsoever what was causing the messed up colors. As I began to modify the move, I raised my front hooves to the ceiling and started grinding away at the rocks with my upside down Spinferno. After about a minute, I had drilled a five inch deep hole into the ceiling. I was starting to feel extremely tired, so I tried to slow down, but I couldn't stop! I tried harder to decellerate, but only accelerated faster, and at this speed, I could easily lose control. I immediately called out. "Help me! I can't stop! Help!" "Soarin! We've got to get Fireflash down from there!" "Well, I know that, but how?" "Help me!" I cried out. "If I can't stop, then my Spinferno might turn into an uncontrollable blazing fireball! I could DIE in this thing!" "All right, Fireflash, we're coming!" Spitfire and Soarin flew up to help me down, but it was too late. I lost control of my Spinferno, which morphed into a spinning ball of fire, with me tumbling around helplessly inside. "No! Fireflash!" Spitfire screamed. Spitfire tried to fly into the fireball to help me, but Soarin pulled her back. "I'm sorry Spitfire, but this is one thing we can't do." Soarin sighed, and lowered his head. "Fireflash is going to have to make it out of this one on his own."
Chapter 4: RecoveryI screeched in terror as the fireball began to shrink, and I curled up to try and avoid its flaming walls. It continued to shrink, and I waited for it to be all over. I had no idea what would happen when it hit me, but I expected to catch on fire and be incinerated instantly. When it finally brushed my tail, I prepared myself as much as possible for the worst. It couldn't get any worse that catching on fire and burning to death, right? Wrong. The fireball exploded on contact, sending me screaming and flailing into the wall of the cave, where I fell to the floor, motionless, and in an akward position. When I finally woke up, water was dripping on my face, and I was in agony. I nearly passed out again, but I gritted my teeth and screeched loudly instead. "Oh good, you're awake." Spitfire turned away from Soarin and trotted over to me. "You broke your left wing, both of your right legs, and your back left hoof is sticking out at a weird angle, which is not good." Soarin unsteadily got up and slowly walked over to me on three legs and looked me over. "That explosion tore a large chunk of stone out of the ceiling. It also knocked me into a wall, and I sprained my front right hoof and left wing, so I can't run or fly, but you can't even stand up. Spitfire is the only one not incapacitated right now." I moaned in agony. I touched my front left hoof, the only uninjured one, to the left side of my head and winced. A lightning bolt shaped gash ran behind my ear, to the corner of my eye, and down the side of my face. I gasped as a searing pain shot through the gash. "It feels like a lightning bolt down the side of my face." I commented. "It looks like a lightning bolt down the side of your face." Soarin said. He walked back over to the other side of the cave and sat back down. Author's Note: The "lightning bolt on the side of my face" is not just an idea. I (the author) have the exact same issue in real life, though as far as everyone can tell, there is no actual injury. It hurts like hell... >_< "You need to rest, Fireflash... So do you, Soain." she snapped as he started to get up again. "That wing and that hoof need to heal." "All right, Spitfire." Soarin sighed. "I just wish that there was more that I could do to help in my current state." "The way that you can help most is by resting! Fireflash needs us now. He may be faster than us, and stronger, but you need to rest so that you can help him!" "Okay, okay, I get it. I'll rest up, and we'll see how everypony is doing later." Spitfire turned back to me, eyes soft and caring. "Don't worry, Fireflash. Everything will....." I never heard the rest because at that point I had fallen asleep. When I woke up, Soarin was on his hooves again. Well, three of them. I was surprised to see that his hoof and wing were bandaged with vines and leaves. I moaned in pain. "Ohhh.....my wing...my legs..." "Don't worry." Spitfire said. "I bandaged you up too." "Where did you get all these plants?" I asked. "That explosion knocked a lot of the roof out, remember? I can reach through that hole now! There were plenty, so we're probably in a forest somewhere. There's also a strawberry bush nearby, so se have some food as well. You want one?" "Yes! I'm starving!" "Hehe. that's what I thought." Spitfire smiled and gave me a bunch of strawberries. As I ate, I began to feel a bit better, but just as in pain as before. "Thanks, Spitfire. Yeowch!" I yelped in pain as Spitfire put her hoof on my back. "Oh dear...are you all right? Did I hurt you?" "No, I'm just sore, that's all. You saw how hard I hit the wall, didn't you?" Spitfire lay next to me for a while, and eventually put her hoof around me. It made me wonder...do I love Spitfire? I decided to think about that later, as Spitfire had started to rub my mane. "That feels niiice..." I said happily, closing my eyes. "Don't worry, Fireflash. Everything will be fine. I'll be here to protect you until you get better." "Thanks, Spitfire. I know that I can count on you and Soarin." I opened my eyes, and caught a glance of Soarin glaring at me from across the cave. Oh no. That can't be good. Does he have a crush on Spitfire? I really hoped not. I didn't want any rifts forming between anypony, not now..... After a long week of rest and recuperation, my back left hoof has healed, and Soarin's wing and hoof are both fully healed. I still have the vine braces on my two right legs and left wing, though. I can tell that this is going to be a long road to recovery.
Chapters 5/6: We get in a Fight/Closer to the TruthIt's been three weeks that we've been down in this cave, and tempers are beginning to run short. There is no doubt in my mind that we were doomed to get into an argument from the very beginning. It all started with another mentioning of that same question that had been pestering everypony. "So, once my wing and back right leg have healed, how ARE we going to get out of here?" I asked for the millionth time. This time, Soarin finally lost his patience. Instead of replying with the usual "We'll finish digging our way out of here eventually," he let me have it. An extremely irritated Soarin stared straight at me with eyes narrowed and a snarl in his voice. "Well, if your SPINFERNO hadn't blown you across the cave and rendered you USELESS, we would have been FINISHED digging out by now!" "Careful, Soarin." Spitfire warned. "We don't want a fight, not now. And besides, it was MY idea to dig us out. Your idea of trying to fit through this hole would never have worked." "Watch it, both of you." I looked from one to the other. Soarin, glaring from me to Spitfire, murder in his eyes. Spitfire was glancing nervously between me and Soarin, hoping that things would settle. When our eyes met, I could clearly see her silently pleading with me not to escaltate the spontaneous argument. I sighed inwardly and looked back to Soarin. "Fighting will get us nowhere, and you're right. My Spinferno was a good idea, but it screwed up, and I'm sorry." I glanced quickly to Spitfire, who clearly was glad at my clearing the air, and she shot me a look full of meaning. Unfortunately, Soarin noticed, and I figured that he must have completely misinterpreted. I reached out my hoof. "Truce?" I offered Soarin my right hoof, completely unprepared for his reaction. Instead of accepting my offer of peace, he went into a rage. "YOUR SPINFERNO SCREWED UP? I'LL SAY IT SCREWED UP! YOU BLEW A CHUNK OUT OF THE ROOF, BROKE MY WING AND HOOF, AND MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOURSELF TO DO ANY SORT OF WORK! YOU...YOU..." "Stop!" Spitfire squealed. I had backed up against a wall, where I lay cringing in fear, hooves over my head. Soarin glared at me with as much hate and contempt as he could have possibly contained for three weeks. He turned around, and I lifted my hooves slightly from over my head and glanced up. Spitfire was clearly trying to keep this from escalating any further, potentially saving me from a fifth broken limb. "Our flaming tempers are going to cause this inferno of a fight to spin out of control! No pun intended." Soarin rolled his eyes, and returned his gaze to me, a murderous fire blazing in his eyes. I returned my hooves to my eyes, whimpering in fear. I knew that one wrong move, one misspoken word, even one misinterpreted glance could turn this fight into a full-scale riot. I knew that Soarin could hurt me severely if things got any more out of hoof, so I chose my words extremely carefully, slowly rising to three hooves and staring nervously back at Soarin. "We'll have to agree to disagree." I decided. "I use pure force, like supersonic speeds and my Spinferno, and when things backfire, I take the most damage from sheer reflective power. Soarin, you use a more passive force, like when you tried to force yourself through the hole in the ceiling. It won't always work, but it often has very few negative effects on a failed attempt. Spitfire, you are purely passive, soft-hearted, and gentle, and Soarin and I could both definitely stand to learn from your patience and kindness. If we had listened to you in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess." I took a deep breath, lowered my head, and waited, ready for whatever Soarin's response would be. The dark fire slowly faded from Soarin's eyes, and he sighed. "I guess so." I raised my head and looked at him, genuinely surprised. "We should have tried it the slower, safer way instead of trying to drill out with a risky move like that. It was me who told you to try your Spinferno." We both turned to Spitfire. "We're sorry." "Don't be." She put her hoof up, and we stared at her. "I was also eager for you to try out your Spinferno, Fireflash." She gave me another meaningful look, and this time thankfully Soarin didn't notice. I grunted and gritted my teeth as a bolt of pain shot the the lightning bolt on my face, bringing me back down to the ground. I touched it gingerly, knowing fully that it would scar over. "These headaches are excrutiating, jagged bolts of pain down the left side of my face." I complained. "And they won't go away!" Spitfire and Soarin trotted over, worried looks on their faces. "Are you all right?" Soarin asked, his sudden raging outburst over, to be replace with the Soarin I knew and loved; caring and gentle, for the most part. "It will heal eventually, I'm sure..." "You don't sound very sure..." "Will you two focus? We've almost finished digging out of here, Fireflash is nearly healed, and we need to escape before the ponies that put us here accomplish whatever their goal is!" I rose once again from the floor and walked over, a determined look on my face. Spitfire looked at me. "Fireflash! Lie back down! You still need to rest, so don't walk around or you could hurt yourself!" "No." I stared from Soarin to Spitfire, my intentions clear from the determined look on my face. "I've lain there with you two taing care of me for three weeks now, and it's MY turn to do some hard work. I may only have three hooves to walk on now, but my wing has healed, and I can fly. What is my task?" I looked from one to the other, silently daring them to make me lie back down. "Quiet!" Soarin hissed unexpedctedly. "I hear somepony!" We sat in silence, and heard hoofsteps overhead. We heard an unrecognizable voice. "Do you think that they're still alive? The search has nearly been gven up." We waited in silence, but nopony answered. We heard a grinding noise at the entrance, and an angry voice, a different one. "They're not here! They must have found the escape tunnel!" "Oh no." Soarin moaned. "There's no way that we can take them." "My wing has healed, remember? I can perform a third Spinferno and hopefully scare them off without a fight. I can only display my force through flying, so a Spinferno is perfect. I'm willing to give it a go as a last-ditch effort, because you two are my friends and I care about you." "Really? Soarin was astounded. "You would risk your life to try and pull off a SPINFERNO with a broken leg to save me and Spitfire?" "Yes." In the few seconds of silence that followed, we heard rapid hoofsteps echoing from down the tunnel. "Here goes nothing." I began running on three hooves in the now familiar circle. With one leg broken, it took longer for the red ring to form, and even longer for the orange ring. I took off, now able to go the full speed required to pull off the Spinferno, and the yellow ring formed inside of the orange one. My left wing, the one I had injured, began twitching as flames began to build up. I gritted my teeth against the pain, spun my Spinferno over to a corner near the tunnel exit, and waited. Two pegasi rushed in, saw the glowing Spinferno, turnd tail, and tore back down the tunnel, Soarin and Spitfire in hot pursuit. I followed rapidly down the tunnel, flames blowing around me. As I reached the main cave, I became too tired to fly, so I decided to land. Having forgotten that landing with three hooves would be extremely difficult, I tripped and skidded facefirst into the cave wall, almost knocking over Spitfire. "My bad!" I apologized. "Are you all right?" Soarin called. "I'm okay! Did we get them?" "No, but I caught a glimpse of them before the exit was resealed." Spitfire gasped for breath. "They were both a darkish gray with blue manes. A unicorn must have been waiting outside." "Not Wonderbolts." Soarin confirmed. "Definitely not Wonderbolts..." I thought to myself. "But how in Equestria did they find me again..." "Twins, probably." Spitfire decided. "That will narrow our search significantly. Now let's dig out of here!" I called to Soarin and Spitfire, but they had already dashed back down the tunnel. I stood up, and began pacing. They can't have found me...it's been seven long years...how could they possibly have found me? I needed to get out to warn Rainbow Dash. We were in danger, but I was still trapped, and she had no idea. I suddenly realized that the fact that they had found me was not the only thing bothering me. I lashed my wings in fury, unsure what it could be. Suddenly, I stopped, mouth wide in astonishment. I remembered our recent argument, when Spitfire had given me those meaningful looks...I remembered how she had nursed me slowly back to health, a look in her eyes the entire time. Could that have been...love? I could not believe it. Is Spitfire in love with me? Author's note: I am purposely not stating who "they" are. You may have figured it out yourself by now though. And yes, Soarin is in love with Spitfire, who is in love with Fireflash, who can't decide between Rainbow Dash and Spitfire.
Chapter 7: EscapeOnly one thing is on my mind right now, and I think that Soarin and Spitfire are thinking the exact same thing that I am. Since my back right leg finally healed a few days ago, all three of us have been digging furiously. I can't believe that we've almost made it out of here alive! I was asleep when we made it to the surface. "Fireflash! Get up!" Soarin was yelling. "We made it!" I rolled over, sat up, and groggily rubbed my eyes with my hooves, dark patches under them from being so tired. "Mmmf.....zzzzz.....Soarin...whatsamatter..." I mumbled, still half asleep. I slowly rose to my hooves, eyes barely open, and wobbled back and forth, still half asleep. I was vaguely aware of somepony tapping my shoulder repeatedly. "Fireflash, get up." Spitfire siad, her voice soft with affection. "We made it." If I wasn't awake before, I was now. I remember my earlier revelations that Spifire had subtly been giving me looks full of love, and now was no different. I realized that she would not likely act with subtlety for much longer. "All right Soarin and Spitfire. I'll be ready to leave in a minute, just let me stretch my wings." I turned around, and was caught completely off guard as Spitfire kissed me. I immediately broke off and jumped back. "Spitfire! Wha...what was that!" My mouth was hanging open in astonishment. I was about to continue, but Spitfire took advantage of my open mouth and kissed me again, putting her hooves around my neck, not letting me get away. My wings shot straight out sideways. I struggled, but Spitfire refused to let go. I decided that the best thing to do would be to just let her do what she wanted so that we could leave. I closed my eyes and kissed her back. Instead of letting me go, she just put more passion into her kiss. She broke off as Soarin called out. "Spitfire? Fireflash? Where are you?" Spitfire flew up to the cave entrance and called out to Soarin while I tried desperately to make my wingboner go away before Soarin came back from exploring the area. As Soarin and Spitfire entered the cave, Soarin saw me hoofing at my wings, trying desperately to make them lay flat. I noticed him watching me and my face turned bright red, Spitfire giggling madly. "Ummm...Fireflash? What are you doing?" "I...I..." Unable to come up with an excuse, my face became redder, my wings still sticking out at my sides. "Never mind, I don't want to know..." Soarin sighed. "Whenever...that...whatever it is goes away and you can fly again, let's get out of here." After a couple of minutes, I was able to fly again, my wings no longer stiff. I took off out the exit and flew into the sky, before diving down and performing a sonic boom, flames shooting out around me, and I used my flame-colored tail to write smoking words in the sky, like Rainbow did after a sonic rainboom. My skywriting read "RAINBOW DASH, WE'RE ALL RIGHT!" I touched down next to Spitfire and Soarin. "She knows my style of skywriting, so just wait. She'll be here in ten seconds flat." We didn't have to wait long. I heard her as I saw her, a rainbow streak blazing through the sky. "I'M COMING, FIREFLASH!" She tackled me to the grond in an enormous hug. "I missed you so much, Fireflash! Tell me everything!" "Hehe. Don't forget that we still need to get home!" "It looks like somepony's missed you, Fireflash!" Soarin chuckled. "Yeah! I can't express how happy I am to see all three of you! Everypony thinks that you're gone, but I never gave up looking! I knew that you'ld never leave me, Fireflash!" "Of course not, Rainbow Dash. Let's go home." With that, the four of us took off into the sunset, heading back home. Author's Note: due to me losing the original handwritten draft, this does not go into full detail. If I find it, I will complete it. This was a rush job to satisfy people's happiness :P
Prologue: CapturedRainbow Dash and I have been best friends since we were only filly and colt. We played together all the time, had adventures, everything that best friends do. One fateful day, everything changed. When I passed the entrance exam for the Wonderbolts, unfortunately, Rainbow didn't pass. I was so sorry that my best friend couldn't join with me, and I made it clear to her that being in the Wonderbolts without her was nowhere near as much fun as not being in the Wonderbolts and hanging out with her. Time passed, and I realized that we were still best friends, and that nothing, not even one of us achieveng our life's dream and the other being left out, could break that friendship. I had an idea. I would train her, and beg the Wonderbolts' captain, Spitfire, to give her a second attempt at the entrance exam. After almost a year of training, I was convinced that my best friend in Equestria, Rainbow Dash, would easily make the cut. About a week before the exam, Spitfire and Soarin disappeared. They were two of the three judges for the exam entrants, and everypony wondered what had happened. Due to the fact that we were already short on performers for the next show, on the same date as the exam, no more flyers could be spared to judge the exam, and it had to be postponed. At this point I should have become suspicious, as I was forced to stop helping Rainbow prepare in order to look for Spitfire and Soarin with the rest of the Wonderbolts, hopefully in order to find them before the date of the exam. One day, I was looking for Spitfire and Soarin, when I was attacked from behind. I was bucked in the head, and I fell to the ground, unconscious. When I woke up, I was blindfolded, gagged, and had my wings bound to my side. I removed the blindfold, and immediately realized that it was extremely dark. I looked around, but I could not tell where I was. I assumed that I was in a cave, as the floor and walls were rocky and rough. It took almost ten minutes for me to remove the rope binding my wings. I had to admit, whoever threw me in here knew how to tie knots. I traced the cave wall with my hoof, and it took under a minute for me to find what I was looking for. "I thought so..." I said aloud. "Magic..." There was an exit, and it had been sealed with magic. I may be a pegasus, but years of hanging with Twilight Sparkle had taught me that you didn't need to be a unicorn to detect traces of magic. I tried to escape with a sonic flameboom, but it was no use. There was not enough space to accelerate. I was trapped.
