The following day, everyone in Ponyville was informed that the Ursa Major and Minor were personally relocated by Celestia and Luna to a much more remote location, which was left unknown to ensure that what happened wouldn't be likely to happen again. Needless to say, the perpetrators Snips and Snails were justly punished for their grave crime of thoughtless endangerment and mass property damage.

They were handed over to their parents.

Who proceeded to ground them.

For a year.

Justice.

Just like all the other victims of the disaster, Trixie was given a royal stipend to help her recover her losses. But, instead of buying another carriage, she instead gave it as a “donation” to the library, which made Twilight extremely happy, resulting in another literally steamy make-out session, which to Kamina was clearly her objective.

Using said stipend, Twilight put in orders for more advanced books that Golden Oaks was lacking compared to Celestia's library, along with combat training manuals that would normally only be found in martial-arts institutions. Twilight said that she wanted the Golden Oaks to have a broader range of subject matter, and that there were no books on physical combat at all.

Ultimately, Trixie had more or less officially moved in with them, finding herself enamored with Twilight and Kamina, thus unable to force herself to leave. Celestia explained for them that Shifters were naturally drawn to each other, the only exception being Shifters of opposite elements. She said that usually said Shifters clash, and have an instinctive hatred and fear of the other, but she said that thanks to Kamina's intervention and charisma, Twilight and Trixie could get past the innate animosity and became attracted to one another.

So now Kamina was the coltfriend of two mares, both Shifters, who were just as addicted to each other as they were to him. Life was good. They haven't gone all the way with Trixie yet though, don't want to rush it after all, things are going a bit fast as they are and Trixie understood all too well, beings she was still a bit shell-shocked by her change in lifestyle. She's gone from a traveling show-mare to a local librarian, magic tutor, and occasional show-mare, beings she has to constantly come up with new tricks to keep a regular audience entertained, and each new spell, however minor, results in Twilight furiously ravishing her short of actual sex, so she had more incentive than money~.

So over all, after the week it took everypony to pitch in, Ponyville was more-or-less returned to it's normal state. Say what you will about how panicky ponies are during crisis, they clean up the aftermath quite well. As of now, life was back to normal, plus one sexy mare added to Kamina's life. The trio of unicorns and Spike were all in the main floor of the library, Kamina was looking at a book on karate since Rainbow got him interested in expanding his combat skills, Spike was looking over the library's ledger and check-out/return sheets, while Twilight and Trixie were both talking theory.

“No, no that wouldn't work at all! The inverse polarity of the substance you're working with would cause feedback resonance to disrupt your spell and create a catastrophic explosion.” Trixie supplied to an idea Twilight threw at her, making the purple fiery mare scratch her chin in puzzlement.

“But my data checks out...why wouldn't it work?” Twilight asked as she pointed out the calculations she had on a sheet of paper, and after Trixie looked it over she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Oh, actually...let's see....” Trixie went through and adjusted the calculations and then both mares beamed and squealed in delight before they hugged. “It SHOULD work! Let's try it!”

“Hey boys, want to see us try to change the genetic makeup of a mouse? There's only a teeny-tiny off-chance possibility of the subject violently combusting.” Twilight poorly attempted to convince them, making both males look at the mares oddly, before looking to each other.

“Nerds.” They commented simultaneously before going back to their previous activities, making the mares pout in exasperation, however this was interrupted by Spike belching up a letter from Celestia.

“What does she need now?” Kamina asked curiously, as he levitated it over to him and opened it up, he read through it and was shocked. “Oh...yeah that's serious.” Kamina hoofed the letter over to the others before he trotted over to the window and looked up into the sky, to see it's claim was true. “Yeah, that's bad.” Kamina was referencing the giant cloud of smoke billowing over the sky. “Spike, promise me you won't nap on top of mountains.”

“Uh, sure? I don't really care for mountains anyway, lived in Canterlot almost my whole life remember?” Spike reminded him as he too looked up at the sky. “Geez, how the Tartarus can one dragon produce that much smoke.”

“He's not really producing THAT much smoke Spike.” Trixie decided to inform them. “It is simply because the dragon's smoke is being introduced at such a high altitude that the natural crosswinds are spreading it through the upper Troposphere in a rapid spread, only possible with the constant supply of smoke.” This made the boys look at her in confusion, only for Trixie to sigh. “I'm saying small smoke, big wind, wide spread.”

“Oh~ why didn't you say so?” Both the boys replied, making Trixie and Twilight face-hoof.

“Dorks....” They both griped simultaneously.

===//////>

“So, that's the rundown. Beings we're the most qualified to deal with the situation, and the princesses are occupied with foreign dignitaries right now, the most we could hope for in additional aid is a few teams of guards. However, I feel that they'd be useless in such small numbers against a mature dragon. We'd be better off on our own.” Twilight finished with all their friends gathered before her. “Kamina is a powerful battlemage and Trixie and I are also strong mages, so if things turn south we're going to have to do most of the fighting. Any questions?”

“Um...do I have to go too?” Fluttershy meekly asked. “I don't think I'd be much use in this situation. I mean; I'm terrified of dragons.”

“But you get along with me so well.” Spike brought up, making Fluttershy look at him with care.

“Oh, Spike, that's because you're still a baby dragon, and I got to know you because of it. But we're talking about a big, mean, breathe-smoke-and-fire, totally-all-grown-up dragon.” Fluttershy tried to explain, only making Spike look hurt.

“But I'm only small in body! I'm a big drake in a little lizard!” Spike suddenly started crying, fountain of tears and all, and ran back into the library, slamming the door behind him.

“Oh my! I'm sorry! Please-!” Fluttershy flew at the door only for Kamina to teleport in front of it and stop her with a hoof held in the air.

“No Fluttershy; that's the worst thing you can do right now. Little Bro is going through hell right now. His hormones are driving him crazy.” Kamina continued to read up on dragon physiology, and knew that about this time Spike would be going through huge hormonal changes. By his guess, it would finish building up and taking it's last big surge around his birthday next year. “Regardless, you've got nothing to worry about Fluttershy. If any of us could take on a dragon alone, I just know it would be you.” Kamina smirked at her, and Fluttershy blushed and shyly rubbed a hoof against the opposite leg.

“I-I don't think so....” Fluttershy was about to retreat even further into her shell when Kamina brushed aside her large curtain of mane, and looked into her eyes calmly.

“If you can't believe in yourself, then believe in the pony who believes in you; so you can believe in yourself when their faith proves true.” At Kamina's inspiring and really good rhyming statement, Fluttershy practically turned pink, squeaked, and hid behind Gilda. “What did I do?”

“You really got to tone down the suave stallion act.” Gilda stated with a faint blush. “Did any of you girls get anything from that?”

“Eeyup.” AJ answered, cheeks pink.

“Oh, yes.” Rarity was beaming at him.

“Bananas!” Pinkie shouted randomly, but her pink fur didn't hide her blush.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Dash squealed like a fangirl as her wings were jutting out in a tell-tale wingboner, and like most pegasi, was completely shameless about it.

“Bedroom. Now.” Both Twilight and Trixie demanded to the rest of the group's surprise, including Kamina's, and then they blushed before sheepishly trying to recover.

“Um, later.” Trixie nervously added before she teleported away.

“She'll catch up, anyway, let's all get ready to go face a dragon!” Twilight broke the awkward moment, and everyone left to prepare.

===//////>

“Okay everyone! Let's climb this mountain!” Twilight cheered, only for them to gape up at the giant spire of a mountain. “What?”

“THIS is the mountain the dragon is sleeping on top of? It's over half the height of Shire Mountain!” Kamina was referencing the mountain that Canterlot was built on, named for its size after a sub-species of earth pony and horse called Shires. They were known to become nearly as big as Celestia for earth ponies, and often surpassed her in size in horses, and were known for their bulky muscular builds. For reference; Big Mac clearly had Shire in the family genes, but not enough for him to be properly designated one, only a really big earth pony. Kamina, while near the right size, was lithe with corded and compact muscle because he was of unicorn/alicorn stock, so he was no Shire.

Kamina still kept it in the back of his mind to demand again WHICH unicorn of her royal guard Celestia liberally took genes from outside her door that faithful night several months ago to ensure he was male, because if she hadn't Kamina would have been reborn as an alicorn mare! She told the guard what she did, but has kept his involvement secret from everypony else to ensure he isn't harassed, but damn it, he's Kamina's father, and he wants to get to know him. Sure it's purely genetic, but he'd like to be friends with the stallion who helped him keep his man card.

“Kamina!” Twilight shouted in frustration, snapping Kamina out of his spaced-out musing about his potential sire. “Were you even listening?”

“Um...no?” Kamina winced when Twilight smacked his nose lightly with her rolled-up map.

“Then pay attention this time! Because I'm not repeating myself again!” Twilight then opened the map up facing him. “We're all going to walk up the mountain, because while we do have some fliers, we don't want to have to tire Gilda and Rainbow Dash out before we get up there.”

“Whoa, wait, hold on, how did we get HERE?!” Kamina suddenly asked, making all the girls look at him oddly. “I mean; this is Smokey Mountain, it's at the turning point of the Unicorn Mountain Range. It's a very LONG way away from both Ponyville and Canterlot on the western edge of Equestria, with no direct rail system, yet we're here! How?!” Kamina freaked, making Twilight and Trixie smirk as their horns lit up.

“Magic, duh.” Trixie gloated as little fireworks danced off her horn. “I've been here before on my travels when I took the scenic route from Tall Tale, so it was simple to pool our magic and for Trixie to teleport us all. You were zoned out at the time from whatever you were thinking about, so it isn't really a surprise that you're so disjointed.”

“Wait, you knew he wasn't paying attention? Why didn't you tell me?” Twilight asked her marefriend, who smirked cheekily at her.

“Oh? But he's your coltfriend too, I thought you'd have noticed more than Trixie beings she's the newest member of this herd.” Trixie gloated to Twilight who leered at her.

“Stupid, sexy show-mare.” Twilight muttered. “Anyway, we're going to climb up there, have an audience with the dragon to try and get them to leave peacefully. If things turn sour...well, Kamina can just pierce their heart and be done with it.” Twilight nodded definitively, making Fluttershy gasp.

“Oh no! Please, even if they end up being a big meanie, please don't kill them Prince Kamina.” Fluttershy flew up to Kamina and turned on the watery eyes, making Kamina become very uncomfortable.

“O-okay, I'll just enforce that he has to follow the same laws as everyone else in Equestria. Considering what said being is however, I will have to use lethal force if necessary. But ONLY if necessary.” Kamina assured Fluttershy, who wasn't completely convinced, and leered at him.

“No, I won't let that happen.” Fluttershy then took off over them towards the peak, making everyone gasp.

“Stop her!” Rarity called out, making Dash and Gilda chase after her, which ended up being surprisingly hard, but Fluttershy had already made it to the peak by the time they caught up to her. “Oh goodness, what's happening? Can't we just teleport up there?”

Trixie shook her head in worry. “No, Trixie hasn't been to the top of the mountain, and we cannot see the actual landing point, so to try and teleport would be suicide.”

They were paralyzed by a rumbling roar that caused loose sections of the mountain to slide violently in rock-slides. Thankfully they weren't in a rockslide zone. “We have ta git up there!” At AJ's shout they were about to scramble up the rocks only for the gigantic red dragon itself to fly out of the cavern at the peak, and fly down to them, landing before them in a thundering pounce. The giant reptilian beast did not look pleased, but didn't look upset either. Rather it's piercing orange eyes seemed inquisitive.

“I believe these ones are with you?” The dragon spoke in a clear but echoing deep voice as he unfurled one of his claws to reveal the unharmed Fluttershy, Rainbow and Gilda.

“Y-yes! Yes they are. Are you aware of the purpose of our presence?” Twilight tried to get a grasp on the situation as the dragon nodded.

“I was not aware that my choice in den was so precariously placed, nor was I aware that I am such a heavy smoke snorer, tis embarrassing.” The dragon placed the flying trio near the others. “Apologies, but I have already moved my hoard to my new den, and I am tired, I cannot have the energy to move all my possessions to a new home, let alone find a new home.”

“Oh dear, whatever will we do?” Rarity looked to her companions in concern, as they looked to each other until Twilight remembered something.

“I know! Sir, would it be ok if we could not only arrange a safe location for you, but also ferry your hoard to it?” Twilight asked the dragon who yawned blinked multiple times, obviously he was very tired indeed.

“That would be pleasant, I would not wish to invoke the ire of Sunfire herself; she has been good to us all.” The dragon acquiesced as he contained another yawn and rubbed his eyes. Twilight then cast her summoning spell, bringing Spike to them in a contained teleport. “Hm? A hatchling?”

Spike looked up at the giant elder dragon, and gawked in awe. “Whoa...will I ever get that big?”

The red dragon lowered and sniffed the diminutive purple dragon, making everyone nervous as the elder dragon's eyes widened. “Oh...interesting. It is a shame I must rest, knowing I will miss it.” The dragon then rose back up, looked down at Spike in thought, and smiled gently, which was surprising considering the elegant beast's size and form. “Wait here, I shall return.” The dragon took off back for the peak, leaving the group in awe of just how gloriously big and graceful the giant being was despite his size.

“Fluttershy, just what did ya do up there?” AJ asked her friend as Twilight and Spike started sending messages to Celestia.

“Oh, you know, I just woke him up gently, started a conversation.” Fluttershy fidgeted under her friend's impressed stares.

“Then Dash here had to be totally uncool and buck him in the snout for politely trying to turn Fluttershy down on her offer of speaking with us about the situation.” Gilda bumped her flank against Dash's with a glare, making the prismatic mare sheepishly scratch her head.

“Yeah, that's what made the dragon roar. After that; Shy calmed him down and convinced him to come down to meet with us.” Dash then bumped her flank against Gilda, who was surprised at the bump-back. “You weren't helping either with you trying to gouge his eyes out after he snapped his jaws around me.”

Gilda bumped back harder. “And why wouldn't I? I thought you died!” Gilda and Dash bumped foreheads, before it was interrupted by Gilda nuzzling Dash's head. “You're my best friend, I can't just let it go if someone hurts you.”

Dash sniffed and rubbed her face into Gilda's neck. “I thought I was gonna die....” Dash hugged Gilda who hugged back, rocking her friend to comfort her as Fluttershy joined in and the others all looked on in worry. “*sniff*, Since when were we such softies?”

“Since we found out being all chill wasn't so cool.” Gilda reminded her pal and lifted her chin up to look her in the eyes. “Friends are there through everything, no matter what, isn't that what we do? What with you being Loyalty and all.” Gilda pressed the curve of her beak to Dash's nose. “Shouldn't someone else prove their Loyalty to you too?” Dash surprised Gilda with a sudden kiss to her beak, surprising everypony else too.

Dash's cerise eyes were shimmering, and she smiled softly at her oldest friend. “No, because I already know how much I mean to you, because you mean so much to me. I believe in you, because you believe in me, and will still believe in you if you stop believing in me. That's Loyalty, to the end, because in the end I would make you see.” Dash then kissed Gilda again, who opened her beak and returned with a lick, beings she can't actually kiss with her beak, and happily nuzzled her dear friend.

“Ugh...if only you were a griffin.” Gilda griped, as she clacked her beak. “Damn beak, can't kiss anyone without a beak without hurting them.”

“Griffins and pegasi can have babies.” The sudden tidbit shocked everypony who looked at Fluttershy, who meeped and tried to hide in her mane. “I-I read about it, where did you think Hippogriffs came from?”

“Well, big problem with that, we're both mares! If one of us was a guy then yeah; totally have foals someday.” Dash commented with bedroom eyes at her new girlfriend, making Gilda gawk at her.

“You'd be willing to have little brats with me?” Gilda asked in shock, before beaming and screeching an eagle cry into the sky. “Oh if ONLY you were a stallion Dash! This is so unfair!”

“Yeah! Darn it, now I'm imagining what being a stallion would be like.” Dash pondered, and the others all were interested in watching this continue, but the dragon returned with a graceful landing.

“What was that commotion?” He asked Gilda, who blushed and her feathers fluffed up as she tried to shrink into herself, and failed. “Oh, that sort of thing? I'll leave it be.” The dragon then reached into his mouth, and took something from between his teeth. “For you, little one.” He gave Spike a jade pony statue, and Spike beamed at it as his mouth watered. “Tell me, do you love living among ponies?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I was raised by Twilight here, and I won't lie; the mares have really nice curves to them.” Spike whispered loudly in a stage whisper, which, of course, everyone heard. They ignored it, but Rarity blushed softly and couldn't avoid smirking.

The dragon smiled and leered playfully at all the girls. “Mm, yes, so sensuously shaped.” They all gawked as he wagged his eye ridges. “The attraction to the female form is universal to all males across species. For us dragons, who can mate with any other species, it is even more pronounced. I am Cor, for the record. If what you say is true little one, then eat, my gift to you, from elder to younger.”

“Alright!” Spike cheered before he bit off the head of the pony statue, and started moaning in seeming pleasure. “Oh~! So smooth and chewy! It's like a combination of a fresh granny smith apple and rock candy. Usually gems taste like some hard version of fruit or candy even.” Spike quickly chowed down and finished the statue. “Whew! That was filling!” Spike sat down and enjoyed his fully belly. “Thanks a lot Cor, I'm Spike by the way.”

“Good to have met you Spike.” Cor replied, and then yawned with a billowing cloud of smoke coming from his throat. “Uh. Please tell me your plan, I cannot remain awake much longer.”

“We will have to teleport you to a giant cave in the Everfree. It used to be home to an Ursa family, but they've been forcibly relocated for a rampage recently. I can ward it to keep intruders out, and your smoke will harmlessly dissipate at ground level.” After Twilight finished explaining, a whole flock of 15 or so cargo carriages from Canterlot were beginning to arrive, pulled by Royal Guards. “These fine sirs will load your hoard into the carriages and take them to your new home, and NONE of it will go missing. Am I clear?” Twilight looked to the guards at the last statement, making them salute.

“Yes ma'am Twilight Sparkle ma'am!” They took off again for the peak, as Twilight and Trixie both neared Cor.

“Ok, I'm perfectly fine with this. Just get me to my new den so I can sleep.” Cor yawned again as he shook his head.

“Kamina, Rarity, I'm going to need both of your help with this. Everyone gather around, I don't want to have to make another trip.” Twilight directed them. They all gathered around, and Twilight, Trixie, Kamina, and a blushing Rarity crossed horns with their faces close together. “It's so nice to see you up close Rarity.” Twilight teased, making Rarity grin mischievously at her from her side of the cross.

“Well the feeling is mutual.” Rarity fluttered her eyes at them, making them all laugh gently. “Right, what do I have to do?”

“Just let me pull on your stores of magic, I know the cave, so I'll be the one casting the spell.” Twilight's horn lit up, making theirs do so too, and in a flash, they were gone.

===//////>

After that, it was a simple matter to get Cor settled in. Spike commented on how great he felt, and was admittedly sad he didn't get to talk to Cor at length. The young dragon took to bed almost as soon as they got home, and Twilight was writing her Friendship Report to be sent in the morning. “Today's been an amazing series of events, hasn't it?”

“Indeed, Trixie, sorry, I, found today to be both enlightening yet entertaining.” Trixie stated as she helped put away the notes on the spell she and Twilight were working on earlier. “I mean, I haven't known you all for long, but Rainbow Dash and that griffin Gilda are filly-foolers? They just don't seem the type, I figured they were secretly perverts, keeping tabs on all the stallions in town.”

“Oh, they are, they're just surprisingly subtle about it.” Kamina commented from his seat before his book. “They think I don't notice little flashes coming from the air when they take pictures. I think Dash might even have a photo album of me she clops to. She definitely has pictures of Big Mac, and Thunderlane for sure. I'm thinking it's more of a thing between them. They just...fit.”

“Wow Kamina, you're getting to be so insightful. I mean, you were before, but it's like you're incredibly wise beyond your years.” Twilight stated as she approached, and sat next to him on the right.

“Indeed, I am impressed at your wisdom. What you lack in intelligence you more than compensate with your sense of things.” Trixie added as she sat next to him on the left, making Kamina realize just what was going on.

“Uh...Trixie, it's really soon since we met-.” Trixie shut him up with a smothering kiss.

“Shut up and buck us.”

“...Okay.”

Author's Notes:

That's right! GilDash! BUCK YEAH! Let's see where this goes, hm?

Also I've gotten requests and suggestions to add Vinyl as a main character, she will be, but she won't be in the way you expect.

You'll see.