”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!”