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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 20: The Shadowcliff Mountains Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 5 Minutes