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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 27: The Beginning of the End Estimated time remaining: 50 Minutes