Quest For Harmony

by destinedjagold

Chapter 144 - Peak

A sea of green leaves blurred below the fast-flying sky chariot, where Spike and the others sat. Ahead, miles away, were the mountain range that separated the southern parts of the region from the sea. As they got closer to the mountains however, the clouds became thicker and hanged lower, and the air became colder.

“I'll cast a barrier,” Sweetie Belle said after she noticed Spike's shivering form. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as she collected some mana energy that lingered in the air to help her cast the spell faster. With a grunt, she began to cast the spell as her horn lit up.

Spike, despite his thick blanket that cocooned him, shivered from the cold, but he smiled as he looked at Sweetie Belle.

---

“You still got the heart, Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked.

They were already nearing the mountains, and the barrier she casted not only helped Spike against the cold, but it also helped the pegasi ponies to fly the chariot in ease.

Apple Bloom opened her saddlebag and the ancient artifact poked out from the bag, it's crystal surface shined from the small amounts of light. The young earth pony mare closed her bag after a while, and smiled at everypony. “Eeyup. Still here, safe 'n sound.”

Just then, they noticed that the chariot was flying lower than it should have been. Twilight turned to the pegasi ponies to ask what was wrong, but she saw her answer. The thick grey clouds were already above them, and if they were to fly through, they might not be able to see where they were going, or worse, maybe they'll crash on the solid mountain wall.

“We're going to land on the foot of the mountain!” Cloud Strike shouted as he turned his head over his shoulder to see their passengers. He was the pegasus who was leading the chariot. “The clouds are too thick for us to see anything further ahead!”

Twilight and Shining nodded their heads, and the chariot quickly began its descent.

---

After the chariot landed on the foot of the mountain, Spike and the others hopped off after Sweetie Belle turned the barrier off.

“We should probably start looking around here,” Twilight said while she looked around, studying the mountain and the surrounding trees. “The portal might be around here, but if not,” she turned and looked at the others, “we'll search at the peaks of these mountains.”

Just then, a blue bird flew out from the forest and hovered curiously in the air. The ponies turned and regarded the bird in curiosity as well. Then, the bird saw someone familiar, and it chirped merrily as it flew and landed on top of Spike's head.

“Hey,” Spike said, pulling a claw out from his blanket and let the bird land on his claw. “I know you,” he smiled as he brought the bird to his eye-level. “You're that bird that Flu...uh, with that yellow pegasus pony, right?”

The bird chirped and nodded.

“You mean Fluttershy?” Scootaloo asked as she, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood around the dragon.

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise from the forest, and everyone turned at the source, while the pegasi, Shining and Twilight stood at the ready.

From the shadows of the forest, the rustling noise stopped, and was then replaced by a feminine gasp. Pegasi stallions looked at each other with slightly arched eyebrows.

“Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom called, as she took a step towards the forest. “Is that you?”

“She must be scared by our company,” Scootaloo said as she gestured with the other ponies.

Sweetie Belle nodded. Even though they knew how scary Fluttershy may be, they also know how much of a scaredy cat she could also be. “It's all right, Fluttershy,” Sweetie Belle called. “The war is over, remember?”

“Yeah,” Spike joined in, “we're just here to look for something.”

Silence hung from seconds to minutes, and after what felt like forever, a yellow coated pegasus mare slowly walked out from the shadows, her face slightly hidden from her pink mane. A low whistle of awe came from the group of pegasi stallions, making her stop and blush slightly.

“I-if you hurt me...th-there will be snakes that'll jump right at you!” she spoke softly, and tried to glare at the many ponies.

Twilight suddenly froze in fear as she darted her eyes left and right to spot any slimy slithering monsters in the area.

“Snakes again?” Spike frowned as the bird flew from his claw and landed on Fluttershy's shoulder. “But anyway, we're not here to hurt you.” He turned to Twilight. “Right Twi—uh, something wrong?”

“Huh?” Twilight snapped back and blinked at the baby dragon. “Oh, uhm...” she inhaled to calm herself. After she exhaled, she turned to the pegasus mare. “Well, we're not here to hurt you,” Twilight said with a small and weak smile, “or anypony for that matter.” She cleared her throat. “Hi. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and,” she looked around, “we're here to look for a portal.” She looked back at the pegasus mare, who was slightly arching an eyebrow at her. “Um, by any chance you've seen a portal around here?”

Fluttershy shook her head slowly. “I don't think so, but...” She looked at the blue bird on her shoulder.

“Yes?” Twilight asked, hopeful.

Fluttershy looked back at her. “A few of my animal friends who were living here told me that they saw a strange cloud of stars and—”

“Really!?” Twilight exclaimed, too sudden for Fluttershy's liking.

Fortunately, she only gasped a quiet ‘eep’ and hid behind her mane, slightly. “Y-ye-yes...”

“Twilight,” Spike called, pulling Twilight's hoof back, “you're scaring her.”

Twilight looked back, and noticed Spike's serious face. Her ears drooped as she turned back to the pegasus mare. “S-sorry about that. It's just that, we've been looking for the portal for a while now, so we could help Jay fix whatever trouble he was having in his world.”

Fluttershy accepted the apology, but raised an eyebrow at her explanation. “Huh?”

Apple Bloom took a step forward. “Jay is Gold Blitz's name in his world, Fluttershy.”

“Oh? Oh...” Fluttershy's ears drooped. “Him...”

Scootaloo arched an eyebrow. “Did something happen between you two?”

Sweetie Belle leaned to Scootaloo's ear to whisper. “I think she's still upset about what happened to them in the Smokey Mountains...”

“Oh.” Scootaloo nodded. “So...they had sex or something?” Fluttershy and Twilight gasped and blushed a bit while a white hoof pounded the one-winged pegasus mare's head. “Ow...” She winced as she rubbed her aching head with her own hoof.

“You sound like my big sister,” Sweetie Belle glared at her pegasus friend. “And that's not a compliment.”

“Sheesh, I didn't mean to pull your hoof...” Scootaloo mumbled.

“Aaanyway,” Spike said, shifting his eyes from the two to Fluttershy. “So, the sparkly cloud. Where did your animal friends said they saw it?”

“I...I thought you're looking for the portal?”

Twilight nodded. “Oh, but we are. You see, that sparkly cloud thingy was a tracking spell of some sort, that would hopefully lead us to the portal.”

“Oh...” Fluttershy's ears drooped as she looked away. “I see...”

“Come on, Fluttershy...” Spike said as he approached the pegasus mare. “I'm sure whatever Jay did to you, he didn't mean any of it.” He stood before the pegasus and smiled. “I'm sure that he only did whatever he did because he was desperately trying to get back home...”

“It's...it's not that...”

Spike blinked. “Huh...?”

“He...he already apologized...”

“Oh. Well, that's great! But, what's the problem then?”

The pegasus took a breath and sighed as she closed her eyes. “I...I should be...the one apologizing to him...”

Spike blinked. ‘That's it?’ He mentally slapped himself. ‘No no. Okay, I managed to let her say what's wrong, so time for uh, encourage her that everything's okay, I guess?’ He took a breath. “Hey, Jay's, uh, Gold's a good pony...” he blinked. “...or whatever specie he's called in his world... Human, I think?” He shook his head. “But anyway, he's good. So, you shouldn't feel sorry for yourself about whatever happened, 'kay?”

Fluttershy bit her lower lip for a moment. “I'll... I'll try...”

“Hey Flutters...” Apple Bloom called, and Spike and Fluttershy turned to her smiling figure. “Ah don't really know what happened, but think of it this way, we're lookin' for this portal-thing to help Jay, so, can you help us out? Consider it an act of apology for 'im...or somethin'.”

Fluttershy thought about it for a while, before looking back at the earth pony mare and nodded. “Okay...I guess?”

“Great!” Spike nodded. “So uh, where did your animal friends said they saw it?”

Fluttershy looked at the dragon for a while, before she looked at the base of the mountain, and slowly tilted her head up, her eyes following the mountain up until the peak, even though the thick gray clouds covered half of the mountain.

Spike slowly turned and looked up at the imaginary peak of the mountain. “Up there, huh?” he lamely asked as his ears drooped.

The blue bird flew from Fluttershy's shoulder and landed on Spike's head with an affirmative chirp.