Ever since the ursa minor incident last week, Ponyville went back to normal fairly quickly. Twilight grew far more comfortable showcasing her magical prowess to her friends and the town of Ponyville at large. As such, Twilight began to socialize more with the townsponies. One pony who wasn't socializing more was Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was an animal caretaker first and foremost, so her typical day revolved around her providing nourishment to the critters around her cottage. She gave each creature the appropriate treat with the appropriate proportions, given with the appropriate amount of care and affection. The next animal for her to feed has her very own pet, a small white bunny named Angel. Fluttershy brought him a ripe carrot for him to snack on. The little bunny eagerly grabbed hold of his treat and proceeded to stuff his face rather quickly, something Fluttershy wasn't too keen on.
"Not too fast now, Angel Bunny. You don't wanna get a tummy ache," Hearing Fluttershy's words, Angel ceased eating and casted her an annoyed expression. In a fit of spiteful grumpiness, the little bunny expressed to her 'I'm done.' Fluttershy, surprised by Angel's actions, tried to take the diplomatic approach, "You really should eat more than that, don't you think?" The grumpy bunny refused to listen to his care taker, opting to hop out of his little shed and run off. Fluttershy, picking up the carrot with her mouth, immediately flew after him, hoping to get him to finish his treat.
"Angel, wait. It's not play time yet," Fluttershy landed in front of Angel, who stopped his hopping and turned his back to the yellow mare, "I know you want to run, but... just three more bites," Fluttershy placed the half-eaten carrot in front of Angel, but he was being stingy, "Two more bites?" She nudged it forward, "One more bite? Pretty please?" Infuriated, Angel forcefully kicked the carrot away and hopped away, leaving Fluttershy lost with what to do, "Oh Goodness," Her attention was diverted when she heard a gasp of fright from Angel, who looked up at the sky in worry.
"Are you okay?," Angel coughed, trying to garner Fluttershy's attention towards something, to minimal success, "Are you coughing because there's a carrot stuck in your throat?" Angel Bunny coughed in an even more exaggerated manner, "Because you need some water?" Angel was getting increasingly more frustrated so he coughed very loudly while pointing up at the sky. She did so, letting out a gasp at what she saw, a large plum of black smoke. She pivoted her head to see that the smoke reached up to Ponyville, and it was growing quickly.
"Because of that giant cloud of scary black smoke?" Fluttershy felt a carrot hit the back of her head. She turned around to find Angel, crossing his arms and glaring at Fluttershy, "'I'll take that as a... yes."
—
Fluttershy knew she needed to rush into town and warn ponies, so she gently flew to the nearby park and tried to get other ponies' attention.
"Excuse me," She attempted to get the attention of two ponies walking down the path, but they paid Fluttershy no mind. These ponies were so ignorant to the black doom above them, going about their lives without a care in the world. A few meters away, Fluttershy saw Sora in front of an audience of foals. He had his keyblade in hoof as he relayed to his audience a story. Of course, Sora was strong and brave, he could probably do something about the smoke.
"That was when Nightmare Moon summoned a bunch of dark monsters into Town Hall," Sora dramatized. The foals listened intently to his words with broad smiles on their faces. Fluttershy carefully approached Sora.
"Hello... Sora," She mumbled, unsure how to address him. It felt wrong to interrupt him, but at the same time he was oblivious to the encroaching smoke. Fluttershy tried to take it upon herself to warn him.
"There had to have been more than two dozen of them," Sora continued to relay his tale to the eager children, "I knew I had to do something, so I summoned my keyblade and went to work!" He performed a loose re-enactment of his fight inside Town Hall, slashing his keyblade to simulate that he was fighting the Heartless.
"Th-there's a big plum of smoke and—and where there's smoke, there's a fire..." Fluttershy meekly tried to grab Sora's attention, but he failed to notice, or hear, her. The foals, payed Fluttershy no mind, they were too busy focusing their attention on Sora.
"It was something like that," Sora said once he finished his display.
"Wow!" Chimed a filly, "You're super cool!" Sora bashfully rubbed the back of his head in appreciation.
"Sora, please listen," Fluttershy begged, quietly, "This is an emergency," Fluttershy could almost feel her throat swell up. Why wouldn't Sora talk to her. Why couldn't she get Sora to talk to her?
"Everypony listen up!" Somepony commanded. Everypony stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Twilight, who stood on the bridge that crossed over the park's river, "This is a state of emergency. Smoke is covering all of Equestria!"
"What?!" Sora took a look up at the sky, finding the smoke pluming up above, "That's not good," The ponies of the park all shuddered in fear, wondering what this meant. The foals who were listening to Sora's story huddled around the caramel pegasus, hoping that he could protect them.
"That's what I've been trying to say," Fluttershy weakly pointed out, not that anyone heard her.
"Don't worry," Twilight resumed her announcement, "I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that the source of the smoke is not a fire."
Fluttershy felt her heart ease up after hearing this news, "Oh, thank goodness."
"It's coming from a dragon!" Twilight announced, and Fluttershy's heart nearly leapt out of her chest.
"D-d-d—Dragon!" She screeched, loud enough for Sora to hear.
"Oh. Hey Fluttershy," Sora greeted, "How long were you standing there?"
—
"What's a dragon doing all the way over here?" Asked Sora. He and the Element bearers were having a meeting in the library to discuss what should be done about the dragon. Well, Fluttershy was off in the corner, trying not to be noticed.
"He's sleeping," Twilight gave her answer, to which the other ponies all gaped in disbelief, "Yes, I'm serious... He's taking a nap high up in the mountains. According to Princess Celestia, his snoring is what's causing all this smoke."
"Wow, he should get that checked out," Pinkie commented.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Sora questioned.
"We're gonna go up to that dragon and kick it's butt!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, punching and kicking the air in excitement.
"We're going to encourage him to sleep somewhere else," Twilight stressed, glaring at Rainbow, "Princess Celestia has given us this mission. If we fail, smoke will cover Equestria for the next hundred years!"
"That's not good," Sora said. Fluttershy in particular was shaking like a leaf in the blistering wind.
"This is going to be a long journey," Twilight addressed her friends, "Quickly pack whatever provisions you need and meet at the base of the mountain in less than an hour!"
"Right!" Sora affirmed, "We're more than up to the task!" The mares, sans Fluttershy, all nodded their heads in affirmation, "Let's do this!"
"Um... actually," Fluttershy muttered, but the others had already dispersed by the time she opened her lips. She was left alone in the room as the others prepared for the journey. With no one to talk to, Fluttershy left the library to prepare. Although, prepare is really a strong word in this case.
The seven ponies all reconvened outside the library. The seven ponies wore their saddlebags, filled with whatever provisions that would be necessary, meaning that Pinkie Pie's bags were filled with party supplies. In the distance was the mountain that the dragon had taken up residence. Enveloping the snow-peaked top was a ring of smoke that was releasing plums in random directions. There was a long climb ahead.
"Sure looks mighty cold up there," Mussed Applejack, taking note of the snow on the mountain's peak.
"Luckily for me, I came prepared," Rarity spoke, pulling out a pink stripped scarf from her saddlebags, wrapping the cute piece of clothing around her neck.
"Ohhh, pretty!" Pinkie Pie complimented, but Applejack was far less impressed.
"Sure, that'll keep ya warm," Applejack droned sarcastically, noting how little coverage it provided to Rarity's body.
"Alright," Twilight announced, "We need to keep a steady pace if we want to reach the top of the mountain in no time at all."
"We have to climb up that enormous mountain?" Sora complained.
"We need to if we're going to convince the dragon to sleep elsewhere," Twilight reiterated, unfurling a map that detailed the mountain's layout. Sora was feeling a severe case of deja-vu, and that feeling was not distilling much confidence in this idea. Fluttershy also did not have much confidence, not in the plan but in herself. With her nerves threatening to make her collapse, the yellow pegasus approached Twilight.
"Um, excuse me, Twilight? I know you're busy, but..." She practically whispered.
Twilight couldn't hear Fluttershy, the purple unicorn looked at her map to plan the fastest and safest route, "Uh-huh. Well, we could go this way."
"But if I could just have a second..." Fluttershy insisted, meekly and quietly.
"Uh-huh. No, we want to avoid that," Twilight clearly was unaware that Fluttershy was speaking to her. Regardless, the pegasus continued to speak, in a way.
"So, um, I was thinking that, um, maybe I should just stay here in Ponyville," Fluttershy held on to hope that Twilight would allow this, but the former's tone of voice was not helping much.
"Uh-huh," Twilight absentmindedly said, not understanding what the yellow mare was asking.
"Oh! Good," Fluttershy expressed her relief at an optimal hearing level, "I'll stay here and—" Twilight pulled herself away from her map.
"Wait! You have to come!" Twilight magically grabbed hold of Fluttershy's hooves to keep the shy mare in place, much to her displeasure, "Your way with wild animals will surely come in handy."
Fluttershy winced. Stuttering, she tried to come up with an excuse, "B-but I... I can't go. Who will feed my animals?"
"Oh, don't worry about your little animal friends," Twilight assured, deflating Fluttershy's spirits, "Spike's looking after them," The yellow mare slumped, there went that excuse to stay behind. She did not believe she should be partaking in this journey, but she simply could not formulate the words. Twilight trotted forward, leaving Fluttershy to her worries.
With her plan of ascent thought out, Twilight pocketed the map in her saddlebags. As she did that, a certain rainbow pony approached Twilight.
"Hey, Twilight," Rainbow Dash whispered in Twilight's ear, "Do you really think it's a good idea to bring Fluttershy along?"
"I know it might seem strange," Twilight responded, "But I have full confidence that Fluttershy's skills will be invaluable."
"Twilight... Fluttershy is afraid of her own shadow," Twilight turned her attention to Fluttershy. As if fate was on Rainbow's side, the yellow mare shrieked in fright and hid in a bush when she casted a glance at her shadow.
"Alright, everypony, let's move out!" With Twilight's order, six ponies trotted forward towards the source of their current problem. Fluttershy emerged from her bush and stayed in place. The others already made a decent headway while the yellow mare was rooted to the ground.
"Should I just stay here..?" She trailed off. It would be easy, maybe the others would not notice she was missing.
"Hey, Fluttershy, you coming?" Spoke Sora, causing her to flip in the air in fright and fall on her back, "Oh, sorry about that," He sheepishly apologized. When he was galloping with the group, Sora noticed that Fluttershy was not running with them, so he went back to check on her.
"S-s-sora," Fluttershy stammered, rolling onto her hooves.
"What are you doing staying here, Fluttershy?" Sora said, giving her an encouraging smile, "We have a job to do," Fluttershy knew that, it was just a job that made her nerves get the better of her.
"I know, i-it's just..." She stood up straight as she stammered up an excuse.
"No excuses," Sora said, not in a stern or annoyed sense but in a spirited and friendly sense, "Let's go!" He grabbed hold of her hoof and pulled her to the rest of the group. Fluttershy could only silently protest as her other three hooves scrapped against the dirt.
—
Thus the seven ponies begun their journey. It took very little time before they reached the base of the mountain. Up ahead was a steep and rocky incline dotted with dead trees in front of the group. This was their first step in ascending the mountain was to climb up this incline to more stable ground. A loud and deep roar reverberated across the area, freezing the ponies in their tracks. Fluttershy, being the extra jumpy one, hid behind Sora.
"What was that?" Rainbow asked out of curiosity (not out of fear).
"That was the sound of a dragon snoring," Twilight concluded, gazing up at the peak high above.
"I-it's so high up..." Fluttershy noted. Sora turned to the yellow mare hiding behind him.
"Yeah, mountains are usually pretty tall," He said teasingly.
With that, the ponies began to climb the steep incline, with the pegasi flying above. Along the way, Rarity decided to spark a conversation.
"You know, I hear the only thing that sparkles more gorgeously than a dragon's scales are the jewels they hoard to build their nests," She brought up, then suddenly she became excited, "Ooo, maybe I can convince him to part with a few!"
"You really think ya can convince a dragon to give ya jewelry," Applejack deadpanned. Then next to Rarity appeared Pinkie Pie, who carried an intimidating expression that only served to make her look more goofy.
"Welcome to my cave, Rarity, care for a diamond?" Pinkie spoke in an exaggerated deep and scratchy voice. The utter ridiculousness of Pinkie's imitation brought forward a wave of laughter from her friends.
"This is no laughing matter!" Twilight barged in the conversation, wanting everypony to stay on track, "Fluttershy, you're the expert on wild creatures. What do you think the dragon will be like?" The purple unicorn expected an answer, but she was met with silence, "Fluttershy?" Twilight looked over her group, yet the presence of Fluttershy was non-existent. She stopped her advancement up the incline, as did everypony else, to look for the animal caretaker. Turns out she was still at the bottom of the incline. She had not climbed, or flew, an inch.
"Hey!" Sora called out to Fluttershy, startling her a little bit, "You coming or not?" She looked to the ground and fiddled with her hooves.
"Maybe she's waiting for an invitation!" Pinkie Pie suggested, earning her a number of looks from the others, "Good thing I packed an invitation in my bags!" Pinkie opened up her saddlebags, bringing forth an explosion of confetti and a loud bang sound.
"Ya know, Fluttershy, you have wings..." Rainbow Dash pointed out.
"Come on Fluttershy!" Pinkie shouted in encouragement, "Flap them wings, girl!"
Knowing that she really had no excuse not to, Fluttershy flapped her wings and slowly hovered up to the group. As she flew up, Sora noticed something odd. One of the rotted trees plastered on the incline had something strange hanging on it's branches. They looked like bats, but why would bats be out here? Sora received a shock when one of the creatures unfurled it's wings, revealing it's glowing yellow eyes.
"Heartless!" Sora yelled. Just hearing Sora say that word out loud was enough to make her wings stiffly fold back, sending her tumbling down the incline. Summoning his keyblade, Sora darted towards the bat-like heartless, slashing one into black mist.
There were more of these bat heartless scattered around the trees, and they began to swarm the group. Rainbow Dash wasted no time springing into action, kicking away any heartless that came near her. The ground based ponies, through sheer shock at seeing the Heartless, slid down the incline back to their starting position. The bat heartless continued to swarm around the fighting pegasi, but Sora and Rainbow Dash would easily dodge their attacks.
Back at the bottom of the mountain, a new type of Heartless appeared to greet the ponies. It's build was round, with stubby legs and thin bat wings. It's jagged mouth separated it's head from the rest of it's body. It's head had the same glowing yellow eyes, as well as bright orange tendrils that appeared to resemble flames. The heartless bobbed and bounced around the field as the mares reacquainted their balance.
Applejack immediately charged forward and delivered a swift apple buck to the heartless, sending it tumbling away. The monster managed to recover fairly quickly. In retaliation, the creature launched a fireball directly at Applejack, who would've experienced third degree burns had Twilight not created a magical shield around the farm mare.
Sora and Rainbow Dash, after dispatching the small fry, went after the bigger threat. The mare kicked the heartless to the Stallion, who swiped it into the ground. After it shook off it's injuries, the monster shook in rage, enveloping itself in flames.
"Look out!" Sora warned. The heartless flew around the battlefield like an out of control missile, launching fireballs any which way. The mares scattered away to avoid the salvo of flames. Rainbow Dash was unlucky enough to have her tail catch on fire. The cyan mare panicked and landed on the ground, using her hooves to stamp out the flame. She was successful in doing so, leaving the tip of her tail scorched and singed. The heartless continued to blitz through the air, contorted in a hazy inferno, until Sora cut it's rampage short with a well aimed blizzard spell, stopping it in it's tracks. Gravity forced the heartless to fall down, but a downwards slash from Sora's keyblade ended the monster's existence. After all was said and done, Sora surveyed the field, finding no other stragglers.
"I think that's the last of them," Sora said, not seeing any more Heartless in the general vicinity.
"What were they doing here?!" Twilight shouted hysterically, "We haven't seen them since the Nightmare Moon incident weeks ago!" It did seem strange that the Heartless would reappear at this point in time. What was the cause?
"If the Heartless are here, it can't be good news," Sora stated with complete and utter certainty. He spoke as if he knew what he said was fact. Twilight considered the possibilities, but only one thing was coming to mind.
"Wait a minute," Twilight said, "Do you think the Heartless are here because of the smoke?" It was a strange theory, but the idea was enough to send over a wave of worry, "And if they're attracted to the smoke, that would lead them to the dragon."
"That would mean, the Heartless would try to turn the dragon into one of them!" Sora finished, horrified of the implications.
"This is even worse than I realized," Twilight said, an engrossing fear gripping her very being. Normal Heartless were already a threat, a dragon Heartless would spell utter disaster, "We have to get to the top of the mountain before it's too late!"
"Uh, Twilight," Applejack caught the unicorn's attention, "We got a bit of a problem," The farm mare pointed down to a shaking mare curled up into ball and was rocking back and forth, Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy?" Twilight spoke, but the yellow mare didn't respond, she just stared off into space, "Oh dear..."
"Told you she was going to slow us down," Rainbow whispered to Twilight, who glared at Rainbow Dash for that comment. Sora looked at this scene and shrugged
"It's fine. I'll just carry her until she feels better," Sora said nonchalantly. The mares all gaped at Sora when he made his announcement. Even Fluttershy blinked profusely hearing Sora say that, "What? I'm only being nice," With that, Sora flew up to Fluttershy and picked up the curled up mare in his fore-hooves. She stopped shaking but now she was blushing a bright red crimson.
Rarity giggled after seeing Sora perform such an action, "And they say that chivalry is dead."
—
The path up the mountain was a long and arduous one. Fluttershy eventually calmed down enough to walk on her own again, but her blush still lingered for quite a while. There were a few Heartless encounters but the ponies were able to dispatch the monsters with relative ease. Later on, the group found themselves facing a steep gap in their decided path. It took some convincing, but Fluttershy did jump the gap like the others had. It was like Pinkie said, just a simple hop, skip and a jump—over a two foot gap. After that little escapade, the seven ponies found themselves perpendicular with a jagged cliff.
"Let's keep quiet here," Twilight warned in hushed whispers as she glanced at her map, "According to this map, this area is an avalanche zone. The tiniest peep could cause a rock slide, so keep it quiet."
Twilight's friends took her warning to heart, nodding their heads in understanding rather than speaking their acknowledgment. With that, the seven friends carefully The mere mention of the word avalanche brought a shiver to Fluttershy's spine—and every other part of her body. She grew highly conscious of whatever could start an avalanche.
Fluttershy, taking up the rear, felt as though something was close by. She darted her eyes back and forth to discern what she was sensing. She saw it, a faint splotch of black on the ground, and this splotch was moving. Fluttershy stopped trotting as the thing emerged from it's cover, a single solitary Shadow. With the threat of an ambush, Fluttershy did the only thing she thought she could do, scream.
"HEARTLEEEEEEEESS!"
The others all stopped in their tracks, their fur standing on end in surprise hearing Fluttershy's screech. The atmosphere around the area grew more tense, even the Shadow stood still in anticipation. Then it happened. The ground beneath them rumbled, indicating that something was heading their way. Something was indeed heading their way, and it was coming from up above.
"Avalanche!" Twilight yelled, "Run!" By the time the ponies started running, numerous boulders began impacting on the floor around them. One boulder landed upon the hapless Shadow, crushing it. The seven ponies desperately attempted to flee the scene, dodging and weaving any boulders that might crush them. The more boulder that impacted the ground, the more dust was thrown into the air, impairing the groups vision. As she ran, Twilight only looked directly in front of her. Doing this, she failed to notice, the massive boulder looming over her. She only noticed until the shadow of the massive rock was directly above her. Twilight glanced above her, where her eyes nearly bulged out her head in horror. It was too late for her to dodge out of the way. Thankfully for Twilight, Sora dashed to her side to push her out of the boulder's radius of impact. Once the boulder landed, the area was consumed with a massive cloud of dust, knocking over the ponies. After the worst of the rockslide passed, the group remained where they were, experiencing high coughing fits. The dust settled at long last. Thankfully, everypony managed to make it out unscathed. But now there was a large mound of dirt and rocks in front of their path.
"Is everyone okay?" Sora asked his friends. The mares lethargically reacquainted themselves, their coats and manes covered in dust.
"I'm fine," Twilight stood up and dusted herself off, then she gave Sora a grateful smile, "Thanks to you," That was another one she owed him.
"Ugh, this is a disaster?" Rarity dramatized, her fabulous scarf was caked in dust, "Luckily for me, I brought a spare," Rarity discarded her ruined scarf and replaced it with an identical one from her saddlebags, "Oh, did I bring the tiara that matches?"
"Don't we have more important things to worry about?" Applejack sarcastically questioned.
"I'm sorry everpony," Spoke Fluttershy, who was laying on the ground in a slump.
"Don't worry about it, Fluttershy," Sora brushed off, but it did little to help her mood, "At least we weren't flung off the mountain."
"Right, we're still here," Twilight affirmed, "All we need to do is... climb this pile of rubble," She sighed.
—
It took much effort, but the group managed to climb over the pile that blocked their way. Now they were even closer to their target.
"Say, Twilight," Rainbow whispered, "Still think it was a good idea to bring Fluttershy along?" Twilight was getting extremely annoyed with Rainbow Dash's negativity today, almost to the point where she wanted to deck her in the back of the head, but there was pressing issue at hoof.
"We're about to find out," Twilight whispered back, then she announced in a normal tone of voice, "We're here!" They at last reached their destination. Up ahead was a large cave, from it's depths did smoke exhale, "Stay here, I need to check something."
Twilight dared to trot forward and peek inside the cave, taking care to cover her mouth so that she does not breath in the smoke. To her relief, the dragon looked like a regular dragon, red scales, long and sharp spines, enormous size, laying on a large pile of treasure. Nothing about the dragon screamed 'Heartless' to Twilight, at least based on her limited experience. With that information on hoof, the purple unicorn trotted back to the group.
"Good news," Twilight relayed, "I doesn't seem like the Heartless have converted the dragon," With that news, the ponies all breathed a sigh of relief, "Alright, Fluttershy and I will go inside and convince him to leave."
"And what happens when that fails?" Rainbow Dash asked, "What do the rest of us do?"
"If it comes to that," Twilight put extra emphasis on 'if,' "Then we'll have no choice but to fight him off. If it does come to that, which it shouldn't, here's what we do. Pinkie Pie and Rarity will create a distraction while Sora, Rainbow and Applejack engage with the creature. Also, you'll all stay out here in case any Heartless arrive at this location."
"You can count on us, Twilight," Sora saluted the purple unicorn. The others, sans Fluttershy, did the same.
"Okay then, we're going in. Fluttershy, what is the best way to wake up a sleeping dragon without upsetting him?" Twilight received no answer. She turned her attention over to the animal caretaker frozen in place, her legs wobbling, "Fluttershy? Come on!" Twilight, getting fed up with Fluttershy's silence, decided to push her to the cave. Of course, Fluttershy was digging her hooves in the ground, "We have to do this! Now!" The others joined in with pushing the yellow mare toward the smoke filled cavern, "Every second longer that dragon sleeps is another acre of Equestria that is covered in smoke," The ponies pushing Fluttershy all tripped over each other, halting their advance. As they got up, the yellow mare decided to speak.
"I-I-I can't go in the cave," With that, the others fell onto the floor in an exhaustive heap.
"Oh, great. She's scared of caves now, too," Rainbow Dash exasperated.
"I'm not scared of caves," Fluttershy clarified "I'm scared of..." She mumbled something under her breath.
"What's that, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"I'm scared of..." Once again, another round of mumbling nopony could distinguish.
"What?" Twilight prodded.
"I'm scared of dragons!" Fluttershy finally admitted. As if fate wanted to torture poor Fluttershy, the dragon let out a loud snore, scaring the poor pegasus into a shaky ball.
"But Fluttershy. You have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals," Twilight reasoned.
"Yes, because they're not dragons," Fluttershy reasoned back.
"You walked up to a ferocious manticore like it was nothing," Sora reminded her.
"Yes, because he wasn't a dragon," Fluttershy repeated.
"Spike is a dragon," Pinkie Pie pointed out, "You're not scared of him."
"Yes, because he's not a 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 reasoned. Just then, the dragon let out another loud snore, bellowing a cascade of smoke that flew out of the cave. Fluttershy squeaked in fright and covered her head with her fore-hooves.
"But, if you're so afraid of dragons, why didn't you say something before we came all the way up here?" Twilight inquired.
"I was afraid to," Fluttershy admitted, making Rainbow Dash moan in annoyance. Sora decided to help ease Fluttershy's fears.
"Look Fluttershy, all of us are scared of that dragon," Sora said with a little smile.
"I'm not!" Rainbow Dash put on a brave face and struck a confident pose.
"All of us are scared of that dragon," Sora casted an glare towards Rainbow's direction, making sure he put extra emphasis on 'all,' "But we've got a job to do. You don't have anything to worry about, you have us to help you. We know you can do this!" Sora put on his best encouraging smile. Fluttershy stood up and surveyed the looks of encouragement her friends were giving her. All of this attention she was getting felt like a two ton weight sitting on her back. With all this pressure, Fluttershy burst into tears. Sora and the mares gasped in shock seeing this unfold before them.
"I'm sorry, I just can't," With that, Fluttershy ran off, crying all the way as her friends could only watch in dismay. Sora, however, was not content allowing Fluttershy to run away in despair. The caramel pegasus galloped after her.
"Sora," Twilight called out, getting him to stop and turn his head to the group, "What are you doing? What about the dragon?!"
"I'm going to talk to my friend!" Sora stated with pure conviction. He galloped away, all with the intent to locate Fluttershy.
"Fine! Whatever!" Rainbow Dash spat, crossing her hooves in contempt, "We can take out that dragon ourselves!"
"Oh, Fluttershy..." Twilight trailed off, feeling a pit in her stomach. As much as she wanted to chase after the two pegasi, there was a job to be done. One thing was for sure, Twilight was going to have a long talk with Rainbow Dash after this was all over.
—
"Fluttershy! Where are you?!"
Sora searched through the jagged formations, knowing the Fluttershy was somewhere. Thankfully for Sora, he was able to pick up the sounds of soft sobbing. Using his ears to guide him, the caramel pegasus found Fluttershy past a small formation of rock. The animal caretaker lay on the cold, hard ground, tears falling freely from her eyes.
"Fluttershy!" Sora called out, running up to the yellow mare as she looked up to face the other pegasus.
"Sora? What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked through her tears. Sora knelt down so that he was at eye level with the yellow mare.
"I wanted to check on you," Sora answered. Fluttershy shook her head, figuring what Sora was going to say to her.
"You're not changing my mind, Sora," Fluttershy leaked more tears from her eyes, "I'm not going over there where the dragon is."
"I wasn't going to try and change your mind," Sora softly stated, "I just needed to know that you were okay," Fluttershy felt a lump in her throat, she felt completely undeserving of such a gesture.
"I'm sorry, Sora," Fluttershy broke her gaze with him, "I'm no use."
"Don't talk like that," Sora firmly said, "Don't you ever think that you're useless."
"I've just been slowing everypony down lately," She whimpered.
"Fluttershy," Sora spoke softly, bringing the mare's teal soaked eyes towards him, "Twilight brought you along on this quest because she believes in you to help stop this smoke problem."
"Well she was wrong!" Fluttershy sobbed, "I'm too scared. I should've never come here! I'm not like you! I'm not brave!"
"What do you mean?" Sora questioned.
"You're not scared of anything," Fluttershy whimpered, "Not the dragon, the Heartless, anything!" Sora considered what Fluttershy stated. That was what she thought was true; however, it was anything but.
"Well, that's where you're wrong," Sora responded, looking downcast, "You have no idea how scared I can get."
"What are you talking about?" Fluttershy simply could not picture a pony like Sora being afraid of anything, considering all the danger he has thrust himself into, "You're so brave. What could you possibly be scared of?"
"The Heartless," Sora shared, closing his eyes, "The Heartless scare me more than anything else," His face contorted into a pained expression, "I've seen just how dangerous they really are, more than you could ever know," Fluttershy was beside herself. Sora was afraid of the Heartless? How could that be? He was always so confident whenever he did battle with them.
"But if you're really that scared, why would you even fight the Heartless in the first place?" To that, Sora raised his head to look Fluttershy in the eye, his solemn look replaced with an air of determination.
"Because I know that I have to stop them," He answered, "I'm one of the Keyblade's chosen," To give a visual aid, Sora summoned his keyblade under his hooves, "I have the power to stop the Heartless in their tracks, so I do just that. Let me tell you, the Heartless have caused me alot of pain ever since I got my keyblade, but I don't let that stop me from fighting them. I know what kind of damage they do, so I make it a priority to stop them from causing any harm," Fluttershy took in Sora's words. From the way he was talking, he sounded like he was serious. This new revelation about Sora brought forth so much curiosity in Fluttershy
"And you're scared of the dragon too?" She inquired.
"Yeah, I told you so, didn't I?" Sora answered playfully. He did indeed say that, he even said that all of them were scared of the dragon. Fluttershy thought he was trying to make her feel better. Was he really afraid of the dragon? "Fluttershy, being brave doesn't mean not being afraid. It's about facing danger despite how scary it is," Fluttershy thought critically about Sora's explanation. From his tone of voice, it sounded like he knew what he was talking about, "Ya know, you just might be braver than you think," Sora added with a genuine smile.
Fluttershy gasped in surprise hearing him say that, "Really? How?"
"You helped out during the whole Nightmare Moon thing, didn't you?" Sora asked. It was true. Even though Fluttershy was scared out of her wits, she did help when Nightmare Moon was free from her prison.
Fluttershy considered what Sora told her. Was there really some bravery within her? Unfortunately, the two pegasi's conversation was cut short when a guttural and loud roar echoed throughout the mountain. Fluttershy shrunk in fright, as to be expected. Sora turned to where he heard the noise, gasping in shock after he had done so.
Earlier, after Sora left, the mares tried to convince the dragon to leave. Twilight attempted a diplomatic approach, but her words fell on deaf ears as the dragon continued to sleep. Rarity attempted to flatter the dragon into leaving, and it almost worked. However, he disregarded her after she attempted to take some of his treasure. Now it was Pinkie Pie's turn to try something.
"Pinkie Pie, what in tarnation...?" Pinkie dressed herself in a green box tied with a yellow bow, swimming flippers, red sunglasses, a blue headband, and bollons tied to her body.
"Darling, you look ridiculous," Rarity stated.
"Exactly!" Pinkie took no offense to Rarity's psuedo-insult, "Sharing a laugh is a sure-fire way to get someone on your side!" With that, Pinkie went inside the cave.
"Hi!" She greeted, following that were the sounds of party poppers, and immediately following that was the sound of something getting crumpled up. Pinkie Pie exited soon after, wobbling on her hooves, her costume crushed and wrinkled, "Apparently he doesn't like laughing... or sharing," At that point, Rainbow Dash threw up her hoofs in exasperation.
"All right, that's it," She declared, "We tried persuasion, charm," Rainbow paused as she glanced over Pinkie, unsure what to call what she attempted, "And whatever it is Pinkie Pie does. It's time to stop wasting time! I'm going in!"
"Rainbow Dash, stop!" Warned Twilight. Rainbow Dash ignored the warning and bolted into the cave.
"Hey, you! Get out!" Rainbow delivered a swift kick to the dragon's snout. With that quick jolt, the beast was well awake, and he was not happy. All of Rainbow's bravado evaporated under the intense presence of the dragon, "Uh... please?" She pathetically added. The dragon let out a loud and aggressive roar. The force of the creature's roar was enough to blast Rainbow out of the cave, where she collided with the other mares like a bowling ball striking a clump of pins.
It was that roar that Sora and Fluttershy heard. Looking over back to where the cave was, Sora saw the dragon exit his cave, he looked angry. The caramel pegasus felt a
"Oh no! The girls!" Sora yelled, rushing towards the scene. Fluttershy glance towards where Sora was headed and she felt her heart stop. That dragon was even bigger than she imagined, and he looked like he was about to attack.
The mares were dizzy after the impact of the rainbow one. Now they had to deal with an angry dragon on top of splitting headaches. Taking in a deep breath, the dragon released a blast of smoke from his mouth. The hazardous billowing substance threw the mares into a coughing fit, the force of the blast knocking them backwards. This left them sprawled on the floor in a delirious state.
The dragon roared to the heavens, preparing another attack. His focus was hindered when a blast of ice impacted his torso, leaving behind a large imprint of frost.
"Hey, you!" Sora called out with his keyblade brandished, flying to where he was eye level with the dragon, "Nobody hurts my friends!" Sora fired another blizzard spell, this time impacting the dragon's head. The beast flinched back as Sora dived in and struck the dragon's snout. The reptile recovered and swiped his claw at Sora, who expertly weaved between the sharp talons and swiped at the creature's head again.
Fluttershy approached the scene with great trepidation. Hiding behind a big rock, she peaked her head out to witness the battle. Glancing down, she noticed the mares sprawled out on the floor, shocking the yellow mare. Seeing her friends in this stateFluttershy felt something stir inside her. Some sort of fire ignited itself in her heart seeing her friends threatened.
"How dare you..." She breathed. Her brow furrowed and her teeth gnashed HOW DARE YOU!" Hearing that yell, the dragon and Sora stoped their battle and glanced over to the yellow mare as she flew over to the former, "Listen here, mister! Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully!" She landed atop his snout. Bafflingly, the massive reptile shrunk under Fluttershy's intensive gaze, "You may have huge teeth, and sharp scales, and snore smoke, and breathe fire. But you do not—I repeat—you do not! Hurt! My! Friends! You got that?!" Sora couldn't believe what he was seeing. The calm and reserved Fluttershy was really intimidating a dragon. The other mares down below had their jaws hanging witnessing this. After a long while of tense silence, the dragon responded.
"But that rainbow jerk kicked me," He spoke in a deep and booming voice. Getting over his shock, Sora decided to help Fluttershy teach this dragon a lesson.
"And that made it okay to attack everyone?" Sora scolded, landing atop the dragon's snout next to Fluttershy, "You might be bigger than her, but that doesn't give you the right to bully her or the others!"
"Besides, you should also know better than to take a nap where your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures," Fluttershy continued to apply the pressure.
"But I—"
"Don't try to make excuses for yourself!" Sora snapped, "What do you have to say for yourself?! Well?! Answer me!" The dragon's eyes began to grow misty. He raised his snout upward, forcing Sora and Fluttershy to use their wings to float in the air. Under all of this pressure, the beast burst into tears, burying his face under his claws.
"Hey," Sora weakly, "Don't cry..." Sora felt terrible seeing this happen. He never wanted to make anyone cry. Thankfully, Fluttershy was there to console the weeping creature.
"There, there," She soothed the distressed lizzard, rubbing his temples, "No need to cry. You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. You just need to find a new place to sleep where you wont hurt anypony. That's all," The dragon wiped away his tears and rearranged his composure.
"I'm really sorry about all this," He apologized, "I've just been cranky because I haven't gotten any sleep. These weird black creatures kept barging into my cave. No matter how many times I drove them off, they just kept coming."
"Oh, mister dragon," Sora addressed the large reptile, "Those things were attracted to the smoke you were snoring. I don't think the'll leave you alone if smoke keeps coming out your mouth."
"Is that so?" The dragon asked. Sora and Fluttershy nodded their heads, "I guess I should get it checked out, if it means I can finally get to sleep. Let me just pack my horde and I'll leave," The dragon turned around and entered his cave to gather his things. Sora and Fluttershy landed on the ground, where the latter was pulled into a hug from Twilight.
"You did it!" She cheered, "I knew you could do it!" Fluttershy became flustered, her words fumbling as she tried to form a sentence. It was just like Sora said, Twilight did believe in Fluttershy.
"Darling, that was incredible!" Rarity complimented.
"Well, I'll be," Applejack continued the train, "I'm not sure how you did that, but it was amazin' nonetheless!"
"I'm not sure what I did myself," Fluttershy admitted.
"I think I know what happened," Sora addressed Fluttershy, "You were brave."
"Y-you really think so?" Fluttershy asked, her cheek burning in embarrassment from all this praise.
"I know so!" Sora flashed a wide smile. Looking over to her other friends, Fluttershy saw they were giving her similar expressions. Even Rainbow Dash showed her appreciation for what Fluttershy did. With all these overwhelming emotions, the yellow mare began to cry again, only now these were tears of joy.
"T-Thank you..." Fluttershy whispered.
"What was that?" Sora asked, not catching what Fluttershy said. He got his answer when the yellow mare lunched him and hugged him lightly. That was all he needed to know how grateful she was. He returned the gesture with a gentle hug of his own. The others soon joined in as well, forming a very tightly knit group hug.
The mares made their way back down the mountain. Sora wanted to stay and survey the mountain to remove any stray Heartless still in the area. Along the way, Twilight interrogated Rainbow Dash on her attitude as of late. Turned out that Rainbow was mad at missing the Equestria ball bouncing record that morning. The cyan mare accentuated that Pinkie Pie was to blame for the failure, to which the pink mare claimed innocence. Twilight subjected Rainbow Dash a horrible torture for her attitude, a long winded lecture about why you shouldn't take out your frustrations on other ponies. By the time the purple unicorn finished her 30 minute lesson, Rainbow was ready to bash her head on the floor.
When the mares returned, it was close to nightfall. Twilight quickly organized a group of pegasi to blow away the smoke that had been covering Ponyville. Afterwards, she retrieved Spike from Fluttershy's cottage, much to the little drake's relief. Twilight reported back to Celestia about the dragon's departure, as well as a new lesson she learned in friendship: never give up on your friends, no matter what.
Fluttershy learned something also. Thanks to Sora, she now understood what being brave really meant. She was petrified of the dragon, but she put aside her fears for her friend's sakes. She just needed to be a little brave to save the day.