Dragonshy
Fluttershy's Cottage: Fluttershy's POV
Fluttershy was doing her daily stroll around her place feeding the animals that lived there and saw her bunny, Angel, chowing down on a carrot a little too fast for her. "Now don't eat too quickly Angel. You don't want to get a tummy ache," she said sweetly with a touch of concern. Angel didn't take her words kindly and threw the half-eaten carrot away and hopped off. "Wait! It's not playtime yet!" she said as she picked up the carrot and chased after him. "I know you want to run, but just three more bites?" *rapid head shaking from Angel* "Two more bites?" *more rapid head shaking* "One more bite? Pretty please?" Angel's responded by kicking the carrot away again as Fluttershy sighed she heard Angel coughing. "Are you coughing because there is a carrot stuck in your throat?" *More coughing* "Because you need some water?" Angel coughs loudly and raises Fluttershy's head and she gasps at what she sees. "Because of that giant cloud of black smoke?" Angel throws the carrot at her head. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"
Ponyville Park
Fluttershy enters the park to see ponies going about their business and she starts to warn them when a blue streak startles her. "Relax, Fluttershy, it's just me: the future ball-bouncing record holder," Rainbow Dash says, bouncing said ball with her head. "Three forty-seven, three forty-eight…" Rainbow counts as Pinkie shows up in her usual fashion.
"This calls for celebration," Pinkie states.
"No Pinkie, this is no time for celebration. This is time for—" Fluttershy starts when Pinkie starts counting the ponies in the area and her counting messes up Rainbow Dash and she complains about having to start over. "We're all going to have to start over, in a new village. 'Cause ours is going to be—" Fluttershy tries but is ignored.
"Listen up everypony!" Twilight shouted with Night and Spike standing to her left and right respectively. "Smoke is spreading over Equestria" Twilight said after getting everypony's attention and they looked up to see the menacing black cloud.
"That's what I've been—" Fluttershy started but was again interrupted as Twilight continued.
"But don't worry, I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that this smoke is not coming from a fire," Twilight explains and Fluttershy sighs in relief.
"That's the good news," Night starts. "The bad news is that all this smoke is coming from a dragon." Fluttershy's calm is quickly turned into panic.
Golden Oak Library: Night's POV
"What in the name of cinnamon swirls is a full-grown dragon doing in Equestria?" Applejack asked after the mane seven plus Spike gathered in the library.
"Sleeping," Twilight answers and this dawn looks of confusion on everyone except Night and Spike, who already heard all of this. "According to Princess Celestia, he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke."
"He should really see a doctor," Pinkie comments. "That doesn't sound healthy at all."
"Well, at least he's not breathing fire. What are we supposed to do about it?" Rarity asks.
"I'll tell you what we're meant to do. Give him the boot," Rainbow says and starts to attack the wooden horse head in the center of the room, forcing Twilight to use her magic to stop her.
"We need to encourage him to take a nap somewhere else," Twilight said as if she's teaching Rainbow a new word. "Princess Celestia has given us this mission and we must not fail. If we do, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next hundred years."
"Talking about getting your beauty sleep," Rarity comments.
"It's far worse than that Rarity. If the sun is blocked out, plants won't be able to survive. And I think we all know what will happen to ponykind if that happens," Night states, not mentioning the possible nuclear winter once the ash rained down.
"All right everypony. Gather whatever supplies you need. We have a long journey ahead of us. Let's meet back here in less than an hour," Twilight says and the ponies go off to get what they need. Night headed up to his room in the Library and grabbed the bag he already prepared with some basic supplies, as well as another map in case the group got separated. Twilight would be planning the route. He stepped outside where everypony except Rarity and Fluttershy were waiting. After eight minutes, Rarity finally showed up with what Night swore was a small wardrobe in her bag. Another two minutes passed before Fluttershy was seen by the group. "All right everypony" Twilight said. "I'm mapping out the fastest route, but we've got to keep a good pace if we are going to make it to the base of the mountain by nightfall."
"M-m-mountain?" Fluttershy questioned with a little more panic in her voice than normal, hoping that somepony misspoke about the mountain.
"The dragon is at the very top," Twilight confirmed.
"Looks pretty cold up there," Applejack stated.
"You bet, the higher you go, the chillier it gets," Rainbow confirmed.
"Good thing I brought my scarf," Rarity says as she pulls out said scarf and wraps it around her neck.
"I highly doubt that's going to keep you warm Rarity," Night stated then noticed Fluttershy trying to talk to Twilight, but noticed she was only half-listening.
"Wait, you can't," Twilight suddenly said. "Your knowledge of animals will extremely helpful."
"Well, I don't think I—" Fluttershy started when Twilight interrupted.
"Oh, don't worry about your friends at the cottage. Spike will take care of them," Twilight stated just as a crash was heard from the library.
"That's going to go well," Night stated sarcastically. He wanted to get moving when Rainbow pulls him and Twilight aside.
"Are you two sure you want Fluttershy to come along? Sure her she knows almost every animal out there but she'll slow us down," Rainbow stated.
"Give her a break Rainbow. We're facing a full-grown dragon, and you know Fluttershy gets scared easily," Night countered. "We'd better get moving, it's almost noon, and we have a bit of ground to cover." The seven ponies then set out and thankfully reach the base of the mountain before sunset, despite Fluttershy's repeated attempts to slip away, which Night didn't blame her for.
"We'd better set up camp here," Applejack said when the found a small clearing not too far away from a steady path up the mountain. "You got first watch Rainbow?" Night, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all agreed that they should set some kind of lookout for the night, just in case.
"Sure thing," Rainbow replies.
"Wake me when it's my turn then get some sleep," Night said as the group set up camp.
Rainbow's POV
As Rainbow's shift drew to an end, she found herself incredibly bored. But, like Night said 'Better to have something and not need it than to not have something and need it. "Hopefully something will happen tomorrow," she said to no one in particular and decided to wake Night for his shift. Turning to the group, she headed to where Night was sleeping and noticed that Twilight had gotten pretty close to the alicorn, almost next to him. This sight caused a small smirk but didn't stop her from giving Night a small shake to wake him. "Your shift Night." Night slowly opened his eyes and gave a small yawn.
"Alright, get some rest," Night said and Rainbow headed to her spot. As she drifted into sleep, she couldn't help but remember how close Twilight had gotten to Night, but brushed it aside as she fell asleep.
Morning
"EVERYPONY WAKEUP!" The sudden scream from Pinkie startled everypony awake except Applejack, who had taken the third shift. Rainbow jumped immediately jumped into a defensive stance and search the sky to see if the dragon had decided to take care of them, but found nothing.
"Why on Equestria's green earth did you wake us like that Pinkie?" Night asked with clear annoyance.
"Because I like screaming first thing in the morning," Pinkie said cheerfully.
"Maybe I shouldn't have woken Pinkie first," Applejack said.
"Well, we're up now, so we'd better get climbing," grumbled Night. The group quickly packed up and got some breakfast that Applejack provided before moving to the path they had found only to find that it was a lot steeper than they thought, still, it was better than nothing.
"I'll fly up there and take a look around," Rainbow said, but before she could get anywhere, she felt something pull on her tail, only to see a blue magic outline from Night's magic.
"And find you fighting that dragon? Not happening Rainbow," Night stated.
"Fine," Rainbow grumbled and the other ponies started to climb with Night using his wings. Before they got too far Rainbow noticed that somepony was missing. "Hey! What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Rainbow asked Fluttershy, who was cowering at the bottom.
"Oh, I think I have one in my bag," Pinkie says. One of her mini-party cannons goes off as she pulls out a random invitation.
"It's so… steep," Fluttershy replies.
"Well it is a cliff. You could just fly up here," Rainbow countered.
"Come on Fluttershy, flap those wings," Pinkie encouraged.
"Alright," Fluttershy said and slowly opened her wings and started to head up when the dragon snored, startling Fluttershy, whose wings seemed to glue themselves to her body as she fell to the ground.
"Night, what are you doing?" Twilight asked as Night pulled out his spare map and flew down to fallen Fluttershy.
"I'll take Fluttershy up another way. Getting her up this cliff is going to take too much time. Let's meet at that flat area we say on the map, all be there as soon as possible," Night replied only to have his point proven as the dragon snored again and Fluttershy somehow flipped over and made a goat noise from her glued jaws. "I'll be fine, Twilight."
"Alright, we'll meet you there," Twilight said and the remaining ponies continued the climb.
A few hours later
"This is taking too long. They should have been here by now," Rainbow thought as Rarity and Pinkie Pie were finishing their thirty-fifth game of Tic-Tac-Toe, of which Pinkie was curb-stomping Rarity, who kept adding games only to lose again. A noise was heard from where Twilight said was the most likely route Night would arrive from. Night seemed to have just given up as he had Fluttershy in a blue magic bubble to prevent her from running off.
"We're here," Night said.
"Told you," Rainbow said to Twilight, who only glared at her before the group continued the climb, eventually finding a leapable gap between two cliff faces.
"Your turn Fluttershy," Twilight stated when everypony but Night and Fluttershy had crossed.
"But… it's so… wide," Fluttershy mumbled as Rainbow hoof palmed herself and at this point was tempted to ram her head into the cliff and scream.
"Come on Fluttershy, we should be much farther along by now," Twilight stated.
"You could just… leap over," Applejack said kindly. Then the dragon roared again.
"I don't know," Fluttershy said as she curled up into a ball.
"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump," Pinkie said before turning her words into a short song. "It's not very far, just move your little rump. You can make it if you try, just a hop, skip and a jump."
"We don't have time for this," Twilight said, but Pinkie wasn't listening as she continued the last part of her song like a broken record till Fluttershy finally got some courage.
"O-Okay. Here I go," Fluttershy said stepping up. "Just a hop."
"Go on Fluttershy, I'm right behind you," Night said.
"Skip," Fluttershy said getting closer to the edge.
"Just don't look down," Twilight says as Fluttershy started her jump causing her to look down and panic then grabs the other edge now only noticing it was about the length of a pony.
"Why would you say that?" Night asked, slightly annoyed.
"I guess I forgot to jump," Fluttershy said, trying to reduce the tension a bit as Night uses his magic to put her on the other side then jumps over himself.
"Alright," Twilight says after continuing up the path for a bit. "The area up ahead has been marked as an avalanche zone. Once we enter we'll have to be as quiet as possible."
"Can't we just go around?" Applejack asks.
"Unless you can fly, not happening," Night said. "The only other way on this side of the mountain would have us attempt to cross a gap that is far too wide for even a pegasus to make in a single leap. This is the only way up." The group enters slowly to avoid making too much noise with their hooves and about halfway through, Rainbow notices a branch in front of her and pushes it out of the way. A few moments later she hears-
"AVALAN-!" Fluttershy screams before getting cut off by Applejack, but the damage was already done.
Night's POV
After Night heard the scream the group heard rumbling from above them and noticed rocks falling right at them. "Everypony move, now!" Night yelled out, not caring about keeping his voice down at this point. Everypony started to move out of the way in their own fashion while Night summoned some lightning from the nearby clouds and was slamming his way through any rocks that got close when he noticed Twilight was about to get hit by a few boulders. Night swooped in and got her out of the way when the avalanche finally stopped. "You okay?" he asked Twilight.
"I'm fine," Twilight replied, but was looking away and seemed embarrassed. "You can get off of me, Night." Now it was Night's turn to be embarrassed as he realized where he was and quickly moved so Twilight could get up.
"Sorry," Night apologized quickly. Thankfully, the others didn't seem to notice their awkward moment and were focused more on the massive rock wall in front of them.
"Sorry," Fluttershy apologizes.
"Aw, no big whoop sugarcube," Applejack stated.
"Yeah, we just have to climb over," Twilight sighed and the group quickly got to the top of the pile and on the way down, Fluttershy, who was in the rear, slipped and crashed into Rarity and Pinkie Pie on the way down.
"Still think it was a good idea to bring Fluttershy along?" Rainbow asked Night and Twilight once the group got moving again.
"We'll find out soon enough," Night stated. "The dragon's cave is just up ahead." Once they reached a large cave they could see smoke blowing out of it. "This has to be it," Night said as Twilight went over her plan.
"Rainbow Dash, you'll use your wings to clear the smoke," Twilight said to Rainbow who nodded in response. "Rarity, Pinkie Pie, you'll distract the dragon if he decides to attack while Night and Applejack will attempt to weaken him." The ponies all nod in response but Night was worried that if the dragon attacked it would all be up to him and his lightning. "But it won't come to that, because me and Fluttershy will do what we need to do to convince the dragon to leave peacefully."
Twilight's POV
As Twilight entered the cave, she started thinking out loud about how to wake the dragon without upsetting it when she noticed Fluttershy wasn't behind her. "Oh, come on," Twilight groaned as she tried to push Fluttershy into the cave. "We have to do this! Now! Every second we waste is another acre of land covered in smoke!"
"I-I can't go into that cave," Fluttershy states.
"Oh, great, she's scared of caves now," Rainbow said in a rude tone.
"I'm not scared of caves. I'm scared of…" Fluttershy stated but she mumbled the end her sentence.
"What's that sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"I'm scared of *mumbling*"
"What?" Twilight asked.
"I'm scared of dragons," Fluttershy said quickly as the dragon let out a loud snore.
"But Fluttershy, you have such a wonderful talent with animals," Twilight stated.
"Yes, because they aren't dragons," Fluttershy counters.
"Oh, come on. We say you walk up to a manticore like it was nothing," Rainbow proclaimed.
"Yes, because it wasn't a dragon," Fluttershy countered again.
"Spike is a dragon. You're not scared of him," Pinkie brought up.
"Yes, because he's not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale having, horn-waving, smoke-snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all grown-up dragon," Fluttershy explained.
"Well, when you put it like that it's a perfectly reasonable fear," Night said.
"But, if you're so scared of dragons, why didn't you say anything before we got here?" Twilight asked.
"I was afraid to," Fluttershy says and Twilight notices Rainbow hoof-palming herself.
"All of us are scared of that dragon," Applejack reassures.
"I'm not," Rainbow countered with a cocky attitude.
"Translation: she is, but won't admit it," Night tells Fluttershy. "But we have to stop this dragon from covering Equestria."
"Yeah, so get in there with Twilight and show her what you're made of," Applejack says.
"I-I-I… I can't," Fluttershy states and hides.
"Well, I'm going in," Twilight stated as she entered the cave. "He… probably doesn't realize what he's doing, right?" Twilight asked and the group gave her nervous agreement.
"Hello, Mr. Dragon?" Twilight asks. "Mr. Dragon." The dragon wakes and looks at Twilight. "Oh, good, you're awake. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Twilight—" *dragon lets off a whiff of smoke and Twilight coughs* "—Sparkle, and my friends and I are residents of Equestria, and we were simply wondering if you could find another place to take a nap. Equestria simply just can't survive 100 years in a dark haze. You understand, don't you?" Twilight asks and the dragon stands. "Does this mean you'll find another place to sleep?" The dragon just plops back down and lets out a puff of smoke that drives her out of the cave.
"So much for persuading him," Rainbow grimaces.
"Now what?" Applejack asks.
"Obviously this requires a little 'pony charm'," Rarity states as she walks into the cave only to be pushed out a couple of moments later. "I was so close to getting that diamond"
"You mean, getting the dragon to leave," Twilight corrects which Rarity quickly jumps to.
"Pinkie, what are doing?" Night asked as Twilight turned to notice Pinkie's crazy outfit.
"Daring, you look ridiculous," Rarity states.
"Exactly!" Pinkie responds. "Sharing a laugh is a sure-fire way to get someone on your side. Hi—" Pinkie's outfit gets recked and she walks out. "Apparently he doesn't like laughing, or sharing."
"Alright, that's it. We've tried persuasion, charm, whatever it is that Pinkie Pie does," Rainbow states. "It's time to stop wasting time, I'm going in."
"Rainbow! NO!" Twilight yells only to see Rainbow kick the dragon in the nose and gets up angrily and roars at Rainbow which throws her out of the cave with the dragon not far behind her.
"Hey!" Night shouts and the dragon turn's his attention to him. "Come and get me ya big ugly lizard." Night then flies right at the dragon and maneuvers around him till the dragon gets a near miss on him which knocks him off course. "Alright, plan B." Night summons his lightning and starts ramming into the dragon's sides then fires a magic beam fused with his lightning right into the dragon's underbelly which throughs the dragon up slightly before semi-collapsing to the ground. Night then charges right at the dragon which opened his mouth and closed it around Night before he could get out of the way, seemingly swallowing him whole.
"NIGHT!" everypony screamed.
Fluttershy's POV
After witnessing Night getting eaten and seeing her friends hurt. "How dare you… How dare you!" Fluttershy said before flying on top of the dragon's snout. "Listen here mister, just because you're big, doesn't mean you get to be a bully. You may have huge teeth, sharp scales, snort smoke, and breath fire. But you do not, I repeat, do not hurt my friends! So you're going to spit out my other friend now! Ya got that?" Fluttershy asks and the dragon cowers before lightning flies into the dragon's mouth and it explodes open revealing Night surrounded by a field of lightning before falling to the ground covered in dragon saliva and smelling like smoke. "Well?" Fluttershy asks again as the dragon recovers.
"But that Rainbow one kicked me, and the black one shot me in the stomach," the dragon said in a deep voice.
"And I am very sorry about that," Fluttershy apologizes. "But you're bigger than them and you should know better. You should also know that you shouldn't sleep where you're snoring can affect other creatures."
"But I—" the dragon started.
"Don't you 'But I' me mister!" Fluttershy interrupted. "Now what do you have to say for yourself? I said what do you have to say for yourself?" At this, the dragon burst into tears. "There, there. You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things, you just need a new place to sleep, that's all." The dragon then headed back into its cave and started to collect his treasure as the ponies cheered for Fluttershy with the group staying away from Night.
"You did it. I knew you could do it" Twilight says as the dragon flies off.
Golden Oak Library: Twilight's POV
"Spike, take a letter," Twilight said to Spike as she entered who seemed to have had some difficulty dealing with Fluttershy's animals.
"With pleasure," Spike says relieved.
"Dear Princess Celestia, I'm happy to report that the dragon has departed our lands, and it was my friend Fluttershy who convinced him to go. This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends. They can be an amazing source of strength, and can help you overcome your greatest fears. Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" Twilight recites when she hears Applejack calling her.
"She's just five away from a new pony record," Applejack says and Twilight sees Rainbow bouncing her ball.
"Three-hundred forty-seven, three-hundred forty-eight" Rainbow counts when she hears a roar. "Dragon!" Rainbow screamed and flipped on to her back and somehow made a goat belch as the ponies laughed. "Why are you laughing? That horrible dragon's back!" Rainbow says and then sees Pinkie roar. "Pinkie Pie, you scared— I mean, you made me break my concentration."
"It's okay Rainbow. Not everypony can be as brave as me," Fluttershy states, but she doesn't see Rainbow blow a leaf up which lands on Fluttershy's back, causing Fluttershy to react the same way Rainbow reacted to Pinkie's dragon roar. Before the group can do anything, Rarity shows up.
"Twilight, can you give me some help?" Rarity asks Twilight as Twilight knew why. She follows her to the spa to see one of the workers with a nose plug and Night with multiple shampoos and soaps in an attempt to get rid of the saliva and smoke smell.
"Night, stop struggling, the longer this takes the longer your here," Twilight said.
"Fine," Night groaned with annoyance as Twilight started to help.
A/N: Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed please follow this story, it's a strong motivator for me to do this, but if you don't, I'm going to do absolutely nothing because that is totally your choice. Anyway, I'm proud to announce that the next chapter is going to be the first Night based episode so keep an eye out for that. And as always, have a pleasant [insert time of day here.]