“Don’t worry, I bet you an apple pie I’ll be back at the farm before you all get back.”

Applejack watched the pegasus lean low, then take off full speed. Her, Big Mac, and Zecora watch in amazement as he aimed straight for the timberwolf eyeing Apple Bloom. “What in the hay does he think…” Applejack starts to say.

A sickening CRACK reaches their ears, and Applejack watches in horror as the pegasus and the wolf collide violently, tumbling to the ground together. AJ gets ready to leap out and run to her fallen friend, but Big Mac holds her back.

“Gosh darnit, Big Mac, lemme go!” she snaps.

The big work horse shakes his head. “Nnope. Look.”

Looking forward, she sees the pegasus shakily climb back on his feet. The wolf also regains its composure, howling in anger and snapping its jaws at the pony. He manages to dodge the attack, and takes off running deeper into the woods, the wolf close on his tail as it pursues him.

The wolf gone, Applejack and Big Mac dash towards the rocks. “Apple Bloom!” AJ yells.

The little filly runs out to them, embracing her siblings. “Ah’m so sorry!” she cries. “Ah thought ah saw a rare plant that Zecora needed, so ah wandered off the path to try to git it.”

“It’s alright, sugarcube. Let’s get ya home.” AJ says.

The group races for the entrance of the forest, just in case any more timberwolves decided to show up. Finally reaching the end of the forest and back in Ponyville, they are met by five familiar ponies who were running towards the woods themselves. Upon seeing Apple Bloom reunited with her family, they cheered and ran to meet them.

“What are ya’ll doing out here?” Applejack asked them.

“Spike and I were in town picking up ingredients for a new spell I’m working on when Granny Smith ran into us.” Twilight Sparkle explained. “She said that Apple Bloom was missing, so I rounded up everypony to help search.”

“Aw shucks, thanks ya’ll.” AJ said.

“Wait a second.” Fluttershy said. “Didn’t Granny Smith say that four of them went into the woods?”

“But there’s four of them now!” Pinkie said.

“Yeah, there’s somepony missing.” Twilight realized. “Oh, didn’t your new helper also go into the woods? Where is he? Oh my gosh, don’t tell me something happened to him.”

Applejack fidgeted nervously but tried to remain calm. “He led the timberwolf away from Apple Bloom here. He said he’d meet us back at the barn.”

“He’s going to be fine.” Rainbow Dash said, spreading her powerful wings. “A pegasus should have no problem out flying some creaky old timberwolf. I bet he’s flying circles around him right now!”

“Yeah… yeah, you’re probably right.” AJ said.

Despite Pinkie Pie wanting to throw a ‘Apple Bloom Escapes From The Timberwolf’ party, she finally listens to reason and everypony heads their separate way. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight join the Apple family at Sweet Apple Acres while the other ponies return home. As the group nears home, Applejack perks up as she sees somepony coming out to greet them.

“Hey there young fellers! Thanks heavens ya made it back safe.” Granny Smith yelled.

Applejack waved in acknowledgement, a little disappointed that it wasn’t who she was hoping to see. “Heya Granny Smith. You’re alone here?”

“Yup. Came back here afta I found Twilight over there. Say, where’s that other feller who ran off with ya?” she asks.

Applejack explained the plan the pegasus had come up with and how he was supposed to come back to the farm. “Well shoot there, little AJ. Don’t you go frettin your head over him. He’s a young, strong stallion and I’m sure he can handle some scraggily ‘ol timberwolf.” Granny Smith cackled.

Applejack cracked a smile, trying to remain optimistic. The next hour passed by uneventfully; Big Mac and Granny Smith put Apple Bloom to bed, as she was exhausted after her day. The girls stayed downstairs, talking about some of their recent adventures. Applejack, however, was unusually quieter than normal, continuously walking by the windows and checking the dirt path outside.

“Hey Applejack, is something the matter?” Twilight asked. “You’ve been checking that window an awful lot.”

“Sorry everypony, ah’m just starting to get really worried.” she finally admitted. “It’s been over an hour since we got back, there’s no way he should be taking this long.”

“Come on AJ, there’s no way some lousy timberwolf could possibly catch a pegasus, especially him.” Rainbow Dash said. “He may not be as fast as me, but I’ve seen him fly, and he’s pretty good. Just you wait, he’ll come gliding in any moment now, and you can give him a big kiss for saving the day.”

Applejack’s face became a crimson red at the thought, remembering the confession she had received just the day before. “N-now cut it out, Rainbow Dash. Ah’m sure he has some other pony that he likes.”

“I dunno, I think he really likes you.” Dash teased. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and he even turned down my offer to be my personal weather assistant so he could work on your farm. There’s no way anypony would turn down a chance to work with THE Rainbow Dash unless it was something big like love.”

Rainbow Dash started making kissing noises, but was forced to take to the air as Applejack chased her. Soon the room calmed down again, and another hour passed without the missing pegasus returning.

Worry began to slowly creep up on the other ponies besides Applejack, all of them checking the window frequently. Finally, Applejack got up and started heading for the door. “Confound it, ah can’t take it anymore! Ah’m going out to look to see what’s keeping him.”

“Hold on, Applejack, I’m coming too. It’s too dangerous to go into the woods this late, though. We’ll have to keep our search to the edge of the trees.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, you’re not going anywhere without us! Come on Fluttershy, we’ll search the forest from overhead!” Rainbow Dash said, dragging Fluttershy by the tail.

“Th-the forest? But it’s getting dark… and there are still monsters out there… and –eep!”

Applejack raced off to the fringes of the Everfree forest, Twilight barely able to keep up. "Apple *gasp* jack, hold on!” Twilight panted.

“Can’t, Twi! We gotta find him and we can’t slow down!” Applejack shouted back.

Twilight sensed something strange was going on with her friend, but was having trouble getting any answer from her. Every time Twilight would ask what was going on, Applejack would just become more frantic in her search. Finally, Twilight couldn’t take any more of the question dodging and summoned a spell to lift Applejack off the ground to hold her still.

“What the… Twi, what the hay are ya doin? Ah don’t have time for your lil’ games righ’ now!” she shouted as her hoofs frantically moved in the air, but to no avail.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” Twilight said sternly.

“What’s wrong? One of mah friends is MISSING after being chased by a big ‘ol timberwolf! That’s what’s wrong!” she replied.

“I’m worried about that too.” Twilight reasoned. “But there’s something else that’s going on that you’re not telling me. AJ… I want to help you. And I know you want to help him. But whatever has been bothering you since we got back to your farm is going to make things worse unless you let me help.”

Twilight slowly let Applejack back down to earth. Her hoofs reaching the ground, she collapsed, tears streaming from her brilliant green eyes. “Twi… Twilight, I’m a terrible friend. I’m a horrible pony.”

“But it wasn’t your fault AJ. He knew facing a timberwolf would be dangerous, and what he did was very brave, but it isn’t your fault.”

“No, Twi. It isn’t that.” Applejack sighed. “Last night… well, he said that he was in love with me, but ah had to turn him down. Ah told him ah didn’t feel like that for him.”

“But you told him the truth. It wouldn’t have been right to tell him a lie or to leave him without an answer.” Twilight said.

But Applejack still cried. “But that’s just it. Ah didn’t tell him the truth. Ah do like him. Maybe ah even love him. But ah was scared, Twi. Ah don’t know what ah was thinking. And even after ah lied to him, after ah turned him down, he still puts himself in clear danger for mah sister.”

Embracing Applejack, Twilight held her for a while, then guided the depressed pony back home. She won’t be much help searching like this. Twilight thought. I hope Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have better luck.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew over the treetops, searching for any sign of the missing pony. Despite having the advantage of flight, the woods were a large area to cover, and they had no idea which direction their friend could have gone in. Rainbow Dash sped through the skies as quick as she could, while Fluttershy meekly followed, taking time to search a bit more thoroughly. They found nothing though, and after a few hours of nonstop looking, both finally collapsed on top of a pair of clouds, completely exhausted.

Looking to the western sky, Fluttershy spoke up. “Um, Rainbow Dash. I, uh, I know that we should keep looking, but the sun’s going down. I think we should head back soon.”

Rainbow Dash sighed with disappointment. “Yeah, you’re right.” she said reluctantly. She hated knowing that they had to give up soon, and she had kind of hoped that she would be the one to swoop in and save the day.

She looked down at the ground far below. “Wow, I can’t believe that we flew all the way out to the gorge.” Dash said.

“T-t-the g-g-g-g-gorge? Aren’t there those big eels that eat anything that goes there?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Don’t worry Flutetrshy, the quarray eels won’t come out until after dark.” Rainbow Dash reassured her. “Besides there are no caves for them this far up the gorge. They’re all father down, see?”

Fluttershy peered closer, seeing that the gorge walls were indeed devoid of any of the eels’ homes. However, something did catch her eye. “Rainbow Dash, I think I see something.”

“Ugh, come on Fluttershy, I just told you that there are no monsters down there.”

“No, I think I see something else. Down there. See? Right by the walls.” Fluttershy says, pointing her hoof.

Rainbow Dash squints, trying to look at what she’s pointing out. Rocks, rocks, more rocks… just rocks and a scattering of logs. As Rainbow Dash is about it scold Fluttershy for getting worked up over nothing, something finally catches her eye.

Wait… that definitely isn’t a rock. I think that’s… Oh Celestia!

“Fluttershy, it’s him!” Rainbow Dash shouted, jumping off her cloud and plummeting towards the earth. Fluttershy followed the rainbow streak left in the air, flying as fast as she could but still slower than Dash’s speed.

As the two pegasus ponies got closer and closer, a gruesome scene began to unfold. Fluttershy stopped 20 feet above the ground, her hooves covering her mouth and eyes. Dash managed to land on the ground, but even she was shocked by what lay before her.

Hundreds of wooden sticks and logs lay strewn all over the ground, and near the center the broken body of a familiar pegasus. His left wing lay crumpled under his body and his front legs bent at unnatural angles, all while surrounded by a large amount of blood.

Rainbow Dash managed to choke back a sob. Fluttershy joined her shortly on the ground, her instinct to help the injured somehow overcoming the shock of everything. She inspected the broken body, and after a while finally delivered some good news. “Dash, he’s alive!” she said. “But he’s in real bad shape. We have to get him to the hospital quickly!”

“But how do we get him there? There’s no time to get anypony to help, and even if we did how do we get him out of this gorge?” Rainbow Dash said. She racked her brain for an answer, and a moment later her eyes lit up. Ascending back to the skies, the pulled down one of the clouds they had been lying on moments ago. Bringing it to ground level, she motioned Fluttershy to help her lift the broken body onto the cloud. The fluffy mass easily cradled the pegasus, and Dash slowly guided the cloud back up out of the gorge and towards Ponyville.

“Wow, great idea Rainbow.” Fluttershy remarked.

“Yeah, it’s a good thing he’s a pegasus. If he was a unicorn or earth pony we’d be stuck down there all night.”

Once they were clear from flying over the forest, Fluttershy continued gently moving the cloud along while Rainbow Dash raced ahead to the hospital to ready help. Fluttershy looked down, her eyes beginning to water as she gazed at the pained face of her charge. “Don’t worry. You’re safe now. We’re almost there.” she said softly.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash walked out of the hospital as the sun finally finished setting. Fluttershy flew back to her cottage to take care of her animals while Rainbow Dash flew back to Sweet Apple Acres to inform her friends of the news. Entering the farm, she found Twilight consoling Applejack the best she could. Upon seeing the rainbow colored pony returning, Applejack dashed over to her, almost tackling her.

“Did ya find him? Please tell me ya have something! Anything!” she pleaded desperately.

“Woah, Applejack, calm down! Calm down!” she panted. “Yeah, we found him. He’s going to be okay.”

“Goin’ ta be? What happened to him?” AJ demanded.

Rainbow Dash explained to Applejack and Twilight how she and Fluttershy had found him and brought him back to Ponyville. Twilight was left speechless when she heard how badly he was injured, but AJ was completely broken by it all. Dash’s story over, Applejack ran outside without a word. “Where is she running off to?” Rainbow asked.

“I think I know. Come on, I’ll fill you in on the way.” Twilight said.

Arriving at the hospital, the two ponies were directed to a room where they found Applejack standing by the bed. “AJ, come on, there’s nothing we can do but let him rest and wait.” Twilight said.

AJ shot her a glare through her tear filled eyes. “No way, Twilight. Ah left this poor pony go off alone once before. Not again! Ah ain’t leaving him until he’s up and walkin’ again.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other and left AJ alone for now. Turning back to the unconscious pegasus, Applejack hung her head.

"... ah love you too."

Author's Note

I had no intention of having a chapter to help bridge the chapters 2 and 3, but thanks to a suggestion by Mad Library Scientist, this chapter was made, and I’m glad that the idea was suggested.