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Prickle Berry Tries to Be Careful

by David Silver

Chapter 41: 41 - The Rush

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Scootaloo glanced aside at Apple Bloom. "So, heading home?"

"Nope," replied Apple Bloom with a wry smile. "You?"

"Nah." Scootaloo ducked behind a building with her friend beside her. "As if we'd miss this!"


Prickle took a slow breath. Sure, there was a flight of dragons coming. Sure, they'd be the toughest, meanest, most organized group she ever faced. Sure, she might get clawed to shreds, chewed up, or set on fire, maybe all three.

Sure! Sure sure sure.

"You alright?" Immovable was watching Prickle with some concern. "You look stressed."

"I'm fine!" squeaked out Prickle in a high-pitched squeak that assured no one. She swallowed the panic and took another slow breath. "I'm fine," she said, control returning. "We have to stop them."

"Stopping things is my specialty," assured Immovable, spreading her wings wide. "Let's see 'em try to get past me!" One of her wings lowered. "Want a lift?"

Prickle took the offer, clambering up on Immovable and sitting up on her back, like a knight to their valiant steed. "Let's get to them before they get in the town."

"Right, don't want any houses getting torched." Immovable took to the skies, wings easily lifting them towards the dragons in the distance. "So, hey, do you think my toughness works on fire?"

"We never tried," confessed Prickle. "Did you ever get burned before?"

"Not that I remember." Immovable shrugged softly as she went, hooves dangling beneath her. "Hope that means I'm cool."

"I know I don't want to be set on fire," assured Prickle nervously.

"If they breathe fire at you, punch it."

Prickle's face fell. "You're kidding."

"Nope." Immovable giggled softly. "It's your thing, use it. Just kick. You're the irresistible force."

Prickle shook her head a little, clearly uncertain of how that would turn out. Her attention came to the dragons and the more immediate needs. There were six of them. Alright, it could have been worse. One of them was significantly larger than the others. The boss? "Let's try to talk to that one." She pointed the way.

Immovable banked in a wide arc, coming towards the great beast. He was a dragon's dragon. He had red scales, an orange underbelly and lighter red fins along the back of his neck. He was large enough to snap up a pony and swallow them without chewing, though that might have posed a choking hazard. That was little comfort.

She came to a stop right in front of him, freezing in mid-air.

The dragon came to a halt with an irritated snort. "Is this little pony one of them?"

"Nah," reported a much smaller dragon of similar color, though he had orange fins. "Never saw this one before. Whatever, let's just eat, hey wait, is that one pony or two?"

Prickle thrust a hoof out at them. "Stop right there!"

Immovable spread her wings as wide as they could go, somehow floating without flapping. "That's my line. Oh oh! You shall not pass! That's a good one, I think."

The larger dragon raised a leathery brow at them. "I plan to make a very particular dragon pay for what he did to my son." He flapped his wings, wind rushing around the two ponies as he took flight over them.

"My one weakness!" cried out Immovable.

Prickle scrambled up and launched off the stable platform that Immovable provided. She soared through the air, one hoof extended, and crashed into the large dragon's side. The dragon let out a smokey groaning wheeze as air was forced from its lungs and both started to crash to the ground together.

"Hey, Garble, what do we do?" asked one of the other smaller dragons.

Garble slapped his claws together, eyeing Immovable menacingly. "Dad can take care of that other one, let's teach this little pony what happens when ponies mess with dragons."

"See if you can," taunted Immovable. "No one can move me." Under her breath she added, "Except Tiny Titan."

"Move you?" Who said anything about that." He flexed his claws. "C'mon, guys, let's show her what dragons are made of."


They were falling, fast. Prickle's hooves scrambled against the dragon as she raced to get on top of it and use it as a cushion as best she could. That's when she remembered she could bounce. She glanced down around the dragon as she ground hurried at them and made a tremendous bounce, propelling the dragon down a little faster as she soa--

The dragon caught her in a sudden motion of its claws, snatching her from the air as its wings unfurled enough to slow its descent. "The last time a pony dared hit me, I was talked out of doing anything about it. This time..."

Prickle shrieked in horror before she got a hold of herself. She didn't want to be chomped by a dragon. She threw her limbs wide, forcing the dragon's grip loose enough for her to fall free, and her with it. She was in free flight, with nothing to push off of. Still, better than being devoured by an angry dragon, or so she reasoned with herself as gravity pulled her towards a painful end.

She could remember Immovable's words shortly before, 'Just punch it.' Would that work? Could she kick the air? It was something to try. She lashed out her hind legs as powerfully as she could, air sent in a shock wave ahead of her and a momentarily deafening crack like thunder. She slowed, just a little.

Frantically hopeful, she lashed out, battering the air as swiftly and strongly as she could. Far away, ponies looked up, expecting to see a thunderstorm incoming out of schedule, but they could see no clouds go with the violent thunder that rolled over them.

The dragon suddenly grabbed her. She had slowed enough for him to catch up with her. "You're loud," he said, frowning in obvious displeasure. "Hopefully you make a better snack than a wind chime."


Garble and his friends moved in on Immovable. He grabbed a wing and tugged as if to pull it free, but Immovable just laughed. "Are you tickling me? You're not even a tenth as strong as Tiny Titan, now she knows how to move."

A heavyset dragon twirled in the air, bashing her with his mace-like tail, but it just slid along her clothes with no apparent harm. Immovable couldn't help but keep laughing. "Is that the best you can do? Some dragons you are! I guess this little pony is going to get to say a whole set of dragons just wasn't a match for her."

Garble went red, well, redder. "That's it!" He lunged for Immovable, and she didn't move. He grabbed one of her wings in his powerful jaws, but he couldn't move them, even enough to get his teeth past the feathers. The best he could do was move a few feathers around a few degrees.

The thinner, purple, dragon scratched at his mane, which was odd for a dragon to have. "I don't think it's working."

Immovable was having the time of her life, laughing and jeering at Garble's attempts to harm her.

Garble floated away a few inches. "Alright, fine. If we can't tear you apart, how about we just cook you? On the count of three!" All the dragons drew in a breath at once.

Immovable laughing came to an awkward end.


Prickle gave an awkward smile at the big dragon. "Maybe we can talk about this?"

"Maybe we shouldn't hit people we want to talk to." He landed lightly and gave Prickle a shake in his hand. "You ponies are so rude. A pity you are also delicious."

Prickle's head swayed, dizzy from the rattling. "We... can't let you attack the town. They're trusting us to defend it."

He leaned in, massive eye close to Prickle. "You are the pony's guardians? Laughable." Smoke trailed from his snout as a soft chuckle shook his chest.

"We are! And we won't let you."

"As if you have a choice. He suddenly lifted her up as his mouth opened wide. With a casual toss, he dropped her onto his tongue and snapped his mouth shut.

Everything was dark and wet. His tongue was trying to nudge her towards the back of his throat. She was going to be eaten! With a shriek of dismay, she grabbed the tongue tightly. It writhed and squirmed, trying to dislodge her or grind her against his deadly teeth.

Prickle lashed out a hoof and shattered the tooth. Suddenly she was free, spat out by the dragon in a fit of pain. He roared and thrashed, clawhands at his injured mouth. She got to her hooves, wobbling. "Now we're even."

"Even?!" He raised one of his massive hind claws and made to stomp Prickle where she stood. "I'll show you even!"

Prickle sat and thrust up her forehooves to catch the titanic claw. Her muscles strained a little, but she was holding up the dragon. She gave a powerful heft and the entire dragon listed to the side, crashing to the ground with a great rumble, dirt flying as it dug a new furrow from the impact.


Scootaloo let out a wild cheer, peering through her half of the binoculars. Apple Bloom had her cheek pressed up to hers, peering through the other half of the lone pair they had to share. They turned their view skywards.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" asked Apple Bloom. "Ah reckon even she don't like being cooked none."

"I hope so, but we'll find out in a moment." Both fillies pressed in tight to get a good view through their shared viewing tool as the battle unfolded.


Immovable was moving. She had broken her stalwart stance and was frantically soaring out of the reach of the tongues of flames that licked at her scorched tail. "Stop it! Stop it!" she cried as she darted and bobbed, silently grateful for the lessons that forced her to move instead of relying on sitting still for the extent of her portfolio. "Stop!"

It was Garble's turn to laugh, leading the chase with his friends. "She ain't so tough now, is she? Light her up, boys!"

She reached into her cowl as she flew desperately in erratic patterns. She pulled out the one weakness she had, besides being moved around. That was just plain rude, really. She got out the can of irritant, a little picture of a cloud touching an eye that was crying painted on it. "Last warning!"

"Or what?" demanded Garble as he flew in close, ready to torch Immovable.

"Or this!" She spun around in the air and squeezed the bottle between her forehooves, activating it and sending out an angry hiss of chemicals at Garble.

Garble exhaled. His flames met the incoming stream and ignited it instantly. The trajectory of the stuff wasn't much changed, becoming more of a cloud and less of a stream. Garble fell into a coughing fit as it got into his mouth and eyes, nose running and pain exploding. His flames dying out almost instantly in favor of coughing and writhing in the air.

Immovable's victory was short-lived indeed. She could see the fire was still coming at her, traveling along the chemical spray. She panicked and hurled the canister away.

The other dragons barely knew what happened before it exploded brilliantly among them, spreading the noxious fumes. The entire flight began to cough, wheeze and cry under the chemical attack.

Author's Notes:

The fight is on! Both heroes are holding their own in different ways.

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Next Chapter: 42 - End Episode 10 - Draconic Pride Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 30 Minutes
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