Chapter IX

Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic, marches in front of six other mares and one dragon standing at attention. “Alright girls, and Bael,” I nod at my name. “-Listen up! I’m currently mapping out the fastest route. But we’ve got a lot of ground to cover if we expect to make it to the top of the mountain by nightfall.” Twilight says to us while walking in front of us.

“M-mountain?” I hear the quiet stutter come from where Fluttershy is standing in our line-up. I glance at her in sympathy, I can feel her fear almost constantly right now, and I’ve been feeling it every time I’m near her, or even just within hearing distance.

“The dragon is in that cave, at the very top.” Twilight points a hoof at the mountain she’s facing.

“Looks pretty cold up there.” Applejack comments.

“You bet it is. The higher you go, the chillier it gets.” Rainbow replies to her with a grin.

“Good thing I brought my scarf.” Rarity says, before pulling out and putting on said scarf.

“Oooh, pretty!” Pinkie compliments.

“Heh, yeah. That’ll keep you nice and cozy.” Rainbow says sarcastically.

“Trixie could comment on the fact that a scarf is better than nothing, but instead she’ll simply say that she still believes that this entire quest is completely harebrained!!!” Trixie exclaims to the others.

‘There’s a certain white bunny that would take offense to that if he were here.’ I think with a quiet chuff of laughter as I think about Angel braining Trixie with a carrot. Then I frown, remembering that I just met him today, albeit briefly, and that his arrival initiated a specific yellow pegasus mare to flee from me in fear. I look over to where Fluttershy is timidly trying to talk to an absorbed-in-map-reading-Twilight.

‘I’m going to have to try to talk to her eventually. But I think it might be better to wait for the right moment for it. Which most likely will be after this snoring dragon thing is done. She might have more confidence when dealing with dragons when this is over.’ I resolve in my head. I turn my own focus to the conversation the girls around me are having.

“Fighting a grown dragon is suicide. There’s no possible way for a single pony besides Princess Celestia herself to be able to beat one like you’re suggesting.” I catch from the tail end of Trixie’s argument.

“Nopony but the Princess, or me! I’d be moving too fast for him to hit, and then it’d just be a matter of time before I beat him into submission.” Rainbow boasts with a puffed out chest.

I flick the side of her head.

“Ow! What the hay?” She exclaims.

“You weren’t moving very fast there. I figured I should take advantage of it while I could.” I say with a mischievous grin.

Rainbow rolls her eyes. “Yeah, you’re right. And you’re lucky I’m planning on whooping another dragon’s butt today instead of yours. So don’t think you can get away with that from now on, I’m just letting this one time slide, alright?” Rainbow replies, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned.

“You see! You can’t even avoid a teasing flick on the head! What makes you think you can avoid anything a dragon can throw at you?” Trixie asks hotly.

“I’m sorry to interject, but if you’re so against us going up a dragon, then why are you coming along? You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to Trixie.” Rarity asks.

“Hmph. Somepony needs to be the voice of reason to make sure that everypony comes back alive. And since none of you but Fluttershy seem worried about trekking off to move a fully-grown and, very likely, cranky dragon. That means that Trixie is the only one here with any ounce of sanity within her to keep us alive.” Trixie says with an arrogant flip of her hair.

I quirk a brow, surprised. I didn’t expect Trixie to care enough about the girls so quickly after becoming friends with them. Color me impressed with her strength of character so early in the show’s timeframe.

“Alright everypony!” Twilight calls out, grabbing our attention. I roll my eyes, I’m not a pony. “Move out!” She shouts. And we all charge off towards the smoking mountain.

We arrive at the mountain just in time to hear the deafening snore of the dragon at the top, which causes Fluttershy to dart behind Applejack in fear.

“Whoa, what was that?” Rainbow asks from her position above us.

“What do you think that was?” Trixie snipes.

“Hey! I was only asking. No need to bite my head off.” Rainbow protests.

“You’re right, I don’t, cause the dragon will do it for me.” Trixie says dryly.

“Enough! Both of you, stop arguing!” Twilight snaps at both of them.

“She started it!” Rainbow complains.

“I don’t care, I’m ending it. We haven’t even set hoof on the mountain yet, so stop bickering so we can.” Twilight says sternly.

“Fffffiiiiine…” Trixie and Rainbow groan out reluctantly.

We all start trekking up the side of the mountain single-file. Racking my brain for a bit about what happened in the episode, I realize that Applejack didn’t have to hold Rainbow back from flying off solo to scout out the area. So that means that the next thing to happen will be…

I pull up short and look over my shoulder to see that Fluttershy is still down where we started at the bottom of the cliff, hiding behind a bush.

“Hey, guys. Fluttershy’s still at the bottom.” I point out to the others. They all stop as well and look back to see that I’m right.

“Hey? What are you waiting for, an invitation?” Rainbow calls down to her.

“Oooh! I think I have one in my bag!” *PHTWOOHOO!!!* We all jump from the sudden confetti and celebratory noise that bursts out of Pinkie’s “invitation.”

“Oh, it’s just so… so… steep.” Fluttershy notes fearfully from behind her bush.

“Well it is a cliff. You could just, I don’t know… fly up here.” Rainbow points out impatiently.

“C’mon Fluttershy! You can do it! Flap those wings!” Pinkie cheers.

“Oh.. okay.” Fluttershy nervously opens her wings up and flaps gently and rises up to the same level as us.

Then I remember what’s going to happen. The dragon lets out another snore, Fluttershy’s wings lock up from fear, and she plummets to the ground.

I react and shoot down the cliff and catch her on my back. “Got you.” I huff when I catch her. Fluttershy just frantically wraps her hooves around my neck just a smidgen too tightly. But that’s all right as long as she doesn’t hurt herself.

I know that in the show she was all right when she fell, but the height looks far more daunting in real life than in the show, and I’m not so sure she would have been alright from the fall this time.

I decide to forgo needing to sidetrack to get her up the mountain, so I just fly up while she’s still firmly on my back, saying a brief “see you at the top” to the others as I fly past them.

I land at the top of the cliff, but Fluttershy doesn’t let go. I’m about to ask her to when the dragon snores again.

“Eep!” My eyes bug out from the increased pressure around my neck. Holy shit Fluttershy is strong!

I struggle to try and grab Fluttershy’s attention. But I can’t talk, and when I try to tap her with my claws she just strengthens her grip.

Eventually, the others reach the top and see my predicament. I silently mouth “Help me.” to them, all the while Fluttershy unknowingly continues to cut off my air supply. Twilight gasps and swiftly trots over to nudge Fluttershy a bit.

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy, you need to let go. Bael can’t breath.” She urges the pegasus mare on my back. I hear a quiet gasp on my back and then the pressure releases, and I can breathe again.

*GASP*

Oh thank God. AIR!!!

“I’m sorry!” Fluttershy apologizes, horrified at what she did.

I take a few more breath-fulls of air before responding. “It’s okay. I forgive you.” I reply between breaths.

We all stand there for a moment.

“Soooooo, are you going to get off, or do you want me to carry you for the rest of the way?” I ask Fluttershy, a small smile showing at the corners of my mouth.

She lets out another “eep” before a little awkwardly getting off me.

“Oh! Can I ride on your back the rest of the way? I’ve never ridden a dragon before.” Pinkie asks while bouncing over to me.

I stare into her sky blue eyes before replying. “Uh… Sure?” I answer cautiously.

“Woohoo!” She cheers, now on my back.

I look back at her blankly. Then at the others. Then back at her. Then I shrug and we start walking. I make sure to bring up the back to make sure no one falls behind again.

Which means that I’m right behind Fluttershy, and all the fear and nervousness that she’s been radiating since we started.

‘Well, if any time is going to be a good time to talk to her, now might be it.’ I reason, opening my mouth say something.

“Hey, Bael. What’s your favorite dessert?” Pinkie asks me from my back before I can say anything.

“Huh, favorite dessert?” I say turning my neck so I can look over my shoulder at her. “Why do you want to know?” I ask her.

“For your ‘Welcome to Ponyville and Equestria Party’. I didn’t get to throw you one when we first met you, and I couldn’t find you yesterday, so I still need to throw you one. I’m going to throw it for you after we get back to Ponyville.” She states.

I quirk a brow. “I’m not so sure there’s going to be enough time in the day for a party after we’re done handling the dragon.” I say uncertainly.

“There’s always time for a party, because I’m always sure to make time.” Pinkie says seriously with a determined smile.

I chuckle. “Okay then, I don’t think I can argue with you about that… Hm, favorite dessert…I’m… not really sure. It’s kind of hard to choose from them all. Not to mention that it’s actually been a while since I’ve tried anything sweet except Spike’s pancakes. But I guess it’s kind of hard to go wrong with chocolate chip cookies… unless it’s a party with a lot of dogs attending.” I add.

“Yes, chocolate tends to be very bad for most dogs.” Fluttershy agrees with me. Then shrinks down when we look at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She says quietly.

“You don’t have to be sorry Fluttershy. You were just speaking your mind.” I tell her gently.

“Yeah! And it’s a really good point. It’s a good thing I’ve got alternative forms of chocolate stashed away for just such an occasion. I’ve also got several non-dairy milk varieties for lactose-intolerant ponies and peanut butter made from sunflower seeds, coconuts, soynuts, and anything else that’s not peanuts for ponies with peanut allergies.” Pinkie chirps cheerfully.

Flutttershy’s fear lessens significantly at our supportive words, and she actually smiles a bit. But halts when she bumps into Trixie, who has stopped for some reason. It becomes apparent why almost immediately. There’s a large gap in the path, with the ground dropping out from below.

And I also spot yet another difference from the show as well, because instead of a pony only needing to give a dinky little hop to get across, like it was revealed in the show, the gap is much wider, and a pony could very well fall to their death if they cringe mid jump like Fluttershy did.

‘Or still might end up doing.’ I think with growing concern for the shivering yellow pegasus in front of me.

The others leap over one by one until it’s only Fluttershy, Trixie and I on the far side of the gap. (Pinkie climbed off me to leap across with the others)

“Well… that’s uh… quite a large divide.” Trixie notes, fearfully looking down the side.

I jerk slightly from the sharp jab of fear coming off of Trixie now. It’s a lot stronger than what Fluttershy’s radiating. I look at her with worry for her safety as well.

“Come on you guys. Fluttershy, your turn.” Twilight calls out from the other side.

“I… I don’t know.” Fluttershy says hesitantly.

“You can just leap right over. Not even a lot of strength needed for that big a jump.” Applejack encourages.

They all seem much more patient than in the show… probably due to not having to wait for Applejack to bring Fluttershy around the long way up.

The dragon snores again, and I suddenly have two tightly-latching mounds of fur wedging themselves under both of my wings. Fluttershy and Trixie shiver in fear.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of! It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump!” Pinkie says, leaping back over to us. She nudges Fluttershy’s side with her nose, grabbing her attention. “See?” She says with a grin, then starts singing.

“It’s not very far, just move your little rump!”
“You can make it if you try, with a hop, skip, and a jump!”

“We don’t have time for this.” Twilight says.

“A hop, skip and a jump, just move your little rump,”
“a hop, skip and a jump, a hop, skip and a jump,”
“a hip, skip and a jump, a hop-skip-and a jump,”
“A hop-skip-and a jump!”
Pinkie finishes on the other side after leaping back and forth repeatedly.

Fluttershy’s fear has lessened again and she’s moved away from my side.

“Oh-kay… here I go.” Fluttershy says. She sets herself up at the edge.

“Yeah, you can do it Fluttershy!” The others cheer from the other side.

“A hop, skip, and a jump.” She says while leaping across.

“Just don’t look down.” Twilight calls out.

‘Goddamnit Twilight!!!’ I mentally shout. I leap and catch Fluttershy right as she panics halfway across and starts to fall. I land on the other side and let Fluttershy shakily climb off me.

I just glare pointedly at Twilight. She notices.

“What?” She asks me.

“Just don’t look down?” I ask scathingly.

“Wh-it’s good advice! Looking down will make you think about how much danger you’re in!” Twilight defends.

I just face-claw with a long-suffering sigh. I turn around to see that Trixie is huddled on the ground on the other side of the gap.

And her fear is escalating.

“I’ll be right back.” I tell the others before leaping back over.

Trixie’s hyperventilating, very pointedly looking away from the cliff, and literally hugging the wall.

“Trixie? Are you alright?” I ask her.

“U-uh, yes Trixie is fine! I’m j-just stretching to get ready to jump over the wide and high up gap that I could slip and fall off of down far below and-OH CELESTIA’S CAKE FETISH I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!!!!” She shouts in terror.

“Hey hey hey… hey. Trixie, you’re not going to fall, and you’re not going to die. It’s not that big of a jump, and even if you did fall, me or Rainbow would catch you long before you got anywhere close to the ground.” I tell her, trying to calm her down.

Trixie looks at you and then slowly towards the cliff, but her pupils turn to pinpricks with fear from just looking at the edge and she shoves her face back against the wall. “I-I just can’t.” She stammers.

“Alright, that’s fine, if you don’t think you can make the jump, you don’t have to jump. Are you okay with me carrying you across on my back? I promise you’ll be safe.” I offer her.

She turns her head away from the wall slightly to look into my eyes and, after a moment, hesitantly nods. I crouch down and she climbs onto my back. I feel her bury her face into the back of my neck and I can only imagine she’s clenching her eyes shut. I stand up, turn to the gap, bunch up my hind legs, and leap across. Trixie yelps from the sudden motion and tightens her grip around my neck, but thankfully loosens in relief once I hit the ground on the other side a moment later. She climbs off me and walks stiffly up the path past the others without a word.

“What’s with her?” Applejack asks.

“She’s probably embarrassed Bael had to carry her over.” Rainbow comments.

“Or,” I speak up. “she has problems with heights. It’s not that uncommon a fear. But regardless, we are not going to talk about it, nor ask Trixie about it unless she wants to. Understand.” I say to Rainbow, but meaning it for everyone listening.

“Fine, sure. Let’s just go already.” Rainbow says impatiently.

We all move to catch up with Trixie.

The incident with the avalanche was averted easily enough. I just caught the leaf that drifted down towards Fluttershy and we all made it through the area without a problem. And soon after that, we reach the dragon’s cave.

I resign myself to listening to Twilight’s bad contingency plan if diplomacy fails.

Twilight goes into commander mode. “Rainbow Dash. You’ll use your wings to clear the smoke.” She tells Dash.

Rainbow stands at attention and then shoots off into the smoke with an affirmative “Mh-hm!”

“Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you’ll create a distraction in case things get a little hairy in there.” Twilight says to the aforementioned mares. Pinkie then does her thing with the rubber chicken to the confusion of all present.

Twilight pulls herself out of her confusion to move on. “Applejack, you’re ready with the apples in case he decides to attack.” Twilight instructs the farm mare.

“Trixie says we should run if he attacks.” Trixie voices, she doesn’t look like she expects her advice to be heeded.

“That’s actually the main plan if that happens, but we need to have some form of counterattack to give us a chance to run.” Twilight replies.

I furrow my brow in thought. If Twilight’s plan is to run if things go south, then that’s good. I’ll still need to hold him off while they get clear though.

“…in that case, go for his eyes Applejack. His scales are too hard for apples to hurt him, and he’s too big to be slowed down even if they could. Blinding him is the only chance you have to actually do something to him.” I add in. Applejack nods in acknowledgement.

“Trixie,” I say, grabbing her attention. “think you can do the same with your fireworks spell?” I ask her. After a moment of thought she nods.

“That’s all well and good, but I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. Fluttershy will be coming in with me to try and convince the dragon about why he needs to go. Is everypony ready?” Twilight asks.

“*cough* Not a pony *cough-cough*.” I say while covering my mouth with my leg.

“Ugh, fine, is everypony and dragon ready?” Twilight asks in exasperation.

At our round of affirmatives, she nods.

“Alright then, we’re going in.” She walks into the cave. Fluttershy just buries her face in the ground.

We silently wait for a moment. “Twilight, I think you forgot something!” Trixie calls into the cave.

“What? Wait. Where’s Flutter… ugh, come ON!” Twilight walks out of the cave and over to Fluttershy in a huff.

Twilight nudges Fluttershy with a hoof. Fluttershy looks up, startled at the touch.

“Fluttershy, come on, we have to do this now. Every second that dragon sleeps is another acre of Equestria covered in smoke.” Twilight says.

“I… I can’t go in the cave.” Fluttershy says quietly.

“Why not? Are you afraid of caves now?” Rainbow asks irritably.

“No, I’m scared of drgnnns.” Fluttershy trails off.

“What was that sugarcube?” Applejack asks Fluttershy.

I sigh. “She said she’s scared of dragons.” I say. “I’ve got good hearing.” I add at their surprised looks.

“But Fluttershy, you’ve got a wonderful talent with dealing with all kinds of animals.” Twilight points out to Fluttershy.

“Eh-HEM! I’d like to point out that dragons aren’t animals. We can talk and understand higher thinking patterns just like you guys.” I point out, annoyed.

“Which makes them scarier.” Fluttershy adds with a shiver.

“Oh come on! We’ve seen you walk up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing!” Rainbow says in exasperation.

“Yes, because he wasn’t a dragon.” Fluttershy responds.

“Spike and Bael are dragons, and you’re not scared of them.” Pinkie says.

“Yes, because they’re not huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could-eat-a-pony-in-one-bite, totally all-grown-up dragon.” Fluttershy lists off rapidly before another snore from the dragon causes her to drop to the floor, shivering in fear.

I give a small sigh at the sight. I want to tell her she doesn’t have to face the dragon. In fact, I want to tell all of them that they don’t have to worry about it, and just handle the dragon myself. But this is one of the defining moments of Fluttershy in the show. A moment that shows her ferocity and true inner strength to the others in the most obvious way possible. As much as I’ve helped her so far, if she’s going to show that side of her, she has to do it on her own, in the way the show made it happen.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t try move it along a bit.

“Fluttershy, that just sounds like your determining how scary that dragon is just based on what he can do.” I say.

“But… he’s so big, and could do so many terrible things to me. I’m not brave like you or Rainbow, or anypony else here. I can’t face him.” Fluttershy says shamefully.

A dry laugh escapes me. “Fluttershy, bravery isn’t determined by not being afraid of something. It’s about being afraid, and doing what needs to be done anyway despite your fear. Out of all of us, I think you’re the bravest one here. Do you want to know why?” I ask.

She looks up at me and gives a small nod.

“Because you are terrified of almost everything. You’re afraid of your own shadow, you’re afraid of steep cliffs, you’re afraid of wide gaps, you’re afraid of avalanches, and you’re terrified of the dragon at the top of the mountain that you knew you would have to face at the end.” She slowly shrinks down into the ground at each of my examples.

“And despite all that… you just kept walking up the mountain with us.” I finish, smiling down at her in pride.

She looks back up at me, mouth slightly agape.

I lean my neck down so my face is right in front of hers. “You are brave Fluttershy. Don’t ever doubt that. And whether you can be just a little bit braver today or not, we will still be your friends.” I say sincerely.

She continues to look at me with wide eyes for a few moments, before looking around her to see all of her friends smiling at her warmly, Twilight gives her an encouraging nod.

“I… I… alright. I-I’ll try. I’ll try to talk to the dragon.” Fluttershy finally relents.

I smile wider. “Atta girl.” I praise her. I’m a little surprised she agreed. I actually was just going to suggest she sit outside for moral support if she couldn’t work up the courage to go into the cave.

Twilight offers her a hoof to help her up. “And don’t worry, I’m coming in with you two to make sure you’re safe.” I reassure Fluttershy.

She nods shakily, smiling. Twilight smiles at me thankfully, likely glad that Fluttershy’s finally cooperating.

We walk into the cave, Twilight and I on either side of Fluttershy, who’s trotting forward with us, but radiating fear again. It’s a lot stronger than before. I’m not surprised, walking into a larger predator’s home, however briefly they’ve occupied it, is unnerving me even. Something about the cave is setting me on edge, but I’m not sure what.

Something on the floor glitters. I look at it and see it’s a gold coin, and not far from it are many more stacked into a pile on the floor, with gems and other valuable objects.

‘The dragon’s hoard.’ I guess. My sense of unease grows at the sight for some reason.

And then we reach an area with a wall of red resting on top of the piles of gold, slowly rising and falling with the sound of deep breathing coming from it. We’ve found the dragon.

Twilight clears her throat. “Eh-hem. Excuse me? Mister dragon?” She says hesitantly.

Two amber eyes open slowly and focus in on her.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. Um, hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Fluttershy and Baelor. You see, we-.” Everything else she’s saying gets shut out for me when the dragon’s eyes suddenly lock onto mine, and I stiffen from a sudden sense of potential danger.

My instincts are screaming at me to not move, keep my feet where they are, and my eyes away from the other dragon’s eyes. I scan around my feet, and suddenly, the coins scattered across the floor seem much too close to me for comfort, especially when the other much larger dragon is still watching me very carefully, as if daring me to make a single move to remove even the smallest piece from his hoard.

‘Aaaaaaand this seems like a really bad plan now.’ I think nervously. I glance quickly up at the dragon’s face. He’s still looking at me. I glance at the coins and back up at him. His eyes have narrowed.

I very carefully, and slowly, step back away from his hoard two steps. He gives a light snort and relaxes slightly. The sense of danger lessens, and I let out a breath I was holding.

“-and so you see, Equestria simply can’t survive under such a massive cloud of smoke for so long. You understand, right?” I hear Twilight finish.

The dragon lazily shifts his gaze from me, back to Twilight. “Yes.” He answers in a reverberating growl.

“So, you’ll find another place to sleep?” Twilight asks with hope.

“No.”

“What? But-.” Twilight starts to protest, but the dragon leans in closer to her.

“No. Now leave.” He says with what sounds like an edge to his voice, before he leans back and rests his head on his hoard to go back to sleep.

I glance at Twilight. She looks at a loss of what to do, so I open a wing around her to lead Twilight and Fluttershy out. As we walk out though, I look back and see that the dragon’s glaring at me past his barely open eyelids.

I just keep an eye on him until he’s out of sight. ‘Why do I feel like it’s my fault things just went that badly?’

Once we’re out of the cave, the others crowd around us.

“So, is he goin’ ta leave?” Applejack asks.

“No. He just turned us away. He didn’t even care that his snoring is causing problems.” Twilight says dejectedly.

“Well, how did he respond to Fluttershy? I find it hard to believe that he refused her.” Rarity says.

“N-no. I… didn’t say anything.” Fluttershy says quietly, a bit of shame tingeing her voice.

“Why not?! You said you’d try.” Rainbow asks loudly.

Fluttershy shrinks away. “I-I just, didn’t think it would do any good. T-the dragon he… he wasn’t focusing on Twilight or me. He wasn’t listening. I don’t know if it’s the same with dragons, but he almost acted like some of my animal friends when they’re trying to keep others away from their food.” Fluttershy replies.

I let out a groan. “He was territorial. And he was watching me to make sure I didn’t touch his hoard. *sigh* Dang it. I’m sorry guys. I think I might have just ruined our chances of convincing him to leave just by being here.” I say, putting together why the dragon was so hostile right off the bat.

“Twilight? What should we do now?” Applejack asks.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think he would just not care about our troubles.” Twilight says, face scrunched in thought.

“Well, then. If diplomacy and appealing to his sense of morality won’t work, perhaps charm will.” Rarity says, strutting towards the cave confidently.

I remember this part of the episode well. I stretch my tail in front of her chest, halting her. “No, Rarity. Going in there to compliment him and then offer to watch his jewels right after he’s kicked us out for fear of me taking his jewels, is not a good idea right now.” I tell her.

“Wha-but how did you-I wasn’t going to-.” Rarity protests.

“Trixie agrees with Baelor, that will only make him more angry. Also, yes, you definitely were. You wouldn’t stop yammering on the way up about how the ‘sparkling jewels from a dragon’s hoard are more radiant than any other.’ Trixie would like it very much if you could abstain from bad ideas while the massive dragon is within reach of us.” Trixie adds.

Rarity looks like she’s going to argue, but slumps down with a sigh when she processes our reasoning. “ *hrm* I suppose you’re right. But still. What should we do to try and get him to leave?” Rarity asks.

“I’ll tell you what we can do. We can go in there and make him leave.” Rainbow emphasizes with a hoof-pound.

“Rainbow. No. We are not going to attempt to force him out.” I tell her sternly.

She throws her hooves up. “Then what else can we do?” She yells in frustration.

A moment of silence descends after her question.

“Um… give up?” Fluttershy suggests quietly.

I look at her for a second, before taking a deep breath and answering. “Yeah. I think we might have to.” I say.

Everypony snaps their eyes onto me in shock.

“WHAT?!” They shout.

“No-way!!!” Rainbow Dash refuses.

“But Princess Celestia asked us to handle this. We can’t just let her down.” Twilight protests.

I look Twilight in the eyes. “Twilight, has Celestia ever tasked you to do something like this before?” I ask her.

She looks taken aback. “Well, no. Not exactly, but…” She trails off.

“Do you think she would send you out to do something this dangerous without reason? If she felt you couldn’t handle it?” I say, asking her another question.

“Of course not. She’s taught me that she would never send me out to do something she felt I couldn’t handle.” Twilight declares.

After a moment of thinking. “And why does she send you only on tasks she knows you have the capability to complete, and not ones she knows you can’t fail at, or one’s you can’t succeed in?” I ask.

Twilight frowns. “Because a pony can’t learn if they aren’t challenged, and it would just be cruel to give a test that can’t be solved. Celestia wouldn’t do that.” Twilight answers.

“And that’s what makes her such a wonderful teacher. She wants you to learn and grow through every experience you have.” I say with a smile.

But I walk over and place a clawed hand on her shoulder. “But she also wants you to use your own judgment Twilight. I know for certain that if it was the difference between your lives or success, she would rather us all stay alive. She wants you to know when a situation is no longer safe enough to continue. There’s no harm in admitting defeat here Twilight. We can write Celestia a letter explaining what happened, and I’m sure she’ll understand.” I say to her.

She mulls over my words for a bit, before sighing in defeat. “Okay. You’re right. And Fluttershy’s right when she said the dragon was being territorial. I… don’t think we can keep trying without things getting dangerous.” Twilight admits.

I smile apologetically. “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t think about how he’d react to me, I just thought you would need a lifeline to get you out. Things might have actually worked out if I stayed outside the cave with the others.” I tell her, slightly angry with myself for my oversight.

She smiles. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t think of that possibility either, so it’s both our faults.” She says, forgiving me. She turns to the others. “We’re going home. I’ll *sigh*… write a letter to Princess Celestia when we get back.” She says, slumping down in self-disappointment. I give her a sympathetic pat on the back.

“But Equestria can’t survive under that much smoke, you said so yourself Twilight. We can’t stop now!” Rainbow protests.

We all turn to look at her. “I know Rainbow. But it’s just too dangerous to keep trying here. Celestia will sort this out once we let her know.” Twilight tells her.

“Maybe too dangerous for you guys. But I can handle that dragon, I know it!” She argues.

“Rainbow. It’s not worth it. Don’t risk your life when it’s not necessary.” I advise her.

She rounds on me. “I’m not going to be risking my life because I can handle it.” She says with certainty.

“How can you be certain?” I ask her.

“Because I’m just that awesome.”

“That doesn’t inspire me with nearly as much confidence as you seem to think it does Rainbow.”

“Well, so what? He’s just a big dumb dragon that’s as slow as molasses.”

“You don’t know that! For all you know he could be a genius and have catlike reflexes.”

“Why are you being so difficult?!”

“Because I don’t want you to die Rainbow!”

I can only imagine that the others are watching the two of us argue back and forth like it’s a tennis match. I can’t focus on that though because of the pair of magenta eyes glaring down at me.

“I’m not going to die! I’d literally kick that dragon’s butt out of the cave in ten seconds flat!” She shouts at me.

“And I’m telling you Rainbow. If you go into that cave with the intent to force that dragon out, you’re not going to be coming out!!!” I shout back.

We glare at each other, eyes unblinking, for several tense moments. Then she’s gone, causing me to blink in surprise.

‘Wait, what? Where did she…’ I see a cyan blur disappear into the cave. ‘Oh, no.’ I think with a sinking realization.

“Rainbow!” I shout, jettisoning off the ground, and making a beeline to follow her in. The others realize what happened and start calling her name as well but I’m already in the cave pursuing her.

“HEY!” I hear Rainbow yell, I see the dragon raising his head in annoyance, and I see Rainbow Dash hovering in front of his face.

“RAINBOW DON’T-!” I yell, but I’m too slow.

“GET. OUT!!!” And Rainbow Dash bucks the dragon in the face.

I freeze. The dragon freezes. And Rainbow Dash just hovers in place. The dragon sneezes, then glares down at Rainbow.

“Eh heh heh…” Rainbow Dash laughs nervously. Suddenly feeling a bit afraid.

‘Shit.’ Is all I have time to think.

I fly forward and pull Rainbow back from the dragon’s face, but not fast enough. His roar sends us both tumbling through the air out of the cave. I pull her close and shield her with my wings as we fall and skid on the ground. Once stopped, I uncurl from around her and let her stand back up.

“Get out of here!” I yell at her and the other girls.

“But-“ Rainbow tries to protest.

“GO!” I shout at Rainbow while shooting off at the dragon as he comes out of the cave.

I see him inhaling for a breath attack, but I don’t let him, I fire off a bolt of electricity at him from both my arms, and he convulses from the shock.

‘He’s too big for water whips, the impacts might sting him a lot where I hit him, but they don’t hit a wide enough area to actually be more than small bruises. Ice isn’t a good idea against fire or massive limbs. Earth is out, I can’t let him blast fire at the ground, it might splash out and hit the girls. Fire won’t burn him, but compressing it into explosive blasts might work. Air will slam into him pretty hard too, and might be able to cut him. Lightning is definitely effective. And if it comes down to it, Fear is always a way to debilitate him.’ I process mentally while he’s stunned. He’s coming out of it. Time to act. I launch myself right at him while channeling through my wings for speed.

One thing is for certain about this fight; I can’t afford to go on the defensive. This guy is too big, and his attacks could hurt the others if he starts going wild with the fire. I need to end this quickly.

The red dragon shoots a furious look at me, and opens his maw to attempt to spew fire again, but I fire off another burst of lightning at him, and then slam him in the chest with a massive blast of wind. It sends him skidding back on his hind legs.

I chase after him, and am met with a gaping tooth-filled mouth as he tries to snap me out of the air. I roll to the left, as his jaws slam shut where I would have been, and hit him with another blast of air in the side of the face. His head whips back from the force of the blow… but only just barely more so than Rainbow’s kick managed to do. He growls angrily.

‘What? That barely did anything! Am I still that drained?’ I wonder in surprise. I avoid the dragon’s tail swipe as I fly behind him and unleash another surge of lightning at him. I’m panting from magic fatigue already, and the dragon is only getting more and more annoyed by what I’m hitting him with.

The dragon recovers from getting struck by lightning much faster this time and takes advantage of my moment of distraction. He manages to draw in a deep breath and lets out a massive storm of fire at me from his jaws before I can try to stop him.

I grit my teeth and place both my hands out in front of me in mid-air, licks of flame flowing over my own claws.

The thing about my powers is, I don’t actually control all of the elements I wield completely. Fire still burns me, water still drowns me, and lightning still shocks me. I’m not immune. The only way for me to use them is to infuse them with the energy from my body. So using another being’s elemental attacks means I have to be touching it, or mixing it with my own elemental energy to allow myself to influence them. And in the split seconds of combat, that is incredibly risky and difficult to accomplish.

With how much fire is coming at me, and at my low energy levels right now, I can’t possibly influence all of the fire the dragon is blasting at me. Luckily, I’ve had some practice with redirection over the past thousand years.

When the torrent of fire reaches me, I push back with my own fire. And as the fire rushes over my flames, it allows me to take over the flames that first hit my own fire, and pull it around me in a defensive cone, letting the vast majority of the dragon’s fire wash right past me.

When the fire passes, I rip through my flame curtain and pull it behind me, using it to thrust me forward. The dragon gets ready to intercept me.

Except that I don’t meet it. The fire trailing behind me gets pulled in through my backward-extended arms and into my core. The mass of fire travels up my neck, and I belt out a compressed fire-missile from my jaws.

The explosion blows the dragon back a step, and leaves him dazed from taking the impact in his face. I spark a whip of electricity in my claws.

I take a deep, centering breath, and launch myself at the red dragon again, whip crackling behind me.

And then I dance. Five years of training, and a thousand years of experience cause the lightning to swing, and strike, and thrust repeatedly across the dragon’s scales as I spin it around my body with my wrist. He swings his claws at me, but I evade and continue to strike him in his neck, head, and body with the lightning whip, every flick of my wrist brings the whip cracking into his scales three times each.

But despite this, the dragon is only further aggravated with my attacks. Bee stings only turn lethal when their numbers reach the thousands. I’m barely able to generate a few dozen before the drain of lightning becomes too much and the whip sparks out.

And that’s when the dragon swipes at me with his claw, which I manage to dodge over with a flap of my wings, but his tail lashes out and slams into my stomach and sends me into the side of the mountain.

I cough from the blow, and fall down the wall. My legs take the fall damage, and I slump over onto my side, clutching my stomach in pain. I sense the dragon’s intent and roll, his massive clawed hand crashes down on the spot where I used to be, barely missing me. He rakes his claw over the ground to pursue me, I plant my back legs on the wall and draw in the power of the earth and launch myself skidding across the ground under his hind legs. I manage to roll over and open my wings to take flight again using my momentum on the ground. But the dragon whips his tail up and then down right between my shoulder blades, slapping me into the ground. I bounce and roll until I slam into a large rock.

I groan in pain with my eyes shut, my head throbbing from the impact. Then they fly open to see the dragon’s foot descending on me.

Red energy surges through my blood, bones, and eyes. And my four legs whip upwards in time to catch the foot and pain explodes in my limbs from the sheer force I put into stopping it from slamming down on me, but it was enough. The middle claw is just inches away from my face.

Unfortunately, the dragon decides to try to force it down the rest of the way. I struggle to keep it from crushing me but the claw gets closer and closer to my face even as I tap into the earth to get more power.

‘No.’ I gnash my teeth and snarl. ‘I…’

My core burns inside my chest as it forces out more red fear energy. ‘will not…’

My legs throb from the amount of fear being pushed through them. ‘be CRUSHED!!!’

“RRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” I scream out through clenched teeth.

The foot only lifts a little bit.

Fluttershy huddles with the other mares behind a rock. They didn’t have time to run like Baelor told them to do when the fighting started. But Twilight had managed to place a cloaking spell on all of them so that they could all hide. Fluttershy shivers in terror from the vengeful bellows of the dragons fighting each other.

‘Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodne-‘ Her inner panicking is interrupted from a large crack as something slams into the boulder they’re all hiding behind.

Fluttershy eeps when everypony else around her gasps. They’re all just as terrified as Fluttershy is.

“RRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” A familiar voice peels out in what almost sounds like a dying scream.

‘Baelor!’ Fluttershy jerks up from the pony pile. A thousand thoughts rush through her head at once, most of them horrifying ends to the dragon that’s been nothing but comforting and encouraging to her despite all the times she’s burdened them all. The kind, black and yellow-striped dragon fighting the other larger dragon to keep them all safe. Her friend that’s a dragon.

Her friend that’s losing.

Something sparks and ignites inside Fluttershy, something familiar. An urge to stand in front of her injured friend and keep everything else at bay that dares to try to hurt him further, like the time with Nightmare Moon. However, this urge to protect, to guard, is intermixed with her own terror of what will happen to her as well her friends, and even her terror of what is happening to Baelor right now.

It all mixes together to form a fire within that has Fluttershy leaping out of the pile of her huddled friends and flying straight up to the face of the massive red dragon.

Fluttershy remembers the words that Baelor told her before they all went into the dragon’s cave. ‘Fluttershy, bravery isn’t determined by not being afraid of something. It’s about being afraid, and doing what needs to be done anyway despite your fear. Out of all of us, I think you’re the bravest one here.’

Fluttershy is afraid, but she’s also brave. This fire is what bravery feels like.

“LIFT YOUR FOOT AND GET OFF OF MY FRIEND RIGHT. THIS. INSTANT!!!” Fluttershy orders out at the shocked dragon, the intensity of her command causing him to do just that, stepping back in surprise from the canary yellow pegasus suddenly right up in his face.

“SIT DOWN!” The dragon sits on his haunches. Fluttershy lands on the dragon’s snout and walks right up to stare into his eyes. “I don’t know why you think that this kind of behavior is okay, and I don’t care. This kind of behavior is unacceptable. Do you hear me?! UNACCEPTABLE! We do not snore smoke where it can cause problems for others. We do not ignore their pleas for you to stop. And we DO NOT TRY TO CRUSH MY FRIENDS!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Fluttershy asks, tearing into the dragon with her words. She sees him flinch at every one of her points.

“But… the rainbow one kicked me.” The dragon timidly points out.

“And I’m very sorry about that. But you’re far bigger than her and you should know better.” Fluttershy admits, her tone softening a bit.

The dragon seems emboldened by this softening of her tone and seems to sit up straighter. “And that little whelp did a lot more than kick me. His shocks hurt.” He growls.

“HOW DARE YOU!!!” Fluttershy snaps, the dragon flinches, just as submissive as before. “Baelor has done nothing that requires your forgiveness or apology! If anything, you owe him an apology for how you treated him when all he was doing was making sure me and Twilight were safe. And don’t even get me started on what you did after Rainbow Dash kicked you. His shocks ‘hurt’ you? YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM!!!” Fluttershy almost roars at the end.

A tense silence follows for a few moments. “Apologize.” Fluttershy orders.

“B-but-.”

“Now.” Fluttershy adds, intensifying her stare.

The dragon whimpers and turns his head downward and leans down to Baelor. Fluttershy takes flight to avoid sliding off

Baelor is splayed out on his back, catching his breath in the same spot where the dragon was trying to crush him before. And apart from looking utterly exhausted, he looks no worse for wear.

“S-sorry.” The red dragon rumbles out hesitantly to Bael.

Bael shakily raises an arm and gives a thumbs up, still catching his breath and unable to respond with words.

The dragon looks to Fluttershy questioningly, and Fluttershy nods. That apology was acceptable.

“Good. Now go pack your things. It’s time for you to find a new place to take your nap.” Fluttershy tells the red dragon.

“Yes mam.” The dragon says quickly before darting back into his cave to gather his hoard. Fluttershy watches the cave for a moment before floating down to Baelor.

“Baelor. Are you alright?” Fluttershy asks him in concern.

The yellow-striped dragon lets out a weak, rasping laugh. “Heh… heh… I *huff* told you *huff* you were… brave.” He gets out with a smile, his eyes still closed.

“Oh… um. Yes, you did.” Fluttershy replies, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“Fluttershy, that was simply amazing!”

“Three cheers for Fluttershy!”

“You were so awesome!”

Fluttershy’s suddenly surrounded by her friends, all of them congratulating her. Fluttershy’s mind goes blank, a little overwhelmed. Was it really that great to them?

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Applejack and Twilight helping Baelor shakily stand back up. All three of them flash her proud grins. Fluttershy walks over to them.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” She asks him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Little bruising to my body and my ego but I feel fi-*blegh*” Blood pours out of his mouth.

The great red dragon, named Smoug XXIII, hastily scoops his gold and jewels into his carrying sack, attempting to gather his hoard quickly so as to not incur the wrath of the yellow pegasus pony again.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Smoug jerks his head up at the scream. ‘What the- did she go and murder one of the other ponies? That would certainly get the rest to scream like that.’

“WE NEED TO GET HIM TO A HOSPITAL!”

“DON’T WORRY D-DEAR, E-EVERYTHING’S GOING TO BE FINE!!!”

“DON’T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT BAEL!!!!!”

“TWILIGHT! CAN’T YOU TELEPORT US BACK OR SOMETHIN’?!”

“I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THAT WILL AFFECT HIM! I’LL HAVE TO CARRY HIM IN MY MAGIC! COME ON!”

“SPARKLE! QUIT SPINNING HIM AROUND LIKE THAT! OH FOR CELESTIA’S- GIVE HIM TO ME, YOU CAN’T HOLD HIM STILL.”

Smoug sticks his head out of his cave and sees the ponies galloping very quickly back down the mountain the same way they likely came up.

‘…Ponies are so strange.’ Smoug concludes in his mind.

Smoug heads back into his cave to continue storing his hoard, but at a slightly more sedate pace now that the crazy yellow pegasus is gone. He’s not going to take his chances that she won’t come back though.

Suddenly, a fierce burning sensation sparks in his forearm. He hisses and turns his gaze down to see what could possibly cause that much pain, and his eyes widen in shock.

A blackend, charred line goes maybe a fifth of the way along his forearm, the scales shattered and the burned flesh exposed and going fairly deep, but not quite all the way through the arm.

‘What?’ Smoug looks at the wound and notices that it’s not the only place with shattered scales on his body. There are jagged lines and cross-sections of scales missing or just damaged to the point where they can’t protect the muscle tissue underneath. And every single broken scale has one thing in common.

They were shattered from extreme heat exposure.

Smoug knows this because he’s had scales on his arm shatter before. From getting blasted by a little too much fire from another dragon he fought in the past. But that was only three to five scales that shattered from a solid five minutes of dragon fire hitting them. This is easily hundreds of scales that are shattered on his arm alone, let alone all along his torso and other arm.

‘How did…When did I-.' And then it hits him.

The dragon whelp.

Strikes of pain all over his body.

Lightning hitting him everywhere.

Smoug sits there staring at his only wound from the fight with the other, smaller dragon, for several hours, unmoving. Simply contemplating how the wound only occurred because two lightning strikes hit him in the same place.

And about how many streaks of cracked scales go across his heart and throat.

Author's Notes:

OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY DONE!!!!

"Oh, hey you're back. What's it been, like three weeks?"

Ugh, try somewhere more around six to eight.

"Huh, so it is."

...Why are you so chipper today?

"Oh no reason, it's just that I found out that Sombra's ice sculpture/prison only melts while we do these AN sections. So he's *snort* he's been trapped inside that ice block I encased him in since last chapter. Most peaceful month of my entire life."

Well that's good... where are Pinkie and Ictus?

"Oh I'm sure they're... around... why?"

Because you said 'most peaceful month of your life'. And we both know that Sombra isn't the one person that annoys you.

"...Alright fine... they're in cryo-sleep."

*sigh* Okay, so you were pretty much alone for a month and you completely enjoyed it. Ha ha, you had your laugh, you had your vacation, now it's time to let them out.

"Oh fiiiiiiiine, be like that... but you know... there really wouldn't be much point in it, since the AN section is almost over anyways-."

AEVUM!!!!

"Okay okay! Jeez. *snap* There, they're out."

*GASP*

"Uuuuuggggghhhhh."

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

When I said "let them out" I meant just Pinkie and Ictus. By all means, keep Sombra on ice some more.

"Oh thank God."

"DON'T YOU BUCKING DA-" *shink*

Well, anyways, sorry about the stupidly long wait for this chapter guys... as well as the significant difference in chapter length for the two parts of "Dragonshy". This just kind of spiraled out of control and I couldn't think to part with anything in this chapter. On the bright side, you've got more to read now. So... see you next chapter, I guess?