Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 11: Where ponies fear to tread

They weren’t sure how long they were being pushed; the winds were so strong they feared they would be knocked off at any moment. Eventually the rushing winds had mercy on them, and the balloon came to a halt. They were all fine, but the fear of falling caused their hearts to rush at great pace, it took some time before they were able to calm themselves. It took them a while longer before any of them was able to speak again.

“Are you all alright?” asked Spike as he got up from the basket floor.

“Y-yeah, I’m alright” said Scootaloo.

“Me too” said Apple Bloom. A couple of seconds passed and Spike still hadn’t heard from the remaining filly.

“Sweetie Belle?” said Spike as he turned to see the alabaster filly, she didn’t respond, she was still holding on to the basket, and she was trembling. “Hey, are you alright?” he said softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Immediately after feeling him touch her, Sweetie Belle let out a gasp and flinched slightly. “Easy, can you stand?” he asked her, though she didn’t look like she wanted to move at all.

“I-I think so…”

“Here, let me help you” Spike gently grabbed on to Sweetie Belle’s hand so he could help her stand. It took some coercing, but eventually he was able to get her to try. Soon enough she was standing on her own, but her legs were trembling slightly and she hadn’t let go of Spike’s hand just yet.

“You alright, Sweetie Belle?” asked Apple Bloom placing a hand on her shoulder. The alabaster unicorn took a couple of deep breaths, but eventually she was able to compose herself, and the trembling stopped.

“Yeah, I’m okay now” Sweetie Belle said between breaths, this was a relief to the others; they didn’t want her to panic.

“Good, now if you don’t mind, I have a little question to ask” Scootaloo asked gaining the others attention. “Where the hay is Ponyville!?” she yelled, though it was less of a panic tone than it was one of anger. The others looked around as soon as Scootaloo brought it to their attention, they checked all sides, but all they could see was forest, the Everfree forest to be exact.

“Just how far did that wind take us?” Spike asked to himself, the wind hadn’t pushed them for very long, only a couple of minutes or so, but they were moving at a great speed during that time. “Whatever the case, we need to start heading back before it gets dark” said Spike as he noted the position of the sun; at most they probably had two hours before sunset.

“How? We don’t even know which direction Ponyville is!” Scootaloo yelled once again.

“Yelling’s not going to help us, just take a breath” said Spike as he placed his hand on Scootaloo’s shoulder. The Pegasus was obviously frustrated, but who wouldn’t be after being stuck in an unfamiliar area. Although not everypony reacts the same way, this made clear by Sweetie Belle’s loss of composure.

“He’s right, if we all calm down we can probably figure out how to get back home” said Apple Bloom.

“Ponyville’s in that direction” Spike said immediately afterwards, the others looked at him and could see he was pointing in the direction in question. The look on his face showed he was completely sure he was right.

“How do you know that?”

“Rainbow’s training area is north-west of Ponyville, we moved north when got in the balloon, and the head wind pushed us south. Looking at the sun it looks like it’s close to setting, and because the sun sets in the west, it would mean that Ponyville is that way” all three fillies tilted their heads.

“Since when were you this smart?” asked Scootaloo.

“Well, Twilight grew a fear that I would get lost on my own, so she made sure I’d be able to find my way back. You wouldn’t believe how many things she taught me over the years” Spike answered. The girls were generally impressed, even if he hadn’t proven yet that he was right, they still felt that knew what he was talking about.

“Looks like we have our own little egg-head now” said Scootaloo as she placed her arm around Spike’s shoulder.

“Uh, okay” Spike said with a little chuckle “Now, let’s get moving before it gets dark, who knows what comes out at night over here” he added as he moved to the other side of the basket.

“Ah come on, what could possibly get us from up here?” asked Apple Bloom. Spike didn’t answer at first; he placed his hands on the frame of the basket and looked around for a bit, as if he was expecting something.

“You don’t want to know…”

The trip to get back to Ponyville was looking like it would take hours, Spike was doing his best, but he could only push the balloon with so much strength. Eventually the young dragon had done as much as he could and needed to take a break.

“Are you okay, Spike?” asked Apple Bloom when she say the dragon drop to his knees panting heavily.

“Yeah…Just need to rest for a bit” he said between breaths. “Breathing fire for long periods of time take a toll on me” he added. Although they weren’t dragons, they could only assume that it was like magic and would need time to recharge after a while.

“Take as long as you need, I think I can take it from here” said Scootaloo as she positioned her back against the basket wall. She was facing the direction the balloon was supposed to be heading, the others wondered what she was planning, but once her wings began to flap rapidly, they knew exactly what she was doing. Although Scootaloo was unable to fly, her wings were able to give such a strong push of wind that she was able to use it to move on her scooter as a great speed. It took some time, but eventually the balloon began to move forwards again and roughly the same speed Spike was able to push it.

“Way to go Scootaloo!” said Apple Bloom.

“If you two switch between breaks, then we can get back faster” said Sweetie Belle.

“You the mare, Scootaloo” said Spike extending a fist which Scootaloo gladly bumped with her own. Whether or not she would be able to push the balloon as long as Spike did or if they would be able to keep an average had yet to be seen, but the more they moved the better.

“Good thing it’s still light out” said Sweetie Belle, she could only imagine how scary it could be to be around there at night.

“Or…is it?” Apple Bloom added, they couldn’t explain it, even with the sun going down they still had a lot of sunlight to see, and now, the light is starting to fade.

“Night already? How is that possible?” asked Scootaloo.

“It’s not, the sun didn’t go down, it’s be blocked!” said Spike as he ran to the other side of the basket and looked up. Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo joined him to get a look at what he was talking about. They saw storm cloud blacker than a moonless night was forming above them as if out of nothing. And if the thought of being in a storm this high up in the sky wasn’t scary enough, they suddenly heard a bone chilling roar echo around them.

“W-what was that!?” asked Apple bloom, she had never heard something like that before. Spike looked up at the clouds, his eyes searching around them as if he was trying to spot something among them. Eventually his eyes locked on to something and grew wide, he pointed his claw and the others followed to see what he was pointing towards. They weren’t able to make out a lot of details, but there was something in the clouds, something big, and something with wings.

“It’s a thunder bird!” yelled Spike before a bolt of lightning stuck missing the balloon by a few feet.

“A thunder what!?” asked Sweetie Belle, though this was not the time to be asking question.

“No times to explain, we need to get this balloon out of the storm quickly, Sootaloo, help me here!” said Spike. Soon enough both the dragon and Pegasus continued to propel the balloon, through their combines efforts they were able to double the speed, but the danger was increasing by the second. The lightning was getting closer to them with each strike, and the fear of a direct hit was increasing.

“Hurry!” yelled Sweetie Belle in a panic.

“We’re giving it everything we’ve got!” said Scootaloo with a note of strain in her voice as she flapped her wings as hard as she could. Spike didn’t say a thing; he was too focused on using every ounce of fire he had in him to get the balloon to safety.

“AH!” yelled Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom when another bolt struck right in front of them missing the basket by a few inches.

“That was a close one!” said Sweetie Belle letting out a sigh of relief, thought a small one due to them still being in danger.

“I think you spoke too soon!” said Apple Bloom as she pointed up, it was barely visible, but through the opening in the balloon, a tear could be seen. Suddenly the basket began to shift; the hot air in the balloon was starting to leak out, and fast.

“We’re going down!” yelled Sweetie Belle and she and the others grabbed on to the basket with all their might. It was slower than a dead drop, but it was still fast enough that they could float out if they didn’t hold on. A gust of wind from the storm pushed the balloon fiercely as it fell. It didn’t take long for the basket to cut through the trees, however instead of the balloon getting caught in the branches, they instead snapped from the weight. By chance Spike opened his eyes to see the path the basket was taking and was shocked to see what was ahead. A large rock formation was in their way and they were far from slowing down.

“I can probably handle the crash without taking too much damage, but them…” they weren’t weak fillies, but they didn’t have iron-hard scales to protect them like he did. Spike reacted without thinking; he grabbed all three of them and wrapped his arms around them tightly. Spike was the only thing between them and the oncoming collision, all he could do was hope for the best, and wait.

“Have you spotted them yet?”

“I couldn’t find them anywhere!”

“Where are they, they never just disappear like this!” it was already sunset, and the crusaders, and Spike were nowhere to be found.

“Twilight; has Spike maybe told you about what they were doing?” asked Rarity, she was starting to look like she would go into a panic at any moment. Twilight thought back to everything Spike did since he and the crusaders began to spend time together.

“They checked out a book, it was a how to guide to…building a hot air balloon!” she said finally.

“A hot air- why the hay would you let them try that!?” yelled Applejack, now she was more enraged than worried, though worry probably caused the rage.

“I was sure Spike would be able to keep anything from happening!” Twilight yelled back now sounding angry.

“Hey!” the three looked over to see Rainbow overhead, she also looked annoyed, but not for the same reason. “We’ve got three fillies and a dragon to find, and we won’t be able to do that if we’re at each other’s throats!” a look of guilt covered their faces; they knew Rainbow was right, which was a rare thing from her.

“Right, we better ask Fluttershy for help, she can probably ask the animals around Ponyville if she’s seen them.” said Twilight.

“Good idea, I’m going to ask Az for help”

“What about Silver?”

“Well, him too!” she said before flying off. The others were a little confused about Rainbow’s reaction, but they didn’t have time to think about it. With Rainbow securing more help, they all made their way to Fluttershy’s cottage as fast as they could.

Behind the cottage where Fluttershy lived, the yellow Pegasus was lying down on a blanket placed on the ground, next to her was Silver. The two were enjoying each other’s company as the sun was setting at the horizon.

“Don’t you just loved the colors of a sunset?” asked Fluttershy as she turned to see Silver. The unicorn was smiling, though he had his head tilted upwards as he rested it on his arms. “Silver?” she said wondering if he had fallen asleep at some point.

“Hmm?” he said turning his head toward Fluttershy. “I’m sorry, I was just enjoying the sound of the nocturnal animals waking up” he said “I’ve never taken the time to listen to them till now” Fluttershy was going to ask again of what he thought of the sunset, but decided against it. However another question replaced the first one and that about his sunglasses. They have been dating for a while now, but she hasn’t seen what were behind the shade he wore.

“Um, Silver”

“Fluttershy!” both the Pegasus and Unicorn sat up to the sudden frantic call, at the distance Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight were running up to them.

“We’re sorry if we are interrupting something, but we desperately require your assistance!” said Rarity trying to catch her breath.

“Why, did something happen?” she asked getting up quickly.

“Spike, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, we can’t find them anywhere!”

“Oh my” said Fluttershy with concern in her voice. “I’ll ask the animals to see if they’ve seen them today” she added before flying off to do so.

“Okay, while she’s doing that, do you think you can lend us a hand, Silver?” asked Applejack.

“Sure, I should ask Azure too”

“Rainbow’s already on it, come on, let’s check the forest around town to make sure we didn’t miss anything” said Applejack as she and Rarity turned to run. However Twilight and Silver hesitated for a moment.

“Are you sure?” asked Twilight.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them” assured Silver, however Twilight’s look didn’t fade.
“You know that’s not what I’m talking-“

“I said, don’t worry” Silver repeated placing a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. The tone in his voice was strange; it was a serious one, only at the same time calming. Twilight still looked unsure, but gave the colt a nod and the two ran after Applejack and Rarity.

“So how long ago did they go missing?” asked Silver as he and Twilight were running.

“We’re not sure, the last time we saw any of them was this morning. It’s a normal thing for them, but they always show before curfew.” Twilight explained. “All we know is that they were building a hot air balloon” Silver came to a quick stop, he slid slightly before coming to a full fault.

“Hot air balloon?” Twilight gave him a nod “Well, then how many places outside of town could be used to fly one safely?” he asked. Twilight placed her hand to her chin as she began to think this over for a bit.

“Well, they’d need a lot of space to get airborne, so they’d need a spot with a wide open plain at all corners.” While Twilight talked to herself, Applejack and Rarity had turned around to see what was keeping the two.

“What’s the hold up, we don’t have time to stand around!” protested Applejack.

“Hold on, she’s trying to narrow down the places we need to search” said Silver. At that moment Rainbow and Azure reached them.

“I couldn’t find-“Rainbow stopped when she saw Silver was already there. “Oh, well, was Fluttershy able to find out anything?” she asked.

“She just set out not too long ago, right now Twilight is trying to figure something out” Rarity answered.

“Do you know what they look like, Az?” asked Applejack.

“Yeah, Rainbow filled me in, but I’ve actually seen them before today” said Azure “They took some left over building material from the construction site” Applejack suddenly looked angry again, as did Rarity.

“So you’re the one that gave them the supply’s to build a hot air balloon!” said Applejack taking a step closer to him.

“Hot air, what?” said Azure taking a step back. “I didn’t know they were going to use it for that, I figured it was for something like a ramp to do stunts with their scooter” he continued.

“Stunts!” said Twilight with a gasp; she then turned her attention to Rainbow. “Rainbow, the spot you use to practice your stunts, that has plenty of open space for them to test a hot air balloon” she added.

“Well then, let’s go check it out” said Applejack as she and the others began to run in the direction in question. The sun set was almost over, there was probably only a couple of minute worth of light left before it got dark, those who were missing somepony close prayed that they were at the spot, probably stuck, but still safe.

Once they arrived at Rainbows training spot, they made sure to search every inch of the area, but once again their searches would come up empty. Still missing with not even a clue about where they would end up, both Rarity and Applejack grew more and more uneasy.

“Darn it, nothing, anypony else having better luck?” called out Rainbow as she tried to see if she could spot and of the fillies of dragon from above.

“Nothing!” Called out Twilight “They’re not here either…” she added sounding low. There was a sudden banding sound which caused Twilight to jump. She turned to see Applejack had struck a tree hard, it’s clear that she was having a hard time coping with the idea of her sister being missing. Rarity was in no better shape, although she was trying to suppress it, she looked as though she’s break down at a moment notice.

“Is there anywhere else they could be?” asked Silver. Twilight thought it over for a moment, but she couldn’t quite figure out where else they could be. They already searched all over town, probably twice; there was no place else in town to check, and that was what Twilight feared.

“Hey!” once they heard the high-pitched voice, they all turned to see Pinkie Pie running towards them with Fluttershy flying close behind. Pinkie was always somepony to carry a smile on her face at all times, but this time, it was nowhere to be seen, and that caused a sinking feeling in the hearts of the mares that had somepony missing.

“Glad you can join us, Pinks, and Fluttershy, did any of the animals see anything?” asked Rainbow.

“Yes, but-“

“But what!?” Applejack had run up to Fluttershy before anypony could notice, she knew that “but’s” were never good. Fluttershy flinched lightly but kept control of herself as much as she knew they wouldn’t like it, she had to tell them what she learned.

“Mr. Bird saw them earlier; he says that they were floating in the air with the hot air balloon. But then, a very strong gust of wind pushed them over the…”

“No, please tell me it’s not where I think it is!” Applejack was sounding desperate now, she did not want to find out the thing she was dreading was true.

“In the Everfree forest, the winds pushed them until he couldn’t see them anymore!” Applejack felt like something hit her square in the chest with a hammer. The Everfree was not a place most ponies could survive in alone. Let alone three fillies and a baby dragon with little life experience.

“Then we have to go after them!” yelled Applejack.

“How, we don’t even know where in the Everfree they could be!” pointed out Twilight.

“Then we’ll search every inch!”

“Applejack, I know how you might feel, but we have to think this through or else we’ll be back to square one”

“Then what do we do, stand around and wait for them to come back!?” Applejacks anger was understandable, nopony could blame her.

“Easy, first we need to get back to the library, I have an idea”

Although Applejack and Rarity didn’t like the idea of having to waste time going to the library for an unknown reason, they went along with Twilight. Once everypony was inside they stood waiting while Twilight found some parchment to write on.

“Your plan is to write a letter?” asked Applejack in an annoyed tone “Then what, we have to wait for you to mail it and get a reply?”

“Would you just trust me” Twilight said as she began to write on the paper. “If it makes you feel better, I’m sending this to Spike”

“Really, but I thought Spike was the only one that could send letters, and that he could only send it to Celestia?” questioned Rarity.

“Well, that’s how it was at first, but not long ago I went through a little phase after reading a book and decided that we should be able to get into contact with each other should we ever be separated.” Explained Twilight as she finished the note and began to roll it up.

“What kind of book did you read that it caused you to go through a phase?” questioned Azure.

“I’d rather not say” Twilight grabbed the note with her levitation magic and began to focus. Soon her horn began to glow brightly, as did the letter. The others watched as the glow around the note intensified until it vanished in a flash of light. Twilight let out a breath of air and whipped some sweat from her forehead. “Gonna take some time before I’m used to that” she said getting up from the chair.

“Now what?” asked Applejack.

“Now we have to wait until he writes me back” waiting was not something she felt they could afford to do, but she didn’t have a choice. Everypony found a seat, all but Applejack who leaned against the wall. Each passing minute felt like an eternity to them, they wondered why or what was keeping Spike from writing back. Applejack was able to hide her worry, but Rarity wasn’t able to do the same. The alabaster mare rested her head on Fluttershys lap as tears ran down her face, Fluttershy did what she could to keep her calm.

“Exactly how is he going to be able to write back to you?” asked Silver, he was told that her spell could only send letters, so it would be hard to send a reply.

“All I can do it assume that he’ll figure something out, really just him sending it back would be enough to let us know they’re okay.” A few seconds later Twilight’s horn began to glow and a purple flame started to form in front of her. The flame took shape and the color began to change until another scroll formed in its place.

“He wrote back!” said Twilight as she grabbed the note prepared to open it to see if Spike had written something on it. The others gathered behind Twilight to see the note, they noticed that it had been rolled in opposite direction. Twilight untied the scroll and unrolled it to reveal that there was in fact something else written, however nopony could feel easy.

“W-why is the ink r-red?” asked Fluttershy, the others could feel their hearts sink at that very moment. Twilight gulped lightly, she fears that whatever was written on this note would leave them feeling worse than they already were.

“Before you freak out, the ink I’m using was made from crushed red berries” Twilight and the others let out a sigh of relief. “We’re okay, nothing worse than a few bumps, It took me some time but I was able to figure out how to head back home, for now we’re going to take refuge in a small cave until morning” she continued.

“Good, now we can go in and get them, send them a letter telling them we’ll get to them as soon as we can” said Applejack sounding calmer now that she knew her sister was safe.

“We can’t do that, a lot of dangerous creatures hunt at night in the Everfree, it would be a lot safer to go while the sun is up” Applejack felt like rushing Twilight and shaking some sense into her, it took a lot of self-control to keep herself from taking action.

“Are you suggesting that we let them spend the night alone in there?” the tone of Applejacks voice hinted that if she didn’t like the answer, something bad would happen.

“Applejack, darling, I know how you feel, but do not take it out on Twilight” had anypony else said that she might had punched him or her, but the look on Rarity’s face was enough to keep her from doing something she would regret.

“I-I’m sorry” said Applejack after taking a deep breath.

“It’s okay; I know this can’t be easy on you. Look, right now we know they are safe, I’m going to send him a letter telling him our plan and to use it to let us know if anything changes” said Twilight.

“Hey Twilight, there are some numbers written on the other side of this” Twilight turned around to see Rainbow holding the letter. She walked up to the cyan Pegasus to see what it was she was talking about. There were numbers written on the other side, she had hardly used up any space on it when she wrote on it.

“Spike you clever dragon!” she said happily.

“What?”

“Spike used the location of the stars to roughly pinpoint his location, and left instructions on what path they would take the following morning.”

“You thought him how to do that?”

“Like I said, I went through a phase, and it looks like it paid off “she said still proud to know that Spike was able to use what she had taught him.

“Well, how far into the Everfree are they?” asked Silver

“According to this, it could take us two days to find them where they are. But because they will be walking in the opposite direction, it should cut that by almost half the time” said Twilight looking over the directions.

“We’re still going to need some supplies for the trip” said Azure as he placed his hand to his chin.

“Hold on, I couldn’t possibly ask you two to come with us” a voyage into the Everfree was dangerous; she wouldn’t allow her friend to go with he if she thought for a second they’d listen. She didn’t feel comfortable to ask two colts she had just met to do the same.

“Sorry, but I need to see this through, wouldn’t feel right to turn back and let you all do the dirty work” replied Azure.

“I’m with Azure on this, and there’s no arguing with him when he makes up his mind” pointed out Silver. They seemed heart set on helping them rescue the missing children, but Twilight still had her doubts.

“I say let them come, we’ll need as much muscle as we can afford if we’re forced to fight something” said Rainbow. She may not know half of the species of creatures that lurk in the Everfree, but she did know that a lot of them were looking for something to sink their teeth into. Twilight could tell that there would be no way to talk them out of it now that the two colts had made up their minds, she let out a sigh.

“Alright, but I can’t be held responsible if anything happens to you” said Twilight. The two colts simply shrugged their shoulders, though they knew of the dangers of the Everfree forest, they didn’t seem to care. “Okay, we’ll need to gather food supplies for the trip” Twilight pointed out, the rescue mission could take a few days, and most things in the Everfree were not safe to touch, let alone eat.

“I’ll take care of that” said Applejack, but the look on her face showed that there was something else she wanted to see. “And, Twilight…”

“Yeah?”

“Can I sleep here?” Twilight looked surprise to the offer “If I sleep at home, I think I might end spend all night in her room worried about her…” Rarity looked towards the floor, Sweetie Belle was entrusted to her by her parents while they were on vacation, she wasn’t sure she could handle telling them she was lost.

“How are you going to break it to Granny Smith and Big mac?” asked Twilight, the look on Applejack’s face proved that she wasn’t sure.

“I’m not sure if I should tell them, it’s not good for Granny’s health for her to worry, and Big mac might rush into the forest himself if he hears”

“You can’t keep this from them, Applejack, you won’t be able to hide the reason why you’ll be missing for a couple of days” Applejack knew Twilight was right, but didn’t make it easy for her.

“What if we all come with you?” Applejack turned towards Rarity “If we can show them that they are safe, and that we will save them, then maybe it will ease them slightly” Applejack wasn’t sure if it would work or not, but she didn’t have any other option.

“You’ll all do that?” Applejack asked to see all her friends, including Silver and Azure give her a nod. “Thank you” she said with a smile, she felt glad that she wouldn’t have to go through this alone when she herself could hardly keep herself under control. With nothing left to say, the group accompanied Applejack to her farm so she could break the news to her family. As soon as Celestia’s sun shined again, they would venture into the Everfree in order to save the missing youths.

“Spike!”

“Hey, can you hear us?”

“Can I hear you?” Spike had a strange feeling, he couldn’t see what was around him, but he could faintly hear somepony talking around him.

“I think he just moved”

“I hope he’s not hurt”

“Why would I be hurt?” Spike asked himself, he tried to figure out what was going on, but he couldn’t seem to remember anything. “Am I on the ground?” Spike could feel the cold sensation of the floor and the grass around him, but he couldn’t remember why he was laying on the ground to begin with.

“He’s been out for too long, maybe we should move him?”

“We don’t know if he broke something or not, after a crash like that I’d be surprised if he didn’t”

“Crash, what cra-“ soon enough the memories began to flood back into the dragon’s head, he remembered the balloon flight, the wind pushing them away from Ponyville, and the balloon falling fast. “That’s right, we were falling into the Everfree, then we were about to crash and I did something” Spike continued to remember, but the last detail escaped him for a moment.

“The girls!” Spike yelled as he jerked up towards a sitting position, his eyes opened fast and he looked around franticly.

“Easy there!” Spike heard from a southern accent, it took some time for his eyes to refocus, but when they did he could see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle holding on to his shoulders.

“W-what happened?” Spike asked rubbing a sore spot on the back of his head.

“You got sandwiched between three fillies and a hard place” said Scootaloo motioning towards the large rock formation besides them.

“Oh right, I remember now” Spike groaned as he attempted to get up from the ground.

“Don’t try to get up, you might have broken something” warned Sweetie Belle, but that didn’t stop Spike from doing so.

“Don’t worry, it would take a lot more than that to do any real damage” said Spike as he attempted to stretch out the stiffness on his back. Soon enough there was a loud pop which scared the three fillies into thinking something was wrong. But when Spike let out a relaxed sigh they were able to calm down.

“So how long have I been out?” asked Spike noting that the stars were out and Princess Luna’s moon was in the sky.

“We’re not sure, maybe an hour or so?” their sense of timing had vanished the moment panic set in when Spike was knocked out.

“I see, how about you three, are you okay?”

“A lot better than the hot air balloon” stated Apple Bloom. Spike scanned the area until he spotted the balloon in question. The basket that Spike would argue was top quality was not in pieces.

“Jeez, must have been a nasty crash”

“That’s an understatement, when we heard the crack we thought it was you that broke!” said Scootaloo.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Apple Bloom asked still not convinced that Spike was able to get out of the crash without serious injury.

“Yeah I’m f-“Spike was suddenly cut off when he felt something building up in his stomach. Spike’s mouth opened as he let out a belch and a purple flame which quickly took the form of a rolled up scroll.

“I thought your fire was green” pointed out Scootaloo.

“Normally it is, but whenever the letter is to or from Twilight, it turns purple” said Spike as he picked up the scroll and unrolled out.

“Dear Spike, we’ve been searching for you, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom for hours. Everypony is worried about what could have happened to all of you and I think Applejack is ready to punch me, send this back as soon as you receive it; Twilight”

“You don’t think Applejack would really punch Twilight, do you?” Spike asked as he arched his brow.

“I don’t know; she can be overprotective at times” said Apple Bloom.

“Well, send it back to her so they can know we’re okay” said Scootaloo.

“Shouldn’t we try to write them back?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Not unless you have a quill to write with” said Scootaloo. Spike held on to the letter but he seemed to be looking for something. Eventually his head stopped turning and a smile spread on his face.

“Ah hah!” Spike took several quick steps forward; the others watched as he walked up to a large bush filled with berries.

“Is this really the time to eat?” asked Scootaloo as she saw Spike pick several berries from the bush.

“There not for eating” Spike placed the berries in the pockets of his sweater and began looking along the ground. Spike picked up several rocks and examined them before putting them back on the ground. Eventually Spike found a rock that he was content with and the grabbed a smaller one as well.

“Are you going to fill us in on what you’re trying to do?” asked Scootaloo who was still trying to figure out what he was planning.

“I’m going to put these berries in this rock, and then crush them like this” Spike placed the berries inside the larger rock with was concaved a bit. Using the smaller rock Spike began to crush the berries repeatedly until it was rendered into a sauce. “And there you go, makeshift ink” said Spike as he showed it to the others.

“Wont red ink freak them out a bit?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Especially Twilight” added Apple Bloom. Spike was going to object, but taking Twilight’s tendency to over react, he knew that they had a point. Spike looked up, the stars were out and in clear view; this gave him an idea.

“I think I know how I can tell them where we are, while I’m writing back can you three try to find a cave or something we can hide in for the night?” asked Spike.

“You want to spent the night in this forest!?” questioned Scootaloo.

“We don’t have a choice, it’s even more dangerous here at night” said Spike only for the echo of several howls to be heard. The howls sent shivers down the spines of the three fillies; there was no need to argue. While the others began to search the area, Spike looked up to the sky and began to write on the paper using his claw as a quill. Carefully he took account for each star position before writing on the letter.

“We found something!” Spike turned around to see Sweetie Belle calling him, behind her was Scootaloo and Apple Bloom moving a large rock out-of-the-way. Behind the rock was an opening, though it was too dark to see what was inside.

“Hold on” Spike looked around again and found a branch that had snapped off the tree when the balloon crashed. Spike picked it up and used his fire to set it on fire like a torch. “Hold on to this” Spike handed the letter to Apple Bloom before walking towards the hole. Spike put the torch in first to make sure there wasn’t something in there that wasn’t friendly. The light from the torch revealed that it was a lot bigger on the inside, Spike could also see that the cave wall on the other side.

“Alright, looks like we have a safe place to stay for the night” Spike stepped inside the cave and checked around it for a bit in order to be sure. Once he was sure it was safe he exited the cave and put out the torch. “Now I’ll just write to them so they can know that we’re okay” said Spike as he continued to write on the other side of the letter. Spike made sure to include an explanation on why the ink is red. Once Spike finished writing what needed to be written, she rolled up the note and sent it back to Twilight.

“Okay now that you took care of that, can we get inside before something decides to pop up?” asked Sweetie Belle as she continued to hear the sounds of other creatures of the forest.

“Right, let’s get some wood so we can have a fire” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were already ahead of Spike with arms filled with fallen branches. With nothing else needing to be done all four entered the cave and a fire was started. For added measures, the rock moved so it would be in front of the exit of the cave to prevent anything outside from seeing the light from the flames.

“So, how long will it take to get back to Ponyville if we walk?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Realistically speaking, it could take us about two to three days at most” this was something the others did not want to hear. “Look, I know it’s a little scary to be in here, but I’ll make sure nothing happens to you” Spike was no older than they were; yet, they felt like they could trust him.

“Don’t count us out as defenseless fillies, we can take care of ourselves too you know!” said Scootaloo putting up a tough expression.

“I don’t doubt that for a second” said Spike and the others shared a laugh. Even when in a situation that could be dangerous, it was never good to lose ones sense of humor, it’s what could keep somepony from going crazy with fear. They all spend the next few hours talking; they did everything they could to keep their minds off their situation. Soon enough the fire had gone out and they grew tired; they closed their eyes letting themselves drift into the land of dreams, all but one.

Sweetie Belle was having a hard time falling asleep, even though they were in the cave, she could still hear the sounds of the forest. She envied her friends; she wasn’t as strong as Apple Bloom or Spike, or as confident as Scootaloo. She was sure she wouldn’t last long if she was in the forest alone. The others were sleeping soundly; she wished she could feel secure as they did. She felt like she was when she was younger, how she would be too scared to sleep in her own room and would sneak into her parent’s room.

“M-maybe he wouldn’t mind…” said Sweetie Belle as she got up from where she sat and moved carefully so to not wake her friends. Sweetie Belle found a comfortable position to lie down and soon she was finally able to closer her eyes and slip into a deep sleep.