MY LITTLE PONY: THE HUMAN'S DESTINY

INTERLUDE ONE: THE DRAGON PROBLEM

Ryan was currently staying at Fluttershy's cottage, due to the castle being looked at for the local builders to get a sense of the structure. The teen woke up, and walked to the bathroom. In a slight state of tired stupor, instead of picking up his toothbrush, he picked up Angel Bunny, who was sitting by the sink, holding him by the ears. It was when Ryan was about to put on the toothpaste when Fluttershy walked in.

"Uh, Ryan...?" she asked, puzzled. "What are you doing to Angel?"

"Mpfh?" the teen mumbled, squirting a bit of toothpaste into Angel's fur. Blinking, Ryan looked at Angel, who by now was angered beyond belief. "Oh." he said blankly. "Sorry Angel, Didn't pay enough attention." Ryan let go of the bunny's ears, and Angel landed nimbly on the floor. Grumbling slightly about the toothpaste, he hopped out of the room.

"Is everything alright?" Fluttershy asked, a bit worried.

"I was just in a bit of a stupor." Ryan said casually, having finally recovered. "Angel happened to be the first thing I touched, that's all."

"Oh, I see." Fluttershy said, nodding.

"Ouch." Ryan cringed, looking at his frazzled hair in the mirror. He liked it messy, but even messy hair had a limit. Quickly flatting it with his hand, Ryan picked up his toothbrush for real this time, squirted a bit of toothpaste on it, and brushed his teeth. A little while later, he realized he still had his clothes from three days previously on. 'Got to go see Rarity about some human-sized clothes.' the teen thought, sniffing his shirt and pulling a face. 'I can't wear these forever, ponies will complain about the smell.' Shrugging, Ryan used his old clothes, making a mental note to see Rarity about his new hood, and went down to breakfast. On the way, Angel Bunny, passed the human, and he paused to glare at him. "Look Angel, I said I was sorry." Ryan said. "I don't know what else to do." Seemingly satisfied, Angel went on his way. As he sat down to his breakfast of eggs and toast, Ryan wondered about what lay ahead in the day. 'Finding some answers to this thing for a start.' he thought, looking to his bracelet, which was still a mystery to all seven of the friends. "Ack!" the human cried, suddenly feeling something small crawl on his arm. "

What?" Fluttershy shouted as she entered the room, concerned.

"Spider." Ryan squeaked, now curled up in a ball. "Severe Arachniphobia. Screamed."

"Oh, I see." Fluttershy said. She walked over and lifted the spider off of Ryan and placed it on the ground. "Bye bye!" she called to it.

"I'm going to walk around the town." Ryan said once he finished eating. "See if I can get some sight-seeing in." he got up, and went to the door.

"Ok, see you later!" Fluttershy said, waving. "

Bye!" Ryan said. Later, as he was walking around, the teen waved to some of the ponies he knew. True, it had been hell trying to get them to trust the fact he wasn't something out of the Everfree, but once that was done, he was treated like an equal. As he approached Sugarcube Corner, Ryan sniffed the air. He frowned, smelling something other than the sweets from the shop. Turning around, he saw a wave of smoke pouring into town. "A dragon must live near here." Ryan mused. He had heard about, and even seen, the adventure with the dragon back before he came to town. "Dragonshy' was the way the seven friends usually referred to the situation. "I'm sure the odds are astronomical," the teen said, coming to a conclusion. "But it's probably the same one." He knew Fluttershy wouldn't go for it, but he wanted to go and talk to the dragon. Arriving back at the cottage a little while later, he decided to relay this information to the cream Pegasus.

"Oh, hello Ryan." Fluttershy greeted him with a kind smile.

"Smoke's engulfing the town." Ryan said, getting straight to the point. "I think it's that dragon from ages ago again."

"D-D-Dragon?!" Fluttershy stammered, getting scared.

"Fluttershy, come on." the teen said with a smile. "You've done WAY more dangerous stuff in the past few months than a simple dragon. Heck, I doubt that without you, Twilight would've probably not been able to stop that manticore." Ryan was, of course, referring to when the girls first met, but adjusted his tone to suggest he'd heard about it, rather than witnessing it.

"Yes, because it was NOT a dragon." Fluttershy said stubbornly.

"Fluttershy, it's probably the same dragon." Ryan reasoned. "And anyway, look at Spike. Remember when he turned into that rampaging monster? facing a dragon head on's got to be easy compared to trying to contain him." Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest but then lowered her head with a sigh. "Look." Ryan said, kneeling to be eye level to Fluttershy. "I wouldn't be asking if I didn't have faith in you. And I do." Fluttershy sighed again and closed her eyes.

"Okay." she said finally. The teen straightened up, and cricked his neck.

"Geronimo." he whispered to himself, puffing out his chest and walking out the door. Fluttershy followed the teen out the door. Later, Ryan and Fluttershy were walking up the mountain. The teen wasn't really in that great of shape, so he had to stop a couple times. It was made a little harder by the fact that Ryan had agreed to carry the Pegasus pony for a while, on top of easily getting tired Fluttershy wasn't actually that heavy, it was the fact Ryan was out of shape that slowed them down. 'well, at least my legs will look good by the end of this.' the human thought as he climbed.

"Im really sorry to make you do this, I really am." Fluttershy apologized.

"It's fine, really." Ryan panted, practically willing his feet to keep going. "Working out was something I was too lazy to do back home, so I guess I'll start doing it now." Fluttershy nodded, understanding. Unfortunately, when they finally got to the top, Ryan was so exhausted, he ended up fainting as soon as he stopped and put Fluttershy down.

"Uh... Ryan?" Fluttershy asked, concerned. The knapsack Ryan had packed for the trip had fallen open when the teen had fainted, and a water bottle rolled out. Because Ryan had refused to drink the water while carrying the Pegasus, he had ended up dehydrated, and passed out from exhaustion in addition to it. Fluttershy picked up the water bottle, opened Ryan's mouth, and squirted the water into his mouth.

"What happened?" the teen asked when he recovered.

"You fainted." Fluttershy explained.

"Uuuuugh." Ryan moaned. "Uh oh, breakfast's making a comeback." he said abruptly, crawling past the Pegasus and barfing over the side of the cliff.

"Oh goodness, oh goodness!" Fluttershy blabbered, very concerned.

"Fine." Ryan said incoherently, still recovering. "Altitude sickness."

"I see…" Fluttershy said. ROAAAAAAAAAAR! Both the human and Pegasus jumped. As he was still only able to lie on the ground, Ryan simply looked up. A huge dragon was towering over the duo, obviously angered it's slumber was interrupted. "Yup. Same dragon." the teen squeaked. Apparently, the sound of Ryan's barfing had been loud enough to reach the dragon's ears, and wake it up. Fluttershy just stared in panic. Her eyes the size of frying pans and her mouth wide open.

"We just want to talk to you." Ryan said, still weak but managing to rearrange into a sitting position. "You're blowing smoke into Ponyville again, and we need you to move." Fluttershy just stood there staring in horror, the whites of her eyes huge. The dragon ignored the human's request, and swatted at the duo with a claw. It missed Ryan, but whacked Fluttershy over the side. "NO!" Ryan cried, abandoning all reason and jumping after her. Once Ryan had caught up to the Pegasus, he hugged her close, and shifted so he would take the most of the impact from the fall. Squeezing his eyes closed, Ryan braced himself. But luck was with them! the bracelet kicked in just in time, and a bubble appeared around the duo, causing them to bounce all the way back to Ponyville town square before it popped. "Thank god." Ryan panted, releasing Fluttershy and just laying on the ground.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Fluttershy asked, having closed them when she started falling.

"Yes, Your death has been averted." the teen reported. "Almost at the cost of mine, had the bracelet not kicked in with a bouncy bubble in time."

"Oh, sorry..." Fluttershy said, worried for her friend.

"Nah, I saved you." Ryan said, shrugging off the apology. "My life doesn't really matter. Course, let's try to not plummet to our deaths again."

"Agreed." Fluttershy said.

THE END