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The DragonPony

by Looter Penguin

Chapters

Chapter 1: Transformation

The Darkspike Cave – Somewhere, not too far outside Equestria

A dragon carefully walked in to the cave.

”You were looking for me?” The dragon asked. He had light green scales that were shining like an emerald, red spikes on his back that were like the hottest of fires, and light red eyes. He was rather big, almost twenty feet tall, and his fangs and claws were more than just for show. Not to speak of his strong muscles, and with his giant wings, he had to be one of the fastest dragons around. Despite his amazing body size, you could hear some badly hidden fear in his voice.

“Yes, I have,” a deep voice answered. The other dragon was about twelve feet tall. Not at all as frightening at first look. His scales and spikes were all black and his eyes had a dark, scary tone of red. “Please. Step forward, Sharpy”.

The dragon known as Sharpy carefully stepped forward. So… this is Huffy. He thought to himself. Huffy didn’t have any physical strength at all to talk about. He wasn’t even that big. Then why was Sharpy so afraid of him? Because Huffy was the only dragon who had the power to use magic. Even though dragons usually grew resistant to magic, Huffy’s magic was still able to penetrate a dragon's natural defenses.

Huffy claims to be blessed by the Grand Dragon himself, but most of the other dragons say that he’s been secretly co-operating for years with none other than Discord before he got turned into stone. Everydragon calls him: Huffy, the magic dragon.

“I need your help.” Huffy said with an evil grin.

“Y-yes?” Sharpy didn’t like that grin and felt uncomfortable. Then Huffy let out a cold chuckle.

“I have this new spell I've been practicing ” Huffy said while looking up to the roof which was nothing but stone. It looked like he was thinking of something, and his threatening tone was all gone. This made Sharpy feel slightly less uncomfortable, but he was still unsure what kind of spell Huffy needed his help with. He didn’t know anything about magic. It would be better to ask somedragon else. Because even if dragons normally can’t use magic, there are a lot of dragons that are very interested.

Sharpy’s thoughts were interrupted by Huffy’s voice.

“So, are you ready to begin?” Huffy asked. The darkness in his voice was back and Sharpy couldn’t hold back the sweat that was dropping from his neck. Huffy showed his evil grin again and began to mumble some unintelligible words, but Sharpy interrupted him.

“Wait! Just a question!” Sharpy shouted. It was louder than he intended and Huffy didn’t seem to enjoy being interrupted by the other dragon. Huffy looked really mad for a few seconds but changed expressions quickly. After all. Sharpy’s will to know more was fully understandable, so he agreed to let him ask the question.

“What kind of spell is this and why do you need me?” Sharpy asked, clearly nervous but still interested.

“Well…” Huffy began. He took a moment to think about the best way to answer the question. “Well, first of all this is a transformation-spell and you will act as a lab rat. I have no real reason why I choose you in particular”. He explained quickly and without giving Sharpy any time to think about what he just said, he started to mumble the unintelligible words again. Sharpy didn’t like this and started to yell at Huffy once more.

“WAIT! I HAVEN’T AGREED TO ANY OF THIS!” Unfortunately, it had no effect and Huffy continued to mumble the obviously magical words. This can’t be good. Sharpy thought. Maybe he could stop Huffy’s concentration by breathing some fire on him.

Before Sharpy could do anything however, Huffy stopped uttering the words and opened his mouth, and a dark purple beam shot out from his wide open mouth. Sharpy tried to shield himself with his large wings, but it had no effect. He could feel the pain where the beam hit him, and from his wings, the pain spread all over his body. Sharpy roared in pain and fear when the unnatural changes occurred with his body. He could feel how his body slowly changed form from a dragon to a... He didn’t know. He didn’t care. He just wanted the pain to go away, and so it did. He fell unconscious.

When Sharpy woke up he could see Huffy standing over him, looking down with a satisfied smile. Something was wrong. Huffy seemed to be much bigger now. No. Huffy wasn't bigger. Sharpy was smaller! Sharpy then tried to get back up on his feet, but he was too weak and fell back to the ground immediately. It was then he saw his feet… no they weren't feet anymore. They were hooves. His green shining scales were now light green fur, and his red spikes were now transformed into a red mane. The majestic wings he used to have, were now nothing but small feathered wings. Now the panic spread though his body, and he started to shake. Mostly because he tried to move, but couldn't.

“So you finally woke up?” Huffy said with a laugh. This wasn't a question, more like an observation. “You've been out cold for almost half an hour.”

“Wh- what did you do… to me?” Sharpy asked slowly. “And… why?” Huffy burst out into laughter.

“You’re a pony now. Why? Because I had to see if the spell worked!” Then he started to laugh again. “And for my own amusement, of course”.

This wasn't good. Sharpy knew that ponies were highly unaccepted in the dragon community. If somedragon were to see him, they’d surely attack him. He had to get away. He had to get away now. He found some strength, and started to run out of the cave.

“Don’t try to find me again, I’ll be long gone.” Huffy shouted after him and ended the sentence with a victorious laugh.

Sharpy ran out of the cave and hid in some bushes outside. The spikes on the bushes hurt him and he got a lot of small wounds. This weak skin was nothing compared to a dragon's. As a dragon he could do almost anything without damaging his scales. Sure he could still feel pain, but with this body even these small spikes on the bushes made him bleed. Sharpy jumped out of the bushes with a small groan. When he tried to lick his wounds to prevent infection he noticed his tongue was much shorter than what he was used to. Then he noticed something on his flank. It was a mark. The mark illustrated something that looked like a flying dragon. Before he could dwell on this, his thoughts got interrupted by two dragons shouting.

“Hey, look down there!” the first dragon shouted. “It’s a pony spying on us!”

“Let's get him!” the other one answered.

Sharpy knew that this wasn't the time to negotiate, or fighting for that matter. With no claws, blunt teeth, and a huge disadvantage of being absolutely tiny, the only thing he can do is run, or fly.

Sharpy flapped his wings and started flying towards the giant forest known as the Everfree Forest. He knew that at the other side of the forest was the land of Equestria, a county where ponies lived. If he remembered correctly, a small village called Ponyville laid just outside the forest. If he could get there in time then he could get away from his hunters. There is only one problem. With these tiny wings of his, despite his incredible endurance and strength, he was just a pony now. There was no chance in the world that he would be able to fly away from two dragons for a long distance.

Sharpy flew over the forest now. He looked back and saw the other two dragons chasing him coming closer every second. Wait. He is just a pony now. That means he can fly down through the forest. He would have a much easier time dodging all the trees then a big dragon, and so he did. The two dragons tried to follow him by flying down into the forest as well.

They had been flying for a really long time, or so it seemed for Sharpy. They had probably just been flying for about twenty minutes, but with his new wings he had to flap extra fast to keep up the pace. It couldn't be much longer until he was outside of the forest.

His followers had long ago realized that they couldn't follow him through the forest, so instead they flew over the forest breathing fire down upon it, trying to hit the terrified pony.

Things started to get really intense when there weren't only trees, but fire he had to dodge. Then he saw the edge of the forest. From there he should be able to find this Ponyville, but he knew that the minute he flew outside of the forest, he had to be quick. Quicker than quick. He had to find somewhere to hide from the dragons... or they would surely catch him.

Chapter 2: Fluttershy's Cottage

Fluttershy’s cottage – The edge of Ponyville

Fluttershy was just about to give her pet bunny, Angel, some milk to drink when she heard a loud roar. She jumped back in surprise, and dropped the bottle of milk all over Angel. Angel was clearly annoyed, but accepted the apology he got from Fluttershy.

“I wonder what that could have been?” She asked Angel, as he was jumping from the light green couch to the window frame.

When Angel looked out of the window he got a terrified look and immediately wanted Fluttershy to come and have a look. Fluttershy did as her bunny wanted her to do and looked through the window. She was shocked when she discovered what was happening outside.

Two dragons were chasing a pegasus out of the Everfree forest. Her fear of dragons instantly made her run and hide beneath one of the tables. Angel, however, saw in fear what was about to happen. The two dragons had nearly reached the poor pegasus. He acted quickly and jumped as fast as he could and gave Fluttershy a kick in her flank. She understood immediately.

“You’re right, I have to help him.” She said while building up some courage as she flew over to the front door.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Sharpy finally reached the end of the forest. He looked in panic for the village of Ponyville. He spotted a road that would probably lead him to there, but now he realized his mistake was far greater than he first thought. He could hear one of the dragons yelling behind him.

“He’s finally outside the forest! Keep up the pace so we can catch him!”

Sharpy watched in fear how the two dragons started to catch up to him again. He tried to fly faster but couldn’t, he was simply too tired. The effort he had put on his wings and the injury from the bushes earlier, had probably damaged his right wing pretty badly, but he wasn’t going to give up. Ponyville couldn’t be far away now.

When Sharpy reached the road he immediately spotted Ponyville, but then he realized that the dragons were just behind him. He saw that the first dragon was reaching out his claws to catch him and the other one was preparing to breathe a large flame upon him. Sharpy acted quickly. As the first dragon tried to catch him, he dodged by flying slightly to the right. This made the dragon try and follow him. Little did he know that the second dragon had just let out a big ball of fire. The first dragon flew right into the fireball, which definitely hurt him pretty bad. The dragon let out a loud roar of pain upon impact. It distracted the dragons enough for Sharpy to get some space between them.

Surely somepony had to hear that. At least those who lived at the very edge of the village, Sharpy thought. He hoped for someone to help him, or at least let him inside their house. The dragons shouldn’t be able to get him then, if they didn’t want to fight the entire royal guard.

Unfortunately, no one came to help him or even opened their doors.

Didn’t anypony hear the roar? Sharpy got more terrified than ever. He looked back and saw the two dragons starting to catch up. The pain in his right wing ached badly. Is this the end for him? Is this how he would die? So close, but yet so far?

He’d given up all hope of surviving, but then a door opened. It was a cottage at the very edge of the village. A pegasus with a light yellow coat and a pink mane stepped out of the door.

“Hurry! Get inside my house!” the yellow pony made an attempt to yell, but Sharpy barely heard her well enough to understand what she meant. Then Sharpy realized that something was dragging him back. One of the dragons had grabbed his tail. Sharpy shouted in fear and the yellow pony screamed loudly, but Sharpy wasn’t going to give up that easily. He kicked the dragon straight in the face, causing him lose his grip.

Sharpy then screamed in pain as he pushed himself past his limits as he flew faster and faster. He managed to reach the cottage in time, and flew straight though the open door just to crash into a wall inside the cottage.

The yellow pony closed the door quickly as she ran back inside the house.

At first she hid herself under a table until she was sure the dragons were gone. After a short amount of time, she crawled out from her hiding place and went to check out the green and red pegasus. She could see that he was badly hurt, he had small cuts all over his body. A bunny then appeared from behind her. He looked worried and poked gently on the clearly unconscious pony’s hoof.

“Angel, all those wounds need treatment.” the yellow pony said to the bunny. “Could you be so kind and fetch me some bandages?”

The bunny named Angel apparently didn’t like taking orders, but he saw that this might be important so he saluted and jumped up the stairs. The yellow pony, however, started to carefully drag the green pony towards the sofa. He was quite heavy, but she managed to pull him onto it. She placed him in a comfortable position and then went to another room to fetch some water to wake him up. When she came back, Angel was sitting on a small table next to the sofa with the bandages ready.

“First of all, we have to wake him up.” the yellow pony told Angel. She poured the water over the green pony’s face, which immediately woke him up.

“Whoa, what?” Sharpy sat up all worked up. His eyes were wide open and he was out of breath. Then he started to shake. He groaned in pain and decided to go back to laying down.

“Yes, you should probably lie down like that.” the yellow pony said quietly. “If you don’t mind, that is.” Sharpy tried to thank the yellow pony for letting him inside her house, but all he could do was cough. The yellow pony immediately gave him some water to drink.

“My… my name is Fluttershy,” the yellow pony said. “You’re hurt pretty badly. Do you want me to help you?” Sharpy responded with a nod.

“My name…” Sharpy coughed. “…is Sharpy”

“Hush, now.” Fluttershy said with a sweet voice while cleaning Sharpy’s wounds. “We can talk later, if that’s ok?” Sharpy groaned but agreed. He needed some medical treatment after all. Fluttershy cleaned the small wounds and covered the bigger ones with bandages. When she touched Sharpy's right wing however, he shouted in pain. Fluttershy was shocked by the sudden shout, and took a couple of steps backwards.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know…” Fluttershy was truly sorry and worried, but Sharpy waved it off. After all; she couldn’t possibly know his wing was so damaged.

“My wing… It’s damaged” Sharpy groaned.

“Oh, I see.” Fluttershy responded and began to take care of his wing. After she had wrapped it with bandages she trotted out of the room. When she came back she held a glass with some kind of liquid. Sharpy, who felt a little bit better looked confused as the liquid was brought to him.

“It’ll help to ease the pain.” Fluttershy said with a shy smile when she noticed Sharpy’s confused face. “It might not taste so good, but it’s really important that you drink it.” Sharpy nodded, still confused.

“Is there something wrong?” Fluttershy asked, worried.

“No… I just…” Sharpy didn’t know what to say. He was used to having his claws to grab things, but all he had now were hooves. He knew that some ponies, the unicorns, had the ability to use magic, but how could the other ponies take care of themselves? He had seen that this Fluttershy had used her mouth when she treated him.

“… How am I supposed to drink it?” he finally asked. Fluttershy looked really confused by this question.

“Uhm… with your mouth, of course.” she answered carefully, after a few seconds. Now things started to get complicated for Sharpy. He didn’t want to tell anypony that he was actually a dragon. He feared, if he did, they would throw him out of their society, and then he wouldn’t get the help he needed. He didn’t want to stay a pony for the rest of his life, and dragons were immortal, so they couldn’t die of old age, just by getting killed.

But with this weak body, “the rest of my life” could be shorter than I might expect, he thought, uttering a little grunt. Fluttershy started to feel uncomfortable by the long silence. Sharpy noticed this and decided to do something. He grabbed the glass between both front hooves and shoved his muzzle inside the glass. He felt really stupid, but guessed this is how the ponies did it.

The drink smelled like trash and it tasted almost the same, but it worked. The pain slowly went away and he started to feel a little bit sleepy. He let out a loud yawn, and to that Fluttershy chuckled.

“Yes, the medicine usually does that.” Fluttershy said, and began to fly up to the second floor. “You can sleep on the sofa. Uhm… If that’s fine with you." She waited for Sharpy to nod, and when he did, she gave him a shy smile before she continued into her own room. Before she closed her door she turned and said with a calm voice,

“You’ll probably feel better tomorrow, and if you want to, I can introduce you to my friends.” Fluttershy didn’t wait for an answer, but gently closed her door.

I really hope one of her friends is a skilled unicorn. Sharpy thought to himself while looking inside her house. The house was really well built and it gave him a comfortable feeling just by looking at it. He couldn’t image how a pony could be able to do something like this, considering they didn't have any claws, but he didn't think too much about it. Then he saw Fluttershy’s pet bunny Angel jump across the room for his little bed. Sharpy decided to go to sleep as well. The medicine made him very tired and it was getting late, anyways.

I just hope one of her friends is a unicorn…

Chapter 3: Tour around the village

Next morning

“Wake up, Sharpy” Fluttershy said while putting a hoof on his shoulder and shook him gently to wake him up” It’s a new day, and you don’t want to miss it” She had the most soft and beautiful voice you could image. But then Sharpy suddenly sat up and started waiving his front legs wildly around him. Fluttershy got chocked by the sudden move and quickly took air. Sharpy, however, had been surprised to actually wake up in the cottage. But he quickly remembered everything and looked sadly at his new body.

Fluttershy, who had calmed herself down, flew down to him.

“Um…” she began carefully. “A nightmare?” Sharpy sighed and gave Fluttershy a sad smile.

“Yes, I suppose” But that wasn’t the truth at all. He had actually dreamed of being together with his fellow dragons. Fluttershy responded with a warm smile. Her eyes shone of kindness and Sharpy quickly started to feel better. His worries were gone and he finally felt calm. Fluttershy noticed that Sharpy had now calmed himself down and decided to ask him if he wanted some breakfast.

“Um… I’ve made some breakfast for us both” Fluttershy asked. “Just in case you want some?” Sharpy began to yawn. He’d just woken up after all.

“Yes, that would be perfect” Sharpy was happy and had great confidence that this day would work out just fine. “You must start a new day with some good me…” He stopped himself. He’d almost said meat, but then he realized that ponies didn’t eat meat. “…breakfast” He chuckled nervously and Fluttershy answered with another shy smile.

“I have a table outside where the breakfast is” Fluttershy said and started to trot towards the front door. Sharpy followed. When they came out Sharpy noticed there were a lot of animals in her garden. “I work with animal care” Fluttershy said. Answering Sharpy’s puzzled facial expression. Sharpy nodded to this fact. It did make a lot of sense. Even though he’d just met her, her personality told him that she was kind and had a strong will to help others. He liked that.

When they both sat at the table in Fluttershy’s garden, she commented the breakfast, consisting of two sandwiches and a glass of milk. The sandwiches, however, consisted of a few white flowers clamped between two pieces of bread. This made Sharpy a little skeptic, but he didn’t wanted to show it to prevent suspicion.

“Well, it isn’t much but it is something” Fluttershy said while looking at the breakfast. “If you want water instead of milk I can…” but Sharpy interrupted her.

“Milk will be all right” Sharpy said. Fluttershy nodded and picked up her sandwich with her hoof and took a small bite. Sharpy inspected everything she did and tried to imitate her so that he would learn how and what to do. He couldn’t think of how she could be able to pick up the sandwich without proper claws, but when he tried to do the same it went surprisingly well. And it felt natural when he picked up the sandwich just like Fluttershy did. But then there was the bite. How would this taste? Would he throw up? But Sharpy decided quickly there was only one way to find out. He took a big bite of the sandwich. His eyes opened wide and he looked surprised at the sandwich.

This is delicious, he thought to himself. He didn’t know if this was because of his new body or not, but this was far tastier than anything else. And so he said to Fluttershy.

“This is delicious”, he said before taking another bite. It was still a bit hard for him to eat the sandwich with his hoofs, but he was getting used to it.

“Oh, thank you”, Fluttershy blushed. “It’s just a regular sandwich, but I’m glad you liked it”. Fluttershy then drank some milk from her glass. Sharpy was ready and imitated what she did. She drank the glass of water with far more grace than Sharpy. But he was a fast learner considering he’d just been transformed into a pony the day before.

They were getting along quite well, Sharpy thought. Perhaps I can ask her about who she is? And so he did. She told him about who she was and all her adventures. She told him what she liked and what she didn’t like and about her childhood. But then things started to get uncomfortable for Sharpy. She told him about her fear of dragons. He then decided not to tell her, or anyone else for that matter, that he was a dragon. Well, he had to tell someone capable of magic. But not a second before he had won their full trust. Sharpy started to feel insecure. Fortunate she didn’t noticed anything.

“And well, that’s most you need to know about me”, she said with a shy smile, thinking that the last sentence wasn’t a nice thing to say. “I won’t talk too much about my friends, considering you’ll probably meet them today… if that’s what you wish, that is?” Sharpy laughed at this. It was a warm and calming laugh.

“Yes, I’d like to meet your friends” Sharpy said smiling at the yellow pony.

“Um…” Fluttershy began. “Can you tell me about yourself?” She gave Sharpy a shy smile. Sharpy got stunned. Why haven’t he prepared for such a question. He felt so stupid. It was obvious that she would sooner or later ask a question like this.

“Oh… yes… of course”. He decided to tell her the truth. Well, as much as he could without revealing that he was a dragon. But he’d probably had to lie a bit for the bluff to work. “Well… I used to live at the other side of the Everfree Forest. But there is no way I can return any time soon because of the dragons”.

“Don’t worry”, Fluttershy responded with a smile that told him he didn’t have to explain more about where he came from. At least not just yet. “If you want to… you can live with me during your time here in Ponyville”. Sharpy gladly agreed to that. Now he had somewhere to sleep at least. Then he started telling her what he liked. He told her that he liked flying around, having competitions, going out on minor adventures, casual conversations, parties. The list seemed to be endless, so Fluttershy interrupted him with a friendly laugh.

“You don’t have to tell me everything” Fluttershy said and Sharpy laughed too, understanding how silly he must have sounded. “If we spend more time together I’m sure I’ll figure these things out myself”. The conversation was getting along really well. But now it was time to leave for the village centre. Fluttershy wanted Sharpy to see the more of the village and meet her friends. And Sharpy gladly followed. She showed his some of the most important structures like different restaurants, cafés, the hospital, etc. Everything a village like this used to have. But one thing that got Sharpy’s attention was a big stature of a larger pony with both wings and a horn. So he asked Fluttershy if she knew who that was.

“Well, that’s Celestia, of course”, Fluttershy said and Sharpy answered with a slow who-is-that nod. “… The princess…”

“Ah, of course!” Sharpy felt really stupid. He should know this. Or perhaps not. But this Celestia had to be a powerful magician. Perhaps she could help him? But Sharpy showed that opportunity away. There is no way he could be able to get in contact with a princess. And even if he did, why would she help him? They left the stature and continued.

“Here’s Mr. and Mrs. Cakes house. They got the most wonderful sweets” Fluttershy said while pointing towards what apparently was a pastry. Sharpy liked sweets. They were almost as good as gems. Unfortunately he couldn’t be able to eat a gem with these new teeth. But a couple of sweets wouldn’t be too bad. They’d been out walking for a while so he asked Fluttershy if they could buy something small.

“Yes, if that’s what you’d like” Fluttershy answered. “And my friend Pinkie works there, so if we’re lucky, she’s there now”.

As Fluttershy predicted, Pinkie was there. She was standing at the desk, talking to another pony. It looked like he was going to buy two cookies. Fluttershy and Sharpy waited politely until they saw the other pony leave the shop with a confused look on his face. It looked like he was wondering how buying two cookies could end up with buying fifteen cookies and two small cakes. Sharpy chuckled.

Whoever this girl is, she sure has a sharp tongue, he thought. And so it seemed. The pink pony immediately started talking when she spotted her friend.

“Hi there, Fluttershy! How are you doing? And before you ask, I’m doing just fine!” Pinkie said, clearly exited to see her friend.

“I’m fine Pinkie, but there is someone I want you to meet” Fluttershy stepped aside so that Pinkie and Sharpy could say hello.

“Hello, there! I’m Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you! What’s your name? You’re not from Ponyville, are you? What a funny colors you have! It looks good though! Where’re you from anyway?” The overload of questions and the overexcitement from this Pinkie Pie made Sharpy wonder if this pony really was completely sane. But he supposed that she was just really excited to meet somepony new. Or perhaps somedragon, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. Besides, Pinkie was just an earth pony so she couldn’t be of any use if he wanted to be transformed back into a dragon. But she could turn out to be a valuable friend. And Sharpy wasn’t going to say no to new friends.

“Whoa… One question at a time” Sharpy interrupted her. “The name is Sharpy. And no, I’m not from Ponyville. I’m from the other side of the Everfree Forest. And did you say something about my colors?” Pinkie listened but waved him off at the last part and claimed that he looked good in those colors. Then Pinkie sated to smile.

“How about I make a party for you? Everyone in Ponyville will be invited. Where’re you staying anyway?”

“I’m staying with Fluttershy for the moment” Sharpy said while pointing at Fluttershy. She smiled. “But why do…?” Sharpy got interrupted by Pinkie.

“Then I’ll make a party for you back at Fluttershy’s place” Then she began to enumerate everything she’d include in the party. It sounded like a great party. But would Fluttershy’s home really be the best place to have a party. Considering all the animals? Fluttershy seemed to share his thoughts and began complaining. But Pinkie was completely lost with her plans to even notice Fluttershy. That irritated Sharpy, so he interrupted Pinkie as gently as he could. And by that he raised his voice and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Hey, Fluttershy is talking to you” he wasn’t harsh. Just definitive. And Pinkie understood and turned to Fluttershy without getting hurt.

“Um… I just don’t think it would be so good to have the party at my place considering all the animals” Sharpy’s way of getting Pinkies attention gave her the strength she needed to sound convincing. Pinkie thought for a second before answering.

“You’re probably right. I can have the party at the village centre. And more people will be able to attend that way!” Pinkie shone up with a charming big smile which covered almost her entire face. “It will be the best party ever!” But then Pinkie noticed Sharpy’s right wing was bandaged and asked what happened. Fluttershy then decided to answer the question by telling everything in her part of view. Sharpy said that this was basically what happened and didn’t want to go in deeper of what happened before that. Then two other ponies entered the pastry which interrupted them. The pink pony excused herself and welcomed the two new ponies which had entered the room.

“Well, goodbye then, Pinkie” Fluttershy said to Pinkie before walking towards the front door. “We’ll take out leave then. I have to introduce Sharpy to our friends”. Pinkie understood at said goodbye to Fluttershy and Sharpy. She waved them off with a big smile on her face as they walked out of the pastry. But before they opened the door Pinkie asked them to wait.

“The party won’t be tonight unfortunately. I have a awful lot to do”. Fluttershy told her that it was all right, and then left the building.

That pony sure knew how to keep the mood up, Sharpy thought to himself.

They started walking towards the home a pony that Fluttershy called Rarity. Or the “boutique”, as Rarity usually called it herself. But halfway there Fluttershy remembered something.

“Sharpy?” She asked and Sharpy responded by looking questioning at Fluttershy. “Did we just forget to buy something from Pinkie?” Sharpy stopped and looked back as he realized they just did.

“I do believe we did” But kept walking forward again. “But it’s not a problem. Not for me at least. How about you?” Fluttershy shook her head and said that she was all right and so they continued. It Rarity’s boutique wasn’t far so they reached it pretty fast. The boutique looked pretty funny, or at least different, according to Sharpy. But at the same time, it was magnificent. It was big and the decoration from the outside made it look like a smaller castle. Fluttershy looked at Sharpy and when she saw his amazed facial expression she giggled.

“Yes, it is quite magnificent” She said and teased him a little. Sharpy nodded slowly. “She lives there too” Sarpy now turned his eyes away from the boutique and looked at Fluttershy.

“She does?” But then again. Why wouldn’t she? It’s a beautiful house. He’d heard at the breakfast that she worked with fashion. And that might explain the outside decoration.

When they reached the boutique Fluttershy knocked at the door.

“Just a minute, dear!” someone yelled from inside the boutique. Sharpy guessed it was Rarity.

“She has probably a lot to do, so this might get just a little bit rushed, just so you know” Fluttershy said to Sharpy. Sharpy understood. Being in the fashion world has to be intense. Though dragons, and ponies alike, didn’t usually wear clothes. Both species wear clothes at special events and such.

Then the door opened. A beautiful white pony with a purple main which was spiraling stepped out of the door. And she was a unicorn! She was capable of magic!

“Oh, why hello, Fluttershy!” she said as soon as she opened the door. Then she looked over at Sharpy. “And who is this handsome colt you’ve brought? Are you two…?” Both Fluttershy and Sharpy blushed.

“No, no, no. This is Sharpy” Fluttershy said. Her cheeks were still rose red, which Sharpy thought was really cute. “And we’re not… you know…” She looked over to Sharpy.

“I think I can tell you how we met”, Sharpy told Rarity about how he’d been chased by two dragons and how Fluttershy had saved him and helped him afterwards. Rarity nodded. She’d listened well, but was now unsure what to say. But then she remembered she haven’t introduced herself to Sharpy.

“Oh, where are my manners?” she began with a friendly laugh. “My name is Rarity Belle and I’d like to welcome you to Ponyville”. But then she looked back into her house with a sad smile. “You can come in for a little while, but I have so much to do right now. Have you been talking to Pinkie?” The last question was directed to Fluttershy.

“Oh. Yes, we have” Fluttershy said. Rarity gave her another look and as if no words were needed, and they weren’t, Fluttershy continued. “The party won’t be today” And after she’d said that, Rarity let out a sigh of relief.

“Good, that gives me some time to finish my work. And I’ll make something for you too, dear”, Rarity gave Sharpy a wink before letting them into her house. “And sorry for the mess” Rarity added when they came inside the house.  But there wasn’t a mess inside. It was pure chaos. Fabrics and textiles were lying all around the room. Measuring tapes were hanging from every possible position. But her complete works were nicely dressed by some mannequins. Sharpy could easily see that Rarity sure had a lot to do.

“Would you like some tea? Some biscuits?” Rarity walked into the kitchen.

“Yes that would be great”, Flutterhsy said. “We’re really hungry. Right?” Fluttershy turned to Sharpy with a smile. Sharpy nodded and smiled back but then continued to look at all the clothing. He would never admit this to any of his dragon friends, but they were really beautiful. He should probably say that to Rarity. That would surely make her happy and when the conversation had softened up a bit; he could ask her about her magic. She was a unicorn after all. Maybe she could be able to help him. With the hope that she’d be good at magic, he walked into the kitchen.

The kitchen was rather big and the table was far enough away to not be disturbed by what happens in the kitchen. Fluttershy was already sitting by the table and Rarity was levitating the biscuits to the table. She’d already put three cups and three small plates on the table. Sharpy watched impressed as she used her magic to levitate the biscuits. When she’d done that, Sharpy sat down besides Fluttershy.

“I must say…” he began. Thinking for a second of what would be the best way to express himself before continuing. “…your dresses and suites are really lovely” Rarity smiled friendly to that.

“I’m glad you liked them, because I’ll make one for you as well” Rarity said, and before Sharpy would be able to ask what the cost of such a thing would be she continued. “And don’t you worry about the payment. I’d be glad to help one of Fluttershy’s friends”. Sharpy thanked Rarity for this generous act and all three began to eat some biscuits, drink some tea and they started a casual conversation. It was all getting along really well and all three were having a great time. Soon the formalities were gone and they all acted like old friends. In Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s case they were already but Rarity quickly accepted Sharpy as a good friend. And then Sharpy decided to ask his question.

“So how good are you with magic, anyway?” Rarity looked a little bit questioning of such a straightforward question. Sharpy noticed that and continued to make things seem more normal. “Just of pure curiosity”

“Oh, sure I can do a lot of thinks with my magic, but it’s nothing compared Twilight’s skills”, Rarity turned to Fluttershy. “Have you two met Twilight yet?”

“No, we haven’t”, she answered. “She lives a quite far from me. There is a lot of things that I want to show him, but he can’t use his wings” Fluttershy gave Sharpy a calm everything-is-going-to-be-fine smile and Rarity nodded, understanding their situation. It could take some time to go to Twilights place if you’d look and talk about everything of importance on the way. But now Rarity found out a lot more time had passed then she first thought. It wasn’t a problem, but it could turn out to be if she didn’t get back to her work.

“I’m sorry to cut this short, but I simply must go back to my duties”.

“Don’t worry. We understand”, Fluttershy said and drank the rest of her tea. “We’d better be going anyway. There is a lot to see in Ponyville”. They left the boutique and started walking towards the city. Rarity waved them off as they walked down the street.

“I can’t believe I forgot to show you the city Hall...” Fluttershy said and so they continued their tour around Ponyville.

Time went by. Both Sharpy and Fluttershy enjoyed each other’s company. But soon it was time for dinner and they both felt hungry.

“Perhaps we should eat something?” Sharpy asked while listening to the familiar sound from his stomach that told him he was hungry.

“Yes, that might be a good idea”, Fluttershy answered. “If you want to, we can go to Applejacks farm. I don’t think she’ll mind having two extra ponies over for dinner. And then you get to meet her too”. Sharpy laughed.

“Getting two things done at once? I’m fine with that”, he said and Fluttershy giggled. “It sounds great” he added before Fluttershy showed him the way to Applejacks farm.

When they came to the farm, which apparently was called Sweet Apple Acers, Sharpy was impressed. The name was really fitting considering the stunning amount of apple trees around the farm.

When they reached the farm they were welcomed by a orange pony with a blonde mane wearing a cowboy hat.

“Hi, there Fluttershy!” the pony who were apparently Applejack greeted Fluttershy with a big smile and a friendly pat on her shoulder. Then she turned to Sharpy “An’ you are?”

“I’m Sharpy, nice to meet you!”

“Well, it’s nice to meet ya’ too, Sharpy!” Applejack shook his hoof. “The name is Applejack. An’ you’re a friend of Fluttershy?”

“Yes, that’s right” And then the usual explanation of who he was took place.

“What an interesting story you have there!” Applejack said. “Do you two want to stay for dinner? We’re just about to start eatin’. Then we’ll get to know you, Sharpy, and you’ll get to know the Apples” And so it was settled. Fluttershy and Sharpy stayed for dinner. It was a lot to choose from, but everything contained apples of some sort. But Sharpy didn’t mind. He liked apples all these different ways of cooking them made it even more interesting. The Apples was a nice family too which made the whole dinner floating on nicely. Big Macintosh wasn’t the most social one, but he was really intelligent and nice. Granny Smith was a friendly, a little bit special, but friendly old lady. Applebloom was a funny little kid, who obviously had some kind of obsessive will of getting her “cutie mark” as the ponies called it. And last, but not least, there was Applejack. She was really friendly and introduced Sharpy to the entire family. She told him about her work on the farm and about the apple farm in general. Fluttershy also opened up more than usual and joined most conversations with glee. It was a lovely dinner, but everything has to come to an end. It was getting late and Fluttershy and Sharpy had to go home before it was getting too dark.

“This have been a really good day, if I can say so myself”, Sharpy said to Fluttershy with a warming smile. “I’ve seen so much of Ponyville and I’m glad I got to meet some of your friends”

“Heh, thank you”, Fluttershy said and retuned the smile. “I can introduce you to the rest tomorrow if you want to”

“That would be great. I look forward to it” Sharpy said. “But right now. Let’s get home as fast as possible, shall we?”

When they got back to Fluttershy’s cottage all the animals were already asleep. Well except for her bunny Angel. He was still up, grumpy as usual, and were stomping impatiently at the floor waiting for Fluttershy to come back home. Fluttershy said she was sorry for being out so late and promised him some extra carrots for breakfast tomorrow. Angel seemed satisfied with that and went to sleep in his little bed.

Sharpy and Fluttershy said goodnight to each other. Sharpy watched Fluttershy as she flew up upstairs and then closed the door to her bedroom.

Sharpy laid down on the couch with a smile on his face. This sure was a successful day. He liked it here in Ponyville and all the ponies. He’d gotten used to the new body really fast and all seemed to be just fine. But he still wanted to get back to the life he used to live. And this Twilight might be able to help him. He remembered what Rarity told him. Twilight just had to be a powerful mage or else he didn’t know how he would be able to get turned back into a dragon.

That night his dream was very much like the dream he had the night before. He was home with his fellow dragons. He was a dragon. And everything seemed like it should be. But there were something different about this dream. Among all the dragons there where one who stood out. It was a female. He remembered her, but couldn’t figure out from where.

She had bright yellow scales and pale pink spikes on her back.

Chapter 4: Sharpy's Feelings

Early - the next morning

Sharpy woke up with a weird feeling. The sun was just about to rise and it appeared nopony else was awake. Who was that yellow dragon? He was sure he’d never seen her before. But something inside him told him he had. Did his subconscious tried to tell him something about this dream? And in that case, what? He tried to think of something else, like whom this Twilight was and if she could help him with her superior skills in magic? But his thought always returned to the dragon in his dreams. He tried not to think of anything at all, but it was impossible.

He decided he couldn’t do anything about it and so he sat up in the couch. He was still dazed and everything started spinning before his eyes due to the vigorous movement. When the world had stopped and everything had returned to normal he stood up. He needed something to drink. He looked over to the kitchen and drew the conclusion that there would be the best place to look for some water. He stumbled away from the couch and towards the kitchen as silent as possible. He was really tired and questioned his actions as his body more or less begged him to go back to sleep. But when Sharpy was tired, he could be stubborn as a mule. He wanted some water. And so he grabbed a glass with his hoofs that stood on a small table and filled it with water. He sat down at the table and took a couple of sips from his glass of water. He closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened his eyes he realized he’d fallen asleep. The sun was up and shone its bright light upon Ponyville. He had been awakened by the sound of Fluttershy coming down the stairs.

“Oh, good morning, Sharpy” Fluttershy was surprised to see him up this early. Sharpy, who wasn’t as dazed as before, could answer with a stable, but still clearly tired, voice.

“Good morning, Fluttershy”. Sharpy looked at Fluttershy for a long time. Was there something equal between the unusual dragon in his dreams and her? He shook his head and pushed that thought away without taking it deeper than that.

Probably not.

Fluttershy opened a cupboard filled with different food and other treats for her animals.

“While you’re up, why don’t you help me feed the animals before we eat some breakfast?” Fluttershy asked Sharpy, still rooting in her cupboard. “If you don’t mind, that is?”

“Yes, why not?” Sharpy agreed to help Fluttershy. And as he just said: Why not? She had helped him so much and he hasn’t done anything in return, apart from offering his company. This is the least he could do for her.

She picked up a big sack from the cupboard. This was apparently food for all her chickens. And apparently they had to get the food a bit earlier than the other animals. Mostly to prevent them from trying to flee from their enclosure in search for food. They both walked out to the chickens. They were walked inside the chickens little house and there they were, waiting to be fed. Sharpy looked how Fluttershy reached her hoof down the big sack and, somehow, grabbed as much seed her hoofs could carry and shared it among a few chickens. Sharpy still wanted to improve his skills with his hoofs and tried to do the same thing. With mixed success. He dropped a lot on the ground, but still managed to keep hold of some seeds that he shared it among three chickens. They ate with great appetite as soon as they got the seeds placed in front of them. He held the mood up and discovered his skills with the hoofs were increasing fast. If he keeps using then, he’d be able to handle them as good as his claws.

But then both Fluttershy and Sharpy tried to reach the bag at the same time. Neither of them was looking. And so their hoofs met. They both froze at the touch. The slowly turned their heads to look at each other without withdrawing their hoofs. But when their eyes met, they withdrew their hoofs, very fast and at the same time. They looked away, both of them blushing.

What was this?, Sharpy wondered. He’d never felt this feeling before. He liked it, but at the same time it felt weird. Was he about to…? No, that couldn’t be it. She’s a pony and he’s a dragon. He assumed he was just tired. At breakfast he would ask Fluttershy if she had any coffee or something to wake him up properly.

“Um… I…” Fluttershy began, still looking away from Sharpy. Her voice was quite low. But then she turned back and continued her sentence. “I think the chickens have had enough” Sharpy nodded, still confused.

“I… think you’re right. Eh…” He scraped his hoof to the floor. “Let’s continue with the other animals, right?” And so they did. But without talking to each other. Sharpy realized Fluttershy peeked carefully at him as soon as he turned away. And he did the same. And every time he did, he wasn’t sure if he would laugh out of happiness or just crawl to the closest corner and cry. He’s head was mixed with all sorts of feelings, but deep inside it actually felt good.

I. Need. Coffee. NOW!

And Sharpy was lucky. They was soon finished feeding all the animals and was now able to finally sit down and have some breakfast. Sharpy asked Fluttershy if she had any coffee, just as he planned to do. And a casual and general question like this was just what they needed to soften up the mood. Fluttershy and Sharpy walked into the kitchen and prepared some “flower-sandwiches” as Sharpy had started to call them. They made some coffee using Fluttershy’s stove, which you had to warm up with fire underneath it. This was very interesting to Sharpy. As a dragon, he just had to breathe fire upon his food. Or coffee in this case. But he wasn’t a dragon anymore. And before he gets turned back into a dragon, he had to learn the ropes as a pony.

When everything was finished they walked out to the table where they had sat at during yesterday’s breakfast. In the beginning they weren’t really talking too much, but that changed as soon as they started to eat a couple of sandwiches and drink their coffee. Sharpy assumed they were both really tired earlier and he thought that was the explanation for how he felt at least.

When the breakfast was over they returned to Ponyville to introduce Sharpy to Twilight. Twilight lived at the other end of Ponyville, so it was quite a bit to walk, but neither of them wanted to put Sharpy’s wing at risk by flying.

But they reached Twilight’s house, or Twilight tree was probably a better explanation, just within a couple of minutes because they didn’t have stop to take a look at anything particular. Sharpy was really impressed with this house. Carved out in a tree and whatnot. But then again, he was impressed that these ponies could even do anything at all with their hoofs. Fluttershy walked up to the door and knocked. They heard three voices inside, but it was impossible to hear what they said. But then the door opened. Sharpy expected a unicorn to open the door, but instead it was… a dragon? It was a little purple dragon with green spikes. He couldn’t be too old considering his size. He hadn’t grown any wings yet, so he couldn’t be older than twenty years. He was probably still considered a baby. The little dragon shone up as soon as he saw Fluttershy.

“Hi, there Fluttershy!” He opened the door a little bit more and made a welcoming gesture. He nodded to Sharpy with a smile. “I’ll tell Twilight you’re here”. And so he ran off into a different room.

“Twi, Fluttershy is here!” you could hear everything pretty well from the other room. “And she’s got a friend here too. Green with a red mane”. Fluttershy carefully poked Sharpy in the side.

“That would be you”, she joked. But Sharpy didn’t laugh. He was too confused.

“A dragon?” he couldn’t believe they would actually have a dragon here in Ponyville. Were they accepting dragons after all?

“Yes, I forgot to mention that”, Fluttershy said. “The dragon, Spike, have lived with Twilight from the day he was hatched”.

That would explain it, Sharpy thought. They’ve accepted this dragon because they’ve been the one raising him. I cannot trust to be as lucky if I reveal myself too early.

“Oh, that must be Sharpy!” Pinkie said from the other room. So Pinkie is here too. And he was right. Pinkie was the first one to come out from the room. She was jumping forth and greeted both Fluttershy and Sharpy. Then Spike and a purple unicorn came out. Sharpy assumed the purple unicorn was Twilight.

“Hello there, Fluttershy! And Sharpy is it?” Twilight walked towards the two ponies standing just in front of the main door.

“Yes, I’m Sharpy”, Sharpy answered “And you are Twilight?” Twilight nodded to that.

“Yes, I am Twilight Sparkle”, she said with a smile and then turned to Fluttershy. “So why are you two here?”

Then for the third time Fluttershy and Sharpy told how they met, how Fluttershy had saved Sharpy, why he had to stay in Ponyville and how Fluttershy wanted to introduce him to her friends.

“Oh, so that would explain the damaged wing” Twilight said. But then she looked over at his cutie mark. “Just a question; what does that cutie mark stand for? I’ve never seen anything like it” Sharpy froze. She was the first one to actually notice the dragon on his flank.

“It kind of looks like a dragon”, she continued.

“Ehh… It’s because I have the… endurance of a dragon”, he realized that didn’t sound too convincing, but it was too late to take it back. “Or something like that”, he added. Twilight looked a bit skeptical after this explanation, but Fluttershy, without even realizing it, saved him.

“And he got the flying skills of a dragon”, she said. Remembering how he’d escaped the dragons. “He managed to build up strength and fly away from the two dragons chasing him. And he did that with a damaged wing” Sharpy tried to wave Fluttershy’s compliments away but then Pinkie joined the conversation.

“Ooh, perhaps he can prove to be quite the challenge even for Rainbow?” Pinkie was clearly impressed. Twilight shook his head to that.

“I doubt it. At least not with a damaged wing” Twilight pointed at Sharpy’s bandage. “Though I must say I’m impressed. Flying away from a dragon has proven to be difficult even for Rainbow”. But then Sharpy interrupted the three talking ponies.

“Who is this Rainbow?” He was curious to know.

“Oh, she’s just one the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria” Fluttershy answered. But Sharpy wasn’t satisfied enough with that answer. “I can introduce you to her later, if you want to” Sharpy smiled and gave Fluttershy a nod that showed her he was willing.

“Ok, perhaps you want something to drink while we talk?” Twilight was asking this question to everyone while she started walking into another room. Probably a kitchen of some sort. Everyone said it would be great. Short after Spike excused himself and followed Twilight into the kitchen. Now there were only three ponies left in the living room; Pinkie, Fluttershy and Sharpy. Sharpy took a look around. This looked more like a library than an actual house. Though it had a few different rooms so that you could actually live here. Is seemed she really liked to read. There must have been one copy of each book that contains any kind of useful information in this library. When he returned to Pinkie and Fluttershy they were talking about Fluttershy’s animals. But when he came closer they stopped and Pinkie started talking to Sharpy.

“Good you’re back! Remember that party I talked about yesterday?”

“Oh, yes. Yes, I do”, Sharpy answered. Stunned for a second because of the sudden question. “What about it?”

“Well it’s happening tonight! I’ve already got everything planned. The reason why I’m here is because I need Twilight to help me with the fireworks”. Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to talk.

“Sorry, but what exactly is she supposed to do?”

“Well she can use her magic to pump up the firepower, of course” Pinkie said while laughing and waving a hoof in the air. Sharpy reacted at the word magic. He just remembered why he wanted to talk to this Twilight in the first place. That is, apart from meeting somepony new. He needed somepony to turn him back into a dragon. When Twilight and Spike came back Twilight were levitating three glasses with some tasty-looking red liquid using her magic. Spike was holding his own glass in his claws. Twilight gave everyone one glass each.

“It’s my and Spikes home-made drink and we’ve gotten some help from Applejack”, Twilight said with some badly hidden pride. Sharpy couldn’t tell what this red liquid was even though he tried to smell it. But as a pony, he wasn’t able to smell things as good as he could as a dragon. “Why don’t you try it?” Everypony took a sip from the glass. Pinkie liked seemed to like it really much and immediately poured everything down her mouth. Sharpy and Fluttershy liked it too but they didn’t drink it all up just yet.

“This is really, really, really delicious!” Pinkie shouted while licking on her lips “Can I use it for the party?” Twilight laughed and said it was okay.

“Ehm… what is this made of?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s mostly apples and blood oranges”, Twilight said while taking another sip. “And a lot sugar” Sharpy looked from Twilight, to the bookcases and back again.

“You like reading books, Twilight?” He said while looking back at the bookcases.

“Oh, yes. I study a lot” Twilight said before finishing her drink and using her magic to levitate her glass to a nearby table. “And more books are coming every week”. Sharpy nodded and gave her a smile. Clearly impressed.

“I’ve heard you’re good with magic?” Sharpy asked. He was silently praying to the Grand Dragon that she would say yes.

“Yes, you could say that. How come?” She said. It didn’t sound like she was suspicious. Just wondering why he was interested.

“No, it is nothing”, Sharpy said. “It’s just out of pure interest”

And for the next couple of minutes they were talking about themselves. It was a regular introduction. Twilight and Pinkie were talking the most. Basically because Sharpy didn’t know too much about them and were really interested in knowing more. Spike told Sharpy about himself too, but got bored quickly and left the group. He was a baby after all and casual conversations probably weren’t too interesting for him. Sharpy talked about himself like he did with Fluttershy because now they had more time on their hoofs. But he didn’t give them one single clue that he was a dragon. But he had his eyes on Spike as soon as he saw him. Perhaps he could talk to him later? But now the introductions turned into a more regular conversation. They talked about all sorts of stuff and Sharpy really enjoyed their company. And they enjoyed his. But now Sharpy was getting those weird feelings again. But not all the time. Only when Fluttershy started to talk. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to admit it, but he liked Fluttershy’s voice. It was so calming and it made Sharpy feel good. What was happening? The more Fluttershy talked, the more Sharpy got this feeling. He realized he got that feeling every time he looked at Fluttershy too. He liked this feeling but wasn’t sure if he should. Was he about to…? But then he spotted Spike. He decided he wanted to talk to him. He needed to get away from Fluttershy and the other ponies for a little while to be able to think straight. A little talk with another dragon should do the trick.

“Sorry, but do you mind if I had a little talk with… eh… Spike?” Everypony looked questioning at Sharpy. “Just to get to know him better, that’s all”.

“Sure why, not?” They all answered pretty much at the same time. And wouldn’t he want to? He was new in town and wanted to get to know as many ponies, or dragons, as possible.

And so he did. He left the three other ponies and walked into the room were Spike was hanging out. When Sharpy entered the room he was playing with two dolls. Spike didn’t notice Sharpy at first, so Sharpy decided to say hello.

“Hi there Spike!” Sharpy greeted him with a friendly smile. Spike was surprised to see Sharpy here and quickly hid the dolls under a couple of books.

“Err… Hi there… Sharpy, was is?” Sharpy smiled and gave Spike a not.

“So, what are you doing?”

“Ehm… nothing… just nothing”, Spike gave Sharpy a very guilty looking smile.

“What kind of nothing?” Sharpy said with a grin, but decided not to tease the little dragon when he saw he was getting nervous. “I’m just kidding. There is something I wanted to talk to you about”. Spike was relieved that Sharpy didn’t try to find out what he was doing and let out a sigh.

“So what do you wanted to talk about?” Spike had no idea why he wanted to talk to him in particular.

“First you need to promise not to tell Twilight, or anypony for that matter!” Sharpy gave Spike a serious look. Spike answered with a suspicious look, but agreed not to tell anypony. Sharpy looked over his shoulders before continuing. When he was sure nopony was listening he whispered: “I’m actually a dragon. I’ve been transformed into a pony. The reason why nopony is to know about this is because I don’t want to be thrown out of your society”.

Spike looked at him in disbelief. It sounded really weird but then Spike looked over at Sharpy’s cutie mark.

“That would actually explain your cutie mark”, Spike scratched his neck figuring out what to say. “But why don’t you tell them. I’m sure they’d understand”.

“No I can’t…!” Sharpy interrupted himself because he realized he was talking too loud. He continued by whispering. “No, I can’t do that. I’m not born into the pony community like you. And to them I’d be a monster”.

“So you’re using my friends to find a way to get transformed back into a dragon?” Spike could understand Sharpy’s reasons, but didn’t like the fact that he was just using them for his own purpose. Especially not Twilight. She was like a mother to him and knowing somepony was using him made him angry.

“No, that’s not true”, Sharpy tried to defend himself. “I really like all of them. They’re nice and so, but I miss my real family. I have a sister why is probably really worried right now”. When Sharpy mentioned his sister all of Spikes anger disappeared. He knew how important family could be to somepony. Or somedragon in this case. Sharpy let out a tired sigh.

“But I’m doing this with mixed feeling”.

“What do you mean?” Spike asked, clearly confused. He wondered what he meant by mixed feelings.

“I don’t know. But I think I might…” Sharpy wasn’t sure what to say. He was trying to express himself to a baby. But this little dragon was clearly very mature for his young age. “This might sound stupid, but I think I like Fluttershy”. Spikes eyes opened wide. He was prepared for almost anything but this was really a surprise. But then his thoughts wandered off to Rarity. Spike was desperately in love with Rarity, who was a Pony. And he was a dragon. It was time to take this seriously. He had many questions to ask Sharpy about dragons, be he thought that could wait for another time.

“So, you’re in love with Fluttershy?”

“Yeah… I mean… I don’t know”, Sharpy didn’t know what to say how this little dragon would react. “It all seems so weird for me. I’m not sure if I should feel like this”.

“No, I understand”, Spike said. The mature side of his personality shined through. “I’m in love with Rarity. I don’t know if you have met her, but she is the most wonderful pony in the universe”.

“But I’m not sure if I really… love her”, Sharpy’s head was mixed with all sorts of feeling. He was tired even though it was in the middle of the day. “I’ve loved other dragons before, but I’ve never felt like this. It feels good, but at the same time I’m scared I will scare her off”. Sharpy was in love. There was no doubt about it. It was so clear for Spike, but Sharpy struggled between his love for his dear sister and Fluttershy. Sharpy was getting tired psychically and just wanted to rest. He sat down and leaned his head against the wooden wall. He let out a deep sigh and looked at the ground.

Spike couldn’t think of anything more to say and therefore decided not to. He could see that Sharpy was tired and because of that he walked way, secretly picked up his dolls and leaving Sharpy alone in the room.

All that went through Sharpy’s mind was pictures of Fluttershy and his sister. He’s sister wasn’t as big as him, but had the same green scaled and the same red spikes. But as the pictures went though his mind another thought came up. Would he really sacrifice his friends, his life… his sister, just because of one pony? He hadn’t even known her for that long. Or was his former life really worth him leaving Fluttershy? He had a hard time to think straight. He sat there for was seemed to be an eternity, but was probably just a few minutes.  Sharpy’s head was now almost empty. It felt good though. All these secrets were hard to keep. He didn’t like holding secrets. But now things were progressing too fast. He couldn’t keep up. He was tired. Too tired to even stand up. And after a while he closed his eyes and let himself fall into unconsciousness.

This time his dream was nothing but black emptiness. But then a light appeared in the horizon. It was a bright yellow light. The yellow light came closer until it was right in front of him. He could hear a voice. Fluttershy’s voice. He couldn’t figure out what she said, but he didn’t care. The light faded. He could see Fluttershy more clearly now. He realized something. He loved Fluttershy. More than anything. Even though they’ve just met. There was something special about her. Not even his sister could compare to any of this. He could understand more clearly now. He didn’t want to become a dragon again. He wanted to stay as a pony. He wanted to stay in Ponyville. He wanted to stay with Fluttershy.

Chapter 5: Fluttershy's Feelings

Twilight’s Library – Fluttershy’s point of view

Fluttershy held her hoof on Sharpy’s shoulder, shook him slightly. But Sharpy wouldn’t wake up. Fluttershy started to get really worried. Pinkie were ready to help if someone asked her to and Twilight was about to ask Spike what had happened for at least the tenth time. As Fluttershy realized he wasn’t going to wake up just by shaking him or talking to him she turned to Twilight.

“Is it possible to wake him up by using your magic?” Fluttershy asked Twilight. Still very worried and unaware of Spike’s reaction about using magic. Spike knew it wasn’t going to work. Sharpy was a dragon, after all. Regular magic wouldn’t help at all. Or would it? He was in the body of a pony. It might just work.

“I can’t see why it wouldn’t”, Twilight responded while her horn started to glow. A purple aura took form.  Fluttershy moved aside to give Twilight more room. Twilight leaned forward, letting her glowing horn touch Sharpy’s forehead. Twilight closed her eyes to concentrate on her magic. When she realized it didn’t work he stepped away. Looking confused. Fluttershy gave her a worried look, but Twilight shook her head.

“It’s not working” Now Twilight started to get worried too. Her magic always used to work. “Is…is he..?”

“No... He’s not dead”, Fluttershy whispered. She walked towards Sharpy to see if she could feel his pulse. To her relief she could feel his heart beat and the blood running through his veins. “He’s got a stable pulse”

“But why didn’t my magic work?” Twilight was confused and worried at the same time. Fluttershy nodded.

Yes, why didn’t Twilight magic work?, Fluttershy thought to herself. But then suddenly Pinkie rushed out of the room.

“Wait a minute!” she yelled as she was about the leave the room. “I have an idea!” Fluttershy looked questioning where Pinkie just had been and then over to Twilight. Twilight did the same but answered Fluttershy’s questioning look with a shrug. When Pinkie came back after about thirty seconds she was holding a bucket of water.

“If someone is taking a nap, some water will always help”, Pinkie said as she ran over to Sharpy. When she approached Sharpy she simply poured the bucket of water over his face resulting Sharpy to wake up in an instant.

“Rise and shine, Sharpy”. Pinkie was looking deep into Sharpy eyes a few seconds before taking a few steps backwards.

Fluttershy was revealed to see Sharpy awake. He seemed alright too, though he was in chock due to the abrupt awakening. Fluttershy decided to approach Sharpy to help him up and calm him down. It wasn’t too hard to get him back up on his woofs. But Fluttershy could see that there was something that clearly bothered Sharpy.

“Don’t worry, Sharpy”, Fluttershy said while poking him in the side with her muzzle. “It’s all right”. Sharpy looked over to Fluttershy and suddenly he started to calm down. He smiled to Fluttershy before looking up in the roof, still smiling. That smile made Fluttershy want to be closer to him. She liked that smile of his. She felt safe whenever he smiled at her.

“Yes”, Sharpy finally responded. But slowly his smile disappeared and got replaced with a motionless expression. He sighed. “It’s all right”.

Fluttershy was just about to ask him what he was thinking at, when Twilight interrupted her.

“Sharpy, do you have some kind of spell-protection?” Sharpy looked over to Twilight after hearing her saying so. The look on his face was mixed with confusion and suspicion. Twilight looked stared back at Sharpy waiting for an answer. Fluttershy could easily see that that question made Sharpy uncomfortable. She wondered why. But suddenly Pinkie started giggling.

“No, silly”, Pinkie said to Twilight. “You just need to practice more”. Then Pinkie burst out laughing. Twilight blushed and glared towards Pinkie as she was laughing and trying to say something about spell-protection. Spike started to giggle and Fluttershy couldn’t hold back a smile. Sharpy just looked relieved.

When Pinkie finally stopped laughing and had calmed down she apologized to Twilight. Twilight accepted the apology, but she was still a bit suspicious why her magic didn’t work. Fluttershy was happy that Twilight wasn’t mad at Pinkie and wanted to stay longer. But then she remembered that Sharpy just woken up after passing out. When Fluttershy looked at Sharpy she realized he looked like he was about to collapse at any second.

“Umm… It’s been nice and all”, Fluttershy began. “But I don’t think Sharpy feel too good. If he’s going to have any chance to be able to attend to your party, Pinkie, he has to rest”. All the other ponies understood and Sharpy agreed to leave the library with Fluttershy. Fluttershy decided to take Sharpy to her cottage immediately. He could meet Rainbow Dash at the party. Rainbow wouldn’t want to miss any of Pinkies parties so she would certainly be there. But when she looked at Sharpy he was looking at the ground. There was something going on inside his head for sure. She worried about him. If something were wrong she wanted to help him as much as she could.

“Is something troubling you, Sharpy?” she asked. Sharpy responded with a sigh. But when he looked at her a smile was formed.

“Yes, there is”, he said. Then his smile grew larger. “But right now everything is all right”. Then he almost tripped but got saved by Fluttershy. “Well… almost everything”. Fluttershy smiled. Seeing him smile made her feel a little more calm and it showed he was at least feeling better now. She was still not satisfied with that answer, however, but decided to let it go, for now.

“Let’s get you home then”, she said while offering him her support. “You want to feel better for the party right?” Sharpy responded with a nod.

When they got to Fluttershy’s home, she leaved him there. He had to rest for a couple of hours. The party wasn’t until tonight, after all, and if he needed help Angel would surely help him. She decided to go talk to Rarity at her boutique. There were some things she wanted to talk about.

Fluttershy actually met Rarity on her way to the boutique. She had been out doing some shopping. Apparently she had finished everything she had to do right now, but she wanted to be prepared for the next line of work. Rarity greeted Fluttershy with great happiness. Fluttershy asked if she needed any help. This wasn’t a necessary question considering Rarity had bought too much for a single pony to handle. Fluttershy helped Rarity and on their way back to the boutique Rarity started to look around.

“Isn’t that kind stallion with you? Sharpy was his name?” Rarity asked, surprised he wasn’t with Fluttershy considering she was the one helping him.

“No, he’s back home”, Fluttershy said and nodded towards her house. “He needs some rest. He actually fainted when we were visiting Twilight.”

“Oh, my…” Rarity putted one hoof over her mouth. “Is he going to be all right?”

“Yes, but as I said… he needs the rest”

“Well I guess. After something like that, one needs as much rest as possible”. When Rarity was finished a few moments of silence followed. But then Fluttershy decided to tell Rarity why she came to see her. Before saying anything she looked around to make sure nopony else were listening. This was a sensitive subject for her.

“Sharpy is actually the reason why I wanted to talk to you in the first place”, Fluttershy whispered. Rarity did as Fluttershy and looked around before answering.

“How come?”

“Well… I… I think I like him”, Fluttershy blushed when saying this. Rarity shone up and gave her a sly, but friendly, smile. But before Rarity was able to say anything, Fluttershy continued. “Can we take this when we get back to the boutique, please?” Rarity agreed to this, but clearly wanted to know more. This was a sensitive subject for Fluttershy and she wanted to share thoughts with her friend, but wasn’t sure if she wanted anypony else to know.

When they came to Rarity’s boutique they quickly stashed up Rarity’s wares in one of the corners of her workroom. Then Rarity turned to the blushing yellow pesagus.

“So, you like this Sharpy, hmm?” Rarity said with a smile and eyes telling that she wanted to know more. Fluttershy sighed before she told Rarity how she felt.

“Y-yes. I know I haven’t really known him for too long, but…” Fluttershy began. Rarity raised an eyebrow, showing her that she could continue. “… but there is something special… something different about him. I can feel it whenever I’m close to him. I don’t know… I… It’s not a bad this really. Actually it’s a good thing. I feel safe and calm. And whenever she smiles at me I feel… happy…” Rarity’s smile only grew larger as Fluttershy spoke.

“I see…” Rarity said while putting a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I think you’re in love with him”. Fluttershy could feel her heart beating faster as Rarity said that. She could feel the blood rushing though her body and her cheeks started to look like a pair of tomatoes. Then she nodded. If felt good to get this off her chest. And getting her feelings acknowledged made it feel even better. But then she realized. How should she proceed? What would she do? How would she confront him? As is Rarity could read her mind she answered her unasked questions.

“This party tonight would be an excellent time to confront him. Dance with him. Let him know of your feeling for him. And if he loves you too… things will go automatic from there”. These words calmed Fluttershy down a little. But what if Sharpy didn’t love her? Sure it seems like he likes her, but was it really love? What if she would just scare him away? She expressed her thoughts for Rarity. Rarity clearly understood Fluttershy’s worries.

“Well somepony has got the make the first move, right?” Rarity said, trying to ease her friends worries. “And there was something special about him, right? If you can see such things is this short amount of time he haven’t been hiding himself from you, right darling?” Fluttershy smiled to this. It was true. Sure there was clearly a lot Sharpy haven’t told her about, but besides that he have been very open. Especially during breakfast and other times where they’ve been alone.

Rarity’s words were like rain in a desert. She needed these words from her. She could feel her courage and determination rising the more she thought about this. She knew this was the right decision to make and the party would be the perfect place to express her feeling for Sharpy.

“I knew it would be a good idea to turn to you for advice in a matter like this”, Fluttershy said while giving Rarity a hug. Rarity hugged back.

“I’m always here to help you, darling”. The hug continues for a few seconds and they let go of each other Fluttershy could feel some tears coming from her eyes. But it was tears of hope and happiness. Not sadness.

“Fluttershy. Why don’t you tell me more?” Rarity began. “Who is this Sharpy? Please, I’m very interested to learn more about him. Fluttershy smiled and tried to figure out where to start. She couldn’t decide so she’ll just say everything that comes to mind.

“Well first of all, he’s really kind and a good listener…” Fluttershy told Rarity everything she knew about Sharpy and how he was. Even if there were a lot hidden, it surely took some time telling Rarity what she knew. She ended by telling how she felt around Sharpy. How he made her feel happy and calm. And about his wonderful smile. Bur right now she was worried about him. If somepony would randomly pass out there must be something causing it. His physical damages aren’t enough to cause something like this, so it must be something going on inside his head. Some kind of struggle.

Fluttershy decided to leave Rarity alone and return home to check out Sharpy.

“Oh, yes… just a second”, Rarity said to prevent Fluttershy to leave just yet. She went to her finished projects. “I have Sharpy’s suit ready. If you could be so kind and hand it over to him?” Rarity returned with a wonderful suit made for the most wonderful colt. This would fit so well on Sharpy.

“Thank you. It’s a wonderful suit”, Fluttershy grabbed the suit and putted it gently in a bag which Rarity gave her. Then they said goodbye as Fluttershy took her leave. It wouldn’t be too long until they would see each other again. Both ponies were eagerly waiting for the night to fall so that the party could begin. But Fluttershy was certain she was the one who looked forward to this moment more then anypony else. She wanted Sharpy to know how she felt.

When she came back to her home Sharpy was waiting for her inside. He welcomed her with a smile. This made Fluttershy warm inside. It seemed he felt a bit better because he was sitting up instead of lying on the couch. Though he still looked tired, but they had time. There were still a couple of hours left until the party started. Apparently Angel has helped him with some water and food. Fluttershy thought he deserved some extra treat for helping out, but that could wait. She had to check out Sharpy first.

“So how are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, much better”, Sharpy said. “I still feel a bit… I don’t know… But I will surely be as good as ever in time for the party”. Fluttershy smiled when she heard that. But then she remembered the suit Rarity had made for him. She picked up the suit from the bag and showed it for Sharpy.

“Well, what do you think?” She asked. Sharpy seemed to like it.

“It’s perfect. I’ll need to thank your friend at the party… Rarity, was it?” Fluttershy nodded, but then realized it would be hard to put it on if he had than bandage on. She also wanted to see how the wound have healed. She doubted that they would be completely healed just yet. The wing was pretty damaged, but it was necessary to see how it looked like, nevertheless. She began to remove his bandages. Sharpy allowed her to remove the bandages, but sat silent while looking at either her or his wing. She couldn’t say for sure, but somewhere inside her she hoped he was looking at her. And that he shared the same feeling for her as she felt for him. But when the bandages were removed Fluttershy got really surprised. The wing was already completely healed. It seemed that it wasn’t as strong as it should be, but the fact that it was completely healed was amazing.

“Does it look bad?” Sharpy was apparently concerned that the wing might not have healed as it should have. But Fluttershy only shook her head.

“No, it’s the opposite”, Fluttershy smiled as she looked into Sharpy’s relieved eyes. Sharpy started to flap his wings slowly. That was a good sign. If Sharpy moved his wings like that it meant they indeed were healed. After a few seconds Sharpy stopped and gave Fluttershy a satisfied nod.

Fluttershy, unlike Sharpy, haven’t eaten anything since breakfast so she was really hungry. It was just two hours until the party began, but she decided she could eat something so she wouldn’t pass out. Then Sharpy could try out his new suit and Fluttershy could show him her dress she used for the gala last year.

This night is going to be perfect, she thought for herself.

Chapter 6: Parties and Love

Fluttershy’s Cottage – Half an hour before the party

Fluttershy was upstairs in her room. She picked out her gala dress out from her closet. It was as beautiful as ever and the green colors reflected her personality really well. She loved the nature so the color green was nothing but natural for her. It was also almost the same color as Sharpy’s coat too. She giggled at the thought.

What a coincidence.

After she had put on her dress she looked at herself in the mirror. She wanted to look as good as possible. This was going to be a night to remember. Hopefully. She started to get nervous.

What if I can’t do it? What if I back out? What if he doesn’t like me? But, no! She slapped herself gently on her cheeks. She couldn’t let thoughts like these get the better of her. She took another look at the mirror. She slowly stroked her hoof though her mane. Her mane looked like as it always has. But she wanted it to be more than that. Tough she couldn’t figure out what she would do with her mane so in the end she decided that she wouldn’t do much to change it. It was good enough. Besides, she knew that most ponies liked it. But of course this didn’t stop her from adding three butterfly-like barrettes in her mane. She placed them in a way so that they would look like her cutie mark. She was ready. She took a deep breath before heading for the stairs.

And there was Sharpy. He was wearing his suit and she had to say; the black and white colors really suited him. He had also taken the time to comb his usually quite disheveled mane so that it was combed back. Now you were able to see his eyes a lot better and they were shining of excitement. He looked at Fluttershy as she came down the stairs. His eyes opened wide and an approving smile covered his face.

“You look absolutely beautiful, Fluttershy”, He said while watching her new style clearly impressed. Fluttershy felt her face becoming warmer as she was about to blush.

“Thank you, Sharpy. And you look really good in that suit”, Fluttershy said with a friendly smile. Sharpy chuckled and returned the smile.

“Yeah, I’m quite satisfied myself”, he said and stroked his mane with his hoof as a joke. “But, we should head to the party. They might need our help with some final preparations”. Fluttershy agreed and together they walked their way to the town centre, where the party was supposed to be. Fluttershy highly doubted that Pinkie would need any help with her party, but it’s better to attend a little bit early than a little bit late, right?

And as Fluttershy predicted, everything was in order. Those who were there was Pinkie, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike, of course. There was also some other ponies there who were waiting for the party to begin. Vinyl Scratch was the DJ of the party. A good choice.  Her friends were all wearing fancy clothes. Both Pinkie and Twilight were wearing their gala dresses and Spike was wearing a little tuxedo. Rainbow, however, didn’t wear her gala dress. The dress she was wearing still reminded Fluttershy a lot of her rainbow colored gala dress, tough it wasn’t as big and clumsy. She probably wears it not to slow her down to much while flying.

Typical Rainbow, Fluttershy thought with a smile. Then she remembered that Sharpy and Rainbow haven’t met each other yet and now was a good time to make an introduction.

When Rainbow saw the two ponies coming she immediately flew down to greet them.

“What’s up, Fluttershy?” she said while making the landing.

“Oh, I’m just fine, Rainbow”, Fluttershy said. Then she began to introduce Sharpy. “This is Sharpy”. Sharpy smiled and raised a hoof.

“Oh, hi! Pinkie told me about you”, Rainbow said and started shaking hoofs with Sharpy. “I’ve heard you’re a pretty good flyer. How about having a race sometime?”

“Sure”, Sharpy agreed. “But it’ll have to wait. I’m not sure if I can do my best for at least a couple of days”. Sharpy carefully flapped his wings. Fluttershy, however, excused herself, left Sharpy and flew over to Pinkie. Pinkie seemed to have everything under control, but Fluttershy thought it would be best to ask her anyway.

“So how’s everything going?” Fluttershy asked, ready to help if necessary.

“Oh, it’s just fine. Everything is ready and when more ponies show up, we can start this party!” Pinkie said, clearly exited. “Twilight is about to give the fireworks some extra kick. It’ll be wonderful!” Fluttershy was glad to hear everything was in order. Now she just wanted to talk to Rarity. She might need some advice or at least some moral support. Be she wasn’t hear yet, but that wasn’t a problem. The night was still young. She could wait. She looked over at Sharpy. He seemed to like Rainbow. They were probably talking about flying or something like that. Fluttershy didn’t really care too much. She was just looking at Sharpy. And just like Sharpy knew she was watching him, he turned around and waved to her and gave her a warm smile. But this wasn’t like one of his normal smiles. This time it was something more. She knew it was something more. Like he wanted to tell her that maybe… maybe… he shared the same feeling for her as she felt for him. This just encouraged Fluttershy even more.

Soon more ponies arrived to the party. They were all chatting and Pinkie was right now busy handing out drinks. Vinyl was preparing the music and Twilight had all the fireworks ready and prepared for launch. Things were coming up nicely, but Fluttershy was as nervous as ever. She really wanted to share a few words with Rarity before Vinyl turned on the music.

Fluttershy spotted Rarity among the crowd. A lot of ponies were there so it was a bit hard to reach Rarity, but Fluttershy could without any bigger problems, gracefully get past all the ponies. Fluttershy carefully poked Rarity on her back to get her attention. Rarity turned around and greeted Fluttershy. She excused herself and followed Fluttershy to a spot where nopony would listen.

“Oh, darling. You look fabulous”, Rarity said and looked impressed at Fluttershy. Well it was Rarity herself who had made the dress in the first place, so it was hardly a surplice for Fluttershy to hear her say that. “And those barrettes make you look so cute. I’m sure that Sharpy liked it”.

“Why, thank you, Rarity”, Fluttershy said and began to blush. “And yes! Sharpy did like it. And it’s him I wanted to talk about”.

“Well that was my guess”, Rarity said and gave Fluttershy an encouraging smile. “I think you should go dance with him. Maybe have a drink with him. Make him soft enough to embrace your feeling for him”.

“But what if he says no?” Fluttershy asked worried.

“Don’t think like that”, Rarity was determined. Fluttershy really liked Sharpy… no she loved Sharpy and Rarity wasn’t going to stand by and watch as Fluttershy wasn’t able to build up the courage to even ask Sharpy. “If you make him understand your true feeling he will not say no. Some stallions can be very shy when it comes to true love. If he doesn’t make the first move you must”. The music started as they spoke. The first song was pretty fast but really good for dancing. Fluttershy looked behind and saw Sharpy looking around for somepony. He was looking for her. Rarity noticed this too and gave Fluttershy a little push.

“Come on, darling. He’s looking for you”. Fluttershy nodded to this and began to make her way to Sharpy. When he saw her he gave her a big smile and walked to meet her half way. But with just a few steps more some other mare blocked Fluttershy’s way and stared to talk to Sharpy.

“So you’re new here in Ponyville? Are you the reason why Miss Pie took her time to make a party?” The new mare had a light blue coat and a perfectly stylish purple mane and she wore a fancy dress that matched her mane. Sharpy tried to excuse himself but she wouldn’t let him go. Fluttershy could just stand there and see how the now mare tried to seduce him. Fluttershy began to walk slowly away. She would never have any chance against that one. Or so she thought.

Rarity, who had seen everything didn’t take this easily. But she didn’t just want to shoo the new mare away. Instead she went to Fluttershy. It would be for the best if she was the one who made the move.

“Where are you going, Fluttershy?” Rarity ran up to Fluttershy. “You can’t just walk away!”

“But…” Fluttershy began but Rarity interrupted her.

“No! You are going to walk straight up to them and show her that you are the mare he wants. Look! Sharpy’s seems really uncomfortable with her”.

Fluttershy looked back to the two ponies. Rarity was right. Sharpy didn’t like this situation one bit. Fluttershy swallowed and gave Rarity an unsure nod before she walked up to Sharpy. And Sharpy seemed really relived to see Fluttershy and he took the opportunity to get away from the light blue mare. Sharpy gave Fluttershy a hug and made a nervous laugh.

“This is my… very special somepony, Fluttershy”. The light blue mare looked awkward at the two ponies, excused herself and left them with some badly hidden irritation.

Fluttershy was chocked about what he said. She was confused but at the same time happy. She looked at him. He didn’t let go of her until she spoke.

“Your… very special somepony?” she whispered so quiet that it was next to impossible to hear unless you were really close. And right now… Sharpy was really close.

“Well, I… ehh…” Sharpy wasn’t sure what to say. Perhaps he did something stupid? “She was getting really annoying and I… well…”

“Don’t worry, Sharpy. I understand”, Fluttershy said. But did he really just say that to get rid of her? Or was there something he wished for? She really hoped for the last one. In the corner of her eye she could see Rarity talking to Spike. She wondered what they talked about, but she didn’t think too much about it. She decided to focus on Sharpy. The rhythm in the song was quite catchy and Sharpy nodded and carefully stomped his hoof to the beat of the music. Then Sharpy looked at her. You could see, even though his coat was already red, he was blushing.

“May I…?” Sharpy raised his hoof, ready to grab hers. It was obvious that he had trained for this, but Fluttershy still envied his courage. And she was happy that he did. Because now she didn’t have to ask him.

“I’m glad you asked”, she said and grabbed his hoof with hers. They walked together towards the dancing area which was placed in the middle so that everyone could watch the dancing couples. The other dancing ponies gladly made room for another couple. There was space for everypony who wanted to dance.

Sharpy wasn’t a very good dancer. In fact: we was quite terrible. But Fluttershy, however was a really good dancer and she helped him to get the moves right.

This must be something he’s unused to, Fluttershy thought as she tried to figure out what Sharpy was thinking. But Sharpy had shown before he was a quick learner and dancing was no exception. Soon he was able to perform all the basic moves at least.

Things were getting along really well. Fluttershy had never felt so close to Sharpy, or anypony for that matter, before. And she liked every moment of it. As they both danced her heart started to beat faster. And it wasn’t just because of the physical effort.

But as they danced, Fluttershy spotted Rarity, Spike, Twilight and Pinkie talking to Vinyl. For time to time they looked over at them.

I wonder what they are talking about. And then the music stopped. Everypony stopped dancing and looked confused at Vinyl. But just a few seconds later she had already turned on a new record. The songs on this one were a lot slower and more romantic. It was pretty unusual for Pinkie to have this kind of music for her parties, but now Fluttershy realized what Rarity and the others was talking about. Both Fluttershy and Sharpy blushed as everyone around them held each other close as they slowly danced to the music. And then they looked each other in the eyes. They could both see the same thing and they both knew what their loved one was thinking. They smiled and held each other tight as they let everything fade. Now there were only two ponies left in the world. It was Sharpy and Fluttershy. They embraced each other, standing as close as it was possible. They danced to the music but didn’t let go for one single moment. They opened their eyes once again and looked deeply into each other’s eyes. No words were needed. They both knew just by looking at each other that they were in love. Sharpy slowly bend forward and Fluttershy did the same and their muzzles met. When they kissed time itself seemed to stop.

Everypony around stopped with what they were doing and looked at the young couple. All the other couples smiled and looked at each other, remembering their first kiss. And just behind Vinyl Spike gave Twilight a signal with his claw. Twilight nodded and the next moment the fireworks were flying in the air above them. When the first firework burst in the air high above them the explosion was formed like a giant heart. Fluttershy and Sharpy hugged each other as they watched the fireworks. This was a moment they would never forget.

***

The party was perfect. Sharpy would never forget this moment. He and Fluttershy had just arrived home. It was late at night and they were both tired so they decided to call it a night. But when Sharpy began to lie down in the sofa Fluttershy stopped him.

“Ehum… you’ve been lying in that sofa all the time”, Fluttershy hesitated for a moment. Unsure how to make it sound right. “Perhaps you want to sleep in a real bed for a change?” Sharpy didn’t expect to hear that from Fluttershy. As far as he knew she only got one bed. He hesitated. And when he did Fluttershy immediately looked away. It looked like she felt ashamed to ask such a question. But she didn’t leave. She waited

“Yes. That would be nice”, Sharpy said. But not just to make Fluttershy feel better, but because he wanted to himself. Well he wasn’t ready to go all the way. It was too early and he didn't know what would happen considering he’s a dragon. But he still wanted to be close to her.

His answer actually calmed her down and they went upstairs to Fluttershy’s bedroom together. They both hesitated before lying down.

Come on, Sharpy, he thought to himself. It’ll just be me and Fluttershy, lying close to each other. Nothing more.

Fluttershy was already lying in the bed before Sharpy even moved a muscle.

Why is it so hard to do this? Sharpy had to concentrate just to lie down besides Fluttershy, but the second he was lying down he knew this was the right decision and his entire body relaxed.

They were lying close to each other. Sharpy could feel the hot air coming out from Fluttershy’s mouth as she breathed. But it was late and they were both about to fall asleep any second now. But before they fell asleep Sharpy wanted to say something.

“I love you, Fluttershy”, he said wile looking at Fluttershy with a heartily smile. Fluttershy smiled and gave Sharpy a kiss on his cheek.

“I love you too, Sharpy”.

They both closed their eyes, embraced each other, and fell asleep.

Chapter 7: Transformation Breaking

The next morning – both still in bed

Sharpy looked as Fluttershy was still sleeping next to him. It was such a peaceful sight and he felt how his heart started beating faster. They were lying close to each other and Sharpy could feel Fluttershy’s chest as she breathed. This was the perfect life. And this is how Sharpy would want to live his life. His thoughts of becoming a dragon again are long gone.

But as he thinks back on his previous life as a dragon he can feel something is calling for him. Wanting him to come back home. It’s his sister. He loved his sister and his life as a dragon. But it was nothing compared to his love for Fluttershy. And this peaceful life the ponies lived was far more satisfying than the life he had as a dragon. He hoped things would never change. He looked at Fluttershy and smiled.

About an hour later Fluttershy woke up. He sat up in the bed and looked around the room before she noticed Sharpy. At first it looked like she wondered why he was there but then quickly remembered.

“Good morning, Sharpy”, she said and smiled.

“Good morning, Fluttershy”, Sharpy answered as Fluttershy lay down again besides Sharpy. She gave him a hug that he gladly embraced. He stroked his hoof though her mane. Fluttershy’s mane was so soft and even though he had slept it didn’t get messy. Then he gave Fluttershy a kiss on her forehead before getting out of the bed to stretch. “It’s almost lunchtime. We better get up”. Fluttershy looked out of a nearby window. According to where the sun was, Sharpy seemed to be right. But then Fluttershy remembered something. She hadn’t taken care of the animals as she always did. It had been so late last night. And with Sharpy so close it made her feel secure. She couldn’t remember when she had slept so well. Those two combined was probably the reason she hadn’t woken up until now.

“Oh, my… I really need to take care of my animals”, she said worried. Hoping they wouldn’t be mad at her for being so late.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you”, Sharpy said when noticing Fluttershy’s expression. This would be just like yesterday morning, before they’d confessed their feeling for each other. Things had progressed so fast during the last days. From being complete strangers to… a couple. In just a few days. It was almost unbelievable. Not that it mattered though. Love at first look had

proven that it truly existed and in this case it ended up with the best possible outcome.

Nothing can possible destroy this relationship, Sharpy thought, before heading out of the bedroom together with Fluttershy. Now they had some animals to take care of.

When the animals were taken care they decided to go down to the village centre. It was too late for breakfast, but a brunch wouldn’t be too bad. As they walked down the street some ponies who attended to Pinkies party last night waved to them and gave them a wink. It felt strange to get this much attention. Especially for Fluttershy. She wasn’t used to this much attention, but in this case she didn’t mind. Sharpy and Fluttershy looked at each other and laughed. As they walked to a popular little café where they planned to eat they stopped when they heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, you two!” Rainbow Dash quickly flew down and landed in front of them. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you”.

“Oh. Hi Rainbow”, Fluttershy responded while Sharpy smiled and nodded. Sharpy remembered the light blue pegasus from the party. It was a nice pony. A little bit self-centered but not too bad. He wondered what she wanted.

“Why don’t you follow me to Applejacks place? It’s something we want to show you”, Rainbow said as she flew up in the air, waving her hoof as a sign that they should be following her. Fluttershy immediately too air but stopped halfway realizing Sharpy hadn’t taken off yet. He was still slowly flapping his wings in order to make sure they were okay. Fluttershy asked Rainbow to wait as she flew down to check out Sharpy.

“Is everything all right?” she asked worried.

“I think so”, Sharpy answered. Shorty after he took air. Things seemed all right. His wings were clearly weakened, but he still managed to fly around without any problems. Fluttershy war relived that everything was in order. Rainbow was satisfied that they could finally be on their way.

“So what have you been up to this morning?” Rainbow asked as they were flying towards Applejacks barn. Both Sharpy and Fluttershy laughed nervously before Sharpy decided to answer the question.

“We’ve actually been asleep until now. We went out to get something to eat”. Rainbow looked back at Sharpy and Fluttershy and smiled.

“That’s good. You might be able to get something to eat over at Applejack’s place”, Rainbow said and yawned. “I haven’t gotten too much sleep, so it will be nice to finally rest at the barn”.

“What is it you wanted to show us, anyway?” Fluttershy asked curiously.

“Well… ehh…” Rainbow didn’t know what to say and she had probably said too much already. It was supposed to be a surprise but she was already about to ruin it. “You’ll see when we get there, okay?”

Sharpy and Fluttershy looked at each other, wondering what it could be.

When they reached the Sweet Apple Acers, Applejack was outside waiting for them. She waved her hoof as the three pegasi landed in front of her. Sharpy could feel his right wing hurting a bit, but he wasn’t surprised. It was a pretty nasty wound he’d gotten and this was his first time even using his wings in a few days. Fluttershy noticed and gave him a supportive little push and rubbed her chin against his. Applejack smiled as she watched the two ponies while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. But she still felt glad for Fluttershy’s sake.

“All right, everypony”, Applejack broke the silence. “How about y’all come inside?” Sharpy and Fluttershy followed Applejack into the barn, eager to see what they were going to show them. Rainbow stayed outside, looking back for a second before heading inside.

Inside there was a long table was set up. A lot of delicious treats were on the table and a cake in the shape of a heart. All of Fluttershy’s friends were there and as they walked inside they all shouted: “SURPRISE!”

Sharpy and Fluttershy didn’t know what to say. Whatever it could have been Rainbow wanted to show them, this was the least expected. As Sharpy and Fluttershy stood there, completely dumbfounded, Rainbow started laughing at their reaction. But she suddenly stopped as Applejacks hoof went straight into her mouth as an attempt to silence her. Rarity walked up to the very surprised and confused couple.

“Hello there! As soon as it was clear you two had found a way to your beloved’s heart we just had to celebrate it”. Sharpy and Fluttershy looked from each other, to Rarity and then back again. Slowly a big smile grew on the two ponies faces. They knew that their friends knew about their relationship now. Their kiss wasn’t exactly discrete. But they never imagine they would throw another celebration.

“Why thank you. This is such a surprise”. Fluttershy said while giving Sharpy another look.

“Don’t mention it. When two ponies are in love, there is no reason we should congratulate them”, Rarity said, while Pinkie appeared behind her. “And Pinkie is the one you should thank. She’s the one who’s in charge of this celebration as well”.

“Yes! When everypony saw you two kiss, we all like: ‘aww’. It was so cute and then the idea hit me: ‘if these two now are officially together, we should have a celebration!’” Pinkie was excited as always as she jumped back to her seat at the table. But as Sharpy and Fluttershy looked over the room they noticed something was wrong. The purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle wasn’t there. And not the little baby dragon, Spike either. Fluttershy turned back to Applejack and Rainbow to ask them.

“Twilight and Spike doesn’t seem to be here”, Fluttershy asked, curious to know why. Applejack gave Rainbow a questioning look.

“Yeah, I asked Twilight if she wanted to come, but apparently she was doing something really important”. Applejack’s still looked at Rainbow with a look that told her she wasn’t satisfied with that answer and wanted to know more. “She wouldn’t tell me what she did, but she would come if everything seemed to be in order”. Applejack didn’t answer but looked to the ground trying to figure out what Twilight could be doing which was more important than one of her best friends getting a coltfriend. But Applejack quickly let those thought go and smiled towards Sharpy and Fluttershy.

“Now where are mah manners?” She said and gave Sharpy a pat on the back. “Let me show y’all to your seats”. There was room for two ponies at the table’s shot side and there was where Applejack placed them. But before they started to eat the delicious-looking cake, Rarity used her magic to levitate her glass and a small spoon. She hit the glass gently with the spoon in order to get everypony’s attention. When she’s gotten the rooms full attention she stood up.

“I just wanted to congratulate Fluttershy and Sharpy for finding the way to each other’s hearts”, Rarity still held the glass and she pointed the glass in their general direction. “Let’s all raise our glass for Fluttershy and Sharpy”. And so they did. Everypony picked up their glass and raised it. In choir they all said ‘to Fluttershy and Sharpy’ and then took a sip from the drink. It was the same drink as yesterday, but it didn’t matter. The drink was as good as any. As everypony putted down their glass, Rainbow was the first to speak.

“No offence, Fluttershy, but I was worried that you would never find somepony to spend your life with. But here you are the first of us. And you two really look tight”. And when Rainbow said that, Applejack couldn’t resist laughing a little.

“An’ if you two lovebirds get any closer to each other you’re gonna push each other to the floor”. Sharpy and Fluttershy didn’t even notice it themselves but they have apparently moved closer to each other. They were right now as close as could be. They both laughed and embraced each other with a hug.

The next moment the door opened. It was done so fast so everypony in the room jumped away in surprise. Twilight stood at the opened door, clearly worked out and completely out of her breath. Spike was sitting on her back with a mixed expression of fear and excitement.

Everypony looked at her and she looked back. She inhaled and exhaled slowly to calm herself down.

“Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Sharpy need to come with me. Everypony else must evacuate to Canterlot immediately”, Twilight was shouting out orders really fast. There was no time to waste. Everypony had learned to trust Twilight completely, but sometimes she could be overreacting little. Therefore Applejack decided to ask.

“What’s goin’ on, Sugarcube?” she asked but before she could continue the question, Rainbow interrupted her with a question of her own.

“And why do you need all the pegasi to come with you?” Rainbow obviously didn’t like being dragged away like this. At least if she didn’t know what was going on.

Twilight gave everypony a quick look. She sighed; realizing she wouldn’t be able to get anypony out from the barn if she didn’t explained what was going on.

“There is a dragon near Ponyville and Princess Celestia thinks it’s going to attack at any moment now”. Everypony in the barn get really chocked by this. Especially Fluttershy. She squeaked and started backing off. Sharpy, however, got really excited and took a few steps forward.

“And we need all pegasi to help inform everypony in the village so that they can evacuate in time”, Twilight continued. Then she looked over at Fluttershy, realizing she was deadly afraid of dragons. “Fluttershy… I know you are afraid of dragons, but we really need your help. And besides, the dragon isn’t here yet”. These words calmed Fluttershy down a little. She nodded and reluctantly agreed to follow. But these words had a completely different effect on Sharpy. He had almost forgotten that Fluttershy was afraid of dragons and when he saw her now, shaking and with eyes telling that she was terrified, he didn’t feel too good. Even if he’s body were right now a pony; he was still a dragon by nature. He still remembered the taste of flesh and he could still feel some kind of fire, deep inside himself. He tried to shove that thought away, but it didn’t work. But he still had a job to do. They had to evacuate the villagers and perhaps they could reason with the dragon so that no violence is to be necessary. Because no sane dragon would attack a pony village alone. The ponies’ soldiers, or the Royal Guard as the ponies called them, were trained to withstand most of things. It would be suicide for a dragon to attack. The guard are probably stationed and prepared down at the village by now. Spike were not allowed to follow, which made him pretty irritated. But as Rarity asked him to come the problem was all gone. As Twilight and the three pegasi rushed to Ponyville the others went towards Canterlot.

As Sharpy predicted; the Royal Guard were waiting for the attack. They were already stationed at specific strategic areas. They were more than prepared.

The three pegasi and Twilight were now in the middle of the city and Twilight started giving out orders again.

“Rainbow! You’re the fastest, so you can cover the entire southern part of the village. See if there is anyone still left. When you are done, return here”. Rainbow saluted and took off. She flew as fast as she could without being careless of checking ever possible place somepony could be at. “Fluttershy and Sharpy! You two can cover the northern part of the city. The same goes for you. If you’re done, return here. And if Rainbow isn’t finished when you are, help her with the southern part, ok?” Fluttershy and Sharpy nodded and then they flew off. Twilight herself was going to check with the guards if there were any recent news. Her big brother weren’t here. He had his duty in Canterlot, but there was another captain, called Captain Badge, commanding the guards down here in Ponyville. Twilight walked to him and he greeted her with respect. Most ponies knew that Twilight was the Element of Magic, the princess price student and a very good strategist and therefore worth treating with respect. Twilight, however, didn’t think it was necessary but she didn’t question it.

“Any recent news on the dragon, Captain Badge?” She asked him, worried the dragon was closer than they wanted.

“As far as I know the dragon is moving closer and it doesn’t seem its stopping. The dragon should be here in about ten minutes”. This wasn’t good. Not good at all. Nopony would want to end this day with violence, but if that dragon is heading for Ponyville there might not be another way out.

“Are you sure the dragon is here to attack us, Sir?” Twilight asked. Captain Badge looked at her for a moment before answering.

“Yes, it seems that the dragon is hostile. But if that’s the case, we’re ready”. The Captain pointed with his hoof on all the guards that were currently stationed around the village. There were a lot of them. And if the action would break loose, they were ready. More than ready.

Meanwhile Sharpy and Fluttershy were flying around in the northern part of the village. Most ponies had already packed their things and evacuated, but there were still some who haven’t got the message yet. But as soon as they were informed they left without question. As they were flying around Sharpy were asking Fluttershy some questions about her and her friends.

“So let me get this straight… You know the princess?” Sharpy asked.

“Yes, I do”, She answered. “I and my five friends are the Elements of Harmony too”. Sharpy nodded. He was really surprised and didn’t know what to say. Fluttershy looked at him, wondering when he was thinking of. “It’s not a problem, is it?”

“No, no!” Sharpy answered quickly. “I’m just surprised that’s all”.

The Elements of Harmony, he thought. He was of course aware of the Elements. It was with their magical power Discord got defeated. Twice! It’s said that their power could even penetrate a dragon’s natural magic defense. It wasn’t too much to ask her. At least he couldn’t think of anything. And they were busy looking for more lingering ponies, so there was not much time for talking, anyway.

After just five minutes they’d cover the entire northern part of the village. They were lucky. Almost everypony had already left. There has apparently been another team of pegasi before them so it wasn’t much to do. But as they were about to return to the rendezvous they heard a terrifying roar. The dragon was getting closer. Fluttershy screamed in surprise and fear as she heard the dragon. She started flying faster and so did Sharpy to be able to keep up with her.

Rainbow Dash was already waiting with Twilight when Sharpy and Fluttershy came. Twilight and Rainbow looked really worried and Fluttershy was still terrified. The only one who kept somewhat calm was Sharpy. He clung to the idea that he could be able to persuade the dragon to leave.

“The dragon will soon be here. Are you ready?” Twilight asked nervous. All the ponies nodded except Sharpy. Everypony looked confused at Sharpy.

“I’m going to try to persuade the dragon and see if I can make he or she leave without any violence”, Sharpy said confident. He didn’t want to see the dragon or the ponies get hurt.

“Are you really sure about this?” Fluttershy asked. She was clearly worried about Sharpy and didn’t think this sounded like a good idea at all.

“Of course! No sane dragon would ever attack the ponies in a city. The Royal Guard is far too good for an alone dragon to handle”. Rainbow apparently didn’t like this idea. She thought this plan was far too risky.

“But what if this dragon is… insane?” She said. “As you said, the Royal Guard can take care of that dragon”. Twilight hushed Rainbow, walked to Sharpy and putted her hoof on his shoulder.

“This is really brave of you. I will tell the Guard to stand by”, but then she got serious. “But if something happens, the Guard will attack”. Sharpy nodded. This seemed fair enough. If this dragon clearly was insane as Rainbow thought there really was no other way. Then they heard the roar again. Twilight used her magic to teleport away to tell the captain to stand by. Fluttershy hugged Sharpy, refusing to let go just yet.

“Just… just be careful, okay?” She said. Sharpy didn’t want her to worry, but he had to do this. He was a dragon and perhaps that would help him to communicate with this dragon.

As he flew to the edge of the village he could see the dragon in the distance. The dragon was getting closer by the second and soon he got a good look at the dragon. What he saw chocked him. The dragon was a female. She had crystal-blue scales and her spikes were almost as white as snow. From this distance you would guess the dragon would be about sixteen feet tall.

The name: Crystal…, went though Sharpy’s mind. He felt happy, but at the same time confused. What was she doing here? And how did she find me?

He flew slowly towards the blue-scaled dragon that stopped just outside the village.

Sharpy didn’t notice it, but behind him Rainbow Dash were sneaking. She didn’t want to be seen, but if anything would happen she wanted to be the first to act. Fluttershy was behind the defensive line of guards with Twilight. Twilight watched and noticed every single movement of the dragon. In case it would make a move, she would be prepared. Fluttershy, however just watched how Sharpy slowly flew over to the giant blue dragon. She was terrified. Not for herself, but for Sharpy. She was safe behind the guards, but Sharpy were right now face-to-face to the dragon.

Sharpy was now right in front of the dragon.

“Crystal…” he said while looking at her. “It’s me… Sharpy” She looked exactly like he remembered her; those crystal-blue scales which she’s named after, those white spikes which fitted almost too well with the blue scales. But still there was something wrong. Her eyes used to be the same red color as Sharpy’s. But now they were all blank. Nothing but anger could be seen in those eyes. But not normal anger, no. There was something different. When the blue dragon looked down at him, he could feel the cold coming from the eyes. The dragon’s eyes narrowed for a second before they struck wide-open. Sharpy could see the eyes changing color. They were not red, but pink. The dragon shook her head before looking down at the little green pegasi.

“Sharpy…” Crystal said slowly and quietly. “Is that…” But before Crystal could continue she apparently got hit by some serious pain. But it was nothing from the outside that could have hurt her. It seemed like it was coming from the inside. Crystal roared and faced Sharpy again. But now there was nothing in her eyes but unprovoked anger against everything that moved. Her eyes were once again blank and there was nothing left of the Crystal Sharpy once knew in his life as a dragon. He noticed her tail prepared for a strike, but didn’t have time to move before the tail sent him flying away. Fortunately, the hit didn’t hurt Sharpy too much but he was sent out of control towards the village. With this speed he would surely break every bone in his entire body. He knew it was no use to try and gain stability and control, so he just unfolded his wings, closed his eyes and prepared for the impact. But when the impact came it wasn’t as hard as he would have thought. He opened his wings and saw that Rainbow Dash had saved him.

“It was lucky I sneaked up on you”, Rainbow said while putting Sharpy down on the ground. “Otherwise you would have been crushed”. Sharpy was still in shock, but managed to thank Rainbow by putting a hoof on her shoulder and nodding approvingly. But when he looked up he saw, with fear, how Crystal went rampage on everything. She had already started to break one of the houses with her claws and igniting a second one.

“Don’t worry”, Rainbow said even though she sounded scared herself. “The guards will take care of the dragon”. And it appeared she was right. The guard had already started attacking the blue dragon from all sides. They stabbed her with their spears and were about to lure her into a trap so that they could tie her legs with a chain.

“That’s what I’m worried about”, Sharpy said quickly before taking off again. This would be a quick fight if Sharpy didn’t stop the guards. When he arrived he started waiving his front legs to get their attention.

“Stop! Don’t kill her!” he screamed, but it didn’t work. The guards didn’t listen. He could see how much pain Crystal was in now. She had just flown straight into the trap that the guards had set up to her. Tears started dripping down from Sharpy’s cheeks as he realized what was going to happen. Crystal’s legs were completely tied and the guards started pulling the chains and she immediately fell to the ground. But Crystal didn’t give up. She continued to wave her tail in all possible directions and she continued to breathe fire. Now Sharpy was overlooking the field outside Ponyville where they were fighting Crystal. The guards had lured her away from the village so that no more buildings would get damaged. He could see at least ten unconscious guards lying on the field. Luckily none appeared to be dead, but the situation didn’t look good for the blue dragon. Sharpy flew down to her as he realized one of the guards was going for her defenseless neck. He was a unicorn and was using his magic to levitate a spear. Sharpy flew forward as fast as he could. He just hoped he would be able to reach the guard in time before he stabbed Crystal in her throat. The guard raised his spear, preparing for the fatal blow. Sharpy realized he wouldn’t make it in time and began to shout something unnoticeable. The guard however paid no mind to Sharpy and stabbed the dragon in her throat. Sharpy could very well see the blood pouring out from the wound.

“NOOOO!” he screamed and the next moment he was there and kicked the guard away from the dragon. After doing this Sharpy flew to Crystal’s face, begging her to still be alive. The tears poured from Sharpy eyes.

“Crystal…” he sobbed. But then she opened her eyes with extreme exertion. Sharpy looked into her eyes. They were back to their normal reddish color. She looked back at him and made an attempt to speak.

“Sharpy… if that’s…you… …I’m sorry…” as Crystal spoke, more and more blood ran out from her mouth. “… Huffy… corrupted… …he’s… hiding… Shadowcliff…” Her entire body flexed and a last attempt to stay alive, but in vain. Sharpy saw her lifeless eyes as her body finally relaxed, for never to move again.

Sharpy closed his eyes. His entire body started shaking as his tears just never seemed to end. He had always felt some kind of fire, deep within himself. Even after Huffy turned him into a pony he still felt it, though it was severely weakened. But he felt the fire grow again. A pony hadn’t any natural defense against fire like a dragon, so it burned him from within. Sharpy screamed loudly, from both pain from the fire and sorrow of Crystal’s death. He could also feel the same pain he felt when he got turned into a pony. The transformation spell was weakening. When he opened his eyes it wasn’t the eyes of a pony anymore. His pupils had turned from the round eyes of a pony to the slim, reptile-like pupils of a dragon. He could feel how his teeth grew and became sharper. His mind was completely clouded by the sorrow of the dead dragon. He turned around and watched the guard who struck the finishing blow. Sharpy had completely lost all sense of reality, when only sorrow and hatred against the one who killed Crystal filled his mind. He flew up a few feet in the air, looking down at his victim. He stretched out his wings and all the guards witness in confusion how all the feathers fell off his wings together with a lot of blood. Under him there was a pile of green feathers covered in blood. Under the feathers, two dragon-like wings appeared. Sharpy’s tears never stopped even though his facial expression showed only anger. His mind still felt only sorrow… and the will for revenge.

Then, without warning, Sharpy plummeted towards the stunned guard and bashed him to the ground. The guard tried to use his magic to get rid of Sharpy, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. Then the guard saw Sharpy prepared to bite him with his new, sharp teeth. The guard couldn’t see any way out but to cover his throat with his front leg. But Sharpy didn’t stop. He buried his teeth deep into the guard’s front leg and felt his blood leave the guards body into Sharpy’s mouth. Sharpy swallowed the little blood that was in his mouth and released the guard’s leg. But then he quickly bashed the guard’s two front legs to the ground and prepared for another bite to the throat. The guard realized this and saw in fear what was about to happen. There was no way he could possibly counter Sharpy’s move. Sharpy quickly lowered his head to give the bite some extra force. But just an inch away from the guard’s throat he stopped.

“Sharpy!” he heard Fluttershy shout. He looked towards the village. And there was Fluttershy, standing between Twilight and Rainbow. She looked terrified. At that moment all anger disappeared from Sharpy’s mind. No one understood what was going on. The assaulted guard was the first one to make a move. He used Sharpy’s lack of concentration and headbutted Sharpy which knocked him unconscious.

Sharpy woke up in an unknown house. At least it was nothing Sharpy remembered. He was not tied and could move freely. The room was dark, but he could clearly see Twilight and Rainbow stand right in front of him. They both looked confused and angry at the same time. They clearly wanted to know what was going on. Behind them two guards were guarding something that must be the exit. But he couldn’t see Fluttershy right away. He looked around in the room to get his eyes used to the darkness. Then he saw her, standing in a corner, looking completely terrified and he could see tears dripping from her chins. Then he looked back at Twilight and Rainbow. He felt nothing, just emptiness.  Rainbow broke the silence.

“Who and what are you, exactly!?” She shouted and was more than worked up. “And who was that blue dragon!?” Sharpy just looked at her for a while before answering her question.

“I… am a…” he hesitated, unsure what the reaction would be if he told them the truth. But shortly he continued. “I’m a dragon… and that other dragon… Crystal… was my sister”. Everypony gasped and Sharpy could, again, feel how his eyes got filled with tears.

Chapter 8: Sorrow and Regret

”You’re a DRAGON!?” Rainbow Dash yelled. Everypony in the room was shocked. Even the guards looked surprised at him. But Sharpy didn’t care about any of them. The tears slowly ran down his cheeks as he thought of his dead sister. But then his eyes met Fluttershy. He looked at her and it seemed like she was about to curl into a ball in the corner of the room. She was shaking. Sharpy couldn’t tell if it was because of fear or something else, but he suspected it was because of him. And as his reptile-like eyes met Fluttershy, she closed hers and turned her head in another direction. It was defiantly because of him. But Sharpy didn’t look away until Twilight broke the silence.

“Well… that would explain the dragon-like wings and those pupils”, Twilight said and inspected both Sharpy’s wings and eyes. She was on a short distance, of course. She didn’t want to get too close before she knew it was completely safe. And right now, she didn’t trust him too much. “And why my magic didn’t work yesterday”. She apparently knew about the magical defense a dragon usually got as he or she grew older. But that didn’t surprise Sharpy too much considering she seemed to be a heavy reader.

“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash looked at Sharpy with great suspicion as she talked. “And those sharp teeth too”.

Sharpy felt ashamed of himself. When he was in this state where his wings, eyes and teeth reminded of a dragon’s but the rest of the body was a pony’s, he felt like some kind of monster. He turned and looked into the wall behind him. He unfolded his wings and made a half-unintended attempt to hide himself with them. When the transformation had faded it changed his appearance. He’s body size wasn’t any bigger, but the dragon-like wings that appeared when his feathers fell off were a lot bigger than the feathered wings. Even though blood had dropped from his wings when the feathers fell off, there was no need for medical treatment. It was just like the transformation from a dragon to a pony; the pain during the transformation was almost unbearable, but there were still no physical damage. Sharpy guessed there was no remarkable difference with a transformation from a pony to a dragon. He just wondered why he was turning back into a dragon. Or at least some parts of his were. Even though these thoughts didn’t make Sharpy feel any better, they at least made him think of something else then his sister. Easing the pain and sorrow at least for the moment.

“So, what’s your story?” Twilight’s sudden question surprised Sharpy a little. It was a completely understandable question, but it interfered with Sharpy’s thoughts. “Well? How did you end up here as a pony?”

“Are you a spy?” Rainbow continued the second Twilight stopped. Sharpy just looked at her. He couldn’t believe she would even believe that. But then he took a look at his wings and realized he was still lucky the guards didn’t kill him right away. But then again; the ponies weren’t as violent as the dragons. He sighed. Now it was time to finally tell the truth. The entire truth. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to figure out what would be the best was to say this. But Sharpy couldn’t think straight so he decided to figure out how to explain everything as he spoke.

He began with how this very unusual dragon called Huffy, or Huffy the Magical Dragon as most dragons called him, had summoned him to one of his caves. He told them how Huffy had used his very unusual powers of magic to transform Sharpy into a dragon. Sharpy didn’t left out the fact that the pain during the transformation was unbearable. He explained how he’d fled through the Everfree Forest and reached Ponyville.

As he explained how Fluttershy had saved him by letting him inside her house, he looked over at Fluttershy. She had absolutely no expression at all. There was no way to figure out what was going on in her head. Her mind was probably in a complete mess right now.

He told them how his plan was to find a powerful unicorn that could help him transform back into a pony. And when he realized Fluttershy was a friend to one of the most talented ponies in Ponyville he had decided to spend time with them, earning their trust. He took a pause. He was really ashamed to admit this. The fact that his original plan was to use these ponies for his very own good even disgusted himself. Apparently Fluttershy could take anymore. The tears had started coming out from her eyes.

“Twilight…” she whispered. “Come to my home when you’re done here”. And then she fled the building without looking back at Sharpy.

“Fluttershy! Wait I…” Sharpy shoved Twilight and Rainbow away and made an attempt to follow Fluttershy, but he got stopped by two spears from the guards standing in front of the only exit. “Fluttershy…” he whispered as he was the door slowly shut. He backed off. And as emotional as he already was, the tears started coming out again.

“I don’t think she wants to talk to you right now”, Rainbow said. She was clearly angry, but Sharpy were too psychically tired to start an argument with her, so he just backed off a few steps more. As Rainbow looked at Sharpy, she started to feel bad for him. Sharpy was completely destroyed psychically and what she said was probably just like putting salt in the wound. Yet she was still angry and very suspicious. Twilight however had started to understand the position Sharpy was trapped in, but was still not quite satisfied with what she knew.

“But what happened then?” she asked to get Sharpy to continue talking. “Was this thing with you and Fluttershy a part of the ‘plan’ too?”

“I was coming to that part”, he said. He was hoping that Fluttershy would still be here to listen to what he had to say, but there was nothing that he could do now. “As I spent some time with Fluttershy I started to get feelings for her. Even from the very first minutes actually. There was something special about her. And shortly after I got a new plan…” Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other.

“And what about this new plan?” Twilight asked, eager to know. Sharpy didn’t hesitate to answer, but as he did; he was looking in a different direction.

“To live a life as a pony… together with Fluttershy”, Sharpy answered quietly.

“But that didn’t work out as planned, now did it!?” Rainbow raised her voice as she spoke. She wasn’t even sure she could believe the story he was telling them. It could be a part of some kind of ‘plan’. Sharpy could feel how his emotions tried to take over again, but he refused to lose control again. But what Rainbow just said really was a hit under the belt.

“Rainbow!” Twilight silenced her. She didn’t trust Sharpy completely herself, but there was no need for Rainbow to be so insensitive to him. Especially not in this emotional sate he was in right now.

“If he would have told us he was a dragon right away, it would have saved us a lot of trouble!” Rainbow defended herself. “Especially for Fluttershy! I mean, did you look at her?” Sharpy couldn’t just sit idly and listen to this without even make an attempt to defend himself.

“But how would you have reacted if I would have told you? I wouldn’t have been treated like an equal, that’s for sure!” he said with a raised voice. “And I truly love Fluttershy! And no dragon or pony could ever be compared to her! And if I would have told you I was a dragon I would never even have gotten the chance to even speak to her!” Here Twilight had decided to end Sharpy’s and Rainbow’s conversation, but it didn’t look like she needed to. Rainbow had no answer for what Sharpy just said, so she just stayed quiet. Twilight looked at them both without saying anything for a while. But then she turned to Sharpy.

“And then what happened?”

“Yesterday must have been one of the… if not the happiest day of my life. I know we’ve only known each other for a very short time… but still…” then Sharpy lowered his head and closed his eyes. “Then today happened…” He was quiet for a very long time. Twilight nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“… I saw my own sister… die… right in front of my eyes…” He started crying. But among the tears something else appeared. Hate! Hate against the one who had put him in this situation. Huffy had to pay for what he has done. And thanks to Crystal he now knew where to find him. He stared into the floor with hatred as his tears made it wet. Twilight looked worried when Sharpy said this. But not for her own sake, but for Sharpy’s. When you are emotional like this, you’re capable of anything. She didn’t think that he would start attacking ponies, no. But he might do something that made the situation for him worse. She felt sorry for him. Watching your sister getting killed isn’t something anypony or anydragon should have to witness.

“But why did she attack us?” Rainbow said. She’d apparently calmed down a bit. Perhaps she felt sorry for him too? Sharpy didn’t care too much. All he wanted was to get out of this building. He needed someplace to think.

“She was under one of Huffy’s infamous corruption-spells. She couldn’t control herself…” Sharpy felt how the need for revenge grew larger as he spoke of Huffy. Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other. They weren’t sure what to think. They felt sorry for him, but as suspected, they didn’t trust him completely. But there was no need to keep him in here. It was time to let him go. Twilight told the guards that they could leave. The hesitated for a second, giving Sharpy suspicious looks, but then agreed to leave.

“Is this really a good idea?” Rainbow whispered in Twilight ear.

“I think so. There is no use for keeping him inside here”, she answered quietly. The two girls looked at him before opening the door. “You’re free to leave, but we would prefer that…” Sharpy didn’t listen to Twilight but took the opportunity to fly away. With these new wings he was even able to outfly Rainbow Dash as she tried to follow him. She didn’t fly in full speed, of course, but neither did Sharpy.

Sharpy flew and landed at the roof of one of the higher buildings in Ponyville. He wasn’t exactly hiding from anypony, but he preferred that nopony would find him. He needed some time alone so that he could think uninterrupted. He’d apparently been knocked out for a few hours, because the day was almost over. He looked at the sunset. In a couple of hours there would probably be all too dark or anypony to see. But not for him. He now had the eyes of a dragon which could easily snap up even the slightest source of light and help him see in the darkest of places. But the sun was yet up, shining down on the land. Sharpy looked over to the field outside Ponyville where his sister, Crystal, had died earlier today. She wasn’t there anymore. They had probably dumped her body somewhere without paying any respect to the dragon ways. But as he thought of it he realized Crystal would never be anywhere anymore. He felt bad for the guard he attacked. It wasn’t his fault. He’d just done what was asked of him. No, the blame fell yet again on Huffy. Sharpy decided that he would go hunting for him. Huffy had to pay for what he’d done. And Sharpy didn’t doubt for a second that he was responsible for the deaths of many other dragons as well. He took his eyes from the sunset and turned to the ponies walking on the streets down below. All the ponies were probably on their way home to their families and friends. Sharpy didn’t want to admit it, but he envies them. They lived, for most parts, a very peaceful life. Not unlike the dragons. The life of a dragon was filled with violence and action. As the dragon Sharpy truly was it didn’t matter too much for him. He had lived with these circumstances his entire life so he was used to it. But if you would compare the life of a dragon and what he’d seen so far of the life of a pony, he would’ve chosen the life of a pony without a doubt. That is… if things would’ve been different. Because right now, his life was even more twisted that what it had ever been before. With his sister dead, Fluttershy terrified and he looking like some stupid mix between a pony and a dragon Sharpy wasn’t sure where he belonged. He bit his lip in frustration just to realize his sharp teeth weren’t meant for a pony when blood slowly starts to flowing from the specific place where he was biting. He looked at his hooves. What was he right now? He wasn’t a dragon yet, that’s for sure. But was he really a pony. He looked back at his big dragon-like wings. He concluded that he wasn’t a pony either. He was this stupid mix between a pony and a dragon. He was a DragonPony. Or perhaps the dragonpony considering he was probably the only one in this situation of his.

The sun had just gone down and the darkness of the night covered the land. Sharpy were still sitting up on the roof of the high building. He found comfort in the night. Everything was so calm and quiet. And knowing that you could see everypony while nopony could see you satisfied Sharpy. He breathed slowly. He wasn’t tired, but yet he decided to lead backwards and close his eyes. He needed this moment considering all that had happened. But as he closed his eyes, the picture of his dead sister came up. He screamed and sat up again. Sharpy swore as his tears appeared again. All he wanted was to relax, but it was impossible. He still felt satisfied looking into the night, observing everything that happened. It made him think of something else, or perhaps not think of anything at all. He sat there for a few hours before taking off. He had to see Fluttershy. The thought of what Fluttershy really thought of him had bothered him during these hours of just sitting on that roof. He had no idea what time it was, but the moon was still shining its little light it could provide on the land below. Though he didn’t really care what time it was. He had to see Fluttershy and he had to see her now when his feelings were finally mostly under control. He didn’t want to see her before he was mentally ready. Otherwise he might just make the situation worse.

When Sharpy reached Fluttershy’s house there were light coming out from the windows. Apparently she was awake. He walked carefully up to the door, leaned towards it and listened. She was indeed awake and there were apparently other ponies there too, because he heard the voices talking to each other. He backed away from the door, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He wondered what they were talking about, so he sneaked to a window so that he could both see and hear what they were saying. He could see all the ponies and Spike were inside the cottage. And on the couch lay Fluttershy. She looked down to the floor, nodding and uttering a few words as she was spoken too. Sharpy tried to hear what they were saying, but there was no use. He would probably hear better if he moved closer to the window, but then he would put himself in a risk of being spotted. He took a deep breath. He sneaked back to the front door and raised his hoof. But he hesitated before he knocked on the door. He really wanted to see Fluttershy, but what if she didn’t want to see him? And what would he say, anyway? He shook his head. He was heading out sooner or later to get his revenge on Huffy, but he had to see Fluttershy before that. And as he knocked he heard all the voices inside go quiet just to be followed by some suspicious whispering. He heard somepony walking towards the door. The door slowly opened and there was Twilight, standing in the doorway.

“Oh, is it you?” Twilight said with a badly faked surprised tone on her voice. Sharpy looked at her in disbelief. It was obvious they had been expecting him.

“Is Fluttershy home?” he asked. He felt how his chest suddenly felt heavy as Twilight slowly nodded and stepped aside. Sharpy walked inside. Everypony was looking at him, except Fluttershy. She stared tired down to the ground. Sharpy looked at her for a moment, completely ignoring everypony else that was standing around him.

“Fluttershy… I…” Sharpy began but did not continue. He didn’t know what to say. And when Fluttershy looked up and her eyes met Sharpy’s he could see how she started to feel uncomfortable. Her eyes were wide open and she curled up even more. She was still afraid of him. To that, there was no doubt. Sharpy started to feel guilty. Sharpy felt like everything was his fault.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy…” he began. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. But I lied to you… But if I would have told you I’d never have gotten the chance to get to know you. But perhaps that would have been for the best. I would never have put you in this situation… and perhaps… my sister would still be alive…” Sharpy felt how tears flowed down his chins. “I just wanted to tell you… that I love you… I truly do… You’re the reason I didn’t want to be turned back into a dragon… and stay here as a pony…” Sharpy looked up, waiting for an answer. Though he didn’t think he would get any… and he didn’t. He nodded slowly and turned back. Nopony dared to say anything, even if they wanted to. They just watched as Sharpy left the cottage with his head hanging.

“I’ll be going after Huffy soon…” Sharpy said without looking backwards. “But I’d like to meet you one more time before that… Don’t try to follow me… I will see you when I feel like it” And with those words Sharpy shut the door behind him and flew away to the centre of Ponyville to sit on top of one of the buildings.

All the ponies back in Fluttershy’s cottage immediately regret not saying anything. They looked carefully at each other without saying a word. The silence was absolute. At least for a while…

Chapter 9: Ready to go

”How could we just let him go, like that?” Rainbow Dash broke the silence. Everypony in the cottage was looking at her. Rainbow was a bit worked up and clearly disappointed with herself and her friends. “I’m not sure if I trust him, but still. Did you get a look at him?”

Everypony looked at each other. They all silently agreed, but it took some time until Applejack finally responded.

“Ah’ have to agree with you, Rainbow. Ah’ feel mighty sorry for him… but he’s still a disguised dragon”. Spike just glared at everypony as he was sitting on top of one of the shelves. They were all talking about dragons like they were something that might want to occupy the entire land of Equestria with force. But he listened with patient when Rarity started to talk.

“I think it’s horrible for Fluttershy”, she said while walking over to Fluttershy who were still lying on the couch. “Who would have imagine that her new friend really were a dragon?” Rarity gave Spike a quick look and realized she had to add a “No offence” and so she did. Spike just rolled his eyes and waved with his claw to show her that it was all right. Fluttershy, however, first glared at Rarity for saying that. But then she lowered her head and got that sad look again. Fluttershy still had feelings for Sharpy, but at the same time she was afraid of him. He was a dragon after all. Or at least part dragon if you just go by his appearance. It was all so confusing for her. She didn’t know what to think.

A small argument had stared were everyone except Spike, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy took part in. Fluttershy barely listened at all, while Spike listened at every word that was said. The argument was about Sharpy and if you could trust him and how much there were to believe in. Rainbow Dash didn’t trust Sharpy very much, but that his feelings for Fluttershy were real were obvious. Twilight agreed with Rainbow that Sharpy was truly in love with Fluttershy and she was ready to put at least some trust in Sharpy. Applejack thought Sharpy was a nice guy but wasn’t sure if what he said was true. Rarity thought that everything he did was a part of some kind of ‘plan’ which Rainbow could partly agree with. After some time they turned to Pinkie who hadn’t said anything yet, which was pretty unusual. They asked her about her opinion about Sharpy. She answered them with a short laugh, which made everypony look confused at her.

“Oh, you’re so silly, girls! Sharpy is a nice pony… or dragon… perhaps a dragonpony... or maybe…? Oh it doesn’t matter. He’s a nice guy and that’s what matters”. Everypony thought about this, but before any of them could reply Spike jumped down from the shelf.

“I agree with Pinkie completely! Last year I wrote a letter to Princess Celestia. Do you remember that letter?” Spike asked. Everypony got silent, completely forgetting that they were about to say something. Spike nodded and started quoting the message of his letter. “…It doesn’t matter what you are…”

“…but who you are…” It was actually Fluttershy who finished the sentence. She looked at all her friends as they looked surprised at her. None of them were expecting her to talk. Fluttershy sighed. “I remember, Spike… But it’s just that… sometimes… it might…” Tears came out of her eyes, so she stopped for a second. But she didn’t have to say anything more. Everypony already knew what she was going to say. She was afraid of dragons and that was no secret. And there was no secret that Sharpy was a dragon anymore. And therefore she was afraid of Sharpy. The only problem for her right now was that she still had feelings for him. Being in love with somepony you’re afraid of is not easy. A part of her wants to run straight up to him, hug him and never let go. But every time she looks at him now, knowing he’s a dragon, makes her want to run away and hide.

“You still love him. Don’t you, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. Fluttershy answered with a simple nod. Her eyes were filled with tears and she didn’t dare to speak. She couldn’t trust her voice to be stable because of all the things that were going on right now. She curled up into a little ball as an attempt to hide herself from the outer world. She wanted Sharpy to come back… even how uncomfortable that would make her feel.

***

Sharpy didn’t look back as he flew to the centre of the village. Because if he did, he might reconsider turning back and then he had to see Fluttershy terrified again. And that was not something he would want to see ever again. He sighed. He had said that he wanted to see everypony one last time before heading out to get his revenge on Huffy, but he quickly regret saying that. The ponies didn’t trust him. That much was obvious. And he just made Fluttershy terrified. That was what hurt the most. He’d hope that she still had some feeling for him, but there was no way that love could be combined with fear. And fear were the only thing he could see in her eyes. A picture of Fluttershy kept showing up in her head. She was scared and her eyes were filled with tears. Sharpy tried to shove that thought away; trying to believe there was still some hope for them. But that was a childish thought. It was over for them. The only thing that was important for him now was his revenge on Huffy. And as he thought of that, another, more painful memory appeared in his head and removed his thought about Fluttershy. He revisited the memory when his sister died, over and over again. He couldn’t get the picture out of his head. He grunted, suddenly feeling much weaker than ever before. How could he possibly be able to defeat Huffy in this form? He couldn’t even defend his sister or keep a relationship for more than a day. He felt pathetic. But his will for revenge still lingered and if he was going to die, he would take Huffy with him, one way or another.

When Sharpy finally reached the rooftop he was sitting on earlier he immediately lied down because he suddenly felt very tired. Tomorrow he would have a last chat with everypony. Even if they didn’t want to. He felt like he needed that. They’d shown him great hospitality and deserved at least a proper goodbye. He closed his eyes and wrapped his wings around him to keep him warm. He fell asleep quickly.

Sharpy woke up late the next day. The sun was at its top, so that mean he’d slept through the entire morning. But at least he felt refreshed. He yawned as he stretched and looked out over Ponyville. The village was full of life and the ponies had probably been awake for quite a while now. Sharpy looked in the general direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. He could see some smoke coming from that direction which probably meant that she was home. He decided to meet Fluttershy first of them all. And with those thoughts he took off and flew down to her cottage.

But when he got there he saw through one of the windows and what he saw wasn’t what he had expected. Instead of Fluttershy being there alone, everypony and Spike was there with her. His first thought was that there was something going on with Fluttershy, which was probably the case too. He walked carefully up to the door and pushed an ear to the door as an attempt to hear what they said. And as expected; the only thing he heard was Fluttershy crying. Actually, he ignored everything else. Fluttershy was devastated and Sharpy was certain it was because of him. He backed slowly away from the door. Sharpy didn’t think it would be appropriate of him to show up to Fluttershy. At least not when she’s in this state. That would probably just make things worse. He looked at the cottage with sadness in his eyes. Perhaps he shouldn’t show up at all? He should just leave the village right now so that everything could return to normal at least for the ponies. It was a hard choice, but he decided that would be for the best. But as he was about the fly off a voice from behind stopped him.

“Sharpy!?” it was Pinkies voice. “Oh gosh, what a relief. We thought you had gone already.  Hey, you guys! It’s Sharpy!” Sharpy turned around. He was very confused. Was there anything specific they wanted him? He saw everypony walk out of Fluttershy’s cottage. They all seemed very relieved to see him, which surprised him. Yesterday they hadn’t been so happy at all. But then he heard a voice he had been waiting to hear.

“Sharpy?” Fluttershy quickly dashed out of the front door towards him. Her eyes were filled with joy and it looked like was going to give Sharpy a big hug. But just a couple of meters in front of him she stopped. As she looked him in the eye, tears started filling up in her. She stumbled around on the spot as if a fight was going on inside her body. She looked at him again, this time with fear. And the second later she fell to the ground. Things were getting too much for her. She cried out loudly as she tried to say something, but the only words that Sharpy could hear was “I’m sorry”, which she repeated several times. It didn’t take too long until her friends were there to help her. Sharpy got a sad look on his face and backed off a few steps.

Twilight, Spike, who were sitting on Twilight’s back and Rainbow Dash all helped Fluttershy inside while Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack were still outside. Sharpy didn’t feel too comfortable, but he was still curious of what they wanted him, so he simply asked them. Rarity was the first one to speak.

“Well we do know that you’re going out for revenge on Huffy for the loss of your sister”, Rarity said. Sharpy nodded and suddenly all anger came back to him. He’d been pretty calm after his sleep, but now the reality truly hit him.

“And we thought that you might need some help to bring that stupid dragon down for justice”, Pinkie said. “Look, I’m prepared for the capture!” Out of nowhere she brought forth a giant, pink cannon. Sharpy looked at Pinkie with surprise. Rarity and Applejack, however, didn’t seem to be surprised at all, just confused. The giant cannon were Pinkies “Party Cannon” used to quickly start a party in case of a party emergency.

“Ya’ goin’ to shoot him with cakes?” Applejack said while looking at Pinkie with doubt heard in the tone of her voice as well as shown in her eyes. But Pinkie shook her head.

“No, silly. I’ve loaded it with a net so that we can capture him”, Pinkie said and smiled. When Applejack nodded to show Pinkie that she understood, Sharpy just shook his head.

“I have no plans of capturing Huffy…” Sharpy said slowly. “…I’m going to kill him…”

Both Rarity and Applejack got stunned. Not by the fact that Sharpy wanted to kill Huffy. That was more or less expected. No, the reason was that he was so cold. They originally planned to capture Huffy and put him in from of Celestia. If Sharpy wanted to kill him they would try to make him change his mind. But Sharpy was too determined. There was no way they would have any chance to convince him not to kill Huffy.

“Hey! Do you think giant rocks will do some damage?” Pinkie said while loading her party cannon with a rock. Nopony had even noticed her going away. But here she was loading her cannon with rocks, so she had to have heard Sharpy said that he wanted to kill and not capture Huffy. All of them looked at her completely dumbfounded. Rarity tried to say something, but before she could Rainbow, Twilight and Spike, who were still sitting on her back, came out of the cottage.

“She’s not coming…” Rainbow said and gave Sharpy a sad look. “Fluttershy…”

“I understand…” Sharpy interrupted Rainbow. He didn’t look at her while saying this. He looked straight down. Twilight walked up to Sharpy and putted a hoof on his shoulder.

“But the rest of us will still help you”, she said. Sharpy nodded and gave her a sad smile. He appreciated their help. He’d apparently given them a positive impact and they could even put aside the fact that he was a dragon and offer him their help. This brightens up this entire situation a good bit, even though Fluttershy didn’t want to come. With these many ponies they were sure to defeat Huffy. But what bothered him was that they were putting their lives in danger just to help him.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sharpy said to everypony around him, hoping that they were aware of the dangers. Spike jumped down from Twilight’s back and began to walk down the road.

“Yep, we are! Let’s get going!” Spike said while waving in the air with his claw. But he couldn’t come far until Twilight grabbed him with her magic and dragged him back to her.

“Oh, no, you don’t! You’re staying back here with Fluttershy”, Twilight said and gave Spike a look telling him she was not in mood for arguing. Spike hesitated at first, but at last he gave in. He grunted and walked irritated towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Rarity wasn’t late to describe how cute she thought he was when he was ‘waddling’ away. This only made Spike grunt even louder and so he increased his speed towards the door.

They had now formed a little team who were going after Huffy. Two unicorns capable of magic, two fast and strong pegasi and two earth ponies; one that were really strong and one that were really fast and could do the unexpected. They were just about to leave, but then Rainbow Dash stopped them.

“Ok. We’re all ready, good. But before we leave I have one question”. Everypony looked at her, waiting for the question. And when Rainbow was sure that they all did, she continued. “What in Equestria is Pinkie doing with those rocks?”

Chapter 10: The Journey Begins... Slowly but Surely

The sun was bright and the sky was clear. The six ponies were walking down the road outside Ponyville. They were all ready for a long trip and they were all wearing backpacks filled with all the necessary things. Sharpy was the only one who actually knew where to go, so he was leading the small group. Rainbow Dash was, more or less, randomly flying around the ponies on the ground. She constantly encouraged them to hurry up, which made the ponies more irritated than eager to move faster. Pinkie, who seemingly didn’t have her party cannon with her, was babbling non-stop. And as Rarity was complaining over the dirty road, Applejack was teasing Rarity, though in a friendly way. Twilight, however was looking questioningly at Sharpy as if she wanted him something. Sharpy took notice of Twilight’s look and slowed down so that he was walking alongside her.

“What’s on your mind, Twilight?” he asked in a much friendlier tone than what he used earlier today. This group was just what Sharpy needed. He hadn’t been alone for too long, but that was enough to make him almost fall into depression. He needed some true friends to socialize with to keep his mood up. And now he could call these ponies his friends and they had for most part accepted him as well.

“Well, you haven’t told us where to find this Huffy?” Twilight answered. Sharpy nodded. That was true, he hadn’t. He took a deep breath before answering.

“Seconds before my Crystal died she told me where I could find Huffy”, Sharpy turned silent for a second before continuing. “She told me that I could find him at Shadowcliff Mountains. It’s a mountain chain quite far from here”.

“Do you know where to go? Otherwise I might have a map somewhere…” Twilight said and started searching in one of her backpacks. Sharpy putted a hoof on her back.

“Don’t worry. I know where to go”, Sharpy said. He hesitated for a second. Twilight wasn’t sure what to think of this short hesitation, but allowed him to continue. “First we need to cross the Everfree Forest and then…”

“The Everfree!?” Rarity shouted. She didn’t like the Everfree Forest at all. Just thinking of it gave her the creeps.

“Yes, the Everfree”, Sharpy repeated. “And then we have to go straight through my homeland. Unfortunately, ponies aren’t very popular there, so we have to be sneaky”. All the ponies sighed.

“Great”, Rainbow Dash said. “First the Everfree Forest and then straight through region filled with pony-hating dragons”. Sharpy looked at her. He prepared to say something, but stayed quiet and just shook his head. He had no interest in starting an argument which would probably end up with him losing. Sharpy sighed. What Rainbow said was true as well. The dragons more or less hated the ponies and wouldn’t hesitate to attack one on sight. He felt shame for once thinking in the same ways as many other dragons. He used to at least dislike ponies, but after getting a better look on them and their society he realized that the dragons could learn a lot from them. No dragon truly liked the constant violence the dragons lived in. So why would they keep on living like that? A dragon is, by nature, more violent that a pony, but even for a dragon there was a line. And the dragon society he used to live in had crossed that line years ago.

“We’ve had some issues with dragons before, that’s all”, Rarity said as to continue on what Rainbow said. Sharpy didn’t really hear what she said. He was deep into his thoughts about the difference between the two societies. But he got immediately thrown into the reality. He looked at Rarity and gave her a fake smile so that she thought he heard what she just said. But Twilight wasn’t done with her questions. Sharpy still hadn’t told them what would happen after they’ve crossed the land on dragons.

“What happens after we’ve managed to get past all the dragons? Where do we go then?”

“Well…” Sharpy began slowly. “There shouldn’t be a problem to reach the Shadowcliff Mountains after that… but…” Sharpy got quiet. Everypony stopped and looked at him.

“’But’ what?” They all said in choir.

“Well, all I know is that’s Huffy’s there somewhere, but not exactly where. We’ll have to look for him when we get there”. Sharpy felt like he was about to lure them into some kind of impossible quest. He had no idea where to look when they get there. And as if Twilight could read his mind she stated the unpleasant fact that would make everypony frustrated.

“And as far as I know, the Shadowcliff Mountains is one of the biggest mountain chains known to Ponykind”, Twilight spoke slowly and the second she ended the sentence a lot of loud, unsatisfied groans could be heard throughout the little group. But Applejack just shook her head and walked up to Sharpy and Twilight.

“Well, let’s cross that bridge when we get to it, come on!” Applejack said determined and took the lead. Twilight shrugged and gave Sharpy a smile. And so Sharpy ran up to Applejack and the little group followed.

As they walked towards the Everfree Forest they were talking about all kinds of things. Sharpy was glad they followed him. His heart was still heavy because of the loss of his sister. That feeling would probably never end. He’ll have to keep that memory with him for his entire life. But he wouldn’t let that keep him away from living his life. And if he would get his revenge on Huffy, perhaps that would make it easier. He didn’t know what would happen if he managed to defeat Huffy or what he would do. But what he did know was that these ponies sure knew how to keep the mood up. Their happiness rubbed off on him. They encouraged him to join their conversations and he gladly did. It seemed like all his problems disappeared for a while. The only one who was missing now was Fluttershy.

Sharpy sighed as he thought of her. The same question came up over and over again inside his head. Did she still have feeling for him? As he thought of her he got silent. The others of course noticed that. Sharpy got that sad look again and then there was no doubt that something was going on inside his head. They looked at each other to make sure they all noticed the same thing. They all did.

“Is it about Crystal or Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. These are right now the only two reasons for Sharpy to feel like this, that much was obvious.

“Right now? Fluttershy…” Sharpy answered slowly. He then looked at the other ponies. He wanted to know what they knew about Fluttershy, but for some reason he didn’t dare to ask. But it didn’t seem like he needed to when Rarity tried to make Sharpy feel better.

“Well you see, dear. Fluttershy still loves you”, Rarity began and Sharpy could almost guess what the following sentence would be. “The problem is… you’re a dragon and… well…”

“She is terrified of me”, Sharpy sighed. “Thank you, I’ve noticed”. Sharpy didn’t want to sound rude, but there was nothing to do about it now. Now he just had to deal with Fluttershy’s fear for him, but hearing that Fluttershy still loved him made it a little bit easier to take.

“She is so confused”, Rarity continued, fortunately without taking any note of Sharpy being rude. “She doesn’t know what to do”. Sharpy nodded. This made sense considering her first reaction of seeing him earlier was happiness.

“You know what I think you should do?” Pinkie asked Sharpy. Sharpy looked at her with interest to show her that he wanted.  “When you see Fluttershy, go straight up to her, give her a hug, and then look into her eyes. Because I believe that a hug solves all problems! …Well most problems”. Sharpy nodded and smiled to Pinkie. He doubted that would be such a good idea. But it was at least something he’d think about.

As the little group moved on Sharpy got that weir feeling that they were being watched. He looked around himself but couldn’t see anyone. He could swear that he heard the wing beats of some sort, but when he looked up there was nothing there. He squinted to see past the afternoon sun that was still shining strong, but there was nothing there. His first thought was that the dragons that had chased him a few days back had been waiting for him to leave the village. And now that he did, they were back to finish the job. He got worried for a second but calmed down quickly. If there were two dragons following them they would’ve been noticed. They were out on an open road. There were still quite a bit before they would reach the Everfree, so there weren’t many trees to hide behind and there were no way a dragon would be able to hide behind the clouds without revealing him- or herself. But as he looked up to the clouds he thought spotted something yellow quickly dashing behind a cloud. Was there someone following them or did his mind play games with him? He decided that safety was the main priority right now and decided to check it out. He turned to the girls for a second, asking them to wait a moment while he checked ‘something’ out. They all looked confused but agreed to wait. Sharpy gave them a quick not before taking to the sky. His eyes were fixed on the cloud he’d just seen the yellow… whatever it was, hiding behind. He flew straight through the cloud to surprise the possible pursuer. But there were no one there. He shook his head. All these resent events must have been too much for him. He told himself that he was probably seeing things. Some sleep would probably be the best thing for him now. But they hadn’t reached the edge of Everfree Forest yet. That would be their first stop.

As Sharpy flew down to the others they looked questioning at him.

“It’s nothing to worry about. Just my mind playing games on me”, he said. Rainbow Dash nodded and said:

“A lot of things going on recently, huh? Well it’s not far until we reach the edge of the forest”.

“Yeah, I think we’re all getting a bit tired”, Twilight next to continued what Rainbow was going to say. “Perhaps we should rest when we get there?” They all thought that sounded like a good idea. Some upcoming rest encouraged the group to move faster and so they reached the Everfree Forest just when the sun was setting. The girls putted up a little camp, lighted up a small fire to keep them warm during the night and Applejack had some, of course apple-filled, food with her. Sharpy and everypony else enjoyed each other’s company. And it didn’t take long until the word “camping” came from Applejack.

“This is just like the time ah’ was camping with Applebloom and BigMac last year” Everypony laughed but agreed. You could definitely compare this to camping, except that there were on a mission to eliminate a powerful, dangerous and on top of that, magical dragon. As the sun was setting and it was getting dark, they decided to call it a day. All the ponies walked into their tents except for Sharpy. He was originally planning on going alone so he hadn’t brought anything. He was relying on his survival skills he’d learned as a dragon. But the others didn’t think it would be nice of them to let him sleep outside while they slept in their tents, but Sharpy insisted.

“No, thanks. I’ll think I rather sleep on the ground outside”. And with that said he found a suitable spot close to the fire. But just as he lay down he heard a shout coming from Pinkies tent.

“F.P.A.D.G.O.F.R.O.M.M.D!” The shout made everypony come out of their tent. They opened Pinkies then and there she was, sitting up and smiling at everypony as they looked confused at her.

“That’s the name of our team!” Pinkie continued with an even bigger smile. “Five Ponies And Dragon Going Out For Revenge On Mean Magical Dragon”. Everypony looked at her dumbfounded for a second before bursting out into laughter.

“That’s a good one, Pinkie”, Rainbow Dash said, with some difficulties of not beginning to laugh as she spoke. “But I think you might need to overlook that name a bit”. Pinkie answered with a simple “Oki doki loki”. Then she lay down again and began to think of another fitting name sense her first one perhaps wasn’t as good as she thought. Everypony was giggling as they went back to their tents. Sharpy went back to his comfortable spot near the fire. To his surprise he found a little green blanket. He didn’t know where it came from, but he didn’t mind using it though. It would probably get colder later and this would help him to keep warm. But he got to admit it was a bit creepy. He didn’t know that someopony even brought a blanket like this one. He looked around. Perhaps somepony took an extra blanket that she then gave to him. That would make sense except he hadn’t noticed that anypony gave him the blanket. But he was too tired to investigate this and so he simply thanked whoever gave him the blanked and closed his eyes.

Sharpy wondered how Fluttershy was doing. She had Spike giving her company, but perhaps she felt alone anyway. With these thoughts in his head he went to sleep. Hopefully he would sleep well and not being bothered by bad memories and such. Tomorrow they would enter the Everfree Forest and then he had to be alert and on his guard. There were a lot of dangers in the Everfree for a group of ponies. That much was certain.

Chapter 11: "We're gonna' follow them"

Earlier – Fluttershy’s cottage

The front door to the cottage opened violently. Fluttershy raised her head in surprise to see what was going on. There were still tears coming out from her eyes, but she had managed to calm herself down. Spike was stomping in through the open door. He, however, was clearly upset and therefore he slammed the door shut.

“They don’t ever let me join their adventures”, he shouted. He took a quick look at Fluttershy and immediately regrets his unnecessary tantrums. He shouldn’t be upset by a small thing like this when Fluttershy is in this state.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset over anything”, Spike began to apologize. “And I shouldn’t have slammed the door like that”. Spike suddenly got a sad look too, which surprised Fluttershy. For a second she forgot her own problems and wondered what was on Spikes mind. She wiped the tears away and tried to make him speak in an as casual way as possible. But Spike only sighed and hesitated. Fluttershy tilted her head and looked at Spike. She decided not to give up just yet and make another try. But it didn’t seem like she needed to, because Spike spoke up before that.

“It’s just that I sometimes feel left out”, he said while slowly scratching his neck. “Twilight never let me join your adventures”. Spike looked down to the floor and made circles with his foot. Fluttershy got up from the sofa and walked towards Spike. When she reached him she putted one of her hoof on his shoulder.

“It’s because she cares so much about you”, Fluttershy said with a little smile, but Spike just looked questioning on her. “She doesn’t want you to be hurt or worse”. Fluttershy suddenly got a sad look and turned her eyes to the window. She looked towards the road where she could see her friends and Sharpy walking. They hadn’t come far, considering they just left, but it hurt to see Sharpy walk away from her. Whenever he was far away she could feel her love for him still burning strong, but as soon as they came close to each other her fear took the better of her.

“She loves you, Spike… and doesn’t want anything hurt you…” Fluttershy continued, but Spike didn’t answer. He just looked down. He understood what she meant and then made him feel a little better. But he knew what Fluttershy was going to say. Or at least what subject she was going to bring up, so he decided to let her talk without interruption. “And there is a very special pony that I love too… and I don’t want anything to hurt him. But there is nothing I can do… I can’t even talk to him or see him in his eyes” At this point, Fluttershy were mostly talking to herself and not so much to Spike. “And it’s all because of my own stupid fear… for what? Dragons!? Sure it matters who you are not what you are, but… but I can’t…” Fluttershy stopped and looked into the wall with mixed anger and sadness in her eyes. Spike wasn’t sure if he’d seen Fluttershy like this ever before. He gave it all a thought. His own personal problems were nothing compared to the struggle that was going on inside Fluttershy. But there has to be a way to let Fluttershy forget about her fear so that she can return to her normal self. Because how she was acting now wasn’t her normal self. But Spikes thought got interrupted by Fluttershy falling down on the floor. She was slamming her front hoofs on the floor.

“And now I’ll never see him again”, she cried. “He and all my friends are going to die and there is nothing I can do about it!”

“Whoa, there! Nopony’s going to die”, Spike tried to calm her down but it didn’t work too well. She was suffering from mood swings too, that much was clear. Spike chooses to ignore Fluttershy’s cries for a moment. He wanted to go through his thoughts before saying anything. He didn’t want to make things worse. He tried to figure out a way to make Fluttershy calm down. That would be the first thing to do. But as he thought he came to think about what Fluttershy just said to him about why Twilight didn’t want him to join their adventures. He smiled as the idea came up in his head. It was so simple that he got surprised he didn’t thought of it right away. He shook Fluttershy to get her attention.

“Hey, Fluttershy! Guess what we’re gonna’ do?” Fluttershy stopped for a moment and looked at Spike. And so he continued. “We’re gonna’ follow them”.

“Are you really sure about this?” Fluttershy asked clearly worried. But Spike just shook his head. He was determined and sure that this would work. He’d even packed a little sack full of necessaries for a trip. He’d helped Twilight pack her bags so he knew what would be needed.

“Yes, of course I’m sure”, Spike said while grabbing his sack and tie a little rope around the opening so that nothing would fall out. It could also be used as a more comfortable way to carry the sack. “You told me that Twilight loved me and was worried that I might get hurt. So I figured that it might make you feel better if you could make sure Sharpy is ok. And you can make contact with him because of your fear, so we’ll just keep a safe distance. Then later on you might realize that there is nothing to worry about and I will get my adventure after all. Brilliant, isn’t it?” Spike was really determined indeed, but Fluttershy still wasn’t sure that this would be a good idea.

“But what if they’d see us? How would we explain?”

“Ok, don’t be like that. That’s a part of the fun”. Now Fluttershy really doubted Spikes idea. Was this just something that Spike thought was fun? She asked, but Spike just waived it away.

“Of course not! This is highly serious. But having a bit of fun now and then can’t be wrong, now can it?” No, Fluttershy couldn’t argue with that. And she guessed it would feel better if she knew that Sharpy and her friends were all doing okay. She wouldn’t usually doubt her friends like this, but this time it felt different.  And if she spent some time observing Sharpy she would perhaps get used to his new look and her fear would disappear. After a short while she finally agreed to go after them. Spike looked up to Fluttershy and smiled. He had faith in this idea. Spike couldn’t see any reason why this wouldn’t work and even though Fluttershy didn’t seem to agree completely, it was still worth a try.

They began to pack Fluttershy’s things in a little sack too, but what disappointed Spike was that he had to carry that one too. Fluttershy wouldn’t be able to carry a sack when flying because it would interfere with her wings. But Fluttershy would have to carry Spike on her back all the time, so that would be enough to make it even. When they were ready they both walked outside. You couldn’t see the others any more, but Fluttershy knew where they were going, so it wouldn’t be hard to find them. And if she was flying, even with Spike on her back, she would be a lot faster than them.

Spike was holding both his and Fluttershy’s package, waiting for Fluttershy to stretch her wings so that she would be ready the fly off. When Fluttershy felt ready she looked back at Spike.

“Okay, then. Jump up”, Fluttershy lowered herself so that Spike would more easily climb up on her back. But when Spike climbed up and sat down on Fluttershy’s back like he usually did on Twilight they ran into a minor problem: Spiked legs were interfering with Fluttershy’s wings. She wouldn’t be able to fly properly as long as Spike’s legs were in the way.

“And this is why you don’t use bags…” Spike said ironically as he looked for a alterative way to sit.

“Umm, Spike? Is it possible to lie down?” Fluttershy asked. She felt how Spike’s feet were in the way as she tried to flap her wings.

“I can try…” Spike said as he changed position. He was now lying on his stomach, holding Fluttershy around her neck and the sacks were carefully being grabbed by his tail. “Does this work?” Fluttershy flapped her wing a couple of times and turned carefully from side to side to see if everything were all right. When Fluttershy was satisfied she looked back at Spike and smiled as she nodded. Then she leaped and they were airborne. It was pretty slow in the start. The extra weight wasn’t something Fluttershy was used to, but she quickly got the hang of it.

“These sacks really make you a lot more heave than what I’m used to”, Fluttershy said as an explanation for the poor start.

“Don’t worry”, Spike said and laughed it off. As long as they were still in the air and everything was going fine he wouldn’t complain.

Fluttershy and Spike quickly reached up to the others. Fluttershy decided to fly even higher up so that they wouldn’t get noticed. The only problem was that it was impossible to hear a word what they were saying down below. But she and Spike could at least see them clearly and by using the clouds to their help, they didn’t risk being seen themselves. From up where they were they could see Sharpy was taking the lead. Twilight was right behind him. It looked like she wanted Sharpy something and it seemed like she did, because Sharpy slowed down to talk with her. Fluttershy and Spike couldn’t hear what they were saying of course, so they checked out the others. Rainbow Dash were more or less randomly flying around the group, while Pinkie were jumping around, obviously talking about… whatever Pinkie talked about. Rarity and Applejack were in the back. Rarity didn’t seem very satisfied and Applejack was giggling at her. Everything seemed quite normal and to Fluttershy’s relief, Sharpy seemed quite happy at the moment. Fluttershy guessed that socializing with other ponies could ease most sorrows pretty quickly. At least for the moment. Fluttershy smiled to herself as she looked back at Spike. She could feel how she quickly felt better just by having someone close to her.

True friends are indeed important, Fluttershy thought. Spike, however, didn’t pay Fluttershy any mind for the moment. He was currently more interesting of what was going on down on the ground, so Fluttershy did the same and looked down. It looked like they were saying something important. At least Sharpy and Twilight. Spike leaned down as an attempt to hear what they were saying, but it was impossible. He looked up to Fluttershy.

“Is it possible to fly lower?” he asked. “I want to hear what they are saying”.

“Is that really safe?” Fluttershy didn’t think this was such a good idea. They would be detected for sure.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. If something happens we’ll improvise”. Fluttershy swallowed. This was really risky, but Spike was right. It would help them a lot if they knew where they were going or what they were doing. This road didn’t have any sidetracks, so she knew that they were going towards the Everfree Forest, but not where they were going after that. She carefully flew down to the lowest possible cloud. Spike and Fluttershy tried to eavesdrop on Sharpy’s and Twilight’s conversation, but they were still too far away. Spike showed with his claws that they needed to go even lower. Fluttershy nodded. This was already too close according to her, but they needed to hear what they were saying. They left the safety behind the cloud and carefully flew even lower. Fortunately for them, none of the ponies down below were looking up. Fluttershy and Spike could at least hear most of the conversation which later turned into, with some exaggerations, a verbal conflict. The ponies were apparently unsatisfied with Sharpy not knowing the exact location where Huffy were hiding. But Applejack stopped the incoming complains by showing that she wasn’t afraid of some searching. She took the lead and shortly after Sharpy joined her. The other ponies followed and soon the mood was back to normal.

But as Fluttershy and Spike was following them, Spike noticed something. It looked like Sharpy was being suspicious of something. He looked behind himself like he knew someone was following him.

“What is Sharpy doing?” He asked Fluttershy. Fluttershy focused her eyes on Sharp. It looked indeed like he was looking for any followers. But what if he looked up? Fluttershy reacted quickly and flew upwards towards the clouds. The acceleration was so high that Spike almost fell off. He held Fluttershy tight so that he wouldn’t fall off. He took a quick look down at Sharpy to see if he saw them. It looked like they would make it to the closest could, but the moment before they escaped Sharpy looked up. Fluttershy sat down at on the cloud and looked back at Spike.

“Did he see us?” she panted. Fluttershy wasn’t used to fly at top speed and with Spike as extra weight made it a bit more exhausting. But she was still far from finished.

“He must have”, Spike said worried. He pointed at a nearby cloud. They had to get off this cloud without being seen from the ground. Fluttershy nodded and looked to the cloud Spike was pointing at. She reached out carefully to the next could. If she could grab it they would be able to move to that one without being detected. The cloud was just in reach, but Fluttershy had to leap to grab it. She didn’t want to use her wings in case Sharpy was closed than she thought. And it was good that she didn’t use her wings, because as soon as Fluttershy and Spike climbed up on the cloud Sharpy went flying straight through the cloud they were just hiding behind. Fluttershy embedded herself and Spike in the cloud to hide. They didn’t come out before they were absolutely sure that Sharpy had returned to his group. Spike was the first one to look up through the could. He was still laying on Fluttershy’s back. Unlike a pegasus, he couldn’t stand on clouds, but he didn’t really mind. He wasn’t even able to fly by himself yet. He tapped Fluttershy on her back to notify her that the coast was clear. When Fluttershy’s head popped up through the cloud she looked very nervous.

“How could he know we were there anyway?” Spike asked curiously.

“He must have heard my wing beats”, Fluttershy said without looking at Spike. “Can’t we just follow them from up here until they stops for the night?” Spike rolled his eyes to this, but accepted that as the best thing they could do right now. They really didn’t want to alert Sharpy even more. That would only increase his suspicions.

The night was upon them as the little group finally reached the Everfree Forest and decided to take a break and call it a day. Fluttershy was completely exhausted from flying with Spike on her back all day so they flew down and hid behind a shrubbery close to the camp. Fluttershy felt relieved when Spike jumped off her back and she decided to take this moment to stretch out her wings. Spike stretched as well, because he’d been lying in an uncomfortable position for hours. He handed Fluttershy’s sack to her and opened his own. He picked out a little light blue blanket and lied on the ground. He was really tired after a long day and decided to go to sleep immediately. He said good night to Fluttershy and fell asleep almost instantly. Fluttershy smiled to Spike and fixed his blanket a little so that he wouldn’t get cold. Then she opened her own sack and picked up a blanket for her own. It was green, her favorite color… just like Sharpy’s coat. She sighed. But as she thought of Sharpy she just had to see how he was doing one more time before going to sleep. Fluttershy carefully looked through the bushes in a position so that she could see the camp, but someone on the camp couldn’t see her. They had all just recently erected their tents, but Sharpy didn’t have any. Fluttershy looked how Sharpy politely denied sleeping in one of the other ponies’ tents, even though they insisted that it was ok. Instead he chose to sleep on the ground close to the fire. Fluttershy didn’t like the looks of this. Even though the fire would keep him warm, it would still be very cold for him during the night. But then something caught Fluttershy’s attention. And everypony else’s too. A shout was heard from Pinkies tent. I sounded like she said “F.P.A.D.G.O.F.R.O.M.M.D” but she wasn’t sure why or what it meant. But she saw how everypony rushed towards her tent. This gave Fluttershy a good opportunity she wouldn’t miss. She dashed back to Spike where she’d left her green blanked. Then she ran back to the bushed. She looked from side to side to make sure that nopony was around. Then she ran through the bushes to Sharpy’s sleeping spot. She placed her blanked on the ground.

“You won’t be cold tonight, Sharpy”, she whispered as she turned back through the bushes. But when she returned to Spike she realized something. Now she’d made sure that Sharpy wouldn’t get cold, but that meant there was nothing keeping her from not getting cold. She looked through Spike’s sack to see if he’d brought another blanket, but no, he hadn’t. She took a look at Spike.

I wonder if he would mind…?, Fluttershy thought. But then she shrugged. What are friends for? She carefully rolled under Spikes blanket, turning her back against his. This would at least keep her warm. Spike would understand.

Chapter 12: The Everfree Forest

Sharpy didn’t sleep very well that night. And not very long either. He woke up in the middle of the night, unable to go back to sleep. He was still shaking from the nightmares that just woke him up. He had relived the moment his sister died, over and over again. And even now the scene went through his mind. His head was hurting and so he groaned quietly. He tried to hide himself from the outer world by cover himself with his wings, but that wouldn’t help him to hide from his memories. It was during the night or when he was alone it was worst. When there was nothing specific to think of, to do or somepony to talk to. The only thing that remained was his memories. Horrible memories. Sharpy opened his wings and looked into the fire which was still burning strong. It made him feel better. The movements of the flames where hypnotizing. It felt like he could sit there for hours and watch the flames, just as a way to escape his thoughts. He wanted somepony to talk to, but didn’t dare waking any of the others up. He wished Fluttershy was there. She would have given him time to open his heart. But that wasn’t the situation. Fluttershy got afraid to death by just looking at him. He tried to let his thoughts of Fluttershy go and move on, but just like the memories of the death of his sister, it was impossible. But he had to let go sooner or later. From both Fluttershy and Crystal. Things would never work between him and Fluttershy. And Crystal wouldn’t come back to life. But he was afraid that if he would let go of his sorrow, only hate would remain. And even if his hate were directed to Huffy it would surely let his friends suffer from it in some way.

The headache returned again. Sharpy groaned and curled up into a ball. He wouldn’t be able to take this much longer. He had to finish this as soon as possible; otherwise he would lose his sanity. Even for a dragon there was a line for how much its mind could take. And for Sharpy, that line had been crossed.

He gripped his blanket tight. It had almost the same light green color as his fur and it reminded him of Fluttershy’s favorite color. He tried to focus on the short time-period where he and Fluttershy actually got along, but it was hard. The horrible memories tended to come back to him when he least expected it. He curled up even more and gripped the blanket tighter. It was still dark, but the sun would rise any minute now.

Why can’t the others just wake up, already?

The first sign of somepony had woken up were mumbling from inside Pinkies tent.

Finally, Sharpy thought and slowly forced himself up. The sun had been up for a few hours now, but it was still very early in the morning. The Everfree Forest didn’t look quite as scary when the sun was shining upon it. And the field was very beautiful in the morning like this. A perfect moment to share with your loved one. Sharpy sighed sadly as he forced his tired body to wake up and start moving.

When he reached Pinkies tent he carefully approached it. He didn’t want to wake anyone up by being too loud. But before he had the chance to ask Pinkie if he could come in she shouted:

“Come in!” like if she somehow knew he was standing there. Sharpy got surprised and looked from side to side to see if somepony else were there. But then he just shrugged and went inside. Pinkie was still lying under her blanket and looking up in to roof of the tent. She looked very concentrated and was probably thinking of something of great importance. Or so Sharpy thought. He couldn’t hear what she was mumbling about, so he simply asked her.

“I’m trying to figure out our new team name since the last one wasn’t too popular”, Pinkie said. The answer surprised him a little. But he quickly got more surprised that he got surprised in the first place. Pinkie was crazy, no doubts. But she was crazy in a good way. It was next to impossible to foresee what she was about to do or say. One thing was for certain: All of Pinkies positive energy tended to rub off on everypony around. Including Sharpy.

“How about F.O.A?” Pinkie asked with a big smile. It seemed like she was really satisfied with herself, but Sharpy still looked at her with questioning eyes.

“But what does it mean?” Sharpy asked and began to quietly repeat the word to himself until Pinkie answered.

“It stands Friends On Adventures!” When Pinkie said that, Sharpy’s world stopped for a moment. He looked at Pinkie and a smile grew on his face. He, for the first time since the Crystal-accident, got somepony’s honest confirmation that she was his true friend. Shapy had guessed by the girls’ actions that they saw him as a friend, but this really showed him that at least Pinkie saw him as a true friend. I felt kind of weird for Sharpy. That such a little thing, probably unintentional from Pinkies side, could make him feel so happy.

“I love it!” Sharpy said and gave Pinkie a small hug. “Thank you”. Then Sharpy walked out from the tent, leaving Pinkie dumbfounded. She wondered why Sharpy thanked her. But then she shrugged and smiled. She had apparently made Sharpy happy in some way and he liked the new name for their team, so that was good enough for her.

Outside Applejack was waiting by the fire. She was currently looking down in one of the backpacks she’d brought. When Sharpy came closer to her she looked up, gave him a nod and smiled.

“Good mornin’. Ah’ heard you when you went into Pinkie’s tent, so ah’ decided to get up as well”, Applejack said.

“I didn’t wake you up, did I?” Sharpy asked, surprised that somepony had heard him. He’d tried to be as quiet as possible. But Pinkie did talk a bit lauder

“No, no, Sugarcube. Ah’ usually wake up pretty early anyways. So what did you and Pinkie talk about?” Applejack were mildly interested, but thought that she should ask anyway. Showing interest in somepony else were apparently good manners according to Rarity.

“Well she had a new name for our… group. It was…” but Sharpy wasn’t able to continue, because Pinkie, like out of nowhere, jumped in between them and interrupted him.

“It’s F.O.A! It’s F.O.A!” Pinkie jumped up and down, exited to hear what her old friend thought of the name, but at first Pinkie got the same reaction as she got from Sharpy.

“Foa…? What’s that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked, suddenly more interested than before.

“It stands for Friends On Adventures!” Applejack thought of it for a second, but then nodded and said without hesitation:

“Ah’ like it. It really suits us. You know, since we’re all friends and such”. Applejack looked at Sharpy and nodded as a confirmation that he was included. Sharpy smiled back. This made equally as happy as when he got the same confirmation from Pinkie. He hadn’t forgotten about his problems, but right now, they were as good as gone. But he couldn’t help to feel some guilt that he might just use them to get away from his problems, but he quickly shoved that thought away. They were his friends, not some tools used to escape his problems. When all the problems were gone, at least for the moment, he wouldn’t let new negative thoughts destroy the mood.

“So…” Applejack began. “Should we wake everypony up so that we can have some breakfast?”

“I’m already on it!” Pinkie said and dashed into her tent. Applejack looked at Sharpy, who just shrugged. Neither Applejack nor Sharpy knew what Pinkie had planned. But when Pinkie came out of her tent, Applejack and Sharpy burst out laughing. Pinkie was holding a little trumpet in her hoofs.

“I knew I would have some kind of use for this!” she sad and smiled. Then she jumped up on a nearby rock and pressed the trumpet to her muzzle. Applejack proceeded by covering her ears with her hooves. Sharpy noticed that and quickly did the same. He was just in time, because the moment later a loud noise could be heard all over the place. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight who were still sleeping in their tents all screamed in surprise and Rarity even collapsed her tent. Applejack’s hat flew off due to the pure sound and Rainbow flew out from her tent, ready for action. In the forest you could hear a lot of scared animals running away in fear. And close by Sharpy could hear a very familiar high-pitched scream, but he couldn’t figure out from where he had heard it before, so he chose to ignore it.

When Rainbow figured out that the noise came from Pinkies trumpet, she calmed herself down, realizing there was nothing dangerous. But then she got an angry look on her face. She flew down to Pinkie and glared at her.

“Pinkie… why?” was all that Rainbow was able to say.

“Well, to get you up of course”, Pinkie said with a smile. And as straightforward as she was, she added: “And to try out my new trumpet”. Then their attention turned to Twilight’s tent. She was more or less crawling out from her tent, still very tired, but awake nevertheless.

“What’s going on?” she asked confused, wondering what in Equestria could possibly cause such a noise. Rainbow simply pointed at Pinkie and said:

“Pinkie happened… And her new trumpet”. Twilight looked confused over at Pinkie and saw the little trumpet she was holding. Twilight was quiet for a short while and everypony was waiting for her to say something. The only thing that came out from Twilight was a question that nopony could answer.

“How can such a small trumped cause such a loud noise?” After saying this, she stood up on her legs and walked towards the group. In the meanwhile, Applejack started giggling quietly to herself and Sharpy couldn’t help to burst out laughing. The whole situation was just so funny. When Applejack stopped, she returned to her backpacks and started looking for something they could eat for breakfast. But she quickly got interrupted when an unsatisfied grunt could be heard from behind them. They all looked back and saw the pile of cloth that used to be Rarity’s tent. It was obvious that Rarity was somewhere under there and when Rarity’s voice could be heard from under the pile, it was clear.

“I would really appreciate if you could help me out of this mess”, Rarity said, clearly unsatisfied and she had to try hard not the lose control of her voice. Everypony ran over to help her out. It took some time to get Rarity out of the mess, but when they finally did, she was very upset but remained in control. She demanded an apology from Pinkie and she got one. And while Pinkie was at it, she took the time to apologize to everypony. But it was pretty obvious that she didn’t regret it at all, but there were no damage done so arguing about it would be pointless. They returned to the campfire to get some breakfast so that they would be able to make it the whole day. Or at least until they stopped to eat again. But to Pinkie’s surprise, and everypony else’s relief, her trumpet that she had left back at the fire was gone. Pinkie started checking the area so see if she might have placed it someplace else, but it was completely gone.

“I just don’t get it”, she said. “What ever happened to my new trumpet?”

“You know what, Pinkie…” Rainbow said. “I don’t know and I’m not sure that I want to know either”. Pinkie narrowed her eyes and looked at each of the ponies present.

“Somepony stole it!” she said and out of nowhere she got a magnifier which with she started to investigate the area around the fire. “That’s the only explanation!”

“I would hardly think that one of us would want to steal your trumpet, Pinkie”, Twilight shook her head and sighed. “It was probably some animal who thought it was pretty or so”. Pinkie stopped her investigations and looked at Twilight. She then removed her magnifier and gave Twilight’s words a thought. It was true some animals were attracted to shiny things. And her trumped were all golden, so it was definitely shiny. Pinkie shrugged and gave up. What Twilight said made sense and since everpony was with her to help Rarity, so it couldn’t be one of them. It was just a bit sad that she only got to use her new trumpet only once.

“But ah’ guess that’s for the best, Pinkie”, Applejack said as she moved over her backpacks once again. “But it was pretty funny from our side, wasn’t it, Sharpy?” Sharpy nodded and laughed. He couldn’t deny that. “So… who wants cheese and flowers on their bread?”

During the breakfast they were talking about all sort of things and Sharpy could really feel how they grew closer as friends. They liked him and he liked them. He still had this uncomfortable feeling that came from his memories, but it was a lot better when he had something to do and somepony to talk to. What really made him happy what that everypony accepted Pinkies name without hesitation. They even made comments that made it clear that Sharpy was accepted as one of their friends. As a pony he wouldn’t get too surprised, but now when they knew that he was a dragon and his appearance were there to remind them, he got really happy that they could put that fact away and treat him like an equal.

When everypony was full, had packed all of their stuff and were ready to go, they took the first step into the Everfree Forest. There were a lot of dead trees all over the place and the further into the forest they went, the darker it got. In the outer parts of the forest it was very bright, but the sun couldn’t reach this far. The trees were bigger and created a roof over them. At least they would be safe if it would start raining. It wouldn’t take so long to cross the forest for Rainbow Dash and Sharpy. They could just fly over the trees and be there in no time. But they couldn’t just leave the others, so they walked together. What slowed them down even more was the fact that the small path they were currently walking on were, from time to time, so muddy that it was next to impossible to walk on. Sharpy and Rainbow could just fly over these parts and Twilight used her magic to teleport herself and the others. But constantly teleporting yourself and three other ponies quickly made Twilight very tired, so they had to make their way over themselves. Twilight could still teleport herself without any major problems, but Rarity was not at all so talented with magic. Applejack simply used the environment and her good physics to make her way over. Pinkie simply walked straight trough meter-deep mud without problem. But when it came to Rarity, they had to wait a bit longer. She didn’t want to get dirty at all, so they had to help her through all kinds of obstacles. Sharpy just hoped the environment would be easier to get through after they had made their way through the forest.

But apart from some obstacles it all went well. It felt like they were being followed and watched from all sided, but so far nothing had really happened. Most of the animals kept a safe distance from them. Sharpy was told that the girls had been in this forest before, but then it was apparently much worse. But that was during the threat of Nightmare Moon so they guessed that’s why they had stood before so many dangers. But just after the girls had told their story they heard a load roar. Everypony froze. They were all on full alert, ready for whatever threat there was standing before them. And out from the woods, a manticore jumped out. The manticore roared once again and stared at the six ponies with the intention to kill. The manticore had the head and body of a lion while it had the tail of a scorpion with a poisonous sting. On its back there were two dragon-like wings which reminded a lot of Shapy’s current wings. The manticore was at least four times as bigger than a pony and had to be a lot stronger as well. It was fair to say that he was a dangerous foe. The manticore started circling around the little group, forcing them to move closer to each other and take defensive positions. Sharpy looked over to Twilight.

“Have you ever had to deal with a creature like this?” he asked without losing sight of the manticore. Twilight nodded as a response but continued.

“Yes, but then we had Fluttershy. She’s very good with animals, so she managed to calm it down”. That wasn’t too great news. Nopony had ever really fought against a creature like this, but Sharpy was confident. First of all, they were six against one. Sharpy also knew a lot about fighting different animals. Thanks to the violent life of a dragon, he’d learned a lot of that as a kid. And last, but not least, he was not ready to die just yet.

“Ok, wait for him to attack, then we’ll all dodge his attack at the same time but jumping away in different directions”, Sharpy shouted. “Rainbow, you’re fast so you have to recover fast and distract the manticore while I start attacking him from the front. Applejack! You need to give him a good kick in the back so that he falls over. The rest of you have to stand by and wait. If something goes wrong, you have to join the fight, ok?” All the ponies looked surprised at Sharpy for a second. They were not used to see him like this. But he had a good plan, so they all agreed to do their part. The fact was, when Sharpy ever got into a battle like this, he completely changed. In some way it felt like this it actually felt right, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself. He was so used to the constant violence he had to live through as a dragon so he’d gotten used to these situations as well and was quick to adapt to new situations.  And as Sharpy predicted, the manticore jumped straight towards the group, ready so slice them all to pieces with a single blow. But in the last second the all jumped away, everyone in a different direction. This made the manticore confused and stunned for a short moment. But it was enough for Rainbow to fly straight towards the manticore. She kicked him to get his attention, which was successful. When the manticore was busy trying to catch Rainbow, Sharpy took the time to fly in full speed straight to the manticore’s face. With his hooves, Sharpy managed to make the manticore completely punch-drunk. The beast was tripping backwards so that it would not lose the little balance it still got left. But before it could recover, Applejack ran forth to kick him in the back. But the manticore were waiving its tail all over the place, so to avoid being stung, Applejack had to stop her assault. This wasn’t good and Sharpy was about to lose his grip of the manticore’s nose. But just before the manticore would be able to throw Sharpy off, Twilight interfered. She shot a beam of lightning on the manticore’s back. This made him completely stunned for a short moment, but it was time enough for Applejack to fulfill her part of the plan. She saluted Twilight and ran towards the manticore once again. Just before the kick she turned to Twilight and said:

“Thanks, partner”. The manticore fell forward by the force of the kick and hit the ground with a loud sound. It wasn’t enough to make him unconscious, but it was definitely enough to make him unable to fight. Sharpy began to walk towards the still lying manticore, showing off his sharp teeth that could easily put an end to the beast’s life if placed correctly. But when he was standing in front of the manticore, ready to make the final blow, Rarity stopped him.

“Wait! Wouldn’t be unnecessary to put an end to his life?” she asked Sharpy. What Rarity said made sense. The manticore was far from able to fight. He couldn’t even stand up. But that didn’t change the fact that he would come after them as soon as he’d recover, so Sharpy simply kicked him hard in the head to make him fully unconscious.

“So, now he won’t be able to follow us”, Sharpy said. He could feel that he had released some of his hate for Huffy on this manticore, which wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to risk losing control of himself. He realized at this moment that his mind was more fragile than ever before. He had to try to stay in control of himself, even if something like this happened. If not, he would sure hurt his friends in some way. Sharpy decided to just leave the unconscious beast by itself and keep on walking. The sooner they got out of this forest the better. The five remaining ponies stood still for a couple of moments, looking at the manticore, before running to Sharpy.

“That was awesome!” Rainbow said excited when she reached Sharpy. “It was like you knew exactly what to do”

“Well, you have to know these things if you want to survive as a dragon”, Sharpy said as a response. And for the first time, the five ponies all got interested in how it was like being a dragon. Especially Twilight, which didn’t surprise Sharpy. Twilight was that type of person who always wanted to learn something new. And she got a baby dragon living with her, almost like her son, so she obviously wanted to know more. Sharpy didn’t stop moving, but he wanted to answer the questions about being a dragon as good as possible so he tried to find the best way to begin. He began by saying that he preferred the kind of life the ponies lived. They were much more civilized than the dragons and they were a lot more peaceful. The dragons sure had some kind of civilization, but only barely. The violence was the biggest minus with the dragon society. Dragon-raids were quite common. A dragon-raid was when a group of dragons attacked animals and terrorizing small towns just for fun. Sharpy admitted that he’d joined a few dragon-raids himself. He didn’t have a problem when you went out hunting to get food, but unnecessary killing wasn’t anything Sharpy was a big fan of. Most dragons didn’t like the raids either, but was enough dragons that did to force you into one. You didn’t want to stand out. It was also quite usual for the younger dragons to cause havoc and therefore minor battles occurred even between groups of dragons. The older dragons usually didn’t care of what the younger ones were doing, but if an older dragon ever got thrown into the fight by all kinds of reasons, it would get brutal. But even if it did, dragons never killed other dragons. That wouldn’t be tolerated and seen as a crime which would be severely punished. Sharpy kept talking about how the dragons lived and the five mares listened with great interest. Sharpy also mentioned that his negative view of the way the dragons lived had only increased after he’d seen the lives of the ponies.

“And that’s why I wanted to stay and live with Fluttershy as a pony”, Sharpy said after he was done explaining the way dragons lived. “And as you have seen… that didn’t turn out so well…” None of the five ponies said anything. There was simply nothing to say. They just nodded and kept walking. Things got awkwardly quiet for the next few minutes. Rarity was the one to break the silence by trying to start a common conversation with Applejack. Rainbow and Pinkie had also some comments about what Rarity said and soon everyone was talking openly. Sharpy liked this much better than total silence. Normally he would feel calm and enjoy the silence, but not now. He was afraid that the horrible scenes would return again. But right now, he was worried that the manticore would return again. When that beast would wake up, he would want to seek revenge, no doubt. He wished that he’d killed it, but at the same time he didn’t. It didn’t deserve to die. Perhaps being a pony changed his way of seeing things, while the part of him that was still dragon had its way of seeing things? He just hoped that they would be as far as possible from the manticore when it awakens. If not, things could get messy. And to Sharpy’s and everypony else’s despair, they heard a loud, angry roar. And it wasn’t very far away. They all stopped and turned around. They were all on full alert and ready for the manticore to come back. They had defeated it once, they could do it again. But this time it would surely be more aggressive. If that would be the case, it would make things very tricky.

They were all waiting and listening for another roar. Then they heard one. If was closer now and you could even hear how branches were being ripped off and bushes being stomped. But then it all got quiet. It was like the rampaging beat suddenly stopped. Then they heard some quiet noises from the manticore. It was very close, but it didn’t sound so angry anymore. And it was walking away! The group stayed their place until they couldn’t hear any suspicious sounds anymore. Then they started backing off slowly.

“Let’s get out of this forest, shall we?” Rarity said. Nopony argued and they all started running in the right direction again, out of the forest and to the mountain landscape where the dragons lived. Rainbow Dash and Sharpy didn’t leave their friends, of course. Even if they could, they stayed with them.

Sharpy decided that he wouldn’t leave his friends, even it that would mean he’d be able to stand against Huffy sooner. He would stay with them and help them whenever they needed. They could have chose to imprison him when they knew he was a dragon, but they saw trough that, and even offered their help to defeat Huffy. But Sharpy had to admit. What he was most thankful for was the simple fact that he could enjoy their company.

Chapter 13: Behind the Trees

The sun was rising and it was a lovely morning. The birds all sang and the flowers bloomed over the meadow next to the big forest. Behind the cover of some bushes Fluttershy and Spike were still sleeping. They were still lying back to back under Spike’s blanket. But as the sunshine reached Spike’s eyes, he slowly opened them. He was still dazed as he tried to fully open his eyes. He felt something touching his back. Strange… Spike didn’t remember that he’d gone to sleep next to something or somepony. He recognized the feel. It was a pony’s fur. He knew that because when he was younger and wasn’t able to sleep, he’d sometimes been lying next to Twilight in her bed. His first thought was that he was still sleeping and this was a dream where he was with Rarity. But then he felt something weird. Feathers? Rarity didn’t have feathers on her back. Only pegasi did. He was still very dazed and wasn’t sure what was going on, but as he looked up to the sun he realized that he wasn’t asleep. Spikes eyes opened wide as he turned his head. Fluttershy was still asleep, but Spike paid no mind to that. He jumped up and the sudden movement caused Fluttershy to wake up. Fluttershy mumbled something inaudible, turned around and looked at Spike.

“Oh… Good morning, Spike”, she said tired.

“Why were you lying beside me?” Spike asked. He wasn’t angry. Just surprised and confused.

“Well you see… when you fell asleep, I decided to take a quick look on how Sharpy was doing…” Fluttershy began slowly. Her cheeks had started to redden. “He was sleeping outside… and it was so cold last night so I thought…”

“…you gave him your blanket?” Spike ended her sentence. Fluttershy nodded and smiled. Spike sighed. “We have to get you that blanket back. Mine is way too small for us both”. Fluttershy tried to argue with Spike to make him change his mind, but Spike just shook his head.

“Can’t he sleep inside one of the tents?” Spike asked. Fluttershy looked sad at Spike and then turned her eyes to where the camp was at.

“It doesn’t seem like he want to… I don’t know why”.

“We’ll just see what we can do at the next stop”, Spike said and shrugged. Then he picked up his things again and putted them in his little bag. Spike looked at Fluttershy, waiting for her to do the same. Fluttershy quickly got the hint: Spike wanted to get moving. Fluttershy, however, already got all her things in her back, so she simply picked it up with her teeth and attached it to her back. But as they came to the camp, they were apparently not ready to leave just yet. Only Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Sharpy were currently awake.

“Aww… now we have to wait for everypony to wake up”, Spike said irritated. Fluttershy looked at him for a second before looking back at Pinkie, Applejack and Sharpy. She didn’t mind waiting. It was dangerous in that forest and she’d prefer not going in there at all. But she had to follow Sharpy. She wouldn’t make it not knowing if he was all right.

Fluttershy looked at the three ponies that were currently awake. She wondered what they were talking about. But then she saw Pinkie pick up something golden. Pinkie had her back turned against them, so it was impossible to see what it was, but it appeared that she was holding it to her mouth. Applejack and, right after her, Sharpy covered their ears with their hooves. Spike noticed this and quickly did the same. Spike did not know what would happen but since Applejack and Sharpy covered their ears it would be for the best that he did it too. Fluttershy however did not, so she had to hear the most defining sound that she’d ever encountered. The sound for Pinkies trumped echoed through the forest. All the animals close by fled in panic and Fluttershy couldn’t resist letting out a loud scream. The second later she covered her mouth, trying to shut herself up. They were very close now and louder noises would surely be heard. She just hoped that all the sounds from the fleeing animals would drown the sound of her scream. She didn’t seem to be the only one who got surprised by the sound. Out of the tents all the sleeping ponies went out of their tents wondering what had happened. Well, except Rarity, because her tent completely collapsed.

When Fluttershy recovered from the surprise, she waited for them to go and help Rarity. She knew they would and when they did, she will sneak into the camp and steal that trumpet. The noise that it made all the animals terrified, so it simply just had to go. Fluttershy could still hear some kind of ringing sound in her ears, but she didn’t care too much. It would disappear sooner or later anyway.

It took some time, but soon they were all gone to help Rarity. Fluttershy took her time to sneak into the camp. She didn’t have to look a long time after the trumpet, because it was so very different from everything else. She looked at the trumpet before picking it up. It didn’t feel very good to steal from her friend, but if Pinkie used that trumped again more animals would get scared. Not to mention Fluttershy herself. She quickly picked it up with her mouth and started heading towards the bushes again, quietly so that nopony would notice her. But after a few steps, Fluttershy stopped. She just remembered that Spike wanted her to take back her blanket that she gave to Sharpy. She looked towards the place where Sharpy had his sleeping spot. As expected, her green blanked lied there on the ground. She carefully walked up to it. But she didn’t take it. She stood there for a few seconds. She could smell his scent. It made her warm inside and she remembered that one time when they had shared the same bed. They had just been sleeping next to one other, but she could still remember his presence. She sighed and walked away, leaving the blanket behind.

When she came back to Spike he was looking worried at Rarity’s collapsed tent. He just hoped that she would be ok. Sure, it was still just a tent, but the tent pegs could still hurt. Fluttershy left him alone for the moment. She had to hide this horrible instrument somewhere. She found some thorny bushes, so she simply pushed it into the bush as long as she could without hurting herself. When she returned to Spike, he looked a lot calmer than what he did when she walked passed him a couple of minutes ago.

“Is Rarity, all right?” she asked, knowing that was what Spike was worried about. Spike smiled and nodded.

“Yes, she is. But I don’t think Pinkie is too happy that somepony stole her trumpet”. Spike said. During the last sentence he gave Fluttershy a funny smile which Fluttershy replied with a guilty look on her face. Then they both chuckled.

“Come on, Fluttershy. I think they are about to leave any minute now”, Spike said and began to walk a bit into the forest to be prepared when the group they were following started moving. Fluttershy flew over Spike, picked him up with her hooves and flew with him to the treetops. Spike, who wasn’t ready for this got surprised and started to kick in the air with his feet before realizing Fluttershy were carrying him. When they got to the treetops Spike understood why Fluttershy had done this. Up here they could rest on the thick branches, stay hidden and at the same time have full lookout on what was going on down on the ground.

Spike and Fluttershy waited patiently for the group to get ready to leave. It took some time, but soon enough the group packed their things and went into the forest. Fluttershy and Spike followed them from the trees. Spike had a good laugh watching the group trying to get past certain obstacles. But as they got further and further into the forest the obstacles got only more and not only for the group, but for Fluttershy and Spike as well. There were more dead trees further into the forest which included loose branches which could cause Spike to fall off. Fluttershy were pretty careful though not land on any, so that wasn’t the biggest problem. The biggest was to find a suitable place among the trees where they could stay hidden. The dead trees made them too exposed so it wasn’t as safe to travel at the treetops anymore. They had to go down to the ground. Both Fluttershy and Spike felt unsecure when walking on the ground. It felt like they were making a lot more noise than when flying from tree to tree. Besides, they were also an easy target for potential predators and other beasts. But so far they hadn’t seen any dangerous animals. Perhaps they would be able to make it through the forest without any dangerous encounters. But they would soon forget that thought, because they heard a roar in the distance. Spike held his breath, quickly grabbed Fluttershy’s front leg and froze. Fluttershy herself tried hard not to scream of surprise. There was some kind of dangerous beast coming their way. She felt like she had responsibility for Spike, so she had to keep calm. Even if the beast would come for her. But to her relief the beast, which turned out to be a manticore, came from the other side of the road, which means the group of six ponies was standing between it and her. But her relief didn’t last very long when she realized what danger her friend were currently in. But he tried to calm herself and Spike down. They had faced a manticore before in this very forest. She just hoped that her friends remembered what she had told them: “Sometimes you just need to show a little kindness”. But it didn’t seem like they remembered, or just didn’t care. They obviously let Sharpy make up a plan for how they should defend themselves and Fluttershy feared that it would include a lot of pain for the poor manticore. And she was right. In just a few moments the manticore was done. It was apparently very hurt and had a hard time to move. Fluttershy shook her head, worried for how the poor animal felt. Sure it was a dangerous animal, but she couldn’t stand seeing it in so much pain. But now Fluttershy’s heart almost stopped beating. She saw how Sharpy slowly started walking towards the defenseless manticore. He was showing his sharp teeth and his eyes were pouring out anger. Was Sharpy about to kill the manticore? Fluttershy was now more scared than ever. Sharpy was a dragon. He had the ability to kill. And he would kill, given the chance. Fluttershy’s eyes wandered from Sharpy’s teeth, to his eyes and to the laying manticore. Sharpy had the intention to kill. Fluttershy didn’t want to look, but couldn’t turn away. She watched how Sharpy walked up to the manticore. Fluttershy tried to turn away once more, but couldn’t. Was she about to witness her first killing? But in the last second Sharpy stopped. Rarity had shouted his name. Then she said something that Fluttershy couldn’t hear, but she didn’t really care. She was more focused on Sharpy. Something had changed. His eyes didn’t have that strong sign of anger anymore. Only fear and sadness. But not for the manticore, that much was clear for Fluttershy. But then for what? Sharpy kicked the manticore unconscious, but the look in his eyes remained. It was something she didn’t understand. But when the little group left, she ran forth to check out the manticore, and Spike followed her.

“Wow, did you see that?” Spike said, clearly amazed by the fight. “They took down a manticore”. Fluttershy nodded but didn’t answer. She was busy checking out the manticore… and thinking of what she just saw. She’d assumed that Sharpy’s newly discovered self, his aggressive self, was because of him being a dragon. But she wasn’t so sure anymore. Why did the look in his eyes change to quickly? He’d changed from somepony ready to kill, to somepony scared, worried and insecure in the blink of an eye. But why? Had it something to do with the recent events about the death of his sister? She didn’t understand and realized she probably wasn’t going to just yet. But now she had a goal more than just follow them and make sure they were okay. She wanted to figure out who Sharpy really was and what was going on. If she could understand Sharpy better, perhaps her fears for him would disappear. Or it would have the opposite effect. But she had to take that risk. She knew Sharpy could be nice… and that was the one she fell in love with. But apparently he had another side. If it was just temporarily due to the resent events or if it was who he really was were yet to be found out. Fluttershy had now checked the entire manticore’s body for any life-threatening damages, but as far as she could see he would recover. But she couldn’t just leave it like this. Her friends would probably just follow the narrow passage that they had been walking on this entire time to the edge of the forest, so it wouldn’t hurt to stay a little while to make sure the manticore would be ok.

“Um, Spike? Could you please help me move this manticore?” Fluttershy asked Spike with her sweetest voice she could come up with. Spike looked at her with big eyes.

“Move it…?” he asked quickly, doubting that she was truly serious.

“Well, yes. I want to make sure that he will be okay”. At first Spike didn’t want to help her, complaining it would be too hard, but after Fluttershy had looked him in the eyes and said “please” one more time he couldn’t resist. Fluttershy sure knew how to convince others.

It was really hard, just like Spike would have said it would be. The manticore was a lot bigger than Fluttershy and Spike combined, not to mention how heave it was. But they developed a technique to push it, inch by inch until they’ve managed to push the manticore away from the road.

“Phew… that took some time…” Spike said. He was clearly tired and rested on the manticores back.

“… Yes it did…” Fluttershy panted. “The others are sure to have made it quite a bit”.

“So… What are you going to do now?” Spike asked Fluttershy. Fluttershy hesitated before answering.

“I’ll try to wake the manticore up”, she said after a few seconds. Spike reacted by standing up, still on the manticore’s back.

“You’re going to… WHAT!?” Spike shouted.

“Well if I’m going to make sure he’s ok he’s got to wake up”, Fluttershy answered calmly. She knew what she was doing. She needed the manticore to open up to her, show her if she needed her help. Her instincts of taking care of animals in need made sure she didn’t change her mind, whatever Spike said. Fluttershy began to nudge the manticore gently and asking him to wake up. Realizing this wasn’t going to work, she turned to Spike.

“Um. Could you please help me, Spike?”

“Sure, Fluttershy”, Spike said with a grin. “I think I can lend you a hand”. At this point Spike was a bit tired and grumpy, so he simply walked up to the manticore and slapped it across the face. The manticore immediately opened its eyes, staring down at Fluttershy and Spike. Slowly, the manticore turned from being confused to angry. Spike took a few steps backwards as the big manticore stood up. But Fluttershy didn’t care about the manticore’s current conniption. She just walked straight up to the manticore, nudging it gently on the paw with her muzzle.

“Um… Mister Manticore? I just wanted to know…” Fluttershy began but got interrupted by the manticore roaring. Fluttershy got scared and backed off, especially when the manticore stood up on its hind legs, preparing a strike. But it never came to that. The manticore simply pushed Fluttershy and Spike out of the way and ran away, roaring in anger. Fluttershy and Spike realized that the manticore would run up to their friends. And this time it wouldn’t be looking for food, but for revenge.

“No, no, no, no…” This wasn’t good. Fluttershy knew that. And she knew he had to do something, so she took air and flew after the raging manticore. Spike, however, got left behind.

“Fluttershy… Wait!” Spike shouted and followed her as fast as he could. It wasn’t enough to keep up with her and she quickly got out of sight for him. Fortunately the manticore was easy to track because of the roaring and devastation it left behind.

Fluttershy however tried her best to stop the manticore. She dragged its tail, careful not to get stung by its poisonous sting. She tried to push it, but it seemed like nothing happened. She bit herself in her lip. She had to get in front of it. It would be risky but if she didn’t the manticore would attack her friends once again. She flew as fast as she could and stopped a few meters in front of the manticore. This slowed it down a little, but didn’t stop it. The manticore roared loudly to make Fluttershy move out of the way, but she didn’t budge. The manticore didn’t care. He could easily ram her. But as the distance grew shorter, the manticore got a good look into Fluttershy’s eyes. And Fluttershy stared back. She demanded the manticore to stop. Not by words, but purely with the powerful force of her famous stare. The manticore got confused. It couldn’t resist the pure force from the yellow pegasus stare and felt like the best thing to do was to obey. The manticore stopped just before ramming Fluttershy out of the way. Fluttershy shone up when she saw that the manticore stopped and so she walked straight up to it.

“Hi, Mister Manticore”, Fluttershy said in her sweetest voice possible. “Please don’t attack my friends again. They just wanted to defend themselves”. The manticore looked at Flutterhsy for a few moments before replying with an unsatisfied grunt. It could easily have crushed Fluttershy on the spot, but something kept him from it. Fluttershy moved forward and rubbed her muzzle against the manticore’s paw again.

“I just wanted to make sure that you’re not hurt”, Fluttershy said smiling. The manticore calmed down a bit and actually shook its head. Fluttershy gave the manticore a hug to show her relief and the manticore answered by gently licking her mane. Afterwards the manticore wandered off. Fluttershy felt accomplished. That manticore was feeling fine, it would probably not attack anypony ever again and she’d just managed to stop it before it reaching her friends, which she could hear talking just behind a few bushes and trees. They were apparently tired of this forest and so was she. She’d just need to fly back and pick up Spike and then they could be on their way as well. It would be nice to finally get out of this forest. She’d just hoped that she would remember where they would be going next? She could ask Spike. He probably remembers.

Chapter 14: Nothing

This didn’t stop running until they managed to get out of the forest. It took just a few minutes, considering they weren’t very far when the manticore attacked. But after the fight and running for quite some time, they had to stop and catch their breath. They sat in an opening at the edge of the forest. They all looked out over the giant field bordering the forest. It was very gloomy. Close to the forest there were small bushes growing and the grass were greed and nice. But just a few meters more, and as far as you were able see, there were only stone, sand and a few dead plants here and there. Some bigger rock formations could also be seen here and there, but they were not many. The field itself had a dark, almost reddish tone, which made it look very unwelcoming. It was like the field itself carried a dark secret. Sharpy was looking over the dead field with disgrace. Then he looked from one side to the other. He couldn’t see the mountains where he used to live. They hadn’t exactly walked the way he flew when he first came to Equestria a few days ago. He had to get a sense of direction so that they wouldn’t go completely the wrong way.

“Twilight?” he asked without looking away from the dark field. “Do you have a map?”

“Yes! Sure I have!” Twilight responded and picked up the map from her package. Then she walked up to Sharpy and levitated it if front of them both so that they would be able to see the entire map. The map illustrated the edge of Equestria, the Everfree Forest and then the dragons region where you could see what was the beginning of the mountain chain, Shadowcliff Mountains. On both sides of the mountains there were large fields.

“The thing is; we should have ended up over here…” Sharpy said and pointed at the beginning of a mountain chain. But then his hoof pointed at the two open fields on each side of the mountains. “…but instead we ended up somewhere here or here… I’m not entirely sure”. Twilight took a look at the map and compared the map to how she believed they’d walked.

“It was pretty hard to navigate in the woods, but if I’m right we should be on this side of the mountains”, Twilight said and pointed at the field to the right. Then she dragged her hoof over the field to show where they could walk. “The fastest way would be to cross the field like this”. Sharpy nodded. He knew better than to question Twilight about how sure she really was. Twilight was very knowledgeable and probably knew how to navigate in difficult situations. Sharpy was satisfied with Twilight’s sense of direction so she folded the map and placed it safely back in her bag. Then she left Sharpy and returned to the others, asking them if they were ready to move. The mares all looked at each other before nodding. They were ready. After getting everypony’s approval, Twilight returned to Sharpy’s side. She looked at him, noticing he was feeling a bit down, so she tried to start a conversation. The field didn’t have a name on the map, but she assumed the dragons had a name for it, considering it was right next to their mountains.

“So what is this place called, anyway? It said nothing about it on my map, but I’m guessing it has a name, even so?”

“Nothing…” Sharpy replied. Twilight assumed that it didn’t have a name after all, but before she could say anything, Sharpy continued. “It’s actually called Nothing”.

“Yeah, well… It looks like a pretty sad place. There is nothing here… But why is the ground so dark?” It was more like Twilight thought out loud rather than asking Sharpy, but he decided to answer anyway.

“This place has a back-story, actually” As soon as Sharpy said that Twilight looked interested. She wanted to know more. “Well I don’t know if it’s true or not. But it’s a story nevertheless”. As Sharpy was talking, more interested ponies, Rarity and Applejack to be more exact, walked up to listen. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie wasn’t that interested but were quiet so that Sharpy could speak without being interrupted.

“Many years ago, and many years for a dragon is a lot, there were conflicts between two different types of dragons; dragons from around here and dragons from the north. As I’m sure I’ve told you; dragons are usually quite violent. And because of that, war broke loose. Even though the battles were huge and brutal, they somehow managed to keep their fights a secret from other intelligent species. Well, long story short, the dragons from the north had the upper hand, they were bigger and stronger. But as they fought their way through the land they eventually died one after another. But they still managed to come this far. Their target was the mountains and the plan was to attack from both sides. There is said that there used to be a forest here. But even so, that was a really dumb decision. They were already just a handful left and splitting them into two groups just made it easier for the local dragons. The local dragons were many. And they were angry. They breathed fire upon the forest, burning every plant down to aches… and the dragons from the north shared the same fate. It’s said that the reason the ground looks so dark and reddish is because of fire and the blood from countless victims who died during that battle…” Sharpy stopped there. There was nothing more to say. But even so, a disgusted look formed on Sharpy’s face.

“Wow…” Applejack said after listening to Sharpy’s story. “Ya’ dragons really have a dark history, don’t ya’?” Sharpy nodded slowly and closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.

“Do you know what the worst part is?” Sharpy said after a while. Everypony looked questioning at him. “I haven’t even realized how horrible that was until now… even though I’ve heard that story many times as a dragon… as a dragon…” The last three words he whispered to himself repeatedly. He realized how he began to look at things differently recently. Was it because of him being a pony, the death of his sister or just because he’d gotten the chance to see a completely different reality as the ponies lived? He couldn’t say if his personality had changed too, but he didn’t think so. He was still the same old Sharpy he’d always been. Except he was now in love with a pony which had a fear for dragons. Was his love for Fluttershy only because of him being a pony, too? Sharpy got worried. He didn’t want to stop loving Fluttershy if he became a dragon again. He’d tried to forget about her, but it was impossible. But Sharpy told himself that Huffy’s spell should only have changed his appearance and physical attributes. Not his mind. He felt calm again. So his love for Fluttershy wasn’t in danger. Their relationship was, but not his love. But then he couldn’t blame his recent differences in the way he looked and thought about things on Huffy’s spell. He’d fallen deep into his thoughts so that he didn’t realize the other ponies were talking to him until Rarity finally grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

“Hello, are you listening?” she asked. Sharpy looked up confused. He didn’t say anything. All he did was shaking his head.

“Is everything okay, darling?” Rarity asked worried. At first Sharpy was all quiet, but soon he replied.

“There is a lot going on right now, okay?” Sharpy turned his eyes to the sky. “I just hope that everything will be clear to me soon enough”.

“Don’t you worry, Sharpy. Ah’ am sure it will”, Applejack said as an attempt to cheer Sharpy up. She gave him a little pat on the back to show him that she’s on his side.

“And if there is something you want to talk about, darling, I’ll gladly be there for you”, Rarity said happily. Sharpy smiled to them both. He felt lucky to have such kind friends around him. He was really glad they all offered to help him. But now was not the time for taking it easy. They had to get past this field as fast as possible. Sharpy didn’t know why, but he got a really bad feeling about this place. And they were really exposed to other animals and even dragons. Sharpy started walking faster. If a full grown dragon were to see them he or she would surely attack them. And Sharpy was not quite ready to pick up a fight against a dragon. Realizing what he was thinking he began to worry about Huffy. If he was scared from fighting a regular dragon… how would he even stand a chance against Huffy who was a magical dragon? His thought got interrupted when Pinkie asked him a question.

“Why do we walk so fast all of a sudden?”

“Well, we’re pretty exposed here and I don’t feel like encountering a dragon”, Sharpy said. He waited a couple of seconds before adding: “It’s not exactly rare for dragons to fly around in this big open area”. This made everypony a bit afraid so they all followed Sharpy’s lead and hastened. But quite quickly Rainbow Dash realized something.

“Hold on, Sharpy!” She shouted. “If we’re afraid of a regular old dragon… how are we supposed to take down a dragon that can use magic?” Sharpy sighed and tried to find the best possible answer. After a few moments he answered.

“Well, I’ve just realized the same thing. But I’m confident that if we can come up with a good plan and strategy we will be able to take him down”. After saying this he looked at Rainbow to see if he could notice her reaction. It didn’t seem like she liked it very much and were a bit skeptical. Sharpy guessed that she wanted to hear the plan right here and now to feel comfortable. “Well we have to find Huffy before we can make up our plan. But as you might have guessed I’m not exactly inexperienced. And I’m sure we have more clever ponies around here to aid me”. Satisfied with the answer she got, Rainbow Dash nodded and they all continued their walk.

They had walked in relatively high speed for quite some time now and the sun was about to go down. As the sun was setting, it just got darker and darker and soon it was very hard to see anything at all. The moon hadn’t risen yet so the darkness was next to absolute. Sharpy was the only one who didn’t experience any major problems seeing. During they walk, they had spotted at least three dragons flying by, but neither of them had seen them, or perhaps just didn’t care. Sharpy suspected the latter. As he’d stated before; they were really exposed on this field. They had agreed to find somewhere to sleep and rest as soon as the moon rose so that they would actually see what they were doing if they would put up their tents. But as they walked forward peacefully, waiting for the moon to rise, they heard something. I sounded like an enraged roar from a dragon. It was close and it was getting closer. All the ponies got worried and started looking up in the sky to see if they could see the dragon.

“Y’all hear that?” Applejack said. “That’s a dragon, right? If he sees us…”

“But it’s so dark”, Rarity responded worried. “He won’t be able to see us”. Sharpy looked at Rarity with condolence.

“Don’t be so sure about that, Rarity… I can see perfectly well…” After Sharpy said that Rarity looked at him in surprise. She was going to argue with him that it was next to impossible to see anything, but then she looked at his eyes. Eyes with those thin pupils were practically there to make it easier to see in the dark. And if Sharpy could see next to perfectly in this darkness, the dragons could as well.

Sharpy looked up in the sky to see if he could see any dragons. They’d heard one roar pretty close and since he was the only one who could see well it was his duty to make sure they didn’t get surprised by an attacking dragon. Normally he wouldn’t get too worked up by hearing a dragon. Dragons rarely attacked ponies as long as they didn’t tread on the land that the dragons saw as theirs. But as previously stated; this dragon was angry. And when a dragon was angry, he was aggressive. And there! He saw the dragon flying in their direction. If they were lucky he wouldn’t see them, but Sharpy was smart enough not to rely on that possibility. He signaled the others to come closer to him. If they weren’t so spread out, perhaps it would be easier for them to go unnoticed. As everypony came closer to Sharpy, he also started to walk towards some big rocks that could be seen in the distance. If they could reach them they would be able to hide.

“The dragon is heading towards us”, he said quickly but only as loud so that everypony could hear. “If we would get attacked… promise me that you’ll run to that rock formation over there, okay? I’ll try to shake him off”. Everypony agreed, though Rainbow didn’t think it would feel quite right to leave Sharpy alone with the dragon since she was the fastest flyer in Ponyville. But Sharpy just shook his head and told her that she would just be in the way. With two ponies flying around, the risk is big that the dragon will ignore the one who’s trying to lure him away and go for the other. Rainbow muttered a little but agreed to follow Sharpy’s plan. Then they heard the dragon’s roar again and this time it was really close. Sharpy looked up in the sky where he’d last seen the dragon. This time is was much closer and he was looking directly at them. They had been spotted. Sharpy reacted quickly and yelled:

“Run, quickly!” Sharpy pushed the other ponies a little to make them hurry up. They understood perfectly and started heading towards the rocks in high speed. Sharpy flew up high in the air so that the dragon would see him and ignore the others. It seemed like it worked because the dragon were now heading towards Sharpy in high speed. Sharpy looked down for a second to make sure the others were heading towards the rock. Rainbow Dash was already there and the others were not far. Good. Now Sharpy only had to worry about the dragon. Sharpy looked up once again and noticed what the dragon looked like. The dragon had a very dark reddish tone on his scales, almost like the ground below. The spikes were white, making it a nice refraction to the dark scales. The eyes were yellow like a cat’s. The dragon was also very big. Almost too big. The dragon was at least thirty feet tall if he would stand up straight on his front legs. All that size would only slow him down. Sharpy smiled nervously as he felt the adrenaline pump through his body. He flapped his wings faster as he prepared for the chase.

“Let’s see what these wings can do”

Chapter 15: ... a predator, a killer... a dragon

The dragon came closer and closer, but Sharpy didn’t move. He was waiting. This made the attacking dragon a bit confused. He’d expect the little pegasus to fly away in fear. But he did nothing. Just like he wanted to get caught. But the dragon didn’t care. Instead he accelerated.

Sharpy noticed the dragon’s acceleration. He narrowed his eyes and flexed every muscle in his body. He waited until the very moment the dragon would slice him with his sharp claws. But that never happened. Right before the dragon would end Sharpy’s life, he dodged the dragon by putting all his power to his wings in order to move as fast as possible. Sharpy knew if he would have flown directly in the opposite direction of the dragon, he wouldn’t be able to build up enough speed before getting caught by the dragon.  By doing this he forced the dragon to make an instant stop to be able to turn around and follow him again. But since Sharpy was a lot smaller than the giant dragon, he was able to build up speed a lot faster than the giant dragon and by that, make some distance between him and the dragon. Sharpy looked back to make sure the dragon was still following him. He was. Sharpy then turned his eyes forward, looking for a suitable place to get rid of his pursuer. He found a few possible places such as taller rock formations and such. But then he saw the edge of what appeared to be a small forest. The trees were tall and thick. An ideal place for his plan. He would try to fly around the place for a short while, dodging the dragon’s incoming attacks, just to make the dragon focus on him and nothing else. Then he would try to make the dragon crash right into the thick trees. He doubted it would be enough to make the dragon unconscious but it would surely be enough to stun him so that he could return to his friends. But as he looked back to see how far the dragon was behind him he got shocked. The dragon was only a few meters behind him. Sharpy watched in fear how the dragon came closer and closer by the second. He didn’t think this big dragon would be capable of such speed. Sharpy tried to fly faster, but it didn’t matter. At this rate he would get caught before he’d be able to make it to the small forest. Sharpy’s heard stopped beating for a second when he noticed the dragon was already right behind him. He dragon opened his jaw to bite Sharpy to death, but missed. Sharpy folded his wings and simply dropped down a good forty meters before unfolding them and make another try to reach the forest. He had now lost his belief in actually defeating this dragon, since he was a lot faster than he expected, and just try to escape for his own survival. He was too far away from his friends so there was no way he could call for their help. He was on his own. Sharpy looked behind himself just to see that the dragon was only getting closer. Sharpy could feel how the adrenaline pumped through his body as he forced his wings to beat faster. His only chance was to fulfill his plan and make the dragon crash into the trees, or at least hide among them. But he couldn’t delay. He had to get there now. He flew as fast as he could, it seemed so far away. And then he could feel it. The dragon scratched his hoof with his claw. Sharpy shouted in surprise. He had felt that before, right before he met Fluttershy. He didn’t like that feeling then and now, it was only worse. Sharpy tried to avoid the dragon by flying upwards, but in vain. As Sharpy began to fly upwards, the dragon reached out his claw in an attempt to catch Sharpy. The dragon didn’t manage to catch Sharpy, but he tore up Sharpy’s hind leg with his sharp claws. Sharpy shouted in pain and dropped. The sudden pain put Sharpy in shock, he snatched and unable to remain balance, he fell down to his death.

The dragon, however, wasn’t quite done with the green pegasus quite yet, so he flew down and caught Sharpy before he hit the ground. The dragon gripped Sharpy and pulled him close to his face.

The dragon smiled victoriously as Sharpy just groaned in pain. Sharpy looked into the dragon’s eyes. He saw that the dragon was surprised that he looked the way he did with his scaly wings, sharp teeth and dragon-like eyes. But Sharpy could also see a desire to kill. This dragon wasn’t going to let him go. Sharpy sighed as he realized the inevitable end. Sharpy closed his eyes and then a single tear ran down his cheek.

“I’m sorry everypony...” he said quietly to himself. “...for all the problems I’ve caused... Crystal... Fluttershy...” But as he prepared himself for his fate he heard a voice. He opened his eyes. He couldn’t tell from where this voice was coming from, or if it was all inside his head. But one thing was for certain. It was Fluttershy screaming. “Sharpy, don’t give up” was all he could hear, but that was enough. He wasn’t ready to die just yet. He flexed his muscles and looked straight into the dragon’s eyes with new found courage. The dragon noticed the sudden change in Sharpy’s eyes, but wasn’t fast enough to react. Sharpy used his razor sharp teeth to bite the dragon in his arm. Roaring of pain and anger, the dragon was forced to let Sharpy go. Sharpy could have tried to escape, but he didn’t. First of all, he’d probably just get caught again. And he also wanted revenge for what the dragon did to his leg. His body knew what to do even before his brain did. Sharpy opened his mouth, preparing for a bite, and quickly went for the dragon’s throat. Within a second Sharpy had buried his teeth deep into the throat of the dragon. The skin was too think for Sharpy to do anything more than that, but it was enough. Sharpy could feel the blood of the dragon pour out of the wound his teeth had made and into his mouth. The dragon roared once again. Though now all anger was gone. Only pain and fear remained.

Sharpy got punched off by the dragon and flew a few meters to the side before being able to remain balance. The dragon made no attempt to give back on Sharpy. He just tried to cover up the wounds with his hands, so that the blood wouldn’t pour out, and flew down to the ground. The dragon more or less crashed into the ground, desperate to get away from the strange pegasus. Sharpy watched the dragon lie down on the ground. He appeared to be in pain, which was to be expected. A bite to the throat is very dangerous, even for a big dragon. But Sharpy did nothing to help the dragon and just flew away towards his friends. He had no idea how far he’d flown, but he suspected it was quite some distance. Sharpy was still in chock after the event and was still processing what just happened. It was like his body had moved on his own when he bit the dragon. As the adrenaline relented he started to get his feeling back in his leg. He groaned as the pain came back and realized that he had to get back to the others as soon as possible. Otherwise the blood loss would take its toll. And it did. He didn’t get far until he started to feel dizzy, but he had to continue. He didn’t want to fall down and rot away.

But dizziness didn’t keep him from being worried. Worried about who he was. When he broke free from the dragon it was like his body was moving all by itself. Reactions and instincts from a predator. A killer. Someone who could be dangerous to his friends. He admitted that the short, but yet wonderful, time among the ponies had changed him and his thoughts of what’s right and wrong. But when he was in the heat of battle, his true nature reveled itself. Maybe the spall hadn’t changed anything but his appearance? Sharpy bit his lip, even though he didn’t use any force it caused him to bleed. Strangely it didn’t hurt, but that might just be because he was too focused on the pain in his leg. As he tried to lick up the small amount of blood that came out of the little wound he realized his entire mouth was covered in blood. Without hesitation, Sharpy licked it all up, and swallowed it. Sharpy’s eyes opened in surprise. He actually liked it. Normally Sharpy wouldn’t be surprised, but right now it felt… wrong. He’d gotten used to vegetarian food so fast, but was he about to turn into a carnivore again? Was the spell breaking? He was just glad that Fluttershy didn’t see him right now. What would she think of him? It wouldn’t be very good for their relation and what she thought of him, that’s for sure.

Then suddenly everything went black before Sharpy’s eyes. It was just for a second, but it made Sharpy worried. What was that? Sharpy started to feel terribly bad and tired. He looked back at his hind leg. He’d been moving all the time so the blood just kept pumping fast through his veins, causing him to lose more and more blood. Everything went black again. Sharpy panted. He had to get back now. How far could it possibly be? He felt how all his strength lest his body in an instant and his wings beat slower until the third time everything went black and he fell from the sky. Sharpy had no strength left to prevent him from falling. He wasn’t even able to scream in fear as he was barely conscious. But just before he would get smashed into the ground somepony caught him.

“It was a close one, there”, the voice said. Sharpy was too dizzy to even recognize the voice. “You are so lucky that I came after you”. Sharpy tried to look up to see who his rescuer was, but it was hard to even keep his eyes open, so raising his head was not an option.

“You… came after… me?” Sharpy coughed. He didn’t know who his savior was, but right now it didn’t matter. He assumed that he’d find out soon enough.

“Of course I did! Come on. Let’s get you back to the others”, the voice said and started to move in to same direction as he’d been heading. “I guess we need to find a river so that we can take care of that wound of yours properly”. Sharpy finally closed his eyes and relaxed. He could feel how the pain and the nausea disappeared as he was about to lose conscious.

“Thank… you…” was all he could bring him to say.

“Don’t mention it. I’m always here to help”, the voice answered. But then after a few seconds everything started to shake and Sharpy woke up again. “Hey! Don’t fall asleep, or you might never wake up again!” Sharpy understood, even though he didn’t catch every word, and putted all the strength he had left to keep him awake. He forced his eyes to keep open as he saw what might was the place where the others were waiting. He could see how a few blurry ponies walked out from the stone formation. At first they seemed very happy to see him, but that quickly changed to worry. After all, he didn’t look to well, so that reaction was nothing but expected. But that was as much as Sharpy could be able to keep himself awake. Everything went black. He could hear worried voices, but could catch a single word. Then he stopped hearing the voices. He was unconscious.

Chapter 16: When It Really Matters

”So you don’t know where we’re going?” Fluttershy asked once again. Spike shook his head.

“I’m sorry. Some kind of mountains, or something” Spike shrugged. That didn’t tell Fluttershy very much. There were a lot of mountains in and around Equestria. But she couldn’t accuse Spike for not remembering because she didn’t know either.

“Oh, it’s okay, Spike”, Fluttershy said and crouched so that Spike could easily climb up on Fluttershy’s back. “We’ll get there eventually”. When she made sure that Spike wouldn’t fall off from eventual shakings and such she took off. Neither of them knew exactly where the others had gone, but it wasn’t too difficult to follow their trail. First of all Fluttershy assumed they had walked on, or at least alongside, a natural pathway that were leading through the forest. Their hoofprints also gave them away. You didn’t have to be a detective to figure out where they had been going. But Fluttershy had some experience in tracking down animals. She was used to her animals sneaking out into the forest so that she had to track them down and bring them back. She was sure her skills would make it a lot easier to find her friends again. As they flew among the tree tops they saw how the trees progressively got smaller, but more alive. After just a couple of minutes of flying, almost every tree had green, beautiful leaves which hung over the pathway like a beautiful ceiling. Fluttershy didn’t think she’d ever call the Everfree Forest beautiful, but right here it really was. Spike looked at Fluttershy and she looked back at him. They both thought the same thing. We’re heading out of the Everfree Forest.

After just a couple of minutes they were out of the forest, but what they saw surprised them. There was a giant field of absolutely nothing. Sure, there were a few weird rock formations here and there, but nothing more than that. And the ground had a strange dark red color. It was nothing any of them had seen before. It was pretty obvious that something had happened here many years ago because, somehow, it didn’t seem natural. Fluttershy was very skeptical about going there. She just got the strangest feeling that something wasn’t right about this place.

“I don’t know about this place…” Spike said slowly, almost like he was suspicious of something. “I just got the weirdest feeling…” This confirmed that Spike just got the same feeling that she just did. This place just had to have a dark history. You could almost feel the anxiety in the air. Fluttershy shivered and she looked upon the scary looking field.

Then it just hit Fluttershy. Weren’t they supposed to go to some kind of mountains? She took a look around, but there were not a single mountain in sight. This didn’t look like she’d expected. Had she flown the wrong way? But she was certain that the others had walked this way. She started looking over the field to see if they had gone out there, but they were nowhere to be seen. She got nervous. Had they really lost them? Without warning, Fluttershy quickly started flying alongside the edge of the forest as a panicked attempt to find Sharpy. The sudden movement almost caused Spike to fall off. If he hadn’t placed himself in a safe position from the start he would surely fall off.

She flew for a minute without result before turning the other way around to look for them on the other side of their starting point. It took about two minutes before reaching the same distance from the starting point as her first flight. She looked and looked but couldn’t see them. She tried to listen to them, but couldn’t hear them either. Fluttershy didn’t know what to think. She just kept looking hopelessly from side to side. She’d lost them. How could she lose track of them? Everything had gone so well until now. She flew down to the ground again. The field was in front of them and the forest behind. She looked back at Spike, begging for an advice. Spike saw how worried and unhappy Fluttershy was now. She was panting violently and was probably too stressed to think straight herself, so that’s why she turned to him. Spike gave it a thought. It wouldn’t be vice of him to say something without figuring out the best possible solution. It would be very unnecessary to make Fluttershy more worried that what she already was.

“Well my guess is that they are hiding somewhere to recover”, Spike began, but it didn’t seem to have such a positive effect on Fluttershy. She turned her head away and looked out to the giant field again. That gave Spike an idea.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” Spike’s exited voice caught Fluttershy’s attention and she looked at him once again. “They are probably going out there since we were able to follow them this far”. Fluttershy didn’t seem to understand where Spike was going with this. So far he’d only stated the obvious. But Spike continued. “What if we could go out there, hide behind some rocks or something, and when they comes out of the forest we’ll be able to see them”.

Fluttershy didn’t have any high hopes but guessed it was their only choice since they couldn’t find them. She looked out over the dark, unwelcoming field. Spike pointed out some bigger rocks which would be a good place to hide and wait. Fluttershy nodded and flew over to the rocks that Spike had pointed out. It wasn’t very pleasant, but it would do for now. They had more important things to put focus on. Fluttershy tried to swallow her anxiety and just focus on looking out for Sharpy. She just hoped that Spikes was right and his plan would work. If it did; she’d never take her eyes from Sharpy again.

They waited for what seemed to be an entreaty, though it were only a few minutes, and Fluttershy had already started losing hope in finding Sharpy and her friends. But Spike did his best to keep the mood as high as possible by telling Fluttershy, and himself, that this plan should work. So Fluttershy tried to pull herself together, but it was hard to keep the negative thoughts out from her head. But then she saw them. They were walking out from the forest, not far from where she’d tracked them. Fluttershy and Spike looked at each other, wondering how they weren’t able to see them. They must have hid themselves really well. Fluttershy felt so relived. She had been afraid that they had lost them. Now it would be easy to follow them again, Fluttershy thought, but as she looked up in the sky she noticed something very unfortunate. There was not a single cloud in the sky. She bit her lip. This wasn’t good. Not good at all. How were they supposed to follow them now? If they tried to follow them without using a cloud as a cover they would surely be seen. And there were no cover on the ground to brag about. But they had to keep them in their sights or they would lose track of them again. Fluttershy could feel how her hope started fading away again. As she couldn’t figure out what to do she turned to Spike. He has come up with good ideas before, so she assumed he could do it again. And he didn’t disappoint.

“We could just wait here until we can barely see them, and then we start following them”, He said after a minute’s reflection. Fluttershy nodded. That should work. It might be a bit risky, but it was their only option right now. She looked at the sun, seeing it wasn’t so much time left until the sunset.

“And would it be a good idea to move closer when the sun goes down?” Fluttershy added. “Just to make sure we won’t lose them again.” Spike nodded to show her that he liked that idea. And so they waited. They saw how they slowly walked away in the distance. When they agreed that they were far away enough they moved out from their hiding spot. They didn’t move by air when that would only make the risk bigger of being seen. But after an hour or so, Spike noticed something in the distance.

“Is that a dragon?” he asked. It wasn’t directed to Fluttershy more than to himself, but he was certain that he could see a dragon in the distance. But then he got surprised by Fluttershy squealing and almost fell over.

“A dragon!? Where!?” Fluttershy looked in the air for the dragon. Spike pointed in the direction where he could see the dragon and then Fluttershy saw it too. It was heading their way. Fluttershy squealed once again and pressed herself to the ground as an attempt to hide. Spike took cover behind Fluttershy, but kept an constant eye on the incoming dragon. Spike realized it would surely see Twilight and the others. Spike saw how the dragon looked down on the little group of ponies and expected the worst. But the dragon just flew past. He didn’t mind the ponies at all and probably thought it would be unnecessary to wait time on something that didn’t bother him. As the dragon flew over Spike and Fluttershy he looked down on them as well. This time he seemed amused that the yellow pegasus was so terrified, but didn’t slow down to watch at all. Spike shook Fluttershy.

“The dragon is gone now. He didn’t seem to care about us”, Spike said to calm Fluttershy down. Fluttershy carefully looked up to make sure Spike was correct. Then she sat up and looked sadly as the dragon flew away. She shed a tear and looked back toward Sharpy’s group. Spike looked confused at Fluttershy, wondering why she suddenly felt so sad.

“I thought I had got over my fear of dragons... That I might have gotten used to Sharpy…” Fluttershy sobbed. “…But I was wrong… Will I ever be able to live with Sharpy?” Spike didn’t know what to say. He cleared his through over and over again, but didn’t say anything until he noticed that the group was getting further and further away.

“Errm… perhaps we should start following them again?” He said with an awkward smile. Fluttershy wiped away her tears and stood up.

“You’re right, Spike. I’m sorry… let’s get going”. Fluttershy said and started moving. They normally didn’t talk very much when they were on the move, since Fluttershy wasn’t very talkative. But this time it just felt really, really awkward. Spike didn’t like it at all so he made a few unsuccessful attempts to start a conversation, but Fluttershy was a bit down after she’d realized that she had still an uncontrollable fear of dragons. Spike truly felt sorry for her.

As they walked, a few similar events occurred where dragons flew past them, neither of them really cared what the ponies were doing and just flew past them, but Fluttershy reacted in the same way every single time. She squealed, threw herself to the ground and covered her head.

It got dark quickly. But unlike the beautiful nights they were used to in Equestria; this one was almost unnaturally dark. You could barely see your hoof in front of you. And the fact that the field looked even scarier now didn’t make it any better. Spike, however, could see just fine thanks to the kind of eyes he got.  Since Sharpy now had the same kind of eyes, they assumed he could see just as well, so they kept a little bit distance between them to be on the safe side.

But after a while they heard a terrifying roar. None of them was sure what it was or where it came from, but it sure was angry. Spike moved closer to Fluttershy. But Fluttershy could feel how she started shaking. It was terrifying to look a dangerous monster in the eye, but it was much worse when she couldn’t even tell where it was. But even though Fluttershy was scared, she felt like she had responsibility over Spike, so she covered him with her wings. She was the bigger one and she could take care of most creatures if necessary. In a peaceful way of course… as long as it wasn’t another dragon. Spike was looking out from behind Fluttershy’s wing to see if he could see whatever it was that caused that roar. At first he couldn’t see anything, but then he noticed some movements on the ground. It was just Sharpy and the others splitting up. Wait? Splitting up? That doesn’t seem right, Spike thought and looked at Sharpy who were now standing alone. The others had gone hiding behind some rocks. Spike saw that Sharpy was fixated by something up in the sky. Spike followed where Sharpy was looking with his eyes and then he saw it. A giant dragon was flying in the air in full speed. And by the looks of it, it was heading rights towards Sharpy.

“Fluttershy!” Spike shouted and pointed towards the dragon. “There a dragon and he’s attacking…” Before Spike could finish his sentence, Fluttershy interrupted him.

“I… I can see that…” Fluttershy said terrified and crouched unintentionally. It was just barely, but Fluttershy could see most of what was going on. She just wondered what Sharpy was about to do. Then he flew high up in the sky. Fluttershy expected him to start flying in the opposite direction, but he just hovering in the air, waiting for the dragon. Fluttershy saw what was about to happen. If Sharpy didn’t move now, he’d be sliced to pieces by that dragon.

“No, no, no, no…” Fluttershy whispered to herself and prepared herself you fly over there.

“Wait for me, Fluttershy!” Spike shouted and quickly jumped on Fluttershy’s back. Then she took off. But she didn’t come very far until the dragon was already right in front of Sharpy. There was no way she could help him in any way. But she didn’t have to. Waiting for the dragon to make the first move was apparently Sharpy’s plan. He was clearly planning on luring the dragon away from the others. He easily dodged the dragon and quickly flew away from it. The dragon wasn’t fast enough to react so he got a slow start, but soon he was after Sharpy again. Fluttershy tried to keep up with them, but they were so fast and she lagged behind. But with Spike’s help she didn’t lose track of them in the dark. When she finally reached them it appeared Sharpy was in trouble. The dragon was right behind him and was swinging his claws, making multiple attempts to catch him. Sharpy seemed to handle the situation pretty well, but if he didn’t do anything fast it would just be a matter of time before he’d get caught. Then suddenly, Sharpy flew as fast as he just could towards a grove. Perhaps he could shake the dragon off in there. But Fluttershy saw how the dragon was quickly behind Sharpy. The dragon reached out his claws to grab Sharpy, but instead of catching him, he tore up a long wound that went through his hind leg. Fluttershy’s entire body cramped as she imagined the unbearable pain that must have hit Sharpy. She saw in fear how Sharpy’s body twitched and fell down towards the ground like a rock. Fluttershy’s eyes had already started to get wet when she instinctively flew to Sharpy’s rescue. But the dragon was closer and faster. He grabbed Sharpy before he hit the ground and pulled him towards his sharp teeth. Now Fluttershy’s eyes were flooded. She saw how Sharpy didn’t even try to resist. Had he already lost all hope? Fluttershy could barely see from all the tears in her eyes. She didn’t know what to do, but she couldn’t just watch him die. So she took a deep breath and screamed from the top of her lungs:

“SHARPY! DON’T GIVE UP!” She didn’t know what else to do. There was no way she could harm that big dragon. But then something unexpected happened. Fluttershy didn’t see how, but Sharpy somehow broke free from the dragon’s grasp. Then Sharpy started attacking the dragon by biting it in its throat. The dragon pushed Sharpy away and flew quickly to the ground while trying his best to cover up the wound Sharpy’s bite must have created. Fluttershy saw how Sharpy left the dragon to his faith without looking back. She couldn’t believe how he could be so cold about it. Fluttershy quickly flew down to the wounded dragon. As she approached the dragon carefully she could feel both fear and hate when she looked upon him. But even though he tried to kill Sharpy, no one deserved to die like this. She asked Spike for his blanket. She needed something to put pressure on the wound so that he wouldn’t bleed to death. But before she wrapped the blanket around the dragon’s neck she wiped out the tears from her eyes. The dragon was next to unconscious, so it wasn’t so hard to cover up the wound with Spikes blanket. But as soon as she was done, she quickly flew away from the dragon. If that dragon would wake up, she wanted to be far away from it. As Fluttershy had taken care of that dragon’s wounds, Spike had held his eyes on Sharpy, so he knew where he’d went. Fluttershy could easily return to Sharpy thanks to Spike’s guidance. She noticed that Sharpy was flying really slowly and that he hung his head. Perhaps Sharpy’s wound was worse than what it looked like. With all that blood dripping from his leg he’d might suffer from blood loss too. And then suddenly without warning, Sharpy’s wings stopped beating. Sharpy fell to the ground in high speed. If Fluttershy wouldn’t catch him… he’d die from the fall. Without thinking, Fluttershy dove diagonally so that she would be able to catch him, but she realized she would be too slow. Fluttershy begged her wings to make her move faster. Just this one time, please. She tried to push herself to the max, and she did. She could feel how she accelerated, flying faster than what she’d ever done before while Spike tried his best not to fall off. But having Spike on her back slowed her down quite a bit. The air resistance was too strong. She wouldn’t make it. Fluttershy’s eyes got flooded with tears. She couldn’t let him die, but there were not much to do but to try to fly faster. She was so close, but Sharpy had almost hit the ground.

No, no, no, no, no…, Fluttersy repeated to herself. She saw before her eyes how Sharpy would hit the ground and get smashed against the hard ground. Her entire body was hurting at the moment because of how much she forced herself. But just before Sharpy would hit the ground, a rainbow-colored flash of light flew in front of her and suddenly Sharpy was gone. Before Fluttershy realized what just happened she got scared and looked terrified in all directions. Then she saw Rainbow Dash carrying the wounded Sharpy. Fluttershy stopped and looked at them. A quiet little laugh could be heard from Fluttershy. She was so relieved that Sharpy was okay she almost forgot to breathe herself. It was miracle that Rainbow hadn’t seen Fluttershy and Spike, so they agreed to keep out of sight and make sure they followed them in silence.

She was able follow Rainbow Dash without any problems thanks to the fact that she couldn’t fly so fast while carrying another pony.

When they got back to the others everypony was first glad to see that Sharpy and Rainbow was okay. But when they saw what condition Sharpy was in they got worried. Neither Fluttershy nor Spike could hear what they were talking about, but they looked worried at Sharpy, who were clearly unconscious. Twilight then brought forth a map and started pointing in various directions. Fluttershy hoped they were looking for a place to take care of Sharpy. He needed medical treatment now or else the wound could get infected. Soon it seemed like they had agreed about where to go. Twilight took the lead, Applejack carried Sharpy on her back and Fluttershy and Spike followed them. Spike noticed that Fluttershy was feeling a bit down, which was weird. Sharpy were safe in the hands of their friends and he’d survived an attack from a dragon. Spike decided that he would ask her about it. Later though, when they had found someplace to make a stop and rest.

It seemed like they were heading for a small lake that were running quite close to the Everfree Forest. This was probably the long way around, but Fluttershy assumed they needed the water to take care of Sharpy’s wounds. But did you really need water if you had magic?

“Can’t Twilight use her magic to heal wounds?” Fluttershy asked Spike. Spike answered by shaking his head.

“Medical spells aren’t her strongest point. They are quite tricky to master”. Fluttershy nodded. They were pretty close to the forest, so she went looking for a good spot where they could both rest and see how everything was going for Sharpy while they remained hidden. It wasn’t very tricky to find such a spot, since there were a lot of bushes near the edge of the forest. Fluttershy really needed to rest, so she lied down on the ground, looking most unhappy. Spike thought now was the time to ask her what was on her mind. This place was as good as any, and it would probably take some time for the others to help Sharpy.

“Fluttershy?” Spike got Fluttershy’s attention. She looked tired and sad. “Are you all right?”

“I…” Fluttershy began, but then she said nothing for a few seconds. “I don’t know. It’s just that I feel useless. I mean… I usually don’t mind that ponies think that I’m useless… Not until I can hurt other’s that is…” Spike recoiled. He didn’t expect to hear that.

“Come on, Fluttershy!” He said. “You’re not useless. Everypony likes you!”

“But I can’t do what’s important”, Fluttershy cried. “I couldn’t do anything to help Sharpy with the dragon. All I could do was to yell at him not to give up”. Tears started falling from her eyes. “And I wasn’t able to catch him, because I wasn’t fast enough! If Rainbow Dash hadn’t showed up, Sharpy would be…”

“But now he isn’t!” Spike interrupted Fluttershy. “And I’d say you saved his life thanks to your shout. He’d clearly given up, but just the sound of your voice made his hope to come back to life again! If anything, you saved his life! Don’t you see how important you are for us, and especially for Sharpy?” Spike was almost mad at Fluttershy for having such thoughts. Fluttershy was not entirely convinced, but Spike surely made her feel better. She gave him a sad smile and wiped out her tears.

“I just hope that he’ll be okay…” She said and looked at Sharpy through the bush they were hiding behind. “But if this is what happens when he encounters a regular dragon… I fear for what will happen when he encounters Huffy…” Fluttershy sighed anxiously and covered her face behind her hooves. Spike looked at Fluttershy and sighed. He felt sorry for her and tried to imagine himself in her situation. He opened his little sack and pulled out his blanket. At first he lied down a little bit from her. But then she saw her shaking. He couldn’t tell if it was because of the cold or sadness, but he felt like he had to do something. He walked up to her, put the blanket over her and lied down beside her.

“I’ll all be fine…” Spike whispered. Fluttershy lied quiet and sobbed for quite some time, before replying.

“I will not stand by and watch when it really matters…”

Chapter 17: The Real Sharpy

Sharpy slowly regained his consciousness. At first he could just feel something itching in his hind leg. He wasn’t able to open his eyes or more. All he felt was the strange itching. But that itching slowly turned to pain. And as the time went on the pain just got worse and worse, until he shouted. He opened his eyes and started waiving his legs violently. His sight was still blurry and he couldn’t hear very well, but he noticed five other ponies jumping backwards in surprise. He stopped waiving his legs around when he started to feel tired.

“Yes, take it easy there, fella’”, Applejack said and so they all started to move closer to Sharpy. “It’s just us”. Sharpy looked at them like they were strangers. The five ponies all looked concerned at each other.

“It’s the blood loss”, Twilight stated. “We have to take care of this now! Rarity?”

“Oh…Of course”, Rarity said and started levitating a wet piece of cloth which she had dipped in the nearby river. “Just stay still, darling. This will only sting for a moment”. With that said, Rarity began to clean the wound. Sharpy winced a little when the cloth touched the wound, but he tried to stay as calm as possible. Rarity was done the next minute. With all the dirt gone from his leg, you could see just how big the wound really were. It covered almost his entire leg and it seemed to be quite deep as well. As far as she knew, they hadn’t brought any medical supplies. Sure, the blood had stopped flowing, but they still needed something to put pressure on the wound. Rarity checked her bag so see if there was something she could use, but then Pinkie poked her on her back. Rarity turned around so see what she wanted. In her mouth she was holding a roll of bandages.

“I figured we needed these, so here you go Rarity!” Pinkie said and gave Rarity the bandages.  Rarity thanked the smiling Pinkie Pie. “I brought them for just a situation like this!”

Rarity carefully wrapped the bandages around Sharpy’s leg, but still hard enough to do the job. Sharpy just looked down at his leg with a strained expression. It still hurt in his leg, but at least now it was clean and wrapped up in bandages, so that he wouldn’t risk getting an infection. Sharpy looked up to Rarity and gave her a grateful smile.

“So where did learn how to treat wounds like that?” Rainbow Dash asked Rarity. Rarity turned away from Sharpy to answer Rainbow’s question.

“Well fist of all, this isn’t something that’s too hard to take care of. But it is very important”, Rarity said sincerely. “But to answer your question; I’ve spent a lot of time with Fluttershy lately so I might have picked up a thing or two from her talents in taking care of animals”.

Sharpy instantly reacted when hearing the name Fluttershy. When Rarity had turned around Sharpy had returned to looking at his now wrapped up leg. But when Rarity mentioned Fluttershy he looked up once again. He didn’t say anything, just looked sadly at the other ponies. He tried to stand up, but as he putted weight on his hind leg he fell to the ground with a grunt.

“Whoa, there!” Applejack said and helped him up and made sure Sharpy didn’t put any weight on his injured leg. “Ya’ got to be careful with your leg, Sharpy. Ya’ don’t want to make it worse than it already is”. Sharpy tanked Applejack and stood up. They all looked at him like he was about to say anything, but he had nothing to say. He looked up in the sky. It was darker now than what it was when he passed out. That or his vision was still blurry, because he couldn’t see anything.

“I can’t see anything in this dark”, he said as he turned his eyes to the girls, who we currently looking up in the sky just like Sharpy.

“He’s right! It’s definitely too dark right now”, Rainbow Dash stated. The others agreed and started setting up camp next to the river that was flowing nearby.

When all the tents were raised and a campfire was burning in the middle, there were finished. Just like before, Sharpy declined the option of sleeping inside one of the tents and insisted that he could sleep outside, next to the campfire.

“If you change your mind, darling, you’re always welcome to sleep in my tent”, Rarity said before closing the entrance with a piece of cloth.

Sharpy was sitting alone in the dark. He couldn’t sleep and had stopped trying. He was just sitting there, all silent, and looking into the fire. It was something special about fire. It made him feel calm. Well it usually did. But now there was too many things going on inside his head. The horrible memories from when his sister died made him feel cold inside, yet the fire was still burning strong. He’d started to feel some kind of inner fire when his transformation became weakened. But it didn’t feel unnatural. It felt like the complete opposite. Like that fire was supposed to be there, but something had taken it away. Like if he’d been transformed to something he wasn’t. Sharpy sighed. He knew what that fire was. It was the source of a dragon’s breath. He looked away from the fire and turned his eyes to the sky. It was dark and probably very cloudy, since you couldn’t see the moon or the stars. Sharpy sighed again looked at his wings. The green scales shone in the light of the fire. He wasn’t a pony. He just had the body of one. He looked at his front hooves. This wasn’t natural at all for him. He was supposed to have claws. Claws that could easily cut through any type of skin without any effort. Claws which he could easily grab anything with. These hooves weren’t good for anything but walking. He was a dragon, and a dragon was born to kill. He was violent by nature. Such a creature shouldn’t have anything to do with these peaceful ponies. He’d wondered what would happen if he killed Huffy and had always guessed that he would return to his original form. At first he was scared. If that happened, the other ponies would surely keep him from returning to Ponyville with them. But now… now he realized that would be for the best. Whenever something happens, he’d show his true self. He thought about it for a while. What would happen if he’d turn into the almost full grown dragon he really was?

How would they react to the real Sharpy? And more importantly; what would Fluttershy think? He almost didn’t want to think about it. He would understand if everypony would stay away from him, but having to watch Fluttershy’s reaction would just be too much. He’d felt broken inside just seeing her back away in fear due to his current appearance. If he walked up to her as a full grown dragon she might get scarred for life, or worse. A small part of him was actually glad that Fluttershy hadn’t accompanied them. He couldn’t bring himself to cause her more problems that what he already had. The more he thought about it, the more depressed he got. He curled up into a ball and covered himself with his wings. Trying to shield himself from all the problems of the outer world, he only found more problems to deal with inside himself. Sharpy started to shiver. It was getting really windy and the fireplace and the little green blanket offered little protection against the cold winds. He couldn’t help to wonder if it was any warmer inside one of the tents.

We must be close to the mountains, Sharpy thought. There was no other explanation for the cold winds. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not, but he wasn’t going to back out now. He was too determined. He just wondered what they would expect once they found Huffy.

He looked at Rarity’s tent. He liked Rarity and she had offered him her support if he ever needed to talk to her. And he felt like not was the time.

***

Rarity lied down and looked up in the ceiling. It should have been very dark, but she used her magic to create a blue light that created just enough light so that she could see. She looked at the beautiful drawings that were sewn into the tent itself. Rarity rubbed her hooves together. She couldn’t sleep. She was too nervous. In a couple of days, or perhaps even tomorrow, they would stand before the infamous dragon, Huffy. If they would be prepared for what was to come was impossible to say. They would have to see when the time comes. And then it will be too late to turn back. Rarity sighed. She wondered if her friends felt the same way. Were they as nervous as she was? It would feel awkward to ask them, but she assumed they were. This was like nothing they had ever stood before. Sure, they had defeated enemies like Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony and Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen. They may have been more powerful, but they didn’t have any plans on killing anypony. Huffy, on the other hoof, does. She was deep in her thought just when a voice from the outside disturbed her.

“Hey, Rarity? Can I come inside for a moment?” the voice said. It was Sharpy. Rarity remembered her tilling him that she would be there for him when he needed someone to talk to, so she guessed that was the case.

“Of course, dear. Come inside”, Rarity said to Sharpy. The next moment Sharpy entered the tent. He looked around at the magnificent artwork. Rarity sat up from her lying position and looked at Sharpy. Sharpy looked back at her and gave her a sad smile before he sat down in front of her.

“What’s on your mind?” Rarity asked. Sharpy blushed and looked away. Rarity expected this. It can be hard to open up to somepony else. Perhaps he needed a little push.

“Is it about Fluttershy?” Rarity tried to start the conversation, thinking that Fluttershy might be a good place to start at. After a few seconds Sharpy answered.

“Yes… Fluttershy is a part of the reason why I wanted to speak with you”, Sharpy said with a insecure tone on his voice. Rarity nodded.

“Please tell me”. Sharpy thought for a second before continuing. Rarity guessed that he wondered where to begin.

“Well… I love her”, Sharpy began. “A lot…” Rarity nodded slowly. She didn’t know what to say if he didn’t continue.

“That’s wonderful”, she said. “But where does the real problem come in?”

“You know she’s afraid of me. And I know that you girls have told me that she still loves me”, Sharpy was very straightforward. “But I have a hard time seeing how that works. I’ve tried to forget about her… move on… let go. But I can’t”. In the end Sharpy’s voice got unstable, so he stopped there. Rarity looked at him and felt sorry for him. She didn’t know much about him, seeing that she have only known him for a few days. But if somepony earned your best friends love, he deserves your help.

“Why would you let go in the first place? She still loves you”, Rarity asked. She had her theories, but wanted Sharpy to speak for himself. Sharpy was quiet for a moment. He was looking down, avoiding Rarity’s eyes, looking very uncertain. Then he looked up, straight into Rarity’s eyes.

“Because I love her!” Rarity turned her head when Sharpy said that. This didn’t make any sense to her. If somepony was in love, shouldn’t he want to be together with the mare of his dreams? Rarity just looked confused, so Sharpy continued to explain himself.

“I love her… and I would, without a doubt, sacrifice my own happiness to see her smile”. Sharpy looked into Rarity’s eyes, waiting for her response. But Rarity didn’t know what to say. This was all too sad. Rarity couldn’t accept their love to go wasted.

“But she loves you. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“It means everything. But I make her insecure, uncomfortable and afraid. I can’t see how that would work”, Sharpy said. In the end his voice started to get all shaky again. “She’ll move on and find somepony that can make her happy. Because as it looks like right now… I can’t”. A single tear dripped from his eye to the floor. Rarity watched the tear as it dried out.

“Let’s leave this subject for another time, dear?” Rarity suggested. “There’s no need to jump to conclusions”. Sharpy nodded and calmed himself down a bit.

An awkward silence occurred and lasted for the next couple of minutes until Rarity finally spoke up.

“I guess you had more you wanted to talk about?” Sharpy nodded and looked up in the ceiling. He closed his eyes and just waited. Rarity stared to feel a bit uncomfortable, since the conversation was going nowhere fast in the moment. Sharpy apparently noticed that and just before Rarity would ask another question, Sharpy spoke.

“I’m scared…” Rarity just looked at him. She didn’t expect him to say that. He’d been so brave all this time. But she figured that his courage might just be a shell. When she looked at him she could see how worried and insecure he really was.

“Don’t worry, Sharpy”, Rarity said with her sweetest voice. She moved closer to him and putted her hoof on his shoulder. “We are all afraid of what will happen when we encounter that dragon Huffy”. Sharpy looked at Rarity. She gave him a calm and understanding smile. Sharpy nodded slowly.

“Yes… I worry about that too”, he said. “But I can’t do much about that”.

“Too…?” Rarity asked. If Huffy wasn’t what made him scared, then what?

“I’m afraid of myself. Of whom I really am”, Sharpy said with a sad tone. Rarity was about to ask him what he meant, but he continued before she got the chance. “You see… I like this life as a pony and I want to leave my past life behind. My sister is dead and friends are temporary anyway… But I’m afraid to… I’m a dragon and a dragon is a born killer. And sometimes it feels like my instincts are taking over. I don’t want to damage your wonderful world”.

Rarity looked away after hearing this. So he was afraid of himself. Or not himself… but what he was capable of. He was truly a nice person. Rarity knew that much. He was loyal to her and her friends and even though he sometimes seemed a bit down, she usually had a good time when speaking to each other. Rarity looked back at Sharpy for a second. She looked at his wings, eyes and teeth. He was a dragon… and apparently he didn’t want to be.

“One shouldn’t run away from his true nature”, Rarity said. Sharpy looked at her skeptically. “It’s who you are… you can’t change that. Even if it means you can get aggressive, you just have to learn how to control and live with that”. Sharpy just sighed. Then he got a weird cold look in his eyes.

“That dragon from earlier…” Sharpy said with a deep voice. Rarity didn’t like where this were going. “I bit his throat and left him without looking backwards… I don’t even know if he’s still alive…” Rarity tried to look away, but couldn’t.

“I even got the taste of his blood...” Sharpy said sadly. Suddenly Rarity started to feel sorry for him again. “But the worst part is… I liked it”. Sharpy stopped there and looked ashamed at Rarity. Rarity just looked back. She didn’t know what to say or to think. Right now she was trying to get the horrible pictures out of her head. But Sharpy didn’t seem to mind about Rarity’s disgusted looks. It was more or less what he expected anyway. But Rarity was quickly able to put his brutality aside. She knew ponies could do horrible things in the heat of battle. What she had harder to accept was the fact that he thought the blood of another living creature was tasty. It just seemed so unreal for her. She almost couldn’t believe it. Sharpy, who were such a nice pony, or dragon, actually was a predator. She had to make sure.

“So, you actually eat meat?” Rarity asked carefully. Sharpy looked at her for a second before answering.

“Yes… yes I do”, Sharpy said. He was very straightforward. He didn’t want to hide anything. “But it’s not necessary. I can survive on vegetarian food”. Rarity nodded. That was good. But she had a hard time letting her eyes from Sharpy’s sharp teeth. But then she remembered what he told her before. He didn’t want to live as a dragon. He wanted to live as a pony. Rarity gathered her thoughts. She had to come up with something to say. When she did, she opened her eyes and looked straight into Sharpy’s with determination.

“Sharpy!” she said. “You may be a destructive dragon inside. But looking even deeper I can see somepony who wants to be happy. Somepony who wants to love and to be loved. You are not a mad killer, darling. You are a nice dragon who had discovered where you want to be. With us ponies”.

“A leopard never loses its spots…” Sharpy said doubtful.

“But it can learn how to love and tolerate”, Rarity said knowingly. “It can change its habits. One  just need to believe”.

Chapter 18: Officially Trusted

Sharpy just stared at Rarity. And she stared back at him with determination. Sharpy didn’t really know how to respond. He thought about what Rarity said over and over again. ... learn how to love and tolerate… change your habits… believe… one just needs to believe…

These words echoed through his mind. He looked away from Rarity. Even after what he said, she believed in him. He started to feel warm inside. It could just be because he was inside the warm tent, but he believed that this was something special. He looked back at Rarity and smiled with all his heart. Tears then started to flow from his eyes. But it was not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. His faith in himself had been extremely low, but these ponies knew how to make you see hope in the darkest of times. Rarity’s eyes softened and she returned the smile. The next moment they embraced each other in a heartwarming hug.

“Thank you, Rarity”, Sharpy whispered in her hear.

“That’s what friends are for”, she replied.

The next morning, Sharpy woke up and found Rarity sleeping not even a foot away. He’d considered going back out yesterday night, but Rarity insisted of letting him sleep inside her tent. And when comparing the cold, windy weather outside to the warm calm atmosphere inside the choice was easy. Nothing really happened after that. They just went straight to sleep.

Sharpy didn’t know what time it was. He was used to sleeping much less than these ponies. The sun was up, that much was obvious, but he didn’t want to wake up Rarity by limping out of the tent. He just stayed put and looked at her, thinking about what she had said to him. Thought that which was most important to him was that she still believed in him. He knew that she didn’t really trust him just a couple of days ago, but that had changed now. And she gave him hope that he could actually learn how to control his predatory instincts. But Sharpy had still a nagging feeling that he could completely lose it if something would happen during their upcoming battle with Huffy. But Sharpy shook those negative thoughts away. He was devastated enough as it is. There is no reason to make it worse thinking of things that probably won’t happen. A movement from Rarity caught Sharpy’s attention. Rarity had her back turned against Sharpy, but now she turned around. She yawned, unusually sophisticated, and slowly opened her eyes. She looked at him with a puzzled look for a second before giving a tired smile.

“Good morning, Sharpy”, she said and yawned once again. “Have you been awake for a long time?”

“No, I haven’t”, Sharpy laughed. “I just woke up”. They looked at each other for a few second before somepony started punching the side of Rarity’s tent. They both looked confused at the place where the punches came from.

“Y’all awake in there?” They heard Applejacks voice from the outside. She sounded a little bit irritated, but mostly amused. “Come out of y’all want somethin’ to eat”. In just a couple of minutes, Sharpy and Rarity were both up and ready. Rarity offered Sharpy to help him walk out of the tent, but Sharpy said no.

“It’s not that bad, really”, Sharpy lied. The truth was that he could barely walk normally. He could only use three legs, since it hurt too much to walk on the fourth. Rarity noticed this of course, but allowed Sharpy to have it his way. Sharpy limped out of the tent after Rarity to find all the other ponies sitting around the campfire. This was a bit unusual for Sharpy. He was used to sleep a lot less than the others, but now he was, next to Rarity, the one who slept the longest. Applejack walked up next to Sharpy and looked at his hind leg.

“You alright, hun?” Applejack asked concerned when she saw how badly Sharpy walked.

“Yes, I’m fine”, Sharpy said and failed horribly at walking normally.

“I ain’t so sure about that”, Applejack said and pointed at his bandaged leg with her hoof. Sharpy just grimaced and tried to wiggle his leg a little bit only to realize it was just as bad as it looked like the night before. He wouldn’t be able to walk around like this.

“I think you should start using your wigs for a change”, Pinkie Pie said. Then she shone up. “You could fly around with Rainbow Dash and do cool tricks with her!” Both Rainbow Dash and Sharpy laughed awkwardly at that. Sharpy would be forced to use his wings from now on, but if he’d be able to do any tricks was a highly doubtful.

“Let’s just eat up so that we can get a move on before sunset”, Twilight joked. Said and done. Sharpy, Twilight and Applejack all sat down with the others and enjoyed their breakfast while listening to Pinkie Pie’s nonstop talking. During their time, both Sharpy and Rarity noticed how Rainbow Dash was looking at them with a little bit too much joy in her eyes.

“Is there something you want?” Rarity asked politely without any sign of irritation.

“Noooo… nothing”, Rainbow Dash said and rolled her eyes. “I was just wondering if you and Sharpy, over there, did something… special, this night? You were awake for quite a while”. Rarity just looked insulted by Rainbow Dash’s accusations, while Sharpy started chuckle.

“Rainbow Dash! How do you…? I don’t even…” Rarity stammered. Sharpy just chook his head and continued to chuckle. To him it just sounded ridiculous. Sure, Rarity was a nice pony and all, but his heart belonged not to her, but to Fluttershy.

“No, Rainbow”, Sharpy said after a few awkward seconds. “We were just… talking”. Sharpy didn’t know if he wanted to reveal what they talked about just yet. And more importantly, he didn’t know how to say it. Yesterday night it just came out of him. He didn’t really know what he was saying at that moment, but he sure remembered what was said. Rainbow suddenly got interested. He trusted that Sharpy was telling the truth, but she wanted to know more.

“What were you talking about?” she asked. Sharpy looked at her innocent smile as she tried to make him talk. But Sharpy just shook his head.

“I’ll tell you later, ok?” he said promising. “Let’s pack things up and get moving first”. Rainbow accepted Sharpy’s excuse, but with a sly smile she walked over to Rarity to see if she had better chances with her. Sharpy just rolled his eyes, doubted she’ll get anything out of her. Soon everything was packed up and they were ready to go. Sharpy realized that walking would be next to impossible and would take too much time, so he took to the sky alongside with Rainbow Dash. But he and Rainbow didn’t talk too much as she was still trying to make Rarity talk. As they proceeded he saw as the familiar mountains were coming closer and closer. Soon he’d recognize his former home. Or at least he hoped he would.

After almost an hour of constant flying, Sharpy could hear Rarity’s voice from the ground down below. She was calling for him, so he flew down to hear what she had to say.

“Rainbow have made everypony almost too interested in what we talked about yesterday”, Rarity said carefully. “What should I do?” Sharpy looked at her for a moment and then at the other girls who were eagerly waiting for Rarity to come back. Sharpy looked back at Rarity and sighed.

“Don’t hide anything”, he said sadly. Rarity just nodded and turned around. She walked up to the other with firm steps. Sharpy looked very insecure as he watched Rarity meet up with her friends. For a second he regretted the decision of letting Rarity retell their conversation last night. Sharpy didn’t know how they would respond to what she was about to say. Perhaps they wouldn’t take it as good as Rarity did. Then again, he wasn’t sure how Rarity would respond. He just hoped that they would understand just as much as Rarity and if they didn’t, she’d be able to change their opinions. Sharpy hung his head in shame as he imagines how they would look at him differently. He glanced at them, just to see that they were all looking at him with surprised faces. Sharpy looked away. This couldn’t be good. These ponies where all he got now, as he surely wouldn’t be welcomed by all dragons he once knew, if he looked like a pony. He doubted they would recognize him like his sister did. Sharpy sighed. He guessed he could only accept whatever was going to happen and try to go from there.

***

Rarity walked up her friends that were eagerly waiting. They all looked at her with interested eyes. Rarity couldn’t blame them. She and Sharpy had a conversation late at night without anypony else knowing about it. Well except for Rainbow Dash, but she had other theories in her mind.

“I asked Sharpy if he was okay with me, telling you, what we were discussing about last night”, she began. They all looked deep into her eyes, hoping that she came with Sharpy’s permission. “I was told not to hide anything”. They all seemed very satisfied to hear this, but Rarity herself wasn’t so sure this was a good idea. Sharpy had opened up to her in a way that made you understand his situation better. She just hoped she could retell what he said to her. Rarity took a deep breath and began. She tried to relive yesterday night exactly as it was. When she retold their conversation she didn’t remember every single word, of course. But everything important was there. The ponies had their eyes wide open during the entire time Rarity was speaking. From time to time they looked at Sharpy, just to quickly look back at Rarity. When she was done, she was worried that the message might not have touched them at it touched her. Applejack was the first to talk, looking very disturbed.

“Ah can’t… Ah just don’t know what to say…”

“I feel sorry for him”, Pinkie said right after Applejack was done. She looked a bit sad, though. “He can’t help who he is…” After a moment of reflection, Applejack nodded, agreeing with Pinkie. Rainbow wasn’t entirely convinced, though.

“I don’t know… Can we really trust him?” she said and looked at the others.

“Of course we can! We know him well enough to say that he’s nice.” Twilight said. “And as his friends we have to support him. And if what you’re telling us is the truth, Rarity, he needs our support now more than ever”. Rainbow bit her lip and looked down.

“I suppose you’re right”, she said. “Let’s go back to him”.

Rarity sighed relieved. She was worried there for a second, but it all turned out for the best. And as that was all she had to say, she walked back to face Sharpy once again.

***

Suddenly a pink pony appeared right in front of Sharpy’s face. Sharpy flew backwards in surprise as Pinkie Pie was hopping around him in circles.

“Come on, Sharpy. Lighted up!” Pinkie said with a smile. “We won’t leave you, silly”. Sharpy didn’t react for a few seconds. He was still in chock after Pinkies sudden and unpredictable emersion. Applejack soon arrived and looked Sharpy, who were now on ground level, in the eyes.

“Sugarcube”, she looked serious. “You might not trust yourself… but we sure do trust you”.

“Hey, Sharpy”, Rainbow Dash said from behind him. Sharpy turned around so that he could see her. “Yeah, you’re a cool guy, Sharpy. Don’t you worry”. And last, but not least, Twilight Sparkle carefully pulled him closer to her.

“Sharpy. We’re your friends and we’re in this together”. She gave him a quick hug before backing off. “Don’t forget that”. Sharpy just looked from pony to pony. He wasn’t sure what just happened and he was still processing it. He looked over to Rarity who just stood there with a satisfied smile, looking at everypony. Sharpy soon realized that he’d just been officially accepted by all his pony friends. He was surprised to say the least. He actually half-expected them to chase him away after hearing what Rarity had to say. He guessed that’s what he would have done in their situation. And that’s what his former friends would have done without question. But they accepted his flaws and wanted to continue their hunt. Sharpy smiled. He couldn’t have asked for better friends. The only one me missed was one certain yellow pegasus and this moment would be perfect.

“Thank you, everypony”, he said and gave them all one hug each. And when he came to Rarity he held her a little longer.

“And thank you, Rarity. I really needed somepony to talk to and get if off my chest”, he said, released her and looked her in her eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done without you”.

“I’m just glad I could help”, Rarity said and blushed. Sharpy found her very cute when she was blushing and he couldn’t hold back a happy laugh. Sharpy then turned around to thank all the others one more time for being there for him, but mostly for the simple thing as trusting him. Their trust meant a lot for him. Especially when he still didn’t trust himself completely.

The following hours went just fine. There were no inconvenient interferences and everypony was very social and open. Sharpy got a few questions of how he felt every now and then, but he always said that ‘everything is fine’. And for the moment it really was. Rainbow Dash was flying around the group, talking to more or less everypony. Pinkie Piewas as happy as ever, but also talked as much as ever. Applejack, Twilight and Sharpy spoke as fast as they got the chance. Sharpy was flying close to the group the entire time and Rarity tried to be as close to Sharpy as possible. Everypony enjoyed the company and Sharpy could for the first time since they left from Ponyville that he actually was happy and satisfied with his situation. He tried to enjoy every single moment, knowing that it could end at any moment. But behind all happiness he started to feel guilt. He was dragging these innocent ponies into something he himself wasn’t even sure what to expect. He tried to persuade himself that they were here on their own accord and everything was going to be fine, anyway. He managed to take down a full grown dragon all by himself. Surely Sharpy wouldn’t stand a chance when it was six to one, right?

Sharpy tried to shake any negative thoughts away. He couldn’t afford to be too deep in his thoughts when they arrived at the Shadowcliff mountains. And they were just getting closer and closer. In just an hour or two they would reach the foot of the mountain. Sharpy just hoped that they would find Huffy before Huffy finds them.

“We’re in this together”... that’s what she said.

Chapter 19: Misunderstandings and New Areas

Fluttershy were sitting on top of a large rock. She was currently looking down on Sharpy who were sitting in front of the fireplace. She was at least fifty meters away, so there was no way he could see her in this dark. And if he was close to the fireplace it would only make it harder for him to see anything outside the circle of light it was creating. Fluttershy leaned back to see if Spike was still sleeping. He was. When she was sure Spike really was asleep she looked down at Sharpy again.

Fluttershy wasn’t able to sleep and after trying, and failing, for at least an hour to go back to sleep, she had given up positioned herself so that she could easily see both Spike and the camp.

Sharpy seemed so calm and peaceful as he was sitting there, staring into the fire. But yet he seemed so lonely. Fluttershy suddenly felt the urge to go down there and just embrace Sharpy in a big hug. They wouldn’t need to say anything. They both would know that everything was going to be alright. Fluttershy sighed. Even though how much she wanted to, she couldn’t. Something was holding her back. But it wasn’t fear, no. It just felt like now wasn’t the time. Fluttershy was battling her own will. Realizing it wouldn’t take her anywhere, she tried to figure out what he was thinking about. It could be anything, really. But then Sharpy covered himself under his wings. Suddenly he looked so small, weak and helpless. Just like she felt right now.  Something was troubling him. Obviously… he had lost everything. He was probably depressed. And it was part her fault. Now the urge was greater than ever. It felt like she just had to fly down there, but she managed to hold her back. Now was, simply, not the time.

After quite some time, Sharpy actually made a move. Perhaps it was just a minute. Perhaps it was many hours. She couldn’t tell. She had lost the sense of time completely, but it didn’t really matter to her right now.

It almost hurt Fluttershy just to see what a hard time Sharpy had to get up on his hooves. That leg injury must have been really serious. No wonder he fell unconscious. She watched Sharpy limping towards what she remembered to be Rarity’s tent. When he finally reached the entrance, he waited a second before pushing aside the cover and crawl inside. The next moment the entire tent was lightened up by a light blue light. Fluttershy remembered it to be one of Rarity’s spells to create light. From Fluttershy’s angle she could see the shadows created on the wall from the outside. It was a bit hard to see them, but it was obvious that they were talking about something.

But after a while something happened. Something Fluttershy least expected. As far as she could tell, they were hugging. Hugging for quite a long time too. Then they lied down, still embracing each other. They both let released each other at the same time, but were still lying close to each other. Then Rarity’s magical light faded away and it was impossible to see if something happened the next moment. Fluttershy was just sitting there, staring at the tent. She expected, or rather wanted, Sharpy to come out of the tent. After at least half an hour of waiting she gave up. Sharpy wasn’t coming out of that tent. He was still inside with Rarity. All alone. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but it was too obvious. She was jealous of Rarity. Her eyes wandered off into the night sky. Is Sharpy in love with Rarity?, she asked herself. She knew Rarity liked Sharpy. She noticed that when they were in Ponyville, before everything became so complicated. But would he really forget about me so soon?, Fluttershy thought. She tried to hold back the tears. It was hard, but she managed. She told herself that there was nothing going on between Sharpy and Rarity. She barely believed in her own words, but it was better than nothing. Looking through the small holes of hope was all she could do.

***

Spike woke up the next morning. He sat up quickly, noticing that Fluttershy was gone. At first he looked around himself to see if she was nearby, but there were no sign of her. He didn’t worry too much though. Fluttershy might be afraid of a lot of things, but she could take care of herself. And besides, if something would have happened to her during the night, it would surely have woke him up. He assumed she woke up earlier, so she shouldn’t be too far away. Spike sighed and stood up. He supposed that he better found her so that she knew he was awake. The best place to start looking at would be somewhere close to the camp. As he got closer to where the camp was at, he proved to be right. Fluttershy was sitting on a giant rock, looking down at the camp. Then it hit Spike. When Fluttershy was sitting on the rock, she was very exposed to the others down at the camp.

“Hey, Fluttershy”, he said in a happy tone. “You should really get down from there before anypony sees you”. Fluttershy looked at Spike for a second with emotionless eyes. Then she did ask asked and flew down from the big rock and landed right next to Spike.

“I’m sorry…” she said quietly. Spike looked at Fluttershy with confusion. There was obviously something wrong, but he thought that he should save the questions for later, when they were on their way. So he simply smiled at Fluttershy and walked up to place himself so that he could watch whatever was going on down there without being noticed. With a quick look he assumed they were packing together everything to get ready to move again. Spike thought they better do the same. He turned away from the camp and faced Fluttershy.

“We better get ready”, he said with a cheerful smile. Spike felt better than ever. He had been sleeping well and this adventure made him feel like it made up for all the times he’d been left alone back in the library in Ponyville. And so far, nothing too scary has happened. Well except for what happened to Sharpy, but it all turned out just fine.

When they had stuffed their little bags with all of their things, they were ready to go. They both walked up where the camp used to be to see where they had going. Luckily they hadn’t gotten so far and were easily seen. Sharpy and his group of ponies were walking alongside the forest. They were probably doing so to avoid similar situations like the one they were in yesterday evening. Fortunately for Spike and Fluttershy, they were really easy to follow so they were simply following on the ground. There was no need to go by the treetops when they were the only ones walking inside the forest. Spike looked at Fluttershy, who seemed to be a bit down. She didn’t look too sad, though, so Spike thought it might be because she was tired. But after about an hour without Fluttershy changing her facial expression and Spike making at least twenty awkward attempts of starting a conversation he figured something must be wrong for real. He gave a deep sigh and looked at Fluttershy.

“I can’t take it anymore”, he said tired. “What’s the problem?”

“I’m sorry, Spike… It’s just that”, Fluttershy said quickly, but suddenly stopped. She looked at the group, supposedly Sharpy. “When I look at Sharpy and Rarity together they just seem so… happy”. Spike raised a brow and looked at Sharpy and Rarity talking to each other.

“Sure they do. They get along well, I suppose”, he said with a shrug. “But I don’t see the problem in that?”

“Yes, but…” Fluttershy paused for a second. “But what if they are… more than just friends?” Spike didn’t quite follow so he just looked at confused at her, silently asking for an explanation. Fluttershy then explained what she witnessed last night. How she had seen Sharpy and Rarity together. She mentioned that she didn’t actually know if something happened, but seeing how they were so drawn to each other proved that something actually had happened. Spike took the revelation equally to Fluttershy. Spike loved Rarity and seeing her attracted to somepony else made him feel very unhappy but mostly jealous. He had seen her dating other stallions before, but whenever he found out about it he always felt the same way. Spike looked at Rarity and Sharpy once again, but now with a different perspective. They really seemed to enjoy each other’s company. But he had survived seeing Rarity attracted to stallions. He knew he would always be her Spikey-Wikey and one of her best friends. Their friendship wouldn’t break anytime soon and he can always spend time with her. But when it comes to Fluttershy and Sharpy it was different. Her, and everypony else’s relation with Sharpy had a very unsure future. Spike didn’t know what, but he had the feeling that something could happen at any time that could ruin their friendship. Sharpy was a dragon and when they reached the Shadowcliff, anything could happen. His thoughts got interrupted when Fluttershy started to talk to him.

“I mean… do you really think that Sharpy…” Fluttershy stopped there, but Spike could guess what the question was. She wanted to know if Sharpy would really choose Rarity over her.

“Well…” Spike began. “Rarity does seem to accept who he really is. You don’t”. Spike looked sadly at Fluttershy. Fluttershy just stayed quiet and avoided Spike’s gaze. Fluttershy sighed loudly and held back the tears. Seeing this made Spike feel a bit guilty. He couldn’t bear to see Fluttershy sad again.

“Fluttershy… I’m sorry”, he apologized. “I shouldn’t have…”

“But you’re right, Spike”, Fluttershy interrupted him. “I didn’t want to accept that he really was a dragon. I wasn’t there for him when he needed somepony the most”. Fluttershy was about to burst into tears by her own stupidity. But Spike just shook his head. He didn’t agree with her.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” That caught her attention. “You may not have been so accepting, but you are sure there for him. Just not the way you think. Take yesterday for an example. The sounds of your voice somehow gave him the strength he needed. That must mean something, right?”

“Yes, but…” Fluttershy tried to argue with him, but Spike didn’t give her any time to talk.

“And just knowing that you are okay is gold worth”. Fluttershy nodded slowly to this.

“And that’s why we should wait for the perfect moment to finally reveal ourselves”, Fluttershy said and looked at Sharpy. “For his sake… even if he loves Rarity now…”

“Oh, come on, Fluttershy”, Spike said and waved with his arm. “I’m sure Sharpy still loves you more than…” But before he could finish his sentence they saw Sharpy and Rarity give each other a hug. They were hugging for a few moments until Rarity have Sharpy a kiss on his cheek. Then they kept going. Fluttershy just looked at them with emotionless eyes. Spike’s cheeks became rosy. That couldn’t have turned out worse. Spike looked up at Fluttershy who now looked a bit grumpy at Spike. Spike was sure that was merely a mask to hide her true feelings right now, so he didn’t try to defend himself in any way. Then Fluttershy sighed and carefully walked out of the forest.

“Where are we, anyway?” she asked herself. She peeked out from some bushes to get a better look. Spike didn’t follow her, but waited for her return. After just a few seconds she came back. “We’re at the foot of the mountain”.

***

Fluttershy and Spike waited for Sharpy and his group to start climbing the mountain. It seemed like Rainbow Dash and Sharpy didn’t find it too difficult, for obvious reasons. They both helped the non-winged ponies to climb when it proved difficult. But to both Fluttershy’s and Spike’s dissatisfaction it seemed like Sharpy was helping Rarity a little bit more than the others. But even if Sharpy and Rainbow Dash had wings, it seemed like Pinkie Pie had the easiest time climbing the mountain. She was, more or less, just walking straight up a wall which got a 90 degree angle. Neither Fluttershy nor Spike was surprised though. They have learned accept everything Pinkie had to offer. After quite some time of climbing Fluttershy started to wonder why they were climbing. If they wanted to reach the other side it would be easier to just walk past it. Spike looked up towards the top of the mountain they watched them climb.

“My guess is that they want to reach the top of the mountain to get a good view of the environment”. Spike looked at Fluttershy who just nodded and agreed.

“Oh, okay”, she said without letting her eyes from the mountain peak. “Should we do the same? But before they do?” Spike just smirked and gave her a single nod. Spike grabbed the little package they got, climbed up on Fluttershy’s back and the next moment they were flying towards the peak. It was a pretty high mountain and they could feel how it was getting colder and colder as they flew higher and higher up in the sky. The trees they had thought was so big were now nothing but tiny sticks. And they are in no danger of getting seen. The other ponies were too busy minding their own safety to bother looking up. When they reached the top, Spike jumped off Fluttershy’s back to get a good look on the environment. What they saw stunned them completely. The sight was so overwhelming they couldn’t find the words to properly express themselves. It was so beautiful that they could stand there and see the view all day. And the mountain chair reached far into the distance it seemed to have no ending. The peaks of the highest mountains were covered in snow and the afternoon sun reflected beautiful in the snow, making an orange light shine all over the mountains. At first you could never understand why this place would be called anything like Shadowcliff. The name didn’t match the actual looks of the mountain chain at all. Well that’s what you thought until you looked down. There were many valleys down below that didn’t seem to have seen the light of the sun for a long time because of all the mountains that covered the sun.

“It’s beautiful”. Fluttershy broke the silence. Spike looked at her and then back at the wonderful view.

“It sure is, Fluttershy”, Spike said to her. “It sure is”. Fluttershy was about to answer, but then they heard voices from behind. They both turned around quickly, but nopony was there. It must have come from below. Then they remembered. The others were also climbing the mountain. Spike made a weird sound “Nyeee”, and quickly jumped up on Fluttershy’s back. They had completely lost themselves in the wonderful view and forgotten they were actually there for a reason. Well they got at least to see how the mountains looked and what terrain there was to expect. They just hoped they didn’t get detected. And to really make sure they didn’t, Fluttershy flew as fast as she could down to the closest valley.

It was dark down here. Dark and cold. There weren’t much life down here either. Perhaps a few plants here and there, but no animals. Fluttershy wondered why. She knew a lot of animals that would love to live in a place like this where the sun only shone upon the ground an hour or two a day. But still there were nothing but insects. And even they seemed stressed. Like they knew they shouldn’t be here. Fluttershy looked back at Spike who was sitting on her back. It seemed like he had noticed the same thing, because he didn’t look very confident with the situation. Fluttershy shook her head and looked up to the mountain they’ve just been at.

“This just doesn’t feel right”, she said. If you concentrated enough you could see Rainbow Dash standing on top of the mountain. The others were probably right behind her. Fluttershy tried to look for anything special. She didn’t know what, but something that would be beneficial for them.

“Err… Fluttershy?” Spike said worried. “Do you get the feeling that…?” But Spike never finished that sentence. The next thing they felt was a warm breeze hitting their backs and heavy breaths. Both Fluttershy and Spike froze in fear as they slowly and carefully looked behind them. What they saw made their heart beat faster than ever.

Chapter 20: The Shadowcliff Mountains

“So this is it, then?” Rarity asked when they approached the mountains. She was still very close to Sharpy, so he assumed the question was directed to him.

“Yes”, Sharpy said sadly. “Yes, this is it... Shadowcliff Mountains”. Coming back to his home should make him happy, but for some reason he wasn’t. It wouldn’t be the same returning here without seeing his old friends. Memories from the life he had before he became a pony returned to him. Perhaps that life wasn’t perfect and not at all as satisfying as the life the ponies lived. But it was his life. And in that life, his sister was still alive. He didn’t know what to expect when they were to face Huffy. But he couldn’t get the thought out of his head that he was leading his friends into their doom.

“Well...” Twilight broke the silence. She didn’t want to waste any time, now when they were so close to their goal. “Since only two of us can fly...” She said and pointed at Sharpy and Rainbow. “... I suggest we take a look at our surroundings”.

“How about from up there?” Applejack said and pointed towards a nearby mountain that seemed easy enough to climb. It was a good idea. From up there, they could see how the place looked like and then figure out where to go and how to find Huffy.

But first things first. They had to climb up to the top. And when you only have hooves, it’s proven to be quite difficult. But you should never give up without at least trying. Applejack was the first one approach the mountain. But even with her remarkable physique, she had a hard time making it anywhere. But she soon developed a technique. It was far from perfect, but it worked. Twilight carefully studied Applejack’s technique for a minute, or so, before she began to climb as well. She tried to imitate Applejack, but had also discovered a few flaws in her climbing which she politely corrected. Applejack just snorted and continued as before. But when she realized Twilight had almost caught up with her, she followed Twilight’s tips and so she started to make some distance between them.

Rarity didn’t follow the same route as Twilight and Applejack. Not immediately, at least. No she looked if there was a way to casually walk up the mountain. There wasn’t any. Rarity sighed in irritation, but began to slowly make her way up the mountain after Twilight.

Applejack and Twilight did well so far, but sometimes even they needed a bit of help from Sharpy and Rainbow Dash.

It went a bit slower for Rarity, but she was more than willing to get some assistance. Especially from Sharpy. Rarity called for help, even when she didn’t need any. But she only accepted it when Sharpy was the one who was there to help her. She mostly refused whenever Rainbow offered her a hoof.

But after a few minutes of climbing, they realized Pinkie Pie was still on the ground down below. She hadn’t even started climbing yet. Rainbow looked irritated at Pinkie who just stood there and looked at the mountain.

“What are you waiting for?” Rainbow yelled. “An invitation?” Pinkie just looked up at the shouting pegasus.

“I am actually calculating the fastest but safest way up the mountain, thank you very much”, Pinkie said in a sophisticated manner. Both Rainbow and Rarity stopped and looked surprised at Pinkie. They didn’t even know that she knew what those words meant. They guessed they were wrong. Rainbow just scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

“Soooo…” she said slowly. “Have you figured out how to… proceed?” Pinkie nodded quickly and smiled. Suddenly that childish look of her face was back.

“Of course I have, silly”, she giggled. “You just do like it like this” She placed her front hooves on the mountain and simply started trotting upwards. All traces of sophistication were gone as she ignored every single law of gravitation. Now Sharpy, Twilight and Applejack stopped and just stared at Pinkie as she was trotting upwards like she was walking on a flat surface. No one said anything, and Pinkie just kept on smiling. After a few seconds later, Twilight broke the silence.

“I’m not even going to try to understand how she did that”, she said and kept on climbing. She had learned a long time ago that there was no point in trying to understand that pink pony. Applejack and Rarity followed her.

The rest of the climb was a long and frustrating process of getting everypony up in one piece. Even Rainbow and Sharpy had a lot on their hooves. They had to make sure everything went smooth and that nopony were to fall down. Because a fall like that would be fatal for sure. Well it was a lot to do for everypony except Pinkie. She didn’t have any problems to get up the mountain for obvious but unexplainable reasons. But she helped the others as much as she could. After a while, everypony was starting to get really tired, but they didn’t give up. They were so close to the top now. Rainbow and Sharpy looked at each other and then back at the climbing ponies. As mentioned, they were getting close to the top, so Rainbow and Sharpy decided to fly them up. It would be a lot faster, and safer, than climbing the final part. Especially when the height caused the rock to be covered by a thin layer of ice, which would make it extremely dangerous to climb.

After just a few minutes, they were all at the top of the mountain. They had agreed to take a few minutes to rest and recover. They were all exhausted after the difficult and hard climb. As they were all finding themselves a comfortable position to lie down and rest at, they took a look over the landscape. It was simply beautiful and they were all stunned by the sight. As the sun was setting, it shone over the mountain chain and reflected its light in the snow. Everypony was lying down close to one other, recovering from the exhausting climb. Everypony except Sharpy. He was standing up at the edge, looking out over his former home. The cold wind blew threw his mane and tail, making him look very dramatic. But even though he was looking out over the beautiful landscape and his former, and perhaps future, home, there was no smile on his face. He just stood there with an emotionless expression. Sharpy didn’t really pay much attention to what the girls were talking about. He was too deep into his thoughts. But when he heard they mention his name, he couldn’t resist the urge to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“...Sharpy. But no smile”, was all he heard Pinkie say.

“Yeah, I don’t get it”, Twilight answered. “This is his home, isn’t it? Shouldn’t he be happy about returning?”

“‘Ah think ‘Ah understand”, Applejack said without removing the hat that currently covered her face. The others got silent and waited for Applejack to continue. “He’s here to kill a fellow dragon. Memories from his sister returns. And the feeling of not fitting in. It’s pretty obvious to me”. They all seemed to agree with her, but Rainbow spoke up and questioned her.

“What do you mean he doesn’t fit in? I don’t see anything wrong with him!”

“Would you fit in if you came marching into Ponyville in the body of a dragon?” Applejack asked Rainbow as she removed the hat from her face and looked at her.

“No?”

“Well there you go!” Applejack covered her face, yet again, with her hat and leaned backwards. They took a quick look at Sharpy.

“I can try to make him smile!” Pinkie said with a big smile. Rarity laughed awkwardly at Pinkie. Pinkie sure knew how to make somepony smile, but Rarity doubted that her methods would work this time.

“I’ll go talk to him, ok?”

Rarity got up on her hooves and walked over to Sharpy, who hadn’t moved a muscle since he walked up there. When Rarity came closer, he smiled at her. But as he turned her head back to the view, his facial expression returned to as it was just a few seconds before. Rarity walked up right next to him and tried to make eye contact with him. An attempt that failed. Rarity didn’t say much for a long time. She just looked at the view.

“What’s troubling you, darling?” she said. “It it Huffy? Your sister? Please tell me, so I can help you feel better”. Rarity looked worried at Sharpy, but he didn’t look back. At first his emotionless face remained as he looked out over the mountains. But then a few tears started running down from his chins. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. But he didn’t say anything. Not for a couple of minutes at least. He looked up and scanned the area one more time.

“There is no one here”, he said quickly. Rarity just looked confused at him. It was clear that he tried to avoid the subject by bringing up another. “That’s awfully strange. There should be a lot of dragons flying around. It’s usually crowded up here. But as you can see. Nothing…” Rarity looked worried at Sharpy and then back to the open landscape. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like this one bit. But she tried to look for an optimistic explanation rather than a pessimistic.

“What if every single dragon is sleeping?” she said as she turned to Sharpy. Sharpy just looked at her with a blank face.

“Well technically we shouldn’t see them if they were sleeping since we dragons usually sleep down in the valleys. But you don’t seriously think that…”

“No I don’t”, Rarity interrupted Sharpy. He was right. There is no way every single dragon was sleeping at the same time. Especially since it wasn’t even that late. She was sure something had happened. And her mind couldn’t let go of the thought that Huffy was behind this… and that wouldn’t be any good news for neither of them. If Huffy was up to something it can’t be good if you were to believe the image given by Sharpy. They both sighed. They just hoped they were not walking into a trap. If they were unlucky, Huffy already knew they were coming.

“Well…” Sharpy said and looked at Rarity. “It’s getting late and I rather not be up here when the darkness falls”. Rarity nodded and began to slowly walk back to the others and Sharpy limped after. Twilight was currently looking out over the area. She noticed Rarity and Sharpy coming closer so she turned her head to them. She realized what was going on, so she nodded without saying a single word. Just like Sharpy, she had probably thought about heading down before it got too dark to see anything.

They returned to the other three to tell them it was time to leave. But before they were able to say anything, a loud roar was heard. The roar was filled with so much hate and anger it chilled them to the bones, stunning them for a few seconds. Shortly after the roar, two terrified screams could be heard. They all looked towards where the sound came from. It appeared that something was going on in the valley down below. Twilight recognized one of the voices instantly as she began to make her way down the mountain shouting.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled and was using her magic to get down faster. Neither of them realized what was actually happening, but they assumed the worst. Sharpy wasn’t sure about Spike, but Twilight was probably right. He recognized the other voice, however. It was Fluttershy. That he was sure of. He flew up and looked for Rainbow Dash. But when he saw her, she was already on her way down the mountain. Sharpy followed her as fast as he could, leaving the others behind without hesitation. The next moment, he was side by side with her. She looked at him and he looked back. They nodded and pressed their wings close to the body and allowed the gravity to do its work.

When the ground was getting closer they spread their wings to slow down. They could see both Fluttershy and Spike being pushed back into a stone wall. They looked terrified, but when they noticed Sharpy and Rainbow, you could see a small glimpse of hope in their eyes. The attacking dragon noticed this and looked back. The dragon’s dark, red eyes pierced him and reached into his very soul. They were filled with such ruthless evil and a will to see everything burn. It seemed like this dragon, who had scales as dark as the darkest of nights, recognized him. He recognized him, and smiled.

With fear in his eyes, Sharpy realized who was standing before him. This dragon… was no other than Huffy. Huffy the Magical Dragon.

“Oh, no…” was all that slipped through Sharpy’s lips as Huffy opened his giant mouth and roared.

Chapter 21: Fight Till The End

They were currently face to face with a giant dragon. This wasn’t something Rainbow was used to. She usually had a good idea of what to do during dangerous situations like this, but now she couldn’t think of anything. All she did was staring right into the dragon’s two, red eyes. She was terrified. And the fear paralyzed her. She couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, and couldn’t flee. The dragon had completely forgotten about Fluttershy and Spike, who were now making their escape, while the dragon was focused on her and Sharpy. She tried to ask Sharpy what to do. He seemed more used to this stuff. A natural fighter. But she couldn’t make a single sound other than unclear mumbling. She slowly took her eyes from the dragon and looked at Sharpy. She expected him to look strong, in control and ready for battle. But what she saw frightened her even more. Instead of the confident pony she was used to see, she saw a weak, defenseless and scared little colt. He was terrified beyond compare and he didn’t hide it.

Her eyes returned to the back-scaled dragon as he leaned forward. The dragon stopped when he was just a couple of meters away. But he didn’t even bother to give Rainbow a quick look. He was only focused on Sharpy. Rainbow backed off when the dragon came closer, but Sharpy remained. He didn’t even more a muscle. The dragon looked at Sharpy for a few seconds before a sinister smile grew on his face.

“Sharpy… welcome home…” the dragon said slowly with a kind of tone which would make even the bravest of ponies shake in terror. And Rainbow Dash did.

“So this is what you have become…?” the dragon continued and looked at Sharpy in disgust. “It’s sad, really. And you’ve even become friends with these, too?” The dragon nodded in Rainbow’s direction without looking at her.

Rainbow saw how Sharpy grew angrier as the dragon spoke. He was still afraid, that much was obvious, and his entire body was shaking. But he wasn’t shaking of fear, no. He was shaking of anger.

Then it suddenly hit Rainbow. That dragon could be Huffy! He matched Sharpy’s description he gave her during their walk from the Everfree to here. She couldn’t believe that she was so slow to realize that. Rainbow now looked at the dragon with new eyes. She guessed that’s why Sharpy wasn’t already on the run. Fluttershy and Spike were safe and they could probably flee from the dragon if they’d like to. There were plenty of hiding spots all over the place. But yet he remained. But the dragon, presumably Huffy, didn’t attack him and neither did Sharpy. What were they doing? But then she noticed that Huffy started to smile. But that was not a very encouraging smile. That smile gave her the creeps. Rainbow lowered her head and prepared for action. She gave Sharpy a quick look.

“Sharpy?” she said while looking at Sharpy for a quick moment before, one again, turning her head towards Huffy.

“Yes?” Sharpy said slowly without letting his eyes go from Huffy.

“I’m not one for strategies”, she said quickly. Sharpy turned around quickly.

“Whatever you do, Rainbow, don’t…” but it was too late. Rainbow were already right in front of Huffy. Huffy wasn’t ready for that at all and staggered for a moment, giving Rainbow an opening. She took the opportunity to kick him with everything he got right in his face. And at nearly 150 km/h that kick had some effect. Huffy was pushed backwards as he covered his head to prevent an upcoming attack.

Sharpy saw how Huffy backed off a few steps. Rainbow Dash sure had some amazing speed and power. That kick got to hurt a lot. But even so Sharpy just grunted. He didn’t want to fight Huffy like this. There was no way they would defeat him without everypony here and especially not without at least some kind of plan. But perhaps they could hold him off until the others had made their way down the mountain. If they actually managed to hold him off for such time, they could perhaps corner him and trap him against a stone wall. Sharpy brightened up a bit. He wouldn’t be able to move at all!

When Sharpy noticed that Huffy was too focused on Rainbow to even notice him, he took the opportunity to sneak up behind him. He flew fast, because it would just be a matter of time before Huffy would notice what he was up to. But it seemed like Rainbow did a pretty good job distracting him. And she was too fast for his attacks with his claws and teeth. But when Huffy began to breathe fire, it was harder for her to dodge it. Sharpy was now behind Huffy, but he had to think fast. Otherwise, Rainbow wouldn’t last very long. He looked at the dragon’s back. Where and how to strike? He opened his mouth, revealing his sharp teeth, and flew directly for the neck. The neck is always a good choice if you want to create some critical damage. Sharpy’s teeth cut easily deep into Huffy’s neck. Since he was coming from behind, he couldn’t reach any vital veins, but it sure hurt. Huffy roared loudly in pain and leaned back as an attempt to reach Sharpy. Sharpy realized that Huffy would catch him if he didn’t let go. But that never happened. Rainbow didn’t allow him to. She flew away a little bit to be able to build up speed. She flew once again right at Huffy’s face with a deadly speed, kicking him so hard that he had to get support from a nearby boulder.

“Had enough, yet?” Rainbow said in a mocking tone while preparing for another attack. Huffy just looked at her with all the hate you could possible imagine. He groaned as he reached back for Sharpy.

“As a matter of fact, I have!” Huffy shouted. He was mad now. Rainbow actually enjoyed how easy it was to make him lose his cool. But at the same time, she didn’t want to know what he could come up with while he was as angry as he was now. Rainbow noticed that Huffy was trying to reach Sharpy who was still biting Huffy’s neck. She wasn’t going to let him. She shouted and insulted Huffy to get his attention. It barely worked. Huffy just turned to Rainbow for a second, but that was all she needed. She flew towards Huffy’s face, ready to kick him once again. But this time, Huffy was ready. He said a few unrecognizable words, unfamiliar even to Sharpy. And right before Rainbow would give him another kick, Huffy opened his mouth. A white glow from his mouth lit up the mountains around them. Both Sharpy and Rainbow Dash knew this wasn’t good, but it was already too late to do anything about it. An enormous blast wave occurred, causing Rainbow to fly away with such force, even the air hurt her. She managed, to stop her erratic flight right before she would slam into a rock. Rainbow was relieved. If she would have crashed into the rock, she would surely have broken almost every bone in her body. But she was still too stupefied to be able to return to the battle. Instead she dropped down a meter or two on the ground and just lay there, trying to recover as fast as possible. She didn’t like abandoning her friend, but at the moment, she was incapable of doing anything other than being in the way. In fact, she could hardly move at all. She looked over at Huffy and Sharpy. She saw how the blast wave had knocked off Sharpy from Huffy’s back, making him an easy target for the big dragon. She feared for what would happen next.

Sharpy saw how Rainbow managed to slow down. It looked like she was about to turn around and attack Huffy once again, but she didn’t. Her wings just stopped and she fell down to the ground. It didn’t look very good, and Sharpy couldn’t see, nor making his way there and make sure. But he currently had more urgent matters to attend to. The the magic Huffy used on Rainbow knocked him off as well, leaving him completely without cover. This wasn’t good. His head started pounding as his instincts wanted him to fly away. But he couldn’t just leave Rainbow like that. Huffy would rip her to shreds. No, he had to hold him off until Rainbow could move again.

Sharpy saw how Huffy was about to make his way to the helpless pegasus, but Sharpy wouldn’t let him. He once again attacked the dragon’s neck. Huffy roared as Sharpy’s teeth penetrated the scales. But without Rainbow keeping Huffy distracted, he easily shook him off.

“Do you think that can stop me?” Huffy screamed at Sharpy in anger. Sharpy had his doubts even from the beginning, but he sure hoped it would. Realizing Huffy was about to bite him, he backed off as quickly as he could. Huffy might be a lot bigger than he was, but he was still faster. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage, just like Rainbow did. He just had to look out if Huffy decided to cast any more spells. He sure didn’t want to fall pray for another one of those wind blasts.

Sharpy easily dodged most of Huffy’s incoming attacks. He avoided being bitten, sliced, burnt… But he was so focused on Huffy’s arms and head, he didn’t notice his tail. Huffy took the opportunity and whipped him with it, sending Sharpy flying. That tail whip sure hurt, but more importantly, it made him lose his balance. Sharpy had no longer control over his flight and crashed, back first, right into a large rock. Then he fell a couple of meters from the rock and down on the hard, cold ground below. His lungs emptied of air at the impact. Sharpy lay still for a few seconds to catch his breath. His vision became blurry and the pain returned to his leg and pretty much everywhere on his body. He realized this wouldn’t work. He didn’t have a chance against Huffy alone. And their difference in size didn’t make it easier. But if he was going to die here, he was going to die fighting. He had to push a lot harder than expected just to stand up, and still his legs were shaking. He looked up, half expecting to see Huffy’s claws the second before he would leave this world. But to claw came. Not a single attack from Huffy’s side. But instead he saw the thing he least expected.

Huffy just stood there. He didn’t move a muscle. And on his nose stood Fluttershy, staring right into the giant dragon’s eyes. Sharpy couldn’t believe it. It was like Huffy was completely lost in Fluttershy’s eyes. What in the world is going on? Sharpy did not know.

“Go… away…” Fluttershy said slowly to the dragon. By the sound of her voice, she was really angry. But didn’t surprise him that much. Huffy were attacking her friends, after all. But what really surprised him was that Huffy didn’t attack her. Or perhaps he couldn’t.

“Fluttershy…?” Sharpy asked her. Fluttershy’s ears twitched a little by the sound of his voice, but she didn’t look at him. She just kept staring into Huffy’s eyes.

“I said… Go away!” Fluttershy yelled. This time, Huffy actually listened to her by slowly taking a few steps backwards. This frightened Sharpy a bit. It seemed like she had total control over him. Did Fluttershy process some kind of power?

But then something happened. Huffy backed into the beginning of a mountain and couldn’t go further. Instead he bumped into the rock, which caused Fluttershy to lose her balance. She didn’t fall of, but she did lose her eye contact with Huffy.

Huffy looked like he had just woken up from a bad dream. Then he looked angrily at Fluttershy. She squealed in fear and tried to fly away, but Huffy was too fast. He tailed whipped her and followed up with saying the same strange words he did when he sent Rainbow flying. But in Fluttershy’s case, she would fly straight into the mountain. That would surely crush her. Sharpy couldn’t let that happen. He jumped up in the air and flew as fast as he could towards Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy! Watch out!” he yelled from the top of his lungs. Sharpy didn’t know if she could hear him or not, but it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be able to regain her balance fast enough to do anything about Huffy’s magic. Huffy opened his mouth and the bright light, one again, shone up the area. The next moment, Huffy’s magic hit Fluttershy and sent her towards the hard rocks on the mountain. But before she really went anywhere, Sharpy caught her in mid air, holding her tight. He couldn’t stop her, but he turned his back towards the stone so that he would take the hit and ease the impact for her. At the same time, he spread out his wings to slow down. It helped, but not much. Shortly after, the impact occurred. Sharpy took most of the damage and it felt like his entire body was pressed together by the force and every bone was crushed. He spit up a lot of blood immediately after. Fluttershy was still dazed, not used to taking hits like this one. But Sharpy could see a bolt of fire flying straight towards them. He instinctively tried to shield both him and Fluttershy with his big wings. Even though the pain was next to unbearable, he managed to shield both him and Fluttershy before the fire reached them. Both of them got hurt by the heat, but the dragon scaled on Sharpy’s wings defended them from the flames.

Huffy realized that he wouldn’t be able to hit them with regular fire, thanks to Sharpy’s wings. So he mumbled a few words that would create another spell. The next moment, a bright green flare started flying towards them at extreme speed. The spell took away a lot of Huffy’s strength and made him tired, but this would surely kill them both. There was no way they could evade this. The green flare hit Fluttershy and Sharpy and exploded. Huffy didn’t leave yet though, he waited until the smoke had subsided to witness the result. But he didn’t see what he expected. The two ponies were unharmed by the explosion and a purple aura were covering them.

“What!?” Huffy yelled in surprise. “What is this?” After his questions a purple colored unicorn walked up and stood in between him and his two targets. The purple unicorn didn’t seem very happy. She looked like she could burst any second now.

“You try to hurt my friends!?” she screamed in anger. “Well, think again!” Huffy just rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. How could she possible thing she could do anything against him? But he had to admire her skill. No one had ever been able to stand against his magic before.

“I don’t have time for this…” Huffy snorted. Then everything started shaking. What was going on? Both Huffy and Twilight looked up towards the mountain. Apparently the explosion created an avalanche. Twilight looked frightened, but Huffy just raised an eyebrow. Well this is convenient, Huffy thought and flapped his wings to get away from the falling rocks. He looked satisfied as the ponies got buried beneath the massive amount of rocks that was falling down from the very top of the mountain.

“By the way!” she shouted. “I hope you ponies like dragons!” and with that said, he left with a victorious laughter.

Chapter 22: "Please save Sharpy"

“Are y’all all right?” Applejack shouted out over the valley, but no answer. There were no sign of them. All there was to see was boulders and rocks from the avalanche. The avalanche had occurred while Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity were on their way down the mountain and they would have fallen down if it wasn’t for Rarity. She had saved them with her magic and quick thinking. They were unharmed, if not a bit chocked. But their friends had gotten the avalanche of rock right on top of them. They were right now stuck under a small bit of the mountain. If they didn’t find them in time… they had to find them in time!

“Have you girls seen anything yet?” Rarity shouted to her friends. By the sound of her voice, she was really worried. Nopony could blame her for that. They were all worried.

“Keep looking! They must be here somewhere!” Rainbow said, who had been lying a bit further away, didn’t get hit by the avalanche. She had also started to feel better from Huffy’s magical attack. And even if she wasn’t fully recovered, she still helped the others in the search for their friends.

“Did you saw where they were, Dashie?” Pinkie asked Rainbow. She just waived with her hoof in the air.

“Somewhere around here”, she said and proceeded by pushing a few rocks to the side.

“Do you think they… didn’t make it?” Spike cried. Tears had already started filling his eyes since he first witnessed the avalanche. This was hard for him. For everypony.

They had just begun with the search, but they already got the feeling that this was pointless. There were so many rocks in the way. For all what they knew, their friends could be trapped beneath ten meters of stone. If Twilight, Fluttershy or Sharpy didn’t scream for help, they would never find them.

“Hey, I got something!” Rainbow shouted. Her voice was filled with hope, but she still looked worried. Everypony and Spike ran towards her. Beneath the stone, they could hear Fluttershy’s sweet voice was crying out for help. By the sound of her voice, she didn’t seem hurt, but she sounded terrified.

“We’re here, Fluttershy!” Pinkie shouted back. “We’re here to get you out of there! Just don’t go anywhere”

“She won’t be able to go anywhere if we don’t help her”. Rainbow and Applejack started digging instantly. Pinkie joined the next moment.

“Hurry…” the exhausted voice of Twilight could be heard. There were a lot of dirt between them and the ones trapped, but now was not the time to be weak. They had to help their friends, no matter the cost. Everything was going all right until they hit a rock. Applejack, Rainbow and Pinkie tried to move it out of the way. It couldn’t be much further now. But the rock was simply too big for them to lift.

“We need your help, Rarity”, Rainbow moaned. Rarity nodded.

“Of course”, she said quickly and took a few steps forward to the hole they were digging. A light blue aura formed around her horn as she used her magic on the rock. The rock lightened up as well with the same blue aura. Rarity closed her eyes to concentrate on the magic. It was heavy. Levitating something as heavy as this wasn’t really something Rarity was used to. But she had to do it. For her friends. She bit her lip so hard it started to bleed. Rarity gave everything she got and eventually the giant rock started moving. Slowly the rock levitated up in the air and she carefully dropped it down a couple of meters away. Rarity panted heavily, but it didn’t seem to be over just yet. A few more rocks, smaller, but still big enough to prove a challenge, started slowly levitating up from the hole. The purple aura that covered the other rocks showed them that Twilight was trying to get up. But it seemed that her magic was about to fade away. She had been holding up quite some weight for a long time, after all. But Rarity was quick to help. She used her magic to help Twilight with the remaining rocks that were blocking the only way out.

But when the way was clear Twilight didn’t jump out like they would have expected her to do. Instead she went down again. A few seconds later, she and Fluttershy was pushing Sharpy out of the hole. The first thing that caught their attention was Fluttershy. She was, more or less, covered in blood.

“Oh my gosh! Fluttershy, are you all right?” Pinkie asked. Worried for her friend as she was, she ran up to her and started checking for external injuries. But Fluttershy just rejected her quickly. Pinkie looked surprised, but Fluttershy just stared back with a serious look.

“I’m okay…the blood is not mine. It’s Sharpy’s…” she said and ran up to Sharpy. But when she reached him, he gave her a weak push. Sharpy was crawling on the ground, kicking mindlessly with his legs while he was desperately gasping for air. A small amount of blood was dripping out from his mouth as he spit out some more.

“He can’t breathe!” Twilight yelled. “I need your help!” Fluttershy nodded and tried to reach Sharpy again, but with the same result. But this time the push was even weaker than before.

“He’s coughing up blood, too” Fluttershy said worried. Tears started filling her eyes. “It could be punctured lungs”.

Applejack stepped up and held Sharpy still. She ignored all the mindless kicking. He was much weakened, so holding him still wasn’t a big problem for a pony as strong as Applejack.

“Can you help him, Fluttershy?” Applejack said and started into her eyes.

“Not… not without the right equipment… I’m sorry… Sharpy…” Fluttershy stammered. She closed her eyes and fell hopelessly down on the hard ground. This was bad. Fluttershy was the only one with some kind of medical skills, but she could do nothing without the right equipment. Twilight bit her lip. She hadn’t taught herself any spells for a situation like this. And besides. Would it matter? Sharpy’s body resists most incoming magic. All they could do was to stare hopelessly as the life slowly faded away from Sharpy’s eyes. Fluttershy approached him and laid her head besides his.

“I’m sorry... I can’t… I’m sorry…” Fluttershy looked Sharpy in his eyes, but he just stared back with blank eyes. He’d lost all sense of reality. All his body was doing now was to make sure he didn’t die. But without help, he wouldn’t last very long.

“Somepony? Anypony?” Rainbow shouted at the group. “Can we do nothing?”

“Let me try!” Everypony looked at Rarity. “I might have learned a few things thanks to the time I’ve spent with Fluttershy”.

“Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast!” Twilight said. Rarity nodded and turned to Sharpy. “We’ll need a safe place to stay. This could take a while”. Twilight nodded and charged up her horn. She’d seen a cave, not far from here, when she was heading down the mountain. She had to use a lot of magic to teleport everypony over there. She just hoped this would work for Sharpy too.

A bright flash occurred and everypony felt how they became disembodied. Nopony were really used to this and they didn’t like it very much. It felt very weird. But it was the fastest way to travel. Not even a seconds later, they were inside a large cave. At first look, it looked like a regular old cave with nothing special about it at all. But if you took a closer look, you could see this was just one room of many. It was like a house in here, except it was made out of stone and the darkness made it hard to see at distances. But this would have to do. It was better than nothing.

Rarity quickly put Sharpy’s, now nearly unconscious, body on her back and ran to the corner of the big room they were in. She signaled Twilight to follow her. Twilight looked at her for a second before following.

“Isn’t Sharpy immune to most magic?” Twilight felt like pointing it out. Rarity didn’t seem to understand that most dragons were immune to magic.

“Well your teleportation spell worked, right?” Rarity answered without looking back. When she reached the inner corner of the room, she carefully dropped Sharpy off on the floor. Sharpy was not fully unconscious.

“Yeah, well… but…” Twilight didn’t know what to say. Her spell did work, even though Sharpy is supposed to be immune, or at least resistant, to magic. How did that work?

“I figured that a dragon can only take so much magic before the barrier, or whatever it could be, will break and they will be vulnerable to magic”. Twilight looked at Rarity, who now looked back at her. That actually made sense. Twilight had used a very powerful spell to teleport them all here. In this weakened state Sharpy is in, perhaps that was enough to break the barrier.

“So with enough magical force we’ll be able to make your healing spells work?” Twilight asked Rarity. Rarity nodded, but it was obvious she was uncertain. Ponies knew little about dragons, so there was no way they could be sure if this would work or not. They just hoped that it would.

“Let’s get to it”. They both concentrated their magic on Sharpy. Since Rarity was the one with the medical skills, Twilight would do nothing but assist her by lending Rarity her own magical power. Together they would make this work. They had to.

The other ponies all looked worried as Rarity and Twilight ran away to the far end of the cave. They all knew if those two unicorns couldn’t help Sharpy in time, he would die. They all looked at each other with sad faces. Everypony but Fluttershy. She was still looking at Sharpy, who were now being placed down on the ground by Rarity. Not even a minute later, Rarity and Twilight started using their magic on Sharpy. Now Fluttershy looked away. She couldn’t take the pressure. She had to figure out something to do while she waited for Rarity and Twilight to reveal the results. Fluttershy saw how everypony was picking their individual room to sleep in. This sure was a big cave. She wouldn’t have been surprised if this had once been the home of something before the dragons came to this place. Perhaps ponies?

She walked up to one of the rooms. The entrance wasn’t very big, but still big enough for her to enter without problems. The room itself wasn’t big, but it was obvious this had been used for something. The corners of the room were too good to be naturally created. Somepony had made this room out of their bare hooves. Fluttershy found it quite interesting how somepony could have created something like this for, probably, a very long time ago. Now only one question remained. How was she supposed to sleep well on this hard floor? But she didn’t have to think for too long. The next moment, Rainbow Dash flew inside the room, carrying a mattress.

“I use this for reserve, but I guess you will need it more than I”, she said and placed the mattress in the middle of the room. “Here you go, Fluttershy”.

“Oh, thank you, Rainbow”, Fluttershy said quietly. She didn’t trust her voice to stay steady, so she didn’t want to speak up more than usual, even if that’s what Twilight had been trying to teach her. She tried to be more assertive, but right now wasn’t the time. She was too worried.

“No need to thank me”, Rainbow said with a salute. “I’ll be off to my room. Hope you’ll get settled. We might be stuck here for a while”. Fluttershy nodded and watched Rainbow leave the room. Then she looked back to the mattress. She was glad Rainbow brought this to her. At least now it wouldn’t be so hard to get some sleep tonight. But she still couldn’t allow it to lie in the middle of the room like this. She grabbed it and dragged it over to the far end of the room. All she had to do now was to find Spike and bring her little bag back here.

She walked out of the room and looked from side to side. Now where could Spike be?

When she walked across the room she could hear both Rarity and Twilight talking to each other while taking care of Sharpy. To Fluttershy’s despair, they didn’t sound very positive or full of hope. It seemed like they were panicking. Fluttershy decided to stay and listen to what they were talking about.

“… seems stable, but he’s still losing it!” Rarity said. She was panicking and you could hear how she was almost at the edge of breaking under the pressure.

“Try it again!” Twilight shouted. Rarity’s and Twilight’s horns started to glow and a bright light appeared. This didn’t sound very good. Fluttershy couldn’t just stand there and watch. She wanted to do whatever she could to save Sharpy. She flew up to them as fast as she could.

“How is he doing?” she asked. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Sorry, Fluttershy”, Twilight said quickly. “There isn’t much you can do right now. If you excuse us…” Twilight didn’t even look at her. And neither did Rarity. Normally she would feel a bit sad, but not this time. They were more focused on helping Sharpy and talking to her. And that was good. She couldn’t possibly be upset because they ignored her. What would she do anyway? Without the right tools, there wasn’t much she could do. She supposed she should leave this for the unicorns and continue her search for Spike.

“Yes, of course. I understand”, Fluttershy said and left the two unicorns alone. She slowly walked away and headed for the different rooms. She sighed sadly. Once again, there was nothing she could do. And even when she tries to help, everything goes wrong. If she would just have stayed out of the battle between Sharpy and Huffy, Sharpy wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Sharpy got hurt because of her. Sharpy got hurt protecting her. But there was nothing she could do for him.

She found Spike in one of the larger rooms. The room was round and a little bigger than her room. Spike had placed Twilight’s mattress in the far end of the room, but was standing a little confused with his blanket in his claws. Fluttershy saw her bag lying beside Twilight’s mattress. When she walked into the room Spike noticed her and turned around. He smirked when he saw her.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” he said. But then he saw Fluttershy’s sad look. “How are you doing?” Fluttershy looked at him. She didn’t feel like talking too much about it, so she went with the simplest explanation.

“Sharpy… he isn’t doing too well”, she said slowly. Then she felt how the tears started to run down her chins. “I overheard Rarity and Twilight… they say he’s losing it…”

“Oh…” Spike said slowly and looked down. He stood like that for a few seconds. But then he brightened up. “Fluttershy. We have to believe in Rarity and Twilight now. They’ll handle this for sure”. Spike seemed very convinced in what he was saying, but Fluttershy wasn’t so sure. She could see before her eyes how Rarity ran through the cave crying and how Twilight was sitting completely frozen, looking at Sharpy’s body. The rest would come out of their respective rooms to see what was going on. And then everypony would see that… She couldn’t continue. She blocked the very thought and threw it out of her mind like you throw out the trash. Spike was right. She had to believe. She had taught Rarity a lot about how the body works and with Twilight’s powerful magic, they were bound to succeed. But even though she tried to cheer herself up, she couldn’t stop herself from expect the worst.

“Fluttershy?” Fluttershy lost her thought and looked at Spike. He looked at her, and it seemed like he’d been doing that for a little while. “I guess you weren’t here to talk?”

“No, sorry”, Fluttershy replied. She pointed at her bag. “I was looking for my bag”. Spike nodded and took a few steps to the bag. He picked it up and gave it to Fluttershy. But before he let it go, he looked into her eyes and she looked back.

“It’ll be all right. Just wait. In the end, everything will be all right”. Spike was very serious when he said that. Unusually serious. Fluttershy almost got surprised. But Spike knew of her deep, yet complicated and perhaps conflicted, love for Sharpy. It had been tough for her before, but now when Sharpy was at death’s door, he could only but imagine how she felt.

Fluttershy gave Spike a shy smile and nodded. Spike let go of the bag and allowed Fluttershy to take it. Fluttershy put the bag on her back and walked out of the room. But before she took the final step, she turned back and looked at Spike.

“Thank you”, she said and left the little dragon alone. Thanks to that short, yet warming, talk with Spike, she actually felt a lot better. But then she looked over to Rarity and Twilight and her heart got filled with sadness. They still seemed really stressed out and that proved things wasn’t going their way. She closed her eyes and wished. Wished that Sharpy would survive this. She would pay any price to spend more time with him. She opened her eyes again and looked back at Rarity and Twilight. They are both very talented unicorns. Now was their time to show that.

“Please save Sharpy…”, she whispered and walked into her room.

Chapter 23: No More Hiding

Applejack had, together with Spike, made a little campfire in the middle of the main room of the cave. Everypony was sitting around it. Not much was said.

The smoke found its way out even though they were inside a cave, so they didn’t have to worry too much about it.

Fluttershy sighed quiet to herself. She felt her sadness deep inside. It was growing like there was no hope left in the world. But right now, Sharpy was the world for her. And for him, they could do nothing but wait. Twilight and Rarity had explained that they had done everything they could for him. They told her how Sharpy’s lungs had now been healed, but he was still unconscious. They didn’t know what else could be done besides laying him in a position so that he could cough up the blood from his lungs without choking himself. But it had been hard for them to reach this far. Really hard. Not to mention exhausting. They were both lying down, almost sleeping. Twilight seemed to be in the worst condition here. Sharpy’s body had naturally tried to resist Twilight’s and Rarity’s magic, so they had to use so much magical power just to make the smallest of difference. Twilight had been the one lending Rarity her magic, so she was completely exhausted. Rarity was in a better shape, but she was still really down. It was obvious that she was exhausted, but there was something else. Fluttershy could see it. She was sad. Devastated. Just like she got the feeling that she just couldn’t do enough for her loved one. Just like Fluttershy felt.

Rarity was in love with Sharpy. Fluttershy could see that. That was a thing she was good at. She could tell how most ponies felt and thought just by looking at their expressions and actions. Rarity was lying on the ground but hadn’t closed her eyes like Twilight. She was staring at her own hooves, slowing rubbing them against the stone floor.

The rest of the company was pretty much their good old selves. Nopony dared to say much, though. The sadness from, especially Rarity and Fluttershy herself, made it all very awkward.

Rainbow Dash had, against all odds, actually been able to sit down for the entire evening. She had apparently started to feel a bit dizzy from time to time. Probably because of the hit she took from Huffy’s force push. But she refused to let anypony check her to see if everything was ok saying “It’s not that bad”. They were a bit worried at first, but they quickly let it go. Rainbow was still her normal self, even if she wasn’t flying around.

Pinkie Pie wasn’t really her jolly self, though. She wasn’t really acting strange. The problem was that she wasn’t acting strange enough. Apparently Pinkie had figured out that nopony’s mood wasn’t going to change very much unless something happened to Sharpy, so she’d stopped trying. She wasn’t really sad herself, though. She had, just like Spike, good faith that Sharpy would be all right soon enough.

Applejack was currently the only one besides Pinkie that was fully ok after all that had happened. She had to take care of most things, like preparing some dinner for them all. Pinkie and Fluttershy had tried to help with whatever they could, but Applejack wasn’t too interested in their help since she thought she could very well take care of things herself.

Fluttershy herself was just stared into the little campfire. She had seen Sharpy done the same thing during the nights when she and Spike had been spying on them. At those times she never really understood why he did that. But now she did. The flame was fascinating. It was almost like it had a life of its own, dancing around until it would finally die out. Though, it seemed distant somehow, it was still spreading its warm energy to everypony and everything around it. Fluttershy couldn’t imagine what went through Sharpy’s mind, but she was certain that the fire made him calm down.

Fluttershy sighed. She heard Sharpy cough back in the corner where he lied. She looked back at him, hoping that he would have recovered. But no. It was just a reflex. He was still unconscious. She saw how he spat out a little blood on the floor. It made her stomach hurt. Perhaps it would be for the best that he was unconscious for now. She didn’t even want to imagine what kind of pain he would be in if he was awake. Fluttershy quickly closed her eyes end turned away her head. She didn’t want to think about that. Thoughts like that wouldn’t help anypony. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at everypony. They all looked around like they were wondering or thinking of something. But Fluttershy didn’t care. Not right now. She had something else going on in her mind.

An ordinary dinner followed. Twilight had woken up and everypony had their mood up again. They were talking and laughing to each other. Everypony except Fluttershy. Sure, she felt better and the participated in the discussion as much as she usually did. But she didn’t really enjoy it. In fact, she thought it was awkward. She didn’t felt like talking about trivial things and give everypony a fake smile. Not right now. It felt wrong, somehow.

She looked to her side and realized Rarity wasn’t very active in the conversations at all. And that was very unusual for her since she always had something to say. In fact, she was once again looking down at her hooves while making small circles with them. Rarity realized that Fluttershy was looking at her, so she lifted her head and looked at her. Fluttershy quickly blushed and looked the other way. Rarity looked skeptically at the ponies around the fire. Then she looked back at Sharpy with a sad smile. She sighed deeply. She nudged Fluttershy with her hoof to catch her attention. Fluttershy tried to act surprised and looked back questioning at her. Rarity nodded discretely at Sharpy as a sign for them to go there. Fluttershy tool a final look at the other ponies around the fire before nodding. Neither of them was talking very much anyway. It wouldn’t matter much if they were there or not.

Rarity stood up, excused herself and started walking towards Sharpy. Fluttershy followed her example shortly after and trotted to catch up with Rarity.

“I want to talk to you, Fluttershy”, Rarity said sadly but clearly. Fluttershy looked at her, but Rarity avoided her eyes. She saw how a single tear ran down from her eye. Rarity bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling.

“Is everything all right?” Fluttershy asked carefully.

“No, everything is not all right!” Rarity said as quickly it surprised Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked down in shame, afraid that she might have upset Rarity.

“I’m sorry… I…” Fluttershy began, but Rarity interrupted her.

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted like that…” she said. “It’s just that…” Rarity stopped and looked at Sharpy, who were still unconscious. Fluttershy did the same. As soon as her eyes met the unconscious body of her loved one, her mood dropped instantly. She quickly turned her eyes away from him and looked questioning at her, wondering what she wanted to talk about.

“Sharpy, he…” Rarity said slowly. “I’ve done all I can for him, but it’s not enough”. Rarity walked up to him and looked at his face. His eyes were closed. His large, scaly wings were lying lifeless unfolded on the ground. And his mouth was covered in his own blood he had coughed up. Rarity raised her hoof to wipe away some of the blood around his mouth. When she was done, she looked at her hoof, now with blood stains. She got a mildly disgusted look on her face, but decided to ignore it for now.

“His body keeps rejecting our magic… I don’t know if he’s going to make it…” Rarity continued. Fluttershy reacted to this and took a couple of steps backwards. “Most ponies wouldn’t…” Rarity finished her sentence with a weak sob.

Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hoof after hearing that. She felt how her eyes started to fill up with tears. She shook her head and turned around. The little hope she had got were now completely gone.

Rarity closed her eyes as tears started falling down from her cheeks to the ground. She bit her lip so hard it almost started to bleed.

“I love him…” Rarity said. Fluttershy stopped her crying for a moment and listened on Rarity without turning around. “I really do… And I can’t do anything to help him…” Fluttershy now looked back at Rarity. Rarity was standing over the unconscious Sharpy, looking down at him. Fluttershy started to recognize her own feelings in Rarity. More than before. Fluttershy wasn’t fond of the fact that Rarity was also in love with Sharpy. Especially when she realized Sharpy could very well share feeling with Rarity. But she had to put that aside for now. Rarity was her friend and she couldn’t let her down. Especially not now when she truly knew they felt the same way. Fluttershy slowly walked up to her sobbing friend and put her hoof on her back.

“I know how you feel Rarity”, she said. Rarity looked at her with wet eyes. Fluttershy’s eyes were as wet as Rarity’s but had an intense stare. “I feel the same… I can’t seem to do anything right for him…” It was a bit unusual for Fluttershy to have this role when she was the one supporting Rarity. It was usually in the opposite way. But Fluttershy didn’t do this just to make Rarity feel better. It also helps herself.

“Do you know what Spike told me earlier?” Fluttershy said. Rarity shook her head. “That we need to have hope” Fluttershy felt stronger while saying this. She had made a promise. A promise where she told herself that she would do anything for Sharpy. That she wouldn’t go away, hide and cry. She had a different side. And the least she could do now was to keep the hope up. She knew would be hard to even convince herself, but she felt like that was needed. “Hope” she repeated and let go of Rarity. Her eyes were still flooded with tears and so was Rarity’s.

Rarity nodded and wiped the tears off her face. She looked into Fluttershy’s eyes and saw a flame. A flame which could only be awoken by one thing. True love. She saw strength. Unimaginable strength. Something she had never seen in Fluttershy ever before.  Fluttershy was afraid. No, she was terrified. But she was ready to face her fear. Face it with everything she got. Rarity almost didn’t recognize Fluttershy. Fluttershy didn’t usually stand up like this. But she still remembered. She remembered those times where they had been in trouble and Fluttershy was the one who actually took the step and saved them. Then she stood up to protected her dear friends. Now she stands up to protect her love.

“I don’t want to hide anymore…” Fluttershy said. Rarity was so deep in her thoughts she almost jumped backwards by the sound of Fluttershy’s voice. Fluttershy looked at Sharpy with sadness in her eyes. “That’s what I’ve been doing this whole time… hiding. And see where that brought us…”

Fluttershy pointed at Sharpy, turned around and took a few steps back. Rarity walked up to her and put a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s back.

“It’s not your fault, darling”, she said slowly and tried to look Fluttershy in the eyes. Fluttershy didn’t move a muscle. She was quiet for a few seconds before finally answering.

“But it is…” Fluttershy said and turned to Rarity. “And that’s why I don’t want to hide anymore!”

“That’s the spirit!” Both Fluttershy and Rarity looked surprised behind them. There stood Rainbow Dash with an optimistic smile. Rainbow walked in between them and placed her front legs around their necks like friends sometimes do. “You two seemed a bit down, so I thought you might need some morale boost!”

“And you don’t think it ruins the idea by telling us that?” Rarity said slightly annoyed. Rainbow looked at her for a while. Then she looked up into the ceiling and started tapping her chin.

“No, not really” Rainbow said and smirked. She knew perfectly well that Rarity probably was right. But she couldn’t say that out loud. “But that’s not the point. The point is to keep out hopes up, just like I heard Fluttershy say. Otherwise we will all fall into depression, and that’s not something I wish on anypony”.

“Sharpy’s condition is terrible. He’s dying” Rarity said as more tears started filling her eyes. Rarity was now about to get upset and Rainbow realized that. She looked at her and immediately felt sad. She didn’t want to make things worse for her. She had hoped that Rarity and Fluttershy would be happy that she came. She looked from Rarity to Fluttershy. Fluttershy did still have tears dripping down from her cheeks, but her facial expression told that she wasn’t sad. Or at least tried to keep her mood up.

“But Rarity… I think Rainbow is right. To get through this, we have to keep our mood up”. Rainbow smiled to Fluttershy who gave her a shy smile back. Rainbow then turned to Rarity again. Rarity took a deep breath to calm herself down. She closed her eyes and stood quiet for a few seconds. Nopony interrupted the silence and just waited for Rarity to say something. Rarity then opened her eyes and looked at Fluttershy.

“Though I do admit that optimism is very important, you also have to be realistic. False hope might feel good for the moment, but after the hammer has struck…”

“Well you aren’t helping”, Rainbow Dash said. “I bet he’ll wake up any second now”.

“That’s very unlikely”, Rarity said in disbelief. “I and Twilight might have done quite a lot to help him, but it’s not nearly enough. You can’t expect him to…” but then she stopped. They all heard a quiet groan from behind followed by a deep, quiet voice that appeared to be in pain.

“I feel like a rotten potato…”

Chapter 24: Recovery

They all just stood there and stared at Sharpy. Neither of them could really believe that he was truly awake. And nopony could ever blame them. He’d woken up at such an unbelievable convenient time it was ridiculous. They all stared for a while to make sure they weren’t imagining everything. But clearly they weren’t. Sharpy grunted one more time and carefully held himself on chest. He then rolled over to the side so that he faced the cave wall. Rainbow took the opportunity to give Rarity a victorious smile.

“See? I told you”, Rainbow said and pointed at the obvious conscious Sharpy. “I told you he’d wake up any second”.  Rainbow wanted that Rarity would try to defend herself so that she could really rub it in her face. But instead of replying to Rainbow, tears started falling down from her cheeks. The same happened to Fluttershy. But this wasn’t tears of sadness, but tears of joy. Two big smiled showed up on their respective faces. Rarity immediately ran up to Sharpy and hugged him hard. Sharpy, who wasn’t in a very good shape, started waving with his legs in surprise and because the pressure was too much for his weak body. Rarity realized that and let go a bit but without fully releasing him.

“You’re okay! You’re alive!” Rarity said while gently rubbing her cheek against Sharpy’s. Finally Rarity let go and looked at Sharpy, who took the opportunity to roll over so that he was facing them. He did it slowly and carefully. He grimaced in pain as he was rolling over. Then his eyes met Fluttershy’s. Fluttershy just stood there, completely stunned, staring back at Sharpy. After a few moments a smile, that just continued to grow bigger, formed on his face. Fluttershy started to walk forward as a smile on her face started to appear as well. But when Fluttershy was half-way there, Sharpy quickly closed his mouth so that you couldn’t see his teeth, but he kept the smile.

Sharpy knew that it was his draconic-like features, like his teeth, that scared Fluttershy and kept them apart in the first place. So he wasn’t very fond of showing her anything that could remind her of his true form.

Fluttershy stopped for a moment and looked a little disappointed at Sharpy. Sharpy’s smile disappeared. He should have expected. Why would Fluttershy just accept it like that? But Fluttershy did something Sharpy didn’t expect. She walked right up to him, bowed down, and gave him a kiss followed up with a gentle hug.

“I’m sorry…” she whispered in his ear. “Please don’t hide anything for me anymore”. Sharpy did not reply. He didn’t really know what was going on. Fluttershy had been so scared when she realized he was a dragon. But now she even kissed him? He wasn’t angry, no. Just surprised.

Fluttershy loosened her hug a little so that she could look him in the eyes. Sharpy looked back, still surprised.

“It doesn’t matter what you are, but who you are”, Fluttershy said as tears of happiness filled her eyes. “I’m just glad you’re ok”. Fluttershy went closer again and placed her cheek against his. Fluttershy couldn’t see it, but she could feel against her cheek how the big smile on Sharpy’s face returned, and how tears started flowing from his eyes. Fluttershy saw how Sharpy slowly raised a shaking hoof and placed it around her neck, hugging her back. His hoof lied heavy around her neck as he probably had a hard time even raising it.

“Thank you”, he whispered in her ear. He tried to say something more, but couldn’t. Talking made his chest hurt too much. But he didn’t have to say anything. Fluttershy knew what Sharpy tried to say. But even so, Sharpy swallowed and tried again. “I…” he began, but started to cough immediately.

Fluttershy hushed Sharpy. She put her hoof on his head and slowly let her hoof go through his mane. She didn’t want him to talk. She just wanted to be close to him. To feel his soft, beautiful coat. To feel his chest move when he breathed. To feel his strong heart beat. She wanted to know that he was ok. That he would survive. And now she knew for sure that Sharpy would be ok. That he would recover. His breathing was already almost normal, even though he’d just woken up. His heart was beating as it should. There was no doubt about it. Knowing that made her calm.

For a few moments both Fluttershy and Sharpy didn’t have a care in the world. Sharpy managed to build up enough strength hug Fluttershy tighter and burry his face on her mane. Fluttershy did the same. The scent from the other pony made them feel both calm and safe. It was completely silent. Nopony said a single word for minutes. Not even Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Rainbow just stood there with a smug. It was obvious that she was getting a bit bored by just standing there. She was already thinking of something appropriate to say to break the silence. Rarity stood there with a sad smile. She liked Sharpy. A lot. And seeing him and Fluttershy together made her feel a bit down. But at the same time she felt happy for both Sharpy and Fluttershy. There was nothing but true love between those two. One does not simply follow somepony on a dangerous quest, even if you’re hiding or not, without having some kind of feelings for him. But then Rarity looked down. She had been following him on this dangerous journey too. In fact, they all have. She supposed they all felt something for him. Whether it was pity or actual friendship they were all here now. And they were here together. Rarity looked up again. Now with a big smile and shining eyes. They were here together. As friends helping another friend. That’s what matters. Friends help each other whether it was a big magical dragon or just a cold. Rarity took a look at Sharpy and Fluttershy again. She couldn’t help but to laugh a little. Their happiness made her happy as well. She didn’t know how her and Sharpy’s relation would grow or if they would simply stay friends. At this point, there wasn’t much she could do to change the outcome. And she wouldn’t try to steal him from Fluttershy. That wasn’t her style and besides, she wasn’t sure if she liked to admit it or not, but they fit so well together. As long as her friends were happy, she would be happy.

“Hey!” Rainbow said, breaking the wonderful silence and disturbing Rarity’s thoughts. “Shouldn’t you eat something, Sha…OW!” Rarity bumped into Rainbow, glaring at her. Rainbow glared back. “What!?” Rainbow raised her voice.

“Can’t you see that they are spending some precious time together?” Rarity whispered back. She made sure that she sounded assertive. Rainbow and Rarity glared at each other without saying a single word. Fluttershy stopped hugging Sharpy and looked back at the two mares. She shook her head and sighed. Then she looked back at Sharpy and he looked from Rainbow and Rarity and back to Fluttershy.

“I think Rainbow might be right…” Fluttershy said, still looking at Sharpy. Rainbow and Rarity both let their eyes off the other’s eyes and looked at Fluttershy. “Well, he’s been out for about a day now…”

Rainbow looked back at Rarity and gave her a victorious smile. Rarity just replied by rolling her eyes, showing that she was too mature to consider this a competition. She walked up to Fluttershy and Sharpy.

“Then let us help you walk over to the fireplace”, Rarity said and looked Sharpy in the eyes. Sharpy just looked at her with blank eyes before his cheeks turned red. Sharpy didn’t feel too keen to let them help him with something as easy as to walk. He shook his head. He wouldn’t accept any help until he had made sure personally that he wasn’t able to walk himself. Fluttershy and Rarity looked worried at each other and moved reluctantly out of the way. Sharpy moved carefully to the side so that he would be able to stand up. Sharpy used one leg at a time and slowly bringing himself up. When he finally stood up he was shaking worryingly much and by looking at his facial expression it really looked like he would throw up any second. Of course he didn’t throw up, mostly because there was nothing in his stomach that he could throw up. But as soon as he tried to take the first step, his legs gave up and he fell to the ground. Fortunately, Rainbow was fast enough to catch him before touching the ground.

“Perhaps I need a little…” Sharpy coughed. “…help, after all.” Sharpy looked up at Rainbow who had just saved him from a massive headache. She looked back at him for a few seconds before nodding slowly.

“I think you do”. With that said, Rainbow pulled Sharpy up and with the help of Rarity and Fluttershy they were able to help him over to the fire where the other ponies sat around the fire, still unaware of Sharpy’s improved condition. As they slowly came closer, Pinkie Pie was the first one to notice that Sharpy was awake. She immediately jumped up and smiled.

“Sharpy is awake, girls!” She quickly ran up to him and gave him a hug. Applejack walked up to Sharpy after Pinkie and helped him to sit down by the fire. Then she put her hat on top of his head and handed him a bowl of soup.

“Good to see ya doin’ all right, partner!” Sharpy nodded gratefully to Applejack and grabbed the bowl with his hooves. Sharpy knew he was weak and didn’t want to accidentally drop the bowl and spill out all the soup, so he and carefully lowered his head so that his lips touched the edge of the bowl. Then he slowly, but surely, raised his hooves so that the hot, tasty soup poured into his mouth. It was delicious and he didn’t mind that it was very hot. In fact, he welcomed the heat. He had been feeling pretty cold and generally like rubbish as soon as he woke up. Now after eating the soup he didn’t feel quite as cold anymore and he didn’t doubt that the food would make him feel better later on.

Sharpy quickly ate the bowl of soup. It was so delicious that he asked for another bowl, even though they usually never ate too much to conserve the food. Sharpy wasn’t sure why he liked the soup so much. It was just a simple soup with different kinds of vegetables and spices. He guessed it could be because he was very hungry. He hadn’t eaten anything for a very long time. Besides, he needed the extra energy to be able to recover. When he asked for more, Applejack just laughed and refilled his bowl.

Just before Sharpy would start eating his second bowl of soup, Twilight walked up to him looking very thoughtful. Sharpy stopped what he was doing and gave her a questioning look as to what she was thinking about.

“It’s quite interesting, really”, Twilight said to herself and looked at Sharpy as if she was studying him. Fluttershy. She have had her eyes on Sharpy the whole time, noticed that and walked up to Twilight.

“What’s interesting?” she asked. Sharpy just looked at Twilight and asked her the same thing. Both Fluttershy and Sharpy now looked at Twilight with big eyes, waiting for an answer. What could be interesting anyway?

“How quickly you recover, Sharpy”, Twilight said and sat down beside him. Fluttershy did the same. “That’s what’s interesting”. Fluttershy looked at Sharpy while he looked back at her and Twilight.

“Well… perhaps it wasn’t as bad as we thought?” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, but it was!” Twilight said quickly. “I and Rarity were able to sense his lungs with our magic. It didn’t look good”. Fluttershy wasn’t exactly sure where Twilight wanted to go with this. Sure, Sharpy had recovered quickly and it was something to be happy about. It really felt like the best thing that could ever have happened at the moment. But she didn’t understand why she thought it was so interesting.

Twilight didn’t wait for Fluttershy to respond and continued.

“We weren’t able to help him even close to what was necessary. And yet, he’s almost able to sit perfectly”, Twilight said excited and pointed at Sharpy. “If any other pony would suffer the same damage it would take at least a week with professional healers to get her into a fully recovered state. But at this rate, Sharpy should be fine in just a couple of days”.

“But that’s wonderful news!” Rarity joined the conversation and sat down between Twilight and Sharpy. She gave Sharpy the most beautiful smile to show him how relived she was that he would be ok. Sharpy smiled back and carefully nudged her with his hoof. But then Sharpy got a serious look on his face. He looked at Twilight. Then he coughed a little to prepare himself to talk.

“So you say that… that I recover much faster… than others?” Sharpy said slowly with a hoarse voice. It was obvious that he wasn’t completely ready to talk just yet. Twilight smiled and nodded as Sharpy spoke. When he was done, Twilight raised a hoof.

“…other ponies. Not dragons”. The other looked at Twilight and nodded assent. They all started to understand where she was going with this. Everypony except Sharpy. To him this was nothing strange.

“But I’m not recovering… faster than usual…” he said, looking a bit confused. “It still hurts when I… accidently hit my hind leg into something”. Sharpy looked at his leg. You couldn’t see the wound, but it still hurts when putting too much pressure on it or, as he said, hit something.

“But a pony would still have to clean her wounds”, Twilight said. She smiled and looked back at Spike, who was currently talking to Applejack about something. They were too far away so you couldn’t hear what they said. “When Spike was just a baby he used to fall a lot when he tried to walk. I remember how I noticed that the scrapes that he got always healed so quickly compared to mine. At the time I was jealous. But now I find it interesting”. Twilight stood up and started to walk towards her room. After a few steps she turned back and looked Sharpy in the eye. “When this is over, I’ll have a lot of questions for you”. She gave him a friendly smile before she turned around and took the final steps to the room she shared with Spike.

Chapter 25: Lights in the Night

Rarity just stared up at the ceiling, or whatever you should call the dark and cold stone covering the beautiful night sky from her tired eyes. It didn’t make her feel comfortable. She felt captured, uncomfortable and defenseless. As if the entire mountain would collapse upon her any second. Caves were far from her style. She preferred large, open spaces and the shiny night sky above her as she slept, like the previous nights on this journey. Sleeping in a cave didn’t feel right at all.

She wasn’t able to sleep, either. Even though it was in the middle of the night and with both her body and mind tired, she was just lying there with her eyes open wide. It couldn’t be many hours left until the other ponies would wake up, well rested and ready for a new day. Rarity realized that if she wasn’t able to fall asleep, she would be too tired tomorrow to do anything. And the rough, hard cave floor she was laying on didn’t make it any better. Nothing she had brought could make the uncomfortable feeling from lying on the dirty cave floor go away. She moved from side to side, trying to find a comfortable spot. After rolling around the entire room and trying every possible position, she came to the conclusion that keeping this up was pointless. She carefully sat up. Perhaps taking a little walk would calm her down enough to make her fall asleep? She stood up and slowly made her way to the large room where they had put the campfire earlier. As she came closer to her rooms exit, she noticed light coming from the large room. Had they forgot to put out the fire? Rarity shrugged. If that was the case, she could just sit down by the fire and relax. Perhaps the heat from the fireplace would be comfortable enough to make her fall asleep.

Rarity walked out of her dark, little room and into the big, enlightened main room. She saw the fireplace in the middle of the room just where it had been before. It took a couple of moment for her eyes to get used to the light after being in the dark for a few hours, but she could clearly see somepony sitting by the fire, silently looking into the flame.

“Sharpy?” she asked to the green pony sitting by the fire. Sharpy didn’t answer her. He responded simply by raising his eyes from the fireplace. He saw that Rarity was standing there so he gave her a simple nod before looking back into the fire. Rarity saw how his red reptile-like eyes shone from the little fireplace. It was almost like he was bewitched by the fireplace itself. As he looked into the fire, he reminded her of a predator hunting it’s pray. The feeling intrigued her to go closer, sit down beside him and lose herself in his eyes. She would hug him. And he would hug him back. Finally they would fall asleep in each other’s arms. The thought made her blush. She didn’t like when she blushed. Her white coat made it so obvious. She looked away for a second just to realize that Sharpy wasn’t even looking back at her. She looked at him again. She felt how she just wanted to walk up to him and kiss him.

She quickly shook away the thought, though. That would never happen. Fluttershy loved him and he loved Fluttershy. She sighed, prepared to turn around and go back to her room. But she didn’t. She couldn’t resist the urge to spend time with him. It didn’t have to be anything special. If they could have a conversation just the two of them, that would be enough. It would be just like the time in her tent. She really enjoyed that conversation. Even if it wasn’t the most casual of conversations she felt like he really opened up to her. He had some problems on him mind and apparently she was the first one he went to. Now it was her time to go to him.

Rarity walked up to Sharpy and sat down right next to him as close as she could possibly be without touching him. She didn’t want to disturb him too much if he was deep in his thoughts.

“I see you’re still awake, darling”, she said as soft as she possibly could. Sharpy sighed tired and looked at her. Just by looking at his eyes, she saw how tired he really was.

“I couldn’t sleep”, he said with a hoarse voice and pulled a fake smile. Rarity didn’t buy it. She looked at him, trying to get eye contact even if he had turned away to stare into the fire again.

“You really should get some sleep, darling” she said. Sharpy inhaled and looked up into the ceiling. “It’ll help you recover.”

“I wish I could”, Sharpy yawned. “But I really can’t get any sleep”.

“Just close your eyes and…” Rarity began but Sharpy interrupted.

“Don’t forget that you’re awake too, Rarity” Sharpy said a bit faster than usual, even though he was so very hoarse. Sharpy glanced at Rarity and pulled a big, heartwarming smile. This time, it was real. Rarity blushed and looked away, chuckled a little.

“Well I couldn’t sleep either”, she sighed. “I don’t like caves very much. It feels like you’re trapped”. Sharpy laughed a little, but couldn’t continue due to his sore throat.

“I guess the dragon in me still enjoy caves”, he said and smiled so that you could see his sharp teeth. If any other creature would show her big, sharp teeth like that, she could have been terrified. But knowing that Sharpy had sharp teeth actually made her feel safe. She smiled back to him. They looked into each other’s eyes. Rarity saw how the fire made his eyes shine like nothing else. Sharpy was the one to break the eye contact that actually lasted for a little while. He looked back into the fire and got that sad look he got when something was bothering him. Rarity looked at him. She wanted to keep the eye contact, but guessed that wouldn’t happen. She looked at his face and instantly recognized that look from before. He usually had that look during the late hours. It really made her feel sad to see him this way. She nudged him gently with her muzzle. He slowly turned to her, wondered what she wanted.

“What’s on your mind, darling?” she asked in the sweetest way possible. Sharpy looked very troubled when he got the question. He hesitated for a second before answering.

“I… It’s nothing. I just… it’s noting”, Sharpy said and looked away. Rarity got a little impatient and nudged him again.

“Don’t lie to me”, Rarity waited until she regained eye contact with Sharpy. She leaned forward. “What’s on your mind?” Sharpy looked extremely embarrassed and almost had to fight his inner self to keep up the eye contact. After a long while, or so it seemed, he finally gave in. He sighed deeply and prepared himself to tell Rarity what was going on in his mind.

“Ever since I woke up…” Sharpy whispered as if he didn’t want anypony else to hear what he was about to say. “… There has been… a battle inside of me”. Rarity nodded, encouraging Sharpy to continue.

“A battle? Feelings fighting other feelings?” Rarity asked. Sharpy looked at her and nodded slowly.

“Yes… feelings fighting…” Sharpy was still talking very quiet, even if he wasn’t whispering anymore. “A battle between love… and hate”. Sharpy got that look in his eye. He was hungering for blood. The hate flowed through his body. “I am so close right now. I want to kill… Huffy”, he almost spit out his name. He was so frustrated that Rarity actually leaned backwards in surprise. Sharpy was breathing heavily. He was staring, once again, into the fire. But this time he imagined Huffy was in that fire. All the scales ripped off, screaming in pain as the fire slowly burned him alive. But as quickly as the anger came to him, it disappeared. He saw Fluttershy’s face in the fire. She wasn’t screaming and crying. Nor was she laughing and smiling. She was just standing there. Looking at him with disappointment. Sharpy started to look all devastated. He was still breathing very heavily, but this time it wasn’t because of rage, but because of anxiety.

“And then there is love…” he said leaned backwards. Rarity was the look on his face and leaned forward to comfort him. She shuffled towards him and held him tight. She half-expected Sharpy to reject her, but he didn’t. Instead he pushed himself closer to her, but didn’t return the hug.

“What if something goes wrong?” he said anxiously. “What if… if… somepony dies? What if Fluttershy… or any of you…?” Rarity hushed him. She placed a hoof on his muzzle, but Sharpy just shoved it away.

“Is it worth the risk?” he asked himself more than Rarity. “Is it worth the risk just for some… stupid revenge?” Rarity understood completely. She has had second thought about this whole going out for revenge idea. Huffy had to pay for his crimes, yes. But going out on a quest to kill him didn’t really seem like a thing she would normally accept. But this whole situation wasn’t anything normal. She looked at Sharpy, trying to figure out exactly what was going on in his mind. Was he leaning more towards going back or continue. She wasn’t sure how great his love for Fluttershy, her or anypony was right now. But she did know that his hate for Huffy was as great as it could be. She couldn’t even imagine the sorrow, and later on hate, she would feel if she ever lost Sweetie Belle. And if somepony, or someone, were responsible, no sea would be to deep and no mountain would be too tall. She would hunt down the one responsible and put him to justice. She realized how she was getting more and more aggressive as she thought about it, so she stopped. A part of her wanted to go home, but another part of her wanted Huffy to suffer for what he did to Sharpy.

“But Huffy… he did…” Rarity couldn’t help herself. Sharpy was filled with hate and a desire for revenge. He wouldn’t feel at ease until the thirst for desire was quenched. Despite how much she hated and despised herself for believing so, she thought that Huffy should die. That he should pay the same prize Sharpy’s sister did. And who knows how many more lives he’s destroyed or will destroy if he isn’t dealt with.

“… He did kill my sister, yes”, Sharpy continued. Bringing that up again made him shake of anger and sorrow. But he quickly calmed himself down. Only the sorrow remained in his eyes. “Getting my revenge won’t bring her back. But I might lose one of you. And I am not ready to take that hit. And I doubt you are either”. Rarity looked down. That was true. Nopony here would ever be ready for such a tragedy. But somepony still had to put an end to Huffy, one way or another. At this point, she was tired and most of all wanted to go to sleep. But she still wanted one more question answered before she left Sharpy.

“But what about Huffy?” Rarity asked. “If we don’t do anything he’ll destroy more lives”.

“But we have done something”, Sharpy said and leaned forward. “We know where he hides. We’ll tell your princess and she’ll send a group to hunt him down”.

“Ok, then”, Rarity yawned. She started to get really tired and figured she’d try to find a quick, yet a nice way to end the conversation. “You’ve convinced me. Let’s tell the others tomorrow”.

“Well, that wasn’t too hard”, Sharpy giggled, amused by how easy it was to make Rarity understand. He’d suspected something about how close they were and that this whole trip would have been a waste. “But I don’t think it’ll be so easy to make the oth…” Sharpy stopped, noticing something heavy leaning towards his side. He looked to the side and couldn’t help but to smile. Rarity had fallen asleep on the spot and was leaning towards him. He felt warm inside when the sleeping Rarity started to snuggle with his front leg. At this moment he felt happy. He felt loved. He’d never felt this good when he was a dragon. These ponies really cared for him. They were his friends. And he cared for them. Friendship like this was hard to find in the dragon society. And true love was even harder. That’s why his sister meant so much for him. But she’s not here anymore and he will never see her again. But now he’s found both true friendship and true love. Was this something he would put at risk because he couldn’t control his anger and thirst for vengeance?

He looked at Rarity. He thought he heard Fluttershy talk in her sleep from their room. He remembered the short time they’ve spent with each other. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike.

Rarity.

Fluttershy…

“No…” she whispered to himself. “No, I don’t want to lose this”. He used his large wings to put Rarity on his back. He walked with her to her room and put her down on her small mattress. Then he gently covered her body under her blanket so that she wouldn’t get cold.

“Good night, Rarity”, he said and walked out of the little room. He walked up to the fireplace. He didn’t know how he would put out the fire, so he decided to leave it like it was. They were in a cave, so nothing would set on fire and the smoke got out nicely. There was nothing to worry about.

He left the fireplace and walked into his and Fluttershy’s room. He saw Fluttershy sleeping deeply. She was so peaceful and beautiful when she slept. At first he walked to the other end of the room to lie down on the ground. But he stopped halfway there and looked back at Fluttershy. He hesitated for a second, but walked back and laid himself down beside her. Neither of them had mattresses like Rarity, so they slept of Fluttershy’s blanket. But Sharpy did the next best thing. He covered Fluttershy and himself under his wings. Perhaps they weren’t as soft as you could’ve hope for, but they kept them warm better than any blanket.

Sharpy kissed Fluttershy gently on her cheek.

“Good night, Fluttershy”, he whispered in her ear. “I love you”. Then he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

…

“Good night, Sharpy”

Chapter 26: Dragons do Care

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes. It was dark, but she was able to see just fine. She didn’t like it when it was too bright when she woke up anyway. All that did was hurting her eyes. She guessed that sleeping inside a cave had its benefits.

She looked to the side and saw Sharpy lying beside her. He was still asleep and he had his wing covering her like a blanket. It was very warm and cozy. Just like if the wing itself produced heat. She smiled and hugged him. Gently, so that she wouldn’t wake him up. He looked so calm and peaceful when he was sleeping. He’d always seemed so worried and anxious the entire time when she was following him. She’d been worried for him. Especially for how he felt mentally. So seeing that he at least slept well now was very relieving for her.

But no matter how calm that made her feel, she couldn’t forget about Huffy. Sharpy was just feeling better and better. Perhaps another day, or so, and he’d been fit for fighting again. And how would they be able to defeat Huffy. He was superior in every way except in numbers. But her last encounter with Huffy showed that he was able to use very powerful magic spells. An explosion like the one he used on her and Sharpy could easily take down one or two of them and scatter the others. A well placed force push could knock them all down. Not to mention he was a giant dragon. His strength and fire alone could be enough to defeat seven small ponies and a baby dragon.

This could very well be the last day they spend with each other. Fluttershy hugged Sharpy tighter as tears started to fall from her eyes. She wasn’t prepared for something like that. She just hoped that Sharpy would change his mind so that they could just go home. Go home to Ponyville and forget all about Huffy. Forget all about everything sad and tragic. Just live their life in peace without sorrow or sadness. In that moment, Sharpy opened his eyes and looked straight at Fluttershy’s. He opened his eyes so suddenly it surprised Fluttershy. She let go of him and moved back a few centimeters.

“How… how long have you’ve been awake?” she asked modestly and started to blush.

“Oh, just a little while”, he replied calmly. Fluttershy looked at him for a few seconds. Then her cheeks turned red as a pair of tomatoes. She moved closer to him and hugged him once again. This time, he returned the hug with both his forelegs and his wings. If they would have it their way, they would just have stayed there for an eternity and never let go of one another. But that would have been realistic. Besides, Pinkie disturbed them by peeking in her head into their room.

“Oh, I knew I heard your voices” she said in a very happy tone. “It’s time to get up, now! A bright new day awaits you! A day full of possibilities and…”

“Well be up in a moment, ok?” Sharpy interrupted her.

“Great!” Pinkie replied. She didn’t seem upset at all, even though Sharpy just interrupted her. She gave them both a wink before leaving the room. Sharpy and Fluttershy looked at each other and smiled. Sharpy gave Fluttershy a hug which made her feel all warm inside. Fluttershy could stay like this forever, but Sharpy let go of her fairly quickly.

“Let’s join them, shall we?” Sharpy asked and nodded towards where Pinkie stood just a few seconds ago.

“Let’s”, Fluttershy answered after hesitating for a second. She wanted to say ‘no’ but at the same time she didn’t want to seem too intrusive.

Fluttershy and Sharpy walked out of their room and into the big room. In the middle of the room the campfire was burning, spreading its heat and light to all corners of the cave. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were sitting down by the fire, talking to each other. Pinkie must have slept very well because she didn’t seem tired after waking up for, what Sharpy assumed, not too long ago. She wasn’t even able to sit down. Instead she was skipping around Applejack and Rainbow, gladly throwing in a comment or two when she felt it was necessary. There were no sign of Twilight or Spike though. Rarity neither. Sharpy chuckled. She was up quite late until she fell asleep. He guessed she had a hard time sleeping inside the cave. Sharpy could understand that. She didn’t seem like the kind of pony that would appreciate a cave that much. He couldn’t blame her. He would choose a real, soft bed over a cave floor every day. But now thing looked like they did and there weren’t much to do about it. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too tired due to the lack of sleep.

He could also understand why Twilight would be tired. To his understanding she had to let a lot of her magic flow through Rarity to make the magic strong enough to heal him. That didn’t seem like an easy task. Sharpy shook his head to the irony. His resistance to magic, which was obviously there for protection, was the thing that almost cost him his life.

When Sharpy and Fluttershy reached the fireplace, they sat down at the other side of the fireplace, opposite to Applejack and Rainbow. Pinkie finally decided to sit down as well, as soon as Sharpy and Fluttershy did.

“Y’all been sleeping all right?” Applejack asked them.

“Well, you could say that”, Sharpy smiled back. He didn’t lie. The few hours he actually slept were without any problems. But he’d been away quite late, so he was still very tired and tried his best to stay focused. Fluttershy just smiled placed her wing around Sharpy. He simply smiled at her gently rubbed his muzzle against her.

“D’aww… you’re so cute together”, Pinkie said as she rolled over to her back for no apparent reason. Fluttershy looked surprised at the pink pony, but Sharpy looked back at Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“I’m a bit tired, though. I wasn’t able to sleep until very late”, Sharpy said to them.

“Yeah, well… I’ve been having a pretty hard time sleeping in this cave as well”, Rainbow replied. They continued the casual conversation and Fluttershy joined every now and then. Just like before, Pinkie threw in a comment whenever she felt like it. Nopony really mind, though. They all appreciated Pinkie’s optimism. A nice contrast to how everypony else felt.

After a little while Twilight joined them and happily took a part in the conversation. She said that Spike was still sleeping, but explained why that wasn’t something out of the ordinary. He’d always slept very much.

All the morning, Sharpy waited for Rarity to wake up. He wanted to tell them how he felt about going back home and ignoring Huffy, at least for now. He did expect a lot of opposition from the other mares. Now when they were so close to their goal, it seemed like a waste to just walk home without confronting Huffy. Even Sharpy felt like that. The hate was still gnawing deep inside of him. But he couldn’t think of anything else than that the assault would end up in a disaster. They were facing a foe far more powerful than any of them. Perhaps even one of the most powerful creatures that you could possibly run into. The only ones Sharpy would expect to be stronger would be the pony princesses and Discord, the spirit of chaos and also the one who gave Huffy these powers in the first place.

Sharpy thought back to his and Rainbow’s fight with Huffy. Sharpy remembered it too well. He could recall every second of it. Fist when he heard Fluttershy’s scream of fear, he couldn’t believe it. But when he saw what was going on, everything just went black. It’s like his brain stopped working for a second. Seeing Fluttershy’s life in danger also made him remember the death of his sister. He would not see another loved one die in front of his eyes. That’s why he couldn’t continue on this quest for vengeance. Of only Rarity would wake up so that he could feel comfortable telling everypony this.

After what seemed to be an eternity for Sharpy, Rarity finally walked out of her room. She looked like she could fall asleep on the spot.

“Oooh. Good morning, Sunshine”, Rainbow teased her.

“Now you see, Dash”, She started, clearly forcing herself to keep the calm. It seemed like she could be very easily irritated now that she hadn’t gotten enough sleep. “I haven’t gotten the right amount of sleep that I need, so I’m sorry if I don’t feel like playing along with your game”. Rainbow was trying her best to keep herself from laughing when Rarity tried to keep a straight face, but couldn’t resist but to let out small giggling sounds. Rarity just frowned and sat down right next to Pinkie, who were still lying on her back. Right as she sat down, Sharpy took a deep breath.

“I don’t think we should be doing this”, he said quickly. The others just looked at him questioning. Nopny understood what she meant, except for Rarity. She nodded, prompted him to continue.

“Doing what?” Fluttershy asked beside her. Sharpy looked at her with nothing but love and care in his eyes. He then looked back to the others who were waiting for him to elaborate more what he really meant.

“I don’t think we should take on Huffy”, he said even faster that before. They all just stared at him like they didn’t believe that he just said that. “I think we should turn around and go back home”

“You think we should WHAT!?” Rainbow jumped up. She was clearly worked up and didn’t even want to believe when Sharpy just said. “Go back, NOW? We’re so close to that bastard! And after all that we’ve went through? Was this all a waste?”

“Please let me…” Sharpy tried to explain, but Applejack interrupted him.

“Ah’ agree with RD”, she said and looked Sharpy straight in the eye. “What happened to ya’? You were the one who wanted to kill him in the first place”. Sharpy just sighed heavily and looked at them for a second, making sure they were all done. Rainbow and Applejack looked at him with angry looks on their faces. Especially Rainbow. She was very worked up and did not, by any means, even try to hide her emotions. Sharpy wasn’t too surprised, though. He knew Rainbow wouldn’t like his change of mind. She was that kind of mare that wouldn’t give up for anything. And perhaps that’s what she thought he did. That he’d given up.

Applejack hid her feelings quite well, but she still gave him a frustrated glare. Rarity looked at him with an uncertain smile. So far, Fluttershy and Twilight hadn’t said a word. Twilight looked thoughtful and unsure and Fluttershy looked straight at his face like if she tried to figure out what he was going to say. Sharpy looked at his friends. He understood why they were so confused. And they were right. He was the one who wanted to kill Huffy in the first place. They followed him freely and willing to help him justify the death of his sister. But now he was the one backing off. He had to make them understand why he was backing off. He took a deep breath. As he did everypony leaned forward, willing to hear what he had to say in his defense.

“I hate Huffy”, he began slowly. “I hate him more than you can ever imagine. I wouldn’t stop for anything to see him dead”. As he said that Rainbow opened her mouth, ready to throw in an argument. But Rarity shushed him. She even placed a hoof on Rainbow back to prevent her from moving. Rainbow didn’t seem too upset with Rarity. She still moaned irritated, but took the hint and allowed Sharpy to continue.

“At least I thought I wouldn’t stop for anything”, he said and looked at every single one of the mares. “The hate had clouded my judgment. But from the moment I woke up after that… incident with Huffy, I’ve been able to see clearly. And do you know what I saw? I saw something more important than vengeance. I saw all of you”, with that said, he looked at everypony one by one. They all looked at him for a quick moment before giving him a big smile. And when he got to Fluttershy, she just looked at him. He looked back into her eyes. There he saw tears of happiness making her eyes wet as a big smile slowly grew on her face. She hugged him with all her heart as she buried her face in his coat. Sharpy returned the hug and dragged her even closer with the help of his wings.

“I don’t want to do anything that means I could be separated from you”, he whispered so that only Fluttershy could hear him. She didn’t answer, however, she did hug him even tighter and didn’t seem to want to let go any time soon. Sharpy didn’t mind though. He liked being close to Fluttershy. It made him feel truly loved. And love was something he really needed. And to be able to love somepony back was just as wonderful. The only down part of being closed to his loved one was to see the badly hidden sorrow on Rarity’s face whenever she looked at him and Fluttershy. He knew life was like this. All endings weren’t happy. But he couldn’t avoid feeling a bit sorry for her. He had been spending more time with Rarity than any other pony. Even more than he had with Fluttershy. And it wasn’t very hard to figure out that she liked him. He wouldn’t let her come in the way for him and Fluttershy, no. But he also didn’t want to ignore her completely. He sighed. His thirst for vengeance wasn’t gone. He’d just found something sweeter than that. But the second he was ready to leave Huffy behind him he immediately ran into the problems of having a more normal life. That realization almost made him laugh. It wouldn’t have been a happy laugh as much as it would’ve a nervous laugh, though.

He looked up and saw Rarity. She was standing in the back, nervously kicking the ground with her front hoof. When she realized he was looking at her, she shone up and a big smile spread across her face when she looked back at him. She didn’t seem to feel quite comfortable, though. But at least it seemed like she at least tolerated them and that was, at the moment, good enough for him.

It was peace and quiet for a few minutes before Rainbow Dash, who still wasn’t very fond of the idea of letting Huffy get away with what he had done. But she had a hard time finding an argument stronger that “I don’t want to take the risk of anypony dying”, because that was a pretty strong argument. She wondered if there couldn’t be something in the middle. If you could make Huffy pay without risking the life of anypony.

“So, what?” Rainbow said to Sharpy. “Should we just let Huffy get away with this?”

“No, we shouldn’t”, Sharpy said and stood up. Fluttershy had to let go, but didn’t seem to mind. But now she looked worried of what Sharpy might have planned. Sharpy walked up to Rainbow and helped her up on her hooves.

“But I could use you to help me”, Sharpy said. Rainbow Dash looked a little bit confused, wondering what he had in mind. “Your princesses do have some kind of group of specially trained soldiers, right?”

“Errr…” Rainbow wasn’t sure and glanced over at Twilight.

“Yes, they do”, Twilight said and nodded. She’d already guessed where Sharpy was going with this. “They are fine soldiers with years of combat training”.

“…and are much more capable that we are”, Sharpy continued. Rainbow slowly nodded. She now understood what Sharpy meant.

“But what do you need me for?” she asked, still not sure what her role in this was.

“You and I are going to go out there and see where Huffy is hiding”, Sharpy said and nodded toward the exit of the cave. “We have to give the princess something to go on, right?”

“I seems like you’ve already thought this one out, Sharpy”, Rarity said and walked up to him. “But try to be careful. Both of you”.

“We will”, Sharpy and Rainbow nodded. And with that they made their way towards the way out.

But not too long after Sharpy and Rainbow Dash left, Spike ran into the room all worked up. In his hand he held a letter, most likely from princess Celestia.

“Oh, good morning, Spike! Have you been sleeping well?” Pinkie ran up to him.

“Yes. Sorry. No time”, Spike said hastily and quickly made his way past Pinkie and towards Twilight.

“What’s wro-“, Twilight began to ask, but Spike insisted of her reading the letter before anything else. Everypony looked at Twilight and Spike, eager to hear about whatever the princess had to say. As Twilight quickly read through the letter, her eyes got filled with horror.

“Oh, no, no, no, nonononononono…” she mumbled and quickly rain off without a word.

“Were are ya’ goin’, Twi!?” Applejack shouted.

“To stop Sharpy and Dash! With a little luck they haven’t gotten very far!” Twilight answered quickly as she continued toward the exit. They all looked at Twilight as she ran out of the cave. Then they looked down at the letter which Twilight dropped on the floor. Fluttershy was the one who walked up to the letter and picked it up.

“What does it say?” Pinkie asked. Fluttershy cleared her throat and started reading.

“It says, Elements! Do not come back to Canterlot or Ponyville! Stay away from all major cities! Dragons are attacking Equestria! You must stay alive!” Fluttershy stared at the paper for a few seconds before she looked at her friends with terrified eyes. “…signed Luna”.

“Oh… my…” Rarity swallowed. They all looked towards where Twilight ran off.

“This… is not good…” Spike said slowly.

Chapter 27: The Beginning of the End

Fluttershy dropped the letter. They all watched as it slowly fell to the ground. Canterlot had been attacked by dragons? Nopony could believe it. And why did Luna send the message? It was usually Celestia. Had something happened to her? And they were supposed to stay clear of any cities? Didn’t they want their help? They were the elements of harmony! They could surely do a lot to help out. Perhaps Princess Luna had everything under control? Perhaps she didn’t need their help? Or had Luna, Celestia forbid, foreseen Equestria’s doom? Did she really want them to rebuild a new Equestria if the princesses weren’t able to defend the current one? The thought were terrifying. Everypony looked at each other, waiting for somepony to say something. But nopony really knew what to say. They all knew they all shared the same thoughts. The silence started to get awkward and they all started fiddle with small rocks and their manes.

The silence was broken, however, when the panting Twilight walked back into the cave. The breathed heavily and didn’t say a word until she reached the other ponies.

“I was too late…” she said slowly. “They were nowhere to be seen.”

“But why are you so worried all of a sudden?” Pinkie asked. “We are nowhere near any pony city.”

“Please think for a second, Pinkie!” Twilight shouted. She was frustrated and completely stressed out. Twilight had been just as chocked by the news as everypony else. But she’d realized something they hadn’t. “That dragon Huffy is got to be behind all of this!”

“Take it easy, Twi!” Applejack said, trying to calm Twilight down as Pinkie, surprised by her friend’s outbreak, backed off to make some space between her and the worked up unicorn. “An’ what do ya’ mean Huffy’s gotta be behind this attack?”

“Okay… okay… I’m sorry…” Twilight said, took a few deep breaths and sat down. She looked up to her friends. Now, as the frustration had faded away in her eyes, they could see how worried she really was.

“Allow me to explain…” Twilight said slowly. “Apparently Huffy is capable of magic such as taking control over another dragon’s mind, which is exactly what had happened with Sharpy’s sister.”

“And I doubt the dragons would engage Canterlot unprovoked”, Rarity said thoughtfully. She started to realize where Twilight was going with this.

“Exactly!” Twilight shone up. “Too many dragons would die. But what if there is someone, who obviously doesn’t value the lives of other living beings, is taking control of them and forcing them into battle? Someone who can control minds.” They all looked at her. Nothing more needed to be said. They understood completely. And they realized the danger their two friends were in. Huffy wasn’t just messing with dragons for fun. It seemed like he had some kind of plan behind it all. According to the letter they received from Princess Luna it seemed like he’d targeted every major city in Equestria. Did he want to wipe out pony kind? At least that would explain why all the dragons were missing.

“So… what do we do now, Twi?” Applejack asked worried. “We can’t leave ‘em out there with that freak Huffy.” Twilight bit her lip, figuring out something to say.

“But we can’t go out in a vague attempt to find them”, Twilight said depressed. “They can fly. We can’t.”

“I can fly”, Fluttershy spoke for the first time in quite a while. “I could go out looking for them.”

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but I doubt that would make any difference”, Twilight said as friendly as possible so that she wouldn’t upset her. “They could’ve gone anywhere by now. No offence, but you’re not as fast as they are. You wouldn’t catch up to them even if you went the right way.”

“So all we can do is waiting for them to come back?” Pinkie said disappointed. “Oh, I hate waiting!”

“Unfortunately, yes”, Twilight said. “But in the meantime we could come up with a plan of what to do when they come back”.

“Sound good”, Rarity added. “I just hope the princesses will be able to hold back the dragons.”

***

The Princess of the Night was standing at the highest point of the castle towers, looking out over the burning city known as Canterlot. She was wearing a dark steel armor. Which was once worn by the infamous and feared Nightmare Moon, who’s now known as Luna. Even though Luna has regained the trust of the ponies and was nothing like the once feared Nightmare Moon, she was not a terrifying sight in her old armor. By looking into her eyes you could see determination. And anger.

A white unicorn with a blue mane ran up and kneeled before her. He was wearing a golden battle armor. It looked a lot like the regular Royal Guard armor, but not exactly. This armor was only worn by the high ranked captains of Celestia’s Royal Guard.

“Princess Luna”, he said whilst still kneeling down. The princess did not turn around to greet him. Instead she kept looking out over the city.

“Rise, Captain”, she said short. The captain obeyed and slowly walked up to her.

“Did you send the letter to Twilight?” he asked and placed himself right next to her. At the sight of the burning city he let out a sad sigh.

Luna did not answer him by word, but she gave him a quick nod. The captain bit his lip and nodded slowly. He was clearly uncomfortable with the situation and not used to seeing the princess like this. She was usually very talkative, happy and intelligent. But now she was silent, cold and you could almost feel the heat from the anger burning inside her.

“How is my sister?” she asked without moving a muscle. The captain hesitated for a second before answering.

The dragons attack had been quick, brutal and ruthless. The sky had been covered by hundreds of dragons. In just an hour the city had turned from a shining and happy place to the burning ruins it was now. Quite a few houses were still standing, but only the bigger ones. All the smaller houses were lying in ashes as the black smoke rose to the air.

The attack had started with a full-scale attack to the Canterlot Castle where Celestia usually had a lot to do. Celestia had a meeting with at least twenty other politicians and representatives from all corners of Equestria when the dragons attacked. At least thirty of them spotted Celestia and caught her completely off-guard by smashing through the windows and even the walls. Only six of the politicians managed to flee the room and were the only ones who survived. Celestia managed to kill all the dragons. Every single one of them. But because she was caught off-guard, she took a lot of hits. Lacerations and burns were covering her entire body. When the Royal Guard ran into the room, they found her lying unconscious on the floor in the worst conditions you could possibly be in. But miraculously she was still alive, so they took her immediately to the medics.

The captain had been checking out how Celestia was doing at the hospital right before he came to Luna. There was nothing but bad news. He’d gotten a full report on her condition, but he had no intention of telling Luna that. But he didn’t want to lie to her.

Luna noticed the captain’s hesitation and started to get really worried. For the first time of their conversation she took the eyes from the burning city and bowed down so that she would be at the same level as the white unicorn.

“Will she survive?” she asked, looking straight into his eyes. He avoided her glare.

“It’s not good”, he sighed. “The medical unicorns are doing everything that can, but I really can’t say.”

Luna looked right at him for a few seconds. Then she nodded slowly and looked down at the ground before standing up straight again.

She took a deep breath and looked out over the city once again. Then she looked up into the air. There you could see both dragons and pegasi fighting. The pegasi forced did a good job keeping the dragons from landing, but it was obvious that they wouldn’t be able to hold the line for long.

The captain noticed the same thing and became worried. He walked out on the balcony, leaned over the edge and started yelling out orders to the earth and unicorn ponies down at the ground. It was a long way down, but they heard him well and immediately started moving, stationed themselves to fend off any dragons that managed to bypass the pegasi defenses. After doing that, he looked up to Luna.

“How long until the Night Guard arrives?” he asked desperate. He realized Celestia’s forces alone wouldn’t be enough to defend Canterlot from these dragons.

“They should be here any second now”, she answered without taking her eyes from the battle that raged up in the sky.

The dragons were pushing the pegasi down towards the ground. The dragons had, thanks to their superior size and strength, the upper hand. But the pegasi guards were ponies you had to take seriously. Their skill in fighting was far more advanced than the unorganized and untrained dragons. Many dragons fell lifeless to the ground before they were able to push the pegasi down by just a little bit. And for every fallen pegasi, a new one took his place. For the dragons it seemed like a hitting a wall. A wall of which you could slowly, but surely, move, but not completely break. That was until a hole was found in the defenses.

The pegasi were needed everywhere around Canterlot so every now and then a squad or two had to leave their current position to help defending another one. That’s what just had happened and for a short time, the pegasi hadn’t been able to reestablish their defenses everywhere. Right in the middle of the line of pegasi, there was one single guard defending his position all by himself, waiting for assistance. A few dragons noticed that and took their chance. They quickly flew toward him and in all the confusion they were able to burn his wings before he even knew he was specifically targeted by the dragons. They watched as he fell screaming towards the ground while flames were destroying his wings. A few dragons saw this opportunity to bypass the defenses and head for the Royal Castle.

Six dragons were able to sneak past. The seventh dragons fell lifeless to the ground with a spear piercing his neck. Both Luna and the captain witnessed as the six dragons, which passed by the defenses, immediately spotted them and went in for the kill. The captain did his duty by placing himself in front of the princess in order to defend her.

“Please let me take care of this”, Luna said and gently shoved the captain away. She then charged up her horn with magic, pointed it towards the charging dragons, and shot. A dark blue beam was shout out from her horn and was flying towards the dragon in the front with incredible speed. The dragon didn’t even have time to react before the beam went straight through the dragon’s chest. With a surprised and confused look on his face, the dragon fell down from the sky. The other dragons didn’t stop, even though they saw how easily their friend was taken out. But Luna didn’t hesitate. She shot the same beam again and again. She managed to take down three more dragons without as single miss.

The dragons now realized they wouldn’t be able to take down the princess by themselves. Luna watched as the last dragon was fleeing, and easily taken down by the Royal Guard.

The captain was amazed by the princess skill. He’d never doubted that she was far more powerful than any unicorn, but he’d never really seen her in action. But there were one thing that somehow bothered him.

“Wait! That was just five dragons. Where’s the si-“, the captain didn’t have time to continue as the sixth dragon smashed half of the balcony from beneath. The dragons roared in anger and he reached out for the princess. The captain and fallen to the ground when the dragon appeared and were now trying to get up on his hooves as quickly as possible. But in vain. He realized that he wouldn’t be able to reach the princess in time. He could do nothing but helplessly watch as the dragon was getting closer and closer to Luna. Yet Luna remained so calm. He even saw a little smile showing up on her face. But before he could think of anything else, a dark shadow flew up just beside him. When he realized what just had happened, one of Luna’s Night Guard was sitting on top of the dragon with his glowing spear stuck in the dragon’s cranium.

“Commander Darkspawn reporting for duty, Princess”, the Night Guard said while ripping out the spear from the dragon’s head. The Night Guard commander had a gray coat and a purple mane. Apart from the helmet, he was wearing the same armor as the rest of the Night Guard. It was a purple armor with both dark and light purple colors. Just like all the other ponies in the Night Guard he had a pair of bat wings instead of the regular feathered wings. Unlike other ponies, the Night Guard also had reptilian eyes which helped them see in the dark. Overall, with his armor and steaming hot spear that pierced through dragon scales like it was nothing, he was ready for a battle.

“You’re here! Good!” Luna said quickly. “Take all of you men and help defending what’s left of the city!”

“Will do!” Commander Darkspawn saluted and flew off. He shouted out a few orders and soon hundreds of Night Guars soldiers were flying to all corners of the city, ready to fend off the dragons at the Royal Guard’s side. Even though everything that could possibly go wrong already had gone wrong, Luna couldn’t get rid of the feeling that this was just the beginning.

“We should go check on how the evacuation is going”, Luna said to the captain. “We don’t want any civilians in the city if the dragons are able to break though our defenses.”

“Agreed”, the captain relied and were ready to go to the western side of Canterlot where the evacuation took place. But he stopped when a blue aura surrounded him. He looked back at the princess a bit confused, but then he realized what she was doing. He nodded and gave her a smile, showing her that he was ready. And so Luna teleported them away from the castle to the western side of Canterlot where the Royal Guard were rounding up civilians so that they could bring them to safety.

As soon as Luna arrived, all the guards immediately stopped with what they were doing and saluted.

“Go back to your work, men!” a field officer yelled. After making sure they all obeyed him he walked up and bowed his head to Luna. “Princess! Captain. What brings you here?”

“We’re here to check on how the evacuation is going”, the captain answered. The field officer nodded.

“I see. Well, it’s going good so far. We’re able to keep the dragons away from the civilians, but we really must hurry up. I don’t know how much longer we can keep them away”, the field officer got a sad look on his face. “And there’s probably many ponies still trapped down in the city, but sadly there isn’t much we can do for them. We need all soldiers in the front line.” Luna nodded slowly and took a deep breath. She gave the officer a sign that he could continue his work, and so he did.

“All those poor ponies…” the captain sighed and shook his head. “I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”

“The best thing we can do is to make sure all the ponies who actually made it here gets out of Canterlot in one piece”, Luna said. The captain hated to admit it, but it was the truth. Going through a burning city looking for survivors while dragons were trying to burn you alive didn’t even seem like an option. The captain shook his head. He couldn’t let something he couldn’t do anything about bother him too much. He had to change subject.

“Have you seen the dragon’s eyes?” he said as an attempt to make him think about something else. “They’re all white. Like they don’t have…”

“They’re being mind controlled”, Luna interrupted him. “It’s just like what I read in the report from the dragon attack on Ponyville a few days ago.”

“But if magic is involved… could that mean they’re targeting the elements as well? What if they find out where Twilight is before we do?” He started to get really worried.

“Let’s just hope the Elements are safe from all this insane violence”, Luna said. “We’ve got a city to take care of.”

Suddenly a loud shout echoed from the sky. Both the princess and the captain looked up.

“The western defenses are down! The dragons are breaking through!”

“This is not good…” Luna said as the Royal Guard fled as hordes of dragons were chasing them, slaughtering everypony who wasn’t fast enough. On the ground all the civilians started panicking, trying to run away from the terrifying sight.

“We have to protect the civilians!” Luna yelled so that all the soldiers nearby could hear her. But as they saw the swarm of dragons closing in, it all seemed pointless. Neither of them could see any other end to this than death. As the Royal Guard quickly stationed them to fight the incoming dragons on the ground, they were joined by the Night Guard. Almost every soldier in the area joined the ground defenses on the western side of the city.

“Luna... I’ve known you for a year now. It’s not been long enough, but I’ve enjoined every second of it. If I die now, it will be an honor dying by your side”, the captain spoke slowly and calmly. It seemed like there was only one way now. But if he was going to die, he was going to die fighting. Fighting with the hope that Twilight was safe and sound. A tear ran down from his cheek.

“If we fail here…” Luna said. “I will die knowing that the Elements will be there, lighting the flame of harmony once again. Believe in your sister... Shining Armor.”

Chapter 28: Closing Up

Rainbow Dash and Sharpy flew as quickly as possible back to the place where they had fought Huffy the day before. If they were to find where he was hiding, they might as well start their search over there. As they flew over the mountains both Rainbow and Sharpy was constantly looking out for possible hideouts where Huffy might hide. But they were also making sure no dragons saw them. But they didn’t run into any dragons at all. Not a single one. This worried Sharpy. By now there should be a dozen of dragons chasing after them. He’d understand if the dragons didn’t really mind them flying above the mountains as long as they didn’t get too close to a nest. But there were no trace of anyone anywhere. It’s like every single dragon had disappeared into thin air.

Sharpy tried not to look worried, but he didn’t know if he did a good job or not. He suspected that he did not, though. Rainbow was constantly casting glances at him. He sighed and looked at her. The next time Rainbow looked back at Sharpy, she noticed that he’d already realized that she was observing him.

     “You seem worried”, Rainbow muttered. She still seemed upset, but Sharpy decided to ignore that.

     “Well that’s because I am”, Sharpy answered. “There are no dragons where it should be crowded”.

     “But doesn’t that make our job easier?”, Rainbow looked at Sharpy, trying to figure out what he meant”.

     “Perhaps…”, Sharpy said thoughtfully. “It’s just that it feels… unnatural to see everything so empty”.

     “Have you been here before?”, Rainbow wondered. She actually didn’t know much about how he lived as a dragon and she might as well ask when she was given the chance.

     “Only once. A long time ago”, Sharpy answered without looking back at Rainbow. He was still looking down to the ground far beneath them.

Rainbow nodded. She could understand why he was so uncomfortable. She tried to put herself in his place by imagine what it would be like if Cloudsdale were suddenly completely empty of ponies. It wasn’t a very pleasant thought and seemed kind of freaky. Even if Sharpy only had been here once long ago, he probably still had an idea of how everything should be. Perhaps he was worried that something had happened to them? Or perhaps Huffy had scared them away? Whatever it was, she suspected Huffy had something to do with it. She didn’t doubt for a second that Sharpy shared the same thoughts. They had to find his hideout as soon as possible.

Rainbow wasn’t still sure if she liked the idea of leaving Huffy to the princesses, but she guessed that was for the best. It’s just that it felt wrong to stack up their problems on somepony that didn’t have anything to do with it. Rainbow sighed. No matter how she truly felt about this, she had to admit that she was flattered by what he said. Letting go of so much hate couldn’t have been easy for him. She just hoped that it wouldn’t return and bite them in the flank later on.


They were now back at the place where their last encounter with Huffy had taken place. The sign of Huffy’s explosion caused by his magic was still here. They were both shocked by what they saw. Last time everything happened very fast and there were no time to inspect the true effect of the explosion. They could now see how a big chuck of the mountain had been simply blown away by the magic. Sure they’ve realized that it must have been a really powerful spell, but nothing like this. Even Rainbow started to get seconds thoughts about her negativity against letting the princesses take down Huffy. It would most certainly be better if group of professional and trained soldiers did the work rather than them.

Then hopefully nopony had to die. Rainbow thought. Once again she thought back to what Sharpy said. She slowly shook her head. Somepony could actually die…

Death has never really been anything she’d been too worried about. Sure they’ve encountered powerful foes, but never anything like this one. Never had someone been so willing to take a life as this dragon. And now when she realized that Huffy could turn a big chuck of a mountain into dust in just a few seconds she actually, for the first time in her life, really feared for her life. She looked at Sharpy, who had walked up to the foot of the mountain. He looked back at her with a serious look in his eyes.

     “Let’s find this guy”, he said as Rainbow walked up to him. She nodded slowly and prepared to take air.

     “Let’s…”, Rainbow said and flew a few meters up in the air. She looked around herself, inspecting the environment while trying to remember where Huffy had flown off to after he’d taken care of her and the others. Even though she had been dizzy after taking a hit and the explosion had made a big cloud of dust, she still remembered clearly where Huffy had went. She just needed some sense of direction. After a few seconds, she pointed in the direction she remembered Huffy flying off to.

     “He flew that way!”, she shouted to Sharpy down below. Sharpy nodded and flew up beside her.

     “He’s probably hiding in same cave somewhere”, he said to Rainbow. She nodded and they both flew off.


They searched every opening, every cave, anything that could be used as a place to stay. It was a long and frustrating search, and it took a very long time. After a while, they had been so tired of carefully looking through everything, so they simply flew over the hilltops and quickly inspected bigger caves and such.

They had been flying for over two hours, without a single trace of Huffy. And what worried them both, not a single trace of any dragon at all. There were actually no sign of anything living at all. Everything about these mountains gave Rainbow the creeps. She just wanted to find Huffy and leave this place as soon as possible. But she would never abandon Sharpy, who was madly determined to find him. After over an hour since they began, she asked him if they should go back to the cave and meet up with the others. He had simply given her a single look which instantly made her change her mind. Sharpy never seemed threatening or scary in any way, but there had been something in his eyes which told her that if she left, she’d leave alone. And as the Element of Loyalty, she’d never leave her friend.


While they were flying over a small ravine between two mountains, they suddenly heard voices. Their heart stopped beating for a second, before they realized what just happened.

They flew down to the ground as fast as they could without making any noise. They both quickly hid under between a boulder and the mountain itself. They were completely silent for quite a while. But Sharpy couldn’t stop his heavy breathing after flying for such a long time whilst still not fully recovered. He tried to cover him mouth with his hooves, but it barely helped. The voices had stopped. Had they been spotted? No, the voices were still there. They were just really hard to notice. Like if they had walked inside something. Like if they had walked inside a cave. Rainbow and Sharpy looked at each other and nodded. Carefully, at the same time, they crawled out of their cover, looking for a cave where the ones talking could be. It wasn’t hard to see at all. At the far side of the ravine, a little bit over ground level, a lit up cave could be found. Outside the cave a little platform, which seemed to have been build up by stacking rock on top of each other, could be found. It wasn’t much, but still good enough for a few, fully grown, dragons to stand on it.

So now they’ve at least found other dragons. But was Huffy inside the same cave? Only one way to find out.

   “Let’s do it”, Rainbow whispered and started crawling towards the cave, followed closely by Sharpy.

***

     ”Ok. First of all, there is no way we’re leaving this place without taking care of Huffy first”, Twilight said.

     “But Twilight”, Fluttershy took a step forward. “Sharpy said that-“.

     “This isn't about Sharpy or us anymore”, Twilight interrupted her. “This is about all of Equestria”.

     “But Luna said that-“, Fluttershy complained, but got interrupted, once again, by Twilight.

     “I know what Luna said, Fluttershy. But this is our duty as The Elements”, Twilight said and looked into her eyes. “We have to protect and maintain harmony in Equestria. And the only way to do that in this situation…“.

     “Is to kill Huffy”, Applejack added. She walked closer to Fluttershy and Twilight. Fluttershy looked at Applejack as if she couldn’t believe her. She knew Sharpy wanted to kill him, but she’d never expect to hear something like that from Applejack. Fluttershy looked from Applejack back to Twilight. She’d hoped that she would have another plan to go about this, but she simply nodded, agreeing to Applejack as if she got the right answer to a difficult question.

Fluttershy knew that they went on this journey with one goal: to help Sharpy get his revenge on Huffy. But she’d always hoped that they could find another way. Sure he did try to kill her and the others. He’d most likely forced the dragons to attack Equestria. He did actually kill Sharpy’s sister. But even so, killing should always be the very final solution, and not even in such a case she’d been willing to do it. And they haven’t even considered another solution. She turned to Rarity. Surely she had a thing or two to say about this decision.

     “I’m in”, Rarity said as soon as soon as Fluttershy asked her. “Besides, if he’s controlling the dragons attacking Equestria, taking him out for good would be the best thing to do”.

Pinkie had listened to everything they’ve said, but didn’t join the conversation until now. She put her front leg around Fluttershy’s neck, giving her a supportive hug.  

     “You know what? I actually agree with Flutters on this one”, she said and looked at everypony while pointing at Fluttershy. “We should listen to Luna. She wants us to hide for a good reason. But… with no Equestria there will be no parties. I’m in”. With that said, she bounced off to her own room in the cave. Whatever she was going to do in there, nopony knew. She was probably going to prepare herself so that she was ready to leave when Sharpy and Rainbow came back. The others should probably do the same, but they didn’t want to go until they’ve gotten an answer from Fluttershy.

But Fluttershy stared at her friends in disbelief. She couldn’t believe that they were all so willing to kill. It almost seemed like they actually wanted to kill Huffy. But, she looked down to the ground, she knew they were right. Huffy was dangerous. And she didn’t think it would be possible to convince him to reverse the spell casted on the dragons. And when she thought of it, capture him and force him wouldn’t work either. He knew that if he did, he’d be killed. If the ponies didn’t do it, the dragons would. Huffy literally had nothing to lose on this… war. He’d destroy Equestria or die trying.

But would she be ready to face a dragon? An evil, magical dragon? And would she be ready to take his life if given the chance? Or would she run away by just the sight of Huffy? All of this was a bit too much for Fluttershy. But then she remembered what she told herself. That she wouldn’t run away anymore. That she would be there for her friends, even if that meant she would have to face her greatest fears.

Fluttershy looked up from the ground and stared into her friends’ eyes.

     “I’m in”.

Chapter 29: Shining Armor

Everything had gone dark. He couldn’t tell for how long, but at least he was awake now. He was lying on the side, so he was able to look around himself quite well by just moving his eyes. Right now, he was staring at the ground, but he managed to look up. Luna was still there fighting off hordes of dragons. The dark blue magic that shot out for her horn pierced through the dragons completely and left a big hole that went straight through even the biggest of dragons. He saw dragon after dragon fell down to the ground, roaring in pain. He saw, but he could barely hear. He was almost deaf.

He closed his eyes, trying to remember what just happened. Canterlot had been attacked by dragons. Princess Celestia was badly hurt. He remembered talking to Luna, but couldn’t remember about what. He remembered them going outside from the castle to assist in the evacuation. Then the dragons had pushed through the pegasi defenses. The battle had begun for his part. Exactly what had happened after that was a blur. He remembered death. For dragons and ponies alike. Then he must have taken a hit from something. A dragon, most likely. Everything had gone dark and now he woke up in the mud.

He opened his eyes once again. He couldn’t believe how hard it was to do something so simple. Luna was still fighting off the dragons, but it seemed like she had a hard time doing so. There was a limit of him much she could do. And perhaps this was it? As he took his eyes from her and looked around him, a horrible sight occurred to him. The ground was filled with corpses. Dragons covered in blood were lying on top of each other. But when it came to the ponies, the corpses were, for most part, torn apart. The majority of the dead ponies were Royal Guards, but a few from the Night Guard had joined them as well. This was a sight that normally would make him throw up. But now he barely cared. He was so tired; he couldn’t feel any feelings at all. He didn’t feel anger, sorrow or fear. Everything was so blank and it felt unreal. Like he wasn’t even there. But he knew very well what was going on.

As he tried to move, he realized his body didn’t do what he wanted it to. He was just lying there. He actually couldn’t even feel his body. Was it even there? He wasn’t able to move his head enough to check. But at this point, he didn’t even care.

He looked up again. To the sky this time, and not on Luna. Up in the sky, the Night Guard and the dragons were battling to gain control of the sky. It seemed like the Royal Guard were focusing on dealing with the dragons that had landed on the ground and had left the sky for the Night Guard completely. He looked back at Luna once again. She was looking straight at him for a second but had to turn her focus to an incoming dragon. She dodged the dragon’s claws gracefully before shooting a dark blue beam straight through the dragon’s eyes which killed it instantly. Then she quickly ran up to him and bowed down.

     “Shining Armor! Can you hear me?”, she yelled. He did hear her, but barely. He tired to answer, but couldn’t. All he could do was staring back at her with blank eyes. Luna’s face was now blurry, but he could clearly see how worried she looked. She was staring at him for a second before standing straight up and shouting something to somepony he couldn’t see. Now he couldn’t hear a single word what she said. His vision got more and more blurry for every second that passed by. He realized that somepony was lifting him up as everything before his eyes started shaking. His head also fell in such a position that he could see his body. Apparently his leg was ripped off. How didn’t he notice that? He felt neither pain nor confusion as he saw a trail of blood following him as somepony pulled him away. Only one thing went through his mind. Please, Twilight... Stay alive…

Chapter 30: The Cave

Rainbow Dash sneaked up to the opening, but stopped there. She looked back at Sharpy. He was just a few meters behind her, but she knew the best thing to do was to wait for him before going inside the cave. She took a quick peek inside, though. It wasn’t dark. Not at all. It was quite bright in fact. That was good because it would be easier to see and figure out what Huffy was doing in there, but it would also make it easier for the dragon’s to see them. On the other hoof, dragons could see pretty well in the dark, so she guessed this was for the best.

Now she couldn’t see Huffy from where she was standing, but she could hear him from inside. Or at least she thought it was him. She didn’t want to assume it was him if she wasn’t one hundred percent sure it really was him. If Sharpy wouldn’t be able to tell by the voice alone, they had to go inside.

It seemed like Huffy, or who Rainbow thought was huffy, was talking to another dragon, but it was impossible to hear what they were saying. She guessed the cave was big. Perhaps it went underground? She didn’t really like that thought. She preferred having open areas where you could easily fly around. But if they actually had to go inside she wouldn’t be able to fly up in the air if something happened. She just hoped that Sharpy would be able to tell that it was Huffy just be listening to his voice.

When Sharpy reached Rainbow a few moments later, he walked up to the opening. He looked inside and listened. The dragons inside were still talking. Rainbow looked at him. It seemed like he recognized the voice. Perhaps they didn’t need to go in after all. Sharpy turned to Rainbow and took a deep breath.

     “That could be Sharpy. Let’s go inside”, Sharpy said.

Rainbow groaned quietly as one single word ran through her mind. Darn…

***

     “Everypony ready?” Twilight was standing by the entrance to the cave. She looked behind herself and back into the cave. There had just been a few minutes since Sharpy and Rainbow Dash left, but every minute was valuable and they had to be quick about things. “Well?”

     “We’re all here”, Applejack stated. And they were. They were carrying even more now than what they did when they came here. They were carrying their own things, Rainbow’s and Sharpy’s things and what little Fluttershy and Spike had brought. So it was a bit heavier for everypony. But even so, they had to move fast if they wanted to catch up to Rainbow and Sharpy in time. They did not know the things they knew. And they had to know before they did something stupid. Sure they were just supposed to find his hiding place, but Twilight wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to take him down while they were at it.

Twilight took a look at all of them before moving out. She wanted to make sure that everypony was indeed ready. And indeed they were.

     “We haven’t forgotten anything?” Twilight doubted they’d forgotten something, but she knew the question was important. After all the times she’d forgotten the right equipment to her classes with Celestia, she knew that you had to ask yourself this question before heading out. But this time it seemed like everything was here, nothing had been left behind and they were all ready to go.

Twilight signaled Spike to jump up on her back, and so he did. It had been a little while since she was carrying him on her back. Even though it was a bit heavy with both Spike and the package on her back, she didn’t mind it. She didn’t like leaving him behind, even though it was for his own safety. He was like a little brother, or even a son, to her. She would always protect him, no matter what. But now it felt like she was doing the opposite. She was carrying him toward the danger. Something she’d never done before. And she didn’t like it one bit.

They had decided to go back to the place where their first encounter with Huffy had taken place. That seemed like the place where Rainbow and Sharpy would have gone to first. When they reached the place, the destruction that had taken place was overwhelming. Twilight still had a hard time understanding how one single spell could create so much destruction in just about a second. But there was no time to linger. Rainbow and Sharpy was far, far ahead and they had to reach them as soon as possible. But first they had to figure out which way they’d went. It would most likely be the same way Huffy flew off to after their encounter. Twilight had obviously no idea which way that might be, but fortunately both Rarity and Applejack remembered. Twilight trusted them fully and now the search began for real.

But to be sure that they were on the right way they had to come up with a system. Applejack and Pinkie Pie got the job to look at the ground for anything that told them they were on the right way. It could be anything from looking for cyan feathers to traces of her colorful mane. Twilight and Rarity would use their magic to track for movements. It would be a difficult task, but together with Rarity, Twilight was sure they would be able to cover a large enough area around them so that it would be useful. Fluttershy would be able to scout ahead as well as look behind the mountains. If Fluttershy brought Spike he could, with his good eyesight, see things that Fluttershy otherwise would have missed.

As everyone prepared to do their role in the search, Twilight stopped Fluttershy and Spike, who were now sitting of Fluttershy’s back. Spike looked confused at Twilight, who walked up to him and looked him deep in the eyes.

     “Spike…” she began. Spike listened carefully. “If something happens… get away. Hide”. After Spike heard her telling him to hide as soon as something happened, he got slightly irritated. He had no plan for running away. He wanted to help them and show them that he could also be useful in tough situations. He’d been a coward for too long. It was time to see some change. But as he was about to argue with Twilight, he hesitated. There was something in her eyes that told him he shouldn’t. She wasn’t angry or persuasive. She had a look in her eyes which he had seen many times before. But this time… the feeling he got for looking back into her eyes were stronger than ever. He felt loved.

     “Please, Spike…” Twilight said quietly. Spike swallowed and nodded, agreeing to Twilight’s request. And with that, Fluttershy took off. Twilight lingered to watch Fluttershy and Spike as they soared through the sky before catching up to Rarity. Both their horns lit up as they began to cast the spell. This would be exhausting after a while, Twilight could say that for sure. But she had to hold on. And together with Rarity she was sure they would be able to hold this spell active for a long time. But even so, this would be a long walk. Who knows how far ahead Sharpy and Rainbow Dash were?

***

Sharpy didn’t like that it was so bright in the cave. He’d much rather prefer darkness. That way they could easily sneak around without being seen. But they had to deal with what they got. He actually already knew it was Huffy inside the cave. Not only could he recognize the voice, but he could even smell him. He’d made Rainbow believe that he didn’t know it was Huffy. It was a lie, but that was the only way of getting closer to him. He knew this was a dumb idea and lying to Rainbow was wrong. But something inside of him made him do it. Something that kept pushing him forward instead of telling her the truth and get out of the cave. He thought about telling Rainbow what was going on and go inside alone, but there was no way she’d let him do it. She’d stop him before he could even take his first step into the cave. So he tricked her to follow him. But if something would happen and they would be noticed he would try to hold the dragon’s long enough for her to escape. There was no way he’d let anything harm her, even if that meant he had to sacrifice himself. He was, after all, the one who tricked her to come inside the cave.

Walking inside the cave was easier than you would think. There was a nice, big opening which seemed to have been crafted by dragons for living. The corners, stalagmites and stalactites were all rounded so that you wouldn’t hurt yourself. All the gravel and grit have been removed. All thoughts of this being a simple cave and nothing else vanished. This would actually be a place worth living. Or so Sharpy thought. He supposed Rainbow would still prefer her house up in the sky. And when he thought about the sky he realized the cave was really high, too. Perhaps even thirty meters. That was more than enough for a pegasus to fly around relatively freely. Perhaps not reach top speed, but good enough for a quick escape or maneuvers during a fight.

As they continued inside the cave, so far without running into any dragons, they realized that it was going down under the ground. It must lead under the mountain. They had no idea how far this cave went. It was the eco alone that made them hear everything that said. This cave could be more than a hundred meters down for all they knew.

Rainbow have had a bad feeling this entire time, but now even Shapy got the feeling that this was a really dumb thing to do. But even so, something kept pushing him forward. Something inside of him that he couldn’t argue with. A feeling that made him do something he knew he shouldn’t. But he couldn’t turn back now. The further inside the cave they went, the stronger this feeling got. And for every time he tried to turn around, he took another step forward. He realized how everything around him got blurry. Everything except the one way they were going. It was like a clear path that that invited him further into the cave. He also noticed how Rainbow started to get really worried. She tried her best to hide it, but it was still very obvious. But Sharpy just kept going.

After a few minutes of carefully sneaking down the cave, they finally reached their goal. It was like a big room in the cave. It was all lit up with what they suspected was magic because they couldn’t see any source of light. The room was filled with at least 8 dragons. That was much more than any of them expected. It made them both nervous, so they immediately went to the best possible hiding spot they could find. Once behind a bunch of rocks, close to the exit, they believed it was safe enough to peek out and see if they could recognize any of the dragons. If they could recognize Huffy, to be more exact. But the thing that worried Sharpy was that he couldn’t see him anywhere. He was so sure he’d heard him talk. Then where was he?

Suddenly a black figure rose from the ground. Every dragon in the room stopped doing what they were doing and looked at the black dragon that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. They were scared. Sharpy could see it in their eyes. The black figure was no one else but Huffy. The other dragons backed off at first, but then Huffy’s red eyes lit up for just a second and every dragon stopped. Sharpy noticed how the eyes of all the dragon’s turned white. Just like what he’d seen on Crystal, his sister, the day she attacked Ponyville.

Was he really able to take control of this many dragons in just a second? Sharpy felt worried, but at the same time it only urged him to step forward. He could feel like the hatred that he had tried to hide only grew inside of him. Oh, how he just wanted to walk up to Huffy and… Rainbow dragged him backwards. Apparently he’d been slowly walking forward, away from their hiding spot, without even realizing it himself. As he looked at Rainbow, she stared at him with anger in her eyes. And rightfully so. This worried Sharpy. Was he about to lose control of himself? He couldn’t let that happen. That would be the death for both of them.

     “Let’s get out of here”, Rainbow whispered with obvious anger in her voice. Sharpy responded with an awkward nod. As Rainbow began to sneak away, Sharpy stood still. He wanted to go with Rainbow but for some reason his body refused to obey him. It all ended with Rainbow smacking him in the face to get him out of it.

When Sharpy was finally able to look away from Huffy to sneak out with Rainbow, they had to stop as Huffy ordered all the dragons to leave the cave. They all obeyed him without question of course. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. First of all they didn’t have to deal with all the dragons, which was good, but this meant that they had to wait for them all to clear out before moving which made them lose valuable time. And time was something they did not have a lot of as every second they spend in this cave increased the risk of Huffy noticing them.

When all the dragons had left the cave they decided to wait just a little while longer to make sure there were no stragglers. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like it were, so they decided to start moving. But they didn’t get very far until they heard a voice that could make the bravest of dragons shiver in fear.

     “I thought I killed you, Sharpy”, Huffy said slowly. Both Rainbow and Sharpy froze in place. At the same time they looked back at Huffy who was just sitting there in the middle of the room with his back turned to them. “Do step out… and take the other pony with you”.

Chapter 31: Questions and Answers

     ”Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked as she flew down and landed gently beside her. Spike jumped off to allow Fluttershy to stretch out her wings. They had all been taking a short break in an alley after walking for a long, long time without a single minute of rest. Well, everyone had been taking a break except Fluttershy and Spike. They had insisted on checking the area around the alley to make sure they didn’t miss anything. Fluttershy was so determined of finding Sharpy that Twilight felt deeply sorry for her. She had never seen her so worried before. Sure, since it was Fluttershy, Twilight had seen her scared and terrified. But never before worried like this. Twilight just hoped that Fluttershy lose herself in worry to the point that she didn’t have control over her own actions.

     “What is it, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked curios. “Did you find something?”

     “Well, it’s a cave”, Fluttershy began. Twilight simply took a short step backwards and rolled her eyes. They had seen many caves, but every single one has been empty.

     “But it’s not like most of the caves around here”, Fluttershy continued quickly so that Twilight wouldn’t lose interest in her finding. Twilight looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “What could possibly be so special about this cave?” she asked with a slightly irritated tone in her voice.

     “It’s huge compared to the other ones!” Spike said as he held out his arms to express how big the cave was. “We, I and Flutters, talked examined it a little closer and it kind of looked like someone had… I don’t know… made the entrance more accessible”

Twilight looked back at Fluttershy. She nodded, confirming that what Spike just said was indeed true. Twilight sighed. She was tired. And very easily annoyed. They had been walking around for at least two hours now, maybe more. They had checked a bunch of different caves, valleys and more without any success. She didn’t really believe that this would be it, but she guessed it could be worth checking out. They didn’t really have much else of a choice, now did they? They had to find Rainbow and Sharpy. And the easiest way to do that was to look for Huffy himself.

     “Well, this is the only thing we got right now, so why not? Let’s check it out!”

Fluttershy shone up and gave Twilight a smile.

     “It’s in an alley behind this mountain over there”, Fluttershy said and pointed towards one of the mountains that was pretty close by. “If you like, I can help you find the easiest way there”.

     “Please do”, Twilight said with a smile. Fluttershy nodded and prepared herself to take air. But just before Fluttershy would take off, Spike ran up to her and climbed up on her back.

     “I can help you. Two pair of eyes are better than one”. Since Fluttershy couldn’t really argue with that, she allowed Spike to stay of her back as she took air. Twilight doubted that Fluttershy really needed Spike to help her. But Twilight suspected that he felt a little bit ashamed that he left Ponyville even though she had told him otherwise. Twilight hadn’t really brought it up at all since she felt like she had bigger problems on her hooves. And since Spike was unharmed and Fluttershy had been with him all the time, it wasn’t all too bad. And she didn’t really feel like starting an argument with Spike at a time like this. She wasn’t sure what to expect when they encountered Huffy, but to expect the worst. This… assassination attempt on Huffy could very well be lethal for them all. Since she wouldn’t under any circumstances allow Spike to fight, she didn’t want his last memory of her be a fight between them. Not that she had any plan on dying, but she had to expect the worst.

These thoughts weren’t good for her. She knew that. But yet she couldn’t get them out of her head. Everything just seemed wrong somehow. Like they were walking to their inevitable doom. And even though they realized just that, they kept walking. And it didn’t help the situation that she had been feeling something for a little while now. Something strangely familiar but yet she wasn’t sure exactly what it was. But it was something… magical perhaps? She couldn’t tell for sure, so she didn’t want to worry her friends if it was just her imagination. The only problem was… the further she followed Fluttershy… the stronger this feeling got. She did not like this one bit.


***


     “Come out of hiding you two”, Huffy said with gradually rising anger and irritation in his voice. “I know you’re hiding here”.

This was not good. How could he know that they were here? Sharpy didn’t know what to do or think. He didn’t expect this at all. A part of him still wanted to step right out from their hiding spot and attack Huffy straight on. But at the same time, he realized that would be suicide. Especially now that Huffy knew they were inside the cave, hiding just a few meters away from him. It was pretty close, but far enough for Huffy to notice him if he tried to run up now that he was ready for him. And as if Rainbow had read his thoughts, she immediately grabbed him to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. As Sharpy looked into her eyes, he saw panic. He tried to think of something. Think of a plan to get out. But he couldn’t come up with a single idea. He just felt how the panic rapidly rose inside him. He started shaking.

     “Come out right now, or do we have to do it the hard way?” Huffy grew inpatiant. And Sharpy didn’t like this one bit. He doubted that he had seen Huffy’s full capacity and he had no intention of sticking around to see it. He had to move up now or things were going to get ugly. And he couldn’t let Huffy hurt Rainbow when he was the one who put them in this situation. He had to get her out, any means necessary. Even if it would cost him his own life. Sharpy turned to Rainbow and looked her in the eyes.

     “Run away”, Sharpy whispered so that only she could hear him. “I’ll cover you”.

Rainbow just looked at him with blank eyes. Then she started to slowly shake her head.

     “I’m not gonna leave you here with…” Rainbow whispered but got interrupted by Sharpy who put his hoof on her mouth.

     “Trust me. Just go”, Sharpy whispered.

Sharpy took away his hoof from Rainbow’s mouth, but didn’t wait for an answer. Instead he jumped out of the cover and started running towards Huffy with a roar. Rainbow had no time to think. She had to act now. She pushed herself up in the air and stretched out her wings. She started flying towards the way out. But just when she thought she would escape, it felt like she hit a wall. And then she flew backwards without control. Huffy had acted quickly. He paid little attention to Sharpy. Instead he concentrated on making sure Rainbow wouldn’t make it out. The spell he casted caused Rainbow to hit the wall on the opposite side of the room. Then she fell to the hard floor about a meter below. She had hurt her wings in her previous encounter with Huffy. She thought they had healed completely, but that was not the case. Even if she hit a rock wall, she didn’t have much speed. But it was enough to cause great pain in her wings. She grunted as she got up on her hooves again. She looked over at Sharpy just to see him get hit by Huffy’s tail. Sharpy flew away and rolled across the floor until he hit the rocks where they had been hiding. Rainbow immediately ran up to him. She saw lots of small wounds all over his body. They must have been caused by him rolling over the hard ground. But what really worried her is that he seemed to have a hard time breathing. Rainbow helped him get up on his hoofs. He seemed to be able to stand on his own, so he let him go. As soon as she did, Sharpy fell down on his knees and started coughing. Rainbow tried to help him once again, but Sharpy pushed her away. With great effort he managed to get up on his hooves on his own.

     “Huffy!” he hissed as a little bit of blood began to run from his mouth.

     “Sharpy… You are one tough dragon to kill” Huffy said slowly. His voice made both Sharpy and Rainbow shake of discomfort. “But your will to keep on fighting is remarkable. You’d be a fine dragon in my army”.

Rainbow and Sharpy looked at each other. They had taken this moment to catch their breath as it seemed like Huffy didn’t plan on attacking them just yet. But now that he mentioned an army they became on edge. They looked towards the exit as if a group of dragons would charge in at any moment. But then Sharpy looked back at Huffy. That didn’t make any sense. Huffy was hated by everyone.

     “An army!?” Sharpy shouted and looked into Huffy’s eyes. “Who in their right mind would fight for you!?”

     “Who said anything about being in their right mind?” Huffy chuckled. “Didn’t you notice something about your sister?”

That last word triggered something inside Sharpy. Without warning, he ran up to Huffy with a deafening roar. It was not a sound a pony usually made. It was the roar of a dragon. But just like last time, Huffy sent him flying with a simple flick with the tail. But this time Rainbow caught him before he hit the ground. Sharpy was flying with enough speed to make Rainbow lose her balance and they both fell to the ground. But once again, Huffy didn’t follow up with another attack. He just watched as they got up on their hoofs again.

As Rainbow realized that Huffy didn’t attack them, she took the time to hold Sharpy back so that he didn’t attack again. Mindlessly charging Huffy straight ahead would do nothing. They had to come up with some kind of plan on how to defeat Huffy, or at least get out of the cave alive. But when she looked into Sharpy’s eyes that were burning with anger and hate, she assumed he wasn’t in a state where he could think straight. He had to calm himself down first, so she had to buy them some time.

     “So you have them all under some kind of weird mind control spell?” she asked Huffy. She was careful not to mention Sharpy’s sister, Crystal. If Sharpy lost it again, that could very well be the end for both of them.

     “Clever girl”, Huffy said after looking at Rainbow for a couple of seconds. “I’m currently in control of every single dragon living in these mountains”.

     “Not everyone, you bastard!” Sharpy spat out. Rainbow looked at Sharpy. Yeah, that was true. Why didn’t Huffy take control over Sharpy? And just as if Huffy had read her mind, he answered.

     “Well, you were quite troublesome. For some reason I couldn’t take control over you”, Huffy said slowly. Then he proceeded to stare at Sharpy. Studied him as if he could find out why that was the case just by looking at him. But after a short silence, he continued. “But don’t think you’re anything special. You were not the first”.

Sharpy just stared at him, breathing heavily.

     “Then how come I’m still alive?” Sharpy said quietly, but loud enough for Huffy to hear him. He was quiet for a while. Rainbow looked at him. She shook her head. His eyes were filled with rage, but she could see the pain hiding behind there. Rainbow looked back at Huffy with newfound anger. Huffy took a deep breath, preparing himself to answer. But then Sharpy shouted again.

     “And why did Crystal have to die!?” Sharpy looked straight into Huffy’s eyes. His glare would make the most back off, but Huffy just looked calmly back at him. At first it didn’t look like he was going to answer the question as he looked away from Sharpy. But then he suddenly he bowed down so that his face war right in front of Sharpy.

     “I could kill you right now. I am busy. Why would I want to continue this conversation?” Huffy said it in the most intimidating tone possible. But Sharpy didn’t even flinch. Instead he leaned forward as well.

     “She was my sister… I deserve to know” Huffy leaned back. He was impressed by Sharpy’s dedication, even if it was foolish of him to not show respect.

     “Very well… I’ll share that information with you. But then I want something from you, or to be exact…” Sharpy leaned forward once again, but this time towards Rainbow. “I want something from you, pony”. He more or less spitted out that last word like it was something poisonous. But Rainbow did not even blink. She stared back at him with a frown.

     “Oh yeah? And what might that be?” Rainbow said with more confidence in her voice than what she really had. But she wouldn’t show this dragon any weakness.

Huffy leaned back and chuckled, amused how this pony even thought that her being tough even mattered.

     “I want you to answer a simple question”, Huffy said a last. “If you do that, I’ll tell Sharpy everything he wants to know and I’ll let you both walk away”.

     “You can let Rainbow go, but I’m here to kill you”, Sharpy said with a cold, intimidating voice. Both Rainbow and Huffy quickly looked at Sharpy. Neither of them expected Sharpy to cut them off.

Rainbow looked at him with horror in her eyes. What was he doing? She saw how Huffy gave him a dark look. He did not like what Sharpy said at all. And when Sharpy was this close to Huffy he would have no chance to react before Huffy made him move. And it was as true as it seemed. Before any of them could even blink, Huffy grabbed Sharpy and held him up close to his face. Rainbow saw the pain Sharpy was in. She guessed Huffy did not hold him very gently. And she wasn’t surprised. What did Sharpy hope to accomplish by saying that, anyway? Of course Huffy would get mad. But then again, it didn’t seem like Sharpy was able to think straight at all at the moment. She had to think of something herself. And she had to think fast. It seemed as if Huffy was slowly squeezing Sharpy tighter and tighter. He would die eventually if she didn’t do something. And she was sure that he would kill him instantly if she tried to engage him. But then she thought of something. Huffy seemed awfully interested in something only she could answer.

     “If you hurt him I’m not telling you a thing!” Rainbow shouted. She was relieved when she saw Sharpy pant for air. At least Huffy stopped squeezing him tighter and actually released him slightly. Huffy twitched slightly and looked at Rainbow. She had him in a place where he didn’t have much of a choice. The information she could offer would help him a lot.

     “Very well…” Huffy said with a cold tone on his voice. He more or less threw Sharpy towards the ground, but Sharpy managed just in time to gain control using his wings so that he could land safely. He was still panting, but he gave Rainbow a nod as a thank you.

     “First tell Sharpy what he wants to know”, Rainbow said demanding. Huffy, who at this point didn’t have much of a choice, sighed and looked at Sharpy.

     “Ok, I will answer your questions”, Huffy said with badly hidden anger and frustration in his voice. “But then you better tell me what I want to know”. Rainbow nodded and promised she would do so. Huffy just grunted, clearly didn’t trust her. But he began telling Sharpy everything he wanted to know.

     “The last time I met you, you were a dragon. I had almost every single dragon under my spell. I just had to say the right word and they would all be under my power. But as I said, I could not control you. You were not the only one, of course. And every single time I transformed dragons like you into ponies and watched as they ran away”. Huffy was going to continue, but Huffy interrupted him.

     “But why would you do that?” he asked. “Why not kill me, and the others, on the spot?”

     “What do you think?” Huffy muttered. “I could not be caught before my preparations were all done. And how would dragons think if they found about twenty dead dragons in my cave? I would probably not be stopped, though. I had most dragons under my control already. But it would cause many unnecessary deaths. Dragons that could otherwise be a part of my plan would lay death under my feet. And why I chose to transform you into ponies? Well the idea was that you would be hunted down and killed in the forest. Ponies are not very welcomed in these parts and no dragon would really care if a dead pony or two were found in the forest. The Everfree hold many dangers for a petty pony”.

     “Then what about my sister?” Sharpy growled. The hate was burning in his eyes when he looked at Huffy. Rainbow put a hoof on his back to calm him down. It didn’t help much, but at least he backed away a couple of steps from Huffy.

     “Well… that is actually your fault”, Huffy said with a sinister smile.

     “What do you mean!?” Sharpy shouted, ready to attack Huffy once again. But Rainbow was quick enough to grab a hold of him before he did anything stupid.

     “Unlike the others you did one thing that was very troublesome for me”, Huffy said with the tone that made it creep across Rainbow’s back.

     “What was that…?” Sharpy asked slowly to maintain his anger.

     “You survived the hunt”, Huffy said. “And this is where Crystal comes in. She was apparently worried after your disappearance and she was foolish enough to investigate what happened to you. Her investigations unfortunately lead her to me and she actually confronted me. I could not let her walk away and start making trouble, so I quickly took control of her mind. It was a quick and sloppy spell which was why I lost control when she was dying. The reason I sent her to the little pony village you were hiding in was to kill you. I did not expect the guard to arrive so soon, but that still gave me valuable information on the effectiveness and fighting style of the Royal Guard”.

After hearing this Sharpy completely calmed down. He backed off into a corner and sat down. He had to think. Think about what Huffy said. Think about Crystal. If he would have died, would she still be alive? Would these nice ponies, his friends, still be in Ponyville away from all danger that they had gone through because of him? He had not forgotten his hate towards Huffy, but the thought that Crystal would still be alive if he would have simply… died in the forest a few days ago stunned him. Rainbow started making her way towards Sharpy, but suddenly a tail blocked her path. She looked back at Huffy with anger. He looked back at her with absolutely no emotion at all.

     “Now then…” he said slowly. “I want you to answer my question”.

     “And what is your question?” Rainbow asked.

     “Give me a number. How many soldiers do Equestria have?”

Rainbow looked at him. She couldn’t tell him that! And if he is in control of every single dragon in this area, an attack towards Equestria would very well be possible. Especially if he knew how many soldiers they had. As the Element of Loyalty she had to stay loyal to the ponies that put their trust in her. She opened her mouth to tell Huffy that she refused to share such information, but stopped when she heard Sharpy’s voice from behind.

     “Tell him…” he said slowly. “You do more good to the ponies of Equestria alive than dead”. Rainbow looked at Sharpy. Was he giving up? She could not believe how he wanted her to share this kind of information.

     “Hey!” Rainbow shouted at Sharpy. “What happened to you, huh? Didn’t you just want to kill Huffy?”

     “We could die if we fight him alone!” Sharpy shouted back. “I have still no intention of leaving until either I or Huffy is dead, but I put you in this mess and I’m going to get you out of this mess! This is your chance. Take it! As I said: you can do more good alive than dead”.

Rainbow looked back at Huffy. She breathed heavily. What was she going to do? Was she really going to tell Huffy what she knew? She took a deep breath and thought about what Sharpy said. “You can do more good alive than dead”. Perhaps that was true…? She opened her eyes once more and looked at Huffy.

     “Equestria have…” she stammered. “It… it’s… we have… fi… fif…” She was just about to say it, but then she heard a familiar voice.

     “You are no longer alone, my friends!”

Rainbow, along with Sharpy and Huffy, looked to the side to see a purple unicorn followed by four ponies and a small dragon all standing at the entrance. The unicorn smiled confident as she turned towards Huffy.

     “Prepare yourself, Huffy, for the true magic of friendship!”

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