It was a week before Christmas and Fluttershy was heading to town to do some shopping for her animals, she loved this time of year, the previous night it had snowed so the ground was covered in a blanket of white. Fluttershy looked up and saw a pair of blue jays in a nearby tree which made her smile.
"I love seeing animals so happy" Fluttershy thought to herself "It fills my heart with joy" she continued on her way when all of a sudden she heard a strange sound, she looked around but didn't see anything unusual, so she kept walking, then she heard another sound which sounded like somepony hurt, "Hello?" she called out "Is anypony there?". Then she heard somepony calling for help, "Hold on I'm coming!" she shouted and began running at full gallop, the yelling got louder and louder until she found the source,
a young reindeer probably about as old as Fluttershy herself. "Hello" Fluttershy said gently "who are you?".
"I'm Dancer" the reindeer answered shyly.
"Hi Dancer" she replied "What's wrong? You were calling for help".
"I was flying around a-and I crashed and hurt my back leg" he told her.
"Oh no, that's terrible!" Fluttershy said "How about you come back home with me and I can help fix it".
"Alright" Dancer said and he and Fluttershy headed back to her cottage.
Once they were back at the cottage, Fluttershy bandaged Dancer's hurt leg and had gone in to make some tea for her and Dancer, she brought in the cups, teapot and some cookies and set them on the table.
"So, I've never seen a reindeer in Ponyville before, where did you come from?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'm from the North Pole" he told her.
"You're a long way from home!",
"Yeah, but I don't know how to get home without flying, my leg hurts too much to run fast enough to get up to speed and fly".
"Maybe we should ask my friend Twilight, she'll know how to help".
"You really think so?".
"Yes, she loves to read and knows everything about everything!" she said "Let's go see her".
"Okay" he said, Fluttershy and Dancer finished the tea and cookies and then headed out to see Twilight Sparkle.
Fluttershy and Dancer arrived at the castle and Fluttershy knocked on the door.
"Just a minute" she heard her friend say from the other side of the door, the door swung up and Twilight was standing there, "Hey Fluttershy, what's up?".
"Twilight, this is Dancer, he's a reindeer from the North Pole and he's hurt so he can't fly back" Fluttershy explained.
"Wait a minute, you're a reindeer? From the North Pole?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah" Dancer answered.
"Are you one of Santa Hoove's reindeer?" Twilight asked him.
"Yes I am" he replied.
"Oh my gosh! that is so amazing!" Twilight said gleefully "I never ever in my wildest dreams thought I'd meet one of Santa's reindeer! Of course I'd love to help you, come inside and I'll find my book on the North Pole". Fluttershy and Dancer went inside and Twilight headed to her castle's library. A little while later Twilight returned she with a stack of books and she set them down. "Alright guys, the North Pole is just beyond the Crystal Empire and Yakyakistan , so we can take a train to the Crystal Empire but we'll have to hoof it the rest of the way" Twilight explained "So Dancer, what are you doing in Ponyville anyway?".
"I got into a fight with my brother, Prancer about him being Santa's lead reindeer this year" Dancer told them "I told him that I deserved it and not him then he got mad and said that he earned the right and then I told him that I hate him then I ran off to cool down, I flew around deep in thought but all of a sudden I hit a storm cloud and crashed".
"That's horrible" Twilight said to him.
"Yeah, the argument was pretty stupid to begin with, I want to say I'm sorry but I don't know how to".
"Aww, don't worry Dancer we'll help you apologize to your brother" Pinkie Pie said to him.
"Yeah, like Pinkie said we'll help you." Twilight added "Wait a minute, when did you get here Pinkie?".
"I came in when Dancer was telling you guys about his fight with his brother" Pinkie explained "but we shouldn't stay sitting on our flanks, Christmas Eve is a week from today, we need to get him back ASAP!"
"She's right, the train ride to the Crystal Empire is at least six hours, so we better head to the train station" Fluttershy told them and the group headed to the train station.
Once they had their tickets, they boarded the train and it departed.
"So, you said that you got into a fight with your brother about him being the lead reindeer this year, I thought Rudolph always led the sleigh?" Twilight asked.
"Only when he has to, like when there's a storm but, when it's clear Santa decides who leads by picking which reindeer best showed the aspects of a true leader that year, so I tried my hardest to prove myself but my brother outshined me and he got it, so I got mad and we fought. I actually accused him of taking it from me on purpose, some leader I am, huh? I'm just worried that I won't figure out how to apologize to him ".
"Like I said before, we'll help you out" Twilight told him.
"Just tell him what you feel in your heart, I'm sure he'll understand" Fluttershy added.
"You really think so?" Dancer asked hopefully.
The three mares nodded in unison.
"Well, we'll know when we get there." Dancer said to them "But right know I think I'm just going to enjoy the train ride, it's not very often I go places without flying. So, what do you guys do for Christmas every year?".
The ponies told him all about their Christmastime traditions all through the train ride.
A little while later the train came to a stop and they walked off the train and gazed in awe at the beauty of the Crystal Empire at Christmastime, there were beautiful multi-colored lights on all the buildings and houses, there were amazing smells of baked goods coming from the local bakeries and a giant tree in the middle of the city.
"Wow, the whole place looks amazing!" Twilight said sounding awestruck.
"I have never seen so many lights!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"And smelled so many wonderful smells" Pinkie added.
"Twily! What are you doing here?" a voice called from behind them.
"Shiny? Is that you" Twilight asked.
"Of course it's me sis!" Shining Armor responded as he gave his little sister a hug "What are you doing here?".
Twilight told Shining Armor about Dancer, how they were taking him back to the Pole and help him with his brother.
"Well you have a bit of a journey ahead of you guys" Shining Armor said to them "why don't you stay the night and get an early start tomorrow?".
"That sounds great" Twilight said to her brother "Thanks".
"Now, how about we head to Crystal castle, I'm sure Cadence would love to see you" Shining Armor said to the group. Then they headed for the castle.
Once they were in the castle they headed to the study were Cadence was sitting, reading a Christmas romance novel.
"Hey Cadence, look who I found wandering around!" Shining Armor called to his wife, who then got up and when she saw Twilight and galloped over to her, gave her a big hug and they did their special handshake.
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake" they chanted.
"What was that?" asked Dancer.
"It's their thing" Shining Armor replied.
"Ah" he remarked
"Yeah" said Pinkie
"It's so nice to see you guys" Cadence said happily "Who's your new friend?".
"I'm Dancer" he told her.
"Hi Dancer, welcome to the Crystal Empire!" She told him "What brings you here?".
Dancer proceeded to tell her about everything and how Shining Armor offered them a place to stay for the night.
"Well how about we get some dinner?" Cadence suggested "There's an excellent pizza place here".
"That sounds great, I love pizza" Dancer told her.
"Well then, let's go!" Pinkie exclaimed, then the group headed out into the city.
When they arrived at the pizza place they ordered one triple hay and cheese pizza and one veggie pizza, then sat down at their table.
"So, how's life as a princess been for you?" Shining Armor asked Twilight.
"It's been good, I had a little bit of trouble adjusting to living in the castle, but my friends helped me out" Twilight said to him.
"That happened to me here in the Crystal Empire at first. I grew up in Canterlot, like you did Twilight, so it was very hard to adjust to life here" Cadence told her.
"Have you started to get the nursery ready yet?" Fluttershy asked "I mean, if you don't mind me asking".
"Yeah, we just finished painting it" Shining Armor answered "and my Mom and Dad gave us my old crib for the baby!".
"Aw, that's so sweet" Pinkie added "I can't wait till the little one is born so I can throw them a party!".
Cadence chuckled, then the waiter brought them their pizzas and Twilight took a slice of hay and cheese and placed it on her plate.
"Hey Twilight" Cadence said to her with a smile "Flash Sentry has been asking about you".
Twilight nearly choked on her bite of pizza, she took a sip of her cola then said "Re-really? I mean, I-I don't know what to say" she then started to turn bright red.
"Flash Sentry?" Dancer asked.
"He's the captain of the Crystal Guard and Twilight has the biggest crush on him" Cadence said to him.
"Oh really?" Dancer said chuckling "Don't tell Cupid that or he'd want to play matchmaker with them".
"So, he lives up to his name?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh yes!" Dancer explained "If he know's somebody has a crush on someone he'll do anything in his power to get them together".
"Do all of the other reindeer do things like that?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Yeah, Dasher and Blitzen are both two of the fastest flyers and runners" Dancer told her "they're always competing to see who's the fastest".
"That sounds just like Rainbow Dash and Applejack" Twilight said "They're always competing to see who's the fastest, bravest and even smartest! I was the lucky one that had to judge that last one".
"Let's hope that they don't meet" Dancer added "We don't need a four-way competition".
"What do some of the other reindeer do?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, Comet is into astronomy, Donner is the coach at the reindeer school, Vixen is a singer and me and Prancer are both into theater" Dancer said to them "Vixen once
starred in one of the plays that Prancer wrote, she was the lead and Prancer played her love interest and well let's just say it turned into real life romance. Cupid helped them admit they had feelings for one another, they are really cute together and are perfect for each other".
"Aww, that's soo sweet" Cadence said smiling "Is there a doe you like?".
"Yeah, her name's Olive, I met her at school, she's a chef now" Dancer told them blushing "She's really cute and really, really nice".
They continued chatting all through dinner and all the way back to the castle, then Shining Armor showed them to their rooms and they went to bed.
They got up just before dawn the next morning, so they could get an early start, the group said goodbye to Shining Armor and Cadence and headed to the mountains of Yakyakistan. Twilight was leading the way with a map that Shining Armor had given her and was reading it closely.
"Alright the map says we just head straight through these mountains and we should hit the gates of Yakyakistan in a couple of hours" Twilight told them.
"Just remember what I told you when I came up here" Pinkie Pie said to her.
"About the snow monster? Really Pinkie I bet it's hibernating" Twilight said matter of factly.
"It's a snow monster, I doubt it hibernates Twilight" Pinkie retorted.
"I bet Twilight's right, it is winter, so it's colder" Fluttershy added "I bet he's cuddled up in his cave sleeping peacefully".
Suddenly there was a loud roar, the group froze and turned and saw the snow monster Pinkie Pie encountered before.
"See guys, what did I tell you?" Pinkie shouted to her friends as they started to run as fast as the could.
"Guys! I can't run as fast" Dancer said sounding panicked, he then started to move as fast as he could, but to no avail, his leg casued him to trip and fall. The monster started to gain on him so Twilight teleported herself in front of Dancer and shot a magic bolt at the monster, which caused it to yelp in surprise and swing at her. She narrowly got out of the way, shot another bolt at it and formed a shield around herself and Dancer.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight yelled "try and use the Stare on it!" she said as she fired more bolts at it.
"Do you think it will work?" Fluttershy asked.
"I don't know! Just try!" Twilight yelled to her, then Fluttershy flew towards the monster, looked at it square in the eyes and stared deeply into them. After a few moments passed the monster suddenly started trying to attack Fluttershy! So Twilight charged a huge magic bolt and shot it straight in it's nose, which made it yelp in pain. It then started to charge at her and hit her with it's claws, which sent her flying a few feet away and she hit the ground hard, so Pinkie Pie bravely ran up to it.
"Nopony hurts my friends!" Pinkie yelled at the monster and she started to pelt it with snowballs. This distracted it long enough for Twilight to get back up fire more bolts at it. It didn't do much other than anger it more, so she flew up and shot more powerful bolts and Pinkie threw more snowballs at it and after a bit more time Twilight and Pinkie managed to wear it out a bit.
"Try using the Stare again!" Twilight yelled to Fluttershy "It might work now that it's getting tired".
"Al-alright" Fluttershy responded nervously and she flew up, looked it in the eye and stared it down, this time the snow monster cringed in fear and ran back to it's cave.
"Way to go Fluttershy!" Twilight said to her friend "you did great!".
"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you and Pinkie" Fluttershy told her.
"Are you alright Twilight? That was a powerful hit" Dancer asked her.
"My side and back hurt a little but other then that I'm fine" Twilight answered.
"You were amazing Twilight!" Pinkie said to her friend.
"You were pretty brave to face that monster yourself, Pinkie" Twilight said to her "If you didn't start throwing those snowballs, the monster might of attacked me again".
"Aww, it was nothing!" Pinkie said blushing a bit.
"Alright, now that that's over with, let's get to Yakyakistan. I don't want that monster to get a second wind while we're still here" Twilight said to the group.
The next part of their trek was pretty uneventful and when they got to the gates of Yakyakistan they knocked on them. The gates began to move and two guards appeared.
"Me want to know what ponies and reindeer want" one of the guards asked.
"We wish to speak with Prince Rutherford" Twilight told him.
"You a Princess?" he said looking at her "Princess of friendship, Prince Rutherford told yaks about you, you can speak to him" he said and he led them to the Yakyakistan royal barn.
After the got to the barn the guard went inside and a while later came out with Prince Rutherford who, when he saw Pinkie, ran up to her and gave her a big yak hug.
"Me miss Pink pony" he told her "What brings ponies to Yakyakistan?".
Twilight then explained everything about their adventure and then Prince Rutherford invited them to stay for a while and have lunch.
"Yaks love Christmas" Prince Rutherford told them "we have own set of traditions, we have big Yak feast with all the yaks on Christmas Eve and all the calves make special cake to leave for Santa Hooves and make special ornaments for Christmas tree"
"That is pretty interesting" Pinkie told him.
"And yaks make homemade gifts too" he told her "last year me got special scarf from niece".
"That is so nice" Fluttershy said to him.
They chatted for a little while longer and then Prince Rutherford led them to the edge of Yakyakistan.
"Good luck on mission, ponies and reindeer" he told them "Good- bye Pink pony" he said to Pinkie Pie.
"See you Prince Rutherford!" Pinkie Pie replied waving to her friend and the group headed on their way.
A little while later, Twilight took the map out of her saddlebag and checked it.
"According to the map it's only a few miles more to the North Pole" Twilight told the group "We should get there by nightfall".
"Let's just hope that there aren't any more snow monsters" Dancer said to her.
"I don't think there will be" Twilight assured him "Just a feeling I have in my gut, so how does Santa know when a reindeer has shown the aspects of a good leader?".
"When they have shown courage, character and a heart that's true" Dancer explained.
"Those are good qualities" Fluttershy said to him "and you've exhibited them today".
"I just wish that I was good enough to be the lead reindeer this year" Dancer said sounding disheartened.
"Maybe you'll do it next year!" Pinkie said trying to cheer him up.
"Maybe" he said back to her.
After a few hours of travel, the sun was starting to set and they saw a little village on the horizon.
"We're finally here!" Dancer said happily.
'Yay!" Fluttershy added.
"Let's go!" Pinkie shouted and they headed towards the town.
Once they were there, they saw some of Santa's helpers which consisted of ponies, reindeer and a few goats. There was also a huge Christmas tree in the town center.
"How about I take you to my favorite cafe and treat you to some hot chocolate?" Dancer asked them.
"That sounds lovely" Twilight replied, smiling at him. Dancer then led the way to the cafe.
Once they were inside, Dancer ordered them some hot cocoa and sugar cookies, which Pinkie Pie loved. A little while later, they were sitting at a table and Twilight was reading a book she brought with her and looked completely immersed in it. So Dancer thought of an idea, he took the sugar shaker that was on the table, set a spoon on it, put a marshmallow on the spoon and attempted to launch it into Twilight's mug, but when it was in midair, it suddenly had in a aura of magic and flew back in his face. Dancer looked up and saw Twilight glaring at him.
"Don't. Touch. My. Cocoa." Twilight warned and went back to her book.
"We have a set of rules when it comes to Twilight" Pinkie told him "and you broke number twenty-three, never mess with a Princess's cocoa if you want to live".
"I'll keep that in mind" Dancer replied chuckling a bit.
After they finished their cocoa and cookies they headed to the houses where the reindeer live, Dancer led them to his house and they went inside.
"This is my home, I wish it was a little bigger and had more rooms, I only have one guest room" he told them.
"It's alright" Fluttershy told him "we're just glad we got you home".
"I'm glad to be home" Dancer said then he showed them the guest room "there's a bed and a couch in here and a couch in the living room, you guys can decide sleeping arrangements" he said to them.
"We'll figure it out" Twilight said "in the morning we'll help you out with your brother, but right now let's just relax a bit and then get some sleep".
So they chatted for a while then headed off to bed.
The next morning they got up and headed out, Dancer had made some breakfast and told them that he was going to show them the town. They headed outside and saw that it was snowing lightly.
"Alright guys, over there in that building is the bakery" Dancer said pointing towards a building with a gingerbread pony on it, "and that's the reindeer games stadium" he said gesturing towards an odd shaped building with no roof "and that's Santa's workshop" he said pointing a hoof at a big building.
"Wowee, it's huge!" Pinkie Pie said sounding shocked.
"It is" Dancer told her, he then looked over and saw a little group of reindeer chatting. Twilight looked at them, then looked back at Dancer.
"Is one of them your brother?" she asked.
"Yes" he answered.
"Are you ready to talk to him?" Fluttershy asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be" he replied.
"Now remember what I told you, tell him what's in your heart" Fluttershy reminded him.
"I will" he said then they headed over to talk to him, "Hi Prancer" Dancer began.
"Dancer!" Prancer exclaimed "Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you!".
"I flew off after our argument and crashed in Ponyville and these nice ponies helped me get back here" Dancer explained to his brother.
"Why did you do that?" Prancer asked his brother "You could have been killed!".
"I know, it was stupid of me" Dancer admitted "But I was just so mad about not being the lead reindeer, I took it out on you and then you got mad at me, so I decided to take a short flight to cool off and wasn't watching where I was going and got caught in a storm cloud, which caused me to crash".
"I know you want to be the lead reindeer, you have since you were a fawn, but that doesn't mean you should just run off like that just because you were upset" Prancer told him.
"I know, I know" Dancer said to him "I'm sorry about running off and I'm sorry I got upset with you, you totally deserve to be the lead reindeer".
"Thank you" Prancer told him then he hugged his little brother "Just don't do that again".
Dancer chuckled and said "I won't".
A little while later, the ponies had lunch with the two brothers and Dancer told them he had a surprise planned for them. So later that day, the three ponies waited in the town center by the big tree and saw Dancer walking up to them.
"I really think you guys should meet the stallion in charge of everything" he told them,
"You mean..." Twilight said,
"Yup, the big guy himself" Dancer said with a huge smile.
"SANTA!!!" the three mares said in unison, then they saw Prancer walking up with an older looking stallion wearing a red suit.
"You must be the ponies that helped Dancer get home!" Santa Hooves said to them "I can't thank you enough for that".
"I-I can't believe it's really you!" Twilight exclaimed in glee "I never, ever thought I'd meet Santa Hooves!".
"Me either!" Pinkie added.
"How about tonight I give you three a ride back home?" Santa asked them.
"That would be so cool!" Twilight replied.
After Santa gave them a tour of the workshop they had dinner and they got ready to head home, Santa had Dancer and Prancer ready to pull his sleigh.
"Ready to go?" Santa asked the two reindeer,
"Ready Santa!" they answered.
"Now then, on Dancer, on Prancer, oh, wait...." he laughed as they started to run, the sleigh started to left off the ground and fly, which gave the ponies a spectacular view of Equestria.
"There's Yakyakistan!" exclaimed Pinke pie
"And there's Crystal Castle!" replied Twilight.
"I can see Dodge Junction from here, too!" added Fluttershy. A couple of hours later they were back in Ponyville at Twilight's castle, they landed with perfect precision and the three mares jumped out of the sleigh. They then walked over to say good-bye to Dancer.
"I want to thank you guys so much for helping me out" Dancer told them.
"It was no trouble at all" Twilight said smiling.
"I don't know how to repay you" he added.
"Just promise us that you'll visit sometime" Fluttershy said to him.
"I think I can manage that" Dancer said smiling "Well, we have to go, see you guys!" he said heading off.
"Bye Dancer!" the ponies said together waving at their new friend.
"Well, I think I'm going to head back home, see you girls tomorrow" Fluttershy said as she started to walk home.
"I better get home too, good night Twilight!" Pinkie said skipping off.
Twilight headed into the castle, found her journal and got a quill, some ink and a mug of hot cocoa.
"I think this will make a great entry" she said to herself as she started writing about the Lost Reindeer.