When the circle had erupted beneath me it allowed me to fly and was controlled by what I willed it to do. The circle also let me draw power from it and power myself up, which is what inspired my Magistamp spell. Flight had been incredibly useful, so for the past week I had been practicing self-levitation. I'd gotten the hang of it pretty quickly, but unlike with the circle I couldn't cast any other spells while using it. It wasn't very fast, and if anything broke my concentration I would fall until I recast the spell. It was very energy consuming to the point where teleporting was easier.

My energy levels themselves were great however, I could stay levitated for about an hour and a half before getting noticeably tired, and every day that time increased. Every day I became stronger, but every day I was still clueless about the circle. Furthermore, after some calculations I discovered that the circle's magic had quadrupled my abilities.

I'd also experimented with the limits of the repair spell I had learned; the bigger the thing I was repairing, the more energy it took to repair. I couldn't use it to repair injuries in the form of cuts, but I could use it to repair broken bones if all of it was still there. If there was a piece too far away from what I was trying to fix then it just wouldn't work. Most importantly-

"Hey, Cloud!" Called Pinkie. "Why're you standing in the middle of the park with a blank look on your face unblinking?"

"Pinkie, be quiet," I replied. "I'm thought monologuing."

"Ooh! I love thought monologuing! But not as much as I like parties and balloons and cake and sugar and-"

"Pinkie, stop."

"-All of my friends in Ponyville and Gummy and-"

"Pinkie, stop!"

"-My best friends 'cause I'm friends with everyone in Ponyville but my closest friends are extra special-"

"Pinkie! Stop!"

"-'Cause we went on an adventure and we hang out more and we're closer and-"

"Pinkie Pie! Shut up!"

"-Include you and Twilight and Applejack and Rarity and Rainbow and Fluttershy-"

"PINKIE! STOP!"

"-Ooh look! Fluttershy's here too!" Sure enough, Fluttershy was standing next to us. She looked like she was trying to say something, but I couldn't hear her over Pinkie. "Hi Fluttershy! I was talking to Cloud about things I love in Ponyville and you and Cloud and Twilight and Applejack and Rarity and Rainbow are my closest friends and-" I teleported Pinkie back to Sugarcube Corner and turned back to Fluttershy.

"What were you trying to say, Fluttershy?"

"There's-" She started before being cut off by Twilight's shouting.

"Listen up!" She shouted, "Smoke is spreading over all of Equestria." I looked up and surely enough, there was a large cloud of deep black smoke hanging over the sky. Oh. Well shit. This weeks event is here. Why is there always a week between everything interesting that happens here? And why is stuff happening so much here? "But don't worry, I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that it is not coming from a fire." Damn it! A fire would be easy to deal with. If it's not coming from a fire then that means- "It's coming from a dragon." Buck me with a rake and pour milk into my ears. Well, this will probably be my last chance to monologue for a while, I may as well finish it.

Most importantly, my repair spell would cancel out if I broke concentration.

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full grown dragon doing here in Equestria?" Asked Applejack. Twilight had called the rest of our friends and Rainbitch to the library, most likely to discuss how to deal with the situation.

"I don't know," I replied. "What do fully grown dragons do normally?"

"Uh... Eat, sleep n' horde?"

"Then probably that."

"It's sleeping," Explained Twilight, flicking through a book. "According to Princess Celestia, he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke."

"He should really see a doctor," Said Pinkie. "That doesn't sound healthy at all."

"Well," Added Rarity, "at least he's not snoring fire. What are we meant to do about it?"

"Stop it, probably." I answered.

"Yes," continued Twilight, "We need to encourage him to take a nap somewhere else. Princess Celestia has given us this mission, and we must not fail. If we do, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next one hundred years."

"Talk about getting your beauty sleep!" Rarity exclaimed.

"All right everypony, I need you to gather supplies quickly. We've got a long journey ahead of us. Let's meet back here in less than an hour." The others grunted in affirmation and left the library. Fluttershy muttered something that I didn't catch before leaving herself.

"So how long will the journey be?" I asked Twilight.

"It could take a few days if we're unlucky, prepare yourself well."

"Okay." I headed upstairs to pack some spell books, cider and bread into some spare saddlebags.

We were gathered outside the library. Twilight started pacing in front of us.

"All right everypony," she started, "listen up. I'm mapping out the fastest route, but we've all got to keep a good pace if we expect to make it up the mountain by nightfall. If we run into too many obstacles it could take up to five days to reach the top. The dragon is in a cave at the highest peak."

"Looks pretty cold up there," said Applejack. Rainbitch attempted speech, but since she was so stupid I just blocked her out.

"Good thing I brought my scarf!" Rarity exclaimed, bringing out a scarf from her saddlebags. Pinkie admired them and Rainbitch slurred more stupid nonsense. Fluttershy walked up to Twilight.

"Um," she said quietly, "excuse me, Twilight? I know you're busy, but..."

"Uh-huh," Twilight said to herself, not noticing Fluttershy. "Well, we could go this way."

"But if I could just have a second..."

"Uh-huh. No, we want to avoid that."

"So, um, I was thinking that, um, maybe I should just stay here in Ponyville."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh! Good!" She started to walk away. "I'll stay here and-"

"Wait! You have to come! Your way with wild animals will surely come in handy."

"I don't think I-"

"Oh, and don't worry about your little friends in the meadow. Spike's got it covered while you're gone."

"Actually Twilight, I don't think she should come either," I confessed, "Fluttershy probably wont be useful to us against a dragon. No offense, Flutters."

"None taken," said Fluttershy.

"But she's good with animals!" Argued Twilight, "she'll be a huge help!"

"You're right, she's good with animals. She wont be good with a giant, fire breathing, heavily armoured monster. No offense, Spike."

"None taken," said Spike.

"She's our last resort!" Exclaimed Twilight, "if it starts to attack she can calm it down!"

"Twilight," I said bluntly, "Fluttershy can't stop a dragon. I have my plans, there's no need to be stupid. All the offense, Cyan-Twat." Rainbitch started blurting her stupidity again. "Anyway, like I said; I have my own plan." I whispered my plan into Twilight's ear. Her face lit up when I finished.

"That might just work. We wont use that immediately, but we'll definitely use that if our initial plans fail. Are you sure you're strong enough for all of it at once?" I nodded. "Okay then. I still want Fluttershy to come along. We wont use her as a last resort but after your plan has started, she'll be the best one for the next step."

"Actually, using her for step two is a good idea. Nice thinking, Twi." She nodded in thanks.

"All right everypony, move out!"

We began our trek towards the mountain.

We were at the base of the mountain. It was very... Vertical. Climbing it was going to be difficult. There was a loud rumbling and the ground shook. The snoring I presume...

"That's the dragon snoring," Twilight explained. Fluttershy shivered and trembled.

"It-it's so... high!"

"Only a month later and we're already adventuring again," I muttered to myself, "hopefully this one wont end in a coma." We began walking up a slightly less-steep area of the mountain, heading to what looked like some sort of path.

"I hear the only thing that sparkles more than a dragon's scales are the jewels they use to build their nests!" Exclaimed Rarity, "Ooh, if I play my cards right, I might be able to convince him to part with a few!" I was wondering why she was coming with us.

"Welcome to my cave, Rarity" Pinkie growled, impersonating a dragon. "Care for a diamond?" She roared dramatically, and everypony except Twilight laughed at her.

"This is no laughing matter!" Twilight exclaimed, "Fluttershy, you're the expert on wild creatures. What do you think the dragon will be like?" There was no answer. "Fluttershy?" I looked back. Fluttershy hadn't started climbing yet.

"The slower you climb up here the worse it'll be!" I called down to her.

"I-it's so... So... Steep..."

"You have wings, just fly up here."

"Come on, Fluttershy," cheered Pinkie, "you can do it. Flap those wings!"

"Oh..." Responded Fluttershy, "Okay..." She took a step forward and started flapping her wings. Slowly but surely, she rose into the air. Suddenly there was another snore, and th world around us shook. Fluttershy squealed, closed her wings and fell into a bush underneath her.

"Uh," moaned Twilight, "we don't have time for this!" Applejack took the map out of Twilight's bag. "What are you doing?"

"Ah'll need this if Ah'm going to take her around the mountain another way."

"No need, Applejack," I assured her. I teleported next to Fluttershy, just as there was another snore. Fluttershy fell over, petrified in fear. I lifted her up with levitation and carried her as I walked back up the mountain. "I'll just carry her if she wont come. I'll need to rest my magic in about three hours, though." We continued our trip up the mountain, with me carrying Fluttershy.

It had taken ten hours and three breaks, but we were finally there. The cave entrance was huge. A never ending stream of jet black smoke flowed out from within.

"We're here," Said Twilight, "Rainbow Dash, you'll use your wings to clear the smoke. Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you'll create a diversion to distract the dragon if things get a little hairy in there. Applejack, you're ready with the apples in case he decides to attack. But it shouldn't come to that, because Cloud will do what he needs to do to control him, and between the two of us and Fluttershy, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go. Is everypony ready?" I cracked open my last bottle of cider and downed it in one.

"Let's get this over with," I groaned.

"Okay then, we're going in." We walked into the cave. "So, what is the best way to wake up a sleeping dragon without upsetting him? Fluttershy?"

"She didn't come in."

"Ugh-!"

"Look, she wont be useful until step two of my plan anyway. First, we try it your way."

"You keep saying that like you think it's going to fail!"

"No comment." Twilight sighed.

"Let's just get this over with... I'm sure diplomacy will work. He probably just doesn't realize what he's doing. Right?"

"My way is technically diplomacy..."

"Yes, but-" Her sentence cut off as she walked into the dragon's snout. The dragon was bigger than the caves entrance and was coloured red and yellow. She gasped as she realized how big the dragon was. Which wont be a problem when I start my plan. "Excuse me?" The dragon grumbled and let out more smoke. "Mr Dragon?" It grumbles some more and its eyes snapped open. "Oh, good, you're awake. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Twili-" The dragon breathed out a disgusting smelling lung-full of air, cutting her off. "Sparkle, and my friends and I are residents here in Equestria. Ponyville, to be exact. We've come her to ask that you find another spot to take your nap. It's just that you seem to be doing an awful lot of snoring, and every time you do you send out a terrible cloud of smoke. Equestria simply can't survive a hundred years in a dark haze. You understand, don't you?"

The dragon stood up and stretched out. Twilight looked hopeful. "So you'll find another place to sleep?" She asked it. It crashed back down onto the huge mounds of gold, going back to sleep and letting out loads of smoke. I put up a little Force Barrier spell to stop the smoke getting into my breathing zone.

"Told you it wouldn't work."

"I just need to get the message across to him better, that's all!" She walked up to the dragon again. "Mr Dragon, if you don't move to a new spot, Equestria will be covered in a cloud of smoke." The dragon continued to ignore her. "Ponies won't be able to survive without direct sunlight, farmers wont be able to grow their crops at all." More ignorance. "Please, Mr Dragon-"

"Oh, buck this." I readied my stance and charged up my horn. "I've been carrying Fluttershy up this bucking mountain for ten hours, I'm doing my plan now. Twilight, I might only be able to do a third at a time, distract him if I can't get it all at once." I cast a telekinetic field and felt it cover about a third of the dragons gold. That got his attention. "Twilight, distract him!" I teleported the third of gold to the bottom of the mountain, then started a new telekinetic field over more gold. I couldn't see how Twilight was distracting it but whatever it was, it was working. It took about seven seconds to grab and teleport the next third of gold. Then there was just the last third. I spread a field over it, charged my magical energy and teleported it to the bottom of the mountain. Step one was done.

I'd done some quick research on dragons in the hour before we'd left; dragons grow by hoarding. The more they hoard, the bigger they get. My plan was to get rid of the dragon's hoard, therefore shrinking it and making it pretty much no danger whatsoever. Time to see if it was true. I opened my eyes. Sitting in the middle of the cave was a small dragon about the size of Spike. It's colours were red and yellow, so it was clear it had worked.

"Time for step two," I murmured to myself, "then give back the gold to him, then teleport back to the library and get wasted."

"What the buck have you done?!" Squeaked the tiny dragon.